Category Archives: Business

Color me impressed.

Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, December 4, 2025.

Color me impressed.

I was putting together a technical guide and had to use screenshots from different computers with mismatching backgrounds and color schemes. It was driving me nuts! 😅

So, I gave ChatGPT a pretty vague prompt,

"I have pictures from different computers that I would like to change to match. Please generate an image of the screenshot ending in '-2.jpg' to match the color theme of the first image but keep all the text the same as the original."

From that it was able to recreate the screenshot to match the theme of the other images so that the look was consistent throughout the guide.

The crazy thing is, the image I was asking it to modify was actually a photo with a glare and everything, but it converted it into the form of a matching screenshot. I like.

Another promise kept to make progress! 💪🏾

Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, June 22, 2025.

Another promise kept to make progress! 💪🏾

I said I’d only share this here with the Mission Militia:, but I’m excited to announce: Web Me Down v1.0 is LIVE! 🎉

✅ Committed the project's first GitHub repo
✅ Launched the version 1.0 of the API
✅ Shipped a working MVP

Web Me Down is now more than a pretty face—it works.
Paste a WordPress URL, click a button, and get Markdown that you can import into your note-taking app or knowledge management system.

It’s not perfect. But it’s a real, working product.
Not flashy. But functional.

And that’s the mission: make progress.

#MissionMilitia #WeMakeProgress #WebMeDown #shipped #BuildInPublic

I promised myself that I would make progress on my project every…

I promised myself that I would make progress on my project every week, and I did a thing today!⁣…

Originally posted on Facebook on Saturday, June 7, 2025.

I promised myself that I would make progress on my project every week, and I did a thing today!

I created the first prototype of my app, Web Me Down.

But getting there was a journey.

Coming up with business ideas is easy.
But, how do you know which ones are actually worth doing?!

I literally have hundreds of ideas (I own over 200 domains 😭).
I needed a way to quickly make informed go/no-go decisions—so I created the Business Sketch.

No fluff. No made-up projections.
Just actionable experiments that I break down in 4 Ps 👇🏾

1. Problem – Who is this for, and what pain are they experiencing?
2. Promise – What outcome does my idea help them achieve?
3. Pay-Worthy Pain – Why would they actually pay for this?
4. Prove It – What’s the fastest way to test that—with real potential customers?

That last one is central: no testing with friends or family.
If I can't reach people who are experiencing the problem, I don't have a business.

And, here's how Web Me Down ran the gauntlet.

🧪 Business Sketch for Web Me Down

1. Problem
I believe that writers who journal or take notes in Obsidian and publish long-form content on WordPress struggle to export and preserve their content in clean Markdown. I’ve had this problem myself.

2. Promise
A tool that converts WordPress pages to Obsidian-ready Markdown—preserving structure, links, and media—would let people archive, repurpose, and fully own their content.

3. Pay-Worthy Pain
I believe creators will pay $9/month (or a flat one-time fee for multiple pages) because:
• Manual export is annoying and tedious.
• Existing tools are complicated or incomplete.
• Writers, knowledge workers, and digital gardeners value well-formatted, portable content.
• The time saved is easily worth the cost to this niche

4. Prove It
I’ll offer a free single-page conversion. On that page, I’ll include a “Convert My Whole Site” button with a flat fee.
If 5% or more of visitors click that button, I’ll take that as a green light.

Early traffic will come from Obsidian forums, blogging communities, and Reddit subs like r/selfhosted, r/ObsidianMD, and r/Wordpress.

🔍 Early signals I could look for:
✅ DMs, comments, or shares from people saying, “I need this.”

The whole Business Sketch process took less than an hour.
And with that, Web Me Down was born.

It was late. I was tired. I just wanted to veg out.
But I kept my promise to myself—and made progress. 💪🏾

I hope this encouraged someone to make progress on creating the beauty they want to see in the world.

📣 Future updates on my progress and process will be posted to the Mission Militia: We Make Progress Facebook group where "We make progress"!

#MissionMilitia #BusinessSketch #BuildInPublic #Entrepreneurship #WeMakeProgress

This, fellow entrepreneurs, is how you validate a business idea.

Originally posted on Facebook on Thursday, May 18, 2023.

This, fellow entrepreneurs, is how you validate a business idea.

This guy made a garage door opener for motorcycles.

He identified a problem, developed a solution and made something potential customers could engage with (in many cases, it was just a photo of the product).

