The Obvious Rubbish

I always thought I would know exactly what I wanted to do by the time I reached college.

When I was in college, I expected to have a job right when I graduated. A high paying one at that.

When I was in my twenties, I figured I would know who I was, my goal in life, where I was going, and so on.

Hardly any of that became a reality. I had a job right out of college, but that was out of ignorance. If I could do it all over again, I would be lost in some mountain range right now, snowshoeing through 4 feet of fresh snow, approaching my next near death experience.

It can’t be so hard to figure out what you are to do in life, perhaps your purpose. That is the case for me. Don’t misunderstand me, I am very happy with my job and I love sales/business. But who wants to die working for someone else. I’d rather die having people work for me. What a though – having employees work for you, trading hours for precious dollars. It blows my mind and feels like slavery.

I spend a lot of my time planning and gathering ideas of my own to pursue. When I talk to friends about starting a new company, they always come back to me with “new” inventions and plots to make it rich off of some crazy technology. Why try and re-invent the wheel. Some of the greatest moneymaking ideas are continuations of other products, or simple add-ons.

Take Jibbitz for example. Crocs made it huge with those simple, funny looking shoes, and Jibbits thought they could jam plastic figures through the holes…makes sense to me.

Or something as simple as a cell phone case, computer case. The dice that hangs from your rear view mirror. People make money off of unnecessary consumables, millions actually.

A side note, Jibbitz recently thought it would be a good idea to lay off over 20% of their entire workforce. A company of about 100 people and $40 Million in revenue needed to fire roughly 20 people because they didn’t hit their Q4 number. What a load of shit.

As we have all seen more and more in the last decade and especially in the last 12 months, are Green companies and products popping up everywhere. Among the other dozen or so more industries to grow in the next 10, I strongly believe a lot of dollars will be made here. Just recently, I saw a clip on CNN about couple of young guys who started a green company and partnered with Target. They make and sell plates, cups, and other kitchen items. They have given their products a modern look and feel, but sure as hell haven’t reinvented the wheel by any means. They took something that has existed for hundreds of years, leveraged what is happening in the economy today, and moved forward. Simple.

If the model is that straight forward, it can be applied to anything. Look at people like Al Gore and what he is spending all his money and time on…GREEN.

Another evolving industry Server cooling. Not only does it take an enormous amount of energy and money to power massive server rooms, but it takes the same, if not more energy to keep them from overheating. Again, just another example of a company with Green in mind.

In all honesty, its hard for me not to start think of new products and companies to run with while I write this. I look around me and see tables, cups, picture frames, carpet, bookshelves, clothing; …everything can be changed and marketed as Green. It’s only a matter of time before this becomes a standard for our society. It makes people feel good about themselves when they are contributing to a good cause.

I forget the name of the movie, but its with Nicholas Cage… and he sells guns to the middle east and Africa and makes an enormous amount of money doing it. The people he sold guns and weapons to were going to get those whether he sold them, or someone else did. He was in business to make money and do something that was happening whether he did it or not. The same idea goes hand in hand with going Green. If the earth may melt itself into extinction I might as make a buck.

This reminds of Proctor & Gamble: I once read a book about Warren Buffet and he was talking about his investments. He said something of the sort about toothpaste, floss, etc…everybody needs it, everyone uses it, so why not be in the business of it. Makes perfect sense.

Same concept going with Green. Hell, even the government is getting involved with automobile manufacturers in requiring them to make more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Serial entrepreneur, maybe, but I think I need to have actually started a company or two before that can be true. What scares me is if I actually go ahead with one of these ideas and another one comes along. How do I keep the laser focus on the objective at hand. Maybe its just plan and simple ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder)