12 Steps To Entrepreneurial Re-Invention

Great find by my boy Klong....

SecondAct contributor Michelle V. Rafter covers business and workplace issues for a variety of national publications. She is based in Portland, Oregon. The views expressed are her own –

Reinventing yourself at midlife is no simple undertaking, especially if it involves switching careers. It takes equal parts planning, stamina and guts.

But everybody’s got to start somewhere. Here are a dozen first steps, based on advice from SecondAct interviews with authors and other experts on careers and midlife transitions.

1. Take it one step at a time. If a career overhaul seems too overwhelming to take in all at once, break it down into multiple steps to make it easier to accomplish. “Have your second act build on your first,” said Davia Temin, a women’s leadership expert and head of a New York City marketing consulting firm.

2. Test the waters. A midlife switch is a big deal, and you’ll want to try it on for size first. Do a reality check by taking a class, volunteering or signing up for an internship in a field you’re exploring, said Bruce Frankel, author of “What Should I Do With The Rest Of My Life? True Stories of Finding Success, Passion, and New Meaning in the Second Half of Life“. Remember, internships aren’t just for college students anymore.

3. Find a mentor. What better guide to a new career than a mentor, someone who’s already been there, done that? But there are right ways and wrong ways to approach a would-be mentor. The purpose of the relationship may be for the experienced party to share accumulated wisdom, but it’s not a one-way street. Be prepared to give as much as you get. If you’ve identified a possible candidate, don’t ask “Will you be my mentor?” Anything so direct is off-putting, Temin said. Invite a would-be mentor for coffee and see how it goes. Be genuine. If a bond forms, you can gradually turn more of the conversation to your career goals.

4. Start by moonlighting. Before you quit your day job, get a little something going on the side. If you plan to moonlight, schedule at least two hours a day to work on your new business, try to adjust your full-time job schedule to accommodate a sideline venture, and make sure that your family is onboard, advised Melinda F. Emerson, entrepreneur, author and SecondAct’s Careers Columnist.

5. Get your financial affairs in order. If you’re contemplating a switch that’ll take time, money or both, make sure you have sufficient financial resources to cover the mortgage, insurance, the kids’ tuition and other basics while you’re in transition. Emerson suggested looking for ways to cut monthly expenses and saving 20 to 30 percent of each paycheck.

6. Look forward, not back. If you’re trying to sell yourself to a prospective employer in a new field, don’t dwell on past positions — people don’t care. “It doesn’t make you more qualified; it makes you ask for a higher salary,” said Penelope Trunk, a careers expert, author and blogger at Brazen Careerist. Instead, highlight skills and accomplishments you gained from previous jobs, and be prepared to explain how they’d make you an asset in a new situation.

7. Think small. Your quest for success could mean downsizing, as in working for yourself. That’s been the career path of choice for many people in their 40s and 50s who lost corporate jobs in the recession. “In most cases it would be easier to start a small enterprise working from home to create some revenue stream than to find a full-time paying job,” said Art Koff, founder of RetiredBrains, an online community and job board.

8. Be true to yourself. Don’t force yourself to be something you’re not. Entrepreneurship is great, but it’s not for everyone. It may take some soul searching or consulting with a career counselor to figure out what you’re best suited for. “Don’t think you already know who you are,” said Natalie Caine, a Southern California counselor who helps parents with empty-nest syndrome and other midlife transitions. “Walk, write, chat with good friends who support you, and ask ‘Who am I now? Who am I willing to become? What spooks me, and what is easy for me?’ Get support. Ask for help. Weep and stand tall again. Passion wins over and over even when it goes dormant,” Caine said.

9. Don’t wait for a new job to start making a difference. You don’t need to switch careers, companies or even positions to be a game-changer, Trunk said. Don’t wait for permission; simply take the initiative by recognizing a problem situation and fixing it on the job or in your personal life.

10. Don’t overthink things. Sometimes the hardest part of making a change is overcoming your own fears. When in doubt, make that call or send the resume. In other words, “Just do it,” said Wally Pacholka, who traded in a career as an accountant to be a night sky photographer.

11. Fake it ’til you make it. As you delve deeper into a change, continue to be curious and playful. Another tip from Frankel: Stay confident about your abilities, even if you have to act the part until you really feel that way.

