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The Rise of the Angel Employee Class

9/5/2019

I recently finished Paul Graham’s book “The Launch Pad” where he states several times the best time to start a company is when you’re in your early to mid 20’s. Essentially, when the only responsibility you have is to yourself. I thought, “Boy, that sounds about right and that’s what I did.” Then I stumbled upon a Business Insider article by Sahil Lavingia where he talked about Angel Employees and how it’s a terrible path to wealth considering how the equity packages are structured. Based on my experiences, I wanted to provide some color and suggest that there is an ever growing pool of Angel Employees who should indeed be celebrated and rewarded.

Paul was certainly right based on my history. I started my first company at 19 yrs old, my second at 23 yrs old, and co-founded my 3rd at 25 yrs old. While my second had a successful exit, the third imploded four weeks before my wedding day. Shortly thereafter, we got pregnant and my priorities immediately shifted. While I certainly had the itch of the startup life, taking the risk with a young family at home just wasn’t practical anymore especially living in Silicon Valley.

So, I started looking for early stage startups where I could cover the basics of living standards but still feel the thrill of startup life and perhaps get some upside on equity while making cash along the way. Additionally, with two successful startups under my belt and earning my “Silicon Valley MBA” with the crash and burn of my third, I certainly felt there was some additional value to bring to the table.

My first endeavor was WePay which is a payment startup that competed with Paypal. I joined as an Account Executive on the Sales team right before the Series B funding round and the value at the time was around $60M. I stuck around for a little over a year and certainly agree with Lavingia that the equity offered was not compelling enough to keep me around...which was a shame considering my position we should move to a SaaS based payment platform which was the direction WePay ultimately took and recently got acquired by Chase for $400M. While I made cash while there, the equity payout as a result of the Chase purchase was certainly a nice Christmas bonus.

I moved to another payment startup post Series B funding called Braintree Payments which got acquired by Paypal just 6 months into the Enterprise Account Executive role. While I missed the equity payout and my options got moved to RSUs (hey, that’s the way the cookie crumbles) it was validating to know there is a world where my previous founder experience can help me pick the winners - or maybe it was just dumb luck. After working for Paypal for about a year, I had enough of that big company stuff.

I then joined Segment as employee 17 as the first dedicated salesperson the company ever had. Here is where I disagree with Lavingia that not all Angel Employee’s can/will get the short end of the stick and where a startup might have done it right - at least with me anyway. I joined shortly after the Series A round with a $70M valuation. I’ve been there for five years at the time of writing this and the company now has a valuation of $1.5B. At the time of the Series C with a $600M valuation, I personally contributed to 42% of the Business Tier ARR (annual recurring revenue) that year, 26% of the overall Business Tier ARR company wide and if we factor in self-service to the total ARR, the number settles at 19% total company ARR. Simple math would suggest I helped drive $114M toward the overall valuation. Am I getting even 1% of that slice, not exactly but based on my Angel Employee position I do feel I’m getting a pretty fair share and feel good with what I contributed. Should I exit based on the current $1.5B valuation, I wouldn’t be able to retire but would certainly have a nice cushion. Should the company exit at say $6.5B (similar to Mulesoft), I could “self-retire” as I call it and likely be set for life. So, am I getting the short end of the stick? Only if the company falls off a cliff...otherwise, doesn’t feel that way to me as an Angel Employee.

So why should the Angel Employee be celebrated and rewarded? Risk vs reward yes, but more importantly impact. Someone once said the first 25 employees make up the culture of the company and while that’s true - I’d argue the first 25 have the biggest impact. When founders can recruit and retain talented individuals that have entrepreneurial experience, understand what is takes to get a startup off the ground, scale the startup, and drive revenue in the right direction it can have a significant positive effect on the overall success of the company and the commensurate valuation associated with a startup’s success. These are the folks that give their blood, sweat, and tears. They bleed your company’s colors, take ownership as if it they were a founder, and make sacrifices for the good of the company. So why not reward them with an equity package that makes them feel like an owner? It worked for me and is a major contributing factor to my dedication to the company.

