I was in a roundtable the other day with some smart folks and mentioned that I have never worked “for the man”, besides a short internship after college I have been self-employed my entire professional life.

Afterwards someone asked me if I felt it was a positive or negative not having the corporate experience. I gave some quick answer about not missing out on fluorescent lights and cubicles. But a minute later while walking to the car I gave him another answer after processing the question a bit more.

I feel I am at an advantage because I do not have any preconceived notions.

Notions like how a company should be run

Think about it. Sure I had to learn some things the hard way. But overall I was free to create a company that was not weighed down with baggage brought with me from a previous experience.

What’s your experience? If you left a corporate job to go out on your own.. did you feel free to design the company of your choice, or did you have  a “this is the way it is done” mindset? Good and Bad.

I’ve led a short life.. but in all my 32 years I have learned something I wish to pass on to all of you. A simple technique to enjoy everyday; Don’t take yourself so seriously. For that matter don’t take others too seriously either.

Sunny said once I was the youngest old guy he knows.  (Sunny is still in his 20′s so I guess I am old to him). I am assuming he meant that I was young at heart/spirit as I am always joking around and 99.9% of the time happy and smiling.  I don’t act my age. And I don’t intend to anytime soon.

I pop my collar when I wear polo shirts.

Photoshopped awesome courtesy Brian Shaler

And I like to photobomb deep conversations

Sean's chest hair hypnotized Matt into submission

And made it rain with a Unicorn

Smartest guy on the panel had a horn

The moral of the story: Relax and enjoy yourself, and your friends, and your family. The world’s fashion problems and your delusions of grandeur should not keep you from smiling. You are not that important that you cannot find humor in yourself. Unless you have a PHD, you are an expert in nothing,  quit pretending to be one. However you measure success, you are a failure if you are the most important person you know. Stop caring about what others may think, you cannot control them. You can only control how you feel. And you should choose to lighten up and enjoy things.

I forget my own advice sometimes.. but offer thanks to my friends and family for keeping me humble.

Tom Selleck is my brother

I rant about big Pharma instilling fear in the weak and making them self diagnose their ailments. But there is a legitimate problem that some people face that there is no known cure or treatment for. Long Torso Syndrome affects men and women alike. They suffer in silence, weeping quietly as their exposed navels freeze in the wind.

I am tired of hiding my long yet svelt frame under XL and XXL clothing. Looking like a toothpick wearing a garbage bag just to get clothes that will cover my belt (its python skin). It’s time to cast away the shame and talk about this affliction.

My friend Sean is 6’8.. standing next to him I (at 6’4) feel short.  Sitting next to him on a plane and I can peer down at his growing bald spot on his head. (kidding about hin losing his hair.. he uses 2x Mega!)

My wife is 5’8 and wears longer inseam pants than I do.

I have donated $1000′s worth of shirts and sweaters to charity after washing them once.

At 185 lbs I am Tall, not Big and Tall (fuck you dept stores and your must be 290lbs to get a T size).

My family is average height.. but even My older brother Jay at a respectable 5’7 has flintstone legs compared to his freakish extend-o-matic torso.

Who's the tall guy? My gawd look at his Torso

Shame no MORE!

I invite others afflicted with this condition to comment here, share your stories and how you cope. And please please share where you buy clothes or what brands work.

I for one have purchased a closet full of American Apparel T-shirts as they are slim fit and LONG, they fit so great.

PS: Ginor‘s Unite! We demand Exit row seating on airplanes and we demand it NOW!

Old Adage it is who you know and the circles you run in..

Saw this post and it started me thinking.

We have had some conversations about seeking investment for our company page.ly, but are really too busy growing it to spend much time on it [raising capital]. We are profitable, acquiring new customers daily, and have a steady up and to the right revenue graph, and we are doing it all bootstrapped with next to $0 in marketing outlay.

Actual Snapshot from our page.ly dashboard

Since we have not really dedicated ourselves to seeking investment, this is is really just me thinking out loud: Seems the techstars and Ycom‘s of the world are the way to get a startup funded these days. I wonder how they would work for a company like ours that is perhaps a bit further along path.. (moved past the idea stage into a cashflow business) but not as sexy a model as the next whatever. I would be happy for the advice and mentorship, but really seems  the “street cred” and connections/introductons that come with going through a program like that are of the most value.

We are flying under the Radar… I kind of like it.  But I struggle with the question of what could we do with a money injection, how far could we go, and how fast.

I see some of these companies getting funding, and of course I am not privy to their board meetings but I ask if the world needs another 1 of those, or how do they plan on making money. As far as I am concerned the “we need 10 million users then we can monetize with ads” model is dead.. but some folks are still investing in those ideas it seems.

