Principles by Ray Dalio- GREAT business/life book. I wish I would have read it before I ever started any businesses.
The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow – A look at how randomness, probabilities, and uncertainty affect our lives.
How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking by Jordan Ellenberg – A dense read about math, decision making, and thinking. I need to re-read this one, but I enjoyed the challenge and the writing. Been chewing on the concepts for weeks.
On Writing by Stephen King – part autobiography, part how to write, part how to edit (with examples), part how to structure your work, and part screed against adverbs. At times, hilarious. Easy read, enjoyed very much.
Rat F**ked by David Daley – about the most political process known to politics: the process of drawing political districts. Remember: one party’s map is another party’s gerrymander.
Slingshot: The Defeat of Eric Cantor by Lauren Cohen Bell and David Elliot Meyer- a deep dive into the Cantor defeat/Brat win. Short, accessible, and must read for political nerds.
Break Your Invisible Chains: Own The Power Of Your Story by Brandon Telg, Jaron Jones, Carly Barnes – local Gainesville authors about storytelling. Offers writing prompts on how to tell your story and the importance of stories.
Book Awards:
Most Enjoyable Read: On Writing
Read that has stayed with me for weeks: How Not to Be Wrong
Need to Read Again: How Not to Be Wrong
Most relevant to political nerds – Slingshot
Book(s) I wished I read much sooner: TIE: Principles / How Not to be Wrong
Best Title: Rat F**ked
note: The links on this page are NOT affiliate links and are provided for your convenience.
A long time ago, we were going to change the world. We decided we had enough of that stuffy corporate world with its salary, benefits, and ample cash flow. We thought we had a good business plan, we thought we had completed the research – and we jumped. We started our own company, and damn it we were going to change the world.
Now, what to call this company?
Our brainstorming led us to German words.
The two founders of the company had strong ties to Germany – specifically Heidelberg, Germany. Alex Patton, Ozean’s co-founder, attended high school in Heidelberg (go lions!), and Ozean’s other founder was born in Heidelberg.
As a side note, Heidelberg, Germany is beautiful, and you should visit!
Ahh…inspiration was taking over.
Several rounds of brainstorming later, we came across “Ozean”. Ozean made PERFECT sense to us.
“Ozean” is the German word for “Ocean.” O•ze•an, pronounced Ozean!
THEN inspiration met cockiness – we were going to change the world by “making waves”….
BOOM! A company was named, a logo made complete with waves, and a brand birthed.
Fast forward years later, and I still get asked: “What is an Ozean?”, “How in the world did you come up with that name?”, “Can you spell that?”
At times, I wondered if we should have just named the company “AAAA Communications” and been done with it.
It begs the questions, “Do you name a company for personal reasons, name it for your potential customers, or does it really matter?”
In this case, every time I am asked, I explain the origin story. I would like to think it is somewhat memorable.
Regardless of whether it is memorable or not, the name is meaningful to us.
I’d like to believe we have matured from “making waves” to “Navigating to Victory – even the hard ones” but that evolution story is for another day!
Well, now you know….the origins Ozean. – a name inspired by Heidelberg, Germany, and cockiness (maybe naiveté).
PS. You really should plan a trip to Heidelberg, you’ll thank us!
Announcing the opening of Ozean’s central repository & political library
We have heard your request, and we are making some small changes to our website.
As you may know, we love the science of politics. We are true political nerds, and we embrace that aspect of our personalities.
Many of our blog posts are driven by what political studies, political research, or political books we are currently reading. Some are even driven by Ozean Media’s original research.
Over the past year, we have been asked repeatedly to create a central library of our research.
You asked for one place for all political research, and we listened.
Ozean was surprised and honored to be mentioned in Campaigns & Elections Magazine as one of their “Consulting blogs to bookmark”
Ozean Media Political Consulting Blog
Ozean Media itself is not exclusively a political consulting firm, but part of its focus is on Republican political campaigns. The firm devotes a section of its blog to political consulting, and frequently posts updates on topics relevant to the consulting world. Be sure to check out the Friday posts where the blog goes in search of a “Eureka” moment.
A good friend of mine made a comment that has stuck with me over the past few days “The Internet moves at the speed of Imagination!”
