An update

Thought I’d give an update since my last posting. In a nutshell, I’ve been focused on NOTtheBookStore.com and less on the violins e-commerce site. Last quarter I tried expanding to the University of Cincinnati, with a little help from their marketing club student organization. UC’s quarter ended this week, which meant a whirlwind turnaround for textbooks. And the marketing club has gathered steam and started doing their promotional fliers and other activities.

This semester will be very interesting. UC is four times bigger than Xavier, where I had previously been targeting and have been breaking even (most of the costs are for marketing). UC is a pivotal test to see if the idea scales to bigger schools. So far it’s been slow, but with Xavier it took about a year before things took off to the point of breaking even. If UC takes off, it would give me enough confidence to hire someone to revamp the site and improve the design and flow.

The violins site has taken a back seat for the last month or so. My contact with the Chinese supplier has been quiet. She’s a family friend, so I’m confident that if I took the time to contact her again she’d help me out. I did some initial work with a Shopify site, but I wish it were more of a drag and drop. Most sites I’ve worked with, the drag and drop part of it is too simple, but programming with CSS has been too difficult. Google’s Blogger so far has the easiest to work with from a layouts standpoint. There’s still a skill gap there. Another gap has been the use of Photoshop or Illustrator to design graphics. I could really use that skill so I can update the graphics on the site easier.

I’ve started reading the book “The Other 8 Hours” based off of Adam’s recommendation. It’s inspired me to continue to do a little every day, even if it’s as small as 10-15 minutes. Hopefully the time will add up and eventually I’ll get something successful! I’ve deleted all my back episodes of CSI and took it off my DVR. Hopefully this will buy me the time I need every day!

An update

The paradox of choice

Here's a great speech on the paradox of choice (it is also a great book). I think the entrepreneurial spin I would put on it is this: One of the many reasons it is so hard to start a business is because you just don't know what business to start.

I think many people never get started because they have the drive to be their own boss - but of what business? If you are looking for a job it's easy - there are only a narrow set of jobs that you are "qualified" for based on your degree or education. As for being an entrepreneur - there is no formal "qualification" to do anything - and sometimes that means nothing gets done if you don't know where to start. This video helps explain why...

Psychologist Barry Schwartz takes aim at a central tenet of western societies: freedom of choice. In Schwartz's estimation, choice has made us not freer but more paralyzed, not happier but more dissatisfied.

The paradox of choice

Bloginage

So once in a while I like to do a "Bloginage" which is a takeoff of the word "blog" and "badinage." The word badinage, which I learned in a game of cranium, basically means "banter." So I'm just gonna banter a bit, giving some snippets of random stuff...

So about the upcoming leave of absence (or SEEF3M), the analogy I had earlier was I felt like I had senioritis. You know, when all you can think of is graduating and being free from all this homework. Well, since I'm a little over a month away now, I have a new analogy from my college days: It feels like final exam month. I have all this stuff I need to get done at work before I can leave for summer vacation!

I've inched my way out of the dip... The new project I'm looking at trying out is a single use wipe for use on the exterior of cars. It's not a ground breaking idea, but it'll let me learn about selling a physical product. Also, I'm thinking this as an example of a commercial innovation: the product is very similar (if not the same) as an existing product, but you position it in a way so it solves a different problem for the consumer.

I had a short meeting with the wipes vendor and learned about the typical issues with this kind of business model. Minimum order quantity is 50,000 wipes. The cost isn't too bad (in the thosands of dollars for 50K wipes). But then I figured in fulfillment and shipping costs, and I'd prob at best break even if I charged $0.50 a wipe. Adam, how do you make money using this model? :) Next step is some testing with people...

I've gotten some buzz on NotTheBookstore.com, as 3 students have signed up for my mailing list in the same week. The mailing list is invaluable; these are people who voluntarily want to be reminded to buy your product. I haven't rolled out the new site yet, but I've gotten to the point now where I've redesigned one page and have sent it in to my programmer.

I find it interesting that Brad was in "The Dip" just as I was at the same time...

I've always wondered if this blog would ever make money for us. It's been great as a way to get inspiration and meet people similar to you in this journey, so even if it doesn't make me a penny it'll be worth it. But last week, someone bought a copy of the E-Myth that I blogged about. So our first pennies of revenue! Funny how such a small thing inspires you so much...

