Guest post: More on distractions, from Paul Ford | 43 Folders: "For most of my life people saw me doing the things I liked to do and said, “you have too much free time on your hands.” I’ve decided that when you hear that, it means you’re doing something right."
Little rules of thumb like this are terrible useful.
I've run across a few other not so nice ones.
If someone tells me that they are a business owner and would never treat a customer like they are being treated that often has meant they are trying to squeeze more out of the sale then is really fair.
If a boss starts appealing to your professionalism, he is really asking you to work for free or work in a hostile environment without complaint. Best t o start looking for a new job at that point.
One the other hand, if all publishers you send a manuscript to reject it, and the writing is good, it may mean you have a major bestseller on your hands. J.K. Rowlings is the biggest example but many bestselling authors had the same problem. So look at those rejections as good news.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
How to Change the World: Financial Models for Underachievers: Two Years of the Real Numbers of a Startup
How to Change the World: Financial Models for Underachievers: Two Years of the Real Numbers of a Startup: "My buddy at Redfin, Glenn Kelman, decided he wanted to bare his financial soul so that other entrepreneurs could get greater insight into the witchcraft called financial modeling. In this two-part posting, he reveals his numbers and his lessons. They are eye-opening for most entrepreneurs. "
This is a hard eyed look into what starting up a company takes in financial planning. I am really glad this came out now.
This is a hard eyed look into what starting up a company takes in financial planning. I am really glad this came out now.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Starting up: Going to the SBDC
It's been crazy and being pt on retainer at work is not all that I would want it to be. But I am going through the process of setting up a business so we can do something formal there.
So basically the computers are Mr. Fix It are running well enough that they don't really need me for that anymore and the business model has changed again so they don't need extra people for the phones. So I am being put on retainer so they have someone to call to fix the computers is something goes wrong.
I set up an appointment at the local Small Business Development Center which is conveniently around the corner and down the street, and talked to one of their counselors and have started the work of setting up a business plan.
I've come to realize that all I am doing is setting up a job. This kind of self-employment is a job with the added responsibilities of marketing, sales, accounting and insurance.
While the big name competition is Geek Squad and Firedog, I am really competing with geeks in high school and the local college who just need a little extra money for games. They have much lower expenses then myself with a family.
Am I good at this? Yes, but not the best and I am not really interested in being the best computer support guy out there. It just isn't worth the aggravation anymore. I want the tools to work, I don't want to spend my time getting things to work before I can get any work done.
So that leaves me to looking for a new job and trying to do a number of things too: finishing moving into our apartment, and writing an emergency plan for my church and expanding my wife's and daughter's horizons with math and science.
My wife and I are taking an Amateur Radio class together and it is a lot of fun thinking about making radios again. Lately every time we drive past a car dealership with a giant balloon above it, I think about how much it is carrying capacity must be. The tie down they use is often a heavy bit of rope with flags on it and it goes up 75-100 feet. A bit long for thin coax but doable, it might be better to run a very low power system to transmit up to the balloon and then use a higher power transceiver to launch from there. This is exciting but it is also just a hobby and for emergency preparation the niche is pretty darn small.
So basically the computers are Mr. Fix It are running well enough that they don't really need me for that anymore and the business model has changed again so they don't need extra people for the phones. So I am being put on retainer so they have someone to call to fix the computers is something goes wrong.
I set up an appointment at the local Small Business Development Center which is conveniently around the corner and down the street, and talked to one of their counselors and have started the work of setting up a business plan.
I've come to realize that all I am doing is setting up a job. This kind of self-employment is a job with the added responsibilities of marketing, sales, accounting and insurance.
While the big name competition is Geek Squad and Firedog, I am really competing with geeks in high school and the local college who just need a little extra money for games. They have much lower expenses then myself with a family.
Am I good at this? Yes, but not the best and I am not really interested in being the best computer support guy out there. It just isn't worth the aggravation anymore. I want the tools to work, I don't want to spend my time getting things to work before I can get any work done.
So that leaves me to looking for a new job and trying to do a number of things too: finishing moving into our apartment, and writing an emergency plan for my church and expanding my wife's and daughter's horizons with math and science.
