I’m pleased to announce that my book is the #1 Mover and Shaker on Amazon.com today (out of millions of books).
The book is also listed in Amazon’s "Hot Releases" page.
What’s the buzz about? Find out for yourself by buying a copy today. If you forward me your Amazon email receipt by midnight tonight (Monday) you’ll be entered to win a free dinner on me in San Francisco this summer!
Help me beat Harry Potter and The Secret. Buy my book today!
I recently did two podcast audio interviews, each about 20 minutes long. If you want to hear my thoughts on entrepreneurship, my new book, and other interesting topics, check out the following:
1. Interview with my editor Neal Maillet for the inaugural Jossey-Bass podcast. Well produced and expansive.
2. Interview on the Mind Petals network on entrepreneurship.
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book My Start-Up Life (comes out May 18). This is a "Brainstorm" about creating and projecting a personal brand. Pre-order the book on Amazon today!
Like companies, you are projecting a brand right now. Each of us is CEO of Me, Inc. The question is whether you are going to cultivate your brand to be as truthful and powerful as it can be.
Your personal brand consists of the following:
• Your name. “Casnocha” is a distinctive last name. “Ramit” is a distinctive first name (whereas “Ben” is not). If your name is “John Smith,” think about a nickname that will stand out.
• Your physical appearance. We usually remember one physical attribute about somebody. For me, it’s usually my height. For you, it may be your booming voice, your hairstyle, the piercing color of your eyes, or your choice of clothes.
• Your work. This is the answer to, “What do you do?”
• Your affiliations. This includes schools you went to, organizations you’re involved in, charities you support.
• Your network. Friends and acquaintances.
• Your online identity. What will someone find when they Google your name? You should own the first result—it should be a personal website or blog that you run. You should also own an email address that is your name (for example, [email protected])
Why is it important to think about your personal brand? First, don’t you want to be known for who you are—in all its wonderful diversity—rather than what you do from nine to five? Too often we subsume our own personal identity to that of our employer. Second, wouldn’t you rather someone walk away from meeting you with an impression that you have defined and that is helpful to you? When I meet someone, I don’t want them to remember the name of my high school, I want them to remember that I sell e-government products to cities and also write a blog.
Your personal brand must—must!—be distinctive. A few months ago I was at a business breakfast with about thirty-five high-powered entrepreneurs and angel investors. We started off the meeting by going around the room with brief introductions. To spice it up, the leader of the breakfast said we had to say our name and our passions. I couldn’t believe how many people said their passions were wine and their family! What a missed opportunity. There’s nothing wrong if wine and family are your two passions, but if everyone else is saying that, then say something different. Suddenly, a balding gentleman took the microphone and said, “Hi, I’m David Zack, I’m a compulsive entrepreneur, investor. I’m just your average guy with an accidental passion for the ambitious. I want to create things with impact.” Whoa. I want to talk to him! Introductions at meetings are a great time to project your personal brand. This is not about making stuff up or trying to manipulate or show off; it’s simply about articulating who you are in a crisp, compelling, and memorable way.
I once spent two hours strategizing with my friend Tim over my one-minute introduction at a big meeting. We analyzed what I wanted to communicate, the dynamics of the room, the needs of the other people, and so forth. Tim and I knew this one minute would be the first time many of the people “interacted with my brand”—and that first impressions last forever.
OK, so you want to invest in your personal brand. How do you increase its “equity in the market?” You are projecting your brand every day. It never ends. The people you meet (or don’t), the articles you write (or don’t), the blog you maintain (or don’t), the conferences you attend (or don’t), the book you write (or don’t), the books you read and review (or don’t), the stand you take on a controversial issue (or don’t). Put yourself out there. Spread your ideas. Act. Ask an odd question. Get involved in your community and in discussion groups. Be a physical presence. Own your online identity. Love who you are and project it into the world by touching those around you.
Spend a small amount of time to reflect on what you stand for, how it’s perceived in the market, and how it should be perceived, and then get out there and deploy it! Make it visible!
Below is an excerpt from my forthcoming book My Start-Up Life. This is from the chapter "Confronting Failure". Pre-order the book on Amazon.
"Dig in" meant, for me, "Do what it takes" to help the business. And this meant give lots of face time to people who could help Comcate overcome its woes.
Once, a couple years later, I trekked to El Dorado County in California, about a three-hour drive northeast from San Francisco—a good example of my commitment to face time. I had come to enjoy these frequent car journeys, each small town home to some newspaper or diner that can lift any tired traveler’s weary spirits.
After three hours in the car, one hour getting lost, and one hour in my target meeting, I turned around to make the three-and-a-half-hour journey home (three hours plus a half hour getting lost). I made my way to the Highway 50 west corridor, which would take me a good forty miles. Ah, a long stretch of California highway. I cruised up to 80 mph and rolled down the window. The radio that should have spit out "California Dreamin’" by The Mamas and The Papas instead gave only static.
Within twenty minutes I arrived back in radio-signal zone and figured my BlackBerry would reconnect, too. But to confirm my suspicion, I would have to first find it. With my left hand steering to keep me in the left lane, I leaned on my right buttock and with my right arm reached into my bag placed on the floor under the passenger’s seat. Where is it? I didn’t immediately find it with my hand. To give sight to my lost hand I darted my eyes down once to see if I could locate my BlackBerry in the bag next to me.
By the time I blinked my eyes back to the road, it was too late.
