Erich Stauffer

Category: Self Development

  • What Meetups Mean to Me

    In January of 2005 I started my first Meetup called Indy Game Dev. One person joined and together we started to code a game. I didn’t know how to code a game. I had just graduated college with some Computer Science classes where I had to make a few small games in Visual Basic.NET, but I didn’t really know how to make a game.

    We started out meeting once a month, and then weekly at his house in Noblesville. He didn’t even have his own computer so we had to use the computer in his mother’s bedroom. I researched gaming engines and different programming languages, but we ended up going with a type of game similar to the NES game, Shadowgate.

    We had agendas and a group logo. We created the first screen in the game and started working on the story line, but then that’s when things started to fall apart. In April of 2005, Meetup began charging group owners a fee for hosting a group and the bottom sort of fell out as far as my desire to make games. What I realized is that I didn’t want to make games, I wanted to learn how to make games. Once I did that, my interest level was gone. My partner continued the group and the game for a while after I left, but I didn’t really start going to Meetups again until three years later in 2008.

    A Brief History of My Career

    I worked full time for the last two years I was in college and then immediately after helped a friend start a computer repair business on the side while continuing to work full time. It was during this time that I started going to Meetups, but I didn’t start going again until I left that job I had through college, started my own business, and got a new job in IT in October of 2007. This is when having a day job and going to meetups felt like I was living a double life. During the day I was a computer technician for an IT company and by night I was a web designer wanting to learn more about Adobe products or PHP.

    Through web design and SEO work, I was introduced to the world of affiliate marketing and started making money that way too. Eventually my web design customers started using me more for their technical needs and I began acting as their outsourced IT firm, or simply, their “computer guy.” Eight months after doing IT full time, I became a business analyst at a mid-sized, regional bank. By August of 2011 I was making enough from all of my side ventures to go at it alone so I quit my day job and went full time on my own. That’s when I really started to take advantage of meetups.

    Why Go to Meetups?

    To Socialize

    When I worked for other companies I was around other people all day long. We had meetings. I sometimes got to go places on the company’s dime. Some of these times were good. Most of them were not noteworthy. However, once they were gone, I started to miss that in my life. Sure, I met with clients occasionally, but for the most part I stayed in my office at home. While my family is a joy to me, there is a certain need to go beyond that and meetups can help with that. I wouldn’t go as far as to say I’m lonely, but there is a certain amount of Edward Norton’s Narrator that goes through my head when I visit a group for the first time.

    To Form an Identity

    What consistently meeting new people does to you is to help define who you are. This is partly because of the amount of times you have to explain who you are and what you do to new people, but also because simply by going to a particular group, you are associating yourself with that type of person. I’m currently a member of 16 meetups: Affiliate Freelancers Indianapolis, Affiliate Summit Indianapolis Meetup, AgileIndy, Central Indiana Entrepreneur’s & Vendors, Coaches, Consultants, Authors, Speakers & internet marketers, Esri Dev Meet Up Group – Great Plains, Geeks with Swag, Indiana Small Business Networking, Indianapolis Lean Startup Circle, Indianapolis Marketing Group, Indianapolis Search Engine Optimization & Internet Marketing, Indy Cowork, IndyDevHouse, TechLunch, Verge, and the WordPress – Indianapolis Meetup Group. I recently spoke at the affiliate marketing group, which gives me credibility with the speakers group, even though I already am a consultant.

    To Learn

    While I have been encouraged to get my masters and have gone back to school for Microsoft, A+, and Network+ certifications, meetups allow a different type of continued education in a wider array of fields. They are also the fields you’re most interested in learning about, or else you probably wouldn’t have signed up or gone to the meeting. Even though I’m profitable with affiliate marketing I still learn things from my affiliate marketing group, but a better example may be the Agile Indy group I attended last night. I had no idea what Agile was, but I kept hearing it and seeing it so I wanted to find out more about it. I wanted to learn. I can’t say I’ve gone to a traditional classroom much with that mentality. If you’re interested in what Agile is, review the Agile Manifesto or visit David Christiansen’s blog, Technology Dark Side. Speaking of affiliate marketing, David makes $2000 a year from advertising Rally Software on his blog. Rally sponsored last night’s meal, which brings me to my next reason.

