How did you spend your Memorial Day Weekend? As the traditional start of summer, there was a lot going on—graduations, picnics, family gatherings, and special events. Memorial Day is a special holiday that honors the men and women of our Armed Forces who gave their lives in service to our great country. I hope you sacrificed at least part of your busy weekend to remember the meaning of Memorial Day itself.
Our community has many opportunities for remembering Memorial Day. As a veteran, I appreciate the efforts of our local governments and veterans groups to hold Memorial Day events. They are solemn and dignified ways to remember our fallen heroes. Although there’s nothing wrong with being in the audience at such an event, Mary Catherine and I wanted to pay tribute in a different way. We decided to honor Memorial Day with a special event that required active participation – one that required a bit of sacrifice.
Joe and Mary Catherine Domaleski take on the 2024 Murph Challenge
Like we did last year, we took on and completed the 2024 Murph Challenge, a rigorous fitness event that honors Navy SEAL Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy. This challenge is a direct and personal way for us to pay tribute to the sacrifices of our military heroes. For those not familiar with it, the Murph Challenge consists of: a one-mile run/ruck, 100 pull-ups, 200 push-ups, 300 squats, and another one-mile run/ruck. CrossFit PTC owner Ric Thompson (a Marine Corps veteran and local business leader) hosts this event each year. Proceeds of the event go to benefit The Eden Project, a support foundation for veterans, and the Coco’s Cupboard Tails of Hope service dog training program.
I’ve mentioned the word sacrifice several times and it is the theme of this article. What is sacrifice?
Sacrifice, at its core, is the act of giving up something valued for the sake of something else regarded as more important or worthy.
The Ultimate Sacrifice is the giving up of one’s life for something greater, just as our fallen military heroes have done. But most sacrifices in life are not in the “Ultimate” category. Sacrifice is not limited to the battlefield, so let’s consider some “less than ultimate” sacrifices. For most of us, a sacrifice involves a deliberate choice to forgo personal comfort, time, or resources to benefit others or achieve a greater goal. I’d like to highlight three specific examples of sacrifice that are not often seen or appreciated.
The concept of sacrifice applies to our communities. Building a strong, resilient community requires collective effort and the willingness to put others’ needs before our own. Volunteers, local leaders, and everyday citizens make sacrifices to ensure the well-being of those around them. These acts of selflessness, whether it’s supporting a local nonprofit or organizing community events, create a sense of unity and support. Our communities thrive when individuals are willing to make sacrifices for the collective good.
The concept of sacrifice applies to our local businesses and nonprofit organizations. Very few local jobs in our community pay enough for people to be able to live in our affluent community. As a small business owner and employer who has created local jobs, I know firsthand how hard it is to make it all work. I know that my employees and those at other local companies are making sacrifices by forgoing higher pay and benefit opportunities with larger companies in order to work, live, and support our community. These sacrifices are often unseen but are fundamental to fostering a vibrant local community.
The concept of sacrifice applies to first responders such as firefighters, police officers, paramedics, and other public safety professionals who put their lives on the line daily to protect and serve our communities. These individuals often face dangerous situations, long hours, and immense stress to ensure our safety and well-being. Their willingness to confront emergencies and crises head-on, often at great personal risk, exemplifies the highest form of dedication and selflessness. The sacrifices made by first responders are crucial to maintaining the safety, stability, and resilience of our communities.
Memorial flag display on the campus of UGA. Photo/Joe Domaleski
Here are some reasons that sacrifice is important in everyday life:
Personal Growth: Making a sacrifice challenges us to step out of our comfort zones and develop new skills and strengths. Doing the Murph Challenge was a very tangible examples of this (and I’m still sore from the workout).
Resilience: Facing and overcoming challenges through sacrifice builds mental and emotional resilience, preparing us for future challenges.
Empathy: Sacrificing for others helps us understand their struggles and fosters a deeper sense of empathy and connection.
Community Building: Sacrifices made for the community create a sense of belonging and mutual support, strengthening social bonds.
Ethical Integrity: Making sacrifices for ethical reasons helps us align our actions with our values, promoting personal integrity.
Long-term Success: In business and personal endeavors, short-term sacrifices often lead to long-term gains and sustainable success.
Sense of Purpose: Sacrificing for a cause greater than oneself provides a sense of purpose and fulfillment. This is my favorite reason for the sacrifices I make in my life.
As we honor our fallen heroes this Memorial Day, who made the Ultimate Sacrifice, think about ways we can incorporate the spirit of sacrifice into our daily lives. When considering sacrifice, I think about the lesson of The Widow’s Mite (Luke 21:1-4). You probably remember the story, but it’s worth reading it again. Making sacrifices strikes at the heart of what it means to be human. It remains to be seen whether or not rationally driven artificially intelligent (AI) systems are capable of sacrifice, but as humans, we are. Sacrifice requires bravery and courage. Whether it’s in our businesses, communities, or personal relationships, making sacrifices can lead to positive and lasting impacts. What are some of the sacrifices you’ve made for the betterment of others?
[Joe Domaleski, a Fayette County resident for 25+ years, is the owner of Country Fried Creative – an award-winning digital marketing agency located in Peachtree City. His company was the Fayette Chamber’s 2021 Small Business of the Year. Joe is a husband, father of three grown children, and proud Army veteran. He has an MBA from Georgia State University and enjoys sharing his perspectives drawing from thirty years of business leadership experience. Joe is a recipient of the Peachtree City Rotary Club Business Leader of the Year Award for 2024. Sign up for the Country Fried Creative newsletter to get marketing and business articles directly in your inbox. You can connect with Joe directly on LinkedIn for more insights and updates.]
