What It Feels Like to No Longer Worry About Money

Growing up in a poor neighborhood with a single mom was not, as they say, child’s play. Drinking and drugs and familial anarchy permeated the walls of our cockroach-infested apartment. Not to mention all the baggage that comes with that lifestyle: discontent, anxiety, uncertainty, depression.

To add insult to injury, we were broke. Like flat broke. Dead broke. Poor as church mice. I’d have to remove my shoes to count how many times our electricity got shut off on Warren Street. I shit you not.

By the time adulthood was at my doorstep, I thought if I made enough money, I could circumvent Mom’s path; I could somehow achieve happiness (or at least finance it). So I spent my twenties traversing the corporate ladder.

Fresh out of high school, I skipped the whole college route and instead found an entry-level sales job with a corporation that “let” me work six, sometimes seven, days a week, ten to twelve hours a day. I wasn’t great at it, but I learned how to get by—and then how to get better.

I bought a big-screen TV, a surround-sound system, and a stack of DVDs with my first big commission check. By 19 I was making over $50,000 a year, twice as much as I’d ever seen Mom bring home, but I was spending even more, racking up the credit-card debt. I obviously needed the three M’s in my life: Make. More. Money.

So I worked harder, much harder, and after a series of promotions—store manager at 22, regional manager at 24—I was, at age 27, the youngest director in the company’s 140-year history. I’d become a fast-track career man, a personage of sorts. Which meant that if I worked really hard, and if everything happened exactly like it was supposed to, then I could be a vice president by 32, a senior vice president by 35 or 40, and a C-level executive—CFO, COO, CEO—by 45 or 50, followed of course by the golden parachute. I’d have it made then! I’d just have to be miserable for a few more years, to drudge through the corporate politics and bureaucracy that I knew so well. Just keep climbing and don’t look down.

And so I didn’t look down; I looked up. And what I saw was terrifying…

“You shouldn’t ask a man who earns $20,000 a year how to make a hundred grand,”…[Read more on The Minimalists]

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Did Copyright Kill Evolving Artistry?

Copyright is said to be created to protect the interests of the creator. More specifically, at least for a writer, the creator’s Intellectual property. I think this is bullshit.

Yes, we all have the desire to be recognised for our work and there’s absolutely nothing Wrong with that. But what good is being recognised for something that’s never been seen/read or heard?

We live in an age where platforms like Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress and even Facebook have turned many of us into self-proclaimed writers- in our own right. Information is flowing-in at an extremely rapid pace and the output of that information (in the form of commentary and response) is moving just as quickly. In the Internet’s plight to integrate through expansion; copyright only serves as a detrimental factor to progression.

This is not to say that copyright is all that bad. The core intentions of copyright are to ensure that some lazy bugger doesn’t make a buck for work that took you hours to create. So yes, Copyright does have good intentions but it also has the tendency to set barriers between the creator and the consumer. For example: According to Copyright laws, you would have to ask me for permission before copying and pasting any of my work. But what if I get up to 160-emails a day and subsequently can’t get to yours? Then my work my message has not reached the amount of people that it could have, had you just been able to openly distribute (however you see fit) my work to your friends and to their friends and their friends…

If strictly implemented; copyright can become a mere impediment to progress within the eco-system of creativity and information consumption (which further aids creativity). The goal of the artist in 2013, is then to find the middle-ground between rightful recognition and open distribution.

By looking at the extract above, Leo Babauta‘s middle ground seems to be- books . Instead of restricting (adding a price) his content on a platform that is “free” to start-off with (his blog); he would rather extend this “restriction” only toward the hours that he spends writing, editing, printing (and more…) his awe-inspiring catalogue of insightful literature. This, however, is what he prefers not what he dictates.

How would you draw the line between restriction and openness?

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When passion turns into work and then to pleasure (and then some).

Image courtesy of acquisitietraining.org

If you’ve been following Project ZooLoo for long enough, you would have heard me mention the whole idea of chasing your passions quite often. So let’s say that you’ve done this and have managed to start your own business revolving around this passion. You then set-up a workspace at home and start realizing this vision/dream that you have. The only way that this dream can be actualized is through some hard work and determination. Yes, work.

