We’ve spent the last few months gathering fans, doing anything short of physically pleasuring people to generate traffic and trying to provide entertaining and informative reads for you and the rest of our audience.

The only downfall is compiling all these stories take time and to really improve the website, our goal is to have all three of us be able to do this full time.

There are a few money making ideas and we’ll be implementing them shortly, but one thing we could definitely use is some sponsorships.

Sure we can try the traditional routes and hit up big time companies like Microsoft, McDonald’s, Wal-Mart or get in cahoots with an oil company.

If I came home to this everyday, I wouldn't mind going to work in the morning.

Everyone and their mother is trying to do that. ManWhole.com needs to rub some new, un-egsma-riddled corporate elbows. We need a new angle, some overlooked titans of industry, because they’re not being pestered for money all the time, and see how that works out.

If you read this website, you know we’re not down with conventional ideas mimicking every other website that sounds like gay porn and tries to make up for it by posting as many pictures of hot girls as possible.

There’s too much of that going on, you can call us a lot of things, but we are not biters.

We’re not like them and hopefully that’s what you love about us.

Here it is, ManWhole.com’s plea with two companies who truly run their industry, but are often overlooked by the general public for some funding.

1. Bemis Toilet Seats

I challenge you, go to your toilet, lift the seat and tell me what you see. Nine out of 10 of you will probably have a Bemis toilet seat. I’ve been a longtime Bemis fan, but always wondered why they didn’t go all out and name their seats Beavis, which would have been funnier, but I guess Harold Bemis III wouldn’t appreciate the humor.

Anytime someone like Home Depot calls up Harold Bemis (don’t know if the company is headed up by someone named Harold Bemis, just follow me here) and wants to break his balls about pricing on toilet seats, I see the conversation unfolding like the final 30 seconds of the WacArnold’s sketch from Chappelle’s Show.

Home Depot: “Listen, these prices just aren’t what we’re looking for, if you want us to do business with you, you’re going to have to lower your pricing or we’re going to call American Standard.”

Harold Bemis III: “Guess what, a new self closing toilet seat is coming out on Tuesday and guess who ain’t getting one? If you want some toilet seats, you’ve gots to go through me. You’re cut off, you’re cut off!”

I'll get this tattooed Mike Tyson style if they want to sponsor our site. You know you want to Bemis.

I talked about how awesome Bemis is with my brother and he was trying to tell me that American Standard was a better all around toilet seat manufacturer, and I couldn’t disagree more. I’m Bemis for life, but when I googled best toilet seat company, a curveball came up as Church toilet seats claims they run it. Now it’s time for you to decide, which toilet seat is the best?

Slogans you say, you want a slogan, here’s one: Lift a Bemis and empty your ManWhole.

Perfect. Harold Bemis III, we’ll be in touch.

2. Bob’s Barricades

Anywhere there is road construction in Florida, Bob’s there to barricade the way.

I get mad every time I see his merchandise all over the highway because I can’t help but think he has one of those old school mob tie-ins and secured a government contract to provide all materials necessary throughout the state.

Bob runs in complete anonymity and no advertising budget.

There’s no other possible explanation of how Bob has been able to keep his stranglehold on the traffic control device industry the way he has. That’s right Bob, start sponsoring the website or I’ll start snitching hardcore.

From Pensacola to Jacksonville, Orlando to Miami and Tampa to Gainesville, Bob has Florida on lock. That’s exactly what ManWhole.com wants, we want to run Florida, so that means we need to team up with Bob.

What really bothers me is you know Bob is now just some old fat guy, think about how South Park portrayed Rob Reiner in the episode “Butt Out”,  that has taken up different hobbies with his smoking hot second wife and turned the business over to his equally fat but more annoying and douchey oldest son.

Bob has time to take up different hobbies, scooting is one of them.

Yes, I did just describe the beginning of Tommy Boy in the last paragraph, but tell me a different scenario of Bob’s life, you can’t.

Slogan: Bob would never barricade the ManWhole.

There isn’t a better possible slogan than that one.

