By Hasan Luongo

Anyone involved in startups has heard the horror stories about the ill effects a startup company can have on your personal life and, more specifically, on your marriage. While I certainly agree that doing a startup places huge additional stress on a marriage, I’m not willing to accept that the low chance of success, stress and hardships are reason enough to forgo your dream of creating a world class business.

Here are my top five reasons why you should do a startup, even if you’re married.

5) You might become very rich and retire early to a life of globetrotting adventure.
While the chance of this actually happening is quite unlikely and your spouse will loathe you for bringing it up more than once or twice without delivering, it does happen.

4) You’re taking the risk because you want something better for your spouse and family.
This is a bit of an easier pill for your spouse to swallow because it’s the cornerstone of the American Dream. Grab some popcorn, watch The Pursuit of Happyness with your family, have a good cry, then wake up the next morning and make your dream happen.

3) The quantity of time you spend with your family will decrease, but the quality can and will increase.
This is your personal obligation and it only happens when you do it. You will have less free time, that’s a fact. If you carve out personal time on a regular basis, and take it upon yourself to do something special with it, everyone benefits.

2) Being overly tired and stressed out by doing what you love is far better then being miserable doing something you hate.
Again, this is all about how you show up in your personal relationships. When the drag of the day job follows you home and permeates your personal life; everyone feels the ill effects. But no matter how tired and stressed you may be, if you’re jazzed about the next challenge, the feeling is contagious, and your family will catch on.

1) Your spouse didn’t marry a paycheck.
He or she married you because you’re an interesting, loving, and highly motivated person. If your individuality has been compromised by corporate culture, its time to reclaim it and remind your spouse who that passionate person he/she married is. A rich life and a loving marriage has little to do with 401K contributions, 5% raises, and 15 days of paid time off.

Bonus Reason: Better Sex
When you’re excited and passionate about your life, you will perform better in the sack, and great sex is a salve to many problems in a marriage.

If you have any other reasons why doing a startup may actually improve your marriage, or if you totally disagree, post a comment below.

Flickr Photo Credit

Technorati Tags: happy marriage, startups, entrepreneur, founders, passion, marriage advice

By Hasan Luongo

A defining moment in every entrepreneur’s life occurs when they make the precipitous leap from the comfort and normalcy of a day job into the unknown space of their startup venture. These leaps happen in many ways, sometimes you walk into the boss’s office and tell her you’re no longer their go-to-dude and are leaving for good, other times its a bit less satisfying, for instance when you get bumped out through layoffs or termination. Whichever the case, that moment is day one of a new life and deserves a hearty celebration.

Last week I made the leap from a company I had been with for just under three years. This was my first “real” job out of college, though I had been working for many years before and during school. It was a big step for me when I got the gig and even bigger leap when I left. My wife and I celebrated the occasion by opening one of our most coveted bottles of vino, and enjoyed a fabulous dinner. I also did a lot of rehashing as to why this was a hugely positive change and how we were going to get by just fine with our savings, a little consulting work and the future rewards of being able to put a ton more effort into the startup.

The next morning at 6:30 AM I was up in the attic sipping coffee and working on a long overdue revision of the investor deck and executive summary, when I was hit with a sudden understanding of just how much I had disliked working for my previous employer, and manager, and questioned why I had put this off for sooo long. While I had great co-workers, a decent salary, and all was basically fine at the day job, nothing is more important or exhilarating then taking that risk and committing to attaining your dream.

As employees we get so accustomed and conditioned to our routine and it becomes mind numbingly normal to put up with things that drive you absolutely crazy. Pointless meetings, uninspiring projects, and the whims of higher ups that derail momentum and wreak havoc on your ability to deliver solutions that have actual value to customers. It’s all part of a days work at the day job, no big deal, until you step back look at it for what it is…….misery of modern man.

Over the last week I’ve learned some rather alarming lessons as to just how vindictive ex-employers can be, and will be updating everyone on those lessons once we get the loose ends tied up. But as of today, I’m happy to say that making the plunge from the doldrums of the day job to the open space of a startup was the best thing that has happened in my professional life so far. So, take some advice from your shoe box and Just Do It. Cheers.