That’s the place I found myself in not so long ago. I had found out what I was very passionate about and I had drawn up a plan- a comprehensive plan– that I was to follow in order to achieve all that I had set out to achieve. Now, I had to put that plan into action- that required Work. For those of you who are anything like myself, the concept of Work has always been one that is preceded by a long sigh of discontent. This feeling is formed through habit and experience. All our lives, we are being told to work on this and that and as we all know:  doing something merely because you have no other reasonable alternative- sucks! This spawns from all those meaningless school lessons that basically equipped us with the knowledge and skills to become great employees. I never liked this about school. As a result, I associated “Work” with monotony, tediousness, fatigue and boredom. In order for me to get things done, This had to change.

I decided to then alter my work experience and tailor make this concept of “work” to suit my personality and my idiosyncrasies alike. I’m a vegetarian health and fitness fanatic, I love moving, I love feeling great and I enjoy exercise. All it took for me to modify my experience: was setting-up my Standing Desk; pumping up the volume and feeling joyful as I move energetically whilst typing away at the laptop- a task which, before this decision, grew mundane overtime and sometimes even sparked up some unwanted/unwarranted fatigue.

This “modification” has been keeping me alive throughout my work experience. Work has taken a turn from being tedious or “an effort” to just a series of effortless actions made to keep me energised and keep me on the path to my success.

Maybe you should try it too? Modify your work-experience to better suit your definition of pleasure.

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Poor Mentality vs. Rich Mentality Of Startup Entrepreneurs

Money is not bad. It’s the greed of money that is bad. This chart simply called Poor Mentality vs. Rich Mentality by Funders and Founders lays it out in a very straightforward way. If you catch yourself having a poor mentality, try shifting your thoughts to a rich mentality.

Read the article:
http://www.bitrebels.com/business-2/poor-rich-mentality-startup-entrepreneurs/

( Source: http://fundersandfounders.com/ )

#entrepreneur #mentality #startup

The Crowdfunded Dream: Ubuntu Edge

Ubuntu’s homepage 5-days ago

Every army needs that seemingly hot headed “cowboy” who is not deterred by danger, risk and competition. He is the soldier you send to the top of the mountain so as to check if the coast is clear before you decide to engage in battle. He is the visionary. The brave one. The revolutionary soldier.

After a whole week of speculation about the sudden 4-day countdown found on the Ubuntu website on Thursday we were finally appeased as to what this “line where two surfaces meet” thing was all about.

The Ubuntu Edge project.

This project is an Indiegogo crowdfunded smartphone prototype that runs on the Ubuntu mobile OS (Linux based operating system). An OS that we were introduced to at the beginning of the year, the most evolutionary aspect about this OS was that you could shift into the desktop OS as soon as you attached the device to a monitor. Right afterwards (a month later), they announced the tablet version of essentially the same OS except it was designed specifically for tablets. Although Canonical had a great idea in mind, the OS was still a bit rough around the edges. Luckily, Hope was restored to Canonical when they announced that Ubuntu Touch would be stable by the end of May.

They then promised to ship some hardware by October. Yesterday, we saw the fruits (or seeds?) of that promise take form.

Take Revolutionary Form, at that.

According to the Indiegogo page, the device is said to pack:

• The Fastest multi-core CPU, 4GB RAM, 128GB storage
• Fully integrated Ubuntu desktop PC when docked
• 4.5in 1,280 x 720 HD sapphire crystal display
• 8mp low-light rear camera, 2mp front camera
• Dual-LTE, dual-band 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4, NFC
• GPS, accelerometer, gyro, proximity sensor, compass, barometer
• Stereo speakers with HD audio, dual-mic recording, Active Noise Cancellation
• MHL connector, 3.5mm jack
• Silicon-anode Li-Ion battery
• 64 x 9 x 124mm

Dual boot Ubuntu and Android

The big feature that I actually believe qualifies this device as a revolutionary stepping stone, is the new dual-booting ability of the device. The smartphone (yes, let’s not forget that this is merely a phone) can dual-boot to the Ubuntu Touch OS and/or the popular Android OS. And let’s not forget that once you plug in that monitor- that means you have a full on dual-bootable OpenSource Linux PC! With the engine specs listed above- it would be a pretty powerful PC too.

I think that Canonical needs to be given praise not just for becoming our fire-runner but also for their impeccable commitment and work ethic. I mean how efficient are these guys???

In 7-months they gave us: a new mobile operating system highly distinguished from those in its class; they then furthered this innovation by leaping this OS to the tablet market and then brought a revolutionary piece of hardware which could maybe even replace the Laptop?

