Radical Honesty

As someone who has studied success, full-heartedly pursued "success" and even written a book on it, I feel like I must always project myself as somebody who is very, very successful. This creates a false picture in people's mind and gives me stress because I feel like I must uphold that image. When things aren't going well, I often avoid blogging out of fear that it will hurt my reputation. In the back of my mind I say to myself that once I'm successful in the ways I want to be, then I'll tell how I made all these stupid mistakes.

Today, I've decided to change that, which is not to say that I've considered myself dishonest. In fact, I think I've gone above and beyond what is generally considered "normal" in terms of honesty and integrity. However, I feel like I must go farther. Two things have influenced me to do this:

1. I read an article in Inc. Magazine called Exaggeration Nation, which said the following:

   For those who missed it, the hip-hop impresario was outed for serially -- and wildly -- inflating the revenue of his company, Phat Farm. Appearing on CNBC in 2003, for example, Simmons claimed sales of $350 million; in Newsweek, the figure was $240 million. And in his book Life and Def, he cited 2001 sales of $150 million. Unfortunately for Simmons, he's stuck in litigation with a former business partner; in a deposition, he was forced to reveal that his actual sales never topped a mere $14.5 million.

   When is enough, enough?

2. I was in the book store today and was looking for a very honest book on somebody's triumphs and tribulations with spirituality after a life-time of pursuing it full-heartedly. To make a long story short, I couldn't find one. All the books in the "spirituality and religion" and the "self improvement" areas seemed to only focus on and exagerrate the positives. This made me realize that I could possibly make more of a positive difference in myself and others, by fully sharing the ups and downs of my life. This may turn people off who would rather read a book by somebody who has 'been there and done that'. However, I think this is of value to young people who want to see what entrepreneurship could be like if they pursued it full-heartedly. I consider myself to be very normal. I consider myself smart, but not very smart. I come from a middle-class background with no special contacts or "entrepreneurs in the family". Hopefully people can relate.

• The road tour is coming along slowly, but surely. We're getting more incredible young speakers, However, we still haven't closed any sponsors. Therefore, we've postponed the tour until the Spring. I have a meeting with the managing editor of Inc. Magazine next week and we are going back-and-forth with a potential sponsor. Also, we're in talks with a potential fiscal sponsor. I was hoping to make a ton of calls this summer. However, Sheena and I are realizing that we need to bring somebody on who is an expert in sales and who can work full-time on the business.
  
• Since November, I've been working part-time as the program coordinator of the Bank of America Youth Entrepreneur Awards. My commitment ends this month and I've decided to not renew so I can work full-time on the business. Now, both Sheena and I are full-time.
  
• We just contracted with a literary agency/book packager in New York. We're extremely excited because he has high-level contacts in the publishing industry and really understands what we're trying to do. The publishing industry is slow over the summer, so we're hoping to close a deal with a publisher for a series in the Fall. We're aiming for a 6-figure advance.
  
• To grow the business, we've taken on about $7,000 in credit card debt and are taking out $30,000 in business loans. Good thing, my mom doesn't read my journal! We will repay this with our book advance and speaking engagements, which we're now paid up to $2,000 to deliver.
  
• Sheena and I are really working well together. In the past, having consistent meetings was challenging. 1) Because something would inevitabily come up and because we're so close, we'd cancel easily 2) Personal things would come up during meetings and we'd get in an argument. As a testament to our growth as individuals and with each other, the meetings have been going incredibly and our relationship is growing a lot closer. As a result, I feel VERY good about our strategies and focus moving forward.
  
• The beta of the feedback system has been going very well. People have been giving very positive feedback and a number of surveys have been sent out.
  
• We recently got headshots. So, now you can see what Sheena looks like :) I will also be changing the picture on http://successmanifesto.com/. It makes the company looks like its run by me, even though Sheena and I put in equal amounts of work and have a 50/50 equity split.
  
• I've been calling people in my network to ask if they could help us raise $200,000 for our company, which we're aiming to do over the next 6 months. I've always avoided this because I've felt awkward asking people I know. So far, I've had three meetings to this end. One person said they'd probably invest a little bit. Another said, they'd introduce us to others. The last said no, but gave incredible feedback and gave some acheivable criteria under which he might invest.
  I hope your journey is going well. That's about it for now.
  Posted at July 14, 2005 09:11 PM