https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/public/ recent bookmarks from jerryking 2024-05-05T03:39:45+00:00 https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/a-look-at-the-financial-times-alphaville-blog-a-decade-after-its-launch/s2/a687044/ jerryking audience_engagement blogging blogs community FT social_media https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:e363773fb9b8/ 2023-09-15T16:33:06+00:00 https://www.hottakes.space/p/your-life-should-be-on-an-accelerated jerryking>Everyone knows compounding financials is powerful (yet still most don't do anything). Even more so is education, and thanks to the internet, this is free...<< "“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.” —Benjamin Franklin throughout life, if you want to unlock the complete puzzle, you should be on an accelerated (compounding) learning curve......it’s the opposite of how most people live..........if you follow the normal path, you gain education in a structured setting while young and use that as the basis for a career. You continue to learn things, advance and grow – sure. But it’s growth as a byproduct of your experiences and fairly linear. That’s important too but by itself is not a consciously accelerated path. I believe an accelerated path is more than possible: >>intersectionality<< is real and the more areas you explore the more interesting connections you’ll make...........A majority of individuals, whether in structured settings or during their careers, don’t consciously put themselves on an accelerated learning curve..........Some are lucky and find mentorship. Most of us are on our own. But an accelerated learning track is exactly what you should be on. Everything is more fun, fulfilling and meaningful this way........first realize something and heavily internalize it: **you know nothing** [i.e. = "blank slate"]. This is mostly the opposite of what we’re conditioned for in educational institutions, where a big part of the credentialism of modern academia, consciously or not, is to instill a sense of superiority: at best so you’ve got some confidence but at worst (generally happens at ‘brand’ institutions) it breeds smugness................only when you realize you do know nothing is your mind ready for accelerated learning. When you live life thinking you have all the answers your mind is closed and unreceptive. “The whole >>purpose of education<< is to turn mirrors into windows.” —Sydney J. Harris Approaching situations with the mindset that you know nothing [i.e. = "beginner's mind"/"blank slate"] is powerful as you enter them objectively, not subjectively. Our egos are not in the way. And an objective, measured (first principles) mindset is necessary for learning. When you always bias first to a subjective mindset you have already lost most chances for learning Here are some specific next steps you could take to put yourself on an accelerated learning curve. **Quit your job…if** Overall, you need to be in a role that nurtures an accelerated learning curve, especially while young...... The whole idea of an accelerated learning curve is you cannot be stagnating...... ** Engage in independent learning** learning while at work or from others, you need to also be learning on your own. This is an opportunity to get out of your vertical and become exposed to others. Interesting results always happen at the intersection and again I can’t understate the importance of intersectionality. Read blogs, books and case studies on new areas. Explore the internet and libraries. Get books online and in local shops. Take MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). Listen to podcasts and watch vlogs on subjects you know nothing about. Read research reports. Don’t close yourself off to knowledge because it is in formats of media that are unfamiliar........in most areas of learning, there is always a “next step” with data or ideas you take in. But not all learning should necessarily be like this especially if nurturing cross-domain creativity is desired **Connect with others both digitally and in person** In Richard Florida’s book, Who’s Your City,.... the creative economy is making where to live the most important decision of your life. That’s because you need to be surrounded by others who motivate and push you to higher levels of success. Equally important, >>learning from others<< in 1-1 or small group situations presents opportunities far beyond that of larger classrooms. Developing these types of relationships is an integral step to being on an accelerated learning curve. ** You should make art** art is something that anyone can and should create. It is not limited to those who society deems creative.....We’re all innately creative, and all of us are potentially artists. It is not a >>unique skill set<< to individuals, it’s unique to our species. You either decide to nurture this ability or you don’t. And to exercise your mind in this way taps into an area that otherwise lays dormant. Creating art is actively learning. **Document your progress** fit something like blogging into a busy life. Documenting thoughts/lessons learned />>creative ideas<< in a physical, public format forces you to organize them [i.e. = "organize your thinking"] and provides a future reference point......this allows you to build on ideas as you move forward..... in a sense like going to the gym for your brain. **People who >>write well<<, think well.