People have called my father difficult. He has been fired or let go from a few jobs along the way, perhaps the most famous story being when he told a very important VEEP from CITIBANK to ‘ZIP it’ during the middle of a presentation he had prepared weeks for. He was fired soon thereafter.
He has never been afraid to tell people like it is, whether it be his children, his childrens’ wives, his own wives or his best friends. People have cowered, fought back, have laughed at him and with him, but always, always, he is after the truth.
“The Truth?” he would laugh. “Does that even bleeping exist?” Maybe not. The search continues.
So when you take on a quest with my father, you sort of know what you’re getting into. A firefight. A fistfight. Moments of frustration and sincere mayhem. Wondering ‘WTF, Life is too short’ and almost, almost moving on.
But never quite. Because his good side always wins in the end. Which is why I’m on this quest with him. For years, he has banged the drum that ‘education goddamnit just needs to focus on the basics: Teach our kids to read and the rest will follow. The rest will come. Anything else is sheer madness and a waste of the taxpayer’s money!”
That’s why he started www.brainsarefun.com. And because I know a little bit more about the world wide webs than he does, I decided to help him. It’s been a blessing, a curse, a joyride, and an incredibly steep learning curve. Though I’m a pretty good marketer, I don’t have much of a clue about e-commerce – so we take the machete out and chop at the long vines of HTML, shopping carts that won’t work, and PayPal. Plus all that other stuff.
I’ve learned a heck of a lot about all this in just a few short months. Stuff I’m going to share. Thoughts I’m going to ponder. Madness I’ll be sure to dissect.
And oh yeah, one more thing: I love my dad. He’s the best. This is our journey. From zero to wherever, we’re starting now. I’ll keep you Posted.
Throw me a lifeline – give me advice here.