Starting Over

Farewell

I've been wanting to write the post for a long time, but I wasn't sure how. I've been wondering why I haven't updated this blog in so long, but I wasn't sure why. But right now, this second, I feel enlightened, and I'm ready to close out this chapter of my life.

Why haven't I updated this blog?
Once I moved to New York, everything changed. I was back on track and starting a new life. In many ways, I was scared to look back, to remember what life was like before, because I didn't have time to face it. What if I liked my old life more than the new one? That was a fear I couldn't bare to endure.

I have come to realize that although just about everything in my life is different now, that's ok. What I'm still working on is trying not to compare then and now. It's really hard. All of this anxiety made the blog something I wanted to avoid. I was fairly happy in the now, and I thought deep inside that if I didn't think about the old life so much, I'd stay happy.

But now I know that what will make me truly happy is to put the whole thing to rest and bid farewell to those thoughts. I'm cherishing what happened back then, and enjoying what's happening now. I wish to thank everyone who helped make this change possible, most of all: Scott, Steph, Myshel, and Mark.

What happens now?
On April 1st I'll be moving to a new apartment in New York City with my friends Mark and Myshel. I've become very happy working at Squidoo, and I'm looking forward to the possibilities that lie ahead of us. I'm also preparing to launch a new blog (details will be posted here soon) to document my new life.

Bon Voyage.

BarCamp NYC

A good friend of Seth, Amit Gupta, just invited me to an event he's organizing in NYC. I've never heard of barcamp before, but it looks fun. And to top it off, Squidoo is an official sponsor.

Since I just moved to New York, I'm also looking forward to meeting some of the local geeks and entrepreneurs. Here's a description of the event, taken from the wiki:

BarCamp is an ad-hoc un-conference born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from attendees.

Anyone with something to contribute or with the desire to learn are welcome and invited to join.

When you come, be prepared to share with barcampers. When you leave, be prepared to share it with the world.

I'm looking forward to meeting Ian, Paul, Dave, Chris, and everyone else who's coming.

How to survive a natural disaster

People are often surprised at how quickly I took action after losing much of my life to the hurricane. To me it was a no-brainer. Either you can sit back and become depressed, or you can get back on your feet right away.

Have you ever noticed how sometimes, the longer you sleep, the harder it is to wake up? Life is the same way.

The Slingshot Analogy

A slingshot can launch things incredibly far, but first you have to pull it back and stretch it out.

A professional baseball pitcher slowly pulls his arm back, winding up for the pitch. A second later, the balls flies toward the plate. The batter, completely unprepared for such a fast pitch, strikes out.

Which would you rather be, the pitcher or the batter?

I'll close with a quote from Napoleon Hill:

Every advertsity, every failure and every heartache carries with it the Seed of an equivalent or a greater Benefit.

Eat, Sleep, Breathe Beta

Today was a historic moment in Squidoo history. We sent the first round of invitations to our beta testers. It has been a long time coming, and we're proud to have a product this is finally ready for testing. In addition, the response we've gotten has been outstanding.

As the Chief Engineer, my job was to assure that the beta invite and support system works flawlessly. This is a monumental task. While we did have some hiccups this afternoon, everything seems to be working now, and I can finally look forward to getting some rest. I can honestly say that this past week has been one of the most fun, challenging, and exhausting times of my life.

The Aftermath

Pictures of New Orleans, before and after the hurricane. These were taken by my friend Catherine, a very talented amateur photographer.

Burning Bridges

One of the most challenging aspects of my transition to life at Squidoo has been managing the clients from my previous consulting business.

Being a consultant means that you take an active interest in the success of your clients. You want their business to flourish. So here I am, after the hurricane, calling them to say that I can no longer serve them. Many of my clients relied on my intimate knowledge of their IT/IS infrastructure. While they were happy that I received such a high profile job offer, they were mortified at the thought of their own future.

