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Why are you scared?

Published on October 30, 2007 in nyc and personal.

(See, she’s harmless)

As the proud new owner of a puppy (she’s about a year, so technically still a puppy, but almost full grown) in New York City, I’ve become quite good at reading people and instantly identifying dog people and non-dog people. Dog people generally look down at her as we approach them with a smile or at least a happy expression. Some of them can’t help themselves from bending over and petting her as she jumps up and down with excitement. I am pleasantly surprised at just how many dog people there are and love running into them as I walk her. But as much as I’m surprised by the dog people, I’m even more surprised at how many non-dog people there are. The non-dog people are easy to spot. They notice her from a good distance, and usually fold their arms close to their chest, stare at her with a glaze of fear in their eyes, and make their way quickly to the very edge of the sidewalk as if they are skimming by a werewolf on a leash. Most of them just seem absolutely terrified to even be on the same block much less same chunk of sidewalk as her. I really have to wonder: Why? Why are they so afraid of her (and dogs in general)? Were they bitten in the past? Did their friend have a mean dog that would chase them as a kid? Were their parents afraid of dogs, and they learned from watching them? Why were they so afraid of this sweet, loving, absolutely harmless and friendly animal (referring to my dog)?

I’m fascinated with the human mind/body at work here. Obviously this fear is an individual thing because not everyone is afraid of dogs, and not everyone loves them, but what separates the two? What happened in the past to create a fearful non-dog person? Ok, perhaps they were bitten by one in their distant past, and there I could understand why they were afraid of THAT dog, but why all dogs? It makes me wonder about how our mind works. Perhaps in the process of analyzing and storing so much information, our brain takes an awful lot of shortcuts. It knows that at some point in the past being around a dog brought pain, and avoiding pain is generally a necessity for survival, so it quickly calculates that dogs = pain, and to stay away from them. But we all know that not ALL dogs are evil and mean, and therefore assuming they all will bring pain is false, so why then do some still avoid them at all costs? I think because it’s a wired pattern in the brain…dogs=pain, avoid at all costs. I am not afraid of dogs, but I am sure afraid of other things. Do I act the same towards those?

I have to wonder: What are some things I learned in the past that could bring pain, and now have almost an instinctual reaction to avoid? I believe one of my “dogs,” has to do with acceptance of others. I learned sometime ago that sticking out too much, going against the grain of others too much publicly could bring a lot of ridicule, and ridicule was painful. Looking back on my early years, I can recall quite a few instances in school where I stuck my neck out and was quickly brought down by those around me. That was my “dog bite,” incident and now I have a reaction whenever I feel I’m in a similar situation I pull my arms to my chest and rush to the edge of the sidewalk. Deep down I feel that most circumstances I expose my strongest thoughts and beliefs in are dangerous. I never really thought about it before because I didn’t have to. My body reacted for me, working quickly to secure me from the potentially dangerous situation. But that doesn’t serve me anymore. I’m not a 3rd grader trying to fit in with my peers, I’m just trying to be all me in this world…and I don’t care what everyone thinks. After all, I KNOW 97% of “dogs” won’t bite. It’s time to stop avoiding them.

Project to lifestyle

Published on October 29, 2007 in business, future, goals, nyc and personal.

Learning to swim

(”Learning to Swim,” on flickr by sposta via CC - You can’t learn to swim until you jump in)

I feel like everyone I speak to these days has at least a “project or two,” they are working on. By project I mean they have something they are at least thinking about that hopefully could someday become a real working business that they would own and operate. At the moment, I certainly consider myself part of this group, and sometimes it’s really sort of depressing. I know so many of these “projects,” will never even see the light of day, and of those that do even fewer will ever get far enough to be considered a business. This seemingly harsh reality begs the internal question “Why am I any different?”

