Why I Do It - Travis Corrigan

There is an unanswered question that has and continues to collectively baffle economists, psychologists and career coaches. The question has existed parallel to the economic system that encourages its asking. The answer is hard to produce and succinctly articulate, even for the entrepreneur: Why do people start new ventures? Put another way:

Why do entrepreneurs do what they do?

Why suffer through the ambiguity and inner turmoil? The feeling of constantly walking on the edge of failure? Why put in hours on the laptop at odd hours of the night, on weekends in coffee shops with free wifi and during the holidays? Why strip yourself of the lifestyle trappings that your peers are enjoying at 40k a year so that you can plow every extra dollar into an idea that everyone says won't work anyway? Why engage in the ditch digging that drains away the person you thought you were?

The sexiest answer, of course, is to get rich. But the only people who buy that answer are students because it was sold to them at Barnes & Noble by corporate marketing teams posing as entrepreneurs - telling them to use their strengths to go "take it to the next level".

The truth is, we all know the money is far from guaranteed and that it will be years before we even see a dime of it. Given the 70% failure rate of new businesses, each entrepreneur answers this question in their own way, because each entrepreneur's situation is different and how they come to grips with the daunting odds is individual to them.

For me personally, I don't do it for fame, fortune or personal prestige. I don't do it to impress people, to "stick it to The Man", prove critics wrong, to look smart or because I like being the underdog.

In all the months that I slugged it out for Dash & Cooper, nothing in my life compares to the ecstasy of seeing my first D&C shirt finally come in from one of my manufacturers. The road that lies between your idea and selling your first product is paved with late nights, missed social functions and the constant whir of your mind as you parse through disparate information, groping for some solid ground. The reason why I do it is for the pure elation that occurs when you are briefly reminded that out of nothing, you built something that people value. You are reminded that this is a fact. Something that no one can refute or take away from you. It is then, and only then, that you become present to the meaning of creation and the truth that ownership is not simply a bunch of papers and signatures.

In order to understand what it's like to bathe in the pure experience of ownership and self-reliance - to feel it pierce through to your bones - you must slog it out in the trenches amongst the mud and much of uncertainty and fear. There is no other way.

That's why I do it: to feel alive.

***

This post was written from personal blog. Feel free to go check it out and see some other things I think about at All The Difference.

READ MORE - Why I Do It - Travis Corrigan

STUDENT: Build a Playground and Stretch Your Ideas - Part 3 of 4 - Alex Grimnes

In the previous parts of this series, we explored the opinions and insights of both entrepreneurs and academics in reference to the importance of a specialized major for students. Both articles provided valuable information into our quest for a deeper understanding, and created a solid foundation in order to move into the next part of the series. In part 3, we will explore the application of a student’s degree and experience in everything business.

Before we jump head first into the business aspect of education, here is a summary of the foundation built by parts 1 and 2:

The comprehensive application of a solid degree cannot be ignored. The value derived from both the education and the experience is indispensable.

As students, businesses look to us for our research, our skill, and the potential profitability of our hard work. In this current economic climate, the step from academic career to professional career isn’t as smooth as it once was. For some, it makes life just that much harder, but for others, it is a call to action.

If the end goal is just to graduate from school, well, good luck. There are students out there that spend their entire academic careers boasting of future luxuries and success, but lack the talents and work ethic to actually apply their $100,000 education when they need it. Don’t be one of these people. Please, I beg you, don’t be one of these people. Find opportunities during your time in school to actually apply that education that you leveraged future income for.

If the opportunity doesn’t present itself in the form of a job or an internship, create it. If you fancy yourself an entrepreneur, I recommend you spend time catching up with our anonymous contributor, The Phantom CEO, and our lead entrepreneurial columnist, Travis Corrigan.  Creating your own playground to stretch ideas is one of the most efficient ways to test yourself against the market.

In other words, one cannot rely on education alone to achieve their goals. Those days are past us. But, I feel, this will only strengthen the genius minds and creative souls that will reshape our world. Businesses may seek students with a high GPA, but experience and personal ingenuity are valued at the same level. I will reiterate my point; students cannot rely simply on their diplomas alone anymore. Businesses look for students with outside experience in their field of study to weed out all of the “ordinary” applicants.

Within the limited reach of my network, I have found countless opportunities to venture outside of the ordinary classroom to gain invaluable experience. For one, the Huntsman School of Business offers multiple programs that accelerate students far beyond the prospects of their hometowns. I have personal connections with students associated with the Huntsman Scholars, Koch Scholars, and Opportunity Quest. All work to provide the opportunity for students to work and interact with real businesses, theories, and opportunities that will reshape societal and business paradigms.

Another unique opportunity that I have found is through the University of Utah. This organization is called The Foundry. I will note that I have used their youtube videos, open curriculum, and member intellect to organize this magazine. The Foundry is home to companies like CupAd, Dash and Cooper, Red Flower Beverages, Meta, and more. Programs like the Huntsman Scholars, Opportunity Quest, and The Foundry can be found throughout the country. They all are prime examples of how to venture out, build your playground, and stretch some ideas.

On a personal note, {BRANDED} online magazine is my playground. The magazine was created to promote students like myself to stretch ideas, learn, and provide experience with the opportunity to put that education to work. {BRANDED} online magazine continues to grow everyday, and we welcome you to join us in our ever-expanding playground.  Whether you are just a weekly visitor, Phantom CEO diehard, or potential columnist, you are welcomed all the same. We welcome new writers, photographers, and readers from all around the globe to join our playground.

Cheers,

Alex Grimnes

READ MORE - STUDENT: Build a Playground and Stretch Your Ideas - Part 3 of 4 - Alex Grimnes

Double Bogey: Why Business and Golf Sometimes Don't Mix - Josh Reed

For as long as business has been conducted, the golf course has been considered an ample and appropriate place to seal the deal. I could not disagree more.

Golf is undoubtedly the most frustrating sport, and I use the word “sport” lightly. The absence of the unique skill set and lack of consistency that is needed to be successful can turn even the most beautiful Saturday mornings into ugly reminders of Midwest summers. One bad shot can make the most mild-mannered Wall Street professional resemble New York Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan on an episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks. Transforming Augusta National into your neighborhood country club with one blow to the blooming azalea flowers could lead a potential employer/client to assume that perhaps you won’t make the best, most levelheaded business partner. Making it public that you have a mouth like a sailor and losing your cool can leave accomplished closers asking for mulligans.

