I have to look at the results though:

• It’s a lot of work daily to record, produce, edit, encode and blog.  Yet I regularly find that it’s the absolute highlight of every day.
• Some quick stats: Over 2,100 page views by more than 700 unique visitors from 28 countries who downloaded more than 1,000 episodes in the first 30 days of operation
• I’ve been introduced to or recommended to follow more than 3 dozen people “off air” in addition to the 2 dozen or so that were mentioned on the show who I already wasn’t following
• I’ve received compliments from many people regarding my voice including someone who formerly hosted a morning radio show and a top blogger who said I missed my calling by not being in radio.
• All but 5 episodes have had a sponsor that are helping make the podcast possible.

Those facts don’t even begin to describe on the number of new opportunities that have been laid in front of me because I am creating regular content.  The reaction of people who meet me now is different because of the fact that I’m producing a show each and every day and the quality of my guests. Businesses have approached me and asked me for further insight on how long form content might work for them and if I would be open to helping them.  But most important, I’m happy that the people I know (and those who I am getting to know) are gaining a platform to share who they are and the best part is that I’m getting paid to do it.

With the doors that have opened for me over the last month I’m really starting to believe Gary Vaynerchuk’s assertion that the resume is dead and your internet footprint, especially relating to content, is what people are going to get a snap shot of you before you walk in for an interview or a work contract negotiation.  I can not stress enough that you find a way to create awesome content in whatever medium works for you and to do so consistently. Who knows what new opportunities will open up to you.

I’ve had several conversations over the last few months where people who are well known and well respected in their industries have said to me something to the effect of “I wish I could help more but I don’t even know where to start.”  These are people who get consulting fees for thousands of dollars a month.  They want to help people because that’s genuinely who they are and they had folks who helped them along the way so it was time to pay it forward.  You could be one of those folks they choose to help free of charge simply because you asked.  But you didn’t.

Making the ask is something that I wish I had learned to do earlier in my life.  I used to avoid asking for anything as long as I possibly could.  There are several occasions where things were downright awkward because I wouldn’t make the ask.  Be it the pretty girl in class next to me for a date, an employer for a raise or a friend for his notes because I was focusing on the girl next to me in class I wasn’t good at getting what I wanted.

What’s the potential downside of asking in reality? Very, very small. Get over yourself and out of your own way so you can get the things you want in life.

Case in point: A project that I’m sure I’ll be blogging about this month is my “Meet My Followers” podcast that will launch later this week.  I tweeted out on a lark,  ”I’m seriously considering doing an audio podcast with my twitter followers being guests. Likely 20 minutes an episode. Would you be a guest?” In minutes I had several friends and business colleagues say yes either publicly or privately.  I went a couple steps further and began asking people who I admire and are good acquaintances but aren’t folks I would call friends.  They said “yes” as well.  I was somewhat amazed to by my own ability to get a “yes” from them but upon further reflection it made sense that they would help me out here.  I’ve supported a lot of these people, promoted their work and even sometimes pointed out opportunities for them to step into a new market.  This is their opportunity to take part in the thank you economy and pay me back with a bit of their time.  Plus a little promotion for themselves probably didn’t hurt in sealing the deal.

Now I look at it and I think I have only 3 days in August where I don’t have a guest lined up for the show.  Two days ago I didn’t even have a show.  Maybe it is the greatest time ever to be an entrepreneur.  Nah. I’m excited about this opportunity and it’s entirely because I was willing to be someone who just blurted out a question and allowed people to answer it for themselves.

Are you making the first ask?  If so, what good has come of that?  If not, what’s preventing you from doing so?

credit: flickr genbug

This morning Milind and I got to talking over IM. Our conversation revolved around downloadable content and entrepreneurialism. Milind echoed a statement that has been said by many industry pundits. He said, “It’s an exciting time to be alive.” It’s statements like that which always leave me a little miffed. I typed back “Do you think that people didn’t think that it was a great time to be alive when TV was 5 years old?”

People see the world the way that they want to. No one wants to think they lived at the worst time ever. Even those who lived through the Great Depression didn’t believe it to be the worst time ever.

Our conversation then made a stronger move toward entrepreneurship. Milind echoed a point that the barriers are now gone. Our mutual friend Gary Vaynerchuk has said may times. Once again, I wanted to challenge Milind’s beliefs here because I think his statements show he’s thinking about only his own experience. Given his own experience, he’s perfectly right. There isn’t a better time to be an entrepreneur. Overall though, is this the best time EVER to have been an entrepreneur? My thought process is we’re getting close but we’re not there yet.

