The 9 to 5 Alternative

Case Studies in the 9 to 5 alternative: No. 8

Welcome to a series of profiles on alternative lifestyles. If you think that you (or someone you know) would make for an interesting interview, drop me a line.

Meet David Bixler. He’s traveled a bit. He lives in Washington D.C. and runs his own company. He likes to jump on trampolines. He’s intelligent, relaxed and waxes philosophical on small businesses and customer loyalty. David’s a cool guy.

I met David a couple of months ago, when he came to visit my roommate and crashed on our couch for a few nights. We fended off mice, walked around Boston and sampled some of our favorite microbrews. When we weren’t playing video games or cards, we chatted about entrepreneurship.

After graduating college, David mingled with a start-up company in D.C. and licensed their software, effectively launching his own customer loyalty company. I had fun probing him for details.

So, tell us about your company, Client Rocket.

The old elevator pitch, huh? Client Rocket is an API driven loyalty platform for businesses, organizations, and entrepreneurs. So if you’re not a techie like me, Client Rocket allows any business to operate and manage their own in-house points, loyalty, or rewards program powered by a web-based technology. My loyalty philosophy is the more you give, the more you have to give. It may sound counter-intuitive, but studies have proven that 20% of customers can account for 80% of a business’ profit. Treat these customers well and they will reward you with a stream of profits and praise. Since loyalty is confusing, we help clients conceive of the right solution for their specific business while fulfilling the need for marketing materials like those awesome plastic cards you get at your grocery store. If it pertains to loyalty, we’ve got it covered.

Client solutions are just one side of the business. Lately I’ve been fascinated with what entrepreneurs are doing with our platform. Loyalty takes many forms, and entrepreneurs around the world are creating stand-alone businesses based on our platform.

Where did the idea come from? How did you originally get things off the ground?

Most people laugh when I explain this, but the idea for ClientRocket actually originated from my intelligent, wonderful, amazing mother. I come from an entrepreneurial family, and right after I graduated from college I was looking for a fun Internet project instead of getting one of those “real world” jobs. At the time, my mother was launching a rewards program for local home builders to earn points for shopping at local suppliers like local lumber, flooring, plumbing, and hardware companies in effort to compete with the national Lowe’s and Home Depots. The web-based software she found to track all this was provided by a startup company based in Washington DC called StickyStreet.com. I thought her idea was brilliant but surely there had to be other applications for this loyalty-centered business model.

Turns out, StickyStreet was about to change their business model to license their technology only to resellers that understand the concepts of loyalty. I was at the right place at the right time so I jumped on this opportunity, drove up to Washington DC, took their 3-day loyalty immersion course and have been obsessed with loyalty ever since.

StickyStreet helped me pick the name ClientRocket and launch a website but I already had my first client lined up back home. It was a big name Spa franchise that was missing the loyalty functionality from their pre-approved corporate software. They had no way of rewarding frequent customers. Luckily, my new gig provided the solution so I spent some time with the owners and listened to what they needed. We designed some plastic cards and kicked off their program a few weeks later.

Being a non-conformist (hence ending up on this blog), I thought this was a dream come true. I could work from anywhere in the world, provide a web-based service, and still make a monthly income. Plus, knowing that I was adding value to these businesses really gave me a warm fuzzy feeling. My next few clients came from the leads I received from my first Google AdWords campaign. I had never done any online advertising, but I was fascinated with its effectiveness. No wonder Google has about $35 billion in cash lying around! My first low budget AdWords campaign resulted in several leads and a few new clients. I got to know them over the phone and through email correspondence and built the loyalty solution they were seeking. Piece of cake.

I’m digging this whole customer loyalty thing. Any fun clients you’ve worked with?