As usual, things just kinda flow when you just start writing and instead of a bunch of small snippets I end up with a pretty long post!

Bloginage

Lessons from The Office

On a recent series of The Office episodes, Michael Scott, the main character, decides to quit the Dunder Mifflin Paper Company and start his own company, the Michael Scott Paper Company. In a Jerry McGuire-esque scene, he asks who's going with him... and Pam, the really cute administrative assistant, goes with him. This plotline lasts for maybe 2-3 episodes, and of course it's pretty ridiculous. But there are a few tidbits we can get from these episodes...

One small step for man...

The day after Michael and Pam quit, they gather at Michael's apartment. He has a nervous breakdown. So unsung hero Pam tries to help him:

"When I feel overwhelmed, I like to make a list of things to do, and then start with the easy stuff. We need to come up with one realistic thing we can do today."

Pam is employing our "one small step for man" approach, which I blogged about here.

Benefits: The supposed holy grail

A little later, it's Pam's turn to have a nervous breakdown:

"I had a job. I had benefits!"

I've always thought benefits were overrated. Then again I've never had to be without them. But can't you convert "benefits" to a monetary figure? Health insurance can be bought. It probably isn't cheap, but it can be bought. So put in a number. $1000 a month? That just means you add $1000 a month to your opportunity cost hurdle. I actually tried to get some quotes, and I found health insurance for $100 a month. It probably only covers a horrible disaster, but isn't that what insurance is for anyway?

The folly of not including your time as a cost

So Michael and company deliver their first orders of paper in a van that used to be owned by a Korean church. They get up at 4 AM to get their deliveries in on time. When they're done, they sit around the office tired but happy about their first orders. Michael then suggests they add a loft to the office. Pam suggest hiring a delivery service so she doesn't hafta wake up at 4 AM to do this work. Michael keeps on fantasizing about adding a loft.

The point here is you hafta account for your own time as a cost. Working long hours, working hard, being the hero isn't sustainable because there's only a certain number of hours in a day. Michael and Pam basically are getting paid to be delivery people instead of being business owners. If you can't afford to hire a delivery person and you hafta do it yourself, you're working in your business instead of on your business. This concept is explained really well in the book The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.

Better have a good idea of cost structure before lowering prices

Michael ends up getting a lot of clients because he undercuts his old employer's prices. But his accountant tells him that as his company grows, he won't be profitable. Michael ends up calling his clients back and asking for more money to stay afloat. Obviously, he doesn't have much luck with it.

Michael just offered paper at really low prices... which can be a good strategy, but your cost structure has to support it. You can't just cut prices and take lower profits, because your costs will continue to grow as your sales do. Wal Mart can have lower prices because of their cost structure. They are so huge that they have all kinds of economies of scale, like being able to ship full trucks and having the power to get lower prices from their suppliers. They don't just lower prices without these things.

"Jobs are safer"

So, in a plot twist worthy of a sitcom, Dunder Mifflin wants to buy out Michael's paper company because they're losing clients. They offer him $60,000... after much celebrating Michael changes his mind and asks for their jobs back instead because "jobs are safer."

Well, jobs are safer when you aren't a true entrepreneur. Michael and Pam proved that, quitting on an impulse because they didn't like their new boss and trying to start their own paper company without testing it out first (Corporatepreneurship?) nor thinking about their business model.

Not bad content for a funny sitcom, eh?

Lessons from The Office

The wrong way to do it

I was having a conversation with a co-worker about a neat program she had done over one weekend... the gist of it was a bunch of people got together, brainstormed an idea for a website, and over the course of one weekend you create the site. I thought that was a great program that followed principles that this site believes in... namely, YOU can do something and it's better to do something than to not. But then the conversation took a turn for the worse.

I checked out the site and said cool, so what's her team going to do next? She said none of them has time to work on the site. I said well, you can take baby steps and before you know it you'll get inspired and the site will take off. She said no way, none of them had time to do anything with it. So I asked, so what will you do with it? She said they needed to hire a CEO to run the site.

