The Diary of a Young Entrepreneur

Roughly, a meme is “a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation”. The main idea is that when someone ‘discovers’ something, the idea is likely to pass along. To put it in perspective; the discovery of the wheel most likely happened in one place. But from this place, people saw the benefit of it and started to spread it around the world. The same goes for a song, a business idea, religion, fashion etc. Some of these memes are adapted consciously and some are adapted unconsciously. Let us talk about the ones we can consciously control.

There are two types of memes; the ones that benefit us and the ones that don’t. They all can spread like wildfire. For example, remember when the internet was ‘new’? It was controlled by a small group of people for their own benefit. But the idea of connecting in a new way was so awesome that in just a couple of years, millions of people are using it. Remember Nazi? The idea that the Aryans were a superior race caught on with a lot of people and sparked a world war. These are two great memes; one for the good and one for the bad.

Ok, enough with the examples. My point is that memes can be created and harnessed to “steer” thoughts. Be that a person’s thoughts, a society’s thoughts, a nation’s thoughts or the world’s thoughts.

Imagine a person having an idea that “can probably” change the world..

Imagine that idea being followed or imitated by other people; united for a cause..

Imagine that idea being followed by a whole nation..

Imagine that  “small” idea being embraced wholeheartedly by every person on the planet..

Imagine that small idea came from you..

You don’t have to think about how you can spread the idea. you just have to share it with other people. These people will share it with other people. And so on. It’s not hard work at all. Because the idea will spread itself, if it is a good meme; whether it’s a beneficial one or not. The hard work you need to do is to always, and I can’t stress this enough, ALWAYS think of and talk about beneficial ideas.They might just come to true.

I now finally know what Gandhi meant by saying:

“Be the change you want to see”

This awesome TED presentation by Joshua Klein demonstrates how human beings can cooperate with undesired parasitic animals (rats, cockroaches, crows) to create a better living environment, both for the animals and for the human beings. Klein demonstrated the ways he cooperated with the crows.

Klein built a vending machine for crows that dispenses nuts (crow’s food). After a series of trials, he has succesfully trained the crows to insert coins into vending machine to be able to get their treats; just like human beings inserting coins to a vending machine to get their treats.

This simple yet ingenious experiment has proved that human beings can train undesired animals living in urban settings. He explained the possibilities of this unique partnership; training these animals to clean up the city, do a search and rescue mission, the possibilities are endless. The main point of this presentation is that we can create an environment where human beings can live side by side with these undesired animals with mutual benefits. We can even come up with several business ideas with this kind of thinking.

Visit TED for more mind opening, inspiring videos

In her Harvard 2008 graduation speech, J.K. Rowling tells us a about the benefits and importance of failure, imagination and friends. This is hands down one of the best speeches i have ever heard. The speech was very very very moving and I just had the sudden urge to write what I’ve learned from it (although its 3.30 in the morning, and I haven’t slept).

Failure

J.K. Rowling failed miserably in life in her twenties. She was divorced, poor and a single parent. Failing at almost every aspect of her life, she had hit rock bottom. But this experience changed her:

“…failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.”

she then decided to do what she really loves; writing.

“Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged.”

Failure made her realize that she needed to do what really mattered to her, to be who she truly is, and focus on it. Failure also taught her more about what she is capable of. That has made all the difference.

Imagination

What she meant by imagination is the ability to empathize; to imagine how it feels like to be in another person’s shoes.

“Unlike any other creature on this planet, humans can learn and understand, without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people’s minds, imagine themselves into other people’s places.”

By exercising this innate gift ,

“…if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages,…”

you will have a bigger impact on society

“…then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped transform for the better.”

furthermore, having imagination can change the world

“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”

Friendship

The friends she was with on her graduation day some 21 years ago had sticked with her till this day; through tough times and happy times. Friendship is priceless.

She closed this wonderful speech by quoting a Roman philosopher, Seneca;

“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”

Dream stealers are people who drive you further away from your dreams; either with good or bad intentions. They can come from many aspects of your life. They can come in the form of competitors who are trying to harm you or they can come in the form of family members who ‘know’ whats best and doesn’t want you to get hurt. The latter is the hardest form to avoid. And sometimes, a debate on what ‘dream’ to chase can cause an incurable rift between you and the person you love.

