tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85807574403907441542011-07-07T18:29:29.304-07:00Are you an entrepreneur? Prove it.Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.comBlogger921100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-81532189363177897252010-01-04T07:57:00.000-08:002010-01-04T08:21:32.240-08:00

I read a advice column today in a Dear Joyce letter. Here's the issue. 18-year old grandson does not want to go to college. He wants to build websites and day trade. Grandma is scared b/c it sounds too risky. I was surprised to see Joyce side w/ Grandma. I disagreed. Here is my comment:"My advice to the grandson is to DO IT. I don't like the day trading stuff b/c, at the end of the day, it

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-66883750460298947022010-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:002010-01-04T07:35:10.397-08:00

Only one out of nine IPO's were from Silicon Valley in 2009. Does this mean you should pack your bags and move to Boston? Not yet. In 2010, there will be more out of the Valley. Possible companies are Facebook and Yelp, just to name two.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-71632873592908698932009-12-21T23:55:00.000-08:002009-12-22T00:03:19.100-08:00

Derek Silvers gave his $22m dollars from the sale of Cd Baby to charity. Here's the catch, he gets 5% or at least $1.1m per year until he dies. Then all the money will go to music education.Now, he does say in his post "Why I gave away my company to charity":"I just wanted to make sure I had enough for a simple comfortable life."In truth $1.1m does turn into about $700k after uncle Sam gets his

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-84039577409619564342009-12-14T14:13:00.000-08:002009-12-14T14:19:53.018-08:00

Tom Deligiannis is an expert in computer security and deals with small businesses. He currently administers multiple networks and shares his knowledge of free or close to free tools that can help protect your business computers. Check out his blog post titled, "Securing your network and computers on a shoe string budget."

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-36874103634252347962009-12-13T10:17:00.000-08:002009-12-13T10:18:27.663-08:00

http://translate.google.com/#en|el|I don't know how they do this, but you have to check it out.You can put a url in the search box and Google will translate the entire page.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-25837268774623053702009-12-13T09:38:00.000-08:002009-12-13T09:47:28.273-08:00

Congratulations to Annise Parker for winning the mayoral election in Houston. What makes this story noteworthy is two items. First, Ms. Parker is openly gay. More surprising is the 16.5% voter turnout. I have missed my share of local elections, but I'm a little embarrassed for our country when I see a 16.5% voter turnout. Here is the full article in the Associated Press.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-21860797029344359542009-11-27T10:39:00.000-08:002009-11-27T20:35:25.488-08:00

You've heard the saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket". The truth is that nobody wants to carry two baskets of eggs, but there is a wisdom in this statement. You should not rely on one thing too much, especially your source of income.Side projects are all about developing ideas and laying the ground work for a viable business. I like them b/c expectations are not big, you work on

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-70570824154663060832009-11-26T20:50:00.000-08:002009-11-27T21:05:28.118-08:00

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-65183337214125296582009-10-07T09:45:00.000-07:002009-10-07T11:31:50.432-07:00

A friend of mine sent me this.I'm not a tree hugger, by any means, but I do think we need to look at how we individually affect the environment.I don't agree w/ all of her philosophies, but I will watch b/c it's well done and thought through. The one point, that I totally agree with, is a shift in our conscienceness. Do we really need all this stuff? My feeling is that innovation is good and

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-91924941417512924252009-10-06T11:44:00.000-07:002009-10-06T11:47:43.108-07:00

Distractions are not all bad. I love a good distraction. The issue I have, is that they cut into family and friend time. I can't believe I'm saying this, but social networking sites, like Facebook, are great ways to stay in touch with friends and family.Now, Facebook, is not without its faults. Of course, I have that guy or girl that posts every 30 seconds. The main problem is that I said

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-2588977402397081772009-09-14T10:46:00.000-07:002009-09-14T11:12:36.250-07:00

I always enjoy the debunking of myth. Did Bill Gates take a big risk? In hindsight "no", but at the the time, in his mind, that was a big risk. The big challenge is handling that risk psychologically, and he did.Tim Ferriss puts in excerpt in his blog from a new book by Rick Smith titled "The Leap".Was the risk measured? No, how could he know the upside was $60b in personal wealth? He did

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-6459530953737492252009-08-31T08:29:00.000-07:002009-08-31T08:44:53.609-07:00

John McAfee, software entrepreneur, and the namesake of McAfee Associates has seen his fortune dwindle from $100m to $4m. It's an interesting story for a few reasons. First, does he even care? He lives in Belize where $4m still makes you super rich. How do you go from $100m to $4m? The article sites the sale of a $11.5 million aerotrekking facility in New Mexico. This property sold at

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-62751338674034138032009-08-25T00:20:00.000-07:002009-08-25T09:55:52.493-07:00

Meth addicts figured an easier, safer way to make meth. The new method is called "shake and bake".You can read the full details in the Associated Press titled "New meth formula avoids anti-drug law"So what's the point? The point is that people are insane. Why would anyone do this to themselves?

