Bruce Kendall and the basketball references

Bruce Kendall is in the business of assisting other businesses get the most out of moving or setting up a branch within the city of Tacoma.  His biggest obstacle with trying to get businesses interested in Tacoma is the special tax imposed on businesses within the city.  He competes with many cities throughout the states of Oregon, Idaho, California and others in finding a home where they can bring commerce to the city they choose.

Bruce believes that this city is worth his time and effort in facilitating its growth.  He pointed out that JBLM is the largest employer within this area, but this also includes the military personal actively residing within these two bases.  Some of the EDB Cluster Acceleration teams that he pointed out were Aerospace, Clearwater, Logistics and Trade, Cyber Security and Medical Services and he gave much emphasis to Clearwater because he like many others believe that keeping our water resources clean for the future is the way to go. 

Bruce’s company gets funding from both the government sector as well as from big businesses that wish to see Tacoma grow because these companies know that this growth will help their business in return.  This funding is split about 50/50 coming from each of these two contributing factors.  Since there is a fixed income there is no real room for growth within his company.  He also pointed out that the shipping industry setting up a distribution within the port of Tacoma brings many new revenues worth exploring for the city’s growth.

Brian Forth, CEO of SiteCrafting (Compiled from barrowed notes and online research)

Brian Forth is the CEO of SiteCrafting a company that is involved in website design and web application development.  He developed a website for KBTC to help give them a new look and focused on developing a healthy website that kids can navigate through. He was awarded Small Business Leader of the Year by the UW Tacoma Milgard School of Business for excellence in leadership.

In high school he played basketball and during these years he had high hopes of being first baseman for the LA Dodgers.  He has been developing websites since 1995.  He went to Maramount college on a scholarship and won the college world series.  While attending Maramount he had asperations of being a film maker.  Brian graduated from Gonzaga University.  At this time he switched to theology and philosophy and he decided to teach at St Charles elementary school’s 5^th grade.  After this he worked as an intern at Disney  during his first year attending Gonzaga.

Brian worked on the development of one of the first widely distributed Learning Management Systems for Knowledge Universe during the late nineties for which the project was nominated the Codie Award for Best Online Product in 2000.  He founded SiteCrafting while Technology Coordinator at St. Charles Borromeo School in Tacoma where he made only $17,500.  SiteCrafting has chosen Spokane as its new expansion site.  In 2010 they expanded into Seattle.  The company opened more offices to meet employee’s needs.  His company was named one of Puget Sound Business Journal’s 100 Fastest Growing Companies in 2011.

His secrets to success are: the risk, invest yourself in the current project, trust your team, deliver more, make and keep bigger promises and leverage your experiences and connections.

How technology differentiates my business from my competitors

My business focusses on developing websites that allows users no matter what type of impairment is to be able to navigate through the website.  This means that all websites built by my business will be ADA compliant.  Most website developers do not worry about making their sites ADA compliant and so people with physical impairments are forced to use software on their computers to help them navigate through websites.

            My business will then be able competing with other website developers in a standard sense because I will be essentially be creating a website developing company.  I will also be competing with software manufacturers who develop website navigational tools and so my sites will allow for cutting out the middle man so to speak.  The one big issue my company will have is deciding how much ADA compliance I will incorporate within the websites my business develops.  There is endless research and techniques that have been fashioned to help generate ADA compliant websites.  While in the gathering requirements phase of the web development it will be very important to decide exactly how in depth my clients are going to need their website to incorporate these techniques.

Much of the research I will be needing to do before launching my company is what are the most popular software tools that are being used and what has made these in particular so highly in demand.  I will also need to look into what other companies are currently constructing websites focusing on meeting ADA compliance.  Having done this research will allow me to fully inform my clients on what are the most important areas to incorporate when meeting not only ADA compliance but also any individual that may wish to navigate their website.

Entrepreneur: Staying the Course with Laser Focus

What it means to be an entrepreneur is being on the cutting edge of technology.  Finding a problem and filling it with a viable solution.  This can be either creating a company around a new product that provides a solution to an old or newly emerging problem. 

Being your own boss is one of the great perks of being an entrepreneur.  Motivated by what they do and not the paycheck they hope to receive for the work they put into their business.  To be a leader and instilling pride in all those that work for the business.  The flip side to being an entrepreneur is that there is no steady income which may be a problem when unforeseen bumps in the road occur.  But the true entrepreneur uses their confidence in their problem solving skills and focus on what is coming to not let the stresses of having everything on the line bog them down.

This requires great self-discipline and single minded focus on accomplishing the task at hand.  They need to be starters and finishers and not let themselves be distracted by other possible ventures that may come along while trying to complete what they have started.  They also need to be believers in their business to push through the many obstacles that will inevitably try to block the company’s success.  If an entrepreneur does not believe in their abilities to develop and maintain a great company they set themselves up to fail right from the start.

Erik Hanberg Shoots the Breeze

Erik Hanberg is a personal achiever.  He sets goals for himself whether large or small and sees them through as far as he is able.  From the large success of his web development business he shares with his wife to the large flop of his attempt to set up a theater he has been through a plethora of experiences in his pursuit of the entrepreneurial lifestyle. 

Erik is a prime example of someone that has been able to completely change from a 9 to 5 lifestyle to sleeping in weekday mornings and traveling the world at his leisure.  He has also effectively turned his wife into a believer in his dream and now she would not have her life any other way.  After solidifying his home business he has been able to branch out and successfully run for a position in a political office.  He has a child on the way which will of course bring many joys into his life as well as many unforeseen stresses.

Mr. Hanberg has successfully molded his life into the types of stresses he feels comfortable dealing with.  He may not have a steady income, but he is someone that seems to think on his feet and is ready to take on any new challenge that presents itself.  The success of his other ventures has given him the ability to take time to write and publish some novels as his hobby.  Of course he would not be a true entrepreneur if he did not also turn this hobby into a money making opportunity.  Even with his minimal gains in the beginning he has stuck to his guns and managed to see great growth within the purchases of his novels.

The Trigger to my Company's Startup!

One business idea I have is to start up a company that develops websites for any client willing to money for this service.  The leveraging of technology is clear in this idea since it is taking a well-developed scheme as well as clearly thoroughly developed logic and using them for my company.  My main focus would be creating user friendly web sites and insuring ADA compliance for any special needs users may have when attempting to navigate my developed sites.  This idea could also end up tying into my second idea with possibilities of a partner company and my company joining forces to help strengthen each other’s products and services.

My second idea is to create a company that is devoted to database and data storage.  I would not create the database just use the techniques I have learned in my degree program to insure fast look ups and that there will be no data losses due to unsuccessful rollbacks upon unsuccessful saves to the storage.  Creating helpful information for new clients would be a good starting point, but I think most of this would just be links to helpful sites that I have compiled because I found them useful and insightful.

A third idea is to create a company that designs video games.  This would require a strong development team and advertisement to get the knowledge of my games existence out to the masses.  I do not intend to develop new concepts only try to perfect one or two popular game styles that I personally enjoy!