99 Degrees In September?

Yes, yes. And not the beginning of September either, it's the very end! Ah those silly hurricanes and that cute global warming. California is screaming "earthquake." I hope I'm wrong.

Growing Pains

What distinguishes the companies that expand at light speed from the ones that always remain small? What did Google and hundreds of other companies do differently that allowed them to achieve incredible success, while thousands of small businesses remain just that: small.

I don't have an answer. I want to know, because I believe I will be faced with that sooner or later (hopefully sooner!). How does a company handle sudden growth?

Does anyone have any recommendations? Books? Anything?

But 10-4 Was So Fun!

"The days of hearing "10-4" and other law enforcement jargon on the police radio are coming to an end. Emergency responders around the country must switch to using plain language by October 2006""
[link to news article]

1 Year

We have survived one year! And what a great year it has been! More in love than ever before! I love you baby!

Here' to 100 more one year anniversaries!

Microsoft

I believe Microsoft is going to go on the offensive in 2005 and make a remarkable comeback. Who cares? I care damnit! Actually anyone that has or is thinking about investing in MSFT should care.

Current Price (9/23/05): 25.27

I predict it will hit at least $30 after the release of Vista. Let's see how clean my crystal ball really is.

Midnight Babbling

My goal is to one day make my daydreams a reality. The things I regret most are the things I never said and the things I never did.

The most empowering feeling in the world is to say what's on your mind and to do what you this is right. Things can sometimes get bad, but that never lasts. Sometimes you need a push to break your cycle and feel free, even if it's for a little while.

I wish I could always think like this. Practice makes perfect.

Need Some Help!

OK, I need some work-related advice. I'm sure others have come across this problem and I'm hoping they've also come across the solution.

1) What's the most efficient way to archive emails? Right now, we PDF them by name, topic, and date. Not bad, but it still involves a lot of manual work. Is there any way to automate this?

2) What's the best way to digitize bills? I'm trying to go all paperless (and, if I succeed, I'll probably be the only person that's fully paperless). What's the best way to handle a large number of bills spread across 20 companies (soon to be 500 companies averaging 5 to 10 bills per month each). We got a nice ADF scanner, but what's the best way to storing them? Scanning each individual bill and their corresponding check by their company name and invoice date takes up A LOT of time.

That's it for now. Best answer gets a cookie! NO! Not my tuff cookie. Just a generic cookie from a generic store! =)

Endurance

It's very easy to get motivated. It's very easy to set goals and say "I'm going to do whatever it takes to reach them!" Then you go with that fire, but before you know it, it's gone.

Reaching your goals isn't all fun and excitement. Every goal has things attached to it that, frankly, you just don't want to do. The mundane, boring tasks can drain you at the rate they're draining New Orleans (29 billion gallons a day, in case you were wondering).

It takes endurance. I know because I've given up on so many goals because it just wasn't as "exciting" anymore. I guess it's human nature to want to remain in an environment of excitement. That's what we see when we watch TV. Even the "reality" shows only show the good parts: the parts that draw you in and wish you were there.

But that's not life, and you'll never be involved in anything that's exciting every single day. Even if you are jumping out of a plane every half hour, it's going to eventually become ordinary.

I've found that going back to the original goal and dream, and saying "f*** you" to the obstacles is the best way to keep going. Sometimes things just start to pile up and you feel like you'll never make it. All the obstacles seem like things you should have realized were there before and that you've wasted your time. That's not true.

If anyone can do it, so can you. This country's capitalism was built on taking other's ideas and building on it. Just think of all the stupid ideas in business history and what they turned out to become. For example, when Yahoo had dominated the search industry, a couple of geeks came up with a weird company called "Google" that did almost exactly what Yahoo did. Look where they are now (Google's first quarter gross revenues surged to $1.26 billion, almost double the year-ago figure of $651.6 million). What about that geek we all love to hate? Bill Gates and his take on DOS and Windows.

That's the same story in every industry. Read about Ford, KFC, Chevron, McDonald's, Papa John's, Western Waste, and countless others. They all have one thing in common: Plenty of obstacles, endless supply of criticism and doubt, and one man's dream of an enterprise.

You can do it, and I can do it. Let's see who does it first.

eBayyyyyyy

eBay has always seemed like a great way to make some nice side income. Of course, there are hundreds of people who's careers are based on eBay.

For now, I'm starting with two items that I'm selling on my lady's behalf:

Sylvania 19 Inch Color TV

2 Drawer File Storage Cabinet


I'm also trying my hand at half.com to sell textbooks. It's actually a great place to buy cheap textbooks and sell textbooks you no longer need:

Books I'm Selling on Half.com


I also just got my eBay Power Seller Secrets book from Amazon.com. I haven't read it yet, but people have told me that it helps a lot.