Public Speaking

I think most people fear public speaking. For some reason, I really enjoy it. Back in middle school and high school I always got really nervous in front of a group as small as 5 or 10, but as time progressed through college and into my professional life, public speaking became more and more of a regular thing so I became more and more comfortable with it. Since I left my job, however, the only real public speaking I had done until last week was the best man speech at my friends wedding.

Then last Friday I spoke to the local Young Advisors Team about business and marketing, specifically growing your network as a young professional (financial planner, accountant, lawyer, etc). Since it was on a Friday night, I kept it short and interactive (it was at a pub and pretty much everyone in the audience had a beer in hand so it had the potential to go bad). The feedback was overwhelmingly positive - they told me I gave them some great ideas to help grow their businesses - and I got a few free beers out of the whole thing :)

Ideally, I'd do some sort of speaking once a month at least to hone my skills, but in reality I don't know what audience would listen to me that frequently, so I think I'm going to have to focus on honing my skills in smaller settings...which is where I think I built up my skills to begin with. Between internships and full time jobs, I met with and interviewed with A LOT of different companies in college (one of the advantages of being at the top of your engineering class at a top 20 school is that recruiters from all over the world practically beg for you to interview with them...which is a whole other wacky experience worthy of a post).

I digress - I think interviewing is even TOUGHER than public speaking because to a large degree (especially in a well run behavioral based interview) there is no way to prepare for it...everything they throw at you needs a well-spoken, accurate response in a matter of seconds, and things like posture and body language definitely matter. I really didn't intend this post to go this way, but I guess I'm saying that I think the best way to become a better public speaker is to do a shit ton of interviews.

Oh, and if you need a public speaker for anything that I know anything about, let me know, I'm always down for it :)

The best customer service EVER

Remember my buddy Jon who started Huge Heart? Well he was scheduled to go into surgery last Thursday (it got postponed two weeks) and I wanted to have something nice to give him when I visited after the procedure. So I came up with the idea of getting a Huge Heart wristband made up. I really wanted to impart on him that anything is possible, and that if he wants he can make Huge Heart synonymous with cardiomyopathy the way that Lance Armstrong has become synonymous with cancer research.

I came up with this idea about 10 days before the surgery was scheduled and I wasn't sure that there would be any way to have one made up in that time. The only company that it even seemed like I had a chance with was Wristbands With A Message. Problem was, the order was supposed to take 7-10 business days before shipping, and even with overnight shipping I was cutting it really close.

But I figured it was worth a shot, so I placed the order anyway. Then I sent them an email explaining my situation and asking if they could possibly do it in 3-5 business days, and offering to pay extra if that would help. Less than 24 hours later, I got an email that the order had shipped!

Last night Jon was over at my place and spotted the band because I mistakenly left it out (oops). He loved it, and immediately put it on. Now, considering his surgery got pushed back, it likely wouldn't have mattered if the order took the maximum 10 days, but isn't it awesome to see a company that actually CARES.

My biggest fear

This is going to be the most brutally honest post I'll ever write. I've been thinking a lot in the past several days and weeks (particularly today) about what I really want to accomplish with my life. This is nothing new - the reason I left the comfort of my career is that I didn't feel I could attain what I wanted to in corporate America. Sure, I could make a comfy salary and get married and have kids and live a "good" life, but I feel called to so much more.

Since sometime back in college, I knew that I wanted to devote my life to positively impacting the world. But what's the best way to do that? I've seriously considered everything from the priesthood to the peace corps and everything in between. In the 9-5 it seemed impossible to me, so I quit. I see all the potential in the entrepreneurial world - I see what guys like Bill Gates and Bono can accomplish after they have immense success (I mean, holy crap have you guys seen Red, this is the greatest business idea ever). From the outside, those guys seemed to follow the build-yourself-first-and-then-help-others path, which is awesome for them. Then again, people can spend their entire life trying to build themselves and never get to the help others part.

And it's certainly possible to start a world-changing business or non-profit without being rich, but it seems like to do that one would need another income stream. The things that I want to do that I think will really change the world will require 1)People and 2)Money and probably won't make money...and that's the point, I want 100% of the resources of my non-profit to go towards helping the hungry eat, the homeless sleep in comfort, or the sick get medicine.

Again, that leads me to believe that I need my own stream of income - hence SportsLizard, iPrioritize, and to a lesser extent, SEO Playbook and the consulting jobs that come along with it. I see the success of my collective entrepreneurial efforts giving me the money, time, and experience (important also) necessary to pursue "my true calling." I *think* that I can get to a point in the next few years (certainly before I'm 30) where I'm able to devote close to 50% of my time towards things that sole purpose is to improve the world...and my income will be taken care of by my ventures.