Just random thoughts.. back to work.

SXSW was sic.

Got a little refresher course in networking. And here is my take-away:

Dont talk about business, or ask “So what do you do?”.

It seems like a natural question.. you are at a business conference with lots of others from out-of-town. So asking what someone does or where they are from seems logical..

All I can say is some of the best interactions I had with folks had nothing to do with business. Example: I met someone in the VIP area of a party I was at and we spent the better part of 10 minutes having a great and engaging conversation about Magic and Bird (for you kids.. best NBA sports rivalry of all time). Never caught his name… because at a pause in the conversation I asked what he did.. he deflected with a nonsensical answer and bailed. Oops.. Not going to namedrop but later I find out he was bigtime.

Also I spent the better part of 20 minutes talking with a prominent VC about our shared passion of road racing our cars… He mentioned we should connect later and I went into business mode talking about investment for our business, he went cross-eyed on me and said “Who cares about business, I was talking about cars.. We should go out to the track together sometime”.

Lesson Learned..  I should have known better. I have been an entrepreneur selling my services, and now my product (pagely) for the better part of 8 years and in that time have learned that personal relationships come first, before the business. Seems I just forget that point twice over the weekend.

No cheerleaders sorry..

But you should bid on and WIN this sweet coffee mug, 100% proceeds go to Save Darfur.

shot from @clowerpower‘s car.  I have the Gray Audi that is the lead car for the first 4 minutes… my rear end came out at 3:55 mark.. hard to do with an AWD car under throttle.. But I clearly blew the turn, did not get on the gas soon enough to keep the cars momentum from swinging the ass around.  Clower passes me in turn 9 at around 4:15.

Fun day.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Speed thru the banked oval is about 88-95mph.. top speed at the end of straight is maybe 102-107mph for my lil car.

In a city of full of fakers.. one man keeps it real.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Poll after poll cite the publics low approval of Congress. And why would they feel any different. Numerous examples exist of our legislative officials NOT serving the American people. Look at the Health Care debacle. These spineless Dem’s (I lean left.. but these jokers in congress are flacid at best) could not even get a bill passed both houses with huge majorities. Congress has not passed any major legislation since the Civil rights act. Clearly it’s broken.

Call it influence of Lobbyist money, call it tacking to the center, call it corruption.. whatever. Essentially they play an endless game of campaigning in hopes of getting re-elected to continue the farce of they call governing.

Senators serve for 6 years (unlimited), House Members for 2 (unlimited). Term Limits could help, especially in the Senate.. cap to 2 6 year terms.  But Look at the House. The framers of our government wanted the House to be more receptive to the will of the people. Essentially they have to earn their job every 2 years or get kicked. IMHO this is why the House is usually more progressive, they HAVE to get stuff done.

Aside: Progressive is not a dirty word. Read 1 and 3. Don’t you want your government to change and adapt and look for new ideas to do something better?

Idea: Every Senate Seat faces an up or down vote in year 4 of the 6 year term. This is not an election vs. a competitor. This is a simple up or down vote by the states constituents on whether that Senator can EVEN run for re-election. They Lose, It’s an open seat in Year 6. They win an up or down vote.. Politics as normal.

For The House Do the same thing.. but do it in year 5 of consecutive terms. So if a Representative is elected and then re-elected 2x more.. in the middle of their 3rd term they face the up or down vote on whether they can run a 4th campaign.

Short of hard term limits, these Up or Down votes should continue infinitum. I don’t think “Career” and  politicians should exist in the same sentence.   It’s a public service. And when you stop serving the public, the public should get a say whether you keep your job.

Why do I think this is a good idea? Why not just vote for the other guy? Here is my reasoning. Running a campaign against someone is very different from running a campaign on why you should keep your job. What if every currently elected politician during a campaign could only talk about themselves and their accomplishments while in office.   Imagine if they were forbidden to mention the other candidates name. The public and they themselves would be forced to judge the man in the mirror. On his/her actions, on his ability to govern. All of a sudden this thing called accountability comes into the picture.

Every corporation/business has some sort of employee review procedure. You want a raise or want to keep your job… This decision is based on your merits. Don’t perform? You are out.  Whether you keep your job as nothing to do with how Bob from the next cubicle performs, or whether the applicant for your job is a liberal or conservative. You are accountable whether or not you keep your job.

When you can run a campaign based on pointing out the faults of your opponent, it becomes a game of “looking better then the other guy” when it should be a “look what I did in Washington”. An Up or Down vote forces this conversation to be had. Forces the politician to be judged on their merits of governing, not the skill of their campaign to find dirt on the other guy.

Awesome.. Lame.. and More Awesome

Click here to view the embedded video.