<rant>Matt Giraud seriously ticked me of today.

I have a search running on my tweetdeck for “web designer” at all times – it allows me to respond quickly if I see someone is in need of my services. Today, I saw one come through from Matt Giraud, explaining he was looking for a web designer and the details were on his facebook page…

For those of you who don’t know who Matt Giraud is, he was on American Idol, season 8 and placed 5th. Since then, he has been on the AI CD, launched 2 of his own CD’s, gone on multiple tours and one would assume made a small chunk of change. He has over 29,000 fans on facebook, a solid 59,000 followers on twitter and while he is no Carrie Underwood, he is also not your every day guy. So, when a guy like this is looking for a web designer, you would expect that he is not only looking for the best of the best, but also looking to pay someone very well for their work, right? Wrong.

Here’s what his Facebook page said:

Let’s break this down…he is looking for a web designer to work for free to “build their portfolio” and get some free CD’s and concert tickets? You have got to be kidding me. This reads like an awful ad for a designer from Craigslist, not the request from a celebrity for a website design. Sorry Matt, but concert tickets, meeting you and a few CD’s does not pay my bills. I own a business because I want to help other businesses succeed, create awesome websites and get paid for it. I did not start this to help prima dona celebrities get their sites up for free.

I know there is a simple solution if I don’t like what the guy is doing – just don’t send my info in - but what bothers me is that he is even making a request like this. My irritation is all on the principle of the thing – the fact that  he sent out a request like this is just disgusting, rude and shows how little he really cares about people. Just a couple years ago, he was a no body just looking to make it – and would never have had the gall to send out a request like this. Give him a little fame and money and all of a sudden it’s ‘Why should I have to pay for other people’s work’.

The sad part is that he’ll find someone who is willing to work for just concert tickets. “Celebrities” always get what they want, because for some reason, our culture has determined they deserve it. The simple fact is, work should be paid for and being “famous” does not give you the right to ask for work for free. You are not that cool. </rant>

What are your thoughts on celebrities asking people to do work for free?

I love Failblog. If you’ve never been, I give you permission to leave me now and go there. It’s funnier than I could ever hope to be, I promise.

If you’ve been, then stay here and read the rest of the post? I promise, it’s good

So, browsing failblog the other day and I found this awesome bar sign gem…by far one of the best pieces of marketing I’ve seen in awhile. Why?

• It’s simple.
• It’s funny.
• It’s easy to read.
• It nails their target audience.
• It solves a problem.
• No one will forget it.

Definitely a win.

Image credit: Capture Queen on Flickr

Fear. The feeling inside you of no control, absolute terror, deep anxiety, complete and utter confusion of what you should do.

Ever want to feel fear? Like you have no idea what is going on or when things will turn around? Start a company and wait. You’ll feel it.

It’s the feeling of being a solo business owner.

Starting my business was terrifying. It wasn’t just signing papers and saying “I am a business owner”…it was knowing that every day from now until I retire, I will have to work my butt off to make business happen, and that being successful would not come easy. It would take hours, very long hours, working to figure out how to get clients, keep current clients happy and keep my life in focus. I knew this going in, but that didn’t make it easier. I have ever fiber in my body dedicated to making my business awesome, but that doesn’t make it happen.

Some days are awesome…in fact some weeks and months are awesome too. And then there are those days I am praying to anything and anyone for them to end and for the next to be better. I am at the mercy of the public – and their vacations, budgets and realities. I don’t know if the phone will ring, emails will come in, clients will hire me. I can’t force someone to have the budget to hire me, and I can’t combat all excuses. I can’t fix every problem, and there are some clients that just won’t fit with me. No matter what I do, I can’t (and won’t) be everything to everyone at every budget. Which means that I will never have every client. Sometimes the fear lasts a couple days, sometimes it’s longer.

Luckily, I know I am not alone. I have many friends and contacts who own their own companies, and have had many talks about fear. We all get it. Never in the same way, but we all get it. Some get it when they are too busy, others when they aren’t busy enough. We get it on projects that scare us,  and clients that torture us. We get it just because it is Monday and the start of a new week. Or we get it on Friday because the week didn’t end right. The fear is in every solo business owner just waiting for the moment to pop out and yell surprise…to scare you so badly that you wonder if you made the right decision. You contemplate getting a “real job” again, no matter how much you love what you do and loathed working for other people. You can’t help it – you’re terrified. You dream about the security of a steady paycheck, a 401K and the clients just waiting for you. You even think sitting in commuter traffic wouldn’t be so bad. You would get to listen to musci, right? You think that the decision you made to abandon security and go on your own was crazy, and you don’t even know what made you do it. You may even look at job postings in your industry and think…maybe? Fear makes people do, think and say crazy things.

