Top 5 Podcasts I Benefit From
27 January 2010I listen to or watch some 30+ podcasts on a weekly basis and to be honest that's part of the reason I'm in the podcast backlog situation that I am. That stated the following question came in from James Robertson a couple of days back: That's a great question from James so here are the top 5 podcasts that I have learned the most from: 1. This Week in Tech hosted by Leo Laporte My week begins with Leo and the crew. Technology is something I love and follow with an absolute fervor but listening to some of the top minds discuss tech (and every once in a while politics and food) helps keep me appraised of what's going on out there. Specifically though this show has introduced me to great folks like Baratunde Thurston, Robert Llewellyn and got me through that dislike period with Jason Calacanis. Smart folks, talking about the tech of tomorrow is always a great investment. 2. Fast Money by CNBC Speaking of investments CNBC's Fast Money is a must watch for me. Maybe it's because I no longer work a night shift job ...
Psychology: a key to getting what you want
26 January 2010Psychology was one of my passions in my undergraduate program at Arizona State for several reasons but Dr Marek Wosinski definitely helped fuel that fire. It was an astonishing arena where studying people and the way they interpreted situations you could understand how to change and present information in a manner that made it highly likely to get what you want. Some people may view this as manipulative but I simply see it as playing to the human OS. There are a number of books in this space that I could have (and may subsequently do) written reviews of. Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely and Influence by Robert Cialdini were key to my studies outside the classroom. That stated I look time and again at the content I regularly consume and except for football (yes, the European version) psychology plays a huge role in what I watch. I mean seriously how many times can I watch episodes of Dragon's Den (or Shark Tank) or The Dog Whisperer and not see the changes being made. Here's the interesting part: even though I know the game it doesn't mean I'm not susceptible to it. And now for the shocking part, neither are you. The ...
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What I Do When I’m Down
25 January 2010This was a response I received to a tweet I sent out asking for content ideas because I want to make this more about helping others rather than simply reflecting on my own thoughts over my final week of 30 in 30. First off, Kelly, thank you for your input. The quick answer is yes, I get down and you'd be shocked how often it happens. A single thing in a day can go wrong and that can be it for me, I'm off the rails. I guess that's part of what makes me so interested in entrepreneurs because they constantly seem to be hitting walls and coming back for more. There are four primary things I do when I get down though to get back on track: 1) Eat an great meal. I normally eat pretty poorly and getting an awesome meal at a restaurant I love can make me feel 10x better in an hour. I won't go out and grab a 1500 calorie monster meal either. If you see me racing down to Chompie's for a hot pastrami sandwich, Saigon Nites for some Broccoli Beef or the Penne with Chicken and Broccoli ...
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Compete
24 January 2010One of the few folks who I look back on as really having a profound impact on my life was my high school baseball coach Rob Stewart. From the first time he told me to get lost at Irvine High when he was talking to a junior who would soon be drafted into the minor leagues to the time that I became his right fielder and even when everything fell apart for me in the form of competitive baseball he always seemed willing to give life lessons when I was ready to hear them. Over the course of the last few weeks I've been watching Leeds United (a third division English soccer club) play against some of the top clubs in the world in the FA Cup. They've beat quite possibly the best team in the world (Manchester United) and forced a replay against Tottenham. The heart of this team reminds me of something Coach Stewart taught me many years ago: Compete. Nothing else matters when you go out, try your hardest and find someway to play up to those who you have no right to be competitive with. Even when those games come around when you simply don't have the ...
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If equipment is the only thing stopping you from an opportunity…
23 January 2010buy it and simply start executing. I've had three conversations over the last 24 hours where folks have said that they would love to do something but can't because they don't feel like they have the proper tools. Seriously, if that, and not fear, is stopping you go buy the tool you want and move to do what you want to do. Buying my Rode Podcaster, shock mount and swing arm two years ago was huge for me because I stopped thinking of my computer as textual medium. Add on top of that I could use it for things I enjoy like writing and recording parodies and now recording podcasts it was totally worth the $300 investment I struggled over weeks about. Like most things in life, I think that you simply have to try it and that money should not be the ultimate determinant. If you're scared about the cash for brand new equipment, buy something used or rent it for a few days if you can. If you end up loving it how much is that joy potentially worth? If you haven't picked this up from me yet in a conversation or here on the blog, while I am ...
