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Google, as we once knew it, is over. The Google+ project is just about 1 month old, and at an estimated 20 million users already, it could be here to stay. To me, at a high-level, Google+ indicates a potentially massive tectonic shift in Google’s overall strategy that will directly affect pretty much all facets of the company. Google’s search technology has always (loosely) been about an algorithm interpreting your search and spitting back the results it thinks are most relevant to you. This old search and find process was only the beginning of search technology, and Google is making a bold bet that the real future of this technology looks a whole lot more social than this.

Google has long acknowledged the need to evolve into the social networking space, but has been 0/2 on attempts thus far with both its Google Buzz and Google Wave products. But as great companies and people often do, Google is learning from its mistakes, and is storming back into the social media arena with a vengeance. And this time, they ain’t fuckin’ around.

Google+ is pretty nifty

With an estimated 20 million users just weeks after a private beta launch, Google+ is almost certainly the fastest social network of all time to reach this figure. Right now, Google+ just early-adopters (read: tech geeks), but I think it’ll be a household name before long. If you’ve used Google+ already, then you know it’s pretty slick–so slick, in fact, that it really almost looks like an Apple product. And if you haven’t used Google+ yet, then trust me–it’s pretty slick. But the purpose of this blog post is not to run over the tech specs of Google+–you can familiarize yourself here if need be. Rather, these are just some ramblings on some things I find noteworthy about Google+ and some thoughts about the future.

The ‘folding in’ of Google’s software products

A major piece of this whole Google+ frenzy is the fact that Google is going to fold all of its current software products under the same Google+ roof. That is, services like Blogger, Google News, Adwords, Analytics, Picasa, Youtube, and Google Docs, etc. are all going to be accessed from within Google+, as opposed to existing as standalone products. By bringing all of it’s services under one roof, Google is making the following statement: “The web is too spread out. It’s time to consolidate and simplify everything.” I have to say I agree with this. Hopefully the days of having contacts, web apps, and news sources spread out across a million different places will soon be behind us. The “next era” of consumer web is all about consolidation. The ways I receive and share information on the Internet will all be wrapped together under fewer and fewer roofs.

The sharing strategy behind Google+

The million dollar question these days seems to be: is there room for Google+ in the already crowded social media space? That is, with the likes of Facbeook, Twitter, and Email so heavily ingrained into our daily routines, is there even room for Google+ as yet another content sharing and discovery source in our daily lives? I recently read this brilliant article by Jonathan Allan of SearchEngineWatch.com which goes into great detail on this subject from a network theorist perspective.

One particularly interesting conclusion from the article was that Google+ very well could exploit a currently gaping hole in online communication: the one-to-few level of communication. The article goes on to explain how email has essentially mastered the art of 1-to-1 communication, Facebook & Twitter have mastered the art of one-to-many communication (aka broadcasting or ‘over-sharing’), but nobody has mastered the art of one-to-few communication. Facebook hasn’t been able to succeed at this mainly because of its confusing sharing and privacy settings. (Does anyone actually use Facebook lists anyway?). But Google+ is all about this idea of leading the user to make a conscious decision about who particular information is shared with instead of just making it as easy as possible to broadcast to as many people as possible.

The profile psychology behind Google+

Christian Oestlien is Google’s product manager behind this whole Google+ shindig, so I was excited to find and follow him on Google+. I was reading his wall one day and stumbled upon a very interesting quote. See below.

Facebook is about who you are, and Google+ is about who you want to be.

I have no idea who ‘OH’ is in this post, but I do know that Christian makes a bold and curious statement here, and I’m a bit surprised that it wasn’t picked up and written about because it’s such a bold distinction he makes here and it really sheds some light on the long-term vision behind Google+. It also makes a bold statement about the whole psychological approach Google is taking when it comes to its users’ Google+ profiles. To me, this is Google saying they want to be the “most authentic” version of you on the web that exists. They want to put your creativity and personality on exposé as well as your professional status and whereabouts. (And they’ll achieve this by bundling all of the Google software products under the Google+ roof so your profile can boast more robust versions of your photos, writings, music, links, etc. than Facebook can).

Finals thoughts

There’s no doubt that Google+ has passed the initial ‘cool test.’ Twenty million users in like a month is absolutely nucking futs, even if they are geeky early adopters, is enough to classify this as a smashingly successful product launch. Google+ already officially occupies a permanent tab on my browser. And considering that until now, I only granted “permanent tab status” to email and calendar, this is an impressive feat in the world of Jesse Davis.

