For the last two months, I have been taking regular trips home to Fair Haven, New Jersey, which is a small coastal town located about an hour and a half train ride south of New York City. This is where my sisters and I grew up, from 1996 through our high school years, before each of us embarked on our respective college journeys. With three of the four kids out of the house and the fourth, Nikki, leaving for school in the fall, my parents decided they were restless and wanted to remake their home. After spending half their lives raising four kids, three dogs and countless rodents, it was time for them to attend to their bedroom. One of the main areas of focus was increasing the size of their bedroom, which by virtue of where my room was located, meant that my room would be absorbed into their room. In simple terms, they were going to be bashing the wall down that separated our two rooms and combine the two to make a larger, more spacious master bedroom.

You might be asking what in the world has this got to do with my mother and Mother’s Day. Be patient, I’m getting there. As a result of losing my room to restless ambition, I collected, moved and sifted through all of my possessions at home, deciding what to keep, what to dispose of and what to sell in the upcoming garage sale. I found old cell phones from 2003 (that I opted to keep for posterity’s sake). Other items that caused me to pause and smile slowly were a full set of Pokémon cards, a letter to the members of a basketball league that I ran in 6^th grade and Michael Jordan’s rookie card (given to me when I was 10 by a good friend, after our dog passed away).

Another item I unearthed was a Ziploc bag that included every card, letter and note I had received from friends and family since fall 2006, my freshman year at Syracuse University. After sifting through these cards for nearly an hour a few weekends ago, I found myself pausing to read every one that was adorned with my Mom’s distinctive hand-writing.

She wrote to me often in college. Outside of family updates, travel plans and news around town, she made sure to include words of advice, quotes, proverbs and even poems in her letters to me. These were meant to inspire and re-assure me, as only a mother can do. I always loved the letters she wrote that ended up being too big for the card. In order to continue writing, she would draw arrows to the back of the card and in some cases; even apply sticky notes with the remainder of the text folded into the card on sticky notes.

After nearly 8 years of letters from my mother. It’s my turn to share my mother’s words of advice and her handpicked quotes, proverbs and poems with you. I hope the selected passages below have a similar effect on you, as they have had on me over the years.

Happy Mother’s Day Mom, thanks for all you do for me and for our family!

October 2006

From my mother: “Remember always make good choices and think about consequences.”

“We marvel at the power of the ocean, yet within each of us is a power and a glory beyond all the wonders of this earth.”

November 2006

“Remember we love you more than you will ever realize.”

April 2007

“The road you travel prepares you for the road you are meant to go down.”

March 2007

“As they leave the nest, they embark on a journey that they’ll learn is forever homeward bound.”

Risks – August 2007

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach out for another is to risk involvement.

To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.

To place your ideas and your dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To hope is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing,

The person who risks nothing does nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love, live.

Chained by their certitudes, they are a slave; they have forfeited their freedom.

Only a person who risks is free

-          West Richmond Friends Church, Richmond, IN

June 2009

“Parents hold their children’s hands a while and their hearts forever.” – Proverb

March 2013

“Remember, in the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins – not through strength but by perseverance.”

April 2013

“Food for thought: A group of two hundred executives were asked what makes a person successful. 80% listed enthusiasm as the most important quality.”

From Mom: “Remember to always be enthusiastic at your job!”

Please note: there are endless ways to make money blogging, the below suggestions are merely my own preferences and what has worked for me. That also includes the companies I’ve been using for years. That said, over time you will find what works for you.

Basic Blogging Tools

First and foremost, if your intention is to make money blogging, a domain name and paid hosting are essential to success for more reasons than one. It’s important for search engine rankings, also for branding and most importantly for ownership. If you spend time building your site upon a name but don’t own, the domain there is nothing to stop someone else from buying that name and using it – it happens all the time. The simple truth is you can start blogging on a shoestring budget but you do have to pay for certain things and a domain and hosting are two essentials.

Domain names – I have many domain names with Godaddy but in recent years I have started using NameCheap. While Godaddy has renewal coupons, which can help save money, one of the perks, of NameCheap is free privacy guard for the first year and affordable every year after.

Hosting – There is no shortage of hosting companies, but I’ve been a loyal customer to DreamHost and HostGator for many years. They are both affordable and most importantly their customer service has been helpful anytime a problem has occurred.

WordPress – My favorite blogging platform is WordPress – it’s user friendly and most hosting companies have an option called Fantastico which helps the user to install WordPress easily. There are thousands of free WordPress templates available. Or you can have a theme custom made for your site as well.

