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Find something you love to do, and don’t make any money.

January 30, 2012 By 13 Comments

Make No Money

Serial entrepreneurs run into a major problem in life…we try to make money off of everything we do.

While this can be a great thing in many aspects, we run into one major problem that is ultimately not a good thing. We create a life that is nothing but work by thinking that everything has to create a revenue stream. Our hobbies, our free time, our passions…they all turn into billable hours during the day as we can’t seem to turn the entrepreneur brain off for 5 freaking seconds.

It’s ok. You can love to do something that other people make money at without having to do the same thing yourself.

In life, we need passions and hobbies. We need to be able to escape the life of work and be able to truly enjoy ourselves. For me, that used to be riding my bike…then I turned it into work with Bike198.com. What used to be my escape was now my source of income so every ride became a test, review or brainstorming session. It actually got to the point that my personal bike was never getting ridden and my brain just continued to run 24/7. It was stressful and it sucked.

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My 2011 Subaru WRX – Family Rocket Ship

January 6, 2012 By 6 Comments

So…awhile back I wrote a post about how I was about to have a baby and that was giving me a sensation of “I wants” for a Mitsubishi EvoX. As with most things in my life, once I get something in my head…I can’t seem to let it go. It was almost a week after that when I started looking for a replacement car for my ’07 Avalanche.

The Evo ended up being a no-go. I opened the trunk and there was only 6 cubic feet of storage space. Seriously?! Who in their right mind would be able to use that for even to-go food from a restaurant?

Well, it was back to the drawing board and I eventually ended up with a 2011 Subaru WRX hatch in silver that would carry multiple bikes for Bike198 and tote the kid around with the half a house we now have to pack with us when we go anywhere.

Those of you that know me…know I can’t ever leave well enough alone, so I started hacking away at the car as soon as I got it. I don’t even think it made it pas 500 miles on the odometer before it was modded.

2011 Suabru WRX
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Top 10 Things I Wish I Could Tell Myself 10 Years Ago

December 29, 2011 By 15 Comments

Last week was my birthday. Around every time this year, I take a look at my life and take somewhat of an inventory of where I have been, where I want to go and how I am going to get there with the knowledge I have learned from the past. I guess you could call it my personal fiscal year for lack of a better word.

But, this year hit me a little bit differently. I turned 30.

While it is just another year just like any other, I think it is natural to use the ages that end in 0 to look at the past decade to see how things have gone. I have always operated under the assumption that we can not get better without learning from our mistakes, so I tend to look at what I have done wrong more closely than the successes.

Then I started thinking, if I could grab a hold of the 20 year old me…what would I say? Well…here is exactly what I would say to the 20 year old Robb Sutton.

Top 10 Things I Wish I Could Tell Myself 10 Years Ago

  1. Hang out with people that make you want to be better.
  2. Get busy doing something. The world is full of grand ideas with no action and you learn the most from doing.
  3. Place importance on things that really matter. You will come up against a moment when you would sell off everything you previously thought was important for something that really is.
  4. One day, it will occur to you that your parents are people too.
  5. Think of life in the context of how you want to live…not how much money you want to make.
  6. These are not the “best years of your life”. Life is really just beginning.
  7. Collect experiences. Not stuff.
  8. Time will start to move faster…not slow down. Enjoy each moment.
  9. Take calculated risks when there can be a positive outcome…not ones that get you in nothing but trouble.
  10. Drop the ego. You haven’t done anything yet.

The best thing about this list is that all of them are things that I need to continue to remember over the next 30 years and I am stoked about what is ahead.

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We Are Capable of Amazing Things…If We Allow Ourselves To Dream

December 14, 2011 By 10 Comments

The human mind is capable of amazing things. If you take a look at history, the amount of time between major events is pretty short even though it may seem they are worlds apart.

Think about it…

On December 17, 1903 the Wright Brothers brought the human race into the air with the first successful, controlled, powered flight in the Wright Flyer 1. In a short 66 years later on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong put man’s first step on the moon. When you put those events in that context, it doesn’t seem like that long of a period where huge strides were made in technology purely through the collaboration and imagination of people.

