Jesse Stay's Blog, page 15

Entrepreneurship With a Family is for Crazy People

I am frequently asked how I was able to go out on my own with a family of a wife and 6 kids. The truth is I'm crazy - completely crazy. If you want to see how crazy entrepreneurship actually is go follow my friend Dave McClure and listen to a few of his presentations (warning - lots of language). Entrepreneurship, without a family, isn't for the faint of heart. This is my story.



Entrepreneurship alone is tough - really tough. Your chances of going completely broke are 9 out of 10. People call that failing, but the truth is most entrepreneurs don't just fail - they lose all their money, and their credit cards in the process. It's tough - it's really tough.



I used to think that every entrepreneur out there had a lot of money - they were able to go out on their own after all and support themselves. How do they do that? The truth is most of them are just like that commercial of the neighbor with the nice house, nice lawn, and everything you ever wanted, culminating with the neighbor saying, "I'm in debt up to my eyeballs!" That's the truth for most entrepreneurs. Without a family, that's a risk many can take.



Add to that a family - a family of 6 kids nonetheless - and you can see how crazy it actually is. Not only am I risking my own finances. I'm risking my ability to keep a roof over my family's head, the ability to keep food on the table, pay for braces for my teenagers, and give them a good life. Babies become more expensive (if you want more). Health problems are more expensive. It's not easy at all.



If you've gotten this far after being scared out of your mind you're ready for entrepreneurship with a family. There are rewards as well. On top of it all, you get the freedom to set your own schedule. You get the freedom to be with your family whenever you want. The last time I was out on my own I spent an entire month on a road trip with my family going to Boston to see my family. I managed clients all while on the road. A day job would not have allowed that.



So if you're still interested in starting your own business and going out on your own with a family, here are some tips, and a few warnings. I'm not perfect at it yet. In fact there are times I'm still desperate and trying to find the one thing that "sticks". However, this is what I do and remember again - I'm crazy. I'm going to address this to the men and husbands of a wife, because that's the only perspective I'm familiar with - I'd love to see the perspective of a wife some time though. Here are some tips to get you going:






Health insurance - there will be expensive options that come about as a result of Obamacare (whether you like it or not). I find that those work well if you have a pre-existing condition. You're even crazier to be an entrepreneur with a family if you have a pre-existing condition.

What I do is I get a healthcare plan with a $5k-10k deductible. There are many companies and options out there that offer this - Google it. This usually covers catastrophic issues like cancer and surgery and other things like that, but for anything else, better start saving your money. You can also negotiate better with Doctors if you don't have insurance because it reduces their cost of having to deal with and wait for insurance companies to pay them. Remember - they're crazy entrepreneurs too!

Whatever you do DON'T GO WITHOUT INSURANCE - that's not only crazy - it's stupid. Get something with a high deductible and everyone will be happy.

Focus - This is a huge problem for me. I have so many things I like to try out and play with and hopefully make money out of. Figuring out which one to focus on is always the hardest part. Focus on the things that make you the most money NOW. Don't do things that don't have monetary value. If there's a royalty vs. an advance I always take the advance because you can never guarantee the royalty. Only add other things to your workflow after the things that are making money are actually supporting you. Some times this involves working a full time job as that main means of revenue.

I like to close down Facebook and email and put my phone in another room when I need to focus. That's really tough to do, but it does wonders at making you focus on what you need (even writing this post is a distraction for me, but I feel I need to document it).

Investment - take it if you can. I tried to bootstrap my first business. I had no idea what I was doing. As a developer and marketer, I can build things and build audiences, but building those things into a true business that is sustainable is not my strong suite. Seeking investment up front from someone that could help with the business side of things would have been a huge advantage. I'll add to that partnering with someone with such expertise would have really helped.

Dealing with the family - your wife is going to hate you for putting your family through this. I don't know an entrepreneur with a wife and kids who has not had a few arguments with their spouse on why they should still be doing this. Be prepared for that.

It's important that you give your wife and children the time they need - maybe spend a day a week to just them. Another option is to make sure you're having family dinners every night and that you're a major part of that. Or perhaps you have a family night once a week. Go camping with them once a month - I find that really builds the family and gets you away from technology and the distractions as you do it.

You're also going to need to fulfill your duties as a husband and father - that means supporting the family. ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP PLAN. If you run out of money don't put your family into debt. Give yourself enough runway that you can get a job if you have to. DON'T BE AFRAID TO GET A JOB! You've got to find ways to put food on the table and make your house payment/rent.

My Uncle, who founded Freeservers.com, Unitus, and several other successful ventures, always tells me to have a date you and your wife set where if you're not profitable by that point you will get a job. Do that and stick to it and your entire family will be happy.

