Episode 1 — Freelancer or Entrepreneur?

[admin 330]

Welcome to the first episode of Seth Godin's Startup School. Join best-selling author Seth Godin as he provides business advice for entrepreneurs and freelancers from this rare workshop. During this week's episode Seth discusses creating a monopoly, describes the differences between freelancers and entrepreneurs, and talks about how a business is connected to marketing.

[Timfastic 5]

So how much money did this guy pay for a personal forum and neoliberal advertisement space?

[jeffullrich 652]

I'm so happy to have been able to work with Seth in bringing this valuable information to Earwolf (and non-Earwolf) listeners. I've been reading his books and blogs for 10 years and he has been THE main influence in how I've built Earwolf. I was able to attend a workshop of his in December that changed the way I think about my business and this new series continues that education for me.

 

A lot of our listeners are freelancers, entrepreneurs and small business owners, so I know this series will be useful for those looking to build their business or start one. For freelancers, it will help you figure out if you should continue what you are doing or start something bigger.

 

I'm excited to hear your thoughts, so please don't be shy. We're trying something different here with a non-entertainment show, but we're keeping with our values of producing high quality content with high quality people. It doesn't get much better than Seth Godin when it comes to business. I hope you enjoy.

[klemjohansen 748]

This is fascinating. I appreciate you putting this up on Earwolf even though it doesn't seem to fit neatly with the rest of the shows.

 

I freelance on the side mostly just for the adventure of it. The idea of starting a business to do what I do is intriguing, but crossing that threshold is terrifying. Money is one (small-ish) issue, but finding people to hire who both know what they're doing and are committed enough to actually do it is a serious hurdle. I've been experimenting with micro-businesses, collections of freelancers who glom together to complete a project (exclusively over the web) and then disperse. I've had better luck with that than with actual butts-in-seats hiring.

 

Even though I don't think I'm ready to make that leap, but the discussion is really interesting.

[Tombrien 50]

I listened to this, and here's the information I retained:

 

Ya can't print the Monopoly man.

Do something that you have a monopoly on; which- the Monopoly man is a weird example of that, cos they have a trademark on it.

Doing the work yourself is being freelance, and the most sensible way to expand a business is to stop doing the work yourself, and industrialize it.

^This is one way to be an entreprenuer, but not the only way.

People can spend a long time getting their ducks in a row, and you don't have to do that; which sounds like a dangerous piece of advice to take.

 

So I'm not crazy-excited here, but y'know, I'll give it a couple more episodes. I AM a complete business dumbass.

 

Side-note though: That music's not helping. It's the kind of music someone would use on like a video-resume or an in-company powerpoint slideshow. It just evokes that we're all having a really boring time.

[Pliny 4]

More!!!!!!

[chrismoke 0]

edited, for not realizing the lifestyle/music/comedy categories were already there.

 

Still think this is diluting the earwolf brand but I guess I can't complain.

[Lukas Holmes 2287]

The only complaint I have about all the new shows it that I would really like to have them also first show up in the Earwolf Presents iTunes. In the mornings when I sync up I don't usually see that there are new shows out there and don't pick them up. Not that big of a deal I guess, but this lazy American wants everything handed to him.

 

As for deluding the brand, I'm all for it. As a matter of fact, I want to see more of it. Think about the variety Earwolf already gives us on comedy, but now they have branched off into-parenting, music, business. For my money I would love to see them start to do some 'radio drama'. I constantly point to Podcasts as my favorite new form of media and while most people I talk to have no idea what I mean, once they are shown how to hook in, they love them too.

 

So bully for Jeff and Earwolf for paving the way and trying new things. Keep it up.

[ianbauer 25]

I was very excited to see Seth Godin had an Earwolf podcast. I think it's a brilliant idea.

 

My boss recommended Tribes to me the same day I listened to episode of The Wolf's Den where Jeff interviewed Matt Belknap (great episode) and mentions Seth Godin. I read it and then started checking out his material. I especially like his talk "This is Broken."

 

Relevant: There's a book out there called Quitter by Jon Acuff that deals with making the transition between your day job to your dream job. Check it out.

 

Thanks for putting this together, Jeff!

[TurdTrader 1]

So how much money did this guy pay for a personal forum and neoliberal advertisement space?

 

what are you talking about?

[TurdTrader 1]

I'm so happy to have been able to work with Seth in bringing this valuable information to Earwolf (and non-Earwolf) listeners. I've been reading his books and blogs for 10 years and he has been THE main influence in how I've built Earwolf. I was able to attend a workshop of his in December that changed the way I think about my business and this new series continues that education for me.

 

A lot of our listeners are freelancers, entrepreneurs and small business owners, so I know this series will be useful for those looking to build their business or start one. For freelancers, it will help you figure out if you should continue what you are doing or start something bigger.

 

I'm excited to hear your thoughts, so please don't be shy. We're trying something different here with a non-entertainment show, but we're keeping with our values of producing high quality content with high quality people. It doesn't get much better than Seth Godin when it comes to business. I hope you enjoy.

 

this is the first time i've heard of earwolf, and at first, i assumed it was Seth's product that was providing the podcast, because i came here directly from a link in one of Seth's emails. i noticed you don't have a tagline under your logo stripe that describes what earwolf is, etc. i'm also wondering why you're not using a responsive html design that resizes to fit on a smartphone screen? at least i can listen to the podcasts on iPhone using QuickTime. thank you for hosting these podcasts.

[TurdTrader 1]

I listened to this, and here's the information I retained:

 

Ya can't print the Monopoly man.

Do something that you have a monopoly on; which- the Monopoly man is a weird example of that, cos they have a trademark on it.

Doing the work yourself is being freelance, and the most sensible way to expand a business is to stop doing the work yourself, and industrialize it.

^This is one way to be an entreprenuer, but not the only way.

People can spend a long time getting their ducks in a row, and you don't have to do that; which sounds like a dangerous piece of advice to take.

 

So I'm not crazy-excited here, but y'know, I'll give it a couple more episodes. I AM a complete business dumbass.

 

Side-note though: That music's not helping. It's the kind of music someone would use on like a video-resume or an in-company powerpoint slideshow. It just evokes that we're all having a really boring time.

 

the music only seems to be on the intro, so it didn't bother me much at all.

i retained a lot more from ep1 and was super excited to listen to ep2 which was also great. it is really refreshing to hear smart content, cuz there is just too much noise out there regarding startups...

[Pants Masterson 81]

I agree with pretty much everything Lukas said above (except I'm a little less concerned with how the podcasts synch in iTunes). But as long as the quality is high, an enthusiastic yes to more variety and more content.