This morning, the latest contractor to join our crew asked me: “Why does MTV want to work with us? They have amazing designers and are a huge company. What can we do that they haven’t completely mastered?” It was a fair question. Why does MTV outsource work? Or AOL, SAP, NBC or any of our other customers? Is it because any company with a three letter all-cap acronym can’t built its own technology? Nope, that’s not it at all. We’ve personally run into 6 different reasons. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were others, and I’d be stoked to hear all about it in the comments. Ok, let’s kick it off:

* They’re slammed.
* The idea/strategy was pitched and included your services.
* They are stuck.
* The internal team lacks a specific specialty.
* Politics prevent internal allocations.
* Accountability. We just get things done.

Read the full article On the eLance Blog where it was posted.

Peter & I talk all the time about which idea do you pick and run with. We love innovating and since we happen to work with the IP of a number of the world’s largest and fastest growing companies, we constantly are exposed to amazing ideas. Our problem isn’t coming up with them, it is choosing the one to stick with.

I’ve always believed there are two types of entrepreneurs. Shotgun entrepreneurs take a large number of ideas and try many at once trying to see if they can get something to stick. They believe if you throw enough mud at the wall … eventually one of their ideas will come to fruition. Rifle entrepreneurs focus their energy on one careful enterprise at a time. I am very much in the second category. As a result I tend to be extremely cautious about the ideas I commit myself to. So first thing, if I am already committed, then I pretty much ignore all ideas even good ones.

If I am in the looking zone, I have a shortlist of four criteria that I use to select my direction:
1) Does it line up with my personal goals, beliefs and definition of happiness
2) What problem does it solve?
3) What trends play a role – what is the industry timing?
4) Who is on the team – are there people with success who have a vested interest?

I have a list of things that I want to accomplish with my life, a list of beliefs about how I want to have an impact and a personal definition of happiness (that I am just starting to work on). Any time I look at an idea I first ask myself if this will get me one step closer to my personal dreams and definition of happiness. It could be the best idea in the world but if it doesn’t do that, then I probably won’t stick with it anyways, so I’ll let someone else tackle that.

The first day I met Tom, we discussed how to analyze a business opportunity. Three things stuck in my mind and are a key part of my decision making today:

1) “Your income will be in direct proportion to the problems you solve. The greater the problem, the greater the income. That is why heart surgeons make more than stock clerks. After all, which is more valuable to you? When you are looking at any business, always ask yourself, what problem will that solve?”

I was watching a documentary put out by Disney called America’s Heart and Soul (which I thought would be cheesy but turned out to be an absolutely beautiful series of vignettes about people, life, courage, struggles and personal victories) with my wife this evening. They interview Ben from Ben & Jerry’s who said: “The goal of a business is to meet the need, to create the product, not to make money. You make money as a by product of meeting a need and doing a great job of it.”

2) “Timing is everything. A great businessman sees trends and act on them. The best way to make money in today’s world is to place yourself in front of a trend. Ask yourself, will more people participate in your industry next year than they did this year? Is the need for what the business offers increasing?”

3) “Find someone who has made it in the industry who has a vested interest in your success. There is no greater thing in the world.”

So when I look at an idea, I dig deep and ask myself if we really are solving a problem, if the timing in the industry is right and who will join me on the adventure. If all three click, then I know this is it and I commit myself – heart and soul.

Peter & I have started to attend a project management class through Berkley Extension. I wasn’t expecting much (sorry Alan) but both of us were pleasantly surprised last night. The dialog was interesting, the problems we began to discuss were relevant and I am looking forward to getting to know the people in the class. One of the studies discussed shared the critical success factors of a project, almost twice as important as all the other criteria was Clarity of Project Mission. Without this, most projects are doomed to fail. I find this applies to companies and business ideas a thousandth fold.

I’ll leave you with a quote vision that captured an entire nation…

I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth…we commit $531 million in this fiscal year…”
JFK – May 25, 1961

Next week I will write a post and apply the ideas above to how we picked the idea for our next company and give you all the details (and an official beta invite).

When you are considering a business opportunity, one of the most important issues to really ponder is timing.

You may have the very best idea on earth. It could solve a huge problem. You could have a great team with phenomenal support. But if the target audience are bank tellers, I would beg you to reconsider. Bank tellers are a dying institution. ATMs, and now online banking, are making them essentially obsolete. Peter showed me that I can even write a check through the Wamu website and they will mail it for me at no extra charge. No more stamps, addresses and numb tongue.

Tom has often told me that the dumbest man can make money in an up market, while many smart people loose their shirts when a trend dies. Now you may be a genius, but I’d still hedge my bet and pick an idea and a strategy that takes advantage of industry timing.

Jarkko wrote an awesome post a few days back on How I Almost Invented Social Bookmarking. He got a response from Ron Wiener, the CEO of Earth Class Mail, which was pretty interesting in and of itself. Go read it and if you live in the bay area and want to hang out – we are going to the premier he mentioned Tuesday night. Ok, back on topic.

Jarkko sent out an email to a series of entrepreneurs asking how we pick THE idea. I sent him a response and will post my response after he and I have a chance to discuss it and figure out what he plans to do with it (don’t want to screw up his surprise). The question started me thinking about the decision making process and the role of an industry’s growth cycle in the success of a business venture.

About 3 years ago, Julie & I went to listen to Senator Bob McEwen speak on the inner workings of capitalism and how money works. He mentioned that all industries have a natural cycle of evolution.

Skepticism

Initially only a few visionaries see the value of an idea. These are people who live in the future as much as the present. People like Walt Disney. When asked during an interview how he knew he had a good idea, he replied: “I ask 10 of my friends what they think and if 9 of them tell me its a bad idea, I know I’m onto something.”

