Justin Whitaker

"But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are..."

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:13:06 -0500

“

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

And so, we’ve come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

”

- The times have changed, but the cause of justice remains the same.

We still face inequality, lack of opportunity, and hopelessness. The river of justice is still yet a trickle.

MLK’s dream is still deferred.

But the dream endures.

"The TED Imperatives: Be interested. Be generous. Be interesting. Connect. ….These..."

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:50:35 -0500

“

The TED Imperatives: Be interested. Be generous. Be interesting. Connect.

….These aren’t just principles for TED, of course. They’re valid guidelines for any time you choose to stop hiding and step out into the world.

”

- Seth Godin goes on to say that it would be great if there were a pin or a badge that would identify people that live by these simple guidelines so we didn’t have to waste time finding them.

I’d posit they aren’t that hard to find. They show up, do the work, and act like they give a damn!

Related articles

The Complete Guide to Snapping the Fuck Out of It (inoveryourhead.net)

3 Secrets to Not Getting Discouraged as a Blogger (problogger.net)

startupquote: It’s not we need new ideas, but we need to stop...

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:27:28 -0500

startupquote:

It’s not we need new ideas, but we need to stop having old ideas.

- Edwin Land

Stop having old ideas. Stop trying to shoehorn old ideas into new platforms and technologies.

The chance of a lifetime (sethgodin.typepad.com)
For the love of God, please stop marketing (inoveryourhead.net)

"Don’t mistake busy-ness for effectiveness. Work on what matters, and don’t just be a whirlwind of..."

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:57:00 -0500

“Don’t mistake busy-ness for effectiveness. Work on what matters, and don’t just be a whirlwind of activity. If you’re a blogger and you’re not creating content, you’re not doing what’s most important.”

- Leo Babauta of Zen Habits giving sage advice over on CopyBlogger.

A lot of blogging (particularly the promotion) is just busy-ness, so it’s a cogent reminder.

Related articles

31 Pro Tips for a Successful, Satisfying, and Insanely Profitable 2012 (copyblogger.com)

The Essential Zen Habits of 2011 (zenhabits.net)

If you follow Chris Brogan, you know that each year he chooses...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:10:32 -0500

If you follow Chris Brogan, you know that each year he chooses three words to focus on each year, rather than making resolutions.

It’s a really nice tradition, and a great way to focus your mind on what you really want to achieve in the coming year, rather than making a resolution that you have little intention of keeping.

So, here are my three words for 2012!

Focus

In 2011, I really lost focus.

I was trying to do too many things, and didn’t really accomplish all that much.

Much of 2011 was spent splitting my time between looking for a job, starting my own business, and meeting my obligations as a father and husband. I think I really only succeeded at the latter, and neither of the former.

Then again, you’d have to ask my wife and daughter for the metrics on that.

Ain’t self assessments a bitch?

I lost the plot.

There were too many conflicting roles, too many conflicting voices in my head telling me what I should and should not do…that I lost the clarity of my goals for the first time in my life.

For 2012, instead of sending out resumes noone will read, I’m going to focus on Whitaker Media, get my business empire rolling.

That’s going to be my resume, my work, my art, my focus.

Forgive

The second word for 2012 is Forgive.

Anyone that knows me knows that I am most critical of myself. There is not a better self-saboteur, a better self censor, a better self-critic than I.

Most of 2011 was spent trying to be too many things, and the fact that so few of them succeeded nearly drove me into a self-induced paralysis.

I questioned everything: my role as father/husband/provider, my identity, my business plans…you name it, it all became grist for the critical mill. All of these competing interests, these expectations, started rolling around in my head, and the failure to achieve became deafening.

The weight of expectations can crush you.

If you let it.

For 2012, I want to just forgive all of that, and move on.

Forgive the past.

Forgive the present.

Forgive the future.

Move on.

Forge

The third word for 2012 is forge. In some ways, this is the most powerful of the three words I have chosen for 2012.

A forge is not just the place a blacksmith works…it is also the hearth where the metal is shaped. It’s a crucible, a testing, a proving.

To forge also means to move ahead.

