Author: Jeet Banerjee

Jeet Banerjee is a 24 year old serial entrepreneur, author, digital marketing consultant, and public speaker. In his young career, Jeet has launched several different companies, written two books, and has helped many businesses make more money from the internet. He strives to create the next big tech company and give back to the world in the best way possible.

How To Take Over A New Market: Jay Z Style

In this blog article, I share a piece on how to take over a new market: Jay-Z style. Jay-Z came to the sports agency world and took it by storm, which is something anyone can do in a new industry.

 

Lately, all the buzz in the sports world has been about Jay Z. He has started a new sports agency, Roc Nation, which has made quite a splash in the sports world.

 

 

After signing Robinson Cano, one of the biggest baseball superstars in the game right now, Jay Z and company made many crucial signings for their agency.

 

 

Roc Nation sports was founded in early 2013. From there, Jay Z & company have been able to sign the following superstars:

 

 

– Kevin Durant

 

– Robinson Cano

 

– Victor Cruz

 

– Geno Smith

 

– Skylar Diggins

 

 

That’s quite an impressive entrance to a new market if you ask me. In this blog article, I’m going to talk about how to take over a new market: Jay Z style.

 

 

Create a brand people can’t say “NO” to

 

Jay Z has one of the biggest brands in the world. Compared to the other sports agents in the industry, his background and brand left others in the dust.

 

 

If you’re trying to conquer a new market fast, you need to build up your credibility. By having credibility and a brand around you, people are more open to buy into what you have in the early stages.

 

Remember, people buy into you more than they buy into the product or service that you’re offering. 

 

 

 

Leverage your connections

 

Jay Z didn’t just wake up one morning and build relationships with all these superstars. The music industry and sports industry connect very closely with one another. Jay Z built relationships with these athletes years before he ever created his sports agency.

 

 

When entering a new market, you must plan & prepare very carefully. Start building connections in the industry long before you get started. Not only that, but you should partner up with people that know the industry well enough.

 

 

Put the competition on blast 

 

Jay Z stepped into the sports agency world and immediately put his competitors on blast. He said that the other agents were lazy and did half-assed work that didn’t always look out for the best interest of their clients.

 

 

Athletes would be getting the same experience by going with the other agents instead of Jay Z. By saying this, Jay Z exposed a problem of his competitors that he was solving. He quickly began delivering his value proposition that made many athletes intrigued by his offerings.

 

 

If you want to take over a new market quickly, you have to separate yourself from the competitors quickly. Give your customers a reason to choose you over the competitors who’ve been there for years.

 

 

Hustle your ass off 

 

Jay Z is one of the hardest working individuals in the business and that is why we has been able to take over this market so well. You can’t just jump into a new market and expect things to fall in your lap.

 

 

You have to get up and take what you want. Jay Z hustled to get meetings with athletes who were looking re-negotiate contracts with their existing sports agents. He wooed them by creating amazing sales pitches and using himself as a negotiation piece.

 

 

If you’re entering a new market, you have to do something to get known. Create unique sales pitches that your competitors don’t use (even if it’s more costly at first). People buy because they have a great experience during the selling process.

 

 

Conclusion

 

As you can see, Jay Z did ample things to slowly begin his take-over in the sports agency world. These are a few tips you can learn from Jay Z to take over a new market.

 

 

 

How To Raise A Kid Entrepreneur

In this article, I’m going to share 5 things parents can do to raise kid entrepreneurs. In how to raise a kid entrepreneur, you will learn ideas to foster entrepreneurship at your house.

 

As I grew up, I never realized that my parents raised me to be an entrepreneur. At times, I was frustrated and frowned upon some of the ways that my parents raised me.

 

 

Looking back now, I’m extremely happy about the way they raised me because it allowed me to dive into entrepreneurship a lot earlier than I probably would have. As a parent, there are many different things that you can do to foster entrepreneurship.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to discuss how to raise a kid entrepreneur:

 

 

1. Encourage Problem Solving

 

Entrepreneurs all solve problems in some way. As a parent fostering entrepreneurship, you should promote your children to solve problems as much as they can.

 

 

Challenge your children to solve problems from an early age. Ask them to solve everyday problems they face or to increase their problem solving skills by participating in various activities.

 

 

2. Give Them Creative Freedom

 

Entrepreneurs have two very important assets that enable them to be successful. They have a broad imagination that allows them to be creative and they have the freedom to implement their creativity.

 

 

As a parent, you have to give your children the creative freedom necessary to brainstorm and have fun. By doing this, your children will begin to implement new ideas from a young age which will eventually translate into something spectacular later on.

