Okay, for reals this time -- Aug. 30, 2010
Soooo funny story -- last week, Tuesday was a nice full day of work. As was Wednesday. Then, my internet decided to cut out on Thursday, which meant that roughly half of it was spent on the phone with Videotron, the other half spent doing non-internet-based stuff (which had a pretty limited queue). Friday was the same. But frankly, by the end of Thursday, with little progress having been made anywhere (the internet was still down), I was pretty demoralized, which probably lent to the do-little of Friday.
Fortunately, the weekend away at Bitnorth completely recharged me. It was the perfect cap to the insanity of travelling that just happened -- 48 laid-back hours, where every attendee had to contribute/present somehow. Imagine some sort of TED/Foocamp/Ignite-like event, but organized like a pot luck.
I presented, as I mentioned before, on Music & Community.It ended up being a 10-minute "chat," in which I just told a collection of short stories of my growth as a music-lover over the years, and tied it all back to three simple lessons:
- Build for experiences -- especially *shared* experiences -- not just consumption.
- Let your fans grow on.
- No one should ever want to sleep with me.
Hopefully, I'll get to share the talk soon, as I know it was filmed. Other awesome highlights that immediately come to mind were "Your Dog Isn't Cute, It's Inbred," Ilana's presentation on her new toy from Twonicorn Toys, Alistair's clear love for his daughter in "Tablets vs. Unions," Sean's brutal honesty in his Q&A on what it's like to have been adopted, Jonathan's history of the fall of the Incas, Rocio's tamales, Mrs. Alex's icebreakers... okay, there was a lot of greatness. And a lot of great people.
Today was spent pretty much equally catching up on the 5 or 6 days of internet-less-ness (which included finding a hiring lead! Maybe I won't have to post this job after all) and writing an awesome proposal. Tomorrow will be chock-full of administrative goodness, finishing this proposal, and starting a quick summary of some thoughts I've been having to send to a lady who will hopefully become a mentor/friend/maybe-even-advisor. 'Cuz she's awesome.
Okay, it's late, and I've got an interview in the morning. Time to close this off with something familiar...
(P.S. What do you think of this new tone? Obviously, I'll have more intelligent things to say in the future, but writing this didn't feel at all like writing my past fairly-information/opinion-less posts...)
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Actually, hold on. While writing the "Lessons learned" bit below, I flashed back to the stark contrast of how I felt Thursday to how I felt on Saturday through today. Let me explain...
On Thursday, as I saw the work I had hoped to finish by the end of the week get pushed yet again due to external-though-related-to-me circumstances, I was demoralized. No, this ain't news -- I mentioned that above. But what I didn't explain was the extent of my demoralization.
I felt like things were stuck in a standstill. The reality of the previous 30-odd days hit me, and hit me hard: there was little in the way of objective milestones that I could proudly show off. It felt like nothing had been done, nothing had been tried, and worst of all, nothing would ever get done. I had used the saying "I've hit a brick wall" before, but that was the first time I truly, deeply felt it.
Going into Bitnorth, I was still kind of down. I don't even think Bryan, Julie, or Ray knew it when I got in the car, but I was doubting YouPhonics, doubting my resolve as an entrepreneur, doubting the assumptions I made.
I remember thinking to myself: "Shit. I've got this presentation to do, one that I still need to write, that's tangentially linked to my company. And I feel like crap about YouPhonics. What should I be doing here?"
In the end, I decided to sit and wait. I ate dinner, met new people. I laughed in the icebreaker games we played. I got all charged up on the experience.
And that's when it hit me: the togetherness I was feeling fit perfectly with the theme of "Music and Community." And, moreover, it gelled with a conversation I've been having more and more lately -- about the "generative" cycle (concisely, a positive feedback loop through Web 2.0 principles) and the fact that music is the only art form you can consume entirely passively.
Thinking of this made me remember a question Deepak Chopra asked in his book Secrets. I can't remember it verbatim, but it was something like "When you're searching for meaning, ask yourself what you think of before you go to sleep at night, and what you think of when you first wake up in the morning." Well, I had my answer. And it was this idea that powered YouPhonics.
In that moment, the answer to my conundrum was clear: YouPhonics wasn't a company or a product to me anymore. YouPhonics embodied -- embodies -- my passion, and exists to explore the questions I keep asking myself.
The next morning, I woke up, listened to people's presentations, and figured out the narrative arc for my own. And now that I'm back home... well, I'm ready for action, baby.
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Lessons learned:
- For the love of God, NEVER AGAIN set so much travel time so close together.
- It's okay to be down. It's okay to regret. If it's too deep, don't try to power through... get back to your rootsl
- Apparently, I have more in me when I'm tired then I realize. Who'd'a thunk it.
Tomorrow's homework:
- Deal with the administrative stuff -- mainly the interview and the bank.
- Hiring! Chat with S, then make a gut decision on whether or not to post the job anyway (we're looking for a technical "cofounder"... experience is neato, a clear passion for music and a fun-but-reflective outlook on life is a must, and you can live wherever, though Montreal/Toronto/NYC is best).
- Get this proposal out the door, and hopefully that one-pager too.
- Respond to the comments on GetSatisfaction.
- Follow up with AK about the questions I had on his recent estimate.
