Is Entrepreneurship Worth It?


Prerna Gupta left the corporate world to take a chance on herself.  Here is an excerpt of her story:

“As chief executive of my own start-up, I now spend my days building consumer products from the ground up, creating grass-roots marketing campaigns, pitching my ideas to investors and dreaming about the next big thing. How many people bought my product? Who saw my video? What can I do to reach more people tomorrow? These are the questions I ask myself each day.

“There is a certain thrill to seeing one’s own creation in the hands and minds of thousands, sometimes even millions, of people around the world. Entrepreneurship is intoxicating.

“Exciting as it may be, however, the entrepreneurial life is far from easy. Stress is a regular part of the day. Money is tight. There are frequent emotional highs and lows, and the desire to succeed can become all-consuming. Underlying all of this is the knowledge that failure is the most likely outcome.

“Yet, no matter how tough things get, I wake up every morning with renewed hope and excitement for what lies ahead. The fact that I am working on my passion gives meaning to even the most mundane tasks.

“My future is perhaps more uncertain than it ever has been. I may end up wealthy, or I may earn barely enough to support myself. But the realization that I face a high likelihood of failure is not enough to send me back to the corporate cubicle.

“Maybe I value my time more than my net worth. Maybe my fear of boredom outweighs my fear of failure. Or, maybe I have an irrational belief that I will succeed against all odds. Whatever it is, I find the risk of entrepreneurship to be not only worthwhile but also necessary for fulfillment. Work is no longer work. It is life, and a good one.”

Read more of Prerna Gupta’s story


iPhone Hype – A Lesson in the New Marketing


Whether you were first in line for the first crop of the new iphone’s to be released or not, you’ve no doubt been aware of all the hoopla surrounding the iphone marketing launch.

But you may not be aware of what a great example of the New Marketing you just experienced. Never does Apple simply place a new product on the shelves and hope people will find it and buy it. They spend thousands of hours in strategy sessions and millions of dollars coming up with their product launch sequence. And the recent iphone launch was no exception.

In fact, I have it on good authority that Apple consulted with the best and brightest in the internet marketing world for guidance on how to create the most anticipation and to create a hungry market falling all over themselves to get their hands on Apple’s latest little gizmo.

It used to be that marketing strategies used by internet marketers was frowned upon as manipulative and underhanded. But in the last few years, some savvy internet marketers have begun leading the way with new marketing strategies that are pains-takingly above-board and highly effective.

These new strategies have created huge profits for some internet marketers using the new techniques. So much so that they have garnered the attention of mainstream business including Apple and Paula Abdul.

The effectiveness of the iphone 4 launch and all of Apple’s launches has to do with creating not just awareness of their new product, but anticipation and hunger for it.  That is accomplished by a “launch sequence” — a series of events engineered to keep the public on the edge of their seats waiting for the next news leak or “misplaced” iphone news.  It’s a story in the making and a build up to the Big Event.  Release Day!  The result is an eager public willing to stand in line for a chance to have the limited number of products released.

This “launch sequence” strategy can be used to launch and market just about anything in any business.  This is the New Marketing!


Energy vs. Inertia


Life begets life. Energy begets energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich.
- Sarah Bernhardt

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