Author: Nick Gordon

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Navigating the Unknown

Difficulties often come alongside making important decisions pertaining to business, profession, and life. While some choices can be made with ease and peace of mind due to their simplistic nature, others demand more time and attention, and rightly so. Every person has twenty four hours to spend each day, which is one of the most fascinating and terrifying aspects of constantly receiving new meaningful opportunities. We can say yes to good opportunities, even great ones… until we can’t.

These more complex decisions commonly occur when people exceed their presumed capacity to put more on their plate, because the resulting consequences inevitably alter day to day life. This is one of the reasons why I place such a high value on flexibility. In our humanity, we cannot fully know, understand, or control everything that will happen over the course of any given day, week, month, or year. As such, we need to readily make room for the unknown, carefully evaluating and reevaluating how we spend our time, energy, and resources.

If you find yourself in this position in life, don’t worry; you’re doing something right! Do everything in your power to hold on to the amazing things you have managed to accomplish, while remaining open to new opportunities that will help you continue to develop and grow.

On the other hand, if you still have plenty of room on your plate, don’t be afraid to pursue new endeavors. There are people out there who NEED your gifts. We can always accomplish more today than yesterday, and we can manage more tomorrow than we managed today… until we can’t.

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Competent Investing

Regardless of social or economic status, as human beings we have the ability to invest our time, energy, and resources into a wide range of opportunities. Whether we invest in people, projects, or something else, there exists a responsibility and an importance in exercising reason and assessing our own competence beforehand. Using a bit of common sense, this should go without saying, though emotions can often cause people to overlook sound logic in many circumstances.

While this may seem obvious, people should address and assess competence when investing so that they can be prepared for various outcomes in light of uncertainty. Take cryptocurrency as an example. About a year ago, cryptocurrency news stories were finally flooding the mass media. Everyday people heard stories of investors who gloated a twenty fold (or more) return on their initial investment. Without understanding much of the history of cryptocurrency or its benefits and flaws, people started investing their life savings, mortgaging homes, and other unthinkable decisions based simply on their fear of missing out. Absolute mania.

In all honesty, a case could be made that these same people backed out on their investments when the market took a rough turn. In most instances, our investments fluctuate, growing sometimes and shrinking others. The difference between investing in stocks versus cryptocurrency, however, is that cryptocurrency investing is much more volatile. An increase or decrease of ten percent in a matter of hours is fairly common, whereas with stocks, it generally would take months, even years to see a price change that significant.

The reason I write about this topic today is not to influence anyone to invest or pull their investments from cryptocurrency. Rather, I simply hope to help people sincerely think about why they choose to invest or not invest. What do we value most in life? Do our investments align with these values? If not, it begs the question of whether or not we are acting as good stewards of our influence. On this Thanksgiving Day, we should consider what we’re truly grateful for. After we’ve done that, there’s only one thing left to do. Appreciate it.

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Progress, Reflection, and Refocus

Over a year has passed since I started working with Talixa. When I look at how far the company has come, I feel a need to take a step back and reflect on the progress and positive change taking place. From the outset, I have maintained a bold confidence in Tom’s ability, both as owner and chief engineer, to consistently deliver top-notch service and capitalize on key relationships. These have helped to build a foundation upon which the company will develop and grow, though we only continue to grow after helping our clients do the same.

At the beginning of this year, I transitioned to take on a new role as business strategist for the company. While I won’t get into the specifics regarding our goals and ambitions, we quickly realized that Talixa was growing much faster than anticipated. I can’t stress enough how Tom’s hard work and dedication to the Talixa team contributed to the company’s continued success. With work pouring in, the company went from part-time to full-time, and “Team Talixa” has since tripled.

With that being said, we did suspect that businesses in our community had an unmet demand for quality software (and other tech-related) services. One of the challenges, however, has been keeping up with all of the opportunities that arise. I am personally blown away by how often I hear about good news and new projects when getting company updates from Tom. With exciting week after exciting week, the need to refocus and set the bar higher became apparent much earlier than expected. This resulted in redefining roles and goals, since along with meeting goals come new challenges for new endeavors.

A year has come and gone along with its challenges, and a new year is approaching with a new set of mountains to climb. For those of you who read these articles through the end, thanks for being a part of our journey. As you look back, refocus, and look forward, please don’t forget to think of us. After all, we’ll be thinking of you.

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Exponential Growth

For entrepreneurs and business owners, trying to build something bigger than the individual poses one of the most challenging initial struggles a company can face. A brand is often represented by a figurehead, whether that be the owner, CEO, or majority shareholder. When the growth of the company is contingent on the amount of time an individual in this capacity can offer at an hourly rate, growth will by nature follow a specific linear pattern, before ultimately reaching a plateau.

