Stuart Skorman: Serial Entrepreneur

Stuart Skorman is a self-described "serial entrepreneur" who started a number of unique businesses including Reel.com, Empire Video, and Elephant Pharmacy among others. He has shared his insights in publications such as Business Week, USA Today, and Business 2.0, and agreed to discuss the nuances of creativity and entrepreneurship with Behance.

To get successful ideas off the ground, Skorman finds innovative ways to engage others. We asked Skorman to share a few examples with us:

• "I personally host many focus groups to seed the community with advocates, not just to learn what my customers want."

• "I design help wanted ads to attract customers, not just new employees."

• "I design the business to partner with other businesses, organizations and VIPs to be able to leverage their brands to make our new brand more credible. Designing a venue specifically to promote other businesses and liberally giving away stock options are my two favorite techniques."

Skorman is candid about his own shortfalls and weaknesses in the business world. As he explains it, "I am not a good people manager and I hate dealing with details. I deal with those two potentially fatal weaknesses through over-compensation. I work unbelievably hard to be a good manager, to focus on the necessary details, and to understand my own limitations. I also literally worship talented managers and operators and let them be my boss in many ways."

Creative professionals are especially at risk for getting drunk on their own kool-aid. We love what we do, and it is often hard to take perspective. Skorman tries to take a fresh look on a daily basis. "Each time I look at the project, I try to see it through an entirely new lens. Those lenses can come from me or anyone else I respect." Skorman also seeks to "emotionally separate" himself from new projects. As he explains, "I avoid getting married to my project for as long as possible so I don’t become a salesman and lose objectivity."

Skorman makes marketing and PR the core of every business idea. "I don’t design my business or product and then figure out how to market it. I build my entire business design around a great p.r. and marketing story... If my new business plan doesn’t have a good enough story to be a major community and media event when it opens, I kill the project."

Skorman has a new book out, published by Wiley, titled "Confessions Of A Serial Entrepreneur."