Drew Meyers Blog

What Are You Going to Do?

Drew Meyers — Sun, 27 May 2012 17:44:16 +0000

This is an awesome commencement speech by Maria Shriver. Her primary message is to “Hit the pause button” when asked “what are you going to do” (and every one of the hundreds of iterations of that question).

Click here to view the embedded video.

My life has essentially been paused for 5 months since I left for Asia right after Christmas. I’m fortunate to have a bit of a financial cushion allowing me to take a break without worrying about living expenses for awhile, but the power of pausing and thinking through all your life options cannot be underestimated.

Is More Better?

Drew Meyers — Sat, 12 May 2012 19:13:42 +0000

I just got this email from Kayak:

Title: Finding the right hotel room shouldn’t be a journey all by itself.

Body: Which is why we partnered with the experts to incorporate traveler reviews — including TripAdvisor’s unmatched content of millions of user reviews and opinions — into our hotel search. So now you can compare room rates from hundreds of travel sites at once. Then narrow your search results to show just the best hotels, as rated by actual guests.

We know a lot more goes into finding a good hotel than just the price. We think these new reviews and recommendations will make finding the right room easier than ever.

Try it right now and see what people are saying about hotels in your favorite destinations.

Maybe I’m wrong, but more is not always better. In fact, it’s often WORSE.

This is a mistake many online companies make. Why? Because more means more content — for Google to consume. And, likely, more traffic as a result.

But will the user experience get any better? Will those seeking hotels be any happier now that they have 500,000 MORE reviews (or whatever the number is) to sift through and filter out?

Doubtful.

On Regrets

Drew Meyers — Sat, 12 May 2012 15:14:33 +0000

I get asked from time to time whether I regret leaving Zillow in early 2010. I’ve even been called crazy over the decision. In fact, the reason I’m writing this post now is that it just happened again two days ago by a total stranger on an island tour in El Nido (whether I regret it, not that I’m crazy). After all, marketing for Zillow was the job everyone wanted for a well funded tech startup. The team was as good as they come, following a grand vision tackling an industry sorely in need of a wake up call in terms of the consumer web. I was making good money. I truly truly loved my job.

Why’d I leave then? In short, I got bored. I got complacent. Staying at Zillow would have been the “easy” road to follow. You know, the path everyone expected me to take. Sure, there would have been a few challenges along the way, but it wouldn’t have stretched me to my limits. As a company grows, every employee gets more and more defined in their area of specialty. I got to a point where I felt like I could do my primary job (which was link building and social media) in my sleep. But focusing and getting good at one — or two or even three things — isn’t enough for me. Anyone that I’ve worked with can attest to the fact that my mind races a million miles an hour with ideas (hence the reason businessideas247.com exists). I need to be constantly exploring new opportunities and evaluating strategic options to keep my mind stimulated. Always an entrepreneur, spending several years climbing the corporate ladder wasn’t my idea of fun. I wanted a new challenge. And I wanted to see more of the world.

Would I be better off financially had I stayed the course? Hell freaking yes. Heck, if I was still there, in another year or so, I’d all but be guaranteed to be a millionaire if the stock price continues its current trend up and to the right. But, if I’m certain of one thing, it’s that money doesn’t buy happiness.

I’ll admit, there are some aspects of my life I’d change were I given a mulligan. But, do I regret my decision? The answer on this career decision, the largest I’ve ever made, is a resounding no. Not for a second. Had I had stayed at Zillow — I would have missed a wide range of experiences that has shaped who I am today. The best summer of my life living on Santorini. Seeing Rocky’s orphanage in Kenya. A first hand look at microfinance in rural Ghana. A summer in Saint Thomas. Living in Chiang Mai for 2 months and meeting some amazing people.

It’s not worth living a life of regrets.

Nothing Better than Best Friends

Drew Meyers — Sat, 12 May 2012 02:52:08 +0000

To me, best friends are life’s greatest treasure. Those that know me so well that they can read my mind before I even open my mouth. Those that know when that latest “brilliant” idea pops into my head simply by the look in my eyes. There’s nothing I enjoy more than kicking back at a crappy dive bar with my closest friends in the world.

And that’s precisely what I’ll be doing one week from today in San Francisco.

I couldn’t be more excited.

A Sports Bar in City X

Drew Meyers — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:03:08 +0000

The Fours new restaurant in Norwell, Boston

Every city with a decent expat population and a thriving tourist scene needs a really good sports bar, at least in my opinion. But I’m still amazed at how few places seem to have one. Whether it be college football, NBA, rugby, soccer, or Major League Baseball — chances are good every guy (I’m guessing most of those reading this are guys) loves some sort of sports. Meaning the market is there.

As a guy who is not a sports fanatic, but definitely a fan — I still want to watch all the big games no matter where in the world I am. However, I found no venue to watch the march madness final live in Chiang Mai a month ago. In Siem Reap, there was only one bar playing the super bowl live at 6 am (the bar was packed).

Of course, the business idea here is to open a killer sports bar in whatever city you want to live in — and provide a great sporting experience for expats, tourists, and locals alike.

