Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Taking a Bashin' for my Passion

At first you don’t succeed, try try again. A saying that is much more easier said than done. Most people on this blue sphere we call earth, are too scared to go through failure twice. They put up barriers for themselves that are very hard to tear down once they are built. It is very human to learn from mistakes. The problem lies in defining the word mistake.

Yesterday I went to try to get some tricks on film for a video that’s coming out at the end of summer. While we were warming up, I was skating ledge, and I slipped out and rolled my ankle pretty bad. I felt it kind of pop, and I knew it was not good. My filmer and all my friends were saying things like “That sucks I would be pissed” or “Maybe you shouldn’t try that anymore”.

Later on last night, as I was limping to the store to get some chips, I started thinking about some things. I started thinking about how mad I wasn’t, and I tripped even myself out. I mean skating is my life, and I can’t do it for at least a week, probably more, but I had a heightened sense of understanding on this faithful limp. I understood the fact that accidents DO happen, and that it WILL get better, just not very quick. All easy things to say or think when you are not in the position, but once you put yourself in those shoes (one of them being really tight because of swelling) it becomes very difficult. With chips hand, and rocking a gangster limp, I had a new sense of fulfillment that I have never had after an injury.

You can apply this logic to any aspect of life. Take business for instance. Some of the most successful businessmen did not get it right the first time. They went through their fair share of metaphoric rolled ankles as well, and not only do they get up and try again, they also have a great understanding of what’s a mistake and what is worth giving a second try. They are not afraid to try something again, even if they have failed doing it before and they had to limp through life a few quarters. They come right back and give it their all again knowing very well that that the possibility of falling down again is less of a possibility and more of a inevitability.

I guess when you think about it, it really all boils down to passion. When people do what it is they love, the “rolled ankles” they get from it seem irrelevant to the big picture. I know if I got a grease burn cooking fries at McDonalds, that would be my last day at McDonalds.

That’s the problem with our economy, and even our country right now. There is no passion anymore. It seems everyone is working just to pay bills, and if they do have a passion, it’s pushed aside so they can accomplish that task. The key to happiness is to incorporate your passion in your work. It doesn’t matter how much money you make, or how “successful” you are. All that matters is that you do whatever it is that makes you happy, and figure out a way to pay your bills doing that. If you like quilting, open a online quilting shop. If you like fishing, open up a tackle and bait store. Be ready to roll your ankle too. It IS going to happen, but that’s part of following your passion.

So I want to end this by asking all of you out there what’s your passion? What can you do to incorporate that passion in your every day life? How can you pay all your costs of living by utilizing your passion? If you ask yourself these questions, you will be amazed how easy the answers really are. If you can’t find answers to these questions, please feel free to leave them as comments or emails, and I will do my best to help you out.

I hope all of you have a very passionate day. This is Jon limping out

Friday, April 25, 2008

Virtuosity is Patient

They say patience is a virtue. I think it's much more than that. I think patience is the difference between success and failure. Good things come to those who wait, and life get's tuff for those who rush.

We here at WOWzzy.com, have had to be very patient these past few months. When you are building a site as complicated and ground breaking as the one we are developing, It's only natural to come into more than a few ruts in the road. On that same token it's only natural to get frustrated when things don't go our way.

It's like the old sane, "I can't control what happens to me, but I can control how I will react to it". We all know what we have here is so unique that if we have to wait a few months to release it, then that's what we going to do. Quality over quantity.

So I just want to take this time to thank everyone that has been very patient and supportive of our vision. You all have show much virtuosity towards us and we are extremely thankful for it. In return we want to give everyone in the country and eventually the world the best business promotion tool and business search engine it has ever seen.

Stay tuned........

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Our Inner Light

Take a plant, put it anywhere in your room, then take a light and put it anywhere in that same room. After a few months you will realize that the plant will always grow towards the light. It will bend and move around anything just to get to that light.

This same logic works when you are talking about a person and their passion. The most successful people in the world, rather it be financial or intellectual, have a passion and will do anything to get to it. They will work 15 hour days, sacrifice time and money, and in some instances their own well being.

Every person on the planet has their own light inside of them. Some are much brighter than others, but never the less, we all have one. The key of life is to find that light, weather it be obtaining knowledge or revenue, and constantly grow towards it for it is essentially the key to success. The hardest part is defining what you consider success.

