A Proof of Concept

Of course I know Why Go Solo will be a huge hit and success…but I can’t help but feel really good when I prove the concept is built on a solid need. I spent a good deal of today at Panera Bread. I can’t say I was as productive as I would have liked to be, but since one small aspect of Why Go Solo is for places like Panera Bread—Every now and again, I like to hang out in those types of places to see how the implementation of Why Go Solo will work.

Anyway, this guy (Aaron) was sitting about 10 ft away from me and eventually we ended up striking a conversation. Since he was on the internet and I was on the internet; he opened the conversation by asking me if I had a MySpace page. After chocking back some “thoughts” (that are best not publicly shared) we began talking a little about social networks. Since Why Go Solo doesn’t exist yet, I sent him an invite to Pownce. Pownce won’t provide him the real services that are part of Why Go Solo, but he will be able to get back in touch with me (let me know next time he’s coming to Panera) and continue to communicate with me using Pownce.

He received a very warm welcome from my Pownce friends…which I know will only be intensified through Why Go Solo and the many like minded folks who will be our members.

We met in person/offline and will continue communication online…ahhhhhhhhhh, the possibilities of using a social network to actually HAVE a Social Life in REAL Life

A Pro at Online Dating with no Success

In early Spring of 2004, I reluctantly came back to Virginia after my tour oversea. My three year tour on Okinawa was fabulous. I have many fond memories of Okinawa, to include quite a few romantically related memories. I had my share of island romances—not with Okinawans, but with other Marines (of my rank) who were on deployments to Okinawa.

I was certainly used to dating Marines. My high school sweetheart joined the Marine Corps and frankly, prior to 2004, I had dated only Marines. My last island romance left me with a broken heart, and the sense that, it was time to date outside of Marines.

When I arrived to Northern Virginia and was semi-settled in, I began to consider my options for meeting men outside of the Marine Corps. My friends and I went out often…however, we also all went out as a big group of Marines. It became obvious that no man alive would dare infiltrate a group like what we had. I would need some other means.

Out of boredom, I turned to the Internet and came across some adds for online dating sites and decided to try it out. I joined Tickle and later down the road I also joined Yahoo Personals. Again, this was over three years ago…I peeked at the Yahoo Personal Ads the other day and saw pictures of guys from when I was active on the site. Just one of those things that makes you wonder about online activities.

Anyway, my friends all thought I was a little crazy for doing the online dating thing. I figured I had nothing to lose. I wrote a very specific profile of what I was looking for and who I was. I wish I still had my profile information—of what I can recall, it was quite candid and direct. I know I had something written in there about not being interested in men with spaghetti arms and beer guts…

I rapidly learned the pitfalls of online dating and the necessary methods to make the process more efficient. We’ll discuss what those are in future posts and our upcoming Blog Talk Radio Show.

For now, we’ll just say that I went on many, many, many first dates and barely any second dates. Out of probably a hundred or so men I had some sort of contact with, I ended up meeting no one I wanted to date regularly.

I did the online dating thing for probably 6-9 months, along with setting-up a MySpace profile. I stopped for about two years, and a little while ago, I started dabbling with meeting men online through Craigslist’s Personals. Actually, I also tried eHarmony for a few weeks

The last few months have confirmed what I had deduced…online dating is NOT for me. I’ve become a pro at it…I believe it’s an effective way to date and I know it works for many people, just not for me. I’m simply way too, into, having real physical chemistry with someone I date. I’ve met many wonderful, nice, smart, sweet and great guys that I’ve had to turn away because they just didn’t ‘do it’ for me and there was no chemistry. No amount of personality tests or looking at pictures, emailing or even talking on the phone guarantees in-person chemistry.

Here is something interesting though, I still email and chat with men I’ve met online three years ago, but actually never met in real life. They are all mostly in NY…which isn’t that far from here. I often ask myself what’s the point in maintaining contact with them and I never can come up with anything that makes sense, but at the same time—I enjoy the sporadic contact. Who knows!?!

The compilation of the last three years and a few things I’ve noticed and observed is what lead me to develop Why Go Solo. If the solution you’re looking for isn’t there—CREATE IT.