I think that more and more people from my generation are at least thinking about heading down the entrepreneurial path. The so called millenials have grown up with access to unlimited information across an unlimited spectrum of niches. We’ve been empowered to go out and learn about anything and everything we’re interested in with ease. We’ve also had front row seats to rise of the “young entrepreneur.” We’ve heard so much about people out of high school and college creating companies that are phenomenal successes. We idolize these people yet we also can’t help but ask “why not me?” This question is precisely why we are so fascinated with them. I’ve asked myself that question for at least 10 years now, going way back to my high school days where I became obsessed with the business world via the stock market (dotcom days, ah what a time to start investing!). Why couldn’t I potentially take my part in the American dream? It’s cheaper than ever to start a business. All the information, contacts, and products you may need are seconds away in a Google search. From the outside perspective the only thing that stands between you and your dream life/job is a smart programming partner and a few months (NOTE: most of the people I talk to are trying to create some sort of web focused business, so they need someone with programming skills). And that is why I think there are so many of us out there with projects.

But if projects are so easy to start, why aren’t more projects becoming working, real life businesses? Because I think very few project starters have the capability to start a business. Most of us want to learn to swim by merely dipping our toes in the water. We think we can expose ourself to gain without risking any of the potential failure, but the truth is the lessons from failure are what create opportunity for success. If you don’t attempt to swim by getting in the pool, you’ll never feel the struggle that is growth, the struggle that is learning. And very few people are prepared for a struggle.

I find comfort in that. Don’t get me wrong, I love the explosion in entrepreneurial mindset in this city and this country. I love that at least in our heads more and more us believe we are capable of doing something big on our own. We all benefit from this because the tinkering of potential entrepreneurs and current entrepreneurs is what pushes growth and innovation throughout. This constant push to create is what created the great environment we are in today. But now I’m seeing what separates someone building a project and someone building a company, and I have to really respect and admire the courage in the creators. Great things happen to those of us who are willing to put ourselves out there. I mean to really put yourself out there for something you believe in. “Putting yourself out there,” obviously has different meanings for different people, and you know ultimately what that means for you, but this is the only place where your “project” becomes a potential business.

For me I believe this means to stop hiding in confusion (I’m not quite sure what to work on),pick a path, and declare it to the world. For me putting myself out there isn’t about money because I’ve never been afraid to put money on the line (thanks to my days dotcom investing and bootstrapping a business in college by the nifty credit card balance transfer trick). My “putting myself out there,” is more about exposing myself completely to the criticism of others. I get out there by speaking up with my ideas, sharing them with as many people as I can, reaching to any and all who may be able to help, and learning from the feedback. Only by challenging myself to expose ideas to others, with a firm voice behind it, can I learn to swim (that’s part of the reason I’ve been blogging more lately..it’s amazing how much more you can write when you write what you’re truly thinking / feeling) and move my project on to a company.

How do you put yourself out there?

Life Tip: Don’t worry about what other people think…

Published on October 12, 2007 in business, nyc and personal.

I have a new dog (puppy really, she’s about a year) and she’s great.

Anyway there are a lot of dogs in my building and it’s been great talking with my neighbors as we all head out on our morning and evening walks. I never realized how great a connector dogs can be. I’ve talked to more people in the last 2 weeks than I probably did in the last 6 months. But they haven’t all been good conversations.

Yesterday evening while heading out for my night time walk, I held the door to the entrance of my building for an older woman who is a resident (I had never seen her before though). While stretching to hold the door for her and control the dog, Izzy (the dog) decided to relieve herself in my building lobby instead of outside. The woman saw this and seemed to be ok with it, sort of looking disgusted but laughing. I apologized and told her I would clean it up. No big deal.

Today around the same time I took Izzy for her evening walk. Again on my way out the front door one of my older building residents, who is in a wheelchair, was at the door. I again stretched to hold the door open for him, and again Izzy relieved herself at the door, although this time outside on the sidewalk directly in front of my building. As I stood there and talked a minute with my neighbor in the wheelchair, the older woman from last night came home. While opening the door she talked very loudly to herself (indirectly aimed at me)…”this is ridiculous, he can’t even control his dog…first inside yesterday and now he lets her pee on the door today. Just ridiculous. Give me a break!” I tried to explain but she was in the door, and I was pissed. And embarrassed.

