Being An Entrepreneur Is Not For Everyone

Adversity:

a state, condition or instance of serious or continued difficulty or adverse fortune.

Thanks to Merriam-Webster for that definition.  Building a start-up has a lot of this.  I would more categorize it, however, as a feeling of, "Damn it!"  That's a pretty good phrase for moments in the start-up world.  You have great ideas, and lack the cash to implement them.  You have the perfect product, but not enough partners to make a significant impact yet.  You have this internal drive, but you still can't get every door opened.

The reaction to adversity is the difference between the entrepreneur and the wannabe.  The wannabe feels the adversity and complains (oft times loudly) at the unfairness of it all.  The entrepreneur recognizes the adversity, then gets back on the phones, back to the networking, rewrites the code, stays up late, re-examines their position, focuses their attention, gets on the phone again...lather, rinse, repeat.

The reason for this is simple: Vision.  The true entrepreneur (which can only be measured by spirit, and not by money) can see clearly that, while there may (will!) be adversity ahead, that nothing about it is permanent.  Go back and read the definition for yourself.  It is nothing more than a encapsulation of a specific moment in time.  It also says nothing about defining you, only about defining that specific moment in time.

It is not the adversity that defines us, but how we indeed react to it.  That is why some of us are entrepreneurs and some of us are not.  It is not about the success or failure of the enterprise, but what we learned from the experience and how we audited ourselves.  And, in the event of "failure", how long it took us to get back up and start again - with the wisdom that our last effort taught us.

Being an entrepreneur is not for everyone, but it is for me.  I am not smarter, better or tougher than anyone.  Far from it.  I simply recognize that this rough spot is followed by smooth water - I just have to know when to keep paddling the boat or when to let it sink and swim the rest of the way.  Or, if I'm really smart, build a better boat.

Tony

Back To Austin For SEM for SMB

Clear the calendars, and come back to Austin.  Once a year, for SXSW, just wasn't enough, so I am heading back to Austin July 16th and 17th to take part in SEM for SMB - which is specifically geared to help small and mid-sized businesses learn better how to effectively market, brand and reach their goal clientele in the online space.

I'm proud to be running the panel on Online Marketing for 2009 and Beyond.  It's going to be a great exploration of not where we are now, but theorizing and focusing on what is coming next.  Who's on the bleeding edge, how does the content creator find the technology or style that is right for them, how to get out of your comfort zone - just honest conversation from thought leaders on the panel, and those in attendance.  

What this isn't is another panel where a few people drone on for 45 minutes and no one learns anything.  For our panel, Q&A is everything.  Get the conversation going in Austin, and keep it going all year long.  

I hope to see you all there.  And if you don't see me at the convention, it just means I'm at Stubbs...or The Salt Lick...or Iron Cactus...or Magnolia Cafe.  You'll find me at those places as well.

Tony

AdGrinder is waiting for you

It's a really great thing.  My company, Aweli, is done with being private and has release the AdGrinder beta to the public.

AdGrinder is a web based tool that allows for the creation of a 15 second video commercial in about five steps and in less than three minutes.  Once an ad is built, you can build a campaign and place your ad throughout the Net.  Choose your keywords, you daily budget, the length of your campaign and the area codes you want your ad to be seen in.  You can find out more by going to the site at AdGrinder.com/blog.

This is really fun stuff.  Taking an idea to fruition is, in a word, thrilling.  In addition to building ads - and being able to monetize your content, regardless of its viewership! - the blog is also going to be a place that discusses advertising practices.  What works, what doesn't, and why.  The focus of the blog is to put together smart people who have been through it, smart people who are in it, and smart people who want to learn how to do it right before they step in it.

We will also be looking for guest blog posters at AdGrinder.  If you are interested, be sure to drop us an email at business AT adgrinder DOT com.

More to come....more great great things to come.

New Place, New Things

Moving.....it's just as lacking in fun and excitement as you think it is.

I can finally say hello to LA, at lease for the short term, as I go after some fantastic new business opportunities in a myriad of spaces - social media, new media, existing businesses - as well as seeing what new thing I can get in to.

Then there is the return to radio. This week I should be finalizing a new radio show that will be weekly, not daily like my previous show. Also, this show is not a political show, rather it will be technology culture show with a focus on what works, what doesn't, and why. There really is nothing like it on radio today, and I hope to be able to announce when we launch in the very near future. Oh, and there will be some politics.....but, you kind of knew that, didn't you?

I can't tell you how good it feels to be living out of a home instead of out of boxes. I look forward to more posts and more conversations. In the meantime, you can always find me at:

Twitter - tonykatz
Jaiku - tonykatz
LinkedIn - tonykatz
On The Web - tonykatz.com
Business - aweli.com

Take care.


