July 2010
21 posts
Your Call Is Important To Us
Today I opened my Time Warner Roadrunner Bill to find that my monthly subscription rate had almost doubled to $52.95. Internet porn just got a lot more expensive…
I was dismayed about the inflated charge and immediately called the printed phone number. I patiently waited for the automated voice menu to list the operator option. None came. I repeated the options and listened very carefully....
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What Monopoly Can Teach Us About Business
When I was growing up, there was no gay-ass farmville. We wouldn’t water each other’s virtual garden or sniff each other’s virtual ass. We’d play the game with the opponent right there and we’d laugh in their face if they lost. Just like asking a girl out, I was usually at the receiving end of the laughter.
When it came to Monopoly, I still have nightmares of Uncle...
A Crappy Vision Is Better Then Lack of Vision
Yesterday, I wrote about how I felt like Captain Jack Sparrow in search of a boat. Well, that’s not entirely true. We have a boat, the boat just happens to be a row boat. But like Jack, we also have a broken compass. However, I think this is all pretty normal for a startup that has only been around for 1.5 years. I’ve read time and time again that startup success takes years.
After...
Which Is Better: the Journey or the Destination?
I’m struggling. I’m struggling with the journey. My feeling probably resembles that of Captain Jack Sparrow’s feeling of when he didn’t have a boat - he was looking for a boat to commandeer. I’m looking for my boat. I’m struggling to balance all of my projects, being a great father, a great fiance, a great friend, and a great business partner. I’m...
A Pessimist Presupposes Failure. An Optimist...
A pessimist presupposes failure. An optimist presupposes success.
A pessimist sees a dead end. An optimist sees an unpaved road.
A pessimists says, “It can’t be done.” An optimist says, “It will be done.”
A pessimist is an expert. An optimist is a novice.
A pessimist muddies the present with the past. An optimist clarifies the present with the future.
A...
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Facebook Connects Us, And Disconnects Us
500,000,000 users. That’s a lot of zeros sharing their drunken stupor pics over the internet. More importantly, that’s a lot of people staying connected. Social websites allow you to look-in on your friends. To feel like your in the know on their happenings and whereabouts. Facebook has helped me organize and attend events that I wouldn’t have known about. Facebook has also...
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Leverage Simplicity and the Desire For Information
From time to time, my mom will clip a newspaper article or send me an email some info of technology that she finds interesting. This morning, I received an email from my mom about the Airport Remote app:
If you are a developer, you’re probably thinking “what’s the big deal?” If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably thinking “meh, Orbitz,...
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Wow, you've changed.
“You’ve Changed”
I was out two weekends ago and wound up talking to an old friend from High School. After a bit of banter, she introduced herself. I interrupted half way through, reminding her that we had hung out in high school. She was flabbergasted. She truly didn’t recognize me. She went on to explain that it wasn’t my looks, but more how I carried myself and...
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Give Your Customers a Story To Tell
Happiness Delivered
I was at an after hours party (yeah, I get invited places) a few weeks ago when my friend, Andy, mentioned that he prefers to shop online. He went on to say that he buys his a lot of his apparel from Zappos, a company who had made a strong impression with their free shipping upgrades and one year return policy. I was amazed. A few months ago I had seen Tony Hseih, CEO of...
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Better to Have a Difficult Conversation Now,...
Whenever one of my college friends comes back into town, I love to call everyone from the old crew to go out and get some drinks. One of these friends, who we’ll call “Sergey” always responds enthusiastically by saying “yea man… I would love to meet up with you guys. I just have to do a few things and then I’ll give you a call!” Nine times out of ten, Sergey never shows up. On the times...
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You Can't Fake Passion
This post started out as a response to JP’s blog post Leveraging Social Capital and the 8th Circle of Hell and took on a life of it’s own…
My Multi-level Marketing Experience
I signed up for Quixtar as a freshman in college ready to own my first BMW by age 21 and retire at age 30. I found out that “Start-Up Kit” really meant “$100 lesson in how not to run a...
Leveraging Social Capital and the 8th Circle of...
This weekend I was filling my car up with gas, as I was standing at the pump, a clean cut man approaches me. He said “do you drink energy drinks?” I thought that either he was admiring my muscular physique from a distance or he thought that I looked like the energy drinking douchebag type. As an aside, I do drink energy drinks and I’m not really that muscular, and come to think...
