I hope to accomplish a few things by doing these interviews:

1. I want to champion the idea of pursuing your dreams and following your passion. If you choose to pursue your passion, you will probably bring more value to the world than if you didn’t. Money is how the world tells you that you are bringing value to it. Follow your passion and you will be rewarded. Its so ironic that the people we idolize are the ones who are doing what they love, yet our whole lives we are constantly discouraged from doing so. I want more people to realize this fact.
2. I want to inspire people to start something. I want to show them that they can do it. That they are smart enough and will succeed if they are willing to work hard. It is especially important to me that the youth of Kauai realize that with the internet, they have all the same opportunities that anyone else in the world has. Nothing is impossible anymore. Everyone has a shot. It’s up to you to take it.
3. I want to learn from these people about how to grow my own businesses. What I could be doing better and some of the hurdles any successful person must fight through and overcome. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in business and I’m sure many could have been prevented by learning from those who have been through it before. I also think by listening to those who have done it before, I can pick up some new idea on how to grow my own business.

If you have any suggestions on who you would like me to interview, please post them in the comments below and I will take a look and try to get them on. I will probably start close to home and with people that are accessible to me.

Thanks!

Ok, that may have been the case, our ad server might have been a little outdated and there was a lot of noise on the web just a little while ago about a huge security hole in that platform. I deleted the ad server, all the malicious code, rolled back all the files on the server to a safe back up and thought I was fine. Then last night we were hacked again. Same exploit. I did some research and found many other Godaddy customers experiencing the same problem with no wordpress installed or with it being fully upgraded. A security company has made suggestions that the vulnerability is due to Godaddy’s implementation of phpmyadmin. Godaddy however remains adamant that the blame rests entirely upon its users. So in venting my frustration late last night and this morning, here’s the experience I had.

For me to say that site5 and Godaddy are on equal footing and should provide me the same customer service is stupid. I am not that egotistical to think that Godaddy should give a crap about me. Why should they, I think we pay them maybe $100 a year. Godaddy is a HUGE company with millions of customers, Site5 has thousands of customers. I know I rank very low on Godaddy’s priority list and to them, losing us is not a big deal.

The point of this post is that if you are a small(er) business (like site5) and hungry to win, social media can really do wonders for you if you use it correctly. Social media is good for 2 things, listening to your customers/potential customers and scaling your customer service.

If you are exceptional, your customer service serves as all the marketing you need. Social media allows happy customers to sing your praises to potentially millions. And as we see with Godaddy, the opposite is entirely possible as well. Bad customer service = millions bad mouthing you. Do a search for Godaddy on twitter and you will see I am not the only one frustrated by the way this is being handled. The message is no longer in the hands of the company, it shaped entirely by the consumer.

Site5 is not perfect, they recently had a very bad email crash that affected many of its users, some of my clients and myself included. The way they handled it however was worlds apart from how Godaddy is currently handling their situation. They admitted it was entirely their fault, credited each person affected with a month of hosting fees, and Ben the CEO got on the phone and called customers who were affected by the outage to apologize. This is great customer service.

The twitter interaction with Ben is only a small part of the communication I had with the company today, most of it via email. They assured me that they could handle our entire migration, make sure all our files are clean, and try to work out a discount for switching over.

We’re going to end up paying site5 a lot more than we pay Godaddy currently and that is fine, I feel like we will be well taken care of and treated with a lot more respect. In this “thank you economy” showing your customers you care first then asking them to pay is the way commerce works. We thank businesses by giving them business. Those that grasp that now will prosper in the future.

Now I just need to get my personal blog to site5 and I’ll be all set.

Related Links:

Godaddy Blog post on Malware attacks

Sucuri post on the attacks on Godaddy

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 raised to develop a sense of entitlement. Things have been given to us so easily by parents who wanted to provide a better life for their kids. Through this nurturing, my generation has developed a sense of self worth that is not in line with our actual worth. My generation thinks that the world actually gives a crap about them. We think that because we exist, we are special.

Though most people my age and younger will be not enjoy this video, its a necessary watch. I can say this because even until this day I struggle to escape that 80% he’s talking about in the video. Here is my story.