    To Eat

    Most meetups either serve food or meet at a restaurant where there is an opportunity to eat food. If you enjoy breaking bread with your fellow man around a topic you love, what better place than at a meetup. The early Christian church would call this their communion time, while the modern church might call it “small groups”. What are meetups, if not small groups of people, passionate about a topic? One exception to “small” may be Verge Indy, which currently has 1,280 members and regularly has to limit members to their events at Developer Town. Most meetups who serve food serve pizza and most of the time it’s free, but there’s no such thing as a free lunch so be prepared for the corporate sponsor to pitch their goods to you. Don’t worry if you’re not interested, maybe one day you will be. Maybe one day you’ll be the sponsor.

    To Travel

    You probably can’t just walk into Miles Design or Allegient‘s offices, but that’s exactly what I did when I attened Joomla Indy and Agile Indy, respectively. While Joomla Indy isn’t an official meetup, it still meets regularly, in-person, around a topic, which is what meetups are all about. Tonight I’ll be attending the Lean Startup at Green is Good off 86th and Zionsville Road and the Esri meetup at Harry and Izzy’s on Illinois Street, downtown Indianapolis. When I was a business analyst I got to visit the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce’s board room once, now I’m visiting new board rooms every month.

    To Network

    If you’ve ever been told that you need to get out of comfort zone to grow, meetups are a great way to do that. Most of the people at the meetup I attend, I don’t know before attending. In fact, it’s actually rare for me to know someone there at all. However, once I’ve gone once, I do at least recognize them and can start to get to know them. Networking is a natural result of getting to know other people and meeting new people. Sometimes business cards are passed around and sometimes they are not. Meetups that are specifically setup to network don’t seem to be as popular as ones that are setup around a specific topic. What makes Verge so popular is that it brings together inventors, startups, and venture capitalists with those interested and willing to help. The energy there is intense and the barriers to entry are low. There is no fee for most events, food is provided, and those attending get the chance to pitch and network with others. It’s a great mix.

    To Succeed

    Whatever you’re trying to accomplish, there is probably a meetup out there to help you do it. Whether it’s meeting like minded people for encouragement or collaboriation, or learning from others who have paved the way before you, meetups can help you become a success. As Eric Willke, agile adviser and speaker at Agile Indy said, “Know you can succeed,” and to that I add – “and you will.”

  • Choose Your Time

    I wrote this in one of my notebooks back in 2008 and recently re-discovered it while doing some housekeeping. Apparently one or more of my children had taken it to draw in, but after reading what I wrote I thought I’d share.

    Ironically, words are the most powerful weapons or tools that we have, yet they are used most carelessly, wasted most often, and sometimes not said at all.

    Words have power.

    Once spoken or written down, words take on a life of their own.

    Then I start to offer the reader (myself) advice, each one longer than the first:

    Speak what you want to happen.

    Write down your goals, your plans, your loves, your life.

    Speak the words out loud. Talk to yourself when you so that when you talk to others you can speak with authority. You know it to be true because you spoke it so.

    Then a bit of opinion-as-knowledge sharing:

    Those with bad luck have it because they pronounce it every chance they get! Those who want change, who have hope, speak change and preach hope.

    Choose your words so that you can choose your life.

    The next page reads with a slightly different tone, but on a similar topic:

    Yes, we are being tested. The question is, will we pass?

    Who speaks words? Who hears or reads words? Who is affected by words? Why do we speak, hear, understand, and be affected by words?

    People. People is the who. People is the why. Words are the what. They are a medium. The point is people. The purpose is people. People who use words change the world, one person at a time.

    I close with the following paragraph:

    We write down our goals and we begin to speak them out loud and we begin to do what our God has asked us to do and then, alas! A roadblock. A problem. What is this?! We followed the steps. We did what you asked! What did we do wrong? God is allowing us to be tested to see what may happen if we were granted what we asked for. The question is, will we pass?

    It wasn’t long before I would be tested – and then I was tested again, and again – and will continue to be tested until the day I die. I believe that this whole time on earth is a test of our mettle, our personality, and our faith. Like the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30), we have been given opportunities here on earth during our time. How we use this time is up to us.

    Here’s Mathew 25:14-30 in full:

    The Parable of the Bags of Gold

    14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. 15 To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag,[a] each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. 17 So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. 18 But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
    19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.’

    21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

    22 “The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’

    23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

    24 “Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

    26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

    28 “‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. 29 For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

  • Custom Maps

    How I went from being a map blogger to a map maker by just realizing that I love to make custom maps for myself and others.

    I always thought of myself as an urban planner anytime I encountered something while driving that didn’t make sense. I used to wish I could change city streets the way you can in Sim City or Sid Meier’s Civilization.

