5 Signs You’re Meant To Be An Entrepreneur
There’s so many people in today’s workforce that are making the transition into the life of an entrepreneur: but how do you know if it’s for you? We’ve taken a moment to highlight 5 things that (we think) are strong indications you’re meant to be an entrepreneur.
You hate status-quo
You constantly find yourself asking ‘why’ things are done a certain way, and challenge the norm. You’re not a big fan of established rules, particularly if you can see an easier and more effective way of doing things (a must-have trait for entrepreneurs).
You aren’t afraid of long hours
Entrepreneurs work 80 hour weeks so they can avoid 40 hour weeks. They’re never fully satisfied, and find themselves wanting more out of their work. And besides, work never actually feels like work.
You’re easily bored
Stopping to smell the roses is something the entrepreneur should definitely work on – but ultimately, they like being stimulated all the time. They have a hard time not being where the action is and want to be part of an ever-changing environment.
You have a hard time letting go
Entrepreneurs want to do it all. From the small tasks to the big picture, the entrepreneur wants to make everything their own – yes, they’re a bit obsessive.
You’re unable to relax
Well, most of the time anyway… the entrepreneur is constantly ‘on’, thinking and fixating on details of their work. Trouble sleeping? You just might be an entrepreneur!
These 5 traits are common in entrepreneurs the world round. Obviously, entrepreneurs can be a bit extreme – and their personalities can take a toll on those around them.. but they know what they want, and they go for it.
For more signs you could be an entrepreneur, check out this article.
Our Visit To Brookfield Place In Support Of Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada
We had a chance to stop in at Brookfield Place this evening to witness the true spirit of the holidays. Over the past 15 years, Brookfield Place (formerly the BCE place) has played host to an amazing lighting ceremony that brings members of the Toronto community together to support the Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada on the brink of the holiday season. It was truly magical to see the various businesses within the centre come together for such a fantastic and worthy cause. Below you’ll find a few photos from the event, including snaps of the Starlight team, the silent auction (can you spot Betty Boop?) and the live 3 piece orchestra.
With the impressive attendance (from the very beginning of the event), to the smiles on the faces of volunteers: it’s moments like these that make you proud to be a Torontonian. A huge pat on the back to Brookfield Place and all those who attended for their continued support of the Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada. Stay tuned for more Starlight events in the near future, and be sure to check out their website!
Random Brains, Controlled Chaos and Embracing the Mess
This post originally appears on YouInc.com and is written by the very talented Arlene Dickinson. YouInc.com is Dickinson’s newest digital venture – which allows for the entrepreneurial community to connect, share, and communicate in ways they may not have ever been able. EDPR is a huge fan of YouInc.com – and we recommend you take a moment to check it out (entrepreneur or not), as it’s quickly becoming a thriving destination for Canadian innovation.
Entrepreneurs have what I like to think of as random brains. They can pull wildly disparate ideas and inspiration from the ether and they have an intuitive ability to apply those ideas in creative, imaginative ways. Their antennae are always twitching, tapping into everything around them, absorbing, synthesizing and storing what they discover for future use. It’s an intuitive, holistic, improvisational right brain sort of thing.
If you’re the kind of person who needs to connect the dots in a more linear, step-by-step fashion, and you had the chance to spend some time in an entrepreneur’s brain, you’d likely find it messy and chaotic. You might even start looking for the exits. But entrepreneurs don’t run from mess. They’re comfortable with it. In fact, they embrace it. Many of them do their best work that way.
I gained a fascinating insight into the benefits that can flow when a random entrepreneurial brain embraces the mess (not to mention listened to a riveting personal story) when I watched Steve Jobs deliver his famous commencement speech to the students at Stanford University in 2005. You can watch it here.
