Maria Yuan lives in Manhattan and is the Founder and CEO of IssueVoter, with a mission to give Americans an equal voice in democracy by making civic engagement accessible, efficient, and impactful. IssueVoter demoed at New York Tech Meetup, the largest meetup in the world, and won NYC BigApps.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
Alexa von Tobel is the founder and CEO of Learn Vest
When business started difficulties overcame:
“I started working on issue voter while having a full time job so it was something I was doing on the side and so that I think that can be a common way that people enter the entrepreneurial world and it’s challenging being able to juggle both things and I’ve found that it’s not just a challenge in terms of hours of the day in fact I didn’t find that to be the main challenge, I think the main challenge was having the mind space to do both things, no necessarily the hours, but the focus”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
The Four Agreements: Practical Guide to Personal Freedom Book by Don Miguel RuizFavourite Quote:
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”
Recommended Online Resources:
The different methods of productivity
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“To be mindful, this is advice that I had heard and that means that being mindful and focussed about everything that you put out there, every email, thinking about what it says, being mindful of why you’re saying it that way and making sure that every decision is a conscious decision and its always something that myself included can always be building upon”…[Listen for More]
More About Maria Yuan:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“There is frequently more to be learned from the unexpected questions of a child than the discourses of men.” John Locke
Other Quotes From the Chat with Maria Yuan:
- “Don’t be afraid to let your friends and family know what you’re working on because if you just keep it all internal like oh I don’t want to be public about this yet then you don’t really have that accountability, you don’t really have those people saying, checking in on you, asking how things are going”
- “Don’t be afraid about telling people your ideas”
- “I’m a firm believer in doing what you do well and getting other people to fill in where you don’t have strengths”
Alaina
Great interview! I like how transparent Maria was about the struggles/mistakes she made on her way to creating IssueVoter. It’s nice to hear a founder with such a strong vision. The country would benefit from increased civic engagement and I think this is a fantastic service!
Neil Ball
Thanks for your comment Alaina. I am delighted you enjoyed the podcast and got value from it.
Maria Yuan
Thank you, Neil, for sharing such interesting stories on your podcast every day. I enjoyed listening, as well as doing an interview of my own!
Neil Ball
Thanks for your comment Maria. I had a great time chatting with you.