But you can avoid that rift if you use some of these simple tactics;

1. Explain your dream nicely. Have a talk with that person and explain why you think that what you are doing is worth doing. Remember to use polite and non-offensive words. If kind words can’t help, harsh words don’t stand a chance.
2. Don’t force your opinion on them. Rarely will someone admit a mistake and change their opinion, especially if that someone is an elder who always thinks he knows better.
3. Find your dream’s ‘plus-es’. Listen them out and try to find something about your dream that correlates with what they think you should do. Tell them that your dream will bring as many benefits as theirs. After all, what they want is for you to be successful.
4. Bring them proof. Bring them any kind of proof that you can gather to show them that you are on your way to achieving your dreams. Adequate proof will convince them on the spot.
5. Bring in an ‘expert’. Get to know people who have made it in your field and bring them in to convince the naysayers that the dream you chose to pursue is viable. Experts can share their experiences and sometimes are a better persuader then yourself.
6. Let them improve on your dream. Build your dream with them. Let them give you suggestions and promise them that you will incorporate their suggestions into your dreams. But remember that you have certain aspects that can’t be compromised. Distinguish which ones are and which ones aren’t.
7. Say yes and go on doing your dream. If all has been said and done, and they still won’t budge from their opinion, just say yes to everything they say and go on with chasing your dreams. It’s your life, after all.

The point is, you should go on with your dreams no matter what other people say. In the end, you will regret the things that you didn’t do more then the things that you did do.

Now is the time

100 years ago our ancestors marked this day with a new dream: to unite the nation

so they united..and 37 years later they won

Fast forward a hundred years..We are one but we aren’t united

We need to unite again
in spirit, not in action
because the aggregate of our different actions is what counts
Unite and take action..

“but what kind of action?”, you ask.
Whatever action you THINK is necessary
Do something YOU think will make a difference
Don’t wait for orders. Because there never was, and there never will be

Not even on that fateful day 100 years ago there were any orders
there was only a spirit of unity
and as long as that spirit exists in you
whatever action you take, will lead us to greater things

Struggle is and always has been a grassroots movement
It always starts from me and you
unite, think, take action

As an entrepreneur, it is almost impossible to succeed without having someone to look up to. You need someone that can guide you through the twists and turns of the business world so that you could achieve your goals faster. This is where a mentor steps in. A mentor is someone who has reached the top of a mountain that you are just beginning to climb. Being at the top, he can look down and see where all the dead ends, holes and cliffs are and could guide you through a safer and better path. That is why you need to choose the right mentor.

Your mentor should be someone in a field that you are in. Don’t get a mentor who is on top of Mt. Everest while you yourself are at Mt. Kilimanjaro. It won’t do any of you good.

You should also look at how ‘high’ he is and compare it to where you are. Don’t get a mentor who is on top of Mt. Everest while you yourself are just getting ready at the foot of the mountain. It will be a waste of your mentor’s time. Also, don’t get a mentor who is at the same level as you are. He wouldn’t know anything either.

Select your mentor wisely because your choice of mentors could determine your whole career. After selecting a certain mentor, you have to ask that person whether or not a mentoring relationship is possible. This is the hardest part of the process, but you could start by getting one foot in the door at first. I will discuss some do s and don’t s in my next post.

In previous posts, I have wrote about WHY you should do what you love, HOW to do it in spite of what others say and I have even shamelessly copied a speech from someone WHO has done it. But I also realize that a lot of people have trouble on finding out WHAT they should do. If you are one of them, try asking yourself these questions;

What makes me smile? Try to find out what makes you smile. I suggest that you try out everything possible in this world. Great people are often people with a short attention span that gravitate to things that make them smile, leaving the things they hate do to.

What do I excel at? Have you ever been in a situation that no matter how hard you try, there is always someone who can do the thing you do better and even more effortlessly? These people always have creative ideas that make them even better every day. You can say that they have a natural gift in the subject, but most of the time it is just that they are so happy to do it that they don’t even think about the hardships. If you ever find yourself being that ‘gifted’ person, you might have found your true passion.

What will I want to do even if I don’t get paid? Thinks that are worth doing usually don’t get the immediate monetary benefits. But do them anyway. Because you will get the immediate spiritual benefits. You have to pursue what is important for your soul.

