American Dreaming

Fall Is Upon Us

2006-09-04T19:08:00.000-07:00

In the next week or two it will officially be fall. This is my favorite time of the year as it cools off a bit, the leaves change colors, etc. I'm looking forward to continuing on my career journey with a lot of new developments going on around me. Surprisingly enough to me the towel business did $7,000 in sales in the month of August, and it's looking like I might be able to continue to receive deals as a new client has come into the picture. As I've mentioned before, I'm done putting any time or energy into this business, however if a client calls I'll gladly take care of them.

I feel like I'm more in control of my mind than I've ever been before, which I believe is a reason for many great things happening in my life right now. I've really been working on maintaining a positive attitude throughout all situations, and it has helped out a lot in my entire life. It's been a great learning experience and I feel the more time I put into this the more I'm gaining control of my mind and attitude.

On another note Steve Irwin the crocodile hunter lost his life today. It's been all over the news lately, and I'm mentioning him in this post because of his unrivaled PASSION. In entrepreneurship one thing that is repeated over and over again is that you need to be passionate about what you are doing. If you embody this passion, than you will succeed. I think Steve Irwin was an example of that as I can't think of another human being more passionate about what they set out to do. Imagine waking up each and every day knowing that this day and every day you would be doing what you love with the people you love, making a change for the causes that you believe in. I feel like this was the life that Steve lived, and the life I am seeking to discover on a day to day basis.

Finally, I was recently introduced to the "Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance" by Andrew Ericcson. The book studies expert performers from a wide range of fields including sports, musicians, stock picking, etc. The interesting conclusion (and one that really got me excited) was the trait that we often call "talent" is highly overrated. Experts are made, not born. Experts are made through days and days of practice, which does make perfect! One example of this can be found in a story recently written on Andre Agassi (also introduced to me by the same fellow who introduced the Cambridge Handbook) which noted that he hit between 3,000 - 5,000 tennis shots a day growing up, and by age 5 was already practicing with tennis pros such as Jimmy Connors. You can find the article right here. Another astounding fact that I didn't realize was that when Andre rededicated himself to tennis back in 1998 he built his upper body strength up so high that he could bench press 350lbs!

Start Up Mode

2006-08-29T19:57:00.000-07:00

The latest business plan that I mentioned in the previous posting has been on my mind for some time now. I believe I started writing the plan back in March and finished it to my abilities sometime early this summer. In looking back on the amount of time this has taken, I'm truly not satisfied with what I've accomplished to this point. I'm actually never satisfied with my work, which I think is something that I can use to my advantage. So here is where I am at this point:

Business plan is done, however not sharp enough to where it is worthy of raising funding. I need to find someone to work on filling the holes in this plan. Regardless of whether or not this idea gets off the ground, it's going to be better to know how to finish a sound business plan at a young age than to continue to go on as an entrepreneur without this knowledge
I do NOT have a programmer whom is on board as an equity partner to build this site. My goal is to find someone whom I can partner with , where I provide the business end, and they provide the technology end. I have a few people to pursue at this time, but no commitments
I do have a supplier of products that will enable me to get this site off the ground, and have products to feature each and every day. They might not be the "best" prices on products, however we can make them attractive by keeping our margins very low to start. This won't result in us making money, but it will get us up off the ground so we can build our traffic base and continue to source products in order to increase our margins.
I've got the marketing relationships in place to set up a nice PR push for the week that we launch. Once again this would get us off the ground, but in order to get to the level that we are seeking, we're going to need a lot more of a sound marketing plan

I'm not sure that this idea drives me as far as being considered a "passion" of mine, however I feel that I have something else to prove to myself by continuing to pursue this. Give me a month to follow up on this posting.

Trying To Keep Up

2006-08-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

I haven't really been avoiding this blog lately, I actually think about it all of the time but just don't have anything relevant that I want to post until right now. In life you have a lot of choices to make, one of those big ones being your career path. I've chosen to start a business, as opposed to working at a job, however it's by no means been an easy ride and I often find myself thinking that I could just end this misery by getting a job and resorting to a stable life. And then I think to myself....Commit. Make it work one time, and life's a beach.

Originally in this posting I was going to document a few things that had happened to me since my last posting, a few negative things. After a conversation with a friend and fellow entrepreneur I've decided that while these events are part of the journey, it's a better choice to focus on the positive. Don't get me wrong, I've had a positive attitude and demeanor throughout it all however it has seemed that everything has been going wrong. Not going to focus on that though, here's what's been going down that I'd like to remind myself.

My wishes of joining a team, and finding an opportunity to learn and make money were answered when I was brought onto a team at a company called Greif. I'm making more money than I ever have in an hourly position, have freedom to work whenever I please, and am learning a lot about bringing a product from an idea all the way to commercialization with a limitless budget.
I've been able to continually keep my house rented out in spite of losing all of my tenants
My golf game continues to make improvements, and everytime that I seem to have a problem, I'm able to work it out with my coach or on my own.
A client that I lost a year ago called out of nowhere and gave me a large towel deal, that could keep on coming throughout the year. We shipped product out the beginning of August, and I received and deposited the check this week
I wrote and finished my first full business plan with financials, traffic statistics, etc. Learned so much by going through these steps, and met so many new people regardless of what happens.
Pitched my business plan and idea to so many different contacts, still have a few open doors
Networking like crazy, and the contacts that I have made, have in turn been introducing me to more and more people they know that might be able to provide value. It's amazing as you never know when a relationship that you've taken the time to develop will lead you to the person or path that will change your life
I've had numerous opportunities present themselves to me in the past few weeks, and it will be exciting to see where the next door opens

I'm sure there's plenty more great things that have been happening lately, however these are the few that I could recall at the time of this posting.

A New Path

2006-07-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

I try to write in this blog more often, however laely I haven't exactly had many new things I felt about writing about. My past posts describe a few common recurring issues that I was facing, and I've recently had a few positive developments. One thing I mentioned a few times was the towel business, and the ups and downs I was facing with that. Well recently I decided to close the doors on this operation. When I say close the doors I mean get rid of all inventory, and stop pursuing any new business. I still have clients who call once in a while, and I will fulfill their orders, but that doesn't require much time or energy. I'd say the business became more of a mental weight on my shoulders, especially now that a powerful competitor has entered the market here in Columbus. So instead of wasting my time and negative energy worrying about this, I'm done. I have some left over inventory and two potential buyers, so very soon I should be rid of all liabilities.

One other common recurrence in my blog postings was working with a team. I've missed the energy, momentum, and excitement created when working with a group of people all motivated in line with the vision of a company. For my latest venture I've been placing an emphasis on putting the right team together, and things are coming together. I'm talking with a few people, all excited about the opportunity, and already introducing me to new contacts, opportunities, etc. I met with one of them on a recent trip to New York City this past week, which was incredible to say the least.

Also in regards to a team, I recently took on a consulting gig with a local company here in town. I have mentioned in this blog that I've been looking for a part time job for some time now in order to be able to pay my bills, etc. I've actually been looking for a long time now, having offers, but not taking them because they didn't pay enough money and they weren't helping me grow as an entrepreneur. I thought at one point that I was going to be working for a past investor at his company however he stood me up on two occassions at which point I decided I didn't want to work for him anyhow. It's funny though because if he didn't no show for the two different meetings I probably wouldn't have fallen into the opportunity that I took. My position, which I start on Wednesday, is to help a local company here in town take some product concepts from ideas all the way to commercialization. I'm really excited, it's a new path that allows me to learn and grow while also being paid.

I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason, and I feel like as long as you don't give up you can put yourself in the position to take advantage of the opportunities that you were looking for.

Other than this, I recently spent a week up in New York City. I met with four people up there, two of them very successful entrepreneurs. Actually successful is an understatement. These guys just had it, unlike any others their age that I have ever met. The meetings went well, and I feel I'm learning more and more what it takes to make it in this field.

Memorial Day

2006-06-06T20:39:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day has come and gone, another summer here again. I can't believe how fast time flies as you move through life. I was just sitting here thinking about a task that I know I have to complete, however continue to put off. Something I was reading recently described a tactic to fight through times like these. If there's something you're putting off in life, ask yourself why? It seems that everything we do as humans revolves around two things, pleasure and pain. If I'm avoiding something than I must associate some sort of "pain" with taking this action which overpowers the "pleasure" that I would get from taking this action. Anyhow it's powerful stuff and it concerns me how we can associate so much "pain" with an action in the short term when in the long term it will bring us so much "pleasure". I think it comes down to laziness and lack of self discipline. If we don't get a handle on concepts such as these than summers will continue to come and go, and life will continue to pass us by.

Anyhow enough of that, not much new on the entrepreneurial front. I know my latest business plan needs a lot of work and I am working with someone right now on tweaking it in order to get it ready for financing. I've also been going to job interviews in order to get some more money coming in. It was so weird at first to be meeting with HR departments again, I was hoping I would never have to do this again. Big Reality Check. Gotta do what you gotta do, but I'll never give up the dream.

Memorial Day Pics:

Up Before The Sunrise

2006-05-24T02:25:00.000-07:00

Much thanks to Steve Pavlina and his different blog posts on changing your everyday habits. I've been testing a few of them out in order to help me become more of an early riser, and I've been seeing results. It probably sounds simple to most people, however being an entrepreneur there's nothing that I have to get up for in the morning because I can start working at anytime. I'd say I fell into a bad habit of lying in bed a little longer than I should be, but that's all changed recently. It's about 5 a.m. right now and I'm up and heading to the gym!! I feel great, and I'm looking forward to seeing how I feel throughout the day.

I Was Running

2006-05-22T19:21:00.000-07:00

"Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle - when the sun comes up, you had better be running"

I've been trying to get up earlier on a more consistent basis. Another thing that I've experienced as an entrepreneur is that when you don't "have" to get up at any certain time because you don't have a job to go to, it's easy to just go back to sleep. Why waste the morning though, it's one of my favorite times of the day and I've been getting up earlier and earlier lately. It's 7:30 a.m. right now and I'm up and running. I thought that was a great quote, and I've used it to motivate me to get started early on a more consistent basis.

Freedom

2006-05-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today, what do I want to be an entrepreneur for? Why am I doing this....really?Actually I think about this a lot, just to try and get to the core of what is motivating me to do this, because after all there has to be some serious motivation that comes from within if you want to succeed at creating a company. Something at which the stats are clearly stacked up against you.

My usual answer to this question is "Freedom", and I usually give this answer with conviction. Basically there is no way you could tell me otherwise. I want to be free to do the things I want to do, to play golf, to travel, to enjoy a beautiful day outside, to hang out with family and friends, etc. Well today I had an epiphany. Funny how this works, today I realized that I don't have a job, I don't have to wake up at any specific time in the morning, and I don't have many substantial commitments during the week. So while I am pursuing my business venture, I am able to play golf whenever, travel whenever, spend time with friends whenever, etc. So how the hell am I supposed to be motivated by Freedom, when I am as Free as the wind.

You might argue that "Financial Freedom" is more what I might be after, however I don't necessarily feel that money is a large enough motivator for most people, it works for some but not for all, probably not for me. I think I have some soul searching to do. It's not that I have a history of taking advantage of the freedom I have, but I'm really trying to get a better idea of what motivates me from the core. What motivates me to get up in the morning, and what's going to motivate me to build a successful venture.

Anatomy Of A Roadtrip Part 1

2006-04-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

So the move's been made. Sometimes things get pretty stressful when a new venture isn't moving forward as quickly as possible. At times like these I need a change, either a change of scenery, a change of something. So this time I've headed on a cross country trip out to Las Vegas and Los Angeles. I'll be out here for a week, and the best part is the trip was free. Of course another part of choosing this lifestyle is I'm often broke, so everything I do, I work hard to do on a budget. This trip is no different as I'm only paying for food and entertainment, all travel and lodging is paid for.

We left Columbus, Ohio on Friday April 21st at 7pm and headed on a trip that would take us through Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, and California. So far we've hit a deer, got pulled over because they thought we were driving a stolen car, came across a huge strip club complex off the highway in the middle of nowhere in the Ozarks, saw some buffalo, saw the huge power generating windmills that I've only seen on tv (these things are incredible), ate some mexican food, traveled from green grass and trees to miles and miles of barren sand and desert, traveled through mountains, drove right over the Hoover Dam at night, and stayed a few nights in Vegas.

We left Las Vegas to spend a week in Malibu, California for a week which was, once again, an amazing time. Here are some pics from the trip.

Eating Jay's Potato Chips....Only available in Oklahoma

One of the coolest things I've seen....Real life horizontal axis wind turbines

The Hoover Dam at night....