12. Check your progress. Keep regular dates with a journal — at least once a month — to take stock of what you’ve done to advance your dreams, Frankel said. “A self-reporting card helps us see that we are making progress even when it may feel we are at a standstill, and it helps us to refocus on our goals,” he said.

Bloom Energy Releases 'Bloom Box' - Fuel Cells To Power Your Own Home

Bloom Energy, a Sunnyvale startup that has been working for years on a fuel cell that would allow homes and businesses to generate their own electricity, officially unveiled its so-called Bloom Box at a highly orchestrated media event Wednesday morning.

Tech journalists joined Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bloom cofounder and CEO K.R. Sridhar, venture capitalist John Doerr and former Secretary of State Colin Powell at eBay's San Jose headquarters to learn how Bloom, which has raised about $400 million from investors, plans to mass produce its solid oxide fuel cells.

Google, FedEx and Wal-Mart are among the companies beta-testing the technology; several Bloom Boxes are in use on the eBay campus.

EBay started using five Bloom Energy Servers in July. They produce electricity to power space for 2,000 to 3,000 employees and shaved $100,000 off eBay's power bill, says Amy Skoczlas Cole, director of eBay's Green Team. EBay uses natural gas in the boxes but will switch to methane gas from an Oklahoma landfill this spring.

The video on 60 Minutes is 13 minutes long, but worth every second to learn about this amazing technology.


Watch CBS News Videos Online

Adconion Media Group Acquires Certain Assets From Joost

Joost isn’t dead, it’s just getting more advertising.

Adconion‘s main aim in acquiring the video firm is to offer its web player to brand marketing clients, CEO Tyler Moebius told paidContent.org. But Adconion’s acquisition also includes the Joost.com trademark and rights for much of Joost’s TV content…

Though Joost itself had decided to exit the consumer video space to focus on white-labeling, Adconion will continue to operate the Joost.com consumer site and will go on seeking new Joost.com video content, he said…

“We’ll continue to pursue a strategy of aggregating premium content,” Moebius said, who is retaining a 12-strong Joost engineering team in New York, pledging: “We’ll continue to innovate on the Joost platform.”

But building an audience for strands like Transformers and Martial Arts TV, where Joost before could not, is not the centrepiece of Adconion’s strategy here. Rather, Joost’s embeddable player and portal site will both become spaces on which to sell ads and a window through which marketing clients can show their emerging wave of branded content...

“Acquiring their technology platform will enable us to combine it with our existing ad-serving solution to provide a white-label solution to publishers and advertisers,” Moebius said. “Now we’ll be able to provide those publishers with a branded video player and iPhone app” (Joost’s app is still available; counterparts Babelgum and Livestation have recently been white-labeling their iPhone apps to other media orgs).

After launching its Adconion.tv imprint in a big video foray last year, Adconion already has its own content development and syndication arm, RedLever (formed after acquiring LA digital studio KTV), ready to produce those videos for clients (it’s already produced a Late Night Jukebox series on behalf of McDonald’s, featuring artists from Sony’s Epic record label).
Adconion will offer its customers a customised Joost player for their own site, distribution for their branded content through those players and on the Joost.com portal, and overlay ads on Joost.com’s existing content (preroll, midroll, postroll, overlay)...

So, Joost.com survives, but may be more marketing-heavy than before. Moebius presumably isn’t as intrigued by the opportunity to make Joost succeed as a VOD portal in its original form as he is by its potential as an advertising canvas - ex Joost CEO Mike Volpi already conceded to paidContent:UK in June that Joost had been rendered unattractive by the Hulus and iPlayers of this world. That prompted the switch toward technology white-labeling - Adconion will get white-label clients Joost had since scooped up, Moebius said, but Joost’s previous managers had let advertisers go when they made the shift, he added.

“When we first looked at the video landscape two years ago, the biggest challenge was giving advertisers premium content and scale,” Moebius said. “We decided to pursue a strategy of pushing content out. We continue to stay focused on content syndication and distribution but, by operating Joost.com, it will complement these efforts and provide a complete video ecosystem for our advertisers, publishers and content owners, giving them the availability to showcase premium content on Joost.com or to license the Joost platform.”

