Mitch Joel's Blog: Six Pixels of Separation, page 379

Don't Suck

Are you worried about bad customer reviews online?

Don't suck.

Social Media won't save you if your products and services are sub-par.

Don't suck.

If all you're doing on Twitter is responding to customer complaints...

Don't suck.

If no one "like"s you on Facebook ...

Don't suck.

If no one is watching your videos on YouTube ...

Don't suck.

If no one subscribes to your Podcast on iTunes ...

Don't suck.

If no one is leaving comments on your Blog...

Don't suck.

If your bounce rate is high on your website...

Don't suck.

If no one is clicking on your banner ads...

Don't suck.

If people are unsubscribing from your email list...

Don't suck.

If no one is checking-in to your physical space on Foursquare ...

Don't suck.

If no one is downloading your iPhone , Android , BlackBerry or iPad app...

Don't suck.

Too many bad reviews on Yelp! or Amazon ?

Don't suck.

It's pretty simple...

Don't suck.

We live in a very different world.

Brands may be scared of Social Media, but it's changing business and it's changing consumers. Brands are transparent (whether they're leading the charge on this or their customers are doing it for them). Too many brands are worried about dealing with customer service in Social Media and not worrying about the root of the problem: people are not loving whatever it is that they are selling. It's time to innovate. The choice is simple: use these channels to try to fend off the angry hoards or use these channels to build, connect, share and grow.

The challenge is this: don't suck.

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The Most Important Thing You Can Do...

It happened twice yesterday. In the span of fours hours, two people I deeply respect said the exact same thing.

Yesterday morning, I went to see Jeffrey Gitomer (best-selling author of The Sales Bible, The Little Red Book of Selling and every other Little Book of... business and management book) speak. Gitomer is pretty clear about what it takes to be successful. He believes that the greatest sales people and marketing professionals are the ones who read and write... a lot. While many people who see Gitomer can easily walk away with the message that the secret of success is in the writing, after spending some time with him, it's obvious that the real secret (for him) is in the reading. Gitomer reads a ton. He not only collects the books that inspire him, but he devours them and surrounds himself with them. He loves words. He's constantly learning and educating himself, and - from there - the ideas for his writing (whether it's a book, article, presentation or tweet) flow from an overflowing brain of ideas and inspiration.

Then, it happened again.

After Gitomer's presentation, I went for lunch with Julien Smith (co-author with Chris Brogan of Trust Agents and a co-host on the Media Hacks podcast). Julien was telling me about Charlie Munger (one of Warren Buffet's peers) and his passion for reading. Munger loves reading. Munger believes that the most successful people he knows are those individuals who are constantly reading... like in a non-stop kind of way.

Most of us really give up on reading after university.

Most of us feel like we've "put in our time" with long text. Most of us may still read long text, but it's mostly fiction and it's mostly used as a form of distraction to forget about our current reality. I've been thinking a lot about reading lately (and how much I love it). The other truth that I'm uncovering about reading is that tweets, status updates and Blog posts that tell you how to generate more Blog readers don't count much either. The majority of newspaper and magazine articles are probably right on the edge of valuable reading, but the guts of reading that will truly make you smart and successful comes from the high brow stuff. The books, periodicals and longer thought/research pieces.

"I wish I had more time to read." 

I hear that a lot. Gitomer told the crowd that it's easy to read more: "stop watching dance competitions on TV. It doesn't matter who wins." He's right (he often is). People will always have time for the things that are important to them. You have to make the choice. There is something that comes out of reading many business books (or non-fiction or history or science or biography or art books) that you can't get out of a TV documentary of newspaper article. The depth, the journey, the time alone that allows your own brain to wander and think is a critical part of where creativity and originality come from.

Make a commitment to yourself (and to your success). Start reading more... and don't stop.

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The New Rules Of Email

It's rare that you come across an individual who feels like they simply don't get enough email.

In fact, the reaction most people give you when you even discuss the topic of email evokes words and emotions like, "overwhelmed" and "out of control" to "I wish it would stop" and "please give me my life back." Volumes of productivity and business books have been written about strategies and techniques to overcome and conquer your inbox. On a personal note, I've come to accept that my inbox is just one big, never-ending game of Tetris - where the email keeps flowing down into my inbox. In this strange race against time, I'm competing to respond and move the correspondences over into their appropriate file folders. Unfortunately (and much like Tetris), the emails keep stacking up and increasing speeds to the top and it's, essentially, "game over" for me. It doesn't end and they are no bonus rounds or extra lives to save me.

