Xobni Outlook Add-on (Application)

A week or so ago Xobni was talked about here on Lifehacker. It is a great add-on for those of us who use outlook. I have outlook 2007 setup for all of my business e-mail so I can use it in conjunction with the calender, to-dos, and contacts that outlook seems to integrate well. I know that many out there hate outlook with a passion, but I have somewhat grown to like it. I like the idea of one program to do all I guess, but recently I have been experimenting with the idea of using all web based apps for personal use such as gmail, remember the milk, jott, and Sandy. I have been so far pleased with these also.

Now back to what we were talking about. Xobni is currently a invite only beta. I have 5 invites to give away still so if anyone would like one feel free to leave your e-mail in the comments section and I will send one your way. Xobni offers you gmail like e-mail through outlook with conversation type threads, better e-mail search and more. Here are some of the things it offers:

1) Lightning fast email search
2) Threaded conversations
3) Useful social networking features
4) Quick attachment discovery
5) Automatic phone number extraction

If you are an avid outlook user such as myself I would suggest giving Xobni a try for yourself. I have been very pleased so far!

Looking Forward to 2008

Hey everyone. It's been a while since I've posted. School is back in session and my girlfriend's Dad's restaurant is finally up and running so now I have a chance to hopefully get back into a routine!

As I look toward 2008 I think it is going to be a great year. 2007 was pretty good, but as I look forward to the coming year I see many changes that have been in my life. I have moved off campus and into a nice little apartment in the historic district of Bay City. It seems so different than the campus lifestyle. No roommates, people running through the halls at 4 am, no 'floor pranks' etc. I miss it in some ways, the only thing I find myself on campus for are classes. It is a much more grown up feeling. I am now able to have a small 'office' in my bedroom which helps me to keep much more organized, as well as a real place to call mine, without having to move out for Christmas break and such.

I am also getting into my upper level classes and am enjoying them much better than the gen. eds. It is so much more focused on what I want to do in life than studying about history, earth science and such. While I do find this somewhat interesting, I would much rather be in a 3 hour class about marketing and management. I am still somewhat undecided in which direction I want to go once I finally get my diploma, so this is one thing that I am going to be really focusing on and praying about in the coming year.

With that, I just want to say I look forward to 2008!

Feel free to leave comments about what you are looking forward to in this coming year

Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour

Last fall we had the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour come present at SVSU. This was an awesome opportunity to hear from some of the top entrepreneurs in the country. They have a list of their "tour" stops on their website, and if there is one anywhere near you, I highly suggest you go check it out. Michael and Sheena are great people and are dedicated to spread the idea of entrepreneurship to young people. I thought I would highlight some of the things I took away from the tour.

One of the main ideas that was stressed was the idea of luck=hard work + keeping your eyes open. Luck is a result of these aspects, and acting on opportunities that are given to you. If your company happens to become a fortune 500 company, it is not just luck, it is taking advantage of prime opportunity.

In business there are key points to remember.

• Never Get attached to a Sunk Cost. Period. A sunk cost is gone, and there is nothing you can do about it, so pick yourself up and move on.
• Learn From Others Failures. Your almost never the first at something. Network with others in the field and learn from the mistakes they have made. If you become close with them you will learn what to do and not do. One example is I am part of a pro dj message board and have learned countless tips and information from others in the field.
• Stick to Your Best Friends. They will be the ones to tell you how it is and support you throughout. They will believe in what you are doing. You can't go at anything alone, and you need that network of support to make it through.

Another key aspect is the need for building a strong team. The members of your team need to share the same vision as you do. If they don't share the same vision they won't have the same drive for reaching your ultimate goal. There are 4 types of people:

• Don't Believe=Terrible Performer
• Don't Believe=Exceptional Performer (these are the worst kind because they seem to work great but don't strive for the ultimate goal)
• Believe=Not good performer (these people are trainable, as long as they have the vision, you can make these people work!)
• Believe=Exceptional Performer (These are the best kind!)

You should make your team out of the last two types of people. When finding you team you need to make sure you are persistent and don't be afraid to ask. One of the best methods to finding team members is to just E-mail them and ask! You will be surprised at how many will say yes and would love to help you out with your endeavor. Also, don't be afraid of rejection. As an entrepreneur rejection is something you will have to face a lot of. It may take you asking 100 or more venture capitalists before you meet one that believes in you and says yes.

In my next post I will talk a little more about what I learned concerning customers, Mentors, and Innovation. Leave me some feedback in the comments section.

Reflecting on a year past

When I was reading my rss feeds this morning I came across a post by Leo over at Zen Habits titled "5 Powerful Reasons to Make Reflection a Daily Habit, and How to do it". This post really got me thinking.

How many of us go through our daily lives never looking back and reflecting on what we've done in the past. How many of us look at our mistakes and figure out ways never to do them again? Mistakes are a part of everyone's life, and that is how we grow as human beings, but what happens if we never assess the situation?

I have never been much of the journaling type. It always bored me to death. Why do I need to write all the stuff down? One of my goals this year is going to be going against my norm and try to start a regular journaling routine, whether it is in a paper notebook or here on the blog. One good way I've found to start this would be using the One Sentence Journal Method by Gretchen Rubin at The Happiness Project.

One of the main things that got me thinking about journaling, other than Leo's post, is the fact that I lost both of my grandfathers in 2007. Unfortunately I was only really close to one of them but both losses were very hard on me. As I was going back and looking on the times that we have spent together I realized it is hard for me to remember everything. I get the feeling that I wish I could remember, but I just can't. I found this to be almost daunting. My grandfather was a huge part of my life and I'm sure I will discuss him more in further post. He was one of the most organized and focused people I have ever known. I think I get many of my compulsive behaviors from him.

To close this out, I want all of you to look at this year and reflect on the things that happened. The good and the bad. Then you should challenge yourself to reflect in the coming year. Find your own method of doing this whether it is a blog, a moleskine notebook, livejournal, or whatever else, but take time to reflect. I will be attempting it this year and I look forward to seeing how it helps me be a better person.

Wishing you all a blessed and safe new years. I look forward to 2008!

Welcome to my new blog!

Hello to the blogging world. This is my first attempt at a blog so i thought I would start this out by introducing myself and the reasons I am doing this.

My name is Lance Hill and I am a Michigan native. Michigan is a beautiful place to live with beautiful landscapes, lakes, rivers with great opportunities to hunt, fish, boat, snowboard/ski, and more. I have recently moved from the Traverse City area down to the Saginaw/Bay City area to attend Saginaw Valley State University and I am beginning to realize how much we take advantage of the beauty of Northern Michigan.

I have recently been very intrigued by reading peoples blogs and figured I would exercise my writing skills and start a blog of my own. You can expect to find postings on a variety of subjects such as productivity, business, entrepreneurship, life hacks, and some random postings. I already have a few posts saved up that I will be posting in the near future.

So where does the title "Ramblings of a College Entrepreneur" come from? Well currently I am in my 3rd year at SVSU majoring in Marketing and minoring in Entrepreneurship. I have been always been fascinated with the idea of being my own boss and running companies. At 15 years old I started my first company, Sound Bytes Entertainment, which my business partner and I have molded into one of the top sound, lighting, and DJing providers in Northern Michigan. I'm sure you will hear me talk about this much more in future postings.

I hope all of you enjoy my postings and I look forward to hearing your comments!