NGV Driver

Having hope means that one will not give in to overwhelming anxiety, a defeatist attitude, or depression in the face of difficult challenges or setbacks. Hope is more than the sunny view that everything will turn out alrightm it is believing you have the will and the way accomplish your goals.

Daniel Goleman
Study of emotional intelligence

As students get ready to enter the workforce it is important to understand why you strive for success and to what end.
1 – Clasify yourself.
     a. Communist
     b. Capitalist
     c. Socialist
2 – Social karma – view it as a social bank account – build up more positive transactions than you do negative transactions.
3 – Do I have to choose between business and charity?

The solution is not mutually exclusive. Ask yourself what is the worlds greatest underserved market. The world’s population.

Huntsman Gay Capital Impact : Mission
- invest in companies that generate tremendous social return
- achieve competitive returns
- move asset markets and create new asset classes

Why are people poor? The social infrastructure generally works against them. In order to affect change we need to address the infrastructure. Microfinance loans can disrupt the infrastrure and create oppotunity.

Other opportunities are:
- small and medium enterprise financing
- inventory and recievables financing
- ethical salary advance lending
- insurance products and services designed for the poor
- wholesale market financing
- home loans and mortgage products

Increased opportunities:
- microfranchising
- supply line and distribution
- aggregate supply & aggregate demand businesses
- companies utilizing the disabled
- job training companies

Beneficial Products:
- affordable healthcare
- affordable housing
- affordable education
- clean water
- reliable energy

What do social entrepreneurs need:
- strong fundamental business skill set
- understand market and client
- provide competitive returns
- ability to fit in the culture and willingness to live abroad

I got a speeding ticket this morning, admittedly I was over the limit so I got what I deserved.

Here is my beef with Utah law enforcement. The concept of ‘Serve & Protect’ is long gone. If you want to argue with me on this point just ask yourself, how come Highway Patrol cars have printers that can make sure the accused understands just how much they will have to pay but, they don’t have a gas can for the car that runs out?

As another point of fact, UHP is one of the lowest paid HP’s in the nation.  The contrast is that they have some of the best equipment in the nation. The focus is not on retaining the best talent but facilitating the processing of revenue.

Like I said, I deserved the ticket, I was speeding but, along with facilitaing the revenue generation. What could happen on the civil service side to make the bitter pill of my speeding easier to swallow? Maybe if there was some press on UHP making a drug bust with my ticket money.

I would definitely feel better about printers in UHP cars if I knew that they were being used to facilitate the enforcement of larger social ills issuing on sight search warrants or the like when necessitated.

The end goal of this rant is to draw attention to the fact that mission critical values are portrayed in managements actions. If I continue to fund research over product generation what will employees believe is the focus of our business. If UHP dumps cash into faster processing of tickets what is implied directive?

I deserved my ticket – UHP did their job.

1 – Follow your dream and involve others.
2 – Take some risk and invite others to join you.
3 – Make the sacrifice.
4 – Never give up.
5 – Know your Customers.
6 – Sell to survive and prosper.
7 – Take care of customers.
     I – Price
     II – Product
     III – Delivery
     IV – Services/Support
     V – Buying experience
8 – Hire the right people.
     I – Competent
     II – Capable
     III – Compatable
     IV – Committed
     V – Character
9 – Value your employees.
10 – Establish a winning culture.
11 – Communicate constantly.
12 – Call upon Mentors.

A little over 2 weeks ago our water main broke right in front of our driveway. I can understand that we are coming into a new year and that things might be busy… We have yet to be contacted by anybody at Bountiful City Water letting us know why they dug out our driveway.

Contrast that with another experience that Heather had with Shade Clothing Co. The short description is that Shade goofed on a gift card and had some less than helpful employees who told Heather, ‘to ask for a gift card receipt whenever you receive a gift card.’ Heather emailed shade corporate about her experience. Corporate responded to heather with a gift card for double the original amount and sincere apology.

RawData is working on designing a dashboard. We have gone through multiple rounds and iterations our customers are giving us some great feedback. As we continue to develop more and better tools our customers continue to point us in the best directions. We have worked with our customers to define what should be our first product – what can add value to their business at the lowest levels. I can’t imagine going about business any other way.

