Podcast: Robin Gibson and Sean Gollogly search for some business wisdom from the experts, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg. Contains gold dust.
Entrepreneur.com Entrepreneur Media, Inc
Challenging – but worth it
The clock is always ticking, but in MuskWorld it’s usually a timer with some sort of catastrophic explosive attached. Elon’s like Wile E Coyote – a centrifuge of brilliant ideas occasionally undone by failure to anticipate the bleedin’ obvious. Mind you, he’s not as good as Wile E, because he can’t paint tunnels. Or can he? Given his wide-ranging creative flair, it’s conceivable. This graphic is a bit fuzzy, but so what? It’s great (by AndroiDoughBoy).
But entrepreneur.com is not about tunnels, so let’s get back on track. No! It’s (a) hot news from the world of entrepreneurship and (b) hot tips on how to enter the world. Elon is in there, though.
It’s an exciting world. The pseudo-newslike urgings to start up your startup in Switzerland or pay attention to the collapse of EU discount airlines are an industry in themselves. Entrepreneur.com churns them out like toy doll eyes in a Soviet factory. No one knew where they were going, or if anyone was making the heads for them, but it didn’t matter. Productivity was all.
You might say that would be an insane way for an entrepreneur to behave. Who wants a warehouse of dead stock? But it works for entrepreneur.com. For example, the article on the top 10 European countries to start a business – should that not say ‘in’? – links to one on five European countries great for startups. Much the same, but what the hell? Who cares if a joyride takes you past the same block again? It’s all joy.
Incidentally, if you are thinking about dabbling in crowdfunding, take a look at Toasteroid. These dudes raised $187k on Kickstarter for their toast messaging system (oh yes), then apparently just didn’t produce it. That’s good business. It’s how the new economy works. While you’re there, also take a look at the comments. When you tell Kickstarter you’ve been burned, the admins just cut and paste a message of new-age 2.0 jargon about how you should keep reaching out to the creator. There’s more meaning in that than they know.
Anyway, all this guff about where and how to start up is only hors d’oeuvres to the real meat of entrepreneur.com. That’s the expert advice for entrepreneurs, from entrepreneurs, usually in the form of a to-do list.
It’s a bit confusing, though, because the lists are things to do before you start work. For example, Serenity Gibbons – and who wouldn’t be with a name like that? – has seven tasks for would-be Musks to carry out before 7am. 7am!
It looks like entrepreneur.com pays by the word, because among Serenity’s early-morning sparklers are instructions to be awake and eat your breakfast. Sound stuff, but you might have thought of it already. Apart from these few practicalities, it’s just cloudy injunctions to lift your spirits, set your goals and so on.
Timothy Sykes has provided a similar list, but gives you till 9am to do them. More of the same, really – wake up, learn something (anything, apparently), make a plan. Timboy also advises eating, but doesn’t specify what. He just says eat something.
That’s all very well. But what about after 7am, or 9am? You’re going to be exhausted, especially if you’ve also done your dry-cleaning, exercised and learnt a new skill – all recommended pre-getting down to business.
It’s a bit fishy, really, because when you look at How does your morning routine compare to Elon Musk’s and a load of other people’s?, they don’t do much of this. Okay, Elon responds to critical emails, and that probably bleeds into his working hours nowadays, what with the paedo-calling and spliff-smoking. Apart from that he just has a shower and starts work. Bloody hell.
Mark Zuckerberg isn’t even a ‘morning person’, which is no help, and contradicts virtually all of Serenity’s guidance.
Steve Jobs though – he had a good routine. He would ask himself, “If today was the last day of my life, would I be happy with what I’m about to do today?”
If the answer was “No” too many days in a row, that was his cue that something needed to change. When the answer was “This is the last day of my life”, he probably didn’t get much done.
Ever heard of Tony Robbins? Me neither, but he’s a ‘self-empowerment and performance guru’. Every morning he does three quick sets of 30 Kapalabhati Pranayama breaths, then slows down his breathing and finds three things he is grateful for, which are probably lying around his house, then spreads the love – “sending strength and well wishes out to the world: friends, family and business associates”. Then he eats fish and salad for breakfast.
That’s what he says anyway.
Photograph: Lazy worker by Pixabay/Pexels
Modern Media Review Podcast 
Ha Ha very good. Very amusing and witty.
Tony
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