You like? Yeah we’re redoing everything from the logo, colors, branding, website, and now mobile applications. I’m really excited about it.

In honor of beards everywhere, I give you bearded Jobs:

Today I was looking at old Apple product presentations he gave on Youtube. It was really inspiring. I have a great opportunity with my next move with Parker Planners and getting some inspiration from the Jobs really helped. He’s definitely someone who trusts himself. More so than your average dude. One thing I found very useful in a video about the iPod Nano was that he said you have to start with the human experience and work backward toward the technology. I think his products really do that. Steve said he’s tried it the other way around many times and failed many times; having the scar tissue to prove it.

That’s so awesome. Thinking about people has to be the first step in product development. It’s about how we live, think, feel, observe, and interact with our surroundings. Our lives are improved so much when designers take a second to consider the human experience. I want to be one of those designers.

Here is the original iPod intro video. Mimic this thought process with another product and you’ll make money. After the first 4 sentences it’s clear they know what they’re doing. Bam.

Everyone needs to be vulnerable enough to get their heart broken. It’s about daring to live. If you’re not all in what’s the point? You gotta be all in. Life isn’t about juggling a bunch of different passions and people. It’s about depth. It’s about discovering what you love and being the best you can at whatever that is. When I went to New York last May it was such a breathtaking atmosphere because people seem to know who they are. They seem to be dedicated to a cause and find joy in their role. And being in love is the best darn thing there is in this world. Nothing beats it. Don’t care how much money or fame you got, without love it’s all for not. Maybe I’ll put that on my quote tab

Life’s been kinda crazy lately. I interviewed with LucidChart up in Draper. They’re a great company with a promising future but I don’t know that it’s the right thing for me. I need to identify with Parker Planners. I’ve struggled with that from day 1.  “What’s so special about paper planners?” people ask. “Isn’t everyone using their smartphone?” I’ve heard it all many times. It’s true we’re working on a smartphone app. The first version ought to be in the app store by the end of the year. But that’s not the point. I need to own up to being the planner guy. I am the planner guy. There’s $100 million of sales out there in this space to be had. I’m going to capture as much of that as I can. I’m going to make products that are more interesting and less expensive than the competition. I am going to dominate this industry. I will work so hard in organizing the efforts of talented people that thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, and eventually millions of people will have positive, memorable experiences with Parker Planners.

I don’t mind owning up to the challenges. I am an entrepreneur who owns a successful business. I am providing more than adequately for myself and preparing to provide for others. I am Parker Planners. I live it, sleep it, play it, do it, love it. I can succeed with this business as I have in the past. We will achieve 100% growth this year, 2011. We will generate over $x in sales this year. Next year we will generate over $x in sales. Booyah!

You’re welcome.

So now what the world needed was a sound board so you can play your favorite parts of the songs any time! This app has the first two Guy on a Buffalo videos. There are two more and we’re working on another app to include those.

Here’s a screenshot of my app on iTunes from apple.com:

Here is a link to get there.

I’m super excited! We’ll see what craziness comes of this.

I’m with him all the way, read that post if you want to peer inside the mind of an entrepreneur. We are kind of delusional. We have to be. If everyone saw the world as fearfully as most, no one would dare and try new things! I figure my job is way more secure with owning my own business because I’m the last one to get fired if things go badly. There’s really no such thing as ‘job security’ anyway and there are plenty of people with masters degrees searching for bread.

The last few months have been pretty insane with Parker Planners. We’re going through some significant changes. It will be like a new company by the end of the year. I’ll write more on that as things happen.

I’m not sure if I will be in startups my whole life but as long as I can create things that people like I’m all for entrepreneurship as a life-long addiction. There’s really nothing like it. I feel like I’ve written this 100 times on this blog but maybe not enough. I was always intrigued by older people’s lifelong regrets when I was a kid. You wouldn’t think kids pick up on that stuff but they do. Usually people have 2 regrets in the career aspect of their life: #1 didn’t finish school # 2 didn’t start a business. I always figured it was simple enough not to be one of these people.

I’m not trying to put anyone down. Anyone in this country can do both of those things in a matter of months. I’m just saying if I could do things over I wouldn’t! The freedom and happiness that come with owning your own business are invaluable.

BYU’s first football game is Saturday!! BOOYA!