Give me my Password...

Please. Pretty Please. For crying out loud!! I want my password. Okay, I realize the fact that I don’t have my password is my fault—I have good excuse for that, but come on, a little customer service and support from MySpace wouldn’t hurt either.

I attempted to retrieve my password multiple times by submitting my email address and although I get the message that my password was sent to my email address…nothing ever arrives into my inbox.

I have also sent out a few emails to MySpace support, which are obviously lost in the mix, and no one at MySpace cares. May be I need to email them everyday, but who has that kind of time!?!?

I really want to get back into my MySpace Profile for a few reasons:

1) To gain the option to delete it. Thankfully, at the same time I changed my password I also updated my profile. When I created the profile, back in 2004, I was in a different place and had a different mind set, then I do now. I’m starting to worry about some of my friends selection back then.

I ran into one of my MySpace friends that used to live in California on Craigslis in Washington DC—he was looking for a bi-girl for him and his girlfriend in the men seeking women section. It’s a small and somewhat scary cyber world.

You would think since I haven’t logged-in for 18 months that they would automatically delete the profile…

2) To update it. May be, I don’t really need to delete it, but I definitely want to update it and may be, start using it again.

3) Avoid creating a new profile. I already have “friends” in my old profile, albeit some dubious ones, but friends none the less, and comments, messages and what not. I really don’t want to create a new profile. Plus, I was on MySpace before it became what it is today…I want to keep my seniority!! I realize this is semi-illogical and pathetic thinking…

This makes me wonder out of the 160,000,000 members on MySpace how many of those are duplicates??

So why did I change my password? When I first established my profile I was single, when I changed my profile and password it was because I was in a relationship. My boyfriend at the time, had a habit of snooping and I felt it was safer to change my password, as well as, the content and pictures I had posted. I changed it to something that was completely different from all my other passwords…so different, in fact, that I can’t for the life of me remember what it is!!

I guess at some point, if I want to have a presence on MySpace again, I’ll have to bite the bullet and create a new profile.

Why Go Solo is going to have excellent customer and service support to avoid this from happening.

Local Online Community on HOT 99.5

Hot 99.5 in Washington ,DC has started their own local online community called the Hot Spot. The reasoning behind the Hot Spot, according to their website and radio commercials, is that, since online communities such as Facebook and Myspace have millions of members you end up lost in the crowd and unable to find people you have things in common with…therefore, you need something more local.

First, that makes no sense. Common sense tells you, the more people on a site, the greater your odds of finding people you have things in common with…plus, since those sites are designed for you to invite your friends to join you--you would think, the people you invite to be your friends are people that interest you and you have things in common with…same with the folks whose invitations you accept.

However, don’t get me wrong, the idea is a good one—it’s a good one—because it enables you to be connected online to people that are closer to your area, listening to the same radio station, and knowledgeable about the same community and events. It’s also a great deal for the radio station (see my cash cow comment below).

I have browsed through the Hot Spot. The layout of the website and profile pages are decent and basically resemble all the to other online communities out there. I have not joined yet and not sure I will.

I listen to HOT 99.5 throughout the day for the music, but I really don’t like the DJs or the topics they select to talk about. It’s definitely a younger and immature level of intellect, selection of issues and subjects compared to the DJs on 93.9 WKYS and WPGC 99.5 and my morning show of choice is Elliot in the Morning on DC101. I realize the maturity level on Elliot’s show is often lacking…but at least, it’s FUNNY.

What I’m a little taken back by is how long it’s taken them to reach 10,000 members. Especially when you consider, how easily they are able to get the word out over the air. They are now offering to pay out $10,000, once they reach, 10,000 members. Yeah, I would certainly hope so, since they are running advertisement on their site, and will be able to cash in with local advertisers in a BIG way. Not surprised the plan is to turn the Hot Spot into a big money cow for the radio station.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens next and who, if anyone, will follow suit.

