Odin Liam Wright

Just another entrepreneur

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My memorial is complete. 

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A StartupBus 2015 Experience

To me, StartupBus 2015 touted as “The Most Intense Startup Competition In The World” resembled one-part distillation engine, one-part prison yard, all in a hyper-compressed dynamic event environment. Standard sleep cycles were soon replaced by an undulating stream of consciousness, where daily trivialities and second-guessing became supplanted by a singleminded, all-encompassing focus to continue, pursue, and overcome. 

THE CONDITIONS

Getting in to StartupBus, happened through a series of events: Luke Haseloff was hosting his awesome monthly networking mixer, and I met Josh Coleman Director of Enterprise Partnerships at SquareOffs and invited him to the Google : Microsoft Space to provide some lightweight consulting, and turned out Josh was a StartupBus 2014 Alumni, General Assembly Instructor, Toastmaster Judge and  - who was good friends with Jenn Shaw 2015 Conductor, who was still recruiting for the NYC team 1 day before the bus left at 4am. At that moment I experienced the “great pull” of StartupBus recruiting.

NYC’s original high tech bus “broke down” and was swapped out with a ~20 year old replacement with power enough for 1 laptop out of ~30 players, no wifi, and poor AC which posed a challenge for NYC tech startups jockeying for position against international players who in one case received Kanye West’s tour bus. Regardless of the imbalance, our coaches Jenn Shaw and Edwin Rogers stated: 

“The judges do not care... If you do not have a killer business in 3 days, you will fail... NYC won the past 2 years, and we’re not losing on our watch.” - And I think, in reality, this stoked the fire, raised the game and every competitor loved them even more for it. The seemingly insurmountable became a worthy target for the talent on-board.

Tell this to any entrepreneur (especially one from NYC), and I’m sure they’ll bring their A-Game and to be honest, I’d take that dilapidated bus any day – It was a furnace purifying the metal in all of us - and hats off to the drivers who crossed 9 states over 3 days with a bus full of hungry, sweaty entrepreneurs who’s very concepts of time, space, self-identity and ownership dissolved and melded into a seething field of new probabilities. There is no room for bloated egos in such a high frequency environment.

PLAYING THE GAME

I actually found the StartupBus environment easy – it was returning home that was hard, perhaps because I became semi-institutionalized to the high concentration of talent and demands. As an entrepreneur who focuses on product architecture and business operations for Fortune 500 Clients and Startups with my company True Interaction, I found myself boiling down all actions into micro-functions, in order to control return-on-investment, and to cover high-value terrain in the shortest, most effective way possible. For example, the StartupBus Stock Game became a template to focus team attention towards goals, and determine our position against a simple index. 

Image Source: StartupBus Stock Game - SPACES hit ~$6,000 per share, (10x over 2nd place competition, and 5 SPACES team and friends placed in the top 10 investor leaderboard) by listening to competitive movements and taking timely tactical actions to achieve milestones and acquire support - which we fought for all the way till close of the game 12am midnight. Leading in the competition further secured real-life position: “StartupbusNYC: The entire @thespacesapp team confirmed their #NYC #startupbus spots this week + crushed it! #MicDrop #virtualreality #motivationmonday” 

When our team, SPACES, began covering high-value terrain in shorter periods of time, this updated our collective situational intelligence on our product, the market, and the requirements needed to achieve the next milestones. Ultimately, this lead to greater team confidence, clarity of vision, space to think, and increased probability of business viability. Moreover, our pace, precision, and pertinence provided SPACES a story that resonated with the investors and customers who began on-boarding quickly.

And as we persevered, we arrived at a major decision point concerning how we would approach the semi-finals...

HOW WE FORMED

We began this journey knowing very little what to expect. SPACES was formed by the last of the contestants who gravitated together; seemingly the leftovers from other teams. We spent the first half-day tossing around various ideas, fracturing and reforming, until we all discovered that we agreed that winning the competition was not what was really important. Instead, we focused on what we truly value in life, and chose to build something we all could be proud of. From this foundation, conversations swirled around everything from 4th century Hesychasm, Wet-Ware, Abstract Representationalism, as well as emerging market technologies. 