The big question is obviously whether or not they’ll continue to penetrate quickly into the next round of users–the casual user. I dunno, I don’t really see this happening in the traditional way. That is, I don’t think Google+ will just grow via the network effect like Facebook did. Instead, I predict Google+ will grow via the backdoor route–by forcing current Google product users to join Google+ if they wanna keep using the products. Case in point: my dad uses Facebook, Gmail, and Picasa. He has no intentions of signing up Google+ because from his perspective there’s no need–one social network is enough. He would, however, join Google+ if all of a sudden Google said “you are gonna have to create a Google+ account in order to keep using Picasa and Gmail.”

Last thought: Google is going to know everything about me. And ya know what? I’m fine with that. I’ve got nothing really to hide and to me, the value of their services outweighs the potential loss of personal identity. But what do you think?

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I’d like to welcome the world to Entrustet.com. Launching our Beta version last week was the culmination of some 21 months of work. But the thing is, it has never once felt like real work. Okay, maybe there have been a few times it felt like real work, but overall, I feel like a kid in a candy store of ideas.

Looking back on how Entrustet got started, I can’t help but feel almost overwhelmed by the mysterious, yet fateful and obvious way the Universe tends to unfold itself. Whether or not Entrustet ends up being a long-term financial success or not, nothing can deny the silly number of coincidences that have brought it to this point. First, I had to stumble upon that Ellsworth story in The World is Flat. Then, for some inexplicable reason, at the jovial age of 21 I decided to focus all my attention on death. I knew nothing about starting a tech company, and I knew nothing about estate law, but I did know there was a major thought gap in society’s mind: what happens to all our digital assets when we die? After months of Googling looking for someone or some service out there with a solution to this question, I was convinced it did not exist. But I was also convinced a solution was needed–wasn’t it obvious? I remember being kept up at night saying to myself, “this is SO obvious it hurts.”

I believe in fate. I believe that often the path of least effort actually allows the world to unfold in your benefit right before your eyes–that is, if fate is on your side. After losing in the finals of Northwestern University’s Entrepreneur Idol competition, I was THIS close to calling it all quits. I mean, after all, what the hell was I thinking trying to put together a company that basically went against all common thought and law at the time. Moreover, I had no partner, no advisors, no programming experience at all, and most of all, no cash.

But then fate came in. In the next 10 days, three people independently told me I had to meet this kid Nate Lustig. And meanwhile, three people independently told Nate he had to meet me. Needless to say, we met. From there, the pieces of the Entrustet puzzle have fallen together like dominos–all it took was that one initial push and they all followed suit. We found a top-notch programming firm and well-respected Madison law firm willing to partner in exchange for a slice of the Entrustet pie. Two hurdles cleared. Then we found  a free advisory board to basically act as in-house consultants, answering emails whenever we needed and meeting in person once a month. Then a popular blog about the topic popped up, and news articles aplenty showed up all over the place. Then estate lawyers started blogging about the topic. People started wondering about the topic. Horror stories of reasons to protect your digital assets could be found strewn all across the Internet. Then we were asked to speak about the topic at South by Southwest. Then we raised more money than we ever expected to, and then the local government gave us a forgivable loan. It was all topped off by this ABA article and this NBC 15 video.

Whether or not you are a big believer in fate, it’d be hard to deny there is something more powerful moving this thing along than just Nate and me. Although I am a co-founder, I really cannot take all that much credit for Entrustet. This is the product of so many countless people’s hard work, that taking much credit for this company would just be silly. All I can do, and all I have been doing, is sit back, watch, and react as the whole thing continues to unfold right in front of my eyes.

I invite anyone out there reading this to check out Entrustet and let us know what you think. It is in Beta mode, so we’re still working out the kinks, but even in it’s testing state, I am confident you’ll see the value in it. From 18 year olds with 200 online accounts to 65 year-olds with just an email address, we’re all HIWIs.

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Little things can go a long way in making your startup company appear bigger than it is. Carelessness about these seemingly small details can leave big blemishes on your credibility, directly limiting your ability to grow. And ability to grow is undoubtedly one of the single most important strengths that any startup can prove to investors, allies, and competition alike.

