The Modern Entrepreneur

I met Tom Herter by sheer chance, he and his partners just happened to be staying at our hotel in Indianapolis during the weekend of the Indianapolis 500 closing a new deal with the NFL for their company Eye Level Interactive. As a young Entrepreneur or business professional, you need to take any and every opportunity to expand your network and showcase your talents and abilities. I had noticed Mr. Herter’s Super Bowl ring and NFL Players Association blazer and decided to inquire. It just so happened that Mr. Herter Lives in Orlando, Florida, where I just moved, soo we immediately hit it off. He gave me his information and we have talked and emailed multiple times since. I met with Mr. Herter and his assistant this past Friday July 22, 2011 to discuss his new company as well as the historic day in which the NFL labor negotiations had ended.
Mr. Herter is the Vice president of the NFL players association in Florida and had won 2 Super Bowls both as a Player and a coach. He also owns several businesses including Pak Mail franchises, an Arena Football team, Champion sports training facility, and now he is Vice President of Eye Level Interactive. We spoke about the intense nature of the NFL negotiations and what it took to get such a long and arduous deal signed off and sealed. He believed that the solidarity and unity of the players and owners was essential, for the sheer fact that both sides were at least on the same page with their constituents and knew what each side was looking for. The mutual respect and mutual benefit were also key factors in the negotiations, respect was crucial to the players who had earned it, and both sides understood that the popularity of their sport was at an all time high and there was too much money to be lost by both sides had they let their ego’s get the best of them! This insight into one of the most historic labor negotiations in recent memory was amazing. But I was most interested in my potential role with Eye level Interactive.
Mr. Herter explained to me his role with Eye level, which was to open the door to licensing negotiations. Eye Level has patented E-reader barcode tag, which is a new social marketing application on Consumers cell phones, which can connect consumers with their favorite companies and brands through one click. The main goal of the meeting was to see if I could get involved in this brand new company, which was founded in January and has already generated over $200 million in revenue. The company only has a few employees and I wanted to continue to grow my network, get involved on the ground floor to learn and maximize my potential, and then utilize my connections and network to be a viable asset to this new company. I began by expressing my interest in all new businesses when I first met Mr. Herter, expressing my love and passion for investing. I also showed my appreciation and intrigue for new and promising technologies, which is why I believe Mr. Herter wanted to get together and discuss this potential. Little did I know, he really wanted me to work for Eye Level, which only has about 6 employees as of now. I knew that my affiliation with certain entities and my connections with the IRL, Mountain Dew, Simon malls, and Live Nation would be appreciated and could be used as leverage when discussing my potential role. My knowledge of Marketing and Finance also helped me significantly, but when I began to spit out ideas and potential clients for the company he was very excited and even offered me a huge percentage of commissions. Utilizing my experiences and connections we had an amazing meeting and conversation, which will hopefully lead to some great deals and tremendous personal growth, thanks to my negotiating and social tactics.

People too often go through life’s great experiences and difficulties, asking themselves why. To often people are ignorant to their abilities, they shy away from opportunities, and disregard wisdom imparted from our elders feeling it does not apply. The world and society revolves and moves in cycles with people constantly repeating the same mistakes, not learning from the mistakes of our predecessors. This fact is something that separates the successful from the unsuccessful, and the Happy from the Unhappy.

The people who are truly happy in life generally have been successful doing something they love or enjoy, and if happiness is not enough, monetary success often relieves many of their burdens, which can facilitate more success and happiness. In the Book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki He talks about the importance of learning from the Rich and what they have done right in order to be successful. Each person has his or her own definition of success, and it may not be monetary. The path to success is never certain or clearly defined, however listening and learning from those who have had previous success is crucial, not just understanding what they did right but learning from what they did wrong. This pro-active approach is often why generations Rich and wealthy elude the trappings of fiscal irresponsibility and the rat race that represents the monotony of working society today. The successful understand this and put emphasis on education and hard work, not just in school, but in society and business which is something not taught in school. In today’s world the resources, principles, and ideas are there regardless if you are wealthy or not. Being able to analyze, understand and apply the principles that have been successful to your individual circumstance is significant in order to remove the habits and attitudes which have mired complacent people in a constant maze of normalcy.

