Just Keep Writing

I’m starting to write more stuff. Why? That’s a great question. I’m not really sure why I’ve been writing more, but for some reason I have this urge to get better at it and to do it more and more. I’ve always enjoyed writing and have been doing it one way or another since I’ve been in elementary school. I can remember writing stories that I would read to the class and the teachers who encouraged it. Writing was fun back then and it was a great way to entertain the people around me.

As I grew older writing became less of something that I wanted to do and more of something that I was required to do. Other things like sports tended to take up all of my free time, so the only times that I would write was when it was mandatory for school. I still had fun with even the most boring writing assignments and even up through college I preferred a written test to one that was multiple choice.

Once I was out of school and got a job in the real world I found myself writing all the time, but most of it was communication based. One of my first jobs was an IT guy at a construction company in Indianapolis, IN and I lived in Microsoft Outlook sending out emails all day. I don’t mind emailing and I’m actually really good at it, but even though technically I was still writing I wasn’t creating any type of content that required me to get my thoughts together in a creative and thoughtful way. Don’t get me wrong, emailing requires thought, but it’s very reactive, technical and to the point (which is not that creative).

Here over the past few years I haven’t been writing much. Stephanie and I used to blog quite a bit before we moved out to California, but that has since stopped and with it my writing. Do I still write at isocket? Of course, but it’s not the same.

To most people this wouldn’t be that big of deal, but to me when I’m not creating content (both writing and video, which I’ve stopped creating, too) I feel like I’m off my game. It’s hard to explain, but without the creation of content in my life my mind just feels out of shape. In fact, that’s probably the best way to explain it — it’s like my mind is flabby and needs to be conditioned back into shape. Just like with running there’s really only one way to get to where I need to be and that’s with dedication, consistency and constantly pushing my performance. The more writing I do, the more conditioned my mind will be and the better (and easier) my writing will become.

Writing a lot of content isn’t easy and it takes dedication and time, but when I’m able to get my thoughts together and write them up into a blog post like this one things just start to become clearer. The ability to collect your thoughts and write them up in a way that makes sense to other people will spill over to your conversations with your friends, co-workers and even husband/wife.

I know that when I’m writing I’m a better communicator all around and all I need to do is keep going. Just keep writing and the rest will happen — you’ll see.

 

My One Hour Obsession With Zombie Boy

I don’t stay obsessed with things for very long. I don’t have a band that I am a huge fan of, there’s not actor/actress that I can’t get enough of and I don’t even get that excited about certain types of foods (well, beside hummus). I’m not sure why I don’t have any long-term obsessions, but that’s just the way that my mind works I guess.

But, I do have what I like to call “one hour obsessions” with all kinds of things — usually when something catches my attention on the internet. It usually starts off innocently enough, but then once I start digging into it I quickly become more obsessed than a teenage girl watching the new Justin Bieber video.

I start off with one thing and then BAM, I end up searching, reading and opening up an infinite amount of tabs full of related websites that I have to check out. It’s like I get a thirst for something and I have to go and go and go until I feel like it’s quenched — and sometimes that can take a while.

My latest one hour obsession was with Zombie Boy, or as his parents call him, Rick Genest. I ended up running into one of his videos on YouTube and it really sparked my curiosity. The funny thing is that the video is actually an ad for Dermablend Concealer.

After I saw that video I saw some other related videos in the sidebar of YouTube that gave me some more information on what this tattooed guy was all about. I quickly learned that Zombie Boy was also the guy who was in Lady Gaga’s Born This Way video a while back. I remember seeing him in that video, but I honestly had no idea that the tattoos he was rocking were real.

I couldn’t stop there though and as I continued to find more out about Zombie Boy. He’s one of the most tattooed men in the world and he has become quite the big deal on the fashion runway, which I think is pretty awesome. You have a guy who looks like the walking dead taking over an industry that is full of guys who are doing all they can do to look their best. It’s irony at it’s best, I guess.

Here’s a good look at what’s tattooed on his chest…

…and here are the tattoos on his back.

That’s about all that I found out about the man known as Zombie Boy and that’s about as close as I come to being obsessed. It comes, it goes and it’s always fun to see what all I can find when digging up the full story about something like this. Do you ever have any one hour obsessions or am I the only one who does this? Let me know in the comments.

Ok, one more video — here’s his promotional reel.

Annnnd I’m done. For real this time.

What Is Discipleship And How Do We Become Disciples Of Christ?

We’re going through a book called Radical at my church right now and it’s not your average look into American Christianity. It’s full of tough truths and things that are hard to swallow when it comes to how we tend to treat our faith in the Western world. The book is fantastic and was required reading for me and the rest of the crew that went to Congo last December (wow, that was almost a year ago?).

