Change of Scenery

I’m not about to share anything worthwhile. Tomorrow you’ll find out what I’ve been up to for the past year or so, I hope you join us for the webinar at noon. ExchangeDefender as a company has roughly another year of blueprint to execute and truth be told, it won’t need me for it. The business is very mature, not overly exposed to any particular product (we don’t make 90% of our money off one product with venture capital vultures circling our business like so many out there), the people that are in the VP roles have been here for at least 3 years (which is an eternity in the fast paced software business) and I trust just about all of them to run the core business lines and some have already been doing that for a while. I’m very proud of what we’ve built and where we are going and how many folks we’re going to help build their businesses. In a way, it’s the ultimate thanks for helping us build our business.

But this post is really more about me.

I have a billion different ideas on all the cool stuff to do next.

I also have a tremendous amount of resources and free time.

Unfortunately, none of it is easy. None of it will materially or significantly impact the bottom line, at least initially, which in general means I am not going to be very driven to do it. Not that I won’t be super excited about it – but if something blows up or if I find something else that can distract me for a few hours (“Hey Vlad, I have a guy who wants to get rid of his Ducati and I thought it would be cool to build a café racer”) I typically will. So if I stay in my Corse Rosa office at ExchangeDefender, I probably will not do the work at my fullest potential.

Ultimately, a lot of my ideas have a common theme/agenda but I need to draw them up and connect them and explain them in a really simple way (“We kill SPAM for a living”) type of a thing.

I need a change of scenery..

Here is where I ask for the free advice. Considering I typically offer free advice so help a brother out.

I’m considering going somewhere for a month and working in a bit of a mental vacuum ala Henry David Thoreau.. Except instead of going to some god forsaken cabin in the woods I want to be near a 4G network, Diet Coke and girls in thong bikinis. Mexico comes to mind but I don’t trust my entrepreneurial side not to start some sort of a drug distribution business with all of your credit cards and stolen identities.

Here is the problem / list of requirements:

1. I want to go somewhere relatively warm. Since it’s almost summer that won’t be hard to find.
2. I want a big city. Ideally, London.
3. The problem with going to UK or Australia is that we do huge amounts of business there and that would create an easy distraction.
4. I’d like something where I could bring my son along – so some sort of American school / camp for him to be around other kids would be great.
5. Considering Hawaii.. but it’s too far behind to stay in touch with the wifey.

Then there are logistical issues. I would need an Internet connection, not necessarily 4G, since I’ll be out for a month I’m sure I can find a place with an ethernet jack. I don’t want to be on the opposite side of the earth from my family.

If you’ve ever taken a break from your professional life of micromanaging your business to focus yourself on what you need to do next in your career… I would very much appreciate any advice or suggestions you may be willing to share.