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“The Entrepreneurial Revolution” - A Brief History
A Brief History Of The “Entrepreneurial Revolution”
Guest Post by Alex Mandossian
In his February 24th State of the Union Address, Barack Obama publicly declared that “The future of our economy relies on the imagination of our Entrepreneurs.”
That twelve-word sentence in President Obama’s speech isn’t about politics as much as it is about business. Your business. My business. And the dawn of a brighter new future of the ”Entreprenrial Interdependence” era that’s now upon us.
Quick History Lesson: In the 20th century, Americans traded their Entrepreneurial Independence (which they enjoyed for the previous 200 years), and began a 50-year stint of dependence on the modern-day Corporation.
Think back to that famous scene that happened on September 17th, 1787 during the Signing of the U.S. Constitution.
The central figures who were present included George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and America’s first millionaire, Benjamin Franklin. These Founding Fathers were opposed by the “entrepreneurially dependent” Loyalists who supported the British Monarchy.
What’s most interesting is the iconic events that catalyzed the the American Revolution (such as the Boston Tea Party in 1773) were influenced by business-centered values as much as politically-centered values.
I believe the golden era of Entrepreneurial Independence lasted about ninety years and happened from 1855 to 1945 as millions of immigrants landed on American shores of Ellis Island at the mouth of the Hudson River.
I’m talking about Entrepreneurs like Max Factor, Charles Atlas and Chef Boyardee, as well as Hollywood icons such as Pola Negri, Bela Lugosi, and even Bob Hope!
But then something terrible happened right after World War II. Most American entrepreneurs decided to trade their independence by selling their souls to the “Corporation.” For the next 50 years, the myth of job security prevailed.
These past 50 years represent the Dark Ages of Entrepreneurship. Specifically, this is the age I refer to as the era of “Entrepreneurial Dependence” which is marred by corporate scandals and corruption.
Enron, WorldCom and Xerox are just a few of the dozens of examples listed on the Forbes Corporate Scandal Sheet.
This avalanche of corporate scandals have rocked the stock markets, skyrocketed national debt and diminished the net worth of millions of Americans.
Yet despite the current economic downswing, I firmly believe that Entrepreneurs (with a big “E”) are at the dawn of a brighter future and brand new era of freedom which I’ll call “Entrepreneurial Interdependence.”
It all makes sense now, doesn’t it?
For over 200 years, starting with the Founding Fathers (18th century) to golden age of immigrant entrepreneurs (20th century), the U.S. economy was driven by Entrepreneurial Independence.
Then for the next 50 years - beginning at the end of World War II until today - we’ve found ourselves in the Dark Ages of Entrepreneurial Dependence.
With the Internet coming of age at the beginning of the 21st century, and the most recent social media onslaught of YouTube, FaceBook and Twitter, we are about to enter the third and brightest business era in economic history!
It is the modern era of what Chris Anderson of Wired Magazine, calls Radical Transparency. It is the bold new economic era of “Entrepreneurial Interdependence” … and I predict it’ll be a wild and fruitful ride!
Here’s a summary of the way I see the 3 epochs of Entrepreneurship:
First Epoch (1755 - 1945): Entrepreneurial Independence
Second Epoch (1945 - 2010): Entrepreneurial Dependence
Third Epoch (2010 - Future): Entrepreneurial Interdependence
I believe that next year (2010), and possibly this even year, the global economy is going to be driven by the cheerful expectency of the Entrepreneurial Interdependence mindset.
Interdependence is dramatically different than “dependence” and even “independence.” Interdependence is the state or a dynamic of being mutually responsible to and sharing a common set of principles with others.
Ironically, Karl Marx was the first to use the term in his Communist Manifesto (1848) to describe self-sufficiency.
Renowned historian, Will Durant wrote about it in his Declaration of Interdependence (1944). Other thought leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, Franklin Roosevelt and Stephen Covey have written and spoken at length about it.
