7 Entrepreneurial Lessons from Chris Brogan: Building a Digital Presence #aoc2013
The Agents of Change Digital Marketing Conference is an annual event put on by brilliant entrepreneur, marketer, zombie killer, and my old boss, Rich Brooks in Portland, Maine. You can follow the conversation by searching #aoc2013 on Twitter or Facebook.
If you’ve ever read Chris Brogan’s work, you’d be amazed. If you’ve ever seen him speak, you’d be even more amazed. Chris is, in a word, brilliant. He’s got great real world advice for entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes and you can read snippets of that by following him on Twitter.
1. Fall in love with not knowing
Not knowing everything or how to do something is a beautiful thing. Fall in love with what you do by taking a leap of faith, by going for it.
Don’t be afraid of being dumb; being dumb just means you’re willing to ask questions. You should be afraid of being stupid; being stupid means that you think you know everything and don’t end up asking any questions.
2. Praise the muddy gears
Doing what you do takes work. It takes getting dirty. It takes grinding the gears a little…or maybe a lot.
Don’t be afraid of all that; get in there and get your hands dirty. Because when it’s 10, 15, 20 years from now, you’ll be glad you did.
3. Worship obstacles and challenges
Do we like obstacles? No. Do we like challenges? Probably not. But here’s the thing: they’re going to happen. So embrace them.
Take a challenge head on and accomplish it.
4. Create systems that work for you
Chris brought up a brilliant point here. President Obama no longer chooses what he wears every morning. Silly? Or brilliant? Think about it, since the President no longer has to spend the time matching his tie to his shirt, his shirt to his pants, he then has, what? 20 extra minutes a day to be running our fine country. Brilliance.
Putting systems in place for your personal and your business life is invaluable and will lead to having the time to do things you actually want to do. So whether it’s spending the time to create an editorial calendar for your content or making your meals in advance, create your own systems.
5. Build your own media empire
For Chris, this meant podcasting before podcasting was cool. When it became popular, he was already there; he was already doing it. So he quickly gained an audience and his empire was born.
Create your own. Figure out where your audience spends their time and be there. Create your own empire and your own niche.
6. Connect with your monchu (family)
This is all about connecting with your people. That’s another simple way of saying: find your audience online and connect with them. It sounds simple, but truly connecting online takes work and time; just like creating any other relationship.
7. Own everything
Spend time and focus on each and everything you do. Own it. To quote Chris, “Own everything. Your life. Your choices. Own how you use your time.”
