Craig's BoilerRoom

Mama said there would be days like this and mama was right. These past couple of weeks have been one annoying technology problem after another. Nothing earth shattering but, still, they have consumed a huge amount of my time and energy. 

I'm not sure if this is coincidence or just a fact of life. These days I feel like I spend more time fixing and maintaining my social media tools than I do actually using them. Here's a quick snap shot of my past week ....

1. BlackBerry sync decides that it no longer wants to update my calendar or my contacts. I probably spent 3-4 hours on getting back to the point where it will at least sync the calendar. I'm afraid to try to activate the contact sync (smile).
2. My BlackBerry is having trouble holding UMA calling and I am not sure if it is Rim, Qwest, T-Mobile, or my modem.
3. Chrome was giving me issues on both our main website as well as my Gmail plugins (Gist and Rapportive) so I was forced to return to FireFox and configure that for my use. Still, I have to wonder if our website views properly for others who are using Chrome. The issue is Chrome's apparent inability to display YouTube videos consistently.
4. My flash plug in just crashed in the latest release of FireFox. LOL
5. WordPress came out with version 3.0 and, with the help of a friend, we did to that update. However, I probably spent 5-6 hours researching plugin compatibility and other potential hazards. Still, after all that, it apparently caused a minor glitch in the CSS which has been found and corrected.
6. One of my contact forms on the website is not CAPTCHA protected so I had to remove it and create a workaround as it was attracting spammers.
7. HootSuite came out with a great new version but one of their coolest new features, the ability to share images on FaceBook, is broken on their Hootlet which I use the hell out of.

All of this sure takes the fun out of things! As each new issue arises, I need to take the time to try to determine if it is me, everybody, temporary, software related, or hardware related. I run between my desktop, my laptop, and my wife's computer in attempts to isolate the problem(s). If I ass/u/me it is temporary and decide not to take any steps, and then come to find out it is something I have to correct ..... well that's lost time and that also sucks.

I suppose it is the nature of the beast :(

Monetization. Heck, I'm not even sure how to spell it but I've been hearing a lot about it lately. George Seybold tried to explain it to me once and I think I get it but am still not totally clear on his proposed model to accomplish this goal.

Basically what we are discussing comes down to this .... How are all these people that are providing all these great social media tools and networks making money at doing so? The fact is, many are not ... yet. But at some point they are going to have to. Aren't they? Still, I hear about huge dollar valuations for this service or that.

Just look at Twitter, FaceBook, and LinkedIn as starting points. I pay nothing for any of these services. Twitter has no advertising that is at least discernible. Fact is, I don't think Twitter has any ads period. FaceBook does have some ads but I am told that they are free? LinkedIn also has some ads and additionally offers paid versions of the service. So, here is what appears to me is going to have to happen.......

1. Sell advertising. The question is, who is going to pay for that (or who is willing to pay) and how can you keep it so that it does not substantially take away from the experience of using that product or service.
2. Offer fee paid versions of your product. I'm starting to see more and more of this. LinkedIn does offer fee based premium services. Gist is talking about monetizing their services in late 2010. LoopDesk is supposed to be fee based. I pay Google $50 per year for their Premier Apps service and I pay Ning $24.95 per month to remove ads from one of our sites. These are patterns that are beginning to form.
3. The value is in the data. I'll bet that if you were to look at the bulk of your license agreements you would find that somehow, someway, your data belongs to somebody else. Them. And, I can see where that sort of information might be worth some money to somebody. Probably lots of somebodies. 

As proof of the "data value" theory, I ran the value on my Twitter account on TweetValue and it is worth a whopping $544. Watch for my ad on EBay (smile).

Thanks for stopping by!

Craig

Related articles by Zemanta

• Should You Focus on Revenue or on Raising Money? (and the Case for a VC-Management Consultant Hybrid) (growthtimes.com)
• Possible Value In Miscellaneous Ramblings- Twitter Valued At Up to $1 Billion (lockergnome.com)
• Your information on Facebook (futurechat.in)
• Facebook 'cash flow positive,' signs 300M users (cbc.ca)

Related articles by Zemanta

• Seven Steps to Better Customer Referrals (myventurepad.com)
• When and How to Ask for Referrals (thecustomercollective.com)
• The Small Business Marketing Secret to Getting Referrals (marketing.blogtanker.com)

Haven't posted to the old Posterous site in awhile. Let's see if it works (smile).

I turned 56 today. Five years ago I would not even have thought I would be around let alone having the time of my life! Yes, I have many blessings.....

1. A great wife and daughter and even a dog that loves me (smile).
2. I learn something new everyday
3. I get to network with some really great folks .... every day
4. Everywhere I look, there are new opportunities either right in my face or right around the corner
5. I'm able to work/proceed on my own pace
6. If I want to go fishing, I go fishing. I don't need to ask anyone for permission. Same thing goes for naps (smile)
7. I'm debt free and can meet my obligations

If I was any luckier, I'd be good lookin' (smile)

I just read and article on how Martha Steward prefers Twitter to FaceBook. She does not like FaceBook's "dippy" rituals regarding adding friends etc. The article continued on to point out the difference in the two:

Please visit our new website at:
http://www.networksboise.com
Find out what I'm up to at:
http://craigmjamieson.gizapage.com/

Great product but would be even better if you could preview actual tweets before they went out. I am finding that some of the links are over a year old and this is supposed to be the "freshest" content. Have sent email to them asking them about this.

At the same time I am eliminating some items from my key phrases as I am also seeing links that are a little too "MySpace" for me (smile).

