JayZo's Blog

Why I'm Joining HubSpot's Content Team

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 12:41:00 -0400

This blog post talks a lot about fear, but it’s really about opportunity, hunger, and career path. I’ll explain…

As a writer, few things in this world rattle you to the bone worse than a blank screen, cursor blinking at you, mocking your paralysis. I’ve set out personally and professionally to obliterate this fear in my writing, a desire borne out of a love for quality content and improving people’s lives through creation. But regardless, this post almost had me. The need to meticulously convey exactly why I’m joining HubSpot drove me to draft paragraph after paragraph, delete the first one, rework the second, start all over, and scrap it all in the end…only to start again.

But here we are: I’m joining HubSpot, and I couldn’t be more excited to be their Content Team Manager.

I’ve been incredibly lucky early in my career. I interned at ESPN. I started off my full-time journey at Google. I led the content team at a startup (Dailybreak) that handed me the reigns to build something from nothing. And if you asked me to write about why I loved any of these opportunities, the same horrifying, blinking cursor would have laughed in my face.

So, I’ll avoid writing all about my interest in HubSpot here. You all know most of the company’s redeeming qualities anyway: ESPN-big media aspirations, a Google-great culture, startup-style challenges, and some of the smartest people ever assembled. (If you’re new to HubSpot, as some of my non-Boston connections may be, you can learn about us here.)

Instead, I think Grammar School Jay could sum up nicely why I’m so excited by the prospect of turning HubSpot into THE biggest and best marketing content hub in the world. A quick story about that young buck, in a day before all the sarcasm and hair gel…

I attended a small Catholic school for grades K through 8 in my hometown of Branford, CT, and without exception, I was that stereotypical A-type student. I studied hard, got straight A’s, played basketball and baseball, had a great family, and hung out with supportive friends who never pushed me to drink or do drugs. I had NO problems in my life, and man, I’m so thankful for that. I was truly, remarkably lucky, and I thank God daily as a result.

But without fail, on a random night towards the end of every summer growing up, just as my father would be saying goodnight to me, I’d look at him sincerely and say the same thing. I’d tell him how worried I was about the next year in school. The running joke between us today is that my refrain would be, “Dad, sixth grade is gonna be so hard!” Then the next year, it’d be, “But Dad, seventh grade is gonna be so hard!” and so on.

And every time, without fail, my dad would smile and reassure me, “You’re gonna be great.”

“But eighth grade is gonna be so hard!”

“You’re gonna be great.”

The reason I was so scared then? The unknown. Entering each school year, stepping up to the next grade, I was afraid of trying to figure out the unknown. My track record as a good student wasn’t enough in my mind to head into the next year without being scared of failing.

Now, years later, that fear has turned into hunger. I crave that unknown. It’s energizing, motivating, and rewarding. I want to piece together my previous experiences, combine them with today’s, and create something new and exciting. All of that means I’m playing in the realm of the unknown: there is no certainty in building something new or ambitious, but then again, that’s where growth and learning occurs. That’s where you can proudly put your mark on the world.

And HubSpot, for all its massive growth and talented team, has tons of challenges ahead of it that still need to be figured out. That’s what blew me away meeting with the team: this isn’t a request to plug into the machine, this is a chance to build and tackle the unknown. The challenges are many, and they’re huge.

At our core, we want to build the highest quality, biggest marketing content hub in the world. We’re going to elevate the smart minds presently on the team while also bringing in incredibly talented content creators - people who will choose to publish their thoughts for HubSpot instead of, say, a tech blog or traditional media company. And we’re going to destroy interruptive marketing and instead create a world where for-profit and nonprofit businesses alike consider their marketing not as a way to push products and services but as a way to pull people in by adding value through relevant, remarkable content and human context.

And we need to do this FAST and through QUALITY content at the same time.

Grammar School Jay might hear that and say, “HubSpot is gonna be so hard!” But there’s Adult Jay, proudly playing the role of my father:

We’re gonna be great.

———————————————

You can follow my journey on Twitter here. Say hi!

And here’s a great video about being a kid and an entrepreneur. Credit to Sonja Jacob of Boston. Her blog is Soul Party, and she made the video for Grasshopper (also of Boston).

Moving My Content to TWO Blogs: Boston Content & Dailybreak

Sat, 08 Dec 2012 14:44:30 -0500

For the next several months, I will be blogging exclusively in two places in an effort to produce more quality content regularly (rather than stretch myself thin and weaken that content across all outposts).

My first and primary blog will now be the industry association which I co-founded: Boston Content. The posts there will center around building community (which I’m discovering is quite a tall task, but a fun one). Specifically, this community focuses on content industry professionals - those who plan, create, launch, and analyze content for business purposes, as opposed to media companies whose product is content.

And the second will be my startup Dailybreak’s blog called “Actions Speak” - an homage to our belief that, for brands, actions speak louder than followers, even if most marketers are overly obsessed with amassing social media followers without thinking of business results.

If you’re wondering why I’m doing this, it’s because I’ve learned that multi-tasking is overrated. If you’re going to make a splash in anything, it’s gotta be with a singular focus. Multi-tasking, despite the notion that it’s a skill set, actually doesn’t help anyone accomplish more.

Questions? Comments? The best outlet to use is Twitter, where you can follow me here.

Coke's Content 2020 Project: Content Can Drive Customers

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 09:07:57 -0500

Originally written for the Dailybreak blog.

The Content Marketing Institute recently discussed a huge initiative from Coca-Cola called Content 2020. One concept in particular should resonate with any marketer is the idea that content can and should drive customers. That’s right – the wholesome, upbeat notion of creating quality media for people to consume can not only act like an ad but can drive even more loyalty and stronger emotional ties to a brand.

The analogy used by Coke’s VP of Advertising Strategy and Creative Excellence, Jonathan Mildenhall, is that good content consumed by prospects and customers fills their “emotional well” – this idea of a customer’s need for emotional connections to things that they allow into their lives, which includes products and services.

Admittedly, driving customer acquisition via content consumption isn’t something that happens overnight, nor is it something that most content marketers enjoy measuring. It’s too easy to focus on consumption and not customer acquisition metrics, after all. But content can change the conversation in a powerful way, and we as marketers all realize that the public perception, conversation and emotional association between brand and consumer can lead directly to increased sales and loyalty.

But this can’t be done in one, neat campaign summed up by a media buyer and presented on a handful of slides. This is a process and ties to the larger brand, so the knee-jerk reaction is to claim that content can’t drive success.

