283 Week 8

$100 Entrepreneurial Challenge Update:

This week I am dealing with a lot of anxiety about my 100 dollar challenge.  I didn’t expect this to happen, and thought I had a pretty solid plan, but now I am feeling all sorts of anxiety.  I don’t really want to be an entrepreneur as I don’t like to ask people for money.  Maybe that is because I don’t live in a city with a whole lot of affluent people and I am a volunteer at heart.  I serve because I want to help people, not to get money.  This will be my greatest downfall in business for the rest of my life if I cannot get over it and realize that it is ok to expect compensation for a product or service.  

In addition to dealing with a whole lot of anxiety, I did reach out to a couple of trusted people and ask for ideas regarding an issue I have with one of my products.  I am making a meatless and a meat filled breakfast burrito.  I taste tested my recipes and felt like my meatless one was too bland and I’m not ready to sell that.  So, I have been gathering ideas for how I can spice up my recipe without changing my funding needs.  I think I have found a solution.  Now, I just have to do it.

Acton Hero Summary: Ken Zolot

Ken Zolot refers to his childhood as having been filled with “devilish curiosity” and an inability to fit inside the box of what his teachers and parents wanted him to do.  But this creative, out of the box thinking, with a hint of joy that comes from breaking and bending some of the rules, was key in helping him be successful as an adult.  This coupled with his ability to understand human nature, and his ability to relate to others and to understand others has helped him become a powerful leader and mentor.

He suggests that it is important to always ask the question “who cares and why”? This will help you to understand your market, your buyer.  You have to understand why people will buy what you are selling because it will help you have some empathy and will be able to connect, which will ultimately help you to be successful. 

He says, you have to be willing to break the rules just enough in order to show your customers what they should want, but not too much that you are not really listening to and hearing what they think they want.  There is a balance with the two, a sweet spot, that you have to find in order to really be great.