252,288,000 seconds I love.
Yesterday was my 8th anniversary.
8 years ago, this chica got the guy. Legally.
It hasn’t been the easiest 8 years.
By our first anniversary we had 2 kids, a dog and had to move to the ‘burbs. We spent our first anniversary having a quick lunch (and glass of wine) while the in-laws babysat the 2 month-old twins.
My husband told me that if we kept up at that pace, he won’t survive to the second.
Good news- He survived.
Since then we added a third. Started a company. Folded a company. Lost a grandparent. Made 8 trips to the hospital. Had 3 surgeries. Two sets of stitches. 4 cars. 1 accident. Numerous fights. Two births. A broken leg. One concussion. House-broke one dog. Moved. A weird viral heart inflammation thingy that scared the bejesus out of me. Potty trained 3 kids. A couple of jobs. Almost lost a kid (both literally and figuratively) more times that I care to actually figure out. Laughed more than cried. Cried more than you’d think. Watch a parent battle cancer (and still do- go Dad!) Weathered/ing a major economic storm.
It’s not sweetness and light, nor is it picture perfect.
I honestly think the perfect life-partner is really about finding the perfect foxhole partner.
Who watches your back, who celebrates the victories and who do you seek shelter with from desperate and tumultuous times? Who worries for you and cares for you when you’re too overwhelmed to take care of yourself? Who would you kill for and know, with utmost confidence, know would kill for you? Who would go without, so you may have some small joy? Who roots for you with most have given up and gone home? Who is your biggest fan?
It’s your foxhole partner. While the war of life may rage above you, you know that that one person next to you- you’re going to make it. Without them, you won’t. You care about, rely, and protect this person with all you have at your disposal- body, mind and soul.
8 years ago, 252,288,000 seconds ago this chica got that guy.
Her foxhole partner.
Post Ya Later…
Thanks to mnijm.com for the swell pix.
Boomtown Rats (pure 80′s New Wave band) “Up All Night” is playing through my head.
‘Cause I was UP ALL NIGHT.
Well not all night… that would be doable if you knew it was going to happen.
Seems Baby Lug, the 3 y.o. was just not up for sleepin’. First it was late to bed (10pm) with endless drinks of water, bathroom breaks and “Mama I neeeeeeeeed youuuuuuuuu!” Finally some sleep. But no work done for the Mama. No cardio. No emails. No posts or proposals.
Then the night terrors. Monsters. Lurking. Hugs all around. Lights dimmed up (if that makes sense.)
AM sleep interrupted by his half-asleep moaning- he’s kicked the covers off and and is chilly. But asleep.
More AM fun- he’s up and now snuggles in my bed. Orders me to hold him. By now, if he ordered me to do the cha-cha, jiggling like Charo (another 80′s Love Boat icon) I would have readily complied.
Then he starts to snore.
Up with the twins. School day. Baby Lug has to be woken. Now he’s just plain MEAN, in a fun ornery-kind of way.
Bound to show up at 9:30AM for training with super fab trainer Laura from Hingham’s Bodyscapes Fitness today, but feeling like something the cat drug in and peed on. My sidekick is still playing by Union rules in a bankrupt industry.
Ah. Good times.
I just wanted to let you know I’ll be posting a wee bit later…
Connecting
(image courtesy of GovGab- the US Gov't blog. I kid you not.)
UPDATED: I just got a sweet new email address. Hooray. So you can now connect with me at betsy {at} theliquidbetsy {dot} com.
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So I’ve been working to make TheLiquidBetsy more… well.. connectible.
Not everyone does an RSS feed.
Not everyone wants to enter in “http://theliquidbetsy.com” or Google or bookmark.
I’m trying to be accommodating, so all the nice people that read TLB (or those that don’t even know they want to read it but can be turned into rabid fans) can get it with the least amount of effort.
See …I knew you’d like that.
Lazy-ass efficiency. I live for it.
I’ve set up a Facebook fanpage HERE.