Statue of Liberty on the Vegas strip...

Eric at the waterfall in Malibu.....

Me sitting in tree under waterfall....

Top of waterfall...Side view. Tallest fall in Southern California

View from the top....You can see all the way to the ocean

That's Business

2006-04-11T20:06:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in a previous post about a potential "copycat" of the Buckeye Pride Rally Towel project. Well it's definitely true, and the story gets better. Since I found out about this so called admirer, I was even more motivated to make this years relaunch as big as possible. In order to do this I need a retail partner, and a big one at that. I have a relationship with Kroger, and I was positive that I could go to my buyer there and she'd jump on board after seeing everything that I have planned. When I contacted her I didnt hear back right away, only to get an email later in the day saying this..."Just so you know I have already partnered up with the Team Shops on a towel they are going to promote. Let me know what you come up with but I've already committed to this program." I couldn't believe it, after three years of working with this woman, solving any problems that ever arose with our business transactions, giving her products that sold well, and she doesn't even think twice about contacting me before she decides to sell another competing product. Maybe I'm just being naive, but I don't really agree with her decision making. I've told this story to a few people and they say, "that's business". Is it though? I really don't think that's business, it's more like an unethical shame.

I'm not done with this project yet however. I have sent an email and left a voicemail with the guy who is introducing the competing product, we'll see if he actually calls back. I've also contacted the Kroger buyer, who will have no choice but to talk to me as I'm going to keep calling her until she picks up the damn phone. I just want to know why she wouldn't at least consider contacting me before she participates in a deal that would jeopardize three years of work that she knows I've been a part of.

If I've learned anything out of this it's to stay in closer communication with the valuable relationships you develop in business. When I spoke to the OSU athletic department about this the contact there said, "well I haven't heard from you guys in a while". While this is true, he knows how to get ahold of me, and he knows what I've been working on. He could have at least made a phone call, or sent an email. The reason we haven't exactly kept in touch with them is because they stopped supporting us once we weren't "students" at Ohio State anymore, which was discouraging, however we moved on and accomplished a lot without their help. That ultimately is not the point though, when you are in business you need to foster the valuable relationships that you develop, bottom line. Maybe I didn't succeed in doing so.

On the other business concept I am working on developing things are moving forward, very slowly. I'm now realizing how hard it is to find a programmer to build the back end of a website. I've sat through a number of meetings, and still no one sticks out in my mind as the right person for the job. Also I've realized there's so much that can go wrong when building a website, which doesn't help the cause any. Other than that, I'm pumped about the idea, and I'm looking forward to breaking ground on the site development. I've got a move planned next weekend that should get a little more momentum going on this idea....I'll write more about it next time.

Intentions And Progress

2006-03-20T17:44:00.000-08:00

Intentions have proven to be a very powerful thing in my belief. While I overlooked them for a while, I've only lately made more of an attempt to throw out positive energy in the direction of things that I intend to happen. Last week was the start of it all, as I intended for a number of things to happen, and it made a huge difference. In trying to figure out a way to explain exactly what an intention is, I've found the following explanation from some material that I've recently read. It goes something like this:

"A model for goal achievement is that of cause and effect. Your goal is an effect to be achieved and your task is to create the cause that will produce the desired effect. You might think that the cause of an effect is the series of actions leading up to that effect, but you'd be wrong. Those series of actions are themselves an effect. The real cause is the decision that you made to create that effect in the first place, and this decision is an intention. An intention is the moment you decided to yourself "make it happen". Whenever you want to set a goal for yourself, start by setting it. Take the time to become clear about what you want, but then just declare it. Don't ask, just declare. Intend for it to happen and the rest will take care of itself"

So anyhow I threw out some intentions that I was set on taking place, and because of them I'm making great traction on my latest business idea so far. I can feel the momentum snowballing, and I only hope that it continues that way. I won't let the cat out of the bag just yet as to the idea, however I will say that today I spoke with my first potential supplier, and there was some genuine interest in working out an arrangement. Exciting to say the least, as I didn't know what to expect. Now I've got a lot more confidence going into my next string of meetings with suppliers. I have three more this week, for one I will be driving up to Cleveland to meet face to face with the founder of a successful online retailer. I have my business plan in place and everything. It's great to be meeting with people again, and on the chase for the puzzle pieces that all need to be in place to start this business.

The Latest

2006-03-11T11:38:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't made an update in about three weeks. There's been plenty going on, however it's been mostly planning activities which doesn't make for any interesting posts. I can quickly sum up where I'm at:

Seeking a part time job to keep food on the table
Seeking product suppliers for my latest business idea (I love this one, but suppliers are a must, more to come.....)
Moving forward on the re-launch of the "Buckeye Pride" brand (a lot of things need to fall into place in order for this to happen)

So there it is. At least for once I am focusing on one business idea, well for the most part. That's one thing that I've really gotten down on myself for in the past. It seems that so many entrepreneurs face the same problem, it's a combination of being an opportunist and having ADD. As far as my new found focus, I can say that it's made a huge difference. I'm now on the phones again, meeting people, and building up my network. One thing I'm lacking so far is a mentor, but I've reached out to a few people in this industry to help me with that. It's exciting right now, and I'm looking forward to moving forward again this week.

Tonight I watched a special on ESPN called "Through The Fire" about Sebastian Telfair. Sebastian was a high school basketball phenom from New York City, who skipped college to become drafted into the NBA two years ago. He's now playing for the Portland Trailblazers and he's making it happen. What an amazing ride this kid has had, and based on what I saw on the special he's worked so hard to get where he's at. The documentary gave me some great inspiration for the week to push a little harder any chance I get. Hard work pays off, it's that simple!

Copycat

2006-02-22T19:07:00.000-08:00

So I'm writing the business plan for my latest idea right now, however something is bothering me so much that I had to write about it. I've been thinking about it all day since I found out, and now I'm going to post a short story about this.

So back in 2003 when we launched the "Buckeye Pride" rally towel (my first product from my first business) we decided to partner with Hangonsloopy.com the official teamshop for Ohio State Buckeyes merchandise. We featured them in all of our ads as the destination online to purchase the towel, and it worked, better than even we thought. They ordered 1,000 units to start off, and in a little over 24 hours they had all sold out. That was unheard of, and they knew it, and they told us. Much to our surprise they wouldn't place a re-order. Their excuse was that they didn't like the manufacturer that we were working with, and also they didn't have the means to package and ship all this product in such a short amount of time. If you ask me, those are both BS answers. When your in business, and you have too many orders coming in, to me that means you're making too much money, and that's never a bad thing. Actually I strive to feel this way and work my butt off because that means that I'm making too much money, and I like that feeling (I haven't felt that way in a long time by the way). Anyhow they didn't re-order from us that season, however they did let us sell during the OSU Spring Game. Once again we sold all 1,000 towels that we brought, I actually walked out of Ohio Stadium with a shoebox clutched tightly under my arm with $5,000.00 cash inside. It was a success, we knew it, and so did they. We haven't really worked together since.

Well today I was tipped off to a link on the Hangonsloopy site where I found out they have created their own version of a towel. It seems that they realized the potential putting some marketing behind a product could have, and have created their own, with their own marketing campaign, and even their own charity. The problem is this is an exact copy of the business model that we started. In business people steal business models and ideas all the time and put their own spin on them, maybe introduce them to a new demographic, or introduce them to a new company. I've even tried it before, it can work and work great. However the fact that we worked directly with these guys, and they've taken our idea and applied it to the same product without even calling and asking if maybe we wanted to work together, etc. That's what sets me off.

This just goes to confirm what many people warned me about. When you are involved in a commodity business, anyone can copy you and enter the business tomorrow. There are really no barriers to entry. Live and learn, and while I'm not happy right now I STILL LOVE IT!

Goodbye Hair

2006-02-14T19:56:00.000-08:00

Today is a sad day. I have decided that in order to be taken more seriously as a businessman I am going to need to part ways with my hair for a little while. Tomorrow I will go to the dreaded hair stylist and take a few inches off. Not too much off the top, but enough to make a serious difference in my appearance. I know that one day we will meet again hair, when I'm successful, because then I can do whatever the f@#! I want. Hopefully when that finally happens, I'll still have hair!

Below, some of our last joy filled moments together:

Blogging For Dollars

2006-02-14T18:57:00.000-08:00

For anyone who follows blogs there was a great article today in New York Magazine about the blog world as a whole. There are a lot of people out there making a lot of money writing posts day in and day out to a target audience. I found the article intriguing because of my new found fascination with blogs. I follow them every single day in order to keep up with the latest business trends, internet trends, and to follow entrepreneurs whom I admire. The best thing about it is it's all free to the viewer. Even the ones writing the blogs have virtually no start up or maintenance costs, and if you have relevant posts and a target audience you can make a ton of money on advertising revenue. Last year saw $100 million dollars spent on blog advertisements, and I'm sure that number will grow in the future.

While this particular blog is just me taking a stab at learning a little more about how these advertising machines work, it's not meant to attract a number of viewers. Who would want to read this garbage anyway! It's more so a journal for me to document the path I'm on, and also to better understand what it takes to keep up with a blog. I'm basically trying to position myself to create a successful blog down the road if I come up with a topic that I enjoy writing about, and feel there's an audience for.

I'm writing this post right now because you have the opportunity, if you're interested of course, to follow a brand new blog from its birth. Engadget, the second most popular blog in the world (which was included in a blog portfolio bought for $25 million dollars by AOL) , has just launched Engadget Mobile, which is dedicated to posting cellphone news and reviews. While the information on this site may not be important to you, following it allows you the insight into exactly what it takes to create a blog that could generate a six to seven figure income. The guys writing this are the best of the best in the blogosphere, who better to learn from. They launched February 13th and are already getting 80,000 page views a day, mostly because of the brand they've created with Engadget, however they had to start somewhere. You better believe I'll be following this one to pick up any tips I possibly can.

It's A Beautiful Thing

2006-02-14T18:20:00.000-08:00

The picture is from a recent lunch meeting that I've had with the new Business Builders Club. The guy who founded the BBC and introduced me to the group four years ago while in college, Nathan Hurd, is sitting to my right telling a story. Anyhow, it's been great to reconnect with the group that provided me with the resources to develop as an entrepreneur. Most of the guys at the table are current students at Ohio State who are leading the BBC right now. We all sit around, spit off business ideas, talk about the projects we're working on, etc. It's great to see the next generation, as this is where I came from, and I can remember my days in their shoes.

Now to utilize everything I've learned, apply this to an idea, and create a sustainable and successful enterprise.

An update on my current projects. My ebay supplier from Sri Lanka has continued to send me emails with products that I'm not interested in. Anytime I email him notifying him of products I might be interested in, he ignores my email, and continues to send me irrelevant products. I think it's safe to say once again I'll have to continue searching for the right supplier. I've just recently received a new contact over there, which I'll pursue in the near future.

The towel re-launch is in the process of acquiring a charity and celebrity partner. I have a few emails out to prospects, just waiting to hear back. I have enough time that if I don't hear back from these individuals, I can regroup, come up with a few more prospects, and seek partnerships. From my past experiences I feel a celebrity partner could ad credibility, and marketability to the project. The goal is to create a "buzz" around the product, so it's not just another piece of OSU merchandise sitting on retail shelves.

The idea search is still in progress. I'm starting to organize it a little better, keeping a list of which ideas I come across, and which ones I like. I have a list of nine criteria that I'm using to analyze each idea in order to determine which ones could qualify as the one (I stole this from an entrepreneur that I follow). In the meantime if I don't come up with anything, I'm looking into my other options. I've just recently begun reaching out to entrepreneurs within the community to see if they might have any positions or openings within their organizations. I've mentioned this before, but I miss the energy, and productivity of working with a team, and if I'm not able to come up with an idea to build a team around I'm going to join someone else's in the meantime. On with the journey!

More Ideas

2006-02-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling a post coming on for a while now. Recently I've been spending my days searching and searching for ideas (which I have quite a few concepts now). It's exciting, and frustrating, and exciting at the same time. My fascination with the internet is growing, however I don't want to seclude myself to only seeking opportunities in this sector. I've come up with all sorts of ideas and concepts, however nothing has stuck out in my mind as "The One".

