Boldkick

A bird does an incredible feat. It flies. It doesn’t so much defy gravity as it has a grand assumption about how the sky works. Through eons of practice, it practices the craft of aerodynamics. Despite having bird brains, it can do what we humans can’t. Fly under its own power. I often wonder about that first time a young chick takes flight. It must feel like the most lonely creature on this planet, facing its doom. And yet, to live, it must fly -- for that’s what birds do.... For the past year and a half, I’ve been that bird.

Want to get your business off the ground? Then alleviate your customers pains by delivering them gains. Every business starts with a problem. That problem is called value. Whether youre building a product or a service, every business problem comes down to proving that, whatever youre doing, it has intrinsic worth. This is why finding product-market fit is the most important concern when youre launching a business. [ 365 more words ] https://www.boldkick.com/how-to-quickly-find-product-marke/

Change or die, they say. But the thing about change is, it will happen inevitably. So the best you can do is work with the clock. As for myself, I take nothing for granted. This can change on a dime. The best I can hope for is that, with planning and strategy, things will come to fruition.

One of the hardest lessons I learned about starting my own business, and working by myself, is that nobody wanted to join me for Friday night beers.

A bird does an incredible feat. It flies. It doesnt so much defy gravity as it has a grand assumption about how the sky works. Through eons of practice, it practices the craft of aerodynamics. Despite having bird brains, it can do what we humans cant. Fly under its own power. I often wonder about that first time a young chick takes flight. It must feel like the most lonely creature on this planet, facing its doom. And yet, to live, it must fly -- for thats what birds do.... For the past year and a half, Ive been that bird.

No one ever prepared me for the loneliness that is starting your own business. I work out of my home. I eat lunch by myself. I never go out for Friday beers with friends. But hey, Im building something. Im doing it alone, and so theres not a whole lot of opportunities to celebrate the small victories. Yet, in all this solitary work, something beautiful emerges -- especially when I help clients realize their goals.

When you step out into the unknown, the bright lights can be blinding.

Ive discovered that, as time goes on, social media is doing a worse job of connecting people. Its being treated like a game -- an attempt to get the high score of likes, comments, and followers. Instead, it should be treated as an opportunity to connect fellow humans through art and stories. This ideal, at least, is my dream.

I like darkness, mostly because you can see the world differently when you remove all the light. I learned that lesson in Japan where, if you remove all colour and embrace the darkness, you see a different place altogether. I decided to see if the same would happen with Vancouver -- and Ive been at it ever since.

After I left Hootsuite, I decided to try my hand at creating a start-up. Just one problem: a start-up approach doesnt work with Boldkick. Im not building technology. Im creating art. That was a tough lesson to learn. And painful too. But I did what I had to do. I killed the start-up in order to create something new.

One more coffee, then another. I get so jittery my fingers twitch uncontrollably. Feeling bleary, I type furiously -- knowing full well Im going to keep typing as it reaches way past 2AM. This is what you got to do if you want to make something of yourself, I keep thinking. Screw everyone who keeps trying to take me off task. They dont understand hard work and dedication. They dont understand what it means to build a company worth millions. ... It becomes all about The Goal. Despite everything I tell myself about human-to-human connections, I dont take my own advice. The human, the emotional being that keeps demanding my attention, is a barrier to achieving The Goal. Got to make those numbers, meet those metrics. Got to feed into the machine, for I am a machine working a machine. Yet despite all this work, all this time Im pouring into it, it doesnt make my life better. It makes it worse. Were these sacrifices worth it? Why was it, when I tried to achieve The Goal, I was further away from it? And why, pray tell, wasnt the coffee helping?

Ive seen too many people chase the almighty dollar, and in the end it gets them nothing. Ive also seen people with more money than they can handle, and it leads them to misery. Great work needs a higher calling. For me, my higher calling is to create in such a way that humans are brought closer. Technology is growing more and more anti-social -- but why should we accept this? Instead, why cant technology bring more intimate forms of expression that bring us closer together? I think it can -- but that means stepping away from algorithm dependency and instead reaching out to build real and enduring relationships.

Routine is boring. Doing the same thing again and again and again becomes mundane. Wheres the sex appeal in monotony? Yet, its routine that keeps me consistent. Its what helps me deliver the same great results again and again. Its why Im able to build things. What I remind myself, over and over again, is that nobody cares about the work process. They just care about the results. And if you do things often, and keep your standards high, good things will happen.

Putting my stories and artwork out there is a risk. If it actually comes from me, my soul will shine through. If it doesnt, then its a lie. Simply playing to the audience isnt good enough. Something personal must be on the line.

