That’s how things are right now. Check out these sweet potential logos for Parker Planners:
You like? Yeah we’re redoing everything from the logo, colors, branding, website, and now mobile applications. I’m really excited about it.
If you’ve read much of this blog you know I love startup businesses and inventing stuff. I just read another one of my friend’s blog posts on entrepreneurship. He hit some things spot on. Here’s a link.
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!
I’m a pirate. At least according to this article.
I watched the video below today on entrepreneurship. She’s saying what we entrepreneurs all think. And passionately. There is no replacement, no supplement for the real thing. Either you’re all in, or you’re a want-trepreneur. It’s fine to think you’re in the game, but it might be helpful to get real and accept her definition of true pirateness.
A friend of mine lost his house (second heading, 3rd paragraph) in the name of his company, Zinch.com. Unless you’ve been there or close, you may reconsider your definition of entrepreneurship, too.
This video is from Ted, the conference where smart people say stuff. White people like it. So I’d like to meet Tara Hunt. She seems cool. I’m convinced she would be an interesting person to talk to. Betcha there’s a chance we’d get along.
One of my favorite parts here is around 15:00- she says that entrepreneurship is not about having this lofty goal and taking the fastest path to it. It’s about asking questions and seeking answers. In my case, it’s “what would happen if it’s not just me who likes this planner?” All I’ve been doing is trying to answer that question for the past 4 years.
The moment you start a business, you’re already rich. You own 100% of a great company. You just have to ask questions and seek answers until you’re satisfied. Some are more easily satisfied that others.
Family is more important than career. So those of you supporting families- way to go. I once saw a grown multi-millionaire man cry in front of an audience because he still regrets missing his daughter’s birthday.
If you watched the whole video up there you heard the part about how entrepreneurship can be tough on those you love. Yeah, it’s true. A relationship last summer was heavily stressed because she thought I was nuts for investing all my time and money into something that didn’t pay me a stable salary- in a culture that values family- at age 25 (time to start a family!!!). While I do think that my current journey is the path to happiness for me, you have to realize that I was ready to sell my business at the time if it was necessary. Don’t worry, I still know what comes first.
So for Tara it’s too bad being an entrepreneur has taken a toll on her family. I don’t think it absolutely has to be that way. My brother-in-law is a heck of an entrepreneur and a heck of a husband and father, too. An amazing wife, 5 awesome kids, and a rockin’ business. In that order. I’d like to emulate that.
There are people who aren’t entrepreneurs that work 80+ hours a week during busy season. Crappy thing for them is that they don’t own what they’re working on and therefore have no hope of selling it or allowing someone else to manage it while they take time to focus on family. Another reason why entrepreneurship rocks.
Ethan
I’m at CAMEX right now. It’s the yearly college market expo of glory and wonder. So far so cool. I just saw Blake Mycoskie speak- founder of TOMS shoes, he’s way cool.
I’m really hungry and I gotta pee really bad but I’m so pumped to get out stuff to our booth!!! I just want to get this thing rolling!
I wad considering buying some kinda junky trade show food but I just asked this guy where to get good food and he told me about the spot. Literallly, it’s called “The Spot”, ha ha. He said it’s real good soul food 
we’ll see how it goes.
Be said “yeah they even got a steam table goin” probably 4 times. I promise to document said steam table. Maybe I’ll give it a hug.
I’m at CAMEX right now. It’s the yearly college market expo of glory and wonder. So far so cool. I just saw Blake Mycoskie speak- founder of TOMS shoes, he’s way cool.
I’m really hungry and I gotta pee really bad but I’m so pumped to get out stuff to our booth!!! I just want to get this thing rolling!
I wad considering buying some kinda junky trade show food but I just asked this guy where to get good food and he told me about the spot. Literallly, it’s called “The Spot”, ha ha. He said it’s real good soul food we’ll see how it goes.
Be said “yeah they even got a steam table goin” probably 4 times. I promise to document said steam table. Maybe I’ll give it a hug.
There is some super crazy stuff coming up in the near future for me, but I like it. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Next Wednesday I’m going to Texas for another trade show but this one is bigger than the last- exactly 20 times bigger. At the last trade show we had about 50 potential customers and nabbed 18. At this one there will be about 1000 so the pressure is on. We sink or swim; excel or rack up a whole lot of expenses. My employee Boston and I have been at it hard these last 2 weeks calling potential customers and sending out emails to invite people to our booth and buy stuff from us. He’s only been with the company 2 weeks but we made the decision to bring him to the Houston show because it’s 3 days long and we will really appreciate the extra help. His wife seems to be excited about it, too- she said Boston comes home really happy because he likes his work. To think someone works for me and likes it is a huge compliment, more on that later. I’m excited Boston will get to meet my partner Benjie, too. Benjie (Benjamin and now Ben, but to me he will always Benjie Be) has been the best business partner a person could ask for since day 1; we’ve been working together since 2008 and he never ceases to amaze with his smarts, work ethic, and lack of anything that looks like fear. I’m really glad he and his wife are still involved with Parker Planners and I look forward to each time we get to see each other. He lives in Boise now, but we’ll see how long that last with the growth rate of the company (crossing toes). Kinda crazy to think other people are involved in my crackpot idea of wanting to sell a product to stores across the nation . . . and liking it.