How come this bothered me so much? It was an accident. I’m as considerate as any other resident in this building. I’m clean, I’ll even clean trash in the lobby that is not mine. I don’t steal papers, I’m courteous, and I have very good dog manners. I didn’t intentionally let this dog pee near the door. It was an accident of circumstance. Why did this seem to bother me so much?

If you are someone who cares a lot what others think, this city will be tough for you. There are so many people with so many crazy rules and life regulations (as my friend Jerry would say they are all carrying around “their own bag of shit.”), you are bound to, at one point, rub someone the wrong way. That’s just how it works. So if you let yourself get all whacked out of sorts by all the comments and opinions of others, you’ll lose your mind. It’s a lesson for life we learn early: “sticks and stones….words will never hurt me.” So true. All you can do is live by the rules that feel right to you, don’t worry about breaking the rules of everyone else.

I’m good, really

Published on June 21, 2007 in nyc and personal.

It seems like everytime I post to this blog I start off with an apology for not posting in awhile and while I’m tempted to do the same here, I won’t…

Things have been great. I’ve moved into a nice new apartment on e. 17th st. just a short walk from Union Square, which I’m very excited and happy to be in. I’m even more excited to be finished with the whole New York City apartment search and moving process which quite frankly, is horrible. It’s painful, expensive, and draining becaues everyone you come in contact with immediately demands to know what they can get out of you. I guess in a place with limited supply and endless demand, being nice and having good customer service is not required to be successful. Unfortunately this has been true from the apartment brokers we worked with to the new build Super (wow is he a not nice person), and even the new building management. It seems the name of the game is to get the most money as quickly and easily as possible. This means getting people in the door and signed on the dotted line. After that, who cares what they think or say.

With all that said, I’m happy with the new place. I love this city. The energy, the endless stream of diversity and interesting sites. I love the possibilties. I love my apartment. I look forward to a new and exciting experience here.

Starbucks here, Starbucks there

Published on April 3, 2007 in business, nyc and stocks.

One of the very first things I noticed when I moved to New York City was the unbelievable amount of Starbucks. I can, right now, think of roughly 7 Starbucks that are within a reasonable walking distance of me, 4 that are within 5 minutes of walking. You know what? They are ALL busy most of the time.

In this morning’s WSJ, there’s an interesting article about why Starbucks are popping up everywhere, when it seems there isn’t room anymore (there are currently 13,000 and they plan on adding another 10,000 over the next 4 years). The reason for so many? It’s simple:

“Where a lot of our growth is, is driving that incremental cup that someone may not have planned to buy,” he said.

They know that, especially in a walking city like New York, the difference between you buying a Starbucks coffee and not is whether or not you have to cross the street. So the more corners they can get on, the more coffee buyers they’ll get, and the more they can grow. For Starbucks 1+1=3:

The new store might take some sales away from the original location, but it could lead to far more sales overall. Jim Donald, Starbucks’ CEO, said one Texas store manager complained that his store’s sales of $1 million a year had flattened because of a new store across the street. But the new store, which had a drive-through, was on track to bring in $3 million its first year. So in the same vicinity, Starbucks was now pulling in $4 million a year from two spots rather than $1 million or $3 million from a single store.

The article also gave a glimpse into what kind of return a Starbucks location can generate for the owner, with sales to investment ratio sitting in the 2.3 to 1 ratio. That’s sales 2.3 times the initial investment within year 1, and sales typically improve in the following years generating even better returns. It’s no wonder that Starbucks’ are popping up off highway exits, inside hotels, and part of gas stations…this name brand addictive beverage thing is one heck of a business.

It’s fascinating to get a behind the scenes glimpse of something you see all the time, everyday, once in awhile..or at least I think. Check out the article.

Talk about your dreams without the “buts”

Published on March 22, 2007 in future, goals, nyc and personal.

I had dinner a few weeks ago with some friends from home while they were visiting New York. They were both extremely excited to be in the city, and mentioned that they would love to move up here…BUT they can’t because of this, this, and this. “You know how it is…”

Nope.

You can really learn a lot about people by paying close attention to their language. But is such a powerful word, it’s like a signal that says “everything I said before this is not really possible / real / true, here comes the truth.” As I sat there and listened to two people who seemed legitimately excited about living in New York ramble off all the reasons why they couldn’t and never would be able, I couldn’t help to realize they would get exactly what they wished for. Despite wanting to move up here, they were working hard at convincing themselves otherwise.

