Living Life Out Loud
January 30, 2010
I was almost asleep…
Zap.
And the brain started churning with the thoughts I had most carefully avoided by reading National Geographic and refusing to allow my conscious brain to wander over into ‘real life’ territory.
By ‘real life’ (and I so want to put that in air quotes) I mean the day-to-day events and people who make my brain swirl as I try to put 2 and 2 together and come up with something resembling “4″ rather than just “ick.”
Things like this tend to float around in my subconscious a long time before they suddenly coalesce into a concrete idea. Then suddenly (like now) I find myself getting out of bed to try and put them into words. Have to get it down before I forget and the morning finds the realizations paler and somewhat muddied.
2009 was a challenging year for me on one particular front — I found myself wondering why basically good people could see bad things being done and not speak out.
I’m not speaking of global atrocities or some great conspiracy. I’m just talking about what happens on the every day, personal, small-scale interactions.
You know what I mean
One guy is dishonest in his dealings with everyone. Good people who have reason to know talk amongst themselves as to how awful his behavior is. But they only talk amongst themselves. Only as members of some bizarre club of people who have been taken in by him or who have narrowly avoided it. They don’t speak out against him publicly. A woman is known to show two faces to everyone with whom she deals. The same people speak amongst themselves as to how she is whomever she thinks her audience wants her to be as long as she thinks it will get her ahead. But when her name comes up in ‘non-insider’ conversation those who talk amongst themselves say nothing to those who would most appreciate the warning. A company is clearly scamming its clients – talking a good game but in the end its nothing but talk. Still the clients are paying money thinking that it must be a good company or surely someone would say something. Again, the basically good people who know? Nary a peep.
It just didn’t jibe with my world view.
Why didn’t those people who I knew to be honest, caring, moral people speak up? Especially when they knew that to stay silent was to imply that the liars, swindlers, and dishonest folks were okay, as they were busy churning through the unwary?
Then I looked around more carefully
I realized that there are some folks I know who do speak up. They live out loud. They put their feet forward and say with passion and certainty what they believe. Whether it’s about a person, a company, or an event that has ignited their passion, they speak up.
I have to say that I don’t always agree with my friend Erin Kotecki Vest (aka @QueenofSpain). But damn how I wish I had her courage. I’ve never seen Erin back down from a fight. You want to know if she thinks someone is good people or bad? Ask her. She’ll tell you outright. Then again, you don’t always have to ask. She’s out there putting it black & white for people to read. She doesn’t hide behind a persona. She is who she is. Trust me – the first time I met her in person it was like just finally sharing oxygen with someone I’d known for a long time.
And Micah Baldwin (@micah)… another one of those people who is about as fearless and open as anyone you could imagine. Moreso, actually. Micah puts things out there that consistently blow me away. His fearlessness when it comes to stating what he experiences and believes publicly and standing behind his words is a little terrifying, to be honest. The first time I met him I rather expected him to growl instead of grinning like he did.
So why then are there folks like these two (and believe me, I could start listing more, but they’re extremely good examples!) but also so many who seem so afraid to speak out?
I didn’t get it
Again – my subconscious went quietly (and sometimes noisily) about working on the puzzle. It started breaking things down a little further. There were folks like Erin and Micah who don’t pull the punches. There were folks who were “in the know” about the men, women, and companies that were dishonest but didn’t say anything while personally avoiding working with them. And then there were folks who knew, but still went along as if they didn’t. Working with, being pleasant to, and even tacitly endorsing those ‘bad eggs.’
Suddenly as I lay in my bed thinking that I needed something more distracting than iPhone games to keep my brain from working on this it clicked.
Mostly because I finally examined my own silence.
You see, I figured out that I fall in the “publicly silent but unwilling to endorse the bad guys by pretending they aren’t” group.
Why? Fear mostly. Fear that is based on past experience.
In the past, when I’ve called someone out for dishonesty, disreputable behavior, and being unethical it’s just proven to be something that was used against me. “Oh, well, Lucretia… you know. She can be a problem.” The problem? That I didn’t go along with the charade. The people I thought might appreciate the warning didn’t. Either they convinced themselves that things would be different for them, or they convinced themselves that the problem really lay with me.
The inevitable “wow, I should’ve listened to you” conversation just hasn’t been worth the personal cost of being someone who spoke out. In fact, altogether too often, I had friends who told me I really ought to quit speaking out.
So if it happens that way with me, why not with those others? Of course it does. They don’t risk it either because they know that the potential negative impact to their own reputation isn’t worth trying to ’save’ those who don’t want to be saved… those who want you to be wrong because it benefits them if you are.
Which kind of brings up that last group. Those who know, but are still working with, endorsing, and engaging with the ‘bad eggs’ despite their knowledge.
What motivates them? In a word: money
Okay two words. Money *and* pride. That last group thinks they can dance with the Devil, skirt the danger, and come out unscathed with money in their pockets. They think that they’re smarter, savvier, wiser, and somehow will avoid the fate of everyone else who has been burned by the individuals and companies that are no good.
Yes. There’s money to be had if you deal with the crooks, liars, and cheats. But the thing so many of the last group don’t get is that unless you *are* a crook, liar, and cheat? They’ll always get the better of you. You can’t come out unscathed. You can’t take money from a thief and turn it into honest money. You can’t align yourself with a cheat and not end up cheating someone else.
There is no honor among thieves
So then, back to my friends Erin & Micah and others like them. What makes them so fearless? I don’t know. But I intend to find out. Because I’m tired of being the person who is afraid to point out the Emperor’s lack of clothing lest the rest of the court shun me.
I’d rather be genuine.
I’d rather be moral.
I’d rather live my life out loud.
(p.s. you know, there will be people who read my examples above and assume I’m talking about one particular man/woman/company — the funny part is that those people are ‘in the know’ about someone but think I’m just not saying it again. Truth is? Those are generic examples. If you read it and thought of someone or some company in particular? Ask yourself which group you belong in of the 3 above and which you want to belong in. Because it turns out that you are probably one of those ‘basically good people in the know.’)
Breaking Up the Band
November 3, 2009
Back in June, I wrote a post sharing my good news with anyone who would listen about my dream job and how it materialized when I least expected it to show up, but was most prepared to find it.
And then I promptly fell off the face of the blogging planet.
