For this week's podcast, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Schoeniger, founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative. 

Gary has a really interesting story -- from dead broke desperate handyman to successful entrepreneur.

Over the last 15 years, he has interviewed hundreds of successful entrepreneurs to discover which skills are critical for starting and running a business.  Many are not what you think.

My favorite advice from the interview:  

"Find a problem.  Figure out how to solve the problem.  Find more people with the same problem and you have a business."

I like that Gary's views make me think.  I have been in "do what you love (and work and work and work and work) and the money will follow" mode for so long that the "problem/solution" model was very intriguing.

My friend Alexandra Levit just wrote a book called "How'd You Score That Gig? A Guide to the Coolest Jobs- and How to Get Them."   Her book bubbled up from lots of conversations with friends at social gatherings where inevitably one person would describe a cool job that no one had heard of.

Despite what you may think of my opinion based on my blog's name, there are certainly times and places for a "job," rather than striking out on your own.  If you have to be your own venture capitalist for awhile, you might as well do it in an interesting profession!  The more time that goes on, the more I see that feelings of liberation erupt from your own positive thoughts and beliefs, no matter your work configuration.

I interviewed Alexandra for my podcast where we discussed not just the contents of her new book, but also what it is like to be a successful self-employed writer.  She gives some tips for choosing book topics that are not just interesting to write, but that may pique the interest of publishers.

Sometimes I feel a bit schizophrenic, on one hand encouraging people to not stress so much about leaving their corporate job to start a business, and on the other hand feeling extremely uncomfortable about all the "start a business in 30 days in your bathrobe" nonsense that permeates the internet.

Sparked by a blog post my good friend and fellow entrepreneur coach Philippa Kennealy wrote called Can you maintain your income as an entrepreneurial physician? , I invited Philippa as a guest for this week's podcast on realistic expectations for making money in your startup business.

Like anything in life, you will have people at every end of the spectrum, some who get lucky making tons on money in their first year, and others who take a decade to make serious cash.

In this 38-minute interview, I talk to Philippa about:

1. Her own experience building both a coaching practice and a coaching business (there is a difference, which she explains!)
2. What she learned by launching The Entrepreneurial MD, a coaching business focused on helping physicians learn business skills, enhance their medical practices and start new businesses
3. They key questions to ask before launching a business
4. Realistic timeframes for getting your income flowing after launching your business
   

Our advice may seem a bit conservative to some of you who have big plans to make a huge sum of money your first year in business.  My response is threefold:

1. If you can make a  huge sum of money your first year in business, do it.  Don't let us or anyone else stop you.
2. Faster is not always better.  There are really great things that result from taking the time to plan and launch a business.  For people that have a lower tolerance for risk (financial and otherwise), slow and steady growth, sometimes on the side of a gig as an employee, can be a lot less scary and more rewarding than an all-or-nothing sprint for the finish line.  You learn a lot by doing and testing a lot of things.
   
3. If you think it is easy to make huge piles of money, you may want to test your assumptions.  Real world testing is the best ... launch a small product, do a consulting gig or two, try to get some new clients on the side of your day job.  I hope I am wrong and response #1 applies to you.  But I would rather you temper your optimism with realism than fall on your face and lose more than you need to.
   

I am curious what you think of the conversation.  Please tell me at the blog!  www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

If you want to grow as a human being, you could climb really tall mountains.  Or run marathons.  Or study the great written works.  Or study yoga in an ashram.

Or ... you could put your entire livelihood at risk and become an entrepreneur.

I don't think running a business is for everyone.  But I do think that it is the best way on the planet to learn about yourself.

In this episode, I list 5 reasons why I feel so strongly about this.

Listen in to see if you agree or disagree, then share your opinion with me at the blog!  www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

You may notice that the closer you get to your right life and business, the more frequently coincidence, synchronicity and serendipity occur. Once thought the purvey of mystics and dreamers, more and more business people are embracing insight and intuition as a critical business skill. In this episode, I share:

1. My own frequent experiences with synchronicity
   
2. Some "rational" reasons why it may occur
   
3. Resounding encouragement to stop being so stuffy and embrace the benevolent forces of the universe on your way to creating a great business.
   

Don't worry - you won't have to buy a Grateful Dead album in order to enjoy the concepts, just have a listen and tell me what you think at the blog: www.escapefromcubiclenation.com.

Technical note: This is the first podcast I am recording with my new iMac, and I saved the audio file in a different format than usual. Let me know if you have problems listening by leaving a comment here, and I will make sure to address it. Thanks!