The temptation to take shortcuts is ever present in all areas of life. As a society, we’re impatient and want instant gratification and results. We all have our own paths to blaze and to follow in life – some are quick and others are not. Let’s consider a real world example using a map and compass. Last weekend, Mary Catherine and I finished our last orienteering meet of the season. Do you remember my previous article, “Business Lessons from the Sport of Orienteering”?
Joe and Mary Catherine approaching a control point during an orienteering meet at McIntosh Reserve on 5/19/24. Photo/Joe Domaleski
As a reminder, orienteering is a sport where you try to locate control points outside in the shortest time possible using a map, compass, and terrain. Like most navigational choices, in orienteering we have to make decisions between the shortest distance using a straight line (through the woods) or the fastest travel time (which normally means taking trails). Even if you’re not an orienteer, most of you probably use GPS navigational aids like Google Maps, Waze, or Apple Maps. If so, then you know you can plot your route using “fastest time” or “shortest distance.”
As a professional marketer, I see the shortcut mindset all the time. Businesses often seek quick fixes to boost sales, increase brand visibility, or enhance customer engagement. Not only do businesses seek shortcuts in their operations, so do customers. Many marketing campaigns capitalize on this desire, making unrealistic shortcut offers such as “learn the secrets of the successful,” “instant weight loss,” and “guaranteed immediate results.”
Last week I received a special business award that I’ll write about in a future article. I was both honored and humbled to receive the unexpected recognition. After the presentation luncheon, someone approached me and asked, “You’ve had a great career Joe. Is there a shortcut for success in business?” Interesting question. Let’s explore the topic here and then I’ll share with you what I told the person.
First of all, it’s probably good to start by considering the concept of success. Success means different things to different people. Conceptually success usually implies the accomplishment of some aim or objective. A few weeks ago I wrote about “Dreams vs. Dollars“. You can probably guess where I stand when it comes to success measurements. No matter how you define success, there are obviously going to be different ways to achieve that success. It’s a no-brainer that most people want to achieve success sooner rather than later.
A shortcut is a way of reducing time, effort, or resources to achieve something. On the surface level, those seem like good things. Most shortcuts involve skipping steps or components in the hopes of a faster, less resource-intensive solution or goal. Besides the hope for an optimized pathway, when people are involved there’s a psychological aspect to shortcuts as well. For some reason, humans love secrets, especially when those secrets promise a big reward like a treasure map to a hidden fortune. Human motivations driven by hope, certainty, gratification, social proof, and cognitive biases also feed the interest in having secret shortcuts.
Typical shortcuts in business usually involve one or more of the following:
Process Shortcuts: Simplifying or skipping steps in a process or procedure in the hopes of performing it faster. Quite often an organization does something because “that’s the way it’s always been done.” On the other hand, sometimes institutional knowledge is lost over time and important steps are omitted, causing adverse results.
Technology Shortcuts: Applying technology such as software, automation tools, and artificial intelligence (AI) to perform tasks or generate desired output quicker and cheaper. In general, most people would agree that technology is a good thing even if it temporarily eliminates some jobs, as history has shown new jobs are often created. However, the growth rate of technology has begun to cause some to have concerns about existential risk. We won’t explore that issue here for now.
Component Shortcuts: Using less expensive or more accessible resources to reduce costs and save time. We see examples of this not only in manufacturing but in marketing content when someone chooses to use stock or AI-generated content in place of human-generated content (yes, we can tell when you do that). The output of this approach is often referred to as a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) or Minimum Viable Service (MVS).
Decision Shortcuts: Going for the “quick win” by implementing quick strategies to deliver more immediate results. In sales, we often call this “going for the low hanging fruit.” Templates and checklists are often used to help streamline decision-making. Computers use algorithms and heuristics to do the same thing.
Knowledge Shortcuts: Quickly gaining information or skills through accelerated learning. Back in the day, this might come in the form of a printed encyclopedia or user manual. The advent of Internet search expanded human-centric knowledge acquisition. Nowadays, AI can just tell you what needs to be done without much knowledge actually gained by a human.
Ideally, taking shortcuts can offer a variety of benefits including:
Time savings from unnecessary steps.
Cost reduction gained from eliminated resources.
Increased efficiency from fewer processes.
Competitive advantage by getting to market quicker.
Morale boost to team members who are motivated by the quick win.
Better resource allocation to focus on what matters.
Greater innovation, a.k.a. “necessity is the mother of invention.”
Simplification leading to greater understanding by all concerned.
Disadvantages may include:
Decreased quality from omitting necessary components and parts.
Compliance issues in bypassing legal and regulatory requirements.
Long-term costs due to repairs and rework.
Increased risk from oversights, omissions, and failures.
Erosion of trust from employees and customers who may perceive expediency as more important than quality (big problem with AI right now).
Stifled innovation from quick fixes that are more important than long-term improvements. Innovation is both an advantage and disadvantage from shortcuts.
Incomplete learning from shortcuts can deprive people of proper learning and knowledge acquisition (another big problem with AI-generated solutions that no one understands).
My colleagues at Country Fried Creative during a recent team meeting to consider the best path forward for our web projects. Photo/Joe Domaleski
Do I take shortcuts in business? Absolutely, when it makes sense. All effective leaders must find a balance between effectiveness and efficiency. That’s where experience, discernment, and leadership come into play. Knowing when to streamline a process and when to adhere to the traditional route is crucial. Like many things in business and life, it’s all about the balance. Balancing efficiency with quality ensures that shortcuts are strategic and do not compromise the integrity of the business. By making informed decisions, I can leverage shortcuts to enhance productivity and growth without sacrificing long-term success or employee and customer trust.