More Blogging Tools

Aweber – if your website will be focusing heavily on email marketing and sending out a routine newsletter, Aweber is one of the best services, at the best price. A close second is Constant Contact.

Payment Solutions – WePay is my first option for easy online invoicing. Although I still use PayPal because it’s widely known and used, but there is no shortage of horror stories that have occurred over the years and I’ve been one of those lucky people. But that’s another post entirely.

Logos – over the years I’ve returned to GotLogos more times than I can count. At just $25.00 per logo and a 5 day turn around, they’ve always come through for me.

Photospin – Including photos in your blog post is suggested whenever possible. Photospin offers stock photography at an affordable price.

Social Media Tools – If you have a Twitter account, using HootSuite can make tweeting especially easy. You can schedule tweets in advance or you can have the service send the tweet for you at the best “time.” I’ve personally tried other services and HootSuite is by far my favorite.

Apps – Dropbox and Evernote are my two favorite apps that I can’t live without. Dropbox will allow you to access any document from anywhere while Evernote will let you save things for later reading or topics you might want to blog about.

This is by no means meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather the essential tools and necessities that I use for blogging. If I missed anything please feel free to share in the comments, I can never have too many apps or tools to use.

Below are just a few reasons why I love blogging and why you should finally start that blog you have always wanted to start but had ten reasons to delay and put off until another day, month or year has passed. But, like anything else in life, there are reasons I don’t like blogging as well and those are included below too.

Blogging Pros

Freedom & Flexibility - There was a time when I worked in the corporate world. I personally don’t miss it and love working from home. As a blogger I can make up my own schedule and sell my own products. When I make my websites around topics that I enjoy and am knowledgeable, my job is that much easier. But again, it’s the freedom to write when I want to write and from where I want to work. One day I might be in my home office, the next I might be at the local coffee shop. A working example, this week is Spring Break and I’m home with my kids with a to-do-list of fun things we plan to do.

A Jack of many trades, master of none – Blogging never gets boring. There is an endless supply of products and topics that people are anxious to learn more about. I pick a niche that I want to discuss, share and teach to others. Whether I am selling my own products or I am an affiliate for merchant services or wine, I learn and share everything there is to share on that topic. It gives me the opportunity to find like-minded people.

Make a difference – Whether you help people to start a new blog or business of their own. Or perhaps you support a cause, you can help raise money, awareness or both through blogging. A working example of making a difference: My niece died from SIDS. In her honor I decided to start participating in the March of Dimes Walks, once a year. Through blogging I was able to raise more awareness of SIDS and raised money for the cause by displaying banners on my site that made it easy for my blog visitors to comment and/or make a donation. Having a readership that follows your blog regularly is priceless.

Blogging is profitable – There is lots of money to be made from blogging from a wide venue of sources. While I focus mainly on Affiliate Marketing I know several other successful bloggers that concentrate on Sponsors, Pay-Per-Click (PPC), selling their own products and often times some of both. The possibilities are endless.

There are two types of people, those that think blogging should be easy with minimal effort and big rewards. And, than those that think that blogging is a ridiculous way to make money and they don’t take it seriously. I simply ignore both sides – like anything else in life, you get back what you put in. Work hard at writing your blog posts and take the time to comment and promote your blog and you will find that you can and will make a profit. It won’t happen overnight and it won’t be easy; but then, anything in life worth having isn’t easy and never has been.

Blogging Cons

Writers Block – One of the few things I hate the most about blogging is writers block. There are days I can write ten posts a day and then there are days that writing even one is painful. While one of the pros is the versatility of topics and niches, if not properly balanced, it can become a con.

Spam & Comment Control – New comments are great when they are real comments. I don’t know if it’s just me but it seems the spam comments make it to the blog while the real comments make it to the spam filter. I’m still trying to figure that one out. When your blog is flowing with traffic, this might be one area to outsource.

Trolls & Nasty Comments – I have been online a longtime, some people make it a full-time job or hobby to harass your blog with nonsensical arguments. There’s a fine line between debating and attacking and you will find that you are the hall monitor on these days.

Surely I’m missing a few things, but these are the things I like most and least about blogging. What are some of your pet peeves and favorite things about blogging?

Many businesses use microblogging as a way to reach their users via smartphones. If your posts are interesting, fun, and relevant enough, a user may even add you to their “follow” list and receive text messages every time you microblog. Again, as mentioned above, you have to play this game very carefully. You wouldn’t want someone to start following you only to completely unlike or unfollow you because you annoy them to the point of no return.

Be sure that your microblogging benefits, not harms, your company by following these tried and true methods below.

