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Lesson 34 - Spending money to make money

Coaching for College Students

Lesson 34 – You have to spend in order to get.

This might be obvious – but isn’t necessarily what we want to hear. 

You have to spend in order to get!!

• Like … spending on a college education to get a degree and a chance at a good job
• Like … spending on a seminar to learn how to be empowered
• Like … spending on a website to promote a new business
• Like … spending on machinery or materials to make a product

Yes, you have to spend in order to earn. 

In terms of college students – yes, you are spending money – but you are spending time.  Maybe the better term is “investing” time and money.  When you invest, you want a return.  But as compared to investing in the stock market or putting your money into some kind of investment / savings, this time you are investing in YOU.  If you want a good return, you need to help the investment – spend some time (a lot of time) making yourself REMARKABLE.   

Buying books – and not reading them?  Not a good investment.

Watching television – and not studying?  Not a good investment.

Cutting classes?  Not a good investment.

There have been times when I balked at spending a lot of money on a book, especially for a course that was not my major.  There are alternatives – like ebooks, sharing a book (be careful of who and how you share books), finding the book in the library, finding a cheaper version on line, find somebody who had the class last semester and has the book and buy it from them. 

There are also professors who ‘require’ a book, but don’t use it frequently – in most cases go ahead and buy it and learn from it.  Learning occurs whether or not the book gets used in the class.

After college:

You need to spend more on additional course work, on certifications to verify that you know your material (like the CPA exam and others), keeping updated is an essential.

Problems:

Can you think of examples where you had to spend money in order to earn more (or where others had to do so)?
How do you anticipate spending and earning in the future?

Quote from Benjamin Franklin: An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. –Benjamin Franklin

Lesson 33 Responsibility

Coaching for College Students

Lesson 33 – Taking responsibility

Do you take responsibility for 100% of your life?  Put that as a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question.

Maybe you take 90% - and can blame your parents, your teachers, your school, your environment, your country, your language and other things for the last 10%.  That sounds reasonable don’t you think?

This looks at the concept of blaming others. 

Scenario:  “My parents didn’t give me the things I need to learn” (like?  A computer?  A smartphone?  Sending you to summer computer camp?  Buying you the top-of-the-line clarinet (or trumpet, or bike or car or other)?

Continuing the scenario – maybe they (your parents) brought you so far in life and maybe they didn’t provide ‘all the things you wanted’ .  So, what is missing?  A computer?  Get a parttime job, save up and get your computer?  A top-of-the-line computer?  You can work longer and harder to get that. 

You can’t expect to get what you want from parents (or others).  Take responsibility.

Scenario 2:  “I wanted to be an engineer.  But, when I applied at Purdue for their engineering program, I didn’t get accepted.  It was because I had a bad high school physics teacher.” 

So … did you get accepted to any engineering programs?  Malcolm Gladwell talks of the ‘Big Fish, Small Pond” effect – see: http://news.bitofnews.com/malcom-gladwells-mindblowing-theory-on-why-its-better-to-be-a-big-fish-in-a-small-pond/.  If Purdue only accepts (say) 1000 students for their engineering program – and you are accepted – but would be (say) number 990  - you’d be fighting for all you can get.  Resources?  Lab time?  Working with a professor?  There are others that might have better pedigrees than you.  What if you go to the University of Southern Indiana – and there you could be one of the top engineering students – and get more resources, more lab time, more opportunity to work with a professor / mentor. 

But … don’t blame others – take responsibility.

There are MANY (MANY, MANY) great engineers, lawyers, doctors, etc. who were NOT accepted to their top choice of colleges – and they rose up above that.  They worked harder, they took responsibility to learn what maybe they didn’t learn in high school or in classes.

So, are you ready to take 100% responsibility now?

Problems:

Are you taking 100% responsibility?  Why not if you are not?  What is holding you back?

Who are you blaming?  Did “luck” not go your way?

Quote:  “There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.” By J.K. Rowling

Lesson 32 Asssertiveness

Coaching for College Students

Lesson 32 - Be assertive

Today let’s talk about being assertive.  In particular – being assertive to ask for things – to ask for help from a mentor, to ask for clarification, to ask for an interview with a potential networking contact, to ask for help from a professor. 

From:  The Mayo Clinic (http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/assertive/art-20044644)

“Being assertive is a core communication skill. Being assertive means that you express yourself effectively and stand up for your point of view, while also respecting the rights and beliefs of others.

