A Personal Blog
Archive for August, 2009
A Diary of My Workcation / Life
Aug 31st
This is a reflective post. No real content, so if you aren’t a friend or don’t really care what’s going on in my life feel free to move on. I’m a blogger, I’m allowed a narcissistic post once in awhile! What follows is a fictitious timeline of some of the things that’ve been going on in my head over the last few weeks.
25 July, 2009
Woke up. Realized I was about to leave my baby, my team and my family behind. Panicked. Ate poutine. Panicked. Ate ice cream. Passed out. Panicked. Wrote emails to team, bloggers, partners, etc. Scheduled to send out on 27th. Felt like shit. Ate more ice cream.
26 July, 2009
Didn’t sleep last night. Probably won’t sleep tonight. Oddly feeling okay with that. Feeling like maybe I deserved to be punished, and not in a good way. Flying out to begin my “workcation” before shit hits the fan with my quitting. Want to be “on the ground” and away from Toronto when it happens.
27 July, 2009
Image via CrunchBaseWow, okay, wow. My two biggest fears were that a) nobody would notice I’d left and b) that I’d get absolutely lambasted. Given TechCrunch/WSJ/NYT coverage (and lots more besides), clearly A wasn’t an issue. And outside of a douchebag or two and a few disgruntled ex-employees B wasn’t an issue either. Spent about 4 hours dealing with the swell of coverage.
Then I walked away from the computer for the afternoon. Figure I might as well practice this workcation thing sooner than later. When I came back, there was stuff to respond to, but what had to be said had been said.
30 July, 2009
Image by Laurie :: Liquid Paper via FlickrCame back online to find hundreds of emails, tweets, DMs, etc either offering support, jobs or saying “we should meet”. When pressed on what we should meet about, response is invariably “no, really, we should meet”. Wondering if folk actually think I’m in the mob due to new branding around the consulting agency.
3 August, 2009
Head to visit best friend in Raleigh for a week. Manage to “catch” epic allergies. Like 6 drugs and still doing 2 boxes of kleenex a day type of allergies. Don’t sleep much. Spend no more than 3 hours a day online. 1 hour catching up on client stuff, 1 hour on leaving b5 stuff and 1 hour trying to figure out whattf I actually want to do!
5 August, 2009
As is a 10-year tradition, I continue to beat my best friend senseless at football video games. This despite the fact that he nearly went pro and feels football in his bones and that I actually have no clue how football even works. I mean, come on, they’re running … why can’t a touchdown be called a home run? Geeeeze.
Realize that it might be easier to figure out things I don’t want to do than things I do. Ponder this over the world’s best burger and fries. Come out with the fact that I don’t want to:
- Become a hairdresser (my hands shake)
- Start another bootstrapped startup (a revenue generating or funded startup is fine… and I’ll also almost certainly do a from-scratch startup at some point in the future… just not now)
- Move to LA
7 August, 2009
After getting plastered with best friend’s buddy (who spent most of the night trying to explain to me how to make a coke-can bong), head back to best friend’s apartment, with new buddy, to play more football. Lose a game to best friend. Kick buddy’s ass in ways that won’t be repeated. Realize I also don’t want to move to Dubai to lead the “North American Strategy” for a major UAE media holding company. As insanely cool as that’d be (if for no other reason than regularly being able to fly in one of those wicked tricked out planes, first class), I’d be too far from my boys, which I’ve decided totally ain’t cool.
Image by Anirudh Koul via Flickr9 August, 2009
On plane on the way to London, UK, to visit friends, realize I also don’t want to join a big media company in a “strategic” role (big paycheque = nice; politics all day long = not so much… I’d rather Get Shit Done). That said, there is a very large, very strategic role, in a media company that I’m holding out for.
11 August, 2009
Much drinking, much relaxing, much curry make me realize I’m gaining weight. Decide I won’t care until I’m back. Entered workcation at 225 pounds. Currently over 230. Realizing that I do need everything in moderation, including weight-loss. At least right now.
12 August, 2009
Wake up for the first time without any stress at all. It’s taken me 2+
Image by bitzcelt via Flickrweeks to let all the stress from b5 and changes and stuff wash off of me. Realize that 2 weeks isn’t really that bad given marriage failing, taking 60%+ pay cut, leaving job, handing baby over to new CEO, new girlfriend, boys getting older way too fast… This sense of “relaxing” (new word to me) comes and goes over the next two weeks.
Some days I hyperventilate with stress, some I don’t even get out of bed. It takes until the 18th of August for me to actually stop this cycle of up/down-ness. My therapist (how weird is that to say) is confident I’m coming out of the “valley”.
