Aprender como empreender

Guy Kawasaki novamente cria uma lista útil de conceitos para fazer e acontecer.

1. Crie algo que faça sentido;
2. Defina metas;
   
3. Não se preocupe demais com o conforto;
4. Comunique as metas;
5. Meça progresso a cada semana;
6. Defina pontos únicos de responsabilidades;
7. Siga a solução dos problemas até a conclusão;
8. Premie os que realizam as coisas;
9. Estabeleca uma cultura de execução;
10. Respeite e escute o seu "Morpheus" (o que fala a realidade dura).
    

Paul Graham escreveu um ótimo ensaio sobre como fazer aquilo que você gosta de fazer.

Ele começa explicando as expectativas irrealistas que são incutidas durante nossa educação sobre o futuro trabalho que cada um exercerá. Em seguida, discute sobre as frustações inerentes de se ver forçado a trabalhar naquilo que não gosta.

Concluindo ele apresenta maneiras de transformar sua vida de maneira que você pode ser aquilo que deseja ser, com a resalva que a parte mais difícil é descobrir exatamente o que realmente se deseja fazer, e não por causa do prestígio ou dinheiro.

Trechos interessantes:

"...
Occasionally adults would come to speak to us about their work, or we would go to see them at work. It was always understood that they enjoyed what they did. In retrospect I think one may have: the private jet pilot. But I don't think the bank manager really did.

The main reason they all acted as if they enjoyed their work was presumably the upper-middle class convention that you're supposed to. It would not merely be bad for your career to say that you despised your job, but a social faux-pas. That's a working-class attitude.
...
In fact, if you admit to yourself that you're discontented, you're a step ahead of most people, who are still in denial. If you're surrounded by colleagues who claim to enjoy work that you find contemptible, odds are they're lying to themselves. Not necessarily, but probably.
...
Another test you can use is: always produce. For example, if you have a day job that you don't take seriously because you plan to be a novelist, are you producing? Are you writing pages of fiction, however bad? As long as you're producing, you'll know you're not merely using the hazy vision of the grand novel you plan to write one day as an opiate. The view of it will be obstructed by the all too palpably flawed one you're actually writing.

"Always produce" is more than just a test of earnestness though. It's also a heuristic for finding the work you love. If you subject yourself to that constraint, it will automatically push you away from things you think you're supposed to work on, toward things you actually like. "Always produce" will discover your life's work the way water, with the aid of gravity, finds the hole in your roof.
...
Expect a struggle. In high school they act as if choosing a career were straightforward. Actually, finding work you love is very difficult, and most people fail. Even if you succeed, it's rare to be free to work on what you want till your thirties or forties. But if you have the destination in sight you'll be more likely to arrive at it. If you know you can love work, you're in the home stretch, and if you know what work you love, you're practically there.
..."

Existem várias tentativas de monetarizar o conteúdo dos blogs, mas Om Malik comenta que acredita que não é relevante esta discussão.

A questão está focada no lado errado: não se deve buscar remuneração por uma atividade, mas sim criar atividades que sejam remuneradas por resolver alguma necessidade de quem o consome.

Paper expensive, storage cheap. Printing press expensive, bandwidth cheap. Craigslist takes their classified business because its easier, and cheaper. The news paper classified ad departments are how should I put it mildly … lazy. The legacy costs of doing the business are at core of the problem facing media right now.

You want to see a true model of the new-new media, then look at PaidContent. Two reporters, two laptops and a whole lot of money. Staci and Rafat, like true reporters, dig dig dig, and scoop, scoop and scoop. (Sorry Jeff, scoop is the honey that gets the flies!)

O mercado de produtos de consumo é muito voltado ao uso do produto e não à tecnologia e o seu potencial futuro:

Om Malik:

The difference is the software that is being used to create a “user experience.” That user experience is what has helped iPod gain a mass market appeal. That user experience also stems from a tight marriage of the device, the music and the desktop software. Easy to buy, easy to load, easy to playback. The user experience is the new competitive advantage, not the chips etc. It is so ephemeral, that it is hard to pin down in a theory.