» Entrepreneurship
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What's a Problem You'd Like to See Someone Solve?
What a simple question, but one we don’t ask enough.What’s a problem you’d like to see someone solve? As you know, I have an entrepreneurial bent, so I love to figure out ways to solve problems, and then implement those solutions. But first, you’ve got to pick a problem out, one that bothers you.
I put the question to the Hacker News Community, and the response was immense: 183 replies, all of them either problems entrepreneurial developers wanted to see solved or comments on those problems. Here were the top ideas, scored by the Hacker News community:
1) Get People to stop using Internet Explorer 6 (58 points)IE6, for those of you who are not programmers or designers, is the bane of our existence. Rewriting CSS that works in Firefox, Safari, and IE7, but then breaks in IE6 is one of the most frustrating experiences possible. I’m certain that IE6 wastes millions of dollars each year in wasted manpower and design flaws. No, it’s not global warming, but it’s still a problem that causes massive inefficiency and stifles innovation.
2) Longer Lifespans (20 points)A larger problem that millions of people are already trying to solve. But one I don’t think we’ll be solving before I’m in the grave.
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Why Bad Physical Health Can Hurt Mental Sharpness and Entrepreneurial Ambitions
I’m about to venture into somewhat treacherous waters, so feel free to yell and rant at me in the comments if you feel the need. But I am of a strong belief on this one, so I wanted to discuss it. I think you can guess the issue I’m going to talk about from the title.If you’re a tech-oriented person like I am, you probably sit most of the day in a comfy computer chair with your giant two-screen setup with tons of code/docs on one screen and your web browser/IM/Skype on the other. At least, that’s how I am (it’s really quite efficient). But the point is that you’re sitting in a chair all day, instead of on your feet and using your body. Especially when there’s major projects due, new features to launch, or staring a new job, you put workouts and proper diet on the backburner to get things done.
And so the cycle of bad health begins.
As millions of people can probably tell you, skipping proper workouts and not getting balanced meals becomes a habit once you start. And restarting the good habits is tough as hell. The New Years Resolution phenomenon still astounds me. A week after New Years, tons of new people with sweatbands in the gym. Two weeks later, 90% of them never return to the gym.
Why do I bring this up? I can’t stress enough the impact of your physical health on your ability to be a productive entrepreneur. Especially when you are the head of your own company seeking venture capital, your health and appearance are important factors in how people judge you and how you get things done.
Just a few key points you probably already know, I but cannot stress enough:
1) Your physical health affects your mental sharpness.
This article on LiveScience provides a great overview of studies that show a huge link between exercise, proper diet, good health, and a healthier brain. Physical exercise is still mental exercise for the brain. Eating good food is going to send nutrients toward the brain. Bad food is going to starve the brain of those same nutrients.It’s simple why the correlation exists – the brain is part of the body. You can’t fix a watch without fixing ALL of its parts, and you can’t keep a body healthy by exercising only one part of it. Programming does not count as a cardio exercise, sorry.
The opinions and impressions people have of you are always going to be shaped by your appearance
Blink by Malcolm Gladwell is a great book on this subject. It’s sad but true: the taller and thinner you are, the more promotions and money you can expect to make. Most people don’t do it on purpose, but if there’s two people with exactly the same proposal, who are they going to favor? Yes, the more attractive one. So do yourself a favor and make sure that you can win that tiebreaker.Bad health decreases your bottom line and investment capability
There’s a reason health insurance is so expensive – health care for an ailing body is expensive. You’re spending less on your new idea and more on your new pain medication. See where the money is going?
Persistent confidence is a major key to successful entrepreneurship
Not just confidence, but confidence that can take a beating. Your idea is going to be berated, judged, shot down, burned, and insulted over and over again as an entrepreneur. If your confidence cannot take that beating, your’e in the wrong arena. There’s a direct link between your looks, your health, and your confidence. If you’re already in self-doubt because of your body image, your confidence may not be able to hold under the entrepreneurial pressure.
