Current Projects
My Life Network – Building People & Infrastructure
In 1998 I began work for a company alongside a friend named Patrick. Patrick licensed software from the company I went to work for. He began building his own online subscriber base. I went to work as an employee supporting that base.
Over the next several years we both worked many long hours and weekends. I won’t tell the whole tale but rather jump to the moral of the story. After 7 years, I got the boot. The company could no longer afford my salary. Shortly thereafter Patrick also exited. However where as I walked away with nothing, Patrick sold his company for over 100 million USD!
That was a major awakening to me and I have since invested a significant amount of time in understanding web trends, business and the building of people and dreams.
I now have a lifelong project to build teams of people who work together towards great accomplishments. As John Maxwell says “one is too small a number to achieve greatness”. The building of subscriber bases although great for finances I have realized is not the end. There is so much more that can be accomplished when it’s not just subscribers, but contributors, creative leaders and organizations of passionate and equipped individuals. Its now my goal to not only build the people; but the collaborative infrastructure and systems which allow those people to be equipped, create, earn, learn and persist.
My core affiliate team is the beginnings of this great work. We have rallied around technologies and business principles which allow us to get involved and make a difference for others both financially and for their personal growth.
I believe very strongly that we are smart enough, talented enough, and with the collaborative resources of the web we CAN teach each other, help each other and get things done together. One major item for almost everyone to get done is the financial thing. Coolbiz and our other affiliate businesses allow us to work together and “get da money ting done!”
I look forward to the massive learning experience this pursuit will be and all the wonderful things I expect to see come from the amazing persons I find myself introduced to every day.
The Inconvenient Business
Through years of being around great men and women such as those in the World Wide Dream Builders orginization and having now spoken to and worked with thousands of individuals on building their own dreams and businesses. I have had some tremendous learning experiences and noticed several patterns in people when they first begin moving from a consumer mentality to a producer mentality. I have decided to begin the drafting of a book entitled “The Inconvenient Business” where I want to share some perspective for individuals embarking on starting their own business. I believe the book will be very funny, entertaining, contain a good swift kick in the butt (for some) and above all help people make the mental switch faster and get on with life!
When you point someone to participation in the economic system and they finally understand that if they are employed THEY ARE NOT PARTICIPATING! For some reason they expect that running a business is somehow supposed to be easier and more convenient than being a customer. The basis of the book is that business is “inconvenient”. I don’t know of any business on the planet that is “convenient”. Convenience is for customers and employees. Business owners MUST be inconvenienced; it’s why they have the chance to make real money.
God does not reward laziness.
My goal is to have a writers draft available by December 2010.
The World Community Grid
In our shop we currently have 4 computers connected and donating resource to the World Community Grid (http://www.worldcommunitygrid.org) These machines are donating processing time to projects such as clean energy, helping farmers breed better rice strains, assisting in cancer research and others. I am encouraging everyone to participate; it’s so easy why not. Within my affiliate network I now steer a campaign to join idle computers for a greater cause.
I find the potential of distributed computing fascinating and often consider what this could mean to social networks that could use the same technology to power a shared platform for business, communication or any one of its goals. Together we can do so much more…
