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Do the hardest thing you can think of each day, first.
Reset the odometer today from 1000 km to 1000 ml.
Why bother?
Since late last year I've been running an experiment trying to work out why people might fail doing impossible tasks.
So I figured I'd pick something I thought might be hard, break it into small bits and keep going until I finish or fail. So far so good. Every couple of days I'll get out the boots or runners and walk, run 10km. That's 10,000m a hit or more than 10K steps per session always completing the session once you start. So that's what I've been doing. Summer, winter, day, night any time I get some spare time, out come the boots.
Sometimes I run but mostly walk. I've mostly carried weights from 12 to 16Kg from about the 400Km mark. I never go if I think I'm injured. The course is cross country on a set track, same direction up a lot of steep hills and some flats. It's hard work.
The objective is to find out if I can keep doing this, repeating the same task again and again until I crack or finish. Now it's time to reset the odometer. Now I'm trying for 1000miles. So in the next 80 days or so I'll see if I can do 60 days of pt.
Fail
At the end of it I'll have a better understanding of failure, why I didn't fail. and how I could have. This is important to me. Right now there are people failing in doing what they set out to do and they probably don't know why? This is especially true in Startups. A lot has been written why you shouldn't give up, but not much how and why you fail. My preliminary findings are:
- set a goal
- keep working hard
- focus on the short term with eye on longterm
- don't crack on short term goal
- stick at it
At the same time
- maintain positive mental attitude
- make a plan
- focus
People get distracted for some reason by the smallest of things. They also get into a downwards spiral decline, loose morale and quit. There's a big long list that can go wrong but I like to keep things simple. I try to remember, one foot in front of another and keep going until I finish. Then start again the next day. That's the simple bit. I'll be writing about it soon... if I can get around to finishing it :)
Fitness
There's a secondary benefit, fitness. Our nation is unfit. This wasn't always the case. I grew up in a sports crazed country in the most sports mad state in Australia in an era where fitness, sport and activity was encouraged and expected. Now there is a national fitness alert from diseases that used to be associated with old age. Our country as a whole is unfit. In fact the cult of fitness runs second to just about everything. It's not just economic fitness we should keep an eye on. Lack of fitness also has a financial cost. It also has a personal cost. You just can't work as hard if you are unfit. By the time you work this out it is too late. Most cannot stomach the amount of hard work to be fit and stay fit. Most could never justify the 2hrs every couple of day it takes.
I'm looking around at my High school peers (always a dangerous place to make comparisons) and you can see the results of inactivity. I can also see how much work they have to do to get into better shape. It's not just a matter of exercise but food and setting aside the time to do the hard yards.
Porsche
The shot you see here is a Porsche Boxter taken in 2009FEB18.
Next target, 1000 miles. The only problem, now each session isn't the hardest thing to do.,
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Best Way to (Cheaply) Advertise Auspacific Media Group?
"...Hello folks, just wondering if anyone had any ideas over cheap but effective ways to advertise Auspacific Media Group; the blog and the planned website. ..."
My marketing plan
Hey Rich I really hate marketing. It sucks. It sucks because marketing is about convincing others to need something they don't. There are many ways to market, here's mine. It revolves around making something good, telling the truth and informally telling an audience. [0]
Make something good
That's your department not mine. But I will say try to make a quality product or service where deficiencies don't require traditional marketing.
Communicate
The communicating part involves using the following services.
Images (what I see): flickr account for up to 200 images
Blog (what I write, articles): wordpress account for blog, independent of the main site.
Contact (what I say): twitter/identica account for immediate contact
Collate (how I discuss/collate): Friendfeed account, create a group to let others contribute, discuss
Feedback (how I discuss/feedback): Create Facebook identity, solicit feedback and discussion groups.
Each of these sites allow you to do different things. One for showing, one for immediate talk, one for discussion and another for longer articles. The glue to hold them together is a name, handle or title that you use for *all* accounts. This is usually a persons nickname, handle or company name. I tend to choose handles (until I register a business name) that are little used. Why? So when I start adding things I can measure the Google search. For example "bootload", a name I chose as a bit of a joke and experiment had very few Google returns aside from bootloader software. Another example is "seldomlogical", a name I use and will increasingly be using in the near future. No meaningful references could be found prior. Post use I dominate the ranking.
Flickr
I like taking photos but I also take photos so I have a copyright free way of using images. My images. The images I post draw people. I take photos of lots of different things.
Blog
For posting longer, more permanent essays or articles of interest.
Contact
I use twitter to quickly post URLs of flickr images or blog posts. Also use it to get feedback, fast.
Friendfeed
Use this to collect all my services via RSS and then re-post this *combined* rss feed to Facebook. This means everything I create on the open web moves towards Facebook for this particular audience to read.
A destination point for most users and your other bits of open web. A place you can discuss. But beware Facebook is a siphon for your data. You can't get access (machine data). Be warned but you did say for free right?
Show, dont tell
But this isn't about trying to game Google. You have to make something that people really want. Show not tell. Joel Spolsky made a good observation along with Jason Calacanis about trying to game Google with software companies.[2] There are a couple of good companies or organisations that dominate the number one position on Google. There are quite a few more that are probably worthy by contribution being on the first page and thousands upon thousands trying to get onto the first page of Google ranking but who aren't that good.