Being assertive can also help boost your self-esteem and earn others' respect. This can help with stress management, especially if you tend to take on too many responsibilities because you have a hard time saying no.”

You might have to practice assertiveness – like you practice other aspects of success. 

Here are two suggestions to start being more assertive

1)    Start small – learn to be assertive in small situations and build up

2)    Learn to say ‘no’ – if you have been more on the passive side of things, say ‘no’ to some things that step on your boundaries

There are generally considered three types of assertiveness:  passive; assertive and aggressive.  The first (passive) would be considered too submission and ineffectual for moving ahead; and the last (aggressive) would be considered overbearing and also ineffectual as you cross too many boundaries and are “in a person’s face”.

Problems:

Where would you rank yourself as passive, assertive or aggressive?  Might you be different styles at different times?

How might you work on being effective in being assertive? 

How might saying “no” help you in the future.

Quote:  A turtle only makes progress by sticking out his neck (anonymous)

Lesson 31 Putting it all together

Coaching for College Students

Lesson 31 Putting it all together

For the past 30 days / 30 lessons, I have tried to coach, encourage and direct you to think critically, to set goals, develop a great attitude and to be remarkable.  

From the overview and first day, I wanted you to recognize that there are over 

400 million college students world-wide and you are just one person – and in competition with many thousands or millions. 

So, let’s do a summary:

• ·        Develop a Great Attitude – get rid of negativity; practice positive affirmations and self-talk
• ·         Practice, practice, practice – nobody really becomes an “overnight success”
• ·         Understanding who you are – and where you want to go
• ·         Setting goals – positive attainable, self-directed goals
• ·         Reaching for the stars – setting some Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) – stretch yourself to reach more than the average person
• ·         Moving from Good to Great – good is not “good enough” – you have to be GREAT – remarkable to compete against millions
• ·         Practice imagining yourself as successful and reaching your goals
• ·         Being remarkable – unique, special, extraordinary, outstanding – that’s a tough challenge, but you can do it
• ·         Recognize that you are going to fail at times – ‘fail forward’ – learn from your failure, get up and go again.
• ·         But, avoid being truly stupid and avoid drugs, addictions – too many have gotten trapped by vices that are avoidable
• ·         Get the big picture – what pieces do you need to become remarkable
• ·         Networking – build a network of professionals and others that can help you on your way
• ·         Mentor – find a mentor or mentor and build on that relationship
• ·         Things to do in your freshman, sophomore, junior and senior years
• ·         Learning to think critically
• ·         Finding and defining your unique mission, vision and values
• ·         Having ambition
• ·         Having perseverance
• ·         Being an entrepreneur

That really is quite a list – master these concepts, work it at, and you will be prepared to face the future.  But, this is not a ‘once-and-done’ concept; you must make these ideas part of who you are.  Practice makes perfect was one of the topics – keep practicing; in one lesson, (Lesson 29 – Perseverance) research suggests 1,000 hours of practice to get you to the ‘professional’ level.  Review your goals frequently (daily); talk to yourself about your goals, your attitude, learn to thinking critically and analytically, refine and push ahead.

Problems:

• Now that we have completed the ‘formal’ part of coaching and mentoring, where do you go from here?
• 
  
• Reflect – how have these ideas impacted you?   
• 
  
• If you have been diligent for the past month, what have you learned or discovered about yourself?

Quote – from Socrates – Ancient Greek philosopher: “An unexamined life is not worth living.”

Lesson 30 Entrepreneurship

Coaching for College Students

Lesson 30 Entrepreneurship

Today we are looking at Entrepreneurship.

Starting with a definition: “The capacity and willingness to develop organize and manage a business venture along with any of its risks in order to make a profit. The most obvious example of entrepreneurship is the starting of new businesses.”

“In economics, entrepreneurship combined with land, labor, natural resources and capital can produce profit. Entrepreneurial spirit is characterized by innovation and risk-taking, and is an essential part of a nation's ability to succeed in an ever changing and increasingly competitive global marketplace.”  Taken from:  http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/entrepreneurship.html

Frequently we view an entrepreneur as one who is willing to take the risks to take an idea and build it into a viable business. 

There are three concepts:  taking the risk, taking the idea, and building it.

