Brian Shaler

I had an interesting realization recently when discussing funding options for a web site I built. For some background, I’ve worked on it occasionally on weekends (and a few multi-week sprints) throughout the last 4 years. It has slowly grown up to be a pretty robust lump of technology. For it to have a chance at taking off, it will need serious attention from a bunch of different angles: design, user experience, back-end optimization, sysadmin/devops, content acquisition, moderation, and marketing.

There are always valid arguments in favor of and in opposition to raising capital. After a couple of years of having no intention to seek funding for this project, I started to lean in favor of it. Part of it is manpower and not spreading myself too thin. Another part is skill set—my skills are too broad.

I’m pretty good at a few things (interactive development; “making stuff move with code”), but much less so at a bunch of other things. I can do various things under the “big D Design” umbrella (from product to user experience to graphic design), but that doesn’t mean I should. My design work is definitely inferior to those who specialize in it. I can do database administration and query optimization, but that doesn’t mean I should. My low-level systems prowess is definitely inferior to those who specialize in it. Basically, I have the ability to build a fully functional and fairly usable proof of concept, but not an all around amazing product. I can bring an idea to life, but beyond that, it’s best to let specialists take it from there.

Throughout most of my career, I’ve always worked alongside complementary specialists, allowing me to focus my attention to my own specialty. My best work has always been the work I’ve done with good teams. My best solo work, while sometimes being technologically innovative, is nowhere near as well-rounded or impressive.

So, I hit a roadblock. If I were talking to investors with an idea, a plan, some slides, and no ability to pull it off myself, an investors answer would simply be, “Yes,” or, “No.” However, because I technically can build everything from front to back, the answer becomes, “No,” or, “Come back after you launch it and start getting some traction.” If an investor has the option to see the product in action and gauge real-world interest, why not wait and see?

Well, I need to get back to my client work now…

photo by @kende

I’ve been traveling full-time for about 9 months now. I imagine many people I’ve hung out with along the way didn’t even know anything was different, because I’m living similarly to how I’ve lived for the last 4 years. However, instead of being grounded in Phoenix 1-2 weeks a month, I’ve replaced that time with “Other.”

While running my business and trying to do exciting and challenging work, I’ve also been couch surfing, short-term renting, and occasionally hotel-living. I probably should have written about all of this along the way, as there are many related topics to cover about the lifestyle.

A popular question for travelers is “what do you pack?” Different types of travel require different packing lists. For most, sites like my friend Alex’s UltimatePackingList.com are all you need.

But I do things differently. With full-time work-as-you-go travel, there’s a different set of needs. I essentially need to carry my entire home office with me at all times. Anything I need to run my business needs to be with me, or else I might as well not have it. This prevents me from being able to do anything crazy like going around the world with no bags, or trimming down to just 15 things. For me, it’s not about having as few things as possible; it’s about having everything I need, but only what I need, in as little space and weight as possible.

My home office turns out to be 2 bags, which allows me to travel without checking bags.

Bag 1: Home
21″ rolling luggage; fits in the overhead compartment

• About a week’s worth of clothing: 9 t-shirts, 3 jeans, and plenty of underwear and socks
• Toiletries: 75-100ml toothpaste, toothbrush, mustache wax, deodorant, electric shaver, fingernail trimmers, etc.
• Fitness: Running shoes and gym shorts
• Misc: Light but warm jacket, laundry bag, swimwear

Bag 2: Office
17″ laptop/messenger bag; fits under the seat in front of me

• Laptop: 15″ MacBook Pro with SSD
• Electric: International power adapter, power strip, phone/USB charger, laptop charger
• Productivity despite babies and (not in!) blenders: Noise-cancellation headphones
• USB External HDD, for large file storage, virtual machines, etc.
• Photo/Video: Sony NEX-3 18-55mm with microphone accessory
• Misc: Pocket umbrella, microfiber cloth, checkbook, receipt folder, envelopes, stamps, mini gorilla/tripod, sunglasses

On my person
Always in my pockets

• Carrier-unlocked GSM phone (Nexus S)
• Wallet, money clip, bottle-opener combo: Cash, coins, and cards
• Passport
• Notebook & pen

What else do you need?

Just over a year ago, the day before my birthday, I submitted the paperwork for my first business. As I made the transition into self-employment, many people who had known me for years were surprised. They said, “I thought you were already a freelancer!” Nope. I got to live the life by working from home for a company based in the Bay Area.

I don’t talk about my work very much, which leaves people to guess or assume based on what I do or say. Even now, while I should be promoting my business, I find it too self-promotional and pretentious to talk about my work.

There’s a fine line, I think, between sharing and bragging. Between informing and self-promoting. I haven’t always avoided that line as much as I do today.

To the time machine!

“Let me show you how awesome I am.”

Around 5 or 6 years ago, I gave a demo at Refresh Phoenix Demo Night of a site I built for Nike (as part of a very talented team, of course). I was about 20 years old at the time. Even though I kept my age under wraps—hoping to avoid the young hotshot stigma—it was pretty obvious I was young. I couldn’t help but wonder, was I demoing or bragging? Perhaps it was in the eyes of the beholder…

“Do you know who I am?”

It was around that time when I realized that having clients like Mazda, Nike, Ford (SVT), Boeing, Twix, (etc. etc. etc. blah blah blah brag brag brag) didn’t mean much. What it did mean was that I wouldn’t have trouble getting a job if I needed or wanted one. It also meant that people who knew of my work were likely to respect my capabilities, which is an immeasurable feeling for someone who invests so much time and energy into his work. However, in the bigger picture, there’s value in having name recognition within a broader community. I realized I could use my portfolio as back pocket credibility and independently get my name out within the technology community. I became the guinea pig of a series of online social experiments, starting with making random crap techies would find neat and plastering my name all over it. Well, the experiments were an unimaginable success and I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for those experiments. However, there were unintended negative consequences, including an outward-facing persona James Archer coined as “THE Brian Shaler.”

