The building of the site is coming along, but plateauing somewhat.  I’m reaching what I think is the extent of my knowledge as far as the coding goes, in a time when I need to add some features and functionality to really make the site work well.

Last night, I heard Donny Deutsch say “I’d rather own 51% of a company that is worth $10 million than own 100% of a company that is worth $2 million”.

Well, I’m coming closer that line of thinking every day.  If I let my greed rule me, I could potentially end up severely stifling the potential of the company, even perhaps resulting in a company that never gets off the ground.

If I give up some of the share to someone else, a few great things happen:

• The quality of the site is immensely improved, resulting in a better experience
• My time is freed up to concentrate on the things I want to concentrate on – building the company, the vision, developing the systems, marketing, etc…
• Future maintenance and development is delegated off to someone else, freeing me up to do more of the above point.

Obviously, the benefits are pretty great.  I’ve got to squash that little greed monster and realize that in sharing, better things can be accomplished.

So, if that’s the case, and I decide (which I think I will) that I’m ready to share some of this…there are a few things I need to do/think about:

• The company needs to be “formed” legally, probably as an LLC.
• I need to do a bunch of research and put together some revenue projections so that a potential shareholder will want to commit some major time to the project.
• I need to do some major research and networking to find the perfect company to make the offer to.
• I need to figure out what % of the company I’m both a) willing to give up and b) think this work is worth.

Some major tasks there.  As visual design progresses (still looking for a visual mockup come mid-April), I may shelve my work on the coding and concentrate on these important tasks.  However, once I make the decision to do that, I can’t really go back.  I mean, I can, but it’ll wreck my timeline and schedule, and I really don’t want to do that.

So, I’ve got some thinking to do.  I need to make a decision fairly quickly tho, probably within the week, so I can refocus my attention.

Ahh, the joys of starting a company!  It’s a blast, but scary as hell!

Tags: entrepreneurship, startup, strategy, partnership, outsourcing, business, critical thinking

Until today.  Today I realized I left out a pretty major piece of functionality.  My website deals with one group posting projects, and another group finding those projects and offering help.  Until today, I’d ignored a major piece – the users need to be able to see projects close to themselves, and search within a radius of a zip code.  This is a pretty standard thing for most sites, but is incredibly complex    programatically ( at least to me ).

So, as visual design is being done, i’m stuck with a major functionality issue.  Yes, this is a “nice to have” type functionality, but to me, it’s paramount.  So, I’ve got to figure out how to make it work.

If anyone out there knows enough PHP/MySQL to code this type of functionality, let me know.  I’m willing to pay (somehow) for the right results.

Coming soon, look for my and Mollie’s thoughts on marketing.  We’ve got a big job ahead of us there too.

No one said this would be easy – but it’s a blast!

I’ve been feverishly writing the PHP/MySQL to make this thing go.  Luckily, I’m about 85% there with regard to functionality.  There are a few small gaps, but they’re not mission critical at this point.

The big issue at stake now is the visual design.  I’ve known since day one that I wouldn’t be doing the visual piece of this site, so thinking of how I’d get that done, for cheap, and from someone I trust, was weighing heavily on my mind.

Luckily today, the answer revealed itself and we’re off and running.  A colleague of mine that used to work for the same organization I work for will be doing the design.  He’ll be doing a templated visual treatment that I can use to plug all the functionality into.  I’ll still need to build the HTML/CSS to make the site go, as well as plug in my functionality.

So far, according to my scope document, I’m ahead of schedule slightly.  I had blocked out March for function build, April for visual design, and May for integration of the visual treatment into the functionality (i.e. the actual build).  If we start visual design this week or next, we may be done by mid-April, which will put us about two weeks ahead.  This is good, because I anticipate needing every bit of May for the integration tasks.  Being that I’ll have to get everything working perfectly during that period, having a couple weeks of “slide time” may prove to be very, very helpful.

Luckily, this works out in a perfect arrangement.  In exchange for the visual design he’ll do for me, I’ll be helping him with some coding tasks.  A nice trade of services.  Incidentally, this will be my first real time doing work as a “freelance” developer, so I’m understandably anxious.  I’ve got no doubts, but it’s certainly a step off the road of normal into the kind of life I’m trying to build.  Doing this work for him, however small, is going to be a gigantic mental leap for me, and I hope (I know) it’s going to change things pretty drastically in terms of my future attitude and apprehension about going out on my own.

