Truebluetitan

Thank You Dr. Pausch

Mon, 04 Aug 2008 19:40:26 -0700

I'm a motivational pack rat. I find snippets of things online that inspire me and I hold on to them, referring back whenever I feel weak or question my journey as an Internet entrepreneur. Even as I type this I am drinking coffee out of a mug that reads "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined." ~Thoreau

Every once in a while I stumble upon a piece of motivation that is so great, so wonderful, that I keep coming back to it. I can't stop telling people about it. In short, it changes my life. One person that has done just that is Dr. Randy Pausch, a former professor of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. In late-September, I wrote an article, Dr. Pausch teaches what matters most about his speech, Achieving Your Childhood Dreams, given on September 18, 2008. I have attached his presentation below, and if you have not had the opportunity to watch it yet, then I strongly urge you to set aside some time in the very near future to do so. Since being published on Youtube it has had well over 6 million views (many of those from me) and has caught the attention of the media.

Unfortunatley, Dr. Pausch died a little over a week ago, on July 25, 2008. But his legacy lives on in the form of a loving wife, 3 beautiful kids, and a wonderful book titled The Last Lecture. Shortly after it's release I bought two copies, one for myself and the other to pass along to friends and family, and everyone that has read it raves about the content within; several family members bought their own copy shortly after reading mine.

Get Your FREE Copy Of The Last Lecture Here!

As a tribute to Dr. Pausch's life, I purchased 5 copies of his book purely with the intent of spreading his inspiring outlook on life, and I want to give them away to you, my readers. Now, I'm not entirely sure how I should go about giving them away so I'm looking for your feedback, and if the interest is high then I'll gladly buy 5 more copies, giving away 10 copies of The Last Lecture. I need your feedback: how should I give away these books? Should I ask that you write a blog post about Dr. Pausch or what motivates you? I don't know. What I do know is that I want it to be something special, so please leave your feedback in the comments section below and I'll make a decision within the next week.

One Week Without The iPhone

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:44:24 -0700

In September 2007, I acquired the first generation iPhone from a former co-worker. After a month of ownership I was so moved by how this little device affected my life that I decided to write a three-part-series about my experience. At that time, my opinion was that the iPhone was an irreplaceable device. Fast forward almost a year and you'll find that I no longer own an iPhone.

Wait? Where Did Your iPhone Go?

Thanks to a wonderful site, Craigslist (More on them in a future article) I sold my iPhone to a nearby entrepreneur for $200. If I knew then what I know now, I should have demanded a much higher price tag. You see, because of my successful sale a co-worker promptly sold his for $325 and received offers tipping the scales at $400. I'm still befuddled by this, but I can't complain. I sold my iPhone for what I thought it was worth and it's new owner seems incredibly eager to play with his new gadget.

So Why Did You Sell It

I decided that the iPhone was too much for me. It provided too many distractions in my everyday life and am now happily using a more basic phone, the Nokia 6120. My iPhone was actually viewed with so much distain by loved ones that it became unaffectionately nicknamed Natasha - My Mistress.

I'm Not Buying That. What's The Real Reason?

If you actually believe that I would give up my iPhone for a lesser phone then you haven't been following this blog closely (the Natasha nickname is true, however). I'm a self-proclaimed techno-nut with an overflowing closet of technological goodies. I sold my first generation iPhone to make room for it's successor.

On July 11, 2008, Apple opened it's doors around the World (in 21 countries to be exact) to throngs of Apple FanBoys, all eager to get their hands on Apple's newest product: the iPhone 3G. Possessing neither the time nor desire to stand in these long lines, I have decided to try my luck as the week progresses. In the meantime, I really am using a Nokia 6120 to make phone calls, and am nowhere near as happy as I previously eluded.

How Has The Lack Of An iPhone Impacted Your Daily Life

I feel disconnected. I miss my marimba ringtone. I find myself stopping at ATMs just to get my touchscreen fix. I can't wait to return to my "normal" technology-filled lifestyle.

As an Internet Entrepreneur, I rely largely upon the Web to keep me plugged into the World around me, and am frequently "checking in" via my iPhone to see what's developing. The majority of my World news came from Social Media sites like Twitter and it's expansive community, but I am back to checking CNN, Engadget, Techmeme, and

For Your Listening Pleasure

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:38:39 -0700

In my last post, I talked about my return to Corporate America. It's been an interesting transition for me to say the least, and after almost 3 months, I still believe that I'm not 100% back in the motions of "the daily grind".

On a positive note, one aspect of my current project that I'm thoroughly enjoying is that it provides plenty of opportunities for me to listen to a wide variety of music, podcasts, and audio books while I work. It's not uncommon for someone to walk by my office and see me rocking out with my Sennheisers on. As such, I've become quite familiar with a variety of online streaming services like last.fm and pandora and love the new tunes that they've introduced to me.

Truebluetitan Recommends

I've listened to so much music lately that I could make a playlist several hours long for you to listen to, but for the purpose of this post, I just want to point of some of the best things that I've been listening to while in the office.

Yesterday, Coldplay released their long awaited album, Viva La Vida, and it couldn't have come sooner. After waiting almost 2 years for a new album from my favorite band, I was practically frothing at the mouth while waiting for iTunes to finish downloading. This album reasserts exactly why Coldplay is my favorite band. Viva La Vida is new, refreshing, and chock full of excitement. Coldplay's music feels familiar, but more evolved since the release of their last album, X&Y. If you haven't added this album to your collection yet, then I strongly urge you to pick it up today; it's the #1 album on iTunes and has rightfully earned that place.