While cap tables can influence founders ability to reward early employees - it would behoove them to not take equity for granted as part of the compensation plan and invest in the team members that can help drive the business forward in all regards. Feeling like an owner is more powerful than any other motivator for the Angel Employee class and shouldn’t be reserved just for a future Exec-Level hire who will wait to join the company until the risk is reduced and there is a parachute package. In fact, I’d argue Angle Employee’s should be treated the same as those future C-Level hires, if not better, because if the company doesn’t get off the ground...well, there will be no opportunity to dole out those reserved stock options as the company simply won’t exist.

30-minute Comedy Break

3/5/2019

Back in 2001, my family had a reunion after a 10-year gap and I was meeting a lot of family members I barely knew. One such member was my cousin Gaetana. We all had an amazing time and laughed for what seemed like all weekend. Shortly after, Gaetana called me and asked how I kept such high spirits, I replied with “Well, I watch The Simpson’s like four times a day.” Back then, I was in college so I obviously had a lot of free time. Also, I just came off of a psychology 101 course which we reviewed a case study on a man who had cancer and used laughter to help him beat the disease. So, I figured it was a pretty good idea.

It wasn’t the particular show – The Simpson’s – that put me in such great spirits but more so the concept that laughter is a positive influence in one’s life and comedy is a major source of laughter. This isn’t a profound statement or anything as many sales books speak to keeping a positive state of mind. Jeffery Gitomer quotes in his book – The Sales Bible: “Make them laugh, make them buy.” He also mentions how all things being equal, people buy from those they like and all things being not-so-equal, they still buy from those they like. So, what’s the best way to get people to like you – make them laugh!

While having 2+ hours a day available while in college, that’s definitely not realistic in the working world. More to the point, especially in Sales, it’s far too easy to let the pressure and stress of the day-to-day suck the positive energy right out of you and that can of course lead you down a very unsuccessful spiral. So, what’s one way to keep the positive energy up and maintain high spirits?

I’m a firm believer in the “30-minute comedy break.” Essentially, carving out at least 30 minutes a day to watch, listen, read, etc., something that makes you laugh. Whether that’s jumping into in a conference room and spinning up a few YouTube clips or sneaking in your favorite comedy sit-com on your commute into the office, doesn’t really matter. The point is to dedicate time each and every day to make sure you’re laughing and keeping your positive state of mind. Why is that important in Sales?

Who would you rather buy from – the person who makes you laugh, feel comfortable, and has a positive outlook on life or someone who is short, stressed, and maybe even pressuring you as their negative framework feels more like a late night news reporter? The answer is pretty straightforward but again, it’s all too often overlooked as the daily grind starts to take its toll. This also helps holistically as you interact with co-workers, family members, and even strangers on the street.

Team, Product, Hustle – What you need to master to succeed in your new gig

8/2/2018

I’ve recently been helping to onboard a plethora of new hires to our sales team and have noticed a very common trend among the more successful account executives (AEs) who ramp up fast and start to produce.

When I meet with a new hire for the first time, I always challenge them with the old African proverb which most people have never heard. I myself learned about it in Asia of all places. It goes like this- “When the sun raises in Africa, it doesn’t matter if you’re the Lion or the Gazelle, you better start running your ass off.” And I always follow-up with “This is Africa (T.I.A.) – every startup is.” The purpose of this orientation is to ensure everyone is giving 110% to the company and hustling as hard as they can. While that certainly is a major factor, I’ve learned along the way that the truly best sales professionals need three fundamental foundations to maximize their effectiveness – Team, Product, then Hustle.