Post the Right Content

To reach mobile users, you have to post content that will interest them…and not just a little. Do some research and find out what your users like to see in their social media feeds. They may like humorous posts, short how-to tips and techniques, or links to longer article content. Images and videos are always a must when posting on Facebook, as they increase the value of your update exponentially. However, images and videos will only show up as links in text messages, so be sure to include an intriguing description so that users will be interested enough to visit your post in the application. You can also increase involvement by posting content that requires user engagement, such as an opinion survey, simply asking a question, or posting a contest. This encourages followers to really connect with your company, rather than to just be a bystander, observing your activity.

For example, posting links along with hashtags and a short description of the post to my Twitter feed works great for the majority of my microblogging efforts. For Google+, the articles that receive the most attention are web design/development how-to’s or new media marketing articles. Large images help graphic design inspiration articles gain more +1′s. It just took some trial and error to find out what content worked best on each of my social media sites.

Respond to Followers

Don’t make the mistake of simply posting content and then going silent on those who make a comment or response. If they reply to your post, keep the conversation going or just say thanks for the response. If someone retweets one of your tweets, send them a thank you message. One of the main purposes for microblogging is to create relationships and engage followers from multiple browsers. The more responsive you are with your followers, the more engaged they will become with you.

I use Tweepi.com to help me keep up with follows and remove non-followers from my list. My theory is to always follow back those who follow me and to un-follow those who don’t follow me back (with the exception of blogs or writers whose content I just can’t miss). This helps me to spend more time in responding to activity on my Twitter account. Make sure that all of your social media accounts send activity notifications either to your phone or your email. I have found this to be extremely useful for responding more quickly to comments.

Be Consistent, Not Overwhelming

Consistency is a key to keeping followers engaged. Create a posting schedule for yourself (or set one up on a social media tool, such as Hootsuite), and stick with it. Followers will get to where they look forward to your posts, that is, if you follow the first rule above and post content they enjoy. On the other hand, you do not want to overwhelm or, worse, annoy your readers by posting too often. More than likely you will need to create separate posting schedules for each different form of social media. For instance, most businesses can get away with tweeting one or more times a day. On Facebook, however, posting more than once or twice a week may put you in danger for unlikes. Do your research, though, and find out that happy medium between too many and too little posts for your business and followers, and research often simply requires a bit of trial and error.

I found out that my articles get a ton more exposure if I tweet each one more than once. Many of my followers are from a different time zone or at least on Twitter at different times of the day, so tweeting three or more times a day ensures my articles get seen. With my Facebook and Google+ pages, I only post about one article a week – sometimes less – but I share others articles and videos about once a week as well. This still limits the amount of updates but also improves my connections.

Microblogging is an excellent way to reach mobile users, but like any other form of marketing, you have to know how best to use this marketing media. Research your followers on each of your social media sites and then follow some helpful techniques for posts, and you are much more likely to find success with microblogging.

While you can send news to customers through printed flyers or email updates, a press release gets your news to the general public as well. How do you go about proposing your information to the news media? A crisp, clear, and concise press release is how. Read on to find out what it takes to write a press release that gets read along with some tips and resources for submitting yours to news publications.

1.) Tips for Writing a Press Release

A press release is a prepared statement directed toward the press that typically follows a prescribed template: a title and subtitle, body, boilerplate and contact information. It’s important to stick to the accepted press release form, but writing a solid press release involves a whole lot more than following a template. News media inboxes are flooded daily with press—what will set yours apart? An engaging write-up that piques your audience’s curiosity right off the bat.

Title and Subtitle

Put the phrase “For Immediate Release” at the top of the page. Beneath that, centered and in bold font, is the title: the most important attention-grabber in your press release. Underneath the title, in italicized font, is the subtitle, which expands or clarifies your title.

A good title and subtitle should accomplish two things. First, they should communicate your message clearly and memorably. Try to use keywords that will set the stage for your information. Second, a title and subtitle should intrigue your audience. Though you see a press release as a way of gaining media coverage, the press evaluates it on whether or not it will interest readers. Use bold, but not sensational, language. Show how your press release is relevant and timely to your audience. Try asking a question. Remember: a good title will determine whether or not your reader keeps reading.

Body

The first full paragraph of your press release is the main story. News reports are often structured like an inverted pyramid: the meat of the story at the top and the finer details at the bottom. That way, a reader who stops reading before the end of the press release still sees the main points. Strive for clarity over entertainment value. It may be helpful to evaluate the body based on the five w’s: who, what, when, where, why—but don’t use these points as a drafting template. Order your information in an interesting and logical manner, and proofread afterwards to ensure you have included the salient points.

