lasertron

as a retailer, I incentivize customers to pay with it. the costs of promoting dwolla right now to increase the adoption rate among my customers is still lower than paypal or credit card fees.

I wear the same thing every day for this exact reason

So are you saying this is demeaning to yourself in some way?

I'm not a "you have to have a business plan" person at ALL, but working on one for my own startup helped me IMMENSELY in communicating the idea, the value proposition, how we are going to gain users, and how we're going to scale. Because I spent so many hours refining that document--just for my own benefit--I can speak about the inner workings of the business more confidently. It also gave me the chance to anticipate problems and address them before investors or customers could teach me about them the hard way. Obviously, a good business plan (or "business planning document," or "cool-ass outline," whatever verbiage you want to use to describe it) won't save you from a ton of hard lessons to be surmounted, but it gets your head in the game from the onset if you begin with one.

Besides the normal mapping and purpose you should outline, it helps to think of a list of objectives and then detail meaningful, practical ways you are going to achieve those. That's where you ask that investor for help, and bring all the data and numbers you can.

I think the sharks are based as hell but my favorite part is in the opening sequence when they're all getting out of private jets and sports cars and gazing over the skyline of manhattan. If I ever have the fortune to become an Angel, my opening sequence is going to be me putting on a pair of shades, and then a falcon swoops in and lands on my arm.

I'm sorry you're going through this and I'm joining the chorus of other commenters who empathize with your pain. You've got to seek some help--other than that, here are little things that have helped me:

-blogging (or journaling, if you want to start facing your own thoughts on a micro-level first. both are great.) -read a classic work of literature, read the sparknotes, read the criticisms of the work, decide how you feel about it. relating to themes in literature and philosophy help me deal with the absurdity of real life. -find a cause to support. activism helped me find some motivation and conviction for something outside of my work. -change your space. sell all your stuff and buy some new stuff. changing a rug or rearranging a floor plan can make me feel like I'm somewhere else.

xx