3 Questions

It’s Saturday February 22nd, at approximately 0700 hours.  Is this day special you ask? Well, the answer is no it’s not.  However, today is the day you should wake up and start THINKING BIG. 

I didn't want to make this a long drawn out post so some of my answers may be sort of vague, but hopefully one that will resonate with you for days and weeks to come. As you all know if you ever have any questions or concerns just let us know by e-mailing info@ctrlaltdream.com

For today’s post I wanted to speak directly to the young adults who are in college, thinking of going to college or getting ready to graduate this Spring. 

I want to discuss the title, “3 Questions”.  A lot of people ask (and have asked us) “When is the best time to start a company?”, “Am I to young to  start a business venture and be successful?”, “Will people take me seriously even though I am young?”

Those 3 questions I have seen time and time again.  In fact I have asked them so many times I couldn’t put a number to it.  However, now I am not only equipped with the answer but I have acted on the knowledge I have learned from the answers. 

Here is the best way I can break it down for you:

Q: “When is the best time to start a company?”

A: I think the best time to start is right after you graduate college and/or graduate school.  Let me use a example about bumble bees.  A very successful entrepreneur with a science background once told me that “due to the shape and odd size it should be impossible for bumblebees to fly.”  He paused and finished by saying  “However, the bumblebees don’t  know this so they continue to fly on in blissful ignorance.”  Now you may be wondering what bumblebees have to do with starting a company after you graduate college. Your answer is above.  You see bumblebees should not be able to fly, but they don’t know that so they continue on defying the odds and flying around while people who study bumblebees look on in awe.  When you graduate college you are well equipped with knowledge yes; but are you ready to fly (start a business)? The answer is most likely no.  However time and time again young entrepreneurs with huge dreams have defied the odds, just like bumble bees.  Let’s take Seth Berger for example.  He is the founder and former CEO of AND 1, which is a company specializing in basketball apparel and shoes.  Berger started AND 1 in the early 1990’s after he graduated from graduate school.  He didn’t know what he was going in the initial start up and even admits that.  Berger also said in an interview with  Knowledge@Wharton when speaking about starting his company at such a young age “I think it's a huge opportunity. Whenever I speak with [students], I always try to tell them, you should start your business now, before you have a bunch of experience, because what your experience will tell you is what you can't accomplish.”  What Seth Berger just said is an incredible example of exactly what I am talking about to you in this blog post.  When you graduate school, start a company and set your sights on success while eliminating the option of failure, you don’t know any better and your chances of succession increase dramatically. Have you looked back on something saying “How the hell did I do that? That was crazy!” Well just remember you don’t know you can’t fly.  You don’t know that you probably should gain a hell of a lot more “real world” experience before starting your venture.  All you know is what you want. You want to fly. You have your eye on the prize.  What is the prize?  Success.  It’s that simple.

Q: “Am I to young to  start a business venture and be successful?”

A: Simply put, no.  When you are young it is the BEST time to take risks and try new things.  It is a lot harder for a 40 year old man with a wife, kids, car payments, and monthly mortgage to start a new business venture than it would be for a 23 year old college graduate who has minimal risks.  What are you waiting for?

Q: “Will people take me seriously even though I am young?”

A:  This is one of the more tricky questions, so I will answer it with caution.  The answer right away is No, people will not take you seriously.  When I first founded Ctrl Alt Dream I had a lot of people doubt me.  People in that situation doubt because they were jealous I had found a unique and incredible concept to help others and sell a unique product at the same time.  Let’s say you are selling shoes and you walk into your first meeting with potential buyers from Footlocker, they most likely will not take you seriously once they hear that you are only 23/24 and don’t have ANY experience with selling shoes.  However, once YOU prove to them that when they ask for something you will deliver it with the utmost quality and satisfaction they will take you seriously.  Trust me.  A company would much rather deal with a 23 year old whom is responsible, driven and motivated about his/her product than a 40 year old man who is in desperate need of a buyer and will do anything to sell his product; even if that means cutting corners.  And we all know....NEVER CUT CORNERS. Always remember it's normal for people to doubt you.  Just let the doubt fuel your passion and prove yourself.

Keep your eye on the prize.  Don’t ever give up. 

Think Big,

Robb