My wife and I are taking an Amateur Radio class together and it is a lot of fun thinking about making radios again. Lately every time we drive past a car dealership with a giant balloon above it, I think about how much it is carrying capacity must be. The tie down they use is often a heavy bit of rope with flags on it and it goes up 75-100 feet. A bit long for thin coax but doable, it might be better to run a very low power system to transmit up to the balloon and then use a higher power transceiver to launch from there. This is exciting but it is also just a hobby and for emergency preparation the niche is pretty darn small.
Going to the SBDC
It's been crazy and being pt on retainer at work is not all that I would want it to be. But I am going through the process of setting up a business so we can do something formal there.
So basically the computers are Mr. Fix It are running well enough that they don't really need me for that anymore and the business model has changed again so they don't need extra people for the phones. So I am being put on retainer so they have someone to call to fix the computers is something goes wrong.
I set up an appointment at the local Small Business Development Center which is conveniently around the corner and down the street, and talked to one of their counselors and have started the work of setting up a business plan.
I've come to realize that all I am doing is setting up a job. This kind of self-employment is a job with the added responsibilities of marketing, sales, accounting and insurance.
While the big name competition is Geek Squad and Firedog, I am really competing with geeks in high school and the local college who just need a little extra money for games. They have much lower expenses then myself with a family.
Am I good at this? Yes, but not the best and I am not really interested in being the best computer support guy out there. It just isn't worth the aggravation anymore. I want the tools to work, I don't want to spend my time getting things to work before I can get any work done.
So that leaves me to looking for a new job and trying to do a number of things too: finishing moving into our apartment, and writing an emergency plan for my church and expanding my wife's and daughter's horizons with math and science.
My wife and I are taking an Amateur Radio class together and it is a lot of fun thinking about making radios again. Lately every time we drive past a car dealership with a giant balloon above it, I think about how much it is carrying capacity must be. The tie down they use is often a heavy bit of rope with flags on it and it goes up 75-100 feet. A bit long for thin coax but doable, it might be better to run a very low power system to transmit up to the balloon and then use a higher power transceiver to launch from there. This is exciting but it is also just a hobby and for emergency preparation the niche is pretty darn small.
So basically the computers are Mr. Fix It are running well enough that they don't really need me for that anymore and the business model has changed again so they don't need extra people for the phones. So I am being put on retainer so they have someone to call to fix the computers is something goes wrong.
I set up an appointment at the local Small Business Development Center which is conveniently around the corner and down the street, and talked to one of their counselors and have started the work of setting up a business plan.
I've come to realize that all I am doing is setting up a job. This kind of self-employment is a job with the added responsibilities of marketing, sales, accounting and insurance.
While the big name competition is Geek Squad and Firedog, I am really competing with geeks in high school and the local college who just need a little extra money for games. They have much lower expenses then myself with a family.
Am I good at this? Yes, but not the best and I am not really interested in being the best computer support guy out there. It just isn't worth the aggravation anymore. I want the tools to work, I don't want to spend my time getting things to work before I can get any work done.
So that leaves me to looking for a new job and trying to do a number of things too: finishing moving into our apartment, and writing an emergency plan for my church and expanding my wife's and daughter's horizons with math and science.
My wife and I are taking an Amateur Radio class together and it is a lot of fun thinking about making radios again. Lately every time we drive past a car dealership with a giant balloon above it, I think about how much it is carrying capacity must be. The tie down they use is often a heavy bit of rope with flags on it and it goes up 75-100 feet. A bit long for thin coax but doable, it might be better to run a very low power system to transmit up to the balloon and then use a higher power transceiver to launch from there. This is exciting but it is also just a hobby and for emergency preparation the niche is pretty darn small.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Remarks of Bill Gates %u2014 The Harvard University Gazette
Remarks of Bill Gates %u2014 The Harvard University Gazette: "Cutting through complexity to find a solution runs through four predictable stages: determine a goal, find the highest-leverage approach, discover the ideal technology for that approach, and in the meantime, make the smartest application of the technology that you already have %u2014 whether it%u2019s something sophisticated, like a drug, or something simpler, like a bednet."
It just isn't good enough to have a goal. I have lots of goals and most of them are not getting anywhere.
