Rohail Rizvi- Entrepreneur in the Making

On Monday I met with the one and only Randal Pinkett, winner of The Apprentice and author of Campus CEO. I have to say that just from meeting him for a few minutes that he is a really cool guy. I shook his hand and then told him about I had learned of his book from the Campus CEO competition a couple months ago and decided to pick it up after David Askaripour of MindPetals told me we got mentioned in there. I told him I wrote for MindPetals and he was really impressed and asked me to write a review for his book on my blog and try to get some coverage on MindPetals about the book. I told him sure thing, without a doubt. He was cool enough to sign my copy of Campus CEO and I gave him a card for Walamu and told him about how I started it at Rutgers last semester and he seemed pretty impressed. This is considering Mr. Pinkett also went to Rutgers and started his business here all while graduating with a 3.9 GPA and being on the track team. Mr. Pinkett is truly an inspiration to me and I’m sure to the many others that will pick up a copy of his new book, Campus CEO.

To get started on building your own business empire while still in college, get your copy of Mr. Pinkett’s book here: Campus CEO.

P.S. I have an extra copy of Campus CEO since my order from Amazon came in a day after Randal was at the signing. If you have any suggestions on what I should do with this extra copy by means of some sort of crazy give away competition, leave a comment.

The Web 2.0 Effect

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With so many e-books out there today, the good ones are really few and far between. The priceless ones are even more rare. The Web 2.0 Effect is clearly one of the latter. This book was not written merely for the purpose of making a quick buck on the Internet, but rather really makes a sense of all the hype out there and let’s the reader know what exactly makes sites like Facebook and YouTube a success. If you are an entrepreneur or own a Web 2.0, this is an absolute must read. There have been too many failures by companies trying to mock the success of the now few behemoths in the Web 2.0 world to think that you already know what it takes. Don’t look over the most important aspect of your business: the way it’s execution. The information found in this ebook is absolutely invaluable to the success of your business and if you miss out on even the small stuff in this book, you’ll be very behind.

My apologies for the recent lack of posting. I have a guest blogger that’ll have something for you guys pretty soon.

Marketing Outrageously; that’s the name of the book I just finished reading and I have to say it really gave me a different aspect on marketing and saved me from pursuing the typical bland marketing strategies we are all used to. The core message in Marketing Outrageously was to device a marketing campaign that is so outrageous and so shocking that you think it would never fly. The same message goes to the people putting together your marketing plan. Tell them that you want to hear an idea from them that they are sure you would never approve of. The book is written by Jon Spoelstra, who spent 20 years with the NBA most notably as the President and COO of the New Jersey Nets. A brief bio is available on Jon Spoelstra at http://www.usdreams.com/Spoelstra.html and I highly encourage you to at least skim through it. Would you believe that he used to be a shy guy? Find out what he did to overcome his fear of speaking and become a sales and marketing phenom.

Spoelstra outlines several marketing stunts in the book that proved highly successful. Some of the outrageous ideas highlighted in the book included having every man, woman, and child at a Nets game receive a free pair jockstraps (!). Another was to send a rubber chicken with a small note thank you attached to it to anyone who bought season tickets. A lot of these seem way out of the box, but that’s what Spoelstra is all about. Marketing outrageously is what will get you noticed with consumers as well as with public relations. There is nothing more powerful than shock-value to get the attention of potential consumers. Taking an unconventional route towards marketing is perhaps the only free lunch you get in marketing. The only problem is a lot of people are afraid to take that free lunch.

I’ve been coming up with my own ways to market outrageously with Walamu.com. So far I have some good ideas and others that people have told me would be going too far. Maybe that’s exactly what I need to do

I have several marketing stunts lined up and I will surely blog about them as I execute them. I can’t wait to see the look on people’s faces.
Have any outrageous marketing ideas especially for the college market? Ever pull off a spectacular marketing stunt? Feel free to let me know about it in the comments.