Boilerplate

Dating back to the days when newspapers used steel printing plates that could be reused many times, the “boilerplate” is a standard chunk of information about your company or organization: its mission, when it was founded, and any of its awards or achievements. Keep it concrete—this isn’t a commercial; it’s your company’s main facts. Instead of aggrandizing yourself, use the boilerplate to set your company or organization apart by highlighting its unique approach or mission.

Contact Information

Don’t forget this part! Include the name and title of your provided contact, as well as an email address and phone number. You may also want to include a mailing address. No matter how well-written your press release, it can all go to waste if you forget to provide contact information that will lead your reader to a helpful, knowledgeable member of your organization. Be sure to always end the press release with ### or [END] so that editors know where your press release has ended.

2.) Press Release Example

For those of you who have never seen a press release, or maybe you just need a refresher of the format, the following is an example of what a press release may look like. Keep in mind that certain press release sites may have slightly different formatting requirements, but in general, this is what yours should look like:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Eye Catching Title Goes Here in Title Case

City, State – May 1, 2012 - Use the who, what, where, when, why format in the first paragraph to form a quick synopsis of the events of your story.

Use the rest of the article to break down the story and provide more detail. Quotes from staff or other folks go a long way to personalizing your message.

Remember to keep your tone as neutral as possible. Unless you are submitting an opinion piece, avoid taking a position and stick to the facts of the announcement.

The last paragraph before your contact information should be your boilerplate, or in other words, the “About the Company” section.

Contact:
Your Name or Company PR Rep
company@email.com
Street Address
City, State Zip
Phone #

###

Or to see a real press release sample, visit one of the resources below:

• Press release sample - This page gives a list of press releases for you to view by industry.
• Press release format and kit - See the proper format for a press release and then download the DIY press release kit for easy formatting.
• Press release examples - Here are some more press releases listed by category.

3.) Submitting Your Press Release

You can submit your press release to local or regional newspapers, to online newspapers or to paid or free press release publishing sites. Not every one of your press releases will be picked up by formal news sites, but online press release submission sites will often accept nearly any press release as long as it meets their guidelines.

Here’s a list of press release sites you may want to investigate using:

• iReach from PRNewswire - This is a paid press release distribution site that offers three different packages, depending on your budget and needs.
• PRWeb - This site distributes your press release to a variety of press release sites, depending on the package you choose.
• PRBuzz - Depending on the package you purchase, this site will distribute your press releases to a number of media.
• 50 Free Press Release Submission Sites - This list was last updated in 2010; the sites are listed by page rank and all are free to submit to, but some do require registration.

Keep in mind that when submitting your press release to news sites, make sure you actually submit it to the right person. Most news websites have instructions on how to submit a press release, so do your research and submit your press release the right way.

4.) Promoting Your Press Release

According to an article on blogging by PrintPlace.com, the most important part aside from the actual content is getting the post out to the public. The same idea goes for a press release. A press release published online can be tweeted, shared on Facebook, emailed to subscribers of your newsletter, and even submitted to social news sites like BizSugar.com.

For a press release published in a printed newspaper, you can still email your local customers and announce when and in which news publication your press release will be published. This gets customers excited and involved, especially if your press release includes the announcement of a discount for the month of July, for example.

As you can see, a press release is not a complicated tool, but it does take a certain amount of thought to get right. Don’t be surprised if nobody picks up your releases at first. Editors often want to know who they’re dealing with or just may not have room in the current edition of their publication to get your release into it. So be persistent and it won’t be long before this powerful tool can start working for you.

I often refer to myself as a geek and yet I’m behind the times in many ways because I can’t bring myself to divorce my Blackberry. It does lack in so many ways, yet there are just some things that make it worth it, mainly the keyboard. That being said, I now have an Android phone that I use as well because it is app friendly.

As a full-time blogger, my main concern is constant contact with my visitors as well as monitoring certain channels. The aspect I enjoy most about blogging is the flexibility, which means there are days when I’m not at desk but still need to know what’s going on. It is on those days that I count on my phone(s) to make that possible. Below are a few of my favorite apps that I use daily to make running my small business easier.

Evernote – As a blogger with many niche sites, I am constantly looking for new ideas and watching specific blogs, such as Get Busy Media and news sites. Evernote helps because it allows you to save any video, post or snippet that you want to later access when you have more time. The absolute beauty of it is you can access it from your smartphone, laptop or iPad.