    When I worked for other companies I’d make maps of where people sat, where restaurants were located, or branch locations. I was rarely, if ever asked to do these things. I just did them.

    As a business analyst, I created many intricate spreadsheets to turn data into usable information that could be shared. Our output was often compared to a map, maps being Edward Tufte’s standard of visual simplicity and design. When I visualized spreadsheet data, I was really making customized maps.

    As an IT worker, I created intricate network diagrams of all of our client’s computer setups, which were really just customized maps.

    When I finally came to realize that making maps was what I was most interested in, I learned that it was also the lens through which I viewed the world. I created maps in my mind to help me understand the world.

    This past weekend I attended The Combine in Bloomington, Indiana. Merlin Mann of 43 Folders was the headliner. Before I left I created the map you see below:

    It’s nothing special, just some information from a schedule laid over a Google Map screenshot. The reason I’m showing it is because no one told me to make it, I made it for myself to use at the Conference. I made a map so that I could better understand the material. It’s the same thing I did when I was a business analyst in the banking industry. I made maps of information so executives could make better decisions. In IT I made maps of information so that problems could be solved faster and so everyone could be on the same page as to how a system was setup. No one argues that the United States is located in between Mexico and Canada because maps tell us this is true. Maps make data obvious. They tell a story. They matter. And I care about them. That’s why I like making custom maps.

    Map Design Resources

    For those interested in map making design, you might enjoy reading Gretchen Peterson’s blog. Gretchen also wrote GIS Cartography: A Guide to Effective Map Design. I’m currently in the process of learning TileMill from MapBox, but may also try MapTiler.

  • How to Succeed and Grow through a Slow Economy

    Are your company leaders keeping an eye on the traffic patterns in the economy? Are they doing what most companies do during a down economy? Does your company have a culture of innovation?

    It doesn’t matter if your company has 10,000 employees or you are self-employed, the economy affects us all. How we react to it and lead our companies through it will determine our success or failure over time. Here are some things that successful companies do to succeed and grow through a slowed down economy:

    1. Don’t be afraid to change the company or it’s core products. I’m not talking about changing the dress code during the summer time or preventing overtime, I’m talking about examples like Scott Paper becoming a consumer products company rather than a paper mill or General Motors becoming a transportation company instead of a vehicle manufacturer. Listen to what your customers are asking of you. Mine your customer service data banks and don’t assume that what has worked for the last hundred years will work for the next ten.

    2. Create a culture of innovation and creativity. Leadership needs to be the most innovative and creative at all. It’s time to go back to what you learned in Kindergarten and stop being afraid to fail. Don’t kill the messengers. Reward those who speak up with new ideas even if they are bad. Things will beget similar things and ideas will beget new ideas. This is the essence of brainstorming, but glacial drift of a company’s mentality has a way of leveling off those who are non-conforming. Instead of being a hive of solidarity, consider being a greenhouse for growth.

    3. Keep an eye on the future, not just the next payroll. Companies can be pac-managers too, knee-jerk reacting to any wave or fluctuation in the economy as it comes, but a macro view of the economy, realizing that precisely because it is a wave, what goes down, must come up, decisions need to be made about the future, not just the short term. This doesn’t mean staffing for an eventual, but currently non-existent work load, but being more fluid in the utilization of human capital and creating ‘pressure valve’ positions and opportunities for adaptable workers and ways to recognize and insulate top performers.

    If your interested in economics, you might also check out my post on Ex Forex about Vibration Economics.

  • Big Rocks

    In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, when Stephen Covey is going over Habit 3, “Put First Things First,” he tells a story about “big rocks,” which I wanted to share:

    In the middle of a seminar on time management, recalls Covey in his book First Things First, the lecturer said, “Okay, it’s time for a quiz.” Reaching under the table, he pulled out a wide-mouthed gallon jar and set it on the table next to a platter covered with fist-sized rocks. “How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?” he asked the audience.

    After the students made their guesses, the seminar leader said, “Okay, let’s find out.” He put one rock in the jar, then another, then another–until no more rocks would fit. Then he asked, “Is the jar full?”

    Everybody could see that not one more of the rocks would fit, so they said, “Yes.”

    “Not so fast,” he cautioned. From under the table he lifted out a bucket of gravel, dumped it in the jar, and shook it. The gravel slid into all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Grinning, the seminar leader asked once more, “Is the jar full?”

    A little wiser by now, the students responded, “Probably not.”

    “Good,” the teacher said. Then he reached under the table to bring up a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar. While the students watched, the sand filled in the little spaces left by the rocks and gravel. Once more he looked at the class and said, “Now, is the jar full?”