Your wife is going to need to trust you - build her trust and she will. That means she has to feel secure and safe in what you are providing for the family. Include your wife in the business, and make her a partner as much as she is willing. Don't do it if she's not in it with you - that's stupid too.


Being an entrepreneur with a family is nuts. You are nuts for trying it. However, if this is what you do like I do and this is what keeps you going, go for it. Go all out. Change the world. Make things that the world has never seen before.




Entrepreneurship is the happiest I've ever been. It's the best job I've ever had. It's the most successful I've ever been. But it's also been the scariest time of my life and a place where I've also seen the greatest failures.




I hope these tips have helped at least some of you - if anything it should be a voice of warning before you try anything. I don't mean to scare anyone away from entrepreneurship. I do mean for you to be completely aware of what you're getting yourself into before you start. These are waters that you will drown in if you're not careful. Tread carefully, and you'll have one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. Swim on my crazy friends!




Photo by Jarvie Digital

When Moore's Law Meets Life Expectancy

In a world of servers in your pocket, wearable computers, and devices that track your health over time, technology is not only affecting our culture, but our physical lives as well.  I predict in our lifetimes we'll see a healthier and more productive generation arise as a result of these devices. Our own lives will get healthier and healthier as a result of technology that tracks elements of our personal health which would traditionally lower our life expectancy.



Just like our own knowledge grows as the world around us appears to us in real-time, our own health will improve as well. With the ability to respond in real time to fluctuations in our health, we can catch things that traditionally would not have been caught until our bodies had become weakened.



It is very likely that, compared to our parents, our lives may extend up to 50% beyond the life they had. When you compare our parents to theirs, life expectancy is already higher. Imagine what happens when you throw technology and real-time information into the mix. There is a real chance you and I will live really long lives!



My Fitbit tracker and Aria scale notice my activity and weight over time, and alert me how to become healthier. We see devices such as the Tricorder that is being funded on Indiegogo, a very real technology that tracks blood pressure, heart rate, temperature, and a number of other major health factors that if not caught quickly could significantly affect other elements of our health. More and more of these devices are going to come in our lives and they're only going to get smarter. The Star Trek future we always dreamed of really isn't that far off!



In hardware, there is a law, Moore's law, which suggests that year after year, the number of transistors integrated circuits doubles, allowing us to do twice as much as the period before. What happens when this technology begins to affect our health? Call this new law whatever you want to name it, but I'm going to suggest the same will happen with life expectancy in our lifetime.



I predict generation after generation life expectancy will double by the time my generation passes away. Knowledge is power. Not just that, but knowledge is life when applied to health and our bodies. The more computers are able to interact, automate, and read ourselves, the healthier we will become and the longer we will live.



It's quite exciting to think of it that way, and I think it's a very real possibility we'll see this happen in our lifetimes. So get used to living much longer than you planned. Build up that savings. Live healthy now so you can survive to that era. Make the world a better place, not just for your children, but because there's a good chance you'll be there too!

In the Internet of Things, the Server in Your Pocket Fills the Room

I'm going to go on record - the name "server" is going extinct. From servers that filled up entire rooms and buildings to just add simple numbers, we have evolved into a world where I can store a server in the closet of my office to do things like stream TV to the Xboxes in each room of my house. And with the Cloud, I don't even have to do that. My Nest, my Fitbit, my Sonos, and other devices all use the Cloud to access the internet and sync with each other. But now with Google Glass and wearable computing I'm finding we're moving to a new type of Server -- the server in your pocket called your phone.



For the last several years if you wanted your portable devices to connect to the internet they needed to each have their own SIM card and Cellphone contract. With the many devices in our lives, that prices adds up more and more as I add a Kindle and/or a Nexus 7 for my 6 kids, an iPad for me and my wife, smartphones, and things like Chromebook and other similar devices that use cell connections to get internet. There's a better way to do it and I think Google Glass is headed there - it's through the server in your pocket.



Glass decided to take an approach that doesn't use a cell connection or SIM card to get internet access. Instead, it uses either the bluetooth or WiFi tethering of your phone to get to the internet. It's not perfect, nor is it ideal, and in fact I see it as one of the biggest complaints amongst users of the device. However, I think that's a cultural issue that is going to change.



As I head out places now with Google Glass, there's a process I go through. I check the battery on my phone and my Glass, make sure I have a backup battery, and then I turn on the Wireless Hotspot on my Samsung Galaxy S3 because it doesn't support Bluetooth tethering. It's not ideal, but you can see how just a few tweaks to the phone and a recognition that the phone is now the center of all devices around it will fix these issues. I can really see where Google is going with this.