The book really made an impact on my pastor, so much so that he decided that he wanted to build an entire series around it. We’re a few chapters into it right now and it’s already impacting the church I’m a way that most of his other series haven’t. By using Radical as a way to connect the truth of the Bible to our lives as Christians living in the Bay Area it’s allowed us to wrestle with our faith, which one of the hard parts of being a follower of Jesus Christ.

Today the main theme that came from Radical was discipleship and how every Christian is called to become disciples of Christ through spreading the word of God to everyone, everywhere. The foundational verse that kicked off the sermon today was Matthew 28:19-20.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

As Christians we’re all called to be pushing ourselves to be disciples, which isn’t always an easy thing to do. We’re all called to be disciples in different ways and there’s really no telling what yours will be. One person might be called to disciple as a full-time missionary in China while another might be called to his neighborhood or office. No calling is any greater than another and praying/fellowship will help it become clear over time.

Even though as Christians we’re all called to be different types of disciples, the qualities of what a disciple should be is the same across the board.

A Disciple Loves – A disciple shows unconditional love for all people at all times. This is practically impossible to do, but it’s what all Christians should be aiming for.

By this all men will know you are my disciples, if you love one another. -John 13:35

A Disciple Liberates – There are people who are being held captive by the forces of sin and it’s a disciple’s job to free them from it through the love of Jesus Christ.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit… Matthew 28:19

A Disciple Leads – Not only do we need to talk, blog, read and listen to what a disciple should be doing, but more importantly we need to lead in discipleship by example. All talk and no action isn’t going to lead anyone else to become a follower of Jesus Christ.

If you hold onto my teaching, you are truly my disciples. -John 8:31

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. -2 Timothy 2:2

A Disciple Launches – Taking the time to disciple others will result in more disciples being created. It’s not a numbers game, it takes time and it takes building real relationships, but it will start an exponential spreading of the word of God, which is pretty awesome.

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations… -Matthew 28:19

Being a disciple is hard and it takes time. It requires effort to go and get out of your comfort zone and it means creating real relationships in meaningful ways. How are you being a disciple and where are you being called to act on God’s behalf?

 

Where I Work And What I Do

Working for a tech startup like isocket is unlike anything that I’ve ever done before and from the outside looking in I can see how it’s hard to understand what I actually get paid to do on a daily basis. I’ve never really talked much about what’s going on at isocket, which is crazy since I’m spending a majority of my time there and we’re doing some really cool stuff in the digital ad space.

It seems like a lot of my family and friends are interested in what I’m doing and I feel bad for not writing more about what I’ve been up to. From here on out I’m going to write about more of the things that I think about when it comes to my job and the problems that we’re trying solve with our product. I’m going to do this in hopes that it will help you (or anyone else who’s curious) figure out what I’m doing with my time and energy in Silicon Valley.

Where do I work and what do we do?

One of the first questions that I always get asked when in conversation with someone I’ve just met or someone I’m catching up with is “So where do you work now?” or even better “What do you do?”. My answer to this question changes dramatically depending on who I’m talking to, which is the marketing and sales guy coming out in me. The online advertising rabbit hole goes pretty deep, so I’ll save you the details and give you a nice overview, how’s that?

For simplicity’s sake I work for isocket, which makes direct, display ad sales easier for advertisers and online publishers (which is the industry term for larger websites). We’re developing some awesome technology that makes the money flow more efficiently between advertisers and publishers. Display advertising (those banner ads that you see everywhere) is an $11 billion market and the fact is that it should be a lot bigger (TV advertising is a $190 billion market), but right now it’s just too hard for advertisers to buy display advertising and for publishers to sell it. Good thing we’re here to help, huh?

So what do I actually do at isocket?

Before I get too far into what I’m doing for isocket now, it’s important to know that I was the first employee that we (or “they” at the time) hired (we’re up to 11 people now). That was just over two years ago and if you want you can read the official blog post that I wrote welcoming myself to the team over here on the isocket blog.

Being the first employee means that I’ve pretty much had my hand in everything that we’ve done up to this point. I was the main point of contact with our first customers, I came up with new features that we added to the product and I even helped with recruiting new people to join our team. When there’s only a few people and you’re trying to change an entire industry, there’s a lot of work to do.

When you’re the first employee of any company you need to be able to do whatever it takes to keep the momentum moving in the right direction and you also need to be able to thrive in chaos on a daily basis. One of the main reasons why I wanted to join isocket in the first place was so that I could see firsthand what it’s like to get a startup off the ground and that’s exactly what I’ve gotten so far. Has it been crazy? Oh yeah, but it’s been a lot of fun, too.

