I got back late last night for Seattle.
The trip was well worth it. As with most conferences, it was about the people. I missed the last couple of sessions, so I am interested in what people are saying. I almost stayed, but it would have required a flight change, another night in the hotel, and the complete loss of today.
The BBBT today is at Brand Autopsy. They like the book and as always pull together a great stop.
I am safely in Seattle.
I had a great day checking out the Science Fiction Museum with Evelyn.
We then had dinner at Lola with Curt, Lisa, and Robert.
It was great to meet so many people in person from the world of blogs.
There is going to be even more of that tomorrow.
Can’t wait to meet so many people at Blog Business Summit!
I forgot how early 4AM was though.
This was the only decent flight that didn’t have me flying east to go west. A quick stop in MSP and then on to SEA.
This also gives me a little time to see Seattle.
More soon…
The headline is not meant to be said with a classic Different Strokes emphasis. I was thinking about what it is I have been talking about lately on the blog.
If you look down the page, you’ll see less posts. I think that is driven by my work over at 800-CEO-READ and my many side projects.
I have been talking more about blogging than business. I think that reflects where I am spending my time right now. I don’t do the searching I use to for interesting business stories. I am going to try and get back to that a bit. For example, did you see there is a shortage of high quality audio tape? [WSJ, sub. needed]
I also find I am talking more about life events. I was a little hesitate about that, but today’s post from Evelyn reminded not to be. I don’t know if what I am doing is compelling, but the things I talk about I am interested in and I think some passion comes through. So, expect more of that too.
I am also going to launch a linkblog devoted to business posts. I hear lots of people say that they can’t read all of the blogs I do. I understand that. So let me offer to a way to see the things I see that are interesting, but don’t have time to post. There really isn’t any linkblog that offers you a pure business feed now. I will have that up and running in the next week.
So, there is my thinking on the blog right now. Hope you like it and keep on reading…
I have always been a TurboTax guy. I find it amazing how they have simplified a very complex process.
With the creation of Astronaut Projects, LLC this past year, I thought it might be time to seek professional help. I put a post up looking for a little help and didn’t get much of a response. So, we’ll running errands yesterday stopped by a local CPA. I stepped into the office and asked if I could set-up an appointment to see in accountant. The front desk person asked what I wanted to talked about and I said I think I need some help doing my taxes this year. She suggested I gather all my materials and do my taxes all in one meeting.
The trouble was that I wanted to meet the person who was going to help me. I wanted to see if I liked them. I wanted to thin-slice them and see if they were competent. I wanted to start a relationship.
After consulting my free agent friend Cathy, I regained my confidence and bought TurboTax Premier today. I went the Premier because it gives extra help on the Schedule C, which is where I am going to need it. I should also mention that my mom is a corporate controller and we have a great friend who manages money for very wealthy people. I am betting I can get help if I need it.
As an aside, I bought my copy at OfficeMax today. It was being sold at the suggested retail price of $69.95. There is a $20 mail-in rebate in the box. Also, if you buy the Deluxe or Permier version by Friday, Officemax will give you a $20 giftcard. Did I mention that you get the State TurboTax and e-filing for free? I didn’t see this one on SlickDeals.
To my MKE readers,
First, how about all the snow! I am waiting for it to stop before go out and plow the driveway, but I bet we have at least six inches on the ground. I love it!
What I really need your help with is finding an accountant/CPA. Our taxes are going to get a little more complicated this year and I am going to need some expertise. Any recommendations would be highly appreciated. You can leave them in the comment or send me a note.
Thanks and welcome to winter.
I think this tells of the story of my year pretty well. These represent things I have done and thoughts that I still think are important:
Dear Brad, John , and Steve,
I went with my wife to see The Incredibles last night. You have created another masterpiece. The story, the characters, and the animation were all (forgive the pun) incredible. I wouldn’t even know where to start in telling you how much I enjoyed the movie.
About halfway through the movie, I started remembered all those SBC commercials I have been seeing with the Parr family. I decided I don’t want to see Bob, Helen, Violet, Dashiell, and Jack pushing product. Let them be the superhero family I loved in the movie. Don’t make the mistake of attaching all this extra mental baggage through “extending the brand”. Do you really need another revenue source for a film that is probably going to gross half a billion dollars?
Let stories be stories.
Sincerely,
Todd Sattersten
Fortune has a special section on Innovation in the November 15 issue.