This is a perilous time for most people in an industry. It is tough to get customers. Imagine being the first guy with email or a fax machine. Not much use until the technology gets adopted. I’m sure the first nutritional supplement company had a heck of a time getting acceptance. After all, it only took the American Medical Association about a century to (published in 2002) decide that every adult should consider using vitamins. We grow up hearing tales about those innovators who were truly ahead of their time, Henry Ford, Ben Franklin, The Wright Brothers, Bill Gates & Steve Jobs, but most innovators never actually overcome the obstacles. When timing is not in your favor, few will succeed. Even those who do often get overtaken. After all, Google was not the first search engine by a long shot. Though starting a business at this stage can shape the world, it is not for the faint of heart.

We had to overcome nearly insurpassable obstacles to get the business to be as successful as it now is. It was actually started in January, 2004, not 2005. For six months I couldn’t even get my closest business colleagues to say it was a worthy idea (in its manifestation at the time it clearly wasn’t ready for prime time)…

it still took two more years to get funded – we went without salaries for even longer than that to get the technology to the point that we could prove we’ve removed the risks of execution…

Let me tell you, it was anything but easy! People would argue from their perceptions versus fact that “but mail is going away” (it’s not, it’s increasing in volume every year), the technology would cost too much (we eventually figured out how to cost-reduce it and cemented it down with a huge portfolio of patents), and that no one would pay for it (well, proof’s in the pudding – we have customers in 130 countries now, from individuals to governments and F500 companies).

-Ron Wiener, CEO of Earth Class Mail (from the comment on Jarkko’s post)

Adoption

Oh my god, Beenie Babies, eBay, Blogging, Online Video, Pet Rock, Social Networking … it is the newest, hottest thing and everyone wants a piece of it. In 1998 it was the internet or e-commerce. There was a site for everything, even if it made no logical sense. I remember seeing pinktoenailpolish.com, which has to be a niche market to start with, but makes me wonder if they had a sound business plan before finding investors.

We had the opportunity starting in February of 2005 to work with Blip.tv, an interesting startup, and were essentially the 6 / 7th on their team until they grew enough to staff up. They came onto the scene early and we got to see many competitors come and go as they grew and established themselves upon the scene. Video was hot and everyone wanted to play. Akamai event went as far as to put together a video player framework to allow developers to quickly build flash video players (nicely implement by the way). Entry is only getting easier though the window of opportunity is slowly closing.

This is definitely the most exciting time to start a company and the phase with the most potential. Everyone wants to go public. Hope is in the air and wallets are open. A boom is happening.

This type of explosive frenzy isn’t a recent phenomenon. In the 1800s there were thousands of railroad owners. Everyone wanted in. Fortunes were made and lost. The winners eventually earned the name of railroad tycoon (another Sim game), which lead us into the third phase.

Consolidation

The bubble goes pop. No shock to those who study history. It goes pop each and every time. That is true in business, true in realestate, true in governments. Those with sound plans, good funding and momentum survive. Many don’t.

The survivors begin to feed. In our current internet / information industry: Google, Yahoo, IAC and many of the strongest contenders begin to absorb all the smaller companies. Though you might still have a shot at being one the main players, the odds just went way down.

As their bureaucratic overhead has grown, the larger companies often stop innovating in their own right and rely on the absorption of new ideas through the acquisition of startups. The overhead of the bureaucracy is enough to stifle the quickness of foot that a startup environment requires. The victors of the previous phase become aggregators and serve as a pool of finance and talent for the next generation of companies and ideas. Now the plan becomes the buyout. Take an idea, flush it out and sell it.

Domination

In the end, a handful of companies usually win. Count the number of car manufacturers in the world: there are less than 17 major players who produce over a million vehicles annually. Of the seventeen, four of these (GM, Toyota, Form, WV) dominate the industry making up the large majority of all sales. I would not recommend trying to break into the traditional car market at this point. All industries eventually arrive at this point: steel, telecommunications, computers, pharmaceuticals, power and gas, all controlled by a few key companies. If you are looking for a job, I would look to these industries.

So When Should I Commit?

Anytime you review an opportunity, study the timing of the market you plan to enter. The tactics differ, as should your business plan based upon the phase of the industry.

Is it the skeptical phase? If so, do you have the vision, character and tenacity to handle the amazing amount of rejection you will inevitably face? If your niche is the hottest thing since Tickle-Me-Elmo and is in full adoption phase, make sure you have a sound business plan, are solving a significant problem for your customers and build a team that has a proven success record. Figure out how you will succeed against a horde of other hungry startups. In the third phase, you should might have a very specific idea and figure out who will buy it once you prove its worth. Don’t start a company in the fourth phase unless you are really looking for an opportunity to be self employed (nothing wrong with that). The odds of becoming a big company are against you. Finally, make sure the industry isn’t completely dying. When Peter & I saw someone open a local video rental store last month in his neighborhood (downtown in a big city in silicon valley), we we look at each other and asked, what the hell are they thinking? Don’t they know that within two years, five years max, we will all just get everything from the net instantly? Tragic if you ask me.

The internet has created a boom of micro-industries. Some are just being born, other have already been dominated. Just do your self, your family, your friends and if you have them, your investors a favor and do your homework. It will increase your odds dramatically to pick the right approach for the economic and social environment you are about to jump into to.

To all of you with dreams and with great ideas, I wish you the most fabulous of journeys. As it is written on some statue of a pioneer somewhere (pathetic I know, but I really like the quote): “Only the strong survived. The weak died along the way, the cowards never left.” I am on the 4th and soon we launch the 5th. It is absolutly worth it. Your destiny awaits.

Happy Holidays you all! I’ve been doing some thinking about the meaning of things and a lot about the future of our industry. I’m so grateful you are part of our journey and love the relationships I have been developing through this blog. We love you all, you challenge us and you make us laugh. It has been a blessing.

The world is changing. How we view money. How we earn it. How we spend it. Does it rule our lives more or less than it did in the past? Can we change that by the way we choose to work and how we do it? The winds of change are blowing and many, many people are about to join this revolution we call business ownership. This is just the beginning.

