Rise and Grind People!!

A good friend and I were talking the other day and she brought up an interesting point. Jay Z is worth God knows how much money and he didn't even finish high school. Not to knock his street smarts, intellect or immense raw talent, but my friend and I not only completed high school, but we have college degrees and have plans to pursue graduate degrees in the near future.

My friend and I are not self-absorbed academics who think we know it all but we do have skills in our own right. Sometimes when we're not where we want to be in our careers and we have side hustles and bread and butter jobs to support our real dreams, it can get overwhelming. Don't get too discouraged. As cheesy as it sounds, I have to give myself pep talks to get through a regular day.

No one can be exactly like Jay, (nor should anyone try to be) but we shouldn't be afraid to take risks to get to where we want to be. Whether you're a photographer, designer, writer or producer, don't discount your talents and goals. It takes a good team, good connections and a hustler's state of mind to reach everyday goals in business. It's a daily struggle but visualizing and putting things into action plays a huge part. Rise and grind people!

What if the secret to success is failure?

Believe it or not, success and failure may not be in the opposite directions. The path to success has all kinds of winds, turns, and road blocks. Success is defined by the individual. Have you ever had what you thought was a fantastic idea then implemented it and it was not at all what you thought it would be? It happens all the time. Some people call those failures and yeah, they might have been technically speaking, but business is about trial and error.

In a recent Entrepreneur.com article, there was a reference made to Thomas Edison. "The quintessential American entrepreneur" applied for a patent for an invention, the electrographic vote-recorder, which he hoped would be used to tally votes cast by members of the House of Representatives. Unfortunately, the House declined to buy the recorder. Three months later, Edison sold the rights to his next invention, a printing telegraph.

"Failure can teach not only what one is doing wrong, but also how to do it right the next time. It can be a useful, even transformational force for better business practices. And it is best not to shove it under the rug, because it is, at some point, inevitable."

One failure or several can lead to what takes your business to the next level. Take the time you need to get your mind right to make your next move. Don't suffer in frustration. "Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill.

Stir up those political juices to expand your business

Google Images: Raynard Jackson

We've all heard it's all about who you know when it comes to business. Who has more connections in your community than politicians? Getting politically active on a professional level can be daunting for small business owners but the benefits can be worth the initial sense of discomfort. In a recent Black Enterprise article, Raynard Jackson of Raynard Jackson & Associates, LLC, talks about the strategies small business owners should take to reach new customers.

Jackson's firm located in D.C., provides strategic political and corporate advice, along with PR services to small and large businesses.They also work with professional athletes, entertainers, and several African countries.

"Oftentimes small business owners (especially in the minority community) get angry over the seeming preferential treatment larger firms get when it comes to business opportunities. In most cases, it has less to do with discrimination and more to do with relationships." ... "Even if your member of Congress doesn’t share your 'personal' political beliefs, you should still have some type of personal relationship with him or her. They are your member of Congress whether you voted for him/her or not."

I know what you're thinking, "I'm a designer, what do I need to reach out to politicians for?" Fashion and other creative industries definitely cross paths with politics more than you know. For example, the Inaugural Ball is like the fashion world's Super Bowl. Everyone wants to know what the first lady will be wearing and who designed her dress, which then leads to record sales of that dress and or pieces from that designer's latest collection.

Now let me bring it home for you. The relationships between local politicians and you (the creative genius you are) is crucial. It simply expands your network. Find your in and go to their charity events. Mingle. Find ways to make your creativity relevant to them and appeal to their interests as well. You don't have anything to lose, go get em!

Performing Your Essential Function: Action Required!

“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.”

-Theodore Roosevelt

Many us are awesome at our crafts but not so great about delegating and hiring. The cash flow may not be right for full time employees but you don’t have to be a huge Fortune 500 to have interns or virtual assistants. NOTHING should be distracting you from performing the essential function of your company. If you’re a consultant, consult; a designer, then design; a photographer…photograph your heart out. It makes no sense to spend all your time mailing orders, maintaining your website, and updating your calendar.  

Really take a look at what (besides the primary function of your business) takes a less than desirable chunk of your time. After that, find ways to eliminate it! For those of you who require a lot of shipping, look at hiring a distributor. You send your inventory to them in bulk and they handle the shipping to individuals. For those of you who are receiving a lot of e-mails and meeting requests, consider a virtual assistant (very cheap if hired from India). If you need a larger social media presence or updates to your website, find a graphic design or PR student to intern for you (unpaid). For those of you who are farther along in the process, refer to this article I found in Time Business about things to consider when hiring your first employee (http://business.time.com/2012/10/02/hiring-your-first-employee).

