Entrepreneurs Are Loners – This Could Be True.

Tonight I've been trying to learn yet another software program. Making a video! I think I'm going to be a software expert one day. At least I'm getting pretty good at hacking around the program and figuring out how to use it with out reading the help file. Whaaa laaaa. Presto, I don't know crap!

I've read a ton about what makes an entrepreneur an entrepreneur. There are so many articles about us. They love trying to figure us out, and labeling us with all kinds of labels. The one label about us being loners, yeah I've thought about that label, and I think it's pretty much correct. I am a loner, yet I'm also extremely social, when I'm in a social setting. You would never guess, that I spend a ton of time alone, thinking, creating, and building.

I don't always like the alone thing, yes it gets lonely. Some day when my startups take off, I'll be able to hire a crew and, well I'm sure I'll be seeking that alone time. I'll be to freaked out by all the people around me. Ahhhh.

I don't really know why entrepreneurs are loners, but it's not loner in the bad sense. Were not going to devise some horrible plan to hurt others, oh no, were all about helping others. Most the time I don't really plan to be alone, it just seems to work out that way. So I make use of time, and study and build things. We create good.

I'm adding my first ever homemade video! LOL, I should have learned this about 20 years ago. So cut me some slack. I barley know how to use the program. I'll add voice and music later. I need a video for my crowd funding campaign. You might not understand this video because, I have to add another part to it in the beginning, but I don't know how to do that yet. : - )

Enjoy your alone time ~ create good

Crowd Funding: Not So Easy To Start A Campaign

I'm building a campaign on Indiegogo for the new startup I want to build. It's not that easy to fill out one of these applications. You have to come up with a pitch that people will understand upon reading. That's not always easy, in fact pitching is an art that I have not mastered, yet I have become better at it.

Sometimes when I have pitched DigiThin I have totally blew it. I had the pitch down and then for some unknown reason all thought slips out of my brain and a bunch of mumbling comes out and then the wrinkled faces stare back at me. It's the moment you know you bombed it. 

The other thing that bothers me about building a campaign is the fact that you MUST have a video explaining your product or idea. Well, that would be okay if I didn't watch all the other videos on all the other campaigns. I know a tiny bit about video and these are mostly professionally done, which means it cost between 2k to 5k to get one made at this level of quality. 

Well the whole point of starting a campaign is because you have no money. Oh but if I want to compete in running an effective campaign I"m going to have to have a pretty good video, so either I have to learn how to make one or, I have to convince someone who can make one, to make me one free of charge.

The other thing that is frustrating about starting a campaign is that you have to offer perks. Well if you are starting a company from scratch, you don't have anything to offer. You have nothing but the idea in your head. Hmmmm 

So now I have to come up with perks, and a high quality video. I shall do it, because I so want to build a Social Strength Social Network.  

Let me know if you have any ideas on what kind of perks I can offer. It would be appreciated. 

Thanksgiving: My 2 Bite Experiment, and The Worry Of Alzheimer’s.

I hope your Thanksgiving with your family, and your friends was, and still is going well.

Mine was really good this year. Some extended family came in to Denver that I have not seen in years, and that made it extra special. My cousins wife and their son came, but my cousin could not come because he is in a nursing home. Yes, he is only 61 years old and he developed early onset Alzheimer's.

Audi is really happy in the nursing home. He is a happy Alzheimer's patient. It breaks my heart that he is not with us, and then I have thoughts, of what will be my fate? Could my brain decide to do that? It's scary, because we do not know what could be our fate as we get older.

I was doing an experiment this year for Thanksgiving. My trainer had told me that the best thing to do on Thanksgiving was to take two bites of everything. So I thought about that and decided that I was going to experiment with it and do it. Here is what happened.

I had to go to two family Thanksgivings as usual. So the first one I put exactly what looked like two bites of food on my plate, but not of everything offered. I just put two bites of what I was interested in eating. Now I have to tell you, I felt like I was some kind of anorexic. I had bird portion sizes on my plate. You know other people check out your plate just as much as they check out your body. And of course certain people in your family will make comments on what you put on your plate.

Surprisingly no one commented on my plate this year. Now that is a first! I can not believe no one said, “Is that all you are eating?” “have some more of this” Nope, it was a good year. This year no one commented on what I put or didn’t put on my plate.