So I asked how they were going to pay the CEO's salary. She said venture capital funding. I wondered to myself where one was going to get venture capital funding for basically a site concept. Reminds me of the docudrama Startup.com, where the camera follows a bunch of young adults starting up a dot com during the height of the internet bubble (they somehow got $50 million worth of funding for a simple website concept). After a few more exchanges, I gave up.

Some of my thoughts on this story:

1. An idea or concept is a dime a dozen. It's the execution that counts. You need to develop your idea to the point where it's of value (and what's more of value than something that generates cashflow!). Venture capital firms back in 2000 were just plain stupid, and they've definitely learned their lesson.

2. You do have time to develop your idea. It doesn't matter how much time you can afford to spend on it, it's just that you consistently work on it... and you're constantly adjusting your strategy and thinking creatively. Can you spare 10 minutes a day? Every other day? That's all it takes to get going. And soon you'll be up and running.

There are two wonderful books that will help you with these two points. First, there's "Take 10: How to Achieve Your Someday Dreams" which introduces the 10 minute task idea. Second, there's "Getting Things Done" which talks about the concept of figure out what the next action is for a project.

The wrong way to do it

My 4 Hour Workweek Moment

The book 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferris talks about working no more than four hours a week and from anywhere you want... including the beach. I had my 4-Hour Workweek moment last August, which gave me the vision of what I wanted in my life...

My dad's company sent him to a conference in Honolulu, Hawaii... Quite a boondoggle. My mom joined him, and I figure I would too. Free lodging in Hawaii, all I had to do was buy a plane ticket. My dad even offered to cover that to get me out there, but I really didn't need any more incentive to go so I told him thanks, but I'd be more than happy to pay my own way there. This was August of last year.

Rewind back three years... I was an MBA student, and I discovered that buying textbooks at the bookstore was a crock... you could buy books on Amazon.com for at least $20, if not $50-100 cheaper. So after graduation, I started playing around with creating a site that felt just like buying from the campus bookstore, but it pointed you to Amazon instead. I got some revenue out of it, but nothing major.

Back to last August... I had spent the spring of 2008 working on marketing and promoting the website. I dropped almost $1000 on marketing (doesn't sound like much, but I'm closer to the "corporate" part of corporateprenuership than "entrepreneur"). The start of the textbook buying season coincided with my trip to Hawaii. And since students weren't accessible in the summer, all the advertising was done in the spring. So all I could do was watch and see how much revenue would come in every day.

The resort had a wireless connection, and it was accessible from the beach. So every day, after sightseeing, I'd take a swim in the ocean, have dinner, shower, and head to the beach with my laptop. Since Hawaii was 6 hours behind, I was able to check the previous day's revenue while I was still up. Each day I checked... some days would be $30 days, but some days got as high as $120 days. By the end of the week, I was up to almost $500.

I was living the dream... money was rolling in, while I was basically working one hour a night. That's a 7 hour workweek (not quite 4 hours), but when that one hour a day is spent on a laptop on a beach, I think anyone would sign up for that. The money I made wouldn't even pay for my flight out there, but it was a major breakthrough to taste it for just that week. I considered this the first step in the long term goal of financial independence. My mom took a picture of me with my laptop on the beach, and I have it up on my wall so I can look at it every day.

Some people back home didn't get it... They felt like it was sad that I was working on vacation. On the contrary... people thought my working on the beach was replacing vacationing on the beach. I wanted working on the beach to replace working.

My 4 Hour Workweek Moment

5 Secrets to Success, Wealth, and Happiness

One man's road to Success, wealth and happiness was created by studying the Book of Proverbs, the proverbs of King Solomon (who knew). Anyways instead of a book review (I'll skip the part about how this guy makes his millions) I thought I'd save you some time and give you the gist of the book.

So here are the 5 Secrets to Success, Wealth, and Happiness. I have expanded upon the 1st two in detail because they really stuck out to me.

"Secret" #1 - Be Diligent
This Author states that it is pretty much human nature to take the path of least resistance, to do the minimum, and to just get by. He argues that in order for people to aspire to be more, all the success, wealth and happiness in the world is reserved as a reward for being diligent versus lazy.

He states that being diligent is to be:
a) Persistent towards your goal or in refining your craft (not in a stubborn way but with an openness to continuing to alter your course when needed to overcome obstacles).
b) Hard working
c) Well planned
d) Perform with speed, efficiency, and excellence so you will be sought out for your work.