Why is Team so important – because Teamwork Definitely Makes the Dream Work! Seriously, every deal whether small or large takes a team to execute. While larger deals require larger teams, rarely is any deal closed by a single, superhero Account Executive. As a new AE, it is critical to take the time to meet every member of the team, even those who are not on the immediate team, to develop a strong working relationship. All too often, an AE is focused on passing their sales cert so they can get out there selling - which makes sense - but that’s like flying through boot camp only to get to the front line of battle without a gun. Yes, you’re at the front line but you didn’t take the time to stop by the armory to meet the sergeant who issues firearms. So now, you need to go back to the armory and introduce yourself, likely in a sheepish manner, to ask for something – in this case your gun. And it won’t be the last time, your gun will break, you’ll need a different type of weapon along the way, etc. As is the case in sales, an AE tends to “go back” and ask for something from the company to ensure that a deal closes. This could be simple things like a discount for a multi-year contract, or no use of logo, etc. but in other cases, it’s something like a new product feature or an extension on a current feature that isn’t par with the market. If you haven’t taken the time to learn who does what within the organization, how those teams are structured, how they work, etc. – meeting the needs of your prospect to get the deal over the line is going to be very difficult and potentially could even kill your deal. I’ve seen deals die simply because someone was afraid to ask or thought they couldn’t meet the request so never even tried. Having a strong team dynamic and professional relationships in place will avail such concerns and at least give you the opportunity to work with the right folks to meet the needs of your prospect.

Why is Product so important – well, sure, if you don’t know what you’re selling then you’ll lose all credibility with the prospect and ultimately the sale. That’s fairly well known. However, what I see with most new AEs is they only take the time to learn the product on the surface – just enough to get through the first sales meeting and then let their Sales Engineer (SE) take it from there. While you can skid by on that for a bit, you won’t close any monster deals that way and you’ll flatten out. What the best AEs do is learn the product, sure, but then learn all the Use Cases the product solves and explain why their product is the best tool to solve for those Use Cases. You see, most prospects actually really only care about the end result, what they can do with the product, and how it will help move the needle. The best way to communicate this is through Use Case stories – everyone loves stories of course. However, if you explain a Use Case and someone asks, “that’s awesome, how does your product achieve that,” and you have a blank stare on your face…..boom, you just lost the deal because now you’ve lost credibility. So, why is it so important to learn about the Product……so you can learn the Use Cases and explain them both from a business perspective and also a technical perspective when challenged.

Why is Hustle so important – because you either eat or get eaten….T.I.A. If you need any more explanation on this point – maybe you shouldn’t be in sales :-)

Before you send that Proposal

4/27/2016

You’ve done all your research before the first sales call. You know what their business is all about; their economic drivers, their KPI’s, what their potential pain point is and why they’re talking to you. You even looked up your prospect on LinkedIn and found a few common connections. You’re completely confident before taking that first call with the prospect and you’re ready to blow their socks off.

Then, you take the call and true to form you learn everything about their business needs. You learned more, dug deep, and find out what the ever-elusive compelling event is and the timing around bringing your solution on-board. The prospect is excited and you think, “oh man, this is a real qualified prospect and I think it’s a right fit.” Now you’re just as excited as the prospect and he/she says, “can you send me a proposal,” you say, “of course, I’ll get it to you right away.” STOP! You’ve just made a terrible mistake! Here’s what you likely don’t know from a first call.

First of all, do they really want to buy your product? Is this truly the solution they’re looking for or did they just get excited because the passion and enthusiasm you have in your voice transcended the phone line and they’re riding your energy. Are they the economic buyer? Will they sign on the dotted line or someone else? Who else is involved in the decision making process? What is the process for bringing a solution like yours into their organization? What criteria must be met for all the stakeholders to sign off on this deal? Who are the other stakeholders?

As you can see, there is a lot more work that needs to be done here and if you blindly send off a proposal without truly understanding the landscape your prospects operates in; you’re setting yourself up for failure. You’ll send off that proposal which outlines your offering, your price, etc., and then you’ll hear the sound of crickets similar to that of a warm summer’s night.

I was once guilty of this myself and I’ve seen this happen all to often with other sales folks; especially when you’re selling a high-ticket item. The reality is it takes a lot of effort and time on your end to craft a proposal that meets the needs of this specific prospect. More to the point, once you submit that proposal you’re pretty much locked into that price; even if you uncover later that there is a lot more work needed to support this account. So, avoid that pain of disappointment and pile the onion back now to see if you’re going to be making onion soup for dinner or just tearing up after the first cut.

Here’s my response: “Sure, I’d be happy to send you a proposal. I have a few questions first. I’d like to establish that this is truly the product you want. If I told you the product was $1, would you buy it today?”

