VICI - Our journey forward

Man Cave Fires Up the Grill in Wisconsin

2009-10-05T07:47:00.000-07:00

Man Cave kicks off its first MEATings in Wisconsin! Check out the press coverage.

Pete and Greg "clean" the grill after a successful Man Cave MEATing
From Left to Right: Brandon Miller, MEATing Guest, Pete Keiner (Advisor), Greg Holst (Advisor)

SHEBOYGAN PRESS
Click Here for link to article in the Sheboygan Press

http://www.sheboyganpress.com/article/20090926/SHE0101/909260566&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

APPLETON POST-CRESCENT
Click Here for link to article in the Post-Crescent

http://www.postcrescent.com/article/20091005/APC03/910050469/1028/Meet-Inc.-Innovator-Kevin-Carlow-

SHEBOYGAN PRESS ARTICLE

Back to the Cave
'Man Cave' similar to Mary Kay for men has taken off
By Dan Benson
Sheboygan Press correspondent

More than a dozen suburbanites gathered Friday night on the patio of a Town of Sheboygan home and
oohed and aahed as a demonstrator showed off the latest from a company's product line.

It's the same thing that happens at dozens of suburban homes each week, except that Friday's event
was attended solely by men and the products being demonstrated were strictly for men – meat, grilling
tools, poker chips and items related to beer, among others.

It was the first local MEATing of Man Cave Worldwide, which was founded a year ago by five
University of Minnesota grads, one of whom is Brandon Miller, a 2003 Sheboygan North grad. His
father, Michael, hosted the Friday night event at his home.

"Don't call them house parties," said Brandon Miller, 25.

Man Cave is following the business model of companies like Tupperware, Mary Kay Cosmetics and
Avon that have been demonstrating and selling products to women in their homes for decades.
Except that Man Cave claims to be the only company that does so for men.

"Man Cave is not a leader in its industry — it is the industry," the company's Web site declares. "It's
about damn time."

At these "manly gatherings," a host brings together friends and acquaintances to hear an "advisor" give
tips on grilling and show off the company's products.

Friday night, Greg Holst and Peter Keiner of Elk River, Minn., were the advisors. They had ribs,
steaks, beer-can chicken and brats on the grill (hence the name MEATing) and showed off poker
supplies and grilling tools, such as a meat brander, that allows a griller to sear a word — up to 5
letters — into a piece of meat.

"If you want to label your steak with your ex-wife's name, you can do that," Holst said to those
gathered around, some of whom nodded and smiled appreciatively.

There also were bar and drinking accessories, like the Beer Pager, which helps a guy find his beer if
he forgets where he set it down.

The men at Friday night's party listened attentively as Keiner explained spices, rubs and other secrets
of the grill.

For instance, he said, "Don't use an aerosol spray inside the grill," warning that an explosion could
ensue.

After being formed just a year ago, Man Cave "has really taken off," Miller said, with 55 advisors
around the country and in Australia and Canada.

About $600 worth of product was sold at a party in Neenah on Thursday night, Holst said.
"If we sell $1,000 worth, the host gets a gold beer mug," he said.

The Man Cave product line is geared to men age 30 to 60, Miller said.
"It's not about frat parties, like some might think," he said.

Women are some of the company's biggest customers and promoters, Miller said.
"It's clean and wholesome," he said. "We don't bring dancing girls."

Friday night, Miller's mother Leslie left the house just as the MEATing was getting started. But she
didn't mind.

"We wouldn't expect men to stick around our Pampered Chef parties," she said. "I know they won't get
into trouble."

The company Web site also contains a list of "Top Man Caves" around the cave, definitions of what
makes a real man, and a list of "Man Laws."

POST-CRESCENT ARTICLE

Man Cave in Appleton, WI
By Maureen Wallenfang
Post-Crescent staff writer

Q First things first. You're from Neenah but now living in Minnesota. Packers or Vikings?

A That's not even a contest. Packers until I die. I bleed green and gold.

Q You're back here in Neenah for one of your Man Cave parties. Can you explain what that is?

A Firstly, we call it a "meating," spelled m-e-a-t-i-n-g, not a party. The host of the party is any average
Joe who invites his friends over for a poker night, a football game or a man cave grilling demonstration.
Anyone who wants us to come in and grill up some meat for free. That's what the advisor does. The
advisor is an independent sales agent. They get a commission.

Q No women allowed?

A It's designed for men, but we won't turn women away.

Q How are you marketing your company?

A We've already done events, like the Minnesota State Fair. We had a booth. It's about the
face-to-face interaction. There are lots of way to market to men. We prefer the face-to-face rather
than a billboard. We're building a brand and a people organization. We're building a massive network
of sales people.

Q It's a party-based sales organization much like Pamper Chef. Guys are looking at the products you
sell for grilling, including meat. You have a shopping cart on your Web site. Do sales come in that way
too?

A The advisors can place their orders by entering that data online. We will have a ridiculous majority of
our sales coming in on our Web site very soon. We are having an entirely custom built back end to the
Web site to manage all our inventory. Advisors can log on and have their own portals.

Q You estimate sales of $150,000 in the first fiscal year. And $1 million for 2010. Is that accurate?

A That's an accurate estimate. It's really hard to say. We feel we're in uncharted territory. We are
setting a precedent and almost defining an industry in a way. The business models we have to learn
from are all oriented to women. So we're not even sure how many lessons apply as we're building an
organization of men. I don't know if it's a linear relationship to our business.

