Get Off Your Ass and Just Do IT!

The toughest part of starting a business is actually getting off your ass and doing it.

There are so many people with great ideas, but they just don't execute. How many times have you heard people say, "I had that idea... first," or "They took my idea!" There's no fucking excuse that should hold you back from starting a business, just do it- get it done! Right? You gotta be a doer, and do, do, do.

I have heard excuses like; "I don't have experience in this,  "I'm not talented enough in that, or "I just haven't had the time to get started.", etc., etc." Guess what? This is BULLSHIT! No more excuses, just take the plunge and get started. When it comes time to celebrate, the procrastinators are going to be wishing they could have just made something happen, looking at the doers and hating on them cause they had the balls to do something.

Our VC firm Zerimar Ventures, just recently made an investment in a company called eMoov, a leading online estate agent in the UK. Russel Quirk, the founder, is a talented guy, loaded with love, passion, and humility with a knack for seeing and doing BIG. As a third generation estate agent, he knows the industry, and he knows how to make things happen in this space. When Russell started eMoov several years ago, he didn't know a single thing about technology, online marketing, and what it would take to build an online company, all he had was a vision to disrupt the estate agency space. This is a perfect example of a DOER who never made excuses for anything. He rolled up his sleeves, put his head down, and used the shit out of Google to learn those things he didn't know. No excuses baby, no excuses!

On one of my recent trips to London, my wife Angela and I went to visit the company offices in Essex, a county north east of London. It was so freaking cool to see the culture he's built in this company and what a great business they have built lacking all the expertise in things like technology, marketing, pr, etc. This is why we love this company so much and why we jumped in to be a part of this passionate group of people out to make a mark in the space. This is a great example of someone who looked at an existing process within an industry that's been around for decades, and saw a better and more affordable way to provide the service. However, the most important part about this example is that I am sure there have been many people with this idea, but guess what, Russell was one of the ones that did it without thinking of all the things he didn't know.

Russell Quirk is a DOER.

That's the hardest part of starting a business- finding or having somebody with that kind of drive and passion. That can take all the excuses and push all the naysayers off to the side. It's not capital which is the most important part of a business... It's not capital at all. It's a matter of executing- NO EXCUSES!

Look at Google...this is one, if not the best tool that's been introduced to society in the last few decades.  I always say that there is no such things as an ignorant person anymore, but there will be a lazy one. Many of the businesses and products being created today are not new concepts, they are old ideas that are being rehashed, improved, flipped on its head, or taking traditional businesses and computerizing them. Steve Jobs didn't create the mp3 player. There were hundreds of mp3 players out there on the market before the iPod came out, he just made them more user friendly and sexier than all the others. He also didn't create the smart phone, he just made it better and SMARTER than all the others. Look around you and look at things in a way no one has ever looked at them before. Don't think that because something exists, it's been  created and there is no room for improvement. There will always be room for improvement or different solutions to problems.

There world has many unsolved problems. We need to continue driving change in the world by looking at problems in different ways or improving upon existing processes that were set up years ago by those innovators of the past. Do something BIG, start thinking and looking at what surrounds you, the ideas are floating around, we just need to grab them and execute on them.

When are YOU getting started?

What are YOU waiting for?

Rejecting Mediocrity: The Pursuit of Excellence

What is mediocrity? It is the state of being ordinary or unremarkable. Among people it is to be “average;” in business it is to be “adequate.” It is what happens when one lives without expectations, perseverance, or passion.

You, however, are not willing to fade into the background, to stand quietly by while others take the spotlight. You want to be seen. That is why mediocrity will never be enough for you. Unfortunately, our society seems set up to encourage mediocrity; many parents unwittingly teach their kids to settle for being “good enough” to avoid the risks associated with trying too hard. It is difficult to get past this willingness to settle if you don’t encounter situations that will push you to change early enough in life. In today’s world, where mediocrity will always be a step backward, how do you stay ahead of the curve? Excellence is your only option. Being excellent means being different, thinking outside the box, and not being afraid to be called “crazy.” Here are my six tenants of excellence to move you out of the audience and into the spotlight.

Six Tenants of Excellence:

1. Approach Business with Love, Passion, and Humility

You legitimately love your business; your enchantment with it remains, despite knowing its flaws. You also have a passion for it—you want to spend your life doing it, and doing it well. Lastly, you are humble enough to recognize that the thing itself is more important than your personal contribution to it. You love it enough to “let it go”; this transforms it from a selfish pursuit to one meant to enhance the lives of others and indeed the craft itself. A humble business person sees challenges as mere hurdles to be conquered in pursuit of a higher goal.

2. Detail-Oriented

Your passion drives you to be uncompromising; successful people don’t settle for imperfection. “As Is” work just won’t cut it, even if it is easier, faster, and requires less of you. Excellence means that every diamond you cut is perfect—at least to you. Your reputation for uncompromising standards will catch their attention, and then your passion will convert them. The fusion of raw passion and perfect execution creates irresistible businesses.

