JediWright.com

I’ve been hoarding domains for years, while brainstorming countless hours on various startup ideas with the intention of one day putting one or more to good use.

This practice has been tapering on and off in waves ever since I knew I was going to be a father. But I literally don’t go by a day without some new startup idea or improvement for an existing startup/service. And sometimes, like this week, I feel like I’ve had an epiphany (again) about the next big thing. Admittedly, this feeling often lasts long enough for me to end up purchasing another domain that ends up collecting cyber-dust. I am still determined to manifest something on my own though, so I keep at it, believing that one day I’ll either actually managed to finish the training necessary to manifest these ideas (i.e. learn programming), or I’ll actually come up with something someone else gets equally excited about to hop on board with the resources necessary to make it happen.

I’m to the point, it seems now, that I’m willing to air those ideas. Since so many have already come to be, I might as well just put the intention out there plain for all to see. That way the odds are greater that someone might align with me on one or at maybe I’ll find some small measure of solace/credit if it was documented prior to someone else doing it.

Anyway, as usual, I’ve been noodling around with one of my startup ideas and was wondering what it would take to create some sort of auto-posting feature that takes news headlines (via Google Alerts, etc.) and posts them to Twitter and/or blog simultaneously.

Is this something that can be developed easily or is it more of a time-consuming project? Seems like it’s a common feature with some websites/services these days.

The startup idea stems from my own interest in finding something to do, either in a melting pot like Los Angeles where there’s just far too much to choose from or the polar opposite, with a place like Akron, Ohio where seemingly nothing happens. So this particular startup is an idea that originated with lawknds.com, where I planned to basically list events, with blog coverage of them, reviews, etc. Initial monetization would come through advertisements (naturally), from both event organizers and related products/services, with the possibility of a premium account for users that offered perks negotiated through relationships with event promoters and others on the site, i.e. discount tickets, vip packages, advance purchasing, etc.

However, since this idea sat for so long others have come along and begun offering similar services, laist.com comes to mind (they have one for most major US cities). So I’ve been thinking about narrowing the focus of mine to strictly wknd coverage, hence the name and the series of domains I’ve started collecting for this purpose: lawknds.com, sfwknds.com, nycwknds.com, vbwknds.com, miwknds.com, lvwknds.com, dcwknds.com (I thought these were the most notable US cities to start with anyway).

Anyway, not sure if this is worth pursuing, especially since I don’t have the best idea of what’s involved code-wise. Anyone out there have any input or interest?

p.s. Another idea in a similar vein was for artistlofts.org, since years ago I was living downtown in a loft and didn’t have an iPhone yet or other location-based services, I thought a directory of lofts with locally based goods and services would have been handy…

I’ve been looking for a job now for over a few months (actually I’m always looking, but I’ve been scouring the ads intensively since we moved to PA and even more so for the last month when it became clear we needed to move) and have gotten zip-zero-zilch in the way of response from any of my resumes, submitted or posted online or otherwise.

I’m so fed up with my failure rate at finding conventional work and the criticisms from family. It’s no wonder all I’m getting is shit from them and apparently Tristan’s too, about how my priorities are wrong and so and so forth – I’m dead in the water when it comes to entering the conventional workforce.

Though in my defense, I have been taking as many hours as are available, while here in PA with an old boss doing some carpentry. And I’ve had to continue working for DistinctiveFabric.com for the last month unpaid, since my salary was frozen. As CEO and co-owner, I have a lot of responsibility that I can’t just write off, so a good deal of my time is taken up each week dealing with things there. And I had started a company last year with a friend who’s been investing since August or so, so I can’t just walk away from that. I have my obligations to him to see things through there with that. Also, I HAVE A BABY for the first time and a partner who’s struggling with post-partum depression on top of a previous depression (due to me moving us here). And oh yeah, I have no car of my own. That’s the real decision-maker there: no wheels = no job commuting (I borrow my old boss’s truck when working for him).

I’ve known I don’t fit the conventional mode for most of my life. And besides school, I’ve noticed it most acutely while in the general workplace. That’s why I’ve always found myself always pursuing some startup idea or another, cause I know the only way I’m ever going to make real money (short of moving back to LA and working for The Do LaB indefinitely) is to create my own company.

I’ve lost track of how many resumes I’ve put out over the last month. I’ve had an offer from The Do LaB though to go work Coachella again with more paid to me in a day rate than I’d make in nearly a week at any other job. But Tristan sees it as the wrong course, stating that it doesn’t make any sense and I need to focus on finding stable income once we move to Akron (in less than two weeks now). I don’t completely agree: it’s a great paying gig, they’d cover my expense (including travel) and as a plus, I’d get out to check in on DistinctiveFabric.com after having been gone for six months. On the other hand, the time spent in Cali would require some expense while there, so I’d probably lose about a 1/5th of my pay to that.

I’ve never totally bought into a conventional path to anything and I guess it really shows at this point in my life. It’s almost as if employers and family latch on to that immediately and steer clear (or cast harsh judgement on me for leading a different life).

The only route I see offering any sort of solution here is joining the military (okay yes that’s drastic but I’m venting here , cause I sure as hell don’t wait tables. I tried once and it was a complete nightmare. But if I’m down to minimum wage jobs or the military, maybe a move back to LA is the best choice. I’ll have to see how things go with the in-person job hunt first before turning everything upside down considering another move to LA.

