The Key to Being Successful as a Young Entrepreneur | Guy Kawasaki – 008

Being successful as an entrepreneur happens with the right mentorship, and we’ve got the perfect mentor for you. Today’s guest, Guy Kawasaki, is the original Apple evangelist, investor of Canva, and all-around top-tier human. Guy shares his secrets to being successful as a young entrepreneur.

What determines success?

• The best quality is luck because success is just being in the right place at the right time. However, you can do things to increase those odds.
• Outside of luck (which isn’t the most actionable podcast takeaway), an entrepreneur’s focus should be to make a product or service you like and would use. 
• You can always learn something from other people because everyone you meet can do at least one thing better than you. 

Overcome obstacles with an entrepreneurial spirit:

• 80% of the battle is the product. You can evangelize a good product, but it’s tough to evangelize a bad one.
• Put your product out there as soon as possible; you’re either selling, or you aren’t.
• Once you’re on the shelf, it’s a matter of revising. How quickly can you fix the mistakes that might have occurred?
• If all else fails, just don’t take no for an answer and keep grinding. (Easier said than done.)

Setting crazy versus realistic goals: 

• Apple’s first goal likely wasn’t to build a billion-dollar company; it was a more realistic goal.
• Many companies fail, and many have big goals. After all, if big goals were easy to achieve, everyone would do it. 
•  Aspirations and dreams of success are great, but building an actionable framework produces the momentum to get you there.

The future of entrepreneurship:

• Because of many factors, the barriers to entry in entrepreneurship are getting lower.
• Many younger people are getting the entrepreneurship bug. It’s difficult to determine if the field is skewing lower, but (luckily) aspiring entrepreneurs don’t need to worry about that.
• Instead, focus on the things that can impact you and your success.

Guy’s advice to younger entrepreneurs:

• You’re either a psychopath, or you experience self-doubt. Every single entrepreneur, from Steve Jobs to Ray Kroc, felt self-doubt. The actual test is how you push through that doubt.
• Self-doubt is a problem, especially for women because of the imposter syndrome, but pushing through that feeling is necessary for success.

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