Interview number twelve with Kevin Harrington.

Photo:  Courtesy Kevin Harrington

Justin Higgins:  "Hi Kevin, what life advice do you have for young adults?"

Kevin Harrington:  "Hi Justin.  I have two pieces of life advice for young adults.

First, if you're going to join an organization, don't just be a member, be a powerful member. 

Second, you need to ask yourself, what is your brand?  I co-authored a very powerful book called "Key Person of Influence," and branding is discussed as an important element for success in life and business.  Whether you're an entrepreneur, an employee, or a job seeker, you can become a Key Person of Influence.  There's five steps:  pitch, publish, product, profile, and partnership.  Branding comes into play with all of the steps.

Branding doesn't necessarily mean that you have to become the next Coca-Cola.  Individually, you can start off by branding yourself as a team builder or as a problem solver.  If you're a business owner, you can begin by building the brand as a friendly, customer-centric place.  Just remember, every day of your life you have the opportunity to position yourself and/or your company.  For more tips, check out "Key Person of Influence"!"

. . .

Kevin Harrington has been a successful entrepreneur over the last 40 years. He is an Original Shark on the ABC hit, Emmy winning TV show, “Shark Tank.” He is also the Inventor of the Infomercial, As Seen On TV Pioneer, Co- Founder of the Electronic Retailers Association (ERA) and Co- Founder of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO). Kevin has launched over 20 businesses that have grown to over $100 million in sales each, has been involved in more than a dozen public companies, and has launched over 500 products generating more than $5 billion in sales worldwide with iconic brands and celebrities such as Jack Lalanne, Tony Little, George Foreman, and the new I-Grow hair restoration product on QVC. Kevin has extensive experience in business all over the world, opening distribution outlets in over 100 countries worldwide. His success led Mark Burnett to hand pick Kevin to become an Original Shark on Shark Tank where he filmed over 175 segments.

Kevin currently operates a private consulting firm where he works with companies to increase distribution; analyze electronic retailing opportunities; effectively market on digital, social media, TV, radio, or print; source manufacturing; celebrity relationships; open up his rolodex; and has been able to 10 X the stock price of several public companies. In today’s competitive world, companies cannot operate the way they have in the past because of the advancements in technology and the digital marketplace. Kevin provides the advice and expertise on how to navigate the constant changing distribution and marketing outlets. Kevin also brings his rolodex and relationships to all companies he works with, including help in financing, like he did with Russell Simmons and Celsius: http://www.bizjournals.com/southflorida/news/2015/04/21/celsius-lands-16m-celebrity-investment.html.

Kevin got his start as a young entrepreneur in the early 80’s when he invested $25,000 and launched Quantum International. This turned in to a $500 million per year business on the New York Stock Exchange and drove the stock price from $1 to $20 per share. After selling his interest in Quantum International, he formed a joint Venture with the Home Shopping Network, called HSN Direct, which grew to hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Entrepreneur Magazine has called him one of the top Entrepreneurs of our time.

Aside from speaking to audiences across five continents, Kevin’s influence has reached over 100 million people through his multi-media presence and industry dominance. A prominent business thought leader, he is often featured and quoted as a business leaders in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, CNBC, Forbes, Inc., Entrepreneur, Fortune, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS Morning News, The View, Squawk Box, Fox Business, and more. He is a regular contributor to Forbes.com Inc.com, and has published acclaimed books like Act Now! How I Turn Ideas Into Million Dollar Products as well as the best seller, Key Person of Influence.

He is a co founder of the EO (Entrepreneurs Organization), which has grown to 45 countries and thousands of members, generating over $500 Billion of member sales. In 1990 he co founded the global direct to consumer organization and trade show, the Electronic Retailers Association (ERA). Today ERA is the exclusive trade association to represent a global $350-billion direct-to-consumer market place, encompassing 450 different companies in 45 countries.

The true value of Kevin is not only the 40 years of his knowledge of building businesses but also what he can do for other companies in many industries with his global Rolodex and his ability to solve problems.