Surly though, I was expecting comments, because I had hardly any food on my plate. It was literally two bites of, mashed potato's, two bites of turkey, two bites of green beans, two bites of cranberry sauce, two bites, of stuffing, two bites of pumkin pie. That's it! Guess what, I didn't over eat and I didn't feel deprived of anything. I felt perfectly fine with just eating that.

It was a great experiment. Two bites of everything, or two bites of everything you want.

I'm really happy I did this experiment, I hope others will try it in the coming holiday parties. It's actually quite amazing. I think I had the best Thanksgiving ever, because I do not feel overstuffed, I do not feel tired, I do not feel deprived. I feel awesome. I feel blessed. 

I'd love to hear how your Thanksgiving went.

~ Jana

The Roller Coaster Inside My Startup Body

Who doesn't love riding a roller coaster? The problem is, this one is on the inside of my body. Ahhh, I don't know how long I can ride this emotional roller coaster. Each day is completely insane. I could be up and down 100 times in that day or I could stay super high all day, then the next day could be a super down day.

I feel like maybe I have bi-polar, but it's not that, it's just the symptoms of someone working hard at building a startup and then taking that startup to the next level. It's super hard work chasing the American dream, building your own business. Yet, I have learned so much, and met so many fine people, I don't think I'll get off the coaster any time soon. In fact probably never.

Luckily my friends and family have always thought I was a bit crazy, so this roller coaster problem blends right into my personality.

Safe travels and the best of Thanksgiving to you all.

Peace and love

~ Jana

When I Was Thin I thought I Was Fat, When I Was Fat I thought I Was Thin.

Ohh the psychological workings of a person with a yo-yo weight problem. That would be me.

It's funny when I was literally 110 pounds, I would look in the mirror and I would see a fat person. I truly thought I was fat. Wow, I was skin and bones and still in my childhood body. I was not fat, but that is what I believed and saw.

Later in life I did gain weight, I went up and down for years, but when I stuck at my overweight weight for years, I would actually look in the mirror and think I was thin.

Now how can this be? Why would I think I was fat when I was thin, and thin when I was fat? This makes no sense.

Yet I know that many people have this same problem as me. It's some kind of twisted body image. It's completely insane. The scale tells the truth, but people like me refuse to stand on it and know the truth. We go along lying to ourselves, telling ourselves that were thin, when we can't fit into our pants! It truly is an insanity condition, to live with a weight problem.

How are we going to get over this? How are we going to admit the truth and change our behavior to get the results we so desire?

By stepping on the scale and not letting it make us want to eat even more.

By stepping on the scale and not letting it make us feel like horrible failures.

By stepping on the scale and using that number to change.

By stepping on the scale and being strong because we know the truth.

If you know the truth – then you have the information to change.

Don't be afraid ~ 

Wrapping Your Head Around The Self Judgment Of Yourself

Today I did a photoshoot, with DigiThin's photographer Cody. We both work out regularly. He is super buff, I'm getting there. So we took turns at who would pose and who would be the photographer.

We both found out that being behind the camera was so much better then being in front of it. It is super hard to pose, and I have so much respect for models, it's not an easy-peasy job at all, it's super hard.

You have to put your body into positions that are not normal. You have to twist part of your body one way and the other part the other way, all the while, by sucking in your gut, holding up your chin, dropping your shoulders, and putting your hands in the right position.

On top of that you have the human problem going on. Yeah that problem with our self judgment of ourselves. Both Cody and I have done the selfie photo shoot, and I'm not talking holding your cell phone out and snapping, I'm talking setting up a shoot, and hitting the timer button and running out in front of the camera and posing.

Even doing that, by yourself all alone with no one else around, it's really odd, but you find yourself incredible nervous. WHY? This is something both Cody and I asked ourselves. How can we be nervous taking pictures of ourselves alone? This makes no sense. One would think that being alone with no one else around that taking a picture of yourself would be easy, but it's not. It's easy on your cell phone, but if you set up a real photo shoot scene, it's nerve racking.

We also learned today that we both have harsh judgments of ourselves. When we put the shots on the computer we both found things about ourselves that we did not like and it really bothered us both, yet we did not see the flaws in the other person.