The use and function of email has changed dramatically in the past few years.

If you look back to some of the more primitive forms of email, you may be surprised to learn that an email being sent in the early 1970s over the ARPANET (an earlier version of the Internet as we know it to be today) looks strikingly similar to an email that you're reading on your BlackBerry right now. So, while the text and format of the message hasn't changed much, how we use email as a communications tool has completely morphed. With all of the changes in communications coupled with our feelings of hopelessness and constant connectivity (it wasn't that long ago that we all had to go to a physical computer to check our email, and it wasn't immediately accessible in the palm of our hands), there must another way... and there is.

Here are the new rules of email:

Rule 1 - Control. When the BlackBerry first came on the market, everyone set the platform to notify them (be it by ringing, vibrating and/or flashing) when a new email arrived. This was simply a functionality and not a rule. You have to learn how to control the technology. Do not let the technology control you. I turn off all notifications for email. Period. I look at my email when the feeling strikes.

Rule 2 - Automate. Most people have pre-defined signature files at the end of every email (indicating all of your contact info). You can have multiple email signature files (or you can create templates), so why not use that functionality to pre-write some of the more common responses? I have a bunch of templates as responses for people who are requesting to work for us, speaking requests, requests to interview me, etc. Michael Hyatt over at Thomas Nelson Publishing has an excellent "how-to" post on how to automate more of your standard email work (and be sure to read the additional recommendations in the comment section of his Blog post) here: Using Email Templates To Say "No" With Grace.

Rule 3 - Don't reply-all or BCC. If someone is setting up a meeting with multiple people and you are on the list, do not reply-all. Only respond to the person who created the email. If you are the person creating the email, let the other attendees know to respond only to you. Watching the Ping-Pong back and forth is not only annoying, it's a waste of bandwidth and time. Much in the same vein, never BCC anyone. We've been using email long enough to recount embarrassing moments where people have responded after being BCC'd. The best technique is to send your email to the intended person, then go to your sent items and forward that same message to the people you wanted to BCC.

Rule 4 - Email isn't everything. Remember the famous saying, "words account for only seven per cent of all communication." Email (and other forms of text) can't express emotion and intent. On top of that, there's only a small segment of the population that is good at expressing themselves with words. This means that the majority of emails can be misconstrued or taken in the wrong way. Don't be afraid to pick up the phone, set up a meeting, catch them on Skype, or walk to someone's office to discuss something.

Rule 5 - Write and respond. Smartphones are pervasive. Most people in business are connected and mobile all of the time. One of the earlier email rules of etiquette was not to send emails outside of business hours, so as not to disturb people out of the office. Some of the techniques included writing your emails as drafts and then sending them at a more appropriate hour. The other side was the Type A bosses rattling off emails at every hour of the day/night and expecting everyone else to respond. The issue isn't in the writing and sending of the email, the issue is in the responding. Be clear with everyone on your team (and this includes your clients) about when and how you respond. Let them know that even though you may respond at all hours of the night, they are not required to reply immediately (if it's a true emergency, call the person!).

Set up guidelines for email engagement and ensure that everyone is on side with them.

Because I travel and work strange hours, my team knows that they're not required to respond just because I can't sleep at 4 a.m. or because I'm sending email from a time zone in Europe. There's an emerging trend of email bankruptcy. Individuals making a conscious decision to simply select all of their email in their inbox and delete it. To start over. To hope (and pray) that anyone who was in their inbox will both reach out to them again and understand that they simply can't get out of the tsunami of digital messages that continually pound their way in.

There is no way to beat email, but the only thing worse than more email is no email.

With platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, most of us are now managing multiple accounts. Email (and all forms of digital messaging) is one of the key connecting points for many people in business. How you manage your email and how you setup those expectations will be critical to your success... and to your sanity.

What are your new rules for email? How has your email usage evolved or devolved?

The above posting is my twice-monthly column for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers called, New Business - Six Pixels of Separation . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original versions online here:

Montreal Gazette - Email has become like a never-ending game of Tetris .

Vancouver Sun - not yet published.

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How To Win Friends And Influence People (On Twitter)

Episode #229 of Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast is now live and ready for you to listen to.