While it's not always exciting working out of home, figuring out what to do with my life, it's been kind of fun spending time with my sister. She's also searching for a job, so she's often home during the days as well. I know there will come a time down the road when we both have families and won't get to spend too much time together, so I am enjoying it now while I have it

I met with a mentor of mine this past week for coffee and he had some great insight for me. I've been in the start up efforts of two different companies, and stayed in touch with this particular mentor during both efforts, so he knows where I've come from. One suggestion that he had was to continue seeking different ideas, however if I'm not able to come up with one, begin to look for local start up, or "entrepreneurial" run companies to work with. Our meeting reminded me that there are opportunities out there with recently started companies that would allow me to continue in my growth as an entrepreneur without being the person at the helm of the company. While finding any sort of job is not my first option, if there comes a time that I need to make a living for a while I know exactly what I'm going to do.

I've also re-connected with the group that helped me start off on the path that I'm on today. The Business Builders Club, which is a student run organization at The Ohio State University. I have to say the reason I got involved with this group, is because I made it happen. I remember going to their first big event back in 2001 and realizing that I had found what I wanted to do with my life. At that same event I tried to meet everyone I possibly could who was a part of this group, a lot of whom became friends of mine still to this day. Not soon after I was appointed to the executive team of the BBC. Looking back I would say the BBC offered me the resources to get started as an entrepreneur, however I have to give myself some credit, because while the resources were there, I had to go out and do something with them. I had access to a lot of successful people, however they weren't going to come knocking on my door to meet with me. I had to go out and pursue them, and I did. One person I met with ended up becoming a mentor, and an investor in my first business start up. Looking back, it's easy to connect the dots and see why certain things happened the way they have.

I remember back in 2001, I had no idea how to go about starting a business. Now I know exactly what to do, and what it takes to succeed, I just need to find my idea. That gives me assurance I'm on the right path.

More India Pics

2006-02-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Failures

2006-02-01T15:19:00.001-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about failures lately. It seems over the past few years I've looked into starting so many different ideas, and I tell people about these endeavors because I want to get their reaction (meaning I want to see if they think this is a good idea or not, and maybe get some feedback). What in turn happens is that later on down the line I'll be talking to these same people and they'll ask me, "whatever happened with that business you were starting"? And I have to let them know I decided not to pursue it for whatever reason. Is this a failure? Not at all. It's the pursuit of what feels right. If you're going to start a business it's got to be something you love....with a passion. Because for the most part, in order to be successful you need to eat, sleep, and breathe that business. For me it's so hard to "commit" to one idea. I write about focus all the time on this blog, and it's really something I need to work on. I'm still on the search, and most recently I find myself shuffling through potential business ideas that I might be interested in. I'm slightly frustrated right now, but moving forward.

I read this article recently written by Mark Cuban that talks about why entrepreneurs do what they do. The point that I got out of the article is that no matter how many times you go wrong with a business, it only takes one time to be right and you're set for life. Don't you love it.....what a thrill!

Taxes And Chuck Norris Of Course

2006-01-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

Funny joke I recently heard:

"When Chuck Norris sends in his taxes to the IRS, he sends blank forms and includes only a picture of himself, crouched and ready to attack. Chuck Norris has never had to pay taxes"

So tax season is almost here. Not the greatest time of the year for anyone including small business owners. I can remember last year the reality check that I got as I met with my accountant for the first time. Since it was my first time owning a business I hadn't been keeping great track of our books, actually I had been keeping them on an excel spreadsheet because I didn't want to waste money buying Quickbooks or any software. Brilliant Idea let me tell you.
As we were meeting I realized I needed to immediately set up some software, and even worse I had to learn how to use the software on my own, and go in and transfer all my transactions from the excel sheet into the Quickbooks software that we chose. I was almost in tears when I got that news. First of all I had only been tracking profits, so any other expense related transaction I was just going to have to make up. The worst part about it is that Quickbooks sync's up with your bank account through the internet, so anytime there is a transaction from your bank account, the next time you open quickbooks you need to reconcile your account so your Quickbooks bank balance matches your actual bank account balance. They also account for inventory (they've thought of everything). Do you see where I'm going with this.....I had to go into Quickbooks and re create an entire years worth of transactions based on memory to make the inventory correct, and the bank balances match up. What a nightmare, but I rented the latest Quickbooks Book from the library and began making up transactions the best I could until finally I made it work. While at the time it was terrible, I have to admit I got accustomed to the software pretty quickly, and today I can go in and zip right through it.

Once we got our Quickbooks file up to date we met up again with our accountant. It was then that I realized I would have to pay taxes on all of the payments I received that year from the business. When you have a regular job, obviously all the taxes are taken out of each check regardless and you don't have to worry about it. Well I had just been writing myself checks, and at the end of the year I owed taxes on all of this money. I also owed money based on the net income of the company. LLC's are flow through tax entities, meaning that the taxes are passed on to the owners. So whatever the net income of the company, you multiply that by your percentage ownership in the company, and you are responsible for paying taxes on that money. While I knew all of this going into the whole thing, I didn't plan for it.

After all the calculations, and working with my accountant to write off everything possible, I ended up writing Uncle Sam an unexpected check for $2500.00 over the summer. That hurt, but I'll never make that mistake again. Planning for all of this is key.

In order to protect yourself there's a number of things you can do. One thing is set up estimated tax payments based on last years income. Basically you pay a small amount of money each quarter towards your tax bill, so at the end of the year you're not surprised with a huge tax bill owed to the IRS. Also periodically follow up with your accountant and have him take a look at your books. They'll be able to tell you where your at in regards to income, and will be able to make suggestions to help you take action in reducing this income with write offs, purchases, etc. that will save you on your tax bill. Taxes are one thing I don't like dealing with, but when it comes to money you need to take every precaution possible.

Like 50 Cent says, "F@#! with my dough.....That's when the guns come out". I love this guy!

Ideas To Research

2006-01-20T18:39:00.000-08:00

So the experience of working on my Uncle's hotel remodeling project has been great in a few ways. As I mentioned before one of my resolutions for the new year was to stay more in touch and spend more time with my family. This job has allowed me to do that, we're having a blast down here joking around during the day, going out at night, etc. To say the least I'm glad to be back hanging with the family.

The work on the other hand is terrible in the sense that it's pointless, I'm not learning anything. It's not that it's hard by any means. We're basically a demolition crew on a construction site making a few dollars an hour. I was talking to a friend of mine today and when referring to my job he used the term "laborer", saying that I needed to get that out of my system. I thought that was funny, but so true. In any case I'm making money, and at these times you do what you have to do. I'm fine with that.

Now back in Columbus to continue with what's important. I came back to a nice surprise...I got fired from my job here at the bar. That was a long time coming though, I've not been on good terms with one of the managers, and of course he was the one who let me know, over the phone when I called in to get my schedule. And get this, he hung the phone up on me, haha. How great is that, we're arguing on the phone and right as I'm about to tell this guy how I really feel, he hung up. Coward. It's probably a blessing in disguise as it forces me to find another way to support myself in my pursuit of my business dreams.

As you can tell so far so good this week! LOL! I'm actually enjoying myself down here. As I mentioned before I've been supporting myself with ebay, just put a few more auctions up today. I also started setting up my first meetings for the rally towl towel re-launch which I'm excited to start working on. I have about seven months until the football season starts, so that's plenty of time to get in front of a lot of influential people who can help me make this happen. Other than that right now I'm on the search for my idea. As far as the ideas are coming, I dropped the alcoholic beverage concept due to moral issues, and advice I received from two professionals and a mentor who were all in the alcohol business at one point. Conversations with the ebay business supplier are going good so far, and I think I should actually have a product source here soon. This however is only to keep money coming in. I have six more months until I turn 25, which was my deadline for getting a fulltime job if I don't have a business started. To tell you the truth the thought of getting a job makes me sick to my stomach, but if I have to do it I will make it happen. That's more motivation to make something happen, and I've got a lot of research to do.

One last thing, a friend of mine recently turned me on to a blog called VentureVoice. They have a podcast where they interview successful entrepreneurs, and you can go to their site and listen to the interviews. It's truly inspiring and I plan on listening to a few of them each night while I am going to sleep. Check it out if you might be seeking advice, or inspiration for starting a business.

Internet Innovation

2006-01-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

It's good to be back over here. I've been MIA for a little while mostly because I was down in Cincinnatti working with my family business. Yep, family business....I didn't even realize I had one but I do. My uncle remodels hotels and he just landed a huge job down in Kentucky which I worked all last week. I'm heading back down there in a few hours. One of my resolutions for the new year was to spend a lot more time staying in touch with, and hanging out with my family. This has been a great start to that as I've spent a number of days with my cousins and my uncle.

So back to business. I've mentioned the power of the internet in some of my most recent blog postings (not that there have been many lately, I will work on that). I don't know why I didn't look more into this in the past (I knew there were amazing possibilities) but lately I've been going crazy. There is so much to read, and so much to learn. It seems that just about everyone is making money on the internet, and here are two old reasons why:

1. Because people will pay you for driving traffic to their website which leads to more purchases, and therefore more revenues. Whether you drive traffic as an affiliate linking to their website from yours, or if you innovate and set up a google adwords campaign driving people to a website that will pay you money. For this example, all you need to do is make sure your adwords campaign costs less than the amount of money that the site your directing traffic to, will pay you.
2. Ebay. With a captive audience consisting of millions of people from all around the world, all you need is a product and you can make money while you sleep.

There are a number of other ways to make money on the net, however these are two that I've been learning more about lately.

Today a friend of mine introduced me to a story about an entrepreneur who took advantage of Google Base's service. Google Base allows people to post just about any sort of item and have it show up on Google for free(similar to Craig's List). So anyhow, this guy signed up as an affiliate of AdultFriendFinder.com a website that pairs adults who are seeking relationships. He began creating profiles and posting them on Google Base. Each time someone clicked on one of his profiles and went to the AdultFriendFinder site and signed up as a member, the site paid him a commission. With the amount of visitors sifting through google base everyday he netted profits over $300,000 in one month. Unreal. While google put an end to people using Google Base to post affiliate links (supposedly) there will be another opportunity somewhere down the line.

As far as ebay goes, the possibilities are endless. I've used it many times in the past, and have even sought out product suppliers only to be discouraged when I found fake products, high prices, etc. My most recent experience involves my towel inventory. The same inventory I've written about numerous times in the past on this blog. Anyhow, I cleaned out my garage posting boxes and boxes of towels on ebay (all items I was just going to throw away). So far I've netted profits of around $400.00 in a little over a week, and I still have a ton of stuff to go. Not too bad for something I was just going to send out with the trash.

So now the goal is to find a consistent supplier of product for ebay. I'm in communications with a company out of Sri Lanka right now in order to make this happen. I'm hoping to stay persistent with this and focus, something I've had a problem with in the past due to jumping around from idea to idea and eventually getting nowhere.

Also recently I've begun taking my first steps at the re-launch of the "Buckeye Pride" rally towel project that I spoke of in my first post on this blog. I have some crucial meetings coming up about this project really soon. More to come....

Happy New Year

2006-01-01T23:01:00.000-08:00

It's finally here....2006! While it seems I have strayed a bit with these postings (talking about my Malibu trip, India trip, etc.) I plan on getting back to their original purpose of documenting my journey in business. So anyhow, back to the new year. I was thinking today of how January 1st, 2006 is really just another day, but to me it is so much more. I really feel a change of attitude toward everything that I am doing, a fresh start. The new year is another chance to get focused, put last year behind you, and continue to make progress. Personally, I'm so excited about this and I haven't wasted much time in getting started.

Since tax season is coming I got organized today for a meeting with my accountant this week. Taxes are a huge pain, but it's always nice when they are taken care of for the year. Also, to move forward on the japanese alcoholic drink project, I posted my project with a company called eWork markets. eWork is a company with a database of thousands of consultants in different fields. How it works is I post my project with them, they introduce me to consultants who have expertise in what I am trying to accomplish, and if I agree to work with one of these consultants they have to pay eWork a percentage of the contract. What it boils down to is that it costs me nothing to begin discussion with a lot of very intelligent people in the industry I may pursue. I've gotten a few phone calls, however with the holidays I plan to get back to them this week.

One problem I've been recently having with this project is due to the fact that it is in the alcohol industry. Morally I don't know if I want to be a part of a business that provides alcohol to consumers. While alcohol is great when used responsibly, there's definitely a dark side to it as well. Since this product would be targeted to young (of age) drinkers who consume drinks in volume, I don't know how I feel about that. Either way, speaking with a few consultants won't hurt so that's the current state of that project.

Also my CTO has recently really opened my eyes to the powers of the internet. Obviously I knew all about this before through selling things on ebay, etc. but some experiences that I have had recently have truly opened my eyes to the internets ability to generate significant cashflow. Take for example comparing the internet to real estate. A successful real estate venture is one that kicks off profits or income month after month in the form of appreciation, or in the form of a tenant paying you to lease your property for more than you are paying the mortgage balance. The same goes with the internet. A website is basically a "virtual" property. The more traffic you can drive to your site, the more advertising revenues you can generate. I'm beginning to start experimenting with Google's Adwords, and Adsense programs to better understand how to use them to generate monthly cash flows.