Q And men are responding?

A That was one of the biggest skepticisms we faced. Are guys going to buy the products? Women are
more group oriented. Are men going to get together and pull out their pocketbooks? We figured there's
only one way to find out. Lo and behold, if you have a good brand, products guys desire and they're
not overpriced, they don't mind.

Q How many guys come to the parties?

A An average of 12. The one tonight has 25.

Q How many have you done so far?

A I think it's around 100 parties.

Q What's the average sales total for a gathering?

A Our average right now is $800.

Q You have a warehouse and inventory. How'd you swing the investment?

A Nick and I started out doing businesses other than Man Cave. In collegiate publications. We still do
those and we generated quite a bit of income. We have a holding company that operates multiple
businesses, one of which is Man Cave.

Q Did you have to take loans?

A No. One of the things we've been good at is doing a lot with relatively little. There's shared
overhead.

Q You'll have parties going on tonight during the Packers/Vikings Monday Night Football game?

A Yes. It might be the busiest day in the history of the company.

Man Cave Expands to Tampa Bay

2009-09-25T16:25:00.000-07:00

The St. Petersburg Times sat down with Nick and Pete Keiner for the first Man Cave MEATing in Florida. Check out the headline!

Man Cave sells every man's dream: beer, steak and a place to call your own

Click here to read the article.

Proud to present.... U-Trips

2009-09-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

U-Trips is now live! The Spring Break of your life is only a few clicks away.

www.utripsonline.com

U-Trips is a premier Spring Break travel agency for college students and twentysomethings.

HOW DOES U-TRIPS WORK?

Simple! We partner up with the biggest names in the Spring Break scene. Exclusive night clubs, sexy celebs, prime hotels, A-list concerts, dreamy beaches and more to deliver the ultimate Spring Break experience to young adults around the world.

All you have to do is let us know a few of your travel preferences and we will deliver the most affordable and fun-filled Spring Break you have ever experienced.

WHY U-TRIPS?

We specialize in providing packages at an excellent value in premier Spring Break destinations for the college audience. U-Trips staff offers unparalleled customer service to give young adults the guidance and personal attention they need when planning a Spring Break trip to make the experience extraordinary.

Star Tribune attends a Man Cave MEATing

2009-08-26T15:41:00.000-07:00

Don't know how pumped we are about the MANNY KAY moniker, but hey - who are we to tell the Star Tribune what's good news?

www.startribune.com/lifestyle/55039542.html

Show Me St. Louis features... Man Cave!

2009-07-20T13:51:00.000-07:00

No Girls Allowed at ManCave Meatings!

2009-07-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

ManCave featured on WCCO.com

Great job Nick and Jerry at their Meating yesterday!

Off to meet up with Jim in St. Louis for the "Show Me St. Louis" spot in a few days!

Move over Mary Kay, ManCave is here.

Minnesota College Student Nick Beste created ManCave Worldwide as a way to provide men with tools necessary to be all that is man. Beste says it's the perfect excuse to hang out with the guys, eat lots of meat and drink beer.

ManCave "meatings" teach different grilling techniques to showcase all of ManCave products.

"We got barbeque stuff, we got meats, we got poker stuff, home bar stuff, anything that a man would want, that's what we have," said Beste.

Everything from a bottle opener to beer mugs is for sale; all have the ManCave logo on them. All of the products are delivered to the purchaser's front door and have a lifetime guarantee.

Guys who go to meatings say they're glad men have something to call their own.

"The ladies have their little parties that we can't really talk about. So its really fun to have a time where you can get together with the guys, have a beer and do what guys do without having interruptions," said Brian Cox.

Beske says he hopes ManCave will rise to the top of things to do for men.

"I believe we will be more popular than Mary Kay one day," said Beste.

He says no matter the occasion, be it a bachelor party or just an excuse to pig out, ManCave is what's good about being a man.

Man Cave Featured in Fargo-Moorhead Forum

2009-07-02T06:57:00.000-07:00

Half way through our first summer, Man Cave has EIGHT Advisors working to spread the good word about our exclusive line of Man Cave products. The Fargo-Moorhead Forum chimes in on the concept and early growth...

http://www.inforum.com/event/article/id/245514/

Love of grilling leads to ManCave business

Direct sales company focuses on men’s creature habits
Nick Beste wants to sell products to men in the same manner that companies like Pampered Chef and Mary Kay have catered primarily to women.

By: Craig McEwen, INFORUM

Nick Beste started ManCave to cater to men’s interests, including grilling. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor

Nick Beste wants to sell products to men in the same manner that companies like Pampered Chef and Mary Kay have catered primarily to women.

The 23-year-old East Grand Forks, Minn., native has launched ManCave, a direct sales company that sells select meats, grilling accessories, in-home bar and poker supplies at gatherings called “MEATings.”

“It’s an enterprise dedicated to letting men be men, no questions asked,” states the company Web site www.mancaveworldwide.com.

Here’s how it works:

ManCave advisers are independent male or female business owners, said Beste.

“They go into somebody’s home and teach different grilling techniques to showcase our products,” he said, cooking beer-can chicken, brats, steaks and other munchies for participants to consume.

ManCave also has a small line of gifts for women: rose petals, body butter and soy candles.

