Monica O'Brien is the author of the book Social Pollination: Escape the Hype of Social Media and Join the Companies Winning At It. Social Pollination provides a strategic blueprint that helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth! For a limited time, purchase Social Pollination and get a free membership to Monica's private coaching forum.

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Start up your business today

By Monica O'Brien | October 3rd in Uncategorized

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60 Days to Entrepreneurial FreedomSo you want to become an entrepreneur. But where do you start? You don’t have a big idea that’s going to change the world, you don’t have partners to found your company with, and you don’t know how to even start pitching for funding.

Well, the truth is only 4% of small businesses are true start-ups that require angel or VC funding. In fact, if you want to even think about funding, you should know that investors expect a 10x return on investment. So unless you are building a disruptive technology, you don’t need to pitch for funding.

Sidenote: Here is a test to see whether you are building a disruptive technology:

  • Is your product a radical new way of doing something that people already do?
  • Does your product suck compared to current alternatives? If you improved the product enough, would people choose it over the current alternatives?
  • Does your product provide something that will democratize the current method of doing something (ie: will it provide free or easy access to something that used to be out of many people’s price range?)
  • Can your product bring death to an entire company or industry, the way cell phones brought death to landlines, or the way digital photography brought death to Kodak, or the way computers brought death to typewriters, or the way guns brought death to warrior swords?

If you didn’t answer yes to these questions, then you are probably not eligible for angel or VC funding. Keep reading.

The second way to get funding is through loans – from the bank, from your friends and family, or from your credit cards/home equity/personal savings. While you don’t pay back funding, you do pay back loans, if you can even qualify for them in the first place – which is getting more difficult every day.

This is all dismal news for aspiring entrepreneurs. And it makes it even harder to know where to begin building a new company.

The answer is that you start your company by yourself, part-time.

While there 60 million people who work for small businesses in the US (businesses with 500 employees or less), at least 30% of the group is working for a business with only one employee.

The chance of starting your huge business as a freelancer or consultant, then building your business one additional employee at a time, is quite high. In fact, it’s the way almost every business is built (aside from the start-ups, who artificially inflate their cash flow to gain market share quickly, because they are building disruptive technology).

So even if you have a full-time job right now, you can venture into entrepreneurship part-time, until you have enough steady business to match the suggested 50% of current income. The internet makes it easier than ever before.

Action Item #1: Set aside time for your new business.

If you are working 40+ hours a week, you already know that your time is valuable. How much can you afford to put towards your dream business? For me, it helps to think in daily terms, because then I budget enough hours to make progress during the week.

Action Item #2: Turn your business dream into a part-time, freelance, or consulting job.

Let’s say you want to open a coffee shop. Well, you can’t exactly do that part-time, single-handedly. What you can do is start a coffee blog. You can open an e-commerce site and sell imported coffee grounds online. You can decorate coffee shops, or teach coffee shops how to use social media. You can invent new drinks and sell the recipes to local coffee shops. Or you could just work part-time at a coffee shop, to gain the experience.

Whatever you want to do, take one step towards doing it today. There’s no excuse.

Action Item #3: Create your transition plan.

At some point, you will have to make the leap from your coffee blog to your coffee shop. In some cases, you will take many jumps before you even get into a position to leap. But once you have a goal in mind, you can create a timeline – transition plan to get there. Consider these questions:

  • What is your unique selling proposition?
  • How much do you need to start your company?
  • How long could your company survive without revenue?
  • What is the breakeven point for your company?
  • How are you going to fund your company?
  • How much do you need to be saving (personally) to make the leap?
  • When can you expand? How will you expand?

This is just a scratch of the information you may need to start a business. What do you want to know more about?

What You Should Do Next, Based on Lessons from my Blog

By Monica O'Brien | July 13th in Blogging

13 comments

Image Source: pigotta08 via FlickR

Over the past few months I’ve been trying to figure out why I’ve mostly stopped writing in my blog. It’s become apparent to me that not writing is a reflection of how lost I am, at least in this aspect of my life. So I’m sharing the answers I’ve come up with, because the lessons I’m learning are much broader and could be applied to other people in other situations.

I’ve Turned a Hobby into a Job

The old cliché is that you should find what you love and then try to make money off of it. I definitely bought into this when I first entered the working world, but the more experience I gain, the more I take a different point of view.

The problem is the thing you love to do will start out as a hobby. Once you begin making money from your hobby, it will become more and more like a job until you quit your actual job. This is everyone’s dream – but what they don’t realize is that before they had a job and a hobby and now they just have a job.

My blog is a big part of my job these days – not just the writing part, but the commenting, emailing, speaking, and reading that goes along with it. It’s no surprise that when I want to unwind, one of the last places I look is my blog. Instead, I’ve gone back to my old hobby – singing, jamming out, and writing poetry that later gets set to the music in my head.

Maybe you have turned a hobby into a job unknowingly. It happens to the best of us, and it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the things you used to – but it does mean you need a new hobby.

I Need a New Outlet for Expression

In the early days of my blog I got most of my material from the people I was around all the time. For example, my husband. Or my coworkers. As some of my articles were a little unflattering, it was nice that none of these people are a part of the blogosphere.

Now, as you know, everyone I work with has a blog, and is likely to read my blog on occasion. So when I get in a fight with one of them the only material that comes to mind is stuff like “12 Reasons Why I Can’t Stand My Coworkers” or “It is So Lame that the People I Work with Can’t Remember I’m a Vegetarian and invited me to a Brazilian Steakhouse for Lunch.” (I made those up by the way :-) .)

My blog used to be an outlet for me to express myself when I was angry with the way the world worked. Now that I have the ability to potentially hurt people and their reputations, I’ve made the conscious choice to pick a different, less public outlet.

And maybe you need a new outlet too. Dealing with your emotions is not hard; dealing with them appropriately is. But it’s worth it to try your best to deal with them appropriately; and in the end, you will feel much better having done the right thing.

My Audience is Overwhelming

My blog subscriber count is by no means huge, but I have a large enough readership to where I think thrice before publishing these days, and get a second opinion from BC’s resident editor.

As a creative person, I’ve noticed that my work suffers most when it stops being about me and starts becoming about what people expect from me. Like anyone in a creative industry, I want people to pay attention to my work – until the pressure from the masses starts to dictate my work.

Maybe you need a break from what everyone wants you to do, so you can figure out what you want to do. The Mona Lisa wasn’t painted by committee, and Sophocles didn’t call a vote when he decided Oedipus would marry his own mother. Sometimes the best work is done outside of teams. It’s scary to make all the creative decisions by yourself, but if you stop valuing your work by what others think of it then you have a better chance of creating something truly unique, innovative, and special.

I’m Tired, and Focused Elsewhere

When I first started my blog, I sacrificed so much to get to the top – sleep, friends, work, family, and time with my husband. I wrote 4-5 times a week and did lots of guest posting, and I was relentless in the fight for attention throughout the blogosphere.

But now I’m at the top (of the smaller Gen Y niche). I’ve arrived. And from here on out the journey of this blog in its present form sounds a lot like a decrescendo, winding down, fading away slowly until it reaches dead, crisp silence. The high notes have passed, but the song didn’t end. Quite frankly, my husband and new puppy seem far more interesting than my blog tune these days.

Maybe you are burnt out in your quest to achieve something. Research shows that a person only has so much energy and willpower to focus – in order to more adequately focus on one portion of your life; you must take focus away from another portion. Maybe smooth sailing in some areas of your life is good enough for now, because maybe your relationships with others and/or yourself are tanking and need more of your time and energy.

It’s not that you can’t have multiple goals concurrently, but rather that you can’t give 100% to every portion of your life at every moment. At this point, my blog is surviving just fine, even with less attention from me than before. Try maintaining the status quo for awhile. You’ll be surprised how well things run without you.

I Don’t Know Where I’m Going

I’ve received advice before that just before you hit a big goal, you should set a new one in order to keep from stagnating. My biggest (and at the time, wildly unachievable) goal when I started my blog was to make a career change. 4.5 months later, I was there – but it happened so fast, I forgot to set the next goal for my blog.

Now, my blog is stagnating. I have known this for months, yet I still struggle with where my blog should go next. What I’m finding is that my blog may have already served its purpose for now, until the next big thing I need to do comes along. All that’s left is accepting and allowing this to be true without guilt.

