The Four Hour Trial

Dreamlines - Doing...

2008-01-31T22:53:00.001-08:00

I little while back, I posted an insanely disorganized post about my dreamlines. Today, I can offer an update.

As a result of my inability to follow directions, I did my dreamline a few times in that post. A few recurring themes: 1) Relax, 2) Get in Shape and 3) Enroll in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and 4) Spend more time with family.

I can't say I'm relaxed and I'm definitely not in the shape I want to be in. But I did enroll in BJJ today! This, unquestionably, will get me in shape. I'm wiped out right now. I cannot believe how much of a workout I got in just an hour long session. I was drenched in sweat, am already sore and expect that tomorrow when I wake I'll have a hard time walking. I believe that this will reduce my stress levels and naturally help me relax more. Three birds, one stone.

As for spending more time with the kids - I can't say I'm where I want to be, but I did start playing the Wii with them. My 18 month old son brings the controllers to me and is so cute that I have to go in there for a bit. He loves the Wii, even though he doesn't actually play it. He holds the controller and makes noises during the tennis game! We high-five each other when we do well - so awesome!

I also play against the older kids. I don't let them win though - I'm too competitive and they are equal competition (if not better at times). All-in-all, I feel good about spending this little time doing something with them that we all enjoy.

I intend to go to at least 2 BJJ sessions a week - probably more when I'm not traveling. I look forward to learning more about it and I totally expect to enter tournaments within a year as my skill level warrants it. Right now, now way! I hope that I can be in a place within a year to be able to compete, even if I don't finish first (or second, or third, or ...) The experience will be great.

Another 4HWW blogger - welcome!

2008-01-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

Today, I received a comment on one of my posts. Turns out, we have another friend in the 4HWW "journey/trial/diary" community! I wish to welcome hilarycat to the group and wish her and her husband the best in their personal journey to achieve the 4HWW lifestyle. Please take a moment to check out her blog and read through the various postings:

hilarycat.blogspot.com

Keep it up hilarycat!

Slow, but moving forward...

2008-01-26T09:23:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I haven't updated my blog since the 15th! Terrible. I have been consumed with work for my employer, our existing biz and one of the new businesses discussed in this blog. I have also made minimal progress on the original business idea that started this whole thing.

I think it is time to go back and re-read the 4HWW. My time is less and less and I really need more and more! :-)

It's amazing to me how quickly things can get started and then, as the details hit, start to slow down. Simple things, like getting corporate ID kits can take a while to get right. To this end, I no longer will support my positive endorsement of LogoDesignPro's. To be fair, I wish to expand.

We hired them to create a logo and corporate ID kit for my existing company about 2.5 years ago. Things went very smoothly and timely. The quality of work was impeccable. So I recommeneded them to my partners for our current startup. The result? We got a very beautiful logo - high quality, great design work. But when it came time to start the corp ID kit, well, they simply got lazy. Getting revisions was time consuming and the revised efforts were just as sloppy as the original presentation.

In an effort to save time, we went elsewhere. The design and turn-around time from the other company we selected was fantastic. After three revisions, mostly text related, we received the original graphic files. Now, for the fun!

Thank goodness one of our partners works in the graphics industry. Turns out, what we see on screen isn't necessarily what will be reflective of what ends up on the stationary, envelopes and business cards. This is because the design color selection was for presentation over the computer. The printers use a different color scheme. Can you imagine the frustration we would have felt after paying for and receiving 5,000 pieces of stationary, 5,000 envelopes and 5,000 business cards - just to see that they don't look the way we expected? This is possibly avoided if you use a local printer, but we are bargain shoppers and found one online. That introduces some risk.

How did we avoid this frustration? Thanks to a little research and pre-existing knowledge, we submitted our graphics to Costco for very limited prints. This allowed us to see what the end result should look like. Can you believe it took 3 trial runs and changes to the graphics before we got it right? This easy and relatively inexpensive step saved us a great deal of expense and frustration. We have now submitted everything to the actual printing company and cross your fingers that what we get back matches up with what Costco produced.

On another front, I'm growing impatient with some of my Rent-A-Coders! One very trivial task was assigned over two weeks ago. I still don't have my code and need it for part of this project. I check in every two or three days, and each time I check in, I'm told I'll have something in two days time. Bug here, downed internet there; oh, the excuses amaze me. On my first few projects I got very timely and proper results - as previously posted on this blog. My last few projects don't share the same excitement. But, alas, I have time and am not too worried. If anything, my own lack of time is going to cause bigger delays and the launch then these little efforts.

All the groundwork is in place. Now, it's about launching this thing. I have significant work yet to achieve on our website, but most other aspects are near completion. Bank Accounts, Corp Creation, Marketing Material, trademarking, phone system, fax system, email, etc... - all in place or very near completion. But....can't do much without a website, huh? I better start burning the midnight oil for a week or two so that I don't upset my partners who are eager and excited to get moving forward.

It will be interesting to see what happens after we actually launch. It took me about 3 months to get our first business up and running, but that was with me working nearly full-time on it. Once we launched, we started making money from day one. The nature of that business is a little different from this one, so we'll see if the same holds true. Time will tell - stay tuned!

Updates...

2008-01-15T19:11:00.000-08:00

Ouch - no posts since last Thursday! That's not good. I have been very busy on my little vacation, which ends today.

It actually takes quite a lot of effort getting a new business up and running! :-) Can you believe that? Even with partners - there are steps that just take time.

I can say that we are about 70% of the way there with one of the biz ideas. Most of my time, recently, has been spent on approving graphics and doing web development for the actual functionality behind the site. It's coming along nicely.

I have severely violated the twice a day checking email rule! To be honest, I have never commited to it except to not check my email more than once an hour. However, I have sadly failed at even that. I have to get down to at least a few times a day because this is definitely a distraction. Especially when you have a few different projects going on with eLance or Rent-a-coder AND when you are communicating with your partners about various ideas AND when you are trying to do software development. Software development takes a great amount of focus, so when I check my emails so frequently then it really ruins my ability to be a productive programmer.

Which leads me to my next point: Email is a pain to begin with. Imagine having five or six different email accounts - some of which support POP clients and some don't. So I find myself regularly checking email not in just one place, but in multiple places. This makes a time consuming task even more time consuming.

Therefore, I need to eliminate a few of these email accounts. I can't get down to one - that's just not realistic. Let's tally these up:

1. I'm employed by someone. Can't get rid of that account until I quit.
2. I still help support a company that we started over two years ago. Can't get rid of that one.
3. I just acquired ANOTHER email address as a result of this next venture that's 70% foundation complete.
4. I'm getting ready to start ANOTHER company with one of my new buddies.
5. I have a personal email account that I won't let go of no matter what.

There: 5 email accounts that I kind of HAVE to keep (4 existing, one to be soon).

6. Then, I have an email for this blog - which is to allow me to stay anonymous until I wish to no longer be anonymous.
7. I have a general purpose email account that I use for various programming forums. I only check it when I make inquiries and anticipate responses.
8. I have a total junk email account that I use when registering on sites with whom I'm not familiar. I don't want 20million spam mails coming into any of my valuable accounts.

Shoot...It doesn't look like I can get rid of too many of these, huh? What I can do, however, is get everything consolidated into accounts that support a POP client (like Thunderbird) and get away from accessing web-only mail clients.

