I spent MLK Day 2011 in the first pew at Chapel Hill, NC's First Baptist Church, where I was blessed to hear the good Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis give a powerful and inspirational speech. I thought it was important to capture this day for history, so I brought camera with me and shot the entire 37-minute speech. It was a great way to celebrate Martin Luther King's legacy, but attending this service and now being able to share such an inspirational speech through the power of social media.
WordPress and Multimedia (Updated) for WordCampNYC 2010
Photos from my day at the Nasher Museum vinyl exhibit
The Nasher Museum of Art on the Duke University campus in Durham, NC presents The Record: Contemporary Art and Vinyl. The exhibit is closed to photographers, but there were a few items placed in the public areas I was allowed to shoot. It was interesting to capture people listening to albums curated by various artists whose work is featured. I tried to capture the enjoyment of music discovery.
On my way to 2010.nyc.wordcamp
I'm headed out to RDU for a flight to LGA this afternoon to attend Wordcamp NYC 2010, where I will giving a presentation on Wordpress and Multimedia. It'll be good to see some old friends and make some news ones. Here's a video from the newsroom as I'm about to leave for the airport.
8 tips to finding your way in a down economy
On Facebook, URB Mag publisher and HuffPo columnist, Ray Roker, posted this:
Raymond Leon Roker: “Dear unemployed person, I feel for you, but the job you used to have doesn’t exist anymore. No time to complain or whine about the “economy.” You simply… Must. Learn. New. Shit.”
Learning is critical in today’s job market. Here are some of the things I did to keep myself busy while seeking new employment.
1. I launched WordPress Westchester using Meetup.com to promote myself and my colleagues as WordPress experts. I’ve gotten a few clients through this method of self promotion.
2. Launched a Digital Media consulting company, Digital Strategy Works. The website is tied to Facebook and Twitter, and I am actively utilizing this resource for self-promotion and marketing…. See More
3. Hired an intern to help me promote and market DSW. There are plenty of young people who want to network and need experience. Even if you only need them 6 to 10 hours a week, it’s enough to help you get your message out and start drumming up some business.
4. Volunteered to help build and manage a website for the National Museum of Hip-Hop. It was a ton of work, but keeping with the project gave the impression to others that I was busy working on something important. People like to work with people who are busy. If you sit around sending out resumes and hoping that someone is going to call you, they might, but what’s more important is to stay visible in your field. Giving away your skills for free isn’t easy, but it will show others that you are committed and that you can execute with nothing more than an idea.
5. Find public speaking opportunities and look in other markets. Don’t be afraid to move to where you are needed, instead of beating your head against the wall in a major metro area. There is growth in other markets, you just need to be willing to look and move. While I am building WordPress Westchester, I looked for other opportunities to speak about my experiences with WordPress. When Wordcamp Raleigh came around a few months ago, I put together a presentation (available on my Slideshare.net account) and asked to speak. While there, I checked out the area, networked with a few web shops, and voila…got a client I am now doing a project for. In addition, that turned into a job opportunity. I sat down next to someone at lunch at the conference, made sure to say hello to him and ask him where he’s from and what he’s doing. That conversation turned into a job offer from the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill. I’m moving in a month. I know it’s not easy to uproot your family, especially those with children in school, but you also can’t keep killing yourself in the same place if opportunities do not exist where you are, or the competition is driving you out of the market.
6. Make sure you have the best resume and cover letter, but keep things short and to the point. Try as best you can to not take it personal when a recruiter or hiring manager passes you over. It’s their problem, not yours. If you believe you are the most talented person for the job, maybe you are, but in a competitive market, maybe you’re not. Like Raymond says, you’ve got to learn new skills. How do you do that with little income? It’s called the Library. There are a ton of free meetups now. And, you can intern for others while you look. Make yourself useful, make an impact, and you will find what you are looking for.
7. Time. This all takes time. It can take 6 months to a year to reinvigorate your career, but I am living proof that you can leave your job in the worst economy in decades, start a consulting company, pick up clients, and even get a job. How did I do it? I kept busy and focused on the goal. It was so hard, to the point of tears and arguments at home, but in the end it all worked itself out.
8. I went back to school to get my degree in Digital Communications and Media from New York University. Graduated May 09. It’s never too late to go back to school and cement your skills.
8tracks handcrafted Internet radio powering a new generation of DJs
8tracks is on of my favorite Internet radio sites. And, I'm not just saying that (disclosure: I'm on the Board of Advisors), because I'm down with the crew. It's just that these cats were able to survive the major label mafia and keep their handcrafted internet radio service available to wanna-be DJs. You gotta check out some of these mixes. Definitely music you won't hear on the radio. I'm digging this mix I posted from Aiden Bordner. Check this out and other phat mixes on 8tracks.com. Start your own radio station, tell your friends, and play all the music you probably have never heard, for as long as your ears can stand it. Anyone can become the DJ. I've got some joints on 8tracks as well. You can listen to my mixes on my profile here.
Dance Music in the news!
It was exciting to read the news this week about dance music across America. The LA Times and Detroit News both published articles that focused on the growth of dance/electronic events. Miami New Times led the story in March with an article about the Ultra Music Festival. MTV followed up, hyping the connections to pop. The last link points to last year's NY Times article about the surge in interest in DJ training/education as the recession took hold.