But, instead of giving into the fear, we must tackle it. Rise above it. Show it who’s boss and kick it’s sorry little butt. To do that takes a lot of strength, a lot of courage, and a lot of knowing that you can.You have to be able to know that even if your week/month is bad, that it will get better. Or, a tough client is just pushing you to learn something (even if it is just how to swear under your breath while smiling). Side note, I feel a bit like Stuart Smalley at the moment…”I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me”… Anyway, the point is that while fear can be debilitating and downright torturous, what would be even worse would be to give into the fear and let it take us over.

So what do we do? We stand up and shout “Fear can kiss my butt”.

Then, we start working harder, and more effectively and soon, the fear has gone away and we are back in the spot where we love to be – loving our businesses. We remember why we started it, why we enjoy it and that even if the days are long and times get tough, it is still our business. We are our own boss, don’t have to sit in commuter traffic, can pick our own clients and can work in our p.j’s. Being a solo business owner is never going to be easy, and we all know that. So as long as we remember why we started it in the first place, the fear can’t stick around for long.

When is the last time you felt fear? Share your stories of how you’ve dealt with this demon…

Oh, and thanks to @antony511 for the awesome headline! BTW readers, I’ll think you’re even awesomer than you already are if you can name to what the headline is in reference.

This picture was taken with my new droid x, of a dried yellow rose. Using the fx camera, free from the droid marketplace (serious must have!!)

Have phone, will take pictures. Any shot you capture with your phone can be featured! Submit it via form, twitter or email!

This year, I am finally getting to attend two conferences I have wanted to attend for a very long time – Blogworld in October and PubCon in November.

Even more exciting? I will be speaking at PubCon on a panel – November 10th – Navigating The Complex Social Media Marketing World. I will be discussing the different key social media tools and the best ways to get the most from them – and which tools to use depending on your industry. I will be on a panel with some brilliant minds and am very excited to be a part of this event! If you’re coming to the event – I really hope to see you at my panel!

I am still waiting to hear if I will be speaking at Blogworld…but should know soon. *Update: I will not be speaking but will still be there…*

Either way, since I’m very Type A -  even 3 months out, I am already putting together my “must do, must see and must meet” list for both events!

1. For Blogworld, I am attending with @Vetlovingpetshb and staying at THEhotel, flying in the day before and leaving the day after. Have you been to this hotel before? Recommendations of places to eat/shop visit?
2. For Pubcon, I am not sure where I will be staying – that one is left to be determined. So if you have connections for this one, let me know
3. If you have been before to either event – what are the must see and do’s? I want to know what events are the best, which areas of the expo I can’t miss and if there are any other secrets I should know!
4. Are you going this year? If so, let me know so that I can plan time to meet as many people as possible. My readers are on the top of my list. Just add a comment and let me know which event you are attending

Finally, I am still looking for a sponsor for the hotel/flight for each event – so if you are interested in talking with me about what that means, send me an email and we can chat

snapping pictures at the Sanyo & Social Rewards event last week

Social media has made parties and party planning so much easier…which means there has been an explosion of events that are planned, promoted and talked about just through these channels. Almost everytime I turn around, I see a new twtvite shooting by, or am getting a facebook invitation.

For consumer businesses, being part of one of these events can really help you to get your name out there. But, a business doesn’t just have to host an event to get heir name out there – sometimes all it takes is participating and helping in an event. Even if you can’t participate in a donation or the planning – you still should try and go to as many events as possible. There is no downside to meeting lots of new people.

For restaurants, nightclubs and hotels, offering your venue to host an event can often help fill you up on busy nights and help spread the word about what amazing things you can offer. Small events allow you to feature new recipes, drinks and your venue and have a fun event that people will be talking about for a long time.

This year, I have attended more than my fair share of tweetups, launch parties and networking events. Some have been awesome, others have been okay, and some have been seriously disappointing. The good news is there are a few ways to help make sure that your next event is as good as it can be:

1. Pick a venue that is easy to get to.
2. Plan it at least two weeks in advance for a small tweetup.
3. Plan at least a month in advance for large events.
4. Get a few big name people on board.
5. Ask for help promoting the event from your friends.
6. Provide food and drinks either free or at a discount.
7. Make sure there are plenty of places to sit down.
8. Have an awesome speaker or giveaway.
9. Make it easy for people to tweet while there.
10. Have a photographer (or a few) to share the awesomeness.
11. Make it easy for people to exchange their information after the event.
12. Have a list of all attendees so you can send them thank you notes.
13. Share the twitter and facebook name of the venue so people can share it.
14. Set up an easy to remember hashtag for the event.

What other tips can you share about hosting a great event? Have you been to one that did something really spectacular or awful? Share it!

Business is as much about who you know as it is about what you know. The more people who know you, the more people who respect what you do, the more people there are to refer you clients and help your business succeed! Think about the last 5 clients you met with – how did they find you? If any of it was through word of mouth, referrals or social media, you have experienced the power of really connecting.

