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Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur
June 28th, 2007 by Matt HugginsIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Stuart Skorman was kind enough to provide me with a complimentary audio copy of Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur: Why I Can’t Stop Starting Over in order to provide a review. In short, the book provides an inside look at Skorman’s life through his many entrepreneurial endeavors. While he wouldn’t recommend his business lifestyle as a serial entrepreneur, Skorman does have a lot of useful business knowledge to share, offering many lessons learned as a take-away from both his triumphs and his failures.
Confessions covers the Skorman’s history, including the story of a Silicon Valley dot com start-up inspired by video stored that he later sold for $100 million, how another Web-based business bombed, and how his latest start-up “Elephant Pharmacy” threatened his life savings.
Skorman provides insight from what he has learned with regards to the emotional ups and down in the start-up world. He explains how it’s necessary to harness these emotions — such as fear, joy, passion, and desperation — to ensure that they work in your favor instead of working against you. By recognizing that most entrepreneurs fail, Skorman explains how harnessing this fear can make you work harder than you may have previous considered to be possible. Similarly, desperation can push entrepreneurs into becoming big risk-takers, leaving their previous comfort zone behind.
In harnessing these feelings, Confessions goes on to explain the necessities of knowing when to ask for support and how important it is to learn from your mistakes and simply move on. The constant pressures when first starting a business also means that it may be necessary to “give up” your life for some time while putting the wheels in motion, which is explained in much more detail while offering steps to help work through it all. As Skorman states,
In entering the world of entrepreneurship, be prepared to do whatever it takes. If you think about how many hours you’re going to be working, you might as well be working behind a desk or in a cubicle.
All things considered, Confessions of a Serial Entrepreneur is a great motivational read that offers important insights in the quest to become an entrepreneur. You can also learn more about Skorman at his website StuartSkorman.com.
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June 28th, 2007 at 8:23 pm
It’s nice to see someone be really honest about how much hard work it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur. Especially online, you see so many people who speak as though it was so easy, which is misleading to people when they attempt to do the same. I think the whole “get rich quick” idea is a sham, and that the only true route to success is by working hard, and sometimes falling down along the way.
Very interesting, thanks for recommending this, Matt.
June 28th, 2007 at 8:37 pm
I definitely agree with you there, Danielle. It’s was refreshing listening to the hard times Skorman went through in addition to his successes. Sometimes it can be depressing simply seeing everyone else finding success online while you’re stuck thinking to yourself “what am I doing wrong?”
Obviously success takes time, dedication, and a product that works, which Skorman has done well with along the way as well. He’s even working on two new Internet start-ups right now on top of everything else he’s accomplished.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:30 am
tks for the introduction. Think many of us wld have already heard of the same things when starting a business. Don’t give up, stay focus, etc. But is there anything new and interesting in this book that would not be commonly preached about?