Temporary Homepage

Very short post!! Just want to announce that our temporary homepage is up!! Check it out...I realize it's not much and takes you right back here but still, I'm pretty happy with it :)

www.whygosolo.com

Defining Moment

We all have certain defining moments in our lives which have shaped the course of our lives; moments that have propel our lives in new unforeseen directions, brought us great joy or sorrow and growth. There are a few factors that can bring about defining moments and one of the most common factor is: meeting someone new.

Life is a journey, that for many of us, rapidly becomes a routine and a series of patterns. We find ourselves unhappy and bored. We start wondering if there’s more to it all and how we might go about changing things up.

Well, meeting someone new can be the catalyst to: exploring who you are, getting a new job, finding romance, trying out something different, discovering fresh ideas and options, getting a huge contract, making a sale and who knows what else.

Once you reach your hand out to someone and introduce yourself…you open up the door of possibilities that reside in the interaction, experience and openness of meeting someone new.

When was the last time you met someone new? What happened? What did you learn? What did you discover about yourself?

The Demise

I was in Borders today and I grabbed my usual stack of magazines: Business 2.0, Entrepreneur, Forbes, Fast Company and Inc. Magazine, which had a great article: How to Kill a Great Idea! The story written by Max Chafkin, enlightens us on the amazing and unprecedented failure of one of this decades most innovative start-up—Friendster. The story compiles the input and view of Friendster’s founder Jonathan Abrams on how it all ended up going wrong.

My big take away and bottom line of what happened--does nothing to help ease my mind about going after and getting VC funding.

The other funny part was learning a little more about Abrams’s initial vision for Friendster and how Why Go Solo comes into to play by being the next generation of it, while making a full 180 degrees change to it.

The Friendster fiasco aside, the concept Jonathan Abrams created and implemented gets him, at least from me, tremendous respect. Social networking is what he invented…and that is definitely NOT a failure. It’s only been 5 years, that’s right—5 short years, since the birth of online communities and social networking and already, they are making a huge impact on our society.

Read the full story

The Road to Funding (Part II): An Extension of the Business Plan

What exactly are investors looking for, besides the obvious—a venture that will make them money. Which by the way, a venture that will make them money will have the following features: the venture is easily scalable; the venture has a wide, but specific market/niche and it’s a venture that answers a specific and obvious need that is currently not being addressed.

I’m absolutely positive, Why Go Solo, has all of those characteristics and endless potential…it’s not a hard sell there or an issue. (Well, at least not to me!!)

The next big thing that investors will thoroughly investigate and screen is the management team. Does the management team, with the associated outside resources added to the mix and the board of advisors, have the abilities, skills, know-how, passion, conviction and drive necessary to make the venture happen and successful.

Once again, I’m absolutely positive the team assembled to bring Why Go Solo to life is indeed, currently, well up to the challenge. However, this is a little of a harder sell. Main reason why? Me.

It would appear that as the CEO of Why Go Solo, I will be undertaking many duties in areas that are unknown to me. That is, if you went ahead and only looked at my resume. A resume that is filled with previous positions or billets held in the past that does very little to truly expose the real abilities, skills and depth of everything I can do and have done.

I would obviously not state in my resume the many hours spent on online communities, the countless first dates from online dating sites, Yahoo personals or Craigslist. I would also not list on my resume the people I have helped and assisted in making online dating successful for them, or my true natural knack for meeting people everywhere I go. I would also happen to skip mentioning my gift for writing personal ads, answering personal ads, creating captivating online profiles, etc. Nor, would I fully share the pain, agony and annoyance I know many people are feeling out there from being single, too busy, shy and disconnected.

That is exactly why this blog is becoming an extension of not only, the business plan, but also of my resume. The blog allows me to show what I know, to prove what I can do and to begin to bring to life…Why Go Solo.

Conundrum and Catch 22

What to do, what to do, what to do…

A little over a week ago I had dinner with a friend, who I actually met through an online dating site about three years ago. We catch up for dinner every blue moon. We hadn’t seen each other for well over a year, so I spent a lot of time catching him up on what I have been up to (and vice versa). You know, from the disappointment and heartbreak of closing down the Coaching Agency, the lessons I learned and of course the new venture I was embarking upon.

