relationship Archives - Jonathan Gaurano's Personal Blog

Fade To 4:39am (a story about her)

Fade to 4:39am and this ambiguous structure of words that need to be stretched out, stripped out, and then torn out to extrapolate the pain floating in my head.

Who knew laying in bed since 9pm would make 4:39am so deadly? To be awake, to be energized, but then to be surrounded by stillness, is destructive.

It is in 4am – I can’t do anything.

So, I think. Thinking is dangerous.

Dramatically. I’m thinking of her.

I thought I was thinking of her because I wanted to win her back. But now awake, I know I don’t. We’re forever gone.

The only thing I do know right now is that there are images of her that I must write, so I can dream of other things to make me sleep…

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How To Hire, Teach, And Work With GREAT Interns

I was about to title this post, “how to get people to follow you & work with you… for free.” But, I realized that sounded as if I was profoundly teaching you how to exploit others to do your bidding… for free. This isn’t the case because I, in retrospect, have paid many of the interns who have worked with me in the past. However, this isn’t my good ole’ days where money flows out of my ass like a Taco-Bell burrito. Therefore, the interns I do have must work for free.

I guess the post should be “How To Manage Interns – For Free?” You get the idea.

Before I begin with my post, here’s my experience with managing interns.

(in college I once managed 17 interns at once).

Since starting my entrepreneurial journey in 2011, I’ve had a total of twenty-seven interns. I’ve fired sixteen, three of them quit, two of them went awol, four of them will always stay in my heart forever, and two of them are currently working with me at this moment. I’ve disappointed a few, I’ve overspent money with a couple, I’ve out-shined my own expectations with some, I’ve gotten taken advantage of, and I’ve also been surprised in the most amazing ways.

It’s because of these experiences that I now have a better sense of what it takes to i) find the right intern(s) for the right job(s) and ii) how to get these intern(s) to give you their best all awhile working with you for free (something that fits your budget).

Let’s begin.

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Making & Connecting with Friends

A week ago a reader emailed me asking me to write a post:

I think it would be cool to hear more advice on making friends. I know you have a post on networking though. I love hearing about networking advice though lol. Personally though, I struggle with connecting with people and making friends, and you seem like someone who knows a lot about that.

I think this reader gives me a little too much credit in this department. I’ve been thinking about this subject and I’ve realized the one thing this reader has to understand is that making and connecting with friends are two very different concepts. I believe making friend is one of the easiest things one can do in life, it requires little or no effort and you can even do it online in sites like chatempanada.com and others. Connecting with a friend is harder because it requires more time and trust with both parties involved. However, the main thing to keep in mind is that for both things to happen you cannot go in trying to be friends with anybody: you need to let it happen naturally.

As you can see there are three concepts we’re going to analyze and go through. Let’s begin.

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Surround Yourself With Smarter People: For The Entrepreneur

Surround yourself with people who are smarter than you, people who you can bounce off ideas with, and people who are there to motivate you till the very end.

It’s been three months since I’ve been out of a job and in the process I’ve been looking for other opportunities to keep me going. The time has been spent traveling from North to South California to even random places, like Utah. I’ve been able to interact with a variety personalities in the YouTube space and startups.

This whole ordeal has led me to one conclusion: I need to surround myself with people who will get me to work. This is basically my issue is that I’ve been able to get out of bed and start working. You can see this as a sad thing but I’m unable to work alone. I love working an office. I love working with people who I can talk to about my ideas and here the projects they’re working on – this keeps me on my toes. And, I’m taking this philosophy not only for my own personal work, but also to the people who I work with (interns).

For example, I’ve now left my girlfriend in Northern California (staying long-distance) because the peer group I need to be at is in LA. And, I just purchased a plane ticket for my intern so I can start working in LA over the summer.

I believe the biggest investment you can make are the people you surround yourself with: you can do things yourself, but it’s always great to get second opinions on things because it can only make your work better. Also, it’s always great to have people who also believe in your projects because that in itself will make you make more.

I’m saying that you should be doing the same thing.
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What To Talk About on A First Date

You’re shaking, anxious, and your bladder is giving you false signals that you have to pee. It’s time for something you’ve been preparing yourself for: the first date with a girl you’ve been talking with for a few days. You meet up, you give her a hug, and now you’re just… staring at each other.

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