Probably not. But I admire their efforts to improve upon the way we search the web. Viewzi is more intuitive than other visual search attempts I’ve seen (of which I can’t remember any of their names). Remember when Google was the new kid on the block and people were saying that Netscape was too big to be taken down? But step by step they slowly became the big dog and overtook Netscape and everyone else. So if Viewzi keeps hangin’ tough you never know what could happen.

Weird. All of a sudden, I’m having nightmarish flashbacks of my sister plastering her wall with NKOTB posters. By the way, if you’re wondering, I pretty much blame NKOTB for this, this, this and this as well as almost every other cultural ill of the last 20 years. An overstatement? Yes. But also a convenient pre-coffee, 5:30am scapegoat. Sorry guys, sometimes that’s just how the chips fall. Best of luck with your reunion tour. At least this time around your swooners will (hopefully) be middle aged women and not teary eyed twelve year olds, which, strangely enough, is a very bizarre element of the whole boy band phenomenon that everyone quietly and politely ignores.

Seriously, you’re okay with your pre-teen daughter crying because she’s “in love” with a man in his twenties? In no other circle of our society would this be deemed acceptable. So, sorry, Alivia, not in my house. Your brothers already know that the appropriate time for a “serious” relationship and the accompanying emotions is when they are ready to be married. And they are only ready to be married when 1) they are 18 or older 2) they have a job that can pay all the bills and 3) they find someone who has (hopefully) similar desires to magnify the Lord and not revel in the disappointingly vain puffing up of humans. By the way, that last “hopefully” is directed at my boys.

How did I get from a new search engine to my kids future relationships? I don’t really know. All I can say is don’t give up on me. I promise I’ll try to keep my future posts a little more on point.

One of my brother-in-laws, who is the best manager I know, jokes that if he ever writes a book it will be called “I’m Just Really Trying.” It will be an analysis of the ever pervading thought in our culture that you just have to wish and really, really, really be sincere about wanting something then expect for it to mysteriously materialize.

He and I have good laughs over this topic every now and then. So why am I bringing this up now? Because there is a woman sitting next to me at Starbucks who has dropped various iterations of this line at least a half-dozen times within the last 15 minutes. (I think she’s on a job interview.)

“I just really want to be a part of some place that is successful.”

“I just really want to be on a team that values my ideas.”

“I just really want to not settle.”

Now, before you criticize me for being overly-cynical, let me say that I don’t necessarily believe there is anything wrong with the core desire of those statements. Who doesn’t want to experience success,  be on a team that values your input and continue to achieve new things?

The problem, as I see it, is that the “I just really” statement carries a sentiment with it that is 1) naive and 2) responsibility shifting.

First, it’s naive because it ignores the fact that the world is filled with insecure, backstabbing suckers who will whack their own mom at a moments notice to save their own skin. If you have never experienced this or don’t know of anybody who has, please tell me where the company is, because I want to work there.

Second, it places the responsibility for cultivating that culture on others instead of putting the onus squarely on your shoulders to actively participate in building the culture you desire. I think people do this to hedge against (accepting) failure. There are exceptions, but I think this logic generally holds up.

Well, that was a quick post and I didn’t edit it, so please forgive me if the thoughts are a little rough. And EJ, if you’re reading this, you’re the first person on my “to hire” list and I guarantee this time around you won’t be surrounded by a bunch of “I’m just really trying” types.

What do you get when you cross a relatively new technology (canal locks) with potential for increased commerce (goods being transported down the Erie Canal instead of over land)? America’s first tech bubble. As the author notes, “in what may have been the first, but definitely not the last, instance of a tech bubble” the share price IPO’d at $225 and quickly peaked at over $475 before the construction of the canal was even approved.

This is just one of several amazing stories about America’s early entrepreneurs and business adventures that can be found in An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power by John Steele Gordon (warning his website is WAY outdated). More of a quick hit (2 or 3 paragraphs) on dozens of different endeavors all wrapped in the general progression of the economic landscape rather than an in-depth analysis of a few instances. I’m enjoying it immensely - a very good read.

I’m not wired to over think things. On the contrary, more often than not, I tend to “ready, shoot, aim”. I have a feeling in my gut and I go with it. The few times I have over thought things, it has caused me to be positively influenced by opinions that I initially didn’t agree with, which has then led to tremendous stagnation. Paralysis by analysis if you will.

There is one particular project where this has clearly been the case. Shoot, I’ve been working on it since 2004, all the way back when I was in business school.

I’m kind of embarrassed that it’s still lingering, but have realized that it would be more detrimental to my character if I abandoned it, than if I put my head down and plowed through it. So that’s what I’ve decided to do. In the process I have realized the vital importance of Proverbs 4:23 and a practical (and probably rather loose) application of Matthew 6:7 (the “don’t cast your pearls before swine” passage.)