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-6194760501866065042009-08-17T13:44:00.000-07:002009-08-17T13:52:50.692-07:00

Want to know who scores in the top for your keywords and who links to them? Sitemapdoc has a keyword analyzer that brings up the top 4 sites and then will show you every site that's linking to them. How does this help? It helps if you're looking for paid links. Many of the sites that link to your site, probably sell links. They're working for site, so they may work for you.They also have one

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-90259876035963956982009-07-29T05:33:00.000-07:002009-07-29T05:57:46.565-07:00

Assimilating and being organized pays at Groupon.com. Here's how it works:Groupon makes a bulk deal with a business. They offer it to the Groupon community.If enough people buy, everyone gets the deal. If they don't get enough people to buy, it dies. Beyond saving money, Groupon is fun and it exposes you to products or services you can't pull the trigger on. I missed the boat on this deal. My

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-66236131207714190882009-07-22T15:30:00.001-07:002009-07-22T15:35:09.365-07:00

My definition of karma is your mental loop repeating the same experiences in your life. I notice people, including myself, where the experience keeps repeating itself. This experience is a product of your thoughts. It keeps manifesting itself in your life, like your ego proving to itself over and over again that it's right. If you want to change your life, change your thought.I believe that the

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-59332101741455437542009-07-22T15:07:00.000-07:002009-07-22T15:39:51.881-07:00

One of my favorite people, Eckhart Tolle, said: "You can not become successful. You can only be successful." So why do the same people consistently succeed and others do not.Some people succeed on their first try, but most fail a few times. With that being said, the guy that says, running a business is too hard; was probably one and done.Here are some thoughts that I have, if you want to be

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-90183689513606447692009-07-22T14:37:00.000-07:002009-07-22T14:46:51.389-07:00

Ok. Amazon just bought Zappos for $807M in stock and $40M in cash. From a money standpoint, if Amazon thought their stock price was over valued, buying w/ stock is a great idea. Investors thought so. The stock is up 1.36% after the announcement. So did Amazon overpay? I guess we'll see. That $807M in stock could turn into $500M or $1B depending on where Amazon's stock price goes. I wonder

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-87659759047916942192009-07-02T10:50:00.000-07:002009-07-02T11:36:35.680-07:00

I don't know when Google added this , but you can find it at the bottom of your "settings" page in Gmail. It basically just adds a https:// to the url. Now your emails are encrypted.Here's how it looks:Browser connection:Learn moreAlways use httpsDon't always use httpsIn the past, you could use a hack or a Greasemonkey script, but that's not necessary anymore.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-75083525579760204242009-07-01T07:13:00.000-07:002009-07-22T11:38:06.710-07:00

A lot of people can complain about who there father is, but Omar Bin Laden is at the top.What's with the Milli Vanili get up?You can read details about the book in the New York Daily News. In case you're wondering, he totally denounces his father. Good for him.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-18138110497866952952009-06-30T18:30:00.000-07:002009-06-30T18:46:26.160-07:00

I have this love-hate relationship with the website Rotten Tomatoes. Conceptually, I love the site. It uses the wisdom of crowds to rate the best movies. What I dislike about Rotten Tomatoes is the site is super slow, they have way too much advertising on the site and I have problems finding stuff especially when it has to do w/ my profile. Most of it is that the site is trying to do too

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-65029437077960042662009-06-28T09:40:00.001-07:002009-06-28T09:42:01.702-07:00

I think it goes this way:Find something you love.Make sure that a large percentage of the population uses.Ensure it's quality at any cost.If you do these three things, eventually, you'll have a brand. Brand is all about quality.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-38030477722724810682009-06-23T10:02:00.000-07:002009-06-23T10:03:16.924-07:00

This is the best trick shot I've ever seen.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-920482437871780902009-06-23T07:06:00.000-07:002009-06-23T07:13:01.458-07:00

