We’ve all heard variations of the phrase, so I won’t even mention it. But it’s inaccurate. Because opportunity doesn’t knock.

Sure it might happen once in a blue moon, but typically, things don’t fall into place. Your lap will remain empty (non-sexual reference, of course) and nothing/no one will come aknockin’ if you’re not out there chasing it!

Opportunity differs from person to person.

For me, it’s as simple as sitting on an airplane next to a stranger, who’s reading a book that I recently read. Striking up a conversation with said stranger, is the pursuit of opportunity. It’s taking the chance, and leaving my comfort zone to make a new friend, acquaintance or even business prospect.

What’s opportunity to you?

Sometimes, it’s in the simplest things. But we get so caught up with the big “life changers” (furthering education, finding new clients, taking new jobs, finding time for vacations, making large purchases), that we forget that opportunity truly exists everywhere.

It’s at your neighborhood coffee shop. It’s in your Twitter network. It’s with the guy sitting next to you at the bar (the less desperate looking one). It’s in the project that you’ve been thinking about kicking off or the blog you’ve been meaning to start. it’s everywhere.

So go get ‘em, tiger. The ball is always in your court. There’s never going to be a right time.

Time = past, present and future.

The past is long gone, no one knows what’s going to happen in the future, and right now is your best bet.

The right opportunity won’t knock. It’ll just hang out down the street within walking distance, waiting for you to come looking for it.

2011 was an awesome year for me.

FIlled with mostly ups, and not many downs.

Let’s hope the trend continues in 2012.

January

I rung in the New Year with close friends in Milwuakee. It was a blast.

January was a big month. In December, I’d left my awesome job at McNally Smith College of Music to embark on a journey back into “agencyland” where I took a position at OLSON. I met so many new people and learned some great stuff.

I also coached little snowboarders with the G-Team. That was fun.

The Egyptian revolution was happening during this time, and I was pretty emotional about it all.

February

I got the creative/entrepreneurial bug again and came up with the concept for InboxCupid. David Dellanave did the programming, Blake Bensman worked on some of the marketing support stuff and Eddie Machado did our design. It was an awesome project to work on and I’m glad we took it to market. We got a bunch of press and launched with a story on Mashable.

I moved into a new apartment in Uptown.

March

Did a couples trip to go snowboarding in Lutsen with one of my college friends and our girlfriends. It was really mellow and a nice way to get out of town for a weekend. Looking forward to more.

I also went to Chicago for Saint Patty’s day with some friends from Minneapolis and met up with some friends from Egypt.

April

Ah….April. The month of Coachella. I had the time of my life there with 3 of my closest friends. We got to see some great acts including: Kanye West, The Black Keys, The Strokes, and Kings of Leon. This was a trip to remember.

May

My brother decided to pick up his things and move to Cairo. It was a big change for our family but a great decision for him.

For Memorial day, we went to Denver and instead of just partying in the city, we ended up doing some whitewater rafting and camping in the mountains. Although we still partied in the city one night.

I bought my Ducati. And now I can’t ride anything else…well, maybe a Triumph. We’ll see.

June

June was cool. I decided to resign from my position at OLSON and “freestyle live” for a while. It was a great decision. I continue to learn more about myself (how I want to work/what I want to do/what makes me happy). After I resigned, I started focusing on clients for New Economy Labs.

In June, I also decided to sell my car and live carlessly (haha, get it?). My goal was to go for a month, I ended up going for four.

My friend Greg began working on opening his second location of the Urban Bean. It was fun to watch the progress and be there from day 1.

I also went to an internet dating conference in Brooklyn, New York. It was my first time staying in Brooklyn (usually I’m a Manhattan guy) and I loved it.

July

My 25th Birthday. Time flies.

I had a huge dinner at Ichiban and about 30 guests came (whoa). We partied downtown at Brit’s and The W. It was a great mix of friends…old and new.

August

August was filled with motorcycle rides.

Some friends got hitched. Congrats again Tia & Travis.

I started working on some very cool projects as well. Most are still top-secret but one of them isn’t. Chris Mcduffie and I filmed our mini-documentary…below is a still from the video: Socializing with Kareem Ahmed.

September

In September, I began teaching a course at McNally Smith College of Music called “New Media Studies.” I never thought I’d be an instructor but, hey, you only live once. I ended up learning so much from this experience that I’ve signed on for another semester.

It was my brother’s bday, but he was in Cairo.