Luckily I had a plan of action. I began training a trusted colleague to serve as my replacement. This was not an easy task. We could spend a solid month discussing the client roster, and the work I've done for them. But neither of us had the time. I'm in the middle of launching Squidoo, and he's busy trying to make sense of the projects that are suddenly being thrown his way.

It's a tremendous project, but one that I have to complete faithfully. We're stumbling along, and I can't thank my clients enough for being patient. I make every effort I can to not burn bridges in life. Because sometimes the shortcuts we take can make our lives more difficult in the end.

Squidoo the Condensed Version

A few days ago I posted Seth's Everyone's an Expert ebook, which talkes about the company I'm working for, Squidoo. Apparently people either love or hate ebooks. If you're the latter, there'yre finally a few accurate, condensed articles that describe the platform we're building.

I prefer the story version myself, but here goes:

http://www.clickz.com/news/article.php/3555571
http://www.buzzmachine.com/index.php/2005/10/10/squidoo/

A mile a minute

Ever feel like you're being torn in 18 different directions at once? That's exactly how I feel right now. But I'm loving it.

If you've ever met me before, you know I'm the type of person that likes to stay busy. Real busy. In fact, it's almost bad for my health if I'm not doing 18 things at once. So lately I've been feeling fulfilled—things are constantly changing, and there's something new happening every minute. Back in New Orleans I felt stagnant, so in a way I think there were definitely some good things that came my way after the hurricane. It reminded me of who I really am, and of what I need to do to be successful. Sorry if this sounds a little mushy :-)

More updates on life in New York, Squidoo, and coping with change coming soon.

Squidoo

It's been way too lost since my lost post. I've been working very, very hard to help my consulting clients through the transition to a new consultant as I begin my new career at Squidoo.

We're finally starting to leak information, one tentacle at a time, about what we've been up to. I'm very excited. I think we're going to change the internet in a big way. Here's how.

A New Journey

I leave this morning for my new home, NYC. I've got a million things to do, but I'm focused. I can't help but feel excited, nervous, proud, happy, surprised, and exhausted all at the same time. I'm looking forward to finally being at a stopping point. I've been on the road for over a month now, without a home, and I just can't wait to find an apartment and finally be able to say "This is my new home."

It's a 10 hour drive to New York. My boss is letting me stay at his house for the night, and on Monday I have an appointment to look at an apartment near my office. It's not actually located in the city, so this may be a good place for me to transition to New York life. It's a fully furnished apartment, which would also relieve some of the anxiety of scrambling to buy furniture to fill an empty apartment.

I'll post my first impressions of the city and my new office in the very near future. Wish me luck on my new journey.

Dream Job

Well, the impossible is now a reality. Although it goes against my plan I decided to accept a full time job offer. And I'm absolutely thrilled. Not long ago, while I was reading Seth Godin's blog, I noticed a post where he was offering a $5000 bounty for a Chief Engineer. Naturally my curiosity was peaked, so I read the post. As I scrolled down the page I started getting more and more excited. This was my exact skillset. In fact, it almost looked like my resume.

To make a long story short, a few days later I was in the Big Apple to learn about the position and interview with the team. All I can say is hats off to these guys for creating such a cool, useful product. I'm itching to spill my guts about what it is that's got me so excited, but I can't. But in a few short weeks the revolution begins.

However, one of the conditions of my employment is that I will have to stop freelancing. Under the circumstances, I believe this is a fair request, and I have decided to make the commitment. It will not be easy, but I will do my very best to help my existing clients through this transition. They have been very loyal to me and I owe them at least this much.

Stay tuned in the next few weeks as I prepare for yet another cross country move, and yet another new life in another new city.

Having A Plan

When I first began learning about business, everything I read told me I needed to have a plan. They told me I needed to set some goals. At first, it all seemed very scary. How should I know where I'd like my business to be a year from now? There are so many questions that you're supposed to ask yourself, such as how much revenue do I want to be generating? Why, that's easy—millions, of course.

