if not now then never

getting past the gap

2011-12-06T00:42:00.002-05:00

I'd been a big admirer of a blogger named Dustin Curtis, and sometime back, he wrote this post, about not being able to create anything new. It moved me, and I responded to it. Here's what I wrote to Dustin (email intro omitted):

I think the first step to escaping 'the gap' is to accept it, fully and immediately. Now, without hesitation. What often paralyzes us is a fear that the product of our hardest labors won't meet others' standards, or worse yet, our own. Thus, in fear, we avoid producing anything. Fear is an irrational consideration of an unpredictable future, and has no utility in the present. When you feel the fear, turn towards it, examine it, accept it, and then abandon it. Continue working, intent on creating in the present.

Consider the following - that every moment you spend thinking about the outcome of your work distracts you from creating the work itself, and thus reduces the quality of the outcome. Thus, fear that our work won't meet our standards is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The creation of great beauty can only be an act of fearlessness. Do not consider for a moment that it won't meet your standards. Just create. And create again. And take pleasure in it.

To go a step further into what may be a ridiculous sounding proclamation - accept that the end result of your creation has already been decided. The object you're creating has already been created. You are simply the tool that existence has chosen to enact this particular reality - take pleasure in the act of observing what existence had in store for you. Take joy in whatever products are created. Revel in the certainty what you're creating is exactly what must be created.

Now, this may sound like bowing down to mediocrity - how can you improve if you take joy in everything you make? Yet, you're lucky - as you know, your taste is your compass. It cannot guide you wrong. In observing your work, your own awareness of its flaws will steady your hand during your next attempt. With joy as your motivation and taste as your compass, the end result can only be beauty. You may have to climb quite a few hills to reach the view at the top of the mountain, but press on.

I hope this rather arbitrary sequence of philosophical encouragement has brought you more strength than sarcasm, and I wish you only the best. Luckily, I'm not worried. I'm certain you'll find your way.

staying in the fire

2011-12-03T22:39:00.002-05:00

A friend recently told me about something that was making him unhappy. He works for an event production company in which his role is to first find clients and sell his company’s services, and then to execute the projects he sells. In this industry, one project rarely leads to another, which means he starts from square-one every time – he likened it to the stress of finding a new career every few months. The worst part is that after all his hustle, he only gets a small percentage of the commission.

Identifying the source of a frustration is a powerful step, but people often stop there – they think that once they know what’s wrong, their mental work is done – the only option is to take action to change it. Yet in reality, there are two options – change the situation, or change yourself. Changing yourself can be more difficult, yet often is a longer term solution.

In his situation, he could quit his job and find a new one. This choice has its own risks, but they’re predictable. His other option is to stay in his job and find a way to thrive, regardless of the situation. Every ‘adversity’ offers us an opportunity to advance our minds – if we find a way to be joyful regardless of the circumstance, then the next time things are ‘difficult’, we’ll be far more capable of dealing with it unperturbed.

Now that he’s made the powerful step of identifying ‘the enemy’, he can now train his mind to be okay with it. Whenever the unhappiness crops up, he can remember to take confidence in his own ability, to stay in the present, and to remember that the worst case scenario – to a find a new job – is what he would do to change the situation anyway!

Actively challenging a mindset that proclaims unhappiness based on a situation is to strengthen our minds, eliminate fear, and make real the joy of existence. I call this staying in the fire – identifying a situation that you have the power to change, but choosing not to change it, and instead, using it as an opportunity to change yourself.

destroying to create & improve

2011-12-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

In both writing and design, I often find that in order to take a step forward, I must completely abandon everything I’ve already created. This means that either I start again from scratch, or I take the pieces of what I have and totally mangle them until I’ve arrived somewhere vastly different from where I began.

Why is this important? I find that little tweaks and edits are easy, but they rarely result in a huge step forward. Tweaks help optimize something into the best form it can be, but often, a much larger change can transcend the original work altogether. Yet these transformations can be difficult when you’re starting with something that has already been created. You’re hesitant to try new things because it feels like you’re ‘losing’ something if you start from scratch or erase key lines or words already on paper.

Becoming comfortable with destroying your own work to create something better is also metaphor for our minds as well. We are most capable of progress when we allow those ideas and opinions we held dear to be challenged, destroyed, and rebuilt, stronger than before.

why you need to blog

2011-11-30T22:21:00.002-05:00

I recently gave a speech about the benefits of blogging. To reap these rewards, there’s a pre-requisite, which is a willful determination to write 5 times a week. If you meet that one criterion, all these other benefits will emerge organically.

First, you’ll improve your writing, and develop the ability to quickly organize a jumbled set of thoughts into a brief, coherent point. More importantly, since you’ll constantly be thinking about what to write next, you’ll be far more likely to hold on to the ideas you have every day. Whereas before a great idea might quickly be forgotten, now you’ll take more care to write things down and flesh them out fully.

You’ll eventually develop pride in what you’re writing, which will make you want people to read it, and you’ll begin to wonder how to make that happen. You’ll discover blog directories & communities, cross-posting & commenting on other blogs, social media marketing & search engine optimization. In this process, you’ll teach yourself web marketing.

Though you may begin with a standard blog template, you’ll quickly notice that other bloggers have better looking blogs, and you’ll wish to develop your own style and template. You’ll teach yourself the basic elements of design, HTML, typeography and most importantly you’ll develop visual taste that will guide you in every aspect of your life.

Finally, aside from developing all these useful, modern skills, and having hundreds of snippets of what could be called ‘the best of yourself’, you’ll have established a powerful personal web identity and brand – you’ll be ‘Googleable’ and when people find you, they’ll like what they find.

What are you waiting for? You could start a blog in 5 minutes. If not now, then when?

the irony of arrogance

2011-11-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

Recently I was talking to an entrepreneur complaining about the arrogance of investors he had been speaking to. I actually hear this quite often in the community, and it typically takes a few different forms:

The investor doesn't think much of your idea
The investor doesn't seem to take any interest in the conversation
The investor seems to be more thrilled with his/her own spin on your idea
The investor never gets back to you or follows up, even when they said they would

There's of course a few obvious elements at play here - some ideas appeal to some investors - finding the right 'match' is crucial. Investors also have overflowing inboxes and too many commitments, so following up can be difficult.

BUT, let's consider this as though it really is a personality thing - pure arrogance. How to deal with arrogant people?

Let's turn to the heart of the issue - why do arrogant people get on our nerves? Because they offend our own ego, which is to say, our own arrogance. Therein lies the irony - that the only people offended by arrogance are those who are arrogant themselves.

Thus, the answer to arrogance is to respond with humulity. To 'be the change we wish to see in the world'. Humble people are powerful because they have such a deep well of self-value that they need not look for it elsewhere (i.e. from other people). They're not offended by arrogance because they don't have the ego for it. Instead, they can learn and respond with an open mind, which of course is far more impressive than the furrowed brow and hollow response of the embittered entrepreneur.

a new way to resolve conflict

2011-11-24T17:27:00.000-05:00

I’ve always been a huge observer of the various forms of conflict, what causes it, and most importantly, how to resolve it. For a long time I had a standard approach to all conflict –

1. Assume the fault is mine, and see if I can get past it

2. If I can’t get past it, decide whether the person is worth having the conflict (conflict resolution is a huge effort, and some acquaintances just aren’t worth it)

3. If I can’t get past it, consider all the things I want to say to explain the problem I’m having, and more importantly, how I’m going to say those things

4. Plan to have the conflict resolution discussion at the right time

In this way, I thought I was taking a very proactive approach to ‘friendship building’. Great friendships require conflict and resolution, and these battles are what make the friendship stronger.

However, I’ve been confronted by a problem with my method. There’s a huge amount of ego in it – effectively, I’m saying, ‘You’re not good enough the way you are, and if you want to remain friends, I want you to change this about yourself”. Whenever you set about to change other people (unless they’re specifically asking for your help), the desire is coming from a place of ego.

Recently, I had a conflict with a good friend that I normally would have confronted him about. But this time, I’m trying something new. I’m accepting it, fully and without resentment. I’m making an effort to fully accept this person, his worldview, to leave his actions in the past, and continue forward without missing a beat. This might be called forgiveness, but I’m aiming for something more than that. Forgiveness, beautiful an act as it may be, implies ego – ‘you’ve wronged me, and thus you owe me a debt that I, in my infinite mercy, will forgive you for’.

Acceptance is different. It’s not saying, ‘you wronged me’ – it’s eliminating the actors and saying, ‘this thing happened. Ok.’ It’s also not taking a ‘higher road’ that I can lord over the person, which of course is neither forgiveness nor acceptance. It’s accepting people as they are, loving them for being exactly that, and nothing more. It is refusing to suffer any ‘offense’.

I admit, it’s a new territory for me – I don’t know what will come of it, or whether I will find myself equal to it. One part of me wonders how this works – logically, I can’t trust him in a certain way again (fool me twice, shame on me, etc.) – that’s not acceptance, it’s just logic…right? Weaker parts of me hope my friend takes notice, and it stirs a change in him. I’m most curious to see whether I can accept it to the point where it’s almost as though it never happened. Will report back, if I discover anything.

why self-remembering is crucial

2011-11-21T17:29:00.002-05:00

In the Upanishads, there are three central, powerful tenants that lead to enlightenment:

Self-Awareness – a constant awareness of what you’re thinking, feeling and doing, and why these thoughts and actions are happening
Self-Remembering – reminding yourself that you are but a part of existence, rather than separate from it (and all the implications of this)
Witnessing – the ability to watch your own thoughts and actions against a backdrop of self-remembering, without self-judgment about how far away from ‘enlightenment’ you really are

I began my efforts by focusing on awareness, and at some point finally understood the power of witnessing, but for the longest time I had never grasped why self- remembering was so pivotal. Only recently, when talking with a good friend who has been struggling with depression, have I understood it.

My friend talked about how awareness made her struggle more difficult – it was like seeing the blood gushing out of a wound that had until then only been slightly bothering her. I realized that she lacked a better story about reality – she knew that what she was feeling wasn’t quite ‘right’, but couldn’t see another way. Her method of solving it was action – she’d go for a run, sit down to get work done, and do things that made her forget about it. Though effective and healthy, these struck me as short term solutions, rather than steps that would confront the core of the problem.

In our efforts to improve anything, it’s important to have an example of what ‘right’ looks like. In a simple example, correcting a test is easier when we have an answer key. Grading an essay is easier when we know what good writing is. And thus, improving our state of mind is only possible when we know (or think we know) what our state of mind should be.

This then is the power of self-remembering – it is the answer key to which we can compare our thoughts and actions to (without judgment or regret when we are ‘wrong’) – the mold to which we can begin to model our minds after, with awareness as the chisel.

mentoring from a broader perspective

2011-11-17T17:27:00.000-05:00

One of the hardest things about mentoring is removing yourself from the equation. There’s a temptation to tell up-and-comers ‘well this is what the process was like for me, and your story will be the same’. Better mentors say things like ‘this is what it was like for me – take what you can from our story and apply it to your own’. Still better are those who discover the broader themes in their own story that apply to your particular situation. They’ve created a framework, a base to which they return for every question, no matter the problem. It’s instantly apparent from the way they answer questions and tackle problems, and I’m so fortunate to have not one, but several mentors who think like this.

accelerating self-growth

2011-11-16T17:26:00.001-05:00

I wrote last time about intentionally doing things that are difficult. One of the recent themes I’ve discovered is the concept of accelerating self-discovery. I realized that this is one huge benefits of starting a company – the enormous pace of self-discovery. I define this in three ways:

1) Learning Skills

Founders can never have enough skills when starting a company, and our desperate need to learn those skills forces us to develop them rapidly, on the fly. Humans have innately an extraordinary ability to adapt, yet to unleash this power, we must be given a reason to adapt. A startup is a reason to learn at ten times the rate that any other job would allow.

2) Learning Preferences

When there’s only a few people involved, each person’s responsibility spans a much broader range than a typical role-based job. Right now I split my time between customer marketing, operations, business development , and product development (among other things). Quite naturally, I don’t love every bit of it – some things appeal to me more than others. My awareness of the things I like and dislike is invaluable in my quest to discover what I want to spend the rest of my life doing. By exposing myself to dozens of roles at once, I accelerate the pace of that self-discovery

3) First Coping & then Excelling Mentally

The hardest parts of starting a company are all mental. Entrepreneurs deal with a tremendous amount of fear, risk, and stress every day. They learn how to cope with the huge weight of the expectations of co-founders, investors, employees and customers, and looming threat of failure. Confronting this mental challenge is the most thrilling part of starting a company – by the time you’re done, your mind is tough. Your maturity in dealing with setbacks, conflict, stress and fear is ten-fold what it would have been had you stayed in a regular job.

Now you may ask why – why go to all the trouble to do this? You’re right to ask, and it’s a very personal decision. My answer is that this is what I want from my life – I want to experience the fullest range of physical, mental and emotional experience possible, and leave this world knowing myself as deeply as I possibly can.

on doing difficult things

2011-11-15T17:25:00.000-05:00

A few years back I read an article in the NY Times about how it’s important to praise kids for working hard, and not just for being smart. Receiving praise encourages behavior, and it’s important to praise kids for the things they can control (hard work), rather than the things they cannot (natural intelligence).

Throughout my life I’ve been aware of a natural desire to do only the things that I’m good at. I used to literally avoid new activities for fear that I wouldn’t be as good or master them as quickly as others. The article helped put this into words, and since then I’ve systematically sought to identify that hesitancy and challenge it by doing exactly the things that make me uncomfortable.

The result has been a pleasure. I’ve discovered that if you ‘stay in it’, you have the power to ‘get good’ at nearly anything – the power of hard work. I’ve literally created new life loves – I love snowboarding, love design, love singing – none of which I’m particularly good at, but that I ventured into purely to challenge my own hesitancy. And most importantly, I’ve gotten closer to internalizing one of life’s most important truths – that I am not my works. That my self-value is not the result of my skillset, my successes, my intelligence. That it is independent of these mortal things, and infinite.

disrupting panels

2011-11-13T17:24:00.000-05:00

I’ve been attending quite a few panels recently, and I realized something that’s always bothered me a bit about panels.

In a setting where more than one person has the mic, the people who are less precise and succinct with their responses are the ones that speak the majority of the time. This is sort of a double whammy – not only are the answers more difficult to understand, but they reduce the amount of time available for other questions and ‘better’ answers.

