Carly Ries
Will Burns is an advertising veteran of over 30 years, coming out of such creative hot shops as Wieden & Kennedy, Goodby Silverstein & Partners, Arnold Worldwide, and Mullen/Lowe. As business development director at Arnold Worldwide, Will pitched and won over $1 billion in new billings for the agency and brokered a brand partnership between Paul McCartney and Fidelity. It was at these agencies that his love for creativity and ideas was shaped and nurtured. It was also at these agencies where Will met the creative talent that now call themselves “Ideasicle Experts” on the Ideasicle X platform, of which Will is currently the Founder & CEO.
Episode Highlights
- How to create a business by finding gaps in your industry
- How to come up with amazing ideas for your company
- Why it's important to know your strengths and what you bring to the table
- Why you don't have to expand beyond a one-person team
- Why there's so much value in saying "yes"
- Why you can't get too attached to one client
- Why you should think of work as a series of bursts
- Why it's important to only focus on one thing
Learn More About Will and His Company
- Learn more about Ideacicle.
- Follow Will on Twitter.
Resources Mentioned in the Episode
- Watch Miracle.
- Listen to Hey Jude.
- Listen to Back in Black.
- Learn more about why Dan Price pays his employees at least $70k/year.
Want to share your experiences and learn from other one-person businesses? Be sure to join our community! It's free :)
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Need help starting, running, and/or growing your solopreneur business? The Solopreneur Success Cycle can help! Access it here.
Full Episode Transcript
Will Burns (00:00):
And so now I'm like, oh my God, I have no pipeline. I have no revenue coming in. I have to start all over. There was a really testy four or five months there, where I was like, oh my, how big a mistake is this? Is this gonna ruin this? Can I recover? And ultimately I did recover, but it was not easy. So the lesson learned there is diversified
Intro (00:24):
Bigger. Doesn't always mean better. Welcome to the One-Person Business podcast, where people who are flying solo in business, come for specific tips and advice to find success. As a company of one, here are your hosts, Joe Rando and Carly Ries.
Carly Ries (00:43):
Welcome to the One-Person Business podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Carly Ries and
Joe Rando (00:48):
I'm Joe Rando
Carly Ries (00:49):
And we're interviewing another successful solopreneur today, Will Burns. Will is an advertising veteran of over 30 years coming out of such creative hot shops as Wieden & Kennedy, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Arnold Worldwide, and Mullin Lowe. As business development director at Arnold Worldwide, Will pitched an over $1 billion in new billings for the agency and broker to brand partnership between Paul McCartney and Fidelity. I don't know if we have time today, but I would love to hear that offline. It was at these agencies that his love for creativity and ideas was shaped and nurtured. It was also at these agencies where Will met the creative talent that now call themselves Ideacicle Experts on the Ideacicle X platform of which Will is currently Founder and CEO. I can't wait to get into that, so Will welcome to the show.
Will Burns (01:37):
Thank you very much for having me
Carly Ries (01:39):
We're so excited to have you because your business to me is just fascinating and not only are you a solopreneur yourself, but your business can also help solopreneurs. Can you walk us through what your company does and the background that led you to want to be a one-person business?
Will Burns (01:54):
I'll start with the second half of that. As you mentioned in my bio, I've been in advertising for a long time and when you get more senior in the business, you start to think, maybe I should start my own agency. I was an account guy and I was talking to some creative people. I had several meetings with different aspiring entrepreneurial, creative people, because typically you have an account guy and a creative start in, not always, but it's often a good combination. I would always ask the same question and that is, "what's going to make this agency different. And in every situation I got lame answers. There was no real vision other than something like, "we just want to have a place where people can work and it's nine to five" and I'm like clients aren't looking for that.
Will Burns (02:49):
That isn't a real differentiator from an agency standpoint. So I never did start a traditional agency, not that the world needs one anyway, there are a million agencies out there, but when I was at Arnold, as a business development director and also innovation director, it was a very early form of crowdsourcing that I created within the new business department, which was an intranet site that I called the innovation station. Only because it rhymed. It was an intranet site that anyone at Arnold and there were like 800 people worldwide at the time, I could post a request for an idea. In new business you need ideas and you need 'em now. You need them right away. You gotta pitch on Thursday, then it's an immovable object.