Continue reading on the Dailybreak blog here.

I always feel weird calling myself “a writer.”...

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 12:55:56 -0500

I always feel weird calling myself “a writer.” Everybody writes in some form or another. But few people seem to prioritize it, which I think is weird and wrong: your writing IS you to your teachers, your employers, and your new connections online.

Learn to write well. It’ll separate you in a sea of noise and nothing.

The Key Ingredient to Engagement Marketing

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 11:09:00 -0500

I originally wrote this post for Adotas, an interactive marketing media outlet that publishes top content on online advertising trends, strategies, and news. The entire post is below.

Quick Bite:

Engagement marketing campaigns are by their very nature consumer-initiated, but too often this sort of campaign lacks results. In years past, dozens of vendors and platforms addressed the need for engagement by offering tools to structure a campaign, market to an audience, and measure results.

Campaigns like video upload contests fell short, however, with brands receiving a few dozen responses out of thousands or millions of people “reached” on publisher sites or Facebook.

Those results typified the lack of engagement at scale that campaigns received. No matter how “cool” these experiences were built to be, they lacked the right audience – one that matched both the demographic profile of a brand’s customers AND the engagement profile (i.e. an audience likely to engage rather than view, watch, read, but never make the bigger commitment to interact).

We believe the second wave of engagement marketing is quickly arriving today, one where we’ll see engagement campaigns receive participants at scale.

Below, we’ll break down the challenge facing marketers and use an example of how to overcome this challenge using a campaign run by Dailybreak and a major auto brand.

Main Course:

Engagement campaigns are receiving more and more budgets from marketers, but the level of engagement has been disappointing industry-wide. On publisher sites, ads linking to interactive brand experiences continue to receive poor response rates (a stellar campaign, after careful planning and tons of budget, still receives a fraction of a percent click-through-rate).

On Facebook, less than 1 percent of those who Like a brand actually return to the page again (AllFacebook, 2011), meaning costly campaigns built with third-party tools sit idly, collecting just a handful of photos, videos, and leads from hundreds of thousands of Likes.

As the potential of engagement campaigns continues to outstrip the actual results, smarter audience targeting needs to appear, one that includes the current (and critical) approach to demographics and Internet-wide behavior but that extends to a user’s likelihood of being ACTIVE and engaging for minutes on end.

Why the low engagement rates online?

“Engagement” is quite simply a moment when someone decides to become involved. The problem, according to online usability thought leader Jakob Nielsen, is the “90-9-1″ rule, which explores activity rates in the digital landscape. The rule states, “In most communities, 90 percent of users are lurkers who never contribute, 9 percent of users contribute a little, and 1 percent of users account for almost all the action.”

For brands who create engagement campaigns and focus them against a typical audience, that’s a problem. When a branded experience appears on a publisher site, or to a group of Facebook followers in their feed, only 1 percent are likely to engage, contribute content, share with friends, and take any sort of action. Layer on the fact that online users in general have just a nine second attention span, according to the BBC, and it’s a monumental challenge: capture the tiniest of audiences who each have the same attention span as a goldfish (seriously!).

However, our big bet is that marketers will see huge engagement rates if they could bring their interactive campaigns to the right audience – that powerfully engaged 1 percent – on neutral turf. The analogy here is to pluck every power user that submits content to Facebook-based branded campaigns (every photo, every video, every comment) and bring them all to a place where that exact type of content exists every single day.

How to overcome this challenge – a test.

Let’s look at an example from a past Dailybreak campaign for a client we’ll simply call Big Auto. We’ll compare two sets of targeted users that saw the campaign:

Big Auto’s Facebook fans
A targeted group of Dailybreak.com’s users

The challenge was to position stick-shift as hip and modern again and ask users to complete three actions to drive home this message:

Play a 30-second game
Record a user-generated video
Complete a lead form

First, the conventional approach to engagement campaigns: embed on a Facebook page.

Big Auto embedded the campaign on their Facebook page and posted on Facebook about the campaign, with a link to engage. On Facebook, that means users who said “I like Big Auto on Facebook” were eligible to see and join the campaign.

About 500 total users opted to join and engage over the span of one month, or 0.1 percent. Every fan of the brand on Facebook had the choice of absorbing tons of content, from friends’ photos to status updates to Big Auto’s campaign, and 0.1 percent decided to lean forward and interact.

Simultaneously, the campaign was released using both demographic info and campaign interaction history.

Over the same time frame, a whopping 26 percent of Dailybreak users who were presented with the campaign chose to opt-in and engage.

So how were Dailybreak’s opt-in rates 260 times greater despite the campaign appearing on a neutral (i.e. not owned by the brand) page? We removed the lurkers.

Whereas on most sites, there’s tremendous marketing waste in order to sift through lurkers and locate that 1 percent of engaged users, Dailybreak.com just removes any and all activities lurkers enjoy. Like the example mentioned above, it’d be like skimming every engaged user off Facebook and bringing them to one place to deliver the content they so enjoy. That’s when scalable engagement becomes a reality.

For lurkers, there’s nothing attractive about a branded experience at all. You will not sway them across any site, according to Nielsen.

The engaged user, however, raises his or her hand and says, “I like that kind of content – I’m in.”

What does this mean for the industry?

As marketers ourselves, this test excited the team because it proved once and for all that better tools aren’t the answer – a combination of great tools and a better audience is the answer.

I continue my look at power users and generating social action at scale in marketing campaigns in the white paper, “User-Generated Content: 3 Ways to Earn More (And How It Generates Loyalty).” Download the white paper free here.

Foster Better Ideas and More Productivity with 8 Creativity Commandments

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 08:12:34 -0400

bostoncontent:

When you’re a content professional, whether you’re in content marketing, social media, native advertising, entertainment or content strategy, you’re constantly faced with the task of turning creativity into business results.

It’s no small task, especially as the days on the calendar tick by. After all, there’s only so much content you can create that’s original and qualifies as “thought leadership” around a single product or brand.

Therefore, we need to step beyond the idea of creativity as “light-bulb moments” and start accepting it as something that can be practiced, measured and improved just like any other skill set. “Making is a muscle,” as Todd Henry often says (he authored the book, The Accidental Creative, which every content professional should read).

When you view creativity as a practice and a craft to be carefully honed (vs. some fluffy, abstract notion that some people are gifted by a higher power), then you need to start by fostering the right work environment to allow ideas to flow. Content all starts with an idea, after all, whether that’s your original idea to solve a problem or your company’s ideas on marketing your product, product development, or thought leadership.