Last but not least a recent dinner meeting with a friend's father has opened the door to an opportunity to import designer products from Sri Lanka. I have begun putting together a list of potential products that I am interested in purchasing in hopes to resell them on the internet. I've been looking into starting an ebay venture off and on for the past two years or so, however each contact that I've made has slowly fallen through. I'm just now starting to gain a better understanding of the regulations on importing products for resale.....hopefully the contact I've made will turn this into a positive experience. More to come on this

Stay Hungry.....Stay Foolish

2005-12-20T13:14:00.000-08:00

Somedays I feel as I have lost hope. What the hell am I going to do with my life. Today I was sitting here and thinking back on the last five years. I've done so many different things, accomplished so many things, however I still feel that I was asking myself the same questions back then that I am asking now. Does that make the last five years a waste? Certainly not, but back then I surely would have thought that by now I would have the answers. I hear of this cycle all the time from a number of friends of mine, so I know I'm not going through it alone but I want to go through it no more. We all have a new year approaching, and I am going to try and make this year different than the past. I began thinking on my past because I had a conversation today with my sister, and we were reminiscing back to about exactly a year ago. We were sitting at my apartment in Columbus, Oh writing down the different career paths that we could take. We were trying to figure out life, we had options, but we couldn't decide which ones to take. As we talked today we realized that we were still, one year later, asking ourselves the same questions. An entire year has passed, and we are still asking the same questions. How could I let this happen....a whole year has passed.

I read an amazing speech a while ago that I often refer back to at times when I am questioning life. It is a commencement address given by Steve Jobs. I'm going to copy the entire speech and post it here below for all to read. There are a number of messages delivered in this speech, but one that stands out from the rest...."Do What You Love". Life is way too short, and I am reminded this time and time again. Waste no time, and let no one else interfere. Do What You Love!

'You've got to find what you love,' Jobs says
This is the text of the Commencement address by Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, delivered on June 12, 2005.

I am honored to be with you today at your commencement from one of the finest universities in the world. I never graduated from college. Truth be told, this is the closest I've ever gotten to a college graduation. Today I want to tell you three stories from my life. That's it. No big deal. Just three stories.

The first story is about connecting the dots.

I dropped out of Reed College after the first 6 months, but then stayed around as a drop-in for another 18 months or so before I really quit. So why did I drop out?
It started before I was born. My biological mother was a young, unwed college graduate student, and she decided to put me up for adoption. She felt very strongly that I should be adopted by college graduates, so everything was all set for me to be adopted at birth by a lawyer and his wife. Except that when I popped out they decided at the last minute that they really wanted a girl. So my parents, who were on a waiting list, got a call in the middle of the night asking: "We have an unexpected baby boy; do you want him?" They said: "Of course." My biological mother later found out that my mother had never graduated from college and that my father had never graduated from high school. She refused to sign the final adoption papers. She only relented a few months later when my parents promised that I would someday go to college.
And 17 years later I did go to college. But I naively chose a college that was almost as expensive as Stanford, and all of my working-class parents' savings were being spent on my college tuition. After six months, I couldn't see the value in it. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life and no idea how college was going to help me figure it out. And here I was spending all of the money my parents had saved their entire life. So I decided to drop out and trust that it would all work out OK. It was pretty scary at the time, but looking back it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The minute I dropped out I could stop taking the required classes that didn't interest me, and begin dropping in on the ones that looked interesting.

It wasn't all romantic. I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backwards ten years later.

Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.

My second story is about love and loss.

I was lucky — I found what I loved to do early in life. Woz and I started Apple in my parents garage when I was 20. We worked hard, and in 10 years Apple had grown from just the two of us in a garage into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. We had just released our finest creation — the Macintosh — a year earlier, and I had just turned 30. And then I got fired. How can you get fired from a company you started? Well, as Apple grew we hired someone who I thought was very talented to run the company with me, and for the first year or so things went well. But then our visions of the future began to diverge and eventually we had a falling out. When we did, our Board of Directors sided with him. So at 30 I was out. And very publicly out. What had been the focus of my entire adult life was gone, and it was devastating.

I really didn't know what to do for a few months. I felt that I had let the previous generation of entrepreneurs down - that I had dropped the baton as it was being passed to me. I met with David Packard and Bob Noyce and tried to apologize for screwing up so badly. I was a very public failure, and I even thought about running away from the valley. But something slowly began to dawn on me — I still loved what I did. The turn of events at Apple had not changed that one bit. I had been rejected, but I was still in love. And so I decided to start over.

I didn't see it then, but it turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.

During the next five years, I started a company named NeXT, another company named Pixar, and fell in love with an amazing woman who would become my wife. Pixar went on to create the worlds first computer animated feature film, Toy Story, and is now the most successful animation studio in the world. In a remarkable turn of events, Apple bought NeXT, I retuned to Apple, and the technology we developed at NeXT is at the heart of Apple's current renaissance. And Laurene and I have a wonderful family together.

I'm pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn't been fired from Apple. It was awful tasting medicine, but I guess the patient needed it. Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. I'm convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

My third story is about death.

When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: "If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you'll most certainly be right." It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

About a year ago I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn't even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctor's code for prepare to die. It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you'd have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes.

I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery and I'm fine now.

This was the closest I've been to facing death, and I hope its the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but purely intellectual concept:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960's, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions.

Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: "Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish." It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.

Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

Thank you all very much

Back In The Bus

2005-12-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I've written a post, but I'm back in Columbus. The adventure to India was incredible. The flight back was sooo long, but we broke it up slightly with a trip to Dubai, which was incredible. We had some funny moments in Dubai with a local activity they take part in....prostitution. It's a short story, but we ended up going into the bars there and I didn't know that prostitution was legal in this city. So anyhow, I'm wondering why every girl in this place is staring at me like she wants me. I'm thinking that I must be looking good today or something, and the next thing I know I have a girl on each arm, one holding my hand leading me to a seat at the bar, one with her hand on my thigh when I sit down. Still I'm wondering what the hell is going on here, until I look around and realize I'm surrounded by prostitutes. So anyhow, it was pretty funny.

Next we stopped in New York and met up with Pren and Marianna (two girls we met in India, who live in NYC), they took us out to dinner in Greenwich Village, and we were back to the airport to catch our flight to Columbus. Somewhere in the time of our flight I started getting sick, and by the time I got back to Columbus at 8:00 pm I thought I just needed sleep, however when I woke up on monday I was on my deathbed. I must have caught the flu or something, because I have been knocked out all week. So it's friday now and I'm finally getting caught up on everything.

Back To Business:

So in India we pitched the alcoholic drink concept to a few men who have a 57% controlling stake in the Indian Liquor Industry. We found out that the drink would probably work great there IF the government didn't place such high taxes on liquor in India. Apparently the number one source of government revenues in India is their tax on liquors, so in order to get the price at a level that would allow for the drink to sell would be nearly impossible (these guys already tried a few years back, invested $700,000.00 and failed). It was a great learning experience.

Also through Ravi's father we now have a direct connection to invest in real estate in India, however that takes money, which is something we would need to raise, and then there are a whole lot of other issues to figure out because there are regulations with american investors buying land in India, etc. We're planning on looking into this, so it should be an option in the future.

As far as business back here in Columbus, I still have not moved the towel inventory that I spoke of two months ago. I guess this trip came up, and kind of side tracked me a bit, but anyhow I have a good phone call on Monday to get me one step closer to getting rid of them. Also there is still the possibility of getting this drink launched here in America, however I NEED samples. I have three different people helping me out on this right now, and I'm hoping to get this done ASAP.

I just started dabbling into an experiment with Google Adwords, something that my CTO introduced me too, which is another potential way to make money. More to come on that soon. The more I read, and the more learn, the internet is truly an unbelievable place for people to make money without doing much. There are countless ways to make money, I'm just learning of as many of them as I can. I have about seven more months until I'm going to get a job (maybe sooner if things don't progress), so I've got my work cut out for me to make something happen.

Party Time

2005-12-04T11:21:00.000-08:00

I mentioned before that the only tough thing for me while being in India has been the language barrier that I’ve experienced. For the most part, a lot of the people here don’t speak English, and the ones that do have such a strong accent that it is often extremely tough to understand what they are saying. It’s something that you have to accept, however it can be frustrating at times and make for some awkward situations.

I’ve been on this trip now for about a week, and I really haven’t had one moment where I felt uncomfortable or nervous since I’ve been here until last night. Ravi’s parents threw a huge party at their house in celebration of Ravi’s sisters wedding, and our trip to India. The party included about 60 people, all Indian of course and then myself. Barely anyone could speak English. Ravi and I spent the day leading up to the party by chilling out, and working out. All the while there were people setting up chairs and tables all throughout the front garden, a full catering company came in and set up the food, and professional photographers were here as well. When we left the house for the gym not that many people were here, but as we came back home the place was filled. We got cleaned up, put our clothes on and went downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat as dinner wasn’t going to be served for three more hours. Ravi had already eaten, and so as I sat down at the table I was eating by myself. Within seconds I had three young Indian boys sitting at the table with me, and five ladies all crowded around me just staring. I’m sitting here trying to eat, no one else is eating, and I have sixteen wide eyes just staring at me speaking in Telegu, laughing, etc. It was insane. If this would have happened in America even, I would have told everyone to give me a little space here, I don’t like people staring at me when I’m eating, but I couldn’t communicate with anyone. I couldn’t take it, Ravi immediately came and grabbed me up, he could tell I was uncomfortable. I remember saying one of the boys names, and everyone kind of started laughing because I said it incorrectly. It was just one of those uncomfortable moments, and it happened so fast. I literally had been having the best time since being here, but at that moment I felt like such an outsider. I was looking at the crowd of people behind me all staring and I was the only white guy. Ravi got me out of there, and we left the house for a bit to go grab a cup of coffee. On the way to the coffee shop we got caught up in some traffic and these two guys pull up next to our car staring at me and waving, they wouldn’t leave our side, so Ravi rolls the window down and they are pointing and asking, “Foreign Country? Foreign Country?” We were laughing so hard, wondering if this was ever going to end. I was so glad to get away from the house for a minute though. I can’t explain how crazy that felt, being in that situation. I did NOT want to go back to that party as the crowd had only half shown up.

When we got back to the house, I went upstairs to my room and just tried to prepare myself for the night. Honestly, I did not want to leave that room, but I reminded myself….how many people really get to experience this firsthand. Not many. Just throw yourself out there, give it a chance, don’t let that one moment ruin the night. So I went forward with a positive attitude.

From that moment on, and for the rest of the night I had one of the best, if not the best night I’ve had, since we arrived in India. The boys as well as the women at the table while I was eating were honestly just curious. Once I got downstairs for the night the professional photographer was taking family pictures so I was pulled into pose with Ravi, Sashi, Swaranthy, Haresh, and his parents for their family photo. His father asked me to join, saying we are all one big family. The boys quickly ran up and wanted a picture taken with me as well (they’ve never seen foreigners before).

Sandeep, Me, and the PLN Reddy's:

Next we went down the front stairwell out into the garden where Ravi’s father walked Ravi, Haresh, and myself around to each and every table (about fifty to sixty Indian men) and introduced us to each person, shaking their hands. They all wanted to know if I knew any of the Telugu language and as I spoke the words I knew they erupted in cheers. It was great, and I think they all showed appreciation for my interest in their culture. Everyone was so incredibly friendly, and all curious about life in America. People were coming up to me to talk all night, shaking my hand, requesting pictures, asking about America and why I am in India. All of the women were decked out in their traditional Indian Sari’s, and the men were dressed nice as well.

Sashi, Ravi, Haresh, Me:

One thing I noticed about the party was that each group remained separated the whole night. The young kids are in one area, the young adults are in one area because they don’t like drinking in front of their parents and elders, the women are in one room hanging out, and the men are all in another room hanging out. The women eat dinner first, they finish their meal, then the men go through the line and eat. It’s pretty wild, so different than America.

Sharawanthy (Ravi's Sis):

Haresh, Anjee (Our Driver), Me, Wasu (Our Other Driver):
The food was incredible, and I just felt lucky to be able to partake in a traditional Indian gathering in India. At one point I remember Ravi’s mother wanted to make sure I felt comfortable, and she came to me asking, “did we inconvenience you tonight in anyway?” I’m a stranger in her house, eating her food, taking up the guest room, and she’s asking if she inconvenienced ME in anyway. I should be asking her if I’m inconveniencing her. Its just an example of how friendly and inviting everyone I’m meeting here has been. You just have to be open minded to throwing yourself into an experience like this.