How often do you experience that free and pure feeling that dreams provide, and that fear driven urge to quickly add the “buts,” to the conversation? We all have dreams, we all have things we’d love to do, but often they can be very scary to pursue. Our dreams don’t care about our financial situation, our skill sets, the expectations of our peers, the expectation of our family, our current living situation…nothing. Your dreams bubble up from the deepest parts of your body, the little kid within you that doesn’t know fear. Buts come from the part of you that has learned mistakes can be painful and safety is worth sacrificing your dreams for. But the question is, are you really safer not pursuing your dreams? Nope. It’s an illusion. I promise, you have nothing to lose, only riches to gain from chasing your dreams.

What are your dreams? Can you talk to someone else about them without adding “buts,” to the discussion? Try something different, talk about what you want without adding why you can’t have it. You might just get what you wish for.

Mind Petals: Young Entrepreneur Network

Published on March 20, 2007 in business, nyc and personal.

I’m excited to announce today that I’ve been asked and accepted an opportunity to join the Advisory Board of Mind Petals, a thriving community for young entrepreneurs. I first heard about Mind Petals when their founder, David, wrote a little story about me after stumbling across my blog in a google search. I was flattered by the article, and ended up speaking with Dave on the phone for a little while a few days later. I had not yet moved to New York City (where Dave and Mind Petals are based), but we agreed we’d get together following my move and swap stories.

We ended up sitting down for lunch finally a few weeks ago and I immediately was impressed with Dave’s passion for the entrepreneurial spirit and his determination to make Mind Petals a successful community. To my surprise he asked if I would join the Advisory Board to offer occasional guidance, ideas, and introductions to continue the success of Mind Petals as well as republish some of my blog posts on to the site ( I guess I better get more serious about this blog writing stuff).
I think it’s a fantastic connection for both of us. I’m a young entrepreneur with limited experience but just starting to tap into my potential. Mind Petals is a young, but thriving community that sits on the verge exploding in terms of reach and impact on the world’s young entrepreneurial community. I think myself and Mind Petals are typical of the entrepreneurial generation of which I’m a part of. We’re set on creating our own path in a way that’s positive for everyone. I think MP is in the sweet spot of opportunity to embrace the needs of this entrepreneurial generation.

I see a great opportunity to grow and learn together.

You know it’s March….

Published on March 15, 2007 in nyc, personal and weather.

When the weather forecast for the next 3 days looks like this:

We’ll go from 70 yesterday to potentially our biggest snowstorm of the whole winter tomorrow, with 4-8 inches possible. As a weather guy, it’s amazing…warmth, thunderstorms, then snow, the perfect 24 hours. Enjoy winters last stand.

Dear Jetblue,

Published on March 9, 2007 in business, customer service and nyc.

I really want this to work…I really do. I love cheap fares, I love your plush leather seats, I love your fairly quick check in process, and I really LOVE your DirectTV in every seat, but you’re making this really hard. First you completely cancelled my trip to Columbus a few weeks ago after your meltdown. Now this..

About 10am this morning you sent me an email letting me know that due to some sort of scheduling conflict the plane scheduled to take me to Columbus tonight was no longer available, BUT you had arranged for another plane, which would not have plush leather seats or TV’s, but it would get me there. As a nice gesture you gave me a Jetblue credit of $25. Nice move.

So when I arrive to the airport for my 9:40 flight you treated me again…20 minute delay. Ok, so not the end of the world. Now it’s 10:20pm, and we’ve learned that the flight has been delayed due to “crew scheduling conflicts,” until AT LEAST 10:45 but we’ll have to wait for more updates. Annoying, and very troubling because it is a movie I’ve seen before. I have a feeling I may hear the words “cancelled” soon.

