My Niece

So my niece is in Paris for the year ... I remember going up to Lenox Hill and watching her under that light they put babies under. She was small.

Her Blog

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A wasted lesson

Out of college I was a stockbroker at PaineWebber in Rockefeller Center. I wasn't particularly good but it was all I could get as I graduated college right after the market crash. So, I had this boss who was (from my perception as a 21 year old) the biggest geek in the work. They flew him back and forth from New Orleans Monday and Friday so he was a pretty big deal as he was running their NYC office. He was probably about 40 at the time.

There was a group of young guys and we use to come in hungover and late and .... whatever. Se he was a geek, use to go to sleep at 12 wake up at 6 and was in the office at 7 and we use to kid him and try to get him to go out for a drink. Always use to say, you guys need to be focused if you want to be successful. Can't be wasting a day with a hangover (or blogging) or talking to your girlfriends ...

You know, he was right and I have used that on people now. Success may be luck to some degree but you need to be there and alert to get lucky.

I remember it ... odd that I have quoted him 20 years later. Robert Karem was his name.

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The Struggle

I have been struggling over the past year trying to build my business. Obviously Blogster was suppose to be part of that and while it was fun, I could not integrate it into our business.

What do we do? What do we do?
I have a business broker in NYC that I work with and while I am not actively selling my business he is a great sounding board (Harvard MBA and all). Sorry Florida, but this is something I miss down here more than anything. Mental/business stimulation. I had a 30 minute conversation with Matt a few weeks back, 3 or 4 emails back and forth and I think I have more direction and enthusiasm for business now than I have had in months, if not years.

Back in the day, whenever that day was, we would go out drinking after work and talk business, ideas, building, motivation ... but whatever they were I always felt like I was the one who had to learn from the people I hung out with, that I work along side of. That motivated me. I don't get that where I am now. I don't get anyone motivating me, challenging me or pushing me. It is difficult and the one thing I miss more than anything about NY.

Back to the point of this post, what do we? We are a marketing company. Not a security software company, but a marketing company. We sell stuff online! I lose that focus now and again and that 30 minutes pushed me and focused me again.

Again, not meaning disrespect to the people I hang out with but I am by far the smartest of them all. They come to me when they have questions, when they need advice. And anyone who knows me knows I am not the most supportive person in world but that doesn't stop people. But I have experience and I am smart.

Andy, Mario, Matt, Stu, my brother ... all guys I use and to some degree still do talk business with and all are 10 times smarter than I am. But that is what motivates me to succeed.

I lost it but I feel it coming back. I feel it coming back. Thanks Matt.

I know this is about as unfocused a blog I have ever written but I am a little unsure of myself right now but that will go away. Trust me.

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The Evolution of Blogster

I saw Blogster on eBay and I was intrigued. If you are going to get into a category you either make your domain name known or you select one of the 2 or 3 category killers. Blogster was a category killer. A name that is known by default. In blogging you have blogger or blogster and since Google didn't seem willing to sell, I went with Blogster. Even Googles Blogspot is nothing of a name, but it became something because they made it something. But I had Blogster.

I had big plans but struggle to find the niche. The community was growing but too slowly. 16,000 members seems like a lot but really, you need hundreds of thousands to make a site like MySpace or Xanga and more importantly I was concerned that ongoing, would blogging fade like the 8 track. I don't think it will, but I think there are limited boundaries to entry and a non-loyal customer base. Most everyone has multiple blogs and have no problem jumping around.

Regardless, Blogster was a community and one that I built. Although there were times that I felt like a camp counselor, it was a pretty unique community in the blog space and I am really surprised that the market hasn't followed.

I know the guys who own one of the other blog sites and these guys have over 75,000 members and less traffic than Blogster. No community but they were Terrapins so I cut them a break. Maybe the market won't catch on, maybe Blogster is a one and only network.

So when we decided to let it go I went back to eBay. Now with eBay you don't get real buyers of properties like this but through my contacts, some ads on BizBuySell and eBay, I was confident we would meet the price that I wanted and we did.

So Tony and Ed's (yes they have last names) checks cleared and they own Blogster. They seem like pretty sharp guys and have the experience online and seem to be pretty focused so they have a good shot at taking Blogster to the next level which I am happy about. I certainly do not want to see Blogster fail.

I joked about this yesterday regarding their learning curve. I made mistakes when I started but I did it in front of hundreds of people, theirs will be in front of thousands, if not tens of thousands. They are smart guys ... I put Blogster in good hands. Good luck guys.

That is it, Blogster is done for me and it was a fun 9 months.

Back to work!

So you want to see what I have had to say for the last 9 months? ChiefBlogster

Intro-less Blog

There will be no introduction of me and what I am about ... that is what you get from my posts and my profile.

Want more history, http://chiefblogster.blogster.com