“We figured, you know, if you’re going to spend the night with the guys drinking beer and eating meat, you might as well bring the wife home something nice to get yourself back in the house,” Beste said.

Beste and business partner, Kevin Carlow, both University of Minnesota students, started discussing the idea in October. They launched ManCave in April.

The company has eight advisers selling products in Minnesota, North Dakota and Illinois.

Beste graduated from East Grand Forks High School in 2005, always wanting to pursue a career in business.

In third grade he drew a stick figure. “Below it I wrote, ‘I want to buy and sell companies,’ ” he recalled.

During high school he worked for Grand Forks, N.D., commercial real estate developer Kevin Ritterman, who owns Dakota Commercial and Development.

“That really got me pumped up. Kevin taught me a lot about everything. I owe a lot to him,” said Beste.

“For as young as he is, he’s a pretty driven kid. You could see that when he started working for us at 16-17,” said Ritterman.

“He is aggressive. He will learn and make some mistakes just like everybody else, along the way,” Ritterman said.

Beste and Carlow also operate U-Guide, a community guidebook for students at seven Midwestern universities, including North Dakota State University and the University of Minnesota.

Beste is also Midwest distributer of Village Hot Sauce, which was started 28 years ago by Tom Zimmer in Grand Forks.

U-Guide expands to 7 universities for the 2009-2010 school year

2009-05-08T09:30:00.000-07:00

We are excited to announce that University Guide (U-Guide) now partners with seven major universities in the Midwest.

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
University of Illinois - Champaign
University of Illinois - Chicago
University of Missouri - Columbia
University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire
North Dakota State University
Northwestern University

Our brand new website is now live, where you can learn the details of the U-Guide guidebooks.

www.uguideonline.com

The U-Guide combines the best elements of student-oriented publications and leaves the fluff behind. We help students navigate through college life with student interest articles, exclusive interviews with athletes, coaches, and stand-out teachers and students, custom-made maps of the campus, directory listings of important phone numbers and area businesses, perforated coupons, and more...

U-Guide - Your Roadmap to College Life.

The Kings Stock meats

2009-05-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Direct from a handful of local butchers in the Upper Midwest, The Kings Stock meats deliver unparalleled quality and unique flavors into the homes of meat-loving men everywhere.

Pork chops stuffed with Ham, Salami, and Cheese or all the Reuben goodness one can ask for.
Tender and flavorful buffalo sirloins and ribeyes.
Brat flavors from Beer and Cheddar to Southwest Fiesta to Pizza with Mozzarella and many more!

Available exclusively through Man Cave. Contact an Advisor or check out the link below.

The Kings Stock Meats

Announcing.... Man Cave!

2009-04-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Man Cave Worldwide.

If you're a guy, this company is for you. Man Cave is dedicated to letting men be men.

I'll let the website speak for itself.

www.ManCaveWorldwide.com

Enjoy!

1st Annual Back Yard Championships

2009-03-30T13:03:00.001-07:00

It's official! The First Annual Back Yard Championships will debut on Saturday August 15, 2009 at Lake Calhoun, Minneapolis, MN.

You and a teammate can compete for a chance to become the first-ever Back Yard Champion.

Teams of two will compete in a day-long tournament of three back yard game classics: Bean Bag Toss, Ladder Golf, and Washer Toss.

How to Register:

Click the Register Team link to sign up your team of two. Register soon as there is limited space in the event!

ENTRY FEE

2 Official BYC T-Shirts….. $30.00 ($15 per person)

No T-Shirts……………….. $20.00 ($10 per person)

Check out www.BackYardChampionships.com for more details.

Businesses are Recipes

2009-02-18T19:19:00.000-08:00

This was one of those dots-that-have-been-swirling-around-upstairs-finally-connected kind of thoughts that I just came across earlier today as I shared parting words with Nick (taking a few days to kick it with the fam in LA).

As far as I'm concerned, the world of business has no rules. None. Lots executives choose to run their businesses with similar practices, frameworks, and methods, but in this great country there is no mandate, no "set way" of conducting business (ok ok so we all pay taxes, use the same accounting principles, obey the law... we're all on somewhat of a level playing field but you get my drift).

Businesses are recipes. Take... banana bread for example. One person might use 2 bananas. One might use 3. The bananas could be ripe, or still green. Varied amounts of sugar, flour, and other essential ingredients. Also important is the how the bread's made- how many minutes in the oven, at what temperature, and so on. Some banana bread recipes result in fluffy, moist, deliciously baked bread. Some... well... don't.

A business is the same. It's the sum of all of its parts and components- policies, people, products... You can look at ten companies in the same industry, selling the same types of products (sometimes even the same products), and their internal structures, cultures, managers, and P&L statements almost always look very, very different. AND... only one of those ten companies is #1 in their segment.

I think the point is...
- Figure out the recipe you enjoy making
- Keep the recipe easy to understand
- Decide what's going to make your recipe different and worth trying. Once you figure that out - stick with it!
- Better ingredients, better business!

Now if only I had some bananas....

"Less is More" mentality for small business

2008-02-29T08:25:00.000-08:00

Monocle is a great source of juicy global nuggets of information... news, commerce, politics... all their stories (at least those that I've reviewed) have a sincere, local feel to them, offering a vivacity and honesty to the people and places they capture.

