An Entrepreneurial Creative - Photography, Productions, Promotion

Photography represented my first entrepreneurial self-employment activity. I had a roommate at Harvard who'd been a free-lance photographer in Baltimore, and he suggested we get cameras and start shooting photos for enjoyment and some extra money. We got grants from Harvard's student aid office and we used the grants to buy single lens reflex cameras - he bought a Nikon F, I bought a slightly less expensive Minolta SRT-101 (still one of the best cameras I ever used).

We started photographing students, nature scenes, anything we could see. I didn't make much money but I really enjoyed the art of photography. My roommate JP was able to commandeer space on one of the upper floors of the freshman Union Hall and he set up a darkroom with enlargers, film tanks and development chemicals for black and white film (I think JP got a color enlarger later in the year). It was in that lab that I basically taught myself with help from JP how to process black and white film and print enlargements.

I really enjoyed photography, enjoyed it in fact more than the subjects I was studying. At that time Harvard didn't have a major in creative skills or photography or anything like that - Harvard was the classic Ivy League liberal arts college and we studied the core liberal arts subjects. I'd chosen chemical engineering(?) as my major and that's why I was enrolled in the classes that eventually proved to be my academic undoing - physical chemistry, organic chemistry, 2nd year calculus and differential equations. This was an academic schedule, as I reflect back on it, that would have done in any first year student much less one as ill-prepared for a rigorous study schedule as I was.

The only good thing - besides the fact that I actually survived the first semester with some good grades - that emerged from that first semester was the realization that photography brought me - I was a creative person, and a good one. After I left Harvard, came back to Chicago and enrolled in the University of Chicago, I was determined to pursue photography as an income source and a creative outlet.

Part Two - Journey From Wealth Seeker To Wealth Creator

I graduated with honors from a Catholic High School In Chicago, Illinois and, after looking over a dozen scholarship offers accepted one at Harvard University. I had a National Achievement Scholarship for four years of college, some loans, and basic room and board.

Now, no offense to Harvard University, which still counts me as a member of the class of '75, but I might have been better off matriculating at a university similar to the kind of small Catholic High School from which I graduated. Why? Because I often think I might have performed better at a smaller school, not because of the academics, but because of the personalized interaction a smaller college affords. Or maybe not.

My AP scores allowed me to take advantage of an offer to skip out of freshman year and start Harvard with what was called "sophomore standing". I came into the school big, bad, bold and ready, I thought, to kick ass, graduate and get out into the world.

Not quite. I spent one year at Harvard. Harvard didn't beat me, however, I beat myself by not studying hard enough and not being organized and focused enough. I did well my first semester and basically failed one class the second semester, and on the basis of that performance, the freshman dean at the time asked me to "take a year off". Harvard adopted this approach, I think to give first-year students struggling with college life an opportunity to clear their heads and come back when they could be more focused on college life.

I took the request as a rejection, however, and not wanting to come back to Chicago as someone who had been asked to leave Harvard (which would not have been as bad as it sounded, as it turns out, because Harvard requested that many students take that year off, and they then returned after a year, completed their four years and graduated with a Harvard degree, which is what I could have done with less of a prideful attitude than I adopted).

Instead of staying out for one year, coming back to Harvard and catching up, I decided to try to attend school in Chicago. And naturally, I chose the most prestigious school in Chicago - the U. of C. Now the U. of C., even though it was located in my hometown less than 25 minutes from where I grew up, was a place where if anything I felt even more isolated than I had at Harvard. I didn't live on campus, I was living at home. Worse, they accepted few of my credits from Harvard including my AP credits, which meant I started over as a freshman (I know, it sounds dumb now even as I'm writing it and what kind of advice was I getting then? Very little, and those few words came from people with no real sense of what was happening to me).

I enrolled in the economics program at U. C. but in less than a year I'd gone from a stellar student who was on track to graduate in three years from Harvard University to a lost freshman behind by a year if I stayed at UC. I barely attended classes that year at all and ended up that second year owing 2 different school loans, no scholarship and less than 2 years of credits from more than 2 years of work.

Now how did I end up from the academic circumstance I just described to a wealth creator, business owner, nationally known columnist, grantwriter and someone who has created a system to earn a million dollars cash in six month? Stay with me.

Chris Gardner - One More Example Of The Power Of Believing!

I'll get back to my story tomorrow. I just ran across another story that I want to highlight about an individual who made it happen, who believed it could happen, and who didn't stop until it did happen! For all of you out there who are convinced the million-dollar journey can't happen for YOU!

Chris Gardner - Proof Positive That A Dream Without A Plan Is Just A Fantasy(tm), And To Be It, You've Got To Believe It(tm)!

