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  • Top Five Blogs… That I Read At Least

    During my recent (and ongoing) “blog overhaul” I added a new “Blogs I Follow” section in the right column. These are blogs I read on a regular basis. Whilst there are others (honorable mention names a few), these I try and read every day, or at least as often as they post new content. Turns out it’s a pretty good mix of family, friends, and industry heros. I thought I might briefly explain why, and a little bit about the content.

    TOP12345

    (1) The Four Hour Workweek Blog – First blog I read on the regular. I am a big fan of GTD but in my opinion Timothy Ferris wrote the book on productivity and lifestyle design. My dad once said, that within any book (in this case blog, like this), there are suggestions you can take and implement, and those you won’t. For every one thing in this book that can, I will admit, for me, there are nine I won’t. That 10%, however? Potentially life changing. Always inspiring and educational.

    (2) IckMusic – A good friend and business associate’s music blog. I’d never read a music blog on the regular before, but this guy’s passion, and knowledge about certain niche genres, is what keeps me coming back for more. I also occasionally get to tag along and shoot concerts and events with the publisher and primary writer.

    (3) Jasmine Star – A household name in wedding photography. Her commitment to her online community is inspiring.

    (4) No Shoe Left Behind – Allison is a friend of mine from Western Kentucky University. She writes a column for a local paper where she lives. After reading a few of her posts, I was inspired to begin writing again. Her tales of adventure, stories from the past and present, are a real treat.

    (5) Tofurious – This is the newest blog on my list. I’m still getting a feel for the author’s style but for as a self proclaimed Wedding and Marketing Consultant, from what I’ve read so far, it contains outstanding content for the would be photographer.

    Honorable Mentions include: My Wife’s Blog, Howland Studios, Chase Jarvis, and Jeremy Cowart.

    I hope you enjoy the new theme and if you find even one more good blog to read from this post then I feel like I’ve contributed. If you already read one, drop me a note and tell me we have that in common.

    Happy Tuesday!

  • Finding Time to Write

    I’ve had some folks recently ask me when I find the time to write. (Okay, okay, not many, but one or two.) That is a legit question and surprisingly easy to answer; but taking the easy way out of answering the question wouldn’t be much fun, now would it?

    I’ve gotten much better at getting to the point. In many ways. I have my wife, in great part, to thank for that. It’s not that she’s impatient. It’s just that I get sidetracked. Like I am now…

    Back to my point. Finding time to write. The how. Long answer to this question starts about a year ago when I joined Bank of America. In August of 2009 the bank offered me an opportunity to join an awesome program called My Work. (Google it. The program rocks!) In the interest of both work life balance, promoting green living, and (believe it or not) productivity, they allow me to work from my home office.

    One of the key pros to working from home (more on both the pros and cons of working from home later) is that I get back almost an entire work day each week. How? No daily commute. That should answer the question there. However, that still may not be enough to satisfy some people’s curiosity.

    So, get to it, right? When do I write? Considering I’m not commuting to an office, I write before work. Considering I’m not commuting home after work, I write after work. I sometimes make a quick sandwich, eat, and then write during my lunch break. I also queue stories up some evenings (however, few) and over the weekend (to a greater degree). I wrote the first rough draft of this post at 5:30 AM last Saturday morning.

    BLOG IDEAS

    Now you know. Thanks for asking.

    Happy Thursday!

  • Free Audiobook Giveaway

    I’ve always been a big fan of books. I am an even bigger fan of audiobooks. I’ve been collecting and listening to audiobooks since before I owned a cd player. Yes, that means I own books on audio cassette, or “books on tape”, as they used to be called. Linda and I are cleaning up our bookshelves, getting rid of things like old magazines, cd mixes we have digital copies of, and my collection of books on tape (most I have in iTunes now). Here are the titles I’d like to give to you:

    (1) Secrets of Closing the Sale by Zig Ziglar
    (2) Over the Top by Zig Ziglar
    (3) How To Get What You Want by Zig Ziglar
    (4) Advanced Selling Strategies by Brian Tracy
    (5) The Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy
    (6) Awaken the Giant Within by Anthony Robbins

    If anyone would like any of these just let me know. I’d rather give them away than throw them away. As a general rule, I don’t sell books; would rather trade, or give them away. To ensure them a good home I’d even cover the cost of shipping. Just send me a note, or drop me a comment, and let me know.

