Last night I was checking my Facebook and Twitter accounts and saw that Pete Cashmore (@mashable) and Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) were having a conversation together hosted by some PR lady (sorry, I forgot her name!) and I had the most excruciatingly bad time with your product.
Whenever Gary or Pete would try to speak, the video would freeze up. People were in the chatroom making jokes about robot movements and Tourette’s. It was not amusing to deal with such choppy video. I have a few recommendations for you and your video-happy buddies:
A video and chat product does no one any good if it does not work smoothly.
Annoyed participants, both speakers and chatroom attendees, tend to get irritable, and fast. Bad for you. Really bad for you if they have a soapbox, like a blog, and decide to use it. Like me
Do NOT release a product from BETA unless it works WELL 99.9% of the time. When it doesn’t work, show us a “fail whale” type thing. Something humorous to distract us from hating your guts for wasting our time. (Haha, look, those little birds are trying to hold up that big ‘ole whale, haha.)
If I have to put up with choppy video streaming because you say, “this is a free service” then I say, “I’ll pay to NOT deal with choppy streams!”
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but uStream is kicking your butt. I know, that’s a low blow, but, hey, you need to fix your stuff, fast, or you will lose fans – and fast.
If video interactive systems are not flawless, slap BETA back on it and fix the problems. If a video takes more time to load than the length of the video or makes the speakers sound like robots (“Origato Mr. Vay-ner-chuk?”) then you have a serious problem. Market share is gained or lost by the responsiveness of the company to correct an error.
Think like an entrepreneur: fix it fast, or die trying. Hustle matters, now more than ever, and you can’t afford to miss out on influencers, like me, who get ticked enough with you to write about you. Bad press is bad press is bad press. Don’t be inflexible, fix the problem. Make me sing your praises. Really, I want to. You’re just making it impossible right now. Understand?
This is the first in a series (of how many parts I have not yet decided) that will together compose my first book review.
Now you may ask, “Why are you doing a book review, aren’t there a million of these out there already?” Good question! Well, yes, there are a great many book reviews out there. But, that doesn’t mean that we all read the same book. Now that you’re confused, let me explain.
My Reading Philosophy
I subscribe to the idea that we see the world as we are. What I mean by that is that we see what we want to see, not what actually is. Humans have a great proclivity to filter information for what they want to find. Let me explain.
A Quick Example
My lucky number is 19 (I will explain how that happened in another post in the misty-eyed future, for now, just follow along). When I told my family that my lucky number is 19, we started to see it everywhere! It became a kind of family inside joke. We’d see it and say, “19…see!” (Today’s post for example…posted on the 19th..see! Hehe.)
But, this is an example of how humans filter information for the result they want. Instead of really looking at all the numbers that are seen in daily life, my family and I chose to look for a specific number. And we found it everywhere after that! If we had not chosen to look for it, we would not have noticed anything special about the number of occurrences of the number 19.
Got It?
So, now that you understand what I mean about finding what you’re looking for (I hope), let’s get back to the subject of today’s post, namely, the book review. Ok, what I would like you to do now is pretend that I’m right. I know, that’s a stretch for some of you who think you’re right. Well, you’re not. At least not right now. Anyway, suppose that you do indeed see the world as you are, not as it is. That means that if you are open-minded you see the world openly, and if you are close-minded, you see the world that way.
Now, to the task at hand. This book review will seek to give a factual representation of the book. Along with this, you will get my thoughts on it. This is how I see the book at this time. I may think differently about it tomorrow. Or the next day, or next month, or next year. I won’t know, and neither will you know how you’ll feel about it at any time in the future.
So, now that you understand the context, my present opinion, and the viewpoint that I’m bringing to the table, you can see that even though there are millions of people reviewing a book, we’ll all come to slightly (or dramatically, depending on the person!) different views of the book.
Absorb, Then Filter
I say all of this to get you in the mindset to absorb, then filter. Here’s what I mean. Absorb the material first, then filter for what is useful to you, not the other way around. The reason for this is that you may miss out on valuable information, knowledge, or wisdom if you skip along without understanding what you’re reading.
Ok, let’s dig into the book a bit now. Remember, I’ll be posting the other parts of this series later, for now, we’re going to absorb only an introductory overview and a few key highlights.
The first thing you need to do when reading a book, any book, is look at the Table of Contents. You do this to preview the material. This gives you a strategic or bird’s-eye view of it. Then you can dive into the subject matter, or if pressed for time, you can skim the Table of Contents (or TOC for those of you abbreviation freaks). You can also sometimes get a feel for what the material will cover. But, remember, we’re just absorbing now. Filtering comes later.
