I'm not accepting defeat (in some respects)

So a lot happened in the last week – a lot. Since accepting defeat last week, I’ve gone into another endeavour with some friends that is, I would say, a lot more serious. What I find absolutely shocking though, is that I learned something from our last failed attempt. It’s shocking because we never really did anything of substance.

We never actually signed a partnership agreement, registered the business, opened a business bank account, talked to people about the idea, and oddly enough, talked about the actual business plan (our “innovation” so to speak). We had nothing. I’ve thought about it a lot and it comes down to my not taking my own advice – I wasn’t passionate about the idea. It was clever, it could work, I’d use it, but when it comes down to it, I wasn’t passionate about it.

So, I’ve since started working with some new partners on a new project, and we’re 1000 steps ahead of where we were with my last endeavour, but 1 million steps behind where we want to be. In the first day alone we got all of the dry, bureaucratic stuff out of the way:

Opened a business bank account

We decided to do our banking with RBC after chatting to an account manager – they have some great plans for businesses and if you’re going to be in a partnership, I recommend getting a shared business account. The fees for their most basic account are so tiny, its ridiculous, and it will save you a ton of stress and issues down the road.

Fortunately, our business plan doesn’t have too many upfront costs (yet) so we haven’t had to shell out too much cash.

Registered the business

This was 100 times easier than I thought. I didn’t even have to leave the house. If you just Google: “Registering your business, (insert province here)” you’ll be good to go. In Ontario, we went here.

Singed the Partnership Agreements

Not that this should be a huge deal, but when things start to get serious and money starts to come in, partnership agreements will come in handy. It’s best to sign them now when the voice of cash can’t be heard. We went to www.lawdepot.com to get legally binding contracts – the prices are very reasonable (when you compare it to going to a Lawyer) and are absolutely customizable.

What’s more, you can find a ton of other contracts on the site too – it might be advisable to get some NDAs (Nondisclosure Agreements) and non-competition agreements from the site as well. When you’re looking around for business partners and pitching your plan to people in the very early stages, there is very little that sets you apart from where you and any other person are at. These badboys would protect your grand and innovative idea (to a certain degree) from being ripped off.

One last think I noticed about this business plan (or, idea, if you will): I’m really excited about it. In fact, I can hardly keep my mouth shut. Our last business idea, I was afraid to talk about it because I was so unsure of idea (which is an okay feeling to have). But this one, I’m stoked: I’m so confident in it.

But what do you think: can too much confidence help or hinder you?

I'm in a bit of jam as we're trying to move forward with our business plan and by the looks of things, I think its something we need to put on the backburner for now. It's humbling to admit that at this point we're not ready to take this and make a go of it, but the time we have put into it has been good. I still have confidence in the idea and I'm certain that there's potential in this model, I just need to focus on some other things first. It's been a quite the learning experience. Here's what I've taken away:

Commitment

Obviously, the reason that this isn't moving forward is that I'm not fully committed to it on a number of different levels that all kind of stem from one key factor - time. Its not a matter of me not having enough, because my free time is ample; its where I'm putting that time in. So, while we put together the plan and everything looked to work, taking the time to put in those next steps was not something that I was ready to do. In that respect, its my own fault.

What would have helped - well a mentor for one. Fortunately, I had Michel my boss giving me some tips on how to be a good team player (Wise old Michel). But in terms of an entrepreneurial mentor of sorts, I had nothing. It would have been nice to have had someone say "hey, this is going to work - have you tried this?" Building those networks and those connections can really come in handy and I just didn't have that.

The big goal

What's more, is that my commitment was felt stronger to the idea of be an entrepreneur more than it was to the core of the business. That leaves me in a bad place and I think that's something an aspiring entrepreneur ought to be aware of. I look at someone who has the panache to take a leap and start up their business and I think "wow, that looks glamorous". The fact of the matter is, I don't think its that glamorous. Its a lot of hard work. So if you're more fond of the idea that you'll become a qualified entrepreneur than the plan itself - its tough to stay committed (and probably not healthy)

The Playing Field

Being more interested in being an entrepreneur more than anything else lead me into troubled waters - a business in an area that I'm not familiar with. I talked about doing something that you're passionate about, that you're good at. Something in which you excel - I should take my own advice. It's tough only being in business school and not having that secondary skill set to lay a smack down on. But maybe I need to take a step back and reevaluate my skills. Maybe I do have something to offer.

