Interview
Business Tips From An Entrepreneur Magazine Columnist – with Scott Gerber
on Jan 19, 2010 - 3:53 PM PSTI had two agendas in my interview with Scott Gerber. First, I wanted to hear his business advice. Both Entrepreneur Magazine and Fox Business consider him an entrepreneurship expert, so I wanted to hear what he had to teach. Second, I wanted to find out how he made himself an authority in the entrepreneurship space. How did he get to be the expert, and more importantly, how can I help you be an authority in your space.
I was surprised by how open he was about what it takes to be an expert. And I think he gave some helpful business tips. Listen to the program and let me know what you think.
The FULL program
About Scott Gerber
Scott Gerber is the syndicated Young Entrepreneur columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine, CEO of Gerber Entertainment, a young entrepreneur incubator and venture management firm in NYC, and author of the upcoming book Never Get A Real Job (due out in Fall 2010). Follow him on Twitter @yngentrepreneur.
Program minutes
0:25 – Introducing Scott Gerber
0:50 – What is a venture management firm
2:20 – How entrepreneurs cut spending
4:00 – The free services that entrepreneurs use
5:00 – When should business avoid free services
7:00 – Why entrepreneurs need to pinch pennies
9:30 – An example of how startups barter to save money
11:00 – An example of a partnership that saves money
12:00 – What you should pay for
14:00 – Is it a waste of time to negotiate everything?
16:00 – How Scott manages his time
17:30 – Scott talks about his goals for this year
19:30 – How authors promote their books
21:00 – How to get the first customers
24:30 – How Scott might market a Mixergy program
28:00 – How Scott might market a to do web app
30:00 – What you should think of, instead of raising money
32:45 – Why Scott is teaching entrepreneurship
34:30 – Why Scott is building a name for himself as a startup expert
36:30 – Andrew asks Scott how much money he invested in his startups
37:15 – How Scott got himself on TV as a business pundit
40:30 – How Scott makes his message interesting and useful
43:30 – How Scott got to be a columnist for Entrepreneur Magazine
46:40 – How to get your message out there
52:40 – How to insert yourself into media
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View Comments to “Business Tips From An Entrepreneur Magazine Columnist – with Scott Gerber”
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January 20th, 2010 at 7:44 am
Scott obviously has superior communication skills. He can articulate business strategies for a breadth of topics. (Which is much different than selling a single product.)
Does Scott follow a process when communicating? Can he attribute these skills to family? Natural talent?
Thanks for the great interview.
January 20th, 2010 at 8:27 am
Thanks for the kind words. Public speaking is something I am truly passionate about. It's a true privilege to have the opportunity to offer advice and knowledge to others. To be honest, I don't have an exact methodology. I'd say that my communication skills are the result of confidence and lots of practice. Being comfortable in front of an audience (or a camera) has taken me several years. I'm glad to hear you feel it's paid off. I would suggest the following tips to people looking to better communicate their ideas:
1. Know yourself, your core convictions and your core belief system
2. Be passionate about sharing that information
3. Never think that “big words” make you sound smarter
4. Never give a lecture – have a conversation!
5. Have fun and stay relaxed.
Thanks again for the comments,
Scott
January 20th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
Which do most people want? Do they want what politicians claim is the rational, real and predictable visible hand running the economy? Or, would they prefer what Adam Smith called the Invisible Hand leading the way? The realistic, determined visible hand gives us a feeling of certainty without mystery, and most of us do not like mystery, except in novels. However, history in the last 400 years have shown us that the mystery of the uncertain invisible hand is the only economic system, if you can call a mysterious force a system, to produce prosperity and greater human happiness. (see Save Pebble Droppers &Prosperity on claysamerica.com and Amazon.com) Where does it come from? It comes from all the thoughts out of bubbles of restrictive tradition and actions out of the box by free men and women, because they had no fear of offending a monarch. Their thoughts and acts cannot be predicted, however. The results are an uncertain mystery. No rational academic could ever stand and support the unknown against the known, even though reliance on the unknown made America the richest, freest nation in the world. Leave mystery to the novelist, certainty to the politician and God help the rest of us. Claysamerica.com
January 20th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
Great interview!
For the Time Management issue, I implemented some techniques from David Allen's book “Getting things done”. Each day I'm getting more productive.
Keep up the great work!
Grtz, Enrico
January 20th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Wow, what a great interview! Scott obviously knows his stuff. There was a lot to learn here, I had to listen to it twice since he was going through a lot of useful info so quickly.
It was great how you put him on the spot and had him come up with strategies for different businesses. The interviews where you do that are some of the best interviews you have. Your idea to do this for your viewers on a more regular basis kicks ass — I would love that!
January 21st, 2010 at 3:16 am
Another great interview Andrew, you asked some hard questions around $'s that some might have shirked. Got some good useable info. Thankyou.
If anyone hasn't seen it yet, the Digital Nomad interview with Colin is a great one.
January 22nd, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Successful entrepreneurs are always looking for opportunities. Whether they are already in business or just getting started, they have an attitude that expects opportunities,.''The YES Movie'' by Louis Lautmanhttp://www.TheYESmovie.com Are youu ready?
January 25th, 2010 at 8:21 pm
Andrew – Interesting interview. Great to hear a young entrepreneurial thought leader with a unique point of view and doesn't come to mess around ;)
January 28th, 2010 at 6:58 pm
Great episode. So much good advice.
February 8th, 2010 at 7:51 am
[...] Business Tips From An Entrepreneur Magazine Columnist – with Scott Gerber (mixergy.com) [...]
February 18th, 2010 at 2:58 pm
Wow, I can sure tell you're from New York from your speaking speed. Even though my communication style is very different from yours, I learnt a lot from this interview. As someone who is also trying to improve my public speaking I would say try to cut down on the filler words (um, you know, etc). Once I start hearing those words over and over, it detracts from your message.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Wow, I can sure tell you're from New York from your speaking speed. Even though my communication style is very different from yours, I learnt a lot from this interview. As someone who is also trying to improve my public speaking I would say try to cut down on the filler words (um, you know, etc). Once I start hearing those words over and over, it detracts from your message.
June 4th, 2011 at 6:20 am
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