On January 1, 2004 I officially made the leap from Cubicle Land (that’s not actually my old desk in the picture) in corporate America and started my own company. These last six years have been pretty typical of someone who sets out on their own – full of highs and lows, challenges and rewards. Every day is unique. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Like a lot of us, I tend to use this time of year to reflect and look forward to the challenges that are awaiting me in the New Year.

Looking back, I figure I’ve worked an average of 50 hours per week for all 312 weeks over those six years. It’s probably more, but let’s go with 50. That means I’ve invested more than 15,000 hours into being an entrepreneur (I’ve also spent time working on side projects and additional ventures).

According to Malcom Gladwell, I should be an expert in entrepreneurship by now. I’m definitely not. Far from it. But I have learned countless important lessons that influence the decisions I make on a day-to-day basis. In fact the learning that takes place every day is one of my favorite parts of being an entrepreneur and is why I get out of bed each morning.

In thinking about all of the lessons learned, here are my top six from the last six years:

Entrepreneurs are not normal people.
When I first started Brand5, I naively thought that anyone could run their own business. The truth is that anyone can start their own business. But only the rare bird known as the entrepreneur can ride the never ending roller coaster that goes with putting up your own shingle. Entrepreneurs are hard-wired differently than everyone else. Anytime I meet a fellow entrepreneur, I have instant respect for them and the unique pressures they face every single day. It’s a rough game and not everyone is cut out for it.

Resist the urge to be perfect.
I have experienced this myself and seen it play out over and over again with clients and other startups. When launching a new business that is primarily or completely online, there is a strong temptation to wait until everything is absolutely perfect before launching it to the public. That’s completely wrong. Realize that your website will never be perfect. Someone, either you or your partners, will find something they want to change. The more time spent trying to make it perfect without launching, the more money you waste. Pick a sensible launch point and spend extra time trying to get customers.

Leave your ego at the door.
A lot of entrepreneurs figure out pretty quickly that there are not enough hours in the day. It’s impossible to do everything. In order to grow, tasks need to be delegated. When I first opened up shop, I tried to learn a little bit about everything – taxes, legal, and bookkeeping to name a few. That was wrong because, first, I’m not ever going to be good at those things. And second, learning that stuff took away from my time growing the business. Don’t be hard-headed and try to micro manage everything. Focus on what you do best.

Google rules the world.
If you have ever run an online business or even a website, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You cannot successfully market anything on the web without heavily involving Google. Whether its marketing through organic search, paid search, content ads, maps, calendars, or the local business center…a mastery of Google is required. Make sure that any venture you take part in includes someone who knows how to leverage all of the incredible power of Google. If you don’t have someone in-house, hire those skills immediately!

Bootstrapping is not overrated.
One thing I never envisioned when I first got started was the opportunity to serve on a board of another company or get involved as an equity partner. I’ve been extremely lucky to do both in the last six years. One of the biggest lessons I have learned is to hold on to equity like a vice grip. It sounds like a no-brainer, but not everyone does it. People rush to get tons of funding and before no time they own a tiny share of the company. What fun is it to work a million hours for something you barely own? The barrier to entry to start new web-based businesses is zero these days. Fund it yourself. And if you don’t have the money, wait until you do. Or find a partner that will fund if for you without taking a huge part in the company.

A good lawyer is priceless.
Don’t laugh at this one. Seriously, find legal counsel that you can call or email anytime you need help. Thankfully my business has grown over the past six years. As it grows, things get more complicated – contracts, NDAs, copyrights, trademarks, operating agreements, and all kinds of other fun stuff. Like I said before, I don’t have the time to dissect every line of every contract. While I admit that writing those checks for a high hourly rate are painful, it’s worth it every penny because I know that, in the end, my interests are protected.

What lessons have you learned from your time as an entrepreneur? Let’s talk about them in the comment area below.

Sorry for the lag in posts. I was in bed most of the week recovering from H1N1 (yes, I am officially a statistic). I hope to make my return to the blog next week when I return to work.

Thanks to all of you who have called and emailed wondering where I’ve been.

We just added a new section to our website that we hope you will find helpful. It has some free SEO, SEM, and website development articles that are designed to help business owners make informed decisions about managing their websites.

For now, the plan is to update this section 2-3 times per month.

We hope you enjoy our new content. Feel free to drop us a comment and let us know if there’s any specific issues related to your website that you want us to write about in the future.

Brand5 celebrated its fourth birthday on January 1. Hooray!

Year four was a major success for the Brand5 team. We continue to grow at a steady rate (more than 60 percent for the most recent year). Our clients remain fantastic, and we get to work on new and exciting projects all the time.