“So…. what do you do?” – People who have met me since, even after knowing me for 1-2 years

Some things have changed a bit since the early days in my career, and perhaps I’ve overcompensated.

I’m a data visualizationist. My forte has always been making stuff move with code, but I currently focus on data visualization and the many ways you can bring data to life. I’m not going to tell you I’m good at what I do, but I’m happy to show you my work and let you decide for yourself.

To catch you up on what the last couple months have been like for me, I cut loose and quit my job in June (Act 1). During July, I was in a state of free fall (Act 2), as I lined up meetings across the country and went to 6 cities in 4 weeks. Now (Act 3), I would like to talk about the landing.

What I did was radical. Perhaps even crazy. I couldn’t help but wonder while I was putting myself through this, “Am I crazy? Or brilliant? … Or both?”

What I did was crazy. I quit an excellent job, working for an awesome company in the bay area (they’re hiring!). I got to work from home. I reported to people who were results-oriented, not micro-managing. Flexible, fun, paid monthly travel, reasonable pay. I quit an excellent job.

The day after putting in my notice, I was driving to the office, listening to NPR. They were doing a segment on long-term unemployment—people who got laid off and have been looking for a job for over a year.

I had reached the point of no return and was confident I was moving in the right direction. Still, I felt a tremendous amount of doubt.

Crazy. I’ve never been good at saving money. I have always lived paycheck-to-paycheck. (I love direct deposit!)

I quit my job with minimal savings—a little bit of cash—and no customers lined up. I could have waiting until I had some money saved up (probably wouldn’t happen) or until I had a customer lined up (I turned down 2 offers before I was ready to take the plunge). What was the first thing I decided to do? Travel.

Crazy. I burned most of my runway capital on a three and a half week trip, hitting 6 cities coast-to-coast. I bought a netbook and my full-time job for my first month of un-/self-employment (I called it unemployment until I landed a paying gig) was emailing, scheduling, calling, and meeting. No code. I’m a programmer, and I didn’t write a single line of code for a month.

Or was I brilliant?

During my travels, I met up with a ton of people. Literally. Actually, “literally” would mean at least 20 tons. I was talking about data visualization all day every day for weeks. I met over coffee, food, drinks, and boardroom tables. I traveled in cars, taxis, buses, trains, planes, elevators, and escalators to see people.

By the numbers: I talked about data visualization with about 200 people. Those people were associated with at least 60 companies that would either be customers, partners, or simply providing referrals. Of those 60, I considered 40 to be prospects. From those 40 prospects, I could see 10-15 of them converting into paying customers. Of those 10-15 hot leads, I needed to find 1-3 that would ready to start work within a month. I was going broke. Fast.

Brilliant? I got home almost 6 weeks after I left to go to work (and put in my 2 weeks notice). After 4 full days at home, I was on a plane to Washington DC to start working on-site with my first client.

The numbers make sense. Given enough prospects, a certain percentage should convert into customers. So I guess the question is, “How was I able to meet with so many prospects?” My work is pretty specific. Data visualization. It’s a very tight niche. What does data visualization mean to companies? To some, it’s marketing. To others, it’s business intelligence or analytics. Most companies can benefit from it, but not many are in a position to invest in it.

“So how was I able to get so many prospects in such a tight niche?”

The full answer would require a series of blog posts. In summary, it’s about paying it forward, doing good for no reason, and investing time in meeting and helping people. It’s about ROI, and the return being indirectly linked to the investment. I spent years going to conferences, making friends with people in my industry. I spent years being involved with local tech community events. I spent years couch-surfing and developing strong friendships with people around the country I rarely see.

When I was in my state of free fall, my friends across the country were my parachute. I spent a month traveling across the country pulling the ripcord.

Thanks to my network of friends, I didn’t land on my face. I hit the ground running.

I’ve cut loose and made the jump. Now it’s time to see if I hit the ground running or fall flat on my face.

The moment in between jumping and landing is the fall. It’s the weightlessness you feel as you no longer have control of your trajectory. I’ve carved out a tight niche in a young field. I’m simultaneously turning away work (general Flash development, for which there is always demand) and hunting to find work (data visualization, specifically).

I quit my awesome job at BitGravity on June 28, effective July 9. My last 2 weeks were spent on-site in Burlingame, CA & Santa Cruz, CA. On Monday, July 12, I hit the ground running, meeting with prospective clients in the Bay Area. Before my flight from SFO to LGA (NYC), I made a quick trip down to LA then San Diego, for potential leads and to meet up with friends.

After a week and a half of independence, I was on my way to NYC. I had a mostly open schedule after the first few days. I was planning to stay 2-3 weeks. It ended up being 2 weeks, with a day trip to Philadelphia as well as a day and a half in Washington DC. Three and a half weeks of cross-country business development in 6 cities.

Now that I’m back in Phoenix, recovering from a trip that spanned almost 6 weeks, I’m wondering if what I just did was crazy or brilliant.

You quit an awesome job with pretty cool perks to take a flying leap of faith into a young market without any customers lined up, and you start off by blowing a bunch of money on a coast-to-coast road (well, mostly air) trip? Are you nuts? Maybe.

I’m going to write about this trip, because the concept is intriguing to me. I have a hunch the plan was mostly brilliant and partly crazy. Being a little bit of both can go a long way.

UPDATE: Act 3: The Landing