cool all right hello everyone welcome to
another google+ hangout i’m excited
which is with a little different today
so one of my youtube viewers carson
wrote in on youtube and he was asking me
she’s a teenage entrepreneur asking me
how do i get started how can i model
your success can you make a video
sharing how you went from the beginning
all the way to now and I said Carson
maybe we should just do a google hangout
and you can ask whatever questions you
have so this is it here we are here’s
Carson and taking away man what are your
questions Oh first of all I’d like to
ask um how do I put this uh because of
the fact that minimum wage is kind of a
lot first start up how do hat like if
your cell for company how’d you make so
much sales um the first sales I had
actually I had a hard time when I
started starting out making sales
because I felt like I was too young you
know my first business I was 19 and I
was selling the people who had PhDs and
were three times my age and what really
started making a difference was two
things one I realized that I could help
these people and I started to try to
target a target companies where they
would buy more than one piece so what
are you selling do you have an idea for
product than mine uh just not just ain’t
really software I mean it’s just like
really any type of application I decide
to create so it’s targeting people who
will buy more than one right like if
you’re looking at a company who can buy
it then they may buy ten copies of your
software a hundred copies of your
software and it’s a lot a lot better
returns for you than trying to sell one
at a time at a time at a time yeah um
the other thing that I did that really
helped was reaching out to the media and
I found all of the media that was
related to my industry so we sold
biotech software so all the science
related magazines and journals and media
and and I got us featured in there and
that started leading the people
calling us and visiting our website and
great a free demo so it wasn’t I didn’t
need to be as much calling out the
people that’s cool so you can build up a
customer database yeah and we had we had
a free demo right so you could download
the software for free and then it had a
lot of restrictions and then they would
go on to buy the full version and that
free demo was easy for people to sign up
for but they had to leave their
information so that allowed us to market
to them afterwards and ask them hey how
you liking it I get their feedback on it
I open up a dialogue a conversation
learn how them using it why they’re
using it why do they sign up in the
first place and that led to a lot of
insights for us to make the product
better but also because they felt like
they had a contact at the company and
they liked us and trusted us they’re
more likely to buy what we had to hmm
then how’d you meet those people that
helped you I mean I’m not helped you but
I didn’t mean those people that were you
mean those customers um a lot of it we
tried to have it as as inbound so we
tried to I tried to create a system
where people would be interested in us
instead of us having to go out when I
when I got involved in that company um I
didn’t like doing sales again felt that
was too young so we didn’t go to trade
shows we didn’t cold call people we
didn’t do any of the usual salesy things
that I guess a lot of companies do were
instead I tried to create a system where
we would be a magnet where people would
find us so being in the media was a good
example to get people to learn about us
and form an alliance partners so I would
reach out to companies who were selling
other kinds of software but not what we
had and trying to form some kind of
partnership for them to help promote us
and take a commission of anything that
was sold and just try and kick up a
storm back back in that time there
wasn’t social media so if I was doing
all over again I’ve been doing way more
on social media making YouTube videos
being active on Twitter and Facebook and
being a thought leader and
trying to get be that magnet so whatever
your software does talk about the
problems around the industry that you
help solve and try to be that magnet for
people to come and find that about you I
see um I had one more question eyes
forget what it is um and try remember ah
dang it yeah what is your stock or do oh
well you just really anything just like
general applications mean I mean I
created this one program called bubble
Cal which it combines Bowl graphing of
crane calendars so it can create
calendar of a bell graph you have like
infinite ma weeks and you know in each
week’s Isabel graph and you can like
have goals and stuff and that this ruler
just for all like event binding and
stuff so it’s one my programs i made
okay and is that what you’re trying to
sell or you’re trying to do something
bigger different idea entrants try make
a bunch berms to sell very much um what
may help is to try to think about either
a big problem that you have or start
working around a customer I find someone
who has a problem that you can help them
then can make the product around them
yeah i mean our software started I don’t
have a science background their computer
background my two partners that was
that’s what they did and it started with
their frustration they were researchers
and so they they were frustrated that
there wasn’t software that did what they
wanted in the research lab so they made
it and they knew there was a need
because they had that neat themselves
great and then a lot of the feedback
that we got from our users they would
say aw be cool if your software could do
this or that and we take the top
feedback and implement it into the
product to make it better um and as much
as fossil we tried to get paid by
customers to make it so for example
somebody would say hey can you put your
software in the Spanish so the people at
our university can use it and you know
we didn’t speak Spanish we didn’t know
how to put in the Spanish it would cost
us time and money put in the Spanish so
he said yeah we could do it but it’s
going to cost you x of dollars and so
they would fund the development
they would get the product in Spanish
and then we could also sell the product
in Spanish and make more money doing it
that way too so having your customers
fund your research and development and
then go off and add new features and
make your product better and better and
better ah I guess rare am i pushing um
it was guys like oh how do you find find
partners to help you with your company
like what was it first just you like
work on your company and like camp like
once you made money kind of helped think
you found other people or like had that
kind of work finding partners is hired
man it’s hard it’s like finding that
finding well maybe not a wife for you
yet but finding a girlfriend like it
it’s it’s hard um because you want
people who most people just look at
skill sets right they’ll say hey you
know you could say I’m a great computer
programmer I’ve got lots of ideas to
make awesome software and I need someone
to help me sell and so you part over the
business guy but the skill set is not
enough where you want to look as for the
values like as a person who are you what
do you believe and how you believe you
should treat other people right how did
your parents raised you what’s really
important like what’s what our do’s and
don’ts just as I’m a human level of how
you should treat other people and you
want to find somebody who believes the
same thing you do otherwise you’re going
to do it again the constant fights and
it’s not going to work out um so from
there with with the first business that
I had I actually didn’t start the
company I was I was a third person in
and I became an owner in the business
the two people one person started he was
a software guy and then he brought on
another person who was another software
girl and they made it together but they
weren’t having a lot of success they had
great software but it wasn’t wasn’t