When I got out of college, I thought I knew everything. I thought I was an awesome web designer. I thought I deserved to be paid like an awesome web designer. I went job hunting truly expecting every resume I sent out to come back saying, “Wow, where have you been this entire time? When can you start???”

I got nada.

I ended up getting a job at a local design shop in Honolulu. It was my first REAL job, I had no connection to these people other than the fact that I applied and got hired. It was the most necessary experience I’ve ever had. Right off the bat, they broke me down. They told me straight how much I sucked at designing. They told me that I would work for free for them and if I improved they would hire me. That they could not justify hiring me until I could produce work that they could actually use for clients. I remember being very shook up. This is not the world that was sold to me growing up. I was supposed to be a genius.

The first three months, I got digital equivalent of having my work crumpled up in front of my face and thrown into a garbage can. It was brutal but I stuck it out. I learned more about designing in 3 months than I did in 4 years in school. One night my bosses took me out for drinks and sat me down. “Alright Ryan, we like you, and we’ve decided to bring you on full time”

“Here it is! The payoff for all my hard work! ” I thought.

“And we’re going to start you off at $10 / hour”

I distinctly remember being hit was two very different emotions. I was validated; I was good enough to get paid, yet I was also crushed; the amount I was to be paid was so little. Is that what I’m worth? I remember thinking.

This is not what they told me in college. I took the offer, and thanked them. I worked there for four more months and quit.

I thought I was worth more than that. How could I not be? I’m good at designing now. I started my own company. It failed. I blamed market conditions and tried again. Failed. I blamed the clients. I tried again, failed. My partner didn’t want to stick it out. I came up with all these excuses for my businesses failing. It has to be external! It can’t be that what sucks is me?

Two years later I’m sitting in my office in Halawa, I remember at noon one day looking in my wallet. There was no money just a bunch of receipts. I had enough money in the bank to pay rent for maybe two more months. We had a tin of cookies in the office. I remember crying alone eating them because I realized that was my lunch for that day. I was a failure. My past failures were all because of me. I came to realize that day, the world doesn’t owe me shit.

I soon took a job at a great company to pay my bills. Actually I should be more honest. I was given a job at a great company because my uncle married the owner of the parent company’s sister. Like a bad habit, my Gen Y ego was back.

I got to choose my own title and like the piece of crap Gen-Yer I am, I said, “New Media Director” as if that meant anything. My starting salary, $32k. Not what you would expect for a “Director” but hey I had the title and boy did I like telling people my title.

I worked my ass off for that company for the first year. We had a great team, I really liked my boss and coworkers. There was pretty much only one person I did not like at the company, but its all good, he doesn’t really affect what we do. It was the first time up to that point I enjoyed going to work every day.

One day we’re all called into my boss’s office for a meeting for some “good news”. The president of our company decided to promote the one person who I did not like above all of us, even above my boss. We’d all be following his lead now. It felt like someone punched me in the gut.

I realized my title that I had been so prideful of never meant anything. I was so busy looking down at people below me, I never looked up to see how small and insignificant I was. This asshole who I really didn’t like was promoted above us, given a better title and more money. I realized, in that situation, at that job, I was not the master of my own destiny.

My work rate declined as I became less and less inspired to put my best in if that person was going to get the credit.

Eventually through circumstance and fortune, Aaron (one of my business partners) approached me with the idea and opportunity to create Ukuleleunderground.com. After thinking it over for a little while, I agreed and we (Aaron, Aldrine and myself) put our heads down and got to work.

2 years later, through countless hours, blood sweat and tears we have a company that is respectable and still growing. We have not achieved anything near our final goal but I do believe we have made our little dent in the world.It’s a small dent right now, but we hope to make it much, much bigger.

I cannot say that I have completely escaped the 80% Jason talks about in that video. To this day I still fight to stay on task, I still struggle to not let my ego get the best of me. I am human, but I am trying to improve. I have realized that for a long time I was a part of that 80%. That 80% who thinks the world owes them something. The world doesn’t owe me anything, I need to earn it.

