Look Back

I was on a camping trip in the Grand Canyon many years ago with a good friend of mine. One of the interesting things about hiking their is that unlike many others, the climb comes at the end of the hike, instead of the beginning.

I remember climbing our way up the rim, after hiking for 6 days, and that it seemed like it took forever. We'd look ahead and be sure we were nearing the top, only to come to a turn and realize that the end was still far, far away.

This happened over and over again - for hours.

At one point, we turned around, and we were stunned. There we were, staring at the enormity of the Grand Canyon, with the same views as we had on our way down. When we were looking ahead, slowly climbing, and gauging our progress by looking forward, it seemed like we weren't making any progress at all.

It was only when we took a moment to turn around, and look back, that we realized how far we had actually come.

I think about this with business too. You often hear people telling you not to dwell on the past and to focus on what's ahead of you. Don't dwell on failures, pick yourself up, learn more, make more, ship more, etc.

But too often we get so caught up in focusing on where we want to be, that we forget how far we've already come.

Sometimes, the only way to tell if we're moving forward is to stop and look back.

Every Business is a Lifestyle Business

I feel like I've been hearing the term "Lifestyle Business" a lot lately.

If you're not familiar with the term, it generally refers to businesses that are small, run by people who have determined the kind of life they want to lead, and are generally worried more about sustaining themselves than they are with growing their company on some large scale.

What bothers me is that this term is almost always referenced in a derogatory way.  People will say things like "Oh, it's 'just' a lifestyle business".  Or, "I wanted to do something bigger than just have a lifestyle business".

The thing is, every business, every single one, is a Lifestyle business.

If you're a social media superstar traveling the globe giving speeches - that's a lifestyle.  If you're Donald Trump, you're living a certain lifestyle and building businesses that support it.  If you're hustling to raise money for your startup, that too is a lifestyle.

The other thing is that using the term in a negative way simply doesn't make any sense.  Built into the definition is that someone thought about what they wanted out of life, decided what made them happy, and then built a business that could support the life they wanted.

There's nothing trivial about doing that, it certainly doesn't come easily, and it's definitely not something to look down your nose on.

People should run whatever kind of business that makes them happy, fulfilled, and allows them to live the life they want to lead.  But just because one person's ideal life is running a huge corporation, and another's ideal life is being a freelancer doesn't make it any less of a lifestyle choice.

Every business is a Lifestyle business.  Be sure you're building the one you want.

Gay Rights: An issue of liberty, not biology

I went on a bit of a twitter rampage the other day when NY Giants football player David Tyree came out against Gay marriage.

Like most people fervently against Gay marriage, David uses God as his primary justification for being against it, (there's just too much love in the word!) claiming that it threatens to ruin marriage.  Never mind the fact that his mom was divorced when he was one year old.   Never mind the fact that his daughter was born out of wedlock.  David has found God and is now justified in telling our Gay friends how they should live their lives.

In other words, pretty typical hypocritical bullshit that's usually espoused by these people.  Apparently David didn't get the memo about Jesus living a life of poverty.  His house sure does look nice.

The problem I'd like to address though is that these debates eventually spiral into a debate about whether Gay people are born gay or whether they choose to be gay.  And unfortunately, people ALWAYS take this bait.

Please. Stop it.

It doesn't matter, it is irrelevant, and it's harming your cause.

The problem with the "born this way/made this way" argument is that it accepts the premise that being gay is inherently wrong, but that it's "okay" because gay people were made that way.

It does not matter one bit whether you are gay because you were born that way, because you feel safer with a partner of the same sex, or because you ate a bunch of ecstasy one crazy night in college that changed your world forever.

Frankly, I don't really care why your gay.  I care a lot that you are able to obtain the same rights that my wife and I have.

Being a rational human being with the intelligence of at least a five year old, I of course know that people are born gay.  I'm just saying it doesn't matter and it's irrelevant to the debate over why Gay people should have the same rights as straight people.

