At Under30CEO we have a clear mission: to help you grow your business with less money and fewer mistakes. Our story is one of multiple failures, clueless decision making and shot after shot with our eyes closed in the dark. Like any great entrepreneurial story, we failed, picked ourselves up by the bootstraps and failed again, until we eventually figured out the model that worked for us. But at no point in time did we ever waiver from our mission, one that was deeply engrained in carving out our little part of history and changing the world. Quite simply, we want to help every young entrepreneur on the planet. We want to leave our mark on our generation to help grow a more entrepreneurial society, help people lead happier more fulfilling lives, while helping spawn economic growth and job creation. It’s what we are truly passionate about.
Be the leader of leaders.
Yes, our blog since inception in July 2009 has seen over a million page views and is now syndicated to Reuters, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Yes, our keynotes have made college students rethink the “go to school, send out a hundreds resumes and bunker down in the cubicle” mentality. And yes, we can proudly say that countless leaders have spawned from the Under30CEO community to do something they love.
But it’s not enough.
Changing the world is about being unreasonable. It’s about having a dream that is larger than life and figuring out a plan of action to get there. The greatest leaders in the world had vision that nobody else thought was achievable. (Columbus crossing the pond, Mandella and apartheid, Wooden’s 7 consecutive championships and Earhart crossing the Atlantic). These people had great vision but even grander execution. They pushed themselves and the people around them to limits previously deemed unachievable.
Whatever you’re thinking think BIGGER.
Very few of us realize how good our generation has it. Not only are we not being shipped off to war like our parents and grandparents, but we have amazing technology at our fingertips that is breaking down the societal norms. We have the tools to communicate with anyone in the world, access any information we ever needed, create a movement, and grow a million-if-not-billion dollar business regardless of our geographic location, education, social class or any other pre-existing circumstances.
The 21st Century Gold Rush is here.
Communication is our number one resource in the new millennium. All of the sudden everyday people are becoming succesful media makers, artists, musicians, entertainers, authors, journalists and high tech entrepreneurs all because they have the ability to cultivate their tribe of fans online. If you have something that others want, you can be in business in less than an hour.
What Does Your Market Want?
This is where the fun comes in. You should be absolutely obsessed with what goes on inside your customer’s brains and how you can create the best possible product and service for them. It doesn’t matter how well you think you know your market, you need to get to know them better. Too many entrepreneurs are in the business of creating what they want or what they would buy and not what their market/customer base wants/needs. Yes, all great businesses are born out of necessity, but remember, it’s about what your customer wants!
If they aren’t buying, it’s not good enough.
Too many times we get asked by young entrepreneurs why their product isn’t selling. We hate to spoil their dreams, but your product simply may not be good enough. In online media content is king–she with the best content easily attracts the following. The same goes with products and services. If you create the best possible solution to a problem, you’ll most likely win.
How to communicate with your market
- Create a culture where even customers have a vested interest in your success. If I’m passionate about skis, I want my favorite brands to listen to me so I can help create and buy a better ski.
- Have in person conversations with your customers. There is a reason Richard Branson flies Virgin Air and hangs out with his passengers.
- Focus groups. Come on kids, this can mean your drinking buddies–lock them in a room with some Bud Lattes and get them talking!
- Create a contest. Everyone likes to crowdsource ideas these days. Ask your customers to help create your products for you like Threadless. Or reward those who drop the best comments on blog posts like these.
- Create surveys. Survey Monkey is paid, but Google spreadsheets helps you talley up the results for free.
- Take advantage of your social media channels. Nobody likes when you just push your own ideas on Twitter and Facebook all day. Reward your followers, ask questions that create discussion/community and truly try to help people.
Help us so we can help you.
At Under30CEO we are in business for you, the reader, the entrepreneur, the person who wants to get to the next level. We hustle hard to help the budding entrepreneur the best we can. But we can do better. Our vision is to create the most dynamic organization that gives young people the tools and resources to achieve success, but we need your help.
Under30CEO wants to go beyond our content site and consultancy.
We’ve launched Under30CEO meetups where anyone can schedule and organize their own Under30CEO tribe in their local community. So far we have every continent covered except South America and Antarctica. We know doing it alone as an entrepreneur can be brutal, and our community wants to connect with other young people going through the same challenges.
In 2011 we are going to be rolling out an amazing lineup of insider Q+A sessions with top business experts around the globe. We want to get get you access to people who’s time isn’t for sale or who you wouldn’t otherwise have access to. We understand that there is only so much you can learn in a blog post and once we get you pointed in the direction we need to bring in the experts who can help you in an intensive session and answer your questions live.
Lastly, we know what it’s like to be so broke you can’t afford happy hour, so we are lining up a membership platform that will give you access to a exclusive deals and discounts from huge brand names to help you save money on your business. Everyone wants the stuff they’d normally pay for to be cheaper. This will include electronics, travel, accounting, web services, business attire, events and more.