In an effort to scale beyond this point, businesses can plan ahead to position and prepare themselves for the anticipated changes and challenges. Structuring the business model in such a way that money naturally flows into the business through multiple streams can create an ecosystem where each specific element supports other elements in different ways. In doing so, the business network can expand well beyond the individual, and the company can scale up to meet the goals necessary to attain sustainable growth and success.

While all of this sounds fantastic generally speaking, the task of specifically applying these principles to a business could seem daunting. Often, small business owners can fairly easily grasp the linear aspects of business growth. However, the road block often comes when the businesses are forced to think differently and realign their goals and focus. Sometimes the solution is both simple and effective. If your business has been struggling through a similar situation, I would strongly encourage you to take a look at your people. The people who are passionate about the work and mission of your company are the strongest agent of change for scalability. Take some time and consider their interests and skills, and invest in helping them find their best work!

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Transactional Friction

If you have ever considered where money originated or why we use it, then join the club.

Long before the day of the dollar, civilizations operated under a system of barter where goods were directly exchanged for other goods. While there are a few benefits with this system, people quickly realized the obvious flaws. For example, if a farmer had a cow to trade, they would need to find someone with goods of equal value. Further, there is often an expiration date associated with certain goods, such as a farmer’s milk or a baker’s bread. Therefore, even if a baker had enough bread to buy a cow, the farmer would have no use for that much bread.

These days, most of the world uses government issued currency that acts as a standardized means of exchange. While currencies address many of the issues of the barter systems, they are still often limited by some factors. For instance, if a person wants to spend money online or while vacationing in a foreign country, that spending creates transactional friction. In other words, customers pay fees to a middle man, whether it’s to exchange currencies or process transactions.

As a result, many have turned to cryptocurrencies as a solution to transactional friction, though  cryptocurrencies have not been able to handle scalability for the time being. As a result, using cryptocurrencies for their intended purpose is virtually impossible. For cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, consumers spend several dollars in fees to make a transaction, rather than the fraction of a penny that they initially boasted.

Consumers around the globe are losing billions of dollars each year to various fees. So what can we do to avoid transactional friction? One piece of advice is to avoid using money where possible. Try to exchange your marketable skills for something more valuable than money. Programmers are continuing to work on some of the scalability issues behind blockchain technologies. In the meantime, everyone else can have a bit of patience and remain on the lookout for the progress taking place.

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Expertise and Versatility

Successful entrepreneurship hinges largely on maximizing benefit and  minimizing risk. While striving to solve some of the world’s most difficult problems, entrepreneurs that rise to the top are those who optimize the process of weighing the risk versus reward of their decisions. The end goal for businesses and communities should not only be to survive but to also thrive. Rather than making strictly safe and comfortable decisions, people ought to encourage taking an appropriate amount of risk for the right reasons. After all, the health of a society cannot adequately be defined by “success” or “failure” in a word.

In a world replete with industries that constantly change and develop, consumers have grown to expect that products and services will become better and cheaper over time. Entrepreneurs and businesses who look beyond the basics tend to find opportunity knocking much more frequently, because they are willing to learn and share their knowledge with others.

With others striving to beat out the competition and have a “better than them” mentality, some of the greatest success stories have started with an individual whose desire is to become better today than yesterday and become better tomorrow than today. This yearning to improve and accomplish more each day ensures that the business will exceed customer and consumer expectations, delivering greater quality and value over the long term.

Over the long term, expertise alone will not suffice to assure sustained business growth. Along with expertise, businesses need to be able to understand how to apply their knowledge and continue addressing the new problems that arise. Versatility paired with expertise can provide the essentials necessary to build a business that is strategically positioned to endure the storms that businesses ultimately face.

Businesses ultimately face many challenges.  The task of satisfying and exceeding the expectations of clients, customers, and consumers can seem daunting. However, those who more willingly face adversity tend to more easily overcome adversity. We have woven these principles into our own business model, so that we grow alongside our community by sharing our expertise to help businesses create new value. As you consider applying this information to your own business, think of ways that you might increase expertise and versatility to make awesome happen for our community.

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Technology and Community

Over the last two decades, technological advances have brought along with them unimaginable change to the way people interact with each other around the world. The advent of the internet and smart devices has created countless opportunities for creativity and innovation to flourish. From a global perspective, companies like Google, Alibaba, and Amazon have pushed the limits of how technology can simplify tasks and serve businesses and consumers alike, enabling people to accomplish more with less and saving people time and money. We can learn a great deal from analyzing why they have succeeded where others have failed.

