Erich Stauffer

Blog

  • Linking Indiana

    I recently attended a Linking Indiana event where Blake of Blaze Communications gave a presentation on personal branding. Personal branding is to branding what you are to your organization. In other words, if branding is the reputation for your business, then personal branding is your reputation.

    It was raining in Indianapolis and yet the light from the sun was still shining through the clouds, which made for some interesting views of the city. There were also some interesting views discussed after Blake’s presentation when we all sat around discussing possibilities for our personal brands. My favorite was of the IT guy who described his business as fitting like a glove.

  • Why Google and Facebook Might Not Completely Disappear in the Next 5 Years

    Forbes recently wrote an article about Why Google and Facebook Might Completely Disappear in the Next 5 Years, which had echoes what Malcolm Gladwell wrote about in Outliers, when it said, “Your long-term viability as a company is dependent on when you were born.”

    The author (and Forbes) were getting ripped on this article on Hacker News – but no one can predict the future – we can only look at the past – and even though the timeline is short (15 years), history says Facebook and Google will fail unless they [can] pivot. The gist is that they can’t pivot. It’s not in their paradigm to accept what’s next. Can you?

    But the statement, “X will fail unless they can pivot” is true for every company. The companies that make up the Fortune 500 don’t have a long life on the fortune 500. To say that the web will die out and vanish is reaching, and to say that it will in the next five years is really reaching.

    Does the author (or any analysts) really expect mobile usage to dry up the well of search advert dollars or that mobile apps will eliminate the public/customer need for search?

    The anti-trust lawsuit that is being dredged up against Google will do more to slow them than anything else in the next five years.

    And, to say that Facebook can’t have staying power because MySpace didn’t is far from an analysis.

    I do agree that the web is not dying – all apps need a website even if they think they don’t. Facebook will do (and has done) better than Myspace because they are a software company first, ran by programmers who have kept Facebook constrained, which has helped it grow.

    The problem is that Google only got into social because they were chasing Facebook, just like Microsoft went to the cloud to chase Google. And Facebook only got into mobile because the people demanded it – but they were (and are) late to the game. They are buying Instagram because they are scared of it – not because it will help them grow.

    I read something from Seth Godin today that said basically that not all companies can grow. Some do better when their small and can’t scale across that middle “dead zone” to be a big company. Some companies don’t work as a big company either (like web or graphic designers – at least not using the business models in place now).

    “Perhaps getting a little bigger isn’t what you want, and it might not even be possible.” -Seth Godin

  • More Tips for Graphic Designers Starting Out

    A while back I wrote Tips for Graphic Designers Starting Out in Indianapolis, but recently I ran across an article by Meg Robichaud entitled, Everything I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Freelancing that I think does a much better job of explaining exactly what to do when starting out freelancing as a graphic designer.

    Admittedly, I winced a little bit when she wrote, “Let’s be clear. I have to laugh when every blog about freelancing starts off with ‘I quit my job so I could work for myself, and be my own boss.’”, considering that’s kind of what I did here and here, but I didn’t know what I didn’t know – and now I know – and can agree with what Meg is trying to say. Here’s what she says:

    “Be awesome. Tell everyone.” – Make something good and let the world know (specifically your future clients and/or employers know) via Twitter, by blogging, on Forrst.com, Scoutzie.com, and Dribbble.com.

    “Stop waiting for them to come to you, just go to them.” – If you want to get new clients or land a new job, go to the company you’re want to work for and ask to work for them. Show them your work and how you can help them out. Make it about them, not you.

    There’s other stuff about time tracking and time management, but it really boils down to those these two points: 1) Do something. 2) Ask people if they want it. If you repeat that all day long, you’re going to be a success. The hard part for some people is:

    a) Not being able to span the gap of time between needing to be financially successful and not being financially stable. You might have to do some things you don’t love to survive.

    b) Not knowing what to produce to show people. Because you can make anything for anyone, you have no constraints, which makes it hard to choose something. Choose something and go.

    c) Asking people for things when there is a possibility of the answer being no is hard. Fear of rejection is even harder for some people. Put yourself in a position where they need you.

    In closing, nothing worth doing is going to be easy and there is no one out there who is going to do this for you. This isn’t a video game where you click on a business and wait for a status bar to fill up your bank account. Life is messy. And fun. Do your best and you’ll get the most out of it.

