Connecting the dots of life and business

In mid-September, my friend Landon was thrown a surprise birthday party.  He’s very much a details guy (try playing him in any game and you’ll see) so I thought he’d probably catch wind of the party.  However, he arrived to a rousing crowd and no one leaked the news.  He was stunned and later said he didn’t come down for almost two days from the emotion.

I returned home late in mid-October 15 from a sales trip down to Atlanta.  I came into work the next day and was eager to tell our team about our promising meetings, but I ran into a snag.  When I arrived at the office, I found 72 balloons all over my desk held in place with streamers, a poster with a Michael Scott quote, brownies, cookies, Todd’s Raving Fans t-shirts and a card… for National Boss’ Day.   I was stunned and thrilled.

For some reason we’re connected to the idea of celebrating people upon certain dates or worse yet at their funerals.  My advice is don’t wait for a holiday, birthday or some special occasion.   Boss’ Day truly caught me off guard as you can see in the video below and surprise birthday parties are great, but everyone likes to be appreciated.  People need to know you care and there’s no better time than today.  Make it special.

Image credit: sideshowtoy.com

It was 10 years ago today I incorporated my first business. To me, it seems impossible how time has flown by so fast. I’ve been blessed with many great experiences, some hard-to-swallow lessons from colossal failures and a couple good wins.

Now, I’m elated to find myself back at my original business, focusing on two of my strongest areas… technology and membership groups. I’ve always run revenue through this company and for the past six years, it’s been very, very stable while I learned and experimented with several tech and non-tech businesses.

I’m going to keep this short as I’m spending the rest of today reflecting not on what could’ve been, but what a decade of entrepreneurship has meant to me. Then I’m going to finally write a few posts answering what I seemingly always get asked… how did you get into business and startups? We each have our own career story and my next few posts will cover some key observations during this time.

I was invited to speak today to the 200 folks who make up the E.On US IT department. The venue was Claudia Sanders Dinner House and I was slated to talk just after lunch. Speaking after a meal can be tough and if you’ve ever been to this fine establishment of country cookin’ you can imagine how many in the room wanted to nap.

My topic was “Navigating Social Media” and as I frequently do, I use text polling to find out how the audience feels about the topic we’re to discuss. The first question was “How do you feel about social media?” I felt very prepared for a range of answers since I run a technology company and have worked in a very large IT department in a large corporation.

However, as the first text results came in, I was quickly reminded my how much I differ from Big IT. The first result used profanity which made several in the audience gasp. I responded with, “Ohh, did I not mention there’s no filter? If you want to be silly, go ahead!” As more results flowed in, several said “waste of time” and “huh”, but overall the popular response was networking. You can see the tag cloud of responses here.

I told the audience I agreed many times social media can be a waste of time, but there are some things to be learned from it for us as professionals and for our careers. At this point, I still didn’t have the audience. I could tell there was resistance to the topic, but I pressed on. I talked about the shift in the web from one-way to two-way conversations and what were the latest trends. I tried another text poll which brought on a few more less than desirable responses. I thought humor might win them over and offered a prize to one of the off-color remarks, but no one would claim it. At that point, I knew I had to change course.

While being as tactful as possible, I told these folks how the local twitter community “bashed” their company for communicating so poorly during the ice storm, how I use Twitter first for news and my local tv station second (at best) and how we’re never going back to the way the web was. I explained how several national brands are getting “murdered” online about their products, culture and customer experiences and some (like @mystarbucksidea, @Comcastcares and @Ford) are doing it right.

I can’t say that I won everyone over with the examples, but I did notice many sat up a little straighter and the overall room seemed to change. I re-focused on my original three points and decided to tell some personal stories about my social web mistakes and usage. If you’ve seen me present, I stuck with the same format of funny pictures, lots of screen shot examples and a lively pace. As I moved through the presentation, I realized these folks weren’t against the social web, but were more likely to be fearful or challenged by it’s growth and direction.

Even after some challenging crowd reactions, I still consider myself one of them. Sometimes Big IT is about control and my view of the social web doesn’t jive with that mindset. I also realize Big IT has to have more rules, structure and policies than my company to protect company’s assets, but I still think there’s some middle-ground for them to actually take advantage of these social tools. For now, I eagerly await the survey results and I’m hopeful some folks learned the social web is more than networking and a waste of time.

