You see many people see Steve Jobs as an innovator, visionary and creative genius who brought the company he co-founded back to life.  To me, he was more than just that.  In order to really understand why he meant so much to me, we need to go back a few years, to MacWorld 2007.

“Every once in a while a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.”  On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs introduced us to “THREE revolutionary new products. The first one is a widescreen ipod with touch controls.  The second is a revolutionary new mobile phone.  And the third is a breakthrough internet communications device.”  “An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator. An iPod, a phone, an internet mobile communicator…. these are NOT three separate devices!”

This was part of the introduction for the iPhone and more importantly (for me), it was the turning point in my life that got me interested in technology.  It lead me down the path to study something called social media when many of my fellow colleagues at UH weren’t.  Had he not unveiled this revolutionary device, I can honestly say that don’t know where I’d be today.

Till this very day, I still watch the Keynote for inspiration.  It’s not just the introduction of the iPhone…it’s greatest sales presentation ever!  And Steve Jobs was the greatest salesman of all-time.

He had a way with words that are just magical and tantalize our imaginations.

I love Apple’s homepage paying homage to Steve.  Simple and elegant just as he preached.

One of the things that I’ve learned from him is that you don’t need to invent something…Apple didn’t invent the computer, nor did they invent an mp3 player, phone, or tablet.  What they did was made it awesome by focusing on simplicity and design.

• “Picasso had a saying: ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’ We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas…I think part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, poets, artists, zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.” – Steve Jobs

• “That’s been one of my mantras — focus and simplicity. Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.” – Steve Jobs.

Innovator.  Visionary.  Creative genius.  Let’s just call him an ICON.

Steve, you will be missed but never forgotten.  You will always be my idol and I will always strive to be like you.  RIP!

There’s a saying that as a business owner or entrepreneur you have to be willing to take risk and fail.  Sometimes you’ll fail often but with each failure comes a learning experience.

I would love to say that my first year in business ran smoothly but contrary to what many people (my friends included) think, I just barely squeaked by.  If it weren’t for a few social media consulting gigs and government bonds, I would not have made it out of my first year.  But that was the past and I’ve made changes to my business and my thought process which I’m positive will help me to thrive.

Recently, I’ve been watching two reality TV shows (well one to be exact because it seems like the other show got canceled) Bar Rescue and the Turnaround King in which an industry professional is called in to help save a struggling business.

Now, before watching these shows, I had already decided that I was going to move Sports Yoga Hawaii to a different location and focus on personal yoga training sessions.  I did a good month of soul searching and discovered what I was doing wrong and what I needed to do to make Sports Yoga Hawaii the company I envisioned.

Grant Cardone’s Turnaround King was the first show I stumbled upon and was instantly drawn to the show because they were covering a Gold’s Gym that was in serious trouble.  Watching the show I saw some of the same problems that I had and drew an instant connection.

Grant’s specialty is sales.  He’s known for customizing sales programs for organizations of all sizes.

Bar Rescue, is similar to the Turnaround King but the biggest difference is Jon Taffer is an expert on turning failing bars into a thriving one.

You may be thinking “how can a bar be similar to a fitness facility?”  Well…that’s a good question but here’s the take-a-way I got from both shows:

• Location is very important.  You need to know the demographics around your area and you need to offer those people something that fits their lifestyle.
• Focus on a few little things that truly make your business unique and sell people hard on it.
• Every business needs a sales process.  Whether it’s having people pump some iron and taking before pictures or creating a social atmosphere that keeps people there longer, there needs to be a process in place that allows you to make more money.
• Mind set!  Watching these shows, every business owner starts the company with so much passion and a big vision.  But as things go south, the passion goes and negativity starts to take over everything.

Everything starts with your mind set!  My mind set was very negative for a while.  I was constantly focusing on what I couldn’t do and I was stressing out that people weren’t coming in.  Focusing on all that negativity drained me both physically and mentally.  This led me to go off course and changed my whole business model.

After a while I came to the realization that I was focusing on all the wrong things.  Instead of looking at what I couldn’t do, I started focusing on what I could do and looked at all the positives.  This ultimately led me to part ways with what I was doing in the past and start a new.

I realized how important location was.  Initially parking was my most important concern when it came to the location but I realized that the surrounding community was even more important than that.  The Kahala space was nice, but the surrounding community was a little too old for what I had to offer and many people weren’t willing to drive to my studio.  Thus, I started to look for a space that was closer in town, that was near the major high schools.

The next step was to get my business back to what I had envisioned.  I got off track and started to offer all these different types of yoga classes just to get people to come in so I could pay the rent.  My branding was terrible.

It was right then and there that I made a commitment to myself that I was going to stick with what I had originally had planned and really focus on going after athletes.

This led me to change the logo to reflect something that was a little more athletic.

Along with the logo change I decided it would be more beneficial to focus on doing private sessions versus group sessions and put in place a sales process to help convert people.

All-in-all my first year was a good learning experience and what I’ve learned from these two TV shows is that I am on the right track.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and it’s going to take time for me to build my business but it’s reassuring to me that I’m heading in the right direction.

Since writing that post I was contacted by the Associate Editor of Lei Chic, AC.  Lei Chic is a free, daily e-mail that tells you about new shops and boutiques, the best spas and salons, new restaurants, and cool services and events in Hawaii.  AC was interested in writing an article about the company and came in for a session this past Saturday.

The article was published on Tuesday: Mat Tricks: Sports Yoga Hawaii Opens in Kahala and I saw a significant boost in traffic to my website.  A few people even signed up for the newsletter.  But that wasn’t the best part.

Alyson Helwagen the Founder of Lei Chic was kind enough to feature Sports Yoga Hawaii on her bi-weekly segment Living Lei Chic on Hawaii News Now Sunrise.  Alyson and Grace Lee from Sunrise came down to the studio on Wednesday to shoot the segment.  It aired today and here’s the clip:

http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=13049748

I am extremely honored and humbled and would like to thank both AC and Alyson for allowing my business to be featured on their website.

I know I still have a lot of work ahead of me and now’s the time for me to dig deep and really get the wheels rolling.

On July 20, 2010, I officially opened the Sports Yoga Hawaii studio in Kahala.  I had hoped that during the first week I’d get a few people to come in, check out the space, and try a session out.  I ended creating a Facebook event, invited my friends and sent a message to people who were fans of Sports Yoga Hawaii to come.  I had really hoped that a lot of my friends would come and show their support but I understood that we all have busy lives so it would be understandable if they didn’t show up.

The first week passed and a few people show up for the Grand Opening Week.  Part of my marketing strategy would be to document people’s first impressions so other people got a feel for what Sports Yoga is.  At the time, I thought this video would be a way to bring more people in.

Weeks two and three were pretty much the same.  Slow.  There were a few days where I had no sessions and I remember sitting there thinking, “what am I doing wrong?  What do I need to do to get more people to come in for a session?”  I had a couple of clients who came in consistently and I am forever grateful to those people.  But it still wasn’t nearly enough to make ends meat.

The Feldman’s, brought in a few new people, and they even managed to get Lisa Arnold, Gibb Arnold’s wife to come in for a session.

Over the course of the month, I am learning to deal with my emotions.  There’s a part of me that’s kind of depressed because I don’t have nearly enough clients to make rent yet but on the other hand I realize that I’m the new kid on the block and it takes a while to build a strong client base.

I started this company with practically no client base so to expect that I’ll have enough clients to make rent was a little unreasonable.

Despite my emotions being pulled in a thousand different direction, I know the key to my success is to stay positive and not worry about getting more people in.  The more I think about it and the more I worry about it, the more I’m going to stress, and stress isn’t going to help me at all.

So the lesson of the month: Stay Positive!

I will admit that this boy is really good but if you watch the video again, there’s one girl in the middle (with her hand on her cheek and bangs by her eyebrows) who seems like she’s just not interested.  I could be wrong…Maybe she’s mesmerized by Greyson’s performance or maybe she’s not into that type of music.  But take a look at the two girls above her (and the one in the white occasionally).  As soon as they realize this is a Lady Gaga song that they know they:

• Look at each other and smile
• Look around at other people at smile
• Look at each other again and smile

At the end of the performance when the camera is on those three ladies, they engage in a dialog (which presumably is about Greyson).

Here’s the point (and I’ve heard this said many times before): There will be a lot of people who just don’t care about you, your product, your business, etc.  But there will be a handful that do.  As business owners and marketers, it’s our job and responsibility to find these people, engage with them, and turn them into fans.

What Greyson97 should do, is find those three ladies and perform for them in the hallway, after school, etc. and have a genuine conversation with them.  Turn them into raving fans.

Just remember: Some people are just not into you, but others are.  Find them.  Engage with them.  And turn them into fans.

I joined because of my interest with new technology and I thought that it would be pretty cool to help a company develop a “jaw-dropping” phone.

Over the course of a few months I was able to take a few polls, responded to a few discussions, and when time permitted I participated in a few online live sessions.  They had a recruitment challenge where I could have invited you folks and to be honest, I didn’t invite anyone because I wanted to be the one to break the news to you folks as soon as this phone came out.

Last week I got an email from the Project Muse team asking the community to login and let them know who we thought was behind Project Muse.  It was at the same time where I started to hear some buzz about Microsoft’s Pink project, so I naturally thought that it could be Microsoft but I wasn’t entirely sure.  Then yesterday came, and they finally revealed who they were: Microsoft.

Microsoft’s newest and coolest phone the KIN is the product of over 2000 Project Muse community members insights.  I passed up the opportunity to be an Ambassador (which I am now regretting) mainly because I didn’t want to be an Ambassador of something I’ve never seen or tried before and now that I’ve seen the product and know who’s behind it, I can only hope they’ll allow us a second chance.

Here’s the two things I loved about Project Muse and Microsoft:

• They allowed a community of people to help shape the direction of the KIN
• Until recently, Project Muse remained brand neutral.  There was no mentioned of any specific brand attached to it

From an experience standpoint, we all want to say that we took part in something HUGE and Project Muse gave people that  chance.  The Project Muse team members were great (and they did interact with the community often).  What Microsoft did was nothing short of brilliance and I hope you all take a look at the KIN (ONE & TWO) and let me know what you think.

When you think about it, there are many things, factors, that shapes who we become.  These factors are different for everyone, but Gandhi is right (no surprise there…).  Our thoughts are probably the most powerful weapons we have and control that mold us into the individuals we are today.  What’s interesting for me is yoga really brought those thoughts out and it’s helping me get through this tough patch right now.  There’s something about lying in savasana that helps me relax and focus on me.

One of the things that I’ve realized is how important quotes are in my life and it’s funny where some of these quotes come from.  Just the other day I shared a quote with a friend and of all places, it came from a Disney movie.  This quote is one of the things/thoughts that is driving me today:

“What’s the one thing all great teams have in common?  Defense.  See, unlike scoring, defense never quits.  But to play great defense you need one thing above all else.  Confidence.  Listen, if you learn nothing else when you’re here, you learn this alright?  This is not about hockey.  It’s easy to be confident when you have control of the puck.  It’s very, very difficult to keep that confidence when you gotta take whatever strange bounces life throws your way.  Don’t be careless, but don’t be too careful either.  You cannot be afraid to lose.  That’s how you gain the confidence to attack the game when the puck isn’t yours.  That’s how you attack life…even when you think you don’t have any control.  And that’s how you play real defense.” – Coach Orion

As I move forward with Sports Yoga Hawaii, I know there’s a lot to be done to make this company succeed.  “The struggles I’m facing.  The chances I’m taking.  Sometimes might knock me down but no, I’m not breaking.  I may not know it but these are the moments I’m going to remember most, yeah.  Just gotta keep going.” – Miley Cyrus (yes Hannah Montana)

Coach Boone said, “I don’t scratch my head unless it itches and I don’t dance unless I hear some music.  I will not be intimidated.  That’s just the way it is.” And this is how I’m attacking Sports Yoga Hawaii.  People may say I’m crazy trying to start a business in this economic environment, but I’m not intimidated.  I just need to remember, “that the opposite of SUCCESS is not FAILURE, it’s MEDIOCRITY.” – Someone on a Podcast I was listening to.

As I welcome an intern(s) to the Sports Yoga Hawaii family I must remember, “A great player who is not a team player is not a great player.  Lewis Alcindor was a great team player.  Why?  Because his first priority was the success of the team, even at the expense of his own statistics.” – John Wooden.  (Lewis Alcindor aka Kareem Abdul-Jabbar).

Coach John Wooden also taught me, “to expect failure – the missed basket – and be ready to do what comes next: a tip-in, rebound, fast break, or something else.  Don’t just stand around waiting to see if the ball goes in.  Assume it won’t; get ready to respond quickly and correctly…In any context, basketball or business, what happens after a missed opportunity, mistake, or failure is crucial.  Perfection is impossible.  Capitalizing on imperfection – mistakes – makes all the difference.”

If you find yourself stuck in a rut just remember, “hakuna matata.  It means no worries for the rest of your days.” Lie in the savasana pose and get in touch with your inner self.  However you do it, “Cool Runnings.  It means Peace Be The Journey.”

What are some of your favorite quotes?

A lot of times people need a little push to invest in their health and it is my goal as a trainer/instructor to motivate you to continue your Sports Yoga journey.  In the beginning of your journey, we’ll primarily focus on Sport Yoga, making sure you know how to properly do each yoga pose, and as you get better we’ll be throwing in a couple of curve balls: free weights, stability balls, and other special surprises.

It has been a dream of mine to start and run a company and Sports Yoga Hawaii has definitely made this dream come true. I’ve always thought I’d be starting some type of Marketing/Advertising/Branding company, and I never thought I’d travel back to my Middle and High School years when I wanted to get into athletic training.

Please check out my website: http://sportsyogahawaii.com and sign up for a few classes, or become a fan on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/sportsyogahawaii.  And yes I do have a Twitter account: @SportsYogaHI.

One day, I was busy editing a video for a project my boss and I were working on when the COO comes into the office and throws me the Lemon.  At first I was a little shocked because I didn’t see this coming but ultimately I knew that this could happen when I pondered the decision to accept the job.

A few weeks ago I came across this documentary, Lemonade, and I instantly connected to the message.  Check out the movie trailer:

It’s been two and a half months, since getting the Lemon, and like many of the individuals in the documentary, I’ve made the decision to pursue something that I’ve always loved: helping people.

I’ve been coaching High School soccer for the last six years, and there’s no better feeling than watching your players succeed on the field and in the classroom.  Coaching is truly one of my passions.  So I knew that this was an area that I wanted to get into.  But I didn’t know where to start or what to do.  I was constantly thinking to myself, “Do I want to coach a club team?  Do I want to go back to school and get my masters in Education?”  And then it hit me.

Become a Yoga Instructor and work with athletes/individuals to help improve their athletic performance.  I had been doing yoga since May of that year, when I started playing soccer in a league (for the first time since High School).  The next day after each game, my body would be sore and I really didn’t want to move at all.  That’s when I decided to take up yoga and it has changed my life since.

It took a while but I am finally a NESTA Certified Sport Yoga instructor and plan on opening my own yoga company very soon.  The website is in the process of being built and I am ready to start helping people achieve their maximum success.

Just remember, when life throws you lemons, make lemonade.

While I am not surprised of the findings, I somewhat disagree with the fact that your photos can truly depict who you are.  There will be a lot of people who have “no shame” and will post or tag candid photos of themselves and their friends.  But there are other who are conscious about their personal brand and create a persona to portray an image that they desire.

I have a friend who “un-tags” himself in photos and asked us not to tag him in any photos because he is very conscious about his image and I don’t blame him.  Scott Monty said, “What happens in Vegas stays on Google,” referring to an image of college student doing a keg stand.  The implications Scott Monty made was if an employer did a Google search on you, and saw this picture they probably wouldn’t hire you.

I know we all want to have thousands of friends on Facebook because we all want to be seen as popular and posting candid photos of yourself may increase the likelihood of people “friending” you.  But we’re all going to reach that age where we will be conscious of our self image and the things we post.  When that happens the photos you post may not tell your whole story.  It’ll only portray the person you project.