Working on a new NetWorks! Boise Super Group. More to come.

Thanks!

Craig

Please visit our new website at:
http://www.networksboise.com
Find out what I'm up to at:
http://craigmjamieson.gizapage.com/

So, here I am again. Posting via email is pretty cool. BTW, I also use Zemanta and the FireFox add-on integrates it nicely with both WordPress and Gmail.

The Matt and Brandon show on KIDO AM 630 debuted today in Boise. It will be on every Saturday from 11:00 AM to Noon. Matt and Brandon both did a great job! I have also decided to invest a little money in advertising on this radio segment. Brandon got ahold of me about 5 minutes before taping and asked me what I wanted to say. Hell, I've never done anything like this before so wrote something up quickly and put a stop watch to reading it. Now, they did the actual commercial itself and, I must say, I was extremely pleased! Just tickled with the results. A few of our members also got a shout on the air as a part of our ad. Sweet. Brandon and I are scheming on another project together. More shall be revealed :).

Now, of course, I'm going to sit back and watch the calls and site visits come in. and, they are up for a Saturday. However, I have also been tweeting my ass off, have ProxiFeed workin' for me, and have done some social media related posts as of late on our group site and those always increase page views.

Had some fun on Twitter this morning. A gal asked folks to send in their jokes and she would retweet them. I sent in "P.E.T.A. - People Eating Tasty Animals". She didn't tweet it :). Later I got a tweet from her apologizing for that but she was afraid she might offend some people. I smiled and told her "I was hoping it would" :)

Got to run. Thanks for visiting!

Craig

Please visit our new website at:
http://www.networksboise.com
Find out what I'm up to at:
http://craigmjamieson.gizapage.com/

Related articles by Zemanta

• Essential Firefox add-ons (friedcellcollective.net)
• Enhance Your Blog Posts and E-Newsletter With Zemanta (maketecheasier.com)
• Make Your Blog Posts Better (lockergnome.com)
• Zemanta (areyoutechie.wordpress.com)

I warned people in my first post that I might do a little ranting here. Like Henry Fonda said in "On Golden Pond" - "What good is having an elf if you can't make him work?" :) I must confess that I am feeling a little pissy lately. I'm getting this post in early because I'm hoping nobody will see it :).  Here's how I see the state of our economy, and country, today......

Here's me and a lot of others:

1. I buy a house, pay it off early, and then watch it's value drop 25% in order to make it more affordable for others to buy.
2. I save for my retirement, and I am conservative, and I get to watch that figure plummet 35%.
3. I have a 2001 model, car, keep it in good repair, and have no interest in trading it in.
   
4. I don't owe anybody a dime and live within my means. My credit limits are lowered and my interest rates are increased :).
5. My health insurance premiums, that I pay for personally, continue to rise dramatically every year.
   

On the other hand:

1. You have not saved a dime and, therefore, your retirement savings have not suffered :)
2. You over-extend, live beyond your means, and you can either declare bankruptcy or maybe get your bills negotiated down. And then maybe you can do it again in 7 years.
   
3. You have not made a house payment in a year and now you are working with the bank, and with the help of the government, you are going to get a lower interest rate than I ever got and they are maybe going to even knock off a huge chunk of the balance on your loan. It gets better. When housing values rebound, you get to keep the profits. What a country!
4. Or, you have never been able to save for a house but now they are all on sale, interest rates are at an all time low, and the government will even pay you $8,000 to buy one!
   
5. The government is graciously going to pay you $4,500 to trade in your p.o.s, vehicle. And, like everything else, they are all on sale and interest rates are at an all time low :)
   

Let me finish by saying that I am a huge believer in everybody having a chance to live the American Dream. I also know that there are a tremendous amount of hard working folks out there who sometimes need a helping hand up. Medical bankruptcy and soaring health care costs are a national shame and disgrace. I am firmly and 100% in favor of helping those that help themselves. It's just that I have spent my life being responsible and, from what I see, I'm gettin' nuthin' out of this! (smile). And, I'm not alone.

Thanks for listening to my rant!

Please visit our new website at:
http://www.networksboise.com
Find out what I'm up to at:
http://craigmjamieson.gizapage.com/

Related articles by Zemanta

• Is Cash for Clunkers an environmental coup or just another Detroit bailout? (dailyfinance.com)
• The $23.7 trillion bailout's biggest message: Fail catastrophically (dailyfinance.com)
• Thoughts on universal healthcare (findingforrest.com)
• "Someone's premiums" bought my lunch on gold-rimmed china (masbury.wordpress.com)

Welcome to my new personal blog site on Posterous. Somehow, using Posterous seemed like a natural for this use. I am probably more comfortable with email than with anything and plan to do all posts to this site via that method.

"Boiler Room". Actually, I can think of at least two definitions and both are applicable for this site's planned use.

1. A "boiler room" creates a lot of heat by way of steam and there times when I just need to let some of it off. Doing it on our NetWorks! site is just not a suitable place. That's business. This is personal.
2. A "boiler room" is also old time sales jargon for a place where folks are working hard and cooking up new deals and opportunities. And, I'm cooking up a lot :).

So, thanks for visiting. Should be fun!

Craig

Please visit our new website at:
http://www.networksboise.com
Find out what I'm up to at:
http://craigmjamieson.gizapage.com/

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ten Tips to Get the Most Out of Posterous (maketecheasier.com)
• Posterous adds Google Maps integration (thenextweb.com)
• Posterous acquires social news site creation tool Slinkset (thenextweb.com)
• Is Posterous the New TwitPic? (mashable.com)