This is where I share my ideas, inspiration & thoughts. Generally though I'm just the Creator of Rockstar Awesomeness and this tumblog is further proof of that.
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RockstarTV (in HD) is back and in this first episode I talk about my evolving role at WooThemes and how I’ve had to change the way I use to-do’s to track my progress on a daily basis, since I’ve found that there are many days that I’ve worked hard, but I don’t necessarily feel that I’ve accomplished anything. So I’ve got some advice to try counter that…
BTW… My awesome T-Shirt in the video is from the amazing To Write Love On Her Arms. Check them out!
“…you need to do what’s right for you, not what’s right for everyone.”
You guys know me: I generally do what I think is best; irrespective of what trends / others dictate. So I love this post by John in which he explains why you should do things that are right for you; not because it makes sense for other businesses.
“In many ways, though, it’s easier to hand out a bonus than to create a culture in which saying thank you is a regular occurrence. Especially during tough economic periods, it’s important to give people face time and basic human appreciation on a regular basis.”
This is an absolutely fantastic article about how business owners should value their teams. I’d like to think that this is even more important when you’re work in small teams and have to look them in the eye every day.
Money is simply a cold, impersonal and easy way of saying thanks. When you make a lot of money as a business owner, it’s even easier for you to hide behind that. Fact of the matter is, that is so much harder to give some of your personal time & attention to someone, but that is a far more noble sign of true gratitude & appreciation.
Great article by Spencer Fry on his roles & responsibilities at Carbonmade, with him being the non-designer or -programmer. I obviously find this article doubley great, since I’m within much of the same role over at WooThemes and can thus relate with what Spencer has said.
I’d also like to add though, that since taking on this role at WooThemes, my work has just continued to increase month-on-month; it’s really a case of opening Pandora’s box and as soon as you do, there are just more and more strategic or admin-related things that requires your attention. Obviously though, most startups tend not to take care of these – especially initially – but that doens’t make this any more of a valid & important task.
In fact – I’d venture as far as saying that you’re going to be hard-pushed to grow your business without paying proper attention to these things. It’s definitely not just about designing, developing or using social media.
I didn’t realize I would spend almost every waking moment either working or thinking about our startup. You enter a whole different way of life when it’s your company vs. working for someone else’s company.
Founding & running a startup is far from the moonlight and roses that everyone suggests, as is evidenced above. Yes – I get to decide my own office hours, but running your own company just makes switching off so much more difficult.
I’m literally at that stage now where I’m looking for weekend breaks in areas where I don’t have cellphone reception and my iPhone just can’t receive mail, view sales figures or check in on the WooTeam. But that’s the life I guess.
Absolutely incredible essay by Paul Graham. Definitely a must-read for anyone involved in a startup or planning to be in the future. This is such an epic essay, I actually had to print it out (on 15 pages) just so that I could read it a little easier…