Author: Kelli Richards

5 Unlikely Music Legends With Great Advice for Entrepreneurs

Kelli Richards March 3, 2014

As an entrepreneur, it’s important to keep your ears open for helpful advice — especially when you’re new to the game.

We usually expect business wisdom to come from the likes of Mark Cuban, Elon Musk, and Warren Buffett — not Jimmy Buffett. But there are a few big names in entertainment who would surprise you with their entrepreneurial spirit and business acumen.

1. Jimmy Buffett

The man behind boozy classics such as “Margaritaville” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise” knows a little something about entrepreneurship.

Beyond his successful career in music, Buffett runs a record label, a merchandising company, the Margaritaville brand of chain stores, restaurants, blenders, tequila, and more.

He’s a successful entrepreneur because he hires talented people, can see the potential in important opportunities, and lives by solid values that go back to his roots.

Take it from Jimmy: “You’ve got to be able to take money out of the equation in order to enjoy life and make good decisions. Years ago, I went to Warren Buffett for advice about something, and that’s what he told me. He said, ‘Whether you make or don’t make this deal, is it going to affect your life? And if not, then do what you want to do, and be prepared for them to say no.’ I’ve used that quite a bit.”

2. Troy Carter

Troy Carter is the manager who helped build the careers of musical sensations including Lady Gaga and John Legend.

What you might not know is that he’s a tech investor in ventures like Spotify, Uber, and Dropbox, as well as the entrepreneur behind POPwater and several other companies.

Carter’s ability to stay present helps him make clear and logical decisions in the midst of chaos, keep the big picture in mind, and avoid getting flustered when things don’t go as planned.

Take it from Troy: “Money doesn’t make me tick. This definition of success doesn’t make me tick. Managing some of the biggest stars in the world doesn’t make me tick. Making my family proud makes me tick.”

3. Pharrell Williams

Pharrell Williams is a renowned hip-hop, R&B, and soul musician, but he also designs clothing and chairs, dabbles in sculpture and architecture, invests in tech startups, mentors kids, and is a philanthropist.

Williams is successful because he surrounds himself with people who recognize that they’re different, and he understands the importance of collaboration, learning from others, and taking constructive criticism.

Take it from Pharrell: “You are only as good as your team. When you envisage success, you should see all the people you work with, in addition to yourself…I used to hire 21-year-old monsters with a twinkle in their eye. I saw potential, but it was what I thought they could do, not what they could actually do…When you surround yourself with people with experience…A lot of them are gonna be older than you. When they vet people, they need to see more than twinkles; they need sparks.”

4. Dave Stewart

Dave Stewart is a musician best known for his work with the Eurythmics.

He now serves as an advisor to Visa and Nokia and is the CEO of the massively successful media company Weapons of Mass Entertainment. He’s also the co-founder of First Artist Ventures and the author of the entrepreneurial guidebook “Business Playground: Where Creativity and Commerce Collide.”

Stewart embraces and rewards creativity, understanding that it’s essential for a business to stand out in a crowded market. He also knows how to ask the right questions and when to seek different perspectives from trustworthy people.

Take it from Dave: “A creative culture is one in which people aren’t just rewarded for successes, but are allowed and actively encouraged to experiment and make mistakes.

“The perfect brainstorm removes the barriers to creativity by letting all ideas come out without the judgment and criticism that might otherwise kill them. It also involves having clear parameters, including a mix of people from different backgrounds, and setting high expectations for performance.”

5. Sammy Hagar

Also known as “The Red Rocker,” Sammy Hagar is a singer/songwriter and the musician best known as a member of Van Halen.

Hagar also owns a popular chain of nightclubs and restaurants called Cabo Wabo, a chain of airport restaurants, a restaurant with celeb chef Tyler Florence, and a tequila company.

While it might seem like a leap for a rocker to run a chain of restaurants, Hagar is successful because he follows his intuition, looks for new opportunities, finds the right people to run his businesses, and has fun.

Take it from Sammy: “Before I made it as a rocker, I had a lot of executives tell me what to do to make it, and I never listened to them. I did it my way…I like owning and operating a business. It’s as creative as stepping on stage or making a record. I’ve never started a business thinking, ‘Oh, I’m gonna make money off of this.’ All my ideas have come from sheer enthusiasm.”

