1. "How Entrepreneurs Become Visionary Leaders"
2. "Why Leaders Lose Their Way"
3. "The Success Equation"
4. "Be The Steve Jobs Of Your Company"
5. "Why Engineers Could Make The Best Business Leaders"
6. "The 8 Steps to Authentic Leadership"
7. "The 3 Visions of a Leader"
8. "This One Leadership Quality Will Make or Break You"
9. "Why We Prefer Visionary Leaders"
10. "10 Secrets of Successful Leaders"

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Running a business can feel like a roller coaster.

There can be times when you feel invincible, that everything's going your way, that you can do no wrong.  But there can also be times when the world weighs heavy on your shoulders, that things just won't go your way, and that you can't catch a break.  Stick around long enough as an entrepreneur and you'll experience them all.

So, as an entrepreneur, how do you keep from losing perspective, to weather those highs and lows for exactly what they are-- the temporary ups and downs of growth?  The key is to maintain balance at all times.
 
As Michael E. Gerber, author of E-Myth, once said “The entrepreneur sees opportunities everywhere we look, while many people see only problems everywhere they look.”  Optimism is arguably the single most important factor to an entrepreneur’s success.  At the same time, a healthy dose of realism is not only helpful, but crucial to your survival.  Think of the two sides of your brain.  You must use your left brain’s logical power to keep success from going to your head.  Simultaneously, exercising your right brain's emotional power will keep those dark times from getting you down.  To find balance between those opposites, here are the four questions an entrepreneur simply MUST ask themselves, in good times or in bad

Question #1: "Are We In A Growing Business Sector, or A Dying One?"

If times are tough, you may wonder if they'll ever cease.  Likewise, if business is soaring, you may unwittingly be free-falling toward the end.  In either case, ask yourself: are your opportunities growing, or shrinking?  The fact is, paradigms do shift.  Specific technologies become extinct.  If the demand for what you offer is dying, you'd better act fast!  Innovate, or the best you can ever do is merely postpone the inevitable.

Question #2: "What Is Our Position In the Market?"

Regardless of circumstance, your position in your marketplace is key.  Is your company the top dog?  A bottom feeder?  An up-and-comer?  Your market position shows what you do well, what you do less well, and what you don’t do at all.  More than a mere peer comparison, this question actually reveals where your opportunities lie.  It’s your road map to success!  But how you get there is another question.  Thus:

Question #3: "Is Our Current Business Model Broken?"

Your business model must answer this simple question: “how will you generate enough revenue to meet not only your expenses but also earn a profit?”  It’s as simple as that.  If you are not making profit, your business model is broken.  Like a flat tire, you must fix it.  Your sales, your rates, your expenses...  An easy tweak may be all you need.  But sometimes, you may need an entirely new business model.  To do that, you'll really need your optimism AND your realism.

The Most Important Question: “Why Am I Doing This?”

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, once said, “chase the vision, not the money, and money will end up following you.”  As an entrepreneur, ask yourself-- what makes you wake up every day and do what you do??  There are millions of ways to make money, to support yourself or your family...  You chose this industry, this company, this life path for a reason.  What is it?  What drives you?  In other words: what is your vision?  This answer determines every decision you make-- from the external, to the internal, to the unconscious.  Here, you weigh the idealism that drives you with the practicalities that make it “real.”  This is where optimism and realism go hand in hand; where your left brain and right brain work together in harmony.

Change can be tough.  But change is necessary.  Change is also vital, inspiring, and even invigorating.  After all, change is rebirth!  Whatever your path, the key to success comes when you have the courage to ask yourself the tough questions and face the opportunity your answers reveal.  That's what being an entrepreneur is.  It's how we commit, over and over, to making our visions realities.  And vision isn’t subject to those ups and downs of the roller coaster.  In a world of change, your vision is constant.

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Happy 5th Birthday to us!  Last week we celebrated our 5th year anniversary milestone and the team reflected back on some of the key milestones that helped make this anniversary celebration possible:August

The Power of Bootstrapping.  In 2006, I founded the agency in his one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles using $10,000 from his own pocket. He formed the company to meet the growing demand for technical consultation and execution needed by large traditional advertising agencies and small to medium-sized businesses looking for website, game, and application development. Today, the agency is recognized by its ability to create and deliver interactive experiences that capture attention, delight audiences and demonstrate results. We have grown to 40 employees across two offices and achieved over 5,000% growth in revenue in our first five years!

