Howework-refelction of the week
Howerton is a respectable entrepreneur and a inspiring mentor.
In his talk, I learned 3 things.
1, try sell something(idea, product, magazine,etc) in order to learn a lesson before you entrepreneurial life begins. Reality is that, you will receive a lot of rejection(aka 'No!'). Try to figure of why people don't want your stuff. In marketing, everything is within three categories, 1, lower cost, rise not much benefits; 2, lower not much cost, rise benefits; 3, rise cost, rise more benefits. Let me show you a graph:
As you can tell, the 3rd type product is a marketing person's nightmare. Because people are poor judger. Free stuff, good! Beneficial stuff, good! Beneficial stuff with some cost, hmmm...
The lesson is : Learn to stay tuned even though people say 'no' to you.
2, I learnt how to think like a entrepreneur.
Terry Howerton is the fonder of TechNexus, which according to my understanding, a B2B incubator. Howerton saw two problems.
- a, Big coperations is seeking innovation by acquiring the product of start-ups and their engineers rather than hiring new people because big company need firm results(successful innovation) instead of feeling uncertainty(inventing by hiring new team).
- b, Start-ups want to redefine a industry. In a heroic story, a start-up is King David and the industry serves as Goliath. But in reality, the industry can offer specific needs(building IOT among my airplanes) which are clear problems ready to be solved. In summary, big company needs solutions and start-ups offer solutions. TechNexus, a Chicago based incubator which connects industry leaders to Start-ups directly. So how does it work? TechNexus cooperate with big companies and let them raise money for start-ups instead of forcing entrepreneurs seeking VCs. Moreover, start-ups can acquire clients instantly without much marketing. Further more, young entrepreneurs receive mentorship from Howerton and connect to the industry right away.
Howerton saw problems and tried to solve them by starting a company(TechNexus) with business model. He gave us a example of how business works at TechNexus:
We have three big corporation need help: Shure, a microphone manufacturer who made profit from its golden standard products for 36 years and now they want to spread out its technology in more environments. RAA, the biggest airplane maintenance company in the US who are still using clipboard to schedule maintenance. Gogo, a intenet service provider above 10,000ft(aka on the airplanes ) want to build connect airplanes via its newtwork and make them IOT(intenet of Things). The most interesting part of this story is that we can combine all their needs together and solve them all st once. Why not Shure use microphone technology to make a little anomaly detect device for airplanes, and then assembled&maintained by RAA, running data through Gogo's airplane network. And one of our start-up has gave them this kind of solution.
Entrepreneurs do not only focus on one obvious problem, they see their intersections and coordinate all resources together to create more values.
3, I learnt that a life as a entrepreneur has heavily affected Mr.Howerton and shape the way he think. He has a very interesting career beginning at a age of 15 by printing paper sheet\format for other people just like Fedex and sold it by 62,000$(but spent most of the money on paying the bill of that company). He told us,"That has changed my life and being a entrepreneur is the only thing I do for my life." So, we can tell a early stage success(especially a success just by the first time) is able to generate a huge self-empowerment, confidence and faith. Later on, we were asked 'What is your motivation of being a entrepreneur?'. One classmate answered, "Money". Other people answer,"change the world.", "being a boss for yourself". I don't judge, these are all valid answers. Mr.Howerton commented in a very stylish way, "Money comes in and money will be gone. 'Change the world', 'passion', 'being a boss for yourself' are good motivation. But money might not be one of them". I agree upon the last sentence. Because I watched a Germany Arabian who came to Dubai and became a multi-millionaire, and he started interviewing other successful entrepreneurs, one of them, who was 50 years old, suggested by his 30 years career, that money(being rich) is a misleading motivation for entrepreneurs(but a good one for stockholders&ealry employees) because entrepreneurs must focus on growing their business in every moment rather than counting bank account.
After word
To me, entrepreneurship is a mean to a end.
Being a entrepreneur is not a end of my life. I want to live a good life. My life will be fit, happy,love,wealth and impact. The entrepreneur who mostly agree with me is Tai Lopez('Here in my garage...'). Many cynical people thought he's a fraud. By watching this video, I think you will change you mind. Tai Lopez on Money and Happiness with Lewis Howes. Surprisingly enough, I share a lot of knowledge(body health, social psychology, mental health, pyramid theories,etc) with him. He learned it from his mentor and books(whatever they are). I learned it from professionals who worked in Physiology, Psychology, Sociology and Economy, who are genuine geniuses. This coincidence vastly increase my respect of Tai Lopez.