Will Burns (03:41):
So, I was able to post a request for an idea and we would get 150 people posting ideas on this intranet site. It was a classic crowdsourcing thing and we would get a lot of really bad ideas, but we would get two or three or four or five nuggets every single time that were just gold and some were pitch winning ideas. It occurred to me at some point after a couple of years of this that, you know, I've worked at some of the most creative agencies in the country. I know some of the most creative people in the country, in the advertising world. What if I pointed this kind of technology towards them? There's no reason why they all have to be from the same agency. There's no reason they have to be in the same state or city.
Will Burns (04:32):
They can be anywhere. This is a virtual platform. What if I found an off the shelf software platform and reverse engineered it to bring people together and that's what I did. That was very different that had not existed before. In fact when I started this in 2010, I think we were the very first agency that actually got paid for ideas and not execution. We didn't do any execution of the ideas. We only came up with them. There's a whole interesting dynamic about how clients reacted to the ideas when they're paying for them, versus when they're getting them as part of a general time of staff fee. But that was the beginning and it worked pretty well. Again, we were using an off-the-shelf software platform, in reverse engineering it to our purposes, but it wasn't great.
Will Burns (05:28):
It wasn't really designed for idea generation. So over the last couple of years, I got an investor and I started building a software platform, a SaaS that was designed from the ground up to my spec to bring teams of four people together, virtually to come up with ideas as a team. So it's not crowdsourcing where it's going out to the unvetted masses and they're all competing against each other for the "winning idea". You could call it expert sourcing where you've got four people who are literally all on the same team, all helping each other, posting ideas, riffing on each other's ideas, building on each other's ideas, right on the platform. And they can do it from anywhere, which they love. So that pretty much brings us to today. I hope that wasn't too long an answer.
Carly Ries (06:20):
No, not at all. And I think one of the reasons why I was drawn to this and why I think it's so fascinating is because so much of my background is agency life. I was account services. I've seen the ins and outs in multiple agencies and this is just such a good idea. It sounds like quite the undertaking. I'm curious how you were able to run a company like this for 10 years as a One-Person Business.
Will Burns (06:45):
I think when you start a business on your own, you have to do an inventory of your assets. You have to look at what do I have that I could leverage and be able to function as a single person entity and what I had more than anything else was contacts. I had contacts with incredibly brilliant people who loved to come up with ideas. The other thing I had as an asset was a real fascination with creativity and how creativity works. I've been studying it for decades, just the science behind creativity and what makes us more creative. I could give you a whole bunch of tips if you're interested. The last thing is that I was very tech savvy. I really enjoyed leveraging cutting edge technology to be as efficient as possible. So you put those three things together and what you end up with is an idea like Ideacicle, where it's all about access to that talent, using cutting edge technology to bring them together, virtually infused with my own personal passion around creativity. It quickly became a dream job.
Joe Rando (07:59):
I just have to jump in. I love this concept of saying, what's gonna make this agency different leading you to the path of this incredibly unique idea. I think that's an amazing story and an amazing journey. I'm gonna give it a Boston Wicked Awesome.
Will Burns (08:17):
Wow. That is high praise.
Carly Ries (08:21):
Oh boy. That's a real thing, I guess. It's not just for the shows. People do say that <laugh>
Will Burns (08:27):
Oh, it's real.
Carly Ries (08:28):
Okay. I need to educate myself. Will, you were saying that you have all these contacts. Is there a reason you never brought anybody on full time? Like why did you decide to stay small?
Will Burns (08:39):
Because I didn't have to bring anybody on. Part of this is I didn't want it to be complex. This is going back now to 2010 when I first started this thing, I didn't want the complexity of other owners. I didn't want the complexity of investors. I just wanted to go try this. I had a client who was willing to start working with me right out of the shoot and that was helpful. Maybe it was a fear of complexity, but it wasn't like I was driven to be alone and work alone. It was more, I wanted this to cost the least amount possible in order to give it the most chance of succeeding. So it's been 10 years now and I still don't have an employee that could change as this new platform grows and scales. I certainly hope it does, but for right now, it's been 11 years and counting as a sole employee of this company.
Carly Ries (09:43):
That's amazing. In speaking of growing and as this new platform continues to do so, how do you position yourself in the market? Because agencies aren't really your competitors anymore, it was born from your agency life. How do you position yourself in the market?
