All Entries Tagged With: "entrepreneur"

7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers – Phil Johnson

To end the week in our “7 Habits Series” , let’s have a chat with Phil Johnson, one of the best creative minds out there. When he’s not jetting around the country with clients, friends and other marketing luminaries he’s at home in his Cambridge office, just steps away from Harvard Square. And if you have the time on a Thursday afternoon, take a moment to listen to his agency’s weekly radio show on Social Media with Mike O’Toole and  Hugh Kennedy – There’s alway something interesting happening over there.

About Phil
I’m the CEO of PJA Advertising + Marketing. We call ourselves an ad agency, but we’re really interested in all the ways that people communicate with each other, and especially how new technologies are changing our experiences and behaviors.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I’m a talent groupie. Nothing gets me excited like meeting someone with a great mind, a wonderful imagination, and better ideas than me. Sometimes I can’t sleep until I recruit them.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do?
Well at PJA, we all punch a time clock. Just kidding. I don’t know exactly when the workday starts. After I drop my son at school, I start thinking about business. But once I get to the office, I’ve got to check to see if there are any donuts in the kitchen, then put on some music, and play around with Tweet Deck. Next thing I know I’m writing stuff, going to meetings, and talking on the phone. I think that’s work.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
It’s sad, but I’m just not efficient, but I’ve learned a couple of tricks. Every day, I jot down three things I absolutely want to get done. I’m always happy if I do two of them.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
I’m not a huge fan of traditional business books, but here are three books that I really like, and they are kind of about business:

Fast Company, How Six Master Gamblers Defy the Odds – and Always Win, by Jon Bradshaw. These stories reveal tons about entrepreneurship and human nature.

Stumbling On Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert. Understanding how we pursue happiness is very helpful if you’re in the business of influencing people.

Here Comes Everybody, by Clay Shirky. This book helps explain how all these cool web 2.0 technologies that we love are redefining society.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/ 3 things you can’t live without
Diet Dr Pepper
PJA note pads
My tiny Bose speakers.

Those things, and my MacBook, are all I need.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
I think I’ll start with trans fats and then move on to butter, sugar, excessive amounts of empty carbohydrates, and alcohol.

7. Habit you’d like to form  for 2010
I wish that all of us at PJA would connect to each other on a delicious network and get disciplined about tagging the content that fires up our imaginations. We’ve got a collection of really interesting people, and their collective knowledge is very powerful. I’d like to do a better job of harnessing it.

Entrepreneurs- Add Skype to Your Toolbox

For those of you interested in being a lean, mean entrepreneurial machine, read on.

You’ve just started your own company,  and now the bills start coming in. Rent, internet, computer, software, cell phone and more. Your cell phone is terrific. Good reception, a good plan and you are reachable all the time.

But every now and then you lose a call.

OR

The battery on your cell phone dies.

OR

Business is really good, and you are thinking about upgrading to an unlimited plan with all the minutes you need. Hello $200 cell phone bill.

Before you upgrade to that new plan, or put in a “land line” in the office. Take a look at Skype.

A $30 yearly plan is all you need to start saving money on your phone bill and start ramping up on efficiency.With a yearly $30 subscription you can make all the calls you need from your computer. If you’re in some sort of office at least three to fours a day, consider investing in it.

A couple things to keep in mind- If you have a bluetooth headset for your mobile phone,  this works nicely with Skype. Simply sync up your headset to your bluetooth-enabled laptop and you are talking through your computer. The reception is better than your mobile phone (no more dropped calls) and you can talk to your client ( hands free) while skimming through that powerpoint presentation, invoice, or pile of mail on your desk. Even better? You can sync your mobile phone with your skype account so that when you call, it looks like you are calling from your mobile phone.

Last time I checked, $30 for unlimited calls for an entire year wasn’t such a bad idea, was it?

Verizon, Comcast, AT&T and others have plenty of business customers.  Be a lean, mean and smart entrepreneurial machine.

Go give Skype your business.

7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers- Jim Long

Ok, Interview #5 of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers” series. Today’s interview is with none other than Jim Long, NBC cameraman for the White House.

About Jim
Jim is a self described “new media soul trapped in an old media body” or a “human satellite truck.”  When he’s not flying around the world covering the President and White House News, he’s running his own business, Verge New Media. If you happen to track him down, ask him about his hair-rising trips to Afghanistan aboard one  of the Air Force’s “doomsday planes.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I don’t know if I can peg my success today on just one trait.  I believe that it is my persistence, my fierce dedication to my craft and client, and the faith that exceptional work will lead you to personal success – it’s these qualities that have gotten me where I am today.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do?
The start of my day is linked to the ebb and flow of news.  Some days are planned out, other days we’re putting out fires.  I’ve learned to expect the unexpected, but i generally start my day loading up my camera, then logging in to Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
Efficiencies in my newsgathering role are less dependent on web technologies than many other jobs;  yet every assignment requires that I make judgements about how much, and what type of gear I need to bring to bear to the task.   Paramount in this process is the question: “Could I get on the air with what I have with me?”  Beyond the camera, blackberry has become indispensable.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
The Long Tail”  has put the current state of my business in perspective, putting a fine point on the opportunity and uncertainty media and other businesses face.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/ 3 things you can’t live without
Sony HDW F900r Video Camera
iPhone 3G, Blackberry World Edition
Powermac G4 1.67Ghz

6. Habit you want to kick in 2009
I’m terribly disorganized,  I need to work on that.

7. Habit you’d like to form for 2010

NOTE: for those of you who know Jim well, suggestions for a new habit for New Media Jim?