I’ve still got the safety net of the day job, but this is going to be a fun introduction into what it’s like to manage your own work and be a freelancer.  I’m incredibly excited…and incredibly terrified.

More updates as we progress!

Illegal?  Geez, bit of a strech there, wouldn’t you think?

I challenged her on this point, noting that if people would just look straight ahead when they drive, as they’re supposed to, there wouldn’t be a problem.  Sure, the billboard wouldn’t be as effective, but who cares…that’s the free market at work.

The billboard relies on the fact that most people in this country don’t have an ounce of self-discipline in them.  Most people can’t say no to something appealing, can’t control their actions with logical thought.  That’s a big deal!

We’ve got to get a handle on this lack of self discipline and self-responsibility.  We blame and rely on the government when we get foreclosed on because we bought too much house.  We outlaw trans-fats when we get fat because we eat too damn much fast food.  We villianize credit card companies when they come to collect on the 24% interest they charged because we’re 6 months late on a payment.  Why can’t we admit - it’s our own damn fault?

This is the song and dance of the unhappy, the poor, the unmotivated and the dependant.  How can we really be expected to look after our own lives?  I mean, after all, so much happens to us.

Let’s compare two people.  One has zero self-discipline and personal responsibility.  We’ll call him Jack.  The other understands that only he can change his circumstances.  We’ll call him Joe.

Both Jack and Joe live a normal childhood.  Both grow up in middle class families (don’t you dare leave a comment to me and tell me that class makes a difference.  So help me…). Both went to an average high school.  Whether or not they went to college is irrelevant, but we’ll say they did.  They both graduate with a degree in business.

So, the playing field is level.  Right now, outside circumstance is negated, because it’s completely the same for both.  Let’s see how they approach things when it’s time to get to work on their life.

Jack graduates and fumbles a bit.  Knowing he needs a job, he starts looking through the newspaper.  Bingo!  He finds one.  It’s perfect.  The description is an entry-level job at a bank, handling books and other basic business matters.  He thinks “Nice!  This will have a good salary probably.  I should apply today.”  He writes his resume, and mails it in.  Naturally, he addresses the cover letter to “Whom it May Concern”, because the ad didn’t have a name for him to address it to.

Jack knows that it takes awhile for these kind of things to happen, so he waits for a couple weeks to hear back.  No call.  He decides they’re probably busy and waits another week.  At this point, Jack’s pantry is getting thin.  He’s been out of school for three weeks now waiting on this job to come through.  Any money he was able to save in school is quickly getting eaten away.

Jack never gets a call.  He starts looking through the paper again, but week after week doesn’t find anything just right.  Jack knows how to do basic business tasks, and most positions want a bit more expertise.  Oh how he wants that first job!

Money finally runs out.  Jack decides that, as a temporary measure, he’ll apply for food stamps and assistance.  After all, he’s got to eat!  If they won’t call him and give him the job, how’s he going to survive?  He starts buying food with the stamps, and realizes something – he doesn’t need much of a job after all.  I mean, sure, he needs something probably, but as long as he’s having the basic necessities cared for, there’s not much of a rush.

Finally, after months of living at the bottom of the barrel, Jack stumbles across a job.  The university needs someone to assist a department with some routine paperwork on a weekly basis.  Jack starts to work for them, happy that he’s got something “secure”, and the food stamps end since he’s now making more than enough to qualify.  He’s on the right track, he thinks.

Then, it happens.  The paperwork goes electronic.  Jack loses his job.

Like a bottle of shampoo, lather, rinse and repeat.  Jack stews over the job loss – how could they do that?  He deserves that job.  Jack returns to food stamp living, with barely enough to scrape by.  Sure, relatives pitch in here and there, but it’s not much.  Jack gets a credit card, or four, and racks up piles of debt.  He has to after all, just to live, right?  Money from relatives stops coming in after Thanksgiving dinners get more and more painful to sit through.  Collectors start knocking at the door looking for payment, which Jack doesn’t have.  He files for bankruptcy, trashing his credit and trustworthiness in the process.  Application after application for jobs goes by, and his past history is too risky for employers.  Jack spends the rest of his life stuck in this cycle that he’s SURE he can’t get out of.  Life just sucks.  Finally, Jack kills himself at the age of 34 as the only way out of the pain.

