Weekly Links: Articles to Strengthen the Entrepreneurial Mind

A new series on the CollegeMogul site, I will be posting some of the most interesting articles about small business and entrepreneurship that I have stumbled across throughout the week.  Feel free to comment and post any additional articles you would like to share with the CM community!

How to Keep Innovating

There is no denying that mastering a few skills is important, but focusing all your energy on a small repertoire might be stifling your passion.  Bill Buxton, the Research Principal Scientist at Microsoft, describes how “the dogged pursuit of excellence might be the wrong strategy” for keeping the creative juices flowing.

Just a heads up, Obama is counting on us: “The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist … in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs”

Understanding the Law of Successful Giving and Successful Receiving

Your mother always said that it is better to give than to receive, and by golly, she’s right!  If you “give someone more in use value than what you take from them,” you are more likely to not only feel better, but to also receive (kindness, referrals, more business, etc.) in the future.

The Secrets of Super-Productive CEOs

"Am I being productive or am I just being busy?"  A common theme in today’s world; people like to keep themselves busy for the sake of keeping themselves busy.  Learn to alleviate the guilt as Timothy Ferriss, the author of The 4-Hour Workweek, gives some tips on regaining your life.

Become the Pop Star you’ve always Dreamed of

Recently, there has been a prominent trend for small businesses to outsource everything from marketing to sales to website design (freelancers can be cheap).  With that said, why not outsource to create your own $99 music video.  An innovative idea by Fred Seibert, MTV’s original creative director (whom I presume knows a thing or two about music videos), 99 Dollar Music Videos Network pairs artists with filmmakers to make inspired movies on the cheap.  Simply imagine what small business owners could do with this!

Book Recommendation

An excerpt by Jonathan Fields, author of “Career Renegade,” about why it is good to be an entrepreneur:

“At some point, it dawns on you that the corporate ladder is really more of a treadmill. You run faster, work harder, climb-higher, sweat more blood and push through stifling fatigue. But, in the end, all too often, you’re no freer or happier than the day you began. In fact, for many, as your lifestyle expands to gobble-up nearly every dollar you make, it’s quite the opposite. The day-to-day stress, relentless posturing, politics, negotiating and hours spent on minutiae increasingly suck the life out of you. Body, mind and spirit, slowly and methodically being sucked dry.”