SPRING 2009 CONTEST!!

Well butter my buns and call me a biscuit - WE HAVE A CONTEST!!!!! =)


This is the OFFICIAL post of the Spring 2009 CTRL ALT DREAM Contest! So, as you all know (and have been patiently waiting for) our spring line is about come out (after many set backs) and we are VERY excited to share our work with you all !! Since the creation of Ctrl Alt Dream late last year it has gotten bigger than we ever expected, and we owe it to you all. So, we thought of a fun way to get to know more of you and give away some free stuff !!!!



**WHAT IS THE CONTEST ABOUT AND WHAT ARE THE RULES!?!?!!?!

-- You have to think of a catchy phrase/slogan or tag line that you think would make for a fantastic shirt, belt or sticker. Something fun, something interesting and something unique! You want to keep the phrase short and concise. Nothing drawn out and super long like .. "omfg omfg Ctrl Alt Dream is soooo sooo cool" !!! haha, even though you telling us that makes us feel all tingly inside! Try and stay with the theme of CAD and our message. 

-- Only 1 submission per person (no changing it, unless you have a REALLY cool excuse)

-- You must have it submitted NO LATER than Saturday April, 18th @ 12:00PM (EST)

--To submit your entry you MUST send us your slogan in a  e-mail info@ctrlaltdream.com (Which ever way you chose MAKE SURE YOU MAKE THE SUBJECT "CONTEST ENTRY". Do not forget to include your name/state/hometown! 

** After we gather all the submissions we will post the top 5 (RIGHT HERE IN THIS BLOG) that we love and let you guys and gals vote for the best one!





**WHAT DO YOU WIN?

1st Place - Will win the item we decide to print the slogan on (ex: shirt, belt, etc). They will also win a button/sticker pack compliments of Ctrl Alt Dream! ALSO a 25% off coupon off your entire next order in the CAD store. AND a signed copy of the brand new album from Schroeder's Songbook, called Awkward is the New Cool! Check them out here ()! Also you will get the number one spot on our top 8 for the month of May!

2nd Place - Will win 15% off coupon for your next TOTAL ORDER in the CAD online store as well as a button/sticker pack!! Also, you will get a signed copy of the brand new album from Schroeder's Songbook, called Awkward is the New Cool! 






We are very excited for the contest and can't wait to see what your creative minds come up with!! If you have any questions -- don't hesitate to ask us!!!


GOOD LUCK AND HAVE FUN!


And always remember....

LIVE INSPIRED!

Robb and Emile
Ctrl Alt Dream

3 Questions

It’s Saturday February 22nd, at approximately 0700 hours.  Is this day special you ask? Well, the answer is no it’s not.  However, today is the day you should wake up and start THINKING BIG. 

I didn't want to make this a long drawn out post so some of my answers may be sort of vague, but hopefully one that will resonate with you for days and weeks to come. As you all know if you ever have any questions or concerns just let us know by e-mailing info@ctrlaltdream.com

For today’s post I wanted to speak directly to the young adults who are in college, thinking of going to college or getting ready to graduate this Spring. 

I want to discuss the title, “3 Questions”.  A lot of people ask (and have asked us) “When is the best time to start a company?”, “Am I to young to  start a business venture and be successful?”, “Will people take me seriously even though I am young?”

Those 3 questions I have seen time and time again.  In fact I have asked them so many times I couldn’t put a number to it.  However, now I am not only equipped with the answer but I have acted on the knowledge I have learned from the answers. 

Here is the best way I can break it down for you:

Q: “When is the best time to start a company?”

A: I think the best time to start is right after you graduate college and/or graduate school.  Let me use a example about bumble bees.  A very successful entrepreneur with a science background once told me that “due to the shape and odd size it should be impossible for bumblebees to fly.”  He paused and finished by saying  “However, the bumblebees don’t  know this so they continue to fly on in blissful ignorance.”  Now you may be wondering what bumblebees have to do with starting a company after you graduate college. Your answer is above.  You see bumblebees should not be able to fly, but they don’t know that so they continue on defying the odds and flying around while people who study bumblebees look on in awe.  When you graduate college you are well equipped with knowledge yes; but are you ready to fly (start a business)? The answer is most likely no.  However time and time again young entrepreneurs with huge dreams have defied the odds, just like bumble bees.  Let’s take Seth Berger for example.  He is the founder and former CEO of AND 1, which is a company specializing in basketball apparel and shoes.  Berger started AND 1 in the early 1990’s after he graduated from graduate school.  He didn’t know what he was going in the initial start up and even admits that.  Berger also said in an interview with  Knowledge@Wharton when speaking about starting his company at such a young age “I think it's a huge opportunity. Whenever I speak with [students], I always try to tell them, you should start your business now, before you have a bunch of experience, because what your experience will tell you is what you can't accomplish.”  What Seth Berger just said is an incredible example of exactly what I am talking about to you in this blog post.  When you graduate school, start a company and set your sights on success while eliminating the option of failure, you don’t know any better and your chances of succession increase dramatically. Have you looked back on something saying “How the hell did I do that? That was crazy!” Well just remember you don’t know you can’t fly.  You don’t know that you probably should gain a hell of a lot more “real world” experience before starting your venture.  All you know is what you want. You want to fly. You have your eye on the prize.  What is the prize?  Success.  It’s that simple.