** **Teach/mentor others** every time I give >>knowledge transfer<< to someone else [i.e. = "Protégé Effect"], I find it helps my own growth too. It’s win-win – you help encourage someone new and concurrently you’re forced to articulate your processes, tips, tricks and strategies to someone else real-time. When you do this, it causes you to analyze and reflect on them in a different way than you normally do. In time, it helps you refine them. **Wrapping up…** it’s highly worth considering how you can put yourself on a path of continued, accelerated learning throughout life. ]]> accelerated_lifecycles Benjamin_Franklin blank_slate blogging continuous_learning documentation education generalists intersectionality in-person invest_in_yourself learning_curves life_long_learning life_skills MOOCs organize_your_thinking protégé_effect relationships Richard_Florida self-education learning_from_others compounding_knowledge knowledge_transfers writing_well unique_skills skill_sets beginner's_mind purpose_of_education creative_ideas https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:3ab1c79013e3/ 2023-01-08T14:17:51+00:00 https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/07/business/uber-engineer-bloggers.html jerryking blogging blogs Communicating_&_Connecting engineering software_developers Big_Tech in-house large_companies talent war_for_talent https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:0a2b5124a55e/ 2017-04-25T15:30:08+00:00 http://www.marktaw.com/Work_and_Business/Why-Businesses-Fail.html jerryking>e-Myth<< (I never have), you'll know that there's a difference between working on your business (improving your processes) and working in your business (doing the processing), and that automation is the key to success. I sort of agree with this. I got an email the other day commenting on the fact that I haven't updated this site in months. The truth is, I've been busy, and while I've been writing articles, none of them pass out of draft mode, and I've been just a little less than inspired to finish them. But I discovered years ago that the great thing about having a website is that no matter how slowly you add items, all the old stuff is still there. No matter how slowly you build it, as long as it's getting built it's okay. I make a modest amount of money from Google ads and pimping books on Amazon, but that amount hasn't decreased much over the months. Nothing approaching something worth quitting my day job over, but enough to cover hosting costs. I guess part of my "success" has been that I've become a bit of an expert in a few niche areas (home recording, acoustics, GTD) and I lend a >>unique perspective<<. I'm not trying what everyone else is doing (if I run across one more "Blog about the best Google/YouTube videos" I'm going to puke), I'm adding real value. Since this stuff is niche, when people Google for or want to link to articles about these subjects, often enough it's my site that pops up. In other words I'm doing what I love, and letting the money follow. The money is pitiful, but who cares, I'm doing what I love, and the cost of maintaining this site is almost zero. Whenever I tried some other venture, I ran into the "expenses occur every month, but profits don't quite cover them and I don't know when they will" problem I talked about so extensively before. Just to balance out the conversation, >>automation<< isn't everything. Plenty of businesses are built on customization and **making things by hand**. >>Striking the right balance<< between >>hand made<< and sellable, and niche enough that nobody else will mass produce it has formed the basis of many businesses. A neighborhood restaurant can outsell a national chain by offering up better quality food, and they can charge a premium for it. Some Tips for Would-Be Headbangers Here's the most difficult part of the article. Trying to give you something meaningful to take away from having spent the past few minutes of your life reading this article instead of working on your business (admit it, you look forward to the distraction). Unlike Oprah, I don't have a gift basket full of goodies, so you'll have to settle for some tips. These are extra cheerful, but don't let them fool you, starting your own business is hard, hard work. Join a community of >>like-minded<< people, preferably with a good mix of aspiring business owners and people who are successful in your field. If you're working on your own, or even if you're working with a partner, you end up thinking in circles. Writing out your ideas forces them out of your head and into a linear format where you'll see the incongruities, and seeing how other people tackle the same problems as you is inspiring. Sure nobody will give away their secret success formula (I hear it's just salad dressing anyway), but they will pat you on the back, and give you a few words of encouragement. Don't restrict yourself to virtual communities. One should never underestimate the benefits of human contact, and if your business is bricks & mortar, it never hurts to know a lot of potential customers. PS - your community is also a good potential customer base. It's much easier to figure out what people want when you're surrounded by and one of those people. Do what you love. Yeah, I know, this is about as cliched and pithy as it can get, but you have to remember that any business idea you come up with has been thought of by at least a thousand more