At any rate, The I have is great, and I can say that with confidence. The execution was lacking because I just didn't have the whit and skills that it required. Its a shame, but I don't think its the end... I may catch a break.

So what Will I do now?

So, I still want to be an entrepreneur - I have the business acumen and work ethic that a startup needs (did that sound cocky...?) I just want a taste of what its all about - so I started emailing startups in the area. I laid it all down for them, told them where I was coming from and what I'm all about. And do you know what, every last one of them got back to me and said they'd like my help (did I mention I offered to do it pro bono?) Money isn't the point for me - it's having that experience, that network and those mentors. At this point, its putting myself in those positions where I can work in that fast paced environment so that when the opportunity arises, I'll be there to meet it.

There's no right way to go about it - for now, probably for the rest of the summer - I'm going to take a step back and get myself ready. I'm really excited about all of the businesses that got back to me and I know that its going to give me a fresh perspective and will help me to learn a ton.

My move to a new frontier

My foray into social media over the past - oh, what has it been now? - month and half, has been quite the adventure. I'm not going to stand here and claim to have grasped it completely. In fact, I don't think its breadth can be grasped. Since being introduced to social networking sites like twitter.com and the buckets of blogs that have been plopped onto my plate, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed. It's unlike anything else and the more I look into it, the more I begin to realize that this where aspiring student entrepreneurs need to be.

The Network, on and offline

It's daunting to initially get into "The Network" as it were, so I best advise you bring a friend or quickly find a friend who knows what it is they're doing. When I first joined Twitter a while ago, I remember thinking dang the concept is sweet - but it would be so much better if there was someone to interact with in all of this (which is, in essence, the objective of social media - interaction). Before I knew it though, I began to follow people who have the same entrepreneurial, interactive bent as me.

What I find most fascinating about Twitter and the social media frenzy that I've been opened up to is this seemingly intertwined network that extends beyond the internet into the real world. Go to any Democamp, Startupcamp or Third Tuesday (all of which take place all over North America and the world) and you'll see a third of those in attendance tweeting from their Blackberries. For a month and-a-half I talked to Malcolm Bastien on Twitter, and the other night I ran into him in person at Third Tuesday in Toronto (which I'll go into later).

Information, on and offline

Man, if I had a buck for every tidbit of learning I've consumed since getting into all of this I'd have at least a thousand bone by now. Whether its through random blogs of interest that you catch through a Tweet or events happening right now or in the future (yea, Twitter's earning a rep as being a first on the scene news force). But again, it doesn't end online - I was at Third Tuesday, which I found out about through Twitter, the other night and got to take in a really great speaker.

So to recap the learning cycle, I'm there on twitter, being fed information a mile a minute. Great. I hear about an event happening in Toronto for PR professionals, tech aficionados and entrepreneurs. Sweet. I check it out and hear a really great discussion and audience engagement. After its over, I get to hang around with all of these cool like minded people. Its a win-win for me.

You need it

I read an article in Profit the other day that heralded social media as the new critical success factor to starting up your business. Its beyond early adoption now and IDC says social media ought to grow 815% by 2009. That would make sense looking at this. But social media is fickle and not just anyone and any company can just jump onboard and say they get it; this is, in every sense, face time with the customers. Social Media Group from Dundas, ONT. says that if you're new to social media, take it easy and just blog.

Joe Thornley at Thornley Fallis (a PR firm in Ottawa) is all about setting up a blog for corporations and has worked with the likes of Visa and Dell. This guy knows what he's doing and I think he's borderline guru. But blogs seem to be the tip of the ice berg.

You'd be one of a few

I noticed this the minute I walked into Third Tuesday a few days ago: everyone is old. Scratch that, most people are older. There were very few students kicking around there, which tells me there's a huge opportunity for students to become versed in and excel in this. Malcolm discussed the role of students and digital media in one of his blog posts.

While there's plenty of students engaging in the online conversation, it seems to me that few are going beyond and taking part in critical thought about the potential that exists for social media as an integral part of growing a business. I recommend checking it out and really considering where your customers are, or will be, and how

On thing I'm learning for sure though, social media takes time, persistence and commitment. Fortunately, sites like Twitter are not time intensive (its a micro blog) and since its open source API, there's a ton of apps you can download in order to make your tweeting easier. I highly recommend checking it out. Now.