The issue of health for entrepreneurs is a personal one for me. A year and a half ago, June 2007, I weighed over 200 pounds. While not a fat kid, I was chubby and round. During that summer, I committed to putting off the weight and getting in shape for my health, my self-confidence, and the satisfaction of proving I could actually do it. By August, I was in the 170s. Today, I range in the low 160s with a toned and balanced body and a great deal of added confidence. It’s also proven to me that I can get things done once I’m in the mindset.I know that a lot of people have genetics that hurt their health and their bodies, and little can be done about it. But that’s different than not actively trying to eat healthy and not putting in periodic work-outs. A good workout or two a week or replacing that damn soda with a glass of water and a cup of raspberries does wonders for your life. When you’re consistently working on improving your health, you can feel the results, even if the results aren’t immediately apparent at the waistline.
So if you’re an entrepreneur or if you just want to better your life, do yourself a favor and do the little things to improve your health. All I ask is for you to not ignore the connection between physical health and your productivity and mental health.
Here’s a random assortment of health articles to get your started: -
13 Tips for Avoiding Panick During the Economic Recession
Got Depression and Economic blues? To say you’re not alone would be an understatement. People are radically pulling back on their spending, scared to open their 401k statements, and simply shaking in their boots.In these hard times, people panic, especially when they don’t understand what exactly is going on.
For the next few weeks I’m going to be writing a series of articles on entrepreneurship during a recession. I’m hoping by the end of the series, you’re going to end up a little wiser, a little calmer, and a lot more aware of the opportunities that exist in down economies. And there are plenty of opportunities.
Before we get into how to succeed in a recession, we first have to get you into the right mindset. That means not panicking, making hasty decisions, and or forgetting to think things through.
So here’s 13 quick tips on how you can hold back your panic and think things through:
1) Open that 401k Statement!The first step in your quest to hold back the panic is to face reality. Yes, that 401k statement letter on the counter needs to be opened, read, and examined. You need to know your position before you can act. Not knowing will only preoccupy your thoughts. If you can’t do it, get a significant other or close friend to open it and read it to you.
2) Calmly Assess Your Current AssetsRequest statements from ALL of your accounts. Assess your investments, loans, and cash on hand. Know how much you pay out each month and what it will do in the next year. Know how much your investments have fallen and how that relates to your cash standing. If you’re not a financial-minded person, bring in a friend who invests to help you sort it out.
3) Understand your Risk ToleranceThis type of market is a true test of your risk tolerance. If you were screaming at 2% drops, how will you react to 40% tumbles? Truly ask yourself if you’re high risk or low risk. Treasury bills, money market accounts, and CDs are all fine investments for your money during these risky times. If you’re a person who can stomach the downturn and enjoys options, futures, and short positions, then that’s fine as well. Know your tolerance, though.
4) Take a look at the Big Picture
This is the big picture. Since the Dow Jones Industrial Average stock index was created, stocks have increased in value over time. Even after the crash, stocks rose again over the long haul. And we have more safeguards than back then to hold back such a fall.
Stocks WILL go back up in value eventually. Forgetting this can kill your money and your sanity.
5) Set a Consistent Budget and Stick to ItNow that you know all about your current money position, budget based on it. Set strict limits on how much you’re willing to spend on electronics, rent, utilities, groceries, dinner, and more.
Mint.com is a great way to manage finances and set budgets automatically. But once you’ve set a budget, stick to it. If you go over on any item, stop spending, period. And always take some time to think before making an “impulse purchase.” That may even mean banning Woot.com from your browser.
6) Decrease your Dependence on Debt. For Good.I would say this one is an obvious one, but for many people, it really isn’t. Over reliance on credit cards and mortgages has killed our economy, and it will kill your finances if it has not already.
NEVER CARRY DEBT ON YOUR CREDIT CARD! If you don’t remember anything else from this post, that’s fine, so long as you remember this. I pay off my credit card in full each and every month to avoid the fees and debt. That type of behavior will always make sure you don’t spend beyond your means.
Quickly pay off your debt if you have it. Cut spending, take a hit in your cable or your clothes shopping while you drop the debt down. When you don’t have any debt, you have piece of mind. Peace of mind means you aren’t panicking.