 

 

3. Don’t Give Your Kids Everything

 

I know many parents out there love spoiling their kids, but that’s not the best way to raise an entrepreneurial-minded kid. Instead, make your kids earn some of the luxuries they want in life.

 

 

By making a kid earn what they want, they will learn the value of a dollar at an early age. Growing up, I wasn’t given everything that I wanted which really unleashed the hustler in me.

 

 

4. Invest In Your Kids

 

If your kids do begin to show signs of promise in entrepreneurship, you should really invest in them. Whether it’s money or time, your kid can benefit greatly by seeing that his/her parents support their entrepreneurial drive.

 

 

By investing in your kids and supporting their plans, you will give them the motivation to continue building.

 

 

5. Lead By Example

 

Often times, people fall into entrepreneurship when their role models (the parents) are also entrepreneurs. If you want your kids to be entrepreneurs, give them an inside look into your life.

 

 

Show them how a business works, why you’re an entrepreneur, and help them discover their passions in life. By allowing your kids to learn more about you, they may see the value of being an entrepreneur and attempt to follow in your footsteps.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Sometimes individuals are just not meant to be entrepreneurs. While it’s great to foster these habits among your kid, you must also be very careful to allow your children to follow their passions in life.

 

 

photo credit: thejbird via photopin cc

5 Ways To Say “NO” Nicely

As entrepreneurs and business people, we get tons of opportunities, offers, and requests. In this article, I share 5 ways to say “NO” nicely to others.

 

Recently, I’ve jumped into the world of startup consulting/advising. It’s an extremely fun role and it gives me numerous opportunities to work with different startups in different industries.

 

 

When I first started off, I said yes to every startup that came my way. I quickly realized that this was a bad idea. Even though I wanted to help everyone, I really couldn’t.

 

 

My own businesses would suffer and the other startups wouldn’t get the ultimate value they deserved from me. I quickly had to learn to say “NO” without hurting other peoples feelings.

 

 

I realized that if I wanted to make the best decisions for myself and for others, I had to learn to say “NO” nicely. In this article, I share 5 ways to say “NO” nicely.

 

 

1. “I’d love to help, but my other time commitments just don’t allow me to at this time.” 

 

This was probably the number one reason why I couldn’t help out startups even though I really wanted to. I had other commitments to projects, startups, and my own businesses that really took up a lot of my time.

 

 

By saying it in this way, you express the fact that you would work with them only if you could. Let the other person know that your plate is full, but this person can make future requests to see if anything changes.

 

 

2. “I’m currently involved in XYZ, but it might better to re-connect at X time when I’m less tied up.” 

 

I’ve had to pass up consulting deals and many other opportunities by saying this same exact thing. While I wanted to take up new tasks and things to do, I simply couldn’t do it without going insane.

 

 

So, I decided to leave these opportunities open if people wanted to wait. I nicely let people know what’s keeping me extremely busy right now, when that commitment will end, and how I’d still be willing to help them after I’m done.

 

 

3. “I’m not the best person to help you with this. However, you can try XYZ or reach out to XYZ people.”

 

This is something I’ve had to say a lot of times. I’ve had people who have approached me with business opportunities in the alcohol industry before. I tell them that I’m not really the best person for this job since I’m not even 21 yet.

 

 

When I do say “NO” this way, I try to see if there is anything I can do to help these individuals out regardless. I’ll refer them to people I know or give them suggestions that shows that I care about their project, but just don’t feel like I’m the right fit.

 

 

4. “I appreciate the opportunity or request, but I’m not interested.”

 

As any business person or entrepreneur knows, many people are going to approach you at some point to join networking companies. I’ve received many of those requests and I’ve rejected all of those.

 

 

I don’t undermine their business model or anything, I simply just don’t like that route for myself. Whenever I get a request like this, I typically thank them for the opportunity but respectfully decline. The key to saying “NO” this way is to ensure that you don’t comment negatively towards what is being pitched.

 

 

5. “No, thank you.”

 

The easiest and most simple way to say “NO” is by doing it this way. All it takes is 3 words and it’s a polite way to decline an invite or opportunity to do something.

 

 

However, often times you will get people who will try to continue asking you or pushing you to say “YES” to them. The key to saying “NO” this way is to stay true to your answer and refuse to give into pressure.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Saying “NO” was a skill that took me a while to learn. I only figured out the art of saying “NO” once things started to get crazy for me. I highly recommend other entrepreneurs to also understand the value of saying “NO”.

 

 

photo credit: Daniel*1977 via photopin cc

A Day In The Life of Jeet Banerjee

In this blog article, I share what it’s like to live a day in the life of Jeet Banerjee. Due to popular request, I share my daily schedule with people!

