Josh Anstey’s Blog

Yes that is right. There are lessons to be learned from stand up comedians.

Before we learn the lessons, let me explain to you the pre-text of this post.

Last week I went to see a stand up comedy show by the great Australian comic Wil Anderson.

Wil has a new show called beWILdered and it is absolutely hilarious. I recommend you check it out. Anyway, at the show it got me thinking about how there are a few things to learn from stand up comedians that entrepreneurs can put into practice.

Stand up comedians are entrepreneurs themselves. They are a perfect example of someone going at it alone, giving it their best shot, getting up in front of a crowd and saying ‘here is what I have to offer; what do you think about it?’

Sometimes this is successful; they are received well and have an audience filled with laughter for the whole show. Sometimes it is not successful, and there is an awkward silence of unfunny jokes, and an unresponsive quiet audience. Regardless of the results, you can bet your dollar the stand up comedians are standing back up on stage the next night giving it another one of their best shots.

Lesson #1 from stand up comedians: Always give it a go. Don’t be afraid to stand up there, be counted and put your ideas out into the open. And more importantly, if at first you don’t succeed, don’t be disheartened, be persistent, confident and get out there and do it again.

Comedians want you to laugh, have a good time, enjoy the show and then go home and tell all your friends and family to come see the show. Stand up comedians spend a lot of time getting to know their audiences, relating to their audiences, and bringing their audiences on the ‘comedic journey’ with them. They want it to be your experience. Why? Well aside from the fact that it makes you enjoy the show a whole lot more, it also means there is a higher chance of you going home and spreading the word about the show. What is this called? This is the great important marketing skill of Word of Mouth.

Lesson #2 from stand up comedians: Relate to your audience so that they are enjoying your product or service. Word of Mouth is the most powerful marketing tool that you can use. There is a much higher chance of someone using your product or service if a friend or family member has recommended it. Never forget the importance of getting your customers, clients or users to promote your product. Make sure they enjoy their experience with your company. For starting entrepreneurs, this is the most cost effective way to kick-start your business.

I hope you are able to put these lessons learned from stand up comedians into practice.

By the way, I really do recommend seeing Wil Andersons show beWILdered – you are guaranteed to have a great night.

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Entrepreneurs love to get their hands on anything and everything when starting businesses. There comes a stage in this process, when entrepreneurs must learn to delegate. There is often a lot of resistance to this, with entrepreneurs finding it hard to let go of their ‘baby’.

Resistance often includes, ‘I don’t trust anyone else to do it’, ‘I can do it better than anyone else’, ‘I am the only person who has the vision to complete this task’, ‘I don’t know what to delegate’, ‘I can do it quicker’, ‘It’s too expensive to hire someone else’. This is hard for entrepreneurs, but is extremely necessary when businesses start to grow.

Delegation is the handing over of authority and tasks to someone else, and believe it or not, can be quite a simple and trouble free process if done correctly.

Here are a few pointers in how to delegate.

Decide what to delegate
Firstly, you need to decide what you need to and can do, and what you need to and can delegate. I call these your ‘need to list’ and your ‘can do list’. I use the words need and can here carefully. Make a list of everything that needs to be done. Next, work out what are your strengths and weaknesses. Then work out what you specifically need to do, which is your ‘need to list’. This list may include areas that are currently confidential, or focus on the broader strategy and growth of the business. Your ‘can do list’, are things that you don’t necessarily need to do, but you have time to do and are interested in being actively involved in them. Don’t use this list as an excuse not to delegate. This should be a very short list of two or three items or activities.

Work out what you need to delegate. These are things that need to be done, but don’t have to be done by you. They can be more day-to-day operations that can be overseen by someone you hire. Other things that you can delegate, may not be vital to the overall day-to-day operations of the business, but are activities which can be done by someone else over a period of time.

Delegation roadmap
Create a roadmap or plan once you have decided what you are going to delegate. This includes detailed descriptions and roles for each activity or task that you are going to delegate. The aim of this is so that the person you delegate to, will have a good understanding of what their role is, what needs to be done, and what needs to be achieved by this. While you are obviously going to be able to explain it at the beginning, make sure this roadmap and plan is detailed enough, so that you are not being called every five minutes to confirm something.