Contract Manufacturer: I have a few updates but still trying to nail down a specific cost. We are making progress though.

VA: Very happy with ALL of the work we have had done to date. However, my opinion of LogoDesignPro's has been downgraded. 2.5 years ago - they gave a great product with great service. Now, they have given a great product, but the service aspect has been less than adequate. If I were in a huge hurry then I wouldn't be happy at all. However, we do have time still on our side.

That's it for now. I'll continue to keep you updated on progress and any obstacles that come about.

Another Day...

2008-01-10T23:04:00.000-08:00

Summary:

-Finalized Graphic Design concepts for home page of web site. Had IM conversations with the actual designer - super nice guy and very quick at what he does. He lives half a world away from me, but totally understood all the concepts of what I was asking for. We spent about an hour going back-and-forth with ideas and concepts and we ended up with something that I think is perfect! It's nice to have access to this type of communication.

-Plugged voice-over recording into 800 line. Quality was too high (go figure) so I had to have VO artist reduce the quality! :-) She responded to my inquiry within minutes. I am super impressed with her and will continue to use her where applicable.

-Continued Research into Call Centers (not me, one of my partners). BTW, doesn't look like any of the call centers mentioned in 4HWW are going to work. They either require too much up-front money, are non-responsive or don't call anyone except existing customers.

-Continued development for web site/back end system. After struggling with FCKEditor on Rails 2.x, I found a nice little substitute that I rather like: TinyMCE. Very easy to use, easy to plug-in and does what I need it to do!

-Explored additional product/marketing options with my partners.

I have to keep in mind that not every day is going to have ground-breaking progress. As I get into the programming aspects of the site things can go slowly at first. Once the foundation is put in place then things start happening very quickly. I typically try to handle the harder parts of things first and then go to the easier aspects. This strategy doesn't always lend itself to quick "eye appeal" but works out best in the end and, from a software perspective, helps keep things architecturally sound.

-M

Dreamlining - Step by Step w/o read ahead

2008-01-09T21:26:00.001-08:00

I read the book quickly to establish concepts. Now, I must go back and re-read certain things to do the excercises. One thing I recalled was "Dreamlining" - so I looked in the index and it put me on page 53. I'm doing this step-by-step - I haven't read to the end of the section. Let's see what happens:

1) What would I do if I knew I couldn't fail? If I were 10 times smarter than the rest of the world. Instructions say to list up to five things - six months and 12 months. Here goes (yes, would look much better in a table or spreadsheet - but, oh well - goes back to my original statement of writing w/o trying to be pretty about it):

Six Months:

Having:

Free Time

Freedom from financial stress (note, different from financial freedom)

Peace

Being:

Me, but better

Me, with less stress

Doing:

River Trip - just me and lady and then with entire family, with boat that I may or may not own or owe money on.

12 Months:

Having:

Backup plans with respect to finances.

Time to explore things that ultimately makes me happy

Being:

More relaxed

Better in my relationships with children and lady.

In better shape - specifically with respect to stamina (see Doing)

Doing:

Tryout for a show or movie. Why not! Always thought about it, let's try it out!

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu with one of my sons - at least two times a week (I was a pretty damn good wrestler and I would love to introduce all of my sons to a sport like this. However, they don't share my same desire. My second youngest will need this for some discipline - I can already tell he's a mini-me - and if I do it with him then he may want to do it too.) I think this form of Martial Art is perfect for me and my children.

2) Not applicable - it helps you if you can't figure out one above - which I was able to do.

3) Convert each being into a doing:

Me, but better - uhhh...hhhmmmm... :-) Maybe I should now go back to step two! LOL

Me, with less stress - Yoga, Excercise, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (as already stated in DOING)

More relaxed - Same as above. Practice deep-breathing as though I were in labor - which is scientifically impossible - I think, for me! :-)

Better in my relationships with children and lady - ahhh... be sweeter, focus on her needs instead of mine. Spend more time with kids in sports activities. Play the Wii more often and let them beat me (uh... they already do).

4) What are the four dreams that would change it all?

Hhhmmm....was I dreaming? Shoot. Now I recall that these were supposed to be unrealistic! Hahaha... Shoot. Freedom from financial stress, River, Better in my relationships, Me, with less stress. Can I go back and change my answers? Hah... Seriously, hitting it big with a biz should have been listed. Okay... I want to hit it HUGE with at least one of the two biz ideas on which I'm currently working. I think financial relief was assumed in my statement, but not stated. Therefore - make at LEAST one of my biz's successful. BTW, thanks for letting me cheat! You would too!

Okay...after second thought - I realized I didnt' follow directions (it said to think unrealistically). Sorry, but this is about me! Endure it!

1) What would I do if I knew I couldn't fail? If I were 10 times smarter than the rest of the world. Instructions say to list up to five things - six months and 12 months. Here goes (yes, would look much better in a table or spreadsheet - but, oh well - goes back to my original statement of writing w/o trying to be pretty about it):

Six Month:

Having:

A Live in a lakefront home In Lakeway, TX (so I can go to Austin for the nightlife, enjoy the lake by day)

My children (all of them) with me in Lakeway, TX.

A hugely successful biz that doesn't consume more than 40% of my time.

Being:

20lbs heavier - which means I'm back in shape (I'm one of those odd freaks who loses weight when not working out instead of gaining weight)

Totally happy (never experienced it for long periods). Maybe I should say less manic! :-)

A movie star or famous in some other way

Doing:

Working out 5 days a week, not including the two or more sessions of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

Whatever it takes to free me of what I now know as reality

12 Month:

Same as above! ;-)

2) Same as above, but with more relevance since I clearly didn't follow directions

3) Convert each being into a doing:

Start working out! Enroll in BJJ.

Uhhh...shrink? Nah... exercise will help!

Get off my butt and go to a tryout for some show or movie. Suffer Humiliation, then do it again and again until the humiliation goes away (sorta like Tim's concept of lying down on a sidewalk in a busy place!).

4) What would change it all?

Well, movie star would be a good start. But successful biz would be a nice second! Money changes a lot. I'll take that for now.

5) Cost of dreams and Target Monthly Income for both six and 12 month timelines

Hhhhmmm....I think this should be kept private, don't you? Thx!

Ohhh....now the format shows up! Page 57 has a sample layout. w/o embedding a spreadsheet of some sorts or table that I don't see from blogger then this would have been hard...just deal with my vertical, ugly, flat layout - thx.

6) Basically, determine three steps for each of the four dreams in the six month dreamline and take the first step right now.

I guess this will have to wait for a future post! It's 10:15pm my time and it won't happen tonight - but I get the drift. I expect you to push me along if I haven't posted any updates to this post in the next few days.

There you have it! My dreamline. Hopefully w/o too many spelling errors. I seriously did this as I read each page - probably a good exercise and I hope you will do the same.

-M

Progress, Not Perfection?

2008-01-08T21:08:00.001-08:00

Today turned out to be slightly frustrating. I spent all day trying to get authentication going with Rails 2.x. As I mentioned in a prior post, quite a few differences exist in Rails 1.2.x and Rails 2.x. I'm trying to do things the new way - without really reading too much - and that is probably my downfall. The changes are enough that a quick read would certainly be beneficial.

