IP Democracy: Building a Business is Hard on the Heart -- Ask Om

Just as I was about to work myself into a pique over the too-soon loss of my "this is going to be a great year" glow (backed-up sink, kid with the flu and a glitchy migration to a dedicated server all conspired against my happiness), I found out that dear Om Malik has been hospitalized with a heart attack at age 41.

For those of you who don't know him, Om is a great guy and a friend to all. I've know him since he worked at Forbes Digital Tool (remember that?) back in the late-1990s. He linked to this blog in 2005 and that was all it took for me to find a following. People follow Om's links like nothing else I've seen.

He was a journalist for a long time but most people know him as the blogging trailblazer who showed the world that blogs could become money-making enterprises. He built a publishing business with his stable of top-notch blogs...but obviously at a price. I know he worked almost 24x7 for at least a year (and then 18x7 for maybe another year) getting GigaOmniMedia up and running and in the process earned my lifelong respect. I gravitate toward entrepreneurs in general but particularly guys like Om who give it their all.

That's what it takes to get things done in this world and I'm always slightly disappointed in myself for not working hard enough to make my visions reality. Not today, though. It's hard to say what caused Om's heart attack -- the stogies, ciggies and love of food, although great fun, didn't help.

But I would bet all that hard work -- and lack of sleep -- played a bigger role in his health crisis. Om, as always, is offering up useful information. He's telling all of us to slow down a little. I know it's hard to do, particularly for the hyper-caffeinated blogosphere, but for all you entrepreneurs out there, building a business is hard on the heart. Ask Om.

Posted by Cynthia Brumfield on January 3, 2008 8:01 PM to IP Democracy