So let’s revisit the question asked in the title and fourth paragraph above: “Is there a shortcut for success in business?” Based on my experiences, “No, there isn’t an all-encompassing shortcut for success in business.” However, there are opportunities for shortcuts that you’ll encounter along your journey. It’s up to you to decide which ones to take by balancing the advantages and risks. The key is to make smart, informed choices.
Use shortcuts to boost efficiency and eliminate unnecessary steps and waste without sacrificing quality, integrity, or long-term goals. By thoughtfully evaluating each shortcut, you can leverage them to drive success while maintaining trust and delivering value. Over the years, I’ve made some really good decisions as well as some spectacular blunders. It’s all part of the journey. Choose wisely. That’s my opinion, but what do you think? Do you think there’s a shortcut to success in business?
(NOTE: I’m not anti-AI, as you know from my previous columns on the subject (linked here and here). Quite the contrary, I regularly use it for certain tasks. However, the main premise of generative AI is a “faster and better” shortcut mentality, which could be problematic if used in the wrong way.)
[Joe Domaleski, a Fayette County resident for 25+ years, is the owner of Country Fried Creative – an award-winning digital marketing agency located in Peachtree City. His company was the Fayette Chamber’s 2021 Small Business of the Year. Joe is a husband, father of three grown children, and proud Army veteran. He has an MBA from Georgia State University and enjoys sharing his perspectives drawing from thirty years of business leadership experience. Joe is a recipient of the Peachtree City Rotary Club Business Leader of the Year Award for 2024. Sign up for the Country Fried Creative newsletter to get marketing and business articles directly in your inbox. You can connect with Joe directly on LinkedIn for more insights and updates.]
As newlyweds back in 1994 (yes, later this year we will celebrate 30 years of marriage), Mary Catherine and I were given a book recommendation to check out: “The Five Love Languages” by Dr. Gary Chapman. The book rapidly gained popularity in Christian circles (Dr. Chapman was a Baptist pastor) before crossing over into the general book market and entering the NY Times Bestseller list. We received a copy of the book, but honestly, I didn’t read it until a few years later when we attended a marriage retreat for newlyweds. One of the sessions at the retreat was about the love languages. It was a great session, which inspired me to read the book.
If you haven’t read the book, here’s a quick summary. Dr. Chapman proposes that there are five ways in which romantic partners like to receive and express love.
Words of affirmation – giving compliments and expressions of appreciation to your partner
Quality time – spending time with your partner by giving your undivided attention
Gifts – presents and other items you know your partner will like
Acts of service – doing things, like chores, for your partner without being asked
Physical touch – nonverbal communication like hand-holding, hugs, and forms of romantic engagement
My wife’s love language is “acts of service”. Here I am about to make her happy by trimming up tree limbs. Photo/Joe Domaleski
Although these five expressions of love were not scientifically researched in a peer-reviewed journal, the essential message resonated with many people, which helped propel the book onto the bestseller list. Chapman recommends that couples become aware of their love language and that of their partner. Doing so helps to foster greater intimacy and happiness in a relationship.
One thing he encourages people to do is not to assume that everyone has your love language. We tend to express love as we like to receive it, and that may not line up with your partner’s love language. As an example, I don’t mind sharing that my love language is “words of affirmation.” A simple “thank you” or “I’m proud of you” fills up my love bank. Mary Catherine’s love language is “acts of service.” Instead of telling her that I love her, if I go cut the grass without being told, she really likes that.
By the late ’90s, most people in my circle of friends were quite familiar with the love languages, and I noticed that many people began to apply the concepts outside of a romantic relationship. Indeed, I don’t know many people over the age of 40 who haven’t heard of the love languages. Dr. Chapman wrote several versions of his original book, applying the concept of love languages in different scenarios. In 2011, he co-wrote with Paul White “The Five Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace,” tailoring the message to a workplace environment.
I’ve personally used the “Five Languages” in the workplace, and I do think it helps people to understand what motivates and inspires themselves and others. At work, I’ve talked about the five languages, and it’s helped me to better understand people and be understood so that work relationships can be strengthened. So that there are no misunderstandings, I’m going to adopt the same terminology as Dr. Chapman, and we’ll call these the “five languages of appreciation” instead of “love.”
One of the most unique and memorable gifts of appreciation I’ve received. Southern Conservation Trust former-Executive Director Katie Pace and Board Chair Brian Cooper gave me these socks and a plaque for my five years of service as Race Director of the Run the Ridge 5K in 2023. Photo/Mary Catherine Domaleski
Words of affirmation – written or verbal accolades that are specific and timely. “Thank you for handling that difficult client situation this morning. I appreciate your willingness to go the extra mile.” Sometimes a one-on-one expression of gratitude is called for, and at other times, a more public recognition is more effective. The key is to make the expression of affirmation authentic and personal, not a generic “good job.”
Quality time – giving someone your undivided attention is always a good thing, but for some people, this means the world to them. Showing up, listening, engaging, and “being in the trenches” with them is very important. People who like quality time struggle with working remotely and tend to like being around others. COVID was an especially difficult period for quality time people. Periodically going out to lunch or having coffee with your co-worker can reinforce a positive relationship.
Acts of service – don’t tell me, show me how much you care by helping out. Acts of service people are motivated when you do things without being asked. Pitching in to help, offering assistance, and doing your part motivates acts of service people. Not doing your part, avoiding tasks, and “disappearing” does quite the opposite.