Next Wednesday, August 26th I’m speaking to Greater Louisville Inc’s Small Business Breakfast Club about Using Technology to Fuel Your Business – Don’t Do More with Less, Do Less with More! Here’s the official blurb…

Guest speaker Todd Earwood, President, Member Minded, will deliver an interactive presentation on using technology to get optimal results. Using first hand knowledge, Todd will present insights on how technology can help manage information and save valuable time and money for your organization.

Now, that is the official stuff, but let me give you the Top Six Reasons You Should Attend.

1. I will NOT waste your time – My powerpoints do NOT suck. I spend an immense amount of time preparing and this specific one will likely be the most entertaining and interactive session you’ll attend this year. I know you’re thinking technology can’t be that fun, but I promise the time we spend covering it will be.
2. Get in FREE – If you work or sit on the board of for an association, please be my personal guest as I’ll gladly cover your admission. Contact me and I’ll make sure you get in free. My company, Member Minded specializes in helping membership based organizations, so I’d love to meet you and maybe you’ll see a glimpse of how we run our company. Your acceptance of the free admission does not obligate you to anything other than an outstanding event with a presentation I hope will entertain and educate. I promise this presentation is NOT a product demo or a sales meeting.
3. Valuable information – I own a business, I’ve worked in a large corporation and I have a passion for technology. My unique background helps ensure you walk away with something that makes your life easier (NOT harder) or better with technology. Hint: it’s not about gadgets and tech tricks.
4. Less REALLY is more - I don’t know many folks who have extra time on their hands, so rather than increase your workload, I want to show you proven ways to lessen the burden. You’ll be delightfully surprised on what tools (many are free) that you can start using the same day!
5. Class act event – GLI hosts some of the best business events I’ve ever attended. They’re always professional, extremely well ran and the networking alone is worth the admission.
6. Win FREE prizes – I’m giving away over $150 of prizes to those who attend. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but the prizes help add something extra to a very interactive session.

I know I’m using some gutsy words like promise and best, but I really am that passionate about business and technology. It’s not because I’m great, it’s because I prepare and I care about your time. If you have any questions, please contact me. I’m happy to chat in advance or afterward.

Finally, great events aren’t possible without great sponsors. So, a big thanks to Presenting Sponsor – Republic Bank, Event Sponsor – PR Store, Breakfast Sponsor – CenterPlate and thanks to Heine Brothers’ Coffee for providing coffee for the 2009 SBBC Series. I hope to see you next week.

I vividly remember reading and buying into the concept of Permission Marketing by Seth Godin. It has become one of my favorite marketing books and I’ve used it’s principles ever since. The overriding message is traditional advertising attempts to gain our attention by interrupting our lives while permission marketing is based on opting-in and to have a conversation. (Sidenote – I recently read David Meerman Scott’s “World Wide Rave” and it shares many of the same principles, which I’ll review here soon.)

I won’t even begin to debate the ROI of traditional advertising even though I’ve tried most of them (tv, radio, print, direct mail and billboards). I do think it can work for some consumer companies even though they continue to interrupt my day. However, I’m seeing more and more interruption tactics that are crossing the line into intrusive.

A perfect example is the picture above. Recently, I came home to find this “gift” lying on the fringe of my front yard. If you can’t see from the photo, Cash Express filled a plastic bag with their swag and threw it onto my yard along with all my neighbors in the area. Keep Reading →

From L to R (Bill Dotson, myself, Shannon Myers)

I was happy to be asked to participate on Lexington Ad Club’s panel last week. The topic was called: Reinventing the Advertising Model, How is the digital phenomenon changing traditional advertising?

The panel included representatives from virtually every major media outlet in Lexington (TV, print and radio) and I guess I was asked to fill the “web” part. The lively discussion was moderated by Bill Dotson, CEO of WebMedley (standing in white shirt) and the attendees were very participatory. A few questions were given to us in advance, but there were many live questions from the audience which made for a good learning experience for everyone, including the panel.

I must admit while my father works in Lexington, I really don’t know their business community that well, especially their local media. I was very impressed with the media representatives’ use of new media and where they thought the web was going. I’ll post a follow up with several specific notes I found interesting.