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Year in Review 2015! Welcome to Startup Life Hacks 2015, year in review! First of all I want to thank each and every one of you for having me in your ears while your driving, cooking, doing the dishes, or whatever you are doing to absorb the content. For subscribing, for sending in the great reviews. I’m doing this for YOU. I apologize for the delayed episode, but there were a lot of events this holiday season that left me out of my studio, aka my room, which involved going to LA to pick up my parents that flew in from Japan, non-stop family gatherings, and also recovering from a stomach bug that’s been going around lately in San Diego. Oh and also falling 13,000 feet in the sky, but more on that later. WHY? This is a special episode not only because it will be my last episode of this calendar year, but this will also be my first episode reflecting on this year’s accomplishments, failures, and lessons learned. Something that I feel like everyone should do even if you don’t have a business. It’s good to reflect and look back at what you’ve accomplished to see where you’ve come from and how far you’ve come since then. Now is the best time ever as we’re entering the New Year, 2016. I’ve seen some podcasters and bloggers do this and I think this was usually their best episode/blog to listen to. Mainly because it really makes it humbling to know that they are going through the same challenges I am facing as I’m running my business and I can learn a lot from their trials and errors, as well as tips on what I can do in the future to further my business. And that’s what I wanted to provide to you, and I hope you walk out of here with a few takeaways before this episode is over. WHAT YOU WILL LEARN In this episode you will know a little bit more about me, in case you haven’t listened to my awful first episode. How I started with podcasting earlier this February to this current episode and everything in between. And a little bonus! What’s in store for Startup Life Hacks for 2016! BACKGROUND So a quick background about me. I am a Master’s of Engineering student in Electrical Engineering at San Diego State University. Go AZTECS!   I was born in the Philippines, but raised here in San Diego, part of the reason why I’ve lost my accent and adopted the California tongue. I grew up very traditional. I was taught the traditional values of going to school and getting good grades to get a safe and secure job with benefits. Stay with the company for 20 years to get a pension to live a “comfortable” life. Sound familiar? I’m not saying that this is a bad route to take, because most people take this route. I’m just saying that I found out later that this was not the route for me. And seeing as though you are listening to this podcast, we are on the same boat. SCHOOL I’ve always felt that I would fuse technology and business together and make a living out of it. I was always good at math at a young age (In fact I was usually first to complete the multiplication table in elementary school whenever we had a contest). And even though I was a shy kid while growing up, I had a good sense of putting things where they need to be visually. Not many people know this, but I was originally a Marketing Major...

Why are New Year’s Resolutions overrated? Now I know January 1st is when everyone starts making New Years Resolutions, but let’s be real. How many of you have actually stuck to your resolutions? Well, this episode’s guest has insights on how to tackle on 2016! Mike Goncalves is the founder of The Wellness Bucket, which is concentrated on helping you create more health and happiness in your life, so that you may finally start to feel, look, and live your best.   WHAT’S YOUR ADVICE TO SOMEONE STARTING OUT IN FITNESS? One of the problems people struggled with when staying consistent originated from coming out of the gate too fast. That’s one of the big reasons why people fall off the chart after two weeks into their New Year’s Resolution. They go from really not doing anything, to going 60 miles per hour. Here are my suggestions… Don’t come out so aggressive. Have a simple workout plan that you know you can follow. Have an accountability structure, whether it may be a buddy that you work out with, a running group that meets a couple times a week, etc. DESCRIBE THE WELLNESS BUCKET An online community that empowers people through health and wellness to live their best lives, whether that’s in entrepreneurship, careers in business, finance, or relationships. WHAT WAS ONE STRUGGLE YOU HAD DURING YOUR FIRST ONLINE BUSINESS? Coming from a brick and mortar, I didn’t know anything about online. My biggest challenge was how to develop a rapport from people that you’ve never even met. Also, how do you stand out online in a sea full of “professionals.” GREAT SUCCESS We do a 30-day wellness challenge every year. Its 30 days a 30 different wellness challenge, such as eating 3 salads, doing 100 burpees, taking a cold shower, etc. It’s great to see different parts of the world take part in this challenge. A notable one was when the French food company, Sodexo, implemented the 30-day challenge throughout the company for everyone in their business to follow. SUPERPOWER I’d say my superpower is the desire to genuinely help people and make a difference in someone’s life. KRYPTONITE Not being able to say no is a struggle of mine. I want to help everyone. IF YOU CAN HAVE ANY SUPERPOWER… I’d love to go back in time to thank mentors that I’ve had. For example, I love Jim Rohn and would love to go back in time and tell him he’s awesome and thank him for all the work he’s done throughout the years and how much it has affected me. RECOMMENDED RESOURCE OR APP Momentum: Daily motivation for your new tab page Youtube   RECOMMENDED BOOKS ...