 

So I’ve had quite a few requests to post an article sharing a day in my life or what my schedule looks like on a daily basis. Today, I finally decided to write on this topic.

 

 

So while most people have a fixed set of things to do on a daily basis, my schedule changes from day to day given the priorities I have. However, I’m going to share with you typically what a day in my life looks like.

 

 

I Live, Sleep, and Breath Around My Businesses

 

Many people notice that I’m a consultant, author, public speaker, startup consultant/adviser, and investor and really get confused about where I spend my time the most.

 

 

However, for me it’s really simple. My business ventures always come first. I’m usually doing everything that revolves around my business venture and thus most of my day is taken up working towards my business.

 

 

With that in mind, below I’m going to share with you a detailed entry of what a day in my life looks like. Beware: My days change dramatically so this is the best example of a typical day in my life.

 

 

Life as Jeet Banerjee

 

6:45 AM: Rise & Grind – I groggily open up my eyes and wake up to a whiteboard full of goals and things to do. Before I even get out of bed, I grab my cellphone and begin checking my emails (usually have 200+ emails when I wake up every morning). I also grab my laptop and sit in bed for 45 minutes emailing people back, checking social media updates, and preparing for the day ahead of me.

 

7:30 AM: The 2 Foot Walk – I literally take two steps from my bed to my desk. I hop onto my desk and continue working. Typically, I write my blog articles around this time or take care of some work that is not related to my business at all. Usually this work revolves around some of the startups I consult, my personal brand, or anything else that may come up.

 

8:30 AM: Time To Get Dolled Up – This is my queue to get up and get out of bed. I take a shower, grab a small bite to eat, and head out for the office.

 

9:15 AM: Communicate With The World – I usually make it into the office by now. From there, I typically jump into meetings with my team or business meetings on the phone with other companies that can somehow benefit my businesses. These meetings usually range and last about 1-2 hours.

 

11:00 AM: Team Meetings – The team and I usually get together and really figure out what goals we want to accomplish by the end of the day. Each day is different, but it somehow ties into the common vision of our businesses. We work on things that need to get done or will help us continue pushing forward towards our goals.

 

12:30 PM: Nom, Nom, Nom – It’s lunchtime! My team & I head out for lunch – we value our meals together highly so we typically find a real nice place to eat.

 

1:30 PM: Communicate With The World – From there, it’s back to the grind. Typically, I jump into more phone calls & meetings that are for my business. These meetings can range from a wide variety of things depending on who’s calling and what’s required.

 

3:00 PM: Attempt #1 For Inbox Zero  – It’s time to get back to the desk and start working. I go through my email box one more time as I’ve probably piled up quite a few emails throughout the day so I spend that time replying to it. I also reply to social media posts, etc.

 

3:30 PM: Family Time – This is the part of the day where I really get engaged with the other key members of our team. I work with interns, employees, developers, and other partners to continue getting things done that will help our business move forward.

 

 

4:30 PM: Fun & Games – The day is usually wrapping up for other people around this time, but it’s just a checkpoint for us. We usually take a little break by playing some ping pong, shooting some hoops in a trashcan, etc.

 

 

5:00 PM: Me Time – I wrap up any other work that is left for my businesses at this point and typically start preparing for other things I plan to get done for the day that are outside of my businesses.

 

 

5:30 PM: Communicate With The World – I usually take phone calls/meetings about other non-business related things, do work for my personal brand, consult/advise with startups, write guest blogs, etc.

 

 

7:00 PM: Attempt #2 At Inbox Zero – I get back to the computer to check my emails and social media updates one more time. This is a never-ending process for me just because I get so many emails, sometimes more than I can handle.

 

7:30 PM: Work Hard, Play Hard – I wrap up the final things I need to get done. From there, I usually head out with my business partner to a night of fun. We’ll typically go out and spend some time with friends and just escape the business world for a few hours since we’ve worked almost 12 hours.

 

11:00 PM: Attempt At Inbox Zero #3 – Check back in to my house. I usually get back on the computer one last time for the night to check my emails and get as caught up as possible so the next morning isn’t as bad. I’ll also do a little bit of work that may carry over from the day at this time.

 

11:30 PM: See What’s Happening In The World – I use this time to either read, look up news in the world, or to catch up on all the sports action I missed.

 

12:15 AM: Beauty Sleep – I’m finally in bed and ready to call it a night!

 

 

Conclusion

 

As mentioned above, my days vary heavily each day which isn’t always a good thing. However, this is what a typical day in the life of Jeet Banerjee looks like!

 

25 Tips For A More Meaningful Life

In this article, I share 25 tips for a more meaningful life using things I have learned from mentors and from personal experiences in the world.

