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“IF YOU LOVE WHAT YOU DO, you’ll never work a day in your life.” This quote has been attributed to a variety of people, so I’m not going to pick just one.
It has a strong foundation of truth in it. I do indeed love my work, and it’s totally changed my outlook on my career, indeed, the rest of my life.
But I don’t love it all the time.
And I don’t love every part of it. There’s grunge work and boring parts and annoyances.
Source: Alexandre Normand
Amazing things are happening in 2015. And not just here locally, but across the industry in this country and others.
It’s a good thing, because I believe that the natural order of things goes through cycles. And the past 5 years have been more of a down-cycle than up.
ON MONDAY I talked about Change Composites’ Umbo Helmet which they submitted for the Blue Ocean Challenge at CSU.
It was a day of great innovative ideas in a wide range of areas.
Today, I’m very pleased to see that this company just won second place in the competition yesterday, landing $5000 in prize money and nation-wide recognition.
Kudos to a great team with a powerful mission. You’re going to change the world!
DO YOU SEE THAT BUMP in the middle of the shield?
That’s an Umbo. It’s used to deflect swords and better defend the soldier.
So it’s interesting that a new company designing a better bike headgear has chosen to call it an Umbo Helmet.
This is a group with a mission, for sure.
Janska’s outerwear
JANSKA PRODUCES STYLISH WOMEN’S WEAR and is based here in Colorado. Jan Erickson started this venture 2003 based on an experience she had with a friend who was incapacitated at the time.
Jan’s friend was a talented, respected woman. But when dressed in a hospital gown, her self-esteem took a hard hit. More importantly, others in the facility treated her as more of a nameless patient than a vibrant individual.
Jan had the idea to develop a line of wear which was accessible to those with limited mobility, while also being incredibly comforting and stylish.
Janska was born.
EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE SUPPORTERS. 
Humans are social beings, and we have a fundamental need to be encouraged, even to look good in front of others.
In business this can be particularly difficult. A company is a bit of a faceless entity, so people aren’t as accustomed to stating things in a polite way like they would to someone’s face.
Quite likely, you’re awash in a sea of criticism.
THERE’S A WELL WORN STATISTIC 
which states that 95% of businesses fail in five years. Or something like that.
I’m not even going to bother looking it up, because it doesn’t matter.
This is just a way to discourage people, to make me somehow feel better than you because I was able to land a real job while you’re … frittering your life away trying to do that “start your own business thing.”
It’s not real.
And it doesn’t matter.
MANY OF US STRUGGLE to keep the energy going. 
Running a business is hard work!
It can be a deep test of character.
I’ve found that persistence is partially an innate characteristic, but is also a skill which can be intentionally developed.
I was amazed (and grateful!) to discover that my 2-year-old’s weakness was having the attention span of a goldfish. Read the rest of this entry »
OUR COMMUNITIES ARE DIVIDED by languages and cultures. ShareLingo is a new company that’s taking this challenge head on.
There are a lot of language education programs and tools out there. You can purchase programs for your PC, connect with online resources, and take classes at school.
ShareLingo has a different approach: To focus on co-learning, forming community and personal friendships.
UNITE FOR LITERACY 
is a great organization that makes books available to children in the United States and around the globe. They provide no-cost reading material to emergent readers – both young kids and those learning a second or third language.
A great concept for a charitable non-profit, right? Sure. But these folks have a unique for-profit business model that’s part of an emerging trend in companies which do good while making money.
I had a chance to talk this week with Unite for Literacy’s CEO, Michael McGuffee. He, Mark Condon and Kurt Hoeven started this company a couple of years ago, based on 20 years of powerful experience working with families who live on Native American reservations. They saw firsthand what happens when kids lack a connection to written language, whether English or their mother tongue.
The Values-Based Business 