It is us, ourselves, who judge ourselves the most harsh. I don't know why us humans do this but I think it causes us problems in life. I think we have to get away from it. Cody had all these things that he thought was wrong with him and I saw none of that. I only a saw a beautiful man with muscle and a super beautiful smile. I'm not really sure what he thought of my shots, but he seemed surprised I had a big beer belly, he said I never saw that in real life. How did the camera show that? (drinking too much beer)

I think us humans, I think we judge ourselves to harshly. No one judges us to the extreme’s we judge ourselves. I don't know how I'm going to get past this, but I'm going to try, because I should not condemn my flaws, if others don't see those in me, then why do I? I think it should start with believing what others say. If they say you look good, then I should believe that and not go down the list of flaw's I think I have, and start condemning myself. I am a beautiful woman, no matter what my age. I am not perfect, but I am beautiful.

Take Cody for example, here he is 25 years old, an Afghanistan war vet, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with him in my eyes. He is beautiful. He takes care of his body, but he is not perfect. None of us are. Yet he thought he had things wrong with him.

As long as you and I are alive, then we have nothing wrong with us. As long as we are working on being good humans to each other and helping others, then there is nothing wrong with us. We are all beautiful – So smile and don't listen to that self judgment, because it's wrong

Pssst - Don't be afraid to comment, just because no one else has. I'd love to hear your voice on all my postings! : - )

The New Social Networks - Social Strenght

I am building another startup. It's a Social Strength Social Network. 

DigiThin will still exist, and continue to grow.

The Social Strength Network is the off spring of DigiThin. DigiThin can scale, but this social strength social network has immensely more scale-ability. 

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It's Social, it's free, it's going to be amazing. You see all the trees in the picture? Well, they are social, just like us. We can stand together in the light. We can stand together in the dark. We can help each other. 

Social Strength is the the new networks. The new pipes of the internet. 

We will build them - keep your eyes looking for them - Because like the picture, we stand together! And rainbows happen........


Looking for one, or a team of Technical Co-Founders to build this social network. 

Talk to me jana@digithin.com

Look into the future and build what's missing - Paul Graham

Social Networks Take Over The World

I was feeling kinda down today about my startup DigiThin. I named my blog appropriately, it's a long shot, that only I can see the value in. As Paul Graham would put it. “Most successful founders tend to work on ideas that few besides them realize are good. Which is not that far from a description of insanity, till you reach the point where you see results.”

It seems as though insanity is pretty much the only world I live in. It's pretty insane to think that I could help millions of people lose weight, just by talking to them. Hmmmm it could work.

Oh well, while that startup is cooking it's way out of being insane and forming itself into normal. I'm working on my second startup. I'm building a Social Strength Social Network.

Now you might think, oh man we have too many social networks already. I don't think so. I pretty much think Social Networks are going to take over the world, just as Blogs have. After all according to GaryVaynerchuk they are the plumbing pipes of the internet. And if you remember those old houses build 100 years ago had those old lead pipes. Copper had to come along and smoke them out of the scene. So too will more and more social networks come along and smoke out all the current social networks we love and have today.

So I'm looking for a technical co-founder, you must know these things: PHP,HTML5, CSS3, JavaSScript, jQuery, AJAX.

Lets build some new pipes.

Talk to me jana@digithin.com

Look into the future and build what's missing – Paul Graham

The Problem Was College, Not Condoms.

Isn't it funny how you try to plan out your life and life never seems to go that way? What you dreamed of doing, never seems to happen, because you have to pay the bills, so you have to spend countless hours at the job, that well, pays the bills and you don't really like it?

I was not the type to decide “oh yeah I want to be a doctor, nurse or electrician.” I went to college every decade of my life. Yep, I went in my teens, then my twenties, then in my thirties, and still again in my forties. Geez what the hell was wrong with me? How come I could never find a career that I could complete?

The problem was College. You see college, was only looking into making money, they only wanted to teach what they think people wanted to learn, or at least what was the most popular things. For me, being extremely creative, they had no options for me. Or at least they did not seek to find out what I was really made of. They only wanted my money. They didn't care if I graduated or not. They didn't care if I was in the wrong fields or not. All they cared about was, if I paid.

All along my search for a career, I was always doing one thing. Thinking of ideas to help others. Inventing products in my mind. In fact if I had developed one of the first products I wanted to do, I'd be a f****** billionaire right now. That product was Condoms. The time was the early 80's and AIDS was hitting the scene, and scaring people away from having FREE unprotected sex.

The one thing I knew is that condoms SUCK. Not only do men hate them, but hey, us women also hate them, because it's not the real thing. Skin on Skin, is like the ultimate feeling, who want's fake? No one.

