Antonio Centeno’s story begins in a trailer park in West Texas where he grew up. When he left Texas to attend Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa no one would have guessed he would end up founding two companies and affecting the way men dress around the world.
With a few exceptions, the people who lived in the trailer park where Antonio grew up did not seem to care about the appearance of their property or their clothing. In contrast an aunt of Antonio’s kept herself, her trailer, and her car neat and clean. She taught him that even though he might not have expensive things, he should always put his best foot forward. The people Antonio came to respect were the people who took care of their belongings regardless of price.
Just before graduation from Cornell College he joined the Marine Corps, following the example of other family members who had served in various branches of the military. The Marines is considered by many to be the premiere branch of the U.S. military, and Antonio saw it as a challenge. The Corps had a significant impact on him; he even says that the Marines formed the person is today. He was humbled yet encouraged to constantly seek ways to improve himself. As an officer in the Corps Antonio learned what it meant to be a servant leader whose purpose was to support for the ground troops. This instilled in Antonio a desire to help others.
After leaving the Marines Antonio lived in the Ukraine for a couple of years. While there he ran a nonprofit organization that provided services to orphans. It became clear that the nonprofit was not going to survive, but Antonio had learned that he knew nothing about business.
An Idea Is Born
While still in the Ukraine, Antonio searched for a suit for an interview. He discovered that he could not find one that fit in the Ukraine. He tried to find one online, but was disappointed with the quality and fit. During his search he realized that he knew how to wear a uniform, but knew nothing about how to wear a suit. He met with custom clothiers and discovered that the industry was dominated by people without formal education in fashion who were making good money; and an idea began to grow. Continue reading IIP020: From USA Marines To World Leading Style Expert For Men
Are you one of those that followed the “norm”; study well, get a well-paying, secure job — and are now feeling trapped, unhappy, and unfulfilled? Maybe you’re even hating it? (Hey, I did!).
Do you ever wonder if you got what it takes to be an entrepreneur? I mean, isn’t it something you’re either born with or not?
If you have doubts about you becoming a successful entrepreneur, today’s episode is for you, especially if — right now — you have a well-paying job in some company that others consider “safe”, and all you want is OUT.
“Just Do It. What’s The Worst Thing That Could Happen?”
These were the first words that Ralph Quintero & I shared. The time was May, or maybe June, 2012 – only a year ago. Ralph had just launched his iPad magazine – The Great Business Project. I was procrastinating with launching my magazine – Inspiring Innovation.
I was stuck at getting interviewees for my first issue. I couldn’t bring myself to approach anyone. Funny thing was that for quite a while I knew exactly who I want on my first issue – Pat Flynn, Farnoosh Brock and Cahill Puill, co-founder of world-famous 4HWW muse – LapDawg… But I was scared. I was afraid they’d say no, so I didn’t ask.
One day, I was on a Google+ Hangout (back then it was very exciting!) of MagCast publishers – the platform both Ralph & I were using. Ralph was sharing how incredibly easy it was for him to launch and get interviewees on board.
I was very pissed… at myself.
So I sent Ralph a tweet, something like, “I’m kicking myself so hard after seeing you on the Hangout for not taking action”. The response?
Just Do It. What’s The Worst Thing That Could Happen? —@RalphQuintero
That day was were my friendship with Ralph was formed, and the day that ‘Inspiring Innovation’ became a real thing.
How To Be An Entrepreneur
Ralph Quintero
Ralph became an entrepreneur at a young age, and with a unique profession – DJ! At the age of 13 years old, he borrowed stereo equipment (double cassette tape) from his dad and aunt, and started deejaying school parties. Then his big break came: Ralph and each of his other two partners made $20 on a single night!
Ralph could not have been happier, and to this day he has a smile on his face when he tells the story. That evening was the first time he realized he could make money doing something he loved.
He became a professional DJ. He toured and performed in the hottest nightclubs around the world and got to work with his idols. Life was great… besides the rough hours and lack of any normalcy.
Finally, he was about to get married. He knew he can’t carry on this way when starting a family. So he ended up getting a job at JBL, and moved to the corporate world. Since JBL is a world-known speaker company, he reckons he was, “still doing something I love, but in more reasonable hours”.
Ralph’s attitude and tendency to excel didn’t fade in the corporate world. Quite the contrary; he was climbing the ranks and became head of international sales. Which meant he was traveling 80% of the time.
One night, Ralph came home to his wife, who was alone with their one-year-old son and pregnant. She told him she can’t take it anymore. They decided to leave California and their six figure jobs and go back home – to Miami. This was the beginning of their Life After Corporate.
Life After Corporate
That night in 2003, the Quinteros made a promise to themselves — to only work in things they are passionate about. They had no idea what that may be, but they were going to find out. Ralph decided to leverage his experience from corporate, and combine it with everything he learned from being a young successful entrepreneur. They created a company targeted at helping audio companies establish themselves in Latin America. When they divested from the company 6 years later, it was generating over $35M in revenue for their clients.