My favorite quote about Interdependence is by William James who wrote:
“The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.”
In my view, the business community stagnates without the impulse of the Interdependent Entrepreneur and because you’ve read this far, my sense is that you probably agree with me. Right?
What To Do Now: I encourage you to start smiling at the future and begin celebrating your own Entrepreneurial Interdependence. Focus on building stronger and more trusted strategic alliances. That’s where the profits are.
The bottom line is that the the quality of your professional life is based on the quality of the company you keep - your strategic alliances. As best-selling author Jim Collins says, “First who, then what.”
Although I don’t agree with all of President Obama’s economic philosophies, I do agree with his recent declaration, “The future of our economy relies on the imagination of our Entrepreneurs.” Whether you agree or disagree, please share your thoughts with me and the rest of the world.
Leave your candid comment on this post.
10 Honest Things About Me You Might Not Know
Well, it was bound to happen. I’ve been tagged by Group Coaching Expert and friend, 
WendyY Bailey. So because I know transparency is so valuable in developing business relationships (and because you might get a few chuckles at my expense – which is always fun), I’m accepting the challenge to reveal 10 honest things about me you might not know:
- I’m the oldest of three and the youngest and I were born on the same day exactly 4 years apart. I love my little brother!
- By the time I was 11 years old, I was already in 9th grade.
- I speak three languages (Spanish, English and French) and learning a fourth (Portuguese). I was going to go for learning German, just for the sheer challenge of it, but Portuguese is more relevant for my market and the way my business is growing.
- I started sucking my thumb when I was 7 and still continued (secretly, of course) until adulthood. The only people that ever saw me doing that as an adult were folks I felt very secure and comfortable with.
- I’m actually nervous that I just admitted #4!
- I was diagnosed with Stage 3 cervical cancer when I was 22 and 3 years later beat it with no help from the medical establishment. It was all through prayer, meditation, journaling, fasting, and eating an all natural healthy diet. I haven’t been sick since, nor will be. I am a staunch believer of the power to heal ourselves.
- My legs are all marked up with scars from my childhood tomboy years, falling off bikes, roller skates, trees… But I still manage to make a skirt look decent :)!
- I didn’t have a girly period when I was growing up. In fact, I didn’t start wearing a purse until I hit my 30’s.
- I had two undergraduate degrees by age 20, and currently pursuing a PhD in Organizational Leadership.
- If I died right now, I’d feel at peace and no regrets. Although I don’t “talk” about it much, this is 100% due to my spiritual foundation and connection to a higher power.
Now, to tag a few of my friends and ask for their 10 honest traits::
Alexandria Brown – Alexandria Brown International
Alejandro Reyes – Successfool.com and LosingRocks.com
Angel McClinton - The Video Marketing Maven (I call her that, anyway)
David Bullock - The Profit Engineer
Maria Reyes McDavis – The Web Success Diva
Do you really need a business plan?
I’ll be the first to admit, I’ve espoused the need for having a formal business plan before. In fact, many clients have hired *ME* to create a huge 50-100 page business plan for their organizations.
However, after considering the issue I’m having second thoughts and maybe you should be too.
* What’s the advantage of a business plan?
* Why should you chuck your current business plan and redesign it?
* How is your business plan damaging your brand and profits?
Come join us tomorrow (Tuesday, August 19th) at 9:30 pm ET / 6:30 pm PT as I discuss “A New Look at an Old Paradigm: Business Plans 2.0″ during my LIVE Broadcast. Remember you have to register with uStream in order to participate in the chat room and ask your business questions live. It’s also an awesome way to connect with other business owners, entrepreneurs and possible strategic alliances.
After the discussion, I’ll be updating this blog post and I’d love to hear your comments on it.
Get the Ball Rolling FAST In Your Business
A friend of mine once called me to let me know he was starting his own business. I congratulated him
and said that if he ever needed any support from me to give me a shout. I hadn’t heard from him in several weeks so I emailed him to find out how everything was going. He wrote back,
“I’ve recently completed my website (of course, it’s a work in progress) and I just don’t know
where to go from here. I feel like I’m preparing to no end; but have not had one client to date. How can I really get the ball rolling? E-mail blasts, mailings, registering on the various search engines; I’m just
not sure which road to take.”
I wrote back a lengthy email with plenty of ideas. In the days that followed, we talked at length
about his strategy. Here are a few bullet points from that dialog:
1) Get out there.
You really have to put yourself out there and get ‘face-time with people
so they get to know, like and trust you. Building relationships is the
main thing. You want people to be able to know you well enough, trust
you deeply enough and think of your professionalism high enough to not
only do business with you, but also refer you to their friends,
colleagues and loved ones.
2) Follow Up. It
is often said that it takes prospects an average of 7 - 9 contacts with
you before you even get on their radar screen, let alone be the chosen
solution for the problem they are seeking to solve. So implement a
follow up system that will allow your prospects to have your contact
information handy and keep on you on top of mind when they need your
services and/or come across a referral.
3) Start in your own
backyard. Did you ever read that classic book, Acres of
Diamonds? The character in that book sells his field and wonders
the world in search of treasures. When he returns to his town an abject
failure, he finds out that his field had a diamond mine. He was sitting
on a fortune all along! So with us, usually, we think we need to have a
global strategy before we master a local strategy. I am a huge proponent
of thinking big, but you need to start somewhere. Make a list of
everyone you know and contact them to let them know you are available
and what services and products you offer. If they’re not in the market
for your services, ask them for three referrals each. And repeat the
process until you’ve reached your sales objective.
4) Specialize. It’s
tempting to offer a ton of services and cast as wide a net as possible.
But that actually hurts your business in the long run. People who try to
be everything to all people usually tend to be perceived as a novice. Or
worse, your prospects may think you are very likely to be
low-balled in your prices because there’s nothing you do extraordinarily
well, so you’ve become a commodity in their eyes where the only thing to
separate you from the competition is how low you’re willing to go. Also,
people tend to think that if you do one thing, you do it well and
command the credibility and prices you deserve.
5) If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Your competition could very well be a hidden treasure
trove of client referrals. Make a list of 5-10 businesses that have a
similar offer as you do, and approach them to become a referral partner.
They may be overloaded with work and can give you the overflow, or
perhaps they have the same offering, but for a different target market
than yours. Take advantage of those subtle differences by serving each
other’s customers. Both you and your competition will look like winners
in your prospects’ eyes.
If you are struggling to drum
up business right now, then you need to be spending 80-90% of your time
marketing your business. I like to call it “rain making.” You can take
very specific action to plant seeds in the beginning of your business (I go over them in detail in the
Mastermind Coaching Gym). That way, when it’s time to make it rain,
you’ve already done the preliminary work and just watch your work bloom.
Deadline Extended for JumpStart Your Business in 30 Days or Less
Phew! What a relief. As some of you know, Sarah had a doctor’s appointment today at 2 pm. Turns out they’ll need to run additional tests for her. It could be a viral infection - could be mono (I had no idea kids could get mono) - could be encephalitis (need another MRI). Whatever the heck this is, it is affecting her lymphatic system and part of her brain. So we are back to the doctor Friday and then again August 4th for final tests.
That just bought you 5 more days to get the JumpStart System. Trust me, if you’ve been waiting this long to catapult your business the right way, this is your chance to get off your tush about it! I will be taking you step by step to everything you need to do to make sure your business is on the right track, from incorporation, to marketing, setting up your operations and sales, to getting your presence felt on the web.
Don’t end up hating yourself for not acting now. In today’s economic climate, the future of your livelihood should be in YOUR hands, not anyone else’s. So make sure you JumpStart Your Business TODAY!
