Tuesday 31 October 2017

What is StartingBloc?

A Fellowship of leaders committed to making a world that works for everyone.
The Fellowship begins by attending the Institute. Over 5 days, Fellows will learn hard skills, ask big questions, and create community with 75-100 of their peers. And the Institute is just the entry-point into a lifelong Fellowship. StartingBloc Fellows participate in regional chapters and topical affinity groups, put on Fellows-only events, and access our pro-bono coaching program.
Over the past 14 years, our programs have impacted over 2,500 change leaders in 56 countries

Monday 30 October 2017

Respect fear.

When you respect your fear you are recognizing that fear is a factor in your decision-making process about putting your message out there. As I said previously, you have two choices.
 There are those who let fear paralyze them and use it as a reason why they cannot take action. Then there are those who recognize they have the fear and act in spite of it.
Just remember this. Fear is not, I repeat, not real. It only exists in your mind. It is merely a cluster of negative thoughts of future events, which by definition have not even occurred yet and therefore aren't real.
 As the old saying goes, You don't know until you try. So remember to take action despite what you think can go wrong. A lot more could go right.

Take action.

There needs to be less time between you having a thought and your taking action. Obviously, don't act on every single thought or idea you have, but if there is one that keeps coming up over and over again, that’s the one you need to listen to.
Don't hesitate. Think less. Act more. The ability to take quick action will bring you more success than over analyzing and trying to make everything perfect before you act. Nothing will be perfect the first time around. A process of trial and error is necessary.

Duty versus fear.

When you find your voice, it is your responsibility and your duty to use it. When you are having a mental battle whether to publish a certain blog post, email or article, many fears may arise.
Questions may plague your mind: Should I publish what I really think? Will my thoughts or message rub some people the wrong way? Is everyone going to think I'm sitting on my high horse preaching to them?
Well, guess what? That is exactly how some people are going to think of you. But, there will be people who will think your message is amazing. You have two choices. You can either let the fear stop you. Or, you can do it anyway.
Plenty of gurus promise proven systems for raking in cash. The problem is that most gurus don’t actually produce real results.
In 2014, The Oracles member Josh Harris found himself shivering under blankets and scraping the bottom of his bank account during one of Michigan’s coldest winters on record. He could barely afford to turn the heat on because he was desperately trying—and failing—to scale his small digital marketing agency.
No matter what he did, it never seemed to scale the business and he was only collecting small fees from demanding clients.
“Eventually, I realized I was settling for ‘good enough’ instead of pushing myself for more and I knew that I needed to commit fully to my success,” Harris says.
Back against the wall, he dumped his old playbook, which consisted of cold calling prospects and working on a per-project basis with local clients. He started using different online channels to find, qualify, and sell to high-ticket clients across the country. And his results were stunning.
Within a few months, he scaled to a $40,000 predictable monthly revenue. Today, Harris earns more than $2 million per year
When it comes to the day to day schedules of people in the world, there is so much to get done and, seemingly, so little time. Sometimes we take any chance we can to escape the overwhelming amount of daily tasks on our to-do lists. While indulging in that plan to escape being overwhelmed can sometimes mean completely checking out and detoxing from all things “incoming” and tech-related, it can also mean using those very same thoughts and tasks to escape in a different way -- and still be using your mind.
Podcasts are one of the ways we can keep up with what’s going on in the world. Whether your interests include politics and justice, travel and love, or anything and everything in between -- listening to podcasts can be relaxing and entertaining. Depending on how closely you pay attention to the content, may actually change the way you think about life.
It never ceases to amaze me how much time people waste searching endlessly for magic shortcuts to entrepreneurial success and fulfillment when the only real path is staring them right in the face: real entrepreneurs who start real businesses that employ real people who provide real products and services to real customers.
Yes, I know that’s hard. It's a lot of work. What can I say, that’s life. Besides, look on the bright side: You get to do what you want and you get to do it your way. There’s just one catch. You’ve got to start somewhere. Ideas and opportunities don’t just materialize out of thin air.
The only way I know to get started is by learning a marketable skill and getting to work. In my experience, that’s where the ideas, opportunities, partners, and finances always seem to come from. Sure, it also takes an enormous amount of hard work, but that just comes with the territory.
If you want to do entrepreneurship right, here are eight stories you’ve probably never heard about companies you’ve most definitely heard of.
The Pierre Omidyar way. In 1995, a computer programmer started auctioning off stuff on his personal website. AuctionWeb, as it was then known, was really just a personal project, but, when the amount of web traffic made it necessary to upgrade to a business Internet account, Omidyar had to start charging people fees. He actually hired his first employee to handle all the payment checks. The site is now known as eBay.

Streching For Legs