I kept a learning diary for my entrepreneurship class studies at Tallinn University of Technology. Here is my reflections about entrepreneurship. Enjoy reading!

1. TMJ0110
Introduction To
Entrepreneurship
Reflective Learning Diary
Gülçin Yıldırım
156398 IASM11

2. Chapter 1
My Attitudes and Beliefs About
Entrepreneurship
Weeks 1-2 Introduction Into Entrepreneurship
Before I start to write learning diaries, I would like to mention how
I like keeping diaries when I was a child. I kept writing for many
years but unfortunately stopped writing them when I discovered my mom
reads them, which was the end of writing diary sessions. Thanks to
this course I can write as much as I can about my reflections on life
based on our entrepreneurship lectures, this time I don’t need to
stop by afraid of being read, though J
When I was a child, I always read before writing my diaries. I was
feeling that reading was the starting point to write something; it
was kind of a way to open my mind and collect inspiration for my
precious diary. That’s why I wrote my diaries after reading my books
at the end of the night, just before I slept. Like I did when I was a
child, I read some articles, blog posts, watched videos and attended
lectures and seminars. I listed these references at the end of my
diary and named them as “my inspiration list” and considering that
I’m writing my diary again at the end of the night not much thing
changed on my writing traditions. As a last thing about my diaries,
since I was a visual child I was always representing my days with
icons (before the era of internet smileys, emoticons I had already
discovered them on paper J) at the beginning of the page and if I
had enough time I was drawing pictures on the pages which was related
to that day’s feelings on me. Sometimes I was cutting pictures from
magazines, newspapers or old study books, so now I might add pictures
into my learning diary as well.
Entrepreneurship

3. I had one big belief almost about everything in life: with enough
effort one can achieve anything; success is a not a result success is
a state you stay consistently even you lose the pace sometimes.
From my point of view entrepreneurship is being successful and not
giving up on the idea you created as well as the people who you work
and built a company with.
Entrepreneurship is not an easy journey but it’s worth to try and
take the risks. You might fail, you might lose money or fame but what
if you succeed? How could you know even without trying? I believe the
power of wanting something, if you like something enough you can
investigate your money, your time, your energy on it and if you find
the 1 thing you would go for, do it, don’t quit!
The beginning of the lectures were about who is the entrepreneur,
what is the meaning of entrepreneurship and what we understand from
the word of entrepreneurship, which are the key elements in the
entrepreneurship ecosystem.
At the end of the first lecture we wrote about what is the definition
of success for us. It might be the first time that I need to think
about my beliefs/myths about success and successful people. I think
we did this writing exercise because it was kind of a signal that
we’ll think about many things in this class that lead us a successful

4. life. Later at one of the lectures I learned about “enterprising”
behavior and like I guessed already, I discovered there is big
correlation between success and the enterprising people.
At our first seminar we divided into groups and made a simple drawing
about our reflections on entrepreneurship. The interesting thing for
me was that how almost every group drew a light bulb for representing
idea, and a bunch of banknotes for representing money etc. That made
me think of even if we’re coming from different countries/cultures we
have too much common beliefs and our creativity is limited with
stereotypes maybe already learned standards. That’s why I thought
finding a unique idea should be hard and applying this idea to the
real world by creating difference should be harder. Innovation itself
needs creativity and ability to stand one step ahead.
Chapter 2
Entrepreneurship and Economy
Weeks 3-4 Entrepreneurship Environment
Environment
In our lecture we talked about what is the relation with
entrepreneurship and economy and where the entrepreneur stands inside
of the economy system.
For exploring the differences of different startup environments we
compared Silicon Valley, Israel and Estonia conditions. It was really
useful to understand what we should do better for improving our
ecosystem. We found some similarities; every ecosystem needs
infrastructure and required resources (e.g., human resources, natural
resources), knowledge and experience on the working area, good
private and public sector cooperation and good universities. In
addition, we saw the importance of having a system with all key
factors inside it, like incubators, accelerators, angel investors
etc.
Here I would like to talk about Istanbul’s entrepreneurship
environment. (Here is a blog post I liked; you can read full article
the link is under my inspiration list number [20].) I worked for
several startups in Istanbul for 4 years before coming to Estonia,
this period was joyful in general but it has it difficulties too.
Istanbul is a great city surrounded with warm and helpful people,
most of the companies has a great friendship environment. Here, I am
mostly talking about small companies – I worked for some big
enterprise companies such as banks and insurance companies, they have
more strict rules and less colorful policies about working conditions
since they’re global companies they’re following some set of rules

