Ytrepreneur

Estimated reading time: 3 min

What happens when you combine an internet marketing guru, an influential blogger and acclaimed author with an aficionado of music? An inspirational marketing expert…Craig Perrine.  From across the room at one of the many marketing events in town, I spotted him with his long dirty blonde curly hair and an open, innocent smile, reminding me of a contemporary Jesus and Kurt Cobain all in one. I found evidence of both associations: Craig is 33 years old and learning to play guitar with his 12-year old son. After joking about it, he said he would rather be Jesus than the ex-leader of Nirvana. An internet marketing guru and co-author of “Inspired Marketing!”, with Dr. Joe Vitale, Craig shares his ‘inspired marketing’ journey with Ytrepreneur.

His journey began in 1988. At that time in marketing, “Everything moved slower, and everything was offline.” Watching the internet become a huge marketing force with expanding consumer engagement opportunities, peaked his inspiration to use his talents as a writer. Choosing an English degree in college rather than a marketing or computer science degree seemed an appropriate choice for a future internet marketing guru.  He explained: “I was passionate about screen writing at that time and it was the best way to express myself.” Lightning struck in 2001 when he created his first website and continued to become a successful internet marketer.  He is currently the proud parent of “List Profit Coach” and “Maverick Marketer”.

It all culminated in 2002, when he met Dr. Joe Vitale at a conference. Inspired his story, Craig joined a Mastermind Group. He interviewed Dr. Vitale in 2003 looking for answers on how to break through the obstacles in his own life. He reminisced to1998 when he found himself without a strong business team: “1998 was tough. I had three months to decide what to do next. It was rough financially. But it is normal to have ups and downs.”

After conducting a series of interviews with a variety of successful business people, Craig, collaborated with Joe Vitale in a book called “Inspired Marketing!” The book was released in 2008 and can be found on Amazon.com.

Talking about future plans, Craig intends to do more blogging in the future and explore his musical talents.

Ekaterina Konovalova

P.S.   Craig generously granted me a permission to take notes and use them in the Ytrepreneur blog by leaving a whimsical signature in my notepad

Friday, August 7, 2009

Andy Dooley, a co-creator of TUT (Totally Unique Thoughts) and a brother of Mike Dooley (“the Secret”) is coming to Austin! Andy is a great comedian and inspirational artist. He is the self proclaimed, “Picasso of Inspirational Art.”

He will deliver two different programs: How To Change Your Life Forever In 90 Minutes – a “Spiritual Comedy” and Reclaiming Your Divinity – a day-long workshop to get us back in life’s groove!

August 14th, 2009: “Spiritual Comedy”
Friday: 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Cost: $25 in advance (kids ages 8-15: $10)

August 15th, 2009: “Reclaiming Your Divinity”
Saturday workshop: 10:00am – 5:00pm
Cost: $89 in advance

Location: Holiday Inn Austin – Town Lake. 20 North IH-35. Austin, TX 78701 .

For more details, click here.

Estimated reading time: 5 min

Happy hours right now are at their ultimate peak. With the economy the way that it is and our incessant need for social media in the real world, happy hours are creeping up left and right. If you aren’t going to a happy hour and networking than you probably live in your Mom’s basement playing Halo.  You can find happy hours from high tech happy hours all the way to yappy hours for dogs.  Common protocol is always the same. You go, sign in, get your name badge, get your drink (god forbid you don’t have something in your hand to keep you looking cool, just in case no one is talking to you) and then start to mingle.  The usual ice breaking chat ensues (“So what do you do?” Blah, Blah, Blah) and then you exchange business cards, adding to the already crowded pile that you have at home of people that you will ‘eventually’ connect with. The process happens over and over again, with every person you meet at every happy hour you go to. It’s almost like being in a POW camp and tortured to watch the same Friends episode where Pheobe debuts her ‘Smelly Cat’ song all day and night, no off switch. At first you think, “These guys are pretty stupid because this is my favorite all time episode. No torture here you idiots!” After the 5th time, its not that great, but you put up with it. By 50th time you are pulling your hair out, begging your captors to kill you because if they don’t do, you will kill yourself.

So how do you make these happy hours worthy of your interest barometer? Follow these simple steps and I guarantee that no two happy hours will ever be the same.

1.    Treat your happy hour like a video game. Figure out your game plan for who you want to speak with if you can. It’s like when you download the cheat codes for old school Nintendo games.

2.    Smile as soon as you walk around the corner to go into your happy hour as if you just got your picture taken for the red carpet. Get yourself in the mood to be happy no matter what or how boring people are; at least you know that you won’t be.

