<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>Adam Carroll</title>
	<atom:link href="http://www.adamspeaks.com/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com</link>
	<description>Helping Students and Young Professionals Succeed Faster</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Mon, 18 Mar 2013 19:30:45 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en-US</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.2</generator>
		<item>
		<title>Credit Union Jobs</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/credit-union-jobs/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/credit-union-jobs/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 25 Feb 2013 20:13:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1906</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[For Business, Marketing, and Communication Majors The question usually comes up about the junior or senior year in college &#8212; how am I supposed to get experience when no one will give me a job? I’m happy to tell you that there is some low-hanging fruit that’s been in your backyard for some time but you never really equated the company with a job that could give you all of the experience you’ve been looking for. The answer is at your local credit union. I’ve been working with credit unions in the state of Iowa for the past couple of years and most all of them have one main goal: to lower the average member age. Credit unions are different than banks because all of the people who are customers of the credit union are actually member owners.  Because they have “shares” in the credit union, they are actually part owners in the institution itself.  Not so with banks&#8230; So, where this poses an opportunity for you is these credit unions are dying to figure out how to attract people your age into their branches.  It’s really a no-brainer once you dig into what the credit union offers &#8212; lower loan rates, better service, great people. But the credit unions scratch their heads when trying to figure out how to make what they have attractive to people your age.  So much so that many of them are now asking college students to sit on their board of directors to get a fresh perspective. Many of the credit unions I’ve worked with have asked me how to find interns that can help them with marketing and promotions, social media, and sometimes the high level administration stuff.  Just think, instead of casting a wide net for an internship it may just require asking the right person for the gig that would give you all of the experience you’re looking for. My recommendation is &#8212; if you’re not already a member of a credit union, you need to be.  Then, get to know some of the people at your credit union and ask if they ever hire any interns.  Whether they do or they don’t, you need to present an internship idea to them and see if they bite. What if you could actually leverage the Facebook experience you’ve acquired to land a sweet gig?! To your success.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/credit-union-jobs/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Investing in Yourself</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/investing-in-yourself/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/investing-in-yourself/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:13:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1914</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[One of the things that has separated me from a number of my peers is the sheer amount of professional development that I’ve done over the past 10 years.  I’ve spent $30-40,000 in courses, weekends, boot camps, books, CD’s, and webinars.  And to be quite honest, that is a drop in the bucket compared to what some of my friends spend. (I know one very entrepreneurial couple that will spend $100k this year alone in professional education!) What amazes me is meeting people who question how much they’ll spend on a weekend training program or CD set.  Spend is the operative word.  What they’ll spend is a fraction of what they’ll learn and eventually earn using the information they obtained.  That’s why I never perceive professional development an expense, but an investment.  It’s an investment in me.  And from past experience, an investment in me pays way better than an investment in the stock market, real estate, or going out on the town with friends. Let me suggest this&#8230; if you are someone that claims you don’t have enough money to do something that could radically change your world, then your not having enough money is only part of the problem.  The rest of the problem is you don’t have the right mindset. Money is a very infinite thing.  There is an infinite amount of money in society today.  Trillions of dollars are flowing around the world right now as you read this.  And yet, for most people, what their online balance shows them is what they gauge their having money on. What if the money were around to do whatever you like? Consider the fact that most Universities have a student activity fund that is funded by students at the rate of $50-75 a semester.  Take the average state university of 15,000 students and multiply that times $100 ($50 x 2 semesters).  The answer is $1.5M.  One million five hundred thousand dollars will buy a heck of a lot of bands, hypnotists, balloons, pizza, speakers, and oh yeah, tickets and transportation to professional development events you’d like to attend. Maybe the money you’re spending on professional development doesn’t have to be yours.  Ever considered asking your University (the Dean, Campus Activities, Student Life, etc.) if there are funds available to attend a conference that will help you Succeed Faster?  Dozens of students have done it in the past with incredible results. Karan Ahuja got his entire Succeed Faster attendance covered by Purdue University.  So did Nick Rizzi at the University of Denver.  