Scott Gerber is a serial entrepreneur, internationally syndicated business columnist, and author of the book” Never Get a ‘Real’ Job.” He is the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of over 1000 of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs.
“I think somewhere between a third and half of the world’s population will be in some form of independent contractor or freelancer or entrepreneur of some sort.” –Scott Gerber
Think Like A Journalist Quote
“If Google teaches you anything, it’s that small ideas can be big.” –Ben Silbermann, Pinterest
Success Tips
Don’t reinvent the wheel or you’re doomed to be run over by it. –Scott Gerber
Why you don’t have to think like a tech company to be a #startup.
Career Highlight
Hear how Scott successfully YEC brand….15,000 people applied to be part of it…find out what he plans to do next for other vertical industries.
When It Didn’t Work!
Scott built a several hundred thousand dollar company while still in college. But Scott made some poor decision due to be young and wanting to appear older that caused him to nearly go bankrupt. Find out what he learned and how he changed his business strategy.
Highlights From Never Get A Real Job With Scott Gerber
If you’re thinking of becoming an entrepreneur. There are major considerations.
Scott Gerber learned the hard way that entrepreneurship doesn’t come without some difficult lessons.
In college he created a successful several hundred-thousand-dollar business but drove it into the ground in just a few years before he was even out of college. In fact, just five days before graduation from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Scott was nearly facing bankruptcy.
“To which my mother said to me, ‘Okay, now that you’ve done that, when are you going to get a real job?’”
Scott says, “The reason I failed was I made so many dumb decisions.” He says he got caught up in overspending on marketing and feeling like he had to have a big office to make himself look older.
This was the catalyst for Scott to launch a meaningful business, Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), that would help provide guidance to other entrepreneurs when they need it most.
With YEC, entrepreneurs will have the help he didn’t have in college. “Someone was going to be there to help them,” says Scott.
There are currently 15,000 people who’ve applied in the last three years to the invitation-only networking group and YEC has accepted about 1,500.
But how do you become an entrepreneur?
Scott says to enter into entrepreneurship don’t think of it like becoming an entrepreneur is entering into such a big world. Instead view it this way: start by figuring out what you love and also simultaneously seeing what you’re good at, determining if there’s a market for it, and then seeing if you can execute on it.
“Be true to yourself and say, ‘What are your goals and ambition.’ Then boil it down backwards and say ‘how do you get there?’”
Scott says there’s no specific or guaranteed road map for success.
He warns, be sure you know what you can handle, how much are you willing to sacrifice, and what your financial parameters are before launching into entrepreneurship.
“I think if I was going to say anything to get an entrepreneur on the right foot, [I’d say], ‘Acutally know what you’re working with before you even set out and send one email to a prospective client or partner or someone just know what you’re working with…,” says Scott.
Then work hard and steady.
Top Tips
- Find out what you love. Determine if there’s a market for it. Can you execute and make profit.
- Discover your goals and then reverse engineer to get there.
- Keep your job and build your side business.
- Know your financial responsibilities are what you’re working with before you start.
- Live the experience of what you’re creating…eg: Uber, drive the car before you start the business.
- Find people you can trust to delegate projects to.
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