Relationships > Resumes
I recently spoke with my girlfriend, Kaylee, about the possibility of her landing a job on the Coast (we live in Lincoln, NE). She’s a graphic artist and wanted to know if I’d move out there if she were offered job. My response was a sugar-coated, “Hell no.” I have all of my family and friends here and I’m in the middle of two start-ups. Beyond that, if you...
Winning Isn't Everything, It's the Only Thing
Vince Lombardi once said:
Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. Either you’re first or you’re last.
What does that mean for us? Does it matter if you build a great product? Of course it does. Does it matter if you improve the lives of your customers? Of course. So what the hell is my point?
Dan Gilbert is a douchebag. More about that in a minute.
You must...
Will Touchscreen Kill the Mouse Star?
Please pardon the lame joke. But this is an issue that every web designer and entrepreneur needs to consider. Sales of touchscreen enabled devices are booming. Much like the desktop revolution of the early 80’s, we are upon another revolution.
How should this affect our products? The predominate concern is that many web apps today use CSS hover capabilities i.e. you move your mouse over...
How I Got Back My Mojo
Lately, my content on this blog has sucked donkey balls. By “me” I mean Brian. I have a flash of genius here, an epiphany there, but they’re spread few and far between like iPhones with full bars. In my best Austin Powers accent: “I lost my mojo, man” I lost my fire for blogging. I’ve been more interested in talking with entrepreneurs on a one to one level...
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The Dream: How Gurbaksh Chahal Made Over 100...
The Dream: How Gurbaksh Chahal Made Over 100 Million Dollars
I first heard of Gurbaksh Chahal (“G” as he likes to be called) on Mixergy. I was intrigued by his success for two reasons. First, he made his fortune in the advertising industry. I’ve mentioned my desire to tackle the mobile ad industry and G’s success story is something that I can learn from. Second, he...
Use a Weakness to Develop a Strength
We all have weaknesses. We all have behaviors or personality traits that we don’t like. I think that it’s possible to take some of these behaviors, personality traits, or bad habits and do something positive with them.
Are you’re introverted? You need to change that, but in the meantime use the quiet time to focus and get work done. Are you a smoker? Engage in conversation...
Managing Up: You Don't Work in a Vacuum
Everyone is aware of Managing Down - this is the usual form of management where a boss directs employees towards a specific goal. The other form of management is Managing Up:
“Managing up is the process of consciously working with your boss to obtain the best possible results for you, your boss, and your organization. This is not political maneuvering or kissing up. Rather, it is a...
Disconnect to Recharge
I’m on my way to Dallas with my fiance and friend. I spent some time trying to write a blog post, but I realized it wasn’t that good. I closed my laptop.
I was thinking that road trips can be a waste of time because of all of the hours not producing. It instantly hit me, that not everything has to be about business. And sometimes just enjoying conversation is more important than...
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Focus On Your Customers and the Money Will Follow
On Reddit, someone posted about how he wrote to a company named Mizage to ask for a discount on their $14 software. They wrote back and said he could just have it for free. They just asked that he would tell his friends about the software. The guy ended up buying it anyway and then posting on Reddit. Here’s the transcript:
Why does this work? Because it’s so fucking rare for...
June 2010
21 posts
Compete on High-Touch
In the past few years, I’ve been “consulting” with my cousin about how he could compete in the Massage Business. Massage Envy is the walmart of massage places. They’re on every corner in Omaha and compete at the lowest price spectrum. And that’s the best part - they don’t have passion or a niche. They’ll do whatever you want, but they’ll do it half...
My Interview at Microsoft: Design a Kitchen
Right before I graduated college, I had an interview with Microsoft. The interviewer presented a hypothetical scenario that I will never forget. She said “I would like for you to design me a kitchen.” At the time, I didn’t quite see the relation to software development. Why didn’t she ask me about XML, Java, Unit Testing, and Design Patterns? So I I just started in…...
Time to Quit Your Job: Leveraging the Internet for...
In the last two installments of “Time to Quit Your Job” you’ve gained The Motivation and you’ve Fought for Flight, now it’s time to Spread Your Wings.
The internet is the ultimate equalizer for small businesses. Gary Vaynurchuk said it best, “The Gatekeepers are gone.” Content distribution was previously guarded by major networks. To gain access, one...
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Why You Should Incorporate Game Mechanics into...
Awhile back, I wrote an article about how I consume so much and that I should be producing more. The experiment seemed to be a success. I kept to my goals of checking my sites only once a day. I even spent a few hours to whip up a web app to track my Production Number. The app is really simple. There are two buttons and a text box. If I’m consuming (reading blogs, sites, etc) I can press a...
