Rohail Rizvi- Entrepreneur in the Making

Dave is the founder of MindPetals.com, the number one place for young entrepreneurs to network and learn. He was generous enough to answer these questions. Take a look because you always learn something new with Dave and he truly loves helping and motivating people.
1) What is your inspiration for getting into business and what makes you get out of bed every morning?

Thinking about all of the lives that I can change. All of the people who I can positively affect. All of the minds that I can spark with enthusiasm and a zeal to do something great in life. I devote my life to making those sort of changes in the world. It invigorates me. It empowers me. It not only gets me out of bed in the morning, but pushes me harder than any other force I’ve ever experienced — pushes me to continue on no matter what, through the ups and the downs. It’s not a business to me, it’s a life.

2) What was your first venture and is it the one you are most proud of?

My first venture was a site that allowed students to sell notes to one another. It was called Cash Campus. The one
I’m the most proud of is Mind Petals, Inc, which is the business behind Mind Petals — the official community for Young
Entrepreneurs worldwide.

3) What are you working on now?

I’m working on a social platform that will revolutionize the way young entrepreneurs stay connected and share ideas to realize goals in life.

4) What advice can you give to up and coming entrepreneurs?

The number one person you need to listen to is yourself. Everything else, other people’s opinions, other people’s expectations for you, etc, should be secondary. Follow your heart. Follow your passions. Push through and make something happen with your life. Realize that you can be great. That you can change the world. That you can attain your wildest dreams.

Check out MindPetals.com, the number one place for YEs to learn and network, and be sure to check out this very motivational post by Dave at CashCampus.com.

This week I’ll be interviewing young entrepreneurs from around the world to give you insight from the brightest and most promising young entrepreneurs today.

Josiah Mackenzie, young entrepreneur and a good friend of mine, and notably the founder of Young Wealth Weekly, an e-magazine for young entrepreneurs, sheds some light on his entrepreneurial past and gives some great advice for entrepreneurs just starting out. Thanks, Josiah!

1) What is your inspiration for getting into business and what makes you get out of bed every morning?

My inspiration is to complete my list of 100 life goals <http://www.josiahmackenzie.com/100-goals/ >.  For me, business is a way to accomplish what I want in life and have fun doing it.

2) What was your first venture and is it the one you are most proud of?

My first venture was a web design & programming firm I started in high school.  Earning $40/hour can make you feel pretty proud when your friends are working for minimum wage.  I’ve been involved in a variety of ventures since then, but that was my first taste of the freedom you can achieve by working for yourself.  I feel most satisfied when I’m helping other young entrepreneurs grow their businesses, so I’m very proud of my involvement with Young Wealth Weekly.  Currently, I’m working on a book with 2 incredibly talented young entrepreneurs, and am very excited to continue sharing information this way.

3) What else are you working on now?

I’m in the beginning stages of forming an investment company with several partners.  In the beginning, we plan to acquire smaller, web-based businesses, but in the future plan on expanding into niche cafes, restaurants, and hotels.  There are so many industries I want to be a part of, and I see investing as the only logical way to do this.

4) What advice can you give to up and coming entrepreneurs?

Ideas are worthless.  Execution is everything.  It’s impossible for one person to do everything, so get a team of good people around you.  You probably don’t need funding from the beginning (especially if you’re doing business online), instead rely on bootstrapping and focus on getting sales as soon as possible.  Make sure your target customers are willing and able to pay for the product you’re offering.  Get started now, and learn as you go.

When someone starts up a new business, it’s important to think about what it is their business really is. What service are they truly providing people? It may surprise owners that what they thought their business is isn’t really what their customers think it is.

Say for example you own a gas station and are in the business of providing people gasoline for their cars. But is that really what gas stations are all about?

If you ask me you’re in the fill people’s gas-provide directions-act as a rest stop-provide entertainment business. That sounds a lot different than just filling up people’s cars doesn’t it?

Think about it. When people go to a gas station they aren’t just looking to fill their gas. They are often looking for directions. So why not provide a GPS kiosk so travelers can easily have access to accurate directions whenever they get lost. People often stop at gas stations when they need to use the restroom. So why not advertise that? Advertise yourself as having the world’s cleanest fanciest gas station bathroom ever. People will remember your brand whenever they need to make a pit stop on the road. Thirdly, people stop at gas stations in states they are unfamiliar with and so your employees act as a lot of people’s first impressions of people from that state. Why not train your employees to be the friendly guy from Missouri at the Hess station as opposed to just another cranky gas filler upper at some random gas station.

So remember the next time you ask yourself about what business you’re in…ask yourself -Is it in the same business your customers see you in?

Okay so I learned a lot from my first project. Now it’s time to take it to the next level.

Announcing Project SeaFire. This one’s going to kick it up a few notches. I have a team of talented individuals ready to make this project an impressive one.

This project is just getting started and so the launch is still a bit ahead of us. However, once we get started I’m going to be video blogging about the progress of the company as well as about the challenges that we face.