I don't know if this is unrealistic or not. I do know that this plan has become clearer and clearer as time has moved on. I also know that I should be able to live pretty comfortably next year (comfort is relative, and I'm talking compared to this year) and at that point I should start devoting some of my time (10-15%) on doing things solely to change the world for the better, and go from there. Through no doing of my own I've been blessed with a lot in my life, and I think it would be a travesty to spend all of my entrepreneurial time building things that only serve my wallet.

If you asked me whether I would rather be married with kids and have a beautiful house and retire nice, or be able to help all of those people that don't know where they are going to sleep tonight or get their next meal, I would choose the latter. Even if it means I'd struggle financially and never come close to getting married or starting a family. It's just how I'm wired.

My biggest fear is never getting the chance to do those things. I fear dying at 25 or 26, not because I fear death, but because I won't have had the chance to accomplish the things that I think I can - to really change the world. I would be all talk and no action. That would suck, that's what I fear.

Update: Are Entrepreneurs Born or Bred

Last month, I posted about a study regarding whether or not entrepreneurs are born or bred. Well, the results are in, and apparently most of us think we are born to be entrepreneurs (although I still think that I was bred). From the press release:

According to a new national survey conducted by Northeastern University’s School of Technological Entrepreneurship (STE), sixty-two percent of entrepreneurs in the U.S. claim “innate drive” is the number one motivator in starting their own venture.

The survey, comprised of more than 200 U.S. based entrepreneurs, was designed to help answer the long-debated question of whether entrepreneurs are born, or bred through work experiences, education or other factors. The survey is the first to ask entrepreneurs to assess how their own experiences and attributes have contributed to their success.

Of note, only one percent of entrepreneurs surveyed identify “higher education” as the primary motivator for starting a business. Other motivators given were work experience (21 percent) and the success of entrepreneurial peers within the industry (16 percent).

The survey also provides a profile of the characteristics common to today’s entrepreneurs. Most entrepreneurs surveyed (62 percent) claim they do not have a family member that is an entrepreneur. However, the results identify family members as the biggest inspiration in their life (37 percent). Many entrepreneurs (42 percent) launched their first venture during childhood, through a lemonade stand or paper route. While a majority of today’s entrepreneurs consider themselves to be risk takers (88 percent), 44 percent of these entrepreneurs claim they are somewhat cautious when faced with major decisions.

Neat stuff...maybe Northeastern can help breed more entrepreneurs :)

The paranoia of the web

I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt. I tend to trust them until they show me otherwise...mostly because the other way around (not trusting people until they prove themselves to you) leads to a paranoid and miserable life.

When it comes to the web, I'm pretty good at detecting a fraud. Having been on all sides of a web business, I know how to find out things about a site and it's history and owners that most people don't, and I can decode a piece of crap privacy policy or TOS better than most. And since I can do that, I don't have any different paranoia toward someone on eBay than I would someone at a garage sale. Offline and online are pretty much the same to me.

But I'm obviously the exception. Many people have seen news reports or heard isolated stories that scare them about things like SPAM and identity theft. I get emails from people regarding iPrioritize all the time - is it safe, is it secure, do you sell my info, do you charge me without me knowing (don't know how I'd pull that off, but people actually ask it). I can certainly understand their fears and they are somewhat justified. However, I think overall you are safer (or at least as safe) on the web.

My email addresses are all over all my sites, so I get spammed all the time. You know how long it takes me to manually filter out any SPAM that my filter doesn't detect and delete it? About 1 minute for several hundred emails a day. If you don't click the links or download anything from anyone you don't trust, you are fine. SPAM is annoying, but for average Joe who doesn't have their email on the web, it should take a few seconds a week to deal with.

I hear your head "but what about identity theft Adam?" Well, I happen to be a victim of identity theft, and I'm 99.99% sure that it had nothing to do with anything internet related. Back in college (pre-SportsLizard days) someone got a hold of my social security number and opened phone accounts in the Bronx under the name Adam McFarland Jr (how cute) and ran up a bunch of debt. It took me months to clear my name and prove to debt collection agencies that I've never lived in the Bronx and never opened a land line phone account (at least at that point I hadn't).

At that age, I hardly bought anything online, but there were hundreds of people that handled my social security number in insurance agencies, schools, banks (a lot of banks b/c of my student loans), and credit card companies...not to mention people at the post office that could have hi-jacked my mail that had all of that info in it. It was more than likely one of them who stole my identity. They have a much easier time taking your social security number than an employee working for a legit web company would. That info *should* be transacted securely through SSL and encrypted in a database and no one should have access to it. Which is safer?

