This is for everyone out there who may feel like it’s too late to start a business. In my opinion, it’s never too late. Go out and make it happen!
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Business
Advice for Entrepreneurs from Tyler Perry
As an entrepreneur, I’m always interested in learning from other entrepreneurs. Tyler Perry is one of the most successful and respected in the entertainment industry. He’s got a great message here that I want to share. (video just under 5 minutes)
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Changing Directions in My Career
It’s been a few months since I’ve posted on my blog. To say the least, I’ve been extremely busy with both work and my personal life. I’ve started a few other posts that did not get completed and posted.
Recently I’ve made some changes in my business career. I’ve spent 8 years of my life working as a professional sports agent. I am no longer a Certified NFL Agent. That is a big change, however I am as excited as I have ever been about my future and the current work that I’m doing. I can always say that I chased my dreams as an NFL agent with no regrets. I’ll always be thankful for the many people I’ve met in college and professional sports along the way, including many other great agents. I’ve made many lifelong friends that I’m forever grateful for. There have been so many great memories that I’ve had that I’ll always carry with me.
There is a lot that I could and probably should write about regarding my experiences as an NFL agent as a way of helping those who aspire to be a professional sports agent. Today is not that day.
My work in the business side of the sports and entertainment industry is far from over. I have identified a number of marketing opportunities that are not being maximized by both professional athletes and sports teams. My business partner and I, through my marketing company, Marketing 160 are already pursuing helping teams and athletes maximize technology and platforms that can help them bring additional revenue while connecting with their fans.
Stay tuned as I’ll be sharing more about my dealings in the sports and entertainment business in the near future.
On United Flight 3411, Human Trafficking, The American Dream, and More
For some time I’ve wanted to share articles that I’ve recently read in a weekly blog post. Hopefully you are able to enjoy reading these five articles.
The first article is related to United Flight 3411 and the Video of the Doctor Being Removed. Don’t get me wrong by the headline of this article. I do NOT condone what United did to the Doctor. “United Flight 3411 – United is Why People Hate Capitalism – They’re Wrong” – via The National Review
This next article is something that I feel needs a lot more attention – Human Trafficking. Thankfully a flight attendant helped rescue a young girl from her kidnapper. “A Flight Attendant Rescues Minor From Human Trafficking” – via Good 4 Utah
These next three articles are all written about my home state/home town by national publications. They are all related to the business environment in the state of Utah and draw comparisons to the rest of the country.
“How Utah Keeps the American Dream Alive” – via Bloomberg
“How a Mormon Church-Owned Site Defeated Craigslist in Utah” – via The Atlantic
“5 US Cities Poised to Become Tomorrow’s Tech Mecca’s” – via Forbes
I’d like to wish you all a very Happy Good Friday and Happy Easter!
Finding Your Why
A critical factor in any successful entrepreneur is having your “why”. Why are you willing to spend hour after hour working without pay to get your company started? Why are you willing to invest your own money into something that may or may not ever provide you a return? Why are you trying to get in shape? Why do you keep going when you hit an unforeseen obstacle that seems insurmountable?
Whether as an entrepreneur or anything else in life, if your “why” is not strong enough to help you keep going through your trials, you will without a doubt, fail at what you are pursuing. Finding your why needs to be at the top of your priority list before spending a large amount of time pursuing something like entrepreneurship. It requires self reflection. If your why is strong enough, you are one step closer to achieving whatever you want in life.
I was raised in a Northern Utah town by parents who had seven kids. My dad worked for the Utah School for the Blind. However, he also was always working at least one or two other jobs. With seven kids, my parents didn’t have a lot of money. We weren’t living in the high end of the income bracket. That said, there were far too many people a lot worse off than we were. My point being is that my parents didn’t have an overflow of money. If I wanted something, I had to earn the money so that I could buy it myself.
When I was 10 years old, my older brother and I got a paper route. Seven days a week for over two years, we delivered the local newspaper to people in our community. For most 10-12 year olds at the time, that was about all of the work outside the home they were doing. We were different though. My dad had a yard maintenance business on the side of his full time job. Each Saturday from Spring to Fall, he took my brothers and I out mowing lawns and doing yard maintenance for all of the accounts.