I imagine the panel organizers are hesitant to step on the toes of panel speakers, but here’s an opportunity to disrupt this setting in a way that adds value to both parties. Just set a timer – responses limited to 30 seconds. This creates more opportunity for dialogue, more questions, more answers, and ‘elevates the game’ of the panelists, forcing them to get to the point (and over time, teaching them how to do so).

william ernest henley - invictus

2011-11-13T13:57:00.001-05:00

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

How charged with punishments the scroll.

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

- William Ernest Henley

regarding commitment

2011-10-22T10:03:00.003-04:00

Re-published (sans edits) from the NYU Entrepreneur's Blog.

Recently, I was asked to speak with a class of kick-ass grad students at NYU-Poly. The instructor of the class, famous for asking tough but hyper-relevant questions, asked me the following:

‘What if you get to a point where you know it’s not working, and it’s time to give it up?”

I smiled. One thing I have discovered during this endeavor is the liberating force of human commitment. My definition of marriage is a good analogy for this. The whole point of marriage, the only difference between marriage and dating, is the vocal commitment made to spend the rest of your life together. By definition, marriage eliminates the option to break up (bear with me and ignore divorce for a moment). Though this finality might terrify many people, it is in fact liberating. That one, huge decision is already made for you. And, the resounding nature of its finality elucidates every other option – if you can’t give up then you will be infinitely more dedicated to finding another solution to your conflict.

Bottom line – I have committed to my company. Now look, I can be certain of a few things – that we face staggering odds, that we will encounter mind-numbing, smash-your-head-against-the-screen challenges, that the road not taken is not taken for a reason. But I can also be certain of one other thing – that we will not stop. That we will not quit. And that in the end, we will triumph.

“But what if you’re genuinely just being silly and your idea isn’t realistic?” The point is that I have been in this long enough – I have glimpsed the plausible outcomes and tested my love of the business, the industry, and the work to be done, and I have not found them wanting. In the same way that I could never commit to a wife without the confidence in her and us, I couldn’t commit to a business after just a one-night brainstorm or honeymoon launch.

“What about when things get tough? Really tough?” Two things. First, the stronger your commitment, the more powerful your ability to find alternatives. When things get tougher, you will just get more creative. And second, true commitment is impossible until you have understood and accepted the beauty of adversity. Nothing will kill you (in startupland, at least); it will only embolden, enlighten and strengthen you. I deeply appreciate the challenges we’ve already faced because my mind has toughened ten-fold as a result. Adversity (if this startup dream can even so blasphemously be called that) is healthy for the soul. Take pleasure in it.

regarding victories

2011-10-22T09:53:00.001-04:00

I find that often when I’m in need of a message, it comes to me from a few different sources. In this case, it came first from a mentor that has already meant an unspeakable amount to our venture. She’s the founder of a company that I have an immense amount of respect for, and she said that one of the things that she didn’t do enough early on was celebrate the victories. She said that startup founders often get bogged down in ‘what’s next’ type thinking which is of course what makes them entrepreneurs. I can identify with this – even with each little victory, it can be tough to celebrate because you still realize that you have so far to go. Yet the power of celebration is undeniable – the exultation in ‘hell yeah we did it! Woo!!’ (or even the quiet triumph in ‘we did it. Yes.’) is a huge momentum builder for everyone involved. Your employees need it, you friends love it because they get a chance to cheer you on, and most of all you need it.

This message was powerfully reinforced by a good friend of mine when I was describing a set of challenges we’d been facing. He said, ‘look, I know that it sometimes feels like you’re not moving fast enough, that enough isn’t getting done. But dude, think about it. In just this year, you built and launched an entire freaking company and won 75,000 dollars to go live the dream – and those are just the front page headlines! Sometimes you have to ignore the one hole you three putted and remember the fairways you’ve been hitting all day long.” And he was right.

Consider only the victories. And when they come, celebrate them.

regarding my stolen bike

2011-10-22T02:33:00.004-04:00

My bike was stolen tonight.

I'm sad, but after writing this, I won't be.

Of the deluge of thoughts that run through my mind a few stand out:

- Did I lock it poorly? How to learn from this? (no idea)

- Who stole it, what was their motivation (genuine need? peer pressure? malice?) and how did they select my bike?

- Was buying a bike worth it, after all of this?

Let's address this last question. All in, here's what my bike cost:

- Bike: $200

- Lock: $50

- Helmet(also stolen): $35

- Bike Lights (also stolen): $15

Accumulated expenses over time:

- Popped tire: $11

- Stolen Seat + Shaft: $60

- New Brakes: $30

- Bent Tire Frame: $15

All in Expenses: $416

Now, consider that against the money I saved by riding a bike. Let's rather conservatively assume I didn't take about 4 subways per month, and (at minimum) 2 cabs per month:

- 4 * 2.25 = $10

- 2 * 11 = $22

- Total Money Saved per Month: $32

I bought my bike last August, which means it has lasted me about 15 Months.

Total Savings = 32 * 15 = $480

Ultimately, I came out on top (not on top of my bike, unfortunately).

Let's compare the 'psychological' pluses and minuses:

Pluses:

- The power and freedom of having a bike in the city

- The joy of riding a bike in the city

- The knowledge that riding a bike in the city is joyful, empowering and liberating

- The exercise that comes from biking everywhere

- The appreciation for cycling overall & the resulting camaraderie with other bikers

- Time saved (wow) by biking instead of other modes of transport

Minuses:

- Initial terror at riding a bike in the city (p.s. this could also be a plus)

- Shock and fear when my seat & shaft got stolen

- This feeling now (whatever it is) now that my whole bike has been stolen

Considering all of this, as much as I miss my bike, what a beautiful decision it was and what joy and abundance it brought me! I prefer to celebrate it and move on to the next, rather than wallow in the sadness of having lost it.

Here's to you bike - thank you for everything.

changing the way you pitch

2011-10-19T09:52:00.000-04:00

One great tip about pitching that I was recently provided to me by that guru of all things sales, my buddy Adam. The passion in your voice when you make a pitch (and note – this is any kind of pitch – sales, funding, business development, etc.) is a huge factor when it comes to communicating excitement and creating a must-be-a-part-of-this feeling on the part of your listener. Passion comes from being genuine, which inherently means that it’s tough to fake, and for most passionate people is something that just shines through naturally.

However, a problem arises when you’ve pitched the same thing over and over and over again (as you most inevitably will). Once you’ve delivered your ‘schpiel’ so many times that it has become automatic, it begins to sound exactly like that – automated. That key element of excitement in your voice can sometimes be lost.

Therefore, when talking, there’s a huge need to be in the present when you’re doing it (rather than being on autopilot). Only by being in the present can you remember how much you love what you do and let that love pour forth in your voice.

Adam has an even better tip – he recommends changing the way that you pitch it. If you change the way you pitch, then the pitch never gets old, and you have no trouble keeping it inspiring every time you do it. Maybe one time you start with a question, and another you kick off with a bold statement. Each time, you focus on driving home the key elements by building up to them, but you focus on changing the building blocks to keep things fresh. Think about this the 100th time you’ve pitched something.

top twelve things for entrepreneurs to learn today

2011-10-05T23:59:00.001-04:00

This is re-posted from NYU Entrepreneur.

Though I try not to make a habit of regretting things, one thing I do kick myself for from time to time is the set of skills I could have built while I was not starting a company. I think about all the time I had while I was in college or working, and if I had a chance to go back, I'd systematically learn the skills that would be tremendously useful to have in my arsenal now. To save you the regret, I thought I'd share with you the top twelve things (in no specific order) to learn/do while you're waiting for the big idea:

1. Photoshop / Illustrator - so unbelievably handy when it comes to any design work to be able to do at least small things yourself instead of hiring someone else. You don't need to be an expert - just keep an eye out for work you appreciate in an effort to begin developing good taste, and the ability to edit / adjust other people's work, and you're halfway there.

2. Online Advertising (Google / Facebook) - if you've got a bit of spare change, it's worth playing around with both of these to understand how they work, how to systematically improve your ads and work towards paying less and less for the same amount of clickthrough/conversion. Also a great way to test demand for ideas.

3. Relationships w/Journalists & Bloggers - it's infinitely easier to befriend bloggers and journalists when you're not pushing a product. Before you've launched anything, you're in the powerful position of being a fan only. Make a habit of writing to journalists frequently - if you like an article, write to them and thank them for it. Follow them on twitter - make yourself part of their following, and when you do need a leg up, they won't hesitate.

4. Social Media - social media success blogs are a dime a dozen, but implementing recommendations is a lot harder than they make it sound. The only way to really learn is by doing it yourself. Why not take up a cause and begin learning now what works and what doesn't when trying to drive 'likes' or 'follows' or anything else?

5. Prototyping - if there's one skill to learn, it's how to make your ideas as real as possible without actually coding them. Using Serena Prototype Composer, Axure (my favorite), or iRise, learn how to create something that looks and feels just like a website - then study usability testing and iterate on it until your users are achieving their (and your) goals without hesitation.

6. Coding - yup, this is a biggie. If you've got time - learn a language. If only so that you can better communicate with developers and understand their challenges, begin to estimate effort & difficulty on your own, or at best get your prototype up off the ground before hiring the big guns. If I had a second chance, I'd have been a developer.

7. Offshoring - learning how to quickly and skillfully offshore tasks can end up being critical. Got a long, dull, repetitive task? Pay someone offshore to do it for $5 and learn how to write job descriptions, interview candidates, read applications, and assign super unambiguous assignments. Then review performance, adjust, and try again.

8. Blog - creating content unceasingly is a very necessary skill in startupland. Whether for your newsletter, for press, for your corporate blog - writing should come easily, and you should have something important to say. Blogging gets you into the habit of observing every situation in your life through a lens that makes you wonder whether it's worth writing about.

9. Online Communities - Reddit, Yelp Talk, Hacker News, Quora, Communities around Blogs - these are all places you should be building social capital in starting right now. Doesn't take much - let's say one intelligent response to a post you feel passionately about every two weeks, and several upvotes of other people's posts. Get involved now and when you need these communities, you'll not only understand them, but they'll embrace you as one of their own.

10. Google Analytics - can't say enough about how important this tool is. Picking up the basics is super easy - don't stop there. Study event tracking, search tracking, ecommerce, advanced segmentation and custom reports - there's so much you can do with it. Even better, learn what you can't do with GA, and be sure to fill those gaps with your own internal site usage tracking or other analytics tools.

11. SAAS Tools - there are so many online tools that will help make running your business easier, and the better you know the landscape, the sooner you'll be efficiently managing your business. Check out the top CRM tools, financial management tools, collaboration and project management workspaces, google apps - think about all the different aspects of a business and go out and find/compare the tools you might use. Then learn how they work so you can hit the ground running when you need them.

12. Networking - goes without saying but the more connections you have when you start your business the better. Ideally by the time you start you've already met your technical (or business!) co-founder, you know some entrepreneurs and investors that are rooting you on, you know who you'd love to hire, and you've already formed relationships with the first set of people you're going to reach out to for business development.

There's no time like the present. Go forth and learn this stuff before your big idea hits!

admiring teachers

2011-10-03T23:49:00.000-04:00

One theme in my education reading of late has been the power of the human element in teaching. Now of course it can't be denied that technology is going to change the way everything is done (everyone and their principal will tell you that 'blended learning' is the ultimate education concept), but lately I've been hearing much more about the humans and less about the tech.

The concept that struck me today was a person saying that she was inspired by her teacher to enter her chosen field - that it was a turning point for her entire life because this one person was so successful at conveying a passion for her field. I have had a few instructors like that. Anne Bahr Thomson is one (though she'll never believe me) - I took her intro to marketing class and it set me on fire. First time that I've ever felt like the work in a class was earning more than a grade - I was creating something, and fell in love with marketing immediately (then majored in it, and worked at L'Oreal).

That one crucial aspect of live in-person education is that teachers give you someone to admire. And though online learning will one day be fabulous, I promise that it will ever deliver that.

two notes on networking

2011-10-01T23:41:00.000-04:00

Two things I've learned about networking:

1. It's easiest when you need it the least. In the beginning, when you're just a guy with an idea trying to meet new people and make things happen, no one wants to be your friend. Why? Because most people are trying to meet others that can help them / add value to what they're doing, and you haven't yet proven yourself 'worthy'. Therefore, ironically, the best thing you can do to help yourself network is to stop networking and go execute something worth telling people about. Then, all of a sudden, they'll say - 'wow, I've heard of that - sure, let's chat'!

2. I wrote forever ago about being a 'go-giver', and it's just so true in networking. As I said, most people meet others thinking 'how can this person help me?', whereas the true secret to networking is to thing 'how can I help this person?' Every time I meet someone, I try to think of someone I know that they could benefit from. No matter who they are, how big they are, how much they've done - everyone appreciates a great introduction. And if you're the person that made the introduction, you've set a precedent, one that they'll be happy to continue. (not to mention that it's just a great feeling to have people tell you how much they clicked with the person you intro'd them to!)

the daily challenge

2011-09-30T23:40:00.000-04:00

One of the interesting mental challenges afforded to us by the daily deal sites (Groupon, LivingSocial, etc.) is to learn how to say no to things we genuinely don’t need. American consumerism is driven most by the concept of ‘a great deal’ – an unbelievable price for a good. What we so often forget is that in economic terms, any good is totally worthless if we have no need for it. Like I might be able to get a new snowblower for $20 but what the hell am I going to do with a snowblower?

Similarly, every day there’s a slew of new unbelievable deals, and I think it’s actually teaching people restraint. In the beginning everyone grabbed every deal they could, but now that we know that there will always be at least a few deals, we’re learning to say, ‘wow great deal. But would I have spent the money on it if it weren’t for sale?’ This is a powerful step towards letting go of some of our materialism and embracing minimalism. The same force that causes us to question if we need the daily deal will give us strength when we’re considering taking seconds at dinner, or when having another drink at the bar.

pretending like you're just getting started again

2011-09-29T23:39:00.000-04:00

Recently, I’ve transitioned into an ‘early to bed, early to rise’ lifestyle. I try to be in bed by 10:30, and up by 5:30. I love early mornings, and I’m super productive in the 3 and a half hours I have before anyone else is in the office. Something about knowing that I got up early, that there will be no interruptions, and that I’ve got the whole day ahead of me all combine to help me get a ton done.