people than you think, each of them just as smart as you are. If you don't love it, you'll simply give up. Loving what you do also means that you're less likely to engage in stereotypical thinking, leading to more creative solutions, and whatever path you head down, it's more likely that there will be people hungry for information about the road ahead, so your advance reports will become valuable, and you can then sell your services back to the community you've been reporting to. There's also mounting evidence that there's tremendous advantage to being first. Copycats will make money, but on an order of magnitude less than the original. Don't be a copycat. Become an expert in your field (if you're not already) [i.e. = "domain expertise"]. You don't have to know everything, but **you do have to have enough of an overview to know where everything fits** [i.e. = "know enough to navigate"] so that when you come across something new, you know what to do with it, and in a few months time you'll come up with a new use for it. People will also put their trust in someone who sounds authoritative and can provide real insight much more readily than someone who just sounds like an arrogant blowhard. A little humility here also goes a long way towards people believing you're sincere. Own up to your own mistakes, heck broadcast your mistakes and write an article about why nobody should follow in your footsteps. Start a blog. I've already told you to get everything written down, do what you love and to become an expert. Writing a blog is a natural next step. It will also help **establish you as an authority** [i.e. = "positioning as an authority"] in whatever field it is you're pursuing. Don't allow yourself to get desperate. Studies about how people make decisions when under pressure show that you lose flexibility when there's a deadline looming. You try the first thing that comes to mind, and unless you're an expert, it's frequently the wrong thing (and even when you're an expert it's frequently the wrong thing). (Klein, 1998) So quitting your job is just an incredibly stupid idea because that deadline (being broke) will affect your thinking for the worse, no matter how far into the future it is. Even the stubborn belief that if this business works you can quit your job will affect your thinking. Learn how to handle your finances in your private and business life. Remarkably, unlike a starting business where cutting your expenses 20% just changes how long it will take to fail, when you're profitable (i.e. you have a day job), cutting your expenses 20% has a significant impact on your ability to save, and the more you have saved, the more flexibility & freedom you have to pursue avenues you will enjoy. Dominguez & Robin wrote a book called Your Money or Your Life, which completely changed my attitude towards money. Reducing expenses and building a savings is just as important as increasing your income. A penny saved is two pennies earned - one in the bank, and one less penny from your monthly expenses you'll have to cover when you retire. We'll all be living off of our nest egg eventually, and hopefully our nest egg will be big enough to support our lifestyle. Your goal should be to increase your nest egg, and reduce the expenses of your lifestyle. It sounds simplistic, but this book to really showed me how and why it was possible. Test yourself against reality. Robert J. Ringer, in his excellent book Winning Through Intimidation ("through" being a double entendre meaning both "using" and "in spite of"), summarizes most self help business books as "Work really hard and hope for the best." You absolutely must know the impact of your actions, and if at all possible, before you take them. This can take many forms from tracking the success rates of various advertising methods to starting a user forum to get feedback about what people really want. You have to keep your eyes open, watch the competition, and do whatever you can to increase your actual odds of success. Try a lot of different things.[i.e. = "diversity of approaches"/"multiple approaches"] Flexibility, doing what you love, testing yourself against reality. >>Diversification<< is sometimes what saves your butt in the end. Business lore is rife with tales of people who started doing X, but ended up being successful because of Y. 30% of the money this blog makes comes from the articles I wrote about music & recording, but I'd never know that if I hadn't written those articles. If you're too narrowly focused for too long, you'll miss potential money making avenues. Robert G. Allen, the "No money down" guru (or charlatan, take your pick), wrote a book called Multiple Streams of Income. In it, he says that having just one source of income is a mistake. If it dries up, you're screwed. Not all your sources will be as profitable as others, but by having them you're not just hedging your bets, you're increasing the odds that you'll strike gold. Take Action.[i.e. = "action-oriented"/"call to action"/"do it now!!"