Since I’ve been hard at work on my 3.5th business (which I literally legally started in 30 minutes), I gave myself 1.5 days off and went on a snowboarding trip. My dad has always told me that you need to learn how to earn money and also take vacations at the same time. It’s apart of the entrepreneurial spirit right? It’s important to clear your mind and just get away from your worries every once in a while. Taking a break will help you to keep your business successful and hopefully bring new ideas because a true entrepreneur’s business thrives even when they step away. So with that in mind, I took off to Reno for a short trip.

After I finished up with my work on Friday night, I took off to my friend Gary’s house and spent the night there. When we guys get together, sleep is the last thing on our minds. Since no one knew how to wax their boards I taught three people how to do the task. It was weird because I was teaching the veteran snowboarders for some reason but they were still excited about learning none the less. We somehow we managed to stay up until 2-2:30am waxing our boards and talking about misc NSFW topics and wake up again at about 5am. We always pull the same routine too (sleep less than 4 hours) and it never fails us. I guess we’re always just that excited and dedicated to the sport

I noticed on Twitter that my favorite resort (Mt. Rose) was selling lift tickets for ONLY $35 so we took advantage of the offer and headed there. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend the place because in my opinion, it’s the best ski resort in Reno. Mt. Rose offers a resort less crowded than say Northstar, amazing views, many different runs and lifts, etc. For us, Mt. Rose has always been a place we can truly relax and have a lot of fun at the same time.

I can’t wait to go back next season!

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As a curious kid in fourth or fifth grade, I was lucky enough to attend a school that truly embraced technology (Alta Heights Elementary School in Napa). I remember that we had computers everywhere… two or three computer labs if I remember correctly. All of them probably had about 30-50 Apple Macintosh computers so I’m sure you can do the math and figure out that there was no real shortage on that aspect. I remember browsing the web through dialup modems and back then, it was all about Altavista, Excite, Dogpile, Hotbot, etc.

With all those Macs around being used on weekly basis, it was only logical that my first computer be a Macintosh. So after petitioning my parents with the pros of having a personal computer at home, we picked up an Apple Macintosh Performa 6300 from Montgomery Wards in Napa for something like $2000. For some reason the concept of the Internet always intrigued me. In sixth grade I was moved into an advanced computer class where we learned all kinds of advanced computer techniques and were taught about the latest technology trends.

Fast forwarding a few years, I remember becoming increasingly frustrated with my Mac at the time. I couldn’t get all the cool software that Windows computers could use, it was too slow, I didn’t really know how I could upgrade the machine, etc. I think it was around seventh grade that I dumped the Mac and was able to score a brand new Micron computer (all the rage back in the day). It was loaded with Windows, had the latest Pentium 2 processor in it (400mhz I think) and some other goodies. It was also around this time when I discovered computer games and friends at school where also into computer games. We would all login after school, play multiplayer online and chat. There were maybe five of us and we formed a team called “NFC” (but I can’t remember what it stood for). In those days, as far as online gaming teams were concerned, if you didn’t have a webpage, you weren’t legit.

<Enter stage left: Prashant Patel> At this point, I was already beginning to play with HTML and I somehow put together a website for our team. It some screenshots of our game play, random news about matches we played and the results, and a team roster.

Ever since, I’ve been into web design and development. Latest trends & practices (both design and coding), usability studies, and after college, the numbers/data behind the scenes (analytics) are all things that have intrigued me. I hope to always stay apart of the industry in one way or another, pursuing my childhood passions which I am truly grateful to have been able to do over the years on a professional level.

P.S. If you’re a WordPress geek, you might be asking yourself why I’m using a premade theme vs. coding my own. Good question. That basically boils down to not having the time or patience to design something for myself. You wouldn’t begin to imagine how much trouble I had even trying to fathom the concept of a design for myself. So for the time being, the Thesis theme will have to the trick!

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If you don’t know me, since I was a little kid, I’ve always know that I wanted to go out on my own. I never did really like the concept of a regular 9-5 (unless it’s my OWN 9-5 or whatever hours of course). Whether it’s 9-5, 8-4, 7-8, I don’t really care as long as I have fun doing what I’m doing. Unfortunately, unless you’re at a great company, you don’t usually enjoy the joys of flexibility.

Over the years I’ve always know I wanted to go out on my own. Even when I was a kid, when people asked my dad what I wanted to do, he’d always tell, “He doesn’t want a job.” As I got older and started learning about the stock market (probably when I was about 18 or 19), I somehow came across an acronym for having a JOB. JOB = Just Over Broke and my dad and I always chuckled at the phrase because it’s so true (for many people anyways). But don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way self conceited to where I look down on people for doing the daily grind. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. All I know is that it’s just not for me. I want to help businesses succeed (my passion) and in the process, create jobs within those businesses as well as my own.

Since I graduated high school, I’ve had three online ventures that were each profitable in their own respect. Two of them revolved in the auto industries which I had worked heavily on during my college days and both of which I have squashed to date. My third is my most recent with venture which revolves around of my childhood passions, web design. I’m actually in the process rebranding the third business and am hoping to take it to the next level with by offering a tightly correlated package of strategic Internet marketing services.

You can’t begin to imagine the contacts I have made throughout each of my ventures. And most recently with my internet marketing work, I’ve had the pleasure to work with some of the hottest companies in industries ranging from auto, sports (MMA & drifting), fashion, and even manufacturing.

Somehow I’ve been lucky enough all these years to work on my own personal projects and projects for others that I truly have loved (which I believe to be essential in order to be successful). I’ve been told by numerous people in position in power that they’re interested in seeing where I end up in 5 years and honestly, I’m curious too. It’s now time to live up to AND exceed those expectations for first, myself and second, for other’s curiosity.

P.S. Now that I think about it, I’ve been fortunate to work with two of my childhood passions to make money. If you ask anyone that knew me when I was a young kid, I was crazy about two things: cars and the Internet.

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1. Be well, do good work, keep in touch

I don’t know what it is about today I’ve decided that I need to start blogging again. The reasons range from just being able to log what’s going on in my head, to networking, building my personal brand, and to hone in on my writing skills (not so much emphasis on the later because after all, this is a personal blog).

The idea was sparked in my head first from my friend Ron who asked me if I am blogging right now. I think I told him no and that I hadn’t blogged in probably 1.5-2 years. Then randomly, a few weeks later my friend Mike (who has an auto repair shop in Hayward) asked me why I haven’t been blogging on this site. I didn’t have any legitimate answers besides the usual, “I’ve been busy” (which trust me, as of late is no joke—sorry, no public details yet though).

But, enough is enough and it’s time to get back to work on this site to share my thoughts, knowledge, and hobbies

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