Why would anyone ever want to take a perspective client to a golf course? People have this far reaching idea that a golf course offers a serene environment, with peaceful streams and perfectly manicured grounds, that will allow them to gingerly meander around the greens, puffing an imported cigar, while spitting out reasons why one should partner with their lame up-and-coming company. This is not the PGA TOUR, so allow me to bring you back to reality.

Golf courses are nothing more than never-ending money traps that will leave you in a deeper hole than the bunkers at St. Andrew’s. If that doesn’t change your mind, try and remember the disgusting smells of irrigation water and tee box coolers that have been known to carry deadly bacteria. Oh yeah, this is way more appealing than a plush corner office. Let’s tee off.

The game itself has a tendency to bring out the rabid competitor in people, leaving them thinking they’re back in 1994 doing ‘Oklahomas’ during two-a-days at their local high school football practices. Just the right mindset for negotiating multi-year contracts and large sums of currency. Convinced yet? We haven’t even started drinking.

Drinking beer and golf are as synonymous with one another as the Kardashians and championships. A couple cold ones down the hatch and you might find yourself saying something about the client’s last shot that would leave reason to feel regret. Perhaps you think you can keep it classy with a beer per hole. Great idea, if you enjoy driving your cart like Tiger Woods on Thanksgiving, leaving the newly labeled big fish to assume your can’t-miss business plan is as unpredictable as George W’s. frat boy antics.

Now, let’s presume you actually take golf seriously. Nothing is worse than being beat because it makes people feel inferior. Around the 12th hole, when your client’s hope of turning it around on the back nine eludes them, and you feel the need to step on their throat, is the same time you can kiss that new Mercedes goodbye. The situation never ends well, so keep it simple and leave Saturdays for the “honey do” list.

Receiving continuous whiffs of foul water hazard odors, allowing honorable mention high school football mentalities to make an unwelcome comeback, outshining the person you’re trying to lure in, and continuously flagging down the cart lady is a recipe for business deal disaster.

Offices were invented for a reason. So unless you plan on partnering with John Daly, take my advice and keep business off the course and the macho shenanigans in the pub.

- Josh Reed

READ MORE - Double Bogey: Why Business and Golf Sometimes Don't Mix - Josh Reed

Opportunity Recognition: It’s All About Networks

In my last post, Entrepreneurship Debunked, I started an inquiry into distinguishing the reality of being an entrepreneur and some of the bullshit that you get fed, e.g., books about how to start a company. I promised to develop my conjecture that entrepreneurship comes down to two things: opportunity recognition and opportunity exploitation. I’m sure you can tell what I’m going to talk about in this post given its title ; I’ll be dissecting the phrase opportunity recognition into separate parts because it is important to understand what an opportunity really is versus how to go about creating them. I’ll share some insights on best practices that I have found and  how I come up with ideas, and then I’ll leave you with some thoughts about what to do with the idea once you’ve come up with it.

So what’s an opportunity?

Of all the definitions that The Google gave me, I think the best definition of opportunity is a “possibility due to a favorable combination of circumstances”. Steven Johnson, in his TED speech, states that an idea in the brain is not some single flash of genius or a ‘eureka’ moment like everything tends to think. Rather, he  states that an idea is a network. When you look at how the brain (a super-network of neurons) actually works, an idea, Johnson says, “is a new network of neurons firing in sequence with each other inside your brain; it’s a new configuration that has never formed before.” So there you have it. It all boils down to a network of microscopic brain cells firing in a way that they’ve never fired before.  To incorporate the concept of an opportunity into this, the “favorable” part of the definition is a function of the quality of neurons that you already have. See, you aren’t coming up with new information per se but rather a reconfiguration of information that already exists. Therefore, the quality of the opportunity that emerges  from an idea is simply a function of the information that you have rolling around in your brain.

How to recognize opportunities:

Well… it’s not about recognizing them but more about tinkering with the inputs so that the reconfiguration generates the most value. Therefore, opportunity recognition is a bit of a misnomer—we should be calling it Opportunity Generation. Most innovations came about by accident or slow discovery (generation) before the new neuron network solidified in the brain (the moment of recognition). So, given that ideas are new networks of neurons, how do you go about getting your brain into an environment where these new networks are more likely to start forming? Good thing you asked. Mr. Johnson goes on to say that the external networks (our social circles) actually mimic the internal networks of the brain. That’s why networking is so crucial: it influences your life and how your brain conducts your actions and, thus, the trajectory of your life. Does it make sense now why I wrote about building a network?

Methods of opportunity generation:

In a previous paragraph, I mentioned getting your brain into an environment where it can start generating new neural networks, so here’s a list of methods that either I personally employ or know someone who does:

·       Get friends/colleagues together to bullshit over coffee or beer – Model the same thing that the brain does: get the components of a network together and start firing out ideas to see what new configurations seem interesting. Getting together in an informal setting is best because that’s when the psyche relaxes and lets the neural networks become flexible. If you call it a “brainstorming” session, the brain tries to force things to happen, which, in fact, limits its creative ability. Stimulants like beer or coffee help too – at least that’s been my experience.

·       Think about what annoys you – Have you ever been going about your daily life and, after handling the same annoyance, wondered, “Why hasn’t someone figured this out?” Rather than getting frustrated, think about what the solution might be and then how exactly you could make a company to deliver that solution for a profit.

·       Ask how and why – Did you have anything go surprisingly well or surprisingly bad? Take a second when that happens to deconstruct the factors that had a hand in contributing to the outcome. Think about how the outcome might have been different if you took out some of the factors or simply rearranged the sequence.

·       Be a pirate – Whenever you hear an argument or someone who takes a particular position on a subject, take the opposite view. Pirates (the Johnny Depp kind, not the Somali kind), were sailors who were as smart as the navy guys but didn’t like being told what to do. They took the opposite view and acted on it. Now, I’m not giving you a green light to go pillage and plunder, but I am telling you to act a little bit on your devious curiosity and see what you come up with. For help with first steps on that, go to my article on Throwing an Industry Under the Bus.

·       Get informed – Reading shitloads helps out a lot too. The more information that you have about what’s going on in the world, the more opportunities you’ll see. In fact, I recommend intentionally overwhelming the brain with information from time to time. The brain, in its natural desire to label and organize the informational bombardment, will rely on your subconscious, thus giving it the potential for “accidentally” generating brand new neural networks.

