Hello, I am Joe. I am a bootstrapper.

I wrote this blog as if I were walking into a treatment facility. I am committing myself for the reason of being a bootstrapper. I walk in and everyone says, "Hey Joe, what are you in for?" And I say, Hello I am Joe. I am a bootstrapper. Well what does that really mean? Let's talk about the meaning of "bootstrap" first: "to help oneself, often through improvised means." Every time I read that definition I have to laugh a little to myself because it is so prefect, particularly the bit about improvised means. If you are bootstrapping a business, you are living improvisation firsthand. The only way for a business to not be considered bootstrapped is for it to bring in enough revenue to cover its costs and the costs of the (now very simple) lives of its owners/entrepreneurs.

Although I am a bootstrapper, I have had help along the way. I have received some funds from friends and family to get my business to 2009. In January 2009, I hoped to bring in additional funding from other sources, but the economy's nose dive had other plans for us. That other plan was continued improvisation. But here we are in July, and we are still doing it! We are not just surviving; we are driving! We are going out and developing other markets; we are getting more players involved; we are not stopping. You stop, you die. We believe way too much in what we are doing at this point to die. We believe in our hearts, souls, and minds that our product will make a difference, be successful, and (in our case) save lives. You don't bootstrap if you don't believe. We believe!

So what does it look like? Bootstrapping means no vacations to the beach when everyone else on Facebook is going and snapping pictures. Bootstrapping is living well under whatever means you were used to. So instead of a dinner at Lattitude you have dinner at home, $1 rentals from your local supermarket vs. going to the movies. Bootstrapping is really just living more simple lives then you were probably used to living. And I ask you, is that so bad? Imagine applying the rules of bootstrapping to a family that currently has a good income. Imagine for a second if you acted as if you were improvised by saving vs. spending. WOW! I know I would be in a different place if I followed my own advice today.

The craziest thing of all is that bootstrappers bootstrap by choice. Most of us left paying jobs with normal hours to pursue our dreams, and most of us brought others along for the ride. Our passion propels us out of our comfort and into improv-land. It's an odd place to be; the air seems thinner, like it's hard to get a full, deep breath. It's a steep climb, but we know in our hearts that when we unfasten our bootstaps at the summit, the view will be phenomenal.

Are you a bootstrapper? Please share your story and pictures with us...

I have included a picture of my running shoes which are also my grass cutting shoes and pretty much everything else shoes, for the simply reason that they are my boots, they represent the number of miles I need to get out of every single investment I make.

A Business Case for Connecting

I believe it is going to take a mixture of unique methods to kick start our economy. I am not an economist and do not know how to better spend money none of us have. What I do know is the power of making connections to help our community and yourself down the road. This act may very well be one of the strongest things we can do to boost our economy.

For example, you know someone who makes socks and you know someone who distributes socks well invite them both to lunch or send out an introduction e-mail. There may be nothing there or it could turn into the type relationship that transforms both their businesses. It is not up for you to decide. It is up for them and what can come from them getting together. I bet right now if you think about it there are at least two or three sets of people either in your industry or not that you have thought of to connect together. Do it. Get these people together.

I recently called a lunch meeting with two of the premier wireless leaders in the Upstate. The result of that meeting was two gentlemen who have been in the same industry and in the same geography for more than 10 years coming together on a business idea that could end up being huge for both companies. Prior to this meeting they had never met face to face but when the introduction lunch was called, there was no hesitation.

I did not get anything directly out of the lunch introduction. But I might down the road. I believe that for every good thing you do you are rewarded by 100 virgins, no really, I believe everything comes back around in multiples of three. For every good thing you do, you get it back x3. Plus it just feels good to do something positive in business when everything else around us is so negative.

Please, take a few moments right now to introduce at least two people together who you have been thinking needed to meet. Use Swampfox use Linkedin, you whatever you have, heck... maybe an e-mail or phone call.

Please share your successes in this post of when either someone connected you with someone that had a fundamental change in your business or a connection you made between two individuals or companies that resulted in something very positive.

Fear vs. Belief

While I was out running the other night I realized something seismic: belief conquers fear. More specifically, I had conquered my fear of entrepreneurship through belief. While there are many important steps to building a successful start-up business, none is more important than this: the day you realize that your belief in your idea, product, or service is bigger than your fears and anxiety about the business and its future. The day you realize that is a good day.

Leading up to this moment I remember feeling and even saying to some of you that I felt like you could punch me, stab me, shoot me with whatever you had, and everything would bounce off. This feeling was me overcoming fear and believing more and more in what I was doing and the direction we were heading.

In this path I have traveled for nearly 2 years, there have been the highest highs and the lowest lows. And by lows, I mean stress so intense it resulted in temporary loss of vision in one eye. That's scary. And that's it, really - the lowest lows were fueled by fear. The highest highs were fueled by my belief being validated that things were going to be alright.

I am not going to sit here and tell you I am not going to have more lows. I know I will, and I know they could happen any day. But I also know when they do happen, I will pull through and get on top again.

Belief is easier when you start getting external validation. One such validation of our business and overall business model is the fact that we are slowly growing while other much larger competitors are failing. Much larger, better funded, "better lead" companies are fizzling out of gas, and we are just sitting there watching them fall from the sky like bugs hitting the zapper. Why?

It is not because we have a better product or a better portal or a better idea. It is our model. Our approach to getting business done. Talk about validation of belief! Hiding behind patents seems to be worthless. We have patents, but your only true defense in this global market is execution. No start up has funding to protect its patents against a bigger player, and the time wasted in the courts is time wasted focused on your market.

When you have no money things are tough, but when you have no belief, things are impossible.