Here are just some of the websites we launched in 2007:
Food2UCatering.com
FitnessQuest10.com
HolidayBowl.com
PoinsettiaBowl.com
AdvantageOfficeSuites.com

We are really looking forward to year number 5. Not only because 5 is our favorite number, but because we are already working on some great projects that should be launching in the first half of 2008. From websites to software to applications for social networking sites, we have a lot of work ahead of us.

Thanks again to all of our great clients and strategic partners. We love working with you and look forward to more of the same in 2008.

We launched a Facebook Page (membership required) for our client, Matt Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck is the All-Pro quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks.

What’s exciting is that this is the very first page to be created for an NFL player and possibly the first for any US professional athlete from the four major sports (we are still trying to confirm that last fact).

What exactly is a FacebookPage? Here’s how Facebook describes it,

“Every Facebook Page is a unique experience where users can become more deeply connected with your business or brand. Users can express their support by adding themselves as a fan, writing on your Wall, uploading photos, and joining other fans in discussion groups. You can send updates to your fans regularly — or just with special news or offers.”

We are proud to be on the cutting edge with this. Facebook is the hottest thing going right now. It is truly the ‘killer app’ of 2007. With nearly 60 million members and growing, it makes total sense for every brand to get in front of Facebook users. Facebook, moreso than any other social networking website out there right now, facilitates connections amongst its users with similar interests (in this case the popular leader of the Seahawks).

Facebook is incredibly viral. Without any marketing or fanfare whatsoever, nearly 60 users have become a fan of Matt’s page already.

We are pleased to announce the launch of a new project for same-day delivery service Food2U catering. Their new website is located at food2ucatering.com.

Food2U is an innovative new same-day catering service serving the business communities in Boston and Chicago. They facilitate the process that allows users to plan, order and receive your meal all in the same day.

The launch caps four months of development, all done in .NET.

“The Brand5 team exceeded our expectations on this project,” said Food2U Founder Al Maguire.

Maguire added, “We presented them with the challenge to develop the first same day online catering service in the country. Their efforts went above and beyond as we worked with them from the initial concept phases all the way through to launch. We look forward to our continued relationship with them.”

The application is robust. In short, users (consumers) can do all of the following:

• Register for accounts
• Search by zipcode for restaurants in the Food2U network
• View menus for restaurants
• Place and pay for orders in real-time

On the back end, Food2U has administrative rights to the entire operation. What we have created allows them to do all of the following:

• Administer the entire website through a content management system
• Create new restaurants
• Create custom menus for each restaurant (including items, pricing, extras, delivery times, delivery zones)
• Check orders through an advanced reporting system

Food2U’s service went public on September 24. We wish them the best of luck and look forward to working with them as their company grows.

We’ve recently completed development of new websites for both of San Diego’s college football bowl games. The two new websites are located at HolidayBowl.com and PoinsettiaBowl.net.

The mandate given to us for each project was to update the look-and-feel, increase usability given the vast amount of content each website presents, give the San Diego Bowl Game Association (SDBGA) a way to manage the content on their own, and create new revenue opportunities.

Here are just some of the functionalities we developed:

• Content Management System – the SDBGA will be able to maintain the content each website from any computer with an Internet connection.
• E-commerce – full back-end capabilities to manage the sale of all of bowl merchandise and tickets for bowl events.
• Banner management – the SDBGA will be able to manage their own pay-per-click- or pay-per-show ad campaigns to generate additional revenue.

We also implemented an email marketing platform to help promote each bowl’s brand as well as a web analytics package to allow the SDBGA to monitor the usage of each website.

In addition to developing both websites, we also built a standalone application for the SDBGA’s army of volunteers called the Red Coats and Red Shirts. Each year, the SDGBA host a number of events to raise awareness and money to help support the bowls. The application allows the Red Coats and Red Shirts to register as a volunteer from a list of available time slots. We built it in .NET and it came out really well. This will help streamline a big part of what the SDBGA is all about.

Both projects were completed in conjunction with the Marble Key marketing network. Marble Key is an exclusive professional network of leading experts specializing in wide range of marketing disciplines. They create marketing value that serves companies interested in developing richer customer experience for their products and services.

We joined the Marble Key network earlier this year and have really enjoyed working with them. They have been a tremendous strategic partner for Brand5.

Here’s what Marble Key had to say:

“When Marble Key was invited to bid on the SDBGA web project, we knew Brand5 was the partner to bring into the project,” said Marble Key Managing Partner Mike Nottoli.