What can I say? You’ve got to be who you are and I like implementing ideas as fast and as well as I can. More on this post to come soon…

There is a very interesting article in the May - June 2008 edition of AdBusters Magazine entitled “A New Kind of Capitalism”. The article features former Harvard Law School professor Roberto Mangabeira Unger. Unger, now the Minister of Strategic Affairs, is known for his (sometimes radical) leftist leanings and is now pushing what he calls “radical pragmatism”.

What piqued my curiosity is Adbusters’ summary of his view to stimulate the economy in Brazil: “Instead of a tiny business elite dropping crumbs for the country’s poor, a broad middle class of small business entrepreneurs would form Brazil’s engine of growth. These small enterprises would get access to the credit and tax benefits that big businesses more typically enjoy. The benefits of the market should be shared broadly, not monopolized by big business”.

Adbusters, admittedly, concludes “In a way, the idea is very much free-market orthodoxy”. So how does a man known for his leftist leanings come to promote a decidedly free-market (i.e. right leaning) idea? I’ve got a few thoughts, namely, that perhaps what the right has promoted as free-market is, in essence, not truly free-market, but big business communism; and, secondly, that Unger may be right (as in correct).

Especially, when you consider that famed international financier, George Soros, said at the recent World Economic Forum, “central banks have lost control” and that the global economy as we know it is heading for “systemic failure”. For additional food for thought on global economics I recommend reading Revolution Wealth by Alvin and Heidi Toffler.

You may recall a rambling post about “voices in my head” that equated to a bunch of business ideas. If you’ve got a few minutes to waste you can read it here. Otherwise, feel free to keep reading.I’ve been having so much fun slicing CSS that I decided to create a little website to manage the projects that I’ve been doing. There’s a cool little admin interface that allows people to post projects, upload files, track progress, leave feedback, preview their files and pay their invoice.A couple of cool benefits of using the Doc (haha, so cheesy), include getting every 10th slice free. I am also slicing for a wide variety of CMS apps like Blogger, WordPress, Drupal, Movable Type and Joomla!. So if you’ve got a custom design for one of these or another site and don’t want or have the time to do the slicing yourself feel free to give the Doc a try.Overall, I’ve had fun putting this project together and am excited about how it will streamline the current project flow and am looking forward to how the service will grow and evolve.Cheers!

…at the sheer lack of USP’s in the creative industry. I found a site this morning, one that has been featured on a handful of design galleries, and in all truth, has very nice work in their portfolio. Their pitch?

“We are the best. No, really, we are.”

No offense, but thanks for nothing. Doesn’t branding 101 consist of NOT making qualitative statements that are hard or impossible to measure? But this is most of all I see in the creative world. Now, granted, the creative industry does largely consist of intangible, subjective deliverables, with critiques consisting of slightly more business minded art gallery-ish reviews.

“I like it.”

“I don’t like it.”

“Could use more color.”

However, you would think that since our work is not merely hanging in a gallery on a wall, but instead trying to impact the bottom line of our clients, we would be able to conceive USP’s that bring more efficacy to the marketplace, both in attempting to sell our, and our clients, products and / or services.

Thoughts?

Actually, they’re dozens of tiny business ideas that fit into a single, bigger parent brand. After several years of fighting these ideas and enduring a variety of naysayers who came in the form of professors, colleagues, co-workers and even some close friends and family, I have decided to simply stop.

Listening that is.

To the naysayers.

The turning point came last fall, when during a conversation with a well respected and successful entrepreneur, he told me “God has stitched entrepreneurialism into the fabric of my soul. I don’t need to fight it, nor, do I need to justify it to others.” I have been turning those words over and over in my heart and mind for the past six months, and slowly but surely, they have taken hold. And slowly, but surely, I finally don’t care what other people (read critics, haters, bashers, pessimists, lame-o’s, non-entrepreneurial minded cats, etc) think.

So with all of that said I figure this is just as good a time as any to announce that 1) we are planning a move away from Albuquerque (Lord willing) in the coming months and 2) I am wholeheartedly pursuing the aforementioned “parent” brand that’s been brewing in my dome for six years or so (as well as the growing gaggle of little idea children that fit within the “parent”.)

I’m not doing this with partners. Been there, done that. Not that they were bad partners, per se. More so that I’ve come to realize I’m not a good fit for partners. At least not officially. Must be all that independent tennis-playing, home-schooling stuff I did for 15 years. I’ve got, as we all do, a unique vision and (overly?) intense drive to implement that vision in a fairly strong, black and white fashion. So instead of partners this time around, I’ve lined up a trusted group of advisers who share similar interests, philosophies and business tastes. I’m looking forward to it.

So what will I be doing you ask? I will answer the same way I’ve answered everyone else who has asked that question to date, namely, by saying, it will become apparent once I start doing it. Email me if you want “doing it” updates. Haha, that sounds funny.

As much as I hate the hype and crappy content aspect of the internet, I love the fact that it allows people to brainstorm and market very innovative services. Take 23andMe for instance. You send them spit and they send you your DNA profile. Pretty cool.

At least I do. What a business!