Infopreneur

2019-03-242019-03-14 by Steph

What’s up ? This is THE stephane ANDRE !!! I watched an Olivier Roland’s video and I learned some good stuff.

I discovered what it was an infopreneur by reading Tim Ferriss‘s book « 4-Hour Workweek ». It was a book that was recommended in a personal development’s blog and this book has completely changed my way of seeing a « job ». This is definitely a point of view that we don’t learn at school, even at business school.

The profession of infopreneur is a very interesting profession and evolves all the time because of new technologies. In fact, if you don’t know, an infopreneur is a person who earns money on internet with information products. These information products aren’t news but they’re information to help people achieve a goal on a specific area.

What is special about this job is that we enable people to be more effective in things that are important to them and the result is that they’re happier.

Workplace

One of the advantage of this job is geographical freedom. The company is based on internet, which means that you only need a computer and an internet connection to work. There is no obligation to go to a workplace, you can work every day in a different place or in a different country as long as you have access to an internet connection. There are more and more jobs that allow you to have this freedom like programmer, virtual assistant, bookkeeper, data entry, copy writing, translator, travel agent, transcriber, etc.

It’s a profitable business because selling information on internet makes it easier to reach a large number of people with little money.

Distribution

Imagine how it was to sell a book before the invention of printing. Even if you had written the best book in the world, it was hard to live on it. Imagine, so that 2000 people can read your book, you needed 2000 handwritten copies of your book. Copying books was not a really cool job, so you can imagine how complicated it was. If you offer me a job that consists of copying 2000 books of 300 pages, I’ll answer you : « No, thanks !!! ».

With the invention of printing, authors started earning more mony because more people could read their books and that to increase later with the invention of copyrights.

With digital books (ebooks), it’s possible to sell 100 or 1 000 000 books without the huge costs of printing, distribution, storage and return management. There are still costs but they’re very low for the servers and the support (for example a client didn’t receive the email to download the ebook).

With internet, it give you the opportunity to manage the distribution of your information products yourself. Before internet, you had to have an appointment with a manager of a radio, television to reach as many people as possible. If this manager liked your work, you could have ads on radio, television but if this manager didn’t like your work, no ads.

Many talented people couldn’ have a great exposure to make known their talent because of these « Gatekeepers ». Internet allows you to no longer need to these gatekeepers to reach a large number of people.

If you want to know more, I advise you to read this article that I wrote. Click here .

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-Steph

P.S. If you’re in Miami and you like Caribbean food, go to my cousin’s bistro to eat Haitian food, click here.

Schools To Be An Entrepreneur

2017-12-15 by Steph

I watched an Oliver Roland’s video and I learned good stuff.

There are schools with specific courses about entrepreneurship. But several studies show that only 10% of students create their own companies. The vast majority go looking for a job.

It’s possible that these students create their own companies 5 or 10 years later but these are statistics that are hard to get.

It’s possible that these students start their company 5 or 10 years later, but these statistics are hard to have.

Look this podcast about « How should Business Schools prepare students for startup ? ».

What is interesting is to talk to entrepreneurs and to see that the vast majority of them have never studied at a school about entrepreneurship.

Being an entrepreneur is like any other exciting job, we always keep learning. Being an entrepreneur is a mission of life and it’s necessary to become better day after day.

If there is no effective school to learn entrepreneurship, we know that there is a curriculum to be a businessman.

MBA

MBA (Master of Business Administration) is a huge curriculum. It’s often 1-2 years of your life after a professional experience. Which means that for 1-2 years, you don’t earn a salary. And it should be added that a MBA costs between $ 50 000.- and $ 100 000.-. You see, you really need to be motivated to do it.

It’s clear that having a MBA make it possible to have a better salary, it also helps to have knowledge in business but there are interesting critics on the results obtained on the field.

A MBA shows your employers that you’re able to sacrifice your life for your job. During a MBA, you work 70-80 hours a week to get it, which means that you’re able to do the same hours per week for your employer.

A MBA helps to create a network, but now with internet, there is another way to create a network. Interesting people don’t look for people who was in the best schools, they are looking for people who have projects and who shows that they’re capable to realize their projects.

Among the people who have negative reviews on MBA, we can find Seth Godin. Seth Godin is a well-know author and marketing expert in USA. He has a MBA from Standford and quotes : « Having A MBA is learning the best techniques for running a company in the 1990s for 2 years, while the world runs as fast as it can ».

We also have Peter Thiel. Peter Thiel is the co-founder of PayPay and Palantir and he’s the first external investor for Facebook. He has a MBA and he’s not satisfied with the results he obtained on the field.

What is certain is that a MBA is not really about creating entrepreneurs but about creating good employees able to run a company of the 1990s.

At the moment, there is no effective school in the world to learn to be a good entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur is a state of mind and a decision of life. It’s all learned on the field, reading books and talking to more experienced entrepreneurs.

