Killing Babies

So I imagine that you're reading this specific post simply because of the title. A little shocking isn't it? Well let your curious mind rest assured that I am not talking about real babies. I'm talking about business babies, or new business ideas to be exact.

New business ideas are like babies. When your mind gives birth to them, so to speak, and you believe they have potential, there are few things more beautiful and satisfying. You think about them over and over, how nice they look, how nice they sound, how other people will love them, the places they'll go, the things they'll accomplish, the things you'll do together.

"Ahhhh the possibilities," you sigh contentedly.

You often even name your baby. Once that happens it becomes serious. It's like your namesake son, carrying on every positive attribute inside of you.

This goes on for some time, depending on who you are and depending on how serious you are about your ideas. But, more often than not, its doesn't last.

First, you start to share your baby with other people.

"Isn't it amazing?!" you say, expecting wells of excitement to burst out of them. But their responses aren't so kind.

"Hmm what about such and such?"

"Haven't I seen this before?"

"Are you sure people would actually buy that?"

"That's a nice idea, but have you looked for any real jobs lately?"

They're insulting your baby. They're calling him ugly.

"Well that was just a foolish person anyways," you say to yourself. "No need to listen to him. What does he know about the industry anyways? And where is he working that he has to brag about? People these days."

But the problem is the same thing happens with the next person. And similar after that. And even worse after that. Person after person, (aside from your occasional biggest fan) tells you honestly their not interested.

"My baby?! I loved you. I can't leave you. I, I, I even named you." Doubt, confusion and sadness follow. And then it happens. You know you have to kill your baby.

So goes the way of the entrepreneur. Killing business ideas left and right, with temporary pieces of his own heart, mind and soul inside of them in the attempt to find just the right one. It's a hard a lonely road but someone's got to do it. Until next time.
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Sustainable Help

The word sustainable seems to be the goal of just about everything in business. Sustainable growth, sustainable business models, sustainable sales and the list goes one. That is indeed what I am searching for as well; a sustainable solution for my need to make a living, and my desire to do good and create change. What I'm seeing a lot of is one or the other solutions.

Privately owned businesses usually tout killer returns, income, and wealth. Non-profits tout social good and a warm and fuzzy feeling. I want both.

Do I know how I'm going to do it? I do not. I do however feel pretty strongly that you should try and stop poverty on the home front and then go and end it on the foreign front. In other words I would feel a lot happier having created an enterprise and then going and teaching that to people rather than just going straight to teaching it. I also don't want ti to be just a good month or two experience. I want it to be a ginormous part of what I do. That's why micro-franchising interests me. It has the potential to offer both solutions.

Come summer 2012 and wherever I decide to go, we'll see what happens. Hopefully my above assumption is correct.

Happy Thanksgiving

There was an interesting thought given in my finance class yesterday about Thanksgiving. These facts are somewhat unverified because they were just spouted off by the Professor without any references but the message is convincing. He spoke of the first thanksgiving and how it all took place. He said we all often hear how the pilgrims had a grand feast with the Indians and like now we think it must have been an abundance. T/he reality is however, that an English ship for some reason had recently gone to port at Jamestown and had had to take many of the rations that they had there. The year had still been rough crop wise and the colonists knew that winter was coming and honestly that most of them would die, because of exposure. But they had a small celebration and gave thanks. So what, if they were planning on many of them dying that next winter, were they thankful for? According to this Professor, it was for freedom. Despite their terrible condition and pretty dim looking future in the new world they were grateful to be free. And, he said, that is the real reason for this holiday. It isn't just a celebration that says wow we have a ton of food and live somewhat in luxury so thanks God. It's about being thankful for freedom. 

Now whether all that is true or not I have no idea but I think it is a powerful principle either way and a more meaningful outlook on Thanksgiving in general. So let's keep that in mind this thanksgiving and besides thinking up random lists of what we feel thankful for, we can remember to be thankful to be free. 

Honestly just some random thoughts

Sometimes I feel like I just want to get going on life. I want to start a company now, get married now, move out of the country and solve the worlds problems now and so on. I just want to get it done. Part of that desire I believe is good. It leads me toward progress and toward the goals I have set for myself. 

Part of that however I also believe is not good. It distracts from the blessings and the good things to be learned from the here and now. There is a cool quote I heard quoted recently from the writer Oliver Wendell Holmes that says, "Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out." (http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/o/oliverwend104426.html#ixzz1dw0GQVj7)

For some reason this quote has stuck with me this whole week. It's very true and it's very sad and it's something that I want to avoid and something that I am all too often guilty of. How often do we do what he speaks of? Prepare to be happy at some point down the road, prepare to be fulfilled, prepare to be help other people more, or prepare to actually just be ourselves and be happy with ourselves. These are things that are important for us to live a full life and things that are often overlooked. So that is the challenge for the week: not to be silly and over spontaneous and "live like we're dying" and be ridiculously cliche but to just get going on what is important to you and do it now.