My advice is to start with your dream. What gets you so excited that you sometimes can't sleep at night? Next, start following your passion down whatever path it takes you. As you travel along that path, you will slowly start to develop a pattern. Soon, when you look at the path you've taken, it will be much easier to see the next move. So the farther along you go, the farther along you can see, and the more confident you become. What was once uncharted territory is now your domain.

After being in business about 3 years it's much easier for me to navigate my path. I have my goals set—including a 3 month plan, a 6 month plan, and a 1 year plan. Although I've found that I usually achieve my goals, it generally takes me much longer than the time I originally allot for them. But that's ok. It's important to set goals slightly beyond your reach. It's what keeps you moving forward.

On that note, here's a glimpse into my plan.

• In 1 month I aim to have two new software products released (more news on this soon). I will also continue my efforts in developing consulting leads and converting them into customers.
• In 3 months I expect to begin earning passive revenue from my new products. The money I earn from this will likely fuel further development.
• In 6 months I hope to have 2 full time employees (a programmer and an office/account manager). I started thinking about whether I need office space, but because of the nature of my business it may not be necessary. Keep overhead low.
• In 1 year I'd like to evaluate all of the custom development I've done and try to identify what things can be packaed and resold. Custom software is expensive and full of risks. People often feel much more secure buying a proven product. Products, as opposed to consulting work, also generate passive income—a requirement for a successful entrepreneur.

Well that's my plan. As you can see, it's structured but not full of details. Now that I know what I'd like to do, I can begin calculating exactly how much revenue it will take to realize these goals. Once I figure this out, I have a concrete plan for how I'm going to get there. There, that wasn't so hard, now was it?

Featured on Yahoo News

In response to this morning's press release, I was interviewed by a Reuters reporter around lunch time today. Apparently the story has already hit the press. I didn't get a link back to my web site, but several people have already googled me and contacted me for more information.

Press Release

When I started my business a few years ago, I had little else besides a technical background and an entrepeneurial spirit. Fortunately for me, business and marketing skills can be learned as you go. However, I was smart enough to ask for help early on.

A good friend, Andrew Neitlich, has been my marketing consultant ever since. After the huricane Andrew contacted me to see if I was ok, and when I told him about my efforts to rebuild the business, he suggested we write a press release. I'm beginning to learn that marketing is all about trying as many tactics as you can, and not putting all your ducks in one row. If you own or are looking for help marketing your business, I suggest reading the press release, then checking out Andrew's Web site www.AttractNewClients.com. The fact that it forces you to work on your marketing plan is a big help (see my earlier post about the necessity to market constantly).

Business Update

Here's a quick update on how my business is developing since I evacuated after the hurricane.

• I've developed a decent set of marketing collateral. A resume/skillset document, business cards, a few white papers, and I'm currently working on a new portfolio Web site.
• I'm continuing to network and meet new people in the Raleigh area. I try to hand out at least one business card a day. Today I gave one to the woman who owns the local printing/shipping shop. Tomorrow I'm bringing a whole stack to leave at the gym I just joined. I've also given a handful of cards to one person who seems like a good referral source.
• I'm keeping in touch with my clients from New Orleans so that once business picks up again I will still be in the picture. This could take months to pay off, so I'm not counting on the business, but at least I have an established relationship with them.
• I closed one deal last week which is a perfect fit for my target market and amounts to about half of my previous monthly income (and about half of my time). Any additional work I receive will be subcontracted out.

Here is a breakdown of how I'm trying to spend my time:
20 hrs/week - new project that I just mentioned
10 hrs/week - marketing and related tasks
10 hrs/week - EmployApp development
10 hrs/week - managing subcontractors and writing proposals

This is of course just an estimate, but if I can stick to this business will pick up very quickly. My advice to anyone trying to start their own business is continue marketing constantly. If you have so much work that you don't have time for marketing, hire someone else. It's worth the investment.