One of the latest episodes (it's another automatically-updating Podcast subscription of mine) features Bildschone Bucher (forgive the missing umlauts), a small bookshop in Berlin. I've always been fascinated by small bookstores because I never could grasp how they stayed in business. Not having researched the subject all that much, I would occasionally walk/drive by a hole-in-the-wall bookstore and think "Why on Earth would any person in his or her right mind search for and buy books HERE!? The selection is minimal, prices are bound to be higher than the big guys (or the library!), and most often the location isn't prime real estate either..." Well, silly me...

Bildschone Bucher's philosophy is simple... "Whilst everything (major booksellers) are aggregating and getting larger, we are intentionally staying smaller." "Big bookstores want to show more, display more, get you to buy more. People like coming into our bookstore because they don't feel overwhelmed; we aren't pushing anything down their throat, and there is a manageable selection from which to choose. Part of our service to our patrons is choosing a selection of books for them."

Ay, there's the rub. Yet another example of success by staying local, carving out a niche and serving it well.

Bildshone Bucher's decides on what makes its cut based on whether or not the staff "falls in love" with a particular book. By chance, they tend to fall in love primarily with photography books (about 80% of their inventory). Some of the images on their site are dazzling... check it out!

Also interesting to note that the founder had first started his bookselling venture online, with a concept and website called 25 Books. Only after its success did he decide to move the business to a brick and mortar operation as well...

(Updated 3/1/08)
And to FURTHER illustrate the point, I just read one of Guy's posts which I had not seen previously... "If You Want Customers to be Happy, Give Them Less Product Information."

It's a study that showed consumers who were given less information about chocolate and body lotion were able to optimistically use their imaginations to wishfully think and form positive impressions about the products. Whereas, those overloaded with details of the products' chemical composition, preservatives, etc. could not as easily overlook those details.

So, for some products, is consumer ignorance truly bliss?

ANOTHER Fortune Cookie? and some BIG NEWS

2008-02-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

So I thought I saved this fortune from yet ANOTHER overly insightful fortune cookie, thus I've waited a few days to make this post in hopes of it turning up. Alas, I'll have to proceed without the photo... believe at your own risk! And for those of you who are wondering - No, I don't eat Asian food that often. It was merely a coincidence -I promise!

Last week I enjoyed a much overdue meeting with my friend Anh Nguyen. He's the type of guy a very level head, and his personality weaves a fine balance between entrepreneurial go-get-em enthusiasm and hard-working conservatism. I worked with Anh to help him open a Quiznos franchise he started and has since sold off, while maintaining his full time career at Deloitte. Every once in a while we bounce new venture ideas off each other. Naturally I was eager to update him on our progress.

We met up for Chinese due to his recent conversion to vegetarianism... a difficult routine to get into for a full-fledged omnivore, but likely a rewarding one once you get over the hump.

Upon opening my fortune cookie on the ride home I remembered the fortune I'd received after lunch with Brandon (full story) and I was hopeful to keep my string of positive, relevant fortunes alive!! I got my wish. It read:

"You will receive some needed support this week. Accept it graciously."

Did we ever!!!!

I'm about ready to burst because I still in good conscience can't quite proclaim our good news YET... but it's like millimeters away and I can't wait for the huge sigh of relief (which will be followed by a tsunami of work...). The bottom line is we secured funding for our first acquisition and I definitely underestimated how difficult that process is. I knew it would be lots of work, but all this projecting and negotiating and justifying and amortizing and present valuing.... all gets a bit tiresome. And I'm confident this was an ~easy deal, in the world of "deals."

Now I have to make sure to "accept it graciously." Heck, I'll do whatever the fortune tells me to do if I keep up this streak!!!!

Are Your Favorite Sites Global Faves Too?

2008-02-05T14:11:00.000-08:00

Curious to see how your blog, favorite social network, media source, or company website stacks up in today's growing Internet space? These are two great resources to learn how much traffic the Internet's leading websites (and in fact almost all websites) are garnering.

www.alexa.com

The gold standard of online traffic data. Alexa developed a proprietary ranking system averaging Reach and monthly Page Views - this means a site's rank reflects 1) number of users and 2) number of pages viewed. Read the full explanation: (Alexa Traffic Ranking Definition).

It's got a great feature where you can plot the growth trend for multiple sites to see how they compare to each other. (Notice how I say "growth trend" as opposed to "trend" w/o hesitation. I'd be interested to see some hard data on how many websites/ebusinesses are truly in a "mature" stage of their life cycle. My guess - not many.)

http://www.quantcast.com/

Quantcast uses a much friendlier user interface (in my humble, non IT-background opinion). My favorite feature is the clearly stated Unique Visitor and Unique Page View count, which Alexa does not display in its rankings. Plus, Quantcast's Top 100 U.S. sites provides an interesting 1-line demographic snapshot of the featured sites (Top 100 U.S. sites).

You can also "Quantify" your site/blog by becoming a member, enabling you to view detailed reports of your site's traffic. Of the top 100 sites in the U.S., 7 of them have already done so. I can't vouch for the service b/c I don't use it - my guess is Google Analytics still takes the cake in this arena.

Plus, I just subscribed to Quantify's blog. 90% of the posts are featurettes highlighting a "new addition" to the Quantify family. It's a great way to find some great new sites you might be interested in (although StumbleUpon's definitely a more efficient method to serve this purpose). A couple of recent discoveries:

ICanHasCheezburger.com--- My gut is telling me this site makes (MUCH) more $$ than it should. If that's the case, I can only say one thing (equal to the sentiment I have towards country singers) - good for them.

