I ran across the 100 Thing Challenge not too long ago and since then the idea has intrigued me.  My father had a colleague that strived to never own more stuff than he could fit into the back of his Honda CRX, which I guess is a personal variant on the idea of whittling your possessions down to a nice, round 100.  But are such goals merely artificial ways to achieve happiness through less attachment to physical things?  What about just a general goal of decluttering your life?

Regular Wasabi Ventures blog contributor Barbara Hemphill has written a couple good posts for us about the importance of simplifying ones workplace.  It’s amazing how good organization and self-management can help you get richer.  But where do you go from there?  What’s the point of being rich, besides providing for your loved ones and buying more toys?  Why did we get into this game?

J.D. Roth, the patient-yet-effective blogger behind Get Rich Slowly, asks these exact questions in an excellent article about the third stage of personal finance.  His answer, in a nutshell?  We all seek to get rich so that we can have the kind of life we want — not so we can have the kind of stuff we want.  Stuff may factor into that (I certainly wouldn’t mind having a garage full of well-polished cars and fancy motorcycles) but we need to remember that stuff can become a source of stress just as easily as a source of satisfaction.

The entrepreneurial game — and it is a game — has the potential to be far more satisfying than working your standard nine-to-five.  We get to be our own bosses; call the shots in our work lives as well as our personal lives.  That’s a big deal.  But it comes at the price of constant competition and frequent stress.  We need to know that we’re working towards something that really matters to us or else we’ll find ourselves wondering what the point of it all was when our own, personal sun begins to set.

Bill Gates and Warren Buffet recently announced that 38 other wealthy individuals (of which 30 are billionaires) have signed the Giving Pledge to give away half their fortunes.  Most of us will never be billionaires, but that doesn’t mean our gifts would be insignificant.  A lot of good can be done in this world with far less than a billion dollars.

My personal interest in the power of a few committed individuals started when I read Mountains Beyond Mountains, a book that chronicles the efforts of Dr. Paul Farmer and his quest to bring modern medical care to the impoverished nation of Haiti.  His incredible work (which has since spread to other poor countries such as Russia, Rwanda, Lesotho, Malawi, and Peru), was funded largely by one man — a wealthy business owner looking to do something worthwhile with his fortune.

If that isn’t a reason to play the entrepreneurial game then I don’t know what is.  Follow your bliss, start your own business, create some jobs, live like you want to along the way, and then find something truly meaningful to do with the proceeds when you’re finished.  Something great from something small.  Inspiring.

I recently passed a personal milestone: my first real vacation since I began working “from home.”  Sure, there was the occasional weekend getaway that predated this past week, but I had never been away for more than a few days at a time, or without an internet connection for this long.

Unfortunately, I was not technically on vacation.  I was away from home, but I was still responsible for my normal workload for both my jobs, which turned my trip, at moments, into a bit of a balancing act.  I say with some pride that I managed rather well, although I did learn a few things that I will share to help you stay in the loop on your next vacation without ruining it for yourself.

Tools of the Trade

• This stuff is easy.  At a bare minimum you need a cell phone capable of accessing the internet and answering emails.  Luckily, nearly everyone who is self-employed already has that.  I also recommend a getting a tiny computer like my Acer Aspire One. Optimally, you can outfit this with a 3G internet card or tether it to your cell, but there are generally plenty of wi-fi signals to poach if you look.
• If you’re going to be away from civilization for very long you’ll need to invest in some travel chargers or some bigger batteries.  I have a 9-cell battery for my computer that gives it approximately 9 hours of life between charges, something I highly recommend.  I also carry chargers for my phone and my computer with me whenever I travel.