I’ve recently started to use that setting to re-energize my productivity when I lose it. Sometimes in the afternoon, something happens and I find myself unable to focus. I find myself surfing the web, jumping from task to task without completing anything, and worst of all – getting chatty with everyone else in the office and distracting them from their work.

My new idea is to surrender when I lose focus – to pack up my stuff and go somewhere else in the building. I’m lucky because we’re working in a large building full of great workspaces, so I have a lot of options. I find a good spot, settle back down, and it’s just like morning again – I’ve got no plausible interruptions and I’ve just sat down to work - puts me right back into the groove again.

staring only at success

2011-09-27T23:39:00.000-04:00

Lately, we’ve been analyzing the course pages of classes that have been most popular on our site to understand whether there are any obvious patterns between what seems to sell, and what doesn’t. We’re looking to see whether a certain number of photos is optimal, or number of schedules available or style of copywriting describing the course.

One thing that’s most difficult about this is that it’s never enough to just examine what has worked – we must always take into account all the other things that did work. For instance, if we find that every popular course has 2 photos, that’s not enough – we have to examine all the other courses to see if they have 2 photos as well – if they did, then clearly photos aren’t as important as we thought.

Similarly, when we see success stories of people or companies, there’s a big push to try and find linking attributes – to say ‘all success stories have this in common’. Yet in these efforts, we’re inevitably blind to all those whose story was composed of the exact same elements, and yet yielded lackluster success.

a to-do list for someone else

2011-09-24T23:38:00.000-04:00

My business partner and I have created a simple yet super effective way to prioritize tasks that we each need the other to do. Effectively, I was searching for a way to create a to-do list for Katie because I found that it was hard for her to focus on which of my emails was a priority, and which ones could be saved and read later.

I first tried to adopt a few to-do lists (like RemembertheMilk), but then I realized – the most effective tools are the ones we already used. I created for both of us a filter and a label. Now, when I need her to review a spec or a set of slides or reach out to someone, I email her with a subject line that starts with ‘TASK:’. Her filters automatically make my email skip her inbox and land in the top filter in her left column (bold and with a number in parenthesis since the email was never opened). Then, when she finishes the task, she knocks off the label.

So far it’s been super effective, and I thought it was worth sharing.

turning off email notifications

2011-09-23T23:37:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine recently gave me a productivity tip that’s so far been working out remarkably well. It was a simple solution – turn off the sound of email notifications (and gchat notifications) on my phone. I find that when I’m working, it’s very common for me to settle into a ‘groove of productivity’ – a time when I’m doing the best work. It doesn’t happen the moment I sit down – it usually takes a period of time before my mind has settled in. Hearing that an email has arrived totally breaks that groove – pulls me into the urgency of wanting to know who’s contacting me. So I check my phone or email, respond and then get back to work – except that I’ve lost the groove.

Turning off audible notifications is liberating. When I choose to, I pick up my phone or check my email online to see if there’s anything there – placing the power to close myself off from everything in my own hands. I’ve already noticed a marked improvement in my ability to focus on tasks longer, allowing me to settle into the groove where I do my best work.

on spreading unwelcome stories

2011-09-22T23:34:00.001-04:00

I wrote this down a while ago and then totally forgot to post it:

Recently, Tracy Morgan ‘got in trouble’ for spouting a few offensive homophobic remarks while on stage at one of his shows. To be fair, his comments were certainly offensive, and I can understand why so many people reacted so poorly to them. However, I recently read the reaction of Louis C.K. to the firestorm surrounding the story, and I thought he had a very valid point that seems to be gaining weight within the anti-sensationalist news community.

Louis C.K. pointed out that all the people that paid to attend the show knew exactly what they were getting themselves into. They likely were familiar with Tracy Morgan’s brand of comedy, and not only that, appreciated it enough to pay a high ticket price to attend the show. I’d be very surprised if any people in the audience were offended by what he said; if they were, they probably shouldn’t have attended the show.

Louis went on to point out that the people who then took Tracy Morgan’s jokes and spread them around on the web in order to earn money from the ensuing outrage are really the ones to blame. They took something said within a private venue and delivered them to a public audience that wasn’t ready to hear it – and as the broadcaster of those comments, they’re as much to blame, if not more.

I’ve recently witnessed a similar battle on Scott Adams’ (creator of Dilbert) blog. I love his blog for its wit, it’s rather frank appraisal of American society, and perhaps most of all for his comedic yet thoughtful thought experiments. The whole purpose of a blog is to put ones thoughts down for others to read in a very opt-in way. No one who doesn’t want to read your blog has to – if you’re reading this right now, you’ve made a very conscious decision to do so.

Yet Adams has been subject to a similar type of sensationalism – his posts have been broadcast across the web by those seeking to earn money from people who would be upset by them. It concerns me that journalists make a living in this way, and as each new story about an off-color comment comes out, I’ve begun to question who’s at fault – the commenter, or the one who forced the offended parties to hear those comments.

you've driven me to write

2011-09-16T09:59:00.003-04:00

This post is for Milna Rose and Paul Tough.

Milna is a great friend (that I don't see often enough) and blogger who writes a blog called 'i care about things'. She wrote a post entitled 'for lack of words' that echoed my exact sentiments when it comes to working and writing, and was the first thing to set me slowly back on the path to keeping up with my writing, even as I work harder than ever.

Paul Tough is a contributing writer at the NY Times, and he wrote an article that has brought clarity and encouragement to a dream that I have had for some time now - to start schools. If you are interested in the real future of education, please read this article. It beautifully follows the story of a few school leaders and their efforts to incorporate character education into our schools.

My dream has always been to build schools that change the current model of 1-dimensional, intellectual-only education into a 3-dimensional intellectual-character-practical education. To understand the character side, read Paul's article. With regards to the practical side, I want to teach kids things like:

How to decide what job you want, and how to go and get it
How to manage your finances and (most importantly) your credit
How to unclog a toilet, assemble furniture, and maintain a vehicle

Thank you to Paul and Milna for pulling me back to my blog.

Two months ago I stopped writing because I thought I was too busy.

That changes today :)

the correlation between peace and writing

2011-07-21T16:47:00.002-04:00

I've noticed there's a direct correlation between my state of mind and the frequency of my posts here. When my mind is in equanimity, when I'm taking time to pause, sit, think and write, I post frequently. When I'm in chaos, rushed, urgently moving from task to task, my blog gets neglected.

Nice to have such a physical reminder of my state of mind. You can be sure that I'll continue writing soon - I've often found that acting like I'm on the path returns me gently to it.

eleanor lerman - starfish

2011-06-23T13:38:00.002-04:00

A good friend sent me this one today - I love it!

Starfish

This is what life does. It lets you walk up to

the store to buy breakfast and the paper, on a

stiff knee. It lets you choose the way you have

your eggs, your coffee. Then it sits a fisherman

down beside you at the counter who say, Last night,

the channel was full of starfish. And you wonder,

is this a message, finally, or just another day?

Life lets you take the dog for a walk down to the

pond, where whole generations of biological

processes are boiling beneath the mud. Reeds

speak to you of the natural world: they whisper,

they sing. And herons pass by. Are you old

enough to appreciate the moment? Too old?

There is movement beneath the water, but it

may be nothing. There may be nothing going on.

And then life suggests that you remember the

years you ran around, the years you developed

a shocking lifestyle, advocated careless abandon,

owned a chilly heart. Upon reflection, you are

genuinely surprised to find how quiet you have

become. And then life lets you go home to think

about all this. Which you do, for quite a long time.

Later, you wake up beside your old love, the one

who never had any conditions, the one who waited

you out. This is life’s way of letting you know that

you are lucky. (It won’t give you smart or brave,

so you’ll have to settle for lucky.) Because you

were born at a good time. Because you were able

to listen when people spoke to you. Because you

stopped when you should have and started again.

So life lets you have a sandwich, and pie for your

late night dessert. (Pie for the dog, as well.) And

then life sends you back to bed, to dreamland,

while outside, the starfish drift through the channel,

with smiles on their starry faces as they head

out to deep water, to the far and boundless sea.

- Eleanor Lerman

little steps that enable success

2011-06-18T06:00:00.000-04:00

I’ve often found that I need to do little things to make it easier for myself to succeed. The latest one involves always having thank you cards, envelopes and stamps ready. I’m the type of person that constantly feels deep gratitude towards the astonishing number of people willing to help me, and since there are so few ways for me to show how much I mean it, I try to send thank you cards.

I’ve stated before that the friction of the medium is directly correlated to the impact it has, and snail mail is something that takes a lot of effort to send out and is always well received because of it. Yet even with all this intention and motivation to send cards, I find that unless I actually have all the materials required, a card never gets sent! It’s a lot like having a gym membership just for that moment that you’re feeling most motivated about working out – if you have the membership, you’re empowered in the moment the motivation strikes you. So it is with thank you cards – I’ve put in the effort in advance to keep the materials ready, and already have sent more in the last few months than in the years prior.

And, as ever, it’s made me think of the other little things I can do to make big things easier.

why you should journal / blog

2011-06-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

I was trying to explain to a friend the value in journaling or blogging, and articulated something I hadn’t realized. One thing I’ve noticed in reading my old moleskin entries or blog post is my past self seems so much more in tune with the world – wiser, more introspective, kinder. I realized that of course this would be true – that of course the majority of the things we would choose to write down would be the best of ourselves. Whenever I’ve written about problems I’m facing, I follow up with the solutions I’ve discovered. Whenever I’ve had a great conversation or read a line of truth, or a thought experiment that’s revealed something – these are the things I choose to write about. So of course, going back and reading these thoughts is like constantly being in conversation with the very best of myself.

So this is my entreaty to you – find time to write. Not only does it organize your thoughts in the present, but it constantly brings back to the surface your true self – the best of you – and reminds you of all you’re capable of. It’s very easy to lose ourselves in a world driven by constant stimulation, and writing can often act as the anchor, holding us steady amongst the tides.

late sunlight

2011-06-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

A mental exercise I’ve been doing is to occupy my thoughts fully in the present when I’m walking down the street. One of the ways that I do this is by fully observing everything around me. By gazing at everything and fully seeing it, all of it, with no background thoughts obscuring my perception of it. By devoting my entire energy to the seeing of it. Occupying the present in this way, and devoting my full power to one of my senses immediately clears my mind and lifts my heart. It reminds me that there is beauty everywhere, that everything is worth it, and real, and we are so lucky for it all.

A bi-product of this observation is my newfound love of late sunlight glancing across the single face of a Manhattan building. It crashes me into quietude – I stare and stare and gulp it in, and yearn for more. It is a perfect melding of the power in a single thought – to raise a building out of nothingness – and of the power of nature to improve upon every act of man. Few things of late have brought me greater aesthetic pleasure, and I’m deeply grateful for this one.

asking for what you want

2011-06-14T06:00:00.001-04:00

As a child, I always took a bit of pride in that I was less ‘needy’. My sister was the stereotypical ‘loud’ child – always wanting her way, asking for it, and most of the time, getting it. My distaste for this behavior quite naturally made act oppositely – I was quieter, more tractable. This also meant of course that I got what I wanted less often. I remember struggling with this as a child – the thought that I’m the ‘better’, ‘easier’ kid, but I actually end up suffering more for it. I remember reading the Autobiography of Malcolm X, where as a child he quickly learned the same lesson – the first seed that eventually transformed him into a leader that spoke of taking action, of demanding rights where none were given.

It’s a lesson that hasn’t been lost on me as we run CourseHorse – the power of asking for the things that you want. It is of course a very different quality – asking graciously and in moderation, respectfully accepting when you don’t get what you want, and offering effusive appreciation when you do. Yet it’s the same lesson – there’s no ‘honor’ in doing things on your own, you win no respect when you need something, don’t ask, and carry on without it. And, on the flip side, some of the things you ask for that seem terribly unlikely end up coming through! The power to ask for help should not be forgotten.

timing your entrance to meetings

2011-06-13T06:00:00.000-04:00

Had a great conversation with a good friend about how timing when it comes to meetings.

He’s the president of his class, which means that he’s constantly setting up meetings with the other members of the student council / faculty advisors, and the meetings are where everyone sees him getting his job done. He explained that in the beginning, he followed the mantra of ‘be prepared’, which means he got there ahead of time, set up the room and where he’d like everyone to sit, and had the agenda and materials all planned out. Very quickly, he realized that there’s an interesting power dynamic created when the organizer of the meeting is the first one there. As people filter into the room, he’s forced to make small talk with each one of them, and this chatter saps the strength out of his purpose with the meeting. It also delayed the start as he was constantly having a conversation about whether or not to wait an extra five minutes to start. To change this, he began intentionally arriving late to meetings. Not rudely late, but late enough where he could be sure that 70% of the participants were there. By doing this, he set a precedent – everyone got used to the fact that the moment he arrives, the meeting will begin, regardless of who’s there.

As a teacher, I’ve been taught several times that the opposite is true. Teachers always want to be the first to arrive in the classroom, to ‘own the space’ before any of the students arrive, so that when they push open that door, you’re waiting for them, and they’re entering your space – they’re on your turf. I’ve felt this many times as a teacher – the subtle lack of respect that ensues when my entire class was there occupying or ‘owning’ the space before I arrived. When I enter the room, it’s like I’m an outsider, and keeping their attention would often be more difficult. I also found that chatting with students before class helped build a rapport with my kids, which of course made it easier to teach.

I can only assume that different strategies are required in different situations / for different audiences – good to be aware of the strengths & weaknesses of both.

these poems

2011-06-12T08:20:00.000-04:00

These Poems

These poems she said

These poems, these poems,

these poems, she said, are poems

with no love in them. These are the poems of a man

who would leave his wife and child because

they made noise in his study. These are the poems

of a man who would murder his mother to claim

the inheritance. These are the poems of a man

like Plato, she said, meaning something I did not

comprehend but which nevertheless

offended me. These are the poems of a man

who would rather sleep with himself than with women,

she said. These are the poems of a man

with eyes like a drawknife, with hands like a pickpocket's

hands, woven of water and logic

and hunger, with no strand of love in them. These

poems are as heartless as birdsong, as unmeant

as elm leaves, which if they love love only

the wide blue sky and the air and the idea

of elm leaves. Self-love is an ending, she said,

and not a beginning. Love means love

of the thing sung, not of the song or the singing.

These poems, she said. . . .

You are, he said,

beautiful.

That is not love, she said rightly.