Taking Time to Diversify. In 2008, looking to diversify the business beyond the entertainment market, The1stMovement merged with AVO Group, a Denver-based independent strategic consultancy led by Ann Van Orsdel.  Since being named president of T1M,  Ann has successfully taken our business to new heights and the rapid growth was recognized by Inc. Magazine in 2010, when T1M joined the ranks of the Inc. 500 "Fastest Growing Private Companies in America."

Making the List. In addition to recognizing T1M as one of the "fastest growing private companies in America" for achieving over 1,000% growth in three years, Inc. magazine also named me as one of the “Top 10 Asian Entrepreneurs in America” in 2010. T1M has also made the list of the "Top 20 Advertising Agencies" for both the Los Angeles and Denver Business Journals!

Going for the Gold. T1M’s ability to balance creative form and technical function with sound strategy to produce memorable campaigns that deliver ROI for some of the world’s most renowned brands, including Adobe, AT&T, Cisco, Comcast Entertainment, and PENTAX, has led the agency to numerous awards.  These include the Webby, the ADDY, the Stevie, and the Communications Arts and Horizon Interactive awards, as well as a prestigious Emmy® award in the Interactive Television Technical Excellence category.

Creating a Culture Where Employees Count. T1M is dedicated to helping its employees achieve the ideal work/life balance. Company-sponsored lunches, happy hours, events such as a "Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake-off" and an annual off-site company retreat are organized to continue to foster T1M’s positive company culture.  An employee-led “culture committee” was also created and tasked to continue improving company morale, increase operational efficiencies, enable learning and growth and create opportunities for T1M to give back to its communities. As a result, T1M was recognized by LA Business Journal in 2010 as one of "Best Places to Work in Los Angeles."

Celebrating five years marks a major milestone for T1M, and for me personally.  I’m extremely grateful for our team, our partners and loyal clients…each has a role in fostering the innovative work and accolades we’ve achieved.  I can only imagine the accomplishments we will experience over the next five years and beyond

Happy Birthday to us and here's to many more!

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Tweak Content for Tablets
Tablets demand that we address a new length of attention span -- not as short as the one needed to use smartphones, but not as long as the one needed to use a laptop or desktop. The new way of interacting by gesture has created technical and creative challenges too. Consumers are using these devices in innovative ways to satisfy their needs.

So media companies need to tweak the way they present content -- but that’s nothing new. They’ve been doing these kinds of tweaks ever since the explosion of the Internet and mobile devices, so it shouldn’t be a surprise to those who’ve embraced these other platforms. (It’s probably not as big a challenge as, say, the expansion of social media.)

Advertisers Must Innovate
For advertisers, on the other hand, there’s a much greater challenge. They’re still learning how to effectively advertise on “older” platforms -- such as the Internet and mobile devices. Few have had consistent success or have a formula that guarantees ROI. In the meantime, people are still discovering new ways of using tablets to consume content. In this market, where consumers have full control of what they want and don’t want to see, advertisers have to constantly innovate to keep up with customers’ desires.

The agency role is to help brands understand these customer desires -- to analyze and try to anticipate consumers’ ever-changing needs in order to influence their decision-making process. Agencies need to be nimble and open-minded and collaborate with brands so that, together, they can use key consumer insights to generate and execute innovative ideas that result in measurable ROI.

The Key to Effective Campaigns: End Users
Understand that your clients might not have the tolerance that you have for risk-taking. It’s an agency’s job to both challenge and collaborate with clients, to justify effort versus value, and hold ourselves to creating measurable ROI. Remember to build with the end user in mind.

It’s important to stay on the bleeding edge, but be careful not to get it into your head that you can change people’s behavior. You can’t. The most effective campaigns are ones that push user experience to the limit -- without forcing people to relearn that experience.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons/ Yutaka Tsutano

This is an article published on IT Insider Online and you can read the entire article here.

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The Year of Tablets… and TV?:
With all the hype in the beginning of 2010 about mobile and smart phones, tablets ended up stealing the spotlight.  While smart phones will continue their dominance, if this year’s CES is any indication (and it usually is), the convergence of all things mobile is near.  Tablets will get smaller, faster, be more user-friendly with hardware giants fighting to decrown Apple as the initial king.  There will be new, unexpected players like the Vizio phone and “old” players like Motorola’s powerful 4G smartphone and its first tablet to run Google’s Android 3.0.