Finding a high-leverage approach is probably more important then we think. I am not going to worry about finding the highest-leverage approach, mainly because that would like to analysis paralysis and besides I probably don't know enough yet to find it an any case. Not to say I am dumb but things change when you start solving a problem.
It is almost Heisenbergian, Once you start doing things the nature of the problem you are trying to solve begins to change and that is unpredictable. In all likelihood the best solution hasn't been created yet but soon will be. That is the way it tends to happen.
Sometimes however it is a little perverse and the solution doesn't appear very easily but that is often because the type of solution I'm pursuing is not optimal and I need to change attack vectors.
Eek, It almost sounds like "The Secret" I am not into the law of attraction stuff but this has happened too often too deny it completely.
It just isn't good enough to have a goal. I have lots of goals and most of them are not getting anywhere.
Finding a high-leverage approach is probably more important then we think. I am not going to worry about finding the highest-leverage approach, mainly because that would like to analysis paralysis and besides I probably don't know enough yet to find it an any case. Not to say I am dumb but things change when you start solving a problem.
It is almost Heisenbergian, Once you start doing things the nature of the problem you are trying to solve begins to change and that is unpredictable. In all likelihood the best solution hasn't been created yet but soon will be. That is the way it tends to happen.
Sometimes however it is a little perverse and the solution doesn't appear very easily but that is often because the type of solution I'm pursuing is not optimal and I need to change attack vectors.
Eek, It almost sounds like "The Secret" I am not into the law of attraction stuff but this has happened too often too deny it completely.
Monday, August 6, 2007
Taking Control Of Your Lifestyle
"No one knows for certain how many single-digit millionaires live in Silicon Valley. Certainly their numbers reach into the tens of thousands, say those who work with the area’s engineers and entrepreneurs. Yet nearly all of them still have all-consuming jobs, not only because the work gives them a sense of achievement and satisfaction but also because they think they must work so much to afford their gilded neighborhoods."
Most of those interviewed consider themselves "accidental millionaires." They didn't set out to make so much but they did anyway. Lifestyle isn't only about how you live but your ideals about how you should live your life.
I really doubt that they intended the life they have but they still seem to think that grinding away at work is what they need to do. At 80 hrs a week work isn't a part of your life but it takes up all of it. There is no room for family much less hobbies.
They even realize that moving to someplace like Kansas City would completely change everything. They would be really wealthy there but they are still working class in California.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Complimentary Cash in a Fantasy Casino
Complimentary Cash in a Fantasy Casino: "Real wealth is neither having more money, nor having higher priced stocks. Real wealth is accumulated capital - buildings, tools, factories…and the skills to know how to use them. Wealth can be money too - but only if the money represents real, useful capital. In Zimbabwe, they've got their Zim dollars up the wazoo. But the real capital in the country is fast disappearing - stolen, destroyed, neglected, redistributed, consumed or exported. Under these conditions, increases in stock prices are empty; the stock market in Harare has become a kind of fantasy casino, where people can pretend to get rich by betting against each other."
It reads like what is happening here, except we call it outsourcing,
I was thinking about the difference between wealth, prosperity and riches. And how it relates to what is discussed in the scriptures.
I realized that I didn't have a good definition of wealth and here is one delivered right to my inbox.
The scriptures are replete with all kinds of stories and parables about prosperity and riches and financial matters.
God obviously wants us to prosper as the promise in Malachi shows, but he warns us of the pursuit of riches which can destroy us as it did the Nephites.
How we define wealth can often make the real difference between prosperity and riches.
It reads like what is happening here, except we call it outsourcing,
I was thinking about the difference between wealth, prosperity and riches. And how it relates to what is discussed in the scriptures.
I realized that I didn't have a good definition of wealth and here is one delivered right to my inbox.
The scriptures are replete with all kinds of stories and parables about prosperity and riches and financial matters.
God obviously wants us to prosper as the promise in Malachi shows, but he warns us of the pursuit of riches which can destroy us as it did the Nephites.
How we define wealth can often make the real difference between prosperity and riches.
Friday, July 27, 2007
15 Questions To Evaluate A Company
In Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, Fisher spelled out 15 questions he used to evaluate a company. They were pretty open-ended and could be subject to interpretation. They were not, as he put it, "determined by cloistered mathematical calculation." They were:
1. "Does the company have products or services with sufficient market potential to make possible a sizable increase in sales for at least several years?"