He was very interested in Why Go Solo and he definitely thought it was an awesome idea. I then, whined, complained and bitched about my impatients and experience of going about securing funding. He has raised money in the past, so he clearly understood what I was talking about. He offered some good advice and also offered to send my info and business plan to an associate of his that is connected to the founder of the online dating site LavaLife.

I got really excited, since someone with that type of background and available cash would be a wonderful potential investor. I thanked him dearly and planned to get home and send everything to him. By everything, it also meant sending out a non-disclosure agreement (NDA).

On my drive home, I began to think about what could happen if I sent out the business plan. No, I wasn’t thinking about how quickly the money would come in, but rather my idea being sent all over the place and then stolen.

Guy Kawasaki, in his book The Art of the Start, says something along the line that, that is pure paranoia on the part of the entrepreneur and VC firms and Angel Investor groups do not sign NDAs. I understand that...kinda, but I feel it’s different when you send it to individuals. My friend would sign the NDA, but what about the next guy, and the next guy and the next guy.

You want to keep positive control of your business plan. You want to know who it is being sent to and preferably you want to get it back. I much rather give someone a hard copy of the plan and get it back after a certain amount of time. Yes, the person could make a copy, but that is much more limiting then having a soft copy which can be easily changed and forwarded.

The conundrum of course then becomes…if I don’t send out the plan, then how can I expect to get this potential investor? What’s a gal to do? I’m leaning towards sending out the executive summary and the blog website address. If the interest is truly there, then I can have direct contact with the investor and ask him to personally sign the NDA, then send the plan.

It’s a longer process and possibly one that might not work, but I have to do what makes me comfortable with this matter. Anyone have any other thoughts on this?

Never Lonely But Often Bored

I’m 29…soon to be the big 30 in September, single, outgoing and very active. However, my friends for the most part, have either moved away or have gotten married. I never, okay, I rarely find myself lonely, but I very often find myself bored. I hate being bored.

I have a plethora of interests…many of which, I don’t get to do. The primary reason why that is? Because, I don’t have anyone to do them with. I’m not against going out alone and often do, but guess what, that gets a little boring at times too!!

I have been on the multitude of online communities, Craigslist, Meetup.com and even the dreaded online dating sites and none of them have really delivered a worthwhile experience or real people who are, and do, what they claim in their posts or profiles. I know there are many of you reading this who can relate…I will likely rant about this again in the future!!

I am definitely and completely fed up with it…which is why, I came up with Why Go Solo. Why Go Solo is designed to “Make Spontaneous Connections Happen”…and what do we mean by that.

Why Go Solo will stand apart from the rest. We will have many unique features (and partnerships) to attract people looking to meet like-minded, active, action-oriented, friendly and professional individuals that understand that chat, email and quick notes in a profile is not socializing, nor is it really making friends. After all, what happens once you turn off your computer? Where are you friends then? Where are those friends when you want to go to the movies, play golf or go out to dinner? Do we really want a society that only knows how to communicate online and at the root of their being feel completely isolated and alone?

Just something for you to think about…for now.

Why, Why Go Solo?!!?

Unfortunately, I can’t fully disclose what Why Go Solo is all about or what the secret sauce will be. We can’t risk losing this amazing concept to someone else or to another organization, but I am going to attempt to tell you as much about it as I can, so you can get excited about what we’re doing.

Do any of these apply to you:

Are you new to an area?
Are you always traveling?
Are you single?
Do you continuously need to network?
Do you often find yourself alone?
Do you want to expand your network?
Do you love meeting new people?
Are you a social butterfly?
Are you ready to make new friends?
Do you feel isolated and disconnected because you’re too busy?
Do you often wish you could find someone to “hang out” with, who has similar interests?
Are you tired of meeting people online and never actually meeting anyone offline?

If you answered yes, to one or a few of those questions…Why Go Solo is for you!!

I meet a lot of people on a regular basis. It’s just part of who I am and definitely a huge part of being in business and an entrepreneur and each time I do, I learn new things, I grow and expand who I am. I also have one huge network that provides support, encouragement and assistance whenever I need it. It’s priceless.

