As a tech entrepreneur who is rabid about giving outstanding service to my customers, I struggle to disconnect from work, even when I’m supposed to be spending quality time with my family. So much so, my wife used to constantly be “on me” about putting my phone down to engage with the twins.
I am not proud of this.
I recently spoke with my wife, Ayana, and asked her what she thought about how “present” I am with her and the kids now compared to the last eighteen months. (more…)
Most people love to talk about their success, but few are willing to tell the story of their struggles.
Fewer people still will openly share the pain they endured before they “turned the corner” and became successful. This quote from Abraham Lincoln says it best:
Men are greedy to publish the successes of [their] efforts, but meanly shy as to publishing the failures of men. Men are ruined by this one-sided practice of concealment of blunders and failures.
My wish to share not only successes as a parent entrepreneur, but also my blunders and failures, so that other parent entrepreneurs might not repeat them, is why this blog exists.
Last week, my startup, WeMontage, got national television exposure, but the last six months leading up to this event have been among the most emotionally and financially challenging in my life. And it got so hard, I nearly cried. (more…)
I remember when we first launched WeMontage back in the summer of 2013 and how bad the website was. Most customers couldn’t create a collage without some help from me or my partner, and the site was always “breaking”.
So many people complained because we didn’t yet have a key feature that let them swap image locations once they found a photo layout they liked. And the only way I was able to get any sales was by bugging the crap out of friends and family.
Was getting my first organic customer better than an orgasm? Ummmmm…kinda.
I remember exactly where I was when it happened too. I was with a bunch of buddies who also worked at a startup and we were having lunch at Fuddruckers, our usual Friday spot. The order email came in for $240 and I had absolutely no idea who the customer was. I was so excited, I threw my hands in the air and let out a big, “YES!” and a “WOOOOO YEAH!”
People in the restaurant looked at me like I was crazy, but I didn’t care. It was so hard to get to that point. It was a HUGE moment. (more…)
I recently guest wrote an article about the importance of luck and hustle. Today something really cool happened and I want to reiterate why it’s important to just keep hustling, no matter what. Because the more we hustle, the luckier we get.
I’m a member of a Facebook group for entrepreneurs called the #NeverSettleClub; it’s a semi-private group started and curated by the amazing, Emmy Award-winning, Mario Armstrong.
On a recent webcast, Mario talked about the importance of building your community before you need to use it to help with your business. And he emphasized building a strong local base of support. I was skeptical about how this would work for ‘trepLife Dad because I don’t live in a large metropolitan area. But Mario pushed back and challenged me to think differently.
The result a few weeks later is pretty amazing…
I admit it. I have a thing for Portobello mushrooms. Portobellos in pasta? Yep, sign me up. Portobellos in salad? Yes, please. Portobellos on the grill and on a bun? You bet, and I’ll show you how to rock it with my not-so-world-famous, but incredibly delicious, marinated and grilled Portobello mushroom burger. (more…)
The Expecting Mamas Network asked me to write this guest article.
Building a business under most circumstances is hard. We’ve all heard the not-so-encouraging statistics like, 8 out of 10 entrepreneurs fail within the first 18 months. But that didn’t deter me.
A little over eighteen months ago, I started my business, WeMontage, the world’s only website that lets you turn your photos into large collages on removable wallpaper. So, yay, I got past the eighteen months thing, but I’m hardly out of the woods.
This past spring, the business ran out of cash and my investors decided to not re-invest to keep it going. Additionally, this past summer, the young lady who was watching our now 21 month old twins, Thaddeus and Zoe, decided to go back to school. In order to cut household expenses, I had to step in and stay at home with the twins every day, AND continue to work on WeMontage to get it going in a positive direction again.
As you can imagine, this has been a challenging past few months.
Head over to the Expecting Mamas Network to read the entire post here ->
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I recently finished listening to the audio book, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho. I know, I know, I’m a little late to The Alchemist party, as it’s been an incredibly popular book for a long time.