I absolutely love it when you stumble upon a group that makes you want to get up out of your chair and jam the first time you hear them. Vampire Weekend does just that for me . Their afro-pop beats are fresh and playful; screaming "it's summer" in an 80's new-wave kind of way. I smile every time they shuffle through on my iPhone, and can't recommend the songs "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" and "A-punk" enough.

Because of a link on twitter I discovered the mother of all podcasts, You Look Nice Today, earlier this week, and let me tell you, it's pure gold. I'm hooked. They're intelligent witty (sometimes graphic) banter about topics ranging from poop jokes to Nicaraguan hate mail have me laughing out loud daily, and I'm not the only one doing so. My co-worker, Paul, is just as hooked as I am. Both of us can be found giggling out loud throughout the day and we owe it all to these guys. Sign up for their podcast. It's guaranteed to turn your bad day into one of uncontrollable laughter.

What Do You Recommend?

Now you know what I like to listen to, but what do you recommend? I'm growing sick of the songs on my current playlists and am seeking your advice on new groups, podcasts, and audio books that will make my days in the office more enjoyable. So what's on your iPod? Who cares if your tastes differ from mine and what's listed above. Throw some suggestions out. You never know what might stick. Also, let me know what you think about my recommendations. Love 'em? Hate 'em? I'd like to know.

Hello Corporate America...Again.

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:15:28 -0700

It's been nearly two months since Truebluetitan has had an update grace it's pages, and that's for a very good reason. You see, I've always approached this blog with the mindset of "make money first, blog about it second", and I've been doing just that. Shortly after my last post, I was approached with several tantalizing offers to rejoin Corporate America, and spent the last few weeks of April interviewing with project managers, customer relations directors, and CFOs around the Pittsburgh area. It took a lot of soul searching, but I am proud to announce that I have joined CIBER, Inc. as a Business Analyst.

My Role with CIBER

CIBER is a publicly held International organization that specializes in providing large corporations with specialized IT support. As a Business Analyst, I bring my in-depth knowledge of various Content Management Systems and Portal applications to the table. Combined with my previous project management experience in organizations of all sizes I aim to become a very valuable asset to their Pittsburgh division.

I've been a member of the CIBER family for a little over a month now and can honestly say that it feels very good to be a part of an organization again. I'm having a seemingly impossible time adjusting to the 5:45 A.M. wake-up time, but I love the ability to work on large scale projects and interact with intelligent like-minded co-workers.

What Becomes of the Internet Entrepreneur?

Now I know that many of the entrepreneurs subscribed to my RSS feed are probably reaching for the unsubscribe button, but I politely ask that you hang around for a while. It's a little uncommon to make the transition from entrepreneur to employee again, but if you meet me in person I'm sure that you would agree that there's nothing common about me.

My Internet Entrepreneur journey isn't over. I'm just taking a different route than originally intended. Several of the projects that I have been working on are nearing completion and their launch will soon be showcased on this site. In the meantime, I've been networking with some incredible talent and am joining forces to make my newest projects top-notch.

To all that have stuck around, I thank you for your patience and encouragement through personal emails. To those of you that are visiting Truebluetitan for the first time, stick around, you're about to see some seriously cool stuff!

Social Media: The Power Of StumbleUpon

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 10:32:53 -0700

With the way I see it there are 3 primary sources of Web site traffic:

Search Engines,
other Web sites,
and Social Media sites

By paying close attention to Search Engine Optimization (SEO) it's possible to eventually rank well on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for high-traffic keywords, and actively participating in sites in your niche will yield highly-targeted traffic to your site. Both sources of traffic are incredibly important and a Web site cannot prosper without them. However, today's discussion does not surround either of them, instead, we're going to focus on the third, Social Media, and in particular: StumbleUpon.

What is StumbleUpon?

Like I said before, StumbleUpon can be categorized as a Social Media site just like Digg, Del.icio.us, and even Facebook. However, up until recently, I never got the draw of StumbleUpon. It requires the installation of a toolbar (that doesn't work with my browser of choice: Safari), and you're constantly clicking a button to view random Web sites. The first time I used it I thought "I don't get the concept behind this".

Discovering Stumbling Great Content

Determined to discover why this site has such a huge user base, I decided that a closer inspection was in order, and as I dove deeper I started to uncover the real magic of StumbleUpon. I completed my profile, updated my interests, and soon began stumbling, actively giving sites "thumbs up" or "thumbs down" and leaving reviews of the sites that I really liked. Before long, I found myself stumbling across amazing informative Web sites about things that I was actually interested in.

Today, after a thousand or so clicks on my stumble toolbar, I'm confident that amazing content is waiting for me each time that I click that stumble button in the corner of my Firefox browser (though I'm still wishing it was Safari). I'm actively participating in many of the sites that I have stumbled upon (after all they're targeted to my interests) and learning lots of random facts along the way. The best part is that this isn't all that StumbleUpon has to offer!

What StumbleUpon Can Do For Your Website

Not only can StumbleUpon provide you with amazing content, but it also can provide amazing amounts of traffic to your Web site if the articles you write are worthy of being stumbled. Now I don't want this post to become overrun with graphs and numbers, but I do want to share some insight regarding Truebluetitan and StumbleUpon.

On March 6, 2008 I wrote a post entitled Why I'm A Mac Addict. For a little over a month this post was fairly dormant with a comment posted here or there, but nothing crazy...until yesterday.

With my Internet connection down, and my iPhone refusing to let me access the Edge network, I was unable to check my Web site statistics for the greater part of the day. Finally, at about 5 PM I was able to log in and found that close to 1,000 people had visited Truebluetitan already. At 6 PM I checked again, and found that the number was now over 1,200. As the clock struck midnight I decided to check for one last time. Much to my surprise, I discovered that over 2,400 people had visited my site in a 24 hour period. I was floored.