Don’t feel like you have to continue doing something just because you’ve been doing it. It’s a silly way to live, when you think about it, because then you never have an opportunity to try something new without adding to your workload. Maybe you need to take a break from what you are currently doing, especially if it isn’t working anymore. Take a detour. A balanced life is one in which every time you add something you take away something else; and I’m certainly not going to feel guilty about living a balanced life.

A Tale of Two Cities: Working and Living 150 Miles Apart

By Monica O'Brien | May 13th in Entrepreneurship

12 comments

As many of you know, I live/work in Madison, WI now. Sort of. Because I actually live/attend school in Chicago. Sort of. Confused yet?

Here’s the update on my new job:

It’s going great, except when I’m not working.

When I accepted the job at Brazen Careerist, my only stipulation was that I didn’t have to move. I have nothing against Madison; in fact, I enjoy the charm of the downtown area. But I have a life in Chicago that I love, and obligations in Chicago which I can’t leave.

So we decided I could commute to Madison two or three days a week. Which turned into five, I think. And to be honest, the whole commuting thing is not going so well.

Here’s my dilemma:

The difficult part about doing the job you want is you also want to be present for it. So I want to be in Madison, working in my little office, just about every day.

But not actually. Because Chicago is my home, and it’s where my heart is. It’s where my family is. It’s where my wonderful friends are. It’s where the skyscrapers that inspire me and captivate me are. So whenever I’m in Madison, I want to be in Chicago.

Chicago. Madison. Chicago. Madison?

It’s tough having two lives that pull you in different directions, and for awhile I really thought I could reject my time in Madison as “my life.” Instead, I would come here on vacation every week, sort of like a summer home. And I didn’t need a ton of friends in Madison, because I already have a lot of friends in Chicago. And I didn’t need a real place to stay and call my own in Madison, because I already own a condo in Chicago.

Here’s the lesson learned:

I was delusional to think commuting would be easy. Yeah, really. Delusional. And everyone tried to tell me this before I took the job, but I decided not to listen.

So here’s the one thing you need to consider when starting a job in a city you don’t live in: how much you love the job. Because trust me, if you don’t really love your job, you are not going to make it.

But for what it’s worth, I’m happy I didn’t listen to the naysayers. Because if I had thought this job opportunity through a little better I would have gotten too scared to do it. And that would have been stupid.

So here’s to the bright side of my double life: I have great coworkers. I’m doing something I love. I get to spend the summer in the beautiful state of Wisconsin. I get to buy all the clothes on the sales rack at Madison’s Urban Outfitters and wear them in Chicago where they would be double the price. My parents and husband are excited for me, and supportive of my career path. The Capitol is pretty when it’s lit up at night.

And I live in Madison. And I live in Chicago. Sort of.

Real Leaders Perform Well Whether They Practice or Not

By Monica O'Brien | March 31st in Education

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Image Source: RenschMensch via FlickR

“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you’ll still be among the stars.” ~ Les Brown

Last October my husband and I attempted to run our first marathon in Chicago; the day turned out to be a miserable 91 degrees and after someone died they shut the course down and either rerouted people or forced them to walk to the finish line.

You will find plenty of people who tell you marathons are great; what nobody tells you about marathons is how much work they are.  On average, people train for 18 weeks (4.5 months) and run about 25-40 miles per week by the middle of the program.  This is about 5-8 hours of solid running per week, most of which takes place on weekend mornings.  The commitment affects your social life, your bank account, and your diet – so a marathon commitment should not be taken lightly.

The other thing nobody tells you is how much running a marathon affects your body.  I loved my body when I was training for the marathon – towards the end of training I was skinnier than my high school days.  But running a marathon is dangerous, and you are almost guaranteed to have some sort of injury during training because running 26.2 miles damages the body.  And there’s always the chance you will push yourself too hard and end up in the hospital, or die.

Despite my non-glowing review of marathons, I still recommend training for and running a marathon.  I decided this while running an 8k (5 mile) race in Chicago this weekend.  I haven’t run much over the last six months and I haven’t been to a gym at all in the last two months, so I had no idea what to expect; but I made it through the race at my regular marathon pace, despite not training.

And that is why you should run a marathon.  No, not an actual marathon (unless you enjoy running), but rather a metaphorical marathon.  Because real leaders don’t rest; they perform well every time and don’t use lack of preparation as an excuse.  The only way to do well every time you run a 5 mile race, prepared or not, is to run that marathon once.

