mattpic Ed. Note: This is a guest post by Matt Wilson. Matt is co-founder of Under30CEO.com a social network for young entrepreneurs. His mission is to lead people to go out and do something they are passionate about instead of falling into the rat race and playing by corporate America’s rules. Under30CEO’s newsletter HelpAnEntrepreneur allows anyone to ask a business question and get answers from real people in their inbox or Twitter feed.

Here are GenY’s (Matt’s) remarks on a few of my 100 Attributes of people who start companies. My original points are in normal type and Matt’s add-on comments are in bold face.

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1. Speed reading. These days one needs to be able to read reports, white papers, newspapers, magazines, business literature and even blogs. If you are a reader that still sub-vocalizes each word, you just won’t be able to keep up. I think the will to read and the ability to read is paramount to your start up success.

Matt: Gen Y doesn’t read. It sickens me. Everytime I’ve spoken at a college or University I mention a book and ask who’s read it. I’m always disappointed. The few that do read are those who are going above and beyond their studies. If you are a go-getter you’ll read.

2. A must-read list: No list can start without Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand–next to the Bible, the book that most business leaders of the last fifty years have said influenced them the most. Reading this book will add to the fire in your belly. Next, Solution Selling. Out the 2,328 books on selling, this book is by far the best. It breaks apart each step of the sales cycle/process so almost anyone can understand how to make more sales, the absolute KEY in any start up. The second best sales book? Conceptual Selling. The third book is Emotional IQ by Daniel Goldman. I think creating a startup environment is as much to do with the culture and getting people to do things than anything else. Goldman helps the reader understand how critical managing your emotions can be in this process.

Matt: Gen Y doesn’t read. But if they did read I’d give them the basics: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki, 4 Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss, Purple Cow by Seth Godin and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill.

3. Get comfortable asking for advice and help. Although there are plenty of people who have created successful businesses on their own, most need help. They bring the basic skills and passion, but learning from others is absolutely paramount. If you are someone who knows everything, good luck. Seriously, good luck. There are many, many friendly resources that are willing to help you get up and going. You just need to find them, and ask for their help and advice. These folks LOVE and WANT to help you.

Matt: Everyone wants to help young people. At Under30CEO all we hear is “Wow, if I had stuff like this available to me at your age…” If you are at a business school don’t forget– you have an entire accounting, legal, marketing, management, finance, and IT department at your disposal. Start asking questions!

4. Present your startup idea to anyone who will listen. And even to those who won’t. Startups do not reward security and safety. If you are hesititant about exposing your idea to others, you won’t be able to expose it to prospects, customers and investors. Don’t expect constant support, either. Most people will say something like, “yeah, that sounds good. You should do it.” What you are looking for are those few who ask good questions or who challenge your thinking process and research.

Matt: Remember: if someone wants to steal your business idea, they’ll have to commit their entire life to doing it. Enough said.

5. Get really, really good at concisely stating your business idea. A lot of entreprenuers fail in this area. It is important because you will need to communicate this to prospects, investors and new employees. What I have kept in my mind constantly over the years, is one internal question as I have started expounding on some idea: Later tonight, GL, (what I call myself) what will he say to Hilda about my idea? Or, as a great friend used to say over and over again, “if it is fuzzy in the pulpit, it is really fuzzy in the pews.”

Matt: Get good at pitching. The more people you practice concisely explaining your idea to the better you’ll be at it. Get in front of as many people as possible, sell yourself and your idea!

8. Love your prospects. This is a different and more specific than the axiom of “Be Passionate.” This was really brought home to me several years ago, when I attended a new company investor presentation. After the very professional presentation, the co-founder was asked in a small, friendly group of people, if he had always believed in this approach. (The company was in the self-help space.) He said, ‘No, I don’t believe in it, but it looks like a wide open market.’ If you are approaching the business from a purely economic standpoint, you might be able to make it work. All I am saying is it makes it all more fun and believable if you love the prospects and customers. Warren Buffet owns Dairy Queen and I ‘d bet you a marshmellow Blizzard that Warren loves DQ ice cream. One thing he would not say is ” Americans should not eat ice cream.”

Matt: The Chairman of Phillip Morris truly believes that cigarettes are something everyone should be entitled to–they are one of the finer things in life. Sure they cover it up in America with education about the health risks, but they are passionate smokers! Passion is what drives success. If you are going to be successful love the people you serve and make it your mission. If you love them in the right ways, they’ll love you back.

11. What pain are you fixing? Every new business must fix something for someone. It might be an inefficiency or a lack of a necessary feature. In my first company, Scott Drill and I fixed only one problem and it wasn’t even associated with the better product that we had developed. The problem we fixed, or the opportunity that we took advantage of, was that the killer dealer network was being ignored by the acknowledged monopolist, Kroy. These dealers were upset, worried about their futures and angry about Kroy’s new distribution methods which were in direct conflict with them. When we presented our product to this pissed-off sales network and pledged our constant focus, it was exactly what they needed and wanted to hear. Our product was better, but if we had not solved this real problem for the dealers, they would not have supported us or sold our product. Every new company needs a pain to fix. Varitronics was built on this concept.

Matt: All businesses are problems to solutions. If you aren’t solving a problem, they what exactly are you doing? Most innovation comes out of necessity. Hate opening your garage door? In came the automatic garage door opener. Have a bald head but can’t seem to shave it right? In comes HeadBlade

13. Get good at motivating yourself. During tough times, can you do it? It is easy to motivate yourself when all is well..much harder, when it is fourth down and time is running out. Be self aware enough to understand this ability or capability in yourself. Find something that seems to work constantly, a self talking mechanism that allows you to keep on keeping on. I can remember someone coming into my office one day, and asking if ’something were wrong, if we were in trouble?’ When I answered no, and wondered why he had asked, he said, ‘Well, we have noticed how serious you have been and not smiling, so we assumed something was wrong.” Even the appearance of a motivated leader is crucial. So, what specific tips can I give to help with this self motivation? I have written about this subject before in these blogs, I think there are many different techniques from reading quotes and motivational stories to keeping it all in perspective. You are different than me in this regard. I have a unique ability to be just dumb enough to think that “this too will pass,” and act accordingly. Notice that I said ACT. You should develop your own triggers.

Matt: You’ve got to develop the right mindset to motivate yourself. Developing your own triggers is key. Get back to that place in your mind when you were most motivated and practice it. Developing this mindset takes work. Like any body part, you’ve got exercise it to develop it; the more you get back to this place in your mind the easier it will become.

15. Storytellers needed. Ever since Eve told Adam the story about the apple and the serpent, we have paid attention to storytellers. We listen better and learn more when we hear stories. Develop this skill and win. There are certain duplicable skills in great story telling.

Matt: All great marketers are story tellers. All great marketers are also liars. It’s about the story the customers tells themselves. Why buy gourmet cat food? Because the story you tell yourself is that you are giving your cat the best. Think your cat knows any better? Seth Godin tells it better than I can– Click here.

17. Don’t get all big headed. One of the character traits of most entrepreneurs is a well developed self assuredness. Never let this cockiness develop into a situation where you begin to believe your own press releases. I have seen this happen all too often. It has happened to me. In my own case, try as I can, I have noticed that when I have had a positive story written about a company. I generally get too much of the credit…I change somehow. My head gets a little bigger, I am not quite as hungry. My solution now is not to be involved in such PR efforts. In my own case, there is a direct connection to my picture being in an article and my big-headedness. Now, some people love this and have milked this attention to the betterment of their business. I understand that.

Matt: Generation Y has a big head. Many think they are entitled and many are looking for the easiest possible route to success. The only good thing about this is that Gen Y thinks aggressively, right or wrong. From job hopping to shot in the dark startups, Gen Y thinks they deserve the best. As long as this mentality isn’t too arrogant, there is nothing wrong with striving for the top.

19. Is work fun for you? Do you laugh a lot at work? Or, are you serious…after all, this is a serious, not a comical endeavor, after all. Part of the unspoken reason to starting up your own company is NOT to be your own boss. Truth be known, it is really so you can have more fun. If you can’t picture yourself having fun, don’t bother.

Matt: Bingo! Are you in business so that you can be bound to slavery at your desk for the rest of your life? Are you going to be the person on their death bed that said “I wish i spent more time in the office?” If you are seeking excitement and an opportunity to bring more fun to your life then entrepreneurship is for you. Don’t forget to surround yourself with other fun people.

25. Do you know what scalable means? This is a relatively new business topic for an old business process. What this means is that you should try to develop processes in the business that can be easily duplicated and replicated. It is one thing to sell your product to one person, quite another to figure out how this sale was made so that you can make the next sale more efficiently. Success often hinges on your ability to continue to do the correct things faster and better that result in some tangible success.