My wife, Cindy, who is taking a break from badminton. #stories

When I was younger, I idealized what I thought my future wife would be like. She would get me. She would be sensual, wicked smart, listen to indie rock, go for late night slurpee jaunts, explore landscapes, and spin around gracefully in a meadow with butterflies fluttering about. This is what shed be like. Thered be no negotiating. But a funny thing happened. After dating a few women like this, I discovered a good portion of them were not a fit, and I didnt have the emot...ional wherewithal to overcome these challenges. Evaluating women by how closely they follow my interests isnt a good idea. Clearly, my standards were wrong. So I changed my standards, and kept it simple: I decided to simply date women I found attractive and interesting -- and be open to what they showed me. Behold, Cindy entered my life. When I first met her, I immediately discovered she loved badminton. If she was going to be a part of my life, so was the sport. And even though I didnt currently have an interest in the sport, it would be an interest -- because badminton is a core part of who Cindy is. I discovered that true love is not about my wife sharing in my passions but allowing myself to be interested in her passions. This year, we will have known each other for a decade -- and badminton has been part of my life for the entirety of that time.

I always aspired to own a home. As a child, I had a vision of this make-believe home in my head. Even a layout was imagined: it would have a patio for a gas-powered barbecue, and thered be a view of the mountains, and a hammock in the garden. Then it happened. It wasnt exactly as I imagined it, but I bought a home. It did have a patio, even if it only had a few feet of space. I couldnt see the mountains from my window, but if I walked outside and took a few steps over, I c...ould see them just fine. And the hammock? As it turns out, I dont like how they feel after a few hours -- I sure as hell dont like sleeping outside in the cold -- and so the hammock became inessential for me. With time, Ive realized a homes physical space isnt my dream. The dimensions and layout dont need to be just so. Whats important is the life within the walls. Every day, Im home with my family. Thats my aspiration. I built this life with my wife and child. And the truth is, home is wherever were together.

Discovery, and then exploration. To discover is to see. To explore is to understand. My regular routine is to look around. And I mean, really take a look. You never know when you might capture something special, when you explore something that seems, at first, mundane -- but is actually incredible. When you look, you got to consider not just its form, but its sense of place. You got to somewhat piece together a story. You got to consider its energy -- how to interact with i...t. Exploration is about possibility, testing its limits, seeing what kind of unknown energy you can capture -- and perhaps share with others.

Last Saturday, Christopher Trottier got to meet Nardwuar the Human Serviette, one of his #socialmedia heroes. And then something spectacular happened.

The word discovery is usually about seeing a new place. For example, Marco Polos journeys were about the discovery of lands unseen by Europeans. Here in Canada, John Cabot saw a new found land, which is now known literally as Newfoundland. So how do we discover urban landscapes? We look at the buildings, and we try to understand their stories. In a way, construction is the story of people. Why are these buildings here? What function do they serve? How do people live there?... What are their struggles? Every place Ive been is an episode in my story. I was born in a hospital. I studied in a school. I first saw my wife at a subway station. This inevitably is true of everyone whos lived non-fictionally. The longer a building stands, the more stories it witnesses. The more people who inhabit them, the more discoveries are made. You cant have a story without a setting. You cant have a plot without discovery.

Painted by Christopher Trottier. We really do believe #socialmedia is an art.

This waking #life. The marriage of permanence with impermanence. A building is built to last -- until, of course, it needs to be knocked down for something else. These places dont just store bodies, but also memories. I remember my elementary school. The schoolhouse was well over 100 years old. It had a gym up top. It had a basement where kids could play squareball. Now its gone -- couldnt withstand an earthquake or some of that jazz, so the powers-that-be decided it neede...d to go. Just like that, a place which held some tangible memories disappeared. Other buildings are more like dreams. Theres a haunted house on Oak St., for instance. Some family was murdered, and now their souls float through the walls. Or so they say. We dont know if the memories there are real or fiction -- but I first heard this story as a child, so its stuck with me. I likewise used to dream of an arcade. Imagine having all those machines to myself. Little did I know Id be living that dream with one machine and some emulators -- and it would all be in a room. Dreams can come true, though often in an impermanent way. And if you want to make them more than just wisps of your imagination, you must build them.

My name is Christopher Trottier. Everyone has a story worth hearing on #socialmedia, but it takes a lot of work to tell it. I founded Boldkick to help organizations with this taskor, as I like to call it, their journey. We at Boldkick have a story too, and next week, were going to tell it. Stay tuned!

Christopher and Cindy love tea. We love it so much, were throwing a real, legitimate party with genuine tea masters. This is why were doing it.

Weve been doing a lot of personal growth during the past 6 months. As a result, it was time that our website reflected that growth -- and renewed focus.

Its been quiet here for a couple of days, but thats because we were busy doing a redesign of our website. From the photo stock, the illustrations, and the copy, the design was handmade by us. Need assistance with a social media project? Contact us!

Every moment is a journey.

The fisherman moves out to sea.

Every window is an opportunity.

How many tales are in each of these buildings?

The magic of pictures is that they can record our memories, and how we feel about our memories.

Never say good night to your childhood.

If you close the door, the night could last forever.

Is your glass half empty or half full?

Time and circumstance happens to us all.

The simple life is often the better life.