After two unplanned sidetracks in the Passdown build, I'm back to all day and evening work. It was a pretty productive day today and I'm taking a break to write to you. Yep, writing random post on my blog actually helps me to think. Brad Feld had wrote an article and mentioned that he "wrote to think". This is very true for me also.
Earlier today, I had some funny stuff going on with the company that I get t shirts printed from. Imperfect Circle Apparel Super great people to work with and they also use sustainable and eco-friendly materials. They can print up hundreds of t shirts in a tiny office with no harsh smells at all. It's a pretty amazing way to print t shirts.
Anyway I sent an order over to them and asked if they could do it. I only need 2 t shirts. That's it. The funny part is what I wanted printed on the t shirts. Danica wrote back and said "you have everyone here LOAO!" I was so happy to hear this as I had asked another company months ago to print the same t shirt and they would not respond to my request. I have no idea why that company would not respond, all I can think is they didn't' get the joke. : - / well Imperfect Circle did.
There is nothing more in life I like doing than joking around with others and making people smile. So what's on the shirts? Well I can't tell you yet. I can tell you that I am having the shirts printed so I can send them to Gary Vaynerchuk. Yep, I have something funny to say to him. I am pretty sure he will laugh. I just wish I could put a hidden camera in the box so I could capture the look on his face, when he gets my joke.
So a great day building on the startup and making people smile and laugh. What could be better?
Oh Man, do I ever hate that I make mistakes. Hmmm, this is so frustrating for me building startups, because I make mistakes everyday all day long! It's not that I think making a mistake is really bad. Or that, I think making a mistake is like I'm not perfect enough. It's that in all the jobs I've had in my life, I learn the job, I make mistakes often, but then I master the job and I make mistakes rarely.
Rarley Is The Key Word
On the startup road, such mistakes are an often occurrence that it kills me. I'm used to working for someone else and getting over the mistake period pretty quickly. In a startup, well, there is no mistake period! Mistakes are going to be everyday, all day long, for some undetermined amount of time. You can't escape it no matter what. You can't master it as fast as working for a long established company, no you can't.
I want to do a good job. I want to be the best at my job. So making mistakes are such hardship's on my soul. I want them to end quickly. I want the occasional mistake to be my norm.
If You Are Building A Startup, Mistakes Are The Brick Road
I don't know why mistakes can make me feel like such a loser or a fool. But they do. I think that's why I hate making them. Yet building a startup has taught me that a mistake is another brick in your startup road. You pave the road, then you can walk further. There is no other way around it.
My Silly Mistake Tonight
It was a small mistake, yet it really was an offensive mistake to me. How could I? How could I misspell the name of one of my most beloved mentor in the startup world? I've told myself a million times, "Don't mispronounce his name and whatever you do, DON'T misspell it" I added the c to Vaynerchuk! Oh damn, this hurts my company. There is no c in CHUK. I told myself this a million times, and still, I did it. I typed up the Tweet and sent it. Then I read what I wrote and as a tiny infraction as some may think it is, I thought it was rude, and not respectful to my mentor, one of the many who teach me how to be an entrepreneur. Damn.
Sorry Mr.
Mr. Gary Vaynerchuk, please forgive me. I'm a tiny person in the startup world. You and many others teach me, and I can't be grateful enough for all of you. Yeah, I'm gonna make a million more mistakes, some of them small, some of them big, and some of them the kind that seems no one can recover from, (those are the ones I dread) yet we all make that super big mistake. The one we think we can't recover from. But we can, can't we? There is never anything we can do that deserves the punishment of SILENCE or DEATH. Unless of course you commit a serious crime, and that deserves prison. Our mistakes, are not crimes, they are the bricks we have to place along the road, the startup road we build.