Bill Joy describes [sub. needed] succinctly why I left GE:
So why is innovation so hard for big companies? The main reason is that innovative people tend to prefer working in smaller organizations that have more focus and less bureaucracy. Even in small companies, adopting a large-company style can frustrate the innovators.
The problem with large companies isn’t that they fail to do large and seemingly ambitious projects; it’s that they fail to do small, quirky, controversial projects—truly innovative projects that wouldn’t be accepted by the organization at large but that have the potential to grow. (If everyone thinks an idea is okay, how can it be innovative?) A large organization—its missions threatened by new ideas—is often incredibly hostile to its own innovators; the antibodies to change are strong.
During my last years at GE, I was unconsciously trying to find small groups to work in. I found them more exciting. I found they had less overhead (i.e. less managerial interference, less politics, less PowerPoint presentations). I found I could be more creative and get more done. The last group I worked in had 6 people in it when I started. The product caught shortly after I got there and grew to about 70 in less than six months. I spent another 12 months there and finally decided to left GE. It was getting hard to find small places.
I spent two years working with my dad in a four person fabrication shop. I started enjoying myself again. We had lots of everything except money. We tried all sorts of things. It was fun.
I find the work I am doing with 800-CEO-READ to be the same. We are trying new things all the time. Some work and some don’t. Jack says throw it at the wall and we’ll see what sticks.
Innovation is about trying and you have to be given the opportunity to do some trying.
This is the closest thing you will ever find to political statement on this blog:
If you need any help, these are the tips from electoral-vote.com:
As you enter the polls, note if there is an Election Protection person outside the polling place.
[end of public service announcement]
So, I have this idea. I want to create a sci-fi storyline and let readers build the world. I want to use some of the great community tools that are being developed along with creative commons to encourage fan fiction.
The key to launching this successfully will be the initial storyline. I need some help in that department. I am looking for some writers.
If you are interested or know someone, contact me (todd at apennyfor [dot] com) and I’ll give you more info.
I took the Now, Discover Your Strengths Quiz this morning and found my strength themes are:
I found it interesting. I wrote a little more about the book over at 800-CEO-READ.
When I am offered a “cocktail”, beer is my drink of choice. I came of age during the microbrew renaissance. I was drawn into the newness and the variety craft brews offered. When I visit a city, I always find the microbrewery/restaurant. Almost without exception, you find great beer and really good food. When I was in San Francisco at BlogOn, I visited three such establishments.
I have taken my interest to the next level and started doing some homebrewing. For those who haven’t, it is easy to do. You can be brewing with a $50 investment in equipment. The ingredients for a 5 gallon batch (~50 bottles) cost about $25. It takes six to eight weeks from start to drink. I just started drinking my second batch and it has turned out really good. My two recommendations are (1) buying a copy of Homebrewing for Dummies and (2) visiting the website of Midwest Homebrewing Supplies.
This whole entry was inspired by two beer business articles I ran across on Friday. The first was in the October 18th edition of Fortune. The New King of Beers is a profile of Europe’s InBev. You may not have heard of the company, but you definitely know their brands – Bass, Beck’s, Labatt’s, Rolling Rock, Skol, and Stella Artois. The surprise for me was that they are the world’s largest beer producer (161 million barrels to No. 2 Anheuser-Busch’s 130 million). AB usually gets the nod as the world’s biggest, because their revenues are larger ($13.8 billion to InBev’s $11.3 billion).
The second article was a book excerpt that I found in the Wall Street Journal [sub. needed]. The book is called Travels with Barley: A Journey through Beer Culture in America by Ken Wells (Free Press, Oct. 2004). I liked his stories of visiting Memphis to find out what Elvis drank and visiting Woody’s, “an extremely famous beer joint in the town of Caruthersville [Missouri]. The main reason it was famous…was that Woody’s had a firm policy of not serving beer in bottles because bottles, well, are just too hard on the human head.” I have added this one to my Christmas list.
While washing the dishes this morning, I drop a glass and place my hand squarely in the remains. A trip to Urgent Care gets me 14 stitches in my left palm and a tetanus shot. Typing is a little painful, so it may be a little slow for the next couple of days.
The whole reason for our trip to Europe was to attend (and in my case officially witness) the marriage of Cindy and Thibault Bretesche-Bestland.
We had an absolutely wonderful time.
The ceremony was in Nantes. The reception was held at a cute little place near Chateaubriant. They honeymooned in Sicily.
Congratulations!