What I'm trying to say is, there's a somewhat jaded view of the web that causes paranoia among the masses. Don't know of a solution (other than the web aging and people becoming more comfortable with it), but it definitely exists and it'd be nice to see someone educate people.

Making a bold move

Regarding my sleep schedule - it's been getting worse. About a half-hour worse every night to be exact. I had to get up around 9 today (went to bed after 3), so I'm actually pretty tired and I just made a bold move: I set my alarm clock...for 7 AM tomorrow. I think I've seen 7 AM once since I left my job. But not tomorrow. Tonight I'm going to bed around 12, and I'm going to try seeing how 7 hours works for me (should be more than enough). If this works, I could become one of those "morning people"...of course my dad gets up at 5 everyday so I've got a ways to go.

*update* - this totally backfired...I went to bed REALLY tired around 12:30 and ended up sleeping through my alarm until around 9. You know what? It's not worth worrying about this shit. I'm going to go to bed when I'm tired every night, and wake up when my body wants to wake up. As long as that happens at reasonable hours and I'm not sleeping like 10 hours a day, I'm going to focus on other stuff instead of this crap.

The last day I didn't turn on a computer

I was thinking today - when was the last day that I DIDN'T use a computer? I can't remember specifically, but it has to be at least 2 years...possibly back to college or even back 6 or 7 years to high school. Whenever I've traveled - for work or business - I always bring my lapper because most hotels now a days have wi-fi...or at least somewhere in the area that you can "borrow" wi-fi from.

Even if (and it's a big if) I've had a day where I didn't check my work email, I surely checked ESPN.com or paid a bill online. And as much as I love my computers, I think it's time I take one day (at least 24 hours) where I don't check my computer no matter what. No email & no web browsing - personal or business. So I think I'm going to take a day and do NOTHING tech related (I won't play video games or watch DVDs either).

I think in the bigger picture, it will probably be a good idea to start doing this once/week. The internet can survive without me for a day or two :), so I need to let go and spend some time doing fun stuff that doesn't involve the web. Even if I don't feel the "need" to get away, it probably would be a good idea to spend a day with my family, or play basketball, or take a trip, or whatever. Right now, I do alot of that stuff, but only for a few hours at a time, and I'm always right back to work when I'm done. I gotta make sure I don't burn myself out at 24...got a lot of entrepreneuring left.

Music vs. TV vs. Silence

Most people think that working with music or TV on is a distraction. But I tend to day dream like crazy when I'm working in silence. For me, my mind is going to wander every few minutes anyway, so it might as well wonder on to a song I love or an interesting show.

Depending on the work I do different things. When I'm programming, it's music all the way...it helps keep me in the zone. When I'm writing, I usually go sit on my couch and throw on a DVD of a movie I've watched about a hundred times...that way if I get writers block, I can look up and watch a few minutes and then get back to writing.

It's weird, if I watch TV when I program, I can't focus at all. And if I try to write with music on, I end up thinking about the words of the song and not the words I'm typing.

But I honestly think I waste more time daydreaming if I'm in complete silence than I do if I've got Sports Center on in the background...plus Sports Center is more fun than the shit my mind wanders on to :)

Man, I'd love to do me a study about all of this.

Does it matter when I get my 8 hours of sleep?

I've never been one of those guys that can pull an all nighter. I've always been most productive when I get at least 7 hours of sleep (preferably 8), have exercised, and have been eating well. When I was working, I'd sleep from 12-6 everyday and I was so tired by the end of the week that I'd sleep 11 or 12 hours on the weekends, a sure sign I wasn't getting enough rest.

Since I've been on my own schedule, I've always gotten my 8 hours (it's probably more like 9 when you take the time that I actually get into bed until the time I get out...mostly because it takes me a while to wind down and pass out). And to be honest, I'm never tired when I'm awake...it's awesome.

For several months, I was sleeping from ~12 to ~8, which for me is pretty good - I'm up late and I still can get a relatively early start on the day. But lately with the Mets games on, it's been taking me longer to wind down, so I've been doing ~1:30 to ~9:30. Factor in an early morning workout and a shower, and sometimes I don't start my day until 11 AM. But I work until 10 or 11 PM. SO is there really a difference between 8 AM to 8 PM or 11 AM to 11 PM?

The only thing I can think of, is that it's better to be up earlier because the rest of the world works on a 9 to 5. So on Friday afternoon if I want to go to happy hour, I can still get a pretty full day in by 5 PM. Otherwise, I really don't think it matters. But that reason alone might be a good one to start sleeping 11 to 7 and starting my day earlier. Hmm...