5. not like our lovely small startups where employees don’t have easy
access to speak up with higher management as freely as they can talk
CEOs or CTOs of startups. My startup experiences taught me to share
what I believe even if sounds inconvenient to share at that moment, I
learnt speaking up against the things you don’t like or you would
like to change is better for your development process and also for
the company.
My first startup experience (tart) made a huge effect on my career,
which I started from scratch when I applied for job to that company.
It was a hard decision to leave a highly paid, well-famed and number
one bank that I worked for and applying a job to a company some of
the people never heard, for a position that I have no work experience
and with the technologies that I never worked with. But in the end I
found my profession (DBA & System Admin) there, I discovered the
title that I want to work for my life and I learnt everything with
the help of my colleagues in a friendly at the same time challenging
environment.

6. The good thing about startups you have to do the tasks in a very
agile mode, you have to be fast, you have to find the best solution
in a limited time frame (not like 5 year old projects that I worked
in enterprise companies) that makes you more involved in the project
and you learn fast very fast! By trying new things without having
barriers of high management, strict rules and company bureaucracy you
are the one who decides about your tasks (you have more
responsibility of course) and small acts to do and following the
project by your perspective; you’re the one who tests, applies and
criticizes the systems. You’re the engine not a small gear of a huge
antique machine. We loved our startup and that energy made every one
of us devote ourselves to our company, as it is our company. When a
company is able to create that culture, amazing goals can be
accomplished and I witnessed it is not a dream, it’s a fact!
In Istanbul, there is a huge market for new ideas. Population is
young and most of them interested in technology, highly motivated and
goal oriented. That makes Istanbul is one the good startup hubs but
it still needs to be improved.
Entrepreneurship seminars of us in general are a simulation of an
entrepreneurship environment, we have diversity and there are many
researches about how diversity affects our success by personally and
as a group (company, team, foundation anything)[5][11].
Seeing all of the people coming from all around the world makes these
lectures and seminars very attractive to me. At our second seminar we
discussed our ideas by changing seats in a circle, the most exciting
part is having a chance to listen my classmates’ ideas on things, we
could not find time talking to each other too much. It’s a great
chance to learn from each other maybe we can choose our future-
colleagues and build our ideas together. We were discussing what
should we have for a healthy entrepreneurship ecosystem, we agreed on
educated/skilled workforce, foreign experts, strong teams, trust,
support, mentorship and so on.
The sad part is the countries could achieve fabulous things with
these bright and enthusiastic young people but at the seminar we all
still disappointed by listing negative circumstances of our countries
like war, corruption, unstable economies, inflation, and bureaucracy.
I learned what is entrepreneurship and which conditions are the best
for entrepreneurship environment. What should we do to feed
entrepreneurial movements and what is the role of entrepreneur in
economy. This course offers different kinds of materials like video
references, suggested readings and also we’re attending very
interactive seminars, and all of these make my learning process
easier and joyful. I like attending both lectures & seminars.

