Inspiration

Looking for inspiration – I have tons of inspiring quotes, media, books and resources on three topics – startups, marketing and business – but I’m looking for more.  Where do you look for inspiration?

On a side note, I’ve found it particularly hard over the past few days to not go back to my old ways.  I found myself staring at the screen having already written two or three pages – realizing that I cannot push that button that would send it on it’s way (instead of deleting, I did save it in case at some point in the future it would be acceptable to push that button again).  I understand the reasoning and logic behind it; I’m sad nonetheless.

The trip that I’m taking this week is a little more of a gamble then last months jaunt to the US.  I don’t know what’s waiting for me when I step off of the plane and although the meetings have been setup, it’s what’s going on when there are no meetings that matters most to me.  In any case, I have a backup plan just in case plans A, B, or C don’t materialize for whatever reason – but it pales in comparison.

My sleeping patterns have fallen back to four hours max then wide awake – I was more than a little crusty this morning.  It will only get worse over the next few days.  I’ll probably end up sleeping at the airport, on the plane, in weird places (waiting for a ride), just before a meeting, etc.  I may as well be doing the Uberman.

More later…

Goodbye my sweet delicious friend

There were a few delays leading up to today and not only with the start of The 62 Day Sprint.  Last week I was bogged down on one project that turned out to be a dud.  On top of that the mail server crashed, had to replace my phone system, and was down for most of last week – much to the frustration of clients and business partners.

Today turned out to be a fun time of going through 250 emails (another 100 to go through tonight), returning phone calls, and getting back in touch with people.  I have a feeling that I will crash early tonight and pick everything back up tomorrow morning (no more burning the midnight oil – see below).

Points for today – 228

Marketing – 225
Sales – 0
FHL – 3  (2 fitness, 1 hobby)

Someone very near and dear to me has been constantly asking the same two questions:

1.  What is your plan for the next 12 months?

2.  Where do you want to be 5 years from now?

There are a few complications in my life right now that prevent me from seeing beyond the next 3 months.  I do know that in the next three months I will be launching stage two of Ten Million Entrepreneurs, have a better idea of where I will be living full time in 2012, have a steady form of personal income, and will have helped over 3,000 entrepreneurs since I launched Gobi (only 9,997,000 to go).  My plan for the next 12 months is the same as it has been for the past 12 months – build a business / an organization that helps entrepreneurs while allowing me to run it from anywhere in the world.  Five years from now, I imagine that I’ll still be doing the same thing except on an exotic beach or from a tree-house in a rain-forest.

It’s true – no more burning the midnight oil.  I’ve cut out coffee and most forms of caffeine with the exception of green tea and other low caffeine teas.  I realize that green tea is not that low in caffeine, however I use loose leaf green tea and fill the cup back up with hot water using the same leaves throughout the day.  Why would I bother to cut out something that I enjoy so much – I was using it as a crutch.  Feeling tired – pound back a double espresso.  Still feeling tired? Try a double double from Tim ‘Homophobe’ Hortons.  So the crutch is gone after four days of headaches and I’m substituting in decaf in the morning and green tea the rest of the day.

The only other thing I have to do is get a haircut and trim up the mustache before Wednesday.  I want to keep the handlebar mustache but it makes me look ugly – even uglier than I looked before.

31 Works Days

The hard numbers:

• 1569 marketing points
• 22 fitness points
• 7 life / hobby points
• 1598 points!
• 5,927.27% productivity increase from the first week to the last week
• Weekly average points increased from 2.2 per day to 133

Overall, I feel pretty damn good.  So good that I made a wee presentation for you!

In case you didn’t take a look at the presentation, yes I’m doing another 31 days of excitement.  However, the focus this time around is not on marketing, but on sales.  I will be tracking marketing, FLH (fitness, life, hobbies), and sales, but the majority of my focus will gradually shift from marketing to sales.  The best part is, the next 31 Day Sprint (aka The 62 Day Sprint) starts today!

On that note, I will leave you with a quote:

“Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up. It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle – when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.”

-Unknown

Lunch Break!

Lunch today consisted of a smoked turkey sandwich and homemade potato and leek soup.  I enjoyed a cup of hot black tea while watching an interesting TED talk (there’s a blurb below on TED).  The speaker that I was watching was Hasan Elahi and he presented an interesting idea on the commoditization of personal information from the perspective of the authorities that would eventually make them obsolete in the way that they currently approach national security.

Hasan Elahi’s bio

Hasan Elahi’s TED Talk

Hasan Elahi’s web site

I find the same thing is happening all around us – information has become a commodity.  The act of teaching information and the act of gathering information will eventually become obsolete and replaced with the act of teaching understanding.  I wonder if it’s possible to get a PhD in Understanding?

(A quick note on The 31 Day Sprint – no numbers will be posted for Day 30 and 31.  Instead a summary of The 31 Day Sprint will be posted on Day 32).

TED: TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. Along with two annual conferences — the TED Conference in Long Beach and Palm Springs each spring, and the TEDGlobal conference in Edinburgh UK each summer — TED includes the award-winning TEDTalks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize.  More info here.

T minus two work days

Friday was good and yet bad.  It was good due to the fact that I hit 145 marketing points.  Good because of the socializing.  Good because I was able to think ahead and plan out some future elements of my business.  It was bad because I only increased my income by 4%.  It was bad due to the fact that there are only 2 more days left.

I’m feeling positive about two new projects on the go and that I should be able to raise the necessary money that is required.  That’s it for now.  I’ll post a summary of the sprint and what the next steps will be at the end of The 31 Day Sprint.

Yes it’s Day 28

Day 28 of The 31 Day Sprint.

No commentary, just numbers:

• 72+ marketing points
• 1 life point
• 1 fitness point
• 1765+ LinkedIn connections – links me to 17,474,960 professionals of which 48,785 joined since Oct 25th
• 3 new projects that have been verified
• 1 old project is back on the burner
• Income increase of 4% this week

Mhmm....taken at 3pm Oct 28th 2011

Ok a wee bit of commentary – one final thing to note – don’t hate the man because some old lady came out of her van, wielding a microphone like a sword and asking his mayoralty questions.  I mean who wouldn’t be terrified of a zoomer in a Xena Warrior Princess costume being followed by a cameraman.  Granted it was on his private property and it was at 8am, but is there any other way to catch the Mayor of Toronto, especially if you cannot see him at city hall?

Can you hear the words coming out of my mouth?