I think you'll see companies like Google and Apple improve your phone as not just another device on your home network, but the device that powers all of the "things" around you. You'll see bluetooth profiles emerge where multiple devices can all connect to your phone at once and use the connection. You'll see automatic awareness of the devices your phone is familiar with, without any user intervention. You'll see better battery life and I bet you'll rarely even take your phone out of your pocket, unless you need to truly draw or type something you just can't speak out loud.



I've touched lightly on this subject before with the release of the iPad and integration of Airplay between Apple devices back in 2010 - we're moving into a world where you'll have many types of monitors that will automatically sync with your phone. One could be Google Glass. One could be the monitor on your desk. Another could be an iPad or tablet device. Others could be the windows on your car. Or how about Billboards on the side of the road? Or what about syncing with your brain waves and sending you signals with no monitor at all? Believe it or not, we're almost there. Your phone will be your personal "server" and everything around you will automatically become aware of the presence of your phone.



To do this, Google needs to start improving the Android experience to do this - I expect they're headed that direction. Apple does too. In the meantime, start practicing getting the word "server" out of your vocabulary - you are the server now.



The future is here.

Glass Explorer Shares 3D Printable Adapter for Your Prescription Glasses

I've got to admit - I love my Google Glass. A little awkward and geeky looking, yes, but for a geek like me that's part of the appeal. There's one thing I don't like about them though, and that's that I can't wear them with my glasses, and I hate wearing contacts. It appears one Google Glass Explorer has fixed that though, and being the geek that you are, you can fix the problem as well, using a torx screw driver and a 3D printer (of course you probably have one of those as well - it's cheaper than your Google Glass after all).



Thingiverse (the Makerbot community for sharing 3D plans you can download and print yourself) user "DDRBoxman" (Colin Edwards - Follow him on Google+ here) uploaded plans and pictures of a 3D attachment you can attach to your prescription glasses and have the Glass prism and computer there with you, no contact lenses required. The hack requires a simple torx screw driver to remove the main computer and prism from the metal that straps around your head from Google Glass, and then you attach it to the plastic clip, which attaches to your glasses.



There's no doubt with the simplicity of this hack that we'll see similar options from Google in the future. But this goes to show you the possibilities that are available when you can print bits to atoms and build whatever you want. I guarantee there will be a secondary market for accessories and attachments like this for Google Glass in the future. I bet Glasses manufacturers get in on the act as well at some point.



The big question now becomes when can I just print my own Google Glass altogether?



If you have a 3D printer, go ahead and print your own prescription Glass "Glass" attachment over on Thingiverse! (Note, Thingiverse seems to be down as I write this - you can find another post in the Glass Community, but you'll have to wait for Thingiverse to come up to download)

Want Facial Recognition With Google Glass? Use Google+

In case you haven't been reading Facebook or Google+ lately, I got my Google Glass Explorer Edition this past week. You can expect me to share much more of my experiences here as I learn about it. One of the most frequently asked feature requests I see surrounding Google Glass is that it would be awesome if it had some sort of facial recognition included. We're seeing apps like MedRef that make facial recognition (sort of) available for medical professionals, but the question still remains, will we get to have it built in? Well the answer is it's actually already there - if you turn it on in Google+.



In your Google+ account settings there's an option to notify you if someone "Shares a photo or video with me that I might be in." Enable that and even set it to send you an SMS when it happens. When someone takes a picture of you via Google Glass and shares it to Google+, it should notify you. Approve that, and now they know who you are.



Of course, it's a bit of a hack, and the person you're taking a picture of must be using Google+ and have this enabled to work, but it is a way to know who you are taking pictures of. So if you get Google Glass (when it's available to the masses), and you're taking pictures of people via the device, be sure to share it to Google+. Maybe if you're lucky they'll get notified that their picture was taken, approve it, and now you'll have a tagged picture with their name on it.



It's definitely not ideal, but this at least does suggest that it wouldn't be very difficult to make facial recognition a more integrated part of Google Glass. Let's hope by the time most of you use it you'll get this functionality by default. In the meantime make sure you've got a Google+ account!

Vlog #1 - JJ Talks About Holding the Cat

While I have certainly shared many videos about my life and my family, I don't think I've ever called it a "vlog". Let's make this post the first - I officially call this "Vlog #1". In today's Vlog JJ talks about holding our cat #hashtag, and yes, we spell it that way! Enjoy, and please subscribe to our STAYTube channel!:

We've come a long way - Disqus is Now as big as Youtube

It seems like just yesterday that Robert Scoble invited me to go with him to visit Disqus Headquarters with their founders Daniel Ha and Jason Yan out at their new offices in San Francisco. They had recently launched their new commenting platform for blogs the year before, and wanted some exposure from the Scobleizer himself (see the interview in 2008 here and here, where I'm in the background - filmed on Qik - remember that?). Just today, Disqus announced 1 billion monthly unique visitors -- yes, that's as big as Youtube!