The days building up to any startup’s launch are overlooked insofar as research and case studies are concerned. These are the days when the company’s entire foundation is laid; partnerships are formed, suppliers are contracted, distribution channels get established, competition is approached, investors are engaged, networks are constantly contacted, and internal operations and responsibilities are ironed out.

This foundation period, this first several months, is when you have to start looking big, not later. Looking like an established company will help you:

• get noticed
• get responses from contacts
• get good deals from service providers
• get your name out and about around town
• get credibility from investors (both current and future, alike)

and

• not get taken advantage of

10 (simple) ways to look bigger than you are:

(starting with the most basic)

1. Set up a formal entity. Most likely, you’ll be an LLC, but regardless of particular corporate structure, be sure to have one. If you are not set up, you are unlikely to get taken seriously by any number of service providers, potential clients, suppliers, partners, etc.
2. Get unique business cards made. Not having a business card is certainly one way to look unprofessional and unprepared in no time flat. Regardless of the fact that everything is digital now, and that it would make more sense to plug someone into your cell phone than hand them a paper business card, the world is resisting to change. Business cards are still the number one most trusted, fail-proof way to get into someone else’s rolodex (or gmail contacts). I emphasize getting unique business cards because most are boring and identical, thus business cards can surprisingly be a great way to raise someone’s eyebrows. Below is my business card, which I like simply because it stands out. Anything that stands out is good. Make your card dark black. Give it a camouflage background. Make it a circle instead of a square. Make it a fold out origami swan. You get the picture:
3. Be on Google. Everybody uses Google. If someone’s gonna find you, you better show up somewhere on a Google search for something about you. It’s easier than you may think: follow these instructions on Google. The longer you spend researching these instructions and acting on them, the better your results will be. But do yourself the favor and don’t miss this uber-critical step. If you cannot figure out your way around Google Webmaster tools, that’s okay! At least you tried. Now go and find a consultant in town who can help you out. Any SEO consulting firm will be able to help you out–it’s worth the money.
4. Get a domain name and build a website. And when people find you on Google, they’ll wanna click on the link to your website! Depending on your company, the website is of less or more importance. It goes without saying that it’s more important for a web marketing firm to have an elegant website than a local pizza shoppe. That said, any company has a lot to gain by having at least a clean and simple site. For the vast majority of startups out there, the site need not be anything more complicated than a place to inform potential customers and investors about your offerings and offer up a bit of your company’s personality in the ‘about us’ section. The cost building such a site will obviously vary greatly between companies, but should not necessarily exceed $5,000 in 99% of cases. If you pay more than that for a very simple, yet clean and easy to navigate website, you’re overpaying. A savvy Google-searcher will find a plethora of site development options, both in America as well as overseas.
5. Have a ‘full website.’ That is, don’t skimp on the details. There needs to be ‘about us’ pages, investor’s information, news & press, a blog, a ‘contact us’ form, and potentially a TOS and Privacy Policy (in the case of website startups that take, store, or distribute any user information or sites with credit card processing functionality). You cannot be blatantly liable to law suits by not having one of these last two, if you’re particular startup requires these.
6. Have good email addresses. At some point, a Gmail address isn’t going to cut it. Have your website developer set up a basic email system (I recommend using Google Apps–it’s free and carries the familiar and intuitive Google User Interface with it). Give yourselves email address at your domain name, and be similar across the board in terms of email names, for instance: Psmith@yoursite.com and Ljohnson@yoursite.com, NOT pamsmith121@yoursite.com and Lennyjohnson4life@yoursite.com.
7. Have an infrastructure (and show it off with your website’s ‘contact us’ page). Have a customer service department, a marketing department, a strategic partnership department, an investors services department, etc. even if it’s just the co-founders themselves pretending to represent an entire department. Correspondingly, your ‘contact us’ page should lead viewers to further informational email addresses such as info@yoursite.com, partners@yoursite.com, marketing@yoursite.com. Now, obviously you shouldn’t go overboard–most startups don’t have an in-house HR department, insurance branch, holdings corporation, etc. But still, the basics should be covered.
8. Write gooder (emails and copywrite). Writing clean, concise, response-worthy emails is an alarmingly underappreciated skill for any entrepreneur to hold. It can mean literally all the difference between getting responses from the people you need responses from, and never hearing back from anyone. You could write a 50-page blog post about how to write more efficient emails, and I’m not even all that efficient myself, so I won’t try to explain how to do this here. All I will say is this: re-read your emails before sending them, this should be more than enough to step up your email game big time. Most of the time, something blatantly wrong will stand out, and at least you won’t send stupid shit anymore. Sending blatantly stupid, arrogant, or incoherent messages is the fastest way to get people to click the ‘ delete button.’ Likewise, having good professional copy for site content, marketing materials, and advertisements is critical. Nothing makes a company look more vulnerable than a simple typo. Shows lack of focus. So focus!
9. Have professional-looking marketing materials (electronic and paper). Being able to say, “let me send along some of our marketing materials” is an incredibly powerful ability, believe it or not. People say to themselves, “o, they’ve got marketing materials? They’re legit. They must have people working on lots of different stuff around there if they’ve had the time to craft marketing materials.” And don’t just have them to have them, have them to show them off. Make them look good. Hire a consultant for a couple hundred bucks if you need to, but just make sure they are laid out nicely and can attract someone’s eye. And don’t forget about mass emails, too! RatePoint is a GREAT GREAT resource for this. Check them out and just try it for 30 days for free. The price is right, too, at just $10/month. You’ll get hooked.
10. Appear legally well-represented. This is as simple as putting ‘TM’ marks above your logos, copyright disclaimers at the bottom of Powerpoint presentations, or having Terms of Service/Privacy Statements on your website. Any lawyer can give you a run down of these specific basics, but they are really easy to do yourself–which saves money, of course! See the ‘TM’ above our logo on my business card above. This is what I’m talking about. That easy!