/" just start!"] Being able to diversify presupposes that you're actually on the move already. You can't cover a lot of bases if you haven't been at bat yet. Start small, set your goals and do something. (Yeah, another pithy one, I know, but it seemed like a natural fit here.) Raise the >>barrier to entry<<. Another good reason so many businesses die is that they fail to differentiate. People continue to engage in stereotypical thinking and just do the easiest, most obvious thing. Since they came up with it on their own (and they may even love it), they think they're the only ones doing it. But if you can >>create something<< [i.e. = "zero to one"] that fewer people can or will copy, then you can charge just a little more for it. This isn't just about differentiating yourself from the competition, it's about >>creating something<< [i.e. = "zero to one"] that they **can't copy**.[i.e. = "hard to replicate"] The escalation path is usually pretty clear - it's the thing that few people are doing and that you resist doing. (This when bedazzling your Olympics t-shirts can net you more money.) Don't spend it unless you're sure you can recoup it. This is a real rookie mistake. "If I can get 100 widgets for $1 each, 1,000 for $0.90 is even better!" You need to be sure you can recoup your expenses before you spend the money. Frequently, this means doing things by hand instead of spending the money on the cool automation tool, or using an existing tool instead of buying the shiny new thing. Economies of scale are for companies that operate on that scale. Take less of a profit margin per-sale now to ensure you aren't stuck with an inventory that won't move and a mounting debt. Never stop learning.[i.e. + "continuous learning"] If you haven't figured it out, I read (or at least used to), a lot of books. Learning from other people's mistakes, gain a different perspective. The more you know, the more flexible you'll be, the better the decisions you'll make, the firmer your grasp of reality, the more you increase the odds in your favor. It's common lore that 9 out of 10 new businesses fail each year. I suspect the number is much higher than that since most new businesses never reach the point where people claim them on their taxes or open up business bank accounts. The odds are probably closer to a thousand to one. There's good reason for this - starting a new business is much harder, more time consuming and expensive than most people think. We pin our hopes and dreams on our ability to beat the odds, and we mistakenly believe that starting our own business will be easier or more enjoyable than working for someone else. For 999 out of 1,000 people, this simply isn't true. I certainly haven't been shopping for any new shoes And I certainly haven't been spreading myself around I still only travel by foot and by foot it's a slow climb But I'm good at being uncomfortable so I can't stop changing all the time I noticed that my opponent is always on the go And won't go slow so as not to focus and I notice He'll hitch a ride with any guide as long as they go fast from whence he came But he's no good at being uncomfortable so he can't stop staying exactly the same If there was a better way to go then it would find me I can't help it the road just rolls out behind me Be kind to me or treat me mean I make the most of it I'm an extraordinary machine - Fiona Apple,Extraordinary Machine. Alternate versions of the above graph. It's worth noting that due to the variability of the change in revenue from month to month (from -20% to +30%), I was able to randomly generate a lot of different graphs. Some of my fake businesses were successful faster than others (higher average increase in income). On a long enough scale, all my sample businesses look like the last chart in this section - in my model the increase in revenue is guaranteed over the long haul while expenses stay stagnant. It's not entirely realistic, but it's worth nothing that I could cut the graph off anywhere to make it look like a runway success, or a dismal failure. Additional Reading The Cost of Bootstrapping Your App: The Figures Behind DropSend (part one) About how starting a dotcom (Dropsend) cost the owner $45,000. Note the recurring ÂŁ900 ($1564)hosting bill. Here's What It Really Takes To Start Your Own Wine Store, Bakery, Restaurant... Bitter Brew: My Coffehouse Nightmare Who's linking to this article Businesspundit "Cash management is not a problem for startups. It's a problem in expansion of a successful business." The Business of Software "I'm not sure exactly how to express my dislike of such negativities in a short post here, but it is so far removed from my experiences and those I read on this forum." Global Market Development (The Carnival of Entrepreneurship 6) "Since we're looking at the dark side - Mark T. A. W. of MarkTAW.com proves why not quitting your day job helps you to succeed when starting your own business..." Crazy on Tap "he is somehow attacking the religious text of a certain type of entrepreneur." page first created on Saturday, March 04, 2006, graphs revised with feedback from bon vivant on June 8, 2009 © Mark Wieczorek Comments]]> failure via:seancron websites experimentation e-commerce e-Myth dark_side long-haul charge_for_something mantras unique_perspectives blogging like-minded time-to-profitability creative_solutions quitting automation handmade striking_a_balance barriers_to_entry call_to_action continuous_learning diversification diversity_of_approaches do_it_now!! domain_expertise hard_to_replicate just_start! multiple_approaches positioning_as_an_authority know_enough_to_navigate faction-oriented creating_something_new zero_to_one https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:8d8123518bfa/ 2016-10-18T12:43:12+00:00 http://www.artofmarketing.ca/blog/marketing-and-sales/five-reasons-company-doesnt-blog/ jerryking blogs blogging marketing personal_branding https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:6c4a269e47f1/ 2014-08-19T01:19:46+00:00 http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/18/improving-your-public-relations-without-a-public-relations-firm/?