HairFinder.com --- Ditto above. It's really just a facade site driving traffic to Amazon book sales.
And they get 1.3MM global uniques / month!!! Oh affiliate Marketing, how I love thee!

A Pair of Thoughts on Global Improvement

2008-01-31T19:42:00.000-08:00

The following are the type of thoughts you gotta get out of your head somewhere. Thank you blog o' mine for being the convenient ventee that you are.

ACCESSIBILITY

This passage is the result of months of built-up frustration from one of the business world's most well-loved functions - Sales and (the art that is) Cold Calling. Brrr... makes me shiver just thinking about it.... or maybe that's the blust'ry -20F windchill from our ever-lovely MN winter.

In truth, I like cold calling. I've "met" many successful, interesting, high-powered, energetic individuals over the phone. It's a great way to connect with people you'd otherwise have no chance to. And I've actually met some of them - a few of which have evolved into business partners, career counselors, personal advisors, friends, and of course - advertisers (I call more media buyer types in a day than anyone should have to. Ever. They are great people, I just know that a good percentage of the time, they'd rather have a heart-to-heart with a hole in the ground than listen to my 30-second pitch of how I can guarantee them an ROI while helping them grow their business.)

I think the world would be a better place if more intelligent and well-connected people were more accessible.

I can't over-emphasize how many times I have just straight-up been snubbed after a polite and professional series of voicemails/emails, without a single notion of recognizing my existence. And I promise Mr./Mrs. media buyer... you really DO want to hear what I have to say! I wouldn't be wasting my time calling you if I didn't think there was a sincere chance that we might actually mutually benefit from the conversation, right?

Is the problem that today's current channels (telephone, email, IM) don't suffice? Or is the problem that today's Marketers and business leaders don't understand the value of being accessible and connecting with and learning from the people around them?

I guess I need to invent a way for busy people to easily respond to those reaching out to them, and to motivate those busy folks to want to respond.

WOMEN

My addiction to absorbing a few "TED talks" each night before I go to bed continues. I subscribe to their video podcast, so as they release videos from their archive, iTunes conveniently downloads the new ones for me (although some aren't "new," as opposed to "newly released." Whatever - they're new to me!)

Last night I was flipping through the 117 "talks" I have downloaded (no I don't progress through them systematically - how fun is that?), and I came across the following description

"In one of the most beloved talks from TED2007, novelist Isabel Allende talks about writing, women, passion, feminism. She tells the stories of..." and my screen doesn't show any more. Now, the typical, yesterday Kevin Carlow would have read that preview and almost instantaneously continued his perusal. Reason - something about feminists, generally speaking, doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps it's my naivete, but the few that I know are passionate but stubborn and thus (in my eyes) close-minded about a non-feminist point of view. Passion is always refreshing, just listen to the other side too!!

So I watched it, wanting to believe I possessed this "open mind" I was preaching about in my head. What a fantastic idea - I recommend it highly (Isabel Allende: Tales of Passion). She's not an award-winning speaker and her ideas aren't earth-shakingly profound - but Isabel exudes truth, feminine strength, imagination, and not surprisingly, passion. Plus her sense of humor was refreshing and real.

More and more often I find single thoughts, passages, ideas, philosophies, or quotes which strike a particularly strong chord with me. She delivered one such line in mere passing, but it resonated fully. As she was preaching about the benefits of empowering women and unfortunate truths of the poorest and most backward societies that consistently oppress women, she delivered this thoughtful line:

"Men run the world, and look at the mess we have."

Now, I could go for an hour debating all angles of this point. My broad takeaway on this statement is - she's right. Women have been oppressed and disenfranchised since history can remember. Men hold an absurd majority of seats of power: political power, commercial power, military power, religious power, terrorist power, high-technology power, judicial power, law enforcement power ---- all utterly dominated by men. Of course an increasing population of women excel in virtually all categories above, but globally speaking, this number's still a tiny fraction.

If we had true gender equality, with female instincts, intelligences, and intuitions influencing half of the stuff that goes on, the world would be a HUGELY different place. And I might just go as far as Ms. Allende does and say... a better one.

A few blogs I like

2008-01-31T19:11:00.000-08:00

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/
If you're into high-tech, Guy Kawasaki's blog opens tiny windows into the world from his evangelical viewpoint. Not as "juicy" as it could be (I bet he meets some really cool people in a given week), but very much worth subscribing to the feed nonetheless.

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/
Seth Godin's blog is focused on... well I shouldn't really say it's FOCUSED on anything... He's a Marketing/Technology ideologist and author. His perspective is down to Earth, refreshing, and many of the things he says make me go "ya know, that's a damn good point!" He also points out some cool Internet resources every once in a while.

Another great way to find new blogs is using Google Reader's "Discover" function. It automatically recommends new RSS feeds based on the ones you subscribe to and how often you view them. Plus you can browse for any keyword that interests you (i.e. I typed in "change the world" and boom - Guy's blog won a seat in my Feed Reader).

(And I'm a little partial to this ViciGuy one too!!)

It's good enough

2008-01-27T20:54:00.001-08:00

It's not too often that I get horoscopes/fortunes/palm readings/etc. that actually resonate well. I'd have likely failed Astrology (as if you can major in it). But on a whim Miller and I hit up Eastar on Lake St, and this is what my fortune cookie had to say...