That’s about it for now. I hope this helps someone out there and good luck!

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Looking for a good Blog Topic?

I’d like to think that I’m not the only blogger out there with a laundry list of posts that got started but never finished. All blog posts begin in the exact same way: with an inspirational thought. But in some cases, that inspiration quickly subsides, placing the post into the dark, endless abyss known as the ‘drafts folder.’ It is a hopeless purgatory where neglected thoughts meander aimlessly for the rest of eternity.

But one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, so my hope is to create a place where these unfinished blog posts can go, with the hopes of being picked up and finished by an inspired fellow blogger. Let me give you an example of how this could work. Let’s say I start writing a blog about the Health Care Debate and how it affects Gen Y’ers. Ten minutes into it, I realize that I don’t know even close to enough about the debate to elaborate my thoughts into a post worthy of reading…but someone in one of my social networks might. And when they see this post idea, they run with it, publish it, and get the words out that I sadly never could.

So I’m opening up the floor to everyone out there reading this right now. Submit your ideas by posting a comment to Blog Inspirationville.

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While in college, ‘Student’ will suffice quite nicely as a job title. And since graduating last May from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I have been going with ‘Entrepreneur’ whenever and wherever I was asked. But last week this changed when my friend and business partner Nate Lustig, and I decided it was about time to get business cards for our startup software company, Entrustet. The title, ‘Entrepreneur’ clearly had to go, but what would replace it? After a bit of back-and-forth between ourselves and our advisors, I quickly found out that when it comes to a job title, a name is way more than a name. Ultimately, the choice is entirely up to you, but here is a case study on our company to help illustrate some of the questions and answers we faced along the way.

I don’t wanna sound whatever, but I’m sort of a big deal

The first question we posed to our advisors was how to choose names that didn’t make us sound inflated, but still carried some weight with it. To me, there’s just something about a 22-year old calling him/herself CEO that strikes me as a bit audacious, but there’s also something about co-founder that sounds a bit juvenile. Our advisors told us to err on the side of professionalism, and choose titles like CEO or COO instead of co-founder.

Ultimately, we took their advice on this one. Instead of fearing that I’ll sound inflated by a title like this, I now make it a personal challenge to live up to it. When I hand someone my card as CEO of Entrustet, I am immediately on a mission to prove to them that my day-to-day responsibilities are fully worthy of the title. Regardless of it being a two-person company, regardless of being in the fundraising-not-revenue-generating stage, regardless of having a 10′ x 10′ office space, I work my ass off with a passion for my company in the same exact way any CEO in America does. There may be a bit (or a lot) less pressure on my shoulders, and I may work fewer hours a week, and I may make a lot less money ($0 per year, as of now, actually), but all the more reason to deserve the title, because I’m doing this out of pure passion and nothing else.

What’s it do you do, exactly?