We Are Our #1 Worst Enemy

With that in mind, what keeps us from achieving our dreams? We all have ideas and aspirations that will take our lives to that next level. However, we watch people every day be content with the average. We put our dreams aside for the stability of not ‘rocking the boat’. We convince ourselves that keeping things as they are is better than having to deal with failure. We watch as mainstream media tries to convince us that you are ‘unique’ while beating in actions that make us all the same.

While it may seem at times that it is the fault of someone else or circumstances that brought us to where we are now, the reality is that our own fears and self doubt is the biggest deterrent to forward progress in our own lives. We believe the hype. We change our course and ability to test our own limits off the thought that failure or rejection must be so bad that it is not worth the reward. The more we try to push the limits of what we consider normal, the more others who are happy with staying in the status quo try to keep us down. Why are you disrupting the way things are going? We are happy with the way things are…or are we?

True innovators ignore the critics and continue to dream…

The reality in the world in which we live is that when you step outside of the box, you are going to get shot at. That is just a fact. The Wright Brothers were ridiculed and basically called insane for their ideas at the time, but now air travel is the most efficient way to travel and ship goods. It was their ability to believe in their dream that made it a reality.

We have to allow ourselves to dream. We have to allow forward progress through the testing of those dreams. Are they all going to work out? No. Are the successful ones going to work right away. Absolutely not. Are you going to have to cross hurdles and work incredibly hard to achieve what you truly want in life? Absolutely.

When we start destroying dreams as a society, we are dancing on very dangerous territory.

So…some of you might be thinking the following…

Great Robb! But how the hell does this apply to me? I don’t have any ideas like the first flight!

And you are right. We are not all going to have that idea that completely changes the world and that is ok. We do, however, have that one idea that can change our own reality. We just haven’t given it an honest chance. We either gave up too early or started to believe the hype of people who didn’t really care to begin with. We found that one excuse or failure that triggered the quitter in our mind and we let it go there. We became satisfied with the notion that ‘it will never happen anyway…so why try’.

We do not have to be innovators for the world, but we can be innovators in our own lives for our own families.

If you have dreams, professional or personal, it is up to you to make it happen. You can not let roadblocks deter you from accomplishing your goals. If you keep the dream alive, you will find a way to get around those that think it can’t happen. It just takes believing in yourself and your ability to get something done. There is so much talent in this world that is wasted due to self doubt and glorified critics.

I was sitting this morning watching this video that is a string of amazing feats by people. With a string of YouTube clips cut together, this video makes you once again realize what we are really capable of. Normal people…doing amazing things. It reminded me that I have several projects that I have either been holding back on or shelved for the very same reasons I listed above. It gave me inspiration to get the needed tasks done in my own life to make those a reality. The people in this video had the drive and the willingness to make their idea a reality. We are capable of amazing things. We just have to make it happen for ourselves.

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The Current State Of My Life

November 12, 2011 By 1 Comment

I looked down at my desk and before me I saw the current state of my life. As with most times, some are good…and some are bad.

  • The pills to keep the swelling in my back down while I go through PT to fix my disc issues.
  • The watch that watches the time pass until I’ll be able to get on the bike and hang out with my friends again.
  • The Brembo stickers that are proof that my car is keeping my obsessive mind occupied will I am “off the bike”.
  • The baby bottle…source of food that I can give the greatest gift I have ever received…our new son.
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design, My Life

The Clueless Dad: New Journey, New Blog and Completely Stoked

April 11, 2011 By 30 Comments

Today marks one of the most significant days of my life…the day my wife and I get to tell everyone we are pregnant with our first kid!!!

I don’t share a lot of things about my personal life on Blogging Labs because I try to keep everything extremely focused and relevant…but this even ties in perfectly. Blogging has become an integral part of my life. It has given me a business, it has allowed me to connect with people around the world and…most importantly…it lets me do what I love.

My wife and I started our journey of starting a family a long time ago and it has been a bumpy road. Luckily, today…we had our 12 week doctors appointment and there is a tiny Sutton in there pumping away at 175 bpm!