16th August, 2009
Last night in London, and I decide not to get drunk. Realize I often used to get drunk to destress. But since I’m not stressed, I can just go chill with friends. We catch a movie, chill, and just “hang” (a foreign concept to me) until the very wee hours of the morning. I get lost on the way back to my hotel, confusing Leicester Square with Covington Gardens. Thankfully a bum is more than happy to walk me to my hotel in exchange for my watch. Very kind of him. Joke’s on him, it’s just a spiderman watch.
Image by Eneas via Flickr22 August, 2009
Preparing to head home, after more workcationing while landing a new client, gaining weight (232 at last check) and starting to book meetings. As I book meetings and figure out what excites me, I realize they all have a few key things in common. They all:
- Involved being entrepreneurial, even if it was inside a larger company or an agency
- Involved Getting Shit Done, whether by leading products/projects or by helping clients get Big Wins
- Had freedom and flexibility to do conferences and such, assuming they add value and that I’m continuing to Get Shit Done
- Had me learning something I’d never done before
- Were local (ie: no further than NYC/Montreal/Ottawa). I have 2 boys, and don’t want to be any further than that from them
24 August, 2009
Image via WikipediaArrive home in Toronto after hellacious travel home, involving missing bus. Missing another bus. Then paying 200$ for a cab ride home cause I just didn’t fucking care anymore. Intend to sleep. Can’t sleep. Intend to clean. Don’t clean. Decide to go out to local party to actually show my pretty face. Am honestly unsure if anyone will care. If they do, should they? If they don’t, should they? Decide to just hang with friends, not let the stress creep up on me and not get drunk. Cause, y’know, I don’t need to cause I’m not stressing.
Party starts slowly, but picks up once I steal @verneho’s nametag and wear it around for an hour. He doesn’t realize I have his nametag, even after we go “searching” for it together. Even after taking pic with him and I in it, me wearing his nametag. Pic is epicly good. I’m gonna have it bronzed. He still claims he knew the entier time. Riiiight ;-)
Night was great. Folk seemed happy I was back. Convos with friends were great. Ended the night when someone convined random chick it was my birthday. Also convinced her my name was Jorge. Pronounced “Whoregy”. She sang “Happy Birthday Dear Whoooooregyyyyy” twice too often.
27 August, 2009
After nearly 20 meetings last week, and half a dozen offers, I was able to trim my list down to 5 positions. Each of these are exciting in some way or another, each of them are more than just “a job” that I’d take for a year, and each of them are with companies and teams that I could invest myself in in a real way.
The positions are everything from EIR in a VC firm to leading a digital media agency to taking the helm of a startup that’s about to raise funding and that I really believe in, in a space I love.
Now
So why write this post? Mostly because I’ve talked to a half dozen people over the last two weeks that are stuck on the “what do I really want to do?” question. So I thought I’d share some of my ruminations. Because while blogging’s matured and become less freeform over the last few years, I figure as an “old timer” I’m allowed to occasionally just freestyle it. Maybe no value to anyone but me, but yeah.
Lessons I Learned While Gone
But, seeinng as how blogging HAS become more polished, I figured I’d share some lessons I learned while I was away on workcation:
- Figure out what makes you smile, and do more of that
- Figure out what makes you stress, and do less of that
- Don’t be afraid to fail (I used to live by this, but sometime in the last year I lost it)
- Sleep
- Friends and family matter
I figure if I can’t do/have those 5 things in a job, it’s not really worth doing.
I also learned that girls in New Orleans still flash their boobs, even if it’s not Mardi Gras. And it’s generally not worth seeing. Girls Gone Wild has skewed the number of hawt chicks flashing in New Orleans. It’s fiction! Fiction I tell you!
Anyways, it’s great to be back. This week will be a week of decisions. But more importantly, this week is a great week to practice balance.
Cleaning Out My Domain Portfolio (7 Domains for Sale)
Aug 26th
Okay, I’ll admit it, I’m an addict. I buy domains for any idea. Even expensive .it ones ($75 for a domain?!!). But while I’m an addict, I’m not a complete packrat, so I figure it’s time to look at selling some of the domains I had plans for, but no longer plan to use anytime soon.
So, in the spirit of both spring cleaning (a bit late) and, y’know, letting friends/family get first crack at stuff before putting them up for public sale, here are the domains I’m currently looking at selling:
- blogbacker.com
- blogbackers.com
- blog-consultant.com
- blog-consutlants.com
- bloggerlunch.com
- cellephony.com
- geekrank.com
If you’re interested, feel free to email me an offer and we’ll get it done :)
Best Out of Office Replies Evar
Aug 24th
I wonder what’d happen if I actually did one of these…
1. I am currently out at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Be prepared for my mood.
2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.