I’ve also set up a feed from Networkedblogs on Facebook HERE.
Now I’ve made FB my bitch, (or rather the other way around) I wanted make myself available.
I love new things, researching, trying, writing and reviewing. That’s my shtick. So if you have interesting things you think I would like or should know about send them my way. Many thanks to those who already have been sending their fab finds.
The address is: betsy {at} theliquidbetsy {dot} com.
And, as always you can reach me on Twitter.
Cheers.
TheBetsy
Passive Evil.
Evil.
Is it just reserved for the person that commits an evil action or can it belong to those who do nothing to help?
You decide.
Alfredo Tale-Yax. 31 Homeless in NYC.
Stabbed several times in the chest as he came to the aid of a woman being attacked during the early morning commute.
He collapsed on a New York City sidewalk.
Of the dozens of people that walked by in the early AM, no one stopped to help him.
Not one.
One did snap a photo though. With his camera-phone.
He died. Alone. On the sidewalk.
He died because he helped.
He died because he was stabbed.
He died because not one of dozen people cared enough to hit 3 digits and press SEND.
Which one is right?
Again, it begs, what is evil?
The active or the passive actions that lead to this?
Which one?
Alfredo Tale-Yax. 31 Died Homeless on NYC sidewalk.
(Many thanks to Jessica Gottlieb, for the original post on this. I think she right on with her last sentence: “Get mad.” I am. Are you?)
The Redemption of Disney, Reformation of TheBetsy
This post was initially called “Hey Disney, WTF?” And “Disney Redemption” but I cut somewhere in the middle and compromised. Sometimes after the worst experiences hit their peaks, comes the best.
First a confession. I never thought of myself as a “Disney” person.
Having grown up 20 mins outside of Disneyland, I was brought up on a pretty steady diet of Walty-D: from taking family friends and guests there to school trips- to TheBetsy, Disney was not a biggie. Not a biggie at all.
In college I did make a trip to Florida’s bigger version, but still I was left with the same feeling: contrived, expensive, not worth it. Long lines, expensive food and bad ice cream.
Then I had kids.
Having completing my first trip to Disney with children I can tell you I am reformed.
Redeemed.
Rejoiced.
Can I hear a “Praise Goofy!”
Amen.
Disney does destination vacations, especially with kids, better than any other alternative. They are so big, yet detail oriented, they can accommodate any size, shape, creed, allergy, handicap and do it with ease.
We started off, DisneyW and I on some very shaky ground. Very. I was not the happiest of campers in the happiest place on Earth. Far from it.
The Magic Express Can Kiss My Ass. The bus that is supposed to pick you up, was 2 hours late. With excited little kids, 2 + hours in line is not cool. Not cool at all. As for the excuse of being “slammed” by the zaftig cast member in charge. I didn’t buy it (and still don’t.) We book through computers, and through computers you know when we arrive, and in what numbers. Heads up Zaftig lady, your foot soldiers need better info, as lame excuses like this only entice the mob. Which you did. Nice. Exasperated parents and tired, hungry kids banding together to fight you- that’s what you got. And not a good first impression of Disney World.
Disney dining Reservations Can Bite Me. Then changing my reservation, because I was going to miss our 5:15pm Biergarten (Oompah bands! And 2 1/2 hours later, Beer! Beer! What Clean
(WTF?)- I invoked the “supervisor” request. Unable to contact the Biergarten directly (!) to tell them to hold my reservation for the 40 min, which blows my mind so entirely. Disney dining can’t call the restaurants DIRECTLY. This is not good. I was put on hold and then was shuttle-cocked to what I can only guess is Disney dining reservation rescue. They managed to call ahead and move the reservation. This took the entire bus ride, or 40 mins, to complete.
Oh and I missed the twins finally figuring out, with squeals of delight natch, that we had surprised them with their first trip to Disney.
Nice.
My Keys Don’t Work. Nice.
