Below is a genius quote by entrepreneur and CDBaby creator Derek Sivers, enjoy:

It’s so funny when I hear people being so protective of ideas. (People who want me to sign an NDA to tell me the simplest idea.)

To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed. They are just a multiplier. Execution is worth millions.

Explanation:

AWFUL IDEA = -1
WEAK IDEA = 1
SO-SO IDEA = 5
GOOD IDEA = 10
GREAT IDEA = 15
BRILLIANT IDEA = 20

NO EXECUTION = $1
WEAK EXECUTION = $1000
SO-SO EXECUTION = $10,000
GOOD EXECUTION = $100,000
GREAT EXECUTION = $1,000,000
BRILLIANT EXECUTION = $10,000,000

To make a business, you need to multiply the two.
The most brilliant idea, with no execution, is worth $20.
The most brilliant idea takes great execution to be worth $20,000,000.
That’s why I don’t want to hear people’s ideas.
I’m not interested until I see their execution.

Bottom line: Do your homework. Make sure your idea is legit. Do the work to execute the idea. Make it happen. Most importantly, stop talking or being overprotective.

Nike said it best: Just do it

In my last post, I talked about keeping track of your net worth by keeping a spreadsheet with a running tally of your various incomes every month. After doing this a few days ago, I noticed a few columns on the spreadsheet that curiously racked up some significant figures annually. What’s interesting about these sources of income is that I don’t really… do much work to get the money every month. I want to share these things with you. Here are just a few ways you can make a grand or two a year without really even trying:

Certificate of Deposits (CDs)

• Placing a portion of your money in a CD account basically guarantees you a chunk of free cash every month. Seriously. The only catch is that you can’t touch that money until the CD matures, so just put a few grand that you won’t use for a few years. You can choose how long you want your money to remain in the CD (usually longer term = higher rate = more $$ made). A term can be anywhere from 3 months to 4 years depending on the bank. There’s also a minimum amount required.

Google Ads on your website

• If you have a blog (or any website for that matter), consider throwing on some Google Ads for free cash every month. All you have to do is place the code on your site and keep the site relatively updated with fresh content.
  Bonus: make more money by focusing your site on a specific topic.
  Double bonus: make the ads visibly obvious but NOT annoying.

Get really good at something you enjoy doing and then teach it

• I know what you’re thinking… Tony, if I’m spending time teaching, then it’s work! Yes true… but I emphasize the word “enjoy” in the above statement. Seriously, if you enjoy yoga and are really good at it, devoting a few hours per week to teaching it is not really work… because you would’ve spent that time doing yoga anyway! The only difference is you’re getting paid to do it. I teach guitar two hours a week and make $200-$300 USD a month. That amounts to about 8-12 hours of work a month (including curriculum prep time) at about $25 an hour. Not bad if you ask me…

Adding up the money I make from these three activities amounts to anywhere from a few hundred to a few grand annually… and honestly, the work doesn’t justify the cash IMO. So get crackin’!!

Today I was buying a candy bar at the convenience store, only $0.50, chump change right? Yes, but it got me thinking about how much money I’m spending at the convenience store every week… and furthermore…

How much money / assets do I own total?? i.e. what is my net worth?

So I just spent an hour updating my ginormous net worth excel spreadsheet. It basically has all my assets organized with dollar amounts for every month. I organized my spreadsheet into the following categories:

• CD accounts (Certificate of Deposit accounts)
  1. Account 1…
  2. Account 2…
  3. etc…
• Website Revenue
  1. Google ads
  2. Text Link ads
  3. etc…
• Securities Revenue (Stocks)
• Bank Account Balances
  1. Bank 1…
  2. Bank 2…
  3. etc…
• Music Revenue
• etc…

After organizing all my account balances and revenue amounts, it really gave me a very clear picture of where my income is being generated as well as how much money I have TOTAL. I highly recommend all of you to make such a spreadsheet and update it monthly (especially if you have income coming in from many sources).

Basically the gist of this revelation is that the focus of creating and marketing new products is NOT about making money or increasing your customer base. (Much) more importantly, the bottom line of it all is how to make people CARE about your product. You see… if someone doesn’t even care to notice what you’re doing/selling, then there’s SURELY no money or customers to be made. So STEP 1 = make people care. How?

I’ve comprised a short list of the top three ways to make people care. Please critique:

1. Associate yourself with something/someone that people already care about. What if my struggling rock band’s website had a quote from Thom Yorke of Radiohead, “One of the most innovative bands of 2008″? Jackpot!!
2. Create/do something outrageously ludicrous. Notice I didn’t use the word ‘unique’. ‘Unique’ these days does not necessarily attract people’s attention. Crazy things like jumping off the Taipei 101 building or OJ Simpson writing a book titled “If I Did It…” = people care.
3. If you have a lot of $$$… This is a no-brainer. Forget #1 and #2 if you have a lot of money. With money, you can basically FORCE people to care. That’s how it works in the Taiwan entertainment industry. Those with money can plaster their faces all over buses, beverage containers, advertisements, toilets, etc.

Let’s start making people care about the things that we create or publicize.

Agree or disagree?

