jerad poling

ebay, or not to ebay?

As you may, or may not know, I already own an iPhone. Purchased it within 3 minutes of the release, and the second person to make the purchase at the Mall of America, Minnesota Apple Store.

I am fairly excited about the new iPhone 3G and its faster speeds, better battery life, and GPS. What I am more excited about is the Apps store. Thats another post, however.

I used to have a Blackberry, because it was the best, at the time. Now, its a dinosaur. Its dead. The iPhone is on the block. Anyway. I have 3 Blackberry Pearls, because like I said before they WERE the best, and I gave them to my employees to use.

So, I have 3 Blackberry Pearls. I am not doing a very good job selling these phones. They are in fact used, but in very good condition, and work great. They come with all the accessories. Plus if you have issues with them, you know where to find me.

Buy my phones by emailing me. I thought about posting these phones on eBay, but its a dinosaur too.
Show me the money!

Blackberry Pearl

Email me @ jcpoling@mac.com if interested - you name the price.

poor canada

Just read an article about how the Canadians are getting royally screwed on the iPhone and its plan from Rogers Communications The poor chaps made a petition with an overwhelming amount of supporters. The petition, has already been signed by over 11,000 angry Canadians.

I would be mad too, the rate plans that Rogers is offering is absolutely horrible!! I provided a clip of the rates that Rogers is offering. If Steve Jobs and Rogers don't respond, it could really hurt Apples mobile market share in Canada. Just think about all the upset people who didn't sign the petition!

samsung instinct - picture and review by alley insider

Here is the link to the article by Alley Insider about the Samsung Instinct. Tel me what you think.

stop pointing fingers, just work harder

Its easy to make excuses for mistakes in life, but why point a finger, and not just accept defeat? I will be the first to say that failure is extremely hard to admit. We don't like losing, and will do anything to push the blame onto someone else.

Most people you ask will tell you they are competitive in some way. No one likes losing. Its natural selection and animal instinct kicking in. Its like 10,000 years ago when our ancestors were fighting for a piece of antelope they had just killed, who cares about the other guy, its eat or die. In a way, life is very similar. We must put food on the table, which in this day in age is done by working.

In order to keep our jobs we must fight and compete in the office for bonuses, ideas, recognition, and promotion. If we don't, we get a pink slip, and can't support ourselves or families. I generally don't like to write about politics, but one of the candidates running for president supports taxing the people who fight, and work harder, so that the people who are less strong (lazier, dumber, etc.,) can have a better life. Its like saying, "hey, Mr. Hunter, great shot! you killed the antelope with only one arrow and your bare hands. Now because you were so skilled and efficient, give 40% of your kill to your neighbors who don't know how to hunt"

Enough ranting, and back to my point about working hard. I regularly read Silicon Alley Insider and today noticed an article talking about the iPhone, Steve Jobs, and Ivan Seidenberg - CEO of Verizon. Ivan theorizes that Apple will not become a major player in the mobile business because Steve Jobs won't live forever. Is this to say he's rolling over until Steve departs as CEO of Apple? Isn't business about being the best? Why wouldn't he try and change the mobile game by coming up with something better? At least Sprint is trying. They've come out with the Samsung Instinct - comes with a touch screen, and almost every other feature that the iPhone has. When I was in Best Buy earlier today I played with one for 5 minutes. They essentially followed suit on every aspect of the phone, but the Instinct does it about half as well as the iPhone does. I did see one improvement over the iPhone. When you touched the touch sensitive screen, it would vibrate. That feature is missing on the iPhone, and apparently the companies designing these phones thought that tactile feedback was necessary. Jobs and Co. didn't implement a "touch and vibrate" feature on the new iPhone 3G for a number of reasons I am sure, and I am thankful they made that decision. The Instincts "touch and vibrate" function sucked big time and bothered me so much I only played with the phone for 5 minutes over the 20 minutes I could have spent. In my mind, the Instinct is a step back from the iPhone. The sad part about it is, Sprint and Samsung know it - they've already lowered the price by $70 to $129. It just won't be able to compete with a $200 3G iPhone. Its another perfect example of not trying and rolling over and submitting to those who really do try and change the world.

Innovation will be what moves us forward as a society. Free market capitalism and the right to work hard and reap the rewards of a job well done should never be compromised because someone in Washington feels bad for people who are lazy and disadvantaged.

If everyone focused their efforts on trying harder on a daily basis, we might, just might become the United States of America that we once were.

mistakes of an entrepreneur

Thought these mistakes were very true. If you're looking to start a business, these may come in handy some day.

Failing to spend enough time researching the business idea to see if it's viable.
Miscalculating market size. Entrepreneurs say, 'The market size is 50 million people. If I only sell to 2 percent, I'd be selling a million.' But most products sell less than 1 percent.
Making a commitment on sales projections that were wrong. Created costs that require those projections to be met. Run out of money.
Overprojecting sales prospects.
Making cost projections that are too low.
Hiring too many people and spending too much.
Lacking a contingency plans.
Bringing in unnecessary partners.
Hiring for convenience rather than skill requirements.
Spending half their time doing something that represents 5 percent of their business.
Accepting that it's "not possible" too easily.
Focusing too much on volume and company size rather than profit.
Looking for somebody to tell you you're right.
Lacking simplicity.
Lacking clarity of your long-term aim and business purpose.
Going after too many targets at once.
Lacking an exit strategy.

new business commercial

Tahoe Fun - Its good to relax.

Wes and I traveled to lake tahoe over winter break. We documented most of our experience. Here is a sample of our adventures.

Smart cars have arrived.