Going to market!

Holy cow … I can’t believe we’re almost ready to officially launch. It’s been quite a bit of time in the making.

So, we are going to start with a soft launch either tomorrow or Monday, after which we’ll be doing a hard launch within the next couple of weeks.

For our soft launch, we’ll be doing something extremely “novel” … but which is sure to “kick butt” and create a lot of buzz. I’d tell you what we’re going to do now, but that would ruin the anticipation. Sorry! But I’ll let you in on what we’re contriving sometime next week.

And that, my friends, concludes my first full week of blogging. Adios!

Initiative over Talent!

I’ll take “initiative” multiplied by “passion” over “pure talent” divided by a “lack of commitment” any day of the week.

You’d think I’d have mastered this lesson by now, but every now and again, it seems to get reinforced upon me once again.

Quick story – I’ve been in the process of getting the “Mobile O/X” web site professionaly done for the past month. Several weeks ago, I was directed to an individual who had the “reputation” of being “the best.” After meeting, it was agreed that the site would be done expiditiously. When the deadline came and passed without any progress, I should have been the wiser and quickly found someone else. But I still persisted out of my “false hope” that this individual would pull through and produce “the best.”

After a second meeting and a second commitment, I was still hopefull. However, once this deadline came and passed – with unreturned voicemail and text messages – I was extremely disappointed (not only in the designer, but also in myself … for allowing myself to be suckered in to a “hope” that was too good to be true). Moreover, this individual didn’t even have the courage to tell me straight out “I cannot complete the task.” That’s lame!

Serendipitiously, we met with a second individual that same evening and I was simply “blown away.” Previously, I had assigned him an unrelated “graphical” project. However, on his own INITIATIVE, he had gone ahead and done a mock up of a possible Mobile O/X website. Not only was I thoroughly impressed with his design / creativity, but I was amazed by his drive and passion. You can teach skill, but you cannot teach drive, passion, or initiative. You either have it or you don’t.

Needless to say, we should finally have a professional Mobile O/X website up by the first of next week, and it will continually get “sweeter” as our newest “all-star” jumps into the game and makes a few big plays.

Vacations?

OK, one last thought from “The Donald.”

“Don’t take vacations. What’s the point? If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re in the wrong job. Even when I’m playing golf, I’m doing business. I never stop, and I’m usually having fun.”

Doing what you truly love is undoubtedly a “full time job” … and I’m not talking about the 40 hour a week type either. It totally “consumes” you. It occupies your every waking thought because there simply is nothing more appealing that you’d rather be thinking about.

Give it up to “Trump,” on yet another “key” on knowing whether what you are doing is indeed your “true passion.”

4000+ Domains … Part I

So how exactly does someone come to own over 4000 domains? Does one simply compile a list and blow $30,000 in a single day?

Although the specific answer is “incremental” in nature, one has to first understand an underlying principle in order to fully comprehend the mechanics of “what is really going on behind the scenes?”

Donald Trump once stated “If you do what you enjoy, you’ll always be successful, because you’ll always be the best at what you do.”

I absolutely believe that 100 percent.

So how can you tell exactly what it is that you love? Easy!

It’s what you think about when you have absolutely nothing else to think about. It’s what occupies your mind when you’re taking a shower, when you’re driving your car, when you’re going to sleep.

(Quick reality check … if you have your own entrepreneurial endeavor, do you constantly think about it? Did you think about it this morning when you were in the shower? Driving the car? If not, GET OUT NOW! Life is too short already. Doing what you hate makes it even shorter.)

And that, my friends, is the secret on how I came to acquire over 4000 domains. OK, so there is a lot more to the story, but I’ll have to save that for another day, as there are other things you should be thinking about right now… such as how to get your own endeavor up and running

Serendipity

Serendipity … you gotta love it!

Not only is it responsible for Mobile O/X, but it’s also responsible for this blog … StartUpAndGo.com.

A little over a week ago I had the opportunity of making a presentation in an Entrepreneurial Marketing class at BYU. It just so happened that Jason Alba – who had just had lunch with Dr. Rhoads the day before – was also making a presentation. What started out as a brief “hello” evolved into a 2 hour conversation and an invitation to a dinner the following week with a couple of other local entreprenuers.

Fast forward four days to Tuesday. John Romney and I pitched Mobile O/X to a few judges in the Elevator Pitch Competition at BYU. Although the judges felt a few of our competitors presented more compelling arguments (um … we lost), I still had the opportunity of getting to know one of the judges – Kelly Anderson – a bit better (her advice to John and I will certainly prove invaluable).

Now lets fast forward one last time to Thursday. Per Jason Alba’s invitation, I had dinner at Mimi’s Cafe with not only Jason, but also Kelly. In addition, I also met Matthew Reinbold and Carolynn Duncan.

In short, because of my chance encounter with both Jason and Kelly, along with the encouragement of both Matt and Carolynn, I’ve started this blog … if for no other reason than to detail my efforts in getting Mobile O/X off the ground.

Um, perhaps I’ll also tease readers with a few other points … such as “how in the heck did I ever come to own over 5000 domains” – not all of them are for Mobile O/X – and “why in the world would I ever quit being a pharmacist – think $100,000 plus per year – in order to start a business that has a high probability of miserable failure?”

Since one of my favorite sayings has come to be “I don’t know how it’s going to work out, I just know that it is,” on occasion I’ll also share one of my “20 Portable Principles for Practical Change” in an effort to illistrate that my current efforts are not based entirely on a “wing and a prayer.”

(I feel very strongly that an entreprenuer should never “take a shot in the dark.” Nonetheless, successful entrepreneurs seem to have captured that “elusive what” in making wise decisions. It’s my belief that these “20 Portable Principles” coupled with sufficient experience can develop into the “tacit talent” which translates into successful startups.)