Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. –Robert Frost
Tomorrow is the big day. My first day as a fully self-employed entrepreneur.
Over the past few months, as I’ve seen this time coming, I asked myself who I was going to be in the foreseeable future. And the more I thought and talked about it, the more clear it became.
I could really see it going one of two ways.
The first way is the easy way. As it stands now, I could very easily live off of the profits from my websites without dipping into my savings. I’d have to watch the expenses, but could easily do 15 minutes of work per day and become a total beach bum. I’d play volleyball, become a better surfer, work out all day, drink cheap malt liquor, and do whatever the hell it is that all of these California bums you see wandering around all day do. Occasionally, I’d get inspired and launch a new web campaign and make it profitable.
The second path is the exact opposite. Go for The Empire. Dominate several tiny niches of the web, then aggregate them into a massive network that feeds into an enormous machine. Attack industries that need attacking, and inform users that need informing. Hire employees, learn social media, and even do “In Real Life” marketing. Buy a fancy house, own a boat, and invest in land – all in cash. Stay healthy, keep racing, and learn some new weapon skills, but occasionally go on some ridiculous international drunken bender and let things coast for the week.
I really could see me doing either for a while. But it’s pretty much one or the other.
And as things become more and more clear, I am pretty sure I know which one it’s going to be. You probably do too.
BertoSon – Once again, you amaze me with your linguistic talents. Of course, I will support you in whichever path you choose. However, when I come to visit (which will be often), I will be much more comfortable in a big house than in a tent on the beach…. Congrats again – now let’s get this party started.
Wow. Ever since Shit Got Real, I’ve been one busy guy. You’d think it was because I’ve been working on my own business, but I wasn’t. I was transitioning my sales territory to the new guy. It’s kind of funny, but since quitting my job, I’ve worked harder for it than I have for years.
I never realized how many people I’ve met over the past four years, and how hard saying goodbye would be. There are literally hundreds of people that I’ve helped, supported, and have become professional friends with. Their feedback has been incredible – they all support my endeavor but know that the new guy will be better than I was. Honestly, I’m gonna miss nearly all of them.
All of my customers kept telling the new guy how big of shoes he has to fill. Really? I guess I didn’t think I was that great of a sales guy, so maybe I’ll have to write something on how I operated as a technical sales rep, because I guess it worked. In short, my four pieces of advice would be these:
SHUT UP, ask questions, and listen
Follow up
Don’t be a douchebag
Delegate anything and everything to the geniuses at corporate.
Customers knew that I wasn’t the guy with all the answers, but they also knew that I’d crack skulls in an effort to get the answers for them. With an incredibly proactive company like NI, skull-cracking usually isn’t necessary, but sometimes it is. And I will fuck you in the ass if you dare downplay me and my customer. I really wasn’t a sales guy OR an engineer, so much as I was a “Resource Manager”. I liked that. It was the closest I’d ever come to being a pimp. Why spend 45 minutes trying to figure something out when I could get someone in corporate to do it in 5? Delegation is key, and something I’m trying to figure out in my own business (and kinda failing at thus far, admittedly).
Everyone says it’s good to not burn bridges. But let’s face it – I will NEVER return to National Instruments, the Test and Measurement industry, nor corporate America in general (unless ClutchWave IPOs – which isn’t part of “the plan”). I’ve made some of the best friends ever at NI, but don’t really care about the professional bridge. No doubt, the NI connection is great, but my gripe is more with Corporate America in general. I don’t want or need back in. So why did I bust my ass transitioning the next guy in when it wasn’t in my personal best interests? Well, in a few words… because I’m one helluva nice guy. I want to leave something better than the way I found it. And I can truly say that I did that.
Anyway, come September 1st, I’m going to wake up and be on my own. I’m nervously excited. I have a plan and I know what I want to do. And I’m gonna do it.
Exactly a year ago, I was thrown into a reality TV pilot titled Crash Test, which aired on Spike TV on April 27th, 2010. On Crash Test, we used top-notch stuntmen and stuntwomen to recreate accidents and crime scenes to see who was really guilty or innocent.
I was the “biomedical scientist” of the bunch, and took measurements to determine if the real-life accidents would have really occurred in our simulations had we not been using professional stuntmen and women.
