Stephen was watching something on his computer a couple of months ago, and it got my attention. it was part of an Entrepreneurial Series at Stanford. the first thing that grabbed my attention was when the speaker, Professor Tina Seelig, started sharing about writing a failure resume. i had never heard this before. she continued to captivate me with her stories and messages throughout her brief talk. i’ve actually been wanting to share this with you guys for a while now, but kept putting it off. i think it’s a great way to start the week though, so here are some highlights that i took away from her presentation. this applies to everyone, whether you’re a photographer or not! if you want to watch the video, i’ve included the link below 🙂
- Every problem is an opportunity for a creative solution – attitude is everything and you control your attitude. the bigger the problem, the bigger the opportunity!
- Look around for opportunities to create value – the professor divided her class into teams, and gave each team an envelope with seed money. once they opened their envelope, they only had 2 hours to make a profit. each envelope only contained $5. the average return was $200, with the winning team bringing in $650! one team offered to check tire pressure and add air to bike tires on campus, asking for donations only. another team made a bunch of reservations on a Saturday night for local restaurants that always had long waits, then sold their table when their name was called 🙂 look around for opportunities to create value.
- You need to put yourself in a position to MAKE yourself lucky – Professor Seelig made a great point about working to get lucky. she suggested that we travel, meet a lot of people & put ourselves out there. studies have actually shown that “lucky” people smile twice as often, engage in more eye contact, are more relaxed than most, are open to new experiences, like unpredictability, and turn bad breaks into good fortune
- Find the intersection between interests, skills & market – most people tell us to “go after our dreams.” the bad news…passions are necessary, but not sufficient. if you’re passionate about something but suck at it, no one is going to pay you. if you are passionate about something and good at it, but there’s no market for it, then it’s a hobby. if you’re good at something and there’s a market for it, then you have a job. but the real magic happens when you find all three. if you are passionate about something, good at it, and there’s a market for it, then you’ve found your career.
- Risk-taking & being willing to fail – if you’re not failing sometimes, then you’re not taking enough risks. this was the one that really got me. Professor Seelig actually has her students write a failure resume. this is literally a list of things they’ve failed at & what they learned from each one. she talks about how important it is to acknowledge what you’ve learned from the mistakes that you’ve made. i encourage you to spend some time one day to write your own failure resume!
- Don’t wait to be anointed – entrepreneurs make their own success. they decide what to do and don’t wait for someone else to tell them what to do. she says you have to do the job to get the job. if you want to be an entrepreneur, don’t wait for others to empower you, empower yourself.
- Importance of Networking – i think we all know this one! it’s a very small world. some of her advice…don’t burn bridges. you will bump into the same people again and again. make sure you are proud of the relationships you build now.
- Balancing Priorities – you can do it all, just not at the same time! she talks about how moms learn this naturally when the baby is born 🙂 one of the things that really stuck out to me here was when she said, “figure out what your priorities are and change them frequently.” we need to re-evaluate often, because things change.
- Working in teams – i don’t know about you, but i was never a fan of team projects in school. i was always the one who ended up doing most of the work, and ended up bitter that everyone else got the credit 🙂 Professor Seelig talks about teamwork, saying “make everyone else successful, and you will become more successful.” it might feel like you’re giving away power, but you’re not. the more you give to others, the more you get back.
- Never miss an opportunity to be fabulous! – my personal favorite 🙂 this is not a dress rehearsal. if you’re not going to do your best work now, when will you do it? you’ve probably learned by now that most people just do enough to get by. they seem to be waiting for someone to tell them to do their best. i’ve never been able to allow myself to do the minimum requirement, but i also don’t think i’ve always allowed myself to do my BEST. she believes that if we all embrace this one, it actually makes the world a better place. i would have to agree.
happy Monday you guys! i hope everyone has a great week…
xoxo
jess