The real winner will be the brains behind the shell (Apple, Google and perhaps Microsoft, RIM and HP) who will continue to fight the OS battle. Apple clearly is the leader with Google catching up fast but I am definitely excited to see what the others might have in store.

With all the hype surrounding next gen tablets, smart phones and all these “new” digital devices, it wouldn’t be a surprise if TV, yes TV, gets a real big revolution in 2011.  We have already seen Apple, Google and Microsoft make their cases on the new TV platforms. Now adding another technology giant, Cisco in the mix, we should expect an even-improved Internet TV experience – combining digital TV, online content, social media and more.   Last year saw Apple’s hardware driving significant software change, this year I believe we will see a slight shift in reverse.  It’s about building a platform that would converge all digital devices in our everyday life.

For us agencies, 2011 should prove to be another exciting, but challenging year.  We will clearly have to continue to invest in our focus of technology. However, with new devices, platforms and no clear winner or standard, brands will once again look to us to provide holistic consumer experiences that not only need to be strategically on-point, but also incorporate extended reach to all these different and ever-changing platforms.

Facebook goes global while we get local:
It would be hard to argue 2011 will be another banner year for Facebook, and it’s easy to immediately think social network = Facebook from its success in 2010.  With an enormous valuation, influx of money and let’s not forget the growing-by-the-day user base and profits, Facebook doesn’t look like it’s going to slow down anytime soon.

While Facebook is already used in close to 100 countries worldwide, its ever-growing Facebook Connect has easily justified its global reach.  With its massive network, it’s easy to see why other social media providers simply forget about building an exclusive network, but rather just hoping to take a piece of the pie from Facebook’s established communities via Facebook Connect.

But one thing we will probably continue to see is the explosion of location-based services.  Foursquare and Yelp are “old-timers” while we can safely assume new services that would again connect our life in all aspects. Advertisers will continue to gain more consumer behavior insights as they get more connected to their social network (well, Facebook at least) and continue to look to their marketing teams, agencies and even their customers for innovative ways to not only use social media as an awareness-driven channel, an engagement platform, but more importantly, the platform that they can actually monetize.

Technology will rule the Advertising Industry:
This shouldn’t surprise anyone working in the industry as these days, the “coolest” project/campaign often involves some innovative ways of using an emerging technology.  While the “big” idea, the tear-jerking copy and the glamour photoshoot will continue to drive revenue from advertising for brands, effective and clean technical executions will increasingly be a deciding factor for a successful campaign.

Combining that with new and ever-changing platforms, building a campaign that has the reach, frequency and consistency is no longer enough.  Scalability and portability across multiple platforms has to be the focus of agencies to justify the ROI for brands.  The hottest commodities in the ad industry will no longer just be the Don Draper of the Old Madison Avenue, but the Kevin Lynch-equivalent of the New Silicon Valley.   

The rise of a New type of Ad Agency:
The talk of Traditional vs. Digital will fizzle and the New “Hybrid” Ad Agency will emerge.  The 5000 pound gorillas known as traditional agencies will continue to be more digital focused while the smaller digital agencies will move more into the traditional media space.  While I believe the AOR model will continue to take its new shape and brands will continue to experiment with multiple agencies to find the best “ideas”, agencies that focus on strategic vision, wider angle and platform reach will continue to strive.  Those utilizing consumer insights and analytics to prove higher return on investment will be crowned Kings and Queens amongst all the ad agencies.

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A vision.  A goal.  A dream.  How My Story Began.

Imagine this: eight years ago I was bored, lost, and on the career track to nowhere.  Today, Inc. Magazine recently named me one of the Top 10 Asian Entrepreneurs in 2010.  Kind of a crazy transition, right?  A group of MBA students at the University of Southern California thought so too.  They invited me to come speak to them.  How did I get here?  This article is a follow-up to my speaking engagement at USC Marshall School on October 28th, 2010.

How does an Asian Stereotype “Math Nerd” become a Silicon Valley Developer “Geek,” and then an Entrepreneur and CEO?  Likewise, how does a technology-focused company succeed in the highly-competitive world of creative advertising?  These are great questions.  The answer, as always, is a story.

After all, that’s what advertisers do.  Every day, we help clients create an emotional, engaging experience that resonates with their customers (influencing their buying decisions) by telling stories.   So, to answer their questions, I set out to tell them a little of my story.