Take a leap of faith folks, I mean, what’s the point of being self-employed if you still have to handle all the grunt work you hate? If you still have a full time job like I do, you don’t even time to do it and it can really be a hindrance to how well you respond to clients/customers. That said, I challenge you now, outsource it! If you implement any of these tips or find other ways to drop some distracting work email me how it helped you so we can all help each other get great! Carlyn@BlackListAffiliates.com  

Carlyn D. 

Beautiful Blunders.

“The distance between insanity & genius is measured only by success.” – Bruce Feirstein

So listen, about this failure thing…it rather sucks for most of us. When I came across this article featuring the Dyson guy, I had to peel it open. In all of its simplicity, it’s genius! We always talk about how we will spoil a child if he is given too much too soon; why does that not apply to grownups? If we start a business and it experiences overnight success, where does the drive come from to innovate and keep growing? We have got to change our outlook on failure. It should not be interpreted as a reason to be embarrassed or to drop your entrepreneurial marbles; it’s part of the learning process. The Dyson guy is mildy successful so I’m pretty sure he has good ideas.

Reference Link: Entrepreneur

Carlyn D.

Planning vs. Inaction.

I saw a tweet today about the best piece of advice I’d give to my younger self. I recalled sitting in a meeting and one of the clients advised a subordinate not to let perfect be the enemy of good enough and to just get the job done. That’s EXACTLY what I’d tell Little Carlyn D!  As someone who is diagnosed with a mild case of OCD, I can get so carried away with the details that I lose the fire to finish what I started. Example: You’re trying to start a project/business, you think of an idea, pull together a dream team, plan, plan, plan…plan some more, everyone gets frustrated and it never comes to fruition or it’s disorganized when it does. If this has happened to, I have an idea…cut the shit…(ahem, excuse me) I mean the planning.

I am not anti-get-things-organized; I understand the importance of having a clear vision and united front before facing the judgmental public. My argument here is that sometimes we are so afraid of failure that we use the planning phase as a crutch instead of moving to the implementation phase. Failure is bound to happen…there’s no avoiding it…it’s embarrassing and what not but we all go through it. If you never leave practice though, how will you know whether or not you can win the race with what you’ve got? Machiavelli calls this syndrome mistakes of sloth. All I’m saying is be fearless, and even if it’s a small step take it! The road to success is simple; try.fail.restrategize.repeat. 

Carlyn D.

Failing the Way to Success.

So, I'm instantly obsessed with anything pertaining to entrepreneurship - especially when it comes to young people. I'm just so inspired seeing my peers so driven and committed to living their dreams fully and working until they become a reality.  This new show on Bravo started up this week called Start-Ups: Silicone Valley, which basically follows the lives of these young professionals in Silicone Valley, CA as they push to launch and expand their businesses. That's how I was introduced to Pop 17, which I must say I'm very impressed by all that they have already done with this brand, I mean it was already on Forbes List... FORBES LIST lol.  That's how you know you're going places! lol

Anyways, so I came across an article on their website and it's all about FAILURE, something I think prevents too many people from pursuing their passion or ideas.  There is an event called FailCon founded by Cass Philipps and Diane Loviglio, that is completely dedicated to sharing and in a way - exposing failure.  So many people get caught up in the term, because society has put a negative connotation on the word, not realizing that by running from failure - you're dodging success. Reading the article so many profound/respected business owners shared their success stories, which stemmed from their failure.

I read a statistic one time that actually scared me, I can't remember the exact numbers so I won't say any lol, but it boiled down to this: The majority of first time businesses fail, the majority of second - time businesses succeed - but only around 1% try a second time.  How scary is that? People fail once and never try again, not knowing that most likely the second time they tried they would succeed.  Maybe you'll ask 'But how would they know they would succeed?' , but how would they know they wouldn't? I think as an entrepreneur you always, and I do mean always have to be positive.  You won't always have the luxury of relying on people to help keep you motivated, often times it will be the opposite.  Most people will be rooting for you to fail, or telling you to 'get a real job' but it all comes down to how bad you want to succeed! If you know success is coming - you won't fear failure.

I'll conclude with this one statement that really struck me :

"Diane talked about how FailCon has gone global and some of the cultural differences. In some countries you do not get a second chance, for instance in Japan. In France, you are not able to start another start-up after you have failed for five years."

Could you imagine only having one shot to get it right? Yet - subconsciously that's all some of us are allowing ourselves.  I would encourage you to get out of that mind-set! We have so many opportunities, and we should make the most of them all! So if fear of failure is holding you back from starting your own business, realize that we've all been there! But most importantly - know that in failure some of the greatest lessons are learned! FailCon ENCOURAGES failure - it's an essential part to growing and you WILL see success if you don't fail to try, and try, and try again!

Reference Link : FailCon2012

Tiffany Nicole.