Flat out I’m a thinker, a brainstormer, and a manifestor. Coming up with new innovative ideas and outside the box thinking how we can constantly evolve and make our service better than the rest. Often times I get lost in my own train of thoughts and my brain is working faster than parts of my body can function. This can seriously impede productivity on what’s most important in an organization if a leader is like this, and I’m guilty of it.

“Don’t Confuse Activity with Accomplishment..” John Wooden

This is a fine line to walk, and unfortunately activity is not the same as accomplishment. As a business owner in the startup life I tend to forget this from time to time and I have to refocus. Business can be one of those things that can seriously inhibit growth if not planned properly.

Activity can be addictive and just like levels of addiction, it can take more to get that same “buzz” feeling, so what do we do? Up the Dosage of activity feeding that addiction of accomplishment. What used to seem exciting now needs to be replaced with something more exciting, exhilarating and challenging. Problem with this is if we’re constantly busy, we may be too busy to even think. Or as it is in my case, I over analyze and think too deeply. Like a well thought out or played chess game, every move is calculated to the end and it’s potential outcomes. The harder we focus on thinking / doing the wrong things, the greater the danger it can become.

What’s The Definition of Insanity?

Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Expecting a Different Result.. As mentioned before, the wrong type of activity can be the thief in the night. Stealing precious time from pressing issues that matter most. The more diligent you are at the wrong activities, the further you are from your stated goals and objectives.

This can create the false sense of accomplishment; going down your list of completed To-Do’s and counting the things to did trying to rationalize were the time went. Success is not a full calendar of things to do, or things you’ve done. Our goal should be the productive use of our time to enable others to grow and accomplish predetermined outcomes and set tasks. Non-strategic activity pulls rather than pushes towards our goals.

It’s Easier to Push than Pull

Failing to plan is planning to fail in my book. It’s always best to have some sort of direction with your organization. Having a well thought out strategy and processes (Like giving estimates insteads of quotes) can save future time and headaches. Creating SOP’s (Standard Operating Procedures) for each part of your organization will make expanding (or replacing) easier when the time comes. It’s easier to go with the current than against it, and having a plan in place will help sail your ship in the right direction.

But things don’t always go as planned right? Sometimes things don’t always go as we expected or planned. That’s why learning to roll with the punches as they say is key in any technology industry and if you’re not 2 steps ahead of the game, you’re a dinosaur and soon to be extinct.

The bottom line are results, what’s is working for you and what is not. Are you getting the results that you wanted / expected out of your day? If not, find out what is holding you up and make a change.

Have you ever confused activity with accomplishment? If you’ve ever found yourself in the rat-race and stuck finding victory in your day, what did you do you change it?

The post Part 4: Putting the Cart Before the Horse appeared first on Widgetware.

#1 Question on a Startup – Should You Hire Your Close Friends?

During the course of Widgetware’s existence we’ve brought on some close friends to help with the workload. One of the biggest things I think we’ve experienced with this is you want your friends to be apart of what you’re doing. We’ve learned that you might want to separate your friends from your business.

The problem with hiring a friend is that they may not really have a vested interest in company’s goals. It can sound like a good idea at the time, and they can help in some way, but strange things happen to friendships when money is involved. Not saying this is the case in every situation, just one we experienced. Often times this can cripple a fledgling company from the start as not all parties are on the same page. Everyone makes mistakes, hopefully our trials can help you avoid future ones in your hirings. The startup life isn’t for everyone, and it’s not any easy path.

The Smaller Your Organization, the More Hiring the Right People Matters.

Granted all hirings should be taken with care no matter the size of your organization, but the smaller your company is the more critical the right people are. When you only have 3 or 4 employees and one of them is a disaster, things may get sticky. The odds of interpersonal conflicts typically doubles since issues can arise both in and outside of work. So what’s the solution?

The Takeaway: You know the old saying “One bad apple can ruin the bunch” – it’s true. If one member of your team is not cohesive with the rest; production and moral may start to suffer within the organization. We’ve found that hiring based upon attitude first and skillsets second can be more beneficial. Skills can be trained, and a candidate who lacks a few specific skill sets can become a rockstar candidate with some training, but a candidate without interpersonal skills is a disaster waiting to happen. Experience, knowledge, and skill come with time but enthusiasm, interpersonal skills, and work ethic are almost impossible to pass on to others.

The Organization Should Do the Selling, Instead of Being Sold.

When looking to do new hirings, make sure to make valid points to why your organization is a good fit, but don’t oversell the organization. Every startup wants employees to want to work for them, but don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Expectations may be misleading and good candidates probably have already done a little homework on your organization and find it potentially a good fit. What’s the trick to getting a great colleague that understands the startup life?

