Russ: This is the BusinessMakers Show heard hear and seen online at theBusinessMakers.com. And now it's time for another BusinessMakers flashback and today we're gonna flashback to a cool guest that was recently on the BusinessMakers Small Business Network show. This is a weekly webcast that we do in conjunction with PC Mall and interview guests over Skype. We enter the discussion where it asks Scott to tell us about Sizzle it.

Scott: Sure. Sizzle It is a Sizzle Reel production company and what Sizzle Reels are are promotional videos usually used by PR marketing professionals to sell their service product, brand or initiative and we have clients as small as mom and pop shops and as large as Proctor & Gamble. So we are seemingly the niche provider for that and thankfully it's been a great three to - nope - four years now in business. So good for that.

Russ: Cool. So I mean a reel company. How many employees do you have?

Scott: We have five people internally, but we scale up and down with a freelance workforce of anywhere from 15 to 20 people give or take the year.

Russ: Okay. Now I know what's so hot about you right now though is the book, Never Get a Real Job. Tell us what motivated that and tell us about the book some.

Scott: Absolutely. Well I could tell you right now, Russ, it's no big secret. Ya' know youth unemployment and under employment are awful epidemics that are literally becoming the big talking points in Gen Y right now because frankly we're out of work, 24 percent of us were recent college grads rather, we're the only amount of people that actually got jobs this year. We have 81 million young people unemployed worldwide and yet the work hard, get good grades, go to school, get a job mantra that everybody keeps telling us is still alive and well is frankly in my opinion dead. So with Never Get a Real Job I spoke about how I, somebody who didn't have a storied business education or any kind of entrepreneurial heritage or really any real money, created a business after I nearly bankrupted myself with my first one and took the remaining $700.00 I had and turned it into a business that I believe anybody can do as well by following some basic practical nuts and bolts tips. So that is exactly how we pushed out Never Get a Real Job.

Russ: Okay. So that business that you started with $700.00, is that Sizzle It?

Scott: That is Sizzle It; yes.

Russ: Okay. Tell us a little bit about the one that almost bankrupted you.

Scott: Oh boy. Well, I refer to it in the book as the company that shalt not be named. It was that catastrophic of a disaster. Ya' know, we had no focus. I originally, when I was in school and I started the company, I basically wanted to put myself out there as a new media guru, even though all I was doing at the time was producing videos and music videos for various different folks in the entertainment business. So I brought on website people and photo people and graphics people and sooner than possibly I could have imagined, within a year I nearly bankrupted myself because we had no focus, no core competency. My current clients didn't wanna go with me anymore because they thought we were too scattered. My partners were not the best in the world. We spent too much and too often and everything else in between, including when I was trying to raise money the person who was leading our investment round actually died of a heart attack and screwed up the entire thing. So to say the least, it was a journey like you could never imagine, but I took those lessons, those hard learned lessons from the trenches and then regrouped and realized that I could take that remaining amount of money and my hard work from killing my ego, making it simple, keeping it practical and building that next business.

Russ: Okay. So that problem area with that business didn't diminish at all your interest in doing your own thing.

Scott: No; in fact, I had - I always say my mother is amazing mother, but an awful business advisor, as is the case in most Gen Y situations and she would always say, "Scott, when are you going to get a real job?" Which was clearly, ya' know, one of those things that was very hard for me to swallow because it just wasn't in me. So at the crossroads I basically could have either went and got a real job or I could have went my own way and I said, "Ya' know what? I'm young one time. I believe I can do it. I see what I did wrong and I'm going to find a way to get around the problem spots this time."

Russ: Okay. What would you expect someone to get out of reading Never Get a Real Job? I mean are they gonna come out real inspired and know exactly what to do?

Scott: Well I will say this. The last thing I wanted to do, especially I write a internationally syndicated column for folks like Inc. and Entrepreneur and all these other places like Wall Street Journal and in all of my columns I always make it very clear that this is about a practical nuts and bolts education. I am not a rah-rah. I hate those people. That just inspire you and then offer you nothing. So this book is basically from what I've read, even looking at some of the Amazon reviews from what people have gotten out of it, which has been truly interesting, that people have taken this book and then went and started a company or put themselves on the road to freelance or created a side hustle to their current nine to five that will transition them out of the workforce in the traditional sense. So what I believe this book will teach people to do is take anyone of any skill level, any amount of money, any background just like myself and turn them into self-sufficiency experts by teaching them the practical nuts and bolts they're going to need to know.

Russ: Okay; great. Now I assume you can pick this book up at any of the places where you can pick books up; online, Amazon -

Scott: Yeah; it's available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, 800 CEO Read, IndieBound and anywhere else books are sold.

Russ: Okay. Now let's say that we have some people watching right now that are just interested to know a little bit more about you. Where can they find out more about you?

Scott: Go check out nevergetarealjob.com and you can find out more about myself and the Young Entrepreneur Council.

Russ: Alright. Scott, I really appreciate you sharing your story with us.

Scott: Absolutely. Thanks a lot Russ.

Russ: Alright. And that wraps up our discussion with Scott Gerber, founder of Sizzle It and author of Never Get a Real Job. You can check out the video version of all Small Business Network shows at the BusinessMakers.com. You've been listening to the BusinessMakers Show heard here and seen online at the BusinessMakers.com.