This process was documented on Ralph’s best-selling title, Life After Corporate: My Personal Journey from the C-Suite to the E-Suite. That book was an overnight best seller – as you will hear on today’s episode. Today Ralph owns several businesses, one of them is The Great Business Project (magazine, podcast, forum and blog), which aims to be the resource for entrepreneurs that Ralph wish he had when he got started. It’s his way of giving back to entrepreneurs. He’s also an in-demand speaker, coach and advisor.
Successful Entrepreneurs
So what are we talking about today, besides Ralph’s story?
Today, Ralph shares with us the #1 pillar any entrepreneur need to take care of; his own mindset. Ralph will walk us through creating and maintaining the mindset and attitude that all successful entrepreneurs share. We will also cover some of his 5 pillars to having a successful business that works for you — so tune in now so you don’t miss out! Prepare to start having a business that works for you, and not the other way round!
Enjoy the episode.
In this episode you will learn:
How having an action-taking mindset and attitude like Ralph’s will change your life.
How Ralph discovered how to make money doing only things he loves.
Why Ralph gave up on his entrepreneurial career and moved to corporate?
Why you need to take action in your life?
Why you should ban the word ‘tired’ from your vocabulary?
How to cope with getting a ‘no’ from your dream client?
What’s the one, and ONLY thing that limits you when someone says ‘no’ to you?
How to perform at your best?
How Ego affects a person’s success? How can you deal with it?
One thing that 84% of the US population wants to do before they die!
How Ralph’s book became a bestselling book, without him having any previous writing experience.
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I Need Your Help!
Thank you all for checking out this episode of the Inspiring Innovation podcast!
If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below! It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
Content Is Not The King, Traffic Means Nothing, And Ads Are Not A Blog Monetization Plan
There you have it. If you want today’s interview with Dino Dogan in a nutshell, the above title will give you the major points.
According to Dino, “there is nothing worse than writing a blog post that nobody reads. Triberr solves that problem for bloggers by developing a community of sharing and support with other bloggers.”
Triberr is a new and better way to grow your blog’s readership. It’s better because it connects like-minded bloggers who are interested in reading and supporting each other. This core community, or Tribe, is the secret to a successful blog.
One Wednesday, a few years ago, somewhere in New Jersey, Dino Dogan had a realization: He’d been studying how to get more traffic to his blog for quite a while; consuming everything he could read about it. But the more he read, the more it became clear to him:
It Was Too Little, Too Late!
Dino Dogan
Dino perfectly understood the “science” of link building, PageRank and website authority, and the roaring power of social media. Because of that understanding, he knew that in a competitive niche with well established megawebsites — his blog didn’t stand a chance. Not with the tools that were available back then.
Blogging Tips 101
As Dino saw it, all bloggers needed to do in order to rank well and get a lot more attention, was:
Publish A LOT of content.
Have TONS of backlinks.
Become a brand that Google respects (demonstrated by being given a higher PageRank, for instance).
The problem was that as the blogosphere was changing. With the rise of social media, no one was linking anymore. Everyone was now sharing via Twitter, Facebook, etc., so it became very, very hard for small bloggers to build (or earn) enough high quality links. As to publishing a lot of content – could you seriously compete with the amount of content that is published on Huffington Post? NY Times? Forbes? (Yeah, that’s a bit of a radical competition to pick on, but any blog that’s a tenth as active as any of these will be a huge undertaking).
And as to becoming a brand – the best way was to publish a lot, get as many high quality backlinks and shares as possible. Which for a new blogger on the block – was almost impossible.
Building A Successful Blog (What if…)
What if. That’s how it all started. What if bloggers could share their audience with some other bloggers from the same niche? By doing that, they could get the attention of the audience of their colleagues and have a lot more content to share with their own audience, who were easily consuming more content than the bloggers had to offer.
What would be the compound effect of creating such a tribe of bloggers?
This is what was on Dino’s mind that Wednesday. So he sat down and started searching for such tool, “surely someone came up with this idea already!”, he thought. But… No such tool existed. So Dino, born & raised in Bosnia who came to the USA and found work as a network engineer, and spent the last seven years teaching computer geeks how to become bigger computer geeks, found a new position: co-founder. Dino pitched the idea to his friend Dan Cristo, and by the next Wednesday, Dino and Dan where on the same Triberr tribe, sharing audience and content.
Solving The Next Big Problem
As press print was invented, knowledge became more accessible than it ever before in human history. People could suddenly afford access to books. In the late 1990’s, with the rise of platforms like WordPress, Blogger.com and others, the gate to publishing was opened for the first time. Today, anyone can start a blog, a podcast or publish a book on Amazon. It’s no longer a small closed clique of the very fortunate.
As Dino sees it, the next big problem is allowing anyone who wants to publish to get attention. Evidently, this is the biggest hardship for almost all bloggers. This is the mission behind Triberr.
Hitler, Apple and Insane Loyalty
In the second part of the interview, we discuss a subject that has been fascinating Dino and is the ultimate challenge for any business owner: Creating insanely loyal fans.
