[b]Today’s interview is with 20-year old Internet Rock Star who does awesome things with the net, Thomas Frank.

His writing has been featured in over a dozen sites, including USA Today and Stepcase Lifehack. He was featured as one of the best young entrepreneurs of 2011 at Gen-Y Rants, and have been featured at multiple blogs. And the amazing part is this, despite all the success social aspect, he keeps his GPA above a 3.7.

Thomas is obsessed with entrepreneurship, human potential, and DDR. He says “When I grow up, I want to write, speak, and teach people how to shoot for the stars”. I’ll stop writing now and hand you over to Thomas, this is one of the best interview I’ve done on this blog! Thomas, over to ya.



Let’s Meet You:
I’m a 20 year old college student living in Ames, IA. I go to school at Iowa State University.


Inspiration:

A lot of things inspire me – I try to surround and immerse myself in as many inspiring pursuits and environments as possible. I read a lot of books and blogs, and I talk to a lot of great people. I also get inspiration from self-experiments.

MIS and Internet Entrepreneur?
I’ll be honest; studying MIS used to be a lot more interesting to me than it is now. When I started college, I had no dreams of being an entrepreneur; I just wanted to land a job as a system administrator.
However, after starting my blog and doing a corporate internship, I knew entrepreneurship was for me. And it’s been great so far! I’ve been able to meet some amazing people and even do some travelling


Wall Street Journal Story?
The Wall Street Journal gig was actually a bit of a lucky break; my friend Emily was posted on her Facebook wall that a journalist was looking for people with experience getting scholarships, and I happened to see it.
As I do have a lot of experience with scholarships, I was picked for the story!

Other press outlets have always contacted me first; I haven’t done any digging for stories. Maybe I should in the future; I’m not really sure how that stuff works, to be honest!

Writing Inspirations?
That’s really tough to say – ideas will just come to me at all times (usually when I’m at the gym, walking, or just don’t have access to my computer).
I do read a lot of books and blogs, so I’m sure that’s part of it!


Online Success:
I think the first time I felt “successful” was when my hanging desk project was featured on LifeHacker.



Bloggers Skill?
There’s a lot to learn if you want to be successful, so I’d definitely recommend reading through blogs like Smart Passive Income, ThinkTraffic, and Social Triggers. The guys behind those blogs have a lot to say.
That said, I think my #1 tip is to get out there and network with other bloggers – both in your niche and outside of it. Blogging isn’t just about getting your message out there; it’s about having conversations and meeting people as well. So do it!

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For best reading go here:

www.ivblogger.com/thomas-frank-interview

SHALOM