But only if you have a couple more copies to hand out!

I read an interesting article the other day arguing that business plans are not all that necessary to capture that attention of investors. I think it’s a pretty ballsy argument and while the numbers are surprising, I don’t think they speak for themselves. Here’s some interesting finds from the study, as asked to venture capitalists:

How important are business plans?

70% important, 28% somewhat important, 2% not important

How carefully do you read business plans?

74% read carefully, 26% skim the plans

Do business plans project and accurate assessment of future success?

22% accurate, 71% modest, 7% poor

Finally, 5% of venture capitalists noted that business plans are a relic of the past and should be burned.

Here’s my issue with this sort of study, based on the theme of Burning your Business Plan, and the message that it conveys to young, would-be, go getter entrepreneurs. But first, I’ll concede that business plans are not always necessary for startup capital, thanks to (for example) a serial entrepreneur’s past successes, a loaded network and a million other seemingly non-factors.

Okay, here’s my issue; burning your business plan, or writing it off as unimportant in garnering interest from venture capitalists is an exception to the rule, and should not be mistaken as the rule (like the title suggests). What the study ought to be called is “Burning Your Business Plan and 100 other ways to decrease your chances of earning seed capital by 70%”. There’s an old saying, “Failing to plan is like planning to fail”; I’m not saying that every nitty-gritty detail needs to be hashed out, but if the business doesn’t have a course of action or a direction to roll, then its stagnant.

If you can’t pull your act together enough to put together a thoughtful, organized business plan, then the real world of entrepreneurship is going to eat you up. Don’t let an article like this allow you to start thinking that the business plan should be an afterthought. I think it’s a reflection of commitment, among other things; and regardless of what its been that I’ve done in the past, I’ve quickly realized that the name of the game is commitment.

Research to counter this argument? Look to the Journal of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. They take a very different approach to the topic of garnering seed capital: too many people today ramble on about great ideas, flying in a million different directions. So, the first step is to set those ideas down in a concise and directive manner (a la business plan). Second, they need to put their money where their mouth is.

When it’s your own money on the line and you’ve exposed yourself to risk through investing in the business’ potential, then you have some clout to tout around. If you honestly believe that you have something to run with, why not run with it?

I just heard a lecture by the CEO of eHarmony, Greg Waldorf on his 5 Must Haves of an entrepreneur. Was it ground breaking? Not really. Honestly, I've heard this 100 times before, maybe rephrased a little, but it goes to show that there may be some underlying threads to being an entrepreneur.

Just as an aside: On the average day in America, 200 people get married after having met on eHarmony (100,000 babies born since the company's conception - no pun intended)

ONE

Work with great people. I talked about this a while ago in finding a partner with Avi from Applied Innovation at RBC. Greg spoke on thinking about the best boss you can imagine (I've had a few, actually) and finding someone just like that.

On the topic of mentors, Greg's lecture got thinking: I agree it's great to have a mentor now, but I think it's worth saying that choosing a partner that has the qualities of a mentor (willingness and patience to teach sans arrogance) is pretty key.

TWO

Willing to take risks. Maybe a no-brainer, but think of it this way.:

Don't let your sense of keeping up hold you back.

I trip on this all the time. I just want to start my own thing NOW. Right now, I don't want to wait one second longer. Then I see my friends getting safe jobs with big corporations that already have weight behind their name and I'm tempted (nay, I cave to the temptation) to pursue that course of action.

Entrepreneurship isn't glamorous and it really is risky. But, if you're smart about it, it doesn't have to be as risky as some make it out to be (Find good people, search hard for opportunities, fight status quo, etc.)

THREE

Be willing to adapt. You're not always right, get over it and go down graciously. Seriously, just check your pride at the door and remember you aren't the only one on the team. This is tough, and I'm learning the hard way.

I was talking with Michel the other day, and he gave me some really good advice on how to be... a better person. "No" is never a good answer to a proposition. But there are two good answers that can easily substitute:

1) "Why" (and ask it five times)
2) "(insert a compromising idea here)"

FOUR

Love what you do. Be passionate about it. The more I listen to and talk with entrepreneurs, I'm finding that real entrepreneurs are passionate about business, plain and simple; that, and long hours, hard work, customer pleasing and always trying to be better than before.