Ravi's Mom:

Sunday Night Bash

Tonight Haresh and his family had a party at their home in Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad. Haresh’s father personally called me on the phone today to invite me to the gathering. I knew I was going, but I was surprised to get the phone call. As I’m talking to him, he asks how last night went, and I’m telling him that we were out until about six in the morning. The second those words come out of my mouth Ravi and his brother Sashi who are in the room are waving their arms in the air, and quietly trying to stop me from telling him anything else about the night before. It was pretty funny, I’m so used to American parents who by now are used to us going out, partying, etc. I was honest with the guy, we went out and got nuts. In India, out of respect for your parents you keep those activities separated. It was funny to see Ravi and Sashi waving their arms in the background as if to say, “noooooooo”.

The party ended up being a great time. The segregation was even more apparent tonight. The ladies ate first, and then the drivers came down to eat. After the drivers, we all went down to eat, and then after us the elder men of the party came down to eat. I saw a lot of familiar faces from the night before, so it was a lot more comfortable from the start. Haresh’s house is an incredible palace so I was sure to capture as many pictures as I could. His father oversees a number of businesses here in India, one of them being a major player in the Indian liquor business. Ravi and I pitched him on the Japanese alcoholic beverage idea a few nights ago and he took an interest in the product. We put some paperwork together, which we presented to him tonight, and we have a dinner with him again later this week before we leave for America.

Haresh's Palace:

Chennai

2005-12-03T15:50:00.000-08:00

Our trip to Chennai got off to a great start with our plane being delayed two hours. The airline called the house right after we left for the airport to let us know, so when we got there we got the bad news. Haresh, Ravi, Ram (Ravi's Father), and Vasse were heading to Chennai to check out some vacant land that Ravi's father was interested in purchasing. Since our flight was delayed we went to an indian restaurant to get some food (something we would end up doing over and over and over again in Chennai).

Ravi, Ravi's Father Ram, Me, Vassee, Haresh:

Finally the flight took off and we were on our way. I was so excited to go explore a new city, and surprisingly the flight attendants on our flight were gorgeous. I ended up meeting one of them (Mamta), we had a good time on the flight exchanging flirts, etc. Honestly I've been dissappointed with the women so far in India. There haven't been that many good looking ones at all, so I was so excited to see Mamta. As soon as I saw her walk by, I introduced myself the next opportunity I had and it made the flight fun.

We got to Chennai and were immediately picked up by a driver from the airport, where we left to spend the day looking at land. We drove north out of Chennai, and headed about forty miles outside of the city. In my eyes Chennai was a disgusting city with no scenic beauty whatsoever. If anything it made me thankful to be an american. There were rows and rows of these dilapidated buildings with small businesses being run out of them, stray dogs running around everywhere, homeless people sleeping on the side of the road, villages of huts with palm tree leaves for their roof. I could have gotten some great pics of all of this, but we were driving the whole time so I didn't get a chance to get out of the car and snap. It really made me realize that in India it is so important the family that you are born into. I noticed all of these little kids running around in their huts, and realized that they will probably live this life until the day they die...only a small few will make it out and that's very sad. There were even construction crews working on the roads with women workers doing the manual labor, digging ditches, etc. The drive out to the land was wild, we were flying at 140 kilometers an hour (don't know the mph conversion) weaving in and out of goats, dogs, people that would decide to cross the highway, yes highway, right in front of our flying car. It's nuts how the horn is utilized while driving in India, you use it literally every five seconds. The cities are filled with honking horns all over the place. We ended up stopping for lunch at this restaurant on the side of this remote highway. There were no cars in the lot, and when walking up I was wondering where we were going and why. We got inside and there was not one seat filled in this restaurant, but there was six staff members waiting to take our order. I kept asking if it was alright to eat the food, drink the water, etc. I was nervous as hell, you would have been to if you'd seen the place....check out the cieling and empty seats in this picture:

So anyhow we ended up eating there, the food was pretty good, no one got sick, and we were off to see the land. The whole reason we were up there in the first place was to check out lands that were slated to receive billion dollar auto and chip manufacturing plants. The idea is to scoop up the land now, because once the factories are built, jobs will be created, and families will move into the area, hence the value of the land will rise. We saw the properties and got the necessary info, and we headed back to the hotel. On the way back surprisingly we turned onto a side road, and headed through a village full of huts, palm tree roofs, straight out of National Geographics. We ended up pulling up to a guarded gate, and were let inside this huge steel casting factory out in the middle of nowhere. I guess the driver that was sent to us was an employee of this company Nelcast that manufactures steel casts for tractor and truck parts. We got to meet the man who runs the company, and take a tour of the entire facility which was huge...it was a great experience to be a part of. These casting companies purchase steel from around the world, melt it down, and use it to make parts for their customers. It's even rumored that Indian casting plants were the recipients of the many tons of steel beam scraps that were left over from the World Trade Center attacks of September 11th. It was neat to see how many jobs were created out in the middle of nowhere by one factory.

Nelcast Product:

After visiting the plant we went and had another indian meal. I would do anything for some american food at this point. I even ordered ice cream here, and it's not as rich as in america so there's water in it, and the water freezes so it's like your eating half ice cream and half ice chunks. It's terrible. Anyhow while we are in Chennai, a cyclone decides to hit the city. By the time we woke up the next day, the streets are flooded and it is pooring rain.

We couldn't look at land anymore because of the weather, so we ate, slept, ate, and then went back to the airport to catch our plane which of course was delayed two hours. So we went and ate again, then came to the airport to find our plane delayed once again, we waited, and it was delayed again this time for four hours, so we went and ate again. By the time we got back, the flood waters had come into the airport lobby and were spreading everywhere. I thought we were never going to get out of there, but finally our flight which was supposed to leave at six p.m. ended up leaving at 1 a.m. and flew right through the cyclone. One of the scariest flights of my life. Non stop turbulence, air pouches, and as we landed the plane started wobbling from side to side finally straightening out at the last minute. Everyone on the plane (myself included) thought we were done for, but we made it safely back to Hyderabad. If you ever have a chance to go to Chennai, simply avoid it.

-You'll notice in a lot of the pictures none of the indian guys are smiling. I don't know why that is, but I'll tell you that these guys that I am with are the nicest people. Ravi's father, Haresh, Vasse, all of them. We have had a great time together. Ravi's father (who looks the meanest in the pictures) is joking around non stop, trying to teach me his language, laughing at me, cracking jokes. He actually calls me his american son, and treats me as part of the family. Haresh is basically my translator when Ravi isn't around. He tells me everything going on when I can't understand the language, he's Ravi's sisters husband and it's been great getting to know him as well-

A Different Life Entirely

2005-11-29T03:11:00.000-08:00

The life here is so incredibly different than in America. Would you believe that we have servants here that cater to our every single need…it’s true. Every morning when I wake up and walk downstairs it immediately begins. I am greeted with a large glass of Indian milk, and fresh cut fruit. One morning they brought me pomegranate, which is something I’ve never eaten before.

Next breakfast is served, and it isn’t your typical bowl of cereal, we’re talking tons of food from curry potatoes, tortilla bread (roti), cucumber broth, chicken dishes, lamb dishes, rice, etc. There is food everywhere, and the servants are just standing there waiting to fill your glass with water, milk, juice, whatever you want. The food is incredible! When we’re done with breakfast, we just get up from the table and the servants come and clean everything up. Any time that we come home from any activity, we are immediately greeted with trays of fruit, snack food, and drinks. Honestly at first I felt terrible about making these people do all of this for me, but Ravi explained that without this job in their life they would have nothing. Ravi’s family pays for their schooling, gives them a place to live, pays for their weddings, gives their families money at times. He explained that if they tried to kick any of them out or “fire” them, they would wait outside the gate of their house until they were let back in, they would not leave. One guy, the gatekeeper, has worked for the family for 45 years.

My favorite servant is Mamatau, she’s a fifteen year old girl (the gatekeepers daughter) and only speaks the Indian language here.

Mama:

Women Preparing Meal In The Kitchen:

I wish I could talk to her, because she is such a nice girl, Ravi’s mom told me that she was so excited that I was here. I don’t think she’s ever seen an American before. The second we walk into the house, she is always bringing us something, food, drink, it’s unreal. I’m also getting to know Wasu, who is our driver. Anywhere we need to go, Wasu hops in the car and drives us there. He also waits in the car while we do our thing, and then when we leave he’s there waiting to take us back home. Yesterday we worked out for a few hours, Wasu waited outside the gym the whole time and took us home. We then went and met one of Ravi’s friends to catch up, and Wasu took us there, and waited outside two to three hours while we sat with Ravi’s friend and talked. I can’t talk to Wasu either, all I can say is “namaste” which means hello. I always say, “Namaste Wasu”, and he replies in this soft voice with a huge smile, “Namaste Sir”. When we got home from the gym yesterday, I came up into my room, and all the clothes in my entire suitcase were neatly folded, the t-shirts folded and stacked in the closet, the dress shirts hung in the closet, the socks paired together and piled up, everything stacked perfectly neat, the bed was made, and they took my nice pants and shirts to be ironed, and even took my suit to be dry cleaned. Are you kidding me!! I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that all of this was done while we were gone, and the worst part is that I can’t thank them because they don’t understand one bit of English.

Ravi’s family is so incredibly friendly also. One thing I was nervous about before coming here was that his family was going to be hard to relate to, however they are wonderful people. His father is a businessman here, and I am able to have small conversation with him, he understands most of what I say. His mother is also a wonderful woman, who works in the house all day, and takes care of the meals with the servants. They both always greet us with huge smiles on their face.

From Left - Me, Ravi, Sharawanthy (Ravi's Sister), Haresh (Her Husband), Sashi (Ravi's Bro)

TRAFFIC
I can’t emphasize how insane the traffic is here. As I said before we drive on the left side of the road instead of the right, and there are literally no rules. Wasu was taking us around last night in rush hour here, it was seriously life and death. I can remember two occasions where huge buses were coming head on with us going abour 30 – 40 miles an hour, and Wasu swerves out of the way at the last minute. The buses are just barreling down the wrong side of the street, I’m freaking out, Ravi is laughing as the side of the bus passes us by just inches from my window. There are little cars, motorcycles, and scooters everywhere. The motorcycles and scooters are swerving in and out of the cars, everyone is beeping their horns, cutting each other off, etc. I swear if a motorcycle fell over, or crashed the cars would just keep on going and run the person over like nothing. I thank god for Wasu, he is probably the best driver I have ever come across in my life, he literally drives us in and always out of life threatening situations on the road.

BEGGARS
My room here opens up to this large terrace on the top of Ravi’s house, so I can go out at anytime and look out over the neighborhood. There are women walking by balancing large baskets on their heads, buffalo swimming in the pond across the street, stray dogs and chickens everywhere, people “sitting” on land across the street to make sure no one comes there and messes anything up, men riding by on bikes selling grains out of baskets, little children running around either in their school uniform, or half naked, all things that I have never experienced in my life. The poverty is crazy also. Last night as we walked out of Pizza Hut (which was terrible by the way) this little boy covered in dirt comes up to me, and is asking for money by holding out one hand, and motioning with the other that he needs to feed himself. I ignore him, then he sticks out his arm with this open wound and shows it to me, it was definitely a little too close for me, and I jumped back, Ravi went nuts on this kid told him to get away from us in Hinthi. It was a crazy moment, the last thing I want is this kid touching me with this open sore.

I mentioned before the tents along side the roads, as we drive by all of the people are laying there, cooking on open fires, bathing their children by hand, hanging their laundry on hangers, and all this time right down the street behind a beautiful gate were being waited on by servants. It’s incredible how it works. Ravi’s family is part of a social caste in India called “Reddy”. I asked him about it a little today, and I guess this is the highest social caste you can be in India and it is something that dates back to your ancestors, so you are born into it. I hope to understand more about it.

