By the way, I have not shared with anyone outside of FastTrac or my close friends and associates what business I am developing and going to be launching. It is called BigLeapGPS. It will be the world's smallest personal GPS tracking device focused initially on child tracking. From there the uses are limitless. Keep an eye open for the site to go live as we have a few more developments happen. www.bigleapgps.com Nothing is there now but I promise it will be.
This idea came about at the end of August 2007 when my wife Chris and I were talking in the kitchen. Let me tell you first off that like must of you I am full of ideas and have been spouting them off to Chris since we met. This idea was the first one where she stopped what she was doing and told me this was my best idea yet. The idea was to incorporate a small GPS tracking device into a piece of jewelry for a child to wear so it would not be detected by a kidnapper.
Well here we are 3 months later, I have a business plan, an investor pitch, an amazing engineering company behind me and an entire entrepreneurial community beside me. Things are looking very promising and if I have my way about it, we will be manufacturing and selling this product before the end of 2008.
Please let me know your thoughts on this concept and if you are a manufacturer of a product or set of products focused on the child market for ages 3 through 8 please get in touch with me as I would like to validate my idea of incorporating my technology with your product.
Please write and let me know your thoughts... I am also interested in the political viewpoints many of you have. I know the reasons for me bringing this product to market is to return lost and kidnapped children safely and quickly. However, I am sure a completely different position can be taken and I want to hear about it.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Soccer vs. Swimming - A Classic Dilemma
I remember vividly when I was 9 years old and my mother had, at this point, been taking me from soccer practice to swim meets to soccer games to out of State meets for swimming... it all came to a head one day after soccer practice when she asked me, "Joe, I really need for you to choose one sport over the other because I can not continue to keep this up for you." My mom posed the first major decision I had to make in my life. Do I continue playing soccer or do I literally dive full time into swimming. Well, the way my mind worked then is a little different than now... I decided to swim because I was starting to get really good and because girls swam more then they played soccer. So there you have it. I chose swimming and ended up swimming my way to 6 State records, national rankings in several events and most importantly a swimming scholarship to Clemson. I would say the life changing decision I made at 9 years old worked out pretty well.
I bring all this up because all entrepreneurs must make a similar decision at some point. They have been doing one thing for a while, maybe their entire professional career, and here is something to take them away from the norm and into something completely different. Again the move, change, or whatever you want to call it was brought on by something inside you going, you have got to make a choice. Well, now it is something inside and no longer my mother. To choose doing what you have been doing or to do something you have never done before and hopefully something that has never been done by anyone else either.
I never looked back to soccer after I made my decision to swim. Sure, I would play it in the backyard or with friends but I never wanted to go back to what I was doing prior to my decision to swim. I made the decision to swim and that is what I did. An entrepreneur must have the same drive and determination to make the decision and not look back. Every bit of focus and energy must be dedicated to making your goal a reality.
What was the first major decision you ever had to make and how did it affect your life?
I bring all this up because all entrepreneurs must make a similar decision at some point. They have been doing one thing for a while, maybe their entire professional career, and here is something to take them away from the norm and into something completely different. Again the move, change, or whatever you want to call it was brought on by something inside you going, you have got to make a choice. Well, now it is something inside and no longer my mother. To choose doing what you have been doing or to do something you have never done before and hopefully something that has never been done by anyone else either.
I never looked back to soccer after I made my decision to swim. Sure, I would play it in the backyard or with friends but I never wanted to go back to what I was doing prior to my decision to swim. I made the decision to swim and that is what I did. An entrepreneur must have the same drive and determination to make the decision and not look back. Every bit of focus and energy must be dedicated to making your goal a reality.
What was the first major decision you ever had to make and how did it affect your life?
I am back... Finally!!
Hello everyone! I am very sorry for the small disappearance. One of the things I quickly learned as I started to build a business is the lack of time for everything. Being the father of three young children, the husband of a very busy and driven wife one barely has time to eat.
Since my last post in Sept. there have been a lot of things that have happened. I will start by saying the FastTrac TechVenture class was by far the best thing a tech-driven entrepreneur could do for their efforts. I started by new business venture planning at the same time the class started. By the time the class was done in 11 weeks, I had a solid foundation on which to build.
I hope to be able to fill in more details shortly and try to get this blog caught up again. Not to say I have any extra time but I feel this medium is extremely important and I want to do whatever I can to help guide and maybe inspire like minded individuals to dive in and take a swim in the entrepreneur waters...
Since my last post in Sept. there have been a lot of things that have happened. I will start by saying the FastTrac TechVenture class was by far the best thing a tech-driven entrepreneur could do for their efforts. I started by new business venture planning at the same time the class started. By the time the class was done in 11 weeks, I had a solid foundation on which to build.
I hope to be able to fill in more details shortly and try to get this blog caught up again. Not to say I have any extra time but I feel this medium is extremely important and I want to do whatever I can to help guide and maybe inspire like minded individuals to dive in and take a swim in the entrepreneur waters...
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