FIVE

You have got to put your plan into action NOW. Right this minute. If there's one thing that's easy to put off, it's starting your business up right now or, finding opportunities to get involved with entrepreneurial ventures (being an entrepreneur doesn't mean being the idea guy - startups are 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration... and cash up front).

Go and talk to people, that are involved in a million different things - University is the place to do it. You have everything from design, to engineering to environmental studies. Talk to them about their ideas, their strengths and their futures - and then hit them with a ton of bricks and suggest starting a business.

Just heard about this on Twitter a couple of minutes ago and thought I better get it out there. There's a new Startup on the web (surprise, surprise) by the name of Startupindex.ca. Essentially, it's a catalogue of mainly tech startups, and potential investors, in Canada.

It doesn't look like the entire site is solely geared towards tech startups, but it's certainly the predominant industry on the site. At any rate (And Dan, I recommend you take a look at this for your business) it's worth checking out and putting a business on there.
Free publicity and potentially money in the bank (if you're looking for an investor). Expect to see my business on there in the not too distant future! It looks like we've finally nailed down an ownership system - it's a lot tougher with three people than it would have been with two. All that bureaucracy is a real pain in the butt.

We're getting it all out of the way so that we can focus on ideas.

I'm an ideas kind of guy.

I'm sure we'll encounter many more hurdles along the way, so it's good to settle into this sort of thing.

Anyways, check it out - www.startupindex.ca.

I suppose it helps to build a solid network.

I've just finished reading “Career Warfare” by David D’Allesandro. A partial waste of time, but beneficial in some respects. This book only gets a half recommendation in the to-read category, and here’s why:

Only half the book is worth reading.

The only benefit I found in reading the book was in its ability to raise awareness of “my brand”, as it were. The big take home, after two-hundred and nine pages is that the little things are more important than the big things. I think the analogy went something like, “don’t wait until the game to impress the coach, start during practice!” (Kate’s going to love that one)

Fair enough. So, if I want to climb the corporate ladder to success, I need a good brand, a positive perception, to propel me. But I want to start on the top rung of that ladder in my own business. Where does a personal brand fit into that? It’s even more crucial, because I am “the company”. Bad me = bad company. I would venture to say that personal branding is what entrepreneurship is all about.

My thoughts as of late; there are three pillars of entrepreneurial networking – quality, numbers and impressions. Knowing someone well beyond their first name (quality) is key; knowing a lot of people (numbers) and making an effort to maintain this is even more key; if they know you, and see your brand in a good light (impressions), then you’re set and you can really draw on these people for information, help and collaboration.

What are a few “important” ones? (Might I add, “important” is relative): Don’t lie, don’t gossip, be aware of other’s perceptions of you ( and most importantly – be respectful (whether it’s to a server or a boss).

Okay, back to the drawing board - not for me, but for some. It's officially my summer, and dang is it nice... the weather is nice, the grass is green, I'm not living in res any more, I have my bike out. Life is good.

In fact I'm sitting on the porch in downtown Toronto and I can hear the ice cream truck.

Anyways, I'm still working on getting together some little details for my endeavor, but I've been thinking that still, so many people don't really know what kind of business they'd really like to start up.

I was at the CYBF Awards gala the other night and there was an entrepreneur there who made these cool little organizational boxes. She probably is and was a really organized person and boom, she's a certified successful business women. It gets me thinking about my little idiosyncrasies and what I've got that could be legitimately made into a business. There's nothing I'm really anal about, so it's tough to bring up ideas.

Remember, when it comes to a business, it's 1% inspiration (the idea) and 99% perspiration (the work). I'm going to lay a bet that it's actually 20% inspiration and 80% perspiration just because the 80-20 rule applies to a lot of garbage out there.

I listened to a lecture about a storming by a guy named Barry Nalebuff. He wrote this book, "Why Not?". I suppose it's his answer to the question "Why?". He has methods to coming up with ideas. Processes, if you will. The one I like best - What would Donald Trump do? Admittedly, a big Donald fan over here (though apparently a controversial statement).

It goes like this - I have problems. My friends have problems . Everyone has problems . I look at all these problems in isolation and I have to ask myself, "What would Donald Trump do?"; if you had all of the money in the world, what would you do is probably the more realistic question when I think about it. Suddenly, a whole world of opportunities exist. Ideas galore, really.

