Inspiration

A New Chapter

MINDSHIFT

I quit my job this week.

I’ve been working at Vital Source Technologies for the majority of my working life…13 out of 20 years. This is a testament to what kind of place it is, that I spent so much time there. I was there from the beginning, from the time when there were 0 users, up to today, when there are millions.

But the time has come to move on.

Over the past decade, I’ve been actively cultivating the developer scene in Austin, particularly through Austin on Rails and Cafe Bedouins. Four years ago, my interest in entrepreneurship led me to establish Austin Open Coffee Club (we meet bi-monthly in Houndstooth Frost) and to become a mentor for Longhorn Startup, a program which encourages student entrepreneurs. When Techstars came to Austin, I was very excited to join them as a mentor, as I believe you should give before you get, and I live my life that way. I helped launch FounderDating (an online network for co-founders) in the Austin area, by serving as Managing Director from 2012-2014.

At the beginning of 2015, I posted this video on my blog. It captured perfectly what I needed to hear at a time when I was considering taking the plunge. The only way out is through.

So what’s next? I’ll be doing software development contracting, joining my friend Brian Dainton working on a special project at Spredfast, and will be spending more time on personal projects. I have a new side project called InvestorSheets which has been gaining some traction lately. Please sign up here if you need to find investors or advisors for your startup. The tool builds target lists of investors in startup hub cities. I love it when technology can save time and help people connect.  Human connection is what I’m most interested in and as I look to create more value in the world, the emphasis will be on that.

I will continue advising startups such as MakerSquare, Beek, and HapBack.

Thanks so much to the long list of people who met with me over the past several months (you know who you are). Your support and advice was very helpful.

Here’s to a creative future!

There is Greatness in You

 

This video is just incredible.

MINDSHIFT – NEW YEARS 2015 MOTIVATIONAL VIDEO
(Featuring Les Brown, T.D. Jakes, and Tony Robbins)
by PING PONG STUDIO

There is nothing as powerful as a changed mind…

You can change your hair…your clothing…your address

your spouse…your residence…

but if you don’t change your mind…

the same experience will perpetuate itself over and over again…

because everything outwardly changed, but nothing inwardly changed.

If you want something out of life

if you want to change yourself

if you want to acquire something

if there’s some goal that you want to reach

changing your behaviors…overcoming negative habits…

it’s challenging. it’s hard.

most people go through life never discovering what their talents are

most people never develop their talents

The only thing that’s going to make you happy my friend

in this year, or any other…

is to step up

it’s to raise the standard

it’s to discover what you’re capable of

and feel that incredible power of pushing through whatever is holding you back

and get to the other side of more of your true self

that’s what this game’s all about

When you step into your fears and continue to push yourself to go on

something happens for you

if you look at somebody who’s really successful,

and you think, wow…I mean they’re so amazing, they’re such a genius

you gotta dig underneath, and you gotta remember something

people are rewarded in public for what they’ve practiced for years in private

If you don’t develop the courage, to do that which has been given you to do

and you spend a lot of time going around trying to convince other people, and trying to get their approval

what will happen is…that you will lose your nerve

and other people will convince you that what you are doing doesn’t have any value, and you’ll give up on your dream

how much time do you have left?

how much time do you have left?

when you start thinking about that, we don’t know!

most of us don’t use the stuff that we have brought into the Universe

stop wasting valuable time

if you want something, you have got to be RELENTLESS

you’ve got to learn how to become resourceful

you’ve got to learn how to become creative

the power to hold on in spite of everything, the power to endure

this is the WINNER’s quality

the hunger, the ability to face defeat again and again, without giving up!

this is a WINNER’s quality

what this POWER is, I cannot say

All i know is that it exists…and it becomes available only when a man or woman is in that STATE OF MIND in which he or she knows exactly what he or she wants

and is fully DETERMINED not to quit(!) until they find it…

There’s GREATNESS in YOU!

and you’ve got to learn how to tune out the critics outside and the CRITIC INSIDE

I’m gonna harness my WILL

And I’m not gonna let ANYTHING stop me

I deserve this…

Most people give up on themselves easily

You know the HUMAN SPIRIT is POWERFUL?

There’s nothing this powerful…it’s hard to kill the human spirit

You are UNSTOPPABLE!

Live your life with PASSION…with some DRIVE!

Most of us go through life with our BRAKES ON, holding back

Decide that you’re going to push yourself

You’ve got to focus on YOU

and as you convince YOU…as you sell yourself

EVERY DAY, EVERY DAY, EVERY DAY

You will begin to see a difference in the things that you’re doing

Selling yourself on your ability to perform a job, to achieve a certain objective

Telling yourself every day…”Here I go again”

And I’ve got what it takes.

This is MY DAY and NOTHING out here is going to stop me.