I wanted to develop condoms that were actually desirable to use. Condoms that made sex real and gave you protection from this horrible scary STD.

What did I do? Nothing. I was 23 years old and the word StartUp did not exist. The idea that anyone could do anything they thought up did not exist. Funding may have, but that was also a world that did not exist to me.

Yeah, I had this idea and that idea month after month, year after year. What would I do with these ideas I had in my head? Nothing. So all I did was live life to pay the bills, all the while adding more ideas upon ideas that only haunted me, tormenting me, because I had no idea how to turn them into reality. They were always trapped in my head.

Condoms have come along way since then, yeah they got it, they tried to improve on the product that really sucks, they have all kinds of different choices now, and they have special products that can enhance the pleasure of both. Yet these ideas came along, way after the point of when I wanted to change that product.

So my point is, that if you have an idea that nags you, you should follow it no matter what. You may be way ahead of the idea then society is, and if you pursue it you may develop the product that helps humanity.

I may revisit the condom problem someday. It's still a problem, no one likes them, even if they work. Maybe I'll make the one that works and feels just right...Whew so sweet............ Keep chasing your ideas, they matter, they could help people. Don't give up.

10 Reasons Why Eminem's Music Can Help Your StartUp [EXPLICIT] Not For Everyone.

1. Having a great beat in the background, with F****** as the core message, suck my dick as the highlights, and I'm the best thing you ever had, well it sounds good to me. Who wouldn't want to F*** after a hard days work on their startup?

2. Working the streets to get your traction, pitching to VC's and Angels, pounding the social networks, and rejections are constant with looks of wrinkled faces glare at you, like you're the lowest form of a startup, well you have your beat up old pinto to drive home in, and F*** some more.

3. You don't have to worry about Heaters, Millimeters, or getting your A** kicked in the parking lot. The worst you got was another rejection.

4. If you stumble upon the track called “Lose Yourself” you might find some hope in the words “Success is my only Mother F****** Option, Failures Not”

5. When you're really frustrated, you can have Pussy On Toast, with a Bitch on your dick. And for the female startup builders, there is so much sexual talk, you'll find yourself secretly excited, shhhhh don't tell.  

6. The music can change and bring you into a world of inspiration, filled with a kindness of someone who really has a heart filled with love. Yeah those touching moments when your startup means more to you then anything, it's what you believe in, it's what your F****** killing yourself for, sleep deprived, psychotic, walking the borderline of insanity and eating ramen.

7. You might live in Salem’s Lot, with weekly break-ins taking your laptops and all your servers, no worries, just go get your lap dance at the White Trash Party.

8. When you are really beaten down by your startup struggles, listen to “I'm Not Afraid” you will be empowered to keep fighting for what you believe in, even though that black cloud follows you around.

9.  “I can't tell you what it really is, I can only tell you what it feels like, and right now it's steal pipe in my wind pipe” -Eminem. Yeah, sometimes it's really tough building your startup, but we don't have it as tough as he did, he didn't give up.

10. If you find yourself offended by this post and by the lyrics of Eminem, well I'm not. I can never be offended by someones personal culture. Keep taking risk in your startup adventures, keep opening your mind up to discovering gifts for humanity. 

Check out Eminem's new release MMLP2 I just love his double fisted F*** You. These things make me smile : - )  

My Fantasy For America's Biggest Loser

On America's Biggest Loser they have a competition, the teams pitted against each other. The team that win's, usually win's some benefit for there team. While the defeated team gets nothing.

My fantasy is that DigiThin would be the winning teams prize. This is why: It's a perfect product for people who want to lose weight. It's not a drug, it's not a work out. It's exactly what the contestant need when they are not working with their trainers.

Well what is it? DigiThin is convenient empowerment mp3 weight loss coaching. So the winning team would get a little tiny mp3 player loaded with 100 weight loss coaching tracks. Yes, they would get to have coaching 24/7, all the while the other team has to go off on there own. The losing team would have no coaching on there own time, wile the winning team would have DigiThin to keep them coached up while they don't have their trainers in person.

The team that won the prize of DigiThin would have such an advantage. I have absolutely no doubt that they would lose more weight then the other team, I even bet, they would lose more weight then any team ever on America's Biggest Loser.

Why do I think that? Because it's the problem we all struggle with. Our own mind. You have seen on America's Biggest Loser that, when the contestants have to go home for a week or two, or when they have to do it on there own, well most often they don't lose much weight if any at all.