 

Everyone wants to leave the world knowing they had a purpose. Some of us realize our purpose earlier in life while others don’t find out till the end.

 

 

Regardless of when you find out your purpose, it’s crucial to live a meaningful life that is satisfying to you. In this article, I’m going to share 25 tips for a more meaningful life:

 

 

1. Inspiration is fleeting. When you find inspiration, capture it by taking action. Do something to fulfill your inspiration. Even if you make just one move, it is something that can  change your life.

 

 

2. Dare to dream. Don’t just let your dreams sit in your mind and rot. If you have a big dream or vision, go out there and pursue it. You will never know how your dream plays out unless you put it into action.

 

 

3. Give back. No matter how or what you choose to give back, find a way to honor your beliefs and passions. Everyone takes from the world, but be remembered for someone who gave back.

 

 

4. Be mission driven. Set daily goals and push yourself to achieve things. Continuously push yourself to be the best you and hold yourself accountable.

 

 

5. Don’t ever lose focus of what’s important. Family and friends are some of the most important things in life. Don’t let other activities in your life ruin your relationships with the people you love most.

 

 

6. Time is the most valuable thing we have. Be very careful how you spend your time because that is one thing you cannot get back.

 

 

7. Never talk bad upon others. If you don’t have something good to say about people, don’t say it at all.

 

 

8. Listen more, talk less.

 

 

9. Treat everyone the same. Regardless of who you meet, treat everyone equally. Network and talk to everyone you meet to learn more about their lives.

 

 

10. Learn continuously. You may be out of formal education, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop learning. Education never stops.

 

 

11. Be willing to fail. Failure doesn’t define you or what you do. It’s just an event – something that happens at a specific day/time. Be willing to learn from failure.

 

 

12. Never say never. There is no such thing as impossible unless we ourselves believe it. No matter what the task or dream may be, go out there and chase it until you achieve it.

 

 

13. Let go of the past. Whether it’s a grudge with others from the past or a strong feeling of hatred towards something, we have to learn to let go of things from the past. Don’t let the past prevent you from moving forward.

 

 

14. Be the best you. Don’t do what society, your surroundings, or circumstances expect you to do. Do what you want to do.

 

 

 

15. Do something scary. Whether it’s going skydiving or quitting your job to start a business, do something that terrifies you. We all have to face our fears sometime.

 

 

16. Find a mentor. Develop a strong relationship with someone who is where you wish to be. Having a close connection with someone you look up to can provide amazing value.

 

 

17. See the world. Save money to go out and visit various travel spots in the world. You don’t want to live your whole life in just one area without seeing the millions of gorgeous sites around the world.

 

 

18. Say NO. Sometimes, we end up saying yes to everything and have a tough time saying no to others for many different reasons. However, we must value our time ourselves. If you don’t want to do it, just say NO.

 

 

19. Eliminate the losers. If you have people in your life that are weighing you down, take them out of the picture. In order to be successful and truly live life on your terms, you need to be around positive people.

 

 

20. Have compassion for others. It’s often hard to know the situations others are dealing with. However, to be a better person we must have compassion for others and truly believe that we don’t know everything about their life.

 

 

21. Be humble. It’s okay to celebrate successes, but be humble no matter what.

 

 

22. Finish what you start. If you pick something up, don’t get started unless you plan to complete it.

 

 

23. Work hard. In order to be successful and achieve your goals, you must work hard and not shy away from hard labor.

 

 

24. Live in such a way that if someone decided to speak badly of you, no one would believe it.

 

 

25. No better day than today. The best time to start on your new and more meaningful life is today. The faster you change, the quicker you get results.

 

 

Conclusion

 

These are 25 various lessons that I have learned throughout the last few years that have helped me achieve a more meaningful life. Some of these tips have come from mentors, my personal experiences, or lessons I learned the hard way.

 

 

photo credit: Georgie Sharp via photopin cc

The Braydon Batungbacal Interview – How To Launch 150+ Apps In One Year

In this article, I share an interview with Braydon Batungbacal. Braydon Batungbacal is a young entrepreneur who has launched over 150+ apps in one year and I share his story today.

Today I set out to interview a young entrepreneur by the name of Braydon Batungbacal. He’s an app developer and runs a mobile app business that has been extremely successful!

 

 

Here’s the interview below:

 

 

1. For my audience, please introduce yourself and share a little bit about who you are and what you do.

 

My name is Braydon Batungbacal. I’m a self taught programmer who loves business and building things. I’ve always been interested in technology ever since I was a kid and began learning to code at a pretty young age… I believe around the age of 8 or 9. I’m the co-founder of a mobile app and software company called Sitrusy that produces tons of cool apps per month.