The opposition will always find some "expert" or "convert" to "prove" that being Gay is a choice.  Fine.  Who cares?

The reason people should have the right to marry someone of the same sex is not because of the way they were born.  In our country, grown adults (and in some cases teenagers) are allowed to enter into a legal partnership with a person of their choosing.  Period.

The only argument required for this debate is one of liberty.

Some people in our country are allowed to receive the legal benefits of a legal partnership, some are not.

That's discrimination, and that's why it's wrong.

Please, stop falling into the trap of whether you were born gay or made gay.  It's hurting your cause and accepts a flawed premise that you are somehow flawed but just can't help it.

As a free American, the reason you're gay is irrelevant.

Make the argument about liberty, not biology.

By the way, here's David Tyree doing his absolute best to honor the lord and all his creations.  I'm sure Jesus would be proud David.














UPDATE: I changed the title to more accurately represent the context of the post.  Original title was "Dear gay people, please stop making this argument"

Also, good job New York!

Podcast Episode #12: Mike Hostetler and Jonathan Sharp of appendTo

 

In this episode of my podcast I interviewed Jonathan Sharp and Mike Hostetler of appendTo, a JQuery development shop that was founded by the two in 2009.

They took the time to talk about the growth of their organization, how they go about getting clients, being a small business that works with big clients, and the point at which they turn business down.

We also talked quite a bit about pricing, managing teams that are geographically dispersed, and the benefits and challenges that come with working from home or in a small office.

Mike and Jonathan are really nice guys, and I'm very thankful they took the time to sit down with me to talk about their business, how they run it, and how they're going about growing the company.  Thanks again guys.

As always, you can listen to the podcast right here in the post, or you can subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

Thanks for the intro and exit music this time around goes to Peter, Bjorn and John.  The Swedish band makes a bunch of their music available to podcasters at Music Alley.

Cash flow and the posture of your business

One of the many things I've learned over the past few years is the importance of cash flow, (h/t Ryan)  and that understanding how it affects your business can have a dramatic affect on it's health.

It used to be that when I would hear about or think about cash flow, I simply thought it meant having money in a bank account.  And since I knew having money in my business account was good, I felt like the concept of "cashflow" was synonymous with "having money in the bank".

I realize now that I completely misunderstood the concept of cashflow, and my guess is that a lot of other small businesses and freelancers do as well.

Instead of thinking about cashflow in terms of the amount of money coming into your business, and how frequently it's coming in; you have to think about it in terms of when that money comes in - pinned to a moment in time, and an activity that you will be doing for that money.

Before I understood how important cash flow was to a business, whenever I was engaged on a project I would do the work, and then get paid for doing the work.  I'd do this whether I was running a project, building a website, making an app, or pretty much anything else.

The problem with this is that you're constantly flat footed because you're always loaning something out (usually your time) before you get something in return.

Instead, I now charge 50% up front for fixed bid work, and then bill the remaining 50% when it's completed.  This of course is not unique and a lot of folks do this - but I never fully understood how big of an impact it can have until I saw the affect on my business.

Likewise, for ongoing services, I now try as much as possible to get paid before the service is provided - instead of after.

Billing this way allows you to invest customer payments into your business more quickly, and it can set you up so that if you bring on additional help - you already have money in the bank to pay for them.

Compare this with putting money into hiring someone before a customer pays you and you start to see the ramifications pretty quickly.

The result of getting paid at least something up front is a very forward leaning posture that allows you to grow and invest in your business in ways that you can't do if you only get paid once the work is completed.  There are also a host of other positive affects such as knowing who is serious, working with people that have shown they can pay on time, etc.

Essentially, it's a way to pre-screen potential clients.

Those of us that work in service businesses are often eager to help people, and tend to be quite generous with our time.  For anyone that's currently billing only once your work is entirely complete, I'd encourage you to start billing a bit up front.

You'll find you have better customers, more money in the bank, and a posture that allows you to invest more time and money into your own business.