The Diary of a 21st Century Entrepreneur

Bend, Bend, Bend, and Don’t Brake October 28, 2009

Hello, everyone!

You may know me or you may have stumbled upon this blog by accident. Either way, I’m glad you’re here. I’ll tell you a little about me, what I do, and the purpose of this great blog in cyberspace.

I started Restless Children Media in 2008 with the backing of two investors. Thankfully, they’ve been great, supportive, and I couldn’t ask for anything more. This business grew out of a teenage dream of creating the next AOL Time Warner (which it was called when I interned at one of their divisions in 2003) or Disney.

Well, the idea was that sparked in the choir room of my high school just before 2000 finally came to fruition in 2008 when I formed the company to produce a pilot for radio drama called What Lies Beyond. I created, wrote, and produced the pilot with the help of a wonderful production associate named Stephanie in London during July of 2008. The experience was one that I wouldn’t trade for anything and although the pilot still hasn’t sold to a radio station or station group (the perils of business), I took time to rethink the business and approach it in a different way that still used my skill set. Ah, the power of positive thinking in the business world.

While I worked on my dissertation during the winter of 2009, I began to write a novel based on a script I wrote called Andover. The novel, The Regal Family, took on a life of its own and I wrote it in less than three months. Although I did have to take some time off in late March in order to finish my dissertation by my late April deadline. Thankfully, everything worked out for the best. (Note: The pilot script for Andover was a finalist in the 2008 Red Planet Pictures Scriptwriting Competition.)

Right now, the company is gearing up the presentation for a new business model for our dramatic content (more on that later). Also, The Regal Family is in the midst of pre-production before it is available to buy on Amazon.com (fancy, I know!) and I’m working on my second novel, Gossip.

One thing I do want to achieve from this blog…this living entity…is to give the world a glimpse into the world of my new business Restless Children Media. We have a business address and all of that fun stuff based in Seattle, but the company is run virtually. Yes, it’s the new frontier and it works. The Internet has changed the world and being a business isn’t equated with renting three offices in the downtown district of New York City or Omaha.

I’ll be as honest as possible with the developments that can arise from everything including filing business taxes (fun) to meetings with potential business partners (much more fun). Also, I’ll give you an insight into the my creative process through writing novels to creating a new television or radio program with the goal of having it professionally produced somewhere in the world.

So far the journey is still interesting, but it’s not as immediate as illustrated in the pages of Forbes or on CNBC. It’s a process. It’s damn hard work. But above all, it’s fun. I love it. The one thing I have to keep remembering is that I have to bend to make my product profitable and sustainable in today’s world, but you can’t break the original mission of your business. Because, after all, that’s why you probably started your business in the first place.