Hi, I'm Clay.

jayparkinsonmd:

Can you spot the partisan legislation?

One of the good things that came from health insurance reform was an in-your-face example of how Congress is broken. We need leaders who care about our people— not our political parties and the corporations that keep them in power.

Larry Lessig:

Fixing the problem doesn’t mean voting out the feckless Democrats or the obstructionist Republicans. It doesn’t even mean voting out Senator Lieberman. As long as our legislative process is held in thrall to an economy of influence that nearly requires members to play nice with the special interests, the will of the people — on the left and on the right — will continue to be stymied on every issue, in every Congress, under every administration.

superamit:

I picked up and read the new 37Signals book, Rework, on a whim yesterday. Many parts of their philosophy jive with how I already run my business, a handful don’t. Overall though, a quick read with good points crystalized from their blog.

I dog-eared 10 pages — some I agreed with and wanted to remind myself of them. Others, I think will be useful and want to explore.

In no particular order…

1. Draw a line in the sand
   “Great businesses have a point of view… You need to know what you’re willing to fight for. And then you need to show the world. A strong stand is how you attract superfans. They point to you and defend you. And they spread the word further.” … “You’ll turn some people off” … “If no one’s upset by what you’re saying, you’re probably not pushing hard enough.”
2. Be a curator
   “You don’t make a great museum by putting all the art in the world into a single room. That’s a warehouse. What makes a museum great is the stuff that’s not on the walls.”
3. Interruption is the enemy of productivity
   “You should get in the alone zone. Long stretches of alone time are when you’re most productive.” … “During alone time, give up instant messages, phone calls, e-mail, and meetings.” … “Your day is under siege by interruptions. It’s on you to fight back.”
4. Quick wins
   “Momentum fuels motivation” … “Being in the trenches for 9 months … just burns you out” .. “get in the habit of accomplishing small victories along the way.”
5. Build an audience
   “All companies have customers. Lucky companies have fans. But the most fortunate companies have audiences.” … “An audience returns often — on its own — to see what you have to say.”
6. Go behind the scenes
   “Give people a backstage pass and show them how your business works.” … “Think no one will care? Think again… People are curious about how things are made.” …  ”Letting people behind the curtain changes your relationship with them. They’ll feel a bond with you…”
7. Marketing is not a department
   “Marketing is something everyone in your company is doing 24/7/365. Every time you …. answer the phone … send an e-mail… Every time someone uses your product… every word on your website, every error message … is marketing.”
8. Resumes are ridiculous
   “You want a specific candidate who cares specifically about your company, your products, your customers, and your job… Check their cover letter … you hear someone’s actual voice and are able to recognize if it’s in tune with you and your company. Trust your gut reaction.”
9. Hire managers of one
   “Managers of one are people who come up with their own goals and execute them.”
10. Hire great writers
    “If you are trying to decide among a few people to fill a position, hire the best writer… Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking.”

As the above apply to my business, Photojojo…

(1) We think everyone should have fun taking photos, and it doesn’t matter if your’e using a fancy SLR or your cell phone.

(2) We’ve purposely been extremely selective in adding new products to our store. As we continue to grow our selection, we need to figure out how we decide which goodies have to go.

(3) If I had a hot tub time machine, I’d go back in time and prevent Growl from ever having been invented. I swear it.

(5) Our focus on content first has been a huge boon to our business.

(6) I wanna figure out a way to do this, but I’m not sure how.

(7) So true.

(8) Ditto. Without a great cover letter, we’re probably not going to interview you.

(9) Yup.

(10) Yes. I’d hire the great writer OR great designer… design is visual communication, and just as important on the web.

What Teachers Make. 

We obviously need more teachers like Taylor.

heyamberrae:

life is art and you art the artist. color outside the lines. create what you please.

—

(image via imskyhigh)

Twestival 2010 is global.

Ten percent of people spend 80% of healthcare dollars. Therefore 90% of people spend only 20%. The vast majority of us are light healthcare users. We may need a couple of office visits a year and maybe we cut our finger and need some stitches. Ninety percent of us don’t require much.

Controlling…

This is the video your video could smell like!

I know, I know, everybody’s seen this already.  But companies who want to make “viral videos” should take note.

Viral is not a camera setting.

Viral is not where you seed it or how many people you blast it to.

Viral happens because of content.