Timing is Everything

• Get used to turning things off for a few hours to preserve battery life and then turning them back on only when you will have time to pay attention to the emails or messages that have accumulated.  This will make sure you have some juice left to take care of business, but also that you won’t constantly be thinking about work when you’re supposed to be taking time to yourself and your family/friends.
• Try to work during down time.  I was traveling with a group of people, so I didn’t want to hold everyone up while I did my work.  Instead, I would try to wake up a bit earlier than everyone else so I could knock some stuff out before things got going.  I also would take advantage of the times when everyone was taking a break between activities to catch up a little bit.  It may mean a little less time to you, but it will reduce the inevitable crunch when you come back.

Location, Location, Location

• When you get right down to it, you can do a surprising amount of work far away from your desk.  I’ve conducted phone interviews in my car in a Wal-Mart parking lot with my laptop perched on my knees between my stomach and the steering wheel; I’ve written articles on the ground in a tent at a biker campground.  Learn to work whenever is convenient, wherever is convenient, and you will find that you need to interrupt your vacation very little to keep up.
• If you need access to the internet for part of your work then things might get tricky.  My recommendation is to decide in advance when you will need it and for how long.  This way you can plan on being somewhere with a wi-fi connection when the time is right, and you won’t driving around looking for a Dunkin Donuts at the last minute trying to submit your work on time.  Do as much in advance as possible so that when you finally get a chance to log on it won’t take any longer than it has to.

Those are the highlights of what I learned on this past trip.  I’m sure much of it may seem like common sense, but you’d be amazed how quickly some of this stuff goes out the window when you’re on the road.  My final piece of advice is this: if at all possible, prepare in advance to take a real vacation and truly let yourself unplug.  I find it’s much better for one’s sanity.

After more than 30 years as an entrepreneur, I have had the opportunity to watch the careers of many other entrepreneurs come and go. It’s not an easy feat; there have been several times in my career when mine nearly died — or killed me!  Today, I’m happier personally and professionally than I’ve ever been, so I’ve been thinking about what it is that separates those that are successful over the long term from those that are not.

I’ve concluded that long-term entrepreneurial success requires being able to answer “Yes” to three key questions:

1)  Are you passionate about your target market?

Identifying a target market with whom you LOVE to spend your time is critical. For me, at this point in time, it is individuals and organizations that want to create a “productive environment”™ so they can accomplish their work and enjoy their lives.

I’m particularly interested in those who want to move toward Almost Paperless™ — ESPECIALLY those that are physically moving and can save thousands of dollars by getting rid of clutter rather than moving it!  I’ve always had a passion for helping people be more productive and get rid of clutter. I simply can’t help it, so whether I’m in a social setting or a business setting, I’m having fun and finding clients. It doesn’t get any better!

2)  Are you willing to be in the business of “marketing?”

Regardless of the products and/or services your business offers, you must accept that you are in the business of marketing FIRST and then in your respective business. No matter how good your product or service is, if people don’t know about it, you can’t be a successful business.  I’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on marketing experts in the past, but it wasn’t until I owned the marketing that I was successful.  That doesn’t mean you have to do it physically — you just have to own the message and the process.

3)  Do you totally believe in yourself and the value of the services you offer?

If you don’t, how can you expect anyone else to?  Often I’ve heard entrepreneurs talk about a prospect who “can’t afford what I have to offer.”  The reality is that people buy what they believe has value to them. Just look at the satellite dishes in the low-income housing areas.  There were times in my career I went without buying food and clothes I normally would purchase because I preferred to invest in my business.

Through the years I have known people who were in a business simply to make money — and they were highly successful from a financial standpoint, but there’s far more to life than money, as anyone who has made money but lost their family can tell you.

Questions and Answers:

Q: Have you ever started a business from scratch before?
A: No, this is the first go-around.

Q: What was the motivation for you to start WMG?
A: I had worked as an elementary teacher for about a decade — not consecutively, but cumulatively. I just didn’t feel as inspired anymore, and I didn’t want to become the teacher that just “goes because she has to.” In my spare time I had started a blog called “Tasty Thoughts” that had recipes and restaurant reviews because that was something I was interested in.

