Josiah Mackenzie

It feels so good to be organized. The past couple days I’ve been working hard to set up a system of organization in my dorm room. Now everything has a place, my goals are written out physically in front of me, and I feel ready to take on the world!

Currently reading:
Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by

I need to keep this daily journal thing going, so here goes…

After kicking off the day with an early morning run, I met with Adam to discuss contract details for the book we’re going to be writing together. We’ve come up with an interesting approach to the college success market, and I know it will do well. Right now we just need to focus on developing the content.

After lunch, I received an email from Scott Ginsberg notifying me he had blogged Young Wealth Weekly. Thanks, Scott! We have a brand-new design over there, so be sure to check that out.

Then at 2 this afternoon, I headed over to my school’s travel studies office to confirm some final details for my semester in Dublin next spring. I also learned more about a school in South Korea that I may be attending next fall. It would be very enriching to spend a semester in both Europe and Asia.

I’m finally starting to fit in here at school. I’m making a point to meet with as many people as possible that I could learn from. It’s absolutely amazing what you can learn from an experienced professor over a cup of coffee.

Wow…so much has happened since I posted here last. I took a big trip to the US east coast to meet with a bunch of young entrepreneurs individually. That trip was incredibly rewarding, and made me fall in love with the Boston area. Hopefully I’ll get the chance to relocate there in the future.

The past few days have been spent settling in here at college. I had mixed feelings coming back, but I look forward to taking advantage of the situation.

I sat down with Jesse Lear this evening to exchange ideas and set up an accountability achievement system. I created a list of goals I need to accomplish this next month, and gave the list to Jesse. If I fail to meet my objectives, Jesse will cash the check I’m giving him made out to charity. The fact that I could lose a large amount of money will serve as an extra motivation for me this next month. Plus, we’ll be meeting weekly to go over how we can help each other reach our goals. Should be a valuable experiment.

Check out the Walamu pre-launch site run by my buddy Rohail — it’s going to be cool…

I spent much of today working with the financial aid people at Cedarville. While I’m tempted to spend these days finishing up business ventures, I’m realizing that scholarships can be a very effective way to reach my goal of debt-free graduation.

The rest of the day was devoted to wrapping up a million other little things before I leave on my east coast trip. Should be a blast…can’t wait!

This fall semester I was scheduled to take the freshman-level Humanities class I missed it last year…but going to class 3 times a week wasn’t very appealing. So after a week of hard study, I took the CLEP test this morning and passed! It’s like earning over $2,000 (not counting time saved) for a week of studying subjects I love: art, architecture, music, and philosophy. Yes, I dedicated an entire week of precious pre-college time to it, but now I’ll have time in school to focus on more important activities, such as Toastmasters.

Remember, it’s all about leverage!

Spent most of today working on several little niche sites dealing with college textbooks. I can’t release the full details now, but rest assured I am going to change the entire textbook industry — bit by bit. Students are fed up with paying $150 per textbook.

My credit card processing company still hasn’t returned my call, so I wasn’t able to make any progress on the payment system for PalPad today. Instead I focused on building the main (sales) portion of the site. My graphic designer did a fantastic job, and I have a great lineup of content prepared for the site.

My biggest challenge is finding the perfect balance between selling and sharing knowledge. The best solution I’ve come across so far is providing a 5-day ecourse. I’m going to show entrepreneurs how they can launch a networking “campaign” that will produce better results than a marketing campaign could. In addition to providing useful information, I can incorporate a sales pitch at the end of each day’s material. Can’t wait to see how it turns out…

Spent today working with my credit card payment processor trying to create a billing solution for PalPad. I was able to figure out most of the system, but account activation takes forever. Hopefully tomorrow I can begin putting the code into the webpages.

The last couple days I’ve been planning my east coast [business] trip. I’m trying to meet up with many of my current internet business contacts to discuss entrepreneurship, strategy, and maybe do a couple interviews. As of now, my itinerary includes stops in Detroit, Toronto, Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, and a few smaller places in between. I’m known for having a good time on business trips, and this one won’t be any exception. Hopefully I’ll accomplish some of my goals, including that NYC helicopter tour. Being an entrepreneur is a lifestyle, baby!

I’ll close with a couple links…

This whole week I’ll be guest blogging on the YoungEntrepreneur.com Blog on the topic of networking. At least read the first post.

Also, my buddy Jesse Lear launched a brand new countdown blog today: ThePomegranateGuy. He has an exciting site in the works, so be sure to check that out as well.

A big chunk of my time (and concentration!) is being spent trying to resolve an issue with my college. Private colleges can be so hard to work with since they’re private organizations with their own rules. I believe that I have been treated in a highly unethical manner — and could easily win a lawsuit if it was a public college — but my chances aren’t very good since it’s private. Plus, I really don’t want the stigma and negative publicity from a situation like this. It’s driving me crazy and becoming a major distraction from profitable pursuits, so hopefully I’ll get it resolved soon.

On a positive note, my brother came home today from 3 weeks in Ethiopia, so we had a good time talking about his experiences there. He got a chance to work in some orphanages there — sounded like a great learning experience. I can’t wait for the year I plan to spend volunteering in a situation like that. It makes all our problems here in the States so small in comparison.

I also received my car today, and spent a sizable amount of time negotiating a favorable insurance policy for it. Car insurance can be so expensive for younger drivers that’s it’s important to make sure you only pay for what you need. Wealth building isn’t only about earning money, it’s also about plugging those leaks in your wealth reservoir.

Crazy busy day today — and mostly not business related stuff. Among other things, I bought a new car! Car shopping seems to take me forever. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a huge car enthusiast or what — but I’m glad the search is over. The time can definitely be better spent elsewhere.

I settled on a model that is substantially “less” — in every sense of the word — than my previous vehicle. Virtually every wealth-building book reminds you to invest in assets that create money for you. And as big a car fan as I am, I realize that cars don’t make you more money. For me, it was a good chance to apply some wealth building theory.

So after all that was completed, I got a chance to sit down and re-read one of my favorite networking books of all time, Never Eat Alone. It seems the best books need to be read and re-read to get the full value from them. Anyway, I made up a list of things I can do to improve my relationships with business contacts in the next year. The overall theme? Provide value and give with no strings attached. Can’t wait to start!