And you would think, with all the social tools and number of people online, that connecting would be easy, right?

Wrong.

It is easy to talk, listen and converse. Connecting takes time, energy and more effort than just a tweet or two. In order to honestly connect with someone you need to take things beyond just the basics. You need to step out of the twittersphere, away from the facebook and actually have a conversation – preferably in person, but at a minimum, over the phone and via emails.

Stepping out from behind the status update box allows us to deepen our relationships and actually get answers to what a person does. Knowing someone better means you can better connect them to the right people – and help them with their business. Of course, as a firm believer in what goes around comes around, this method works very well.

So, the next step is learning more about how we can all connect and help each other – so in the comments, I want you to share who you are, what you do and what you are looking for. Give us a way to help and promote you…and let’s spread the connecting!

Ready, go!

I absolutely hate taking photos all night and then coming home, having to either put the SD card into my computer, or I have to plug it in and upload them. Yes, it’s silly, and it doesn’t take much time, but it is time that I really don’t want to spend right after an awesome event. The problem is, if I don’t do it right away, I forget and then it’s weeks before I actually do it! Or worse, I will never get them printed and they will sit on the card forever. Cameras are awesome – but their main fault is the fact that you have to do something after you take the photos – which can waste a lot of time.

So, last week I got the new Sanyo Dual Camera* and an 8GB Eye-Fi SD card*. The camera is awesome, takes both photos and videos and sits in the palm of my hand. It is actually smaller than my DroidX, and only a little thicker. But what was even more awesome than the camera was the Eye-Fi card. When I got it, I didn’t really understand it – it says it has a wireless photo and video uploader built in. Not being hugely tech savvy about cameras, I had no idea what that meant. So, of course, I read the back. and basically it means that once you’ve set ut up to a computer, facebook, flickr, whatever, you can take pictures, come home, and it will automatically send the pictures to the chosen destination. It also said you could set up 32 wifi locations – so  you could use your camera in those places and it would send from there directly to your home computer or your online sharing? Yeah right. I was seriously doubtful – not because I didn’t think the technology was there but because it would make life way to easy. And companies rarely ever do that. So I decided to test it out and was shocked at (again) the simplicity. It was plug-install-and go. And so was taking the pictures. Snapped a couple of the dog outside, and came home…opened the camera, and it did the work. All uploaded into my folder, no buttons, nothing.

It just worked. And was simple. And removed all the headache.

There are tons of other products that have problems like this – they may be great to use, but there is some area where they fall apart. With DVD’s, it’s the packaging. Really, that huge packaging for such a small disk? Why not use CD packaging – it holds the same size disk, yet takes up so much less space. People could buy more of them and not need as much room. With computers, it is the set up time. Yes, you can hire someone to set everything up for you, but that has a high price tag and time away from the computer. It would be great if there was a way to order your computer with just the programs that you want, pre-installed. Like the app market on a phone, you would select the programs you want prior to the purchase. It would take away a ton of set up time and headaches. Or what about laundry? There are so few companies that have started making washer/dryers in one it is shocking – it just makes sense to me. Less space taken up, less issues with machines. Why do in two what you can in one? Email is also difficult – you go through them in the order received, and have to judge importance quickly or you will waste time. But if you mis-judge, you could miss an important email. What if there were a program that searched all incoming email for specific phrases and keywords and then organized based on your settings? This would allow you to know what was the most important before you started reading them!

The list could go one and on of products that waste time, energy or space and could be seriously streamlined. Which was why this product impressed me so much – and why I wrote a promotion-esque post.

What tools do you see that could be streamlined to be more effective? What about your daily activities?

*Full Disclosure* I was given the Sanyo camera and an Eye-Fi card for tweeting/managing Sanyo’s Twitter and Facebook page. For those who missed my tweets on Thursday and Friday, I am working with Social Rewards and Sanyo Dual Camera on Sanyo’s release of a new dual camera line – and a rewards program that is giving away cameras, a trip to the Palazzo Las Vegas and Eye-Fi video cards.

BUT!! (and this is a big one) They are not compensating me for this post – in fact, I wasn’t even asked to write it. I wrote this on my own accord, because I was so impressed with the Eye-Fi card and the built-in wireless uploading capabilities and how businesses could learn from this. As you have read in the past, I am not a huge fan of promotional posts – in fact, I often despise them. So, if you buy the eye-fi, awesome. If not, no big deal. I am not an affiliate and make no money should you choose to buy it (or the camera). But I was honestly so blown away by the coolness of the abilities of this eye-fi card – and how what they are doing can relate to other industries – that I felt it really necessary to talk about it.

These two shots were taken by @OakleyOC in Aliso Viejo with his iPhone 4…just amazing!

Have an image you’ve captured on your cell phone you want to share? Send it in (there’s lots of ways!).

What was your dork moment today?