Confidence

PolyOmega

Roasted Reflections is a collection
of writings I’ll be proud of forever
and this is the finishing touch…

As I think back, I was never much into reading or writing. I did what was required to play the game of school. Back in 2004, after earning a computer science degree from Loras College and as I started building my career, countless website proposals and client emails had to be where my proficiency with creative writing started to form. This was when the Internet was new, so every business owner began to realize they needed a decent website, even if they didn’t know why. My ability to translate nerd to normal (and normal back to nerd), helped me collaborate with leaders in countless industries. Hearing how people built their companies and helping to compile stories made content creation an indirect, but ongoing element to my early practice.

Writing was also important in my entrepreneurial ventures. It helped me launch The Iowa 3v3 Soccer Challenge and then a global social network for video game enthusiasts. The amount of content I forged into Gathering of Gamers and Tournament Seeker was epic. When I retired from web development after 8 years and  $1M+ in sales, a multimedia marketing move into home building also had me creating a castle of content and with each new side hustle, more words were always required. For instance, I designed everything on FliteBrite, OpenOpen, and Chatty, just to name a few.

I stretch back into the past, because it reveals how writing is fundamental to modern communication. AI and ChatUX is transforming how it’s done, but content creation has enhanced my career in digital marketing and has fueled all of my innovative aspirations. Along with articulating ideas in compelling ways, my writing has been focused on entrepreneurship for a long time. My own creative seasons have been enlightening, but all that I’ve learned from leaders like you, has been monumental in understanding the entrepreneurial lifestyle. Along with career nirvana for myself, I’ve seen how building a business activates an abundance of lasting purpose, shared motivation, and personal growth!

Alright, fast forward to January 1, 2020.

As I started writing my first book by copying the Table of Contents into a blank document, there was never a doubt I could articulate deep understandings into tight spaces. From start to finish, writing You Don’t Need This Book and building Pour Over Publishing to support the publishing process took 1.25 years. Toward the end of this journey, it became clear that BenMcDougal.com needed to be a more prominent place. Thanks to a lifetime of building online, as my personal website came together, I had a stockpile of content. Along with everything on different websites and throughout social media, I had crafted (37,456 words) for YDNTB, which delivered a wonderful well of my very best writing.

Extending my book with a blog was not the original plan. It felt important to make my website shine, but I had never published art on such a rigid timeline. Seth Godin suggests we ship art every day, so while I considered a daily blog, I had to be realistic. Everything I write about are relics for people who mean the world to many, so delivering on a promise was my only option. As I considered how often to publish new articles, feedback kept me grounded and I’m glad I chose to pursue a weekly cadence.

Over time, RoastedReflections.com has become a treasured library. Each writing is a chemical reaction. I thought deeply and challenged myself to write less, but to mean more. The challenge of compressing countless characters also led to many short titles. While my titles may not be obvious for first-time readers, I appreciate the allure of such mystique. Short titles deliver a punch and I’ve enjoyed forcing big ideas into tiny titles.

The organization of this library will continue to pay dividends as well. There are countless links between all 160+ writings. Primary categories kept me focused on timely/evergreen value for the right audience, while topic-based tags were applied for more precise exploration. Thoughtfully associating a unique emoji to each writing was fun as well.

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Listen to WHY I build.

What started as a marketing engine for my first book, soon became a part of my routine. Knowing an email would automatically pull from my blog every Wednesday morning, meant I needed to meet my deadline every week. The occasional glitch had me scrambling once in awhile, but I never missed a week. Such consistency required sacrifice, but significant learning was experienced along the way.

I learned how reading helps us understand the world, while writing helps us understand ourselves. I learned to feel when it was time to find direction. I learned to appreciate the release of articulating something everyone was going to see. As distribution channels grew, I learned how to counter the feelings of self-righteousness. I learned a lot of new words and that it usually took more than one pass to get each writing perfect. I learned the value of indexing my thoughts. I learned how writing helps improve the way we listen and speak. I learned that when we create something we’re proud of, external validation becomes inconsequential. I learned more about how generosity builds trust and what it means to be an author.

There are more takeaways, but it’s clear why I encourage everyone to write. If you’re afraid to write in public, start by journalling in private, but know this has layers of unrealized potential. Writing helps us organize, execute, and release ideas, but it’s not “art” until it connects with those we seek to serve. The best of intentions mean nothing until we ship it.

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“Change is inevitable.
Don’t fall in love with a medium.
Fall in love with the mission.” -Seth Godin

I’ve shipped my art and RoastedReflections.com will live on to nourish leaders who make a ruckus by fueling positive change in our connected era.

This may be the end to an epic streak, but the title of this closing chapter (PolyOmega) reminds us that endings are a beginning to what’s next.

I’ll continue to lead by speaking nationwide, over 5,000 copies of You Don’t Need This Book have been sold, You Don’t Need This Podcast is in full-effect, BEN BOT is online, fellow leaders are collaborating on Discord, community events are happening, and ecosystems are evolving.

Cheers to all who make work look like play and as we each pursue career nirvana, let’s keep building and stay connected in all that we do ▯

By Ben McDougal, ago

Executionist

Nobody cares about your great ideas.
They care how we make ideas happen.

This tribute to action was originally titled execution, but that’s insufficient. To honor such ingenuity, let’s loudly celebrate those who apply action to nudge the world, by calling them executionists.