Our advisors asked us to describe each of our roles within the company, because whatever job title you choose ends up being the way you brand yourself to the rest of the professional world. Our company was originally an idea I had and worked on for a few months before partnering with Nate. I still hold this original company vision in my head that we have not steered very far away from over the past year. CEO then just sorta made sense for me to use. Nate, on the other hand, knows software and website development much better than I do (although he’s not a programmer, we have a company making the actual software). He also has far more experience in the web-industry than I do. Since we are a software company, our most basic operation is developing software. Thus, he’s an obvious fit for COO.

The first and most important question to ask yourself is what professional role do you fill on any given day at work? If you’re a real multi-tasker (as many young entrepreneurs are), then focus on your core competencies. In other cases, this will not be so difficult. For example, if you are the programmer in a 3-person startup, then you know your core competency, and you should go with something like Chief Technology Officer or Lead Programmer.

Here are some general guidelines for the 3 most common startup titles:

Chief Executive Office

• You come up with the “to-do” lists, instead of just following them.
• You are “big-picture” instead of detail-oriented.
• Maybe the company was originally your very own idea.
• Maybe you’ve been working on it the longest.

Chief Operating Officer

• You understand and/or work on the company’s core operation(s) more than anyone else
• The company’s growth is dependent on the quality of whatever it is you specialize in
• You have the most experience running the day-to-days of a company

CTO

• You are the one programming your company’s software/website
• You understand the IT infrastructure better than the rest
• You have the most IT experience of all

But wait, there’s more

These are obviously not all the names you can choose from. However, let me say that I would refrain from titles such as President, Vice-President, Director, etc. The reason being that if you do one day incorporate, these job titles can actually take on formal, legal definitions. Don’t confuse people with this. You can also get creative if you’d like, depending on your startup’s culture. I’ve seen CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) before. You get the gist.

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# 1) The Newest (and coolest) Cloud on Earth

What is it? Technically called Undulatus Asperatus (turbulent undulation), these clouds shown above have only recently been documented and analyzed by meteorologists.

Where is it? They have been spotted in only a few remote locations, including the hills of Iowa and the Scottish Highlands.

Where did it come from? Gavin Pretor-Pinney, president of the UK-based Cloud Appreciation Society, has a theory: “It’s warmer, moister air above and colder, drier air below, with an abrupt boundary in between.” Add wind passing over rolling terrain and “you get the same wavy effect as on the surface of water.”

Why Haven’t I heard about it? Because of the Internet. Seriously, I’m not kidding. These cloud formations have been around for some time, but it was not until only recently that knowledge of their existence became widespread. Many of the Undulatus Asperatus sightings in the past have taken place in remote locations across the globe, such as the Scottish Highlands. There has not been reliable, widespread Internet use in these places until only recently…never mind widespread digital camera ownership. Sounds ridiculous, but it is true; the Internet has saved the world yet again.

Why should I care? Look at these things! Are you kidding me? Even the kid sitting in the back right corner of Meteorology 101, picking his nose and staring at the cute blonde ahead of him, can appreciate the beauty and elegance of these wavy beasts.

But aside from the ridiculously cool look, these clouds are poised to be added to the International Cloud Atlas–the bible of cloud classifications. Why’s that so important? Because only 80 cloud types have been added…ever! And the last one was added some 50 years ago! This does not happen very often, so appreciate it.

#2) The ‘Door to Hell’

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3-XCs_ZMZE&feature=related]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEjoga1yrn0&feature=player_embedded]

What is it? A giant burning natural gas crater found in Darvaza, Turkmenistan, affectionately referred to as the ‘Door to Hell.’

Where is it? Darvaza, Turkmenistan

Where did it come from? As the story goes, Russian Geologists set out to the area in 1971 in search of natural gas. The ground beneath the drill site unexpectedly collapsed, creating the massive gas-filled crater. There was so much gas inside the crater that it was determined to be too dangerous for further drilling. The noxious fumes released by the gas pool were also so dangerous that the Russians decided to actually set the thing on fire, effectively lighting the worlds biggest barbeque. It’s been burning ever since.

Why haven’t I heard about it? Because you haven’t been to Turkmenistan.

Why Should I care? Look at how cool it is. Enough said. If you need more reason, there are rumors that packs of thousands of spiders and other insects/small animals have been seen jumping into the hole together…group suicide!

