OK, so I’m still trying to figure out how blogging fits in with my full time day job so I’ll continue on the fortune cookie fortune blogging escapade (they make for good post titles) until I figure it out.
I’m not sure what’s kosher to blog about since I’m still trying to get my mind around the irony of working for a huge university which is gigantically overburdened with process (e.g., 5 copies of agreements need to be routed after being signed in blue ink but need pre-approval before they get routed, 3 documents to get approval to make often routine purchases, etc.) that at the same time helps start-ups. A slow moving giant pays the staff (including myself) that supports the nimble, fast moving technology start-ups. It’s mind boggling to think about so I try not to think about it too much.
So on to the fortune cookie that produced “Life always gets harder near the summit.” Along with the Lucky Numbers 2, 10, 7, 31, 54, and 12…too bad I’m no longer playing the lottery.
I wouldn’t say that life is harder but I would say it’s insanely more a bit more mentally taxing given that after a full day at my day job of running Operations for the Austin Technology Incubator I need to think about and act on activities to promote Babble Soft. Thankfully, I have an intellectually smart husband who helps out and is currently giving the kids a bath while I type up this blog post, drink red wine, and respond to press queries. He has to be smart because his current career choice is one of the reasons I now have a day job!
So on to life being hard for Brandon and the Homeless Dude which made the title of this blog post way too long! Over at IttyBiz, they are running a ‘who can come up with the craziest story about Brandon and the Homeless Dude’ competition as a break from their regularly scheduled home business tips. So the challenge is to come up with the ‘next step of the journey’ for Brandon and the Homeless Dude. If selected, my name, company, blog, and dirty laundry will be featured on the ever so popular IttyBiz blog that is normally written by Naomi with an occasional guest appearance by her husband, Jamie. It’s highly unlikely that I’ll get picked because I’m not following their directions of discreetly emailing Jamie my story but instead I’m writing it on my blog. I’m not one to regularly follow directions, which makes my day job extra mentally taxing. So here it goes:
Brandon and the Homeless Dude woke up under a bridge one day. They wondered to themselves firstly why the bridge had not fallen on them while they slept given their notorious luck. Soon after they wondered what they should do for the day.
The Homeless Dude then asked Brandon why he was sleeping under the bridge with him given that he was not homeless and Brandon mumbled a reply about being a prick (Naomi’s word not mine) to his wife. As an aside to those who don’t know Brandon, his wife pays the bills for his extravagant lifestyle which includes trying to build an online business.
After that meaningful brief discussion, they headed toward the closest lemonade stand and asked the kids if they planned to attend SEO school. The kids stared blankly at them and asked them what SEO meant and oh by the way if they wanted lemonade they would have to give them $2.00 for a tall, refreshing glass of fresh squeezed lemonade with a spoonful of organic brown sugar. A twist of vodka would cost them $1.00 extra.
Brandon told the kids that SEO stood for Seeking Extra Opportunities and their eyes opened wide. Of course they were ‘seeking extra opportunities’ to sell their lemonade because the more money they made the more they could spend on impressing their teenage friends with highly perishable, bad-for-the-environment, alcoholic, dumbass crap.
The Homeless Dude then told them they were in luck because if they wanted to turn their lemonade stand into an online successful business all they had to do was do what he did which was spend time and money on SEO only to discover that most people did not want to buy lemonade online but oddly preferred to get it from their local grocery store, kid-friendly restaurant, or nearby pre-teen managed stand.
They immediately realized The Homeless Dude was wise in his homelessness and decided that after they made some cash from their lemonade stand from joggers, bicyclists, parents who thought they were cute, other teenage friends, and old people who felt nostalgic and proud that teenagers actually attempted to do an honest day’s work, they would then open an online business telling other kids how to set up a successful lemonade stand.
The End.
On the chance you want to read about my attempts to build an online business, while at the same time working at a place that helps other technology start-ups, you can painlessly get free email updates about the continuing saga of a blogging entrepreneur (moi!).