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the fear of becoming

Time, is a gift. It’s there to bring to our attention: the “limited” moments we get to experience in each life-time. Being that as it may, Time is also a load of bullocks. What does Time mean to you right now? There is the now, the coming and the before. Yes, the Past. One of nature’s biggest repressors.

Why?

Time is also a reference; a reference to an old you the you before this you. The lazy you. The confused you. The loser you. And perhaps, the foolish you. This reference is not really a bad thing; except that if you wish to implement some extremely radical but necessary change in your life- you need to step away from that person. So as to become the person you’ve always wanted to be. Someone who is improved/upgraded/remodeled/renewed… perhaps even: more awake

In the case where you have “failed” in the past, and note that failure is merely another process of success, a point in the other direction (in that: you now know what NOT to do). This failure becomes embedded inside your ‘Time Wallet’ and you are then reminded of this failure. And what does that do? It creates uncertainty and doubts within you. You are now suddenly unsure of your strengths, your abilities and Your Plan. You are now flooded with images of your epic failure and how you felt when things all crashed down on you. You begin to think: “I don’t want that happening to me again! I don’t want to go through that pain again!” But you manage to tell yourself that it will be different this time… Only problem is: you’re only Telling yourself this, when you should be Doing what you’re supposed to do to make it happen differently. You’re not doing it because you still have that little bit of fear developed from past failures.

That fear opens a gap for the one thing that you don’t want back- Old habits.
Now you find yourself back where you came from: planting ass-cheek-molds on the couch continually thinking about what you’re going to do next.

How do you conquer this slacking?

!Take Action!

Use what you’ve learnt through this journey of entrepreneurship to pivot yourself to the Next level. Fear, will always try to meddle in your issues. Get rid of it!

Here’s a couple of things that you could do to allow your seed to become R.IP.E

• Reaffirmation. Review and re-affirm all that you truly desire. Go back to the root; the answer as to why you’re putting yourself through all this anyway. Once you realign yourself with your true goals, targets and aspirations- you will reckon with what it is that you want.
• Intention. This is the most important key to overcoming this fear. You need to have a burning desire to get what you want. You need to clarify, again and again, what you’re willing to give to obtain this desire (hard work, sweat, tears, hours, long-nights, hunger etc). Then carry, within yourself, this burning desire all day every day!
• Planning. You need to make sure that you are sure about the plan that you have set forth. If you get the strong  feeling that the plan makes sense and you feel as though you can make it work- stick with it. Constant iterations of the plan before taking the first step wastes a lot of time, especially when this starts becoming an unconscious stalling tactic. This “lost” Time will become what stirs up these doubts and then those become fears and you’re then back where you started. Make sure that the plan makes you Feel good because it is the prominence of this feeling that will determine whether or not you take that first step into the unknown.
• Execution. Now that you have figured out what is you want, you’ve also made sure that this is all that you want (turning that want into a need); you’ve also come-up with a brilliant plan that YOU are satisfied is fool-proof.
  Now, all you need to do is do it! Just leap.

All you have to keep doing is feeding this burning desire by repeating the above steps over and over again. The rest is just inertia.

Law II: The alteration of motion is ever proportional to the motive force impress’d; and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impress’d.- Issac Newton, first law of motion

Overcome your past doubts and memories of “failure” to finally do away with the Fear of Becoming.

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WHEN WOULD TODAY BE A GOOD DAY TO START?

Today is a good day

 

Let’s look in the mirror and be honest with ourselves. Is there something meaningful you’ve been putting off? Is it something you’ve intended to do for a while?

Maybe you want to learn how to play guitar or start your own business or write a book. Or maybe you’ve thought about starting a blog or taking a yoga class or starting to exercise daily.

If so, what are you waiting for? If you continue to put it off until tomorrow, tomorrow will never come.

So, instead, when would today be a good day to get started?

Read more at: TheMinimalists

HOW TO START A SUCCESSFUL BLOG TODAY

Blogging? Not Again!

Read our lips: this is the last time we write about blogging on this website. Ever.

