May
12
John Bresee Back Country Store Speaks
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Education and Love for Learning | Leave a Comment
John Bresee, co-founder of the best outdoor equipment retailer on the web, spoke at the UVEF today.
I always love to hear him speak. After the luncheon, we talked a little and he said he is really good at seeing things about three years out. His presentation riveted me every moment.
Basically:
Entreprenuers who actually start business are the only ones who ever succeed.
No lottery ticket. Really easy to start, but really hard to perservere.
Split the category. Geartrader.com is going to take on a niche of eBay.com.
Checkout the following sites:
Dogfont.com woot.com
Be first in the category.
Stay focused. “We sell outdoor gear on the Internet.” No manufacturing.
Split off companies. Apparently, Sony could have had Apple’s market share
if the publishing division in Sony hadn’t crushed the possible iPod division.
Convert the highest and ship cheapest and buy cheapest.
Don’t worry about channel conflict.
Let your customer create the product.
Overlaying on google maps.
iTunes is missing the boat when they don’t open up to all musicians who want to publish their music.
Gary Hammill - the scary way is the safe way.
Google - free matching soon to come.
eBay - free auctions sites will suplant it.
Digital services that charge are begging for a beatdown.
At Backcountry Store, we hire those in our culture to write the content for our culture. Showing up is 90% of life.
-Woody Allen
Never look back lamenting about what could have been.
Don’t choose sleep over entreprenuership.
May
11
The Game of Work - Great Quote
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Education and Love for Learning, Favorite Books | Leave a Comment
“People will pay for the priviledge of working harder than they will work when they are paid.”
-Chuck Coonradt
May
5
Seth’s 10 Most Popular Posts This Year
Apr
14
Products and Services - HomeNet Communications, Inc.
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Freedom, Government, Politics, etc., Technology | Leave a Comment
Ok, I’m mistaken on the last post. I figured this out thanks to a post by Jason on Paul’s blog.
I called the number from iProvo.net in January and was informed that the cheapest package was $89 and was bundled with 3 services. iprovo.net is not the place to go. The correct prices are at Products and Services - HomeNet Communications, Inc. and it turns out that they are very competitive.
Apr
14
Paul Allen embraces iProvo and I don’t
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Freedom, Government, Politics, etc., Technology | Leave a Comment
Paul Allen is championing iProvo and sites an article by Lawrence Lessig, but I have some questions about it.
Good article Lawrence, but I’m wondering if iProvo really increases the competition.
If the community is not purchasing the broadband at the price it is, how does the government expect the demand to appear at an even higher price (albeit faster Internet speeds) when many in the community are surviving with their dial up?
I see the argument for it if we consider Internet a public good like roads, but I’m more concerned that Provo expects to finance this service through paying customers. They haven’t snagged me and I’m a “high speed user.” My Vonage, Comcast combination (about $68 per month) blows their least expensive plan out of the water ($89) since I have no interest in cable television. I realize that the iProvo Internet is faster and better, but for at home use, Comcast works great and I don’t care about the extra speed when it costs me another $20 per month. iProvo IS NOT COMPETITION FOR MY NEEDS. Won’t others feel like me about this? From what I understand, iProvo needs 30 percent of the entire city using their service to pay for it. With the current usage in the city, I’m just concerned I’ll be paying the bill for iProvo even if I don’t ever decide to use it.
So, my final question is, why is it a good thing for the local government to push iProvo when the private sector hasn’t demanded it?
I’d like a few reasons other than it’s super-fast and other tech talk. Is it really going to boost the amount of tech business in Provo and raise more money in taxes to pay for it? Historical examples? I’m uninformed and still open on this topic. I’m just not yet convinced iProvo is the best thing for Provo.
But, then again, it doesn’t really matter, the decision is made. I might as well just look for other ways I can use it even if it won’t have my home Internet use. Maybe it will be cheaper to set up a data center in Provo?
Mar
29
Start a company instead of a summer job
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Education and Love for Learning, General | Leave a Comment
Paul Graham’s summer founders program also has a link to starting a start up that is very good.
Mar
26
Unforgettable Biography becomes iMemoryBook
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Education and Love for Learning, Genealogy to Family History to FamilyLearn | Leave a Comment
Over the last couple weeks we have conducted focus groups and surveys about the Unforgettable Biography and the excercise has proven very useful. We have changed the name and tagline and rebuilt the website, improving it by leaps and bounds in ways that our customers want. The changes are receiving great reviews from our customers so far.
It’s now
www.iMemoryBook.com - collect a book of memories for someone special.
Even though we just released our site, the alexa ranking for today is 60,172, in the top 100,000. I predict this site and product will be a great one for FamilyLearn. Thanks to Paul for teaching me about focus groups.
Mar
18
Another MBA Book List
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Education and Love for Learning | Leave a Comment
The 30 Book MBA in entrepreneurship
Mar
16
Here’s a list of personal MBA books that I’m posting so that I make sure I read all the ones I haven’t already. Josh Kaufman: Inside My Bald Head: The Josh Kaufman “Personal MBA” Program
Mar
16
Stanford MBA Seth Godin on the MBA
Filed Under Business Ideas, Resources, Principles, etc., Education and Love for Learning | Leave a Comment
Apparently, Seth Godin, famous for permission marketing, thinks that dedicated reading of 30-40 books and real life experience is more valuable than an MBA. I personally turned down an internship and PhD program and more from Penn State in order to work on FamilyLearn and get real life experience. Hopefully, Seth’s right and I’m learning more this path than I could have the other. I don’t suppose I’ll ever never know. Seth does know (for him at least) because he did both. Whichever path one takes, I believe a life-long love of learning is more important than anything else.
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