Being unemployed gives me a large chunk of discretionary time, but only a finite amount of which I can dedicate to a job search. The law of diminishing returns kicks in and it’s better to focus efforts elsewhere for the sake of productivity, not to mention sanity.

I’ve always wanted to run my own operation. Thus, I’ve been taking some of my aforementioned time to work on an alternative project. Like many other M.B.A.s, a good friend from school and I would often inadvertently conjure up ideas over late night beers. One such project is our website FloridaLacrosse.com, an online vendor of lacrosse equipment and apparel.

Now, a spin off that has come to immediate fruition is an Internet concept called Blind Bid Sports, which has a unique twist on the eBay business model and works by purchasing team equipment, uniforms or anything in bulk. I’ve worked on a business plan and we’ve shopped some agencies to build the Web site, however the concept is still in it’s infant stages, and can expand to virtually any sport and possibly into consumer goods. Currently, we are exploring funding options.

I used to be very skeptical regarding such ideas, and thought any efforts would be ultimately trivial. Recently, I’ve been spending about 20 to 25 hours a week on this and other endeavors that have slowly developed. Once I go back to full-time work, the concepts will get whatever time I can devote to them depending on vitality and future short-term earning potential.

One thing I’ve certainly learned is that great ideas really do need to start somewhere. If I don’t pull the trigger and take some fliers based on nothing but faith in my own ability, great dreams won’t ever be realized.

Safe to say, I would never have voluntarily chosen this unenviable state of being unemployed. However here I am, and I might as well make the most of it.

Photo by FloridaLacrosse.com.

Almost nobody would question Earvin Johnson’s skill on the basketball court. But in his second career as an entrepreneur, there were doubters from the start.

Johnson, best known by his nickname “Magic,” remains one of the best players to ever don the gold and purple Los Angeles Lakers uniform.

Executives he pitched on a business idea developed when still a player — opening high-quality movie theaters and restaurants in inner-city neighborhoods — often didn’t see what he saw. Instead, “they saw me as just a basketball player,” he says from inside his modestly decorated offices in Beverly Hills.

In his recently released book, 32 Ways to be a Champion in Business, Johnson wrote that executives would “hand me a basketball and ask for an autograph, but they did not want to hear my pitch for investing in neighborhoods populated by blacks.”

But Johnson says he had a dream and a concrete plan. While traversing the urban hearts of cities in team buses to basketball games, he saw boarded-up businesses and a lack of retail outlets. He told himself he’d help revive some of those neighborhoods when he could, he says.

And that’s the magic of Magic. While other executives steered clear of urban areas, Johnson saw opportunity. His business plan, his overtime performance after basketball, was to bring established retail brands to the inner cities by tailoring them to the residents.

Continue reading “Magic Johnson Has Magic Touch In Biz”

Photo by newsday.com.