A Personal Blog
Archive for February, 2005
How to Make a Million Dollars
Feb 28th
From an IM conversation with a genius friend of mine:
Mike@Home/Work says: So, how are we going to make our million this week? Jeremy @ Ensight says: Pencil sharpeners. Jeremy @ Ensight says: They’re very versatile.
Mike@Home/Work says: Excellent. Jeremy @ Ensight says: You can sharpen pencils with them, extract ink from pens and even use them as torture devices. Jeremy @ Ensight says: VERY versatile. I’m sure we can kick up a market in Afghanistan. Mike@Home/Work says: And the mafia can use them to dispose of snitches. Jeremy @ Ensight says: Exactly. Jeremy @ Ensight says: Then next year we can release a grinder, which is basically a timesaving version of the pencil sharpener. With custom decals for each crime family.
Mike@Home/Work says: Sweet Mike@Home/Work says: Well we have to hurry, I only have 2 more years to make a million by 30. Jeremy @ Ensight says: And, obviously, we can make a killing on maintenance plans. Jeremy @ Ensight says: Nobody wants to clean that mess, so we should be able to charge 10K/cleaning, give or take. Jeremy @ Ensight says: Privacy being the key. Jeremy @ Ensight says: Heck, maybe we can actually talk to West Coast Customs, and get a nice sports car decked out with a grinder, and sell it to the highest bidder.
Mike@Home/Work says: Ooh, very nice. Mike@Home/Work says: It should be easier to make a million.
Jeremy @ Ensight says: Well, it’s fairly easy if you switch currencies. Jeremy @ Ensight says: Like, yen for example.
Mike@Home/Work says: Of course, given inflation, someday it will be. Jeremy @ Ensight says: Oooh, isn’t currency driven by supply and demand? Jeremy @ Ensight says: So if we buy ALL THE MONEY in the world, we the value of it will grow! Jeremy @ Ensight says: Then we sell it back for a healthy profit!!!
Mike@Home/Work says: And all we have to do is borrow enough money for a short time to buy it all! Jeremy @ Ensight says: Exactly! Jeremy @ Ensight says: I mean, we’d really only need it for a week or so. So the interest shouldn’t be too bad. Jeremy @ Ensight says: I’ll call Luigi, see if he can hook me up.
Mike@Home/Work says: Man we are geniouses! Jeremy @ Ensight says: Exactly. And this is getting blogged
Mike@Home/Work says: Muahaha! Mike@Home/Work says: How could you reveal our plans like that?
Need Help from an Audio Junkie…
Feb 28th
Just gearing up for my new podcast, and I need some help from an audio junkie…
Please, please, please!!! ;-)
MarketWatch Bashes Blogging Awards
Feb 28th
Ahh, the spirit of blogging. Responding to things in an open forum.
Frank Barnako, of MarketWatch, took a few swipes at us and the Business Blogging Awards today.
He says that there wasn’t enough peer review, that it was just a popularity contest, and that things weren’t run seriously enough.
Which I’ll happily concede. Because as Frank quotes, and apparently forgets: it was all just for fun.
Frank even goes so far as to accuse us of rigging the votes (or something):
To suggest the competition’s purpose was more business development than professional development, consider that one of Wright and Barefoot’s consulting clients, eBizBlog.ca, won an award. You have to wonder: why didn’t all of them?
Huh. See, here was me thinking this was all just for fun. Why the jab, Frank? Why no phone call? You do have my number, I know you do. And you’ve taken to not answering my emails either. Have we somehow soured you on the concept of InsideBlogging? I’d really love to know.
Obviously I’d have said all of this on Frank’s article, except there were no comments.
Thankfully, others aren’t taking these awards as seriously as Frank is. Steve Rubel brushes them off, which is the right thing to do. It was all just for fun, and to showcase some cool new blogs people might not be aware of.
Frank seems to think that Steve deserved to win, and that Media Guerilla was unworthy:
Who are these guys? I cover blogs, read blogs, and talk to Web loggers. The winners in this “contest” are unknown to me. [...] By contrast, Steve Rubel’s Micro Persuasion, which draws tens of thousands of readers, was passed over.
Personally, I just have to laugh. The amount of press these awards have garnered is fantastic for everyone. Washington Post and MartetWatch straight down to some more local papers.