Here’s to joining the 20%

1. They are crazy / weird - Not, “Oh God, I got so hammered last night it was CRAZY” I’m talking something is seriously wrong with the mental state of this person. The synapses in the brain fire just a little (sometimes a lot) differently and it gives these people a different view of the world. Being able to see things differently is the key to discovering the truly great business ideas.  If a normal person were to sit and really get to know them, they would more than once say, “that is crazy…” to something this person says or does on a regular basis. You will either find this person weird or fascinating.

2. They are quick to pull the trigger – Status Quo is the bane of these people’s existence. They simply cannot tolerate doing the same thing every day over and over again. Which is why, these people are not the type to sit around and create a business plan or 5 year projections. They jump into the deep end. Shoot first, ask questions later. Whatever metaphor you want to use, these people are compelled to execute ideas. When they come up with an idea, they literally cannot stop thinking about it until some action is taken. Change is their drug. This is more a character flaw, because to have any type of success takes persistence and ADD is the opposite of persistence. Truly successful entrepreneurs have learned to tune down the idea ADD and stay persistent on a project until they consider it complete.

3. They have laser focus – Wait a minute, you just said they have ADD…. They do in the sense of what the idea of the month is, but once the decision is made to move forward, their focus is deadly. They will work longer and harder than “normal people” because they crave results. Results are the “high” for these crazy people. They will work 17 hours a day until they have something (real hours, not 17 hours checking email or facebook). They will devour content and learn more about the subject matter in a week than others who spend years studying. Often the results seem to come out of the blue to spectators, but its because this person has put so much energy into the project.

4. They are unreasonable -  These people set unreasonable, “unrealistic” goals. They work unreasonable hours. They create “unmarketable” products and services. Yet everyone is surprised 2 years later, 5 years later when it actually worked. What is considered unreasonable to normal people is 100% plausible and can be accomplished by these crazies.

5. They are cheap - These people will squeeze a dollar of a nickel. They will always look to try to get anything done cheaper. Barter, exchange of service, negotiation is always first before the check book or credit card comes out.

6. They are resilient – These people once their mind is made up, once their sights are set, it is almost impossible to knock them off course. Everything can be going to shit, but they will continue. You would be surprised how many successful entrepreneurs will tell you that they were “too stupid to quit”.

7. They have a fairly high opinion of themselves – Some may call it arrogant, but these people hold themselves in high regard. They believe that there is something special about them which is why they are going to be successful. Whether its, “I’m smarter” or “I’m going to work harder” or “I’m the best” these people are aware of their strengths and dedicate more energy towards that. It’s necessary because many times, especially at the start, there is no one else who will believe in them.

What do you think of this list? Do you know people like this?

Symptoms of IBS include

• Abdominal pain or cramping
• A bloated feeling
• Gas (flatulence)
• Diarrhea or constipation — sometimes alternating bouts of constipation and diarrhea
• Mucus in the stool

Typically you either fall into IBS-C (constipation) or IBS-D (diarrhea).

Over the past 4 years, I’ve been battling a pretty bad case of IBS-C. Anytime I would eat anything, I would get severe stabbing pain and cramping in my upper left abdominal quadrant (right under the bottom rib)  so much so that I often gave up eating halfway through a meal. The only thing that would relieve the pain was using the bathroom (taking a dump) but it was pretty common that I would not be able to use the bathroom for 2-3 days in a row. Because of the pain, and eating less, I lost a ton of weight (around 30lbs) since college. I visited numerous doctors to try to figure out what was wrong. “There’s not really any organs there…” was the typical response. I had extensive blood work done, ultra-sound scans of all the vital organs in the affected area. I thought the worst, maybe significant problems with my colon or pancreas.  All tests came back negative for anything. In fact, all the tests showed wass that I was supposedly “healthy”.