Gifts – many people are motivated by gifts, especially personalized ones. Plaques, certificates, gift baskets, cards, company “swag,” and other tangible forms of appreciation motivate a gifts person. Most people like gifts, but for “gifts people,” they really, really like the physical tokens of appreciation. You can normally identify these types of people because their office or workplace is adorned with trinkets accumulated over the years.
Physical touch – of all the original love languages, this one is probably the trickiest to adopt to the workplace. People who appreciate physical touch enjoy a firm handshake, fist bump, or high five. While maybe not appropriate everywhere, we live in the South, and I know many people, particularly women, are huggers. As a man, I try not to presume and let a woman initiate a hug if that’s okay with her. I know many men who are huggers as well. Sometimes I’ll give a thumbs-up or other visual form of “virtual touch” affirmation as a way to express the gesture without actually touching someone. Respect boundaries and don’t touch anyone who doesn’t want to be touched.
Company lunch earlier this year where we recognized the services of two departing team members with quality time, gifts, and words of affirmation. Photo/Joe Domaleski
Over the years, I’ve found the love languages to be a great way to express and receive affirmation from family, friends, and even co-workers. Most people are not exclusively one language type or another, but most people do have a preference for what’s most meaningful and least meaningful to them. In the workplace, these expressions of affirmation do not have to be just between managers and subordinates but also apply to peer relationships. If you’re in sales, understanding your customer’s language type can help you develop a better relationship with them. If you manage people or teams, it’s essential to understand someone’s language type.
So you already know my love language is “words of affirmation.” What’s your love language?
[Joe Domaleski, a Fayette County resident for 25+ years, is the owner of Country Fried Creative – an award-winning digital marketing agency located in Peachtree City. His company was the Fayette Chamber’s 2021 Small Business of the Year. Joe is a husband, father of three grown children, and proud Army veteran. He has an MBA from Georgia State University and enjoys sharing his perspectives drawing from thirty years of business leadership experience. Sign up for the Country Fried Creative newsletter to get marketing and business articles directly in your inbox. You can connect with Joe directly on LinkedIn for more insights and updates.]
There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to motivations for starting and running a business – chasing dreams or dollars? Like many things in life, I guess the answer to that question depends upon who you ask. I took the leap into entrepreneurship twenty-one years ago, so I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on the question.
Starting my own business was not just a career decision; it was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. My father was an entrepreneur, and watching him start and grow several businesses inspired me (and scared me). In my first column for this newspaper, I shared my reasons for starting my business.
“Money is important to keep the lights on, but spending time with family, supporting our local community, and helping others is why I started the business almost twenty years ago.”
Well, those are the reasons I started the business, but why do I keep it going? I’ll be honest with you, now that the business has grown and lasted for over twenty years, I’ve been asking myself that question more and more these days. Do I keep it open to chase dreams or dollars?
When I started my venture in 2003, I was fueled by a dream. The idea wasn’t just to create something of my own but to build a business that aligned with my values and interests, and something that would make a positive impact on the local community. The dream was about autonomy, creativity, and personal growth. It was thrilling, invigorating, and yes, at times, downright terrifying.
But here’s the thing about dreams—they don’t pay the bills, at least not initially. When I first started up, we went over three months before I landed a client, and it took a solid year before I was breaking even. Money was not the initial motivation for starting my business. Because I bootstrapped the business and funded it with my own money, I was “all in.” There’s a big difference between spending your own money and someone else’s money when you’re starting up and running a business.
When thinking about dreams vs. dollars, the word “balance” comes to mind. There’s a delicate balance between making decisions that ensure financial stability, and the often riskier moves that our dreams require. In the early years, there were countless sleepless nights spent worrying whether I made the right decision. Even now, as many of my friends are retired and “set,” I wonder if I made the right decision.
Over the years there have been months where the financials looked bleak, and the temptation to give up and get a ‘real job’ was overwhelming – especially during the big recession of 2010. We almost lost it all, and it really tested our family. Many businesses did not make it, but we did. I don’t give up easily – which frustrates some and inspires others.
Sketching out the nonlinear path of my dreams at Backstreet Arts in Newnan. Photo/Erica Caetano
Despite the struggles, here I am, two decades later, still at the helm of our business – selling, helping clients, working with great employees, and mentoring interns. Why? Over the years, I’ve learned that chasing a dream provides something that dollars can’t buy—purpose. Each challenge faced, and every hurdle overcome, brought with it a sense of achievement that money could never match. It’s been said that a leader should lead with head, hands, and heart. I believe the greatest of these is HEART and there’s some Biblical basis for feeling that way.
However, I can’t romanticize the pursuit of dreams without acknowledging the importance of financial planning and management. Money is a crucial enabler that allows us to continue chasing dreams. As my business grew and I hired employees, money became even more important because other people are then basing their livelihood on the success of the business. Unlike most marketing agencies (particularly those that build websites), I’ve tried really hard to create local jobs and not outsource them. It’s not cheap to live in our community.
I get asked for free stuff all the time by new businesses and nonprofits starting out. My first inclination is to follow my heart and dreams to say, “Yes, we’d love to help you for free.” If I were independently wealthy, I’d probably do that. But I’m not, and my staff deserves to earn a living. Even though they could make more money working elsewhere, they are also committed to the dream.
People don’t value free stuff anyway. Over the years, we’ve helped many people and organizations get off the ground by charging them “starter rates” well below our actual cost. Many of those same organizations have grown, at least partly because we helped them get off the ground. Yet, when they finally have the financial resources and go “big time,” many move on – and it hurts. Sometimes they hire a “big Atlanta agency” or a national company to replace us – indeed this has happened without any acknowledgement that we helped them start. It never feels good, but it doesn’t diminish the dream. I believe it’s always the right time to do the right thing, even if it’s not always appreciated or acknowledged.