Truebluetitan used to receive 2,400 visitors a month, but thanks to StumbleUpon and other Social Media sites, it has become possible for this to happen in a day! Not only that, but my post, Why I'm A Mac Addict, has become the most popular post on this site and seems to be sparking a bit of a debate between the Apple Fanboys and M$ faithful.

One Last Thing...

Don't forget to friend me if you're a StumbleUpon user! I'd love to meet some new members of the community! Now if you excuse me, I just received an alert from my server telling me that I've used 80% of the Truebluetitan's monthly bandwidth allotment...time to bump it up!

BlogforBloggers: Looking For A Few Good Bloggers

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:28:32 -0700

Another one of my projects is almost ready to go live, but I need your help in order for it to maximize it's potential.

BlogforBloggers, something that I've talked about briefly in the past, is coming along nicely. In case you've missed the description in the Project Tracker, I'll quickly recap.

In my last job, several of the employees were familiar with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), but none of them had a Web site of their own, which meant that they rarely implemented any of the best practices themselves. I, being a firm believer in learning by doing, wanted to provide my co-workers with the means necessary to implement these concepts first-hand. So I started Project Blog Club, which taught employees how to launch and maintain a Web site of their very own and test the effects of SEO modifications.

I miss being a part of that club, and still feel the need to give back to the community. Technorati reports indicate that there are over 60 million blogs out there today and new bloggers are jumping into the fray every day. So I'm creating BlogforBloggers, a Web site for bloggers by bloggers. The sole purpose of which is to give those new bloggers a place on the Web where they can learn from the experience (and mistakes) of those of us who are already active in the blogosphere.

Help Wanted

With all of that being said, I need your help. I'm looking for bloggers who want to give back to the community. It doesn't matter what your level of experience is, if you want to give back then you can participate. Yes, you can be a blogger starting out or author of one of the most popular blogs out there; I'm asking for your help. I could write all of the posts for BlogforBloggers by myself, but I don't know everything there is to know about blogging nor have I experienced enough to be considered a professional blogger.

So How Do I Help?
Anyone interested in participating in my lil' venture should head on over to the BlogforBloggers section of my Project Tracker. Once there, take a look at the post topics. If there's a topic there that you would like to write about then contact me with your name, Web site URL, email address, and your topic of choice and I'll add you to the list.

I'm sure that I'm missing some obvious beginner topics so if there's something that you think should be on the list then please use the contact form to have your suggestions added to the list. If you'd like to blog about that topic then please let me know that as well.

What's In It For Me?

Writing a blog post that's ready for public consumption often takes a lot of time and I can't ask you to help without giving something back. So I'm working on some kind of incentive program, but for now each author will have a profile in BlogforBloggers About section. The profile will include the author's photograph, a brief description of the author, and link to the author's site. In addition, if you sign up to author one of the blog posts in BlogforBlogger's project tracker page you will get a link back there as well. Who knows, maybe we'll even set up an interview on Truebluetitan as well.

What Do You Think?

In the end, I'm merely looking for a way to give back to the community and help the new guy out a bit. I get a lot of emails every day regarding blogging basics and this is how I am going to answer them. So what do you think? Will it work? Will you help to make it work?

Come on. Join me. Let's give back.

Arrival Alert: Be The First To Know!

Thu, 03 Apr 2008 19:18:46 -0700

Arrival Alert, is a web-based product tracker that helps you score the hard-to-find products before anyone else. It's the first of several web applications that have been in development under the Schultz Media Network umbrella since November 2007.

Currently, Arrival Alert, is operating in a Live Beta mode. We just couldn't wait until all of the cool features were finished to release it into the wild. After all, the product tracker is ready for public consumption so have at it. You never know when your product might be in stock. Just wait until you see all of the additional features that Arrival Alert will be rolling out over the next couple of weeks...it might make your head spin!

What does Arrival Alert do?

If you are like me and many of the consumers out there then there is a chance that you want the latest and greatest gadgets, gizmos, and toys the second that they're available. Unfortunately, since we all have the same idea, they're often incredibly difficult to come by. Take the Nintendo Wii and it's accessories, for example. They were the hottest gifts of the 2007 holiday season and still prove to be impossible to find today. Demand for Wii was so high late last year that my Win A Nintendo Wii holiday contest was a huge hit for Truebluetitan. In fact, I still get emails from people looking for a Wii. Frankly, I didn't have an answer for them...that is, until Arrival Alert came along.

Since late last year, my business partner, Dimitry and I have been designing a Product Tracker site from the ground up. Running on Rails, Arrival Alert constantly searches various online stores for hot items (like Playstation 3 Bundles). As soon as these products are in stock, Arrival Alert sends out alerts to it's subscribed users, ensuring that they're one of the first in line to place their order.

Granted, this is no easy task, but we've spent hours optimizing Arrival Alert and we're proud to say that we've accomplished what we set out to do. Arrival Alert boasts a streamlined design, beefy back-end web server, and a lil' super secret sauce to make it the best at what it does. In short, Arrival Alert is one cool web app.

There are other sites out there that provide product tracking, however, that's where their similarities to Arrival Alert will end. Arrival Alert is running in a Live Beta mode with additional features being added daily. Also, this is just one site in a network of sites that are going to be released by the Schultz Media Network and it's business partners. The integration of which is going to provide users with a unique online experience with features that we just can't wait to share.

While I can't divulge what's next on our mile-long to do list, I have been given the go ahead to to let the cat out of the bag on one or two things. Don't see what you're looking for on Arrival Alert? Fear not, we're working behind the scenes to get them added. It doesn't hurt to contact us to make sure that it gets added either. The list of stores that we're monitoring is also going to increase exponentially. We just need to stop playing with all of the other fun things that we're developing!