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Podcast hell: 48 back and no hope
22 January 201048 podcasts. 1:23:23:46 worth of content. Basically I'm screwed. How did I end up with so much content? Well to be honest I love the people who's content I consume. Leo Laporte, basically anything from Revision3, Andrew Warner and his Mixergy project, Carpool with Robert Llewellyn and so many more are packed with great information. These folks are who I aspire to be some day way down the line. But why not just delete back episodes? Simply put there's good information there and it seems incredibly wasteful not to at least give it a listen. My problem is that I can't have two different word tracks running simultaneously. Yes, me the dude who reads books at 350% normal speed can't have more than one word track going at once. So if I'm listening to a podcast I can't be writing an email or even talking via IM. It's just too much information for me. I normally get out of this mess by sitting down and making a content Saturday a content weekend where I consume as much of it as I possibly can until it hurts and then some. Sure it's not the most elegant solution but it's the one that makes ...
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Things get busy and that’s when you find out how good you really are
21 January 2010Today has been a whirlwind. It's moments like this that I begin to completely believe in Parkinson's Law. (For those of you who don't know what this is it basically states that the more time you have the greater a task will seem. If you have to complete it you'll focus on just the essentials and get it done in amazingly short periods of time.) I've edited now 4 videos, done graphics on 3 of them, responded to a ton of email, assisted in a couple meetings and had two awesome conversations between 8 and 10P. That's entirely the reason why this post is going up so close to the bell. Anyway announcements on a lot of different things will come out over the next 10 days, so stay tuned. Wish I could post something more, but I got more hustlin to do. #crushit
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Making business deals happen
20 January 2010Some of you know that before I was the social media community manager at Vemma that I was many different things at GoDaddy. One of those many positions I filled was as a sounding board to the Business Development team. In that time I gained a mentor (seriously, Rocco, I wouldn't be the young man I am today without your guidance and incredible patience) and a boat load of experience through the team that did the deals. I played the role of outsider as best I could learning the maneuvering skills and how business and ego need to be balanced to get a deal done on all sides. Today I completed my first big end-to-end deal where I feel like I really internalized and used the skills that the BizDev team at GoDaddy taught me. Sure the amount of cash wasn't as big as the deals I've played support roles on but overall this was my deal that got through political hurdles, suppliers, and shipping schedules. While incredibly stressful it was an amazing experience that bordelines on addictive. That stated, here's what I want you as my readers to know: Research on all the players in the field is absolutely required and ...
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Tungle continues to amaze…as does personal branding
19 January 2010So this entire deal with me and getting random amounts of publicity is kinda freaking me out. Earlier today I received a tweet (thanks @tgruber) that tipped me off that I had a quote in the Tungle Blog's stream. They took an off the cuff and honest comment that I honestly thought was a funny joke me and two people would get a giggle from and posted it on their blog: I'm not writing about this to simply toot my own horn but rather to show those of you out there who are students and just starting out building your brand online that it can take literally 1 article to launch you along an awesome growth path. The article in question (5 internet tools you should be using (but probably aren't)) is now responsible for almost 35% of my total unique visitors this month and has doubled my number of page views. Those are massive numbers from an article that took me less than 15 minutes to write. The words of Gary V come back to me time and time again "content is king but marketing is ...
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Half way there…
18 January 2010This is day 17 of 30 (well maybe 31 if I'm feeling ambitious) on this blogging project and I thought it would be appropriate to take a quick moment and tell you all a little bit about what I've learned in this process. First off, you'd be shocked who's actually listening. In the time since I've started this I've become friends with the Ren Men, been featured on a book's website and had a well known color expert leave a comment on my blog. I've been retweeted by over a dozen people and have had some of my own beliefs regarding my writing challenged. If you're starting or restarting a blog don't be shocked if someone you never expected leaves a comment or gets pointed to your website. Remember they're only a single person away. ;) While I still find my writing to be pretty poor, it's become that much easier for me to simply write about anything which is a side effect I wasn't anticipating. I used to struggle for hours to figure out something to talk about or compile my thoughts on a book. Now because I'm constantly creating content I feel much more able to sit down with a ...
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