  • Email is Dead, Long Live Email

    You’ll find a low rumbling in the hacker community about how email is broken 1, 2 (or not broken 3, 4). Email is still the main communication medium on the planet besides Facebook, SMS, and the web’s attempts to change that. The problem is that it is still relatively unsecure, it is generally heavily filtered at the server and local level, and can’t do advanced (yet simple) things like embed video.

    Attempts to *fix* email have resulted in new platforms like Google Wave or Facebook Messages, but people are so heavily invested in their current email readers (Outlook, Gmail) that making a new platform for email is not really wanted. So what I’m proposing is to make new systems for the people who DO want it and NOT for the masses.

    I’m a web marketer. I want to be able to send out cool emails. I want my clients to be able to send out cool emails too. I define “cool” as being able to easily create and manage your own custom email signatures and be able to send active content like embedded videos (a la BombBomb email). This can be done through various services and programs today, but it’s piecemeal.

    I’m envisioning creating a marketing portal like Salesforce.com for managing your online marketing. It’d be a cloud platform for people to login, send marketing messages, add to or edit their blog, manage their marketing message response rate, and other CRM-like functions from a marketing-centric side of things – instead of a sales-centric side of things. Maybe it’s not needed. It’s just an idea.

    Read about my other idea of creating a reputation service for the Internet.

  • Time to Pretend by MGMT

    I really like the song, Time to Pretend, by MGMT. It has an interesting sound and a playful beat, but when I read the lyrics online, I was a little disappointed in the content. When I heard the lyrics in my head, they sounded much different – so I decided to re-write some of it to be more optimistic, but still keep the same tone:

    I’m feeling rough, I’m feeling raw, I’m in the prime of my life.
    Let’s make a startup, make some money, have the time of our lives.
    We’ll write some code up, get some funding, and dance with the stars.
    We’ll make the software, and the website, and drive elegant cars.

    This is our decision, to live fast and die young.
    We’ve got the vision, now let’s have some fun.
    Yeah, it’s overwhelming, but what else can we do.
    Get jobs in offices, and wake up for the morning commute?

    …

    But there’s really nothing, nothing we can do
    Love can’t be forgotten, life can be the start up of you.

    The original lyrics are tainted with drug abuse and divorce while longing for a time when they used to spend time digging for worms in the sandbox at home. I remember picking cedar berries out of my friend’s sandbox, making highways, and rivers. It was a time to create with little fear of failing. The older you get, the harder life gets so why not fail early, fail often?

    I can see why MGMT may want to live recklessly and die young. It’s a cop out to the life intended for us. Life is hard, there is no doubt. But within those constraints, there is fun. Life can be a game that can be beaten. The fear in each of us is the fear of losing – so don’t lose. Choose to win. The only ones way to lose is to stop trying to win. So choose to win.

  • 10 Items or Less

    This is a review of the TBS TV Series, “10 Items or Less”, not to be confused with the movie that came out the same year (2006) starring Morgan Freeman, Paz Vega, and Jonah Hill.

    I like watching Netflix because of the ability to find and stream shows instantly. Today I discovered a show called “10 Items or Less” starring John Lehr as Leslie Poole.

    The series starts out with Poole as the new manager of “Green and Grains” grocery store who has taken over the store and it’s employees from his recently deceased father.

    While the first few episodes (okay seasons) had some continuity issues (they skipped ahead four years at one point, then back to one year in season 2, but the kid stayed the same age), it still has the power to keep you wondering if any of the characters will ever evolve. You want them to, you really do, but they do it soooo slowly.

    For example, you want Leslie, the manager to be a better manager – and he does get better, but still has his share of mistakes. You want the butcher, Todd, to be less sexist, and while he tries to be more professional at work, the ladies keep him exactly the way they want him. And you want the [manager], Amy Anderson, to warm up to Leslie, but for save some rare moments, she does not (or does she?).

    One thing I couldn’t shake was how much John Lehr looks like Jason Bateman in Arrested Development.

    And while it may be more of a coincidence that the movie of the same name centers around a grocery store and came out the same year, it may be more strange that, according to IMDB, the 10 Items or Less movie was the first film in motion picture history that was legally available on the Internet while the film was still in theaters, which makes it odd that it’s not available for streaming on Netflix (or Amazon Instant Video), but the television show is.