While other bloggers are calling for the death of RSS, this puts a big dagger right in the heart in any of those claims, with Disqus seemingly at the heart of most blogs these days (and powering the comments on this blog as well). While there are certainly religious wars between the Wordpresses and Bloggers and Tumblrs out there, Disqus has managed to remain an unbiased layer that crosses all of these properties. I think if this statistic is real (and knowing Daniel and Jason I believe them), blogging certainly isn't dead!



If Facebook is the largest social network in the world with 1 billion+ active users (is that the same as monthly uniques?), and Youtube is the second, I'm pretty sure Disqus can claim to be the 3rd (or are they the 2nd, beating Youtube?). The cool thing about Disqus is they're a social network of blogs and blog readers. In many ways they've become a glue that binds together blogs across the web with actual people and conversations between those people.



Disqus certainly has competitors such as Janrain and Gigya at least in terms of the commenting space, but I don't see these claims coming out of those camps. If there's a winner in the blog-commenting category Disqus is it. Congratulations to my friends Daniel and Jason in this amazing accomplishment! I'm really surprised more of the big tech blogs aren't covering this.



Let's celebrate this by clicking through the link where you're reading this and commenting via Disqus below!:

On My Own Again - I'm Back in the Saddle

When I started working for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with the first role with the title "social" in it (see my sum-up here), I came in with a desire to serve, but only planning to be there for 6 months. I had been on my own for several years at that point and really enjoyed my independence. I had no idea I'd end up there for 3 years, but thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent there and was able to help organize and shape the organization of social media within the Church. I learned of the Spirit there that guides the Church and its employees, and the wonderful things the organization works to accomplish. After that I moved on to Deseret Digital Media, a for-profit, top-25 digital news organization owned by the Church to manage social media.



While at Deseret Digital Media a short but very productive 6 months, we were able to double our social referrals in the short time I was there through means of a combination of integrating social more into our websites and building perhaps one of the largest social presences in the world with over 20 million fans worldwide and over 200 social media properties on a very limited budget. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and hope to continue advising them in their progress.



It's with excitement that after working for 3 and a half years for the Church and Church-owned entities I'm now moving on again, this time on my own full time to pursue building my own brand and publishing, speaking and some consulting efforts. Yes, I'm back in the saddle again and stronger than ever! I have no regrets and appreciate the experience the last 3 and a half years have given me.



What will I be focusing on now? My primary focus to start will be speeding up the number of courses I've been producing on Social Media for the the developer-focused curriculum company, Pluralsight. They're a great organization to work with, and it allows me to keep up my software-development chops. Make sure you subscribe now and check out my courses with them! I'll probably use this to get down and code a few things - maybe something cool for my new Google Glass (just ordered yesterday!)?



With that as my focus, I'm sure I'll have lots of spare time. Here are the things I'd love to work on:




Speaking! I'm hoping to bump up my number of speaking engagements and turning that much more into a business. Contact me if you're looking to hire a good speaker with real-world experience and true understanding of both the technical and marketing side of social media.
My next book. I have secured a wonderful agent with Waterside Literary Agents to represent what I hope will be a best-selling book on the paradigm change caused by social media and the things I've learned leading social media for major organizations as well as understanding the software behind them. Stay tuned for that (and any interested publishers please contact me!)
Youtube. I have 3 channels I'm focusing on currently, but will likely help out a few locals here in Utah on some more. My first is more of a vlog format chronicling my entertaining family of 8 - go subscribe to STAYTube here! Second, I'll be focusing on my more techy-focused Youtube channel at TheSocialGeek - don't forget to subscribe if you like tech! Lastly, I really want to chronicle what I'm learning in Gardening on my GeekGreens Youtube channel. Make sure to subscribe if you're looking for geeky ways to learn gardening.
Blogging! I miss updating this blog regularly! I used to update almost daily - I hope to do it again. Stay tuned for more updates here, and maybe every so often I can scoop MG Siegler on a Techmeme headline or two ;-) I'd also love to do more reviews here and through my Youtube channel - if you're a tech company looking to reach tens of thousands of people send me your stuff to review. I'd love to share my thoughts and opinions with my audience.
Consulting. I'm going to be picky in my consulting due to the time it takes - this will not be my primary income source so I want to help companies that really need me. However, I'd still love to give it a try - reach out if you need some help and maybe we can figure something out.