I don't think you should follow back everyone on Twitter who decides to follow you. It didn't seem like a big deal to say it. It turns out it was. Mark W. Schaefer (over at Grow) had a great Blog post titled, Bringing Down The Twitter Snobs, that ran contrary to a post I had published titled, Being A Twitter Snob Is A Good Thing. It's not the first time we've had discourse over a hot topic (in fact, we debated Ghost Blogging right here: SPOS #214 - The Ghost Blogging Debate With Mark W. Schaefer). I like debating Mark. He's not a Social Media Guru - and you know the kind of "guru" I am talking about. He's a professional and an educator with real experience and a great perspective on all things Marketing and Communications. As you can tell by the comments on both of our Blog posts, this is a hot topic. We decided to take the gloves off and discuss it, right here. Enjoy the conversation...

You can grab the latest episode of Six Pixels of Separation here (or feel free to subscribe via iTunes ): Six Pixels of Separation - The Twist Image Podcast #229 .

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Six Links Worthy Of Your Attention #22

Is there one link, story, picture or thought that you saw online this week that you think somebody you know must see?

My friends: Alistair Croll (BitCurrent, Rednod, GigaOM, Human 2.0, the author of Complete Web Monitoring and Managing Bandwidth: Deploying QOS in Enterprise Networks), Hugh McGuire (The Book Oven, LibriVox, iambik, Media Hacks) and I decided that every week or so the three of us are going to share one link for each other (for a total of six links) that each individual feels the other person "must see".

Check out these six links that we're recommending to one another:

Feeling The Future: Is Precognition Possible - Wired . " Jonah Lehrer looks at a subject that's taboo in most scientific circles: the ability to predict the future. It's a controversial topic, because despite robust studies that show it exists, it lacks the reproducibility of good science. As I read this, I thought about the idea that the observer affects the experiment: the act of watching changes the results (the best illustration of the idea is this video). Which begs the question: maybe precognition is governed by the same principles, and when we try to test it too well, it vanishes?" (Alistair for Hugh).

Mind Wide Open - The Psychologist . " Simon Wardley pointed me at this article on how easily we're influenced by things. It's a good reminder that despite our claims of sentience, we're still running on jungle-surplus hardware. Must-reading for any marketer; among other things, always buy someone a coffee before you try to change their mind." (Alistair for Mitch).

Victorian Infographics - BibliOdyssey . "A hot newish topic is data visualization and infographics - the processing of complex data into easy-to-understand and visually stimulating images. But infographics are not new. Here are a whole host of delightfully detailed infographics from Victorian times, from Bibliodyssey, one of the greatest websites to land upon if you are looking for some procrastination fodder." (Hugh for Alistair).

Later - The New Yorker . "I find procrastination such a puzzling affliction. I am particularly bad at dealing with anything to do with government paperwork (taxes etc), and I put things off for days and days, living in dread. When I get down to doing that loathsome task, it usually takes much less time, and far less agony than expected. Over and over this repeats. So why do I keep procrastinating? Some thoughts from James Surowiecki in The New Yorker." (Hugh for Mitch).

Mary Meeker's Awesome Web 2.0 Presentation About The State Of The Web - Business Insider . "This is one of those crazy pieces of content that you can spend hours looking out, sharing and talking about. Morgan Stanley's technology research team put together this super-comprehensive look at the state of the online world. Most of the data is both surprising and inspiring. It looks at everything from mobility and connectivity to advertising and Steve Jobs ." (Mitch for Alistair).

Jay Rosen: Discussing The Digital Revolution At Media Innovation Conference - Marketing Magazine . "There are few people that I don't mind dropping everything for to listen to. One of those people is Jay Rosen . There are media pundits, there are media experts and then there's Jay Rosen - who is all of that (and a whole lot more). HIs journalism and newspaper industry insights shed both a strategic and experienced light on an industry in the middle of dramatic changes and constant flux. This interview offers up a bunch of gems." (Mitch for Hugh).

Now it's your turn: in the comment section below pick one thing that you saw this week that inspired you and share it.

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alistair croll

bibliodyssey

bitcurrent

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human 20

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infographics

james surowiecki

jay rosen

jonah lehrer

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mary meeker

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morgan stanley

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steve jobs

the book oven

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victorian times

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Art & Copy

Have you seen the movie/documentary, Art & Copy?

