How to be happy in business

Credit: Bud Caddell

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1. Are you happy?

Lessons from working 52 jobs in 52 weeks

In a previous post entitled “Great Idea: The One Week Job Project“, I shared the brilliant idea that a college graduate named Sean Aiken had, when in order to find out what he wanted to do with his life, he took 52 jobs in 52 weeks across North America.

Recently Sean shared what he learn from this project in an excellent TEDx Talk at TEDx Vancouver.

Enjoy!

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1. Great Idea: The One Week Job Project

Learning From Failure: 20 Years of Entrepreneurial Lessons in 20 Minutes

Bill Gross, Founder & CEO of Idealab, gave a remarkable presentation at LeWeb 2011 in which he shared 20 years of entrepreneurial lessons in 20 minutes. Brilliant stuff!

Enjoy!

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So … here you have Bill Gross’ 12 lessons:

1. Market power rules
2. Master the demo
3. Pursue your passion
4. Focus, Focus, Focus
5. Recognize your strengths
6. Don’t overbuild
7. Survive until the market is ready
8. Test, Test, Test
9. Stick with it
10. Find essential partners
11. Harness your users’ passion
12. All truth passes through 3 stages

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Quote of the week

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
Albert Einstein

Quote of the week

“If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl. But by all means, keep moving.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Be careful”

Every now and then I find myself telling my kids “be careful!“. They run around, they climb, they jump, they play all over the place and of course, as I do not want them to get hurt, the first words that often come out of my mouth are … “be careful“.

My wife recently helped me realized that by doing this I am actually doing more harm that good. Basically all I am doing is telling my kids that they should “play it safe“, that the shouldn’t do anything too “edgy“, that is better to avoid taking risks and in other words that they should just “follow the rules“.

But what I have also realized is that one of the reasons why I have reached most of my accomplishments in life, is not because I was “being careful“! I mean … I used to be a circus arts performer! Yes! I used to be a flying trapeze artist! You do not get to perform “double-back somersaults” or “passing leaps” or “single trapeze” acts just by “being careful“

I had the opportunity to work in many different countries, meet the love of my life, work with remarkable people, work on designing and building a successful career in a wide variety of industries (work in progress), take part in exciting projects… not because I was “being careful”, but because I was adventurous, because I took chances and was on the edge, because I took action when other people just stayed still “being careful“.

Of course I am not saying that you should take stupid risks or to simply go out and try something dangerous if you have no clue what you are doing. What I am saying is that if you want to do exciting work and accomplish exciting goals, the last thing you should focus on is on “being careful“.

As George Lois once said:

“Better to be reckless than careful. Better to be bold than safe. Better to have your work seen and remembered. Your work must be seen and remembered or you’ve struck out. There is no middle ground.”

Quote of the week

“The path of least resistance is what makes rivers run crooked”
Elbert Hubbard

RIP Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

In memoriam of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address

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Photo credit: apple.com

Quote of the week

“Do not sell yourself. Inspire people to buy you“
Sir John Hegarty

Priceless business advice by Derek Sivers

In one of my previous posts I shared an awesome video (extra TED Talks included) created by Derek Sivers where he shared why you need to fail in order to be successful.

Well, Derek has just recorded a remarkable presentation broken down into eight short videos, in which he shares all what he has learned over the 10 years he built CD Baby, a multimillion dollar business. All the videos are full of priceless advice.

I strongly recommend you to take the time to watch all the videos (it will take you around 40 minutes). I know how valuable your time is, so trust me when I say that this 40 minute presentation will be worth your time.

Enjoy!

Uncommon sense

Part 1: Derek’s background

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Part 2: Why are you doing what you are doing?

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Part 3: Nobody knows the future

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Part 4: Revolution?

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Part 5: If it is not a hit, switch

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Part 6: Version 0.1

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Part 7: Ideas vs Execution

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Part 8: The most successful thing we did at CD Baby

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P.S. And if you enjoy these videos make sure you check out Derek’s new book Anything You Want (Amazon affiliate link).

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