  • How to Effectively Deliver a Press Release

    This is a guest post by Leslie Bailey, a freelance writer in Indianapolis.

    As a blogger and freelance writer, I receive dozens and dozens of press releases a week. About 98% of those are deleted…and that’s on a good day.

    Despite what old-school public relations professionals might say, press releases are no longer the only way to get the attention of the media. Social media and modern marketing are far too strong of a driving force in this sector to ignore.

    That’s not to say however, that press releases are a lost cause – if you handle them correctly.

    Here are a few tips from my personal experience that will help you get the most out of your press release. Note: these tips may not apply in every situation; consider each case on an individual basis.

    The easiest way to do this is by checking of the ‘Five Ws’ – Who, What, Where, When, W…and I don’t mean within the copy of your press release.

    WHO

    If you’re targeting a specific audience – what’s that? You’re just sending out mass emails? Let’s start over.

    To get the most value out of a press release, consider reaching out to your subject in a personalized manner. No one wants to feel like they’re part of a cattle call. Unless a publicity email addresses me by name, I don’t read it.

    Blogger, Madam, “Hi there” or my favorite yesterday, “Hi lovey!,” don’t count. Find out the person’s name and address them by such (be sure to spell it correctly!)

    WHAT

    What does the person who you’re contacting cover? If you are trying to pitch the latest and greatest diaper, you should probably note that I don’t have children and have never written anything related to babies. Look at media contact’s previous or recent work to see what topics they usually write about.

    WHERE

    Where are you sending this press release? Make sure it’s the subjects preferred method of communication. I’ve had people contact me through Facebook, Twitter, and other various platforms to ask for my email address. If they’d take a few minutes, they’d see it’s listed very clearly in several places.

    WHEN

    Timing is everything. If your media blast is concerning something Christmas related, it’s as effective to send it in July, as it would be to send it on Christmas Eve. As a blogger, I like a six-week lead but when it comes to print publications, the time varies. For a newspaper story, I need about four-weeks notice while something pointed for magazine, two and a half months. Each publication is different though so be sure to consider the timing of your release.

    WHY

    This is key not only within your content but also when considering your recipient. Why does this person care what you have to say? Referring back to the matter of ‘what’, a food writer isn’t going to care about the latest in fall fashions just as a fashion writer doesn’t care about the best place to create a Fantasy Sports Team.

    IN CONCLUSION…

    You’ll notice that all of these suggestions take TIME. Sure, you’re a busy person and you’re trying to get a message out to the greatest number of people possible but if you can’t take a moment to find out someone’s name, why do they want to spend hours covering your news? They won’t.

    Do your research, make a friendly and personalized introduction and see how much further it takes you.

    You can follow Leslie @Lesalina.

  • Forbes Gets Jeff Bezos

    I’ve written on Amazon before and about CEOs I admire, but until I read Forbes’ April 2012 article on Jeff Bezos entitled Jeff Bezos Gets It, I didn’t realize how much I admired the man behind the company. Bezos seems to embody Steve Blank’s ideas of customer development by making the customer first in all business decisions.

    Out of Jeff Bezo’s Top Ten Maxims, a third of them center around the customer. Number 2 is “Obsess over customers,” number 5 is “Determine what your customers need and work backwards,” and number 9 is “Everyone has to be able to work in a call center [for humility and empathy for the customer]”.

    Credit: Forbes

    It’s not just Bezo’s customer-centric approach to business that has my admiration, but his culture of innovation and his data-intensive decision making that make me so fond of his way of doing business. Forbes’ writes, “Data reigns supreme at Amazon, particularly head-to-head tests of customers’ reactions to different features or site designs. Bezos calls it ‘a culture of metrics’.”

    Forbes’ continues, “For Bezos a data-driven customer focus lets him take risks to innovate, secure in the belief that he’s doing the right thing.” Bezos is quoted as saying, “We focus on what is going to be good for the customers. I think this aspect of our culture is rare.” Rare and profitable.

    I’ve joked that Amazon has two departments, one that creates ideas on how to make money and another that says, “Yes.” From Amazon Web Services to Lab 126 Amazon has continued to create new revenue streams beyond the giant retailer that it has become. As an Amazon Associate, I get to piggyback on that success.

