Here’s my entry for ManOfTheHouse.com’s contest, World’s Greatest Dad Challenge. Enjoy!
Quick Tech Tip – NameChk.com
Having the same user name across social media sites and web services can reinforce your brand’s reach and recognition with your clients or target audience. NameChk.com allows you to see if a name you provide is available on up to 152 websites. Here’s a quick video showing how to use the site and what you can expect. Enjoy!
Content Creators Shouldn’t Mow Grass
Photo courtesy of AdamKR
I was in a meeting several years ago trying to convince a group of volunteers the organization’s website should be an open source content management system. I made the statement that we didn’t need an archaic, static website and the people who generate the content could be responsible for updating the site.
I obviously hit a nerve because I was told that the someone else should be responsible for updating the site. It didn’t matter that anyone who could figure out Microsoft Word could update the site with the tools we would provide, because we needed procedures and policies in place. Besides, we wouldn’t ask the people who create the content in the organization to mow the grass, would we? I mean, that’s why we pay the landscaping company!
The folks who balked are really good at what they do, but they, like many of us, suffer from the mentality that gatekeepers are there for a reason, even if it’s not a valid reason any longer. I asked them that if we trust the people to create the content for the newsletter that goes out, why couldn’t we trust them to update the website? I didn’t get an answer, just some mumbling about how it would never work and the folks in the front office couldn’t figure out the highly technical nature of a website. And I never did understand why they thought updating a website with content they created was similar to mowing grass.
Granted there is a time when you should delegate so you can focus on a higher value task. What I’m talking about here, though, is avoiding several extra steps and delays in getting fresh content out to your clients and users by using tools that make it dead simple to do so.
If you are a solopreneur or small business owner it’s never been easier to push content to your customers.
Is your website setup so you can do this easily? Do you use social tools to meet your customers and followers where they are to provide timely updates?
We’ll discuss tools and techniques over the next several posts to help you jump past any gatekeepers you may currently be running up against.
Chevy Test Drive in Atlanta – The Varsity
I had the great pleasure of test driving several new Chevy models at the Modern Media Man Summit in Atlanta last week. Several of the other guys there and I were able to hang out with the Manofthehouse.com crew and talk about road trips – with our kids and while growing up. We had a lot of fun in the cars and chowed down on some greasy comfort food at the Varsity. Check it out…
M3 Summit Made Me Lazy
I attended the Modern Media Man Summit in Atlanta last week and met some incredible people. The speakers were awesome and covered a variety of topics, not just the technology or money side of blogging and social media. Often we go to conferences and don’t put what we learn into action when we return to our normal, busy lives. We were asked in a keynote to think of one take-away that we could put to use. For me there were two closely related points made in separate sessions I attended:
- Business around a lifestyle, not the other way around. This was from a session on Friday by Jim Kukral. Jim is the author of Attention! This Book Will Make You Money. Great book that I highly recommend if you are looking for ways to increase exposure, and profits, for you or your products.
- Be lazy. Dave Taylor suggested this little nugget on Saturday. And as we all know, lazy people are really just people that work smarter, not harder, right?
Both points align with the approach of planning my life and then deciding what and where work fits. As a stay-at-home dad I’ve had to work in a way that fits around the top priority of taking care of the kids. With both kids in school, however, I find myself with 30 hours a week I can work! But do I want to work all of those hours? What if I can be lazy and work smarter, say 15 hours a week generating the same or greater revenue? What if I add some new activities (or pickup old ones I let slide while the kids were home) to create a great lifestyle and work in the time that’s left? Who wouldn’t want that?
It serves as a great reminder to put some constraints on the amount of time I work while the kids are in school. I had been so excited this past month that I did work pretty much from the time I dropped them off until I left to pick them up 6 hours later. Constraints force us to work with what we have. If I only give myself 15 hours a week to get things done, I better be lazy and find a more efficient way to meet my commitments and goals.
Do you plan your work around your lifestyle? Are you lazy, in a lean, efficient and smart way?
What are your best tips for being lazy?