Building Moxie (part 2 of a few) aka -- it really is all about me . . .

Click here to see part 1

And . . . Proceed At Your Own Risk

Right around August, 2004, I moved into a position (coordinated by a friend) in Baltimore. My title – Process Analyst. I know, it sounds a little made up, but that’s what I did; I was charged with documenting and exploring organizational throughput.

I was qualified for this mainly because I had worked for a stint as a quality assurance analyst with a global web-software provider. It was the documentation part that made me right for this job and it was that aspect, in fact, that I always liked the most.

Change, as in the Incredible Hulk or Mr. Hyde

Right around the time, November or so, I finally got into really pouring over their accounts, something strange began to happen. . . (Heartburn maybe). I found that I was somehow looking at things a little more analytically. And, guess what, I started to look a little deeper at myself, too. Was this Mr. Miller’s voice popping into my head? And I asked myself, “Are you happy?”

I mean – You can imagine -- Is this really what I want to do for the rest of life? Will this be my legacy -- a bunch of unread help files and some flow charts? Blahhhk. And I didn’t like it. Something had to change, and I literally figured that out overnight.

Change starts with where you're at (aka you must find point A to move to point B)

By this point, we (my wife and I) had successfully completed do it yourself renovations on our first house (second property), a Federal-style row home in Upper Fells Point, Baltimore. We had bought a larger cedar-shaked “Colonial” (loosely categorized) in the North East Baltimore neighborhood of Lauraville. Our daughter, Evyn, had just turned one.

The house, in Lauraville, though mostly re-finished (Scott P. who came before us had done a good job), still needed some work in the front rooms, in the kitchen, and on the exterior.

And I was ready. At this point, I was pretty well locked in. TOH had been nightly reading for years, and I was now set up with TIVO. It would record any Ask This Old House that might pop up. In general, I was studying. I was exploring books of all sorts under the category of Remodeling.

It didn’t end at home though; you might know how it is – you sit behind a computer and sometimes you stray. And there, at work, as a Process Analyst -- it began; my search to carve a niche in something that made sense for me.

I guess it started as simply as putting one and one (and one) together

Step 1 – Look at myself. What can I do? Well, I accessed. 1. I knew a little bit about the internet. 2. I can write how-to or help documentation. & 3. I can do a few things on houses.

Step 2 – Figure what line of work fits the basic skill set provided by Step 1.

Step 3 – Find a point to start: How-to websites. Elementary!

So I began collecting data and analyzing.

How-to home improvement websites – the first few weeks of looking

Now, plugging anything I needed into Google wasn't anything new to me. I mean, while no "cybrarian," I was pretty good at filtering through results, finding what I needed.

But this was the first time that I looked at things in this way. I wasn’t looking for information, per se; I was looking instead at what sources of information were available. Whether I knew or not, I was looking at a market niche.

My first instinct, as it is probably pretty obvious, was to try to find places where I might make some submissions. I had tried freelancing previously; though published a few times, I was generally unsuccessful. I just didn't have the make-up, I guess. So I moved beyond that pretty quickly.

I, instead, began looking for holes. What I found was -- and again, pretty quickly -- that there were really not that many . . . even in 2004. eHow, About -- Super sites; outlets overflowing from other media -- TOH, Home Again, HGTV; DIY sites and forums -- DoItYourself.com and many, many more.

But still – there must be room for me.

How-to without enough know-how

Now, having some experience both as professional, and, on the other end of it, as a do it yourselfer, I felt like I was in a pretty good position to do something. But what, how, and did I actually have enough know-how?

I mean what would qualify me to either write or host a site on home improvement? Nothing really -- was the answer I came up with at that time. So, I knew I would have to learn more . . . but how?

Then, one night probably March the following year, with our second child abrewing, I found myself at a dinner party in Columbia. We bumped into one of my wife’s friends. I knew Missy, of course, but I never knew that she worked in the regional office of a large, respectable, national builder. . . . And by May of that year, it was done. A job as a Construction Manager, and wringing my hands, I was really going to learn.

Unfortunately, what I ultimately learned -- really wasn't what I expected.

More soon. And I warned you.
Click here for part 3

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More Moxie:
TOH: http://www.thisoldhouse.com

Building Moxie (another outtake) Two things that woke me up in the middle of the night last night

The internet and the opposable thumb

My junior year of college, 4th year in real time, I was at Towson State University and I had settled on English as a major with a loose concentration in Writing. At this point, I was writing some for the school paper, I had a full-time waiting tables gig, and I was of course keeping up with my course work. My second semester at Towson, Style in Non-Fiction (or something like that) – and one point applies.

I don’t recall the total number of papers we were responsible for during this class, but the year was 1991. For, let’s say, the middle project that semester, I submitted a poorly conceived and poorly executed article on technology and the opposable thumb.

The broad premise of it was this: as technology advanced the population in general would move away from doing things with their hands (in the traditional sense), and that, in some ways, was not desirable. Now, with only a 100-level anthropology class under my belt, could I have possibly been qualified to write such an essay? No way.

In these cases, most good writers will turn to experts in related fields to provide credible info and perspective. Did I in this case? Nope, not a good writer I guess.

I got a C on this paper, and if I remember correctly that was probably generous. Still, I got the impression some way, some how that the prof was somewhat put off by the idea. I guess – her professional interests might have overruled her first love -- the game of tennis.

I wonder if today, being of the same physical capability, she dedicates more, less or the same amount of time actually doing that endeavor that she loved so much.

Writing is re-writing and . . .

The question really is -- has technology freed up time for you, or has it taken time from you?

Let me know what you think. Can technology, over the past 18 years, and the most widely advanced child of it, the internet and its mobile offshoots, be credited with a diminished use of your hands (in the traditional sense)?