How to Make Your Meetings 10x More Efficient
Our company, Reflect7, used to meet twice a week. During these meetings, we would go over necessary action items and end up bullshitting for an hour or two in the process. It was great, except that productivity was taking a backseat to our ADD. We were losing momentum and each meeting felt like a hassle. Little was getting accomplished for the amount of time we spent together. By limiting our...
My Son Saved Me From Complacency
This is a story that I’ve wanted to share for sometime, but it’s fitting to share it now given, that I’m writing it on Father’s Day and the day before was my son Chris’s ninth birthday.
I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was 17 years old, working as a dish-washer at a restaurant, I hated the job. In fact, I hated almost every job. Jobs to me were a means to...
Time to Quit Your Job: Fight For Flight (2 of 3)
If you’ve made it this far, then you’ve taken the first step to creating a business you’re passionate about. You have The Motivation and now it’s time to set the plan. Remember, your business doesn’t have to be a mattress-filler when it comes to money, just something that you love to do. If you love it, people will recognize your love and success will follow.
...
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If Only
If only you had more time. If only you were self-employed you wouldn’t have a boss telling you what to do. If only you didn’t have to work two jobs, you would be able to spend time with your kids. If only you were a millionaire you would be able to change the world. If only you could hire someone, you would be able to expand quicker. If only it weren’t the winter time, you...
Time to Quit Your Job: The Motivation (part 1 of...
Most people go to work to support their passions. They spend 40 hours a week in the shackles of an office for the opportunity to break free at home. I have a friend who is a banker that loves to cook. Another friend is a bartender that loves to fish. You probably have friends like this to. Maybe you’re like them. Maybe you’re like most of us - trading your days away for small blips...
Beware of the Anecdotes
Aaron wrote an article titled “The Myth of the Single Person Startup.” His story is about how he took a month off of work to launch a startup by himself and then failed. My goal is to point out all of the mistakes that he made and that he doesn’t realize. I’m not trying to do this to be a pompous ass, as I am not successful by societal’s monetary standards, yet. I...
Project Managers are from Imaginationland
Project Managers Disrupt
Project Managers that are solely Project Managers are useless. It’s a make-believe job to make somebody feel important and make the project seem like it’s, um, being managed.
Like Unicorns that shit skittles, Project Managers shit tasks. Project Managers have a phantom value to fill. If they’re not “managing stuff” then they’re not...
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Software as a Vision
While browsing Hacker News, I came across an article titled: “Kill the Settings, Build Opinionated Software.” I’ve subscribed to the mantras of keeping your software simple and less is more for quite some time. But I haven’t stopped and considered that I should see my software as a vision.
The author writes:
If there’s a choice between setting a value to A or B,...
Just Be Yourself
Have you ever been to a business meet and greet where you met the guy with the stick up his ass? I have. You know the old saying, “If you don’t know who the sucker at the poker table is, it’s probably you.” Well if you don’t know who the guy at the party is with the stick up his ass, it’s probably you. Don’t be that guy. You don’t have to act...
Be Exceptional and People Will Market For You
I remember the first day I walked into a Jimmy John’s Sandwich Restaurant. You know, the ones with the “Subs so fast you’ll freak” slogan. I had the day off so I wasn’t very concerned about speed, just taste. I ordered the JJ Gargantuan and chatted with the cashier while I searched for the correct change. When I looked up to pay, she was holding the Gargantuan. They...
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Embrace Discomfort
Often times, recurring themes and phrases are narrated to myself in my head. In college it was “How bad do you want it?” It’s as if the voice in our head is our narrator and can encourage to act in positive manners or negative manners. My narrator is overwhelming positive, and for that, I’m very thankful.
The most recent phrase that I keep repeating is “embrace...
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Steve Jobs Is This Century's Henry Ford
Yesterday, Steve Jobs announced the new iPhone - better known as the iPhone 4g. You can read about all of the hot new features all over the web. If you haven’t seen this video, you should watch at least the first few minutes:
In 2007, technology changed the future of mankind. The release of the iPhone was the start of the mobile revolution. The iPhone was the first smartphone that...
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Delivering Happiness Review
At the End of Big Omaha 2010, Tony Hsieh, of Zappos, pulled an Oprah move and gave the entire audience his new book Delivering Happiness. His presentation was outstanding. Tony connected the business cornerstones of customer service and company culture with life’s pursuit of happiness. The results were very interesting and quite profound.