After the Not-s0-Magic Not-Really-Express dropped us off at the beautiful Disney Yacht Club (it really is gorgeous) our keys didn’t work. Really. At this point I was thinking short of a heathen sacrifice we were doomed. Disney and I were not meant to be. I also did a revolutionary thing: I attempted to file a formal complaint through the front desk manager.
Enough is freakin’ enough.
The Redemption of Disney. That “formal complaint” was my first glimpse at the Disney World Business Machine wheels in motion. First the apologies (to be expected,) Then came 10 Fast Passes (which I had little idea of the power of “the Fast Pass,” but soon did) delivered to our room and, from what I glean, a special notation in our file that said “Don’t mess with these people” because after this we got special treatment. Or so I would like to think. Because after that, our trip was great. I also say, the delivered cookie and milk tray they delivered to our room, with chocolate “tuxedoed” strawberries – was a nice touch.
Each instance those first few hours (the bus, dinning reservations, uncut keys) was unique and unrelated, but to me, the new Disney visitor, it the prelude to the whole. By the time the door key wouldn’t work for the 5th time, I was expecting more delays, constraints, disappointment in the days to come. That front desk clerk effectively nipped that in the bud.
They made amends, they made my family and I more than whole and they did it in a very timely manner. From my past with crisis communications, that is exactly how it’s suppose to be done.
Disney redeems, I am reformed.
Praise Goofy!
Buzz-kill? What’s the Buzz on Google Buzz? Let’s ask…
Early February, Google debuted Buzz.
As most tech-tweet-Socially Media-inclined people, I signed up for Google Buzz when it first came out.
You may or may not heard of Buzz- it a social media tool similar to Twitter and Facebook, but attached to the Google Gmail account. Some sources reported it as a potential Twitter Killer.
I had my reservations. About using it. About it being the Twitter Killer. Now, over two months later- I asked the question:
What IS the Buzz with Google Buzz?
First, let me say my Google account isn’t my primary email account. It’s more like a secondary or tertiary one.
Let me also say that I have issues with online privacy, especially with social media. I like separation between church and state in SM- for example, I keep my Facebook account for friends/family, LinkedIn is for business and nary the two shall meet. More personal items, such as pictures of my children stay on FB. I rarely tweet about the kids, never by name. I do have FB connected to Twitter via Tweetdeck, but at my discretion. I also like my email a few steps removed. FB, Twitter, LinkedIn lead you to this blog, where you can find my gmail account if you look.
For me, Google’s Buzz got a little to close by flattening the levels from SM to personal email and profile. So after initially setting it up, I backed off. Outside the very basic (picture and a brief profile) not much is going on with my Buzz account. I follow no one, I’m not getting the iPhone App. It’s been relegated to a distant 5th position after my Friendfeed, which means I barely use it.
Curious to other’s experiences, I tweeted (my primary SM choice) to my follower base and DM’d few selected SM pros and amateurs alike.
For the most part, I found the buzz wanting:
I do not use Google Buzz. Maybe later, but not now.
I have used it for about 3 seconds. Over on my Gmail account but until they roll it out to Google Apps I won’t touch it.
turned off buzz the day it was announced
I’m not that into it, I feel like Google is trying too hard
No one I know. It’s going to take something big to move it along
Yep — a bad time because it looked like social media gone wrong — and looked like spam. I think it was more the feel that made it spammy. Not the interface, but how the messages were being sent around and stuff
And this one from @chrisbrogan
@thebetsy – you can say that I’m only dipping my toes in and that @louisgray is the current reigning champion of it. : )
Hmm. Louis Gray. Of LouisGray.com. His tag line is “A Silicon Valley Blog for early adopters, technology geeks, RSS addicts, and Mac freaks.” Plus he’s the reigning champion… how could I resist?
One tweet, two tweet, One SXSW, and week or two later Louis and I matched up. He was kind enough to answer all my questions, as there was quite a few…
TheBetsy: Buzz was supposed to be the great Twitter-killer, but since the fan-fare I really haven’t heard much about it. I’m trying to get the Buzz on Buzz. What’s the real story. Why isn’t it working… or perhaps it is?