- Robert Bringhurst

types of trust

2011-06-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

Been thinking a lot about trust lately. Everyone knows the basics - that it takes forever to earn and can be lost in a moment. I've been thinking though that there are a few types of trust worth mentioning (in business, and otherwise):

- Best Friend Trust - There are people that I trust so much that I know if I ever call them and say "I need you, now, please", they'll drop everything and be there for me, whatever the cause. This type of trust has several levels of depth, this example being the deepest.

- Best Friend Trust 2 - Trusting people to ask when appropriate: I would off course be there for those same people - it works only because we trust each other to only make that phone call when we absolutely have to

- The Confidant - people you trust that you can confide in for advice / just as an outlet, who you know won't go telling anyone (not just people you both know) about what you've confided in them

- Risk Trust - people you trust not to get you hurt/in trouble - some people just lead riskier lifestyles, and some are just less considerate about putting others at risk

- Idea Trust - people you tell your ideas to - you trust them not to go off and try to use your ideas as their own and you trust them not to tell everyone they know about your great idea

- 'Handle it' Trust - people you don't mind leaving alone in important situations for you, your family or your business (also the guy you're ready to throw a 40 yard Hail Mary to, knowing he'll find a way to catch it). There are different trusts here, depending on the situation, of course.

- Money Trust - people you trust not to be greedy with you. Curiously, our level of 'greed' and 'generosity' varies greatly from person to person - this trust let's you know for sure that you're not getting the short end of the stick with this person

- Personality Trust - the trust built up to where you 'know' the person - they're a predictable entity, and you're sure that all the other trusts you've built are real

on being too open

2011-06-10T06:00:00.001-04:00

One thing I'm still working on as a business person is to keep my cards a little closer to my chest. I find it difficult as a very passionate person to keep my self from telling everyone about all the things I'm excited about. Now of course in everyday life, though people might get tired of this, there's no risk involved. In business of course, there's always a risk that you're revealing too much.

A few specific thoughts:

- Sometimes it's hard to know what to keep to yourself. Are my specific insights into the education world & market actually so genius that they're worth keeping quiet? Should I be silent about things that related companies / competitors do that are less obvious to others, but that I'd like to emulate?

- How can you keep an engaging, passionate discussion without offering some of the insight you've had that you value the most? One thing I'm getting better at is saying 'Sorry, can't quite tell you about that - it's something we're keeping more private for now', but I still feel like that cools off what could be a productive conversation.

- My feeling is that generally when I give to the world, it gives back to me 10-fold. Often, I find the same is true with ideas - I have a kernel of a thought, and share it with someone whose insight makes it grow - then rinse and repeat. When do you keep those kernels to yourself?

For now, I've begun straying far towards the side of less disclosure - literally making a list of the things / ideas I'll make a conscious effort not to discuss with others. We'll see how it pans out!

feeling lucky

2011-06-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

For my entire life, I have had an overwhelming sense that I am a lucky person. Things just seem to work out for me - I have always been able to walk down the street see other people and not for a moment wish that I was them in any way - wouldn't trade what I have for anything.

It's been a recent development then, that in the last six months, I've experienced sudden bouts of the exact opposite. During periods of intense stress or fear or self-doubt (all company related), I've had the odd sensation of seeing the randomest people on the street, and wishing I were them. Envious of the random guy laughing loudly with friends, of the old man sitting in the park and doing just nothing, of the lady behind the counter who's job is just so simple.

"How nice it would be," my idiotic mind says, "to have such a simple, zero responsibility life."

This was an entirely new sensation for me, and for a while, I admit, it had me locked up - didn't know where it was coming from or how to combat it, but it was weighing on me quite heavily. It's not easy to constantly wish you were someone else. One theme I've noticed in my life (and you'll notice, in these posts), is that I always get my true self back through an act of self-remembering. I actually had to remember how lucky I always felt, and take the very manual step of reversing my thinking. I admit, I leaned on my ego and began shutting those thoughts down by actually saying to myself: "I bet that guy is looking at me and thinking - how lucky that guy is! He's quite literally living his dream! I'd give anything to do what he's doing!"

And lo! It's worked - I've remembered again how absurdly lucky I am, in quite literally every way. That mental sickness is gone for now, at least. And, as my satisfying reward, I've had several bouts of almost offensive luck lately to remind me =D

two metaphors for awareness

2011-06-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

Was talking to my dad about rediscovering self-awareness when things like fear, stress, anger, etc. threaten to rock the boat. Typically, the way back to equanimity and peace is through awareness - to recognize that your fears are not real, that your stress is self-invented, that anger is useless. The challenge is that awareness isn't always easy to trigger. I often find that metaphors succeed where logic does not, and my dad gave me two great metaphors to think about here:

Your turbulent mind (ego) is like the waves on the ocean surface, always restless. But if you go deep under, it remains completely undisturbed even if a fierce hurricane is blowing above. Know that you are that infinite depth, not the agitated waves.

If you sit in a totally dark room, lighting a candle may bring great relief. Thus candle on = happiness and candle off = unhappiness, similar to life situations. Suddenly you discover that the room has shutters on all sides and you open all of them and light streams in (enlightenment!). After this, turning the candle on and off (life’s ups and downs) has only a minor effect on you.

If you're wondering - yes, my dad is the man :)

a TED talk on vulnerability

2011-06-07T23:32:00.001-04:00

Really enjoyed this:

bob hicok - calling him back from layoff

2011-06-05T22:24:00.001-04:00

Calling Him Back from Layoff

I called a man today. After he said

hello and I said hello came a pause

during which it would have been

confusing to say hello again so I said

how are you doing and guess what, he said

fine and wondered aloud how I was

and it turns out I’m OK. He

was on the couch watching cars

painted with ads for Budweiser follow cars

painted with ads for Tide around an oval

that’s a metaphor for life because

most of us run out of gas and settle

for getting drunk in the stands

and shouting at someone in a t-shirt

we want kraut on our dog. I said

he could have his job back and during

the pause that followed his whiskers

scrubbed the mouthpiece clean

and his breath passed in and out

in the tidal fashion popular

with mammals until he broke through

with the words how soon thank you

ohmyGod which crossed his lips and drove

through the wires on the backs of ions

as one long word as one hard prayer

of relief meant to be heard

by the sky. When he began to cry I tried

with the shape of my silence to say

I understood but each confession

of fear and poverty was more awkward

than what you learn in the shower.

After he hung up I went outside and sat

with one hand in the bower of the other

and thought if I turn my head to the left

it changes the song of the oriole

and if I give a job to one stomach other

forks are naked and if tonight a steak

sizzles in his kitchen do the seven

other people staring at their phones

hear?

- Bob Hicok

rita dove - american smooth

2011-05-31T08:06:00.001-04:00

American Smooth

We were dancing—it must have

been a foxtrot or a waltz,

something romantic but

requiring restraint,

rise and fall, precise

execution as we moved

into the next song without

stopping, two chests heaving

above a seven-league

stride—such perfect agony,

one learns to smile through,

ecstatic mimicry

being the sine qua non

of American Smooth.

And because I was distracted

by the effort of

keeping my frame

(the leftward lean, head turned

just enough to gaze out

past your ear and always

smiling, smiling),

I didn’t notice

how still you’d become until

we had done it

(for two measures?

four?)—achieved flight,

that swift and serene

magnificence,

before the earth

remembered who we were

and brought us down.

- Rita Dove

joe mills - how you know

2011-05-22T10:04:00.001-04:00

How You Know

How do you know if it’s love? she asks,

and I think if you have to ask, it’s not,

but I know this won’t help. I want to say

you’re too young to worry about it,

as if she has questions about Medicare

or social security, but this won’t help either.

“You’ll just know” is a lie, and one truth,

“when you still want to be with them

the next morning,” would involve too

many follow-up questions. The difficulty

with love, I want to say, is sometimes

you only know afterwards that it’s arrived

or left. Love is the elephant and we

are the blind mice unable to understand

the whole. I want to say love is this

desire to help even when I know I can’t,

just as I couldn’t explain electricity, stars,

the color of the sky, baldness, tornadoes,

fingernails, coconuts, or the other things

she has asked about over the years, all

those phenomena whose daily existence

seems miraculous. Instead I shake my head.

I don’t even know how to match my socks.

Go ask your mother. She laughs and says,

I did. Mom told me to come and ask you.

- Joe Mills

career classes for high schoolers

2011-05-20T20:00:00.004-04:00

Doesn't it make sense to teach basic careers skills to high school students?

Amongst the myriad practical skills that I hope to one day fit into a high school curriculum, career skills are amongst the highest. Some basics that no one should graduate (or not graduate) high school without knowing:

- When you email a company, find a person, find his or her name and email them directly - don't write 'to whom it may concern', to 'to recruiters', to 'head of HR', etc. - in most cases, you should never send an email to 'recruiting@company.com' - always pick a person.

- Basic resume formatting - no comic sans, what to include/not include, how to tailor a resume to a job or company, picking a professional email address

- Research the company, and think about how you can apply whatever experience you have to add value - always have questions to ask!

- Send a thank you note promptly - reference something specific that was discussed so that they remember you

- Keep everything brief!!

Imagine a workforce that had these as foundational skills - would make it a lot harder for employers to cut their stack of resumes, right? The inevitable result would be that a new set of basics (that no one seems to know) would be established, at which point, the high school curriculum would have to (gasp!) adapt once again.

Did I miss any basics?

regarding osama

2011-05-03T21:20:00.001-04:00

I've come across two quotes since I heard about Osama's death (both apparently are illegitimate, yet aptly capture a point I'd like to make):

"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure."

- Mark Twain

""I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy."

- Martin Luther King, Jr

I've found that these two quotes summarize the majority of the opinions of the people I have spoken to and whose reactions I've read.

Quick sidenote: I know that of course there's a large contingent of people who have actively wanted to see Osama dead, and those who have rejoiced in loud, bombastic celebration to hear of his death (I distinguish this from Twain's quieter 'great pleasure'). I think I write these two reactions off as completely outside my range of anticipated reactions (I'll never hope for or loudly rejoice at a person's death).

But the moment I heard the news, I found myself examining my immediate reaction, and discovered that I fall into MLK's camp. No matter what Osama has done, I feel no pleasure to hear of his death. I feel no relief, no joy to know that he's gone. The closest positive feeling is perhaps a modicum of empathy for those might have been freed from their burden of vengeance and the resulting helplessness - for those who found closure in the news.

I curiously assumed that many of the writers / people I enjoy and admire would be in my camp - would have trouble reconciling all of the apparent joy, yet found that my reaction was in an overwhelming minority. The moment I encounter an opposing perspective, I reconsider my own, but after mulling it over, I still feel the same - that the celebration of a death is always misplaced.

I'm proud of my reaction, and what it implies about who I've become, but still seeking debate, as I don't think I yet understand the range of what people are feeling yet.

nyu biz plan competition winners

2011-05-02T18:25:00.005-04:00

On Friday, Katie and I pitched CourseHorse in the finals of the NYU Business Plan Competition, and won.

For those who aren't familiar, the NYU Business Plan competition is hosted every year for those affiliated with NYU (current students, grad/undergrad, alumni, etc.). The competition kicks off in September, this year with over 200 teams I believe, and after several rounds of smaller submissions, coaching, mentoring, networking, the teams submit their final business plans and present for 15 minutes (followed by 15 minutes of Q&A). Every team that makes it to the finals could (and very likely will) become a real company, solving a problem that exists in our world. The winner gets 75K in grant funding to get their business off the ground.

I have known since I heard of the competition that I would enter it one day, and the timing of CourseHorse coincided beautifully with this years' competition. We entered in September knowing what we wanted to build, and in the following months, found a developer, built the product and executed sales and marketing.

One thing that's perhaps unique about our situation - we felt knew our business idea cold - how to execute, what to build, etc - many teams enter without having finalized or even considered many of these things, which is of course the entire point of the competition - to vet your ideas with some pretty incredible people. Our experience was different - it was less a process of discovering the business and much more a process of discovering how to communicate the business to other people (just as vital, as it turns out).

The coaching and mentoring was unbelievable - the amount of time that these people put in with quite frankly little to gain personally, and moreover, the passion and conviction evident in their efforts was inspiring. We owe a great deal to over a dozen mentors that picked apart our writing, our speaking, our slides until we finally felt we 'got it' and put together a presentation and plan that answered every major question an investor has. My evidence to this was the types of questions we got in the Q&A - we felt that while many teams had 'clarifying' questions, like "Can you explain this again?", we got questions like "What's your exit strategy?" - i.e., "I'm sold, now tell me what your future plans are."

Competitions like this are what make our society work. A strong incentive for people to achieve their own dreams, a structured yet flexible set of criteria defining excellence, and a powerful network of enthusiastic support - these are the building blocks of the American Dream. I'm honored and humbled to have been a part of it.

coursehorse launches.

2011-04-21T19:56:00.005-04:00

CourseHorse has launched.

CourseHorse helps you find local classes. For the first time ever, there is an easy way for people to access real, local education after they’ve left school. CourseHorse is for everyone that discovered how much they loved learning only after they finished their formal education. For all the parents that want their children to keep learning after school and over the summer, for all the professionals that want to keep adding to their skill sets, to keep improving, to keep taking steps forward. For everyone looking for a constructive way to spend their time – to keep their mind and body on, even as they relax and socialize.

It’s important to know that the schools posting their classes on CourseHorse are led by some unbelievable people. We’ve worked with them, spoken with them, met them, and they are some of the most intelligent, creative, driven people you will ever have the good graces to learn from. Every single one has married two passions – a love of the subject they teach, and a yearning to share that love with others. Imagine – they have built entire schools for the purpose! Theirs is perhaps the best kind of work – one of creation, collaboration and generosity. Katie and I are ineffably grateful to every single one that has taken the leap with us, sharing our vision for education that doesn’t end.

Take a look. Find something you like, or let us know and we’ll find it for you and put it on CourseHorse. Overcome your hesitation, self-doubt, indecision – and we guarantee that it will be rewarding.

Oh, and all classes are 10% off for the next week - use the promo code 'ponyup' :)

a glimpse of purpose amongst the chaos

2011-04-21T19:55:00.003-04:00

(semi-warning: this is a long, life defining post)

If you look hard enough, you can begin to glimpse the divine order of things. Upon reviewing your past, you can identify the turning points, ever so slight, upon which your present condition has hinged, and can see how intentional everything really was.

