success stories – Meron Bareket

Inspiring Innovation Podcast episode 38 Get it on iTunes

“I need independence. You can’t have independence if you’re an employee.”

The only way to be really, truly independent – is to become an entrepreneur.

However, it’s not hard to quit the 9-5 job and become one, not to mention – a successful one! And more so when there are bills to pay and mouths to feed. It seems that the longer you wait, the harder, up to impossible, it becomes.

One Questions That I Keep Getting That Today’s Interview Tries To Answer

I’ve received several comments from Inspiring Innovation VIP Members that said: “All the stories on the show are so inspiring, but I’m almost 50, have a wife, a dog, and 4 kids – I don’t have the time to start something, nor the ability to handle the decrease of income!”

I get that. Which is why I’m so happy to have Bernd Geropp on the show today.

Leaving Corporate at 46 To An Entrepreneurship Career Supercharged By New Media

How did Bernd, an electrical engineer from Germany, leave his position at the corporate he’s been serving for almost ten years, and became a market leading leadership coach?

Turns out it IS possible to become an entrepreneur at any age, no matter how many liabilities you have. Especially if you can supercharge your marketing with the latest new media tools.

Listen to today’s episode for all the details, including:

Episode Highlights

How one of Bernd’s early entrepreneurship ventures almost led him to bankruptcy, and how that affected him in leaving the corporate life at an older age. How it affected his planning, willingness and tolerance to risk, and attitude? (You’d be surprised! It’s not the common, “I’ve been there once so I know there’s nothing to fear from”!)
How he bridged the gap between 9-5 job and entrepreneurship – with the support of the company he was about to leave.
Finding the balance between moonlighting in order to start your own business, and burning the ships at shore and taking more risk than you’re ready to take.
How Bernd used new media like blogs, YouTube, and especially podcasting to build a name, a brand, and most important – a business. He doesn’t have to cold-call anymore, and it’s all because of new media!

Today’s episode is a reminder that it doesn’t matter how late in life you decide to enter (or re-enter) entrepreneurship, it’s always possible.

Have Questions For Bernd?

If you have any questions to Bernd, leave them as comments to this post, and I guarantee he will answer!

Items mentioned in this episode include:

Inspiring Innovation Tribe
Bernd’s English website
His German website
His Podcast on iTunes: Führung auf den Punkt gebracht
His YouTube channel
Twitter: @MoreLeadership and @BerndGeropp
His Facebook account
His LinkedIn account
His book: Ist die Katze aus dem Haus …

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Become an Inspiring Innovation VIP Founding Member

The Inspiring Innovation VIP member club has opened up, and the founding members that join now will get a lifetime free membership. The club will give you:

Direct access to the show’s guests. You ask them anything you want – they answer on the interview.
Exclusive episodes, content and tools
Early access to the weekly episodes.

Imagine being able to ask people like Pat Flynn, Dane Maxwell, and Bernd anything you want, and have them personally answer you. If you’re interested, hurry up to make sure you will be part of the founding members wave. Join here.

Stay awesome,
Meron

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Transcript

Continue reading IIP038: Leaving Corporate at 46 To A Coaching Career Supercharged By New Media

How To Create A Successful Business Out Of Thin Air With No Previous Knowledge

At the heart of The Foundation’s success is Dane Maxwell and his passionate belief in reviving the Great American Dream.

Starting out at the young age of 21 years, from his parents’ basement, Dane created a successful six figure business, followed by more success stories. While it may sound like any entrepreneurial tale, what is remarkable about Dane’s is the fact that he did not have any winning idea to base his business on. He, literally, created successful enterprises out of thin air!

In a unique exclusive interview with the podcast, Dane shares some of the Foundation’s best kept secrets to inspire a whole new generation of aspiring entrepreneurs.

How To Find Good Product Ideas For a Business

The most basic human desire, is not to be loved; it is to be understood, says Dane. This core concept is the underlying principle of ‘idea extraction’, a multi-tiered process that Dane uses to figure out what any line of business really needs as a service.

The process is all about finding a real pain — and solving it. It’s done by interviewing target customers in a specific process, and asking them specific questions that lead them to reveal their pain, their business problems. Once you understand their problem, it’s incredibly easy to suggest a solution for them. More than that; according to Dane, they will beg you to build it for them. They will be angry if you don’t take their money and create the solution you’ve just described.

Dane Maxwell’s Idea Extraction Questions

What made Dane’s interviews on Mixergy and Smart Passive Income incredibly popular was the sharing of some of his ninja-questions that he teaches his students at The Foundation, and that have helped him create multiple successful software businesses for himself. But on today’s episode, you’re not only getting access to one ninja-question that he never revealed before in any previous interview (!!!), but also get to see Dane in action; when he flipped sides and became the interviewer, conducting a LIVE idea extraction session on the show.

After the interview, Dane asked me to send him a copy of the audio so he could share it with his paying students. That’s how valuable today’s episode is, and I hope you’ll make good use of it! 🙂

In this episode you will learn:

The 12 phases of Dane Maxwell’s Idea Extraction process.
How to tap into an endless source of product ideas for new businesses.
Dane’s parameters for picking a target market.
The 4 key elements that Dane looks for in a business.
Why should you sell tools instead of digging for gold?!
How to find ideas about business that can be done at home.
How to approach people for idea extraction & where/how to find them.
How to sell a product that doesn’t yet exist <<< — HUGE!
A LIVE Idea Extraction session that was ultimately shared with Dane’s students.
How to use Google to approach prospects.
Why you need to collect money in advance from your customers, and why this might unveil the real crucial problem your customer needs solved.
What keeps Dane inspired.
What’s the one thing Dane would’ve done differently in his career.

Items mentioned in this episode include:

The Foundation.
Dane Maxwell @Twitter.
Sam Ovens, founder of SnapInspect.
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It – the blog post I written about meeting Kamal Ravikant.
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It [on Amazon].

Sharing the love – gratitude for reviews!

My deepest appreciation to all of you (comment or email me if you want to be removed from the list):

Patch Porter from the UK – you rock!
Terdfurg from the US – I hope the sound was better today. Thanks for your kind review!

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I Need Your Help!

Thank you all for checking out this episode of the Inspiring Innovation podcast!

If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below! It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!

Leave a review for Meron’s podcast!

Thank you again for your ongoing support.

Stay awesome,
Meron

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.

Transcript

Continue reading IIP 010: How To Create a 6 Figure Business With No Risk And No Idea With Dane Maxwell