While you probably shouldn’t take all your business advice from music legends, there are some common lessons that transcend industries:

Surround yourself with great people.
Explore potential opportunities that challenge you.
Don’t make money the first priority.
Always trust your gut.

Sometimes, the best advice comes from unexpected sources. Another lesson you can learn from these individuals is that you don’t necessarily have to start in business to build great companies. It’s just a matter of listening to your inner entrepreneur and seizing opportunities that excite you.

Which unlikely individuals have given you the best advice on entrepreneurship? What was their advice?

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, President, CEO of the All Access Group, LLC

PS: Subscribe to my FREE All Access Group Newsletter https://bit.ly/AAGNewletter

PSS: Listen to an entire library of intimate discussions with industry visionarieshttps://bit.ly/AllAccessPodcastSeries (Priceless)

4 Tech Dinosaurs That Will Finally Die in 2015

Kelli Richards February 27, 2014

February 27, 2014,

Forbes

In recent years, technology has changed the way we view work, entertainment, media, and even our workout habits. While most people are focused on what’s next for wearables, cloud computing, and syncing gadgets, few have taken the time to consider the tech we’re going to be sending into retirement in the coming years.

Read the entire article here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2014/02/27/4-tech-dinosaurs-that-will-finally-die-in-2015/https://www.forbes.com/sites/85broads/2014/02/27/4-tech-dinosaurs-that-will-finally-die-in-2015/

Two Steps to Creating Collaborations and One to Surviving When they Go Wrong.

Kelli Richards February 24, 2014

Today I had the privilege of interviewing Ian Miller. Ian is an expert brand and marketing strategist with 30 years of experience building hugely competitive brands and the CEO and Founder of The Brand Practice, a business and brand strategy consultancy. A recognized expert / lecturer in Ingredient Branding, Ian Miller has led the creation and global launch of the ingredient brand, NutraSweet, and worked closely with over 50 partner brands, including Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi – creating great synergy and collaboration around the business world.

One of the most important questions I got to ask Ian was about the subject of collaboration – something near and dear to my heart, as a consultant in the music and digital arenas and as a coach. Today, I wanted to go over the two largest pitfalls of being involved in collaborations that just don’t work and what we do to get out of them.

1. Imbalance. One of the greatest pitfalls of any collaboration is that it is not reciprocal. There’s no win / win – just hard work for one party and limited rewards for the other. The truth is that any collaboration can only succeed if all the parties involved are givers AND takers. If any one party involved has nothing to offer, they’re simply a drain on the whole. Be sure that all parties invited into any project are clear about their deliverables – even if it’s just to bring a creative edge to the process – and that nobody is “dead weight” in the group, just along for the ride.

2. End Game. Another pitfall to successfully working with other artists, mentors or business alliances is that we are simply NOT all cut from the same cloth. We don’t all have the same work ethic or goals – just ask Beyonce about the original Destiny’s Child members. BEFORE any collaboration goes wrong, in fact, before it even gets started, you have to be very honest with everyone involved. Before you set out on any journey you must know that what is obvious to you may look like murky waters to the people you’re working with. In addition to making sure you have the right team (number one, above), definitely take the time to carefully go over the goals and endgame of the project.

3. What to do when it goes wrong? No matter how great the team, sometimes things start out fine but go way off course along the way. Before you jump overboard, step back and measure what you can do to salvage your part – to bring the best you can to the project. It might not be great, but it’s possible that showing up for your part of the work – to preserve your future relationship with the other artists or parties involved – might be the best solution.

Collaborations are definitely NOT easy, but they are worth it. The bottom line is that we are in the people business, and tapping into that most important resource – the HUMAN resource is an important part of our industry. So DO collaborate. Take the risk. But no matter how “big” the names and other parties are, be sure to keep it simple, to keep your goals clear and to have definite accountability for every collaborator, every step of the way. If you do, the rewards can be well worth it.

Kelli Richards
CEO of The All Access Group

You can sign up for an advance copy of my ebook at https://allaccessgroup.com/services/ (just click ebooks when you get the confirmation).

5 Tools Every Entrepreneur Needs in 2014

Kelli Richards February 17, 2014

Entrepreneurs must be practical experts, according to author and leadership expert Simon Sinek. A new business owner needs to specialize in his craft, as well as marketing, graphic design, and plant maintenance. He sweeps, writes press releases, and keeps the books. An entrepreneur is everything to everyone. Juggling so many jobs can be a huge task, but happily there are new tools and tech to get you through it without losing your mind.