2. "Does the management have a determination to continue to develop products or processes that will further increase total sales potentials when the growth potentials of currently attractive product lines have largely been exploited?"
3. "How effective are the company's research and development efforts in relation to its size?"
4. "Does the company have an above-average sales organization?"
5. "Does the company have a worthwhile profit margin?"
6. "What is the company doing to maintain or improve profit margins?"
7. "Does the company have outstanding labor and personnel relations?"
8. "Does the company have outstanding executive relations?"
9. "Does the company have depth to its management?"
10. "How good are the company's cost analysis and accounting controls?"
11. "Are there other aspects of the business, somewhat peculiar to the industry involved, which will give the investor important clues as to how outstanding the company may be in relation to its competition?"
12. "Does the company have a short-range or long-range outlook in regard to profits?"
13. "In the foreseeable future will the growth of the company require sufficient equity financing so that the larger number of shares then outstanding will largely cancel the existing stockholder's benefit from this anticipated growth?"
14. "Does the management talk freely to investors about its affairs when things are going well but 'clam up' when troubles and disappointments occur?"
15. "Does the company have a management of unquestionable integrity?"
Now, I'll admit, there's nothing groundbreaking here. Fisher's 15 questions are fairly well known, and you can find them or slight variations all over the Internet. But I recently discovered that some of Fisher's wisdom has been purposefully been withheld from investors. In fact, one of Wall Street's most trusted Web sites glosses over some of what Fisher had to say.
You see, Fisher also listed five "don'ts for investors":
1. "Don't buy into promotional companies."
2. "Don't ignore a good stock just because it is traded 'over-the-counter.'"
3. "Don't buy a stock just because you like the 'tone' of its annual report."
4. "Don't assume that the high price at which a stock may be selling in relation to its earnings is necessarily an indication that further growth in those earnings has largely been already discounted in the price." (Or put simply, price to earnings isn't everything.)
5. "Don't quibble over eighths and quarters." (That is, don't stress over a few cents difference in price.)
Okay, I am looking at starting a company, so really much of this doesn't apply yet but these are important things to take into consideration as you build a business and make decisions. As a business owner I am the ultimate investor, investing my blood, sweat and tears into this venture. These questions may help me make sure they are the best decisions.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
MacDevCenter.com -- The Good Easy on OS X
MacDevCenter.com -- The Good Easy on OS X: "In short, the Good Easy is all about removing some things that are (in Hurst's opinion) broken and adding third-party tools to make the working environment better."
So that is where the term "life hack" came from.
So that is where the term "life hack" came from.
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
What's Your Theme Song
Do you have a personal theme song, something you use to give you a boost when feeling a bit down? If you don't maybe you should.
Music has a powerful mood altering effect. One thing I have done is limit my exposure to "sad songs" my primary playlist is focused around happy music that keeps my spirits up. I've noticed that on occasion if I go for several days without some happy music I can get somewhat depressed.
As for mine it's "Faith of the Heart" by Russell Watson.
Music has a powerful mood altering effect. One thing I have done is limit my exposure to "sad songs" my primary playlist is focused around happy music that keeps my spirits up. I've noticed that on occasion if I go for several days without some happy music I can get somewhat depressed.
As for mine it's "Faith of the Heart" by Russell Watson.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Chickens, eggs, and happiness
What really brought me happiness rarely had anything to do with conventional ideas of success. Mostly, it was due to things totally unconnected with my work. Of course, I was sometimes happy at work too. When I was busy doing something that I enjoyed and made me happy, I was often amazingly successful. When I tried to be successful, and accepted temporary unhappiness and boredom as its price, I rarely managed to reach my goals. If I accepted short-term unhappiness as the price of long-term success—and I very often did—what I got in return was the opposite: short-term success paid for with long-term unhappiness.
Here's the hard question: What makes me genuinely happy?
"Man is that he might have joy."
But There is another question lurking in the background all the time, for me since providing for my family is a big deal to me right now, Could I monazite it somehow?
"Do what you love, money will follow" is something I came across somewhere.
I enjoy researching and information gathering and creating something out of the combination.
I enjoy cooking, but I've seen enough of the Food Network to realize that opening a restaurant is a really big deal and would need more then I am physically able, though a partner could help there.