With that in mind, here are “The Eight Commandments of Ideation” as written by Josh Linkner. Special thanks to Dailybreak’s Erik Devaney for bringing these to the attention of our entire team.

(The following is either quoting or paraphrasing Linkner…)

Read More

When Startups Grow and Need Management Practices Put in Place

Tue, 30 Oct 2012 08:42:00 -0400

A recent article from Harvard Business review stands out to me as applicable to Dailybreak’s day to day evolution and growth: The Radical Beauty of Three Simple Management Practices

They are, in summary:

1) Establish Targets
2) Establish Incentives
3) Monitor so you can improve!

At Dailybreak, we’re slowly growing into our own, from early stage, scrappy startup to a later-stage company in need of process, management, and an understanding of how to improve its employees.

While we’re still a startup and can’t lose that willingness to do whatever it takes, it’s a REALLY interesting time for all of us - sort of a tweener stage. You notice that the founding team starts giving way to those with tons of experience, while still maintaining their overall vision for the company. You see a lot management ideas and philosophies thrown out there.

Above all, keeping it simple to start has proven useful for us.

Also making my list, mostly tactical:
- Set up regular 1 on 1 meetings between managers and reports
- Introduce a feedback system - 3 questions (what is X doing well; what can they improve; what do they do to make you smile/improve your work daily?)
- Discuss the moving pieces BETWEEN teams and where they overlap, so you can coordinate workflow between teams effectively when projects change hands (you suddenly find yourself in need of this process when the teams begin to grow individually - it’s no longer “just turn and ask the guy next to you” here at Dailybreak…too big!)

The scary part about a startup in growth mode is that the lovable underdog mentality and culture are still valuable, but so too are the stuffier, more established practices found at larger corporations. The idea of “going corporate” is reason for plenty of entrepreneurs to jump ship, and yet plenty of startups would save already-scarce resources if they just adopted a few lightweight practices and processes.

As Dailybreak grows, our plan is to create an environment that fosters career growth and efficient work (process-driven stuff) while still maintaining and hiring the right type of person for the culture of the company (which is, as co-founder Ryan Durkin puts it in this article on BostInno, “a blue collar work ethic in a white collar.”) As my time at Google helped me learn, the people are really the driving force behind maintaing the culture of any company.

Do you have any management practices you find helpful on your team? Leave them below or keep the discussion going here. You can also follow me on Twitter here!

Adios, Tumblr. Hello, Google+! (And the Story of Google+ Pre-Launch)

Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:46:41 -0400

I’ll never forget the first time I saw Google+. I was working at Google in sales and had been called to NYC with a few representatives from various sales teams globally. My guess is that we were about 40 strong, each with varying levels of interest in social media. But the bottom line was that we were about to see something new.

“The next phase in the Internet’s evolution,” stated Google’s SVP of Engineering Vic Gundotra. Vic was always a smooth speaker who seemed to have his entire life together. He’d deliver speeches and handle questions without so much as the faint hint of stress.

That wasn’t the Vic that spoke with us during this New York session. He was video conferencing in from Mountain View, where he’d had nary an hour or two of sleep.

“Larry called an emergency Hangout using Google+ of all the heads of departments late last night,” he sighed. He looked tired and stressed. I didn’t think it was possible.

The product wasn’t called Google+ then. It wasn’t called something I can’t state publicly. Seriously. They made us take a sarcastic oath. We laughed, but I got the feeling they were fairly serious. I mean, we raised our right hands and repeated after Vic.

There were already rumors that Facebook had stolen features from this new Google social network. Facebook called them Groups. Google+ (or whatever it was called then) was calling them Circles internally. So the last thing Google needed was a bunch of loud-mouthed sales people running around the Intertubes, the office, or an advertising agency blabbing incorrectly about [insert G+ codename here]. And as it turns out, a few of the product folk had to convince senior leaders that salespeople were needed on the project at all.

I just felt lucky to be there.

As I watched Vic and others leaders working on “G+,” from Product Manager Christian Oestlien (we’d later share a drink - it became clear he’s critical to Google+) to a few sales managers-turned-product specialists, I felt the energy pulsing through me.

The features were slick, even in alpha. The vision was huge, even for Google. The initial launch would be small (the +1 button, some social updates to Search, an early social network), even though they knew (and said they knew) that the press would crush Google for it. Between the failure that was Google Buzz and the behemoth that is Facebook, even a company as large and beloved as Google was bracing for media backlash.

I didn’t care.

I was part of something potentially awesome. Something great. “A paradigm shift,” Vic repeated several times.

I could see the evolution of my career unfolding. I returned to the sales office jazzed up, ready to educate both teammates and clients as the product slowly rolled out to the public.

But no on cared. Not a single person on my team or the greater team seemed to have any inkling that social was important, or any desire to know more about social media. (This was all taking place in 2011, mind you - not 2005). Then, for reasons too numbered to explain here, I left Google shortly thereafter to build a startup. Suffice to say, it was a risk. I was a top-performer and had seen “the light,” so it was a massively tough choice for me to leave. But the pros of building a startup and creating something myself outweighed the pros of POTENTIALLY making G+ my full-time gig at Google. (Senior leaders assured me I could do so, but I’d need to wait years. Being in my late 20s, I don’t think I have years to wait, then try a startup when I’m also starting a family. I had to make a move.)

WHAT THE HELL DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH ANYTHING?

I’m planning on migrating all my long-form publishing from here to Google+ as part of a 30-day experiment, and I wanted you to understand how invested I am in G+ first. The experiment it this: is blogging exclusively on G+ a better approach for me? Given my goals for my writing (adding value, receiving value, starting conversation), it seems to make sense.

It’s not a black or white decision, mind you - there are plenty of pros to using a blog you own, and the debate rages among bloggers. But just look at the comments around my blog here versus the discussion I got going on this very topic on Google+ here.

If you’d like to continue reading my writing during the next month, please add me to a Circle by visiting my profile here and doing so in the top right of that page where it says “Add to Circles.” You should also be able to view all posts that I send out publicly, which will be most of them, without needing to use G+ yourself if you don’t wish to do so.

I love writing, I love people, and I love conversation. All three are occurring pretty steadily over on Google+. Here, I have the writing part. There, I can write, interact with my 12,500 followers and beyond, and use the great conversation features to both send valuable information and stories to others and receive the same back from others I admire, respect, or will meet.