I had not (and shame on me!). I rented it from iTunes last week on my iPad and watched it on my flight back from London the other day. I got completely caught-up, lost in it and inspired. The movie looks at the early days of the advertising industry and how it has evolved. That's not really true. The crux of the movie is about the creative process and how advertising - done well - is art (and it is!). The true inspiration from the movie comes from the interviews with some our industries leading luminaries (you know, the names you typically see on the signs of their office buildings or on all of the advertising awards).

Art & Copy left me breathless. It left me inspired. It left me wanting to be more. It left me wanting to be one of the people they should interview if they were making this movie again in a couple of decades.

Have you seen it? What did you think?

Here's the synopsis from the website...

"Art & Copy is a powerful new film about advertising and inspiration. Directed by Doug Pray (Surfwise, Scratch, Hype!), it reveals the work and wisdom of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time - people who've profoundly impacted our culture, yet are virtually unknown outside their industry. Exploding forth from advertising's 'creative revolution' of the 1960s, these artists and writers all brought a surprisingly rebellious spirit to their work in a business more often associated with mediocrity or manipulation: George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow, Hal Riney and others featured in Art & Copy were responsible for 'Just Do It,' 'I Love NY,' 'Where's the Beef?,' 'Got Milk,' 'Think Different,' and brilliant campaigns for everything from cars to presidents. They managed to grab the attention of millions and truly move them. Visually interwoven with their stories, TV satellites are launched, billboards are erected, and the social and cultural impact of their ads are brought to light in this dynamic exploration of art, commerce, and human emotion."

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Up Your Game

There are many people who want to move ahead in Marketing. They want a better job. They want more pay. They want a better title. They want to manage more people. They want to work on more interesting business. I hope you're one of those people.

Why do I wish that for you? Staying where you, are and doing what you're doing, and being paid what you're being paid to do the same thing next year won't do much for you. It won't move you to another level, it won't push you spiritually, it won't push you creatively, and it (probably) won't make you a better person. If you're not striving to grow, learn and push yourself, you're not living (sorry to get all Tony Robbins on you, but it's true).

There was a problem with trying to get ahead in Marketing...

Prior to the Internet, if you strived for more in Marketing, it wasn't easy to find the tools, networks and people to help you get ahead. You would have to (at best) take a course, pass it and then prove to your managers that you have the new skill sets required to move ahead. You could read some of the trade and industry magazines and newspapers and (hopefully) be able to prove some of the ideas you picked up in your client (or brand) work. You could attend a few industry events and conferences and bring that knowledge back to work. There were few (and limited but always expensive) ways to get the information you needed to push ahead.

There's no longer an excuse not to up your game.

We are here now. There are no more excuses. If you wanted to learn more, network with people and get some ideas and new skill sets, the only thing stopping you is you.

You can...

Spend all day and night reading Marketing, Advertising and Communications Blogs from the sharpest minds.

Connect to amazing people on Twitter (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc...).

Watch hours of Marketing and advertising videos on YouTube.

Rent documentaries on iTunes (have you seen Art And Copy yet?).

Listen to audio Podcasts (do you listen to Marketing Over Coffee, For Immediate Release, Jaffe Juice, The Beancast, etc...?).

Watch video Podcasts too.

Add you thoughts by commenting on individual's Facebook pages, Blogs, Podcasts, etc...

Start your own Blog or Podcast to experiment with how you think and get others to help you crystallize your perspective.

Attend an unconference like PodCamp and meet, learn and share with people "in their protein forms."

Subscribe to a ton of free e-newsletters (iMedia connection, eMarketer, ClickZ, SmartBrief on Social Media, Marketing Charts, etc...).

Attend online webinars.

Take an online course (look at what they're teaching over at Market Motive... and look at who your teachers can be).

The things is...

You have no more excuses for not upping your game. The craziest part? The majority of the ideas listed above are free (or close to it). They are all available - at your disposable - right now, forever and 24-hours-a-day. Your organization, boss, management and peers may never help you move forward. You're not stuck. You don't need them. All you need is the commitment, time, effort and true desire. It doesn't matter if you are an entry-level employee, middle manager, senior executive, business owner in start-up mode or an entrepreneur with thousands of employees, there is still valuable learning skills and people to connect to at every level. Personally, no business books, courses or marketing conferences have held a candle to how the Internet has helped me upped my game (and I'm just getting started).

What are you waiting for? Up your game.

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Brands Cannot Be Human

Can brands be human? Can brands be more human?