Trep Wear
The whole thing started because I saw this new startup getting ready to launch. @trepwear They have a super awesome idea. I did not gather enough information to tell you all about them, but I think they make T-shirts and other items that reflect startups, Treps, certain startups, and some of the cash they make on the items will be given to that startup, in the honor to help that startup raise funds to help them build great companies. Companies that will impact our world and lives. Yeah, that is a SMOKING IDEA. I love Trep Wear. And I hope you will too. : - )
The T-Shirt I Want From Trep Wear
The T-shirt I want Trep Wear to print, says: "Gary Vaynerchuk said, I had Balls" Yeah, that's right. It's a true story. He did tell me that. But he also totally kicked my ass and told me all the things I failed at, all the MISTAKES I made. Of course he was right. He told me off, but the one compliment he gave me is "I can tell you one thing, you have balls" Well, to me that is a very high compliment. I'd like to think I do have balls. I'm not giving up. I'm creating more and more startups and I will never stop. I will write with 6th grade grammar, speak like I'm a stoner, come off like a complete idiot, but I have balls! I'll talk to any VC, Angel or person who will listen to my ideas to make the world better, your life better, the life of someone at risk better.
I call my blog Long Shot Start Up Girl for two reasons. #1 I'm always looked at as a longshot or passed over. #2 The longshot pay off is....................?
So many turn away. It's the rejection that used to hurt me that now gives me BALLS.
Thank you Mr. Gary Vaynerchuk!
Vay.ner.chuk
: - )
There I was in line with mine. Mine was just like everyone else's, except mine was just right for me.
I'm waiting in line and Gary Vaynerchuk is one of the many cashiers. It's a massive warehouse, bigger than Costco and Walmart put together. In fact, it's so big that there is a viewing booth, sort of like one of those in a football stadium, and sometimes in my dream Gary is in the booth watching all the thousands of cashier stands, other times, he is the cashier.
While I'm waiting my turn to buy what's exactly right for me. I see Gary Vaynerchuk telling the lady "No, that's not the one" then if by some kind of dream magic, the one in her hand disappears, and she reaches behind her back and, whamo another one appears in her hand, and she shows it to him and again Gary Vaynerchuk says "No, that's not the one".
The showing goes on for about 35 attempts until finally Gary Vaynerchuk shakes his head and says "That's the one" The woman is ecstatic and she makes her purchase.
Now this is what each and every customer is doing at all the checkstands. Every single customer is showing the cashier the product and the cashier says "No, that's not the one." The product will magically disappear when the customer looks at it with a disappointed face. Then the customer reaches behind their back and magically another product appears. No matter what, no customer gets it right. They all have to go through at least 35 attempts, or many more, before the cashier or Gary Vaynerchuk says "That's the one". And no one leaves the store without buying "The one".
I'm standing in line thinking "what's my strategy?" "How can I get the right one on less attempts?" I'm agonizing over it. I don't want to go through 35 or more attempts, I want to get the "right one" on the first few attempts. I want "the one" so bad that I want it sooner than everyone else gets it. I won't leave the store until I get it.
Then, like all dreams you wake up. As you lay there and assimilate what just happened in my brain, the questions always follow "What the hell kind of dream was that?" "why did I dream it?" Then I started laughing because what everyone was buying was framed ugly office art! I'm not kidding. I guess the moral of the dream is, if anyone can sell ugly office art, it's Gary Vaynerchuk!
Dear Readers of Long Shot Start Up Girl. This is my 75th post, and in honor of that, I would like to offer this beauty.
Now if this is an historical piece, or a famous artist created this, I'm so sorry, I do not mean to offend you. To me, it's ugly office art. I will ship this to the person who writes the funniest comment on this blog post. You must live in the United States as this is a big piece at 37"x 27" and it's a bit heavy. I can't afford overseas shipping. ; - ) Just remember "It's The One" *Note: NE is not part of the original and does not come with it.
*Article Update: There is more in this dream. I am hoping people will insert those ideas. Oh yeah, Gary can sell ugly framed office art if he had to. But what about you? What about, what Gary is teaching you? Lemonade, baseball cards, liquor? Does it matter the item? No.What matters is the art of doing it. In the dream, people don't buy the product until the cashier says it's "the one" then they buy it without hesitation. They desire it so much. Think about that. Think about the "dream game theory."
No matter what you want to sell, from what may seem ridicules, like ugly office art. People will buy it if you, give them the okay.
This dream was a real sleeping time dream, but it makes sense. No one walks out of the store without the cashiers approval of the ugly office art. What do you think that means?
You can sell anything, perhaps.