Q: “Am I to young to  start a business venture and be successful?”

A: Simply put, no.  When you are young it is the BEST time to take risks and try new things.  It is a lot harder for a 40 year old man with a wife, kids, car payments, and monthly mortgage to start a new business venture than it would be for a 23 year old college graduate who has minimal risks.  What are you waiting for?

Q: “Will people take me seriously even though I am young?”

A:  This is one of the more tricky questions, so I will answer it with caution.  The answer right away is No, people will not take you seriously.  When I first founded Ctrl Alt Dream I had a lot of people doubt me.  People in that situation doubt because they were jealous I had found a unique and incredible concept to help others and sell a unique product at the same time.  Let’s say you are selling shoes and you walk into your first meeting with potential buyers from Footlocker, they most likely will not take you seriously once they hear that you are only 23/24 and don’t have ANY experience with selling shoes.  However, once YOU prove to them that when they ask for something you will deliver it with the utmost quality and satisfaction they will take you seriously.  Trust me.  A company would much rather deal with a 23 year old whom is responsible, driven and motivated about his/her product than a 40 year old man who is in desperate need of a buyer and will do anything to sell his product; even if that means cutting corners.  And we all know....NEVER CUT CORNERS. Always remember it's normal for people to doubt you.  Just let the doubt fuel your passion and prove yourself.

Keep your eye on the prize.  Don’t ever give up. 

Think Big,

Robb

Thank You / Defining C.A.D

Hello everyone :) I seem to be thanking people daily for the continued support of Ctrl Alt Dream. It feels good to be able to thank people for the love and support that CAD has received. Emile and I appreciate it so much more than you all know -- so don't quit now! We are VERY excited with our new designs and the public reaction seems to be the same. For that, we are humbled to produce a design that makes other as excited as us! THANK YOU ALL!! <33333  

Now onto the biz..  

A lot of you have been asking a lot of questions about CAD through private and public messages; so I figured I would make a general answer for all of you and future people with questions!  

I want to better break down the meaning of CTRL ALT DREAM for all of you..  

How does a familiar keyboard Command translate/convert into a powerful life Command?  

* We decided to replace negativity (Delete) with positivity (Dream). The whole point of CAD is to help motivate and inspire young adults to DREAM and THINK BIG. All day and everyday. We are living proof that the sky is the limit and ANYONE can achieve ANYTHING.  

*CTRL - Take Control. You must take control of your goals and aspirations. You much realize what you opportunities you have and seize them. if you feel you have a lack of opportunities presented for you -- then CREATE THEM!!!  

*ALT - Realize the Alternate. Analyze situations, assume Control (because it is yours) and carry out the Alternative.  

*DREAM - The Alternative chosen should represent your Dream/goals/aspirations -All of you must realize that everyone has dreams/goals, and not everyone "realizes" them or thinks they are unachievable. But always remember, nothing is unachievable. NOTHING. You must stand up and realize you can do whatever you want. Think about CTRL ALT DREAM next time you are faced with a challenge. Remember.. C.A.D.  

OUR APPAREL. I want to remind all of you that a % of ALL profits from ALL apparel sold will be going to charity. The first round of charity will be donated to TWLOHA. The second will go to educational scholarship funds that reward kids and young adults for working hard and following their dreams. We are so proud to be doing what we do. Everyday Emile and I tell each other how thankful we are to be in a position that enables us to help others. It is incredible and the response to this has been tremendous. Please take the time to talk with us. Ask us questions. Tell us a story. We WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

info@ctrlaltdream.com and dont forget our MYSPACE!

Live Inspired,  

Robb and Emile

Different Point of View

First, I want to wish everyone a happy Valentines Day.  Ctrl Alt Dream LOVES YOU ALL!!  I hope everyone got to spend quality time with their significant other, friends, family or by themselves happy as a clam; because clams are VERY happy.  if you have any cool Valentines day stories, we WOULD LOVE TO HEAR THEM!! Please tell us :)

So I am sitting here writing this, after a pretty relaxing day where I was able to do a lot of thinking and planning for the immediate future of CAD.  Very exciting stuff is being planned, and words can't describe how anxious Emile and I are to further inspire and motivate young adults all over the country..and world.  We have a HUGE release party coming up in April, which will be on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and maybe in some other locations as well!  Expect one hell of a time. 

Now...on to the good stuff.  After getting home from dinner tonight, I checked my Facebook (who doesn't) and noticed I had a private message. And, I never get messages. It turns out it was from one of my most loyal friends who happens to live on the West Coast and serves his country/community daily. I recently talked about CAD with him and this is what he said to me.  It was not only intriguing but extremely mind opening and it made me think.