I probably had a different upbringing than most Americans: born in New York, raised in Hong Kong, only to be shipped back to a boarding school in California.  Due to my “lack of effort” in school, I became a part of the “Parachute Kids” phenomenon.

Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos, synthesizes something about Asian culture in his book “Delivering Happiness”

“The accomplishments of the children were the trophies that many parents defined their own success and status.  We were the ultimate scorecard.”

My parents were both very successful in their fields.  My dad was once the youngest executive in high finance on Wall Street.  My mom is a famed pianist and piano instructor.  While I had graduated High School and College, I was far from any sort of “success.”  I love my parents deeply, but in our culture, there is a lot of pressure to succeed and a load of expectations.  I was not living up to what they had imagined.

True to the Asian Stereotype, I chose Mathematics as my major– mainly because it was the only subject I was good at.  And, like most graduates from the late 90′s, I was distracted by the Dot Com boom.  I took my skills up to Silicon Valley, determined to join a start-up, cash out my stock options, and retire by the time I was 25.  If that wasn’t success, I didn’t know what was.  Status would be mine!  That’s what I thought, anyway.

I joined such a start-up in the summer of 1999.  6 months later, I was bored and uninspired.  I felt like a puppet.  A nameless cog in a great machine.  After some long, dark nights of the soul, I realized something was wrong.  The life I was living didn’t match the picture in my head.  I wasn’t chasing money.  I cared nothing for “making it rich.”  That was all a distraction from a kernel of a nugget of thought of an idea.  I couldn’t describe what it was.  But it was there, in my imagination.

Then, I read a quote from Steve Jobs.  He said,

“I want to put ding in the Universe.” 

Bang!  That was it.  That was me, too.  In my head (and my heart), I had a vision of me, surrounded by people, making a difference.

As a “programming geek,” the so-called “unsung hero,” I assumed my vision meant I wanted to make an impact on the front line.  I thought I wanted things to happen faster.  And with more “Flash.”  And, for a little while, I was right.

I joined another small agency.  They did a lot of web design for some very well-established brands: Apple, HP, Disney…  Soon, I was creating high-profile websites.  Millions of people saw them every day.  I worked my way up the “front line,” becoming a Director of Technology.  Before I knew it, I WAS making a difference.  But slowly, that feeling came back.  I was bored again.  My imagination was drying up.  After some careful thought, I realized my vision had evolved.

My vision was more than just making a difference.  I wanted to be a part of something BIGGER than myself.  Something meaningful.  I wanted a company where everyone felt like a team, united in the pursuit of a common goal.  Strangely enough, my vision wasn’t about “me.”  It was about “us.”  And I wanted us to be, of all things…  HAPPY.

That’s when I realized my vision wasn’t evolving.  It was coming clearer.  Like a lens coming into focus, I was losing the blurriness distracting me from the life I imagined.

Now, this didn’t make much sense.  The advertising industry has long been recognized as one of the most stressful jobs you can have.  It was recently named America’s 9th most stressful job.  As a rule, it’s a constant emotional and mental challenge.  High-pressure situations.  Major clients.  Long, irregular hours.  High turnover.  Tight deadlines.  People having heart-attacks.  They’ve long been the standard for the industry.  But my vision didn’t fit that paradigm.  In my mind (and my heart), people were connected to what they made at work.  They felt ownership and pride.  But they also had something else: a life.

In all, I spent 10 years working for different agencies.  Large and small, successful and unsuccessful.  All the while, my vision came clearer and clearer.  Could a technical person survive, much less actually propel, the highly-creative advertising industry?  People said no.  My imagination said yes.

I grew more and more determined to build an agency where technology was not an afterthought; where we will continue to do great work for great brands but with the proper work/life balance.  More importantly, I wanted a place where people can’t wait to go to work.  I wanted a place where everyone knew they were a part of something bigger than themselves– not just cogs in a machine.  Each and every people was a meaningful part of something new.  A movement.  Together, my vision said, we can accomplish great things.

Today, four years after I started The1stMovement, Inc. 500 voted us one of the “Fastest-Growing Companies in America.”  We have two offices and 40 full-time employees.  The Los Angeles Business Journal just awarded us the one of the 2010 “Best Places to Work.”