Prospects tend to get thrown off by this question. “It’s only $1?” Of course it’s not, but what you’re doing here is saying that the money isn’t relevant at the moment. What needs to be established is that no matter what the price, this is the right product at the right time. I’m not saying price is a myth; it’s real and deals do get killed because of price. What I’m saying is that the business case needs to be identified and solved first, before getting to price.

This gets the prospect thinking about the check boxes mentioned above – i.e. who else needs to be involved, what does success look like internally, who will sign off on this, etc. Now you’ve challenged the prospect and you’re getting them to think about if this is truly the right product or if they’re just trying to get a price so they can qualify YOU! I once had an evaluator tell me, “I can’t even take this to my boss based on the price in this proposal.” We ended up doing the deal with her company. Why you ask? Because the business case was strong and that is what ultimately matters.

This tends to be an assertive approach and akin to The Challenger Sale. It’s an approach that most prospects are not accustomed to when soliciting bids with vendors, so you may get some pushback. If that happens, it’s okay to verbally give them a ballpark number because you don’t want to seem like you’re hiding something and being upfront/honest is the forefront of a long-term relationship. Also, this is a good opportunity for you to do some additional qualifying before you go do all the work associated with that proposal.

Say something like, “our standard pricing for a deal like this is $ABC” or “based on what you’ve told me, I suspect this would be around $XYZ” or “in the past, we’ve done similar deals like this for $123.” However, always follow that up with “of course, each business is unique so this is just a general ballpark and the price could be higher or lower based on your exact needs and requirements.” Again, not locking yourself into anything specific that could come back to bite you.

Once you’ve pumped the breaks and slowed things down a bit, the prospect will start thinking about what he/she needs to do internally to move forward. Typically, the result of this type of dialogue will lead to a follow-up call with other stakeholders. That next meeting is the critical moment for you to determine if there is a real deal here and warrants the work of a lengthy proposal with a price tag. It may turn out that there is no deal to be had.

The good news is, if there is a deal here, you’ve made it far enough to set appropriate expectations so when you send your proposal it will have the backing of multiple stakeholders and the conversation will become about “how do we make this happen” verses “should we even do this?”

You FLIPPIN’ get what you FLIPPIN’ pay for!

2/27/2016

I bought my wife a Canon XL1 camera for Christmas so I could record her live singing performances on Sunday mornings at church. I ended up finding a used one online on Amazon for half the price and I figured “it’s basically the same thing right.” Boy, was I wrong.

The camera arrived late which wasn’t the end of the world, I have a very understanding wife, but it was a little annoying. When I tested it out, the flipping thing didn’t record! It didn’t capture any video at all. I was pretty furious but figured it was just that particular camera; not systemic. So, I packaged everything back up and returned it - paying $40 out of my own pocket for return shipping and waiting weeks for the refund.

Once I received the refund, I bought a similar used camera from a different vendor this time and tried it out right away to make sure it worked. Thank God, this one did. So, finally, I was able to start recording my wife singing on stage.

Once I used up the first 60 minutes of recording I went to export the data. What? I need a FireWire cable? It didn't come with a FireWire cable. That’s okay I thought, I’ll just swing by a BestBuy and pick one up. What? BestBuy doesn’t sell FireWire cable anymore? How ridiculous is that? Now, I have to order it online for $15 and wait for it to come in the mail.

About a week later I receive the cable. Yes, I can finally download the recordings. I open the package and proceed to plug into my MacBook Air. What? I don’t have a FireWire plug on my MacBook? Oh boy, I thought, this is really starting to become frustrating. So, now I have to order a FireWire to USB cable online for another $15 and wait another week.

It finally arrives; I plug it in and NOTHING. Turns out, you can only download photos through a USB port. What? Now I have to order a Thunderbolt to FireWire converter online for $40. By now, in addition to rotating through 2 different cameras I’ve spent $70 on stupid cables. It’s been two months since I made that first purchase and I have absolutely nothing to show for it.

Look, we all know the saying and we never think it’s going to happen to us….so let me say it another way. You FLIPPIN’ get what you FLIPPIN’ pay for. I’m replacing the word I want to say with FLIPPING because I ultimately don’t know who is going to read this.

Morel of the story – don’t be FLIPPIN’ cheap, maybe that’s why I’ve been a MAC/iPhone guy for years now, and I’m lucky to have such an understanding wife (even for a Jersey girl:-).