"It ain't no mystery", says Chris Gardner, former homeless man and shelter dweller, now CEO of Gardner Rich & Company, a multi-million dollar investment management firm, when asked about the secret to his success. "Blocking, tackling, practice, practice, practice. But beyond that, find something you love, something that you're passionate about. Find something that the sun can't come up quick enough because you want to go do your thing. The money will come. And even if it don't come, it's more important to be happy."

The Journey From Wealth Seeker To Wealth Creator

Nowadays it seems that people who read a column want to know as much or more about the writer than about the column's subject. Nothing wrong with that in one way I guess because I can agree that a great deal of the credibility of what one writes comes from who one is.

It is true of the best writing that somehow through the author's voice or use of language, the reader gets a sense of the author's life journey or what I call path to transformation and enlightenment about himself and the world he/she inhabits.

When I began writing this column, I wanted to share the knowledge I'd gained from at that time 20 years of experience pursuing the entrepreneurial dream. My struggles, failures and triumphs certainly informed the 250 plus columns I wrote over 7 years, but the focus was the information I had to share. The feedback I was receiving from readers told me I'd been fairly successful in delivering some useful info in an easy-to-digest style; I received letters from perhaps 2000 people who found the column and the information I shared useful to them in their own self-employment/entrepreneurship activities, and for people who desired financial independence, the column was there to validate the idea of creating your own job and business enterprise as an alternative to decades for someone else.

My target audience was low-income people who wanted a piece of the American dream; I wanted to demonstrate that by following some organizational, management and marketing principles they could successfully create their own job and establish their own business enterprise even with limited income and no business experience.

In the 1980s and 1990s entrepreneurship was more of a novelty, I think, just as the idea of owning your own personal computer seemed like a Star Trek fantasy. Just as PCs and cell phones emerged in the 1990's, so did hundreds of magazines that touted entrepreneurship as the pathway to financial freedom. Income Opportunities, Home Based Business, Entrepreneur, Business 2.0, Business Startups, even Fortune and Black Enterprise, whose articles in the past focused on existing businesses, now touted the entrepreneurial imperative. Near the end of the decade, Fast Company Magazine and Business 2.0 both championed the concept of YOU, Inc. - that is, YOU the individual as both small business and defining brand differentiating the person you are and seem to be to others.

You know how some kids grow up wanting to be an astronaut, fireman, or policeman? From as far back as I can remember (at least since I was 12 years old), I wanted to own something, to run the show, to be the one in charge. My first job was shelf stocker in a grocery store on Chicago's 47th Street; CJ (Charles Jones), the guy who owned the store also ran what we called a "bookie joint", a place where people placed bets on the horse races at Sportsman's Park, Arlington Race Track and Hawthorne. CJ was a brown-skinned man who always wore a suit and tie and a snap brim hat. CJ cut an intimidating figure but he always had money and paid me every week. Five of us worked in the store and we got paid every week without fail. But CJ wasn't the first entrepreneur I ever observed up close. My father ran a barber shop from one of the bedrooms of our apartment; it took me years to realize that when I started darkrooms and computer labs in my own bedroom I was essentially copying what my father had done - create a job for himself and start his own business.

Part Two Of This Story Tomorrow.

The Opportunity Challenge - Why I'll Be Offering 10% Of My Million-Dollar Project To Five New Startup Businesses

At various stages in my life I've been provided with opportunities and resources, and I've generally had some positive experiences with people whom I've met and worked with who offered me those opportunities. I had a good academic record in high school, though I can now admit to Brother Ciepley at St. Ignatius that I probably could have done better. (I hope I spelled your name right, Brother Ciepley). (Short story: After I'd won a rather prestigious scholarship competition in high school, Brother Ciepley criticized me for having never worked up to my full potential in high school. I disagreed at the time but looking back, 35 years later, I'd have to say my college experiences proved that I didn't have the work ethic and study habits in those days. Hopefully, I've improved on those habits a bit in the ensuing years.)

Most people who achieve success in business endeavors, academia, sports, entertainment and other fields benefit, I believe, from an elaborate and powerful support system that forms around them over time. We all have heard about the importance of mentors who share experiences and help you avoid the roadblocks and pitfalls, who introduce you to other resourceful people and open doors for you. I've always had a problem with the mentorship concept because I believe that each person's life journey is unique, and in particular for successful people, influenced by factors they can't easily quantify or explain.

But what I believe is true is that for every successful person, there was a time and a moment when they got a life-changing break, and usually if they are honest, they know when that moment occurred and can tell you when it was. Someone stepped up and offered something - money, advice, access to a resource, an introduction to a powerful or influential person - that changed the game for that person and started them on the pathway to great success and accomplishment.