In my mind, one of the first events that kicked off the series of events that has led me here was my college application process. I have always been universally good at standardized tests – something about the finite, unambiguous nature of what’s required appealed to my abilities, which meant that my test scores were out of this world. But alas, my in-school efforts were lackluster – I have always, in school, been unable to do much more than the bare necessity required. Thus I received a first important lesson – that one short term burst of hard work and success (test scores) cannot overcome a much longer term of complacency – I was rejected from every school I applied to except for NYU and UCONN.

NYU was the only business program I applied to, and it is of course the most urban school in the world. What I’m trying to say that it was through no intention of mine that I went to a business school and had what turned out to be the most unbelievable, self-forming experiences of my life. I cannot now imagine myself getting a non-business degree, or attending a non-urban university. It was perfect, and accidental.

The story of my love affair with education is similar. Solely to earn some spending money, I taught for Kaplan (see the link here to awesome test scores?) in sophomore year – a terrifying and inexorably life changing experience. (sidenote - everyone should spend a semester trying to teach – then let them try to talk trash to today’s teachers). Then I stumbled upon the first company I tried to start – ScholarScout – a platform that would help connect high school students with the colleges that fit them best (see Zinch & Cappex as examples of what we would have done). Assembling that business idea was my first taste of what education means to this world. It was so easy to be passionate about. I have always wanted to have a large impact on the world, and had always had a question of which field best served that purpose – medicine, politics, etc. The work I did for ScholarScout affirmed in my mind that education is the single greatest way to improve our world. And, that I wanted to start an education business.

It was also at this time that I discovered the professional side of my mother that I had always been too young to understand. She had always been just ‘Mum’, but I realized what an incredible executive she is – and, to no one’s surprise, it turns out she had been working her entire life for a company that sells computer software to colleges. Suddenly, every time I saw her, I had a whole new set of things to talk about.

My internship experiences in finance and marketing (all of which again were again the result of luck than any intention on my part) taught me that neither was the right field for me, and that drew a rather clear line to consulting. I started working for Capgemini, and lo! The first project I was put on was for The Princeton Review! (see how important my brief experience with Kaplan was?) At the Princeton Review, not only did I get to learn the ins and outs of an education company, but I also filled in a huge piece of the puzzle that I was missing – how to think about and build technology (the reason ScholarScout never took off). Quite literally, I learned exactly what I learned in order to go build something myself. Web marketing, product development, usability testing, even slide design and effective meeting management – how remarkable that the exact skills I knew I lacked were the ones placed at my doorstep. All this combined with an incredible set of people and personalities to work with and learn from, and the knowledge of what it means to really work for something.

I had always known that I would quit Capgemini to start my own company, and now I had the skill set to go do it. All I needed was the idea. Again now, see the order in it – while working to make it easier to purchase test-prep classes on the Princeton Review’s website, I realized that it would all be a waste. Why? Because someone would go put all the test prep classes in one place online, to make them easy to find and compare, and that’s where the real buying would happen. And then I realized that no one was doing it, and I called up Katie, who was already killing it at a startup (always two steps ahead of me) and 10 minutes later, we had the vision for what became CourseHorse.

From my test scores, to NYU, to Kaplan, to the Princeton Review, to the idea - what I’m trying to say is that my entire life has been preparing me for this moment. I’ve tried to speak to the bigger moments here, but there are so many smaller ones that I can effortlessly name, as building blocks and puzzle pieces that came together, as if orchestrated, to bring me here.

The beauty of this is that it means nothing about the future. As I’ve already seen, as with my college application process, “failure” is one necessary step in a longer series. Perhaps CourseHorse is meant to fail to make room for something grander. It certainly doesn’t feel like it, but any speculation on the matter is pointless. All I know for sure is that it that it is totally intentional that I’m meant to have be here, building this company, in this moment.

I’m proud to announce that CourseHorse has launched. It has been someone’s 24 year project in the works. I cannot say that I know what will happen next. But I have been granted the certainty that it will be absolutely right.

eugenio montale - salt

2011-04-12T14:26:00.001-04:00

Salt

We don't know if tomorrow has green pastures

in mind for us to lie down in beside

the ever-youthful patter of fresh water

or if it means to plant us in some arid

outback ugly valley of the shadow

where dayspring's lost for good, interred beneath

a lifetime of mistakes. We'll maybe wake up

in foreign cities where the sun's a ghost,

a figment of itself and angular

starched consonants braid the tongue at its root

so all sense of who we are is lost to words,

and nothing that we know can be unravelled.

Even then, some vestige of the sea,

its plosive tide, its fretwork crests will surge

inside our syllables, bronze like the chant of bees.

However far we've stumbled from the source

a trace of the sea's voice will lodge in us

as the sunlight somehow still abides in

faded tufts that cling to bricks and kerbstones

on half-cleared slums or bomb-sites left unbuilt.

Then out of nowhere after years of silence

the words we used, our unobstructed accents,

will well up from the dark of childhood,

and once more on our lips we'll taste Greek salt.

- Eugenio Montale

dylan thomas - do not go gentle into that good night

2011-04-03T13:41:00.000-04:00

Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,

Because their words had forked no lightning they

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, cryig how bright

Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,

Rage, rage against he dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,

And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight

Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,

Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light..

- Dylan Thomas

jackie kay - holy island

2011-03-27T19:28:00.001-04:00

Holy Island

All winter I was waiting

for something to give

and today I felt it,

a small crack,

the sun on the sandy dunes

by the Causeway,

the feel of the land

so close to the sea.

Nick and me and the dog

striding along

by the old Benedictine monastery

till we walked into

a new vocabulary –

hope, benevolence, benediction –

after the long wintering

of false starts,

the same day over and over,

the spring at last here –

I said a small prayer,

the wind on my hair

- Jackie Kay

regarding experience

2011-03-25T16:51:00.002-04:00

Looking back, I've written quite a few posts, about how you don't need experience.

As with most of my blog posts, I was wrong. In the several months I've spent working on CourseHorse I've already encountered 100's of things that I would do differently the second time - and that's what experience is - messing up once and then knowing better the next time.

However, there's one point that I'm more certain of now than ever:

You don't need experience to GET experience.

(Quick Sidenote: Often I'm guilty of arguing for an extreme in an effort to shift people ever so slightly to a more moderate conclusion, one that I actually agree with. I think this is the case - by speaking loudly against the necessity of experience, I might convince a few more people to self-start.)

This point is, I think, crucial to everything I believe in.

That yes, though it would be nice to be born with years of experience, the only way to accrue that experience, and lots of it...is to act as though you already have it. Arrogance ('damn the man! I don't need experience!'), for all its foible, forces us down a path of fast learning, self-reliance, even failure - one that gets us to 'experience' much faster than if we sat on our hands in our offices or classrooms, being spoon fed. Simply put, trying to start a company gives you 5 times the amount of 'experience' as working for one. If you're waiting to take a leap until you feel that you've learned enough, you'll never leap.

Bottom line - not having experience is no excuse to not gain any experience.

robert creely - the rain

2011-03-21T00:08:00.002-04:00

The Rain

All night the sound had

come back again,

and again falls

this quiet, persistent rain.

What am I to myself

that must be remembered,

insisted upon

so often? Is it

that never the ease,

even the hardness,

of rain falling

will have for me

something other than this,

something not so insistent—

am I to be locked in this

final uneasiness.

Love, if you love me,

lie next to me.

Be for me, like rain,

the getting out

of the tiredness, the fatuousness, the semi-

lust of intentional indifference.

Be wet

with a decent happiness.

- Robert Creely

more 'fake' local classes

2011-03-20T15:22:00.003-04:00

Here's another painful part of the class search process, in an addendum to my last post.

One thing that many people don't realize is that there's quite a bit of operational risk involved in announcing that you're hosting a class - you've got to lock down a location, instructor and schedule (aside from the curriculum itself, of course). If too few people sign up for the class, then you've got a choice - run the class at a loss / break even point, or cancel it and try to switch students/refund their money. Every single school deals with this challenge, and of course, many of them handle it in different ways.

One irritating new trend is for schools to dodge this risk by simply 'pretending' to offer group classes. They have the course description detailed out, pricing, every little detail...except schedule and location. Then it turns out there are no sections of the class currently available for purchase.

"But if you're interested in training, contact us to schedule private tutoring / instruction!"

Private instruction is of course a more attractive option for the school, because of the customized scheduling, ad-hoc location, and premium pricing.

How do I know that I didn't just catch them at a bad time? I check back to find out, of course. If after 6 months, no schedules have been posted for any classes, then the game becomes clear. They reel you in with the promise of a group class, and then try to sell you on private (super expensive) instruction.

P.S. One-on-One "Classes" aren't classes. Call it tutoring / private instruction, unless of course you're trying to intentionally be misleading...

Again - no surprise that most people who look for classes end up throwing their hands up in frustration.

'fake' local classes

2011-03-20T14:51:00.003-04:00

I spend a lot of my time searching for and researching schools in New York City, to find great ones that we'd like to approach about including their classes on CourseHorse. It's a great exercise for many reasons, but two stand benefits out in particular:

I get to know the schools very well before we contact them
I intimately understand what New Yorkers looking for specific types of classes are going through in their efforts to find them

One thing that I think is particularly frustrating about today's search process is that as more and more schools are beginning to offer online programs, they're are increasingly 'pretending' to be in your area. The logic goes, 'well our online classes are exactly the same as our live, in person classes, so let's optimize for every single city in the US'. Then, when I search for classes in New York City, I find a great looking school...in Washington, that offers online workshops.

I've spent a lot of time in the online education space, and I though I have seen some online education experiences that rival or perhaps even trump live, in-person classes, one thing has not changed - our perception of online classes as being separate and different from in-person classes. Though schools may want to brand their online offerings as identical to in-person, I don't believe that the people, their customers and students, have made that mental shift yet (I certainly haven't).

That means that if I'm searching for 'computer classes in New York City', I'm specifically not searching for 'online computer classes', and when site after site lies to me in order to lure me to their online course offerings, it stinks. This is yet another reason that many people looking for classes in New York give up out of frustration.

You might argue, 'well, maybe you didn't even think about online classes, and just the suggestion might make you consider them'. I would reply that that's the perspective of every single perpetrator of spammy, in-your-face advertising schemes - just get in their face and some small percent will buy at the expense of the time and effort of everyone else.

just 10 minutes

2011-03-15T22:12:00.002-04:00

I've started to take steps towards meditation, and wanted to share my results.

I wouldn't say that I'm meditating fully yet, but here's what I've got going:

- Nearly every night, for at least 10 minutes, I sit alone, in my room with the lights on, examining my thoughts

- Usually, I sip on a small amount of coffee, because it keeps my mind alert and thinking (avoiding the risk of dozing off), and when I drink coffee while not doing anything else, my thoughts inevitably turn inward

- My first set of thoughts always have to do with the future - things I need to get done for CourseHorse, for my tutoring, for the rest of my life - people to see, things to remember. Usually the first few minutes are spent calmly letting go of these thoughts. What helps is remembering that I have lots of time earmarked to think about and focus on those things - this time is for right now, and specifically to not think about all that other stuff.

- Sometimes, I apply a slight goal - the one that I use most often is to just sit and be enveloped by a deep appreciation of every incredible thing in my life - there is nothing quite as refreshing, motivating and humbling as this

- Sometimes, just before my 10 minutes, or in the first few, I do a bit of spiritual reading. Right now, I've got three books to spark this:

- The Power of Now, by Eckhart Tolle

- I Am That, by Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

- Essential Poems, by Rumi

These 10 minutes have been extraordinarily rewarding. The most powerful effect is a lessening of the fear I tend to get caught up with - fear of the future. This all but vanishes, and stays away for at least a while. With my head clear, when I go back to work, I find myself to be more patient and effective, to think more clearly, to be more deliberate. I'm happier, and feel lighter.

People who work all the time often feel compelled to spend their free time with the friends and family they love, forgetting to set aside some crucial time for another important person - themselves. This ten minutes has also served as a return to self, a friend that I'd sorely missed.

Hopefully, I'll turn it into a lifetime practice.

cesare pavese - and then we cowards

2011-03-13T00:23:00.000-05:00

“And then we cowards”

And then we cowards

who loved the whispering

evening, the houses,

the paths by the river,

the dirty red lights

of those places, the sweet

soundless sorrow—

we reached our hands out

toward the living chain

in silence, but our heart

startled us with blood,

and no more sweetness then,

no more losing ourselves

on the path by the river—

no longer slaves, we knew

we were alone and alive.

- Cesare Pavese

finding flight

2011-03-06T03:19:00.000-05:00

Finding Flight

This plane has never crashed is my only uncertain thought

before settling back in stiff cushion comfort

as the craft that bears my family prepares to roar,

and with nothing more than a tilt into air, fly,

plunging into unsuspecting clouds that glare

with whiteness, pushing back indignantly,

like an ocean wave surprised by a sailboat. Here,

the seasoned travelers ignore the disquieting sounds of turbulence

and sudden bursts of bumpiness, calmly spreading out blankets

or thumbing light onto magazines, while others dig

their fingernails into alarmed plastic, choking themselves

with steadfast seatbelts, the sole façade of security.

And somewhere enveloped in clouds, a young pair of worried brown eyes

searching frantically about the plane for signs of duress, fall

upon my own, and with a blink of surprise I see myself,

on my first flight, or first two-wheeled ride, panicking

until a calm, unwavering hand set itself upon my arm,

reverberating reassurance that countered my shivers,

before returning me to this moment and softly,

softly guiding our plane above the clouds

and into unblemished skies, that expand again and again

each time we dare to challenge them,

now soaring unsupported on our own two wings.

when to shut up

2011-02-27T16:57:00.000-05:00

One thing I'm still struggling with (so much so that I suspect I've already posted on this...perhaps a few times...sorry) is keeping silent when getting good feedback.

So much of me wants to explain myself, explain why we made certain decisions - but ultimately this comes off as defensive, and when you're getting good feedback, the last thing you can afford to be is defensive.

What's more - they don't care. If they're not actually making a decision about your company (i.e. considering investment) and are really just there to give you advice, they don't care whether you've already thought of all the things they're going to say. The're just there to deliver their insight and be on their merry way.

In this situation - shut up, and listen! You don't need to push it and act as though it's new and revolutionary, and if you're careful, you can even ask a good 'what if' question that addresses the solution you've already selected without seeming defensive.

great left brained-right brained ad

2011-02-26T11:05:00.002-05:00

Not really a great ad - just a great drawing.