More than likely, I will not be taking the bootstrapping approach on this one and will probably be seeking outside investment once we are able to illustrate the value and potential of the company.

This will be a much more full-time project than my previous one.

Stay tuned.

Okay, so I admit it, the last few months I’ve veered off and haven’t focused as much on business as I’d like. However, in that time I’ve realized that I’ve learned a lot.

First off, you guys probably know by now about Facebook’s decision to launch a marketplace for students. Their service directly competes with what Walamu was trying to do. And considering we’re dealing with the behemoth Facebook here, I’m not sure as to where the future lies for Walamu. It was definitely a good learning experience and I certainly don’t regret it. Granted it was an expensive learning experience, I still came out better than before and that’s what counts. Here’s a run down of things I learned for my next start up:

• Running a startup solo is boring and does not have the motivational power of a partnership. Having a partner around can make the start up a lot more important because you’re automatically more responsible to the expectations of someone else, have someone else to motivate you, have someone to discuss business decisions with, and ultimately more fun.

• Just because I’m a college student, doesn’t mean I have to focus on the college market. There are a ton of opportunities out there that don’t have the threat of Facebook taking over at any minute. This requires thinking outside of the box and looking beyond your immediate environment. When you’re in college that seems like your entire world. However, there are an insane number of communities and possibilities to explore.

• Don’t doubt yourself. I didn’t really reach out to any mainstream publications about Walamu. I kept my advertising limited and pretty local. Their were people who loved Walamu, but emailed me about not seeing much publicity about it. I guess that’s because most of my marketing happened online because I was too lazy to go flyering every day. However, I’ve certainly learned that it’s not impossible to get into publications like widely-read newspapers and that I shouldn’t limit my publicity because I have doubt in terms of it’s relevance to those publications.

• I’ve always liked to think of myself as a bootstrapping entrepreneur. However, most of the problems I ran into were because of a lack of funding. I never seemed to have enough money to get me to the next step. I now believe that if you have a business model you strongly believe in and that you can prove it’s value that there is no reason not to seek outside capital. It can only help you see your dreams become a reality. Why not do so?

That’s all I can think of for now. All in all, it has been a pretty crazy ride and people now refer to me as “Walamu” in order to get my attention. I’ll think of a way monetize the site somehow and keep it growing for the users. Believe it or not people are still posting on it even after Facebook’s launch of their marketplace. It feels like a failure and I sort of feel disappointed in myself, but I know I shouldn’t. Failure is a part of the game and I hope I continue to fail until I get it right.

With the number of entrepreneurial blogs sprouting up, it’s good to see one that brings real experience with it. Blackrock’s Gudie to Business brings great value to the aspiring entrepreneur with solid advice and mantras to run your business by. It’s especially good for those just starting out as it focuses on those just starting out (like in this post titled, Starting a Business? Then Start Small). The blog is run by the very entrepreneurial Aaron Kuroiwa from Pheonix, AZ. He notes that his goals for the blog are to

“

• To share my ideas about creating and running a successful business.
• Explore new ideas and business markets
• Share my personal business experiences: Failures and all, hopefully not many.
• Most of all to have conversations with like minded entrepreneurs and to help each other solve problems and grow.“

What makes this blog truly different is that Aaron has gone through it all and knows the importance of that essential ingredient in business- persistence. He is passionate about his businesses and exudes his entrepreneurial energy is his blog, which is certainly enough to inspire his readers to do the same. Check out Blackrock’s Guide to Business here.

Yep, that’s right. I’m officially halfway through my college career. Or 100% through. Depends on if I decide to continue to stay in school. Right now there’s a possibility that I’ll take at least a semester off of school. We’ll see how I feel by the end of the summer. I have a whole list of things I want to do from backpacking in Europe to interning to getting a whole new perspective on business. That last one is really what this is all about. In the day to day struggle to make something of your company, one tends to lose sight as to what they are really after and forget that it’s the journey that counts and not the destination as cliche as that sounds.

For the next couple weeks, I’ll be looking for a place to intern for this summer. I’ll also be moving into the house on June 1st. Another thing I really want to do this summer is check out the West Coast. I’ve been everywhere from London and Paris to Saudi Arabia, and amazingly have yet to see the West Coast. I’ve always wanted to see what it’s like and I think the vibe there is much more fitting for me. I may also make a stop at Austin as I hear it’s a great city for entrepreneurs.

If anyone cares, here’s my list of things I want to do this summer/next semester: List

If anyone has any other suggestions in terms of what they think I might be able to fill my time with, let me know. What would you do if you had an entire semester off?

P.S. I have Doostang (Professional, invite-only, networking site) invites. If you’d like one let me know and I just might send you one.

I’m almost done with my sophomore year here at Rutgers with only two more final exams to go on Wednesday. I promise I will get back to blogging then and I know many of you have been sending me emails which I have unfortunately been neglecting. I will get to those asap, sorry. I intend to respond to all of them so don’t worry. Meanwhile, if you have facebook and you’re doing big things, request an invitation to my new facebook group: http://rutgers.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2347338415&ref=mf   (The Real Go Gettas)