7 TED Talks you should watch if you want to be an entrepreneur

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“Share seamlessly, steal shamelessly.”

Four simple words that sum up the value of TED Talks.

We love these quick, easy-to-digest videos with just the right amount of important information to entertain and educate in just a few minutes.

It’s free, high-quality wisdom from industry leaders — what’s not to love?

Below are the top seven videos that every hopeful, driven, focused entrepreneur needs to watch before diving into the American Dream.

Take notes, assess your ideas and business model, consider what your strengths and weaknesses are, then when you’re done watching and thinking — watch all of them over again.

Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

Simon Sinek explains what he calls "The Golden Circle," which illustrates the "why, how and what" of an organization.

According to Sinek, it’s not the product, service, or plan that’s most important — it’s why you, as the entrepreneur, think the product, service, or plan is important. Once you can identify your true motivation (and it better go beyond just making money), you can inspire those around you — including your team and your customers.

Once they’re on board and aligned with your why, they’ll work toward the how and what, or the processes and products, of your organization.

If you skip the important step of clearly identifying and articulating this point, you can only hope to inspire temporarily, which doesn’t make for a great business model in the long run.

People respond to a cause, a purpose, a passion, a mission — not a plan.

Sarah Lewis: Embrace the near win

Sarah Lewis distinguishes mastery from success as being able to reproduce a victory again and again.

Mastery is a constant pursuit. It’s a race with no finish line. It’s like a mosquito bite between your shoulder blades that you can’t quite reach. It’s exhausting and elusive, but also the driving force behind competitive entrepreneurs.

The pursuit of mastery is what drives you forward when you just barely missed out on first place, when your product is not quite right, or when you can’t seem to replicate perfection.

Lewis describes, in those moments of “near win,” that once you accept the silver medal you can allow that near win to motivate you as you pursue your next race.

Near wins allow us to see our future victories with a new sense of clarity and precision.

“We thrive not when we have done it all, but when we still have more to do.” — Sarah Lewis

Masters realize there is no end. As an entrepreneur, you’ll probably never be completely satisfied. There will always be more to improve, more to grow, more to offer.

If you’re OK never reaching that finish line, you may be ready to begin the race.

Seth Godin: How to get your ideas to spread

Seth Godin is a marketing genius. He offers those rare gems of simplicity that make us all think, “Well duh! Why have I not thought of that?”

Godin explains how incredibly underwhelmed your audience is. Inboxes are full of static and spam, and your messages are just another fish in that overpopulated sea.

So how do you successfully reach your clients?

You must choose the correct audience, and you must stand out. You have to say or do something “remarkable.”

No, he means this literally: You must offer them something to remark about.

So what about choosing the right audience? Don’t we want to reach as many people as possible? Seth challenges that presumption. He challenges us to initiate the radicals—those way to the left (including innovators and early adopters) and those way to the right (who are considered laggers).

It’s on those two ends of the spectrum that you find your Chatty Cathys.

It’s those talkers who will essentially act as your marketing team. They’ll be the voice for your product, spreading the word and reputation for you. With them on your side, you can win over the middle, larger moderate group.

When you have something remarkable, tell the radicals and let them go to work spreading the word.

Are you worth talking about? Are you worth a status update, a tweet, a mention? Is your product or service worth stopping for? Are you worth water cooler talk?

See the rest of the story at Business Insider