I apologize to everyone for my long, unexpected hiatus from blogging. I’ve been working on several different matters that have consumed a great deal of my time. At some point I’ll share these with you. One of the items on my list has been reading up on social psychology, consumer behavior, and attempting to hypothesise how that ties into social media. Therefore, I’ve been attempting to consumer textbooks, old college notes and anything else I can get my hands on to educate myself. My room is reminicent of my college days with all the books lying around. I will soon have a blog post with my initial thoughts. It better be good, because I’ve building anticipation with my lack of blogging. Ok, maybe that’s just me
What My Apartment Search Taught Me
Today, after months of searching, I finally found an apartment to move into. It’s a 2 bedroom 2 bath six blocks away from the beach in Santa Monica near Main St. I looked at over 30 apartments and emailed dozens more. I am exhausted and relieved. Aside from a sweet pad with a rad view, what did I get out of my apartment search? It reminded me that I have qualities that will make me a good entrepreneur.
Jesse: “I’ve looked at like 30 apartments.”
Friend: “That’s crazy, but then again it’s you. So yea, that makes sense.”
Sometimes I question whether or not I am cut out to be an entrepreneur. If I was, wouldn’t I have started by now? Well, forget all that pessimism, because my apartment search gave me renewed hope about my abilities.
I forgot that I can have an obsessive personality when I’m passionate about something. It definitely flared up during my apartment search. I was so focused on my goal of finding an apartment that everything else was blocked out. I had tunnel vision, the only thing I could think about was finding an apartment. Failure wasn’t an option. This sounds very similar to all the stories I’ve read about on successful entrepreneurs. You work endless hours but you’re so focused that it doesn’t seem to bother you. You do what you have to in order to succeed.
Also like a start up, I researched the hell out of my apartment search. I was on every apartment site looking for the best deals. Since I was looking at places in Santa Monica, an area that I’m not too familiar with, therefore I cast the widest net possible to see what kind of apartment I could get, for my budget, in the nicest area possible. Which area did I want to live in? Wilshire/Montana in Santa Monica? Main Street in Santa Monica? What about surrounding areas like Venice, Mar Vista, and Culver City? Well, I searched them ALL. Like I said, I looked at over 30 apartment in person and I emailed dozens more. It was a maddening process. Slowly as I educated myself, my choices narrowed down, and my vision become much clearer. That kind of due diligence is needed before launching a company. My hard work and persistence paid off and now I have a great apartment in a wonderful area.
I know talk is cheap and these are just words until I take action. But my level of self doubt decreased dramatically when I realized the similar characteristics between my apartment hunt and a start up. Now, I should really get on this goal. (Big ups to Mike Williams for this blog comment on my “Do I have Entrepreneurial Courage?” post)
Blink!
On my Bucket List 2010 I listed being less judgmental as a goal for 2010. It was on my list for 2009 as well. I’ve been told I am too quick to judge and it’s detrimental to my relationships with people. Right away, I decide if I think I’m going to like the person or if I’m not. It’s not the final opinion of the person, but more times than not it is. I’ve done this my whole life, you take social ques from the new individual and deduce a rough judgment of the person. Recently I’ve been feeling guilty for doing this because so many people have scolded me; never judge a book by it’s cover they say. Well, I’m done feeling guilty and I don’t think I’m going to stop judging…thanks to Malcolm Gladwell.
I am a big fan of Malcolm Gladwell’s work, owning all of this books. Currently, I’m reading his second book, Blink. The book’s tag line is, “The Power of Thinking Without Thinking.” The basic premise of the book is that we automatically and very quickly jump to conclusions about particular situations and more times than not, we’re correct.
“Snap judgments are, first of all, enormously quick: they rely on the thinnest slices of experience. But they are also unconscious.”
Admittedly, I am not done with the book. However, if you’re ever read a Gladwell book, he keeps the same basic theory and just backs it up with a handful case studies. After reading the first 100 pages, I firmly believe that I have a very reliable thin slicing ability. Just because I make a snap judgment, that doesn’t mean I’m totally off. I will be more conscience of initial judgments but that doesn’t mean I won’t listen to them. To date, they have served me quite well. I should mention that Malcolm Gladwell does make references when thin slicing backfires. Most noteably, he mentions Warren G. Harding. His height and good looks fooled everyone. Low and behold, he was considered one of the worst presidents of all time. This is why I will be more conscience of my judgments, but again, I trust myself far too much not to thin slice.
*Maybe I’ll write a better post when I’m done reading the book.
The (500) Days of Summer Park
In September
I wrote a brief review of the movie (500) Days of Summer. I was (and still am) a fan of the movie, no matter how sad some moments are. In several parts of the movie, including one of the final, most telling scenes, Summer and Tom share a park bench overlooking downtown
Los An
geles. It seemed like such a serene place. In the middle of the hustle and bustle of downtown Los Angeles, there is this park that you can relax, slow
down, and get a view of downtown. As soon as I saw that park, I wanted to find it. This past weekend, I did.
The park is better known as Angel Knoll, right in the heart of downtown LA. It’s much smaller than it appears in the movie (I at least thought it was much more vast in the movie). Yet, when I walked down the slight decline from where I parked my car on Olive St, I knew I had found it. I sat down on a bench and just relaxed. My mind went blank. I just sat there, a partial smile on my lips, with a feeling of inexplicable happiness. How could a simple site from a movie make me feel like this? I don’t know. I just know that I sat there for probably 45 minutes, gazing out at the buildings, feeling the crisp “winter” air of Los Angeles hit my face, and smiling. I didn’t worry about hypothetical life situations, I didn’t worry about my future, I didn’t worry about the present. I just sat there, relaxed…which is a rarity these days. Tom Hansen was right when he said, “It just makes you feel… peaceful.”
