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15 Minutes of Focus

As an entrepreneur, as a leader, focus is everything, right?

It’s not about doing, it’s about being.  Well, a little bit of both.. and that was the focus of the coaching conversation I had with Patricia from Lawless Coach yesterday.

Since we are about being just as much as doing, focus points are important.

We agreed that 15 [...]

Your Attitude and Your Happiness are EVERYTHING.

Another 15 minute brain dump… just a little empowerment.

I JUST CAN’T HELP BUT BE HAPPY!  Smiles are so addictive.

Even through all the bad times, it’s always your attitude that will determine everything in your life.

If your outlook on life is positive, there can truly be no negative.  And when there is, [...]

30 Days- The Instrosective Work Life Balance of an Entrepreneur

YUM.  As I sit here in our office at NextSpace (coworking #ftw) and sink in to the comfy chairs, I let myself stop.

We need to stop sometimes and reflect, and today I’m reflecting on the past 30 days.

The Beginning of a New Age

About 4 weeks ago, I met with my friend Patricia Lawless.  She has [...]

The Unsexy Awesomenes of Entrepreneurship

Sidenote: It’s been killing me not to blog, so I’ve decided to change my blogging style and just extend my stream of thought with quick 15 minute brain dumps here. Enjoy.

Entrepreneurship.  Sexy, right?  Kinda.

Yay, I’m My Own Boss!

When I first quit corporate, I loved this feeling.  WOOHOO NO CORPORATE HELL!  I AM NOT [...]

8 of My Favourite Startup Posts

I’ve been running around the internets like above kitteh this week since we’re planning on looking for venture funding shortly.

Here are some wonderful resources for entrepreneurs going through the same journey.  Enjoy.

8 Favourite Startup Resources (Video and Blog Posts)

1. Lean Analytics for Startups (Video)

Alistair Croll, founding partner of Year One Labs, an incubator in [...]

Sick of Explaining Twitter for Business? Directions Here.

There have been a multitude of blog posts I’ve read on how to use twitter, but most are basic overviews.  The explanations I’ve explored do not help you understand how to develop a valid presence on the site.  I have seen many small business owners begin using twitter, lack understanding, and give up [...]

The Failed All-In-One Product- The One You're Building.

You’re taking over the world right?  You have a GREAT idea for a product.  You’re doing customer development.  This product can be used in so many different ways and across all these different segments and it’s so cool and 5 different types of businesses completely unrelated to each other can use it!  Cool.  Now how [...]

The Magic Behind Getting Feedback About Your Startup

I’ve been meeting with many new entrepreneurs as of late, especially with the Scrappy Startup lunches I host monthly.

I’ve begun seeing a trend with the initial set of questions that run through one’s mind when starting a company.  I had these questions too, so they always make me smile.   

Here are a couple tips crucial to set [...]

Back to Basics- Simple, Useful Products Born with Lean Startup Principles

I’ve played with many advanced monitoring tools like Scout Labs and Radian6, but damn, after I looked at all the exciting things these fantastic tools could do for me, I realized Dishcrawl wasn’t at that stage yet. It is important for us to keep it simple and get back to guerrilla tactics that are so successful for us as a small startup. And although I enjoy playing Lone Ranger on an expedition looking for potential customers on sites like Chow (in Dishcrawl’s case), searching for people online to converse with can be time consuming. But hell, you do it anyways. I grew numb to the amount of time suck and process seeking out information on multiple sites [...]

Scrappy Startups: A Conversation with Jon Boutelle/SlideShare & Dan Martell/Flowtown

In the spirit of lean startups and the current economic situation, it was refreshing for Jon and Dan to tell us stories about scrappy startups and the mentality behind scrappy.

What stuck the most to me was the differentiation betweetn lean startup and scrappy startup.

Lean Startup is a methodology, Scrappy Startup is a mentality.
(Thank you, Dan and Jon for enlightening us on this distinction.)

More scrappy stories were shared on how SlideShare scrappified their way to success, how Dan Martell trained his employees in the back of a car while driving to and from meetings, and suggestions on how to be scrappy in your own [...]