There are many examples of people and principles that Rich Dad Poor Dad has generalized into a philosophy of principles and ideals that work. But it matters most how you apply these principles individually. Russell Simmons has Five rules for getting “Super Rich”, which he has tried to preach to his children as well as the youth of America in his new book “Super Rich: A Guide to having it All”. Russell Simmons was a self made Entrepreneur, who followed his heart and his passion so that he could not only set him self apart from the rat race of life, but be successful and happy doing something he loves. He started out loving music with the creation of Deaf Jam records, and his Business acumen grew as he gained experience eventually creating a huge business empire, something he credits to following his principles and surrounding himself with the right people. He believes the people you surround yourself with is the most important thing whether you are learning for them or they are working for you, the quality of your human capital in your life is crucial.
“Russell Simmons top Principles for Super Richness”
1. Give your talents until they cant live without it
2. Relentlessly pursue your goals without appearing Needy
3. If you don’t love it leave it alone
4. Let go of the results: people often overanalyze the results and not the work itself, if you have quality work you will often have quality results.
5. Get open: Live with an open mind.

Life, history, and experience, all play a huge role in learning about the realities of society and success. There are many human and physical tools out their for people to learn from. Just because your parents, friends, or even yourself are not or have not been successful is not a reason for you to not try or carry on the tradition. It is a reason to go out in the world gain experience learn from positive influences and mold your own reality of success and gratification much the way Russell Simmons, and many others have done before and after him.

Part of being an Entrepreneur is marching at the beat of your own drum, following your own instincts, insights, and the voice in the back of your head that knows where your life should be headed, not where some Corporation wants to direct your life. Nigel Marsh a writer and motivational speaker gave an inspiring speech at the TED conference in Sydney in 2010. His message was simply “Balance your life, Balance your career”.

Marsh, like most people around the world, was living and imbalanced life with the most skewed portion of his life more heavily imbalanced toward his work and career. Corporate America is designed to try and get the most out of their employees in terms of time and efficiency. Entrepreneurs and those in corporate America need to have a better understanding what is truly valuable in life and the reason why most people work so hard.

The point is whether in life or business you must take a personal inventory on what is truly important in life and what your true motivation is for success and what you are willing to do for your goals and what you are willing to sacrifice for what is important. If you Find Balance in your life, you will find more happiness, meaning, and satisfaction for what you are doing in your career or business. This is especially important for Entrepreneurs because often times they can become over consumed by their business and goal and forget the reason they are doing them. It is understandable that you will be passionate about your business and it may take up a significant amount of time, however it is important to realize that timing is crucial for balance. Thus you must make the time and learn to say no and take control of what matters, and if you do not have a family and your business is everything and that makes you happy, then live at the office! But if your family and marriage are negatively affected it may be time to re-assess your goals and outlook on life.

Brands have always been a part of Business since the beginning of the industrial age. Companies, and famous influencers have always been able to promote their brand and thus increase the financial capital of their business. Entrepreneurs, celebrities, and politician have also utilized their exposure in order to increase the human capital of their personal brands and individual reputations. A prime example of this would be Donald Trump, who has spent years developing a personal brand around his persona and human capital, first by building wealth through business then exploiting his name to create a worldwide brand of consumer products, television shows, resorts, real estate, etc.
Obviously Trump's brand took years and a lot hard work to create, a quality, which is still important today in order to create a colossal brand such as Donald Trump, Coca-Cola, Ralph Lauren, or even Google. However the difference is, that today there are so many resources with the advancement, accessibility, and availability of technology such as smart phones, tablets, and smart tv’s, Social media and the evolution of established media through this technology has changed the game forever. Perhaps the best example of this would be the last presidential election. Barrack Obama was a seemingly unknown and inexperienced congressman who had a sparse political track record. Ten years ago Obama would have remained and unknown and would have been shuffled out of the political picture in the primaries. With the use of modern technology and social media, the Obama camp produced an unprecedented campaign, which built a personal political brand seemingly overnight. Thus it is important more than ever to begin utilizing modern resources to promote your personal brand in order to boost your human capital, whether your aspirations are to be President of the country, CEO of a company, or even just a viable job applicant in todays society.
Regardless of your aspirations human capital is often one of the most overlooked asset classes, mostly because it is not definitively measured because it is an asset that is quite tangible and circumstantial. No matter what your position in life, your experiences, talents, insight, and personal vision are of some value, which is why it is important to work hard, pursue knowledge, and promote your abilities to the fullest extent. It is also important not just to promote your abilities through modern technology, but manage and regulate the use of this technology because it can hurt your human capital as much as it can help it. It is important to utilize the modern resources such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, etc. in order to promote your personal brand, unique ideas, and stay connected. It is even more important to do so in a smart and strategic way by promoting yourself in a positive light.