Of course, it’s a little ironic, because like I mentioned in another post, I still end up bore and alone most of the time. Yes, I have a huge network and lots friends, but they are not all necessarily near me, available all the time, or fully into what I enjoy doing, which is why; I’m always open to meeting new people. I want to meet new people that are more specifically matched to the activities and interests that I have.

This is common for a lot of people both single people and people in relationships. Your husband, wife or life partner might not necessarily be always interested in the same activities, events or interests you have…so, it would be great to be able to quickly find someone who is. Why Go Solo will facilitate that.

Let me better clarify that too. Meeting someone does not imply meeting someone of the opposite sex. Time to be mature and expand our way to thinking. A middle age woman, can look for another middle age woman to go to the Opera…a professional executive can look for another professional executive in a different corporation to go golfing…a sexy young woman can look for another sexy young woman to go to happy hour.

It’s perfectly healthy, normal, but yet, difficult to find individuals who are willing and ready to go do what we are sitting home wishing we were doing.

That is Why, Why Go Solo!!

Business Partnerships

When I thought of the concept, which is now known as Why Go Solo, three people came to mind right away. Each person possessed distinct skills which could be leveraged to make Why Go Solo happen and successful. Like I mentioned, in the post Tick Tock, I emailed each of them right away to tell them about the concept. Less then a week after I sent the email, we all met up to further discuss the idea. This was mid to end of February.

Everyone loved it and everyone wanted to be involved. We arranged to have brunch with our significant others (well, except for me, I’m single) in order to bounce the idea around some more and to get to know each other in a different environment and around loved ones. Brunch was a hit and it was obvious we had a killer team.

This is when I came up with a laundry list of deliverables we needed to address and get started on. The due dates for the first deliverables came and went…and I didn’t get much of a response. We decided to meet again to address where we were and that turned out more into a brainstorming session for the name (yes, you guessed it, that will be a later post). We did address at that time how busy two of the potential partners were with their own undertakings and businesses, which made it very difficult for them to be involved.

I was very bummed out when I left the meeting on March 16, 2007. We had come up with a name, which was awesome, but I knew I had lost two of my partners. Thankfully, both individuals were very honest about their situations and availability. Both individuals, who are also entrepreneurs, were fully conscious of the hard work, dedication and time required to start a new venture and the fact they couldn’t completely commit. It was over a month later since the initial conception of the idea; I was feeling anxious to move faster and I felt like I was facing a set back.

It wasn’t really a set back though. I had learned in my previous business that you definitely don’t want partners who are not as committed and as involved as you are because that only causes resentment and problems. We all knew that and the decision they made was a hard one, but one, that has saved our friendships and opened the door for each of them to become involve in the future. Both of them have been very supportive in their own ways.

This is when things were left to me and Martin. The partnership between me and Martin has grown into an exemplarily partnership.

Martin has different skills, strengths, weaknesses, view points and even future desires then me. However, we both have the same values, work ethics and vision to make a positive impact on the world. We compliment each other very well and we both end up taking a variety of roles in situations.

We haven’t always agreed and we haven’t always seen eye to eye. The really exciting thing about this to me is that, normally in my life, when I haven’t gotten my way in a partnership/relationship, it’s always been easier to just get out of it. My pattern has been to take the path of least resistance and stick to being on my own. However, given that I desperately want Why Go Solo, abandoning the partnership wasn’t an option. I need Martin to make this happen. I want this more then anything else in the world; it means more to me then my pride, my stubbornness and my old ways. This also meant I needed to trust Martin completely.

It took some time, but through many conversations, experiencing the ups and downs together and meeting many different people in each other’s circles of friends and business associates we grew closer and improved our communication. I am blessed that Martin is very patient, understanding, compassionate and as dedicated to making Why Go Solo happen as I am.

When I see Martin and Ruth now, it warms my heart and they are truly like family to me. Ruth even gives me food to take home and lets me borrow clothes!!

I feel very fortunate to have found such wonderful partners. I told Martin, now that I am handling being in a partnership, that may be, just may be, I’m finally ready for a relationship…but that’s another story.