RELIGION

Notice the man praying on top of the rock in the distance:

There are also a lot of muslims here as well as Hindu’s. You can tell the muslim women, because they walk around covered in all black, so no one can see them in the flesh. I guess muslim men one day decided that they didn’t want anyone outside of their homes to see their women in the flesh, so they force them to wear these all black outfits that only allow for their eyes to be exposed. Today around 5 a.m. I woke up for some reason, and it was pitch black outside. I got up to use the bathroom, which has windows in it that remain open all night long. As I got in there I could hear these loud religious chants coming over a loudspeaker from far away. You know when you are watching a movie about the middle east, or terrorism, or something, and they have this eerie muslim sounding music/chants playing in the background, well it sounded just like that. So immediately in my head I connect these chants with terrorism, and terrorism is connected to fear, so I get a little uneasy for a minute. I head back to bed though, and turn on the fan to drown the chants out. Next thing I know I hear someone in the hallway, I’m wondering who would be up at 5 a.m. My doors are locked so I’m cool. Then someone is knocking on my door, I’m freaking out for a second but I realize it is just Ravi out on the terrace. He was woken up by the chants, and wanted me to hear it. So we’re both outside on the roof of his place, it’s 5 a.m. the sun has barely started rising, and there are these chants echoing across the city from all directions. It’s extremely eerie, but at the same time truly incredible. You never experience anything like this in America, we were joking that if someone tried this in the United States the police would be knocking on the door within five minutes with a noise violation ticket. Here however they have their chants blasting over loudspeakers all over the city at 5 a.m. It makes me wonder what else is out there to see, as I am only experiencing one city in the large country that is India. Thursday we’re flying to Chenai, which is a coastal city here in India to look at some real estate, and chill on the beach for a day, etc. Today my digital camera broke.....perfect timing on that.

INDIAN FOOD

Here's a man trying to sell produce out of a moving cart. He walks by shouting in Hinthi to try and attract customers:

The food here is incredible, and I'm lucky to be staying with an established family because for the most part what I'm consuming here is safe. If a foreigner were to visit India, a big problem is the food that you eat because this is not the most sanitary country. Our breakfast lunches and dinners consist of all types of amazing foods including potatoe curry, lamb, chicken, prawns (shrimp), breads (roti), rice, soups, fruits, vegetables. I love the shrimp and chicken dishes. Another thing we eat a lot, which I don't care for much is liver which is considered a delicacy here in India. I'm not a big fan of the liver at all, and there is so much food to choose from at every meal that i don't have to bother eating it. Today we had a live lamb at our house, and I was standing on the terrace while they were dragging it outside the gate against it's will. I found out later that it was being taken to be killed so we could eat it. I didn't feel too good about that, but I have to keep reminding myself that this is a different culture, and to be open to their ways. Yesterday Ravi's grandma came towards me with this weird looking food in her hand, it was a green piece of fruit with rough skin called setafel (it's known as apple custard in america). She opened it up for me, and spoke through Ravi (she can't speak english) teaching me how to eat it. I tried the fruit, and she was so excited to watch me eat something from her culture and enjoy it....they're so friendly here.

Today for lunch we enjoyed this drink Nira. Ravi and I just came back from a workout and were greeted to a huge lunch of chicken, roti, prawns, etc. To drink they gave us water, and this Nira. Nira is a drink that comes off of palm trees. The indian people place clay buckets at the bottom of these trees, and as the sun shines on the palm trees, they omit this juice known as nira. It looks kind of like Sprite, it has a sour taste, and the odor is enough to make you gag. I tried it, and as I was drinking it they explained to me that it gets you "high" similar to alcohol, however it is organic, and extremely good for cleaning out your system. We ended up drinking three glasses of this stuff (I forced each sip down, it was rough) and finished off the afternoon by relaxing and enjoying the effects of the drink. I found out that the drink comes from palm trees on Ravi's family farm, which is about 80 miles outside of the city. We're making a trip there next week.

Ravi And I In The Morning:

Third World

2005-11-28T03:15:00.000-08:00

I’ve made it to India! I can’t believe my eyes, ears, anything right now as I’m sitting in my bed in Hyderabad India writing this posting. It’s somewhat early in the morning here (I have no concept of time, because there are no clocks around, my cell phone doesn’t work here, and I didn’t bring a watch to wear).

Sunrise From The Terrace Of Our House Here In Hyderabad:

The flight here was absolutely amazing, in retrospect I had nothing to worry about. My flight from New York to Dubai was a 12 hour trip on Emirates Airlines and was one of the nicest flights I have ever been on. The flight attendants are all professionally dressed and take such good care of you, they serve you three meals on the trip which feature really good food, and last but not least their entertainment system. Each seat has an LCD screen to watch, and you can choose from a list of all the latest movies on demand, tv shows, radio stations, cd’s, etc. I sat and watched four movies on my flight because I couldn’t go to sleep, it was perfect way to pass the time (I watched The Ring 2, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, War of The Worlds and Red Eye). The flight was definitely long, but once it was over I hopped off the plane, and right onto the plane from Dubai to Hyderabad. From the second I got off the plane in Dubai until now I have felt like a RockStar. Everyone, I mean everyone is staring at me everywhere I go. It’s unbelievable. Also the airport in Dubai is incredible, I can’t wait to explore that city on the way back. The flight from Dubai to Hyderabad was a quick three hour flight that quickly passed because I watched a movie (Stealth). The patrons on this flight were mostly Indian and Arabic, and then myself. Once again everyone was staring at me. When telling a past girlfriend of mine (who is Indian but lives in America) about this trip she made a comment that stuck with me. She said, “now you will know what it is like for me everyday in America to be someone with a different skin color”. And she was right. It could be an overwhelming experience for some, but I am doing o.k. with it.

Stuck In Hyderabad

Well my flight landed safely in Hyderabad, and as I got off the plane I realized this airport is nothing like any in America, Dubai, etc. Nothing was new, or kept up with, certain office/buisiness signs in the airport were literally hung pieces of cardboard with signs written in permanent marker. I mean to me, this was incredible to see. Getting through customs was easy, and I quickly made my way down to the baggage claim where it was literally like a runway with people on both sides looking for their family and friends to arrive. As I walked down the aisle, every head turns. I’m scanning the crowd and my friend Ravi is nowhere to be found. I get to the baggage claim and my luggage arrives right away. I can see outside that there is another group of people, even larger than the one inside waiting for relatives. I go outside to find Ravi, and once again every single head (about a hundred or more people this time) all staring at me. Once again Ravi is nowhere to be found, and as I walk out I have all these people coming up to me asking if I need help with my luggage, if I need a hotel, if I need a cab, asking for money. It was unbelievable. I was starting to get nervous because I couldn’t find my friend, I’m in a third world country, my cell phone doesn’t work, I don’t know anyone, etc. As I’m walking around, clearly looking like I’m lost, two Indian men come up to me. At first I’m in defense mode, ready to tell them to get lost, but these two were different. They first ask me if I’m alright, if they can help me find anything, next they tell me to put my passport securely in my bag (I’m walking around with my passport in my hand, which is an easy way for someone to steal and use for identity theft). They gave me their cell phone to use to call Ravi, and they stood with me as I called to make sure no one messed with me or my luggage. The cell phone went right to voicemail, and these two men escorted me back into the airport and told me rather to wait inside as it’s more safe. As I walked inside, they left with their families, and I never got a chance to thank them. It had been about a half hour of waiting now, and I still hadn’t got ahold of Ravi. I next met Sivadass, who was the hotel representative for the Taj Krishna hotel in Hyderabad. He offered me a hotel to stay in if my ride never showed, however in the meantime let me use his cell phone to get ahold of Ravi. Finally, I get an answer on the cell phone and I’m connected to Ravi, he seems so surprised that I’m already here because it’s 2:15 a.m., and my flight was supposed to arrive at 2:50 a.m. I ask Sivadass what time it is, and he says it’s 4:15 a.m., as I tell Ravi this he realizes that he never switched his watch back from Dubai time to Hyderabad time, and that I have been stuck in this airport for over an hour. He felt terrible, and arrived at the airport within ten minutes with his brother Sashi. I thanked Sivadass for his help, and we took off for the car. I wish I had gotten a chance to thank those first men for their help, because as a foreigner in a strange and new land that was an incredible ice breaker to the Indian culture. I couldn’t be more grateful, as that single moment gave me such peace of mind about this whole trip. I felt so much more comfortable after meeting them, and because of them I found Ravi and I was no longer lost.

The car ride back to Ravi’s house was an experience in itself. First of all the steering wheel is on the right side of the car, and you drive on the left side of the road. There are little “rundown looking” businesses everywhere, people riding around on little scooters and motorcycles, dogs and chickens running around in the streets. The driving here is absolutely insane, there seems to be no rules. At times we were going head on with cars and at the last minute you swerve out of the way, horns honking all over the place. The motorcycles sometimes have three people riding on them, all holding on any way that they can. I would probably end up dead if I were to drive here. Also they don’t have the concept of speeding tickets, the same way we do in America. The police don’t pull you over for this, and to be honest I haven’t seen one police officer since I’ve been here. For the most part none of the cars resemble anything that you would see in America, there are also these little yellow taxi’s (they look like miniature Volkswagen hippie vans) everywhere on the streets with people hanging out of them. We fly by them beeping our horn, as they don’t go very fast. Occasionally I’ll notice a familiar site, and one that really stuck out was a huge Accenture billboard with a picture of none other than Tiger Woods!! The roads are under construction here, and all along the sides of them are tents, and little huts. Ravi lets me know that people live in these, and I can’t help but hope that this is nothing like where we will be staying. Well I felt a lot better as we pulled up to a gate around five in the morning beeping our horn. Immediately the gate keeper ran over and opened up the gate for us, we pulled in, and he immediately closed and locked it (Ravi’s family has a gatekeeper who opens and closes the gate for everyone who comes and goes, and also takes care of the lawn and garden).

Gatekeeper:

He could only say hello to me, as he doesn’t speak English, but he was extremely friendly. Well we pulled in, and behind the gate was a beautiful large Italian style home (Pictured Above)…..More to come.

Flight NYC to Dubai

2005-11-28T03:13:00.000-08:00

Well as I said I’m right now half way through my flight from Los Angeles to New York City, and I’m getting more and more nervous by the minute. I’m having dinner in NYC with one of my good friends Terrance, who always has good advice for me so I’m looking forward to hanging out with him for a few hours before I leave for Dubai. The adventure continues……..

Well I’m now waiting for my plane from NYC to Dubai, I still have about two hours left in my layover….thank god for this laptop. I didn’t get a chance to meet up with Terrance this time around, but on the way back I have a 12 hour layover in NYC so we’ll get a chance to catch up. We did speak on the phone, he had some great things to say about attitude going into the trip (if you can’t tell I’m kind of nervous right now), it’s great to have friends on call like T. I’m pissed off right now also because food is so damn expensive. They have you by the balls in this place, every single restaurant rips you off so you have no option but to be screwed. A brotha’s gotta eat though…Sbarro it is. Right now I’m listening to some music, and writing down some objectives that I want to accomplish on this trip. Next stop Dubai.

Malibu

2005-11-28T02:43:00.000-08:00

Malibu has turned out to be an incredible trip. As far as work goes, I got nothing done, absolutely nothing, but who would get anything done in such a beautiful place. I have woken up around 7 a.m. every day I have been here because there are so many great things to do in the morning. The second day I was here Tim’s roomate Winston and I took some mountain bikes and attempted to ride to the top of Mount Zuma. What a rush, it was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done in my life. The trail is only so wide and if you go off track you will honestly fall off the side of the mountain. On the way up the coastal views make you feel like you can’t possibly be in America.

Afterwards I was taking a shower in our outside shower when the Fed Ex guy walked up, my Visa had been approved and finally arrived. This was the last piece of documentation that I needed for the India trip to be complete. It’s now official, and my flight leaves on Friday the day after Thanksgiving!

My short stay in Malibu has been a great time for relaxation. I got to spend a lot of time with Tim, my best friend from growing up and his fiancé Autumn. Autumn also had a friend out in Malibu at the same time I was there, and while Tim and Autumn had to work I was forced against my will to hang out with Autumn’s little friend Ashley.

Shortly after meeting this girl I knew I was in trouble. Imagine someone with beauty, ambition, class, personality, faith, morals, and a hilarious sense of humor all packed into one…..I would say that describes her…truly classic! I love women! I had so much fun with her over the next few days, and ended up having the biggest crush on her….still do. I hope to stay in touch with her as a friend.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was spent unlike any other I’ve ever experienced. I woke up at 8 a.m. and went kayaking right off the shore of Malibu. Once I got back I took a jog and then did a small workout on the beach. We spent most of the day at the beach actually just hanging out, throwing the frisbee, and swimming, etc. Around 3:30 we threw on the wetsuits and went out into high tide to surf for two hours. It was incredible. I’ve never really tried surfing, and I was wondering how many people get to spend Thanksgiving out on the ocean shredding. Anyhow after the surf session, we went back to the house for our feast. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato pie, green beans, rolls, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, mixed berry pie, pecan pie, chocolate chip cookies with ice cream, four different wines, and beer. It was a great time to spend with friends, and I wish it had lasted a little longer.