I’ve been really busy working a lot since then. I’ve also been really busy learning a lot since then. Mostly, I’ve learned more about the traditional side of marketing. But there were some unexpected lessons as well.
One of the most important lessons I’ve learned I should’ve probably figured out somewhere in my twenties, but seemed to have missed in the quest to acquire such useful skills as casting bronze and living in a tent.* It seems that having two totally diverse visions only works well in collaboration if you are John Lennon & Paul McCartney (and even that didn’t last forever.)
In Plain English
Let me just ditch my tendency toward metaphor for a bit and put things down here as clearly as I can.
Over the past four and a half months, I’ve had the privilege to be the Director of Social Media for Collective Bias. But increasingly it’s been evident to both John Andrews (managing partner) and I that we weren’t heading in the same direction.
John and I have known each other since July of 2008 when he started the Walmart ElevenMoms program and asked me to be a part of it. We worked well together on that program and became friends along the way, so when he asked me to join his newly formed Social Media agency? It seemed like a natural fit for both of us.
But in a startup, the pressures are different than they are in an established company. Leadership really must be on the same page and the vision has to be pretty clear. You don’t have the luxury of spending a lot of time negotiating every little detail – there’s a lot of work to be done if you want to make it past the startup phase. And there are always too few people to do that work even in a well-funded startup. No man hours can afford to be wasted on anything that isn’t going to help the company move forward.
Striking the Wrong Chord
It didn’t take John and me very long to figure out that we weren’t harmonizing well. (Yes, we’re back to the music metaphor. I can’t help myself, it fits!) It’s not that we weren’t both accomplished artists, it’s that we were singing entirely different tunes. It was confusing the rest of the band… it was making things sound horrible to the audience… it was generally just not working for anyone.
When John first suggested to me that we really needed to re-evaluate the nature of my role in the company, I couldn’t hear what he was saying. After all, except in the fast-paced world of the Internet, we had barely started. I heard instead that he didn’t like my tune. So I resisted and kept insisting that we could figure it out if we just tried harder.
I was wrong. Trying harder isn’t always the solution.
It’s kind of like singing louder – it doesn’t make the tune any more pleasant, it just means that you either drown someone else out or you end up shrieking trying to be heard.Neither makes sense.
So a couple of weeks ago, I came to the same conclusion John had already reached. Something had to change. Someone had to back down. And honestly? It had to be me.
I had to realize that just because the band wasn’t going to sing the tunes I have in my head didn’t mean that those tunes weren’t good, and just because they weren’t mine didn’t mean that the ones John was creating weren’t good either. But I’ve been the metaphorical equivalent of a jazz singer trying to fit into a rock band.
Yeah, it took mere months & not years for me to figure out that this band wasn’t the right band for me and for John to figure out that I wasn’t the right singer for his band. So sue us. Maybe we don’t need to have a Yoko Ono to bear the blame. Maybe we’re smart enough to figure it out before we end up only talking through our press agents.
Whether or not anyone else thinks it was enough time to figure it out? We do. So after much conversation, we’ve worked out a transition plan that works best for us.
A Long, Lingering Note
So, at the end of November, I’ll be leaving Collective Bias as their Director of Social Media. We decided to take our time and do it right, so we can get everything transitioned and get the right person/people in place that will help John and his company to move forward with his vision.
If you’ll forgive me for sticking to my band metaphor past the point of prudence? I’ll be finishing a few gigs we already had agreed to while Collective Bias auditions my replacement and s/he learns their songs. I may even sit in from time-to-time down the road if they need me and I’m available (we call that ‘working contractually’ or ‘consulting’ in the non-music world.)
So, was it my dream job? Yes. And No.
But it was definitely worth pursuing to find out – as are all such dreams – and I would do it all over again. I was privileged to work with an amazing team of people and I learned a lot from each of them. I consider myself very fortunate to be given the opportunity.
Are we “breaking up the band” as I said in my title? No, not really. Collective Bias will go on to make their own Social Media music without me.But, after next month? I’ll be able to hang out in the audience enjoying their performances, while I keep working on the songs that are in my own heart.
*Those skills are real, but that’s a post for another day.
Twitter Lists – Hot or Not?
November 1, 2009
This week the rest of the Twitterverse got a look at the long anticipated Lists feature. Despite the polite request by Twitter for the beta testers to keep it mum, rumors had naturally leaked about their existence. The careful systemwide rollout by the Twitter team heightened the anticipation and excitement as more and more users logged in to see that the new feature had been added to their account.
The technorati have been weighing in with mixed reviews. Some folks like Robert Scoble love the feature and others like Chris Brogan find it to be less than desirable.
In the next few days to weeks, there will be dozens of posts on Lists – because it really is a radical change in the functionality of Twitter and will continue to have ramifications the effects on the usage of the platform.
Of course, like any good GeekMommy, I’ve done my own tests, research and analysis. And like any other blogger out there, I’m ready and willing to overshare share my findings with you.
Pros and Cons
For the sake of clarity, I’m resorting to ye olde bulletpointed list. It seems that embedding analysis in long paragraphs tends to get the information skimmed and comments pop up that get stuck on misconceptions.
On the Plus Side
I find it good to look for the positives first. After all, tools are created to be useful, right? And if I’m being candid, this tool can be really useful. Used beneficially, I can see where it’s very appealing.
- Sharing Great Resources – Lists make it easier for you to share good resources with someone who isn’t as familiar with the people you follow. If you’re a political wonk and know that 2 dozen people out of the thousands you follow already are the ones to read when it comes to current politics? Making a list for those who wouldn’t know which ones you’d suggest is an awesome tool
- Filtering Your Own View – granted, most people who want or need viewing filters have already switched to a 3rd party application such as Tweetdeck, Tweetgrid or Seesmic that allows them to create groups. But this is built in Twitter integration. The benefit of which is that all of those 3rd party apps will have to incorporate the ability to view Lists, so you don’t have to rebuild your groups if you move from app to app. The groups will now be lists and only have to be built and maintained in one place.