Oh! And if you like contests with kick ass prizes then Arrival Alert might just be the place for you; take a look at what we're tracking and you can probably guess what our prizes might be. However, the only way that you're going to be able to take advantage of this is to sign up and subscribe to our alerts. Don't delay. You never know when our first giveaway might take place!!

Welcome CSS Site Visitors!

Tue, 01 Apr 2008 01:41:07 -0700

In my last post I announced the redesign of Truebluetitan. After being inspired by some seriously amazing designs on Smashing Magazine I decided to step out of my comfort zone and take Truebluetitan to the dark-side. I've tried to go dark before, but whenever I would share my conceptual design with my peers they frequently exclaimed "it's too dark" or "the readability suffers here", and so Truebluetitan remained very white, blue and gray for quite some time.

I've always wanted a dark theme for this site, and I think that now is the perfect time for it. As I venture down the path to becoming an Internet Entrepreneur there is a lot of unknowns, and I sometimes feel like I'm finding my way through the dark. Truebluetitan is, and always will be, a reflection of my personality, and right now we're finding our way together.

Apparently, there is still a lot of interest in dark designs nowadays as Truebluetitan has been featured on several CSS design galleries across the web. The amount of visitors to this site has exponentially increased, requiring me to up the allotted bandwidth to Truebluetitan on my web servers. In fact, I'm seeing record traffic numbers daily.

I ask that any of you who are new to this site to please take a look around, leave some comments and come back frequently. If you like what you see, please subscribe to my RSS via the feed or email.

To those of you who are already subscribed to my RSS and familiar with Truebluetitan, I ask that you take a look again. I just released an update to Truebluetitan this morning that greatly increases the readability of the grungy theme released just a few days ago. In addition, I also paid a lot more attention to the projects that I am working on and have rightfully given them a more prominent spot on the homepage. There's lots to see and read in this version and I encourage you to do so.

Over the next few weeks I will be releasing some very cool projects into the wild and can't wait to share all of my (and my partner's) hard work with you. Finally, after months of labor intensive effort, I'll feel like I'm making progress on my Internet Entrepreneur journey.

Truebluetitan Goes Grungy

Sat, 22 Mar 2008 12:28:03 -0700

Days after the longest post that I've ever written, I've decided to write the shortest post to ever grace the pages of Truebluetitan.com. As you can tell Truebluetitan has officially gone grungy (Click through RSS Readers!).

I'll let the rest of the design speak for itself, but there's a couple of new bells and whistles implemented in this release with a few more scheduled to appear later this week, which in web 2.0 terms that would make this a beta! ;)

What do you think? Love it? Hate it? Inquiring minds want to know.

How To Build A Web Design Gallery In Under 15 Hours

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 02:27:21 -0700

This is, without-a-doubt, the longest post that I have written to date. However, it's the most chalk full of information too. If you have any pointers on things that I can do differently next time I would love to hear them. I'm always interested in streamlining the design/development process.

For years now, I have been using del.icio.us to bookmark inspirational website designs. It has served me well, but unfortunately comes up short. Del.icio.us' features list does not include a way for me to quickly view the website designs and sort by their colors and/or subject matter. This has always left me feeling a bit discontent so I decided to do something about it. The end result: delicious CSS

The Challenge

On Sunday night I dreamt about building an online web design gallery because of my displeasure over the way I was bookmarking inspiring website designs (I know...there are much better things that I could spend my time dreaming about, but I just couldn't shake this). When I awoke on Monday, I got to work; Interested in making it challenging, I decided to see if I could build the entire site in 15 hours or less.

Do We Need Another Web Design Gallery?

I can hear you asking yourself, "Do we need another web design gallery?", and the answer is probably no, but after taking a look at my RSS reader I noticed that over half of the galleries I am tracking have fallen dormant. Now the primary purpose of my css design gallery is for me to visually bookmark websites that I find visually appealing, but the ability to give public recognition to the talented web designers and developers makes me happy. Lastly, I wanted to see how quickly I could turn this idea into a reality.

How Did You Do?

It's been a long two days, but I came in under my time limit, and I'm proud of what I created thus far. Hopefully, as time allows, the site will continue to evolve in the future. Below are the steps that I took to construct delicious CSS:

Choosing A Domain Name

Time Spent: .5 hours (DNS Propagation time: 12 hours) I love seeking out and registering exciting domain names. There's something to be said about finding a good domain name that has not been claimed. Instant Domain Search is my tool of choice. The end result of my search was www.DeliciousCSS.com. Since my intent was to replace my del.icio.us bookmarks with a CSS design gallery I couldn't have picked a better domain name. Additionally, I thought that delicious was a good adjective for describing website designs that I enjoy.

Hosting

Time Spent: .25 hours Web design galleries have the potential to receive a tremendous amount of traffic and take up a large amount of hard drive space. Knowing all of this, I allocated a large portion of my server's bandwidth and storage space to this site. If you don't own a website hosting company then I suggest taking a look at WebHostingTalk to find a host that can accomodate your needs.

CMS Platform

Time Spent: 1 hour (Note: Internet connectivity issues resulted in severe delays uploading via FTP. Thanks Comcast!) Choosing a Content Management System (CMS) for a website can be a difficult choice. There are thousands publicly available, and choosing the right CMS can be a daunting task if you're unfamiliar with their features. However, for this exercise, it was a fairly easy choice. I've designed custom WordPress themes for several websites, including Truebluetitan, and knew that it was capable of meeting my needs. To make things even better, I remember stumbling across this FREE CSS gallery online a week or two ago. I knew that using this theme as my foundation was going to give me a time advantage.