As we’ve grown I’ve been able to focus my responsibilities on sales and marketing and my official title is now Director of Marketing, although I think that sounds kinda lame. It makes me sounds important, but it’s just not nearly as fun as my last title, which was Customer BFF (Best Friend Forever).

Sales and marketing covers a lot for a startup that’s trying to move as fast as we are. At the stage we’re at now it’s all about creating as much surface area in the market as we can for our brand and vision all while building relationships with as many premium advertisers, publishers and media planning/purchasing systems as possible. I help us do this through lots of different ways which I can explain later, but I’ll just say that it’s fun, it’s exciting and it’s moving fast.

So in summary…

I’m hoping this all makes sense, but if you need one more short and sweet explanation for what I’m doing out here in Silicon Valley, here’s a cliff notes version.

1. I work for a tech startup called isocket and we’re an advertising company that’s making it easier for advertisers and websites to do business together.

2. I was the first employee at isocket and have been there for just over two years. I’m currently the Director of Marketing and my job is to get our vision out into the marketplace and to create relationships with as many advertisers and websites as possible.

3. I get to bring Frank to work (I don’t think I mentioned that earlier).

If you have any questions about my job or about isocket, please let me know and there’s a lot more where this came from.

 

Steve Jobs Had The Pug Bug

I had dinner the other night with my friend Amanda, who is not only a fellow Pug owner, but also runs the awesomely entertaining Daily Puglet, and she let me in on some great Steve Jobs trivia. I’m not sure if you happened to know this (or if you even come close to caring), but apparently Steve Jobs had the Pug bug.

I didn’t believe Amanda when she first told me, but once I got home I Googled it and here’s what I found:

I’m not sure what his Pug’s name is, but I’m I think that Amanda said it was “Baby”. Not a great name for a Pug, but regardless it’s a good looking fawn that might be Frank’s doppelgänger (I love when I get to use that word).

Where Do You Get Your Energy From?

Everyone wants more energy. The more energy we have the more we can do, the more we can do the more productive we can become and the more productive we can become the more valuable we are to society. Energy is an interesting thing that I think about a lot. When I feel energetic I love it and I can’t get enough. It’s like a drug that I want to keep using as long as I can. I get more things done, I think clearer and I have an increased interest in other people.

Most ways that people get energy are temporary. This could be from a cup of coffee, a Red Bull (who just gave my office a couple cases yesterday) or a 5 hour energy shot. These various energy drinks are a multi-billion dollar industry and believe me, I’ve spent my fair share of money on them (and sometimes I still do). I have no idea what the long-term side effects are, but if taken at a higher than recommended level I can’t see how any of these options can be good for you. Plus, I’ve always found that they become addictive over time, which is never good.

Of course there are other ways of getting more long-term and sustainable energy, but it’s not going to be as easy as picking up a can of caffeine at the gas station. Eating healthy, getting more sleep and exercising can give you the same results all without the side effects that you’re going to have from drinking energy drinks.

Is it easy to tap into your natural energy this way? Heck no, it’s actually pretty hard and it takes time and focus to sustain it. But, I can guarantee that if you stick with it and start to see the difference between getting your energy from a can or from a run — there’s no way you’ll ever go back.

I’m working to keep my energy sources natural, but I’ll admit that sometimes I fall off the horse and end up buying Big Gulps full of Mountain Dew on a daily basis. Although it does feel pretty awesome for the first couple days or so, eventually I get hit with the side effects and the fact that I can’t rely on the tasty, yellow caffeinated goodness for all of the energy that I need to make it through my week. It just doesn’t work for me and it won’t work for you as a long-term way to keep you productive.

 

My Fascination With Consistency

I’m fascinated with consistency. Mainly because it’s something that you can’t fake and it’s the key to seeing success in everything you do. I don’t care if it’s brushing your teeth, moving up the corporate ladder, getting in shape or a relationship with your neighbor — consistency is key.

I’m not good with consistency. In fact, I’m really bad at it. I love when things change and I seem to enjoy chaos in whatever I do. I think this makes me a great startup guy, but it tends to make me a bad husband, friend and long-term employee. I’m a lot better at being consistent than I used to be, so apparently it’s something you can learn, but I’ve got a long way to go.

Something that I’ve learned about consistency is that there’s a breaking point where my fight and struggle against being consistent is overtaken by the positive feeling of staying on course and turning something into a habit.

I’m not sure if that makes sense for anyone outside of my head, so let me give you an example. Once I’ve been running consistently for a few weeks and I start to feel in shape my fight against consistency starts to fade away. This is due to my growing sense of accomplishment which comes from the recognizable evidence that my efforts have, in fact, resulted in me getting what I initially wanted.

This is when it gets interesting because my new sense of accomplishment results in more motivation to continue with the consistency, which then leads to even more positive results and the cycle continues.