Don't you wonder why the contestants do worse when they do not have their trainers? It's the same for all of us. When someone is coaching you face to face, it's empowering, it gives you strength to do better. But when were left to wonder around with our own minds, well our minds are filled with all the old thoughts that got us into trouble in the first place. Those old thoughts are not easy to get rid of. They live inside our heads, and play when were not even thinking about them. Then there we are eating stuff we never planned on eating.

Yeah my fantasy for Americas Biggest Loser is for this product to be put to the ultimate test. I think America's Biggest Loser and many other people are trying so hard to help America lose weight, and I thank them for that. DigiThin is the new frontier of our time. It's the idea that we need to open our minds up to. I mean, what have we been doing the last fifty years? Has it worked? America is getting fatter.

It's time we look into new ideas that might seem unfamiliar and odd, because we can't keep doing what were doing. Magic pills, special food diets, weird workouts, risky surgeries, yeah none of that works. And some of those things will lead to your death. I have seen it. Why not try the truth? And live......

There is one truth that has been said for the last fifty years or so. You have to burn more calories then you consume to lose weight. Simple. One very simple statement, yet we can't seem to do that simple step. WHY? Our minds.

The root of the problem is our minds. No you are not crazy. You're just like me. I'm pretty normal. I figured out what the weight loss problem is, because I suffered as you have. I did the yo-yo diet, I tried all the magic pills, including the one recalled because it has killed people and caused Hepatitis C in others. I had my body wrapped in saran wrap. I ate nothing but protein, till the point I developed ketones, I have done the circuit in search of weight loss as you have. I know the struggle very well.

So why would listening to weight loss coaching be the answer? Just watch America's Biggest Loser, and what do you see? People coaching people! Trainers words impacting those contestants. So why wouldn't coaching 24/7 not work for you?

DigiThin is great because you do not have to have a set time to check in with your coach. You do not have to pay hundreds of dollars to have an online coach. You pay as you would for purchasing music. Then you get a ton of coaching tracks that you can listen to over and over as you do music. I tell you, you will be empowered to change. You will see what the weight loss problem is.

You will see how empowerment coaching is as effective as a live trainer. We have to live with food choices 24/7. That's food temptations 24/7 in your face. Well it's hard to turn away from those temptations, but if you just hit PLAY your life can change. Isn't that healthy? Just a voice to encourage you to use the POWER you already have.

Be empowered to change! Be apart of the new frontier of weight loss! Stand up for your life! And be FREE from the struggle!

I care about your beautiful life and I want you to succeed!

You can find free tracks in my Twitter @digithin or on Soundcloud and of course on the DigiThin website.

Give a listen and take Care Of Yourself

With Love

~ Jana

How Gary Vaynerchuk Became A DigiThin Blessing

The struggle of the baby entrepreneur is plagued with rejections. As I talked about this in my post about being happy to be rejected from Y Combinator, and that I have become stronger and better at dealing with the emotional annihilation when yet again, you hit a rejection.

I invented the rule: For every rejection you get two blessing. 

I am loving this rule because it seems to work, with out fail. Every single time I get a rejection, an amazing blessing or two pop into the picture. Yep, this week I suffered another business rejection. Oh yeah, I boo whooed about it a bit, slipped into self pity a bit, then bounced back, to get my ass kicked by Joshua Davidson, and that was blessing number one in disguise.

Joshua is one of the youngest most brilliant entrepreneurs on the scene. His company ChopDawg Studios built my website. His team did not just build my website, they also scoop me up every time I hit a roadblock, and lay flattened on the pavement. They help me out every step of the journey, with out hesitation. Sometimes that includes a little ass kicking. So Joshua's ass kicking blessing lead to blessing number two.

Gary Vaynerchuk, was blessing number two for DigiThin. Upon complying with my ass kicking strategy, imposed by Joshua, I  had to do some studying as my assignment. During this video watching of Mr. Vaynerchuk, I had fallen into a sign up for this or sign up for that type of thing. So I did. Well, one of those things said, email me, that would be Mr.Vaynerchuk. I don't know why that little pop up box instructed me to email him, but that's what it said to do, so I did it.

I thought I had nothing to say to Mr. Vaynerchuk, but turns out my mind thought of something to say, not much, just a little tiny comment. I hit enter and would I ever expect to get a reply back from the CEO of Vaynermedia ? Not a chance. I'm feeding at the bottom of the ocean of entrepreneurs, my head has not even come out of the water, and he's at the opposite end of the entrepreneur scale, he's like on the moon, his power shines all over the world. Why would he respond to me? And why would he have the time to?