Moebius refused to reveal the price for Joost, nor what happens to assets he is not buying, but credited the Flash web player that Joost invested so heavily on developing to replace its desktop app: “We were extremely impressed with the technology platform that they had built over the years, along with the engineering team responsible for building a state-of-the-art global video platform.”

Despite being headquartered in London, Adconion’s CEO says he will remain in Santa Monica, LA, where it has 65 staff, unless demands dictate otherwise. Last week’s departure of his UK managing director is “completely unrelated” and all the Joost assets will sit under Adconion.tv, operated by Moebius’ CTO, while Joost as a brand will be one of Adconion’s “portfolio products”.
After acquiring KTV, Frontline and HiClip.tv, are more buys on the cards for the company in which $80 million was invested last year? “We’ll always continue to evaluate opportunities that meet our business objective as a leader in online video,” Moebius said.

On the subject of acquisitions, it won’t escape your attention that, like Joost, Adconion’s main financing is from Index Ventures. No word on whether this sale was coordinated by Index.

VC Money Is Dry, Excluding Funny Or Die

The American economy is in a recession.  Companies are struggling for cash, and venture capital dollars have almost completely dried up.  Right? Well, Will Ferrell's online video site, Funny or Die, just received a $3 million cash infusion from "a single, undisclosed investor." While a part of me is saying screw those guys for continually making funny, entertaining content and leaving the rest of us out to dry, the other part of me is remembering that innovation wins out.  So long as Pearl is getting her money on time, I suppose it doesn't really matter. 

Obama Supports Tech Innovation and Start Ups

Innovation vs. “New Economy”

The economy sucks! Our financial system is crumbling due to faulty government intervention and uncontrolled spending. Recession is looming.

That was the last you will hear of me rant about the “down” economy, because negativity is only going to get us so far. From this moment forward, it is now the “New Economy” in my mind. I’m completely over what has happened in the past, and am looking forward to a new White House, and a new economic system to tackle the mess we are in now.

So how will this “New Economy” affect the world of start- ups? I am a firm believer that innovation will ALWAYS win out. That isn’t necessarily a prescription for guiding the next 6 months of change, but creativity and smart business people will always find a way to shake up a stale business period.

It’s no secret that green ventures and biotech will continue to grow. From both a social and economic perspective, these are business channels that are both in need and have potential for development. Outside of those categories, a new business will need to show solid plans for revenue generation, which may seem tough over the next 6 months. However I do truly believe that originality can prevail. And I believe there is always space for an idea that is either brand new, or is a modified version of something everyone takes for granted.

The online ad space will be a very interesting place for investors. The double edge sword of marketing is that ad budgets are the first to be cut in an economic downturn. However, it also means that offline dollars get shifted online where rates are cheaper and accountability is more prevalent. Web start-ups should theoretically be flourishing in this “New Economy” because you will be hard pressed to find a middle tier advertiser looking to spend $2 MM in television for 5 thirty second spots. That same budget can be taken online and be diversified over the course of a few months. And it can go towards emerging media channels, like mobile, online video, social media, etc. Places where consumers are turning for their most prized content.

All in all, I’m legitimately excited to see where the next 6 months take us. in terms of venture capital dollars, the economy as a whole, and for emerging media, there will be lots of changes and I’m interested to see it all play out.

Spending In A Down Economy

Just thinking out loud a bit here...everyone talks about how money is tight in a down economy. People want to spend less, venture capitalists fund fewer companies or simpy provide less dollars, and advertisers cut budgets.

I relate the down economy to a traffic jam. In slow moving traffic on the freeway, if everyone just stepped on the gas at the same time, we would all move smoothly. Despite some instances, the freeway keeps on going and we aren't running out of road. Similarly, if everyone decided not to panic and just kept buying their same groceries and investing in their same funds and companies, everything would be fine. It's the one guy pumping his brakes because he's panicking that throws everyone else off.

The Great Divide Between Silicon Valley and Madison Avenue

AdWeek contributor Brian Morrissey wrote a fantastic piece entitled Strangers In The Night, pointing out the fundamental rifts between the world of Venture Capital dollars and their portfolio companies, and the major ad agencies of Madison Avenue and beyond. A fantastic read for anyoe trying to get a grip on the VC world, spending in a tight economy, and aency understanding of the startup environment.