Mark Thompson is the co-founder of PayKickstart.com – a SaaS that is reinventing the modern-day shopping cart and affiliate management, helping thousands of businesses and Entrepreneurs sell more, maximize customer lifetime value and automate subscription commerce. Mark has spent over a decade in the world of marketing and software, selling over $20+ million dollars of his flagship training programs and software.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
When business started difficulties overcame:
“one of the things that I had to do early on when I started to become an ‘Internet marketer’ was I had to learn on the job and I read a ton, I would buy books, I would read blogs, I would watch videos, I would really try to absorb everything that I possibly could. I feel books can only get you so far. At some point you need to start implement… So, I learned a lot just by being obsessed with it and just spending every waking moment I had just learning about the stuff. But it also helped being able to implement as well”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
Zero to One: Notes on Start Ups, or How to Build the Future Book by Blake Masters and Peter ThielFavourite Quote:
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Bill Gates
Recommended Online Resources:
- TechCrunch is an American online publisher of technology industry news founded in 2005 by Archimedes Ventures whose partners were Michael Arrington and Keith Teare. It reports on the business of tech, tech news, analysis of emerging trends in tech, and profiling of new tech businesses and products.
- The Next Web – Original and proudly opinionated perspectives on remarkable stories for Generation T
- Starter Story – Learn How People Are Starting Successful Businesses. Starter Story interviews successful entrepreneurs and shares the stories behind their businesses In each interview, we ask how they got started, how they grew, and how they run their business today
- Google search “‘Your industry’ top blogs”
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“it may sound simple but just do, just implement and don’t be afraid to make mistakes… I find that so many people for whatever reason are afraid to implement and just start doing. And I think part of it is they are afraid to fail and so they don’t actually go and do. So that’s one thing that I think that if you want to be successful in being an online business you need to just go and do and implement and if you make mistakes just learn from them. And if you have given it your best shot and even if you don’t succeed that okay. But hopefully it’s a learning experience so the next venture that you create you can do better at”…[Listen for More]
More About Mark Thompson:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.” Walt Disney
Other Quotes From the Chat with Mark Thompson:
- “get that minimum viable product, get it out into a marketplace as quickly as you can to ensure that there is demand for your product and then you allow your customer base to help to shape the product and find the path that it’s going to take. So don’t get feature happy because what happens is every business needs revenue for it to grow and thrive and so what happens is you end up putting in so much upfront capital that you go broke and you don’t have a customer base and you could end up spending time money and energy on features that people don’t actually need. When you can get the product in customers hands as quickly as possible and you can hear it from the horse’s mouth that will help shape your product in a way that will help the growth and scale in the future”
- “persistence is so big. Understanding that you are going to have challenges every single day but it’s those who are able to take a step back and figure out solutions for those challenges that are going to win in business. And also, just doing right just implementing and learning from your mistakes”
- “you are going to have mistakes every single day but as long as you can take a step back and learn from them and not make those mistakes again you are going to be in such a better position as you move forward every single year in your entrepreneurial journey”
- “I love the lean start-up mentality, going from nothing to just implementing straightaway”
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