2013 will be the best year of my life

Posted by on January 5, 2013 in Entrepreneurship 1 comment

I know the title of this post is super ambitious but I really mean it. I feel that the last few years have been some what of a transitional period for me and that 2013 will be  the start of something great. Those of you that read my blog know that since July 2011 I have been working on my first startup, Bmark. On the 9th of this month is the closing event of The Hive accelerator program where I will have the opportunity to pitch my startup to almost 200 people, many of them private or institutional investors. The last 6 months I have been working hard towards this point and my plan is to dazzle and amaze everyone in that room.

Soon after the 9th I will be working full time on raising a seed investment for Bmark. We are at the point where we need to raise an investment to continue our venture. If I fail to raise any interest among potential investors within the next few months then I will be forced to find a “real” job. I’m confident that I can raise the $150, 000 that I am looking for and will do everything in my power to try to reach this goal.

The main reason why I think this will be the best year of my life is because one of two things will happen this year. Either I will raise a seed investment for Bmark which will be the best case scenario and Gil and I can continue on our path to build a successful company or I won’t raise a seed round. If I don’t raise a seed round then I will find a job, preferably in a marketing position at an established hi-tech company where I will be able to recover financially and do what I am passionate about.  Obviously I will be very disappointed if I have to put Bmark on the side but either option will be better then my current situation.

My plans for 2013

I have come to realize that a lot of the negative aspects in my life I do to myself. One of the biggest problems I have is that I don’t keep a routine and this results in a dysfunctional lifestyle which affects me both mentally and physically. I feel very unhealthy at the moment and almost always lack energy. I know a lot of it is psychological but I really need to get into a routine where I can start sleeping, eating and exercising normally. What ever the outcome with Bmark, I will have better security and be able to get into a routine.

I plan to go back to the gym this year and start exercising regularly. If I can get into a good routine I will be able to hit the gym early each morning or every other morning before work. My aim is to get into shape and lose 15kgs. This goal is very important to me and plan to make it a major focus this year.

Over the last 12 months I have neglected a lot of my friends. Because of my financial constraints I have had to say no to many social gatherings and meetups. Once I have money coming in each month I can allow myself more time for going out and socializing. Unfortunately the reality is that if you go out with a friend and have 2 beers and a bite to eat you are looking at over 60 shekels without public transport.

I have come to realize that I do a lot of talking (and writing) and not enough doing. I feel I have a good grasp on certain aspects of online marketing, entrepreneurship, product design etc but anyone can read certain blogs, write some interesting blog posts and come across as knowledgeable in an area. Not everyone can execute. Successful execution eliminates doubt both in your eyes and the eyes of those around you. My plan this year is to execute. I really hope that my opportunity to execute will be with Bmark. I have a lot of ideas on how we can grow the business and very excited to get started but can only realistically do so once we raise investment. Another option for execution would be with what ever company I join. The issue here is that even if I join a team of marketers working for an established company I won’t necessarily have the freedom and transparency to publish my fundings, achievements or failures. I want to be able to publish this journey to the world so that my readership can take advantage of my trials and tribulations and to allow me to broadcast my expertise and experience to those that are interested in listening. I do have one decided way that I plan to execute this year and that is with this blog. Right now the level of traffic and engagement is very low and I want to prove to myself that I can grow this blog into a power house which will start paying dividends. I have some interesting ways I plan to do this but step one is both very obvious and easy to implement and that is writing more often. I believe that once I’m in some kind of routine I can find slots where I can write more often for this blog and others. I plan to write an in depth post on how I plan to grow this blog and some of my plans for its future.

I have recently started to write a few articles as a freelance writer just to help with some cash flow. I have come to find that 1) I really enjoy writing and 2) there is a big need for English speaking freelance writers, especially in Israel. I have started to explore this area in more depth and recently joined Elance as a content writer. I have yet to have a proposal accepted but like the idea of going to a site and finding work from the comfort of my home. The biggest issue I see with Elance is the level of competition for jobs. Some writing jobs have over 30 proposals sent which drastically limits your chances of being chosen. I will keep at it and hopefully snag a few jobs to help build up my reputation which should help me get more jobs down the road. Another area I would like to explore is that of consulting. I like the idea of selling your hours for guidance and some implementation around an area you love. The obvious problems are my lack of experience in actual implementation and the level of competition in the market. What I plan to do is offer my services as a “consultant” to one or two friends who are active in the online space for little to no fee just so I can get some hands on experience and show that I can actually make a difference. If either the writing or the consulting picks up I will write about it.

The last plan I have in my mind for this year (I’m sure there will be more) is to start a weekly online podcast/streaming video show. I know this sounds completely out of the blue but its something I have been thinking about for a while and think it will be a lot of fun. Right now its only in an idea start but the basic idea will be to have a weekly show of 1 hour where I will talk about recent news/trends etc in the tech space with a strong emphasis on happenings within the Israeli space. Other things I would like to cover will be entrepreneurship, online marketing and other areas in this space which I find interesting. The more natural the discussion is for me the better the show will be. I will probably start the show on my own but quickly move to having guests that will take part in the conversation. When exactly I will start with this I don’t know but very excited about giving this a go.

This year is going to be a good one and lucky for you all I plan to cover as much of it as I can in this blog. Thank you all for keeping up with my ranting and I wish you all the best for 2013.