The word has been running through my head a lot lately- SUCCESS…..

That’s Webster’s definition of success. Kind of drab and unfulfilling I think. Let’s dig deeper-

I originally thought it was feeling like you’ve gotten to where you want to be in life. When you have enough money, enough time, enough friends, enough customers then you’re successful. But successful people don’t stop. They never have enough of anything, which is what makes them successful….. I think.

Then I thought that it might lie in what others think of you. When other folks envy you for what you have, you’re successful. But success should be full of feelings of completion, reward and satisfaction. You don’t get that from other people unless of course you want their praise in the first place. But successful people aren’t looking for admiration from others. At least not the ones that I consider successful.

So maybe success means having the freedom of choice. You’re in a spot in life that you can choose to do what you like, at least within ethical and moral boundaries. I think this is a close definition, but not quite where I want it. You can have plenty of freedom in choice, but never 100%. Regardless of your position in life there are always some outside influences that can’t be controlled.

A part of me thinks that success is being at a higher level than those around you (whatever you take “level” to mean). You may suck less, but the problem with that is there are plenty of people “higher up” than you, regardless of who you are. Especially when you change the parameter from money to family, or possesions to humility.

I can tell you that any of the hundreds of business books around my house don’t have it spelled out. Nor do any of the websites, blogs, email newsletters or podcasts that we consume. It has to be something individual and so private that we can’t express it with words.

On a similar note, I was asked years ago what I wanted to be known for when I was older. My answer was to be a businessman that never turned a bad deal, never hurt anybody and was always honest. I’d like to think I am there now, but I’m not stopping. And that alone hardly makes me successful.

I can tell you some things that lead to success. That in itself is somewhat errant since I can’t really define success…. But, I can tell you it includes getting out of bed everyday with the attitude that you’ll do something bigger and better than yesterday. It means being as true to yourself as possible in finding your path through life. You have to remember that your actions affect others and include that in your decision making. Taking risks a bit beyond your normal comfort level has paid of for plenty of folks. Giving others a hand up and building a community is the way to get there, and have friends when you arrive. Putting up goals that are a bit beyond belief, telling everyone about them, and doing everything you can to make it happen is a good path to take.

My business coach asked me a question that I am still struggling to answer. “What would you be doing if money, time, or location didn’t matter?” Think about that for a minute. If you’re anything like me then your answer changes about every ten minutes. Maybe that’s success- finding the answer to that question.

Maybe success is something that can’t be defined by the individual wondering if they’re successful or not. If you’re always striving for something better, then you don’t consider yourself successful enough. If other people tell you you’re successful it doesn’t really matter since they don’t see things your way, and you want to know it for yourself. Maybe that’s the definition of success to me, never giving up on discovering what will move me/us forward. That would probably be seen as success by others…..

And sincerely- this post isn’t a plead for praise, or a condemnation of any kind. It’s just me sharing my thoughts so that I can find a better path to this thing I can’t define.

Tell me, what is your definition of success? Where do you want to be in 5 years? What’s the next step? And, most importantly, how can I help you get there?

I have been reflecting on the discussion that took place today at the Redevelopment Agency meeting regarding the West Street Market. There were about 20 folks outside of board members that showed up to voice their thoughts including many of the tenants.

The biggest topics presented were the empty lease spaces and the late night events that are taking place without the correct licensing.

The empty spaces are creating a deficit that the agency is paying for without a budget to do so, basically the same story with many commercial properties these days. What surprised me about this is that the agency has no one out selling the property from what I gathered. In addition to that, they are asking for rental rates that are much higher than other space from what I’ve seen (I heard the figure of $2.75/sf + $.65 CAM today, Have seen other spaces for ~$1.80 with similar traffic).

The late night events that are taking place are basically concerts held at Seven’s bar in the market. The issue with licensing comes from the bar not holding a cabaret license, which the code enforcement official said was needed. During the discussion we learned that if the agency were to handle the booking of events then they would not need any special licensing sense they are a “quasi-government” agency and therefore exempt. The owners of Seven informed us that they only started handling the booking of entertainment after the agency had laid off their manager for the property who used to take care of it. Basically, they are being told that they cannot continue successful events only because the city made changes that they had no control over.

There was another interesting bit that came up in the meeting as well- Apparently the agency completely cut the marketing budget for the project to reduce expenses. Now they have a severe lack of business. Anyone see a pattern here?

The meeting was adjourned for the day so that more info could be gathered and a more informed decision reached next week. I am interested to see the outcome.

After soaking in the info I have come to a realization- the West Street Market is a cool idea and a good addition to the downtown community with no direction or leadership. The tenants all seemed positive about the market but do not feel empowered to do what they see necessary to make it work, the agency feels as though they have too much involvement in the project but have not given the reigns to anyone to continue with it. I suggested that the tenants get a formal group together to act as liaison to the city and agency so they would be taken a little more seriously.

In the end there are many, many factors to the issues at hand but I see most of them pointing to a lack of leadership. Problem is that there is no one to pay for that leadership.

I have no real interest other than the satisfaction of being involved but I am left wondering how I can help.

What are your experiences at the market? What would you like to see happen in the space that would give you enough reason to visit?

So I spent the better part of today listening to different folks discuss varied topics relating to interactive media. This was my first time at @nevadainteract, also lovingly known as #nim10, #nims10, #nims2010, #nim2010 or more correctly Nevada Interactive Media Summit.

I listened to quite a few of the folks that live in this world today, the common thread being that you have to be genuine, authentic and transparent. The message triumphs the media, etc., etc. It was all very well done, especially considering the low cost of entry.

After all of that the biggest thing that I learned today is that there is a decent sized group of folks out there that still don’t “get it”. Not thy that’s a bad thing since we were all there at some point. It just leads me to believe that the active users are all selling eachother on eachother’s products (a loose quote from @fuze/Bryan Landabaru).

I heard quite a few explanations of viral video, FireWire, keywords (all in a sadly horrible presentation/sales pitch for and equally horrible black box). Maybe it was just this small sampling of folks, but it seems that the masses really don’t get it.

I’m sitting in The Vintage wine shop, blogging from my iPhone via their free wifi. That in itself encompasses the power of the new media world in which we live. An this is what the masses need to grasp. The converstion can and will happen when it wants or needs to. With or without the business’ input on it.

Using SM in a biz environment is nothing more than joining the conversation that is already taking place. Sure, you need to learn a few basics, the so called “best practices” to make the most of it but that’s no reason to he scared!

If my opinion matters at all to the noobs (that’s slang for newbies, just in case) it is simple- dive in, be part of the conversation, don’t worry about making mistakes (as @mehwolfy/Mike Henderson says, you’ll be in good company) and finally, be yourself.

And to all of the folk that I had my first offline experience with today, I look forward to making fun of your tweets in the future. Ciao!

(in the interest of full disclosure- I have had a few beers and now a glass of wine, I do not work for any media agencies, there are no affiliate links and/or paid ads, I am trying to figure out a way to make money from my ramblings but haven’t yet and finally- it was a great day and tomorrow can only bring more opportunity-enjoy!)