On another front, let me discuss a little about eLance and RentACoder. I've posted some projects on both places lately and I think I've drawn an opinion that is simply that, my opinion. I'll probably continue to post development related projects on both sites, but I think RentACoder is going to consistently be the winner. That said, eLance has turned out to be a great resource for graphic design (web and other) as well as other professional services. Both are very useful. I continue to be blown away by the low rates and surprisingly great quality work that results from those low rates. This explains why I got laughed at for the rates I was seeking a few years back! :-)

Progress does continue to be made on several fronts. Things go in spurts. Everyone has opinions and it's fascinating to see how the same images affect different people. I'm really enjoying the process and look forward to the next steps after we get past this initial grunt-work.

To prove that I'm following the 4HWW - on page 200 and 201 he lists the names of a few call centers. Two of those companies have merged into one. I didn't place those calls directly, but had one of my partners start researching call centers for both inbound and outbound calling activities. Interestingly, he wasn't able to get in touch with ANY of them directly. Rather, voicemails were left and we are pending callbacks. Let's hope they check their voicemail more than once a week! I'm not impressed. A business that focuses on handling calls SHOULD answer their phones, don't you think?

Hope this helps!

In the last 24 hours - Something Rare Happened... Twice!

2008-01-07T15:01:00.000-08:00

I know you've been following this blog, so you should ALREADY know what I'm gonna say - but for those of you who HAVE NOT been following my blog...get ready.

I'm a pretty easy person to please, until you get to know me - then I'm demanding as hell! Hahaha... I generally just want people to do what I ask and to do a good job at it.

That said, it is RARE that I'm blown away. I've learned to adjust my expectations of others to be REALISTIC - it saves a heck of a lot of frustration. BUT...in the last 24 hours, I have been STUNNED by the BEAUTIFUL and QUALITY work of those I have found on eLance. WOW - that's an understatement. WOW WOW WOW....Triple WOW (that's redundant).

Last night I got my voice-overs for the 800 number. NO REVISIONS NEEDED! Can you believe that? To be fair, I did get a VERY early version of it last week just so I could help pick the background music - easier to do when a voice is on top of it. But it was just a sentence or two and I gave feedback based on that. So imagine the sweet surprise last night when I got the final version, with various edits to fix my choice of words in the script. I LOVED it! Passed it around to a few people - they loved it! DONE! PAID and future work going back to them because of the great quality.

Then...and this is even better...this afternoon I got THREE prototypes from our graphic designer. I AM BLOWN AWAY! Two of the three are AMAZING - the third is actually okay and probably in line with what my EXPECTATIONS would have been. But two of them - TRULY UNIQUE - beautiful works of art. OMG - you can't possibly imagine HOW HAPPY I am right now. I think I said in an earlier post, or in a comment, or on one of the blogs.... I didn't take the lowest bid for this one. In fact, I took the second to highest bid. I paid more than TWICE the MEDIAN bid. This was a big gamble. But when I looked at their portfolio - the sites just STUCK OUT as unique and professional. Unique - can't put my finger on it - but maybe just "a step or two (or three) above the rest. The gamble, for me, was that it was just these lovely portfolio sites and it wouldn't trickle down to my task. Not the case - I'm so delighted I may even have to overpay them when this is all said and done. Mind you - this was THEIR FIRST VERSION in front of me. AMAZING!!!! Can you tell I'm excited? Heck yes I am. I'm lovin' it (I'm pretty confident that's taken by McDonalds - no infringement intended - please consider it free advertising).

May the upcoming days be filled with wonderful surprises like the one's I have just received.

-M

p.s. - Don't ask me for the name of the companies because I won't give them out yet. Only once my little project is no longer anonymous will I do such a thing. So you can ask, but shall not receive - YET! I do hope you understand!

AdSense finally caught on!

2008-01-05T23:56:00.000-08:00

Today is the first day that I have been on my blog and actually seen relevant Google Ad's. Good Job Google! I know it takes some time and for you, it didn't take long at all. CRM, Outsourcing, Biz Books, Obama - ha - you got it! This is why you are the king! Impressive...

Rails 2.0 - I'm outdated...

2008-01-05T22:23:00.000-08:00

For my new project, I decided to use an existing application that I wrote as a base for a new application. Of course, in undertaking this task I figured I had better get the "latest and greatest" for Rails.

OMG...this made me realize how OUT OF DATE I am! Mind you, I wrote my application over two years ago for our "other biz" - and I wrote it at a time when Rails was still in Beta. Mongrel - ahhh...I'm not even sure it was thought of, much yet conceived. I have since made sure that my "old app" worked with probably up to 1.2 Rails. So imagine my shock when I upgraded to Rails 2.0! Ughhh... I've fallen behind even while using the cutting edge stuff. :-)

Major diff's: RESTful! But even down to the smaller things, like Pagination. Oh, the rails boys always complained about pagination, but damn - they took it out! LOL... that's okay - we now have WillPaginate! Hah...it's still a change and something that took me a little research. Scaffolding (another thing the critics of rails have always bitched about) is different. Why doesn't someone understand the value of QUICKLY creating a skeleton for CRUD operations? Ohhh...the pundits - damn them. Scaffolding is different for sure - and I'm not happy about that! ;-) If I want to quickly have some views created then let me do it!!! Okay? It's just a change, that's all.

The whole REST stuff - that's a little more work! Work being education. Things change - that's life. Decision time: Do I stay the course on Rails 2.0 or stay on my old stuff that works knowing that my time is severely limited. Dang... of course, I'll go Rails 2.0 - I just hope this is a wise decision! I had a lot of repeated code for simple stuff in my original project which is a violation of the Rails principle - DRY (don't repeat yourself). BTW - this could be my own fault and not the fault of Rails - when you learn something quickly you don't always learn the RIGHT way to do it. Search, Pagination, etc... stuck in the controllers. This is different now. I just hope that I don't run into a ton of app changes as I start to port to 2.0 for a new purpose.

BTW...I, like many others, LOVE (absolutely) Ruby - and thus ROR. Years ago, I went down this path when searching for a canned, open source solution to my needs. I stumbled upon Rails and have never looked back. I wrote my own solution in less time than it took me to evaluate and modify existing solutions to my situation. I remain commited to the ROR cause. DHH (if you don't know who that is then you shouldn't read this anyway) is certainly, and self-proclaimed, opinionated. A bit of an ass indeed (as am I). However, he's created something that I think leads to faster web development than any tool I have ever seen - and it's a great contribution to the Open Source Community - all the better, which even removes the ass-itch! ;-) Thanks DHH! 2.0 it is. You are a brilliant architect and I'm grateful for the robust and growing Rails community.

-M

What can be done in a week?

