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 ...
Just do something interesting
31 July 2010This afternoon I wanted to sit down and write some more of the mystery ebook I've been working on in earnest for the last 3 weeks. I plopped down at my laptop turned on the music and proceeded to write exactly 8 words. One single sentence. Not one to force my writing (and probably the reason why I always sucked in timed writing assignments and tests in school) I looked for something to do. For some reason, the thought crossed my mind to watch "Lemonade" since I hadn't seen it since the week it premiered on Hulu. It's especially timely given the fact that the economy appears to be losing the minimal gains we've seen since the start of the year. More and more people are losing their jobs and I like to think that "Lemonade" is part of the rehabilitation process for not only those who get fired but for us as a nation and community. There was one clear scene in the movie that jumped out at me that I will end up referencing in the ebook -- one of the interview subjects talks about just doing something, anything, interesting with the time that they've been given by ...
Why today isn’t the best time ever to be an entrepreneur
22 July 2010[caption id="attachment_130" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="credit: flickr genbug"][/caption] This morning Milind and I got to talking over IM. Our conversation revolved around downloadable content and entrepreneurialism. Milind echoed a statement that has been said by many industry pundits. He said, "It's an exciting time to be alive." It's statements like that which always leave me a little miffed. I typed back "Do you think that people didn't think that it was a great time to be alive when TV was 5 years old?" People see the world the way that they want to. No one wants to think they lived at the worst time ever. Even those who lived through the Great Depression didn't believe it to be the worst time ever. Our conversation then made a stronger move toward entrepreneurship. Milind echoed a point that the barriers are now gone. Our mutual friend Gary Vaynerchuk has said may times. Once again, I wanted to challenge Milind's beliefs here because I think his statements show he's thinking about only his own experience. Given his own experience, he's perfectly right. There isn't a ...
Running the marathon daily
21 July 2010My good friend Sam Taggart posted something on the Vaynermedia blog today that has me thinking about things. Here's a quick quote from Sam's post: No matter your profession or your spot in life, it’s important to remember that we are all running our own marathons (so stop trying to get to the finish line in two hours). As with anything, success takes hard work, a good team, a little bit of luck, and time. It takes most of us eighteen years to even be in a position to leave the comfort and security of our parents’ homes. Life is not one big get rich quick scheme; it’s a process, and it’s important to remember that from time to time. As someone who very much agrees with Sam and his boss, friend and mentor Gary Vaynerchuk, I understand that being patient and willing to consistently work is something that is required to complete the "marathon." What always interests me is how people break down their super high level goals into steps that they can take daily. For instance, let's say you want to become a known brand in a given space. Following Sam's advice you can create compelling, ...
Marketing is not the father of Social Media
20 May 2010Given the types of blogs I subscribe to I get a lot of "Social Media Marketing for your small business" posts in my feed reader. I am starting to believe that if you're treating social media as an additional channel for your marketing that you simply don't get social media. Before the hater-pants come on, I'm not saying that you can't market your business using these social platforms but rather that it's not the most effective way. When I first learned about marketing in my undergraduate program all the methods to speak to a potential user base were one-way: company to consumer. All was well in the world of TV, radio and print since companies got to keep control of their brands. Social media was in it's infancy right as I was graduating. It's been chronicled on many blogs that social media has allowed customers to now define any company's brand as they see fit. These consumers have the capacity to create more content online than a Marketing department ever will. A couple weeks ago I began looking at social media's DNA and where it would fit inside an organization. I've come to the conclusion that Social Media isn't the child of Marketing. ...
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Why Kevin Rose should become Google’s new Head of Social
11 May 2010So the big hubbub in the social media world is that Google is hiring a Head of Social. A lot of names are being thrown around for this position but there's one that I truly believe that stands above the rest: Kevin Rose. There are three main reasons that I believe Google should acquire Digg and then place Rose as in this role: 1) There's familiarity between the top Google folks and Rose since Google was supposedly in talks to buy Digg back in 2008 2) Rose believes in the power that engineers can bring to a company and Google is the penultimate company espousing this thought process 3) Rose helped create the social space and through a series of companies he's either started or invested in he remains at the front end of the social trends. This ability to spot trends before even the earliest adopters do will be required if Google is going to become a leader in the social space. Digg is currently undergoing a lot of change: Rose took over the CEO role and has since killed the DiggBar, all but axed the digg URL shortener and let go 10% of the ...
The Ren Men and SXSW
19 March 2010It's been a couple of crazy hectic weeks for me and I feel kinda bad about the fact that I've neglected this blog but hey, I'm sorry let's move on. The first bit of business I'm really excited to talk about is that I made an appearance on The Ren Men Show in last week's episode. I can not be more excited about this show and the principles that these guys are teaching and that's exactly why I decided to fly up to Las Vegas to interact with Alan and Grant and see if we couldn't learn from one another. My interview starts at 6:35 but seriously watch the entire episode. Episode 15 - The Ren Men Show from The Ren Men Show on Vimeo. These guys get lifestyle design and I couldn't be more excited about working with them in the future in some kind of capacity. Also a big shout out goes to Zach Daulton the Ren Men cameraman who I got to spend a little time with before he went to bed and the boys and I went on ...
Observe, Contemplate and Execute
21 February 2010Over the course of the last week I've found myself having to stretch to reach goals that I've put out in front of me. In return though I've found that I follow a pretty normal process to acquire new skills and the more that I think about this process the more I see it other people's behavioral patterns as well. Observe This is the first step after initial discovery. People take time to observe the landscape of a situation or how the results of an action look. This first section can also include reading a lot of books, articles and blogs. This is where most folks try to gain the knowledge so they can replicate the success that they have seen others have on platforms. Unfortunately so many people get stuck in the observation stage because that's what they're taught in school to do: acquire information and regurgitate it. Contemplate The next stage that people get to is the point where they either want to replicate the actions or an opportunity to do so simply presents itself. This is where people allow themselves to think about the possible consequences of their proposed action and it's in this place that a lack of self confidence ...
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@KadeRead – an experimental twitter account
15 February 2010Given all the news with Google's Buzz this week and the subsequent land rush of the new adopters racing to it as if it were a panacea I decided to take a peek at it. To be honest it like a lot of technologies doesn't strike me a game changing. Interesting, yes. Stolen features from two long dead micro-whatever platforms (Pownce & Jaiku) mashed together with a little bit of Twitter and Friendfeed envy baked in and you have an idea what the service actually provides. The big play here though is the install base. I get that this is an eyeballs play and that Google better than anyone can monetize eyeballs. There are just too many issues with the service and a few things I don't quite frankly grok which will prevent me from using it. I really had hoped that this platform had finally provided a solution to a request I get pretty regularly. I subscribe to over 250 RSS feeds and about a dozen blog alerts for specific terms. More than a few folks have asked me to give them the list (and I have after some slight modifications) and even more have asked me to use a ...
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