7. Economy
We have to measure everything in economics since I’m a mathematician
I like measuring and interpreting the results. That’s why now I feel
more comfortable with these topics. With the help of this course I
want to discover my capabilities in entrepreneurship by attending
class and reading as much as I can after the lectures. My next goal
is getting familiar with simple principles of economics.
I would like to share my reflections by applying them to Turkey’s
economical environment.
I remember one huge scary word from my childhood about economy:
“inflation”. In 1990’s Turkey was struggling with very high
inflation, when I was a child (I was born at 1988) my family, their
friends and all of the adults I know were talking about that horrible
inflation. The banks bankrupted and lost of people lost their jobs.
Then Gulf War happened and in 1999 in my home city (Kocaeli – the
second biggest economy in Turkey after Istanbul) experienced a huge
earthquake (7.4), hundreds of people lost their lives, it traumatized
people, buildings are demolished, companies bankrupted and so on.
All of these unlucky events formed a basis for 2001 economic crisis
in Turkey and it was a very stressful period for all of us. In my
personal story my father is dismissed from his job like majority of
his colleagues, for a small amount of time I remember how sad my
family was, it was a terrible experience for all of us. I think after
that crisis people tend to search for more guaranteed jobs (like
working for government), take less risk and stay at the jobs they
found at first hand and be less competitive.
Now, I can see why my parents felt sad when I decided to leave my
safe job and take a big risk for choosing a small startup because
they never feel safe as we felt in our generation.

8. Turkey is politically and economically unstable compared to more
developed parts of the world. People who plan to found a company in
Turkey need to be ready on the changes and calculating every risk.
But the returns are higher in Turkey as it is an emerging market with
strong potential. In the blog post I referred [20] founders point out
that there are definitely challenges and things that are not
structured well and need to be improvised.
Comparing Istanbul to other hubs, start-up founders in the blog post
[20] specify that it is easy and inexpensive to start a business and
takes up to four days. Some of them explain that taxation for start-
ups and investors is comparable to most international hubs and they
add if you are a shareholder for over two years, you are exempt from
capital gains tax, which is a comparative advantage of Istanbul's
hub. However, another founder expresses a different opinion stating:
"I don't think that start-ups and small businesses get a real tax
break, and current regulations are not as helpful as they should. It
is hard to do small business in Turkey."
From the investors' perspective, one of the investors [20] emphasizes
that: "Money-wise only, it can be cheaper doing business here
compared to London or USA. But, considering the time invested to
educate different components of the ecosystem, then total costs
become much higher. This is where the importance lies in knowing the
local market and achieve making the whole process more cost-
efficient."
In the end, comparing to old tough days, Turkey’s economy is much
more stable now and better for entrepreneurship, and one can take
more risks to found a company or run a business in Turkey.
Chapter 3
Who is an Entrepreneur? (Personality)
Weeks 5-6 Entrepreneur
Before I took that class I was assuming entrepreneurs have very
different personal traits than me, obviously I was wrong. In the
lectures we talked about what are the common traits among
entrepreneurs and in the seminars we took some personality tests.
They showed me I’m one of the natural born entrepreneurs with my high
internal control, need of achievement, independent character and risk
tolerance I have. I’m both enterprising and entrepreneurial with high
level of metacompetence based on those personality tests.
Then I made an interview with an entrepreneur and I realized being an
entrepreneur is not an impossible thing to do. Then I recalled the
entrepreneurs whom I worked for/with or met at an event or had a
conversation. I observed some mutual characteristics that we also
repeated many of them in our lectures.

9. The first trait is passion [22]; they’re passionate about what they
do. I always find successful people attractive and I’m sure I’m not
the only one, they have an interesting charm, and they are
charismatic. They have a power, which is coming from inside of their
existence, this is passion and passion builds those people’s charisma
and strength. Whatever we do we need to discover ourselves first, we
need to know our powerful and weak sides and follow our passions, and
then we can create a difference and build unique things.
They always have a vision because they’re real dreamers and they
believe they will succeed whatever they believe. They go for the
extra mile; they stand one step ahead of the crowd, which requires
courage and self-trust. They do things differently from the people
who surround them, they are open to changes and they’re flexible
enough to adapt new environments and new challenges.
I think embracing our weakness is the wisest thing we can do with our
lives, then we can focus on what we already have in our hands. Having
a strong sense of self is one of the other common things in
entrepreneurs [22].