Jocelyn Paonita had me write a letter for her and it secured her $800 for the event.  These are just a few of the myriad of students that got their professional education paid for. So my question is&#8230; are you thinking about your own wallet when making a decision that could effect the rest of your life?  Or, can you adopt the Succeed Faster mindset which says that if you ask, you might just receive.  And if you ask with the right method and support behind you, you’re just about guaranteed to get it! If you’re interested in attending a Succeed Faster event, but don’t have the cash, shoot me an email and let me know that you’re interested in getting a letter that you can take to the University.  I’m happy to help you Succeed Faster!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/investing-in-yourself/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Dentist&#8217;s Chair</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-dentists-chair-2/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-dentists-chair-2/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 19 Feb 2013 20:13:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1901</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[My cousin and I have a standing call once a week on Monday mornings.  He is usually driving to his dental practice office that is about 30 minutes away and I’m usually at Starbucks or Panera having coffee and planning out my week. Technically, we’re both entrepreneurs.  From a very early age, he knew that dentistry was where he was headed.  In fact, he was accepted into dental school his freshman year of undergrad (almost unheard of).  He worked in a small town in Iowa with a couple of dentists before deciding that that is where he would build his practice.  He even ended up buying out one of the dentists in the practice and became an owner. Our weekly conversations usually involve him asking me where I’m headed this week, what cool ideas I’ve been exposed to, and when we can find time to hang out.  I ask him how things are going with his partners, what they’re doing to grow the business, and what great books he’s been reading. I think you could say that both of us are relatively successful, but in entirely different ways.  At times, he is jealous of the freedom and flexibility of what I do.  At times, I’m jealous of the fact that he’s building a very tangible, income generating asset that can be sold down the road. Both of us would probably change places with the other &#8212; for about a week.  And then, we’d be craving what we had before the change. One of the things I found just after graduating from college was the vast differences in people and what they ultimately wanted from their career, their life, and their relationships.  Some of my friends really just wanted a job they could feel secure in, some wanted to travel extensively before ever settling down, some said they wanted kids immediately and as many as possible, others wanted no kids but someone that would build a business with them. The life paths we all take are as varied as we are.  And while some people will attempt to tell you which path you should be on, my response to them would be: if that path is so great, how come you’re not on it? There are four levels of fulfillment or satisfaction that most people are searching for: Security, Success, Significance, and Serenity. The first level of security is about doing something that pays the bills.  Having a “gig” that you enjoy enough to go to everyday and feel secure that your life is being taken care of. The second level is that of success.  I’ve found that no matter what you do, the 3 year rule applies.  The 3 year rule states that you’ll probably find the level of success you think you’re supposed to have in year 1, in year 3.  For most people, they constantly struggle to reach success because they spend a year or two getting their feet on the ground and then go right back to the square one in a new venture.  If success is what you desire, plan on putting 3 years of your life into whatever you are truly passionate about.  By the end of year 2, you’ll know that you’re almost there. Significance comes when what you’re doing with your life matters to others.  It’s when you feel like you’re making a difference or helping improve someone’s life. And Serenity is the ultimate level to achieve.  It’s where you are peace all the time with the decisions you make, the people you associate with, the business dealings you do, and the way your future looks.  It’s a great place to be and something to strive for &#8212; oh yes, and, it’s fleeting.  Some people hit serenity only to get drawn back to lower levels when they change their life plans. I don’t know if my cousin will always be a dentist.  I don’t know if I’ll always do what I do.  But I do know that change is the only thing that remains constant, that we are all walking out the path we’re supposed to, and that at some point, ALL answers will be revealed to us, but only when we’re ready for them. Succeed Faster!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-dentists-chair-2/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The First Six Months</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-first-six-months/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-first-six-months/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 17 Feb 2013 20:13:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1889</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Some of the best advice I ever got was from a crusty old manager at one of the first jobs I had out of college.  Being a recent college graduate (and highly educated!) I was anxious to give my advice to fellow workers, in meetings, around the break room, etc. This gentleman, let’s call him Dale, was in a meeting with me where I had piped up with my opinion one too many times.  