getting out there enough wasn’t getting
enough word of mouth wasn’t enough
marketing so I joined this was our
University we’re all the same university
together um I joined and became the
business guy I didn’t really fully
understand even how the software worked
but I was out talking to media and
talking to partners and trying to kick
up a storm
to get people interested in us and it
luckily worked out like when I when I
joined them I didn’t have that framework
I wasn’t thinking oh you know are these
people that are trustworthy and honest
and believe all the same things I do we
just got lucky in that it worked out I
but but you know I wish somebody had
kind of guided me through that process
and if you’re looking for people who are
potential partners for you I’d start to
try to hang around where those guys
might be so you know if you’re looking
if you’re the software guy in the
business you don’t need to hang on other
software guys great wanna hang around
where the business guys are going to be
or whatever whatever skill you need you
need graphic designers hang around where
the graphic designers are going to be
and start talk to them about your vision
what you’re trying to do I get to know
them see if you like them like would you
hang out with these people when you’re
not working on your business is it fun
to be around them so that it’s so
important it’s so important to have both
the skill set and the values the shared
values together before you launch into a
company with them okay and then also um
another question I had is is it kind of
rare to find like really good sales
people like that um no it’s just what
what are people’s interest right there’s
a lot of sales people out there who want
to start a business whoo-hoo be like is
it really where it rare to find software
guys who actually have good products
right it’s uh you’re just as rare as
they are just in their own field right
so there are people out there who want
to do sales who are the business guy
we’re like me who I can’t code for my
life I could never make a software
product but my skill set matched up well
with the partners who I connect with so
it’s just a matter of finding them and
the problem is a lot of a lot of
programmers would just stick to
programming programming conferences
programming events and all you meet our
other techie programmers where you want
to be able to reach out to the business
side right you could go to I don’t know
if you have any business classes at your
school or there’s any business
clubs or any of that stuff to start to
meet people who have that interest who
don’t know anything necessarily about
software but want to have a successful
business and want to meet somebody um
that could be a good fit for you hmm it
seems like it like so much would love
what sales killed either seems like
impossible you know like it just like
crazy to think that they could do so
much and that they’re like a lot of them
are out there Hannah I guess it’s nice
it’s true if you’re saying it so well
they would look at what you do and say
what you do is impossible right I
couldn’t do what you do right I couldn’t
program that calendar system thing that
you’ve got going on whatever new idea
you have kind of I I couldn’t do it
there’s no way so I would look at that
and say oh ha that’s impossible right so
you know you don’t say need to be in awe
of their skills those people exist
they’re looking for opportunities it’s
it’s more a matter of all of those guys
will be hanging out together all of
those business guys will be hanging out
together and they’ll be thinking how can
we can’t find a good software person to
connect with their good guy with an idea
to be able to help sell their stuff and
they’re going to end up going into
telemarketing jobs or you know other
things whether just using their sales
skills that they might work at a movie
theater or something they’re right
instead of doing something powerful and
important but no guys like you and you
don’t know guys like that okay to reach
those guys you have to get outside your
comfort zone your circle of friends and
start trying to meet them and let them
know what you’re all about uh could you
also tell me a lot more about your
company king cab like tell me the story
behind that kind of pull up more and why
are the one I have now but the software
one or the one that I’m doing that uh
either one as come interested uh sure
well if you’re in software the software
ones find more relevant um so what do
you want to know how we started in I
sure that’d be cold no I mean it started
again with the founder uh was in lab and
just frustrated he was a researcher and
who was frustrated that it wasn’t
working and he wanted to you know he
wanted to make his own work faster more
efficient more productive
designed that of his own selfish needs
that’s where a lot of great businesses
come from you know you’re designing a
piece of software of your own
frustrations and if it works for you
then think of all the other people in
the world who are like you who don’t
know how to solve that problem the same
way you did and help them out um the
other way around it is you could think
about people that you’ve helped solve
problem for if it’s your parents or
somebody in your family or some other
friends of yours where you see a
solution through technology and you’ve
helped them and they were blown away
like oh I didn’t know that was even
possible thank you so much for helping
there’s there’s millions of people like
them out there that you could also help
so it has to start around some kind of
problem but there’s your problem
personally or problem that you solve for
somebody else and then you know to his
credit the founder the original founder
he he just tried to post it online and
in some forums and he got a few sales
and some little bit of word of mouth but
he realized that his strength wasn’t in
the business side the selling side and
he didn’t want to do that I mean if you
want to learn that and you’re passionate
about learning you want to be the
salesman then then go and learn it
that’s awesome right i mean i have
skills Oh myself I mean it doesn’t
really work like that you know like I
I’m into the software not really the
sales so just depends right like some
people love to do both they love that’s
what they love presenting right they
love pitching if you don’t love it then
forcing you to do something you don’t
love you’re never going to be successful
right if you it’s like forcing you to
learn French at your school like you
have to take it or music or whatever if
you don’t like it you’re never gonna be
great at it so don’t force yourself to
do sales if you don’t love sales you
don’t posh you want to learn about it so
it’s getting getting that person and so
with him he brought on the its next
person he brought on was the other
programmer and I think that’s a I don’t
want it’s a mistake when something a lot
of entrepreneurs will do is where you’ll
go out and find somebody like you you’ll
find another person who’s like you is it
all this verse is great we work together
this is amazing let’s start this company
but you’ll necessarily need another you
you need somebody who choose your
vitamin has complimented skills right
like you know more final or me I I want
them to like be way better at what I do
then like I mean I’m re really go I do
so I definitely want the other gap which
is the sales part of it yeah so with the
sales and business side then it’s
finding that guy who has the same
beliefs and values and so that’s when I
came in I was a third person in and
there were only three owners in the
business when we sold it um and I we
filled the gap well for each other I
didn’t I was just you know I thought I
was gonna be a banker that was my path
right and there’s gonna be a lot of guys
those are the people who you want to
talk to the guys who want to become
bankers the guys who want to you know be
in business somehow and they may not
even think about entrepreneurship and