I love reading but doing book reviews all the time would likely make me hate reading like the guy who was a fishing equipment reviewer who was so ready to retire so he could do something fun and relaxing.
I am pretty good at getting technology to work, but now I am tired of fiddling with it just to be able to get to work. I love Mac since it works just fine most of the time.
This deserves some thought.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Twentysomething: Start a company in 3 days with 70 friends � Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk
Twentysomething: Start a company in 3 days with 70 friends � Brazen Careerist by Penelope Trunk: "My friend and web designer, Devin Reams reaffirmed this thought when he told me about his experience at Startup Weekend.
The event began on a Friday, when 70 people showed up above a bike shop in Boulder, CO to vote on their favorite previously submitted business ideas. They decided to create a business that allowed people to take quick polls of their friends’ opinions."
I may not be a twenty-something but this is fascinating. I've known for a while that I need a deeper network and a mentor or advisory board to help the process but this may be less formal but the same basic idea.
The event began on a Friday, when 70 people showed up above a bike shop in Boulder, CO to vote on their favorite previously submitted business ideas. They decided to create a business that allowed people to take quick polls of their friends’ opinions."
I may not be a twenty-something but this is fascinating. I've known for a while that I need a deeper network and a mentor or advisory board to help the process but this may be less formal but the same basic idea.
Small Business Trends � Blog Archive � Single Person Businesses Booming
Small Business Trends � Blog Archive � Single Person Businesses Booming: "To be exact, the United States has 20,392,068 single-person businesses. In the space of three years, 2.7 million more people became the owner of a “business of one.”"
These is pretty amazing since that is telling us that we are looking at nearly 10% of the population (300 million) are business owners and growing at a rate of 4-5%.
I'm adding myself to this list of business owners too. I've got a ways to go before it becomes profitable but that is the daily slog.
These is pretty amazing since that is telling us that we are looking at nearly 10% of the population (300 million) are business owners and growing at a rate of 4-5%.
I'm adding myself to this list of business owners too. I've got a ways to go before it becomes profitable but that is the daily slog.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Self-employment Worksheet-My Skills and Talents
My Skills and Talents
List your accomplishments and things you've done in your life and career.
I can just use my resume for the most part.
• I can get computers working most of the time.There are limits but I can do pretty well most of the time, though often it feels like only 51%.
• I've got pretty good engineering skills. I've usually have had to learn some technology from scratch when I've gotten a new job. I've made a battery charger for the space shuttle, I've made a battery charger test unit for the iss emergency lighting system batteries, I've redesign a police radar system for CE mark,
• i can research on the web and library pretty quickly, I can usually get a fair overview of a subject in a matter of a couple of hours and identify major topics, and players in the subject.
• I can speak in front of audiences without major problems. I have spoken in front of groups up to 500.
• I solve problems. If a problem is reasonably well stated and the natural of the desired answer is understood then I usually can come up with something close within the limits of physics and my knowledge.
• I've written a couple of books and working on more. They haven't sold yet but that is a marketing problem as similar books are selling.
• I've driven for 14+hours on occasion.
• I'm an Eagle Scout.
• I learned to walk and feed and care for myself after a major crash.
• I've started a couple of businesses.
• I've let people vent on me to let them gain perspective for themselves. to help them just by letting them talk and be a sounding board for them.
• I can cook steak dinners, turkey dinners thanksgiving style, chicken dinners, pork chops, roast beast and stir fry.
• I've taught Abigail how to count to 20.
• I can read fast tested to 2000 wpm at full comprehension. only for limited times but I'm still faster then most most of the
time.
• I have an engineering degree and that means I've learned a lot. Heck, I've been told I've forgotten more then most people ever learned in the first place.
List your accomplishments and things you've done in your life and career.
I can just use my resume for the most part.
• I can get computers working most of the time.There are limits but I can do pretty well most of the time, though often it feels like only 51%.
• I've got pretty good engineering skills. I've usually have had to learn some technology from scratch when I've gotten a new job. I've made a battery charger for the space shuttle, I've made a battery charger test unit for the iss emergency lighting system batteries, I've redesign a police radar system for CE mark,
• i can research on the web and library pretty quickly, I can usually get a fair overview of a subject in a matter of a couple of hours and identify major topics, and players in the subject.