Interview number eight with Robert Herjavec.

Photo:  Courtesy Robert Herjavec

Justin Higgins:  "Hi Robert, what life advice do you have for young adults?"

Robert Herjavec:  "Hi Justin.  Young adults - I don't even understand them half the time (I WILL figure out Snapchat one day!!) - but if I have to give them life advice ... 

First, don't be afraid to make mistakes.  Make some and then make even more!  I've made every mistake in the book and with each one, I've learned something new.  If you fail at something, stick with it because those kinds of lessons are truly invaluable.

Second, and perhaps the most important, be motivated without being entitled.  Remember, the world owes you nothing but opportunity.  Success won't just happen to you, you have to go out and create it for yourself.  You have all of the resources you could possibly need at your finger tips.  It won't come easy, and you'll make mistakes along the way, but you have to find a way to be resilient.

Look, I get it, it's hard and there is a lot of competition out there - lots of people trying to be more successful than you - but with a clear head and laser focus, you'll make your own path."

. . .

Robert Herjavec is one of North America’s most recognizable business leaders. Born in Eastern Europe, he arrived to North America on a boat with his parents after escaping Communism in the former Yugoslavia. From delivering newspapers, and waiting tables, to launching a computer company from his basement, his drive to achieve has led him to the fulfillment of a better life for himself and his family.

 A dynamic entrepreneur, Robert has built and sold several IT companies to major players such as AT&T. In 2003 Robert founded Herjavec Group, and it quickly became one of North America’s fastest growing technology companies. Today, Herjavec Group is recognized as a global leader in information security specializing in managed security services, compliance, incident response and remediation efforts for enterprise level organizations.

His inspiring books, Driven and The Will to Win, were simultaneously Top 10 Bestsellers that earned him the title of “Best Selling Author”. Robert has released his third book, You Don’t Have to Be a Shark: Creating Your Own Success published by St. Martin’s Press on May 17, 2016. Robert’s motivational business advice has received millions of impressions through TV, print, radio and digital media. He shares his expertise with other entrepreneurs each week as a leading Shark on ABC’s Emmy Award-winning hit Shark Tank. Robert recently placed 6th with partner Kym Johnson, competing for the mirror ball trophy on the popular show, Dancing with the Stars.

For the past several years, Robert has competed as Ferrari #007 for Herjavec Group Racing in the Ferrari Challenge North America Series, achieving multiple podiums and winning Rookie of The Year in 2011. To Robert, running a business is a lot like one of his greatest passions, racing cars. He believes, “You have to stay laser-focused when driving a car over 200 miles an hour, and the same approach is required when growing a business in today’s world of rapidly changing technology.”

Interview number three with Chris Sacca.

Photo:  Courtesy Chris Sacca

Justin Higgins:  "Hi Chris, what life advice do you have for young adults?"

Chris Sacca:  "Hey Justin, my advice for young adults:

The most successful and ambitious people out there know to create value before asking for anything in return.  You want to get my attention?  Start doing some of my work.  Don't try to convince me of your potential with a cover letter.  Show me your potential by getting some shit done.  Don't email asking if you can pitch me.  Send me a URL to something you built or discovered that makes me stop in my tracks.

Two months ago, a 15-year-old in Mississippi overheard me say on Periscope that I wished our firm's web site had a Jobs page.  So, without reaching out to us at all, he just went ahead and built one.  He scoured the sites of all of our portfolio companies cataloging all of the open positions and created a dynamic and beautiful page from scratch.  He said he had a day off from school so he banged it out and posted the link on Twitter.

Well, guess which venture capital firm that gets thousands of resumes a year now has a 15-year-old intern routinely helping us with projects?

Distinguish yourself through your hustle and your initiative.  Everyone who works with me didn't end up here by sheer chance or coincidence.  Rather, it was the result of consistent, material, tireless effort along the way.  Gravity wants you to be average.  Fuck gravity."

. . .