I posit that the best time ever in America to have been an entrepreneur was between 1890 and 1925. The number of truly revolutionary technologies makes today’s changes look like we’re going in slow motion. The electrical grid was starting to roll out across America and many families were becoming familiar with the light bulb. Shortly after, telephone adoption rates were getting to the point where network effects were starting to play their expected parts. Planes and cars were invented in this time period and then became accessible to the affluent public and the immigration laws worldwide wouldn’t even have hinted at the insane system most countries now have.

Most importantly, as an immigrant you could get off a boat get to your final destination city by train and after working for an existing business for a bit while learning English you could legitimately start your own business leveraging these technologies and could reasonably rely on your local community to support you if you provided great products and excellent service. The general mass marketing techniques that became the norm with nationally syndicated radio stations and escalated to another level by television ended small mom and pop shops to compete due to a number of issues. Some still survived though. They innovated and provided even higher levels of service.

We’re quickly getting close to the best time ever to be an entrepreneur due to digital distribution and key platforms like cell phones becoming almost ubiquitous globally. If I were to look at the past events between today and 1985 the ability to be entrepreneurial and create not just a survival level of compensation is good but not great. We’re still not there yet but yes Milind I do think it’s a very exciting time to be alive and working to become an entrepreneur.

I suspect the 35 year golden age to start being an entrepreneur starts in 1989. That being the case, what are you doing between now and 2024 that will help you start the next generation of great businesses that will dominate the 21st century?

Anyway I got to go crank and make things happen with the crew.

Over the course of the last few weeks I’ve been watching Leeds United (a third division English soccer club) play against some of the top clubs in the world in the FA Cup.  They’ve beat quite possibly the best team in the world (Manchester United) and forced a replay against Tottenham.  The heart of this team reminds me of something Coach Stewart taught me many years ago: Compete.

Nothing else matters when you go out, try your hardest and find someway to play up to those who you have no right to be competitive with.  Even when those games come around when you simply don’t have the arm (legs or bats) to win finding a way to simply be competitive can be enough to scare other teams into being scared to face you.  This psychological frame can be the difference between winning 9 or 16 games in an 18 game season and can be the difference between first and last place.  

This ideal of being competitive matched my own model of hustling and I think it shows in not only the quality of work I produce professionally but also the way I handle myself day to day.  There’s no one telling me I need to be speaking at universities across the western United States, producing a podcast to maybe 50 viewers a week or writing a book is the right thing for me to do.  It’s simply my own way of hustling and being competitive even if it’s with no one else but myself.  I think this idea of being competitive is why I have no fear in cold calling company’s CEO or negotiating million dollar deals.  I simply believe that I can be competitive in these arenas and therefore find a way to be so.  

So how do you become competitive?  How do you measure yourself and your growth?

I know there are a lot of student that I’ve spoken to reading my content and here’s my recommendation to you: Find what you care about and then find some way to compete in that field.  

Truth be told, BeCovalent is a baby business of mine that I had literally decided to slow down the growth of…stunting it even to the point where I would pull down the website.  It’s not the business didn’t achieve the goals I had set out for it. Rather it simply failed to meet my one requirement for classifying it as a business: cash flow.  

The deal with BeCovalent is that it’s a mastermind group but in a different kind of way.  I make sure the groups are small, diverse, and incredibly intimate.  I build trust to the point that NDAs aren’t required and that members don’t even think about bringing them in.  Basically, this is an excuse for me to get together once a week with people who I want to learn from.  The plan was to build a few groups (which thankfully I now have) and then to bring in more businesses who met the specs and charge them a monthly fee to compensate me for my time, bringing the right group together and the additional services I provide (recording of sessions, notes, etc.). 

The problem with the system is that I feel guilty for charging for these services.  Maybe it’s because the only groups I’ve formed are from those folks who I already knew and were personal friends with. Maybe it’s because I feel like I feel I’m learning more from these folks than they are from me. Maybe it’s because I know that several people in the program now would choose not to pay (or couldn’t even pay if they wanted to) should I throw on a subscription model.

Up to this point I feel like I’ve had the great opportunity to attract the people I have because it was free.  It was a hobby of mine, even if it was one I took very seriously and had massive goals for.  I preach entrepreneurship to a lot of the groups of students I speak to but I also speak specifically to knowing when to stop your losses, close up shop and search for a better idea.

So dear reader, I ask you for your opinion on this one: Should I close down BeCovalent (http://becovalent.com) as I had planned because I had a mental barrier that prevented me from charging clients (even when I know they are receiving financial benefit from being a member of the groups) or should I press on and continue to invest time and resources in moving this toward a business and away from a hobby?

Thanks in advance for your comments and perspective.