Michael Prywes is a New York attorney who serves artists and creative entrepreneurs. Michael is also a professor, Board of Education Trustee, Little League coach, and the author of the bestselling practical guide “The Gasp: How to Seize That A-Ha! Moment and Turn It into a Winning Business.” His podcast “How I Broke Into” takes a deep dive into the big breaks of successful artists and businesspeople.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Michael’s Father
- Tim Ferriss
- Sarah Wood
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I think the biggest difficulty, and I can’t say that I have completely overcome it but I encounter this in all creative people, creative people generally undervalue their worth and the worth of their work. When people draw up contracts if they are just pure finance people or pure transactional people they don’t have any compunction about charging what they charge a negotiating what they negotiate and really approaching transactions in a transactional way. But when you are dealing with creative people and that includes me you don’t want to overcharge people, you sometimes get so much in your head and in your heart that you don’t want to…sometimes you don’t even want to have a contract and that can be very dangerous especially for creative people. Now I have overcome that a lot and I would say it’s harder now to get other creative people to overcome that. But I have to say that creativity, especially creativity that comes from the heart and the soul, and the desire to build up humanity I think makes people inherently reticent about charging money. And I think just exploring that relationship with money is a very difficult thing for a lot of creative people, and including me. That being said I do advocate even with my clients, I do advocate leaving money on the table”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- Getting More: How You Can Negotiate to Succeed in Work and Life Book by Stuart Diamond
- Leadership Without Easy Answers Book by Ronald A. HEIFETZ
- Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less Book by Greg McKeown
- How to Win Friends and Influence People Book by Dale Carnegie
Favourite Quote:
“You see things; and you say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say ‘Why not?’” George Bernard Shaw
Recommended Online Resources:
Coursera – Learn online and earn valuable credentials from top universities like Yale, Michigan, Stanford, and leading companies like Google and IBM. Join Coursera for free and transform your career with degrees, certificates, Specializations, MOOCs in data science, computer science, business, and dozens of other topics
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“Leave money on the table because you are playing a long game and learn to adapt. I am a believer in the team matrix which is something I have formulated which is that its not just about evaluating time or money, its time energy, emotion and money and the impact that any action will have should be evaluated through that lens of evaluating what the impact will be on your time, on your energy, emotion and money”…[Listen for More]
More About Michael Prywes:
- Prywes, PC
- New York Startup Attorneys
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“Once you have the vision and the passion to make it happen, you will achieve your dreams. It is up to you to decide when to make it happen; attitudes guide you to answer that!” Israelmore Ayivor
Other Quotes From the Chat with Michael Prywes:
- “I am actually a big proponent of people taking improv classes. I think that adaptability is such an important part of entrepreneurship. And I think improv classes is a great way for people to develop that adaptability which I don’t think comes naturally. And I think the more adaptable people are the more they are able to adjust their responses to situations that may come across as adversarial. I think it has so much utility”
- “making long term purchases or long-term commitments in the beginning with vendors I think is a mistake because very often you don’t realise what it is you need and what you don’t need”
- “I did a lot of observation of other people and what other people do”
- “I think some of the secrets to success are understanding why you are doing what you are doing. Not creating too high expectations for yourself but really diving deep into something that matters to you.”
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