Matt: Do you look to own a business or to own a job? If your business is scalable you’ll be able to set up a true business system that goes to work for you. If you are doing all the work, there’s only so large your business can grow. If you plan to one day be drinking margaritas poolside and making money at the same time, you’d better be able to scale.

32. Can you ignore little things? I knew we were well on our way to a good culture at JobDig, when one of our reps brought in his dog to work. He didn’t ask.

Matt: A year from now, will it matter? Unless your rep’s dog bites someone’s face and puts the company in a lawsuit probably not. Don’t sweat the small things–entrepreneurs have too much to worry about.

37. Dream globally, think locally. Sure, it is way fun to think about serving customers in every state and foreign country. You should think about your business in regional or international terms. Just be aware that your best, earliest and most leveragable sales and customers will come from your hometown.

Matt: What better place to test your product or service but in your hometown? You know the market and it’s a great place to plant your first seeds. You’ve got to start somewhere, so it might as well be a place you can keep your eye on. No matter what the business, hitting customers within a close proximity of each other allows word to spread quicker. Napster spread like wildfire because it started in a Northeastern dorm room. Thousands of people within a small geographic area–of course it spread. Test the market at home and then follow your dreams.

49. Never talk down, talk up. Disrespect shows up in small, insignificant ways. Your people can smell disrespect like bad gouda. Listen harder and talk less. Use ‘and’ more than you use ‘but.’

Matt: If you want to show leadership, get in the trenches. No CEO should be too good to sweep the floors. These small tokens of appreciation and respect create a culture that will shine through in the toughest of times. When things are hectic and you have to snap at someone to get with it, they’ll know in the back of their mind, you’ve got what it takes to get down and dirty too.

50. Don’t dominate meetings. This is incredibly easy to do; after all, you probably know more about the topic than anyone else if only because you have been thinking on it 24-7. If you dominate discussions, just expect to be in this position time and time again. Your job is to build a business, NOT your own self worth.

Matt: If you dominate the meeting, it means you are the smartest person in the room. Not good. Even worse, you could think you are the smartest person in the room. Always find teammates who are smarter than you are and respect this. Don’t let your ego take hold.

56. Focus on the big picture but dont allow ANY type-os. This is a very touchy area, because you should be able to see the business from a 40,000 foot level, but if you are always up there, small mistakes happen that will undermine your credibility and professionalism. For example, I am particularly picky on any materials in print about our company. My most common ‘catch’ is the comma or period and quotation marks. They go “here.” Not “here”. I know, I know…see you caught the above typos, too.

Matt: What about all the stuff in between? The day to day operations that go unnoticed? Being visionary is key and being detail oriented is good too, but pay attention to how things happen when nobody is looking. There are plenty of things in each business that get done without recognition. It might not be a comma in a press release, or the 5 year plan, but make sure “business as usual” gets some credit too.

86. Get excited about little things. A lot of the incremental improvements in a new company are fairly small and seemingly insignificant. The entrepreneur needs to be able to get satisfaction out of these daily little achievements. They intuitively know that little things done well add up to a successful bigger event, a launch of a new software release, for example.

Matt: It’s the little things in life, but it’s never the little things in business. Want to boost moral? Make a big deal over the smallest job done right. Don’t be corny, but when someone does something right, let them know. Again, it’s easy to focus on the big picture but nobody seems to commend that paper with no typ-os.

95. High energy. This may be a work ethic mentality or a caffeine-induced edginess. I cannot recall one entrepreneur who appears sluggish or lethargic or slug-like. What’s even more apparent is that they are NOT energy suckers, but energy creators.

Matt: Building business systems starts with an idea. This idea when translated into action creates energy. Your employees rally around an idea and a vision, no entrepreneur ever did this without a high energy level. Entrepreneurs build teams of people who feed off each other’s energy and have a passion for the business.

98. Engaging personality. Do people like you? Here is a test: tell someone about your life so far, where you grew up, went to school, and so forth. Does your personal story engage them? Are they laughing, nodding their head, actively listening? The point is–you can tell. If your story isn’t engaging to them , you aren’t. It is not the story, it is you. Learn to tell it better. This is the first thing you should learn how to do.

Matt: Have a purpose. Entrepreneurs should be interesting in general–they chose not to live like everyone else. Develop angles for your pitch, whether it’s you pitching you, or you pitching your business. Tell that story with charisma and enthusiasm. Be on a mission.