Will Burns (10:01):
The tagline is "nothing is unthinkable". I love that because it's infused with attitude that nothing is unthinkable. Post whatever comes to your mind, the rest of the team will build on that. I really try to position the company as a new way to come up with better ideas, more ideas, more economically than ever before. And I'm positioning it to the advertising space right now, but there's really no reason why it's only for advertising other than I just happen to know that marketplace. It could easily be used in Hollywood. It could be used in science research engineering. I could see political campaigns using this as a quick way to get ideas in response to something that happens on a campaign. For right now, I'm positioning it to the advertising world as a better way to come up with ideas than using the traditional freelance route of a couple of people that come into the office for a week.
Will Burns (11:09):
And there isn't a lot of visibility into that. It's very expensive with their day rates. With this model, you get four people working on the problem, not just two and for a lot less money than you would've even paid the two were they to come into the office. Its so much fun. All the experts love it because they can do it from anywhere. They can work on multiple projects at a time. It kind of eliminates all the BS of the business and allows them to do what they love most, which is just come up with ideas. So I think that's how I'm positioning it at least for now.
Carly Ries (11:45):
Yeah. And with your marketing background, what is your lead gen strategy at this point?
Will Burns (11:53):
It's a couple things for starters. Doing podcasts like this is always helpful. So thank you. But it's also just social media. I try to do a lot of content development and I do that through the website on our blog. I write about the platform quite a bit, but I write about creativity in general as well. I'm pretty active on LinkedIn and Twitter, Facebook, little bit on Instagram, but then going back to, what are your assets? I do happen to know a lot of people in advertising, so it's not hard for me to get meetings where I can at least introduce the concept to someone at an agency, then it hopefully escalates from there. So right now it's pretty organic, honestly. I'm not doing any paid social media or advertising or anything like that right now. Again, that could change next year.
Carly Ries (12:50):
Okay, so you have a pretty big network. It sounds like you're in contact with people all the time. but something that a lot of people struggle with as they have their one person business, is just feeling lonely in isolation. Do you have any advice for people going through that and how to combat it?
Will Burns (13:09):
You know, I never really feel lonely because I'm so in my head. My whole life revolves around coming up with ideas that I find that so enjoyable that I don't <laugh>, this sounds terrible, but I really don't miss a big organization with a lot of people personally. I guess my advice would be, and this is so cliche, but it's true, but if what you're doing is in line with who you are, then that can take the place of any social needs. There are other ways to do it too. You can go to conventions, you can meet up on social media, that can take a lot of the social mechanism, or at least relieve that a little bit, go out with friends a lot.
Will Burns (14:09):
One rule of thumb I have, and this is almost a spiritual thing, but if anybody, and I should probably be careful who I tell this, but if anybody asks me to go to lunch or go out for a drink or whatever, I always say yes, because you have to believe that somehow the universe has conspired to get that person to call me. There's some reason behind it. It may not be apparent when they first call, like why on earth would I meet with this person for an hour and a half <laugh>. But the fact that they reached out is enough for me. I need to go find out why they called.
Carly Ries (14:47):
Yeah, it's funny. You said something and I'm gonna butcher it compared to what you said, but you basically said "do something that aligns with your personality.". I feel like that should be a bumper sticker. <laugh> I feel like that can make everybody's lives so much easier. <laugh> so, 11 years, it's been a success, but what is something you wish you would've known ahead of time before starting this journey?
Will Burns (15:12):
I made a huge mistake early on. I got addicted to a client. It was the very same client I was referring to earlier who agreed to go with me when I first started Ideacicle, the original version. They gave us a lot of business. It was AMD the chip maker in Austin. They gave us a ton of business, a couple of projects a month, which was great. I got so used to that, I took it for granted and did less marketing to fill the pipeline. It was more than paying the bills, just this one client. Then the woman who hired Ideacicle was let go. And then the whole thing was gone. So now I'm like, oh my God, I have no pipeline.
Will Burns (16:04):
I have no revenue coming in. I have to start all over. So there was a really testy four or five months there where I was like, oh my, how big a mistake is this? Is this going to ruin us or can I recover? Ultimately I did recover, but it was not easy. So the lesson learned there is diversify. If you're in a service business, no matter how big that first client is or any client at any stage, it doesn't have to be a first one, just don't get too addicted to one client.
