Young and Frugal

In college I became good friends with a guy named Garett, he was the first peer I remember looking up to, and he taught me a lot about life.  Garett was the type of person that wherever he went people would flock around him because he was such a genuine person and he was full of passion.  Through my years of being friends with him, he has taught me two very important things. 

The first is that you can’t fake passion.  You can fake any number of other things, but you can always tell when someone is truly passionate because regardless of who they are, or what their personality normally is, they will begin to talk with their hands, and they will leap out of their seat with excitement when you hit a subject they are passionate about.  Passion is just as important, if not more important, than being smart or having good business sense.  People with passion get stuff done.  They are great motivators, others want to work with them, and because they believe and are emotionally invested in something they will work harder, learn from others, and will get right back up after being knocked down.   

Passion is key in any life venture. If I weren’t passionate about my love and my life with Mary, I might still be in college, because she kept me grounded and motivated me to do well in school.  If I weren’t passionate about business, personal finance, and helping people, you wouldn’t be reading this.  And if I weren’t passionate about my need and ability to be entrepreneurial and do something on my own, I wouldn’t be planning ahead to start a business with Mary.  

The second thing that Garett taught me is to keep a notebook beside your bed, which is actually why I’m writing this post at 6 am on a Saturday (I’m definitely not up because I was out all night).  I didn’t have a notebook by my bed, I had a computer, so why not?  Keeping a notebook by your bed is brilliant because I can’t tell you how many times I have had what I believe to be a brilliant idea in my dreams only to forget it within 5 seconds of waking up.  Having the notebook means you can write down your idea and go back to sleep without having to worry about forgetting it.  So far I have two failed ventures because of this, which is better than not having any at all! 

I have had an idea for a pet product for a few months now, and I have not acted on it, for various reasons, but, after seeing something that my sister-in-law made last night, it all clicked while I was half-way conscious this morning.  Now I know how to at least get a prototype for this product developed for very minimal cost, and I could even get it done today.  That is truly the reason why I am up, and if I didn’t have a computer by my bed I can promise you that I would have already forgotten it.

 Guy Kawasaki is one of my heroes, he was one of the original employees of Apple inc, and now he runs his own venture capital firm (both are my dream jobs), he also runs his own blog called How to Change the World.  I was reading his blog and found one of the most creative ways to get noticed to a potential employer or investor, as the case may be. 

Everyone searches for that one thing to put in a cover letter that will make them stand out, that will make the person reading the e-mail actually want to open your attachment and see what you bring to the table.  Sherry Couch of BizNiche did just that while seeking Guy as an investor, she nailed the subject line and made Guy want to open the e-mail.  Below is the most creative cover letter I could ever imagine:

Everything you should know about me as an entrepreneur you could learn from my OB/GYN

1. I am very good at conceiving an idea. 
2. I can commit to something mind, body, and soul for at least nine months. 
3.  I have the ability to over come adversity, such as eating healthily while puking all day. 
4.  I can adapt quickly to changing and expanding situations. 
5.  I stay focused and motivated even with a lack of oxygen to my brain. 
6.  I am creative: Did you know with satin pajamas and satin sheets you can roll over in bed even with an extra sixty pounds. 
7.  I am patient-ever known anyone ten months pregnant? 
8.  I am cool under pressure: I gave birth to a ten-pound baby without a C-section or a properly functioning epidural and did not curse out my husband. 
9.  I am resilient: I went back to work at my company four weeks after giving birth. 
10.  I create meaning in the world! Even with all the trials and tribulations of becoming a parent I have chosen to do it twice so far because each new life gives hope and meaning to our world. Just like each new business.

Probably the easiest way to make extra money is to be innovative and get noticed, and Sherry did just that with this e-mail.   If you were a hiring manager and this e-mail came across your desk, wouldn’t you want to meet the person it came from?  I almost wouldn’t care about the résumé  because she showed enough with this e-mail to let me know that she knows how to get the job done.

I know that the next time I am in the job market, or even just trying to get noticed, I’m going to work on a creative way to do so.  I even forwarded this to my Mother-in-law who is thinking about starting her own business!