Flush the Toilet: Young Entrepreneurs

Can the surgeon actually think that he can fix someone by cutting them open with a sharp knife?

Can the artist actually think that he can influence millions with the stroke of his brush?

Can the entrepreneur actually think that he can change the world with the implementation of his idea?

Yes. Yes. And… Yes. – They do think that!

Theses people do think that they can do these amazing things and that is what makes it possible. In order to accomplish these seemingly impossible tasks, a degree of arrogance or cockiness must be present.

How does Cockiness Help the Entrepreneur?

1.) It can help you not settle for less. In certain situations, it’ll take a cocky mind to make the right choice as opposed to the mind that is willing to settle for any old thing (quality is the way to go, always).

2.) It can help you set high standards for yourself which can result in superior products and services to what’s already out there.

3.) The cocky entrepreneur chooses to associate him or herself with excellence, not mediocre individuals.

How does Cockiness Destroy the Entrepreneur?

1.) You may tend to believe that nobody is competition to you and before your know it, the same company that you chose to not take seriously as a competitor is now swimming in cash while you’re still swimming in water.

2.) Cockiness can blind you to opportunities that you may pass on because you deemed it “not on your level.” Opportunities that could have put your company on the map, silly!

3.) You may build a following of enemies who have become sick and tired of your “I’m better than you, sucker” attitude. And… last I checked, enemies aren’t good for business.

So Should I be Cocky or Not?

To a degree, the entrepreneur should be cocky when it’s in the best interest of his company and his plans to change the world. But when the cockiness starts to get to your head, you’ll soon find yourself floating away to a place that is void of success and great business opportunities.

But most importantly: never rock out with your cock out (unless you’re at a nude beach).

I recently had the pleasure of being invited for an interview on Bold Business Talk with Donyell Nelson. The interview was focused on my first business that I created in January 2004 and the problems that eventually led to me focusing my attention on other ventures.
It was great talking with Doyell and sharing my story.

Listen to Podcast

Over the weekend Reid Morrow and I had the chance of recording a sweet entrepreneurial chat. We spoke about various topics that entrepreneurs face on a daily basis such as: reading self-help books, fear, college, choosing your friends, and much, much more.

Check it out

Did you ever come across a young entrepreneur’s blog where the author has posted their monthly revenue? If you’re like me, you have come across many of these blog posts and were left wondering why the author posted these significant numbers without any supporting information as to how that money was obtained or the underlying processes that were involved in brining about that revenue.

I really can’t understand why so many young entrepreneurs do this. It usually begins by some reader asking the author to post their revenues. Many times, the author will gladly post a screen shot of their credit card or paypal deposits and that’s just about it – they neglect to show how that money was actually made. Furthermore, they don’t provide any information that would educate another entrepreneur on how to make money just like they are.

But what really, really angers me is when someone asks the author to explain how they obtained such success and they simply ignore the request or say that they “don’t share financial details.” Ha, well if you don’t share financial details, then why the hell did you post those monthly revenues to begin with?

My feeling is that many of these entrepreneurs – you know who you are – feel the need to showboat and brag about how much they are making. Does this really boost your ego? In fact, I also think that some of these bloggers are straight-out fabricating those screen shots of bills in an effort to make themselves seem super-successful when they really are not. Heck, without information to back up the numbers, then I’ll always be left skeptical.

Simply posting screen shots of your revenues doesn’t impress me or most serious young entrepreneurs looking to learn how to make money on the net with their business.

Want to know what’s really impressive? It’s impressive when the business owner/blogger goes the extra step to not only post those monthly revenues, but to actually document and show the processes of how that income want obtained; the decisions that were made and the ideas that were implemented that lead up to those numbers. Numbers alone don’t mean shit!

Com’on guys…. Isn’t entrepreneurship-blogging all about sharing what you know and educating entrepreneurs on how to succeed just like yourself? Please, correct me if I’m wrong.

I’m not saying that you have to spill your guts and share all of your secrets – that’s just insane! I’m saying that if you’re going to be posting numbers on your site, then why not go all the way and back those numbers up with content. Doesn’t that make sense? When you half-ass it we never really gain a true understating of how you made that money and how we can apply your success to our own businesses.