Image Source Jennifer Spriggs - SPACES team somewhere in the middle of America composing core theory for validation. While we looked on Size of Problem + Size of Market; we focused on the contemporary human condition as it relates to the challenges of Time & Space. Fernando Martinez, Jen Lew, Jon Clinkenbeard and Andre Smith is the team that I journeyed with - and will do so again.

CHOOSING A PATH

The team took each other seriously. Each of us sacrificed, lead, followed, took input, and let go – all for the sake of the greater vision. And as we persevered, we arrived at a major decision point concerning how we would approach the semi-finals. PATH 1: Fight for 1st place, and broadcast more details on our market position, or PATH 2: Go media dark. With seed investment already coming in, pre-orders from customers, Intellectual Property forming, and an emerging market ahead, we decided to actually form our company and go media dark. We decided are not a “startup,” we are a business.

“Spaces team raised angel funding at StartupBus North America semi-finals and went stealth mode ever since to protect their technology and go-to-market strategy.” - Rait Arro, StartupBus Director & Founder of Aiden App

Image Source: Laura Horak -  The conditions of the game changed, and therefore the stakes changed. We ante'd up and decided to play the next game of building a real business, and in the metaphorical sense shared with us by Raymond Lewis of Wastebits, “We took the Red Pill, to see how far the Rabbit Hole Goes...”

CROWD FEEDBACK

To be honest, the unyielding reality, fear and awe of creating a company that may lead to a 4+ year journey was bigger and deeper emotionally than pitching in the Semi-Finals – and thats how we knew we made the right decision. We stood in a circle with coaches Jenn Shaw and Edwin Rogers with our heads together and all confirmed our feelings and went on stage, announced our conclusion and experienced a crowd of supportive peers exploding in shock, awe, high-fives and a few statements that sounded like: “THAT was the best bad-@s&! #BALLERS! #H!T I’ve seen!!” 

Our homies @thespacesapp w/ the ultimate mic drop - so much swagger. #startupbus2015 #virtualreality #getit #micdrop 

mik3cap: Blown away… @TheSpacesApp got up on stage, thanked @TheStartupBus, announced it has investment and DECLINED TO PITCH. #MicDrop #StartupBus

But, what makes the StartupBus community so rich is the variety of mentors who keep you in check, ask tough questions, shedding light on things you don’t see, for example Nate Cooper promptly informed us that our actions are receiving mixed thoughts, and in a loose rendition he shared: 

“You have to remember that there is a community out there of alumni, judges and influencers that may perceive your actions as immodest. Consider the world beyond this competition room.” - Nate Cooper

Valuable feedback for any entrepreneur – Don’t just take home memories of the visceral reactions and buzz, but look under the hood of what you are affecting beyond your boundaries. And if you take home just 1 lesson: “Always thank your sponsors!”

FEAR OF RELAPSE

I personally confided in Mike Caprio, stating that my greatest concern is losing the velocity I experienced on StartupBus when I return to the real-world of NYC. Prior to StartupBus, I felt like a drug addict, addicted to complacency (even though I run at NYC speed) StartupBus was rehab running at 10xNYC speed. This distilled StartupBus environment educed latent potential out of all of us. Upon return, I did not want to relapse back to being a complacency addict. Mike said, and I paraphrase: 

“StartupBus is designed to help you see your potential faster. It has nothing to do with the conditions of NYC, because you bring that new known potential with you everywhere.” - Mike Caprio

And the more I think back, and talk with other busepreneurs (after some recovery from Post Competition Stress Disorder); I am aware of a fundamental shift in my perception of what can actually be done in any period of time. 

PERSONALITY CHANGE

I experienced a personality change in various ways, such as:

Eating strange foods without flinching, such as Cow Lung.

Waking up at 4am with a clear focus on the work day ahead.

Wearing clothes out of convenience instead of just style.