- Viewing Other Peoples’ Filters – Twitter used to have an awesome feature that you could view someone else’s twitterstream the way they saw it. Many of us used this as a good way to find new people to follow – you’d go to a user’s profile that you liked/respected/found interesting, click on the tab that let you see their stream and see what they saw. When that feature went aways it was a loss, because you could no longer put yourself in someone else’s seat. Now, with the ability to follow someone else’s public List, you can regain part of that functionality. Since Lists are currently limited to 500 members though, if the author of the List follows more than 500 people, at best, you can get a partial view. Still, if the List mirrored someone’s “preferred view” you might see what they look at most of the time in one of those apps like Tweetdeck.
- No Commitment – presently, when you follow someone else’s list, you’re simply giving yourself a link to that view, not following any of the list members. Again, it’s more like clicking over to see someone else’s stream than actually adding people to yours. Sort of a try before you buy. You can always click to view the members of the List and follow or unfollow folks from there.
On the Minus Side
- Noble Intentions Are Not the Norm – the potential for abuse/misuse of Lists is high. Let’s be candid, shall we? There will always be people who use something with the best of intentions and there will always be those who use it with the worst of intentions. If the beneficial uses outweigh the destructive ones? Then it’s a good idea. But relying upon people to not abuse something or use it for harm is naive. Let’s talk about how this feature can be abused, shall we?
- yes, this is a real troll lister
1) Negative Lists – it’s all well and good to find yourself on the “Really Smart People” list, it’s not exactly a joy to see your name on the “Stupid Egotistical Ass” list. Sure, we can say that people “shouldn’t care” or “should grow thicker skins” but ’shoulds’ and ‘ares’ are two different things. The truth is that most people are hurt when people say mean things about them. Especially in public. Worse yet? What if that list comes up on the first page of Google? Sure, it’s not supposed to mean anything really – but what happens when the HR person Googling your name comes up with a bunch of links to lists that are vile? Do you really think that impression won’t linger in the back of her mind?
2) Gaming Lists to Swindle the Unwary – for quite some time now, there has been an element on Twitter that has used high “followers” numbers to indicate to potential clients that they were some sort of “social media expert” and the unwary were not clued in to the number of tools that allowed people to ‘game’ that number using loopholes that allowed them to artificially inflate those numbers. Lists will be even easier to game. That the number of lists one is on is shown on a users profile page is a weakness that will be exploited. “I have over 50k followers and am on over 300 Lists for Social Media Experts” is a phrase that we can expect the unwary to hear as they are pitched by these “experts.” How can you game them? Far more easily than getting 50k followers. Each account is able to create up to 20 lists with up to 500 names on the list. Expect to see services that say “join this service and create 20 lists with names of other users and you will be on thousands of lists yourself shortly!” Yes, this will happen. Yes, the knowledgable will discount the influence of number of lists quickly. But just like people still think that number of followers means something as a metric, so too, they will look at number of lists as one.
- Unintentional Hurt or Offense – Chris Brogan covered this thoroughly in his post so I’ll just outline it simply. I know that we’re all supposed to be emotionally secure adults, unaffected by inclusion or exclusion from being put on someone else’s Lists. I know that more than one person is going to comment about that below. But can we drop the pretense? Even the most secure, well adjusted person feels a little twinge of disappointment when s/he isn’t included by someone s/he respects and thinks values them back. Sure, I don’t care what a stranger on the Internet thinks of me – but I sure as heck do care what someone I respect and value thinks of me. If I don’t make your “really awesome cool people” List? I probably won’t say anything, because I’d rather pretend that it was accidental rather than intentional… because finding out that it wasn’t an oversight? That would hurt.
You know what? I don’t want to hurt or offend or exclude anyone I care for. And I know I would. I know that at some point, someone I care about would feel left out or disappointed. I don’t want to be “that gal” – the one who left a dear friend off of the list and didn’t find out until years later that she was hurt but didn’t want to say anything.
- People Are Subjective, Not Objective – so you set out to make a list of “Thought Leaders” in your area. You’re adding people to your list when you realize that @UserX really should be on the list. S/he is generally considered a thought leader after all. But damn it all, you *hate* @UserX! You think s/he is a fraud. You just can’t bring yourself to endorse @UserX. What do you do? Pay lipservice to @UserX and add them? Or leave them off the list knowing full well that you are being less than honest with your list? Tough call, isn’t it. Emotions can and will play a factor in most peoples’ Lists.
- Changing the Twitter Ecosphere – this one I know won’t make a lot of sense immediately, but it will in a couple of months. Lists will change the way people engage on Twitter – and probably not for the better. The ability to follow someone *else’s* list without actually having to commit to anything will change things in the long run. As a new user, I now no longer have to commit to following someone to see them regularly. I can follow a list they are on and read that list whenever I choose. Do you know I’m interested in what you are saying? No. Do I know you exist? Not necessarily. Currently, if you follow me, I get notified. I go and look at your twitterstream and decide if you’re real, not spamming me, and not offensive. If so? I follow you. Now, you follow a list that follows me. You might @ me, I might @ back – but if I click through to your stream and see you aren’t following me? The likelihood I’ll follow you is slim. Have we engaged? Do we have a relationship? Nope, not really. What will this do in the long run? Not sure exactly, but relatively sure that it’s not going to help me connect with new people. The value of Twitter for me has always been in connecting with people and I suspect that value is just about to be diminished.
Well That’s Most of My Story
So honestly, if you made it through all of that (wordier than I intended again) I think you might understand why I am opting out of the whole “List creation” experience. I certainly don’t think it’s “evil” – but I think the negatives outweigh the positives.
I kind of hate the fact that I’m going to have to monitor the Lists people put me on semi-regularly to see whether or not I have to block some trollish attempt to put me on a derogatory list. Every moment that I have to spend doing that is one that I don’t get to interact with people I want to on Twitter. But I’m also not going to wait until Twitter figures out how to monitor their own nifty feature to see that it’s not abused.
I appreciate if you love the positive aspects of Lists. I just hope you now appreciate that there are negative aspects which I doubt Twitter considered when they implemented the feature.
What did I miss? Something positive or negative that hasn’t come up yet?
Add to my perspective please. But if you’re just going to say “people shouldn’t be offended”? Yeah, don’t waste your time. I already addressed that above under Negative Lists.
