Kindle Becomes Wildfire

I got my Kindle last month when the priced dropped to $189. It's my favorite gadget. I like it more than my iPhone 4. The reason is simple - simplicity. On the Kindle all I can do is read. I love the no distractions approach of the technology. Apparently, I'm not alone. Just last week the Kindle reached a "tipping point", Amazon now sells more books digitally than it does physically! That's wild when you really think about it. The Kindle was launched less than three years ago!

Since purchasing my Kindle I've read two books - The Big Short and Predictably Irrational - both are highly recommended. I'm now in the middle of my third - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Today I read on TechCrunch that more than 1,000,000 copies of Dragon Tattoo have been sold on Kindle.  Again, I'm not alone.

For all the fuss that is made about Apple I am blown away by what Amazon has done. They entered a market they had zero experience in - consumer electronics. They disrupted a six century old business. They dominated the marketplace. And now they are making more money from it then their original core business!

Part of the reason for the Kindle's sucess are the attractive terms that Amazon offers to author's. When publishing on Kindle authors and publishers take home 70%. This means that selling the Dragon Tattoo at $10 a pop would have made the publisher $7,000,000 - and their are no printing or distribution costs!

I'm excited to watch the development of the eBook market over the next few years. Considering the growth of the Kindle in less than three years, one thing is clear - we ain't seen nothing yet.

Why Start?

The last couple of days I've read some very wise blog posts. My Google Reader is filled with tech entrepreneur and VC blogs. These people are very smart, but I wouldn't call them "wise". On Monday Mark Suster did an incredible post on happiness, "Life is 10% How You Make it and 90% How You Take it." The next day Jamie Siminoff followed up with another awesome post, "The Lottery of Statups."

Both of these guys are incredibly successful entrepreneur's from my perspective. They've built and sold companies for millions. But neither of them is a grandslam entrepreneur who has taken a company public or sold it off to become a billionaire. Reading their posts it's clear that that is of no significance at all. Both of them are incredibly happy. They lead fulfilled lives. At the end of the day would you rather be a millionaire with a great family, awesome job, and content existence or a billionaire with an estranged family, stressful job and miserable daily life?

This is an important lesson for young entrepreneurs like myself. Talking with a mentor recently I said, "I was supposed to be running the world by now!" Starting your first business right out of college or after a few years working (as I did) can yield sky high expectations. As a first time founder you have yet to be weathered by reality. This is a good thing in someways because it keeps you going where others would quit. But it can also lead to disappointment, as it did for me. Looking back on the projections for TaskUs I was supposed to be a millionaire by now.

So why am I happier now than I have ever been? I choose freedom over glory. My life is no longer about becoming a multi-billionaire. Instead I want happiness. This isn't an esoteric take on happiness. Happiness for me is freedom. That includes financial freedom, having enough money to never have to think about money. But it also includes psychological freedom, having enough perspective to never obsess over the irrelevant (while realizing its all irrelevant).

Last week I tweeted the trailer for the new film The Social Network (the story of the founding of Facebook). In the tweet I called Zuckerberg the most successful entrepreneur of our generation. I've wrestled with this since. If measured in terms of dollars and cents he is without a doubt the most successful. But if you measure based on happiness and freedom, I think I'd give him a run for his money.

Facebook is now WorldBook

My 89 year old Grandpa joined Facebook today. This is huge news. Facebook, which started as a college only, social network about six years ago now has over 500 million members. Just about everyone I know and everyone I meet is on Facebook. 

"I'll Facebook you," is a more common comment, than the exchange of actual contact information. Facebook is set to become a representation of the entire population of the world. This has huge implications for business, the internet and the globe:

24 on 24

Today is my 24th birthday. I have no idea what to make of it. Here's the bad and the good:

The Bad

1) I live at home with my parents.
2) I drive a 20 year old car.
3) I still haven't become a millionaire.
4) Money is still a concern. 
5) I still haven't found the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with.
6) Life is lonely at times.
7) I'm not certain what to do next, this impacts my passion and thus my effectiveness. 
8) I don't live in New York.
9) I get stressed out.
10) I haven't learned Arabic, Chinese or how to dance salsa.

