Читать книгу Dare Mighty Things - TM Smith - Страница 3

Welcome to your field guide to entrepreneurial success. Field guides are designed to be used in the field. In this case, the “field” is your life. Yeah, that’s kind of deep, I know. But it’s also true. Because field guides are often associated with nature, they are made to be brought into the field and help users distinguish between common objects. For you, the “field” is your world. The common objects are the people, opportunities and things you are trying to navigate in order to arrive at your version of success.

The objective of the trip into the field is to share what others have accomplished in the hopes you might find it useful in charting your own path. If you’re reading this, the guess is that you are probably looking for some guidance to plot your way forward. If that’s true, this field guide is for you. Presented inside this guide is a series of personal short profiles of some who have beaten the odds and grabbed a hold of success. It’s also a summary of the personas and waypoints these entrepreneurs have used. This guide is the result of interviews with dozens and dozens of successful entrepreneurs, and focusing the past 18 months specifically on millennial entrepreneurs who have navigated the journey. Most importantly they think of themselves as being “successful.” And while the definition of success can change from individual to individual, once they believe they have realized success... they have.

Solving the riddle

And, me? I’m just a baby-boomer entrepreneur offering to take you on this road trip. The concept of the field guide popped up one day while I was talking to my son Hayden. At that point, he was a 22-year-old recent college grad thumbing through one of the Wildsam Field Guides that Taylor Bruce produces (Chapter 4). While Hayden was admiring the design, the structure and the ease of reading the guide on Detroit, he made an insightful comment. He thought it would be awesome and useful if there was a book similar to this, written with recent college grads in mind, with the purpose of helping them solve the entrepreneurial riddle.

That quick conversation stuck with me for several months. I kept coming back to it in my head. I began to imagine an entrepreneurial field guide that would be very different from the business books I’ve read in my life. As much as I respect and admire authors like Jim Collins and Steven Covey, I could visualize a different kind of read. A book written in a snackable, easily consumable way that focused on sharing success stories from millennial entrepreneurs, each of who have deciphered the code, earning entrepreneurial success. I believed then, as I do now, that if the stories in the guide were told in a personal and relatable way, then they could have tremendous meaning and be applicable to the hopes and dreams of many in this generation who are often misunderstood and maligned.

A clear need

So, I reached out to a millennial entrepreneur I knew and trusted—Chase Fancher of Oak & Oscar (Chapter 1). I shared my idea, asked what he thought of it and asked if he’d help me test the theory by being my first interview subject/victim. Chase agreed to meet me at his favorite hangout in New York City and we chatted for hours. It was everything I hoped it would be and I knew as I walked out of that restaurant this “field guide” concept was going to work.

What you now hold in your hands is the sum total of many, many interviews and conversations with entrepreneurs of all millennial ages. The focus of the guide is dealing with the unique and special challenges for risk-takers of the millennial generation. These issues are just as difficult and complex as they were for previous generations of entrepreneurs, but they also tend to be a bit more multifaceted.

Inside are 11 profiles of amazing entrepreneurs from all walks of life. Men and women from my hometown of Detroit to New York City. From Los Angeles, to Austin. From tech companies in San Francisco to manufacturers in Chicago. The field guide represents as many varied examples as I could find. The mission was to talk to people from all walks of life, backgrounds and geography—all who had dreams, passions and ideas that they had somehow turned into reality.

And that’s the real focal point of the book: to help you chart your journey of converting your dream to your reality. To assist in pointing you in a direction that will allow you to gain the confidence and strength, so that you too can “dare mighty things.” I would love to help you gain the courage to step off the ledge and begin your journey.

Sadly, there are millions of dreamers hitting the snooze button every morning and heading off to a job they can’t stand. They are logging mindless time for a company they don’t respect. But what sets apart those who really do make it from those who only talk about it? The answer to that question is within the profiles. The answer is also within you, but you’re going to have to find it on your own. As a parent, I believe that it’s better to model successful behavior and allow my kids to make the connection on their own. And even better, if I can point them to a story of someone who is relatable to them and allow that story speak for itself. So, here are 11 stories that will hopefully do that for you. Enjoy.

