Lover of trading, tacos, 3D/AR/VR, cryptos, and most things Japanese

After last week’s disappointing turnout, this week started off on the right foot. I had an lunch meeting/interview with the CEO of a local startup. They’re an advertising company that has been slowly progressing the last three years as they’ve built out their prototype and assembled a top-quality team. They’ve done as much as they could on their own, and are now looking to bring in a technical person to do the heavy lifting. That’s where I come in.

I’ve spent most of my working life building companies – many startups, some mid-stage ones, and even a couple well-established firms. And I’ve run my own business for years too. Throughout it all, I’ve learned the ins and outs of growing businesses. What works and what does not. If things go well, I will bring my expertise to this new venture and help the team take it to the next level.

Entrepreneurs have to be comfortable wearing many hats. In small companies, there simply aren’t the staff on hand to delegate tasks out all over the place – if something needs to get done, often the best and fastest solution is to jump in and do it yourself. This is where I excel. With my media, design, and development background, I’m comfortable wearing many hats and I really enjoy getting to stretch my various skills out. When I get stuck in one area, or just need a change, there’s always something else that needs to be done that I can do. Often just switching tasks improves the result of the initial task as the mental switching allows the subconscious to process things in the background.

It’s still early in the process, so I won’t say more about the opp at this time. Too many unknowns at this point, but I will say it looks promising. Rest assured, I will be updating you all if and when this opportunity becomes a reality. 🙂

I’m a firm believer in what I call “Daily Wins”. A daily win is any victory, no matter how small, that you can achieve each day. It may be writing a blog post, making a phone call, taking the next step on a project, going to the gym, or even starting a business. The key is to consistently do things that you feel good about, that give you that little emotional burst of satisfaction from a job well done.

Daily wins create a positive feedback loop. You feel better about having accomplished something, no matter how small, and that success breeds more successes. I like to start my off with the daily win of writing something on this blog. It’s a small thing, but I find when I get a good post done in the morning that, no matter what else happens that day, I’ve accomplished something worthwhile with my time.

On the job, it’s a lot easier. There are tasks you know you have to do each day and by getting a jump on them and getting one or two done first thing, you set yourself up for continued motivation throughout the rest of the day. Sometimes we can start with easy tasks, sometimes it’s better to start with something difficult, something that will take time to accomplish. Then we have the satisfaction of knowing we are working towards a goal, making progress, no matter how small it may be.

By setting and achieving small goals we feel better about ourselves and small accomplishments lead to bigger and better things. Seek out your own daily wins and see what a difference it can make in your day. 🙂

… and another one opens. This rang true for me this week, in an especially speedy fashion. I received disappointing news about one job opportunity Wednesday only to come across another promising one Thursday, resulting in a Monday interview. This one is a lunch meet and greet to learn about the opp, the folks behind it, where it’s been and where it’s going.

I love this kind of stuff. It’s always exciting to meet with and talk to fellow entrepreneurs. Some of my favorite jobs have been with startups and it makes working a lot of fun when you’re building a business at the same time. Working with agile teams, being able to respond quickly to changes in environments, and creating excellence are strong draws for me. I’ve helped build companies from nothing to multi-million dollar corporations in the past and look forward to the next chance to do it again.

Time to do some research! 🙂