Take myself for instance. I know what the light inside me is and it's skateboarding, and boy does that sucker burn bright. Usually after a nice 8 hour day of work, I go for a nice 4-8 hour skate. Then I use the rest for sleep. I put my body, and social life through a lot of abuse, but it seems irrelevant because as long as I am growing towards that light, everything else is just me bending and wrapping around whatever I have to to get there.

Sometimes I wish my light was something else like owning real estate, or collecting as many foreign cars as I can, but I got stuck with skateboarding. That's the beauty with the inner light though. Extrinsical influence cannot dictate an inner light. In lam ens terms, you don't get to pick what your inner light is. You are born with it. You may not find the light for years or even decades, but when you do you will know. I did.

In todays society, it seems like most people have their inner light eclipsed. Things like financial stability, security, and the urge to "grow up" get in the way of the light, and we are stuck in the dark. We have nothing to grow towards and though our bills get paid every month and we have a spouse and 2.5 kids, there is a sense of emptiness that usually get's translated as depression and aggravation.

So I ask of you, look inside your self and find your light. Maybe it's to travel the world, maybe it's to start your own business. Whatever it is identify it and begin doing whatever you have to to get to it. There may be a number of reasons or deterrents that might get in your way as you are growing. But if a plant can grow through concrete to get to it's light, I think you can make a few bends to make it.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

A Vacation of Contemplation

Back to the office and back to reality. After a glorious week of laying at the beach, and hanging out with old friends in sunny Santa Cruz, I have returned to Sacramento so I can skate and hang out with new friends. Having been commuting between Sacramento and Santa Cruz pretty frequently as of late, I have been starting to notice all the subtleties that make Santa Cruz such a unique place.

Obviously the main difference would be the fact that the ocean is a stones throw away and the weather is to die for, but there is more that makes Santa Cruz a place of amazement and awe.

Growing up in Santa Cruz, you don't really see too many chain stores. There is three McDonalds in the whole county. Never had a Wal-Mart, and just got a Home Depot. As a young child, I found this to be very annoying. I mean I didn't have my first in and out burger until I was 19 years old, and we had to drive like an hour to get it too.

Now that I have spent some time in Sacramento, I begin to realize that this isn't a bad thing at all. It seems here there are WAY too many chain stores. It seems that creativity and ingenuity are stifled here and are replaced with Wendy's and Taco Bell's. Being a Vegetarian now, It sometimes seems hard to find a nice salad or a good boca burger, where in Santa Cruz, it's as easy to find as a Jack in the Box is here.

The city of Santa Cruz is very protective about what kind of businesses they will let into town, but it seems as of late that a bunch of big chain stores are starting to infiltrate my little beach town. I already mentioned the Home Depot, and now they are almost done putting up a Best Buy too. Sure things are much cheaper at huge retail conglomerates, but where is that money going? Most likely it is going straight to Home Depot headquarters which I assume is very far away from Santa Cruz.

If the people of Santa Cruz start buying all their products from these stores, then all the local businesses that provide the same exact products and services (and believe me there are a lot), then they will be forced to close their doors and go out of business. Then guess what, they will be replaced with another chain store, and one by one, business by business, Santa Cruz will be the new San Jose

So the question is what can we as consumers do to preserve the integrity of individuality and creativity? An even better question would be how can we bring a little more of it to areas where it seems almost diminished? The obvious answer would be to go and spend money at businesses that embrace such qualities and emulate them in their place of business, but they are not always easy to find.

When I first moved here, I found it really hard to find a place that served quality, creative vegetarian food. Then my friend Jayson told me about this place called Sunflower Cafe in Fair Oaks, and we went there one day and I loved it, and now eat their pretty frequently. Then I got thinking that if it wasn't for Jayson, I would still be having to eat bean and cheese burrito's every time I want to eat out, and if more people like me knew about this place, they too would frequent it. If enough new business floods in their door, then maybe they can start opening new locations which I would love because driving out to Fair Oaks every other day for lunch isn't by any stretch of the imagination fun.

