Getting started

As I'd mentioned in a couple of long-ago posts (here and here), I'm not blogging for publicity - I blog primarily to keep my right-brain from getting moribund and sharing opinions on a couple of things I care about is easier to achieve than truly creative writing.  But, the down side is that I don't blog that often as I'm swamped with 'real' work - it's been almost a month since the last one!  Some day I'll make blogging part of my 'real work' and presumably blogging bliss, or at least productivity, will ensue.

Meanwhile, I ran across a post on how to get start and fund a social enterprise.  It is short and eminently to the point and I totally agree with all the directives here:

1. Find your passion
2. State your values
3. Start with small ambitions
4. Speak the language of 'we' rather than me
5. Act as a 'for-purpose'

This list is intended for startups for 'social good', which are often non-profits, but in my opinion every one of them is applicable for a 'for-profit' enterprise.  Even the 'for-purpose' is a great reminder that every venture has to have a purpose that you can build around, and a purpose/goal of 'doing good' is just as vague as 'making money'.  

There is one key point that I believe needs to be added, both for social as well as commercial ventures:

     6.  Have a funding plan

While the post is aimed at fund-raising and using the above fundamentals to fuel it, even fund-raising needs a plan.  Whether it is self-funding, boot-strapping, angel/VC funding, individual donations or foundation grants, you can't get started without figuring out how you're going to finance it.  As someone who heads a non-profit that also funds other non-profits, I know that a funding plan is essential to delivering the 'good' - just as it is critical for success in a for-profit venture. You can read the post here.  It is worth reading, and saving, for all would-be entrepreneurs - just don't forget the financial plan!

Making it happen

I just read a post by Altucher on the #1 habit of people who get things done, aka, 'effective' people.  He refers to Stephen Covey's most popular '7 Habits of Highly Effective People' - the book he wants to beat - and zeroes in on the #1 habit: Be Proactive.

A few years ago, I happened to read Covey's book and it does have good stuff - but honestly, I can't remember much of it, though I'd probably recognize them if I heard the seven habits.  Or not.  A lot of these self-improvement books do tend to blur and sound the same, so I probably couldn't tell which were from that specific book.  But that's not a bad thing per se.  It is likely there are just the same few things that we can do to help ourselves, and it is the way they are presented that may resonate with each of us differently as individuals and get us to remember them, and, more importantly, do them.

I like Altucher's pick for the One Thing that rules them all.  No one would argue against being proactive, in fact, that is the only way to get anything done.  What is even more helpful is Altucher's exhortation to 'start today' - he's asking you to be proactive not procrastinate - and his neat little 'how-to' for chunking down your goals into 4 categories and listing what you can actually get a handle on right now makes it look like a no-brainer.

Of course, this is good advice for everyone, but particularly so for entrepreneurs, and he does give some examples of that.  Though I'm more likely to emotionally connect to 'The Tao of Steve Jobs', Altucher's post is a fun read and easy to practice.  Here it is: 'The #1 Most Effective Habit'!

The Tao of Steve Jobs

Just to get it out of the way, 'The Tao of Steve Jobs' has nothing in common with the movie 'The Tao of Steve' except for the first four words.  That's it.  This is not a book or movie or anything more than one small blog post about one amazing man.

It's almost a month since Steve Jobs died and there have been a zillion people opining about his life and legacy, as well as the inevitable detractors and tut-tutters.  And just when the stories seemed to be slowing down, out came his biography and TV shows - even SNL did its best. There are so many angles to the stories too - Steve the entrepreneur, the dropout/rebel, the wunderkind who was shunned by the tech establishment and then came back to show them, the family man who was felled by cancer.  Here are two widely different perspectives I liked reading: James Altucher's blog post and the eulogy by Mona Simpson (Steve's sister). 

For Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs, Steve was a god.  The one we all wished to be like, the fearless (and smashingly successful) entrepreneur,  the tech visionary who couldn't be caught, the genius worshiped by product designers everywhere.  Would-be entrepreneurs as well as famously successful ones (Zuckerberg, Page and Brin for example) desired to learn how to do it 'Steve's way'. 

The Tao of Steve Jobs, as I like to call it, are all those 'core values' that define the way he did things.  All these items are well known and are excellent advice not just for entrepreneurs, but possibly to anyone wishing to make something meaningful in his/her life:

• Focus.  
• You can't do everything, and certainly can't do everything well.  And yes, sometimes the focus is overwhelming and obsessive, but it may have to be so to get the job done.
• Simplicity.
•  Not only because of the inherent beauty in simplicity, but because it ultimately produces a better product, experience, outcome.
• Excellence.
• 'Perfect' trumps 'good enough' every time.
• 'Stay hungry.'
• If you're not striving and yearning for something, if you're not passionate about it, it's not going to happen.
  
• 'Stay foolish.'
• Do what you believe in.  Take the risk to act on it.

 (The last two are from Steve's speech to the Stanford students.  If you've somehow missed it or want to hear it again, here it is - one of the best commencement speeches of all time.)

A long while ago I wrote about what is important to me - create, care, connect (you can read that post here).  I realize how Steve epitomizes each of those.  He was undeniably creative - I've always appreciated Apple more than any other tech company as they tended to create, not copy/buy, successful ideas.  Steve cared deeply about what he did (even if he did not directly show his 'care' in the traditional way for social causes).  He micro-managed (and threw tantrums) because he cared so much about every aspect of what Apple built.  As for connecting, he connected the dots way, way outside the box and saw possibilities others couldn't even imagine.  Despite his imperfections, I admired him and what he represented - an embodiment of truth in design and the entrepreneurial fire.  He will be missed, and it may be ages before another like him shows up, but, like me, techies and entrepreneurs everywhere will be inspired by the Tao of Steve Jobs for a long time..