7) Prepare/Expand your Emergency FundThe emergency fund should be a separate, liquid account that can help you through six months of unemployment. Store six months of rent, groceries, and interview expenses in the fun in case things go south for your career. It can be a savings account, money market, whatever you are comfortable with. But make sure that it is a low-risk account and that it is absolutely NEVER touched unless you face a dire financial emergency. Low Christmas shopping funds IS NOT AN EMERGENCY!
Be prepared, so say the Boy Scouts.
Have Action Plans Prepared and in PlaceWhat’s the first thing you would do if you were suddenly fired from your job? Where will your emergency funds come from if you are permanently injured in an accident?
People don’t like asking themselves these questions, and they hate planning for these scenarios even more, but it is necessary and it will help you not panic if the time comes. Have a plan for major injury or being fired. Will you move in with your parents? Have you talked to them about this? How about your girlfriend or wife? Do they have resources backed up? Will you finally move to Chicago like you always talked about?
Put this onto paper and keep it in a safe place. Just knowing you have the plan will put you at ease.
9) Do What You LoveWhat? What the hell are you talking about?! I have rent to pay, a family to raise, and you’re telling me I should quit this shitty job I’m in and try to be an artist?!
Well, not quite, but close.
If you hate your job, you’re looking over your shoulder, worrying about being fired, worrying about not meeting deadlines and quotas, and simply stressed. You’re panicking, but you don’t even know it. And if you are eventually fired, you’re just going to get worse.
Stop the cycle now. There are still plenty of job opportunities for people who are motivated and hard-working. Hell, I’m willing to help you find those opportunities, and so are many other people you may not be reaching out to.If you’re in a job you love, you simply do better, feel happier, come home more refreshed, and don’t dread work the next day. Even if that just means starting a side project, a new business venture, or writing a novel, then do it!
It may be easier said than done, but it will make you panic less.
10) Remember What’s Important in your LifeIs money or family more important? Your happiness or your job? Only when you put these comparisons into direct terms do the answers seem so clear.
Money is important, but money comes and goes and has limited return. Family, friends, life, and love are once-in-a-lifetime events that have unlimited returns.
Corny, yes. True, even more so during tough times. Rely on what’s important when you’re about to panic.
11) Take up a new Hobby; Try Something DifferentThere’s a reason that people love the phrase “Variety is the spice of life.”
It’s because it’s true.
You’ll go nuts doing the same tasks every day. And that will bleed into fear, panic, and hesitation. So nip it in the butt now. Take up piano lessons to soothe your mind. Or do some Yoga to enhance the body. Or you can be crazy like me, and try to start a business and write a novel at the same time.
Just take a different path. Take a random drive into the unknown or learn swing dancing. Learning something new, trying something new will put your focus on fun and useful tasks rather than the news.
12) Watch and Read the News LessTell me now: How many times have you searched the financial news or watched the Dow Jones charts in the last two weeks?
You’ve been adding to your panic.
Checking once a day to get your news and information is good. It’s good to be informed. But four straight hours of financial meltdown news is not good for your psyche. It will cause you to shiver in fear and become addicted to the news.
So do yourself a favor and just close those news tabs and turn off CNN. Watch House, football, or do what I suggested in #11 and start a new hobby.
13) Smile
Just think about the great things you have in life. Take a look outside, think about how you’ve grown. Then smile and pat yourself on the back.
Thanks to Compfight, MotherPie, olivander, and analyzeindices.com for the images.
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The Two Questions To Ask Yourself Before Embarking on a New Business or Project
Before I embark on any project, I ask myself two very important questions. After I’ve evaluated the viability of the business idea, these become the focal point of how I move forward. You’re doing yourself and others a disservice if you aren’t asking these questions as well.
1) Will this venture create real value for people and society?What do I mean by “real value”? It’s a subjective subject based on your beliefs, but there’s a difference between creating a high-end restaurant chain and a multibillion dollar pharmaceutical company. Is the end result of what you do going to be fulfilling to others?