Now don't get me wrong here, I don't want the whole world to be like Santa Cruz. As a matter of fact there is a number of things that I wish I could change about that University run town. I want the whole world to be like the world you want it, the way your parents and children want it. Let's make business a democracy again where your dollar is a ballot as opposed to a hierarchy where the corporations at the top tell all us peasants that make up the consumers what we want.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

R.I.P. Aziz James

It’s amazing what you can do if you believe in yourself. With the right attitude, and the right inspiration, possibilities are endless.

This weekend, I lost a very dear friend. One that always had this special ability to make me feel like I could do anything. One that was always passionate and dedicated to the things and ones he loved.

Losing him made me devastated, so devastated in fact, that yesterday I tried to write and I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even think about a topic to write about let alone how to elaborate on it. My brain just couldn’t work on anything, but thinking about my friend.

So I called it quits, and went to the skatepark so I could clear my head.

Right when I got to the park, I started thinking about how I was going to learn all these tricks, and I was going to do it for him. The whole time I was trying I was thinking about how dedicated and hard working he was at the things he loved to do, and it provided me with a surge of energy that I can’t even put into words.

Next thing I knew, all the fears I usually have when it comes to skating were gone, and all I could think of was doing it, and guess what, I did it.

For the rest of the day, I could do anything that I tried. The feeling was amazing and made me come to the realization that the human spirit when fueled with the right forms of inspiration is truly an unstoppable force.

Look into your own life. Think of all those things you were thinking about doing, but were too scared for whatever reasons whether it be financial, physical, or any other emotional deterrent. Now focus on all those fears real hard, and you will realize that they are just that, fears. The key is to look right through those fears, and straight to the goal whatever it might be. Everyone has fears, but it takes a special person to ignore them and grab the things you want out of life, and because of a very special friend of mine, I am going to be more like that person.

Friday, April 4, 2008

Good shoes are really hard to find

The problem with search engines is that you do too much searching, and not enough actual finding, and if you are looking for local businesses, no actual finding at all.
A couple of days ago, I wanted to get a pair of Vans shoes, but being new to the area I really didn’t know of any local businesses that sold them. So I did what everyone does and typed Vans shoes “Citrus Heights” into the google search bar. Well the first result was obviously the Vans main website, followed by the Vans store location in the mall.

Knowing that pretty much every mall has a Vans shoe store, this information was useless to me. Besides all the shoes that the vans store carries are the generic ones in generic colors. I wanted an exclusive color, and you will never find anything special in a Vans store.

So after the vans store listing were blogs that said things like “So I was wearing my Vans………………Citrus Heights has a nice mall,” . I was even able to find blogs that people made showing pictures of all the cool vans they had, but no information on where to purchase them.

So by now I was starting to get frustrated. All I wanted was a pair of shoes. Granted I am a picky person, and I wanted a certain pair, but in a world where you can order pizza over the internet and parallel park your car with a touch of a button, I figured finding a pair of shoes would be a pretty remedial task. Apparently car technology is surpassing search engine technology by leaps and bounds.

After 2 long, extremely frustrating and fruitless hours, I couldn’t find one single local business that sold Vans. All I could find was major department stores and chain shoe retailers that mentioned the word vans somewhere in their site, and when you went to their site, they didn’t say what kinds of vans they had, they just mentioned that they carry them. Not wanting to make more phone calls than a receptionist, I just gave up. Called it quits, and went skating in my old shoes.

Now as frustrated as I was, I could only imagine the frustration of the person that owns that local business that has a room chuck-full of exclusive Vans, and no one to sell them too. Since they aren’t selling any shoes, when they do, they are going to mark them up so they can pay the rent. They also aren’t going to have the money to hire a SEO (search engine optimizer) to give their website a higher page ranking. As a matter of fact they aren’t going to have the money to hire a web designer to make a webpage in the first place.

Having a web presence is a big deal these days. Especially if you are trying to sell products or services that are very exclusive or rare. Without it you might as well close down before you even decide to open the doors.

Thursday, April 3, 2008

An answer to your question.

So by now you are probably wondering what WOWzzy.com is and why I keep mentioning it. Well a better place to start than any would be the beginning. About 4 months ago, I was living in Santa Cruz, working at a skate shop, and skating every day. One day I was talking with my mom who lives in Citrus Heights, CA, and she started telling me how her and my step-dad were starting a new internet search engine.

Being the age that I am and have seen numerous search engines fizzle out before they could even get a customer base, I wasn’t too excited about their new business venture, but that was all about to change.