Executionists appreciate planning, but don’t get stuck in endless brainstorms. They’re not rushing into bad ideas, but they are often the first to tinker. Action-based execution is why the title of my book (and podcast) will remain true. It even grounds the preface of You Don’t Need This Book, which I thought might be neat to highlight here:

There are good reasons why we have so many clichés about talk being cheap. Action is required when it’s time to get things done. Cheers to so many who don’t stop at ideas. Heretics who build when others don’t. Leaders who choose to make a ruckus without permission and in doing so, go beyond the status quo by evolving ideas into reality.

Executionists keep the promise.
Executionists leverage uncertainty.
Executionists perpetually learn by doing.
Executionists connect dots with real skills.
Executionists courageously communicate.
Executionists take time to be detailed oriented.
Executionists stay organized to be efficient.
Executionists add pieces to the puzzle.
Executionists enjoy shifting gears.
Executionists are Serendipitists.

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After three years, decisions were made to spin away from the weekly cadence of my writings. Fresh episodes of YDNTP will continue brewing innovative energy each week and occasional contributions may still land into Roasted Reflections, but these last few writings of 2023 are a closing finale.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Breakout Valuation

Breakout valuations are achieved when a business is valued based on how it makes people feel and its future potential, not just what it’s done in the past.

The nine components of a breakout valuation are confidence, vision, curiosity, people, communications, cash management, financial forecasting, capital strategy, and business design. Whether or not you sell your company, business owners who optimize in these areas, position themselves to capture a breakout valuation.

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This caffeinated contribution is a special adaptation from Breakout Valuation, which is the #1 New Release in Venture Capital and was written by my good friend, Patrick E. Donohue. Patrick is an entrepreneur, mentor, advisor, investor, valuation expert, and community builder who offers unique insights into the dynamics of money and business.

While you’re running a company, breakout valuations make everything easier. It attracts talented employees and quality customers. This expands your market position, makes financial capital less expensive, and invites vendors to extend better terms based on your surging trajectory.

Knowing what your ownership of the business is worth helps you make important financial decisions and becomes increasingly important as a business matures. If a business grows to the point where it becomes valuable to acquire, academic and finance professionals attempt to make valuation objective, but the complexity of each transaction makes valuation subjective in the end. Along with all the objective data, valuation is highly influenced by the environment, relationship, and personal views of the participants in a transaction. Knowing how investors and lenders use objective valuation tactics is crucial, but understanding the potential value of the business, articulating it to potential partners, and having them buy into the vision will arm you with an advantage to get what you want—a breakout valuation.

Breakout valuations are not aspirational. They emerge from what you are doing right now. It’s all about being clear with your mission and vision. It’s knowing your numbers and how everything comes together through a shared mindset, communication, and workflow. The pursuit toward a breakout valuation compounds, requiring attention today, and every day moving forward. This aggregates understanding and builds confidence. When the day comes to part with some or all of your business, the confidence from a breakout valuation will maximize the payout or deliver assurance in walking away from the deal.

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What are we doing today to support our goals for tomorrow?

By Ben McDougal, ago

The Idea Machine

Ideas that you can wrap a business around do not come naturally for everyone. If you’re struggling to generate realistic ideas, you must first learn how to flex your mind. With practice, you’ll soon be firing good, bad, big, small, crazy, and enlightened ideas into the world. You’ll end up with plenty to choose from and even more to give others. In fact, as you become an idea machine, the hard part will be deciding which ideas to execute around. Let’s hit the gym.

If you don’t know where to start, here’s a simple exercise that will train your brain to become an idea machine. Pick up a pocket-sized notebook that inspires you to write within it the moment you think of an idea. Every day, write five ideas in this small notebook. No less, but more is fine. See how long you can maintain this daily activity. After only a few days, you will have transformed it into a personal idea book.

The ideas need not be world changing; the important part is to write them down the moment they spark. It’s tempting to use technology, like an app on your phone, but pen on paper provides freedom to practice in more creative ways. Go old school and give yourself the blank canvas needed to explore any type of idea. As you thicken your idea book, don’t worry about how good or bad each idea is. Dump them on the page and focus your energy on maintaining the daily habit. If you need a few extra ideas to achieve your daily goal, spend a focused moment to think and jot them all down at once. No matter how you reach your daily goal, the momentum of your consistency will soon surprise you. The longer you maintain this daily routine, the more you’ll feel your mind flexing in new ways.

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With these physical notebooks, I must warn you to check your pockets before you do laundry. I once had a solid idea book that went through the wash. I was able to transfer some of the thoughts into a new idea book, but there was still a sense of loss. Having space to scribble is key, but it’s smart to back things up digitally as well.

You can also add wrinkles of complexity to continue challenging yourself. Focus on a theme. To give this a try, think about ideas for a specific person, product, service or market and imagine ways to improve it.

The pure quantity of ideas you’ll amass will result in many worth forgetting. That’s the point. Amongst all the clutter, you’ll find yourself returning to a few sharp ideas. These are the treasures to spend more time exploring.

This sounds easy, but like working out after a New Year’s resolution, it’s easy to burn out. Here’s what will happen. You’ll track some ideas for a week. Soon after, you’ll start mentally sidelining ideas. You’ll document them all at once for a few more days to maintain your streak. This will feel efficient, but then you’ll miss a day or two. Before you know it, your idea book sits on the shelf collecting dust. When this happens, don’t be hard on yourself. Even a little time committed to this exercise can spark a more creative mindset.

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It’s crazy how quickly the mental effects are felt from this simple exercise. Whenever I activate this practice, I love how the abundance of ideas lead to things I can share with fellow founders.

By Ben McDougal, ago