Geek Moments In Television
October 31, 2009
As GeekDaddy and I got caught up on DVRed episodes of Stargate Universe, it suddenly occurred to me that whomever pitched this series – and it’s predecessors – to the SciFi Channel* must’ve really been hardcore television science fiction geek… and by that? I mean “a fan of the Star Trek franchise.“**
What made me think this? It was a quick conversational moment between me and my husband. We were speculating whether or not this particular Stargate series would see the cast leaving the ship for a planet or not.
Visions of previous science fiction shows where the ship’s unending voyage flashed through my head: Farscape, Battlestar Galactica (both versions) and then naturally Star Trek.
I looked at my husband and said “huh… do you realize that this kind of mirrors the Star Trek series?”
What did I mean?
Well, there was this one really awesome television show, Star Trek (the original series), and this one really awesome movie, Stargate. They both launched franchises that have pretty much been juggernauts. Oddly, the underlying premise of the order of the series in each franchise matches up nicely.
Star Trek – the Next Generation (TNG) ===> Stargate SG-1 (SG-1)
Both revolve around people leaving their home base (TNG the ship, SG-1 the Earth base) to have episodic run-ins with the evil-or-not-so-evil aliens. Initially, everything was wrapped up during the course of one episode. TNG had the Romulans and SG-1 the Goa’uld. As things progressed, each morphed into multi-episode story arcs and got a bigger, badder, smarter, scarier enemy. TNG got the Borg and SG-1 got the Ori.
Star Trek – Deep Space Nine (DS9) ===> Stargate Atlantis (ATL)
Both take place on remote outposts. Earth isn’t in the picture here really. Sure there’s some contact. Sometimes the outpost is cut off. Both have wormholes to distant galaxies and Either way, there’s some mysterious race that provides the focus for the show – the Founders/Changelings of the Gamma Quadrant for DS9, the Ancients in the Pegasus Galaxy for ATL. The station inhabitants are usually on their own to face their problems – but somehow there’s also a bunch of local friendly aliens who get worked into the core team as trusted members.
Granted, the Founders end up being the complex bad-guys of the Dominion in DS9, while the gothy Wraith in ATL were the accidental foe of the Ancients – but hey, at least they didn’t stick with the lame Cardassians (DS9) or the Genii (ATL) who were essentially just angry, militaristic foes, rather than complex ones.
Star Trek – Voyager (VOY) ===> Stargate Universe (SU)
Granted, it’s only 5 episodes into SU as I write this, but come on now… a bunch of people, on a ship, far far from home – struggling to get back to Earth. STV only put their crew 75 years from home, a mere 70k light years away from home. SU has upped the ante by throwing their crew “billions of light years from home” in another galaxy entirely, not just a far-flung quadrant of the Milky Way. Both series have that “will they or won’t they ever get home?” element that wears thin after awhile. While it took VOY awhile to figure out how to create a method of contact between the ship & Earth, SU starts right off usings a communications device first used in the SG-1 series to have the two worlds touch base occasionally as necessary.
Still not convinced? Well, granted, the timing was a bit off, but both did have a not-as-successful-as-the-rest animated series: for Star Trek, it was Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1973 & 1974 while Stargate Infinity only ran for one season starting in 2002 and barely made a blip on the radar. Still, it’s worth noting that both franchises gave it a go.
Looking into the future & seeing the past
So where does that leave us? Well, if things keep progressing, apparently the next Stargate franchise will take its cue from Star Trek and we’ll have a “Stargate Ancients” series that mirrors Stargate Enterprise in taking us “back to the beginning.” At least, if they haven’t already done it, they ought to look at it. I have to say that I never watched a single episode of the Enterprise series – but it ran for 4 seasons. Hey, why mess with a successful formula?
Are you listening Brad Wright?*** Yeah, we’re on to you. Keep up the good work.
* Now SyFy but I still hate that name change.
** I know, I looked it up near the end of writing this – but I had no idea when the thought first occurred to me.
*** Yes, I looked it up on Wikipedia just for this article. No, I don’t really think it was planned this way, but I think I might be more impressed if I thought it was, rather than it just being an uncanny coincidence. Either way, if they end up doing something similar? I’m sure it had nothing to do with this post . It’s not like anyone couldn’t think of it.
My New Gig
June 22, 2009
I’ve started this post a dozen times. I’ve thought it ought part-way at least 3 dozen times. I never get past the first paragraph or two before I collapse in either giddiness about the news, or backspace & delete madly because I think I sound to pompous – or artificial – or well, just want to go start doing the happy dance instead of writing.
I figured though, if I could find the headline for it, that would make it much easier to write. Fortunately, two women I admire greatly have already written their own variations on this post in the past couple of months — Shannon Paul when she went to work for Peak6 in April and Steph Agresta when she went to work for Porter Novelli just a couple of weeks ago. How could I do any better than to borrow the title both of these amazing women chose to use? Third time is the charm, right?
And it is a good title, you know.
Gig’s a great word for what we do. Dictionary.com offers up this as one of the 22 definitions it has:
gig (2) “job,” first used by jazz musicians, attested from 1915 but said to have been in use c.1905; of uncertain origin.¹
When I say gig, I think of jazz. I think of music as simple as a snare drum and a piano riff that can become as complicated and syncopated as a city street at full tilt.
Social Media is kind of like that to me — something that’s as natural as one person talking to another; and as complicated as one million people talking amongst themselves. Yeah, gig sounds right for a job that involves Social Media. I think both Stephanie & Shannon got that one bang on the nose.
So if you’ll bear with me? I think I’ll let this unfold a bit more like a piece of impromptu jazz – from the soul, without a plan, but starting with the song in my heart.
The BackBeat
Last year, I was lucky enough to find myself sitting in Las Vegas during BlogWorld Expo at the TechSet² party at Bare, talking to Tony Hsieh. Tony is one of the lowest key guys you’d ever want to meet, but also one of the smartest. There’s a reason his company (Zappos.com) has had such exponential growth under his leadership. His insights are that scary-kind-of-smart that makes you laugh nervously and wonder why you didn’t think of that and then realize that he’s just that sharp.
We were talking about a lot of things and nothing of importance — certainly not talking about the panel he’d graciously agreed to be on for me the next day — when all of a sudden, he looks at me with one of those shrewd looks he gets and says “so tell me… What’s your dream job?”
I was totally caught off guard. So I laughed nervously (like I mentioned above) and told him I’d think about it and get back to him.
That conversation has sat in the back of my mind with every career decision I’ve made since last September. Because I didn’t really even have the least notion of what my dream job was. In fact, I think I’d pretty much stopped believing there was such a thing.
But it did occur to me that a guy like Tony doesn’t ask silly, idle questions about things like that. I mean, his company pays people to quit if they don’t really want to work there after training — because they want people who really want to be there.
The Melody
My dream job… What the heck was that? I guess it meant not working for someone else… because I was tired of having a solution for a problem and not being able to implement it. Tired of seeing an easy fix for something and knowing that meant a lengthy battle to get it applied. Tired pretty much of seeing people & companies hit the wall because it was better to go full-speed ahead into it on the word of “someone very important” than it was to admit that it was a good idea to hit the brakes no matter who pointed out the looming wall — be it the janitor or the receptionist.
I couldn’t imagine the kind of company or bosses that would make working for them a joy rather than an impediment. So I thought I might as well continue to work for myself so that I could fire the client if need be.
You see, I absolutely, positively, no-holds-barred love the field that is currently being called Social Media. Yes, I know – I argued against the term because it originally meant the tools used to have a multi-way conversation. But over the past couple of years it’s come to mean more than that. It has come to mean those who use the tools, what can be done with the tools & the communities, and how it’s being done. Not just marketing, or real estate, or even personal conversations – but all of those – and more.
And I love it. Because it’s this ever-changing, ever-developing, exciting, intriguing field with no ‘this is the way we’ve always done it, so this is the way you have to do it’ ruts.
The Complicated Solo
So I decided to go it alone!
Okay, not quite alone. No one can work in Social Media alone. Whether working for themselves or for a company or an agency — it’s impossible to be the Lone Ranger in this arena. There is no such thing as a community of one.
I just decided that I’d keep working for me and consulting for others and see where it went. It was going pretty well actually. Just starting to get really interesting… and then…
Then? A Whole New Rhythm
You know what happened next? Someone offered me my dream job.
No really. I mean… I had thought it didn’t really exist. But in the back of my head, all these months, I’d been trying to suss out what it would look like if it did exist. So trust me, when it showed up on my doorstep? I knew it. I knew it like you would a lost child that had returned home long after anyone reasonable would’ve given up hope for the doorbell to ring.
The part that I was missing before? It was those great bosses. The visionary ones? The ones who can make things happen if you just say that you’ll work as hard as they do (and they do) and who don’t care who says it if it happens to be right or a good idea — and who know that CEOs can be brilliant, but so can janitors. The ones who make you want to give something your all because you know they are and there’s a joy that comes from the exhaustion of a good job.
Are You Swinging Yet?
Because I am. And as Director of Social Media for Collective Bias — a company that grew out of MARS Advertising — I plan on riding this train through many stations. I’m in the most amazing place in my life — one week into the dream job I had pretty much given up dreaming about. Because honestly? Before I went to work for myself and stopped wondering what a “dream job” looked like, it didn’t exist yet.
And honestly? I already know and love my boss. I’ve worked with John Andrews since last August. Granted, he was working with Walmart when our association first started and I was trying to decide if I wanted to be a part of what has become the Walmart ElevenMoms. But we’ve worked on a lot of projects together over that period of time and I’m really looking forward to working for & with him at Collective Bias. Along with a lot of other amazing folks who I know I’ll wax on about in depth as we go.
Side-slipping to a Minor Chord
But now that I’ve mentioned the ElevenMoms we have to introduce a sad note into this metaphorical jazz jam of mine. You see, there’s a price sometimes when it comes to following your dreams.
For the past 10 months, I have had the immense privilege and pleasure to be a part of the Walmart Elevenmoms. I can’t tell you how much this group of women has come to mean to me. If you had told me last year at this time that I would meet such a diverse, smart, savvy, incredible group of women and not only learn from them, but also make lifelong friends over what started out as “just a small foray into social media by Walmart”? I surely wouldn’t have believed you. But that is the case, I assure you.
I am very proud to be able to say that I have been a part of the Walmart Elevenmoms program. I consider it a huge honor just to say I’ve worked with the women who are, and with the people at Walmart & Rockfish Interactive who made it possible for me as well.
But you’ll have clearly noticed that I’m speaking in past-tense here.
After discussing it with Wanda Young at Walmart (whom I admire greatly), we’ve kind of both come to the conclusion that it’s probably for the best for me to leave the program at this time, as I take on the huge responsibilities and time commitment that go with working full-time at Collective Bias.
I appreciate so much her willingness to work through this with me to try and find the right solution. It’s hard to even contemplate leaving the program — as it feels somehow like I’m walking away right as the group is about to evolve again. And I have no doubt that what is going to happen will be amazing, given the women and people involved.
I count myself very fortunate to be granted this long to be in the company of such amazing folks! But sadly, it is time for me to move on and to make space for those who are to come.
Please make sure though, that you understand that the Walmart Elevenmoms have my continued support and I am 100% behind them in whatever they choose to do and to pursue. This parting is amicable all around and in fact, I will sorely miss being a part of such an incredible endeavor.
Time to Walk it on Home
So then, where are we? Well, I’m living my dream job as Director of Social Media for Collective Bias. I’m leaving my good friends the Walmart ElevenMoms to continue doing what they do so well, with my best wishes and firm support. I’m still blogging and twittering like I’ve always done… but I’ll also be blogging Social Media over at the Collective Bias site when it’s up and running.
What else do you need to know? Nothin’ but man… dig that Jazz!!
¹ Dictionary.com. Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gig (accessed: June 22, 2009)
² That makes 2 things I owe the lovely & talented Ms. Agresta for!
The Scoop on That One Contest, Week 2 (Contest/Giveaway)
June 7, 2009
“Ice cream is exquisite. What a pity it isn’t illegal.” ~Voltaire
Seriously. If Voltaire’s wish was granted, I’d be in a lot of trouble. Or maybe even in jail. Maybe they’d serve ice cream in jail though. It would totally be worth adding a year or two onto my sentence for the right ice cream… mmmm.
What’s that? Oh, yes, sorry – I was daydreaming. You don’t really blame me, do you? I’m willing to bet it took you a second to get past your own mental image of the perfect ice cream to read further. (If it didn’t, you have super-human strength. Did you see that picture?)