but you could be a great opportunity to
work together um growing up I didn’t
have entrepreneurs around me I didn’t
know um about starting the business you
know youtube wasn’t around I didn’t have
people to watch and say hey this is cool
for me to learn from I thought I was
going to be a banker like that was in my
high school yearbook I’m going to be a
banker and I was just fortunate to have
this connection in University and
connected these two people and if I
didn’t work with them I would have gone
on to have a job like everybody else ah
which is depressing and so those are the
people that you want to reach out and
connect with and you know maybe it may
be a little more challenging at your age
where you’re you know there may not be a
I don’t know if there’s a business club
or anything clothes or anything in your
high school or mammals I think some
stone mill school or now I’m all was in
high school I don’t think they’re only
had this is but in high school or in
middle school I’m in mill score right
now buy ultram school but is there
anything in in the middle I guess is
there anything in the middle school
that’s around business I not really or
anything in high school the high school
they have clubs it depends on the size
of your high school they might have
business club on trolley think so hmm
something to look into and it’s not
going to look at other opportunities
look at meetups that are
local in your area are people who are
trying to start businesses right um just
look for opportunities in your local
community to start to to meet people you
won’t have you know you won’t have a
media success typically it may take like
bouncing around and you’ll have to
refine your pitch and what you’re going
to say and but it’s not going to happen
by you just sitting in your room coating
right right like you’re not going to
meet that guy just sitting there not
reaching out to people right so that’s a
start and I know maybe maybe you go with
your parents or whatever but you want to
start making a few connections and if
there’s anything that’s related to young
entrepreneurs in your area go man like
if there’s something putting on the city
hall or anything any any local group any
local community for supporting young
entrepreneurs you’re there you’re there
you’re talking people you’re meeting
people tell them about your ideas that’s
how you will find potential partners for
your company and also learn a lot writer
you can learn the coding without having
to go to conferences or events you know
a lot of a lot of great colors coders
are self-taught there’s so many
resources online to learn and and that
part’s easy but making the connections
it’s a lot harder to do okay online and
then also as I was wondering how long
did I really take you with the software
company to become successful or really
eat their company uh how long did it
take it’s a great question so when my
business partner started it they had it
for a couple years before I even join
and it wasn’t really successful like it
was a part-time thing for them but they
wanted to make it a full-time business
when I started uh it was about a year of
failing failing and failing and failing
and making three hundred dollars a month
and just sucking and then what really
helped me was I realized that I wasn’t
the first guy to try to solve software
before and I modeled Bill Gates and how
he got started to partnerships and it
took that strategy and started applying
it to my
business and that’s when we started
seeing success had my first 13 and a
half thousand dollar sale and then went
on to sell more more more more more and
then from there was really fast from
those sales we then got johnson Johnson
as a client and NASA’s decline in huge
companies and then we got acquired so I
went from making you know a few hundred
dollars a month and hating my life to
selling that selling my business for
seven figures in three years but there
was a whole year of just sucking and not
knowing what I was doing and I was just
trying to do it on myself right I wasn’t
watching YouTube videos I didn’t know
what to do i’m just i’m a you know 19
year old student entrepreneur trying to
figure out my way and learn everything
myself because i didn’t have parents or
uncle’s or aunts or anybody to talk to
about my business um so you have a lot
more resources at your disposal and even
just asking the question right is great
you recognize that hey I want to learn
and get better but that modeling success
so I would look at companies that you
look up to and software and look at how
they got started right not how they make
an extra million dollars now but 0 to 1
that idea to how they got launched and
there’s a lot you can learn from them to
help you get to where you want to go and
the bigger the company is the easier it
is to find their story I’m also glad I
êtes-vous air MOOCs and like I can have
them all your success so that’s kind of
cool yeah yeah and a lot of the famous
entrepreneurs they modeled other people
were like I modeled Bill Gates I don’t
know who Bill Gates model to get his
success a lot of these strategies
they’re they’re not new strategies there
they’ve been done for centuries and so
you can learn from that and I think as
entrepreneurs we try to come up with
everything ourselves where you don’t
really have to because a lot of it has
already been invented before there are
people watching they’re asking questions
to the following along you’re saying as
abdo said is a must have friends a real
must you don’t need to have you don’t
need to start a business and I know
there’s something you’re thinking about
but you don’t need to have a business
with friends it just depends on
what you want to do you need to have the
skill sets so if you want to go out and
sell and be the software guy then you
have everything you can go if you
recognize in your case that hey I don’t
want to I don’t want to be the guy
selling I want to be the guy creating
programs then that’s always going to
limit you you need to have that sales
and marketing side to help boost boost
the company out so um another one life
coach dice I want to be an entrepreneur
but I don’t know where to start and this
can be for you to thinking about hey
what’s my next software program they’re
going to launch its uh something you’re
passionate about right like don’t start
a business just trying to make money
don’t don’t create software just because
you think you can get rich doing it make
it because it’s important to you that’s
the only way you’re going to put in the
hours in the effort and get people’s
feedback and really want to you know put
all that effort in to build a successful
business not you no problem you solve
for yourself like we talked about or
calm yourself or somebody else it’s
gotta be something that you love when
you really want to pour your heart into
to have success right um and then is
there anything else you want to kind of
talk about in your company or like uh
what what what company are you currently
working on like what’s all about kind of
right so now my business is all about
helping entrepreneurs uh you know I
almost quit I almost failed um and I
wish I had somebody to help guide me
through that process because I almost
didn’t do what I’m doing now is such a
small chance of me actually getting
through that I wish I had somebody to
tell me that what I was doing was you
know it’s normal failures normal it’s
it’s okay to feel like you want to quit
sometimes and so I wanted other
entrepreneurs to not have to face the
same struggles that I went through I
love speaking entrepreneurs right like
we’re talking now you are you’re young
you know teenage ontraport your own
business uh
I said hey why don’t we do a google
hangout right like I want to help you I
want to see your business become
successful I’m not getting paid doing
this as far as I know but it’s just
something that fuels me like I could
talk to entrepreneurs all day long and
so I first I had a struggle where in my
