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Fame, Fortune, Thanks, or a Pat on the Back

Think about your goals. What do you envision happening when you achieve them? Will you be rich? Will you be famous? Or will you be a do-gooder?

For many people, wealth and fame are tangential to their goals. They generally don’t cite them as the desired end result, but they are kept as lingering expectations. That is reward-driven success.

Even expecting a thank you or a pat on the back can make you reward-driven. A self-proclaimed altruist who is upset when he is not thanked is not an altruist at all.

If you are doing what you do for money, fame, or even a thank you, get out of the game now.

I occasionally catch myself disappointed when my efforts to help go un-thanked, or worse, unnoticed. I remind myself it was the impact I was striving for and not the thank you.

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Community: Quality > Quantity

I hate being asked how to increase a number of followers, readers, etc. Whether it’s a marketer asking me how they can get more followers on Twitter or Tim Ferriss asking me how to get 50,000 new RSS subscribers overnight, it’s a request I simply don’t want to accommodate.

You need to engage and embrace the community you have and let it grow organically. Getting thousands of people to give you a sliver of their attention and none of their support does you little to no good.

You need to focus on blowing people away, turning casual observers into rabid supporters.

That is how you build a valuable community.

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PodCampAZ 2008

Last year was the first PodCampAZ. It was a lot of fun, but this year is looking like it will be even better.

Before, it was organized by Brent Spore (@iboughtamac) and his wife Michelle (@mspore). This year, they have been working with over a dozen volunteers to make sure the event scales — they’re expecting more speakers, more attendees, and the event will span two days.

PodCamp AZ 2008
November 1 & 2
Phoenix, AZ
(register now!)

I volunteered to give two presentations (one on each day).

First, I will talk about the future of Internet video and interactive interfaces. Many content producers use a traditional broadcast model for their content, which is very unidirectional. The Internet allows for two-way communication, which opens the door for many different ways of producing a show.

The other presentation will be about turning online connections into “in real life” (IRL) connections. Some people have concerns that “social” media is making people less social in real life. It can if that’s how you use social media. However, social media can be used as a tool to help you be more social.

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Social Media Best Practices

One long-lasting meme in the blogosphere (and with SEO being such a hot topic, it’s here for a while) is “tagging” — and I’m not talking about descriptive keywords to facilitate content browsing and organization. This is tag-you’re-it tagging. I was recently tagged by Francine Hardaway, who was tagged by Sally Boldt-Strebel, to post about a best practice of social media.

Instead of saying my best practice first, and then tag people, I’m going to do it backwards.

Tag:
I am going to ‘tag’ EVERYONE in the Phoenix area. This Thursday at Social Media Club Phoenix, the topic will be social media best practices and everyone who wants to participate can share theirs.

My social media best practice:
Come to the Social Media Club meeting on September 11th and I’ll tell you!

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StartupWeekend Comes to Phoenix, AZ

If you haven’t heard of StartupWeekend, check out the site: StartupWeekend.com. A brief summary:

Startup Weekend recruits a highly motivated group of developers, business managers, startup enthusiasts, marketing gurus, graphic artists and more to a 54 hour event that builds communities, companies and projects.

It’s that simple. A large group of people get together and work through a weekend to start a company. It’s bazaar, exciting, and fantastic.

I think they have held at least two dozen of these events in various cities around the country. Finally, Phoenix will get its turn! It will be held October 17-19 in Chandler, AZ, and tickets are $40 (to help cover food, drinks, etc).

Here are all the links you need:
StartupWeekend.com main site
Phoenix.StartupWeekend.com
Idea gathering/voting

If you would like to assist in planning or offer to sponsor part of the event, let me know! Along with Gregg Drennan, Justin Crossman, Derek Neighbors, Sean Tierney, Steven Shaffer, and others, I will be helping organize Startup Weekend Phoenix!