That statement remained with me over the past 3 days as we designed, built, and tested (I use those words VERY loosely) a complete broadcast studio in our office.
How it all began
There is a local radio station that featured a conservative radio talk show, Talk of the Town. The show was a live call in show broadcast M-F 11am – 1pm. As with a lot of media, there is a move towards consolidation and ownership changes. Last Friday, the ownership of the station changed, and as with any new owners, their vision for the station differed from hosting a local, call in talk show. On Friday, the station changed its format to High Energy Dance music bringing a little Jersey Shore to our local town.
At the same time, our single local paper announced they were putting up a digital pay-wall for their news content. Again, their right to do so.
Immediately upon hearing of the cancellation of the talk show, Ozean approached the show hosts with an idea:
In this media chaos, there is an opportunity. We can create a digital station that will focus on hyper-local coverage and build an online community around it. And yes, we can have you back on the air by Monday.
The scramble begins
A secret? As with many things on the Internet, we had no budget and no specific idea how to actually do this. We knew it could be done, but the how….
We just remained focused on producing the Minimum Viable Product – we wanted a live broadcast with live call ins with the ability for people to listen in a web portal or mobile app. Piece of cake, right?
Here is a rough timeline with the snags we worked through (some of the details may be fuzzy due to sleep deprivation….)
FRIDAY
Step 1) Find a third party partner who could accept our live stream and push it to pre-made mobile apps. This is the critical piece.
SNAG: The provider is located in California with one sales person who was telling me that they couldn’t have me on by Monday (it was too technically challenging and we would most likely crash and burn.) I politely insisted he take my credit card and take my money. The sales man finally relented, and I stopped at a Starbucks and executed the contract online. In a triage situation, this was the airway.
Step 2) Build out a quick website. Cobbled a quick website together using WordPress. It is not the prettiest site nor is it totally built out, but not bad for 5 hours and 2am in the morning. Alachuatalks.com
Step 3) Cobble together software to broadcast and test connection. Tested multiple software packages and vendors.
SNAG: Our chosen provider’s software works only works on a PC. DARN IT everything is set up to go through a Mac. Spending about 3 hours on forums and google searches, we find an alternative piece of software, download trial and configure.
SNAG: For the life of me, could not get a connection made. I suspected that I was not opening a firewall port correctly. Called in reinforcements. A network expert, Stafford Jones, and he remotely dialed into our computer and diagnosed issue and fixed it. We were now connected to a test server.
Step 4) Build out additional web pages and functions. Install analytics at 9 pm. Post a couple social media posts about the show pointing to the new site. I am embarrassed of the sites appearance. Real time results show there is interest in the new website. Encouraging. Pass out.
Step 5) Wake up an hour later – forgot to place a place to capture email addresses on the site. Set up Mailchimp list, build widget, insert crudely into the website making it even more ugly. Sleep again.
SATURDAY
Step 6) New equipment. We needed new mics, a mixer, a way to digitize, connectors to get it all into a computer and broadcast.
SNAG: Of course we could find all the equipment we needed online, but we needed it Saturday, not in 2 -days shipping time. Asked a friend if he had a spare mixer laying around? He did! Then looked in a spare closet for old equipment we already owned that may work. Found a piece that MAY WORK! Drove to a local music store (Lipham Music) and told them what I was attempting to do. They shared their expertise and we cobbled a system together. True, it is not optimal, but it MAY work.
Step 7) Opening, plugging in and testing. Started cobbling together all this different equipment from different eras, praying it all somehow worked.
SNAG: My daughter has a dance recital on Sunday, and because I am going for the dad of the year award, we had Daddy Daughter dance rehearsal on Saturday 9am.
Step 8) Returned from dance recital practice and test cobbled together mics and returns.
SNAG: Mics are working, Returns are not working. Set this aside until later and make note to call my friend who owns the mixer so that he can help me. (He later looks at a photo of the mixer online and tells me what knobs to turn. BOOM! Working!)
Step 9) Ability to take call ins.
SNAG: We have a VOIP system in our office and I didn’t want to use my regular business phone for a call in number. When attempting to purchase a new number and configure our Asterisk server to route the number to a phone, I suddenly remembered that we have a phone number with our internet provider that we never use. We don’t even have a phone line attached to it.