Carly Ries (16:37):
That is such good advice. I don't think people do that enough. It's almost like they think they have a safety net with that one client. And as you said, once that goes away, poof <laugh>.
Will Burns (16:49):
Yeah and it's ego as well. You're feeling so good about yourself that you have this big client and instead of worrying about losing it, you start multiplying it saying, I just need to get three or four more like this and we'll be good to go. Then all of a sudden it's gone and you're like, oh my God. I took that way too much for granted.
Carly Ries (17:11):
Especially coming from agency life, where if you lose a client, it's not like you lose a client. You don't really feel the brunt of it. The agency does, but you, as a person, it's easy to not get extremely attached, but as a one-person business, it's everything.
Will Burns (17:25):
You bring up a really interesting point. I remember when I first started Ideacicle, people would ask me, isn't that really stressful to have your own business? I'd say yes, and in fact, it's more stressful than agency life, but it's stress that you can control. That's the difference. Stress isn't always healthy, but if you're gonna have stress, have it be stress that is in your control because it'll motivate you. Stress becomes no longer getting painted into a corner and completely out of your control, like with the agency life, it was the office politics, or if you lose an account to your point earlier, you could get fired, even if you were the best account guy in the history of the world, just because the revenue isn't there. Those things are out of your control and they cause a lot of stress and angst. However, if you're a one man company, if you're not making enough money, you can't be looking around for somebody to blame. It's all on you. But that is also the motivation. That is the source of motivation. That fear and stress is what drives the entrepreneur and actually excites them to the point where they are driven to go out and make more and be successful.
Carly Ries (18:45):
Absolutely. I like how you take stress and turn it into a positive. Speaking of positives, what is your favorite thing about running a One-Person business and least favorite thing?
Will Burns (18:56):
Oh, wow. I think my favorite thing is the complete and utter autonomy. I love being able to craft the Ideacicle X brand the way I want to and not have to answer to anyone. I want it to be my brand. Eventually I'm going to have to let go a little bit if things go well and that's fine, but that just happens to be one of the things I love about being a solopreneur. I think my least favorite honestly, and this is gonna sound contradictory, but just not knowing. You can't really project, at least in my business model right now, you can't really project revenue. It's all project work. I don't like that because it creates an unpleasant stress. But again, doing a jujitsu move on that stress and turning it into strength and turning it into motivation. It doesn't make it likable, but it does make it useful.
Carly Ries (20:06):
Helps you embrace the uncertainty.
Will Burns (20:08):
I would go further and say, it helps you attack uncertainty. You don't want to embrace uncertainty because then it stays with you and it feels love. I'd rather attack uncertainty so that you slay it like a dragon, and you build more and more certainty over time.
Carly Ries (20:28):
You just created another bumper sticker, <laugh>
Will Burns (20:32):
I'm full of them.
Carly Ries (20:32):
When we were talking offline, you mentioned that your wife actually came up with the name Ideacicle. How do you separate your work life and your personal life as a One-Person business?
Will Burns (20:46):
It's purely mental because I work at home. My wife works, not at home, so that makes it a little easier. I have a son who's living at home now and he works from home one day a week. I have another son who's in high school. So he is at school most of the day. Just physically I really enjoy working from home. My office could be in the basement. It could be in the living room. It could be in the family room, it could be out in the back patio. I really enjoy that the whole house is my office. The other thing that's just inherent in being a solopreneur is that you're never really not working. That doesn't necessarily mean you're on your laptop cranking on something, but you're always thinking about it.
Will Burns (21:42):
Creativity happens when it damn well pleases. It's not something that you can force. So when you're as obsessed as a solopreneur is in their business, you can't help but interact with things in the real world that trigger ideas in the wealth of knowledge that you have in your head. Ideas are constantly happening when you least expect them. And that's great/ That's not a problem, that's a huge opportunity. But to your point about separating work and home life, there is some separation physically, but for me, it's all the same. Even having dinner, a family dinner, my son might say something and I'd be like, oh my God, that could be really cool for Ideacicle X. What if, and then all of a sudden, we're all talking about the job. I don't necessarily feel like it's healthy or not healthy. It's all blended together. It's big mush. It's all in a Cuisinart.
