Anybody who tells you that you cannot do this or that because of “blah, blah, blah” have no idea what they are talking about… NONE! If YOU want to make something happen, it’s up to you and only YOU to make it happen.

Barriers to making things possible

No matter your handicaps, no matter how severe they are, don’t let them get in the way of your dreams. For instance, look at the incredible success that Steve Nash, the NBA player has in his career considering how short he is… sure 6ft3 isn’t short but by NBA standards, he is surrounded by giants! How about Richard Branson? He is dyslexic yet is a self-made multi-billionaire traveling the world and outer space! The world is full of unlikely success stories that blow people away due to their ambitions more than their talent.

Beware of what you wish… it may come true!

More than once in my life, I have experienced both personally and through others that what you wish, even for a small amount of time, may actually come true! The most apt example of this was a few years back when, on a long walk, I was wondering what it would be like to be arrested (completely out of the blue), little did I know that a few minutes this “wish” would come true! My life is full of examples of this along several time lines and I am absolutely sure I am not alone. I am not psychic (this is “impossible”) but I do seem to be rather good at seeing the future of decisions I make now in a flash with very little though involved.

So what is impossible?

To be honest, the only limiting factor for most people is the size of their dreams. If you told somebody a thousand years ago that they would be talking through a small portable box to people on the other side of the world, you would be crucified as insane yet with satellite phones this is possible from ANYWHERE. I have come to the conclusion that EVERYTHING and ANYTHING is possible, screw the laws of physics or other limitations brought-up by “smarter” people… if you think it can happen and put enough sweat and tears into it… it WILL happen.

The more you know, the less you know

Why do I think that even “impossible” things are completely possible no matter what the geniuses in this world say? Well, because they have an incredibly BAD track record. I honestly cannot think of an invention, from the press to the automobile where the geniuses at the time put pressure on the creator to give-up these “silly” and “impossible” thoughts! If you told me you where working on a time machine, I would say your chances of accomplishing this are near zero but NOT zero. Look at Thomas Edison who toyed away for years on a light bulb with endless prototypes before he achieved what the geniuses at the time said was impossible! My friends, if you remember anything from this blog article it’s this, the more somebody knows about a subject, the less they actually know about it.

Why do I say this? Well, knowledge is biased information, no matter its origins, how many times it has been proven, there is always something that is missed or mis-interpreted… throw enough of this stuff together and you end-up with a rather impressive body of knowledge that is so full of holes that it becomes a self-supporting yet rather hollow structure.

Ah, the problem with Religion

This is one of my largest grievances with religion… it doesn’t teach you that “anything” is possible, it puts the explanation of “God” as the answer to EVERY question you don’t know the answer to. How did starts form? Well, God did it. Where do babies come from? Well, God does that. Why did I get a C in my math test? Well, God wanted it to be so. What do you notice? Well, the utter LACK of curiosity. If religion teachings one thing, it isn’t to expand your mind, it’s to accept things as they are and stifle creativity in the young minds that need it the most. How did stars form? Well, this is a question that continues to take generations to discover the answer to yet religion says essentially “don’t bother, God did it and that is all you need to know… move-on”. Even though I say this, I do think it’s ironic that our understanding of DNA comes from a monk who studied peas, that religion played a pivotal role in the development of the printing press and many other things we take for granted as scientific fact. Hence, my indecision on this matter which will probably continue until my last breath. I am well beyond the question of whether there is a God or not, I have “advanced” now towards thinking of whether we are better off with or without religion.

The Bottom Line

Nothing is impossible unless you allow it to be so.

Update: This past week a “man” gave birth to a baby and a 72 year old woman gave birth as well… both thanks to the advances in medical knowledge. Both of these where considered completely “impossible” just a few years ago.

From my extensive business experience, if there is any one thing that leads to a slow (sometimes quick) demise of a startup or an established company, more often than not, it can be traced to greed.

The root causes of greed

When you first start a company, the pricing is usually insanely competitive even to the point of undercutting your main competitors. Many people believe that price, and price alone is the way to compete directly against the “big boys”. While this does work for a certain period of time, and can actually be profitable, eventually, overhead such as staff, phones, office space etc. all begin to take their toll leading to you having to raise your prices just to break-even. The root cause of greed for most companies starts-up this way, simply trying to stay afloat… I have yet to meet an entrepreneur who got greedy out of desire. It’s usually caused by something far more urgent, survival!

