Emil Wisch | Business + Pleasure

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This photo is from the Chicago Tribune website (Scott Strazzante / Tribune)

If you’re reading this, please feel free to add your own thank you’s in the comment box at the bottom of this page.

Thank you for:

1. Remaining humble

2. Living up to your potential

3. Staying loyal to your teammates

4. Exhibiting class

5. Your professionalism

6. Making a city proud

7. Bringing my family closer together

8. Working hard

9. Bringing the excitement back to this great franchise

10. Setting a solid example for our youth

11. Spoiling us

12. Keeping your composure

13. Bringing my dad back to hockey

14. Erasing the heartbreak of the ‘91-92 Finals

15. …to be continued…

1. I was sought out and it humbled me.

2. It was a new challenge to help an already successful existing web development business grow.

3. I truly felt like I was coming into a situation where I’d be PART of a team, not just a small cog – I believed I could make a big impact and that felt great.

4. They’re realists and understand progress can take time. Even though, there was this lack of pressure, I was that much more driven to perform.

5. It was a new learning experience to be in a group of web developers building custom web applications on a larger scale.

I’m still working for myself and the pressure is off. Now I can work for someone else and anything I do for myself is icing on the cake.

Today I went to grab a coffee and a donut from Dunkin’ Donuts. I wont say this great customer service experience is company/franchise wide because I don’t know.

I asked for a large coffee and a chocolate frosted cake donut. They were out of my favorite donut – so I just ordered the coffee (I didn’t need the donut anyway). I pulled around the drive-thru to pay at the window and received an extra-large coffee. It didn’t bother me that they were out of the donuts, and I didn’t necessarily want an extra-large coffee. However, it was the gesture that counted for me. I appreciated the fact that they made an effort to go above and beyond when I didn’t make any signs of complaint.

Something is definitely right at this particular Dunkin’ Donuts (7086 W. 183rd St in Tinley Park, IL). I believe it’s been open in the neighborhood of 3 or 4 years and I see almost all of the same employees now as when they first opened. Nobody seems to hate their job. Some even seem to like it

Almost everyone’s heard of Zappos focus on customer service. Well I experienced it. It’s not just hype.

I ordered a pair of sandals last Friday afternoon, May 28. I received an order confirmation email, which is to be expected. Well, later that evening I received another email from Zappos letting me know that my shipping was upgraded (I chose standard shipping ’cause there was no rush). I ended up receiving the sandals on Tuesday, June 1. Mind you, Monday, May 31 was Memorial Day. Before I found out I was getting upgraded shipping, I was already impressed because Zappos offers free shipping both ways and a 365 day return policy at all times. It had been awhile since the last time I ordered anything from Zappos (’04) and that could very well be the reason I got special treatment. Maybe I won’t wait so long next time. Maybe Zappos will be my first option.

A big “GRAZIE!” to Zappos for making my day.

With Love, Emil

Click to Enlarge

I’ve spent the last few years getting to know more about communities and business in general. My best friend (brilliant software engineer) and I (loony master of no trade + idea guy) developed a community for local, independent businesses. We had interest but the venture fizzled out because we were spending too much time on the project and not getting much back from it. We made many mistakes along the way that may have led to its demise. I’d like to share my thoughts & experiences here in the hopes I might be able to help at least one other person out there. Getting into business isn’t EVER all candy canes and lollipops. I’m so disgusted and tired of ‘experts‘ and ‘gurus‘ out there guaranteeing success to people if you give them your money and follow their step-by-step plan. These are the same people that gave somebody else their money for the same thing. I’m not giving you any guarantees. I’m giving you the truth as I know it – ugly or otherwise.

Your Time & Personal Relationships Are Precious.

That being said, I don’t regret anything I’ve ever done. Difficult moments come before you all the time. You have to make decisions. You can only do your best to try and make the ‘right’ ones based on your knowledge and experiences. Reflect on your experiences and take a lesson from them instead of dwelling on what could have been.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to come up with great business ideas and make them work. I was working full-time and also working on the venture almost full-time. I hated being a salesman. I’m a very emotional person and get sick to my stomach going to work when I have no passion for what I do. I wanted to build something I could believe in and work for. I spent so much time working on this business community venture that I rarely saw my family and my relationship with my wife became strained. We argued. My wife saw my performance at the day job being affected and I stood by my venture. I believed my business was worth it and that it had nothing to do with my job performance.

Maybe it did affect my work. I was up until 3am many nights. When I was at work most times I could only think about the business. These were some very hard times. I felt the strain on my relationships and my sanity. I just kept telling myself that we would get over the hump anytime now. I’m an extreme optimist and tend to lie to myself sometimes.

The negative impact of mindlessly working non-stop is very real.

1. My relationships with my wife, family and friends were affected and I felt like a stranger.

2. I was losing my grip on reality. Seriously.

3. I didn’t get enough sleep.

4. I didn’t allow myself much time for non-work related activities (contributing more to my insanity).

Am I telling you not to go into business for yourself? No. Am I telling you not start something up that you really believe in? No. I’m just letting you know, as a friend, you may consider being cautious (especially if you tend to dive head first into passionate ideas). Carve out some balance or you might just fail and piss off a bunch of people in the process.