Carly Ries (22:49):
I'm glad you had the differentiator between separating it, but also making a point that it doesn't mean you have to be on your computer. I think that's what some people think, they think they need to be online 24/7. I personally have actually got my biggest ideas when I'm not online, when I'm taking my dog for a walk. I'm so glad you said that because it is hard to separate them, but that doesn't mean your head down with your laptop, 24/7.
Will Burns (23:19):
And quick creative tip. there was a study done that proved when people are walking, and you could be walking outside, inside on treadmill, doesn't matter, just the act of walking, you increase your creativity by 40%.
Carly Ries (23:33):
Wow. I believe it just from my own experience.
Will Burns (23:39):
When I first saw that study a few years ago, I started walking every single day and I've probably missed four days in all that time.
Carly Ries (23:46):
That's great. Joe, I know you're great at getting out for runs. It's just something you have to bake into your day. Since you work from home and your sons are at home and your wife's home and you kind of move around the house, how do you stay focused? What is your advice for people that may not have that discipline to tune all of that out if more people are at home?
Will Burns (24:08):
I guess what I would suggest is to think of work as a series of bursts. Don't think about working all day, That's overwhelming and kind of hard to get your head around. Think about working in concentrated bursts . You can even schedule them. Sometimes I'll do that. I've got some legal stuff I have to do, and I don't want to do it. I keep putting it off. I'll put it in my calendar between 10 and 11:30. This is going to be the legal burst. I'm not gonna do it until it actually starts, but once it starts, I'm going to find a place and I'm going to crank on it and I'm get it done. What that does is sort of compartmentalizes your day into things you need to get done.
Will Burns (24:59):
If you think about them in a burst, it feels energetic. It feels like, okay, I'm going to get psyched up for this, but I don't have to do it right now. I'm going to do it starting at that time, then I'm going to go nuts until it's done. That that might be helpful because you can't half do stuff. You know what I mean? If you have a lot of distractions, and you think of your workday as a full day, then you're probably not going to get anything done. But if you think in terms of bursts, that can be communicated to others that are around you that might distract you. It also communicates to yourself that this is the time to do this, and you can go find a spot that can be part of it. Find an enjoyable spot to do the legal crap that you don't want to do. That's what I would suggest, think of the day in bursts.
Joe Rando (25:51):
I think they call that time boxing where you take a certain amount of time, put it on your calendar and say, I'm working on this. It is believed to be a very effective way of being more productive and more focused and keeping you off Facebook or whatever.
Will Burns (26:08):
That's a good point.
Joe Rando (26:09):
Your drug of choice
Will Burns (26:10):
<laugh>
Carly Ries (26:11):
That sounds like an efficient process for getting your stuff done and staying focused. How do you manage your business processes? Do you have tools that you use? How do you go about that?
Will Burns (26:27):
I try to either outsource or use tools that I'm able to use myself. For example, for accounting, I have an accountant that I trust and I love, but I use QuickBooks for all of the billing and I'm able to do that myself. I like to do as much as of the actual work as I possibly can by myself and not have to pay to do it. This has just been ingrained in me for the last 10 years since I started. As I mentioned earlier, I didn't want to get investment money. I didn't want to make it complicated. I wanted to do as much as I possibly could myself. For me, I try to keep the business as simple as possible. That reduces processes. So we don't do any execution of the ideas. We only come up with the ideas themselves. That means the most sophisticated tool I need to manifest my product is keynote or PowerPoint, because I have to bring to life the ideas we come up with in a way that is convincing and compelling for a customer. I just try to keep it as simple as possible.
Carly Ries (27:44):
You seem to have such a clear vision for what you want your company to accomplish. I feel like that's something a lot of people fee; out there. They get pulled in various directions and can't really streamline what they want to do. What are some other mistakes you think some solopreneurs do when they first get started?
Will Burns (28:04):
Maybe listen too much to other people who don't have a vested interest in the business. I think it's really important if you're a one-person business to trust your instincts. You know way more than you would ever give yourself credit for. As soon as you can pass through that phase of second guessing yourself constantly, I'm not saying not to go out and get advice, get advice for sure. Bounce things around, but in the end, trust your gut. You care more and you know more about your business than anyone on earth. As a result of that, you are the most qualified to make important decisions. Don't look for validation on what you know inside is right. It'll take a lot of time, it'll dumb down the ideas. It's just not, I don't think, necessary. Trust your instincts.