(Notice the missing apostrophe... maybe there's room to make a move in the fortune business? Our competitive advantage could be our award-winning translator!)

This wasn't one of those "damn that's a good idea" revelations. It was one of the "I-have-thought-about-this-and-this-is-a-sign-confirming-what-Iwas-thinking" kind of revelations. I vaguely remember preaching this mantra during Entre in Action last year. Now, my delivery might not have been top-notch, but apparently a Chinese wise-person agrees with the sentiment.

It's a timeless lesson for those trying to start, invent, create, redefine, and improve. And it's continuing to become oh-so-true as there is never less stuff to get done with each ensuing day.

Perfection is for fairy tales and middle school.

Attitude

2008-01-21T13:07:00.000-08:00

What a rough week:

Still re-couping from a stolen wallet episode on New Year's Eve (i.e. canceling credit cards, taking the MN driver's test to get a MN ID, getting a new U Card, buying a new wallet!)
Painstakingly going through the process of having my parked car hit and damaged passed a driveable limit. Not only a visit downtown to get the accident reports (not a 5-minute errand) and dealing with auto body shop / insurance company, but... I HAVE NO CAR!!
Setbacks with prospective advertisers dropping out for the '08 edition of the Advsior
Found out I'd been paying $1.00 into my apartment complex's dryer, only to find out from a roommate that it if you put a quarter in the farthest right slot, it only costs $0.25!
And to top it all off, Brett and the boys couldn't pull it together in OT last night in Lambeau. Particularly sad (but perhaps fitting) that Favre's last NFL throw was a pick.

Pretty easy to look at that week and feel not-so-great about the way things are going. Whenever I'm faced with a day/week/situation/whatever like this, I always say two words to myself:

BIG PICTURE

You have a choice. You can let adversity control you by focusing your attitude on negativity. OR, you can choose to put all those negative things into what I like to call "my small stuff bucket," realizing that whatever it is that's getting me down probably won't be getting me down in a week or two and that I have bigger things to worry about than a little fender bender or not being able to close a few sponsors for our publication.

Your energy can be put to better use than sweating the small stuff, and all it takes is treating yourself to bit of hard-nosed honesty that whatever it is probably isn't THAT big of a deal.

How much small stuff are you sweating?

The future of FREE

2008-01-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

Chris Anderson seems wicked smart- his latest resume bullet is Editor of Wired Magazine. Check out a video of him speaking on the "economy of free." I pretty much agree with every damn word that comes out of his mouth.

I got to thinking about his theory and wondering how I can bring it to other industries (i.e. where else, aside from the production of transistors, are the costs of producing something approaching zero?)

This is NOT the billion dollar answer, but I couldn't help myself...

If I owned a grocery store near a college campus, I would give away Ramen noodles for free. Maybe limit the amount to 2 or 4 per customer per visit, and I know production of Ramen noodles doesn't really fit his economic theory/observation, but that's beside the point.

I know the golden rule is location location location, but near campus, a very close second to the golden rule is FREE, and an equally close third is Ramen noodles... What college student WOULDN'T buy groceries at "U-Ramen Supermarket"?!?!?

What your middle school basketball coach never knew he was teaching you...

2008-01-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

Or maybe he did, in which case he's a genius!!

I recently joined the neighborhood YWCA. Which, as many people do NOT know, is a virtually equal counterpart to the more commonly known YMCA. Rest assured, after careful pre-enrollment and questioning (and now after a week's worth of visiting), it is truly a co-ed establishment. And I have no problem supporting the cause of "eliminating racism, empowering women" while I shave off those flabby Christmas calories.

Last Thursday I had the basketball court entirely to myself. The end of my routine entails a set of free throws, as anyone who's ever played organized basketball at any level has been coached to do. Remembering what I'd learned way back when I was good enough to make the "White" (i.e. "second-string") squad my Freshman year of high school --- positioning your feet, setting your legs, getting a good grip on the ball, visualize the shot, follow-through, etc.

10 shots later I'd made 8/10. 30 shots after that I was 38/40. 30 in a ROW!!!! At the time I was thrilled... not AS thrilled as if my roommate (a high school varsity starter and notoriously better at basketball than I) had been there to witness, but excited to have achieved the feat nonetheless. Not to mention I had to leave the free throw line every time to get the rebound, walk back to the line, recollect myself, and deliver the next shot.

How did I, after months of basketball hibernation, manage this? Latent muscle memory? Doubtful. Luck? Perhaps. But perhaps a subtle lesson is there after all...

MENTAL TOUGHNESS

It broke down into three key components, which I think are important for myself, other entrepreneurs, and anyone dedicated to anything.

1. Rhythm

The key here is not what your rhythm is or what you do when you're in a rhythm... it's getting into a rhythm in the first place!! Because I'd been warming up and shooting around prior to my time on the free throw line, my muscles were tuning into making a higher percentage of shots. I was focusing special attention to keeping my elbow cocked at the same degree, bending my legs the same amount, following through the same way, and so on. Through repetition it became second nature.

In the same way, when you focus on anything - personal skills, an organizational issue, defects in a new prototype - if you pay attention to correcting the right details, and you PRACTICE, those corrections become second nature and you automatically prevent the same mistake from surfacing.

Form good habits, become their slave.