Let’s now look at Joe.  Joe graduates and also looks around for a job.  He sees the same problem as Jack.  Most people looking for employees want those with more specialized qualifications.  Knowing that, Joe visits the library and starts reading.  He notices that one company wanted someone with proficiency in strategy planning and management.  Joe goes to the library and gets every book he can on these two subjects and starts reading.  Meanwhile, Joe is working at a local restaurant, knowing he has to make enough to pay rent and feed himself while he learns what he needs to to move up.

Months of reading and studying in his dimly lit bedroom slip by.  The long hours at the restaurant are brutal, and he certainly doesn’t enjoy it, but he knows he’s got to do it temporarily – it’s a means to an end.  Finally, Joe feels pretty confident in his abilities and applies for a job looking for those qualifications (yes, the first job is gone, but others are sure to pop up).  Joe sends several resumes out and doesn’t hear anything.  He calls.  He calls often, asking who the manager of that department is so he can send direct correspondence to that person.  Sure, it takes guts, but Joe knows if he doesn’t, he won’t get much.   Finally!  Joe gets called back.  He rushes in for the interview (after having to cancel a trip with friends) and gets the job.

Over the next few years, Joe constantly improves himself.  Knowing that he can’t rely on his employer for advancement and opportunity, Joe creates it himself.  He reads, he studies, he takes free online classes and tutorials.  Joe reads every day!  He limits himself to an hour of TV a day, knowing that if he lets himself watch too much TV, he won’t get the work done needed to get ahead.  He starts reading non-fiction books, instead of the fiction he so loved in college, because he knows if he’s to get ahead, he’s got to take control and change himself.  He’s got to make a hard, distinct effort to constantly improve.  And does he improve!  Joe moves on from position to position, outgrowing where he is almost as quickly as he got there.  After 10 short years, Joe is the CEO of a bank…that very bank that Jack applied to after college.  Joe loves his family, has time and money to do whatever he pleases and complains that life is just too short. Jack on the other hand, complains that life is too long.

Which one are you going to be?  Are you going to be Jack – relying on other people taking care of you, thinking that you deserve this and that?  Or are you going to be Joe – take control of your life and make sure you’re making constant improvements in yourself to get ahead.

Yes, we all stumble. We all fail here and there. The point is not whether or not we fail. It’s what we do after we fail that’s so important.

It’s your choice, but I’d rather think that life moves too fast than too slow.

Looking across the landscape of American workers (this includes anyone doing something to make money), a vast majority hate what they do.  We’ve become a TGIF nation.  We revolve around the times when we don’t have to work, so that we can “live our life”.  What a sad way to go through life, eh?  Spending 5/7 of it waiting for the 2/7 that makes it worth living.  Man, no wonder Prozac and Zoloft are the new Pez of our generation.

Lucky for you – you don’t have to be in this majority.

Think back to when you were a child.  You were asked, quite often, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”.  You’d answer with vivid imagination about what you could be – an astronaut, a fireman, the president.  Fast forward to a short 15 years later and imagine yourself at a cocktail party.  You’re introduced to someone and the first sentence out of their mouth is “So, what do you do?”

Whoa.  Stop right there.

Did you catch that?  See the difference?

“What do you want to be?” vs. “What do you do?”.  That’s pretty huge.  Actually, it’s really huge.

We’ve become a nation (and a world to a large extent) of doers.  Do do do do do.  What ever happened to what we are?  What ever happened to that intrinsic purpose and dream that we held so longingly to as a child?  Have we become so swept up in the illusion of “personal accountability” that we’ve created a completely artificial set of rules by which we need to live our lives?  Yup.