 

 

2. So how many apps do you have published on the Android & iPhone? 

 

Right now, I think we (Sitrusy) have about 150 or more apps on the market combined between Android and iPhone. We stopped keeping count after the first 40 or so.

 

 

3. Wow! That’s a ton of apps. How have you guys been able to publish so many apps that have been so successful?

 

We really take a long look at what people are wanting in the market, looking at what needs need to be filled. We try to determine the most profitable ideas with the least amount of competition and drill out as many apps related to that niche as possible. Once we’ve found a profitable niche, we build “template” apps that can be quickly changed and converted to an entirely new, same niche app with simple things like a redesign, or layout change. With this strategy, we can spend our time developing one solid template app and then making 5 to 10 apps from that one template, which is how we’ve developed so many apps so far.

 

 

4. So if someone with NO programming experience wanted to jump into this similar path. What would you recommend to them? How long did it take you to learn coding on both platforms?

 

Anyone who has no programming experience, I would recommend looking into outsourcing the development of app ideas to overseas developers using websites like oDesk.com. By outsourcing you can spend more of your time researching the market and finding out what will be profitable. As far as coding goes, iPhone app development (Objective-C language) took me about 2 to 3 months to learn, Android app development (Java language) took about 2 months.

 

5. So at this point, after having the company for 1 year – how far have you guys come along? 

 

We’ve come pretty far, it’s almost unbelievable. We typically see a month to prior month growth of 1.2x to 1.5x profit, which has compounded like crazy the last 6 months or so when things really started to take off. We’re generating 5,000,000 to 20,000,000 app downloads per month at this point, with more growth to come! The app industry is definitely fast growing – and that’s being modest.

 

 

6. That’s insane! You guys are really pushing the entrepreneur limits to the max. Share a little bit about your work ethic. 

 

Our work ethic? 24/7/365. If we’re not physically working, we’re mentally working and constantly thinking of new things that we can break into the market, or other future ventures. My typical work schedule is waking up around 11am and working until mid afternoon when I’ll typically go out and get lunch or meet up with friends for an hour or two. Then at that point I head back to my place and code until the early hours of the morning, usually until 5am or 6am.

 

 

7. What’s your motivation to do what you today as an entrepreneur?

 

I came from a middle class family that really got hit hard during the economic down turn. My parents almost lost their house and purposely made me aware of what was going on as things got hard in order to motivate me and use it as an experience that would push me to never be in a situation like that. It definitely affected me. Being financially stable and able to provide for anyone in my family or friends in their time of need without any issues whatsoever is probably the biggest motivator of mine on top of where I’ve come from.

 

 

8. What are tips, strategies, and resources you would share with others trying to get into the mobile development game?

 

I would say start off by getting yourself an android device or iphone and really start having fun playing games and downloading apps. Make sure to write down and take note of similarities you see between the really popular apps you download – because typically those are the features that got those apps to being as successful as they are. Once you’ve really gotten a feel for the market, start thinking of ideas for your first app(s). Try to look at what trends are popular on the market and cater your ideas around that. From there you can go into finding a developer to outsource your app to and finally get it into the store.

 

 

9. What are your short-term and long-term plans?

 

In the near future we may be selling some of our existing apps to other companies who are currently interested in purchasing. We’ll also continue with our app development which includes coming up with new ideas to bring to the market, along with optimizing and bettering our existing apps. As for the long term, we’re currently in the process of developing a mobile advertisement network called AppFrames.

 

 

10. Finally, if you can leave us with one piece of advice – what would it be? 

 

As with anything you venture out to build or create on your own it’s going to be tough. If you don’t have strong enough reasons or a passion to do what you do you’re going to give up at one point or another. Figure out the reasons for why you’re doing what you’re doing early on and push as hard as you can to reach your goals and don’t hesitate when new opportunities come. It’s tough, I personally have had my share of mental break downs. But the end result after all of the hardship and work is definitely worth it.

 

 

Contact Braydon 

 

For anyone interested in contacting Braydon or even taking consulting services from him, feel free to shoot an email over to him at: Me@BraydonB.com.

 

Twitter – https://twitter.com/BraydonSitrusy

 

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/braydonbatungbacal

 

The 5 Biggest Myths About Angel Investors

In this article, I share the 5 biggest myths about angel investors that many entrepreneurs believe. I’ll share what these myths are and why they aren’t actually true.

 

In the entrepreneurial world, there’s a lot of talk about what to expect when you come across angel investors. Early on as an entrepreneur, the perceived image of these angel investors scared me shitless. 

