by Dave on August 16, 2010
It’s been a while since writing a somewhat introspective blog (though I’ve got a few saved in Drafts for later… or, most likely, never).
via barrystickets.com
Something my close friends may or may not be surprised by is that I spent a good portion of the past 24 hours listening to country music. The reason this is significant to me is Garth Brooks.
This is a figure that elicits a lot of emotion for some people because of how he’s gone about his career and personal life, but something I love about him is that this is a guy who, while in college, figured out what’s important in his life and he ran with it. He went into music and totally redefined his genre in the public eye. Then he left it all to better serve his family.
He comes across as a pretty humble guy, I’m not sure that he’d ever admit to setting out to changing country music forever, but it’s pretty cool that he went about doing what he wanted to do and living his dream.
The blog wouldn’t be about importance or introspection if I didn’t wonder about what I do and how important it is to me. It’s not about regret, but looking forward.
I’ve really got no idea what lies ahead, but I’m rolling the dice on a few awesome projects that are going pretty well and I’m enjoying that momentum. Whether they’re on the path of what’s most important to me… I’ve got no idea about that either. I enjoy them for now and those choices will be permanent enough to keep my clients happy and grow their businesses without any gaps.
I just caught this blog by Seth Godin, probably one of the most blogged about individuals on the planet (if not, he’s one of the most tweeted about). It’s about the idea that in order to produce more assurances in our lives, we push harder and harder to alleviate our fear rather than achieve our core objectives. Something about Garth Brooks, at least to me, is that he lived through his fears and just did what he thought was cool.
Garth Brooks (The Red Strokes - 1994)
Whether he’s getting lifted out of a giant puddle of red paint in The Red Strokes or lighting stuff on fire on stage, he just pressed on through whatever was supposed to be in order to do his own thing. Despite the fact he’s doing something that Wayne Newton and Celine Dion became noted for by playing Vegas shows regularly, he’s apparently doing it his way.
I think business innovation, or business model innovation, holds the key for me to do things my way on a similar scale and fear isn’t really possible in living in that space.
Time will tell, I suppose.
by Dave on August 15, 2010
In July, Stewart Marshall, a fellow CMA, and I finally locked down an idea we’ve been kicking around for months. Stewart and I have been driving the social media presence for the Vancouver Chapter of CMAs since 2009 and have come a long way in terms of getting the Chapter set-up on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn (as a private group).
What we learned in our time in these roles was that professionals, CMAs in particular, were interested in social media, but often didn’t know where to start. We wanted to create a program that would give them that place to start and ensure that, even if they weren’t planning to set-up profiles or otherwise be engaged, they would at least be able to speak to others intelligently about the subject.
We’re not marketers, we’re not social media “gurus” and we’re not sales consultants. We’re also not going to help people build their online marketing strategies.
What will we do then? Well, we’re introducing various social media tools through stories of successes, failures and challenges from the news, our networks and our own experience. We’re preparing people to think about the possibilities for their own businesses when it comes to social media.
As much as I tweet, update Facebook and engage on LinkedIn, I’m not convinced that every business needs social media engagement and every owner or manager should be able to make that decision on their own. I’m an advocate of considering social media engagement for one’s business and we want to give people a perspective in beginning to develop that understanding and some tips for basic use.
And so, we founded AvidTetra Social Media to bridge this gap and get professionals connected with the idea of using online social tools. After our first session this past Tuesday to the CMA Vancouver Chapter, I’m excited to see where this goes.
