Today is my birthday. Last year on this day, I made a semi-unplanned declaration to myself: This year I will give myself the gift of sobriety. I didn’t expect it to last. I didn’t really even believe that I was doing it. I have tried to give up alcohol dozens of times in the past, only to continue drinking later that day or the next. At most I would go about a week due to being at a...
Three years ago, I was in the worst shape of my life. I was approaching 300lbs, grabbing fast food at least once a day, and avoiding exercise at all costs. Though I’ve always enjoyed a nice, leisurely hike outdoors, I’ve never been athletic. The only sport in which I participated in high school was track, as a shotput and discus thrower. I did this because everybody who wanted to be...
We are social creatures, and relying on the expertise of others—even when it is to learn something for ourselves—is a part of being human. Just as we can grow by leaning on others, others can thrive when they lean on us.
"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..." So the famous Serenity Prayer begins. Most of us acknowledge the wisdom of accepting the things that are out of our control, that life throws us curve balls and we must learn to accept them. However, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche takes this a step further (as do other stoic philosophers), and claims that we would do our...
Would you like to read more? There are simple tips and tools to make reading more books both painless and enjoyable. Read on to find out!
Everybody wants to read more. Whether it is for pleasure or learning (or for the crazy few, the two go hand-in-hand), we would all benefit from the ability to read a little faster and improve our comprehension of what we are reading.
You don’t have to hire an expensive firm to have a Public Relations (PR) strategy as a startup. The beauty of today’s internet is that anybody has the power to reach tens of thousands, even millions, with a properly timed tweet, hacker news mention, or mention on an influential blog. You don’t have to make it onto a cover story in Inc. or Entrepreneur in order to achieve your PR goals, in fact...
The first step in developing a marketing plan is to become obsessed with knowing your audience. That’s right, obsessed. It doesn’t matter how much money you spend on Google Adwords, or how many conference booths you rent out if you are off-course with knowing who your audience is.
Last week I wrote about the importance of knowing your audience, and tools for getting to know more about your target demographic. This week I’ll be diving into ways to get to know their biggest pain points. We’ll go through the tools available to seek out some potentially unsolved pains that they have, as well as pitfalls to avoid, like why asking them to identify their pain points is a...
Product validation is the crucial foundation for building a successful startup, a process that cannot be taken lightly. Many applications have been built and have consumed many hours and dollars only to discover that potential customers don’t really see enough value to whip out their credit cards.
HI, I'M RYAN. I believe the best way to learn and remember is by writing things down and sharing them with others. This blog exists to help me synthesize and process my journey towards self-improvement.