New Journey = New Blog

Would I really be a blogger if I didn’t have a blog to go along with this new section of my life?! Hell no! So here it is…

TheCluelessDad.com

We’ll be sharing everything we can as we take the steps into parenthood. It is going to be an exciting ride.

So our family of four is about to become five this year come October. I hope my wife is ready…she is about to have 4 kids!

Sutton Family

 

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It's Like I Am Giving Up Before I Even Started

March 29, 2011 By 14 Comments

Last night, my wife and I were sitting around watching reruns of “How I Met Your Mother” when a line on the show hit me like a ton of bricks.

One of the main characters, Ted Mosby was starting up his on architecture firm. In the process of the first couple of days, he had done everything in his power to distract himself from the task that ultimately brought business in…calling potential clients. At the end of the show, he tells a story about an architect to builds a library and it was the perfect building…the only problem is that the building sunk several inches a year and was eventually condemned. The architect forgot to account for the weight of the books.

That is when the quote that hit me over the face really drove home.

The longer I put off starting my own firm the longer it can remain a dream and not something  I screwed up at. It’s like I’m giving before I even started.

He was so worried about “forgetting the books” that keeping on meaningless tasks was his way of putting off failure even if it could be the best first step he had ever taken.

Wasting Time On Things That Don’t Matter

Ok…now back to reality. This line…while in a TV show…is very real. All of you start with the hope of one day owning your own business that gives you the freedom to work when you want to from where you want to. It is an incredible dream and entirely possible. However, owning your own business also comes with stresses and tasks that are not “the internet lifestyle”.

For a lot of you (me included), it isn’t so much about the working freedom as it is about not relying on the opinion of someone else to determine your worth and how much money you bring home every week. When you are your own boss, you determine your own future. This is both exhilarating and scarey as hell at the same time for most entrepreneurs even if they don’t say it.

Even worse, there is a misconception that everything has to be perfect.

The reality (even if it doesn’t look like it from the outside with other entrepreneurs) is that you are going to mess up. You are going to make mistakes and that will affect other people. You can not get away from that fact and it happens in your daily work life already. The only difference…it reflects someone else’s brand name and you just work your 9-5 to fix it as best you can. Once you go home, you try to wash it off and move on. When you own your own business, it is completely on you and your name.

That is a scarey thought at times, but you have to remember…it is how you pick your pants up after they fall down that counts…not the fact they fell down. Sometimes in life we are given more credit on how we handle ourselves through harder times than if everything were perfect. By righting wrongs, we build solid foundations and a business you can be proud of at the end of the day. You are going to “forget the books” from time to time…and that is ok.

When I started oneninety8, Bike198 and Blogging Labs…I had these same fears and did these same “meaningless tasks”. Eventually, you have to kick yourself in the ass to really get things done and kick-start your dream.

So as you go throughout your day finding tasks to complete that really don’t matter…

…and you find yourself saying things like…

  • I’ll do it when my design is perfect.
  • I’ll start when I have x,xxx subscribers.
  • I can’t do that because I’m not big enough like those other blogs and businesses.

…just remember, you might be shooting yourself in the foot just so you can keep the dream a great dream instead of your reality. Success is brought forth through actionable steps that foster growth. The more you waste time on things that don’t matter, the longer you will be telling people about your dream instead of living it.

Do not quit before you even start.

 

 

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Designing Life: Making The Work – Life Balance Work

February 28, 2011 By 11 Comments

So I was needlessly wasting time on Facebook the other day when a great friend of mine linked up this video on Ted that is a talk from Nigel Marsh on the work/life balance. Ironically, this is a topic that has been at the forefront of my brain for some time.

I am an all or nothing kind of person. I hit everything in my life 110% or nothing which leaves very little room for balance. As I continue to get older and start looking at starting a family with my wife, I am coming to the gripping realization that I can not keep burning both ends of the match for forever. If I really want to have a successful, happy and full life, I have to start to learn how to not only balance work and life, but delegate tasks and give up some of my control.

The process of making work not run your life is not an easy one and it can not be done all at once. Currently, I am looking into using VA’s for a lot of my business tasks to free up time to focus on growth and planning. The future is in efficiency…not longer hours.