I don't like to use cliches, but there is a good lesson to be learned.Seth Godin talks about Singer. They make sewing machines and at one time employed 12,000 people in a single plant. Today, they almost extinct. Here is what Seth had to say:"Sometimes we spend more time than we should defending the old thing, instead of working to take advantage of the new thing. I bet you can list a dozen "

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-37327218632669054232009-06-16T21:41:00.000-07:002009-06-17T08:19:36.920-07:00

Who's not talking about social networks. It's never been easier to connect. With great opportunity comes complexity.Seth Godin nails it with this comment: "Yet, panicked marketers still look for scale (How many followers can we get? What can we do with a Facebook fan page?) and then hijack that attention, hoping to filter out the masses and get a few sales."Spamming people until they join your

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-58334531442450225442009-06-15T16:13:00.001-07:002009-06-16T08:12:36.841-07:00

One of my pet peeves is when comments get to 25 pages and hundreds of comments.I think the comments are just as important as the article itself. You can vote comments up like Digg.com, but the most recent comments always get way more publicity than the older comments. Maybe the author should decide how to move comments up or down, but his is impractical b/c who has the time. They should care b/c

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-52287319418370851462009-06-12T09:39:00.000-07:002009-06-12T09:45:58.171-07:00

Craigslist is one of those sites that never ceases to amaze me. I look up to them the way I would Amazon, Google and Wikipedia (notice: I did not say Yahoo or eBay. They're lucky we even bring them up anymore ;).Sure Craigslist did not invent the wheel. We've had all these tools forever. I often wonder if Craigslist served ad words, how much could they make? Would it hurt them in the long

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-84248729119171846612009-06-11T13:25:00.000-07:002009-06-16T08:15:52.114-07:00

I just have to share this. I'm am a huge fan of Conway and it goes way beyond the music. This guy is just cool. Notice the big guy on the drums ;)This is my favorite Conway performance.This one is worth sharing b/c of the hill rods that open it up. I think they just invented rap.One more real good one.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-63571493052280101652009-06-02T12:30:00.000-07:002009-07-08T15:18:49.739-07:00

This is just a disaster from head to toe.You can vote on her at the below link.http://www.hotornot.com/m/r/?emid=OQKMNRG

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-82403379109230125522009-06-02T09:30:00.000-07:002009-06-02T11:15:03.723-07:00

Here is another Google Voice feature worth mentioning. If you're not familiar with Google Voice, you can learn more in my post titled "Google Voice - It's more like a personal PBX."This button allows people to initiate a phone call from a website to me. Here's how it works:Click on the "Call Me" image.Enter your name and phone number.Click the "connect" button.Google calls your phone and then

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-36037132958219776992009-05-26T14:40:00.000-07:002009-05-26T15:01:38.378-07:00

I started using a free, hosted wiki service called PBworks.com. If you're not familiar with wikis, the most famous example is Wikipedia. PBworks uses their own proprietary version of a wiki, so its not open source and you can't download the source code. Personally, I'm fine with that b/c it's not easy to administer this type of a tool. Also, who want to waste hours of time when it breaks?

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-50418617482988336742009-05-22T16:41:00.000-07:002009-05-23T13:27:26.182-07:00

I'm speechless.As close to Superman as you can get:Want more?

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-6201833314097686852009-05-19T07:39:00.000-07:002009-05-19T07:41:26.090-07:00

Buenos Aires is know as the Paris of South America.Buenos Aires from JetSetLife.tv on Vimeo.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-45332277904746529462009-05-18T10:42:00.000-07:002009-05-18T10:53:22.166-07:00

"Does it hurt to ask for a sale?" Yes, it can hurt and leave a mark. Seth Godin uses an excellent example:"You run into Elton John at the diner and say, "Hey Elton, will you sing at my daughter's wedding?" it hurts any chance you have to get on Elton John's radar. You've just trained him to say no, you've taught him you're both selfish and unrealistic."I know a sale has a good chance of

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-72958290562773575902009-05-17T10:42:00.000-07:002009-05-17T10:45:56.072-07:00

I found this travel video blog that's pretty good. Check out Santorini. This is one of mine and Tonia's (my wife) favorite places on the planet. Santorini from JetSetLife.tv on Vimeo.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-47458620867925661132009-05-17T08:47:00.000-07:002009-05-17T08:55:40.525-07:00