These last few weeks have been some of the most intense I think I’ve yet experienced. Not like I haven’t been through some bad spells before or anything but this latest round has been really drilling and consistent.

From having had to freeze my DF salary, to filing for unemployment, to continuing to adjust to parenthood, to having to cut my health insurance out, then Tristan’s, to filing for medicaid for her and Lee (which still isn’t sorted out, so he’s still without coverage), to wrangling with two startups, to enrolling back into school (with ITT Tech for computer network systems) with full tuition covered but no way to start due to a complete lack of income.

In addition, I had some issues with communication between family and friends that added to everything else, really put me close a breaking point I’ve not recalled reaching before.

Thankfully, things started turning around a little this past weekend with the arrival of a reimbursement check from my canceled Blue Cross policy, confirmation on the start of my U.I. from California and most significantly, the long overdue activation of my solar web hosting service at SolarHoster.com. Granted, it’s still a far cry from what I envision it to be, but at least I can start hosting sites.

Meanwhile, Tristan and I have continued our discussions over what we’re doing concerning our living situation. She doesn’t want to stay here in PA and wants to move back to Ohio to have the support of her old friends and family there. Admittedly, it’s not a bad idea as it’s much cheaper there, she’ll be more grounded (in theory) with her friends, family and hometown, and we are exploring discussions of renting a house with her best girlfriend, Amanda.

We’ve submitted a rental app on one house so far and are waiting to hear back from the landlord. If that goes through, we’ll probably be moving around April 15th.

What this means for Rivertribe, my other startup exploration happening here in PA, is uncertain. Though it’s uncertain anyway as I’m having a hard time getting movement from my friend with the equipment that would allow startup of operations. This is actually kind of okay with me anyway, as I had only wanted to explore the possibility of starting Rivertribe up. Then I asked another friend to go in on it and things started getting out of control and I failed to manage things properly.

So as I should have learned from before, don’t do business with friends. Period. But if you insist on doing so, be very explicit about every little detail from the get go. Otherwise, things can get twisted fast. Which they have done to some degree in this instance, which is unfortunate, but not surprising considering where my life’s been these last few weeks.

Concerning startups and partners in general, I’d venture to say in some ways business mirrors people’s ways and gives greater clarity into the type of person you are. So maybe business together with friends is not such a bad thing, cause it helps cut away to the truth of things that you might not have otherwise seen before.

Anyway, my real priorities are certainly obvious now regardless having lost my salary. All else gets put on hold when you’ve got to find immediate income. It’s tough times to be job hunting though, especially when you don’t even own your own car and are sharing your partners. And more so in my case since I moved us to a rural setting without any public transit. Doh.

Thankfully, one of my LA contacts recently offered up a freelance gig with his company Ijhana. Hopefully things pan out, they’ve offered a few times before but nothing ever came of it. Hopefully now is the time. I/we can’t afford it to be otherwise.
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Update: We’ve found a house and put a deposit down (thanks Amanda!) and we’ll be moving sometime after April 1st.

While seemingly inevitable, it still sucks to face the facts and have to lay yourself off from your own company.

This is exactly what I’ve had to do this week to keep operations going at Distinctivefabric.com. So I’ve filed unemployment in California, though with their budget issues, my chances of getting unemployment income looks bleak.

Here’s what my resume looks like on the CalJOBS board:

My CalJOBS resume

And on the job hunt front, my options there seem equally dispairing as:

1. I don’t have my own vehicle and since I live in the rural country, public transit is not an option.
2. I have horrible credit and many low-end paying jobs (which are really probably my only option) do credit checks. I know because I’ve been refused a job countless times due to this issue.
3. The economy. Duh.

Oh what a great time to begin fatherhood. Moving here was one of my life’s biggest mistakes yet. A rebound from this would be a miracle.

Sometime last week I started resurrecting the old outdoor adventure company, well at least its services anyway.

I started working at what had been called Schuylkill River Canoe & Tube, then Valley Forge Outdoors, then Hidden River Adventures, and what was to become Rivertribe, at the age of 16, in the summer of 1995. I progressed from in my 6+ years there from the new guy handling equipment at the beach/dock, to serving as one of its general managers. After the company closed its doors in the fall of 2001, I headed west to California, where I spent close to 7-years.

Now back in PA where it all began nearly 15-years later, I’ve found my long-lived hope of returning to the river business as a way of life reemerging stronger and clearer than ever before. I’d been hedging around my interest in doing this with the previous company owner and was getting a lukewarm response. So I decided to step things up a bit and started throwing a website together at my previously registered domain, Rivertribe.org.

I simultaneously emailed a bunch of former employees from the old river days and some new potential teammates while building out the site and renewing my discussions with the old boss. So far feedback has been good and the owner is more cooperative than before.

I’ve also partnered up with an old friend Cory, who has really taken to the Rivertribe concept and so we’ve been hammering away at all the details over the last week. It’s starting to get pretty intense, what with my other efforts at starting up the SolarHoster and maintaining my work with the fabric company, not to mention the still new tasks the baby has brought with his birthing.

Needless to say my time has been nearly completely devoured these last few weeks and I’ve been posting here less frequently than my previous goal, but that’s just how it goes sometimes.

Be sure to check Rivertribe.org and as always, can be found streaming bits away on Twitter.