Bottom line when you consider taking on business partners, make sure they bring to the partnership the skills and strengths you don’t yourself possess, make sure they are just as fully committed with their time, energy and financials; also, make sure they have the same values and work ethics. Lastly, make sure you can trust them and know that they are now part of your family.

The Road to Funding (Part 1)

Bumps, severe curves, road blocks, detours and a few dead ends…are all part of going down the road to securing funding for a new venture. I guess, to some extent, we haven’t gone about this completely the right way, so driving school is initially recommended as well. We ended up putting all our eggs in one basket, instead of spreading the joy and seeing how many investors we could get to bite and THEN go with the best option.

Once we were getting closer to having the business plan completed, I started doing some research into venture capital (VC) funding and angel investors. More about what I learned in later posts, since this is still ongoing and I’m still learning, but I included links to Wikipedia in case anyone wanted some definitions of what I’m talking about.

VC Funding: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venture_capital

Angel Investors: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_investor

Now, there are other options to raising funds, such as, finding companies who specialize in raising funds through their own pool of qualified investors (we actually found such a company and ended up declining their offer, which might have been a mistake, but we’ll never know) or finding a broker who acts as the middle man. There are a lot of fakes and scammers out there, so this can become risky and confusing. We definitely have been keeping our lawyer involved throughout the process.

The reading I did, did little to make me feel better about our odds with VCs, or to ease the stress that seems to be involved in the due diligence process and I also wasn’t too sure we would get to maintain the majority of our company, once it was all said and done. On top of it all, the entire process appeared to take forever and could end up not panning out.

I was being extremely unrealistic; I wanted guarantees and the money right away. In retrospect, besides being unrealistic, I was being impatient like a five year old kid in a grocery store, who not only desperately wants a candy bar but wants to eat it right there and then instead of waiting till after dinner like a good kid. I wanted a miracle. I wanted someone to show up, read the plan, ask little to no questions, fully trust us, give us the money and then give us the leeway to make it all happen.

I’m finally done being delirious. I want Why Go Solo more then words can express, so I’ll do whatever it takes to see it come to life, which includes, being patient. I’m not saying it’s easy at all, it’s actually exceptionally painful. Deep in my heart, I still want a miracle, while my head tells me, it’s time to be pragmatic.

The One Basket

The one basket we placed all our eggs into is a man I met back in November. His intentions to help us are truly sincere, what I’m not fully sure about at this point are all the other factors, which have to first come into play for him to be able to help us. He needs to close a few deals of his own to be able to focus on us and have funding himself to help. Faith is an amazing and wonderful thing, but sometimes it simply takes more then faith alone. Faith and action are what make things and miracles happen.

The Road Map

The way we are going to forge ahead is by re-engaging with VCs and Angel Investor Networks. We are going to take a closer look at our own network and see who might be able to get us personal introductions to some investors. We are back at square one. Well, not completely back at square one…we are a little wiser, better prepared and stronger in a few different ways.

I’m going to review the business plan and finish the online applications I started a while back and have faith and hope that we will attract many interested investors. I’m ready now and prepared to go through whatever process they have for us.

Writing the Business Plan

This is definitely not an official post on how to go about writing a business plan, but rather, a recap of what the experience was like for me and the steps I took.

The first business plan I ever wrote, which was for the Coaching Agency, was done based off reading a few books on the subject. Thankfully, the books also provided a few examples and outlines of specific parts every business plans need to have. I couldn’t cut and paste but I could, at least, plagiarize a little. This second time around, I borrowed some software (Business Plan Pro 2006) from a friend. Okay, I didn’t borrow it. He highly recommended I use it, since you can actually insert test and simply massage it to meet your needs. I thought: “Hey, alright, that ought to make things real easy”

Once the software was loaded on my laptop, I took the following steps:

Step One: I bought a double fudge chocolate cake, made a full pot of coffee and conjured up some fake motivation in an attempt to get started on writing the plan. The cake and coffee were a way to bribe myself into getting this done or at least started. So, once I was done eating the chocolate cake and drinking massive amounts of coffee (this is, btw, the reason I gained 15 plus pounds with my first business) I was all hyped up on caffeine and sugar, but hadn’t really gotten far at all.

