Five or six years ago, I really started down this road of authenticity and understanding what are my unique gifts. One of the exercises I did was to ask 5 people who knew me, from different areas of my life, to answer a few questions about me. The responses to the questions were surprising similar from people who knew me in a social setting and people who knew me professionally. However the one question was “What profession would you see me doing if I were doing something com

Growing up, I had a strong desire to be “cool” as do most kids. In school, I am not even sure I could define it, but it was clear who had it. Those were the kids who wore the right clothes, said witty things, and never looked too ruffled... and that was definitely not me. It was not until much later in life that someone pointed out the meaning of cool when used in this context: lacking in interest or enthusiasm. It was like a lightbulb went on for me. These were also the kids

When a prospect agreed to start working with me a couple of years ago, I was pretty excited. They were really nice people and would be my third largest client by monthly billings. The problem was that it was the wrong kind of work for me. When I started my business in 2008, I was a marketing gun for hire. I was up for just about any type of marketing help a business needed. However, as my business has developed over the past 10 years, it has become clearer where I can really

In middle school, I was friends with a boy whose parents were divorced and he lived with just his mom, who worked evenings. He invited me for a sleepover one Friday night with a bigger plan to hang out with some girls across town without his mom’s knowledge. Planning for the event seemed exciting. To be honest, I followed the rules most of the time, and this seemed intriguing. So, I went along with it. However, once we actually started off to the girl’s house, it started feel

Our younger dog, Sasha, is a 70-lb. German Shepherd. We got her when she was 3 months old, and she has always wanted to please. She is great with kids and is really sweet... except around other dogs. At our old house, she would lunge at the front window when other dogs walked by (and there were quite a few on a normal day). When walking her in a our urban neighborhood, I would often change directions on seeing other dogs, so she would not lunge and bark. And I would typically

When I was in college, my maternal grandfather passed away. While he was not great with kids, I did spend quite a bit of time with him. As one family friend put it, I was “7 going on 35.” So, he found me to mature enough to have around. He taught me to play chess, and it was a jubilant day when I was finally able to beat him once (after hundreds of games). He would tell occasional stories and introduced me to tonic water, when I asked him what it was (blah!). After my grandmo

In 2004, I was decided to close down my web design business. It had been a failure, and at the time, it really felt like the end. The end of my business career and the end of my self-respect. You see, I thought I was pretty darn smart. After graduating valedictorian of my small high school, going to an Ivy League school and graduating cum laude, I went on to work at a couple of different firms. Regularly, I seemed to get in over my head in new areas of marketing and always fi

Most evenings, my family spends time reading together. We started the practice nearly 10 years ago, and it is an important collective family experience. As the boys are getting older, we have missed more nights of reading, but we still read as often as possible. One of the books we read several months ago had a bigger impact on me than most. It is called Out of My Mind and tells the story of 10-year-old Melody who has cerebral palsy. While she has a brilliant mind, no one rea

My boys are involved in quite a few activities, and I am the principal driver since my schedule is more flexible than my wife’s. That means I spend quite a bit of time in the car with the boys. The one thing you can count on is that the radio is on. My oldest son, who is very into music, does not allow an advertisement on for even 3 seconds before changing the station. He does not even listen to the DJs. My younger son is not so quick to change the station, so we occasionally

Growing up, everyone in my neighborhood had regular jobs. My parents were teachers. The neighbors were a steel worker, a postal carrier, and other people with “regular” jobs. That is why it was such a shock to us when a new family moved in two doors down. The dad did not have regular job! However, they seemed to be making a decent living. He often had a couple of cars for sale in the front yard, and was working on different opportunities. He seemed to work as a salesman on o