Let me explain…

This year has opened my eyes to a who new world a world where companies can run for years without ever making a profit and yet the founders become extremely wealthy.

For example ZipCar a company that provides membership-based car-sharing automobile rentals where members are billed on an hourly or daily basis has gone public via IPO with a market cap of over 1 billion dollars. And the company has yet to earn it’s first dollar profit.

A few years ago if someone where to ask me what the criteria would be in order to take a company public, the first thing I would say is that your company needed to be very profitable. Obviously having a profitable company is not a criteria for taking your company public via IPO.

I am starting to see that there are a few types of companies.

Here are 3 different types I see.

#1 Companies that need to make an immediate profit or they won’t stay in business.

#2 Companies that raise a bunch of capital from VC’s get crazy high valuations and then go public without ever making a dollar profit.

#3 Companies that raise a bunch of capital from VC’s and are quickly profitable and then go public. (This is the type of company I will be building in the near future)

The whole VC world is a completely new world for me and the more I keep educating myself on this the more I keep thinking it’s the next path I’m going to head down.

However I’m planning on attacking the VC route differently than most.

It seems to me that most tech companies who are raising funds from VC’s aren’t profitable and don’t plan on being profitable for years to come. It blows my mind that VC’s would invest so much money in some of these companies. One company (Color Labs) who is developing an iPhone and Android app raised $41 million in funding just to develop an app. It’s a cool app but I have no clue why they would need $41 million just to develop an app.

I have started a handful of companies over the years. I have tried a bunch of things that didn’t work and I have also had a bunch of successes, each success usually building on itself and being bigger than the last. With that said I think it’s time for me to take a look at an entirely new path in my business life, I’m now looking at taking a company down the VC route for 2 reasons.

Reason #1 -VC funding will help me scale the company faster.

Reason #2 – Taking a company down the VC route I will be able to tap into a whole new level of expertise and advice that I could not get anywhere else. To me this is much more important than the actual funds that I will raise for the company.

While I do intend to go down the VC route I don’t intend on doing it the same way so many others do.

My goal with going down the VC route is going to be no different than if I didn’t take VC funding and I invested all the capital for the company myself. I’m still going to build a company that is profitable from day 1 or soon there after however with the help of a VC firm I am going to be able to scale the company much faster and also tap into expert advice and guidance.

My goal has always been to build a billion dollar company and it’s clear as day to me now that the way to do this is to connect myself with people who have already done this time after time.

I’m excited to see where the next 24 to 36 months take me I think it will be a fun ride.

Amy needs to know what I want to name the classroom that I am building. I have a few thoughts in mind but I really wanted to reach out to others and get some suggestions. I would really appreciate if you gave me a suggestion or two as to what the classroom should be named. This name will be displayed permanently on the classroom once it is built.

I will be going over to Kenya for a 10 days in August of 2011 to help build this classroom but I need to know soon what I am going to name the classroom.

If you are interested in helping out with this project you can find more information here: http://worldteacheraid.org.

One of the best things you can do to jumpstart yourself on the path towards success with anything is go out there and seek out someone who is already successful in whatever you are trying to accomplish.

Recently I did this in my own life.  I am looking to get involved investing in apartment complexes. I recently met a guy named Alan while I was in Egypt. Alan is a very successful real estate investor. He own’s over 100 single family rental properties and several large apartment complexes.

I only spoke with Alan for about 10 minutes when we met in Egypt but I knew right away I wanted to learn more from him about apartment buildings. It just so happened that Alan wanted to learn more about the Internet “an area I am pretty knowledgeable in”.

I followed up with Alan when I got back to Ohio and he invited me down to Houston Texas where he lives. I booked a flight and flew down to Texas for a few days.

I spent two days in Texas with Alan, the first day Alan and I drove around to several of his apartment complexes and he gave me a crash course on successfully investing in apartment buildings.

The second day I gave Alan a crash course on Internet Marketing and how to create a successful online business.

The reason I wanted to share this with you is because what I did here is one of the biggest shortcuts to achieving success. Seeking out and learning from an expert is is priceless.

When you learn from someone who is already successful in what you are trying to do, you can learn from their mistakes so you don’t have to make the same ones and you can also learn from their successes.

I urge you to go find someone who is successful in whatever you are trying to accomplish. What you will need to do is provide them some type of value in exchange for them teaching you.

You see most successful people are more than willing to help teach someone who is interested in their subject matter. In my case luckily for me Alan wanted to learn about the Internet so the exchange of knowledge was mutual and we were both able to teach each other about the other subject matter.

Now if Alan had no interest in learning about the Internet then I would have had to find some other way to provide value to him. You should always try to provide some type of value to someone in exchange for them teaching you.

What you should do is go and find someone you want to learn from and then let them know you really want to learn from them as you are trying to accomplish the same type of thing they have been successful at. Like I said you will need to be providing some type of value to this person so if there is nothing they want to immediately learn from you then you will want to offer to work for them for FREE.

Let them know you are willing to do whatever it takes to learn from them and you will work for free and do whatever they need, if they would be willing to teach you.

The reason I wanted to share this story with you about me flying down to Houston to meet with Alan and talk about apartment buildings is because it’s a perfect example of seizing the opportunity to learn from someone who is successful in a field that I am getting involved in.

You too can do this no matter what you are trying to become successful with. Give yourself a shortcut to success and go seek out an expert in your field and learn from them today.

GREAT QUOTES

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?
– Vincent Van Gogh

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.
– Niels Bohr (Nobel Prize Winner)

Failure is only an opportunity to begin again more intelligently.
– Henry Ford

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.  If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.
– Warren Buffet

Persistent people being their success where others end in failure.
– Edward Eggleston

My mind is my biggest asset.  I expect to win every tournament I play.
– Tiger Wood

It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
– Babe Ruth

If you work just for the money, you’ll never make it, but if you love what you’re doing and you always put the customer first, success will be yours.
– Ray Kroc

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.
– Abraham Lincoln

Clear your mind of can’t.
– Samuel Johnson

A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.
– Jackie Robinson

The fruits of life fall into the hands of those who climb the tree and pick them.
– Earl Tupper

Strive for perfection in everything.  Take the best that exists and make it better.  If it doesn’t exist, create it.  Accept nothing nearly right or good enough.
– Henry Royce

Life is like riding a bicycle.  To keep your balance, you must keep moving.
– Albert Einstein

Pain is temporary.  Quitting lasts forever.
– Lance Armstrong

What we think, we become.
– Buddha

I know the price of success:  dedication, hard work, and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.
- Frank Lloyd Wright

We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch.
– John F. Kennedy

You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take.
– Wayne Gretzky

I work hard because I love my work.
– Bill Gates

Victory belongs to the most persevering.
– Napoleon Bonaparte

Always do right.  That will gratify some of the people, and astonish the rest.
– Mark Twain

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it.
– Thomas Jefferson

To love what you do and feel that it matters – how could anything be more fun?
– Katherine Graham

Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or to lose.
– Lyndon B. Johnson

When you combine passion and hard work, then success is always possible.
– Arte Moreno (owner of the LA Angels)

Well done is better than well said.
– Benjamin Franklin

Never mistake motion for action.
– Ernest Hemmingway

Press on.  Nothing can take the place of persistence.
– Calvin Coolidge

Better to do something imperfectly than to do nothing flawlessly.
– Dr. Robert Schuller

Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.
– John F. Kennedy

By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be the boss and work twelve hours a day.
– Robert Frost

This quote from Thomas Edison really sums up what it takes to bring your ideas to life.

While most creative ideas come from the “creative type” this type of person isn’t always the best at actually bringing their ideas to life. In order to bring ideas to life you need to have organization. Most super creative people are not the most organized.

Organization is a major force when it comes to bringing your ideas to life. Does this mean if you are a “creative type” of person that you can’t bring your ideas to life. Absolutely not but what it means is that you need to do one of two things, you need to either build some organization into your life or you need to partner up with someone who is an organized “get it done” type of person.

There are so many creative people who have great ideas but lack the organization to actually get things done.

When you have a new idea one of the most important things you can do is develop an action plan. If you are going it on your own and don’t have a super organized partner you need to turn your creative hat off and focus 100% on your action plan once your idea is developed.

Does this mean that your idea can’t change along the way, no of course your ideas will morph into something new as you bring them to life. But your major focus should be on implementation of your action plan once you develop that initial idea.

You must write down all your ideas. If you don’t write down an idea it doesn’t truly register in your brain.

Now it’s ok to delegate action steps but if you delegate something to someone else it must be truly accepted by that person and they must take ownership in following through with the action plan.

Make sure your action plan is down on paper and that all parties involved in the project have a copy of that action plan and know exactly what they are responsible for completing.

One thing I have struggled with in the past is having lots of ideas and trying to tackle too many projects at once. Many creative types have the tendency to get involved with or start lots of projects but never see any of those projects through to their fullest potential. New great ideas always pops up in their head and they move on to the new shiny coin.

This is one of the biggest things that hold many people back from massive success. They are too busy chasing after the new idea that they never have time to fully execute their previous ideas.

I went through a phase like this for about a year and a half before I realized what I was doing. I was constantly busy working on new things but nothing ever seemed to get done. It’s only in hindsight that I can see how unproductive this was. I know I am not the only one that has had this issue before. Luckily I have out grown this problem and I am focusing my concentrated energy on fewer projects and seeing them through to there fullest.

If this has ever happened to you where you get involved in too many things at once I urge you to step back and evaluate the situation. If you want to achieve massive success with anything you can’t have your energy pulled in 30 directions at once.

