In this motivational video, Evan Carmichael answers a subscriber’s question about how a college student can emulate Steve Jobs. He outlines three actionable lessons drawn from Jobs’ life: (1) Follow your passion, illustrated by Jobs dropping out of college to study calligraphy, which later influenced Mac typography and his belief in personal computers despite widespread skepticism; (2) Partner up, highlighting Jobs’ collaboration with Steve Wozniak and his habit of surrounding himself with top talent; and (3) Set high standards, describing Jobs’ obsessive attention to detail in product design, supplier selection, and hiring, reinforced by a anecdote from a Nike CEO who received Jobs’ advice to eliminate “crap” and focus on excellence. Carmichael closes by urging viewers to adopt these principles, believe in themselves, and engage with the community through comments and subscriptions.
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If you want to be like Steve Jobs, today I'm going to give you 3 ways to get started. Hi, I'm Evan Carmichael. I believe in entrepreneurs, and today I'm answering a question from one of my YouTube subscribers— love you guys— Lax, who wrote in to say, "Hi Evan, this is Lax. I regularly view your videos, love the Believe videos. Never stop doing that, sir." Thank you, Lax. "I'm a college student and I always wanted to be an entrepreneur like Steve Jobs, my idol." "but I'm confused on how to start. Can you help me? Thanks in advance, Lax." So this is a fantastic question. I'm a huge Steve Jobs fan myself, and today I'm going to give you the 3 ways for how you can start following his footsteps. Number 1 is follow your passion. More than anything else, the thing that Steve Jobs was great at was following his passion. Whatever he was interested in, no matter how crazy it was, no matter how the rest of the world would see it, he would go for it even if everybody else thought he was crazy. It's easy to follow your passion when everybody's supporting you and telling you to go for it. It's really hard to do it when nobody's supporting you and it feels like the whole world is against you. So as an example, when Steve Jobs was in university, he didn't like it. He wasn't feeling the classes. He didn't feel that it was for him, even though he was on the path to a stable, normal career like everybody else. So he dropped out of his classes to drop in on calligraphy classes to learn about writing and fonts. And people thought he was crazy. Why are you going to learn about writing and fonts? What possible good is this ever going to do for you? And the boldness and the courage came from not knowing how it was going to work out. Steve Jobs didn't know how that class was going to help him. He only signed up for it because he was interested in it and he was following his passion. It was only years later that when the first Mac came out, it was the fonts and the beautiful typography that really helped the computer stand out against every other computer on the market. When he first got into computers, everybody thought he was nuts. Nobody needed a personal computer, everybody thought. It was only for the big guys. The idea that everybody would have a computer in their home was ridiculous. It would get you laughed out of a room. But Steve Jobs didn't care. He was following his passion and trusted that it would work out. So if you want to be like Steve Jobs, have the guts and the boldness to follow your true passion. Number 2 is partner up. Steve Jobs never did everything himself. He always had talented people around him to help him build his dream. At the very start, it was Steve Wozniak who was the technical genius and brains behind the early Mac computers. And as Apple grew, Steve Jobs continued to surround himself with smart, talented people who are at the top of their field who wanted to do something important. Stop trying to do everything yourself and partner up with the team and individuals who can help get you to your dream faster. 3. Set high standards. Steve Jobs was insanely detail-oriented and wanted everything he created to be awesome. You have to create high standards not just in your business but also in your life. What are things that you are no longer willing to accept to help you get to the next level? Steve Jobs had high standards about the suppliers that he worked with, with the things that were going into the computers, with the The people that he hired for his team. Everything had to meet insanely high standards. If you want your life to be up here, but your own personal standards are way down here, there's no way to bridge that gap until you raise the standards of what you are now no longer willing to accept. Here's a fun clip from a Nike CEO where when he first got his job, he asked Steve Jobs for some advice, and Jobs told him to stop selling crap and to raise their standards.
You mentioned last night when we were having dinner that when you first got the job as CEO, you got a call from Steve Jobs and he offered you some advice. Well, he didn't call to offer me advice, but we had worked together on a Nike-Apple collaboration called Nike Plus. So we took what Apple knows, what Nike knows, and, you know, brought a new technology to the market. Anyway, long story short, he said, hey, congratulations, it's It's great. You're going to do a great job. I said, well, do you have any advice? And he said, no, no. You're great. And then there was a pause. And he goes, well, I do have some advice. He goes, Nike makes some of the best product in the world. I mean, product that you lust after. Absolutely beautiful, stunning product. But you also make a lot of crap. He said, just get rid of the crappy stuff and focus on the good stuff. And then I expected a little pause and a laugh. There was a pause but no laugh at the end. And he was absolutely right.
So remember, follow your passion, partner up, and set high standards. And of course, believe. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you like this video, I'd love to hear what you have to say in the comments. I'd love to know what your thoughts are on Steve Jobs and how he may have influenced you. If you want to share your story in the comments below. If you like this video and you want to see more, don't forget to subscribe to the newsletter subscribing to the channel. Thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.