Here is a case and point of too much Government involvement. Senator John Kerry is trying to force Time Warner into a position where they have to make decisions that may not reflect the best interest of the company or it’s shareholders.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=119928&nid=109354

There is no need for involvement at this level. His proposed plan is just hindering the profitability of free enterprise. 

3 AM on Saturday, I lug myself  out of bed and drive to JR’s for a day full of ice climbing. All I knew when I left was that we were headed to the La Sal Mountain Range. That answer, did not really meet any of Heathers requirements of a satisfactory description of where we heading and when I would be  home.

At JR’s we swapped cars, loaded up gear, and hit the road. In prudence, I asked again where we were heading (as everybody appeared to know but, me). Moab – WTF! We are heading to Moab Utah to go ice climbing! I asked if anybody had done the  route before, the response that I got was a little disconcerting – ‘I heard there might be some ice down there.’ This is a long drive to make on hearsay but, I was in the car and we were thundering down the freeway – nothing to do but let it play out.

Snowshoeing across some desert and snowy sagebrush we came to a ravine and followed it down until a we came to a 3’  diameter hole in a small frozen pool of water. My skepticism had been all too apparent to the group – wanting to tell the guys that they were wrong and that we should head back into Salt Lake, I took the first rappel. Sliding through the hole I realized what we had found, a slot canyon which had multiple waterfalls – all of them frozen  solid. Further more, they stayed solid because the heat of the sun never really sets in this canyon. In the middle of Moab (a Mecca of desert 4×4, mountain biking, and rock climbing) we had found a 4 pitches of ice falls that was more solid than anything I could dream of in Salt Lake. Better yet – nobody had climbed them. They were entirely untouched, there were no marks on the ice or surrounding area whatsoever.

We had four pitches of vertical ice and one short pitch of rock climbing. I have posted some of the photos on Flickr, when I get the rest from the other cameras I will post more. It was a wonderful day of climbing.

Dovetail this experience with another that I had this week. There is a little program in Utah call USTAR. You can go here to learn more. Take into consideration my time at a state sponsored fund of funds, I am something of a skeptic about Gov. involvement in private sector (In the true spirit of Ayn Rand). However, USTAR has been a great support to RawData. More specifically Curt, Christian, and their team managing the Weber/Davis relationships. Everything from reviewing sales pitches (umpteen iterations), practicing funding pitches (over 20 x’s in 2 days), opening up funding sources (4 and counting), helping get patents written (for free), and bouncing strategy off of – these guys have done it all.

In the spirit of gratitude for the help that USTAR has offered, the best thing I can do is be more open minded about where the help will come from.

"You have too much of life yet before you, and have shown too much promise as an officer, for your future to be lightly surrendered. No man resolved to make the most of himself, can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper, and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite."

Hard Pressed On My Right
My Center Is Yielding
Impossible to Maneuver
Situation Excellent
I Am Attacking

We were at a friends for dinner and my phone kept ringing, not really  paying attention I put the phone on silent and went about the evening. It is not uncommon for me to get evening calls and I didn’t think twice. As we left, I took a look at my phone and noticed that both my neighbors, on either side, had called my phone – that was uncommon. At this point I am  concerned.

Tiffany, our neighbor, let me know that a water line directly in front of our house had frozen and burst. The open line was flooding our street and threatening to enter our basement. Over the phone she let me know that Bountiful City was quick to respond and begin pumping the water away – averting any flooding issues. All that said, it was still a little disconcerting to know that we may be coming home to a watery basement.

As we began to pull into the neighborhood and still a block away from home we saw a backhoe pushing slushy snow through an intersection (not normal). The closer we came to our house the more ‘watery’ the street became. Rounding the final corner the full effect set in – yellow flashing lights, guys in Carhartt coveralls, generators, pumps, more backhoes, and lots of lights focused on our front yard and all blocking our driveway.

Another neighbor let us park the car in her driveway for the night. Walking home a worker explained what had happened. We chatted and thanked them for a quick response then went inside for the night. Checking the garage and basement everything was just fine. Thanks again, Bountiful.