It has been nearly a year since I posted on this blog.  It has been a busy and an eventful 356 days full of the usual challenges that life seems to throw at us.  I’m considering writing on here again and redoing the whole format of the site.  I don’t know exactly why I’m getting the urge to do this.  Maybe it’s because the radio show has been going for nearly a year. Maybe it’s because I graduate with my MBA from USC in May.  Maybe it’s because I miss having a place to vent my thoughts.

One thing is for sure. I am not the same person I was a year ago.  I think this is the reason… I want to share the ‘new’ me.  The Tyler Jorgenson that created this blog in 2006 has evolved into whatever it is I am today.  I guess it just makes sense my .com is updated too.

Way back on December 28th, 2010 I posted about a big announcement and I know you’ve all been waiting with bated breath for the news. Here it is. Starting Wednesday the 23rd of February I will be hosting a radio show here in Southern California called The BizNinja Radio Hour. It happens to coincide with a new site I’ve been working on www.BizNinja.org which is focused on entrepreneurship and small business. The site is only about half built but you get an advanced notice. Now you finally feel like reading all of the 31 Days of Blog Awesomeness was worth it, right?

While at the studio yesterday the on air host pulled me in for a quick impromptu interview. Here’s a video with the audio of the interview and some comments added.

You can learn more about the show as well as listen live over the internet by visiting www.BizNinja.org/radio/

Wish me luck, we all know I’ll need it.

I’ve delayed writing this post because some technical difficulties have prevented me from announcing one of the projects I’ve been working on.  Stay tuned for more info on that.

When I started the 31 Days of Blog Awesomeness I didn’t think much of it.  I just figured I’d answer some questions people ask me all the time anyway and share some of my thoughts on motivation, goals and success.  It’s been a great journey.  At the end of this post I’ll put a link to a summary of all of the 31 Days as a reference.

I ran Cross Country in high school.  I wasn’t a terribly gifted runner but I was never the slowest on the team either (if you include the girls).  I did Cross Country for two reasons.  1. My older sister ran and since it was the first sport of the season when I entered high school I figured it would be easier to get a ride home with her so I may as well run too. 2. It was a way to get in shape and lose weight for wrestling.  Distance running has a lot of opportunity for life metaphors.  Let’s explore a few.

Incremental Goals

One of my coaches taught us that although every race was 3 miles and ended with a finish line it was important to focus on visible goals.  Run hard to the farthest tree, then run hard to the light pole, then run hard to the turn, etc.  This works for life too.  Who doesn’t want to be rich and have millions in the bank.  Sometimes it’s good to set your mind on $100, then save hard to $1,000, then save hard to $5,000…

Apexing

Some courses had a lot of turns and so we were taught to look forward and pick the most direct route through the turns thereby needing to run a lesser distance and conserve energy.  I think about how we were taught to ‘apex the turns’ whenever there seem to be a series of obstacles that need to be overcome.  Look forward through them all and chart the most direct route.

Hydrate

We all know our bodies need water to function and in running that means avoiding cramps and having better endurance.  In life staying hydrated means remembering to take in the things that feed our soul.  We have to keep ourselves emotionally hydrated so that when a tough hill comes along we have the stamina to reach the summit.

Never Look Back

My most memorable race was run on a rainy day in the middle of nowhere complete with enough mud to last a lifetime.  I got a decent start and after some bumping and elbowing (in self defense of course) I found myself at the front of the pack.  I ran hard, but never looked back.  I could hear the footsteps of somebody right behind me.  From the sound of it they couldn’t have been more than a couple strides behind me.  It pushed me harder and I ran my best race that day.  When I reached the finish line and finally looked back I was surprised to see nobody remotely close.  I had been hearing the sound of my own feet echoing off the walls of the desert hills.  When we know our goal, we’re well hydrated and things are working out there’s no need to look back.  Push forward.  Stay focused.  Win the race.

Pace Yourself

In one of my first distance races in middle school I laid back a bit too much and when it came time to surge I had plenty of energy but not enough time to catch up to the leader.  I lost the race only by a few strides but I hadn’t even given it my all.  I learned that day that you’ve got to pace yourself just right and avoid going out too hot and burning out or too cold and falling behind.

