commitment

Stick With It.

by Em Are · May 7, 2015

Sometimes its uncanny the way things work out. Call it divine intervention, coincidence, a higher power looking over my shoulder, or whatever, but there’ s something at work out there to help me keep my head in the game.

My wife and I were having a rather heated discussion last evening about the state of my business. Well, let’s be honest, I was doing most of the talking, she was trying to listen and figure out where I was coming from.

The problem is, this s@$t ain’t easy. What s@$t do you mean, Matt? Why, running your own business, of course. Building a platform. Nurturing a start-up. The stuff dreams and hopes are made of.

Call it what you will. I’m just over 10 months into it now and I’m still hearing that very loud sucking noise at the door. You know, the sound of the little remaining cash being sucked through the gaping hole in my financial base.

The uncanny part … podcasts that come along just in time. This morning I’m out on my walk and my “on the go” playlist included Michael Hyatt’s latest inspiration. This weeks episode is called The One Way to Guarantee You Won’t Succeed and I tell you, it hit me right between the eyes. How to stay inspired, stick with it, focus on the why, take small steps, and, it ALWAYS takes longer than you think.

There’s nothing in life worth accomplishing that doesn’t come with resistance.
– Michael Hyatt

Truer words haven’t been spoken, at least to me, this morning.

So what do I do with this? Well, go back to my original planning docs. Look at it hard, revise, rework, reset and get moving back on track to the target. Avoid the distractions. Break things down into smaller bite-sized pieces. I can do this. I want to do this – still. I have a goal and I plan to attain it.

The opportunity is real. The exploration of it has merit and a future. Stick with it.

Onward and upward. Let’s do this.

Photo credit: Joshua Earle

Blogging 101 – Let’s try this again – hiccups and all.

by Em Are · Sep 15, 2014

The business is moving forward – Cap Web Solutions does exist. I am starting to talk to more and more people about it everyday. I hit a little hiccup last week. My wife’s company informed her that they were doing away with the team she’s been a part of for more than 10 years and that the remaining three people working on that team would be let go at the end of the month. Ugh! She is getting a severance package that will hold us over for a little bit, but now the big question facing us is, do we continue down this path of me starting a new business, or is this a signal to hang a “u”-y and go back to the corporate world?

Time to re-group. What am I doing? Why am I doing it?

Writing here occasionally has become a bit of a stress release, a way to get my thoughts together. Something about seeing them written out on a page in front of me makes it all more real. Since talking about the concerns has never been a strong point of mine, maybe writing will help me reach out and interact with others. I have been reading a great deal over the past few months, more than I have in quite some time. Reading about starting a business, about social media marketing, about blogging, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook followers, and how to engage them as a business. I have been reading through more technical books and blogs than I can count. My programming skills are improving – it is somewhat like riding a bike – I never did really forget how to do it. Just need to blow of the dust.

I want to write about it, but not quite sure where to go with it. I’m also considering blogging as a substantial part of the service I offer as Cap Web Solutions. Blogging as a mechanism to share knowledge, provide resources to others and create a curated space for targeted information. Not quite sure I’ll be able to maintain both of these writing outlets, along with the delivery of the WordPress service and development that will be my primary focus.

I think that this blog will be more about the journey through the start-up maze, with the goal of engaging with others who may be on the same type of journey, or who may be thinking about going on it. Not so much a how-to but more of a “let’s walk together” and see where it goes. I certainly can’t consider myself experienced in this, so a how-to is really off the table, but an ongoing commentary of my way-points, now that may work.

Doing this publicly will make me more accountable. I think? Knowing that I made a commitment to do something on a regular basis (weekly? bi-weekly?) should help me focus and make time for it.

I did start a new habit last week that is continuing. I have been meditating and praying each morning. It’s been 8 days now and I’ve been consistent. I’ve heard that it takes 30 days to change or create a habit. We’ll see how it goes.

Today I’m starting a 30 day blogging course to help me get this habit flowing. I’m looking forward to the challenge and the progress. I think that these two new habits I’m trying to create in myself will help me process the issues that my wife and I will face in the coming months as she travels the unemployment jungle, as I have for the better part of the last two years.

If I can still be here in a year, writing regularly, engaging with others, I will consider it a success. A success, because if I am still here, on this journey, I am still on a path to live my dream of supporting myself and my family as an entrepreneur.

Let’s roll.

Is it time to commit?

by Em Are · May 12, 2014

I read a post today from LinkedIn Influencer, Raj De Datta, CEO and Co-Founder at BloomReach. “Entrepreneurs don’t Interview. They Commit.” . At first glance I passed over it as something I didn’t want to get into on a Monday morning; but then something pulled me back to it as I read through some of the other Pulse news from today and this past weekend.

I am now into the second week of my second trip down the unemployed path of life. My wife and I have been reworking the budget, reshaping upcoming plans and trying to put a framework around what has the potential of being another extended period of greatly reduced income.

Last time, I began putting the pieces together for my business. Business plan, 5 year plan, researching the market, pro-bono clients, all while still looking and interviewing for the right career job. The job offer did come along and I took it with some trepidation. I had to. The hours at the local orange big box home store were taking their toll on both me and my marriage.

I could go back there – that big box store, I’m confident of it. Or, I could tweak the resume and polish up the job agents and get the search thing working again in earnest. I could put in the time and find that corporate job – along with all the security it offers [sarcasm implied].

Or, I could make the commitment this time. College tuition bills have ended; the car is paid off. Is it time to commit to being an entrepreneur? Is that person inside of me confident enough to move forward and commit? Do I truly want to start a company?

I do.

God, I hope it is not the hi-test coffee in me screaming this morning.