Back issues: personal newsletter, August/September 2010

I just realized I never got around to posting the relevant content from the back issues of my personal newsletter, so over the next couple of days, we’ll get everyone caught up. Some of the stuff won’t make it here because it’s woefully out of date (like events) so it’ll just be the pieces that are still relevant. If you’d like to get the newsletter when it’s actually released, just click here to subscribe.

August/September 2010 Issue

A job hunting tip: send your resume to any company that’s posted on a paid job board. Why? Simple: companies that pay cash money to a job board have a dire need that they must fill no matter what. That means they’re growing or at least needing to keep fully staffed. However, only the most dire of needs get paid job postings. Guess what? There are probably a dozen other jobs at that company that are not worth paying money for but are still open. Hit up the email address in the job posting and ask them to forward on your resume to the appropriate hiring manager.

Neat Stuff

There’s been a rash of neat and useful tools lately, and I mean that in a good way, not in a “requires anti-fungal cream” way. Here’s a couple I think are worth your time.

• My favorite Twitter client got itself all OAuth’d up, ttytter. This is the bee’s knees if you are a highly technical person – command-line Twitter client. Its memory footprint is smaller than most other software’s manuals, and it’s incredible to be able to use Twitter when you want it without the annoyance of other apps bugging you. Bonus: won’t cost you a dime, though if you’re not a nerd, it may cost you your sanity.
• Want to talk about design and user patterns that have power? Yahoo’s Design Pattern Library has been around for years and is probably one of the most neglected but useful idea libraries on the Internet. Now Techcrunch has summarized SCVNGR’s game mechanics library. Put the two together and you’ve got a recipe for addiction for any product or service.
• A few people have asked me about the theme I’m using on my blog. It’s called Minimal, and is available from Elegant Themes. It’s $39/year for any of their themes (which is handy if you change themes as often as I do).
• The final plug I have, and I can’t pimp this enough, is David Maister’s book Strategy and the Fat Smoker. If you ever want to truly understand strategy at the executive level and not just what crappy business school textbooks or “social media gurus” (losers) mistake for strategy, you must read this book. I promise you’ll walk away much wiser and much more ready to discuss strategy at the highest levels of business.

Stuff For You

What’s been popular among my stuff? This list. By the way, I generate this by looking in Google Analytics at Content > Top Content and looking at the last 30 days. This is a helpful way to generate “best of” lists that requires no subjective opinions. The data tells you what people like about your stuff.

• I recently did a productivity video explaining GTD, Inbox Zero, and 10-2-5 on my blog. It’s a fast video that covers a lot of ground in less than 6 minutes. Go watch it if you’re interested in these systems to get more out of your workday. They’ve saved my coworkers dozens of hours so far.
• No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from. I mused about some of the recent battles in pop culture and politics, and offer a gentle suggestion to the battlers going at it.
• Rain makes for an interesting analogy in sales and marketing. Here’s Social Rain, part 1 and part 2.
• I’ve fallen in love with Adobe’s eLearning suite of tools and have made some pretty awesome stuff with them. Last month I mentioned the 21st century email marketing webinar I did. Now it’s available on-demand for free, and the eLearning suite did a great job of making it truly on demand. Enjoy.

Stuff You Did

In the spirit of you get what you pay for, I’m paying it forward to the people who share my newsletter with your networks. This issue, I’m profiling two people who moved the needle in the previous edition. Steve Garfield brought in the most new eyeballs (134), while Irene Duma brought the most action with clickthroughs (140).

If there’s a guy in Boston who can be said to fully and wholly grasp video blogging and video on the Web, it’s Steve Garfield. Founder of Boston Media Makers, Rocketboom correspondent since the early days, and author of Get Seen, he’s a legend in New England and beyond. Check him out over atSteveGarfield.com and @stevegarfield on Twitter.

Irene Duma is the founder of Strange Duck Media, a new media marketing firm based in St. John’s, Newfoundland. For those geographically challenged, that’s in Canada. I met her at PodCamp Toronto way back in 2007 and she made me laugh back then. Check out her writing, marketing, and comedy atIreneDuma.com and @ireneduma on Twitter.

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