_php=true&_type=blogs&smid=tw-nytsmallbiz&seid=auto&_r=0 jerryking public_relations howto Communicating_&_Connecting blogs blogging call_to_action https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:f4781c87b323/ 2012-12-09T19:53:12+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB115885283520170125.html jerryking public_relations small_business start_ups Gwendolyn_Bounds blogging gaining/getting_attention https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:a50d681c94d0/ 2012-02-22T15:06:05+00:00 http://www.linkedin.com/share?viewLink=&sid=s908850597&url=http%3A%2F%2Ft%2Eco%2FooLGg5OX&urlhash=shlO&uid=5577874982995767296&trk=EML_nus_share-F16&ut=2HzVby1u-7dR81 jerryking JCK blogs blogging ideas content creating_valuable_content https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:d0bec1a95c92/ 2011-11-04T04:54:49+00:00 http://nickoneill.com/secret-formula-never-unemployed-2011-07/ jerryking blogging career job jobs https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:1a18cb50f344/ 2011-10-15T01:36:58+00:00 https://secure.globeadvisor.com/servlet/ArticleNews/story/gam/20111006/SMALLBIZ_OCT2011_P9 jerryking small_business blogging buzz word-of-mouth https://pinboard.in/ https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:f1888fdd7e41/ 2011-09-25T16:34:49+00:00 http://v1.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/GIS.Servlets.HTMLTemplate?current_row=13&tf=tgam/columnists/FullColumn.html&cf=tgam/columnists/FullColumn.cfg&configFileLoc=tgam/config&date=&dateOffset=&hub=leahMcLaren&title=Leah_McLaren&cache_key=leahMcLaren&start_row=13&num_rows=1 jerryking blogging Leah_McLaren https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:1750c8bacca2/ 2011-05-15T13:42:23+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703859304576309791299294436.html?mod=WSJ_SmallBusiness_LEFTTopStories jerryking websites jck Sarah_E._Needleman blogging tools https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:91559624bb3f/ 2011-04-29T13:49:11+00:00 http://www.bnet.com/blog/web-design/10-posts-you-should-write-for-your-company-blog/275?promo=713&tag=nl.e713 jerryking JCK blogs blogging https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:625cc205c6de/ 2011-04-04T17:42:56+00:00 http://www.viperchill.com/blog-post-length/ jerrykingblogging jck https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:da87d0ea6cc4/ 2010-11-08T04:54:53+00:00 http://www.copyblogger.com/5-simple-ways-to-open-your-blog-post-with-a-bang/ jerrykingblogging writing content https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:612ca5143a2d/ 2010-10-08T06:48:21+00:00 http://www.theslipperyslope.com/ jerrykingblogging risks law legal_system https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:afbeb64dd261/ 2010-10-02T14:50:00+00:00 http://www.butterscotch.com/show/How-To-Start-Your-Own-Blog jerrykinghowto blogging jack blogs https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:de75282d1514/ 2010-09-06T17:29:44+00:00 http://www.tricksdaddy.com/2010/06/guest-blogging-a-long-term-promotional-strategy.html jerryking blogging strategy Freshbooks https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:73079a15dda8/ 2010-08-28T02:47:29+00:00 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1002557881&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=11263&RQT=309&VName=PQD jerryking ProQuest blogging blogs ROI https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:320a8a165cee/ 2010-08-27T12:13:28+00:00 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1221836181&sid=3&Fmt=3&clientId=11263&RQT=309&VName=PQD jerryking ProQuest ROI blogging blogs https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:0d84f6c542a7/ 2010-08-25T17:00:22+00:00 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1454156721&sid=5&Fmt=3&clientId=11263&RQT=309&VName=PQD jerryking blogs blogging ProQuest Andrea_Southcott personal_branding https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:5c8870020a1c/ 2010-07-09T17:15:18+00:00 http://www.copyblogger.com/effective-blog-habits/ jerrykingblogging https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:2480390b4d0c/ 2010-06-26T12:59:08+00:00 http://forrester.typepad.com/groundswell/2006/10/calculating_the.html jerryking ROI blog blogs blogging Charlene_Li risks https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:5661f9d39787/ 2010-06-22T01:31:30+00:00 http://www.copyblogger.com/how-to-be-interesting/ jerryking>gain attention<< by being right … but only if you’re more right than everyone else. Run a mile faster than anyone else, explain your topic more clearly than anyone else, be funnier than everyone else. 3. Communicate what others can’t As writers, we take ideas from our heads and put them on the page. Sometimes we forget how difficult that is for some people and how valuable that makes us. Lots of people would give anything to be able to say what they mean. But they can’t. So, they turn to songs, books, and art that communicate for them. Be a producer of those things, and you’ll never lose their attention. 