Over a Million Readers on Quora and Growing

I've had a lot of fun answering business questions on Quora. I think what I love most is that I get to connect with idealistic big-thinking entrepreneurs again, many with the same ambitions I had when I began my career. Often they find me via LinkedIn and send personal notes, and they have been heart-warming to read. I get messages from all over the world and it the best feeling in the world when I can help others sort out some of the challenges they face. They are all so polite too!

I also hear from other CEOs who faced some of the exact same challenges and just find it grounding to see a response from another entrepreneur who holds similar views. I even find it fascinating when some CEOs have differing advice based on their own experience. It's invigorating to have the differences of opinion and see others debate the same issues. 

From all the answers I've written, as I thought about how to best respond, I've had to relive some of the moments in my head that got me here. I remember the bigger challenges like they were yesterday; those moments when I had no idea in the world how I was even going to pay rent, let alone build a successful company. The stress at the time was overwhelming yet, as I think back, I never even considered giving up. Yes, lots of sleepless nights, many with consuming self doubt, only to get up the next morning and just keep moving, sometimes after huge setbacks. You just keep going.

There were moments when I'd lay in bed at night and wish I had the power to slow down time so that bills wouldn't come due, or to buy me enough time to get something done. Then the reverse happened once I began to become more successful, when time just wasn't moving fast enough, where I had some goal that I wanted to reach just as soon as possible. Now, after all these years, I appreciate time exactly as it is.

What Quora has done for me more than anything is give me some insights into what worries other people about becoming successful. The most widely read posts were about becoming wealthy and what that was like to go from one extreme to the other. It took me a long time to write that post as I thought very carefully about what I went through, moment by moment. I didn't throw a party.

One of our Middlerock clients, a fantastic company called OAC Services is consuming more and more of our time as we work on a rage of wonderful problems to solve. They are the kind of problems I wish all entrepreneurs got to experience, all around rapid growth as a direct result of the company's practices and the amazing results from talent at the core of the organization. It's thrilling to work with others who put their employees first and actually walk the walk.

While I'm not posting here as often because of our client load, I am continually answering questions on Quora and you can find me there. I'll still post some thoughts here and there. It's hard to believe it's already been 2.5 years since I put up this site. It's one of the best things I've ever done.