I’m with you. I went nomadic about a year ago, although I didn’t strike out on my own. I work for a company that is located 3 states over, so my experience has been a bit different. For example, I think the fist “class” that I took above was 302 – Creating Your Online Persona. I used a lot of my new connections to learn from, but mostly had to learn the above skills on my own. There are a growing number of companies that are building remote and satellite offices and growing telecommuting employees – I definitely think there is a market for a great “getting started” whitepaper.

Wow – never had someone DM me on friendfeed before. J

how do you get to use twitter and it’s completely dead for me?

What, you didn’t think I would follow through? I said I would enter, didn’t I? I’ve posted, tweeted, facebooked, etc.

I’m fully on board with #1. We have about 200GB of data that needs backed up in a major way. As a former computer tech, who had to do data recovery soooo many times, it’s sad how NOT backed up my data is. We are going through the process of organizing and burning our stuff to DVDs.
Piece of advice – backing up to another hard drive is better than nothing, but hard drives fail A LOT. Any magnetic storage device is not a great long-term solution. Put your data on an optical format like CDs or DVDs, or use an off-site backup solution like Mozy (or BOTH!).

I hear you buddy. I have often had those exact same thoughts, and followed them up with “I haven’t really had time to fully develop my thoughts, so I shouldn’t post until I do”. It’s a hard thing to get past, but I think the power bloggers will tell you just to write anyway. Everything worth doing takes practice, and with practice you can get past reason 1, and hopefully reason 2.
I’m glad to see you will be more active – I always have appreciated your insight, and I’ll take more of it wherever I can get it.

I’ve been working from home for almost a year now, and there are a few things that I have learned as well…
- Make sure you have “office hours” or you will find yourself answering your office line at 9pm, and neglecting your family and friends. It’s fine to work outside those hours, but don’t let anyone else know that.
- If you get into a slump, get out of the house and to a starbucks or panera or whatever. The change of scenery does wonders for productivity.
- If you are working from a home where other people live (like my 2 kids and wife) make sure you can be separate enough that you won’t be tempted to play instead of work (and that’s as much for them as for you.)
- Learn to turn off twitter and IM and such if you need to focus.
- Give it some time. I found that it took a while for me to get in my groove where I didn’t feel alone and bored all the time. Find what works for you
- Lastly – take advantage of the chance to completely set your own schedule! It likely won’t be like that for the rest of your career, so you should live it up while you can.

That’s all I can think of for now.

Great post Chris! I would add only 3 things I think:

Sleep: Make sure you get a very good night’s rest before you head out. Once you are there and in full “conference mode” it’s hard to get decent rest. You don’t want to start behind the curve. :)

Travel Arrangements: I always make sure to have the travel situation down cold. Flights are all confirmed and itineraries checked, local transportation has been thought through and properly planned, hotel has everything I need and is in proper proximity, etc.

Turn on Conference Mode: Some people have to go into “conference mode” where they have to flip a mental switch to get out of their shell and be more aware of networking and friend-making opportunities. I always make sure that as soon as I leave the house, I’m ready to go. I have missed and nearly missed great networking occasions because I was doing my own thing at the airport or on the plane, and didn’t pay attention to local people who were also attending the event.

I would love to get a free copy. And I like to win things from MarketingPilgrim.

Rick

Rick Galan’s last blog post..The Domain is Not Enough

Even doing specific geo-targeted tests really don’t get us all of the way there though. There is so much fluctuation in consumer behavior based on product line, brand, specific offer, etc. that I think the best we can accomplish with current tracking is getting that direction attribute better hammered down.
Before we will be able to really understand the magnitude, I think one of two things has to happen:
1: A Nielsen-like system has to be put in place that not only monitors online behavior but offline spending and behavior as well, and correlates the two. A large enough sample size for that group would likely get us in the ballpark of understanding the magnitude.
2: Online and consumer tracking develops to the point where an online and offline identity can be established using cookies and credit cards, or perhaps individual stores can use the phone number (like RadioShack who always asks). I have no doubt that this type of “Minority Report” consumer tracking is coming, but obviously still down the road a bit. :)
In the meantime, I’ll just know that there is an added branding bonus that comes from search marketing, and not let the people who stand to gain the most tell me where to put my money. :)
-Rick

So last year, I actually attended the summit. I even spoke on a panel about Widgets. It was a great time, I met a ton of fantastic people, and learned a lot.

I was the Director of Online Marketing for a pretty large online retailer, and things were going great – or so I thought. There were some unfortunate politics in the works and shortly after the summit, my employer and I had to part ways. It was a rough separation, and I was in a bit of trouble for a while there (new house, new baby, all sorts of stress).
I was able to land on my feet at a great startup that does fantastic work with comparison shopping and datafeed management. Working at a startup has been great – so flexible, everyone is so smart and focused, and all sorts of fringe benefits like being able to work from home. Sadly conferences is not one of those benefits.
It’s a great company, but unfortunately I find myself focused a bit too narrowly for my taste. The company only does a few things, and although it does them very well, I am used to having my hands in a lot more areas of marketing. Take a look at the LinkedIn profile, you will see what I mean.
So since I have been craving more, I have looked to start working on my own side ventures. I have tried a few things, gotten involved in social media, blogging, etc. but haven’t really found something that works for me yet. I love to help others succeed, I love to build value and content, but am really looking for a jumpstart in that area. I’m hoping the summit can help in that respect.
So that’s the story, and why I would love a pass. I don’t live too far away from Vegas, the trip would be relatively easy.
Oh – happy to share more detail if you would like.. I tried to keep it as public-friendly as possible for the blog.
Thanks for the consideration – big fan btw.

I’ll take it!

Rick Galan’s last blog post..The Intersection of Mediocre and Great

I like the logo quite a bit. It is stylish, and does portray a young company or a company that focuses on a younger demographic or style.
I do think it wise to add a tagline or slogan to be displayed under the logo to indicate what it is you do though, since the name could lead anywhere.

Nicely done!

Thanks everyone! I’m pretty excited about it. Never won anything like this before.
Rick Galan’s last blog post..Managing the Defaults

Thank you.. thank you.. I didn’t prepare a speech….
The contest was great, and I really like how transparent (radically so) Andy is with the direction and development of his product. It’s a one-of-a-kind offering, and I’m proud to be able to contribute to it’s next iteration.
Great work!

Rick Galan’s last blog post..Managing the Defaults

Those wacky Eisenbergs are always writing useful stuff. Hope I win..

Rick Galan’s last blog post..Michael Wesch is Brilliant

I know there are plent of people that are following many more feeds than that.. Jason Calacanis & Guy Kawasaki come to mind. Perhaps they are not limiting accounts that are already at that level? Or more likely, they are just special cases.