Tell me those two companies don’t tie in with our website perfectly?

I’ll hold a presentation with both companies, bring a boombox, play Audio Two’s Top Billin show them this story and throw the fat stacks in my pockets.

This idea has to be worth minimum $750,000, so I expect a check from both companies within 48 hours.

Seriously, we could link in to their websites and even combine all three three ideas into one mega plan. Let’s say you’re doing some bathroom remodeling, you check our website first for expert construction advice (which we don’t offer) and then order a barricade from Bob, put it in your bathroom to reroute any traffic coming into the room and throw a Bemis toilet seat down and have a better life.

What’s better than reading ManWhole.com while sitting on the comfort of a Bemis toilet seat?

How many plugs can I throw in one story? Give me a video camera and we’ll have the greatest series of commercials ever.

I know Bob and Bemis have advertising executives, but they have to suck ass. Have you ever seen a Bemis commercial? What are they paying them $750,000 a year for when you have me throwing out amazing slogans, that benefit both companies, like the two presented above?

They need more exposure, they need us.

It only makes sense, Bob, Bemis, let’s get this money.

I started my business with my business partner a little more than 4 years ago now. Wow… that sounds like a long time when I write it out like that. It has absolutely flown by. I was working “for the man” when we first started. It was a combination of our ideas and talents and a spin off of what we were already doing. My boss at the time was not happy and didn’t think we could succeed, but thankfully his comments enraged me enough over the last 4 years to bring the business to a modicum of success (but that’s another story).

Anyhoo, as a business owner operating a business that works with new businesses I get the opportunity to review business plans. 90% of the new businesses we deal with don’t have a business plan. We didn’t have a business plan. This is a huge mistake. I never believed in planning, but it is so important. A business plan when done properly will be huge in scope, and there will be a lot of guess work involved in terms of projections, but it prepares you for everything you will have to deal with.

A few months ago we received a request for proposal. A proposal is a detailed summary of the requirements of a job and the solutions/plan we recommend. Since no description of what was needed was provided we went through our normal procedure - we asked that the new potential client fill out our detailed questionnaire.

The client refused and instead sent over an executive summary.

If you are not familiar an executive summary is the summary of your business plan, it is supposed to explain to the reader, in about a page, what the company does and why. Although the document that was sent had the words “EXECUTIVE SUMMARY” smeared all over it, was not.

It took 2 pages to write the names of the key partners and explain in no detail how, they had lots of experience. It used a lot of professional words like “core competencies” and “exciting profit generating” but didn’t actually explain what the fuck the business was, what it would produce or sell, or why the people involved should be involved. As someone that enjoys writing I find it hard to believe that such time and words can be wasted in saying ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It reminded me of the minimum word writing assignments in school where you would try to fill a page by adjusting the margins, spacing, and then expand the number of words and ways to say something in order to waste space.

I read the document, got back in touch with the guy that sent it, told him in a nicer way that basically I had no idea what he wanted and nothing was explained in the document I just read and told him we couldn’t help him.

What’s the Point?

Okay, so here’s what I got out of the situation for you guys. The point is a culmination of events and experiences that came together at that moment. First of all, it seems like the old adage, “the world is ruled by c students” is so true. The truly smart people aren’t on top, it’s those people that are able to leverage others that are on top. So if you are smart, you are already ahead of the rest, and just a small amount of cojones/will/social ability can get you where you want to go. I have seen and dealt with too many asshole, stupid, business people to realize that most of us have an innate advantage over these bastards, but we don’t get as high because we simply don’t know or don’t believe in ourselves enough to try.

Additionally, experience in and of itself is not a prerequisite for success. Having humility and understanding that you are not the most knowledgeable is a huge advantage (while at the same time also taking things with a grain of salt/not believing everything you hear/thinking independently).