Outline
Chapter One: Passion Is Everything
Three Rules
Love Your Family
Work Superhard
Live Your Passion
What You Need to Know
The Game Has Changed
No Excuses
This Means You
It’s Up to You
Turn Water Into Wine
Chapter Two: Success Is in Your DNA
You Gotta Be You
Coming to America
Rise of the Entrepreneur
My Real Business
By the Time
Learning the Trade
Changing the Wine World
Chapter Three: Build Your Personal Brand
Building My Brand
Opportunity Lies In Transparency
Trust Your Own Palate
Word of Mouth On Steroids
Everybody’s Doing It
Chapter Four: A Whole New World
Plan Your Future Now
If You’re Not
Chapter Five: Create Great Content
Know Your Stuff
Tell A Story
Don’t Lie To Yourself
Choose Your Medium Carefully
The Lure and the Lasso
Chapter Six: Choose Your Platform
The Must-Haves
WordPress and Tumblr
Call-To-Action Buttons
Share Functions
Facebook
Twitter
Flickr
YouTube and/or Viddler
UStream.TV
Word-Of-Mouth Power Moves
Differentiate Yourself
Chapter Seven: Keep It Real … Very Real
Authenticity
Invest In the Important Stuff
Hustle
Patience
Chapter Eight: Create Community: Digging Your Internet Trench
Capture
The Power of One
Next Steps
Chapter Nine: The Best Marketing Strategy Ever
Chapter Ten: Make the World Listen
A Few Additional Steps
Chapter Eleven: Start Monetizing
Advertising
Speaking Engagements
Affiliate Programs
Retail
Articles
Seminars
Books and TV
Consulting
Advertising Redux
Create Some Hoopla
Chapter Twelve: Roll with It
Be Ready to Adapt
Put Out Fires
Shape Your Story
Trendspotting
Chapter Thirteen: Legacy Is Greater Than Currency
Conclusion: The Time Is Now, the Message Is Forever
Appendix A: Did You Forget Anything?
Identify Your Passion
Create 50 Blog Topics
Ask Yourself:
Am I sure my passion is what I think it is?
Can I talk about it better than anyone else?
Name Your Personal Brand
Buy Your User Name
Choose Your Medium
Start a Blog
Hire a Designer
Include Connect, Call-to-Action, Share Functions, and Business Invites
Create a Facebook Fan Page
Sign-up For Content Distributors (Ping.fm, TubeMogul, Twitter, Facebook)
Post Your Content
Create Community by Commenting
Use Twitter Search to Find People Talking About Your Topic
Use Google Blog Search to Find More Blogs On Your Topic
Join Facebook Fan Pages and Groups Relating To Your Topic
Reach Out To Advertisers and Begin Monetizing
Appendix B: Five Business Ideas I Won’t Get to – They’re Yours
The QVC of the Internet
A Tea Blog
The Sports Center of the Web
Online Book Reviews
PepsiLandHousPlace.com
Now Some Quotes
The next thing to do after previewing the TOC, is to read, and then look for quotes that stuck in your mind. (I will only give a few in this installment, so as not to overload you.) You can use what stuck in your mind as a springboard for what you want to get out of the book’s contents. Think highlights reel (for you sports buffs).
Quote, The First
On technology as a tool:
“You can pimp your ride, but that doesn’t change…how you travel in your car” (page 12).
My thoughts:
This is an excellent metaphor for how technological tools can be viewed. It helps us to visualize what to do with technology. Technology is not the car, it is the rims, the tires, the spoiler, etc. In other words, it is not the most important thing – the content (the engine!) is.
Quote, The Second
On monetizing your passion:
“Can you think of at least 50 blog topics that you’re amped to write about? That’s about the minimum number of posts you’ll need to give yourself enough time to get a feel for the situation.
That said, I’m convinced that if something is your true passion you can find 500 things – 500 interesting things – to say about it” (page 50).
My thoughts:
Wow! So, I’m just starting out with blogging and social media and this both excited me and scared me. I was excited because I thought, ‘great, now I know a number to shoot for when I’m looking to become an expert in my niche.’ Then I thought, ‘yikes, I’ve got about a year or more of hardcore blogging to do to get to that point!’ And then the next thought was ‘can I pull it off?’ ‘Can I last that long?’ Only time will tell, but this is a great target to shoot for.
Quote, The Third
On analytics:
“It’s not about how many viewers you have, it’s about how passionate they are” (page 80).
My thoughts:
As a new blogger, I’m very happy to hear this, because, frankly, it’s depressing being a ‘new kid on the block’ and feeling like, ‘ok, when is my traffic supposed to pickup?’ In other words, Gary gives me permission to worry less about quantity, and encourages me to focus more on quality.
That’s all for part one. Stay tuned for part two, coming soon!
So, yeah, I just got done ragging on Twitter in my last post.
But, that was before this happened!
GaryVee and Me Convo on Twitter
Now I think I’ll start saying nice things about Twitter again. (Haha, maybe. For now.)
Anyway, I feel high like a school girl fresh from a Backstreet Boys concert. (BTW: BBoys – nice website!) I’m going to go enjoy that feeling before it wears off and I have to return to studying for my Statistics test (ugh).
Don’t say social media can’t help you. It can. You just have to be patient… funny, self-promoting, and a big fat suck up, but seriously, you can get noticed by the big boys and start making connections (and having fun at the same time).
And as we all should know by now, networking is king in Entrepreneurship.