Louis: Google Buzz was never intended to be a Twitter killer. It’s not how the Buzz team positioned it, and should never have been seen that way by any reputable writers. Those who saw it as a full-on assault against Twitter or Facebook were likely doing so for the benefit of pageviews and drama. That said, it does offer the best real opportunity for Google to compete with somebody like Facebook, in terms of aggregation and social sharing, but it is not yet architected to replace either service.
Buzz is very new, so much of the polish we have come to expect from more mature services is not yet there. Because of this, it lacks filters, and it can be, for some, tough to manage connections and updates well. I expect better tools to come in time, and hope they do before those using the service get fatigued and opt out.
Personally, I found it tied me too close to my gmail account, I like a separation of church and state, FB is for friends & family (i have pixs of the kids up there,) while Twitter, Friendfeed and my blog provide about the right distance.
You’re not the only person who felt the tie-in between Buzz and GMail was not ideal. I recognize this gave Google the best opportunity to start with a built-in social network, and not require starting from scratch. But what’s best for the company isn’t always the best for you. I have taken a fairly open and public approach to my sharing, and have not hesitated to share personal and family updates on sites like Facebook, FriendFeed and Twitter, and don’t expect I will act too much different in Buzz, depending on what the community expects.
What is your experience thus far? Chris [Brogan] says you live on it.
Chris is a very nice guy. 
I am not living on Buzz, but it is a big part of my social activity online. Every day, I share about 20 items, via Google Reader, to Buzz, and those shares gain activity. If the conversations are good, I participate, and I do check in multiple times a day. That doesn’t mean I live on it, but I can devote about 5 minutes [to] an hour to it a few times a day, and keep engaged.
Do you use it for professional, personal reasons or both?
The shares and engagement I make to Buzz are personal, but done in a professional manner, if that makes sense. I also manage one client’s Buzz activity and expect to do more with new clients.
What are the benefits versus what you used prior? (please tell me what you used)
As a long-time FriendFeed user (going back to late 2007), the benefits of aggregation, likes and comments have long been understood. To have them in a new place with Buzz made sense immediately. As FriendFeed’s community is fading following the Facebook acquisition, Buzz offered a new opportunity to start again with similar tools with a community that has a chance to grow. Buzz lacks a number of the elegant features that FriendFeed was known for, but it also leverages a lot of open standards which make me feel like putting my activity here is the right thing to do.
Are you finding others are using it more or less? Is there a niche that really has adopted it?
Buzz, today, is for the early adopters. The same early adopters I saw participating in FriendFeed and Twitter early are participating with me on Buzz. Thanks to my cultivating a large community of connections in Google Reader already, moving them to engage with me on Buzz was very smooth. I find some people like Buzz a lot and others are just dabbling, just like with most networks.
Are using it in lieu of Twitter/Friendfeed/et al?
I don’t think I have decreased my use of Twitter or FriendFeed much since the launch of Buzz, but as FriendFeed seems to be fading, conversations are taking place in Buzz that might previously have taken place in FriendFeed. Often, those are even with the same people who would have participated there.
Being so close to Google’s home, do you get a sense of how Google sees their performance and adoption of Buzz?
Proximity usually doesn’t give insight into companies, even if you live next door. The best gauge of how the team is interpreting Buzz are their public comments. I think they were surprised to the negative reactions they received at first, and the massive reactions to what I believed were minor privacy goofs. Conversations I have had with people there show they think they need to iterate more quickly, but they are working hard to not introduce latency for their GMail users and want to continue on their path of using Buzz as a testbed for all these new open standards.
Anything else you think I’m missing?
Many products, especially those from well-respected companies like Apple and Google, have the ability to get users and reporters into a froth about what “could be”, even if it strays from reality. For every post that says Buzz is the end of the world or something completely amazing, it’s more likely somewhere in the middle. Even in this world when we all seem to have shorter attention spans, and get drawn to the newest shiny objects, we should be patient. I hope Google can deliver something that is useful, but open and discoverable, and not cede the market to Facebook and Twitter.
Thank you so much in advance, I know you’re busy and really appreciate your time.
You’re welcome. Sorry for the delays!
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It is interesting to note that around 12 days after Buzz’s debut, Bradley Horowitz, Google’s VP of product management pretty much dovetailed what Louis was saying when he told eWEEK that “Google Buzz is not intended as a challenge to Facebook or Twitter, but as a unique complement to those Web services.”
When eWEEK asked about Buzz as a Twitter/Facebook killer Horowitz responded:
“Absolutely not. Per what I just said, this is creating a new category of communication. It’s filling a niche, which is not currently met in the market. I think something unique is happening on Buzz that will continue to evolve. It’s hard to create a trend line or extrapolate too much from six days of use, but certainly conversation and the conversational Web is a place where Buzz has excelled. I think it is unique and offers a compelling, interesting experience.”
So what’s the story here, is there any Buzz or not?
I think I’m going to have to go with Louis. Not the big splash a lot of people thought it would be, and not a total miss. It’s somewhere in the middle.
I don’t ever count Google out. Buzz 1.0 is not Buzz 4.0. Better features, better integration, more robust and allowing for better conversations can change everyone’s mind. But for now, Buzz is the playground of the early adopters.
Chatroulette: Ben Folds Ode to Merton (Great Social Media)
Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare… oh my!
So many social media choices and now there’s Chatroulette. For those that don’t know Chatroulette, it’s basically what the name implies. Created by a 17 year old Russian kid, Chatroulette puts the random spin into social media interaction by literally randomly (the Roulette part) hooking you to another member to … well chat (the Chat part.) Hence Chat- Roulette. You can read more about it here.
It’s gotten huge in Europe and developed a wee bit of a skeevy rep because it enables video/audio/text interaction, drawing a large voyeur, often sextasticly-inclined (I know it’s not a word folks but it works for this sentence) crowd. It also draws the usual: the teenage, the college, the bored and the curious. An interesting mix. There’ve been rumors of several celebs, couples even, hopping on to … um… get their SM on.
It’s not hard to see why Chatroulette is getting busy… (and why the quality of my post is going down hill.)
I’ve yet to try it, mostly because I need the Hawaii 5-O backup from the hubby- lord knows what I’m going to find on it and I’d feel better if I’m not alone.
Silly perhaps, but that’s how I roll.
So Chatroullette. It draws an interesting crowd.
Ben Folds is Merton the Chatroulette Guy?
Enter Ben Folds. The singer. Pianist.
Seems Mr. Folds had taken a shine to Chatroulette, and taken it mainstream with his “Ode to Merton.” Merton is the YouTube Chatroulette star. In a good way.
Hoodied up, Merton “piano man’s” his stream of conscious Chatroulette chats to his surprised, random chat partners. Sometimes it’s to a happy reaction, sometimes not but the end result is always charmingly hysterical. You can see some of Merton’s exploits on his YouTube channel here.
So Ben Folds seems to love Merton. Some even think Ben F. IS the elusive Merton- check out the Mashable interview. Ben’s even incorporated the act into his tour. And it’s great. Simply great.
Check random people having their screen open up to 6,000+ screaming fans and and Ben, hoodied up like the original Merton. With his piano. For a little musical multi-media conversation Merton-style.
Sometimes clothing optional. Ben was nice enough to edit out the naughty, jiggly bits.
Pulling Off Super-Secret Disney
So based upon my last post, things were a bit topsy-turvy.
A little like Alice and Through the Looking Glass.
Having enough “Off with her Head!” this Alice went on vacation.
Actually is was a planned vacation. My husband’s company was hosting a customer conference in Disney World, and the family was invited to come.
In fact, my hubby and I decided to pull off the parental coup of the century by totally surprising our children with the trip. We “dropped Daddy off” at the airport and handed the kid’s their suitcases. They had no idea where the final destination was until the park bus driver welcomed them to Disney World.
They loved it. And we totally rocked as parents.
From this, here’s the benefits to keeping a trip a secret:
- No one knows, no one asks. When you’re kids don’t know their going on a trip, they can’t ask you every 5 mins WHEN you’re going to Disney, skiing, the beach, Aunt Ida’s house…. Your sanity intact. Priceless.
- You (and your partner) look like the world’s greatest parents. I’m not a perfect parent, far from it. But this one time, this one moment, husband and I totally rocked. From the friends, to ticketing agents everyone loves the story.
- No pre-trip mayhem. “I want to bring Fluffy” the 40 lb stuffed iguana? Nope. You pack their bags, you get to decide what they bring. My daughter can’t argue over which bathing suit because it’s my choice.
- You feel like a super-secret agent-spy. Pulling off a doozy of a surprise is fun. It’s a lot of work, but it’s a whole lotta fun doing it, and fun work really isn’t work. This is why you became a parent, not the changing the umpteenth number of diapers. That was sweat-equity so you can do these things. And it’s totally worth it.
- The kids will remember it. They always remember surprises. It’s like Christmas morning.
- The look on the kids faces as they figure it out. Two words: Kodak moment. They love it. They love games and surprises. This is the best game ever.
How to pull off a doozy of a surprise trip for the kids:
- It’s a secret, so keep it that way. So don’t tell anyone the destination. I know it sounds simple, but simple plans work the best. Tell a few trusted friends, for us that meant Sumo my dear friend and god-mother to my Golden Retriever, Ginger. She was dog & house sitter. If you do tell, tell them it’s a secret and not to mention it to their kids, etc. You’d be surprised how much little kids pick up. And repeat. Big kids too.
- Plan, plan, plan. School? Write ahead to let teachers know they’re going. Get homework if they’re old enough, or like mine (1st grade,) just wait they can do make-up work when they get home. Since it was warmer than Boston (thank gawd!) I went through my kids summer things, purchased what they needed and (bonus!) I am a step ahead for spring/summer.
- Make flight reservations for morning or just after school. Basically instead of going to school you veer off to the airport or you pick them up from school and go to your flight. No time for them to question what’s going on.
- Pack the night before and load the car. Or pack as much as you can the night before. They shouldn’t know until the very last minute, when they least expect it.
- Make their backpacks full of fun things. Why? Because it’s fun (duh.) I put puzzles, crayons, sunglasses, new books, stickers, etc. Keeps them busy at airport gates, in lines (we had a 2 + hour one but that’s another post,) during down time at the hotel room. Believe me, it’s worth it.
- Fly Jet Blue. Pack Lunchables (without the juice box, security purposes.) These are two things my kids don’t get usually so it’s extra special and they were glued to Cartoon Network the whole ride.
- The art of misdirection. By the gate they knew from the announcements we were headed to Florida, but we made it a game by talking about all the different places we could go- Miami, Key West, Red Sox spring training. In Orlando they saw the signage (it was Cinderella’s castle)- I told them it was the hotel. Prolonged the fun and they were having a ball trying to figure it out.
TheBetsy: No Job (dot) Com
That would be my job.
Gone.
I also have a confession: I totally stole the title of this blog from my good friend Flames.
Amidst losing her lawyer gig during the brouhaha of Internet start-up failures of 2002, Flames sent out a very classy, “No Job Dot Com” email to all her friends and acquaintances informing of her (post-maternity leave) pink slip. She was on the fence about returning to work anyway, but her company’s demise forced the issue and now Flame is a very happy former- lawyer-cum-stay-at-home-mommy.
Hooray!
And then there’s TheBetsy. And Inquisix.