I'm so excited to have a little more time to focus again on what I love most - building, writing, and producing really cool stuff that can change the world! I'm excited to get back to writing and coding. I'm excited to share my real-world experience with more people. I'm excited to focus again on building this audience.




So if you get a chance, stick around and say hi. Let me know how we can work together. Come join my various communities and be a part of something big. You're all part of the Staymates/Social Geek community (join us on Facebook!) so let's make the most out of this!

The Death of Google Reader: Did Email Kill the RSS Star?

Alas, the day has come. We knew it was coming and we were all just digging in our heels waiting for the day. I admit I'm not as mad as before, as the dust has settled off since they killed sharing and replaced it with a very limited Google+ sharing feature (on top of the "send to" feature that was there before). At the same time we see other "social networks" of Google's (Youtube) hitting over a billion active users. Compared to that, Google Reader was minuscule.



With all that though, there's no doubt to those of us, the most devoted and perhaps heaviest users of Google Reader (I saw some stats that I promised not to share that suggested before Google Reader killed sharing I had some of the highest numbers of shares on the site), will miss the service. Like, a lot. So much that you see all of us bloggers that depended on its superior interface (which works best in Ninja Mode, btw) screaming from the house tops like little children. Many are even screaming that the death of Google Reader is the death of RSS and the beginning (or end?) of the death of "open". Truthfully, there is nothing else out there like it and most of us don't know what we're going to do.



With all that I can't help but wonder if the paradigm has just shifted. Users have spoken. While RSS is great for B2B applications of sharing information and likely won't go away, from a consumer perspective I think email has won this battle. If your site, which previously had a "subscribe via RSS" button on it doesn't also have a "subscribe by email" button, it probably should. It is evident to me that while many are searching for a new RSS reader that the answer for many trying to guarantee delivery of content will actually be email. In many ways Google Reader is forcing many of us to simplify.



The advantage RSS gave us is that for every site that implemented it it gave more than just a way for Google Reader users to subscribe and get updates one-by-one with their "j" and "k" buttons on their keyboards. It gave every user on the web a way to consumer information any way they wanted. And for that, I'm sad. Google Reader was the last straw, supported by a great brand that made it official.



As much as I hate it, I'm afraid we're headed towards the death of open ways to consume information. Every website is being forced to create their own APIs for accessing information, and there is now no good reason to use a common standard as simple as RSS to allow consumers to consume information on your site.



There will be a day when we all look back and remember "the roaring 90s/00s" where anyone could consume any data they wanted on the web. The problem is businesses found easier ways to make money and RSS never found a way to fight back.



I hope I'm wrong. I hope RSS makes a come-back. If not, I hope some other standard comes available that makes the web a more open and connected place again. I hope big businesses like Google and Facebook and Microsoft will fight for that and provide solutions to make these things more widely available. Thus far they have let me down though.



With the death of Google Reader, a little piece of me dies. But with it, another open standard, email, replaces its stead. My hope is that even while RSS is not as important as it used to be, we continue to see businesses and organizations and websites and mobile apps provide means to allow consumers to consume information, at a minimum, through the open standard of email.



Until then, I'm going down with the ship. I'm not giving up, and we'll find a solution that fixes this big mess we're in right now.

"The Chappys": How a Utah Construction Manager Built His Own Trending Awards Show on Twitter

I've talked before about how growing a Twitter audience is simple. It turns out it's even more simple than I thought - The Deseret News (owned by the company I work for) wrote today about a local Utah construction manager who created his own Twitter awards show called "The Chappy Awards". In his "virtual award show" Dustin Chapman awarded various celebrities and media "Chappy Awards" on Twitter, and before he knew it, #2013Chappys was a trending term on Twitter and hundreds were all getting in on the fun.



Chapman, who created the awards show to (according to the Deseret News) "encourage the media. When something happens, I'm on Twitter following reaction. I'm more likely to turn to news stations and media sources that post things regularly on Twitter than not."



And encourage the media he did. Awarding several local news celebrities a Chappy Award, he got numerous positive reactions from the award out of excitement (hey - who doesn't like to win something?). They posted to their Twitter feeds their excitement for the award, and their some times much larger audiences would then learn about the Chappy Award and Chapman's account @itschappy in the process. His Twitter account grew significantly throughout the day.



So if you're looking for more followers on Twitter, start your own awards show. Create a hashtag, pick some well-known people, and boom-instant followers as they thank you for your kind gesture.



Some day I too will win a Chappy...



Check out the Deseret News article by Landon Hemsley here!