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: entrepreneurship,
random stuff |
Tags: brandon and the homeless dude,
ittybiz,
lemonade stand,
seo |
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Picture by my friend Sandy Blanchard
Shane and Peter issued a challenge on their blog (which I first read about on Naomi’s IttyBiz blog) where he asked their entrepreneur readers to answer questions he came up with (i.e., interview themselves). It’s his way of interviewing people by getting the interviewee to do all the hard work! Great idea by the way.
Since I just finished a post called Why I Don’t Want a Monster In My Pants, I said to myself “what the heck, let me see what I can make up come up with.” I was just helping my son with his Transformer puzzle that he’s putting together here next to me, and I have some time before the rest of the house wakes up so here it goes…
What’s your personal mission statement? To make a difference and change the world for the better (not for the worse).
What’s the biggest mess you’ve dealt with this year? Depends on what you mean by mess. On the parenting front, I would have to say potty training messes. On the business front, I would have to say spending more money than I had hoped to. I probably should have invested in Google stock or figured out how to invest in facebook instead.
What current entrepreneurial efforts consume your time? Product management, product development oversight, software testing, user story generation, press release writing, assembling (with help) gift cards and mailing them out, thinking, blogging, dealing with &#$#% Microsoft’s Vista OS which results in IE crashing every 30 minutes! All that fun stuff.
Why do you do what you do? What inspires you? When do you get most excited? It’s in my blood. My grandfather was an entrepreneur. He actually made baby powder back in Sri Lanka and sold it door to door. Plus, I’m not sure what else I would do. I like creating things that didn’t exist before. I like bringing to market products that make life easier for people. Now if people actually use them and want them, that’s a bonus!
I am inspired by my children’s smiles and laughter. I’m inspired by blue skies and majestic trees. I’m inspired by people who overcome great odds and challenges and are still great people/parents. I’m inspired when people make sparkling connections with other people and the world around them.
I get most excited when I get a good night’s sleep.
Boxers or Briefs? or as Naomi says, Bikini or Thong, duh?!? No comment.
What do you do when you’re not [designing | programming | managing | writing | toiling for the wo/man]? Sleep. Tickle my kids. Negotiate with my kids. Hang out with my husband. Argue with my husband. Watch TV. Chat with my family. Hang out with friends. Walk. Think.
What one thing made the biggest difference when getting started? Lack of sleep. Our son didn’t sleep through the night (and he still wakes up) until he was 4 years old. I can’t be held responsible for any of my decisions between the years of 2001 to mid 2006. He is the reason we started Babble Soft and we even had another little one in the middle of the non-sleeping chaos.
What’s your exit strategy? Happiness or Acquisition by a Happy company that has a lot of money. If a Happy company does not exist or does not want to acquire us then I guess we’ll grow big enough to continue to stay private. Get it? Me either.
What is the last thing that made you belly laugh? My kids laughing together (i.e., making each other laugh). Kids can make you cry, whine, scream, yell but the greatest thing they can do is make you laugh like crazy at the silliest things. Oh and I laughed pretty hard when I saw There’s Something About Mary and the Austin Powers movies. I almost forgot about the DadLabs manly breastfeeding video. My gosh it is so hilarious that I had tears in my eyes!
Have you ever been in business before? Yes. I’ve also been in a swimming pool before.
At what point do you consider yourself successful? I don’t believe one ever attains success. It is an ongoing, evolving learning process. Check out all of the cool people I have interviewed on the topic of success right here. I think the closer one gets to feeling at peace with oneself and the world around them and can complement that feeling with a very comfortable financial position, the closer they are to success.
Oh, who am I kidding it’s when I can get 6+ months of uninterrupted nights of sleep…now that’s success!
What was your first experience with a computer? I think it was at computer summer camp and we were working on Atari’s or maybe it was an Apple. I remember learning some BASIC coding. Of course I can’t code anything to save my life now.