A family neighbor had noticed our family and the work that we did each week. This particular neighbor, Richard Myers was a successful businessman, owning four local mortuaries and a cemetery. When I was about 12 years old, he hired me to help mow his lawn. Eventually, I was doing all of his yard work and taking care of his horse coral. By the time I was 13, I was doing yard maintenance work at one of his mortuary’s.
Many people think that doing yard work and maintenance is beneath them, but I will forever be grateful for the lessons that I learned working for Richard Myers. Being able to work for a successful businessman as a young teenager was invaluable. Often times , Mr. Myers would come work alongside me at his home. I was able to see first hand someone who was making a good living while being an entrepreneur. In a sense, he was one of my first mentors.
Perhaps one of my biggest benefits from working for Richard Myers was finding my own “why” while working for him. There were times that I absolutely hated the work I was doing. I will never forget a particular hot summer Saturday afternoon working at his place. He had asked me to clean out his horse coral. To put it clearly, I was shoveling and moving horse shit. It was hot and it stunk like none other. I had done this for him many, many times before. Something clicked that hot summer day though. I was going to do what it took for me to be in his position. Maybe not having someone shovel horse shit for me, as horses are not my thing. Maybe my “why” had a bit of resentment that I was being asked to do some of the work I found myself doing at that particular moment. However, my mind was made up and I became determined that I was going to find better ways from there on out to make money.
I have often looked back at that particular moment. The memories and thoughts of that day carry with me today. “What can I do to better myself so I don’t find myself in this shit again?” My “why” was found.
We live in a much different time. The internet and social media provide so many more opportunities than what was had in the 1980s. That work ethic that I learned as a kid has helped me throughout my time as an adult. As an entrepreneur, I am so glad that my parents taught me to work when I was a kid. I am grateful that I was able to work for Richard Myers. Last week, Richard Myers passed away. He was a good man. A hard worker who was a successful entrepreneur in his own right.
I hope everyone can find their “why”. Whether it’s for your pursuit as an entrepreneur, fitness and health, religion, your career decisions, your relationships, or whatever, I know that finding and knowing this will help lead to your success.
Twenty Years Ago I Started My First Company
Twenty years ago this month I started my first company. It was the same month that I started my first quarter of my freshman year of college. Most people don’t start college in January, but I was 21 and had just returned from a two year church mission.
When I started college, I signed up for and was taking 16 credit hours of college credits, plus 4 additional credit hours of religious classes that did not count towards my college degree. Looking back, I shouldn’t have been taking 20 credit hours in my first quarter of college while also starting my first business. To make matters more stressful, I had started dating a girl I would end up marrying. To say the least, my time and attention was split between school, my new startup and dating.
As a teenager, I had worked a number of jobs during and immediately after high school, each of which paid more than minimum wage. My previous jobs included a sales job at Nordstroms, working construction, mowing lawns and as a referee for youth basketball. Upon returning home from my church mission, I went looking for a job the last two weeks of December. I fully expected to be able to get a sales job at Nordstroms. To my frustration, it did not happen and no one else was willing to hire and pay me more than minimum wage. This led me to the decision to start my first company.
My dad had told me about a company that was looking for a distributor for their products in the state of Utah. This opportunity, coupled with my desire to make more than the local job market was willing to pay me at the time, led me to my first startup company. The company that I started, Rocky Mountain Low Vision, was simply a product distribution of high powered magnification devices. It was an opportunity to resell other company’s products. I started selling one company’s products and over the course of the next seven plus years, would grow to several different company’s products. It was a very niche market, but with hard work I was able to do well for a college student.
In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, there was no social media to use for marketing. To this day I feel that I learned far more from this company than I did in college. I learned first hand about sales and marketing, budgeting, accounting and taxes, networking, business contracts and so much more. There is no substitute for experience. You cannot learn from a book what you learn from actually doing the work yourself.
Six years and eleven months after I began my first quarter of college, I was able to graduate with my bachelors degree in Business Administration. Nearly two years later, just two months shy of eight years after I started Rocky Mountain Low Vision, I sold the company and moved on to my next company. Twenty years later, the Rocky Mountain Low Vision is still going strong.
Over the years, I’ve had numerous friends and family members ask me for help to start a business. For this reason, I’m going to write a series of blog articles that will go over all of the steps to start a business. I will include ideas for business opportunities, getting started online, including buying a domain name and web hosting, information on legal and accounting details, funding opportunities, and sales and marketing. I hope that it can be helpful to you or anyone you know that is thinking of starting a business.