Monday, December 26, 2016

5 Things to Do This Week to Wrap Up Your Year

If you have been giving any gifts the past couple of days, you might have thought you were done with the wrapping well before now, but it is time for one more present - this time for you. Let's wrap up your year by doing some little things the last week to prepare you for the turn of the calendar.

If you are working this week, chances are that there are fewer people in the office, giving you a little more breathing room and free time. If you are at home, you might want something to do in between standing in gift return lines that gives you a little something more back. Either way, find some time to do these five things this week and you will start the new year on a good foot.

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Reflecting

December always sparks a reflective spirit in me. I think it is probably a natural feeling, given the year is coming to a close and January represents all kinds of goal-setting and activity. Couple that with the fact that I generally have a good bit of downtime from work in December and my mind wanders into reflection when trying to keep occupied.

Reflection can certainly be a good thing, but it can also become obsessive if you spend too much time on it. So here are some thoughts if you find yourself spiraling into endless reflection. I try to tell myself these things to mixed results.

Monday, November 14, 2016

Start Something

In the face of adversity, some quit. After all, when insurmountable odds or even defeat crushes your hopes and dreams, how can you continue on? I've seen several lately who have thrown up their hands, whether as a result of the election, career change, or other seemingly huge concerns with dwindling options. But I have also seen another side of people lately. That which says fight in the face of adversity. Bet against huge odds. Climb the impossible wall. The only way to make that happen? Start something.

Monday, October 24, 2016

You Can't Sell a Product

You have developed the best product in the world. You can't believe your own brilliance at its invention. And yet, you can't sell it. In your opinion, it is the most brilliant invention this century. So why can you not start shipping warehouses full of it right away?

You may have the best product ever, but you will never sell a product. Instead, you have to sell a solution to a problem. The greatest solution in the world has no market if no one has the problem it solves. So how do you match your wonderful product with the right problem?

Monday, October 17, 2016

Pokemon Go's Lessons for Marketing


You probably know someone that plays Pokemon Go. Over the summer, the game became somewhat of a pop phenomenon, and it has been downloaded over 100 million times according to Engadget. The game hit the market as many pundits had begun predicting the "death of the app."  This summer's biggest hit game proved them wrong, though.  The app isn't dead.

In addition to the implications on mobile app developers and digital strategy in general, the app has some interesting messages for marketers and digital marketers as well. Through an ever-growing combination of tactics and techniques, Niantic (the company that makes Pokemon Go) has guaranteed themselves a good connection with the audience for some time.

Monday, October 10, 2016

Keeping Focus

The last few weeks have been full of a good bit of activity for me. I've started planning a site redesign which will make the pages here more responsive, especially on mobile and tablets (though that might be a 2017 thing). I've outlined a book that I will start writing shortly. I collaborated on a case study paper that hopefully will be out soon. I sketched out topic ideas for the blog for the next month. I took a certification class to get some new initials to drop on the LinkedIn profile.

You know what I didn't do? Post much to the blog.

Monday, September 19, 2016

The Myth of Being Busy

So I have been reading Drive by Daniel Pink over the past week (fair warning - the Amazon links are affiliate links if you buy it, it will add a few cents to my account). While the book focuses mostly on extrinsic versus intrinsic motivation and what really drives us, I stumbled across a passage talking about the way we work and it made me think about how we're really busy nowadays.

For years, when people asked, "How are you doing?" the stock answer "Fine" would come back as a high percentage response. Lately, though, people tend to answer "Busy" instead almost as often. Articles have examined whether or not this phenomenon is good or bad, with our collective thinking that being busy says something positive about a person.

But I started thinking, when you say you have been busy, it can definitely convey some extremely negative characteristics as well. So be careful who your audience is. They might just be busier than you. Or they might ascribe one of these less-than-flattering traits to your "busy" response.

Monday, August 29, 2016

Your Business Is Not Your Baby

I will start out here by telling you something that you need to hear. Your business (or product, or project, or work product) is not your baby. Nope, it's not. In fact, it's not a sentient being at all, because it's a business (or project or something like that). Shocking, eh?

When I phrase it that way, you probably think I am stating some obvious fact and being ridiculous. I am. But if as you read this, you start defending the position with statements like, "Well of course I would never mean that the business was a real baby," then you are exactly who needs to understand why this thing you work on isn't even a figurative baby.

Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Hooray! It's the First Day of School!

Do you remember the anticipation you had as a kid of the first day of school?