But he did. He said ten words to me, and you know what that did to me? I swam a little higher up towards the surface. He empowered me, the small fish. He gave me HOPE. His action to reply to me was indeed a blessing. He is the man on the moon, why should he care about a tiny little fish? Because he knows were all here to help each other. His action gave me the power to keep fighting.

When us entrepreneurs are fighting for our startup, were fighting for what we believe in. I'm fighting for all the people who struggle to lose weight, the obese, the morbidly obese. I'm fighting for those people, because I want to set them free from the suffering that I lived through for years. I know how painful it is to struggle with a weight problem. I want to bless them, all of them, big and small fish.

Thanks to Joshua Davidson and Gary Vaynerchuk for DigiThin's two blessings this round of rejection.

For every rejection you will get two blessings. Keep building your startups. I'm actually looking forward to my next rejection. : - )  

~ Jana

DigiThin's Empowerment Weight Loss Coaching Exposed. How Is It Going To Help You Lose Weight?

Have you ever been in a classroom, and the teacher was so inspirational, that every word they said to you, well you learned the lesson, and not only that, you felt this feeling of empowerment. You felt exceptionally filled with a knowledge so awesome that you kinda felt, well high?

This just doesn't happen in a classroom, it happens everyday everywhere. Yes there is someone who has the gift of making others open up there mind to a new concept or a new skill. These people are people who we all have had come into our lives at one time or another.

So what is it, when you “hear” a voice verses just read it? I could read a ton of books on a subject, but if I went to hear an exceptional speaker on the topic, I would probably learn more then what I had read. At least for me that's the way it is.

I read a book and all of it sounds so great, but once I walk away from the book, it's almost like I didn't read it. Sure some of it sticks inside my mind, but a lot of it fades, quickly.

Think about your favorite music, don't you hit play over and over on a song you just love, and you cannot get enough of it? It makes you feel great, and it empowers you in some way.

Well, this is DigiThin. I have not written a DigiThin book and I will try hard to NEVER do that. This is why: DigiThin is based on the human voice, and hearing the message instead of reading it, it might just stick in your mind a way a book wouldn’t. Plus you can listen to it on the go, where as you can't read a book and drive.

The DigiThin coaching tracks are designed to be short, just like songs. And you can carry them around with you, right there on your cell phone or mp3 player. Then when you're in a fix and you are being tempted to wolf down some high calorie snack that wont help you lose a pound. You just hit play, and be empowered to choose wisely.

When I worked out to Jillian Michaels work out dvd's. I did those work outs often. And little pieces of what she was coaching on would stick in my mind. Like “if you want a six pack, then you're willing to do the work right?” Yes I wanted a six pack. I wasn’t exactly willing to do the work, yet there is no other way to get a six pack beside workout your body and eat clean. It stuck in my mind. I still hear her saying that to me to this day.

DigiThin is convenient empowerment mp3 weight loss coaching. With over one hundred coaching tracks, you'll be sure to find the words that YOU need to hear, to help you make the changes in your life that will shred the weight.

There are no magic pills, and hey you don't have to work out if you don't want to, but I highly recommend it. There is no gimmicks here. These coaching tracks are just the truth, and hey haven’t we heard enough lies about losing 10 or 20 pounds a week? Haven’t you tried almost all of those guaranteed weight loss products? I have. They don't work. Surprisingly the truth does.

You can download a FREE coaching bundle right now at www.digithin.com You can also find me on Twitter @digithin I'm posting new tracks I am writing for this holiday season, because right now were heading into weight gain season. Wouldn't it be nice if this year, you don't have that New Years Resolution to lose weight? Because you already are. Be Empowered! 

With love ~ Jana

The Problem: My Voice To Strangers Verses ~ To Those Who Know Me

Picture yourself having to act in a play and you have no acting skills. No, you have never acted in your life, but the play needs someone, and you are the only one around who could do it. So you have to, you have to stand up and do something you have no experience in, because you are the only one who can do it.

That's my life now. Yet I only have to use my voice. Do I have any recording experience? Hell no. Do I have any speaking experience? Hell No. Did I want to be the voice of DigiThin? NO Never. It's a startup, and you have to use ramen profitable everywhere in a new startup. That includes all the jobs you don't feel comfortable doing. Since DigiThin is convenient weight loss coaching, someone has to record the coaching tracks, so that would be me.