very first seminar to help entrepreneurs
only three people showed up and it was a
free event I’m thinking man only three
people come to a free thing how am I
ever going to make money off of this um
and it you know it almost didn’t matter
because I loved it so much that I had to
I gotta find a way you have to take jobs
i gotta find a way to keep doing this
because i love it so much and because i
loved it so much that turning to the
something that would help me make a lot
of money in the process so i think it’s
super important to start a business
around something that you’re deeply
passionate about and for me it’s helping
entrepreneurs and that’s been over a
decade now and i still love it it still
fuels me you know if your business is
taking energy away from you then it’s
not a good thing right it’s maybe a sign
to move on to something else and that’s
okay like its okay its and totally
normal to get all excited about a
project and then to jump into it and
you’re going crazy working on it and
then you lose the excitement in the
passion you know trying to force your
way through to keep doing something is
not going to be a path to greatness it
has to be something that you continually
love to do and that may mean at the
beginning jumping from project to
project the project the project the
project um so that’s my advice um I
didn’t it yeah so in if you do like
doing business how do you kind of push
yourself through like through the date
kind of but continued like workout
company or well I don’t really want put
that way but I’ll like like we both
don’t really have like I’m boss cuz like
I’m in my own company so how would I
kind of like push myself through without
even having a boss you know like yeah
it’s it’s it’s a huge challenge man is a
huge challenge for entrepreneurs because
there’s nobody to hold you accountable
there’s nobody to tell you what to do if
you want to go
play league of legends all day you can
do it right ah so what helps me is
understanding that your product of your
environment you know most people you’ll
be as successful as your parents are
you’ll be as successful as your friends
are and if you want to break free then
you have to surround yourself with
greatness if you want to be great you
have to have greatness around you and so
that starts every single morning you
want to have a routine in the morning
that supports you to think big and the
push yourself and the Challenger so for
me the easiest thing that I find is
looking at famous entrepreneurs looking
at people that I look up to and respect
and seeing them working hard and listen
to their advice makes you feel like man
I got to do more today I gotta I gotta
go out and do this and I find that that
works best in the morning because you
might you know you might chill in the
morning and then you watch this clip or
you watch the interview or video or
whatever I think oh yeah that’s awesome
and then you’re working hard and then
you know you wake up the next day and
you’re starting all over again if you
had that in the morning if you started
your day with something great a routine
you know put on music that gets you
moving and excited so you’re not
sleeping in that environment of
greatness is something you have to
create and now it’s not just being
reactionary because most people their
environment is reactionary you you you
know your parents created your
environment right like your your your
parents home the room is your room you
have some stuff on the wall whatever
your routine you may not be able to pick
much of it uh now you need to set out
your own schedule you know you set out
what’s what’s in your room that’s going
to inspire greatness what do you have to
do first thing in the morning to help
you be great and think bigger have
higher expectations than your parents
well actually I’m on Decatur Nellis I’m
actually not at my house well whatever
in general right yeah your routine this
is a big turning point for me um when I
was in my last year of high school I
started to have higher expectations for
myself that my parents had on me my
parents always had high expectations for
me they always thought I should have you
know a’s in school and I was always like
a B or C student
so I’m not feeling but I wasn’t top of
my class until I got the high school and
then in my last year of high school my
expectations on myself were higher than
what my parents expected so I ended up
having straight 90s through my last year
of University which which you know the
oven from four years before would have
been that’s not going to happen that’s
not possible ah so you need to have
higher expectations for yourself than
anybody else puts on you so if you’re
saying you know if you’re you know your
parents your friends you’re finally look
at what you’re doing and say oh that’s
great like look how much you’ve done
you’ve created your own software program
congrats like yeah but it’s still
nothing right like your expectations
should be wait hire people look at my
youtube channels on a call this morning
with a business colleague and and she’s
like oh you already have 40,000
subscribers on your YouTube channel
aren’t you proud like yeah but that’s
nothing right like 40,000 is nothing I
feel like I should be at half a million
subscribers right like my expertise
Excel the one anybody else puts on me
and that drives me to keep doing more
and more more and so it can be hard to
find people around you to push you to do
more to say yeah you know great job so
far Carson but you could do way better
right there’s not that many people in
your life in a positive way so that’s
why I find that looking at these famous
entrepreneurs who’ve gone and done big
things and build billion-dollar
companies and they’re still off trying
to change the world that then motivates
me to realize that hey I’ve done nothing
yet like as much success as I’ve had is
zero it’s nothing there’s so much more
ahead of me those are the guys I look up
to and looking at their stores gets me
motivated to keep going so like create
that schedule create that routine
surround yourself with greatness find
those people you look up to and everyday
read about them are watching interview
or watch your video and make you feel
like man I’m Carson I gotta I gotta go
kill it I gotta go get mine and I have
super high expectations for myself maybe
it also help if I if I got a manager or
something for myself yeah you gotta one
need also help if I’d Ahmed you’re from
salt or something I don’t I’m not
falling I don’t know what that is
management yeah manager like to kinda
she’s like like can’t tell me what to do
or something you know I got a coach or
something yeah yeah you could if there’s
somebody that you trust and look up to
um a challenge is finding the right
coach right like somebody who’s not
impressed with what you’re doing like
somebody who will push you and say
Carson that’s great but come on man you
got to up it you got to do more you got
to stretch yourself because otherwise if
you’re surrounded by people who who
think you’re great they’re not gonna
push you to be greater you guys who’s
gonna say yeah what you’re doing is okay
but you could do way way way way more
right though you find that person then
yeah I have a hard time finding that
person if you know where you let me know
we’ll do another one of these hangouts I
find it best you know I’m usually that
person for other people right I’ll look
at what they’re doing since awesome you
know great work so far but here’s what
you got to do to get to the next step
and so that’s why I look up to these
guys have done way way way more because
those are the people who push me but if
you find that coach that mentor that
person then absolutely and I think
that’s probably all the questions I
really have I guess I’ll see you later
cool thanks for that thanks for
everybody watching a whole bunch of
other questions but I hope that helped
and if there’s others just let me know
when good luck on your business man
awesome thanks all right Cheers
