Just a quick note to let my readers know that I’ve published a guest post on Art of Blog. It’s called Using WordPress Pages like a Pro and walks through a few examples of how established professionals and Internet Marketers are using Pages on their site.
Check it out! I’d love to know what you think.
I‘ll be speaking at IgniteATL next Monday (April 19th), which will be my first official day of self-employment after almost exactly three years of working for Accenture.
Ignite was inspired by Pecha Kucha Nights, where speakers are given 20 slides, each shown for 20 seconds, giving each speaker 6 minutes and 40 seconds of fame.
The first Ignite took place in Seattle in 2006, and since then the event has become an international phenomenon, with gatherings in Helsinki, Finland; Paris, France; New York, New York; and many other locations.
Saying it makes it so, doesn’t it?
Speaking into existence. Power of intention. Call it what you will. It works. There are two general rules of thought when it comes to sharing desired goals: keep it to yourself and tell others.
Both sides make compelling arguments, but I don’t know that the approaches are mutually exclusive. I might share with you that I’d like to quit my job, but not necessarily that I’d like to spend a year living in Buenos Aires.
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Which one of these companies is destined for failure?
FreeCreditReport.com is a service built on deception. They lure customers in with the promise of a free credit report, requiring that credit card information be submitted (red flag) upon signup.
If the customer doesn’t enroll in something optional called the “Triple Advantage,” they are faced with monthly charges of up to $14.95. The company has paid over a million dollars in settlements since 2005 as a result of their deceptive tactics1.
Experian (the company that owns freecreditreports.com) continues to make a mockery of the FTC. (For truly free credit reports, you can visit annualcreditreports.com.)
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For the last two years, I’ve been running my small web design operation. I knew there was good money in it even for someone whose design skills are paltry at best. I didn’t get serious about running an efficient, effective operation until recently though. In this time, my effectiveness as a business owner has increased by orders of magnitude.
I’m able to charge for my time, my expertise, and sharing information about the things I really enjoy doing: helping people implement solutions that sometimes involve technology.
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Hey guys, just a quick note from my friend Desiree about a Haiti relief effort in the Atlanta area. Read on for details.
Volunteers are needed to assemble emergency shelter kits April 7–10 and April 12–15.
Habitat for Humanity is planning a multiphase response strategy in Haiti that includes early recovery and mid-and long-term response. As part of the early phase, Habitat for Humanity put together over 10,000 emergency shelter kits, designed to help families make immediate repairs and construct emergency shelter, in February.
This work was possible thanks to the dedication of volunteers like you. For those of you that helped with the first round of kits, we are grateful for your support. Now, we are asking again for your help to assemble 13,250 more recovery starter kits. Funds for these kits have been provided by The American Red Cross and CARE.
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I have a good friend with a great job at an awesome company. He’s an accomplished, professional, cultured employee who works hard and takes pride in the things that he does. The company uses him in marketing materials and promotions (he has an amazing story), and life couldn’t be better.
Actually, that’s a lie.
For starters, the company really sold him a dream when they recruited him. He wanted to be involved in one type of work and they gave him another. He’s the only person in his geographic region that does what he does, so there’s an element of job security there. There’s also an element of “good luck getting an internal transfer approved” as well. So on the outside, his situation seems ideal: international travel, flexible schedule, support for him remaining involved in the things he was into before he took the job, and so forth.
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I can’t help but wonder if I’m being coached covertly.
Pam Slim “is a seasoned coach and writer who helps frustrated employees in corporate jobs break out and start their own business.” She’s the author of Escape From Cubicle Nation (both the blog and the book) and has, over the course of this past year year or so, become a friend of mine.
It started with a tweet, turned into several purchases of her various information products (I jokingly confessed at her Atlanta workshop that I’d buy pretty much anything she put out…which was actually true…), and is now turning into even greater things:
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I‘ve known of LessEverything for a little over a year. It’s run by a couple of guys who believe in simple effective software that should be a joy to use. I know Allan personally, and he’s a top-notch dude.
Anyway, LessEverything put on a pretty legendary conference last year (my friend Celia Dyder over at TechDrawl wrote about it) that I was unable to attend last year because of a last-minute scheduling conflict. I swore I wouldn’t miss the next one, and you better believe I’m looking forward to it.
LessConf is back, and it’s packed to the brim with speakers that I can’t wait to hear in person. I’m thrilled that the conference is coming to Atlanta this year, and I hope to see many of my friends attending. This is a big year for events in Atlanta, and LessConf 3010 might be the biggest thus far.
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