·       Transpose business models that work in industry onto another – A friend of mine takes the Inc. 500 list and ports a business idea from one company on the list into the industry of another company on the same list. A good example of that is Better Place. They are taking the cell phone network business models that Verizon and T-Mobile use and are applying it to the transportation industry to get more consumers to switch from gasoline cars to electric cars. Click here: “Shai Agassi Charlie Rose Interview” to get a better understanding of what I’m talking about.

Getting out what you put in:

Hopefully, you’ve been able to gather that the quality of your ideas is a function of the quality of your network. If you tend to rely on your personal network to help you generate new ideas, then it’s important to take a look at the quality of people you hang out with. You are the average of the five people who take up most of your time. If your friends and colleagues aren’t very well-informed and don’t care to think carefully about solving big problems, then don’t expect to come up with ideas that the general population will care about. Same thing with information that you get through social media and other information sources: if the information bytes that you get a dozen times a day are Facebook and Twitter updates from friends who only care about the newest video game or want to tell the world what they are having for lunch, don’t expect to come up with ideas that are much different. As an aside, I use social media not to broadcast my meal plans but to capture and aggregate important information from solid thinkers and problem solvers (Harvard Business Review, Venture Capital Blogs, Tech Blogs, etc).

Closing thoughts:

This is what we’ve covered:

•  Ideas/opportunities are networks of neurons that have never been configured in the brain before. 
• You can’t generate new ideas on your own. 
• You need a network to do it. This can either be from your friends and colleagues or the information sources that you receive digitally (I recommend combining both).
• Quality of idea has to do with the quality of the input that you have. Average of top 5 people that you hang out with. So if you hang out with really stupid people, you aren’t going to get ideas that have much value outside of the people talking about it. Example: ideas that you and your friends come up with when you are high (Cheetos + peanut butter) sound good to you guys but not to many other people.
• Encode your thoughts as you go through the idea generation process. If you want more information on how to do this, comment below and I can write a post about how I develop ideas and document them while I am in progress.

An intro into what’s next:

So to bring it all together and to help you understand how everything I talked about is connected with my next post on opportunity exploitation, I will leave you with this to chew on: A new neural network is formed (idea), which causes you to take actions (your public expression of your new neural configuration); people react to those actions and either find it valuable or not and may be willing to pay money for that. How you go about structuring your actions so that you can get the best possible information back from your audience/market is another topic entirely – one which we’ll cover next time.

Phantom out.

Sources:

Steven Johnson TED talk: Click Here

Shai Agassi interview: Click Here

READ MORE - Opportunity Recognition: It’s All About Networks

STUDENT: Part 2 of 4 - An Academic View of the Importance of Your Major

I found it redundant to ask university advisers and professors whether the type of major earned truly affects a student’s future success. But, for the sake of this article, I asked anyway. What did I find? I found that most believe in the development and talents of the student, and not necessarily the prestige of a particular degree. I will admit, I was a bit surprised at some of the responses, but there is one specific point that I found very influential for any student looking to find confidence in their academic decisions.

Study Hacks (www.calnewport.com), a blog specifically designed to increase the value students gain from their collegiate career, provides some very insightful views directly associated with our search. As stated in earlier posts, our journey is to gain a clearer perspective on whether or not a particular major influences a student’s future success. Now, just to reiterate, we are not referencing information for those looking to go into specific fields that require specialized degrees, but rather to find a better understanding for those who understand the importance of earning a degree but aren’t sure which direction to take as far as their major is concerned.

Cal Newport, author and PhD from MIT, in part of the series “The Romantic Scholar Approach to Student Life”, gives insight into the students’ search to find balance in their academics. In the post The Roberts Method: A Professor’s Advice for Falling in Love With Your Major, a student inquires about Cal’s opinion on whether or not that student should change majors in order to find a better fit, or in other words, find the “right major”.  Here is what Cal has to say:

“Some students in this situation respond with action, switching concentrations, sometimes multiple times, in a fruitless search for the perfect fit. (As longtime Study Hacks readers know, I don’t believe in the existence of a “right major,” which dooms any such quest to failure.) Others grind through the difficult courses that populate the upperclassman years, experiencing the work as a penance for an irreversible choice, poorly made. In both cases, the results are no good: anxiety, burn out, and sometimes even deep procrastination.”

Although I am not a long time Study Hacks reader, I definitely get the point. Cal provides an interesting perspective in our search. There are countless students out there who experience school as a double-edged sword. On one side, students change their concentrations as soon as they are confronted with difficulty in their courses.  On the other side, students endure course after course in a subject that they hate, and that ultimately leads into a career that consists of only the same relentless frustration.

So, what is it that Study Hacks recommends? Cal turned to professor Andrew Roberts from Northwestern University for more information.

“I got Professor Roberts on the phone and asked him to share his advice for falling in love with your major. The goal we’re interested in, I explained, is not just to enjoy our coursework, but to also become the type of star who gains access to fantastically interesting post-grad opportunities.”

That advice consisted of four rules called The Roberts Method. The four rules are:

1. Do Less
2. Synergize Courses
3. Read Academic Blogs
4. Go to Department Lectures

Personally, I had a hard time taking some of the advice. In fact, it seemed as though I was breaking all the rules right out of the gate. I am working on more than one major, I’m terrible at synergizing my courses, I’m not up to date on many academic blogs, and I rarely go to department lectures. Obviously, I must be making some major mistakes.

But as I looked back over my notes of different opinions from students, professors, entrepreneurs, and more, it hit me.

The type of major that you have is only important if you make it important. All this advice on synergizing courses and getting involved isn’t about whether or not a particular major is better than another. It is about what the student finds in the major that ultimately determines future success. What the student does with his/her major is what separates the students who get cut up by getting caught up in finding the “right major”, and those that utilize the skills and work habits learned from the courses taken.

I recommend that any students who find themselves frustrated in their academic careers keep up to date on Study Hacks.  Cal Newport makes a very profound example.  Changing your major is not the best answer to gaining the most from your degree. Rather, finding a stronger understanding of what the end goal is ( e.g., post graduate school, sales, teaching, etc.) and aligning courses that will provide the necessary skill sets necessary to set yourself up for a greater end result will ultimately generate the most profitable results.

Side Note: We value any comments and feedback from our readers. Please comment below or email any of our writers with questions, corrections, or even just a internet high five. 

