Over the past month one of the realizations I’ve made is that I’m spending too much time working IN my business and not enough time working ON my business. Part of this is to be expected being a small business owner on a new venture. I’ve had Athletic Lab open for 4 months now and in addition to the training, coaching and program design that is our core-business; I end up doing the majority of the menial tasks just to keep... 

As I’ve mentioned a couple times before in this blog I’m basically a do-it-myself startup. I have quite a few people around me who are very helpful (and I’m very grateful for their help!) but for the most part I’m like the Hedley’s from In Living Color. I am the accountant, travel agent, head coach, director of research, graphic designer, IT trouble shooter, marketer, secretary, janitor, facility serviceman,... 

I’ve now been in NC for a little over 6 months and I’ve had Athletic Lab fully operational for about 7 weeks. Business at Athletic Lab has been modest but growing steadily. In an odd twist of fate, the very things I thought I’d be counting on as major profit centers are lagging behind expectations slightly. While this is obviously not ideal, the bright side is that my business has several fairly diversified profit centers.... 

So 2 weeks ago my lease agreement was finally executed by all three necessary parties which meant it was only a matter of time before we’d be able to move my company in to our new business home. We were supposed to have already moved in on July 1 but the current tenant (the group we’re actually subleasing from) needed more time to vacate and didn’t have a hard date on when they’d be able to leave. That was good in... 

About a year ago, at the onset of the biggest recession in 30 years, I left my secure job behind to run my own business. Since that time I’ve thrown a lot of my own money at my business development. More recently, my company ended a relationship with one of our biggest long-term (but pain in the ass) contract clients. Financially, both moves don’t make a heck of a lot of sense…especially when you put the second one in... 

Once a year for the past 7 years I have done a data capture for the research I do as the USA Track & Field biomechanist for the top shot putters in the country.The data capture takes place at the US National Championships / Olympic trials and is used for quantitative 3D motion analysis that is then given to the athletes and their coaches. The process of the data collection requires meticulous standards of setup be made to ensure that... 

Earlier in the week, we also had a lot of company over to the apartment: one former HPC intern and fellow OU alumni; one of the elite athletes from my track club and his fiancé coming to find an apartment for their upcoming move to the area; and one of the other members of the club who needed a place to stay the night before a mid-morning flight out to Eugene for the USATF National Championships. It was a lot of fun having a ‘full house’... 

The last couple days I’ve been teaching at a USATF Coaches Education school and I’m exhausted. Day 1 had me teaching for 3.5 hours; Day 2 for 7 hours; and Day 3 for 3.5 hours. It worked out to 14 hours of speaking in a 44 hour period. Needless to say I’m sick of hearing myself speak and I’m sure that the students in the class are too. I’m tired physically and mentally and I feel like I need an extended vacation somewhere in a small... 

Sorry it’s been a while. Infrequent blog posting on my part means that I’ve been overwhelmed with work. The good part is that it looks like things are all finally starting to fall in to place with HPC. I found a great facility that’s actually two to three times as large as I was originally looking for and it will accomodate sport science research, athlete training, offices, and storage of the training equipment and goods... 

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio download I’m actually writing this blog somewhere over the pacific (I’m posting it now I’ve arrived). I’m on my way to Beijing to give a biomechanics lecture at the Beijing Sports University on some of the research I’ve done. I figured that the 13.5 hour flight would give me a nice opportunity to catch up on the blogging that I’ve been neglecting for the past 10 days or so. As many readers...