Even the most optimistic and motivated aspiring entrepreneur will reach a point where frustration or anxiety grinds progress to a halt.  This is otherwise known as "hitting the wall."

It can happen when doing things you hate such as:

1. Making sales and marketing calls
2. Trying to crank out a first draft of a book or product
3. Filling out government or legal forms
4. Creating a business plan
   

What can you do to not let frustration derail your dreams?  My five recommendations include:

1. Scream, whine, wail, swear and complain
2. Step away
3. Find a source of immediate beauty or calm
4. Reconnect with the reason behind your entrepreneurial endeavor
5. Make a very clear and specific goal to complete one task

Let me know your ways of dealing with "The Wall" at www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

It is often tricky to know when it is safe to call yourself an expert in your field.  If you have done any research in marketing and PR, you know the benefits of an "expert" designation:  free press and the trust and credibility of potential customers, leading to more sales.

But it can feel a bit presumptuous to call yourself an expert, right?

This episode provides questions you can ask yourself to test your expertise, which go beyond the traditional formula of years of experience + number of academic degrees + number of books written = level of expertise.

Please share your thoughts about when it is safe to call yourself an expert on the blog at www.escapefromcubiclenation.com.

I was stunned and awed this weekend when I read a great book on creative blocks called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.  Best known as a novelist of books such as The Legend of Bagger Vance, Gates of Fire, Tides of War, and The Last of the Amazons, Pressfield writes a short but exquisite analysis of the source, purpose and solution to creative blocks.  It was published in 2002, but is a timeless classic for anyone who feels blocked from starting anything.

I chose a few key concepts to explore, including:

1. What is resistance?
2. What is its aim?
3. What is a quick way to overcome it?

I share some juicy passages from the book, which REALLY got me fired up to stop procrasinating and get moving on long-stalled creative projects.  Here is a little taste:


I am very curious what your experience has been with creative blocks, and what you have done to move past them.  Please share at the blog! www.escapefromcubiclenation.com

P.S.  Yes, you heard a little bit of 2-year old screaming in the back of this episode ... I didn't have the time to re-do or edit the recording, so forgive my imperfection as a sign of DO-ING to slay the dragon.  :)

People are drawn to entrepreneurship for a variety of reasons including work/life flexibility, the opportunity to contribute something meaningful to the world, the chance to make a lot of money or the platform to get known as an expert in your field.

Regardless of your intentions, chances are you want to make money at what you do, and use the benefits of press and publicity to market your efforts.  In my shorthand, I call this getting rich and famous, even if in your humble definition this means being able to pay your light bill on time and getting a one-line mention in your local paper.

Many first-time entrepreneurs struggle to balance the effort it takes to get rich with the effort it takes to get famous.  So in this podcast, I share 5 tips including:

1. Spend time defining your niche
   So that you know exactly who you are trying to target, and which problems they have.
   
2. Create a product road map
   So that you define what you are going to develop in what order and focus your efforts.
3. Create the infrastructure to support your product from first contact to product delivery and follow up
   So you don't alienate your hard-won customers with crappy service.
   
4. Tie your fame-garnering efforts to your niche
   So that you don't become known as the boring, generic person who knows a little about a lot of stuff.
5. Always direct people to your product page
   So that you leverage media exposure to make sales AND get famous.

Please share your getting rich and famous stories at the blog -- www.escapefromcubiclenation.com.

A blog reader recently wrote an email and shared his frustration at being stuck in a corporate job and hating it, but not knowing how to begin a new business in a new field.

To answer this question, I outlined a number of steps you can take to go from vague and fuzzy idea to concrete business concept, highlighted here:

1. Step 1:  Wrap your arms around the field. Learn as much as you can about all the ways this field is expressed in business, so that you know which area to focus on.
2. Step 2:  Choose a small "neighborhood" to explore.  Once you see all the different possibilities in the field, choose a particular area of interest.
   
3. Step 3:  Identify the hotshots that are doing the work successfully.  These should be people who not only have technical expertise that you admire, but also complimentary values and thriving businesses.
4. Step 4:  Carve a niche.  Choose a particular area to work in that represents your best work, and a particular group of people to work with that would energize and engage you (and would pay you -- we are talking about a viable business!)
   
5. Step 5:  Shake a tree.  Get moving with a marketing plan, selling services and meeting with potential customers.

If you break things into steps and deal with one at a time, the prospect of entering a new field won't be so overwhelming.

Please share your thoughts on this topic, and what has worked, or not worked, in your own businesses at www.escapefromcubiclenation.com.