another google+ hangout i’m excited
which is with a little different today
so one of my youtube viewers carson
wrote in on youtube and he was asking me
she’s a teenage entrepreneur asking me
how do i get started how can i model
your success can you make a video
sharing how you went from the beginning
all the way to now and I said Carson
maybe we should just do a google hangout
and you can ask whatever questions you
have so this is it here we are here’s
Carson and taking away man what are your
questions Oh first of all I’d like to
ask um how do I put this uh because of
the fact that minimum wage is kind of a
lot first start up how do hat like if
your cell for company how’d you make so
much sales um the first sales I had
actually I had a hard time when I
started starting out making sales
because I felt like I was too young you
know my first business I was 19 and I
was selling the people who had PhDs and
were three times my age and what really
started making a difference was two
things one I realized that I could help
these people and I started to try to
target a target companies where they
would buy more than one piece so what
are you selling do you have an idea for
product than mine uh just not just ain’t
really software I mean it’s just like
really any type of application I decide
to create so it’s targeting people who
will buy more than one right like if
you’re looking at a company who can buy
it then they may buy ten copies of your
software a hundred copies of your
software and it’s a lot a lot better
returns for you than trying to sell one
at a time at a time at a time yeah um
the other thing that I did that really
helped was reaching out to the media and
I found all of the media that was
related to my industry so we sold
biotech software so all the science
related magazines and journals and media
and and I got us featured in there and
that started leading the people
calling us and visiting our website and
great a free demo so it wasn’t I didn’t
need to be as much calling out the
people that’s cool so you can build up a
customer database yeah and we had we had
a free demo right so you could download
the software for free and then it had a
lot of restrictions and then they would
go on to buy the full version and that
free demo was easy for people to sign up
for but they had to leave their
information so that allowed us to market
to them afterwards and ask them hey how
you liking it I get their feedback on it
I open up a dialogue a conversation
learn how them using it why they’re
using it why do they sign up in the
first place and that led to a lot of
insights for us to make the product
better but also because they felt like
they had a contact at the company and
they liked us and trusted us they’re
more likely to buy what we had to hmm
then how’d you meet those people that
helped you I mean I’m not helped you but
I didn’t mean those people that were you
mean those customers um a lot of it we
tried to have it as as inbound so we
tried to I tried to create a system
where people would be interested in us
instead of us having to go out when I
when I got involved in that company um I
didn’t like doing sales again felt that
was too young so we didn’t go to trade
shows we didn’t cold call people we
didn’t do any of the usual salesy things
that I guess a lot of companies do were
instead I tried to create a system where
we would be a magnet where people would
find us so being in the media was a good
example to get people to learn about us
and form an alliance partners so I would
reach out to companies who were selling
other kinds of software but not what we
had and trying to form some kind of
partnership for them to help promote us
and take a commission of anything that
was sold and just try and kick up a
storm back back in that time there
wasn’t social media so if I was doing
all over again I’ve been doing way more
on social media making YouTube videos
being active on Twitter and Facebook and
being a thought leader and
trying to get be that magnet so whatever
your software does talk about the
problems around the industry that you
help solve and try to be that magnet for
people to come and find that about you I
see um I had one more question eyes
forget what it is um and try remember ah
dang it yeah what is your stock or do oh
well you just really anything just like
general applications mean I mean I
created this one program called bubble
Cal which it combines Bowl graphing of
crane calendars so it can create
calendar of a bell graph you have like
infinite ma weeks and you know in each
week’s Isabel graph and you can like
have goals and stuff and that this ruler
just for all like event binding and
stuff so it’s one my programs i made
okay and is that what you’re trying to
sell or you’re trying to do something
bigger different idea entrants try make
a bunch berms to sell very much um what
may help is to try to think about either
a big problem that you have or start
working around a customer I find someone
who has a problem that you can help them
then can make the product around them
yeah i mean our software started I don’t
have a science background their computer
background my two partners that was
that’s what they did and it started with
their frustration they were researchers
and so they they were frustrated that
there wasn’t software that did what they
wanted in the research lab so they made
it and they knew there was a need
because they had that neat themselves
great and then a lot of the feedback
that we got from our users they would
say aw be cool if your software could do
this or that and we take the top
feedback and implement it into the
product to make it better um and as much
as fossil we tried to get paid by
customers to make it so for example
somebody would say hey can you put your
software in the Spanish so the people at
our university can use it and you know
we didn’t speak Spanish we didn’t know
how to put in the Spanish it would cost
us time and money put in the Spanish so
he said yeah we could do it but it’s
going to cost you x of dollars and so
they would fund the development
they would get the product in Spanish
and then we could also sell the product
in Spanish and make more money doing it
that way too so having your customers
fund your research and development and
then go off and add new features and
make your product better and better and
better ah I guess rare am i pushing um
it was guys like oh how do you find find
partners to help you with your company
like what was it first just you like
work on your company and like camp like
once you made money kind of helped think
you found other people or like had that
kind of work finding partners is hired
man it’s hard it’s like finding that
finding well maybe not a wife for you
yet but finding a girlfriend like it
it’s it’s hard um because you want
people who most people just look at
skill sets right they’ll say hey you
know you could say I’m a great computer
programmer I’ve got lots of ideas to
make awesome software and I need someone
to help me sell and so you part over the
business guy but the skill set is not
enough where you want to look as for the
values like as a person who are you what
do you believe and how you believe you
should treat other people right how did
your parents raised you what’s really
important like what’s what our do’s and
don’ts just as I’m a human level of how
you should treat other people and you
want to find somebody who believes the
same thing you do otherwise you’re going
to do it again the constant fights and
it’s not going to work out um so from
there with with the first business that
I had I actually didn’t start the
company I was I was a third person in
and I became an owner in the business
the two people one person started he was
a software guy and then he brought on
another person who was another software
girl and they made it together but they
weren’t having a lot of success they had
great software but it wasn’t wasn’t
getting out there enough wasn’t getting
