Archive | Entrepreneurship RSS feed for this section

I Wear Basketball Shorts to Work, But My Name Is Not Kobe

Another day on the job.  We do it for the love of the game, right?  Like every youngster, I dreamed of making the League.  “M.J. to B. Will,” I envisioned as I dunked on my plastic door-hung hoop.  Remember those days?

kobe bryant 248x300 I Wear Basketball Shorts to Work, But My Name Is Not Kobe I always remember back to my idols every time I see a basketball game on t.v.  My hoop dreams quickly faded away.  I guess I wasn’t tall enough and I wasn’t fast enough and was just short of the 10,000 hours of practice that it takes for you to become a pro.  Every time I sunk a fade away shot in someones face, my friends called my so called talent, “luck.”  I believed them.  Always thought that “luck” would carry me pretty far though.  If my dreams to make it big will come true, I will have to find another way.  ...Continue Reading

21 Books You MUST-Read for Business Success

chaninsd 21 Books You MUST Read for Business SuccessYou may know that I am a avid reader.  I make many book recommendations and love receiving them.  In my personal opinion, self-education is a MUST for any successful entrepreneur.  To sum this up, one of my favorite quotes reads “If we are not growing, we are dying.”

So when I recently visited the blog of one of my favorite books, The Go-Giver, I saw that Channel Insider (value-added reseller’s online trade journal) recently released their list of “21 Must-Read Books for Business Success.” The list of 21 knockout classics, includes several of my favorites:


Good to Great
Blue Ocean Strategy
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The Tipping Point
The E-Myth
7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Join us 6/10/09 for teleconference w/ author Stephen R. Covey)

… and of course, The Go-Giver.

channelinsider 21 Books You MUST Read for Business Success  ...Continue Reading

Top 20 LinkedIn Groups ALL Entrepreneurs MUST Join

linked 300x236 Top 20 LinkedIn Groups ALL Entrepreneurs MUST JoinLinkedIn is the leading professional network on the web, so if you don’t have an account already, get one today! If you have one already, you’re off to a great start.

But even then, I have heard many people say that they consider LinkedIn to be only a career search tool; however, LinkedIn is so much more than that. It is actually a fantastic service and resource for entrepreneurs to use in the development, launch and success of their ventures.

One feature you entrepreneurs may not know about or have fully explored is LinkedIn Groups. LinkedIn Groups are free to join, and you can choose to join up to 50 groups from a list of thousands of user-created groups for literally just about anything. Not only do these groups provide you access to connect with and contact fellow group members who could become future partners, employees, investors, customers etc. of your startup, but the groups’ discussion board and news sections can provide more networking opportunities, answers to your questions and insightful advice, tips and support.  ...Continue Reading

MY NOTES: 5 Things I Learned from the Go-Giver Tour and XBM

untitled MY NOTES: 5 Things I Learned from the Go Giver Tour and XBMFor those who have been sleeping under a rock, I’ll bring you up to speed.  The Go-Giver Tour was a road trip that went down a just over a month ago, in which 9 entrepreneurs made their way from Chicago to Orlando to attend Extreme Business Makeovers, a annual event hosted by internationally best selling author Bob Burg and his business partner Thom Scott.  The vision of this trip started when 4 out of the box entrepreneurs were touched by the message behind the book the Go-Giver.  They conducted a video application process where they selected five young entrepreneurs to join in the cross country journey to inspire, empower and connect with people through the message of this book.

boys MY NOTES: 5 Things I Learned from the Go Giver Tour and XBM(winners:@davehageman @justinburns @ivanavalos @mikemonty @emanuelavalos)

This was a tremendous learning experience for all of us.  Personally, I built great business/personal relationships with many brilliant entrepreneurs, speakers and authors.  Out of my notebook, here are the top 5 things I learned from the trip:  ...Continue Reading

The Most Powerful Word in an Entrepreneur’s Life

We all have challenges as entrepreneurs.  Sometimes we see money as the solution to our problems. kaizen The Most Powerful Word in an Entrepreneurs LifeBut, as the Notorious B.I.G. emphasized is his lyrics, “Mo money, mo problems“.  Did he just quote a rapper?  You better believe it!  There are life’s lessons to be learned everywhere.  Even the most successful business owners in the world are facing similar challenges as you, just on a WHOLE different level.

After a recent phone conversation with one of my friends/mentor, I was able to address some of the challenges in which I was facing.  Then I started to see more.  And more…  And more until I realized, damn I am pretty messed up!  It actually became a bit overwhelming.  I started digging into why I struggle with discipline, which was justified by the juggling of several projects at once, which in turn was in result of my lack of focus.  It turned into a big snowball effect.  ...Continue Reading