 

 

People made angel investors look so big, powerful, and scary that I was terrified to approach them with business ideas. However, I ended up making a lot of friends in the entrepreneurial community who were angel investors.

 

 

From having extensive talks with them and almost taking money from angel investors, I learned quite a bit about them. In this article, I’m going to share the 5 biggest myths about angel investors:

 

 

1. They Have All The Power

 

Most people feel like they have no say or choice when it comes to angel investors. They feel that they must succumb to the every wish of the investor if they want money.

 

 

However, I learned from angel investors and other smart entrepreneurs that you have all the choices in the world. There is only one team that is doing what you are doing while there are millions of angel investors out there.

 

 

You don’t need to bow down to their every wish. You need to do what is best for your company. You can turn the tables on angel investors by trying to get them to bid for your startup. Just remember – great startups and teams have more leverage than they think they do.

 

 

2. Angel Investors Are Way Better Than VC’s 

 

This is probably the biggest myth of all that many entrepreneurs end up believing. Neither side is better, they’re just different from one another.

 

 

Angel investors look for different things and invest in startups at different stages whereas venture capitalists are interested in other things. It’s very hard for early-stage startups to raise money from VC’s where as it’s much easier to do so with angel investors.

 

 

Regardless of where your startup is, do not believe the myth that one type of investor is better than the other. They both are equally valuable, but it really depends on what your needs are and where your startup is at.

 

 

3. I’m Going With The Highest Valuation

 

Different investors will put different valuations on your business. However, a big mistake entrepreneurs make is to go with the higher valuation because they feel like they are getting a better deal.

 

 

In reality, many investors will give your business a higher valuation so that they can take a higher equity percentage out of your company. You may think your company is worth $1 million in their eyes, but they are only doing that to pump in a little extra cash to take more equity.

 

 

Always take investor valuations with a grain of salt. Don’t look at individual numbers, but the whole picture so that you can make the best decisions for your business.

 

 

4. If I Don’t Get Funded, I’m Screwed

 

Not really. Some of the biggest startups bootstrapped and became successful. Just because an investor doesn’t see your vision doesn’t mean it’s time to pack your bags.

 

 

If you have sight of what you want to achieve and you believe in yourself, a couple investors saying NO shouldn’t stop you. Investors are picky with their money and often make decisions based on their personal interests so don’t let a couple NO’s stop you from achieving your goals.

 

 

5. One Mistake And I’m Not Getting Funded

 

When you’re pitching to investors, you want to give the best performance possible. However, a couple mistakes or slip-ups don’t necessarily mean you won’t get funded.

 

 

Remember, most angel investors are or used to be entrepreneurs and know what it feels like to be on the other side. They aren’t as worried about your mistakes (as long as you can bounce back and learn from them) as they are about how driven you are for success.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Pitching to angel investors and building relationships with them can be a nervous, but exciting time for many entrepreneurs. This article shed light on 5 common myths many entrepreneurs believe about angel investors.

 

 

5 Ways To Self-Educate Yourself & Master Any Skill

The way we educate ourselves and learn material is changing every day with technology. Thanks to the internet, a college education isn’t always the best method for learning. In this blog article, I will share 5 ways to self-educate yourself & master any skill.

 

As many of you know, I’m not the biggest fan of a formal education due to the limitations set forth by most curriculums. However, there are many great ways to self-educate yourself to learn any skill that might not necessarily be taught in a classroom.

 

 

Over the last few years, I have mastered many skills and learned hundreds of things through self-education. As time has gone by, I have been able to learn faster and educate myself further.

 

 

In this blog article, I’m going to share 5 ways to self-educate yourself & master any skills.

 

 

Self-Education Requires Self-Motivation 

 

Before I go into the 5 ways to self-educate yourself & master any skill, I want to talk about the importance of being self-motivated. In order to master a skill, you must want to learn. Nobody will be holding you accountable, you won’t be measured by grades, and you won’t be disciplined for slacking.

 

 

In order to successfully master a skill and self-educate yourself, you must be motivated and determined to learn the material. I highly recommend holding yourself accountable and trying to educate yourself on things you actually are passionate about learning. With that said, here are 5 ways to self-educate yourself:

 

 

1. The Blogosphere

 

Blogs are an amazing way to learn a LOT about any topic. For example, QuickSprout teaches you a lot about online marketing and business. I used QuickSprout to learn a lot about online marketing.

 

 

You have to look online for blogs or writers who are masters in something that you want to learn. Continuously read and re-read that blog until you have a great understanding of what it says. Then to test your knowledge, go out there and put it into action!