The third question might lead you all to thinking that in this money-controlled world, you have to lead your life to where the money is. If you have that thought, please let go of it. It is a product of thought that unsuccessful people pass down to us. The fact is, you can turn anything you love in to a career. That is what entrepreneurs do for a living. Instead of abandoning what they love to pursue a ‘career’, they fit their career in to doing what they love. And this is the start of pursuing true happiness in the world.

Back in the days, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak of Apple had no idea that their dream of a computer on every desk would ever become a reality (besides, mainframe computing was the ‘hot’ stuff those days). But he took the plunge and made a career out of his passion. Now, personal computers are so common, you might not even believe that in one point in time, it didn’t exist.

What really is important is that to find your true passion, you have to dig deep down inside you. That is the only place where you can find it. No one else could tell what your true passion is no matter how hard they try. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.”

to be happy,

you have to question yourself…

“There is only one cause of unhappiness: the false beliefs you have in your head, beliefs so widespread, so commonly held, that it never occurs to you to question them.”

-Anthony de Mello, spiritualist-

you need to know what you want..

“Unhappiness is not knowing what we want and killing ourselves to get it.”

-Don Herold, writer-

you have to be daring..

“Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!”

– Friedrich Nietzsche, philosopher-

you need something to be enthusiastic about..

“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.”

– Charles Kingsley, novelist-

not just do something “enthusiastically”..

to succeed..

you must be happy..

“Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.”

-Albert Schweitzer, 1952 Nobel Peace Prize Recipient-

you have to dream..

“All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.”

-T.E Lawrence, known as ‘Lawrence of Arabia’-

realize what you have..

“The question for each man to settle is not what he would do if he had means, time, influence and educational advantages; the question is what he will do with the things he has. The moment a young man ceases to dream or to bemoan his lack of opportunities and resolutely looks his conditions in the face, and resolves to change them, he lays the corner-stone of a solid and honorable success.”

– Hamilton Wright Mabie, essayist-

take action..

“An idea that is developed and put into action is more important than an idea that exists only as an idea.”

-Siddharta Buddha-

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

-Thomas Edison, inventor-

be positive..

“There is no such thing as failure. There are only results.”

-Anthony Robbins, motivator-

never give up..

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”

-Michael Jordan, The Greatest Basketball Player of All Time-

take control..

“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.”

– Albert Ellis, psychologist-

and be yourself..

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.”

- Dr. Seuss, writer-

I live in a hopeless country.

and I refuse to admit that

I can make my country thrive.

I realize that this is shocking but,

“You can be anything you want to be”

is nonsense, instead

“What we are is what we will be”

So in the future I will tell my children;

they are wrong.

History records will show that

I am right because

the past

Is more important then

the future

Listen to this

once upon a time

we fought for our advancement

But this will not be the case in my era

this is a pessimistic society.

The media says

in the future, we will be the poorest country in the world.

I do not believe that

I determine the destiny of my country.

In the future

poverty will be the norm.

No longer will you say that

my generation cares about my country.

It will be proven that

my generation is pessimistic and apathetic.

It is useless to think that

We have hope.

And all this will come true unless we choose to reverse it. (read the text above in reverse; from the bottom-up)

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inspiration from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42E2fAWM6rA

Have you ever been in a condition where your inner voice tells you to do something different from what other people tell you to do? Have you ever felt it hard to follow your own guts when other people tell you otherwise? Have you ever felt that it is so hard to go against the grain? I have.. and i still feel afraid to go against the grain sometimes. But every time i feel like going against my guts to follow the masses, this is what i do;

1. I say to myself that even if I were wrong, I would be the one facing the consequences. No one else should (or would want to) be burdened by what I did wrong. I want to be the one responsible for my own actions.
2. I think about how most great people go against the grain to achieve their greatness. Think about Rosa Park’s refusing to give her seat to a white person in the bus, despite the law that obligated her to do so. Think about Warren Buffett who declined to buy internet stocks, despite that all of his peers were making so much money in them, until the burst of 2001 that is (some of them even lost 99.9% of their money in the stock market).
3. I think about the fact that I could be the next ‘great one’, by trusting my guts and going against the grain.
4. I think about the fact that I only get to live once in this world. and I want to live MY life, not other’s.

Every time I come to a crossroad, I always think of the ending of Robert Frost’s poem, “The Road Not Taken”

“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.”

…And that has made all the difference…