Harvey Mackay

Harvey Mackay, a bestselling author and award-winning entrepreneur, started his first business when he was 26. See his bio below (via http://www.mackay.com/):

Harvey Mackay is the author of the New York Times #1 bestsellers Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. Both books are among the top 15 inspirational business books of all time, according to the New York Times.

Harvey's third book, released in 1993 and titled Sharkproof, also became a national best seller within weeks. Dig Your Well Before You're Thirsty, Mackay's fourth book, made the New York Times bestseller list 12 days after its release on April 20, 1997, and remained there for five months.

In January 1999, Pushing The Envelope: All The Way To The Top, became his fourth New York Times bestseller. It is full of business and life lessons, including how to lick the competition, and is guaranteed to earn your stamp of approval. Mackay's books have sold 8,000,000 copies worldwide, been translated into 35 languages and sold in 80 countries.

Mackay is a nationally syndicated columnist for United Feature Syndicate, whose weekly articles appear in 52 newspapers around the country, including the Detroit Free Press, Denver Post, Orange County Register, Minneapolis Star Tribune and Arizona Republic.

He also is one of America's most popular and entertaining business speakers, speaking on average -- once a week to Fortune 500-size companies and associations. Toastmasters International named him one of the top five speakers in the world.

In addition, Harvey is chairman and CEO of Mackay Envelope Corporation, an $85 million company he founded at age 26. Mackay Envelope employs 500 people and manufactures 23 million envelopes a day.

Mackay is a graduate of the University of Minnesota and the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Executive Program. He is an avid runner and marathoner, and former #1 ranked tennis player in Minnesota.

He is currently a director on Robert Redford's Sundance Institute, the Minnesota Orchestral Association and the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. He has been a guest lecturer at various universities and business schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Cornell, Wharton and Penn State.

All of which is why Fortune magazine refers to him as "Mr. Make Things Happen."

Posted at 12:52 PM | Comments (1) | Top

August 14, 2005

How to Find a Role Model to Shadow

If I say the word, "internship", you know what I mean. You know how to find one, how to get one, and even how to make the most of one. And if you don't, there are tons of books you can read, web sites you can visit, and people you can talk to about it. But what about shadowing?

Shadowing is essentially becoming right-hand person to of a role model of yours. Instead of starting at the bottom of an organization, you start at the top. Speaking from experience, shadowing can be an incredible experience. Over the past three years, I've had the great pleasure of shadowing the president of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship and it has changed my life. In The Student Success Manifesto I talk more about what shadowing is and its benefits.

However, this article actually talks about how to get your role model to take you on. Below are tips you can use:

• Get an Introduction. When you shadow somebody you will more than likely see confidential documents. Therefore, building trust is critical. Getting in the door via an introduction may be the best step you can take.
  
• Become a Star Alumnus: Joining nonprofits that serve youth such as summer programs, colleges, and seminars can be extremely powerful for learning and growth. At the same time, many of these organizations are run by incredible people and must gain the support of the powerful and wealthy to grow. By becoming a star alumnus, you may get access to the top of the organization and to the key people who support it. The better you do, the better the organization looks.
  
• Have an Informational Interview: Many of your role models have probably never had somebody shadow them before. Therefore, you need to make them feel comfortable with the whole process. Just like AOL gives away a free, one-month trial, you should start by asking your potential targets to have lunch with you and offer their advice.
  
• Invite Him/Her to Speak at Your School: People generally enjoying speaking at colleges and universities. As such, by inviting your target to your school, you build a relationship with your target, help other students, and show that you are an actor and influencer.
  
• Help Him/Her: Being young doesn't mean you can't add value to others. You have a fresh perspective, understanding of youth culture, and most likely a strong grasp of technology. These three things alone can be extremely helpful to your target. You can begin to understand your target's needs by researching him/her and the organizations they're a part of.

There is no set process to shadowing, so have fun and be creative. This can be a very rewarding experience. At the same time, realize that the process of building a relationship can take a long time. Good Luck!

Posted at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | Top

August 10, 2005

$20 For Testing Our New Self-Development Tool

We're giving $20 to the first 5 people who test our new online self-development tool and provide us with detailed feedback. We've been developing it over the past half year, and it makes it possible for people to get immediate, constructive life feedback from people they know. I’ve tested the system a number of times and have honestly been surprised by the feedback I’ve received.

Creating a survey takes less than five minutes and allows for anonymous feedback! The benefits of the system, when used effectively, include:

• Showing others that you’re open to receiving feedback.
  
• Gaining a deeper understanding of yourself by noticing patterns in other people’s feedback.
  
• Understanding how others perceive you more accurately.
  
• Satisfying your curiosity and having fun.

Special thanks to our web development company, Reubro International. They're located in India and do great work at great prices and have incredible customer service.