October

In October I was highlighted in Metro Magazine in a feature titled: The Opportunist. It was lovely. Thanks to Megan McCarty for writing that.

This was also the month for Mimi’s birthday. We had a ton of fun and I actually did a good job of picking out presents (for the first time ever). Her friend Jordan came to town and we surprised her. Wee wee!

My sister also celebrated her birthday and that was enjoyable. My mom and I came to dinner with her and her friends at the Chambers Hotel.

I also got to visit LA on business/pleasure. I had some cool meetings with TOMS and Thrillist. I stayed with my good friend Tyler and celebrated my friend Kasey’s birthday while I was there.

Too much time and energy (and money) was spent, but I ended up with the perfect costume for Halloween. Rick Sloth/Ross. I DJ’d a friends party pretty lazily.

November

Movember.

Mobeque.

Mother’s birthday.

Mustache (below).

Went to Denver for a big project and ended up getting a day of snowboarding in. Saw a couple of friends while I was there but this visit felt like the blink of an eye.

December 

Traveled the world and visited London, Paris, Florence, Zurich and celebrated New Years Eve in AMSTERDAM.

What a life.

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Thanks to all who have supported me, inspired me, or pushed me. I owe each and every one of you.

May your 2012, be as blessed as my 2011.

CHEERS.

Early this summer, I received an email from a photographer named Chris McDuffie.

I’d heard his name around town before…I was familiar with some of his work. We’d never actually met in real life, but we’d been lurking in eachother’s internet shadows for a while.

Chris was emailing to let me know that he was getting into film. He said that he was hoping to shoot a short film….a documentary of sorts, over the summer.

And he wanted me to be his subject.

He mentioned that he’d been following my “progress” for a couple of years and had decided that I’d be the perfect person for his first film.

So we shot a film.

We captured 12+ hours of footage, over a period of 7 different days and whittled it all down to a 10 minute show.

Here’s a sneak peak into my life…into my story.

I hope you enjoy it.

It’s the age old conundrum.

Which came first, the portfolio or the job?

Marketing, advertising, social media, design, web development, writing, production, public relations, and media (amongst others) are aggressive, competitive career paths saturated with great talent willing to put in work, and finding an internship/entry level position is often times a lofty challenge.

Don’t let your creative juices go to waste.

“Keep on making stuff.” – @jakenyberg

Below are 7 ways to build your portfolio without needing a job.

1. Join the barter economy.

Working for free sucks. Working for money rocks. Bartering fits somewhere in between and is often times better than working for money. Use your “special service” to get other services or things of value. There are plenty of people willing to do this if you just ask. If you can’t think of anyone in your immediate network to swap with, try Craigslist. A search for the query “website” in the barter section of Craigslist bring up all of this.

2. Find a non-profit.

Sometimes people volunteer their time. Sometimes people “volunteer” their money. Other times, people volunteer their services. Find a non-profit organization that needs help, and go get it. You’ll build your portfolio, grow your network, and feel good about yourself all at the same time.

3. Join a collective.

Trying to get clients without having a body of work is difficult. Joining a collective is a phenomenal way to exercise your creative muscles, hone your skill and expand your contact list. If you’re in Minneapolis, check out MPLS.TV. They’re always looking for people interested in everything from design, to social media, to video production. Don’t have anything like MPLS.TV in you city? Start one yourself.

4. Start your own business.

Reach out to some small businesses or dig into your personal network and find some clients who are looking for your expertise. Take on a few clients, and build your book under one “brand umbrella” that you can call a business. This way, you’ll have a position on your resume – instead of a gap.

5. Focus on the small stuff.

The goal is to grow and create, so take on some one-off projects instead of traditional clients. Find events, gigs, promotions, concerts, and other “time-sensitive” happenings and create work around them. Aspiring videographer? Produce that music video for your buddy’s band. Want to be a designer? Design the wedding invitation for your friend that’s getting hitched.

6. Be your own client.

Use your imagination and produce whatever it is you’ve been dreaming about. Have an idea for a greeting card? Make it. Be the art director, copywriter and designer. Have a business idea? Start working on the business plan. Even if things never take off, at least you’re producing work and creating experiences for yourself.

7. Show ‘em whatcha got.

Find a brand, make it better. Do you think that the American Airlines website is disgusting? Be like Dustin Curtis and redesign it. For free. Read about what happens next here.