4. Do something Everybody online is trying to say something important, but very few are trying to do something important. If you want attention, dare not to just give advice to others, but to live that advice yourself. 5. >>Surprise<< people Chip and >>Dan Heath<<, authors of ++Made to Stick++, say that one of the best ways to **set yourself apart** is to break people’s “guessing machines.” Take a >>surprising<< position, making outlandish analogy, or otherwise >>do the opposite<< of what you normally do. As long as it’s >>unexpected<<, people will stop and >>pay attention<<. 6. Make people laugh Bloggers are far too serious. We’re so busy teaching that we sometimes forget to entertain. As a result, large portions of our readerships fall asleep. And what’s the best way to wake people up? Humor. 7. Offer them an aspirin Some of the best blog posts ever written are simple as an aspirin. Your reader has a headache, you have a cure, so you offer them that cure in the form of a blog post. 8. Show a (half) naked woman Ever noticed that a disproportionate number of advertisements feature a scantily clad woman? That’s because it works. 9. Tell them who they are “Who am I?” is not just a question; it’s a universal quest that most of us follow for our entire lives, continually defining and redefining ourselves, always insecure about whether who we are being is really us. As a blogger, you can (and should) harness that insecurity. Turn your blog into something that defines your readers. 10. Predict the future Every once in awhile, use your expertise to make a bizarre claim about the future. If you have any authority at all, people will take notice. 11. Unleash your inner dork Many blog posts are like miniature textbooks; they’re instructive, well-organized, and put you to sleep with their lack of enthusiasm. If you want to become famous on the web, stop trying to sound like an >>all-knowing<< teacher and unleash the “inner dork” inside of you — the part of you that’s so enamored with your topic that everyone else thinks it’s funny … but they pay attention anyway. 12. Be courageous The fact is, pretty much everyone has felt the foot of adversity on their neck, but very few of us respond to it with courage and grace. Be one of those people, and you’ll find the world will be watching. 13. Be startlingly honest Every once in awhile, tell the truth. Be so honest that you’re scared to click the “Post” button. Be so honest that no one knows what to say in the comments section. Be so honest that your lawyer tells you to stop. 14. Be irreverent Want to stir people up? Make fun of their god, their politics, their family — anything they hold dear. 15. Tell a good story This one has been drilled into us so many times that I almost didn’t include it … except for one thing: people still don’t get it. 16. Break an important piece of news Every time Google does something new, thousands of bloggers write about it. 17. >>Disprove<< the proven For a long time, everyone thought you had to be the best to be successful. Then >>Chris Anderson<< came along and turned the world upside down with >>The Long Tail<<. He disproved what a lot of people held to be true, and it made him (even more) famous. 18. Pick the perfect picture Want to make a good post better? Pick a picture that expresses exactly what you mean, and put it at the top of your post. Yes, it takes time, but the extra traffic is more than worth it. 19. Master the metaphor >>Metaphors<< are the paths we create to lead our readers to our ideas. Create one strong enough, and it will become a highway of attention, leading readers to your blog more quickly than any other technique here 20. Create a work of art Many bloggers crank out posts the way slaughterhouses crank out chickens. They’re ugly things, fit for nothing but consumption. If you want to surprise people, stop and put some actual effort into your blog posts, creating a work of art. 21. Put your readers first Yes, you’re the blogger. Yes, you’re the one with talent. Yes, you’re the one working your tail off. But it doesn’t matter. The one and only thing of consequence is your reader. ]]> howto interestingness quotes blogging Chris_Anderson disprove honesty imagery irreverence metaphors pay_attention standing_out_from_the_crowd storytelling The_Long_Tail courage humour painkillers unexpected all-knowing doing_the_opposite Dan_Heath gaining/getting_attention surprises surprising_answers aspirin https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:9a8c17fa0f4d/ 2010-06-14T18:13:25+00:00 http://gapingvoid.com/2010/06/14/wmabf/ jerryking>sets an example<< for them. It stands for something that resonates with them. IT LEADS THEM TO SOMEWHERE THAT THEY ALSO WANT TO GO. And if your blog can do that, suddenly your readers are associating purple dogs and green sofas with something that ACTUALLY matters to them. And then, and only then, do they pull their credit cards out. Ker-chiing. ]]> failure blogging art blog humour marketing business inspiration social_media authenticity setting_an_example emotional_connections personal_connections https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:095e47c10e23/ 2010-06-07T12:26:05+00:00 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/magazine/06FOB-medium-t.html?ref=magazine jerryking criminality art blogging heists Virginia_Heffernan https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:961cbb90ef60/ 2010-06-04T08:41:44+00:00 