Using my laptop without power cord, completing all work before 1%.

Negotiating with random people until new opportunities are found.

For example, during the night of the after-parties, the bouncers would not let us into the club because I was carrying my baggage (my returning flight was canceled twice). Normally I would have acquiesced; instead the team and I negotiated with the bouncers for 10 minutes, keeping the conversation going, until we found an opportunity: I whistled to a security guard across the street who was watching over the CMT music awards concert stage, and somehow negotiated a way for my baggage into private storage by entrusting my gold watch as collateral. Rachel the Security Guard, thank you! You came through for the SPACES team, so we could celebrate together with the others. 

Spending time with my team and other StartupBus entrepreneurs was absolutely paramount, worth losing all my equipment. 

As I reflect back, part of that personality change came from specific inflection points, for example during one conversation with Edwin Rogers about the performance of our first pitch, I stated: “ahhh. I should’ve jumped in and corrected a statement during the pitch, but I was exhausted...” WEAK!!! Right? And Edwin let me know it:

“You gotta drop that attitude. This is no place for those excuses. You take it home and do what you gotta do or get out.” - Edwin Rogers StartupBus NYC Coach

Only for a split second, did my ego jump in to defend, but I dropped the excuse quick and grew up. It does not matter who you are, or how you think you are doing in life - waking up to the limits you self-impose, will help you push through to where you need to be. And great coaches make the difference.

GRATITUDE

Once, in the throes of the netherworld between 4 and 5 am, our team had a challenge and nearly disintegrated. We were crippled with fatigue, and someone had called security on us (shout out to Zachary who tried to help out - you rock!). I called StartupBus NYC Coach Jenn Shaw, half-expecting voicemail. Instead, she got up, took the time to listen to the situation, and somehow mustered the capacity to help soothe conditions. The Commitment was greatly humbling. 

Later, while completing a few tasks, I couldn’t help but be overcome with the reality of the sacrifices made to make this all happen, and I welled up with only what I can define as “joy and gratitude.” To be honest, this is something I have never felt with such depth and honesty. You can’t experience this any other way. Everyone involved with with StartupBus made this deep human experience happen. 

For me, it wasn’t about starting a company, or competing with the vague idea of “to win”. It was about discovering a rare human experience that can only be found in the trenches of trials, and in that spirit, after the semi-finals we put our effort into another NYC team Pizzafy - to bolster the pitch, business model, social media marketing, design and operations – to help them take home the win, ultimately leading to a TripleCrown for NYC – which only added to the night of celebration for us. 

“We were absolutely in it to win it. Winning connections, winning ideas, winning collaborations, winning creativity, and it all went as planned! Three years in a row with the Northeast winning the 2015 National Championship. We had a blast. And people that know us know not to underestimate the talent, determination, work ethic – and ability to entertain and be entertained – all while kicking ass!” - StartupBusNYC 2015

This was all brought into existence from the StartupBus Founder Elias Bizannes, International Directors Cole Warley & Ricky Robinett, Coaches Jenn Shaw and Edwin Rogers and mentors Mike Caprio, Rait Arro and Nate Cooper, plus Techstars, Studio615 @3scale @ContextIO @SendGrid @twilio @techshop @github @LaunchTN and the handful of ecosystems that hosted us, as well as all the other individuals behind the scenes that love StartupBus.

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Foster Internal Qualities

The qualities of a company are directly formed by the internal stories of each individual member of that company. If personal stories are filled with doubt, fear, anxiety, insecurity, hopelessness, and helplessness, it follows that those very same states of mind will carry over into the business environment. 

The victim mentality has no place in the forests and gardens of business. If you want a company that becomes a relentless sea that dashes against and erodes the mountains of mediocrity, you need a team that forms their personal stories with an unrelenting love of truth, and an ability to break the shackles of their own limiting beliefs.

While of course it is important to build your human resources in order to use tools and techniques better, don't overlook this other part of the equation, which effects overall company temperament and tenacity: The meaning and motivation behind each individual ultimately defines how they intend to employ their expertise. 

