Confusion, Setbacks and Focus.

So it has been like a month since I decided to start my online business venture. It has been a though month and information overwhelming, but after taking a day of rest and lots of thinking about all the events and ideas that happened in the last month, all the confusion is settling in and I’m back on track, "focus".

So what has happened?

• Of the ideas for an online product I came up with several. One of them was selling Italian food online. This was the idea that I did more research and work but in the end; the company that was going to distribute for us, apparently had no interest. Bummer.


• My second best candidate for this venture was developing a digital product as part of my existing company, http://www.thinkingheadsinc.com/. I didn’t put time into this one because I wanted to diversify and it was going to be done anyhow, but not under this “speed startup” experiment.


• I had some crazy and non pleasant weeks in my day job.


• From my own business I did a trip to Los Cabos, hard to believe I know, and there are two projects in scope, and the trip itself opened the windows of possibilities.


• Been doing research and learning about social media and all the stuff out there and finished a book and started another, The E-Myth.

So after a crazy month of ideas with much more knowledge, I’m back on focus and tomorrow the development of the online product begins. The idea is to launch the first day of October.

Speed and Business, this is Cool

I heard a conference via web that talked about speed in starting businesses and it was mainly what moved me in the project that I’m starting. Between the panelists were Mike Cassidy which is the author of the following presentation, the ceo behing blogger and twitter, one of the creators of geekbrief.tv and Tim Ferris author of "The four hour work week". This is some of the best information I have ever read, heard, studied, etc.

Please enjoy…


and put in practice.

Best Strategy Is Speed (Startup2Startup May 2008)

Best Strategy Is Speed (Startup2Startup May 2008)

view presentation (tags: stylus.innovation xfire direct.hit startup2startup)

"SPEED: The Ultimate Startup Weapon", presented by Mike Cassidy to Startup2Startup entrepreneur dinner (May 2008)

Videos that Get Me Going.

"The call of an Entrepreneur"



"8 secrets to success"




"The crazy ones from apple"




"Dream On"

And I belong to...

Still with the "first things first mindset", today I made a list of all the different potential entities (groups, hobbies, skills, background, etc.) and even though I haven't finished, here are some of the main entities where I belong.

- Software Developer: Programs mainly Dotnetnule a.k.a. DNN, SQL, .NET, C#
- Health conscious lost 86 pounds over the last year and one half; like to exercise and eat in a portion control regimen, kind of
- Born in Mexico, live and work in the US
- MBA
- Entrepreneur, social entrepreneur.
- Getting really hooked with social media, it is addictive
- no hair in my head (bold to simplify)
- Good food lover: Mexican, italian, spanish, etc
- Beer, coffee and wine drinker
- Alternative music in Spanish lover
- etc

After doing this exercise and defining some potential niche markets, the next step will be selecting one. In reality I’m taking a different approach on how to start a business, at least compared to what I used to think. The key here is defininig first what I want to accomplish with my business and then finding that vehicle that will take me there.

First Things First

So for the longest time I wanted to become an Entrepreneur. Why? This is a question that I had not figured out for the longest time. Most likely because of the idea of becoming rich, or being your own boss but that was it, kind of empty. On a different line, I had not had that one idea that for sure would take me to build a successful company from scratch, bullet proof. But guess what I found out?

Well, it has been around a year that I launched my new company, but not with the results I would like and struggling to survive. Hey, the statistics are that if a business lasts for more than 2 years it pretty much made it, and I'm half way there.

But that has changed dramatically over the last couple of weeks. A series of events happened that seeded this kind of feeling that feels like I don’t care but at the same time moves me forward: a book, a fight with my wife, a call from a friend, a picture, and my boss. And the truth is that these events were not that important by themselves but the combination and what I realized out of them: I found meaning on why I wanted to be an entrepreneur, a business man and this has become my new search.

So, I still work in my corporate day job and with my one year business, but after realizing what I want to be when I “grow up”, I decided that I was going to first define what I wanted out of my business and then go for it, and it is not about the product, it's about the vehicle.

My new business definition
- Easy to automate
- Mobility
- Can start ASAP
- Low cost to get in
- Can see results in the short term
- Constant cash flow

And why did I choose these characteristics. After I accomplish a business that meets the above, I’ll have the time and money to do whatever I want and engage in any activity or project that I want (by the way the perfect vehicle that meets my criteria is an e-commerce site.) Now the challenge is to learn how to build this type of business, find a niche market and a product or service, but with this end in mind I have created a road map and it makes simple just knowing the destination. First things first.