I need to write a business plan before I start. No, you don’t. Start-ups are so unpredictable that writing a business plan is a pointless exercise. You don’t exactly know who your customers are or what benefit/value they get from your product/service. If you think you need to prepare a plan to raise start-up funding […]
How the Top 1 Percent Accomplish so Much More Than the Rest of Us
Consistency over time is mastery.
2 Powerful Strategies to Live Better and be More Productive
When I think about strategies for better living, I consider the rule of E: efficiency, effectiveness and essentialism. Recently, I have been on a kick about cultivating deep focus. In the age of social media and modern technology, we have lost the ability to focus, which is why I have made it my aim to be […]
6 Books Every Entrepreneur, Creative and Hustler Should Read
If you want to start a business, there is simply no excuse to be clueless anymore. Imagine the fact that a world class expert can work for 30 years to figure something out, completely devoting his or her entire life to one particular question — and you can get all of his or her knowledge […]
Are You Unmistakable?
Are you unmistakable? Here is what I mean … When something is unmistakable, it is so distinctive that nobody else could have done it but you. It is immediately recognized as something that you did. It has your stamp on it. Ever seen a phone designed by Apple or a car designed by Mercedes? Just […]
7 Stoic Principles Every Entrepreneur Must Embrace
Philosophy’s absence from the business world is a crucial mistake. By and large ignored by popular culture and forgotten by the media, modern philosophy has been delegated strictly to the classrooms by its own doing. Rather than adapting to the times, modern philosophers have retreated into an ivory tower of abstract intellectualism and esoteric gloating. […]
If You are Not Solving Somebody’s Problem it is Time to Reconsider Why You are an Entrepreneur
Let’s get a few things straight. Talking about entrepreneurship, just to talk about entrepreneurship, and then selling a “private video series” at the end of the talking, is not actual entrepreneurship. The purpose of entrepreneurship, while it certainly has a self-serving element to it, is primarily service to others. Embedded in all ethical businesses is an […]
10 Insider Secrets From App Empires
Almost daily, someone tells me about his or her amazing app idea. It will blow up into something huge, gain millions of users and make millions of dollars. All with word-of-mouth marketing. That enthusiasm makes sense, really. Apps are massive right now and show no signs of slowing down. Developers make billions of dollars in […]
That Awkward Moment You Know You Have Hit Entrepreneurial Puberty
There is no singular secret to success — we all know that — but there are inflection points. One thing that always perplexed me about business (especially in the online world) was how it seemed like some people on the scene became much acclaimed. Take Tai Lopez, for example. Lopez is a good example of […]
How I Pitched Mark Cuban My Business Idea Without Ever Going on ‘Shark Tank’
Back in late 2011, I got the opportunity to pitch Mark Cuban. I was just a student at the time, at Howard University, and cofounder of a company — no longer existent — called My College Hustle, a bartering platform for college students. Hoping to grab a $25,000 prize, my business partner Edward Lyles and […]
3 Reasons Your Idea is Not Taking Off and What to do About it
You have an idea and you think it is awesome. You get pretty psyched about it; maybe you mention it to a friend or 2. Maybe you even mention it to your mom. It feels like this could be “The One” — even though in the back of your mind, you know the “perfect idea” […]