Summary
The book breaks down into five primary...
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Big Omaha 2010: The Convention, The Parties, and...
Photo by Malone & Company Photography
Big Omaha was upon us again and we were ready for two nights of mayhem. Reflect7 was giddy after our insane experience at the first Big Omaha. This time around, we knew we could top it. It’s like the second time you have sex - a lot less awkward and much more enjoyable.
Talking business is our crack and Big Omaha is the dealer. Mix crack with beer and...
Too Many Mind, How Your Cell Phone Can Cost You...
A few weeks ago, I met with a young professional who ran her own local media company. She was trying to pitch Reflect7 on an advertising campaign for our sports apps. She had some good ideas and some bad ideas. Most of all I liked her gumption.
During the meeting, I noticed her eyes moving towards her phone. I was explaining how traditional advertising didn’t make any sense for us. She...
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It's All About the MVP, Obey Gall's Law
Awhile back, I was browsing the net and I came across an article called Top 10 Programming Lessons in 10 Years. All 10 11 lessons are something that every software developer should practice. The one lesson that entrepreneurs should take note of is Gall’s Law. The author writes:
When coding a project, take the shortest path to a simple system that works, even if it’s only a...
Is it actionable? No? Then get rid of it...
Bloggers Note: this started as a response to JP’s blog post Less Consumption, More Production and ended up having a life of it’s own…
It’s easy to get carried away when reading news and blogs. I’ve been guilty of justifying long blog strolls as production because I thought I was gaining some sort of knowledge base. After reading JP’s Less Consumption, More...
May 2010
21 posts
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Less Consumption, More Production
I have a weakness that I need to improve upon. I need to improve upon it NOW. When I wake up in the morning and sit down to my computer I read Slashdot, Proggit, Hacker News, Techcrunch, Mashable, Little Things Matter, Signals vs Noise, The Simple Dollar, Seth Godin’s blog, and A VC. These are blogs/sites that are typically updated daily. I have a whole list of sites that I read that...
1 Head is Better than 2, or 3, or 4, or etc.
Your probably saying to yourself, “This Brian guy should have went to third grade math class instead of sniffing glue.” Well I’m not talking about just numbers here. I’m talking about the equity of decisionmaking.
In my first business, we had two parnters and one employee later on. We had two main decision-makers, myself and my partner. Usually everything operated...
Patience: Success Takes Years
When I wrote the article “the Sport of Business”, I highlighted similarities and one key difference between business and sports. Nate Lowry responded with a comment that prompted me to recall one of Gary Vaynerchuk’s mantras. Gary says that when building a business, you’re running a marathon. I know that I forget this all too often.
Most scientists estimate it took the...
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Announcing MindSpread: Pay-It-Forward for Books
Recently, I wrote a review of the book Rework. I asked people to comment about their favorite business philosophy and I would buy them a copy of Rework for free. The only stipulation was that they had to give it to someone else. It was a success. Most people that I communicated with were enthusiastic about receiving the book and then passing it on.
My business partners and I were at dinner...
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It's Time to Get Scrappy
Two of my entrepreneurial heros have given me some advice. Gary Vaynernchuk said at Big Omaha that it’s time to get scrappy. Do it what it takes. Jason Fried advised entrepreneurs to sell their by products in the book Rework. So, I’m listening to the both of them.
About four years ago, I was working with incredibly large CSV files. Some of them were as big as 64 GB! At times I...
The Sport of Business
As I have been thinking about our latest decisions with the iPhone sports apps, the idea that sports and business have a lot of common popped into my head; I think it’s rather intuitive. Business and sports have so much in common: persistence, passion, patience, perseverance, dedication, and competition.
What don’t they have in common? I like what Mark Cuban writes about this:
In...
Legacy Is Not Purpose
Gary V. says, “Legacy is more valuable than currency.” I couldn’t agree more. You should act in order to fulfill your legacy, not attain currency. When it comes down to screwing over a customer for profit, it’s not worth it. Instead, give that customer exceptional service even if doing so costs profits. In the end, people will remember what you did rather than the commodity you...
Inspiration Is Not Perishable.
(This post was written in response to the situation documented here: Learning Pains - JP)
Jason Fried’s saying, “Inspiration is perishable” is a cop out. Here’s the problem. With this mantra in the back of one’s head, it’s way too easy to easy to find an excuse to not finish a project, or substitute in a new exciting project. It’s too easy to give...