The rewards of this diligence are:
i) True fulfillment without the want or need of material possessions
ii) Respect and admiration from society for your work
iii) Satisfaction and success
iv) Great wealth (everyone is happy to pay someone who does great work)

The author states that pretty much by being lazy you can assure yourself of having the opposite of each of the things above.

Most interesting was his beliefs around the root causes of laziness:
1) Self-centeredness - those who are open see the world around them will find an abundance of opportunity to make a difference with their own unique skills
2) Conceit or arrogance - those who are humble will be open to learn much from the world around them. Those who are arrogant know it all already and continue to takes the actions they want to take without improvement in approach or aspiration.
3) Ignorance and Irresponsibility (Foolishness) - The ignorant act without regard to the consequence of their actions. It is easier to be ignorant than to be educated because it takes time and effort to become something.

I won't be able to comment in as much detail as I would like on each of these without losing some readers, but this is one of two that I will comment on. At times I think you can go through the motions and do just enough to get by in this world because you haven't spent the time or the soul-searching effort to decide what you want to do. If you are going to do or study something, do it as best you can. If you are half-assing it - then you probably don't know what you want to do (or you may know it's not to become that which you are studying to become) so do something else.

"Secret" #2 - Eliminate Your Sense of Entitlement
A sense of Entitlement in any area of your life is an enemy that will keep you bound to unhappiness. This author argues that you will continuously be looking to others with unrealistic expectations and no control over what they actually are willing to give you. The only way to break loose of this unhappy and bitter cycle of entitlement is to release all unrealistic expectations you may have of others, including the government, your spouse, your employer, friends and your relatives.

This is the other topic I feel compelled to comment on. After spending 2 years studying Gen-Y (also known as generation debt) I have talked with many teenagers and people in their early twenties and I have seen this first hand. I am not sure what compels people to constantly keep score of what others owe them without thinking about what they have contributed in order to justify their "ransom". And too often you will find that the people who feel they are entitled to something are those who are desperate for that hand-out because they do not give enough of themselves to earn it. Once these people figure out how to earn what it is they desire (money, respect, etc) they will quickly break free of the chains of relying on others as they figure out how to rely on themselves.

In a business context the story goes as follows. Most people don't know how to make money. They don't know what they should do to have someone offer them compensation, so they look to an employer to tell them what to to to generate money for the company, and the company gladly gives them a wage which will be less than their output for the company. One famous business quote is that all of the enormous profits of the Fortune 500 companies are from excess output of the employees that they are not being paid fairly for. Once you learn how to earn money (or create money) without needing a company to tell you what to do, you will have "job security" for the rest of your life because you will always be able to rely an yourself versus needing a job from someone else.

But quickly back to the Gen-Yers. The sense of entitlement is alive and well as many people just starting out and working full time believe their standard of living should be as high as is was when living at home with mom and dad. They forget that it took their parents 20+ years to get to that level in their lives. This is a rude awakening for many Gen-Yers and a big reason why they prefer to live at home with their parents until they can save up for a higher starting standard of living. I still support Gen-Yers who chose to live at home with their parents because I think it is more responsible than starting out buying a home or a new car too soon while living lavishly. Far too many Gen-Yers start out with enormous college debt to let alone then add to their debt by spending beyond their means with no thoughts of saving for the future or retirement.

This section really struck me as I feel our nation becoming more of an entitlement nation than a boot-strapping nation of hard-working achievers which I believe is what built this nation.

"Secret" #3 - Be Grateful
If you are not grateful, DEVELOP a grateful heart. We all start with different levels of difficult situations in our lives, so this Author recommends if you currently don't feel that grateful, "treasure hunt" for things in your life that you could be grateful for already. In addition to warming you heart and those around you, you will begin to see joy in your life that is consistent, persistent, and lasting.

"Secret" #4 - Root out the weeds of Envy
Envy is a bottomless pit with no end. It is in opposition to feeling fulfilled. Envy is a misbelief that the things others have makes them happy or would make you happy. I think research has shown that by achieving a new level of possessions, we quickly recalibrate and would then desire what's next. When you know what you want in life, you can then know when enough is enough for you. Until you do that soul-searching, you will envy out of fear because you don't know enough about yourself to measure when you will have enough and be fulfilled.