Transaction Relationship vs Relationship Transaction

2/22/2015

What’s the difference between the professional salesperson and the fly by night sales guy? What’s the difference between the sales person that everyone loves and the person that gives all other sales folks bad names and makes tech developers absolutely hate us? The difference is understanding the relationship between the transaction.

I recently on-boarded a new customer to Segment that I had actually closed when I was at my previous company, Braintree Payments. The new customer is famous in the tech world and is notorious throughout the tech world as being one of the hardest companies to work with. They have a very “not made here” mentality and vendors often run into the cultural challenges of the internal dynamics.

However, when I approached them to take a look at Segment and my exciting new gig, I was welcomed with open arms. In fact, all the folks I worked with previously were happy to see me and looked forward to working with me again. I was surprised and honored, to be honest.

When I think about my first transaction with this particular company, I came to realize that I invested heavily in the relationship while still maintaining a professional status which allowed me to not only create a great partnership but also allowed me to close the deal, making both ends of the stakeholders happy and satisfied. I was friendly and kind, but not so much so that I crossed over into the “friend zone.” I was honest and fair and did everything I could on the business side to get them the best possible commercial terms based on my limitations and communicated clearly that I did so.

Often times, I see so many sales people think only about their immediate satisfaction and trying to squeeze every single penny out of the transaction. The usual suspects are typically high-pressure sales tactics, trying to push a specific agenda, diving deep for those “one liners” like they’ll actually help to close the deal – which is a bit sad. At the end of the day, when you’re selling for growth, selling in the tech world and in the micro-bubble known as Silicon Valley, those type of shenanigans are quickly dismissed.

What people ultimately value and respect is when you provide a great product at a fair price and that you’re as straight up as possible. And if you can offer the best commercial terms (price, terms, conditions, etc.) and make it known that you have fought hard to get the best terms, people, respect and remember that. They come to trust you and now you have relationship in place and that you can take anywhere – which is the ultimate compliment to a professional salesperson.

Patience AND Persistence

6/15/2014

Shortly after we moved into our new Braintree office in San Francisco, the team decided we needed to name the conference rooms. They were nice enough to lovingly name the room I spend half my day in the “Shark Tank.” Mostly because this is where I lock myself in, pick up the phone, and make cold calls for 3-4 hours a day almost every single day; also because my colleague Pat once drew a shark eating my head on the clear glass window.

Cold calling is by far the hardest and most mentally straining activity associated with sales. This reminds me of what it takes to be successful as a sales person. What I have come to realize over the years is that a good salesperson knows how to balance patience and persistence!

When I think about some of the biggest deals I have closed, they’ve mostly started with a very persistent cold calling session. But once I made a connection and established a relationship, it usually took months (if not years) to actually close the deal. When I think about my first company – Phastcash.com – it took us 6 months to land our most profitable paying customer. When I think about my second company – GEP – we literally started the conversation 15 months before the first group from Russia actually landed at SFO.

At PowerBeam I sold to the CTO at Honeywell, top executives at Duracell, AT&T, Samsung, etc.; all of which took months to close. However, the biggest development deal we did was with the audio group at Logitech. What was the sales cycle on that deal? Over 2 years of conversations and dialogue before we actually got a check. But it was a big check and the project we did had the potential to be a real game changer. The most enjoyable development deal we did, of course, was with Apple; once they decide to do something they do it quickly and efficiently.

Even when I was at WePay, which had a typical sales cycle of just a few weeks, I landed one of the biggest and fastest growing accounts of the 2012 calendar year by spending 5 months and dozens of follow-ups with a prospect that others would have just written off after a few “no response” calls.

In my opinion, one needs to be super aggressive and persistent in making that first connection and actually getting someone on the phone. However, once you make contact and start to develop that relationship you want to show a level of professionalism that is respectful to their timelines and also displays a sense of confidence on your end. If you are still very aggressive to move the deal along and become “annoying” you run the risk of looking like someone who NEEDS the deal. There is an old saying – a broke salesperson stinks. Don’t stink – that’s why you take a shower everyday. So once you have them interested, slow down and move foreword wisely.