There is an interesting book « The Personal MBA » that lets you learn the basics of a MBA without spending 1-2 years of your life without pay working 70-80 hours per week and saving between $ 50 000.- and $ 100 000.-. All this only by reading this book.

But I’m open-minded and it’s possible that someone took a course on entrepreneurship in a school. If that’s your case, it would be cool if you shared the experience you had in school and how it helped you to create and grow your company.

Share this article if you think it can help someone you know. Thank you.

-Steph

The Key To Have Success

2017-08-252017-08-25 by Steph

I watched an Olivier Roland’s video and I learned good stuff.

The key of success in any field is something everyone is looking for. I’ve been looking for this and I think you too.

There is a quote to find the key. It’s a quote from Sir William Olser , the father of modern medicine Here is his quote : « The very first step towards success in any occupation is to become interested in it ».

I think you had the same reaction as me when you read the quote : « Yes, it’s obvious ». Yet if Sir William Olser said that, it was because he noticed that people around him didn’t follow this principle.

Be interested in

Now look around you. I’m sure that in your friends group, there are people who want to earn more money or be rich ? Are these people really interested in knowing how to earn more money effectively ? In my case, I am the only one.

Oh another thing. I’m sure that in your friends group, there are people who want to be happy ? Are these people really interested in knowing how to be happy effectively ? In my case I am the one.

In my friends group, there are people who want to be happy and rich but that’s just words. And when I tell them what I found they, often, tell me they already knew that. So I ask them : « What do you know about that ? But why you don’t do it ? ». I don’t explain you the answer, you already know that.

The truth is, if people don’t do something, it’s because they’re not really interested in that . Everyone has different goals.

Long-term investment

To be really interested, it’s to ask yourself questions, to look for information, to meet people who have reached the goal, to read books that will help you reach the goal, to meet people who have not yet reached the goal but which are in the same movements as you, etc.

Here’s the question I ask you. This question is the first step to your success : « What do you want to accomplish in your life and are you interested enough in it to succeed ? ».

For exemple, if you want to become a successful author, you need to learn. You need to learn and practice regularly and for a long time. You need to read books where successful authors share their advice. You need to follow trainings with successful authors. You need to be part of a group of authors on Facebook, etc. With internet, there is so much resource that you have no excuses. Success is a long-term investment.

Take a few hours on a quiet weekend to really think about what you want to accomplish in your life. Very often, these are things your parents don’t like but if you’re really interested you’ll prove them wrong with your success. Don’t forget, success is a long-term investment.

I have a friend in prison and the last time I saw him, he said to me : « You know Stephane, the best revenge in life is success ».

Share this article if you think it can help someone you know. Thank you.

-Steph

Dispersing In Several Projects

2017-08-18 by Steph

I watched an Olivier Roland’s video and I learned good stuff.

I know several people who explain their projects and 6 months later, they explain a new project and so on. I think you know people like that too.

It’s a problem that happens very often and to understand that, you have to see the 3 steps of a project.

Fist step – start

This the excitation step. You discover project’s elements and everything is wonderful

Second step – crossing the desert

This is the step where you understand that you must give a lot of effort for little result. What is frustrating in this step is seeing people who have many years of experience doing incredible things easily while your work like crazy to do a basic thing.

Third step – experience

This is the step where, thanks to the experience you accumlated in the crossing of the desert, you begin to master the elements fo your project to make better progress.

What happens is that there are a lot of people who addicted to the first step : start. This is understandable because it’s in the step where everything is wonderful. When it’s necessary to go to the second step : the crossing of the desert, these people find a new project to redo the frist step.

Changing project for all the time to stay in the first step is a type of intelligent procrastination. These people avoid every second step, they want to have excitement without having the disadvantages of being persistent in something.

In this case, intelligent procrastination is about giving you a good conscience by telling yourself and others that you’re doing something positive for your project. But inside, concretely, you avoid doing the most important things to do to advance your projet. For exemple, you worked for months designing your Amazon website (this looks like a good idea) but since the creation of your website , you have done only 2 sales (it’s really a problem).

Solution

Projects are means to reach your final goal. The first thing you need to do is to determine your final goal and then select projects to do to achieve this goal. For exemple your final goal is to become a successful author and your project is to have a blog where you’ll write chapters of your book.

Becoming conscious of your final goal is important but it’s not enough. You need to take action to complete your project because therse projects are just means to reach your final goal.

There is another phase, it’s that after a certain time, you need to select a minimum number of projects. Successful entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs who know how to say « NO » and it’s really important. You can’t succeed in all project in your life.

Select project

How to select a promising project ? This is what you’ll want to know during the first step : start. This is the start step that will let you know if you’re ready to go to the second step : crossing the desert. It’s obvious that there is always a risk in the choice of a project. That’s something we can’t avoid at 100 %

One way to have more perseverance is to have organization, increase the strength of will and increase discipline. These are elements to work on a daily basis.