After the meeting he asked if I could help him with something and I went back to his office. &#160; “You talk too much,” was the first thing out of Dale’s mouth. “What do you mean I talk too much?” I said. &#160; “Son, I’m going to give you some free advice that was given to me when I started working that has led me to build great relationships in every position I’ve ever had.” Dale then went on to tell me that the first 6 months of ANY job can be considered probationary.  Sure, they’ve hired you, but they’re still trying to get a sense of what you’re capable of and how much they can trust you with. He told me that a good rule of thumb is that the first two months of your employment you shouldn’t say much of anything in meetings unless you’re asked for your opinion directly.  Being quiet and listening intently is a great quality in a new employee and the higher ups will appreciate the fact that you’re soaking everything in.  In fact, Dale told me that if asked to elaborate, it’s okay to say, “I’m still in a learning phase here, but here are my thoughts&#8230;” The second two months of employment are all about asking questions.  One on one meetings are your chance to dig in and ask questions to everyone you meet.  Your goal is to be as inquisitive as possible.  How does that work?  What did you mean by that?  Can you elaborate on the Q2 goals?  How did you get to be so good at this job? Keep in mind the questions should be polite, non-confrontational, and asked purely for the chance to learn something more about your position.  What happens over several months of asking great questions is your managers will begin to see you as someone that is deeply interested in getting better at the job.  They’ll appreciate the fact that you care enough about the goals to have them elaborate on them.  You’ll win friends when asking people how they got to be so good at their job.  And ultimately, you’ll probably begin to hear people say things about how inquisitive you are and how other employees should be more like you. After 4 months on the job, most conversations are fair game.  4-6 months is usually enough time to completely get your feet under you, have really strong relationships built, and have developed a reputation as someone that gets stuff done. The key to making all of this work in your first real career is to take yourself down a peg or two.  Yes, you are a talented, capable new employee who is eager to share how much you know.  However, as my Dad once told me: It’s better to keep your mouth closed and appear a fool  than to open it and remove all doubt. Before you can show everyone how much you know, you have to earn the right to open your mouth.  Earning the right to share opinions isn’t just a by-product of having the job &#8212; it’s gotten through building relationships, having trust from other employees, and good solid handle on what’s happening in the great company you’re working for. When in doubt, remember the advice from Dale Carnegie’s How To Win Friends And Influence People: Be interested, not interesting!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-first-six-months/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>3 Components</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/3-components/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/3-components/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 14 Feb 2013 12:13:20 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1894</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have this calendar on my desk from www.tut.com.  It gets me thinking every morning when I read the “note from the Universe”.  Today’s was: The trick is remembering that at all times far more in happening on your behalf than your physical senses will ever reveal.  Like right now. I did a deep dive into the Law of Attraction last year and realized that there were really three components to activating this law (which supercedes the Law of Gravity). The first component is your thoughts.  I’ve heard from many sources that the mind is a wonderful slave but a terrible master.  There was a book written some years ago that was titled You Can’t Afford The Luxury of A Negative Thought.  Yet, every single day people are telling themselves all sorts of negative lies that begin to effect what they bring into their life.  These thoughts have an effect on all the stuff happening outside your physical senses. &#160; Step 1: Monitor your thoughts The second component is your emotions.  Ever gotten so tense or anxious or upset that almost every minute during the day goes the opposite of how you wanted it to?  Almost as if when you woke up in the morning and stepped in a wet spot on the carpet from the dog, it set the tone for the rest of the day?  Your emotions have a powerful effect on the Law of Attraction.  In fact, the stronger the emotion you feel, the more powerful the magnetic effect that your thoughts have at that very point in time. The solution is to feel good as much as humanly possible and get to a point where you begin to feel even better.  You should be guided by your emotions &#8212; when you have that pit in your stomach, take a deep breath, think positive thoughts, and replace any negative emotions with positive ones. Step 2: Feel good ALL the time The third component is probably the most important one.  It’s all about belief that what you want will actually come to you.  Belief is the one missing link for most people looking to access the law of attraction.  We can think great thoughts, all the while attracting that “stuff” to us, have powerful emotions that act as a strong magnet, but the minute we think to ourselves, “but it probably won’t happen”, the stuff we’re attracting goes away. Make a list of the 5 goals you have for yourself this year.  Then, write a number between 1-10 beside each goal.  1 means you don’t think you’ll achieve the goal and 10 means it will happen in the next 6 months.  