-Alex Grimnes

READ MORE - STUDENT: Part 2 of 4 - An Academic View of the Importance of Your Major

One of a Kind: How College Athletes Bring a Unique Skill Set to the Real World - Josh Reed

 Most people think college athletics are all about football programs big enough to be considered cities, pay to play scandals and weekend blowouts that even The White House Party Crashers would be obliged to attend. Perhaps there are some truths to these perceptions because every other day the media breaks a story that depicts these athletes as benefit receiving, academic inept heathens that are strolling through their college experience on the back of a Budweiser truck in route to collecting that seven figure pay day. For the Reggie Bush’s in the world of intercollegiate athletics this is a reality, but for the other 380,000 student-athletes that are obtaining degrees and are planning to become contributing members of society, what they have learned through their respective sports are more applicable in the real world then most people can even fathom.

The dedication that it takes to be a collegiate athlete is second to none. Trying to balance the commitments to your team, a full-time student’s workload and everyday life can be overwhelming. Whether the athletes realize it or not, the character attributes they are taking from their unique college experience can stack up with even the most accomplished, prestigious internship obtaining, student government entrenched students as they battle head to head on the gridiron of big business.

Employers are looking for people who bring something unique to the table and employees are hoping they get somebody that will help them be more successful. What is more unique and attractive than a person who knows what it means to work for a common goal and function as part of a team? A person that knows how to listen to those in positions of power and accomplish the tasks that are asked of them. Somebody who can balance multiple things at once without feeling overwhelmed, while making the necessary sacrifices without complaint in order to be successful. Someone who knows how to put the team first, respect those around him or her, turn failure into success, and possess the ability to be teachable.

Is there skepticism in this argument? There shouldn’t be. Replace uniforms with suits, championship rings with meeting quotas, the field with cubicles, coaches with bosses, opponents with competitors, road series with business trips and you have somebody with more experience than even Oxford can provide.

For those of you that have been able to participate in intercollegiate athletics, continue to be grateful. Don’t fear the fact that you may not have as much work experience as your competitors because what you have learned over the past four years is a foundation that will allow you to be successful in all your endeavors. For those of you that have a misconception about athletes, don’t let ESPN blind you from the reality that these STUDENT- athletes have worked their entire lives to achieve a goal, the same work ethic that will be put into action in the board room.

This is a world that is obsessed with results, especially in a work environment. Athletes have been groomed to strive for results but have never taken the process of obtaining success lightly. Athletics teaches you a lot about life, but they also produce unique and successful business persons long after they hang up the cleats, whether anybody realizes it or not.

- Josh Reed

READ MORE - One of a Kind: How College Athletes Bring a Unique Skill Set to the Real World - Josh Reed

Big Girl Job: On the Hunt for the Elusive… Vol . 2: Thinking Outside the Bun

Big Girl Job: On the Hunt for the Elusive…

Vol . 2: Thinking Outside the Bun

Your first job.  Dreams of something fancy, glamorous and sexy are no doubt swirling through your head.  You imagine that when you whip out your business cards from that suave holder you picked up at Bergdorf Goodman (naturally you'll be living the Patrick Bateman-esque high life in New York City or some other upscale metropolitan locale), the opposite sex will be tripping over themselves to buy you an expensive cocktail of sorts.  You'll show up to office around 8 a.m., take a long, expensive lunch  with your equally glamorous and sexy coworkers (on your expense account, nonetheless), and leave around 6 p.m.  Just in time to grab a cab and dash off to make your reservations at some swanky restaurant that turns into a lounge after dinner service.  You'll get to bed sometime around 1 a.m., get up the next morning and do it all over again. Sound nice?  Pull your head out of the clouds, princess.  Unless you graduated Summa Cum Laude from an Ivy League school, one of your immediate family members just happens to be the C.E.O. of a Fortune 50 company/major securities firm, or your family is just plain loaded and willing to fund your debauchery until you're able to achieve a salary that will maintain that lifestyle on your own, you're stuck down in the dirt with the rest of us. 

If you're like most college upper classmen, your primary concern as of this exact moment is more than likely to be planning an "epic" weekend.  Whether this is hiking the barely covered mountains to find some pre-season snow, checking out a concert, seeing a movie, drinking to your heart’s content, or all of the above, is quite irrelevant.  As mentioned in a previous article, some of that time between now and your "epic" weekend should be spent thinking about your post-graduation plans.  The focus of this month's article, however, is not to preach to you in generalized terms that you should be thinking about it.  Hopefully you've wizened up a little and started grinding your mental gears in the direction of some semblance of a plan.  This month will be dedicated entirely towards the idea of employment, where to look, how to get there, and how to think outside the bun enough to find yourself in a position that you love, or that at the very least one that you can tolerate.

The first misstep that most college students make when looking and applying for positions, as I mentioned in my previous article, is reading the job description and neglecting the requirements.   Most entry level positions boast job descriptions that a fairly well-trained circus animal could  meet, and you may think that certain classes that you've taken qualify you as having the necessary experience to obtain certain jobs.  However, if you can't prove on your very limited resume that you have the necessary qualifications stipulated in the job requirements, no employer is going to take a second look at your resume. 

Allow me a moment to put things in perspective for those of you who have never been on the other end of the hiring process.  First, a meeting (or series of meetings) is held in order to determine what position(s) is(are) available, what the job description is , how much the person will be paid, and how many positions are necessary to bring the company to the optimal level of employee capacity.  Then, once all those details are hammered out, an ad is placed.  Then the resume submissions start coming in.  By hundreds, and sometimes by the thousands.  Each resume has to be screened for qualifications.  The initial "Yes" resumes are placed in one pile, and the "No" resumes in another to be kept "on file" and stored for the mandatory six months that the federal government requires.  The "Yes" resumes are then more carefully screened to determine which candidates are to be called in for a series of interviews.  Depending on the company and the candidates selected, this process can include anywhere from one to three interviews either by phone, in person, or sometimes even video conference. 