I don’t know… maybe I’m wrong and bloggers shouldn’t be forced to back up their numbers. Or maybe I have a point and bloggers should do everything they can to help and educate other young entrepreneurs on how they obtained success. Maybe there is a middle-ground somewhere that I didn’t address.

What do you guys think?

Many younger entrepreneurs these days have an idea of the equities markets yet believe there’s some underlying magnificent science to smart investing. This is bull. The single most significant commodity in the economic spectrum is knowledge, and the more you know and experience, the more your likely to develop a sense or a ‘feeling’ for markets.

#1. Don’t jump into the pool if you can’t swim.

One of the worst habits novice traders experience is something we call ‘plunging’. Markets are crazy and hectic these days, and in my mind its never been a better time to be alive, so get your feet wet and make sure you’re used to the temperature before jumping in. Far too often investors plunge into an idea making two huge mistakes. First off, extending all their capital into one price at one time, and secondly leaving emotional decision making into the buying and selling of their positions. Let me address the latter of the two first and foremost. Emotion is the downfall of investing. The only reason you get involved in the market is to make money. Markets fluctuate, and when you’re investing for value; small up and down trends in a stock leave novice investors buying high and selling low. Build positions. If you find a company you like, don’t buy it all in one day. Build a cost basis over smaller built positions and buy on true fundamentals. Plunging into a stock triggers emotional trades, and losing sleep over an investment is a worse experience than losing money in an investment.

#2. Love hurts.

I’m sure you’ve all heard of the term, “Dollar-cost averaging”. Typically investors will buy into a position, see the stock lose boatloads, and decide to buy more. Your job in investing into the market is not to hopelessly fall in love with a company and pray your ideas come to fruition, but rather buy on solid fundamentals. Let’s call it what it is, a certain percentage of companies you buy will lose money, and the more money a stock loses the more likely it is to continue on a down-trend. Cut your losses in bad companies, take one on the chin, and live on to invest another day.

#3. Don’t chase the wagon.

Far too often I have someone call me up, explaining the truck loads their friend made in some fly-by night company up over 100%, and want to get involved. I’m sure I don’t have to elaborate on this rule, but opportunities come everyday, so don’t chase an idea that’s already flew down the highway.

#4. Buy Quality.

It’s far too early to explain the analysis of cash flow, balance sheets, or any in-depth fundamental information (that will come eventually) but typically you don’t need to have a degree in finance to see a good idea in front of you. I typically buy stocks that can ‘trend’ with the market. (As opposed to ‘defensive’ stocks. Defensive stocks are huge market cap companies that most investors get involved into to hedge against a bear market.) Generally the best trending companies trade between $10-30 per share with a market cap between 200 million and 1 billion. Most often stocks in the single digit range have adverse trading volume’s and cause for ‘choppy’ charts and price movements. Look for companies with potential for earnings growth, meaning who you think is going to make more money!

#5. Knowledge is power, and power means money.

Start reading, a lot. Financial blogs, Wall St. Journal, Investors Business Daily, news.bbc.co.uk, Financial Times, Barons, anything you can get your hands on to start acquainting yourself with what’s going on in the financial world.

Please comment and ask plenty of questions!

Hello Everyone,

I’d like to just take this moment to introduce myself and respectfully request some input on a developing category of this site. My name is Charles Stucklen, a business acquaintance from New York to David. I’m a licensed equities and derivatives trader as well as an Investment Banker in Pre-IPO stages. My goal is to break things down to elementary levels of understanding in a seemingly complex world of the markets. (green can be simple yo).

Listen, you don’t have to be a millionaire to invest. It is never too early to begin a nest egg, I can’t stress that more than enough. Capital appreciation, annuities, dividends; these can all be wealth builders. This is what I’m asking, content is king, and I’d much rather write about what you’re interested in than what you’re not, so talk up please. Any questions in regards to the global financial realm shoot.

charles@charlesstucklen.com

Over the past few months I have been working on a little side project at Classhelpers. I originally created the site after being inspired to flip (re: build and sell for a profit) the site after reading an article over at College Startup, but now I am considering holding onto it.