Cameron Ripley is the Founder and Director of Community Boost, an award winning digital marketing and web design agency that primarily focuses on the nonprofit and social entrepreneurship space. He’s brought together a caring group of millennials to really tackle on today’s social problems. His organization has worked with many causes, including: Google Ideas, Noah Homes, Miracle for Kids, just to name a few. STRATEGIES USED TO FUND BUSINESS Community Boost was incubated out of another digital marketing agency, named E-Boost Consulting. E-boost Consulting was mainly focused on the startup tech space. We had this program where we would bring in young people and teach them digital marketing and then have them apply that to the nonprofit and social space. We had a big vision for what that could do and how that can be its own company. We’ve bootstrapped the whole thing and never received any outside funding. FOUNDER I think any entrepreneur looking to get started and have that founder discussion can sometimes get very difficult. When I came out of school at 21 years old, I went out and sought a founder, and I found someone who was really smart and could help fund the business, which was a really big pain point for many startups. But I also realized that we were not aligned with certain key areas and that was an issue. At Community Boost, a lot of the partners, including the management team, has really found us, and have given the opportunity to bake themselves into the business. WHAT WAS ONE THING THAT YOU STRUGGLED WITH IN THE EARLY STAGES OF YOUR STARTUP? I think one the things I struggled with the most was not failing fast enough or a fear of failure. Not failing fast on a certain idea. And just, you got to have no fear when validating your market, validating sales. HUGE SUCCESS My biggest achievements are some of the successes we’ve created for other organizations 3 years ago we were working with Mia Roseberry and she has an organization now called Wounded Warrior Homes. At that time she had multiple veterans who were suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSD), and she just wanted to help them out. But seeing where they are today, and supporting them from ideation to an office and full-time staff. And really helping her create her vision and what she wanted to make a stand for in the world. That’s some of the stuff that makes me fulfilled and most proud of. SUPERPOWER I really try and value authentic and deep connections with people and really bring in a sense of compassion. So that’s why my superpower is compassion, and I think that’s why I’m so drawn to the space we work in. That authenticity was how we were able to secure business in the early days. KRYPTONITE Delegation of tasks can sometimes be a struggle of mine. The transition from being self-employed to a business was slowed down because of that weakness. IF YOU CAN HAVE ANY SUPERPOWER… For me it would have to be teleportation. I just want to see as much of the world as I can. If I can teleport to all those cool places, that would be amazing. RECOMMENDED RESOURCE OR APP My best resource is not an app, but a routine I do every morning. Take 10 minutes every morning. The first 3 minutes, concentrate on being present. 3 minutes to bring and really feel your breathe through your

Gary Ware is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Tower33 Digital, a digital advertising agency that focuses on helping small brands drive results and be seen online. He is a dynamic, qualified, and goal-oriented Online Marketing Professional with over ten years of extensive experience providing key support to professionals, including colleagues and customers, and providing team management. Gary recently gave a talk on how to live an amazing life by using the acronym S.A.V.E.R.S. If there was something that you can do, that would almost be the elixir of life. Where if you did it everyday and took it as a magical pill, and it will give you what you need to thrive. To live your best life. Wouldn’t you want to do that? Studies show that if you commit to something like this during the first part of your day, it’s going to give you the mental energy to get through the day. Here Are The Steps Silence: Meditation or prayer. When we are moving at 120 miles per hour, we hardly get a moment to ourselves. Meditating for about 10 minutes every morning and really focusing on your breathing, allows us to calm and center ourselves. A good app to use for meditation is Headspace. Affirmations: Think about a time when you are really stressed out, and you think to yourself that you can’t do it. You’re actually telling your brain that you can’t do it. And that’s an affirmation. It would be better to tell your brain something more uplifting and is going to help you get the things that you want. You can say something like, “I thrive to be ______ a little bit more every day.” Visualizations: Try to take a moment and think about what you need to get done TODAY, and really visualize yourself achieving those goals. Bonus tip: Break down your goals by what you want to get done that month. Write a letter to yourself as if it was the first day of the next month and you have achieved those goals. Not only say what you have achieved, but say what the feeling was like when you achieved those goals. Exercise: All you need is a few minutes of physical activity to get you going throughout the day. This could be simple as doing jumping jacks or pushups to get the blood flowing. Reading: Read a minimum of 10 pages a day. You’d be surprised how many books you will read. Look at the goals that you want to achieve this year. Now look at the skills you need to acquire those goals. Now find the books and audios that you need to get that knowledge. Scribing: Write 3 things that you are grateful for. This is to train you to see the good things in life. When you start looking for the things that bring you joy in life, you don’t have time to see the negative things. Mentions Bot Joy: A tiny (and sometimes giant) robot army programmed to bring you joy Pencils of Promise: We’re a global community that believes everyone deserves access to quality education. We’re reshaping the landscape of education guided by our 100% PROMISE. RECOMMENDED RESOURCE OR APP Evernote: The work space for your life’s work   RECOMMENDED BOOKS