So Here's The Plan

I’ve been contemplating my next move. There are several business ideas that I have toyed with. Unfortunately, they are all divergent of each other. So, while I am deciding what to focus on, I think its best to start with writing. 

As I mentioned in my first post, I have had almost a full decade to learn from the mistakes of my first business. That is way too long and I have basically nothing to show for it. So to rectify this situation I am going to author 100 blog posts cataloging some of my lessons learned and knowledge gained since then.

I have three clear goals I’d like to accomplish with this exercise.

1. I need to build some positive momentum and learned to invest in myself again. Carving out time each day to take another step forward should start to move that flywheel.
2. I want to solidify some of the ideas floating around in my head. Writing seems to do that.
3. I’d love to get feedback and perspectives from you. My experiences are limited and I know that you have a unique voice that I can learn from.

So here are a few of the ground rules I am setting for myself: 

1. I am going to publish one post a day, Monday through Friday, for 20 weeks. Since I have a touch of OCD, I'll start the publishing of these 100 posts this upcoming Monday, January 28th, which slates the completion on my half birthday, June 14th.
2. No reposts. I'll reference books, articles, videos, etc., but all of the content will be from my own head.
3. I need to be flexible and responsive to you, the reader. I have a handful of topics I'd like to cover, but I want your feedback and direction. I know I have more than 100 posts worth of material. I'm looking to you to help me decide what to focus on.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. Hopefully by my 100th post in this series, my exit off this proverbial beachhead will be apparent. Either way, the trip should be enlightening.

So now that we have a plan, what are a few of the topics that you think would be worth exploring? Leave a suggestion or two in the comments.

Clear the Beachhead

Last week I came to the realization that I’ve spent enough time nursing my wounds and I need to ship. However, I’m still not sure what it is that I ultimately want to ship. There are a lot of things that I’d like to do, but picking a path has become harder as I have grown and learned more. One of my greatest strengths is also one of my greatest weaknesses. I love to learn and I am not one to say “no” to a new experience. As a result, while I thrive in new environments, each new environment encountered adds to an already large list of options that I must choose from.

In a former life, I was obsessed with military strategy and tactics. Most situations where such knowledge is applied share common characteristics. The situations are chaotic, the outcomes are uncertain, and there are no clear right answers. Think the invasion of Normandy. That’s where I am today.

I know that victory for me is defined as owning a successful business that can support my family. There are a lot of other conditions that accompany my imagined V-Day, but for right now my eye is on the prize of self-employment. However, that’s a long way off. I just slogged my way onto the sand and it’s a long dangerous journey to Berlin. While I don’t know exactly what road is going to get me there, that’s not important right now.

I’ve decided to go on the entrepreneurial offensive, and for next few moments, my priority zero is to continue to moving forward.  There is no safety in hunkering down. Left, right or straight? It doesn’t really matter. All I know is that for the next few months, I need to churn. I need to be producing. I need to be hustling. Find some cover, return fire, and look for an exit.

Now is the time to clear the beachhead.

A Bit About Me: Cadet Baker

From 1995 until 2001 all I ever thought about was life as an officer in the United States military. To this day I feel the call to serve tug at the very marrow of my bones. It’s almost an annual ritual for me to contemplate, research and contact the National Guard to see if they’d have a place for me. I think those days are over, and I must continually make my peace with that.

While I am no longer obsessed with military life, those lessons and perspectives color the lense with which I view the world. Anyone who has worked with me knows that I love to communicate using analogies, and military analogies are one of my favorites.

Today I Ship

Back in 2007 when I was first married, I had sat down with my young wife and told her that I wanted to start a part time business to “win in the margins”, a phrase I had just learned from the book, The 5 Lessons A Millionaire Taught Me by Richard Paul Evans. I can remember the whole scene as if we just had that conversation.

I was no stranger to the entrepreneurial life, having started a business, at the age of 23, that supported me for close to two years before I folded up shop and finished my degree in Computer Science. Since then, I have always had a business idea or three percolating. I’ve filled countless notebooks, napkins, Google docs and random brainstorming apps with grand plans. Whole businesses that lived and died in my head. A lot of those ideas sucked, but a few of them have been great and I’ve actually watched others bring very similar ideas to the market over the past decade or so.

Fast forward six years and I’ve spent a lot of time dreaming, a lot less time doing, and absolutely nothing of substance to show for my entrepreneurial desires. I’ve been sitting on the side lines for close to a decade, nursing my wounds from my first and only great business failure. I’ve learned about sales, marketing, accounting, outsourcing, and virtually every other discipline, skill, hack, trick, and shimmy that you need to be a small business owner.

I’ve learned a lot over the past ten years. Enough to know that there’s no use in waiting for the perfect opportunity to knock on my front door. Let it knock. I’ll be out back building the imperfect, getting it out into the world, taking my licks and driving forward.

Today I ship.