While this all sounds very generic and simple, consider the undertaking of these human resources employees.  Going through resumes is an exhausting process, and when the pile in front of you is brushing the ceiling, you will do nearly anything to make the process go by faster.  A spelling mistake? In the "No" pile.  Grammar mistake? "No" pile.  Imperfection in your formatting? "No" pile.  The list of small infractions that land you in the “No” pile is seemingly endless; and because there are so many candidates applying to the company, it’s easy to throw one out because of a lack of attention to detail.  Think about it this way: for every position that becomes available, there are at least five people applying for it, and you can bet that at least three of them have spent hours custom-tailoring their resume to fit every specification, qualification, and requirement listed in the job description. The broken record asks, “Where does this leave you?”  Here are some basic ways to help you save yourself some time, and more than likely some disappointment, in your job hunt.  1.  Look at the requirements for relevant experience.  If they are asking for 5+ years of experience in a related field, your college degree is going to mean diddly squat to them.  They obviously want someone who is tried and true in the field.  Don’t bother applying to this one.  2. Make sure you are able to complete most, if not all, of the tasks listed in the requirements section.  Dreamweaver, and that’s listed as a requirement, don’t bother applying.  3. Make sure what you’re putting on your resume is relevant to the position.  If you are applying for an analyst position with Deloitte & Touche in Austin, TX in their human capital division, it’s rather unlikely that they will want to hear about how you were able to bus tables like nobody’s business at  Chili’s.  Unless you were in a management or some kind of administrative position, it will be as irrelevant to them as the price of rice in China.  Which leads me to my next point; how do you make your resume stand out from the rest?

Resumes are a dime a dozen.  Everyone has one, and most of them are crap.  One thing that is so often overlooked when seeking a job is the formatting and content of a resume.  If you pulled it from a template in Microsoft Word, chances are your resume is laughable and looks like it was put together by a  five-year-old.  Education section first?  Giggle.  Extraneous information abound?  Chuckle.  Irrelevant and altogether pathetic work experience listed? Laugh.  Objective Tagline instead of Position Sought?  Potential for a company-wide email exploiting your stupidity for everyone else’s amusement.  I’ve seen it happen.  In order to avoid such unknowing embarrassment, there are select and very simple guidelines to follow.  Make sure your work experience is listed first and foremost.  That is what the employer cares about the most.  Can you do the job they’re asking you?  Yes or No.  List your education second.  Unless you’ve received an inordinate amount of higher education, this section should be fairly small and to the point.  And ALWAYS make sure to list any certificates, awards, or other extracurricular activities.  This shows them that you actually are a human and not just a robot that will say “does not compute” when presented with a foreign task.  Also, make sure you list things that show that you actually have a work ethic.  Unless you’re applying for a job as a production assistant, I doubt any company is going to care that you enjoy watching movies in your spare time.  Don’t be afraid to ask for help.  The career center at your university should be able to help you out with this kind of thing,

Now that you’ve been thoroughly bored with things that you may believe to be common sense, let’s get to the good stuff.  You’ve got your resume in order (God willing…), and you’re ready to start hitting the send button on those online applications and emails. Where are you going to find jobs? And how are you going to determine what you are and are not qualified for? At this juncture, you should have some semblance of an idea of what you want to do.  Look at your strengths and play to them.  If you have worked in restaurants for most of your college career, and completed a rather underwhelming internship that is unlikely to get you anywhere, do not despair.  Restaurants and food service is a multi-billion dollar industry with more facets than the Hope Diamond, and you can look to each one of them as a potential career path.  If the actual restaurant doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, you can go work for a food distributor like Sysco or Nicolas.  Or, if you have the right combination of experience and education, you may be able to get in with a restaurant consulting firm. 

The specifics of my example are irrelevant.  The point is every industry has many facets and different ways to get in.  And you have to look at all of them.  Think outside the bun and get creative with things.  You may find yourself discovering a niche in the market that you didn’t even know existed and that was seemingly made just for you.  Just make sure your resume looks good enough, and that you can fulfill all the requirements of the position, so the company will actually consider hiring you. 

- Kelly Sabey

READ MORE - Big Girl Job: On the Hunt for the Elusive… Vol . 2: Thinking Outside the Bun

Phantom CEO - Entrepreneurship Debunked

Entrepreneurship Debunked: You’re All Wrong

There’s so much shit floating around the inter webs about the “mystery” of entrepreneurship and specifically the entrepreneur. It’s the only thing that makes me angrier than working with bureaucrats. Some of the articles that I’ve read tend to lionize entrepreneurs as rock stars and treat them like they are some rare animal species that contains some “secret” that mere mortals weren’t born with. Because we live in a “now” society, we want the latest book that’s cracked the secret code of being an entrepreneur. 

The general thought process around entrepreneurship tends to be the following:

1.     Read article about some sexy Web 2.0/iPhone app company exploding with 300% growth and a founder who gave him/herself the title of “CEO”. By the way, it’s not hard to get 300% growth; all you need to do is move from 1 customer to 4 customers.

2.     Create some (largely untrue) story about how self-titled CEO is now an overnight millionaire because he/she got interviewed in an article. As an aside, I was lucky enough to get my launch announcement on the local news. I am not a millionaire (yet), and I received absolutely no new business for four days after the TV spot aired.

3.     Get sad about current state of life. Wonder what the difference between start up CEOs and normal people  is. I once heard a joke that the only difference between being unemployed and being an entrepreneur is that entrepreneurs print up business cards that say “CEO” on them.

4.     Go to _________ (insert name of book retailer here). Buy latest get-rich-quick book and support the monopolized publishing industry and jackass authors who know how to write books but don’t have any real company-building experience.

5.     Read book, get signed up in latest wealth creation fad: Robert Kyosaki, summer security sales, multi-level Marketing, flipping houses (my personal favorite).

6.     Use buzzwords and poorly referenced Ayn Rand quotes excessively, charge $5000 wardrobe (mainly consisting of True Religion jeans and bedazzled Ed Hardy t-shirts) to credit card to demonstrate the success “you’re about to have.”

7.     Fail.

8.     Blame the economy.

9.     Repeat.

The point of all that is that there is a large disconnect between the perceptions about entrepreneurs and the realities of being an entrepreneur. So let me start with shedding some light on three common misconceptions:

1.     The majority of entrepreneurs are NOT overnight millionaires. We have to work years at sub-market wages (read: for free) trying to develop the product, validate market assumption, mitigate against risks and then actually sell the stuff.

2.     Entrepreneurs rarely succeed in their first venture. As an entrepreneur, you are making decisions in the most imperfect conditions. Consequently, you make a lot of mistakes to gather valuable information. With limited resources to waste, a lot of new ventures fail before they even get cash-flow positive. There’s a reason that seven out of ten startups fail.

