Escape from Cubicle Nation

In the trenches startup story: VC turned entrepreneur

Any entrepreneur who has sat opposite a venture capitalist in a pitch meeting has probably entertained the fantasy of switching roles, and seeing the VC squirm.  Nataly Kogan, CEO of the online community Workitmom, has done just that by choice, and given up her fast-track VC career in New York City for the daily highs and lows of bootstrap entrepreneurship.  Hear on today's radio show why she made the shift and what she has learned in the first few months of her internet startup.

You can read about Nataly's personal perspective of the transition on her blog, and also read some of her articles as a contributing writer to The Huffington Post.

Show details:

Date:  Friday, August 3 (Today!)
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  In the trenches startup story:  VC turned entrepreneur
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

How to build a strong and creative brand

Marilyn Scott-Waters has been an artist all her life, but found that her corporate role as Art Director at Nike was pinching her soul. So she ventured into the world of freelance, and as part of her business built a gigantic following with her whimsical paper toy site thetoymaker.com. On today's radio show, hear her perspective on building a strong and creative brand, integrating the best of her training as corporate artist with the hard won knowledge of an in-the-trenches entrepreneur.

Show details:

Date:  Friday, July 27 (Today!)
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  How to build a strong and creative brand
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

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And a note of apology to Feedblitz subscribers to this blog, who often express annoyance that my notices are sometimes short for radio shows. (Feedblitz sends summaries of blog posts via email, and they are usually delivered the day after they are posted) I can only plead busy, pregnant woman these days, and I am racing as fast as I can to get everything done before the baby comes.  Between scheduling guests, preparing for interviews, creating a product, writing a book and blog posts, I am stretched pretty thin.

I appreciate your interest and dedication.  Please note that the show airs every Friday at the same time (11am Pacific) so you can always go to the link I reference above under "show details" to see what is playing live.  Thanks for your patience with me!

Should formal education and entrepreneurship mix?

There is a lot of debate in entrepreneurial circles about whether the best way to learn about starting a business is by just doing it, or by going to school and getting a degree.

My guest on today's radio show, Peter Burns, has a very interesting perspective on this topic, as he has both been a serial entrepreneur, starting his first successful business at 19 (and over a hundred others in the proceeding 30 years) as well as founding the first-of-its-kind Institute of Entrepreneurship right here in Phoenix, Arizona.  With entrepreneurial guru Michael Gerber of "E-Myth" fame as a key and active advisory board member, there are a lot of cool and "anti-academic" things happening at the college including  Club Entrepreneur.

Learn about Peter's own path to entrepreneurship, and his view on the role formal education can and should play in an entrepreneur's journey.  The show starts in minutes (!), and details are here:

Date:  Friday, July 6
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  Should formal education and entrepreneurship mix?
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

Update 7/6 at 12:07pm PST:  there was a strange technical glitch today on the VoiceAmerica site, so you may not be able to view the description of the show and the download link until it is fixed. I'll let you know when it is working.  Update 7/9 at 10:00am:  It is working now!  I really enjoyed the interview and think you will too, so please download and let me know what you think.

From cube farm to the open road: you CAN turn a passion into a business

When Dan Wulfman and his wife Sheri Ballard met on a bus in rural Spain during respective career escapes in 1989, little did they know that their love of travel would eventually lead them to ditch their corporate lives behind and build a business helping families have fun and easy adventures on the road. Married a year after they met, they say:

"After working for big companies like IBM, McCann-Erickson, Deere & Co., Playtex, Mattel Toys and the American Red Cross, we eventually decided that two weeks' vacation just wasn't enough. We had an enormous yard sale, bought a nifty little travel trailer to go behind our SUV, and set off to explore our two countries together."

Their extended road trip took them from the Arctic Circle to Guatemala.  They came home and decided to ditch corporate life altogether, founding their travel company Tracks & Trails.

I first learned about their company through an article in Fortune Small Business, and of course was intrigued about how they worked up the courage to bail from their corporate jobs and start their own company.  So I asked if they would like to be interviewed on my radio show, and Dan agreed.

I often get questions like: 

• If I build a business around a great passion or hobby, will it lose its appeal?
• How can I know if my passion in something is strong enough to sustain a business?
• If I care too much about something, will that hinder my business judgment?