Both luxury and premium (services or goods) are expensive relative to other alternatives. The price of luxury items is not tied to performance. It is more perception. Premium, on the other hand, has everything to do with being better than other alternatives. The higher price actually adds to a products perceived luxury. The point is to know when your offering one or the other and be able to

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-82547302183314983642009-05-16T14:42:00.000-07:002009-05-18T10:06:50.692-07:00

Just some context, I have a personal blog named Official Buziness - Are you an entrepreneur? I was looking for a book that I read a while back by Po Peabody called Lucky or Smart. I wrote a review of the book, which I loved by the way.Now the point of this post, I Googled "Bo Peabody" and my blog post showed up on the first page of Google. Not only is it on the first page of google, but it's

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-5018821745283282922009-05-15T07:03:00.000-07:002009-05-15T07:11:54.548-07:00

Mobile apps are going through the development life cycle. Remember when every piece of software was some windows based software? People don't pay for this too much anymore b/c the web has become the platform now.Now, everyone is going to try and cash in. Vodaphone is launching its own app store. Will everyone make money and maintain market share? It's hard to say b/c handset users and

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-56472313789311884502009-05-13T17:23:00.000-07:002009-05-13T18:46:31.062-07:00

I just blogged about the new Google Docs feature called Forms and ran across a site called Zoho.com. The Zoho Office Suite is a Web- based online office suite containing word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, databases, note-taking, wikis, CRM, project management, invoicing and other applications developed by AdventNet Inc., an Indian-based company (from Wikipedia).Zoho competes primarily

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-65351521030855054332009-05-12T14:17:00.000-07:002009-05-14T13:24:20.672-07:00

Google docs got a pretty cool tool named Google Forms. It's a lot like survey software. Personally, I use SurveyMonkey.com for my surveys. It's light years ahead of Google Forms except that Google Forms gives you the ability to view your results in a spreadsheet or summary form.So what do I think of Google Forms? I think it's great for internal stuff. If you're going to send a survey to your

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-83521666299080775942009-05-12T09:42:00.001-07:002009-05-12T10:08:58.461-07:00

I don't know where I heard this, but you should not be as concerned with making the right decision all the time. You should be conscious of making decisions right.No one is right all the time, but trying to make the right decision, is like guessing. Instead you should try and make the decision right. You do this by being logical and keeping emotions out of the equation.Definitely do not get

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-80888167652098777832009-04-26T14:55:00.001-07:002009-04-26T14:56:01.578-07:00

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-66591030338895634812009-04-22T08:03:00.001-07:002009-04-22T08:08:59.761-07:00

There are a lot of fast food restaurants out there. McDonalds created an entire industry based around low prices and eating out. Seth Godin contemplates what a marketer can do. Do they create demand in the product or do they put themselves in the mix when the customer is ready to make a decision. Bozo's hotdogs isn't going to make a commercial that gets you off your couch and into your car to

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-14883343107999328382009-04-10T15:44:00.000-07:002009-04-11T07:56:43.789-07:00

I've always said that you should aim high, so if you don't meet your goal you're still happy. Most of my motivation to read this book come from Tim Ferris who points out in The 4-Hour Work Week that this book has an impressive amount of 5-star reviews. As of today it's areound 140.The preface of "The Magic of Thinking Big" is short and succinct. There is magic in thinking big. David thinks

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-41685587370751290232009-04-09T12:05:00.000-07:002009-05-12T17:01:42.301-07:00

I have phones forwarding all over the place, from the 800 number to the land line to my cell phone. My little system does the job. The only complaint I had was handling voicemail. They would forward to my email, but I could not listen to a .wav file on my cellphone (I use the archaic Razr). My answer was to get an iPhone or wait around for a good Android phone. Well, I don't have to do that

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-39638529842945551542009-04-08T10:10:00.000-07:002009-04-08T10:50:42.941-07:00

Pareto's Principle or the 80 / 20 rule is the idea that roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. This principle received renewed attention from books like Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Work Week. Pareto uses the example that 80% of the wealth is owned by 20% of the people. Some people feel guilty being in that 20%, like maybe they're not worth it. My feeling is that its got to be someone

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-45663055348239343702009-04-07T17:06:00.000-07:002009-04-07T17:20:50.953-07:00

I watched this hilarious video (ok, it's more entertaining than anything) by the Reichter Scales. It was in the comment's section of Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Work Week blog. It's pretty funny. I think people think everyone is getting rich in technology. I'm not saying Facebook isn't worth a trillion dollars, but just don't believe it until the company actually sells.It's short and is a parody of