The Good

11) I am healthy.
12) I am happy.
13) I have a loving and supportive family.
14) I have three amazing best friends.
15) I have built a business with offices in LA and Manila that employs 110 people.
16) I own a growing business (knock on wood).
17) I am in great shape.
18) I am good looking.
19) I speak Spanish, mas o menos.
20) I get to travel often.
21) I work with different cultures.
22) I have time to exercise everyday.
23) I have time to meditate everyday.
24) I have hope. I believe I have a bright future.

Traveling While Sick

I hate being sick. I've spent the past ten days living under the oppressive regime of a cold. Lethargic and irritable, I boarded my flight to Manila. The natural high I normally get from traveling was absent. It was an important week. I was in Manila to implement a restructuring plan. I had to meet with my management team, decide on a strategy and then execute it all in a few short days.

Fortunately very little else required my attention. I was blown away by the improvement in our operations. It's been a few months since I was last in Manila and Joan, Ben and Charles have built well oiled machine. We've got a big office that employs 110 people, processes payroll, taxes, benefits, manages hiring, training, firing and daily operations. After a day in the office I turned to Joan, "I could never have built this," I said. I really couldn't have. Our office in Los Angeles is a total startup operation - exposed wires, no formal payroll, phone lines run through our computers. What we have in Manila is a real company. It feels like a corporation that has been in business for five years, instead of five months.

I spent the week working and sleeping intermittently.  My lungs were filled with phlegm. My energy levels were low. But I focused on the essentials and got everything done that needed to be done. In the process I developed a sensitivity for those among us who are in perpetual pain. Sick or injured, a huge percentage of the world suffers everyday, as I did for the past week. My own Dad is handicapped. As he has aged his conditioned has worsened and these days he seems to be constantly in pain.

I could not live like this. Even if the minor cold I had for the past week were deemed a constant condition I would choose to commit suicide. This may seem dramatic, abrupt, even a bit spoiled and perhaps it is. Look, I love life. But I love living life, no persevering it. Of course there are ups and downs and perseverance can lead to life's greatest rewards. In this context I persevere more than most. But the kind of pain and suffering I am talking about it constant, endless and brings no balancing highs. The sickness of a terminal cancer patient. The chronic back pain of cripple. The endless depression of someone who refuses anti-depressants. In every case there is a choice and for me the choice is clear. A life of endless pain and suffering is not a life worth living.

Why?

Over the past week I've spoken with all of my closest friends about a single question - Why? Why do I do what I do for a living? Why am I an entrepreneur?

On Thursday night Jaspar and I went to EO Alchemy, an entrepreneurial speaker series. Each of the half dozen, successful entrepreneurs who spoke made the point that the most important question to ask yourself before starting a business is why? If you figure out why you want to build a business everything else falls into place. You can figure out what your business will be and even how you will build it, after you have your personal reasoning clearly defined. Why is essential, because in every business - new or acquired - the shit is going to hit the fan. And when it does if you aren't absolutely certain why you are doing what you are doing, you'll drop the ball and run for the hills. If, on the other hand, you know exactly why you are in business, what it is your are striving to achieve, you will stay the course.

The next day Tom and I sat down to discuss my options in business. We talked about growing the current operation, building something new and acquiring new businesses. "If were left without a dollar to my name, I would go out and buy an existing business," Tom said. "Starting something new takes a lot of inertia." Tom is someone who has his why clearly defined - Too never think about money and be free to do whatever he wants. He's had the same crystal clear why for the past twenty years. When looking at Work-Life-Money balance, Tom is hands down the most successful person I know. So he's someone to pay attention to on this subject.

Over the weekend I spoke with Rich and I told him about my conversations with Tom and Jaspar about Why. "That's crazy," he said, "this week I was asking myself the exact same thing!" Rich, like me, is pondering his next move and his genius nature led him to the most important question.

The why can be anything: Money, women, changing the world, fame, helping people, proving yourself, taking care of your family, legacy, power, etc. Usually it will be a combination of many factors. But its useful to try and boil it down to its essence. I've asked myself why over and over and come up with two reasons...

Glory and Freedom.