That’s the thing with me when it comes to writing…it’s all there in my head, but getting it out can be quite challenging.

Step Two: I surfed the internet…more specifically Craiglists and the men seeking women section and decided to call it “research”. Funny thing about that, is that, I found myself really enjoying many of the posts I read. A vast majority were very well written, thought out and seemed truly genuine.

Step Three: I answered a few posts, and by a few, I mean probably close to a dozen. I got some great replies and even met up with a handful of the guys that were on there…but I digress. Besides getting a few dates, what really conspired, is that replying to the ads is what got me to write and it’s what turned out to be the source of my inspiration to finally, truly, get cranking on writing the business plan.

Step Four: Write, write and write. I was finally getting the concept out of my head. Once I got into the flow, it came pouring out. While I was writing, I was also doing research. I had many late nights and I often went to Panera Bread and Starbucks to change things up.

Step Five: I got to a point where I needed more data and this where Martin’s expansion of the concept really paid off. We now had the meat and potato we needed to give the concept and the business plan greater validity.

Step Six: Outsource what you can’t do yourself. Like I mentioned in another post, I suck at doing financial spreadsheets, so Martin began working on those with information we brainstormed together. We both got really giddy at the time we were making projections and talking about what we could realistically accomplish. The financial numbers were bigger then anything he or I had ever seen in our lives. We really became intoxicated on the true potential and possibilities of this business. Ruth thought we were both a little wacky. She was definitely the one we went to in order to balance out the assumptions we were making. Sometimes she thought we were too high and sometimes she thought we were too low.

Step Seven: Allow things to settle in. Writing the plan and seeing our financial future was very exciting and scary. Were we being realistic? Could we really pull this off?

Step Eight: Bounce the idea/concept off some people. As we were getting closer to finalizing the plan (as if it will EVER be finalized), we started talking and meeting up with some people in order to make sure we were on the right track and indeed, not being unrealistic. Since this post is getting kinda long, I’ll talk about who those people were in later posts. However, I do want to point out that everyone we spoke with provided excellent constructive criticisms, loved the concept and gave us great support.

I haven’t looked at the plan for a few weeks now; I need to and will in the next few days. We haven’t received the funding we need yet, so we’re getting back out there and we need a strong plan to get us what we’re seeking. Next post will be about that painful road we’re on…which is, trying to secure funding.

Tick, Tock

Tick, tock…tick, tock that’s what I’m hearing in my head. Tick, tock…tick, tock, it’s rather torturous and it’s making me miserable. My partners (Martin and Ruth) and I are waiting for funding in order for us to get started on our new venture.

It’s a very exciting venture. I will tell you all about in the upcoming posts, but right now, I really want to share my absolute misery with you. I think I’m a few days away from having a serious break-down.

Allow me to take you back in time for a moment. On February 12, 2007 I was sitting in Chipotle off of Prince William Parkway, in Woodbridge, Va. I wasn’t in the best state of mind. I was in the process of closing a venture (LGS Coaching Agency) I had embarked upon since getting out of the Marine Corps back in 2005. This was a very difficult thing for me to do. It felt like I had failed at something that I thought was suppose to be part of my future and destiny and I was letting a lot of people down, to include myself. I had been so determined, focused and involved in making the Coaching Agency work that everything else in my life had taken a back seat. I felt so empty, tired and disappointed.

I had also sunk a lot of money into it…to include investment money from a friend. So, I was basically broke and definitely depressed. I was trying really hard to see the light, to understand why this was happening and what I was suppose to do next.

I sat there, eating my chicken burrito bowl (I love those) while looking around and that’s when I was hit by an idea for a new venture. I went home and wrote the concept out and emailed it to a few people, whom I thought, would be wonderful partners to embark on this venture with me. I was ready to work towards making this new venture work, but I couldn’t do it alone. I didn’t have the will, energy or all the required skills.

I created a very ambitious timeline and attempted to get everyone working towards it. Well, it didn’t quite pan out. (I’ll discuss business partnerships and what happened with that in a later post). We needed to write a business plan and the responsibility to write the plan landed squarely on my shoulders. This was a daunting and exhausting thought. In the end, Martin and I were left standing and working towards getting the venture furthered developed, planned out and someday off the ground.