Patience also shows your experience and maturity. Anyone that has sold to Fortune 500 companies knows that these deals tend to be complex, involve multiple layers with several decision makers, and take time to become a priority within the business unit. If you don’t understand this, you can come off as naïve and turn off your prospects. Also, remember, everyone in a big corporation as to justify to their bosses why they are working for you – so you and your company need to be credible.

Now, with that being said, there certainly is an appropriate time to lean in and close the deal. In fact, when the timing is right, it is more than appropriate. It’s akin to dating. In the beginning, you get those first few dates. Then the girl/boy starts to like you and the next thing you know you two are in a serious relationship. After the appropriate amount of time goes by you decide, “hey, time to move forward with our relationship or move on.” Once you feel that in your business relationship with your prospect, that’s when you start to be a bit more persistent in terms of the close. If you have developed the relationship appropriately, bring the right value to the table, and are the right fit for them…not only is it appropriate but your prospect will embrace the nudge and recognize it is time to make a decision. You will then be in a much better position to close the deal and be a hero. If not, you cut it loose and get back to hunting. Again, very similar to dating.

It is important to remember that the bigger deals take longer, so set you and your boss’ expectations of this fact. The worse is when you get an inexperienced boss who wants everything “now, now, now.” I worked for a guy like that once, BUT only for 3 months and I’ll never do it again. As with life, it’s a marathon so get in the right race, with the right team, with the right product, and enjoy the ride. If things are running smoothly, you should be getting a runner’s high.

The Great Debate: Is Sales a Science or an Art?

3/28/2014

Since the beginning of the formal sales process, executives have debated on if sales people are born or made. Essentially, can sales people be taught to be successful or are they simply naturally born successes? My view on the matter is that it’s not a choice between one or the other, the answer is both!

The “science” of the sales process can be taught and deals can be closed. If a sales person is diligent and follows the process as designed by proper leadership, that person can have a very successful career. But it takes the “art” in the sales person to close the really big, tough deals. It takes touch, intuition, charisma, relationship building, etc. to close the “elephants” or “whales;” the type of deal that pays everyone’s salary for a year or even two.

I was asked by a VP of Sales to give a presentation on the topic a few weeks ago to her sales team. I have included the slide deck below, which are helpful to look at but not as effective without the verbal content. I literally took the entire hour to go over 10 slides.

I had two main points I wanted to get across. The first one is that sales can either SUCK or ROCK depending on your personal leadership and outlook on life. It is managements’ responsibility to support the sales person, provide the proper resources, training, leads to ensure commission checks are fat, etc. But at the end of the day it is the individual’s duty to ensure his/her own success.

The second point is that sales is both a science and an art. The processes and practice I outlined can provide a model for a successful sales process. If one follows a similar process, they have a daily routine to hold themselves accountable to that process and use the tools out there designed to help them be successful (i.e. CRM’s like Salesforce or Zoho), even a person who does not consider themselves a natural sales person can be successful. The bottom line in the entire process – lock yourself in a room for 2-3 hours every single day (even Monday and Friday) and MAKE THE CALLS. Be disciplined and you WILL see the results.

Now the art of the sale is a little more in depth and can’t be taught in a one-hour presentation. Experience and a good mentor are probably the best teachers. In lieu of those resources, I recommend reading books like The Sandler Rules, The Sales Bible and I just started reading The 10X Rule which is really excellent. In terms of fundamentals, I would say The Sandler Rules is the best book out there. I personally re-read this book at the beginning of every quarter. I also consistently listen to a sales book or other business related book on a daily basis (I’m a big audio book guy based on my commute). You need to learn from the best if you want to be the best and if you want to win a gold medal in the Olympics, you need to train hard every single day.

So get out there, find a process that works for you, and go kill it!

My Recent Trip to Haiti - Everyday I'm Hustlin'

2/18/2014

I recently went on a mission trip to Haiti through Happy Kids International to help lay a concrete floor at a school in a remote village named Baie. Thank you again to all of my supporters who donated to help fund the trip - friends, family, and community. Without your support, I would have never had the opportunity to contribute to this wonderful country.

