Month: December 2007

The Power of an Idea

My friends all know that I’ve celebrated Chanimas since I was an infant. It’s kind of funny since I am 100% Jewish, however, I don’t know of any other way. My mom always thought it would be fun for my sister and I to celebrate Chanimas because she believes it’s the most magical holiday of all.

And so do I.

I was pretty fortunate growing up because I had the best of both worlds. I’d get 8 little presents for each night of Channukah and then all of my big presents on Christmas (or Chanimas) morning.

As I got a little older the small presents got smaller and smaller until finally I told my mom that she didn’t need to wrap things like deodorant and q-tips for us anymore. So, all of the gift giving was to be done on Chanimas morning.

Chanimas taught me the joy of giving at a very early age. To say that my family and I go crazy for the holidays is a huge understatement.

It also unintentionally taught me the power of an idea. I really believed in Santa for a long time and everything that came along with it.

Every year, my mom would read us The Night Before Christmas and my sister would sleep in my room. We’d also leave cookies out for Santa and some milk. Some how, they were always half eaten with a note left behind.

I was never able to fall asleep on Christmas Eve either. I would just lay in bed all night wide awake looking out the window so anxious for it to be morning already. And by morning, I mean 5:15 A.M. – 45 minutes later than my mom usually woke up for work. 5:15 was the cut off time because it allowed her to sleep an extra 45 minutes.

But the power of the idea of Santa always got to me and my sister. There were numerous times I could have sworn I saw Santa flying by my room. And my sister too! The excitement that would ensue was insane.

There were also times I could have sworn I heard Santa walking on the roof. So much so that my sister and I pretended we were sleeping in case he came into my room. I remember vividly laying in my bed holding my eyes shut and pretending I was sleeping.

That’s the power of an idea at work. And it’ll be at work for millions of kids tonight as well.

Now that I’m older things are a bit different, but pretty soon (I’m hoping!) we’ll be passing on the tradition of Chanimas to my niece or nephew and one day my little guys and one day my little, little guys all because of an idea my mom had.

Happy Holidays to all…and to all a good night!

It’s Not 2008 Yet but…(Radio Show & I’m a Millenial Leader!!!)

I’m extremely excited, thrilled, grateful and humbled to be a 2008 Millennial Leader!!! There are some absolutely amazing people who made the 2007 list and I’m very proud and honored to be (first!) on the 2008 list. You can check out it here!

Also, on Wednesday, January 2nd, I will be doing an internet radio show at 6:30 P.M. I’ll be talking about how to stay fit for life.

I encourage you to call up and ask me some questions on anything health and fitness! You can find out the details here!

2007 was by far the most exciting and productive year of my life. I hope 2008 is even better.

So far so good…

Do you have love for New York?!?!?!?!?!

There’s nothing better than winding down a long day with a little reality TV once in a while. I have become a big fan of the show, I love New York, on VH1. I started watching it in the middle of the first season when she was competing for a piece of Flavor Flav’s heart.

I think ‘New York’ is brilliant. Well, maybe not brilliant, but she knows what she is doing. You’d like to think reality TV is real but unfortunately, sometimes, I just don’t think so.

The idea of any TV show, albeit reality or not, is to sell as many commercials as possible for the most amount of money. The more eyeballs watching a particular show, the more the network can charge.

New York is bringing in those eyeballs alright! And I’m sure she is getting paid well for it. The best thing that’s ever happened to her was Flavor Flav not choosing her.

But was that real? Did the producers see a rising star and dollar signs in this young talent and advise Flav to choose the other girl? Of course, they choose the contestants but they never know what they are going to get. In their case, they got very lucky!

It makes you wonder though. Would it really benefit New York to find love? The man she chose in the first season of I Love New York, Tango, happens to be a rapper. Was that all planned?

Did VH1 see a cash cow on their hands and decide to milk it for all it’s worth? Unfortunately, I think so. However, New York is truly a convincing actress.