http://www.betternetworker.com/videos/view/marketing/article-marketing/article-writing-how-to-leverage-one-article-to-attract-lots-more-traffic jerryking marketing web_video writing jck personal_branding blogs blogging https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:9668d3318c6c/ 2010-03-14T12:12:15+00:00 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/fashion/14moms.html?adxnnl=1&ref=general&src=me&adxnnlx=1268568314-SEvpSU5%201kj6fu1v1DhRWw&pagewanted=all jerryking personal_branding blogging JCK social_media https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:2caeeb6f515d/ 2010-02-15T06:12:18+00:00 http://www.bloggingtips.com/2009/12/17/what-makes-the-perfect-theme/ jerrykingthemes blogs blogging blog https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:c0b859a9f7d3/ 2010-01-19T20:14:57+00:00 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=29857231&Fmt=3&clientId=11263&RQT=309&VName=PQD jerryking philanthropy volunteering charities JCK blogging ProQuest https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:46cd760b3123/ 2010-01-19T19:48:04+00:00 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1148122271&Fmt=3&clientId=11263&RQT=309&VName=PQD jerryking ProQuest blogging JCK volunteering charities altruism https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:bbabfdcf0441/ 2010-01-14T04:11:02+00:00 http://www.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/archives/2010/01/conan_defender.html jerryking blog blogging blogs JCK https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:d01d49ccb0ae/ 2009-10-10T13:13:45+00:00 http://www.workingthoughts.com/ jerryking blogs blogging work_life_balance https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:6773faef2b05/ 2009-07-09T15:42:05+00:00 http://www.problogger.net/archives/2007/01/31/23-ideas-for-finding-new-readers-for-your-blog/ jerrykingJCK blogs blogging blog https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:db983fe91c2e/ 2009-06-22T06:54:56+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124553744783134641.html jerryking blog blogging social_media Managing_Your_Career Alexandra_Levit blogs https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:0e44ef177d2a/ 2009-05-28T11:48:08+00:00 http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/business/smallbusiness/26brand.html?ex=1349236800&en=fa2136ed7dbf0a1b&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink jerryking websites JCK J.C.King&Associates blogging social_networking branding personal_branding https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:096413605e4b/ 2009-05-27T12:34:34+00:00 http://recruitinganimal.typepad.com/ch/2008/12/in-the-press-blog-to-a-job.html jerryking blogs blogging JCK J.C.King&Associates https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:9e36d27f2204/ 2009-05-26T20:04:49+00:00 http://www.inc.com/magazine/20050801/blogs_Printer_Friendly.html jerryking blogging blogs mentoring https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:f6f01cca2025/ 2009-05-26T02:58:32+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124329313241952509.html#mod=todays_us_ jerryking blogging https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:f83ba3079109/ 2009-05-11T13:22:58+00:00 http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2009/04/five-reasons-why-your-company-blog.html jerrykingtips blogs blog blogging shortcomings limitations jck value_creation https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:7f9a735bda7d/ 2009-05-03T04:16:10+00:00 http://weblog.raganwald.com/2008/07/brief-history-of-dangerous-ideas.html jerryking>Astronomy<< and Celestial Mechanics were dangerous ideas because they undermined the most powerful organization of their day, The Church. That’s why people have been banned, tortured, and burned at the stake for talking about these ideas. Crossbows were a dangerous idea because they allowed an untrained peasant to kill a knight. [i.e. = crossbows "deskilled" archery prowess"] Longbows were not a dangerous idea, because only trained archers can kill a knight with a longbow, and the nobility were the only people who could compel peasants to practise yeomanry. Cryptography is not a dangerous idea, because we really don’t know if any of our algorithms and protocols are resistant to the NSA. This was hi-lighted when researchers “discovered” differential cryptanalysis. When they looked at the DES algorithm IBM has been promoting since the 1976, they found that it had been specifically tuned to resist differential cryptanalysis. IBM ‘fessed up: the US government had told them to tune things that way without explaining why, leading us to conclude they had known about this attack for decades before it became public knowledge. Today, we have no idea whether what we think is strong is actually strong or whether it has >>vulnerabilities<< and >>back doors<< governments can exploit. >>Miles Davis<< was a walking, talking, trumpet-playing dangerous idea. Not because he reinvented Jazz five different times (Dear Steve: Apple II, Macintosh, iPod/iPhone, Pixar. One more for the tie, two for the record.) Miles was an >>egocentric<<, venal man who worked the system, not undermined the system. But he was still dangerous because he got white people directly interested in black music. There was no Elvis or Vanilla Ice or anyone else between his music and the mainstream audience. For a government intent on keeping America’s two dominant **cultures divided** through