Jobs tells the students that he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life when he went to college, and no idea how college was going to help him figure it out. Six months in, failing to see the value of a college education, he dropped out, sleeping on the floor in friends’ dorm rooms, walking seven miles across town once a week to get a good meal at the Hare Krishna temple. But freed from taking the required classes that didn’t interest him, he attended others that did, and much of what he stumbled on simply by following his curiosity “turned out to be priceless later on”. One such discovery was a course in calligraphy, which Jobs found fascinating. While nothing about that course held out any hope of practical application in his life, ten years later when he and Steve Wozniak were creating the first Macintosh computer, everything he learned in that class came back to him and he put that knowledge to use designing the first computer to feature beautiful typography.
I love that story because it’s such a great example of how the random entrepreneurial brain works. It’s also the story of someone who can live with mess, who intuitively trusts that the dots will eventually connect, and who creates his own luck by putting himself in the path of opportunity.
You can find another interesting story about how great entrepreneurs think here. The Inc.com article, by Leigh Buchanan, focuses on research conducted in 2001 by Saras Sarasvathy, a professor at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, on how some of America’s most successful entrepreneurs handle business problems. Buchanan reports that Sarasvathy concluded entrepreneurs are brilliant improvisers who don’t start out with concrete goals, but instead are constantly in motion figuring out how to tap into their strengths, resources, connections–whatever’s at hand–to work out goals on the fly, “while creatively reacting to contingencies”. Sarasvathy compares entrepreneurs to Iron Chefs, who are “at their best when presented with an assortment of motley ingredients and challenged to whip up whatever dish expediency and imagination suggest, while corporate leaders, by contrast, decide they’re going to make Swedish meatballs, then proceed to shop, measure, and cook Swedish meatballs in the most efficient, cost-effective manner possible.” It’s not that entrepreneurs don’t have goals, writes Buchanan, “only that those goals are broad and–like luggage–may shift during flight.”
I love that analogy, too. I think I’m going to be referring to it a lot. So what about you? Are you an Iron Chef? Or a methodical measure-the-ingredients sort of person? And how important do you consider random thinking and a comfort level with controlled chaos to be if you plan to embrace the entrepreneurial lifestyle?
Client News: Brookfield Place Lights Up Holiday Spirits And Shines The Spotlight On Starlight!
We’re delighted to announce a new partnership with one of our favourite organizations, Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada. Over the course of the coming year, we’ll be sharing exciting updates, events and opportunities to participate with this fantastic and important foundation. This Thursday, Starlight invites the public to Brookfield Place for the 15th annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony. For more details, check out the release below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TORONTO, ON – Brookfield Place is hosting its 15th annual Holiday Lighting Ceremony on Thursday November 15, 2012, from 5 to 7 p.m. in support of Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada.
This spectacular event is open to the Toronto community, and is a true celebration of the season of giving. Brookfield Place, their tenants, and suppliers will join forces to create a colourful evening of food and entertainment in anticipation of the lighting of the holiday light curtains in the Allen Lambert Galleria. In addition to kicking off the holiday season, the festivities raise much-needed funds and awareness of the important work done by Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada.
“Since our partnership back in 1998, we have raised an incredible $1.8 million (the equivalent of 600 wishes). That’s a lot of smiles, laughter, joy and hope. This year we are hoping to reach another goal – $2 million!” said James Trak, VP & Regional General Manager of Brookfield Place.
“We are honoured to be the recipient of Brookfield Place’s enthusiasm and generosity,” said Christopher Barry, President of Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada. “Our vision is that every child living with serious illness or injury has the benefit of distraction and normalization through entertainment, and family-fun activities, and with this support we can reach more children in more hospitals across the country.”
About Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada
Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada is a charitable organization that brings smiles, laughter and joy back into the lives of children with serious illness or life-altering injury through in- hospital distractive entertainment and out-of-hospital fun family events. www.starlightcanada.org
About Brookfield Place
Brookfield Place is one of North America’s truly great people places.Bounded by Bay, Wellington, Yonge and Front Streets, the 5 1⁄2 acre, 2.6 million square foot complex combines two architecturally stunning office towers with Toronto’s oldest intact streetscape, including the award-winning Allen Lambert Galleria – a six-story pedestrian thoroughfare resplendent in light and glass. www.brookfieldplacenewsandevents.com
Media Contact:
Livie Silva
Communications Manager, Starlight Children’s Foundation Canada
416-642-5675 ext. 235
livie@starlightcanada.org
Sleep Deprivation: The Shocking Stuff You Don’t Know
Many of us with restless minds face sleepless nights. This INFOGRAPHIC outlines some of the shocking stats associated with losing all important shut-eye. Since we haven’t been able to stop thinking about the data revealed in this image, we considered it worthy to share with you! Have a look, and try to get a good night’s rest this evening – you deserve it!
Client News: Technology Website Overclock.net Wrongfully Reported As Hosting Man’s Online Threats
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – November 13, 2012
TEXAS, USA – On October 3, 2012, authorities and local media reported a man in Katy, Texas communicated threats through an online chat, wrongfully stating that the offending threats were posted on Overclock.net. In response, Overclock.net is seeking to address both the media and the general public to correct the misinformation and release an official statement.
“We have a responsibility for our online community to publicly address the reports that connect us to hosting this alleged chat activity. These initial reports are completely false. Overlock.net has no connection to hosting such discussions and is committed to maintaining a safe environment for our visitors to discuss their passion for computer hardware” says a representative on behalf of Overclock.net.
It appears that Overclock.net has mistakenly been included in court documents after investigators searched for the suspect’s screen name and came across a person (registered under the same name as the suspect) who had posted on Overclock.net about computer-related topics. It is an unfortunate miscommunication that has lead to multiple media reports that list the site as hosting the offending activity. Overclock.net maintains that it has never hosted an IRC (Internet Relay Chat) channel of any sorts. In referring to the official FBI press release there is no mention of Overclock.net hosting the alleged IRC channel.
Counsel for Overclock.net made repeated efforts to alert and inform Assistant District Attorney Christopher Dunbar of the false allegations in the criminal complaint to give him the opportunity to cure the defects, file an accurate criminal complaint, and end this defamation against Overstock.net. Unfortunately he has failed and refused to do so at this time.
“It saddens us that some of the parties responsible for laying charges in this case have little understanding about the decade-old technologies involved. It’s frustrating that the individuals prosecuting this case cannot tell the difference between an IRC and an established online forum about computers.” stated an Overclock.net representative.
Overclock.net will continue to pursue legal means of rectifying these false allegations.
ABOUT OVERCLOCK.NET:
Founded in 2004, Overclock.net is one of the largest performance computing websites on the Internet. With 3.4 million monthly Unique Visitors the site has become a popular forum devoted to maximizing the performance of computers.
Through contributing to organizations such as Stanford University’s folding@home project, (a distributed computing organization that helps cure disease) to facilitating thousands in donations for cancer research, the site maintains a strong commitment to social responsibility programs and charitable causes.
For Media Inquiries please contact:
Cory Stewart
Embrace Disruption PR
cory@embracedisruption.com
4 Tips For Media Outreach
When notifying the media of news, events, launches and the likes – it’s extremely important that you send the right information to the right people. It’s never quite as easy as making a press release, sending it out to a random list – and hoping someone will pick up the story. Reality is (most of the time) you need to make sure that the information you have reaches the proper contact with the proper context. That’s what PR pros do best.
Here’s 4 things to think about when compiling a media outreach list:
Who’s your target demographic?
Determining what audience is going to be interested in your story is extremely important. Make sure this is one of the first things you decipher.
What’s the timeline?
There are long lead (takes a lot of time) and short lead (faster turn arounds) media outreach plans. Typically a long lead – like a magazine – will take more time to get your story placement, where as a blog might be a faster pickup.
Where do you want coverage?