I’m glad you agree, Alan. Loyalty rocks. On a side note, I consider myself a loyal friend and Apple fanboy, but the former generally gets me more points with the ladies. But fun clients you ask? Plenty. One of my first clients is a coffee franchise based in Australia called The Dancing Bean. Not only do they have fun accents, but also the owner has a serious dirt biking hobby, which makes me insanely jealous that we don’t get to hang out on the weekends. Even though we’ve never met in person, I can tell he’s a fun guy. I have the privilege of speaking to like-minded folks all day long. For example, one of my favorite clients (oh wait, I can’t pick favorites) is a chain of Bike Shops in Virginia. They sponsor race teams and have built up an impressive customer list from using our program for several months. They are always reaching out to the community and they see the results through several dedicated customers. In fact, their customers have reached out to me to praise them! I really just love working with positive people, and loyalty has that effect. Other cool businesses we work with include wine shops, salons, fine dining clubs, auto dealerships, doctor’s offices, and an entire school district in Michigan (I made them promise they wouldn’t give me homework).

What have been some of your biggest entrepreneurial hurdles so far? What have you learned?

Of course, entrepreneurship has its hurdles. As much as I love this pirate lifestyle, I always wonder if I missing something that a real job could offer. On second thought, no paycheck could sway me from wearing pajamas until noon. I am always challenged with the ability to be self-motivated. Since I ultimately make every decision about my business, I have to rely on myself to stay on top of my game. Time management can be difficult especially when it’s a beautiful day outside. Everyday I have to prioritize what is important. I am an avid list maker and generally a very organized guy. Making lists is one of my favorite things to do and a must on a Sunday night in order to plan my week. I’ve definitely learned that it is always better to be proactive instead of reactive. There is always something that could be done to keep me ahead of the curve, whether it be reading the latest loyalty blog, or broadening my horizons with a new skill. For example, this month I took a Photoshop class so I can better understand graphic design.

Another entrepreneurial challenge pertains to staying focused on one project at a time. I have a tendency to be an off-the-wall thinker and can easily go off on a tangent if infected with a new idea (Inception reference). I am constantly asking myself if these new ideas relate to my core business model of loyalty. There is nothing wrong with side projects, and a full shelf of them could lead to a breakthrough one day, but if my idea doesn’t fit my core business, I have to put it on the shelf or move it around to one of my peers.

Anything exciting in the works? What can we expect from Client Rocket over the next couple of years?

I am very excited about what’s in the pipeline for 2011. We’ve brought on some extremely talented developers who are going to lead our foray into the mobile market. Tablet devices have only scratched the surface of their potential, and have yet to be fully adopted by the business world. Developing a mobile application or hotsite for these tablet devices would open up a huge opportunity for businesses. I talk to businesses all day that need a loyalty program to fit their current workflow, except they don’t know what they want or how it will work. Henry Ford said, “If we asked our customers what they want they would have said a faster horse.” I think that quote is incredibly accurate in the loyalty market right now because customer loyalty is rapidly changing with new media like Facebook and Twitter. We are listening to what customers want and then hiding out with people that truly understand the technology to determine the next loyalty breakthrough.

As for me, I’m incredibly happy with my role at ClientRocket. I’m working with some of the smartest people in the industry in a city that I love, Washington DC. I’m focused on growing my business for the next several years, but who knows what form that will take. I’m a huge fan of what you do with The 9 to 5 Alternative and share your passion for traveling and micro-goal setting. I want to travel to South America, Thailand, and Australia but I can’t decide in what order. Thankfully, I’m self-employed and can make these decisions for myself. After all, it’s never been easier to be an entrepreneur than right now.

Greetings from Manaus, Brazil.

While my Boston friends are enduring yet another winter storm, I’m surveying the largest city in northern Brazil under an equatorial sun. Sure, my hotel room is crawling with ants, and my lack of Portuguese had made getting around a bit tougher than usual, but I couldn’t be happier.

When I was in elementary school, I would spend hours playing an educational computer game called The Amazon Trail. I distinctly remember stopping in Manaus to trade some of the items I had gathered canoeing down the Amazon. To think that I’m actually here in the flesh is bewildering. My wanderlust for the remote corners of the world grows stronger.

One Challenge Down. Eleven More to Go.

In January, I set out to conquer the first of twelve month-long challenges in 2011. The first challenge–to cook 5-10 recipes I had never made before–went as planned. I got into the kitchen. I followed recipes that were both easy and delicious. I made fish and chili and salad and roasted vegetables and all kinds of good stuff. Heck, I even rounded up a few of you to join me.

