If you want to become a successful entrepreneur, there are a few things that you need to get right. And especially if you are moving from being an employee in a job, there are some key mindshifts you will need to make.
In my experience, here are a few of those mindshifts you need to get right.
- To succeed on your own, you will have a dream and a strong desire to build your business around something you are passionate about. Your passion and your drive will help you achieve that dream you have.
- Early on, it is imperative that you choose your tribe (your chosen niche) and love them to bits.
- Accept that failure is a key part of moving forward and learning.
- Never give up.
These essentials are easy to say, but often hard to do, as can be confirmed by the many small businesses that fail each year. Many wannabe entrepreneurs (aka work from homers) give up too soon, or fear taking the risks that are necessary. Another mistake that many new entrepreneurs make is they try to sell their product too soon into their market rather than building a relationship with their tribe. (I do love that word to describe people who your business aims to inspire).
You can read a more in-depth discussion about entrepreneurship in an earlier blog post ... So You Want To Be An Entrepreneur...here.
To bring these points home as clearly as I can, I want to present a current and major successful case study of entrepreneurship - about a young boy from Perth, Australia. This is the story of Troye Sivan - an entertainer of the highest calibre, who followed the 4 steps I mentioned above, plus a few others and in so doing, has taken the music world by storm, especially over the last 7 or 8 months, with his world stage tours.
If you have heard of Troye, you are most probably under 30 and into music about love and the issues young people face as they grow up. Most of you will not have heard of him, I am sure. So here goes:
First, I should declare my interest in this story, in this case study about entrepreneurship, for 4 reasons:
- Troye was born in South Africa, my country of birth and where I spent my first 40 years.
- He moved with his family to Perth, in Western Australia, when he was just 2 years old. I too, now live in Sydney.
- He came out gay very publicly on YouTube at age 18. It took me until age 46 to come out myself.
- And I really do enjoy his style of music.
From about the age of 3, Troye developed a passion for singing. In fact, he often talks about his early dream which was to be like Michael Jackson. He tells the story that when he was 5, the only song on the family home computer was a song by Madonna. He learned it off by heart and his parents often could not tell if it was Madonna or Troye doing the singing.
Then, at the tender age of 10, he discovered YouTube - barely 1 year after it was launched. He uploaded a video of a cover song that he had recorded in his bedroom and learned from a cousin a few weeks later that he had over 1000 views of his video, more people than he had sung to in person. So he started recording more videos and posting them on Youtube, and learned early on to celebrate his small wins.
This video won him much acclaim at the tender age of 10.
When he reached 50,000 YouTube subscribers, he celebrated, and then again at 100,000 and on and on. I watched his video recently of his excitement as he counted down to 1,000,000 subscribers. It was such an exciting milestone for him. Today, he has over 5,000,000 subscribers and I am one of them, quite possibly his oldest fan. This following is like having a mailing list of 5,000,000 subscribers, as these followers now buy his albums and attend his concerts.
As his confidence grew, he started to introduce humour into his Vlogs, which appealed to his young followers. This is just one example of how he appealed to so many, by really goofing off.
The reason I have included all these videos, is to show how his style of presentation, as well as his confidence and his brand has developed from the beginning, until now.
Just as his music covers were taking off, he started to produce a Vlog, a Video Blog - with much better production values - from his bedroom. The Vlog really took off and his subscriber base increased in leaps and bounds - especially as he shared everything about his life in these videos. He loved his followers, and thanked them at the end of each video for being his subscribers. His cover songs topped YouTube charts and iTunes charts regularly. One of his most viewed Vlogs was his coming out story, which he told directly to all his subscribers.
After conveying how nervous he felt and staring straight into the camera, he said; “On August 7, 2010, I told my family that I am gay. And now, on August 7, 2013, I want YOU guys to know that I am gay." And they all loved him all the more for that. Never did he sell anything on his vlog, except to say, each time, that if they enjoyed his video, to give it a thumbs up. But he built an enduring and almost unbreakable relationship with his rapidly growing tribe.
His creativity and passion was evident early on. He starred as Oliver Twist in a local production In Perth and then won the part of the young Wolverine, playing alongside Hugh Jackman. In July, 2009, he also won the lead role in Spud, a South African comedy series about a young boy at a private boarding School in Johannesburg, who is teased for his puny frame, hence the name Spud (potato), playing alongside John Cleese. He even had to have a voice trainer to help him develop a South African accent for the part.
But his true love was music and he put his heart and soul into his videos of cover songs. Before long, he started writing and composing his own music and in June 2013, at age 18, he was offered a recording contract by EMI (Music Australia). And thats when his life really took off.
Since then he has composed many songs and has launched a number of EPs, one of which, TRYXE, topped the iTunes charts in over 55 countries. In 2014 Time magazine named him one of the most influential teens of the year. And in December 2015, after a few successful EP launches, he launched his debut Album, Blue Neighbourhood.
A highlight in his career, one of so many highlights, was to be invited to perform at the Billboard Awards this year, 2016, where he sang his chart topping single My Youth, in front of many of the world's top singers.
It is really worth watching the first couple of minutes of this recent interview by i-D with Troye, as he talks about his life and his success, although in his own very modest way.
In August 2016, as I write this, he has just completed a world tour with his live show, playing in Perth to his home crowd just a week or so ago. I recently watched a YouTube video of his 70 minute live show in Amsterdam, in front of a wildly cheering crowd of young fans. He thanked them often throughout the show for supporting him - mind you the whole crowd seemed to know all the words to every song he sang, singing along with him. “Thank you guys, I love you so much.”
He collaborated with other YouTubers early on, and has also collaborated with other singers for some live shows – including with the hugely popular Canadian female singer, Aleesia Cara
As the third most popular YouTuber, with over 5 million subscribers, his future is secure.....as a hugely popular composer and singer and as a very successful young entrepreneur.
To end this case study, and just in case you haven't heard enough of Troye, here is a live interview he did on 10 August 2016. And to think that this successful young man has achieved all this, and he is just 21 years of age.
Finally, I want to pull this all together by summarising the steps that Troye took in his short but very successful career, to ensure his success as an entrepreneur is well grounded.
- He had a dream at an early age, that he wanted to be like Michael Jackson and followed his bliss, his passion for singing which has brought him to this amazing level of success in his life.
- He took risks, pushed himself, and built up his obvious confidence as a live performer. This is evident in his stage shows, in his Vlogs and in his live interviews.
- He built up his following, his tribe, his niche, steadily over time and loved them to bits.
- He developed his very recognisable and strong brand. This included the very distinctive way he signed off each time on his Vlogs, his style of music, his stage persona, the way he dresses, even including the way he moves on stage, his openness with his followers and his support for and advocacy of gay issues,.
- He gave them huge value, in his Vlogs, his music and in the way he opened up his life to them. He brought a lot of humour to his Vlogs, often making fun of himself in the process. His open and inclusive style of communication won him more and more followers. And he never forgot to thank them for their support.
- He never tried to sell his followers anything, but they bought his music anyway.
- He celebrated his small wins, and his big wins, but remained down to earth and modest about his achievements throughout.
- And as he achieved greater success, he began to collaborate with other successful YouTubers and singers.
Thanks for reading this story of success and entrepreneurship. If you found it interesting, useful, insightful, then I say an even bigger thank you. If you are a Troye Sivan fan, or even if you had never heard of him before, but can now recognise and applaud his achievements at such a young age, please leave a comment below.
And if you enjoyed this post, please follow me and I will follow you back. :-)
Full Steem Ahead.
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