Sprint to the Finish

If you reach the finish line and you’ve got more left in you then you didn’t do your best.  Once you see the finish line in sight it’s time to muster up all you have left and sprint to the finish.  I’m always surprised at how often good projects get abandoned so close to completion.  If you’ve paced yourself right you should have just enough energy left in you to let lose and finish.

Finish

After my great win where I never looked back I got a bit cocky and went out hot in a race with a lot more runners.  I forgot the pacing lesson, or at least learned the other half of it, and after leading for the first half of the race I got winded and fell behind.  As each runner passed me and I fell farther behind I got more and more discouraged and wanted to quit.  My bruised pride fought back and told me to finish.  I pushed through to the finish and still placed well.  You may not always be first, but if it’s a project worth finishing it’s your duty to get it over the finish line.

Know When to Quit

By my Senior year of high school I had decided I no longer wanted to run.  I wasn’t dedicated enough for it to be a successful year for me.  Instead I organized an official  Men’s Volleyball club for the school and made new friends and great memories.  Sometimes it’s time to quit a project.  Be strong enough to know when you’re not committed to the success or that the project is no longer viable and be willing to quit.  If you chose to quit you must do it because it is right, not because you are tired or lazy or some other lame excuse.  To repeat the above line if the project is worth finishing it’s your duty to get it over the finish line.  If it’s not worth it anymore, quit now before you waste any more time on it.

There you have it.  The end of the 31 Days of Blog Awesomeness.  Here’s a link to the summary of posts.

I’m not done with this blog, but I’m done posting every day for a while.

As we approach the end of the 31 days of Blog Awesomeness I am filled with mixed emotions.  This has been a good exercise for me and a couple people have shared that some posts have helped them.  At the same time I have realized that it is hard to produce a high quality post every single day. Today’s post is one that I really wanted to spend a lot of time on.  I wanted to actually walk somebody through the process and share the experience.  That didn’t happen.  But we’re still here and this post is still going to be great.

Back at the beginning of the 31 DoBA Sandy asked: How to take my new business to the next level (How to set up an online store and get into specialty retail stores)

These are two very different questions so I’ll tackle the one I have more experience with first.  How can you set up an online store.

Sandy already has an Etsy shop for her cool no slip head bands at www.bicbands.com.  She was very smart to use her own URL and point it to Etsy so she can change it later without losing traffic.  Etsy isn’t a bad service, but in my opinion it’s limited and since you don’t have full control it can potentially keep your product looking small instead of professional.

Option 1. Shopify.  Shopify is a great site that a lot of big companies use like PIXAR and Tesla Motors.  It is very user friendly and works as a website, shopping cart and payment processor all in one.  There is a monthly fee starting at $29 per month and a per transaction fee as well.  If you’re not selling at least a couple hundred dollars of product a month this may be cost prohibitive.

Option 2. WP e-Commerce Plugin by GetShopped.org.  If you’ve followed my steps on how to set up a website then you can just install this plugin to your wordpress site and add your paypal email and in a matter of minutes have a fully functioning e-commerce site.  I’ve used this for a lot of test sites since it’s so easy to set up.

Option 3. Outsource the design and have them use a shopping cart like phppurchase.  If you don’t have much technical know how this may be your best bet.  But if you are a bit tech savvy and budget conscience then go with option 2.

The second part of Sandy’s question is something I’ve only done a very little of.  If you’re looking to get into retail stores there are a couple of routes.  You can hire a broker or network yourself.  I recommend starting with some boutique stores where you can meet the owner.  Many of them will allow consignment so that they don’t have to buy inventory but you still get your product in.  This is a great opportunity to test retail price and get feedback from customers before trying to go big and get into a large retailer.

How is your company doing today?  Where do you want it to be?  As a friend of mine said to me this weekend.  ‘Show me the money.  Now, show me more money.’  Think big and then lay out the steps to get there.

Yesterday I asked you to define yourself independently of those around you.  Today I’d like to ask you to think about who you are in your organization.  What sort of attitude do you bring to the office?

One of the classes that I’m currently taking at USC is taught by Professor Dave Logan of CultureSync and author of Tribal Leadership.  Here’s a 6 minute video summary of the idea of Tribal Leadership.

What stage are you?  What stage are the people around you?  How can you make things better?