Credit to Ali

unbelievable video game trailer

2011-02-26T10:32:00.001-05:00

beautiful storytelling/editing - who cares how good the game is when this kind of beautiful work exists in the world?

PC Games - E3 2011 - Dead Island

LLC vs S-Corp

2011-02-25T16:16:00.003-05:00

In recent weeks, we've had a lot of questions about why we chose to be an S-Corporation rather than an LLC, and consequently many other making the same decision are looking for advice. I thought I'd try to write down what I've learned in an effort to clarify at least some of the complexity involved in this decision. There are a number of key factors to consider:

Limited Liability

There are two reasons that the decision is between LLC and S-Corp and excludes General Partnership or C-Corporation. In a General Partnership, there's a major downside from the fact that someone that sues your company is technically suing you and all of your personal wealth/assets. If you lose, they can take your house, home, etc - everything. With C-Corp, LLC and S-Corp, there's limited liability, meaning that only the company's assets are at stake.

"Pass Through" Taxation

C-Corps on the other hand are not attractive because of double taxation - both the company's net income gets taxed, and then the owners' personal income gets taxed again. This is not true for LLC's and S-Corps, whereby any net profit flows through onto the owner's personal income statement, effectively eliminating corporate income taxes.

Cost of Incorporating

Naturally, it costs money to incorporate a company, and one of the big benefits of incorporating as an S-Corp instead of an LLC is the cost. An LLC apparently costs a few thousand dollars to form, whereas an S-Corp costs only a few hundred - this is key for cash-strapped startups!

Self-Employment Taxes

A huge point that most people miss. In an LLC, though there's no double taxation, all 'flow through' income is subject to a 15.3% self-employment tax! As the amount of net income grows, this tax can add up. S-Corps do not pay the self-employment tax on net income, but of course, there's a catch. In an S-Corp, the owners are required to pay themselves a 'reasonable salary' (ask a CPA what that is), and this salary is subject to the self-employment tax. In addition, whenever you issue payroll, you have to pay payroll taxes, which amount to approximately 9%, I believe. Therefore, depending on your projected net income and your understanding of how little you're allowed to issue yourself as salary, you could end up saving a hefty sum by incorporating as an S-Corp.

Ownership Structure

There are a few caveats to S-Corporations that are definitely worth mentioning. When the ownerships structure is complicated, an LLC is very likely the way to go. For instance, if there's an agreement where one founder gets a certain % of the first $100,000 earned, or if there are outside investors at the outset, an LLC is likely the best choice. One thing I've heard but am not certain about is whether S-Corps are allowed to have institutional investors. I know that S-Corps are limited to having 100 investors (which is a major difference from C-Corps), but this is another point worth checking into.

Federal BS

S-Corps unfortunately have to put up with some procedural things - we'll have to issue a quarterly payroll, have 'official board meetings', etc. However, though all of this stuff sounds like a hassle, it's apparently not a big deal at all - though to be fair, I'll let you know when we actually do it :)

Last thing - Changing Structure:

The last thing to keep in mind before you stress out is that it's apparently not that much of a hassle to change structures if you really need to. If we go out and try to raise capital only to find that our structure is holding us back, we've been assured that it won't be too painful, which is a relief.

NOTE: This is all just anecdotal advice based on the advice of several accountants and our own online research, and does not constitute official tax or legal advice

rumi - selected verses

2011-02-20T10:20:00.001-05:00

Some Rumi Poetry

Today, like every other day, we wake up empty

and frightened. Don’t open the door to the study

and begin reading. Take down a music instrument.

Let the beauty we love be what we do.

There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground.

Come to the orchard in Spring.

There is light and wine, and sweethearts in the pomegranate flowers.

If you do not come, these do not matter.

If you do come, these do not matter.

Let the lover be disgraceful, crazy,

absentminded. Someone sober

will worry about things going badly.

Let the lover be.

All day and night, music,

a quiet bright

reedsong. If it

fades, we fade.

But don’t be satisfied with stories, how things

have gone with others. Unfold

your own myth, without complicated explanation,

so everyone will understand the passage

We have opened you.

- Rumi

billy collins - nightclub

2011-02-14T02:33:00.000-05:00

Nightclub

You are so beautiful and I am a fool

to be in love with you

is a theme that keeps coming up

in songs and poems.

There seems to be no room for variation.

I have never heard anyone sing

I am so beautiful

and you are a fool to be in love with me,

even though this notion has surely

crossed the minds of women and men alike.

You are so beautiful, too bad you are a fool

is another one you don’t head.

Or, you are a fool to consider me beautiful.

That one you will never hear, guaranteed.

For no particular reason this afternoon

I am listening to Johnny Hartman

whose dark voice can curl around

the concepts of love, beauty, and foolishness

like no one else’s can.

It feels like smoke curling up from a cigarette

someone left burning on a baby grand piano

around three o’clock in the morning;

smoke that billows up into the bright lights

while out there in the darkness

some of the beautiful fools have gathered

around little tables to listen,

some with their eyes closed,

others leaning forward into the music

as if it were holding them up,

or twirling the loose ice in a glass,

slipping by degrees into a rhythmic dream.

Yes, there is all this foolish beauty,

borne beyond midnight,

that has no desire to go home,

especially now when everyone in the room

is watching the large man with the tenor sax

that hangs from his neck like a golden fish.

He moves forward to the edge of the stage

and hands the instrument down to me

and nods that I should play.

So I put the mouthpiece to my lips

and blow into it with all my living breath,

We are all so foolish,

my long bebop solo begins by saying,

so damn foolish

we have become beautiful without even knowing it.

- Billy Collins

don paterson - poetry

2011-02-07T10:36:00.001-05:00

Poetry

In the same way that the mindless diamond keeps

one spark of the planet's early fires

trapped forever in its net of ice,

it's not love's later heat that poetry holds,

but the atom of the love that drew it forth

from the silence: so if the bright coal of his love

begins to smoulder, the poet hears his voice

suddenly forced, like a bar-room singer's -- boastful

with his own huge feeling, or drowned by violins;

but if it yields a steadier light, he knows

the pure verse, when it finally comes, will sound

like a mountain spring, anonymous and serene.

Beneath the blue oblivious sky, the water

sings of nothing, not your name, not mine.

- Don Paterson

treating doctors like teachers

2011-02-05T15:31:00.003-05:00

This sums up 'the other side' to the popular education reform on holding teachers to quantifiable, higher standards.

What if we treated doctors like teachers?

A better question - what if we recruited, trained and paid teachers like we pay doctors?
My what a revolution that would be.

Curiously, if you consider the economic investment - every well paid, awesome teacher will go on to create hundreds, thousands of educated future employees - doesn't a successful, well paid employee add more to the economy in the long term than a poorly educated one?

salman khan on the future of education

2011-01-30T18:28:00.003-05:00

Salmah Khan's (Khan Academy) thoughts on the future of education:

The benefits and power of self-paced online learning are undeniable when applied correctly, and Khan is on the forefront of this movement. He highlights two points that I think are worth repeating. In his vision, students use online learning for a few hours a day and this ultimately frees up time for more collaborative, offline creative learning and experimenting.

Point one: I agree that totally individualized, online learning will never replace a peer-learning environment. While online, individualized learning can be extraordinarily powerful, it cannot by itself replace the scope of what a child learns while in a classroom of students engaging with one another. I think that education futurists focus solely on the book knowledge and forget all the soft skills that a kid develops while in school.

Point two: I agree with the idea that by focusing individualized learning in the more 'straightforward', left brained subjects, schools will be able to devote more time to what could be a more important type of learning - creative, right-brain development. There are myriad creative subjects that computers are still light years away from providing a compelling learning experience for, and these creative, kinetic and tactile programs will blossom to create students that are rock hard in the fundamental left brained skills, but well versed in thinking stretching their minds and using their hands to explore and reinvent their world.

simon armitage - i am very bothered

2011-01-30T06:54:00.000-05:00

I am very bothered

I am very bothered when I think

of the bad things I have done in my life.

Not least that time in the chemistry lab

when I held a pair of scissors by the blades

and played the handles

in the naked lilac flame of the Bunsen burner;

then called your name, and handed them over.

O the unrivalled stench of branded skin

as you slipped your thumb and middle finger in,

then couldn't shake off the two burning rings. Marked,

the doctor said, for eternity.

Don't believe me, please, if I say

that was just my butterfingered way, at thirteen,

of asking you if you would marry me.

- Simon Armitage

10 epiphanies on optimal living

2011-01-25T00:35:00.002-05:00

I don't agree with it 100, but I respect the hell out of it -

http://www.sensophy.com/10-epiphanies-optimal-living-101-part-1/

pablo neruda - amo las cosas loca, locamente

2011-01-23T13:13:00.001-05:00

I've been neglecting Neruda - this poem is long, but easy and teeming.

Amo las cosas loca, locamente

I have a crazy,

crazy love of things.

I like pliers,

and scissors.

I love

cups,

rings,

and bowls –

not to speak, of course,

of hats.

I love all things,

not just the grandest,

also the infinite-

small –

thimbles,

spurs,

plates,

and flower vases.

Oh yes,

the planet

is sublime!

It’s full of

pipes

weaving

hand-held

through tobacco smoke,

and keys

and salt shakers –

everything,

I mean,

that is made

by the hand of man, every little thing:

shapely shoes,

and fabric,

and each new

bloodless birth

of gold,

eyeglasses,

carpenter’s nails,

brushes,

clocks, compasses,

coins, and the so-soft

softness of chairs.

Mankind has

built

oh so many

perfect

things!

Built them of wool

and of wood,

of glass and

of rope:

remarkable

tables,

ships, and stairways.

I love

all

things,

not because they are

passionate

or sweet-smelling

but because,

I don’t know,

because

this ocean is yours,

and mine:

these buttons

and wheels

and little

forgotten

treasures,

fans upon

whose feathers

love has scattered

its blossoms,

glasses, knives and

scissors –

all bear

the trace

of someone’s fingers

on their handle or surface,

the trace of a distant hand

lost

in the depths of forgetfulness.

I pause in houses,

streets and

elevators,

touching things,

identifying objects

that I secretly covet:

this one because it rings,

that one because

it’s as soft

as the softness of a woman’s hip,

that one there for its deep-sea color,

and that one for its velvet feel.

O irrevocable

river

of things:

no one can say

that I loved

only

fish,

or the plants of the jungle and the field,

that I loved

only

those things that leap and climb, desire, and survive.

It’s not true:

many things conspired

to tell me the whole story.

Not only did they touch me,

or my hand touched them:

they were

so close

that they were a part

of my being,

they were so alive with me

that they lived half my life

and will die half my death.

- Pablo Neruda

two kinds of freedoms

2011-01-19T23:21:00.000-05:00

There are two polar opposite types of Freedom that I've been thinking about lately.

Incidentally, I believe that freedom is what every human ultimately seeks most, though of course I mean a very specific type of freedom.

The two that I wanted to discuss today are very likely familiar.

The first is the freedom to give in to desire. It is to feel a whim, and to immediately fulfill it. Or almost better yet, to be exercising your willpower to avoid giving in, and then, at last, to be able to give in - there's nothing like the freedom to do exactly what you want. To eat a slice of pizza when you want it, to sleep when you're tired (or to stay in bed when you don't want to get up!), to do the work you always wanted to do without worrying about getting by. This kind of freedom is, I suspect, what most people are striving for, whether or not they know it. They're trying as much as possible to expand the boundaries of their own freedom (ironically, this often means limiting short term freedom in favor of freedom when we're older).

The other kind of freedom is the one espoused in Hindu (and other) philosophy - freedom from desire itself. It is our own desires that ultimately cast the first stone by suggesting that we aren't free in the first place! Each time we have a desire, we are limited by the possibilities available to fulfill it. Freedom from desire, then, would be ultimate. It would end the cycle of desiring and fulfilling, and leave us with a totally unburdened mind.

The question I pose is...whether or not it's possible to pursue both at once?

raymond carver - locking yourself out, then trying to get back in

2011-01-18T02:13:00.001-05:00

Locking Yourself Out, Then Trying to Get Back In

You simply go out and shut the door

without thinking. And when you look back

at what you’ve done

it’s too late. If this sounds

like the story of life, okay.

It was raining. The neighbors who had

a key were away. I tried and tried

the lower windows. Stared

inside at the sofa, plants, the table

and chairs, the stereo set-up.

My coffee cup and ashtray waited for me

on the glass-topped table, and my heart

went out to them. I said, Hello, friends,

or something like that. After all,

this wasn’t so bad.

Worst things had happened. This

was even a little funny. I found the ladder.

Took that and leaned it against the house.

Then climbed in the rain to the deck,

swung myself over the railing

and tried the door. Which was locked,

of course. But I looked in just the same

at my desk, some papers, and my chair.

This was the window on the other side

of the desk where I’d raise my eyes

and stare out when I sat at that dest.

This is not like downstairs, I thought.

This is something else.

And it was something to look in like that, unseen,

from the deck. To be there, inside, and not be there.

I don’t even think I can talk about it.

I brought my face close to the glass

and imagined myself inside,

sitting at the desk. Looking up

from my work now and again.

Thinking about some other place

and some other time.

The people I had loved then.

I stood there for a minute in the rain.

Considering myself to be the luckiest of men.

Even though a wave of grief passed through me.

Even though I felt violently ashamed

of the injury I’d done back then.

I bashed that beautiful window.

And stepped back in.

- Raymond Carver

voice the passion you have

2011-01-13T23:08:00.000-05:00

One thing I've noticed about myself when I talk about CourseHorse is my tendency to focus so much on explaining what it is and how it's going that I forget to convey just how enthusiastic I am about everything we're doing!

When you're focused on not tripping over your words and succinctly conveying a point, it's easy to forget that often, those are exactly the things that people don't remember.

What they do remember is that you could barely contain your excitement about what you're doing and how it's going to change the world and enrich so many peoples' lives.

Often, entrepreneurs are told not to chase after a dream that they're not passionate about, and I 100% agree with this.

Just as important - don't forget to live that passion, to project it, to wear it on your sleeve.

Not only will it draw the people that share your passion to you, but keeping it closer to the surface makes it easier to inject that most important part of you into your work.

the chipotle test

2011-01-13T22:55:00.003-05:00

I first walked into an NYC Chipotle about 6 years ago - the one on 8th street and Mercer.

