My roommate and I started the site a long time ago while I was still in college. I kept them up at night with my ramblings and we decided, just for the fun factor, to put the recordings up on the Internet for all to see. While the site itself is somewhat weird and obscure in it’s description of me, the recordings are 100% legit. I do take out the dead space in between my where my voice activated recorder picks things up.

I have not recorded myself in my sleep in sometime due to the fact that the transcription of doing so takes some time–which I generally don’t have because of all of the other things I have going on. However, because of the viral nature of the latest sleep talking episodes with the online searches for sleep talkers, it may be wise to start posting again. I did put something up there today that was from a long time ago, but is fairly new.

I hope you all enjoy as I may start posting more regularly.

~nate

There has been a lot of talk about integration with various smartphones. I spent like two hours just downloading a bunch of apps–which were mostly useless. I think my personal favorite is the Pandora app, which allows me to listen to virtually uninterupted radio of my choosing right on my phone. One thing that impresses me is the fact that the screen seems clearer than that of the iPhone. There are a couple of downsides worth mentioning. First, the storage space is somewhat minimal for music. It’s not like the iPhone where I can have like 16 Gigs–unfortunately.

Another thing I found as a downside is the physical keyboard is somewhat small for my fat little thumbs. The on-screen keyboard is much better for sending text messages and writing emails.

All-in-all, I like the stupid thing. My favorite part about it is the ability for me to communicate anytime, anywhere and in any method I want. It’s freakin’ sweet.

I will be eventually be posting some quotes from the book here on the blog. I’m almost finished with John Adams by David McCullough–I’ve been enjoying that one immensely. While he earned the Pulitzer for John Adams, I personally like 1776 the best.

Stay tuned. I just hope it won’t take me a month to get to

Mobile Marketing

No longer is mobile marketing about SMS alone. No, the mobile phone has increasingly become the pocket billboard. Mobile marketing will certainly lose its effect as the years move forward, much like email spam has, but it will continue to be a driving force for future campaigns. Opt-in messaging and localized traffic driving can be done very easily with a cell phone campaign.

Digital Signage

I, of course, have a little more reason to promote this specific market niche (I write fairly regularly at the digital signage blog), but it will continue to be a growing segment of internal and external marketing and advertising campaigns. Digital signage’s capabilities and applications are wide and expansive. They will continue to be installed rapidly into restaurants as menu boards, corporate lobbies, transportation vehicles, libraries, schools, fire stations…I could go on and on. Simply put, digital signs will, in the near future, literally inundate our lives.

Internet

Whether it’s Pay-Per-Click, organic search, or local listings, getting your business recognized on the web can be as hard or as easy as you make it out to be. In many cases, lack of knowledge here is the biggest barrier to getting things done. For instance, I have a friend that runs a homeschool site. I spent 3 hours with him one Saturday a while back, talking about how we could improve his site in the rankings and literally double his companies revenue–which is already fairly significant. Whether it’s local search or targeting your specific long-tail keywords, web marketing will be essential going forward.

These three fairly new and innovative digital marketing mediums can and must implemented in 2010. It’s not an “everybody else is doing it” mentality, but more of a “necessity is the mother of invention” take on what should and should not be done to promote your brand.

What is Data Multicasting?

Multicasting involves a one-to-many or many-to-many relationship and allows for increases in efficiency in use of network resources when it comes to packet distribution. Multicasting can use the following protocols: MOSPF, CBT, IGMP, PIM-DM, PIM-SM, and BGMP.

Multicasting can be used in the following applications:

• Network Configuration
• Content Distribution
• Shared Apps:
• Information Distribution
• Multipoint Distribution: which includes, but is not limited to anycasting, unitcasting, and broadcasting.

The reason for the prediction:

“unlike Apple, they [Google] license their OS to multiple OEMs”. — Ken Dulaney, VP of Gartner.

Sherwood again quoted Dulaney,

“Android’s market share stood at a paltry 1.6 per cent during Q1 2009, but will grow to 14.5 per cent by the time Q4 2012 rolls around, Gartner forecast, based on an estimated 522m smartphones shipping worldwide during the period.

As a result, Android will move from its current position as the sixth most popular operating system for smartphones to become the second most popular, Gartner said.”

This is very possible. The market of smartphones has not even come close to reaching the mainstream yet.

Explain how your past accomplishments have prepared you for the MBA Program.

As an undergraduate, two friends and I explored means of funding our education. The resulting business venture was a franchised Dish Network retailer. From conception to implementation we were able to grow our small start-up to nearly 30 employees in less than four months. Although oftentimes requiring 18-hour workdays, our business was profitable within 30 days and gleaned first year annual revenues in excess of $650,000–a feat which helped us earn 2nd place at BYU’s coveted Entrepreneur of the Year competition.