Carly Ries (29:17):
Would you say that was your biggest aha moment as a one-person business, or was there something else?
Will Burns (29:24):
I think the aha moment was a little bit more granular for me. As I mentioned, when I started Ideacicle, it was a closed system, meaning I was using some software, but the customers didn't know how I did what I did really. They just knew that it was a bunch of very creative people that I was tapping into. They worked in teams of four, and I would manage that whole process. It was totally invisible to the client. I would come back with really nice ideas that are nicely presented and all that stuff. The epiphany for me though, was when I was thinking about building the software platform for me to make my process better, it hit me that, oh my God, if I did this, that means anybody could use this platform and tap into these people.
Will Burns (30:21):
Then all of a sudden I'm like, oh, this is how I'm gonna scale this. Rather than trying to build this as a proprietary agency, where you come to us and we come up with ideas, present them, and then we go away. It can become a way for anybody in the world to subscribe and have access to the same people or their own people, or whomever to come up with ideas in teams of four, like our model prescribes, and do it efficiently and effectively. So to me, that was the biggest aha moment, when I realized, Ooh, I'm building something more than just for me. It could be for everybody.
Carly Ries (30:57):
Absolutely. Speaking of moments, you said, you're aha. What was your first I've got this moment? <laugh>
Will Burns (31:06):
I think when I landed my first investor. This is for the current platform, I got an investor to help me out to pay the developing costs. The success of that pitch and having that investor believe in me and believe in the product, was a very satisfying feeling. I believed in this idea, I was trusting my instincts, trusting my guts, but at the same time, here we have somebody with money who now also believes in it with me. To me, that was an, "I've got this" moment for sure.
Carly Ries (31:49):
Very validating. To circle back with the previous question, you're talking about trusting your gut, not listening to other people, but when you do listen to other people, what was the best piece of advice you received that helped you on your solo journey?
Will Burns (32:06):
I think I would go back to when I was in high school and it was my dad's advice. I was into a lot of things. I was in the marching band. I was playing golf, I was playing soccer, hockey. I was into music and writing songs. I was doing all kinds of stuff which was cool, but he pulled me aside one day and said, "Will, what if you focused on one thing. You're really good at a lot of things, but what if you focused on one thing this summer and tried to get great at it?" I was like, Hmm, that's a cool idea. I was working at a golf course at the time.
Will Burns (32:52):
I was like, all right, I'm gonna focus on golf for the next three months. I'm going to play every day or every day that I can. I got to be really, really good at golf and that lesson taught me the power of focusing. You can see it in the manifestation of this idea. I did not want to junk this up. I didn't want it to become all kinds of different things. I wanted it to be one thing and one thing only, then do that incredibly well. And that's what Ideacicle X is.
Carly Ries (33:24):
Well your dad sounds like a wise man. It sounds like he sent you on quite the trajectory.
Will Burns (33:32):
It's funny of the things you remember, right?
Carly Ries (33:33):
Oh yeah. So bizarre too. We're getting down to some of the last few questions that I have for you, but what would you say your favorite resources for people who are starting a one-person business?
Will Burns (33:48):
I think at least from my perspective, your contacts are the most important resource. Whether those contacts are people you trust that may be able to provide a service that can help you stay alone, that you can outsource things to, or maybe they are contacts that might be able to provide leads for you for sales. I guess my point is the people who know you the best are going to represent you the best in the marketplace. I would try to figure out who those people are and then figure out how you can leverage them. One of the things I've discovered is that people really want to help. When they see somebody who's doing something cool, all they want to do is be a part of it.
Will Burns (34:47):
You can leverage that and assume that in people. There will be some people that won't be helpful and don't have a good attitude about it, but a great majority of people love to help. I'm the same way, people that call me if they're looking for a job or they have a kid who's looking for a job or they have a new business and they want some marketing help. I do that all the time and I enjoy it. I think it's good for your karma anyway. But focus on the people you know the best and how you can somehow leverage those people to your benefit and your business' benefit.