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-77085228380933791972009-04-06T11:48:00.000-07:002009-04-07T07:26:15.241-07:00

I read a post titled "How to Buy Domain Names", by serial entrepreneur James Siminoff on the 4HourWorkWeek blog. It's a very tactical post, which is nice. It tells you, step by step, what you should be doing. It has some very generous advice, in addition to some overlooked advice, like: when you see a site you like, don't make an offer. Ask if it's for sale first.I'm sure there is nothing

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-36343225824196376492009-04-02T10:39:00.000-07:002009-04-02T11:34:15.889-07:00

Seth Godin provides a nice blue print for growing your followers called First, Ten. You may love your idea, but it doesn't mean everyone will love it right away. What people need to realize is that products and services come out every day. Filtering out these products through friends and trusted sources is very important now.Step 1: "Find ten people. Ten people who trust you/respect you/need

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-90768799898253928002009-03-30T12:54:00.001-07:002009-03-30T14:03:33.338-07:00

You should probably listen to all your customers. This does not mean you have to do it. The real question is how can you capitalize on feedback and make it productive?Seth Godin wrote in his post "Ignore Your Critics" that you should not listen to your critics or your fans. You should listen to the customers that talk about you the most.If you listen to your critics and conform, they'll stop

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-29311930291394321012009-03-27T11:27:00.000-07:002009-04-02T17:55:26.157-07:00

Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations discusses how the web has created tools that makes collaboration among people continuously easier. This is leading to more innovation is happening faster, better. This disruption to traditional organizations is threatening to displace formal structures like corporations. It's also reeking havoc on governments all

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-16750301578384494782009-03-26T12:00:00.000-07:002009-03-26T17:38:13.021-07:00

I was initially exposed to "Lucky or Smart" by "The 100 Best Business Books of All Time". I do most of my reading on the Internet, but "The 100 Best..." is a great coffee table book. It's also turned me onto some good business book, like the one in this review.What I truly love about books written by successful people is that they're literally half the size of books written by "professional"

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-6959009151321187722009-03-25T19:16:00.000-07:002009-03-27T13:52:02.918-07:00

This is not a business post, but I think it's worth including. Most people that travel have passed through Chicago at one point or another. This article was compiled by an excellent free magazine in Chicago called The Chicago Reader.It's broken down into these categories:art and architecturebars and clubsfashionfood and drinkglbtqlitmoviesmusicperforming artsI was born in Chicago and have lived

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-35910011505246107272009-03-24T09:16:00.000-07:002009-04-07T15:00:58.169-07:00

I finally emptied out my inbox. What a relief.This is beautiful:All my follow up emails and mini projects did not disappear. I moved them over to Todoist. Todoist is an excellent GTD (Getting Things Done) tool. Now, I'll get back to my system, but first I want to discuss why I like having an empty inbox.If you sit at your computer and refresh your inbox and you constantly see a huge list of

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-42570724535728574752009-03-23T15:49:00.000-07:002009-03-23T15:51:02.645-07:00

Seth Godin has an interesting take on dividing up equity. Technically, equity is the assets minus the liabilities of the company. The main thing with equity is that it decides who makes the decisions. When few people have all the decision making ability, the company takes on their personalities. If it's Steve jobs, this can be a good thing. If that someone is timid or does not believe in the

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-22774001812401424942009-03-22T12:54:00.000-07:002009-04-24T23:05:47.965-07:00

I saw the Youtube video on Talk Soup and cracked up. For being a "Billy Bob", he's about as good as it gets. The guy has a sense of humor. He said his friends called him to see if he was all right. Billy Bob responds, "I'm fine. It's not like a got run over by a bulldozer."What's worth noting is that Billy Bob is the accidental marketer. It works b/c it's authentic and authenticity counts. Does

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-61252459579652737202009-03-16T08:42:00.000-07:002009-03-16T08:54:33.248-07:00

I'm noticing the slow death of an old friend, the training manual. In the old days you would get the smartest person to put together a manual and that was the bible. Today, training manuals are becoming obsolete for a couple of reasons.First, things change so quickly and easily, it's difficult, if not impossible to keep up. Second, the net has spawned new methods of sharing information and

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-6161907780394448832009-03-16T08:36:00.001-07:002009-03-16T08:36:29.672-07:00

What is it?

