Career Update

While I was plenty busy for the last several months starting up Fighting Goliath Media, Goat Farm Furnishings, returning to real estate and herding goats, I’ve joined the team at Digital Advertising Technologies up in San Francisco since January. D.A.T. provides an amazing software solution for the DOOH (Digital out-of-home) advertising market. With my prior position as the COO of a digital signage network, I spearheaded the development of our software solution, which was licensed by D.A.T. to other network operators. After taking some time off and getting some other small ventures online, I’m happy to return to DOOH and am passionate about the space and technology.

Currently I’m the VP of Platform Operations at D.A.T., heading up the user development, workflow design and overall experience of the software design, while doing business development and assisting other networks in getting on board with our software solutions. It’s a great opportunity and certainly comes with it’s challenges, most of which revolve around me living in San Francisco and my family living in Arizona still. So I’ve learned a lot this first month and I cherish those moments I get to spend at home with my wife and kids. I’m excited to be part of a startup again and build something great, it is just so dang motivating.

Had an amazing show at the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas this week, the biggest show in the world dedicated to digital signage. Met tons of great people and even got to speak some Russian!

Though the challenges are many, the rewards are great too, and I’m looking forward to times of personal and spiritual growth as well as being busy again. Cheers!

What’s New?

Well, it’s been 1 year since i’ve last posted on my blog. Life tends to happen and you focus on different things at different times. I don’t want it to slip away so I’m trying to re-commit to writing on it again. Last year I wrote a post called “Entreprovator” and retitled my blog to the Entreprovator’s Blog. One of the underlining themes to that post was always having coals in the fire and constantly innovating. I’m pretty sure I failed at that too over the last year, BUT, I’m ready to go.

I left my company www.dcsimedia.com back in September. After close to 3 years of blood, sweat, tears, money, no money, life lessons, business lessons, moral lessons and everything in between, I was just plain exhausted. I have no doubt in my mind that I gave it my all. Perhaps MY all wasn’t good enough and I’m not who I thought I was, I guess that’s yet to be determined. It’s not an easy decision to leave a paycheck, especially in this economy (I will save the idea of a ‘paycheck’ for another post). I’ve always had a passion for my real estate business and I wanted to get back into it as well as some other things. After a 3 year hiatus, real estate is not the same. It’s actually a great time to be in real estate; the problem is it takes 10 times the work for 1/10th the commission. So in light of re-building my real estate company, I’m doing some other things. I’m entreprovating….

First, my wife and I actually decided to go into business together. She’s extremely creative and is an interior designer/decorator by trade, although with 3 boys she rarely gets the chance to practice. We moved to an urban farm this past summer and have been enjoying our livestock and the chores that come with. We named our business Goat Farm Furnishings and we refurbish, restore and renovate furniture to make it unique, antique and chic! The last few months have been more of an acquisition phase of getting furniture and we’ve made some progress on a few pieces that should be available soon, so if you’re interested in that kind of a thing, you can follow us on facebook or on twitter. So thus far we have Real Estate as coal number 1 and Goat Farm as number 2.

Next to the baileywick is mortgage lending. When I first started my company Axiom it was actually a mortgage brokerage and we added real estate soon thereafter. In January of this year we decided to resign our mortgage license as there was no production or focus on it. Well I’ve teamed up with another company to do real estate finance; however, I am focused on commercial loans of less than 1MM. This includes residential property meant for investment (fix/flip). We do private money finance for real estate investors. Check out CTP Funding. That’s coal 3.

Coal 4 actually revolves around service. As many may know I’m a wannabe musician and have been in several bands throughout the years. Last year I decided to start a babershop quartet focused on singing Christmas songs during the holidays in nursing homes, hospices or wherever it was needed. It didn’t quite work out last year but we’re going strong this year. Our group is called “Patent Pending” and our first performance is December 7th at a nursing home in Mesa. If anyone knows of anywhere in the valley we could perform for service, charity or what not, please contact me.