If you feel that WordPress may not be the right CMS platform for you, then I suggest stopping by Open Source CMS. Their large selection makes them the ultimate resource.

Site Design & Development

Time Spent: 11 hours (Note: Including the initial website posts) Admittedly, I'm not the most proficient developer so this part of the process always seems to take me forever. I knew that I wanted the website's design to be simple and I already had a theme to work from, but I didn't want the site to be just like the theme that I started with. In the end, I think that I came up with a site design that has a different feel and gives the attention to the websites being showcase.

Delicious CSS is currently using the following WordPress plugins: All in One SEO Pack, BM Custom Login, Comment Relish, FeedBurner FeedSmith, Google Sitemaps, ShiftThis | Thumbnail Size, WP ContactForm, and WP PostRatings

External Resources

Time Spent: 2 hours Once the site was up and running it was time to setup the external resources to make the website complete. Sometimes it feels as though this part of the process can take as long as the website design. At this point I was just ready for the site to go live. It was 2 AM on Wednesday morning, and I had enough. Below are the resources that delicious CSS is using.

Technorati: Technorati is a great way to promote your website and gain additional exposure in the blogging community. Sign up today.

Feedburner: If your website has an RSS feed, then you'll want to sign up for Feedburner. This website allows you to track the number of RSS & email subscribers to your website.

Google Adsense: While I've ran million dollar SEM campaigns for Fortune 1000 companies, I have never setup Google Adsense on any of my personal websites. I decided it was time to give it a try, but I don't have a lot of faith in it. Hopefully it will prove me wrong.

Google Analytics: I love statistics, and Google has a great analytics package for tracking your website visitors. You're missing out if you don't have Google Analytics on your site.

Reinvigorate: Google Analytics has a shortcoming: It lacks real time analytics and in this day and age with all of the social media sites like Digg and StumbleUpon you want to be on top of it. That's where Reinvigorate shines.

Entrecard: When Entrecard first launch, I was there. It's been over 3 months since I started using it and I wanted to see if it would work for delicious CSS as well. It's a great FREE advertising network that has the ability to deliver a crazy amount of traffic if played right. Let's see if it delivers.

Crazy Egg: Where do your visitors click? CrazyEgg let's you know. Read my write up on Crazy Egg for more detail.

Favicon: When it comes to designing a website I'm anal retentive down to the last pixel. That includes a little 16

Recommended Reading: Bounce!

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:46:14 -0800

I'm an avid reader with a library consists of a large percentage of books regarding entrepreneurship and business management. After you have read as many of them as I have, most books in this niche start to sound the same:
Idea + Hard work = Profit!

Recently, I was able to add a new book to my collection that refreshingly approaches this niche with a completely different point of view. I was contacted by the author Barry Moltz, and asked to read his latest book, Bounce! Failure, Resiliency, and Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success. Admittedly, I was excited. This was the first time that anyone wanted to send me a resource pertinent to the entrepreneur niche since changing the format of Truebluetitan.com. After viewing the opening video on Barry's website, I was intrigued and agreed to read the book.

Resiliency

Barry Moltz is an entrepreneur at his core. Over the past 15 years he has founded several businesses, and while he has tasted success, he has also become quite familiar with failure as well. In Bounce!, Barry embraces this and talks about how he was able to let go of his past successes and failures and recognizing it for what it is: a part of the business cycle.

We have all experienced failure. The day after I finished Bounce! I received an email from the HR department of a company that I had interviewed with. They decided to choose another candidate over me. I really wanted this job; it seemed like a perfect fit for my skill set, and everyone I met with seemed to be very pleased with my professional background. I felt as if I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, and then it went dark.

I was crushed. My friends and family constantly ask me how my job search is going, and I now had to tell them the job that I could have sworn I was going to get was gone. This was the first time in 8 years that I had interviewed for a position and not been offered the job. Without thinking, as soon as I read the email, I said aloud, "You failed".

"Without some failures, you cannot have success. Every successful venture involves failures. Given that, I prefer not to use the term failure. It is an ugly and definitive word and it implies an ending point. Rather, I use the term disappointment; it is not scary or definitive."

After slothfully laying around my apartment for a day, I decided that I needed to bounce! So I picked up Barry's book and flipped through the 50 or so pages that I dog-eared for inspiration. On page 87, I found what I needed. Here, Barry quotes Scott Jordan, the founder of Scottevest who said, "Without some failures, you cannot have success. Every successful venture involves failures. Given that, I prefer not to use the term failure. It is an ugly and definitive word and it implies an ending point. Rather, I use the term disappointment; it is not scary or definitive."

After reading this, I sat back in my office chair, stared out of the window, and smiled. I was alive, I still had the strong backing of my peers and there was work to do! Sure, not getting the job was a disappointment, but that was all it was. It didn't mean that I was unemployable. In fact, I now had more time to work on the projects that I have spent the last 3 months developing. I actually felt more motivated than ever. This was my low point. I am resilient and I can bounce!

Confidence & Passion

I could not have picked a better time to read this book. Because of Bounce! I was able to quickly place myself in the right mindset, and maintain the confidence and passion that I need to succeed. I am passionate about my ideas and need to make an impact, it will become a reality.

I Recommend This Book

Bounce!is an easy read. I read it from cover to cover in a day, and while it did not take me a long time to read, I was quite surprised as to how quickly it changed my outlook on business. Bounce! is a book that contains information that you will use in your life. Buy it, read it, and pass it along. Everyone needs to learn how to Bounce!

Why I'm A Mac Addict

Thu, 06 Mar 2008 18:29:08 -0800

After being a Mac-only household for roughly 2 years now, I had an interesting experience last night that convinced me that I'm going to stay this way indefinitely. Before I get into the details let me give you some background information about me.