 

 

2. Books

 

With books being available digitally nowadays, you have no excuse to constantly read. I try to read 1-2 books a month on a completely new skill that I want to master. Not only does it expand my knowledge, but it makes me a lot more wiser.

 

 

Reading is one of the easiest and fastest ways to educate yourself. You can find books by searching for them in websites such as Amazon, Nook, or even iTunes to see which ones are in high demand.

 

 

3. Podcasts 

 

There are so many amazing podcasts out there. Podcasts such as EntrepreneurOnFire exist all over the web-sphere. It may take some time to find, but there is a lot of great content and information awaiting you on these platforms.

 

 

Podcasts are a seamless way to absorb a lot of information since it’s usually all audio. You can typically learn and master many skills rather quickly because podcasts really pack a lot of information.

 

 

4. Video/Speeches

 

With the internet, there are numerous places to find videos where people are willing to teach you various things. In addition to that, you can learn a lot from listening to other successful people give speeches.

 

 

Whether you go to these speeches in person or find them online, there is a huge community for those interested. The most popular community, known as Ted, provides short and robust discussions that can teach you a LOT.

 

 

5. Online Courses 

 

In the last few years, the ability for individuals to learn things online through a course has become extremely popular. Sites like Udemy, TreeHouse, and Coursera have made it easy for instructors to bring their content to students.

 

 

These sites can give you an action-packed course that can allow you to rapidly master a skill in as little as a few short weeks. You can even find courses from college curriculums for FREE through some internet searching.

 

 

Conclusion

 

The way we educate ourselves and learn material is changing every day with technology. Thanks to the internet, a college education isn’t always the best method for learning. Feel free to share in the comments below how you self-educate yourself!

 

7 Ways To Avoid Mediocrity

Are you tired of being average? Is there anything in your life that is unique or original compared to others? In this article, I’m going to share 7 ways to avoid mediocrity.

 

The average American has a job, 58% of them. The average American makes $735/weekly. The average American (54% of them) has less than $100,000 in their savings account.

 

 

The average American is dissatisfied with the life they are living, which is approximately 57% of them. In this article, I’m doing to discuss how you can avoid being ‘average’.

 

 

Here are 7 ways to avoid mediocrity:

 

 

1. Think Big, Act Small

 

Most mediocre people are scared to think big and take actions towards it. They do what society or their surroundings expect them to and rarely ever pursue things on their own.

 

 

To avoid mediocrity, you must be willing to think big. Set big goals and achieve them by making small progress towards them each day.

 

 

2. Look Up To People Who Are Different

 

If you’re surrounded by mediocre people, your bound to end up being just like them. Role models, mentors, and advisers are a great way to escape your mediocre surroundings.

 

 

Is there someone in the world who’s really not like everyone else? If you look up to this person, make them your mentor and let them guide you away from a life of mediocrity.

 

 

3. Don’t Listen To The Majority

 

The majority of people are average. If you listen to the majority of people when making decisions, you will be following in a path of mediocrity. Take the road less traveled or the one that nobody has traveled. 

 

 

Sometimes you have to do the things in life that your surroundings advise you against. If you listen to the average, you will end up being just like them.

 

 

4. Spend Your Free Time Doing Something Productive

 

Average people spend their free time watching television, partying, and doing other miscellaneous activities they think are fun. If you want to avoid mediocrity, you have to work harder than everyone else.

 

 

Instead of spending your free time watching television, spend that time doing something that will help you tomorrow. Whether it’s running a side business or simply reading to gain knowledge, do something productive.

 

 

5. Do What Others Aren’t Willing To Do

 

Ask any entrepreneur why they are successful and able to retire by 30 and they will all unanimously attribute their success to one thing. That one thing is hard work and by hard work, I mean a LOT of it.  

 

 

In order to avoid falling in with the average, you have to be willing to go above and beyond. Successful entrepreneurs have often said that they worked 18 hour days for the first 3-4 years. To avoid mediocrity, you must be committed and willing to do whatever it takes to achieve your goals.

 

 

6. Take Risks That Make Others Think Your Crazy

 

Average people live the same monotonous life every day. They work a 9 to 5 job, save just enough money for 1 vacation a year, and are hoping that they’ll have made enough money in 40 years to enjoy retirement.

 

 

Those who aren’t mediocre live life on the edge. To avoid mediocrity, you cannot be fearful of the risks that come with it. Always weigh the risk factor into every decision, but be open to taking risks.

 

 

7. Try New Things

 

Mediocre people are okay with living the same day over and over again because they are fearful of change. If you are against trying new things, you will set yourself up for a life of mediocrity.

 

 

Be willing to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. If you keep an open mind, you will find yourself in the middle of many more opportunities as well.