2. Forward Focus

When things started going well at 10 in a row, 11 in a row, 12 in a row... it was difficult to keep my cool. Pressure was mounting as I knew with each additional shot, the odds of this streak were dwindling, and yet, with each new make I was that much more excited to keep the streak alive!! But this very excitement would have been the end of my success, had I been focusing on my PAST SUCCESS and not at the task AHEAD.

You can see where I'm going here. It was a good mental exercise to have to tell myself to put the streak out of my mind and focus on repeating the same formula that had produced the streak in the first place. Successful ideas/products/systems are meant to celebrated not with parties and red ribbon and letting them sit as a check-mark on someone's timeline, but with careful attention to replicating and pulling the success into the future.

3. Faith

A bit on the softer side, but it's undeniably there. Had an inch of doubt crept into my mind, that would have been one inch to the right and I'm tossin up a brick clanging off the rim.

Once you've gotten into a rhythm, think you've figured out a successful formula, and remained focus on replicating that success... you must be prepared to cast off all remaining doubt, breathe deeply, and take the plunge (or in this case, the free throw).

"Remembering you're going to die is the best way to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose." --- Steve Jobs

Logos

2008-01-10T16:41:00.001-08:00

Just having some fun with GIMP and Paint.NET. I highly recommend both by the way. They are free and make sense for non-design people like me.

Now, that's not to say any of the below are award-winning designs. They barely pass as sketches. Nevertheless, I've gotta ask...

Which one do you like?

A potential partner, or two

2008-01-09T22:55:00.000-08:00

You know, I was just going to Share this story in my Links feed, but I'm too excited. Maybe I'm too easily swooned by certain people/products/companies/sites that seem to speak my language; alas, I can't resist a short spell of ogling over up-and-comer's, young entrepreneurs, and clever writing.

Ben Casnocha. Just discovered his blog, book, and bio from an excellent post from user Prakblr on the message board of a Shelfari group I started on Entrepreneurship. (Shelfari is a social networking site - you create your virtual "book shelf" and are given a host of sharing and networking features to display your shelf and view others' shelves. My group has grown to 108 members, and I've done next to nil to promote it (i.e. letting Shelfari do the heavy lifting for me). Makes me optimistic about the future of www.thealumniadvisor.com and other networking site ideas we have on the backburner). I digress.

After 20 min of reading, Ben seems to have a definitive edge, carving out a nice niche in the "young entrepreneur success" department. He will have to step up his game after graduating from college to maintain his inertia. With less than half an hour of reading, I feel pretty confident he will do just that.

His book: My Start-Up Life. Yes, I am jealous... jealous that I did not write this book before he did.

This is the post that mandated the formal entry into my blog - What We'd Wish We'd Known In College.

He's merely taking excerpts from n+1's What We Should Have Known pub, but seeing the excerpts he chose seems like a tell-tale sign to me that we're vibrating close to the same frequency.

RSS Button Maker

2008-01-09T19:13:00.000-08:00

I just found this great website which enabled me to add the RSS buttons you see in my "Subscribe!!" Tab. Check it out...

Top Rank Blog - RSS button maker

Google Ad Revolution

2008-01-09T14:40:00.001-08:00

What would happen if you started a movement where every time every person in the movement saw a Google AdSense ad - they clicked it?

Would some crazy revolution happen where site owners (and Google) would get insanely rich? Would advertisers actually get an ROI on their skyrocketed ad expenses?

The Future of Content

2008-01-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

I just found myself uploading 2007 Alumni Advisor content to a couple of free online article hubs I found on Google.

www.articledashboard.com
www.freeforallarticles.com

My primary incentive here (aside from the intrinsic philanthropic knowledge-spreading motivator which of course is always present) is simply to drive a couple of extra hits to www.thealumniadvisor.com and increase awareness of the publication/website. Leaving these articles free to be used and re-used for any and all purposes like VIVA paper towels and my gym bag from high school.

Nothing directly monetary, whatsoever.

We have seen lately a (what I believe might be a hint at a HUGE) trend towards donation-driven content (see Radiohead's In Rainbows post-success interview with Wired or the Steal This Film project and it's latest Part II release). TorrentSpy just released information saying that the average donation given to see Steal This Film... $15!!! (source: Mashable.com)

This screams that quality, niche content - when reaching the right audience, is worth a premium to its consumers. Or at least it's worth SOMETHING!

+ FUTURE OF CONTENT =

I just started cooking up a new idea about two hours ago to help many other content providers out there (bloggers, indie film makers, upcoming bands, aspiring authors) to achieve financial success by following their passions and getting paid for it - by you, me, and anyone else that wants to help that individual keep offering their content to the world. I'll keep you posted.

What other ways are there to help content providers make money that I haven't heard of yet?

A New Year

2008-01-06T22:04:00.000-08:00

Well... looking back at 2007 I see, among many other things, that I underestimated how difficult it is for a budding entrepreneur to maintain a blog. Let an improvement in this regard be the first of many '08 resolutions to which I will adhere.

Today was an exciting day. Despite some unlucky events of late (not one but TWO fender benders on my PARKED car and a visit from a klepto neighbor on New Year's Eve...), I can't help but feel a bit lucky today. After only a few brief weeks of good-natured negotiations, we have officially agreed on the terms of our first acquisition. I'll keep it anonymous for now until we close on the deal (on the off-chance that someone actually reads this).