The Field Guide Concept

Don’t start at the beginning. It’s a field guide, after all. Open to a profile that looks interesting. Each story begins with a TL;DR (too long didn’t read) summary. It sketches the big picture of the profiled subject and how they seized success. Thumb through each of those and start with a story that suits you best. Look for one that might be most applicable to you. Find a profile where you can imagine yourself in that person’s world, and really feel how their ideas or struggles might be similar to your struggles. Then, dive in. At the end of the profile you’ll find a few example “persona” callouts that are most applicable to that person’s journey. These are meant to lead you to the more flushed out version of a specific “waypoint/persona” in Part 3. Hop over to that part of the guide and get more details about a persona that might be most appropriate to your journey. In those sections you’ll read about some other profiles where that waypoint is also featured. Hop over to that profile. And off you go.

"Congratulations, today is your day."

–Dr. Seuss

You’ll also note that there are some blank pages and prompts along the way. Little resting points to make your own Field Notes. Mostly it’s just a space to jot down an idea or two or maybe a question to consider. It may seem a bit silly, but they really will help you. Go ahead, commit to the concept of the field guide. What have you got to lose? DMT it.

So, what’s up with that Viking helmet?

Great question. It’s more about the emotion and the feeling that a horned Viking helmet provides than it is about any historical reference point. I certainly don’t think I have any Nordic blood in my veins, but to be honest I haven’t paid for one of those DNA tests—so who knows?

What I do know is that the design studio I own, Skidmore, has a rich history of being bold, fearless and fun. We take pride in the people here at the studio who work side-by-side every day producing extraordinary creative, while we continue to defend the city of Detroit that we call our home. The Viking helmet is a perfect symbol for that message. It also represents how I want to live my life. Bold, fearless and unafraid to fail. I imagine that those Vikings who boarded their ships centuries ago, setting off on a journey to some unexplored location, experienced many of these same emotions.

You’ll also see many references throughout the book to “charting your own course” and setting off on your journey. I oftentimes picture my life as an entrepreneur in a similar way to a captain of a ship setting off to sea. I have a destination in mind, but also know there are variables and circumstances I just can’t predict that will force me to alter the course. I constantly read the winds, the patterns of the ocean and the forces of nature along the way. IMO, this is how an entrepreneur must act and react in order to find success.

So, the helmet is our visual reminder to stop playing it safe. To risk much, fear little. To assume the role of captain of your ship, and make the best choices you can along the way. Shout “We are Sparta” to the clouds when you feel like it. And if you end up with a client who sucks the life out of you, tell them to fuck off no matter how much revenue they bring you. Yeah, I’m talking to you, Sean.

A pink bike?

Yep, it all began with a pink bike. When I look back, I can see much of my stubbornness, impulsiveness, need to be different and tendency to dare from my first big purchase as a 12-year-old boy—a brand new ten-speed. At the time the Schwinn bike with two derailleurs and 10 gears represented freedom and coming of age. Only little kids rode a three-speed bike with a banana seat. I was 12 freakin’ years old. I had my own paper route. I was making good money shoveling snow for the neighbors. I was babysitting the most difficult kid in the neighborhood. And, damnit, I was going to buy me a bike. My own bike, with my own money.

I convinced my dad to drive me down to the Schwinn store in Mt. Clemens. Because a Schwinn was the Cadillac of bikes in 1975. This store had hundreds of bikes, and the inside smelled like rubber bike tires and chain grease and freedom. It was amazing.

The salesman/owner, who knew my dad, showed me lots of blue and green and black bikes. But they didn’t feel right for me. For one reason or another, they just didn’t “feel” right. Then I spotted the pink bike sitting alone in the corner of the store. “What about that one?” I asked. “Kid, you don’t want that bike,” the owner laughed. “It’s pink, been here for a while—it’s the only one we ordered and we can’t sell it.”

That’s all I needed to hear. I wanted that bike. I could feel it was right for me. My dad, trying to talk me out of the purchase, asked why I wanted that particular one. He told me if I needed more money for one of the other bikes, he’d make up the difference. “No,” I told him. “I want that one. I like the idea that nobody else will have one just like it. And, I like the idea that it’s different.”

That was my personality in a nutshell. I’ve always had a strong desire to go against the grain. To challenge convention a little bit. Sometimes more than a little bit. I knew I’d get teased by my friends some, but I also knew that I’d be remembered as the only boy with a pink bike. And that bike got me through high school and most of college at Central Michigan University.

And it had an added benefit of announcing my presence. When that pink bike was parked outside Anchor Bay Junior High School, the local drug store or, later, at my first real job at The Anchor Bay Beacon, New Baltimore’s local newspaper—people knew that I was there. It was my calling card. My first bold brand statement. By the way, if you walk into Skidmore today you will note that we have two pink bikes in the lobby for the staff to ride around Detroit. Coincidence?