In the past few weeks I’ve really spread my energy over a multitude of things. Among these include starting www.writeonmyboard.com, the Walamu pre-launch blog, this blog, and the pixel ads. Right now the most important thing is getting Walamu off the ground so that’s what I’m going to be focusing on the most. I’m really excited about the launch and focused on getting out there quickly and executing as well as possible.

As for my stocks, I made a few changes yesterday. I sold two of my stocks at a loss only because I needed the funding for Walamu and I knew I wasn’t going to make much anyway considering my position in both stocks was very small. If I had at least $1,000 invested in each company I probably would have held on. Nonetheless, one of my stocks FMD is nearing $60 as I had predicted in one of my previous posts. I am still holding on to this stock as I believe it has the potential to go a bit higher.

I also just finished reading The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, by Al Ries and Laura Ries. The book is a must-read for anyone wanting to start an Internet business. I’ve learned a lot about what to do and what not to do from this and have even been talking to the authors about my own business. That’s it for now, but stay tuned because Walamu is going to be a heck of a ride.

Think there’s a difference between being an entrepreneur and an extreme entrepreneur?

Read The Student Success Manifesto, by Michael Simmons, and you’ll find out there certainly is. Simmons, winner of three entrepreneur of the year awards, let’s us in on his Extreme Entrepreneur mindset. In his book, the ever-enterprising Simmons reveals what the extreme entrepeneur needs to do in order properly leverage their tangible and intangible assets to create a life of passion, purpose, and prosperity.

Having been a keynote speaker on entrepreneurship, Simmons does a fascinating job of bringing to the readers the true value in finding what you are passionate about and doing that for the rest of your life. He goes against the conventional wisdom of the educational system and for all the right reasons. This book is a must read for anyone who finds true value in doing what they are passionate about and not just because it’s the “next step” in life. Even if starting a business is not your area of interest, reading The Student Success Manifesto will most definitely open up your mind and let you see all the possibilities that are out there for you, as well as give you the ability to unlock your potential.

Simmons not only preaches the Extreme Entrepreneur mindset, he lives it. In his effort to find out what he was passionate about and what he wanted to do in life he took a semester off from NYU going against the opinions of people such as his counselor and his mother. He did so with good reason as well considering the numerous awards he has won. Simmons does a fantastic job of bringing his real life experiences and discoveries to his readers. If there was ever a book that would give you a distinct advantage over your classmates, it would most certainly be The Student Success Manifesto. Speaking from experience, I highly recommend purchasing “The Manifesto” for your bookshelf just in case you ever need a little refresher.

That’s the title of the book I’m currently reading and it’s written by Wil Schroter (Go Big or Go Home by Wil Schroter). I was actually given a free copy by Wil so I can give him some feedback on it. I’m actually in the middle of it right now and I must say it’s a great read. If you’ve ever wondered how companies like Google and MySpace have made it so big in such a short amount of time, this is the book to read. It provides great insight as to how it is the perfect time for a start up if you position yourself right and grow appropriately with the correct business model. It’s all about scalability and profitability accompanied with growth. I highly recommend his work as even if you don’t plan to start anything it still lets you in on what makes companies like Google so successful in such a short period of time.

In other news, I cashed in all my change from my change jar from the previous school year and landed a fresh $20 bill straight from the bank. Of course, that $20 is going straight to the oil companies as I fill up my gas guzzling V6 at $3 a gallon. Still worth it, I think (both the saving up change and the car). I really do suggest keeping a change jar as it really does add up. No way was I expecting $20, more like 9 or 10. Try dumping change you have in your pockets at any given moment into your change jar, and it should really add up.

Finally, I want to mention that I do want to make this an interactive blog. I appreciate all the early support I’ve been getting from readers all over the world and I certainly do appreciate any comments you leave as I would love to hear what you think about my journey to financial freedom. Feel free to make suggestions as to what you want to hear more of in my posts and what not. Let me know and keep those comments comin’.