My biggest fear when Parker Planners was super tiny was employing people. I didn’t want other people to have to rely on me for their welfare. I didn’t mind risking everything I had or failing myself, but to have someone else’s livelihood come strait from me or be affected by my decisions was something that I didn’t want to be held accountable for. I’ve since come to understand that everyone is responsible for their own decisions and someone taking a chance by working for/with me is just doing what I do- enjoying calculated risk. It’s not being reckless. It’s asking “what’s the best and what’s the worst that could happen” and if you can handle the worst and you REALLY want the best then why not go for it?
So the pressure is on, big time. If we see the same success from this show (percentage-wise) as the last, Parker Planners will be well on its way to becoming a legitimate concern in the college market. We might see things like bigger companies stepping in to compete or someone sniffing around at acquiring us. Either way it’s way exciting. We are very fortunate to be able to stay with my sister in Houston, that really worked out nice. Also one of the opening sessions of the show is a keynote by the founder of TOMS shoes, the company that gives a pair of shoes away for each they sell. I love inspiring stuff like that. Stories of people beating the odds are cool. It’s because that’s what we all have in us. We can all beat the odds if we have faith and are persistent enough. It’s in our nature and in our blood because of where we come from.
This is a story about a team beating the odds. They rock. Those guys are big role models for me in the entrepreneur world. Mick especially, ever since I found his blog and read every single post in early 2009 he has made me feel like dreams come true and you can kick as much butt as you choose. His 2-sentence bio blows minds: All-state athlete in 2 high school sports, chess club captain, sterling scholar. Princeton drop-out and founder of a VC-backed start-up with rapid growth and consistently making national news. On top of that he’s really personable and was on a hip-hop dance team back at Princeton. But I’m not just a looker.
I want to be this person for other people. I’d like to be someone that liberates people from their fears with my presence like Marianne Williamson’s quote says. Lotsa people think Nelson Mandella created it for his 1994 inaugural speech but I guess it was really from one of her books published in 1992. It is our light, not our darkness that most scares us. This makes lots of sense to me because knowing what we could be frustrates us a lot more than our failed attempts. We sometimes even dislike those that have worked harder than us to achieve their potential because we know we could have had the same thing had we exercised more faith or wasted less time. Tyler Haws is a great example of working on a huge goal and maybe not having all the natural ability in the world.
When I was 19 I set a goal to become a millionaire by the time I was 26. I figured (as a 19 yr old!!! don’t take this as my opinion now) those that don’t get there until they are 30 didn’t use their 20’s right and those that get there before 25 probably stole it. It could still happen. I’m not saying it will but it’s possible my stake in Parker Planners could be that valuable before this June. I’ll be real here and say it’s not very likely but saying that it can’t happen would be to deny magic its magicalness. We could get into 400 more stores at the Houston show, have Office Max, Target, and Staples love us at the NY show, release a sweet iPhone/Android app at Techcrunch Disrupt in May, and poof! PP equity is worth a lot. I’d for sure sell some ownership, hire people, and stuff, but it would fulfill the 19 yr old dream of mine.
Yay dreaming on paper. For the year 2011 I would very honestly be content have this business pay my bills so I can still work on it. I love what I do and will fight like a rabid monkey to keep it going.
Nope, not for me but for other people. We’re looking for someone to help out around Parker Planners so I’ve been reading resumes and interviewing people these last few days. It’s fun, I love being able to see how creative people are and how they react to things. Most business stuff is very not fun so I’ve tried to keep things interesting for the interviewees.
First I asked them what they thought was the funniest you tube video out there. Then we would watch part of it together. I got some interesting responses, oddly of all the videos I had only seen one before. Then I would ask them if they played guitar, only one taker there but he played Britney Spears’ “Baby One More Time” which was inspirational, he was actually a pretty good singer.
Then came the art project test. I had them look at my website (the prepared ones had already studied it beforehand) and draw me a new one with a blank piece of legal size paper and a bag of markers provided by me. I wasn’t judging their artistic ability, but rather their ability to have fun with something new and stand behind their ideas.
After that it was pretty much a discussion of their schedule and if they were a fit for the company. Good times. Today I let the lucky winner know they will be a part of Parker Planners and thank the rest for applying. It’s been really hard to decide because everyone is so qualified for the position. We got mostly PR majors this time.
The biggest thing we need help with right now is contacting college bookstore buyers in preparation for the trade show we’re attending in Houston at the end of the month.
I love start-ups. As in small, brand new businesses with ‘a’ or a few founders seeing what they are really made of. It’s like systematic excuse genocide. People talk talk talk talk talk talk so dang much that I love to hear and even seek out stories about people just making it happen. I don’t care how good your idea is. Everyone has good ideas. I haven’t met a person that had nothing but bad ideas. The difference is if you are willing to bet the farm on your passion and walk the road of extreme happiness and extreme pain.