At first it was extremely hard, recording the tracks. My voice really sucked. When I hit playback, I could not believe how high pitched my voice was, it was annoying, it was horrible. So I had to record, and edit my own voice. Now that is not an easy task. If I am critical, I am the most critical of myself.

I sucked at recording my voice. I hated it for the longest time. I longed for someone to come into the company who had a voice, and I would record them instead of me. I messed with the software and my my voice sounded all kinds of weird ways, finally I settled on just talking in a lower voice.

Yet, this voice made people who know my voice, treat me with rejection. They could not listen to the content of DigiThin, because they knew my voice, so what they heard in DigiThin was so odd to them. They could not stand to listen to it. They rejected me solely on my recorded voice. They missed the great weight loss coaching, because they knew my voice.

I cannot judge my own voice, and my friends and family can not judge it. But I do not want to be judged on my voice. I want to be judged on my weight loss coaching. I want to be judged on the content.

Only strangers can judge me at this point. Strangers do not know my everyday voice, so they will be the only ones who can place a stamp on me. So do it. Find DigiThin coaching tracks at: www.soundcloud.com

www.digithin.com And please give me your stamp - good or bad......

Twiiter: @digithin.

Another day in the life of a Startup ~

www.digithin.com

How Eminem's Music Has Helped My Startup

Yeah, building a startup has a ton of ups and downs, emotionally. Some day’s are super great highs, things are hitting all the marks, then there are even more days of frustration, disappointments, and the feeling of failure. A failure that most have never known.

If you report to work for someone else, then all you have to do is, what they want. But in a startup, you have to do every job, and you have to do all the jobs you don't particularly like, well. It's your startup, and you want it to succeed so you stumble around hitting all kinds of lows and failures that make you feel even worse then a regular failure.

It's my idea, my creation on the line, I have to express it. Like Eminem, he found a way to express his art, his creativity. Yet he suffered what all startups suffer: The quest to get his idea to a better place. Yet he was smashed down by failure after failure. He even attempted suicide when he hit a place in his quest, to express what he knew was awesome music, but he couldn't get people to listen to it. Yes, he was beaten down to the point where he actually attempted to kill himself.

This is exactly how it is in a startup. Us entrepreneurs are artist too. We create ideas and we seek to present them to the public because we know it will help them in there life in some way. We want so bad to help other people with our art, that we go through this suffering of emotions even to the point of attempted suicide.

Let me tell you, I did not listen to Eminem when he first hit the scene. Oh no, I was in a world of raising a baby, and Rap music was so odd and strange to me, that I had no desire for it. So a long time after Eminem's music had cooled ~ There I was working out with my trainer and I said I need new work out music and he suggested Eminem. Rap, I said? Is it horrible, terrible music that is hurtful to women? My trainer answered, it's really great music.

So I went to the store and bought 3 cd's because I did not know how to purchase music online, all though that's how it's done nowadays. I started listening and I was blown away by what I heard, it was the most amazing thing I had ever heard.

Here was a man's life described in detail in ever word he rapped about. Why had I been so afraid of Rap? Media. Why did I think these rappers were brutal rapists and hated women? Media.

What did I find in Eminem’s music? An amazing gift. He made it though the build without killing himself. He hung in because he believed in what he was building. He went through all the crap us startups do. His music has helped me countless times in my startup, because when I felt really down and low I would just play – I'm Not Afraid – or countless other songs that just hit me with a power to not give up, to keep moving forward on my startup.

Eminem – His music ~ is my power ~ to keep moving forward ~ and not give up ~ My gift will bless people like his gift has ~ This is what I know for sure ~

Rejected From Y Combinator And I'm Happy. : -)

That's right, I received my rejection email, as I like to call them, from Y Combinator at 1:15 AM. November 5^th, 2013. Yes this year has sucked for me, so why not go out with a big REJECTION! I'm sure 2014 is going to be better.

Truly I am happy, because I had no chance in HELL of getting into the best incubator in the country. Still I took the chance, because I believe in my idea, and who couldn't use some help building their startup? Especially a long shot solo founder like me.

You know what, if you are building a startup, a TON of rejections is part of the deal. Actually I find that I get stronger with each rejection, and I also believe that with every rejection I get, that in return I will get two blessing. In fact yesterday my morning email had my first blessing all ready waiting for me, as if it knew what was coming down the pipe later.