What Marsh goes on to illustrate in this video…that I suggest everyone listens to (not long…only about 10 minutes)…is that we are caught in a race that we can not win. We constantly put off living until a later date by stretching ourselves too thin in the present. Part of this is the structure of our workplaces, but a large sum of it boils down to our want and desire for someone to swoop in from the heavens and fix it for us.

We have to start looking within ourselves to fix the issues of our lives. The work/life balance is something only we can fix through changing our attitudes and actions. In the end…this is our one and only shot at living life to the fullest and the little moments can matter the most.

And most of all, people need to stop “working long, hard hours, at jobs they hate to enable them to buy things they don’t need, to impress people they don’t like. ”

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Sometimes Our Worst and Darkest Times Are Actually Gifts

June 17, 2010 By 21 Comments

Many of you have read my post on “5 Years Ago Today – Things Were Much Different“. Here we sit…6 years past that infamous day that has forever changed my life and presented the path across which I walk now. After another year under my belt and careful recollection during this time of year, I yet have another point to present as we get busy living instead of getting busy dying.

Every year around this time I feel an amazing sense of gratitude for what I have and hope for the future. No…not some stupid logo and tagline to try to get elected for something, but true hope that progress and effort lead you down a path that is positive and life changing. For many people, they can not pin their lives on a single moment where everything changed. I can…and this is what I take away from it.

Sometimes Our Worst and Darkest Times Are Actually Gifts

There are periods or moments in our lives that feel terrible when you are entrenched in the grasps of darkness. Maybe you lost your job, your relationship fell apart or…like in my case…the wreckage of your life finally caught up to you in a split second moment. During this time, your only thoughts and feelings are negative. How am I going to get out of this? Can it really get any worse? I don’t know if I can handle this…

Somewhere in the bottom of despair, human survival instinct kicks in and we start the good fight. We start the job search, we get back out on the market or we start to assemble the wreckage and make something better of ourselves. With time, this effort does not go unnoticed and one day we turn around to find out all of our dreams have now come true. Everything we thought we had lost is now come back better than before through hard work and dedication to the cause.

None of this would have been possible if we were just floating on in life. It was built out of necessity as we had no choice. It was fight or flight time as that period or moment in our lives defined the coming years without us even knowing it. When we look back with hindsight 20/20, we now become thankful for one of the worst times in our lives as the gifts that were presented later down the time-line are some of the best we have ever received.

I say we in this article because I am not the only one that has experienced this. Whether it be small or drastic, each of us can pinpoint a moment in our lives that altered our path for the better when we thought we were actually at a roadblock.

What Has My Darkest Time Given Me?

Honestly…more than I could even dream of. I am now married to a beautiful, caring woman who is much smarter than I am. We have two dogs that keep us laughing day in and day out. I have an incredible circle of family and friends. I am the owner of a business that is growing by the day that is directly involved in everything I love.

Robb and Jenn in New York

Hemi and Hans

The future is bright for all of us. We just have to be willing to put in the work necessary to make our dreams a reality. We have to continue to fight forward using our past as a learning experience for the future. It doesn’t have to take a drastic event, but if you are in one of those or crawling your way out…know that the light at the end of the tunnel makes it all worth it.

Life is not perfect. There will be bumps in the road. But with a positive outlook and the willingness to put forth the effort…you will find that your wants and dreams were actually short sided as you receive more than you could have ever imagined. This is our one and only life…as such…we should always treat it that way.

To quote a friend of mine that beat Hotchkins Disease last year and is getting married this weekend…

I just breath different air now.

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Remembering Those That Fought For Our Freedoms

May 31, 2010 By 2 Comments

Today is that day in the US that we member those that have given their lives in service or our country to protect our freedoms and the freedoms of others across the world. Because of these brave individuals over history, we are able to enjoy our freedoms on a daily basis.

From every at the Bike198 crew…a huge…

THANK YOU!

…goes out to those men and women in our armed forces and their families. I know we have a lot of friends and family in Iraq and the surrounding areas right now. Thank you for fighting for freedom and get home safely.

Image by Beverly & Pack

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