FlickrPhotoCredit

Technorati Tags: quiting your job, startup, entrepreneur, plunge, celebration

I read a very compelling post on the Waiter Rant blog today, titled The Only Way is The Wrong Way, that really caused me to stop and think. The post is about was an overheard conversation between two men at a restaurant. The older chap was advising the younger fellow that if he kept comparing himself to others and correlating having what they had to attaining his own fulfillment, he was in turn cutting himself off from being happy.

One quote from the story really struck me, “Your life’s going to be what it’s going to be. But when you’re stuck my advice is to look inside the negative parts of your life for inspiration.”

In the life of an entrepreneur you are stuck in a permanent comparison with what others have, be it a check from Sequoia, exponential growth rates, cinema displays in offices on both coasts, or a salary. And you’ve got nothing to prop yourself up with until you make it. Its pretty brutal and can be terribly discouraging.

Where this can turn fatal is when you let those material things become the purpose; at that point you’re toast. As Paul Graham from YCombinator relentlessly drills into the minds of anyone who will listen, the purpose of doing a startup is simple: “make something people want.”

As it turns out, if that is your purpose, and you stick to it, even if it means ditching your grandiose vision for something totally different, and you’re able to pull it off, all those material things start chasing you. This is by no means easy, but it is far better for your mental health then constant comparison and envy.

I often feel that my own path runs counter to the limited culture of The Valley. I didn’t graduate from or drop out of Harvard, and was not hacking my Atari at age eight. But just as the author of Waiter Rant says:

“Sometimes, for some people, the only way is the wrong way.”

Read the full blog post from Waiter Rant here.

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Technorati Tags: waiterrant, wrong way, failure, startups, entrepreneur

In the world of sales/advertising there is the old adage of “Sex Sells.” This adage has been slightly tweaked to “Success Sells” for the task of selling books about business.

Whether you go for Jessica Livingston’s, Founders at Work, or Martha Stewart’s, Martha’s Rules, you will undoubtedly get all kinds of pearls of wisdom, or secret weapons, meant to improve your business and increase your chances of success.

While I’m not a massively successful entrepreneur that, despite all odds, made piles of money (not yet at least), I would like to share my secret weapon of small business success: “Referrals Sell.”

Referrals from satisfied customers to their friends, family, and colleagues are the single most reliable and cost effective way to consistently grow a business and beat competitors. Whether competing against Microsoft, Gieco, or the CPA across town, small businesses have an opportunity to turn each new customer into an promoter.

How Can I Get More Referrals?
All you have to do is do exactly what you’re in business to do, plus a little extra. That special something makes the customer feel that not only did they get what they paid for, but a little more than they would have received anywhere else. Let’s do the math:

One new customer = one new customer (1x revenue and profit)
or
One highly satisfied customer = 2-10 new customers (2x-10x revenue and profit)

If you spend a little extra time to make sure the customer gets a little extra service, support, attention, or value, the return on customer satisfaction becomes your unfair competitive advantage versus the competition.

Technorati Tags: small business, referral, promoter, secret weapon

Flickr Photo Credit

New Referral Marketing System by Rephoria Makes it Easy for Professional Service Companies to Create and Manage Referral Marketing Campaigns

Petaluma, Ca, May 3rd, 2007 – Rephoria, the small business Referral Marketing solution company, is now accepting sign-ups for the limited beta of its new referral marketing application. The product is currently slated for release in June, 2007 to select small businesses in the professional service industries.

The upcoming release provides a significant leap forward for professional service firms that want to grow their business through relationships with loyal customers. With simple yet powerful tools that focus on your best customers/clients as a source of highly qualified leads; Referral System makes it easy to create and manage a custom referral program, and empowers your best customers with messaging tools and templates that take the pain out of making referrals.

Sign up now for the limited beta

Technorati Tags: limited beta, rephoria, referral marketing system, professional services