19 Things You Can Learn From a 30-Year-Old Multimillionaire
Lessons Learned From Ryan Allis of iContact
Imagine being just 30 and already a startup veteran with a $170 million sale under your belt!
That's Ryan Allis' story—he founded the email marketing and social media startup iContact in his 20s and sold it for a princely sum just shy of his 30th birthday. Now believed to worth 40 million dollars, the millennial entrepreneur just released a 1,248 slide PowerPoint deck of his learning from life and business.
That's a lot of slides to go through—but we did it, just to give you the gems.
Know Whether You're Entrepreneur Material
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Entrepreneurs have to be made of tough stuff—stubborn, visionary, and a little bit crazy—so it makes sense to gauge whether you are entrepreneur material before you get started.
Think Problems, Not Job Roles
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Allis is right on the money when he indicates that problems are what entrepreneurs need to apply themselves to.
A "pain point" is the market need that your product or service addresses. When you talk about your business, think about what problem it solves.
Find Opportunities in Problems
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Entrepreneurs face many challenges—some externals and some internal. Overcoming setbacks is all about understanding what you're up against and crafting a plan to get through it. Furthermore, an ability to deal with setbacks is what really makes you an entrepreneur.
Be Driven by Passion
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If you want to start a business, you'd better be driven by passion—otherwise, you're in for a long, long slog without a lot of visible rewards.
Make Sure You Choose the Right Problem
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Many entrepreneurs find that the road to business success is much longer than they anticipated. So make sure, before you set out, that you have hold of an idea that will really help you go the distance.
Align the Personal and Professional to Lead
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The authentic leader needs to align his personal goals and professional ones to really inspire.
Avoid Outside Capital at First
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If you wait as long as possible before raising outside capital, you will ultimately control more of your business.
Know How to Bootstrap
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It's also a good idea to build your business by hand, at least at the beginning.
Prototype
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Allis favors the "Lean Startup" idea of "minimum viable product."
Develop Good Systems
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Systems will save your hide if you know how to implement them.
Want to get more done? Create your own productivity system.