School started yesterday here in Texas, and parents the state over probably shouted for joy, either at the idea of getting the kids out of the house or (as is our case), settling back into a solid routine. Kids also exploded with excitement over what the new year would bring.

School to a kid always meant new opportunities, new clothes, new friends, new teachers, new things to learn, and a fresh slate to start the year. While I always lamented the end of summer, the adrenaline and freshness of a new experience usually won out.

We can learn a lot from how we felt as kids and look at the approach of Labor Day as an opportunity to reflect and refresh our outlook. It's a great annual reminder to take stock in where we are (like New Year's Day, birthdays, or other milestones).

Monday, August 1, 2016

Don't Put All Your Eggs In One Basket

We've all heard the expression about keeping our eggs in one basket. Don't do it. Diversification reduces risk to your portfolio.

But how do you know if your business has its eggs in the appropriate number of baskets? And what areas should you evaluate?

Monday, July 25, 2016

How To Take Advantage of the Next Technological Disruption

Every so often, a technology change comes along that disrupts life as we know it. Sometimes, adopting the change costs so much that individuals cannot really capitalize on it without already having huge sums of wealth at their disposal. Take the first computers, for example. These giant monstrosities filled rooms and were substantially less powerful than today's mobile phones, but were so expensive that only governments and high end research facilities really had the funds to utilize them. Over time, though, additional technological developments made them ready to mass market, and the technology that allowed the personal computer to exist spawned several companies ready to take advantage of that breakthrough, such as Microsoft and Apple.

Monday, July 11, 2016

What Evernote's Policy Changes Mean to Me

I love Evernote.

Granted, sometimes I will admit I occasionally may use it as a dumping ground for things I am sure I will "get to later" only to forget to ever get around to them. But when I recall seeing something somewhere, chances are I have stashed it in my Evernote account. Over the last couple of years, I have managed to cram quite a bit of stuff in there, which formed the basis for my panic over the note that I received earlier this week around Evernote's change in policy to limit free users to two devices.

After reading more about the changes, though, I decided that the change will not particularly impact me as much as I originally thought. Still, my routine must change a little, as yours might, so here is a go-forward plan that you can feel free to adapt for your own use.

Monday, June 13, 2016

How To Make Long Range Plans The Easy Way

Last week, marketing guru Seth Godin posted on his blog, "A ten-year plan is absurd," arguing that while planning that far out is impossible, companies and individuals need ten-year commitments to make an impact on the world.

While he has a point about plans spanning ten or more years, in order to understand how to implement and operate under your commitment, you still must plan for the future. Just keep it to a little more of a foreseeable future than a decade out.

I have worked on several "long range plans" over the years, and have found that usually three to five years forms the outer boundary on a fortune teller, and that predictions beyond eighteen months tend to be less and less accurate. Regardless, creating a plan helps set a direction and guidelines for motion that can help carry a company forward and avoid sitting paralyzed with inaction. So how do you do it?

Monday, June 6, 2016

How to boil a frog, when you are the frog

Let's start with a little science and some folklore of sorts.

The old story goes that if you throw a frog into boiling water, it will jump straight out. If you want to actually boil a frog, you need to put the frog in lukewarm water and raise the temperature slowly until it finally boils.

First things first - why in the world are you trying to boil a frog? Please don't. That's strange and somewhat sadistic and frogs are an important part of our ecosystem (and their disappearance is a bit disturbing as well).

So, assuming we're talking theory here, instead of reality, the truth is that you can't kill a frog by boiling it slowly. The frog will notice.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

The Best Way to Market Your Business

The Best Way to Market Your Business? There's no magic bullet.
One question seems ubiquitous among new business owners: "What is the best way to market my [insert niche business idea here] business?"

I see two problems with this question. First, the question seeks a silver bullet, a magic bullet, whatever bullet that can cause the product, service, or business take off in a viral message campaign that crushes sales projections. Second, the question shows the high focus on the business idea as something different as if what works for other companies can't possibly work for this business.

So let's address these two concerns first in answering the question.

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Content Marketing and Product Development Should Focus on Quality: Lessons from Buffer

I recently stumbled across Buffer's "Marketing Manifesto in 500 Words" over on Medium. The original was evidently a shared Evernote note. I'm glad they shared with us, too.

I find Buffer itself a fascinating company. For starters, they have a wonderful product. If you are trying to stay active on social media, but have limited time to do so, Buffer offers the ability to just share and store things in a queue that will eventually post out on whatever schedule you choose.

