Jeremy Goodrich's Blog

These days, business is in a word, great. Clients are amazing (thanks) and listening, which is even better. I'm not sure if they really find me funny some days, or feel like they have to laugh...but, during sales calls, my goal is to make sure we can agree on at least some humor otherwise, the relationship simply won't work.

FunAdvice is on track for a record month (2.3 million visitors, 2.1 million uniques) despite some massive tech setbacks, eg, we've had more random server outages in the past week and last six weeks than we've had in the last six months. Thanks to our engineering team, and our CTO, it's all gravy, as they say, and performance is rock steady as of two days past when he did some new tweaks.

Which brings you up to speed with where I'm at. Now, where are you at? I had a chat with a random guy yesterday (Hi Ryan) who looked me up via Linkedin, and our mutual alumnus status of U of O (never did watch those Ducks...). The point of the call was: is he going to make it? I have no idea, but I gave him a lot of assurance of what the barrier is: simply getting it done.

See, there are two strategies I outlined for him, which I'm going to share with you: the hail mary, and grinding. Sure, everybody wants to just be "discovered", get rich, famous and make billions...but, if you *don't* have that happen, then what? Well, in the words of an ancient proverb, you simply grind it out. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time, and so on.

Understanding the barrier in front of you, what it is, what it's made of, and how to get around, over, or through it is the first step to getting what you want accomplished, done. It's that simple. I meet (online & off) a suprising number of people, by phone, email, and the occassional hand shake (did he was his hands last time he went? ugh). While I'm not a hypochondriac, that can be a risky proposition, shaking hands.

The risks notwithstanding, it's great to meet people, because then you know more of what's going on, and can better understand the barrier in front of you. It always boils down to people. Need PR? You need a person, a reporter. Need video coverage? You need a director, producer, or writer: again, a person. Do you need more members on your site? Yep, it's people, plural...but, people are individuals, so, again, it boils down to what each *person* wants & needs.

Ok, now that we understand the barrier (needing things from other people) what about the wants, needs and desires you have? Is there something you're after, but you haven't been able to get it? If not, why not? If you understand the barrier, and you understand what you want, it's only a matter of time. Sure, it might not happen over night, as hail mary passes seldom win the game. However, if you start today, the journey of a thousand miles will end sooner than you think. Who knows, perhaps, while on the path, you'll find a shortcut - but, you'll never find it if you don't just start walking now.