*First scene in clip, 9 seconds, shows a brief shot of the park in the movie.
Do I Have Entrepreneurial Courage?
“The longer I put off starting my own business, the longer it can remain a dream. It’s not something I screwed up. It’s like I’m giving up before I started.” -Fictional TV Character
Do I have what it takes? It’s a question that I ask myself more and more these days. In my bucket list for this year I state that I want to make a considerable run at starting an internet or ecommerce business. This has been my “end goal” for some time. I finally have a few ideas that could become viable business with the proper due diligence and hard work. However, I’m scared shitless.
Do I have the passion and energy to bring these ideas to fruition? If so, why haven’t I started working on them yet? (I have taken small steps, but nothing substantial) I think the above quote rests on my shoulders like an anvil. I think about it all the time. I’m 26 and sometimes think (foolishly) my window of opportunity for entrepreneurship is quickly closing. Yes, I understand how ridiculous that statements sounds, but think about it. *What if I get married and/or have an unexpected child? I now have people that depend on me. I can’t just plop down my credit card, risk bankruptcy like I can now. Right now, the only person I have to answer to is myself. A family means that dreams are put on the back burner and basic necessities take the main stage. The longer you work for someone, the more comfortable you can get. This especially holds true if you have a family that has become accustomed to the lifestyle/security your salary has provided. Plus, there are always bills. There is always an excuse. Will I find the courage to overcome these apprehensions and dive into the torrential entrepreneurial waters?
“If you’re not failing every now and again, it’s a sign you’re not doing anything very innovative.” – Woody Allen
After reading the article “How My Start Up Failed” I felt this sense of excitement and a rush of doubt. I loved what I was reading. I love reading people have the guts to put it all on the line, bust their ass, deal with failure, and start all over again. Yet, there was this splinter of doubt bothering me. Could I put myself $10,000 in the hole for this dream? I have been so financially prudent my entire life, that part of me says, that’s ridiculous to jeopardize my credit for the long term with this. The other half says, “Shut up you wanker and do it. Make yourself happy!” It’s sad that I actually consider option A.
Despite my monumental fears, I plan on working towards my entrepreneurial dreams, and won’t let myself be discouraged. I just need to put myself out there and keep plugging away. I’m sure this isn’t the last time you hear about my dreams, my fears, and my willingness to proceed. I hope everyone has the patience to come along for the ride.
*My friends and family have told me time and again that I need to stop worrying about “What If” situations. I put my mind and body under a tremendous amount of stress with these hypothetical situations that often times never happen. Maybe I should add this to my 2010 bucket list?
“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s OK to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing.” – H. Stanley Judd
Bucket List: 2010
Like I promised, here is my bucket list for 2010. This year, I thought long and hard about these goals. I broke it down to personal, professional, and task related.
Personal:
-Date more. While I dated in 2009, I found myself hung up on several girls who just wanted to be friends. This occupied too much of time. Not in 2010.
-Be less judgmental. I attempted this last year and I made meager progress. I am too quick to judge, I need to give more people a chance.
- Talk to more strangers. I’m going to build on the progress I made this year.
-Have a more positive attitude. Goodbye pessimism, hello optimism.
Professional:
-My ultimate goal right now is to start an internet company that allows me to travel the world and run my company through my phone. 2010 is the year I take a serious run at this dream.
Task Related:
- Run a marathon. I am signed up for the LA Marathon in March. This is happening, whether I like it or not.
- Leave the country. Plain and simple, it’s been too long and I’m itching for an adventure.
- Improve my CSS skills. I can do basic CSS manipulation, but I want to better understand CSS.
I’ve cut down my list considerably from last year. This is an attempt to hopefully concentrate more on less and accomplish more. Cheers!
Reviewing My Yearly Bucket List
Last December I created a list of things that I wanted to do for 2009. Let’s take a look and see how I did.
December 31, 2008
- Blog 3x a week (I think for a month or so I did, but this blog took a nose dive this year)
- Launch a new blog or website (I created an affiliate blog)
- Learn to code (I can do basic manipulation of code but I am able to understand it much more)
- Design a Wordpress theme (I designed the affiliate blog)
- Get 1,000 views on a vlog (Much to the disappointment of my friends, the vlog died)
- Get 300 Twitter followers (Yes. I hover around 1,000)
- Finish P90X (No, I completed 2 months before I got sick of working out in my room)
- Complete 200 straight push ups (Reall? 200? What was I thinking? I can do like 80)
- Run a marathon (No, injury ended this. I am training for the LA Marathon in March 2010. I already signed up too)
- Go surfing (No, I bought a surf board and a scratch guard though)
- Climb Half Dome (Not even close, I still don’t really know where it is)
- Leave the USA at least 1 time (Costa Rica turned out to be more expensive that previously planned)
- Read 6 books (I think I read 3 and started 3 more. I bought a lot of books though)
- Watch less TV (I just replaced TV with Hulu)
- Eat out less (I am a single guy, this is tough)
- Go on a date with a girl taller than me (No, I can’t help I like short girls)
- Talk to more strangers (Work in progress, I am talking to more strangers, but at as many as I want)
- Be Less Judgmental (Nope, this one will be rolled over to next year because I really need to work on this)
Well, it seems that completed some goals, but a lot. I made (it appears) a valiant effort to attempt many of these goals. I will post my new (or rolled over) goals for 2010 soon. New year, new attitude, new hope.
Square Peg in a Round Hole
Do you like the idea of things but in reality they’re not a great fit for you? But you want that wonderful vision you have in your head to work out so you keep persisting, hoping it will work out. You don’t want to be wrong and realize you wasted so much time on this person/place/project that you can’t let go? Eventually you have to realize that a square peg is not going to fit in a round hole. That can be most difficult thing to do…trust me.