I have started or been a part of projects because they could make a real difference in people’s lives. Spine-Health is depended on by millions each year for pain information and community. Buck the Slump was an effort to provide valuable information to people seeking news about the recession, an incredibly important subject given recent circumstances. I can tell you how the effects of the jobs I take on will have on the world.
If I don’t believe the job is going to provide real value in some way, I’m not going to be part of it. If you don’t believe in the cause you’re working towards, then what are you doing anyways? Peple who believe in the value of their research, their business, or their work just work happier and work more efficiently.
2) Will this venture create real value for me?Just as important as creating value for others is creating value for yourself. Self-fulfillment is too often ignored by people seeking riches in the wrong places or trying to do “the smart thing” or “the right thing.”
Sometimes, you just have to do the dumb thing.
If you love the idea, love working with it, and are confident you’ll love working on it every day, then why aren’t you working on it already? Your work is one of the core components of your life – treating it as anything else will only make you miserable in the long-term. People don’t take the risk enough for happiness sometimes, but in the end it may simply be a waste of your passion and your talent on the world.
So ask yourself about value before embarking on any project. But if you know the answer to these questions, then find a way to make it work. And don’t be afraid to reach a little farther than you’re used to.
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Business Cards 2.0 – The Pros and Cons of a Customized Card
I’m sorry I am not able to give you a far more exciting update today. My next post will be about my upcoming Facebook Reconnection Experiment, so I hope you watch out for that article.
In the meantime, I want to talk about Business Cards once again. I talked about Business Cards in a previous article, especially about how a person looking at your card for an extra half second or talking about it with friends will go a long way towards people remembering you.
My cards, as a rule, are unique per person and are memorable. I’ve been on a “fortune cookie” theme recently, writing a different fortune per card, my favorite being “He who throws dirt loses ground.”
Here is version 2.0 of my fortune cookie business card (front and back):
The Pros:
- Unique card for every person
- Great for impression the ladies
- Professional designed. Sort of – A wonderful woman took pity on my horrendous design and gave it a makeover. If you like her work, I’m glad to hand out her contact info.
- Inexpensive
- Everything is very clear on my card
The Cons:- Tinted and unflattering picture of myself – my new Facebook photo is far better. Pick the right picture, and don’t do it in a rush like I did.
- Needs my name on the front and the back
- Takes too much time to write in fortunes – no business card is worth that much
- TechThrill is being delayed while I finish other projects – I don’t need it so prominently on my card
- No Twitter contact info
I’ve learned from this card and will use that to build my next card. Business Card 3.0 will be a completely different design – I have an idea in my head, but I will wait until I am done with these before thinking of a new design.
Remember, your business card needs to stand out if it’s going to be useful in any way.
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AtomKeep – Because it's Badass to Update Your LinkedIn, Yelp, & Facebook Profiles All At Once
The Hacker News community is a gem among the vast Internet sea. You will always find interesting companies and interesting stories at the YCombinator-owned website. A few days ago, a member asked the community to rate his start up. That start-up is AtomKeep, a very intriguing service that you should be aware of.AtomKeep has a very simple function – allow you to update your online profiles all at one place. Your Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook profiles can all be adjusted from this website. Your work history, your personal info, your favorite movies, all of it.
I immediately had to try it out.
The first thing to do is to sync your other Internet profiles to AtomKeep. When you first sync accounts, you can immediately import your info from Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. to fill in your overall AtomKeep profile, another smart timesaver by its creators. Afterwards, you can simply edit your AtomKeep profile and then sync it, thus updating all of your user profiles. Really I’ve explained everything about the service, so let me simply give you the pros and cons of the service as it stands today.
Pros
- Simple, clean, and fast-loading interface
- Easy to fill in your AtomKeep profile with your Facebook/Linkedin/Yelp Profile
- Confirms that it updated your info and gives you warnings of failures
- Very few clicks to update a profile
- A Time Saver
Cons
- Needs better instructions for new users, especially ones
- Broke my Twitter profile
- Failed to update my Yelp profile
- I’m skeptical about a business model
Overall, it’s an incredible new service that will only continue to improve. One of its founders has stated that compatibility with Digg and Google Profiles are in the works and, even more ambitious, a plan to add any site yourself. That’s a bit ambitious, though. They need to focus on getting the key services compatible before working on such a grand project.
