I would say that the hardest part about becoming an entrepreneur is learning how to work with people. It’s hard because everyone is different. Everyone communicates differently. Everyone has different ideas and expectations. Everyone has a different agenda.

This week I learned that sometimes it doesn’t matter how good you are at communication, some people are only interested in themselves. Some people are content with taking advantage of others.

Some people are jerks.

Learning this helped me realize that sometimes I have to be a jerk too.

Gandhi once said, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” Gandhi was an amazing human being, but you can tell from that quote that he never had a web development client!

I studied political science in college and one of my professors used to always say, “As political scientists it’s our job to study the system from the outside. Like traditional scientists that study rats in a maze, we study politicians in elections.” I never really felt comfortable with that analysis, because it seems to me that when you study something from the outside you are missing all the details. Details that can make or break a campaign. During school and shortly after I worked in politics and quickly learned the difference between running and talking about campaigns. There’s a lot you can’t see by looking in from the outside.

I remember one time in college I went out with a group of friends to this local bar where they had karaoke.  This place was known for not being the safest place in town, but probably the cheapest! We hung out there for a few hours before the karaoke DJ decided to take a break. I am not sure what inspired him, but for some odd reason my buddy, Dan, decided that it was his turn to start singing despite the fact that there was no music, and he had a few too many drinks. Dan, stumbled up on stage, grabbed the mic, and immediately started singing what sounded like an Irish fight song or maybe a cat in heat.

The video above is titled “People Are Awesome”. To be completely honest with you, it should be titled “These People Are Awesome”. Because let’s face it not all of us are as amazing. But, that doesn’t matter because each one of us has extraordinary potential. That’s right, each one of us has the potential to do amazing things. The problem is that most of us never reach our full potential to truly realize what we’re capable of doing. Now don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that we aren’t happy. The vast majority ofpeople have positive and productive lifestyles but still never grasp their full potential. One of the glaring reasons that we never get close to our true potential is our innate fear.

Just as a little bit of a warning: In this post I totally jump the shark and start singing kumbaya and giving everyone hugs like a dirty hippie. You have been warned.

Man, I am happy! Like really happy. Why’s that? I am happy because the business I started 4 years ago is doing pretty good. But, more importantly, so many of my friend’s businesses are doing really well too. As an entrepreneur it feels good to see success both in yourself and in those working along side of you. I was talking about how good this all feels yesterday with my buddy, Alan Bleiweiss. After talking for a bit, Alan and I both decided that a central part of our success is our inclusion in such an amazing community.

Have you noticed that things seem to be getting easier? With open source programs like WordPress you can easily start your own web site with a multitude of different features for hardly any money. With services like PayPal and Freshbooks you can invoice your clients through email. With social media we are finding new ways to engage with users. Even Google is making IT easier with Google Docs and Gmail.

As marketers and entrepreneurs this is all supposed to make us better, right? If you are Douglas Rushoff, then the answer is no. In Rushoff’s book he tells us that the more you use, the more likely you are to be used. He says that if you aren’t a programmer then you are part of the program. These are pretty strong words for a time when marketers are investing record amounts in one channel that is dominated by one corporation.