Work has a bad rap

From Dictionary.com:

work [wurk] - exertion or effort directed to produce or accomplish something;

Nowhere in that definition or the other 53 definitions of work (yea, I can't believe that there are that many either) does it say that work is something that should be boring and tedious, or shouldn't be fascinating and enjoyable.

So why, I ask, do so many people have such a negative connotation of the word 'work'?

When I say to people "I'm working right now" I immediately hear "oh, that sucks." Um, no, not really - I enjoy my work, it's what I want to be doing, and accomplishing things that productively contribute to society makes me happy (silly me). Just because YOU don't like YOUR work, doesn't mean that work sucks (or should suck) for everyone. Stop raining on people's parade fools.

If I died tomorrow...

I was listening to Jim Rome today when he interviewed Mark Zupan. You may know Mark from the movie Murderball, a film about quadriplegics who play full-contact rugby in wheelchairs - overcoming unimaginable obstacles to compete in the Paralympic Games in Athens, Greece. The accident that caused Mark's disability is truly tragic, but to hear what the man has accomplished since makes the rest of us look like we are disabled. His book GIMP: When Life Deals You a Crappy Hand, You Can Fold -or You Can Play chronicles his story.

After the interview, the remaining hour and a half of show turned to a discussion about Zupan. Rome himself said he feels like he's operating at "25% efficiency" when he hears what someone like Zupan is able to do. He said you can't help but look yourself in the mirror and begin to question if you are living life to the fullest after hearing someone who was dealt such a raw deal do so much. So for the rest of the show it was call after call, email after email, about how Mark's story is inspiring said listener to do more with their life - to make the most out of every second they have.

And while I certainly find Zupan's story inspirational, I didn't have the same reaction. There have been times in my life where I've been doing stupid shit with my time, but I can honestly say that right now that's not the case. I can look myself in the mirror every day and say that I am doing everything within my power to live the life I want to live, the life I feel like I was born to live.

Whenever the topic comes up in my head, I ask myself the question:

If I died tomorrow, how would I feel about my life?

Would I feel like I wasted time on trivial and unimportant things? Nope. Would I feel like I didn't have enough fun, that I wasted too much time working? Nope. Would I feel like I neglected loved ones? Nope. Would I feel like I was greedy and only thought of myself? Not really, although I always think I can be less selfish and more selfless

In short, I feel pretty damn good about what I'm doing with my life. If I died tomorrow, I'd certainly feel like I had unfinished business...but honestly, will there ever be a time when I die that I don't have more that I want to accomplish? Death probably will never come at a good time, so all you can do is make the best of your time until it happens.

Now I'm not trying to say that I'm perfect or that I'm living a "perfect" life, just that I'm giving it my all, each and every day, and I can't fault myself for that.

Distancing myself

Sometimes I try to do everything - be everything to everyone, and it kills me. I think in life there are people that we encounter that do us absolutely no good and probably do us quite a bit of harm. If we're lucky, those people are people we barely need to know or have a meaningful relationship with and we can just avoid them and they go away. But what about people that become that over time? People we were once close to, but currently act only to pull us down and prevent us from accomplishing our goals.

When I decided to move back to Albany after leaving my job in CT, I made no bones about it - I was moving back to my hometown because I could stay with family, and that was a good business decision for me. I wasn't moving back for a lot of different reasons (I even wrote a post about it way back when).

Fast forward nine months, and overall I have a new appreciation for my home city and the people that I interact with on a day to day basis. I really do love being around them, and I'm glad I came home for this year, regardless of if I end up settling down here or halfway across the world.

But the biggest challenge has been encountering people that I used to have a lot in common with, but now really can't relate to at all. I am proud of all of the choices I've made, but I also understand that they distance me from some people because they just don't understand what I'm doing and why. The great thing is all of the people that I have become closer with because they do get me and they do support me. But I just can't seem to shake some of those people who used to be close with me and have drawn apart from.

I feel like some people I'm around just suck the life out of me. Our relationships provides nothing good at all to me, causes a lot of stress because they "expect" me to do certain things that I want no part of, and I don't think they benefit at all from the relationship. A large portion of people I used to be close friends with have naturally gone their separate ways and we see each other a few times a year and that works awesome. And that's the way I want a few more of my friendships to go. Let's face it - people grow and change and move on to new phases of their lives, and in doing that sometimes they grow apart. I'm cool with that, I just don't know how to bring it up with people that I've known since I was a little kid.

This is something I've been struggling with for a while, and doesn't seem to be getting any better. It's the only thing I really dislike about being home - that expectation that I'm still the same dude I was when I was in high school or college. Much of me is the same, but much of me has also grown and begun doing new things with new people, and those are the relationships that I want to cultivate. There are so many great people in this world that I want the chance to get to know better. What's the point of continuing long term relationships that are pulling both parties down...just for the sake of saying we're still good friends?

