I’m asked fairly regularly how I ended up owning a robotics company. My default answer is, “A lot of bad decisions…” Which is about half true in all honesty. I am an art school drop out and completely self taught in programming, engineering, and entrepreneurship. I have never taken a formal class in any of these areas. Probably because I am not very bright and like to do things the hardest way possible. If I was to go back and do it all over again I would have paid attention in school, gotten good enough grades to get into a good college, then double majored in mechanical engineering and business to get an MBA. But I thought I was going to be a film director and see the above note about not being very bright.
The short answer about how to learn running a business or engineering or robotics or anything really is to learn by doing. A classroom can teach fundamentals, but you can never truly learn a skill until you put it to use. The hard truth is that after someone has gone through four to eight years of college and paid ungodly sums of money for that degree, the actual learning has yet to begin. That will happen the first few years of their career and if they work hard only then will skills start to build up and become marketable.
I often say I got my MBA from the school of hard knocks by making every single mistake possible over the last twenty years. You name it, I’ve done it. Eventually those lessons start to sink in and intuition starts to accumulate helping one to avoid those same or similar mistakes as they plod forward. Since I don’t have a degree and I can’t ever see myself working for another person I kind of need to keep my current job. This drives me to seek out good sources of information wherever I can find them to keep me as sharp as possible and to lower my mistake to success ratio as much as I can.
Along the way I’ve found some great resources that I watch, read, and listen to that help me learn how to be a better entrepreneur and help keep me motivated when I feel overwhelmed or that specter of self pity or self doubt starts to raise its ugly head. I wanted to collect them in a quick blog post to share them with others that are striving to build something and are also looking for good sources of knowledge and inspiration. Most of these are for the entrepreneurial minded, but they can be helpful to anyone in general looking to be successful.
TV Shows
If you are trying to start a business, or own a small business and you haven’t watched every episode of these three shows then you are a dum dum. Shark Tank and Dragon’s Den are excellent sources of free business advice on how to build a business. Every episode is an hour of successful billionaires analyzing and discussing business ideas, execution, products, attitudes, opportunities, valuations, and more. It is pure gold. And The Prophet is a master class in small business development. These are literally ivy league level classes on business that are free to watch. (Or the cost of a textbook to stream) If you haven’t been watching these and you are trying to start a business you should have your business taken away from you. Man, I wish these were around when I was 20 years old.
The Prophet
Shark Tank
Dragons’ Den
Podcasts
Speaking of ivy league classes. Did you know that Stanford posts one of it’s classes online for free? The thought leaders series invites successful business owners to come talk to the class and tell their stories. Sharing what they learned along the way, FOR FREE.
Stanford Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders
If I am not listening to music while driving I am listening to David’s Founders podcast. This is the second master class resource on my list. It is not just gold, it is gold and diamonds and jewels. Every episode is a banger absolutely packed from start to finish with wisdom and stories to learn from. I find it extremely motivational as well as hearing the stories of the most successful people in history. If I am feeling run down and I put an episode on by the time I get to work, home, or the gym I am pumped up to keep going. Each episode David boils down a biography book to its essential lessons. You get an entire book in one hour for free. Instead of reading it slowly by yourself for two weeks you get all the wisdom in one hour. It’s like when they jacked Neo into the computer to download new skills in the Matrix.
The Founders Podcast — by David Senra
Books
I’ve read hundreds of books on business, entrepreneurship, self help, and similar genres looking for inspiration and advice on how to be successful. I couldn’t possibly list them all. Here are some more recent ones that stood out to me.
Arnold Schwarzenegger has lived one of the most impressive modern lives of any human on the planet. Everyone knows that he was Mr. Olympia and became the worlds biggest action star, but few know that he was a self made millionaire by the time he was twenty-five. Arnold tells the amazing story of his life while explaining how he did it while telling a wildly entertaining story. I’ve given this book away and recommended it a dozen times.
Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story
I Can’t Make This Up: Life Lessons
Some people may be surprised to discover that Kevin Hart isn’t just a comedian. The guy is a goddamn power house of productivity and entrepreneurship. He has two books I found motivational, insightful, and funny.
The Decision: Overcoming Today’s BS for Tomorrow’s Success
Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win
Jocko Willink is a former Navy seal who writes books, does podcasts, and lectures on how to be successful. His message on extreme ownership is a great one about how to stop making excuses and pointing fingers so you can take control of your life and attitude and build success. If you have been feeling self pity or feeling defeated this book can help set you straight.
Bonus video!
I love this message by Jocko. It is his all his material boiled down to one succinct two minute video and the word GOOD. I loved it so much that I actually have “GOOD” tattooed on my side as a constant reminder.
Jocko Willink “GOOD”
Motivational Videos
I was raised by a Marine drill instructor. So I’m a little weird. When I tell people that these are the videos I listen to when I workout they always laugh at me. They always have a good chuckle when I play a video and they hear a person screaming, “The reason you aren’t where you want to be is because your attitude sucks and you are making excuses! Get up earlier, work harder, stop bitching and whining!!!” Lol. They are probably right, it is weird. But it works for me. Even better than heavy metal music. It helps me get my mind back in the game where it needs to be. It helps me get to the gym and push through a workout when I am tired. It helps me suck it up and push harder when I’ve had a bad day and I want to feel sorry for myself. It helps remind me that life is hard and the world will get in the way of your dreams every single day and you have to have fortitude and will to drive forward if you have any chance at achieving them. I love these videos made by the Motiversity channel. They help keep me going.
*NOTE — I use the Brave browser app to listen to them on my phone. You can turn off your screen and the video audio keeps playing. Youtube sucks because they shut the video off.
Motiversity
I hope these are helpful to some people. They have certainly helped me. Growing a business is a lot of hard work and it is good to have resources to lean on when you do get worn down or just need some inspiration. Please share or reblog all you like.
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