Conclusion

Seriously, you don’t need a job to get experience. If I can help you in anyway, or if you have any questions – drop ‘em into the comments area or shoot me an email.

-k

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The man, the myth, the mullet.

For this episode of Livin’ The Dream we chat with Jake Nyberg of Threevolts.

Learn how Jake took his passion for film and video and turned it into a thriving industry career.

It’s hard to be different, it always has been.

Back in middle school, it was difficult to speak up and say what you really wanted to say or do, for fear of isolation and not fitting in.

Today, things haven’t really changed much.

It’s in our nature to want to fit in.

It’s in our nature to want to categorize each other and to be categorized.

It’s always hard for me to answer the question:”So, what do you do?” because the person asking is looking for a definition. They want to put me into a category.

If I tell them I’m an artist, they might say: “you don’t look like an artist”

If I tell them I’m an entrepreneur, they might say: “you don’t act like an entrepreneur”

If I tell them I’m a business owner, they might say: “you don’t seem like a business owner”

Stereotypes come with categories. Generalizations follow.

But living outside the box is nice, because there aren’t really any rules, regulations or expectations.

Living outside the box gives you freedom.

I do a bunch of different stuff, and I don’t think I or “it” really fits into any specific category.

I’m just me.

So, what do you do?

photo by brevvi

One time, I was at a Timberwolves game with a few buddies.

The T-Wolves were playing the Mavericks.

I’m not really a basketball fan…I went because I had some free tickets. I am however, a Mark Cuban fan.

Cuban’s an entrepreneur that I’ve always looked up to. He speaks his mind, makes questionable decisions, is as self-made as they come, embraces new technology and has successfully become a billionaire (he’s only 43 years old).

At the game, I tweeted Cuban and to my surprise, he tweeted back.

It was exciting and funny.

As soon as the game was over, I went down to ask him if he’d take a photo with me.

I said, “Hey Mark, can I take a pic with you?”

He said, “Eh, I’m not in the mood for pics right now.”

I said, “Ok man, no problem.”

He said, “Wait, you’re that Twitter kid, aren’t you?”

I said, “Yes, @kareemy is the name.”

He said, “Okay! Let’s take a pic.”

So we did (and it now has over 7,000 views on TwitPic).

A few months later, Cuban tweeted that he was in town for another Timberwolves game.

So I tweeted him and told him to swing by The Bulldog NE because I was hosting a tweetup there (he said that he’d remembered me from the other game and that he might swing by).

We continued DMing and about 2 hours into the tweetup, Cuban strolls in, looks at me and says, “Yo! What up @kareemy!”

I was astounded.

The guy actually showed up.

It was awesome. We hung out for a while, I called up some buddies and we hung out some more. Cuban was/is a super nice, down-to-earth guy. He acts like an average joe and isn’t “too good” for us normal folk, although he did make some jokes about being able to fly us down to Vegas in his private jet, if he wanted to.

Cuban shared some great stories and wisdom with us. It was one of those nights that I’ll never forget.

Chubbier-than-now Kareem & Mark Cuban

We still keep in touch and exchange emails every few months.

Cuban is still doing cool things like playing himself in an episode of Entourage.

And that’s the story of how I became friends with a billionaire.

The other day I was at the gym and I noticed something quite odd.

An overweight personal trainer, training a less overweight man.

The trainer had to be about 300 unhealthy pounds, while the trainee looked like he was around 230 average pounds.

Is this common practice?

Personally, I would not pay money to an overweight personal trainer to help me get in shape. It doesn’t make any sense.

I wouldn’t trust a broke financial advisor with my money.

I wouldn’t want a tattooless tattoo artist giving me a tattoo.

and I wouldn’t go to a dentist with bad teeth.

The world has a relationship with “formal education” which ultimately dictates who is an expert on specific subject matter and who is not.

I’m sure that the overweight personal trainer has all of the educational background and credentials neccesaary to help people with their exercise, but does it even matter if what he is trying to help others accomplish, he cannot accomplish for himself? I mean, I suppose there is always the chance that he does not want to be skinny.

Education is important to me. Higher education is important to me. I have a Bachelor’s degree, and even some Master’s work, but when it comes down to it, what matters more? Experience and a “practicing what you preach” mentality or education?

I’m just sayin’, if I had to get an emergency operation and my only 2 options were the guy with the education or the guy with the experience, I’d take the guy with the experience.