People tend to shrug their shoulders, roll their eyes or simply get freaked out at the slightest thought of making something that is not like us "human" (if you don't believe me, watch science fiction movies like A.I. or Blade Runner). Before getting into a philosophical and semantic debate over what it actually means to be "human," first think about what a brand really stands for.

What is a brand?

If you go back to the early days of products and commercialism, you'll note that soap was just soap for a very, very long time. All soap was made the same way, and the only way to differentiate it was for the company manufacturing it to give it an original name and make it look different (ok, some of them smelled different too). In the decades after WWII, companies spent their time, money and effort trying to differentiate their products and services from those of their competitors. Some of those differences were legitimate, while some were not all that obvious. For the most part, brands came of age in a world where the things products did were pretty similar to what everyone else's products did.

Enter Madison Avenue.

The only way to get around that problem was to create some kind of emotional attachment to one product over another. Enter Madison Avenue, which mixed advertising messages with psychology in the hope that a large group of people would feel emotionally connected to a product. And buy it. Lots of it. Over and over. In today's world, most products and services are decent; in the old days, you could use advertising to sell something severely sub-par. In this age of consumer reviews, blogs, Twitter, Facebook and beyond, it's hard to get away with being that bad. But we've also reached a point where that emotional connection between customers and brands goes both ways. The individuals behind the products are talking (or typing) directly with consumers.

They're putting a human face on something that for years was locked behind a passive-aggressive customer service rep.

At the same time, the customers at the other end are developing their own personal brands. They're publishing, broadcasting and connecting. We've come to a point where certain individuals online have more influence and power than some of the biggest corporate brands. What makes this so interesting (and scary for marketers) is that human beings are like snowflakes in that no two are alike. Those differentiators that brands fought so hard to implant in the consumer's mind at the genesis of branding are intrinsic to humans. My Digital Marketing Blog will look nothing like your Digital Marketing Blog.

We want our brands to be more human because brands are made of human beings.

Take an industry you hate (airlines, mobile carriers, automotive, you name it) and you'll note that these industries are not made up of evildoers. They're made of people. They're good people. They are people who are trying to make a living, trying to make a difference in the same communities as you and your children. They actually care about their customers. They want you to spend more with them and be loyal to them. Science fiction aside, it's probably impossible for something un-human - whether it be a robot or a brand - to actually become human. But what we are seeing is that brands that embrace the human beings that make them so interesting (whether they work for them or just like chatting about them) are much more successful than others. These brands can engage people much in the same way us humans can - and have done since we first rubbed two sticks together and invited the people around us over to warm up.

These brands may never be human, but they can become more humane. What do you think?

The above posting is an article from Sparksheet . I cross-post it here with all the links and tags for your reading pleasure, but you can check out the original version online here. Sparksheet is also an official media sponsor of the @BrandsConf that takes place on December 2nd in New York City (which was the catalyst for this Blog post). You are entitled to a 30% discount on registration by using the promo code "sparksheet" - http://brands2010.140conf.com/register :

Sparksheet - When Brands Become Human .

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The Fear Is Real

Businesses small, medium and large still have one thing in common: they're scared of Social Media.

That's not entirely true. They're not scared of Social Media, they're scared of trying to cater, answer and amend every little customer service issue in public. They're scared of being held hostage by someone who has a cousin who has a significant following on Twitter. They scared that someone who is Blogging about their company (without any real credibility and knowledge of the company) is tarnishing their image and perpetuating myths or misconceptions.

For the most part, too many companies are missing the point.

Access to information has been disintermediated. Prior to Social Media, if you had a gripe with a company, it was a major effort to get your local news folks interested in the story. If they became interested, the brand in question would not interface with the individual, but (more likely than not), they would use the media channel to mediate the result. Those channels still exist, but they're not as powerful in a world where anyone can have an issue and then publish it (in text, images, audio and video) instantly and for free to the world to see. On top of that, there was/is a social contract between the media and brands. There is, to some extent, rules of engagement. Individuals, customers, consumers, don't know that language. They don't speak it and they're not interested in it.

If you don't have a community to back you up, you'll always look defensive.

The flaw in this thinking is not that it's hard to respond and make customers happy (it always is and always will be challenging to make everybody happy, all of the time). The flaw in this thinking happens because brands are being reactive without a community to help them spread an idea. Brands hop into Social Media with very little equity in the audience. They fail to realize that you don't get a community when you need it, you develop and nurture a community slowly over time, so that when you need something (anything) they are there for. If you're not spending your time in Social Media developing and nurturing that, you will always be in a reactive mode.