So here is someone I normally wouldn’t quote but he said this very well. Mark ought to know a thing or two about business even if it’s just from listening to the other keynote speakers where he himself is begged to speak at conference after conference. Call me an idiot but I’ve never written a formal business plan. I follow my heart. Lame and emotional as that sounds it’s all I’ve done since I started this company. We haven’t “failed” yet and I don’t suspect we will. Even if the company goes bankrupt I didn’t fail. I gained an advanced degree on what not to do.
Here’s a commercial I just finished for Parker Planners. I hope it can make a few people laugh, a few people join the facebook page, and a few more find a planner that is very useful for them.
We had a great comment come in from our website recently, here it is:
“Dear Parker Planners,
I received my planners and they’re even better than I expected. I used to get the old ones, but these ones are far better!
I go to Weber State University. In 2009, I took 17 credit hours at Weber, along with 4 extracurricular classes, and a part time job. These planners kept the planks on my life’s ship from shuddering through the storms that semester. I came through with a 4.0 GPA and was asked to be an activities chair of a large student organization because they saw how organized I was with my planner! Thanks a million.
Respectfully,
Eric”
Cool, huh? At the Utah 25 another person came up to me and thanked me for creating a great product. It’s great to hear that from our users. Also good that you have to work long, hard, and unrewarded before stuff like that gets back around to you. It’s surely not the praise that keeps you going, though, or I would have quit a long time ago.
Ethan
Whooo! Just got back from Salt Lake and Parker Planners is officially # 21 out of 25 top student run businesses in Utah! Booya! We’re really excited about it. It was at the Grand America Hotel, the swkankiest hotel in Utah I’m pretty sure. When Eric first walked in he was pretty darn surprised at the fanciness, my parents, too. My mom thought she and my dad should stay the night there.
It’s the same venue as the Omniture summit thing if anyone remembers that from past posts. Way cool venue, super nice. There were a lot of impressive student companies there and I feel fortunate to be among them. Our table was with Craig’s Cuts, Craig was very enthusiastic and fun to be around. He told me about a professor at BYU that does charity stuff in Central America that loves my planners. He was thinking about using them for his students down there. I had no idea!
Neato. So no one won prize money or anything but supposedly other businesses from last year got contacted by news organizations and grew a lot from the attention and what not. We’ll see if any of that happens for us, who knows.
One thing is for sure, we have a lot of work to do. What made this last trade show so successful was that I think I talked to each and every one of our sales before the show. I spent two months strait on the phone contacting all the people on the list and asking them if they were going to be at the show. Many of them recognized us and fondly remembered my soothing voice. 
ha ha. They probably just remembered thinking it was odd that someone was really that excited about daily planners.
We need to do the same for the national show in Houston. It’s not 80 calls, though, this time it’s 800. And I only have 4 months to do so. I’m going to calculate how much $ I would need to get by for another year but I’m thinking I can take Parker Planners to the next level in 2011. I’d prefer debt over selling equity because I really don’t want someone telling me how to run my business unless they are some kinda miracle worker genius.
Here’s the award on my couch:
Here’s my parents, Eric, and I at the show:
The emcee was the guy from the funny spoof on the Old Spice commercials. He’s a BYU student and started off by saying “I don’t play football for BYU”. The video: here
Well it’s been a fun day. Fun also because the repairs my car supposedly needed before it would pass a safety check so I could register it were said to be a mistake by my mechanic. Nice. Got new tags, rock!
(see Weekend Update for the exciting pre-clusion of this post)
Benjie and I looked at her with blank stares. I’ve never sold anything at a trade show before. What do you do or give them? We didn’t have receipts or anything so we just got a stack of blank paper and started writing the order down and stapled her business card to it. She was from a college bookstore.
That gave us a lot more confidence and lessened our despair. From there people seemed to come right up, love us, our story, and our products, and we just kept on writing on pieces of paper until we had 19 of them. Going into this trade show we had 19 college bookstores on our roster so it was kind of funny that’s exactly how many stores we added. We’re thinking we’ll try again at this trade show thing.
Here’s our humble booth before the show started:
Here’s to winging it! We were happy with the show and our income exceeded the expense of the show, good deal.
Here is Parker Planners post # 2 everyone! Enjoy the randomness. Today I ran into my friend Bryan Bennett on campus and we talked for almost an hour. He co-founded Mealdrop, a company that produces software to allow people to order food from their college campus eateries and have it delivered to a designated location close by for pick-up. Pretty cool stuff! He recently graduated and is giving it all he’s got. Fun to run into someone in a similar spot as I.
Today marks the day of this blog also becoming a vlog. That’s a video-blog. Once a week there will be a video of the proceedings of Parker Planners. I pledge to be brief, random, and interesting. I was doing a weekly newsletter for my partner and accountant and employee gone Kraft marketer person but I’ve decided this is much more appealing. The blog is called “Living the Dream” right? Well it’s about time I show the world the ups and downs of running your own very small business with dreams of making it big.
Enjoy Living the Dream; Genesis:
Parker Planners