3.     Starting a company is not sexy. Remember the joke from earlier in the post? It’s true. If you quit your job, you are essentially unemployed until you can sell something. There’s a lot of work, you have to live on a Spartan budget and plow as much money as you can into your product to get it ready to ship, you’ll have zero social life, and there’s a lot more that no one tells you about. All this for no guarantee that your company anything in its, statistically speaking, short life.

Sounds very different from the stuff that the New York Times bestsellers spoon-feed you, huh? That’s because reality doesn’t sell, but a nine-step bullshit process that doesn’t require any real work, and is sugar-coated in a brightly covered book-cover, (The Secret, anyone?).

Having been through the process of launching eight startups (all still running and profitable) and reading a lot of academic research around entrepreneurship, I have distilled that entrepreneurship comes down to two things (my two cents): opportunity recognition and opportunity exploitation.

I will develop these two topics in later posts, but the important thing to remember is that entrepreneurs are people who start things, nothing else. Continuation of that initial push is another topic entirely, but it does require some management acumen – a skill not inherent in all people who start companies. It’s the difference between starting this blog post and not being able to finish it. Both require different, but sometimes overlapping, skills sets.

Stay tuned. Opportunity recognition is next.

Phantom out.

READ MORE - Phantom CEO - Entrepreneurship Debunked

Startup In A Box - Travis Corrigan

There’s a lot of literature out there that promises to teach you everything  you need to do to start and grow a successful business. Though a lot of it is written by really smart guys who think hard about it, I think that a budding businessperson looking to start selling a product or service needs a little more direction. The problem I have with how-to business books is that they have a high probability of being written by someone who hasn’t actually started a business, but is really good at sounding like they have, or worse, written by someone who succeeded because they got lucky and think that their way of starting a company is THE way, a self-centered opinion which is likely to hurt someone trying out on their own for the first time.

I’ve included a list of a few invaluable entrepreneurial tools, along with a couple of thoughts on starting a company with almost nothing.

The frustration I have with these how-to books is that they tend to “talk about doing” rather than actual “doing”. If you are looking to get started and want to know some great first steps, I’ve laid out some of my favorite tools for starting a company on a shoe-string budget. I must note that this is not THE toolbox to use for every new company. Some things from the list below may not work for you and your venture. You are welcome to try them out or suggest any better options in the comments section.

Product

The one thing I’m not going to tell you is what you need to offer. That’s for you to decide. However, when considering if a new or retooled product is worth the effort of building a business around, look for these two critical characteristics:

1. It must add enough value to the customer that it takes no longer than two sentences to describe. One sentence is ideal.

2. It’s best to have a gross profit margin of 50% per unit. You can certainly go lower, but if it’s your first time starting a company, I suggest something that’s no lower than 40%.

Sourcing Manufacturers

Simply enter whatever it is that you are trying to see into Google.

Example: “Neoprene case manufacturers”

Start going through all the search results and simply email the manufacturers from the “contact us” page on their website. Just say that you are interested in what they have to offer and will be starting small (I usually say 5-10 units a month). They usually get back to you in a couple of days. It really is that easy.

Website: Facebook Page

Screw the website. Your business isn’t legitimate for one in two ways: 1) You should use the money normally spent on website development to fund cheap, iterative experiments to validate your product-to-market fit, and  2) your business likely doesn't have enough traffic in the first year to justify the monthly hosting costs. year. Go with a Facebook Page. It’s free, you can post pictures and links, create and share events, and easily converse with your market. Make a couple of your trusted friends “Page Admins” and have them suggest it to their friends on the site. Can you say insta-cult?

Payment System

Paypal. It’s free for everyone (both you and your clients) to set up. Your customers can link to their credit card or bank account. You can move money from Paypal to your bank account and vice versa. It’s great for billing because all you need is someone’s email address to send them a request for money. Keep in mind that, however, that there is a 2.9% transfer fee for you, so make sure to calculate that into your product costs.

Email

Gmail or Google Apps. If you own the URL for the website you’ll be building in a year, Google Apps allows you to add up to 50 email addresses for that URL. Example: travis@miniballer.com.

Server Space

Dropbox. I love it, it’s super awesome and free. Click here to check it out. 

Scheduling

Google Calendar

Phone Services

Google Voice or Jive Networks.

Online Collaboration

Google Wave.

Workflow Documents

LucidChart. These guys rock and I am a huge fan of their products – they’re pretty much all you’ll need for mapping your startup “strat-tigery”, and they’re free. Here is a link to the LucidChart site: http://www.lucidchart.com/

Logo

Just go to the art or graphic design department of the local community college and strike a deal with a starving, “misunderstood” art student. I had a lot of friends exchange design work for a Happy Meal. Just tell him he can use the design as part of his portfolio and that he can put the project on his resume.

Marketing

Send messages to your Facebook followers. Create a Twitter account and link it to your Facebook page. Update your status like crazy. Do a lot of giveaway promotions to get more people to “Like” your page and/or subscribe to your newsletter. You can also create an invite-only Facebook group for your top customers in which you release special promotions. Make sure you make it clear what a customer needs to do to be considered for an invite. You should also start a blog on Google’s Blogspot. A great way to promote your blog is by placing links to your articles on your company’s Facebook page.  I recommend using Google Analytics to see how much traffic you are driving and if that has any relation to sales in order to understand how your market is reacting the brand that you are building.. Again, all of this is free.

Accounting

Quickbooks Online by Intuit. I recommend this over free/open source accounting system because it makes reporting for financial management and taxes a breeze. Just get the cheapest one. There I got through twelve startup tools without having to pay for anything. If you need more help, email me; my former CFO has her own tax and accounting firm that specializes in start-ups.

Incorporation

If you are reading this, then I assume you know absolutely nothing when it comes to legal entity stuff. Check out this YouTube Channel, [Usparkfoundrytv]. It walks you through everything that you need to know about what legal structure might work for your company and the respective managerial implications of the business entity at various stages of growth..  There are seven 5-minute videos so those who are ADD like me can easily pay attention. Make sure you comment on the videos. My friend Matt loves it when you give him feedback. To begin the incorporation process, go to earlystagelegal.com. You’ll pay about $500-$750 to set up corporate entity.

