Business Brink

Vacation and Work

Monday, July 30, 2007

Here I am in Aspen Grove, Utah. Hands down one of the most incredible places... enormous mountains with waterfalls, pines and most importantly: my family. I rarely get vacations. But I'm not outside playing with my kids or playing paintball with my brothers that have flown in from around the country. I'm sitting in some small room with computers (they have wireless) trying to get some work done. This is clearly one of the biggest downfalls of starting your own business. I don't get breaks. But this is what I chose. I knew there would be moments like this and I can only hope that this will amount to a lot more freedom in a few years so that I can enjoy more fully any vacations I take.

Well, I can't stay and monologue... gotta get some work done so I can hopefully enjoy some of the day with my family.

Time is an asset

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Time is one of the things we all have in common. You may make $500k or $25k per year, but you still have 24 hours in a day, 7 days in a week, etc. The difference between people who succeed (and I'm not referring to just making a lot of money, but also being successful at finding balance in life) and unsuccessful people is what they choose to do with their time. Some people will stay poor the rest of their life, complaining about it along the way, while others will seek out opportunities and take action. Some people will complain about never having any fun while other focus on finding ways to have fun. So easy to see how this works, but often difficult to practice.

I find myself complaining too much about "not having enough time" to get everything done. In reality, I just need to change my perspective about time; view it for what it really is - an asset - and figure out ways to invest it in the right places (family, religion, work, play, community, etc.) to live a more successful life.

Questions and Answers

I had my first viewer email in some questions for me to answer on my podcast (Thanks again, Bob). Due to time, I narrowed his original 19 questions down to 11. You can snack on them until the episode hits browsers tomorrow (and iTunes).

Questions asked:

How did you decide that branding/website development/marketing was the thing for you?

What kind of schooling do you have?

Did you have to take a pay cut to go on your own?

What did you want to be when you grew up?

Is being an entrepreneur panning out as you hoped it would?

Did you have a business plan in place when you launched out on your own?

Can you see yourself ever returning to working for the man?

What's been your favorite thing about going at it on your own?

How many hours/week are you working? Weekends?

How many projects are you working on at any given time?

What would be your advice to someone setting out on their own?

Fail at something!

Monday, July 23, 2007

My friend Bob Brady sent me a link to this video, where entrepreneur Sara Blakely tells a story of how her father used to asked her at family dinner, "so tell me what you failed at trying this week." If she didn't have anything, he'd give her a disappointed look. What a great moral he was teaching her! Unless you're failing, you're just not trying hard enough - failing is where you learn the most. You can watch the video clip of Sara Blakely here.

So what have you failed at recently?

(this would make a good episode... I'll set a high goal and go for it, taking you along for the ride)

The Cookie Jar

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

I like cookies. That's why when my hand goes in the jar I grab more than just one at a time. As much as the practical side of me says "just focus on one business at a time" the other side says "work on several business ventures at a time." So what are the businesses that I'm working on right now?

Zoom Agent: this is my core business where I provide brand management solutions to businesses (including web and print design services).

Business Brink: A video podcast now, soon to be converted into a full-blown entrepreneur community website (watch out!).

Hotel: I'm only in the infant stages of this one, so I hesitate even putting it here. But I've got a killer idea for a hotel and I'm going to see if I can muster the time to package the idea up and either sell it or execute it.

I've heard some people say something along the lines of, "well, I'm so busy with my day job... how can I possibly start my dream business?" Indeed this is a difficult situation - trust me, I know - but something tells me that you can squeeze a few hours out of your nights to execute your dream business. So get to it, captain!

Opening Up The Lines

I can't say I get a lot, but I do get a few emails here and there from people around the world. Some have questions, others just pop in to say thanks. I'm going to be using some of these emails in upcoming podcasts, primarily the ones that ask questions.

I'm opening up the lines for you (as if they were ever closed) to participate in my podcast. It's simple:

1. Send me an email with any questions you'd like for me to answer.

2. I'll address your questions* on the video podcast and mention your name and state/country (unless you tell me otherwise).

Now stop reading this and go make something happen!

*I don't promise to have the answers to everything... but I'll give it my best shot.

$5 Million/Year

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Markus Frind, Founder of PlentyofFish.com doesn't have to wonder what it would be like to make $5 million/yr. and only have to work a couple hours per day in his pajamas - he knows first hand what this is like. Did I mention that he doesn't have any employees either? I learned a little about Markus's methods (and that of a few other entrepreneurs) from a video that Guy Kawasaki has on his blog, where he moderates a panel of five entrepreneurs as they discuss raising money, business planning, etc.

Check it out here

Got dreams? Stop thinking so much about it and go for it!

What are you afraid of?

Thursday, July 05, 2007

... Going bankrupt? Losing stable income? Not having health insurance paid for by someone else? Falling flat on your face? Not knowing what the next step is or how to get there? How to find more customers? Legal battles? Not having enough time in the day? Don't know what sort of business you want to start?

Welcome aboard! Here's the thing: you can either try or not try. Pretty simple. If you try, you're probably going to fail at some point down the line, which is the exact moment when you pick yourself back up. If you don't try, nothing happens at all. Decide what you want from life and go get it! (just remember "please" and "thank you" along the way).

The Call of the Entrepreneur

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

My wife showed me this video on YouTube. Often we wonder what we're doing and what our role is an an entrepreneur. And even more often our friends and loved ones probably wonder what we're doing and why we've chosen this "crazy" entrepreneurial road. This is a great video that is motivating to the entrepreneur and educational to the non-entrepreneur. Full speed ahead, my friends!

Finally!

After a serious case of procrastination (and being too busy with work), I decided to take a few moments and design a new template for this website. It's clean and simple, but build to grow. I've got a few new sections that I'm going to add soon that I hope will make your visits more worthwhile. I'm committed to updating my blog more often now as well... and who knows, maybe I'll even post more video episodes more often!

By the way... I've met with two great, young entrepreneurs that have agreed to do interviews with me, so be sure and watch for those in the new few weeks.

Thank you all for your support.

Happy Independence Day!