I asked the first billionaire I met what it is like to have that much money.

His answer was “it’s just like air”

I must have looked confused because he smiled and he asked me if I knew any asthmatics. I nodded.

“During an asthma attack – what is the only thing that person is thinking about?”

“Their next breath” I answered.

He looked at me and said – “You have financial asthma. I never think about money, to me it’s just like air. It has almost no bearing on my life what so ever.”

I think about that all the time. That conversation significantly shaped my relationship with money.

Not everyone wants to be stinking wealthy. Frankly, it is simply not necessary. The question we all need to answer is what is enough? My wife and I made our list of dreams and goals, and then figured out what that would cost. In our case, we need some pretty significant wealth to accomplish our goals. In contrast, one of my oldest friends Davie & his gal Lindsay have always lived on a shoe-string budget. He actively chases his passions with an innocence and yet dedication I see in few others. His life is a beautiful thing to behold. He is a world class waterman, a patient and gifted teacher and will soon be a therapist. A good one I am willing to bet. Money has rarely played a significant role in the attainment of his goals, so why would he bother trying to become rich?

How do you relate to money? Does it play a large or small role in achieving the steps you will take in the life you have planned?

Why do I mention this? Not to get you thinking about money (though please do). I have been reading through everyone’s responses to the interview we posted and a picture is forming that excites me. There is a revolution occurring in people’s work patterns and career choices. The small, independent business owner is coming back with a vengeance. I promise you, the numbers are about to explode. You can now make a six figure income, with about the same effort as an employee, working from home (or anywhere) on your own schedule, perhaps even doing a mostly what you love. That is the true American Dream, not dramatic wealth.

I often hear in the valley, “go big or go home”, “real competition only starts at 100 million” … and on and on. The public image of business here is the startup that will drive millions, if not billions. Yahoo & Google. Not a bad dream if you ask me. But that is not the face of business in the future. This perception is missing the simple fact that most people don’t need, nor actually even desire, that outcome. They just want some control back.

The world of business is about to be swept by a storm of people, like you and me, who are going to step out on their own and be self employed. Whose goal it is to make a nice income while having a life. We will place family, fitness, friends and faith at the same level of priority or higher then we do our income. Will we not go through this process alone. We are building social networks, global teams of other independent business owners who educate, help and support each other. And it has only begun.

One question that was posted from Lawrence Salberg back to the group asked: “What is the most promising technology on the horizon and how do you see it helping you in terms of your business ideas?” This is my answer. It is not a computer based technology but a social revolution. Companies will pay us for the value of our work, not for time day in day out. Productivity will increase dramatically as will personal satisfaction. Overhead will drop. As contractors will handle our own benefits, allowing us to get higher pay while making our own choices about our future.

For this revolution to go smoothly, the need for education is paramount. There are so many basic things that none of us learned in school. Like how to relate to money. How to balance a checkbook. How a mortgage works. How to sell a product or service. How to make sure people pay you like they said they would. The most rudimentary bookkeeping. The simple difference between an employee and a contractor. What a legal contract is and when to use one. It is all lore right now. Passed from person to person among our community, from mentor to apprentice. Perhaps some day our school system will burst forth from its mummified cocoon and emerge a beautiful butterfly, but until then its up to us to help each other succeed and share any wisdom we have with the newest person.

I have a Hanukkah wish. Let us band together and pay it forward. Help the newest contractor you meet. Answer their questions. Teach them what you know. They aren’t your competition, there is so much work out there it is down right ridiculous. Once you iron out the initial bumps, I cannot promise you a better life. So I am writing this to say, tag your it. Now pass it on. Share your wealth.

I am going to take the time to pick the winners on Christmas day. In case you think I am a workaholic, I am Jewish and it is the only day I can take all the time I want to read blogs without clients pinging me. So, bring it on folks, last call!

We are compiling a complete list of the respondents and do a brief promo of the top 10 most interesting responses! Please email me if you have not seen a link to your post below. I will keep adding them as they come in.

Peter & I will pick one lucky person with our favorite interview and one person who came up with the best original question not on our list and buy you each one book from my personal reading list.

Go check out the original post with the list of questions, then if you need some inspiration, you can see me lift my digital skirt.

Still want more? Below is a list of all the responses so far:

Free Promo, Free Books, and Free Insight

Me.

Shane and Peter Challenging Entrepreneurs to an Interview, Part 2

Bikini or Thong: My Response To The Challenge

Boxers or Briefs?

Shane & Peter interview the titans…and me

Interviewing me … the Entrepreneur

The Job Interview that Never Was

An Interview with Me

Interviewing Myself for Shane & Peter

Boxers Or Briefs — and other less important questions

Shane and Peter’s Interview

Few Entry, None Exit Strategy

Interview yourself: Shane

Interviewing myself .. who is apparently an entrepreneur

Shane and Peter’s Interview

An Entrepreneurial Self Portrait

I thought I was done with interviews

My Self Interview

Shane & Peter are My Homeboyz

The Interview

Interview with an Entrepreneur

Interviewing Yourself: Me (Joshua Clanton)

Interview Yourself: Eric Davis

The Only Interview that Matters

Interview Yourself: WAH(web)Mommy

Interviewing Myself as an Entrepreneur

Interview yourself: Lodewijk

Interviewing You

So far we have some really funny, deep and practical answers and comments in response to the interview questions. Have you done it yet? Go to Interviewing You: the Entrepreneur and check out the questions, post the answers on your blog and link back to the post. We are giving away free publicity and your book of choice from my reading list to our 2 favorites. Don’t forget to ask a question at the end you would love to have everyone answer!

ok – my turn:

What’s your personal mission statement?

To live a life of influence and adventure surrounded by those I love.

