Travis Makes Money 638: Jeff Wald | The End of Jobs
One of the scariest things in the world may be deciding to leave a job and start out on your own, but that fear could be just what you need to push forward.
Jeff Wald is a writer, speaker, investor and serial entrepreneur. Jeff has founded several technology companies, including WorkMarket, an enterprise software platform that enables companies to manage freelancers. He now serves as an adviser to several companies and entities including the X-Prize’s Rapid Re-skilling Initiative. He is also the author of the #1 Amazon Best Seller, The End of Jobs: The Rise of On-Demand Workers and Agile Corporations.
Let’s dive in and learn from Jeff if and how the entrepreneurial journey could be for you.
Things you will learn in this episode:
[00:01 - 06:02] Opening Segment
- I introduce today’s guest, Jeff Wald
- Bio
- Jeff gives us a bit of his background
- Math vs. art
- Growing up afraid and finding his way
- Starting down a career in finance
- Negative pushes from parents
- Working up in finance leading to Harvard Business School
[06:03 - 20:35] How to Know it’s Time to Become an Entrepreneur
- Jeff’s thoughts on college
- An overvalued pathway
- Not all people need a 4 year college
- The value of trade school
- What shifted for Jeff to pivot out of 9 to 5 and into entrepreneurship
- From venture capitalist to his first company
- Discovering the freelance and entrepreneurial route
- A waking passion to solve a problem
- The hard reality you should be taking on board
- Balance between safe and going all in
- No clear line, don’t over analyze it
- Share your ideas everywhere
- From an investor standpoint
- A word from our Sponsor
[20:36 - 33:01] The End of Jobs
- Who you know, or what you know?
- You’ll never know enough for the ‘what’
- Who you know opens doors
- Teaching kids how to network
- Fixed vision vs. flexibility getting there
- Set up your guardrails as a leader
- Think about your how
- No questioning the what
- A connection that led to success
- Meeting with Fred Wilson
- When to keep going and when to call it
- When people aren’t giving you money
- How mentorship has impacted your journey?
- No mentors, but an investor
- The importance of coaches
- Building a community
- How to build your network from scratch?
- Look for existing infrastructure
- Look for groups and resources
[33:02 - 38:29] Closing Segment
- ThE RaNdOm RoUnD
- How to engage with Jeff
- Links below
- Final words
Tweetable Quotes:
“I am scared. Scared that I'll make the wrong decisions, and will pick the right business problem. I'm scared that people will think of it and beat us, I'm scared. But that fear is a great motivator.” - Jeff Wald
“All you can bet on as an investor is you and your ability to listen and to adapt, because everything you know is wrong.You just don’t know how it’s wrong.” - Jeff Wald
Resources Mentioned:
Connect and engage with Jeff on LinkedIn and Twitter. Check out https://www.jeffwald.com/ to learn more.
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