For people who are familiar with the NBA, the name Draymond Green should bot be new to you. Draymond Green is a professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors. He is a perennial all star power forward and could be on his way to the basketball hall of fame. Now you may be thinking, what does Draymond Green have to do with entrepreneurship. During this year’s NBA finals Draymond Green was playing in, Green had an idea to make a podcast. He called it “The Draymond Green Show”, and he would make new episodes after every finals game. In these podcasts he would discuss what happened in the game, like what he could have done better, how the team could have done better, what the team did well, and other interesting talking points related to the NBA finals game the day prior. Seeing as Draymond Green is a very successful NBA player, he has plenty of money to where he doesn’t have to do anything else but keep playing basketball. But Green’s entrepreneurial drive made him think of other ways he could make a profit. What I could learn from this is that no matter how wealthy you are, there is always room for improvement.
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To people familiar with the NFL or Michigan Football, the name Taylor Lewan is not new to you. Lewan, a former First round pick and current Tennessee Titans tackle found his start in entrepreneurship a good time after he began his NFL career. On top of being almost a perennial Pro-Bowler, he has begun publishing almost weekly podcasts that include himself, former teammate Will Compton, and numerous guests which have included the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Larry the Cable Guy, Brian Urlacher and many other popular football and pop culture figures. The name of the podcast is “Bussin’ With the Boys”. The reason for this is simple: the podcast takes place in an old school bus, and it is hosted by the boys (Lewan and Compton). The podcast has become ultra successful as Barstool Sports eventually started sponsoring the Boys, widening their audience and influence. Lewan’s podcast is constantly near the top of the charts and they even started selling merchandise and clothing with his brand on it. The reason I believe Lewan is a good example to use for a young entrepreneur is because he did not try to reinvent the wheel. Podcasts have been a rapidly growing market for many years and Lewan noticed this and thought his platform as one of the League’s best players would be a good opportunity for him to not only have fun but maybe make a little more money.
The story of Groupon and its main entrepreneur is a dramatic one. Andrew Mason was a web designer paid by tech billionaire Eric Lefkofsky to drop out of grad school and start a business. With his prior experience and classic dropping-out-of-college storyline, Andrew was heading down the road of successful entrepreneurship.
Although he had built enough reputation to warrant a million dollar investment from a former employer, Mason was still in uncharted territory. In an interview with the Gimlet podcast, Mason had said “In the early days we would buy a bunch of academic books on collective action, and me and the other people there would just sit around and read.” The book learning was effective, but there were still some trial and error steps along the way.
While still figuring out what genre of value Groupon would provide its users, Mason and his partners had a few tries and guesses and trips. The original point was to provide an area for people to come up with an idea and go into it together. “I have a plan, but I’m not going to go through with it unless a lot of people do it with me.” Early on, they would seed ideas out to the public and see if they would take. Business was slow, and eventually the users started coming up with their own ideas.
This caused Mason to risk losing his funding; unless he could find an avenue that would provide steady usage and income, Groupon would be shut down. Mason eventually landed on group discount. Groupon sold retail discounts, giving a cut of each sale to the business providing it. Starting off by manually distributing and building relationships Groupon ended up growing faster than Apple, Google, and Facebook. Though he is no longer a part of Groupon, Andrew Mason continues to work as a successful entrepreneur.
In 2014, two brothers, Brandon and Sebastian Martinez, started their family business called Are You Kidding. Brandon was 14 at the time and has been the director of sales. Sebastian was 12 and is the CEO of the company, and their mom is the president. They turned their passion of socks into a company. Sebastian loved socks and was asked by their mom if they wanted to start a business. The two brothers started unique and creative socks to sell. They wanted to stand out from other sock companies and did so by giving back and making a difference. Their socks raise awareness for charities such as Autism Speak, Stand Up To Cancer, JDRF, Make-a-Wish, and more. They also partnered with schools to help other charities. The two brothers have designed socks for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Be a Hero and Save Lives, American Cancer Society, and many more. They have donated over $300,000 to charities and incorporated a new way for thei
r customers to learn more about the charities they donate to. On each tag, the customer can scan the tag and a video will play, giving information about the charity.
They have appeared on Good Morning America’s Shark Tank Your Life: Kid-Preneurs Edition and pitch their company to Daymond John, an inventor on Shark Tank. Since starting their company and making appearances on GMA and podcasts, they have expanded their business. At first, they focused only on socks because that was their passion but they wanted to expand and build their family business. Currently, they sell long sleeves, t-shirts and socks. On their website, they have a charity collection tab with a pair of socks that are hand drawn for each specific charity. They also have fundraisers to sign up for or by socks for. Their plans for the future include finding retail partners and making hats, shoes, and more apparel.
Building a business is a good lesson for kids. It teaches them how to start, run, and grow a business. Running a business is not easy and it takes lots of time and effort to make it run successfully. Businesses should also be about following your passion. Sebastian said it best. “If you don’t start with your passion, you’re never going to continue the business.”
https://areyoukiddingsocks.com/pages/our-story
https://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/337852
Tara Gentile became an entrepreneur as a young adult. Tara was working in a corporate job when the opportunity arose for her to be considered for a promotion. She had been working hard for this promotion, but was overlooked due to being nine months pregnant. Tara then left this job when her daughter was 6 months old in order to start a Podcast and online community called What Works?