My first memorable experience was on a Macintosh. I happened to be fairly good at typing and in my junior high typing class I was second only to a girl who was also an expert pianist. She typed 90 words per minute and I typed 70 and that was on a typewriter not a computer. Because of my typing speed and accuracy, my mother asked me to help her type up her exams and some other documents she needed for her medical students on her Mac. I remember feeling so happy and proud that she trusted me to help her with such important tasks! My very first computer was a Mac Classic that my mom got for me during my 2nd year in college and it cost something crazy like $1,100.
Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates in a jello wrestling match, where’s your money? No comment.
Where do you do your best thinking? Everywhere and nowhere. I’m a non-stop thinker. I even think in my sleep. Some people think that’s odd. I am told my grandfather (who was also an entrepreneur) was like that. It’s genetic. I know this because my son does not stop talking. He has not learned that he can keep thoughts in his head and that he doesn’t have to tell everyone everything that runs through his mind.
Writing this post has taken me 20x longer than it normally would because my son (who finished his Transfomer puzzle) has asked me a million questions and reported to me everything that was going on with his puzzle, his friend who is coming to visit, his friend who is not coming to visit, the basketball game he is going to see with his dad, and marshmallows. Now he is here trying to read this post and asking me why I’m writing about kids and work. He is just so darn adorable, amazing, wonderful, and he wants to sit on my lap. 🙂
What does your average daily work / life balance look like? How much time do you work, play and sleep? Let’s see. I pretend try to sleep 7 to 8 hours per night. I check email constantly sporadically throughout the day. Depending on who drops the kids off at school, I usually start working between 8:30 to 9:00 a.m. each day. If I don’t have a lunch meeting I watch CNN for 15 minutes while I eat leftovers or a PB&J sandwich. I then wrap up around 4:30 or 5:00 in order to pick up the kids. If I can, I’ll fit in a 30 to 45 min walk (which is rare) around the neighborhood if the weather is good. Then I do some more work and blogging between 8:30 and 10:00 pm (unless we’re watching one of our favorite TV shows after the kids go to sleep) and on weekends (like I’m doing now).
I think it also depends on how you define work and play. Some of my work is play (like blogging and setting up partnership deals and meeting cool people) and some of my play (hanging with the kids) is work.
If I could introduce you to anyone, who would it be? Oprah Winfrey.
What stops you from giving up when you are frustrated? I don’t know. Probably the fear of what I would have to do instead of doing this. Plus the fear that if I stop now, all the time and money I’ve invested would have been for naught and people will make fun of me. I’m hoping for another tech bubble so I can be a part of it before it bursts!
If Chuck Norris and Steven Hawking had a baby (hey it’s my damn interview), would you vote for her for president? It all depends on her IQ, parenting style, athletic ability, knowledge of world affairs, ability to persuade huge groups of people to do great things, and her knowledge of universal physics. It would also depend on who she is running against.
By the way, I saw Steven Hawking once at a restaurant in California. He was with his assistant (I think) and I remember wondering if he felt lonely.
My question: What is something you do (or have done) that makes your kid(s) genuinely laugh? If you don’t have kids then your spouse, your friend, or your family member. Tickling does not count as an answer. There was no requirement that I answer this question so I’m just not gonna do it, but I look forward to Shane’s response.
Thanks Shane for these interesting and bizarre questions and for motivating me to do your work for you. 🙂 I have a hard time refusing any challenge! I started this post yesterday and am finally getting around to posting it today because we just got back from the Austin Zoo. The Austin zoo houses endangered and abused animals and it’s the perfect size for kids. They have lions, tigers, and bears oh my!
Since I don’t think Shane is going to pay me for this interview, if you like this Entrepreneurial Self Portrait, won’t you give it a Stumble please? 😀
Author: Aruni |
Filed under: blogging,
entrepreneur,
entrepreneurship |
Tags: entrepreneurial interview,
ittybiz,
self portrait,
shane and peter |
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