For reasons I’d rather not get into, the show is not moving forward with a whole season, despite its rave reviews from both sexes and all age groups (further despite the bad rating on IMDB… who’s the clown that gave us a 1/10?!). So at this point, I’d like to add my perspective.
I was thrown into the project at the absolute last minute, and even missed a day of filming. I had one full day to prepare, which included finding sensors, programming my hardware and software, doing the research on the accidents we were about to recreate and how I should take measurements.
Being on set was absolute chaos, and probably the coolest experience of my life up to this point — and I’d like to thank Reveille Studios, Tim Prokop, and Spike TV for giving me this incredible opportunity. So here is what I learned from being the geek on the set of a Reality TV show:
Come Prepared (Gear) If you’re doing anything technical, you better make sure your stuff works PERFECTLY before getting there, and is completely self-contained. When your gear is needed, there is absolutely no time to make last-minute changes or fix a programming issue.
Your devices need to be self-contained. You are not guaranteed how far away it will be or if there will be power nearby. You need to be able to flip a switch and have it ready to go.
There might also be a lot of time between turning it on and when the film is actually rolling (see the “Hurry up and Wait” section), so make sure you have a lot of memory and battery life.
At this point, I must give a shout-out and thank NI Systems Engineering* for their assistance, specifically David Harding. Also Otmar, Caroline, and Simon in NI DIAdem and LabVIEW Marketing, and my good buddy Paul Mandeltort for being all-around smart as hell. Thanks guys!
*(side note: If you’re an NI customer working on a very large project and are not leveraging these resources, you’re crazy NOT to contact your local rep and make sure you’re doing things right!)
You are the expert on whatever the hell you’re doing. Or so the country believes. One of the directors is going to be asking you questions from your perspective. You need to know what’s going on, and how to compare it to real world stuff so that the audience has a clue what you’re talking about?
There was 40g of force? Guess what, geek – that means nothing to 99.5% of the country. But “it’s the same impact force as getting hit by a college lineman off the line of scrimmage”? Cool, now you’re talkin.
This one was tough for me, as I had to worry about programming my gear on top of knowing what amount of force typically breaks a vertebrate, information not always easy to find.
And am I an expert biomedical scientist? Fuck yeah.
Be Aggressive Get your ass in front of the camera! Tell the camera guys that you have something cool to show them. If there’s a critical scene that you pretty much KNOW will make the final cut, make sure your face is visible and you have some decent input (unless told not to). There were a lot of times when I was behind a computer but should have popped my head in to make some comments.
Additionally, don’t let any crew members do any setup stuff that could get you on TV more. Do all things that pertain to your role.
In our show, Casey was operating the high-speed camera. That should have been MY job – because it would be my job to take the video and synchronize it with my data. Another example is the guy who’s hammering in the stake that connected to the chains that held the trailer down. That should have been Casey doing that. Get aggressive.
Research YOURSELF I learned a lot about myself by watching myself on video. Before you go on set, have a friend videotape you doing similar things that you’ll be doing on the show. For me, I would have taped myself walking around, using the computer, hooking stuff up, standing and arguing, etc.
Here’s what I would have improved about myself had I seen myself on camera first (and yes, this will sound horribly lame and egocentric, but it’s the truth):
I didn’t realize how much I hated my beard length until I saw it. I was on setting #3 throughout the show, and will always be at #1 or #2 from now on. I can’t believe I’ve worn #3 that much without noticing!
My eyebrows need trimming. Not waxing or grooming, but trimming – they’re just too damned long. My barber, Daisy, now takes care of this… but I wish I would have done this earlier… like 15 years earlier. Very “gay” of me to say so, but very true.
I hate those jeans. And I wear them ALL THE TIME (note: despite writing this… 1 year later, I still wear those. I really am a lazy POS)
Build up my traps. I’m a swimmer, my shoulders should look better under a polo shirt than that!
A picture is NOT worth a thousand words – a video is.
Get some sleep before filming.
Because I was pulled in at the last minute, I was spending all-nighters coding up my experiments. And boy, did that take its toll. I was a zombie by the end of the filming days, messing things up, and had huge bags under my eyes. This may conflict with rule #1, but we all have a minimal number of hours of sleep in order to function properly and you need to get that much. For me, it’s 4 hours.