There are many questions and issues that remain – the business model, whether this has any value to people who don’t use 20 different online services like I do, keeping up with the profile changes of these major services – but AtomKeep has certainly caught my attention.
- Ben
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Finding a Programming Co-Founder/Partner when you are NOT a programmer
Every so often I do some consulting on internet tools, optimization, and early-stage entrepreneurship. Today, I had the pleasure of sitting down with a beautiful woman, a college entrepreneur, trying to start an internet service. The difficulty for her and her partner? Finding a partner with the programming experience they lack.It’s tough to enter the internet space without having coding experience. I myself have been learning PHP on the side so I can personally build all of the ideas in my head. However, that lack of experience should not, by any means, stop you from realizing your dreams of building your idea to fruition. While I do suggest learning some code so you at least understand what can and can’t be done with PHP, Ruby on Rails, or whichever language you choose, you’re going to want someone with the experience and skill to get it done. Yes, you could outsource your idea to a firm to build it, but you’re not going to get the same passion and commitment to the project and to the customers as you will have.
I gave her a few resources for finding a non-programming partner, and I wanted to share a few of them with you. Almost all of them are actually links from YCombinator’s Hacker News, but you’re not going to be disappointed with the conversations and advice given in the links below. Also a quick thanks to the Startups Wiki YC Archive for most of the links.
- What should a Striving non-programmer do?
- Can Hackers (aka Coders) and Non-Hackers Cofound?
- Keeping and Recruiting a Hacker as a Non-Hacker
- Finding a Co-founder (out of the three sites he lists, partnerup.com is the best)
- Best sites for finding good web programmers?
- Any suggestions on places to find good freelance developers?
- How to hire a Computer Programmer
And as a bonus (and because I love Ittybiz),
- 32 Must reads for home business success (I don’t care if you are starting a home business or not, all of the rules still apply).
Hope this helps some of you!
- Ben
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A Mini-Case Study: How to spice up your business card and Get Noticed
Yesterday, I was an attendee at the 2008 Chicago TECHCocktail Conference. It was an amazing conference with some amazing speakers (one of which, Gary Vaynerchuk, will be making a guest post soon). But I’m not here to talk about that.I’m here to talk about business cards.
Most business cards are dull and lack any reason to notice. Most are discarded without thought. You’re at a conference to network. Hell, everywhere is a chance to network. How do you make sure someone remembers you or takes even an extra second to look at your business card?
There are three ways:- 1) Make beautiful and memorable designs
- 2) Make your card interactive
- 2) Make your card personalized
For #1, I suggest visiting Creative Bits, which has an image library of some amazing card designs. I attached one of my favorites to the right: a lawn company that actually gives away seeds in their cards. I’d always remember a card like that, or at least give it a second glance.For #2 and #3, I’m going to use my current cards as an example. I decided to individualize my cards. I did this by placing a fortune on every card.
The front tells you to do something. That’s the interactive part. I wrote a different fortune on the back of every single card. That’s the personalized part.
Take a look:
I’m sure I’ll be updating these cards soon with better designs, but the interactivity and personalization will remain. I got great reactions from the cards.
One last thing, I never said “here’s my card.” I always said, “Here’s a Fortune Cookie” Always caught them off guard and piqued interest.
Little things add up.
- Ben
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3 Facebook Groups Web Entrepreneurs should join (Because they're useful)
There are very few entrepreneurial groups on Facebook that don’t offer something you can’t find on another website or are extensions of someone’s blogging. These three, however, peaked my interest because of the resources and discussions occurring in each of them and I highly encourage everyone to join them. Don’t forget to comment if you know of any other groups to add to this list!