Share this articles if you think it can help someone you know. Thank you.

-Steph

Crowdfunding and blog

2017-08-02 by Steph

I watched an Olivier Roland’s video and I learned good stuff.

Use a crowdfunding’s platform is interesting to create a product. What is also cool is that by looking at projects we can have an idea of the future products.

Crowdfunding allow you to sell a product before creating it but there is a difference compared do the Lean Startup method :

With the Lean Startup method, a startup must create as soon as possible a prototype (minimum viable product) to test it in the real world (the market).
With the crowdfunding, a product must be of sufficient interest to people to invest their money in the project. It’s mainly a relationship based on trust, people believe your promises.

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding’s platforms have their own rules to protect their communities. Imagine you need $300 000.- to create your product. Unfortunately you can reach only $200 000.-. As you have not reached $300 000.- required, the money is refunded to people. Nobody lose money.

The truth is that sell content on crowdfunding’s platform is very difficult. Video games work well, there are video games that reached $1 million. Movies and short films also work well. For exemple, fans of mangas or comics make a movie about their heros. On the other hand, books are really a small percentage.

For an author it can work but you already have a large community, already have an authority or already have credibility in another area.

If you start from scratch and you want to create a blog but nobody know you and you don’t have a community, it will be extremely complicated to have funding with this type of platform.

And the reason is very simple, everybody know that we can create a blog for free.

Self made

And it’s precisely because it’s free (or not expensive) that makes the blog’s strength.

You can create a blog today from your home and work on it (part-time) next to your school/work.

With a good strategy, you blog is a company. Do you know how it was 30 years ago to start a company ? You needed to have a minimum capital and you had to do a market research by buying files or paying experts. Now with internet, you can do it from your home, it’s cool.

To have a blog that work well, you need to have a strategy and one of the points of the strategy is to reduce your distractions. Decreases distractions that prevent you from evolving your blog. A distraction I’ve decreased is the number of hours watching TV show or Youtube. I spent easily 3 hours a day watching what doesn’t matter, now I decreased to 45 minutes.

With Youtube, I subscribed only 13 channels and it’s channels that learn something or motivate me to develop my blog.

To have a blog, it’s a little bit utilize the Lean Startup method because your’re quickly in touch with reality to see if what you are doing interest people (number of views), you use feedbacks from your community to improve your content and you build your audience little by little so that your blog become a real company.

Share this article if you think it can help someone you know. Thank you.

-Steph

Inspiration Without Copy

2016-10-04 by Steph

This is a Olivier Roland’s video (in French) that gave me ideas when I was lacking of inspiration. Although I document the evolution of my physique and my blog, there are times when I can’t find inspiration. I’m not an expert and I am still learning new things with books or videos. That is why that from now I’ll share with you my sources like Wikipedia.

There is the possibility of asking to my community to have a subjects for an article but as it has been 9 months that this version of my blog is online, my community isn’t very big. The other possibility is to have inspiration from articles that already exist in my domain without plagiarizing.

Content already published

« The principle is to do on other websites and just read article’s title to have some ideas. Don’t read the article or watch the video to not use content that has already been used elsewhere ».

When we begin to create content, it’s not evident not COPY contents of published articles. As we’re in a process of reading and writing (learning and writing), we want to read to learn something. At first, I was writing about the same topics as the other articles with my own words but why do not referencing the source of the content ?

I watched a Tim Ferriss’s video at The Family where a person in the room asked a question. He answered the question and added the name of a book and the author. Often when we answer a question, we give the book‘s name that inspired us the answer by this way the person can read it for more details. This is normal because it can help.

Then I looked at Wikipedia and at the end of each article, there is a list of sources with an internet link. With the same principle to have a deeper knowledge. That’s why I decided to do the same thing with my blog.

Plagiarism

Often I find really interesting articles that teach me many things and then I want to share this knowledge because I say to myself : « This is so cool, it’s necessary that people learn that ! ». But how to do it without plagiarism ? Give the source and write an article to give my opinion. I think it’s an ultra cool possibility.

Give the source isn’t an act that says you’re a dumb person. This is what the Matrix wants you to believe ! Say your inspiration’s sources shows that you trust in yourself because you show to the world that you aren’t arrogant and there is one thing that the world will never forgive you : « The world is disappointed because he discovered that you played a role, what you have said and done is not your real you ! ».

An example, my mother always told me she was the first in the class and she had her high school diploma. She put pressure on me to be the model student. Years later, at 50 years old, she returned to school to do the equivalent of the high school diploma in Switzerland. That’s good, she got it, but how do you think I reacted after all these years of lies ?

Matrix forces us to have this arrogance, even based on a lie. That’s why I have a structure that allows me to think differently to create things for long term. Things that my future generations will use. Plagiarism is only a short-term success.

I hope this article will have given you inspirational ideas. You have questions ?

-Steph