3. I will be unable to delete all the unread, worthless emails you send me until I return from holiday on 4 April. Please be patient and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.
4. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged £5.99 for the first ten words and £1.99 for each additional word in your message.
5. The e-mail server is unable to verify your server connection and is unable to deliver this message. Please restart your computer and trysending again. (The beauty of this is that when you return, you can see how many in-duh-viduals did this over and over).
6. Thank you for your message, which has been adde d to a queuing system… You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.
7. I’ve run away to join a different circus.
8. I will be out of the office for the next 2 weeks for medical reasons… When I return, please refer to me as “Margaret” instead of “Steve”.
11 Hawt WordPress Plugins I've Fallen In Love With
Aug 21st
As part of building out that whole agency thing, I’ve had to do some digging for clients on interesting WordPress plugins. In doing that I’ve found a bunch of interesting plugins that I had never used before, so here are 11 of the best (my girlfriend asked “why 11″, and I answered “cause it’s better than 10″… yeah, I iz wittay).
- Featured Content Gallery: If you’re not familiar with it, it’s what sites like b5′s Bizzia use to do the whole content rotator thing. It can be a touch cumbersome if you don’t already have a “Featured” category setup, but not overly so. Just read the setup instructions one.at.a.time.
- Preview Theme: If you’re ever wanting to edit one theme while having another viewable to the public, this is perfect. Not a huge innovation, as there are other ways to do this, but for idjuts like me it’s just dead simplestest!
- Quick Subscribe: There are probably more fully featured, better ways of doing this, but for an easy, “in WordPress” way to alert readers to new posts this one’s just dead easy. If you have a better one, let me know in the comments!
- Shockingly Simple Favicon: Favicons in WP can sometimes be a pain. This removes that pain.
- Thank Me Later: One of the best tools to increase readers coming back is to email them a thank you for leaving a comment. Problem being that you either have to make it automated (and look like an automated-tool-using-idiot when they get a “personal” email 1 second after commenting) or slog through them one at a time. Enter Thank Me Later, which has a random delay on it, and a bunch of other settings, to make the email (and its timing) more personal and less automated… while still letting you be an automated-tool-using-douchebag ;-)
- Tweetmeme: One of my favourite plugins of all time, Tweetmeme lets users RT posts from within your post, and then tracks those RTs. If only this integrated into the next plugin I’d be in heaven…
- Twitter Blog: I actually went looking for something like this, and this is the best I could find. If there’s something better out there, let me know. But basically what this does is tweets out when you post (duh), but then tracks replies to those tweets and then integrates them (if you’re lucky/good) into the comment stream for your blog. More comments, more interaction, more juicyness! Again, there’s probably something better out there (ideally that used bit.ly and others’ reverse-APIs to actually track ALL responses… and REALLY ideally integrated into tweetmeme… but yeah, this is hawt)
- Wordbook: Updates your Facebook wall/news feed/etc when you blog. Tends to result in, well, more traffic.
- wp-AuthorComment: Lets you style comments by the blog’s author differently. So you could change colours, indentation, background, whatever. Dead simple, but very cool.
- WP Greet Box: Okay, I’ll straight up say this plugin is a bit overkill in how many services it lists, but anyways… Basically it looks at a user’s referrer, and then displays a custom message, with a pretty graphic, based on where they’re coming from. It’ll also do more advanced things for search engines like show related content. Someone comes from Twitter? Encourage them to subscribe to your Twitter feed. From Digg? To Friend you. From Fox News? To get a clue. Setup’s easy, but having to change the default message that encourages each site’s users to “subscribe to my feed” is a bit tiresome.
- Youtube Profile Field: Again, there are probably better plugins for this, but this allows you to integrate with your youtube account, have shortcodes for most recent videos or a video feed (for insertion in a page), etc. It’s a touch clunky around setup, but once it’s working you can just leave it be.
So there you have it. When my girlfriend saw the title of this post she took exception to me saying I fell in love with plugins. I had to reassure her that if she was a WordPress plugin I’d have a list of 12 plugins. Her response? “You’d only need 1 of them to make you happy”. Rowr.
If you have better suggestions for any of these features, or cool plugins “outside the norm” you think I should try with clients, let me know :) I’ll happily beta test hawt new features. I did the same for the “hawt even in beta” GravityForms!
Answering 4 Frequently Asked Questions Since "The Announcement"
Aug 19th
Ever since announcing my resignation as CEO of b5media I’ve had a tonne of email. Well, less than I did while I worked at b5 (cause I don’t get the mountain of internal email), but a lot of email specifically addressed to me that asks for a specific response. I’ve managed to answer most of these (one of my todos is to get my inbox empty for Wednesday) in the midst of my “workcation”, but realized that it might be easier to post a bit publicly, and then refer the simpler questions to this post.