Hiring the best people
The next step is hiring the best people for you to delegate to. Make sure these people are able to share your vision, excitement and insight that you as an entrepreneur feel. It is also important that they are suited to the job tasks that you are going to delegate to them; Administrative? Marketing? Operations management? Accounts and finance? Development? Make sure the person satisfies all your requirements and you do thorough background checks before employing them. Hire someone that will complement your skills, and will make up for the areas that you feel are weaker. This is a great stepping stone to a strong business relationship and future success.

Accountability & Responsibility
In your roadmap for delegation, set out goals for the tasks and activities. Make sure the person you delegate to understand the outcomes required from their responsibility and that they are accountable to the success of these tasks. This added pressure and accountability will increase the likelihood of a good job being done. These expectations need to be clearly communicated so that there is no confusion.

Check up & Provide Feedback
Randomly check up on how everything is going. This does not have to be hourly, or even daily. Checking up to make sure the tasks are under control will make the person you delegate to feel the need to succeed in his tasks, and will settle your entrepreneurial resistance to delegation if you had any. These can be randomly dropping past their office, or scheduling meetings to review the work up to a certain point. It is also important to constantly provide feedback, so that they know how they are going with everything. This will also give you an opportunity to give your opinion and thoughts on the progress.

Reward
While not necessary, rewarding employees for good work after delegating to them, can be really great for their self-esteem, moral and motivation. This can range from a voucher, bottle of wine, or parking space, to a bonus, salary raise, or additional time off.

Remember, you are delegating so that you can focus on the overall greater strategy and development of your business. Always keep that in mind.

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That’s right. I am back in Sydney and ready to roll.

It has been some time since my last post, as I have been travelling for the last 2 months. The break was great and for an entrepreneur, travelling really opens your eyes and presents opportunities.

Over time I will discuss some of the trip and ideas more, and there will still be my frequent posts and normal.

I look forward to hearing from you all, and to a great year of blogging and working together!

If you have requests or ideas of what you want to read, and areas that we can cover and learn, feel free to let me know.

It’s great to be back!

Have a great entrepreneurial day.

Don’t miss out on the exciting blog posts coming up.

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I have been in San Francisco, USA now for 3 days, and as an entrepreneur, this city has got my mind working in overtime. Touring San Francisco up and down 24/7 has been incredible, and at the same time, I feel like I am in an entrepeneurs paradise.

In my opinion, this entrepreneurs paradise also known as San Francisco should be tagged: “San Francisco - creating your future”

Why?

• There are must millions of people and this points to one topic - consumerism. I would be interested to know the amount of money spent in one day in a city like this. From the number of people who live here, to the number of tourists, there is just opportunity, opportunity and opportunity.
• As I walk through the city, I am amazed at the massive billboards that are covered in advertisements from massive mulitnational corporation companies that have become household names. The exposure to your target market is incredible.
• The land of opportunity - it has been said that America is the land of opportunity, and I think that saying is correct. Walking around San Francisco gives entrepeneurs so much inspiration and motivation. So if you have an idea, give it a go.

Tomorrow I will hopefully head out to Palo Alto, Mountain View and Silicon Valley. These areas have become famous and epitomise opportunity and success for many internet entrepeneurs and Web 2.0 start-ups. I am very excited to check out these areas.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I will be blogging throughout my travels, and relating experiences to my specialised entrepeneur, marketing, Web 2.0 and networking topics. Travelling should bring some new inspiration, insight and ideas into my blog.

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Have a great entrepeneurial day and I hope you are as excited about these upcoming blog posts as I am.

Remember the main lesson from this blog post about San Francisco and all the opportunity - “Just give it a go!”

It is no good to talk about ideas that you are never ever going to do. You can have a brilliant business idea, you can have a million marketing ideas, initiatives and goals, but essentially you have nothing if you do not take action.

