Erik

Our first guest speaker of the quarter was Erik Hanburg. Erik was a very interesting guest lecturer because he's felt the highest highs and has also gone through the lowest lows. Erik started out as the director of the Grand Cinema of Tacoma, from working with that non-profit, he figured he could run his own theater. That ended up failing but from that experience, Erik could say that he attempted to run something that was completely his. Since then, Erik has become a successful author, he has had a number of books published. Erik went over his business model, which was very interesting. He has a couple of different series of books. He'll give the first book out for free so people will be more than willing to buy the next two. Erik gets royalty checks from book sales so he is still making money from books he published over ten years ago. An interesting thing Erik said was that "fear and emotional labor" are the biggest obstacle when starting a business or committing yourself to anything. I would have to agree with that statement. Often times it's the fear of failing which stops me from even attempting something. On the other side of the spectrum, Erik said the best part of owning his own business is when people he doesn't know reach out to him with praise. In addition, he has the flexibility to take days off and do what he wants to do, when he wants to do it. This is the freedom I crave as well.