How to Participate:

1. Send out a survey at lifefeedback.com to at least 10 people.
   
2. Send answers to the survey below to michael@successmanifesto.com. Please no attachments.

Usability Survey

About You

• What's your name?

• How old are you?

• What operating system are you using(i.e., Windows XP)?

• Which browser are you using(i.e., Firefox)?

• What is the version of the browser you are using(i.e., 7.2)?

Creating the Survey

• How easy/hard was the process of creating a survey?
  Very Easy | Easy | OK | Hard | Very Hard

• What did you like about the process?

• What didn't you like?

• How could it be improved?

Sending out the Survey

• How easy/hard ws the process of sending out and promoting the survey to your friends?
  Very Easy | Easy | OK | Hard | Very Hard

• What did you like about the process?

• What didn't you like?

• How could it be improved?

Overall

• What bugs did you find (please be specific)?

• What was confusing about the system?

• What are your thoughts on the idea of the system overall?

• What features would you like to see? How could we improve the system?

• Was the feedback you received helpful?

• What are your thoughts on the design and layout of the survey?

• Please rank the following features. Put the ones you'd like the most at the top:
  - Ability to save old surveys
  - Ability to view tabulated results
  - Improved Anonymity
  - More Survey Types (rank photos | yes/no questions)
  - Ability to anonymously give, unsolicited anonymous feedback to people you know
  - Ability to make survey results public for others to see
  - Ability to have an address book and send out new surveys to the
  same people

Posted at 04:44 PM | Comments (0) | Top

On Long-Term Relationships: An Inside Story

There is no textbook on having a close relationship. In high school I believed that I would find a soul mate and that we'd spend every momemnt in happiness until death did its part. This has not been the case. I'm a big believer that what society doesn't talk about seems to get worse. Therefore he goes...

Sheena and I have been dating since the third day of our freshman year at NYU - 5 years ago. We moved in with each other 9 months later and started working together 20 months later. Here have been my experiences of what a relationship is like:

1. There maybe nothing else that forces you to confront yourself in the same way. If one takes repsonsibility for how one experiences a relationship, the growth can be absolutely amazing.
   
2. You will see each other in your worst moments. You and your partner may do things you never thought you would. Sheena and I have thrown things at each other and said terrible things to each other. It's embarrassing to admit to myself, none-the-less to other people. I'm used to laughing about petty arguments on reality series, not it happening to me. With that said, a relationship can be humbling and an opportunity to learn forgiveness of oneself and others.
   
3. Being interrdependent can be a good thing with the right person. Normally, when you have big disagreement with someone the relationship ends or goes on hiatus. However, since we live together and work together, it only makes sense to discontinue the relationship if things are going very poorly over a stretch of time without hopes for improving. Quite frankly, I doubt Sheena and I would still be together if we hadn't taken steps to weave our lives closer. The more your lives are interwoven, the more it makes sense to deal with issues as they come up and grow from them.
   
4. All huge arguments seem to be based on at least one major thing that I could change or learn about myself.
   
5. It is up and down. We could be having the most romantic night ever and then all of a sudden get in an argument because one person doesn't feel listened to because the other is biting their nails.
   
6. There is an infatuation period that lasts for varying amounts of time depending on the couple. During this time it is hard to be away from the other person and it is hard to even see one thing the other person could change. This stage seems to be in large part physiological. It could end in a moment. Moving on to the next stage can be trying for the relationship as the other person seems to transform into somebody else.
   
7. Having somebody you trust, who understands you, and who you can share anything with is extremely nice.
   
8. Coming home to, going to sleep with, and waking up with somebody who you love and loves you is a beautiful thing.
   
9. Having intermittent periods of solitude has been very important for my growth and perspective.
   
10. To me, the most critical parts of successful relationship are trust, similar values (at first), communication, and similar life aspirations.

I feel like it is important to say my experiences with a close relationship, because it is hard to get truthful perspectives on this topic. For me, it is hard to share because I don't know how other close relationships are. Are we the only ones who get in big arguments over silly things? It's hard to know since nobody talks about it.

But it feels like a duty to share this stuff. I'm inspired by other people in my life who are able to accept themselves and in so doing make it easier for others to do the same. I don't want to spend any portion of my life being afraid of the truth.

My side of the story is obviously biased. Sheena will be posting her perspective too on her blog. I personally look forward to reading it.

Posted at 09:50 AM | Comments (1) | Top

August 09, 2005

The Importance of Follow Ups

Normally follow up is one of my worst weaknesses. In the back of my mind, I felt that if somebody really wanted my product/service, they would reach out to me. However, after following up with emails and then phone calls today from a July conference, I think follow up is crucial because:

1. It shows customers that you're on top of things and care about their business.
   
2. People are extremely busy and often overwhelmed with work. As such, they like things done for them. Following up makes their job easier. After each follow up I did today, the people I called were very thankful.

Special thanks to Adam Witty for showing me the five call follow up rule and to Jason Dorsey for stressing that if I was serious about getting speaking engagements, I needed to follow up.

