In a day of hardcore deliberating and conjugating, we at BrightMix decided to lease a very cool, very sweet, very retro-awesome office space! You can read more about it on the here.

Interestingly, we originally saw this office space by stumbling across this site, which showcases renovations done by the dudes of the DivvyCollective. These guys put in some serious blood, sweat, and tears to tear up this building's old asbestos-laden tile floor, tear down its crappy drop ceiling, cover up some gross 1970's-doctor's-office paint job, and a bunch of other improvements.

It turns out, despite all that work, that they've decided to split up and go their separate ways. Fortunately for us, we've been in business just long enough to be able to afford to start leasing a space.

Stay tuned to this blog (or the BrightMix blog) for pictures of our move-in and an online tour, of sorts.

Standing in "the office"

Monday was my first day of self-employment for my business, BrightMix.

What can I say? It was pretty rad. I got up at around 10, showered, and put on some comfortable clothes. As you can see, this is the living room in my house, which is decked out in a sweet, new laminate floor not too long ago. The way the desks are setup, it looks kind of like the bridge of a ship in Star Trek. 

We left to go purchasing office-type supplies, but realized, after getting to Sam's Club, that we didn't really need anything other than a white board. Speaking of whiteboards, we decided to make our own, rather than spending $50 on a tiny, crappy white board from Office Max. As this guide indicates, Making your own isn't hard, plus it's considerably cheaper! I'll be posting pictures of the final product soon.

 
The BrightMix Lounge

Will my Lifestyle change considerably?

I'm curious to see how some of my day to day habits conform to this new style of work. Things like:

• sleeping
• eating
• napping
• working
• entertainment

Thus far, I've been sleeping longer, but also working more... I'll note any more observations as they appear.

Alright, this is just a little strange to me... nearly everyone I've talked to about my quitting my job has congratulated me. Ironically, the same people congratulated for accepting the job I'm about to quit.

But anyway, so what's the deal? Am I being congratulated for politeness' sake? For creating a company? For having the cajones to up and quit my cushy corporate job?

Some Intestinal Fortitude is Required

About six months ago, Dusty and I started throwing around the idea of quitting our jobs and making a go of it. It was a scary thought for me back then. But, as time progressed, I became less and less frightful. In fact, it started to make more and more sense.

Some Preparations that Reduced Fear and Risk...

• I started saving money 6 months ago in preparation. I have enough saved that I could rough it for around 6 months without making a dime; it's a nice "oh shit" buffer.
• We formulated a few solid software "product" ideas. No formal documentation or anything, but they're ventures that we'd be able to immediately begin work on and probably see quick results.
• Running some actual numbers to determine how much cash flow we would need to maintain our current lifestyles.
• Finding clients, contacts, and even lining up some contract work prior to quitting.
• Last but not least, knowing that starting our own business would be exciting, adventurous, and (hopefully, at some point) lucrative!

What's your story?

As I talk to people who are clearly unhappy employees, I can't help but wonder how many of you are unhatched entrepreneurs. Granted, it's clearly not a profession for everyone. If you're on the fence, or even considering it, I ask you: do you really want to go through life without ever trying the entrepreneurial lifestyle? Worst case scenario, you fail and have to go back to being an employee - whoopty doo.

After a lot of deliberating, debating, planning, perusing, and pontificating, my buddy DustyD and I have decided to start software development company named BrightMix.

Dusty's last day working for Aureus will be this Friday, and I've informed my employer of my intent to sometime in the mid-August.

It's with a heavy heart that I plan to leave my friends and colleagues at Securities America. But, alas, my aching to get out on my own, plus a handful of hot, time-sensitive opportunities, has convinced me (and Dusty) to move forward. I'm making every effort I can to see that my departure from Securities America is as painless as possible--easier sad than done.

Words from the Wise

Pretty much everything I've read from the multitude of startup authors out there indicates that our venture will:

• Be more work than we are anticipating
• Provide us with a freakish amount of experience
• Make us feel alive!

Business Strategy

For our first 6-12 months, we will be primarily doing consulting/contract programming work. This will be an effort to stockpile cash. After that, we want to focus on developing a web-based product and/or service that will generate recurring income for us. Our plan here is to quickly implement a number of small projects, study how they do, and then focus on developing the projects that seem to have the best future.

We want to avoid the lure of Consulting

Contract/Consulting work can be highly lucrative with high dollar-per-hour rates, but we do not want to focus on this type of work; it just doesn't scale well. Plus, if the work dries up, you got no monies--Boo that! I think it's really easy to get sucked into the contract/consulting game because it really is easy money. However, will only go so far.

On the To-Do List:

• Talk with an accountant and/or lawyer to determine some of the inner financial workings and get the company officially declared.
• Update the company Web site and blog to actually contain some relevant stuff.
• Get a stellar logo.
• Set up an "office" (most likely candidate --> my sweet living room).
• Get some initial work contracts hammered out so we can begin working.
• Have a BrightMix Begins party.
• Give everyone at party high fives!

Exciting times, indeed!

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the whole concept of being an employee vs. being a freelancer/entrepreneur/dude who does what he wants. This mindset, perception, whatever you want to call it it, is new to me.

I mean, there are plenty of books out there on the subject of entrepreneurship, and I've read a few. But, I always felt this sneaking suspicion that the authors are just trying to make some phat ca$h. After I'd finish reading them, I'd be all, "man, I'm so pumped to go start my own business." But then I'd realize that I didn't even know where to begin!

The big thing with entrepreneurial blogs is...

Blog authors aren't selling their stuff. Their material is entirely out in the open, free for anyone to gaze upon. Maybe that's what makes them so powerful. In fact, it wasn't until I started browsing around the entrepreneurial blogosphere that I truly began to consider this as an option for my own career. 

Blogs like Steve Pavlina, Matt Inglot, Seth Godin, and the amazing Trizle.com have impacted me big time. I really admire these people. But, then again, how can I not? They're doing what they love to do (at least most of the time, I'm guessing), they're in control of their career, and they're probably making some good cash in the process. Although, I'm sure if you asked them if it was about the money, they would tell you no; it's just sweet side effect. Other obvious perks you have as your own "boss": setting your own schedules, deadlines, vacation time, etc.

Ah. Wouldn't that be sweet.

As for me, I don't know what to do right now. I enjoy my job for corporate America fairly well. My coworkers are fun and awesome, and most days I look forward to going to work. Which is definitely a step up from getting up the morning and absolutely dreading going to work (been there and done that). But, I have a yearning to be more than just a dude who works for Corporate America.

It's a classic story. It's hard to just be happy where you're at; as they say, the grass is always greener on the other side, or in another field, or however the saying goes. I feel the only way I'm going to progress quickly and be truly satisfied with my "job" is by starting up my own gig.

If you're a coworker of mine...

Do not freak out. I'm not planning to walk in and quit tomorrow or anything sudden!

I'll be making more posts along these lines in the near future...