Love and Success,
Monikah
The Power of Social Media Networking
Thank you to everyone who has emailed, called, twittered, blogged, facebooked, myspaced, and everything else you’ve done to connect with me about the health of my daughter, Sarah. I am very moved and touched that people all over the globe, most of whom have never met me personally, would take time out of their life to reach out to another human being. I think it speaks to not only how bright you shine, but also the goodness and connectedness of the human spirit.
As an update: Sarah is taking well to the antibiotics. She can hold down food now and is sleeping through the night. We have some more tests to take as the days wear on, but I have faith that she is going to come out of this even more of a resilient, strong, happy little girl than she is already.
Now…
To those of you who have already purchased The JumpStart Your Business in 30 Days or Less Program, congratulations!!! You are IN for a treat. Please do not feel overwhelmed by all the material you are getting. I promise I have dissected it and broken it down into sizeable, manageable pieces so that you can really take advantage of it to grow your business.
Also remember that we will soon be scheduling a Q & A call with me so you can get coaching on putting the system together specifically for your business and lifestyle. So stay tuned for that announcement.
Oh, and I have 8 more unadvertised bonuses coming your way. Surprise! 
Many have wanted to contribute in some way to “Team Sarah” (thanks Michael Ballard of Resiliency for Life for the team name!), even though you may not be in a position right now to purchase JumpStart. Thanks to our friend, Reggie Baker of In This Together (what a name, huh!) now you can do that. Scroll down to the bottom of the JumpStart page and you will see a donation button there.
I want to publicly thank my friends Jim Turner, Ron Hudson, Alejandro Reyes, Deontee Gordon, and Dr. Ray Blanchard. Literally within a few hours of having shared with them what is going on with my family, they jumped at the chance to make a difference, to talk to their people, offer bonuses, announce the fire sale to their networks and checking in with me just to see how Sarah is doing. It is very easy to hide behind anonymity online, but these folks are living proof of the power of social media. You guys are amazing professionals and incredible human beings. Thank you for the difference you’ve made in my life.
Stay tuned for the victory lap!
Love and success,
Monikah
Your Business Wins and Sarah Wins
What would you do if your only child had a serious illness and your health insurance did not cover her medical expenses (a common but unspoken problem in the entrepreneurial world)? What would you do if in order for the doctor to continue to treat your child, you had to bring him a check to pay down the medical bills you’ve already incurred?
I’m going to be completely transparent and vulnerable to share with you: That’s what is happening to my 11 year old daughter, Sarah, who recently came down with a severe lymphatic infection that is causing her spleen to enlarge. She’s running a high fever, has swollen tonsils and is overall very tired and miserable.
Sarah’s has a series of diagnostic tests coming up, and in order to be able to walk in there with the money she needs, I am having a HUGE sale. I have collected over $1,800 of not only MY best work but also POWERFUL bonuses from key experts. And I am giving it to you for less than $100. I’m not kidding. Go here now now for the full story about Sarah and what I’m up to:
And for the first 25 of you who get the Jump Start Program, I’ll make sure to send you some very cool unadvertised bonuses to help your business as well (as if you weren’t getting enough tools to grow your business!).
But you’ve gotta hurry! Sarah’s next doctor’s appointment is 3:30 pm August 4th. I figure the doctor can’t cash the check until at least the next day, so I’m taking this sale down at 3pm EST on Tuesday, August 5th to get this amazing program.
Go here before you forget:
www.jumpstartyourbizin30.com
Thank you for being part of my life. Here’s to us! And Sarah…
Monikah
Randy Pausch, of “Last Lecture Series” fame dies
Randy Pausch was diagnosed with incurable pancreatic cancer in September 2006. His popular “Last Lecture” at Carnegie Mellon garnered international attention and was viewed by millions on YouTube, as well as getting him a spot on Oprah’s couch. When I first saw this YouTube clip, I wept. Not because of his imminent departure, but for the fortitude of his spirit. The power of his message that had to be said.