The lessons of this article are:

a) have a business plan

b) understand that a lack of experience can be beneficial in that you aren’t tainted by a particular way of thinking

c) don’t get too cocky, experience doesn’t necessarily = intelligence/hunger/ability (sorry about the math)

d) old business people are often just as ignorant as you, sometimes much more ignorant

e) remember, as an old middle school teacher of mine put it, ignorance is a lack of knowledge, stupidity is when you know, but do the wrong thing anyway

The post on QuickSprout titled “The 7 Harsh Realities of Starting a Business” was a great highlight of some of the things that I think everyone should know before starting a business. Here is an abridged version:

• Starting a business is like a roller coaster – There will be ups and downs when you start a business, it’s never as easy as you think, and things rarely go as planned.
• Owning a business isn’t easier than working at a 9 to 5 job - It’s not! In fact it can be a lot harder. I worked around 6 days a week for 15 hours/day when I first started for nearly two years. It took a while to build momentum.
• Consumers have to believe you are solving a problem - Regardless of whether you are selling yourself (services) or you are selling a product, WHAT you are selling MUST solve a problem or it will not be purchased.
• You have to make money – This took a long time to sink in for me. But, the #1 goal of your business is to make money, not just break even… make money – make a profit.
• You have to give a lot to get a little - Particularly in the beginning, if you don’t have a name, a brand, or a loyal following, you may need to give away products or services in order to gain momentum.
• Coolness is inversely correlated to success – Not really sure about this one, although I see Neil’s point on a grander scale. Personally, I think your brand and personal style should be congruent with you, your partners, and/or your employees.
• - This is huge, time is THE MOST IMPORTANT ASSET YOU HAVE, and your time is valuable, not just from a monetary perspective. Know this!

I have read a lot of business books over the years, the E-Myth, Good to Great, Big Book of Small Business. And they were all amazing. Some were encouraging, some pointed out personal flaws, but I find there is a common misconception about success echoed (or highlighted) in a book I just read, called “Outliers” by Malcom Gladwell (review coming later). That general misconception is that:

You will be successful if you work hard enough.

It just isn’t true. I remember having a big debate in our offices about a year ago with our lead sales person and my business partner. They were of the opinion that it was true, that if you work hard enough, you’ll get what you want… and I was of the opinion if you work hard enough AND get lucky… you’ll get what you want. Maybe I was full of shit, here I was in this gorgeous office in Bonita Springs, looking out on a beautiful Southwest Florida sunset, with the Coconut Point Mall as a backdrop arguing (after working my ass off for the last 3 years) that success is not guaranteed.

My major argument at the time had to do with a tsunami, the one that killed thousands at the end of 2004. Did these people not work hard enough, did they “not have a positive enough attitude?” Apparently not!

Around the same time I went to a seminar by one of the creators of “The Secret.” And honestly… I think it’s mostly secret bullshit. First of all, the core of The Secret, and the Law of Attraction, as explained by the seminar presenter is to visualize what you want. Put it  in your mind, think about it, over and over, and align your life with that goal or thing. Look yourself in the mirror and repeat to yourself what it is you want.

Here’s the big problem:

It’s mostly centered around material goods. A TV. A car. A boat. A woman.

As the old saying goes: “If you want to make god laugh show him your plans.”

The problem with all of this is, I have seen too many situations, and been around too many people and read too many stories of people doing everything right (except maybe they didn’t have a positive enough attitude ) and yet, through bad luck, fate, etc. NOT get what they want. And fail miserably.

But the above idea, that there is everything you CAN control, and some things you can’t, has been at the core of my philosophy for business/life for as a long as I can remember, and I wanted to make sure I never forgot it. I believe there is an X factor in life. There is great danger in believing that you can control 100% of your destiny. For one thing, if you plan on having people in your life… you can immediately throw that 100% out.

You can never count on someone else to behave exactly as you’d like. Secondarily, bad shit just happens sometimes.

It comes and goes, ebbs and flows, but ultimately I have realized that:

a) “bad” things (or maybe I should just say – things we don’t anticipate) add spice to life

b) they ultimately lead us to places, people, situations that we love and would not have experienced other wise.