So long for now, Tumblr. It’s been…quiet.

End Social Network Envy...for America.

Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:34:07 -0400

I get it from my mother. Whenever I have an opinion or feel strongly about something, I just can’t help myself: it comes out. Usually, this actually doesn’t bite me in the butt, despite the Sicilian blood that boils and the wild hand motions that illustrate, well, everything I say.

That’s because, amongst friends, my strong opinions largely don’t matter, since friends are most likely those people in your life who share your same viewpoints.

But then there’s the world of tech folk.

Technology is a game of speed, firsts, newness, uniqueness, and wow…umm…-ness? As a result, those who consider themselves tech enthusiasts like to let it all hang out and compare. It’s a gross, archaic, caveman-like contest of whose is better, bigger, and gets more action - you know, socially.

I’m talking, of course, about their social networks. (Why? What were you thinking?)

Anyways, back to my love of opinion-sharing. I worked on Google+ while at Google, beginning in January of 2011. I was invited down to New York to see the early product (before Google+ was the official name, before it was launched to early adopters, and before people knew that Google+ was a divisive subject that would become the butt of plenty of nerd jokes). As a result of my early exposure and love of my then-employer, I gravitated instantly towards this new social network with the slick UI and the big-picture potential that they pitched to us. (More on that another time.)

Since leaving Google, however, I can’t resist inserting my views of the network into conversations about social media. And of course, the rebuttals start coming. I’ve heard it all:

“Google+ is so quiet, it’s like a grave.”

“Google+ is such a stupid-head.”

“You use Google+? Ew, that has cooties.”

(I don’t have particularly clever friends in tech…)

But okay, dim-witted friends, I get it: you don’t need Google+. Facebook has all your friends, Twitter has all your instant updates from your professional circle (and famous people), and LinkedIn is where you upload your resume and occasionally spam others with intro requests.

But none of this should matter! Literally NOTHING should matter about any social network’s features or user base or the pop culture cache of using it. Nothing.

To a user, it shouldn’t matter that Twitter allows for 140 characters or following without follow-backs. To a user, it shouldn’t matter that Facebook has photos and friends. To a user, it shouldn’t matter that Google+ has video chat (Hangouts) or real-time comments.

Sure, we FOCUS on those things because features become the product and the product becomes the “what” - the “tangible” thing you can describe. But, like everything in life, all that SHOULD matter is the “why” - WHY do you use it? What should matter is whether the social network accomplishes the task for which you need it.

For me, all that matters with a social network is that “why” elemet: I use social networks to interact with interesting people and to learn stuff through others. And Google+ works quite well for this for me, as does Twitter. (My Facebook account has been relegated to engagement announcements, weekend photos, and the occasional funny video.)

If ANY social network you use is good at what you’ve “hired it” to do, then great! Use that network. It could be called KittenVille and force everyone to create feline avatars that congregate on Mars for all I care. If you can connect with interesting people and learn from that, that’s alllllll that should matter.

So I’ll continue to be loud about the opinions I have, including which social network I use. Because it doesn’t actually matter which network I use. All that matters is that, like any product, it succeeds at the job that I’ve picked it to do FOR ME.

AMERICA!

The Best Question to Gut-Check Whether Your B2B Content Marketing Will Work

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 08:53:04 -0400

Here’s a “Keep It Simple Stupid” rule for creating B2B marketing content. But first, some context (which, as you’ll read, is way more important than content):

Dailybreak has started to build some momentum behind our recent funding, new brand, new clients, new hires, and new hair-dos. (What? You don’t change up your look to get a boost of confidence once in awhile? So we did it as a group of 30 together, so what? That doesn’t make us weird…)

Anyways, because of this, we’ve started to churn out many more pieces of business-to-business (B2B) content, from an advertising page to a white paper I was lucky enough to write (tons of fun for me) to blog posts and PR. (I don’t wish to spam you, but since someone MIGHT be curious to see this stuff, here are the links: dailybreak.com/advertising or, for the white paper on user-generated content, dailybreak.com/advertising/resources.)

Now, there’s always a temptation with creating B2B marketing content to just sprint out of the gate and start busting out blog posts and ebooks. But it’s much, MUCH more important (and effective) to start with an understanding of your customer, their needs, their struggles, passions, likes, dislikes, etc. Then and only then can you start to create content that answers the single-most valuable question you can ask yourself when creating marketing content:

Does this help my customer achieve a positive or overcome a negative?

If the answer is yes, proceed. If the answer is no, scrap it! It’ll just be noise that wastes your precious resources and your customer’s precious time, clogging their feed with junk they don’t want to consume.

Bottom line: the world is more full of noise than ever, so relevancy and the ability to resonate with someone is king of all kings. Forget “content is king” — CONTEXT is really king. Emperor, really. Or Grand Poobah. Or Grand Master Wizard. Whatever.

Therefore, if you create content that helps a customer either achieve something positive (How to Gain More User-Generated Content) or avoid something negative (Seven Conversion-Killing Mistakes eCommerce Sites Make), then you’ll GUARANTEE that your content is relevant to the customers you know so well.

So…

Understand the customer through and through. The more info you have on them, the better!
When you have enough info to add value to their lives, start creating content.
Always gut-check that content with the question, “Does this help my customer achieve a positive or avoid a negative?”

Happy creating!

My Favorite Recent Reads: 5 Books You Should Buy

Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:06:00 -0400

Reading is the most underrated activity, period. In any discipline (or for your personal well-being), you should be reading. Do so carefully, because there’s a lot of crap out there you’ll want to avoid, but ultimately, if you’re not reading, you’re losing out on an easy and effective way to become a badass, top-tier [insert your goal here].

So, in order of how I read them, here are some of my favorite reads that have helped me in Startup Land.

Editor’s note: The Amazon links are not affiliate links. There’s no connection between this blog and the books listed here aside from the fact that the author enjoys them and wants to spread the good word.

Editor’s note #2: Wait, I don’t have an editor, so that was really just me writing in third person. Does that make me sound douchey? Whatever, just read the damn books below :)

Crush It! by Gary Vaynerchuk (Amazon)

THE BOOK:

Gary, a social media pro before there were social media pros, helps you understand how to turn a personal passion into a viable business. It’s practical and pretty inspirational, given Gary’s remarkable story. I turn to this book when I need a boost in my belief that social media tools (and my convictions and personal interests) can help me grow in my career. There are lots of skeptics, so this book helps me refocus sometimes. I’ve read it twice so far.