Tara speaks mainly to women in business through her platforms in order to address common business questions. She brings in a variety of guest speakers to bounce ideas off of and create an open dialogue. The topics on her popular Podcast range from hiring and HR practices to marketing and advertising and its effects on target markets. She does not shy away from controversial business topics when speaking on her Podcast. Tara intentionally seeks out various perspectives in order to form unconventional and innovate strategies.
I believe that it is inspiring to look to women like Tara Gentile. She took an unfortunate trial that she had to face in her life as a professional businesswoman, and used it in order to empower other women like her in similar positions. She clearly used a entrepreneurial mindset when being faced with this problem and than building her business to address this identified need.
Gabrielle Jordan was 9 when she started her own business. Inspired by 4 previous generations of entrepreneurs in her family, Gabrielle started to sell jewelry to her friends at school and through that her business grew to what is now called Jewlez of Jordan which is a high end online jewelry business that goes to boutiques, trunk shows, fashion shows and other events. Gabrielle’s jewelry is unique and is inspired by a timeless beauty that she wants to reflect by her handcrafted one-of-a-kind pieces made with gemstones, crystals and cultured pearls. Gabrielle did not stop with her jewelry business but moved on to inspire other young entrepreneurs by co-founding the ExCEL Youth Mentoring Institute. ExCEL Youth Mentoring Institution is a youth-based online mentoring cite offering resources for entrepreneurship and leadership development. Gabriel also wrote a book, The Making of a Young Entrepreneur: A kids Guide to Developing the Mind-Set for Success. All this has given her the opportunity to become a speaker at many conferences, schools, and community events. Gabriel also has appeared on many news and online publications. Gabriel is also the host of The UV Effect Podcast, this podcast helps listeners discover their unique value, where it gets the name. Through all of this Gabrielle is an inspiration in the entrepreneurial world encouraging and educating new entrepreneurs in their journey of entrepreneurship.
Alex Blumberg began his entrepreneurial journey as a broadcast journalist. From there he was a producer for This American Life, and he co founded Planet Money. However, he left these professions behind to create Gimlet media and produce Startup Podcast. Startup Podcast is a “candid documentation of his journey from journalist to entrepreneur.”
The way that Blumberg has achieved success is very interesting. He has created a podcast that tells his story that has become extremely popular. Therefore, you would think that he would constantly be giving advice on how to achieve success on his podcast because it is the story of his life as an entrepreneur. However, Blumberg does not like to give advice on how to be successful as an entrepreneur. In fact, he says he feels “ridiculous trying to give advice.” This was very striking to me because people still learn valuable information about being an entrepreneur from Blumberg’s podcasts, even tho he refuses to give any direct advice.
I think that Blumberg uses his podcasts in a very interesting and new way. For example, he has reinvented podcast advertising. Instead of airing an ad, he airs the conversation with a company and asks them why they wanted to advertise on a podcast. Blumberg believes that you need to try new things. When you have found an new idea that appeals to people and the masses, then you are onto something.
Blumberg is also very adamant when he says that “money isn’t his only priority.” He wants to focus first on the mission of the company and if it ends up making money for him, then that is a bonus. I think that we can learn a lot from this view point. The most successful companies are the ones that stay true to their mission and are not just in it for the money.
I think that you can learn a lot from Blumberg’s Startup podcast. He teaches that it is important to be different and to try new things, because those are the things that are going to succeed. In addition, he makes sure to let his audience know to stay true to the mission and the values of the company. These are very important to maintain because they are what holds the company together. Your driving motivation should not be money because that is not a sustainable motivation. You have to believe in your mission.
https://theearlyhour.com/2018/03/26/creator-of-startup-podcast-on-being-an-entrepreneur/
Amala Ekpunobi: Conservative Thinker, Influencer, and Entrepreneur
When considering the traits that make a person popular in today’s world, “conservative political stance” is generally not on that list. In fact, it’s rather more likely to be on the Unpopular Traits list. And yet, in some sort of see-saw effect, the market for conservative thinking seems to have grown. Naturally, this is where Amala Ekpunobi comes in.
The supply/demand market for conservative thinkers is niche, but it is even more so for young conservatives. A podcaster and influencer for conservative thought, Amala isn’t the only one of her kind, but she is one of few. Now 23, Amala came from an activist, leftist background, but changed trajectory when she discovered a new way of thinking. Now, she’s passionate about showing people why she believes what she does, and the harm that is being done to our country by such a radical agenda. She built a platform on social media by sharing her thoughts and ideas, and even joined PragerU as a talk show host in 2021 (she has since moved on).
This proves that regardless of the ideas in popular culture, there will always be a demand for alternate ideas in media, and that thinking for yourself and talking about issues can go further than family arguments at the Thanksgiving dining table. And it’s not just a demand, it’s a need. Thinking for oneself is one of the most important skills somebody can have, and speaking boldly against harmful ideas needed and valued, no matter how unpopular people tell you it is.