So why is it a danger in believing that through your actions as well as feelings/outlook you control the world:

• When you fail, and YOU WILL!!!, your world collapses. This has happened to me, I believed if I worked hard enough, on a client, a relationship, a legal situation, that they would turn around – they didn’t.
• You will beat yourself up more than you should.  Self-criticism is helpful. In fact, it’s something us guys should do more often. We actually have a biological tendency to NOT do this, and in a way rightly show. We’re all supposed to be the shit, we know we’re the best looking, blah blah blah. But there is a balance between beating yourself up, and just charging along with no reflection.

Doing The Right Thing

With all of that aside what is doing the right thing? Unfortunately, only you know that. I will give a few examples, but ultimately, it is your call on what is right and what is wrong. In many cases there may not initially be a clear answer, or even worse doing NOTHING is the right answer.

Most guys I know work very hard. And sometimes, working hard is exactly what you shouldn’t do, or is at the very least getting in the way of the outcome you’d like. Remember, it may mean saying “no.” In fact, saying no can be one of the most powerful things you can learn.

Doing the right thing will also change depending on your age and your situation.

Examples:

Being upfront and honest about goals and problems – Particularly in business situations this can be uncomfortable. I have lost many a sale because I may have been too upfront and honest. But under promising and over delivering is always a better strategy then under promising and under delivering. To give you an example, I was recently negotiating a partnership. It was only through clear direct communication that a client and myself were able to wade through potential problems down the road and nail them up front leading to a more harmonious relationship down the road.

Coming through, being on time, and adhering to your promises – This one is a big one. I pride myself on being a man of my word. However, life every now and then gets in the way.  This is also a tough one, as there are a number of ways to interpret events/promises. What is good enough for you, might not be good enough for others. For example, recently a colleague asked that I call him and schedule a time to meet to discuss a new project. I did, immediately. After receiving a call a week later requesting a meeting, I didn’t get back to him. I didn’t get back to him because my week was booked. When I was finally able to get in touch he was livid. I made sure to take care of existing obligations first, and wanted a free calendar before I talked to him. We have since scheduled the meeting and are moving forward (truth be told though, this spoke volumes to me of his character and I am not yet sure whether I want to do business with him).

Take care of existing obligations first – This is a biggie. Take care of your existing obligations and take them into account BEFORE making promises or scheduling future events/work. I have had a tendency to try to please everyone, unfortunately when you do that, more often then not you end up pleasing no one (and possibly pissing a bunch of people off). Examine your calendar before scheduling meetings, make sure to give yourself enough time before scheduling another (travel time/prep time).

Take the high road – I have wanted to burn many bridges – personal and professional throughout my life. And I have a few times. But, I try not to.

Recently a client took up TONS of my time, I was eager to get our company working on their marketing and additional websites and so provided free advice and information. All the while this business was having an up-and-coming competitor preform free work in exchange for the “opportunity” to do business with them… behind our back.

The other business agreed, performed said work, and we have since lost the client. They performed a very valuable service for free (which speaks volumes of how they value themselves – but that is another post), albeit poorly. After being told of the situation I personally examined the work that was done and gave the client a quick synopsis on what I thought – evaluating their website. Unfortunately this was interpreted as  “throwing the other company under the bus” and was frowned upon. I was chewed out a little bit on the phone, told how it ‘spoke negatively of my character,” and my company’s character, but after some small smoothing over, the ex-client now knows what they are getting into and there is no bad taste in their mouths.

I wanted to tell them to go fuck themselves and explain what having BOTH of our companies work for free meant of their moral character. But, that only ensures a firing, and means we will NEVER work together. If the opportunity to work together arises again, it will be our decision to work with them.

Taking the high road specifically is one of the best things you can do, but also one of the hardest. And doing so sends mass signals to friends and those around you. It can mean forgiving past familial relationships for their prior transgressions (I love sounding academic) or it could mean not beating the hell out of a business person. Typically, it means listening to your emotions and understanding they are just that… emotions, nothing more. You can choose to respond to anyone and any situation in whatever way you’d like. Sometimes however, emotions themselves bring problems to light.

For example, one of the best things I learned from the book The Big Book of Small Business is:

If you think you need to act… act!