I'll let you know if I ever figure out a solution to this, but I have a feeling it's going to be messy and I'm going to come out of it looking like a dick...

Pre-paid expectations

When I started SEO-Playbook, I decided that it made sense to work on a pre-paid basis for a couple of reasons:

1. The projects I am working on aren't going to be that large (usually less than $1,000) so I figured people wouldn't have a problem with it
2. I offer a 100% money back guarantee if they aren't satisfied, so I figured that eliminates any anxiety on their end
   
3. And the biggest reason - I hate feeling like a debt collector. Even if I do the "half up front, half upon successful completion" thing, I've gotta worry about when I'm going to get payment. I've done enough projects to know that even well-intentioned clients can stall for a month or two. I believe that if I do a good job, than I deserve to get paid immediately for it. I don't like having it hanging over my head.

Sounds great right? Well now that I've had several clients pay up front (not one has complained or questioned it), I feel a pressure to come through that is somehow greater than normal. I'm used to doing my best to do a great job because I want to impress the client or boss, and then getting paid for said good job. Now, it's like, I'm more worrying about screwing up and them asking for their money back than I am focusing on doing a great job.

I've made the choice NOT to do anything with the money - not to spend it or transfer it - until the client is 100% satisfied, so ultimately I think I still made the right decision...it's just something different that I'm going to have to get used to.

In a perfect world (in my mind), no one would get paid until they did their job. Unfortunately it isn't a perfect world, so I think the right move is to "simulate" that by not touching the money until I do my job.

Have a Huge Heart

When we were in high school, one of our best friends Jon Kirk was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy, an enlargement of the heart that can be deadly if left undetected. Sports fans will recall seemingly invincible superstar athletes such as Reggie Lewis and Hank Gathers passing away abruptly. They had cardiomyopathy.

Recently Jon was told that he would need to undergo a procedure to get a defibrillator implanted to help monitor his condition. Rather than feeling sorry for himself, Jon decided that he wanted to spread awareness of cardiomyopathy by telling his story and providing resources and support for those living with cardiomyopathy.

So with the help of Mike Li, his brother Sam for the logo, and myself, Jon recently launched HugeHeart.org to help tell the world about his disease, in hopes that more people will get checked and have cardiomyopathy caught before it's too late. While the small site we put up is just a start (Jon plans to start support groups across the country, do fundraising to help spread awareness, and much more), it's a great resource for a relatively unknown condition, highlighted by Jon's blog. His first post yesterday included:

In two weeks I am going to get my defibrillator implanted in my left shoulder-this is a major change in my life-I believe that blogging about such an experience can help me and someone else cope with receiving an ICD and living with this disease. Am I nervous? Yes. How nervous? Not very. I will reassure myself and everyone else that this procedure is very common nowadays - not as common as getting your tonsils taken out obviously, but the doctors that implant ICD's are specialists in this field. I am nervous because I have never had a serious surgery before.

If you get a chance, check out Huge Heart and Jon's blog. And please keep him in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks.

I love the struggle

As I finished up my last post, I had another thought - the struggle is one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur. Obviously, if it was easy everyone would do it. I enjoy the worrying and the stress because I know that in the end it makes me better.

Last week I met with Joe and he and I discussed how being entrepreneurs really separated us from people who worked. Not separated in the sense that we were better, just separated us because of how different we are. My friends who have steady jobs look at me like I'm crazy for quitting a steady job to start a business. And Joe and I agreed, that the best part is that we look at them as being equally crazy for leaving their futures in the hands of someone else. No one is right or wrong, but it definitely makes us different.

The biggest difference, Joe and I discussed, is that they can't possibly relate to the struggle. They don't know the same feeling of having to worry about how they are going to eat this month, or pay rent, or pay their staff, or pay health insurance because business is bad. That stress and struggle makes me a better person. Going through struggles like that stick with you even when you become as successful as someone like Joe, and it gives you an appreciation for what you currently have.

Different types of stress

In the past I've been stressed out about running out of money for my businesses and having to either borrow money or get a job. Now, a few weeks after deciding I was going to take a few extra consulting projects each month to fund my ventures, I am stressed out because I have to meet the expectations of several clients at once while still finding time for my businesses. SEO-Playbook is giving me more business quicker than I thought it would, and at this point I'm backed up with work. The financial stress has been replaced with a different stress.

I find it ironic because people (myself included) sometimes think "my stress will go away when X happens," but then when X happens you get the same exact thought about Y...and then Z..and the process can be endless. You can literally stress yourself out every day for the rest of your life. That's no fun! I don't want to live like that.