Anyhoo. It’s time for the 2nd of 4 posts I’m going to make this month that will result in one of you winning FREE Blue Bunny® Ice Cream for a whole year.
The Prize
Each of four winners will receive a shipment of one carton of Blue Bunny® ice cream and one Blue Bunny® novelty pack each month for a calendar year. You’ll receive a menu of Blue Bunny® ice cream and novelties every month, and have the opportunity to choose the carton and novelty that you’d like to receive. Each winner will also get a Welcome Kit complete with spoons, bowls and an ice scream scoop to get them ready! The prize value is $97.80 per winner. Sorry, only one winner per household – we want to spread the joy around!
The Contest Details
You will have the opportunity to enter your name & a valid email address using the form below. If you don’t win this week, your name will still be submitted for the remaining drawings. So if you entered last week, but didn’t win? You can have up to 4 entries for the last drawing!! (Assuming you haven’t already won!) If this is your first week, you can still have up to 3. See last week’s description of the rules for further information (or feel free to email me if you’re still confused!)
How Winners Are Chosen
Each week’s drawing closes at Sunday 11:59pm ET and the winner that week will be chosen from all valid entries submitted according to the method listed above. The winner for each drawing will be selected at random using a number generated from Random.org based on the total number of valid entries received between the start of the contest on June 1st and the date of the drawing. Winners will be notified via email and will have until the next drawing to reply. In the event that a winner does not reply within the time given, or the email is returned as undeliverable, a replacement winner will be drawn using the same method. Duplicate or multiple entries for the same week will be deleted. Winner must be legal resident of one of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, and supply an address where s/he can receive an over-nighted package of ice cream/novelty on dry ice – unfortunately, this means no P.O. Boxes will be accepted.
So the dates work out like this:
- 1st drawing — now closed winner drawn & notified Monday June 8th
- This drawing — open Monday June 8th thru Sunday June 14th – winner drawn Monday June 15th
- 3rd drawing — open Monday June 15th thru Sunday June 21st – winner drawn Monday June 22nd
- 4th drawing — open Monday June 22nd thru Sunday June 28th – winner drawn Monday June 29th
So now that I’m all drooly and day-dreamy… I thought I’d share with you that there’s also an option for those of us watching our caloric intake and yet still in love with le glaceau. Blue Bunny has a Premium Light option that has 1/2 the fat and 30% fewer calories than its regular version. I’m putting it on my shopping list for tomorrow. Because now, I’m even more jealous of you guys than I was last week.
In the interest of full disclosure? I am being compensated for holding this contest (this is a lot of work dude!) but I don’t get the ice cream – so I really am jealous!! But very happy for the four winners. I just have to buy my own 100 Calorie Bars.
I’m sending the email now to Week One’s winner as drawn by Random.org – if it’s not you? Then you’ve still got 3 more chances (including this one) to enter and possibly win! Good Luck!!
Week 2 is now closed.
I Scream, You Scream – Okay, Don’t Scream, But Dude… (Contest/Giveaway)
June 1, 2009
A couple of weeks ago this really nice person from Barkley, the PR and ad agency for Blue Bunny® Ice Cream asked me if I’d want to hold a contest on my site that allowed me to give 4 of my readers this really incredible prize… FREE Blue Bunny® Ice Cream for a whole year.
Of course I said no. Because I love you guys and I’d end up having to hate 4 of you out of sheer Ice Cream Envy if I did.
Wait, no I didn’t! I said “Are You Freaking Kidding Me??!! Of Course I’ll Do It!!!!”
So here’s the deal: The month of June is going to be Ice Cream Central around here…
The Prize
Each of the four winners will receive a shipment of one carton of Blue Bunny® ice cream and one Blue Bunny® novelty pack each month for a calendar year. You’ll receive a menu of Blue Bunny® ice cream and novelties every month, and have the opportunity to choose the carton and novelty that you’d like to receive. Each winner will also get a Welcome Kit complete with spoons, bowls and an ice scream scoop to get them ready! The prize value is $97.80 per winner. Sorry, only one winner per household – we want to spread the joy around!
The Contest Details
Starting with this post, you will have the opportunity to enter your name & a valid email address using the form below. If you don’t win this week, your name will still be submitted for the remaining drawings. But each week you have the chance to submit another entry – up to 4 (once per post) – and that will increase your odds!
Let me explain that a little better. If you enter every week, you will get one entry per week… if you don’t win that week? Your entry will roll over into the next drawing as well – BUT – if you come back and enter again, you will have another entry into that week’s drawing.
So you can just enter now, and you will have 1 entry for each week. Or you could come back next week, enter again and have 2 entries for drawings 2, 3 & 4… If you enter every week? You can have up to 4 entries for the last drawing!! (Assuming you haven’t already won!)
How Winners Are Chosen
Each week’s drawing closes at Sunday 11:59pm ET and the winner that week will be chosen from all valid entries submitted according to the method listed above. The winner for each drawing will be selected at random using a number generated from Random.org based on the total number of valid entries received between the start of the contest on June 1st and the date of the drawing. Winners will be notified via email and will have until the next drawing to reply. In the event that a winner does not reply within the time given, or the email is returned as undeliverable, a replacement winner will be drawn using the same method. Duplicate or multiple entries for the same week will be deleted. Winner must be legal resident of one of the 50 United States or the District of Columbia, and supply an address where s/he can receive an over-nighted package of ice cream/novelty on dry ice – unfortunately, this means no P.O. Boxes will be accepted.
So the dates work out like this:
- 1st drawing — open Monday June 1st thru Sunday June 7th – winner drawn Monday June 8th
- 2nd drawing — open Monday June 8th thru Sunday June 14th – winner drawn Monday June 15th
- 3rd drawing — open Monday June 15th thru Sunday June 21st – winner drawn Monday June 22nd
- 4th drawing — open Monday June 22nd thru Sunday June 28th – winner drawn Monday June 29th
Okay – I’m already jealous. Seriously – this is my kind of contest. And before you say “but wait, aren’t you trying to lose weight again GeekMommy?” Let me just tell you that one of my *favorite* desserts when I’m watching my calories? Yeah, The Orange Creme 100 Calorie Bars. Mmmm… (pardon my drool.) I like the Raspberry ones too, but GeekDaddy & I have been known to fight over the last Orange Creme bar in the box.