 

 

Conclusion

 

Avoiding mediocrity is a goal that everyone in the world should strive for. I set myself up on this path while I was graduating high school and I’m so glad that I have!

 

 

10 Reasons Why You Should Never Get A Job

Do you have a job that you hate? Why are you still at that job? In this article, I’m going to share 10 reasons why you should never get a job and are much better off pursuing your dreams.

 

One of the most highly debated topics are whether or not you should get a job. People who are for the ‘job’ side always use safety and a peace of mind as reasons why you should remain at a job.

 

 

As an entrepreneur myself, my opinion is quite bias on this topic. I truly believe you should not get a job if you have the motivation to do amazing things.

 

 

In this article, I’m going to share 10 reasons why you should never get a job:

 

 

1. You’ll Never Get What Your Worth

 

Employees are rarely ever satisfied with the amount of money they are making. Employers feel like they should be making less while employees feel like they should be making a lot more money.

 

 

The truth is, no matter how much money you make at your job, you will not be getting what your worth. The value that you bring to the company is not directly compensated. There are managers and owners who are taking profits on top of the value that you bring.

 

 

2. You Lose That Creative Spark

 

Working a job is extremely tedious. I did it for 2 years at the age of 15 as a project manager and it was the most mundane experience I ever had.

 

 

The thing was, I had a lot of creative spark but I never got to use any of it. All the creative aspects of the company were handled by the managing team, which left me with the same repetitive work over and over again. If you enjoy creative freedom, don’t work at a job.

 

 

3. Financial Security? Hah.

 

People say that jobs give you comfort, a peace of mind, and financial security. Have you really thought how scary a job really is?

 

 

One day you can be doing the best work of your life, the next day you can be unemployed. You don’t have to do something wrong to get fired. Your financial security is not dependent on yourself (as it would if you were an entrepreneur), it’s dependent on another person who controls your paycheck.

 

 

4. Like It Or Not, You Have To Do It

 

The worst part about being an employee is that you have to deal with all the rubbish that comes along with it. If your boss asks you to do something, you HAVE to do it. You don’t really have much of a choice.

 

 

For some reason, all my friends that have jobs are always groaning about how much it sucks. Jobs do suck because you get bossed around by someone else and your forced to do it if you want remain an employee.

 

 

5. You Live For Weekends

 

Employees live for weekends. It’s not that you have something amazing planned every weekend that you’re looking forward to. You’re just trying to escape your job. 

 

 

You look forward to weekends and cringe at the sight of Monday because your job is only an outlet to make money. You shouldn’t look forward to weekends if you love your job, you should enjoy every day the same.

 

 

6. You Build Someone Else’s Dream

 

When you take a job, you put your dreams aside and work on someone else’s. The worst part of building someone else’s dream is that you do not get remembered for all the great things you did to help them get there.

 

 

If you have dreams and goals that you aspire to achieve, why let a job block you from pursuing it?

 

 

7. You Trade Time For Money

 

The wealthiest people in the world have often shared their models showing how they have been able to be so successful. The biggest thing they have been able to master is the ability to not trade their time for money.

 

 

Through investments, passive income streams, and strategic portfolios, wealthy people are able to make money consistently without spending significant time doing so. In a job, you are directly trading every minute of your life in exchange for a dollar amount.

 

 

8. You Don’t Control Your Destiny

 

As an entrepreneur, I can wake up tomorrow morning and go to Hawaii for a vacation if I really wanted to. However, I love what I do so much that I don’t really need a vacation.

 

 

The point is, entrepreneurs have the freedom to do whatever they want whenever they want. As an employee, your freedom is restricted by others in the company.

 

 

9. How Many Young Millionaires Do You See With Jobs?

 

Have you ever seen a 30 year old doctor who’s a self-made millionaire? How about that guy who just got a corporate job for Morgan Stanley who’s turning 26 next week? Is he a self-made millionaire?

 

 

No, none of them are. Why? Because they’re working a job. Jobs are a turtle-paced path to retirement. Work hard and invest your money for 40 years and hopefully you’ll be able to enjoy retirement. Pursuing your own dreams are far more rewarding, work hard for 10 years and possibly retire for the rest of your life!

 

 

10. Do What You Love

 

Life is too short to live the same day twice. If you don’t like what you’re doing, change it. You shouldn’t have to look at your job as a chore because it can really be a lot more then that.

 

 

Find something you’re passionate about and pursue that. If you do what you love, you will eventually make money because your passion will guide you there.

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this article, I shared 10 reasons why you should never get a job. Do you have any reasons why you don’t think people should get a job? Feel free to share them below. 

 

 

photo credit: katiew via photopin cc