“He Wants Everyone On Facebook to Pay Him a Dollar.”
I quit my corporate job a couple of weeks ago in order to pursue my dream of launching a startup. The night I decided that I needed to quit in order to pursue my dream, I had a conversation with my dad.
He tried to talk me out of it. He is risk-averse. He thought that I should be safe. I shouldn’t risk my stability.
My Communication Problems
I have been a software engineer for almost a decade now. Over this time, I have developed a certain style of communication. Whenever we communicate with a certain group of people for a considerable time…
It is the Ultimate Boss Move
We have spent a long time in fear. Much too long. It is time to release our fear.
Punishment is Inefficient
We punish people for their mistakes. We are afraid of them repeating their mistakes. Punishment is not an efficient teacher though. It works, but other things work better. We know this because of science.
His Actions Were Not His Alone
Trump did what he did to make money. This makes sense. We have programmed people for decades to believe that money and success were equal. They are not, and truly happy people know this.
He is simply a symptom of a broken economy. He thought he could fix…
Redesigning the Internet to be Human-Centric
I have examined the internet and tried to understand how it can be so powerful and yet so dangerous. I believe I figured out the answer. The problem is that the internet was designed without humans at the center. It was designed to make money, and that it does very well.
The Goals
The goal of the human API is to give control to the human in the human-technology relationship. At some point, the control shifted to the technology, and we were driven by the algorithms designed to drive profits. …
The Importance of Setting Ridiculous Goals
I love setting goals that are absolutely insane. If you have followed me for any time at all, you have probably seen at least one of them.
Old Goals
I have a very specific reason for doing so. For a long time, I was chasing the standard goals that most people have.
- Goal: Get the promotion at work
- Goal: Lose 50lbs
- Goal: Buy my first house
- Pursue a PhD
Do you know how successful I was at those goals? I wasn’t. Ok, I did get a promotion, finally. But not quite the one I wanted.
Then, I decided to shoot a little…
And I Think I Figured Out a Plan
I have a theory that I am trying to prove right now. I had the realization that money is infinite now and I am living a severely limited lifestyle compared to what I would like. I make a solid six figures a year but I live in a crappy rental house and have for a decade. I keep waiting for my break while I climb the corporate ladder.
I have been working hard for almost a decade and teaching myself to build computer software. I always figured that would be my end state. …
Why I Think You Should Stop Worrying About It
As I started writing, I was amazed by something. If I wanted to get my work seen, I had to make the computers like me.
I had to get the Medium algorithm to curate my stories. This is the best way for me to grow my audience.
The other thing I kept seeing getting recommended: Search Engine Optimization.
Let’s talk a bit about search engine optimization. This is one of the first topics I tackled as I was ending school and preparing to enter the workforce.
At the time, I was what I described as an “IT Specialist” for an…
I’ve been studying the monetization of blogging — this is what I learned
If you’re here, I am going to assume you want to learn about making money through your writing. I was in the same boat a few months ago. I started writing on Medium as a way to supplement my income. I had one article go viral and make about $100 over 2 months. I felt like I was well on my way to making thousands of dollars a month, no problem.
And then the viral article stopped making money. Because I took it down. Or rather, replaced the text of the article with a link to two articles explaining how…
If You are Prepared For It, You Can Overcome It
A few months ago, I was finally figuring life out. I was officially diagnosed with ADHD and I was finally understanding how to live with it. I wrote about how everything was starting to make sense for me.
And then two months later, I quit my job to launch a startup. All of my research and planning came to a head and I knew it was time. In true ADHD fashion, I made the decision to leave my job quite suddenly and ended up quitting with no notice. …
Understand What You Are Building and Who You Are Building It For
Four months into my startup journey, I have screwed up enough things that I think I could write a book on it. But one thing stands out to me. I didn’t understand the concept of MVP as well as I thought I did and that resulted in a lot of lost time during which I could have been selling.
Who Are You Building For?
Monetize the Why
How do you fund projects that aren’t designed to be monetized?
Several months ago, I started working with a group called Can’t Stop Columbus. They formed in response to the pandemic and are a group of volunteers building things to help people locally with technology. Through this group, I discovered a project that called themselves Remote Hugs. They invited me to a meeting and asked for my thoughts regarding their current status.
They had developed an app called Hugs. Their initial goal was to help those working in homeless youth shelters find a way to reconnect with the kids they worked with. The people they tested with loved it. …
Leo Guinan
Polymath Timelord Economist. Solving time by solving money. Building the future now. He/Him. Views are my own.