It has rarely been a static thing. I started to think through how I would have answered this 2 years ago, or 5, or even 15. Hence, the evolution of my personal mission statement:

0-3: walk then talk.
4-7: be just like an adult with all the freedoms.
7-12: start my own religion (I’m not kidding).
13-18: a) own my own company – preferably a coffee shop / book store combo – they didn’t exist then and they should have b) travel the world.
19-21: travel travel travel – who cares about anyone but me
21-22: create a meaningful career where I can have influence and shape a company
22-25: damn the mega corp – I’ll do it myself if they won’t deliver like promised and now I can surf every day
25-27: I can provide for my family
28-current: To be of service, grow, learn and become a positive leader, help provide choices for the people I work with and embark on the adventure of daddyhood.

The change I have been going through, probably part of the maturation process, is the transition of my focus. For a long time my missions were about the bottom of the maslovian pyramid of needs. Things are pretty good now, so I get to play with the higher levels, like relationships and meaning.

What’s the biggest mess you’ve dealt with this year?

Oh lord where to start?

Early this year we committed a significant amount of resources to a project for a multinational corp. We were bleeding cash out of our backside keeping the project rolling and the client just wasn’t paying. Eventually we froze the project and told them – your project will come back to life when we get the initial 72k you owe us. We didn’t want to get stiffed, as that would have been tragic … so it was a long process of careful diplomacy. We did get paid, four months later. The big success in retrospect was the fact that we were able to keep the company running profitably and still pay ourselves enough to live, even with a 72k deficit. As I told the client when we froze the project – “I’m sorry but my other clients can no longer afford to sustain your project, so we will have to halt all development.”

Then there was accepting a project that should have been 30-50k for 5k because of the exposure. We did get the exposure and that was great, but the frustration, unbalanced expectation of the client and (our) mismanagement of timelines made this a sad ending to a great long term client. We are still friends with them though and I am sure something will come of it again in the future.

The biggest mess though:

I pissed of Lindsey, Peter’s wife, in a long term kind of way. I am sure her resentment had been building anyways. After all, Peter & I do spend a gargantuan amount of time each and every day working on the business and playing. We are best friends – heck Julie calls him the other wife.

Although I genuinely care about people, I can be very direct, say some really stupid shit sometimes and bruise feelings. Just like Julie said last night as we were making Christmas cards – “you have absolutely no internal gauge what so ever as to what would offend someone do you?” I do, I swear – it’s just a bit stunted.

This one though, was far above and beyond me saying some random stupid shit. Lindsey is a very competitive lady and we were playing cards. She aggressively was picking on Peter and talking smack. I hate to see my friends get picked on & I have very strong feelings on how to treat your spouse (not that I am any kind of brilliant role model). This had been going on too long and I finally snapped. In front of everyone. I really meant to calmly say, “Can you not do that, it really takes the fun out of the game for everyone.” What came out was “You #$%%$ Hateful #%#% Mean #%#^ Picking on Peter #%$ Divorce and Dismemberment @#$ #@$%^ #@$% How Dare You &^%#” etc etc etc. I have absolutely no idea where all those words came from. I really don’t usually say stuff like that, nor get all emotional at anyone but my wife.

No folks, it wasn’t pretty. I might as well have shaved her cats and shat in her laundry basket. And today, almost a year later, the repercussions go on. I was not allowed in their house for about 5 months. Since August, she has been making a real effort to be chill when we all hang out and be nice and civil. I can’t imagine it is easy for her and I still feel awful. In regards to the do over question that Harry asked – yes. Don’t crap all over your business partner’s wife, even if she might deserve it. Definitely my biggest mess.

All out of love (but no common sense) for my buddy. What a mess.

What current entrepreneurial efforts consume your time?

1) our software business (S&P)
3) real estate rentals.
4) the blog

Why do you do what you do? What inspires you? When do you get most excited?

I don’t know about you other men out there – but my self esteem is absolutly linked to my ability to support my family. I would clean out chicken coops with a fondue fork, I would go back to doing content, I would put on roller skates and server food and still be very happy is I knew that I was making the significant financial contribution that allowed my family to thrive. I read a booked called Stiffed, The Betrayal of the American Man, written by a very well known journalist / feminist. She postulates that manhood in our day and age is still based upon the 1950’s ideal of our ability to provide. Yet, we live in a society where a one income family has an exceedingly hard time thriving financially. So the wife goes to work. You come home as a man, “baby look at everything I’m doing for you and our family, aren’t you proud of me?” And if she is like most women I know, she looks at him crossed eyes and responds “ooohhh big man eh, I just got back from work too … and the kids want me to cook, and I clean …..”. There are fewer and fewer ways for a man to establish his sense of success in his masculinity.

So I have been blessed, by a wife who looks at our ability to run a business in awe, and makes me feel like a hero every day. Even though she works and could make as much money as I do. She is just smart and knows what is important to me.

The reason I do what I do: the look in her eyes. She sees something in me incredible. Something I am not yet, but want to be. She makes me feel like a hero and that drives me each and every day. oh and she rubs my head and I like that.

As for the other two questions: I love seeing other people win and knowing I was somehow able to be part of their adventure. That is what inspires me. That is what excites me. It is also why I do what I do. Every project we take, my goal is to make the project manager a winner in his or her organization. The better they look and the greater their success, the more satisfied I am. Every time we help a contractor grow their business, get more stable, perhaps become full time and come home to their family like we came home to ours, I know I am living my life of purpose and meaning.

Boxers or Briefs? or as Naomi says, Bikini or Thong, duh?!?

Tighty Whiteys -> Boxers -> Commando -> Boxer Briefs. Tried em all.

Given the choice I would go back to commando as it was by far my preferred MOA. But, there is a rarely spoken of side effect (perhaps Jonathan has noticed this), it lowered my sensitivity. Which, for a while was brilliant, because I had true staying power – but eventually became a problem as I had too much staying power. So, a family meeting ensued, and we concluded it was time to find an alternative. Hence the current boxer-brief state of affairs.