Facebook and RSS readers can see the video here: http://www.tylerjorgenson.com/2011/01/getting-tribal-31-doba-day-29/

One of the responses I got back when I announced the 31 Days of Blog Awesomeness was from Partha.

PARTHA Says:  I really want to know how you started your own venture as an entrepreneur. What I am looking for a step by step guide to start up and own a new business.

This is a big topic and and would not fit into a single post.  What I will cover is how to look at products and ideas and quickly determine if it’s worth moving forward with.  I’ve made the mistake, as I know many have, of moving forward on a project before doing enough testing or having sufficient data to determine viability.

I’ve said before that I’ll work on any product or project where there is a margin and a market.  Those are my 2 M’s for a new product.

Step1. Determine if there is sufficient margin in the product to support the beginning phases of growth.

• What is the expected cost per unit to manufacture and get to market?
• What is the expected retail price?
• How many units would I need to sell per month in order to make money? This is the minimum threshold.

Step 2. Determine if there is sufficient market to reach the minimum threshold.

• What is my target market?
• Can they afford my retail price?
• What are they buying now, and how many of those are being sold each month?

Step 3. Determine how I can do it better.

• Can I beat their price?
• Can I beat their service?
• Can I offer more?
• Can I market better?

Step 4. Test.  If you’re like me you don’t have a large marketing and R&D budget.  You need to test your idea first before dumping money into it.  It is always better to ask people to buy your product rather than ask them if they would.  Allow them to act and measure what your potential cost per acquisition would be.  I’ll cover more on how to test in a later post… maybe.

Step 5. Go big, or go home.  If the test is big then it’s time to take it up a level and get serious.  If the test were not favorable you can either quit the project or test some more variables.  Don’t get too emotional at this point.  If after a good amount of testing the market isn’t responding to your widgets for left handed people don’t be sad.  It’s an opportunity to brainstorm again.

Starting a business is easy.  Starting a profitable business is a little harder.  Even harder is starting and maintaining a profitable business.  Luckily Partha didn’t ask me how to do that, he just wanted to know how I started.

Who do you think you are?!

Really, who do you think you are?

We get asked that question a lot, but usually in a nicer tone.  More like, ‘it’s nice to meet you. Tell me a little about yourself.’

Usually we just answer the question with the typical title/company/hobbies sort of response.  This time, really think about it.

What makes you happy?

What makes you sad?

What makes you laugh, smile, cry, dance, jump, etc?

Next question, and this is why we ask the other ones.  Why don’t you let yourself be who you really are? Don’t sell yourself or your passions just to appear how you think somebody else wants you to be.  Most likely they secretly sing Justin Bieber in the shower too.

Yesterday I said to do nothing for 2 minutes and today I’m asking you to watch a 3 minute video on how to advertise on Facebook.  This is a VERY rough video and is intended to be an initial overview of the process.  There are a lot of resources on facebook and elsewhere but this video was done at the request of a reader.

The video was done in one take, so forgive the abrupt ending.  Facebook advertising isn’t right for every product or service, but it is a great solution for a lot of things.  Try it out.

It’s 11:21pm Pacific time as I sit down to write today’s post.  I just finished watching The Social Network, the movie about the founding of Facebook.  For me the movie was about the emotions that surround entrepreneurship and creation and I was entertained, motivated and inspired.

I am an entrepreneur.  When I am working on an idea I get ‘wired in’ like they talk about in the movie and get very focused.  Sometimes we need to unplug and regain perspective.  I love this site that just came up recently.

http://www.donothingfor2minutes.com/

I’m actually a little bummed I didn’t come up with the idea because I think it could be done a little better.  Oh man, now I’m pulling a Zuckerberg.

Take 2 minutes to just Zen out for a moment.  When you’re done come back to reality and change the world.

It’s 11:32.  I’m off to get wired in.

A lot of us set resolutions to lose weight and get out of debt.  A friend of mine shared with me her resolution for 2011 was to watch more sunsets.  I thought this was a great idea since it is both realistic and meaningful.  In a world where we are always burning the candle from both ends taking time to watch sunsets has a real therapeutic value.

Today I caught this sunset on the way to Irvine.  I pulled over to the side of the road and just gazed out at Catalina Island for a few minutes.  The break from freeway driving and worrying about work and school was amazing.

How are your resolutions coming along so far?  Maybe you should catch more sunsets.