When I was in my 20s I worked for a merchant bank. The bank had an amazing office located on the 65th floor of an office tower overlooking Sydney Harbour. It was a great place for a young guy to work. I started as a Credit Analyst assessing business loan applications but soon enough was promoted to management level. This was the heady days of the mid/late 1980s and a revolving door of entrepreneurs, charlatans as well as some great businesses beat a path to our door for funding.

What I didn’t know at the time was that I was out of my depth.  I was (technically) smart enough but not nearly worldly enough for the role I was doing. I hadn’t yet developed the bullshit detector that nowadays I rely on so heavily. Basically, I mostly believed what people told me and made decisions based on an optimistic view of the circumstances presented. That all changed one day in late 1989.

It changed because of a large syndicated loan to build an office complex in downtown Melbourne. More than $250m of funding was required and our bank was proposing to provide $20m of it. To me the deal was a no-brainer – a good developer; strong leasing pre-commitments with the completion underwritten by a reputable finance company. I presented the deal to our credit committee expecting a rubber stamp approval. Instead I got shot down in flames.

One of the committee members was an experienced property guy (and ex-COO of one of the big 4 Australian banks) and he grilled me relentlessly about the credentials of the builder/developer, the state of the Melbourne office market and a myriad of other transaction risks that I had only paid cursory attention to. He kept asking me why I thought it was such a great deal – I’d reply as best as I could and then he’d explain to me what I had missed and why it was a actually a bad deal. In the end we didn’t lend the money and he was proved right when the deal tanked two years later.

After the meeting he pulled me aside and we had a long chat. He told me that if I wanted to succeed I had to prepare better; dig deeper to uncover the real risks; anticipate questions and objections in advance; and generally research more and speculate less. At one point he smiled and said – “Son, I’ve had a very long and successful career because I always aimed to be the best prepared guy in the room.”

This advice struck me like a thunderbolt and I never forgot it. Since that day 21 years ago it has been a bedrock principle for how I have operate. In times of uncertainty it has provided me with some protection from calamities occurring. It has reduced the number of “surprises” I encounter to a minimal level. Ultimately, it has stopped me speculating and providing opinions unless they are well-thought through. Needless to say I don’t use the words “I reckon” much anymore.

Being the best prepared guy in the room can provide you with a distinct competitive advantage that is difficult to beat. I thank my lucky stars that a grizzled old banker with decades of experience chose to share this advice with a young upstart like me. Thanks Stan – it worked better than I ever imagined! It is without doubt the single best piece of business advice I have ever received.

Article By the BULL: 

Swimming 40 laps in cold water just to feel alive is often avoided by most because it seems slightly masochistic.

Jumping out of planes at 5,000 metres to enjoy a 60 second thrill is only done by a few because for most it is categorized as insanity.

As outsiders looking in many activities may seem strange, obscure and to be avoided.

Some say it makes sense to pursue these activities because it feels great when you stop and others say it is about the long term benefits.

Why Twitter is Misunderstood

Twitter is an activity that for some that does not make sense. Why be limited to 140 characters when on Facebook or your blog you can write 500 words. Why only use text on Twitter when on Facebook you can embed a video or post an image to share with your friends.

So why tweet when you can Facebook? Why would you want to tweet about useless twaddle to a world that isn’t listening and doesn’t care about your favourite breakfast cereal.

At most dinner parties when discussions turn to social media , Facebook is understood and appreciated but Twitter ends up in the “Why?” category as the misunderstood poor second cousin.

A Global Reason To Use Twitter

We now reside and engage on a planet where 2 billion people have connections to the web and over 5 billion have mobile phones. On this web we share and socialize with friends and family. We also socialize online with complete strangers in foreign lands.

Why do we socialize and share with complete strangers online?

Have you ever joined a group because you you loved cars, photography or painting?  When you turned up for the first time did you feel that you belonged and said “This is my tribe!”

Twitter can connect you to a global tribe of people with similar interests and passions. It can provide a world wide community where the creativity and ideas flow in real time and inspire you to be the best and to learn at a level that your local school could never do.

When you communicate you can do it privately in a direct message (DM) or you can share it publicly your thoughts, findings and links via an open tweet.

Twitter connects you to a global world of hyper specialization that many do not even know exists. This is a world where niches become micro niches that you will not find in your local town.

How do you Find your Hyper Specialized Twitter Tribe?

There are many ways to discover your global tribe.

Here are 4 steps to find your tribe that I have found useful.

1. Perform a Google search for bloggers in your area of speciality and find the top ranked bloggers
2. Search for the bloggers Twitter name
3. Enter that name into the online tool Tweepi.com and find the bloggers Twitter followers
4. Follow their Twitter followers using Tweepi

The law of reciprocation will do the rest as some of those you followed will follow you back. It is similar to “Friending” people on Facebook.