2008-01-05T19:51:00.000-08:00

If you recall from my post of 12/29/07 - I had another Biz idea presented to me. I liked it and I got some passion brewing inside me and ... oh my... what can be done in a week. Granted, I'm on vacation, but check this out:

1) Logo Created
2) Graphic Designer selected and first draft by Monday
3) Trademark/Service Mark registration started
4) Marketing Material drafts created
5) 800 Number Reserved and PBX account created
6) New Corp process started
7) Mailing List of nearly 30k targeted prospects generated
8) Professional Voice person selected and script created. First version presented
9) Print Product company selected (biz cards, mailers, stationary, etc...)
10) A fair amount of research into company specifics and costs achieved
11) Programming started for web site
12) Marketing plans started across multiple aspects of marketing

That little list of 12 items probably seems easy, but it takes quite a bit of coordination and is the foundation that had to be started. I didn't do it alone, mind you. A combination of partners, VA's and myself got this process in motion. I've probably missed a few items too, but wanted to get this quick post out since I missed one yesterday! :-)

Enjoy,

-M

Give it to a busy man

2008-01-03T22:05:00.001-08:00

I got stuck watching too much TV tonight with the Iowa stuff. So when the Apprentice Celebrity came on I decided to be disciplined and continue reading "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz. It's been a while since I read more of it and felt it was necessary to get back on track with my reading.

A few things caught my eye, but the one that sticks out is one that I have heard before: "If you want it done, give it to a busy man."

Now, isn't that quite a statement. It certainly seems to contradict, on the surface, the concept of a 4HWW, right? Maybe. Maybe not! Busy can be interpreted in many ways. To me, this means giving it to the person who is going to deliver. The person who deliver's is naturally busy because that person is a scarce resource. Give it to the busy man...fascinating! That's what accounted for my own personal successes as I was trying to make more money in the early days of my career in the software industry. I simply assumed tasks that others declined, tried to find ways to do things better and NEVER turned down a request to work outside the boundaries of my job description. Indeed, it kept me busy.

Now, I need to figure out ways to accomplish MORE and not be quite as busy. This is where the VA's and other outsource related things come into play. It's about delegating - either to employees, VA's, wife, kids, whatever. It's the difference between being a worker bee and being a leader. Leaders delegate. I've ALWAYS struggled with being a leader. I'm a control freak with a thousand reasons to "have to do it myself." This was the delimna Timothy Ferriss found himself in that nearly led to a nervous breakdown. This week I've had some very good experiences letting OPE (Other People's Efforts) get things done for me. It allows multi-tasking in the true form to take place. Sure, I have to manage the "mini-projects" to some degree, but I'm able to get three or four things done at a time instead of just one or two things had I tried to do it myself. PLUS, the added benefit, I get PROFESSIONALS to do it and rest assured, they CAN and DO do it better than me.

This leads to another concept in "The Magic of Thinking Big" - constantly challenging yourself to be better and challenge traditional thoughts. Everyone and everything can be improved. He writes that successful people don't say "Can I do this better?" but they say "HOW can I do this better?" What a difference the "how" makes, huh?

Obama, the next president of the United States

2008-01-03T20:58:00.000-08:00

People,

Tonight, we have experienced something that will go down in the history books forever. I'm a decently conservative Republican, but have been saying that Obama would be our next President since the day he announced his candidacy. Be it known: I'm not an active political figure. I've never posted a message about politics. I've actually been quite a poor citizen when it comes to voting. BUT...I am telling you know, and writing it here, even though it has nothing to do with my project - Barack Obama's speech tonight after winning the Iowa Caucuses WILL BE studied by many students and will go down in the history books to a similar degree as those of JFK's and Martin Luther King's.

I rather enjoyed hearing Huckabee's speech too. However, I don't see a republican standing a chance at winning an election this year. The country is fed up with the direction we have been going down. I'm fed up with what is happening in the world. I'm not intelligent or wise enough to have a solution, but I know that we, as a people, want change. We want a fresh perspective, a fresh outlook, a fresh set of attitudes. For some reason, I see Obama as JFK. I can't explain this, but if that's what I feel then I know a heck of a lot of other people see it too. And they showed that in Iowa tonight.

Obama's speech was simply motivating. It was powerful. It was a message of hope and strength and character - it was something that we should all listen to and learn from. For that reason, it's applicable to my blog. Hope, Challenge, Perseverence, Winning against all odds, setting your goals high, overcoming the nay-sayers. Beautiful and encouraging. Even if you don't vote for Obama, please take a moment to look up this speech on YouTube or wherever it will ultimately end up. It's worth listening to.

-M

What's better? Smaller portion or all?

2008-01-02T17:04:00.000-08:00

On my post from 12/29/07, I mentioned that I had been presented with YABI (yet another business idea). Wow, what a GREAT idea it is!

Now, I have two business ideas, both of which are great ideas. Both of which will be profitable. Recall that my time is limited and certainly not four hours a week yet. That begs the question: Shall I continue with my original idea, of which I control almost all of it. Or, shall I become part of this other idea, of which I will be a minority stakeholder?

There are certainly many variables associated with a decision such as this. I want to do both! I will do both. But I can only do one at a time, and for me, I have chosen to focus my energies on participating in the smaller percentage business. Why?

Passion - The new idea that was presented to me is one that has a lot of passion behind it. It's one that I believe provides a service that will be very fulfilling to the customers.
Marketing - The potential market is beyond compehension. The business model lends itself to repeat and referral customers.
Applicability to 4HWW principles - The business lends itself very nicely to the concepts described in 4HWW.
Partners - It's great to have other people involved for sharing ideas and strategies.

This list is not entirely comprehensive. I believe my smaller portion in business number two will yield more income, but more importantly, more life joy than business idea number one. It actually makes me feel that I have some purpose and ability to add value to the lives of others. That is priceless.

I have used eLance to accomplish some of the tasks associated with this new business already (I discussed those in an earlier post). This blog will continue to exist but with a different product concept in mind. It's still proving out the concepts in 4HWW. I have a new found energy that I haven't had in a LONG time.

I'm going to continue with both business ideas, but just apply SIGNIFICANTLY more time and energy FOR NOW into business idea number two. I'll keep you posted!

VA - sort of...

2008-01-01T22:31:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to everyone! 2008 is going to be a GREAT year...I can feel it!

It's late, and I'm tired, but wanted to let everyone know that I have hired out one task on eLance and am getting ready to hire out a second task. Lovely service that thing is! Wow - I do like it thus far.

My business focus is changing. Will talk more about it later. It will be a very good thing though! Starting my two weeks of vacation tomorrow and look to make significant progress on my venture(s).

Cheers and best wishes to everyone in 2008.

I'm not alone

2007-12-30T09:53:00.000-08:00

Why did the "The 4-Hour Workweek", by Timothy Ferriss capture my attention? Am I a sucker? Maybe! But I'm not alone. I'm happy to report that I'm not alone in this adventure. It is nice to see other people are as intrigued by this book as myself.

The two sites that I'm aware of, and both of their "owners" have commented on this blog, are as follows:

Diary of a Four-Hour-A-Weeker

As far as I know, this is the first person to start blogging their efforts with the 4HWW principles.

The 4-Hour Workweek Journal

This person started his adventure shortly after I started mine. He sounds shockingly similar to myself - 30 something, married with children, software professional, burnt!

I look forward to watching the progress of each of these individuals. Do you know of other people blogging their journey? Let me know so that I can add them.

This begs the question: What is it about this book that is causing people like myself to write about it? Is it the lure of the minimal work week? No, at least not for me. For me, it's the idea/promise/hope of getting my life back. It's the escape from what I currently know and experience. It's a best seller for a reason - and I think that reason is that most people are absolutely sick of their current situation.

I think people identify with the problem. The book does more than just describe the hell that most of us live in. It describes a solution - with plenty of information to get one started on achieving the solution. It is useful. It's powerful enough that people like me are writing about their experience. I know others will join. We should start a club!

