T-M-I from T-I-M

Cobra first THEN Up Dog when you're ready

It's official, I'm totally Norcal just by the title of this post.  But the idea is really straightforward when I'm learning new things I'm better off going to kindergarten before I go to the Masters program. 

I'm in the middle of a career change wherein I want to leverage my very best skill sets.  I'm like, totally likeable and know how to develop really good relationships.  I'm a people person and I'm smart.  I like to be goofy at times as well.  So it makes perfect sense that I've been an accountant all my life right??

Not anymore.  And so as I embark on this journey of change I have to remember take it slow but keep moving forward.  Don't do cobra and move onto crow, I'm asking for trouble.

I know I want it and want it bad, but I also know that I'm not in charge of the results, I'm in charge of the action and for now cobra is working just fine. 

Outsourcing is killing the economy

I was thinking the other day about how, in these awful economic times, outsourcing is affecting the economy.  I'm not referring to manufacturing because frankly if the defect rate & cost is lower and the time to market is not significantly impacted, that decision is a no brainer.

I'm referring to the companies who have chosen to outsource, for example, their call centers.  The benefits of cost and 24/7 availability is clear.  However level of service and revenue generation are at most worse than the US, in most cases putrid. 

But the killer is that hundreds of thousands of jobs that would normally pay between $10-20 are gone.  I think those types of jobs are the ones that provide the foundation for our economy.  Those jobs are fuel for car purchases, mortgage payments, etc.

The # of jobs that it would bring back are not equal to what's been outsourced, but there is an opportunity to monetize the move.

I worked at a company where our head of sales (who is an absolute superstar) had a wild proposition:

• Provide world class service looking out for the best interests of the customer first (i.e., don't "jam" offers down their throats)
• The revenue will follow

He was right.  He's done on a smaller scale and a huge scale.  It can be done but most companies don't do it or worse don't even believe it can be done.

In the meantime, our economy keeps sucking wind and when it comes back, we still won't have the valuable foundation that these types of jobs provide.

Search Engine Marketing for Content Driven Websites WITHOUT Losing Money

I've spent the last several weeks knee deep into learning about the mechanics of search engine marketing.  I'm by far no expert in it, but the world is pretty fascinating. 

Where I'm a bit perplexed at this point is what role SEM should play for a site that is primarily content driven.  It's not much of a problem to get people to come to the site.  You pay Google for the adwords, people search, they click on your ad and voila you've got traffic!

However, how do you keep them?  Ultimately, if you are content driven site, you want your differentiation to be content that is so on the money that when they come once, they bookmark you because you are a resource.

But that's tough.  Most of the time, they come once, check out your article and move on.

I suppose the bottom line is that the way to make SEM work in the context of a content driven website without losing money has to have some type of high quality advertising campaign alongside it.  But even that doesn't seem to make sense.

If I get 100,000 clicks through Google at 0.25 a click, that's a $25,000 campaign.

Let's assume, just for fun that you have an ad campaign that's you're getting $5.00 cpm (a REALLY high #).  In order to break even off just that campaign, you have to generate 5,000,000 clicks, daunting indeed, even if you have a few running at that rate it's still high.

So, the question remains, even if you DO have VC money, what role should SEM play in the context of a content driven website?

The Career Road Less Traveled

I'm going through a soul-searching process to identify whether or not I can comfortably move forward in my career without a career path.  I majored in accounting, got my CPA and realized that I just wasn't to passionate about being an accountant.

Now, I could certainly tow the yoke and continue to walk the financial route, heck lots of people do it.  If I did that, there are all types of nice, safe paths I can take with clear paths for advancement (some of which I've already walked).  And as a father, sometimes I feel like it's the decision I "should" make.

But I'm coming to terms with the fact that I'm just not wired that way.

However, I've been hired for several engagements recently that use some of my best skills.  Comparatively, the work is more...satisfying I guess, primarily because I always perform, I'm very well suited to the work.  The challenge is that most of the paths from these engagements don't have a clear progression and are loaded with uncertainty.

I'm really leaning towards uncertainty and it admittedly produces some unusual moments.  For example, today while watching You, Me and Dupree (God help me), I wondered if I could ever go in front of my daughter's classmates on career day and talk about what I do.  (BTW, you know you are going deep into soul searching when your guides in include Owen Wilson and Matt Dillon....)

What do I really do?  In essence, I make the complex simple.  It's where I shine most working with start-up CEO's when presenting to investors, writing business plans, building financial models, designing online strategies, etc.

Alas, there is no Department of Simplicity at any big companies I know so I can't walk that path.

But it feels more and more like I'm at another crossroad and I'm sensing that I'm meant to try this career road less traveled and (paraphrasing my man Robert Frost) I'm hoping that it will make all the difference.

Loving what I do and who I do it with

I recently left a company that had pretty much the best group of people I've ever worked with.  I don't think that I've ever worked for a company where I have genuinely liked virtually everyone I met and worked with.  I only hope that any of you will have the experience that I did.  The company has issues like any other, but I found the people are not it and that's unusual.

Now the tricky part was I wasn't particularly passionate about what I was doing.  What can you do?

I do have to share that my wonderful boss actually gave me the opportunity to try something COMPLETELY different that I expressed some interest in learning about.  It's worth noting that many bosses would say tough and give you no help, but mine did.  This (among many other things) is why I am very loyal to my former boss and the company.  It is a unique example of a company that lives its core values in my experience.