You can then sit on the sidelines and watch the public stream of people in your new tribe as conversations and links pass by in real time and as it happens.

Over time as you make connections and share your own thoughts and findings this virtual world will produce real face to face meeting that will open doors and  provide global opportunities.

This wasn’t possible 5 years ago!

How do you find and build your global Twitter tribe? Look forward to hearing your story.

Jeff Bullas Blog:

Some people will read this headline and think, ‘What the fffff-heck! Of course entrepreneurship is about wealth creation. It’s about building companies and industries, isn’t it!’

These people are usually not entrepreneurs. Or they have only recently embarked down the road of entrepreneurial endeavour.

There are a few highly successful empire builders who would also disagree. But only a rare few of the empire builders that I have met would I consider entrepreneurs or entrepreneurial.

So, what am I getting at?

Well, if you speak to almost any successful serial business builder and ask them to tell you about their latest venture, he or she will start talking you about almost every aspect of the business… except the money. (And this is not because they don’t want to sound obnoxious or rude.)

Art versus Entrepreneurship

Not so long ago, a dear friend of mine scoffed when I mentioned that I’d had a meeting with Victoria University’s ‘Entrepreneur In Residence’.

“Entrepreneur in residence!” was his violent reaction. “Who do they think they are? The Faculty of Arts?”

My BA-wielding friend’s horror was seemingly provoked because Victoria University had unintentionally forced him to associate the ‘money-grubbing’ field of entrepreneurship with the noble Arts.

Outrageous, yes!

I was quietly (and strangely) upset. Yet, it took me weeks to understand why.

My friend’s reaction not only highlighted for me how poorly many otherwise rationale people still view entrepreneurs — at their core — even if they are not ready to acknowledge what is unarguably real prejudice. It also highlighted a huge misunderstanding about the drivers of entrepreneurship.

To my otherwise erudite, thoughtful, wonderful friend, entrepreneurship has always been and will always be solely driven by the desire to accumulate wealth (at all cost).

My first ‘artistic’ endeavour

In 2003, I set about creating my first work of art.

A dissatisfaction with the status quo had created a desire from deep within to comment and share this dissatisfaction through art.

Despite having never picked up a paint brush (my former artistic achievements had peaked with finger painting), I set about creating my first public showing.

Of course, I had doodled behind closed doors over the years. But this no longer was providing the satisfaction I craved.

So, in the traditions of Warhol and Takashi Murakami, I created a workshop.

In the beginning, I worked alone. After a while, I brought on apprentices and involved like-minded artisan.

Within a matter of months, my first artwork was ready.

I found an agent willing to push my art out into the world and I organised a launch party, with free chardonnay and canapes for friends and prospective buyers of my art.

Like many struggling artists, my work was not met with critical acclaim. It didn’t create a buzz. In fact, it barely raised a hum. But that didn’t matter. I was living the dream. I was enjoying the Bohemian lifestyle (i.e. poverty) because I was gaining fulfillment through my art. I was experiencing a sense of purpose like I’d never felt before.

And, with that purpose, came strength.

My second showing was better than the first, fueled by this strength. The critics began to take notice and a few daring early benefactors began to make purchases. And, with each purchase, my artistic endeavour was nudged closer and closer to commercial sustainability.

By my fourth showing, the market was talking, the art-lovers were buying and the art prizes soon followed, presented by veteran artists, who too understood the feeling of exhilaration, passion and meaning that only their art could provide.

They also knew that many artists never achieve commercial success (usually due to lack of appropriate education) and that, when an artist is able to break free from the shackles of wage-slavery to pursue their art as a profession, this achievement is worthy of celebration.

This artist had made good!

Of course, I’m talking about Anthill Magazine.

My dissatisfaction was with the mainstream media (the ‘old guard’). My projects and showings were magazine editions. My ‘doodlings’ were business plans and other endeavours that never made it past the drawing board. (My maths abilities peaked in Year 7.)  My ‘like-minded artesan’ were writers, designers and any help I could find. My ‘daring early benefactors’ were advertisers and angels. My agents were retail distributors.

The chardonnay and canapes were… Chardonnay and canapes.

So, what IS entrepreneurship about?

If entrepreneurship is not about wealth creation, then, what’s it actually about?

What drives entrepreneurs to do what they do?

Having spent thousands of hours, over eight years, interviewing and writing about hundreds of entrepreneurs (aspiring, successful, infectious and otherwise), I can say with certainty that the most successful entrepreneurs — successful in life, love, health and wealth — are not driven by wealth creation.

Put simply, they are driven by the process of creation itself.

Anthill Magazine: Link to original story...