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-38620282559276431942009-03-16T06:57:00.000-07:002009-03-16T07:03:30.977-07:00

I ran into a cool blogging tool called Skribit. The tool is designed to help bloggers overcome writer's block by recommending topics. Skribit also allow you to put a widget on your blog that can enable your readers to recommend topics for you to write about. If you want me to write about a certain subject, please enter your idea into the Skribit widget on the top right hand side of this blog. I

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-84097124449317873492009-02-28T13:43:00.000-08:002009-02-28T13:54:54.014-08:00

Funny how things change. Twenty years ago, you were probably related or knew a travel agent? Today, not so many. The travel agent went the way of the mullet, but guess what, the mullet can come back. Travel agents probably will not. I want to compile a list of jobs or industries that have gone the way of the dinosaur or the crocodile. You know, a crocodile is a dinosaur, but they don't

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-65766230482514511662009-02-21T11:48:00.000-08:002009-04-22T12:25:08.490-07:00

Up to this point, I really enjoy my blog. I read other articles and blogs and it inspires me, sort of like a form of self expression.My only complaint is that there are probably 3 people reading my blog. Two are related to me and one is stalker that found me on MySpace ;)Lately, you all I hear is network and tribe and be a leader. I like this stuff and I think it's cool. I read Kevin Kelly's

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-64731373895387660632009-02-21T11:24:00.000-08:002009-02-21T11:44:59.169-08:00

I'm going to make a confession. More or less everything I do is with the belief that I will get something back in return. Let's be honest, not very "new economy" to feel this way. I look back at the generations. My family left a third world country (Greece in the late 1950's) and came to America. They were very poor and acted like poor people. They worked hard and did not spend any money,

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-31537931944536823692009-02-20T07:03:00.000-08:002009-02-20T07:09:50.986-08:00

I have to disagree with Seth Godin, for once. Seth says, "In down economies, the only thing that’s going to change things is changing things."I think if you have a good plan, you stick with it. A down economy calls for vigilance. If you have a plan in place, you can weather the storm. Every business has to plan for a 20% increase or decrease in business.As far as change, I think a business is

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-76628216137087904562009-02-08T08:07:00.000-08:002009-02-08T17:21:42.295-08:00

Seth Godin writes in his post, "If you do your art and the market rejects you, though, you need to make a choice. If your art has no market, it's still art. It just might not be a living."Rather than getting into a long discussion about art, I will say this. You can not contemplate art. It just happens. If you're trying to monetize it, guess what, it's not art.I've been reading Kevin Kelly's,

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-36535208464820097092009-02-05T08:15:00.000-08:002009-02-05T08:25:34.337-08:00

Seth Godin compares the leap from telegraph to phones. His point is that if Alexander Graham Bell tried making a better telegraph, the phone would never come to pass. The phone was fundamentally different in many ways. I'm sure at the time, people fought it, but once it reached critical mass it become unstoppable.Most people mistake better with familiar. I've experienced this first hand with

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-50806009555018027792009-01-30T06:48:00.000-08:002009-01-30T07:00:43.280-08:00

Most people are tactical in their lives. By tactical, I mean, they have a skill that they do a little better than the next person. For example: server administrator, forklift operator, surgeon, barber; you get the point.Something that's hard to measure is your ability to succeed. Seth Godin calls it process: "refers to the emotional intelligence skills you have about managing projects,

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-90113118539701114722009-01-29T16:20:00.000-08:002009-01-29T16:33:00.644-08:00

Bullies are not just for the playground. They have college degrees and work in the cubicle across from you. Nowadays they can be male or female. Being a man, and the generation I grew up in makes this tougher because standing up to a female bully sometimes just makes you look like a jerk.Most of us will not even say the word bully, especially as we get older, because it may signal a weakness.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-81600339972675442872008-12-03T10:38:00.000-08:002009-01-19T12:12:29.910-08:00

In Seth Godin's post Making vs. Taking, he posts two scenarios. One is the market creator and the other is second to the party. The best example I can think of is what McDonalds has done for fast food. They created and industry that Burger King and Wendy's has benefited from.Burger King is suffering today, but Wendy's seems to be doing well. If you want to sound cliche' you can say that these

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-13506255796931106762008-10-27T10:44:00.000-07:002008-10-27T11:04:52.779-07:00

How goofy or remarkable is it for me to post in my blog a book review on Amazon? It's a pretty good review. It happens to be written by an author of business and management books. His name is Dan Blokowiak. Here is his review. I originally decided to learn more about this book through Bahram Akradi who discusses the same book by Janet O Hadberg titled Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-35223089051416059812008-10-24T08:26:00.000-07:002008-10-25T13:09:22.440-07:00

