Freedom Potential

Brendan King — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 05:13:23 +0000

Starting a new company is both challenging and rewarding but most of all it is refreshing. Imagine, for a second, that you could walk away from whatever it is you are doing for a living. Really walk away. Not just take a holiday, but walk away for good from all the day to day triviality. Walk away from the phone calls to return, the full inbox, reporting requirements, and the ever present pressure of management responsibilities.

Just imagine what you could imagine. Essentially this is exactly what I, along with 7 of the smartest guys I have had the great fortune to cross paths with have done. It is amazing at what a great group of people, instilled with persistence and determination can conceive and create when given the environment, opportunity and time.

Just a few short months ago the 8 of us were bogged down with daily responsibilities and duties. Dreams and visions seemed hard to achieve. Product development felt like it was mired in molasses. The list of bugs, maintenance and improvement tasks counted in the thousands. This doesn’t just happen in individual companies. It seems it can affect entire industries as one of the really smart guys, Michael Wurzer points out in this blog post.

But, for now at least, we are free to huddle up here in far away Saskatoon Saskatchewan free from the melee of meetings, inboxes and telephone calls. We are free to hire the brightest minds and build the greatest software. We will make the most of this refreshing opportunity, and we will try, for as long as we can to stave off the weight of daily duties and responsibilities. Ironically, success itself will take its toll on our new found freedom and ensure a return to duties and responsibilities of daily life. But with a little luck, and a ton of persistence, determination and effort we will create a company that sustains and encourages this creative culture no matter our size or success.

Tag, I’m It… Meme’d Again

Brendan King — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 19:12:05 +0000

So Jay Thompson has introduced me to “meme’s” I had never heard of them until now. Here is how they work according to Jay “ someone with too much time on their hands thinks up some question (typically personal) and starts a post, “tagging” others to do the same, and it flies across the Internet. Before you know it, you’ve found out more about some people than you probably want to know…” Then Jay tagged me!

Here are the rules for this one:

(1) list 7 things about yourself, (2) tag 7 people to do the meme on themselves including a link to their site.

I was born and raised in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. In any crowd of over 200 there is always somebody from Moose Jaw.
I have a lot of kids. Three daughters (16,14 and 12) a son 9 and a baby in the bakery.
I am a serial entrepreneur. While still in University I started a clothing store. We made almost $75,000 dollars in four months selling those crazy “son of a beach shorts” to all types of sports teams and university organizations. We went big and opened a store in a mall and slowly spent the the profits over the next two years. I also started two retail computer operations growing each to over $12 million dollars in revenue before creating Point2Agent.
I am a Physicist. Well, at least I have a degree in Physics. My daughter Robyn (12) was younger she used to like to tell her friends “My dad is a rocket scientist”, not so much any more.
Persistence should have been my middle name. I don’t know when to quit – even when (at least in retrospect) I ought to have known.
I am a dreamer. I love dreaming up ideas and putting them into action. Remember when you were a kid? Anything seemed possible and dreams were the norm. It hurts me to see so many people who I know used to have dreams give up on them and get beaten by the drudgery of life.
I am extremely lucky. I have the greatest parents, wife and kids. It’s probably why anyone who knows me can tell if I am in a building or room. They only have to listen for my laugh.

Tag, you’re it! Jeff Tomlin, John Fothergill, Dustin Luther, Jason Collins, Greg Miller,Frances Thorsen, Norm Fisher

Technorati Tags: meme

Brendan's Blog » Jason Collins

Freedom Potential

Tag, I’m It… Meme’d Again