So my tip to you quick draws – go commando for a year or two – it makes all the difference in the world and your lady will appreciate it. Maybe. Just make sure you wash you pants more frequently.

As for a preference on the opposite sex – the low rise almost tiny shorts looking ones. Not sure what to call them.

What do you do when you’re not [designing | programming | managing | writing | toiling for the wo/man]?

I try surf every day the waves are good. Sometimes longboard, sometimes short. We don’t have a regular spot like most people, especially since the sand bar at cowell’s (the break in front of Peter’s house) didn’t form up well that last 2 years. Some days, the east side, other the west, every so often Ben drags my ass down to the beaches south of here and periodically I manage to drag someone to the north coast with me (brrrrr).

I started rock climbing again. Bouldering mostly, as I am still not a fan of heights and I really like the power moves in bouldering. It is such an amazing way to work out aggression. And it is great for those of us with short attention span. Indoor in winter and outdoor in summer.

I was pretty into wakeboarding until I tore the ligaments that connect my spine and my tail bone and didn’t walk for 6 months. That put a halt there but I still love being on the boat so I can watch Julie – she used to be a competitive water skier and is a sight to behold.

I was skating almost every day until I broke my leg last December and decided that I am slowly getting a bit to old to fly 12 feet above concrete and bounce back when I body slam into it every time I screw up.

I am an obsessive reader. Personal development, business and fantasy. In that order.

Some of you are pro bloggers. Not me. This is hobby and one I absolutly find that I love. This is my non-work time.

Cooking, video games (though I try to moderate that addiction) and building furniture from scratch with dad.

What one thing made the biggest difference when getting started?

Picking the right mentor. My mentors absolutly helped me through the numerous ups and downs of the early portion of my business. They even helped me find work, deal with irate clients when I messed up. I seriously believe I would have failed if it were not for Quinn, Tom & my dad’s direct support and advice.

What’s your exit strategy?

1) Real Estate Rentals & other diversified investment

Julie & I pretty much pack every penny we earn away with a few exceptions and are on the buy a rental every 2-3 years plan. We currently have one duplex (3br /2.5 ba on each side) which is just shy of cash neutral. That plan has us retired in 19 years from right now.

2) Business persistence and / or product development

Lorna & Tamara said it very well.

the business to become self-sustainable so that we could either walk away or sell it and have it continue to support those working for the company.

On one hand we are continually working on the systematization of our business, so that it might either be acquired or duplicated consistently.

On the other hand will be the development of products. We are in an interesting place as we do quite a bit of prototyping for some of the world’s larger organizations and get to see a lot of IP. It gives us a nice pulse on what is happening and what might be hot. We are releasing our first WP pluggin quite soon, as well as some CMSMS pluggins and even an air time clocking app. None of these are retirement plans, they are practice. But I though I’d start laying the foundation. We will definitely announce when they are live.

3) Julie

This lady is one smart cookie and I expect she will change the world some day in her charge for justice. I give it 50-50 odds she makes a fortune in the process.

What is the last thing that made you belly laugh?

Peter & I were making Holiday cards for our team and everyone we love. We sit down every year (it’s a tradition now), plow our way through his collection of New Yorker Magazines and cut out all the cartoons and use them to make cards. Those cartoons are ridiculous and they are really funny. But the best moment is when your best friend is laughing uncontrollably at something so stupid you don’ even think its funny. And eventually, it goes on so long you just can’t help it and you bust out laughing too.

Have you ever been in business before?

Yup. I’m on #4 right now.

#1 >WWBA (world wide business ads): 1996-97 – decided that small shop owners should be on the web and that we could build 4 simple template layouts and sell them at $200 a pop. Did great (sort of) until business partner’s family life went boom and my technical / business skills couldn’t carry the business. Quite a short lived venture.

#2 > PM Networks: 2001 – 2006 – my solo company building websites and online software. Eventually absorbed into S&P.

#3 > IBO w/ Quixtar: 2002-2007 – an mlm company which allowed us to refer business to a grip of fortune 500 companies (circuit city, shop.com, barnes and noble …) and make affiliate money off the referrals. Like what a bunch of you do with amazon but on steroids. We learned an amazing amount about business, sales, team building, self motivation and more. I consider our experience here a direct contributor to the current success of S&P. Died because the prices got jacked so they were no longer competitive and they decided to re-merge the company with it’s sister company Amway, which had a poor reputation in the USA and I had no interest in being an Amway affiliate.

#4 > S&P: In year 2 of our merged companies and going strong. Peter is a blessing and a great business partner. oh what do we actually do? We build teams of vetted contractors and mediate their services to our customers, specializing in user interface, prototyping and full scale online software.

At what point do you consider yourself successful?

Actually, I’m kind of stunned by how well everything is going right now. My health is great, my marriage is on fire, my business is strong, mom’s doing better and I have spent a fair bit of time with the family. But I am not someone who sits on his laurels.

The day money no longer has influence on my life.

Since I have no intentions of being an ascetic, that leaves wealth. When I get to that point I’ll pick another goal.

What was your first experience with a computer?

We got an IBM in 1983 – the first pc IMB made – green monochrome screen – I still remember the spelling helicopter game where you had to pick the letters of the word and move it around. I also have these fond yet frustrating memories of playing zork. Jump. nothing happens. Turn left. you turn left. Open door. door is locked. FUCKING HELL, GET ME OUT OF THIS ROOM AND MAKE SOMETHING INTERESTING HAPPEN. You stupid game.

Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates in a jello wrestling match, where’s your money?

I think Steve would prance around and make a big show of it. And Bill would never say a word and then with the same focused determination he does everything, he would ruthlessly demolish Jobs. But then Jobs might call his possy in and then it gets confusing. Oh wait, but Gates just grabbed one of the judges chairs just swung it into the back of Job’s knees …

Where do you do your best thinking?