Pushing out into the real world.

The paradigm shift in culture within the brand and organization is where the root of success will happen. There has to be an appetite to:

Share information in public.

Open up.

Speak in a human voice.

Respond to an issue even if no one is asking about it in the Social Media channels.

Use transparency when applicable and possible (sorry to say, that when it comes to companies, they can't always to do this).

Adhere to the regulations of their industry while explaining to consumers why it is the way it is - in their language.

Ensure that everyone within the organization understand what the company is doing and trying to accomplish with Social Media.

Share the positive stuff too (it's not - and should never be - the place to only respond to issues).

But, more importantly...

Understand that the channels and platforms are agnostic. They are as accessible to the brand as they are to an individual. If a company feels slighted by the media, why not leverage Social Media to share and tell your side of the story? Why not let your followers on Twitter know that you don't agree with how a customer is reacting and explain your side? Why not become a media and/or publisher of content (much like your consumers are doing)? All of the concepts listed here mean nothing when the end-game is not about becoming more credible and relevant to your consumer.

All ships rise.

When brands use the channels like their consumers use the channels, something bigger than a halo effect takes place. Individuals begin to see, read and hear how the company truly thinks. Why they think this way and how to get resolution. Brands fear Social Media because they have never really been publishers of content. They have never really been able to use the people within the organization - those with authentic voices - to really speak about the brand. And while this fear is very real and still alive in most organizations, there are enough examples of brands who have used these platforms as an exchange of ideas and issues and an evolution - to the point where it is a healthy eco-system of self-regulation.

It's too bad that this fear is real (but it is). What's your take? How can we make brands less afraid?

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customer service

mass media

online community

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social media

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My Commitment To You

Why do you do what you do? How often do you do it? What's the point of it all?

I'm often asked many questions like this - on a daily basis. People seem confused with what my role is and what I do for a living... and what the point of this Blog is as well.

Here's the deal...

I am President and one of four equal business partners at Twist Image. We are a full-service Digital Marketing agency. We employ close to 120 full-time professionals and have offices in both Toronto and Montreal (I live in Montreal). We started this Blog in 2003 as a place to express how we think about the changing landscape of Marketing, Advertising and Communications (to date, we have over 2300 Blog posts). The Podcast (which has the same name as this Blog) started in May of 2006 (we have 228 episodes for you to listen to). I also do speaking events (about 60 - 80 every year). Last year, we published a book, Six Pixels of Separation, through Grand Central Publishing - Hachette Book Group. The book was recently released in trade paperback as well. It has been published in many languages (French, Chinese, Korean, Italian, Polish, etc...). I also write a column every two weeks for the Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun newspapers in their business sections. I occasionally contribute to enRoute Magazine, Sparksheet and Man On The Go too. Everything I do (speaking, teaching, columns, books, etc...) is done through Twist Image (yes, this includes the money part too).

Building a business.

The majority of my time is spent on Twist Image and our clients. My main role is business development, and once the BD work turns into a client, I become a part of the team and help with both the strategy (the why and the how) along with the overall senior management of certain relationships. I am not an independent consultant or strategist. My goal is to build a valuable and healthy business by doing great work for our clients.

My commitment to you.

Six Pixels is not a shill for Twist Image (at least, it's not a blatant one), and here is my commitment to you...

6 Blog posts every week. I try to do this daily, but that sometimes doesn't work out.

1 Audio Podcast every week.

I try to respond to all comments and add value.

No affiliate links. Any links that you see/click on are not affiliate links.

I'll keep the self-promotional content to a dull roar. We all have to toot our own horns (if we don't, who will?), but it's not the thrust of what this is all about.

Honesty. I try to be honest about the content I create and my thoughts are not always 100% crystallized. This Blog/Podcast is my canvas/art. Sometimes it will make sense, sometimes it will be gibberish. It will always be my own, personal opinion. Be kind.

I'm lucky.

I love growing Twist Image. I love Blogging. I love Podcasting. I love speaking. I love writing for other publications. I love teaching. I love serving my community. I love the fact that people care enough to read, comment and then follow along in places like Twitter and Facebook. It's very humbling. It's very important to me, and I wanted you to know that I am committed to continually providing a consistent and relevant flow of content that is valuable to you and your business (and I could not do this without the full support of my business partners and fellow team members at Twist Image).

That is my commitment to you.

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