A lot has happened since I first thought of the idea to start Classhelpers: I was able to hire a few interns to write roughly 10 articles per week, incorporated Google ads into the site, and have done a bit of simple redesigning to the site.

As of now, the site is populated with really great content focused on helping college students, it’s constantly being updated by two excellent writers, and though traffic is pretty low… I expect it to increase when school starts back up in the fall.

Hmmm…. this side project got me thinking about entrepreneurs who create tons of blogs/sites. I can definitely see myself with a good amount of personal blogs that I have direct control over. And, of course, I see myself implementing ads to monetize the blogs, but I don’t see myself pumping out blogs purely to slap on Google ads and spit out poor content. Great content will always be my aim.

I see so many young entrepreneurs out there starting many, many blogs/sites in an effort to create money through Google ads. I think that this is really great and at the same time it can be really bad.

I’m not one to spread myself thin with a ton of “so-so” sites. I come from the school of thought that it is always best to do a few things very, very well as opposed to doing many things decently.

However, I don’t think that it’s impossible for the young entrepreneur to have tons of really great sites. But the question is: are you creating all of these sites just to throw ads on them to make cash, or are you also creating them to really help people with awesome content? Or… is it both?

If you can create numerous powerful blogs/sites that offer excellent content that can really help people, and also throw in ads to make some cash, then I think that’s perfect! I tip my hat to those entrepreneurs who can attain that balance – unfortunately, may can not.

On the other hand… if you are simply banging out a shitload of sites that are basically splogs (spammer blogs) and sites that are 50%+ covered with ad pages, then I am definitely going to question your motives as an entrepreneur. Heck, how can your aim be to help people when the first thing they see on your site is a million pixels of ads?

Don’t get me wrong: having ads on your site is not only smart, but it’s only logical for the entrepreneur seeking to make money – that’s cool. But when you’re just creating sites purely to cash in on them at the expense of feeding your readers bullshit content, then that is pretty low. I’d rather see you create an excellent site with powerful content and ads, then sell it for a profit. As opposed to creating a splog with horrible content.

The entrepreneur’s main objective should be to help others, right? Are we really helping people by throwing a million sites at them with a million ads instead of helpful content?

I don’t know, what do you think?

I hope that you would all agree with me when I say that family is the most important thing in life. Money, business, entrepreneurship, fame, blah….blah…blah… none of that means shit at the end of the day. The things that really matter in life are the ones that you love and that love you.

It’s more than vital for entrepreneurs to put things in perspective and to keep things in perspective. It’s so easy to get caught in the business web and block out the world that you once knew – the world that you have become so detached from during the journey to success as an entrepreneur.

Let’s keep it real: you can have all the money in the world, all the toys, all the clients, and all the luxuries that come with having a successful business, but without people who care about you in your corner, your efforts and materializations can never really mean much.

What am I saying? I am saying to keep the ones you love by your side no matter what. Through success, through failure, and through everything else in between, makes sure to stay strong to your family and your true friends who have been by your side unconditionally.

related posts:

• Crossroads of the Young Entrepreneur

Does a good portion of your life revolve around your computer? I won’t lie, a GREAT portion of my life is spent right here, on the computer. I love my computer. I LOVE the internet. I LOVE technology… and you know what… I’m proud to say that. Would many people categorize me as a GEEK… ahh… yeah… many people would! And you know what…? Cool ! I love being smart. I love learning new things. I love being an intelligent person who is working hard at changing the world… yes sir.

Being an internet entrepreneur, my life is surrounded around the net and the vast information, technology, and innovation that derives from this awesome medium. I am in the process of painting my masterpiece and the net is my canvass.

I am absolutely fascinated with the internet and what it has to offer. Heck, without the net my life wouldn’t be what it is today. I can say that without being embarrassed. I can confidently say that to a degree… I am addicted to the internet. Call me a geek, nerd, whatever… it doesn’t matter…. it really doesn’t.

The net is just my thing and I am sure that many other young entrepreneurs can relate.

I felt inspired to write this post after reading GEEKS by Jon Katz. Wow, what an amazing story of two young boys from Idaho that basically come from nothing except poverty, turmoil, despondency, and depression. Throughout their lives they have been outcasts of society as their lives solely focused around the internet and technology – the only things that brought them joy.