You may need to say no to a hundred things to make sure you don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much.

In order to bring your ideas to life you need to focus on two things: self-discipline and action. You should navigate your life with a bias towards action. Ideas mean nothing if there is no action behind them.

Always measure everything with action steps. The most important thing that I can’t stress enough is taking action and focusing on execution rather than idea development. Persistence is a huge key in the execution of ideas.

A crappy idea with great execution is going to succeed far beyond the best idea in the world with poor execution. If you look around at everyone you know in life who has achieved massive success they probably all have one thing in common. They are good at following through and completing what they started.

There are three types of people in life the first type of person is someone who is never willing to risk anything and is never willing to fail therefore they never take any chances and could not possibly become successful. The second type of person is someone who tries something and quits as soon as they meet the first sign of failure. And the third type of person is someone who tries something meets failure and tries again and they keep trying until they succeed.

Everyone in life meets failure in one form or another what matters is how you react to failure. Don’t let failure define you. You should learn from failure. Consider your failure a learning lesson don’t think of it as failure.

I want to share with you a few wonderful quotes from Thomas Edison:

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

“I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

“Many of life’s failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

This last quote I know to be all too true. Recently I had a friend who was working on a new company and he was so close to success but then he gave up. Too many people are 90% of the way towards success and then they decide to give up. The people in life who achieve the most success all have one common trait. They all have perseverance.

Don’t be afraid to fail as that’s how you learn and grow.

His name is Stu McLaren and he and his wife  have a charity that builds schools in Africa. Stu spent some time with myself and some others telling us all about the charity and how much of a difference they are able to make in the lives of others. Stu is planning a charity trip next year that people can go on. The trip includes building a school house for children in Kenya and feeding 300 children for 2 months.

I am planning on going on this trip over to Kenya next year to help assist in any way I can. If you are looking for a good cause to donate towards I suggest you check out Stu’s charity: http://worldteacheraid.org

I think this is a great quote and this really sums up how powerful planning for your success can be. Most people in life don’t have a plan and most people in life just drift through life taking whatever life throws at them as opposed to setting out with a plan and moving forward with that plan by taking massive action.

Having a plan is only half the battle because a plan with no action is as good as no plan at all.  Once you have your plan in place to achieve your goal you MUST start taking massive action.

Let me show you how important having a plan is. There are two people who are driving from New York City to Los Angeles California the person in the first car knows his final destination but does not have a map. The person in the second car knows his final destination but he has a map.

The person in car one takes two weeks to drive from New York City to Los Angeles. He get lost multiple times along the way. Which delayed him getting to his final destination. This causes him to get frustrated and causes him to have to spend $1200 on gas and $2000 on hotels.

The person in car two takes only one week to drive from New York City to Los Angeles. He was able to enjoy a great cross-country road trip and stop at several places he wanted to visit along the way. The trip cost him only $600 in gas and $800 on hotel rooms.

Now why was it that person in car two was able to arrive at the final destination in half the amount of time spend half as much money on the trip and have a better travel experience? It’s because he had a map.

Your life is the same you need to have a “map” which would be your plan. If you don’t have a plan to succeed you are making a plan to fail. It is very important that you not only make clear goals but that you also make a clear plan and start taking action on your plan.

The one key thing I advised him on was finding a success blueprint. Let me explain to you a little more about what I mean. Success leaves clues, better yet success leaves a blueprint behind. It does not matter what you want to accomplish in life you can almost always find a blueprint for accomplishing it.

Builders use a blueprint to build a house and you can use a blueprint to achieve success in anything you want in life. One of the big keys to achieving success is to model success. Find someone who has already accomplished what you want to accomplish and reverse engineer how they did it.  This will give you a success blueprint.

Success in life is really as simple as that, go out there and find someone who has accomplished something you want to achieve and do what they did.

The second key thing that I told my friend was that you need to have clear concise goals and you need to write your goals down. This is very important because if you don’t have very clear goals and you don’t have them written down there is little change you achieving success in what you are trying to accomplish.

Harvard University did a study a while back and they took 100 students who were graduating with the MBA. They polled these students and asked them how many have clear goals. The study showed some very interesting results. They then surveyed these students 10 years later and here were the results they found. Of the 100 students 15% of them had goals when they were graduating Harvard’s MBA program. That 15% of students earned on average twice as much money as did the other 85% of students graduating in the same class without goals. Now here is the really astonishing facts. Of the 15% of students that had goals 3 of them (%3 of the total 100 students) had clear goals that were written down. That three percent of students earned 50 times as much money as did the other 97 percent of students.

This type of study could be done anywhere else on earth and you will find the same type of results. If you have very clear goals and you write them down you are much more likely to accomplish them.

I challenge you to write down your goals and then to go out and find a success blueprint for yourself.

-Mark Jenney