Tech Venture Micro Lending

Ever wanted to learn what it takes to bring a business idea to fruition?
Does it take a great idea to make money?  Does it take great marketing?  What kind of team do you need to bring together to create a great product?  At what stage do you create a business plan?  Where do we get funding once we can prove it will be profitable?

A great group of guys and I were assigned a project where we were given somebody else's WORST business idea and turn it into a viable and profitable business.  We had a week to create a commercial.  Here is the result.

Let me know what you think. Is this a viable business model?  Would you want to participate?  Would you care?

First draft:

Black Founders Conference 2012

I've been out of touch lately. So out of touch I missed the Black Founders Conference "Ideas are Worthless 2012".


This conference took place April 11th, 2012 and it's a "forum to connect, educate, and inspire every attendee towards execution. Hosted by Black Founders Startup Ventures and Goodwin Procter LLP, the conference will bring together a diverse perspective of tech entrepreneurship, while providing a platform for emerging companies, entrepreneurs, and investors to connect and take action."




This conference helps small business owners and startups geared toward tech to take that next step, whatever that next step is.  It's great to have an idea but what's the point if you don't take action towards bringing that idea to fruition.  These guys come to NY once a year and there are many others out there.


This was my basic premise for 2011 and will continue throughout 2012.  I have a boatload of ideas in many different areas and many have come to fruition ... some profitable and more of them absolutely NOT profitable.  I have plenty of ideas that have been brewing and many more will fail and many more will be successful.  Honestly, all it takes is one decent idea and great execution to make it happen.  


I constantly hear people talk about how rough things are in this economy.  More millionaires are made during a depression than any other economic cycle.  Get off the couch, put it to paper and get started!

A Setback is a Setup for a Comeback.

"A Setback is a Setup for a Comeback" 

- Willie Jolley

What better place to restart this blog than Mr. Jolley's quote?  I don't know if he coined it or not but this is the first time I heard it.  I thought about restarting this blog many times but 'life' gets in the way so to speak.  Some people call them setbacks.  Me, I had to dig deep to remember Willie's quote!  

7 Rules for coming back

1. Refuse to accept defeat - Laugh in the face of disaster and get on your feet.
Many of us give up too easily. We need to realize that every failure brings us closer to success.

2. Decide to fight - Manage your emotions and take action.
The latin root for Decide means to cut off from ... when you make a decision you "cut off" all other options. Put yourself in the mindset that you have no option but to move forward with this goal. Think of the Trojan warriors (Trojan Horse).

3. Get Mad - Well, you're probably already mad but you need to use that pain as fuel and take action.
Get over it, go back to your plan and do what you need to do to make it happen.

4. Get Creative - What's that saying about life giving you lemons? Turn trouble to your advantage. Choose to see every situation as an opportunity for a second chance.

5. Focus on results - Why focus on anything else? Your results are the outcome of  your actions.  They provide a place for you to sit back and evaluate what was done and how it was done.

6. Take a chance - "Good things come to those who risk!"

7. Enjoy the ride - after all life is a journey and your destination will always be there so enjoy the journey.

Seduced by a K.I.S.S.

We have a million things on our plates, projects, plans, family, school, new ventures, etc.  My original idea for this blog was to keep it strictly finance and maintain other blogs for other things.  But over time those blogs have also fallen by the wayside.

When things got crazy everything stopped.  So today an acquaintance showed me her blog and one of the themes was to K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple, Simpleton!).  So after work, followed by a board meeting and a late dinner with a friend I decided to rethink my blogs ... this one in particular.

The original goal of this blog was and still is to educate readers through my experiences.  I think I may have kept it too narrow because I didn't include many of the projects I have been working on.  All of my endeavors on this "Quest" are helping to attain the goals of being financially independent so why not include them?

Join me on my journey for financial independence as I continue on my "Quest for Dollars"!

Start Over, Finish Rich: 10 Steps by Richard Bach

Richard Bach has been writing the "Finish Rich" series for as long as I can remember. His latest addition to the series is "Start Over, Finish Rich: 10 Steps to Get you Back on Track in 2010."

Compared to his other books, this is a short one and seems to be a quick start to getting back on track. Most of us in the USA have been affected in some way shape or form by the economic downturn over the past couple years. Mr. Bach's followers were no exception as he illustrates in chapter 1, not even his students are immune to our current recession.

Many ideas introduced are steps that you should have implemented in some of the previous "Finish Rich" series. He updates the steps with some online resources and updated forms on his website.

If you have never picked up any of the previous books and want a quick read that gives you the actions steps you need to get started right away pick it up.

If you own any of the previous "Finish Rich" series. Re-read your old book, then visit his website for the updated resource material.

Step 1 attempts to mentally prepare you for the rest of the book and helps you realize that you cannot truly "Finish Rich" unless you make a commitment to take action on these steps.

Step 2 addresses additional preparation in the form of organizing your finances online using web based tools like wasabi.com or mint.com; offline using the Finish Rich Folder System and removing clutter. This chapter also visits the patented Latte Factor philosophy created by David Bach.

Steps 3 and 4 touch on debt. Namely, the evil that is credit cards. David introduces the reader to the DOLP system, credit scores, what to do in certain circumstances and how to fix and protect your credit.

In Step 5 David reminds us of the importance of rebuilding or in my case building an emergency saving account. We all need to have approximately 3 months savings somewhere just in case.

Retirement is the focus of Step 6 and it made me realize that re-balancing your portfolio periodically is just as important as opening the account.

The secret to "Finishing Rich" is Step 7, Automation. Once you create a system, set it and forget it, you will be much less likely to miss bill payments, 529 contributions and retirement contributions.

Step 8 focuses on mortgage and provides options for anyone purchasing a home to someone who is in default.

Step 9 discusses college funds and how to navigate those waters no matter how old your child is. David even provides ways to have other people contribute to your college savings.

Step 10 is the last of this series and gives you 25 ways to save $5k. Some of these will work for you and some won't. I don't think anyone will be able to use all 25 ways.

Step 10 is followed by a chapter on giving. It lists a number of charities and even if you can't give $$ it discusses ways you can give your time.

In the last Chapter Dave tells us what motivated him to write "Start Over, Finish Rich" and his experiences with having to "reboot" his life, his business and his thought processes in order to truly start over and make this book happen.

Overall, this book was very helpful and I like the fact that it was action oriented. It took a little longer than I planned to actually finish the book but I took the time out to actually perform many of the steps recommended by David. Not everything in this book is for everyone but it forced me to take a look at the major areas of my finances and tweak where needed. This was an easy read that actually made taking these steps painless.

Recovering from a Setback.

I started the last post by stating that it feels like I've been experiencing life at a rate of WTFs, which led me to this post.

How do you handle a setback? There are only 2 things you can do when faced with a setback:

1. Back down
2. Rise above

Backing down, giving up, quitting, falling off, etc. No matter how you slice it, when you give in to defeat you are truly defeated. Just because you've lost the battle doesn't mean you're going to lose the war. You'll never know if you just quit and let whatever happened take control.

Rising above, facing defeat, planning your next move and using your setback as a lesson learned will help you recover. There are 5 steps you need to follow to overcome defeat.

1. Decide to do something about your situation. (decide that you will not be defeated)
2. Take action on your decision.
3. Focus on the future. ( focus on the solution not the problem)
4. Close the past and put that defeat behind you.
5. Believe in yourself and learn from the experience. (move in the direction of your dream)

Someone once told me "Winners Have Options"

Gratitude

Lately it feels that I've been experiencing life at a rate of wtf's per minute.  Yet, I am still grateful that I'm here to blog about it.  Which brings us to .....

Gratitude.

Gratitude is the ability to be grateful for everything we have in our lives.

So I've been trying to ignore the WTFs and make gratitude a daily practice.  Someone once told me that an attitude of gratitude protects us from negative emotions. I'm not 100% sure yet but I'm trying to get there.

Seriously, "do you bless everything that comes your way? How deep is your gratitude? Are you thankful for you meal? For the store it came from? For the migrant workers that picked the crops? How about the farmer that planted the seeds?" Heck, I even thank the company that genetically engineered the seeds and sell 'em to the farmers every year. Well maybe not but you get my point.

My Quote for 2010
"You can be grateful because you are happy, but you can also be happy because you are grateful."