You probably know me as one of those people who’s a straight shooter. I don’t think entrepreneurship is easy, or that everyone should do it. But I do believe it’s rewarding, and that more people should do it. That’s why I’m here, and that’s why I write this blog.

And here’s the (shocking) story of how I almost gave it up entirely. (more…)

Me, when Cobalt got bought out by Sun
in 2000, with my employee number and a
fake bar code marked on my arm. There are a lot of readers on this blog–perhaps you–who recently started reading. Lately I realized that as a new reader, you may not know much about me, who I am, or my history. You probably know that I “sold a business for $1.1 million at age 26”, since that’s in my sidebar. But what happened before that? (more…)

“God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.”
-The Serenity Prayer

Let’s talk about current events. There’s a lot going on in the news right now. The 99% (aka Occupy Wall Street) movement. A backlash against big corporations, government bailouts, politicians who promise to change things and then don’t do anything, and a lack of jobs in our country. (more…)

In early June, I embarked on a radical experiment: I gave up email for 30 days. Here are my results…

When I started the trial, I felt completely overwhelmed by email, and I just wanted a way out. I was waking up every morning to an incessant barrage of PR people, sales letters, chain emails, people wanting me to write about their product, companies wanting me to promote them without compensation, and–generally–a bunch of junk. Not “spam”, really, because it was sent by real people (sadly.) But a ridiculous pile of useless crap that wasn’t easily filtered.

Since my email address is public, and my blog is popular, it seemed like every day I’d end up on some list that I didn’t ask to be on. People would sign my email address up for everything from political updates to PR posts about seemingly random companies sent from a “do not reply” address.

In short, my email inbox was a micro-Hell waiting for me every morning. (more…)

I’ve lived in California for my entire adult life, beginning way back when I was a naive 18-year-old living in the dorms of San Jose State University. (Talk about culture shock…coming from a small farm town in Indiana to the inner city of downtown San Jose!)

In 2009, after living in the Bay Area for nearly 10 years, I decided I wanted a change of pace. San Diego called my name, and I’ve been here since. But now I’m ready to move on…and I’m sad to say the reason why. (more…)