These recognitions might serve as a reminder that I accomplished what I had envisioned.  And awards are nice, they’re all well and good, but nothing beats the proof I see every day.  I work somewhere I can’t wait to be.  I wake up every day, eager to plunge into battle with my team, working to build something bigger than ourselves.  Every person I’ve brought on is chasing that same vision.  In this disconnected world, we are connected.

And that’s when I realized that’s what my vision was: connection.  I just didn’t realize how large that vision was, at first.  Today, I know I want to connect people all over the world.

So that’s how I got here.  But each morning, I go through my mental check list.  I believe it’s why I got here.

• “What is my purpose?”

There’s nothing like losing your purpose to teach you what it is.  Once I saw that quote by Steve Jobs, I realized what I had to do.  Everything needed to work toward creating that ding in the universe.  Today, I ask myself this question a hundred times a day.  Is this task in line with my purpose?

• “Am I acting like a boot-strapper?”

Doing things myself is how I got here.  I was a programming “geek.”  That’s my identity.  But entrepreneurs are not superheroes.  You must bring in others to achieve your goals.  And yet, as I approach each new goal, I face it from a self-sufficient point of view.  How can we do this with as little external help as possible? How can we stay independent and enjoy the freedom that comes with it?

• “Am I fishing where the fish are?”

One big thing the dot-com bust taught me was it’s easier to satisfy a demand than to create one.  When I saw the “Entertainment” pond dry up during 2009, we flourished because of our “Hi-Tech” clients.  Today, I want to know there is a need for what we are about to do.  Where there is a need, there is a way.

• “Am I improvising and innovating?”

Switching from the English-style Hong Kong education system to the American one changed everything about me.  I thrive by challenging the status quo.  There is a tremendous demand for that.  The1stMovement is about moving forward.  Improvisation and innovation are the ways that happens.  That and failure.  You can never be afraid to “fail.”  Failure only leads to something bigger and better– so long as you can improvise and innovate.  And most importantly:

• “Is the glass half-full?”

Someone once told me you can quickly tell who’s in charge during a crisis.  It’s the most positive, optimistic person in the room.  Being an entrepreneur, you can look at the glass as being half-empty or half-full.  What I have learned is the glass is always half-full.  Always.

Like I said, I am in the business of telling stories.  But this is just the beginning of my story.  Whether I knew it or not, a vision led me here.  All I did was follow it.  It continues to drive me today.  As John Lennon once said, “you won’t get anything unless you have the vision to imagine it.”

So what drives you as an Entrepreneur?  What’s YOUR vision?  Whatever it is, imagine it.  Now.  Your story has begun.

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Wouldn't it be great if someone would hand you a road map when you decide to launch your own business in an emerging or unproven industry? Of course, that doesn’t happen, but I have found, as many entrepreneurs have, that with a lot of hard work and determination, an emerging industry can become a profitable one. Here are five keys to success I’ve learned along the way while building my digital agency, The1stMovement, in the emerging digital marketing/advertising industry and have the honor of leading it to become one of Inc. 500 "fastest growing companies in America":

1. "Fish where the fish are" - Focus on meeting an existing demand instead of creating one. This is one of the most important lessons I learned from going through the Dot-com Bust while working in Silicon Valley in the early 2000s. It’s far better to address an existing need in the marketplace than it is to create a product or service that you think people need and then try to generate demand for it.  I started at a time when I felt like the advertising industry was "craving" technology excellence.  So my decision to move from Silicon Valley, with my "geeky" technical background, to Los Angeles, known for its creativity but not so much for technical execution, proved to be a perfect springboard for me to start my business.
2. Improvise and innovate - Find new ways of doing the same old things. Instead of trying to reinvent our competitors' products and services, we believe in observing their successes and mistakes, then come up with innovative new ways do it better and more efficiently.  In a time when Los Angeles advertising agencies were competing for the attention of big Hollywood Studios by pitching their best "ideas," we focused our efforts on getting the attention of well-funded Fortune 50 clients like Adobe and Cisco with our technical expertise and track record for getting things done.  That "sales pitch" proved to work and we continue to lead with technology, but compliment it with ROI-driven strategies and sexy creative for all of our clients. 
3. Adopt the mindset of a bootstrapper - Even if you have millions in funding from outside investors, run your business as though every dime is coming from your own pocket. You’ll quickly find that you’ll be forced to be more creative and innovative in your decision making. Not only will you avoid wasteful spending (another dot-com lesson), but your funds will go much, much further toward meeting your business objectives.  Challenges will arise, as they have for us. Right before the recession, we were forced to let go of some staff because I opted not to go for investment.  It was one of the most painful professional experiences I’ve ever had to personally go through, but it forced us to re-look at our structure and be nimble and flexible in a tough, unknown economy. 
4. Never forget that execution is everything - Even the best idea in the world is worthless if it just stays on the drawing board. As Thomas Edison once said, “The value of an idea lies in the using of it.” Yes, putting an idea into action takes a lot of hard work, research and testing, and there are obvious risks. But if you execute your ideas with a "bootstrapper" mindset, you will be able to minimize your risks and the payoff could be significantly larger in the long run.
5. Keep moving forward - indecision is far worse than making the wrong decision. Fear of failure can be a paralyzing influence when it comes to making business decisions. Yet an entrepreneur and a strong leader can never move a business forward by being indecisive.  I have made my fair share of mistakes in my business decision making, but keeping my business nimble, flexible, and most importantly, independent, has allowed us to correct our mistakes quickly and move on. 