Luckily, we are almost neighbors so it was/is easy to meet when we need(ed) to. I read the Art of the Start by Guy Kioyaski and started out by writing out an executive summary, in the hope that may be, I wouldn’t have to write a full plan. (Hello, wishful thinking and denial). After meeting with Martin a few times, we expanded on the original concept and I finally had enough meat to get started on the business plan. I got busy writing the business plan which involved doing a lot of research and digging deep into my will power to be thorough and to stay motivated. Thankfully, Martin worked on doing the financial statements, which I suck at, and helped gather data.


It took me a little less then two weeks to write the plan. We sent it out to a few people for review and began brainstorming funding options.

I want to note that there’s a lot that took place during the process of writing the business plan which, once again, I’ll cover in another posts!! Sorry, I just want to set the stage that leads me to my current misery.

We also went through a lot while searching for funding sources, and then, when we thought we had finally found one, a blast from the past changed things up. This was more then 25 days ago. Since then, absolutely NOTHING has happened to make me believe the money will actually be made available to us. I keep believing, trusting and hoping, but I just don’t know how much longer this can go on. Besides the fact that it’s driving me insane, I can’t pay my mortgage next month.

Closing the Coaching Agency was rough, but after discovering this exciting new venture I realized that the Coaching Agency wasn’t going to really provide me the lifestyle I seek and want. The main thing I want in life is to have fun while making a difference. The Coaching Agency required a good deal of effort, time, and was a lot of work with little to no pay off. The new venture is set-up to be all fun with huge pay outs, and of course, it will make a huge difference in millions of people’s lives.

Once again, I have been focused, dedicated, determined and a huge risk taker towards making my dreams come true and getting the life I want and seek. And where does this leave me? Hanging…it’s leaving me hanging?? I’ve expanded the energy, money, and put my heart and soul into making this happen. I meditate, pray and visualize. (Not just me, Martin and Ruth, both, do the same too).

I need to start considering some other options because, like I mentioned, I’m broke and need to get back to reality and start making some money again.

My heart is breaking, yet again. A break-up with a person is a sliver of pain, compared to engaging a 100% towards making your dreams come true and hitting walls, after walls. I’m not giving up. I just need to find a way to keep going.

The Purpose

The purpose behind this blog is to take you on our journey with us. We obviously have a lot of catching up to do since this journey began February 12, 2007 and is on-going each and every day.

The reason we want to take you on the journey with us is because we want to connect with the people who are and will be involved in what we are doing. We want to expose and outline the journey we are taking towards making our dreams come true.

We hope this blog and our sharing who we are, our struggles, successes, challenges and victories with you, will encourage you to step into the unknown and take part in making your own dreams come true.

As you will read in the next post, Tick Tock, this hasn’t and isn’t an easy journey…particularly for me (Ann).

We (Martin, Ruth and myself) are hoping to build a multi (100 plus) million dollars company. We have an exciting and amazing concept that will impact millions of lives and bring lots of fun into our world.

I can’t speak for Martin or Ruth, but for me, this is about having the lifestyle and life I dream about each day. It’s about never settling or compromising on my true and real happiness and potential.

We’ve been through some ups and downs and each day I am not fully sure what will happen next. I live in a constant state of unknown and uncertainty. (According to Deepak Chopra…this is exactly where miracles happen and I’m impatiently waiting for that to happen since I haven’t fully learn the art of detachment just yet)

This is also a spiritual journey we are taking you on. We are all very spiritual being. We believe in the Laws of Attraction, the Art of Positive Thinking, The Power of Visualization, The Benefits of Meditation, etc…

You will see how we go about making our dreams come true by remaining true to who we are and in tune to what is best for all of us.

Did I mention this hasn’t and isn’t an easy journey!!?!?!

We hope you will join us and find comfort and what’s happening and going on with us. It’s important to know we are not alone and it’s important to give and receive support.

We look forward to hearing from you and trust us…once we launch Why Go Solo, you will LOVE what we are doing!!