When customers perceived that his product met a real need they were having, that was enough to generate sales. No website. No logo. No slick marketing material. People got in line, offered money and were willing to wait.

Business validation answers one question: Will customers buy your product?

"That's awesome!", "I really like that", or "I would buy that" is not validation, a customer offering you money is.

#entrepreneurship #business

Feeling Overwhelmed? Don’t Break Down, Break It Down

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Think Tasks vs Projects

Such as simple thing, but I often get stuck here.

This simple concept is the difference between me procrastinating or getting things done.

Part of getting things done, is breaking it down into tasks that can be done in reasonable and readily available blocks of time.

And, when possible, don’t worry about all the things to be done but the *next* thing to be done.

Projects do not belong on to-do lists. Only doable tasks belong there.

The key is to get started, then the momentum of progress will carry you.

This reminder to break things down helps me overcome feelings of being overwhelmed.

#goals #planning #projectmanagement #thriveday

Surprise Luncheon Honoring Dr. Placid and Dr. Athelia Eze

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Surprise Luncheon Honoring Dr. Placid and Dr. Athelia Eze

Members of a local black professionals network hosted a surprise luncheon to celebrate Dr. Placid and Dr. Athelia Eze, two living legends of black history in Starkville and Oktibbeha County.

The Eze’s opened a medical clinic and pharmacy in Starkville, MS and grew it to one of Starkville’s largest practices -with additional satellite offices in Columbus, Mississippi and East Point, Georgia.

The Eze’s medical practice culminated with the building of a million dollar facility in Starkville that became a pillar of a new growing medical corridor on Stark Rd. that has recently added facilities such as Columbus Orthopaedic.

In addition to providing a safe and welcoming space for blacks to receive healthcare, Dr. Athelia and Dr. Placid Eze identified, recruited, educated and produced more black medical professionals than anyone in the area. They gave minorities a chance and an onramp into medical professions when no one else would.

After 22 years of service, the Eze’s closed their practice.

On their last day, members of the local black professionals network hosted a surprise luncheon in their honor.

It was truly a community effort.

Bonnie and Robbie Coblentz provided a wonderfully intimate and elegant meeting space in their newly opened L’uva Wine Bar.

We presented an awards plaque that was custom created by Josh Herrington at Dunkington.

All of the Eze’s staff and some of their previous staff attended and offered tributes.

Alderman Henry Vaughn honored them on behalf of the City of Starkville.

Supervisor Orlando Trainer honored them on behalf of Oktibbeha County.

Rosa Dalomba honored them on behalf of all the up and coming black entrepreneurs that the Eze’s cleared the way for and for being shoulders on which we stand.

There were laughs.

There were tears.

But above all there was thankfulness and honor for these two paragons of black excellence.

Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. It was truly wonderful.

#blackhistory #blackhistoryisstillbeingmade

Originally posted by Paul Luckett to Facebook here.

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52 Weeks of Gratefulness #7 – Dr. Athelia and Placid Eze

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com Thankful For Dr. Athelia and Dr. Placid Eze
Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com Thankful For Dr. Athelia and Dr. Placid Eze
Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com Thankful For Dr. Athelia and Dr. Placid Eze

In 7 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for Dr. Athelia and Dr. Placid Eze.

I was in my MR COMPUTER MAN service truck on Highway 82, headed back from a service appointment in Columbus to Starkville, when a tan 2001 Lincoln Town Car flew past me. As the car advanced ahead of me, the driver glanced over in my direction and suddenly the car’s speed dropped precipitously to match my own, our vehicles side-by-side on the highway. The driver locked her eyes on me, nodding her head, then pointing in my direction and afterward sped off. I was perplexed and slightly unnerved by the encounter, but little did I know that moment would mark the beginning of one of the most meaningful relationships of my career. Shortly thereafter, I received a call from Dr. Athelia Eze to provide IT services for her practice and that began a 20 year relationship with her and Dr. Placid Eze of Eze Family Medical Clinic.

I’ll jump straight to the punch line and say that Dr. Athelia Eze and Dr. Placid Eze are unsung heroes in the black community, not only here in Starkville or in North Mississippi, but arguably throughout the southeast, having had clinics and pharmacies in (including, but not limited to) Starkville, Columbus and East Point, Georgia. No one has done more in this area to identify, recruit, educate and produce black medical professionals than Dr. Athelia and Dr. Placid Eze. They gave minorities a chance and an onramp into medical professions when no one else would.

