I have never fit cleanly into any particular category. I’m not a social butterfly, but I’m definitely not a loner. I’m not a designer, developer, or server administrator…but I’m known to be any or all of those things in any given week. When I was younger, it used to bother me that I was so unlike my peers. It was as if I missed the conformity indoctrination growing up—I was just different in hundreds of tiny ways.

Now that I’m older and growing into the man I’m going to be for the rest of my life, I take comfort in being unapologetically, consistently, and uniquely me. It’s liberating feeling. I’m much more at peace enjoying a meal by myself in a crowded restaurant full of commotion than I used to be. I’m completely ok with not knowing anyone at an event that I’m interested in attending. I’ve become accustomed to people trying to categorize me mentally when meeting me…and failing miserably.

I take comfort in the fact that I’m uniquely suited to fulfill my destiny here on earth based on the person I am. Not the person that I feel like I should be. Not the person I envisioned myself growing up to be. Just me.

Just me.

For whatever reason, I was gifted with enough confidence to last me two lifetimes. Something I continuously notice when I consult with clients (and friends) my age is that the biggest thing they’re missing is confidence. I know some of the most amazingly talented individuals from just about every creative and technical discipline under the sun. You know what separates many of the hobbyists from the “successful” entrepreneurs who are making money? The fact that the successful ones are making money.

That’s it. The drive is there, the commitment is there, and the excellence is there. So why aren’t more people making a living doing what they love? Or at least what they’re good at? I don’t think there’s a simple answer to this question, but I’m certain that much of it has to do with confidence. Insecurity and the fear of failure are absolutely crippling many of my friends, and precluding them from taking calculated risks that would likely result in their success—both entrepreneurially and otherwise.

I believe that confidence comes from two things:

1. A conscious decision not to be overcome by setbacks.
2. A conscious decision to be confident.

Seriously, that last truism is critical. I’m confident because I choose to be confident. Living life any other way is awful. It’s not that I’m the best WordPress Consultant or Job Search Strategist or Web Developer—I’m definitely not.

But you’d never know that by working with me.

And my clients certainly wouldn’t tell you that I’m not. See, comparing myself to others doesn’t help anyone. It’s a complete waste of time. As a matter of fact, judging people based on a skillset is a worthless endeavor altogether. My clients don’t care that I modified a script I found on a forum to accomplish what they asked or that I don’t know the difference between an affidavit and a deposition. What they care about is that the services for which I’m hired are rendered professionally, skillfully, and quickly.

People don’t pay me for my PHP skills; they pay me for the experience I provide when they approach me with a problem. Professionalism, confidence, honesty, and speediness are a handful of traits that allow anyone to outpace their competition. You don’t have to be the best…but you do have to be outstanding at whatever it is that you do.

::shrugs:: Just thought I’d share. This post won’t be edited for content, grammar, or cohesiveness. Enjoy :)

If at first you don’t succeed, keep failing forward.

This is my way of remembering that quote. I’m gonna need it this year.

I came across a post by Perry Marshall yesterday entitled, “The gigantic horrible lie about education” (catchy, no?) and I thought I’d pass it along. It touches on some issues very close to my heart, as I come from a “gifted” educational background and recall very well the stigma attached to those who were and were not a part of this hand-selected group of elite learners. Perry touches on this concept of things we should just know by a certain age, and he insightfully addresses the net effect of these expectations on people who are negatively impacted by them:

If you apply ANY test to ANY group of people, it’s gonna shake down to 80/20. Doesn’t matter if it’s history or math or Pokemon or soccer or belly dancing or model trains, 20% of the people have 80% of the capability.

He goes on to share his thoughts on the conundrum:

There are 6 billion people in the world and every single one is a diamond in some stage of being polished. Life is either going to polish you up or grind you down. And the difference between the two lies in how much hope you have, how much faith you have in the fact that you do carry something special on the inside, that’s waiting to get out. Many give up, not knowing they were only 10 minutes from triumph.

Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to discover your uniqueness.

Bingo. Read the full article here. Hat tip to @nickreese for the tweet about it.

My interest in web design started many years ago. I started building websites for my friends and things grew from there. The trouble is that I wasn’t making money. Not a lot of it, anyway. I always looked for ways to give people a break and save them money while giving them the site they needed. I worked with client budgets instead of setting prices and sticking to them.

I know now that this is a guaranteed recipe for failure. In working with some new (and extremely successful) business partners lately, I’ve come to realize that making money at your craft isn’t a particularly complicated or difficult proposition, but there are a few things that you can’t bend on:

1) Be the best (or at least very good) at what you do.
2) Set high prices and charge a lot of money for being the best.
3) ????
4) Profit.

Although this is exceedingly simple, I’ve been guilty of violating these rules. I don’t have prices listed anywhere. I negotiate on rates that I do quote. I help friends who need it. What’s paradoxical about this is that these projects end up taking the longest and causing the most headache. Some of the biggest contracts I’ve landed were for sites that have been turned around very quickly – sometimes over the course of a weekend. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the way to make money is simpler and less stressful than the path that’s fraught with fail.

This needs to be said as well: I don’t think there’s anything wrong with taking on projects to help clients that have a genuine need for your services; I think that helping those in need is both important and fulfilling. Projects like that can’t comprise the bulk of what you do however, unless the margins on your other projects are such that these losses are negligible. If this is the case, please hire me immediately (joke).

Many companies make the mistake of treating their companies like children. The lives of their employees are governed by policies that extend beyond the wall of the office. Although some policies are well-intentioned, allowing a legal department or the whim of a controlling executive to dictate the behavior of employees is both counterproductive and damaging to employee morale.

The trouble with policing, micromanagement, and stifling policies is that they rob employees of the confidence they need to succeed in the workplace. If your employer is not interested in fostering an environment where employees can succeed with little oversight, proactively solve problems, and respond well to constructive criticism…then there’s no reason to listen to this.

The best work environments are environments where employees are free. Free to be creative, to make mistakes, and to be praised for their work. Free to be great. Employees need to feel like their input is valued, that their contributions are meaningful, and that their work matters. Humans are extremely resilient creatures and can, for the sake of survival, endure less than ideal situations for years on end. This typically leads to both physical and emotional health issues. Wouldn’t it make more sense for companies not to test the limits of what people can endure? Google spends an absolute fortune to provide employees with world-class benefits such as free gourmet meals every day. You know why they do it? Because it makes good business sense.

Their employees are loyal, hard-working, and the work speaks for itself.

Source.

I really like these guys.