“Each of the bowls has developed a brand identity which had not been properly presented to the fans and volunteers in the site design, look and feel. Additionally we faced a significant content management (30 years of bowl stats, photos and video) and revenue generation potential that to date had gone un-tapped. The project was executed flawlessly. The SDBGA is thrilled with the results and cannot wait to add more functionality to deepen the relationship with the fans, volunteers and bowl staff.”

This week we began working on a new project – redesigning AdvantageOfficeSuites.com.

Phoenix-based Advantage Office Suites (Advantage) decided they need a brand new website to compliment some re-branding they just recently completed. They also want to make their website a more effective sales tool for perspective customers. Our experience in usability and information architecture will go a long way in helping take the website from being just a brochure to a platform that generates sales.

The project includes the development of a content management system so that Advantage can maintain their own content.

In the past, we have been lucky to work with some other great companies in the real estate industry. Some examples are Rossi Properties, La Casa Serenidad, and Suite Logic Offices.

We hope to have the new website up-and-running by the end of the year.

We just finished developing a logo for one our newer clients, Marble Key. They are pleased with the way it came out, so we are pumped.

“Brand5 did a fantastic job with our logo effectively capturing our brand essence and vision for growth,” said Managing Partner Shlomi Ron.

Marble Key is an exclusive professional network of leading experts specializing in wide range of marketing disciplines. They create marketing value that serves companies interested in developing richer customer experience for their products and services.

This is a great client. We really enjoy working with them.

We are scheduled to begin developing their website right away.

Back in early April we announced the deal to redesign FitnessQuest10.com. Since then we have been working on the project and today are proud to announce that the new website is up-and-running.

This was a fun and extremely rewarding project for us. Todd Durkin and his team at Fitness Quest 10 are so passionate about their business that you can’t help but get caught up in it. We worked hard to deliver a vehicle for them that will effectively serve their loyal customer base while acting as a sales tool to acquire new business.

Here are just some of the key functionalities we developed:

• Content Management System, that gives them complete control over managing the website.
• E-commerce – full back-end capabilities to manage the sale of all of their product.
• Dynamic site mapping to produce XML feeds to search engines.
• Social bookmarking widgets to help spread the word around the web about their great content.

We are pleased because our client is happy with the final result. Here’s what Todd had to say about the new site, “Brand5 has been absolutely awesome to have on my Fitness Quest 10 team. I am proud of my new site because I feel it provides our user-base with the content, look, feel, and emotion that I desired when originally planning for my re-design. Their customer service was outstanding, their team was great to work with, they met all their deadlines, and I feel they truly thought out every decision very carefully for what was in the best interest of my organization. ”

Thanks, Todd. We love being part of your team and look forward to working with you more in the future.

Besides the redesign, Fitness Quest 10 will host their website with Brand5 and is also signed up for a monthly support package that ensures we will answer any questions they may have while we ensure that the content management system stays up-to-date and secure.

We have some great news to report on the client front. Today we signed an agreement to be the exclusive development partner for Food 2 You, a catering aggregator based in Boston.

Exact details about the project are confidential until the project is complete. Our new client has a great concept and we want to help them succeed by not disclosing their secret sauce to the competition.

One thing we won’t leave to your imagination is our excitement about the project. We have enjoyed getting to know Food 2 You during the specification development process which we completed earlier this month. They have a well-developed plan. We are looking forward to making their ideas a reality. The work will be a great challenge for us and the end result will be very valuable to Brand5′s continued growth. It will be another good chance for us to display our ability to develop complex systems that add value to small and medium businesses.

The agreement covers a three-phase development project. Development will begin in early May. The goal is to launch a pilot application for Phase 1 by the beginning of September.

We are proud to announce that we launched a brand new website today, suitelogicoffices.com.

If you check out the website, you’ll notice that Suite Logic is based up in Portland, OR. The Great Northwest has been very good to us over the years. We have been lucky to work with several clients up there, namely Julie Wells, Matt Hasselbeck, and Jason Hink. This is not our first time working in real estate, either. We built a website for Rossi Properties a couple of years ago.

Suite Logic had a simple mandate. They wanted a website to help sell their beautiful, brand new facilities. Ultimately, selling their services has to be done in person because, understandably, most companies won’t rent space without seeing it first. So Suite Logic wanted to make sure that they had a simple, clean design with small amounts of powerful content–just enough to tempt local businesses to come take a look at the facilities.

In addition to building the website, we are also hosting and mainitaining it as well.

Congrats to Suite Logic for entering the exciting world of websites. Good luck!