Can you share a little bit about yourself?

I am a 24-year-old Puerto Rican entrepreneur. I grew up in Puerto Rico and then moved to Miami when I was 16. After I graduated, I moved to California. I originally intended to pursue an acting degree, but dropped out later when I realized it wasn’t the path for me. Instead, I chose to get a business degree online.

I later started my brand using what I’d learned from the experience of having aon online print-on-demand clothing brand. I decided in January to start building my Instagram page organically, then included the use of targeted ads.

With digital marketing and entrepreneur experience, I decided to help other entrepreneurs learn to develop and grow their brands. This way they can establish their mark on social media.

How did this develop into a business for you?

I’d recommended a few carousel creators which include graphic designers, entrepreneurs, and creatives. When I realized that I could bring what I had learned from school and previous experience to help others get started, I knew I was onto something.

Not only would I lean on this experience, but I could also use the experience of acting school and running an online store. In growing my brand, it taught me how to navigate the digital landscape. I knew I could relay this to others and help them do the same.

At first, I was more focused on teaching digital marketing and content creation, but I realized that people were following me for different reasons. It was about my mindset and branding. I decided to shift my brand toward those topics since they seemed to resonate with others.

One important factor is that I didn’t want to box myself in and only discuss personal branding and mindset. It’s topics within those niches I want to go deeper into and explore. I’m currently working on a couple of projects, one of them is a newly launched podcast called The Candid Creative (@candidcreativepodcast).

I always wanted to inspire others and help them find their passion. When it comes to the podcast, I think about how I wanted to create a podcast where I could interview people. Now, that’s a reality! Working on my podcast has primarily been about giving creatives and entrepreneurs a way to learn a wide array of topics.

What do you want your brand to represent?

I always do my best to maintain my brand as honest and personal as possible. I believe that since I am building a personal brand while creating personal branding material, mindset, and podcasting content, this is critically important.

I strongly believe that it is also my responsibility to discuss other topics whether they are social, ethical, or even political on my platform and brand. It wouldn’t be a personal brand if it doesn’t talk about the things I am passionate about and the things I believe in. More brands and especially personal brands should do this.

I always do my best to deliver my audience and connections with fresh, new, relevant topics and perspectives. It has always been a priority to inspire others to take the steps they need to create something themselves.

Is there something you would tell those just starting?

The main thing would probably be that your prior experiences can help you create something. I never thought that two years of acting school would help me develop my brand, but it has helped a lot. When I started to create video content that background began to show up. It opened me up to understanding how it was helpful.

Then of course there is running an online clothing brand for a year. While that company didn’t yield much revenue, it did teach me a few things: patience, branding, and how to define an audience. Never underestimate your prior experiences because you never know when they will become helpful.

What challenges have you come across in creating your brand?

The main challenge when working on brand creation usually comes down to differentiation. You always think you have this new and unique perspective, but there are probably others doing something similar. When I started my brand, I quickly realized that what I thought was different was quite similar.

Creating a brand is creating a persona. When it comes down to a personal brand it’s about finding who you are which is where it gets tricky. You need self-awareness and self-preservation.

What did I do? I decided to go deeper into my own experiences and explore the following: who am I? Because while there might be others doing similar content or talking about similar ideas nobody can be you as an individual.

Daily, the challenges come down to staying fresh and relevant. We live in a world where it’s constantly changing. You must always be on your feet and prepared to pivot. When something doesn’t work. quickly find a solution to make it work, otherwise, someone else will. The other challenge is related to self-awareness and self-preservation.

I’ll be honest, self-awareness is not my strong suit. For me, it means I have to constantly remind myself to be self-aware enough to be consistent in my brand. Also, to stay away from creating a persona. Comes down to being myself.

How are you handling the financial end of your business?

You know that’s a question that should be asked more. The first thing I do is identify priorities. At the moment the priorities for the business have been towards growth, meaning spending on podcast production costs. Soon, I hope to start also giving priority to paying myself more than I do now.

How do you hope to grow your business? What do you want for the future?

At the moment I want to gain traction on my podcast, The Candid Creative and hope to expand my brand through podcasting. However, a medium that I want to expand my brand into further would be video content. primarily YouTube. I do have some ideas on a YouTube channel…just working on the details.

Aside from that, I want to continue inspiring others, and for my brand to be a symbol & inspiration for others to begin their journey in business or entrepreneurship. I do think at some point I want to create something that can help people monetarily to create their first venture. A business that “scouts” potential talents and helps them grow. Sort of an incubator for entrepreneurs.

Do you have a message for our readers looking for motivation?

My message would be to start. Get started on developing a strategy, then begin doing it. I was always scared to start something. I always told myself next month I’ll do it and then one month turned into two years.

My second piece of advice would be to never underestimate yourself and have a plan. Never start something in a rush. It will not turn into something of value. My first business, the online clothing brand was one of those mistakes. I rushed into it. I didn’t establish a clear brand or audience which cost me money.

Lastly, know your purpose. Have a plan and be clear about your goals. What will you bring new to the table that others are not or cannot bring? And always be prepared to fail over and over again. That is something I have to remind myself of every single day.