First Computer: A Dandy Tandy

My first experience using a personal computer was an Apple IIe in my best friend's dining room. I was hooked and wanted one of my own. I endlessly begged (like a spoiled brat) my dad to get a computer for the family me. After months of torment, he broke down and bought the family a Tandy PC from the nearby Radio Shack. It didn't have the OS that I had become familiar with at my friend's house, but I wasn't complaining. I had a computer, and loved every second of it.

At that time, Apple's share in the marketplace was exponentially insignificant. As the years passed, my family, now familiar with the quirks of Windows, continued to buy new personal computers with Windows preloaded on them. I even remember myself mocking my best friend at the lunch table for being the only one there with an Apple PC at home. In short, I drank Microsoft's kool-aid and was loving it.

The Mac Strikes Back

In high school, my other best friend and I were the co-founders of the NASA Cooperative Satellite Learning Project (CSLP) club for our school district. As members of this organization we helped refurbish the school's planetarium, increase student interest in the subject, and raise funds for our organization. Through our involvement, the organization went from an after-school club to an official high school class that occurred several times a day.

Our fundraising helped us to secure several brand new Apple computers for the classes. While using the Apple seemed so foreign to me and my Windows-based methodology, I loved it. It felt friendlier, and I was reminded of the Apple IIe that I used to play on for hours at my friend's house years ago.

In college, I was the only guy on the floor with two computers, a Sony VAIO desktop and laptop, and I could troubleshoot a Windows 95/98/ME problem with the best of them. I even played around with Ubuntu for quite a while at this time too. When I wasn't in class, or running my first start-up, I would work in the campus computer labs. Basically, this meant playing around on the Apple G3 computer that was theret. Every time I sat in front of it I was intrigued. It was a refreshing break from the monotony of the Windows environment that I had grown up on.

After college, I spent the next 3 years working for a local Fortune 500 company troubleshooting Windows problems. That was enough to make me jump ship. I bought my first Apple computer used from Duquesne University, and that my friends, is all she wrote. Shortly thereafter, my Windows PC was decommissioned and Apple computers staked their claim in my home. Thanks to applications like VMWare Fusion I'll never buy a machine running Windows for myself again.

Now that you know a bit about me, and that I'm not just an ignorant Mac Fan Boy, it's time for me to tell you why I'm never going back...

Unofficial Tech Support

My dad will always use Windows PCs. He's comfortable, and I'm OK with that. Unfortunately, that means that I'll always have to support Windows as well.

Recently, I ordered a top-of-the-line Windows Vista PC for him from Dell. He wanted the best of the best and he got it. Everything on the computer was working fine, that is, until yesterday.

The computer would not connect to the Internet. My MacBook Pro and my brother's Mac Mini (yeah, I convinced him to switch) were online without any problems, but the Vista machine refused to connect. Unfortunately, after spending an hour and a half troubleshooting the problem I broke down and called Dell technical support. The technician, half a world away, was very polite and helped us to restore the Vista machine to working order by removing the latest updates installed by Microsoft. He told us that we were one of many people calling in with the same problem and that Microsoft had not properly tested the update before deployment.

I was infuriated; when Apple releases updates I get features, but when Microsoft releases updates I have to look around to find out what's broke. All of these issues combined with today's memorable Apple marketing campaigns have me curious about the future market share of Windows computers.

I'm Rob Schultz, and I'm a Mac Addict.

Tick: Track Your Time

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:12:51 -0800

Recently, I've started doing Search Engine Optimization for several sites and, to comply with our contractual agreement, needed to track and report the hours that I'm spending. Enter Tick. Another application recommended to me by a friend, Tick is an online time tracking application aimed to help it's users meet their budgets, which it does this exceptionally well. Tick is also eye candy. The design is beautiful and straightforward, making it an application that I use daily.

Give it a try, setup and track 1 project for free, and once you see how well it tracks your time, upgrade your account for just $9 a month. While I love the way Tick looks and works, I'm on the lookout for a more cost effective application. If you use one that you recommend, please let me know!

Entrepreneur Revelation: WFH, but don't WFH

Wed, 05 Mar 2008 09:12:51 -0800

Like anybody working from home (WFH) will tell you, it gets boring after a while. Yeah, it's great to wake up at 7:00 AM and be at work by 7:01 AM, but there's something to be said about the commute to and from work with the rest of the rat race. There's also a certain buzz in the workplace that you just don't get when you work for yourself. I miss all of that, and until recently, have been working without it.

Late last week, I was lying in bed around 4 AM and trying to find a way to get this feeling back. The obvious solution was to get another job in Corporate America (which I'm working on). The less obvious solution occurred to me just as I was drifting off to sleep: Go where the people are. And that's just what I did.

Knowing that I would be more productive with a change of scenery, I set out to find a coffee shop, book store, or whatever, that I could work from for a few hours each afternoon. In my search, I remembered that there was a Barnes & Nobles nearby that had a Starbucks in it as well. Perfect! After purchasing pre-paid credits from AT&T's WiFi service, I was online, in the corner of the coffee shop. The place was a buzz with people. There was a man and women near the windows. The man appeared to be interviewing for a position with the woman's company. A young woman, on her lunch break, was resting her head against a window while talking with her significant other on the telephone, and in the farthest corner of the coffee shop was a loud gentleman on the telephone with his business partner talking about a deal that they thought was going fall through.

I felt involved. In the middle of this loud, bustling coffee shop I was revitalized. I felt as though I was again part of something and accomplished twice as many to-do list items as I had the day before. Since that day, I have been back to the coffee shop in the bookstore twice, and was just as productive each time I was there. For the price of a venti skinny cinnamon dolce latte and about $5 for the WiFi access, I was guaranteed 3+ hours of productivity each time I was there.