My car swiveled just a little to the left, hit a groove, and in only mild panic, I compensated by turning the wheel back right. By now both hands were stationed firmly on the steering wheel. A car in the right lane whizzed by me, and afraid I overcompensated, as they always warn you in driver school, I turned the steering wheel back to the left, hoping to realign in the center of my lane. But in that readjustment I hit yet another groove, this one big, a sign of the old highway on which I rode, and it rattled the car. I compensated right, then left, then right again to meet a slight curve in the road. My speed crept to 85 mph until I realized I was traveling way too fast. I slammed on the brakes, continued to swerve, and then around the next curve my car began spinning. One moment I swayed like a hammock in the wind and the next moment I was controlling maniacal helicopter wings. I did three 360s on the ground, and spun out of my lane farther left into the center divide. Forty feet of grass and shrubs separated the westbound traffic from the busy eastbound traffic. As my car spun—me gripping the wheel strongly and slamming on the brakes—I was certain I would die. This wasn’t exactly the kind of face time I planned on. I wanted face time with Comcate supporters, not with the face of the Grim Reaper.
So this is it, I thought. Now I’m going to die. At least I lived happily and did my thing. Those words immediately came to mind as my car spun, a dummy driver watching his all-too-short life being snatched away because of a reflexive urge to check his BlackBerry while driving.
As my car screeched into the center divide, I prayed it would stop moving so I wouldn’t hit oncoming traffic. I closed my eyes, my foot pressed still harder to the brake pedal. I started coughing. Dust and weeds coupled with the bitter aroma of fear and guilt produced dirtied air I didn’t want to breathe. The car stopped. I broke down, sobbing. My tears weren’t heroic but defeated. I looked at myself with a kind of scorn reserved for consequences brought onto yourself. I was helpless, sweating compulsively, shaking, trying to comprehend a near-death experience.
And then, the BlackBerry email/phone that had caused the distraction that led to my accident, rang. So it was in my bag, after all. Should I even pick it up? What does one do in this situation? I’m sitting in the middle of a center divide in a freeway with my car probably majorly messed up. Do I answer the phone? Sensibly, I didn’t pick it up. Instead, I drove the car off the highway at the next exit to examine the damage. While stopped I checked my voicemail and my emotions did their own 180: a city prospect wanted a follow-up demonstration. . . . Tomorrow! Nice!
The next day, en route to the meeting, the right front tire, which, unbeknownst to me, had been damaged in my off-road excursion, flew off my car while I was driving down the center lane of Highway 101. A police escort stopped all traffic on this major California artery, took me off the road, and called a tow truck. I never made it to the pitch.
Failures, obstacles, even car crashes are all part of the start-up experience. Ups and downs are the definitive indication that you are doing something entrepreneurial. If your record is spotless, then you haven’t been an entrepreneur. If the only mistakes you’ve made are on school papers or in mishandling a report in a big corporation, those aren’t spots. It’s the spots from the school of hard knocks that matter. They matter because how you confront real failure is right up there with self-confidence, drive, and luck as a critical ingredient for success.
When you are controlling your own destiny, as most entrepreneurs are, it is easy to place all the blame on yourself. Don’t. Circumstances matter and not all circumstances are within your control. For failure due to circumstances out of your control, try to learn from it and then embrace the mantra, "Shit happens." Instead, figure out what you can control and constantly reinvent it. If it ain’t broke, fix it anyway, because you won’t know when it’s broke to begin with—so preempt failure caused by complacency.
I also looked at all my failures that summer with a sense of urgency. I needed more successes. I was about to start high school and my business needed help. Fast.
Over the next week I’ll be posting some excerpts from My Start-Up Life which hits bookstores May 18th. Today’s excerpt is from Chapter 4 and is about my self-teaching efforts.
Fall 2001 was winding down. What a busy few months. I had learned a great deal about local government and my target market. Now I needed to learn about the mechanics of starting a for-profit business. It felt similar to when my family first got Internet—I thought we only needed a Web browser. Then I learned about Internet Service Providers.
On any given day my excitement and optimism soared or swooned depending on the effectiveness of my self-teaching efforts. With no entrepreneurship curriculum at school, no entrepreneurs in the family, and few programs aimed at youth, I was on my own to scour the public library, follow link after link online, and read business magazines and books. One of my favorite, more successful tactics was to monitor the business conference circuit and email speakers or presenters and request their PowerPoint presentations. Even though I didn’t attend the conference, many speakers still emailed their materials. I also persuaded Golden Gate University in San Francisco to let me audit management and marketing classes for free over the summer.
When this approach worked, the results were glorious. I could search for the definition of "preferred stock" in the privacy of my own thoughts. I could research public relations and ask myself the question, "So how do they make toxic sludge sound good for you?" without offending someone’s third cousin once removed who happens to run a small PR firm and takes pride in her work, thank you very much. I could study accounting over and over and come to enjoy acronyms like FIFO and LIFO, so long as it wasn’t EBITDA, a phrase new MBAs will utter about four times a day, their starched shirts and suits unable to keep corked the smugness a six-letter acronym allows.
When my self-teaching failed, I was a new kid in a big city, hungry for all of it but digesting little: I would read at length about some topic—say, the difference between "horizontal" and "vertical" markets—and then a week later hear someone use those terms in a meeting or read them in an article, and I’d feel like Pope Benedict at Rick Warren’s church: it sounds like Christianity, but what’s up with the T-shirts? There’s a big difference between reading something passively and being able to apply it, describe it, analyze it, all in real time with college-educated and experienced adults. Accumulating random bits of knowledge was better than nothing, but absent real-life experiences to cohere my readings into something meaningful, I was like the A+ student who can’t screw in a lightbulb. This would all change, soon, under the guidance of a mentor. Until then, the business literature accumulating on my bedside repeated one phrase over and over: "business plan."