“Shoot for the moon and if you miss you’ll still be among the stars.”  Truthfully, I have never liked this quote.  Instead, shoot for the moon and hit it, and don’t bother shooting if you aren’t going to hit it.  It doesn’t even matter how well you hit it, because the true value is in pushing yourself to the edge.  And once you’ve hit the moon, living among the stars will be that much easier.

Figure out what your marathon is and get to it.  There’s no doubt it will be the most painful, trying thing you do; but the best, most important accomplishments always are.

Words of Wisdom From a Generation Xer

By Monica O'Brien | February 19th in Education

2 comments

Image Source: CyboRoz via FlickR

Leo Babauta of Zen Habits is one of my favorite bloggers.  I doubt this will be news to anyone, but if you haven’t heard of him yet, he writes about productivity, simplicity, and happiness on his blog, which has gained over 38,000 subscribers in one year.  He also wrote an ebook called Zen To Done (purchase it from his website) and has a second blog called Write To Done, which has been a fantastic resource for me in starting this website.  If that wasn’t enough, he has a book deal, which I assume happened due to the overnight success of his blog (not that he isn’t a fantastic writer). 

I love the feel-good nature of his blog, but even moreso, I love that he is from the pacific island of Guam, where my mom is from and where I lived three different times because my parents were in the Air Force.  This goes to show blogging is as much about who you are as what you say - but that’s topic is for another day.  Today, I want to write about something Leo wrote – 20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out in Life.  Here are the three that resonated with me most:

Make time to pursue your passion, no matter how busy you are. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and get a book published. I just never had time to write. With a family and school and a full-time job, there just weren’t enough hours in the day. Well, I’ve learned that you have to make those hours. Set aside a block of time to do what you love, cut out other stuff from your life that take up your time, and don’t let anything interfere with that work. If I had done that 15 years ago, I could have 15 books written by now. Not all would be great, but still.

I love this, especially for young people.  In truth, most of us don’t know what our passions are, even in our mid-twenties, because they change so often as we grow up.  That said, the sooner you start exploring the sooner you’ll find your true passions.  Over the years, I’ve been passionate about singing, dancing, photography, fashion, acting, writing, designing websites, marketing, science, law, scuba diving, and karate; all at various times.  There’s no sense in committing prematurely, so take some “me” time to pursue what you love - it’s the easiest way to find yourself.

Yes, you can do a marathon. Don’t put this goal off — it’s extremely rewarding. Running a marathon had always been a dream of mine, since high school … something I wanted to do but thought was out of reach. Or if I ever did it, it would be years and years later. Well, I learned that it’s not only achievable, it’s incredibly rewarding. I wish I had started training when I was young and light and fit … I could have had some good finishing times!

I ran a marathon last October, and I’m one of the most unathletic people you’ll ever meet. If I can do it, you can too; and not just marathons. I think of running a marathon as a metaphor for that unattainable goal that each of us has – something that “other people” do, but we can’t, for whatever reason we’ve convinced ourselves of. Guess what – you can do it. So make it happen.  No regrets.

Fund your retirement, son. And don’t withdraw it. This piece of wisdom, and probably all the ones above, might seem blisteringly obvious. And they are. Don’t think I didn’t know this when I was 18. I did. I just didn’t pay it serious attention. Retirement was something I could worry about when I was in my 30s. Well, I’m in my 30s now and I wish I could slap that little 18-year-old Leo around a bit. What money I could have invested by now! I had a retirement plan, but on the 3 occasions when I changed jobs, I withdrew that and spent it frivolously.

I take a “live and let live” approach to most differences I have with people, but when I see twentysomethings who aren’t contributing to their retirement fund in their twenties I can’t seem to bite my tongue. Compound interest is more valuable than any item you can purchase right now, and in the digital age, contributing has never been easier with direct deposit. Wouldn’t you love to be 25 years old and know you already have $20,000 in retirement savings? And that the $20,000 will be double by the time you retire? Don’t waste your youth; your 65 year-old self won’t look back and think “I’m so glad I bought that brand new truck instead of saving for retirement.”

You can read the other 17 things here; I also plan to elaborate on the three I wrote about today in separate posts. Don’t miss a thing – subscribe today for free.