Entrepreneur Association of Tokyo
"DARSHAUN NADEAU founder of Solis"

“It would be no great overstatement of the truth if we said that mental attitude is everything”
Napoleon Hill

Darshaun Nadeau is the founder and former CEO of Solis, a Japanese domain registration and related management services corporation. This seminar did not focus on business models or strategies but it was a personal account on experiences Nadeau had while starting Solis and then eventually selling the company in 2005. Darshaun Nadeau shared his insights, anecdotes and some inspirational quotes at the October 10th, 2006 EA-Tokyo seminar.

Defining times
What is it exactly that you are trying to achieve and where are you heading? To have a clear goal and purpose is the key to any new venture. Have you ever had a defining moment when you reassessed your life, you think “What am I doing? Is this really what I want to do?” this pivotal moment happened to Nadeau while working at one of his odd jobs cutting firewood, and on this day he decided that in order to make a major change in his life he should start with higher education. After an intense study period in college majoring in Japanese, he came to Japan on a study exchange in 1998 where he was based in Kyoto.

After graduating college, Nadeau came to Tokyo and started working in the recruiting industry through an introductory meeting to the firm via a friend. Within the first month he broke a previous sales record in the company. Although he was making a stable income and achieving high results, it wasn’t exactly what he wanted to do. Four months later he quit and took a risk by starting a new business venture.

Starting from scratch
Starting Solis was like being thrown into the deep end and was barely able to keep afloat. It was a time of upheaval both personally and professionally for Nadeau and through these experiences the main lesson learned was the difference between “Mechanism and Intention”.

Mechanism and Intention
Mechanism: is the practical “how to” aspect of doing something. It’s what you comfortably know and can mechanically execute.

Intention: is more intangible and once again refers to the purpose and reasoning behind why we do something.

At the start, things were tough and at times nearly impossible. It was Nadeau’s intention and conviction towards his goals that pulled him through these trying times.

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

The first lessons:
‘Putting it out there’ lesson. Express and articulate what it is you want to start communicating it with others.
Self doubt and fear – how do we overcome this?
Mechanism and intention.
Life long learning: there is never a point where you can declare to know it all.
Vision/purpose coupled with a clearly defined goal.
The concept to luck, don’t sit around waiting for luck to find you. You must create an environment that is optimal to success. “I define luck as the thing that happens when opportunity and preparedness intersect”

The second lessons:
The power of desire and key motivators.
The concept of how to play the win/lose game.
The concept of ultimate responsibility.
The idea we are living our philosophy –of what we are committed to. What is your philosophy? What do you have right now? What you have is how you live your philosophy.
The concept of “we only receive what we are prepared for.” This ties in with creating our own luck and opportunities.

The third lessons:

Three key points:

Clear goals.
Commitment.
Send it out into the universe.

“The interesting thing about common sense is that it’s not that common”

My law of common sense.
In January 2005, during a visit to the States, Nadeau was able to refocus on his original goals for his business and decided to slowly pull back in terms of time spent at the office to see whether Solis could survive without him always micromanaging staff and overseeing every minute detail. By stepping back Nadeau could assess whether as a company, Solis was solid. Through a chain of events and a series of negotiations, the future of Solis took on a new direction and by July of that year, Solis was acquired by GMO Internet Inc. for over ten million dollars.

“To put away aimlessness and weakness and to begin to think with purpose, is to enter the ranks of those strong ones who only recognize failure as one of the pathways to attainment; who make all conditions serve them, and who think strongly, attempt fearlessly, and accomplish masterfully.”
-James Allen

Q & A:
Q: Would you have done anything differently?
A: Hindsight is 20/20. There is no doubt that I made a lot of mistakes and made a lot of poor decisions. But in the end I have to say that I made the best decisions that I could with the skill-set that I had. I often thought how great it would have been if I had an MBA…but when I think that if I had an MBA I may not have had the guts to go out and start my own business…I may have learned too much “logical thinking” (laugh)

Q: How did you make the business connections?
A: Make yourself lucky, go to networking events, be passionate about what you do, don’t limit your market – take a good look at the domestic market.

Resources:
“As a Man Thinketh” James Allen.
“Think and Grow Rich” Napoleon Hill.

October 10, 2006


Darshaun Nadeau (profile)
Founder and former CEO of Solis