This is not something I’ve heard about, the Eze’s themselves don’t even talk about it, it’s something I’ve watched them do quietly and purposefully. I would add that it’s also something they’ve paid dearly to do. I’ve watched them take people with little to no background in a professional setting, with next to zero experience in the medical field and in many cases pay to have them educated, personally study with them for exams and certifications to help them along the path to attain a meaningful and gainful career. It’s an absolute slough of trial and error, frustration, candidates quitting, spectacular failure, betrayal, disappointment, considerable expense, but always love.

Love characterizes their practice. You can hear it in Dr. Placid’s laugh and bedside manner with his patients. You can see it as Dr. Athelia would greet her customer’s children by name, knowing the candy each child preferred. It is a safe place, sadly still needed in 2022, where blacks can come and not get strange looks or funny treatment for the kind of insurance they have, for not having insurance, or for not looking like a ‘good client’ –whatever that means. Sure, as an I.T. professional I’m there installing network equipment or servicing computers but I’m always paying attention. And, when people came through those clinic doors or pulled up to the pharmacy drive-thru window they were treated as though they belonged there, as though they were wanted there. For better or worse the Eze’s focused on care first and would often work with their patients to figure out how to take care of the cost later.

Care for your people even when it costs you is the blackest thing I’ve ever seen.

Dr. Placid is from Nigeria and Dr. Athelia is from the coast, so they didn’t even know many of the people here that they would come to make investments in. As graduates of Morehouse College and Mercer University, respectively, as well as being members of the black greek letter organizations Kappa Alpha Psi and Alpha Kappa Alpha, they were steeped in an African-American culture that prioritized collective progress and embraced education not for education’s sake but as a tool for empowerment. So, in all that they do and everywhere they go, they’re always looking out for black people they can invest in -even if it costs them –because they love them. Again, the blackest thing I’ve ever seen.

I can hear the question, “Wait. Isn’t this just reverse racism?”

No.

Dr. Placid and Dr. Athelia love all people. In watching them serve, hire and work with people of all backgrounds, that would be clear to anyone.

They simply made it a point to focus love where love was lacking. You should too.

This is black history. I am inspired by the Eze’s commitment not only to offer compassionate medical care for their community but also to increase its economic capacity. While it doesn’t always look great for the bottom line, it always yields a profit because love never fails. Their love has born fruit in my life that I’m eager to bear in the lives of others. I’m grateful. #52WoG #BlackHistory

Unhappy At Work: A Confession

Facebook---Image-Post-UnhappyAtWork

I was unhappy at work. I resented it. I felt unmotivated, tired and sad. I just didn’t want to do anything. I didn’t see the point.

I thought to myself, “If I were to do this everyday, it wouldn’t make any difference. I’d look up in ten years and be no better off and no further ahead. I’m going nowhere with this.”

I then asked myself what type of work would make me happy or would make doing it worthwhile? My answer: the kind of work that makes a lot of money, millions preferably. And, there was no way that I could see getting there doing what I’m doing now. The thought left me feeling stuck, without hope and dejected.

Then, I felt convicted and it occurred to me that my attitude about my work was out of line with God’s Word. Colossians 3:23 commands “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” But, I don’t want to do this anymore. It’s impossible for me to obey this command. I can do the work, but I can’t do it from the heart (“heartily”) because I can’t want what I don’t want. That realization was a heart check and prompted the question from Genesis 3:9 where God asks Adam, “Where are you?” It made me consider whether I am in the flesh or the spirit. A preoccupation with materials things is a dead giveaway that I’m in the flesh but how did I get here? What moved me?

In the past, such states of discontent were triggered by feelings of inadequacy brought on by comparing myself to others or frustration with not being able to do something -namely, not being able to afford it. As I examined myself, I could not find any indication that covetousness was at play (this time). I couldn’t find where I was comparing myself to anyone. Then I contemplated whether I was frustrated. I determined that I was but what am I frustrated about? What brought this on?

Weeks back, we buried my Uncle John Jr. and death has a way of making you re-evaluate. One of my greatest desires is to be in a position to take care of my parents in what should be their golden years. My Uncle’s death was an urgent reminder that the clock was ticking, my parents are aging and I am nowhere near being ready financially. At the time, I did not recognize that these thoughts were even occurring. So, I did not bring these thoughts captive to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5), that is, I did not evaluate whether their implications were lies that contradicted the truth of what God says. I was caught unaware and anxiety was sown in my heart.