SNAG: Because, we only have VOIP phones, I don’t know if that phone line works. We need a cheap $9 phone and an old analog phone cord.
SNAG: We need a specialized piece of equipment that can splice in phone calls and allow the hosts to interact with the caller. Called my network friend, Satfford, again. We agree to work on it on Sunday.
SUNDAY
Cobbled together studio
Step 10) Major Issue: Solve the call-in problem.
SNAG: Daughter’s dance recital is today – this means Dress rehearsal at 1:55pm and recital at 6pm. Put call-in issue off for now.
Step 11) Test mobile connection. Call one of the hosts, walk him through install of mobile app and test broadcast on his I-phone. BOOM! He downloaded mobile app and could hear me broadcasting. Partial success. (didn’t mention the call in issue)
Step 12) Dress rehearsal. Pick up daughter, head to Performing Arts Center for a 15 minutes rehearsal. Take her home head back to office.
Step 13) Meet gracious friend, Stafford Jones, at the office. Plug in cheap phone. DIAL TONE. Now, how do we get this to work with the other stuff? Our first set up got the audio from the phone to the broadcast, but the callers wouldn’t hear the hosts. We started cutting wires splicing it together, destroying some headsets and phones along the way. Tired. Went home Sunday night not knowing how we were going to get this critical part to work, but had an idea of what may work.
Step 14) Dance recital. 6pm.
Step 15) Panic. How am I going to get the call ins to work?
Step 16) Exhausted and worried that we are heading for a disaster remember that I have to send out instructions to people on how to listen to the show. Compose and send an email blast to people who had signed up for the email list. Erase the words, “If we broadcast…..” from the email several times.
MONDAY
Step 17) Visit Super Wal-mart at 6:30 am. They have ONE speakerphone on the shelf and a 50 foot cord. My bright solution? Literally going to put a mic on a speaker phone – WOW is that awful and very low-tech for such a digital endeavor. But for now, it just may work.
Step 18) Set up speaker phone.
SNAG: Phone needs 4AA batteries. Can’t find them. Run to CVS, purchase batteries, 1 hour until go live time.
Step 19) Test broadcast
SNAG: It FAILS. Looks like our provider did maintenance over the weekend and the port that we need opened has changed. PANIC. Log on and follow the pattern set by my friend, open a new port.
Step 20) Talk show guests arrived and this is the first time we check mic levels, and test broadcasting. With the new port, it seems to work. Success!
Step 21) Quick – test mobile app. Success!
Step 22) Say a quick prayer, FLIP SWITCH AT 11 AM….and we are broadcasting.
SNAG: Within 10 minutes, due to overwhelming demand, web server crashes.
Step 23) Act as tech support- helping listeners tune in the broadcast with a server crashing. Re-route traffic.
Not everyone who want to hear, could hear, but some did.
Again, while not optimal, there was demand and the MVP worked….barely. We live to tomorrow and clearly defined the words ‘minimal viable’.
The Point
The point was not to paint a scenario that mirrors the ending chaos from GoodFella’s, but to show how fast the Internet moves…..as my friend said – at the speed of Imagination.
Our “broadcast studio” is far from perfect or optimal, but for right now, the show is broadcasting.
We are working to get a little better each day. As an illustration, spent the very first day upgrading server to allow for additional web traffic, and on the second day, the server did not crash.
What have we learned
Because we could do it, doesn’t mean we should. Focus on the Minimum Viable Product, nothing more.
There is a demand for this product. Now we can look to bring in revenue to build a better product once we analyze the data to see what & how people are actually using.
My digital sabbatical took place during the unnamed tropical storm this past weekend
For the past 4 days, I have been on a self-imposed digital sabbatical.
I decided to go on this sabbatical after a difficult month and especially trying week.
I am still not completely sure of nor can I fully explain why I felt the need to totally disconnect.
However, I knew deep down that I was tired and needed to be still so that I could think. I know I needed the pinging to stop.
For my sabbatical, I checked into a beach condo on Thursday with plans for my wife and kids to join me after Friday work.
