Looking at my first college graduation emails with professors, my mother, with the registrar - it becomes apparent how much things can change in a short amount of time.
The tips shared on entrepreneurship in the last blog highlight the importance of taking action. There are no risks only opportunities. I heard that said by a multimillionaire presenting at an entrepreneur conference in Orlando Florida, circa 2018.
At the conference attendees were hyped up learning how to launch products online
One of the speakers shared how he convinced Amazon to front him products without having the money to purchase them. He used his business as collateral and talked with the suppliers and negotiated a deal with the suppliers and Amazon.
As a result of leaping first, asking questions later, he made millions of dollars and launched several side businesses as well.
The Biggest Risk is Believing in Yourself
Creating a filter in Gmail for emails sent during 2016 for the month of April revealed new realizations on entrepreneurship, college, and blogging. This was when I first got serious about starting a business.
While I had tried online businesses back in the last days of the Dot Com bust, I was just a teen, and never that serious. 2016 marked the first year I legit took entrepreneurship seriously. It started with blogging.
Reading through these emails in 2016 college graduation for one of my degrees, I remember the risks I took back then. I risked failing out of college by attending college then the University of Texas.
I risked failing in business when starting one of many companies - not all made it. Most of all, I risked believing in myself.
If you've ever flown on a plane, gotten in a car, or asked a girl out on a date then you've taken a risk. None are as scary as starting a business and throwing in your chances with an unconventional lifestyle.
Inevitably some will tell you that "It just won't work," and doubt your abilities to start your own business. It just isn't something that most people typically do.
The Safe Choice is More Dangerous
As a result of this being a tad bit against convention, you'll have fellow alumni from your college, busy working for the Man, tell you that this just isn't feasible. Or the time isn't right.
I think the worst part is having family members tell you that you're being scammed or that you're just too 'gullible' by pursuing entrepreneurship. Because, [sarcasm] everyone knows that your real future is at a 9-5, with benefits and a retirement package.
But reality tells a different story. There are alarming statistics that show most who retire on a pension (better) or just on social security (the worst) are living at the poverty line. These folks believed in the American dream.
They took the path of least resistance, believed in the 2 car garage, white picketed fence and apple pie.
Yet there wasn't a chicken in every pot after the cost of living kept rising at an exponential rate, and the buying power of the dollar fell year after year.
“Get a good job with the state,” they said.
“Retire with benefits,” they said.
“Just put your time in,” they said.
Living to work and waiting to live your life until after you are all used up, already peaked, and the best years of your life was spent being some middle management’s whipping boy because of unresolved freudian issues they had with their parents?
No thanks.
I just didn't buy the hype.I wanted to work to live. Not the opposite.
I thought there has to be a better way than dying broke, relying on a system that doesn't support the elderly. I had to face the fact that I was going to be old someday. And before I was, I would be older.
One of my friends who is successful in business is saving his way into retirement.
I thought that was smart af. It's great to have smart friends. And it's great to have friends smarter than you about certain topics.
Sunday April 11th, 2016 I discovered entrepreneurship.Startup life came knocking on the door. I wracked my brain that Sunday and asked,
“Trevor, you are a fairly intelligent person, why do you ever struggle with money?”
Then it dawned on me: I never used my brain for business. It was such a Eureka moment. My grandfather used to franchise all the Arby’s and Schlotzky’s in Texas and had a computer with tech support business.
Entrepreneurship was in my blood and I could hear it calling that fateful Sunday, April 11th, 2016.
It started with blogging. I learned about the sky scraper technique. I set up Bluehost & installed WordPress for my 1st blog, Cyberpunktron. One of my friends who was a manager with me when I managed teams coordinating Breast Cancer Awareness Walks was one of the 1st people to comment on a tech review I did.
I got a freelance job as a nutrition blogger at a website called Wellness Nova and entered the world of entrepreneurship sending out emails to guest blog
The Start of Something Greater
My 1st paid blog post was “15 Steps to Maintaining a Macrobiotic Diet,” The same year Facebook within a month of April 11th, offered me a job, in May.
Reading about Eugene Schwartz’s breakthrough advertising, Neil Patel’s never ending wealth of marketing strategies, the Copywriter’s Handbook by Robert Bly, taking courses by Amy Porterfield, discovering the meaning of consulting, startups, and local entrepreneur meetups.
I learned valuable mindset shifts like:
Think outside the box, create services and products but charge by value not by the hour.
It’s been an epic journey. I got away from blogging for the past couple of years. Now, the journey continues with Jetski Shaman.
Writing new blogs I hope return to some of the original gold. As I spend hours working on the design, releasing new thoughtful articles twice a week I look forward to watching it grow. And I’ll always remember that Sunday and celebrate the start of something much greater.
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