I scoured the internet for solutions and tried nearly everything suggested and continued to suffer silently. I learned that IBS is sometimes caused by a treatment of antibiotics wiping out your intestinal flora. I had serious case of strep throat a few months before my symptoms started which was treated with very powerful antibiotics. I deduced that this may have been the culprit. I tried probiotics to try to replenish the good intestinal flora but it didn’t really help and instead gave me bouts of heartburn. The pain continued. In fact no-one except my girlfriend knew just how miserable I was every single day. The daily pain lead to anxiety, panic attacks, depression and the feeling that I would never feel well again. The weight loss didn’t help either and it significantly hurt my self confidence as more and more people asked if I was sick.

I never intended to talk or write about it publicly but in the past 6 months, through trial and error I’ve managed to almost completely get rid of my IBS and the pain and suffering it brought. Hopefully what I’ve done can be replicated to help others who suffer silently daily.

Here’s what I discovered through trial and error worked to get rid of my symptoms:

1. Exercise. This was my first major breakthrough. I noticed that when I worked out, either cardio or weight training, my symptoms wouldn’t be so bad. I told my doctor this and he said, “well that’s weird…”

I’m not sure why it works, maybe its stress reduction, endorphin release, or just getting the blood pumping. Who knows, all I know is getting daily exercise made drastic improvements to my IBS symptoms. I now try to walk for at least 15-30 minutes every day and weight train whenever I can.

2. Clean up my diet. My diet and what I put into my body had  never been good. I was always “blessed” with a fast metabolism so I could always pretty much eat whatever I wanted and not gain weight. I would eat tons of fried foods, hamburgers, ice cream, etc. Pretty much anything that is considered bad for you, I would eat because I never saw any weight gain so I though I was ok. Through trial and error I noticed my abdominal pain was worse when I ate certain things. Though that I did more research and discovered a few things and made several drastic changes to my diet.

• Cut out almost all red meats - I cut down my red meat intake significantly. I used to love eating Rib Eyes, hamburgers, etc but I noticed after eating these things the pain would be worse than normal. Doing some research showed about some of the negative affects red meat consumption has on your body and how hard it is for your body to digest. Recent studies have also shown that red meat consumption may be a contributing factor to the development of certain cancers. I cut it almost completely out of my diet and it has helped tremendously. I now eat a lot of whole soy foods as well as fish, chicken and turkey.
• Cut out almost all dairy products - I used to LOVE dairy products, Ice cream, cheese, etc. The problem is cow’s milk is actually HORRIBLE for you. First off, to make a cow constantly produce milk, you need to make its body think its constantly pregnant and that’s done through hormone therapy. When you drink milk you’re getting that stuff as well. Not only that, casein, one of the primary proteins in cows milk causes a human body to secret excessive mucus. Have you ever noticed increased mucus after drinking milk? That’s casein. Most adults cannot process lactose, the primary sugar in milk and it causes excessive gas production in your gut. I can go on and on about why cow’s milk is bad but the research is there. I now drink almond milk and try not to use cheese on many things. I still love cheese but I use it sparingly or eat it only on occasion (less than once a week).
• Eat more fruits and vegetables – This is one of those things like flossing; you know its good for you, but you just don’t do it. The big benefit of fruits and veggies is that not only are you getting more vitamins in, most of these things are good sources of natural insoluble dietary fiber. This helps keep the pipes clean and stuff continuously moving in your gut.

Eating healthier made me feel much better but its also hard to get enough calories eating healthy. This is good if you can lose a few pounds but for me, someone who had already lost so much weight, this caused me to become even more underweight. Now that I’ve got my symptoms under control I’ve begun to try to eat more calories (healthy stuff though), to put some lbs back on. It’s much harder (and more expensive) to gain weight eating healthy whole foods but it’s something I’m determined to do.

3. Stress Management. Starting and running your own business is one of the most fulfilling things you can ever do in life. It’s also something that will throw your mental state way off balance. It’s an emotional roller coaster. One day it’ll seem like everything is going great, the next day your site is getting bombarded by spammers and you’re up at 2:30 in the morning deleting users. There are so many things to think about and worry about every day, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Everyone responds to it differently, for me it made my digestion poor. I’ve come up with many different things to deal with stress, it’ll be different for everyone but I’ve taken up daily walks, gardening, breathing exercises. It’ll be different for everyone but try to figure out ways to manage your stress.