Not to be antisocial, but at some point you get tired of answering “so, are you sad?” (no, I won’t answer that in any detail here, cause it should be obvious … no, and yes, at the same time).
In the spirit of openness, and efficiency, and just of, y’know, getting back in the habit of blogging, here are some common questions and my deep, thoughtful, wise answers:
Image by law_keven via FlickrQ: So… What’s Next?
This is the question I, understandably, get asked the most. The short answer is “I don’t know”. The medium answer is “I’ll be running netmobs and doing consulting for clients while I find the right fit… which could end up being netmobs“. The long answer is “I’m talking to companies, agencies, startups, etc about finding the right fit, but I’m in no hurry”.
Ultimately I figure I have 3 options right now (outside of the “do another startup” one, which I’ll answer in a sec): a) join a larger corporation in a senior strategic role (a friend suggested “EVP Social Media” or similar), b) join a midsized, profitable, agency or startup either for a finite period (to help them reach Goal X) or permanently or c) join a media company or startup, likely in the US, in a senior role around BD/media/social media/product development/etc.
At this point, I come back from my “workcation” on Tuesday, I have a bunch of lunches/meetings/coffees, and I’ll have a better idea by the end of the month. Right now I’m listening, talking, strategizinng and figuring out not just what I want or where I can add the most value, but where I fit.
That could be netmobs, it could be a “regular job”, it could be in a VC firm or it could be something totally random. Which is why I’m taking some time, listening, hanging out and helping folk when and where I cna.
Image via WikipediaQ: Are You Going to Do Another Startup?
Kind of related to the above question, some folk want to know if I’m going to do another startup. Especially after the oddly skewed WSJ article made it sound like the issue was some kind of inability to hack it in the startup world.
Granted, I was pretty tired (any job where you work 80+hrs/week without taking breaks for months/years will burn you out), and things do need to change in the startup world around helping CEOs finding balance (especially in Canada where we tend to eat our own young), but the issue around b5 was pretty simple: I was working too much, I had been at it too long, and I lacked perspective because of the huge amount of history there (none of it bad, but history nonetheless).
So I made a clean break so I could reboot. The last 4-6 weeks have basically been the equivalent of rebooting and putting more RAM into a Windows machine that’s been running 24/7 for 4 years. I feel good, I feel very fresh, and you could install some hawt new apps on me and I’d purr and be happy. As long as I remember to reboot on a more regular basis, I should be good.
Does that mean I’m going to do another startup? Probably not right away. Probably not about to start another media/software/internet business in the near future. I’ll probably play around with ideas. I’ll definitely continue to build out netmobs, which as an agency is kind of like a startup. And one of those things might turn into a Real Business. But I won’t be looking to place my life, passions and livelihood completely on the line at this point by starting or joining a startup that isn’t profitable.
Q: Are You Still Involved at b5media?
Image via CrunchBaseYes and no. I’m no longer involved operationally, which means if you want to know a) if b5 is doing something, b) when b5 is doing something, c) why b5 isn’t doing something, d) etc… I won’t know or speculate, but I can introduce you to the person who will know and may or may not tell you (heh). However I’m still a founder, shareholder and board member, which means I get to have input, watch my baby grow and try and stay out of the way. Not a bad deal really!
Image via WikipediaQ: What Would You Have Done Differently?
I know a lot of folk write those kinds of long, reflective posts immediately upon leaving a startup. Might gut says it’s a way to decompress, make a clean break, reflect, etc. For me, though, I don’t have the necessary distance or perspective to put together a list of 5, 10 or 100 things I’d have done differently, that I learned, etc. Ask me again in a year and you’ll likely get a useful and coherent answer.
Bonus Q: You Got Divorced?
I don’t talk about personal things in this kind of public way very often, but I did mention a new girlfriend in my leaving post so folk asked about my marriage… and suffice to say that I’m no longer married, but that (see: girlfriend) I’m not single either. So, David, please stop sending me topless pictures of yourself.
Drive-by Thankyous
Before I head back to my hermit-like last few days of my workcation, though, I do want to thank a few folk who’ve helped me over the last few months through this transition.Some of it has been simple encouragement, some has been outright advice, all have been incredible, incredible friends.
I’m sure I’ll forget people, so I’ll also just say a generic “thank you” to anyone who was helpful, supportive, caring or even just gave me a swift kick in the pants. I hope to see you all at BWE, SxSW or in a random airport/bar/marina.