Being on the set is nothing short of pure chaos. You will be sitting around, waiting for your part, and then when it’s time, you better be in the vicinity and ready to rock and roll. Not out back flirting with that cutie Kelia or the stunt girls (heh). And then you’ll be called over for your part… just in time to get yelled at and probably wait another 10 minutes for no logical reason whatsoever.
Hurry up and wait – Be prepared but chill out. It’ll take time as the other ongoing chaos unfolds.
You will get a “Call Sheet” that has everyone’s jobs and names. Understand what their roles are and try to remember their names. If you have time, research what is a “Line Producer” vs. an “Assistant Director”, what the Grips are, and so on. This will pay MASSIVE dividends. Treat them all incredibly well. Also note that if it’s a pilot, defined roles are not clearly set and everyone wears a zillion hats, so if you need something, just keep asking for it (or keep asking who to ask) until you get the right person.
Also, the director is KING. Do whatever he says, with little argument unless you know it’s awfully wrong. Otherwise, guess what… you will get cut out of that scene! Don’t try to “write” over what they want you to say, you’ll just get yelled at. Right Casey?
Day Before Shooting Chaos!
The day before filming will be the most chaotic day you’ve ever lived through. Nothing will be ready. You’ll have to go to Home Depot and Radio Shack 35 times. There will be studio employees driving all over the city trying to get stuff for this project to work. I’ve never experienced anything like this in my life. And somehow, you’ll get through it with flying colors. And get some sleep!
Acting!
There is definitely a component of acting. You will be asked to say and do certain things multiple times, even if they already caught your natural reaction. Do your best – you’re a shitty actor and everyone knows it, so there’s not a ton of pressure, but they might be able to get a few seconds of better crap out of you.
As an engineer using tools on the set, you’ll get a ton of companies wanting to give you free stuff for product placement. It’s really cool. However, those placements will be FAST and the company needs to decide if it’s really worth it for them to waste a whole day getting it in the show. I personally think it’s worth it, but don’t expect your product to be slowly called out and for us to pop your website onto the screen. Action is too fast.
As the rep for National Instruments at the time, I had access and know-how to use NI gear. I put it freaking everywhere. I finally got PXI on TV. I put DIAdem and LabVIEW logos in my software for the screenshots (see image). Get aggressive but don’t go over the top. Note: NDAs and other contracts will need to be signed between the studio and the vendors.
It was stressful at times on that set, but things started slowing down by the final couple of days. Remember you’re on there to make good TV! Have fun and be yourself! It’s an experience you might never get again, so enjoy it, make friends, and smile.
As I finish writing this, I am kind of bummed out. Working with Tim Prokop, Casey, TJ, Jack, and the Stunts Unlimited guys was such a cool experience. John Schneider is a total pimp. This show was fucking awesome, and I really wish we could have received a full season.
I have to admit that it PISSES me off to see such garbage that is on TV nowadays, and when we try to put something out with some semblance of intelligence, we get one episode. But money talks, and as you can imagine, it cost a lot of money. It was simply too risky, and I understand that business decision. But it doesn’t mean I can’t be jealous or mad at society for watching nothing but slop when our show doesn’t work out!
As I become fully self-employed next month, I am going to throw my hat in the ring and audition for a few other geeky reality shows. I would be happy to be the geek on or off the set. It’s fun and a great challenge.
This concludes part 1, on the set. Coming next up next: Post-filming.
This week, I tendered my resignation to my employer, National Instruments, in order to focus on my own internet marketing business that I started.
I spent 1.5 years as an Applications Engineer at NI Corporate in Austin, TX, and almost 4 years as a technical sales manager in the South Bay / Aerospace Corridor of Los Angeles (where I currently plan to stay).
There is never a good time to leave a sales job. It wasn’t even my intent to put my notice in this week, but after discovering that there were other changes occurring in the territory, I thought it would be best to notify my managers as soon as possible so that they could get their house in order.
My original plan was to stay until the end of the quarter to help transition the next guy in, but that’s nearly two months out and we don’t need that much time. Thus, my exit date has been pushed in to the end of this month. I now jokingly tell my friends that “I got fired” but that is nowhere near the truth. So as of September 1, 2010, I will be self-employed.
As with any job, there are ups and downs. However, I have absolutely no ill will towards NI, and this was a decision that was going to happen no matter what I was doing or who I was working for. I simply want to run my own ship. National Instruments is a great company to work for – but sales has given me a taste of freedom and now I want even more.
