recursion

Surfing around the Minnesota GOP website, I reached a state of 404 Zen with this message:

"You have reached a destination that does not exist."

Paul Graham (aka, Startup Millionaire) has a new essay about How to Start a Startup.

He says it's easier than you think.

I've often wanted to start my own company, but I have a couple things going against me.

1. A lack of good ideas (and how to make money off of them). I have lots of ideas that I would love to work on, but my communist Free Software sensibilities always nag me. I also tend to have ideas that I want to sell to people (like non-profits and political campaigns) that don't have any money.

2. I am not particularly fond of working all the time. I want to have a life, too. Working 80 hours a week for any period of time is insane. It leaves you with no personal time. However, if I was working on something I was really into, I'd probably be willing to work more.

Stever (weird name) Robbins writes a good article about how to write your emails for maximum effectiveness. Doing things like he suggests makes a big difference in making sure your message gets through to your recipients...and it's amazing how few people follow these guidelines.

This makes me remember the article about how some absurd percentage of business email users were (essentially) functionally illiterate. Their emails were impossible to understand, which resulted in a huge chain of miscommunication as people replied wondering what they were talking about...and of course the people replying couldn't write either...

More and more, I think the ability to communicate effectively is the most important thing in business. It is a skill sadly lacking among many people I've worked with.