Wow, been a while since I’ve seen you blog. How are things?

This post may be a little self fulfilling. But I’m not really looking for accolades as much as I want to record the thoughts and realizations I have today….

HOLY CRAP I’VE LOST WEIGHT!!!

Somewhere around summer of 2006 I went to the doctor for a physical. The nurse asked how much I weighed as I stepped onto the scale. “270 or so….” I was scared, shocked and sad when she pushed the marker past 300….

309 pounds that day around 6 years ago. Today, I weighed in at 238 before breakfast. So, about 70 pounds and change. But, I’ve dropped 35+ of that since last May.

The numbers are good. And I’d like to get to around 220 with less body fat. That’s why I’ve been at the gym weight training lately. Should be able to hit that goal by summer time or so I think thanks to a my friend and trainer Bryan Eidem.

Anyway, what REALLY shocked me was the clothes I pulled from the closet this morning. You see, I have a shopping problem. Since I buy clothes 2-3 times a month (I know….) I don’t really see how they fit differently as my weight and sizes drop. Today I had to make some room for a few new purchases…..

Tangent…… I picked up a rad grey denim jacket from Ralph Lauren’s “Denim & Supply” line at Macy’s. Normal price was $220, I paid $36. It’s a motorcycle cut- angled zippers, waist buckle and all. There’s a sale on sale items happening through tomorrow in the Men’s department.

And back to the story….. As I grabbed the shirts that have been pushed to the end of the closet and not touched for a bit I figured I could start the elimination process by seeing which of them didn’t fit well anymore. Here is the first shirt I tried on-

And on it went until I had a large pile of shirts, a few pants (still more to go through) and a couple of jackets that are too big to even have tailored down. The good news is that I get to do some more shopping!!! The bad news is that most of these clothes are quality labels. Shirts from $80-200 that have been worn a few times at most. Some of them once….. Labels like Visconti Uomo, Joseph & Feiss, Claiborne, along with some more everyday wear mid line stuff. I cleared out 23 hangers so there’s close to a couple thousand dollars worth of clothes there….

Anyone wear a XXL or 18.5/36-37 shirt, 40X32 pants or 52 tall jacket that needs some clothes?

In other news, this marks 100 posts on the blog!!! I going to celebrate by grabbing burgers and cocktails with some friends over at CommRow. Then tomorrow, back to the high protein, low carb world of fat burning goodness.

Cheers!

If you’ve been reading my blog the last few weeks then you know that my career life has changed drastically.

Over the last month or so I have spent a lot of time delving deep into my personality, learning more and more about my values, desires, passions and goals as they relate to both my work and personal lives.

It is really very interesting to spend some time doing this. We all feel that we know ourselves well enough, but when you learn to consciously think about what makes you tick and relate that to your everyday interactions it opens up a whole new understanding of how you are perceived by others and why your life naturally follows a path without your active input.

The other interesting thought that relates to this self exploration is that if you spend your career doing something that you love it doesn’t seem much like work anymore. I spent years of my life working in the foodservice business, cutting meat, cooking, selling, managing, marketing and more. The whole time I felt as though I was doing what I loved, and at the time I did.

Over the years it seems as though my real passion for what I was doing came from a few different areas-

• Helping people with buying meat, preparing dinner, planning parties
• Developing and executing marketing plans to increase business or customer loyalty
• Resolving issues with operations, employees, customers, etc.

The common thread that runs through all of these is problem solving. Turns out I’m fairly decent at it too…..

It wasn’t the act of cutting and wrapping the meat, or preparing a dish for a group of folks, as much as it was the act of creating a plan to solve whatever “problems” needed to be resolved. These problems ranged from a customers recipe that they didn’t quite understand to figuring out how to cook fried chicken on a beach in Tahoe (and keep it hot and crispy for hours).

In the search for a new career I have started writing down two lists, one of things that I CAN do and the other with those that I WANT to do. Hopefully I can find a great opportunity in making a living by doing something that I want, or love, to do.

