fly like an eagle

i read something many years ago that said if you want to excel in life surround yourself with people that are real go-getters (eagles). the idea was not suggesting that you feed off other people or that it's all about networking. it's the same thing our parents told us - if you hang around with punks, then you'll mostly like turn out to be a punk & if you hang around book nerds, then you're more than likely to be a book nerd (requires a bit of a brain of course). i've got a couple of buddies that i'm truly proud to know & in my opinion are some real go-getters (eagles).

i was talking with paul earlier today & he told me that he's going to pull the trigger on starting his own business. he's been talking about it for a couple of years now & i've known for some time that he's been spending a significant amount of time before & after hours in various libraries in houston working on a business plan. paul is by far one of the most reliable, honest, & hard-working individuals i know. we used to work together, so i know what i'm saying when i refer to him as a hard-worker. since he left the company & moved back to houston i've continued to work with paul & rely heavily on his expertise when it comes to server, storage, & networking systems. paul is the most genuine of sales guys & i know that he is more concerned with getting his clients what they need prior to him making a buck. he always goes above & beyond what is asked of him. i actually worry at times that paul goes so far beyond what he's asked to do that he's going to burn himself out. i was so happy when he told me a few years ago the he was taking up fishing, because i knew it would force him to take a break & get away from the phone & computer for a period time - i'm sure angie will agree with me on this one. anyway, paul has absolutely got what it takes to run a smart business & be successful. he & his partner, richard, are officially opening up partner one technologies (www.partneronetech.com) for business on january 2nd of '08. he just shared some potential logos with me (which are all really cool), he's currently working on having a web site built, & he & richard are also finalizing the last few logistics as to how they are going to set up their virtual office until they have their own space later in the year. i'm hoping that i can help him out by getting him started with some small business products (personal 800 number with call forwarding, vmail, & conferencing services) from jaduka.

my other buddy, roland, has been talking about running his own thing from day one. we enjoyed many late afternoon runs to starbucks where we would discuss various entrepreneurial opportunities (amongst other things). because he's a damn talented graphic designer & marketer, he initially focused on starting a magazine. first an outdoorsman mag & then a more hip magazine like maxim, but local to texas (texmag). when the texmag thing fell through he went right back to the drawing board. for many months he was at einstein's each morning working on a new business plan for selling kayaks. while roland works on a mac & is more orderly than any man i know, he's a true outdoorsman at heart. i know one day, when heather gives in, he'll be living in the country next to a lake with a fishing pole in one hand & a beer in the other. those morning's at einstein's paid off & in january of this year roland went live with lakeline watersports (www.lakelinewatersports.com). months prior to this he was selling boats out of his garage using craigslist. once the website came online he got himself some storage space & quickly grew out of that. just recently he opened a shop off of pond springs road & business appears to be going well. it's so cool to watch him succeed & the business literally grow before your eyes.

eventually i think i'll run my own business. i know that right now isn't the right time & i'm quite happy where i sit professionally. because i can see myself starting something down the road i watch like a little kid as paul & roland make progress with their businesses. both of them have worked very hard to get where they are & i hope the hard work pays off for them & their families in more ways than one.

if you need some enterprise servers, storage, or networking equipment or maybe a kayak, tell paul or roland who sent ya :)

BK