3. Aren’t Afraid to Start Over

If you discovered a flaw in a house you were building for your children, you wouldn’t let it slide. If necessary, you would tear the entire structure down and ensure its perfection before trusting the lives of your children to it. You treat every idea, model, press release, and marketing strategy as if you are trusting your very life to it—because you are. Every aspect of your business is a reflection of your standards of excellence. That’s why flaws must be eradicated, not just improved—adding extra wings to a house with an unstable foundation would only cause it to cave in faster. You know how to start at the root of the problem. You habitually remove the imperfections in your business before they spread like a mold and compromise even your most brilliant ideas. Remember—people aren’t perfect, but businesses can be.

4. Stop, Listen, and Learn

There is no such thing as a “new” idea anymore. “Invention” is a thing of the past. Other minds can argue whether any invention has been entirely original since the wheel; every “new” idea since then has just been building on existing foundations. You know how to embrace the contributions of others. You value the contributions of others to your models and strategies. You don’t feel the need to feign originality just to appear brilliant. You are willing to sacrifice your pride for the sake of excellence in your business.

5. Don’t Compare Yourself to Others

At the same time, however, you recognize that your business is a reflection of YOU—your goals, desires, and drive. The contributions of others are valuable, but will never replace your passion and knowledge. You dismiss ideas that conflict with your gut; you don’t need them. You are under no obligation to accommodate the desires and input of those who have no stake in your business’s success or failure.

6. Learn to Love Discomfort

You’ve learned that comfort is the enemy of success. Endurance is only built through pain, courage through fear, strength through weakness. You are not in business for comfort—you are there because you have an uncontrollable passion for something and you want to see it grow into something greater. You can be comfortable on your weekends, and with your vacation time. But every hour you spend at work should be an hour of stretching, pushing, and ultimately demolishing your boundaries. And when you feel the discomfort start to pass, as you slowly begin to excel at what used to scare you, you know that’s not a good enough excuse to stop working. So you pat yourself on the back and plunge headfirst into something else that terrifies you.

You have your whole retirement to rest. NOW is the time to get shit done.

A Bit of Back Story

Wow, it’s 2014 already, and here I am writing my first blog post during my family vacation in Turks & Caicos (have to take advantage of this time as my wife and kids are all sleeping). I am finally kicking off this blog, after years of wanting to get it started (life gets busy, and this always seemed to fall off ‘the list’). As my father always told me, “be patient, things will come to you when the time is right.” So, it looks like the time has come, and the timing is just right. This blog will be like my public diary, where I will share the many ventures, adventures, mistakes, mistakes, and more mistakes (did I say mistakes?) that I have made (and learned from) in my short life. In addition, I will share how the various paths I’ve chosen have enabled me to meet some incredibly interesting people, who have helped shape who I am today. It is the collection of these life experiences that have given me the the tools to become an entrepreneur, which fuels my passion for everything I do and is a role that I truly love.

Here’s the rundown of who the heck I am:

• Born in Buga, small city located in the Valle del Cauca department of Colombia. This city is famous for its Basilica del Señor de los Milagros, which houses an image of Christ called el Señor de los Milagros ("the Lord of the Miracles"). • Migrated to the to US in 1984 at age seven • Grew up in San Fernando Valley in Southern California • Started my first business at age ten • Married with two boys, Camilo and Sebastian • Live in Salt Lake City, Utah • Run a VC firm, Zerimar Ventures • Love all kinds of music, including R&B, hip-hop, salsa, and flamenco • Fluent in both English and Spanish; pretend to know Italian and some French ;)

As you can see, I started my first business at age ten, so my entrepreneurial spirit is about twenty-six years old. You’ll see more about the different businesses I was involved in growing up and how these small ventures taught me some of my most valuable lessons in business and life: lessons that I would later validate as I met some amazing individuals, who shaped me into the person I am today.

There are many, many books, documentaries, articles, and blogs written by hundreds of successful business people sharing how they got to where they are. This blog is not one of those. I am still writing my story and have lessons to learn. I strongly believe that we all have something to share with the world and others can learn from my successes, failures, and bumps along the way.

With social media, it is easy to be well connected, and information can spread very rapidly through this channel. Somewhere in Latin America -- or anywhere else in the world for that matter -- there is a young buck that will hopefully read my posts, relate their current situation to mine, and feel motivated because they know they can do anything they set out to achieve. My hope is to deliver real, practical advice that can be digested in small quantities. Some of the books on achieving entrepreneurial success are simply too complex and time intensive to get through; I want to create something these young cats can relate to and apply to their lives.

My advice to any young, budding entrepreneur is to find an opportunity -- any opportunity -- and use it as a foundation to define and achieve success. Building a business can be a daunting task, but I truly believe anyone with love, passion, and humility can and will find a way to make it happen. It takes courage, and a lot of motivation to get going. Read the words, use this blog as a source of motivation as a new entrepreneur, and also find some practical advice for yourself, not matter your experience level.