Blogging for a cause

Haven't blogged personally for a little while as I've been trying to help spark a community effort to bring a Co-op or market to Kendall Square (well my wife and I are). It's a little side project to address a need we've recognized since moving here in October. It's not something we want to own, run, or manage. Just a fun little project to use Inbound Marketing in order to organize our community. We've seen a little success while in the early stages of building awareness aka trying to get our messaging down. Hopefully we'll eventually have a thriving online community to manage as we look to build a team, develop a plan, and hopefully raise the capital needed to get this thing launched. Check it out:

http://kendallmarket.blogspot.com/

How Much Is Too Much?

I often laugh at people who tell me they're too busy right now. The excuse is often that they're applying to grad school, working ridiculous hours, or having a baby (lame). No doubt people are busy but ultimately these are nothing more than excuses to avoid possible failure/"burnout". Perhaps it's because I'm horrible at saying no or because I have trouble finding limits (never was very good at Calculus). But it's clear that I'm happiest and most productive when busy. Busy enough that it makes other people's heads spin when I tell them what I'm up to. Here is a list of my commitments/activities that put a demand on my time (Note: no particular order of commitment level or amount of time):

1. Zipcar employee (Inbound & Outbound Sales)
2. Rugby Coach (Brandeis University Men's team)
3. Rugby Referee
4. Blogger (Clearly doesn't take up too much time)
5. Career Development (networking, events, emails)
6. Side Projects (Kendall Market, The Mutty Election)
7. President of Friends of Middlebury Rugby (clearly shows my dedication to rugby)

Unfinished Randomness

How many times can you post about restarting your blog and then post nothing? My count is about 3. It's not as though I haven't been writing. It's simply a lack of posting and ability to commit to finishing a few thoughts. For example, here is a post I wrote in January but never posted:


Here is my first post in a series where I'll be using three new apps and reviewing them for this audience. My goals are to demonstrate expertise as an avid user of technology while increasing my knowledge of specific apps and the larger app marketplace. Hopefully these posts provide insightful feedback for the development team while also uncovering obscure apps to new users. My samples will be limited for the time being to the Android Marketplace and web based apps until I get my hands on an iphone, ipad, or Kindle Fire...cough...cough...send me a free one!

Back in the Saddle Again

That's Right, back and better than ever or at least that's what Mike Greenberg says every morning on Mike & Mike in the morning. It's been nearly sevens months since I made and promptly broke my New Year's resolution after a triumphant visit to NYC. It's been so long that google didn't even recommend my blog (my Blogger blog mind you) when I started typing Thoughts Before They... It's also been so long that I missed the  1,000 page view milestone for this blog.

A hiatus from blogging was prudent when I accepted my Inside Sales role at Zipcar for a couple of reasons:

1. Didn't see the benefit to my current position
2. Needed a full break from the entrepreneurial/venture mindset I was stuck in

New Year's Resolution 2012

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post to the blog. After setting a schedule, dropping said schedule, and then finally restarting for one post, it's sat neglected and ugly. My only excuse for not blogging is laziness but it has been an incredibly busy/exciting fall. Moving to Cambridge, sleeping on couches, 3 hour commutes, and two freelance jobs have consumed the majority of time. I had the opportunity to work with three great companies in 2011 and hopefully 2012 will help me grow even more as a professional.

I've never been the resolution type but something hit me over the weekend that inspired me to try. It may have been the hipster glasses or possibly even the obscure mix of cocktails that resulted in an interesting ride home from Brooklyn, but something made me fully commit to the Tech Industry (whatever it was resulted in a drunk email to Dennis Crowley...why no Mail Goggles on the Droid...work on that Google). In order to continue working towards my goal of starting a company I'm going to set the following three goals/Resolutions:

1. Get a job as an Analyst or Associate with a VC firm (Preferably EIR but I'll take what I can get).
2. Blog more consistently
3. Get Less Sleep

1) I've yet to find a job that will pay me for reading Mashable, Techcrunch, blogs, or for networking, learning about cool new products, and advising startups. Enter a VC firm. My daily routine is that of a VC with cash to back it up. Unfortunately, I've only seen 2 such position in the past 10 months since starting this path. Hopefully 2012 will bring better prospects as I'll be sending my resume to a few firms today. My first resolution will be to meet at least 2 VCs or Angels per week to learn more about the industry and getting started.

2) It's no surprise I want to blog...but blogging consistently has been my Achilles heel. You can't build an audience without consistently delivering remarkable material but you've got to avoid the trap of posting for the sake of posting. Hopefully posting on recurring topics will help me build quality content while also producing consistently. This goal leads to my next resolution of downloading, testing, and reviewing three new apps per week. These could be Droid or facebook (hopefully iOS soon) apps and may be new to the market or just new to me. This resolution should also support my first goal as I should be able to leverage that knowledge/experience in any interview. 

3) Some pledge to sleep better as their New Year's resolutions but I'm taking the opposite approach. Entrepreneurs have to be working around the clock and I've been hindered over the past 12 months for medical reasons. The blinders are off and 2012 will be the year I start to resemble my sleep deprived college self.     

Are resolutions really meant to be broken? Am I setting myself up for failure? Only my health and work ethic will decide...and possibly the end of the world...

The 10 Rules of Building Community

The blog was resurrected yesterday and already I'm dropping bombs!  Today I'm providing the ten rules of Building Community which I included in my Community Manager pitch to talkto!  Enough of the dramatics andon to the value added info:

Community Manager is the buzz term for Social Media Marketers.  A firm's community manager is responsible for engaging customers through social networks with the following goals:

1. Coddle prospective users
2. Gain user feedback
3. Mitigate criticism  
4. Spread the Message

These goals are all aligned with the principles of Inbound Marketing which is the gospel of Hubspot (note they've been voted the best place to work in Boston...cough...cough...look over here).  I don't need to preach the benefits of social media or Inbound Marketing (their blog and book cover it thoroughly) but can interject on the subject of Community Building.  Community isn't something you can build overnight.  It also isn't something you can buy or expect to produce immediate benefits.  Your community efforts can fail miserably if your only interest is to find sales.  Here are my ten rule rules for building community:

1. The user is always right
2. Go where they are
3. Always be fresh
4. Be Responsive 
5. Foster Relationships
6. Encourage your evangelists
7. Amplify your supporters 
8. Address your detractors
9. Get outside voices
10. Be Patient

By no means is this an exhaustive list of best practices for building community but it is a good start.  Looking forward to comments and will elaborate on each of these rules over a few upcoming posts.

And We're Back.

I'm tentatively resurrecting the personal blog after a month long hiatus.  Several forces have been pushing me towards reigniting this flame which will hopefully be more sustainable this time.  The first is because I've finally killed all of the traction I gained over the summer by not posting for a month...so it goes.  The second, I've been working for LetsLunch for ~1 month and feel it's prudent to start reflecting on the experience by sharing my insight.  Finally, my personal life is starting to settle down now that we've moved to Boston (sorry NYC) and now that my Great Grandfather has passed (More on that later) after a month long battle in the hospital.  Although, things could change again as we still don't have a place to live and will likely be moving soon.  Anyone know of a sublet in Cambridge, Somerville, or anywhere on the Red Line...Call Me!

Here are a few titles for some posts I'll be churning out over the next few weeks:

1) What is community and how can you build it?  

2) Why I still read the WSJ...on paper.

3) How to increase your Twitter Followers.
4) What's wrong with change?

No promises on delivery but hopefully I'll start posting again on a regular basis.