Thanks to everyone who participated and to everyone who helped spread the word. The whole purpose of these challenges is to have fun and bring our livees to a higher standard. I’d love to have you aboard.

February Challenge: Write 1000 Words/Day.

Lately, I’ve fallen into a mental consumption trap. While I’m growing intellectually–reading blogs and books and articles, talking to friends, watching, ahem, Jeopardy–I haven’t produced anything to show for it. In other words, I’m consuming more than I’m creating.

I’m often overwhelmed with the amount of epic shit out there, and it’s about time I start honing in on the skillset I’ve been neglecting most over the last several months: writing.

February’s challenge is to write consistently, every day, at least 1000 words. I picked the number 1000 because I know it’ll be difficult to hit. Your number might be different. The important thing is to set a metric to be able to stay focused and track progress.

I hope you’ll join me. I’ll be using this month to get caught up on my PMBA and TCP reviews, to do a little creative writing and to map out an eBook on goal-setting.

What will you be writing about?

Introducing, The Travel Hacking Cartel: Earn Four Free Flights a Year

Since I bought Chris Guillebeau’s Frequent Flyer Master a few months ago, I’ve earned over 200,000 airline miles with United, American and Delta. That’s enough for a first-class ticket to Asia and back. The best part is, I didn’t spend any unnecessary money to get those extra miles. I simply used a few clever tactics. Chris told me where to look and what to look for, and I followed his advice.

Chris’ brand new program, The Travel Hacking Cartel, just opened its doors last week. The Travel Hacking Cartel democratizes free travel by offering a wide variety of strategies for its members, ensuring up to four free plane tickets a year. Here are some additional highlights:

1. Regular “Deal Alerts” sent via email and SMS/text message (when a big opportunity comes up, members will be the first to know)
2. Tutorials and an extensive Knowledge Base to get people started (Chris’ research showed that most people have no idea what to do with miles and points… this program will tell them)
3. The Refer-a-Hacker Program that pays members 500 Frequent Flyer Miles for each referral (the process is extremely easy–everyone has their own referral link directly in their account settings)
4. The “World’s Greatest Guarantee” – if members follow directions and spend at least 30 minutes a month travel hacking, they’ll earn enough miles for at least 1 plane ticket every quarter, or 4 plane tickets a year (there is also info on how to redeem miles for great awards)

There are currently 1000 pre-boarding spots avail­able at just $1 for a 14-day trial. After that, the pro­gram will be by invitation only. Let me know if you have any questions!

Trampoline Lessons

For my 25th birthday, several of my friends joined me in a celebratory jump-session at Boston’s first trampoline park. While I had a whopping time that day, the experience didn’t go nearly as well as I would have liked it to.

For one, I showed up late. When I had driven there for the first time in early December, it had only taken twenty minutes. We left on a Sunday morning. This time, it took the better part of an hour. I hadn’t factored in Saturday traffic. Argh. Secondly, the company was not accommodating. To make a long story short, their reservation policy needs a little work.

I arrived to the park flustered and frustrated. I had neither the head nor trampoline space to capture the kind of video footage I had intended and promised. Below is a short clip I borrowed from YouTube to give you an idea of what the room looks like:

Fun stuff! Alright, time to finish my first 1000 words and head to bed. Heading to Rio de Janeiro this weekend and will offer up some pictures/stories from Brazil soon thereafter.

Tchau!

Next week, I kick off my 2011 travels with a trip to South America. I’ll start with a red-eye through Miami to Brazil, with a few nights in Sao Paulo, Manaus and Rio de Janeiro. I’ll then fly to Buenos Aires for five nights.

When I finish my cost-of-living work in Argentina, I will ride a three-hour ferry to Montevideo, Uruguay. A few nights later, I’ll fly back to Boston.

Excited? You betcha.

At just three weeks and some change, this survey is a bit shorter than most of my trips. Still plenty of time to do some stuff worth writing about. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you.