Don’t mind your one thumb that probably isn’t doing anything much as you do not comment below.

Sorry about side tracking. I will be back on the story of Building Moxie, sprinkled with a little more about home improvement and the internet, tomorrow.

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More Moxie:

Props (though maybe unrelated) to @Make (Make Magazine) for their “Lost Knowledge” component: http://www.makezine.com/

The school formally known as Towson State University: http://www.towson.edu/

Building Moxie (an outtake) Two things that woke me up in the middle of the night last night

The Best Thing to happen to Home Improvement since the Hammer

I recently signed up for Twitter. You know, it, Twitter, has been all the “tweet.” I signed up with the sole purpose of tweeting back to the website that I recently put up, http://www.buildingmoxie.com/. With a little widget there, I can keep my visitors in tune with my “status.”

I really don’t know how to use it yet, I will admit, RT and @ = confused. I can’t really provide assurance on when exactly I will start using it for its intended purpose. But its value, beyond my status, is already tremendously clear.

If you care, my handle is @BMoxieBMore (and yes I use it as a salutation)

About a week or so in, I had some free time, so I started to dig a little. First, I was amazed by the number of tweets that were actually about Twitter (or other social networking vehicles) – Meta-tweeting, I'll call it. Second, I figured I needed to follow a few others.

I started by searching for a few organizations that I really respect; This Old House, Fine HomeBuilding, etc. Then I figured I should look a little closer to home, here, in Baltimore; The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Magazine, etc. It was during this rally that I stumbled across @BaltimoreHUD -- Baltimore HUD Homes. It worked -- #Houses, #Baltimore = Follow.

Now, @BaltimoreHUD likes to tweet. I mean, I know I am only following like 30 some people/organizations, but already there have been several times when these folks have filled my entire home page. Every five minutes, all day long, it seems. Link, Link, Link, Link . . . . Sure I am interested in some of the things they want to present, but come on – I am this close (can you visualize me holding up my fingers?) to blocking them.

And . . . I have heard (but have not checked the validity of this claim) that some organizations are tweeting their heads off simply to decrease the amount of money they must pay Google and other search engines for sponsored placement.

I guess, in the end – I don’t know their motives, and I will not begin to explore their organizational structure, but right now, reality is -- they are just noise to me. I don’t even look at their posts – and it is a waste, because I am certain I am missing something useful.

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More Moxie:

Baltimore HUD Homes: http://twitter.com/BaltimoreHUD

Building Moxie (part 1 of probably a few)

I think back sometimes to the movie Private Parts – the autobiographical story of shock jock, Howard Stern. And regardless of your sensibilities, hopefully you will agree – good story. A story of a man in process, a man with a vision – and a man who proceeded to execute his vision.

One scene in particular, and forgive me if I am a little foggy, when Howard and his wife, Alison, played by Mary McCormack, are sitting in a café (I think) discussing his career path. He says something along the lines of (paraphrased) – "This is it – this could be the big time -- but I have to go all in. I have to give them everything."

Ok – maybe I am way off with my reference here – I am usually pretty bad with recalling movie sequences. But it, no matter how it was said, was a big part of the movie for me. This is what I took away.

Now, I do not want to draw parallels too deeply between myself and Stern. Do I think my little business idea has the potential to “blow up”, become viral, move me to satellite radio, and make me lots of money? No, no I don’t. But that is not my personal goal.

You might point out too that Howard’s efforts in breaking down barriers between his professional and personal life created friction in his marriage, and ultimately lead to its disintegration. Personally, I don’t want that. And as he grew in popularity, I do believe he did recoil from this – separating a very distinct personal life from his public brand.

His story -- in whole however, I have to think – depicts a path down which most small businesspersons, professionals, must go. A seeking of something I call fluidity. For me – it’s got to be all in, and I hope it is always fluid.

Built on an Idea

Not sure exactly when this idea, for a business, came into being. But a couple years back, right around 2002 to be exact, my mother-in-law (a guru in her own right), sent me an audio book. It was called 48 Days to Work You Love written by Dan Miller. I had a long commute at the time.

Honestly, I really didn't know what to think. I mean I was happy enough (for me) in my job, and I felt like I had some direction. And to be quite frank, I thought to myself, "Self-help. I don't need that." So I stuffed the disc under the seat in my truck.

Well, as things go, I did eventually pop it in. For the most part, there wasn't much there for me. Except, maybe, one simple idea: I am not sure how he phrased it, but his premise basically goes something like this: Find out what you love to do, and if what you love to do happens to be something you love to do in your free time, then figure out a way to do it full time.

Now, I am not saying that this was incredibly earth shattering, world changing or even enough for me to consciously consider the notion of changing my career. The concept itself is fairly elementary. But props to Mr. Miller, I do believe sometimes the most obvious things must be stated.

I am also not saying (aka build it and they will come)

I didn't sit down and start drafting the business plan the next day. It certainly didn't have a name in the beginning. But I did, eventually, embark on writing a formal business plan, which, truth be told, is still being written today.

Now, the process of writing a business plan has, at least for me, been incredibly cathartic. I had to look at myself, at what people might want, and I had to answer some simple questions. What would I, and can I, do for others -- if I had the opportunity to start my own business?

Over the years, I guess I had already figured that answer: I am happiest when I am thinking, communicating about, or working on houses. And in there lies the point from which I started. I am passionate about these things, and I love communing with others (not only in the online alternate reality); if only I could combine the two, then maybe I could make a modest living doing something that I actually really care about.

And now, as I am executing this plan, I think back to Mr Miller’s notion. I, at the time, and whether I knew it or not, was Building Moxie.

Click here for part 2

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More Moxie:
Though it certainly takes longer than 48 days: http://www.48days.com/
Howard Stern's Private Parts: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119951/