It feels good to have successfully avoided heavy use of legal counsel. We may regret that decision down the road, but my instinct tells me the notion of keeping business matters between business people is generally a good idea. Time will tell.

2 more weeks to close on Alumni Advisor sales. We've got a ways to go before break-even (yikes!). But I can't remember too many times in my life where I wasn't cutting it close for something important, and things have pretty much worked themselves out.

Trip to the DMV tomorrow to get a new driver's license. (A Minnesota DL... I thought the license plates were bad enough! Although I learned today that legally after 60 days of living in MN it's against the law to not have a MN DL, so I guess it's about time, eh?)

My latest addictions include: video podcasts (particularly TED conference videos), Orange Box, His Dark Materials trilogy, and business plan revisions. I can smell playoff football on the horizon. And I can see a Favre/Brady Super Bowl gun-slinger duel in the distance. And a new membership to the neighborhood Y will mean a welcome addition to the daily routine. Form good habits, become their slave.

Nick meets with a banker from Bremer tomorrow to discuss bplans and projections for '09 and beyond. Fun stuff!

Week ended 11/04

2007-11-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

If there was one word to describe how I'm feeling about our progress, it would be... "anxious." Last week was packed with big decisions, lots of sales calls, and yet ANOTHER opportunity knocked on our door. A great one in fact. Some tasks took a slight backseat, but I suppose that comes with the territory when all business hours are spent selling to the Fortune 1000.

Last week marked the second week that Nick and I put on full-steam Sales hats, for both Long Drive and the Advisor. This upcoming week has some MAJOR follow-up calls to be made: Taylormade Adidas, Marriott, DirecTV, Sirius, BOSE, and Coca Cola - to name a few. I'm also a call away from getting a meeting with Kinetic in NYC to pitch our stuff to all their account reps. I can't wait to tell Tony the good news.

We put the DTRA on hold for a year - an outcome with which I am very pleased. The limited time we spend on the DTRA will be time well-spent: handling one-off tasks, selling a sponsorship here or there, and attending some board meetings. This will give us a chance to get our hands dirty and intimately connect with some folks in the racing world. Plus we'll have no risk, an entire year of brainstorming for DTRA growth plans, and we'll get to see how the DTRA team does in their fourth year (without paying for any add'l tracks business).

Meeting up with the U Guide boys tomorrow to discuss the sale of their company. We'll have much more of an update on this topic next week. Once we find the golden solution to local ad sales at campuses nationwide, it seems to me that we're home-free.

Last week's goal: 8 hours in the office = 6 hours of phone time.
--- Passed with flying colors. Now we just gotta maintain the pace.

This week's goal: redefine PT. Old definition - "personal time" New definition - "productive time".
---This doesn't mean the end-all of free time, it means only spending time on activities with purpose. Going for a run instead of watching TV, reading instead of playing poker, or learning something from someone as opposed to shootin the shit.

Great ideas and companies executing on them

2007-10-17T21:52:00.000-07:00

http://akismet.com/
Eliminates spam from blogging. Simply genius.

Taking book smarts to the bank

2007-10-16T20:53:00.001-07:00

Two U students took a business launched for a class project and continued to run it after graduation. Now they plan to take their student-themed Alumni Advisor to campuses across the country. And they're well on their way...

read more | digg story

All State - are you in ignorant hands?

2007-10-15T08:50:00.001-07:00

As a traveler, I have often thought about how much longer I can take living in the U.S. Not to be a country-hater - quite the contrary, actually. I love the States and aaallll the freedom that comes with them. Because of these freedoms my parents have been able to economically position our family to allow me to get a good education and see some of the world. I now know that one can't get a TRUE sense of a place/city/environment until one lives in said place. And with this constant "the grass has got to be greener" voice I have in my head, I have this urge to pack up shop and dive head-first into a new land and culture... somewhere.

But after last night... I've been inspired to stay, at least for the time being, to help my ignorant country right itself as best I can before I leave it helpless and self-deprecating. The shakedown:

I love new technology. It is the future, today. And I have a growing passion for innovative media (www.longdrivemedia.com, www.thealumniadvisor.com). So when I heard that NBC's website now has FULL EPISODE streaming shows, I had to check it out (thinking in the back of my head - how can this be financially worthwhile? It must be costly to maintain, not to mention the development of the infrastructure). Welcome advertising, Web 2.0-style. Kudos to NBC for constructing an multimedia, interactive medium with a captive audience, multiple iterative impressions, opportunities for click-through's, and more...

But watch this... (and if you're a tree-hugger, environmentalist, or just plain ol' human preferring a healthy Earth over lungfuls of auto exhaust- grab the Kleenex and watch with caution)

Friday Night Lights and All State Plan to Kill Earth One Car of Teens at a Time

For real? Ever hear of Carbon emissions? Greenhouse gasses? People, we are making hybrid, electric, and Hydrogen cars now because there are TOO MANY CARS ON THE ROAD!! So, yeah, let's tell our planet's future leaders to STOP CARPOOLING and drive themselves to the movies.

We've got some work to do.

Initiation

2007-10-13T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hello world - Kevin Carlow here. Just to clarify... while this blog is titled Vici, it's purpose is not to solely update and reflect upon Vici Enterprises-related matters. This is my porthole, my journal, my sounding board, my notepad, my...life. Welcome and enjoy.