Steven Cox - Founder of TakeLessons. Build Something You're Proud Of

Tony Hsieh from Zappos.com Presents at SANG Conference

I wish I would've gotten the chance to see the SANG Conference in person...

Zappos - SANG Conference - 2-23-09

View more presentations from zappos. (tags: zappos sang)

Keep Running

I just got back from a five mile run along San Diego's waterfront. The sun was out, the skies clear, and The Chemical Brothers blasted at perfect volume through my iPod.

Yet, for whatever reason, I struggled. Every step was difficult, and every mile challenging.

A few times, I felt like stopping and taking a breather underneath one of the giant sycamore's.

But, I didn't. I just kept running.

Not as fast as normal, not as fluid as others that passed me. At time, I had to slow down the pace. But I just kept running.

As I rounded my last turn and headed for my finish, I realized that my business is a lot like my running.

Sometimes it's easy and fluid. Other time, each step feels like climbing a mountain.

So many others get winded, other get frustrated, and they quit - never experiencing the sheer joy of overcoming. But if you just keep running, you'll eventually round that last turn and be able to cross your own finish line.

Just Keep Running...

Progress

“Contentment is wanting what you have. Ambition is wanting what another has. Progress comes from wanting what nobody has.”
– Bob Lewis

The Value of Good Business Partners

I've been an investor in a local San Dieo nightclub for the past five years with three other partners.

All started well, and we made mo' Benjamins. But, as other hot nightclubs came onto the scene, our bar lost some of its cache.

Eventually, we had to do capital calls and placed the business up for sale. Luckily for us, we found the right buyer. But getting the business sold turned out to be a royal pain in the ass. Each time we thought we were clear, there was always another road block.Liquor license transfers, lease negotiations, tenant improvements always make the sale harder.

Finally... we got the deal done, and all of us were relieved.

When I look back on the business, through the good times and bad, everyone kept their composure, paid their money during the capital calls, and took care of business. Each partner was professional and treated the other partners with respect and decency.

I didn't make a lot of money on this deal, but I learned the value of good partners. Anyone can be a good partner when things go well, but it take a person with character to be a good partner when plans go south.

When you find these people, make them your life-long friend and work to do business with them in the future. They are rare. They are mature. They are gentlemen. 

U2 to Appear on Letterman - ALL WEEK!

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U2 will appear for a five nights in a row on the Late Show with David Letterman. The long-lived Irish quartet will be the musical guests from March 2-6 on the CBS late night talk show. This is the first time the program has ever had a single act for so many consecutive evenings.

U2's new album, No Line On The Horizon, will be released that week on Tuesday, March 3rd. The band played the first single, "Get On Your Boots" at the Grammy Awards last Sunday.

Surfrider San Diego's 17th annual Paddle for Clean Water

The 17th annual Paddle for Clean Water rallied hundreds of San Diego ocean lovers to paddle around the Ocean Beach Pier and demand clean water. This year was the second with a festival event that included live music, local artists, food and more. ...

Surfrider San Diego's 17th annual Paddle for Clean Water from Chad Reese

6 Helpful Clues for CEOs | AlwaysOn

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6 Helpful Clues for CEOs by Guy Kawasaki. Read and see how your startup is doing.

This reminds me how important it is to be blatantly honest with your business. You simply can't believe your own hype. Deal with the reality you have, not the one you wish to have...

6 Helpful Clues for CEOs | AlwaysOn.

Baptists on Board with Digital Hymn Technology

I started playing music in church. My father was a Pastor, so I grew up listening and playing the same songs - over and over and over again. When I started playing music in bands, our first songs were remakes of hymns to make them more modern and rock & roll. (After hymnals we gravitated to playing more Van Halen at church, until the church folk booted us out. Really. But that's a different story for a different day...)

Now, the fine Baptists have taken that idea one step further...

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Nashville, Tenn. | Southern Baptists on Thursday unveiled a new online digital music tool akin to Apple’s iTunes, which not only offers downloadable Christian music but allows users to custom arrange songs and produce corresponding audio files and sheet music.

Lifeway Christian Resources, the research and publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, introduced at its Nashville headquarters SongMap, a Web-based technology with about 900 downloadable songs that include contemporary, gospel and traditional hymns.

With SongMap, users can transpose keys, change songs’ order of verses, choruses, introductions and transitions, and download their creation and print out sheet music for various instruments.

By Monday, about 100 of the songs will be able to be custom arranged, and Lifeway officials say they’re working on getting the rest online.

Three years in development, SongMap started with an effort by Lifeway to create a digital hymnal but grew into a completely new application aimed not only at Southern Baptist congregations but other Evangelical churches. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the U.S. with nearly 16.4 million members.

Click here to visit SongMap online

Full Article

A VC Gets On Board with Profits, Not Revenues

I found this story from Fred Wilson, Union Square Ventures. I've always found his posts to be thoughtful and useful:

"I think that's an important part of the economics of the web that are left out of most discussions of Internet business models. Yes, we are turning analog dollars into digital pennies in many cases. But we are also doing the same thing on the cost side, maybe even more so. And I think that "operating leverage" is going to create a lot of value."Read the Whole Story at A VC, Jan 2009

Music Industry Still Pushing Digital Subscription Model

"David Ring, executive vice president of business development for Universal Music Group's digital arm, said at the EconMusic Conference that the recording industry simply can't sustain itself with download sales alone.

"If what we're trying to do is one-by-one downloads...that's not a business that can grow," Ring told conference attendees during panel discussion he participated in. "It won't be healthy for the industry."

Read more at CNet