The Entrepreneur's Mantra

Entrepreneurship is not just about starting businesses, making sales, and returning a profit. Entrepreneurship is a mindset. The entrepreneurship mindset shapes how we see the world and how we act in it. This mindset also shapes how we see ourselves.

My hope in this course is to provide opportunities for you to develop an entrepreneurial mindset -- above all else, I want you to recognize your own entrepreneurial potential and find ways to apply the tools in this class to your daily life. You've already created your blog for this class and made your first post. Congratulations! This exercise is your first step toward embracing the entrepreneurial mindset.

How we talk about ourselves can influence how we think about ourselves. For instance, have you ever noticed when you're having a bad day, that simply smiling can change your entire mood? Regularly repeating a mantra can have the same effect. Although it may feel funny at first, with enough repetition (and after you begin to have entrepreneurial experiences in this class) you will come closer to holding an entrepreneur's mindset.

In this exercise, you will be required to do two things: 

• First, record a video of yourself repeating "The Entrepreneur's Mantra"
• Second, create a YouTube account, post this video to your YouTube account, and post it to your blog. 

The Mantra

Here is the text of the mantra:

"Entrepreneurs don't wait. They act. And they don't quit.

Entrepreneurs fail. A lot. But in this forge of failure, entrepreneurs sharpen their edge, ready to face the future.

Entrepreneurs thirst for negative feedback. Too much praise leads to complacency, while criticism provides clues to improve.

Entrepreneurs work harder. To pursue their own lives. To improve the world around them. To build a better future for themselves, their families, and communities.

I am an entrepreneur."  

In this exercise, you must record yourself repeating this mantra. Feel free to use your cell phone, a Web cam attached to your computer, or any other recording device, which will produce a video file. Most cell phones and computers come with video recording software already installed. On an iPhones, Androids, and even Windows Phones, the Camera apps work great and produce file formats that are easily uploadable to YouTube.

Here's how you create a YouTube account. (Links to an external site.)  YouTube places a length restriction on the videos new users may upload. Although the mantra exercise will probably not exceed this limit, future exercises may require you to create videos that will be longer than the limit. Therefore, it's a good idea to go ahead and remove this limit by verifying your account: here's how to do that. (Links to an external site.) Once you have a YouTube account and have removed the length restriction, you're ready to upload your mantra recording. Here are instructions on how to upload videos to your new YouTube account (Links to an external site.).

Very important. When you upload a new video and start inputting all of the information for the video, YouTube asks you to select a privacy option. You want to make sure to select either "Unlisted" or "Public." If you select "Private," then nobody in the class will be able to see your video recording. 

Once your video is uploaded to YouTube, you are ready to post it to your blog. If you have used a Google account to create a Blogger blog, then uploading your YouTube videos is amazingly easy. Simply go to your blog, and click "New Post." From this screen, you want to be sure to give your post a title -- it should include the phrase "Entrepreneur's Mantra." You also need to add "Week 2" to the label for the post. Second, you need to insert the video. This is easy. First, click the "Video" icon in the tool bar:

Clicking this icon brings up the following window:

Next, simply click the "My YouTube Videos" to bring up the list of videos you have recorded. Select the video you want to upload by clicking it, and you're set!

That's all you need to do for this exercise. Well done. When you're ready, be sure to complete the Declaration below. 

Text for declaration:

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY:

I have made a video recording of "The Entrepreneur's Mantra." 

I have created a YouTube account and uploaded my video recording.

I have ensured that my video is set to either the "Unlisted" or "Public" setting.

I have posted my video to my blog, and I have included the phrase "Entrepreneur's Mantra" in the title and "Week 2" in the label.