But at other times, our work is acknowledged and appreciated, which means the world to me. Just this past weekend, a client approached me at a social function and asked if it was okay to “talk about work.” Although I wasn’t sure what she was going to say, I braced myself for something negative and said, “Sure.” She said, “Joe, you have been undercharging us. I want you to increase our monthly bill.” Wow! It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it validates the “dream.”
CFC team members – Kylee Veres, Mia Scarbrough, and Hollie Holder reviewing “the dream” during a recent marketing meeting at Trilith. Photo/Joe Domaleski
Let’s be realistic. Most people don’t ask for price increases. Quite the opposite, the trend is for people to ask for more at a lesser price. We want to be helpful, but we also have to run a business. It’s a trade-off finding the intersection between where passion meets profitability. We’re constantly tweaking our dream to help people by balancing purpose and profits. We haven’t increased our prices that often over the past twenty years. Before we consider a price increase, we always focus on internal cost reductions because we don’t want to burden our clients. Yet, sometimes we have to adjust financial parameters in order to sustain our dream for the long run. Beware of companies that are priced so low that they can’t stay in business.
So, to those wrestling with the decision of whether to chase dreams or dollars, my advice is to weigh your personal circumstances and seek balance between those two goals. Be careful if your only goal is to make money – it’s hard to find loyal customers and employees if everything is being managed by a spreadsheet. In today’s data-driven world, people matter more than numbers. Be careful of seminars, consultants, and groups that promise to help you make more money and work less. Despite the seductive allure of vacations and lots of money, I don’t know a single successful business person who doesn’t work hard. That hard work is often fueled by passion, not profits. For me, profits follow passion and not the other way around.
What do you value more – dreams or dollars? What are you willing to sacrifice? It’s not the same for everyone. You might find that your dream can adapt, evolve, and still thrive within a financially sustainable framework. Or, you might decide that certain dreams can wait while you build your financial base.
In my case, the answer has evolved over the years. I think it’s pretty obvious by now that money is not the most important thing in my life, and, frankly, I avoid relationships where it is. Even though I’m a dreamer at heart, I believe in chasing dreams smartly. After all, what is the value of a dream if it can only live in your imagination?
Hey leaders – dream big, but plan carefully. Strive to make your dream resilient enough not only to survive but to thrive. After all, the sweetest successes are those that are dreamed first and then diligently pursued with both heart and mind. What are your dreams for the future and can you make money along the way?
[Joe Domaleski, a Fayette County resident for 25+ years, is the owner of Country Fried Creative – an award-winning digital marketing agency located in Peachtree City. His company was the Fayette Chamber’s 2021 Small Business of the Year. Joe is a husband, father of three grown children, and proud Army veteran. He has an MBA from Georgia State University and enjoys sharing his perspectives drawing from thirty years of business leadership experience. Sign up for the Country Fried Creative newsletter to get marketing and business articles directly in your inbox. You can connect with Joe directly on LinkedIn for more insights and updates.]
Ihave been feeling nostalgic lately. Several things going on in my life have me reflecting upon the past and thinking about the future – especially as it relates to my life experiences with STEM – Science, Technology, Engineering (or Entrepreneurship), and Mathematics. This is going to be one of my longer articles, but hopefully, it will be fun as I stroll down memory lane. Let’s start with some personal history for context.
I was born in 1967, which places me at the front end of Generation X, normally defined as those born between 1965-1980. Some of you reading this article may think I’m old, and others may think I’m still young. I guess that means I’m somewhere in between. I don’t mind being middle-aged, with all that comes with it.
My parents are young; they had me when they were 20. After my father’s service in Vietnam, he started several businesses, and that’s probably where I got my own entrepreneurial spirit. He was the first person on his side of the family to finish college and even earned a Master’s Degree from Georgia State University (GSU) in 1979. We have three generations of GSU scholars in our family. My Master’s Degree is from GSU (MBA ’93), and my daughter Alex completed her Master’s Degree from GSU a few years ago. My younger brother Chris has his doctoral degree from GSU.
Three generations of GSU graduates. (L-R) Joe Domaleski MBA ’93 with my soon-to-be wife Mary Catherine and late Mother-in-law George Ann; my daughter Alex Domaleski MS ’20; and my father Ed Domaleski MA ’79. Photo/Joe Domaleski
Two things happened after my father completed his post-graduate degree in 1979 that influenced my life path in technology. First, Dad accepted a position as a college instructor at DeKalb Community College in Clarkston. It’s still there but is now known as the Clarkston Campus of Perimeter College – GSU (the connection to GSU again). We moved to the area and settled in Stone Mountain, where I attended Clarkston High School (Class of 1985). Like many kids, I wanted to be like my dad and thought it was cool to be a college instructor. The importance and prominence of education made a big impact on me. My dad was the “cool instructor,” and I wanted to be like him.
The second thing that happened around that same time was my introduction to computer technology. Dad taught business data processing, and I was fascinated. Not only was I fascinated by the technology (computers and handheld calculators), but also by the application of technology for solving business problems. He initially used mainframe computers. In fact, I remember going to the computer lab with him to process computer “punch cards” to run programs. That didn’t last long, however, because the personal computer arrived and changed everything. At the college, he used a TRS-80 and an Apple II (my first introduction to Apple). Eventually, he saved enough money and bought a computer for the house—the Osborne 1 “suitcase” computer. I still have it, and it works!
