Seth Godin isn't perfect

Seth Godin gets it. He knows marketing, and has a hugely successful career because he knows it so well. He's a really smart guy, but every once in a while he misses the mark. Although I am not a linguistic major, and only speak one language (and even that is a struggle sometimes :) ), I think the Genki English blog nailed it with their rebuttal to Seth's post.

Language is an amazing thing, and taking the time to learn one (or more) other than your native tongue can be a struggle, but certainly one worth doing.

I for one can't wait until I can have a fluent conversation in something other than English.

LinkedIn

I'm not setting the world on fire with my connections on LinkedIn, but it's growing, and I'm liking what I'm seeing. The connections are so varied that I'm beginning to think the possibilities are endless for how I can begin to market myself. The industries range from telecommunications (obviously) to board members of National Attention Deficit Disorder Association.

Check it out, and let me know what you think. If you haven't signed up yet, click the link above, and connect to me!

Social Networking - Professional Style

We all know about MySpace and Face Book, as well as other social networking sites, but what about for business professionals? In a world where you want to know as many people as possible for professional advancement, you need something a bit more refined than Dane Cook talking about Kool-Aid. Not that I have anything against Dane Cook, but it's not exactly what I want a potential future employer to see in 'my space'.

This is where LinkedIn comes in. For those of you who are not familiar with LinkedIn, their mission

"is to help you be more effective in your daily work and open doors to opportunities using the professional relationships you already have."

According to their website they have over 13 million experienced professionals from around the world, representing 150 different industries. Linked in is free to join, although they do offer paid accounts with more features.

The site features the ability for you to connect to your contacts directly through your webmail account (GMail, AOL, Yahoo, etc.), and once you make your connections, you can ask someone in your network to introduce you to someone in their's. It's a simple concept, and can really open doors for someone looking for new opportunities.

If you're never been to LinkedIn before why don't you check it out now by clicking here, or better yet, click on the LinkedIn button you see at the top of this post, and you can see just what it is that I do (when I'm not writing here of course).

A few words about my previous post

Maybe I wasn't clear with my last post. When I ended it with 'Any ideas?' I wasn't looking for you to give me a way to make money on the Internet, I really was asking your opinion as to what the NEXT big thing is going to be. Social Networking sites, and more importantly Social Marketing is the current hot trend, but what can be done to improve on that? How do we link all these sites together? Is orkut the answer? Can the Google guys come up with something? Is there some young kid out there working on this right now? Whatever you think it is, you better start working on it today, because trust me, someone else is already working on it. Share your ideas with me. I can't wait to read what you have to say.

By the way, while we're talking about social marketing, make sure you check out the LinkedIn button at the top of this post. Click it to find out more about my LinkedIn connections.

I'm standing here in the

I'm standing here in the train station after just getting out of class, and I'm wondering how I'm going to make money on the 'net. Any ideas?

N.Y. Times Article - How does this happen?

National
In Remote Canyon, Calif., a Pay Phone Is Celebrated
By CAROL POGASH
Published: September 4, 2007
With cellphone reception rare, residents of Canyon, Calif., consider their pay phone to be as essential as the one-room post office and the three-room schoolhouse.


I think this is a great story. Don't get me wrong, I think AT&T was right in taking out the phone in the first place; let's face it, they're in the business to make money, and if removing a pay phone is cost-effective for their business that's okay with me. I also think that the residents of Canyon were right in fighting to keep it there. It served a purpose, and although it may not have been making money for AT&T, they had a right to keep it; the Telecom Act of 1996 even guaranteed the resident's this service.

So where is the problem with this story? Who is at fault? It's not AT&T, and it's not Canyon, California's residents, it's the state government of California. All I can say is leave it to the California State Government to figure out a way to collect over $1 million dollars in taxes from big-business, and at the same time not have any way to disperse the money to the people for whom it was supposedly collected. How did this tax law get passed? Isn't this something that our law-makers have done before? Why would this not be part of the ENTIRE process?

Maybe it's just me, but I think someone figured out a way for the State of California to collect one million dollars in taxes, make some money off the investment, eventually use the money for other things, and never have to use it for what it was ear-marked for.