When greed gets out of hand

Alright, you have a rather new company, you hiked prices and can now afford to pay yourself somewhat of a living wage… great! This should be where things stop but inexperience (myself included) makes you wonder, “hey, that went so well, let’s hike things up a bit more so I can buy xyz”. Your clients grumble but the costs involved with leaving your company for another aren’t large enough to warrant a new fishing expedition. Hey, you got away with it! Hmmm… let’s do it again!

Greed catches-up with you sooner or later

Alright, you are living “large”, move to new offices, hire a bunch of new staff, get a new car, start-up some new (expensive) hobbies and life is amazing! What you fail to realize is that you are slowly pricing yourself out of a market that you helped develop. Sooner or later, the contracts that use to be “guaranteed” begin going to other companies, out of desperation, you match their price but in reality, you cannot. You see, your overhead has taken a toll on how “low” you can go while still breaking even! You have nice new offices, guess what, your clients notice this as well and if “entrepreneur to entrepreneur” you see this, you quickly realize that you, as the client, are the one paying “extra” for these digs. Most entrepreneurs are cheap when it comes to spending money, they have no problem buying a plane and other gadgets but when it comes to business, every penny counts! This is when things begin to go downhill.

Excuses Excuses

First you realize that your sales staff is spending A LOT of time on the road trying to close deals that just aren’t going the way you had hoped or experienced in the past. Your subcontractors, realizing you got a bit of money, begin hiking their prices (making your prices higher) and worse, you begin living project by project. You hear all the excuses but they always seem to come down to price and customer service. You want to hire more people to handle the work flow but your overhead is already too high, you want to fire some people but cannot afford the severance, you need to give your sales staff higher commissions but with lower prices, you are being squeezed from all sides. Throw-in a natural disaster and you are really screwed big time!

What to do?

Well, the above happened to me, it took me years to recover but I wouldn’t have wanted things to happen in any other way. The lessons I learned from my past failures have made me who I am today, far smarter with my money, far more efficient with my time and a miser when it comes to Return On (potential)Investment. Well, how do you avoid a business and the personal failure that comes with it? Here are some tips:

• Only hire staff you absolutely need and not before you have at least a few months salary to cover them in your bank account, in other words, don’t count your eggs before they have hatched.
• Subcontract as much as you can, I have found that you will always PROFIT from subcontractors, when you don’t have a project, they don’t cost you anything and when you do, you will always make a net profit at the end of the day.
• Sales people, unless you can afford otherwise, should have the vast majority of their compensation based on commission, sure you can help with gas and other expenses but it’s up to them to make a living off your product/services, not you.
• Learn from your failures and try to constantly improve not only yourself but how things run in general. I believe in a constant improvement philosophy and it has served me very well in both up and down times.
• Listen to your clients and always try to ask a “lost” client why you aren’t working for them anymore or why a negotiation for a new one didn’t go anywhere. Knowledge is power, especially when it can have a very large impact on your bottom line.
• Accept that chance will play an ENORMOUS role in whether your enterprise succeeds or fails. Entrepreneurs who say they are successful or wealthy because of them and had nothing to do with luck are so full of shit that they can build a mud house out of it. Just about every entrepreneur (successful and otherwise) has been deafly affected by luck.
• Don’t give up! If there is one thing you remember from this blog posting it is that you should NEVER GIVE UP on your dreams. Hope, no matter how small, is still hope. The minute you give-up the only guarantee you will have is failure! Sometimes it is good to refocus your energies elsewhere, learn from your mistakes and move on… but never loose hope on the bigger picture to improve the lives of you, your family and those you care about.

The Bottom Line

Greed is one of those dragons that every entrepreneur has to learn how to slay.

Throughout my entrepreneurial journey, I have come to the realization of a number of facts, some of which I will share with you today. Instead of seeing these things negatively, people saying bad things about you or your products/services actually represents a fantastic opportunity!