I look forward to making new friends - friends that understand my situation. Friends that share an interest in finding a solution. Friends that ultimately want more from life. I wish everyone attempting to reach the 4HWW success! Cheers to success!

First Half of January

2007-12-29T08:38:00.000-08:00

I'm taking TWO WEEKS of vacation from my employer so that I can focus on a few things:

I have managed to fall behind on some critical paperwork that needs to be addressed. I have to go through past records in order to be able to complete these tasks. Man, I sure wish I had that virtual assistant! I am terrible at doing administrative type of junk that bores the hell out of me. It isn't that I'm not capable, it's just that with so many other, more interesting things on my plate, I PROCRASTINATE on some of the important things that must be done in life. PAPERWORK - YUCK! This two weeks will give me some time to get these done. I'll follow the 4HWW principals of FOCUS to achieve these tasks as quickly as possible. With no business meetings, email, etc... then I should be able to sit down and knock one or two of these tasks out each day until they are done.
My Project: The real intention of me takng this vacation is to work and focus on my project for which this blog is designed to report progress about. That's one of the reasons I had hoped to have more info from my Contract Manufacturer by now. I remain positive that he'll have me the info I need by early next week. I'm going to focus really hard on getting my business plan done. I will need help with this from people who are more experienced than myself, but I at least want to get a draft version of it together that I can take to some people I know with money and hope they think it's as great as I do so that I can get some initial investment money to cover some up-front costs.
My Project: Prototype - I need to work on the web aspects (software design) of my little project. It need not be perfect, but I would like to have some raw functionality so that I can demo it when I present my business plan to potential investors. I tend to be a perfectionist with software development and will have to be very disciplined so that I don't get stuck on little tasks that take a lot of time with little value. This goes back to the 80/20 rule. In software development, you can get 80% of the work done in 20% of the time (or less). It's that final 20% that kicks everyone's ass. It's important, but not for purposes of developing a prototype. I'm not a graphic designer - so my prototype may look a bit rough in the begininning. I can outsource that aspect but my goal for the coming weeks is to have a semi-functional prototype that can be demo'd to the right people. Wish me success!

Contract Manufacturing Update

2007-12-29T08:32:00.000-08:00

As you can see, I already messed up on my objective to make a post every day - even if minimal. I won't let this deter me and will attempt to get back on track.

Yesterday, I was supposed to get an update from the contract manufacturer that I have solicited for input on costs associated with getting my device to market. He did give me an update, but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for! Strike One!

I actually am pretty tolerant of people and businesses, to some degree. More than anything, I want communication on progress and I did receive this. He has ordered a sample that he wants to re-engineer for my device and is waiting for it to get into his hands. I suppose I can't complain too much about this. I'll trust that once this device makes it to him then he'll be able to give me an accurate quote. I prefer accuracy over haste - so no worries.

On another note, I was presented with YABI (Yet Another Business Idea) yesterday. It's a great idea too. Time Management will become key for me in the coming months. FOCUS, FOCUS, FOCUS...

Stay tuned!

Contract Manufacturing Meeting and...

2007-12-26T20:02:00.001-08:00

Today turned out to be rather informative! I had the conference call with the Contract Manufacturer and they actually gave me an idea regarding my physical device that I was not aware of! Turns out, they have decent experience in this field and really opened my eyes to some possibilities.

They are going to have information to me by this coming Friday with respect to a quote. I should know my initial startup costs associated with getting this thing built, along with per item fees for orders in various quantities.

I like the fact that this company opened my eyes to a device that will actually make my product BETTER! How I missed it in my various levels of research is beyond me, but I did. Since the device already exists and since they have familiarity with it then it looks like a slam dunk. The "off the top of my head" number was very reasonable and I anxiously await seeing it in writing. I trust their past experience will allow that number to be pretty close to accurate.

I'm so excited!!! Can you tell? Action, Action, Action. I am so proud of myself (brag) for taking the first step and actually contacting someone for additional information. It makes this task seem so realistic and possible! My spirits are high right now and I can't wait for Friday when I get some numbers to plug into a business plan and start figuring out the pricing model.

Did I say I was excited? Oh yeah...I did! Keep coming back - this is going to get good...soon!

Today was a great day!

Epiphany (not really) and Merry Christmas

2007-12-25T21:01:00.000-08:00

What a great Christmas day with our family. The kids really enjoyed themselves.

I had a slight epiphany today as I was thinking through my little project.

First, I found an extended function for the product that fits nicely with the overall concept but may allow me to reach an even larger audience. Must have been the Christmas festivities that made it ring true in my head!

Secondly, I can market the physical gadget with or without the web site. Since I previously mentioned that the physical device already exists on the market, and I just want to repurpose it a little - why not sell it (or at least attempt to) to the people already buying these gadgets in the first place? My initial feeling is that the gadget is going to be a faster deliverable than the actual web site. The design of the website won't be horribly difficult. The content is the tougher part. It will take time to put all those pieces together. Fortunately, these are parallel tasks - one of which I MUST outsource (the manufacturing of the physical device). The second I will participate in during design and development, but then outsource the content creation. The final packaging must be coordinated, but I can package the actual physical device seperately if it gets completed sooner and then go through a secondary packaging process later for the combined product.

Enough for now, will describe more as we go through the process. I just wanted to get this out for todays minimal post.

Christmas Eve

2007-12-24T23:13:00.000-08:00

I can't fall behind on my first day! My goal is to make a post each and every day - even if it isn't much. Tonight was spent at a family and friend Christmas Eve party. Lot's of kids this year and it kept us busy. Merry Christmas everyone!

Free Idea: Mashup for Affiliate Accounts

2007-12-23T20:48:00.000-08:00

It wouldn't surprise me if such a thing already exists, but if not, here's a free one for the taking (I won't do it):

Create a mashup for managing affiliate accounts! I just started this blog today, and have already created four DIFFERENT accounts for the few products that offer affiliate programs that I put on my other posts. That's amazing!

If you don't know what a mashup is, then this task may not be for you. For general consumption, a mashup is basically a consolidation/aggregation of data from disperate sources (usually web sites/databases/etc...) that can be displayed in a manner that achieves (a) greater functionality, (b) easier navigation or (c) any number of other things to make life easier.

I can see how a pro at this could spend their four hours a week just monitoring their affiliate programs! LOL...not me! But wouldn't a nice web page that brings all the data together in one view be wonderful for the pro's out there?

Anyone familiar with such a thing? If so, let me know. If you build it because of this suggestion then please also let me know so that I know this didn't end up dead in cyberspace - don't worry, I won't ask for anything in return!

Web Hosts

2007-12-23T19:44:00.000-08:00

For low budget, quality and reliable uptime, I recommend GoDaddy. They hosted our business web site for over a year. I also use them for domain registrations. The cost is unbelievably low and the customer service is very good.

If, however, you choose to develop your website in Ruby on Rails (as I have done), then you will want to pick someone else to host it. I tried to get ours up and running on GoDaddy, but it was an initial offering for them and I had troubles. I went to another, smaller company. This smaller company specializes in ROR hosting and are responsive to email inquiries. Beware: No phone support. This is a major drawback, but thank goodness they answer their emails more than twice daily! :-) The company is Rails Playground.