And on a larger scale, this is very much about your entrepreneurship: To live a life in such a way that you spend your working hours doing something you love, with people you respect, for people who believe in you… So that at the end of your life, much like Randy Pausch, you can say “You’re Welcome”.
Get Them Raving About You: Six Easy Steps to Get Testimonials
Whatever business you are in, one of the best assets you can build is a databank of testimonials from satisfied clients and customers. But exactly how do you get those rave reviews that you can use to attract more clients? Here are my 6 top tips for collecting and using effective testimonials.
1. Deliver a great product or service
I know it’s stating the obvious, but the first step in getting testimonials is to have satisfied customers and clients. That means you need to make sure you have delivered on your promises and at least met, if not exceeded, your customers’ expectations. Don’t try to collect any testimonials until you have met this criteria!
2. Ask!
The big secret of getting testimonials is no big secret at all. You’ve simply got to ask. If you’ve been in business for any length of time at all, you probably already have satisfied customers who would be more than willing to give you an endorsement, if only you ASK them. I understand that you might be self-conscious about asking, so why not send a note or email along these lines.
‘Can I ask a quick favour? I’m in the process of updating my marketing materials and want to include examples of people I have worked with and how I’ve helped them. I would love to include you. Would you be willing to jot a couple of lines about how my (service/product) helped you? I’m planning to get this completed in the next two weeks, so if you could reply by (deadline) it would really help. Thanks in anticipation!’
There, now that wasn’t so difficult was it? Try it. You’ll be pleasantly surprised by the responses you get!
3. Use full contact details
Have you ever seen those testimonials that are signed by someone like ‘J.V, Leicester’. Do you believe them? I don’t. They scream ‘made up!’ Testimonials simply aren’t worthwhile unless accompanied by full contact details: name, company, location, age, profession. Include as much relevant info as you need to prove that the testimonial was provided by a real person.
4. Use examples of your target audience
If you’re targeting single 20 somethings, then it doesn’t make sense to include a testimonial from a 50 year old married woman. The unspoken question many of your prospects have in their head is ‘Will this work for me?’, so they want to see case studies and examples from people who started out in a similar situation. Adapt your testimonials to make them relevant to your target audience eg if you are targeting working mothers include information like, ‘Sarah Smith, mother of 3′.
5. Make your testimonials more believable with photos, voice and/or video
We’ve all seen the ‘testimonials’ on tv that are actually paid actors, so it’s not surprising that many of your prospects are jaded and skeptical. You can make your testimonials more believable by using proof in the shape of photos, actual voice recordings of the testimonials and even video testimonials if you can get them. Audio Acrobat includes a feature for easily collecting voice testimonials from your customers. They provide you with a phone number, the client calls to record their message, then you get a simple code for uploading the audio to your website.
6. Have a system for soliciting testimonials
I know you’ve already got too much on your ‘to do’ list, and the last thing I want to do is create more work for you. The key to getting anything done in marketing is to put a system in place that automates the process. For example, send a form letter or email a specific number of days after the service, treatment or goods have been received verifying that your client is happy and asking them to provide you with their comments.
Some of the best testimonials I got for my first e-book came from a standard email I sent to every customer 14 days after they ordered the product. I just set the email up on my auto-responder so I didn’t have to think about it. It generated a steady stream of testimonials with no further action required on my part.
The bottom line is that adding testimonials is one of the most effective changes you can make to your marketing materials, so make sure you start collecting and using testimonials, starting today!
© Bernadette Doyle, 2007
11 Steps to Web 2.0 Mastery
I don’t know about you, but I’ve been having some fun exploring social media (Web 2.0). I’ve read about it eagerly, and visited plenty of MySpace and Face Book pages. I’ve been invited again and again to link up with this person, or ‘friend’ that person … and I’ve done so generally. All the while aware that I have no master plan here - no strategy.