What Buffer also performs well, though, in analyzing the performance of tweets and posts and providing free information to its users (or anyone that stumbles across its site) with valuable stats. They have identified the best times to tweet in any give time zone if you are seeking engagement, for example, by analyzing the results of thousands and thousands of tweets posted by their users.

Thursday, May 5, 2016

New Content Creation Strategy Concepts I Learned From Gary Vaynerchuk

Content Creation Strategy
If you don't know Gary Vaynerchuk, you should get yourself acquainted with him. He is an entrepreneur who has an often refreshing take on marketing, media, and business.

He also has great taste (and advice) on wine.

I follow Gary on Twitter and often check out what he's doing in other corners of the web, like this gem I stumbled across on Medium last week.

Friday, April 22, 2016

The Theory of Microservices and Your Productivity

How can you tackle the biggest problems that you face? When you or or business are faced with some humongous task that frightens you, how can you address it?

There's a trend in software development (something I come in contact with a little bit in the day job) called microservices.

The idea behind microservice architecture is to break down large software applications into smaller and discrete pieces, each with a specific function.

The concept could spread well beyond software, though, to how you organize your work life. What if you thought about how to break your biggest challenges down into small, manageable pieces that you could master and control?

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

What to do when nobody's listening


The allure of broadcasting to the world is the audience. The response. Speakers don't speak to talk to themselves on stage. Changing the lives of the audience drives the communication. Bloggers write in the hopes that someone will read what they have written and take it to heart. Authors can only get their message out when someone buys (and reads) the book. Even the voice of the most boisterous politician sounds quieter after a losing vote.

But what if you have a message to get out? What if your book sits unpurchased, on shelves? What if you stand in front of empty halls with no one to speak to? What can you do to make sure your message outlives you?

Friday, April 1, 2016

Happy Belated Birthday, Blog (and What I've Learned About My Piles of Content)

If you happened to have been born on March 23 (or any day from then until now), then a belated happy birthday to you! Otherwise, I'm celebrating the fact that this blog has stuck around for just over a full 365 days. I thought about writing some April Fool's related article, but realized I was over a week late in getting this one out instead.

I've already done a Year In Review post, and going forward, I will likely stick to the calendar year for my report card on what got done in a given year, but I thought it worthwhile to talk about the blog itself and some strategic (and tactical) (and just happenstance) changes I've made over the last twelve months.

Friday, March 25, 2016

How to Prep a Conference Presentation

Congratulations! You have a speaking gig at a conference coming up. Your only problem? Now you have to prep your presentation for what you hope will be a huge and welcoming audience.

Where do you begin? Hopefully you have identified the topic to speak on and have sketched out your content, but now you need to take some action to prevent your presentation from becoming the snoozefest in the middle of the conference.

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Key Metrics to Guide Your Online Marketing Efforts

To grow your business, you already know that you have to engage in marketing. So you spend time building campaigns and running ads across various platforms. You write killer content for your content marketing efforts. You hit your social media platforms with targeted posts and ads.

But how well do all of your efforts perform?

You want to just sit back and relax while your lead and sales metrics climb exponentially like the graph above, right?

Without appropriate tracking and metrics, how can you alter your investments to put more effort where it will have the most impact?

Thursday, March 10, 2016

How You Need to React to News of a Merger or Acquisition

I've been in several conversations over the past two weeks given some news that a company where many of my friends work will soon be acquired. I thought that I might be a good idea to put some thoughts down on what to do if you're faced with the news that a merger or acquisition looms in the future for your employer.

After all, change is hard and changing a job situation can be one of the most stressful experiences that a person can endure.

However, staying in the same place won't guarantee you freedom from stress. In fact, this article on CBS News from 2014 reviews survey results showing that forty-two percent of Americans opted for a job change due to workplace stressors.

So what can you do with so much uncertainty?

Monday, February 22, 2016

5 Questions You Have to Ask Before Taking a New Job

In the past couple of weeks, several friends of mine have asked me whether or not they should seek out a new job. Several new positions opened up during some organizational change, causing many more than usual to consider a change of pace.

But my friends are not alone. According to CareerBuilder statistics from 2015, three out of every four workers consider themselves open to new job opportunities if they aren't already actively seeking employment.

How do you know when you should jump to a new career, though? What questions can you ask to make sure that you are headed down the right path?