You’ve heard the phrase “Don’t quit your day job”.  Generally, you’ve probably heard it while expressing interest in something else you’d like to be doing.  You’ve probably heard it from teachers, parents and the like, citing your responsibilities and security.  I mean, after all, risks are risky, right?  We don’t want that.  Go to work, make your money, get your paycheck, enjoy your security (yeah, right!) and retire at whatever age the government decides is the newly accepted age at which you can (finally!) quit working.

Give. Me. A. Break.  Does that sound like a life worth living?  Does it sound exciting, just doing something for 40 years so you can finally spend the last few enjoy what’s left of your life? No it doesn’t.

It doesn’t have to be that way.  AND…it doesn’t have to be foolish, silly, or a pipe dream.

Dave Ramsey says about getting out of debt: “If your broke friends are making fun of you, you’re probably on the right track.”  The exact same goes for your occupation.  If your unhappy friends are making fun of your pursuit of your dream, you’re probably on the right track.  Keep it up.

It’s hard.  I know.  It’s hard to hear people saying to you “don’t be foolish” or “well, you’ll find out what we all do – it’s just not reasonable.”  Yeah, that’s tough to hear.  But, you’ve GOT to hear it…you’ve GOT to move through that to really find your purpose.

Your purpose is what you are, not what you do.   Are you simply living each day doing, or being?  It sounds rather metaphysical, but it’s important to understand.  If you don’t take the time to really find out why you’re here, what your calling (and I know that’s cliche’) is, and what you should be, you’re doomed to a rather long, arduous and mediocre (at best) life.

So, take that risk.  Move past thinking about what you do, to what you are.  Try thinking of your job not in the framework of what tasks you do on a daily basis, but the larger meaning behind those tasks.

And don’t think it’s silly, just don’t be afraid to dream a little (or a lot).  Don’t be afraid go back to asking what you want to be, rather than what you do.  You can’t ask yourself enough.

Reading is one of the best way to expand your mind and challenge yourself.  Without challenging and changing yourself, you’ll continue to get the same results you are getting today.  Since most of us want to get more successful and continue growing, reading is necessary.

Think of it this way: by reading a book, you can bring some of the most influential, successful and thought-provoking individuals straight into your living room and listen to them as they literally spell out for you the tenets of success.  If that’s not an awesome thought, I don’t know what is.

So, here are a few books I’ve read recently that I think are very valuable.  I’m a continuous reader, so more will pop up here from time to time.  Until then, this list should get you started.  These books are valuable for anyone going into business for themselves, or who simply want to be more successful (which should be everybody!).

48 Days to the Work You Love by Dan Miller – while not completely about self-employment, Dan spells out a great system for finding your passion and developing a plan to move into that work.  Also very valuable for those of you who may be seeking the traditional job.

No More Mondays by Dan Miller – great book on unconventional employment and “Revolutionary” ways of thinking regarding business.  Awesome case studies and insight here, very inspiring.  If you’re looking to move into a nontraditional work model (which almost half of the workforce will be in within 5-10 years), this book is invaluable.  A must have.

Thou Shall Prosper by Rabbi Daniel Lapin – in this book, Rabbi Lapin talks about what characteristics of Jewish indidivuduals make them more prone to success and wealth.  While not focused solely on a religious slant, it gives incredible insight into the “10 Commandments for Making Money” that every person who wants to be successful should understand.  One of my favorities is the notion that wanting to be successful, and wealthy, is not a primarily selfish motive – instead, the amount of one’s success and wealth is a direct reflection on the amount of people who they have served – a pretty powerful notion.  I’m only partially through this book, so more may come out here later.

Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey – while not totally a book about business finance, this book is an absolute must read for anyone – period.  Not a “get rich quick” type of book, Dave brings common sense back to “your dollars and cents” with basic money management principles that your grandmother would be proud of.   The biggest underlying thread in the book – no debt is good debt.  Get out of debt and you’re well on your way to financial freedom.  This book has had the most impact on me of anything yet – truly, honestly changed my life.  If you haven’t read this, stop reading this blog right now, go buy a few thousand copies, read one and give the rest away.  Now!

The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss – this is great.  A book on how to work less and gain more through clever outsourcing and what Tim calls “lifestyle design”.  Awesome stuff.  This book dispels the myth (as do many of these others) that more time = more money.  Instead, it espouses the notion of working smarter, not harder.  Not a book about how to be lazy, this is a serious book about how to reorient your life and goals to achieve a better work-life balance and create a lifestyle that is ideal for you.