In my experience playing in Startup Land, every company that I’ve founded or helped launch has been using some mix of the tools that I listed above. They found it to be helpful, I’ve found it to be helpful and maybe you’ll be able to find it helpful. The point of this article was to share some of the tricks that I use to get a company running on almost nothing, not to tell you “how to do it.” Entrepreneurship is all about self-discovery. Telling you how to use them would pollute your own experience.  These are simply my tools, feel free to use them as you find YOUR way of starting companies.

-Travis Corrigan

READ MORE - Startup In A Box - Travis Corrigan

STUDENT: Part 1 of 4 – Entrepreneurs: How Important is Your Major?

Entrepreneurs are imperative to the success of our economy.  They drive innovation, maximize market efficiency, and create jobs. You can see the fruits of their labor in almost every aspect of everyday life, from the apps you use on your smart phone to the grinders you use to make your coffee.  Entrepreneurs pave the way for us average folk, but in light of all their inspired genius, what is their take to the age old question:

“Does it really matter what type of degree you have, or just simply that you have a degree in order to succeed?”

The Entrepreneurs Perspective:

In my search to better understand the importance of a specialized major, I reached out to established entrepreneurs throughout the state of Utah, as well as students from the University of Utah, Utah State University, and Southern Utah University, in order to gain a brighter perspective. 

Josh Light, co-founder of the advertising firm CupAd and student at Utah State University, believes that in the real world, specialized majors are important to the future success of all students because they gain valuable skills in “problem solving, analyzing situations, and generating innovative ideas.”. Josh, who is a triple major in economics, entrepreneurship, and finance, believes that “my degrees will directly affect my success because without them I would probably never be able to conceive and launch my businesses”

After my discussion with Josh, I looked to find other information sources that might give me more information on the subject. In my search I found an article by Inc. Magazine summarizing results of a study done by the accounting software company Quick Books. The study analyzed small business entrepreneurs with businesses that employed fewer than 20 employees. The study found that approximately 77% of the entrepreneurs involved in the study did not have a specialized business degree.

Tim Justice, an investment entrepreneur and Southern Utah University alumnus, aligns his beliefs with the 77% found in the article from Inc. Magazine. Tim had this to say in response to our question of whether a specialized degree is relevant to future success:

“It has nothing to do with what degree you have.  Where education can be influential is in training someone how to think about problem solving and leadership.”

Travis Corrigan, a student at the University of Utah, entrepreneur, and columnist for {BRANDED}, believes that education is important, but the success of an entrepreneur isn’t defined by his/her education. During my interview with him, Travis clarified two major objectives of any successful entrepreneur: Opportunity Recognition and Cheap Iterative Experiment Recognition… not so much a specialized major.

When I look at it from an entrepreneurial perspective, it seems that the perennial argument—specialized vs. broader, non-specialized degrees—has been settled: it isn’t necessarily the degree itself that makes the difference between success and failure, but the application of the skills and characteristics developed during the process of achieving that degree.

Despite glaring differences among experts’ opinions, one common theme unites them all: specialized majors do not guarantee success, but the benefits of education are invaluable.

We welcome your thoughts and arguments on the subject, so don’t hesitate to give your insight in the comments below.

Until Next Time,

Alex Grimnes

Josh Light is the co-founder of CupAd and is involved in multiple  business ventures. He is currently working on the completion of degrees in economics, finance, and entrepreneurship at Utah State University.

Travis Corrigan is a student at the University of Utah majoring in entrepreneurship and is involved with the enlightenment and growth of entrepreneurs throughout Salt Lake City.

Tim Justice is an investment advisor as well as an alumnus of Southern Utah University.

READ MORE - STUDENT: Part 1 of 4 – Entrepreneurs: How Important is Your Major?

STUDENT: How Important Is Your Major? A Four Part Series

These days, choosing the correct major can be confusing. More and more, I listen to current students and recent graduates discussing the necessity of having a degree, but many also claim that no one really cares what major you have.

How encouraging…

Do businesses really care whether employees specialize or not? Is there a difference between a political science and business administration major to a potential employer? Were those additional two years of schooling and 20 years of loan payments worth changing your major from communications to accounting?

These questions are vital to students, especially in an economy where businesses can get experienced, tested, professional employees for what they paid their secretary clerks in 2006. Perhaps the alternative to underemployment is starting a business, but do you need a degree to do that? I have put myself on the hunt to answer these questions, not only for you, but also for myself.

Each month I will be working with corporations, entrepreneurs, university advisors, and students on providing legitimate answers to a very important question: Is a specialized major truly important to future success?  I will post their responses and opinions in this investigation over the importance of a student’s major.

I invite you to tag along, post comments, and provide any insight that you might have.

Until next time,

Alex Grimnes

READ MORE - STUDENT: How Important Is Your Major? A Four Part Series

Big Girl Job: On the Hunt for the Elusive…

Vol . 1: The First Day of the Rest of Your Life

Senior year of college: a time most often spent desperately clinging to the last remaining vestiges of youth and freedom before the impending doom of graduation, when you’re ousted from your warm, carefree college existence and into the cold, cruel, “real” world.  And contrary to what your blithe existence of the last year of college tells you, that impending doom is closer than you may think.

Since childhood, we’ve heard adults reiterate Thomas Jefferson’s famed quote “Do not put off till tomorrow what you can do today” over and over in an attempt to dissuade us from a youthful norm:  procrastination.   And as you attempt to apply this phrase to your first semester mid-terms, papers, and, eventually, your finals, I invite you to ponder something else:  What are you going to do when you graduate?  For most, this question is often ignored  until halfway through second semester, or possibly ,in a worst case scenario), after graduation. 

Consider this.  Upon that fateful day of hideous mortar boards and equally disgusting graduation gowns, you will be one of hundreds of thousands of young people walking the line.  And odds are that a very high percentage of them will be looking for a job.  Where does this leave you?  If you’ve waited until after graduation to even consider the idea of employment, the odds are stacked against you.  In a down economy, where the unemployment percentage is stuck, and seemingly frozen, at 9.5%, finding a job is not what it used to be.  In the “old days”, when you graduated, jobs were practically thrown at you.  In a bull market where the Dow Jones Industrial Average was soaring at 14,000, companies were ecstatic to hire wet-nosed, bright-eyed young kids right out of college.  And many of you graduating this year may still be operating under the pretense that finding a job will somehow be easy.   Dispel any notions that lead you to that conclusion.  Many of you will also have unrealistic expectations of the jobs you will be offered and the salary you will be paid.  The days of being hired right out of college right into middle management with a $50,000 a year salary and awesome pension plan are gone.  In today’s world, you have to have a Bachelor's degree to even be considered for a position as an administrative assistant, which is essentially a very fancy title for a secretary.  On top of that, many companies are requiring at least  two to three years of experience in a professional setting for entry-level positions.   So this begs the question, where does this leave you?  What is YOUR plan? 