Taken together, 2012 is about creating something new, proving and improving what I already have, and moving inexorably forward.

I do not think it is enough to just forge a business, but I also want to forge better relationships, better friendships, and a better tomorrow for my daughter.

To not just forge ahead, but bring everyone else along with me.

So, there they are: my three words for 2012.

I have no idea how I am going to achieve all that I have set out before me, but that’s not the point of the exercise.

Once you have the theme, then you can start the outline, and fill in the details, right?

So what are your three words for 2012?

Share them below!

My 3 Words for 2012 (chrisbrogan.com)
3 Words for 2012 (cc-chapman.com)
My 3 Words for 2012 (offonatangent.blogspot.com)
My 3 Words - 2012 (courtneyengle.com)

No matter if we are talking business strategy, marketing...

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:03:00 -0500

No matter if we are talking business strategy, marketing strategy, or content strategy, we always come back to this, don’t we?

Seth Godin.

Purple cows.

Being remarkable.

In 2011, going into 2012, we are still here. Trying to be remarkable to get ahead.

Part of the problem is that there’s no dearth of advice on how to be remarkable, or how to innovate, but the larger problem is that so few people are putting that advice into practice.

For 2012, let’s put the rubber to the road, and stop talking about being remarkable, and actually be remarkable!

So say we all!

Seth Godin on Blogging, Business Books, and Creating Content that Matters (copyblogger.com)
Don’t Be Part of the Pack (justinmwhitaker.com)
Do You Have The Ability to Be Remarkable? (kylelacy.com)

Planning for the future? Here’s a handy, dandy chart to...

Sat, 03 Dec 2011 19:04:06 -0500

Planning for the future? Here’s a handy, dandy chart to help you!

Envisioningtech.com lays out a road map of the future, and when expected technologies are expected to hit.

While you may quibble with when certain technologies might hit, or when they will be in widespread adoption, this is clearly the direction we are heading technologically, and some of these technologies are disruptive enough to change industries or markets.

Len Kendall posted this over on Posterous, and I’m shamelessly posting it here.

Genius steals, right?

This Man Thinks the Internet Needs CliffsNotes (forbes.com)
Digital Darwinism: Who’s Next? (briansolis.com)
Our Digital Society in the Next 30 Years: An Interview with John Battelle (briansolis.com)

Jonathan Fields has an amazing post over on his blog today on...

Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:37:02 -0500

Jonathan Fields has an amazing post over on his blog today on Why Judgement Matters. Go read it if you haven’t already.

I love this photo, so I’m resharing it here.

Words to live by!

Jonathan Fields Knows What’s Killing Your Business Growth (entrepreneur.com)
7 Reasons No One Reads Your Blog (Except Maybe Your Mom) (problogger.net)

I remember seeing this over on Gaping Void some time ago, but...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 10:07:14 -0500

I remember seeing this over on Gaping Void some time ago, but Hugh’s newsletter this AM was a timely reminder-no matter what you do, you have to de-commodify yourself!

Whether you are selling wine or accounting services, you need to ask yourself: Why do you do what you do, and what makes your _________ different from the next guys’? Your customers have lots of choices, too many in fact, and unless you are giving them a real reason to do business with you that differentiates what you do in a meaningful way, you’re toast.

Note that there’s a difference between differentiation and de-commodification. In order to de-commodify, you have to give people a compelling reason to do business with you, not just offer different sameness.

Food for thought.

10 Ways to Beat Online Obscurity (copyblogger.com)
A Commodity (blackinkwithcab.com)
The Commoditization of Complexity (thomaslah.wordpress.com)

"Henry Ford didn’t invent the motor car. Rockefeller didn’t discover how to crack crude oil into..."

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:32:00 -0400

“

Henry Ford didn’t invent the motor car.

Rockefeller didn’t discover how to crack crude oil into petrol.

Disney didn’t invent animation.

The Macdonald brothers didn’t invent the hamburger.

Martin Luther King didn’t invent oratory.

Neither Jane Austen, Tolstoy nor Flaubert invented the novel.

And D. W. Griffith, the Warner Brothers, Irving Thalberg, and Steven Spielberg didn’t invent film-making.

