My friend and serial entrepreneur Kevin Daum recently kicked off a promotional campaign for his new book Video Marketing For Dummies, using a funny video that he put together with some of the book's coauthors to draw attention in the social media space. Kevin is an Inc. 500 entrepreneur who has chalked up more than $1 billion in sales and two Amazon #1 best sellers. As I watched the video, I was reminded that this is about the fourth or fifth time that Kevin has reinvented himself -- and his brand -- since I first met him 10 years ago. At that time, Kevin was the founder and CEO of a thriving mortgage brokerage in the San Francisco Bay area. Soon after we met, we decided to write a book together -- Building Your Own Home For Dummies. However, not long after the book was published, the housing market began to tank, and Kevin found himself out of the mortgage business.
Being the driven serial entrepreneur that he is, Kevin immediately reinvented himself by starting a new company -- TAE (The Awesome Experience) International -- devoted to "working with small, medium and large companies to increase growth by bringing design to their sales process and intent to their marketing." As he built this company, he embarked on writing another book: ROAR! Get Heard in The Sales and Marketing Jungle. I'm not too sure how well (or not so well) TAE International has done for Kevin, but it wasn't long before he decided to take another zig in his entrepreneurial path, starting up another company (and a new personal brand): ROARing Video.
Now business video producer and consultant Kevin Daum advises companies on how to best market themselves using video. If the work he does with his business video clients is half as good as that promo video for Video Marketing For Dummies, then I think Kevin may have reinvented himself into a business that really is built to last for him. Of course, regardless of how well he does in his latest venture, I suspect he will continue to reinvent himself in the coming years. In fact, he's already picked up a gig as a columnist for INC. magazine, dispensing advice to other entrepreneurs on a variety of different topics.
The best entrepreneurs are constantly testing their environments and themselves -- measuring their results and their future success trajectories. If these outcomes aren't up to expectations, then they are ready to pivot 180 degrees and to try something different. The best entrepreneurs are masters of reinvention, and they aren't afraid to jump out of one business and into another when the need arises. In this way they find the success that they seek.
Oh. And here's that video that Kevin and his coauthors put together for his latest book:
