To iPod or not to iPod – 5 reasons to say “Yes”
I have had an iPod Touch for the last 6 weeks and I can’t believe how much it’s helped me from a time management/productivity perspective. Here’s 5 reasons how:
1. Morning email – The first read of email of the day happens on my iPod, over coffee, as the kids are getting ready for the school bus. I find I can more easily scan what’s important and what’s not and, at least, set the first half of my day up re: issues that need my immediate attention. More importantly, I don’t have to disappear into my home office until they leave.
2. Education – I’m now a huge podcast person; Forbes, WSJ Small Business, NPR Planet Money…some GREAT content out there. I plug it in when I walk (45 min) or for a drive to a client appointment or event.
3. Relaxation - Should be 2A; I work my you-know-what off and I especially rely on my creativity and problem solving to win. My brain has to be sharp and I find listening to comedy/satire podcasts like Adam Corolla, Bill Mahr, and even “Old Jews telling Jokes” makes me, at least, smile. Anything to recharge.
4. Design – Yes, to the “delight” of my Design & Dev team at ShareOnce.com, I’m giving my 2 cents (ok, a quarter…I am the founder!) on what I think it needs to do/say. The iPod and the white board tool I use on it helps keep me inbounds.
5. Feedback – I’ve found over the last 9 months that feedback-feedback-and-more-feedback is the whole enchilada when it comes to product development. Having our design mockups available for short, impromptu “What do you think?” sessions with friends, colleagues, and prospects has 10X improved the amount and relevance of the feedback we’ve received at ShareOnce.com. Nothing beats full A/B testing, UX sessions and the like…when they actually happen. In the meantime, what’s a founder/business owner/designer/family guy/iPod devotee to do?
Cheers,
James
Tumblr IS “the easiest way to blog”
Simple. Easy. Big buttons. What’s not to love about the Tumblr blogging platform? We just added Tumblr as a marketing channel for ShareOnce and it was very easy to get started, set up and keep up-to-date. Check it out.
Google needs to be applauded
We should applaud Google’s stance on China’s repeated attempts to stifle dissent and free speech. On too many occasions over the last 18 months, our corporations have put themselves in front of our country’s founding principles. In this case, just the opposite.
Outstanding. Well done.
At this moment, I am very proud Google is an American-based company.
Three Questions to consider when joining a Business Networking Group
As you think about joining or renewing your membership in a business networking group (chamber of commerce, association, networking group, alumni chapter), consider these three (3) questions:
- What tangible cost-saving benefit(s) do they provide you?
- What tangible revenue producing benefit(s) do they provide you?
- What are the indirect costs (time, travel, additional fees) to extract these benefits?
With growing popularity of online networking, social media, and mobile/location-based services, more people than ever are utilizing online communities to network, build relationships, and save cost.
Still, there is enormous value in having a relationship with a group of people in your local community that are dedicated to helping you grow your business. If they are online, leveraging social media, and adopting mobile services, all the better.
Have a Happy Holiday and prosperous 2010.
Cheers!
James
Private equity markets thawing? Who cares?! Execute!
We’re executing our growth/investment strategy at ShareOnce.com and are mildly encouraged by recent announcements of successful private equity funding.
That is encouraging but, in reality, every deal is different. What might seem like a relevant success that bodes well for your own funding pitch, has little, if any, positive (or negative) influence on your own situation.
What is relevant and consistent across private equity deals is the perception of the investors (or customers, for that matter) that you are the right team to invest in. What is the investors’ perception of your team’s ability to become a market leader for this particular opportunity?
Nothing influences perception better than a little reality. In this case, traction towards becoming a market leader.
Three (3) key activities we’re undertaking at ShareOnce.com in early 2010 to demonstrate traction and become a market leader:
- Launch of our Affiliate Sales Partner Program – Contact me at ShareOnce.com/JWeddle for more information.
- Achieving operational excellence in our Group/Customer Service Team – Contact Paul Sherman at ShareOnce.com/PSherman for more information.
- Launch of our Cornerstone Partner (Business Development) Program - Contact Tim Thoreson at ShareOnce.com/TimThoreson for more information.
Good luck to you and, by all means, find/join a group on ShareOnce.com and get more out of your business networking in less time.
Happy Holidays,
James
Is there a line and where is it?
Is there a line between business and social networking? Is it okay to blend business and personal? Straight up: Should you use your Facebook account for business? for family and friends? for both? What about Twitter? LinkedIn?
Here is a cat that, in my opinion, is blurring that line (and a whole lot of others) successfully.
Where is the line for you?
Report on influence on Twitter
This report on influence on Twitter by Boston research group, Web Ecology Project, is pretty interesting. It’s too early to draw too many conclusions but why you tweet seems to be more important than when in terms of building influence.
Personally, I’m more interested in influence within smaller groups versus a wider community of followers. At ShareOnce.com, we’re working on comparative analysis tools for groups and their members to see how they stack up with their peers (other groups/members in general and within a geo-location or business segment). If you have suggestions of analytical information you would find useful in business networking, please let us know here.
Thanks.
James
Sending photos to Facebook via Email
This post should actually be titled, “Helping People Relieves Your Stress”. Let me explain, I’m as busy as you-know-what getting investment documents and web app copy/content out the door today (TODAY!). If you have been there on either of those two task deadlines — raising money or building great software — you know they are both spelled S-T-R-E-S-S.
Thankfully, I had a 3 minute diversion waiting for me when I checked my email this morning at 4:10am. I received an email alert from Facebook that simply said, “I need help.”
I had no idea who this guy was or that he would actually be helping me.
Seems this gentleman had been looking long and hard within Facebook to find a way to send photos to his Facebook account from email. He found me in some forum somewhere because I had solved this issue for myself many months ago. The secret to this and solving any other Facebook crisis you may have is to accept these two fundamental truths about the Facebook user experience:
Rule #1 – The Facebook user experience, especially their User Interface (UI), is…umm…horrible (but, I’ll give them credit: it has slowly gotten better since they started listening to their customer this past year or so).
Rule #2 – If you need help with Facebook, never, ever search for it within Facebook; use Google Search (which works even better if you have FireFox with the Twitter Search add-in so you also get real-time results to go with your Google ranked results…that’s a post for another day).
To help this gentleman, I simply searched for “sending photos to facebook via email”, sent him the search results link via a Facebook email post, and voila, I helped someone I never met and who I’ll likely never met.
The win for me?
I instantly felt the enormous stress I was feeling leave my body as soon as I knew I was helping someone. I mean, literally, I felt my headache and general anxiety I was feeling simply melt away. I’m now off to a great day of productivity. Thank you Mr. Anonymous!
Here’s the result in case you’re really interested in Facebook photo management: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=109768117130
Here’s the email of my stress relief tip (help someone and you’re really yourself):
My answer to “Where are the jobs?”
Here is my response to the CNN Money article that was sent to me from a business networking group on LinkedIn:
Where are the %&@*!# jobs?
Small business and entrepreneurship are the best bet. Because we have lost so many jobs for so long and the only sectors with any kind of job volume are health care and education (both in which are in need of an overhaul), it’s either a massive jobs program by the government and/or a focused effort to support small business and entrepreneurs. By support I mean tax incentives for people who contract them, low-cost insurance programs to give them some runway, easy access to innovation grants (SBIR etc), and active seed and angel networks backed by public money (50/50…if you raise x, we’ll match it). The latter was done with great success in New Mexico and you see it at several incubators/technology development centers around the country these days.
We can also stand to kick our R&D engine up several notches. We should demand/focus/incent/fund our universities and research labs around the country to build small business programs where technology transfer (licensing and i.p.) can happen more easily. Innovation is where the “margins” not just the “jobs” will come from.
Just my opinion but, personally, I am looking forward to a return to “locally owned and operated”. The closer to the customer the decision maker is, the better the product and service.
Also, here is a great example of public/private partnerships from the Austin American Statesman.
Good luck,
James
Transparency in business networking groups, climate change, and other things I learned before 5am today
Just a quick one…I don’t often wake up (much less learn a lot) before 5am. I did today:
- I really appreciate working with Peer Assembly and even more so this morning when I need some design help and they, being 6 hours ahead of me, where right there when I need them. Thanks guys.
- You can now update ShareOnce from Twitter (you could always update Twitter from ShareOnce). Learn how here: http://blog.shareonce.com/2009/10/20/update-your-business-networking-group-from-twitter-or-shareonce/.
- Did you know your local Chamber is likely not directly affiliated with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? I did not know that until this morning when I read this post about U.S. Chamber of Commerce membership numbers and this Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article about the Nike, Apple, and U.S. Chamber of Commerce debate on climate change.
- Speaking of a local chamber of commerce, congratulations to Lincoln Chamber of Commerce for their support of small business during their recent “Business to Business” event.
Have a great day. I need a nap already!
James