In this particular case, it was applied to poor employee performance. It can be quite a pain in the ass to deal with, reprimand, or fire an employee, particularly someone you are personally close to. But, it needs to be done. On the flip side if you have doubts about your employer(s), business partners, lovers, friends, family… act! Talk to them. If nothing comes of your communication attempt, search for another job, search for another business partner, break up, make a new friend, or kill your family member.

Okay, don’t kill your family member. Unless she calls you asking for assistance printing documents at all hours of the night in an angry tone. I mean come on… you’re asking for my help. You could at least be nice about it.

Love you mom

Everything Came Together

In May of 2008 things seemed to be going great, I had a beautiful girlfriend, I was running a successful company (profits and revenue up 100% over the previous year and we were managing the largest staff we have had to date – 14), I was living with my girlfriend in a nice home, and had a great office. But, something was missing. Around this time we had just signed on a new client, Panache Desai, who was a known as a spiritual teacher, I had heard him mention the name “Eckhart Tolle” a few times. Later on, I was working with a close friend and client on her website, when she too mentioned Eckhart Tolle. I still had no idea what these people were saying, if they were talking giberish or had been suddenly taken over by demons. Regardless, I didn’t think twice about this. Unfortunately, my world was spiraling down around me, I was drinking and eating too much, my relationship had gone to shit, my weight had ballooned and I was completely miserable. It felt like, in a way, I had made it, but there was nothing left. Get married, have kids, go through the motions, and move on.

Next came a call from my father who after reading a book by “Ed Toll” thought he would take it upon himself to tell me everything that was wrong with me. I didn’t want to hear it.

My World Collapsed

Then it came:

• My relationship, with the woman I thought I would marry, collapsed and my world fell down.
• My business lost our office, because the company we were leasing from went out of business.
• Our company’s biggest client, left us for a competitor.
• All of our employees were leaving because of family matters (babies and spiritual issues)
• I found myself, for the first time, living truly alone (not just by myself, but with no significant other).
• My grandfather, one of the closest men I had in my life was diagnosed with Pancreatic cancer and would be dead within a year.

After hearing “The Power of Now” and “Eckhart Tolle” mentioned one final time by my grandparents, I decided that I needed to check it out.

Now, keep in mind I love reading. I have always loved reading. I go through spurts throughout the years, where I devour books, and then don’t pick one up for months or a year, but in all the books I have purchased, in all the books I have read, I had NEVER considered purchasing a spiritual or “religious” book. But, I took all of this as a sign on multiple levels. I didn’t quite no what it meant, these names being repeated, and me hitting rock bottom on so many levels, but I walked into Barnes and Noble one afternoon and took the plunge. I hesitantly searched for the book using a kiosk and casually meandered over to right where I knew I needed to be. I grabbed the blue-green cover from the bottom shelf, sat down and started reading.

A Life Altering Experience… If You Can Listen

The book immediately spoke to me. My mind had been racing, particularly over my failed relationship…”what could I have done? what did I do? how was she? who was she with?”… and it immediately addresses this.

I don’t want to go into too much detail here, but I wanted to share a few things. First, the book is in a question/answer format, so it’s as if you are sitting in a chair adjacent to Mr. Tolle and asking him questions. They are logical, and honestly were things I would have asked. In a sense it’s like a massive psychologist session. As if you are sitting in a chair, addressing your problems to the psychologist and he is answering back. But, the questions are answered more on spiritual level.

My favorite quote that I think sums the book up is:

Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time – past and future – the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.

Why is it the most precious thing? Firstly because it is the only thing. It’s all there is. The eternal present is the space within which your whole life unfolds, the one factor that remains constant. Life is now. There was never a time your life was not now, nor will there ever be. Secondly the Now is the only point that can take you beyond the limited confines of the mind. It is  your only point of access into the timeless and formless realm of Being.

I stared at my watch, when I first read this, watching the second hand tick. And I realized my life was truly unfolding. And we experience everything RIGHT NOW! End of story.