During your next hiring interview, ask your prospective new team member what keeps them up at night, versus what gets them up in the morning. A person that stays up late filled with anxiety may feel challenged in the wake of overpowering forces and may state their fear of "falling behind," or "not realizing their dreams," whereas the individual who snaps out of bed early everyday is driven by an unrelenting force to achieve and become what they envision.

A team with a core of fear retracts and collapses, and burns precious internal resources; a team that focuses their actions with love, positivity, and truth pushes the boundaries of convention in our world by creating mutual abundance for themselves. 

A final thought: while its important to set the conditions by which your team can succeed both personally and professionally, you must also listen to your team, so that you may grow and lead properly - and, in essence, re-shape your own internal story. One needs to foster a fighting spirit balanced with love and truth every day, otherwise we allow for abuse to exist as either a victim or an oppressor.

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Grow Others First

Set the conditions

In a digital, high-transaction and fast paced environment, many of us seek ways to subsidize our dreams, use our talents, leverage our assets, and make money. However, I have found that transferring time-for-money is a very limited, person-to-person experience. Moreover, within our socio-capitalistic society the general consensus seems to be that value = money + benefits, which I also find limiting, particularly if it is enacted selfishly and uni-laterally.

As social beings, none of us can exist without the other. As a community, we can grow faster, taller, and stronger by having a rich ecosystem by which we can transact other types of value - not merely money in exchange intellectual property or technical capabilities. These other types of value are the individual strengths, experiences, services, and intentions of others.

Think more about raising those around you to great heights and rise with them.

If you freely set the conditions by which this ecosystem of relationships can form, the compound effect of greater connections will ultimately yield a higher probability of each individual's personal success - this in turn raises the productivity, efficiency, and capability of everyone involved. If you believe self-broadcasting unilateral influence is the only way to raise your own status, you might want to consider trying a test run of stimulating and aiding those around you to achieve greater heights - I'm confident that you'll discover that you will rise with them.

LinkedIn is great, however there is nothing more exciting than strategic partners, vendors, and clients learning from each other through in-person dialogue. Moreover, you may find that it is more efficient for you to build bridges between many connections in one evening rather than orchestrating several introduction emails, phone calls, and in-office meetings. Besides, you just may learn something new about your associates and contacts, as your guests ask each other questions that you might never have considered.

Attract Abundance

Sure, you may feel a spike of anxiety as vendors hand your clients their business card, but hey, if you lose an opportunity, then perhaps your relationship or value proposition is not as strong as you thought. Business networking really depends on your mindset. Some of us operate from a paradigm of abundance while some operate from a sense of scarcity. Abundance attracts; scarcity detracts. Trust in abundance, and allow freedom for others to share and dialogue openly, regardless of the outcome to you personally. Organic ecosystems operate in this manner, and positive gravity is an overriding force, which pulls together both the value and the values you seek to manifest in your business anyway.

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How 16th Century Tapestries can Teach us About Technology Innovation

Tapestries of the 16th Century are large, beautiful, and intricate, depicting majestic stories and concepts through the interlocking of simple threads of various materials and colors.

Tapestries require a unique approach that technology innovators can learn from. Not only must a concept be thoroughly thought out, and its materials purchased, collected and prepared by ratio beforehand, but it must be produced, layer by layer, in sequence mathematically over a long period of time. And of course, every tapestry is different and pushes the boundaries of utility.

Consider the cloth in Madagascar, woven by over 80 artisans from the silk of 1.2 million Golden Orb spiders over a span of 4 years - this appears purely as an exercise in human fortitude. Perfection on this level requires a deep motivation and unconditional commitment. 

Golden Spider Silk hand-woven brocaded textile is not only intricate but inspirational.  

A finished flawless piece tells a story, and can be subtly imbued with the work philosophy of the creators, that speaks volumes beyond the technique employed, and start from a clear understanding of the laws of creativity. One of those laws is what I like to call “the Spinning Wheel.”