I look forward to talking with Dan about his perspective on these things, since after 13 years in business, he should have an opinion or two on the subject!

Join our conversation live tomorrow, Friday June 29. 

And remember ... you can call in with questions!  Just call 866-472-5790 during the hour of the live show. Last show we had two callers, and it really added some spice and realism to the interview.  I do my best to think of questions that you would want answers to, but there is nothing like you asking them yourselves!

Show details:

Date:  Friday, June 29
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  From cube to the open road:  You CAN turn a passion into a business
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

Small business, big life: inspiring advice from Louis Barajas

As a very appropriate follow up to my global education rant yesterday, I will be having a conversation today with Louis Barajas, financial expert, entrepreneur and author of a few books, the most recent being Small Business Big Life:  Five Steps to Creating a Great Life with Your Own Small Business.

Louis' roots are in East LA, where he grew up as the son of Mexican immigrants, helping with his father's business at the tender age of 7, and managing his books by the age of 13.  After following a successful education and career path, getting an MBA and a designation as Certified Financial Planner, he started working for a prestigious consulting firm.  But a series of personal events and insights intervened that led him to abandon the halls of Corporate America and go back to the heart of East LA where he opened his own fledgling financial planning business with the goal of "Economic Revolution for the Working Class."  From a humbling start of earning $12,000 his first year, his persistance and skill built his company into a well-established and flourishing firm.

My favorite description of Louis comes from Lisa Munoz of the Orange County Register:

"What do you get if you cross financial-advice author Suze Orman with Dr. Phil and Mexican Revolutionary Emiliano Zapata?  Louis Barajas."

His book offers insights into his own process of growth as an entrepreneur, including his belief that everything must start with a foundation of what he calls Truth, Responsibility, Awareness and Courage.

I look forward to Louis' take on how to build a thriving business that supports your strongly-held personal values, aspirations and goals while not working yourself to death.  Please join us!

Show details:

Date:  Friday, June 22
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  Small business big life
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

Words of wisdom from an insightful teenager: Ben Casnocha from "My Startup Life"

Thanks to my buddy Ramit, (with an earlier nudge from Kare) I was formally introduced to the teen entrepreneur sensation from San Francisco  Ben Casnocha, author of the recently published book My Startup Life:  What a (very) young CEO learned on his journey through Silicon Valley.  (Perhaps my favorite comment from a reader of  Ramit's review of the book was "I love and hate people like Ben.  At the same time they inspire me, and also force me to evaluate my current state of failure in life."  Haven't we all felt that?)

He was a total delight to talk to (I prerecorded this interview), and I was impressed not only with his feat of starting a business and writing a book all before attending college but also with his incredible writing talent.

We talked about his journey building a company at age 14 (all starting from a middle school project) as well as explored themes from his book such as:

• The importance of (but not obsession about) passion at work
• How to develop a bias toward action, not just talk
• Personal branding
• The power of entrepreneurship as a way of life, not just another incarnation of a job

Hearing him describe his love of reading and writing made me thankful for how my parents raised me:  with book in my hand since I was old enough to hold one. 

Read to your kids!  Great things will happen, like Ben Casnocha.

Show details:

Date:  Friday, June 1
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  Wise words from a teen entrepreneur sensation
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

Zen and the art of Honda maintenance

I have been wanting to have a "public" conversation about  Pat Cadam's business for close to a decade.  And now I finally get to on my radio show today.

Pat runs a shop called Pat's Garage in San Francisco.  He services Hondas, Acuras, Subarus and Hybrids.  Any semblance of a traditional garage stops there. 

His business is offbeat, vibrant, welcoming and delivers excellent technical and customer service.  His mechanics are dreamers, poets, artists and writers, in addition to being experts in their technical field.  And Pat is one of the most talented managers I have ever met, and I have met thousands of them in every business you can imagine.

I first met Pat as a customer, as I had to service my 10-year old second-hand Honda.  As soon as I walked in, I knew something was different.  I didn't feel my instinctive reaction which was "I will wrestle you to the ground if you leer, demean my lack of car knowledge or try to trick me into getting service I don't need."    Pat and his staff were welcoming, open and non-threatening. 

And the best part?  Really, really great coffee.  Not the watered down Folgers crap that you find at most shops, but jet fuel grade, organic and flavorful coffee. Served in real mugs.