On ‘The SmallFuel Marketing Blog’ I read a post called, ‘The First Priority of Small Business Marketing.’

It is spot on and straight to the point. There is no point talking about something and not acting on it. Look at all the successful businesses around you, all your mentors and hero’s in anything and everything. Entrepreneurs, movie stars and sportsman.

How did they get to where they are?

They took action. They had an idea, a thought, a dream and a goal, and they took action to achieve it.

As a small business, it is often hard to get the ball rolling. Often challenging to actually kick something off and take the initiate to make it happen. But when you do, you will see the difference and reap the benefit.

For Small Business, the marketing priority needs to be to take action and get it done, give it go.

Give it a try. Think of one thing you have on your ‘wish list’ that you have wanted to do but never get around to it. Take action!

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The .au domain name has registered its one millionth domain name today. This is just one of many milestones in internet history. It is amazing, that 5 years ago, the tally was only about 250 000. It just shows the massive domain name industry and growth of the internet.

Click here to read the rest of the article.

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Hello fellow entrepreneurs!

Something that all entrepreneurs have to do at some stage or another is make a great entrepreneurial speech. This speech could be to a board of directors, fellow partners, employees, venture capitalists, shareholders and investors, conferences or events, fellow business people, and the list goes on. In simple, you going to need to make a speech sooner or later, and you might as well be prepared for it and make it one to remember. Here are a few pointers.

Prepare – make sure you have prepared for the speech. No one likes to listen to a speech that is disorganised, off the topic and just simply unprepared. Set time aside a few weeks before the day of your speech to plan it and prepare the speech.

Practice – once you have written your speech, practice it. Practice, practice and … practice! While you can’t always know other variable on the day, you can at least practice the part that you are going to deliver. Practicing in front of the mirror is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and still works, so give it a go.

Research – do some background reading on your topic as well as relevant and recent news articles on the topic, to make sure you can answer any question thrown at you. You need to be knowledgeable in your area. It also helps to do some research and reading about your audience or the conference or event that you are speaking at.

Be enthusiastic – when presenting, be lively and enthusiastic. Show your audience your passion for the subject. This will give them a better impression, and they are more inclined to listen and remember you.

Make a dramatic opening – start with a bang. Grab the audience’s attention and let them know that you are in the building! This will also intrigue the audience and make them want to know more about what you are talking about.

Humour – try and add in a bit of humour. It doesn’t have to be a joke, but a light hearted humorous line creates a connection with the audiences and helps them relax and warm to you.

Make use of pauses – pick your pauses carefully and strategically. A one or two second pause can have a great effect, but you don’t want to overuse them. Think about where they will have greater impact in your speech.

Eye connection – make eye connection with your audience. Don’t talk at them, talk with them. Your preparation should mean that you don’t have to follow every single word with your eyes. A tip for doing this is to just write a few ‘reminder’ words on palm cards rather than sentences. That way, you can have a quick look down, see a word that reminds you of where you are going next, and continue that great connection with you audience.

Timing – don’t speak for too long. Have a watch and a clock and keep to your allocated time. No one likes a speech that goes on for too long.

K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid) – don’t try to impress anyone with using extremely long words that no one will understand and will just make them think that you spent too much time reading the thesaurus. Know your audience, and use language that is appropriate to them and that they will understand.

Watch your body language – be conscious of your body language throughout the speech. Are you sitting or are you standing? Are you learning forward no the edge of your seat or reclining back into your seat? Are you pacing up and down or not moving from the one spot? There is no right or wrong with body language, but it helps to be conscious of what your body language is saying, and take a bit from each technique. There are however a few don’ts, including don’t drop your head when reading the speech, don’t play or flick a pen, and don’t turn your back to the audience. Other than that, everyone is different and has a different comfort level in terms of their body language.

Smile – after all, you are human. Smiling makes the audience feel welcome, warm and relaxed. Be their friend.

You are an entrepreneur. Part of making a good entrepreneur speech is taking that bit of a risk. I hope these tips assist you and get you on your way. If you have any others to add, it would be great to hear what you think.

