Archive for June, 2006
Of Life, Death, and Taking a Break
“We are at our very best, and we are happiest, when we are fully engaged in work we enjoy on the journey toward the goal we’ve established for ourselves. It gives meaning to our time off and comfort to our sleep.�
~Earl Nightingale (b. 1921 – d.1989)
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I’ll be taking the next four days or so off from blogging. Long story short, this week is full of both joy and sadness. As many people know, my wife Amy is about to give birth to our second child. Depending on how things progress, we may be announcing a new addition to our family as soon as this Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.
In the meantime though, sadness has also befallen our
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The People You Meet by Blogging
One of the really cool things about blogging is that it affords you the opportunity to meet people you may not have otherwise met had you not had a blog of your own. Case in point: Guy Kawasaki, managing director of Garage Technology Ventures and one of my favorite authors and bloggers (starting to see the connection?).
As I mentioned in this past Wednesday’s post, Guy took time out of his eBay Live! 2006 schedule to stop by the Doba booth for a meet and greet. The meeting, which was informal at best, was arranged entirely as a result of me reading and leaving a comment on his blog. Had I tried to connect with him through a more traditional channel–say
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Update From eBay Live! 2006
It’s day two of eBay Live! 2006, and the show has been nothing short of amazing. Highlights include:
- Doba signed up as many new members on the first day of the show as we had expected to sign up over the entire three-day event.
- Ten percent of the show’s attendees–around 1,500 people–attended my Monday panel discussion on Product Sourcing.
- I met one of my favorite bloggers and author, Guy Kawaski, who stopped by the Doba booth for a meet and greet.
Suffice to say, eBay Live! and Doba are firing on all cylinders. To top it all off, hundreds of our current customers have stopped by our booth to share their excitement about the show and Doba,
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What Happens in Vegas Won’t Stay in Vegas
After months of planning and working alongside a dedicated core of co-workers who pulled college-style all-nighters just to get us here, Team Doba and I are in Las Vegas through Thursday for eBay Live! 2006. A lot goes into a show like eBay Live!, and as I’ve stated before, I’m completely sold on the notion that a successful conference or trade show happens as a result of the work you choose to do beforehand.
With that in mind, I’d like to thank everyone back at Doba World Headquarters who worked so hard to get the 22 or so of us here. In particular, I’d like to recognize the work of:
- Doba’s Creative Director/Brand Maverick, Wade Preston Shearer: From designing and
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Lawmakers Vote to Encourage Entrepreneurship Education
Earlier this week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution (H.R. 699) that calls attention to the important role we entrepreneurs play in the economy, and more importantly, encourages schools at all levels throughout the USA to engage in entrepreneurship education.
According to Congressman David Price’s office (D- NC 4th District), more than 70 percent of U.S. high school students would like to open their own business someday, while more than 10 percent of adults are actively planning to become entrepreneurs within their local communities. Price says that given the driving force that entrepreneurs provide to our economy and the strong interest exhibited among students, it is important that schools harness this potential for future success by incorporating entrepreneurship
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My Bootstraps Are on Fire
I have a theory about why so many startups go up in flames even before they’ve truly had a chance to get off the ground. Rather than finding a product or service they can sell enough of to survive, far too many entrepreneurs pour valuable resources, including ridiculous amount of cash, into efforts aimed at servicing the business they hope to receive.
In my experience, the best entrepreneurs are the ones who are savvy enough to find a product or service that people need, build enough of it to meet the most basic of demands, and then scramble forever to keep up. Said differently, inexperienced entrepreneurs spend more time ramping up and getting ready for business that simply never comes their
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Friends and Work
Recently, just prior to launching this blog, a bunch of my friends and I went on a weeklong backpacking trip into the Grand Canyon. Included in our group were two people I work with (two people over whom I have the ultimate work-related authority but who I also have great friendships with). When I tell some of my non-work friends that I include employees on my non-work adventures, they often wonder how it is that these outside-of-the-office experiences work, and how we’re able to separate our adventures from work and vice versa.
Fair enough question. After all, if you’ve spent any amount of time in corporate America, you’d have better odds of seeing the CEO of a publicly-held company eating lunch
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