Despite all the doom and gloom, there is a silver lining, and something to be learned from those who have graduated before you.  And fortunately, it’s a very  simple concept.  Plan ahead.  Instead of waiting until the last minute to find a job, start looking NOW.  Most companies will accept resume submissions with a “graduation pending” in the education section.  In fact, they welcome it.  Not only will it get you ahead of the curve of 99% of the recently graduated job-seeking population  , but the companies to which you apply will appreciate your proactive attitude.  And if everything works out in your favor, upon graduation you will be able to say that you already have a job, which I’ve heard is an amazing feeling.

 Also, consider the companies to which you decide to apply.  Evaluate your major, your strengths, your weaknesses, your experience (professional or otherwise), and make sure that the jobs you are applying for are jobs you can realistically be considered for.  A large part of most peoples’ lack of success on a job hunt (myself included) is reading the job description and not necessarily the requirements.  You would be right in your thinking that answering phones, taking messages, penning correspondence and generating reports would be a job simple enough for a chimpanzee, but unless you can show on your page long resume that you are capable of doing so, no company is ever going to consider you for the position.  It brings light to the age old conundrum: you cannot be hired without experience, but if no one will hire you, how are you supposed to get experience?  One suggestion, which is in my opinion the best, is to get internships.  As awful as working for free might sound, an internship is by far the most efficient way to get the kind of professional experience that employers value so highly.   In addition, it will give you a more diversified pool to choose from when seeking out letters of recommendation, whether it be for graduate school or a company that offers more prestige.  There is also a large possibility of being hired on with the company for which you intern, pending that you like the environment and you play your cards right.

This is not to say that there isn’t a single college senior who doesn’t have a plan.  On the contrary, there are several people who have been working towards their respective career goals since day one of freshman year of high school.  But if you don’t find yourself among the select few who have their entire lives planned out in painstaking detail, now is the time to start.  Start planning and making decisions.  If you decide that working isn’t something that you want to start at the moment, start looking at graduate programs.  Know the tests you need to take, how many letters of recommendation you need, and what the other requirements are.  If you decide that you do want to find a job, start researching companies now.  Make use of the career centers at your respective universities, get your resume lined up, and look for internships.  It doesn’t so much matter what exactly you’re doing as long as you’re doing something that’s furthering you toward some kind of career goal.   It may seem asinine and pointless, but if you beat the rush, you will thank yourself.   You will never hear anyone, 50 years from now as they reflect back on their life, say “Man, I really wish I hadn’t planned ahead.”

-Kelly Sabey

READ MORE - Big Girl Job: On the Hunt for the Elusive…

The Phantom CEO: Building a Network

The more I do, the more that I realize how much my network has contributed to any accomplishment worth mentioning.

Building a network is not networking. It is not creating a rolodex of transactional relationships. You know you’ve built a network worth having when there are about fifty people whom you engage in life with.  It’s having people you love (and who hopefully love you) to stay in constant contact with in order to provide the best of yourself to further their aspirations.

Let me repeat that: You provide your network the best of yourself to further their aspirations.

Building a network like this requires two simple things: first, a ration of 10:1; second, NOT being an asshole.

The ratio of 10:1 indicates that you do something for someone ten times for every single thing you ask of them. Why ten? Because by the time you hit four or five you stop counting – and thus stop being subconsciously transactional – and start being a genuine and arguably better human being.

The key is to build a network BEFORE you need it. That’s what having a network MEANS.

But what does “having a network” look like? Great question. To me, I know that I have added someone new to my network when they start asking me for help. This is key because I know that our relationship has developed enough that they feel comfortable asking for my help. I know that they trust me enough to follow through on what I say I’m going to do. I also make sure to follow through on those promises— because in the currency of relationships, promises that are kept are gold. I’ll say it again, this time in all caps: GOLD.

Because of this I’ll also note that the quickest way to gain a reputation is to not follow through on promises. Remember, this is not transactional. I do not keep a tab of how many things I’ve done for people because I get enough enjoyment out of seeing my contribution help them progress. I ensure that this happens because I usually make requests on behalf of someone else. I hardly ever make any requests for myself.  In fact, often my one “ask” is to help someone else , someone, for example, who is just getting started and wanting to build their own network or get a few actionable items under their belt.

There are two VERY important pieces about maintenance that I’ll mention when it comes to networks.

One, treasure it. Make sure that it is the number one thing in your life. Why? Because that’s all you have in life. Good, bad, or ugly, the relationships with those around you are all you will have in your life. Nothing else comes close.

Two, safeguard it. Don’t fuck it up. Follow through on promises. Don’t make a recommendation for someone you barely know. Make sure you have your shit together. With every interaction you have with the people around you, you are creating—whether intentionally or accidentally—your personal brand. Your personal brand is the initial emotional response people have when they think of you or hear your name. Regardless of whether or not you think it’s fair, how we as social beings weigh the importance of the relationship with others is based on one thing: our subconscious emotional response to them. How you control that comes down to a simple equation: Outcomes/Expectations - Your direct behavior with them - The feedback they get from other people about their interactions with you.

So to recap:

Don’t be an asshole.

10:1

Make sure you make people feel comfortable asking for your help.

Make sure you actually follow through on your promises.

Your relationships are all you have in life. Act accordingly.

Unfortunately, perception is everything, and how it is developed has nothing to do with the logical aspects of the brand. Manage your personal brand to be what you want it to be in the minds of the people whom you wish to engage with. 

- The Phantom CEO

READ MORE - The Phantom CEO: Building a Network

As Karate Experts, We Recommend You Check This Out

In a recent post from Daily Roast, I was introduced to the political party of "Rent Is Too Damn High". A fellow named Jimmy McMillan is providing realistic political comedy that we can all relate too. 


See the video here.


Jimmy,


From the staff here at {BRANDED}, we love the cause, and share a karate-type spin kick in support for your cause. 


Cheers!

Make sure to keep up on the guys over at the Daily Roast.

{BRANDED} ONLINE MAGAZINE

READ MORE - As Karate Experts, We Recommend You Check This Out