Tim and I On The Beach, Best Boys Since Third Grade:

California

2005-11-21T21:14:00.000-08:00

Well my travels have begun. I left Columbus, Ohio today around 7:00 a.m. and caught my flight to Los Angeles, California. I had a layover in Salt Lake City where it was about 25 degrees, and by the time I got to LA the temperature was up to 80 degrees and sunny. I was picked up by my boy Tim and we went straight from the airport to Malibu where he lives. This place is incredible, palm trees, beaches, coastal landscape everywhere you look. It's truly one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. If you're ever in Malibu, you have to eat at Lily's. It's a little mexican joint here in the city, and I waited a year to come back to eat there, so it was only fitting that we had our first meal there right away. Next we started off the day kayaking in the ocean. Tim lives right on the Pacific Coast Highway and his house is about 100 yards from the beach. We walked right down to the beach, unlocked the kayaks (the kayaks belong to Flea, guitarist from the Red Hot Chili Peppers) and set off into the ocean. While not too much work is getting done right now, it's great to be back on the beach.

Tonight we ate dinner at Coogie's, a casual restaurant in Malibu. As we are being seated, I notice the tall lanky man sitting next to us with a gorgeous young blonde, I look a little closer and it's none other than NBA legend Reggie Miller. Anyhow, the week has just begun. I'm incredibly nervous about my trip to India. I have my plane tickets in my possession and I'm supposed to receive my Visa in the mail tomorrow. Granted all goes well, I'll be heading overseas this weekend.

Focus On One Idea

2005-11-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

I was thinking today about some advice that I have been given in the past, "Focus on one idea, and go for it". I've heard this time and time again, and still I haven't seemed to find exactly the one that I am going to pursue. I imagine it will be an epiphany when it hits me, but until then it continues to evade me. A really good friend of mine is starting a restaurant in Columbus called Pesto, and last night we went into the construction site to check out how things were coming along. I had been there a few months back when it was nothing but a gravel pit, and today it is almost ready to open. It was really incredible to see someone's idea come to fruition. A great example of a person focusing on their passion for one idea, and making it happen.

The japanese drink idea is something that I am really excited about, however I can't seem to gain any momentum without actually having a sample of the drink sent here to me in the U.S. I spoke with yet another contact today, a japanese man, who says he might have a way for me to get some shipped into the country which is pretty exciting.

Well I got off to a late start today, mostly because I was laying in my bed thinking about what exactly I was going to do today. It was pretty funny because I was getting a few things done around the house, when my roomate came home for lunch with two of his consulting partners. They were all dressed professionally, and were talking about the project they're working on, and all the while I'm sitting in my home office with jeans and a t-shirt on. It kind of embarrassed me for a minute there, but I just tried to remember that what I'm doing is totally different than what they're doing, and no path is more better or worse off than the other. I think sometimes I miss that feeling of working with a team, when your all together on one common focus. When reading Richard Branson's book, Losing My Virginity, he talked a lot about when he was starting up and it always included himself and the team that he put together all going after building the business. I think a lot of times having that team keeps you motivated and focused on that one idea, and is extremely beneficial. In a great speech by Steve Jobs he described how every morning he looks himself in the mirror and asks if he is happy about what he is going to do that day. If he answers "no" for too many days in a row he knows it's time to make a change. I felt like today I couldn't answer that question with a "yes" which is one reason I got off to a late start, and it's been happening more and more lately. Putting together a team is one change that I think would really help me out a lot. Either way it's definitely time to make a change, and I have a few weeks of travels to think about it.

Still Hustling

2005-11-14T19:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I visited my blog, but I finally have some good things to write about. The trip to Chicago went great! Zak, B.Yonest, and I hopped a flight Friday morning November 4th, and never looked back. We shopped Michigan Avenue, learned a few things from speakers Anthony Robbins, Robert Kiyosaki, and Donald Trump, partied the nights away, and I even ran into an old flame. How's that for a four day weekend in the windy city!

Since I've been back in Columbus things have definitely turned around a bit, I got rid of all of my Ohio State towel inventory. My manufacturer called back in August about 2,000 towels they had left in inventory from our 2003 rally towel project. I agreed to take it on, and was definitely relieved to get rid of the last three boxes last week. I still have some inventory left over, and while a few great leads fell through last week, I'm confident that soon enough I will have these towels off my hands. As far as the drink project, I still have not found a way to get alcohol shipped from overseas into the Americas. A great friend of mine has recently put me in touch with a contact from Japan, which means I still have some options to make this happen. I think I'm on Plan C maybe even Plan D with this one, but I'm not going to give it up!

Also while I said goodbye to a good friend (Shor Tay, who moved out of my house), I immediately welcomed a new one in. Ravi, my new roomate moved in last week and things have been great so far. Finding a new roomate can be tedious process, especially because unless you have a friend who's going to move right in, most likely the person is going to be a complete stranger. I must say so far we feel pretty lucky over here, Ravi is a great addition to the house straight off the mean streets of Hyderabad, India and I'm looking forward to getting to know him a little better. I'm now also heading out to Hyderabad with him for two weeks to explore some business ideas, and learn about a new country. On Monday November 21st I leave for Malibu, California to stay with my best man Tim for a week on the beach, and I leave straight from Los Angeles to India. I couldn't be more excited, as this will be a life changing experience and my first time to a third world country. I hope to learn as much as I can both business wise, and culture wise. It's my first step to becoming more familiar with international business, which is something that I want to incorporate in my life. We're only on this planet once, and I want to see as many countries, continents, etc. that I can!! Anyhow, I'm looking forward to next week, and the beginning of my travels. I'll keep you up to date, in the mean time here is a candid picture of my main man Professor Z (a.k.a. my dogg Lil Zane with his spectacles on)

And Another Slow Week

2005-10-30T12:26:00.000-08:00

So my weeks have continued to remain slow for now, and I don't have too much new to report. I was able to get a few return emails from potential clients for the rest of my towel inventory. In thinking about my current situation in the business, the best possible option for me to take right now is to get rid of the rest of this inventory any way that I can. I really feel that if I spent all day every day for one week working on this, I could make it happen, and I wonder why I haven't done this yet. My goal for this WEEK, is to have some significant leads generated so as to help my chances of selling these towels before the year is over.

"Every passing minute is another chance to turn it all around" - Vanilla Sky

On the drink project I'm currently still waiting to hear from my friend in New York. I'm hoping he has no problems finding the drink, as right now this is my last option on getting some samples. If this doesn't work, I'll have to put the brain back to work to come up with yet another way to make this happen. I hope to have some great progress on all projects this week. I think I'm about due for something big to happen. Also, the month of November is here and not only is it my mothers birthday on November 1st, but my trip to Chicago starts on friday November 4th!

Last but not least, over the past few years I have become an avid reader of magazines such as Entrepreneur, Fortune, Forbes, Inc., etc. I use them mainly for knowledge, motivation, and to learn certain lessons that might help prevent me from making mistakes down the road as I continue to pursue my business ideas. They're filled with incredible tales of business start ups, survivals, successes and even failures. One company that I have frequently come across in these magazines is called 180's, and I was recently shocked at an article in the November 2005 issue of Inc. Magazine about the company.

To give you an overview, 180's was the brainchild of two Wharton graduates turned business partners. After meeting in college, the two immediately decided to start up a business, and 180's was born. The company is based on making innovations to simple everyday products that have stayed the same in design for years. Their first success came when they invented the wrap around earwarmers. The ear warmers were used to provide an alternative to hats and earmuffs in the wintertime because they both mess up your hair, and because ear muffs are just plain gay. After getting the product on QVC, the two co founders of the company were sitting on a multi million dollar business, and they eventually had plans of releasing a new innovative pair of gloves, t-shirts, etc. After first reading about 180's I followed them throughout the years checking on their website from time to time, reading articles about their business, and seeing them on the Inc. 500 fastest growing private companies list a few years in a row. I even called them once, and got in touch with their marketing department to see if they would give me rights to embroider college team logos on their earwarmers and sell them to the college marketplace. Anyhow, to make a long story short, in my eyes 180's was a fledgling multi million dollar success and growing so quickly that the founders had made it, they had the american dream in the palms of their hands.

Well as the most recent Inc. magazine article pointed out I was all wrong. Apparently the co-founders of 180's split two years ago because of personality differences, and the company bought out one owners shares with money it had but couldn't afford to give up. One of the founders, Brian Le Gette, stayed on as CEO. On top of this the company was strapped for cash, and either needed a second successful product, or needed additional financing to continue to grow at all. Le Gette eventually found his financing, however in order to receive it he had to give up majority ownership to a venture capital firm, which eventually diluted his ownership shares down significantly, replaced him with a new CEO, and took over the company. Le Gette had lost the company he had founded and spent so many years working on.

I write this post because it just shows how truly tough starting, and maintaing a successful business can be. 180's at one point was a $30 million dollar business, and the owners might as well have been celebrity's the way they were spoken of in the magazine articles that I read. I was truly shocked to learn of their recent demise. It just emphasizes the point that you have to eat, sleep (not much sleep), breathe your business if you truly want to make it. The entrepreneurial lifestyle is not going to be easy. I'm still ready for the challenge. Just something to think about..........

Slow Week

2005-10-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

This week I haven't had too much to write about. It's been one of those low energy weeks, and I don't mean that I have low energy, but I mean absolutely nothing is happening. A friend of mine recently wrote about this and gave it a great name, "The Haze". None of my emails are being returned, none of my phone calls are being returned, and I feel somewhat in a state of entrepreneurial paralysis. As far as the drink project, I still need samples sent to me in order to figure out whether or not I can move forward in the U.S., and I have a friend working on having some sent to me. I should have some more progress on that real soon. For the towel inventory, no one outside of the Ohio State market is returning any of my calls, emails, etc. I'm starting to wonder what is going on here. At first I thought my email was broken, but I sent a test message from one of my other email accounts to my main business account and unfortunately it worked.

In the meantime I have been gathering information in order to put together a solid business plan for bringing the drink to market once I get further along. I'm also going to freshen up my sales skills again by helping a friend of mine sell his business concept to potential clients. He has a business www.calltrue.com that developed a customer service software which helps businesses who offer their products via the internet, capture the lukewarm leads that all too often escape them. Gathering more of these "lost" leads and turning them into sales could mean added revenues and added profits to the bottom line. I'll let you know how it goes, I should have my first sales meeting coming up real soon.

Business As Usual

2005-10-19T04:42:00.000-07:00

Well it's 7:30 in the morning today, and i'm up and ready to go. A far cry from yesterday when my day didn't start until around 2:30pm. I feel like I have an excuse, since I've been working at a bar until the late hours of the night, but using that excuse might make me feel better about it every once in a while, but it won't sell more product, make me any money, or progress my chances at success. I read an article last night about a successful real estate investor (billionaire) who says he normally gets about four hours of sleep a night. If he can get by on that little sleep, I think I'm going to try it.

The last few days have been somewhat slow. I found out through my contact in Japan that there is a restriction on sending food and beverage into the United States right now, so she is not going to send the case of drinks that I needed to progress on my project. I was a little disappointed, however on a brighter note (the world works in mysterious ways) I found the drink for sale in a small trendy japanese nightspot in New York City. I called the establishment to confirm, and the rumor was indeed true. I have a friend who lives in NYC checking it out this week for me, meaning I might have my samples sooner than I had even expected. If that doesn't work out, I found out I have another friend (one I actually know from the U.S.) who is traveling in Japan right now, and I have an email off to him to let him know that I might need some product shipped back to me. Always have a back up plan.....hell I have no choice, I gotta get this damn drink over here in the states to see if this idea has any legs.

And last but not least, I need to mention a movie that I was encouraged to watch recently called "What The Bleep Do We Know". I was put on to it by some of my business partners that I meet with regularly every wednesday. It's a deep movie that gives you a better explanation (if you're ready to hear it) of science and spirituality and how the two co exist together in our world. It's deep man, not going to lie. I watched it twice, and I plan on watching it again. It really opens your eyes to the way we live our lives as humans, the thoughts we allow into our heads, the paths we take in life, the addictions we face, the people we interact with, the way our minds work for us, and even against us. Honestly I can't even begin to explain the movie, you just have to see it.......so two thumbs up, way up! That's all I got for you right now. Oh and one more thing, a great quote that I heard from a friend of mine, and recently read in fortune magazine. After I heard it, I realized that i want to live it someday soon

"I'm not a businessman...........I'm a business, man" - Jay Z

Now that is sick!!