Have a great day, and good luck in making your speech.

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Yes you heard me. Business is booming in the Web 2.0 world. What does this mean? Don’t miss the train, get on board. There is so much opportunity out there waiting to be utilised. Go out and get it!

Have you got an idea? Do you want to invent something? Is there anything that you think could be reinvented? Would you like to offer the world a new product or service?

Now is the time. Don’t sit back and relax. Take action!

The web offers you an infinite amount of ways to succeed, achieve something, and take your entrepreneurial sprit to the next level. Remember, you can only learn from the experience. So rather than not knowing, give it a go and take that chance because you never know where it will lead you.

If you would like to read an article about it, click here to read the iTnews article, ‘Business is booming thanks to Web 2.0’

It is sure to inspire you and give you that motivation.

If you would like to discuss business ideas with me, are looking for a business partner, need someone to bounce your thoughts and plans off, or would like some consulting and entrepreneurial advice, contact me! It would be great to help you.

Related articles:

What is Web 2.0
Web 2.0 Galore
Diary of a start-up #1
Diary of a start-up #2 – take advantage of your age
The art of the elevator pitch
Internet breaks barriers making US less relevant
Are entrepreneurs scared of failure?

The top list of IT influencers was recently released.

The list was compiled by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA), a tech trade group with 22,000 members. The poll got 473 votes, mostly from people who have worked in the tech industry for at least three years

The list was:

1. Bill Gates, chairman and co-founder of Microsoft Corporation (84%)
2. Steve Jobs, CEO and co-founder of Apple (73%)
3. Michael Dell, CEO and founder of Dell (53%)
4. Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system and Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Google co-founders (47%)
5. John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco Systems (44%)
6. Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle (36%)
7. Vinton Cerf, who (with Bob Kahn) co-designed the TCP/IP protocol upon which the Internet is built (35%)
8. Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO (35%)
9. Meg Whitman, president and CEO of eBay (30%)
10. Craig Barrett of Intel (28%)
11. Louis Gerstner Jr. of IBM (26%)
12. Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com (23%)
13. Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems (22%)
14. Leonardo Chiariglione who helped create the MP3 standard among others (17%)
15. Paul Otellini of Intel (17%)
16. Carly Fiorina of HP (14%)
17. Ray Ozzie of Microsoft (13%)
18. Mark Hurd of HP (11%)
19. Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe of MySpace.com (10%)
20. Thomas Friedman of the New York Times (4%)
21. Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com (3%)

Tim Berners-Lee, the man who is known to have invented the World Wide Web, which has provided opportunity to so many came in near the bottom of the list with 1% of the vote.

This is a really interesting list, and really inspirational.

What are your thoughts on who was in the list? Anyone not there you think should have been? Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

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Marc Andreessen, the entrepreneur and founder of Opsware and Netscape has said that businesses are not early adopters anymore and their IT departments are ‘stuck in the mud’. It seems that these days, whilst there is such an entrepreneurial boom, especially with Web 2.0, businesses are not welcoming these ideas and start-ups and entrepreneurs are experiencing barriers and closed doors.

I was reading this in an article ‘Evaluating tech startups: The risks and rewards’ from iTnews and it had some interesting information.

InformationWeek did research of 150 senior business technology executives and got some interesting results. 74% described their IT cultures as moderate and conservative only 26% called themselves aggressive. These stats are interesting but also worry to entrepreneurs and start-ups out there.

To those companies that fall into the 74% - step outside your comfort zone. You don’t necessarily have to be aggressive, but rather entrepreneurial, take a chance, give it a go, and help nurture and motivate the young entrepreneurial talent that is a click away.

As entrepreneurs, what can we do?
Look at this as a challenge! Don’t be afraid of it, but rather welcome these statistics and use them as motivation. Be prepared, and know that with determination and persistence you can succeed!

Some related articles:
There are two kinds of companies: brave and dead
Mobile Phone Opportunity
Business Cards for Beginners
Springwise – your daily entrepreneurial ideas

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