Initially, they looked upon their intelligence as a burden and weight on their shoulders, but in time they grew to accept who they were – two extremely smart, articulate, innovative, and creative kids who had an immense understanding of the internet.

In order for them to fight back against the people who harassed them for being “geeks,” they took the word and tuned it inside out by accepting it and proudly branding themselves as exactly that – Geeks.

Though I never really physically felt a separation from society as Jesse and Eric did in the book, I’ve always felt quite mentally separated from most of my peers. There have been many, many occasions when I’ve felt like an outcast because of the intelligence that I have brought to the table among people who weren’t readily accepting of “smart people” who have smart things to say.

So in that respect, I can totally understand and respect the isolation that many smart people face on a daily basis. Sometimes being smart can be a burden on many people, especially when they feel as though they need to take their intelligence down a few notches when around certain people, in fear that they will come off as sounding arrogant and pompous.

Well you know what I say to that? Fuck that! Arrogance, confidence, and extreme ambition are MUST needed qualities for people who want to really make a difference in this world. The only people who can change this world are they ones arrogant and confident enough to really think that they can!

Here is a fitting quote that a fellow entrepreneur shared with me:

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble makers. The round pegs in square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent .They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward. While some see them as the
crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.

We must embrace our intelligence, not shun it. Many of us young entrepreneurs see the world in ways that most people can never even fathom. We have intuitive understandings of concepts that many people will never even think about in their entire lives. We are the ones who rule this world, and I say that with no ego.

It is our collective minds that are going to set the tempo of how this world is going to work and function for years and years to come. How can anyone be ashamed of that? How can anyone turn their backs from the knowledge that they have? Be proud of who you are and be proud of the capabilities that you possess.

If people don’t accept you for whom you are… FUCK them! Just keep learning, keep exploring, and keep creating! In the end, the intelligent person who uses their mind for positive change can never lose. Power to the GEEKS!

tin•ker
n. To manipulate unskillfully or experimentally

As an entrepreneur, you probably like to tinker. You probably like to ask a bunch of questions to the point that you get annoying. You might like to experiment with different machines by taking them apart. Or you may even like to take peoples’ sentences apart while they are speaking to you and analyze every single word for their true meanings and intentions.

The tinkering mind is a great mind; it’s a sharp mind that stays hungry with a voracious appetite for understanding, manipulation, and the unknown. If you aren’t tinkering, then you should be.

Here is a list of 5 things that you can begin your tinkering journey with:

• 1.) When somebody tells you something that they have done and want you to give it a shot, then go for it but make sure to tinker. For instance if your friend tells you to try a new recipe for brownies, then why not add a few of your own ingredients to see if it’ll taste better. It may or may not, but that’s not the point. The point is to try new things and experiment.
• 2.) If you like to read books, then start combining ideas that you have learned from various books to make entirely new approaches to doing something. Many times, when you combine two concepts, they often have unknown synergistic effects.
• 3.) Never stop asking questions and trying to break down everything that people say to you. If you don’t understand something, then ask further. If you want to learn more about something, then keep on asking. It’s always good to tinker with knowledge that you are learning from people. Because when you do that… you sometimes stumble upon new ways of thinking – new thought patterns. Many teachers hate when student meddle with their lessons, but the entrepreneurial mind will not accept that.
• 4.) Take things apart. Seriously, spend some time every once in a while and take something apart – anything, it doesn’t matter. When you take things apart and attempt to learn about how they were constructed, you are exercising your brain and using your creative energy to understand new concepts. After some time, you will be thinking on new levels and applying new understandings to everything that you do.
• 5.) Look for patterns and put things together. I like to stare at random shapes and try to reorganize them in my mind. I picture them from different angles, with different lengths, widths, add new dimensions, etc… this is good, because you are enhancing your imagination with this type of thinking.

I know…. I know… many of you will deem these suggestions as a big waste of time, but what do you have to lose? Not much. The bottom line here is to continue to exercise your mind and strive for knowledge and understanding in unknown areas.

Entrepreneurs should never stop questions how things work, why things are the way they are, and anything else that they don’t understand or would like to dig deeper into.

Tinker with the world!