Coffee IV: 3-28-08
I’m starting something new on my blog. So every morning when I wake up, like many of you, the first thing I do is brew myself a nice cup of coffee. In fact, I’m pretty much to the point where I can’t function if I don’t have my coffee in the morning. I don’t just drink a cup either, I drink a bowl of it. Well, not really a bowl but the coffee mug I have is easily the size of a bowl and fits about 4 regular cups in it.
When I’m drinking my bowl of coffee it’s usually the time when I’ll skim through my feed reader, check analytics on my sites, or perhaps just sit outside and enjoy the San Diego sun. My coffee addiction is so bad I often joke that I need an IV of coffee hooked up… hence the name of this new series, ‘Coffee IV.’
So what I’m going to try and start doing is writing a post every morning (that I can) while I’m enjoying the deliciousness that is otherwise known as coffee. It will mostly just consist of random thoughts, interesting thing I find on my news binge, etc. Here goes…
Google News - I love Google News . One of my newer sites got into Google news this week and the search referral traffic has gone up about 400-500%. Actually, it’s the Universal Search that I love so much. Nothing like seeing your articles #1 for competitive key phrases.
Shoemoney - I really need to get some t-shirts made up for some of my sites and send them to Shoe. For the measly cost of 20 bones I could get a link from a super authoritive site. I think it’s super cool that Shoe does this and you should really take advantage of this opportunity.
Real Estate - I’m very glad I haven’t bought a house yet. For the last couple years many friends and family have been encouraging me to buy a house. Often times telling me I’m an idiot for throwing my money away on rent. Prices in my area have gone down as much as 30% and I saw a news article yesterday that said home prices in Cali are dropping $2800/week. Considering the house I rent is worth $800k+… I would’ve paid north of $1mil for it two-years ago. I’m pretty content that I’m renting for now and will re-evaluate 4th quarter of this year.
My Vision - I’m really really excited about the projects I’m working on right now. It’s been awhile since I’ve felt this kind of passion for what I’m doing work-wise. I look forward to sharing my vision with you all soon. I definitely owe a much-needed update since leaving ACS last summer.
Investment - Speaking of my vision. Up ’til now, I have been funding my new project through consulting. Lately I have been considering taking a small investment - think in the neighborhood of $500k-1mil - to help speed up the process. I have been strongly against taking any outside money but I’m starting to feel it might be worth it if I only have to give up a small chunk of the company(10-20%). Consulting really slows me down in building my new company. What are your thoughts on this? I’d appreciate any insight from you.
My coffee IV is running low… ’til next time….
Cameron Olthuis is the Founder of
I love it. Being a fellow coffeeholic I’m super stoked to follow Coffee I.V.!! Although I must say, I’ve seen your coffee-bucket and your description did its massiveness no justice! It is truly the mug of a man who loves his coffee.
Can’t wait to read!
I know a good t-shirt guy.
Yeah Blake, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.
I like the idea…even if the posts are more stream of consciousness, sometimes they make for the best posts. I too have the same routine, giant beer mug of coffee and my feedreader every morning. As far as taking outside investment money vs not, I guess it would depend on how time sensitive the project is. If you can do without outside money in the beginning then that’s the path I’d take. But if this project has to get out there ASAP then you may need that extra cash to push it out. I’m interested to know what the project is
Best of luck with it!
Drink some coffee for me…
@Donelle - I drink enough for you and the baby… probably Jammer too.
How do you drink that much coffee? I don’t drink any…but then again, people think I’m crazy for being caffeine-less.
@Investment - taking money form an outside source will definitely help in funding your new venture. My recommendation would be to take the money if you can retain control. Not just a majority % stake, but more importantly, make sure that the documents spell out clearly that you are the decision maker. You don’t want to take somebody’s money and remain beholden to them on all future decisions.