The book introduces the idea of one’s Personal Legend, so I started thinking about my own Personal Legend. And as I got to the end of the book and saw all the sacrifices the main character was willing to make in order to accomplish his own Personal Legend, I began to reflect on my entrepreneurial journey and wondered about the journeys of other entrepreneurs. (more…)
Ok, I admit it - I love chicken parm and I’m always looking to add a new twist to it. And I LOVE portobello mushrooms. So I thought, why not put the two together?!
I decided to add a little red wine vinegar and garlic to the portobellos to give it a little flavor boost. And the result was delicious.
Disappointment is a part of life. This may be a biased comment, but disappointment feels more acute for people like entrepreneurs, who risk everything to make their dreams a reality.
Entrepreneurs quit their jobs, sacrifice relationships with friends and family, cash out their 401ks and run head-first into the unknown; that place in the universe filled with possibilities, tremendous joy and fulfillment. But also with lots of disappointment.
I’d like to share how I overcame the disappointment of not making it to the final round of auditions to get my company, WeMontage, on the incredibly popular TV show, Shark Tank. (more…)
If you’re like me, you’re occasionally frustrated with companies that have bad customer service. Maybe the service is bad because there is no way to talk with a real person to get your question answered quickly, or it takes the company days to respond to your email question, or the company is asleep on social media and doesn’t respond to your tweets or Facebook questions (This really gets me fired up. So much so, I’m gonna write a separate article about it another time).
As a small, nimble company, this is an opportunity for you to differentiate yourself from your competitors and endear customers to you and your brand. And most importantly, drive sales.
How do I know? Because I’ve done so with WeMontage and it’s generated tens of thousands of dollars in sales for me.
I’m going to share three things I’ve done, that many of you can do too, that will help you give better customer service and generate more sales in the process. (more…)
During my incredible video interview with Digital Lifestyle Expert and TODAY Show correspondent, Mario Armstrong, we were talking about what inspired us to be an entrepreneur and I said, “I want to be a shining example to my 20 month old twins of what’s possible when you believe in yourself and follow your passion,” and not just play it safe.
Then I said, “It’s risky playing it safe,” which intrigued Mario.
What inspired my risky-safe riff was an article I read a few months back by a palliative care nurse whose job was to take care of patients who were sent home and expected to only live another few months. The nurse said the most common regret from all her terminally ill patients was:
I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
I am SUPER-excited to share the first video interview for ‘trepLife Dad, and I’m pumped that it is with the inimitable Mario Armstrong. Mario is an Emmy Award-winning digital lifestyle expert, a parent, and an entrepreneur. You’ll probably recognize him from The TODAY Show and a few other places.
Mario is a committed husband and dad, and I love when he said, “If I ever get to the point where the business is damaging the relationship [with my wife and son], the business has to go.” He will shut it down. Wow! Incredible commitment.
Since I got the idea to start WeMontage three years ago, I’ve had to rely on the support of both friends and strangers. So I started wondering, which group has been more helpful-friends or strangers?
My immediate answer to that question was, strangers have been more helpful. And there were a few times friends have disappointed me. But then I really thought about it and came to a slightly different, more nuanced conclusion.
I also wondered what other people’s experiences have been when starting a business, so I reached out to a few folks, and I’d like to share with you my experience and what others had to say about the matter.
It’s time-consuming to cook for a family after hustling all day on your business, and in my case, taking care of the kids too. So I’m always looking for a fast, delicious, and-er-healthy dinner solution. I’m preparing my not-so-world-famous rotisserie chicken and thought I’d share it with you. It’s super easy to prepare and really tasty.
I’m blessed to be able to wake up every day and chase my dream of making my startup, WeMontage, a household name. As is often the case, the path to realization of this dream has been circuitous, to say the least, and it has taken a toll on family relationships.
After raising investment capital in 2013, the business ran out of cash last spring and my investors, after giving indications to the contrary, decided at the last-minute to not re-invest in the business. Because we ran out of cash, my partner quit, and I’ve been mostly alone, grinding, trying to turn things around. (more…)