One day, we all sat down for lunch, and Darek, my step-dad, started telling me all the things that he was doing to make sure that business owner, and consumer alike were going to have an experience on the internet that is truly unparalleled.

After hearing all the things they had to say, they offered me the job of informing ordinary people like you and me of this new search engine and how we are different than the rest.

Now I am a person that will not and will never endorse something if I do not truly believe in it or the purpose behind it. So it took me a while to soak it all in, and let me tell you after MONTHS of soaking I came to the conclusion that I really did believe in this company and the vision it has for business owners, and consumers.

Now if you are like me and a complete skeptic of anything that is said or done over the internet, feel free to email me or comment me on any questions or concerns you have and I would be more than happy to answer or get answers for you.
I know you have heard it countless times before, but this is a company that is truly made for you and your life. We really have no hidden agenda or scheme behind us, and I challenge you to find differently.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Beautiful Disaster

Yes it is a Kelly Clarkson song, but I am not talking about that. I am talking about the state of our economy.

Unemployment low and only getting lower, people are losing their homes at a faster rate than ever. Economists predict that we are in for another recession. People are panicking. It’s a real disaster out there.

Some may see this as an opportunity to jump out of the 50th story of their giant corporate building, but I see it differently.

It’s time for us to stray away from the corporate infrastructure that has been running and manipulating America, and go back to local businesses providing honest goods and services at honest prices. It’s time for people to work for themselves, or to share their dreams and aspirations with the world.

Let’s stop looking at the past with questions, and start looking to the future with answers. The local business renaissance is ahead of us, and the age of corporate control of the planet is coming to an end.

It’s time we started making our own decisions about what goods and services we want, and not letting conglomerate companies tell us what we want. For a country who claims to be democratic, sometimes it seems that certain decisions are made for us, and if we don’t want that decision, we are forced to spend an exponential amount of time and money to come up with our own. Time and money that most of us don’t have.

WOWzzy.com wants to be the meeting place for this revolution. We want to be the place where consumers can go and find honest reliable business where it should be, at the top of the page. A place where a business’ credibility and punctuality directly relates to their page ranking.

WOWzzy.com also wants to be the meeting place for businesses as well. A place where businesses can honestly display their business and have just as much pull as the people who pay millions a year to be where you should be on a search. A place where you can talk to other businesses and create relationships or just discuss new discoveries in certain industries.

The time for change is now! The age of being told what we want is over, and the age of telling them what we want is about to begin. It’s time to tell ourselves and the world that we are not the sheeple that run corporate America, but that we are the United States of America that believes in honesty and sincerity. It’s time to make this disaster beautiful.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

The Cyberspace Salesperson

Some times the “world wide web” feels just like that; it is a world wide web of lies and deception. People do and say things that they never would even consider logical in a real-life encounter. People lie about their age, wealth, and pretty much anything that would make one seem more desirable to the general public. Some people even lie about who they really are by displaying pictures of models or people of higher attraction than themselves. Hoping that some sucker will bite the bait and then get whatever it is they want from you whether it be money, time, or simply to be acknowledged.

The same goes for conducting business on the web. You see it all the time, “pin the tail on the donkey and win a free ipod” “lose 20 pounds in a week!” “free one-year membership”. When was the last time you were walking through the mall and some dude was just standing there handing out ipods to everyone that could perform a task so remedial that 3 year olds can do it? What about the last time you saw a gym just handing out free memberships to everyone that walked up to the door?

Just like most people, the cyberspace salesperson will make them and/or the product they are selling to be the greatest thing in the world so they can get what they want from you, and that’s your money. I would say that they want your business, but unless you consider business screwing innocent people over, it’s just stealing. They will say whatever they have to just to get you to click on the dotted button. Screwing millions of people on a daily basis, and as long as they keep paying x amount of dollars to website x, it’s just business as usual, or should I say stealing as usual.

What if there existed a world within a world, a world where business were ranked on legitimacy as opposed to their advertising budget. A place where people can honestly display their business, but not when they want to, but when you want to. A place where businesses are held accountable for doing similar atrocities and can’t get out of it by paying ridiculous amounts of money. A place where a mom and pop shop is just as easy to find as a corporate chain store. This place is WOWzzy.com and it is coming to a computer near you soon.