"Secret" #5 - Live Wisely
The author states that Wisdom is not just about knowing what is right but acting on it. Living wisely involves DOING the right things, for yourself and for other around you. It is not enough to say "I know I should appreciate the people in my life" if you are actually being cold or bitter. It is an emptiness inside that fosters an external chill. Probably everyone knows someone who is curt or rude, and I also believe most people know that those people aren't happy with themselves more than they are unhappy with the masses they aim to irritate. Wisdom is about continual learning and self-improvement, and then putting those learnings into action. My takeaway from this point is not to just talk the talk but walk the walk. Another point that comes to mind with the live wisely point is that inner peace is not enough. I think everyone must then work to spread that peace.

So that's my long-winded summary. If you made it to the end congratulations. By no means do I pretend to be an expert on any of this, but I can now say that this book has brought it more top of mind as something I strive to be conscious of. And now - hopefully you will too because then in some small and indirect way maybe I can pass along some success, wealth and happiness to your life. That is your reward for being diligent enough to finish this blog!

5 Secrets to Success, Wealth, and Happiness

Great Quotes

I read this quote in "The 4-Hour Workweek" that I have to share. Especially since I often hear from friends, co-workers (and myself!) about the drudgery of the corporate world. This quote puts "the worst case career scenario" in perspective:

"Getting fired... is often a godsend. Someone else makes the [difficult] decision for you, and it's impossible to to sit in the wrong job for the rest of your life. Most people aren't lucky enough to get fired and die a slow spiritual death over 20-30 years of tolerating the mediocre." - "The 4-Hour Workweek"

Another related quote comes to mind

"All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it's impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth. Develop the strength to do bold things, not the strength to suffer." - Niccolo Machiavelli

I have heard a lot of positive feedback from the Steve Jobs speech posted in my blog, however the Steve Tomlinson speech is even better! Since many people prefered to watch Steve Job's speech than to click the little play button of Steve Tomlinson's, I found a link to the text of his speech that is pretty close to the one I liked so much. I hope you have the strength to get through a fairly long text (10-15 min read).

Great Quotes

Less is more & Doing what you love

You may have heard it, but I am on a less is more kick. Less working, more living. Anyways here's a collection of motivational materials related to improving your life and doing more of what you love!

Quick Story:
Thanks to: "Living the 80/20 Way"

     Thinking about lunch, the vacationing businessman stared at the calm, blue sea. A small boat, laden with large yellow-fin tuna, docked near the pretty Mexican village. A lone fisherman jumped ashore.
     "That's a great catch," said the tourist. "How long did it take you?"
     "Not so long," replied the Mexican.
     "Why didn't you stay out there longer and catch more fish? It's only noon!"
     "That's enough fish to keep the family provided for," replied the fisherman.
     "What do you do with the rest of your time?"
     "Sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, have lunch, take a siesta with my wife, Maria. Stroll into the village each evening, sip wine, play guitar and cards with my amigos - a full and rich life, señor."
     "I think I could help you," the visitor said, wrinkling his nose. "I'm a Harvard MBA and this is the advice you'd get in business school. Spend more time fishing each day, buy a bigger boat, make more money, then buy several boats until you have a fleet. Don't sell your catch to the middleman, sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You'd control the product, production and distribution. You could then leave this small town behind, move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles, perhaps eventually New York City to run your expanding firm."
     "But señor, how long would this take?"
     "Fifteen, twenty years."
     "But what then, señor?"
     "That's the best part," the businessman laughed. "When the time is right, you could float on the stock market and make millions of dollars."
     "Hmmm, millions you say. What then, señor?"
     "Then you could retire. Move to a pretty village by the sea, sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take a siesta with your wife, Maria, stroll to the village in the evenings, sip wine, and play guitar and cards with your friends!"


Two of my Favorite Speeches:

1) Steve Tomlinson:
Here's that great speech by Steve Tomlinson about not discarding any of your passions in life. If you have 3 very separate career interests, keep them all going because you might not yet see how they will all come together.

I tried to link to this before, but here it is! Enjoy the video (although it's just audio!).



Listen up until he takes questions from the audience.

2) Steve Jobs:


I've listened to both a bunch of times now!

Less is more & Doing what you love