10. We need to ask ourselves in which things we are doing great and for
which things we have an endless desire, because desire is also a
resource, we need to look for the skills we already have. Like Saras
Sarasvathy suggest that we need to understand what we tend to. We
need to invest for our knowledge and capabilities for making our
dreams real. All entrepreneurs have purposes by heart but also they
have the durability and strength to reach their goals without giving
up when the difficulties occur.
People always tell you that you cannot do this because if they
believe themselves they would do it before you. Real entrepreneurs go
after their ideas because the idea is worthless without someone who
actually gives a life to that idea.
Chapter 4
Creativity and Innovation in
Entrepreneurship
Weeks 7-8 Business Model, Idea vs Opportunity,
Creativity and Innovation
In this chapter I will share my reflections about business model,
which I did not have any idea before taking this course, idea versus
opportunity in entrepreneurship and the relation between creativity
and innovation.
Business Model
In our seminar we built a business model by using business model
canvas. The keyword is here creating a value for your customers. You
need to create your business model on that purpose. We can easily
formulate it by saying left side of the canvas is creating costs,
right side of the canvas is creating value. If we do our market
research well we will definitely increase value at the right side,

11. knowing the customer and defining the customer segments will return
back to us as increased value. Also systematic innovation with
incremental steps will make positive contribution on the right side
of the canvas.
Like we did in our seminar before creating business model we need to
understand which problem we’re trying to solve, what we will offer to
the market. Our mission was: “killing iPad” and first we thought
about what we expect from iPad and which things iPad does not offer
solution to us that we can design our solution based on these
deficiencies that iPad has. We put customer into our center of ideas
and tried to understand the expectation and also we thought how we
reach to our customers by which channels. Another important thing was
considering costs while trying to create a product with a good value.
So like the picture above tells us: quality is the best business
plan. If you create a value your business plan will work.
Idea vs Opportunity
We are not living in a fair world; life is unfair. Resources are not
distributed equally amongst people but there is a saying: If
opportunity does not come knocking, build a door!

12. If we were living in a perfect world we don’t need entrepreneurs,
since world is imperfect and there are millions of problems out
there, there is opportunity to solve them by applying your idea and
getting one step closer to change the world for good.
There are necessity based and opportunity based entrepreneurs. If you
are living a modern developed country possibly you will be the second
type of entrepreneur.
In any case an entrepreneur’s primal purposes should be solving a
problem and finding gaps in the marketplace. An entrepreneur should
observe current trends, like one of my inspirational blog posts says
[13] your first idea is not going to be your best idea and it
continues:
“When that one great idea hits, it’s an amazing moment. But getting
there can be a struggle. It can take a long time – and a lot of work.
There are smart ways to boost your ability to be creative, and
compared to the benefits that come, they’re relatively simple.”
In our seminars we tried create solutions for some problems and we
experienced how hard it can be. Even you see the opportunity there,
it takes too much time to evaluate the idea, understand the different
markets and trends.
Creativity and Innovation
“In today's fast paced economy, realizing a good idea isn't enough.
Not only do you have to roll with the punches that quickly developing
technology is serving up, but you have to blaze a trail, hit the
market where you don't have competition. Otherwise, you'll end up
drowning in a sea of over-saturation. Innovation - your life jacket.”
[1]
After all the readings and the things I learnt in the lectures and
seminars I really agree with the slogan above: “Innovate or die!”