Logo Design and Graphics

2007-12-23T19:37:00.001-08:00

A few additional tools related to getting your professional image up and running! For our other business, we used the following and I was very impressed with the results.

LogoDesignPros.com

I was very hesitant at first. It cost us ~$300US and was well worth the expense. They gave several "drafts" of logo designs they came up with. We went back and forth a few times and were happy with our final revision. The logo is very professional looking and was designed quickly. The customer service and their system is setup very efficiently. I was very pleased with the outcome.

www.shutterstock.com

Shutterstock provided all the professional looking images for our website. They have a huge assortment of "stock" and we just picked out several that we liked. We then gave them to a graphic designer that worked on the overall layout of our site (color scheme, navigation, etc...) and he made them fit right in with slight modification. It's a pay service, but we thought it was great.

Product Idea

2007-12-23T15:25:00.000-08:00

While Anonymous in nature, I will review a few details for those who have an interest in knowing about my product:

It has to do with food. However, it isn't a food product.

There are two major aspects to this: A website that will require a heck of a lot of content (yes, I will unquestionably outsource the content aspect of the site) and two, a physical device. This device, to some degree, already exists. However, for sake of my marketing, I need to repurpose it slightly. Because the device already exists, I'm hoping a contract manufacturer will be able to replicate it without any engineering junk from me. I am not going to modify the core product - I'm just going to change the way it looks and give it a new purpose in life. I need this because my customers will need to get setup as easily as possible. I want a complete "packaged" solution. Failure for me to deliver this device would mean that I leave my potential customers to have to acquire this on their own. That would make things too hard for them. One stop shopping is what I'm after.

I expect to partner with other websites that already offer content that will be of value for my product.

I expect to sell A LOT OF THIS!!! I'm not talking hundreds. I'm talking TENS or HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS! In fact, I might be selling myself short with that estimate.

I expect to make money from the initial sale of my product, plus from web site content (ads/content/etc...) and from Affiliates that offer complimentary products to mine.

My product will be easy to sell at fairs, online, door-to-door and on QVC or other type of infomercial system! Hey, doesn't that sound exciting??? Perhaps one day you will even see my product in stores you visit! Are you wishing me success?
My goal is to have it ready by May, 2008. If I can do it quicker then great, but that's my "no later than" target date.

That's it for now! Check back often for updates!

What I have done to date

2007-12-23T15:17:00.001-08:00

If you haven't read the Introduction yet, please do! To the right, you will see categories, then introduction. Click on it and read first.

Now that you have read the introduction, I want to give a really quick overview of what I have done to validate this experiment to date. You may well be aware that I'm less than a week into this adventure and I will start posting once a day for status updates. For now:

Read the book "The 4-Hour Workweek", by Timothy Ferriss. I finished my first complete read-through on the night of Friday, December 21, 2007 - the third day of ownership.
Started reading the book "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz. I purchased this book on Saturday, December 22, 2007. As of now, I have only read to the end of page 74. Will start reading more tonight, starting on Chapter Four.
Contacted a Contract Manufacturer. You know I have an idea. You know I have no clue how to bring it to market. I suppose the first step is to figure out how much the physical device will cost. I have a conference call setup with them on December 26th. I don't know what to expect from this call. I already emailed them the details of what I need, but it's probably too generic for them to give an accurate quote. This is the FIRST company that I have contacted for a quote. I will contact at least three more companies. I found the company from a link in Tim's book (anything you need manufactured....). This very well may be a task that I offload to a VA when the time is right. For now, I'll do the initial grunt -work and then let them shop around. I need to put a business plan together and knowing how much this thing is going to cost me to have manufactured is a huge missing link. BTW, I haven't started the Business Plan yet - it's only in my head.
I did some prototying BEFORE ALL OF THIS, for what I think is the most difficult aspect of the software design. I spent probably a few days on it, but just an hour here or an hour there - not full days.

That's it! Pretty much starting from scatch. As I do and learn more I'll let you know!

Open Source Software that I use

2007-12-23T15:02:00.000-08:00

I mentioned Ubuntu and Asterisk in a different post, because it related to an easy and nearly free PBX solution. In addition, I find the following tools valuable:

MySql - Open Source relational database software. It's fantastic and behind some of the largest internet sites in the world.
FileZilla - Open Source FTP/SFTP software.
Putty - SSH to a linux box from Windows. This is great for gaining access to your hosted servers from a client PC running windows.
PocketPutty - Same as above, but from your Windows Mobile/Pocket PC device. In my case, Treo 700wx cell phone.
Ruby on Rails - Open Source Web Development framework built around the MVC (Model-View-Controller) design pattern. Hey, it's great in my opinion and I built a solution for our company on it in no time.
TightVNC - Like PCAnywhere, but Open Source. Remotely control other computers from this lightweight, low-footprint tool. Note: TightVNC is built upon VNC.
OpenOffice - I use this to avoid licensing costs from Microsoft. When starting a small company, you have to save as much money as possible. This was a tough one for the kids - because they all use MSOffice at school. They have gotten used to it though! One very valuable feature that I like about it: I can save all my documents to PDF NATIVELY, without having to use Acrobat or some other print driver. It does a good job of preserving the format from MS Office documents. It's not just a writer, but also a spreadsheet tool that works very much like Excel, a presentation tool, etc...
Thunderbird - An Open Source Mail client. Hey, this isn't as good as Outlook (IMHO), but it does the job. Besides, I don't have Outlook! I choose this tool over Outlook Express.
RadRails (now Aptima Studio) - Development environment for Ruby on Rails development.
Apache - Open Source Web Server. I don't know the current market saturation, but if not number one then number two behind IIS.
... If I come up with others, then I will make a new post for them. If too many others, then I'll consolidate into a new post. I think this is it for now. BTW, I'm ONLY putting down items for Open Source Software that I use, or use regularly! The list of tools available via OpenSource is AMAZING and my list doesn't even touch the surface of what's available.

Why am I using Affiliate Links

2007-12-23T14:57:00.000-08:00

You may ask yourself: Why am I using affiliate links? My explanation below:

Amazon: I'm writing about a book and providing my insights to the books. If someone decides to purchase any of the books that I have links to then I think I should be able to monetize it. The purpose of this blog isn't to get rich making money on click-throughs - it won't happen. It won't provide me with enough income to buy diapers for the babies. However, anything I am able to make is certainly welcome.
AdWords: Why not? It will be interesting to see what kind of ads they eventually put on my blog based on my content. If any of you click on any of them then it will be extra pennies to me.

Finally, there are (or will be) many links that I provide for products that I believe in that will not result in any compensation to me in any way, shape or form. Either because they don't have affiliate programs or because I'm unaware of them. If I post something of value and can make money from it then great. If not, it's not going to stop me from posting links to things I find valuable. e.g. AccessLine, Ubuntu, Asterisk, More to Come...

Why Anonymous?