In the same vein, immense opportunity exists when considering the potential of technological integration and innovation within our local businesses, organizations, and community. Nothing prevents me from coming up with ideas to help others and improve the world around me. Likewise, nothing prevents small businesses from grabbing on to these same ideas to grow and make a difference. After all, why should anyone work if not to positively impact those within their reach? We ought not go through the trouble of learning without the drive to put what we learn to use, because knowledge without application holds little value. The time has come for our community to capitalize on these advances and enable each other to succeed.

As you go about your work week, think about some of the areas that you are spending considerable time and/or money, sometimes with little or no return.  These are often the areas with the most potential to increase productivity and profitability.  How might technology be able to benefit your endeavors?  Asking the right questions is the first step towards a better tomorrow for our local businesses, organizations, and community.

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“Revolutionary” Tech

In 1974, a Hungarian invented one of the most popular and influential toys of all time, the Rubik’s cube. Considering that I was born well after that time, I can safely say that I cannot remember a time without this toy. Growing up, however, I watched the Rubik’s company try to make toy after toy in some way related to the original, but they always tried new and “innovative” renditions.

Since my family members always knew how big of a Rubik’s cube fan I am, I would get all kinds of these newer toys as birthday and Christmas gifts. While many of them were flashy and initially interesting, I ultimately grew tired of them and would go back to playing with the original. After all, the original was fascinating… captivating even, and I was determined to learn how to solve it.

After spending a considerable amount of time experimenting and playing with my cube, one of the teachers at my elementary school gave me a list of algorithms showing how to manipulate individual squares in very specific ways. The summer after, I accomplished my goal to learn to solve the cube, but I was still hungry for more.

While my first few solves averaged around 10 minutes, I wanted to continue to get better and faster. I studied and fine tuned my process of solving the cube, realizing that at a certain point the design of the cube itself was holding me back. I then looked into what other cubes were out there and how they were designed to be more efficient and effective. These days I solve the cube in under a minute, and the best people in the world can solve it in a matter of seconds.

Constantly evaluating and enhancing processes and expanding resources also holds value when thinking about technology and business. Businesses that are growing very rapidly today focus their time, energy, and resources on making gradual improvements, becoming more resourceful. By learning from this, organizations can ensure that they are effectively working toward their goals, accomplishing more by using the most effective resources to the best of their ability.

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Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain 

With the price of a bitcoin surpassing $10,000 and the recent craze around cryptocurrencies, developing an understanding of what the technology behind these cryptocurrencies actually does, as well as what can become of these technologies going forward seems worthwhile.  Before we can begin to truly understand what cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are, we need to look at how blockchain technologies work and why these technologies hold immense value for people around the globe.

The technology behind the blockchain is fairly simple conceptually speaking, though incredibly innovative nonetheless.  The fundamental issue that prevented digital currency from taking off for so long was the ability for any person to make duplicate transactions.  For instance, when a person sends an email, they are never actually sending the original message but rather a copy, so if two people claimed to own the same digital currency, there would be no way to prove the actual owner without having a fine-tuned system in place.  A blockchain solves this problem by validating transactions through solving cryptographic riddles and maintaining a universal record of all transactions, an ongoing process carried out by a decentralized network of computers around the world.  These miners are rewarded for their work through miner fees and their ability to unlock and release new cryptocurrency into existence.

In the United States, we believe in the value of the dollar.  Millions of Americans work hard at their jobs inputting their time, energy, and resources on a regular basis.  This results in them earning a paycheck, often directly to their bank accounts.  With this money, people make transactions based on trust:  trust that their debit or credit cards will work, trust that they can access and spend their money, and trust that this money will not be tampered with at any point between sending and receiving payment.  But this trust-based service comes at a cost, around 3% of our transaction fees to be exact.  The blockchain reduces the need for a middle man and enables direct peer-to-peer transactions, minimizing the potential for tampering and corruption along the way at a lower cost, roughly 0.1% or so, which pays the miner fees and gives people an incentive to keep the decentralized network active and growing.

Looking specifically at a cryptocurrency, Bitcoin began back in 2009, and its blockchain has been recording and validating transactions ever since.  Unlike the US dollar, there is a finite supply of bitcoins that can ever be created, capping out around 21 million.  Currently, less than 17 million of these exist, and as time passes each bitcoin becomes more difficult to mine.  This element of scarcity is appealing from an investment standpoint, because as demand increases the price does as well.  Investing in cryptocurrency today does not come without considerable risk though, considering the market is very volatile.  In the grand scheme of things, these cryptocurrencies are still very young, meaning that people base much of the value on the integrity of the system, also considering what the future of these cryptocurrencies might hold.

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