In my case, I think that overall I enjoy the stress and the pressure. Without it life would just be blah. If I am living life to the fullest than there will always be stress associated with the chances I take and the situations I put myself in. So from now on I'm going to try to worry less and just enjoy the fact that I get to do the cool stuff that I do for a living.

Why do I blog?

Earlier today I read Noah's post about Why You Should Never Blog and it made me think about why I blog. When I re-read what I wrote in my first post, I realize that I've gone off on a lot of tangents and that a lot of the time I don't do what I intended to do: tell my story so that others could learn from it.

I want this blog to give a candid look at what it's like to be a 24 year old entrepreneur. I want you to be able to see what it's like to be me, for better or for worse. Why? Because I don't think many people are willing to publish their experiences for others to learn from. Their mistakes and their successes, and everything in between. And I believe that some people will find value in that.

From here on out I'm going to stop giving you SEO advice, or trying to impart life-lessons on you (like with my last post), and talk more about my life and my experiences and let you make the conclusions.

Maybe my story will motivate you to be an entrepreneur. Maybe it will scare you to death and you'll run to corporate America. But I want to stop being "Mr. Everyone Should Be an Entrepreneur" and "Entrepreneurship Rocks" and start telling you what I'm going through and how I see it, and let you make the decision.

The reality is that I don't know the keys to success and happiness in life any more than you do. I struggle with them everyday just like you. I know that my time here on earth is limited and I want to make the most out of that. But that means something different to everyone.

Should everyone be an entrepreneur? What about that guy who works for $25K/year as a social worker and devotes his free time to helping the homeless? Or the police officer that keeps us safe? Am I somehow better than him because I am an entrepreneur? Hell no...but sometimes I feel like us YE's come across as being "smarter" than everyone else just because we took a different path. Smarter - no. Different - yes. Society needs entrepreneurs just like it needs teachers and police officers. I am not better than anyone else - just different.

Right now I'm just some kid sitting at his computer, working his ass off, hoping that I can make a living off of innovating (and eventually change the world for the better). So far, my innovations are pretty much self serving (i.e. don't do a lot to help the greater good of society) and for that I feel like I suck sometimes, and that I am not making the most of my time. As far as this blog is concerned, that's an easy fix - I'm going to start telling you MORE, so that hopefully you can learn from my experiences. It will read more like a journal and less like a pep rally for all things entrepreneur.

It's time I stop slanting this blog towards telling you what is right or what is wrong, or what is smart or what is stupid, or what is overrated or underrated. From now on I'm going to tell you what I'm going through, the ups and downs, and the challenges I face. Hopefully if you've read this far, you'll keep reading in the future.

Now I'm off to watch the Mets finish off the Cards in Game 1 (it's 2-0 in the 7th and I hope I didn't just curse them).

Preserve the dream at all costs

After reading David's post about The Burden of the Entrepreneur on Flush the Toilet, I started reminiscing. His post reads exactly like something I would have written earlier this year. I WAS that entrepreneur that said f*ck the salary and the company perks. There's more to life than working 40 hours/week doing something I don't really believe in. When I quit my job, I even told the director of engineering that I wouldn't stay if he doubled my salary (and I was making a lot of $ for a 22 year old). Ballsy, yes...but it didn't matter to me.

Fast forward nine months and here I am. I have had some amazing things happen, especially with iPrioritize, and the fire still burns as deep as ever. But some harsh realities are setting in. Many businesses take YEARS to become profitable. Even most of the best of the best aren't successful right away. Perseverance is as important as anything else when it comes to being an entrepreneur.

So a month ago when I started to realize that my self-funded business ventures weren't going to bring in enough income for me to comfortably live off of for at least the next several months (and possibly the next year or two), I had a few different options.

I could get a job and run my businesses on the side (which would be a step back to my engineering days, and a step back toward permanence in the corporate world), I could borrow money or seek funding (I'd rather not take on any more debt than I already have), or I could do a few more side jobs per month doing SEO and site design.

I obviously chose to go that route, and the biggest reason is that it kept the dream alive. Jobs I do give me some cash, but aren't permanent. And I can reduce workload (or add workload) as necessary. So later this year, when I decide to take two weeks off to work on an application upgrade for iPrioritize, I don't need to clear it with a boss. And as volume increases on iPrioritize, I can decrease the number of side projects I work on.


It's not always easy. Sometimes you have to make real hard decisions when the road gets bumpy. You will have a lot of different options, and there's times when that $60K salary and 50 hour work week looks pretty good (especially when you're working 70 hours/week for a $0K salary). But I'm telling you, whatever you decide, preserve the dream at all costs. The dream only dies when you let it.

Dane Cook: ingenious internet entrepreneur?

