I live a lot of my life online. Well, thats not true. I put a lot of what I am thinking online. My thoughts are shaped by three things: My life, my mood and my faith.

Lets take these out of order.

First my mood.

I am living with bipolar disorder II. I am taking two drugs, Seroquel and Trileptal that seem to be really making it easier to have stable moods. Pretty rad.

Second my life.

I do business development for a company called Lijit. I date (lately more frequently, but its something I certainly dont write specifics about. There is another person involved more often than not, so it just doesnt seem right.) I do the proverbial “hang out with friends” and spend a significant time with my two dogs, Billie and Taylor. (I do spend time with my three cats, Calin, Winston and Max, but they are cats. They are less needy.)

Third is my faith.

Its easy to say that being Jewish shapes a lot of what I do, but thats not the faith I am speaking about. That faith is the simple faith in me.

A recent fortune cookie read:

Deep Faith Eliminates Fear.

For the first time in awhile, a fortune cookie made me think.

(The other fortune was pretty good too: Dont be discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. That one relates to my dating life and my business philosophy. Perhaps I will write about that another day…)

One characteristic that is often associated with me, and many entrepreneurs, is risk taking. Its one of the characteristics that I have a hard time understanding.

Here are some of my responses to “risks” I have taken:

“So, I quit my job to start a company. It wasnt like the company was going to fail.”

“So, we were competing against several huge agencies for the deal. Is wasnt like we werent going to get it.”

“So, you walked away from a high paying job to work at a startup. It not like that startup wont be an amazing success.”

“So, you moved to DC after college with $300 and a place to stay for two months. Its not like I wasnt going to find a job and be successful.”

The list goes on.

I never see anything that I do that can be considered “risky,” because the deep faith I have in myself eliminates the fear of failure.

Read that again.

Apply it to other entrepreneurs you know.

The truth is that successful entreprenuers have a deep (not blind) faith in their own abilities to succeed. They understand their shortcomings. They know what holes they need to fill, and the types of people they need around them to be successful.

They dont take risks, becuase the outcomes are measured against the faith they have in themselves.

True entrepreneurs eliminate the reason for failure on external sources (the market, the community, the economy, whatever) and own their own failures as much as they own their own successes, because they know, their actions (or lack thereof) are solely responsible for the outcome.

Thats why there are so few real entreprenuers.

Most people are willing to take a contained risk by put up a site, write a business plan, even raise money.

But most are unwilling to jump off the cliff with only deep faith in themselves to eliminate the fear of the outcome.

If you consider yourself an entrepreneur, ask yourself this one question:

“Above all else, who do I have ultimate faith to get the job done, to make the right decision, to do the difficult things?”

What did you answer? I know mine.

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Its funny what you can learn about team work while getting beaten by sticks.

Not figuratively either.

See, when I went to college I knew I wasnt going to be able to competitively swim (I swam in high school for a number of years.) because I was “ok,” but not great, and I didnt want to put that much time into a sport.

A friend, I met in college, Darren, who was from San Diego, suggested I try lacrosse.

Lets just say that partying wasnt the first thing I got addicted to. I loved playing. I played for 15 years (I retired from playing about 3 years ago) and have coached for just over 18 years. I have coached all levels (youth, high school, college. Men and Women).

Lacrosse has been a large part of my life (my first tattoo commemorated my love of lacrosse, and memorialize my friend Jeff Cerny, who died playing lacrosse).

What are the lessons getting beaten on by sticks taught me?

1. Love What You Do. You dont have to love it every minute, but it has to be something that you love enough to continually try and improve it and your interactions with it.
2. There is ONE Team Leader. There can be many “sub-leaders” that at specific times and for specific tasks take the lead, but a team only works if there is one clear leader. This leader has only one function: To build trust. From that, the team allows the leader to make the decisions that have a major effect on the team.
3. Everyone Has a Specific Role. If you cannot articulate what your specific role is on the team, then you are useless, and will most likely be removed from the team.
4. Not Learning is Losing. The scoreboard is simply a way for simple people to determine who won. In truth, if, as a team member, you are not learning from the good and bad, you are not benefiting the team, and should re-evaluate your membership.
5. Focus on Making Everyone Else Better. Not focus on making everyone else happy. What can you do to help a team member achieve his goals? What can you not do?
6. Focus on Being the Best You Can Be. Basically, know your limitations. But push them hard. So often a hard working team member has more value than a naturally talented one.
7. Pain and Failure is Ephemeral. It sucks to get beaten. It hurts to get knocked to the ground. But its what you do next that defines your value to the team.
8. Teams Can Excel With One Fantastic Player. The truth is, that one fantastic player can push a team to achieve more than it could with the sum of the rest of its parts. If the rest of the team is willing to support the star player, the team will achieve. If the rest of the team doesnt provide support because of petty jealousy, the team will fall apart.
9. Coaches Get Things Started; Players Finish It. Coaches become extraneous pretty quickly. They can put the right players in the right positions and places, but the players must execute. If the coach forgets to the let the players play, or the players forget to let the coach coach, failure is the only outcome.
10. Have Fun. Without fun, the previous 9 things just dont matter.

If you have kids and are wondering what sport to let them play, check out lacrosse. Let them get beaten by sticks. It could be one of the greatest experiences you and your kid share.

There is a phrase, spoken mostly by “social media experts,” that I just cant stand. Can you guess what it is?

(drum roll please)

“Its not in my brand”

Yuck.

As social media continues its explosion, and more and more people are becoming “social media experts”and talking in terms of personal brand.

(BTW, “social media expert” is another complete misnomer. Have you noticed that most “social media experts” are socially awkward or inept? What they truly excel in is using the Internet as a way to relate in a non-real way. Thats why I am so impressed by video bloggers who truly just talk into a camera and express their feelings. Its the closest thing to connecting directly with people that is not hidden by social media constraints.)

(another point. I am a bit of a hypocrite here since I am blogging, not video blogging these thoughts, but to my credit, I aint no “social media expert.”)

Back to the concept of personal brand.

There are two types of branding: corporate branding, and this new concept of personal brand.

Corporate branding is simple. Its the concept of creating a good feeling about a product or service with potential customers. So have a concept of “Give the world a Coke,” is a great branding exercise. People feel good about giving and therefore feel good about Coke, with the net effect being more soda being purchased.

Personal brand has become how you present yourself to the world. What people dont realize is this simple fact:

Personal Brand is YOU.

So, there is so separation between your “personal brand” and you. Personal brand, doesnt exist. Its a fake concept, a misnomer, a way for “social media experts” to make a living.

Take for example screen names.

There are people who use screen names that are not connected to their names, when asked why, the common response is that they can “brand themselves around the screen name.” This allows them to keep the “personal” away from the “professional.”

How is this personal branding?

If personal branding is about the person, shouldnt it be about the person?

By using my name (@micah) I create no division between Micah the person and Micah the “online” person. This means that I dont have a Personal Brand, I just have me.

There are other folks who do the same online.

Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, Robert Scoble and the king of all marketers, Seth Godin, and others use their names as their online identities and allow their words to define who they are. Are they careful with their word choice and subjects, sure, but most folks are aware of the effect of their conversation with others and on others.

Personal Brand is like Coke. Its easy to get addicted to the concept of personal brand and the need to “protect your personal brand,” personally, I say enter a 12 step program and just be you.

Most of the time, you is pretty damn cool by yourself.

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