Entrepreneurs who are starting a business in an emerging industry are like pioneers who are navigating a new landscape where not many people or firms know what they’re doing. But the good news is that the greatest rewards will go to those who are willing to work the hardest, take calculated risks, and believe in their ability to succeed.  As the Zen saying states, “Leap and the net will appear.”

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There are three types of digital agencies – the production shops, basically, the “do-ers,” or actually, the production arms of bigger agencies; the think tanks, the creators of the campaigns and ideas that are then outsourced to a production shop; and finally, the full service digital agencies, those that begin as production shops and expand to include strategy, creative, and technology to drive the success of brand initiatives.

The1stMovement began as a production shop, focused entirely on Flash development designed to support leading agencies, including AKQA, TBWA\Chiat-Day and others.  We were known as the rock-star developers; the "do-ers"; the worker bees.  While we still collaborate with these agencies and many more, T1M has evolved to better address our clients’ needs by adding functional capabilities within Client Services (under the outstanding leadership of Ann Van Orsdel), Creative (with the addition of innovative Executive Creative Director David Schell) and creating roles for “Specialists” within the organization.  

We wanted to be more than just developers and designers, but rather thinkers; experimenters; collaborators; and most importantly, innovators.  The changing DNA of our agency was a deliberate effort designed to build a well-balanced agency that represents the structure of technology, creative motion and strategic content all blending to deliver a harmonious result.

Although technology will always remain the cornerstone of our business, a world-class team of doers and thinkers have been assembled and are able to exhibit growth because of a strong foundation.  Our newest client, PENTAX Imaging Company, is among the first to realize and benefit from this strategic, well-rounded growth of the agency.

So where does T1M go from here? 

We keep pushing the envelope with more holistic campaigns and bigger goals for bigger brands, all while still holding true to our mission - While others lead with creativity, we lead with a mastery of technology blended with sound strategy and provocative creative to better tell your story.

While grateful for our growth and success, we won't stop building upon a thirst for innovation.  We will continue to strive to become the digital agency of choice for the World's strongest brands.

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I recently learned that I have been named one of the “Top 10 Asian Entrepreneurs” in 2010 by Inc. Magazine, as one of the entrepreneurs who “overcame linguistic, financial and cultural barriers to build wildly successful companies.” I grew up admiring all of the CEOs and entrepreneurs featured in the magazine, and now, to see my name on their prestigious list that includes so many phenomenal business leaders is a huge honor and a truly humbling feeling.

More importantly, it has made me reflect on the incredible journey I began 4.5 years ago when I founded The1stMovement.  Up to that point, I had been a dedicated “worker bee” for most of my professional life, so I had never considered myself an entrepreneur, let alone imagined that one day I’d be running a business that made the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing companies and be voted one of the nation’s “Top 10 Asian Entrepreneurs.” 

I simply began this journey determined to build something that was reflective of my personality and beliefs about how a company, particularly an advertising agency, should be run. I’ve always believed that it’s about much more than creating award-winning work. It’s about the people responsible for the work.  So as excited and proud as I am of this seemingly personal achievement, I gladly share this honor with the rest of my team, the people I work with and go into battle with every day.  Because without them, there is no company and no Ming Chan, the entrepreneur.

