I’ve been tossing around an idea in my head for a while to create something that will help inspire and guide a new generation of entrepreneurs, artists, and movement leaders. Inspired by the work done by Andrew Warner at Mixergy.com and Jason Calacanis at This Week in Startups, I want to start interviewing entrepreneurs who’s ventures were built on passion. I hope to accomplish a few things by doing these interviews: I want to champion [...]

This is an excerpt from a web series called This Week in Startups or TWiST hosted by Jason Calacanis (episode 47 if you want to check out the full program). I love this video. I love it because it is 100% true. My generation has grown up in one of the most prosperous times this country has ever experienced. Everything was great in the 90s. This has lead my generation to become soft. We’ve been [...]

I’ve been fortunate to meet and study many successful entrepreneurs in this world. What I find fascinating is that nearly all of them share a few unique characteristics. Most things that you would not think would lead to success, yet some how the combination of these traits do just that. When I first started noticing it in the first few people I met, I thought, well maybe its just coincidence. Person after person, the same [...]

I can honestly say that my one of my strongest passions in life is business. More specifically the early stages of business. The genesis, and creation of something tangible from basically nothing. Although I am not anywhere near what I would consider a success yet, I feel I’ve accumulated a ton of knowledge and experience from my many failures and few successes throughout my professional life. I think many of my friends realize this as [...]

One of my biggest problems is remaining focused on my current project. I think it’s a problem that many entrepreneurs deal with. I’m constantly seeing problems around me and thinking up solutions to these problems. For the most part, I’ve done a good job of keeping myself focused. I’ll launch a side project here and there and let it die. Getting them up at least lets me tell myself, ok you did that one get [...]

I’ve been doing my own businesses off and on for almost 5 years now and while I am no where near what I would consider a success (yet), I have learned a lot from my previous failures. There are many common mistakes first time entrepreneurs fall victim to. I see the same pitfalls over and over again. I’ve decided to start a new series of blog posts documenting some of my boneheadedness in hopes that [...]

Business is not easy. If it were, everybody would do it. Living your dream life is not easy, if it were, everybody would be living theirs. The only difference between those who are successful at business or life for that matter and the people who aren’t is successful people choose to be successful. Choosing to succeed is more than just stating emphatically you will. Choosing to be successful is consciously embedding the belief of success [...]

On Wednesday, March 11 2009 I lost one of my few business heroes. Charles “Mask” Lewis Jr, founder of the Mixed Martial Arts lifestyle brand TapouT passed away in an early morning car accident. While some may feel it necessary to critique the way of his passing, I choose to remember the life Charles chose to live and why he will always serve as a huge source of inspiration to me. TapouT was founded in [...]

Ukuleleunderground.com has given me the opportunity to meet and befriend so many amazing people throughout the world. I always take some time everyday to think about just how fortunate I am to have made so many new friends within the past year. One of these new friends is a man named Mike Hater from Nashville Indiana. Mike is an amazingly interesting person. He has described himself to me on more than one occasion as a [...]

Though I haven’t had one yet, I can imagine growing a business is very similar to raising a child. Not so much in the physical pain experienced by the mother at birth, but in the sense of the commitment and dedication required to grow and nurture both. There an initial excitement when they’re brand new. You find yourself staring at it saying to yourself, “wow, I made that!” You devote countless, often thankless hours in [...]