More Bars in More Places...or Not?

*(No names will be changed to protect the "innocent", because we all know AT&T is crappy. Only the "girl" will remain anonymous)

Once upon a time, there was a girl who had a mediocre phone (a Blackberry) with a great cellular company called Sprint. She loved her cell phone service. It worked no matter where she was and never dropped a single call in over 8 years. All was well in the world because she could literally make a phone call whenever, wherever, without having to worry.

Then it happened: Apple unveiled the greatest thing to ever hit the cellular world.  It was the iPhone. It was dazzling and could do just about anything her laptop could do...and more! It was the king of all phones. But it was on a different network. It was on AT&T. She cursed Apple for giving their superior phone to such an inferior network, and swore that she wouldn't switch to AT&T just for a phone.

After the iPhone had been around for about a year, Apple did it yet again: they released an even better version of their amazing phone! The girl couldn't believe it!! This phone could do much more than it's counterpart...she had to have one. Besides, sometimes you have to compromise, and AT&T claimed that they had the most coverage and best service than any other network. "More bars in more places".  She decided to give it a try. She left Sprint (and the crappy Blackberry) behind and moved on to Apple and the iPhone.

After getting her new phone, the girl noticed a few things. First, she could be at home, downtown Nashville, and have no service. None. She also noticed that she would be talking on the phone and all of a sudden the call would get dropped. "Call Failed" would be the blinking icon on her screen. "Funny," she would say, "I was just talking and the call was going just fine.  What happened?"  It didn't take long for the girl to become annoyed, something she was never with her previous network. She couldn't go anywhere without having calls dropped and no service.  How could this be? She saw the commercials that showed that AT&T covered "97% of the US", but somehow she found herself always in that other 3%. Even in major US cities! And what was even more bizarre was that the service didn't seem to be improving at all. In fact, it felt as if it was getting slower and worse!  It was "no bars in all places".

Then Apple made a big announcement that they would be releasing yet another new, superior phone. And the rumor (or maybe it was just more of a hope) was that it would be released from it's contractual obligations with AT&T, and would be available on Verizon, the much better network.  The girl had high hopes that it was true. She would gladly give crappy AT&T the $150 it would cost her to get out of her contract early if it meant that she could get the new phone with service that would actually work! But alas, it was too good to be true. Apple stayed with AT&T, even when during a demonstration of the new phone, AT&T's "service" reared it's ugly head and showed the whole world what it was capable of: absolutely nothing. 

Today, the girl still has the same iPhone with the same crappy service. She continues to look forward to the day when Apple will realize that it needs a superior network to go with it's superior phone.

The End.

Would you risk it for $22 Billion?

I'm really not a blogger.  At least that's what I sometimes tell myself as I begin to organize my thoughts on my Apple iBook. (I'm old school...for now)  The process looks something like this:

1. Get a thought that just kinda sticks in my head.
2. Say to myself, "you should blog about that".
3. Sit down and get about 2-3 paragraphs down.
4. Second-guess my writing skills and wonder if I'm completely wacko for even thinking that someone would be interested in what's going on my head. (it's a jungle in there)
5. Stop writing and leave the draft on my laptop to finish when I become "inspired".
6. Never finish the blog.
7. Tell myself that I'm really not a blogger.
8. Drown my sorrows in a container of raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream

To help you understand how debilitating my blog-phobia is, I just deleted about 30 drafts from my post listings that I'd started and never finished. Not gonna lie, it felt a little depressing and I began wondering "am I really cut out for this whole blogging thing"?   I want to be good at it.  I Twitter all the time! (sorry for all those of you out there who hate following my seemingly meaningless tweets about going to bed or being at the pool. Some people just really want to know!)

As I was brooding about all of the thoughts that I had never managed to complete, I stumbled across an article on www.cnn.com about a man named Ron Wayne. Now, if you haven't read this story in it's entirety, I suggest that you do so here : http://tinyurl.com/2bm9a3r  Mr. Wayne is 76 years old and at one point, was one of the three original founders of Apple. In the beggining, he owned 10% of the company alongside the more popular, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak.  He was quick on his feet, gave answers readily, and knew what he was doing. There was one catch, however.  Mr Wayne had a fear that he would acquire lots of debt if the company didn't make it.  He knew that they were up against a few competitors (such as Microsoft) and wasn't interested in a "rough ride". So, with that mindset of fear, he left the company for $800 eleven days after Apple was formed.  Today, his 10% equity would put his net worth at over $22 billion dollars. Yes....I said billion.  He gave it all up out of fear.  Didn't think that he could cut it.  Didn't think that it would be worth it.  Was afraid of the consequences from his past businesses re-playing in this business.  If only he had known what the outcome of Apple, Inc. would be.  If only he had taken a little bit of risk.  Today, Mr. Wayne has all of his money tied up in his coin and stamp collections.  That's it.  He plays the slots in local Nevada casinos hoping to "strike it rich".  If only....


As I read this, I couldn't believe it!  A man had given up 10% of his holding in one of the biggest companies in the world for a mere $800!!  Was he nuts!?  But he couldn't have known that Apple was going to be huge one day.  He didn't know that a little bit of risk would go a long way.  He had done exactly as I had done with my blogging; he had sat down and began to write a story, only to abandon it shortly after it began.  He became afraid, just as I had, that he didn't really have what it took.  


I, however, am willing to risk it.  Let's not kid ourselves...we all know that there's no $22 billion that will come about from having a small blog with 5-6 followers.  But who cares?  It's about taking the risk and putting yourself out there in the first place that really matters.  It's about recognizing what you're good at and what you love and just doing it!  It's about not worrying and running the race as it was meant to be run, not giving up after the first mile or 2 because it's too hard. Just let it go and be yourself. (now I'm sounding like a guru)  


To be totally honest, I don't even care if no one ever reads my blog.  (And I am, by blogging standards, nobody) It's something that I need to do for me.  And if people follow along, then so be it.  :)