Anything that’s not an 8, 9, or 10 does not carry with it enough belief to make it so.  So instead of focusing on the 1’s thru 7’s, focus on the 8’s, 9’s, and 10’s and you’ll be astonished at how quickly those events, things, or people come racing into your existence. Step 3: BELIEVE The reason we dream big dreams and focus on big goals is we have no idea what is working on our behalf on the other side of the globe (or the other side of the street).  What we do have an idea of is how to accelerate and exponentially multiply the law of attraction so that whatever it is we think about, feel amazing about, and believe in will come into our lives, faster than we ever thought possible. &#160; Succeed Faster!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/3-components/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Death By Meeting</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/death-by-meeting/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/death-by-meeting/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:10:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1927</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ever sit in a meeting and wonder how much it’s costing your company to have all of those people in attendance?  It’s staggering&#8230; yet most companies hold regular meetings where all of their salaried people get together to cover things that could be relayed through an email, video message, or sometimes, a text! One of my consulting clients is a medium sized organization that holds A LOT of meetings.  They frequently request that I attend the meetings to share some information about the projects I’m working on, and I happily (and truthfully, grudgingly) comply.  I find that meetings are a great time for me to crank out an updated to-do list, prioritize what I need to get done, and brainstorm next steps.  Essentially, meetings allow me to re-focus my attention and energy on what needs to be done. Once I get my to-do list knocked out, my email blasts scheduled, my personal must-do list from home, and play a couple of rounds of Words With Friends, my attention usually then comes around to how the hell much is this meeting costing the company? If you take the meeting I attended today where a good solid 30 people were gathered, I assume that most of the folks in the room were making at least $40,000 a year.  Add in benefits and retirement packages and they are all easily at $50,000.  A person making $50k a year is making roughly $25 an hour.  ($50,000 / 2080 hours).  The meeting today was about 5 hours, so if you take 30 people x $25/hr x 5 hours, you’d get an approximate cost of the meeting coming in at: $3,750.  This doesn’t factor in the opportunity cost of the time lost, the mileage reimbursement, lunch catered in, or the fact that a day-long meeting on Thursday usually means a vacation day on Friday resulting in more work stoppage. It’s crazy. Die-hard meeting enthusiasts will tell me I’m crazy and you can’t break down the times and expenses like this, but if I were the owner of a company that regularly wasted thousands of dollars on meetings, you better believe they’d be clamped down on. One of the best ideas I’ve ever heard was the company that did away with conference tables in exchange for high-top rounds that everyone stood at.   Because there were NO chairs in the room, the meetings lasted about 20 minutes tops.  Everyone came prepared with agendas and left with to-do’s and the work was accomplished&#8230; without spending thousands on wasted time. I think being an entrepreneur and solopreneur for so long has given me an unusual grasp at time-wasting.  Believe me, I can waste time with the best of them, but much of my time wasting is scheduled.  I like to grab my guitar and play every now and again.  I enjoy watching certain videos on YouTube or tuning into a webinar by marketers that I model.  I’ll even sneak in a movie here and there. But to sit in a room and listen to people drone on about stuff that has no applicability to my tasks, my income, or my interests is like going to a really bad high school play without knowing any of the actors.  At some point, you’re bound to ask yourself, “why the hell am I sitting here?” Next time you’re called into a meeting, offer up this excuse: “I would really like to know the outcome of the meeting, but due to a number of projects that I’m working diligently on, would you mind if I focus on completing those instead?  Nikki in HR said she’d take copious notes for me&#8230;” I think your time is more valuable.  I know mine is.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/death-by-meeting/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Uncle Sam Got Your Money?</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/uncle-sam-got-your-money/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/uncle-sam-got-your-money/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:13:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1939</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Remember graduating and thinking, “now I’m going to make the big bucks”?  Only to get your first paycheck and realize that Uncle Sam (or Uncle Scam as I like to call him) has taken 1/3 of your hard-earned money. Of the two greatest expenses we have in life &#8212; taxes and the interest expense on debt &#8212; the first you have either a whole bunch of control over OR no control over, depending on how you choose to be paid. How you choose to be paid is a tad misleading&#8230; if you are working for a company, you will more than likely be paid as a W2 employee.  W2 employees fill out a W4 form that lists their dependents, how much should be held back for taxes, and if they are tax exempt.  As a standard rule of thumb, the fewer dependents you list on your W4 form, the MORE taxes Uncle Scam will pull out.  If you have very few deductions when filling out your tax return, you might get a little (or a lot) back as a refund.  