This is where Dino’s studies of Theology come into play, and make the discussion somewhat controversial. Dino claims that there is a lot to learn from religions and cults when planning your online (&offline) presence. Dino actually gave a fascinating speech on this subject at the New Media Expo in Vegas, where I first heard him speak.
Check out today’s interview to find out more about polarizing, social status, isolation and mythos – for examples of how these tools are used to affect us in our day-to-day life, and simple examples of how you could master some of them, and combined with tools like Triberr – create true focused attention to your brand, business or website.
In this episode you will learn:
How Dino went from songwriting and blogging about dog training to founding Triberr?
How can small bloggers get more eyeballs on their content.
Triberr’s ultimate goal.
Why Triberr is considered a big secret among the successful bloggers.
How a small blogger can compete with big sites like or big media properties?
How to create insanely loyal fans?
What is polarization and how can it help you succeed?
How does giving status to your followers (this could be users, members of the site, customers, or employees) help you with succeeding in your business?
How do you apply these tools in blogging, magazines or podcasting?
What is the importance of isolation?
What Dino decided to wear for this interview (caution… you might not wanna know!)
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I Need Your Help!
Thank you all for checking out this episode of the Inspiring Innovation podcast!
If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below! It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
“Richard And I Will Invest Dollar-for-dollar In Your Company”
How many people do you know that made a million dollars from Twitter?
How many people do you know that got funded by Sir Richard Branson, on their first startup?
How many people do you know that did both – before they turned 19?
“Mom, we have some really, REALLY good news”
Today’s guest is Stacey Ferreira Co-founder of MySocialCloud. Stacey’s story has been told again and again over the last two years, and for a very good reason.
When Stacey finished school, she moved to California to live with her brother and work on the project which is now MySocialCloud. They shared an apartment in south central Los Angeles, not the area where you would want to live. The apartment was very small. They set up their office in the living room, and in typical entrepreneur style – Scott slept on the coach while Stacey slept on an air mattress. Stacey says that they lived the project that summer, sometimes not going outside for weeks at a time.
One morning Stacey was on Twitter and saw a tweet from Sir Richard Branson. The tweet said that If you donated $2,000 to the charity of his choice, you could attend the 25th anniversary celebration of Virgin America and meet him in Miami for intimate cocktails. Stacey was skeptical that someone like Sir Richard Branson would send out such a tweet, but she decided to go for it, afraid that someone else will steal her opportunity. She replied and asked if she and Scott could participate – even though they were underage. At 2am, Stacey and Scott got a positive response.
Of course, they didn’t have $2,000 – never mind $4,000 for the two of them, plus expenses. So they called their parents in the middle of the night, asking for a loan. Stacey and Scott’s parents were dubious; but decided it would be a good learning experience for them. Two days later, the siblings were on a plane to Miami. On the first night, they waited with about 18 others to meet Sir Richard Branson. It just happened that Stacey was by the door when Richard Branson entered. Stacey took the opportunity and introduced herself. After telling him a bit more about their project, Stacey boldly asked for his contact information, and was delighted when he gave it to her.
Stacey with Richard Branson
Getting Funded, A Dream Coming True
Once the Ferreiras returned home, they focused on building the initial product. They kept Branson updated on what they were doing with regular emails. Eventually he suggested that he introduce them to a friend of his – Jerry Murdock. They talked with Murdock by phone, explaining their vision and what they were planning. A few weeks after their initial conversation, Jerry flew out to California.
The cofounders went over the product and gave Jerry a little demo. That night at dinner, Jerry announced, “Here’s the deal. Branson and I are going to invest dollar for dollar in your company.” Stacey and Scott were amazed by Jerry’s announcement. It was such an incredible opportunity. Now with investors, they could build their product!
And Today…
Two years have passed, and a lot has changed. The MySocialCloud story became world known. Stacey dropped out of college and moved to the west coast to work full-time at MySocialCloud. But more important — so many lessons were learned, mistakes made, achievements reached – and all of those Stacey shares with us today.
The Ferreiras
In This Episode You Will Learn
How Stacey & Scott Ferreira got $1M funding for their startup because of a single tweet
The secret to making huge things happen for you.
How to build your team and what are the crucial things to pay attention to
What kind of prototype do you really need in order to get an investment from Richard Branson himself, Jerry Murdock, or someone of such caliber
How to keep your business going in the right direction
What challenges did the MySocialCloud team face since funding, and how they overcame.
How does a free tool like MySocialCloud make money
What are Stacey’s thoughts and tips for young entrepreneurs that are about to start college
How to effectively execute your ideas
How to find an opportunity, make a goal and make it happen
Our Udemy Giveaway is still taking place, where I’m giving away 4 of my favorite Udemy courses, at a total value of $771, to the listeners of the show. Join and claim your prize right here. The giveaway ends in two weeks, and winners will be announced on episode 8 of the podcast.
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I Need Your Help!
Thank you all for checking out this episode of the Inspiring Innovation podcast!
If you haven’t already, I would love if you could be awesome and take a minute to leave a quick rating and review of the podcast on iTunes by clicking on the link below! It’s the most amazing way to help the show grow and reach more people!
Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links. There is no additional cost to you, and I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