I loved it immediately - the assembly line process, fewer ingredients leading to better inventory control, its occupation of the "healthy fast food" and "mexican food" segments - I appreciated it as a business and loved their product as a customer.

One thing in particular that I noticed was their treatment of customers who asked for water.

Whereas Subway greedily offers a tiny plastic cup that can barely hold an ounce of water, Chipotle has always given you a real cup, and trusted that you won't abuse the privilege of filling your own drink. I respect that.

Now, I've known many people who do abuse it, and have done it myself from time to time, but at some point developed enough integrity not to. However, I was still left with a problem - after every burrito bowl, I always have a hankering for something sweet - specifically Root Beer. I don't want to buy a full drink, because it's way too much soda/sweetness, but I can't help wanting just a sip.

So I developed the Chipotle Test. I finish my meal, go to the counter, show them my water cup and ask if I can have just a little root beer.

I've done this maybe 20 times, and have never yet been turned down. Astonishing.

Today, on Fulton street, the cashier who was clearly new faltered for a moment, and I thought I'd get my first refusal. Yet the manager of the store who was down the counter beamed, and said, "Of course you can, are you kidding? Please do."

From his perspective, he probably appreciates that I'm not openly stealing when I easily could, and the incremental cost of a few sips of soda is negligible. He also knows that he's going to have me coming back as a customer. But to get over the fact that you're "giving something away" is hard for many people.

Chipotle is one of those companies that 'gets' it. And I respect that.

the first notes

2011-01-11T23:06:00.000-05:00

What's the first set of notes you take in a meeting full of new people?

Why not draw the conference table and write down everyone's name?

Every day, I'm getting better at remembering names, and few things are more visibly appreciated then when you remember someone's name. The only downside is that sometimes you make them guilty for forgetting yours!

Still, need to be much better at this!

city / human thought experiment

2011-01-10T22:58:00.003-05:00

Here's an interesting thought experiment / metaphor, brought up by a friend over coffee the other day.

Imagine how a city is like a human being - what if every human in the city were like a cell in the human body?

Just as in the human body, you'd have groups of cells that serve different functions, have different strengths and weaknesses. In the same way that specific cells rush to an open wound to heal it, so do firemen, policemen and EMT's run to the scene of an accident/fire/other city incident.

There are people that come into the city for a short while, and then leave, just as food might enter the body, give of itself and then be emptied out. Cells are created and die everyday just like humans.

The beauty is in comparing the cities themselves - you find that in the same way every human is unique, every city has its own set of idiosyncrasies, attitudes, and ways of living.

Now consider the greater metaphor - if the total sum of a billion human cells working in harmony has the capacity to create not only something as physically marvelous as a human being, but to transcend the physical capabilities of that shell and form consciousness, is it impossible to think that a city could one day burst into consciousness? Or that one day a technology will be able to tap into and harness that consciousness?

ilse bendorf - catch a body

2011-01-09T18:41:00.001-05:00

Catch a Body

Salinger, I’m sorry, but “Don’t ever tell

anybody anything” is a string of words

I would like to wrap up in canvas and sink

to the bottom of the Hudson, or extract

by laser from the ribcage of all of us

who ever believed it, who felt afraid

to miss someone, to be the last one

standing. “Tell everyone everything” is

not exactly right, but I do believe that if

your mother looks radiant in violet

you should tell her, or when a juvenile

sparrow thrashes its wings in dustpiles

and reminds you of a lover’s eyelashes,

you should say so. We are islands all of us,

but we are also boats, our secrets flares,

pyrotechnic devices by which we signal

there’s someone in here we’re still alive!

So maybe it’s, “don’t be afraid.” We can

rewrite Icarus, flame-resistant feathers,

wax that won’t melt, I mean it, I’ll draw up

a prototype right now, that burning ball

of orange won’t stop us, it’ll be everything

we dream the morning after, even if we fall

into the sea—we are boats, remember?

We are pirates. We move in nautical miles.

Each other’s anchors, each other’s buoys,

the rocket’s red, already the world entire.

- Ilse Bendorf

don patterson - the wreck

2011-01-02T13:57:00.000-05:00

The Wreck

But what lovers we were, what lover,

Even when it was all over -

the deadweight bull-black wines we swung

towards each other rang and rang

like bells of blood, our own great hearts.

We slung the drunk boat out of port

and watched our unreal sober life

unmoor, a continent of grief;

The candlelight strange on our faces

like the silent tiny blazes

And coruscations of its wars.

We blew them out and took the stairs

Into the night for the night's work,

stripped off in the timbered dark,

Gently hooked each other on

like aqualungs, and thundered down

To mine our lovely secret wreck.

We surfaced later, breathless, back

To back, then made our way alone

up the mined beach of the dawn.

- Don Patterson

new business idea

2010-12-30T14:24:00.002-05:00

Lots of individuals could benefit from family plans offered by cell phone companies.

What if we created a site where people could band together to form their own family plans?

You could come in and commit to a certain number of minutes and join others with similar sets of minutes, and then together, sign up for a plan that fits you best.

There could also be a 'survivor' element - any overage charges would be shared by the group, but the group would have the ability to vote off members who were continuously going over.

Make it happen!

advertising journalism

2010-12-28T15:55:00.002-05:00

There's something deeply wrong this this.

It's an advertisement posing as an article - the worst part is that it's linked to from an online newspaper (Slate.com), which makes it seem even more like a real article.

At first, I was shocked that I hadn't heard more about it - the copy is not over the top enough to be immediately dismissed as advertising. Only my 'too good to be true' instinct, and the absurd link at the bottom to try the product prodded me to look further, and there I saw it:

How convenient - a company sponsors an article about its own damn product.

I'm shocked that there isn't anyone policing this more tightly.

college spending consultants

2010-12-26T15:07:00.002-05:00

Just read this article, and I have to admit - I totally believe it.

Nonprofits in general are notorious for struggle to implement strong business practices in order to streamline operations and reduce costs, and I bet that colleges and universities are guilty of this as well.

I bet there's room for a small consulting firm to be created that objectively examines the various departments / spending within a college and offers recommendations on:

- How to cut costs

- How to continue to keep costs low on an ongoing basis.

The fee model for such a consultant could be based on the amount they enable the college to save, and could be built to create incentives for the college to reduce tuition - after all, who would be surprised if the university turned around and spent the money they'd saved on new initiatives / programs, rather than just saving students tuition?

matt hart - letter to a friend who I'll never see again

2010-12-26T15:00:00.001-05:00

Found this printed out and folded between the pages of an old poetry book - the teacher that introduced me to poetry gave it to me, I believe. It's long, but it reads easy, and has some stellar lines.

Letter to a Friend Who I'll Never See Again

I keep scanning the sky for a glimpse of you spinning,

but after a few minutes when you don't appear

I go back to what Breton said about the magnificence

of waiting, and about the love of the irrational

and the irrational of love. From there, Wittgenstein's preface

in the Philosophical Investigations is a cake walk,

especially the part about going, "criss-cross in every direction

over a wide field of thought." With that in mind

I do hope you'll forgive me for ripping off your Paris poem.

Though this isn't a poem, it's a letter; I'm insisting.

No copies will be made. I will not send it out. But if I do

I will send it to you, where it can be appreciated

or ridiculed the most. How strange it is trying on

someone else's voice, and yet stranger that it's easier

than wearing one's own. I have only three pairs of shoes,

which is laughable, I know. And one of those is missing

its laces. I bet you have lots of shoes and all manner

of dresses, ones that anyone would be lucky to see.

In New York City, where you live, there are many sites

worth noting, your dresses being only one of them.

There's also the Statue of Liberty, The Met, and KGB

—if you're into that sort of thing. I haven't been

to New York in years, though the last time I was there,

my friend Flaviano punched a hole in a wall. But the story

of how that came to happen isn't nearly as interesting as the fact

that he punched a hole in the wall in a hole in the wall.

It was in the East Village at a club called Tony's or Strawberry

Pie Filling or something equally obvious and obnoxious.

Our band had just played, and the owner wouldn't pay us.

A month later, the place was closed. I like to think

it leaked to death, which probably isn't far from the truth,

as the owner was an intravenous drug user. Those guys

never win, but often they don't pay the bands that play

in their clubs either. It seems that hard drug use

doesn't preclude liking music, but it does dictate

what one does with one's money. I don't have any

money, but if I did, I would send you something other

than bootlegs and manuscripts. I'm not sure what—

maybe flowers, but in a week they'd be dead, and what kind

of a gift is that? I can't think of anything worse

than giving flowers, as always they point to garbage

and the end, which are things I try hard not to think about.

Patti Smith called Gregory Corso a flower when he died,

which sounds lovely at first and then descends quickly

into nonsense and loss. Corso, whose poetry nobody cares about

but me, said that, "Spontaneity in poetry is notes, not poems."

And I'm sure he'd say the same about gift-giving, letter writing, etc.

Like everything else, this started out with fire, but now I'm losing

steam. I'm tired of making the world up out of nothing. You said,

"Tell me what you believe in," in response to one of my poems.

I believe in nothing, and at the same time I believe that it's crucial

to believe in something in the face of nothing, and to live

with the consequences of that belief. Still, it's hard.

Even understanding that sentence is hard. I believe

in making indefensible statements and defending them

anyway. I believe in walking the blood red carpet. I believe

that art is about continuity and rupture and joy, and that

as James Longenbach says, "...poetry's greatest power

is to instill in us a craving for something other than poetry."

"I am the maker and destroyer of worlds,"—that's Shiva,

via Robert J. Oppenheimer. I have a million quotations

in my head: "Ruin is formal," "The slightest loss of attention

leads to death," "O bomb I love you," "There is no such thing

as a break down," "Everything turns into writing," "And I am

lost with you,"... I believe in every one of them, though

they don't amount to much. I apologize for all of this,

the letter-as-poem itself, but also for the apology

itself, because no one likes when performers either:

apologize for that which they're about to perform, or

apologize for that which they've already performed, or

apologize for that which they're in the process of performing.

Also, nobody likes quatrains. And I would never use them

in person. But in this letter I have found them to be

a necessity. I believe in the almighty zero. I believe

in inclusion rather than exclusion. I will be voting

for the Democrats in the upcoming election, even though

my own politics are much more left wing. As you know,

the trick to a letter like this is figuring a way to end it

that pushes the content forward, while simultaneously acting

as a summary of it. I cannot do this. I wouldn't know

where to start, and I'm far too impatient to think about it.

I'm not being clever, but rather just the opposite.

I'm telling you I love you, but it sounds like a rant.

It sounds like somebody plastered in Ohio.

This is how I've burned all my bridges.

- Matt Hart

on confidence

2010-12-24T01:50:00.000-05:00

One thing that I've noticed lately about my demeanor regarding my business is that some of my trademark cockiness has faded. People introduce me with 'He's building a business that's going to be the next hottest thing', and I always say 'well you know we'll have to see if the damn thing even works'.

I'm not sure where along the line I decided to adopt this 'set low expectations' attitude, but I'm realizing now that it's beginning to have a negative impact on many things, including people's perception of my business and of me.

I have always believed that confidence breeds success - not overconfidence (though it can be fun to be cocky!), but confidence, surety. Simply put, the things I win the most at and do the best at are the things I'm quite certain I'll succeed in.

My business is no different (and so far, is nothing to scoff at - everything is going well, and I couldn't be more excited about our prospects) - it's nonsense to set low expectations when I have such high expectations for myself, and especially when high expectations increase the likelihood of success.

As a last note - what terrible marketing - no one talks about a company that might be cool.

i blew it today

2010-12-23T01:26:00.003-05:00

I sort of blew a meeting I had today, and I wanted to review some lessons learned.

A quick backstory - I'd been trying to get a certain introduction for some time, and through some random luck, managed to get it. My business partner Katie and I have been seeking advisors, and have had a few in mind. This specific person was either someone I wanted to get to know better and eventually bring on as an advisor, or just a great contact that could eventually introduce us to another person who might be a good fit.

Upfront, my first mistake was poor preparation, which is staggering because everything I've ever done has taught me the importance of preparation. Normally, I'm very good on my feet, but that's never an excuse to step into an important situation unprepared. I had done my research on the person very well - what I had not remembered was the very basic 'effective meeting management skill' - to act as a facilitator with an agenda and a vision for how the conversation would go.

To be fair, sometimes all this is unnecessary - a conversation gets started and goes where it wants to - the reason you prepare is when it doesn't happen organically, and you need to jump-start it - have great questions ready, thoughts to brainstorm over, etc.

My second mistake, perhaps resulting from the first, was sounding like a damn robot. I jumped right into an explanation of exactly what I'm working on without taking a moment to exchange some standard 'get to know you' conversation. I think the 'get to know you' stuff is super important - first of all, it pulls people into the conversation, and let's them know you're human - then, when you start talking about what you're working on, it's easier for them to get excited about it. It's the social lubricant to a business conversation - so much easier to talk to someone when you can imagine a little better who's on the other end of the phone.

Also, it's much harder to have a business conversation, and then follow it up with the 'get to know you' stuff, because after talking 'real' things, the trivial stuff seems arbitrary and irrelevant. Consider also the context - I was looking to forge a relationship, not execute a deal - relationships are built on soft ties, not formal business agreements - if all I had done was gotten the person to like me and want to see me again, it would have been a success.

The last thing - unforgivable in my line of work - I wasn't enthusiastic enough. I think I was trying to sound professional or something, and as a result, none of the passion I have for CourseHorse came out at all - I treated it like it were a business plan, discussing it's pluses and minuses, rather than a living, breathing thing that I've poured myself into the last several months.

Last mistake - I've already agonized over it for too long - mistake is made, lessons are learned - time to move on!

joe mowrey - a taste of my father

2010-12-19T09:54:00.000-05:00

A Taste of My Father

Find me afterward in the rain,

naked. I have tears in my eyes,

bruises on my face and hands;

I dreamt my way out of childhood

again, and still did not win.

No walk in a summer storm

will wash the smell of him away.

No nightmare will absolve me

from this likeness in the mirror.

His skin, freckled and pale,

is my skin, now that I am forty,

approaching the age he was

when he first touched me

and did not smile, but moaned.

He comes into the room at night

to sleep in my body, heavy

in the bed, thick with liquor,

the taste of cigarettes in his mouth.