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When my business doubled in size almost overnight, I was faced with a wide variety of business challenges. So I started looking at a wide variety of professional organizations to find one that would help me:

• Understand and address the challenges of growing a business
• Connect me with peers/mentors who are fellow business owners
• Grow as a CEO

After going through a few orientations and the qualification process, I officially joined the Los Angeles chapter of Entrepreneurs’ Organization earlier this year. 

In the short six months I’ve been a part of EO, we have been awarded “Best Places to Work in Los Angeles” and made the 2010 "Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Companies”  list.  I’ve also personally been featured in the Los Angeles Business Journal and named one of “Top 10 Asian Entrepreneurs in America.”  Coincidence?  Perhaps, but the impact EO has had on me and my company can’t be underestimated. 

It was through an EO-organized event that I had the opportunity to meet the editor-in-chief for the Los Angeles Business Journal, which led me to enter the “Best Places to Work in Los Angeles” competition and become the subject of a feature article in the Journal.  But besides the obvious benefits of networking, my most important discovery has been that there’s comfort in common experiences.  While the CEOs and business owners I’ve met through EO come from different industries and backgrounds, we all face similar challenges:  financial planning, culture building, management issues, etc.  By participating in a confidential “Forum” consisting of a small group of like-minded CEOs  and entrepreneurs who share a common “addiction” to building successful companies, we can openly share our challenges and exchange stories. Through these conversations, I have found not only genuine support and knowledge sharing, but most importantly, I’m forming life-long friendships with successful, forward-thinking peers. 

EO is not for everyone. But in the short time I’ve been with EO, I believe it has made me a better entrepreneur, a more confident CEO, and quite simply, a better person. 

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My interview with Los Angeles Business Journal was published earlier last week titled "Does It Mean Zip", a follow-up to our recent press. It was a great conversation with Joel Russell where I shared my vision of why I started the agency and decided to call Pasadena our new home, instead of going along with moving to the Westside Los Angeles where most agencies are.

Ming Chan is a rebel with an unusual cause: He wants to challenge the premise that ad agencies must be on the Westside. Chan founded his digital agency, named The1stMovement, in Pasadena to set himself apart – literally.

“We want to be different,” Chan said. “And I guess I’m a little bit rebellious.”

He picked Pasadena partly because it is close to his home but mainly because Chan believes the future of advertising lies in technology more than creativity. And Pasadena is more tech-friendly, being the home of Caltech and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Clients of The1stMovement include tech giants Cisco and Adobe.

“We want to be one of the first technology-led agencies,” he told the Business Journal.

The clustering of ad agencies has a long history – just look at Madison Avenue in New York. In Los Angeles, the large agencies started on the Miracle Mile, then moved to Century City and then Santa Monica. In 1999, Chiat/Day moved to Playa del Rey, inspiring a stampede south into El Segundo and even Torrance.

There’s a reason for such clustering, said Eric Johnson, president of ad agency Ignited, which is in El Segundo, and co-president of trade group ThinkLA.

Geography “is not necessarily a factor for pitching business, but for attracting talent, proximity to other agencies does matter,” Johnson said.

Chan admitted that recruiting ad execs to the Pasadena office is sometimes challenging.The1stMovement has 26 (35 now and counting) employees.

“It’s hard to recruit top talent because most of them are on the Westside,” he acknowledged. “We are throwing a curveball at the industry.”

You can read the full interview here.

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It is almost instinctive for most entrepreneurs to reject the idea of forming a partnership. You think you can do it all, and I was no exception to that premise when I founded the The1stMovement 4 years ago.  I was on a mission to change the world but I certainly know that it takes a team of talented minds to do something truly extraordinary.  I certainly wasn’t looking for a partner, or as an ex-Disney exec once told me, I wasn’t looking for my “Frank Wells to Michael Eisner” (not sure if I can live up to that statement but I’ll take it :)), though as soon as I reconnected with Ann Van Orsdel 3 years ago after working with her briefly at an agency in Silicon Valley, I knew I found my business counterpart. 

I don’t have a MBA and I’m certainly not the typical CEO with a marketing or sales background. I do have is a vision, and some accolades to validate what I know technically in the digital media industry. But running and growing a business is a much greater challenge.  Ann brought to The1stMovement not only years of experience in business development, client services, and account management but also a new appreciation of the art of relationship building with our clients, partners, and employees.    As The1stMovement moves into a new chapter with an ever-growing team and higher visibility in the advertising industry, Ann should be credited directly for our 2X growth every year. She has brought an unparalleled sense of calmness while managing and growing the Denver office from 1 person to now almost 20 in less than 3 years.  It is with true excitement and great pride that I announce the promotion of Ann to President of The1stMovement.  In that role she will oversee daily operations, business development, and will continue to ensure that our set-forth strategy and vision for future growth are being executed to achieve our goals.

