I met Brian Moran, President of Moran Media Group, as a result of this column. He sent me an email after reading my post about the similarities of running a business and running a marathon. Brian’s entrepreneurial beginnings are a great lesson for all of us on the myth of job security and turning a challenge into a life-changing opportunity. He was kind enough to share his experience and advice during my recent interview with him.
Category: business
My Year of Hopefulness – For Others
“Life’s most urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
4th of July weekend is always an inflection point in my year. Somehow a switch flips in one area of my life or another and off I go. This year was no exception, except that I feel much more confident in this year’s 4th of July inflection point than I ever have any other year.
I’ve been batting around an idea for a social enterprise for a number of months. I’ve gone down a few different avenues and always ended up scrapping the plan. I had an idea of what I wanted the end result to be; I just didn’t know how to get there.
A few weeks ago I went down to DC for my friend Eric’s engagement party and was able to catch up with my friend, Liz, whom I used to work for in DC. She is one of the most talented researchers around and she has tremendous first-hand knowledge about urban education, exactly the area that I want to focus on for my social enterprise. I pitched my idea to Liz, and without blinking an eye she had a plan for my idea – how to execute it and how I could find funding.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve worked on a rough draft of the idea and passed it to a few people for review, one being Liz and another being my close friend, Amy, who has done work similar to what I’d like to do with this social enterprise. With their help I am revising the draft of my project, and their excitement over it has made me even more hopeful. I actually believe I can make a go of this.
Next I passed the draft on to a Twitter friend who is writing a book about social enterprise. He liked it so much that he asked if he could send it on to several friends of his for their input. Of course I whole-heartedly encouraged that!
While I’ve been so interested in entrepreneurship for some time and dabbled in it in one way or another at different points in my career, for the first time I am gaining the courage to take that plunge and never look back. So what’s different this time around? The motivation isn’t money or job security or what else the company might be able to earn for me. It’s motivated by this unrelenting idea to make a difference for urban public school kids who need this program. It’s a combination of timing and resources and passion for an idea. I know I can do this more than I’ve ever believed I can do anything. My answer to life’s most urgent question just couldn’t wait to be answered any longer. It’s just time.
NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Interview with Sam Odio, Founder of Divvyshot
I first found my way to Divvyshot though the Y Combinator site. Y Combinator is an investor in Divvyshot and after just a bit of exploration, it is very easy to see why Paul Graham, founder of Y Combinator, took an interest in the company. The photo sharing marketplace is certainly crowded. Luckily for Divvyshot, it’s a market crowded by many companies who have nearly identical service.
Sam Odio, founder of Divvyshot, identified three holes in the photo sharing market:
1.) Direct integration with the photographer’s computer photo library
2.) Ability for multiple people to contribute to one photo album
3.) Maintenance of a photo’s original resolution to preserve photo quality while sharing
Like many entrepreneurs, Sam took pain points, things that frustrated him, and crafted a solution. That solution is Divvyshot. I recently had the chance to interview Sam about his company, his entrepreneurial spirit, and his feelings about the current economy.
To view the full interview, please visit http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m7d5-Intreview-with-Sam-Odio-Founder-of-Divvyshot
NY Business Strategies Examiner: Interview with Mike Cannady of Scratch Music Group
About a year ago, I met Mike Cannady, Chief Strategy Officer and CFO of Scratch Music Group, at an alumni volunteer event. Scratch Music Group is a company based in NYC with the mission to train and promote both aspiring and name brand DJs. Since its inception, Scratch Music Group has developed DJ’ing academies in New York, Miami, LA, abroad three cruise ships, and in four Caribbean locations. The company has also developed a suite of products and services related to its core business, developing a full service music consulting group.
For the full interview, please click here.
NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: A look at Adam Werbach’s book, Strategy for Sustainability
Adam Werbach wrote a short piece for this month’s issue of Fast Company. In the article he outlines nature’s ten simple rules for survival. They apply not only to nature, but companies as well. I’ve listed the principles below and added some commentary on how each applies to our day-to-day working lives, specifically focusing on entrepreneurship.
To read the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d30-Natures-10-simple-rules-for-survival–a-look-at-Adam-Werbachs-Strategy-for-Sustainability
NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Entrepreneurship’s 10 Commandments
Today, Tom sent me a post by Guy Kawasaki, founder of Garage Technology Ventures among many other accomplishments, that details Entrepreneurship’s 10 Commandments. It’s clever and witty and inspirational. My advice is to print this out and post it by your desk, whether or not you work for yourself or for someone else. They are tenants to live by in our working lives.
To read the full story, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d16-Entrepreneurships-10-Commandments
NY Business Strategies Examiner: Stories of the famous and fired who are now better off
In relation to my column yesterday, I read a story today about Harry S Truman. He ran a clothing that store that went bankrupt. After that bankruptcy, he made the jump to politics which led him to win the highest office in the land – when many naysayers said he could never win a Presidential election. I wondered if there were other people who were fired and now live a better life because of it, so I went to Google and did some poking around.
For the full story, visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d10-Famous-and-fired
NY Business Strategies Examiner: Layoffs as an opportunity to reinvent ourselves
“I have come to believe that job security is one of the worst things a person can have, especially early in their career. Getting fired gives you a chance to reinvent yourself. All of a sudden you have the whole world in front of you and you can now leap to a career that you may love more.” ~ Nolan Bushnell, Founder of Atari
For my thoughts on this quote, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d9-The-opportunity-to-reinvent-ourselves
NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: Breakthrough ideas
I’ve been thinking about a specific business challenge for quite some time. Running, walking, and travel seem to shake loose creative ideas for me. For some reason moving around, getting out into the world, brings solutions to the surface that I can’t always get by staying home.
For the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d6-Breakthrough-ideas
NY Business Strategies Examiner.com: 3 questions entrepreneurs need to answer
The American Express OPEN forum is a great resource for anyone with an entrepreneurial spirit. Today, Scott Belsky wrote a post describing three questions that every entrepreneur should answer. In the past five months that I’ve been meeting and interviewing entrepreneurs, I’ve noticed that they have the remarkable ability to question themselves in an honest, straight-forward way. The most successful ones know who they are – what they’re good at, what they enjoy, and the trade-offs they’re willing to make to bring their ideas to life.
Scott Belsky’s questions are a great start that will help those thinking about entrepreneurship to be honest with themselves about their potential new venture, whether it’s their own company or a new project at the company where they currently are.
For the full article, please visit: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-2901-NY-Business-Strategies-Examiner~y2009m6d4-3-questions-that-entrepreneurs-need-to-answer
Christa Avampato 