Retro Family Photo

So I found this photo of me from when I was young. Dam! I was hot. BTW, I'm the kid in the middle. My mom hand painted this photo, I think that was the fad back then. I don't think it was to save money. I love my mom's outfit, very Startrek.

Exceeding Expectations in our Trouble Times

Over the holiday I, like many of you went on a road trip to get away and visit family. My trip by car was over 5 hours and involved snow-covered roads. I decided before leaving that I should get the car checked out, oil changed and tires rotated. I setup the appointment and went in. I ended up having to take my 4 year old and 10 year old as I couldn’t find a sitter and I couldn’t get anyone to help me drop off the car. Ah! So here I am headed to the car dealership for the day. Not my idea of fun. I packed a portable DVD player, 4 hours of “SpongeBob”, cheese nibs and apple juice. I was locked and loaded. I pulled up and dropped off the car and went in to the waiting room expecting to be at the dealership for the next 2+ hours… 20 minutes later my name was called and I thought “what am I going to get charged for now…” Nope. My car was done!

From the time I pulled up to the dealership (All hail LHM Dodge), to getting back in the car, I had spent 25 minutes. The 4 year old was actually upset about not being able to watch his SpongeBob!

I am still talking about this great experience 2 weeks later. I was so happy the rest of that day. Not only were my expectations exceeded but I was given something I rarely get – time.

When visiting with the family this holiday, talk always drifted to the economy. Times are tough everywhere and now more than ever we want to be treated well. A good experience is always refreshing and a great experience is treasured. We all have less money and we want more value out of it. Instead of 3 nights out we now have 1 and that means each one is more important.

Now is the time to grab market share with great customer experiences, we all are demanding it. I hope to have my expectations exceeded again. It's really quite fun!

New Orleans Dis' satisfaction

I just got back from a conference in New Orleans this last week. It was my first time back since Katrina. I was at the same conference just a few months before Katrina hit. The conference is just now coming back to the Big Easy.

The food is always so good here, I just have to take it with a bit of salt in the old wound. On the first day I had 5 different customer experiences with food, clothing and lodging. To my dismay all 5 experiences were terrible. I felt like I was intruding on the employee asking for a drink, or for help in accessing a changing room, or interrupting one employee's talk with a friend so I could find out a price on an item.

The city just felt tough and mean to me. It has some nasty scars but unlike the midwest which was submerged this past spring, this city still seems to thumb it's nose to those who bring it it's life - tourists.

Tourist are the only reason New Orleans can recover but from my experience last week I would tell everyone I know to stay away. It wasn't worth the good food and I do mean good. We had Emeril personally cook for us and our meal at Morton's Steak House was amazing. But, and I do mean but! It was ruined by how I was repeatedly treated. No one wants to be treated poorly, and if you're in a city just visiting it is felt even more poignantly.

So as the motto goes, 1 upset person tells 10 people. Now I've done it.

Labor Day Labor Pains

So we were out in Winter Park, Colorado today trying to relax and spend some time with family. We are at a family reunion all week with family in from all over the map. We decided to go to the Alpine slide today as they were closing it down for the season. If you've never been on one an "alpine slide" they come in many flavors. In Park City, Utah the 'slide' is a long and slow experience with a few bursts of speed. Up at Snowbird the slide is 1/3 the length but is a much faster track. Here in Winter Park the slide is almost double the length of Park City and twice the speed of Snowbird's. I'm not kidding, I can't believe how fast you can go on this crazy ride! (See me on the track)

Well, the reality is you can only go as fast as the person in front of you. So my son, Joshua and I tended to wait for a long time at the top waiting for the person in front of us to get a long head start. Now remember we have all sorts of family in from out of town and some have never been on a slide before. My niece, Tiffany is one of these. She is 9 years old and loves to go FAST! I think you know were this is going so I'll get to the point. On her second time down (the first time she bumped into Bri gently) she hit full speed into a lady on the track who had almost stopped. Upon hitting the lady she few up out of her sled and struck the lady with her head and then fell backwards striking her head on the back of the sled. She got the 1-2 wammy on the front and back of her head! Ouch.

For the next couple hours she nursed two big bumps on her head until it became apparent that the bumps were possible more than bumps. The staff on hand at the first-aid station was great. They soon sent Tiffany over to the clinic which had more medical equipment. After another hour or so of observation the clinic decided that Tiffany should go to Denver for observation at the Children's Hospital. Tiffany was air-lifted to Denver and after a few hours they determined that she had nothing serious but she did have a minor concusion.

With all this being said, I wanted to share how great the staff and managers were at the Winter Park Resort. They organized all of the transportation. They provided an additional car and driver to drive 3 family members back to our resort which was 20 miles away free of charge. And they helped a little girl who's only desire was to have fun with he family. While it was terrible that Tiffany had the crash on the slide, it was quite heartening to see how great people can be.

Thanks Winter Park Resort for helping us get through a crazy day! We'll be back.

Entrepreneur - Is that how you spell it?

So last Friday my business partner, Rich Hanks, me and our company, Mindshare were finalists in the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. It was our second trip as finalists and we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and the company. We've had some great success and worked with great people so we felt, based upon our "real" results, we had a good chance.

We invited the whole company to the Gala and we had a great time. Then the awards came - but not to us! We missed again(I can't say lost, not in my dictionary) this year to a hugely funded VC behemoth called Move Networks. They have had over $58 million in VC funding and I think they are just starting to burn other people's money.

Now I've been on that train before at a previous company (see Bluestep) were we went through $20 million of someone else's money and I promise it feels much different when it's your own money! Maybe that's why I'm a bit of a 'grumpy gus' right now. I'm sure Move Networks will become a great success story for the State of Utah someday(perhaps once they stop burning?), but I don't personally see them as Entrepreneurs at least not in the same light as a 'boot-strapped' company.