OTHER STUFF:

If you’re new to “Gary Vee,” you’re in for a real treat. This guy is a bit of a social media folk hero (and, as a result, a social media “influencer” with tons of cult-like followers). Gary created Wine Library TV, where he posted wine reviews in real, down-to-earth videos. He’s funny, scathing, swears a lot, and wants to succeed in business to buy the New York Jets.

But he used social media before lots of people knew what it was at all, and he used it to build multimillion-dollar businesses. I’d highly recommend his videos, too.

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries (Amazon)

THE BOOK:

As I switched from a career in sales to a career, ideally, on the product and content strategy side of the startup world, I desperately needed something to lay the groundwork for thinking about product development. This book is a must-read for all entrepreneurs hoping to build products against all odds. If you have slim resources and/or have to create a product that is new or innovative, read this book.

OTHER STUFF:

“Lean” has become somewhat buzzword-worthy. Everything in the startup world seems to be “lean development” or “lean analytics” or “lean ribeye.” (Okay, so I threw one in there, but it’d be great if all of them actually applied.) Regardless of your discipline, there are now tons of meetups and resources to help you succeed and continually innovate in ways that don’t require tons of resources. Head over to the author’s website for more.

You may also find the Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development helpful. It’s a complementary piece to The Lean Startup that condenses a lot of information into a small handbook. Particularly useful if you’re launching a brand new product or company, as it helps you understand the market (consumers) and how to build according to them.

Game Frame by Aaron Dignan (Amazon)

THE BOOK

What if you could turn any task, from a meeting you hold to the task a user takes on your website, into something fun? “Game mechanics,” or taking elements from games like badges, progress bars, and points, has become somewhat overused and abused. But this book gave me an awesome, basic understanding of how to truly design for behavior and for fun. It breaks down why “play” is so important to the human experience, and why it’s viewed incorrectly in business as recess or after work activities. It also breaks down a handful of practical applications with supporting examples other companies use successfully every day.

This book is in my top three EVER for books I rely on in my work.

OTHER STUFF

I also wrote a white paper for Dailybreak featuring some of the information from this book. If you want to download the paper (it’s free), visit this page and enter your info, or contact me directly via email here.

The Accidental Creative by Todd Henry (Amazon)

THE BOOK

Being ‘creative’ today means creating on-demand. Clients, colleagues, or your own personal goals demand that you come up with something brilliant, innovative, unique, compelling, and exciting for others to consume EVERY DAY. This book outlines some of the challenges facing “creatives” or those doing creative work (anything involving your thought process to solve problems — not just the Don Drapers of the ad agency world). It then addresses ways to structure your days with an eye to creating.

In short, the book is a guide to improving and conditioning your creative rhythm. It’s not just a process of sitting in a room until a lightbulb goes off. Being creative can be fine-tuned. This book is a guide to doing so.

OTHER STUFF

You’re reading this post, so I can safely assume that (A) you know me personally or (B) you’re interested in the topics I post here. Either way, you’re reading something advice-driven or business-driven. But this book really drives home one important fact: you need a multifaceted, diverse, rich view of the world. Being creative means pulling from your experience of the world. What you put into your brain, you will eventually spit out in the form of work or creation. So, stay well-rounded in life, and you’ll stay creative.

Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom (Amazon)

THE BOOK

Regardless of your faith in religion or God, your lack thereof, or your confusion on the subjects, one thing remains the same for all of us: we need to have faith in people and occasionally refocus our lives on what’s truly important. Mitch Albom is most widely known for his novel Tuesdays with Morrie and his work as a sports journalist. This book, which I read just a week ago, really hits home for me. It’s VERY easy for me to be always on with my work, between how much I enjoy it and its very nature (startup, creative, etc.).

I loved this book for three reasons: it’s a necessary break from business-related reading; it helps you remember that there’s more to life than just your work; and it bridges all faiths and beliefs, whether those are based in religion or interpersonal relationships.

OTHER STUFF

If you roll your eyes at this concept, I feel truly sorry for you. We need to believe in something in life, whether that’s music or God or the kindness of others. Any consistent pessimism will destroy you, especially as an entrepreneur. You need unrelenting positivity.

If you have any books you’d recommend along these lines, leave them in the comments or send me a tweet! Thanks for reading!

A Plea to Friends Suffering in Jobs They Hate: Leave!

Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:53:00 -0400

Context: In the last 15 months, I’ve met with about a dozen friends and former colleagues for one reason: they really don’t like their jobs. Most of them are lucky to work at awesome companies with very recognizable brands. Most of them are brilliant. I’m lucky to know them. HOWEVER…most of them never decide to take action to change their situation. Maybe sharing my quick story will help. It’s not groundbreaking, but it’s honest.

Here’s that story…

Just over a year ago, I made a decision that, at the time, was pretty damn hard. I chose to leave Google. (Google! The food! The brand! All of that.) And the hardest part in a way was changing my stupid LinkedIn profile to read “CampusLIVE” - a young company with a young (read: not-so-great-looking) product and, let’s be honest, a pretty lousy name.

Looking back, the “risk” I took was really no risk at all. My mentality heading into the decision was just that, too. I remember thinking to myself, If this startup fails, I’ll at least learn a ton and meet some great contacts to expand my network. Plus, I’ll know definitively that I gave startups a try.

But through all the reasoning with myself, the fact remained that it was still an impossibly hard decision to leave a place like Google. Here’s the punchline though: it should have been easy. There was literally no reason for me to stay at my old job because I’d learned all I could there — at least for the direction in which I wanted to steer my career. (This is a positive, by the way. I learned a ton. I love that I could learn there, but I also felt the learning slowing down or even stopping. That’s a warning sign.)

Let me start by saying, Google was and is incredible. The people, the perks, the brand, and the energy make for the ideal post-college job. But, again, I’d learned what to do to succeed at a high level, and I felt my unhappiness clinging to me everyday. I knew my next move wouldn’t be available to me for some time due to HR policies. Plus, a job function I wanted wouldn’t be open for two years, and even then, it would not be located in Boston where I hoped to live for a few more years.