fear, anything uniting them was a threat. People say Miles’ legacy is his music. To me, Miles’ lasting legacy is people like me, people with one parent from each culture who grew up dancing to the same music together. People who, incidentally, do not vote for governments that take a divide and conquer approach to culture. And on to tech. Microcomputers were not a dangerous idea. But personal computers were dangerous. It took decades for IT departments to regain control over people bringing their own computers to work. They can thank >>Microsoft<< for helping them get back into the driver’s seat. (This, incidentally, is why I really dislike Microsoft’s policies: it has nothing to do with their lack of taste, it has to do with their mission to make the computer on my desk belong to my IT department or the record label or the movie studio or—I suspect—the government.) Web applications are dangerous. Never mind the fact that they make desktop applications obsolete. The people who built desktop applications just go and get jobs writing web applications. Same people, different shit. But as Giles Bowkett pointed out, web applications just might make venture capital obsolete! When you don’t need hundreds of programmers and distribution channels and all the other friction-managing elements of a company that ships old-school software, you need a lot less money to start a business. And on to media. You know that the web is busy putting newspapers out of business. My wife and I watched YouTube last Saturday Night. I’m not talking about the advertising business: I think we would have been happy to watch ads to watch our Mitch Hedberg and Billy Connoly comedy clips. But the web lets us choose what we want to watch, when we want to watch it. The network can’t put their up-and-coming show on right after their hit to give it a boost. The new show has to compete on its own merits. That puts users in control, and that’s dangerous. >>Joel Spolsky<< said a similar thing about pricing all music at 99 cents a track: it means the labels can’t kill an artist by sticking their CD in the $3.99 crapola bin. Users choose what they want to listen to. That’s dangerous, again because users are in control. Okay, that’s enough. ++Dangerous ideas are the ones that subvert the existing **hierarchy of control** [i.e. = "power structures"] ++, not just the ones that shuffle people around in the same old chairs. Apple Macintosh with a GUI replacing a PC with a command line? Not dangerous. Apple Macintosh with a Laserwriter and Aldus Pagemaker allowing someone to launch a magazine in their basement that competes with a company employing dozens of layout artists? That’s dangerous, and that’s >>interesting<<. Dangerous equals >>subversive<< equals >>interesting<<. ]]> ideas culture security blogging innovation inspiration dangerous_ideas radical_ideas crazy_ideas history Joel_Spolsky Microsoft Miles_Davis egocentrism interestingness subversion cultural_divides deskilling The_cathedral astronomy celestial back_doors vulnerabilities power_structures https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:dc8a81097da0/ 2009-04-21T12:54:15+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124026415808636575.html jerryking Mark_Penn blogging blogs career for-hire https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:7d3db54284cf/ 2009-04-06T17:07:02+00:00 http://www.hyperlocalblogger.com/ jerrykinghyperlocal blogging local blogs https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:ddecabb7b9ba/ 2009-03-20T18:35:08+00:00 http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1662610961&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=11263&RQT=309&VName=PQD jerryking Communicating_&_Connecting corporate blogging social_media ProQuest https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:14b74db4ec70/ 2009-03-13T07:05:20+00:00 http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/business/smallbusiness/12social.ready.html?em jerryking marketing twitter online_marketing blogging business community entrepreneurship blog Gary_Vaynerchuk https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:db83e1bcc349/ 2009-03-02T05:03:46+00:00 http://solution.allthingsd.com/20061122/choice-and-your-blog/ jerryking blogging Walter_Mossberg privacy https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:840e1c2f9a90/ 2009-02-03T03:37:05+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120526706660828097.html?mod=ITPWSJ_20 jerryking blogging small_business marketing social_media Shelly_Banjo https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:6b9f68c8d2a1/ 2009-02-03T03:17:23+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118712944622997734-c_XMAdh35RGqrh_qFMGtDMFQECg_20080819.html?mod=rss_free jerryking blogging small_business social_networking blog Sarah_E._Needleman social_media productivity blogs https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:bdb5335afe43/ 2009-01-26T12:40:36+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123258195829104305.html jerryking Freshbooks blogging business_development running_a_business small_business Kelly_K._Spors Simona_Covel https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:5d4f621fc1c3/ 2009-01-26T12:35:43+00:00 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120464000933410299.html jerryking Web_2.0 blogging small_business business_development https://pinboard.in/u:jerryking/b:dc9a5fc88c48/