In the water, waiting for waves, then on the cliff, feet hanging, watching the waves. I am a whole lot like jamie – my body is very loud in my life – I can’t think unless in motion. Julie has to take me on walks if she wants to talk longer than 15 minutes.

What does your average daily work / life balance look like? How much time do you work, play and sleep?

It is so cyclical. The software service business is a business of peeks and valleys. We sell and do proposals – busy time with a lot of socializing – it is a hypbrid play / work period. Then calm before the storm. Lots of play. Then work work work work work. Then a little burn out .. recover and play .. then back to sales. And repeat. I make the point of trying to do something physical daily.

If I could introduce you to anyone, who would it be?

My next mentor (are you my mentor?). At this point I have outgrown both of my past mentors, and out business has reached new heights. I still learn from them but it is time to find someone who has grown a service business beyond our size who is willing to listen and counsel. I am looking for someone who is currently living the life we want, who has already walked the path we are on.

What stops you from giving up when you are frustrated?

Julie, Peter and pure stubbornness.

Julie is the most determined finisher on the face of the planet. It is so strong that she is very cautious starting anything because she knows she will be driven to finish it. So telling Julie I am going to quit anything is like trying to tell the Pope that you have been thinking about it and your are going to have a little gay sex, but that it is ok and you are still a good Christian. It doesn’t matter how good your argument is. So I typically weight my fear of disappointing Julie versus the discomfort of fighting onwards. Perseverance typically wins out.

Peter is the opposite. He verbally loves on me and builds me up. He never wants to let anyone down and will encourage and pull rather than push. It is a real gift he has. He is becoming an incredible manager.

And then there is me. I’m a bit of a fighter. And I must have mule genes in my family somewhere. Because I am one determined stubborn bugger.

If Chuck Norris and Steven Hawking had a baby (hey it’s my damn interview), would you vote for her for president?

Probably. I usually pick my candidate the night before browsing the internet. I have absolutly no patience for all the whoopla and bullshit that is a political campaign. For one simple reason. You are all lying bastards, & I can’t believe anything the media says. Kind of puts me in a tough spot. Either I take an inordinate amounts of time to search and sort or I do my best in a concentrated amount of time, like cramming for a midterm, and then I move on. So, I would probably vote for her if the few sources I pick as the best attempt at truth this election framed her in a way I liked. Or she could just be an actor and save us all the trouble of voting and win by default.

My additional question

ok they were all mine but here is another: What stands between you and your next goal?

Ok, still no tired of this .. check out the responses so far

Free Promo, Free Books, and Free Insight

Me.

Shane and Peter Challenging Entrepreneurs to an Interview, Part 2

Bikini or Thong: My Response To The Challenge

Boxers or Briefs?

Shane & Peter interview the titans…and me

Interviewing me … the Entrepreneur

The Job Interview that Never Was

An Interview with Me

Interviewing Myself for Shane & Peter

Boxers Or Briefs — and other less important questions

Shane and Peter’s Interview

Few Entry, None Exit Strategy

Interviewing myself .. who is apparently an entrepreneur

Shane and Peter’s Interview

An Entrepreneurial Self Portrait

I thought I was done with interviews

My Self Interview

Shane & Peter are My Homeboyz

The Interview

Interview with an Entrepreneur

Interviewing Yourself: Me (Joshua Clanton)

Interview Yourself: Eric Davis

The Only Interview that Matters

Interview Yourself: WAH(web)Mommy

Interviewing Myself as an Entrepreneur

Interview yourself: Lodewijk

Interviewing You

This is a guest post from our friend, Jarkko Laine. Jarkko is Insanely Interested In Everything, and single-handedly starting an entrepreneurial revolution.

When I think of a billionaire the first image that comes to mind is that of Scrooge McDuck. An image of someone who has earned a big fortune through hard work, but lost the most important treasures along the way: his friends, family, and good will.

Traditionally this is what business has been about. After all, check out Donald Trumps long string of ex-wives (at least he didn’t chop off their heads like Henry VIII). I challenge you to count the successful entrepreneurs who have been able to maintain a healthy work-life balance. And it’s not only entrepreneurs who are affected. Pretty much everyone who wishes to climb the corporate ladder needs to submit to deadly working hours and enough stress to turn the once friendly bloke into a zombie robot.

But this is about to change. There is a small revolution on the way.

What inspired me to write this post was an e-mail message I received from Shane a few days ago. In that email, he said something that I haven’t been able to get off my mind. It’s a simple, but yet so profound thought: “I can take other people with me”.

What a testimony of a new way of looking at the business world!

It’s a testimony of a new world order in which business is not only about money, but about doing what you love, with the people you love. About a new world in which business means doing something good to the community, and feeling good about yourself. And a world in which you can surf every day – even if you aren’t Kelly Slater (apparently he’s the most successful
professional surfer in the history of surfing – thanks, Wikipedia).

In this new world, there are four things that you should keep with you on your way to the top: Your family, your friends, the world around you, and most importantly, yourself.

Bring your family with you.

To your kids, you are one of the two most important people in the whole world, their mom and dad. Can you say that about your boss or your colleagues? I doubt it.

That’s why leaving your family behind when building your business is the biggest mistake you can make. People at their death beds never wish they had worked more. What they say they wish is that they would have spent more time getting to know their kids and building the relationship with their spouses.

My family is the biggest reason I strive for entrepreneurship: If I am the one in charge of my working hours, I can plan my time and work place so that there is always room for my little son. That’s a focus I never want to lose.

Bring your friends with you.

Shane and Peter, for example, are best friends. There is something overwhelming about that thought. When you work with your best friend, work is much more than just putting eight hours in every day.

When you work with friends, your work and life get mixed together. But not in the traditional “work so much that you forget about your life” kind of way.

That’s what the new way of doing business means to me: treating people well, staying as friends, and making new friends.

