It would have been easy to judge effort by how many hours a day passed while I was at work. That's the worst way to measure effort. Effort is measured by setting goals and getting results.

My days are straight out of the movie Groundhog Day.

Every now and then I love to invest in a company that may not set the world on fire, but has the chance to establish itself, create jobs and have a positive impact.

The only thing any entrepreneur, salesperson or anyone in any position can control is their effort.

Those back-to-back experiences confirmed what I already knew: That I was a shitty-ass employee and I'd better start my own business.

I was lucky. I grew up knowing that hard work and smart work has a greater impact on results than being passionate about something.

We can talk about republican or democratic approaches to the economy, but until you fix the student loan bubble - and that's where the real bubble is - and the tuition bubble, we don't have a chance. All this other stuff is shuffling deck-chairs on the Titanic.