Website: www.thecandidcreative.com

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His professional athlete career complete, Mehdi turned to medicine as his next step. In 2018, Mehdi graduated at the top of his class, specializing in sports medicine and marking the beginning of his journey with VOTWEAR. Mehdi’s research and work focused on occlusion training, an optimized workout method that uses blood flow restriction training to revolutionize workouts and target working muscle growth. As Mehdi continued to learn about the training method, he wanted to develop a workout clothing brand that could support athletes in their optimal training program. From this vision, VOTWEAR was born.

VOTWEAR is a Norwegian SmartWear company that produces optimized and streamlined workout clothing that uses venous occlusion training and compression clothing to amply the results of your workout. With VOTWEAR, your workouts target specific muscle groups and isolate the muscles and lactic acid in play, expanding muscle growth and capacity faster than ever before. Mehdi’s medical and sports medicine training has helped him develop the perfect line of products that are healthy, productive, and powerful, and together with his brothers Nayyer and Sina, he created a business that allowed him to share the magic of occlusion training with the world.

VOTWEAR’s clothing appeals to all kinds of athletes, and that’s just how Mehdi wants it. A global citizen fluent in five languages and constantly traveling or working with people from all over the world, Mehdi is determined to create a multi-talented and international product that serves athletes of all backgrounds, abilities, and performance levels. His company is built on the same premise his products are: that every person has a role in their success, and with the right tools you can change the way you work. Launching VOTWEAR has been an exercise in endurance and patience for Mehdi, who spends his fifteen-hour days jumping from activity to activity while still fitting in time for a workout and his bustling medical practice. However, Mehdi wouldn’t have it any other way. The serial entrepreneur, athlete, doctor, and business owner has had an eye for success ever since he was a child, and with the success of VOTWEAR skyrocketing, there’s no sign that he’s slowing down anytime soon. 

The post A Self-Starting Success: Mehdi Ettehadulhagh and VOTWEAR appeared first on CEO Medium.

Shawn Anthony at a young age knew what it took to stand out from the crowd. At the age of 14, he became a serial entrepreneur by collaborating with others to host his own events bringing people together by the thousands. He always found himself in situations where he collaborated with peers to help them reach a goal or serve a cause. Later in life Shawn’s ability to collaborate and facilitate was identified by corporate leaders who elevated him to various leadership positions where he was promoted 6 times in 4 years.

One of the only African American successful podcasters in the world that are talking about life after school is over.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I’m Shawn Anthony, one of the top podcasters in the world and the host of “School’s Over…Now What?”– The Podcast. I help entrepreneur minded individuals start the career or business of their dreams.

Tell us more about your podcast and what was the sole idea behind it?

The idea behind the Podcast is that I noticed too many students were coming out of the educational systems not knowing what to do next. It didn’t matter whether they graduated college, dropped out or decided not to attend at all they were still lost. I wanted to create a platform where they could still learn and have access to people who successfully answered the question themselves and that’s “School’s Over…Now What?”

Go in detail and tell us about how your podcast works?

I’m passionate about helping people go to the next level. I’ve created a show with some of the biggest celebrities on the planet to help others figure out what’s next. Each and every single week we release a new episode on Friday’s with an inspiring person or a message that will help you do just that.

What advice you would give to others through this interview?

If you are reading this right now here’s the biggest takeaway I can give you. When you are creating something don’t be afraid to “shoot your shot”. The entire show shifted gears when we landed Ryan Serhant star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing on episode #7 “Don’t Stop Being A Student After You Graduate”. We knew at that moment we could land a big guest across multiple platforms.

Explain the challenges you went through while you were working on brand creation. What are the challenges you go through on an everyday basis?

The biggest challenge, in the beginning, was learning how to even do a podcast. It took countless hours of learning on YouTube how to record, edit and mix each episode until the sound was right. You can go back and listen to the first 10 episodes and the last 5 and you would see massive audio quality improvement. Now a challenge on an everyday basis is to ensure we bring the right guest on that will add value to show and for our audience. Each episode is downloaded thousands of times and it’s important we deliver high-quality content.

How do you manage your finances through the services you offer?

The Podcast has brought so much attention that many entrepreneurial-minded individuals are wanting to learn more so I offer one on one business mentorship programs where my students have seen amazing results that have taken their ideas and companies to the next level

Tell us your future vision about the brand. How far do you want to take it? What is your dream about taking it to the next level?

I want the show to impact millions. This has the ability to go mainstream, create future partnerships, events, and have its own network

What message would you like to give to anybody who has a plan of creating something of their own and making a living through it?

Don’t always feel the need to listen to people just because they knew you a long time ago. You have to trust your judgment your thoughts, and ideas you have right now that they’re yours for a reason don’t be scared but act upon them. Action is the antidote to fear.

As the host of School’s Over….Now What? The Podcast and as the lead mentor at The Now What Academy, Shawn now serves students and professionals across the world who are stuck in their situations. He uses his gift to bring together industry leaders who share their stories and wisdom. His mission is to help others identify their gifts, create roadmaps to success, and offer practical advice and motivation to complete the journey.

Follow Shawn on Instagram, youtube and Learn more about the School’s Over….Now What Academy

The post “From Promoter to Top Podcaster in the World”: Shawn Anthony appeared first on CEO Medium.