Getting Started

Most lenders and investors will not give you a second look without a business plan. It is the guide to your business. It is proof that the owner has thought out all of the opportunities and threats to the business and placed a monetary value on each. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers numerous resources for entrepreneurs to develop a business plan that will stand out to investors and put your business on the right track.

Working The Back Office

Intuit free accounting software helps a small business owner to do all of the necessary, but mundane, bookkeeping and financial reporting. Using Quickbooks is relatively simple, plus there are myriad instructional videos online. Quickbooks has all of the functions that a small business entrepreneur would need. At the front end of the software, the user can add receipts and expenses. This includes bank reconciliations and payroll, if your organization is big enough to have employees. At the back end, you can print financial reports that give either a point-in-time look at your business or an overview of your financial success.

Learning, Learning And More Learning

It would be great to know everything, but for those of us who do not, there is Google. Take a look at Google For Entrepreneurs, a collection of resources for any type of entrepreneur. Under the online learning tab there are educational videos by field experts and academics. The videos range from marketing to leadership development to Web analytics. Google also hosts various new business events, like its startup weekend, a 54-hour weekend seminar designed to put an entrepreneur through the paces. Google For Entrepreneurs also educates about some of the Google business development and marketing products like Adword and Adsense.

Staying Productive

When you are the chief multitask engineer, productivity is essential. Renting office space can be expensive, especially if it is only used occasionally. Meetings are more often held at the local coffee joint. Having your documents available to you everywhere you go is imperative for good productivity. Cloud-based file sharing is a good solution. Google Drive and Dropbox allow users to move files back and forth in the cloud. This allows you and your team the ability to share and update documents in real time, anywhere in the world.

Yelling From The Mountaintop

Internet-based marketing is one way to get the word out to your potential customers. Services like Buddy Media have cross platform marketing systems that allows you to create content and push it out via YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks.

Until next time,

Dana Hudson, Blogger for the All Access Group, LLC

PS: Subscribe to my FREE All Access Group Newsletter https://bit.ly/AAGNewletter

PSS: Listen to an entire library of intimate discussions with industry visionarieshttps://bit.ly/AllAccessPodcastSeries (Priceless)

Albhy Galuten

Kelli Richards February 13, 2014

Listen to the entire podcast here: https://allaccessradio.libsyn.com/kelli-richers-interviews-albhy-galuten

Step Away from the Smartphone

Kelli Richards February 10, 2014

Of the 93% of Americans that use cell phones or wireless devices, one-third of them are using “smartphones,” with which you can browse the Web and check e-mail. In other words, most of us are spending our days walking around with our eyes glued to our phone screens, as chillingly demonstrated in this telling YouTube short.

Some experts say it’s time to take a step back and reassess. They worry that kids won’t know what it’s like to have a conversation or actually look someone in the eyes when they tell a story.

In her powerful TED talk, Sherry Turkle claims that the little devices in our pockets are so psychologically powerful that they not only change what we do – they’re also changing who we are in our minds and our hearts, by allowing us three gratifying fantasies: that we can put our attention wherever we want it to be; that we will always be heard; and that we will never have to be alone.

But that’s just what they are – fantasies. And while we’re indulging in them, we’re tuning out the people who are physically present in the room with us. Some of the familiar things we now do with our devices – taking calls while out to dinner, checking Facebook during board meetings, texting while on a date – are things that only a few years ago we would have found odd or disturbing. Now it’s simply how we do things. Instead of never being alone, it seems we are getting accustomed to “a new way of being alone, together.”

“Parents text and do email at breakfast and at dinner. Their children complain about not having their parents’ full attention, but then these same children deny each other their full attention. We even text at funerals. I study this. We remove ourselves from our grief, or from our reverie, and we go into our smartphones.” If it’s true that attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity, then one could argue that smartphones are making us less generous human beings, unable to give each other the attention we crave.

Real conversations are unpredictable – and un-erase-able – and real relationships are engrossing and messy, but technology renders both neat and clean – keeping others at just the right distance: not too close to see the real you, and not too far that they can’t “hear” what you’re saying.