The Osborne 1 portable computer. Originally released in 1981, this picture was taken in 2024. The computer still works! Photo/Joe Domaleski
First released in April 1981, the Osborne 1 was the first commercially viable portable computer. It ran the CP/M operating system, which was the predecessor of Microsoft’s Disk Operating System (MS-DOS). Having that computer at home allowed me the opportunity to learn, experiment, and innovate with computer technology firsthand. I feel strongly that kids should have access to resources to be creative and learn on their own. Having a family that emphasized the importance of learning and provided access to the tools needed made all the difference in the world to me.
Now that you know a little about my background, please indulge me as I continue my stroll down memory lane by considering several topics of personal interest in STEM that I have enjoyed and experienced over the years.
Application Software
The Osborne 1 came packaged with the very first “office suite” of software, including WordStar word processor, SuperCalc spreadsheet software, and dBASE II database system. Google Workspace and Microsoft Office are based on those early software systems. Business users were amazed at the power of those early applications, but I was just a teenager at the time, so I wanted to “tinker.” The Osborne 1 also included CBASIC, which gave me the option to explore BASIC computer programming.
Computer Programming
BASIC was my first computer programming language. I used it on the Osborne 1 at home, on the Apple II in my father’s computer lab at the college, and at Clarkston High School. Under the mentorship of Coach Paul Horsley, Clarkston started an innovative new class to give high school kids like me access to computer programming.
I was amazed at all the things I could tell the computer to do using BASIC. To this day, I consider computer programming my original computer science interest. Once I mastered BASIC, I taught myself 8080 assembly language, PASCAL, and COBOL.
Upon graduation from high school, I enrolled at North Georgia College (now University of North Georgia) in Dahlonega. The Computer Science program was part of the Department of Mathematics, so my studies included both fields. Many of the computer classes were taught by the late Mr. Ernie Elder, who nurtured our sense of exploration as we studied algorithms, computer architecture, and other esoteric programming languages like PROLOG, APL, and C. Dr. Kathy Sisk was also a very positive influence on my studies in math and computer science. Thank you, Ernie and Kathy. I was on an ROTC scholarship at North Georgia and was one of the few cadets who had their own personal computer in the barracks.
The author programming an IBM PC computer back in 1987. At the time he was a ROTC Cadet at North Georgia College (now UNG). Notice the dot matrix printer and the box of 5 1/4″ floppy disks. Photo/Joe Domaleski
Computer programming has always been a sort of “home base” skill for me, and those skills were further developed later in life when I learned HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and most recently, Python.
Mathematics
Computer science has its origins in math. I think that students who have a solid foundation in math will find the rigor of computer science easier. One of the earliest influences on my mathematical studies was Sister Bernadine, a Catholic nun who taught an 8th-grade accelerated math class at Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic School, where I attended grades 1-8. To this day, she remains one of the best math teachers I ever had. We learned pre-calculus in 8th grade, and she made it fun. Having that early exposure to advanced math in 1980 helped me understand the mathematical underpinning of modern computer algorithms.
In high school, I continued to nurture my interest in math but also became interested in science as a form of applied math. Trigonometry and calculus made more sense because of physics, and vice versa.
My mathematical journey went much deeper in college because of the curriculum associated with the computer science degree. I was given the opportunity to explore a wide variety of topics such as statistics, probability, linear algebra, discrete math, calculus, and numerical analysis. Linear algebra, in particular, did not seem very relevant at the time but might be one of the most important topics as it forms the basis for neural networks that power generative artificial intelligence (AI). Knowing how matrices and vectors work put me at an advantage when considering the strengths and weaknesses of different AI approaches. Math matters.
Most of my math in graduate school was based on financial analysis using interest rate calculations and net present value. We did use statistics in analysis (data summaries), calculus in economics (maximum/minimum), and linear regression for decision sciences (which I’ll come back to later).
Science
You can’t talk about math without talking about science and vice versa. Going back to middle school, I’ve always enjoyed science and participating in science fairs. Electronics, physics, and astronomy were always my favorites. Physics, in particular, really interested me, and that ended up being my minor at North Georgia. During my studies, a book came out that really inspired me—”Chaos: Making a New Science” by James Gleick. This book, released in 1987, introduced the world to chaos theory and the work of the Santa Fe Institute.
Simply stated, chaos theory (or complex non-linear dynamical systems) is an interdisciplinary field that brings together math and physics to study systems that appear to be random (or chaotic) but are not. Attributes of chaotic systems include sensitivity to initial conditions, self-similarity, determinism, feedback loops, fractals, and self-organization. Examples include fractals, weather, flocks of birds, the spread of fire, economies, viral behavior on the internet, and so forth. Perhaps you’ve heard of the “Butterfly Effect“?
In 2015, the Santa Fe Institute Complexity Explorer program began to offer some online courses in a variety of related complexity topics. The classes weren’t easy and required the use of statistics, calculus, and specialized programming languages like NetLogo for modeling agent-based systems. I had a blast. Here’s a screenshot of one of my R programs to plot the famous “logistic map.” Fun stuff, to me at least.
Logistic Map program I wrote in the R Programming Language running on my iPad. Photo/Joe Domaleski
Personal Computers
Ever since Dad brought home the Osborne 1 in 1982, I’ve had access to a personal desktop computer. Over the years, the size of my computers has decreased as their processing power has increased. At the time in the ’80s, it was quite a revolution to put the power of mainframe computers on everyone’s desktop. Issues about data access, security, standardization, and support still create struggles for the modern enterprise. Yes, back in the ’80s and early ’90s, many people in Information Technology opposed giving users that much power. Echoes of that battle are still being heard over the use of portable computing devices like smartphones and tablets at work and in the classroom. Although it’s not without issues, I do believe having access to personal computing devices is a good thing, even though I like to unplug once in a while too.
