Personal Growth Archives

CaboPress – A Business MasterMind (I Think)

Published in Business on October 21, 2017

For the past three years Chris Lema has invited me to join him at his event – CaboPress. For three years I have declined the request.

I declined previously for two reasons:

Didn’t think I had much to offer,
Afraid of the impressions hanging out on a resort in Mexico would have on my team.

What I failed to realize however is that it wasn’t about what I could offer, but the impacts it would have on me as an individual, and more importantly the renewed insights I could bring back to the team. In short, like many of the decisions in my life, I was an idiot.

This year, with the beginning of a new chapter in my life I said yes. As I sit here and reflect on that decision, I feel strongly it was one of the best decisions I have made in a long time.

The Power Of Two in Business

Published in Business on April 10, 2015

I sometimes sit and wonder how things ever got started. I wonder if it’s something that could be reproduced, or if it was just a luck of the draw.

What I do realize however is that alone I don’t believe much could have been accomplished. In the beginning there were three of us at our company, today there are two. Alone however, would have likely been disastrous for any of us.

Even in the beginning, before my involvement. There was a dynamic between the pair. One was highly technical, the other was also technical but highly artistic. It worked at the time, it was what was needed to move in a direction (right or wrong is indifferent).

With time, things have changed, yet again we find ourselves with one pair. One is still highly technical, the other somewhat technical but more business focused. Again though, it works. It balances the scales and provides good momentum forward.

Why You Fail

Published in Business on December 22, 2014

You don’t fail because you don’t have enough friends. You don’t fail because your idea isn’t unique. You don’t fail for lack of ideas. You don’t fail because of funding issues. You don’t fail because you were too early or too late to market.

You fail because you can’t execute. You fail because you can’t focus. You fail because you fail to embrace the grind.

Learn To Execute

When I sit back and study those that I aspire to be like, there is always one undeniable fact that makes them successful – their ability to execute. There ability to see something from beginning to end. The understanding that whether you are a team of 1, 50, or 5,000 this one simple concept will set you apart from the rest.

There is, however, a difference between blind execution and meaningful execution.

Too often though the more common execution type employed however I see blind execution, work to do work. To those external it appears as if something awesome is happening, yet to those close it’s clear that nothing is really being done.