    “No,” everyone shouted back.

    “Good!” said the seminar leader, who then grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it into the jar. He got something like a quart of water into that jar before he said, “Ladies and gentlemen, the jar is now full. Can anybody tell me the lesson you can learn from this? What’s my point?”

    An eager participant spoke up: “Well, there are gaps in your schedule. And if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life.”

    “No,” the leader said. “That’s not the point. The point is this: if I hadn’t put those big rocks in first, I would never have gotten them in.”

    In both our business and personal lives, we have big rocks, gravel, sand and water. The natural tendency seems to favor the latter three elements, leaving little space for the big rocks. In an effort to respond to the urgent, the important is sometimes set aside.

  • Business On the Side

    The days of working as a business analyst by day and a business consultant by night are starting to wear on me.

    For those of you who don’t know, I run Watershawl Technology Consulting and do Internet Marketing for Cost Publishing “on the side” while maintaining a day job as a business analyst. I’m Microsoft Certified and have worked as a network technician in the past so I tend to understand both sides of the fence. I realize the balance that needs to exist between business needs and technical specs. This makes me a good business consultant.

    The problem is time, which is the same problem we all have. I know I am entrepreneurial by nature and enjoy solving problems, but I can’t be in two places at once and this causes stress. Its stress I put myself in, but like I said, its starting to wear on me. I’ve been working “on the side” since I graduated from college in 2005. Even before graduating I worked full time while in school. I know what it means to balance work and life goals. Every once in a while, though, you have to ask yourself, “Why?”

    Why do I do what I do?

    I enjoy watching my clients businesses grow while my business grows at the same time and I’ve learned to relish that growth, but what am I growing into? What is Watershawl? I dream of the day this company is able to employ myself and others for the good of the community, creating and updating new and exciting solutions for customers online and off. I would love for my children to have someplace to work or learn new skills as they grow into their careers. I would love to be able to work from home. Those are all the goals I am working towards. That is who Watershawl is. What can Watershawl do for you?

    August 2011 Update: My First Day of Work After Quitting My Day Job

  • Goals as a Function of Success

    As we head into the new year I have been thinking a lot about goals lately.  I was reminded of an old function I created once for the achievement of a goal.  If you are wanting to make money online, you are wanting to start a business (whether you think of it as a business or not).

    Think of the act of creating a business as a pre-defined function:

    goal + team + defined product + defined market + advertising = achievement of goal

    So, the goal is the beginning of the function and the achievement of that goal is the result. Without a goal, there is no function. The function is the business. Therefore, without a goal, there is no business.

    How to Define a Goal

    Dave Ramsey, a financial author and motivational speaker has five rules for goals:

    1. They must be specific
    2. They must be written down
    3. They must be measurable
    4. They must be time-sensitive
    5. They must be yours

    The first three are self-explanatory, but “time-sensitive” means setting an end-date. Diana Scharf Hunt, a motivational writer, is famous for saying, “Goals are dreams with deadlines,” but what does Dave mean by “yours”. I think it means that it has to be something you care about, something you are passionate about. Passion is key to the goal, which also means it is key to your business, according to the function.

    What are you passionate about? It’s okay to be passionate about making money. That is an okay reason to start a business. Even not-for-profits need to make money to survive. Those who are successful in business realize that they are not making money for money’s sake. They are tithing, providing other people with jobs, helping their local communities, providing for their family, all the things that come from making money.

    Lets say our goal is to make money and we want to go down the list, applying the rules:

    1. Be specific. How much money do we want to make? Money without time constraints is irrelevant so lets use the unit of a year. Lets say we want to make an additional $40,000 a year – on top of what we make now.

    2. Write it down. I’ve wrote it down in this post, but you should write it down on a piece of paper, in an email, or in an online collaborative space like Google Docs or Google Sites.

    3. Must be measurable. Track how much we make using Quickbooks Online or online through Google Docs spreadsheets. Income – Expenses = Profit or Assets – Liabilities = Owners Equity.

    4. Must be time-sensitive. Lets say the goal is to make an additional $40,000 by May 30.

    5. Must be yours. I came up with it, but you must make it your own.

    How to Build a Team

    This one is harder, but nothing easy is worthwhile so lets get at it. Any and all team members must buy into the goal. If they don’t then they shouldn’t be a team member. Because the function doesn’t work without the goal, we have to have team members focused on the goal. When the focus is on the goal, the team can work on the next part of the function, which is defining a product. Notice how the product was not thought of before the team was created. This is important and on purpose. Jim Collins in his book, “Good to Great,” tells the story of Hewlett and Packard, having their first meeting, “Agenda: Decide what products we are going to sell.” They had the right people with the same goal, to make a successful business. They ironed out the who before ever worrying about the what and how.