- 1) Web 2.0 (Entrepreneurs): This is the FIRST group you should join. Over 40,000 members collaborating on Entrepreneurship in the internet space. Officers of the group include Kevin Rose of Digg, blogger Michael Arrington, Slide and Paypal founder Max Levchin, and the list goes on. But it isn’t the people in it that makes this a useful group. It has links to early-stage funds and incubators, resources for new entrepreneurs, and discussions on Web 2.0 Entrepreneurship on the boards.
- 2) Join a Startup: Now THIS is an interesting way to find and join a start-up company. Postings are up-to-date and relevant, and you have the option to sift through all of the comments and thoughts on most of the companies. If you are seeking someone to join your team, this isn’t a bad place, either, with 5000+ members and growing. Just be respectful. I suggest posting a video explaining your opportunity and introducing your workplace and some of your team.
- 3) Young Entrepreneur’s Network: Argh, grammatical errors, but who cares! This group’s useful! it’s regularly updated and there’s a slew of young entrepreneurs and (hopeful) world changers to meet, connect with, and network. There’s also some interesting threads that will provoke some thought.
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If you could rebuild Facebook, what would you change?
An article today in the Mashable Blog had me thinking about Facebook and social networking in general. Before I continue with this article, disclaimer: I have interviewed with Facebook for a position in the past and I am partly responsible for Facebook’s biggest PR disaster, the Students Against Facebook News Feed Controversy.
The article, if you don’t care to read it, is basically reaction to a very surprising Mashable poll where over 75% of respondents were, in some way, fed up or annoyed with Facebook as it currently stands. I’ve heard complaints from people stating that profile pages are too cluttered (though a profile redesign addresses this problem) to applications are useless to restrictions on both users an developers are not adequately balanced.People in the blogosphere have compared Facebook to the next AOL (they once had a great business model and all the momentum and then poof!) or the next Myspace (spammy and losing usefulness). Though I think a lot of these comparisons are unfair and unfounded, there’s a reason these comparisons are appearing in the first place. Expectations for Facebook are lofty. It has been collecting the best talent of Silicon Valley, including former top Google Engineer Ben Ling, former VP of Online Sales Sheryl Sandberg, and most recently, former Google VP for Public Relations Elliot Schrage, drawing comparisons as “the next Google.”
That’s a lot of damn comparisons.So I thought I’d go through a brain exercise: If you could dismantle Facebook and rebuild it, what would you do? Yes, I’m basically asking you to envision a new social network, but go from the basis of Facebook’s goal: to create a social utility that helps people communicate more efficiently with their friends, family and coworkers and to facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph (aka the digital mapping of people’s real-world social connections)
Here’s some of my initial thoughts. I’ll write a more complete post with more complete ideas:
- Make it tougher from the start to create “spammy” Facebook applications. There needed to be fewer, higher quality applications or a better way to weed them out. A lot of users are now trained to just click “ignore.” I don’t know how you can untrain people: changing habits is one of the most difficult things to do in business.
- Divide it more into two uses: personal and business. The business social network LinkedIn is on a roll and gaining traction. There’s a ton of opportunity in this area still. Facebook friend lists weren’t enough (though I appreciate it very, very much); there needed to be a business networking system in place (and still needs to be).
- On Friend Lists, I wish I had had the option of separating my friends into “degrees of friends”. Some are far closer than others: I wish I could choose that at the start. That would allow me to organize how I interaction multiple levels. I could only Facebook chat with my First and Second degree contacts, for example.
- True email from the social network. Integrate receiving your gmail or other emails into a well-developed email system until it became more robust. If you could link emails to people, you could know more about your history with them.
- Tracking of your history with an individual. I’d love to know when I became friends with a person, what we have done, and where we may continue to connect. (a Fb application probably already does this, matching interests, but see my first point on what has happened to apps.)
Damn, I need to think about this some more. I sure as hell can’t build a social network (yet: there’s a reason I’m learning PHP programming after all), but I sure as hell can design, promote, and operate one.
Maybe I’ll just do that. Expect another post in a few days. In the meantime, Go visit my new blog on the recession.- Ben
I am a tech entrepreneur, Co-Editor of Mashable, sci-fi author, and aspiring world changer. I'm quirky and love building things. These are the things I'm passionate about. Plus puppies.