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I’m not the first person to suggest that we stop reading the mass media news stories each day. In fact, I personally got the idea from Mr. Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan. Current events on mass media websites, tv stations, and print publications are filth. Their only purpose in the world is to perpetuate the already wildly enormous amount of hate in the world. The stories are developed with profit in mind; the most terrible events draw the most eyes.

But it was not until this morning, when I saw a video on CNN.com so heinous that I refuse to put a link to it in this blog (if you are so inclined to search for it on CNN, be my guest). The video was about Yale student Anne Le’s murder, which we’ve heard about for weeks now…but this video was the last straw. I am by no means saying that this story is not an enormous tragedy in the utmost sense of the word, in fact it is one of the more brutal and senseless acts of violence I’ve personally ever heard of. Rather, I am saying that posting a 6 minute video about the gory details of how the suspect managed to fit a human body in a space no larger than a desktop computer screen, is beyond unnecessary. Not only is this video unnecessary, but I can’t imagine there are many parents of young children out there that would like their sons and daughters seeing this insanity on CNN.com’s homepage.

Thus, I am done watching, reading, or listening to any major news publication. Now I am not talking about legitimate, interesting, well-written articles about good things in this world, but just the filth found on major networks and media outlets. I like to cook, so I will continue reading food & wine articles. I like technology, so I will continue reading articles on sites by the likes of engadget.com. But that’s pretty much it.

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About a week ago, I noticed new addition to my top navigation bar on Facebook: 70 ‘Facebook Credits.’ Intrigued, I decided to explore further, only to become increasingly frustrated and confused about what these credits even meant, ultimately giving up all hope just minutes later. If you do not see these credits atop your Facebook page, then you are simply not part of Facebook’s trial run of the Facebook Credits program. Turns out that I am one of several thousand ‘lucky’ guinea pigs for the new initiative–standard Facebook beta-testing process used many times in the past.

What are Facebook Credits, anyway?

Facebook credits are a currency for purchasing virtual goods. It currently costs $1 for 10 Facebook Credits, which can be used to make purchases across the Facebook platform for things like gifts, third-party applications and games. As of now, the list of third-party options is short:

- Birthday Calendar
- (fluff)Friends
- GroupCard
- (Lil) Green Patch
- MouseHunt
- PackRat
- Pirates: Rule the Caribbean!
- Robin Hood
- SocialCalendar

So what are people buying exactly with these Facebook Credits? A good example of virtual goods would be cute fashion accessories for your virtual pet, or perhaps a plot of additional farmland for your farm in Zynga’s Farmville game.

Really? Virtual Goods?

Over time, the list shown above is destined to grow…and grow fast. Just how big is the virtual goods market going to be? Many experts point toward the mass appeal in Asia as predictor of potential U.S. market growth. Qzone, Asia’s most popular social networking site, generated $1 billion last year, only 13% of which came from advertisement. Zynga, makers of the immensely popular game FarmVille, claims to have over 50 million users and generate $100 MM across their whole line of games. So yes, people are buying virtual goods…a LOT of virtual goods.

The business models…Ooooohh the business models

Facebook has over 300 million users, up from 200 million just 8 months ago. Yet despite this astronomical user growth, Facebook did not become cash flow positive until this quarter, according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Virtual payments offer Facebook the perhaps the most enticing way to become profitable to date. But it is not only Facebook that stands to make bank on this new model. There’s an entire “ecosystem of companies is involved in each microtransaction: PayPal and Paymo handle the money, for instance, and companies such as Blockbuster insert ads and coupons” (quote taken from this article). It’ll be interesting to watch this whole situation unfold, as an American market gets accustomed to the concept in general. In the meantime, there are some companies you may want to consider investing in (paypal, verisign, Facebook (if it goes public), etc.)…but I don’t pretend to be a wealth manager, so I’ll leave that up to you individually.

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Hear my story, feel my pain

I had been noticing lately that one of my very close friends, let’s call him Bryan, had been acting a bit standoffish and upset with me lately, but I really had no idea why this was the case. Although some 3,000 miles apart, we frequently Instant Messaged, emailed, and even found time to speak on the phone every few weeks. So when I came back from a short business trip to a disgruntled Bryan, I was understandably confused…until I realized that I had completely forgotten his birthday. One side of me felt badly, of course. But the other side said,

“c’mon, do you know how much information gets thrown at me on any given day thanks to this godforsaken MacBook? Plus, would a ‘Happy Birthday!!!’ Facebook wall post–which I so strongly despise–have made you happy? Get over yourself, you turned 23, do you want a cookie?”