So, I sucked it up and found something to move towards (rather than moving AWAY from something — that’s a hugely important concept). And, in the interest of full disclosure, here’s what happened:

A few managers raised their eyebrows and cautioned against the decision. They pointed to the learning opportunities at Google vs. at a startup. I agree that for some, Google’s a better environment. For me, I needed to get my hands dirty and move at a faster pace than six- or 12-month increments.
I received a lot of support from friends (a lot more than I anticipated, too). I guess my motivation, my blog output, my attitude and my happiness level all increased because I didn’t really explain the decision to most of them.
I took a pay cut — a rather large one. Did it affect my life? Luckily, not really. But I was willing to trade off a chunk of salary for a buttload of happiness. (I believe that’s the technical term.)
I struggled with changing my online profiles and announcing to the world that I was moving from a company that people everywhere recognized to one that, if you were asked where you worked and what you did, didn’t hold much clout.
And in the end, after 15 months, I can safely say that the things I was hoping to address in my career and in my life were addressed. I’m blessed to have had this opportunity.

Again, this was my own personal experience of my transition from one specific job to a new one. This won’t be the case for everyone, I know. And this is most certainly not me painting a picture of Google. But I can tell from my talks with a few friends working across several companies that they’re in similar situations.

So, my advice is this: listen to the advice of others, but ultimately, just do whatever feels right in your heart and in your mind. Take that risk while you’re in your twenties, because the only thing that matters now is that you’re learning each and every day.

I know my friends. I know when they’re unhappy, it’s due in large part because they’re not challenged. Their brains atrophy. They don’t feel creative.

At the risk of sounding a little conceited, my friends are very talented people. They’re smart as all hell. (Again, I’m the lucky one to even know them. I’m not saying I’m they’re equal because, for the most part, I’m really not.)

These talented people have passions, energies, ambitions, and drive…none of which seems to be present or used in their current posts.

So, to my friends, my message is simple: please take action. Stop talking and go DO something. You’re young, smart, hungry, and destined to be really successful if you work hard enough.

Will it be easy to get things in motion? No. Will others judge? Probably. Is there risk involved? Not as much as you’d think if you’re finding new ways to learn while you’re still young.

If you finally stand up and decide to make a change, I promise you’ll look back in a year and realize something: it was the best damn decision you’ve ever made.

Boston Content: Join Us for Drinks, Aug 29! #BostonContent Event No. 2

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 21:52:00 -0400

Boston Content: Join Us for Drinks, Aug 29! #BostonContent Event No. 2:

The Boston-area industry organization that I helped create is hosting our second event! Please consider attending and have a drink (cash bar) to check out what bostoncontent is all about!

Click over to the Boston Content site to read more and RSVP! Spots are limited.

It’s time for another event!

If you’re like us, you love the content industry largely due to one thing: you get to spread compelling stories to the world.

We’d love to swap stories with you over some drinks on August 29th from 6-8pm at the Lansdowne Pub (we’ll be in the larger…

Will Brands Someday Hire Journalists As Employees?

Fri, 03 Aug 2012 08:49:22 -0400

Content marketing is “just so hot right now.” Companies everywhere are creating media as if they were a media shop themselves. At first glance, it makes sense for brands like ABC, NBC, ESPN, and other acronyms (and non-acronyms) that are a part of the actual media industry.

But Scope Mouthwash? Budweiser? PUMA? Ernst & Young?

Do you really want to read, watch, share, and discuss media that they’ve created? After all, while the ABCs of the world are happy with you simply consuming and spending time with their content (they make shows, after all), a brand like Scope or PUMA wants you to purchase their products — if not now when you watch their video and read their blog, then eventually.

MY BIG BET: THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT FOR J-SCHOOL GRADS

When I was in school, I wanted to be a journalist. But the options were a bit difficult to swallow: slog through small newspaper gigs, work your way up, bounce around whenever a job opening presented itself (the industry wasn’t popping out more newspapers and more jobs given its struggle to monetize in print). And yes, there were other options like magazines, blogs, self-made multimedia wizardry, and the always-popular PR/corp-comm route.

But I didn’t want those things. I was skeptical. Now? My bet is that in a few years, when content marketing goes the way of social media marketing in that every brand finally “gets it,” content creators with actual backgrounds in reporting, writing, and executing stories will be super valuable.

Could that mean brands hire journalism cast-offs and/or talented journalists tired of the beat reporting lifestyle?

I think it does. Consider the following:

Brands produce products and know how to sell them based on features and benefits. But content marketing requires CONTENT - good, quality, value-adding media that people consume. What do you do when minds like that just aren’t on your marketing team? Hire an expert!
Brands want to appear as thought leaders. To do so, they need to publish content consistently related to their approaches and thoughts. They need to pump out stories with deadlines.
Branded content gets stale…fast! There’s only so much you can say about the products you sell, only so many articles you can share or photos you can post. You need someone to dig up stories, take new angles, and make it reader-focused.

Journalists and trained writers are excellent at taking one simple topic or approach and turning it into tons of angles, features, and reader-friendly content. It’s a beat report!

THIS MAKES ME SMILE

As a former English major, I’m really excited to see content and media creation becoming so important for businesses. It’s up to those who understand the process of storytelling (part science, part art, with a huge scoop of patience to publish again and again for readership) to convince the world to move from content “marketing” to just operating as straight media shops.

Something to consider: soap operas were once produced by soap-makers such as P&G. This is not a new concept, focusing on media creation and consumption. But we moved through a stage of very transactional marketing that got away from the Don Draper days of storytelling (thanks, search and banner ads).

Now that we’ve moved squarely back into the world of storytelling, it’s the journalists’ time to shine. And I think they’ll get their stages when big brands start hiring them in the next three to five years.

Do you agree? Disagree? Let me know in the comments. Oh, right, before I forget - you should follow me on the Twittersphere here!

Is Creativity The Most Under-Used Weapon In Digital Content Creation?

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 08:30:00 -0400

One of the reasons that I enjoy blogging and digital content creation is that it combines a lot of the different traits that make me who I am, namely, a logical sense of analyzing what works, an appreciation for creativity and good content, and a a willingness to try new things.

But there’s definitely a trend emerging as more and more brands start becoming “media shops” and creating content to distribute, hoping customers consume it.

Everyone wants the content they create to produce results for their businesses. (And can you blame them? If you work in business, you should get that concept pretty readily). However, this puts a rather large emphasis on analyzing performance, which includes tracking metrics like clicks to the links you share, time spent reading and/or watching (“views” is another similar metric), or even total number of shares. Not to mention SEO optimization of things like headlines and paragraph structure.

That’s all well and good, but there’s a big ingredient missing when all you do is focus on the data-driven side of the business of content, and that’s creativity.