Tony

Great Things From Small Biz Survival

Becky McCray is an instant classic.  She doesn't shy away from her small town life, rather she embraces it, shares it with the world and challenges you to male your business better.

I met Becky, the founder of Small Biz Survival, at SXSW in Austin.  She has become a fast friend, and has crazy good savvy.  (I link to Small Biz Survival from this site!)  She gets "it", even when the subject of "it" changes.  She offers rock solid business advice, and facilitates the conversations and advice of others.

She was also kind of enough to give one of my comments top billing on her site.  Every Friday, Becky offers The Brag Basket on Small Biz Survival.  Its an opportunity to let everyone talk about something great that is happening to them - personally or professionally.  She enjoyed my comment, and thought it was the perfect illustration as to what the Brag Basket can be.  I'll be offering future posts based on one of my sayings that, "The Vision Is Only Achieved Through The Action."

Enjoy her site, and feel free to brag a little....or a lot.  

Tony

Politics and Social Media

I don't do politics here.

Unless you count The Daily Decompression just above this post.  I use Utterz for that, and I'm willing to bet more times than not that it is political.  It's a passion of mine, I find uniquely important, and I want to get my view across.

I have been working towards taking my political interests and pushing them further in the social media space.  Not in the sense of pushing my political views, my candidate, my issue, etc.  Rather, the work ethic I take to my political interests.  How I started with the base idea that I don't know about a subject just because I heard a few people talk about it or I saw the NBC evening news.  (Ha ha ha...like anyone watches NBC evening news anymore!)

I learned about politics, and solidified my belief system (and still do!), by studying, reading, comparing, researching, going back in history, taking time to think about the subject, recognizing when I am in over my head and then going to experts and more research for clarification.

In learning social media, I have taken the same approach.  I know nothing, now what.  Now, without being too self-effacing, maybe I know a bit more than nothing, but there's still so much to know.  So I am studying, I am reading, comparing, researching, going back in history, taking time to think about the subject, recognizing when I am in over my head and then going experts and more research for clarification.

The beauty of this space; this wide open panorama that no one owns or controls, is that no one - I say no one - can stop the learning process.  The idea of expert is solely in the eyes of the one bestowing the accolade, not the one who self describes in that manner.  The idea of expert, on a more granular level, is the one who helps you understand your issue, helps you get to that next level, gives you that jump of excitement, can help you find your own inner confidence to move forward on whatever subject or product you are working on.

And that's why I don't (try not to is more like it) do politics here.  Social media is about a unifying message, a singular soul, that is different for each person and each group that naturally has a gravitational pull towards each other.  Yet I am not so naive to believe that politics does not exist in  social media.  Who has the most followers, who speaks at the most events, who do you want blogging about you or your company?  The politics do exist - the ones who want to be in charge, claim control, dictate norms.  

And they are in charge, do claim control and can dictate norms - if I let them.  I take that back.  If we let them.

Tony

What Does Your Tweet Cloud Say?

Twitter is a really interesting service. What is more interesting is the cottage industry of applications that have been built around it. It really is amazing, as someone who is not a programmer, that so many unique applications can be spawned off of a service that asks only one question - what are you doing?

The TweetCloud is one of those services. It examines every tweet you have ever uttered on Twitter and gives you, in a tag cloud, your hit list. What is it that you are talking about, what is it that you respond to, who are you having conversations with....all of this revealed with your TweetCloud.

This is my TweetCloud.

Now, being that I do lean towards more political views in my other blogs - tonykatz.com, talkshowonthego.com - it's not surprising that Sen. Obama, Sen. Clinton and Sen. McCain get their fair showing.  What I was most happy to see is that my major Twitter points are more thought provoking.  Know, Love People, Think, Want...followed by Understand, Talking and - my personal favorite combination - Going Great.

Recently, Laura Fitton, better known as Pistachio, posted a link showing the TweetClouds of others.  When I looked at some of them, I got the impression that many people don't use Twitter the way I do - which is a constant conversation out there.  Twitter can easily be your tool for publicity.  However, I can't find the good reason why it should only be a tool for publicity.  To me, for me, the TweetCloud speaks to why I participate on Twitter.

What does it say about you?

Tony

PS - Not on Twitter...try this.  Think of what you have talked about or said to others in the past three days.  Now write it down on a piece of paper.  If you talked about it alot, write it bigger.  Not so much, smaller.  Just let the subjects flow until they don't come easily to you.  Now look at the paper.  Is that an accurate reflection of you and your message?