The Intrepid Blog

As we approach Thanksgiving, we at Intrepid Innovations like to take a little time out to reflect on the past year and share with one another, and you, what we're grateful for.

Aaron: I'm thankful that our company has made it through its first year (we launched in November 2007). It certainly wasn't always easy--there were a couple of clients that always seemed tough to please. There were deals that seemed destined to go through, only to fall apart at the last moment (the slow economy had a lot to do with this). In a nutshell, there were a lot of growing pains, but hey, what business doesn't experience them? But we kept on truckin' and pulled through okay, and now we're looking ahead to our second year. I'm also thankful for the opportunity to have run for a seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly this past fall, and for all of those who supported me. I lost the election, but that was expected, considering that I ran against a popular 14-year incumbent. But just the experience of running in an election was very enriching. I took a lot away from that experience. Finally, I'm grateful for my caring family and many, many good and caring friends.

Dan: I'm thankful I abandoned the employee-based life and became a freelance writer. I started out 2008 with a full-time job in downtown Milwaukee, daydreaming of the 4-Hour Workweek. As if by providence, I was let go from the job. I'm now an employer-less freelance writer, doing what I was born to do.

I'm also thankful to join the Intrepid Innovations, Inc. crew officially as co-owner and as Director of Content Development, which happened this past August. I consider myself a "spiritual" co-founder of Intrepid, since I was with Phil and Aaron from the beginning, and also with them that fateful day in a Holiday Inn in Chicago in 2006. That day we all promised to stick together and help each other grow in business, even though we didn't know how it would happen. Today, our vision is clear and our goals are high.

I'm grateful and proud to call Aaron and Phil my friends. Personal growth and reaching for high goals can be a lonely thing sometimes, and I can't tell you how great it is to have two like-minded people with me in business and in life. I'm grateful for all of my friends, and for a great, supportive family - a description that does my family no justice. Success is meaningless unless you have someone to share it with.

Phil:

What are you thankful for over the past year? Feel free to leave a comment sharing your thoughts and reflections!

About two years ago, I interviewed Steve Pavlina for my Website, BipolarNation.com. BipolarNation.com is a political blog, so interviewing a self-help blogger who's offers tips like how to become an early riser was a bit of a stretch.

But it seems like a nice fit on this blog, where we're always talking about development in both the professional and personal sense. Here's the interview:

Dan: When did you first become aware of the idea of personal development, and decide to make it a major focus of your life?

Steve Pavlina: For me it happened in January 1991. I’d just been arrested for felony grand theft. While sitting in a jail cell for three days with nothing else to do, I finally gave my life situation some serious thought. I was 19 years old.

I understood that I was the one who put myself in that cell, not the security guard who caught me, the police officer that arrested me, or society at large. I recognized in that moment that my own choices led me there, and I had the freedom to make different choices that would lead me somewhere else. I began to accept full responsibility for my life in a way I never had before. I realized that no one was coming to rescue me.

My situation wasn’t pretty, but I knew in that moment that no matter how bad it was, I’d eventually recover. The solution, I concluded, was that I would have to grow as a human being.

Read more »

At the tender age of 25, I am an author, journalist, freelance writer, business owner, and candidate for state-level office.

I did not take up English, Writing, or Journalism as my major in college, yet I am a writer. I did not major in Business, Computer Science, or Graphic Design, yet I am president of a company that deals largely in Web design, graphic design, and Internet marketing.

I am what is called a generalist, someone who loves to try new things and refuses to be pigeon-holed into a one-track career. This is the opposite of being a specialist, someone who loves to be pigeon-holed into a one-track career.

With so many interests, talents, and skill-sets, I can never fathom letting it all go down the drain for one career that may pay decent but give me feelings of regret and emptiness because I decided to waste it all.

If you take a look at my LinkedIn profile, it is perhaps arguably the most diversified profile on that site, and I probably have more jobs and experiences listed as "present" than anyone else.

A few days ago, as I was searching the Internet for material by Tim Ferriss (I've been on a Tim Ferriss kick lately), I came across a very interesting, exciting, amazingly rich post on his own blog: The Top 5 Reasons to Be a Jack of All Trades. I can't believe how well this article of his describes me. It fits me to a tee. Read it.

Here's a few quotes from his post to tempt you to read it in its entirety...and to become a generalist yourself:

In a world of dogmatic specialists, it’s the generalist who ends up running the show.