The Takeaway: All I can say is create transparency. Be open about the position you’re asking the candidate to fill. Discuss the organization and its growth. This is the opportunity to put it all out on the table, and if it’s a right fit, you’ll know instantly and no one’s expectations are let down. This may not be a right fit for all candidates but it will weed out the ones that you’ll want to work with (also the ones that want to work with you) and the ones that may end up the not so great fit.

Trust Your Gut – Intuition Lies Within Instinct

Of course formal, comprehensive and transparent hiring processes should help you select the right candidate for the position, just don’t ignore your intuition. Impressions last a lifetime, and should always be weighed against objective data. Your intuition and instinct will guide you, and only conducting more and more interviews will give you the experience for pointing out troubling signals right away. Check references, and the good ol’ classic “receptionist test” works good as starters.

The Takeaway: If you think you can change the spots of a leopard, guess again. If your intuition and instincts are telling you something (that feeling you get in your gut) then it’s probably right. “The great salesman with a proven track record of landing clients and a documented history of making life miserable for administrative and support staffs will not become your shining golden ticket.” Wishing and hoping won’t matter. “Some people have a certain way of interacting and working with others, and it may not always be the right fit for your organization. But deciding up front, the total package, if you’re willing to accept these things from the start – and willingly accept them from the start moving forward – go for it. Otherwise, it’s probably best to find someone else for the position, so no one’s expectations are let down.”

What’s your experience been in hiring on new help with your startup or existing organization? How did you go about finding the right people for the right position?

The post Part 3: When Hiring – What’s the right kind of help? appeared first on Widgetware.

The Startup Life = No Life

My hat tips to everyone has started their own company or who has taken part in the startup company. There’s no such thing as a day off, or vacation. It’s always work, work, work and go-go-go in the startup life. If you look in my trash can it’s scratch drawings and different size cans of redbull. We live off caffeine – and love to go fast. When we’re not drinking energy drinks it’s coffee, if not chasing one with the other.

When you’re a part of the startup life you have no life outside of work. You’re always working, from networking at the local Starbucks getting your morning coffee to lying in bed thinking of all the things you have to do in the morning. It’s ALWAYS on your mind. But that’s not necessarily always a bad thing. I’ve met some of the greatest people in my life in our startup.

Separating Work From Real Life

It is a problem although when it starts to take a toll on your health. Already being an insomniac combined with wearing a bunch of hats in a startup – you can easily wear down your health fast. Some days I’d sleep 4-6 hours and weekends (days when the phone wasn’t ringing) catching up on sleep – something had to give.

Living in Southern California you might think sandy beaches and clear skies. I happen to live in rural Southern California, and I can’t remember the last time I put my feet in the sand, sadly. I tried not looking at my computer for a weekend and that was a disaster. Monday morning rolled around and I had 315 unchecked emails, I played my entire Monday catching up. I couldn’t just say “I’m not going to open my computer and check emails or respond to customers for the weekend” – after all, we strive on providing the best customer service possible.

So what was the give? I decided to answer all my messages and get as much work done before the wifey woke up, go outside and do something, and then again when I got home for the day. Staring at a computer screen 10-16 hours in a room can wear on your sanity. After all, I am blessed to live in SoCal, so why not enjoy the scenery.

In the life of a startup it can be difficult to separate real life and work at times, but it has to be done, and it’s a fine art. It’s not something that can be taught, it’s something that has to be conditioned. You have to learn to “unplug” – relax, rest, and recharge, otherwise it will start to wear on your health as it did mine in the past.

Risk vs Reward

The best part about living the life of the startup is the reward, but it’s also a risk too. If someone had to describe the job position at a startup before they joined it might say something like “Long hours, little or no pay, can’t give you a job title because you’ll be doing so many, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel and an oasis with everything you can dream, we just have to get there” – Would you take it?

It’s Not For Everyone

The startup life is definitely a Risk vs Reward situation. There’s huge risk in any startup with great rewards if it works out. And it’s not for everyone. Those that need a consistent paycheck or someone telling them what to do M-F 8-5pm looking over their shoulder should steer clear. The startup life is you being your own boss; it takes dedication, commitment, and the willingness to work long hours for a greater rewards in the end. I don’t want to scare anyone from starting up their own business but if you can’t commit to those type of things then the startup life may not be for you.

The post Part 2: The Startup Life appeared first on Widgetware.

I hope you can find some of this information useful in your journey as I’ve had some first hand experience I’ll be sharing with you.

Making the decision of a life-time

When I first started Cali Style Technologies – the birth of what is currently Widgetware, it was a difficult decision. At the time, I was working for an industry leader and I had learned my trade inside and out. The only problem was, I was stagnant in the company. I had to make a decision to leave if I wanted to continue to grow.