At this point you’re usually on top of your game. You’re running farther than you ever have before or you’re making more moves at work than you ever thought you could. At this point truly consistent people keep on pushing and move on to bigger and better things while others take this sense of accomplishment as an opportunity and right to be less consistent.

This, my friends is called complacency and when you let it creep into your mind it will make all of the work and consistent focus that you’ve had up to this point completely worthless. I don’t have time to go into it now, but this is something that I’ll dig deeper into some other time.

Until then, be consistent and don’t give up too soon. Consistency over time equals results, so stick with it!

Need Sleepy

If there’s one thing that I’ve learned about myself over the past couple of years it’s the fact that I really need my sleep to be a positively contributing member of society. If I have 7-8 hours of sleep under my belt when I get out of bed in the morning, watch out world because I’m coming at you full force like a boss.

The words that would describe me when I get some sleep would be:

– motivated
– fun
– loving
– creative
– spontaneous
– patient
– relaxed
– social

On the other hand, if I don’t get any sleep (or enough) then I tend to be better described as:

– cranky
– boring
– uptight
– anti-social
– a terrible husband

The funny thing is that I used to be able to go with practically no sleep and there was usually one day a week when I didn’t sleep at all (p.s. that’s not a good idea). Of course, that was also when I worked by myself most of the day and wasn’t married. I’m sure that I was just as bad back then, but the thing was that I was a lot younger and there was no one to let me know about it. Plus, I would put back some caffeine like it was going out of style so even if I actually was tired I would never know it (p.s. that’s not a good idea, either).

So, what now? Well, I don’t drink any caffeine anymore and I’m doing my best to get some sleep and it seems to be doing the trick. I’m not saying that I’m getting all of the sleep I need (it’s really hard for me to go to bed early), but I am giving it a good effort.

I know that it sounds really lame, but figuring out what keeps you energized throughout the day is really important and for most of us it’s getting the sleep that we need to cover the amount of activity we do during the day. Do a lot? Well, then you better sleep a lot, too.

Want to hear what people who are way smarter than me say about getting sleep? Check out this Harvard post from 2006 titled 6 Reasons Not To Scimp On Sleep.

 

Socializing Your Issues Is The First Step To Healing

Do you ever wonder why you have to go through some of the hard things that you face in life? I know it’s hard to believe, but you’re not the only one who goes through tough times. Even though it seems like there’s no rhyme or reason why you, of all people, have to deal with the problems you face in life there actually is an explanation.

There are two reasons why you have to endure pain, suffering and other issues in your life:

1. It forces you to rely on others and to break out of the thought of self-reliance.
2. Once you’ve made it through the issue, been forced to socialize it and have healed from it, it’s then your opportunity to help someone else through the same situation. You’re healed, so now it’s your turn to heal others.

I know it’s hard to believe that we, as Americans, need to rely on other people. But, at some point in our lives we’re going to get to a place to where we’re no longer in control and at that point we will need the help of others to get us through.

We’ll have a choice to either socialize our issues and start the healing process or keep it to ourselves and let our pride, shame, embarrassment or self-reliance get in the way. One way you never have to let others know you’re not perfect and the other way will start you on the road to recovery. Which choice will you make?

An Awesome Date Night And Getting To Know My Wife

Tonight I had an awesome dinner with my wife Stephanie — it’s our weekly Friday date night (which I highly suggest all married and crazy busy couples should do). We decided to go to an Afghan restaurant near my office in Burlingame. It’s a little expensive, but the food is tasty and the atmosphere is perfect for our end of the week dinner date. We had a nice seat next to the window and the candle light was flickering off of the table, creating dancing shadows across the bright white tablecloth. I could tell is was going to be a great date night.

We ordered ourselves some drinks and toasted to a work-related accomplishment that I had achieved this past week and after that the conversation just started flowing and things felt right in the world. Date night is there to bring us back together after a hectic week of work along with all of the other things that seem to always sneak their way into Monday through Friday. Some date nights are better than others, but they’re all good in my book. I love my wife in a big way and any time that I can get her attention all to myself in this type of setting is a blessing in my book. With that being said, tonight was good.

Why was tonight so good? It was good because we had some real talk about some real things that matter to both of us. It was good because we can communicate with each other in such an open and honest way (it wasn’t always like that). It was good because Afghan food is so ridiculously tasty. It was good because I was with my wife and nothing else mattered tonight besides the fact that we were together and talking and enjoying each other’s company.

I’ve realized that it’s possible to be married to someone and not really know who they are. In fact, it’s real easy and it’s too easy. Date night helps us find each other again each week so that we can continue getting to know each other. I don’t think that I’ll ever stop learning about my wife and I hope I never do.

Check please — until next Friday.