We landed in the capital of Port-au-Prince, a very crowded, congested, and dirty city crammed with more than 10% of the population. The roads are packed with cars and people. Every road, every side street, every available space is filled with Haitians selling anything they can get their hands on. From sugarcane and local fruit to clothing, electronics, and even cell phones (but of course).

I’ve been to Taiwan, mainland China, Central Europe, Costa Rica, and many other third and second world countries so I was pretty accustomed to the desire to survive by any means possible; especially in the urban setting. What I did not expect was to see this prevalent throughout the rest of the country including rural villages that do not even have running water or electricity.

It took us a day of travel in the back of a pickup truck to get to Baie. We traveled about four hours west of Port-au-Price until the paved road turned into a dirt road. We then traveled three more hours over mountainous roads with bumps, dips, jagged rocks, and cliffs that could send you to a certain death. When that adventurous road had finally come to an end, we jumped on a 45-minute boat ride to finally arrive at the remote village.

We were welcomed with open arms and much joy. We were the first “outsiders” to ever visit their village with the intent to stay and complete any type of project for them. After appropriate greetings and a quick tent set-up, we began our work immediately.

Our mission was to convert the school’s floor laid with rocks and dirt [photo on right] into a flat surface made of concrete. We quickly learned that working in 95° degree weather with 80% humidity dries concrete much faster in Haiti than the United States. We also learned that the Haitians are an extremely hardworking people who are not afraid of some sweat equity and elbow grease. Every available man joined the effort to hand mix the concrete with rocky fill and water (something we use machines to do here), lay the wet cement, and form it correctly to create a solid foundation.

One of the biggest challenges was simply getting the material to the site. The village and its school are located at the top of a hill. From the sea, it’s about a 300 yard, 70° degree vertical climb so anything that comes in by boat (which was everything except the water) needed to be hauled up this rocky slope. The water was located about a quarter mile down the other side of the hill and the only way to get it was to hand carry it by bucket. I had the pleasure of taking a few trips for water myself… trudging up the hill while balancing a full bucket of water on my head. It was extremely challenging and my core, legs, and neck have never worked harder.

Haitian men love to work. We saw this with our own eyes because every local man came out with such a hunger to work. Their will and gratitude to help far outweighed their lack of education, leadership, and proper resources. I truly enjoyed teaching them each basic detail on construction. For example, we taught them that mixing cement with sand is a bad idea. We also enlightened them that mixing cement with brackish water is not a wise idea; they simply didn’t know. At some points, however, we got low on material and had to substitute proper materials with sand and brackish water. When I commented to our local Haitian guide Marc Alain that this wasn’t the proper way to mix cement he replied with, “in Haiti, we do what we can do.”

This comment really struck me. It was simple and elegant in its own way and reminded me of all the people I observed on the streets of Port-au-Prince and all along the road to the village. They all are just “doing what they can do” and at this stage, the most they know how to do is sell whatever they can get their hands on. Some Haitians are farmers, some are teachers and some are businessman; but for the most part they a looking for something to do and something to sell. Most of the population is unemployed or underemployed so when you can’t find a sustainable job, your only option is to hustle.

Even in this small remote village, these diligent Hatians would sell plantains, sugarcane, fishing nets, and whatever else they could every Tuesday morning when the “market" would visit [photo on left]. And when I say “market,” I’m referring to a larger village located across the bay that would visit on their boats and trade whatever goods they had with the village of Baie.

Even as we completed our work and were just about to take off, we were pitched on stories like, “If I only had a machete, I could go to work in the sugarcane fields” or “If I only had $5 US dollars I could afford to go to the capital to seek full time work.” We, of course, gave them what little money we had on us in hopes that they would use the funds as a leg-up to better themselves. I suspect most will.

I’m happy to report we successfully laid the concrete floor and completed our mission [photo on right]. The villagers were extremely grateful and it felt amazing to succeed. We had worked incredibly hard all day long in the hot and humid weather. We woke up at the crack of dawn and worked until nightfall everyday. I felt like I was doing P90X all day long while sweating off 3-4 lbs per day. By the time it was over, my feet hurt, and my abs had never worked harder and I could barely lift a pencil but I LOVED every minute of this adrenalin rush and most of all giving back. I will always remember this breathtaking and mind-blowing experience.