Coal 5: I’m pretty excited about coal 5. Although not officially launched yet, Coal 5 is my new media company. Fighting Goliath Media. I spent the last 3 years building a media and advertising business and after obtaining my MBA and being the marketing face for my other businesses, I’ve gained a greater appreciation for the art of marketing. I have a business partner as well and we will be focusing on business marketing and creative services. Everything from Brand Consulting/Creation to logo design, print material design, websites, business consulting, media placement/ad buying and everything in between. My partner has a wealth of experience in marketing and we’re soft launching the company now with an official launch in the coming months. During the soft launch we’re looking to add to our portfolio so if anyone needs expertise in marketing and/or creative/design services (flyers, post cards, business cards, logos, websites, etc.), send me a note. I’m really excited about this new venture and growing a business that creates VALUE for our clients.

I think 5 coals is good for now. While I have more on my mind, I have plenty to focus on as well. I’m looking forward to all the challenges and growth ahead. I am passionate about creating, building and succeeding. Until the next coal, or topic, here’s to taking back the economy!

Skylar Stock and Family

As many people around the valley have heard, Skylar Stock, a 27 year old Tempe firefighter, was killed on Monday, December 7, 2009 while hunting outside of Payson. While sleeping in a tent a tree was snapped by a high-wind storm and fell on him, killing him instantly. Here is a link to the story from ABC 15. Skylar is survived by his young wife Kari and their 3 children, ages 4, 2.5 and 10 months. Skylar was my brother-in-law and this has hit very close to home. While many of us struggle with these realities in life it has been quite amazing being around Kari and seeing her strength throughout this last week. Skylar was a selfless individual always eager to help others and do the right thing. He chose a well-suited career path and had only been with the Tempe Fire Department about 2 years, but had been aiming for this career his entire life.

     The funeral this past weekend was quite amazing with the amount of support from family and friends and including the Tempe Fire Department and other departments. The service was extraordinary and it was a true, uplifting celebration of his life. Skylar will sorely be missed and I can only pray that these circumstances help us all re-focus our purpose and our goals in life. His young children don’t quite grasp what has happened but still have a sense of their father missing; however, they are surrounded by strong people and support and I have the utmost faith that the entire Stock family will move forward stronger than ever and with peace in their hearts. Words can never express enough sympathy to help someone through, but it is the simple ”I’m sorry” that is a genuine heart-felt expression to those who have suffered a loss. To Kari and the kids, I’m sorry. I love you all and we will all be here for anything that you need.

     For those interested in helping out the Stock Family, there are 3 ways you can help. You can donate directly to the Stock Family Donation Fund at any Wells Fargo bank. The account # is 7218152986.

     For those who may not have access to a Wells Fargo, you can donate via Paypal by clicking here. 

     There is also a fundraiser set for Thursday, December 17, 2009 at any Chili’s Restaurant in Mesa, Tempe, Chandler and Gilbert. For those who may have planned to eat out, if you do so on Thursday at Chili’s and mention the Stock Family, they will contribute 10% of the bill to the Stock Donation Fund. If you can donate in lieu of eating out it will benefit the family more; however if you planned to eat out or want to get together with friends, please go to Chili’s and eat that night, and tell your friends. Print this coupon and share it with whoever you can.

Entreprovator

As I’ve pondered my passion for entrepreneurship I’ve decided on two things. First, I definitely need to find myself a nemesis. Someone to compete with, someone to motivate me to excel. Plus, I just love saying the word nemesis and to actually have one would be pretty nifty. Second, I’ve read many postings and articles on the phrase “Serial Entrepreneur”. I can’t locate the source of the most recent one but it tended to bother me quite a bit. It had to do with the argument that no such thing exists, and entrepreneurship is not something someone does. Well, I have to disagree.

I feel that serial entrepreneurship is as real as being called a ‘Software Engineer’, or a ‘Policeman’. Over the last 7 years I’ve worked for, or on my own, startups. I am ABSOLUTELY driven by building ideas and fostering innovation. My companies range from Real Estate and Mortgage Lending, to Food Delivery, to Digital Signage, to green concepts, travel websites and more. I don’t particularly say I’m an expert in any one of those fields, or any expert in anything for that matter, BUT, I do see a pattern developing. A pattern for taking a new idea and running with it until I’m blue in the face. Behind every failure is a success, and success is not an entitlement.

I’ve decided to coin the name Entreprovator, as long as nobody else has of course because I’ve learned my lesson on IP law. The term to me closely aligns with what a serial entrepreneur might be. An entrepreneur who is CONSTANTLY innovating, constantly working on new ideas. Maybe you take a company and build it to failure or build it to success, but you move on and work on something else because you constantly have ideas or innovation in your mind.