Now I know that it may not seem like a large price to pay, but $9 a day eventually adds up, so I have decided to continue looking for nearby WiFi hotspots (preferably free) in bustling locations. Luckily, I'm 10 minutes from an incredibly large shopping mall and business area so it hasn't been an exhausting search. If you're like me, and work from home, but yearn for a change of scenery, get out of the house and work remotely for a day. It makes such a difference!

KeePass: Password Manager

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:13:45 -0800

You don't need a Batman utility belt to become an Internet Entrepreneur, but having a few key tools can make your life a whole lot easier and increase your productivity at the same time. Over the past 3 months I have tried countless tools. Some were horrible, while others have become something that I use daily. Seeing as my list continues to grow, I thought it advantageous to create a new category, Entrepreneur Tools, and plan to showcase the tools/applications that have made my life easier. Hopefully, they will do the same for you.

If you have an application (web-based or otherwise) that makes your life easier and more productive, then speak up. Simply leave a recommendation via the Skribit widget on my sidebar. If I'm required to download and install the application, don't hesitate. I use VMWare Fusion daily and have no problem booting up Windows or Linux on my MacBook Pro to take a look!

KeePass

Nowadays, people have countless passwords. At last count, I had close to 50 applications that required a password to login. If I were lazy, I would use the same password for each, but as I said before, security is incredibly important in today's world.

That's where KeePass comes in. Recommended by a friend of mine, Keepass is a free, open-source password management utility that was developed for Windows, but has been ported to a variety of operating systems including OS X, Linux, Blackberry, Palm OS, and PocketPC. It's user interface is fairly straightforward, allowing you to store your passwords by groups. The application itself is password protected so you now only need to remember one password instead of 50.

If you have a lot of passwords and know that storing them under your keyboard is just silly: KeePass is the answer.

Blinksale: Online Invoicing

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:13:44 -0800

Invoicing a client is a great feeling. It means that all of your hard work is about to pay off. If you're like me, you do not want to spend as much time creating the invoice as you did on the actual project. With Blinksale, you don't have to. Simply put, Blinksale is an online invoicing application that allows you to quickly, and painlessly, send electronic invoices to your client. It also enables you to send payment reminders as well as thank you letters for invoices that have been received.

Check it out, they have a free version that allows you to send 3 invoices a month, and for only $12/month you can send up to 50 invoices. I have been using it for 2 months now, and love it. This nifty little web app is yet another ingenious creation from 37signals that deserves your attention.

Correction: 37signals isn't responsible for Blinksale, I don't know where I read that. "Blinksale is a small, extremely-talented team of designers, developers, and businesspeople." In short, they rock. Sorry guys.

Proper spelling: Website or Web site?

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 21:18:25 -0800

If you're in the same field as me, or interested in becoming an Internet Entrepreneur, then there is a very high probability that you type the word web site Web site website Website daily. But do you spell it correctly?

After meeting with the Small Business Development Center at my alma mater (more on that later), I was advised on several ways to bulletproof my business plan for the newly formed Schultz Media Network, LLC. While rewriting a section, I noticed that I used the word, Website, about a million times, but I wasn't even sure if I was spelling it right. Eager for a break, and wanting to get to the bottom of it, I decided to do some digging.

Dictionary.com stated that the uncapitalized word, website, is gaining ground just as email is over the once commonly used E-mail: The transition from World Wide Web site to Web site to website as a single uncapitalized word mirrors the development of other technological expressions which have tended to take unhyphenated forms as they become more familiar. Thus email is gaining ground over the forms E-mail and e-mail, especially in texts that are more technologically oriented. Similarly, there is an increasing preference for closed forms like homepage, online, and printout.

Merriam-Webster prefers Web site but doesn't give any explanation why.

Webmater Techniques believes that the correct usage is Website stating that "Website is not a compound noun..." Because it is a proper noun, it would be one word with a capital "W".

Lastly, the frequent one-stop shop for all answers on the Internet, Wikipedia had no clear answer either, citing several sources that all have officially adopted different spellings.

Do whatever you want! There was no strong consensus for any of them. How do you spell it?

How To Resume Blogging After An Absence

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:51:49 -0800

Life happens, and if your blog is not your primary (or even your second or third) source of income then there's a chance that blogging will take a backseat while your focus is diverted to the things that pay the bills. However, if you're like me and use your blog to interact with like-minded individuals then you can't stay away forever.

So what do you do? Do you write a heartfelt apology to your loyal readers or gloss over the fact that it's been weeks since your last post and continue writing as if nothing had ever happened? Well, that was exactly the question that I was faced with and after a lot of digging on the Internet I decided to compile an article on how to resume blogging after an absence. You may never need this information, but then again, I never thought I would either. It may be something that you want to keep in your back pocket...just in case.

Avoid Catchy Taglines

The first thing that you need to do is avoid writing catchy annoying taglines like "We now resume our regular scheduled broadcast" or "Regular programming will commence shortly". Simply put, these phrases are annoying, and I've unsubscribed from several blogs in the past because of this. Don't use them. You're back, now begin pumping out the content that attracted us to your blog in the first place.