    Forbes’ spends some time putting Bezos on a pedestal where Steve Jobs once stood, calling Bezos, “the corporate chief that others most want to meet, emulate and deify,” but in my mind I’d rather keep those two separate as Jobs tended to make products for customers, Bezos tends to make products because of them – and those are two completely different ways to run a business.

  • The Epic Generation: From the Garden to the City

    “You know I always wanted to pretend that I was an architect.” – George Costanza, Seinfeld

    Nathan Norris recently wrote an article entitled, “Why Generation Y is Causing the Great Migration of the 21st Century” about ‘under 30’s’ moving into the cities and driving less – the new migration into urban spaces. Norris writes, “At the same time, television shifted from glorifying the surburban lifestyle in the 1960’s and 1970’s (e.g., Leave it to Beaver and the Brady Bunch) to glorifying the urban lifestyle in the 1990’s (e.g., Seinfeld and Friends). These cultural changes have pushed Generation Y to look for more adventure than previous generations, and they are less fearful of cities than previous generations.”

    I forwarded it to a friend and he wrote, “Art (used loosely here) imitating life or vice versa?”

    I wrote that I’ve been watching the TEDtalks “Building Wonder” curated channel on Netflix, which is mostly about architecture and it’s seemed to correlate with conversations I’ve had with him (in the past and recently) about the desire to be part of a community like Bloomington, Broad Ripple, or Nora. We sort of had that community in high school, now that I think about it, with Benjamin’s Coffee House or even to a small extent at Heiskell’s Restaurant (at the height of our takeover). We also had it at church and at college and we also had it for a time in Daleville (before the breakup began). Community is what you make of it – but physical constraints help.

    This “art” reference he mentioned made me wonder if I haven’t been yearning after that ‘public living room’ that Friends had in that apartment or Jerry’s apartment. People came and went as they pleased. There were four locks on the door, but they were never locked. They also had that other space, the coffee shop down below – Seinfeld had it with the diner. In Daleville, we had La Hacienda and Starbucks. We knew the people working there and they new us. Remember when George found the rubber band in his soup and playfully sprang it back to the cook who left it there? I think we all long for that sort of community where we all know each other on that level.

    Another friend wrote in reply, “I think it has to be ‘art’ imitating life. It isn’t like Seinfeld or Friends glorified New York as the central scene where all things are happening – that had already been the prevailing public opinion since at least the 1920’s. Although, I don’t think it is “imitating” so much as it is a broadcast company’s calculated offering of what the public will find interesting or novel. Green Acres wasn’t about the country, it was about the voyeuristic experience of someone foolishly leaving the wonders of the big city for the country – adding in the tension of the couple having different perspectives.. Beverly Hillbillies was about the opposite – people who don’t. belong in the wonderful urban/suburban area and the comedic tension. Andy Griffith played on the mundane and simpleton of the small-town, where previously there wasn’t any television that was centered on a “watch the paint dry” town. By and large, I think TV producers expect there to be curiosity and reverence for NY and LA from outsiders and appreciation from those who live there. Other than a few shows who are using the difference in location as a position separator or as central to the theme – shows and movies have generally been based in NY/LA/Other large metro.”

    Here’s the list of TED Talks for those of you who don’t have Netflix:

    1 Bjarke Ingels: Three Warp-Speed Architecture Tales 18m

    2 Thomas Heatherwick: Building the Seed Cathedral 16m

    3 William McDonough on Cradle to Cradle Design 19m

    4 Cameron Sinclair on Open-Source Architecture 23m

    5 Joshua Prince-Ramus on Seattle’s Library 19m

    6 Liz Diller Plays with Architecture 19m

    7 Alex Steffen: The Shareable Future of Cities 10m

    8 James H. Kunstler Dissects Suburbia 19m

    9 Kamal Meattle on How to Grow Fresh Air 4m

    10 Jane Poynter: Life in Biosphere 2 15m

    11 Anupam Mishra: The Ancient Ingenuity of Water Harvesting 17m

    12 Mitchell Joachim: Don’t Build Your Home, Grow It! 2m

    13 Rachel Armstrong: Architecture That Repairs Itself? 7m

    14 Joshua Prince-Ramus: Building a Theater That Remakes Itself 18m

    15 Magnus Larsson: Turning Dunes into Architecture 11m

    16 Michael Pawlyn: Using Nature’s Genius in Architecture 13m

    17 Ellen Dunham-Jones: Retrofitting Suburbia 19m