If you have plenty of deductions (things like mortgage interest, student loan interest, non-reimbursable travel expenses for work, etc.) then you’re going to be looking at a pretty substantial refund. For someone with lots of dependents, the amount of money that’s held back for personal taxes is considerably less.  At the end of the year, if they’ve planned properly, they’ll owe little to no money in taxes.  They probably won’t get much back either. So what’s a person to do to maximize their income earned? For starters, consider doing work as an independent contractor where you’re paid whatever amount you agree upon with no taxes taken out.  At the end of the year you’ll receive a 1099 listing the amount you made and it will be up to you to cover the taxes due.  Keep in mind you may be on the hook for self-employment taxes which can take a bite out of your overall income (if not planned properly). If that seems a bit daunting, the key is educating yourself about what can be written off and what can’t.  A major turning point in my life when it came to working for myself or working for someone else was finding a mentor in the tax world.  For the past 15 years I’ve been working with an absolute tax-master.  He’s completed tens of thousands of tax returns in the past 40 years, but probably more impressive is the fact that when a tax law changes, he dives headlong into the changes to see how it will effect his clients. What I’ve learned in my years of working with this professional is the deeper your understanding of the system, the more ways of minimizing your overall liability there are.  We’re not talking about *shirking* the system, but about legally setting up your affairs so that you pay the least amount necessary.  For the record, I’m all about paying every dime that I legally owe, but not one red cent more. The key word to pull from the previous paragraph is learned. You can’t just know this stuff like some people realize they can play music by ear.  It’s learned, oftentimes through trial and error, making mistakes, attending conferences, and hanging out with wickedly smart entrprepreneurs, tax planners, and accountants. Are they dry?  Sometimes. Are they money savvy?  Always. While I would never blindly steer someone into working for themselves, I can honestly say that making the leap for me from a corporate soldier to an entrepreneur was one of the most challenging and rewarding things I’ve ever done. For a great resource to learn more about keeping more of the money you make, check out this book by Robert Kiyosaki and his advisors:]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/uncle-sam-got-your-money/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Power 100 List</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-power-100-list/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-power-100-list/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Feb 2013 22:46:27 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1966</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The “strength” of your resume isn’t opening any doors. In fact, what your resume says isn’t really even what hiring managers are considering when bringing you in for an interview.  I mean, face it, there are hundreds of people that have the same boring bullet points on their resume. What WILL open the door for you is the strength of the relationship you have with someone that already works in the company you’re interested in. With that in mind, I wanted to create a short guide that will show you exactly how to go about getting your foot in the door of a targeted company or companies by leveraging the contacts you already have in your network. Let me explain… Each one of us has at least 100 people in our lives that like, love and respect us.  They are our champions, our go-to people, friends and allies that ultimately will do what they can to assist us in getting what we want.  I call it your POWER 100 List. Step One: Your goal is to identify who these people are and how to contact them. The easiest way to do this is to create a spreadsheet with the following column headings: First Name    Last Name    Email        Phone Then, begin filling in lines with people that have your back.  These could be friends, mentors, parents, aunts, uncles, professors, former employers, teachers, guidance counselors, your dean… anyone who you believe would be willing to do something for you just because you ask.  Don’t stop until you reach 100 rows filled in. Step Two: Use Mailchimp.com to send out a customized mass email. Mailchimp.com is an email delivery service that allows you to write one email and customize it for every person on your spreadsheet.  It’s a whole lot easier than you might think, so please don’t stress about how you’re going to do this.  In fact, I’ll walk you through it. First, log onto www.mailchimp.com and set up an account.  It’s free up to 2,000 email addresses as long as you’re sending less than 12,000 emails a month.   Trust me, you won’t be sending that many. Once you’ve setup the mailchimp account, you are then going to import the list that you created into the service.  That’s as easy as clicking on the link that says Import.  Select your file and voila, the service imports that data you put in the spreadsheet.  Mailchimp will ask you to verify that the data was imported correctly.  Once you do that, you’re ready to create the mailer that will go out to your mass list — which I’m about to do for you! Click on the link that says CREATE EMAIL and cut and paste the following text customized with the companies/industries you want to work within: SUBJ: I’d love your help with a goal of mine Hi &#60;firstname&#62;, I know it’s been awhile since we visited, but you are someone that I look up to very much and I was hoping to get your input on a goal/dream of mine. I’m currently a senior at University Name majoring in business management.  