Expert Systems
After learning how to program computers in the early ’80s, I began to wonder about ways to make computers even more helpful. I first became exposed to the term “Artificial Intelligence” in a mid-’80s article in the now-defunct “BYTE” computer magazine. The article talked about ways to codify human knowledge into so-called expert systems to solve problems. A special declarative programming language called PROLOG (Programming in Logic) was developed to do just that. Developers would code rules and facts in PROLOG, and the computer would infer solutions. It worked a lot like those logic puzzles and games like Clue. You lay out all the facts and try to determine “who done it.”
Example Turbo Prolog source code running on MS-DOS. Photo/Frank Bergmann, CC-BY-SA-4.0
I learned about PROLOG at North Georgia in an Introduction to Programming Languages survey class. I continued experimenting with it using a derivative language called Turbo Prolog. Somewhere in my house is a copy of Turbo Prolog on a floppy disk. Although fun for solving simple problems, it became readily apparent that coding up all the rules was very labor-intensive work. If an expert system was to help solve problems, then knowledge engineers would have to code all known knowledge about the problem as rules. Interest in expert systems began to die down in the ’90s although marketers continued to use that term as a buzzword all the way up to 1999 when the so-called “millennium bug” became the focus of interest.
Neural Networks
I had never heard of a neural network until I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation on TV. In that show, the android “Data” had a positronic brain powered by a neural network. Knowing that Star Trek liked to maintain a basis in science, I looked up the term and discovered that it was a real thing. Originally conceived in 1957 as a “perceptron” by Dr. Frank Rosenblatt, it was a way to pattern a computer architecture after the neurons in the human brain.
It’s beyond the scope of this article to recount the history of neural networks, but there’s plenty of information available online, including this summary by Wikipedia. Neural networks fell out of favor during the “AI winter” and didn’t really re-emerge until the late ’80s as the limits of expert systems were beginning to be discovered. An innovation using calculus to perform backpropagation allowed neural networks to “learn” and optimize.
Neural networks popped back up on my radar screen in graduate school. As part of my MBA curriculum, I had to take a Decision Sciences class by a young professor named Dr. Alok Srivastava. Decision science is sometimes known as forecasting, analytics, and data science these days. Regardless of what you call it, it’s really the application of mathematical tools to help make business decisions. Before “big data,” we did a lot of that analysis using spreadsheets, this time Lotus 123 on a personal computer. After class one day, I mentioned to Alok that I knew C programming and thought some of our spreadsheet assignments would be better handled by a computer program. He pulled me aside and asked me, “What do you know about Backpropagation Neural Networks?”
The book ignited my interest in AI – Neural Networks in C++ by Adam Blum (1982). Photo/Joe Domaleski
We collaborated on some financial and economic data analysis using neural networks written in C. One of the early reference books we used, because textbooks still didn’t have much to say on the subject, was a new book entitled “Neural Networks in C++, An Object-Oriented Framework for Building Connectionist Systems” by Adam Blum (Wiley, 1992). I still have a physical copy of the book somewhere on my bookshelf. What we learned then, and is still true today, is that neural networks are excellent at pattern recognition. Based on linear algebra, statistics, and partial derivatives (calculus), neural networks have the seeming ability to “self-organize” given proper training—much like a human. Alok encouraged me to continue my studies to pursue a Ph.D., but I opted to enter the business world with my MBA, get married, and start a family. Unfortunately, Alok passed away in 2010 due to complications from diabetes.
Honestly, I had forgotten much of that early work I did in neural networks because of the rise of the Internet in the late ’90s. Much of AI research stalled out again in another “AI winter” as everyone became fascinated with the internet and web-based technologies. In fact, even the term “AI” had some ridicule associated with it as a failed promise going all the way back to the ’50s. Little did we know that neural networks would resurface later to power modern AI including generative AI such as ChatGPT.
Internet
There’s no doubt that the Internet has had a major impact on my life and the lives of just about everyone. My first email account was a GSU account back in the early ’90s when most internet usage was restricted to government and academic use. Outside of school, we used dial-up modems and computer bulletin boards (subject for another article). Before there was the World Wide Web (simply “the web” now), I used something called Gopher, “go fer,” to retrieve documents and information on the internet from the GSU computer lab. Gopher was a text-only, menu-based system. It fell out of favor when HTTP, HTML, and the web spawned the creation of websites.
Being a book and information nerd, I was fascinated by having the ability to sit at a computer and look stuff up using Gopher and then web browsers. To this day, I still love to go down “rabbit holes” by looking up esoteric facts and information online. This newspaper website, where you are reading my article, was one of the first commercially viable websites in Fayette County and the first local newspaper to go online.
We should probably make a distinction between several related terms. The Internet is a network that connects computers all over the world. The web is a system of websites (residing on computer servers) containing web pages to view information and handle transactions. The web is accessible through the internet. The internet is also used to send/receive electronic mail (email) and pass data between applications on your computer, phone, tablet, and other devices.
Web Projects
During much of the ’90s, I served in various consulting roles related to the business application of technology. Beginning with the commercialization of the Internet and the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996, I decided to steer my career in the direction of web project management. The Olympic website was built on IBM technologies. As one of the first IBM-certified Internet Architects, I became an expert in developing large-scale e-commerce websites in the late ’90s and especially into the early 2000s.