13. You have to innovate to become more competitive and innovation is a
creative process. Without creativity you could not create any
difference, you can just create similar copies of the same product or
service. Your company culture should support creativity and
innovation if your employees are suffering under working conditions
of your company you cannot expect them to create value and your
culture is directly linked to your brand which means customers won’t
be happy if your employees are not. [16]
Chapter 5
Marketing in Entrepreneurship
Weeks 11-12 Marketing
That’s great if people like your product. But today people like many
things… It’s really easy - hit a button and you’re done. So don’t try
to create another thing to like. Try to create THE thing people chose
to buy. [1]
Marketing is a huge term and in today’s world it is powerful than
ever. As an IT girl it was a distant concept to me but it is not now.
I’m a data scientist and marketing decisions are based on data but
not only data.
In the companies that I worked for, sometimes I worked with marketing
specialists closely. But marketing is just not a science of decision
making with data, if you want to do great marketing you need to know
your customer better than yourself, you need to understand their
needs, their wants. You need to speak the same language with them,
you need to reach their emotions and their feelings then you can make
good sales and your marketing decisions will succeed.
Digital technologies are helping to create better marketing
strategies but again it is not the solution. Lets check an example
from a blog post that I like [6]:

14. “Take a look at Yellow Cab, the dominant transportation-for-hire
option in San Francisco before ridesharing companies like Uber and
Lyft took over the market. Like many businesses that have been
disrupted by modern Marketplaces, Yellow Cab also built a mobile app
experience. It has the same basic functionality as the ride-sharing
Marketplaces — hailing a cab, seeing its location, etc.
But unlike the Marketplace options, Yellow Cab left the communication
experience the same. If you need to call your driver, you still call
central dispatch. It is impossible to communicate in real-time with
your driver to help with the pickup. Even the hailing confirmation
comes via a do-not-reply email. It could have been a strong response
to business disruption, but instead it’s a shining example of what
not to do. A Marketplace service without Marketplace Communications
is just a prettier presentation of the same legacy experience.”
[6]
From the example above it’s obvious that using digital era’s
opportunities does not make you better at marketing but communication
does. In the base of marketing communication and user experience
matter much. If you are not creating a good user experience for your
customer they will find another one for experiencing this.
Marketing is not a child’s job; no one can guarantee that every
campaign will work.
“No creative professional can guarantee that everyone will like
everything they create. But explaining your process, responding to
reactions, and helping the client to understand how their prospects
will see the finished product all go a long way towards making them
feel safe approving your concepts. If you can present your creations
in a way that makes your client excited to say “yes,” then you’ve
succeeded.” [8]
As final words on marketing, you need to reach out to your customers;
you need to think like your customers.

15. Chapter 6
Finance of Entrepreneurship
Weeks 13-14 Finance
To be honest, finance topic was the least interesting topic to me but
at the seminars of finance, we played a game called “Cash Flow” and
it was fun.
I would like to reflect about finance based on the game we played
because that game was kind of a simple simulation of the real life.
In the game we simply kept a balance sheet and goal of the game was
building our passive income in way that you must make it greater than
total expenses. If you are running a company you definitely keep this
thing in your mind.
Also one thing that I realize if you gain more your expenses are more
too. You need to find a balance in your financial life, always
remembering to reduce your liabilities to make your passive income
increase. Even in the game it was a hard task; you need to take small
and big deals and you need to evaluate in a projected time frame,
deals are not same in every time, times are changing so the deals and
their effects.
You need to be careful, but you need to take risks too. Just playing
safe won’t let you to pass across the border of small circle J
I would like to share one fun fact about the game which is having a
child is a financial crisis, I never consider having a baby in that
terms but now I am J

16. Chapter 7
Summary
Full Course Consideration
I have never expected taking this course will change my look on
entrepreneurship this much. I was a bit skeptic at the beginning and
was not confident enough since the topic was a bit far from my daily
topics that I was interested in.
Surprisingly this course was one of the life-changing moments for me.
I always feel this kind of experiences when I am experiencing it, I
felt it when I left my home to study in Istanbul, I felt it when I
decided to leave my fiancée, I felt it when I started to work for my
dream company, I felt it when I decided to move Estonia and life is
full of surprises. When I put an idea into my mind so far I achieved
all of them, some decisions were really hard to make but you never
know without trying.
One day, I will found a company and I will always remember the moment
I decided to do that.
Thanks for giving me another goal to reach, thanks for being a living
inspiration for me!
My Inspiration List
[1] Startup Vitamins:
https://dribbble.com/startupvitamins
“Quotes and tips to keep your startup motivated. Because we know how
hard it can be. Don’t worry, you’re not alone – we’re rooting for
you!”