The Spinning wheel

I hear many times: “I have all of these fantastic ideas, but I can’t get them out, so I am not achieving anything...” or “I am only achieving a fraction of a % of everything I think about, so I must be behind in life.” Many believe that the raw material in their mind must at some point exist in reality and judge their current standing in life against their ideas, visions and aspirations. 

If all of your thoughts about what you should be achieving, SHOULD happen, then ask yourself this question: “Would you be ok, if starting today, everyone on planet Earth had the capacity for their immediate thoughts to become immediate reality?” 

Most likely your answer would be no, as the world would be thrown into instant chaos, especially by those individuals who suffer from low meta-cognition (the ability to be aware of your own thoughts and perspective, on your own personal level of development). 

Movies such as “Forbidden Planet” illustrate perfectly this destruction when the Id of Morbius is driven by a machine that creates 3D "moving thought projections", whose power increases exponentially while Morbius dreams and is awake. Morbius himself has no conscious power to stop his own subconscious mind from destroying what he loves most. 

Dr. Morbius uses alien technology to expand his mental capacity unaware of the secrets and history of the device which ultimately lead to the demise of the entire alien race. 

This telling story that forebodes the perils of "instant" creativity leads to the demise of its creator. But the law of the Spinning Wheel positions us to become the finest of ourselves through our creativity, in order to weave and produce the finest of tapestries that we are mechanically capable of creating.

All of us are natural creators, experience ideas and visions, and have our aspirations, but it is through only through perfecting our instrument, our Spinning Wheel, through hard work and proper execution that we can both become and create a beautiful and intricate tapestry. And it starts with creative cognitive material and a clear definition of it.

Creative cognitive material is like raw pulled cotton and dye: If you haphazardly throw it upon the wall it only creates a mess. But that cotton and dye hold incredible kernels of inspiration that are bigger than your current reality - which if used to judge your current state in life, will lead to despair and impede upon sound internal and external creation. We must diligently work the Spinning Wheel to make the thread, even before we weave our beautiful fabric.

Moreover thread can be composed of many materials and have various levels of quality and resilience, so not just any thread will do; but only the finest thread we can produce in order to honor our life effort and the lives of others who experience our tapestry as a whole. 

Therefore the internal cognitive material we choose to formulate should be based on two considerations. One is History, and the other is Heaven. A man who only seeks to be remembered in History, will have a varying level of negative impact commensurate with his ambition; whereas a man who only seeks to be remembered in Heaven, may have no impact at all in the world which is antithetical to the whole point of being choosing a good life worth living.

Therefore, if you choose to create, then you must consider being remembered in Heaven & History for your tapestries. The consideration of these two provide an internal sense of what cognitive material is worth formulating and maintaining and well as what type of thread you should spend your time creating for your tapestry. 

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How to Start your Business Venture Wisely

If you are thinking of starting a business, statistically there is a good chance that you will “fail” miserably, and pay a heavy price. Moreover, there is a slight chance you will “succeed” beyond your dreams and still pay a heavy price. In either scenario, the common denominator is you.

You are the center of everything, and everything revolves around you. Yet, at the same time, you are insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe, as you orbit around forces vastly more substantial than you could ever completely imagine, much less attain.

Regardless, within these two polar positions of infinite selfishness vs. infinite uselessness, lies a realm where only Wisdom remains as the one true terrain worth discovering and measuring yourself against. Starting a business venture will challenge you to discover and pit your shortcomings against your deepest longings, hopes, and aspirations, as well as other hidden currents that govern your daily actions that you may not even be aware of.

Seeking, attaining, and applying personal Wisdom is the only reoccurring challenge throughout history. Technology and culture at large have their own challenges with Mass-Wisdom, and build over time in sedimentary layers; whereas the personal aspect of Wisdom is something each one of us must re-engage over and over and over again, till the end of time.