Steve Jobs didn’t invent computers and he didn’t invent packet switching or the mouse.

But he saw that there were no limits to the power that creative combinations of technology and design could accomplish.

”

- Fantastic quote from Stephen Fry on Steve Jobs.

It’s also interesting to note that all of the people mentioned were “geniuses” in their own way, and left their market on their respective industries, WITHOUT inventing something new.

Food for thought entrepreneurs, and would-be entrepreneurs.

(Yes, I made some formatting changes, mainly because Mr. Fry’s run on sentence was driving me nuts.)

Related articles

Stephen Fry on Steve Jobs (stephenfry.com)

A eulogy of action (sethgodin.typepad.com)

Questions for a new entrepreneur (sethgodin.typepad.com)

Nielsen points out that TV viewers are often splitting their...

Fri, 14 Oct 2011 13:45:20 -0400

Nielsen points out that TV viewers are often splitting their attention between two or three screens while watching television.

And they aren’t looking for product information from the ads.

What are they doing? Email, and social networking.

So much for advertising.

What TV viewers are doing on their tablets, smartphones (lostremote.com)
Television struggles to captivate tablet and smartphone owners (digitaltrends.com)
New Infographic: The Brandsphere by Brian Solis and JESS3 (briansolis.com)

"If you want to stay valuable, you cannot stay where machines can replace you. The experience you..."

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 14:11:49 -0400

“If you want to stay valuable, you cannot stay where machines can replace you. The experience you provide has to be uniquely human.”

- Julien Smith on Everything Has Been Done.

This is the crux of the current economic problem.

Not the credit crisis, not the housing bubble.

The combined forces of globalization and automation has basically rendered large portions of the workforce obsolete, mainly because those functions can be done more cheaply elsewhere, and eventually they can be automated.

Which is why I highlighted this passage.

In order to keep the mortgage paid, you need to play defense.

You need to be valuable, irreplaceable.

And to do that, you need to provide something that machines cannot.

Julien points towards storytelling as the solution.

Seth Godin and Steven Pressfield call it “The Art” or “The Work”.

What they are all getting at is that there are things that cannot be outsourced, things that cannot be automated.

Figure out what that is for you. Figure out how that applies to your niche.

Provide that.

Related articles

Everything has been done. Give up now. (inoveryourhead.net)

When It Comes To Your Work: Stay Calm (twistimage.com)

On Weirdoes, The Long Tail, Seth Godin And You (twistimage.com)

"If your life feels as though there’s an absence of heroes, it’s because the role of the hero was..."

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 12:03:40 -0400

“

If your life feels as though there’s an absence of heroes, it’s because the role of the hero was meant for you.

Once you reach a certain point of capability in your life in any area of skill, you are supposed to turn your abilities, capabilities, and powers towards helping others, towards energizing your abilities with compassion.

You’re supposed to step up, transcend your limitations and the boundaries of an ordinary life to become more, to brighten your world a little more.

”

- Christopher Penn, on Where Have Your Heroes Gone?

I share this because it’s really easy to get mired in the tactical, the day to day struggle, and forget that we have a much bigger role to play.

We need more heroes. You need more heroes.

The hero is you.

Get your tights!

Related articles

Where have your heroes gone? (christopherspenn.com)

Heroes (toddrjordan.com)

There is a difference between people who understand the...

Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:39:06 -0400

There is a difference between people who understand the potential behind a new idea and the people who don’t—who won’t even.

Hugh MacLeod dropped this in the CDF (Crazy Deranged Fools) Newsletter this morning, and it just resonates with me.

There are those who understand where things are going, and those who are too caught up in old paradigms to see, or even understand, an opportunity when it is presented to them.

Don’t be one of those people.

Episode 13: Gaping Void and The Work (justinmwhitaker.com)
We Can All Inspire (cc-chapman.com)
Reading Between the Lines: An interview about Engage and what’s next (briansolis.com)

"The new economy “is good for whoever owns the computer server,” says Jaron Lanier, a virtual-reality..."