Technolo - G

2005-10-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

A few nights ago I had one of the wildest experiences of my life thanks to a new technology called Skype. Typically, I'm not an early adopter of new technologies, however some of my good friends stay on top of all of the latest releases. I was recently introduced to Skype by my "Chief Technology Officer" Dan Putt, however I didn't decide to use it at first. Skype is an internet based communication service that allows users to chat with, as well as make free phone calls to anyone, anywhere in the world. Until recently I didn't have a reason to use the service, however earlier this week I had been in contact with a food scientist out of California who had a proposition for me. Since the current project I'm working on involves a Japanese beverage, I need to come up with a sample for him so he can analyze and determine how we are going to go about creating this product here in the United States. Since the drink is not sold anywhere in the United States, my dilemma was finding a stranger in Japan to trust me and send me a product sample.

Upon talking to a few friends about my challenge, my "CTO" Dan logged onto my laptop and downloaded Skype onto my computer. Utilizing his suggestions and Skype's technology, I realized I could conduct a Skype search to find all Skype users who live in Japan and speak English. I launched the search, tried to initiate "chat" with a few users and was denied. After a few tries however a woman by the name of Keiko answered back. I introduced myself, and we typed casually back and forth to each other before I explained my dilemma. After asking her for suggestions on how to get a drink sent to me from Japan she explained she had no friends that she could ask, but that she needed some products from America. We agreed that if I would send her what she needed, she would send me the drink samples that I needed. Here is where the story gets great!

Coordinating this agreement through internet chat was becoming tough to do, especially with the language barrier (Keiko's first language is Japanese, English is her second which makes understanding her typing difficult). We decided that rather than type it, she would give me a call. Not one second later, my computer started ringing like a phone, and a notification popped up on my screen asking me if I would like to accept my incoming phone call. I accepted and could hear Keiko through my computer speakers, however I couldn't speak back. The call was eventually disconnected, and I realized that I didn't have a microphone to plug into my computer which was why i couldn't speak back. After a quick phone call back to my CTO, he explained that I could plug a pair of regular headphones (the same headphones you use in your walkman or ipod) into the microphone input on my laptop computer and use the earpiece to speak into as a microphone. I typed back to Keiko, let her know that I found a mic, and had her try the call again. Once again my computer starts ringing, I accept the call, and speak into my headphones using them as my microphone. Finally, we could hear each other! I almost fell off the couch when it hit me.......I was having a phone conversation with a woman in Japan who I'd just met, through my laptop computer, and best of all for free!! It was incredible, and we talked for a while setting up the deal, describing what products each other wants, swapping addresses, etc. Honestly we seemed to hit it off, and if this goes smoothly, I hope to keep in touch with her as a friend in Japan.

In doing this at first I realized we both were kind of hesitant entering into a deal with a complete stranger from across the world, however I let her know that if this works I will now have an ally in Japan and she will have one in the United States. To me that is beyond worth the risk of losing the $100.00 shipping fee. So that's where it stands right now, we've stayed in touch, and today I went to the store and purchased the products that she requested. They're boxed up and ready to be shipped tomorrow morning. That's my end of the bargain, and I'm really hoping to get the samples of this drink here A.S.A.P.

Other than that, this week I attended a Columbus Venture Network forum where three entrepreneurs are granted the chance at pitching their business plan to a panel of investors. I have been there before, and it was good to be back listening to the questions that the panel members raise. If nothing else, it was free food and drink for an hour.

Also my persistance has finally paid off with one client, and I got rid of all of my LSU towel inventory that I had sitting in our warehouse space. I didn't get my full asking price, but i couldn't expect too much out of the deal. With Hurricane Katrina ravaging the LSU area a few weeks ago, i'm lucky to get any money.

Three schools to go before I can solely focus on my towel business here at The Ohio State University.

Still Making Progress

2005-10-11T15:58:00.000-07:00

So today was another great day, I woke up early, hit the gym and got off to a great start. I hit the phones to make a few calls on contacts within the industry that I am pursuing, and much to my surprise got ahold of a few people. At times I get so excited about an idea that when I'm calling on potential partners, and when I can't get ahold of the right people for a few days or weeks I get frustrated. Luckily today I got in touch with a number of people on the phone, and even got a call from a potential partner.

The product I'm looking into is in the alcohol industry, so I spoke with the president of one of the largest distilleries here in the U.S. During the call I think we both realized that what he does and what I'm looking for are two very similar but very different things. I am however definitely going to stay in touch with him because he has vast knowledge on this business and if I do end up pursuing this he'd be a great person to have in my corner. I've found over the years that a lot of successful people enjoy when they are in contact with younger players looking to follow in their footsteps. They love to help, all you have to do is make an effort to ask.

So just when I thought the day was about over, around 6:30 p.m. I got a phone call from a renowned food scientist out on the west coast that a friend of mine put me in touch with. We seemed to hit it off, and I'm going to send him samples of some product that is similar to what I'm looking at introducing to the U.S. He has years of experience in figuring out the ingredients in products, dissecting them, and recreating them to be even better. Could be a great partnership, and best of all still moving forward.

The Chase

2005-10-10T14:40:00.000-07:00

Today has been an unusual day for me so far. Believe it or not (I still don't) I woke up around seven a.m. this morning, pumped up and ready to conquer. I've been trying to get up that early for weeks now, hopefully I keep it up. Having my dog Lil Zane in the room with me didn't hurt either. He likes to get up around 6:30 a.m. everyday, and since he was in my room last night I could have either let him continue to drive me insane by barking, running around the room, etc. this morning, Or I could take him outside. I chose to get up and take him out. I think I made the right choice.

Right after breakfast I began some follow ups for SMI. I still have a few thousand towels left in inventory from the expanded markets that SMI tried to go after last year, so I spent my early morning sending emails out to liquidate these. I just want to get rid of them any way that I can, and I've been tapping into past clients and offering them wholesale discounts to take the product off my hands. I have a few leads, but no closed sales yet.

The rest of my day is actually the topic of this post. So back to the point. My friends and I always joke about all of the business ideas that we come up with. It truly is hilarious because one day we're working on one thing, the next day we have some new innovative idea that's going to change the world, and next thing we know that last idea is out the door. Whenever I come up with a new idea that I truly want to implement, it's exhilarating. I call this time period"The Chase". It's kind of like when you are out somewhere and you notice that beautiful girl, and the adrenaline inside is building because you are about to make your move, and who knows, this girl might just be coming home with you tonight. Now that's exciting. Well the same goes when you have a new business idea. I always begin by researching the industry, putting together a list of contacts of people that I need to speak with for potential partnerships, etc. Picking up the phone to call some of these contacts, is just like going after the girl. You're basically selling yourself, only in a different type of situation. The adrenaline starts kicking. Who knows, the guy on the other end of the line just might be the missing piece to bring your business idea to fruition.

Today I began "The Chase" on a new idea that I came across recently, and to say the least it was an exciting day. I got a lot of good information off of the web, learned more about the industry that I would be venturing into, and put together a list of people to contact. I made a few phone calls, left a few voicemails, and was promised a call back tomorrow by one potential partner. It's more progress than I had a day ago, so I have to say it was a productive day! Other than that club members Zak, B.Yonest, and I bought our plane tickets to Chicago for the first week in November, and my trip to Malibu, Ca is coming up as well two weeks after the trip to Chi Town. Looking forward to the future!

(At the home office today with laptop, cell phone, and office phone nearby. More importantly is the strategic placement of the "Buckeye Pride" rally towel. Purchase one from me anytime, only $5.00!)

The Beginning

2005-10-07T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I've finally done it. After many talks, thoughts, meetings, and of course many days of procrastination I have started my blog. I thought what better time to begin documenting my business endeavors than right now. I've already been a part of a few start up companies, starting with Forescore Golf, LLC, and SMI Ventures, LLC which I still own right now. Forescore was a technology company where we were creating an electronic golf scoring device that was to be used to track golfers scores, statistics, and sidegames. We worked long and hard on our business plan, finished in the finals of the $100,000.00 business plan competition at The Ohio State University, however didn't make it far enough to take the grand prize. That didn't stop us however, and not long after that we secured angel investor funding to the amount of $50,000.00. My position within the company was to be head of sales, and I worked long and hard making calls within the golf industry to learn as much as I could. I spent my days researching distribution channels, making contacts, planning focus groups, and putting all of this information into a company sales document that would serve as a compass in determining the direction of our sales team. I can look back on my experience with Forescore, and say it was invaluable, however the hours became longer and longer, and the pay was a consistant $0.00 with only the promise of a payout down the road due to ownership in the company.

At the same time the Forescore experience was becoming mundane, SMI had taken off! SMI was a sports marketing and merchandise company that myself and two business partners started up in the summer of 2003. On August 31st 2003, we launched our first product, a rally towel for the Ohio State Buckeyes named the "Buckeye Pride" towel. After a few creative marketing tactics and a little hard work we sold 50,000 promotional units, and 35,000 retail units within the first few months of being in the market. We were pumped! At that time it was decided we were going to grow the business by recreating the same marketing model used at Ohio State, and launch products at other big universities around the country.

In order to implement this plan, I needed to get out of ForeScore. My position within the company no longer kept me excited, and I decided to put my ownership up for sale. Sometime at the beginning of the year 2004, we found a buyer, and I collected a small check in return for my ownership in ForeScore Golf. While it didn't turn out to be a lot of money compared to the long hours I spent in the business, I am thankful that I even got anything, because ForeScore slowly went under in the months following my buyout. To this day they are still trying to figure out what to do with all of the assets, and intellectual property that we created during that project.

The next year of my life would be spent working on SMI Ventures, LLC. full time. I was able to raise $20,000 dollars from a local investor here in Columbus, Oh which allowed myself and a business partner to grow the business into other markets. We had rally towels created for the USC Trojans, LSU Tigers, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Oklahoma Sooners. At the start of the 2004 football season we had 35,000 USC units sold to a grocery chain in Los Angeles, 5,000 LSU units sold to a grocery chain in Baton Rouge, La, 5,000 OU units sold to a grocery chain in Oklahoma, and 7,000 units sold here in the Ohio State market. While our marketing tactics had worked here in Columbus, they didn't prove to be impactful in other markets, and our sales in our new markets didn't even compare to sales at Ohio State. Our USC client, Albertson's Grocery Stores ended up selling only about 15,000 of their 35,000 units, taking the hit on 20,000 towels. Luckily for us they paid for all 35,000 units, as that was a part of the deal.

So now, after a year of hard work, seeking new clients, and setting up retail sales and promotions we were back at square one. We lost all clients in our expanded markets, and only had our business in the Ohio State area to fall back on.

The failure in our expanded markets weighed on us, and it was apparent my partner and I were becoming burnt out. In the winter of 2005 we bought out our investor doubling his money, and decided to take a break to decide where we were going to take the business next. In the meantime I decided to use the money I had made to venture into real estate and purchase my first investment property. In March 2005 I moved into my first property, a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath house with two roommates. After the purchase I took a part time job to supplement my income while I figured out my next steps with the business.

That summer I began to think about moving forward, and I just felt that in order to keep the business I wanted to be on my own. I didn't feel the work was worth doing, when I had to split all profits with another business partner who clearly wasn't into it anymore. SMI's business is all about sales, and I didn't think my partner had the drive or interest to grow here in Columbus. He was more laid back, not persistent enough to generate many new client leads, and on top of that we already had most of the retailers in Columbus, Oh as our clients. I put together a plan of how I was going to move forward, and then put together an offering for my partner to walk away. We met and struck an initial deal in which he agreed on a price to part with his ownership. I wrote him a check for half the money, with the rest of to paid at a later date. After I saw that money leave my bank account, I began having second thoughts about what I had done. I can be pretty impulsive at times, and I kept questioning myself on whether or not I truly thought the deal through before writing the check. Fortunately for me, we had a renegotiation, and on July 29th, 2005 I completed the deal to my advantage. I now had full ownership of SMI Ventures, LLC. and the "Buckeye Pride" rally towel.

Well that should bring this story up to date! It's now October of 2005 and things are moving forward. Aside from SMI Ventures (which I have a great plan for!) I have a few ideas that I'm working on, which I'll share with you more as I continue to update this blog. Also, I've teamed up with a few friends in the area who are also following their dreams by starting their own businesses. We meet every Wednesday night to discuss our businesses, swap ideas, offer advice, etc. It's a beautiful thing having a network like this! I'm now working at a bar on Ohio State's campus as a barback at night to keep money coming in, and aside from the days that I check my bank account balance, I'm enjoying life! So after all of this, as I said in my profile I'm still in the game. I'm hoping these postings will document the journey to my ultimate goal.........FREEDOM!