January’s Challenge: Cook 5-10 Recipes You Have Never Made Before

So far, the January Challenge is off to a great start. Some of you have already published your efforts! Big kudos to Elle for teaching me how to properly grill wings. The hustle and flow of cooking is something I’ve always enjoyed, but sometimes it takes a little push to remind me. Hence the challenge. As always let me know what you’ve been cooking.

Here’s are a few of the dishes I’ve made:

Moroccan Quinoa Salad: link to recipe

Roasted Brussels Sprouts: link to recipe

Seafood Pasta (no recipe, just made it up)

Quarter-Life Crisis

Today is my twenty-fifth birthday. Giddy up! Instead of waiting until I’m fifty to have a mid-life crisis (I wonder if I’ll be able to afford a Porsche by then?), I decided to go ahead and have my quarter-life crisis tomorrow. I’ll be celebrating at Boston’s first trampoline park. Video footage on the way!

I hope your year is off to a healthy and productive start. If there’s anything I can do to help you out, let me know!

Yep, that’s me. Bearded and sprightly, ready to tackle 2011 with the kind of boldness and gusto it deserves. This year, I’ll be seeking out 12 month-long challenges, as well as a few additional quarter-long and annual tasks.

Care to join me?

Pick a month, any month. Here are the first three.

January: Put on the Apron. Cook, Cook, Cook.

The Challenge: Cook 5-10 recipes you’ve never made before

The Details: It’s simple enough. Get in the kitchen and cook up something spectacular. I’ll be using foodgawker for recipe ideas, and I’ll publish photos/recipes for each dish I make. I hope my Boston friends are ready to eat.

Get Involved: Plan on joining me in this challenge? Let me know. I’ll feature your dishes, and you’ll receive double extra chocolate brownie points from the one-man team here at The 9 to 5 Alternative. You’ll also feel good about yourself. That’s a guarantee.

February: Produce More, Consume Less.

The Challenge: Write 1000 words/day

The Details: I read too much and write too little. This month, I’ll take a break from consuming and crank out 1000 words per day. I’ll use February to get caught up on some of my written projects. I’ll also put together a free eBook on goal-setting, to be released at the end of the month.

Get Involved: Feel like doing something similar? Your metrics can be different, but the idea is to produce something, little by little, day by day. If you are interested, I’ll feature you and your project at the end of the month.

March: Creative Fitness. Jumping Around like Spider-Man.

The Challenge: Learn Parkour

The Details: Parkour is a wacky interest of mine, but I’ve never actually tried to do it on my own. Well, that’s not entirely true. Give me a few drinks and I’ll jump off just about anything. Ask Sean, Nate or Elisa. They know what I’m talking about.

I’ll be using Steve Kamb’s post, The Definitive Guide To Parkour For Beginners, as a resource, and I’ll upload a few videos throughout the month to show you what I’m working on. At the end of the month, you can decide whether or not I completed the challenge.

Get Involved: All the cool kids will be joining me. Challenge me with a specific move, send me video clips. We’ll make it fun. Joel, you interested?

Q1 Goals

Here are some other goals I’ll be tackling in the first quarter of 2011:

1. Get caught up with all PMBA book reviews. I’m more than 10 behind.
2. Get caught up with all TCP (The Curry Project) posts. I’m also several behind.
3. Read The 4-Hour Body, by Tim Ferriss.
4. Complete the P90X Ab Ripper X Workout, at least once.

Annual Goals

Throughout the year, I’ll also be working on the following three tasks:

1. Doubling my subscriber count to 1000.
2. Publishing 12 additional case-studies.
3. Reading 25 more books on the PMBA list.

What are your goals for 2011? Anything fun?

Well folks, this is it. The end of a year. A time to reflect, re-align and re-motivate. Like many of you ambitious readers out there, I’ve spent the last few weeks thinking hard about what transpired in 2010–my successes, my failures, world events–you know, the deep stuff.

Before I get into my goals for 2011 (which I’m very excited to share), let’s take a brief but ruminative look at the last 365 days.