    How to Define a Product

    This one is harder still, but now you have a team to help. First, state the problem you are trying to solve. This is critical. What is wrong that you are trying to fix? What can you do better than anyone else? How can you differentiate your product or service from another company’s? Before you look under any rocks and start wasting your time Googling the universe for problems, look within yourself. What frustrates you? What needs changed? What have you complained about in the last week? What, if anything would you like help with? What would you like to know more about? I for one would like to know what people are searching for when they want to find things. That way, I’ll know what keywords to use in order to attract those searchers to my websites. It’s simple, understandable, and a definite problem for not just me, but every person who has a website. So for now, lets go with that. Our product (for this conversation) will be in offering information on what people are searching for in order to find their products. This seems like a product that might be able to help us achieve our goal and will give your business a reason for being.

    How to Define a Market

    A market is more than a geographical area or demographic of people, its also a category of product or service. Regardless, its the marketplace in which you think you’ll have the best opportunity to make a sale, which helps you with your primary goal, the goal without which your business would fail to function. Focus on the outcome, the goal. Realize how many sales at your products range of prices you’d have to make in order to reach your goal. For micro-niche and blog sites, use Google’s External Keyword Tool to see how much traffic a given set of keywords within a market is getting.  Use search volumes as well as existing competition (if someone is selling it, someone is making money on it) to determine whether or not the market is viable.  If you have a brick and mortar business, try a Craigslist or eBay auction of the product or service first as a prototype to test.

    How to Advertise

    Define what makes you different and/or better than your competition and hammer it home. Focus on your market and be an expert on your product. Don’t spend any money on advertising until you have exhausted all the free ways you can promote yourself online and through social interaction. If you feel you have exhausted all of your free advertising and you still have no sales, go back to “How to Define a Product” and think of a new product. This new product may then need to define a new market and then advertise again. Repeat until you reach your goal. As Winston Churchill said, Never give up. Never. Never. Never. Never.”

    If you liked this article, you might also like reading The Confidence-Success Loop.

  • The Way

    In the midst of a storm its hard to see how you’ll ever get out of it. There are times when it seems like all is lost and you may want to give up. Sometimes all is lost and you don’t get out and there is no one left to tell your story. How vain your life must feel at that moment! How you’d wish you would have some things differently: loved more, worked less. But there are those who like Job go through times of trouble and turmoil only to come out ahead. Victorious.

    There is a choice that we all make each day in how we spend our time here on earth. Each one of us has gifts and a purpose. Are you using the gifts you have been given? Are you fulfilling the purpose in your life? What do you seek? You won’t find what you aren’t looking for. The bible says to seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened. What do you want? Are you in a storm? Who will save you? Where is your hope?

    My hope is in Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. I believe that there is no way back to everlasting life with our creator except through him. I believe Jesus died and our creator supernaturally healed him, fulfilling the prophecies set forth in the scriptures. I believe Jesus was there when our earth was formed, will be with us in heaven, and is with us today in Spirit.

    Though the storms rage, your house crumbles, your spouse betrays, a loved one passes away, the job is lost, the collectors call, a child is lost, know that you are important to God. He made you. You have a purpose. You have a choice. Life may happen to you, but its your choice in how you react. Do you turn to God who loves you or to the one who lies, steals, and destroys. The sacrifice has been made. Repent and turn to God. If you don’t know how, just say in your mind, Father, I am here. I don’t want to live without you in my life anymore. I want you on my side. I’m tired of the enemy always winning. I don’t want to live that life any more. I want more of you. God please show me the way.

  • Why the World Needs Jesus

    Who is Jesus? What does it mean to be saved? Are we still in need of a savior? Can Jesus hear our prayers? Do you have faith? Do you believe?

    Who is God? Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? Why do bad things happen to people who love God? What is free will? What happens to prayers that are against someone else’s will?

    When is Jesus coming back? Will Jesus use technology as part of the announcement? Will there really be swords coming out of His mouth and stars in His hand? Why did God make the stars? What is their purpose?

    What is our purpose? Does God need us? Who will judge us? Which is greater, mercy or justice? Who do I need to forgive today? Who do I need to show God’s love today? Why does the world need Jesus today?