My experience pitching investors at Hatch Match
On Thursday, June 3, I took a risk and went out to pitch my business plan and investor presentation at Hatch Match, a unique meet & greet put together by a group called The Hatchery. While some say The Hatchery is making money and taking advantage of the buzz around the New York start-up scene, other believe its an important and useful tool to help entrepreneurs hone their pitches to ensure they are prepared for the gauntlet.
B2B blogging and publishing with iPhone WordPress App
(This is an updated post to the original. WordPress App for iPhone didn’t save my post the way I’d originally intended it to. I had to update this post and republish using my laptop, defeating the purpose of the article. I’ve am grateful I remembered most of this post. There’s nothing like losing your content and having to start from scratch.)
I’ve been carrying this iPhone for well over a year now with the WordPress iPhone app installed, but I rarely pull it out to post to any of my blogs. Amazing technology hangs on my belt, but I’m not using it!
Usually, I’ll pull up my Facebook or Tweetdeck app for the iPhone to publish my random thoughts, keeping my 1,500+ friends on the FB and over 700 followers on Facebook updated. But there’s only so much one can say in 140 characters or less. The concept of SMS texting and status updates have changed the dynamics of interpersonal communication. I recently heard a report on WNYC radio in New York City about a young girl who posted 14,528 texts in one month. While that’s an anomaly, companies like Twitter, Jaiku, and the defunct Pownce responded to the demand for applications to post quick, short updates using mobile devices. While each company provides the ability to post updates on a website, most posts come from mobile handsets, which provide a constant connection to the web.
My girlfriend recently checked out You Are Not A Gadget for me from the Bronxville Public Library. I’m not even 20 pages in yet, but have already been introduced to author Jared Lanier’s belief that the use of status updates have had a negative affect on interpersonal communication. Whether that’s true or not depends on how we value social media tools in our daily lives. Our children are being trained to communicate in short bursts of information, communicating in acronyms and hacking punctuation to create smiley faces and frowns as a substitute for words. Young people have always created new forms of communication. There isn’t much different in that regard, but we race to understand it and try to limit it, without even really comprehending its affect on us.
While I’m pro social media, one can’t ignore that communication has been irrevocably altered. While some argue SMS and status updates are disrupting the art of writing, which will lead to the decline of Western Civilization as we know it; others say that technology innovation makes improvements to our lives that we have yet to fully understand. Why use so many words to explain simple concepts? Status updates are brief and too the point. Once the wheel was invented, people chose to drive over walking. I’m sure there are those who argue nothing beats walking, but others embrace progress and use the new tools to their advantage, speeding by who they consider the walking fool. To each his or her own in this world. Let the chips fall where they may.
For bloggers, it’s easy to fall prey to the allure of SMS and status updates. As I use the WordPress App for iPhone, I realize there are three distinct issues for those who want to publish long form text on mobile devices. The first issue is screen size. It’s very difficult to view what you’re already written that is hidden behind a scroll. You can only really see a few lines of text, which impacts your ability to quickly refer to what you’ve already written.
The second issue is typing for an extended period on a mobile device. The size of the keys in portrait mode are difficult to master. Constant spelling errors abound. And, WordPress on the iPhone doesn’t identify spelling errors. You have to be on point and make sure there are no mistakes.
And third, I’m here (I was here, I’m back at the hotel room now trying to salvage this post) in at the Four Points Sheraton in Raleigh, NC attending Wordcamp Raleigh. It was pretty easy for me to pull out my iPhone and tweet, Facebook my status, and use FourSquare to tag my location. I’m here at the listening to Jeffrey L. Cohen from Howard, Merrell, and Partners give a presentation on business blogging, which reminded me of a conversation I recently had with my girlfriend, who asked me why I post status updates instead of using my blog as my outlet. She knows that if I publish to my blog, Twitter Tools will post an update to Twitter, which is linked to my Facebook profile. Why not publish my thoughts on my blog and drive traffic, instead of ignoring the site in favor of the others?
The answer lies in the time it takes for someone to blog at a conference. If I were just attending Wordcamp Raleigh as a blogger to cover the event, things might be different. I might have more time to sit down and publish an extended post about what I’ve learned. But, I’m attending as a business owner. I’m not only taking in the sessions, I’m also networking and talking business.
With Jeffrey and my girlfriend’s comments on business blogging in mind, I thought I’d pull out my iPhone, fire up the WordPress app, and do what I tell my clients to do all the time. It took me about 3-hours to fully complete this post. And, once completed, while I thought my post was saved correctly, somehow I lost the entire post and had to go back and remember everything I wrote to recreate the original intent.
I consider myself an expert on WordPress, having blogged and constructed sites on the platform for the past 8-years. Today, when it comes to blogging over mobile using WordPress for iPhone, the key word is “FAIL.”
That sure won’t happen again! Maybe an iPad will solve the problem.
Our new 2007 Certified Pre-Owned Honda Civic EX
Musings about our new certified, pre-owned 2007 Honda Civic and why it's best to take the Henry Hudson, instead of the Willis Avenue Bridge.