The more I got to know Pat, the more I was fascinated by his story of creating a totally unique and valuable business in a crowded niche.  He once told me "My business is not really about cars, it is about people.  When I focus on my customers and their needs and concerns, my business thrives."

Pat started his career as a school teacher and quickly learned that a traditional academic environment was not for him.  So he carefully researched a business to open, based on his interests and skills.  He seems to have picked the right one, as he always seems to be enjoying himself, and his customers follow him loyally as if he were the Pied Piper.

His wisdom at running a business applies to every industry I can think of.  So I do hope you will join us today for the show!

Show details:

Date:  Friday, May 25
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  Zen and the art of Honda maintenance
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

Do you have a book inside, dying to get out?

Those of you who have hung around this blog for awhile know that I have been in the process of working on a book for quite some time.  I have since discovered that for me, to loosely paraphrase Hilary Clinton, "it takes a village to write a book." 

I suspect that I am not alone in my quest to understand both a good process to conceptualize, outline and write a book as well as sell and market it. So I invited my very wise and experienced friend Sophfronia Scott to be a guest on my radio show to talk about how to get a book from inside your head to the hands of eager readers.

Sophfronia is a former journalist who worked for Time and People Magazines, is the author of the award-winning novel All I Need to Get By and the owner of a multi-faceted coaching business for writers called The Book Sistah.  She has a great short flash presentation called "Your Story Movie" that illustrates her philosophy that we all have a story within us.

In our conversation, we discuss:

• The advantages of writing a book for business owners
• Critical things you must attend to before you start writing, including creating a good writing environment, structuring your time and defining the values you want to express through your book
• A specific, efficient process you can use to write a non-fiction book
• The importance of building platform before you even begin to write your book
• Creative ways to market and sell your book

Show details:

Date:  Friday, May 18
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  Do you have a book inside, dying to get out?
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

Take the struggle out of building a great business

You will run into some people in your life that make you proud to represent your profession.  Andrea Lee is one of those people for me -- she is an insightful, smart, productive, collaborative and incredibly fun coaching maverick that has helped shape a much-needed new direction for the profession.  And to top it off, she is Canadian, which we all know makes her just a cut cooler than the rest of us.

I get to talk with her today on my radio show, on the topic of taking the struggle out of building a great business. 

Andrea has written two books, Multiple Streams of Coaching Income and Money, Meaning and Beyond.  The first lays out a very clear and compelling process to grow your coaching or consulting business, using more than a dozen ways to package your coaching in addition to, or even in place of, 1-on-1 sessions.

The second book has all kinds of refreshing ways to look at growing and managing your business so that you not only feel great about your results but don't work yourself to death achieving them.

Andrea has built her own very successful business based on the principles she writes about, and has coached numerous business owners to go from struggling to bring in clients to six and seven figure incomes. 

One of the things I like best about her is that she holds all the great qualities of a coach; helping you look at the deep questions of personal growth, contribution and meaning in life, and couples these skills with an unabashed enthusiasm for straight-forward and effective tools that help you build a thriving business.  I hope you can join our conversation!

Show details:

Date:  Friday, May 11 (Today!)
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  Take the struggle out of building a great business
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

Enjoy your weekend everyone and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!

How commercializing graffiti got Mary out of her cube

Actually, Mary McPhail was a Vice President and may have had her own office, not a cube.  But her story of how she went from employee to entrepreneur and owner of the fun and creative business Wonderful Graffiti piqued my interest, and led me to ask her to be a guest on today's radio show.

As Mary tells the story, she was curious to see how to run a quote around the top of her wall, a style common for Arts & Crafts homes like her own.  But her lack of math skills made the measuring task really complicated.  So the idea for her Wonderful Graffiti business was born, and she decided to pursue it full-time.

I will talk to Mary about how she made the journey from employee to entrepreneur, what she learned along the way and how she created a thriving business out of a random creative idea.

Show details:

Date:  Friday, May 4
Time:  11am-12pm Pacific Standard Time
Topic:  How commercializing graffiti got Mary out of her cube
To listen:  Click here

If you miss the live show, you can always listen later, through the link above.  To download as an Mp3, you will have to click on the title of the show, which will bring up the "download as Mp3" option.

Enjoy your weekend!