So in the Intro video I said that we live in a world created by businesses.

And that they touch every part of our lives.

I also said that we tend take that for granted.

Most people see “business” as something outside of the norm.

Business is something that specialists do—maybe…

Rich, successful people we see in the movies

Or the geniuses inventing AI, robotics, and medical breakthroughs  

Or the inventive entrepreneurs competing on shows like SharkTank.

We tend to think that “business” is done by folks like that.

Not by regular people.

It’s almost like business is so pervasive—that it surrounds us so totally—that it becomes difficult for us to see it.  

We’re like fish who don’t realize that we’re living our lives swimming in water.

I hope you’ve signed up for this course—to start to change that for yourself.

To change your relationship to the idea of business.

What do I mean by that?

Your “relationship to the idea of business”?

I’m not talking about your relationship to individual businesses.

Like “I love The Olive Garden” or “I only buy Toyotas”.

No. I’m talking about how you feel about business.

For some of people, business is exciting.

It makes them feel that they have access to new possibilities.

It gives them opportunities to be creative.

To solve problems.

And make some money.

But it makes a lot of other people feel confused or uncertain. Uneasy.

Maybe powerless

Or even angry…

Like they don’t have any options at all.

That other people—smarter, richer, more powerful people—

hold all the cards.

Now these feelings aren’t set when we’re born.

And they’re not set in stone.

Our feelings change over time.

Because our relationship to business changes over time

It changes based on our experiences

And our knowledge

And skills.

Sometimes it changes because of something we do.

Sometimes it changes because of something that happens.

And sometimes it changes dramatically.

My relationship to business changed dramatically when I was 30 years old.

This was back in September 2001–

when I started my first business.

I wasn’t planning on starting a business.  

I had been married less than a year

My wife was pregnant with our first child,

And I had a job that I loved.  

But then Sept. 11th happened,

And I got laid off from that job two weeks later.

The economy was at a standstill.

There were no new jobs to be had.

So a friend and I started a consulting business.  

Starting my first business completely changed my perspective.

I had been working in business; consulting for businesses.

And I thought I knew a lot…

But building, and running, and growing my own business was totally different.  

First the first time, I had to learn and do all aspects of the business—

Not just “my job”.

It was a lot of fun.

We had great clients,

we were doing innovative work we enjoyed.

We were making good money.

But then things changed again.

The financial crisis hit and we shut our business down in 2009.

It was very painful.

Closing the thing we’d worked so hard to build.

I got lucky

I landed a job at Microsoft where I worked for the next 5 years.

Working for a huge company like Microsoft was yet another shift.

I taught me a lot.

It changed how I understood business.

It helped me see new possibilities.  

Today I run two businesses: indie.biz obviously,

and my consulting firm, The Djinn Dept.

I also teach a course on entrepreneurial marketing at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business.

I wanted to share a little bit about my story with you for two reasons.

To introduce myself to you so you knew who was teaching you this class.

And to paint a picture of how my relationship to business has changed over the years—at every point in my career.

Sometimes things happen to us that are out of our control.

We lose a job. We close a business.

But changing our relationship to business is not something that needs to be out of our control.

Just the fact that you’ve signed up for this class

The fact that you’re watching this video

Means that you’ve already decided to change your relationship to business.

And that is exciting.

Thinking like a businessperson is a superpower.

It’s a superpower that anyone can learn and anyone can learn to use.

The first step is considering your own relationship to business.

Your own expectations about business.

Your knowledge of business.

And your imagination about what business could make possible for you.

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Take some time today or over the next week and really ask yourself, honestly, how you relate to the idea of business.

It can be helpful to think about it in three ways:

What is it like right now?

How do you feel about your prospects? Your opportunities? Your job or your career? Maybe a business that you’re trying to start?

What it was like in the past?

Who were the people or experiences who influenced you? How did they shape your ideas and feelings?

And finally what do you want it to become in the future?

Let’s say in the next 2 to 3 years?

What’s your aspiration? What kind of dreams do you have? And feel free to dream big. Why not?

And as you’re doing this, don’t just think about it.

Write it down.

You don’t need to write a lot. Just a few notes…a few bullet points.

Writing it down will help you think about it more clearly.

And it will make it feel real.

It will give you something to look back on in a month or 6 months or a year.

We’ve included a worksheet below to make this easy.

And if you’d like—if you feel comfortable doing it—you can share it with us.

We’d love to know more about who you are and why you’re here.

And what you are hoping to achieve.

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This course is an invitation to change.

To change your relationship to business. And to change your life.

The first step is deciding to change and deciding how you want to change.

Because if you’re not changing, you’re not growing. And in a world that’s changing fast, if you’re not growing, you’re going to be left behind.

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