Risk:  My son-in-law is working for a start-up company.  Actually, his second start-up company.  The first was traumatic, about four years before the company started to make a profit and then became very successful and was acquired by a much larger company (and he did quite well financially).   This second start-up has been two-and-one-half years, building a dynamic smart cloud computing storage solution.  They have sold it to two companies as I write this.  Will it become a success?  Maybe.  The founder is scrambling finding purchasers and finding additional funding to pay the eight employees.  The founder is on his third start-up with two successful companies that were sold off at a profit.  Can   this founder do it a third time?  Maybe.

There is a significant risk.  My son-in-law quit a very successful large, well-known technology company.  He as an employee has risked a steady paycheck for a lesser paycheck but the potential for a bigger windfall.  The founder has invested some of his wealth from his previous successes in this new project – paying employees for two-and-one-half years with no sales for most of that time.  He could have put his profits from his previous successes into the stock market, but instead he is taking the risk on another start-up.

Idea:  At the heart of entrepreneurship is an idea.  What might be a new and exciting field? What gaps or niches might exist that your idea could fill?  What current produces or processes frustrate you?  How might your skills be transferred to a new field?  What technology disruptions might open a new field? 

Think back – before the iPod, if you wanted to listen to music while jogging you could have had a cassette tape player or a portable CD player.  Before the internet if you wanted to buy tickets to an event, you might have to call TicketMaster (or similar).  Netflix destroyed Blockbuster with on demand downloads of movies.  Buy almost anything online?  Not true thirty years ago.

What ideas might you have?  Are you actively building a portfolio of ideas?  Are you doing idea generation - either by yourself or with others?

Building it:  Great ideas need a lot of work to become realities.  Do you personally have the expertise to develop the concept?  Does it need programming skills?  Does your idea need manufacturing?  Can you hire people to make your idea a reality?  What will you pay them and how will you pay them?  Do you have wealth that you can use to fund your idea?  If not, can you get funding from venture capitalists or banks or other sources?  Will you sell too much of your concept and lose control of your idea?  Will you need to rent an office? 

Building your concept into a viable, successful company may take several years.  Similar to the BHAG of putting a man on the moon in the 1960’s took several years and millions of dollars.  Sometimes you get close to success and run out of funds and out of steam.  90% of the way to a successful business is still not reaching your goal.

Problems:

• Can you be an entrepreneur?
• What risks are you willing to take?
• What ideas do you have that could lead to a successful business?
• What resources might you need to build your business?
• How can you develop multiple ideas – how can you be a creative thinker to develop ideas?  Can you practice idea generation and work with mentors and others to create ‘the next great idea’

Quote:  “The critical ingredient is getting off your butt and doing something. It’s as simple as that. A lot of people have ideas, but there are few who decide to do something about them now. Not tomorrow. Not next week. But today. The true entrepreneur is a doer, not a dreamer.” –Nolan Bushnell, entrepreneur.

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Lesson 29 Perseverance

Coaching for College Students

Lesson 29 Perseverance

If you want something special, you have to work for it. 

Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers” talks about Bill Gates having great access to computing in the early days of computing when such access was almost non-existent; likewise, he talks of the Beatles playing 10 hour days in Hamburg in their early days for weeks on end.  He suggests there is a 1,000 hour threshold to greatness.  Put in your time (a thousand hours minimum) and you are going to be able to do great things.

This book and these lessons have urged you to be ‘remarkable’ to be able to compete with millions of college students from around the world.  You can’t just wish to be remarkable; you have to put in your time.  What do you want (goals); are you prepared to go after it (attitude); and practice, practice, practice. 

It seems like humans try something and give it up “It is too hard”; “That’s not just for me”.  In lesson 3, we talked about practice makes perfect.  If you practiced shooting three point baskets twenty hours a week for 50 weeks, you could be at that 1,000 hour threshold.  Or do you go to the gym, shoot three or four three pointers and then do something else? 

There is an old adage “No pain, no gain”.  The ‘pain’ of doing something – computer programming, calculus, basketball or your goal for 1,000 hours will pay off. 

Couple the practice with a great attitude (“I think I can”), imaging (“I can see myself shooting a three point basket just before the buzzer to win the championship”), and self-talk (“I’m good at this”) put you soundly on the road to success.

Problems:

• Going back to your goals – what practice and perseverance are you doing to get to the top? 
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• Are you reviewing your work / your practice?  What is going well and what do you need to focus on?
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• Open your goal statements and revise them in light of dedicated practice and perseverance.

Quote: “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan Press On! has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.

Calvin Coolidge