2007-12-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

I expect that anyone who reads this blog will first question my decision to be anonymous. In no certain order, here are my reasons:

The product is anonymous until I launch it. Clearly, I don't want anyone else going to market faster than I'm able to. Once the product is launched then I will make clear what the product is. I don't have much spare time (yet) so I may work slower than 99% of the rest of the population.
The reason I remain anonymous is because I don't want anyone knowing who I am yet. Rest assured, I'm not famous. I'm not affiliated with the author (yet) in any way, shape, or form. I'm just a guy who wants to put his work to use and see what the outcome of my efforts might be.
I don't want my employer to know who I am. Wow, if they actually found out then it would mean I had some momentum. However, I need not have anyone scrutinizing me at this point in time. When my product is launched then I will reveal myself.
I don't reveal the name of our other company that is already running because I don't speak very highly of it! It almost drove me insane, but it does provide income to our household that we desperately need.

That's it! No major cover-up, no big mystery. It's just my preference for the time being.

Phone System for the poor...FREE, almost...

2007-12-23T14:28:00.000-08:00

I'm a big believer in Open Source software, and some of the best software available today is open source (Linux, Apache, MySQL, etc...).

As we were starting our service business two years ago, which shouldn't be recommended to anyone :-), I needed a phone system that would work in my home. As mentioned in a previous post, we use AccessLine so that we can have a remote work force. However, I needed something that would allow me to have multiple lines within my home that would all be tied together, allow transfers, etc... Also, before I knew about AccessLine, I had already gone down this different path.

Asterisk - It's an open source PBX system! With very little money (just hardware which is very inexpensive), you can have your business up and running with a full-fledged PBX. We have one vonage line and four land-lines from our cable provider running into an old computer that's only purpose in life is to route phone calls. You can do some VERY fancy stuff with Asterisk. We use it for bare minimum functionality but it works great. You can also set it up so that it can support your entire remote workforce too, but I am just too afraid to put it on the outside of our firewall. Thus, the multiple systems (Asterisk and AccessLine). The actual software is found here: http://www.asterisk.org. You may want to check into Asterisk@Home as well. Apparently, it is now called TrixBox (as I found out when trying to get a linke to their website). Here ya go: Asterisk@Home

BTW, we have found success running it on the Ubuntu distribution of Linux. It gave us problems ONE time in TWO years and that's because I had debug logging enabled and didn't realize it and the disk ran out of free space! Other than that, it's been a great performer! An entire history of inbound and outbound calls are stored in a database for your archival purposes.

Hope this helps...

Remote Phone Service Provider / 800 Number Vendor

2007-12-23T14:18:00.000-08:00

In the book,The 4-Hour Workweek, the author gives a list of tools that are very valuable when starting a business and/or trying to work remotely. During the other business we setup, I had to have a remote sales force and customer service department. For our business, we hire people to work out of their home. The goal was to not have people tied to our residence since it was a home based business.

We have used AccessLine for a few years via an OfficeMax partnership. With the exception of a few minor glitches along the way, we have been pretty happy with what their service offers. We can have up to 16 (I believe) extensions plugged into the automated system. When customers call our 800 number, they are presented with an IVR type of situation. Press 1 for this, 2 for that. If you know your parties extension, press XXX. For each of the automated options, you can supply a number for it to go to (cell, landline, etc...). They can be the same, or different. You can also have failover numbers. So let's say someone is trying to reach Sales Associate "Jane Doe." Jane Doe doesn't answer the phone in her office/home/whatever. I can configure this system (very easily) to let it ring her line "n" number of times, if no answer, ring to my backup line or go to voicemail.

With our service level, which I believe is $99 per month roughly, plus per-minute charges for the 800 line, we don't get extra voicemail boxes. Therefore, we have just one company voicemail box. As people leave voicemails, they get sent to an email address for our company.

This company is not listed in the book, but I can vouch for them and am happy with the service. When we have had problems, their tech support is pretty decent. During two years, we had one period of time where our phones were down for an entire day. Hopefully it doesn't happen again. While the silence was nice, it also meant no money coming in.

I hope someone finds this of value.

Why this blog? Important Background Information...

2007-12-23T10:03:00.000-08:00

Hello to anyone visiting this blog, if there is anyone out there reading! The purpose of this LONG post is to provide some adequate background information as to the rhyme and reason for this blog.

So....

At the end of November, I found myself on a mini-vacation / business trip. With a few drinks in belly, I found myself engaged with another vacationer. Note: This was the first vacation I had been on in a few years and the only reason it was possible is because my employer sent me to this lovely place for business and I extended it by a few days and flew my significant other on a free ticket from accumulated airline miles.

This person inquired about my profession. I told him I work in the software industry and have had a few different roles within it. This peaked his interest. For he had an idea and wondered if such an idea was possible to implement. The idea fascinated me - it is a GREAT idea that I think will be quite useful to a large audience. We exchanged numbers and continued to hang out a bit over the course of the next few days. I thought for sure we would become business partners as we had discussed. Sadly, I have called this gentleman four times since that vacation, sent him a couple of text messages and my efforts to make contact have been for not. I cannot figure out why he will not return my messages, other than perhaps his wife is upset that he so openly shared with me his idea. It's really rather quite puzzling.

With that in mind, I have a few choices:

1) Let a wonderful idea be left in the hands of a person that may / may not ever do anything with it.

2) Continue to try to reach this person and hopefully become engaged in a business partnership from which we both benefit.

3) Proceed down the path of bringing this idea to market without him. If he should respond early enough in the process then I'll be happy to include him because it was clearly his idea that got me all excited.

Since a month has passed to no avail, I'm choosing option three from above. I sincerely hope that he will make contact with me or return my voicemails so that he can be appropriately included.

I have had many ideas in the past that I have failed to implement. I even have a patent pending (for over four years now) and have done nothing with it, except pay nearly 5K in attorney fees. I desire to not sit on my laurels again and let a great idea pass me by.

This is how the journey began. I spent minimal time prototyping what I thought would be the most difficult aspect of this project from a software design point of view. After successfully finding a workable solution, I began to play in my mind with various add-on ideas, etc... that would make this idea even more valuable. Other than that...nothing else was done up until December 19, 2007 (only a few days ago).

I have no clue how to launch a product. Otherwise, I would have done it with many of my past ideas. I have no clue how to do much other than be a very hard working person with a lot of perseverence. Marketing? No way. You name it, I can come up with a million excuses as to why I have done nothing to scale beyond my hourly, individual contributions. Enough! I have to break past this barrier.

This led me to a google search for a list of the top Entrepreneurial books. I don't recall the source of the list that I finally used, but I wrote down the names of five books and ranked them in my order of preference. My significant other was going to the bookstore that day for some Christmas shopping and I asked her to get two of the books. If the store didn't have my top pick, then move down the list until one is located.

As luck would have it, the store had "The 4-Hour Workweek", by Timothy Ferriss. That's the only book she came home with because she had a 20% off coupon and figured she would just go get one of the other books the next day - after all, I can only read one at a time, right?

I sat down that night and started to read this book with great interest. It took two other sittings to complete it. I must admit that I read it word for word, but rather quickly. I did not do the excercises or any of the additional reading. My goal was to get the concept of the book into my head and then go back for reference and exercises later.

I completed the book on Friday, December 21st. Within the book, Mr. Ferriss had some additional recommended reading. I took that list with me on Saturday to the book store and came out with "The Magic of Thinking Big" by David Schwartz. That was last night. Currently, I'm at page 75, the beginning of Chapter 4.