enough word of mouth wasn’t enough
marketing so I joined this was our
University we’re all the same university
together um I joined and became the
business guy I didn’t really fully
understand even how the software worked
but I was out talking to media and
talking to partners and trying to kick
up a storm
to get people interested in us and it
luckily worked out like when I when I
joined them I didn’t have that framework
I wasn’t thinking oh you know are these
people that are trustworthy and honest
and believe all the same things I do we
just got lucky in that it worked out I
but but you know I wish somebody had
kind of guided me through that process
and if you’re looking for people who are
potential partners for you I’d start to
try to hang around where those guys
might be so you know if you’re looking
if you’re the software guy in the
business you don’t need to hang on other
software guys great wanna hang around
where the business guys are going to be
or whatever whatever skill you need you
need graphic designers hang around where
the graphic designers are going to be
and start talk to them about your vision
what you’re trying to do I get to know
them see if you like them like would you
hang out with these people when you’re
not working on your business is it fun
to be around them so that it’s so
important it’s so important to have both
the skill set and the values the shared
values together before you launch into a
company with them okay and then also um
another question I had is is it kind of
rare to find like really good sales
people like that um no it’s just what
what are people’s interest right there’s
a lot of sales people out there who want
to start a business whoo-hoo be like is
it really where it rare to find software
guys who actually have good products
right it’s uh you’re just as rare as
they are just in their own field right
so there are people out there who want
to do sales who are the business guy
we’re like me who I can’t code for my
life I could never make a software
product but my skill set matched up well
with the partners who I connect with so
it’s just a matter of finding them and
the problem is a lot of a lot of
programmers would just stick to
programming programming conferences
programming events and all you meet our
other techie programmers where you want
to be able to reach out to the business
side right you could go to I don’t know
if you have any business classes at your
school or there’s any business
clubs or any of that stuff to start to
meet people who have that interest who
don’t know anything necessarily about
software but want to have a successful
business and want to meet somebody um
that could be a good fit for you hmm it
seems like it like so much would love
what sales killed either seems like
impossible you know like it just like
crazy to think that they could do so
much and that they’re like a lot of them
are out there Hannah I guess it’s nice
it’s true if you’re saying it so well
they would look at what you do and say
what you do is impossible right I
couldn’t do what you do right I couldn’t
program that calendar system thing that
you’ve got going on whatever new idea
you have kind of I I couldn’t do it
there’s no way so I would look at that
and say oh ha that’s impossible right so
you know you don’t say need to be in awe
of their skills those people exist
they’re looking for opportunities it’s
it’s more a matter of all of those guys
will be hanging out together all of
those business guys will be hanging out
together and they’ll be thinking how can
we can’t find a good software person to
connect with their good guy with an idea
to be able to help sell their stuff and
they’re going to end up going into
telemarketing jobs or you know other
things whether just using their sales
skills that they might work at a movie
theater or something they’re right
instead of doing something powerful and
important but no guys like you and you
don’t know guys like that okay to reach
those guys you have to get outside your
comfort zone your circle of friends and
start trying to meet them and let them
know what you’re all about uh could you
also tell me a lot more about your
company king cab like tell me the story
behind that kind of pull up more and why
are the one I have now but the software
one or the one that I’m doing that uh
either one as come interested uh sure
well if you’re in software the software
ones find more relevant um so what do
you want to know how we started in I
sure that’d be cold no I mean it started
again with the founder uh was in lab and
just frustrated he was a researcher and
who was frustrated that it wasn’t
working and he wanted to you know he
wanted to make his own work faster more
efficient more productive
designed that of his own selfish needs
that’s where a lot of great businesses
come from you know you’re designing a
piece of software of your own
frustrations and if it works for you
then think of all the other people in
the world who are like you who don’t
know how to solve that problem the same
way you did and help them out um the
other way around it is you could think
about people that you’ve helped solve
problem for if it’s your parents or
somebody in your family or some other
friends of yours where you see a
solution through technology and you’ve
helped them and they were blown away
like oh I didn’t know that was even
possible thank you so much for helping
there’s there’s millions of people like
them out there that you could also help
so it has to start around some kind of
problem but there’s your problem
personally or problem that you solve for
somebody else and then you know to his
credit the founder the original founder
he he just tried to post it online and
in some forums and he got a few sales
and some little bit of word of mouth but
he realized that his strength wasn’t in
the business side the selling side and
he didn’t want to do that I mean if you
want to learn that and you’re passionate
about learning you want to be the
salesman then then go and learn it
that’s awesome right i mean i have
skills Oh myself I mean it doesn’t
really work like that you know like I
I’m into the software not really the
sales so just depends right like some
people love to do both they love that’s
what they love presenting right they
love pitching if you don’t love it then
forcing you to do something you don’t
love you’re never going to be successful
right if you it’s like forcing you to
learn French at your school like you
have to take it or music or whatever if
you don’t like it you’re never gonna be
great at it so don’t force yourself to
do sales if you don’t love sales you
don’t posh you want to learn about it so
it’s getting getting that person and so
with him he brought on the its next
person he brought on was the other
programmer and I think that’s a I don’t
want it’s a mistake when something a lot
of entrepreneurs will do is where you’ll
go out and find somebody like you you’ll
find another person who’s like you is it
all this verse is great we work together
this is amazing let’s start this company
but you’ll necessarily need another you
you need somebody who choose your
vitamin has complimented skills right
like you know more final or me I I want
them to like be way better at what I do
then like I mean I’m re really go I do
so I definitely want the other gap which
is the sales part of it yeah so with the
sales and business side then it’s
finding that guy who has the same
beliefs and values and so that’s when I
came in I was a third person in and
there were only three owners in the
business when we sold it um and I we
filled the gap well for each other I
didn’t I was just you know I thought I
was gonna be a banker that was my path
right and there’s gonna be a lot of guys
those are the people who you want to
talk to the guys who want to become
bankers the guys who want to you know be
in business somehow and they may not
even think about entrepreneurship and
but you could be a great opportunity to