Wunderlist – I’m a genius with creating to-do lists but not too smart that I don’t misplace them constantly. Oddly enough, my phones don’t get misplaced as often so you can see why this works for me and might work for you as well. One of the features that I also like is “Smart Lists,” which allows you to hide certain things on your list that you might not want others to see. While I do still favor post it notes, a working to-do list has kept me far more organized.

Expensify – This app is brilliant, especially for people like me that greatly dislike anything to do with finances. One of the apps’ best features is its ability to snap photos of receipts and categorize or sync them with your tax and accounting software. By the time tax season rolls around (which is basically now) you can house all of your tax receipts in one easy location.

Dropbox – I can’t be the only one that has worked on a document, only to leave my office and find that I don’t have it with me when I desperately need it. This app helps with that – simply upload it to the program and you can later retrieve it through your tablet, laptop or mobile app. It’s also a good tool if you want to share a file with someone.

It goes without saying for most that social media is a core part of blogging so I also use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn daily. But this post was about using programs that have corresponding mobile apps that are helpful.

While you are working on making your site mobile friendly, also take the time to realize how essential your smartphone is to you and take note of the things that you like most and least so you can do that with your own sites.

What apps do you use daily that help you with your blogging or small business ventures? I’d love to hear about them!

The moral of the story: I have been able to work remotely for over six months now, and there is more to learn than just the importance of organization and discipline. It’s interesting to see what other writers or other remote workers have done with the opportunity to work remotely. Flexible hours? Working outside? Working in bed? While these are all great and usually a first priority (as anyone who has worked from home knows), it’s traveling that really helped me love my job and excel as a writer far beyond what I could have accomplished in an office.

Tips and Tricks to Making Sure the Work Gets Done

To give you a little insight into my situation: I have worked while living in a campervan for five weeks and have worked in six different countries (little islands count!) over the last four months. I have gathered so many tips for the writer on the go, and I have figured out a way to meet all of my goals and then some. Below are a few of my secrets:

• Outlets aren’t readily available in every country, and neither is WiFi.

Assuming that you can walk into a coffee shop and work all day isn’t the right assumption in some places. Finding a place to charge my laptop was the biggest issue, and I learned quickly that buying an Internet stick and setting it to automatically top-up (or automatically put more money on the account when it ran out) was crucial.

Side Note** Make sure your credit card company knows you’re traveling. If you set up your Internet on a card that gets blocked, you’re without the web. Don’t make this mistake—I have been there, and it’s not fun (especially when your phone also runs out of minutes and then you have no Internet and no phone to even top anything up…but I digress).

• Understand that you’re going to have to miss out on some traveling experiences.

You want to think of “traveling” more as “living.” You’ve moved to this place. You live there, and the weekends are your time to see the sites. You’re not on vacation, but rather just going about your day as you would at home, except your weekends are going to be way cooler.

• You have to take the time difference into account, and for some this means no traveling.

If your business requires you to be talking with clients all day long, the time difference is going to kill you. This is one reason that writers can often excel overseas. They write for people overseas, and nothing is ever incredibly urgent. Nonetheless, you have to be mindful of the fact that you’re far away. For example, remember not to meet your deadlines according to your timetable.

You have to be passionate about your job, and as I said above, you have to be disciplined and organized. If you don’t love your job it will be incredibly difficult to write efficiently, which is key when you’re working remotely. You can read more about some of the tips I learned while traveling and working in this post I wrote back when I was driving the East Coast of Australia.

Lessons You Learn about Yourself and Your Job That You Never Expected

Traveling while working and working from home differ in many ways, but once you get settled and establish a place to live and work, the lessons you learn are often incredibly similar—and surprising. A few things that I have learned while traveling and working include:

1. You’re more independent than you realize. Being stuck in an office all day doesn’t give you any freedom to explore your limits. You might never have thought you’d be able to write a great article in less than one hour, but when you’re motivated, it can happen. Aside from just work lessons, you’ll find that traveling alone is easy. You have your writing and that’s really all you need—people will just follow, and when they don’t; write.
2. You will want to go to work every single day if it’s in a place that excites you and keeps your mind going. This is something that I never quite thought possible, but it seems possible when you’re traveling. You’re happy to be where you are, and that makes all the difference. Working at home can get old, but if where you’re living gets old and you’re a traveling worker, then just move (honestly).
3. You are probably addicted to the Internet…and coffee. Who knew? If you find yourself in a place without WiFi and you don’t have your own connection, you will find that you’re in a panic searching the town. You want to do your absolute best when you’re abroad because you often have more motivation than if you’re at home, so you’ll start to realize just how badly you really want to work.
4. Work becomes the distraction in your day, not the other way around. When you’re working from home or in an office, your day is full of distractions. Kids coming home from school, co-workers coming to talk, your refrigerator, etc. While distractions are good in moderation, you’ll find that you’re more focused when you’re traveling. It’s working that distracts you from everything else (usually it’s because you want to be there).
5. Your job thrives on understanding different cultures. I truthfully had no idea I would gain inspiration from talking with people from so many different backgrounds. As a writer, this is crucial to your creativity. Even if you write about SEO or business like I do, you’ll find that there are heaps (that one’s for the Australians out there) of topics that build off knowledge of different cultures—social media for different cultures, how to optimize websites for different countries, etc.