Carly Ries (35:24):
I love that answer. So often people think the resources they should rely on are books or podcast or courses or whatever. I think people neglect to think that their community is a great resource. I appreciate you taking that approach. So we're going to get into some fun questions so that we can get to know you a little bit more, but also things that might help other people, if they're in a rut while they're getting some work done. What is your favorite movie that always puts you in a good mood?
Will Burns (35:56):
That's an easy one, Miracle. The hockey movie. I actually saw the 1980 Olympic team play. I was only 14 or something. They played Romania and killed them. My claim to, almost seeing the Beatles live in concert, that you saw the 1980 Olympic, a USA Olympic team in action. But that movie, I just love it because it's got a sort of a Rocky vibe to it in that there's no way that this team is going to win, but that speech by Herb Brooks, "you play this team 10 times. You're gonna lose nine, but not tonight." I love that. That just gets me fired up.
Carly Ries (36:40):
The only other person I have heard say that's one of their top three is my husband. He is obsessed with that movie. He's a big hockey guy. I'll let you two exchange contact information after the show.
Will Burns (36:54):
I haven't seen it in years, but I'm going back to it.
Carly Ries (36:57):
So good.
Will Burns (36:58):
It's worth seeing repeatedly, not in the same night
Carly Ries (37:02):
Or the same night, whatever floats your boat.
Carly Ries (37:05):
What is your favorite song to pump you up?
Will Burns (37:08):
My favorite song of all time is, Hey Jude, by the Beatles. I happen to be a big Beatle nut. I had a lot of older brothers and sisters. They really weren't part of my generation, but my older brothers and sisters were always playing them. I was singing Hey Jude on my rocking horse. There are pictures of it, which is sort of embarrassing but fun. To really get pumped up it's probably ACDC, Back In Black. You crank that up in a car if you're on your way to something important, that will get the blood moving
Carly Ries (37:36):
How do you define success?
Will Burns (37:39):
Wow, that's a big one. Let me start by how I don't define it. This sort of frustrates me, because I think our culture has gotten a little poisoned with this notion of becoming a billionaire. I mean literally those words that, "oh, I've got this idea. It's gonna make me a billionaire", like shut up. How about you have an idea that you can bring to life and be proud of and if it happens to make you a billion dollars, great. I have this argument with my son all the time. I hope he doesn't listen to this, but he has a great idea for a platform, but he tends to focus too much on the money. If you keep focusing on the money, then the concept itself will die because you're focusing all your energy in the wrong place. You're gonna be disappointed all the time. Focus on the concept and if it's a great concept and if you nurture it and you love it, then it will eventually make money. But don't focus on the money.
Carly Ries (38:47):
Wasn't there a CEO a few years ago and I can't remember the company, but he paid himself $70,000 and all his employees or something because they found that was the happiness threshold. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Will Burns (39:00):
That rings a bell. Yeah.
Joe Rando (39:01):
I heard he's still at it. They just had another article about him and everything's going well for the company. So the whole concept is working.
Carly Ries (39:09):
Yeah. I'll include that in the show notes. It's just a link to it, if people are curious. I agree Will, hopefully he won't listen to this either, but my little brother is in his early twenties and he thinks the same way. I'm like, you have to get to the root of what would make you happy and the money will follow,
Joe Rando (39:27):
I gotta say too, it's a waste of time. Morgan Stanley, I think just came out and said that Elon Musk is going to be the first trillionaire. So, give it up
Will Burns (39:36):
Now you're a chump if you want to be a billionaire.
Carly Ries (39:44):
It has been so great chatting with you today. We are onto the last question which is, where can people find you if they want to learn more about you and Ideacicle?
Will Burns (39:54):
Thank you. This has been a lot of fun. You can find all kinds of information about Ideacicle X at www.IdeacicleX.com. Just like a Popsicle, but it's an Ideacicle. You can follow me on Twitter at WillOBurns.
Carly Ries (40:18):
Great. And all of that information will be in our show notes. If you want to check it out, you have it. Thank you everybody for tuning in today. It means the world to us. If you like what you hear and want to continue to hear from fellow solopreneurs, as well as experts, giving actionable advice to help you build a successful One-Person business, be sure to subscribe. See you next time
Closing (40:38):
You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one-person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures. At LifeStarr, we're creating a One-Person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversation, community.lifestarr.com