I have know Michael since my freshman year at New York University (NYU). Like many students I had creative ideas and lots of interests, but never acted upon them. Every time I came up with a good idea, Michael would say, "so why don't you do it?" I had no good answer. I just didn't know where to start and was easily discouraged or sidetracked. Using himself and his web development business as an example, Michael showed me that success is simply the result of opening oneself to the entrepreneurial mindset and clearly understanding what actions differentiate successful people from the norm. This year, my junior year, Mike challenged me to become an Extreme Entrepreneur and full-heartedly pursue entrepreneurial endeavors. I took his challenge and read The Student Success Manifesto. After all, my creativity is worthless, unless I actually do something with it. The methods found in The Student Success Manifesto were simple to follow and easy to execute. I'm now starting a business in an industry I'm passionate about. The principles from The Student Success Manifesto taught me to...

Pursue My Passion
On New Year's Day I sat down at a tea shop in Manhattan and tasted my first high-quality cup of tea. Amazed, I ordered another pot. Then another, and then another. Thirty minutes later I had drunken eight straight pots (1 gallon) of tea and asked questions about ten other teas on the menu. It just so happened that my waitress was the owner of the store. When she handed me my bill, she told me that she had never seen someone drink eight pots of tea in one sitting. I told her that I was interested in learning about tea and she immediately offered me a job brewing specialty teas at her store.

Take Calculated Risks and Fall Forward
The very next day I quit my $20/hour marketing job at a computer networking company. One might think that going from a marketing coordinator to a $4/hour food service job was a hard choice. It wasn't. At the tea shop, I felt an invigorating passion for my work, the very opposite of what I felt at my previous job. At the networking company I was neither enjoying nor learning. Looking past the short-term benefits of the $20/hr wage, my choice was clearly the correct one. In retrospect, at the tea store I was learning useful knowledge everyday that, as I will discuss below, would later make me thousands of dollars, and could make me millions in the future.

Understand and Leverage My Intangible Assets
After a month of mixing tea I felt I was ready to learn more about the state of the tea industry. A few days of research lead me to the Tea Association of the USA. Since it was located near my college I took a trip down to inquire about membership. The association didn't get many enthusiastic young students inquiring about the tea industry, so the president decided to personally humor my questions. I told him I wanted to open my own chain of tea stores, but that I lacked the industry knowledge to effectively do so. Appreciating my honesty and enthusiasm, he offered me an extremely flexible, paid internship. I've been working there for over six months, have been mentored by presidents of two major tea companies and (as funny as it sounds) have branded myself as possibly the youngest tea expert in the nation.

Seek Recognition for What you Plan To Do or Have Done
Equipped with a strong knowledge of the tea brewing industry, I decided to submit a business plan to the NYU All-University Undergraduate Business Plan Competition. My initial plan was focused on nationwide expansion of a cafe-style tea room. It was at that time, Michael suggested that I leverage my relationship with NYU to create a mutually beneficial business model that helped NYU achieve its goals and me earn a profit. Since NYU lacks a sense of student community and had no unique campus hang-outs, I decided it would be beneficial for the university to have my first cafe open on-campus, serving the students and faculty.

I then wrote up a proposal for this idea and scheduled a meeting with the Assistant VP of Student Affairs at NYU. To my surprise, she and a few other faculty members were very supportive of the cafe and wrote me recommendations for the business plan competition, even saying that they would try to find my cafe a rent-free space on the NYU campus, which happens to be in the center of village, the heart of New York City.

I won the business plan competition and as a result I've received a startup capital, professional advice, and invaluable networking opportunities. Next month I will open my first cafe, rent-free on NYU’s campus. In addition, I am currently in talks with one of the competition's judges who is an angel investor that expressed interest in my venture.

Never Give Up, Never Settle
Although my story may sound like things just fell into place, they didn't. There were and still are many moments when I feel overwhelmed by neigh-sayers or logistical hurdles. And I probably would have quit by now if had I not sought the help and support of others. As Michael preaches in his book, people love to help; they especially love to share knowledge with eager students. It truly is a lot easier to stay motivated when you surround yourself with people who enjoy helping you succeed. Although tea has been my gateway to success, it was The Student Success Manifesto's guidance that taught me how to mold passion into success and capitalize on life's opportunities.

As an innately creative person I was always told I had potential to succeed in life. However, without acting entrepreneurially and taking the initiative to channel my creativity, I fear I would have simply become the worst possible thing, wasted potential. The Student Success Manifesto will help any person create multiple paths to success and a life in which they never fear underachievement.

I'm a very skeptical person. I'm just glad I told myself to shut-up and read the book. After reading Michael's book and taking the challenge, I made it a goal to pursue my passion and haven't looked back since. The manifesto gives you entertaining activities (i.e. as simple as reading magazines you would not normally read) that you can do immediately and that will immediately add value to your life. Michael's book will show you that success is nothing more than a formula available to any motivated individual.

Good Luck,
Richard Salem

Update (09/01/05):

Hey Mike,

Unfortunately, the free space on NYU's campus fell through right as I was about to graduate. Additionally, I lost in the finals of two other business plan competitions and failed to raise the necessary captial to launch. In light of this let down, I took some time-off to absorb the honest criticism from competition judges. After reconsidering my business model, I decided to launch a retail website www.looseleafcafe.com that did nearly $5,000 in its first month. And after several months of looking at ads and pursuing leads, I finally found a small retail space (it's size of a large walk-in closet!) I could afford due to website sales!

Apparently, a hole-in-the-wall store + great tea = a lot of buzz... Within three weeks my tea was written up as "Critic's Pick" in Time-out New York (weekly readership over 320,000). Since I opened the store, I've met so many helpful, interested people, including a restaurant owner who has ask me to build a day cafe in his east village restaurant. Similar to your recent blogs, I've found that sharing my failures and dilemas with others is quite disarming and seems to open many doors... quite literally (in my case anyway).

Will keep you posted as I build store #2. By the way, congrats on the tour... I look forward to it!

Thanks as always,
Richard