The smells of New York City are usually the butt of a joke (which is often associated with the smell of a butt). But in the spring, there is something sweet in the air. It’s surprising.More
Category Archives: Inspiration
What it’s really like starting a business
For years I’ve said that starting a business is like jumping off of a cliff and learning to fly. Somehow I flew. Rent wasn’t cheap. It was 2008, and I was living in New York City. I was in my early thirties, single and stupid enough to leap off of a cliff without a parachute.…More
What the crosswalk lady said unsettled me
On our way home from school, a stream of neighborhood children cross at an intersection where a woman with a rich Latin-American accent greets every child by name as she helps them across the street every day. Dulce’s our crosswalk lady.More
The secret to dealing with people in business
At the core of every business isn’t money. It’s relationships. Now, I don’t mean that you need to go on a business retreat and hold hands with your coworkers as you dance around a campfire singing Kumbaya. But we can be practicing ways of relating to others that build mutual respect, trust, and maybe even…More
When shopping for cucumbers in NYC got strange
Going to the grocery store for organic cucumbers should be boring. But this time was different.More
Want to do work you love? Learn from the work you hate
When I started my data entry job in 2004, I would have never known that it would have helped me in starting businesses. But it did.More
There is no growth without this
Everyone wants to grow. No one wants to go backward, stagnate, settle. It may happen, but not because we want that. Then why do some people grow more than others? Is it just pure ability, genetics, environment? Maybe. It’s hard to say. But, for me, there is one characteristic that stands out more than others.More
Reflections from a Friday night in the East Village
It was a cold, wet night, in the East Village. And I was rushing to my destination.More
My first business was a complete failure
Featured pic above by Billy, I think, of my business partner and me at our first photo shoot. We had no idea what we were doing. What is that look on my face? Grand dreams of selling luxury t-shirts swirled in my mind, as I schlepped through Bedford Stuyvesant, the Brooklyn neighborhood in which Jay-Z…More
The heart of business
At the heart of every business are relationships. In my industry of technology services, this is especially true. We have to meet with the potential client, get to know them, ask them questions, wine and dine them, pay for the meal, all as we gaze in their eyes and make them feel loved. I call…More
John Pa 