And then there’s Digg, del.icious, YouTube and a host of other social bookmarking sites - where do they fit in overall? Basically, I’ve felt like I had no clue what I was doing.
But now I REALLY need a social media strategy as I grow a particular 2.0 arena - training and speaking. MySpace is ground zero for comics, musicians, and all sorts of performers. And as I begin to design my live workshop on “JumpStart Your Business”… well, I need to get going on Web 2.0 — like yesterday!
I’ve dug in with gusto, and concluded that most businesses need this kind of Web support. Here are some steps I’ve put together that will help you put the right social media energy on the Web
1. Design your blog to create a viable, branded, platform-ready web presence, preferably on a blog. Blogs are the new standard for websites because they are easy to index on Google and Yahoo, and they come with their own built in community (the blogosphere.)
2. Get on the social bookmarking sites. There’s a handy list that categorizes the top 30 by traffic, monthly visitors, Google Page Rank, etc at click here . Work the communities you choose (and you certainly don’t have to choose all of them) by setting up a presence there. Many of these sites index ‘the best of’ stuff, or pass along bookmarks … so submit yours! Keep conversations going, make sure you’re stuff is at least loaded on all top 30 sites. Where it seems relevant, drop in and join the conversation. (Some of these sites are specific to certain genres, i.e. Digg is techno-heavy.)
3. Get familiar with social networking sites, and pick 3-4 that serve your market and get traffic. TAKE NOTE: while ‘adults’ have merged with the young on these sites, the big ones are still dominated by the under 25 crowd. You will find some adults on MySpace and Linked In for sure, but don’t put inordinate amounts of time on the others if the young crowd is not your audience. There’s a good list that breaks these sites down by global market and reach at Wikipedia.org Obvious biggies to hit are Facebook (college audiences); MySpace (general and high school audiences); Linked In (small business); Xanga (city folk bloggers); Ryze (business); BOOMj (+35 folks, boomers); Flikr (photo sharing); CrowdAbout (for podcasters).
4. Create pages on your chosen 3-4 social networking sites, and customize them so they match your blog presence consistently. Don’t be overtly selly and do offer valuable content for free that will lead contacts into closer relationship with you. Use graphics where possible from your blog and testimonials.
5. Set up the blog that comes with your social networking page, and add content regularly. (It can be recycled from your standard blog, or even submitted at the same time.)
6. Microblog on Twitter. Twitter is an instant microblogging site that answers the question, ‘What are you doing?’ In fact, you have 140 characters to tell us - and that information can get updated frequently … which seems like a great way to keep indexed. These are short ‘bite-sized’ updates about your life that are too insignificant to share via, say, email. But these can be read on the Twitter site, mobile phones or even in instant messenger. It’s fun!
7. Recommend some favorite sites on StumbledUpon.
8. Download Bloglines (a free blog reader) and begin reading 10 really niched blogs that speak to your audience. Get to know these folks, blog about what they are doing, comment where you can helpfully and sign off with your blog URL. Add these blogs to your ‘blogroll’ and network your heart out. The traffic will come back to find you. The same can be done with a podcast receiver, such as Juice (for windows or Mac) and keep you networking within the podcast community.
9. Keep checking in on your social bookmarking and social networking sites periodically and remember to keep your blog content fresh. See what’s happening, make sure your page is doing well, see who’s dropping by, look involved … better yet, be involved!
10. Keep up with your friend requests, invitations, messages daily - just put aside a bit of time each day to do it. And while you’re at it, work the networks, and put out requests to like-minded folks in the network who appear to speak to your audience. If this is too much work, outsource to a high school or college student who is good at this. (Hint: they ALL are.)
11. Send out updates periodically to your friend list on your MySpace and other networking pages. Here’s where you can finally pitch your products and services, sales, speeches, seminars and other events of note.
Do this .. and stay committed and regular about it … and your indexing on Google is going to soar, right along with your blog traffic. You can bet I’ll be doing these things - so join me!