    Happy Wednesday!

  • Like, Upgrades Dude

    When I started writing again last September I picked a simple one column theme for this blog. I hadn’t tweaked it much at all; until this past Friday that is. I was ready to look into making some upgrades. I started by changing the design theme. It’s ironic, because even though I changed it to what I thought was a much “busier” two column format, with lots of widgets in the right column, my wife said it actually looked much cleaner. Go figure. That, as they say, was only the beginning.

    As change begets change, the more I tweaked, the more I wanted to tweak. There were so many cool things I was able to do! Yet, there’s always something more. I was stuck.

    Turns out there is a “huge” difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org. The former is all online. The latter is a self hosted format and requires a significantly greater amount of understanding and, as it turns out, work. Well, maybe that’s just because I’ve been using the other format for so long. Maybe after a few weeks (or months?) of toying with the new iteration it will be just as easy as the other. It sure doesn’t seem that right now, however.

    The changes thus far are slight. I migrated to the self hosted version, had to update the design theme again, re-added the column to the right with some (maybe) cool things I’ll describe later, and added a Facebook Like button (my inspiration for the post’s title). Thanks to Pete Icke at IckMusic.com for helping me jump thru some of the initial hoops.

    I hope you’ll like the changes. Let me know what you think if you have a minute. At least, like, click the Like button, dude. Thanks again.

    LIKE

    Happy Tuesday!

  • My Lucky Thirteen

    Thirteen years. That’s how long I’ve been a “grown-up” member of the workforce. I graduated from college summer of 1997 and started working full time shorty after. I was considering that fact recently and it sort of popped into my head how lucky I have been to have worked for some pretty outstanding people. Specifically, I was thinking about a very nice thank you note I had in my inbox the past Monday morning. It was from my current manager, thanking me for some work I’d recently completed. It was a sincere thank you note, and for many of us, a simple “atta boy”, timed just right, can be (almost) as good as cash money.

    That was the impetus; however, I still debated writing this at all. I didn’t want it to come across like I was writing the story for selfish reasons. So, my wife and I discussed it, and we agreed I should set some ground rules. In order to show up on this list, the following criteria must be met:

    (1) I worked for you directly.
    (2) I worked for you for at least one full year.
    (3) I do not work for you currently.

    Not too many rules but enough so I feel comfortable naming names! In order of chronology:

    Paul Ellis – I worked for Paul at Lifeway Christian Resources in Nashville, Tennessee. He was my sales manager and taught me all I know that is worth knowing about sales. From being honest and straight forward, to never being afraid to ask (however creatively) for the sale. I learned my lessons well. While I may no longer be in sales in the classic sense, I still use those same techniques when selling myself, and my ideas.

    Jackie Joo – I worked for Jackie at Lennox Industries (formerly Service Experts) in Brentwood, Tennessee and Richardson, Texas. Jackie taught me how to teach. She stuck with me and I will always be grateful for her patience and vision; in seeing in me an innate talent, and helping me become a better communicator and instructor.

    Eric Andrews – I worked for Eric at New Horizons Computer Learning Centers in Culver City, California. He was the first person to give me the advice to learn and teach project management. That advice changed my life and altered my career path forever. I met and taught folks that would become a part of both my personal and business network; people that would champion me and guide me in directions I hadn’t previously considered possible.

    Patty Coryell – I worked for Patty at Countrywide Financial in Agoura Hills, California. She was my great encourager. She always seemed to know just the right thing to say, and provided just the right amount of direction while always allowing me to be a “manager of one”. She taught me to to listen, observe, and then to do what a manager would do; set the tone, determine what needs to get done, and do it.

    Marc Braunstein – I worked for Marc at Countrywide Financial in Chandler, Arizona. He was my first manager as a manager myself (that met the criteria). I have never, and I mean never, had a manager that worked harder at getting to know me, and my management style. I realize now how lucky I was to have had the opportunity to work with him, as the more he learned about me, and my communication style, the more he helped me improve; both as a manager, and as a communicator.

    I hope this story comes across as sincere. I hope at some point each of these important people, these mentors of mine, somehow venture upon this story and know how much I appreciate each and every one of them. Thank you.

    Happy Friday!