I can't take credit for the title of this post. It belongs to Stephen Covey. It says that you need to have an ultimate goal and make decision along the way that will achieve that goal. One area that I think is most common is how people, mostly workers, choose to make their money. We all have options. You can work every year for $75k and in 30 years you have a $1m in your 401k and you 6 weeks

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-19231863140331387172008-10-24T08:21:00.000-07:002008-10-25T13:10:07.486-07:00

I can't say anything better than Seth Godin does in this post, other than Tim Ferris in 4-Hour Work Week preaches the same message: sometimes you have to fire your bad customer(s).Here is the full post:"The single most important marketing decision most people make is also the one we spend precious little time on: where you work. Think about this for a second. Your boss and your job determine

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-20854496087240075562008-10-15T13:38:00.000-07:002008-10-15T14:21:06.075-07:00

Nothing is more overused or cliche when it comes to business than "do what you love." You'll get this advice from your uncle Harry, cousin Suzy and your neighbor Bob.What they should tell you is to find some enjoyment in everything you do. This makes it easy to love what you do. If you can't get to that point, just stop doing it and move on.Art is more of an expression than it is an object.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-67070176783589734172008-09-24T09:14:00.000-07:002008-09-24T09:48:17.554-07:00

My friend Elias is a good salesman and he sent me this article.  At first, I sighed because the title read Pursuade-People-With-Subconscious-Techniques.  It just sounded creepy to me.  Well, I was wrong.  As much as I like people that are earnest, I also recognize that you have to break down peoples' walls, if you want to influence or sell them something.  We are so inundated with offers today

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-88350571080900329082008-09-20T08:11:00.001-07:002008-09-23T09:04:40.109-07:00

Kosta and I keep on thinking of ways we can get exposure for our software company Intro XL.  We can make an eye catching ad and put it in our industry magazine.  That's fine and it part of the puzzle, but there are ten other companies offering the same thing.  Putting all our hopes in a dramatically better ad than the next guy is a reach.We decided, at first, to put a classified ad in the

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-56177206340315986472008-09-18T13:08:00.000-07:002008-09-18T13:08:01.028-07:00

Facebook is probably the best example of how college kids can virally spread your idea. Kind of like Malcolm Gladwell describes in The Tipping Point, college kids are today's mavens and connectors.There are many reasons for this:College kids don't respond to tranditional marketing messages as much as the mainsteam. They've got a lot of free time on their hands.They talk to each other a lot.Other

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-80683906533242228382008-09-15T07:10:00.000-07:002008-09-15T07:34:35.374-07:00

The short tail is right now.  It's what's in the news.  Examples are social networking sites or your blog.The long tale content is the core message.  It's what makes you relevant 5 years from now and it's based on a core message.  These are examples: a great book, Google search, Stanley Kubrick and the Marines.  I think Seth Godin is saying here is don't spend your money on the short tail.  You

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-77442236163881005242008-09-05T06:56:00.000-07:002008-09-05T07:12:43.381-07:00

People have been critical of Microsoft's new commercial featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates.  Some have said that the bit is "nonsensical" and that it has nothing to do with Windows.  Many also think that the Mac versus PC ads are sheer genuis.  I feel the exact opposite way.  Personally, I think every time Mac says the word Windows or Vista, it hurts them.  I'm not saying there isn't

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-86121605501878295782008-09-04T09:29:00.000-07:002008-09-04T09:37:30.004-07:00

Seth Godin list quite a few successful companies that made it without big PR during their launch. These companies and or products include: Starbucks, Apple, Nike, Harry Potter, Google, William Morris, The DaVinci Code, Wikipedia, Snapple, Geico, Linux, Firefox and yes, Microsoft.Now, let's not mistake PR for a good endorsement. PR works for large companies. In fact, they've earned the right

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-23666633716916157062008-08-28T09:06:00.000-07:002008-08-30T07:24:13.701-07:00

I think salespeople get it wrong a lot . Don't get me wrong, getting the sale is the point.The problem with most salespeople is that they so focused on their sales pitch that they forget the single most important fact: It's not about them. It's about the customer. This makes the interaction very impersonal. Seth Godin talks about the importance of making communication personal with your

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-46281116082993098562008-08-18T21:58:00.001-07:002008-08-18T22:11:15.693-07:00