As I explained last week, the art of the pitch is essential to becoming a successful entrepreneur. The modern entrepreneur needs to be versatile and adept to spontaneous situations. The modern entrepreneur needs to be always thinking ahead, creating and evolving their own vision, ideas, and solutions to problems through the developing new products, projects, with a unique insight. Perhaps most of all the modern entrepreneur should be able to seize the moment and take advantage of any opportunity, whether it is by creating an elaborate detailed proposal with formal meeting, or courteously grabbing someone’s attention whom you know will benefit your project.
Opportunities in life present themselves all the time, it is those people that accept the challenge and seize the opportunities. It is those defining moments that can separates the ordinary from the extraordinary and successful, Film directors, Entrepreneurs, Philanthropists, politicians, etc. Meeting a high ranking executive, capital investor, politician, producer, Angel, whoever, is always nice, but being able to grow your network and make that encounter significant and productive is the key. Seize the opportunity by being able to conceptualize your ideas, product and or projects, concisely and effectively, by being and engaging with your “high concept pitch.” The high concept pitch is a relatively new approach to exposing your idea or project and most importantly getting it to right people at an opportune moment. The high concept pitch according to the Waxman Agency
“It’s an idea that is immediately accessible & appealing to a large group of people, that taps into the hive-mind if you will, but with the added spark of feeling new”

The high concept pitch is something which can be applied to many situations and industries, however it is often one of the most effective methods of promoting your idea and wooing investors in the Entertainment industry. Because the entertainment industry is so vast with investors producers, manager and talent, all whom have different busy schedules, agendas, and career goals, making it tough to get your idea heard in a sea of information and other ideas. With this industry being so unpredictable, the ability to seize opportunities becomes more and more valuable. If you are and entrepreneur, young singer, aspiring producer or director, the ability of the high concept pitch becomes even more crucial.
The Pitch should be based on a concept which you have already developed to an extent. Your pitch should be based around a proposal, script, business plan, etc. so that you are not just wasting time it is necessary to have facts, developed ideas, and examples, to create a unique yet identifiable feeling of your concept. Essentially you are “explaining the book without ever revealing the content”. If you can harness the gift of gab and be able to articulate and promote your ideas in a productive manner you can seize such opportunities and increase your ability to facilitate success and even luck.

          Pitching is not just an ability you need to win the World Series, it is a skill that is required by every Entrepreneur. There are many different ways to pitch a project. The more traditional way is to have a formal meeting with investors or business executives to formally present your deliverables promote the reasons that your project or endeavor is worth while and uniquely different from other entrepreneurs’ ideas. The traditional approach is always crucial in modern business
you must always have a good business plan, a solid approach to connect your pitch to you audience, and you must be able to feed on their desires, thus you must know your audience almost as well as your project. There are many important attributes an entrepreneur must have when approaching investors in traditional manner, however there are three crucial steps which are not always recognized but can sometimes be the most important factor in getting the green light for a project

Three crucial Steps:

- Pitch the idea to the right person: Do not pitch to a person who does not show interest or share the interest of you idea. Do not pitch an idea to a No man or someone who is impossible to please
- Pitch to their Pain: You must find the “Pain Point” of the organization or person you are pitching. Find what problems and inefficiencies hinder their performance and play on those inefficiencies by grabbing their attention and elaborating on your solution for their problems
- Play it Safe: Make the investors feel comfortable with the situation, in today’s economy investors are more cautious. Do not pressure a potential investor or client in to an all or nothing situation, make them feel like there are options and offer alternatives, or a detailed contingency plan.

        Understanding traditional Entrepreneurial methods is very important to understand how to do things differently and what methods are crucial regardless. The first to steps are very traditional concepts, and while investors are always looking for some security it is even more important in today’s modern economy to provide transparency and comfort to the investor or boss taking the risk.