Is the CEO a better accountant than the CPA? Is Steve Jobs a better programmer than the iTunes VP of Engineering? No, but he has a broad range of skills and sees the unseen interconnectedness. As technology becomes a commodity with the democratization of information, it’s the big-picture generalists who will predict, innovate, and rise to power fastest. There is a reason military “generals” are called such.

Boredom is failure.

In a first-world economy where we have the physical necessities covered with even low-class income, Mazlow’s hierarchy of needs drives us to need more for any measure of comparative “success.” Lack of intellectual stimulation, not superlative material wealth, is what drives us to depression and emotional bankruptcy. Generalizing and experimenting prevents this, while over-specialization guarantees it.

Diversity of intellectual playgrounds breeds confidence instead of fear of the unknown.

It also breeds empathy with the broadest range of human conditions and appreciation of the broadest range of human accomplishments. The alternative is the defensive xenophobia and smugness uniquely common to those whose identities are defined by their job title or single skill, which they pursue out of obligation and not enjoyment.

To further expand on the first quote in which Ferriss describes the "big-picture generalists", see my post titled, Always See the Big Picture.

Tim Ferriss is author of the best-selling book, The 4-Hour Workweek, which became an instant classic.

In the earlier half of 2007, Dan interviewed him for BipolarNation.

I was recently searching for material by Ferriss online, when I stumbled upon this YouTube video of his. It's just over six minutes long. Watch it. Repeat: Watch it. This is perhaps the best way you can ever spend six minutes of your life, six minutes that you'd probably otherwise spend writing worthless e-mails, carrying on polite yet worthless office chit chat, or just twiddling your thumbs.

For over five months now, I've been working part-time at a grocery store in order to pay the bills and have some extra spending cash until Intrepid Innovations fully takes off.

A couple weeks back, I was informed that there would be a store meeting at 8:00pm and that I had to attend. I was scheduled to work that day from 2-6, which is a typical shift for me.

I asked my department manager and an assistant store manager (who was leading the meeting) if I could stay an extra hour so that I didn't have to go home for an hour, only to return to the store for the meeting. Both gentlemen gave me permission, and I found enough work to keep me busy for that extra hour.

From about 7:40 to 8:00, I was asked by the same assistant store manager to round up chairs from the break room and take them upstairs to where the meeting would be taking place.

While in the middle of that task, I came across the store owner, who had just arrived. "Aaron, weren't you only scheduled from 2-6?" I told him that I was, but that I had permission to stay an extra hour by my department manager and the assistant store manager that was leading the meeting. I also told him that I was helping the assistant manager prepare for the meeting. "I hope that's okay", I said. "Not really", he replied.

Allow me to put what I just wrote into more perspective here. Bear with me for just a few more moments.

During the last few shifts prior to this particular day's shift, I had been clocking out early because business was slow. I figured I lost about five hours of pay (hence saving the store owner from having to pay me for five hours) over the course of those few days. And he's upset because on this particular evening, I'm there another hour.

I save this guy approximately $35 because of having left early so much. When I try to make up for just one of those hours, I'm treated like a scumbag.

If you did the math already, you know that I earn $7.00 per hour.

This situation upset me a little because, rather than saying "Thank you Aaron for saving me money lately" or "Thanks Aaron for helping out with the meeting", I'm frowned upon for staying an extra hour. He treated me like I was burning a whole in his pocket, even though I had recently netted him a savings of around $28 because of all the times I had been punching out early.

He was fretting over a lousy $7. I couldn't believe my ears and his facial expressions. I felt cheap and lowly.

This is an example of how not to treat employees. The store owner is frustrated lately because business has been pretty slow, and I understand that. I would certainly be a little frustrated, too. But I would not let that frustration pour over into how I treat employees. Continue doing that, and you won't have just a lack of customers to worry about, but a lack of employees, as well!

Lucky for him, I tend to be a pretty level-headed, easy-going person. I also need the extra money that this job gives me. But you never know...if this same situation had happened to anyone else who is not as calm as I usually am, he may have lost a good employee that night by walking off the job.

Now, this man is a good man, and I respect him. For the record, this is the first and only time I've found myself upset with him.

But yeah, not a good way to keep morale levels healthy among your employees. Not good leadership, by any means. And I'm not just ranting and raving about this incident from the perspective of an employee. I'm speaking with authority as a fellow business owner. I can't possibly fathom ever treating any of my employees like this. On the contrary, my philosophy toward employees is more in tune with Google's.