It was an idea before it’s time, Inquisix put networkers together based on who they wanted to meet — rather than the “who do you know, that knows this person that plays squash with that person, who is the cousin of a person I’d really like to do business with…” We basically cut out the middlemen. We got traction early, but never the zenith needed to go past the start-up stage. The founders moved on, and this week Inquisix was officially closed.
As the Vice President of Marketing & Communications, I was also community manager, chief copywriter, blogger, brand, marketing, social media and PR consultant and strategist… oh, and I swept the floors as well. Hustling to help grow the user base, keep the fires burning and, hopefully, turn a profit. It was hard work and it was exciting. Start-ups always are.
For me, Inquisix was an especially good opportunity. Prior to joining the company, I had put my MBA-honed marketing strategist mind on hold to have children. Out of the workforce for any length of time is tough, but try finding a gig after being out for a couple of years, in a bad economy, and things get decidedly harder. The arrangement was simple: they needed the help and I needed the stimulus and experience, and it was a great while it lasted. For this, I have truly grateful to Inquisix’s founders Michael Kreppein and Dave Dupre.
So now I write my No Job (dot) com letter. In retrospect, this experience has giving me some insight into myself.
This is what I know, thanks to Inquisix:
- Virtual Offices: I work great in this environment. Arm me with high-speed Internet/Skype/iChat/Twitter and I am a fully operational Death Star.
- Writing and communicating. Some say wordsmith, I say tell ‘em a story that they’d repeat, over and over. You’re reading this, so you probably have a fair idea how good I am.
- Though I pretty much knew this already, you can throw me in the deep end, I’ll be just fine. Social media was not in my marketing vocabulary when I started. Playing around with Twitter I saw the business implications and benefits immediately, now I speak it pretty fluently.
- Go with what works best — if it’s new let’s try it, if it works, let’s keep it. And keeping adding onto our knowledge base. There is no “done” in learning.
- I have the entrepreneurial mind-set : sure my title may be one thing, but if the job needs me to stretch and tap into another skill set let’s do it. It’s actually fun and really rewarding.
- “Good with people” doesn’t come close to describing my client management skills. I make happy customers jealous. If that makes sense.
- Multi-tasking is crap. Or that’s what you get when you multi-task. You pick.
- I’m ready to get back to work. At what yet, I don’t know. I’m interested in finding the right intersection of interesting challenge, environment, locale and cash. Not necessarily in that order. Working remotely would trump a lot. Mostly because my children are still small, and I like to tuck them in to bed most nights and top their day off with a “story-story.”
- I’m open. Suggestions, meetings. ideas. I love to talk ideas or opportunities and strategy. Better than a double espresso. And no jitters. You want to talk to me. You know where to reach me.
To on to the next adventure, and if you have ideas on what that might be, I’d love to talk.
You know I like to talk.
Special Isn’t So Special Anymore.
Special really isn’t special anymore.
A few lifetimes ago, I worked at a start-up television network, UPN. It was a crazy time, chock full of 12-16 hour days as be got close to launch, everyone desperate to deliver their promised piece and everything became a priority. But you know know what that means…
When everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority.
Same goes with special. When everything is tagged with a superlative, nothing is… well that super.
In this economy you have to deliver special, super and great, just to survive.
If you think you’ve got something special, guess again. So does everyone else. And their letting everyone know via TV, Radio, Print, POP, Inserts, Guerilla marketing and now Facebook, Twitter, and even Foursquare.
That’s a lot of noise. That’s a lot of “super.”
How do make your super stand-out?
Can you distill your super into the tangible?
Can you take the tangible and answer your customer question “How will this make my life better?”
Are you answering this question in all their languages? Mediums? If your marketing segment speaks Social Media, are you trying to reach them only through radio?
Are you prepared to answer that question at all customer touch points? From first touch, sale, delivery, customer service and to the next purchase?
That IS super, only your customers will be the one saying it. Again and again.
Herds three kids through life. Mainlines all things media, including questionable TV. SCUBA diver that longs to hang-ten.
