Welcome Back! Our most recent cohort speaker, Hien Lam, is co-owner of Huck Finch, a brand agency for start-ups and designers. Hien was a passionate and captivating speaker that made the whole room want to hear more! He started off with a quote that read, “The act of dying is one of the acts of life” by Marcus Aurelius. This took everyone by surprise and made us interested in the deep life lessons he was about to teach us. Hien chose three quotes from friends whose life lessons were worth sharing.
Lesson #1: “Life takes the right amount of stupid” -Dina Wojcik
Dina is an entrepreneur who owns a mushroom factory and sells mushrooms to restaurants in Detroit. When she first got into the mushroom industry, Dina didn’t know how to sell her mushrooms to restaurants. She marketed her mushrooms the only way she knew how, going restaurant to restaurant asking if they wanted to buy her mushrooms. Luckily, Dina was successfully able to get clients throughout Detroit, but in times when she was not successful, she would ask for constructive criticism on how to improve. Hien pointed out that by asking ourselves “what’s the worst thing that can happen?” it takes away some of the worry that comes along with taking career risks and not knowing every detail along the way. Life takes just the right amount of stupid in order to succeed. We must admit to ourselves that we don’t know everything, there is always room for growth and everyone has to start somewhere.
Lesson #2: “If time is money then letting people take your time is like letting them steal from your bank account” -Jason Fried
Jason is an entrepreneur and author who hates shared calendars. This is because those who have access are able to schedule an appointment without your permission at any time. He believes that if time is money, why would you let someone steal your time? Learning to say no is also an important part in protecting your valuable time. If we say yes too often, we will spread ourselves thin. Overall, our best advice is to spend your time wisely.
Lesson #3: “Invest in social capital” -David Klingenberger
David is the founder and CFO of The Brinery whose fermented products are sold in places like Whole Foods. David believes that his ability to create and invest in relationships (aka social capital) played a huge roll in his entrepreneurial success. Some ways Hien suggested to build social capital were to reach out to someone in the community, maybe someone you admire, and ask questions. Building relationships that have the potential to help you network can help you answer questions, find a job and overall, help your career. Make sure when investing in a professional relationship to follow through on one thing that they suggest. Make sure to let them know that you followed through with their suggestion and how it went. People love to feel heard and letting people know you took their advice is a great way to build social capital.
A HUGE thank you to our speaker, Hien, for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come to the CDE’s cohort meeting this week! If you would like to check out Huck Finch’s website and social media the links are down below. Also, make sure you are following the CDE on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook, the links are also down below!
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