Tell the truth, Be good
So from my point of view, marketing or advertising is really about making something compelling and telling the truth. [1] You tell the truth for example by making the best software and then telling people "this is the best software" you can get in this part of a market. You tell the truth because it's the easiest path to take without lying. Telling the truth is *stateless*. Rather than pay some "expert" who will tell you they know the success to gaming Google when Google don't know what will be returned first because the ranking is a (constantly tweaked) algorythm. [2]
Recap
If I was to advise three things for you to do. This is what I'd say:
a) Make something compelling for users, audience
b) Combine your *free* services by a common name
c) Tell the truth and be good.
References
[0] Paul Graham, "The hardest lessons for Startups to learn",
[Accessed Saturday, 8th August 2009]
www.paulgraham.com/startuplessons.html
[1] Paul Graham, "Be Good"
[Accessed Saturday, 8th August 2009]
[2] Jason Calacanis, "The Jason Calacanis Weblog Why people hate SEO… (and why SMO is bulls$%t)"
calacanis.com/2007/02/07/why-people-hate-seo-and-why-smo-...
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What is the ideal co-founding team structure?
Any team or successful team? The simple answer would be "smart" and "get things done". But look beneath and there's a whole lot of things to look for ...
'... if you have more than 2 people how to avoid the pitfalls of bickering, politics etc ... to basically (NOT) elect (AN) A$@hole ?'
Unfortunately you cannot change human nature. Successful traits can have negative outcomes. There's a term for a successful attitude. It's called "the mongrel factor" and it applies to top athletes as well as entrepreneurs. No hurdle is going to get in the way of success at personal and interpersonal cost. It's could almost be classed psychopathic.
It can be pretty divisive. These same qualities within a group that can propel a company forward from idea to prototype to commercialisation can be internalised if a perceived stumbling block within the team.
within each team there will be a leader (see alpha geeks ~ tinyurl.com/155i) and there will be followers. It's how this power arrangement plays out that causes much friction. Understanding these basic parameters I'd be looking for individuals with
- competance
- hard work
- drive, enthusiasm
- humility
- good sense of humour
- ability to be flexible
- lack of contempt, arrogance and ego
Think Woz not Jobs, Herman not Tuzman, hmm I'd have to think about Gates and Steve. The dilemma with this approach though is would there be an Apple without Jobs, a Microsoft without Gates, a JumpTV without Tuzman?
Have to think about listing successful startup teams to emulate beyond delicious, reddit et.,al. Could not find this in 'Hardest Lessons' ~ www.paulgraham.com/startuplessons.html
But you can find personal traits you need to avoid in 5, 6, 16, 17 in "18 Mistakes" ~ www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html
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"... stubbornness is a disastrous quality in a startup. You have to be determined, but flexible, like a running back. A successful running back doesn't just put his head down and try to run through people. He improvises: if someone appears in front of him, he runs around them; if someone tries to grab him, he spins out of their grip; he'll even run in the wrong direction briefly if that will help. ..."
Hardest Lessons for Startups to Learn, 5. Commitment Is a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy ~ www.paulgraham.com/startuplessons.html">www.paulg...
Number FIVE!
Just kidding. Maybe I read too much, but I find a lot of statements pg makes are right there in essays if you read them. I particularly remember this one because of the sport analogy, dodging, weaving around obstacles to get to the objective.
"... When you say flexibility, what exactly do you mean? ..."
Guess thats why it's on the list at number 5.
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Groups.YFratinator: Welcome! Also, what now?
> matt.jay...@gmail.com wrote,
> Please share your ideas on what should go on this group site.
Hey Matt, great move setting this up, heres my take:
TRADE CRAFT
pg writes a lot on what I call the trade-craft of startups. The things you have to know and do with some degree of skill before you can create a successful startup. So I'd like to see points taken from articles & expanded, commented on, questioned. This alone would be worthwhile because it's timeless. The skills required change a lot less than technology and this is the key to the usefulness of pg articles.
TOPICS
Divide areas of discussion into areas that must be mastered. For example a good start is to pour through some pg articles for example The 18 Mistakes That Kill Start ups.
Then ask people have they failed? What mistakes did they make. You go through enough of these type of exercises and you have a repository of unique stories that back up real observations (or refute). This could be expaned over time to include things like
ideas ~ http://www.paulgraham.com/ideas.html
lessons ~ http://www.paulgraham.com/startuplessons.html
Etc, etc. Of course this does not have to be confined to just pg's articles.
QUESTIONS, CATEGORISATION
There will probably be lots of seemingly random questions. It would be good if they could be categorised into areas already covered. For example a question on finding co-founders [0] could be answered by seeing if the topics area. If not a new topic is created (need an index of sorts) and off you go.
The value of this approach [1] is you have a systematic coverage and some sort of framework you can answer questions and add new ones.
WHY?
I've been on news groups for a long time. The biggest problem I've encountered is lack of organisation [2] . You get threads that solve a particular problem. Someone else asks the question again and you get
3-4, half or incorrect replies. Anyone searching the same question finds conflicting or wrong answers. Is there a simplier way to get the same results that you can think of?
Regs PR
Reference
[0] A common one that is also being addressed by news.yc
[1] Maybe it's too difficult by email ~ not sure
[2] Maybe a wiki might be better?
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