Yep, we’re starting to see more and more variations on social media meetups. This is a great thing for SMBers that can’t make it to a regular SMB because of work, distance, or other commitments.
Ruth Sylte has put together what looks to be a great meetup in Northfield, MN at The Contented Cow on August 24th. You can find more info here.
If you’re looking for another way to network with your fellow SMBers, this is a good one. So check it out and share the info with your social media friends.
SMB-TC6 is coming together quickly and seems to have a theme: social media in real life! We’ve got many great things happening that really show how social media is changing everything we do. From writing books, to our political process, social media is transforming social interaction, bringing more interactivity and a voice to more people.
I didn’t plan on this, but as the event materialized, we ended up with a theme of sorts: social media in real life. The agenda is full of it – we’re writing a chapter of a book, we’re learning of new tools by their creators, we’re talking with citizen journalists at the kickoff of a major political conference… all these things are part of the lives of our community. We get to share these things, and make them even better. At least, that’s my thoughts as we finish pulling this together.
We have a very special event at this SMB: live-writing a chapter of Pioneer Press Journalist Julio Ojeda-Zapata’s new book Twitter Means Business –How microblogging can help or hurt your company. How will this work? We’ll be using Twitter of course! The project kicks off on Monday August 18th, 2008 and runs through Friday, August 22nd at SMB-TC6! More details on this from Julio (@jojeda) shortly!
Also, we have a new sponsor this month: MarketWire (thank them for the bacon ;).
Julio Ojeda-Zapata (@jojeda on Twitter) will talk about his upcoming book Twitter Means Business – How microblogging can help or hurt your company
Participate in live-writing a chapter to Julio’s new book on Twitter, we’ll wrap that up live at SMB-TC6! Read more here!
Live remote update from Noah Kunin (@noahkunin on Twitter) of TheUptake.org from the first day of the DNC in Denver, CO. Noah will be demonstrating how social media, specifically mobile video, is being used for citizen journalism.
Glad you asked! I don’t know, guess it’s a lot of things. Work is one of them, and my current contract certainly eats up the business hours. Sure, the real job takes up the majority of the time in my day and week, but I’ve found more. I’m spending more time doing the things I forgot I liked to do.
And that is a key component to recharging and taking next steps I suppose. There’s lots of opportunities for people that they never seem to recognize for what they are. Until a couple years ago, I spent most of my career doing just that – not recognizing opportunity after opportunity waltzing past without my realizing it.
So far, this year has been amazing on so many fronts, that I’ve found more opportunities offline because of online efforts. These chances to do new things, combined with more time spent with my family have meant that I spend less time writing and posting on my blog here. That doesn’t mean that I’ve abandoned it by any stretch, but it does mean that I’ve not spent much time developing content and sharing ideas or new things.
I just wanted to take a minute when I seem to have a few extra and simply say “Hi!” to all the folks I don’t get a chance to chat with very often of late. I’ll be around the ‘net working on a number of different things, but hope to get a chance to sit over virtual coffee and catch up with many of you soon.
Part of what made the early and current social media crowd important to me, has been the willingness for folks to “give it awayâ€. By that I mean all the ideas, tools, and techniques that are used and talked about on the social web. This post itself is inspired by the very concept of sharing and giving ideas away as the title comes from Chris Brogan’s100 Blog Topics I Hope YOU Write. During one trip nearly a year ago, he gave away 100 topic ideas, offering them up for folks to expand on.
That is an example of what I mean. One guy has time on his hands and wants to share his ideas, knowing that he may not have time to write about some of the posts he’s thought of. There’s more though. The bulk of social media to date is based on giving away something. Whether it’s ideas, or stories, or comedy, or podcasts, or how-to’s, or videos, the interest in sharing in this new media venue is what makes it all so exciting. Sure, it’s going to change – you can already see that happening – but it’s the folks who’ve started it, and those that follow the same ethos that make it exciting.
As this medium evolves as a method to connect and interact with clients and customers, it will become more commercialized and controlled. At least, there will always be attempts to control it. We believe at this point that most attempts to control the social web will fail – we’ll have to wait and see if that turns out to be true.
Mostly, I enjoy the idea that through all the years, through all the social and political change, through the technological changes, that we still value social interaction as much as our grandparents. It’s the satisfaction that through the years, the desire to share tips and things we’ve learned with folks doesn’t change. That people are quite happy to share and “give it awayâ€.
One of the problems of contract work as opposed to consulting is the length of time that a person spends at one assignment. Sure, it’s nice to have a steady, billable gig for a time, but it brings its own unique challenges. One of these challenges is that team members in the organization, even management, seem to forget that you’re just a temporary troubleshooter.
The implications from this are that they start building plans or structure around you and not the role you’re filling. Many folks simply forget that you’re here to fulfill a specific need, run a single project, or fix a unique system that is outside the scope or abilities of the existing staff. It’s bothersome when people start talking as if you’ll be there “next year” or when managers start implying that they need to make sure to “keep you around”.
Like many, I’m flattered by those sentiments and sometimes think it may not be too bad to go back to the corporate gig with a desk & phone and a guaranteed payday every week. However, there are too many aspects of the independent consultant that are appealing to really let that happen.
While the risk of uncertain pay schedules is the biggest issue, the benefits of bringing your workspace with you every day are too many to ignore. You are your own boss. You ultimately control your schedule. You determine your pay rate. You are responsible for your personal evaluation. You decide how the profits are spent.
The net result of being an independent consultant is that you gain control over these things – even in a longer contract, these items are still under your purview. Giving up that control and “working for the man” is the part for many consultants that is simply unacceptable. The feeling that long-term contracts adds is a mix of the consulting/employee feeling, even though you have control, the longer you are sitting somewhere, the longer people think you belong there – or to them in some way.
That’s one of the aspects of contract work that bothers me – the expectation in many areas by the team members you work with that you either should be hired on, or ultimately will be. Only for them to be disappointed when it doesn’t happen. For me, I’m content to simply be a great consultant that helps clients achieve their goals.
One of the problems of contract work as opposed to consulting is the length of time that a person spends at one assignment. Sure, it’s nice to have a steady, billable gig for a time, but it brings its own unique challenges. One of these challenges is that team members in the organization, even management, seem to forget that you’re just a temporary troubleshooter.
The implications from this are that they start building plans or structure around you and not the role you’re filling. Many folks simply forget that you’re here to fulfill a specific need, run a single project, or fix a unique system that is outside the scope or abilities of the existing staff. It’s bothersome when people start talking as if you’ll be there “next year” or when managers start implying that they need to make sure to “keep you around”.
Like many, I’m flattered by those sentiments and sometimes think it may not be too bad to go back to the corporate gig with a desk & phone and a guaranteed payday every week. However, there are too many aspects of the independent consultant that are appealing to really let that happen.
While the risk of uncertain pay schedules is the biggest issue, the benefits of bringing your workspace with you every day are too many to ignore. You are your own boss. You ultimately control your schedule. You determine your pay rate. You are responsible for your personal evaluation. You decide how the profits are spent.
The net result of being an independent consultant is that you gain control over these things – even in a longer contract, these items are still under your purview. Giving up that control and “working for the man” is the part for many consultants that is simply unacceptable. The feeling that long-term contracts adds is a mix of the consulting/employee feeling, even though you have control, the longer you are sitting somewhere, the longer people think you belong there – or to them in some way.
That’s one of the aspects of contract work that bothers me – the expectation in many areas by the team members you work with that you either should be hired on, or ultimately will be. Only for them to be disappointed when it doesn’t happen. For me, I’m content to simply be a great consultant that helps clients achieve their goals.