You will NOT find a finer, nicer group of ridiculously talented engineers than those that work at NI. I am serious about this. The relationships I’ve developed at NI will last a lifetime, and I know that many of you NI employees are on to doing some great, world-changing things. I may even join you. The reactions I’ve received from fellow employees regarding my decision have been extraordinary, and honestly the most interesting part of this process.
As a salesperson, you are the face of the company to thousands of people. As such, I often had to temper the things that I publicly wrote here. Over time, I simply stopped blogging because of this. You can’t risk a business relationship because of some opinions that you hold (and those who know me know that I hold my opinions). But starting in September, I won’t have that concern.
I’m not going to go into my future plans just yet, as I am still an employee of NI and have a job to finish (and I WILL finish it right), but I just wanted to chime in that things are going to change around here. One of those changes is that I plan to write more about my experiences as a struggling entrepreneur who admittedly has very little clue what he’s doing. I hope you can join me on my journey
It’s been a wild, weird week, and I’m ready for it to end. But first, I am going to enjoy Austin, TX with some of my best friends.
Good luck! I was kind of forced into being an entrepreneur before I was ready so it’s been an, um, “interesting” two years. That being said, I might have a hard time going back to full time if the opportunity presented itself.
Last fall, I filmed a reality TV pilot for Spike TV called Crash Test. On Tuesday, April 27th, Spike TV is going to air the pilot at 11PM EST (check your local listings – DirecTV and other satellite networks will be off of the east coast feed!).
In Crash Test, Hollywood stunt expert Jack Gill leads an elite team of stuntmen, scientists, and investigators as they recreate full scale accidents to prove who is guilty or innocent.
Here are two YouTube videos to check out:
Spike TV Commercial – Look who’s talking at the end!
Stunt Teaser videos
If Spike TV sees enough viewership and DVR recordings, it will may get greenlit for a full season.
So please pass this e-mail on, post the videos and DVR times to your Facebook and Twitter feeds, and spread the good word!
I am the biomedical engineering expert on the show, wearing red. It is my job to measure and determine whether or not these accidents would have created the injuries that the defendants claimed… had we not been using stunt pros.
I was brought into the show at the last minute after filming had begun. I had no clue what was going on (which often shows), but it turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. The guys on the show all rule.
The show stars four of us, not including the stuntmen: Jack Gill – Stunt Expert / Leader Casey Noel – Stunt Rigger / Safety TJ Josefy – Investigator / Crime-Scene Recreator Mike Roberto – Biomedical Engineer
This show was excellent! It was perfectly set up for suspense and has a realistic feel since the results of the re-enactments are used to determine real situations. The results were very extrordinary in nature and prove things that seem impossible to perception, in fact, possible. This is a must watch show and I hope that it gains enough interest in order to keep rolling for years to come. Watch out Myth Busters, this stuff is much more relavent than determining if JAWS could be blown up with a gun. I talked my wife in to sitting down with me to watch it (my second time) and she was glued to the TV and I found her tensing up at times.
The show had three different senarios (cases) to prove. Thet were each different in nature but I could have watched each of them for an entire show. I thought for sure that the water slide would never reach the speed needed to recreate the senario. And I never thought that a Chevy Tahoe could fly 100ft. in the air at 50mph. Incredible footage in HD and high-speed photography.
Two thumbs and two big toes up from me on this one and I am craving more.
@VMAngel Hmm, I'm in the US (CDMA) and realized that the BB Torch is only coming to Canada since it's GSM. True? Might just do the Curve2.. 2010/08/25
@VMAngel Hi Lisa, I need a new plan 9/1 (quit job) but want to wait for the BB Torch before spending big $. Any recs? Buy Loft then upgrade? 2010/08/25
Jon Blankenberg said,
08.31.10 at 9:32 pm
#2. Its more metal /m\
Chris said,
09.01.10 at 7:47 am
The same drive that got you to this point is the same personality trait that will prevent you from ’settling’ with choice #1.
WTG man
The Mamma Berto said,
09.02.10 at 7:09 am
BertoSon – Once again, you amaze me with your linguistic talents. Of course, I will support you in whichever path you choose. However, when I come to visit (which will be often), I will be much more comfortable in a big house than in a tent on the beach…. Congrats again – now let’s get this party started.