If your video is already live and you’re spending time trying to get it to go viral, your time is probably best spent remaking a new video.

Best “I quit” note ever.  Found on the company computer after he left.

jayparkinsonmd:

I’ve been thinking a lot about how we can prevent our friends and loved ones from taking their own lives (due to the number of celebrity suicides lately), and CNN publishes this:

For five days, Alexis Moore carefully planned how she would take her own life. She’s not a violent person, so she knew handguns were out. She settled on vodka instead, to be followed by a bottle of Xanax. She did it methodically. First, she says she drank the vodka for two hours. Then she lined up the 20 pills on the kitchen counter, taking a few at a time, going to her bedroom to cry and then coming back for more Xanax. After about six pills, just when she was beginning to feel woozy and lethargic, Moore heard a knock on the door and someone calling her name. She ignored him, even though she recognized the voice as someone she’d meet three days before at a business event. Then the man came around and banged on her bedroom window. She got up off the bed where she’d been sobbing and let him in. They sat down in her living room. She talked. He listened. By the end of the evening, she decided not to take her life. In the five years since, she’s never tried to commit suicide again.

What to say and do:

Tell her you don’t want her to die.

Send a card.

Say “I’m here.”

Bring a meal.

Don’t leave her alone.

Don’t say “I know how you feel.”

Don’t say “Just snap out of it.”

Don’t say “There was an earthquake in Haiti. Your situation isn’t that bad.”

Don’t ignore it. Don’t keep secrets.

jayparkinsonmd:

palahniukandchocolate:

Human ingredients

Quick. Take 30 seconds and list your main competitors.

(don’t worry, I’ll wait)

Done?

Good.

Sorry, but your list is wrong.

Unless of course, you listed Zappos, JetBlue, Southwest…

One video, two lessons.

1) Never give up. (Which is different than strategic quitting, as outlined in The Dip.)
2) If you’re going to make ads, don’t drone on about your features, low price or…

At every presentation, the level of understanding of the subject matter by the audience varies widely.

If you’re giving a presentation on social media, some people are well educated and…

When I first learned to snowboard, I fell. Often and hard. I fell on my wrists. I fell on my ass. I was black and blue and wet.

The second time, I got a little better.

The third time,…

mikearauz:

What kind of relationship are we in?

Here’s a handy infographic to help you figure it out.

Thanks to Jimmy for pointing out this great video that he found on Tristan Walker’s blog.

My wish for Martin Luther King Jr. day is for all of us to have a dream. And act on it.

OK, they may not know what you’re wearing but there is a good chance they know your customers better than you do.

Flowtown uses emails from your customer database, (you do have an…

Taking a cue from Joseph Jaffe’s idea and Mitch Joel’s post, I’m auctioning off a keynote presentation with 100% of the proceeds going to the Red Cross / Haiti Relief.

In addition…

With the right temperature and a little wet snow, anyone can make a snowball, but my friend Jimmy makes them all day, everyday, in sunny San Diego.

I had another excellent call with…

There is an important lesson in this whole Conan vs. Leno debacle.

No matter how famous you are or how many fans you have, if you work for a huge corporation, they own you.

NBC…

(REUTERS/Reuters TV)

Today, it seems irresponsible to post about anything except the tragic earthquake in Haiti. The death toll is currently estimated between 30,000 and 100,000…

Adult and child obesity is a huge problem in America. The statistics are staggering and the future impact on healthcare costs is terrifying.

So what does the cure look like?

Years of…

Too many marketers focus solely on the first sale.

I was leaving Las Vegas today (Nicholas Cage was nowhere in sight) and with my stomach sensing that my culinary options would be limited once on…

At the end of a long day, you’re heading back to your hotel room. Alone in the elevator, you push the button for floor 26 and want nothing more than room service and maybe a shower before working a…

If customer engagement is the new marketing, customer experience is the new brand.

Brand in 2010 is the collective gut feel that customers have about your company. With the internet and social…

Photo credit: CNET

Social media isn’t about the tools, it’s about the relationships and connections that the tools enable.

It’s the same with CES and similar conferences. They…

Today I was at the Consumer Electronics Show helping Altec Lansing (a Tribes Win client) setup their booth. In between unpacking and displaying product and setting up the booth’s wifi, I was…

Posted via web from clayhebert’s posterous | Comment »

From when we are young, most of us are taught that there are a few specific templates to follow to a successful life.

Template 1