In the interest of full disclosure? I am being compensated for holding this contest (this is a lot of work dude!) but I don’t get the ice cream – so I really am jealous!! But very happy for the four winners. I just have to buy my own 100 Calorie Bars.
So what are you waiting for? An Invitation? Okay, I hereby invite you to enter. Good Luck!!
Entries for WEEK 1 are now Closed. Winner will be announced in a follow up post upon confirmation. Please don’t forget to enter again for weeks 2 thru 4!! ~GeekMommy
Earth Day Twitter Give Away
April 22, 2009
For ONE DAY only, I’ve got a giveaway for all of those twitter addicts checking in.
In honor of Earth Day and thanks to the good folks at Walmart and Brita, I’m giving away a Brita Water Filter to one fast twittering reader.
Contest Details
- Submit your best Green tip for Earth Day on Twitter.com using the hashtags #11MOMSGREEN and #GMContest.
After tweeting please leave the link to your exact tweet in the comment section of this post or it might not be counted.
- (to obtain your url: open your twitter profile, on the giveaway tweet click the time stamp right below “about x mins/hrs ago”, copy the url at the top of the page, paste in the comment section of this post)
- Only one entry per person!
- The giveaway is only good for one day, TODAY April 22, 2009 a.k.a. Earth Day only valid entries received prior to 11:59pm MT will be counted in the drawing.
- Winner will be chosen by random integer generator from random.org
- Winner will receive 1 Brita Water Pitcher
Example: “@GeekMommy My Green Tip is ______________#11MOMSGREEN #GMContest”
Please note: All tips submitted into the contest may be used on Walmart.com.
Buying an iPhone at Walmart (product provided)
March 30, 2009
As you may be aware, I’ve been one of Walmart’s Elevenmoms since last August.
This year, Walmart started carrying the incredibly popular Apple iPhone at its stores that supply AT&T wireless service. In order to see how Moms (and in general, the average phone-buyer at Walmart) experienced the in-store process of buying the iPhone, we were asked if we wanted to participate in a program to evaluate & review the entire procedure at stores near us. It was a voluntary program, in return for which, we’d be allowed to keep the iPhone.
Despite my still unbridled affection for the Palm Treo 680 I’ve been using for about a year and a half now, I’ll admit that I was very curious about the iPhone and so I signed on for the review.
The Shopping Experience
A few of my fellow ElevenMoms had headed out before I had a chance to and reported back that not all stores seemed to have them. Given that a day spent with a squirrelly 6-year-old, driving from one store to another in order to find one that carried it near me sounded like a quick way to kidlet meltdown and parental frustration, I made a list of stores within reasonable driving distance, with their phone numbers, and handed it off to GeekDaddy.
Why hand it off to GeekDaddy? Well, to be honest, I’m not terribly fond of making phone calls. I have a tendency to get frustrated rather quickly when on the phone and figured that it was probably the better idea for him to call.
First, he called the store we usually shop at. He was transferred to the Electronics department and the guy at the phone desk. The response of “iPhones? We don’t carry iPhones” followed by being disconnected was certainly not what we expected – but it turns out that it was the better idea to have GeekDaddy call, because that would’ve set me off! When GeekDaddy called back to verify the information, whomever he spoke to (no name was given) only let him know “we don’t have AT&T phones” when directly queried. Unwilling to continue to drag info out of Mr. Less-than-helpful GeekDaddy moved on to the next store on the list.
This experience was night & day from the first one. I have no problem sharing with y’all the fact that Randy Brown on the phone desk at the Walmart at Chambers & Parker Rd in Aurora CO (Store #1689) was not only pleasant but incredibly helpful.
He told GeekDaddy that “not all stores have an agreement with AT&T – we only carry Verizon phones here. The stores that potentially have them are I-70 & Tower (#5334), E Hampden (#3566), Centennial (#3313), I-70 & Quebec (#3533) maybe Aurora Mall (#1492).” Seriously… he not only told us why some stores carried and some didn’t, but he also provided a list of nearby stores that should have them. That kind of customer service is refreshing.
Calling the rest of those stores let us know that many only had the 8-gigabyte iPhone in stock, and we were looking for the 16-gigabyte 3G iPhone. Two of the stores had the 16gb and they were about equidistant from Case de GeekFamily… but one of the sales reps was incredibly brusque and only quoted the price for the 8gb when asked if they had iPhones, and when asked if that was for the 16gb he replied that they ‘only had that in white’ and rattled off the price again.
At the other store, the Centennial store (#3313), the young lady on the phone was not only pleasant and polite, she was helpful and didn’t require GeekDaddy to drag information out of her slowly and painfully. So we opted to go there.
In The Store
We really should’ve taken the kidlet with us, but you know, some days you just don’t feel like dealing with it if you don’t have to and she was at my Mother-in-law’s playing away – so GeekDaddy & I just figured we’d run in and get it taken care of.
At the phone counter, we were met with a smile by a young woman named Shaina Lotko. Shaina was the one who had been so helpful on the phone earlier! She was also incredibly pleasant and professional in person – despite being nearly 7 months pregnant. Seriously, you can check with GeekDaddy but I’m fairly sure I was never that nice to anyone at any point when I was pregnant… so it was kind of notable!
Shaina was also terribly apologetic and sympathetic throughout the lengthy signup process that followed. Apologetic despite the fact that none of the delay was inside her control.
Over the course of the next hour and a half, I watched her have to consistently re-enter information that she’d already entered at least once. Sometimes having to do so multiple times. There were 2 systems – AT&T Wireless’s system and Walmart’s system – both of which seem to have be written by programmers who were of the ilk of student I used to have to fight the system to flunk when they couldn’t really pass my intro classes.
Seriously – the databases are clearly not well-architected and tables not linked. It was bad enough that both moved at the speed of dark and were clearly not talking to each other – but that they required the sales rep to continually enter information already entered with each new screen? Reprehensible.
Shaina did her best to be engaging while waiting for each new screen to enter and to allow her to go on to the next. But despite that, the process still took an hour and a half. This would’ve been unbearable had my 6 year old been with me instead of my husband. Even GeekDaddy’s legendary patience wore thin over the course of the signup. I can’t even imagine how frustrating it would be with more than one squirrelly, bored child.