I needed a plan…

Once I stopped unfairly turning my personal feelings of embarrassment over missing Bryan’s birthday into anger, I vowed never to miss a friend’s birthday again. I needed a plan to make this certain, and I obviously wanted the solution to be as painless as possible.

I decided to go to the ubiquitous Facebook for an easy answer. All my friend’s birthdays are listed on Facebook, so I must be able to leverage this fact into some sort of turnkey solution. I tried everything, although I admittedly don’t know the Facebook settings landscape all that well–something I am very happy to proclaim, by the way.

I tried downloading my ‘Events’ calendar to my ICal, then exporting that to my Gmail calendar and playing with my calendar settings so that I would be automatically notified of birthdays. I tried downloading my Facebook contacts to my Gmail contacts and making my Gmail contacts’ info include birthday reminders, but that require manual entry–something no self-respecting Gen Y’er would dare participate in. By the way, anyone reading this is encouraged to offer a suggestion for a quick solution to this problem.

The revelation of a lifetime

After nearly 2 hours of downloading, uploading, cross-referencing, and copy/pasting, I sunk my fingernails deeply into my scalp and raised the white flag.

Then, it hit me like a Facebook poke; perhaps the much of the time I spend trying to save myself time, is actually ironically a massive waste of time itself!

But I don’t want to revert to those bad old days of having to do things slowly? And god forbid I should every have to do something as repetitious and dull as manually entering already-stored data. That sounds terrible! So, I’m not sure exactly what to do with this epitome, but that’s where I leave this blog post open for discussion. Please, for my sake, and the sake of all Gen Y’ers out there, share your thoughts on this one…and for Christ’s sake, someone tell me how to solve this birthday problem…NOW!

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The resume topic seems to get raised a lot these days, and it’s something I personally have blogged about in the past. Having graduated from UW-Madison just a few months ago, I have engaged in my fair share of  first-hand resume chit chat. I always find it particularly hilarious to engage in conversations surrounding what to include, what not to include, and how to frame items in the well-know ‘Experience’ section. This section is often just oozing with (sometimes obvious) b.s. For example, I know a kid who used to be the go-to hazing coordinator in his fraternity. He spun it off on his resume as “Fraternity Brotherhood Coordinator,” and mentioned such accomplishments as, “helped promote strong sentiments of brotherhood amongst members ranging across all races, income levels, and life experiences” (read: made 20 kids drink Bud Light until they puked and then covered all their hands in honey and had them separate colored sprinkles by hand in the dark). If you’re looking for some guidance in creating convincing b.s. such as this, check this out.

While pondering this topic the other night, all of a sudden it hit me: the best (and worst) resume builder is someone’s blog. Why can it the best? Because having a well-written, carefully considered, intriguing blog can and should be placed in the aforementioned ‘Experience’ section of one’s resume. It shows readers that you take hours out of your would-be free time to critique, entertain, and express your opinion. If you do so in a convincing and mature fashion, I think that this could say as much, if not more than any other piece of your entire resume.

How can your blog be your resume’s worst nightmare? Simple. It’s no different than having a Facebook profile containing pictures of your binge-drinking, juvenille, and prank-laden social life…or is that just my profile? In reality, I’ve made many failed attempts to clean up my profile, only to lose interest rather quickly and meander onto other activities….which is why I choose to be self-employed. I digress. A poorly written blog from a grammatical standpoint shows lack of writing skills and/or effort. Having blog posts with coarse language or questionably racist/sexist/generally biased posts will obviously not look good either. But again, a well-written blog could even potentially outweigh other negatives such as lack of industry-specific job experience offset by relevant and well-written blog posts about the job position’s industry.

Employers really ought to be reading applicant’s blogs more often. They’re already going on Facebook to get ‘impressions’ of Gen Y’ers all the time. We all know how Facebook can wrongly portray one’s image, and what’s worse is that sometimes it’s uncontrollable by any reasonable means short of deleting the entire account altogether–and suffering the subsequent social ramifications of not being on Facebook.

So Perhaps I should rephrase: the most accurate resume builder is one’s blog. If you can accept this as the truth, and then get proficient with that b.s. generator mentioned above, then you’re well on your way to your next resume attempt…and perhaps even a new career!