Episode 219 | Lawrence Sowell and Ben Meyer - Making Cool Stuff

Guest: @ Lawrence Sowell and Ben Meyer talk with Dave Rael about life at Codera, passion for projects, solving your own problem, business, and productivity As a Serial Entrepreneur, Lawrence has built businesses in the entertainment, real estate, sports, manufacturing and technology industries. For the last decade, Lawrence has been focused on solving problems through technology. Highly driven by passion, Lawrence excels and adapts quickly to find solutions for problems. Lawrence is well known as an outside the box thinker that uses critical thinking, problem solving, vision, and strategy to find exciting innovations to disrupt markets. Lawrence has spent the last couple of years traveling the world speaking about technology and how it is used to solve real world problems. With 13 years of professional software development experience across a diverse range of industries, Ben is a true software artisan. Ben uses his remarkably broad, even eclectic combination of skills to see both the "big picture" as well as the "nuts and bolts" that bring ideas to fruition. Software engineering and architecture, analyzing and choosing the right technologies, and building scalable solutions that truly meet customers' needs is what Ben loves to do. A serial-entrepreneur since he was a kid, Ben started teaching piano and drum lessons at the age of 13, started college (and computer programming) at 15, opened a professional audio-production and recording studio at 18, and has been writing code, advising startups, getting a computer science degree, working with billion-dollar companies, and hacking on amazing tech ever since. If you need someone who seriously understands the technology landscape on all levels - Ben is that guy. Chapters: 0:45 - Dave introduces the show and Lawrence Sowell and Ben Meyer6:49 - The nature of Codera and the projects they tackle10:26 - The story of VoiceCode - Ben's attempts to solve his own problem17:01 - The users of VoiceCode22:56 - Productivity tools for programmers - valuable?27:45 - Finding out more about VoiceCode and getting involved28:57 - The things that "light Ben up"29:59 - The things that "light Lawrence up"31:14 - Lawrence's story of failure - experiencing the collapse of a market and therefore of his business33:37 - How Ben stays current with what he needs to know36:27 - Lawrence and Ben's book recommendations38:43 - Lawrence and Ben's top 3 tips for delivering more value40:49 - Keeping up with Lawrence, Ben, Codrea, and VoiceCode Resources: Codera VoiceCode Scott Hanselman - Do they deserve the gift of your keystrokes? Scott Hanselman - Finite keystrokes in video form Repetitive Strain (or Stress) Injury Mark Seemann - Beware of Productivity Tools Dave's Response to Mark Seemann's Post About Productivity Tools A Short HIstory of JavaScript Lawrence and Ben's book recommendations: How to Win Friends & Influence People (Miniature Edition): The Only Book You Need to Lead You to Success - Dale Carnegie Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers - Timothy Ferriss Lawrence and Ben's top tips for delivering more value: Show that you are very engaged and aware of what is going on Be passionate and not boring Be aware of what is going on with your projects Make sure you're having fun