Many years ago, on a very popular television program, "The Millionaire", a mysterious figure whose never revealed his identity would send his assistant to give randomly chosen people a tax-free cashier's check for $1 million. The recipient of course would struggle with how to deal with such a large and unexpected gift and would learn a moral lesson about money not being everything. The show's premise really, I think, influenced such programs as the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant awards, Ted Forstmann's philanthrophy with college scholarships for children, and even shows like "American Idol". The point of these shows is that the receipt of a large sum of money or other resources can have life-changing impact on the recipient. Of course, many people who receive such gifts don't use them wisely, as the post-lottery experiences of many million dollar winners demonstrates.

But for the most part I believe that "the big break" is an essential part of every successful person's story. That's why, as part of my million-dollar cash generation project, I intend to invest 10% of whatever sum we generate to five start-up business enterprises. If, as I believe it will be, that sum is $1 million, we'll make five (5) investments of $20,000.00 each.

I haven't worked out the details yet; as I do, I'll post them here.

Why Was Alex Tew Able To Generate A Million Dollars Cash In Six Months From A Single Homepage? Some Thoughts I Had.

Just a bit more about this guy Alex Tew who generated a million dollars cash in less than six months through his website http://www.millionairehomepage.com. I've been analyzing the factors that, in my opinion, contributed to the tremendous financial success of his endeavor.

I mean, let's face it. Here's a guy who created a website with one specific focus - raising money. No trickery or double-entendres about his intentions.

He says in his blog, "I created this site to generate money to pay for my university education." He didn't hide the motivations behind creating his site, and his selling proposition simply was, "I'm selling pixels to raise money at $1.00 a pixel, $100.00 for a 100-pixel square. Buy my pixels; support my cause if you like it. And in the process, gain some visibility for your own website/business enterprise and become a part of Internet history."

Behind this seemingly simple proposition, I believe, are key factors which provide lessons we can learn from and use in our own business endeavors. Here they are:

Executed A Singularly Focused Concept

(1) Tew created an idea with a singular purpose and focus. How many of us try to be all things to all people in our businesses? An elegant simplificity defined Tew's website concept; everyone who visited the site understood the purpose of his site and could envision the potential benefits of being a part of it.

Leveraged The Viral Nature Of The Internet

(2) He understood the medium through which he presented and delivered his concept. The Internet's defining characteristics are as an interconnected network through which information and reaction to information and events flow very quickly, much more quickly and powerfully than in normal human interactions. He knew that the site's core descriptive concepts - a web page worth a million dollars, the possibility of aggregating thousands of pixel purchasers into a website as a snapshot of Internet commerce in 2005 - would appeal to the masses of Internet users and adopters and word would spread quickly online, in chat rooms and via e-mail.

Took Advantage Of Human Nature

(3) He implicitly divined, from the perspective of human nature, the reactions he would get to his site. He played up the audacious novelty of declaring his intention to generate a million cash dollars through his site and marketing that idea, while focusing the attention of purchasers on both the attractiveness and benefits of the site (many hundreds of hits for the websites those pixel ads promoted) for those who chose to participate. In short, the site captured the imagination of its both ad purchasers and curious visitors.

Aggregated A Mass Action Play

(4) He anticipated the beneficial power of aggregating thousands of purchasers (10000 to be exact at $100.00 per purchaser) into viewing a site that he knew would attract through its audacious novelty millions of viewers.

Established His Own Value Proposition

(5) Tew established the value of his site's pixels through four tactics - (a) setting a minimum value on each pixel; (b) emphasizing the scarcity of the available pixels - only 1 million pixels on THIS homepage under THIS domain name - which once purchased, would remain as sold and assembled for five (5) years; (c) set a floor for their value in the minds of ad purchasers who would (d) validate that value through their decision to buy.

Generated Maximum Visibility

(6) And finally, he helped his own cause by promoting his site everywhere he could, making himself available for interviews in America and Europe, which created a cascading torrent of interest that brought even more purchasers and visitors to see what everyone was talking about.

Now what are the lessons I've learned and that I think are valuable for all of us as business people. Simply these:

(1) The product or service you offer must immediately be seen any potential purchaser as different from others offering similar products or services. Tew wasn't offering "a website"; he was offering "pixels for sale."

(2) You must establish the value of your product or service in the client's mind; contrary to what many businesspeople believe, the marketplace doesn't set the prices we charge, we do, through how we establish value and benefits in the minds of our potential clients. You've heard this concept variously called "branding" or the "unique selling proposition". It's why we value Mercedes Benz cars more than Chevys.

(3) You must demonstrate an integrity about the product or service you offer in that you deliver or perform exactly as you say you will when you say you will. Tew stated flatly what he would sell (pixels), what they cost ($1 each), how long the promotion would last (5 years) and exactly what result or response the purchasers could expect from their ad buys. His website contains a whole page of testimonials raving about how the ads they purchased generated much more traffic and clients to their sites than they ever expected.

We're prepping for the launch of our million dollar project; believe me, the example set by Alex Tew is one I plan to follow in our project's implementation.