Social Media for Small Business is being taught incorrectly
29 August 2010Earlier this week I was approached by an individual who asked me to create a 4 post series for his blog while paying a more than reasonable rate per post. As I sat down to begin writing I had only one thought come to my mind that warranted such a long discourse: social media for small businesses is being taught the wrong way. I've read dozens of books on the subject and every one of them, including several of my friends' books, are teaching social media in the same way. Effectively they preach "Go online and connect with the community there." When you're a small business using the internet in that way I no longer think is the most effective way to use your time and resources. Let's be real here; if you're running a restaurant in Jacksonville, Florida how smart is it for you to buy an ad on Google or Facebook that appears when I do a search. I know that's extreme and that it removes the geolocation targeting features that both platforms currently have for ads. But I question if interacting through social media isn't the same kind of absurd behavior. I am now beginning to believe that it ...
So I failed at August’s 30 in 30
18 August 2010As the title to this post states, I failed. It happens pretty regularly for me in different areas of my life but it always stings a little bit. That stated, I haven't gone completely dark. Most of you who stumble upon this blog already know that on August 5th I launched a daily podcast over at MeetMyFollowers.com. The concept for the show is really simple: Every weekday I release a new episode where I interview one of my actual twitter followers. The typical interview is about 19 minutes and I've had an absolute blast creating the show. The idea is pretty simple but that simplicity allows pretty much anyone to quickly grasp why the show is likely to succeed. The show's premise can easily fit inside a tweet. I've been asked by several people why I started the show. The simple reason is that I wasn't producing enough content that really showcased my skills in creating content. I really pride myself on doing that as a community manager. Going one step further though, it allows me to expose the network of ...
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Shared Sundays are the best
08 August 2010About once a month, I get the opportunity to come down to south Chandler and hang with some of my best friends. This is the time I get to let lose and play games with the people who I love the most. It brings me back to my center and makes me more creative as the month goes along. I enjoy this so I hope you each get a time to sit with those people who make you creative this fine Sunday.
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Social Media TiVo please
07 August 2010It's pretty amazing the number of "real-time" online tools there are now. Twitter, Facebook Updates, Foursquare, Gowalla, Ustream and hundreds more are all tools to help us communicate with one another right now. It's getting pretty loud and a lot of folks have started to posit that the next wave of online tools will be those to help us filter all this information. This to me looks shockingly like cable television in 1997. Back then there were hundreds of channels all happening in real time and all fighting for an audience. There was no easy way to break out of the "right now" consumption of the content. Then a game changing product was released: TiVo. All of a sudden it was easy and intuitive to record your shows and watch them at your convenience. You could still go out with friends and not be stressed about missing this week's "Survivor" episode. This changed the way most Americans are consumed television. DVR adoption rates are good and only look to be getting even more ubiquitous with television cable and satellite companies. What I'm looking for is the next revolutionary web technology that will have the same kind of effect that TiVo did for ...
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Surround yourself with the right people
05 August 2010There's been a recurring message in my conversations in the last two days: surround yourself with those people who you want to be like. It's come from people both much more experienced than me in business and also a young guy who's just finishing college. They're all successful and are heading in the direction that shows their ability to create real businesses that make profits even in these economic times. These are the people who I want to be about. One trait that they all have is being extremely positive in their mindset. There isn't anything that they can't do. If they set their mind to accomplish a goal they will achieve it and most likely with a little panache. My mindset wavers from being insanely driven and focused when I'm angry or inspired to needing all kinds of proof when I have doubt regarding a situation. It's becoming clear to me that these folks have the same doubts I have but decide to try anyway. It's the equivalent of making the ask. (I always enjoy it when my own bits of wisdom can be used against me.) Another consistent thread is that these successful people all have networks of other ...
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People are the people that are going to help you
04 August 2010The title of this post actually is a quote from Gary Vaynerchuk's Web 2.0 Expo video and it falls perfectly in line with a knowledge bomb of a blog post that Olivier Blanchard put up today titled "You want results? Time to start re-investing in people" I can't begin to stress how important investing in people is so crucial to your long term success in life, let alone business. People are the difference in great teams and doing the things that at face value seem impossible. While I've been known to say on several podcasts that you should always work to network up, the real difference that most people miss is that you really have to care about everyone you want to maintain a relationship with regardless of whether they're in the position you aspire to achieve or not. It is the people you choose to surround yourself with both physically and digitally who will make your life richer and give you the safety net that you may need to do the things that really scare you. Choose those folks wisely but don't try to keep that network small. Keep it the perfect size so you care enough about each ...
From 0 to podcast in 2 days
03 August 201072 hours ago I was a normal guy with a ton of audio and video equipment in my apartment. Several friends and even a few family members made fun of me for the obnoxious set up I had. Over the course of the last 3 days I blurted out an idea I had for a podcast and got such a supportive reaction from the community that I think that they would be upset if I didn't produce the podcast. Now I have 21 interviews lined up for the month of August and I've started the conversations with potential sponsors. There's something about great, simple ideas that people gravitate to. My recommendation for folks is to take their original idea, even if it's a different version of a currently respected and known idea, and boil it down for a while until it becomes so simple that anyone can understand it in under a tweet. 140 characters is all you need to get a concise and complete idea across. As my friend and role model Gary Vaynerchuk communicated in his 2008 speech circuit, if you think you have a feel and you know you have the knowledge you have to take a shot now ...
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- blog,Business Skills,General
The importance of making the ask
02 August 2010Most people are scared to ask for what they want in life. Some people are fearful they'll get it. Some fear that they'll be laughed at for even asking. I've had several conversations over the last few months where people who are well known and well respected in their industries have said to me something to the effect of "I wish I could help more but I don't even know where to start." These are people who get consulting fees for thousands of dollars a month. They want to help people because that's genuinely who they are and they had folks who helped them along the way so it was time to pay it forward. You could be one of those folks they choose to help free of charge simply because you asked. But you didn't. Making the ask is something that I wish I had learned to do earlier in my life. I used to avoid asking for anything as long as I possibly could. There are several occasions where things were downright awkward because I wouldn't make the ask. Be it the pretty girl in class next to me for a date, an employer for a raise or a friend ...
Find how to create your flow zone
01 August 2010A funny thing has happened over the last 8 months. I've starting walking more. A lot more. It started with the FitBit. It is now a constant companion and will be for the foreseeable future. I stopped driving to my job that was a 12 minute walk away. In May, when I was really at a loss for what to do about work, I would go for walks and successively longer and longer walks. Now I've had walks that have come in at almost 8 miles and most weeks I'm putting down more than 30 miles. Why am I telling you this and how will it help you? There's been a very funny result of my even minimal exercise: after about 2.5 miles I get an idea flow that is amazing. I don't know exactly why it takes 2.5 miles (typically about 45-50 minutes) to get there but it's consistently there. It's where some of my best ideas for clients and potential clients have come from. Also, it's begun to give me some clarity on my own personal situation. I've always believed that the so called "flow zone" is a very thin elliptical area on the chart that is where the level ...
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