I think that's the easiest way. Look at the problem, find the answer. Of course, when I think of what Donald Trump would do, I can't help but think that I could never afford his solutions, so I have to put them on a plane that's accessible to every Tom, Dick & Sally out there. That's probably the most difficult part of the Donald Trump approach. Bringing it down a few notches so that it can be a legit product - or project.

Barry talks about another way too - start with the solution, an invention for example, and then see how you can apply it. I have this SICK idea for training guys to put down the toilet seat. That's my invention. The problem is self-evident... so I guess that was a bad example (call me if you're interested in having the toilet seat down).

You've probably heard about it, but I'll just say it again for old time's sake – RBC is giving out a free Asus Eee PC if you open a new account (subject to some restrictions, of course). Anyways, I got lucky and had a chance to get my hands on one of the Eee PCs to try it out, to see what people are getting themselves into. The computer is pretty popular in the states and it's accessibility and affordability has moved it to the 9th most popular notebook ahead of the MacBook Pro after only a short time on the market.

There is no way this computer would replace your desktop, or even your main laptop, but I think it's something that's worth having around. Girls can throw it in their purses and guys can put it in their really big pockets. Or their murses.

After taking it to a coffee shop for the weekend (free wireless!), to a meeting and just having it kick around the house, I'd even go as far to say that I'd seriously consider buying one (especially since my computer is huge and heavy…). So, for anyone who has a wireless connection in their place of work or play (like at their university, downtown or even the house), this computer's for you. If you're planning to use it for gaming – good luck.

The computer isn't fast, by any means, and with 512MB of ram, you may have to wait from time to time for Firefox to open. Strangely enough though, the OpenOffice.org word editor opens quicker on the Asus than it does on my PC… The computer is sluggish, but for web surfing, it's worth it's weight in gold.

In terms of the Eee PC's size – I don't think you can really grasp how small the computer actually is. It's small. I'm talking "you could fit it into a really big pocket kind of small". Typically though, with such size comes much fragility. This baby's got it covered though.

It's made with a durable, hard plastic, so it's rock solid. That means it's not going to scratch, scuff or break – well, it could I suppose, but not easily or within the every day wear & tear. Finally, a low maintenance laptop. That's probably one of the biggest issues I've ever had with any of my past and current laptops – they're just a general pain to take care of, and you always have to put it in the laptop pocket. It's also worth noting how light the laptop is. It's – well, let's just put it this way: at only a few oz. you can't even tell that it's in your backpack. So for any student commuters that need room in their backpack and can't afford even a tiny bit of weight because of all the textbooks you're lugging around, then this computer is ideal.

There are some inherent issues with it's incredible tininess though – it's kind of a pain in the butt to type on, which may run amuck your plans to bring it to class for note taking. It's really tough to get the hang of it, but after a while it's not as bad. If you have really big hands, it may be kind of hard for you to adjust. But, with time, you get the hang of it; the computer comes with some software to practice your keyboarding skills, so there's ample opportunity for you to master the Asus. Also, the screen is tiny – so don't plan on watching any movies with your friends on this thing. It's a personal computer in every right. It's good enough for Youtube (barely) but some websites have are really hard to view given the screen size (namely Google Calendar).

The computer runs on the Linux operating system, which is pretty different than PC or Mac. It's straightforward though, and after literally 10 minutes of browsing around, I got the hang of it enough to consider myself fluent. The computer is completely internet oriented, and you'll quickly notice that all of the software on the computer is freeware – OpenOffice.org, Firefox, Linux, Google Docs and a great messenger. Asus may really be onto something here – to see a fully functioning computer with an operating system that costs a fraction of Windows, or even Mac for that matter. The computer is just as functionally capable as any other operating system out there, for sure.

The small, light computer means a small hard drive and limited ram. You can probably upgrade both, but why would you want to? Give me an Asus and give it to me now, please!!

Special thanks to Matt for tips on this one. The city has some great resources to meet and network with entrepreneurs. I love it! Ryerson (famous for startup jobloft.com a la Dragon's Den ) is hosting a competition for startups. You could win 25 000$.

Nice.

There's a small caveat - a Ryerson student has to own 51% of the business; Hey, I'd be willing to go in 49%. I'm going to go check it out - best of luck to Matt; it'd be great to see him get short listed, then I'd encourage everyone to come and support him in the finals.