I subscribe to Mens Health Magazine mostly for the workouts and diet advice, but occasionally they have interviews or articles with famous people that make you look at them in an entirely different perspective. In the past, I've garnered new found respect for people like Nelly, The Rock, and LL Cool J after reading about their insane work ethic and discipline. But I was a bit surprised when Dane Cook graced the cover of my October 2006 issue. I mean, he's freaking hilarious but the guy doesn't exactly look like he has abs of steel.

But after reading the article, I came to an interesting conclusion: Dane Cook is one hell of a great internet entrepreneur. I figured he'd risen through the ranks just like every other comedian, but Cook leveraged the internet and great customer service to grow his brand:

He paired that comedic strategy with a detailed business plan. By the late '90s, he saw that the industry was changing. Until then, one appearance on The Tonight Show could make you a star. But Carson was long gone, and so were those good ol' days. "I realized this is about business," Cook says. "Any guy who thinks it's just the jokes is in trouble. That one Tonight Show doesn't mean crap anymore." So he discovered a new path to success. "I had an epiphany," he says. "The old way is done. The new way is have enough fans to make enough noise to make me important. Then I'll get movies, I'll get everything."

Cook's fascination with the Internet introduced him to the hip, quasisecret society of Web denizens out there, and he instantly understood its importance. He created danecook.com before the flip of the century. He started doing meet-and-greets after his shows, staying until the last fan had snapped a pic, telling everyone, "Hey, check out my Web site." He launched a blog on MySpace. He became rabidly accessible, famously answering fans' e-mails.

I think with Hollywood stars like Cook (and with entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban), people tend to think that success "just happened" to them, and that couldn't be further from the truth. Cook understood his customers and worked his ass off to get them. I've said it before, but it bears mentioning again - I think you'll find that most successful people at ANYTHING worked their ass off to get there. Very few people luck their way into being at the top of a profession.

Introducing SEO-Playbook

I've received a couple of emails about how I added another link under the "My Businesses" side bar. Yes, it's true...I started another business, well sort of. Let me explain -

When I launched iPrioritize, one of the most successful things I did to promote the launch to web-professionals (one of my target markets) was to start writing SEO related articles, something I learned A LOT about with SportsLizard.

At the bottom of the articles is an "about the author" section that essentially allowed me to advertise iPrioritize for free. In addition to the free ad, I figured I'd be getting quality links back to iPrioritize for each article published (to help me in the search engines).

What I didn't plan on was establishing myself as a quasi SEO expert. I started getting flooded with questions from site owners looking to better their SEO efforts, and I always did my best to help them out. I also started getting offered small SEO consulting jobs from site owners who needed a little guidance. Sometimes I said yes, and sometimes I said no. I always wanted to make sure that iPrioritize was my #1 priority and anything that threatened that I said no to. I didn't care about the lost money.

But recently I came to a realization when reflecting on the success of iPrioritize and SportsLizard: both are on track and are doing as good as I could have reasonably expected at this point for the time I've put in, BUT I'm still coming up a little short on cash right now. I realized that there will likely be anywhere from a six months to two years before the sites give me the kind of income I'm comfortable with.

Of course, taking a job would take up too much time (and feel like a step backwards), and I didn't want to have to borrow money or dip into my 401K, SO the obvious solution to me was to start accepting more of the small jobs (a few side jobs a month is all I'm looking for), and from that came the birth of SEO-Playbook.

The people that I feel will find extreme value in what I provide are the types of people that read my articles - people with a basic understanding of SEO and web marketing, but people that need a little guidance. They are likely site owners that run their entire operation. They probably have expertise in many areas of a business, but are new to web-marketing. I know that if I could go back to 2004 when I started SportsLizard and pay $499 for one of my Custom Playbook's, I would. It would save me probably six to eight months of mistakes AND educate me so that I could apply the same principles to other sites in the future.

With that, I hope that many people like me will also see value in what I'm offering. I think a predecessor to success is truly seeing a need for your product/service, and with SEO-Playbook I think I've found that target market somewhere between the do-it-all-yourself site owner and they outsource-it-all site owner.

Experience (in sports and in business) is overrated

I'm a Mets fan. I'm pretty jacked up about their first playoff appearance in 6 years today. But you know what's been ruining it all? The perception that they can't win because they don't have Pedro Martinez, and now El-Duque...because those guys bring EXPERIENCE to the table. You know what, their rotation SHOULD be John Maine, Tom Glavine, and Steve Trachsel because those have been their three best pitchers this year. "But they can't win without experience" blah blah blah.

Ask the Red Sox and Angels how much their experience advantage helped them in last year's playoffs? The White Sox flossed them both despite their recent championships...and then rolled the Astros with Andy Petite and Roger Clemens and all of their experience.