Jealousy

When ever something “new” come onto the main consciousness of many people, the first thing they do is reject it even when this act completely defies logic. For example, if you start a new business and you all of a sudden have a number of people calling you a loser, that you will never amount to anything or worse, try everything in their limited powers of persuasion to convince you that everything will fail. What they are really telling you is “Geez… I wish I thought of that” followed by “Well, I’ll be damned if you succeed at something I -could- have but chose not to. In other words, the people out there with the greatest angst about you are the very people who are extremely jealous of your ambition and willingness to succeed where others haven’t.

YOU WANT LOSERS!

If you are developing something that sparks no emotion even in those who wish for your spiraling downfall it means one of two things, these losers either have no clue what you are doing or worse, you haven’t hit their “jealousy” buttons. Why is this bad? Well, it means that the general public, those who have a neutral stance on your success or or failure may also have the same blahze reaction to this idea as well. The quickest death of a company is indifference, you can succeed with huge negative and positive reaction but neutral sparks a quick death. Essentially, you WANT to receive a reaction - at both extremes, otherwise, you may be going down a dead-end.

YOU WANT TROLLS

The difference between a loser and a troll is quite simple, one usually uses their reputation and contacts to bring you down publicly while the other hides behind the anonymity of the internet to speed-up your failure. Losers are easy to deal with, if you have logic on your site, stand-up for yourself, present the facts (and only the facts) without any negative emotion or “talking-down” type behavior and generally losers will slowly fade into the background. Of course, you have to thank these losers because usually they bring-up a lot of attention to your cause which you may not have had otherwise. A troll on the other hand, well, you need to deal with them in a respectful manner now matter what they have said or done as, let’s be honest, you don’t know who they are or the possible influence they may have on you. I have found the easiest way to get rid of them is with a quick message acknowledging their “grief”, saying how you don’t agree with them and essentially telling them you will no longer participate in their games once you have summed-up a reply. Trolls need a reaction to succeed, don’t give them this pleasure and usually they will fade into the background as well.

Summarize

I know it’s tough to hold back your emotions and especially your tongue when attacked, but from my experience, if you handle it in a very civil manner and always maintain a certain state of decorum, others will come to realize that you where wronged and you will WIN! Every actions has a reaction, by blunting your reaction, there is nothing left to react against, as such, a developing negative situation can quickly be dissolved with little grief.

The Bottom Line

Trolls and losers are an indication of success, NOT FAILURE!

One of the most amazing aspects of being an entrepreneur is the absolute joy you get from being constantly forced to learn new things!

Enjoying the rewards, paying the costs

Honestly, what other type of non-job other then an entrepreneur can you be paid to do what you absolutely love to do and gamble, quite honestly, on all your past success to throw yourself into yet another higher level of possibility! The rewards of entrepreneurship as a lifestyle are as endless as it’s costs but the journey sure as hell is a fun one!

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - how it began

I started this site after many years of having this idea in the back of my head. I really love wood, I enjoy the flexibility that this material provides and its availability just about anywhere. Nothing beats the smell of pine or cedar… so, I decided, enough is enough… I am going to develop this site right now! That was back in October, at first, it was difficult developing an entire new level of standards and procedures, not to sound too technical but after years of producing industrial 3D animations, switching to wooden toys takes a little bit of work to pull-off correctly. For several years, I also really wanted to get into manufacturing, I have visited some amazing shop floors around North America and to be honest, I LOVE BIG MACHINES!

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - models from virtual to physical

So, back in October, I started essentially producing new virtual wood marvels on a weekly basis but about two months ago, my second dream was finally made available to me… manufacturing! I built all my wood marvels in my computer, they looked great and I got some great feedback from customers but being able to ship on-demand merchandise anywhere in the world is a whole other level of accomplishment. It took a few weeks but now I am as comfortable in the “manufacturing-on-demand” area as I am in the 3D one. I am not a professional in either by any stretch of the imagination, but I have developed enough knowledge of both industries to easily converse with engineers and other professionals on an even platform.

Just for the heck of it, you can see the evolution of the designs from one of the very first models I created to the second-to-last one (latest one is still rendering).