Unfortunately, many of us surrender our personal growth arc towards Wisdom to the vast, swift river of the Mass-Wisdom technological and cultural advancements. In many cases, the growth arc of technology and culture forms a wake of hollowed-out individuals, disposed of their own deep longings, hopes and aspirations, ultimately having forgone the path of Wisdom for a swifter current.

The beautiful thing about starting a venture is that it can become a means for you to fulfill deep longings, hopes, and aspirations. However the reality is, more often than not, business ventures are fleeting and subject to unseen forces which can strip away everything you’ve worked for; leaving you at the end as an empty shell with no core.

The wise path is to follow Wisdom; treat your business venture not as a shortcut to irrational windfalls or opulence, but as a manifestation of your lifelong journey to discover what Wisdom has to teach you. Whether you “succeed” or “fail”, you can hedge your bets by nurturing your internal, eternal, immovable core - which you may come to discover is your greatest asset of all.

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Overcoming Fear & Diminishing Aspirations

I’ve heard many times from friends and colleagues that “I do not have what it takes” or “I’m not cut out for that sort of thing;” and my natural response is, “I don’t believe it.” Which is not an attempt to invalidate the feelings of another, but rather challenge the perceived reality of the belief. From my perspective, “belief” is a funny thing, since it is entirely a personal construct, that is self-imposed.

Take a moment and imagine that you are sitting at your desk building a tiny cage with your hands and tools, with meticulous pride... Look at how well constructed it is, and make sure that there is no way to escape this perfect prison... Now, take that cage, wrap it around yourself... Have that become your reality everywhere you go.

If you think that you have no “self-imposed prisons,” then as my father said “watch what you say.” Words such as: ‘Because,’ ‘But’ and its more eloquent equivalent ‘However’ - spoken after a desire or longing, may be a sign that a self-imposed prison or “limiting belief” is in place.

Internal faculties, if used incorrectly, diminish aspirations, true-self and light in the world. You have a responsibility to others to become familiar with your internal world, as it ultimately defines the external world. 

From personal experience, I constructed the most elaborate and sophisticated constructs where every aspiration was cut short with a very simple phrase: “I can’t because...” which in reality was simply me creating road-blocks before myself. I get the sense that these linguistic patterns are tied to neuro-pathways; like memories, where we become more prone to, and more adept at activating certain ways of dealing with situations through ways of thinking. Like breathing, you have two modes, conscious and unconscious; which changes modes based on awareness, and intent. You can fall asleep and your body assumes responsibility for breathing, but you can go running, meditate, or swimming and focus on breathing. Similarly, your thinking has the same two modes, and in most cases we let our brain run a program on auto-pilot; which from our perspective becomes the whole of reality. While, these self-imposed prisons are a construct that we have created to deal with situations, and in fact become our whole reality, the great news is, we all have the power to re-wire our self, thus changing our ways of thinking, thus changing our reality and ability to deal with situations. In many cases we, as a society with cultural norms, focus on how to become adept with tools, programs, systems, money and business; and seem to forget that we need to familiarize ourselves with our inner faculties. Perhaps  ‘beliefs’ should not be used in a limiting way. My challenge for you is to look at those limiting beliefs and make a choice to change the way you use ‘belief’ on a daily basis.

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The Future, Today.

The future is clear. Some companies must catch & keep up, while some are so far behind that they fall victim to colonialist / protectionist stances as the “line of empire” continually retreats into the distance, and some young companies are poised to wrangle the new era, as they were born in the crucible of technology and data. In any case, every company is at the point where any innovation (especially related to market research), must have the following attributes:

Predictive = Outperform the competition through blackbox predictive modeling. This technology is finally coming within reach for businesses of all sizes and footprints, across areas such as sales, marketing, internal business unit rules, or customer retention-related processes.

Faster = Sourced data should be pulled and relayed closer to real-time + New development techniques can reduce delivery time.

Wider = Users are becoming more accustom to experiencing a service through more interfaces  + Data visualization tools can easily meld multiple data sources.

Longer = Increased channel funnel awareness up and down stream. 

Deeper = Deeper understanding of behaviors and how to reach and track those behaviors. 