Ultimately I decided to leave.  My last day at the company, as I went around to say goodbye to a number of people, I actually cried.  I knew I would (and really do) sincerely miss them.  And I know that over the last year I grew more as a professional and a man as perhaps any year of my life.

For the time being I'm back to working for myself full time (I kept my consulting up, moonlighting while I was there, a good call in retrospect) and am finding my work to be more rewarding and invigorating.  I LOVE pitching in with really early stage start-ups and making a difference.  You get a chance to do a lot of different things when you prove you can add value.

So I REALLY like what I'm doing (I'm not ready to drop the other L-bomb just yet) and for now I mostly do it with.....myself.  I'm sort of half-kidding when I say that perhaps this is another opportunity to learn to love myself.  What better way to learn if I can handle myself than to be with myself virtually full time for a while?

One thing I took from my former company was the simple rule when hiring "No Jerks, No Idiots".  Directness can be beautiful, can't it?  I'll apply the same rule to who I work with as a consultant. 

I just hope that as a self-employed person that I can pass that test myself on a daily basis.  :)

Homestead gets bought by Intuit

Yesterday I learned that the company I work for, Homestead Technologies, got bought by Intuit for $170 Million.  I started working here in January and wrote about how I feel about the company and our people.  I still feel the same way.

It made me very happy to see good, nice people, like all the ones that work here at Homestead get rewarded for their efforts.  Justin Kitch, the CEO, in particular sets a really interesting cultural tone for the company.  For me it manifests in that I like everyone who works here and there are virtually no office politics (which I've NEVER encountered at other places I've worked, there's always some kind of politics).  You can see what Justin wrote about the acquisition here in his blog post.

One thing that also appears positive is that there is a cultural fit between the two companies.  The Intuit folks that I have met or know have a vibe that is congruent with the vibe of Homestead folks.  The cultural fit is an often overlooked but critically important to the long term success and sustainability of the merger.

I think the acquisition by Intuit is a game changer for our company.  I think their financial and operational muscle along with their proven, successful track record of attracting customers will be a boon for our company and ultimately be a win for everyone involved.

Wide vs. Deep: One Programmer's take on business

A friend of mine from work pointed me to a fascinating blog post about the complexity of turning a happy, productive, introverted programmer (which probably encompasses about 90% of programmers that I've ever met) into a slightly less happy, probably much less productive, begrudgingly sort of extroverted manager and back and forth and back.

The concept of a highly valued individual contributor is one that is hard to implement and reward I've learned.  I love the way he describes part of that dilemma:

Some people are naturally wide, some people are naturally deep. But the assumption is, in most business contexts, that you can — and should want to — jump between the two as the need or situation dictates. But this is a load of crap

One of the many things I love about the blogosphere is that any one of us can come up with something that is insightful and meaningful.  It often depends on the frame of reference of the reader.

Working amongst a large group of programmers this post hits it right on the head and I love it when writings like this one find me.

Keeping 9-11 alive...unfortunately

I purchased an airline ticket the other day and noticed that there is a 9-11 security tax.  How's that for a great way to keep that terrible event in our consciousness.  I think it's odd that we are interested in perpetuating it.

I also remember hearing a quote from some politician on 9-11 saying that he would make sure we would never forget about 9-11. 

I suggest this with all due respect:  Aren't we supposed to let stuff go?

Yes, it's still a little challenging for me to consider the families who lost loved ones in that senseless act.  But when we refer to it in a tax or ensure that "we'll never forget it" aren't we ensuring that we'll perpetuate the fear and hatred from the act?

I suppose that's in someone's best interests, I just don't know who.  I wonder if that 9-11 security tax is what pays for all of the new security codes and colors and checkers that have been implemented that still seem to be missing the key security point.

And isn't it SO ironic that this "tax" is implemented and transacted upon at the most vulnerable time possible?  It's like we won't show an airplane crash movie during the flight but we're happy to bring up one of the scariest scenarios of all during the flight purchase.

Regardless, I will still have to arrive 2 hours in advance to fly from SF to LA (real high risk flight) with my daughter who is six and take off our shoes and lose our 6 ounce plus bottles (like her detangler) because we might be the ones!  And so it goes.

My new website

One of the bene's of working at a website company is we are encouraged to do our own websites.  I just finished mine, a re-branding of my investor presentation work that I do.

I still have content to add, but in the meantime it's pretty cool.  Oh, and any suggestions (or references) are much obliged.

Check it out.

I hope Google stays away from hardware

I'm not exactly sure why I even thought of this but with all the cool things Google does, and they do a lot of them, I hope they don't get into the world of devices.  I guess I'm thinking about it because they are such a powerhouse and I'm wondering how they will continue to expand.

I prefer they stick to what they do great.  Build software with algorithms that make the online experience amazing.  There's a ton more to be done there, I don't really know what it is and I hope they would say they don't either but also hope they keep on building.

I'm not really into companies trying to move away from their core competency.  Personally, I think Apple's AppleTV is a step too far away from their core competency, building really cool consumer devices and there just isn't really a cool factor to a box (although I suppose you could argue the same thing about a computer but from what I see from AppleTV's box it's just not that cool...).

A different slant could be Starbucks.  Instead of investing so much money into filling their distribution centers with sku's why not send the founder around the world again to see if he can find another experience that we're missing here in the states and commercialize it? 

I digress.

There's no real reference for a company like Google (maybe Adobe, but even Adobe has some level of reliance on your system to run...Google just runs on a good ol' browser).

I can't wait to see what comes next from Google, I just hope I don't have to carry it around!