"Hey I read you "are you crazy," blog. Very interesting, my only thought is about the entrepreneurship professors. Maybe, their way of thinking big is not owning a successful business, but the teaching itself. Giving new generations of people the tools to make their dreams come true. Maybe that is what makes them feel as if they are part of a bigger thing. An unselfish way to make the world a better place; by giving themselves to others in hopes that the people they teach will go out there into the world with a purpose, with a dream to invent the next big movement. 

Just a thought, love the message, from a guy who is living his dream. Let me know if I can help in any way I'd love to be part of it all."

Now the point of me sharing this with you is so that YOU TOO can see an alternative view from a very successful and loyal friend of mine.  After reading what he wrote over and over again to really grasp the true meaning it started to sink in deeper and deeper.  What he is saying is an amazing point of view that I never gave much thought to.  I must say; I agree with him.  I agree with him on two different points he made.  The first he said "...their way of thinking big is not owning a successful business but teaching itself."  I agree with that and want everyone to know I was not trying to pass teaching off as a miniscule thing to do.  In fact I consider myself a teacher when I write these blogs to you!  I enjoy it. It's fun and very fulfilling. The second thing I agree with completely is when he said "It's an unselfish way to make the world a better place, by giving themselves to others..."  That's an amazing thing to say, and very true.  teaching is a selfless career.  It's one that very few people do and can do.  Teaching is almost an art form in the sense you are (hopefully) painting a real world picture for your class and relating every day  classroom teachings to real life events.  To make it clear again I was not trying to discredit the profession of teaching in anyway.  

You can be a big thinker and a big dreamer and still be a teacher.  Waking up thinking BIG in the sense that you are about to step into a class room of 40, 50 sometimes 150 students with hopes to inspire them and make them think as big as you, if not bigger.  What my  loyal friend told me is something everyone should read over and over again and understand it.  However, you should also understand, it is okay to question your teachers.  You can ask them what I stated in my last blog... "If you ran such a successful company, why are you here teaching making FAR LESS than you could be as an entrepreneur?".   Those questions are OKAY!  We encourage you to ask those questions and seek the answers for your own benefit.  You just might hear an incredible answer about them wanting to do the exact same thing I am doing; to help everyone else who wants to become a successful thinker/dreamer and entrepreneur. 

So cheers to you my buddy on the West Coast.  Cheers to you.  I hope you are as excited for surf season as I am.  Just remember "you can never stop the waves, but you can learn to surf."

 

Feel The Love Invasion,

-Robb

Do you have questions or a cool story for us? PLEASE Let us know.  info@ctrlaltdream.com

Thought.

A genius of a man named Napoleon Hill once said this: "Truly, thoughts are things, and powerful things at that, when mixed with purpose, persistence and a burning desire for their translation into riches or other material objects. (Think and Grow Rich) "

Many of you have already read the masterpiece Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, many have not.  For those that have not, do so.  Right now.  I mean literally right now. Buy it and study it like your life depends on it.

The reason I started this entry off with that quote is because I want to talk to you about the true (and incredible) power of thought.  A year ago when I started getting very serious about my business entities and what I wanted to do with my life, I started to think more.  That may sound silly, but I literally started to think more.  Everyday I would wake up and think about what exactly it was I wanted to do.  Once I realized exactly what where my motivation and passion rested, I realized; making a difference in peoples lives is what I wanted to do. That's when my thinking became more and more frequent and more and more in depth.  I began to write things down every time I had an idea or concept which would help me achieve my goal of creating a social awareness entity that would help others. The power of thought is a truly incredible thing for someone to have.  You can literally think your way to success. Now of course more goes into being successful than just thinking, but listen up.

When you were a kid and you wanted a new toy, cd (or tape) or anything for that matter that you couldn't obtain by yourself; you would think of ALL THE WAYS you could to get that item.  This thinking most likely consisted of ways to ask your parents, family members or friends.  Or, even ways to earn money, steal money, or borrow money to get what, at that time, you NEEDED.  The point I am trying to make is you thought of every possible thing you could have to get what you wanted!  You would stop at nothing for that new set of legos or barbies. Little did you know, you were executing one of the most important steps in becoming successful.

Now apply that same concept to TODAY when your all grown up and never beg your parents for anything anymore...... right?

If you have ever wanted to start a company, patent an idea or invent something, but weren't sure where to start; I would say, start with the power of thinking.  Start by using the lesson you learned above.  Lets say you want to start a company that sells computers. EVERY SINGLE DAY you should be thinking of how you are going to make this possible.  You should be writing your thoughts down over and over again. After you write them down, read them back to yourself.  When you wake up read your goals and objectives.  When you go to bed do the same. Over and over again, until that is all you think about.  You need to literally obsess yourself with your goal of starting this computer company.  Think of why you are better than the other guy who sells computers.  You need to think your way to success. If you obsesses yourself with your dreams to the point where thats all you think about and tell yourself failure is not an option, most likely those thoughts and dreams will become reality.  You should stop at nothing to achieve success.  No dream is to big. Achieving them starts with the simple process of thought.  So starting today, think big and become your dream....

Live Inspired,

-Robb