Interview With Super Awesome Entrepreneur- Jack Liu

This is a Cool, Calm and superb interview with an entrepreneur named Jack Liu.

Jack is a great guy, a guy in whom you can rely on . He’s really doing an awesome work everywhere. And am sure he’s ready to give you a helping hand throughout your entrepreneurship journey.

I urge you parents to let your kids’ toy around TeenBusinessForum, So that they can meet different teens from different races so as to share experience together and am sure your kid would give you testimonies. Teens on TeenBuinessForum are really doing a superb job, and am loving the forum .

Yeah, read the interview and tell me how you feel about it. I hope you will enjoy it.

1. Hi Jack, could you please tell us about yourself

Hello, first I just want to thank you Sam for this opportunity.  As of November 5^th, I am a full-time entrepreneur.  I believe that successful and ethical entrepreneurs make the world a better place.  So, in order to make that a reality, I run TeenBusinessForum, a global community for teen entrepreneurs to connect with others, share ideas, and  get coaching from veteran entrepreneurs.  Being an entrepreneur has been a big part of my life since about 3 years ago.  That’s not a long time considering that people get started in their teens.  And I really admire them.  The other big side of me is that I’m a Christian, a follower of Jesus Christ.  When I’m not working on growing TBF, I go on missions with my church in third-world countries to tell others about what I believe in.  Hope that’s not too much, haha.

2. Why do you choose to be an entrepreneur?

This is definitely a good question and one that I reflect on all the time.  It’s my believe that almost every entrepreneur started out because they wanted to make the big dollars, myself included.  About 3 years ago, I happen to meet someone at work who was working on side projects outside of their daily job.  That got me really interested.  And from that point on, I went to a lot of free seminars where people talked about entrepreneurship and I started to read the books they read.  You know, I found there was so much more than just money.  There was this great satisfaction of being able to create something from scratch and mold it to the way you want it to be.  I’m talking about a company and being to mold and shape the culture and the effects it has on the world.  Three years later, I can surely say that I chose to be an entrepreneur because I want to make a difference in the world.

3. Do you really think that entrepreneurship is a lifestyle and not a career?

Yes, I believe that it’s a lifestyle.  You always hear that entrepreneurs work around the clock.  There’s no such thing as a 9-5 for them.  You get whatever is needed to be done at the moment that it’s required.  Unlike a career where your next promotion is defined (you know exactly what you need to do to get X salary increase), a entrepreneur defines what their next promotion is.  It could be selling their company, merging with another, etc.

4. I can see the hard work you have been putting in your forum, so could you please tell us what your forum is about?

Awesome, more plug about TBF.  Just kidding.  When I first brought the forum about a year ago, I just wanted a forum so I can monetize it.  And at the time, I thought forums were better than blogs.  And TBF happen to be available.  I looked at it and thought, this could have some potential.  When I started meeting the members behind TBF, the teen entrepreneurs, I was blown away.  I mean, I did not start a business when I was 15, nor did I have a website or was trading stocks.  The ambition of these members really got me thinking what they could become if they had the right guidance, mentorship, network.  At the basic level, TBF is a community.  And like any other community, people that are interested in one particular subject want to talk to each other to share ideas and grow.  And so TBF is for teens who want to talk about business.  I understand it’s not for everyone and that’s ok.  You come to TBF if you’re just starting out- you’re interested in business but don’t know where to start.  You come read some of the blogs, meet some of the fellow entrepreneurs.  After throwing a few ideas around, you to develop one.  You learn along the way, getting feedback from community members.  After a while, one of your ideas make you a bit of money.  Now, you can give back a little bit, telling others what you did.  Along the way, you meet other entrepreneurs, get great advice, and turn into an entrepreneur yourself.

5. How can your forum be a great help to the teens?

From what I seen, high schools do not do a great job of teaching and encouraging entrepreneurship.  Granted, entrepreneurship cannot be taught.  So when a teen is interested in business, who is he or she going to talk to about it?  Teachers are not entrepreneurs and so they don’t understand what it takes.  Teens really need to go talk to other people who are also interested in business.  It’s just like any topic- you go to a World Of  Warcraft community to talk about the game, share strategies, partner up.  Building a business is exactly the same way.  TBF is geared towards the teens because by giving them a place to network with other teen entrepreneurs, that network can really give them an advantage when they get older.