I have since purchased the book 3 times (after giving it away twice) and am reading it for the 4th time. I highly recommend checking it out.

Who are you? Did you have the entreprenurial spirit and decided to embarq on your own quest at a young age? Were you gifted with computers, recruited by friends and family to do web development for their small businesses? Or maybe you and a group of friends realized each of your strengths early in college (one good with management, one administration, one design, another programming) and you ventured off to start your own web business.

The latter best describes my situation.

This article is for you. The guy (or girl) that has always been told you are a genious, particularly when it comes to computers and you’re out on your own, either for sometime, or very recently. First of all the biggest thing you need to understand is that:

Running Your Business has nothing to do with web design/development.

This is really a mantra for all businesses. I can’t tell you how many successful business owners I’ve met that have no clue, technically speaking, how their product works. I am on a committee with a woman who has owned and operated her IT company for many years, very succesfully, and she doesn’t know the first thing, technically speaking, about her product (how to set it up, manage it, nearly everything). In fact, she didn’t even know pricing for specific products.

This is crazy right? She’s an idiot that will be unseated, her business will be taken over by a competitor shortly. Right?

Wrong! You are dead wrong. And the best thing you can do is unlearn or steer yourself from this thinking.

Alternatively I have also seen new upstart businesses who never got the idea. The technicians ran the company into the ground, trying to provide the best products and services, while struggling to do everything, they failed to effectively do anything.

A long time ago I read a book called the E-Myth revisited. It was a fantastic book about business. In a nutshell it breaks people into groups, since I am only recalling from memory I may be off, but I remember technicians and owners/managers. Technicians produce, technicians know and manage the details, owners/managers manage.

You need to view your business in this light. First off all, you as one person can only do so much. And, if you’re anything like me you like it to be perfect (another thing you may need to work on – but we’ll get to that later). If you do design, hosting, xhtml, css, programming, marketing, and the overall client management you have a LOT on your plate. But, don’t forget about the administrative tasks, invoicing, customer information management (passwords, emails, phone calls, etc.), banking, filing… holy crap. But wait, what about future business? Marketing yourself, going to networking events, being on committees, and then actually facilitating and managing a sale. Your best sales take 3+ months to close.

This is too much. You are only one person, you can only do so much.

If you truly want to have a successful business you need to make a choice right now. Are you a technician or are you a owner/manager. If you are a technician that is great, if your passion is amazing designs, or the most efficient XHTML & CSS go for it! But hire a president, outsource the role of owner/manager. In fact, you may even fear this role – you may have really gotten into computers to get away from people and, unfortunately, the role of owner/manager, in any business, requires human interaction. Now, if you are an owner, or would like to try your hand at it great! But, remember, your role has nothing to do with web development.

Don’t worry if this is confusing or seems counter to what you think. There are plenty of professions that force managers/owners into the role of technician and vice-versa, but unless the people in those positions at those kinds of businesses realize this, they are either doomed to fail, or doomed to barely hold on. Let me give you an example. A typical small law firm is like this. The owners, typically lawyers are responsible for nearly everything, sure they have paralegals to pawn off work and assistants to assist, but at the end of the day they are – and are actually required by law to be – the technicians. This holds true for doctors, and even CPAs. Many high-end services operate in this way.

But, if you look at the most successful firms or practices (doctors, lawyers, CPAs) it becomes very clear that someone is at the top, orchestrating the operation, coordinating the marketing and sales and then running the work down through the technicians. And, for these bigger firms – these are the guy’s names in the title. Do we cheetum and how? Definitely, but each one of them were smart enough to know that a few guys can only do so much, and even less if they are directly responsible for every tiny piece of work that comes out of their office.

So back to you. What do you need to do? Well, outsource. No, not to India, but you need to delegate your work to other people. It may take some time to build up cash to protect.

To become successful you need to delegate.

This doesn’t mean you need to lose your technical edge, but you most hone other skills and in order to do so you will need to remove chunks of your own responsibilities in order to make room for your new skills.

Well that’s it for now, in future articles I will get more specific.

Have a good night!