4. Poop when you need to poop. Working a desk job sometimes you don’t feel comfortable pooping in public restrooms. Holding it in is not good. Sounds like common sense but I doubt I’m the only one that did so. Moving back to Kauai and working from home let me poop when I need to poop and not have to hold it in anymore.

These simple things have greatly improved my quality of life. I’m not longer dreading the pain caused by eating. If you’re suffering from IBS, I hope you try these things and they work out as well for you as it did for me. I also highly recommend reading 8 Weeks to Optimum Health by Dr Andrew Weil. I’ve recently discovered the book and it contains many of the recommendations I found out on my own. He is much more schooled than I am so he’s able to better explain it in more detail, it’s really fascinating stuff. I know IBS is hardly anything serious, it’s not life threatening or devastating like cancer, but quality if life is something you take for granted until it is gone.

I don’t look it because I’m still very underweight but now I feel healthier than I have in years. Give me a few months with my new diet exercise routines, I’m hoping to look it too.

Earlier this year, The HPD (Honolulu Police Department) began publishing weekly photos of those arrested for drunk driving. The webpage is a simple HTML coded website, employs no social media marketing yet has become the most viral site out of Hawaii since icanhascheezburger.com. Each week, for a span of 24 hours, you can view mugshots of those arrested for OVUII (Operating a Vehicle Under the Influence of an Intoxicant). Capturing people photographically at their worst is always a laugh, but the added bonus of knowing that these people were caught doing something pretty stupid (and dangerous) makes this train wreck all the more irresistible.

Just how popular have these weekly photos become? Well a facebook fan page was created for “DUI Wednesdays” and quickly gained over 1000 fans in less than one week. It’s become quite the popular topic on twitter as well.

As with any true meme, remixes and photoshop edits have begun to pop up only adding more fuel to the fire.

I doubt that it will ever be a worldwide phenomenon the stature of LOLcats, but kudos goes to HPD for (unknowingly or not) creating quite possibly the ONLY positive thing to ever come from drunk driving. Hopefully this is something that can curtail drinking and driving on Oahu. Maybe public humiliation was the missing link to bring those numbers down.

To view photos of those arrested of OVUII, visit the HPD OVUII subsite every Wednesday at 10:00 am.

Why does this change everything for the ukulele? Many of the people there are influencers to the highest degree, let me give you an example of the type of person in the audience

http://twitter.com/BillGates/status/8916544197

I think it is highly likely for the people there to go and spread the word about what the ukulele is capable of and we may see even MORE new ukulele players out there. There’s a trend at TED to have more and more web and technology speakers and if the uke catches on in that scene, it has the chance to go viral like no other instrument ever. This goes hand in hand with the mission of Ukulele Underground, to grow the next generation of ukulele players which is why, right now, I am losing my mind thinking of the possibilities this may bring.

Jake has been the perfect ambassador for the new wave of ukulele popularity. The entire idea of customer experience is to exceed expectations. Most who have never seen Jake perform before have no idea what the Ukulele is capable of. The juxtaposition between what they think is possible, and what he then demonstrates is possible is light years apart. This leaves a typical audience with a sense of awe and opens their mind to the possibility that the ukulele is a serious instrument.

So this brings me to this internal debate I’ve been having with myself for the past few months. I want to start a podcast series about entrepreneurship and the process of starting a business (focusing on web based) from the ground up. In this series I would cover my thoughts on the changing business environment, how the internet is changing everything, resources, book reviews, inspirational interviews, etc.

I basically want to help as much people who want to start something of their own live their dream life.

What’s Holding Me Back?

Well basically three things.

1. I am embarrassed by the fact that although I feel I know what I am talking about, I still don’t have the proof that I do. I haven’t hit a homerun in business yet and I wonder if its too early for me to start talking business without having anything (financially) substantial to show for it. Right now, I have many theories/beliefs about what works, what doesn’t what’s important but I’m only now beginning to validate or invalidate these ideas.