We didn’t plan on writing anything else about blogging after publishing Who The Hell Reads Your Blog Anyway? We don’t enjoy blogging about blogging, because, well, generally blogs about blogging are banal and vapid and they just don’t interest us (Corbett Barr’s Think Traffic being the exception that proves the rule). Heck, we don’t even read many blogs, but…

Reasons You Should Blog

Today we were inspired to research and write this essay after reading Joshua Becker’s 15 Reasons I Think You Should Blog, in which essay he discusses 15 great reasons why you should start a blog. “Why” being the key word here. In other words, he talks about the purpose of blogging, not just the “how to” aspects. That’s what all these other blogs about blogging seem to miss, they miss the purpose—the why.

Reasons You Should NOT Blog

So Becker gave you 15 reasons why you should start a blog, and we’re going to show you how to start one, step-by-step, based on our personal experience, but before we give you that type of detailed instruction—which could literally save you the hundreds of hours of wasted time—we want to give you some good reasons why you should not start a blog. (Keep in mind that these reasons are just our opinions and we do not pretend to offer them up as some sort of collection of empirical blogging maxims.)

1. Money. You should not start a blog to make money. We need to get that out of the way first. If your primary objective is to replace your full-time income from blogging, forget about it. It doesn’t work that way. Do you think that Jimi Hendrix picked up his first guitar so he could “supplement his income”? No, he didn’t. Rather, he did it for the love of it, for the joy and fulfillment he received, and the income came thereafter, much later actually … [Read More at The Minimalists]

Weekly Report

This week was all about scratching for that startup change.

I’m glad to say that after being so doubtful about people’s (specifically my father) willingness to fund a project with absolutely no other investors involved or better yet- a project run by a 19-year old undergrad with dreadlocks- I was proved wrong, gladly.It turns out that the gates weren’t so hard to open. All it took was an email to my distant father with my “proposal” attached, it then became the longest 48-hour wait I’ve ever had to go through.

Everything depended on the response from this man so there was absolutely nothing to be done this week except for some coding of the site’s system (which I had no involvement in as I’ve only recently been taking an online course in Javascript- making me pretty useless). So I spent most of the week creating, editing and revising my 30-second sales pitch, catching up on some writing and vehemently pending a response that could just make or break our progress in terms of the deadline we had set for the project.

Two hours of practicing, 12-pages of writing and 48-hours later I couldn’t wait no longer so I reached for my BlackBerry and sent a text to my father: “Have you gone through the document as yet?”
His answer was so simple and yet so significant: “I… finally got thru it, it’s brilliant.”

My reaction was synonymous to that of an 8-year old after finding out that he’s getting a new bicycle! I was just so over-joyed. He then sent the document to my uncle and we’re now going to have a meeting to discuss exactly how much we need and what the way forward looks like.

Next week is going to be all about prioritizing, delegating and committing.

Stay tuned.

Follow me: @TheCalm101

How To Find Your First Employees

 

As I mentioned earlier, this week will be dedicated to finding enough resources from the web in order for us to determine how to construct the perfect team for our various startups, right? I find it quite interesting that Jay Adelson mentioned that the team members at first need to be “Jack of all traits and Master none”.

This view mad me think about how, as entrepreneurs, we often try to over think who we should get on the various projects. We ask: is he qualified enough to give me the right advice? Can I trust this person or will they just end up stealing my ideas and making them better? Although leading towards paranoia; these concerns are justified by the fact that our startups are essentially our lives. If we want the start up to work- we ave to eat and live our startup. If, like me, you have an entrepreneurial state of mind- you begin to make certain projections that excite you and make the Idea/Concept that much more valuable in your life.

 

I had a meeting on Monday with a couple of partners that I have for another startup I’m involved in and one that I plan on investing greatly on. Before me, I saw a group of very ambitious and intelligent set of young men. This for me is all you need from a team. A bit of hunger and some natural ability. These two traits ensure that your team can put in the long hours where their needed and also be able think on their feet when things go slightly out of plan (as they normally do with young startups). I use the term “a bit of hunger” because I’ve realised that no one’s going to want your startup to be successful as much you do. As entrepreneurs, our lives revolve around the idea that this new business, is our key to economic emancipation, recognition etc. So we have to compensate this lack of natural commitment to our startup  by using our basic understanding of certain existing human dynamics.

Jay Adelson mentioned one of the human dynamics: incentive. By offering the early members of your team parts of the company as opposed to just the usual underpaid salary, you create a need/ incentive for their hard work. They feel more like a part of the startup then just being the “help” thus increasing their propensity to deliver great work.