Still – that fault lies with those who set up the process, not those who have to use it. Sadly, I expect that most Moms and buyers would not necessarily be aware of that… and might get frustrated with the sales clerk. I rather wonder if that might account for some of the less-than-cheerful voices on the phone. It must be frustrating to deal with customers who blame you for something taking this long when there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it.
After we finally got through the lengthy setup process, Shaina helped us with adding on Apple Care and getting a bluetooth headset for it. She didn’t even break a sweat when my Walmart gift card with the money to pay for the phone & setup didn’t want to slide right through. She entered it manually and got us checked out and on our way as quickly as possible.
Summary
So, can you get an iPhone at Walmart without too much trouble? Yes, if you’re willing to be patient. I don’t know how long it takes to get one through an Apple store, given that I haven’t done it, but I do know that I wasn’t expecting it to take 1 1/2 hrs even though I knew exactly what I wanted.
Here are my tips if you decide to do it:
- Leave the kids at home. It’s just too long to have squirrelly, bored kids underfoot. Nevermind if you have questions first!
- Call ahead. Make sure the store you’re heading to has AT&T and has the phone you want in stock.
- Bring a book. Or something to distract you. I don’t know that you’ll be in a position to go shopping while the process finishes – there was the occasional question that couldn’t be answered just by looking at my Driver’s License, so you’ll probably need to be nearby.
- Don’t blame the clerk. If the process takes the 1 1/2 to 2 hrs that seem to be standard with the ElevenMoms, you can rest assured that it’s not the clerk’s fault s/he is just inputting things in the order they are asked for.
Meanwhile if you do decide to buy an iPhone at Walmart? Make sure to get the survey receipt so you can give them feedback on the process and if you get great service like I did from Shaina Lotko? Get the name of the person who helped you. Because it’s clear that not everyone has the patience it takes to do that job and still maintain a cheerful disposition – so it’s always good to let a store manager know when they’ve got an employee who does.
Administrative Note: the preceding post was not compensated monetarily. However, in conjunction with the review program, the phone and service were paid for by Walmart. This is often referred to as “soft compensation” by bloggers and advertisers. Since the point of the review was of the purchase process of the iPhone at Walmart, no review or endorsement of any sort for the iPhone itself is included herein. Neither Walmart nor any other agency had editorial input into this article, nor was the author in any way encouraged to represent anything other than her own personal opinion of the process.
Ice Bar Orlando
March 30, 2009
Forever and a day ago, I was lucky enough to go down to Orlando to meet the folks from Izea and to hang with some blogging friends of mine while we toured SeaWorld’s upcoming Manta experience.
During the trip though, we were also treated to an experience at Ice Bar Orlando and boy did I get asked a lot of questions about that experience!
Since a number of folks asked what it was like to go to an Ice Bar and since it was my first experience, I promised back in January (and February and probably March… sheesh!) that I would post some pictures and a recounting of the outing!
Like any true geek, the moment I found out we were going, I went to their website and started looking up every little detail I could. Fortunately, Ice Bar Orlando has a slick website that is also informative… so before going I had even looked up a map of the floorplan that let me know that local twitter friends could meet us in the Chill Lounge after we had experienced the ICEBAR section – so we had a small tweetup* there as well.
Step By Step
Dinner ran late that night – so we were a bit later to Ice Bar Orlando than expected. Having missed our reservation window, we had to wait for the previous group to finish up their time. So we were given little glowing badges and spent a few minutes playing around in the Chill Lounge. Ashley Edwards from Izea, Julia Roy and I couldn’t resist playing around in a ball-bearing chain curtain that hung near the window.
I really wanted to keep the glowing badge – but apparently that wasn’t part of the deal. Still, I got to suit up and go into a bar completely carved out of ice, so I guess I can live without the flashy jewelry.
The ICEBAR itself is pretty awesome. Kept at 27° F, the entire thing (except for the floor, thankfully for those of us capable of falling at the mere thought of ice on the ground) is made out of ice. The furniture is carved out of ice, the walls are ice bricks, there are elaborate ice sculptures around the room. Even the glasses are made out of ice.
Because of the overwhelming “iciness” of the bar, suitable attire is required… Fortunately since no one tends to stock winter clothing in Florida, the bar provides heavily lined ponchos and gloves. As modeled by my friend Ashley.
So we donned our ponchos and gloves and entered the ICEBAR after surrendering our flashy badges. (Can you tell I really wanted a flashy badge? Yeah, sigh.)
It was the nicest feeling after hours spent in the Florida heat. This Colorado gal was happy to be in the chilled air of ‘normal winter’ instead of humid and hot. While I often find myself dreaming of sunny climes on days like today (current outside temperature? 23°F) it turns out that I’m more of a cold weather girl after all. So the chill was refreshing and welcome. We bellied up to the bar where our drinks were served in glasses made of ice (seriously cool! Keeps the drink nice and cold without ice cubes!) And began lounging about on the fur-covered ice couches. I finally had a chance to chill out (yeah, I know) and chat with friends like Carri Bright from Izea (pictured left).
Any rumors that half way through I got fed up with the poncho and removed it are completely true.
Of course, I don’t recommend that for most people – but I was approached by a fellow sojourner from Finland who had removed his as well and we basked in the chilly goodness amidst shock from our warmer climate friends.
We sat around drinking and chatting and taking pictures of everything and anything we could… until the toes on all of our feet started feeling a bit numb – then took a last round of pics (my favorite is this one of Ted Murphy, Izea’s CEO lounging on the Ice Throne…) and headed out into the Chill Lounge to meet some more Twitterpals and regain feeling in our extremities.
A few hours later, we rolled out with the general consensus that Ice Bar Orlando is a must see experience. I know it will be on my agenda next time I’m in Orlando. I can’t wait to show it to GeekDaddy and anyone else I can drag along!
So if you’re in Orlando for a family trip and can steal away from the kids? I highly recommend checking it out. Don’t forget to bring your camera – and if you think of it? Socks are good.
Administrative Note: This post is completely unsolocited by either Izea or Ice Bar Orlando. Requests to post details of my adventure there came from friends and readers. This post is uncompensated in any form. I shouldn’t have to post that, but I wanted to make it clear – this review is 100% the opinion of the author.
*tweetup: meetup of folks who use twitter
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