I’m not gonna lie. It was not cheap. I could almost buy an iPod for the price. But a worthy investment in my opinion. It’s a new way to read time and the equalizer-like style is representative of my interest (music). It is also a story waiting to be told in a conversation with a new person.

I’m a pretty cheap guy in general. I don’t spend big bucks, I’d rather save or invest it in stocks or CDs. But when making this purchase a few days ago, it got me thinking about what’s worth investing in. And here’s what I’ve concluded:

Tony’s Golden Rule of Purchasing

If it is:

1. Special,
2. Within 10% of what you would expect the price to be, and
3. Your gut is telling you “buy it”,

…then it’s probably a good idea to buy it (aka. GET IT ).

I think this is a good way to think about whether or not to invest in something.

Right?

I’ve been thinking about the path to becoming a successful musician. I’m sure a lot of aspiring musicians are thinking about this 24-7. After some contemplation, here are Tony’s 5 steps to musical fame:

1. Work your ass off and become good excellent at whatever it is that you do. This is where passion kicks in. If it’s guitar, take lessons and practice many hours a day. If it’s singing, your vocal chords should be on your mind 24-7.
2. Get your name out there. Start performing. Tell your network of friends. Keep performing. Distribute your music.
3. Get noticed and signed by a good company/agent. Sign a contract with a solid company and have them invest in marketing your music. This is a pivotal point. Basically, you are looking for $$$.
4. Write hit stuff and become successful. The catalyst. A combination of luck and hard work. Get a hit out there. Become famous.
5. Sustain success. Self-explanatory.

That’s pretty much it Short and simple. #4 is key. Working your tail off touring and getting signed by some company is not too difficult as long as your persistent. But #4 is hard to control. It’s up to the public and whether the pieces fall in place for you.

I guess this applies to getting your startup noticed (or acquired by Google) somewhat too…

• Enjoyed a song from the artist on the radio
• Found the artist attractive
• Friend’s recommendation
• Saw a memorable live performance

In other words, we bought albums for the right reasons. These days, it’s much different. Here are the three primary reasons why we buy CDs:

• Don’t know how to download the music for free
• So indie or niche that the music is not available for download (you searched)
• You are buying simply to support the artist (you may already own the downloaded digital files)

Let’s focus on #3. This is very interesting. People are buying CDs simply to SUPPORT the artist, so he/she can get the royalties. It’s the same reason you would drop a few bucks in the street musician’s guitar case… Never would this have been a chief reason a person bought a CD ten years ago.

Again, I find this very interesting. Ethics is not much part of the equation I think.

Software, music, movies, images, books… more and more things are becoming downloadable everyday. Where are we headed?

The rags to riches stories of the successful bloggers on the Internet really amaze me. These guys basically sit at a computer, churn out (good content) blog posts, and reel in the big bucks. And I mean big bucks. We’re talking millions, enough dough not to have to work for an employer ever again. Let’s look at a few examples:

• Michael Arrington. He writes Techcrunch.com, a blog that features the newest tech startups in the Silicon Valley. He gets exclusive information before others and has a ginormous viewership.- Perks: He is reeling in $60,000+ per month from ads on his site.
• Robert Scoble. Robert is a technology enthusiast and one of the most read bloggers on the Internet. I had an interview with him earlier this year, lucky for me, Robert likes me =)-Perks: Robert got picked up by Microsoft to become their evangelist. He then got recruited by Podtech.net to become Vice President — he also has a show there. He recently got hired by Fast Company magazine to write his own column.
• John Chow. John provides tips to bloggers on how to make money online through advertisements and other strategies. I also chatted with him earlier this year in an episode for Talkmatic. (a good one).- Perks: John makes over $10,000 a month on his site.

These bloggers all have very strong authority on the subject that they are writing about. They are also consistent, devoted, and respond to their communities. They found a niche and destroyed all potential competitors. Sounds familiar?

It’s a business! Your thoughts?

Have you watched ‘Pirates of the Carribean’? I just watched it again recently. Remember Jack Sparrow? He said one thing that I dig much. The dialogue went something like this:

Captain of ship: “You’re just about the worst pirate I’ve ever heard of!”
Jack Sparrow:   ”Ah, but you have heard of me.”

This is a business lesson in disguise. Why? Think about it. Better yet, think about these situations:

• That one song you hate because it is overplayed and annoying.
• Rosie o’ Donnell.
• Sanjaya from American Idol fame.

Do you get it?

Especially if you’re not working for the man.

At a job:
The man sets deadlines for you, so that you can be productive during the time when the man is paying you.
At school:
Why do we have midterms, quizzes, and final exams in college? They’re deadlines to ensure that you will be productive and learn.
Video games:
Without getting past that boss in level 8, you will never get to level 9.

I’m contantly setting goals for myself because I am inherently a lazy mofo. I decided recently to try something new with a close friend:

I am telling him to set a goal and a deadline. If he doesn’t reach his goal by the deadline, he owes me $20 in cash.

Think about it. You really don’t want to give a friend $20 free. So do it. Achieve that goal. And feel good about it after it’s happened and you don’t owe anybody anything.

I challenge you to make set a goal and deadline and have a friend hold you accountable.

Anybody gutsy enough to tell me your goal? If so, leave a comment.