Foreword

He started with the words, “Entrepreneurship changed my life!” and with that phrase, the force of nature known as John “ColderICE” Lawson began to mesmerize the audience of movers and shakers that had gathered from across the United States and Canada for the 2011 Small Business Influencer of the Year Awards in New York City.

He told of being a high school drop out from the projects in Queens, raised by a single mother who believed in him and supported him in everything he did. He talked about several false starts in his career and his beginnings in the IT field. But most of all, the audience was enthralled by this gentle giant with a heart of gold who spoke with passion and conviction about founding and running his multimillion dollar eCommerce business, 3rd Power Outlet.

In the next incarnation of his life, John remade himself into an internationally known speaker and published author, whose sole motivation is to give back to other entrepreneurs through sharing his insights, expertise, and experiences. Out of all the remarks made that evening, John’s are the ones I remember the most.

As cofounder of the Small Business Influencer Awards and publisher of Small Business Trends and BizSugar.com, I am continually charged with the task of interviewing experts. Between reading hundreds of magazine, newspaper, and online articles that are written by and about business and internet specialists and personally speaking with hundreds more, I’ve become pretty good at identifying an authentic voice that is backed up by real life experiences.

John’s remarks stuck in my mind because they exemplify the power of lessons learned through real-life doing.

John’s knowledge doesn’t come from schools. Everything he knows—and he knows a lot—comes from rolling up his sleeves and working in the trenches and doing the hard work. John is totally, completely about real life experiences.

And his real life experiences in social media and internet marketing are exactly what you will find in Kick Ass Social Commerce for E-preneurs. This is a book about carving out success online. This book is for the doers of the world.

Today, the world moves at fast pace. And if you are a serious entrepreneur, you don’t have time for abstract theory and grand concepts. Entrepreneurs jump in where others fear to tread. We hustle. We climb over obstacles. We go around them. We ignore them.

We get stuff done.

So if you want to learn how to better navigate your success path in the world, you’re going to want to learn from someone who is like you—someone who has overcome great odds; someone who forges ahead based on intuition; someone with street smarts and experience.

I love the way Kick Ass distills social media and online commerce down into timeless business concepts. The section in the book called “Everything Old Is New Again” perfectly illustrates this. In it, John helps you relate the concept of cold calling to the world of social media and online commerce. The way he describes it is so simple that it is genius!

As you read this book, you will get solid grounding and have at least a few “Aha! moments” as you pick up pointers that help you frame social media and integrate it into your business.

Now let me offer a piece of advice.

Words have power and positive words have positive power. So, I want you to pay close attention to the end of each chapter where you will find a summary called “That’s a Rap!”

These are phrased in the form of action items and positive affirmations. An example comes at the end of the section on video, where he concludes with statements such as “I will focus on my video’s content more than on its production. I already own enough equipment to get started.”

You see, this book is all about helping you take the plunge and seize success TODAY. It’s not about waiting until the planets align perfectly. Yes, you want to take enough time to understand how to do it the right way. But the most important thing is to take informed action. That’s what entrepreneurs do—take action.

Now go read the book! Then get out there and grab success for yourself!

—Anita Campbell, CEO and Publisher of Small Business Trends