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I wanted to build an organization that celebrated individuality, valued its employees as team members and embraced a work/life balance…an environment where people wanted to be. 
 
Recognition as one of the “Best Places to Work in Los Angeles” – one of only smaller-sized company in the list of 25 - is not only a monumental honor.  Today, in some sense, my vision has been validated.   Our place on this list offers proof-positive that an agency can produce award-winning results at the highest level while retaining a true work/life balance culture.   So thank you, Los Angeles Business Journal, for the recognition, honor and pure joy that comes with it. 
 
Most of all, my sincere thanks go to all of the T1M employees for sharing my vision and creating a work place that I am truly grateful to be a part of every day.

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Had an absolutely amazing time a few weeks ago with the team at our annual Agency Retreat.  It's truly a rewarding experience for me to see everyone from both of our offices coming together and having so much fun.  A big shout out to Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach, CA for hosting us.

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The1stMovement Digital Reel 2010 from The1stMovement on Vimeo.

Collections of our work. Very proud of our team at The1stMovement

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In preparation of my speaking engagement on Feb 19th at the Fairfax Digital Media 2010 Commercial Media Summit in Sydney, I was interviewed by Digital-Media online, an online new media journal in Australia and talked about why I can't ditch my Blackberry; why I think Paywall is a mistake and why I think Interruption marketing is still very much alive; and among other things

What was your first memory of the web?
It was 1994-95. I got my first computer and I believe it was still on a 28.8 kbps modem. I remember clicking on a link a friend sent me and the first thing I saw was the infamous animated "under construction" GIF brilliantly flashing in front of my eyes!  As ancient as it may seem now, that flashing animation forever changed how I looked at things digitally.

What is your favourite website that not enough people know about?
It would definitely have to be http://www.picocool.com. It's a fairly new site revolving around a growing global community with the mission of finding cool items.  Everything from cool new product designs all the way down to subcultures and micro-trends can be found on this site.  I surf Picocool whenever I need a quick inspiration, or am in the mood of going on a "cool" gadget shopping spree.

Current mobile handset?
I have both the iphone and Blackberry.  I couldn't live without all the iphone applications, but at the same time wasn't ready to part with the physical keypad. In my opinion, the Blackberry still provides a more robust business email application.

Mac or PC? (and why)I would have to say PC, although my first computer was a MAC.  I'm going back and forth between the two, but ultimately I like to tear things apart and look under the hood and we all know how well Steve Jobs dislikes people doing that. :)

What social media platforms do you use and how? (MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn)Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.  They all serve different purposes for my "digital life".  Facebook is for me to connect or reconnect with friends; Twitter is my personal mini-blog to rant about everything and anything; and LinkedIn has been great for me to keep in touch with business partners, clients and colleagues.

Google or Bing?
Google.  I love where Bing is going, but it will take more than a pretty UI to make me switch.

Paywalls for news - gifted or misguided?
Misguided. Sure, there's always the argument that one would want to pay for professionally confirmed and verified news, but with the uprising of Twitter, Facebook, and all these social networks, I don't see why this generation will pay for that when you get breaking news in almost real-time, for free. 

What do you think is the next big thing in 2010?
Mobile devices.  2010 will see a dramatic jump in mobile use as it has and will continue to grow beyond just a phone. It's an always-on, always-connected machine that goes with you anywhere and anytime.  With Google Android phones and Apple iPhones going head to head this year, mobile developers will rejoice and consumers will benefit with new, exciting applications on-the-go, anywhere and anytime.

Do you think online display advertising ever catch up to search in the eyes of marketers?
Yes, if not already.  Search is constantly revolving, but remains to be only effective when consumers know and actively look for something.  As we march into this always-connected digital age, any digital devices could easily become an effective platform for marketers to display online advertising and proactively "sell" to potential consumers. 

 

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via wired.com

More good news for Flash Developers

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via adage.com

"Marketers, designers (or creatives) and technologists have to all start speaking the same language (that of experience) if even a hint of brand loyalty has any hope of being realized within Generation iPhone/Twitter/Facebook." Well-said by fritzism's comment as well

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