Digital Sabbatical Rules
Here were my rules:
No smart-phone.
No E-mails.
No Phone calls (For emergencies, I gave my wife this number to this interesting invention I haven’t used in years….something called a land line).
No Web.
No Hulu, No Netflix.
No Web Surfing.
No Television.
I was NOT prepared for the difficulty that was involved with this sabbatical idea.
I checked into the Condo at about 10 am on Thursday and turned off my constant companion cell smartphone. What have I done? I thought about it, my cell phone hasn’t been turned off on purpose in years.
It took 5 minutes to move luggage into condo and look around. It took another 3 minutes to feel the stress of my sabbatical decision. No Email? No Web? Am I nuts? What in the hell am I going to do now?
It started to rain. I opened the door, listened to the surf, smelled the rain. THAT was different.
I went to the grocery store to purchase supplies. Wait a minute – no smart phone with a grocery list? I had to go up and down the isles looking for things, and a funny thing happened: I began to notice what fruit was fresh and smelled good versus what was on my list. I noticed all the ingredients that I have never used in my cooking. I read a label or 10. Interesting.
I spent about 30 minutes more than I normally would in a grocery store just exploring. I stopped and talked to the Veggie guy – what came in today? I asked him if the automatic dispensing of artificial mist actually helped the veggies stay fresh or was it just for aesthetic reasons. He didn’t know. Interesting. I noticed the numerous Beach Bums with their tons of different accents and their too-leathery skin. It was a strange collection of humans, some preparing to return North others complaining of the lack of sun. All in all, an enjoyable trip to the grocery store that was…. fascinating.
Returned to the condo and unpacked.
NOW WHAT?
I started to do some work that I brought with me, but then I caught the pile of books I brought with me out of the corner of my eye.
In this pile, there was a book that I have been meaning to read for years, but just never found the motivation or the time. I knew it was a classic, but I also knew it would be a slow slug. I picked up my copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig and dived in.
The book did not disappoint. It was was a slow, deep, complex, slug-it-out kind of a read. I haven’t experienced a book like it in years. It took all my concentration, it took rereading passages, it took time to close the book and consider what the author wrote. Frankly, I am still processing some of what I read – this book is lingering in my head more than any book I have read in 20 years. The book was a delightful challenge, and I never would or could have read it with constant background pinging.
I ran. I ran in the rain and thought about what I was reading – thinking about Quality, my relationship with my children, the difference between scientific reasoning and art, and various other, random, stream of consciousnesses thoughts. In fact, I added 37 minutes to my normal running time without even noticing. Didn’t care, but I noticed that I felt great.
Then it started. The great unnamed tropical storm that hit Thursday evening, Friday morning. The 10 inches of rain caused the Great Battle of 2013 versus the assorted evil roof leaks. A small drip quickly escalated into an indoor rain. The intense battle raged for hours. Emptying buckets, moving furniture, and moping were all instruments of my battle. Trying to figure out where the leak was coming from and how to possibly stop the leak became my mission. The battle raged until about 3 am. Damndest thing: I found myself enjoying the ridiculousness of this experience: the wind was howling, it smelled different, the waves raged and I just went with it. In the end, I lost this battle.
My wife and family decided not to join me in the flooded condo, and I don’t blame them. I did notice that I was stuck and couldn’t get out. The road leading into the condo had funneled all the water into the exit road. I found myself wondering how deep it was, so I waded into it as a funny thought came to me, “The water is about 18 inches deep and I am a 40 year old man playing in the rain.”
I found myself playing in the rain
I read some more. Two additional books: one the regulation of the Internet and another on the importance of focus in business.
As soon as the roads cleared Saturday morning, I returned home, and during the hour and half trip – silence. No pings, no anxiety about the phone ringing, no news. It was nice.
The digital sabbatical continued for another 48 hours, but the effects remained the same.
Sabbatical Conclusion
After my initial shock and bewilderment, my time was filled with different things that either I had forgotten how much I enjoyed or filled with new things that I had been meaning to try or get to.
In the end, I feel refreshed and a little bit more in control of the pings, the alerts, and the URGENT messages.
I would highly suggest that you try a digital sabbatical, and let me know how it goes.
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