Also worth noting is Mesh08 coming up May 20, 21, 22. If you're a university student, you get the 469$ tickets for 30$. Unfortunately, they're sold out... I'm trying to justify almost a month's rent and three days of work for the conference, but it looks worth it.

Also, I'm getting in contact with someone from TBDC (Toronto Business Development Centre) on King St. The building looks pretty cool - I'm planning on having a chat with her and I let you know what I dig up.

Does anyone know if you can volunteer at MaRS in Toronto?

I've officially started up my business plan. Exams – finished! I have a few weeks before I start working full-time, so I need to take this opportunity to really flesh my ideas out. I really need to grab these couple of weeks by the horns though; not a moment to spare!

There's so much to think about and it seems like there's a thousand different opinions on what needs to go into a business plan. It's pretty daunting and ambiguous – I feel like it's the old case of the chicken and the egg. I have no idea what comes first, and what comes before what!

I have all of these ideas and no real way of organizing them. But if I keep waiting to have all my ducks lined up (which is impossible) before I actually start putting this all down on paper, then it may never happen. There's always going to be some unknowns!

There are a ton of resources out there, like I said, and some even offer examples of business plans. RBC walks you through starting up a plan, as well as Entrepreneur.com and CYBF.ca.

No two business plans are the same (and if they are, there's an issue); so do some looking around and see what topics fit into your plan and what don't at all. I suppose for me, I'm looking for some affirmation that what I'm putting on paper is "right". There isn't really a right answer, but I think working on a business plan with a partner (another great benefit to doing this with someone else) will help me to set realistic objectives, visions and analyses.

The who in The Partnership

Back in the day I talked about the importance of having a business partner to help you weather the storms of starting a business. There's a billion benefits to having someone with which to start the business, whether it's having another physical person to share the work load with or another brain to storm with.

There are also a billion things to think about when you find that special someone. Avi Pollock, the serial entrepreneur in RBC's Applied Innovation department, said that plain and simple that you better love whoever your starting a business with – you'll be spending more time with them than your spouse.

With Avi's help and doing some research of my own, I found a couple of guys with whom I'll be starting my business. These are some tidbits that Avi passed on to me and that I think were definitely worth looking for.

Trust – if you can't trust your potential business partner then you'll have huge issues. And it's not just a mater of "do I trust that they'll get this done" or "will they be a hard worker" but ask yourself, "do I trust their judgment, their ideas and their vision for this; are we on the same wavelength". Will they be there in good times and bad, in sickness and in health?

Diversity – If one brain is good, then two brains must be great - especially if they're the same. Not so much. Think about what you bring to the table and what they'll bring to the table; are they complementary? For example, if you're the risky, big picture, problem-solving guy, then maybe you want someone who is more logical, details oriented and meticulous.

And it should be mentioned too that diversity of skills is pretty essential too. Maybe you're a designer with a plan or an engineer or you're into politics. It might be wise to team up with someone who can work on the operations, like a business student or a web designer.

Balance – There's going to be some rocky times ahead, no doubt, and often you and your partner are going to come to a fork in the road where the decision isn't clear-cut. Have a partner that you can argue with. Look for someone that won't (and you can't) just back down when a problem comes up (otherwise, it's just like one person running the business!).

Arguing and shaky times don't have to put the business in jeopardy; if you can see yourself striking a balance and using arguments as productive stepping-stones to move things forward with your partner, then your good-to-go.

Values – You're values ought to be aligned; these are those irreconcilable differences. If the very thing that you value in your business is a large profit, but you're partner's aim is for quality (which costs more), and you're both unapologetically behind each, you'll have some issues. There needs to be an underlying common ground for which you're both working.

So what if you've found the right person? How do you get them on board; maybe they're interested in your plan and you're interested in having them as a business partner? If you're only starting up, then you're business isn't really worth anything more than the idea it is on paper; so can you really sell them a stake in the business. How do you come up with a value when you want to sell a 25, 30 or even 50% stake of a company that doesn't actually exist?

This is something I have to figure out; I don't have a freakin' clue what I'm going to do in order to "sell" some equity in this venture. Any ideas?

**This is a repost of an April 23rd entry, but with links included, as the previous blog entry did not contain any links**