2. I honestly have no idea what people want to hear about. There are many things that I’ve learned along the way that I guess I’ve taken for granted. I recently had a skype meeting with a few friends of mine who are looking to launch a new website. The questions I thought there were going to ask were completely different from what they actually wanted to know. They were asking things that I honestly thought everyone knew, but when I took some time to think about it, no not everyone does know these things. Questions like, “What legal things do I need to form a business?” or “How do I get payments online?” I’ve learned such a long time ago, I forgot that when I was first starting, I didn’t know where to start either. I think many things I don’t even think would be good topics are exactly the type of things people want to hear about.

3. My plate is becoming increasingly full. Although we’ve brought on some great people to help with the workload at Ukulele Underground, The projects we are launching will take up a lot of time. Not only that, Eatkauai.com still has a long way to go, and the record label needs at least 1 project this year. I also have some client work I need to finish up and a lot of other people who are asking me to design and create their website. I’m worried about spreading myself too thin with yet another project. It’s always been a bad habit of mine to not finish things that I start. It’s a habit I’m trying very hard to break.

So That brings us to this…

This project is something I think would be incredibly fun for me as I can honestly talk for hours about business if the party on the other end will bear it. I do have my concerns though, so honestly I would like some feedback so please leave a comment if you think its a good or bad idea. I’ll be mulling it over and hopefully by the end of the month, I’ll have made my decision if I’m going to do it or not.

DarkSydePhil – DarkSydePhil is a gamer based in the north east. In 2009 he began posting videos of himself playing video games while providing commentary to the in game action. Within one year his youtube channel skyrocketed to over 40,000 subscribers thanks to his hilarious often angry in game commentary.

Why do I think he can turn it into a business? First off, gaining 40k subscribers on youtube in a year from 0 is an indication that he resonates with a specific demographic. Sure 40k is a fraction of the top subbed channels on youtube, but the difference is DSP is very niche and attracts a very specific and lucrative advertising demographic (males with disposable incomes). This audience is growing at a very high rate as well. When December began he was around 30,000 and shooting for a goal of 35,000 subscribers, It reached 40,000 before the year.

What he should do? Create a web presence outside of youtube that allows his viewers to become an online community. By creating a community your options for monetization grow. You can do advertising, sponsorships, products. By creating an online community you allow your viewers and fans to create content on your website via their discussions. Money will come with the eyeballs and the earlier he creates his own space on the web, the faster he’ll get there.

Obstacles – His content (video game playthroughs) skirt the line of legality. Some may argue that play throughs are copyright infringement. If you consider video games the newest form of interactive story telling then this may be the case. There have been court cases that have established that putting recordings of movies and music online as illegal but there has been no precedence set for play throughs as of yet.

Ryan Gutierrez aka gootecks – Gootecks is a top SoCal Street Fighter 4 tournament player. In early 2009 he decided to dedicate more of his time to growing the fighting game scene and began pumping out podcasts, video content, and his own branded event ‘Street Fighter Bar Fights’. Within the last year he has appeared in the documentary ‘I Got Next‘ by Ian Cofino and has been featured on G4 TV.

The good thing about gootecks is that he gets it. Street Fighter fans are amongst the most passionate fans of any video game. They study and devour everything related to the game and many have been doing so since the early ’90s. With the release of Street Fighter 4 in 2009 and the upcoming Super Street Fighter 4 in March 2010, Gootecks has done a great job positioning himself to be one of the faces of the Street Fighter community. He is also friends with Justin Wong, the best SF4 player in the country and if they started working together it would undeniably demand the attention of everyone in the community. I’ve talked to Ryan a few times the last year and many of the ideas he has are awesome and if executed properly and with focus, there should be no reason why he can’t make a very comfortable living for himself doing what he loves.

There are many others who I am watching, some further along than others but these 2 are the ones who I am most intrigued by mainly because they are 2 more examples of the shift in media and media consumption by consumers. I believe that the next, next generation of celebrities will be born on the internet and not on TV and watching people like DSP and Gootecks grow their brand equity online is a good test of my theories.

Anyways, those are my thoughts, who do you think will have a breakout year in 2010? (besides me of course )