February 18, 2004

A few years ago, a friend of mine noticed a particular trait of mine: patience. They say patience is a virtue. In my mind, it means your ability to wait for something, or someone, and how you react to the timeframe in which that something or someone does whatever it is they are doing. But today I find that I don't want to wait anymore. So have I become impatient?

Wait. My TastyAlmond is a slug. Actually, it's silicone. And epoxy. And a healthy dose of patience for drying times. Silicone: becomes tack-free in 15-20 minutes. Wait. Dries in 1 hour. Wait. Grab some fiberglass and begin a second layer on the cockpit for The Bug. Epoxy: sets in 20 minutes. Wait. Can be sanded in 8 hours at 75+ degrees. Wait. Full strength in 24 hours. Wait. Why couldn't everything be like super glue? 15 seconds here. Bam! 15 seconds there. Bam! Hmmm.

So now I've taken this time to do something else again. In a way I feel unfocused, because I'm doing several things at a time. Which reminds me, I'm doing my laundry... I'll be right back.

Looks like it's not done yet either. Wait some more. Back to this: though I do feel a bit unfocused, I am getting things done. Multi-tasking. So while I do one thing as I wait for another thing to get done, I don't have to think abou the other things. Have I regained my patience?

As you may have previously read, I'll be leaving my day j-o-b at the end of the month. It's been emailed to everyone in the company that I'm leaving to pursue my entrepenurial dreams. Now that I've had some time at work to think about it, I want to do that now. Not at the end of the month. Then again, I've already been doing that for the past few months. Multi-tasking again. So is patience a layered thing that is relevant to a given situation, and whether or not it is enclosed within another given situation? Like an onion?

In any event, I think I'm done with this for today. Updates at Greager Robotics! Go take a look and let me know what you think!

-Brad

February 18, 2004

It is in the air and it is constant. It can be loose in your pocket. It can be symbolized by a triangle, called delta, in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and so on.

Change. This little TastyAlmond hits with the force of a Mack truck at times. In fact it hit, on Monday, and again on Tuesday. Sometimes it seems small, other times huge. There are also the times that you don't even notice it until it's too late or someone else brings it to your attention. In a way, I think this could be the worst kind. I've also experienced the kind that you know is coming, but you don't know how to prepare for it, or you simply do not know what the outcome will really be until you get there.

I had "the talk" with my manager on Monday. It was basically about my lack of focus at my day j-o-b. I feel that I do that j-o-b adequately enough, when there are customers in the store. It's when there aren't customers in the store that I am apparently supposed to be doing something to generate more foot traffic. As we all know, retail stores live and die by foot traffic. While I would have loved to argure the finer points of that idea, I already knew I wouldn't win this battle. I think we should change the phrase to "Sales" or "Marketing", not and, and those two words should not be associated in the same sentence. They are two completely different animals. I'm a salesperson, i.e. I deal with the people that come in the door, do follow-up and make sure that we've taken care of them. Of course there's some referral business that's generated, but it's not the entire marketing strategy. I need to stop on that note, as this is not what I wanted to talk about.

On Tuesday I talked with the president of the company and we spoke of the "the talk" that occured one day prior. It comes down to the fact that I'm a different person than I was six months ago. Definately not the same person she bought bar stools from when I worked in a funiture store. So we agreed that even with the best of intentions, things don't always go as planned. Basically I have until the end of the month - time for them to find a replacement and for me to start a new life.

So with that, I have some options open to me. One option is to find another day j-o-b. Yech! Another is to work on my computer consulting business and develop that to the point where I can replace my old income. That's a possibility. However there's one option that I'm more inclined to go after: dive head-long and full-bore into my start-up company. At this point, I've got a static (i.e. non-working, display type) model which will be complete soon, and a prototype that's still under development. What I'll be looking for now is that Angel to help me start our business. I do mean 'our' because the Angel is investing to make money, much like me, and since I'm the brains of the operation, and they are the money, it's our business. With the proper resources and people, I truly believe that this business will work and be successful.

For the present I'll continue the uneasy feeling that is my j-o-b now. It feels too, that this could be a low point for me. I intend to make it otherwise.

Change.

-Brad

February 15, 2004

So it's the day after Valentine's day and all seems to be well again. Greager.com was down part of this week due to a move to another host. Hopefully service and support will be better than the last host!

"Blue eyes, bright lights..." are words from a new Peacemakers song - Americano - that have been ringing in my ears all morning. It's a great song, and it reminds me of my girlfriend, because she has wonderful blue eyes. Thinking of my girlfriend reminds me of one of her other great qualities - loyalty.

Reflecting on this TastyAlmond brings up many other things that her loyalty provides - support, trust, belief - just to name a few. She supports my efforts to create a new business from the ground up. She trusts that I am doing the right thing. She believes that I can do it. Such a partner is essential in any person's life, no matter what they're doing. It's a plain and simple fact that one person alone cannot start, build and run an entire company all by themselves. That person must rely on other people to be successful, and the only way to create that success, in my opinon, is to give those other people something which benefits them and lifts them up in some way or another.

With the new week, I will be moving towards new opportunities to find more people to include in my circle of influence. I'll be spending my time receiving support from my mentors, earning someone's trust, and building the belief that I will assemble a competant team to build a robotics business like none other.

"Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; Therefore
we must be saved by hope.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in
any immediate context of history; Therefore
we must be saved by Faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; Therefore
we must be saved by love."
-Reinhold Niebuhr

-Brad

February 12, 2004

So, what did you do on your day off? I spent my day off yesterday working on biz stuff. I met with a gentleman by the name of Stephen van den Heever. He's with a company called Sample & Bailey, a group of CPA's and corporate advisors.

