The Blog Of Louis Pagan

MOVING

2009-04-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

If you are here and looking about, I've made a new home for LouisPagan.com with Wordpress hosted by my own server. Please, update your bookmarks. See you there.

(If by chance, the link does not cut over to the new site, then it only means your part of the web has not caught up yet. This usually takes about 20 min to 24 hours - no worries, this is normal.)

1-2-3....Contact

2009-04-06T07:33:00.000-07:00

Reaching deep into a well of contacts on social sites, old media and old friends, because it is not what you know, but who you know.

I'm also starting to make cold contacts. I've learned some techniques while I was in Amway (not a bad word), years ago that need dusting off, as well as some new techniques. Hmm...this would be a great topic for the next post. See you there!

I Twiter, Therefore I am

2009-04-03T18:49:00.000-07:00

I've a number of sites: LatinoPundit.com, LouisPagan.com as well as a private one or two, not to mention some upcoming ones. Each site serves a specific goal. Twitter however...ah Twitter, will server as a conglomerate of everything.

Tweet along, my friends. Tweeeeeeet!

Time Can Be More Valuable Than Money

2009-04-03T05:35:00.000-07:00

I checked my inbox to see what my sub-contractor had completed. A weird satisfaction settled over me as I listened to the embedded song in a flash banner pumping over the speakers - a job several weeks past due. Not bad, I thought. Here I am, looking at a job complete which I had not worked on personally. Sweet!

Being extremely busy, I hardly have time to do everything I want, not to mention things that I don't want to do. It's true - I could have done it myself if I commited to a few hours of work (I'm leaving out that the software would of cost upwards of $100, but the main fact of the matter is that I did not want to lean over my monitor for hours doing this job). However, I thought sub-contracting to someone else and taking a small cut was a better way of managing my time.

Ultimately, time is more important than money for me. After all, the reason for trying to amass a large sum of money is to free oneself from matters that eat up all their time...I would think so anway.

Is Your Brand Bull?

2009-03-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

I see a lot of people using slick buzz words, and playing/dressing the part. Usually, after a few minutes or days of talking/working with them one begins to realize that they are not "The Real McCoy," and when it comes down for show and prove time they come up lacking.

The old package of "we are all salesmen," has been repackaged with the ultra-slick catch phrase: "Brand You." It's basically the strategy of selling yourself and projecting an image of success (or however you want others to perceive you).

~~You can read about the benefits at iHispano.~~

There is more info about this out there, and I recommend (for those w/ [shorthand for with] limited time, Tom Peters I enjoyed most - 2&3):

(Note: again, you have to read #2 as this was the article (back in 1997) that coined Brand You. Although, self-branding as been around for a while it is gaining renewed attention because of recent excitement concerning Twitter.)

All of that in of itself is great for getting attention, but now what do you have to back it up...to be of any value? Go read "The Brand You Is Dead. Long Live The Brand You Build." Put concept A (Brand You) and concept B (Brand You Build) together, and you know have a solid brand w/ purpose that will prove over and over again that your brand is no bull.

The Power Hour

2009-03-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

We all are busy. But, if I let that be my excuse not to get anything done, and not to advance then I'm really not fighting back. Many things take up my valuable time and I counter this by waking up an hour early to get some things done. It's my power-hour.

I don't mean doing the laundry or getting some project done, or catching up on chores. None of that. I do some things that will help out in the long run. Like write this blog post and long hours after when I am stuck in the trenches of labor this post is still spreading far and wide working for me. Or, I may put together a business plan or initiate a task to continue to work for me once the hour is up.

I suppose I don't have to get up an hour early, I guess I could spend an hour late at night, or dedicate one in the early afternoon, but that is my preference for now. It's like Wheaties for an entrepreneur...my vitamin for the day.

Lie To Me

2009-03-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

I've read in many places that the one person we lie to most of the time is ourselves. Hands down guilty. For example, I love writing (it's not the writing I love, but the enjoyment I get from interacting with others). One of the most glorified class of writers are the novelists (IMO). The excellent ones become immortal. Put together my passion for writing and reading (two sides of the same coin), I think myself as a budding novelist.

Ha! BS.

I dislike reading novels and struggle to finish more than half of them. I dislike making up the fluff that fills the pages of novels - it feels like I am writing a story for a kid. Okay, I am being a little too hard, but this is a practice in honesty. I do like writing, but lean more toward the side of reality-based content. I have books on grammar, small business, martial arts, spirituality, religion, how-to-books, and the list goes on. The minority of my books are probably novels.

I've taken this idea and have faced the truth on a few things.

A job jus' ain't gonna get you rich, hoss. I think we all accept that.
Going in to business for oneself is a risk and scares the shit out of you. Yup, it is scary.
Just as much as the $$$, you want to party like a rockstar.

I'm gonna take a crack at that last one. It's not really the money I want, but what it could do...what it could buy...what I won't have to do anymore, if I had enough of it. Lifestyle. I think I've been looking at the problem from the wrong end. In the game of poker, the correct method of play is not to worry about the money, but just play every hand correctly. No matter what happens, just keep playing correctly: the money will follow! Same thing here, I gather. Keep making the right decisions and right actions, get out of the comfort zone and the money will have to follow.

The puzzle has a lot of pieces. This is one small piece that I've corrected. I'm not going to go an fix every defficiency I have, but I have changed some that I feel live at the base. I'm not going to sit here and lie to myself and say I want to be a perfect person. I would like to be, but I know that just is not possible (and I didn't say it's not something to work toward). The truth can be difficult, but without it things just become impossible.

The Entrepreneur

2009-03-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

There are not going to be any specifics in this post. I am going to keep it absurdly vague and general.

In a week's time, I came up with three business ventures. As well as how to get the leg work done faster (and more importantly - smarter). I am all about streamlining now.

It's funny though...it was more exciting while I was brainstorming, but now that I am actually getting the proverbial ball rolling the excitement has calmed down a few notches. Maybe that energy is now being transmuted into the actual work. Hmm.

I managed to buy a Covey Franklin Day planner on eBay today for about $7 ($14 w/ shipping). It's leather and full sized. I am old school I guess and like to think with a pen in hand rather than tap ideas and plans on iPods, Blackberrys, and other PDA's. I also started to sketch out my business entity as it exists today and will look like in the next couple of weeks. (Okay, not so vague here.)

I have to contact a bunch of old friends and associates, as well as make new ones. From blogging, previous sales ventures and new insight I have this uncanny feeling that I was built for entrepreneurship. I looked back at some old books and found mail order business books, small business books, salesmanship books (and we are all salesmen). Therein, I found old ideas and old logos which have added fuel to the fire.

Some ideas I have are extremely unorthodox, but not impossible (I am sure there are others already doing it). The economic timing is perfect as this is the perfect time for small and specialized business.

Well, enough for now. It's getting late and the eyelids are getting heavy. More soon.