Andy Swan

When you’re excellent at something, risk is reduced to...

Thu, 23 May 2013 10:50:44 -0400

When you’re excellent at something, risk is reduced to near-zero.

Plus, you can swim.

Win.

What was your excuse again?

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:01:44 -0400

What was your excuse again?

Make some noise When the facts are on your side, pound the...

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:18:16 -0400

Make some noise

When the facts are on your side, pound the facts. When the facts are against you, pound the table.

Some ideas don’t work. The market isn’t ready for them or doesn’t want them. You can tell when every “sale” is a grind. The plow is just too heavy.

Admit it: You’re already dead.

That’s when you get a little crazy.

Radical shift. Not to the product (if you think it’s good)…but to the process. Break the rules. Complete change of target, price or distribution system.
Make some noise. Get loud. Every piece of momentum gets a touchdown dance. See who dances with you.
Lever up. Put everything into the one thing that works. Everything.

There is no excuse for a startup dying quietly.

That’s pride. Newsflash— she isn’t gonna dance with the guy slinking off in the corner.

Put it all out there.

Die loudly.

Win.

Excellence eliminates reliance. Be very, very good at what you...

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:10:59 -0400

Excellence eliminates reliance.

Be very, very good at what you do.

Be free.

Win.

Big companies fear you. Let me repeat that. Big companies fear...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:00:29 -0400

Big companies fear you. Let me repeat that. Big companies fear you.

You’re fast, they’re slow. You’re nimble, they’re not. You’re innovating, they’re conference-calling.

Yes, their mass makes them extremely powerful. They can monetize FAR better than you can even dream of. That’s what they do… they push the big lever that works really well.

But if you’re smart and stay in the blue ocean, they can’t touch you. They know it.

That’s why they need you. They need you to find a new lever that works. They need you to show them the way through dangerous new water.

Don’t compete on the big levers. Find the small ones that work and grow them.

Win.

Destruction is easier than creating. It’s the simplest...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 20:15:33 -0400

Destruction is easier than creating. It’s the simplest path to maximum impact. It always will be the last refuge of good men and the first instinct of evil.

Destruction will never go away.

Destruction will never win.

It will never win because the vast majority of us create. We struggle. We try. We build.

Look around you. All that which has been created by man.

Homes. Instruments. Skyscrapers. Networks. Art. Humor. Bourbon. Companies. Schools….. on and on.

It’s all there despite destruction.

Because that’s what we do.

Create.

Win.

Remember where you’ve been. Know where you’re...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 08:52:46 -0400

Remember where you’ve been. Know where you’re going.

Win.

Slides from yesterday's presentation to Association for Corporate Growth

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 10:50:50 -0400

Note that this speech was “the morning after” Louisville won national championship. It was speech on entrepreneurship to audience of local business leaders (suits).

I talked about our history, current state (Voomly + SwanPowers) and challenges and opportunities in the local entrepreneurial community.

It went well.

Win.

Judd Frazier, the Apple Expert on Voomly.

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 09:57:30 -0400

Judd Frazier, the Apple Expert on Voomly.

“You’re born alone and you die alone and this world...

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:39:00 -0400

“You’re born alone and you die alone and this world just drops a bunch of rules on top of you to make you forget those facts. But I never forget. I’m living like there’s no tomorrow, because there isn’t one.” — Don Draper

You’re not gonna starve.

You’re not gonna to sleep in the rain.

What is it you’re scared of? A mortgage? A non-existant scoreboard that shows you losing to non-existant competitors your age? You already lost.

401k, IRA, credit score, retirement, mortgage, lexus, granite countertops.

Amateur-hour, dude.

You keep thinking you’ve moved up. You’ve got more. You’re almost “there”.

The reality is, if you’re “moving up” just to move up, you’re doing very little other than ratcheting up obligations. Trapping yourself into a situation where you feel like you don’t control what you do.

The good news… it all goes away the minute you decide it does. You’ve got the keys.

DO.

win!