I just think it’s ironic that it’s largely thanks to a previous article Frank wrote (on the auctions) that we even exist today.
Were the awards just a “PR stunt”, as Frank purports? Not really. The problem with PR stunts is you typically have to be trying to get PR by doing them. The BBA site had less than 20,000 visitors. That’s roughly what my blog gets in 2 days. It’s not a lot, and the “PR” from the awards was meaningless. What wasn’t meaningless is the connections we’ve made, the fun that’s been had, the blogs we’ve discovered and the giggles we’ve gotten over some of the responses.
Frank, seriously, this is the kind of thing that deserves to go in a blog, not in MarketWatch. But, it’s in MarketWatch, so thanks for the traffic and have a great weekend. I’m sure all of this will matter much less after a few drinks and a little bit of sun. I, for one, am glad the awards are over and we can look forward :)
ps: I’m writing all of this with a smile on my face. Irony, intrigue, scandal, laziness? What more could you ask for on a Friday?!
Book Deal Signed!
Feb 28th
Well, after loads of negotiations, phone calls, conference calls, loads of chats and all kinds of things, I’ve finally decided on a publisher.
Anyone who’s talked to me over the last month has undoubtedly heard at least part of my dilemma. I know I haven’t been blogging it much, though, so I’ll go over it a little bit.
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in a very different time there were 2 publishers: McGraw-Hill and O’Reilly.
Each were respected and awed in their areas of expertise: McG (McGraw-Hill) was a scholar and a gentleman. O’Reilly was a knight like no other. As such, their paths rarely crossed, and when they did, it was always with respect that they greeted each other.
One day, a young concubine came to the attention of both nobles (yes, I’m the concubine… Longtime friends please don’t spit coffee on your monitors). They both fawned and made advances at the fetching creature (ahem, well you asked for me back to my regular self). The scholar made advances of…
Ah, screw it. This is getting too difficult for me to say what actually happened.
Both McG and Sir Reilly made great offers for my book. McG is a fantastic book publisher, with loads of best sellers in the business book market.
Sir Reilly is trying to enter into that market, and is trying very feverishly.
Decision day was late last week. I spent an hour on the phone with the potential editor at Sir Reilly. It was good. He has lots of experience and is well respected. And I spent two hours on the phone with part of the team from MGH (yes, I don’t feel like typing the full names of either company, how lazy can you get?).
Before these conversations, I was leaning strongly towards O’Reilly. They’re extremely well respected in my circle of peers. They do good books. And, dammit, I want to go to Foo Camp!
Apparently that dream’s going to die an early death though.
Ultimately I chose MGH on the strength of their offer, their massive experience in business publishing and the passion of the team, who’s continued to do everything they could (short of offering me a million dollar advance) to get me to sign with them.
And sign I have.
I’m extremely excited about the team.
Now, for the future, I’ll likely be starting a book blog, as soon as the title is settled on. I’ll post most book-related stuff there. Either way, some groundrules: I won’t say anything about individuals at the publishing company. I won’t say anything about the details of the deal. And I won’t disclose anything revealed in confidentiality.
Yes, blogging’s about being open and honest, but it’s also about making sure the book actually gets published ;-)
So, McGraw-Hill wins my affections. O’Reilly and Thomas-Nelson are still looking for authors to do blogging books for them. So feel free to contact them :)
New Journalist Blogger Needs Help
Feb 28th
Last week I had a chat with Jason Chow from the National Post (largest national paper in Canada). He’s starting a blog, because he’s trying to get in deep to figure out what blogging is really about.
So drop by, leave some comments, show him how it’s done. Welcome him to our little community. He’s also looking for some other bloggers to interview for his story, so feel free to drop him a line on that.
Some intial tips for Jason (I was going to do this via email, but open and honest is fun too):
- post more - make everything you post some part of a conversation. Whether you’re asking a question, adding to what someone else has said, or answering a question - read at leas 10 blogs on a daily basis (hint: use an aggregator like BlogLines or NewsGator). This’ll give you fodder for adding to the conversation. - be authentic, honest, passionate and authoritative - don’t be afraid to be yourself - don’t be afraid to post short entries - don’t be afraid to post long entries - don’t be afraid to not read Dave Winer ;-)
Good luck, and welcome to the blogosphere (and sorry this is a few days late)!