A few days ago I asked a friend to accompany me to a networking event (TCTHH, if you’re in the Twin Cities, check it out).

The texts exchanged went something like this:

Kareem: Dude, you should come to this networking event with me tomorrow.

Friend: Why? I already have a job…

Kareem: I didn’t ask you to come to a job fair. I asked you to come to a networking event.

Friend: I don’t really need it right now. I’m going to pass…maybe next time.

Kareem: You sure man? You’ll meet some cool people, and there’s free food.

Friend: I’m good. I’m just going to sit here and play xBox360 instead. (Okay, he didn’t say that last part, but you get my drift.)

The reason that my friend didn’t go is because he didn’t see an immediate payout. He didn’t see an opportunity to “cash-out” on his time in the near future. This is a foolish way to think. Instead we need to look at life as a series of strategic investments.

• When we sign up for a gym membership, we don’t go once and expect to see immediate results. We’re aware that we need to go consistently. Even going to the gym one time a week is better than not going at all, because it’s still a minimal investment into our fitness.

• When we open up a savings account, we don’t deposit money once and expect it to grow overnight. We’re aware that in order to see the money grow, we need to continue depositing money and over time, the money accumulates (usually!).

• When we meet someone new, we don’t expect to know everything about him or her in our first encounter(s). We’re aware that we must get to know them, and possibly become good friends over time. It’s not an immediate personal relationship.

If we begin looking at life as a series of investments, we start to see how today’s small deposits will pay huge dividends in the future. These investments are everywhere. They are handshakes, events, hours, favors, phone calls, LinkedIn connections, retweets, happy birthday wishes, and more.

Here’s a quick story:

When I landed my first job out of college at Risdall Marketing Group, it wasn’t because I’d sent in a phenomenal resume (I don’t even think I had one at the time) or because I knew someone who was working there; it was because I’d invested in a relationship with the President and CEO, John Risdall.

I went in for an interview and I didn’t get the position. I did fine in the interview, but John was looking for seniors and I was a junior at the time.

We shook hands and I left the office, but when I got home, I stuck a handwritten thank you note in the mail.

A month later, I sent John an email, giving a brief update of my life. It was nothing formal, I just let him what I’d been up to.

A few of months after that, I picked up the phone and asked John if he wanted to grab a cup of coffee, he said yes and we had coffee. I never brought up any talk of employment.

Half way through my senior year, I received an email from John saying that a position had opened up, and it was waiting for me if I wanted it. No interview, no resume, no questions.

I took the part-time position and after graduation it turned into a full-time gig.  All of this because I’d kept in touch, I’d invested some time and energy into maintaining a simple relationship.

Four years later and I’m still sending Mr. Risdall updates about my life every few months.

Make small deposits, reap larger benefits.

What kind investments have you made lately?

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How do you feel after a long, hard day’s work?

Do you feel a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction and pride in what you’ve done or do you feel like you were meant for more? Do things feel right or does it feel like something’s missing?

For me, something always felt missing.

For the longest time, I  was trying to avoid “going through the motions.” I was creating ways to make my life seem less routine.

Long trips to different countries, short trips to different cities. Taking new career opportunities when possible. Experimenting with hobbies from painting to cycling. None of it mattered though, because things eventually always returned to:

Wake up, brush teeth, take shower, take dog out, go to work, come home, take dog out, work on side project(s), eat dinner, watch Son of Anarchy, sleep, rinse, repeat.

I tried hard to shake things up, but they just wouldn’t shake. It started feeling like Groundhog Day.

So I decided to do something about it and I left the box that I’d been building. I stopped “what if-ing” and just went for it.

Right now, there is no “plan b.”

As a result, I’ve been feeling self-satisfied and happy with what I’m doing. At the end of the day, when I go to bed, I feel like I’ve made progress in my life.

I’ve moved forward.

In the morning, I spring out of bed, ready to chase the dream. Ready for a new adventure, whether it be a good one or a bad one.

I’m truly grateful for the life I’ve lived and the experiences I’ve had and the people I’ve met, but I’ve never felt the way I feel right now.

I let go of the life I didn’t want, and it was hard. But now I’m bulldozing a new path.

I go to sleep at night feeling accomplished and satisfied, and I wake up  in the morning ready to build something great.

Like The Notorious B.I.G. once said, “Uh, damn right I like the life I live, ’cause I went from negative to positive. And it’s all…good.”

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