Put It All On The Line

It’s not enough to set up a business and offer your service to the world. The world doesn’t care enough about you. The world demands to be dazzled, and it wants to know; are you gonna bring it?

Sometimes this annoys me. The lazy side of me wishes I could just glide right into running the type of business I want. Then I realize why so few people run the kind of business I want to run. It’s a major challenge, and it takes massive amounts of creativity and effort to get there.

Jump Into The Deep End

I value living in a populated area with a lot going on. I like it. The sweet smell of opportunity fills the air.

I was recently living in a small town called Anacortes in Washington state. There was no sweet opportunity, nothing except beautiful mountains in the distance. It felt small, which made me feel small. Why? I don’t care. I don’t have enough time to rationalize it.

I was working with a startup company out there planning to do big things, and it didn’t go so well.

Note to self: never work full-time on a project that you do not have any equity in or that does not provide immediate income. Too many variables and too little control. I don’t care how much potential the project has, don’t do it.

Now, I’m in Los Angeles, working for myself and living the dream baby. 😎

Okay, maybe not living the dream just yet, but it’s a good first step. So far I love it here. Right now, I’m staying near Hollywood. I see more TV and commercial studios on my walk to the gym each morning than I had before seen in my entire life. It’s weird, but kinda cool.

I’m moving downtown to the financial district in a few weeks into a sweet apartment. It’s got a gym and a rooftop pool, guys. I can’t wait.

What The Hell Are You Thinking?

This question might be on your mind. If you’re one of my parents, you’re definitely wondering this.

Look, I’m not your average person. I realized this long ago. I don’t care about living a cozy, safe and “happy” life. I prefer to live a life that satisfies me. I prefer to discipline myself, keep my mind and body clean, and go for the big home runs even though it means I’ll fail many times, sometimes publicly. If I’m not striving for something big, I get depressed.

How am I going to make this work? By getting new business, slow and steady, and then growing the team, slow and steady. Also, by doing what I do best, making amazing web apps and finding out ways to make them better. This time, I plan to grow my business correctly.

I made the mistake of trying to jump into this business too quickly by offering to do everything under the sun for anybody with a checkbook. Let’s just say it didn’t go well.

I spent 99% of my time and energy talking to people who were not my target clientele. You can imagine how this played with my mental psyche for those 6 months. Running around like a headless-chicken without any income. How fun!

Screw that. Life’s too short. Let’s get to the fun stuff. Let’s make a big splash, observe the pretty ripples and laugh about it after.

Stay tuned.