63 Flights. 31 Cities. 14 Countries.

Another exciting year of travel! Just last month, I visited my 55th country. I’ve still got a long way to go to hit 100, but I’m happy to have crossed the halfway mark. Here are the 14 countries I was fortunate enough to visit in 2010:

• Africa: Algeria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Angola
• Oceania: New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Australia
• Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Thailand, Japan

Some of my favorite 2010 travel experiences:

• Finding a cheap flight to Christchurch, New Zealand and meeting up with Colin Wright.
• Spending nine nights in Harare, Zimbabwe. Golfing, “vampire hunting” and visiting a chicken farm.
• Sandboarding in the Namibian desert.
• The cuisine in Singapore! Delectable.

2010 Goals: % Success

Unlike 2009, where I had only 7 goals, I put together a list of 27 goals for 2010. Let’s see how I did.

Completed Goals
1. Run a half-marathon.
2. Be able to fall into a push up from standing position, like Christian Bale in Batman Returns.
3. Cycle 100 miles in one day.
4. Hold breath for at least 3 minutes.
5. Redesign and rethink my vision as a blogger.
6. Write at least 15 guest posts for other bloggers.
7. Write at least 20 reviews for The Curry Project.
8. Read at least 15 more books on the Personal MBA reading list.
9. Put together a long-term goals/bucket list.
10. Hike the Presidential Traverse in New Hampshire’s White Mountains.
11. Make at least $500 in supplemental income.
12. Reread I Will Teach You To Be Rich and restructure and optimize my finances.
13. Track all my expenses. To the penny.
14. Finish the 21-day No-Complaint Experiment
15. Score at least $15,000 on Jeopardy! using the Coryat method.

Uncompleted Goals
1. 1 mile in under 5:30.
*I got it down to 5:44. Will have to try this again next year.
2. 200 squats without stopping.
*Still don’t know how Joel Runyon pulled this off. I could only get to 165 before falling over.
3. 25 pull-ups without stopping.
*Couldn’t get past 17.
4. Be able to hold a gymnastics-inspired L-position for 30 seconds.
*Hilarious. Couldn’t even hold the position for 1 second. New appreciation for gymnasts.
5. Get at least 500 subscribers to this blog.
*As of today, Google FeedBurner is showing 490 subscribers. Didn’t quite get there!
6. Post consistently, at least once a week on Tuesdays. Sundays will be reserved for PMBA and case-study updates.
*Yikes. Fell off the bandwagon here, and actually went several weeks without posting, on more than one occasion.
7. Develop a cost-of-traveling blog widget.
*As I mapped out the idea, I realized it wasn’t worth pursuing, at least the way I had envisioned it.
8. Redesign nepalprints.com and find a cheaper host.
*I nixed the domain name altogether.
9. Sell 5 photography prints through nepalprints.com.
*Sold 2 prints, but not 5!
10. Get at least 50 subscribers to The Curry Project.
*Didn’t promote the site, but getting good organic traffic from Google.
11. Buy a keyboard.
*I moved in with a roommate who has a keyboard, so I didn’t need to buy one!
12. Score at least a 700 on a practice GMAT and then take the real thing.
*Decided that business school wasn’t for me. Big life choice.

Reflections
In 2009, I hit 5/7, or 71% of my goals. This year, I only completed 15/27, or 55% of my goals. Overall, I felt like I accomplished a lot, but I also know I didn’t push myself nearly as hard as I could have, especially with the fitness goals.

2011: Monthly Challenges + Quarterly/Annual Goals

Next year, I’ll be taking a new approach to goal-setting, one I think will not only be better for me, but much more fun for you. Influenced by guys like Leo Babuata and Steve Kamb, both who run monthly challenges on their respective websites, I decided to create a series of 12 monthly challenges for 2011. At the beginning of each quarter (starting tomorrow), I will outline challenges for three months at a time. Within each quarter, I will also being pursuing 3-month goals, as well as annual goals. Tomorrow you’ll get the first-quarter breakdown. Stay tuned!

By shortening the amount of time between goals, I’ll be in a better position to track metrics, focus, and hopefully round up a few of you to join me! They’re only a month long, how hard can it be?

That’s all, folks. If you happen to catch this post before your evening festivities, enjoy! If not, then HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Thanks for sticking with me.