January 27, 2010
The name of your business is everything. It’s the first impression of your business. It tells people what you’re about and sets the expectations. You only name your business once, so you have to love the idea. And yet…in the world of domain camping, millions of social media accounts to reserve and a never ending battle for customer mind-space, there’s a lot of factors to satisfy.
Naming Greenhorn Connect took many weeks of thinking about what the name should be and then suddenly just came to mind and we ran with it. We’re now in that “nothing sounds right and we can’t think of anything good” phase for Doodlebugging. Much like with Greenhorn, bounties offered to others isn’t yielding anything great either (if you’d like to suggest a name, and we use it…we’ll give you $50.) Still, I’m sure we’ll end up with something…it’s just annoying and feels like a waste of mind space and productive time to think about it.
I’ve read all the tips about making it memorable, getting the dot com of your name and what makes the best choice from a trademark perspective, but does anyone have any real tips for coming up with a name after you remember those basics?
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Posted by Jason Evanish
January 16, 2010
I’m two weeks into my resolutions for New Year’s and so I wanted to check up on how I was doing. I figured I might as well share my progress:
8 Resolutions in 2010
1) Improve my Punctuality: I’ve gotten a little better, but I’m still far from perfect. Going to keep at it.
2) Improve Time Management: I’ve found that by making a list broken down by project (I’m involved in 3 startups these days) right before I go to bed, I wake up ready to get all the things done. It’s working, but will probably keep evolving.
3) Get Back to the Gym: I finally made it back to the gym on Wednesday and then went again on Friday. It felt better than I expected getting back into. Apparently the pull ups and situps I’d been doing in my apartment kept me from losing too much strength. I am incredibly sore right now, but that comes with the territory. I also feel energized, so it’s a fair tradeoff. I just need to get a routine going and I’ll be good.
4) Get back to Running: Waiting for warmer weather…
5) Read a Book per Week: I’m 2 for 2 so far as I’ve made it through Trust Agents and Crush It. I’m now onto a bit heavier reading with 4 Steps to the Epiphany, so we’ll see if I can get through that in a week as well. Taking books with me on the subway has definitely helped a lot. I didn’t realize how much time I was wasting each day just not thinking while on the subway. You’ll now know what I’m reading if you see me at an event at night as I’m taking reading material for the trips to and from.
6) Post More Often: This is my 6th post of the year, so that’s going well. I’ve also successfully started writing shorter posts as evidenced by my business card and winter wardrobe posts.
7) Keep learning: This one wasn’t so much anything new as trying to do more of the same. A number of you have been great in providing me more feedback and comments, so please keep it coming!
8.) Pay it forward: I still help who I can. The best example is the other night at an event a woman was lamenting that she couldn’t find much support as a woman entrepreneur. I was able to pass her along info of all the resources for women entrepreneurs listed at Greenhorn Connect.
So all in all…doing well. Need to keep improving in the punctuality department, build the gym back into my routine fully and stick with the book reading regimen.
How are YOU doing on your resolutions?
Leave a Comment » | Inspirational, Life | Tagged: book, Generation Y | Permalink
Posted by Jason Evanish
January 15, 2010
As we move through the toughest part of Boston’s annual weather cycle, I’ve noticed that the colors of people’s wardrobes have gotten increasingly dark and muted. It creates an interesting sea of similar looking people and crowds. I feel like this wardrobe boredom is probably for a few reasons: dark colors are slimming (holiday/winter gain from inactivity), reflection of attitude (winter can be depressing) and it’s easy (black goes with everything!). This provides a unique opportunity for anyone willing to buck the trend.
If you’re a high energy person, this creates a fantastic opportunity. Wear some color. No really, put on that red sweater, that shiny blue vest or that…bright green shirt. You will stand out and your energy can draw people in. It’s a great tool for networking, for going out or whatever you’re doing. If nothing else, people will notice your lack of black/grey/blue-ness and wonder a bit about you (in a good way). At best, they want to come over and talk to the interesting person that was bold enough to wear something different.
Clothing is one of the best ways for your personality to show through. Let’s get a little more color out there and turn the energy level up a notch or two.
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Posted by Jason Evanish
January 14, 2010
If entrepreneurship was a team and we had a big game coming up, I have no doubt that Gary V would lead the pep rally and carry the spirit stick. If you need a book to jump start your passion for entrepreneurship, to remind you why you do what you do and give you some tips to better succeed at what you are passionately pursuing, then Crush It is is the book for you.
When I first started reading this book, I wasn’t sure I was going to buy into it. It felt like sort of fluff. But Gary V’s enthusiasm is contagious. Before long I was really feeling charged up about his beliefs in pursuing your passions and thinking about how I’m already doing it and how I can do more.
Compared to some more academic entrepreneurial books, this is a quick, easy read (142 pages), but it still is filled with great ideas and concepts. After feeling like Chris Brogan’s Trust Agents was a bit verbose, I was very happy to breeze through this book. Gary hit on a lot of great points and covered a reasonable number of topics, but never dwelled on any idea too long.
If you’re looking for a quick read to get you pumped up to pursue your life’s passion AND have a method for actually making money on that passion, this is well worth the time to read this book. If you don’t like overly casual/conversational books, you may want to steer clear of this one. If I had to boil the book down to one principle, I’d say that it’s “Discover your life’s passion and create interesting content about that in the form you want, then be patient and get paid.”
Next Book: Steve Blank’s 4 Steps to the Epiphany
On Deck: Open to recommendations…
In the hole: Open to recommendations…
1 Comment | Education, entrepreneurship | Tagged: book, book review, entrepreneurship, inspiration, leaders | Permalink
Posted by Jason Evanish