Anxiety is a nasty demon –the hellish spawn of pride and fear. Pride makes you bigger than God and fear makes God smaller than your problem -a particularly potent and deadly combination. And that’s precisely where I’ve found myself, wrestling frantically with a problem bigger than I can handle, because what I think of God is so small.

How much has God brought me through? How many times have I been in need and He delivered? Time and time again God has sent who and what I need to get me where He wants me to be -every time. Every good thing I have is because of Him. So, why don’t I trust Him and would rather trust in uncertain riches (1 Timothy 6:17)?

I am glad, yes, glad that I don’t have millions of dollars because I’m obviously still at a level of maturity where I’d be foolish enough to trust it, become a slave to it, hurt others to keep it and probably jump out of a window if I lost it (1 Timothy 6:6-9). Instead, I want to be like Job who said, “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21) or “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). I want to be like Paul who said, “I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content.” (Philippians 4:11) I don’t want satisfaction that’s dependent on my circumstances. Whether I’m CEO of a billion dollar corporation or peeling potatoes in a prison, I want to be just as full of His inexpressible joy, immovable, with the peace of God ruling in my heart.

Truthfully, it’s not that I’d rather trust uncertain riches than God. It’s that I was not vigilant and allowed something to distract me from my focus on God and I sank. I sank into my flesh and leaned to my own understanding rather than trusting Him. I moved from walking in the peace of the Spirit to allowing anxiety to make me discontent. What does God say about anxiety? “Be anxious for nothing” and then continues “but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” -Philippians 4:6. I failed to do the second part that prevents the first. I failed to be prayerful in everything. All prayer requires is to start by being honest about where I am and begin it with “Lord”. These two statements: “I am afraid I won’t have enough to take care of my parents” and “Lord, I am afraid I won’t have enough to take care of my parents” are similar but lead to very different places.

I repent and am resolved to be more vigilant to pray at all times, about all things and trust God. I trust that God is not merely some ethereal concept, but a real person with real power who is good and can indeed work all things together for good (Romans 8:28). So, I can be joyful and faithful with what’s in front of me, confident that He will work all things out and order my steps in the appropriate course of action (Psalm 37:23) to bring Him glory because that is what I want, or should want, above all.

It is a true and faithful saying that I cannot want what I do not want. So, when I find myself not wanting what He wants (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) or unable to want what He commands, I need a new heart. My prayer today is, “Lord, please give me a heart to want what You want. Give me a heart that delights in You, that enjoys and is completely satisfied with every good and perfect thing that is in You. I ask these things following the pattern of your Son Jesus the Christ (in His name) and for His sake. Amen.”

I joined SOMBA – Starkville Oktibbeha Minority Business Alliance…

I joined SOMBA - Starkville Oktibbeha Minority Business Alliance because I believe when a segment…

Originally posted on Facebook on Wednesday, September 25, 2019.

I joined SOMBA – Starkville Oktibbeha Minority Business Alliance because I believe when a segment of our community does better, we all do better. And, there's a real opportunity to grow contributions of our minority businesses to the economy of Starkville and Oktibbeha County.

So, I am thankful to Eileen Carr-Tabb and Scott Maynard for bringing this group together to grow this sector of our economy. And, I am delighted that after a year under the leadership of Rosa Dalomba we are growing our membership and hosting our first Meet & Greet over Jazz with music provided by Simeon QSax Weatherby and the band "Muzik in Action".

I am inviting you to join us. The event is free and it is a great opportunity to network with minority business owners and professionals in our area and to learn how we can grow together.

Please tag people you think would be interested.

The Paralysis Of A Perfect Plan

Planning Whiteboard

I can’t tell you how much time I’ve wasted waiting to develop the perfect, fail proof plan. I have to constantly remind myself that if God wanted to make me a robot that operates on strict step-by-step instructions, He would have. Instead, He made me creative, resourceful, able to navigate obstacles and has given me discretion over how I represent His interests. So, I must simply be led by a desire to please God, put my hand to the task before me with what I have and work to grow my stewardship. There is no need to agonize over my next move. If I first aim to have His heart and relate to the world as He does, my steps will be guided in the process.