Why Those Don Quixote Start-Ups are Great for Your Career, Creativity and Sanity
Don Quixote de la Mancha was a novel published in 1605. That was before the Jamestown Colony in Virginia and before Wall Street. Don Quixote was a bored, destitute landowner who in his spare time read stories of knights of old and heroes and damsels in distress.
Yearning for a bit more zip in his humdrum lifestyle and needing some fortune, Don Quixote dressed himself up in armor and mounted his super thin horse Rocinante and set out upon the world. Contrasted with his chubby squire or aide Pancho Sanza and Pancho’s donkey, the two cut a literary and visual image known worldwide; tall thin, Don Quixote and short, round Pancho Sanza are forever with us.
Don Quixote represented the dreamer and Pancho Sanza the cold realist. Together they stumbled and fumbled their way to adventure; our man Quixote fighting windmill giants and armies of sheep. Sancho managing to just keep our man Quixote from falling in. The figure he cuts thrusting his lance upward toward a windmill epitomizes the quest for quest’s sake and the universal struggle for meaning. Or something like that. But just how does Don Quixote correlate to the modern day start up?
First off many start ups are fanciful dreams, much as Don Quixote imagined windmills to be threatening giants. Working some start-ups is the equivalent of dressing up in armor and fighting windmills. Fed by little more than a dream and sometimes little else, those that work in these fanciful ventures will make less, work more and almost assuredly end up going to another one when this one crashes. The danger is that once you actually do one you are hooked. It is a well known fact there is no thrill like a start-up thrill.
But why even try something that has a high probability of failure?
For the experience, stupid, might be Don Quixote’s reply in one of his more lucid moments. Start ups sometimes are often made of up a handful of employees comprising the ‘team’. This team is it; management, production and marketing all in one package. No where else other than a start up can one find that kind of experience. Peter Drucker, perhaps the 20th century’s most eloquent management theorist, made the statement that if a job isn’t challenging enough and helps you develop, you should find another.
As I look back over my career I can see that I’ve been involved with several dozen projects. On some, I was the leader. In others, a cog in the start up machine. Each one of these projects either honed a current skill or gave me a new set of skills. Often these skills were not apparent until after the project or even until years later.
Of course I naively threw myself headfirst into anything I was working on. This is what the pundits call being engaged. Because I was engaged, I cared. And because I cared, I was engaged. Each project became a personal project; one that I owned and developed a strong series of emotional ‘bonds’ to.
It is because of this engagement and corresponding emotional attachment that the experiences were so strong and the new skill sets so thoroughly learned. Often my colleagues would make fun of me but I didn’t care. I was having fun at least and when I saw the dud projects they were working on I made fun right back. It seems I was always working on something interesting, though I can’t remember ever doing an exciting company manual…
My colleagues made fun of me because I wasn’t making their fees. In hindsight I wonder if there also wasn’t a tinge of jealousy. I was always so excited and upbeat and they were always so, well let’s just say not very happy. My happiest times in business were working on some absurd Don Quixote windmill project.
And I had some real winners: online auto parts, online blue collar recruiting, farmworker cooperative, depressed area economic development, language acquisition, security and anti-theft development and so on. Most ended up requiring original research and extensive whiteboarding. In fact on one of these projects I whiteboarded for six straight months. Where else could that type of experience happen?
But start ups end. They fold, merge, get bought out, and fade into the business sunset. Sometimes even succeed.
But a funny thing happened on the way to the dance. As time went by, I put more and more of these windmills under my belt. I didn’t pay them much attention, but my skills and capabilities had taken a major step upward. And I could tell my colleagues were right there in their comfort zone where they assured their own perpetual stagnation or Drucker’s non-development.
To my surprise I had gotten better, much better, and they had not. Where once a colleague and I had roughly the same abilities, five years of doing Quixotic projects had vaulted me way ahead. The funny thing was I could tell and they could tell and it irritated the heck out of them. They even stopped kidding me. But what could I say?
And thanks to my Quixote projects my ‘traditional’ projects seem to be easier too. After one spends months attempting the impossible, a creative marketing plan or internal reorganization seems so much easier. That’s because it is.
I don’t mind that on occasion I’m still teased for being Quixote. There are worse things. But I will say this. I wouldn’t trade a single one of my windmills for a stack of ho-hum snoozer contracts. Life is just too short to sleep through it…
But seriously, somebody has to keep a close eye on those windmills or they can very quickly get out of hand…
Jack D. Deal aka Don Quixote is the owner of Deal Business Consulting. He can be contacted at jddeal@jddeal.com Related articles can be found at http://www.jddeal.com and http://www.freeandinquiringmind.typepad.com
A Reality Check Prior To Starting An Internet Business
The thrill of starting a business on the Internet is hard to ignore. Working from wherever you want, choosing which hours you work (even whilst sleeping) and making pots of money. So…. how could you possibly not be drawn into diving straight into building your website or writing a blog?