My Rant: Why It’s Not For Everyone, and Why It’s Essential for Some

If you’re a writer or in a position to travel and work, I think you should count your blessings and run with the chance. It certainly isn’t an easy thing to do—pick up and leave your family, friends and your apartment to live out of a backpack—but for some this is the answer to a more fulfilling and successful career.

However, working remotely isn’t for everyone. If working from home means spending more time with your kids or your family, that’s as good a motivation as any to get your work done and be able to keep that job. Traveling isn’t for everyone, but if you’re a writer free of responsibilities and are teetering with the idea, then stop reading this article and go book a trip to New Zealand.

Have you ever worked remotely as a writer or for any other profession? What was your experience and what lessons did you learn? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

P.S. If you’re interested in some of the places I’ve gone and some of the working and traveling stories I’ve experienced, feel free to send me an email at Amanda.DiSilvestro@gmail.com. I love to talking about it.

Photo Credit: wildaboutwriting.blogspot.com

Amanda DiSilvestro gives small business and entrepreneurs SEO advice ranging from keyword density to recovering from algorithm updates. She writes for HigherVisibility, a nationally recognized SEO consulting firm that offers Ecommerce SEO services to a wide range of companies across the country. 

Congratulations on completing 100 jobs in 1 year! For those who are unaware of your project, why did you embark on this initiative?

Why did I embark on this project? After I was finished being an NBC page in October 2011, I started doing some freelancing and started talking to people. There was one week that I was working 5 different jobs. I thought, “Wow, this is pretty neat, who gets to work 5 different jobs in a week? And then I thought, maybe I can make something of this. Why not do a hundred in a year?” I wanted to blog for a while and get my presence out there.

I’m an actor. I’m a writer. And there are so many in NYC, so many in my industry, at least more experienced than I, that I need to do something unique to get noticed more quickly. This is something that is big. Even if, at the end of the year, nothing turns out of it, still at the very least I will have become a more consistent writer, I will have had greater camera time and I will have edited and shot video more and grown my network. Even if it doesn’t work at all, it’s working in my favor and it’s a project that I don’t have to do on the side because it’s my main source of income.

Tell us more specifically about your 100th job. How did you secure one of the most nationally recognizable jobs on the biggest stage?

If you work really hard and you’re nice to people, amazing things will happen. I thought a few months back, that it would be fun to work the Ball Drop on New Year’s Eve.

I wanted to do this as Job 100, but of course, who knew that I’d get it. Someone I used to work with loved my project. These pages that I worked with are excited; a lot of these pages have gone on to do great things, working in production, working in marketing, whatever it is. I myself just didn’t feel like working in an office, even in television.

I worked for a year [as an NBC page], it was a 1-year contract and then I left. Most companies would say, “You know what, we’re friends and everything but I moved on.” The friends that I have made there have been so encouraging and so engaged. One of my friends, she was a page with me, now works at The Today Show. A few months ago she said to me, “Dave, I love your project. I think it’s a great idea. I would like to pitch your idea to The Today Show.” I said, “Well that’s incredible.” This was like 6 months ago. A week before Christmas, she emailed me and said she pitched the idea and that “they want it.” The next day I found out that they wanted to interview me the day after Christmas.

The producer talked to me that Friday for half an hour about my project, sort of an expanded version of what I mentioned on the show. One of the things that we were going to talk about was of course Job #100, since to that point I was at 99 jobs. I thought “Gosh, what am I going to do for Job 100?” This is my moment to pitch something big on national television, on NBC. If this is even possible, to work at the Ball Drop on New Year’s Eve, that would be incredible.

I was just an average Joe doing these jobs. No one was expecting me to be a superstar speaker on this show. At the very worst, I know I’m a decent public speaker. Finally, when I was on The Today Show, I didn’t know they would just hand it to me on a platter. Hand me an opportunity to pitch Job 100 on a platter. I didn’t think they would say, “Ok, pitch to the camera.”