As we traveled back to our home base in Gressier and eventually home, I continued to observe the Haitian desire to “do what they can do.” I thought to myself that this is a country just ripe for commerce. They have a strong workforce that has a massive desire to work and prosper. Keep in mind that 53% of their population is under the age of 15 years old. They have a ton of potential for export between sugarcane, mangos, avocados, etc. If they really were inclined, turning all that sugarcane into ethanol could really make that country standout. And let’s not forget the opportunity for tourism considering their location in the Caribbean and beautiful beaches. What they lack is leadership, education, and proper resources but not the will to make it happen!

The other thought I had was on America. Is that not the America way as well? With the only difference really being the traits they lack? We “do what we can do” everyday don’t we (well, most people do anyways)?

We put men on the moon because we thought we could. We invented the Internet because it seemed like something we could achieve. Tesla invited the first all electric sports car because someone had the idea that they could and it’d be super cool. Doesn’t the majority of America wake up every Monday morning and give it all they got? Aren’t we all just trying to make a living, trying to make a buck?

So what’s the cultural divide? Is there one? There doesn’t seem to be one to me. Americans “do what they can do” with the resources they have on hand. Haitians do the same as well. The difference is the resources available (although they are rich in agricultural resources) and the knowledge/leadership to do something about it.

In my opinion, Haiti is the next best place for Foreign Direct Investment. It’s the next best place for Americans to invest with a relatively rapid return on investment. Their government has gotten stronger with the election of President Michel Martelly and the influence of America is visually and structurally apparent. What they need is textile factories, produce facilities and other emerging world industries to take a hard look at this country that only lays a mere 2 hour flight from Miami, Florida.

But don’t take my word for it; here are some other sites that agree:

-       http://www.leopardasia.com/leopard-haiti/why-haiti.html

-   http://investinhaitiforum.com

-       www.facebook.com/CFIHAITI

-       http://businessinhaiti.com/

Overall, my trip to Haiti was an amazing experience and I am excited to see what the future holds for this Caribbean country. We were not the only group flying in that first day (I saw at least 3 other groups getting picked up at the airport that first morning). I am sure this will not be my last trip there as well.

We did well, asked for nothing in return and made a HUGH impact on every soul we touched. We went there is serve, to love, and to give whole-heartedly and so we did. I feel blessed to have gone and make a difference.

Below, please see a complete slide show of all the pictures taken throughout the one week excursion – unedited.

Is It Me or My Generation???

12/17/2013

I can’t tell if it’s me or my generation; I bought every single Christmas present this year online and never once stepped foot into a big, box store.

With all the discounts online between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I got every deal imaginable. I purposely wanted to make all my big purchases on those days; with every purchase including free shipping, how could I go wrong?

I made most of my purchases on Amazon (mostly because they have my credit card and shipping info on file) with a few exceptions on BestBuy.com and Hayneedle because we needed a dining room table. And with the raise of online marketplaces like Tophatter, custom fit clothing sites like Blank Label or JC Boutique and awesome graphic tees from Ript Apparel, Shelfies, etc. who needs to go to a store anymore?

Forget Macy’s, Target, and Bloomingdales. With all the new online fashion marketplaces like Tradesy, Vaunte, Snopswap, etc. I was able to buy my wife amazing products at a great price. And again, free shipping! Why wouldn’t I just sneak in 10 minutes at work to grab something online and move on? It’s convenient and allows me to multi-task.

Now, most of my purchased items were web based which contradicts the rise of the spend on mobile. However, I did a lot of my research on my iPhone or iPad and did make some purchases through the tablet. But, the majority of purchases were web based.

A recent article in USA Today indicates that online shopping was up as much as 15% from last year and this article in Time indicates that free shipping was a major in the increase. According to one holiday survey, 85% of online consumers described free shipping as “important” or “very important” in determining whether or not they would buy. It was certainly a factor with me and played a major role in my purchase decisions.

But while many consumers are making more purchases online, are they making all their purchases online? I literally never stepped into one retail store, never left my computer, and had everything delivered right to my door. So, is it me? Or is it my generation?

Want to hear something ironic? I managed a Target store for about a year and a half!

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