work together um growing up I didn’t
have entrepreneurs around me I didn’t
know um about starting the business you
know youtube wasn’t around I didn’t have
people to watch and say hey this is cool
for me to learn from I thought I was
going to be a banker like that was in my
high school yearbook I’m going to be a
banker and I was just fortunate to have
this connection in University and
connected these two people and if I
didn’t work with them I would have gone
on to have a job like everybody else ah
which is depressing and so those are the
people that you want to reach out and
connect with and you know maybe it may
be a little more challenging at your age
where you’re you know there may not be a
I don’t know if there’s a business club
or anything clothes or anything in your
high school or mammals I think some
stone mill school or now I’m all was in
high school I don’t think they’re only
had this is but in high school or in
middle school I’m in mill score right
now buy ultram school but is there
anything in in the middle I guess is
there anything in the middle school
that’s around business I not really or
anything in high school the high school
they have clubs it depends on the size
of your high school they might have
business club on trolley think so hmm
something to look into and it’s not
going to look at other opportunities
look at meetups that are
local in your area are people who are
trying to start businesses right um just
look for opportunities in your local
community to start to to meet people you
won’t have you know you won’t have a
media success typically it may take like
bouncing around and you’ll have to
refine your pitch and what you’re going
to say and but it’s not going to happen
by you just sitting in your room coating
right right like you’re not going to
meet that guy just sitting there not
reaching out to people right so that’s a
start and I know maybe maybe you go with
your parents or whatever but you want to
start making a few connections and if
there’s anything that’s related to young
entrepreneurs in your area go man like
if there’s something putting on the city
hall or anything any any local group any
local community for supporting young
entrepreneurs you’re there you’re there
you’re talking people you’re meeting
people tell them about your ideas that’s
how you will find potential partners for
your company and also learn a lot writer
you can learn the coding without having
to go to conferences or events you know
a lot of a lot of great colors coders
are self-taught there’s so many
resources online to learn and and that
part’s easy but making the connections
it’s a lot harder to do okay online and
then also as I was wondering how long
did I really take you with the software
company to become successful or really
eat their company uh how long did it
take it’s a great question so when my
business partner started it they had it
for a couple years before I even join
and it wasn’t really successful like it
was a part-time thing for them but they
wanted to make it a full-time business
when I started uh it was about a year of
failing failing and failing and failing
and making three hundred dollars a month
and just sucking and then what really
helped me was I realized that I wasn’t
the first guy to try to solve software
before and I modeled Bill Gates and how
he got started to partnerships and it
took that strategy and started applying
it to my
business and that’s when we started
seeing success had my first 13 and a
half thousand dollar sale and then went
on to sell more more more more more and
then from there was really fast from
those sales we then got johnson Johnson
as a client and NASA’s decline in huge
companies and then we got acquired so I
went from making you know a few hundred
dollars a month and hating my life to
selling that selling my business for
seven figures in three years but there
was a whole year of just sucking and not
knowing what I was doing and I was just
trying to do it on myself right I wasn’t
watching YouTube videos I didn’t know
what to do i’m just i’m a you know 19
year old student entrepreneur trying to
figure out my way and learn everything
myself because i didn’t have parents or
uncle’s or aunts or anybody to talk to
about my business um so you have a lot
more resources at your disposal and even
just asking the question right is great
you recognize that hey I want to learn
and get better but that modeling success
so I would look at companies that you
look up to and software and look at how
they got started right not how they make
an extra million dollars now but 0 to 1
that idea to how they got launched and
there’s a lot you can learn from them to
help you get to where you want to go and
the bigger the company is the easier it
is to find their story I’m also glad I
êtes-vous air MOOCs and like I can have
them all your success so that’s kind of
cool yeah yeah and a lot of the famous
entrepreneurs they modeled other people
were like I modeled Bill Gates I don’t
know who Bill Gates model to get his
success a lot of these strategies
they’re they’re not new strategies there
they’ve been done for centuries and so
you can learn from that and I think as
entrepreneurs we try to come up with
everything ourselves where you don’t
really have to because a lot of it has
already been invented before there are
people watching they’re asking questions
to the following along you’re saying as
abdo said is a must have friends a real
must you don’t need to have you don’t
need to start a business and I know
there’s something you’re thinking about
but you don’t need to have a business
with friends it just depends on
what you want to do you need to have the
skill sets so if you want to go out and
sell and be the software guy then you
have everything you can go if you
recognize in your case that hey I don’t
want to I don’t want to be the guy
selling I want to be the guy creating
programs then that’s always going to
limit you you need to have that sales
and marketing side to help boost boost
the company out so um another one life
coach dice I want to be an entrepreneur
but I don’t know where to start and this
can be for you to thinking about hey
what’s my next software program they’re
going to launch its uh something you’re
passionate about right like don’t start
a business just trying to make money
don’t don’t create software just because
you think you can get rich doing it make
it because it’s important to you that’s
the only way you’re going to put in the
hours in the effort and get people’s
feedback and really want to you know put
all that effort in to build a successful
business not you no problem you solve
for yourself like we talked about or
calm yourself or somebody else it’s
gotta be something that you love when
you really want to pour your heart into
to have success right um and then is
there anything else you want to kind of
talk about in your company or like uh
what what what company are you currently
working on like what’s all about kind of
right so now my business is all about
helping entrepreneurs uh you know I
almost quit I almost failed um and I
wish I had somebody to help guide me
through that process because I almost
didn’t do what I’m doing now is such a
small chance of me actually getting
through that I wish I had somebody to
tell me that what I was doing was you
know it’s normal failures normal it’s
it’s okay to feel like you want to quit
sometimes and so I wanted other
entrepreneurs to not have to face the
same struggles that I went through I
love speaking entrepreneurs right like
we’re talking now you are you’re young
you know teenage ontraport your own
business uh
I said hey why don’t we do a google
hangout right like I want to help you I
want to see your business become
successful I’m not getting paid doing
this as far as I know but it’s just
something that fuels me like I could
talk to entrepreneurs all day long and
so I first I had a struggle where in my
very first seminar to help entrepreneurs