3.    Be ridiculous! That doesn’t mean that you have to wear a duck suit and talk with a posh British accent. Dare to be different. Make up a career. Switch names with someone. i.e. Two people go to a happy hour, one is named Mark the other Diana. Mark writes on his name tag – Diana and Diana writes on her name tag Mark. Automatic conversation starter.

4.    Be mysterious. Why do you think there are certain people who always have a crowd around them? Don’t give it all away when you first meet someone. Choose a couple of features about yourself and sell them in a mysterious way.

5.    Use humor. People always want to laugh. Strangers are the best cases for testing funny stories, funny lines or jokes. Humor has a way of making everyone feel comfortable and therefore happy!

6.    Be loud. Happy hours are always loud. Good thing you took Opera 101 in college. Use those vocal cords and have a commanding presence.

7.    Use the power of questions at random. Thankfully for happy hour goers, there are no set guidelines for the types of questions that you have to ask. Use that to your advantage and come up with interesting unique questions. Everyone loves to answer the favorite ice cream question or what super human power they would have.

Remember, happy hours are meant to add to your life not take away from it. When you command a crowd of people, using these techniques, it becomes more of an exercise to out do yourself at the next happy hour.  From crappy hours to happy hours!

One of my most favorite bloggers is the one and only Seth Godin.  He never ceases to amaze me at how much information he can jam pack in a matter of several sentences. What I love about him is that he always manages to give me something to ponder – whether or not I agree.  This post about settling makes left me questioning what I am doing today, tomorrow and for my life.  When do we decide that this is good enough or that is ok. The craziest part to me is that we do have control over this thing called our life. Makes you feel good for all us control freaks out there.

Enjoy!

On the road to mediocrity

Along the way, we settle.

We settle for something not quite right, or an outfit that isn’t our best look, or a job that doesn’t quite maximize our talents. We settle for relationships that don’t give us joy, or a website that’s, “good enough.”

The only way to get mediocre is one step at a time.

You don’t have to settle. It’s a choice you get to make every day.

What does leadership mean? How can we be a leader?

Anyone of us can be a leader in today’s society. People are constantly looking to be lead, and everyone wants to be included in a group. I think the biggest juxtaposition is that people think that they can’t lead, because they do not have the qualities to become a leader, when in fact the only thing keeping them from becoming a leader is the fear that they do not have what it takes to lead.

Leadership is a mindset, not a set of born qualities

Leadership is learned and with the exile of fear in the face of confrontation, leadership is born inside of you.

Its been a wild ride over the last few years for me and I’ve had lots of ups and lots of downs, but it is only in the downs when I know i’m truly being tested in my ability to continue on and leading the one thing that is most important to myself. My life.

I may not be in any huge positions of power, I don’t have a lot of money, but I do have control of my own life, which is a base for leadership. I am following no one and I am challenging the status quo that is put forth to all college students to go out after college, get a good job, work for a company, save money for retirement so that I can do the things that I want to do when I’m older. I’m doing things a little backwards. I’m doing the things that I want to do now, while i’m young, and i’m doing that by controling the variables that affect the formula of my life. Excuses are just that. Excuses are nothing more than words that prevent you from making accomplishments, meeting great people, and maximizing your life.

What does this have to do with leadership?

Leaders inspire and create change in fields and businesses which have stagnated or have been following the status quo for too long. Our grandparents and parents generations had ways of doing things, and despite all the changes that have taken place, they still expect the younger generations to follow suite. I’m not sure they understand us, and the immense pressure that is on us to constantly make change. Change that I beg to say is needed because of the mistakes of their generations. Our world has so many problems, and each of those problems needs leaders in our generation to step up and take the wheel, because the old ways of doing things don’t work in the changed rules of today.

Our grandparents generation had job security, our parents had security, but we don’t have the pleasure, and we will likely be faced with the constant challenge of learning and adapting to change. Our generation is breed for leadership.

To define Ytrpreneur you need only ask yourself what is combined to create this coined word. It is the joining of Generation Y with the definition of an Entrepreneur that make up the class that we like to call Ytrepreneurs.

Are you a Ytrepreneur? Hopefully if you are reading this blog you are a good fit for that classification, which falls in the realm of lifestyle of those people who are risk takers, business minded, passionate individuals. It is a culture, and it is a young one. The generation Y classification spans from those of us born between the early 80s up until the late 90s.

The game is changing as this younger generation is getting more business savvy and we want to record that for the world and acknowledge those younger individuals who may not be given the credit that is due to them because of percieved lack of experience. We want to be a community that is helping to execute change of perception.