I feel strongly that a project manager should have the ability to “do the work” and not just direct it from afar. Not everyone agrees with that philosophy. Maybe it comes from my military experience where everyone carries a weapon. Regardless, I taught myself HTML (the language of the web) and TCP/IP (the architecture of the Internet) so that I could be a better web project manager. To this day, I can code websites by hand using a simple text editor. I don’t do it often, and my staff prefers it that way!
In fact, I enjoyed building websites so much that in March 2003, I left the corporate world to start my entrepreneurial journey by building websites.
Entrepreneurship
You can read more about why I started my business in my very first article. As I’ve said many times before, running a business has been both the hardest thing I’ve ever done and one of the most rewarding. Nothing I learned in business school or as a consultant fully prepared me for the ups and downs of running a business.
First, most people are not cut out to be entrepreneurs. The ones that are have to be driven by passion, not greed. There are a lot easier ways to make money besides starting a business. This is going to ruffle some feathers, but if your primary goal is to make money, do something else. If you have a dream and think you can make money chasing that dream—go for it. You will learn so much and help so many people along the way, but be prepared for disappointment and rejection.
Second, my business would not have succeeded without having a solid basis in technology. It’s true that the heart of our business is people—employees, clients, and supporters. However, our interactions wouldn’t work without great technology and the knowledge to use it. We literally use technology for everything we do in order to create outstanding marketing programs and campaigns for clients.
The author keeping all of the computers and technology going at the 2017 Fayette Woman Live conference. Photo/Cal Beverly
In short, I can trace quite a bit of my own entrepreneurial passion and drive back to tinkering with computer programming when I was a teenager. I had no idea at the time that the Internet and web would even come to pass, and now I own a company that offers that service. Lesson learned—we don’t know what the future holds or where life will take you. You may be doing things now that will be obsolete in the future and things that may not have been invented yet could become your livelihood. Let’s return to something from my early career that has resurfaced—AI.
AI and Neural Networks Revisited
Artificial Intelligence became fashionable again last year with the sudden appearance of generative AI in the form of ChatGPT and others in 2023. What’s old is new again. Ironically, it was because of the Internet that neural networks faded from the spotlight and then experienced a resurgence around 2010.
Programming AI algorithms using the Python programming language on my Mac. (2023) Photo/Joe Domaleski
The convergence of “big data” from the internet and faster processors in the form of GPUs has caused renewed interest in artificially intelligent applications. AI, often powered by neural networks, started showing up under the radar in things such as recommendation engines, mapping, image recognition, and data analysis. As I mentioned in a previous article, these types of AI were marketed as “smart” or “intelligent” systems due to the continued stigma associated with the term “AI.”
All of that changed again last year, and now AI is in the spotlight again. I think we’re all suffering from AI-overload. Truth is, no one knows where it’s heading. Will AI take over the world and make humans obsolete, or will it peak because of a flattening of the innovation curve and lack of training data?
As for me, I’m excited. Because of my life experiences, I’ve seen situations like this before when a disruptive technology seemingly shows up out of nowhere. I wasn’t alive during the industrial revolution, but most of my life has been spent as an active participant in the information revolution. When personal computers arrived around 1980, it took about a decade but things changed dramatically. Entire industries were created just as other industries died out. When the Internet and web came to be, it created enormous economic opportunity but also killed off other things like printed phone books (which used to be a billion-dollar business). Smartphones have combined the power of computers and the Internet to put a lot of power in everyone’s hands. Yes, the emergence of generative AI is huge, maybe one of the biggest things to ever face humanity, or maybe not. We don’t know.
The Future
Recently, I had the opportunity to interview a young data scientist for a possible internship position with my company. He will soon graduate with a Master’s Degree in data science and is exploring options. As we plan for expanding our range of digital marketing services into new areas, it’s important to bring in talent. During our discussions, I was very impressed by his enthusiasm for AI and data science. I told him that he reminded me of myself 30 years ago. He was surprised to find out that an old guy like me knew how to implement deep learning (a form of neural network AI) in Python. He also didn’t know that neural networks had been around for so long and that someone in the business community actually understood and used linear algebra and partial derivatives for marketing analysis. There’s no question that his skills are more current than mine, but it’s important for old guys like me to keep up with the young ones.
A dream come true. It only took 30 years, but I finally got to return to GSU to teach college in March 2024. Thanks to Matt Bramblett and the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University for the opportunity to teach digital marketing to this group of future entrepreneurs. Photo/Joe Domaleski
As for me, I’m glad that my career had a firm foundation in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering (and Entrepreneurship), and Math). A good solid STEM foundation can prepare you for life in ways that you can’t imagine. Even if AI can do a lot of the work for you, a solid foundation of knowledge in a human brain is essential to make sure the right questions are asked of AI and the computer-generated solutions are properly interpreted. For now, at least, AI can’t read our minds so we have to be able to guide it. STEM can help you do that.
Thank you to everyone who was a mentor or teacher to me over the years. Thanks also to all of the interns, colleagues, current and former employees who gave me the opportunity to share my experiences with you. How are you preparing yourself and those around you for the future?
[Joe Domaleski, a Fayette County resident for 25+ years, is the owner of Country Fried Creative – an award-winning digital marketing agency located in Peachtree City. His company was the Fayette Chamber’s 2021 Small Business of the Year. Joe is a husband, father of three grown children, and proud Army veteran. He has an MBA from Georgia State University and enjoys sharing his perspectives drawing from thirty years of business leadership experience. Sign up for the Country Fried Creative newsletter to get marketing and business articles directly in your inbox. You can connect with Joe directly on LinkedIn for more insights and updates.]