only three people showed up and it was a
free event I’m thinking man only three
people come to a free thing how am I
ever going to make money off of this um
and it you know it almost didn’t matter
because I loved it so much that I had to
I gotta find a way you have to take jobs
i gotta find a way to keep doing this
because i love it so much and because i
loved it so much that turning to the
something that would help me make a lot
of money in the process so i think it’s
super important to start a business
around something that you’re deeply
passionate about and for me it’s helping
entrepreneurs and that’s been over a
decade now and i still love it it still
fuels me you know if your business is
taking energy away from you then it’s
not a good thing right it’s maybe a sign
to move on to something else and that’s
okay like its okay its and totally
normal to get all excited about a
project and then to jump into it and
you’re going crazy working on it and
then you lose the excitement in the
passion you know trying to force your
way through to keep doing something is
not going to be a path to greatness it
has to be something that you continually
love to do and that may mean at the
beginning jumping from project to
project the project the project the
project um so that’s my advice um I
didn’t it yeah so in if you do like
doing business how do you kind of push
yourself through like through the date
kind of but continued like workout
company or well I don’t really want put
that way but I’ll like like we both
don’t really have like I’m boss cuz like
I’m in my own company so how would I
kind of like push myself through without
even having a boss you know like yeah
it’s it’s it’s a huge challenge man is a
huge challenge for entrepreneurs because
there’s nobody to hold you accountable
there’s nobody to tell you what to do if
you want to go
play league of legends all day you can
do it right ah so what helps me is
understanding that your product of your
environment you know most people you’ll
be as successful as your parents are
you’ll be as successful as your friends
are and if you want to break free then
you have to surround yourself with
greatness if you want to be great you
have to have greatness around you and so
that starts every single morning you
want to have a routine in the morning
that supports you to think big and the
push yourself and the Challenger so for
me the easiest thing that I find is
looking at famous entrepreneurs looking
at people that I look up to and respect
and seeing them working hard and listen
to their advice makes you feel like man
I got to do more today I gotta I gotta
go out and do this and I find that that
works best in the morning because you
might you know you might chill in the
morning and then you watch this clip or
you watch the interview or video or
whatever I think oh yeah that’s awesome
and then you’re working hard and then
you know you wake up the next day and
you’re starting all over again if you
had that in the morning if you started
your day with something great a routine
you know put on music that gets you
moving and excited so you’re not
sleeping in that environment of
greatness is something you have to
create and now it’s not just being
reactionary because most people their
environment is reactionary you you you
know your parents created your
environment right like your your your
parents home the room is your room you
have some stuff on the wall whatever
your routine you may not be able to pick
much of it uh now you need to set out
your own schedule you know you set out
what’s what’s in your room that’s going
to inspire greatness what do you have to
do first thing in the morning to help
you be great and think bigger have
higher expectations than your parents
well actually I’m on Decatur Nellis I’m
actually not at my house well whatever
in general right yeah your routine this
is a big turning point for me um when I
was in my last year of high school I
started to have higher expectations for
myself that my parents had on me my
parents always had high expectations for
me they always thought I should have you
know a’s in school and I was always like
a B or C student
so I’m not feeling but I wasn’t top of
my class until I got the high school and
then in my last year of high school my
expectations on myself were higher than
what my parents expected so I ended up
having straight 90s through my last year
of University which which you know the
oven from four years before would have
been that’s not going to happen that’s
not possible ah so you need to have
higher expectations for yourself than
anybody else puts on you so if you’re
saying you know if you’re you know your
parents your friends you’re finally look
at what you’re doing and say oh that’s
great like look how much you’ve done
you’ve created your own software program
congrats like yeah but it’s still
nothing right like your expectations
should be wait hire people look at my
youtube channels on a call this morning
with a business colleague and and she’s
like oh you already have 40,000
subscribers on your YouTube channel
aren’t you proud like yeah but that’s
nothing right like 40,000 is nothing I
feel like I should be at half a million
subscribers right like my expertise
Excel the one anybody else puts on me
and that drives me to keep doing more
and more more and so it can be hard to
find people around you to push you to do
more to say yeah you know great job so
far Carson but you could do way better
right there’s not that many people in
your life in a positive way so that’s
why I find that looking at these famous
entrepreneurs who’ve gone and done big
things and build billion-dollar
companies and they’re still off trying
to change the world that then motivates
me to realize that hey I’ve done nothing
yet like as much success as I’ve had is
zero it’s nothing there’s so much more
ahead of me those are the guys I look up
to and looking at their stores gets me
motivated to keep going so like create
that schedule create that routine
surround yourself with greatness find
those people you look up to and everyday
read about them are watching interview
or watch your video and make you feel
like man I’m Carson I gotta I gotta go
kill it I gotta go get mine and I have
super high expectations for myself maybe
it also help if I if I got a manager or
something for myself yeah you gotta one
need also help if I’d Ahmed you’re from
salt or something I don’t I’m not
falling I don’t know what that is
management yeah manager like to kinda
she’s like like can’t tell me what to do
or something you know I got a coach or
something yeah yeah you could if there’s
somebody that you trust and look up to
um a challenge is finding the right
coach right like somebody who’s not
impressed with what you’re doing like
somebody who will push you and say
Carson that’s great but come on man you
got to up it you got to do more you got
to stretch yourself because otherwise if
you’re surrounded by people who who
think you’re great they’re not gonna
push you to be greater you guys who’s
gonna say yeah what you’re doing is okay
but you could do way way way way more
right though you find that person then
yeah I have a hard time finding that
person if you know where you let me know
we’ll do another one of these hangouts I
find it best you know I’m usually that
person for other people right I’ll look
at what they’re doing since awesome you
know great work so far but here’s what
you got to do to get to the next step
and so that’s why I look up to these
guys have done way way way more because
those are the people who push me but if
you find that coach that mentor that
person then absolutely and I think
that’s probably all the questions I
really have I guess I’ll see you later
cool thanks for that thanks for
everybody watching a whole bunch of
other questions but I hope that helped
and if there’s others just let me know
when good luck on your business man
awesome thanks all right Cheers
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