How much did experience matter for Ben Roethlisberger in last years playoffs? Did the Miami Heat or Dallas Mavericks wilt under the pressure of playing recent champions Detroit and San Antonio respectively in the NBA playoffs? Experience didn't stop them from rolling into the NBA Finals. How much did Martin Brodeur's "experience" help the Devils last year against eventual Stanley Cup Champion Carolina?

I just ripped off the four most recent champions in the four major sports and how little experience mattered. EACH ONE overcame lack of experience to win. It is OVERRATTED. But stupid analysts whine about how "Brett Favre helps teams win because of his experience." No he doesn't. He's sucked for the past 5 years. He cost his team a playoff game against the Rams when he through SIX INTERCEPTIONS in 2001, and he threw away a victory by chucking up that ball in 2003 against the Eagles. Stop, stop, stop with experience.

And the same applies to business. Dave from Mind Petals did a great post recently about experience being overrated. The post includes a video from venture capitalist and author Guy Kawasaki where he discusses his opinion that the "best candidates for a successful start-up are young engineers with no business experience."

It's so true - think Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, and Michael Dell. How much business experience did Cuban have when he started Micro Solutions? Bill Gates when he dropped out of college and started pitching Windows to companies? Michael Dell when he was sitting in his dorm room assembling PC's?

There's a double edge sword with experience when it comes to business - it's great to have seen things before because it helps you the next time the same thing happens, but it also tends to narrow your focus and cause you to write things off too early BECAUSE of your past experiences. Your world view becomes molded and even warped into something so narrow that you lose perception of the fact that there are MANY different paths to success, and that no two entrepreneurs will travel the same path to greatness.

Do you really want funding for your startup?

As most of you know by now, I'm a huge advocate in bootstrapping your startup as opposed to chasing funding. I recently read this interesting quote on a case study on Startup-Review about Rotten Tomatoes:

The team could have sold Rotten Tomatoes earlier than 2004, but they felt an obligation to their investors (mainly angels they had worked with before) to make a return. They turned down many offers that would have netted their investors $0.10 to $0.25 on the dollar, but instead decided to ride out the downturn. Most entrepreneurs face the decision of taking money from friends to get their businesses started, and this does raise the bar in terms of the level of commitment required. Once you take that money, you are signing up to a serious commitment to make a return. If it is only your time and money, you have more flexibility in terms of exit options. I suppose this is rather obvious, but I think many people rush to raise money without fully understanding the consequences of that decision.

Exactly. You better think long and hard before taking money. It might sound trite, but people are investing in you to MAKE MONEY, and you have to plan your business accordingly. I'm not saying that there aren't instances where money is needed for success, or at least needed to accelerate success...but just realize that if you take the money you have an inherent responsibility to your investors. That comes in addition to the responsibility that you have to your customers. Pretty soon YOUR needs and wants for the company can become meaningless and you wonder why you started a business in the first place.

blueorganizer update

A few months back I wrote a post about blueorganizer, one of the coolest and most useful Firefox extensions yet. They've recently added a TON of cool new features (and launched a new website) so I figured I'd update everyone.

In the past few months I've used blueorganizer almost exclusively for books. I have this obsession with books - classic fiction, sports, religion, business - you name it, I love reading about it. I tend to always have a few books in queue, and a bunch more that I want to buy. I can't read as fast as I can decide I want to read it. So when I'm browsing Amazon I find it extremely useful to just be able to "bluemark" the book and forget about it. When I finish a few books and catch up and I'm ready to order some more, I just check my blueorganizer and I've got a list of the books I want.

That said, blueorganizer is so much more. bluemark a wine, and it will give you suggestions for similar wines. bluemark a restaurant, and you can read reviews and get directions. bluemark a movie and you're only a click away from other movies by the same director, or other movies that the lead actor was in. There are other cool new features like Google Desktop integration and support for the popular new browser flock. It really is pretty damn amazing that all of this integration is in one place.

They also got a ringing endorsement on TechCrunch:

Adaptive Blue launched its Blue Organizer out of beta at DEMO. A Firefox extension for social bookmarking, Blue Organizer combines its own ontology with your tags, lets you perform a very long list of functions with each item you'’ve saved and does a lot of smart little things like gleaning tags from topical databases and bookmarking pages automatically once you'’ve visited them three times. Social bookmarking is a crowded space, but for people who seek a well constructed tool that balances an intuitive user experience with features to please the power user, Blue Organizer may be a very good option. The beauty is in the details in this one.

The whole "smart browser" seems like the future of web browsing to me. One would wonder if blueorganizer will evolve from an extension to it's own browser down the road. The potential for this extension is endless.