Continuing from Monday's Part 1 of our sit-down with Gwen Bell, today Gwen answers reader questions about profiting from passion, taking down time, and making sacrifices to be an entrepreneur.
Reader: I know my values, talents, passions & I am working on building my brand. How do I start creating profit opportunities?
Gwen: Your values, talents and passions are vital to personal growth. Knowing them, and knowing yourself, is a cornerstone to your offering. But it is not your offering. Your values can’t be traded. They aren’t products that can be bought and sold. This is an important, though often overlooked, point.
Although your passions influence how you package yourself, they aren’t the package. This is where personal branding can be misleading. It’s one reason I now shy away from using the phrase “personal brand.” A brand is attached to something that can be bought and sold, a person is not. Separating out the two is vital. How do you do that?After taking stock of your values, talents and passions ask yourself: what am I building? What do I want to sell? What can live separate from me? Mattel sells Barbies. Although Mattel is the brand, Barbie is the face. She represents the values of the brand.Think about musicians. Again, the person behind the brand, say J. Lo, is the representation or face of the brand. But J. Lo can’t be bought and sold. Her perfumes can, but she can’t.To speak to the second half of the question, how do you create profit opportunities? This question is a double-edged sword. At the core, your heart has to be in it. Let’s look at two authors, Elizabeth Gilbert and J.K. Rowling. Neither woman knew when she started out that she’d hit the level of fame she reached. Both women wrote out of a love for creating characters and storylines.That’s how you create a profit opportunity. Do what you love. In Courtney’s case, for instance, I wouldn’t be surprised if hair care companies start reaching out to her. She’s clearly passionate about the subject, has a passionate audience and that’s what marketers are looking for. Good matches.Reader: How do you deal with the "in-between" time where you're cultivating clients? My greatest challenges on this journey of being an entrepreneur have been: (1) having patience and (2) being content no matter what. Any ideas?
Gwen: During downtime, cultivate yourself. Take classes at your local college. Take up new challenges. Put yourself square in the middle of the passion space. If you aren’t actively cultivating your client relationship, cultivate yourself.Contentment will shine through in your work. A lack of it (frustration, anger, lack of enthusiasm about your life) will also shine through. You have to build your online presence as though it’s a resume-in-motion. If someone only saw one paragraph of your resume, you’d want it to be solid, right??? This is one reason I don’t post half-thought out blog posts or angry tweets. It’s not that everything I do is complete, nor that I’m always happy. But if you pop into my Twitter stream I want it to be the best reflection of who I am. My highest self, if you will. You can do practice this whether you have 15 or 15,000 people following your message. In fact, practicing with 15 sets the groundwork to do it well with 15,000. Reach, I believe, matters less than depth of connection.
Reader: How can one discover their passion?
Gwen: One of the best ways to discover your passion is to practice self-observation. For me, that means a daily seated meditation practice. Yoga works, too. For you, it might just mean a few minutes in prayer or contemplation each morning. Our passions shift as we grow. Taking our passion pulse daily is one way to stay in touch with those passions. Another way? Read books like Refuse to Choose by Barbara Sher, or The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp.Your creative power is a muscle - use it daily and your passions will emerge.
Another exercise: create your life list: http://www.gwenbell.com/life-list
Reader: What is the biggest sacrifice of being an entrepreneur?
Gwen: The biggest sacrifice of being an entrepreneur is what you might imagine - the initial loss of paycheck, boss and schedule structure. You have to get really comfortable with uncertainty as an entrepreneur. You have to live right up against your edge. As I mentioned in the last round of questions, you have to create your own nets. There’s no instant community like you have in corporate life. There’s no lunch plan. No 401k (although there are things like Roth IRAs for entrepreneurs). You literally pave your own path.
Reader: Do you think it is a good idea to get a MBA to start a business?
Gwen: MBAs are a toss-up. If you’re in the startup world, they aren’t necessary. I’ve had this conversation with entrepreneurs of all stripes. You ask an MBA now in the entrepreneurial world, you will get a difference. I’ve never heard an entrepreneur say she thinks not having an MBA has limited her. You set your own limits. A lack of an MBA as a limitation? Not always so.
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I'm always amazed by how Gwen never ceases to come up with eloquent, well-thought out advice. Apparently, participants of her "101" consulting session (which ends today) share the same sentiments, which is why we are so fortunate to get a piece of her time here on thinkandgrowchick.com. Join us this Friday next Tuesday (Hey, Gwen and I needed more time to craft the perfect interview piece!) for Part 3 of this interview, where Gwen will continue to answer your questions as well as enlighten us on the "nuts and bolts" of entrepreneurship.
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