Apologize To Your Readers

If you have over 100 RSS readers subscribed to your blog then I suggest writing a brief apology. These people are your core audience. They are the ones that are most likely to actually interact with your blog through the comments, and if you lose them then you have to start from scratch. Do you remember how hard it was to get 100 readers? Yeah, it's probably better if you didn't have to do that again. I've written my brief apology below:

"Truebluetitan subscribers: I apologize for my absence and thank you for sticking around. As an entrepreneur attempting to make it on his own, much of my energy has been devoted to building my businesses instead of writing about it. I'm now at a point where I believe that I have established a strong enough foundation to where I can begin blogging about what I've been up to and what the future has in store for me. Again, thank you for sticking around and I look forward to once again continuing on the journey with you to becoming an Internet Entrepreneur."
-Rob Schultz

Individually Thank Readers That Continue To Interact

I have never understood why some blogs do not allow user interaction. That's the most important part for me. I remember when this blog was just starting out and I would get so excited when someone would leave a comment. It was a little bittersweet when I found out that it was my mom and all she said was "Nice post!", but it was a start. Without your readers your blog means nothing. So if you've been away for a while, take some time to thank your readers that keep coming back. After all, they are why you do this. Once you've personally thanked your readers for a while, I recommend reading this article on how to automate the process with the WordPress plugin, Comment Relish.

Participate In Other Blogs

Chances are that if you haven't written on your blog lately then you probably haven't participated on others either. Now that you're back get out there and participate again in the blogosphere. Show the world that you still got it and leave useful comments on blogs participating in the same niche as you.

Don't Make A Habit Of It

Lastly, don't make this a habit. If you want to blog, then commit to blogging. We all understand that life has hiccups and you sometimes need to divert your attention, but don't leave us hanging. We're all looking for ways to trim down the amount of blogs in our RSS reader, and if you're not actively providing content that I feel is useful then you're not going to make the cut. So stick with it!

Compiling this list was helpful for me, and got me really excited to begin blogging again. I was quite surprised at the number of people that sent me emails asking if I was OK and wondering when my next post would be written. It takes a lot of time for me to write a post that I think is worthy of being published and I really appreciate the fact that some of you notice that. Is there anything else that you would recommend to those of us getting back into blogging after a hiatus? Speak up. I really think that this list can be useful for those recreational bloggers looking to make it pro.

SEO: Internet Entrepreneur

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:52:31 -0800

A big part of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is optimizing for a specific keyword set (i.e. What keywords do you want your site to rank highly for in Search Engines?). When I was performing keyword research for Truebluetitan.com, one phrase stuck out above the rest: Internet Entrepreneur. It generated a decent amount of traffic and really fit with the new direction of this site.

Breaking Into The Top 5 In Google

Today, about 4 months after I began optimizing, Truebluetitan has broken into the top 5 sites for "Internet Entrepreneur" in Google. This is a fairly great achievement, especially considering the other sites out there volleying for the top position. Among them are Tyler Cruz (more on him in my next post) and Yaro Starak, two highly respected people in the community.

Google seems to change their algorithm daily so the victory dance may be bittersweet, as I know of people who's site was ranked #1 in Google one day, only to seemingly vanish from the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) the next day.

Other Search Engines

60% of all Internet users using Search Engines use Google, so you can see why it's important to me to be #1, however, a large portion of Internet users rely on Yahoo, MSN Live, and ASK.com as well. So it's also important to not just focus on the almighty Google. Here is how Truebluetitan.com is doing within each of these engines: Yahoo (ranked #2), MSN Live (ranked #8), ASK.com (ranked #21).

Want To Know More About SEO

Optimizing your Website is not a one time thing. The Internet is changing rapidly as are the way in which Search Engines are displaying Webpages. It requires an ongoing effort to get on top and stay there. If you're interested in learning more about SEO and how to optimize your blog then say so. Either leave a message on the Skribit widget on the sidebar, or leave a comment below.

Vote for WinningTheWeb!

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 23:52:31 -0800

While I receive several invitations to participate in contests and/or sponsor them daily, I try to abstain, for I think that Truebluetitan has a far greater purpose to serve by logging my journey to becoming an Internet Entrepreneur. Hopefully, in a year's time, this site will showcase my success and serve as an inspiration to others.

However, there is no denying the fact that contests can help to boost traffic to your website. In December I gave away a Nintendo Wii and I've been reaping the benefits ever since. I've also participated in a couple give away contests around the Web and have a stack of giftcards and Amazon credits to prove it.

Cruz Vs. Park

Two sites in my RSS Reader are currently holding a contest to see who can generate the most votes for their Website. Tyler Cruz is going up against Gyutae Park to see who can get the most votes for their blog. The incentive: The blog that receives the least amount of votes has to hold a drawing in which 3 of the voters will receive $100. Not too shabby.

Additionally, each contestant is spicing up the contest in their own way. Tyler is giving away 150 Entrecard Credits to each person who votes for him. And while I'm a big fan of the Entrecard program, I think that 150 credits/person is a tad low. Any member of the site can get that generate that many in under 30 minutes if they want. Gyutae is giving the first 50 people that vote for him a free t-shirt, and as luck would have it, I'm a fan of schwag, especially tees.

Why My Vote Goes To Mr. Park

Prizes and incentives aside, there is one main reason that Mr. Park has won my vote: Content. When I started blogging about becoming an Internet Entrepreneur, I used to read Tyler's site daily. Unfortunately, as of late, I have felt that his site as well as others in the "Make Money Online" niche have really started to fail short of producing quality content. Instead, they're riddled with reviews and guest posts, that while good, seem to fail short of the voice that I know the author is capable of. The focus seems to have shifted more towards quantity and less about quality.

Gyutae's blog, while fairly new, seems to have hit its stride, and several of his posts have proven to be useful. Specifically, I liked 6 Things You Don't Know (but think you know) about SEO and How to Brainstorm New Ideas For Your Website.

So there you have it. Gyutae has a fairly substantial lead on Tyler already, but I wanted to cast my vote! Regardless of the end result, both sides have fought the good fight and the winner will have earned it. Good luck to both of you.