7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers – Christine Perkett

Ok, Interview #5 of the “7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers” series.

About Christine
I founded PerkettPR in 1998 – we provide PR, social marketing and digital communications services to tech, healthcare and consumer companies worldwide. I’m addicted to lip balm and seashells, love dogs and my family, write a lot of blogs – everything from PR and marketing to parenting, fashion and marathon training – and am currently training to run the Boston Marathon in April 2010. I guess you could say I thrive on being insanely busy.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
Intuition. I’ve learned to listen to mine more and more over the years – it’s almost always right both in business and in personal situations.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do?
The first thing I do when I wake up is grab my BlackBerry and read emails, including newsletters from top publications like Forbes, New York Times, Marketwatch, WSJ, PR Daily and Inc Magazine. After grabbing copious amounts of coffee, the first thing I do when I physically get into my office is prioritize my To Do list – urgent, today, ASAP.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
Pressure. Knowing that others are relying on me makes me the most efficient. (However, I’m notorious for cramming every possible thing into every minute – which, while enabling me to get a lot done, often makes me late to meetings, which is a horrible habit.)

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
“Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do,” by Kate White

5. 3 things on your desk right now/ 3 things you can’t live without
Coffee, Fast Company and way too many piles of paper.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2009
Taking too long to make tough decisions. This goes back to trusting my intuition. Also, being late! People who know me well will lie to me about what time things start – which sadly, gets me there on time.

7. Habit you’d like to form for 2010
Looking on the bright side of every situation and taking away one key lesson that can be applied to make the next situation better. Less complaining, more doing.

NOTE- for those who want to follow along in the Twitter conversation, and be updated when we post new entries use the #sm7habits hashtag

7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers- Melanie Notkin

Ok, interview #3 of the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers. Please give a warm welcome to my friend Melanie Notkin, a.k.a “Savvy Auntie”.

About Melanie
Melanie Notkin is America’s premier Savvy Auntie, empowering the nearly 50% of American women who are not moms to celebrate all they do for the children in their lives, while living their own lives to the fullest. She launched SavvyAuntie.com, the Webby Award nominated community for aunts and godmothers, in the summer of 2008 to wide-acclaim. She’s a child lifestyle expert and tastemaker, and is the author of the upcoming book: The Savvy Auntie Guide to Life. She can be found at http://Twitter.com/SavvyAuntie.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I love to read business, motivation and inspirational books. It’s rare that I can get through a chapter of a good one without popping over to my desk to share a quote, write a note to myself about a new idea inspired by the book, or learn more about the author.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
I check email, Twitter and Facebook to see if anyone is waiting for a response. I’m a one-woman customer service and client services team, and my first obligation is to make sure everyone is taken care of and I’m meeting their expectations, personally and for my brand.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
Lists. If it’s not on the list, I probably won’t remember to do it. The challenge? Remembering to look at the list!

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is a big one because it reminds you how simple behavioral changes can change everything.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
My Latitude e4300Laptop and 20″ monitor from Dell. Dell believes in supporting women in small business and offered me this work station to keep me going strong. I also have a vase of flowers to keep me happy and the notes from my writing consultant on my book chapters. I call her my Fairy God-Writer because she helps me make my writing more meaningful.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2009
I’m trying to get off my chair and workout more often. It makes a huge difference to my energy level. And while I feel like I’m taking a precious hour out of my work day, I’m actually adding more energy and getting more accomplished.

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
I know it’s going to sound strange, but saying “no” is my new effective habit. I’d love to meet with all the smart, ambitious people who want time to connect with me, but with all the obligations I have to my business, publisher, clients, family, friends and myself, it’s impossible to say yes all the time and achieve my goals. Saying “no” can be an effective habit. (I just hate to do it!)

Dialogue in New York- a quick recap

Last week, I went to the city for several new business, client and partner meetings. Now, when I say the “city” I mean New York City. Growing up outside Manhattan for 14 years there really is only ONE city- and it’s New York. As a Bostonian and now suburbanite, when I head into Boston, I head into “town”, but I digress…

Some quick thoughts to share:

• Don’t bother bringing your iPhone. Seriously, it’s dead weight in your pocket, the AT&T network is simply too overloaded
• Be sure to visit the new “underground” Apple Store on Fifth Avenue- across from the old Plaza
• To save a few dollars, and to get some much needed exercise, I walked most of my way through Manhattan. Grand Central to 90th and 2nd. 90th and 2nd to 86 and Lex (through park), Wall Street to 16th and 6th. Best decision I made.  You simply can’t spend time in taxicabs or the subway when you’re in the city, you “feel’ the city by walking through each neighborhood.
• The site of the Twin Towers is still very much an empty space. Hard to believe it happened 9 years ago.
• Can’t wait to bring the family there next week, next month, or very very soon!
• Interesting fact of the day: I traveled to NY from the Greenwich train station. More people go IN to Greenwich to work, then go OUT of Greenwich to head to the big Apple- who knew?
• If you are a small business owner or entrepreneur, seriously consider switching over to Apple.  While your iPhone doesn’t work, you can still do lots at the Apple Store (there are five of them in Manhattan) While at one of their stores, I was able to get an hour of training on some new company software, recharge my latpop, warm up (it was 29 degrees out) and enjoy the company of some genuinely nice, friendly people. It’s practically like having a remote office in every city.