An accomplished venture investor, company advisor, and entrepreneur, Chris manages a portfolio of over eighty consumer web, mobile, and wireless technology start-ups as well as an array of mature enterprises through his holding company, Lowercase Capital. While primarily known for its investments in seed and early stage technology companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, and Kickstarter, Lowercase has quietly grown to be one of the larger venture funds in the United States.

Previously, Chris served as Head of Special Initiatives at Google Inc. In that role, among other responsibilities, he founded and headed up Google’s Access division. His most visible projects include Google’s 700MHz and TV white spaces spectrum initiatives, the company’s groundbreaking data center in Oregon, and Google’s free citywide WiFi network in Mountain View, CA. Chris also spearheaded many of Google’s business development and M&A transactions and was on the founding team of the company’s New Business Development organization. In recognition of his accomplishments, Chris was one among the first Google employees ever given the Founders’ Award, the company’s highest honor.

Before joining Google, Chris held a number of executive roles at one of the world’s largest streaming and digital media distribution companies, Speedera Networks (acquired by Akamai Technologies), and was ultimately responsible for their legal and corporate development efforts. Prior to Speedera, Chris was an attorney with the Silicon Valley law firm of Fenwick & West where he handled venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, and licensing transactions for technology clients such as Macromedia, VeriSign, and Kleiner Perkins. In 2008, Chris worked on President Barack Obama’s campaign as a Telecommunications, Media, and Technology advisor, a speaking surrogate, a field office volunteer, and as Co-Chair of Finance and a Trustee of the Presidential Inaugural Committee. In 2012, Chris continued his work as a National Finance Committee member, a host of the President’s own technology roundtable series, and as a Co-Chair of Tech for Obama.

In The Wall Street Journal, Chris was once cited as “possibly the most influential businessman in America” and Vanity Fair recently named Chris to its distinguished “New Establishment” list. Since 2011, Chris has been one of the youngest members of the coveted Forbes “Midas List” recognizing the country’s top technology investors and has been climbing up the list each year, landing at #3 in 2015. Chris is a fixture in the Silicon Valley startup community, in part for the kind of fruitful and fun collaborations with early stage companies for which he was named of the top 10 angel investors in the country by BusinessWeek, and in part for his unforgettable cowboy shirts which earned him a spot on GQ’s ”Worst Dressed List”.

Chris is a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute, which annually selects 20 of the world’s most promising leaders and public servants under the age of 45 and he has also served as an Associate Fellow of the Said Business School at Oxford University and as an MIT Enterprise Forum Global Trustee.

Chris regularly appears on television, radio, and in print and has been featured in BusinessWeek, Fortune, Fast Company, and on CNBC, BBC, CNN, FOX, and NPR as an expert in the realms of entrepreneurism, venture capital, and disruptive technologies. In parallel with his frequent keynotes at technology industry events, Chris is perennially hired by many of the world’s largest companies, financial institutions, universities, and governments to speak about innovation, workplace design, and business strategy in a digital era.

Chris graduated cum laude from Georgetown University Law Center where he was a member of The Tax Lawyer law review and was honored as the school’s Philip A. Ryan and Ralph J. Gilbert Memorial Scholar. He also graduated cum laude from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and was an Edmund Evans Memorial Scholar as well as a Weeks Family Foundation Scholar. During his studies, Chris attended university at each of: the Universidad Católica del Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador, University College Cork, in Cork, Ireland, and the Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. Long before that, beginning in 7th grade, Chris attended the State University of New York at Buffalo for six years of college mathematics classes wearing thick glasses, awkward braces, and knowing the entire time that technology and computers would be passions of his for life.

Always taught by his parents the importance of giving back to those who need our help, Chris dedicates much of his time to helping charity:water and, if you spend any time with him, he will likely rope you into doing your part as well. When not on the road for his companies, or huddled up in the cramped apartments and coffee shops where his entrepreneurs often write their code, Chris lives with his family in both Truckee and Los Angeles California, is an avid alpine and nordic skier of the Sierra, surfer and kitesurfer of the California coast, an Ironman triathlete, and he has bicycled coast-to-coast across the United States of America.