Sun, 09 Oct 2011 20:51:54 -0400

“The new economy “is good for whoever owns the computer server,” says Jaron Lanier, a virtual-reality pioneer and author of “You Are Not a Gadget,” which debunks a lot of Internet hype. “So there’s a new class of elites close to the master server. Sometimes they’re social network sites, other times they’re hedge funds, or insurance companies –other times they’re a store like the Apple Store.””

- The creative class is a lie - Salon.com (via mediafuturist)

There’s some points in that article which I think are off the mark, but that one is DEAD on.

He who owns the servers wins.

Related articles

What is the creative economy, really? (forbes.com)

The Econolypse Is Hollowing Out The Creative Class, Too (stoweboyd.com)

The rise of the creative classes (theequitykicker.com)

All Knowledge is Pooling Into Aficionados?

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:29:00 -0400

Image via Wikipedia

The network economy has the potential to enable a civilization of aficionados. As customers get smarter, the locus of expertise shifts toward affiliates and home-brew groups, and away from large corporations or the solo academic professional.

If you really want to know what works, or where to find it, ask a hobby tribe. And not just in the realm of high-tech knowledge.

All knowledge is pooling into aficionados.

Because of shared obsessions among horse lovers, there are more horseshoers working today than a hundred years ago, in the age of cowboys.

There are more blacksmiths making swords and chain mail armor this year than ever worked in the medieval past.

A network of aficionados is already here.

Kevin Kelly, in New Rules for the New Economy.

The discussion we seem to be having is “how do we fix the old economy”, while a radically new economy is springing up all around us. An economy based on information, on niche expertise…on fandom.

Is success in the future dependant on which tribes, which aficionado groups, you belong to? Or which aficionado groups your products and services can successfully tap?

Food for thought.

A little empty (sethgodin.typepad.com)
Would You Trade Your Boredom for Stress? (copyblogger.com)

Don't Be Part of the Pack

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:00:00 -0400

Image by Tojosan via Flickr

Great writing rarely comes from simply following the trend of the moment.

Seth Godin in today’s Domino Project newsletter.

I would think that “great ” rarely comes from following the herd, but that’s just me.

Seth Godin Is Weird (twistimage.com)
Seth Godin on Blogging and Productivity (problogger.net)
Are You Weird Enough to Succeed at Online Marketing? (copyblogger.com)

mashable: This video of Steve Jobs speaking at Stanford...

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 12:50:10 -0400

mashable:

This video of Steve Jobs speaking at Stanford University commencement in 1995 has been getting shared and viewed a lot in the last day. We think it’s a worthy way for to remember Steve, who died yesterday at the age of 56. All of us at Mashable feel shaken by the world losing this brilliant and inspiring man.

For more of our coverage on Steve Jobs, go here.

I have this bookmarked on YouTube, and revisit it from time to time. If there is a crystallization of what Steve Jobs believed, what he strived for in his life, then this is close to it.

RIP Steve. We lost a pioneer.

A eulogy of action (sethgodin.typepad.com)
Godspeed, Steve. (thebrandbuilder.wordpress.com)
Steve Jobs (1955-2011), Co-Founder of Apple (laughingsquid.com)

entrepreneuradvocate: Venture Viable Nice flow chart. I like...

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 10:45:42 -0400

entrepreneuradvocate:

Venture Viable

Nice flow chart. I like how it starts with a specific problem, not “hey, let’s make Tumblr 1.5!”

Free Startup Tools: An Easy Way For Founders To Set The Terms Of Their Collaboration (techcrunch.com)
Startups getting caught in ‘no man’s land’ (finance.fortune.cnn.com)
You Think You Have A Startup? You Probably Don’t. (growvc.com)

"Why do we believe that jobs where we are paid really good money to do work that can be systemized,..."

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:17:53 -0400

“Why do we believe that jobs where we are paid really good money to do work that can be systemized, written in a manual and/or exported are going to come back ever? The internet has squeezed inefficiencies out of many systems, and the ability to move work around, coordinate activity and digitize data all combine to eliminate a wide swath of the jobs the industrial age created.”

- Seth Godin, asking the pertinent question about the labor/economic market.