Integrated / Open = easier full-stack connections + API.

Atomized / Fidelity = higher fidelity of data points.

Leveraged = aggregated source data. "The Compound Effect"

Responsive = Interface architecture can respond to multiple environments + User Experience can conform to best patterns via A/B testing + Systems can respond accordingly based on user Active & Passive actions via Response Management.

Automated = There comes a point where human intervention is no longer an adequate means to operate a workflow. 

Algorithmic = Logic & rules can define behaviors and knowledge.

Service NOT Application = Focus on web services with master architectures vs. siloed applications.

Localized / Contextual / Relevant = Trans-National institutions must present their relevant message to a broad audience. 

Re-purposed = Return to existing captured data, wrangle it, and refashion it.

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Diplomacy with Technology

In the ideal world of technology, business and customer engagement, everything would work seamlessly across different countries, operations and business units, using simplified technology solutions that would make it easier to measure quality and track costs in a less complex, more focused and high transparency manner. Moreover, we would find ourselves spending less time reinventing the wheel, as well as maintaining siloed applications and infrastructure. However, in this ideal world, the human element trumps.

The art of technology considers developing interfaces that care for the human experience; and diplomacy is “the art of dealing with people in a sensitive and effective way,” therefore both creation and implementation of technological solutions requires tact and grace. We have found that digital solutions can be manifestations of written and unwritten business rules, yet may not always represent the subtleties of human behavior and workflow; however we have always sought to manipulate systems and interfaces to accommodate a wide variety of use cases; moreover we have found that strict adherence to digital systems provides us and our clients new found collective insights that only a larger body of individuals can source through digital inputs. 

Some may be resistant to change or not have a natural comfort with digital interfaces; however with basic training and phased roll-out strategies, valuable employees can be retained and efficiency can be increased. For example, instead of dropping in a system that offers the same service to all business units, focus on creating custom interfaces per business unit. Our goal has been to avoid greatly altering protocol and procedure; but rather enhance the method by which information is collected, sent and reviewed; in a manner that makes employees happier, makes things easier, more automated, which in turn doubles the work and increases insights. 

Furthermore, technology enhancement decisions must either come from the bottom up where employees yearn for solutions that can release them from repetitive manual labor, or from business leadership that seeks competitive advantages or operational efficiencies. Both are good sources of demand but can become a detriment, if unilateral decisions undercut employees capacity to perform, rendering them obsolete, without giving them a fighting chance to rise to the challenges. In any case, in times of adversity true leadership will arise. 

Moreover, inadvertently, digital solutions will define protocol, workflows and culture; and while a key goal may be to upgrade operations, it must be done in a way to create uniformity - not conformity - to ensure individual bodies maintain their uniqueness as they interface with the larger corporate body.

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A Brand ID exists in an ecosystem of systems and interfaces, and may include Architectures and Experiences that must work in unison across Web Properties, Applications, Marketing Communications, Email Touchpoints, IVR, Business Intelligence, Enhanced User Profiles, Segmentation, E-commerce Strategies & Tactics and Enterprise Resource Planning; therefore it is important to build integrated systems and interfaces in a manner that can be understood and managed on a large scale while maintaining the sensitivity of small scale customer relations. 

One of the most critical capabilities of a brand, is its ability to reach far, wide, deep, accurately, efficiently, with lasting impact; however none of these effects can made unless there is a comprehensive interconnected system that controls and is responds to various internal and external stimuli; and moreover can reform itself continually.

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Boost Your Workflow Management Digital and physical continue to merge. What was once considered cutting edge technology, like RFID is now cascading into everyday use and workflows to improve efficiency, not only in large businesses and industries, but on a personal and everyday level.

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Business Lessons from Running

While I have a long way to go before I can consider myself a long distance runner, I have been training for marathons since last year. Running has been a necessity for me, for both physical reasons as well as just as importantly, mental reasons. There are 2 lessons I have learned lately from running.