My experience at company name last summer gave me some incredible skills that I was hoping to parlay into a position with either Ernst &#38; Young, ABC Consulting, or Disney.  My ultimate goal is to be doing xxxxxxxxx in the next 5 years. As you are probably aware, in this competitive job market, most positions are awarded first through networking and business contacts.  Instead of sending my resume into the abyss, I was hoping to find a contact within one of my target companies that might be able to put in a good word for me and direct my resume to the appropriate party. Trust me, I will value any introduction as highly as I value our relationship, you have my word. If you don’t happen to know anyone at my dream companies, I’d welcome any suggestions or advice you may have on next steps to take in pursuing my new career.  I realize that my education is really just beginning, and I’m eager to tackle new challenges and opportunities!  If you know of something that may be a fit based on what you know about me, I’d love to hear it. I hope this email finds you well, and that we have a chance to catch-up in the very near future!  Thanks for all you’ve done to help shape the professional I’m becoming. With gratitude, Your name Step Three: FOLLOW UP!! Assuming you get responses (which you will!), now the magic is in the follow up.  Send an email reply back to the people that sent you leads and make sure that you keep them in the loop with the contacts they provided you. The ONLY way this doesn’t work is if you don’t.  One of the pieces of advice I give job seekers all the time is if you’re out of work, your job IS to land a job.  Spend 6 hours a day responding to emails, setting up informational interviews, and worming your way into the companies you most want to work for. One of the coolest features of MailChimp is your ability to track who is opening the emails and reading them.  If you know that 50 people read the email and 20 of them responded, consider sending a follow up email to the 30 that didn’t respond.  Again, it’s all about your ability and drive to connect with your POWER 100 List. I can almost hear you asking, “but what do I say to the contacts?” Here’s an email to send to contacts you receive: Hi firstname, My name is YOUR NAME  and I’m a senior at UNIVERSITY graduating in May with a degree in MANAGEMENT.  Snookie Stackhouse gave me your name as someone that she admired and was working for one of the companies I’m targeting in my job search. I realize this is a big ask, but would you be willing to allow a college [...]]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/the-power-100-list/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Pole Vaulting Over Mouse Turds</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/pole-vaulting-over-mouse-turds/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/pole-vaulting-over-mouse-turds/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 Jan 2013 10:13:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1948</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[In my informal study of asking people if they have a business idea or want to someday become an entrepreneur, a great percentage of them have some deep-seated desire to be their own boss.  In fact, some will even tell me how great it would be if they could do whatever they wanted every day as “the man”. Naturally, my question is: Why don’t you? From the extensive empirical data I’ve acquired (*sarcasm*), the number one thing that keeps people from venturing out on their own is fear.  The old adage about fear standing for False Evidence Appearing Real is legitimate.  You could probably name at least half a dozen people that have started businesses that weren’t successful.  Some may have even had enormous hardships when the business failed.  If a million businesses are started in America this year, 80% of them will be out of business by next year. That scary statistic is probably enough to keep anyone off of the entrepreneur’s path. However, when you dig in a bit deeper to the stories behind those failed businesses you’ll probably find people who were not properly funded, folks with serious family baggage they weren’t able to shed, or just a complete lack of business acumen.  The bottom line is not all entrepreneurs are made equally. I’ve found that the fear that most employees face when looking at “hanging a shingle” comes from playing out ‘what if’ scenarios in their mind and thinking of the business environment from a negative or lack mentality.  The ‘what if’ scenarios play out in their mind as very real, causing very real emotions, and thus very visceral reactions to the mere thought of getting started. &#160; Here are some examples of the ‘what if’ scenarios: What if I lose everything? What if the economy goes completely in the crapper? What if I have to fire someone? What if I get audited by the IRS? What if someone steals my idea? &#160; Just ask yourself some of these questions and see what answers your super-creative imagination comes up with.  Are they positive answers or mostly negative ones?  They are almost always overwhelmingly negative and we see all of the horrible, catastrophic consequences of our poor business decisions play out in our mind’s eye. A good business owner friend of mine has a different strategy.  When figuring out whether or not to make a business decision that could have very large, sweeping consequences, he asks himself: what is the worst that could happen and can I live with that? The question seems similar but it’s actually posed very differently from the ‘what if’ questions.  By looking at the worst possible thing that could happen, my friend is deciding whether or not he’s willing to take a calculated risk on the business idea.  It’s calculated because he’s looking at both the upside AND the downside potential and determining if he can live with the latter. If you’re on the entrepreneurial fence, understand that there’s a difference between risk and risky.  