“COVER BANDS DON’T CHANGE THE WORLD” - Todd Henry, Accidental Creative

Here’s a quick story to illustrate what I mean: for awhile, there was only one person creating content at my company, Dailybreak (back then it was called CampusLIVE).

His name was me.

As you can imagine, that put me under the microscope around the company, and it also gave me an unusual amount of creative freedom. However, I felt that freedom slipping away when faced with things like deadlines and goals for number of Challenges (our content unit) launched per day or per week.

It’s only natural after all - I wanted results, so I fell into a trap of creating what seemed to work. It was easy to try and get by rather than try and innovative and be creatively insightful or innovative.

Rather than flexing my creative muscle (however large or small those muscles are in my mind), I found myself trying to take a formulaic or templated approach to everything I did. I thought, “THAT worked, so maybe I should replicate that a ton to keep my numbers strong.”

IF YOU DON’T TAKE RISKS AND TELL YOUR STORY, YOU’RE JUST NOISE

The problem with the above mentality is that it discouraged risk-taking and never let me really explore new things that could have really helped create a great user experience with even better numbers for our business longer term. (And, conversely, that lack of risk-taking also stemmed the amount of learning I created for myself. Playing it safe meant never finding out what would and wouldn’t work in the future.)

So, while I don’t have the answer, I have to ask — is creativity the least-used weapon in a creative team’s arsenal these days? Are content marketers favoring SEO and transactional tactics over being remarkable in their creation?

When faced with the growing world of data, analytics and marketing demands, do people favor data and hard metrics just because that’s what their boss might like or expect?

Again, I don’t have the answers. I just really hope and pray that everyone involved in media everywhere still values the creative process.

Because creating good quality content, at least today, is not yet a product of data alone. It still requires an appreciation of the beautiful, remarkable, and humanity’s emotional experience of the world.

Do you find the above trend to be true? Why or why not? Leave a comment. Oh, and you should follow me on Twitter!

A Quick Branding Exercise to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 08:33:00 -0400

As many of you know, CampusLIVE recently rebranded to Dailybreak! Aside from me now being able to sleep more regular hours (and by regular I mean startup regular, not regular-regular…caffeine and I have a love-hate thing going right now…), I can now look back on all the branding exercises I was exposed to in the process of re-branding an entire company.

Note to self: don’t just jump in. Wow. There’s A LOT that goes into it.

I wanted to share with you today an exercise we used to begin our process. While this didn’t lead to the name itself per se, it helped us frame everything we did in the right way moving forward. Here’s the deal:

GOAL: Understand and visualize the emotions we want our brand to convey. What does the brand mean to us? What does it mean to consumers? To clients?

APPROACH:

Divide into groups of 3-4 people.
Each group grabs a stack of magazines and begins tearing out images that in some way relate to their emotional connections to the company’s brand (even if the brand name is TBD). Paste the images on a poster, collage-style.
Regroup as a company and hang the posters on a wall. Then have each group select someone else’s poster for the next step.
Next, go back with your original group, along with another group’s poster, and circle the image that is the best visual representation to your group of what your brand’s emotional benefits are. This will likely be a quick discussion to come to an agreement on a single image from the poster.
After one image has been circled, take another poster and write all words that come to mind to describe that circled image. You should come away with a giant list of words since it’s all about what pops into your head.
Whittle that list down to the best 3-5 words that your group agrees are best suited to describe the image (and in doing so, your brand). Again, this may be a small discussion to agree on the short list.
Regroup, discuss what you came up with and why. Then, it’s time to start creating your actual, tangible result (e.g. a new brand name) using the words and images you’ve come up with. Set up a Google Doc or hold another meeting to present ideas - however your team best operates.

And there you have it - a quick way to start the process of branding your company! Now, I need to throw in TWO caveats: (1) this is only one method for getting there - there are tons of other approaches that work just as well; and (2) this is to get you STARTED. This will not by any means lead to miraculous creative insights and thus a finalized brand name (though it might).

Above all, remember this: people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. So branding, a brand name, and the emotional ties to it are all hugely important. Project the WHY behind your brand and inspire others to follow.

How important is your company’s brand name? Does it reflect the emotions you, your users or your customers feel? Let me know below or on Twitter.

Thanks for reading!

For inspiration behind the “Why” statement, see this TED talk.

What My First Year at a Startup Taught Me #3: Saying No

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 08:34:00 -0400

This is Part 2 of a series of posts on what I’ve been fortunate enough to learn about startups, career, business and relationships. Part 1, on priorities, can be found here, and Part 2, on doing what you’re best at/career mobility here.

I’ve always had a habit of getting involved in lots of things. In high school, that meant multiple sports, several clubs and a few academic projects. In college, it was primarily the student newspaper and a bunch of organizations around writing, journalism, and Western culture, plus internships. Just AFTER college, at Google, it was the internal sales newsletter, Google+ and a few more side projects.

That sounds like a lot, but here’s the kicker: the projects kept me energized and actually helped me manage my time when it came to my core areas of focus (i.e. homework, class, sales, respectively).

But now that I’m at a startup? The same willingness to say “yes” that helped me gain exposure and challenge myself can easily get me into trouble. Dailybreak (the business model) has only been around for about a year and a half. (CampusLIVE before it was around for several years but had a very different model.) Dailybreak the brand has been around even less time — a week and a half at the time I’m writing this.

That means there’s PLENTY to keep me busy that moves the needle on major business objectives…without me needing to step outside my day to day and take on side projects here.

This isn’t me saying that I’m focused on the mundane or the same thing every single day. Quite the contrary - my job in product management requires me to run all over the place, take on things that seem like “side projects” but really aren’t. They’re all necessary.

So it becomes CRITICAL for me, and anyone in a similar boat, to politely decline things that are truly on the side at work. Outside work? I try to get involved, for sure, but I’d also prefer others know me for my work than for a Twitter following. It’s way more tangible and lasting. It has more impact on my career. And despite my love for the Boston startup community, there are times I choose to head home after a long day’s work because it’s crucial to pick my non-work projects carefully.

The bottom line is this: just over one year into a startup, I’ve never had a dull day. Because there’s so much to do, and so much to learn, I always feel challenged and fulfilled and therefore can really buckle down and focus without needing to take on side projects.

My advice to anyone in a startup (or even a large company where side roles are available): always ensure your core role is on complete lockdown before thinking of anything else. At a startup, nothing is ever completely on lockdown as you build a business.

So…FOCUS! And the success you drive at your startup will stick with you and make you stand out for a long, long time.