During this time I also vigorously pursued a career in dentistry. Although I later learned I lacked passion for dentistry, the pursuit was a worthwhile endeavor which taught me a great deal about passion and work. As part of my pursuit toward dentistry, I enrolled in all the necessary undergraduate classes required for dental school matriculation. Compounded with these science courses, I also chose to remain a business management major. As part of my time spent as a hopeful dentist I participated in shadowing opportunities, including a self-funded, two week excursion to Honduras where I assisted a number of dentists, providing free dental work for the underprivileged of that country. Almost a month after returning from Honduras I excelled on the Dental Admissions Test (DAT), scoring in the 90th percentile.

Immediately following graduation, I even worked as a prosthodontist assistant. However, after several months of assisting, my eyes were opened. I realized dentists spent much more time working in their business than on their business. I also came to the realization that I had had more passion for my entrepreneurial pursuits than I did for dentistry. Consequently, after being accepted to several dental programs, I reluctantly declined the offers due to my lack of passion for the field. I am not one to recant progressive decisions, but I knew I would not be happy or passionate as a dentist. I had more passion for previous “means-to-an-end” businesses I had started than I did for dentistry. Knowing I would never be a leader in my field unless I possessed passion for my work, I knew I had to make the difficult decision of recanting the offers of acceptance. This was an extremely difficult juncture in my life and a defining moment.

Since my difficult decision, I have spent two years with Hughes-owned Helius, Inc.–a digital media development firm based in Lindon, UT. This firm provides software management solutions in digital media, digital signage, and corporate communications. At Helius, I have acted as the National Accounts Manager, working with both the sales and marketing team. I demonstrate and sell complex content management software solutions and help to manage market strategy for seizing customer opportunities.

As another current entrepreneurial side project, I also manage the largest digital signage industry portal at digitalsignage.com. This asset helps glean regular and viable leads for the digital signage industry worldwide. As part of the effort, I manage an industry-related news feed, write regularly on the site’s blog, and manage the litany of leads the site produces from its large user-base. Such leads are sold on a contractural basis to numerous companies around the globe, producing a nice residual revenue stream for myself and my parnters. Since the site’s official launch in early 2009, it has been the recipient of over 8,000 monthly visitors. In addition, with the help of two partners we have successfully gained banner advertising contracts with Intel, Visix, Deploid, and Hughes.

While my experiences may have ranged across very different fields, I believe my diversity of experiences, and particularly my pursuits of the “paths less traveled,” display my unique ability to succeed at virtually any task. In addition, my leadership acumen gained through entrepreneurial management, coupled with my love for learning, give me a very unique foundation from with which to build.

3. If you were not pursuing the career goals you described in Question 1, what profession would you pursue instead? (For example, teacher, musician, athlete, architect, etc.) How will this alternate interest contribute to your effectiveness in solving multidisciplinary problems? (300-word maximum)

I love to wrestle, not the farcical Hulk Hogan, WWE garbage, but real wrestling. I have always enjoyed and had an immense passion for it. If I were confident in my ability to succeed as a world-class, Olympic-level wrestling superstar my name may have been readily recognizable. But alas, I have chosen to assuage risk by following a more “safe” career path. Without the innate conservative need I have to temper career risk, I would whole heatedly pursue a career as a competitive wrestler. Out of necessity, such passions have been transferred into other career avenues.

Like any successful venture, wrestling requires repetitive practice for flawless execution during performance. In the necessity of the moment, the successful wrestler does not make decisions, he reacts expeditiously from a repository of moves and counter-moves he’s practiced ad nauseum. It has been wisely said that 90% of human activity is based on habit and reaction, not deliberation. Hence, experience and repetition are often more indicative of the ability to solve multidisciplinary issues quickly and efficiently than almost any other form of appraisal. And, those who are impassioned about what they do, gain experience rapidly because more leisure time is spent creating effective reactionary habits to tasks. Conclusively, one could argue wrestling helps create the discipline necessary for the type of repetition which breeds perfection. Tackling multidisciplinary objectives can–after sufficient intelligence has been measured–best be gauged by the admixture of passion, fervor, and exertion.

4. Describe your experience during a challenging time in your life. Explain how you grew personally, either despite this challenge or because of it. (300-word maximum)

Almost immediately following my graduation from college, I was accepted to a couple of dental schools. I had, despite my business major, heavily prepared myself to enter the dental profession having taken 40 credits of extra science courses unrelated to my major, scored highly on the dental admissions test, and interviewed at nine schools across the country. Providentially, I decided to work for a dentist in the interim between my undergrad and and graduate work. This experience not only opened my eyes to what the dental profession meant, but helped me recognize an innate need to follow passions outside of the dental field.

I am not one to recant progressive decisions, but I knew I would not be happy or passionate as a dentist. I had more passion for previous “means-to-an-end” businesses I had started than I did for dentistry. Knowing I would never be a leader in my field unless I possessed passion for my work, I knew I had to make the difficult decision of recanting the offers of acceptance. This was an extremely difficult juncture in my life and a defining moment. During my undergrad, I had burned the midnight oil almost daily in very difficult classes, only to treat it as naught and move into the unknown.

Since making this difficult decision, I have found other niches of interest and passion. As a result, I am now more fully determined to return to school and reach my full potential as a starter and manager of successful businesses.