Why am I writing about all of this? A few reasons, really:

At the time I decided to put "The 4-Hour Workweek" on my list of books to consider there were roughly 510 amazon reviews, most of them positive in nature. I didn't find anyone with actual testimonials (though I didn't read the entire list of reviews). I found people who said it works, but failed to back it up with any substance. Perhaps they are just false-promoters??? This leaves me skeptical. There may be information out there, but I haven't taken the time to search that hard. It doesn't matter for my purpose anyway. If I write about my adventure then the outcome will be the outcome. Good, bad or otherwise. It will be for everyone to see on a step by step basis - from the very beginning. Note: I am NOT affiliated with the author of this book in any way, shape or form. I never even heard of the guy until reading about this book. This will be able to be independently verified by anyone so inclined to know when I decide to reveal my identity and my product.

If I blog about it then it will ADD to my motivation to actually do something - i.e. Action. I'm typically more concerned about what other people think of me then what I actually think of myself! Sad, huh? However, it's true, so I'll leverage my weakness.

The added benefit of blogging my experience is so that other people can benefit from it; either positively or not. My success or failure in this adventure should not be used as the sole reason for purchasing (or not) the book, but it will at least explain my journey. Many of the reviews on Amazon say that he skips important details, that it's harder said than done, etc... My journey will be well documented and if important things have been missed then you will see them as I encounter them.

I may actually get good feedback from anyone viewing this blog. I may have hurdles to get over, advice needed, etc... and would appreciate any useful information to posts I make that may help keep me motivated or keep my product on target.

As Mr. Ferriss suggests in his book, I am using the brain-vommit (I think that was his term) approach to writing this blog. This serves a couple of purposes: 1) It gives me an out for not being an expert writer. I'm a software engineer, not an author of reading material. Therefore, I openly accept any criticism for my writing inability. 2) Most of my posts (including this one) will not be proof-read by me prior to posting. I'll type and what ends up here stays here. That will save me huge amounts of time and allow me to actually complete my goal of writing on a very regular basis (once per day is my objective). There may be days where I write almost nothing at all. If I force myself into perfection mode then I'll tire of trying to do this and I will spend too much time on it. Besides, I can always go back when I'm done with my experiment and edit or clarify necessary bits and pieces.

Below is a bulleted list of thoughts I have regarding this book:

If anyone could come up with an excuse to NOT follow this book then it is me. I have six children (4 full-time, 2 part-time). I don't wish to travel the world, but I do wish to enjoy my life more and spend more quality time with my children and things I enjoy.

I am not sure where middle or upper class lines are drawn these days. I earn a strong income but am still broke. I live literally paycheck to paycheck and for months have not had enough income to make all my ends meet. Divorce, living location, a thousand kids, mass consumer, and many other factors play into this misery I find myself in. It is all self-induced. I have worked like a madman my entire life and have not enough to show for it, despite having earned over 300k for 5 years straight. That's just sick! I don't make that income now, but I once did. Regardless, I have always been the rat running aimlessly on the wheel and I am absolutely finished with it. We'll see how this goes, but some of the reviews suggested that you needed to be middle-class, have savings, etc... to make this work. I don't believe that to be the case, but we'll see what happens as time goes by. All I know is that I'm at that nervous breakdown point and have been there for at least two years. I used to think positively, but following my divorce I have slipped into a very negative mindset. This has affected everything around me, including my income. I look forward to being back in the positive thinking situation again.

I will not follow the book religiously, because I feel some things are inapproriate for me personally. The book is filled with great information and suggestions. It also has some things that go against my grain, but not that I fault the author for. For example, I prefer to win by effort, not loopholes (e.g. Kickboxing champion). I will not deceive my current employer even though I follow the logic in the book. I work remotely already and I treasure the freedom involved with that. For as long as I collect paychecks from my employer then I will give them an honest days work. Even if I become more productive, that's for their benefit. I don't have set hours of operation. I travel a lot and I work much more than 40 hour weeks regularly. If I need to perform a task for my project during "normal" work hours then I will do so. This is the trade-off of not having set work hours. My employer will always get out of me what is expected (and more) for as long as I collect a paycheck from them. My goal, therefore, will to get my product launched and enjoy the shortened work week as a result of that. I will not check email only twice a day for now. I cannot realistically do this. That would be like telling a Customer Service Rep or a Sales Rep to only answer calls or check voicemails except once or twice a day. It's not practical for my position. However, I will limit my email addiction to once an hour or once every two hours. This is tremendous progress from where I currently stand on this subject. I get way too much email and my treo checks for it every 10 minutes. It's a huge distraction. If I find that I can get away with doing it less than every two hours then I will make adjustments as necessary. The list could go on, but this is what comes to mind right now.

I am of above average IQ. That said, I've made some horrendously stupid decisions in my life. I can mentally grasp all the concepts of this book and I have the capacity to explore and problem-solve. This is an advantage. Intelligence and action don't equate, however. I must stay focused on my goal, not be deterred by failures or negative feedback that is sure to come and I must PUSH through the non-trivial tasks instead of saying "this is too difficult..." As Mr. Schwartz suggests in his book, I cannot fall victim to "excusitis."

I have an addictive-compulsive personality and suffer from very little patience. I don't use illegal drugs and I realize my patience issue and am able to work with it. My personality type has created problems for me in my life, but it has also contributed to some of my successes. I'll use this to my advantage for this effort and attempt to curtail my patience issue so that it doesn't set me back.

I have a very deep and broad technical background. This will help me where others may struggle. It could also hinder me if I don't let enough of it go to other people. Since my current money resources are very tight, I'll do as much as I can so long as it doesn't hold me back from achieving my goal.

Two years ago my significant other and I started a business with absolutely no experience in the field. It's a service business that she still runs. I had to step out temporarily to attempt to stabilize our income. The business, by most accounts, is very successful. However, my overhead is very high so it put us into quite a financial pinch. She continues to run this, but one day we will either shut it down or sell it. If you read this book then you will understand why. Long story short: It's a service business! ;-) We run this out of our home (and it's also setup for remote people, but more on that later). We have five phone lines coming into our home. Our phones turn on at 7:00am and off at 9:00pm. This is crazy. They ring all day. The phones actually create anxiety for me. Some people may think this is a good thing - but our product isn't one with a fixed price and is very difficult to outsource. We have tried in the past with two different companies and it was miserable outcomes. Forget about everything else - this business has to go when we can afford to let it go. The point of this, I guess, is that I have already got some experience in business that should help. Corporation is already established, tools are already in place, etc... I'll go more into detail about this in a later post or category called "Tools" if this blogger account let's me do it.

I'm already familiar with PPC marketing. This doesn't mean I'm good at it! I gave it a whirl a few years ago. As I said earlier, I'm not a marketer! I found myself spending more money in adWords costs than I did in click-through commissions. To be fair, I gave up rather quickly and didn't enjoy it very much. I had no passion for it but gained the experience of understanding how the process works.

This list may grow as I continue making new posts. At some stage I'll try to consolidate things into categories if it gets too hard to follow. To repeat, I'm not focused so much on form right now, but more on getting thoughts out of my head and into a tangible place where I can review it later and from where others can gain insight from my experience.

This was a long post, I expect future posts to not be of this same length. If you are reading this then thanks for coming and expect this blog to gain more value as time moves forward. Right now, it's not of too much value to anyone. It will be in time.