Additional note: Also, setting up the meeting with Inc. Magazine took six calls and one cancelled meeting despite the fact that they were interested.

Posted at 01:29 PM | Comments (0) | Top

Masterminding with Peers

Excerpt from Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography:

I should have mentioned before, that, in the autumn of the preceding year, [1727] I had form'd most of my ingenious acquaintance into a club of mutual improvement, which we called the Junto; we met on Friday evenings. The rules that I drew up required that every member, in his turn, should produce one or more queries on any point of Morals, Politics, or Natural Philosophy, to be discuss'd by the company; and once in three months produce and read an essay of his own writing, on any subject he pleased. Our debates were to be under the direction of a president, and to be conducted in the sincere spirit of inquiry after truth, without fondness for dispute or desire of victory; and to prevent warmth, all expressions of positiveness in opinions, or direct contradiction, were after some time made contraband, and prohibited under small pecuniary penalties.

Recently, I've seen this concept applied extremely well with young entrepreneurs in the two following initiatives:

1. Junto Partners - Provides funding and assistance to cohorts of recent college graduates. Members of these cohorts invest in each other's businesses and support each other.
   
2. Invenio Group - A group of 6 Babson students that run 8 different companies together.

Posted at 12:04 AM | Comments (0) | Top

August 07, 2005

Any Bloggers Out There?

We're building a list of Extreme Entrepreneur blogs at http://successmanifesto.com/blogs/main/. If you consider yourself to be an Extreme Entrepreneur and you want us to link to your blog, send us an email. Also, any tips on blogs of other Extreme Entrepreneurs would be very much appreciated.

More specifically we're looking for people under 30 who are using an entrepreneurial mindset to passionately plan, prioritize, and pursue their vision. It doesn't have to be somebody who has started a company.

Posted at 06:05 PM | Comments (1) | Top

Rahim Fazal

I met Rahim in New York in late June of this year. I actually found him through his profile on LinkedIn.com. If all goes as planned, he will be one of the featured speakers on the Extreme Entrepreneur Tour. He is extremely humble despite the fact that he sold a business for $1.5 million in high school and is getting his MBA at one of the best programs in the world without an undergrad degree. We have very similar philosophies about success and are both passionate about making a difference. It has been and will be a pleasure working with him. Below is his bio:

Rahim Fazal’s life planning program, “Gettin’ It”, provides alternately hilarious and sobering education to youths on how to truly get what they want out of life. A young “dot-com millionaire” who started and sold his first business while completing his last year of high school, Rahim has always urged young people to use business principles to map out a fulfilling life path. This mission culminated, after several business adventures, in Rahim’s recruitment by Canada’s top MBA program at the Richard Ivey School of Business to act as a student leader in their new entrepreneurial stream. An engaging and popular speaker at youth business conferences and advisor to entrepreneurial groups in Canada and the US -- and still only 23 years old -- Rahim continually urges youth to apply the business planning process to relieve the anxieties they suffer when facing uncertain futures.

Posted at 10:40 AM | Comments (1) | Top

August 02, 2005

I Forgot!

Recently, I asked a group of students, "How many of you have received strong criticism from those you love the most about you pursuing your dreams?" To my surprise, at least 95% of a 200+ audience raised their hand!

I had forgotten about how much resistance you are likely to receive when pursuing your dreams. My mom has been extremely supportive of me for my entire life. But when I got passionate about entrepreneurship in high school, she was afraid that I would do worse in school and not follow the safe path of becoming a computer programmer like her. All I wanted to do was share my incredible passion and at least let her see a little bit of what I was experiencing. However, I couldn't and I cried a number of times until I simply stopped talking about it.

This resistance will most likely come from the people you love the most; friends, family, etc. They will encourage you to follow plan B before plan A. My advice? Don't! Follow plan A with everything you have! Some things to keep in mind:

1. They all want the best for you and have good intentions.
   
2. Listen to their thoughts and learn from them, but do not take them to heart. You are the only one who can see your vision. Don't let others take away your sight.
   
3. Surround yourself with other dreamers - especially when times are tough! They are not the majority, but there are a ton out there. If you can't find anybody then look around you. Look at the products/services you use on a daily basis. Many of these were created by dreamers.
   
4. Don't give up! Now is the time to go for your dreams. You have very little to lose. There is much more to lose by giving up or delaying than by putting everything into something you're passionate about.
   
5. If you're not passionate, people can tell in a second. If you are passionate, they'll support you.
   
6. The same people that are critical will secretly admire you and your determination. When you hit a high point, they will be there to celebrate with you and you will be an inspiration for them.
   
7. As I've heard other speakers say, "You can always get a job!". In other words, if you're a passionate, friendly and ambitious person, you'll be able to find something to fall forward on to if your dreams don't go as expected in the short-term.

Posted at 08:19 PM | Comments (1) | Top