It’s a fine line difference, but a difference nonetheless.  It’s risky for someone to open their own business with not enough money in the bank, no formal plan for getting business in the door, and no knowledge of systems creation to make the business easier.  That’s risky.  Yet people do it every day and help contribute to the growing fear of “doing your own thing”. A risk is taken when leveraging equity out of your home or rental property in order to fund a business that you’ve thoroughly researched and know like the back of your hand.  Or, throwing a business proposal video up on kickstarter.com and getting your entire idea funded through social networks &#8212; that’s a nice calculated risk with very little downside. Risk is that thing to be avoided most of the time but we take risks everyday and think nothing of it.  Next time you’re on the interstate, just think about how long the truck driver next to you has been awake.  If he or she veers your direction, it could be lights out.  Seems risky to me. How about that teenage driver with the cell phone?  Risk. I know people that play the lottery every week, betting hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars in hopes that they’ll win the big payday.  Risk. What’s funny about risk is that it generally looks a whole lot smaller once you’ve gotten to the other side.  Starting your own gig seems like a huge risk, but ask anyone who’s gotten past year 1 or 2 and they’ll tell you it was really no big deal. My grandfather had a saying about just such an experience: Stop pole-vaulting over mouse turds. We tend to make the reasons NOT to do something so great in our minds that getting over them seems monumental.  When we finally do it, we look back and say, “well that wasn’t so bad.”  You can start your own business, but only if you take calculated risks in doing so.  There’s no need to pole-vault over mouse turds&#8230; but you might need to learn to high jump.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/pole-vaulting-over-mouse-turds/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Surfer&#8217;s Paradise</title>
		<link>http://www.adamspeaks.com/surfers-paradise/</link>
		<comments>http://www.adamspeaks.com/surfers-paradise/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 24 Jan 2013 08:13:21 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Adam Carroll</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[blog]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://adamspeaks.com/?p=1952</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I spoke last week at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.  Without question, if I had attended a school with views and surroundings like Pepperdine has, there is NO WAY I would’ve ever made it to class.  (I barely made it to class in Northern Iowa&#8230;) One of the things I most enjoy about traveling and presenting in different places is getting to see how other people live and imagining what life might be like if I transplanted my family there.  I’ve lived in California before, so I know what “life” is like there &#8212; both in Northern and Southern areas. However, there are experiences I wasn’t able to have in the previous trips to Cali, and this last trip allowed me to cross one major item off of my bucket list.  I finally went surfing. Now before I go into how badly I got my ass handed to me by the ocean, it’s worth mentioning that I’ve wanted to surf since I was probably 12 when my parents took my sister and I to Hawaii.  I imagined that I’d pop up on the first wave and ride it all the way in to the beach.  In my mind, I was Brody from Point Break. It’s made nearly every Big Dream List I’ve ever filled out, and with the help of Succeed Faster alum, Dave Glanzrock, I finally get to say that I tested my manliness against the Pacific and it chewed me up and spit me out.  This time. While I watched some of the pros pop up off their boards with the mere hint of a wave, I started wondering what these dudes did for a living.  Why were they in the 54 degree water on a Thursday morning?  What was life like for them?  Where did they live? Of course, you can only daydream and ponder these things for a minute or two before the surf picks you up and slams you back to reality.  Over and over and over&#8230; (am I selling how badly I got douched with sand?) After breakfast at the world-famous Sugar Shack, we drove down the coastline and saw amazing homes that were no doubt built decades ago when people could still afford to buy land on the coast.  There was a lot for sale that Dave and I surmised would be a great place to build a surfer’s paradise.  The lot was about 12-15’ wide and probably 80’ deep.  The home that could be built on it would be described as a shotgun home because you can fire a shotgun from the front door right through to the back. Asking price of the lot: $3 Million. What I want you to do is listen to your inner voice &#8212; does it say, “That’s ridiculous.”?  Or, do you think, “Maybe someday..”? While I don’t see myself buying the lot and building The Carroll Surf-Inn right away, I do believe in Dreaming Big and putting some completely (seemingly) unattainable goals on my dreams list. While others would turn their nose at a $3M lot, I find immense enjoyment in letting my subconscious run wild with how I’m going to make the money to pay for that lot over&#8230; and over&#8230; and over. You want to Succeed Faster?  Figure out exactly what you want out of life.  Get really specific.  Write it all down.  Then get to work thinking about how you’re going to make it happen. We’ll teach you how to do all this and more at Succeed Faster in Chicago July 13-15, 2012.  Hope to see you there!]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.adamspeaks.com/surfers-paradise/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