Shark (September 2007′ish)

Full Armor Gear Bull (June 2008′ish)

Case Study: WoodMarvels.com - book from virtual to physical

Now, this is where things get really interesting, I am a few weeks away from having a book published encompassing 25 of my top models available print-on-demand through BookSurge.com (an Amazon affiliate). Things have gone full circle, the models are produced on-demand in the physical world and now, my guides and books as well! Isn’t this really cool! One of my goals in my life was to publish several books, this is my first, at the age of 32 and I really enjoyed the process and can’t wait to actually hold in both my hands what where once but virtual items inhabiting the deep recesses of my mind.

Where do you go from here?

WoodMarvels.com has been a tremendous success, it has opened several doors in my life and I look forward to developing that property well into the future. My other properties are slowly growing and I am sure they will open as many doors if not more then what I have just shared with you… which is still but a glimpse of things to come. The fact that I managed to do this while traveling around the world, visiting one of my dream places (Cape Tribulation in Australia) and climbing mountains in South Korea really make these successes all the more enjoyable! I already have two other non-WoodMarvels.com books stewing in my mind which I hope to release next year. My priority is to get the next huge goal I have had in my mind for several years now… LegendaryLife.com. I wish I honestly could live a thousand years because I have so much yet to accomplish and experience, trying to cram all of this in one lifetime while still being able to enjoy that life is a very tall task indeed!

The Bottom Line

Nothing beats a dose of entrepreneurship to introduce some vitality into your life!

Buzvia: BookSurge.com (on-demand publisher), Ponoko.com (on-demand manufacturer), WoodMarvels.com (on-demand happiness!)

No, I am not a (severe) germaphobe nor have I lost my mind… but I realized yesterday that EVERYTHING we and all other living organisms do on this planet is thanks to bacteria. We had it all wrong, we don’t rule the Earth, bacteria do!

A little history

The very first organisms to inhabit this planet with any type of internal mechanism for survival are the bacteria, there is still a lot of debate as to whether they originate from our planet or hitched a ride on a comet billions of years ago. The one thing that is an indisputable fact is that every living organisms on this planet can trace it’s origins from the humble bacteria, from the trees that populate our forests to the shrimp you add to your salad… EVEN US! Yes, our distant ancestors are these little, microscopic and mindless bacteria! I am unsure if we have evolved to be any smarter but that is something to be discussed at a later date.

What are bacteria?

Bacteria are single celled organisms which are not only the oldest and most diverse kingdom of life on this planet (possibly the universe) but they are the cornerstone of just about everything on this planet. To put it bluntly, if there where no bacteria on this planet, there would be NO life. Not only that, but if we removed everything except bacteria from this planet, including rock and soil… you could clearly see the shape of the landscape from their presence alone!

Why are bacteria so powerful?

Bacteria are like woman for most men, you can’t live with them and you can’t live without them. Bacteria are responsible for some horrendous conditions but they are also the cause for some wonderous medical cures as well. Unlike viruses which are just floating strands of DNA with no rhyme or reason, bacteria have a purpose, they want to live! Actually, bacteria have an even stronger will to succeed then anything else on this planet, they can be found LIVING inside rock, up to 3 miles underground, in extremes of temperature and can even go into a type of hibernation lasting thousands of years until conditions improve. We humans have NOTHING on these guys, they are probably the first life to colonize other planets (galaxies), they are almost eternal in their structure and leave their mark everywhere. Who changed this planet from one killing life to supporting it? Well, bacteria! Sure, they haven’t written books nor are they very good conversationalists but they blow us in the dust in just about every other aspect.

What can we do to help bacteria?

Here is the funny thing about bacteria, they don’t want nor need our help in order to thrive. They are in their own little world with an arsenal of weapons that would make even the top generals in the United States wet their pants with glee. Bacteria are the first organisms to develop chemical and explosive weapons, if anything, we need to respect them before they blow us away! Bacteria can live off eating just about every natural substance in the universe, from iron to the rays of the sun. Bacteria can multiply even faster then even the horniest rabbits and put workaholics to shame. To put it bluntly, we need bacteria for our survival, they do not need us.

Perspective is key

So, what have you learned so far? Not are we incredibly fragile beings, to put it very lightly, but we are at the absolute mercy. If they ever “decide” (ei: evolve) to turn on us, we have no chance in hell of providing any type of plausible defense. Think about this the next time you say anything bad about these little guys who rule the universe!

The Bottom Line

Bacteria don’t love or hate us, they are indifferent to other forms of life.