The working environment was nice, employees were fun to work with (at times) and the pay was great, so why would anyone complain or want to leave? Fact of the matter is that there was no future past the position i was in. It’s the ceiling effect, like running out a breath in a marathon. Sure I could have worked for that company for the rest of my life, stayed in a stable position, and got by, but I am the kind of person who wants more than that.

I care a great deal about any company I work for. I put my heart, sweat, and tears into everything I do. I put in a 110% effort every time. If I can’t do it right, I won’t do it at all. I won’t ask anyone to do something I wouldn’t do myself, unless I don’t have the skillset to perform it. The problem was, there was never any type of “stock option” or stake in the Company for me. After 2 years of working at the company, I asked if that was an option, but it was brushed over and conversation quickly changed gears.

The Takeaway: I probably should have asked earlier about a percentage in the company when I first started working. By waiting too long I think it was one of those “never brought up” topics. Flip Side: Now currently the CEO of Widgetware I’ve made it very clear from the beginning that we give stock options based upon performance and invaluable skill sets. I make this transparent when I first meeting any potential employee and even ever intern knows about the growth opportunities we have if they are truly passionate about Widgetware and our culture – Call it, Open Source Wages. This is more than just a business to us, it’s a family.

Putting your heart on your Sleeve

I’d spend hours in meetings at my old place of business talking about new things we could innovate and implement with little or no credit given to you if the idea was yours. I’m sure I hit home with a few of you there, and if you haven’t experienced this yet and you’re just getting into the industry, it will eventually happen to you.

Problem was nothing we ever talked about ever really got implemented and customers would ask if there was anything new going to happen or we could implement. Sure we’d boast up everything we talked about, dim down the lights, and put on a smoke and mirror act.

But that just wasn’t me. I had greater aspirations to be apart of something bigger, something that would help revolutionize the industry and make lives easier. That’s where something had to change.

The Leap of Faith

Being a poker player, there’s times when you hold em, there’s times when you fold em, and there’s times when it’s all in. This was one of those times.

I had my bills covered for a month and $400 extra savings to put towards my new idea. It had to be something great, something new, something unique, something original. Problem with that was in order to create something like this I needed one of two things; Money or Time, heck pretty much both at this point in my life.

With $400 in my pocket I put everything I had learned the last 2 years of working in the industry and everything I was had learned in my 5 years of college before dropping out into this project.

I started by opening up a Web Design and Search Engine Optimization company serving local clients. From sales, to building the sites to marketing them, I was wearing all the hats, but I was my own boss, it felt good.

Growth was slow but also steady, but most importantly, it was quality. I was able to get the right clients that valued the same principals as I did. And some of those customers are still here today, 5 years later. Problem was again, I was hitting a ceiling without any additional help besides from my Wife (She’s been a trooper through all of this and I’d like to give her a special thanks for not only working side-by-side with me for years, supporting me through this journey, and believing in my vision.)

Bringing on Help

I was able to support us, but this was becoming a full time job in itself. I needed help. Bringing on help meant that I was going to have to split profits. Not a problem, I’ve always been a fair person and bringing on help meant I would be able to go get us more work and expand the business further into something more than just a Web Design and SEO company. I ended up meeting a great friend through a mutual Web Design Firm that was splitting it’s separate ways.

This friendship forged into a symbiotic relationship, like peanut butter goes with jelly, or a good cigar and brandy. From that point on, clear skies and sunny days have been in forecast. Sometimes making the decision to give up a piece of your company can be a make it or break it decision for a start up. Give away too much and you’ve left nothing for yourself, don’t give up enough and there’s no desire for anyone to work that much harder.

The Takeaway: As a startup it can be difficult to figure out how to pay your partners. Do you give a piece up (sweat equity), a percentage of sales, salary? It really depends on your model and what capital you have. Flip Side: We’ve found that the best model that works for our specific startup is a percentage of the actual profit rather than the entire deal itself until it’s been earned rather entitled. Why? Well there’s been times through our growth that we’ve had people leave in the middle of a project – (See a later post about this and how we overcame this situation that crippled an entire quarters growth.)

If you’ve gone through the start up phases before, or you’re just starting to tackle some hurdles in your start up. How did your original idea start out and how have you been able to take it to the next level – or how do you plan to take it to the next level?

The post Part 1: The Start of the Gauntlet appeared first on Widgetware.

As we get further into beta we will continue to release better and better tools as we get feedback from our customers.  We already have a lot in the works and we can’t wait for you to try it out!

The post Widgetware releases BETA! appeared first on Widgetware.