• I can speak in front of audiences without major problems. I have spoken in front of groups up to 500.
• I solve problems. If a problem is reasonably well stated and the natural of the desired answer is understood then I usually can come up with something close within the limits of physics and my knowledge.
• I've written a couple of books and working on more. They haven't sold yet but that is a marketing problem as similar books are selling.
• I've driven for 14+hours on occasion.
• I'm an Eagle Scout.
• I learned to walk and feed and care for myself after a major crash.
• I've started a couple of businesses.
• I've let people vent on me to let them gain perspective for themselves. to help them just by letting them talk and be a sounding board for them.
• I can cook steak dinners, turkey dinners thanksgiving style, chicken dinners, pork chops, roast beast and stir fry.
• I've taught Abigail how to count to 20.
• I can read fast tested to 2000 wpm at full comprehension. only for limited times but I'm still faster then most most of the
time.
• I have an engineering degree and that means I've learned a lot. Heck, I've been told I've forgotten more then most people ever learned in the first place.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Five Ways to Move your Startup Forward without Cash
This things are very straightforward and some of them I am doing already.
I am working on my books, not nearly as often as I would like but there is progress over time.
The two big things I need to be doing is getting to met more people and setting up the business itself.
I am working on my books, not nearly as often as I would like but there is progress over time.
The two big things I need to be doing is getting to met more people and setting up the business itself.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Where To Go From Here
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
-Hamlet
Here I am again at square zero. It doesn't look like we'll be paid yet again, a coworkers paycheck bounced and mine didn't come at all. I don't particularly care about my job one way or the other, not like the last job which was so bad by the time I got home I couldn't remember what I did all day.
I found a couple of great posts today that brings this to a head.
"Do what you love!" That is what a lot of people say to go and do. Great. The last thing I loved doing was electrical engineering, but that career has turned into pretty much a dead end, the stuff I was good at, embedded systems design, has pretty much all been outsourced across the ocean so there isn't much work for someone like me anymore around here.
I've tried starting my own business but that failed miserably. I am not, yet, a salesman. I just took a self-employment workshop which I'll post about soon. The guy running it was really good, but there is one minor problem, he's been a salesman since he was a kid and so he couldn't really tell us how to become salespeople which is a very important part of running a business.
What are my dreams? I would like to provide well for my family, not just my nuclear family but our extended families as well, at least in an emergency capacity.
• I want to write books that make learning math, English and history interesting.
• I want to provide developing nations with fundamental knowledge so families can improve themselves. The biggest problem seems to be corruption stealing an idea doesn't leave you without it.
• I want to design homes that make use of all the things we've learned since the 60's about building good, efficient, effective homes.
But most of all I just want to feel like I am doing something worthwhile, that makes others' lives better too.
15 Link Building Tips for New Websites
15 Link Building Tips for New Websites
This should come in very handy once I figure out where I am going.
Link to the Top Ranked Marketing Blogs
The Viral Garden's Top 25 Marketing Blogs - Week 64 - The Viral Garden
One of my big weaknesses is a lack of marketing skills. Coming across this from Seth's Blog is great as it pre-filters a lot of the trash out, Sturgeon's Law being what it is and all.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Getting Organized
I've added links to Colorado business development resources.
These will come in handy as I develop my business and yours too.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Design Ideas for Business Cards
Primarily your business card is a mini-billboard that could and should work for you. These have some great ideas that can make your stand out.
from Dumb Little Man
Monday, July 2, 2007
Time Management, Simplified: How to Be Productive With No Worries
Time Management, Simplified: How to Be Productive With No Worries: "I’m a big fan of Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen, and adopted the system wholeheartedly a year and a half ago. This year, I’ve written a number of posts on GTD, but one of my habits is to take whatever I do and try to simplify it."
Being organized is good. Keeping it simple is good.
This has some good ideas, I still need to work on this.