But having real conversations with each other is how we learn to have conversations with ourselves. Hiding from real, unscripted, unpredictable conversations with each other can compromise our capacity for self-reflection. And as smartphones burrow ever deeper into our lives, and Google Glass threatens to erode our personal space even further, finding ways to unplug is becoming more appealing – perhaps even more vital – than ever.

If you or someone you love is struggling with smart phone addiction, download Fast Company’s printable guide to unplugging and check out their collection of thought-provoking articles on the subject here.

Until next time,

Kelli Richards, President, CEO of the All Access Group, LLC

PS: Subscribe to my FREE All Access Group Newsletter https://bit.ly/AAGNewletter

PSS: Listen to an entire library of intimate discussions with industry visionaries https://bit.ly/AllAccessPodcastSeries (Priceless)

Brent Bourgeois

Kelli Richards February 8, 2014

Listen to the entire podcast here: https://allaccessradio.libsyn.com/kelli-richards-interviews-brent-bourgeois

Bobby Fried

Kelli Richards January 27, 2014

Listen to the entire podcast here: https://allaccessradio.libsyn.com/kelli-interviews-robert-fried

The Benefits of BYOD Across Different Company Sizes

Kelli Richards January 27, 2014

Anyone connected to the business world has heard about the rampant popularity of bring-your-own-device policies, better known as BYOD. The trend will continue for the near future and likely beyond, with Gartner analysts claiming that 50 percent of companies will mandate a BYOD platform over the course of the next five years. The popularity and gains in morale aside, however, does a BYOD set of policies make sense to a company on a financial standpoint? In terms of dollars and cents, some businesses may get more out of BYOD than others.

Small Companies

Could a BYOD platform benefit the larger conglomerates more than the small, home-based businesses that employ so many independent workers? The answer may be no, but not necessarily due to the basic revenue-expenses flowchart on your bookkeeping. The risk to small companies with a BYOD system lies in the security or lack thereof. V3 made headlines by proclaiming that a small business with BYOD is one cyber-attack away from bringing the company down. A small company may not be able to afford training or security to keep a BYOD network afloat, resulting in a far higher risk of a data breach. When that happens, the savings of a few hundred dollars per employee becomes trivial: The average data breach costs a company no less than $6.75 million dollars and an average of over $200 per compromised customer, Poneman research reports.

The Muddled Middle

Medium-sized businesses may have the resources to put a comprehensive BYOD platform in place to allow for security and increased safety, yet few end up doing so. CSO Online estimates that between 60 percent and 80 percent of businesses have no formal BYOD policies in place whatsoever. Businesses with the luxuries of modest resources and relative flexibility must think long and hard about the dollar value of each employee under its company umbrella. The advantages of cost savings and increased productivity often win out, since a medium-sized business rarely has to hire more than a handful of new staff members to police BYOD or train employees. When a medium-sized company has had limited success with safety, however, it may find a BYOD platform to be an unpalatable risk.

Corporate Policy

When your company employs hundreds or even thousands of workers, the solution becomes quite simple: Go big or go home. The math firmly stands in the BYOD camp, with Cisco reporting that a basic BYOD platform generates $350 per employee per year, while comprehensive policy boosts that figure up to $1,300 per employee per year. Risks remain, of course, and risks become more expensive as the size of a company grows, but when the benefits start climbing in to the millions of dollars, a corporation with a large workforce would greatly limit their growth potential by restricting BYOD policy in favor of uniform devices. There are also platforms that allow BYOD devices to switch from personal to business mode, keeping the two areas separate.

Until next time,

Keith Hart, Guest Blogger for the All Access Group, LLC

PS: Subscribe to my FREE All Access Group Newsletter https://bit.ly/AAGNewletter

PSS: Listen to an entire library of intimate discussions with industry visionaries https://bit.ly/AllAccessPodcastSeries (Priceless)

The Secret to Becoming a Super Connector

Kelli Richards January 24, 2014

January 28, 2014,

LinkedIn Articles

A few years ago, a former colleague reached out to me. He was working at Cisco, helping the company organize its 25 anniversary employee celebration. For the event’s entertainment, CEO John Chambers wanted Jerry Seinfeld.

Read the entire article here: https://www.inc.com/kelli-richards/the-super-connector-s-guide-to-making-powerful-business-introductions.html

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Author: Kelli Richards

5 Unlikely Music Legends With Great Advice for Entrepreneurs

4 Tech Dinosaurs That Will Finally Die in 2015