After I was on The Today Show, I only got a few offers, maybe five at most. All of these offers were offers I could have got on my own. I wanted to work on one of these big networks. I talked to my friend who is a producer at CBS and she pitched it. For all of Thursday I was sending emails to all of my friends I knew in TV. Finally, Thursday night I refreshed my email one last time on my phone right after the announcements to turn off our phones aired before the movie Django Unchained was about to start. That’s when I saw the message from the assistant to the executive producer of the New Year’s Eve Show. She asked, “Are you still looking for Job 100?” It was pretty much set from there.

What were a few of the lessons you learned from holding 100 jobs in one year? Are there professions/jobs that you would never do again and those that you would do again in a heartbeat?

What would I do again and what would I not do again? I was already networking and I kind of learned as I went along that it was kind of hard to say what I would do again because I didn’t have the resources that I had at the end of my project. If anything, it would be to compile resources more quickly. Even in the first month I got 13 jobs, which I think was the most of any month. I didn’t have as big of network back then and I was accepting lower paying jobs because of that. As time went on I got better paying jobs, but then again I didn’t know about better paying jobs until I worked them.

Maybe the biggest thing on a personal level, not like actual actions, but just the way I view myself is to realize what a lot of my friends have been encouraging me all along is go out and get what you’re worth. We underestimate what we’re worth. I have a ton of experience. More experience [in terms of jobs worked] than anyone I know in television production [for someone my age]. Here I was accepting relatively low-paying jobs but I underestimated how much I should ask for. Every actor has dreams of grandeur that they’ll be the next Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts. The fact of the matter is I want to stay firmly grounded in reality. I was contrasting dreaming big with staying in reality.

What the outcome is going to be, I can’t control. What I can control is what I do. I can’t tell anyone to make me the next famous person. I can’t tell anyone to put me on a national news show. What I can do is do everything in my power to put myself in the best position for that to happen.

Lessons Learned

To get what you’re worth, don’t underestimate yourself. When someone speaks well of you, don’t dismiss it. I learned a whole lot about positive self image. When I got on The Today Show, my friend called me and I told him that I think they were going to give me an opportunity, they told me that we would speak about Job 100. They told me that I would pitch it to them. I didn’t know they would hand it to me on a silver platter. This showed me what boldness was. My friend, who is a life coach, asked me questions that got me thinking and made me realize that being bold is being clear with what you want. I thought being bold somehow contrasted with humility. Humility is saying, “Oh that can never happen to me.” Boldness is saying “Sure I don’t deserve this, but why can’t this happen to me?”

When I tell people about this project, people tell me that this is an ambitious goal. I mean yeah it’s a big goal. The thing is, “Yeah this is a big goal, if you look at the entire goal.” 100 jobs is just 2 a week, not even 2 a week. That’s easy as a freelancer.

Everyone has great ideas. If it’s so great, do it. I want to do it and that’s enough to figure it out. What’s the plan, make a goal, make mini goals – there’s no need to go into all the details of that. The big question is, “Do you want to do it and if yes, then when?”

What tools did you use to keep your followers interested in your progress and how did you grow your following over time? I notice that each of your Facebook posts in the last couple of months generates at least 200+ engagements per post (shares, likes, comments).

Engagements are incredible. I have to understand too, that I have earned those over time. I also understand that this is just a spike. I understand that people are not going to be stoked about the New Year’s Eve video for the entire year. For instance, the day after Christmas when The Today Show segment happened, I showed The Today Show video and I had a huge response — 100’s of comments.

Throughout the year when I would post a video on Facebook, a lot of times it would not get one ‘like.’ A lot of times the video views were in the single digits. At that point, throughout the year, a couple of times I questioned myself and asked why am I doing this? It’s not that I don’t think I can but what’s the point of doing it if I don’t think people are paying that much attention? I kept with it and it wasn’t about an individual thing, it was about the entire project. This thing was successful because it was a big idea and it got completed, not necessarily because of every little job.

In the last few weeks I have been getting 200 engagements per post and I am happy about that. I don’t have that big of a Tumblr following. I don’t even have 200 followers on Twitter. On Facebook, it really blew up, in part because I had such a big network of friends. Right now and in the months past, about 2/3 to ¾ of my likes were and are my actual Facebook friends. I depended on my friends to share this. I looked at the latest number, up to New Year’s Eve, and something like 6,781 people were reached and this is the largest number I have had since this project started. I only have 2,400 friends [on Facebook].

This is because my friends shared it themselves. The strongest platform, besides obviously being on national television with millions of viewers, is Facebook, as far as social media goes.