Which brings me to my TastyAlmond for today: Progress. Sitting down with Stephen was time well spent in my opinion, as I got to have his knowledge and experience passed to me about what he thought of my business plans. He mentioned that I'm probably getting ahead of myself talking to him, but that's just kind of how I do things. I'm a forward thinking person, and so that wasn't discouraging to me at all. One of the things he really seemed to focus on was having something tangible to look at. At this point, I'm still working on the static model, and the prototype is still being built too. That's probably why he thought I was getting ahead of myself, but as I see it, those things will be nearing completion soon.

Another point he brought up was the failure rate of start-up companies. While I'm pretty optimistic, I have to acknowledge the facts. We talked briefly on how that affects me and my situation, and discussed a bit of my history with business and such. I've had a couple of small business failures, and one that has just kind of held on in the background. I've been reading and studying a lot lately and going over things in my head about what mistakes I've made in those prior experiences. All of this is meant to minimize that risk of failure that everyone has to face, and I intend to make my next business venture a success.

So in the end, it was a productive hour. It gave me more clarity into where I'm at with my business - infancy stage - and where I'm headed - seed stage. With that knowledge I can better plan what my next steps are, and I know a little better about who I should be talking to at this point in the game.

And knowing better now what I should be doing than I did just two days ago means moving ahead and forward. Progress.

-Brad

February 9, 2004

Another day, another dollar. Today I worked in both the E and S quadrants. I'm an Employee at a cell phone store/repair shop, and I worked my part-time Self-employed biz as a computer consultant. I made more money in two and a half hours as a consultant than I did at my day j-o-b. I'd love to figure out a way to do consulting full time, but I have other things I need to focus on.

TastyAlmond for today: Cavemen (and women).
While I was working on a laptop tonight, my mind wandered as mortgage software was being installed. For whatever reason, I wondered about an RK lesson - "The rich don't earn money, they make/create it". What does this have to do with cavemen you ask? Well there weren't no money in the caveman days. So the idea is that money is merely a resource which allows a person utilize and/or create additional resources. Did the caveman buy meat at the grocery store? Nope. Did he buy the arrows which he used to hunt with? Nope. Did he buy a stove to cook the kill in? Nope. He used the resources available - rocks, sticks, and his brain. Creativity - that spark of the Creator in each of us - gave him the ability to use that which was around him to aid in his quest for a full belly. Using the resources at hand to get what is wanted, and if they aren't at hand, by golly you've got two eyes in the front of your skull - go look for them.

Is there a flaw in this logic? I don't think so. Mostly becuase if you don't have rocks and sticks, you can still use your bare hands. Thus, you really don't need anything to accomplish what you want, but it does make things a lot easier to use tools.

So tonight, as with every night for the last year or so, I ponder on the tools I have at hand to collect or create the resources that will fill my belly, so to speak. The one tool, known as my day j-o-b is insufficient. The other tool, the consulting business, doesn't seem to work all the time, so I need to figure out a way to improve it. And believe it or not, yet another tool is just laying around in the dirt by the camp fire.

At this point in time, I've pretty much decided that I don't like my tools, and I need a new one to make me happy (guys can never have too many cool tools, right?). That's why I'm making a new one.

-Brad

February 8, 2004

Well, I'm once again revisting the old site. It's been almost two weeks since the last update, and I'm sure you're looking for more.

In a NutShell, I've been busy, lazy, working, playing, pondering, longing, suffering, meeting, enjoying, and living. I've also been thinking about this site and what I want to do with it. I'm in the mood for some change, but still want some semblance of the old site to remain, sort of tie it back to its history. So expect more changes, of a graphic nature (no, not violence) to appear in the near future.

So what is the TastyAlmond for today? I suppose progress. I've managed to start the fiberglass process of building the chasis for The Bug. The model I'm building now will be the static model which will aid me visually when talking with potential Angel Investors and other people with money. I've also developed a new tool to help me in the creation of the 'muscles' which power The Bug. Believe you me, working with wire that is only as thick as the hair on your head provides ample opportunity to become creative (sometimes vocally too).

Had a meeting with some of my business friends last week. They were supportive as ever, and we brainstormed a bit. They gave me what they feel is a really strong lead, and if he doesn't know how or what I need to know, they believe he at least knows how to get me the information or pointed to someone more appropriate. We also talked a bit about how they were going to just start asking people flat out if they'd ever thought about Angel Investing. One of them is in the business of mortgages, so you can imagine they know something about money.

I also met an interesting gentleman by the name of Charlie while I was at work today. Apparently he's something of a lighting inventor, and has a company which manufactures and sells 'natural' light bulbs. They have some rather convincing data to support their claims, and I'd be interested to look into it further. The real impetus for my mentioning him though, is the fact that he talked to me in a rather interesting fashion. He said things that could mean that he is open to new or alternative ideas, and equally important, that he's a business man. Needless to say, I'll be dropping him an email or phone call to follow up with him and see if I can get him to lunch to pick his brain a bit. Oh, and I'll post a link when I feel more comfortable with the whole 'natural' light thing...

Well, it's almost midnight here, and I'm opening the store tomorrow. Best catch some Z's!!!

-Brad

UPDATE: January 23, 2004

I look forward to doing "business" with ya'll.

-Brad

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This page last updated Sun 14:17 Feb 22, 2004