Not so fast – slow down a minute! You would not believe how many internet millionaire “wanna-bes” there are around, several of whom have spent years of their time and thousands of dollars trying to set up profitable internet businesses.
It appears that everyone is making money on line but that is simply not true. Failure is rarely admitted because no one likes to be a flop and also because on the internet perception means everything. Therefore, if you are seen to be a failure no-one will be interested in your business, resulting in a downward spiral of trade.
So what are the disadvantages and obstacles encountered by potential Internet entrepreneurs?
The first is the steep learning curve – and there is no single “how-to” guide to follow.
Making a success of an on line business needs mastery of many key abilities which are not directly required for off line businesses. For example, you have to build a user-friendly and relevant website or blog, then be able to drive traffic to it without making errors so your potential customer/client does not move away from your site due to loss of interest or confidence in you.
It’s Not Easy!
There are numerous ways to learn about starting a business on line such as, books, on line business models, “how-to” courses and the words of experts but it is hard for a newcomer to be sure which method to have faith in.
The second issue mentioned above which needs much attention, is the way to drive traffic to your website. The amount of competition in connection with search engines, keywords and phrases is often vastly underestimated by the novice internet marketer.
Top-ten rankings for the most popular keywords is extremely difficult to achieve, so the novice will need to master the art of advertising on line, which can be quite a costly exercise.
The third and final obstacle is the fact that it is very easy to become distracted when building an Internet business.
When you subscribe to Internet e-zines or log onto discussion forums, both of which are well known methods of building knowledge and connecting with potential customers or partners, you will be bombarded on a daily basis with new ways to make your fortune. You will be offered more top secret, never before revealed to the public methods to target visitors to your website than you could ever think possible.
Although some of these strategies may be excellent for particular on line businesses, many will not suit and much time and money is wasted by internet marketers trying to distinguish which one is right for them, when they really should putting more effort into mastering the method they already have in use.
If you are considering starting an internet business this article will serve as a “reality check” for you. It really is possible to make a substantial secondary or even primary income online – but you have much more chance of success if you are aware of the obstacles you are likely to encounter along the way.
Good luck!
Kevin Sinclair is the publisher and editor of Be Successful News, a site that provides information and articles on how to succeed in your own home or small business. http://besuccessfulnews.com/
Education Creates Attractive Choices: From Climbing the Career Ladder to Planning for a New Career
Many people join large successful organizations because they are searching out opportunities for learning, promotions, and stability in a career … especially at organizations that cherish employees and help them develop. Even people who think they might later want to own and operate businesses often value the opportunity to first learn from working at a well-run company. Many such companies encourage their employees to take courses, earn degrees, and prepare for enhanced careers in a variety of other ways.
Such career development can provide an unexpected bonus: The education you gain can help you prepare for a new career if you no longer want to climb the old career ladder … or find something you like a lot better. Carlos O. Laya had both experiences while studying at Rushmore University.
Mr. Laya started his career by enjoying a wonderful job as a laboratory technician at one of the world’s finest and most admired companies. But Mr. Laya longed to work instead with customers as a salesman for laboratory analytical instruments.
To prepare for that potential sales career, Mr. Laya took distance learning courses to master electronics. After that Mr. Laya received and accepted an offer to become a service engineer for a world-leading manufacturer of laboratory analytical instruments. During the next two years, he earned a degree in electro techniques that enabled him to be more effective in optimizing instrument performance for customers.
Mr. Laya was thrilled when his employer bought the international rights to sell, distribute, and maintain biotechnology instruments. He enthusiastically asked for and received the job of being the Swiss sales manager for these products. Now he was where he had aimed to be. Taking courses in selling and instrument applications, his confidence and effectiveness grew. Mr. Laya was thrilled to meet the many professors, Ph.D.s, and physicians who were his customers. Eight happy years of work followed.
A new opportunity arose when Mr. Laya was offered a position selling biotech products in Argentina for his company. Mr. Laya eagerly stepped up to the challenge.
This time meaningful progress eluded him. The value of the Argentine currency plummeted and the office was unprofitable for his employer. Rather than take these losses as a failure, Mr. Laya proposed starting a company to represent his employer’s products in Argentina. But that approach faltered when the economy grew worse in Argentina, and his employer pulled out of the country.
After that experience, Mr. Laya returned to Switzerland and worked as an international pharmaceutical products sales manager.
In 2003, he decided that the time had come to earn an MBA to complement his diplomas in international trade and marketing. He saw the MBA as the key to being promoted into senior management at his current employer.