1. Focus on Breathing

While it seems obvious enough to breath during a run, it is not enough to just let your body breath when it wants to... You need to consciously focus on a breathing technique to keep your body loaded with enough oxygen - from there, your body will do the rest. Similarly, in business, if a leader does not consciously breathe, in reality and metaphorically, then the company as a body suffers as it must work in a scarce or depleted environment.

Think of it this way... If a business owner focuses on the position and responsibility entrusted to them, then that business owner will focus on building relationships, collecting money and taking care of expenses. And if he or she does not, then the body will not get the necessary oxygen it needs to operate. Just breathe and the body will take care of itself. 

2. Clear the Mental Clutter

The mind like other physical things can get clogged and impacted with junk, It is the responsibility of the business leader to maintain a clear mind, and one way of doing that is to literally treat yourself to a moment of simplicity. Running is simple... Just put on some running clothes and go run some where... It doesn't matter where. Your only simple job is to focus on breathing; and in order to do that, you have free your mind of the clog and clutter.

Let concerns flake off you with every step. Let the new oxygen in your body enrich your mind; and if you are feeling adventurous, go run far away and force yourself to suffer the long journey back. A bit of raw physical survival certainly undercuts the small concerns in life. Once you have that perspective again, you can then return to work.

Go out side and run!

Not only do you have the ability to see the big picture again, but you will have the physical and mental stamina to deal with the small stuff too.

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Web. Mobile. Store. Home. Sell anywhere!

Imagine an all-in-one Full-Stack Real-Time Multiple POS & Mobile E-commerce Solution. Sell products anywhere!

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Sometimes talking it out isn't enough - you've got to roll up your sleeves and illustrate your point. Sketches go hand in hand with our consulting and design work here at True Interaction, and we spend quite a bit of time iterating our ideas this way before we commit a single line of code. When our think tank is stuck on a problem, we erase the whiteboard, and recreate the entire thought process from the beginning all over again to find out where the system breaks down.

[fableluck-blog1-blog]

All-in-One Full-Stack Real-Time Multiple POS & Mobile E-commerce Solution. Sell products anywhere!

[fableluck-blog1-blog]

An unexpected treat, this morning... Honestly, its nice to know that all that social media campaigning paid off :) - I have www.boooost.com to thank for helping me share relevant content with my audience. Lets see if I can get the top 1% in 2013. 

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How to Build a Sustainable Team

Over the past 15+ years I have made attempts to build sustainable teams by testing cohesive forces such as mission, vision, values, treasure, reputation, bullying, abusing, shaming, exclusion, inclusion, inception, leading, driving, praising, promoting, denouncing, pacifying, instructing, announcing, supporting and I am sure, several other types of means to drive my own personal agenda; and to what end?

My own personal agenda is founded and forged by a belief system that governs my daily actions and challenges my attitudes. While the definition of success consistently retreats into the distance I am neither impressed by my current social or economic standing, nor content with adopting the stature of another as a guiding light. I am only content with fulfilling a reality that has been formulated through experience, contemplation and inspiration. 

From this point I seek to connect with others to build in a manner that achieves a universally understood mission.That mission is to yield the highest level of value through creative efforts to produce a product, service, system or process that bolsters and uplifts the human person in all its facets; as well as its interconnected elements that influence and are influenced by human activity. 

What shall we consider regarding our creative ventures? The human mind, body and spirit? None of these? or all 3 at once? How can we produce within a capitalistic society and still produce considering these factors? Moreover, what shall we ask others to consider as we produce and deliver our creative vision? Perhaps employees do not care, as they fight for financial survival... Perhaps our only choice is to build for the sake of financial gain... Yet, perhaps we can overcome our fears and anxieties and trust in the power of creativity and unconditional love. 

While the perception appears to favor the leader who bullies and abuses  his team; in reality the leader who can both sustain through care, wisdom and clarity of thought is much more of a challenge to the natural entropic state of human affairs. Let us take pride in fighting against entropy and seek means to lead sustainable teams towards a future that we can all be humbled by.