The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber – this one goes without saying I think.  For entrepreneurs, this is a great book.  This is another that I’m just partially through, but should have done by the end of the week.  Gerber sheds awesome insight on why small businesses fail and articulates these problems so well it’s scary.  After just reading through about 60 pages last night, I can’t understand how I couldn’t read this book.  This will save many of you from a bunch of headache, and heartache, later down the road.

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – a classic book about dealing with people and how to be a more persuasive and influential speaker.  I think almost every millionare in the world has probably read this book, and for good reason – it’s insight is unreal.  A must have.

Think and Grow Rich by Napolean Hill – another classic, and an awesome study on how mental behavoir affects outcomes.  The key to becoming rich is mostly having your mind set right, and Hill explores this deeply in this book.  Some of the most valuable moments in this book are those that examine the mental state and behavoirs of some of the most successful people in the world – ala the Vanderbilts and Carnegies.  It’s an older book, but certainly very, very valuable.

More recommended books will come later as I read through some more.  Keep checking back, and in the meantime, read all of these books – yearly.

Yeah, I know it sounds dumb to you.  I don’t really care.  Here’s where I’ve come with this thinking.

Talking to a coworker weeks ago, I mentioned to her that if I could do anything, I’d simply want to think.  Think and create, then leave it for someone else to take care of.  We both smirked and said “Yeah, that’d be nice”, and went on with our lives.

Well, thinking more about that moment, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s no reason I can’t be that.  Sure, it’s unconventional.  Sure, it seems unrealistic.  But maybe that’s just what I need.

I’m currently reading an excellent book – No More Mondays, by Dan Miller.  Dan is from here in Nashville, and also wrote the book 48 Days to the Work You Love.  48 Days was a fantastic book, and this one surely lives up to its predecessor.  One common theme that I am noticing is that Dan insists that the current model of work is changing, and that those who embrace it, look for new opportunities and change as well will be those who succeed.  I have to say I wholeheartedly agree.

I’m certainly unique.  Like Dan, (I assume, only because I’ve heard him mention things to this degree)  I get restless easily.  The reason I’ve had so much trouble trying to figure out what I “want to be” is because I don’t just want to be one thing.  The thought of staying in one place for too long makes me queasy.  Now, some people (ok, most people), would push this off as irresponsible.  We’ve come about in the age where seniority rules in the workplace and employees are rewarded for their extended lengths of time at a particular job.  So saying that I don’t want to be at any place or doing any one thing for very long may seem to come across as a bit stubborn, bullheaded and naive.  I disagree.

The world is vastly changing, we know that.  So is the typical model of work.  I love that.  I love innovation, change and new ideas.  Because of that, I’ve found that what I’m here to do is just that – come up with ideas.  Now, unfortunately, ideas aren’t worth much alone.  You’ve actually got to DO something with the ideas to make them work.  So, what I think I’ve come up with is a “job description” that really works for me – I create businesses.  Anything.  This year, it might be an online business.  Next year, it could be a product line or store.  Who knows.  What I DO know is that my passion really comes in working furiously for a short amount of time to realize an idea, then move to the next.  Serial entrepreneurship – that’s me.  I’m literally a create-addict.  I love to create, but don’t love to manage or maintain.  So I won’t.  I’ll create, and let someone else who is more inclined toward management do the maintenance for me.

This is, to me, a great example of how I think people should approach work and your calling.  Don’t say “well, I like doing this, but I’ll have to put up with that in order to do it”.  Why?  Change the system, change the archtype.  Listening to another great mentor of mine (not directly, ’cause he doesn’t know me from Adam, but I REALLY respect him and look up to him), Dave Ramsey, he mentioned one day that the greatest thing about living in this country is that you can wake up one day and decide you’re going to be something else and you are – just like that.  You only have to do two things – convince yourself and convince other people.

So I’m going to take my strengths, which I believe to be forward thinking, tunnel-visioned like focus for short periods of time, and a willingness to be laughed at, and use them in harmony to realize my calling.  I won’t take on tasks and jobs that I hate in order to make concessions – I’ll simply do those that I want to do, that really fit me.  Once I’m in that groove, the rest should fall into place nicely.

