My name is Andy Parkinson and this is my blog about productivity, entrepreneurship and where the two intersect. I hope to use Cranking Widgets as a vehicle to provide value and connect with other entrepreneurs out there on the interwebs. Below are a few things you should know about me and my view of life that play into what Cranking Widgets is all about.
1. I am an Entrepreneur
Always have been. I was the annoying kid always trying to sell lemonade, a car wash, newspapers or lawn mowing services to the neighbors. My only real job was doing office admin work when I was 15. I needed to save up $1600 so I could buy a computer and start a web development business (it didn’t really bother me that I had no idea how to program, I’d learn that later.)
I spent every Saturday and Sunday at this crappy admin job for six months. I saved everything I earned, bought my computer, then I quit. The web development business turned out to be fairly successful. I’ve since morphed it into a product-based business, and it is still my primary source of income. I also own or co-own 3 other companies.
2. I Love Finance, Personal or otherwise
I’ve been tracking my finances in Quicken since I was 15. Call it sick, but to this day I have a record of every single financial transaction I’ve made since then. I’ve always had a deep-seeded interest in personal finance. I’ve read dozens of books on the subject over the years. Frugality and leaving beneath your means is extremely important, but once you have the habits you just do it. I now realize my time and energy is limited so my interests and attitudes lean heavily towards increasing my income. The least you can spend is $0, the most you can earn is virtually infinite.
3. I am a Programmer and Geek at Heart
I began my “professional life” as a programmer at the age of 16 when I started my own web development company. I now employ a couple teams of programmers haven’t done much beyond hobby stuff in the last few years, but I do find the occasional coding session to be very therapeutic. Now I build businesses instead. I find there are a lot of parallels between building a business and building a piece of software. At the end of the day you’re trying to create something that solves a problem for many people.
4. I Don’t Work For Money
I don’t work for free either. I just find money to be a terrible source of motivation. My level of motivation and excitement around a project/business/venture is generally driven by two things: 1) Is what I’m creating going to positively impact people’s lives, or is it just fluff? and 2) What can I stand to learn from working on this project/business/product that will bring me closer to my long-term goals?
Fortunately capitalism seems to favor those who aim to help solve real problems others are experiencing and those who never stop learning… Otherwise I’d be screwed, I’m pretty much unemployable.
5. I Love Music
I am an audiophile. I have loved music as long as I can remember. I find few things in life to be more rewarding to sit in a dark room with the home audio system cranked up, immersed in what I’m listening to. It’s a huge stress reliever.
I also took up the Guitar in 2007 ago and find it to be immensely fulfilling. A nice side effect is it is teaching me the true definition of patience! 
6. Defining and Chasing Goals/Dreams is What Keeps Me Going
High-level goals are what make my world spin but I’m not fanatical about it. I don’t need to write them down and see them every day. I decide on 1-3 long-term ones at a time and stick to them. I don’t believe you should empty your brain of your goals. Everything else, sure… But a small number of big goals should always take up a little psychic RAM.
I set my first real goals when I was 18. They were very materialistic. I wanted to 1) Buy a Rolex Submariner, 2) Drive a BMW and 3) Live by the ocean. I bought a BMW when I was 23 and I bought a condo that is in a highrise about a block from the Pacific Ocean when I was 25. I stopped caring about watches so I saw the Rolex as a waste of money and eventually scratched that off the list. Looking back, every decision I made between 18 and 25 played into ultimately reaching these goals. The weird thing is that instead of feeling invigorated when I bought my condo I felt pretty empty. I enjoy where I live, but I guess that’s materialism for ya.
My new goals are less materialistic. I want to travel the world for a year and live in 11 different countries, about a month in each one. A sub-goal is to spend 2-3 of those months in Latin countries and take lessons 1-3 hours per day on Latin style guitar (inspired by these guys, street performers in Santa Monica, CA… Amazing to watch). A lot of what I’ve done and continue to do is setting my life up to make these new goals a reality.
7. Mindset is as Important as Tactics and Tips
Why I’m cranking widgets every day is as important as tools I can use to crank widgets. Some might be thinking that your goals and mindset are the same thing. I view them as enitrely different concepts. Mindset dictates what I accept as truth and what I allow to motivate me, goals dictate what choices I make and what I actually do. I find reading things that alter my mindset is just as important as reading about things that alter how I work. I can’t accept new tactics if my mindset doesn’t allow me to accept the outcome.
8. Productivity Pr0n Has Never Made Much Sense to Me
I view most productivity pr0 and lifehacks to be a complete waste of time. They give you reasons to avoid actually getting stuff done. I don’t care much about notebooks, index cards or binder clips and my attitude is generally “If something ain’t broke, please don’t fix it!” Thats not to say I think productivity systems or software is perfect, I just find most of them to be equally deficient, so why bother.
My productivity system flavor of choice is also Getting Things Done. Check out the following post to learn more about how I found GTD:
The Origins of Cranking Widgets:
Brett Kelly started The Cranking Widgets Blog in December of 2006 after reading Getting Things Done by David Allen. In November, 2008 Brett decided that he had said everything he could on the topic of productivity and he handed the reigns over to me. You can read more about his decision here.
Thanks for stopping by!
