zutroy.net

A few months ago I posted that I one of the goals in my bucket list was to read 1000 books.  And well, I promptly stopped reading.  Shame on me.

See, I have the tendency to get busy working and living and forget my goals sometimes.  Just to be fair though I am doing pretty good on my goal to practice golfing. I even took Jonathan out for 9 holes at good ol’ Cascade.  I’ll also say that I’m not doing so great on my goal to hit a 72.  And also not so good on the “Sail Across the Atlantic” goal.  I had hoped to take sailing lessons this summer but this thing called life keeps getting in the way.

Well I have been trying to be a little more organized (not a bucket list goal by the way) and I actually forced myself to sit down and pick up a good book.  Only took me 3 nights of reading before bed to read through “Good to Great” by Jim Collins.

Have to say, thoroughly enjoyed the book.  But I find myself asking what kind of business person do I want to be.  Part of me wants to manage something great, part of me wants to start something great.  But rarely are both done my the same person.  There are a few rare examples but for the most part, you’re either good at starting something or keeping something running – not both.

Either way, I’ll be reading Good To Great again.  There’s so much relevant knowledge in there.  If you haven’t read it and even if you’re not up to your neck in business I still recommend reading it.

So have I mentioned that I really like my job?  I’ve been here since Oct 09 and can’t think of any time that I have gone home thinking anything negative about my job.  There’s all kinds of benefits and perks.  There was a fantastic Christmas party and for the summer party we are having a totally awesome family outing at the Stadium of Fire.  There’s bonuses, free MonaVie product each month, a gym, yoga classes, free MonaVie product in the break room, good people, great work environment, This list just goes on and on.

But today it got even better. Continue reading

I read a lot of business columns. Most of the time I find wise people with good advice.  Like this guy.

http://www.tompeters.com/cool_friends/content.php?note=010640.php

I had a boss once (Curt Porrit) that told me that “the reason business exists is to make life better for people.  The question then becomes ‘does it make life better for the few at the expense of the masses or better for the masses, sometimes at the expense of the few?’”  When the company was sold and the buying company decided to fire him because he told them when they were making bad decisions, the remaining employees all began to plan their exit.  All out of loyalty to Curt.  A good manager doesn’t get productivity out of his people from fear, he inspires them to be the best they can be and makes them want to do it because of respect. Continue reading

I have a friend that is taking a class on guitar making and he is making his own custom acoustic guitar.  I have the honor of designing the head for him.  A relatively small task but an important one.  And I was thinking about it, “How would I love to build my own guitar?”  Man, that would be my pride and joy.  But really, I don’t have the time for it.  I have chosen not to.  Am I missing something that is more valuable to me that what I have chosen? I don’t know. I think I’m right but only time will tell.

I also recently launched a photoblog.  How would I love to carry my camera with me everywhere and find one fantastic shot every day. I am also getting all the equipment for my own darkroom donated to my cause.  I just hope that I’ll have the time to develop a handful of photos each month.  There’s nothing like watching your print come to life in the developer.  I always over-expose and carefully watch my developer times.  Then yank and into the stop bath.  Most of the time it turns out with a little bit more contrast.  I love the contrast. Continue reading

So I have been here at MonaVie for 6 weeks now. It’s a lot bigger adjustment than I was planning for. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, it’s just more different that I was expecting.

I have had big corporate jobs before. The kind where everyone has a responsibility and they just stay within their little silo and do their job. Then they go out after work and forget what they did all day. It’s like there’s a mental force field around the building that makes you forget your job as soon as you leave.

When I worked for myself I didn’t have a silo, I wore every hat that needed to be worn. I did what I liked and made my own decisions. Then when I left the building, I couldn’t stop thinking about what we were going to do the next day. Not because I was stressed (most of the time anyway) but because it mattered more to me than it could to a 9to5er. It was fun.

See, I knew all that already when I came to work here, and I was expecting to have to make a conscious effort to adjust. But there’s a few thing I didn’t expect. Like I had forgotten that I have hobbies. I can’t wait for spring to go fishing and golfing. And I have been finding ways to get time for photography. I forgot how much I love those things.

But then there’s this entrepreneurial side to me that I just can’t seem to silence. I have about 9 irons in the fire and I just can’t seem to let any of these ones go. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to let them go. Most of them are small but there’s a couple that could be huge. And as much as I love golf and fishing, I love business more. But who’s to say you can’t have hobbies and business? If I remember correctly, I never golfed more than the first 2 years running Main10. That’s also when I got to take that fishing trip to Vancouver Island.

So I guess I am adjusting, and I’m enjoying having time to think about business away from work. And I am enjoying being able to work with big marketing budgets in my day job.

I finally got a job offer. I start next Monday. It took a couple weeks longer than I was hoping for. Man this is a rough recession.

No really, it is rough. I’ve seen it in my life but I know there are still people out there that haven’t personally felt it. As much as I don’t wish pain and suffering on anyone, I think it’s a good thing to be reminded just how fragile our little economy really is. I think if we don’t all wake up and see it soon, we’ll all regret it later. Darn that golden arrow of consumption.

I also started a new company. This one’s just me. I’ll be running all my freelance design projects through it. Adam gave me a really sweet deal on some office space and I moved in yesterday. I just finished hanging my big whiteboard. Now I need some client projects to put up there. I figure that once I start the new job, I’ll be coming down to the new office 2 or 3 times a week for a few hours in the evening.

It’s a cool thing to be surrounded by like minded entrepreneurial folks.