Yep, there it was a wonderful email filled with congrats and encouragement from one of the rising stars in the Photography and Video industry Joe Morahan. Check out his site, his work will floor you. He was encouraging me for another reason, nothing to do with Y Combinator. In fact Mr.Morahan, was also the one who gave me encouragement when I was first starting out my build, and I had no idea what I was doing. He is the one who gave me hope, and guidance. It made me feel so good, that he took the time to congratulate me on a small achievement I had done for DigiThin. He was able to share in my joy, because he could see that I had hit a certain milestone, one that he hit a long time ago. It also brought him joy to be able to share his kind words with me. So that is blessing number one, I do not know what blessing number two will be, but I'm looking forward to it.

Now For all you hundreds and hundreds of other rejected Y Combinator applicants! Stand Strong, do not feel one bit bad that you did not make the cut. As hard as it is to not take it personal, or to think something is wrong with your idea, or that maybe you are a complete idiot, your not. Your on the right path if you believe in your idea. In fact we should start our “Rejected From Y Combinator Wide Spread Incubator club” ourselves. Why not help each other out? Were all bumping into walls and stumbling down this path to building our great companies, why do alone? If anyone wants to start something, we have one thing in common, well two, Rejected from Y Combinator and were building startups. Email me jana@digithin.com

Will Y Combinator Accept Me Into Their Beautiful Program?

November 1^st 2013 – The EVE of the Answer

So tomorrow is D day. The day I find out if I get accepted into Y Combinator. My mind has done nothing but play tricks on me, as to if I was going to get in to there beautiful program.

For the first few weeks, I would go back and forth each day. One day I would be 99% sure I was going, then the next day I'd be the exact opposite in the mind. It was torturing me. I kept trying to keep my mind off of it. Yet it was always in my mind, teasing me with with hope, then teasing me with sorrow.

I told myself I can not be upset or down if they don't accept me. I'm a long shot, an underdog, and worst of all I'm a lone founder. No incubators like those.

Yet, it's haunted me since Friday September 13^th when I hit submit.

Y Combinator has been my mentor all through my build of DigiThin all by myself. Professor Graham has given me the courage to stay on the path, in spite of all the difficulties, stress and the “it's too much for one person to do.”

I had no choice, I only had me to change my life, so I had to do the build alone, I had to chase my idea, I had take risk after risk, I had to be beaten to failure, because I knew what Professor Graham was telling me was the life I wanted – oh I so am an entrepreneur – I am finally me!

So this is the eve night of my D day. What will it be? Will they accept me? I think not because they never asked me any questions. But then I think yes, because I know they watched my video, as awful as it was, they watched it.

Have they not asked me questions because I was completely understandable and they had none for me?

Or did they judge me on that horrible video I had to make? Or was my idea beaten out by just too many other great ones?

Still my mind is torturing me. Yes I want into their program. I belong there. Why? Because I'm an anomaly. I'm the surprise they were looking for, I'm the blessing they need.

Then I think about the answer to the question of “How have you hacked the system to your benefit?” Well, I knew I hack the system everyday, so to me, that's an everyday occurrence, so everyday hacks are insignificant, and unremembered to me. So I could not think of an answer for two days.

Then the answer I thought of, well, I think it was pretty cool. I did that hack when I was 12 years old. And then after I put that on my application, I re-visited that time in my life and had to ask myself, “Why would I help the boy who had raped me?” Why would I want to help him get back into the concert?

There was only one answer – I did it because I needed the answer to a question that would be asked of me 40 years later. So I stood there watering the neighbors lawn and smiled, because that to me meant I was supposed to be in Y Combinator. That to me was FATE showing itself clear and in plane view. I was in awe.

Still here I am, suffering torture, will I get in, or have I just been fooling myself for the last seven weeks? Will my fate really be, that I'm still on my own, beating the path to build a great company. Do I have to keep standing up for myself all alone? Well, if so I'm okay with that, because that is what I have been doing all along, and I know how to do that.

But could I use those Y Combinator arms around me? Oh yeah.

*Note: This was written almost a year ago, it's not for the startup my team is applying for this year (2014) I could delete this post, but I do not, as this is my life path, my truth. This post has been on my blogs top ten list since I posted it. Just want you to know it's for my last startup, not my new one Passdown.