Another year, another amazing time at DCBKK meeting all types of entrepreneurs building cool businesses. I often find that I have some of my most interesting conversations over meals – and this year was no different.

A lot of people have asked us, since we sold our first business, are you going to start another? And the answer, precisely because of the above, is “not right now.” We’ll either buy one or invest in some. Starting them is too hard.

Over the last few months, I’ve been working on building a portable podcast studio. This process has involved ordering a lot of useless equipment (sorry Bossman!) and lots of tinkering around. But, finally, I’ve fixed on a set-up that I’m happy with.

I thought about email a lot over the past few weeks. Every morning, I watched messages trickle in and pile up. My replies were sporadic. I scanned the incoming to-dos with a mounting sense of unease.

Episode #183 of Startups For the Rest of Us was one of my favorite podcasts of the year. On it, Dan Norris said some important things. For example– you actually can launch a business in 7 Days.

Because it’s so easy to cut a crappy partnership deal, I have often quipped that “a partnership is a sinking ship.” An arrangement to be avoided if possible, and if undertaken, one to be treated like a marriage.

I was watching basketball videos on Youtube the other day and was struck by this documentary of Lebron James’ high school team. In their junior year, they choked and lost to an inferior team in the Ohio state championship. A few things struck me about the way they failed.

I’m more or less obsessed with the idea of writing for a living. Waking up every morning and building something on your own terms, from your own laptop, from anywhere in the world.

How we choose to think about money will end up (to some degree) defining how much of it and the quality of it that we receive. One of the things that’s confusing about money is the way we bake our moral attitudes into it.

When I Googled things like “how to make a great presentation” I would find a lot of great advice, but most of it was too high level. Tips on how to improve your body language and slide design were cool, but for more advanced presenters.

Seth Godin once said that reading about how to be an entrepreneur is like reading about how to have sex. That makes sense to me. Entrepreneurs read books and then go set fires with the pages.

If you want to sustain the location independent lifestyle for many years, I wouldn’t suggest using your freedom of time and mobility to travel around and see attractions.

The perspectives of this billionaire are the same ones I’m seeing being implemented by hopeful and hard-working 20 somethings– tapping away at their MacBooks, and building their first 6-figure cash flows.

I love to talk with talented people are serious about wanting to get a business off the ground. We'll discuss their marketable skills, combine them with what's going on in the marketplace, and figure a relatively clear path to significant cash flow within 3-6 months.

I’ve decided to write up my general advice here so that I can send future candidates a short resource. To be honest, part of the reason I haven’t written this down before is that I didn’t want to give candidates a guideline for how to apply to our positions. I wanted to see them in their “natural state.”

I’m happy to discuss your issue further, either in the comments or privately. Think of my response as a jumping off point (and with a grain of salt for that matter!). Thanks for reaching out and dropping me a note!

There are few questions in my career that have been so consistently complex. Even seasoned business owners seem to find hiring decisions laced with anxiety.

Ulysses Grant’s first stint in the military ended early. At the age of 32 he was forced to resign his post as a captain. Binge drinking was suspected.

Ray Dalio, who has been called the Steve Jobs of investing, wrote a fascinating PDF document called “Principles.” One thing that sticks out is Ray’s ongoing concern with “reality,” and his strategies for being as accurate as possible.

If you want to become an entrepreneur, you’ve got to get hardcore about your personal budget. I don’t have too many soft spots for over-spenders and rationalizers.