I seem to have 3-5 ideas in my pocket at any time that I’m working on. Some more than others, but plenty of coals in the fire. Some may call it a distraction, and I could validate that point; however, while I may be focused on one main project, I can’t just turn off the valve and stop ideas from flowing. They motivate me, they empower me, and they certainly bring in aspects to my main project that I may not have thought of. It’s important to keep that valve open. It doesn’t mean you have ‘fallbacks’ all the time or that you are not committed to your main project, although a VC might tell you otherwise, it means you are constantly striving to innovate, which provides for learning and self-betterment.

Innovation is the driving force behind the true stabilization of an economy. Without it, a lot of suffocation will occur and we will continue down a path of always doing what we’ve always done, which will always give us what we’ve always got, except for the fact that we will stare at the entreprovating people, economies and countries passing us by. Long live the entreprovator and the people committed to constant creation, and the entrepreneurs out building a new economy. Now…..about that nemesis.

Matrix on XP?

Awesome video of how the Matrix would have happened on XP..

Community

I’m loving me this new little show called Community. It’s on NBC after The Office. It’s just awesome. The last 2 episodes have some interesting pieces at the end. I hope they continue doing these, just crack me up.

UPDATE: Bad links now that NBC has removed them from youtube for copyrights. Check out www.hulu.com to see the clips.

The Sesame Song

So many years ago at a band practice we were goofing off and started making a song. It ended up being this ridiculous song about Sesame Street and Reading Rainbow–with my man Lavar. We played it a couple of times before we stopped ‘being a band’. Last weekend I did a show with my buddy Joe from my old band and Chris Trapper, of The Push Stars. At the last minute I wanted to do this song so invited Joe out, unrehearsed, to sing with me. So here is 5 years of no practice, a sore throat and bad lighting.

Is this what’s to come?

Came across this video via co-worker introduction. Hard to believe the name behind it let alone the technology itself. Very cool though!

Glee

Fox's Glee

So, being a music fan and all I was semi-excited for Fox to debut Glee after the teaser during American Idol this year. Every once in awhile networks seem to get things right (my recent memories include Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, Ed, Eli Stone). Glee is one where I actually hope they do cancel it. OK, I am ALL for mixing it up and not displaying the “constantly re-told stories in a new form” type of television, and respectfully, Glee is a great attempt at doing that, but WHY oh WHY does every aspect of this show have to be based around the sexual activity of kids and adults alike? My assumption that the show would be about music was  incorrect. While yes, there is some music on the show, who is editing this show? Since when does a 4 piece acapella group have 4 guys singing parts but yet the audio track has beat boxing when nobody on stage is beat boxing? That is a HUGE flaw for a show supposedly supposed to be wrapped around a glee club and MUSIC! It reminds me of Carl Weathers in Happy Gilmore during Happy’s dream. He’s playing the piano and says ‘Look Happy, I got my hands back’, while waiving with the piano continually playing in the background!

It’s the only copy I could find.

CONTINUITY ERRORS DRIVE ME INSANE!

But wait, sex sells, right? So whoe cares if the music isn’t accurate as long as we get back to sex. Nearly 80% of this show is sexual innuendos or sexual context. Cheerleaders in bikinis doing stripper dances? Celibacy clubs where no one wants to be celibate (and no i’m not saying celibacy is the answer). Co-workers deliberately seeking affairs with married people? WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR SOCIETY THAT THIS IS SO ACCEPTABLE TO US NOW? I applaud Fox for experimenting with creativity but when do we go too far? Especially during the time slot it is in and the audience it is presumably geared towards? Hey kids, we understand you think about sex, so watch Glee and make sure it’s the only thing you ever think about. My DVR has been unscheduled now.

Ping Pong

Yeah, i don’t know what it is with me and funny commercials. Saw this one today. Loved it! Led to other Ping Pong memories.

This reminded me of this awesome video. Pay attention to the very end!

Which reminded me of this video

Which was a result of the original here

But nothing like these guys

or….the all time master.

And that is how you get Payton Manning, Justin Timberlake and Forest Gump connected. It’s like the Kevin Bacon game for Ping Pong.