Us boot-strapped Entrepreneurs are a bit strange, apt to weird and bizarre decision-making that results in frustrations to normal number crunchers(ask my partner for details). But we are an honest lot. We look after our own and we make sure those that help us succeed, succeed as well. Having done the VC company I personally can never go back. From my perspective (I'm sure there are exceptions) the VC's always are taken care of and the founder too, after that it's scraps for the rats to split.

So what is the take-away from round two as finalists? Entrepreneur I say, that's what it is! I am invigorated to win now, not for the sake of an award that goes to the guy who burns the most but for succeeding with my friends. I want to win, I want my company to win, I want my employees and friends to win more so now than ever before.

I'm ready for the next chapter of success in business. For some reason I think I thought I had arrived. Now I know I'm just beginning.

How's that spelled again? ENTREPRENEUR. Yeah, that's it.

Customer Satisfaction with Second-hand Smoke

I am on vacation right now in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I have my family with me and we went out tonight to celebrate my 4 year old's birthday. Samson was born with a heart defect and he had valve replacement surgery at just 7 days old so this was a fun celebration for us as he still hasn't had to have another surgery yet(keep praying). Anyways, this was a fun time for us tonight and Samson wanted to go out so out we went.

We ended up at Outback Steakhouse as a familiar choice that had the least chance of failing. Seems like we make these decisions too often as a stop gap for success as parents. We waited 30 minutes which seems about right for a memorial weekend at a resort destination. We burned the time walking through some shops next door looking for over-priced beach toys. Yes, I bought a $9 bucket and pail. So finally the over-sized blinky vibrator started going off that the hostess gave to us and we were off to our seats. So far, so good.

Our waiter got our order for a Blooming Onion and took our drink orders all in good time. Then, it happened - IGNITION!!!! The table 10 feet from us lit up in a blaze of glory. The couple had finished their meal and took out their favorite cigarettes to savor the flavor just a bit more. While I respect their right to a smoke, I always seems to be the one who "rights" are impugned upon. Of course Samson, who has a heart problem and asthmas cannot be in the presence of
second-hand smoke so my wife hauled him out of the restaurant while the couple finished their smokes.

I grabbed the waiter as he went by and asked about the smoking and if we were in the smoking section - nope. I inquired regarding the policy of smoking indoors and he said, "North Carolina is really slow and behind the times.....". Ugh!! I get that some people want to smoke, but guess what, I don't! I'm sure smokers feel like the whole world is attacking them, possibly true, but in reality we are just saying "no" to the old question "mind if I smoke". Yes I do. I really do. Mind if I fart? Sneeze on your plate? I actually asked my son if he had any gas in the hopes that he would go by their table and drive them away. Crazy me. I should know by now that smokers just don't get it. They don't get that they offend all those around them, even other smokers are offended. My son even commented about how a smoker holds their cigarette away from their face. Why? because it is a smoking object and no one likes SMOKE in their face.

Since smokers are oblivious to the offense they cause, it's up to others to take up the charge. I would hope all States by now would outlaw indoor smoking but somehow this has eluded North Carolina. So, who can do something about this? Who has an interest? All restaurants should have a deep interest. After the couple next to us finished their cigarettes, my wife and son came back in to begin our meal. We both looked at each other and said, "I guess we aren't going out to eat anymore in North Carolina". Yes it is that bad. 300 people in that restaurant had to suffer through while 2 people smoked and were offended by their own cigarettes (see above). There are so many studies it's not even worth mentioning that by banning smoking restaurants will make more money. So why don't restaurant chains ban smoking? Really, I'm asking for a ban here from all Restaurateurs to ban smoking in their establishments. It makes good business sense and we will all be happier. I won't ever have to ask my son if he could fart on someone for me ever again!

Okay, how about for starters just Outback Steakhouse should ban smoking in all their establishments. I'm filing the suggestion now with them, feel free to join me!

One final note, I actually left the restaurant a satisfied customer. Guess what the waiter did? He went and asked around, without our prodding, for restaurants in the area that banned indoor smoking!! There weren't any that banned smoking altogether but he did a few that had banned indoor smoking and had outdoor smoking sections. I was very impressed, I also loved that fact that he brought me 4 refills of my diet coke! That always warrants a 20% tip in my book. the steak was good and no one else lit up before the waiter brought a complimentary ice cream singing "Happy Birthday Mate" to my son.

Fetch me my Brown Pants

Well I thought my first blog would help set the tone for my future posts. I thought I'd tell the tell a story that best reflects what I've learned in creating a successful startup company (Mindshare Technologies).

I'd like to tell you about the story of the Great Sea Captain. It was said that the Captain could not be defeated in battle. As the story goes, whenever an enemy ship was spotted on the horizon, the Great Sea Captain would turn to his first mate and say "fetch me my red shirt". The captain would then put on his red shirt and go into battle always victorious. Of course his men didn't understand why the captain wore the red shirt, they just assumed it was some type of lucky charm. The captain was keenly aware of the value of his red shirt. He never wanted his men to see him bleed. Then it happened, one day, on the horizon an armada of enemy ships was spotted. The first mate turned to the great sea captain and waited for those famous words... The great sea captain looked at his first mate and said "fetch me my brown pants".

And so it is with starting a company, you need your brown pants!! I have never been more afraid of things and had to hide it since I started my company. Sadly I think this is actually the addictive part of being an entreprenuer, just living on the edge of annihilation and succeeding.

I'm going to be posting my thoughts and experiences as to how one wins when faced with losing. I welcome your comments.