(little insert from Shane:) There is a great joy in life in seeing your friends succeed. While personal achievement is incredible gratifying, nothing beats being able to share it. We are going to El Salvador in February for a business retreat. Right now 10 of our closes friends, who we happen to do business with are coming. It would be cool to go alone. Having earned the financial ability together by mutual support, which enables us all to be able to go, makes it that much more precious. After all, when you are rich and free, don’t you want someone to play with?

Bring your world with you.

When you buy in to the idea that entrepreneurship is about more than just money, you begin to see that there are countless opportunities for you to do the right thing.

The right thing can mean many different things: 37 Signals does the right thing by treating their employees well (they only work four days a week during the summer – how cool is that?) and sharing their knowledge and experience with the rest of us for free. Internet entrepreneur Collis Ta’eed does the right thing by organizing the yearly Blog Action Day. MyC4 does the right thing by enabling regular people to invest in African small business.

The ranks of small businesses doing the right thing are even larger: They save on paper. They cut unnecessary business trips. They support fair trade.

This is real power that can change the world.

Bring yourself with you.

But most importantly, bring yourself with you. Don’t let your business transform you into a money eating zombie that works days in days out just mumbling the mantra of “do your work first, have fun later”.

This is your one and only life, and it’s a fragile one.

It’s true that you need to do your work if you want to be successful. But make sure that you’re only doing the things that match your values and support your larger than life goals. Stay focused and work smart instead of just working hard to be appreciated by your boss.

Go surfing every day, if that’s what makes you shine.

Read books.

Spend time with your wife.

And last but not least, work on something you love.

That’s when the new world order starts tipping into reality.

Yesterday, my iPhone became the latest victim of a wave of buggy units. About 3 months after unboxing the phone I lost the entire bottom strip of touch sensitivity. For those of you who don’t have an iPhone, that means no call button, no email, no Safari, and no iPod. Add that to a number of other functions that are tied to being able to touch the bottom of the screen and you begin to see the picture: no bottom strip = gimped iPhone.

Houston, we have a problem

Restarting and restoring the phone does nothing. This issue has been well documented by people with similar problems, and the bottom line is that the four main functions of my machine are gone with no way to fix the issue on my end.

This little fiasco has led to some creative workarounds. I won’t share all of them here – I’m still trying to get a book deal out of this – but I’ll give you a few examples. Let’s say you want to call me. You can’t just call me. You’ve got to actually send me a text so I can view it first (thankfully the “View/Ignore” buttons show up at the vertical center of the screen), then scroll up on the SMS list to the alternate call button. If I want to call someone, I have to send them a text first and go through the same backdoor method.

This baffled the Pasadena Mac Store staff, and they promptly (if you can call an entire day with no phone “prompt”) set me up with an appointment to try and fix the problem or get a replacement the next day. Hopefully, this will fix my very sad iPhone.

The larger problem here is one our love/hate relationship with communication technology.

While searching for a fix, I read a couple of articles written back in August

forecasting that these problems would start cropping up in a large percentage of phones 3-6 months after unboxing. It sounds like the forecasts are coming true and Apple will be dealing with a large number of disappointed customers – ones who’ve had just enough time to start truly relying on their phones, only to have their hearts broken when the problems start.

What this whole issue is really hinting at is the drastically lower standards we have for testing technology than we do for pretty much anything else. In the ever-quickening marketplace, companies rush products to distribution often with far less than perfect quality analysis.

On the other side, take the FDA approval process. On average, it takes a company 12 years and $359 billion to get an experimental drug to market. This sort of thorough and comprehensive testing process is unheard of in the technology world. (The MS Vista debacle is one of the most glaring examples of this sort of premature distribution.)

The end result is companies spending many more dollars on patching and fixing the problems post-distribution than if they’d just done the extra legwork when they still had the products in their hands.

This problem isn’t just relegated to phones and operating systems. Virtually every high-tech gadget released these days seems to encounter some kind of bugaboo when the product hits the wild.

I’m not logging this to blame Apple.

I love my iPhone, even with the latest bottom strip crash, the stalls, and everything else that’s lacking in the phone (read: 3G, GPS, Voice recording…). It’s still an exceptional and innovative product with an excellent customer support staff to handle any problems. I’m certain that Apple will come through and fix the problem or replace my faulty unit.

The point of writing this is to highlight the different levels of quality standards for things upon which we are seemingly equally reliant. Surely I’d rather have higher standards for the products that I actually put into my body. But on the day that your central line of communication to the outside world crashes, there’s little consolation when you consider that the problem might have been avoided if it’d undergone another couple months of testing.

It seems nowadays that everything released is stamped with a “Beta” label and shipped off for human consumption. The question I pose to you is this: how much are you willing to sacrifice in terms of QA standards to have these next generation products quicker?

Followup

A day before this post was published I had my Genius Bar appointment at the Apple store in Pasadena.  Long-story-short, they replaced the phone lickety split with a smile on their face.  No manager involvement, no questions or prodding with the phone to try to get it working while I waited.  My genius bar helper just walked to the back, picked up a new phone and brought it out to me.  That easy – 5 minutes of setting up the new phone in store and I was walking out a happy customer   Oh, and what’s more is that the new phone synced in perfectly with the old phone as if I’d lost nothing at all – music, notes, photos, contacts, emails, even recent call history was all still perfectly in tact a couple minutes after plugging it in. I’ve replaced a few phones in the last couple years, and I’ve gotta say that this sort of backup syncing without having to re-enter 100+ contacts makes the process so simple and painless that it’s really hard to bear any hard feelings.

It’s customer service experiences like this that really make me happy to be an iPhone owner.  When asked about if they’d seen a lot of replacements like this, the service guy conceded that they had seen several in the last month, but that they didn’t seem out of the ordinary based on the fact that the iPhone is still 1st gen and they’re working out a lot of these issues… he continued by saying that their mandate on the customer end is to just “be cool” about it and replace the phones outright once hardware problems are identified like this one.   So, one bad iPhone does not an epidemic make, but if you do encounter a hardware problem with yours, make a Genius Bar appointment (it’s free if you’re under warranty) and get it worked out in store.