As far as tactics go, my best tactic was when I posted something; you could always include a comment with the post. I would share quotes form a famous person, a philosopher or a figure from history, or a joke. This would actually draw the engagement. I found this strange – it should be the content itself that’s the draw, and that’s true. It’s the package you wrap it in, not what’s in the package I guess.

If you were able to do this all over again, what would you change about this project? This could be anything from your website, to the jobs selected, to how you interacted with your followers.

The thing that immediately comes to mind, that I didn’t know at the beginning is, if you want to engage people you have to physically put stuff in front of their faces. I think there is only one time this entire year that someone said to me, that they’re seeing too much of my content on Facebook. And the thing is, if people like stuff, they will promote it. I was being shy about my promotions; I could have pushed a little harder.

As far as promotions goes, I don’t think I did a bad job but I think I could have improved it. A lot of people don’t click on a link; they don’t look at something unless you put it right in front of their faces. Even today, business cards go right into people’s pockets. When I want to connect with someone, I don’t give them my business card because I have to wait for them. About 80% of the time, they don’t contact me. When I want to get in contact with them, I open up the contacts page on my phone and give it to them, and ask them to enter their phone number and email address. Then I if I were to contact them, I already have their contact info and can contact them right away.

If you want someone to see it, put it right in front of their face and do it several times. Basically, people need to hear the same thing again and again. People need to hear the message again and again.

What’s next for Dave Herman? I understand you will hold one job in 2013, as a brand ambassador for an experimental marketing company, any other plans up your sleeve for the New Year?

I’m going to start my 10,000 Kevins project on 3/01/13. We are going to try to get 10k people and counting to get Kevin Bacon to take me to lunch. The second phase of that project is that we will try to find generous people to donate $1 million. We will then give this $1 million to Kevin Bacon’s charity, which is called 6 degrees. It just so happens that 10 to the 6th degree is 1 million.

This project will only work if it becomes a viral thing. It’s a social networking experiment to see if I can engineer a project to go viral.

To read our first conversation back in February of 2012, click here.

Advertising like Healthcare is about behavior change. This is definitely not a new idea, behavioral psychologists and advertisers have been speaking to each other for a long time, but the ability to target, and create seamless views of data from an adverting impression to a sale and then even to an up or cross sell has changed the way businesses can interact with their customers, and yes—change their behavior.

What’s different between the two industries is the magnitude of change needed. In healthcare, you may be able to target someone who is a three pack a day smoker, but to get them to quit smoking is hard. In most cases when we talk about behavior change in marketing it’s more of a nudge.  Generally the core of your marketing efforts is going to be less akin to getting someone to give up smoking, and more like convincing someone to put one lump of sugar instead of two in their coffee.

This is partially why SEM or Search Engine Marketing is close to 50% of all online ad spending; it can easily allow marketers to target behavior as product of keyword intent. Let’s take an ice cream company known for it’s vanilla ice cream as an example, from a behavior perspective it’s going to get it’s best rate of return if it targets people who already want or are interested in vanilla ice cream. So this could be keyword search queries like “vanilla ice cream,” “top rated vanilla”, “best vanilla ice cream” and of course it’s brand terms “X Ice Cream” and “X Vanilla Ice Cream.” This is more a behavior/sales harvest play, as you have the ability to market to someone already either interested in your particular product (“x ice cream”) or the kind of product you sell (“vanilla ice cream”).

There’s also the ability to negatively target people exhibiting certain kinds of behavior via keywords “vanilla ice cream recipe” for instance.  Someone, who is looking to make vanilla ice cream and not buy it.

The key is to align your content with keyword intent, to make modest behavior changes. If someone is searching for “vanilla ice cream” the company should explain why they are the vanilla ice cream they’re searching for: “blue ribbon winning taste,” “all natural ingredients,” etc. A potential customer searcher for “Ice Cream Company X” may just need content to get some additional information about the ice cream or even a coupon to get them into the grocery store.  These are customers who just need a little convincing, a little push or nudge to get them to take the behavior you want.

None of these ideas are new, but what I plan to investigate on Get Busy Media‘s pages over these next few months is how different online marketing channels and data points allow marketers to gain great insights into their customer behavior, and to use those insights to drive value for the business.  Whether it’s digital video watch time and viewer behavior, long sales cycle retargeting strategies (B2B Information Systems), keyword intent and content alignment (competitive keywords vs. brand keywords). What do we need to do as marketers to get potential customers to modify their behavior slightly to our benefit? Where are those customers that just need a little push? Think of this as a health and wellness look at marketing data and your sales pipeline.

Photo credit: http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/01/what-everyone-wants-to-know-about-behavior-change/