6. How can someone who has a business idea transform his or her idea into a reality?

I would start pitching that idea everywhere- friends, family, startup presentations.  By presenting the idea, you get to know your business better.  And of course, you’ll get questions about where the revenue will come from, how will the marketing work, etc.  By telling the idea to more and more people, you’ll get more and more feedback.  At the same time, I would ask myself what I believe about the business- why I care to build it into a reality.  The more the believe is away from just making money, the better.  The reason is because that believe will carry you in times of not being motivated.  Then I would find a coach- someone to mentor you.  A coach and a community.  The coach should be someone who has done it before and succeeded.  A community should be people who get it, who understand what it takes to be an entrepreneur so they can motivate and inspire you when times are rough.  Lastly, do it.  Don’t wait until tomorrow to take action.  If the first step is to register a domain, go do it now.

7. Being an entrepreneur, how has the journey been like?

It has definitely been a rollercoaster of ups and downs.  I still remember doing my first guest post- when I knew absolutely nothing about blogging, marketing.  I could barely call myself an entrepreneur then.  I guest posted for my friend’s website.  This was just under a year ago.  When I look back now, I’m embarrassed to have it publish on his site!  His site is getting up there for Mac.  But he got that I was just starting out and he gave me a chance.  I learned and then I got better.  I got better with guest posting, and writing in general.  I remember having a goal then to have one of my articles getting published on a very popular website.  Recently, I had one published on Under30Ceo.com.  That was just one example.  In one year, I went from not knowing anything to shocking my friends with how much I knew with Internet marketing.  But all that took time, and goal setting.

I used to think goal setting was just some nice concept.  I came to realize we are very forgetful people.  By that I mean that I’ll hit a goal and then a week later, feel really down because of “not making enough progress”.  So having a set of goals that you accomplished is key to keeping the entrepreneurial spirit going.

Also, the whole journey up until now has been… fun.  There are challenges around every corner.  But I love it and wouldn’t want it any other way.

8. How can an aspiring entrepreneur build a good team?

My coach has advised me to only look for partners who truly believe in the vision of the company.  I believe this to be true.  Someone who joins the team should be on the same page with what you believe, where you want the company to be in the years to come.  They should also be someone who can tell you the word “No”.  I’m still in the process of building my team, because not many people get it.

8. Tell us the three important things that matters in the entrepreneurship world?

Connections.  Persistent.  Confidence.  Things do not get done without knowing the right people.  Anyone who say otherwise I believe is delirious.  People build businesses, not computers.

Persistent because anything and everything will go wrong with your business.  I remember trying to get into an entrepreneurship program when I first started out.  I was turned down.  But I just didn’t say whatever, I’ll go elsewhere.  I asked for feedback in why I wasn’t accepted.  I was told that the committee liked my entrepreneurial spirit but my idea was still a little premature.  They told me to keep doing what I was doing to build more traction.  Six months later, I reapplied and got in.  This time, my idea was a little bit further along.

Confidence because entrepreneurs need to believe they can do anything.  There will always be people doubting you but if you have enough confidence, you kind of just shake off what people say and do it anyway.  Prove them wrong.

9. Do you really think that the art of leadership matters a lot in the entrepreneurship world? Give us the reasons to your answer.

Yes, I would agree.  Entrepreneurs aren’t necessary the brightest, with the highest IQ.  They have however, the highest EQ, emotional quotient which in my opinion is way better than IQ.  EQ judges how well a person relate to people, handle stress, communicate ideas, handle conflicts.  These are all things that are absolutely necessary to be an entrepreneur.  Great leaders always have high EQ.  They need to manage people, motivate their employees, communicate their vision, present to investors, etc.

10. What are the common problem aspiring entrepreneurs does encounter?

The one that comes to mind first is a lack of a network.  I believe that entrepreneurs will never know everything.  So if that’s the case, how can a business get started?  I think that as long as entrepreneurs know someone who knows what they don’t, they’ll be ok.  For example, if an entrepreneur knows an attorney, they can always reach out and ask questions about law.  Same goes with driving traffic, how to make a sale, etc.  So the best way to counter this problem?  Start early and build your network.  Once you have your network, you can easily find people who can answer your questions.

11. What advice can you give to an aspiring entrepreneur so as to keep the spirit going?

Stick with people who believe the same as you do.  Birds of a feather stick together.  Find a community who can support you.  Set small goals.  Everytime you reach a goal, go celebrate and remember that you just made progress.

Thanks a lot Jack.

If you want to know more about Jack Liu, Click here.

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