What’s needed for a killer sports bar?

TVs
TVs
More TVs
Comfortable seating
Satellite Cable — access to live events all over the globe. You need the ability to play multiple games at the same time as well (I know some satellite services don’t allow this). Make sure American football, baseball, college basketball,
Willingness to open your place at extremely odd hours to play large sporting events such as the super bowl and the NCAA final LIVE

If you like watching sports, what’s not to love about this business idea?

Give Credit Where Due. And Even Where It’s Not

Drew Meyers — Sat, 05 May 2012 08:26:35 +0000

Giving credit where it’s due is likely something every successful leader and manager does well. If they aren’t good at it? Well, they probably aren’t that successful.

I love this paragraph from James Altucher:

5) Give Them Credit. At work everyone wants credit. At home everyone wants credit. “I DID clean the dishes today,” my daughter might say. People tend to hoard credit. They are afraid that if others get credit for what they did then they might get diminished in some way. So do the opposite. Give credit/appreciation for everything, even work you did. Here’s a ratio: for every piece of credit you give out, it comes back tenfold. How will it come back? We don’t know.

That’s part of becoming an ancient wizard. The world bends to create magic for you. Because you’ve given credit to it’s citizens, the world itself will return the favor. And, on top of it, the people you help – by either appreciating them more or giving credit to them – will like you more.

This is not being manipulative in any way. This is being a superhero. It’s making people feel better. It’s showing people that you paid attention to what they were doing. You NOTICED.

An example that happened to me by accident: I was at a public company that had about 1000 employees at one point. I was in charge of my division but I had a plan to leave. I wanted to start a venture capital fund. So I stopped caring about my job. Instead, all I did was give credit to everyone else. If someone had even helped me a slight bit on a project I would give them all the credit.

The next thing I knew the powers-that-be at the company offered me the job of CEO. Which I turned down. But that was the magic at work. The only way the universe rewards you infinitely is when you give away everything.

Giving credit where it’s due is something I think I’m fairly good at. But I’m not perfect, and will start giving more credit to others — even when it’s not due.

[Photo via differentfurstudios.com]

Excuses, Excuses

Drew Meyers — Fri, 04 May 2012 02:56:41 +0000

From Joel Runyon

Stop Letting Excuses Steal Your Life

Well said.

Multiplying or Dividing?

Drew Meyers — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:12:28 +0000

via Seth Godin:

If you have a list of 1000 subscribers or 5,000 fans or 10,000 supporters, you have a choice to make.

You can create stories and options and benefits that naturally spread from this group to their friends, and your core group can multiply, with 5,000 growing to 10,000 and then 100,000.

Or you can put the group through a sales funnel, weed out the free riders and monetize the rest. A 5% conversion rate means you just turned 5,000 interested people into 250 paying customers.

Multiplying scales. Dividing helps you make this quarter’s numbers.

He’s absolutely right. One pays (some of) the bills immediately. The other offers the possibility of paying (more of) the bills later.

Community building or hard core sales? Your call.

Q&A: How to Determine Scope for a Website Design Project?

Drew Meyers — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:48:41 +0000

If you’ve spoken to a web design firm who has given you a quote for a custom website without asking “What’s the scope of the project?” — I’d encourage you to run as fast as you can in the opposite direction. Without determining scope, no reputable website design firm can or will give you a quote.

Every web design firm is weary of scope creep. But what exactly goes into determining the scope of a website project?

First of all, you need to dig into the exact functionality needed. Is the website simply a brochure site (ie content only), or is ecommerce functionality needed? Need your visitors to be able to schedule meetings with you? Need people to be able to search through a database of products with differing attributes? Need custom technology solutions integrated into the site? Need your contact forms to sync with your CRM?

Second, how many pages need to be designed? A “page layout” are pages with differing calls to action. For example, you may need a custom squeeze page designed for your primary product, that has a different header, footer, and calls to action. Or your product pages may need a different design than your home page.

Third, a web designer will assess what type of client you will be. Either a) you will listen to the designer’s recommendations or b) you will fight tooth and nail to make the website look EXACTLY like you want it to look, regardless of what that means. If you’re in group B, you’re going to pay more because the designer knows there is going to be a lot more back and forth during the design process. Truth be told, it’s not uncommon for a first design file to be better than the finished website. Why? Because clients with no sense of design taste f*ck it up.

Fourth, timing needs to be discussed. Is the web design firm booked solid for 2 months? Do you need your website in 1? If so, you’d better be willing to pay a substantial “rush” charge for them to push the priority of it up.

Fifth, is everything else. What custom content do you have that needs to be transferred? PDFs? Photos? Do you need custom content written for you?

Hope this gives you a little bit of an idea of the factors that go into website scope.

**Photo via blog.jentekk.com

How Life is Supposed to Be, and The Picture In Your Head

Drew Meyers — Wed, 02 May 2012 12:57:01 +0000

This goes back to the question of who is writing your life plan — you or everyone else?