17. [2] Advice to My 24-year-old Self: 8 Career Lessons I
Learned the Hard Way:
http://elementthree.com/blog/advice-to-my-24-year-old-self-8-career-
lessons-i-learned-the-hard-way/
“In fact, it took me a while to understand the difference between
living life and living for the life that you want. One simply
requires breathing. The other requires more intentional efforts. Here
are eight things I’ve learned about living an intentional life that I
wish my 24-year-old self had known before she started on this
journey.”
[3] Infographic Sink or Swim:
http://www.columnfivemedia.com/work-items/infographic-sink-swim
“Contrary to popular stories of 20-something tech startup
millionaires, entrepreneurship is actually something that’s age-
agnostic. As you evolve in the workforce—with experience under your
belt—you may be in a better position to launch your dream company. We
partnered with Clarity to look at entrepreneurial success at every
age.”
[4] The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship:
http://www.inc.com/magazine/201309/jessica-bruder/psychological-
price-of-entrepreneurship.html
“No one said building a company is easy. But it's time to be honest
about how brutal it really is -- and the price so many founders
secretly pay.”
[5] Diversity Actually Makes Us Smarter:
http://qz.com/570732/diversity-actually-makes-us-smarter/
“Take these examples. In 2003, researchers found banks with racially
diverse employees yielded better financial performance than those
that didn’t. In a 2006 study, diverse juries were shown to be more
adept at thinking holistically and recalling information without
error.”
[6] Communications Blueprint for On-Demand Marketplaces &
the Sharing Economy:
http://ahoy-
assets.twilio.com.s3.amazonaws.com/Whitepapers/comm_blueprint_ondeman
d_mktplce_sharing_econ.pdf?utm_campaign=&utm_medium=email&utm_source=
Eloqua&utm_content=RCNT_WP_2015-DEC-10_eBook - 3 questions all
marketplace owners should
“There is a lot more to app development for the Marketplace business
model than what is apparent on the surface. Take a look at Yellow
Cab, the dominant transportation-for-hire option in San Francisco

18. before ridesharing companies like Uber and Lyft took over the market.
Like many businesses that have been disrupted by modern Marketplaces,
Yellow Cab also built a mobile app experience. It has the same basic
functionality as the ride-sharing Marketplaces — hailing a cab,
seeing its location, etc.
But unlike the Marketplace options, Yellow Cab left the communication
experience the same. If you need to call your driver, you still call
central dispatch. It is impossible to communicate in real-time with
your driver to help with the pickup. Even the hailing confirmation
comes via a do-not-reply email. It could have been a strong response
to business disruption, but instead it’s a shining example of what
not to do. A Marketplace service without Marketplace Communications
is just a prettier presentation of the same legacy experience.”
[7] Japanese Women Suffer Widespread ‘Maternity
Harassment’ at Work:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/18/japanese-women-suffer-
widespread-maternity-harassment-at-work?CMP=twt_gu
“Half of short-term workers discriminated against after becoming
pregnant, survey says, as harassment complaints rise 18%”
[8] Guide Your Clients Safely to the Right Choice
[Video]:
http://elementthree.com/blog/guide-your-clients-safely-to-the-right-
choice-video/
“No marketer can guarantee that every campaign will work. No creative
professional can guarantee that everyone will like everything they
create. But explaining your process, responding to reactions, and
helping the client to understand how their prospects will see the
finished product all go a long way towards making them feel safe
approving your concepts. If you can present your creations in a way
that makes your client excited to say “yes,” then you’ve succeeded.”
[9] 10 Terrifying Marketing Metrics You Need to Know:
http://elementthree.com/blog/10-terrifying-marketing-metrics-you-
need-to-know/
“For some people, all marketing metrics are terrifying. But whether
or not numbers are your strong suit, they’re critical when you’re
assessing what is and isn’t working in your business’ marketing.
Nothing makes sense in a vacuum. Data and metrics are nearly
worthless without a baseline, industry standard, or competitive
landscape from which to gain context.”
[10] Finding a Pattern for Brand Building [feat. Polina
Osherov]:

19. http://elementthree.com/blog/finding-a-pattern-for-brand-building-
feat-polina-osherov/
“ ‘If we played it safe, we wouldn’t be where we are today,’ Polina
said. ‘My lack of familiarity with the publishing industry probably
helped me to not be scared off by all the complexities of printing a
magazine.’ ”
[11] How Diversity Makes Us Smarter:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-
smarter/
“The fact is that if you want to build teams or organizations capable
of innovating, you need diversity. Diversity enhances creativity. It
encourages the search for novel information and perspectives, leading
to better decision-making and problem solving. Diversity can improve
the bottom line of companies and lead to unfettered discoveries and
breakthrough innovations. Even simply being exposed to diversity can
change the way you think. This is not just wishful thinking: it is
the conclusion I draw from decades of research from organizational
scientists, psychologists, sociologists, economists and
demographers.”
[12] How to Tell Stories in a Digital World:
http://elementthree.com/blog/how-to-tell-stories-in-a-digital-world/
“ ‘We used to be in the business of communications and now we’re
increasingly in the business of experiences,’ Brinker said.”
[13] Your First Idea Isn’t Going to be Your Best Idea
[Video]:
http://elementthree.com/blog/your-first-idea-isnt-going-to-be-your-
best-idea-video/
“When that one great idea hits, it’s an amazing moment. But getting
there can be a struggle. It can take a long time – and a lot of work.
There are smart ways to boost your ability to be creative, and
compared to the benefits that come, they’re relatively simple.”
[14] Is Your Brand Lying to Itself? :
http://elementthree.com/blog/is-your-brand-lying-to-itself/
“The new word of the decade: transparency. It’s obvious everywhere,
from the revealing blog posts of previously ivory-towered CEOs to the
secretly YouTubed videos of rude service providers. Your brand is
constantly being watched and assessed for trustworthiness, whether
you know it or not. Today’s consumers have a great big megaphone
called the Internet. If they’re happy, you’re happy. But if they’re
unhappy, you’ll be very, very unhappy. Conclusion: there is no place
to hide.

20. Even if your brand is big and successful, don’t rest on your laurels.
Consumers have fallen out of love with well-established brands.
They’re seeking out small, locally grown brands that they deem
deserving of their dollars. Many of the great have fallen – and there
are obvious patterns to brands falling out of favor.”
[15] How to Create Tension in Your Advertising:
http://elementthree.com/blog/create-tension-in-your-advertising-luke-
sullivan/
“You want creative? Find me a problem (and a villain). We’re wired to
be interested in conflict. ‘Creativity happens in response to a
problem, not a solution,’ he said. ‘If there isn’t a problem, you
need to create one. [Creating conflict] is how we get interest about
your product because your product is not particularly interesting to
anybody but you.’ ”
[16] Culture Makes a Workplace Great or Intolerable
[Video]:
http://elementthree.com/blog/culture-makes-a-workplace-great-or-
intolerable/
“The values of your brand define the values of your culture.”
[17] Flow, the Secret to Happiness [Ted Talk]:
http://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow/transcript?l
anguage=en - t-833700
“So what it's telling you here is that obviously this
automatic, spontaneous process that he's describing can only happen
to someone who is very well trained and who has developed
technique. And it has become a kind of a truism in the study of
creativity that you can't be creating anything with less than 10
years of technical-knowledge immersion in a particular field. Whether
it's mathematics or music, it takes that long to be able to begin to
change something in a way that it's better than what was there
before. Now, when that happens, he says the music just flows out. And
because all of these people I started interviewing -- this was an
interview which is over 30 years old -- so many of the people
described this as a spontaneous flow that I called this type of
experience the "flow experience." And it happens in different
realms.”
[18] Lessons of Steve Jobs: Guy Kawasaki at TEDxUCSD:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWv-KoZnpKw
“12 lessons:
1. Experts are clueless
2. Customers cannot tell you what they want
3. The action is on the next curve
4. Biggest challenges beget the best work