When I realized that I needed a change of career I started thinking about that, and all the different avenues available like it. I knew there were many sites out there on just about every topic but many just weren’t good quality. So I started with the food website and then started adding others by topic, some randomly, some that were of interest to me, and some that just seemed like they need to be covered due to popularity, like a medical site.

Things started off simply — just me doing pretty much all the work. I had two high-school students helping with some of the writing and access to a team of programmers and designers in Ukraine that took care of all the programming. As the number of sites grew I needed to hire contracted writers to help.

Since then my role has changed — in the beginning I was more focused on writing and editing but now I have taken on the role of CEO, who manages the general direction of the company and the sites.

Q: What is the largest challenge you have had as you started a new business?
A: I’ve found that managing a team of adult workers isn’t much different than managing a classroom of children. I don’t mean that in a derogatory fashion — just that you find yourself facing many of the same problems, such as dealing with excuses for why work is late or dealing with people who don’t follow directions.

The hiring part is difficult because, especially in the beginning, you don’t have much to offer, salary-wise.

Finally, it’s hard to find people who want to buy advertising. People who are willing to pay a startup often have products you may not want displayed on your site, and those that have good products often won’t look at you until you’ve really gotten off the ground.

Q: What is the largest lifestyle change have you had to do undergo as you moved to being an entrepreneur?
A: The biggest change is working out of a home office. I have been able to stick to a work schedule fine — the problem is more the other people around me. People assume that you’re not really working because you’re at home, like you’re just locked in your office eating bon-bons. So trying to tune out the rest of the world while you’re working is still, after about a year and a half, a bit of a challenge.

Q: Do you ever see yourself going back to teaching or the corporate world?
A: While I won’t let my certificate lapse (because you never know), I don’t see myself going back to teaching. I just couldn’t see myself teaching again.

There are moments I’ve contemplated going to work for a company when I think about how I’ve been at this for a year and a half and it’s still at the stage where it’s “almost profitable.” Getting a normal job would at least provide regular hours and a set salary. But the disadvantages outweigh the advantages of a normal job. WMG is an all-consuming project, but I thoroughly enjoy what I am doing.

Q: When will you consider yourself a success as a start-up?
A: I think I’m halfway there now. The growth that I’ve seen in WMG is exciting. For me, success is like an algebraic equation. It is the combination of excellent content, respectable online presence, and high quality sales. When all three are working harmoniously, I will feel that I am a success.

• Practicing a new sports skill
• Learning how to write in cursive
• Making homemade bread
• Getting hired for an ideal job

Of course, this list consists of only a few situations in which persistence is important.  There are many areas of life that require us to try again and again. . .and again.

Learn more about the importance of persistence in marketing by reading this post in the entrepreneurial archives.

One of our partners wrote about choosing the correct term in order to build a successful company/product.  Click here to read this post from our Entrepreneurial Archives.

I was rereading a book TR wrote about his adventures in Africa, and I was struck by a line he wrote, “The darker the night the bolder the lion.” This seemed to be an amazingly fitting line for our current economic climate.   We are in the midst of one of the worst economic climates in any of our lifetimes.  And many are predicting that it only will get worse.  My sense is that it is time to be bold.  Strategies in this climate need to be grand, yet economical at the same time (the definition of bold in its purest business form).   They require decisive action and doing things more quickly and nimbly than others in the marketplace can.

So, as you gear up to attack 2009, ask yourself, “What kind of lion am I?”  Are you one that will roar out of a terrible economy and command a market segment, or are you a follower left to get scraps, barely able to survive?  The answer is completely up to you.

One of our partners shared some of his wisdom and life knowledge in this post from the Entrepreneurial Archives.

Learn more about our partner’s “McNugget Principle” by clicking here.

-Erskine Bowles

One of our partners wrote an article about what is needed to be a leader, which as noted above, is a very important part of any successful business.  Click here to read this classic from the Entrepreneurial Archives.