Friday, June 29, 2007
How to pick an accountant for your online business | fortuitous
How to pick an accountant for your online business | fortuitous: "Finding an accountant that understands the internet isn't easy and after going through half a dozen myself, I came up with some tips and approaches for finding the right one." via 43folders
This will be handy hopefully. Better to know now then trying to figure it all out myself on April 14th.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
For employers, office redesigns can pay off big - Apr. 10, 2007
For employers, office redesigns can pay off big - Apr. 10, 2007: "Consider this insight, which came from the General Services Administration decades ago: Of the total cost to a company for running an office building over a 30-year life span, the initial construction represents just 2 percent; operating expenses come to about 6 percent.
The remainder? It all goes to paying the workers inside. The point should be obvious: People are the biggest cost inside a work environment, so leveraging your human capital ought to be near the top of your priority list."
I'll have to remember this. I've known for a long time that bad design is bad for you and bad workplaces are not productive. Peopleware or Mythical Man-month talked about that.
The remainder? It all goes to paying the workers inside. The point should be obvious: People are the biggest cost inside a work environment, so leveraging your human capital ought to be near the top of your priority list."
I'll have to remember this. I've known for a long time that bad design is bad for you and bad workplaces are not productive. Peopleware or Mythical Man-month talked about that.
Actually this is close enough to the Pareto 80/20 split that I am not surprised and can believe it.
The Simple Dollar: How To Get Off The Treadmill: A Detailed Guide To Becoming Self-Employed
Trent has a great article about getting started on looking at self-employment. I'll be doing that true purpose exercise sometime soon, it sounds interesting. It has a different focus that what we did at the self-employment workshop but that is great. You can't talk about everything in two days that you need to.
Why Spellbook?
I ran across David's site via 43folders because he has some great organizational forms called Printable CEO.
He just had a post that resonated with me. He is starting to learn MySQL, a database, and realized he needed to keep notes someplace handy, like he did in school. And what better way to name them then to call them a spellbook as they are a record of all the secrets, tricks and workarounds you've discovered over time and this gives them a place to be found again. It's rather cool.
When I was in engineering school I spend a lot of time taking notes and just the very process of writing down what you learn is very powerful at helping you remember those things. Now I am keeping a lot of that material in virtual form, but there is a certain goodness to having a physical notebook for those times when a laptop isn't appropriate. I found a nice little bookmark/pen that will keep a pen handy at all times.
The lab books I used in school are just too big and hard to find and the composition books at the local office stores are too flimsy, so I ended up at Barnes & Nobles and got a pack of quadrille Moleskines. They were cheaper anyway.
I've also been carrying around a Hipster for a while to jot down notes on and it works pretty well.
He just had a post that resonated with me. He is starting to learn MySQL, a database, and realized he needed to keep notes someplace handy, like he did in school. And what better way to name them then to call them a spellbook as they are a record of all the secrets, tricks and workarounds you've discovered over time and this gives them a place to be found again. It's rather cool.
When I was in engineering school I spend a lot of time taking notes and just the very process of writing down what you learn is very powerful at helping you remember those things. Now I am keeping a lot of that material in virtual form, but there is a certain goodness to having a physical notebook for those times when a laptop isn't appropriate. I found a nice little bookmark/pen that will keep a pen handy at all times.
The lab books I used in school are just too big and hard to find and the composition books at the local office stores are too flimsy, so I ended up at Barnes & Nobles and got a pack of quadrille Moleskines. They were cheaper anyway.
I've also been carrying around a Hipster for a while to jot down notes on and it works pretty well.
How I am Keeping My Family Fed or Not
A couple of weeks ago I took a self-employment workshop and I need a place to put some of my notes and ideas. I've been looking at going self-employed for some time. The inherent risk of single sourcing my income has hit me a number of times and I have got to start doing something more focused about it.
The primary goal of this blog is to keep me notes and ideas about starting and running a business. I've read a few books and listened to some audiobooks, but I need to be more focused on turning that knowledge into something I can use having this blog should help.
I've made this a separate blog just to keep things organized.
My business goal is to create a writing / publishing business that helps parents and children not let school get in the way of their education. More information on that can be found on my other blog PassionateMath.
The primary goal of this blog is to keep me notes and ideas about starting and running a business. I've read a few books and listened to some audiobooks, but I need to be more focused on turning that knowledge into something I can use having this blog should help.
I've made this a separate blog just to keep things organized.
My business goal is to create a writing / publishing business that helps parents and children not let school get in the way of their education. More information on that can be found on my other blog PassionateMath.
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