Having enjoyed his distance learning experiences, Mr. Laya sought a university that could provide a flexible schedule for an MBA so he could study part time while continuing his sales management job. When he discovered Rushmore University, he knew he had found the ideal school for him: Rushmore would allow him to focus courses solely on his planned career development. He also liked the idea of working individually with professors using the Oxford tutorial method to study what he wanted to learn rather than a preset curriculum.
Here’s what Mr. Laya has to say about his experiences with Rushmore:
“With my previous distance learning experience, accustomed to learning at my own pace, anywhere and anytime, I was searching for a university that could suit my continuing education needs. When I visited the Rushmore University Web site for the first time, I was convinced that Rushmore was the right choice … The most important argument that caught my attention was the flexibility it offers you to create your own program and to focus your learning on subjects that will add value to your own personal situation. The faculty consists of selected and well-recognized business people with substantial experience in writing business books, but what is most relevant for business professionals is that the professors have a broad knowledge of the real business world. The learning method — reading books and papers and writing a report or paper to apply your findings — is a highly effective way to learn and understand a course.”
While studying for his MBA in 2005, Mr. Laya lost his international sales management job. After a six-month search, he gained another international sales management job representing products used by environmental companies. This was a new experience for him and made him aware of the many important environmental problems for which solutions are needed.
This new job led Mr. Laya to take two courses related to environmental issues, and he developed a desire to become an environmental consultant. From there, he changed his curriculum to focus on how to establish such a consultancy.
Through those Rushmore courses, Mr. Laya was able to identify what knowledge, skills, and experience he lacked to make such a consultancy successful. As part of his MBA capstone paper summarizing what he learned at Rushmore, Mr. Laya developed a plan to fill in those gaps and to move into such a consultancy within a few years.
As a recent graduate, it’s too soon to report on how that development is going. Perhaps Mr. Laya will follow his plan. Or perhaps in following that plan he will find even more appealing work, as he has done before in his successful career. In either case, his grounding in business management will serve him well … as will his understanding of what it takes for an enterprise to succeed, one of his knowledge bases as a new MBA from Rushmore.
Mr. Laya has shown a great talent for spotting opportunities he would enjoy better than his current work. With his MBA and ability to find distance learning opportunities that fit him and his goals well, Mr. Laya should make rapid progress from here in building on his sound foundation in career planning.
Donald W. Mitchell is a professor at Rushmore University. For more information about ways to engage in fruitful lifelong learning at Rushmore, visit
http://www.rushmore.edu .
Ways To Make Money Online Successfully
It is possible to make money online with a step-by-step program. Don’t spend thousands of dollars trying to figure out a way to make money working from home only to get frustrated and accumulate more debt. Enjoy the financial freedom that a network marketing home business can provide.
The Need for Supplemental Income
A poor economy and job uncertainty leaves many people searching for ways to supplement their income, whether they are looking to add to their current income or to make additional money during layoffs.
A variety of business opportunities are available for people to work from home and make money online. At home business is a logical step for many people because it saves money on daycare, gas, mileage and other resources. Not to mention the time it saves that would otherwise be spent commuting to and from work, finding a job, going through the interview process and finding appropriate daycare for your children.
The American Dream
It is the American dream to be your own boss. Owning a company is a great source of pride. It is highly desirable to be involved in a business with unlimited financial opportunities. The goal for many breadwinners is to be able to provide for the family without the constant worry that your job will be outsourced, your benefits will be reduced or that a company-wide downsizing could take place.
Considering the poor economy and the fact that many companies cannot compete in a foreign job market, chasing the American dream has become increasingly difficult to succeed at than ever. Climbing the corporate ladder as a line worker in an automobile plant straight out of high school are options that are few and far between these days. To be financially free, people need to think outside of the box and discover how they can work for themselves. Lucrative home-based businesses can provide just such an opportunity.
Working at Home
Working from home is ideal for people with strong time management skills and a home office set up. Whether you choose to work within an MLM, network marketing or reverse funnel system, you will be able to work from your home office while building a business you can profit from for years to come.
The most common factor among work-at-home jobs is the ability to network. Often times, online businesses require new affiliates to recruit friends and family, as well as coworkers and associates, to fill their multilevel market business.
Making Money Online Successfully
The key to making a home business successful is to study the habits of successful home business owners and follow the example they set. Many online companies have a network marketing system in place that allows affiliates to make money online without having to come up with an idea to create or sell any goods, offer any services or develop a specialty.
Don’t waste valuable time playing hit or miss with questionable companies, products you do not stand behind or new companies that haven’t been proven. The best way to guarantee success in a home business is to follow a step-by-step system provided by a network marketing company.
People who want to make money online, get out of a dead-end job and stop going nowhere fast, can free themselves financially by making thousands of dollars every day working from home in an online business.
Mike H. is looking for serious entrepreneurs interested in creating wealth. If your interested, login at http://www.thousanddollarprofits.com/20108