21. 5. Design counts
6. Use big graphics and big fonts
7. Changing your mind is a sign of intelligence
8. Value is not equal to price
9. A players hires A+ player
10. Real CEOs demo
11. Real entrepreneurs ship
12. Marketing = unique value
13. (Bonus) Some things need to be believed to be seen ”
[19] Mankiw's Ten Principles of Economics, Translated by
Yoram Bauman, Ph.D.- Ep 27
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPUEgEdCTp8
“
1. People face tradeoffs – choices are bad
2. The cost of something is what you give up to get it
3. Rational people think at the margin
4. People respond to incentives
5. Trade can make everyone better off
6. Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity
7. Governments can sometimes improve market outcomes
”
[20] The World’s Best Startup Hubs: Istanbul, Turkey
http://www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/the-worlds-best-start-up-hubs-
istanbul-turkey
“He also reveals a surprising element on similarities of
entrepreneurs and investors psychology between Japan and Turkey.
‘Failure or shutting down a business is perceived as something big.
There is a common cultural aspect of not accepting failure easily.
But, failure is a way of identifying deficiencies, improvise and
mature.’ ”
[21] Google CEO rebukes Donald Trump's Muslim ban:
'America was and is a country of immigrants'
http://mashable.com/2015/12/12/google-ceo-donald-trump-muslims/ -
TZX9s4GNzZqw
“Pichai also mentioned the role of diversity at Google: ‘I walk
around the campus where I work and see a vibrant mix of races and
cultures. Every one of those people has a different voice … a
different perspective … a different story to tell. All of that makes
our company an exciting and special place to be, and allows us to do
great things together.’ ”
[22] 5 Personality Traits of an Entrepreneur
http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2014/04/14/5-personality-
traits-of-an-entrepreneur/

22. “
1. Passion
2. Resilience
3. Strong Sense of Self
4. Flexibility
5. Vision
”
My Lovely Images
1. https://dribbble.com/shots/2188268-Days-of-Entrepreneurship
2. https://dribbble.com/shots/1228548-Entrepreneurship
3. https://dribbble.com/shots/1910810-Screw-it-let-s-do-it
4. https://dribbble.com/shots/1868681-Find-your-one-thing
5. http://www.virgin.com/sites/default/files/Articles/Getty/istanb
ul_three_getty_1238.jpg
6. https://dribbble.com/shots/2157003-Do-Not-Guess-Measure
7. https://dribbble.com/shots/24866-Talent-isn-t-much-without-
passion
8. https://dribbble.com/shots/1865854-Spaceship
9. https://dribbble.com/shots/2227897-Don-t-let-people-tell-you-
your-ideas-won-t-work
10. https://dribbble.com/shots/1903822-Quality-is-the-best-
business-plan
11. https://dribbble.com/shots/898802-Innovate-or-Die
12. https://dribbble.com/shots/1527190--In-the-middle-of-every-
difficulty-lies-opportunity
13. https://dribbble.com/shots/1855859--Likes-don-t-pay-the-bills-
Sales-do
14. https://dribbble.com/shots/2367648-Forbes
15. https://dribbble.com/shots/2394302-Think-Like-a-Customer
16. https://dribbble.com/shots/2067854-No-one-said-it-would-be-easy