A razor of light from the doorway

cuts across my tangles sheets.

The house is bloody with silence.

- Joe Mowrey

kenneth carrol - riding shotgun

2010-12-13T00:16:00.001-05:00

Riding Shotgun

You riding shotgun, grandma said

my face glazed over with ignorance

in all my 12 years I had never heard such a thing

riding shotgun? I repeated seeking an explanation

all I knew was that I was sitting next to grandpa in the front seat

close enough to smell his hi-karate after-shave &

trace the veins in his hands as they knitted like winding creeks

around his slender fists & unfurled as long rivers up his arms

the front seat with grandpa, a rare allowance for a child born

in a time when a lack of reverence for any adult

could find your behind burning from an adroit switching

in the backseat my jealous brothers & sisters rolled their eyes

snaking their tongues furiously out of their mouths to mock me

grandma broke the term down—riding shotgun

there was something john wayne-ish about it

something my cowboy-&-indian-playing ass could dig

the image was phat,

I imagined myself, Nat Love of the projects

afro peeking out from the brim of my Stetson

steel-faced, eagle-eyed brother, winchester

between my legs, scouring the horizon for

bandits & navajo

I wish I could have seen the cancer coming that took grandma

or the alcoholism that would steal my father’s eyes from me

but my job was simple, to make sure the coast was free

of obstruction for grandpa’s bifocal maneuverings as

we headed to our ancestral grounds in upper marlboro

what ya see boy, asked grandpa intermittently

even when it was obvious he needed no help

my eyes spinning like the pontiac’s hubcaps, never leaving

the road

I answered simply

its all clear over here grandpa

& it was as far as I could see.

- Kenneth Carroll

online learning will never seat you next to peers

2010-12-07T15:16:00.003-05:00

In all the talk of how quickly distance learning is going to supplant traditional learning, many people dismiss classroom learning for one or all of the following reasons:

-The dull monotony of listening to the professor lecture

-The fact that the materials used are converging

-The exponentially rising cost

It's not that I disagree with all of these points, it's that I feel that people are overlooking one aspect - the students. Perhaps the best thing that a classroom does is to put you in a room with peers grappling with the same concepts. When you go to college or even when you choose to take a recreational class, you've self-selected - the group of people you join is different from the rest of the world, and close knit interaction with them has an indelible impact upon you.

Now of course there are those who argue that communicating in a chat room or discussion boards affords the same peer interaction, but at this stage, I reject this as wistful at best and ignorant at worst. Close as it one day might become, online interaction will never supersede the real thing - everyone who's been or is in in a long distance relationship can attest to the paltry imitation of having the one you care about sitting next to you. Between speaking Spanish into a machine and practicing Spanish over coffee with a friend in my class, I choose the latter every day of la semana. Classrooms do more than teach us - they connect us - and this cannot be forgotten.

splurge on toilet paper

2010-12-06T10:06:00.004-05:00

One of the big changes I've made in the last several months is to slash the amount I spend every month. Going from my consultant salary to my part time tutor/teacher salary required a shift in spending habits that has largely been successful (though I'm still put to shame by my business partner, who somehow manages to spend little to no money while living in one of the most expensive cities in the world).

Still, one big thing I've learned is that there are little luxuries that you can still afford (and toilet paper is one of them). When I first started saving, I slashed every cost I had starting cooking groceries instead of eating out, stopped buying drinks when I went out to bars, bought a bike and stopped spending on cabs, started brewing my own coffee. I also initially cut back on the tiniest of expenses, which to be fair, helped serve as a reminder of my new saving mentality.

Once I'd seen that I could do it (I literally cut my expenses in half in a month), I realized that I'm able to do without most of it - there's no discernible affect on my disposition when I dine in instead of hitting Minetta Tavern once every couple weeks. But the little comforts, the couple dollars I spend to by decent, two-ply toilet paper instead of that AWFUL Scott single-ply is so completely worth it because it's something I use every day, that does have a physical impact several times throughout the day.

When you start trying to save, I bet you'll encounter similar categories - things you can cut back on which save a ton of money without much of a burden, and then the other end of the spectrum: things that don't save much money but end up harassing you more than you like (I'll spare you the consulting 2 by 2).

wendy cope - the orange

2010-12-05T10:04:00.000-05:00

The Orange

At lunchtime I bought a huge orange-

The size of it made us all laugh.

I peeled it and shared it with Robert and Dave –

They got quarters and I had a half.

And that orange, it made me so happy,

As ordinary things often do

Just lately. The shopping. A walk in the park.

This is peace and contentment. It’s new.

The rest of the day was quite easy.

I did all the jobs on my list

And enjoyed them and had some time over

I love you. I’m glad I exist.

- Wendy Cope

some SEO wisdom

2010-12-02T15:44:00.002-05:00

Met with our developer today, and among a number of great insights he had, he pointed out one thing about SEO.

We spent some time doing keyword research for CourseHorse - specifically determining the keyword search volume and competitiveness for keywords that we assumed would be best for our target market. I'd say that ours is a much easier market to guess appropriate keywords for, but he made a great argument for putting off heavy SEO time investment.

He pointed out that even though we might pick a set of keywords and heavily optimize for them, we have no information about what the people searching those keywords are actually looking for. Though to us it might be the perfect keywords and generate lots of traffic if we succeed in optimizing for it, we have no idea what quality leads those will be!

With patience and a focus on other marketing methods, we'll be able to review analytics within six months time and decide which keywords not only generate the most traffic, but which ones lead to the most conversions.

A mistake that I've noticed many people making is a focus on traffic without bearing in mind that conversion is what counts (for e-commerce sites, at least). I'm glad to be reminded that I'd rather get 100 people to my site and have 99 of them buy than get 1000 visits and 90 purchases.

my hiatus

2010-11-25T13:56:00.002-05:00

Greetings! It's been over a month since I last posted any unique content - perhaps the longest I've gone since December 2008 when I first created this blog and started posting.

I want to say that my hiatus started out as an experiment of sorts, but that wasn't it really - I just couldn't find the time to sit down and write, and when I found the time, I lacked the focus or motivation or both. So I waited for the right moment to strike me, and the result was a month-long hiatus.

Where was my time? I've been working as hard as I've ever worked for the last few months on a number of things. Most of all on my company, CourseHorse - we've been working to partner with local providers of education and local community organizations in order to get word out about what we're creating. So far the amount of enthusiasm has been incredible - people are getting to be just as excited as we are, and it's been nothing short of inspiring.

At the same time, I've been SAT tutoring on Long Island and teaching up at the Harlem Children's Zone on Saturday mornings, in addition to teaching a Business Math class for an incredible non-profit named Year Up, which trains urban high school graduates in corporate skills and then finds them opportunities for employment. The teaching has been incredibly enriching and motivating - the kids I work with can sometimes be challenging, but it's provided me with the kind of fulfillment and perspective that only teaching can offer.

And, with all the work that's been going into these activities, I've been letting other things, like my writing (for this blog and otherwise) slip. One of things I'm realizing is that though it may seem like we don't have time, making time is often a choice. For instance, I'm making time right now, instead of doing myriad other things I could and 'should' be doing.

I got an awesome e-mail from one my closest friends who I haven't spoken to in a while - she said that she missed our conversations for the amount that they make her reflect, and I couldn't agree more. Whenever we chat, my mind automatically opens up and begins to seek perspective, rather than ceaselessly pressing onwards. This blog is a similar outlet - it forces me to pause, and reflect - not just when I'm sitting and writing, but when I'm out living my life. It makes me quicker to jot down important thoughts, to save pieces of my mind for further inquiry, - invaluable, especially when being pulled in so many different directions. There's no outlet better than writing, and I've found myself missing it sorely.

When the good habits we've created fall into disuse, it takes quite a bit of energy to get the ball rolling again (physics analogy: static friction is greater than kinetic friction). This post has been coming for too long, and I figured it fitting that I write it on Thanksgiving. I'm so unbelievably lucky for everyone and everything in my life - I deserve none of it, and yet everyday it confronts me with a warm smile.

I have a favorite prayer, one that first occurred to me during my incredible semester in London. After somewhat of a chaotic departure, I was sitting on a train with 5 of my closest friends, gently rumbling our way to our next destination. Trains have always been the perfect time for reflection, as they offer you no choice but to sit and wait for yourself to arrive. In the peace of the moment, I had a realization that became a prayer:

"No matter what comes next, every single moment of my life has been absolutely worth it. Thank you, thank you so much for that."

Happy Thanksgiving

incredible seatbelt ad

2010-11-23T23:33:00.001-05:00

simply incredible.

andrew marvell - to his coy mistress

2010-11-14T15:31:00.001-05:00

One of the first poems that taught me how to examine poetry:

To His Coy Mistress

Had we but world enough, and time,

This coyness, Lady, were no crime

We would sit down and think which way

To walk and pass our long love's day.

Thou by the Indian Ganges' side

Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide

Of Humber would complain. I would

Love you ten years before the Flood,

And you should, if you please, refuse

Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow

Vaster than empires, and more slow;

An hundred years should go to praise

Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;

Two hundred to adore each breast,

But thirty thousand to the rest;

An age at least to every part,

And the last age should show your heart.

For, Lady, you deserve this state,

Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear

Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;

And yonder all before us lie

Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found,

Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound

My echoing song: then worms shall try

That long preserved virginity,

And your quaint honour turn to dust,

And into ashes all my lust:

The grave 's a fine and private place,

But none, I think, do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue

Sits on thy skin like morning dew,

And while thy willing soul transpires

At every pore with instant fires,

Now let us sport us while we may,

And now, like amorous birds of prey,

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapt power.

Let us roll all our strength and all

Our sweetness up into one ball,

And tear our pleasures with rough strife

Thorough the iron gates of life:

Thus, though we cannot make our sun

Stand still, yet we will make him run.

- Andrew Marvell

taylor mali on what teachers make

2010-11-01T23:03:00.001-04:00

Sorry I haven't posted any original content in a while - been going a bit too hard to pause and spell out the ideas I've jotted down quickly.

Still, I'll get back to it soon enough, and until then, I hope to continue referring you to great content like this:

e.e. cummings - somewhere I have never traveled

2010-10-31T18:38:00.001-04:00

One of my favorite all time poems:

Somewhere I Have Never Traveled

somewhere I have never traveled,gladly beyond

any experience,your eyes have their silence:

in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me,

or which I cannot touch because they are too near

your slightest look easily will unclose me

though I have closed myself as fingers,

you open always petal by petal myself as Spring opens

(touching skillfully,myseteriously) her first rose

or if your wish be to close me,I and

my life will shut very beautifully,suddenly,

as when the heart of this flower imagines

the snow carefully everywhere descending;

nothing which we are to perceive in this world equals

the power of your intense fragility:whose texture

compels me with the color of its countries,

rendering death and forever with each breathing

(I do not know what it is about you that closes

and opens;only something in me understands

the voice of your eyes is deeper than all roses)

nobody,not even the rain,has such small hands

- E. E. Cummings

sir ken robinson - changing education paradigms

2010-10-25T01:27:00.001-04:00

Can't tell you how many people have sent me this incredible, incredible video:

frank o'hara - now that I am in Madrid, I can think

2010-10-24T22:53:00.000-04:00

Now That I am in Madrid, I Can Think

I think of you

and the continents brilliant and arid

and the slender heart you are sharing my share of with the American air

as the lungs I have felt sonorously subside slowly greet each morning

and your brown lashes flutter revealing two perfect dawns colored by New York

see a vast bridge stetching to the humbled outskirts with only you

Standing on the edge of the purple like an only tree

and in Toledo the olive groves’ soft blue look at the hills with silver

like glasses like and old ladies hair

It’s well known that God and I don’t get along together

It’s just a view of the brass works for me, I don’t care about the Moors

seen through you the great works of death, you are greater

you are smiling, you are emptying the world so we can be alone together.

- Frank O’Hara

ian axel - this is the new year

2010-10-24T12:38:00.000-04:00

A friend showed me this music video done by a friend of his - I love it!

on surprises

2010-10-21T15:48:00.003-04:00

Lately I've been considering the powerful effect of surprises.

A surprise is a direct plea to a person's ego - it let's them know that:

- You've been thinking about them

- That you've been thinking about them so much that you had to do something about it

- That not only did you have to do something about it, you actually thought about what to do

Clearly I'm distinguishing here between the arbitrary surprises that life presents us ("Wow, a $20 bill!) and those perpetrated by the people we interact with on a daily basis.

A surprise is infectious - it's the type of thing that people want to tell other people about

("Look at how many people cared enough about me to specially plan this event on my behalf!"), with perhaps an implicit rhetorical query, "Does anyone care as much about you?"

And yet with all this ego-bound self-interested celebration, there's something so innocently beautiful about someone who's genuinely surprised. It's the single moment that everyone involved in the surprise waits for (reminds me of the 'Aha' moment that educators long for), the dawning realization that though sometimes life can seem empty, meaningless and anonymous, it's not, that there are people who care, and care deeply; if and when we fall, they will catch us.

This then is the true beauty of the surprise - that curled up within the surprise that a group of friends and family have been lying in wait for us in the darkness of our own homes while we battle to close our umbrellas and step inside out of the rain lies the surprise that we are not alone after all, that none of this meaningless, and that all of this is worth it.

don patterson - unicorn

2010-10-17T11:48:00.000-04:00

This reminds me of my company.

Unicorn

This is the animal that never was.

Not knowing that, they loved it anyway;

its bearing, its stride, its high, clear whinny,

right down to the still light of its gaze.

It never was. And yet such was their love

the beast arose, where they had cleared the space;

and in the stable of its nothingness

it shook its white mane out and stamped its hoof.

And so they fed it, not with hay or corn

but with the chance that it might come to pass.

All this gave the creature such a power

its brow put out a horn; one single horn.

It grew inside a young girl’s looking glass,

then one day walked out and passed into her.

- Don Patterson

the myth of bad teachers

2010-10-16T18:27:00.003-04:00

I cannot possibly begin to stress how important it is to consider other perspectives in an argument.

Everyone who has jumped into the education reform movement needs to pause and consider that maybe the people who are exposing a problem don't necessarily know how to solve it.

That maybe the citizen yelling 'FIRE' isn't a fireman.

That maybe the most popular, easy solution isn't the right one.

What does it mean to consider a different perspective?

It means to seek out articles and opinions written by those who oppose you.

Here's one: The Myth of Bad Teachers