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.

By emilwisch, on August 18, 2009 at 10:41 am, in Blog, Business Listings.
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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.

By emilwisch, on July 14, 2009 at 12:02 am, in Interviews.
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Beef Stick Lollipops

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

By emilwisch, on July 1, 2009 at 9:01 am, in Blog and tagged beef sticks, lollipops, suckers.
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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.

By emilwisch, on June 22, 2009 at 10:44 am, in Blog.
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Yo dudes and dudettes! I miss you all. My friends. I’m on the comeback trail.

It’s been a long and trying personal time over the past few months. I’ve discovered a great deal and I will be sharing much of that soon.

For now, though, I’m back…kinda.

By emilwisch, on June 11, 2009 at 11:36 am, in Blog.
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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!”

By emilwisch, on August 7, 2008 at 8:39 pm, in Social Media and tagged ruby on rails, Social Media, SocialDevCampChicago, urbanmelt.
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UniversalBusinessListing.org allows you to do it.  Instead of trying to find every online directory and then spend all the time listing your business information over and over again, just list once and forget it. 

$30 gets you listed on the major online directories, local search engines and 411 directories for the year.  Renew after the first year for $15.  It’s well worth it.  I’ve seen search companies charge more than $300 for a similar service that’s not as extensive.

Moving your business into a new location?  You can change your information at UniversalBusinessListing.org as many times as you need with no additional charges.

To find out more, just visit their site.  It’s a no brainer!

By emilwisch, on July 29, 2008 at 4:51 pm, in Business Resources and tagged business listings, directories, local search engines, sem, seo, universalbusinesslisting.org.
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Hello Folks,

It is my duty as an advocate of small and local businesses to spread the word about new and useful tools to help your business adapt and grow.

Earlier today Silkfair.com was brought to my attention.  It is an online marketplace similar to eBay or Etsy.

What I like about it:

- Free Online Store for sellers

- Education and positive attitude about social networking to promote seller stores

- Custom URL

- Sellers can use video to sell items

- Sellers can link back to their eBay rating

I’d love to hear what the rest of the community thinks about Silkfair.com.  Please check it out and comment back here, at Silkfair’s blog, or suggestions [at] silkfair.com.

Take care,

Emil

By emilwisch, on June 27, 2008 at 4:43 am, in Business Resources, Consumer Resources, Local Businesses, Social Media and tagged ebay, ebay alternative, etsy, online marketplace, silkfair.
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Quick Post:

You can use ping.fm to update your posts on a variety of different social services including Twitter, Plurk, Jaiku, Pownce and Tumblr all in one shot.  I just signed up and received this as the beta code to share - “pingofpings”

Enjoy,

Emil

By emilwisch, on June 26, 2008 at 9:42 pm, in Business Resources, Consumer Resources, Social Media, microblogging and tagged beta code, jaiku, ping.fm, plurk, pownce, sync, tumblr, twitter.
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I’d like the first community builder profile to be of someone who has a local connection.  Phil Tadros of metroproper.com (a cool community & social network) and I both grew up in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, and last night I reached out to Phil as I have quite a few times in the past knowing I’d get a lightning-quick response.

Here are a few questions Phil answered for me:

EMIL: What do you think is the most important thing you have done to grow the Proper community?

PHIL: It’s reflective of my real life and the people I meet and see online and off.

EMIL: What’s the most important quality that you possess, that differentiates you, Phil Tadros, from other community builders?

PHIL: Intuition, patience, drive and my big old stupid heart.

EMIL: What mistakes have you made to piss off people within the metroproper community or potential members of metroproper?

PHIL: Metroproper was my first online project ever so I had to learn by making all the mistakes you could imagine, but it made for a good story and really pulled together some really amazing people and I’ve been able to help many others in not making the same list of mistakes.

I’m really happy with where we are at now and we keep working at it, soon we launch music and local buzz!

EMIL: When talking about MetroProper or your other ventures, what do you dedicate the majority of your time on?

PHIL: I spend most my time on making sure everyone is okay and productive, and the lifestyle of web start ups and coffee shops make it so I’m constantly from wake up to pass out working on helping solve things with people. I’m open to the public, literally     phil [at] metroproper.com

To see what else Phil is working on check out his profile on LinkedIn

By emilwisch, on June 23, 2008 at 10:08 pm, in Community Builders and tagged doejo, metroproper, phil tadros, philcoextra.
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