Now I realize that airlines screw up a lot. Hey, it’s a complicated business, but you’ve now slammed me on back to back trips. Who knows, you may successfully ruin 2 trips in a row. And it’s becoming clear that despite your great fares, your plush leather seats, your fantastic live TV service, and your potentially $100’s of dollars in credits, that I may very well have to say goodbye to you. Hopefully someday you can get your act together, and we can fly together again, but until then I need an airline that can consistently get me to my destination on the DAY they said they would.

More Jetblue thoughts…

Published on February 16, 2007 in customer service, nyc and personal.

(the filled JFK terminal yesterday)

So I thought instead of just complaining about all the things that went wrong the last few days for Jetblue, I thought I could maybe offer some solutions from my perspective. Now I can’t even imagine the complexity of their situation, and I know they are doing the best they can, but there are some things that I think they could’ve done to make the situation better.

1.) A flight status that means something: As I mentioned yesterday they could have made me and others a lot more tolerant of their problems if they had simply been honest with the flight status system. My flight consistently was marked as “on time” yesterday morning, so I went to JFK only to walk into what seemed more like Thunderdome than JFK airport. It wasn’t until the boarding time of my flight that it was finally announced we were on a 3 hour delay. Then 2 hours later, it was cancelled. Jetblue, your customers tend to be fairly tech savvy (although I’ll admit a large % of people still avoid the automated check in machines like the plague…That has to be frustrating). Take advantage of this…deliver information to them electronically. Keep your flight status on your website updated, maybe even offer text message or phone call alerts. Save my time and minimize my inconvenience, and I’ll appreciate you even in your worst moments (like yesterday).

2.) Communicate with customers, Proactively…. I’m a trueblue member, and I would imagine that most of your flyers are. This means you have my email address, my phone number, and even my address. Use this. Send me an email and/or a text message when my flight is delayed or cancelled. I called your phone number yesterday all day only to hear an automated voice telling me you can’t take my call at this time. This annoys me greatly. I get upset and frustrated that I may end up paying for a flight that didn’t get me anywhere but a crappy lunch at “mex and the city,” at JFK. You know my number, send me an email that tells me what I can do about my canceled flight and give me the option to be CALLED when someone is available. If I want to be called, all I have to do is click a link and select either my phone number with my trueblue account OR enter a new number to be reached…then you call me. From a technology standpoint this is very easy to implement, and quite frankly it gets you incredible customer satisfaction for your buck. It looks like you really care enough to reach out to your customers because you are calling them, when in reality it’s all automated to the point that your customer service reps can’t tell the difference. When it’s your problem you should work to communicate with customers, not the other way around.

3.) Don’t make people wait in the plane….I know there’s some reason for this, maybe you can’t get in line for takeoff without leaving the gate, but this is never a good idea. I know that other airlines are just as guilty of this, but it doesn’t make it right. Take a stand, no USE this. Say you’ll never let customers wait on a plane for more than 3 hours before takeoff regardless of conditions. Jetblue delays are definitely more tolerable than other airlines simply because of the TV in each seat, but that only goes so far. It only takes one long, painful wait to erase all the good you’ve done for that passenger in the past.

4.) Say what you can do, and do it…There’s nothing worse than sitting down in a chaotic airport with absolutely no idea what’s going on, and no reliable place to get information from. In situations like these, someone needs to choose a direction, tell everyone what it is, and stick with it. It’s way too annoying and costly to go with the “wait and see,” approach in an emergency. They were aware my flight wasn’t going to be on time 3 hours prior to telling me, and probably knew they wouldn’t even be able to get it off at all yesterday. So instead of hoping for it, just shut it down. Tell me it’s cancelled way ahead of time. Look at your other unanswered questions and answer them. There’s no time for right or wrong, only action and direction can help at that time. It’s much better to have a direction and make everyone aware of it, than to hope it all works out. Even if it’s not what most people wanted, at least you free them from the pain of being in limbo.
I still am a big Jetblue fan and really admire and believe in their founder and CEO David Neeleman (loved his book), and I realize the weather will always cause flight delays and cancellations, but there are so many things you can do to make life better for the stranded passengers. Frustrations and delays are inevitable and uncontrollable, but how you deal with them can make or break you. The cost of fixing and satisfying currently inconvenienced customers is only a fraction of the cost of trying to win them back.