How to flourish in the Reset Economy

The insightful Stephen Martin was kind enough to talk with me about his upcoming book, The Enterprise of One. Stephen gave a peek at some of the profound concepts he’ll be addressing in the book.

Here are some of the golden nuggets from our discussion:

• How the economy is being reset and what it means to everyday people
• Three things you must do to succeed in the new, reset economy
• How a college dropout and a girl working two jobs were able to launch amazingly successful businesses.
• What is a real education?

Stephen on how the economy is being reset:

In the industrial revolution era, machines and systems were the primary drivers of growth and success. People were a resource that were plugged in to operate the machines. Since the labor was interchangeable, the machines were more valuable than the operators in the overall system.

In a post-industrial world, however, the key driver is people. They have never been more important. This presents enormous opportunities. The barriers for taking an idea and turning it into a business are lower than they have ever been before, and access to information and resources have also increased dramatically. It has never been easier to find opportunities and bring a solution to market.

Stephen on what the reset economy means for everyday people:

• Opportunities abound – you have to be good and move fast to take advantage of them.
• To succeed in the new, reset economy, people are going to have to be really good at what they do and they are going to have to move fast.
• Your pedigree is far less important than it used to be. Your expertise is what matters – it’s what you know and what you can do.
• Instead of spending the first part of a career working up a corporate ladder, an entrepreneurial person can focus on turning their passion into a business more easily now than ever before.

Stephen on Three people who turned their passion into a business:

There are so many incredible examples of people who have leveraged their passions and hobbies into successful businesses, however three people come to mind:

• John Vechey dropped out of college and started a $100 million business doing what he loves. (Read an article about him on Inc.com)
• Brooke Moreland who, while working two jobs and with no previous business experience, launched Fashism.com. She has since left her jobs and is now focused solely on running her new company.
• Sam Altman founded Loopt while he was a sophomore in college. Inc. Magazine named Sam one of the Top 30 Entrepreneurs Under 30

Stephen on three things you must do to be successful in the reset economy:

• Understand what you are truly passionate about and like to do
• Figure out what you can be really good at
• Never stop learning. Education is an ongoing, lifelong pursuit.

Stephen on the importance of education and what a real one looks like:

Since we are now living in a knowledge-based economy, education is obviously of critical importance.  However, education is not an event. It is not just a degree that you earn and never look back. If you are going to thrive and flourish in the reset economy, you must continually be learning and expanding the depth and breadth of your knowledge.

Chris Brogan (http://chrisbrogan.com) sent an interesting Tweet recently – “And now I’m off to bed to pass out listening to audiobooks again.” This is a great example of the persistence you need to have in acquiring knowledge. Knowledge and expertise are what will set you apart in the new economy. You should read and learn relentlessly, and not just the stuff anybody can find on the web. Read in-depth books in your field. Understand the traditional ways of doing things, as well as the new methods.

Stephen on the publishing and marketing process for his upcoming book:

I am currently pursuing contracts with publishers and hope that the book will be released in August. The book will be marketed using a combination of traditional marketing practices and well as more recent methods. I believe that value can be found in both the old and the new ways. In fact, as everyone shifts to the latest new marketing ideas, sometimes the old channels are less crowded. I will use a balance of both.

Thanks Stephen!

I HIGHLY recommend you follow Stephen on:

Twitter – @sgmartin
Facebook – facebook.com/enterpriseofone
Web - enterpriseofone.com