Place: Starbucks drive thru
Mission: Cup of Joe
Impulse: bottle of water, and maybe some berry- berry coffee cake..
Final Purchase: Cup of Joe
Jason 1 : Starbucks 0 (second thought $3 coffee, they win every time)

I was on the fence, coffee and… a bottle of water? Noo maybe some coffee cake? A clear case of indecision which could have been easily swayed with the simple question, “will that be all today?” After not hearing this phrase I was in the clear, able to make a clean get away with only my cup of joe. For so long I thought this meant nothing, surely every purchase we make is planned, well thought out and executed. HA! If I had a dollar for ever impulse purchase I’ve made, I would have already spent the money.

This is a valuable lesson, take the time to train accordingly. In a business with an average transaction of $5 (guesstimate), this is huge! I could have doubled that number with three words from the man inside the speaker box.

My hope is that the final product is a 3-5 paragraph synopsis of my professional experience. Highlighting my key attributes and successes in the work place. What quickly came was a string of awkward resume words like; detail oriented, meticulous, independent, reliable, and people person… I had to regroup and decide how I wanted to position my profile. It should also appeal to those individuals with a common background and interests, what professionals today have come to call networking.

Bios should appeal to your customer, in this sense my customer is other professionals developing strategy, conducting analysis and consulting for companies seeking operational excellence. My hope is to create a group of individuals able to help problem solve and share experiences.

Now… how the heck do I do that? Back to the drawing board…

The excruciating experience left me blistered, bruised, bloody and hung over… It also left me with some great memories a few new friends and a discovery. Endurance racing should really be a social event, from beginning to end. Given a choice, which I’m pretty sure I have, the only races I plan to ever do will be relay. I have done marathons and Ironmans, and have no desire to ever complete another… I am on permanent maintenance mode and the experience of Ragnaring far exceeds any single distance race.

Ragnar… My first experience was a good one, and I cannot wait to receive my x2 medal. Keep up the good work!

Last we left off i had just completed my 2011-12 NFL fantasy football draft. One which i felt particularly proud about and was re-insured with my immediate success on the grid iron. Soon my success subsided as an risky portfolio of players fell to injury, my 1st, 3rd and 4th round pick all out multiple games. Quickly I began losing games, consecutive loses with no hope of resolve. As in past seasons I started to become disengaged after my 3rd lose, but this was only mid way thru the season surely we could turn this around…

Fast forward 2 months and I am in the championship game, how did I do it you ask, great question I’ll tell you. Luck, pure old fashioned blind, dumb luck… And proud of it! The two steals of this draft without a shadow of a doubt, Gronkowski and Jordy Nelson (not on my roster). Taking one of these two players almost ensured a spot in the playoffs, and that’s just what I did, rode his 15 TD, record breaking season right into the play offs. The addition of Adrian Peterson and the stellar performances from Arian Foster and Matt Ryan and here I sit today, Christmas Eve, enjoying a guaranteed 2nd place.

Sometimes a seemingly well design strategy falters and luck takes over, this could have easily gone the other direction and my lesson would have been learned. One, minimize risk, I drafted two injured players in the draft, I should not have done this. Two, maintain a close eye on performance and always be ready to wheel and deal, to close those gaps.

Pergaments 2012 champs? We’ll see

But for some reason purchasing these blades topped all those feelings and is still with me several hours later. At least with gambling i’m able to justify the hours of entertainment as a expense… I really can’t find the justification for these razors, or what other economic folk constitute as a cost, i.e. the cost of blades is actually a raise your boss may avoid due to an unshaven face. No shot, im making a firm stance, I need to find another solution here, this is not goin to hack it, no mas! Officially occupied, razor blades…

I’ll take it as a good sign, hopefully that means in maturing. Late nights, all day benders… Seriously wtf!

Pretty sure midnight is the new 4am, at least I’ll make the ball drop… For now:)

Thinking back this is definitely not the first time I have tricked myself into a new purchase. Right after that great idea settles in the laundry lists of supply’s grows, a new computer, office furniture, a new bike, and all sorts of other goodies.

Just lost my train of thought, but I guess where this was going was… In a perfect world, set some goals, achieve some success, launch on a shoe string budget…

Orrrr on second thought, this is my first post in weeks and my new phone was exactly what I needed to spark the motivation. Rock on, pay later.

OK, I admit, I side tracked and now back to my hopes that people are smarter than me. Here’s my thought, why not just hit the streets, crank out some emails and speak to those who have been down this road? Why learn from my mistakes, when I can learn from your… um, “experiences”.

Alas, an unveiling the first portion of the site and its potential direction. We will devote some space specifically to ways not for first ventures to bomb miserably. Together, we (that’s right, your not getting off the hook that easy) will research and analyze small businesses operating in today’s climate. Ultimately finding ways to relate practices to what we are doing.

Let’s have some fun, meet some people and who knows maybe launch a business.

Annd right on cue, here come the excuses. I don’t have the funds, experience or even a clever name. There will be so much to do, so much to learn and what if I make a mistake? How could I possibly not mess this up?  It’s real easy to find reasons not to continue, but ultimately if we do not surpass our last attempt we will never breakthrough.

Win, lose or draw this is an experience and one that will set the bar for all subsequent attempts. However, I am not launching with the hopes this idea flounders, I am realistic and know over 50% of small businesses fail.  Knowing my odds,  I remain optimistic and am almost certain I will leave this trial with new improved abilities. Ones which will be used to set up future success.

In past years I’ve easily navigated the first 2-3 rounds, dependent on my pick in the 12 person draft normally prioritized position. Once the low hanging fruit clipped the subsequent rounds would prove difficult. The draft environment is dynamic and players projected to be available often are not, and we are left to quickly analyze the remaining players and make decisions.  Add in the additional elements of competition, positions selected, projections, next available options and the always present alcohol and we have ourselves a little business case. Well minus the alcohol…

Sparing the details regarding my selection process, and mainly because after the fact I am making these these connections. My simple strategy draft day was to leverage average draft position (ADP) data to complete the draft with a negative sum. Thus preventing reaching for players to early.

Fun Fact: After several rounds it was apparent wide receivers were expensive, i.e. being selected earlier then there ADP, knowing this I opted for other player selections for added trade value and key back ups. As soon as the price or ADP for receivers stabilized I pulled the trigger. I realize utilizing averages may not be the best method, but given the initial launch I figured this to be reasonable data.

The result…