[photo via lovestitched.com]

The Best Discussion I’ve Read in a Long Time, and Some Words of Wisdom

Drew Meyers — Wed, 02 May 2012 09:35:49 +0000

Read this post on A VC along with all the comments. It’s the best discussion I’ve read in a long, long time, about a topic I feel extremely strong about – startups, entrepreneurship, and the motives behind them.

Here are a few great comments:

From panterosa

When I was a teenager I asked my dad, who went to Harvard at 15, to define success. His reply was “you are successful when the field you’re in can no longer be discussed without your contribution to it”.

From JLM

Money and stuff is stupid. I hate stupid. I hate stupid more than anything else I have ever encountered on that side of the ledger. It is a barter which does not involve your soul.

The currency with which you are really paid is your measure against yourself. I jumped out of airplanes because I wondered if I could do it. I could.

I started businesses to see if I could do it. I could.

Don’t let life buy you with lucre. Worse yet, don’t let it rent you.

Trade for more dear stuff — the satisfaction of having plotted and followed your own course, the thrill of having walked the high wire of life with no safety net, the mutual respect of good people, the love of a good mate and a full draught — not a shot glass — of all that life offers.

Go bite the ass off a bear every day of your life and then tell me you can keep score only with money.

If the gods favor you — as they will, my friends, I promise — and you get to the Pay Window, do good works with your money. Money is only useful for good works. How many freakin’ cheeseburgers can you really eat?

Don’t be afraid to be kind to yourself, you will deserve it.

In the end, you will be richer for it. I know.

From Carl Mistlebauer

Life with wealth or life with passion? Give me passion…..

Give it a read. You’ll be glad you did.

We’re Hiring a Project Manager

Drew Meyers — Wed, 02 May 2012 03:24:57 +0000

We’re looking for a project manager for ESM Exec Designs…

Do you want to work from the comfort of your own home?
Want to work your own hours?
Want the freedom to travel?
Do you have a passion for helping others and making this world a better place? Are you okay sacrificing a bit of money to make that happen?
Do you want to build a company from the ground up?
Want to reinvent what a website design company is?
Do you enjoy working with clients?

If the answer to ALL of those questions is yes – then we’d love to hear from you.

Of course, before you know whether you’re interested, you’re also wondering what’s involved? 3 primary components.

1. Client Management – which includes but is not limited to scoping website projects, quoting the client, get website contract signed, talking the client through the final design prior to getting approval, and managing expectations.

2. Overseeing the website design & development process — wireframing (will train on this if needed), move clients through design by relaying feedback between client and graphic designer, and overseeing the development process – bug testing, working with the developer to make sure site matches design spec.

3. Online marketing and content marketing – You’ll need to use various marketing tactics to attract clients, with content marketing being one of the most well proven strategies.

ESM is a bootstrapped web design company, but does have a small portfolio of sites already. Compensation will be entirely reliant on how many websites are put through the system. The perfect fit for this role is someone who has a desire to build and run a web design company, but wants some support and mentoring along the way rather than building it entirely from scratch.

Note you have a massive head start if you have existing online marketing and WordPress experience — but it’s not required if you are willing to learn.

Interested? Hit me up. drew at esmexecdesigns dot com.

Business Ideas are NOT a Differentiator

Drew Meyers — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:15:35 +0000

I’ve long been a believer that business ideas are (almost) worthless. You may have the greatest business idea on the planet — but if you can’t execute on it? It’s worth damn near nothing. Zilch. Nada.

Being the entrepreneur that I am, I seem to think of business ideas on an almost daily basis; most of which I’ll never work on. Where to share them so someone can potentially put them into motion?

Enter Businessideas247.com.

Nick Loper (who I went to middle school with) and I started the site a few months ago because we both have a number of business ideas we’re never going to act on and no where to share them. So we decided to build a resource of quality, thought out business ideas — with your help — and leave the hard part (execution) of business to you.

Want to start your own business, but don’t know what problem to tackle? There are some good ideas posted already, including a travel date match making service, backpacker timeshare service and mobile laundry service.

Have a business idea to share?

We’ll post any legitimate, or quirky, business idea with a link to your website in the author profile section. Alternatively, you may remain anonymous if you wish. Have a business idea to share? Send me an e-mail with your idea to me at drew@esmexecdesigns.com

Now, go start a business!

Your Business Idea for the Day – CARE

Drew Meyers — Tue, 01 May 2012 09:10:34 +0000

Business ideas are a dime a dozen. You can find them anywhere, and everywhere — including here on business ideas 24/7. But no matter what business idea you choose to actually tackle with your time and hard earned money — you need to CARE. It doesn’t matter how much time or money you throw at it; if you don’t care deeply about the problem you are working to solve, your business WILL ultimately fail.

Mark my words on that.

And Hulu is Dead to Me

Drew Meyers — Tue, 01 May 2012 07:24:55 +0000

I had such high hopes for Hulu — but they’ve now caved to the pressure of content providers (cable companies) and plan to require viewers to prove they have a cable subscription to view content on Hulu.com.

So disappointed.