Obviously if your news story centres around a local event, you’ll want to make sure it’s publicized locally. The same goes if you’re working with a national event – hit national media. Make sure you’re reaching out to the outlets that make sense with your story. It will save you, and the journalist a lot of time.
Why should they pick up your story?
Be sure to touch on relevancy and relate your story to the particular outlet. For example, if you’ve got a story about dogs and you’re trying to get in Canadian Living magazine – make sure there’s context for the audience at hand.
Keep these 4 things in mind when working with your PR agency or firm to piece together your media list. And if you’re still needing some help – don’t hesitate to shoot us an email!
Film Friday: Watch An iPad, a Kindle, and Nexus 7 Get Blended To Dust
As disturbing as this video is to watch (it’s so painful watching technology die!), it certainly does a good job of showing exactly how powerful the Blendtec blenders are! Blendtec is known for their youtube campaigns that demonstrate just how durable their machinery is – and the video below is no exception! Have a watch:
What do you think? Smart marketing or a waste of technology?
Study: ‘Digitally mature’ companies are more profitable
At times, it can be an uphill battle getting companies on board with some of the trends in the digital space. Embrace Disruption PR maintains a very large focus on digital in all our campaign efforts for a number of reasons. Our philosophy lies in understanding that traditional PR may grab the awareness you’re looking for – but tools like social, email marketing, and content marketing are extremely important in maintaining and engaging your audience. In today’s marketplace, it’s the ONLY solution that makes sense.
Recently PRDaily released this article based on a recent study examining digitally mature companies. The results are very telling, and further enforce just how important embracing digital (and disruption) is.
This might be the evidence you need to persuade your boss or client to invest in social media: A newly released study says “digitally mature” companies are more profitable than their counterparts.
The years-long study from Capgemeni Consulting and the MIT Center for Digital Business looked at more than 400 companies and found that the ones that thoughtfully invest in social media and let it drive their business decisions “benefit from a considerable ‘Digital Advantage’ and demonstrate significantly better financial performance than their peers.”
In other words, it pays to use social media.
What, exactly, does “digitally mature” mean? According to the study’s authors, it’s based on two factors: “digital intensity” and “transformation management intensity.”
Apparently, it’s all about intensity—although really, it sounds a bit like word soup, so let’s explore what they mean.
“Digital intensity” refers to investing in technologies to “change how the company operates,” the study says. An example would be the high-end British fashion label Burberry, which has a robust presence on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. According to the study, the label coupled these sexier efforts on social platforms with a strategy of integrating the data it was collecting on a global scale.
Since adopting social media, Burberry has seen a profit boost of 21 percent, reports The Next Web.
“Transformation management intensity”—the real doozy, jargon-wise—is really quite simple (in theory): It’s all about leadership that believes in digital and will work to drive transformation at an organization. Nike, for instance, built a digital division to corral and grow the many things it was already doing on social media.
The study noted that although many companies have leaders who believe in digital, they are also slow to adopt programs or else overly conservative. Basically, they don’t put their money where their mouths are.
Based on these two factors—“digital intensity” and “transformation management intensity”—the study slices the companies it examined into four quadrants.
Here’s how Business Insider describes them:
“‘Beginners’ have barely started, usually because they’re unaware of the opportunities, ‘Fashionistas’ adopt the newest or sexiest digital innovations, but without a cohesive strategy or eye to maximizing business value, ‘Digital Conservatives’ have a cohesive vision, but are slow to invest in new technology, and finally, the ‘Digirati,’ who both invest in digital and integrate it with their whole organization.
These seem like fairly accurate categories, although companies certainly bleed from one category into another, as this chart shows:
And this chart shows the profitability of companies within each category:
Clearly, based on the study, it pays to have a well-developed and robust social media program. The problem is, reaching that point remains a challenge for cash and resource strapped companies, and those with leaders who still don’t see the benefits of social media.
Here’s the full study from Capgemeni Consulting and the MIT Center for Digital Business.
(Image via)