And there it is, my calling and the justification thereof.  I realize to many it sounds crazy, dumb, or even naive.  That’s fine.  Continue working the job you hate, for the pay you despise with people who you can’t stand.  Fine by me, I’m going to change my world…see ya’ll from the top.

Idea #1 is in a holding pattern.  The original product idea I had only did meekly in some testing situations and some prelim market research.  It’s still a viable idea, just needs more time, money and refinement.  I don’t have two of those three, so I’m moving onto something more “in my wheelhouse”.

Over the past 4 weeks, I’ve been building a website.  This website will service entrepreneurs in a really cool way, and I think will provide some awesome opportunities for others like me who are trying to get a business of some sort off the ground.  Everything, as usual, is under wraps right now, but I hope to be in a beta stage by June, so everything will come out then and I’ll let on to the exact nature of what this is.

In the meantime, I’ve been teaching myself PHP and MySQL from scratch to try and build this site.  I’m a web developer by day job anyway, so doing this type of thing is a slightly better fit at the moment.  I’ve worked through almost 1000 pages of two books on PHP/MySQL and I’m happy to say that I’ve learned enough to be dangerous and actually build a functioning, and somewhat complex website.

At the moment, I’ve built out about 50% of the functionality (maybe closer to 60%) and I’m starting to work in on beefing up some securuty holes and fine tuning a few processes.  It’s nice to have the framework built and be able to move into actually fine tuning.  Definitely a big step.

For those who want to follow along as I randomly post updates of progress here, here’s the timeline I’m working with:

• March 08 – Function build.  Get all functionality built for the site with no visual element.  Skeleton site, but fully working.
• April 08 – Visual Design.  Design visual for site, and apply to functionality.  Work out bugs in getting functionality to play nice with the looks.
• May 08 – Personal testing.  This will be a month of me putting the site to the real test.  Here, I’ll be going thru the site myself, trying to think thru every possible problem, hiccup or overload scenario.
• June 08 – Beta 1.  I’ll assemble a small group of real testers to start using the site behind a password protected front end.  I’ll continually interview and monitor their experience.
• July 08 – Beta 2.  Same thing as Beta 1, but I’ll be working hard to fix any usability issues, implement new desired functionality that folks want from Beta 1.  I’ll be out of town for 10 days during this time (and no, I won’t be working then), so I’ll have a short month.
• Aug 1, 2008 – Launch.

So, follow along at home and hope that I meet all my deadlines.  Doing well so far.

Again, I’ll try to be more consistent in the future.  Look for a post coming up that explains a bit about a revelation I’ve had about my purpose and calling, and why I figure my appropriate title to be something along the lines of “serial entrepreneur”.

We’re still in the “where can we get this thing prototyped” phase.  I’ve got a couple vendors that are very promising, especially with regards to price, and they are both based here in the US.  I’ve also put an RFQ (request for quote) out on mfg.com (great site that hooks buyers up with suppliers) and I’m waiting on bids there.

I don’t know how long the mfg.com process takes, but I think I should know something within the week.  I’d love to hook up with some Chinese suppliers, because I think the prices will be much better…quality should be on par with someone here as well – at least, that’s going to be a requirement.

Meanwhile, we’ve gone back and forth through the “cold feet” process, where I start doubting that anyone would buy this and Mollie talks me back down out of the tree.  I’ve been doing informal surveys in a couple spots, and the interest is mixed.

What does that tell me?  Well, I think it tells me that much of the success of this product is going to lie in very careful positioning and marketing.  The audience who would buy this thing is increasingly becoming smaller and more focused.  That’s a good thing as it gives me a much more targeted marketing approach.  That said, it also reduces the overall size of the potential market, resulting in a smaller overall revenue expectation, etc…  Right now, I just want a prototype so I can actually put together some materials and do some test marketing.

That’s all for now.  We’ve also been batting around other ideas that are unrelated to this one.  Ideally, I’d love to have the cash flow and capital to build out idea after idea, put it on someone else to run it and more onto the next.  I’m….innovation man!