SwimGeek

I’ve switched magazine brands.

I figure I only have time and attention span for one magazine per month. I used to read GQ.

For some reason I think the quality of GQ has gone down or I just don’t really find the content interesting anymore, or maybe they are just not targeting me in their strategy.

Maybe I’ve grown up.. I hope not.

So over the last four or five months I’ve been reading Maverick magazine. I first picked it up to read an article on Helen Zille. I like her. I associate with her ideas of meritocracy. Ok, I’m drifting.

I like Maverick because it’s real, relevant and honest. Keep up the good work.

I while ago I mentioned a meeting I had with the local branch of a group called Endeavor.. here and here. As you know I’ve been a bit lazy with the blogging lately, so this is actually old news, but I figured I’d give you an update on how it panned out.

They invited me for the 2nd round of interviews soon after that meeting.. but, I picked up some hesitation in the way they communicated.

The biggest challenge was that you were incubating different businesses with no clear focus.

I was in Spain on a nice warm summers day when I received the email with the above. Usually I’d react in a “we’ll just have to see about that” way and try to prove a point (aka The Pit Bull Instinct). But I was in a pretty chilled mood and I remembered something I read about Phil Knight (from Nike) a long time ago.. apparently he’s not interested in deals where both parties are not keen to do business. He rather walks away.

So I responded with..

I’ve given this some thought,
if it’s not a mutual fit.. let’s just walk away,
I can’t change my business plans to fit your brochure.

It’s interesting how you pick up on small details that are only relevant later on. Here are the things that bugged me about this whole story..

1) They seem to be looking for rock star entrepreneurs, the one man (one hit) wonder band. I’ve never claimed to be the single point around which any of the businesses I’m involved with rotate. I don’t like black polo-neck shirts.

2) They have a cookie cut recipe and they want a story above all. The story must fit the format of the brochure. One hero, one business.

3) I picked up from the meeting that they like giving advice a little too much.. to the point of imposing their views.

4) I don’t like the idea that they want equity in my business(es). If they can inspire philanthropy they win. If they have to ask, they lose.

5) It sounds like a boys club. I get the idea a few golfing buddies were saying.. I’d love to help a few new business guys, but I really can’t be bothered to find them.. let’s pay somebody to do some filtering and make them jump through a few hoops.

6) Don’t ask me why, but I have a need to be a self made man, which makes it hard to join a “business networking club”.. you know that saying about not wanting to belong to any club that will have me as a member.

This is something I once wrote in a birthday card for a good friend:

..there were no fortunes-by-conquest, but only fortunes-by-work, and instead of swordsmen and slaves, there appeared the real maker of wealth, the greatest worker, the highest type of human being, the self-made man.

– Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged.

“the world has no hold on the self made man”

I guess I’m stubborn. I can’t help it.

11-step program for extraordinary living

12. Touch type DVORAK

We’re sorta like 7-Eleven. We’re not always doing business, but we’re always open. — Murphy, ..I figure you know which movie it’s from

In my head it’s more like.. We’re not always open, but we’re always doing business.

This reminds me, I should buy milk. Protein shake with water is not that nice.

Boondock Saints, btw.

Try Adblock Plus.

I just returned from a CLUG talk on Open Street Map.

Very impressive project. Big sets of data. Nice to see people contributing and that it’s growing at an exponential rate.

I found out I’m not the only person that’s a bit annoyed that the GPX format does not provide accuracy info for each point.

Open Street Map has not yet matured to the point where you can use the map info for navigation.. like the Garmin Nuvi I played with last week.. but it has a “map tile” service similar to Google Maps which looks useful.

The map editor runs in Java. I don’t like Java… so I guess I will not be making maps soon.

Just to continue my bitching, the CLUG people moved on to have dinner at Primi Piatti… so I did not join them. I think P-P is in the same category as McD’s, Coke and Spur. Soulless food. I also don’t like brands that do line extensions.

Quotes of the day…

“just about every successful venture is based on an unoriginal idea, beautifully executed” — Seth Godin

“The most successful innovators are the creative imitators, the Number Two.” — Wired Magazine (1996)

I still remember this Wired quote from my first year at varsity.