Attribution: ”A Whiskey Girl” by daveydeathwish

Two steps to being happy: 1. Be happy 2. Attract happy people...

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 10:50:39 -0400

Two steps to being happy:

1. Be happy

2. Attract happy people to be around you

Don’t be a Debbie. It all starts with you.

Enjoy.

Win.

The only thing that matters is that you focus on the right...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:31:13 -0400

The only thing that matters is that you focus on the right things.

It’s difficult to do, but liberating. And effective.

Focus.

Win.

Push the levers that work. Too many entrepreneurs do the...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 15:07:00 -0400

Push the levers that work.

Too many entrepreneurs do the opposite. They have a grand plan, and then only a couple parts of it work. So they spend all their time trying to figure out how to get the other parts to work.

Instead, focus on the stuff that does work. Leverage that to the hilt, and cut the rest.

It’s really difficult to do. It can hurt the ego. But it helps you win.

Win > Ego

Win.

p.s. you would be shocked to learn how many Swantastic Startups subscribers are winning….and winning big. You really should be among them.

STFU and DO for a while.

Thu, 07 Mar 2013 10:11:10 -0500

STFU and DO for a while.

Your job is to make your audience see what could be…. to...

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 06:45:22 -0500

Your job is to make your audience see what could be….

to take your tiny creation and make it fill the screen….

to tell an amazing story using limited tools and resources….

to be bigger than you are.

win

Don’t allow “perfect” to become the enemy of...

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 06:30:26 -0500

Don’t allow “perfect” to become the enemy of the good.

Go, fix, go…..but always GO.

Win.

“How did you come up with the idea for Voomly?”

Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:39:00 -0500

I’ve been asked that several times over the last month.

The answer really has two parts:

I have always been, and will always be, inspired by the prospect of empowering individuals to do big things with their passions and knowledge.

It’s my natural state. When I hear someone talk about what they know…what they love…and I see that twinkle in their eye…. I want them to do something with it. For themselves. I want to be a part of it.

Digital goods and services are knowledge, experience and passion transfer mechanisms. The scalability that an individual can achieve through digital mediums is unbelievable….it’s literally greater than the power that Julius Ceaser wielded in his prime.

Combine these with the innate goodness of “price” (which by definition demands an exchange of real value) and you have a winning thesis: Empower individuals to create and sell premium digital content from their knowledge, experience, and passion.

In other words… Voomly is a business-manifestation of myself.
We regretted selling our first company.

DaytradeTeam was a subscription-based business where clients gained access to expert traders’ knowledge and content.

After spending 7 years building the company, the subscription platform, the client base, the content-delivery mechanisms…. we sold it. It was a good deal with a good buyer and we felt really good about it.

But we soon grew to regret it.

Because we realized that we left so much on the table. We realized that we had built this system for ourselves only. We benefitted from it, so did our clients, so did the buyer. But no one else.

We realized, after the fact, that we had built a platform for creating a very meaningful subscription-based business….and only released it to one user…ourselves. “That could have been so powerful for experts in other niches. Damn it!”

So here we are. The platform is ready & growing. So is the user-base.

We can’t wait until a single Voomly Seller is bigger than DaytradeTeam was. It will happen.

I hope it’s you.

Give it a shot. I’ll help you create and promote your business. It’s what I do.

p.s. Yes I eat my own dog food! Swantastic Startups, for help with your startup.

It’s time to pay more attention to the people that matter...

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 06:45:10 -0500

It’s time to pay more attention to the people that matter than the glowing rectangles that don’t.

Win.

No one out-works you. That’s the secret. You’re...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:55:00 -0500

No one out-works you.

That’s the secret.

You’re first in and last out. You get low on your squats. You do more than you did yesterday. You’re building.

No one out-works you. Ever.

Win.

There’s no such thing as the perfect time & place. You...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 06:30:09 -0500

There’s no such thing as the perfect time & place.

You cannot spend your energy trying to create the optimal environment around you. You must spend your energy to go, to grow, to create that which you wish to exist.

There is only now.

Do.

Win.