Notice the headline- “If you don’t do the things you like, you might as well die.”

Sounds like Dennie Butterfield has experience in both doing what he loves and doing what he hates. The message makes me think of a commencement speech by Steve Jobs at Stanford University given in 2005. Skip to 7:30 when the introduction is done. Jobs’ message is great. His point is that you’re going to die. If you’re going to die, you have no choice but to do what you love if you’re going to be happy.

It’s a cliché phrase but you really don’t want to ‘live someone else’s life”. If you try, you’ll be unhappy. Parents, the market, tradition, friends; no one can know your path but you. Life’s about being bold enough to decide.

I love it when non-college-grads give commencement speeches!! Check the innovative shade device at 12:51.

CHECK – Thank my brother for the sweet book
CHECK – Test drive 2011 BMW 335i DOUBLE CHECK. I was rippin’ around a roundabout and the salesman said swear words ha ha ha
CHECK- Get haircut from Molly at Sport Clips
CHECK- Make progress on my wonderful business
CHECK- Eat at a fancy pants restaurant with my parents
CHECK- Hang out with my buddies down here in P-town a.k.a Provo
WORKING ON IT- Buy myself a Piano if I don’t have one by the end of the day Ha!

Love,

Ethan

Enter Final Cut Pro verion ten (X). It comes with an impressively low $299 price tag and you download it from the “Mac App Store”. It’s more like iMovie (free movie editor) than any pro editor, though. People are calling it iMovie Pro. Lotsa fuss. You can’t even import a project from a prior version? Many features missing? Apple knows best I guess. Dear Omnicient Apple, I’m hungry, what should I have for dinner?

What a strange move by a software creator. You’d think they could gather a bunch of professional movie editors and ask them what they like and dislike about the software. Listen to customers maybe? I had a memorable experience with product development once while working a convention put on by Omniture. In 2009 I attended their ‘Summit’ event in Salt Lake City. They gathered all their most influential customers (many CMOs of fortune 500 companies) and asked them what they thought about Omniture’s products. It was an amazing moment. Their CTO, an intelligent and funny guy named Brett Error, lead the discussion and they gathered valuable feedback. On top of that they had a web page with a constantly changing board of features that customers wanted. Each different feature was voted up/down depending on customer demand. Now that’s cool. No wonder they grew rapidly and sold to Adobe for $1.8 billion.

I own a macbook and an iPhone but DO NOT consider Apple to be the greatest company ever with perfect execution on every product. Sometimes their decisions are downright ridiculous.

One of the most memorable experiences I have with design was at Arizona State when I saw Patrick Scofield give a talk. He kept repeating the words “positive, memorable experiences” in reference to designing products. Boom! Roasted, Apple. I think that’s what it’s all about. Creating positive, memorable experiences, not mass pandemonium by selling a sub-par product nobody asked for at a price no one was expecting through a medium no one uses.

I want to use the Pre’s planner app for reference in creating our iPhone app but my old Pre’s screen was tragically cracked while breakdancing last fall. I bought a used Pre on ebay for $25 last week and I thought I was off to the races but you can’t even use the thing unless you hook it up to Sprint’s service plan (and we all know how much I love Sprint).

So blast. I had a broken screen Pre and one that wanted service. What was I to do? I looked into hacking the operating system but that seemed like more trouble than it was worth so I ended up disassembling the two phones and using the motherboard and memory from the old one and the screen and touch-sensor thingy from the new one. It worked!!! I was truly amazed I didn’t break something while working on these phones. The little connectors are like attaching synapses in a mouse’s brain and the wires are like hairs on a flea. Miracle of miracles and a few you tube instructional videos later I had a fully functioning Pre once more. BOOYA. $30 and I’m back in business. ($5 for this crazy little tool to remove the torx-head screws the size of half an eyelash) Here are my Prees post-op:

It’s been a while since I’ve been able to make something with my hands as my planners are printed in China and everything else I create these days is made of electrons. I’m used to working on motorcycles or cars but this was still way fun. Can’t believe it worked! What’s nifty is that the Pre is a great camera, video recorder, and Mp3 player, too. Plus the files are 120x easier to access than an apple device.

Can’t wait to keep going on the app. The plan is to debut at Tech Crunch Disrupt in San Fransisco this September.

Oh yeah, and THIS is what I really really want for my birthday.