Whatever it is and whatever is supposed to happen, I think it’s ridiculously entertaining. There’s nothing better than when her cigarette ashes get like 2 inches long. It’s hilarious.

My money is on Buddha for this season but like any played out movie, there’s always a third so who knows?

The other thing I do respect about Tiffany besides her ability to market herself is that she really doesn’t give a flying f*ck about what people think.

As the ‘Entertainer’ says, I LOVEEEEEE New York!

Mayweather/Hatton 24/7…This is good marketing!

I’ve been watching Mayweather/Hatton 24/7 show on HBO and I must say it’s absolutely sick! I haven’t been this excited about a boxing fight since Mike Tyson.

And it’s all because of this show. Floyd Mayweather is so easy to hate and so easy to root against. He is easily one of the most cocky, arrogant, and flashy guys around. The guy has a diamond necklace with the words ‘Philthy Rich’ on it.

Ricky Hatton is a beer drinking, down to earth, humble Brit who has the coolest accent ever and is so easy to like.

24/7 did an incredible job in capturing their true personalities and allowing the viewer to really connect with them. It showed each of them joking around, playing with their children, hanging with family, making fun of each other, working out, training and most importantly talking about how there is no chance they will lose.

It’s amazing how a TV show made me so interested in this fight. But it’s more than just the fight. Now, I’m interested in the people behind the fight. And that’s the key.

I think if boxing wants to make a come back and avoid being knocked out by competitors, like the UFC, they are going to need to do this more often. The UFC gained mainstream popularity through their reality show by giving viewers inside access to the people behind the fighting.

I think there is a really important business lesson here. People don’t do business with businesses. They do business with people.

Mama said knock you out!

Crawl before you walk! (And before you spend a ton of money!)

One of the cool things about writing an entrepreneurial blog and a column for Millionaire Blueprints Teen is I get to meet a lot of ambitious young entrepreneurs from around the country. I get emails with business plans all of the time.

I always get things like this: “Well, I figure once I have 10,000 users we will begin to make money”. Or, “Once my site is getting a ton of traffic we’ll have to hire people just to count our money.”

This isn’t a great business to start. What if you never get to where you want to be?

Your business has to work when it’s small in order to survive to the point where it gets big!

If your product or your service is going to be nothing but trouble until it reaches your ideal user base, I think it’s better to do something else. The way to go is to create something that is unique and likely to make customers happy long before you get to your ideal user base.

Every business I have ever started worked when I had one customer and in the coming weeks I will go through each of my past businesses including Dr. PetSit, Bingcoupons.com and MyUDC.com.

But this past year has been absolutely amazing for me. I came up with a totally unique concept based on my own experience, needs, lifelong passion and by recognizing a huge problem. And I was able to create a real business out of nothing.

I learned a lot and constantly tested and improved upon my service. I wish I could say I planned for my business to be the way it is right now but I can’t. No one can do that. It evolved immensely. Within three months (and since then) I am (and have been) fully convinced I have created what can (and should) be a huge company that helps millions of people.

The most important thing is that my program works! It works right now and I don’t need 100,000 members in order for it to work. I witness it every single morning. I have helped countless people change their life and I am 1000% convinced.

Now it’s time to invest some real money into my business.

Call me old fashioned but the best way to grow a sustainable business is starting small, making some money, getting a little bigger, and repeating.

Facebook, eBay, Google, and Microsoft are all rare businesses. Their best asset is that everyone wants to use the system that everyone is using.

But banking on building a business like that is like banking on becoming a rock star.

There are countless innovations that would make our world a better place. The problem with almost all of them is that getting from here to eBay status is almost impossible. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try, but it does mean you should count on failing.

Sure, every once in a while a Facebook happens. But for every business that reaches a tipping point there are thousands that fail.

That’s one reason you don’t want your kids to grow up to be rock stars trying to make Top 10 hits. It’s a great gig if you can get it, but you can’t count on getting it.