If you're looking for ideas, they're usually right in front of you. The best ideas can be very simple.If you have an idea that gets people saying, "That was my idea!"; you're definitely onto something good.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-71134873249403984992008-08-05T19:15:00.001-07:002008-08-06T07:53:28.607-07:00

Extremely useful online speed reading java applet. Any text you copy and paste into it is "flashed" one word at time as fast as you'd like.I never truly understood what speed reading is. Now, I understand. Essentially, you train your brain to NOT vocalize or pronounce the words it is reading. Instead, you scan the words and your brain recognizes them without sub vocalization.Here is the web

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-62691862012029091042008-07-30T10:59:00.001-07:002008-07-30T11:19:07.367-07:00

In the 90's, if you were giving something away for free; you could start a stampede. "Hey everybody, someone's giving away free shit."Today, if something is for sale, there is a good chance, you can get some or part of it for free. Is this a good thing? Not necessarily because you want to make sure you're getting what you need. There are free sites, like Wikipedia; but let's take a look at

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-71961334689483760762008-07-30T10:26:00.000-07:002008-08-30T07:24:57.904-07:00

I think Inc. told Joel Spolsky to dummy it down for us regular folk. I've been reading his articles for a while now, and he's become a man of the people.Joel is tackling the mainstream. Stephen Hawking received some good advice from one his editors: "an editor warned him that for every equation in the book the readership would be halved, hence it includes only a single equation E = mc2."In

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-45742078581912306202008-07-28T16:46:00.000-07:002008-07-28T17:03:13.594-07:00

You hear 4-hour work week and your immediate response is..........LAZY!!!! What this book is really about is to show and teach how to put the pieces of a small business together, without having to be the you can have others do the work for you. The author of this book, Timothy Ferris, is definitely not lazy. Instead of working, he's enjoying his life. Timothy provides a blue print of how to run

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-52939381539148452572008-07-19T12:29:00.000-07:002008-07-19T12:30:26.242-07:00

Who you're not is just as important as who you are, especially when you're talking about a business.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-32971495321652742982008-07-18T12:27:00.001-07:002008-07-18T12:27:38.333-07:00

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-87158309607041804262008-07-15T15:40:00.000-07:002008-07-15T13:40:52.937-07:00

Thinking like your customer is a very basic concept. Unfortunately, people that are working hard to get things done, don't think like the customer all the time. Sometimes, they use reasons like, "this is the right way" or "it doesn't matter".Thinking like your customers means understanding how they run their business, but more importantly how they make decisions. If you know how they make

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-23309113245259115472008-07-14T10:25:00.000-07:002008-07-15T13:59:59.527-07:00

Let me start by saying that I love my parents. They're wonderful people that sacrificed a lot for their kids. Here's the problem with most parents advice. It's typically not the same advice they would give to themselves. Here's how being a parent works, when your kid is suffering, you're suffering. Parents take our failures hard. Sure, they want us to succeed, but they want us to fail even

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-78972344406608621942008-07-13T13:05:00.000-07:002008-07-13T13:07:22.475-07:00

Does anyone every talk about successful people as he or she has potential? Nope. So quit telling me that. You're just reminding me that I haven't made it yet.I would love to replace all that potential with money, so people can say "I'm smarter than him." If they're saying that, I've done something right.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-89010798671631666392008-07-10T16:17:00.000-07:002008-07-13T13:00:02.617-07:00

We have a list of to-do's the size of my leg. I realized along the way that the unimportant items were starting to smother the important items, sort of like weeds in a garden.Now, killing the list isn't right, but maybe we should just document this stuff and fo-ge-aboud-it. The reason why I say forget because it's not typically one nice thing you do for a customer that makes a business

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-19241284708843091852008-06-27T09:43:00.000-07:002008-07-13T13:01:16.814-07:00

Thinking a lot hurts my brain. Sometimes, I wish I was really good at something so I wouldn't have to think so much.

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580757440390744154.post-11396372801600773142008-06-27T09:19:00.000-07:002008-07-13T13:05:26.327-07:00

I think I should get in the practice of doing this everyday - asking myself, "What's the point?" or "Why am I doing this?". This leads to another question: "Why am I asking myself, why am I doing this?. I think this is a dangerous scenario to avoid. I guess in the end, action is better than inaction; and success is better than failure. I see so many people working hard, grinding it out and

Nick Sparagishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10542686842239433791noreply@blogger.com0