I’m taking a stance here - I know a lot of folks love getting involved in tons of projects inside and outside work. I’m a big believer in channeling your creative energy against a small set of problems to achieve success. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment or shoot me a tweet!

And for the inspiration behind this post, visit Dharmesh Shah’s OnStartups blog post on saying no here.

"Creating is about sharing our insights and perspectives with others."

Wed, 11 Jul 2012 08:39:13 -0400

“Creating is about sharing our insights and perspectives with others.”

- — Todd Henry, author of The Accidental Creative.

An easy trap to fall into if you’re a creative is to hole up in a room and try to be brilliant. Recently, I’ve committed to surrounding myself with diverse people with varied backgrounds, opinions, and life experiences.

I’d definitely recommend you do the same. After all, when you finally do need to create something, the world you’ll be pulling from will be much richer, and you’ll be that much more creative.

Rock on!

What My First Year at a Startup Taught Me #2: Do What You're Best At

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 08:32:00 -0400

This is Part 2 of a series of posts on what I’ve been fortunate enough to learn about startups, career, business and relationships. Part 1, on priorities, can be found here.

Just over one year into my first startup experience (after several years spent at Google), I’ve learned more than I could ever have hoped. But not everyone assumed that would be the case for me.

As I was leaving Google, I had an odd, skip-level meeting (that’s corporate-speak for meeting with my manager’s manager). He was supportive but warned, “With all the resources available to you here versus elsewhere, you may not get the learning opportunities at a startup that you’re used to.”

I was pretty floored, but then I realized: at huge companies (even ones as startuppy and forward-thinking as Google), there’s a big gap between what’s promised and available and what’s actually reality.

I’m exposed to every aspect of the business here at Dailybreak, compared to the silo of one small division of a large team that sat in another large team that was divided by regions at Google. Being exposed to all areas of the company allowed me to make a radical change in my career path — one I really wanted to make before but was unable. And that opened my eyes to a HUGE learning from my first year at a startup:

LESSON #2:

PURSUE WHAT YOU ARE BEST AT DOING - AT A STARTUP, YOU NEED TO BE DOING THAT FULLTIME!

At some large companies, like Google, the party line goes something like this: “We promote lateral movements for your career. If you see an opportunity outside your core role, pursue it on the side, and if you’re good at it, you’ll eventually be able to move into it fulltime!” These lateral moves are appealing to those who start entry-level and wish to move into new paths as they figure out their careers.

But the lateral move can be a real bitch at a large company. It’s not a knock on big corporations, but it IS the truth you face. There’s too much process, too many decision makers involved, and not enough motivation for the business to shift you to a new role or location. (I should know - I pursued a full-time role on Google+ for quite some time, but because I was already a Google sales rep and because I was located in Boston, it would have been easier for me to apply from outside the company than shift over).

(Insert joke about Google+ here. I get it - it’s not Facebook. Be patient. It’s different.)

At Dailybreak, when I saw the opportunity to contribute to the product team, I jumped at it. I created content on train rides to NYC. I worked at home and on weekends to help out.

And here’s the beauty of the startup world: when others saw that I was great at what I was doing, they almost instantly offered to move me over.

Why? Because at a startup, it’s CRITICAL for everyone to deliver their best for the company to have a chance at surviving. So if someone proves (as I did) that they’re the best at a certain aspect of the business that isn’t their core job, smart entrepreneurs will shift that employee to a new role to do that fulltime.

Unlike at more established companies, there aren’t gobs of cash and tons of resources available for startups to throw at talent deficiencies. They need to ensure their small, understaffed teams are cranking and producing at what each individual is best at doing.

So, if you’re at a big company and feel you need to switch gears in your career — or you’re at a startup and see another role that looks appealing — go after it hard!

Combining passion and opportunity is an awesome thing. Now get going!

(If you need a nudge or want more insight into the startup world as a career, say hi on Twitter or, yes, Google+. Glad to talk!)

What My First Year at a Startup Taught Me #1: Priorities

Tue, 03 Jul 2012 08:00:15 -0400

Just over one year ago, I decided to make the leap from Google to the startup world. It wasn’t an easy decision (not even close). I knew I wanted to work for a startup eventually, but I didn’t know exactly when…or what kind…or in what capacity…or in what location…or, now that I think about it, if I truly wanted to be an entrepreneur at all. Maybe it was just media-induced lust after the “new rockstar lifestyle.”

But I made the decision, and it’s been the single best career choice I’ve made. The past year has been a hugely important learning opportunity for me. While Google afforded me tremendous opportunities in its own right, nothing can compare to the “sink or swim” startup world — one filled with huge emotional swings, tons of energy and plenty of hands-on experience.

In short, it’s been EXACTLY what others said it would be.

But what have I learned? Turns out, more than I originally imagined, now that I’ve bulleted out my top few. Here’s the first…

LESSON #1:

YOU’RE BUILDING A HOUSE - PRIORITIZE ACCORDINGLY!

If I’ve learned anything at all, it’s that startups are about prioritizing and distributing resources. There aren’t all that many resources to go around to begin with, so it becomes all the more important that you carefully and thoughtfully address the things that will have the biggest impact on the business.

“Duh,” right?

Well, you’d think so…but it’s incredibly easy to get sidetracked and spend time on projects that either don’t matter now or won’t matter ever.

You feel compelled as an entrepreneur to fix and build on everything. Your blog needs content, your UI needs design, your competitor does funny video shorts so you want to get in that game, etc.

But you’re building a house here. This is a longterm investment. But it’s REALLY easy for people to drive by and point to the dying bushes or the unpaved driveway or the fact that a pool and basketball hoop would be sweet…

BUT THE DOOR IS BROKEN! You should probably fix the door first. And the plumbing is on the fritz! Even though your neighbors can’t see that plumbing, isn’t a working faucet and toilet more important to your house than a new bush out front? Isn’t the security of a door that actually closes and locks much more critical than a new coat of paint outside?

The bottom line is this: you’re deep into the business, full of pride and energy. But funnel it towards the projects that will help the house stand and last…not just look nice to others. This isn’t always that glamorous (certainly not the “rockstar” lifestyle that Mashable, TechCrunch and Silicon Valley stories always promote), but it’s the only way to build a successful business.

This I’ve learned from just over a year at a startup, and I will NEVER forget it.

If you work for a startup (or any scrappy company) and have learned something awesome, let me know in the comments or on Twitter or Google+. Would love to chat!