Here is part of the list of “Can do’s”, I picked the ones that most people don’t know about me….

• Woodworking
• Carpentry
• Residential electrical, plumbing, tile, landscaping
• Auto repair, customization
• Welding- structural and artistic with MIG and Gas
• Custom car stereo design, build and installation
• Custom build PCs and basic networking
• Intermediate graphics design
• Basic web design
• Navigation by map and/or GPS
• Digital music recording, editing and production
• Digital video editing

The whole list is about 80 items long at this point, and growing. Now the interesting thing is that out of 80 things on the “Can do” list I have only a handful on the “Want to” list. Out of all the hobbies and interests that I have in life there is that one recurring theme that keeps me coming back to each one- the creative problem solving.

Right now I see my future career lies in something where I can bring others together to solve an issue at hand, most likely in a small business atmosphere. Whether it is in marketing, management, pricing , etc. the new career will involve working strategically with others.

So, what are we working on? What can I help you with?? Let’s create something great!

Up until 2 years ago I thought I had life fairly well figured out…..

Had a good career with the family business that had been going strong for many years, live in a modest house, had the money I needed to do what I wanted to do for the most part. Then the family business started getting a little rocky and the salary got cut back. No biggie, it will turn around. Well it didn’t.

Two rough years of balancing checking accounts every day, asking for more credit, putting out fires. Eventually it started getting to me to the point that I didn’t feel successful anymore. Every day at work was a dreaded one.

When we finally realized the business was going to close it was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Funny how that worked….35 years of successful business going down the tubes and it’s a relief?

It gave me a chance to sit back and think about what I really wanted out of life. I started working with Andy Hill at Life Compass to really get down deep inside my personality and figure out what drives me. We haven’t found all of the answers yet but I can tell you that I feel super confident that nothing will hold me back now!!!

So here I am, no income, house payment is behind, sold off some toys (bye bye Firebird…..), yet I am happier than ever for the most part. I guess it all comes down to confidence in myself and knowing that the future will hold better things.

Now that you know where I’m at here are some of the projects I’m working on, in no particular order-

1. Building my personal brand- a la Gary Vaynerchuk
2. Finding new and interesting networking venues- both online and real life
3. Developing my pet project at buylocalreno.com
4. A few new website ideas- a wine and food tasting social site will be the first focus at babblewine.com and/or socialsavor.com
5. Spending more time with my dog
6. Working on a better relationship with family and friends
7. Going to talk with Lotus Radio about helping them with some internet marketing
8. Helping some business colleagues with social media marketing
9. Working on a restaurant consulting idea
10. Enjoying the hell out of the free time that I have to work on new projects!

Seems like a ton, but that is one of the very true things that I figured out about myself in working with Andy- I need change, lots of it, and frequently. So that’s where I’m at- what’s new with you? Anything fun and exciting that really gets you thinking lately? Please share your thoughts….

And if any of these projects sound interesting to you, let me know and we will find a way to work together to make it great.

I seem to always be thinking about “the next big thing”. Maybe one of these days I will find the one that works for me.

Today I was exiting the freeway on one of those nifty roundabout type exits and had a thought. Here in Reno, we must have a dozen or more of those exits, most full of weeds. Why not use that land to build a business?

There are some pros and cons for sure-

Pros-

• Everyone exiting the freeway will surely see your business
• If you could work it out with the city/county or whoever owns the land, I am guessing it would be fairly inexpensive
• You have a freeway entrance right into your driveway!!

Cons-

• You would have to deal with the city/county as a landlord, I am guessing that they need access to those areas at some point which might interfere
• Exiting your parking lot would mean a game of frogger with the passing cars
• You can only enter from one direction

Now I have seen businesses built on bridges over freeways, but never one right in the middle of the exit. I’m thinking a gas station would be a good choice.

Anyway- that’s my random thought for the day….