If you don’t keep score, how do you know when you are winning? Now there is your list of dreams, an indispensables road map to happiness. Some of us though, happen to like big neat targets we can obsess over. Like ONE MILLION DOLLARS.

Peter: Ahem…well, don’t you think we should maybe ask for *more* than a million dollars? I mean, a million dollars isn’t exactly a lot of money these days. Virtucon alone makes over nine billion dollars a year!

Shane: Really?

Peter: Mm-hmm.

Shane: That’s a number. Okay then. We hold the world ransom for…..One hundred..BILLION DOLLARS!!

I was reading the web when I saw a post by Cristian Dorobantescu from energybyte.com which asked these questions:

Question 1: “What is the minimum amount it would take to make you feel OK about your entrepreneurship?”

I’ve been thinking about this. After all, there is feeling ok and there is successful. Julie & I have four goals. Control a million, have a million, earn a million, pacify a million. (courtesy of Gary Keller’s investing book)

Control a million: Control a million means the assets in my balance sheet exceeds a million. In simple terms, I may “own” my house (asset), but since I have a mortgage, the bank has controlling interest in it (liability). So all the things you own total more than a million.

It took some focus, but wasn’t too bad. I am 50% partner in a design/dev firm. We are buying a 925k duplex. Got a bit of doe in our retirement accounts and the obligatory large pile of stuff and nicknacks. As soon as the duplex closes (November 15th – fingers’ crossed), that is accomplished. I can’t tell you how stoked I am.

Own a million: This time, I subtract the liabilities (what I owe) from the assets (what I own) and have a million left over. Basically, if I sold it all off, I have a million in cash I can roll around in.

I think this is where I start to feel like my efforts are bearing fruit. Personally, Julie and I are making good headway, though we are not that close yet. We probably have something around 250-300k. I think it would be fun to figure this out, so I will write about it when I do. Seems like most entrepreneurs think this is major marker #1 and I agree it holds some weight.

Earn a million: Annual net profit of a million. Means when it’s all said and done (pre tax), each and every year, our bank account weighs in a million heavier than it did last year. Alright. At this point, I feel pretty cool! This is where I begin to consider someone has a truly successful business. It allows you the luxury of making mistakes as long as you don’t over-inflate your lifestyle. After all, if you make a million a year, invest 25k in a small company and loose it all, that stinks but you’re spouse probably wont throw you out a window. After all, there is another million coming next year. Of course, it is all philosophy to me, but I have in good authority that this is where you want to be.

Pacify a Million: As my odd friend Ali G would say: ‘Buyakasha’. Use the active revenue to transition to a more passive earning model. Basically, figure out how to get your money into investment scenarios that create more revenue that does not require your personal involvement. Goal: financial freedom. Set up your income flow so that it has no impact on your daily life decision making.It’s a lot easier to buy apartment buildings, invest in companies and make real money when you have money. So once we are slightly rich, we can focus on getting honestly wealthy.

Question 2: “What is the most difficult challenge that you face in reaching it?”

Balance. I can focus for quite a while to exclusion of everything else. But that is not in my personal definition of success. I strongly believe that money is just an enabler to do the things you want. Like spend time with family. But, if you have no family left by the time you make your money, what’s the point?

The toughest of those three goals? Definitely the third. For some reason (maybe the power of inflation x time), I have no doubt we will hammer out that second one in the near future. Of course, if you just manage to stay alive long enough and live in the first world, you are a guaranteed millionaire.

According to Jared’s post in response, the most common answers were:

● Having a million dollars in the bank is the minimum amount to feel ok about your entrepreneurship.

● The most difficult challenge is to make the first million.

Conclusion

During a hot tub meeting with Peter last week, we had this discussion on how most of the people we know our age don’t have a focused plan to become multimillionaires. With the power of inflation marching along, it’s not like any of us have a choice, we either pull it off eventually, or the tax payers will have to provide the solution. The mega corps just aren’t going to carry the bulk of American’s through to the grave. That means it is in our hands. I guess we are finally starting to return to the country of our forefathers. Good time to become a contractor and build a micro/small business.

Base your success on happiness, and you will fail.

Happiness is the most common answer to the questions “what do you consider success?” I cringe each and every time I hear it. You see, ultimately, you have no control over your happiness. Tragedy strikes and your spouse dies. Your happiness instantly diminishes. Are you less successful because the feeling is gone? Not in the slightest.

We need to base our sense of success and self-worth on more than a fleeting emotion. This is important in both life and in business. There will be amazing days and infuriating days. From personal experience, if you are in business to be happy, you are in for a tough journey. So, if it isn’t happiness, how should we define success?

Five years ago, a business companion and mentor laid out his personal formula for success. His success was based upon personal achievement in the following five places: family, finance, friendships, fitness and faith. He had simple goals for each of these areas. To him, a successful day was defined by whether or not he made progress on his goals within at least one of these areas. If he was one step closer, then today was a great day. It was based upon the balanced quality of his life.

So many people argue over whether you can define success by how much wealth you acquire. The answer is a simple yes. Of course you can. It just isn’t the whole formula. If you are massively financially successful but have no one to share it with, sacrificed your health, and have no sense of purpose, then you will be completely miserable. You need some level of satisfaction in all five areas.

I often look over the reasons I am in business. I have such strong passion for our business I have to be careful not to let it consume my life. I have learned not to define my success by the daily ebbs and flow of my business. I have long-term business goals, family plans (go, go, baby making power), make time for the strong friendships in my life, continue to push myself every time I surf and will never end my personal quest for growth & meaning. The fact is, it is not about feeling happy, it is about living a purpose filled life, with a balanced focus on the right places.