Was it all a less than positive experience? HELL NO!

Now here’s the good stuff:

1. I developed great business relationships with people I still keep in contact with today.

2. I met and learned from some really brilliant people along the way – in and outside our little community.

3. I did a crap load of research and learned a lot about what to do and what not to do in business.

4. I picked up some skills that I would not have otherwise. These skills are helping me today in my current (smaller scale) business. As a matter of fact, without these skills I couldn’t have even thought of my current business offerings.

Of course this is not the be all, end all. I’d love some feedback about your own concerns AND tips and advice from others who have struggled.

This was a question I asked on Twitter back in January and the gentleman, Rob Bowen, was so kind to elaborate. See Rob’s answer below…

“Words. They may not seem like much, but to a writer like me, they are all I need to get me going. Each day bringing the promise of a new game of wordplay to indulge my creative side, and dance with my muse. Never knowing how the words will come, and moreover, where they will lead. Their simple brilliance carrying such power and majesty. Just hearing familiar verses, and reading favorite passages as the day winds away, always leaves me inspired and ready to face each new day that dawns.

They are the basic building block of our communication, making so many amazing things happen across the globe. Like the breathes that we take, these essential leviathans of language meet so many needs and give life to so much that they are invaluable. And so many of us take them for granted without realizing how much they enable and can empower us.

Naturally, with my forte falling in the grasp of these compact creators of conversation, I cannot help but pay homage to their splendor. But it is more than that. Words saved my life, once upon a time, and I know that sounds a bit overdramatic, but allow me explain. Writing became an outlet for me in high school, and the words allowed me to expel the darkness that seemed to fill me and my thoughts. Expressing the pain that I felt would be my undoing to an empty page, in ways that I could never have hoped to discuss with anyone. The words there on the page, trapped, far from the harm they were inflicting, shone like a beacon through the mist for me, allowing me to acknowledge their existence and what they stood for without being controlled by them.

So words became so much more to me than just the basic building blocks that they are. They became a source of inspiration. They became the powerful tools they so often can become. A reason to get up and face each day and whatever it had to throw at me, for I knew that now, I had a means of dealing that I was delighted to delve into!”

About Rob : Robert Bowen, or Rob depending on the context, was one half of the creative duo behind Dead Wings Designs, the Arbenting design blog, and is now one of the editors of Fuel Your Creativity. He is a celebrated podcaster and poet who dabbles in writing for the big screen and the small pages.

Beef Stick Lollipops

The dentist told me if I want to stop getting cavities that I must stop eating so many beef sticks.

You’ve landed on the Emil Stories Wiki Page.

This is the place where the term ‘Emil Story’ gets defined…by YOU.

I named this blog as such because I’ve been known (dating back to elementary school) to sometimes tell stories that would excite interest in the beginning and wind up being sort of a let down in the end. I believe I’ve become more empathetic in recent years and I’m trying to change the face of what is known as an ‘Emil Story’.

I decided to create this wiki page as a place for anyone who has had the opportunity to hear one of my ‘Emil Stories’. If you know what it is, go ahead and define it below in the Say What?! section of this page.

I’ll start with the first definition from my great friend, Nick Zalabak:

em·il sto·ry [ee-muhl stohr-ee] noun, plural -ries

-noun

1. stories that start strong and quickly go nowhere leaving all listeners dumbfounded and wanting that time back.

Nick of UrbanMelt.com will be giving a presentation at SocialDevCampChicago about UrbanMelt’s switch from Java to Ruby on Rails.  Find out why we made the switch and what he’s learned during the tedious process.

Here’s a bit more about the event taken from the SocialDevCampChicago event wiki (check out the wiki to see who else will be there and what topics will be discussed):

“SocialDevCampChicago is an unconference for people passionate about social networks, web applications, platform development, new media, and any of the exciting (but messy) topics in-between. Join some of the brightest minds in the Midwest for a day of fun, learning, and coding!

SocialDevCampChicago will be on Saturday, August 9, 2008, 8:30am-6:00pm (with afterparty TBD)

Location:

Illinois Institute of Technology
McCormick Tribune Center (the cool Rem Koolhaas building)
3201 South State Street
Chicago, IL 60616

After Party Location:

Grace O’Malley’s
1416 S Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60605
Complimentary drinks from 6:30 – 8:30
Feel free to stay longer

Easily accessible from the CTA Red Line via the Sox-35th Street exit. Even better – the Green Line actually lets out *inside* the building (the tube above the building are the El platforms). Ample parking is available to the south of the building.

Grace O’Malley’s is also accessible from the CTA. Both the Green Line and Red Line stop at Roosevelt and the bar is two blocks south on Michigan.

SocialDevCamp Chicago was inspired by SocialDevCamp East, hosted on May 10 in Baltimore. The name remains the same (with permission of course). The crew for the Chicago installment, however, will be headed by Tim Courtney and Andy Angelos. Same mission, different minds!”