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Vote With Your Feet

So Presidents' Day yesterday celebrated all of those whom we have elected here in the United States to lead our nation. It also was the date of the Grammy awards and countless mattress sales across the country. Why mattresses?

Anyway, when thinking about topics to write about this week, I remembered a phrase from an old boss of mine: "You vote with your feet." I have a quote up in my office with a similar message from Gandhi: "Action expresses priorities."

Monday, February 8, 2016

Super Bowl Takeaways

So the Super Bowl ended in a way that no one predicted before the game, with a Denver victory. The betting line on the game favored Carolina by 5.5 points, and yet they lost by more than that. You could make it a sob story about the 17-2 Carolina team who had their hearts ripped out, or you could make it a survival story about the Denver Broncos, a poetic 200th win for Peyton Manning, or whatever positive spin from a different perspective. Here are a few things you can take away from the game and apply in your world, whatever it may be.

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Groundhog Day (or How Infinity Defines Your Priorities Today)

Decided to throw an extra post in here this week for Groundhog Day, one of my favorite "holidays" of sorts. I am unclear whether or not my delight with the February 2 stems from some rodent-mysticism-fascination from my childhood or simply developed as an eccentricity following the amazing Bill Murray movie (which my wife dislikes, though I forgive her).

If you are interested in the magical woodchuck lore, then I recommend you immediately go visit Punxsutawney Phil's site this morning to see what he predicted from his home at Gobbler's Knob. I tend to read Phil's proclamation to my kids during breakfast.

This post will focus more on the concepts in Groundhog Day, the 1993 Bill Murray classic, though. If you have never seen it, go watch it. I'll still be here a couple of hours from now when you are done. No, seriously, go watch it. Some channel will be playing it today. OK, if you are still reading, then I assume you have seen it by now, so beware the spoilers.

Monday, February 1, 2016

Making the Most of Business Travel

Once upon a time, or so I hear, people considered business travel a perk of certain jobs. Most people I know now, though, consider it a chore or just a necessity. Maybe the global nature of business has increased the frequency of travel for some.

Certainly industry changes towards service and consulting in areas has created a need. Combining an increased frequency with increased cost-cutting on the parts of airlines and others has put a damper on the experience. Still, if you approach it with the right attitude, travel can be not just a necessary part of business but an enjoyable one.

Monday, January 25, 2016

More Tips on Hosting Great Conferences

Last month, I shared several observations I had from attending some really well-run conventions. While that covered many of the basic fundamentals, there were definitely several bells and whistles that make even good conferences better, so I thought I would do a follow-up on some additional highlights that left quite an impression on me.

Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Revising the Resume

I've seen my fair share of "New Year, New You" posts going around Facebook and Twitter the past couple of weeks. In some ways, that's great, because it means that many of you are rocking those resolutions and working towards self-improvement. Along with those resolutions, though, January offers a natural reflection point where you can give your resume a quick face lift. Take an hour or so this January and make a few edits to your resume (and maybe your LinkedIn profile to match).

Monday, January 18, 2016

Celebrate Martin Luther King Day

Today, I urge you to take some time and think of the legacy that Dr. King left this nation. Sometimes, I think we are in a much better place today, and sometimes, I think we may have regressed.

All people are wonderful. All people deserve respect.

Thank you, Dr. King, for opening our eyes and taking a stand.

Apologies for missing the post last week (I was traveling for work), and I will have a post for you tomorrow to kick off this week.

Monday, January 4, 2016

2015 Year in Review

Reflecting on 2015 in the rearview mirror
Wow 2015 disappeared quickly, didn't it? It seems like it was just a few days ago that I decided to kick off the blog and try to get 250 posts under my belt. The number came just from thinking I might try to write every weekday for a year, giving myself a couple of weeks off. As the year went by, I realized that the post-a-day was quite a challenge for me (some weeks) and an inbox flooder for some of you.

2015 was a year that definitely had some challenges for me, but as the year ended, I thought I would take a look at what great things did happen, though, as I started this fun journey with all of you. So here are a few highlights for you.

Friday, January 1, 2016

Setting the Perfect Resolutions

Planning on setting some resolutions for yourself this year? Hey, it's January 1, so now's the time if you are going to get to that activity. But how can you make these resolutions stick? According to this Forbes article and the University of Scranton, only 8% of people make their New Year's goals. As you sit down to plan ahead for the year (or review the plans you made this week), try some of these tactics.