For the next week, Lisa at Management Craft is offering her ebook New Year’s Resolutions For Leaders for $5.00 and she is donating the entire amount to the Red Cross and Mercy Corps.
It contains great advice as we start the New Year. It is a true win-win. You can help yourself while helping others.
You often hear the advice that you should give customers a way to try your product. I saw this in my December issue of Michigan Tech Magazine.
Campus Tours Seal the Deal: Seeing is believing: 99 percent of the potential students that tour Tech’s campus file an application. Of those who apply and are accepted, 90 percent enroll. Bill Roberts, who cooordinates the campus visit program, atrributes the success to well-trained student tour guides and the general friendly atmosphere at Tech and in the Keweenaw.
This has been the case for some time. My campus visit to Tech in 1989 convinced me it was the place to go. I went on to become a tour guide when I attended MTU. The only thing I would add is the tour guides are paid. I think that raises the bar for recruiting and retaining individuals to give tours.
If you would like to see why Michigan Tech is such a special place, plan your own campus visit today!
Airlines are the customer service punching bag for most books, magazine articles, and blogger posts. I have been guilty of thrashing the industry myself.
I wanted to put in a good word for the good folks at Denver International Airport. We got to the airport on Saturday about an hour before our flight (yes, I know we should have gotten their earlier, but we drove that morning from Breckenridge). The line for the United counter stretched down the hall and took a left down another walkway. A United manager walked up to us and said it looked very intimidating, but we should be through in about 15 minutes. Amy started the stopwatch and to our amazement we where headed to security after 16 minutes and 30 seconds.
Security didn’t look much better. They had all of their retractable gates deployed. We must have done about 20 switchbacks before we reached the x-ray machines. Again, the line was moving constantly. I think we only stopped walking twice. The folks from TCA were courteous and clear about how to get through in a timely manner.
We made our flight with about 15 minutes to spare.
I also wanted to give a shout out to the United gate agent who said, “There is no baggage limit today.” Thank you!
I am a huge fan of NetNewsWire. I like the capability to read posts offline. The cursor keys commands allow you to scan feeds and posts really quickly. It works with ecto nicely.
They posted today that their 2.0b10 supports podcasting. 🙂
This year has been great and so much has happpened.
When I started the year, I was working with my father. A month later, I decided that I needed to do something else. That something else started with staying home with my one year old.
That gave me some time to do things with this blog. The Business Blog Book Tour started in February. I held Brand Week and Finetuning later in the year. I also tried wikis with the BizBlog Directory Wiki.
I tried my hand my hand at distribution with the Kaospilots A-Z book. Fast Company reviewed the book and I stepped in to provide US distribution. I sold 40 copies of the $50 book. It was not a runaway success, but it was a great learning experience. What was better was getting the chance to visit Uffe and the school in September.
The BBBT led to an introduction with Jack Covert and 800-CEO-READ. We hit it off and started a blog to see what would happen. That led to another blog to run book excerpts. And that led to starting a podcast about business books.
On a sadder note, I lost my grandfather after a year of poor health.
We were able to travel quite a bit this year. We spent five weeks in Europe on two different trips. I spent a weekend in San Francisco after BlogOn. This last week I have been able to enjoy the beauty of the Colorado Rockies.
Finally, I have met so many wonderful people this year. I would not even know where to start in listing everyone here. I think you all know who you are.
At the beginning of last year, I could have never predicted where I would be now. Some might say I didn’t plan very well. I don’t see it like that at all. I think I am going the right direction. I think it will be interesting how opportunity presents itself in 2005.
To an even better 2005!!!
Just want to make sure you go read the Fortune article on blogging.
This is the only chance I am probably ever going to get to be an ABC News Person of the Year.
Last night, ABC News ran a piece on bloggers being their people of the year. Bloggers are sharing this title with the Google Guys, Joseph Darby, and Mary Fetchet.
The Green Bay Packers put a call out for volunteers to help shove show at Lambeau Field.
300 people showed up the next morning.
The Packers have the best fans in the world.
Just wanted to let you know that I have been adding to the Top 24 blog. I added four lists on Tuesday and three more today. If you want in, send me a note at top24 at apennyfor dot com with a link to the post on your blog.
Happy New Year!
The drugs are kicking in and I am feeling the best I have in three weeks. The only trouble I have now is that my cheek is swollen and it makes me look like I got in a barfight. The trouble is that I haven’t felt well enough to even go to a bar.
Thanks to everyone who has sent along well wishes.
I found some wifi here in Breckenridge at the Gourmet Cabby Internet Cafe.
I am still sick and haven’t done any skiiing yet. I finally broke down and when to the doctor yesterday. I now have some antibiotics to treat what has now turned into a sinus infection. I hope to be better in a couple of days.
Enjoy the holiday week!
It is most likely going to be quiet here over the next week. We are meeting my wife’s family in Colorado for the holiday week. There is a rumor of wifi, but not in our condo. So, we’ll see…
It has been a wonderful year. Thanks to all of you who have been reading. Thanks to everyone who made the Business Blog Book Tour a success.
There will be new stuff in the new year.
Also, if you haven’t already, spend some time, put togther your Top 24, and send a link to me.
See you next year!
Of course you could go watch the latest JibJab cartoon, but if you wanted a slightly deeper experience consider Negotiation at the North Pole by ExperiencePoint. I think it s a clever game that helps teach negotiation. You get three tries to distribute the right items between Santa, Paul the Elf, and Blitzen. They tell you want they think about what they have and you have to figure out if there is a better combination. You get three tries to find the right mix. If you don’t make it, there is a tutorial to help explain the basics of negotiation and details important to the North Pole problem. Check it out.
I sent a couple of people a copy of my 2002 holiday mix. This is so I tell them (and you) what is on the disc. I have linked to iTunes where I can. Some are just clips I have found floating around the net.
Holiday Mix 2002
1 – A Mad Russian’s Christmas | Trans-Siberian Orchestra | Christmas Eve and Other Stories (4:42)
2 – White Christmas | The Drifters | Home Alone Soundtrack (2:42)
3 – Winter Wonderland | Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass | ??? (3:05)
4 – Little Drummer Boy (Grinch Mix) | Jars of Clay | Drummer Boy -EP (4:50)
5 – ‘Zat You Santa Claus | Louis Armstrong | What a Wonderful Christmas (2:39)
6 – Give a Little Bit | Sarah Masen | ??? (3:39)
7 – Blue Christmas | Elvis Presley | Elvis Presley: Holiday Classics (2:07)
8 – Green Christmas | Barenaked Ladies | Barenaked for the Holidays (2:34)
9 – The Christmas Song | Mel Torme | Christmas for Lovers (2:48)
10 – Christmas in the Caribbean | Jimmy Buffet | Tennessee Christmas (3:13)
11 – Baby, It’s Cold Outside | Diane Reeves and Lou Rawls | Jazz to the World (3:54)
12 – Snoopy’s Christmas | Royal Guardmen (?) | ??? (3:10)
13 – Gabriel’s Message | Sting | A Very Special Christmas Vol. 1 (2:11)
14 – Go Tell It on the Mountain | Yellowjackets | GRP Christmas Collection Vol. 3 (4:33)
15 – One Little Christmas Tree | Tina Arena | ??? (3:34)
16 – Sleigh Ride | Squirrel Nut Zippers | Christmas Caravan (3:11)
17 – O Holy Night |*NSYNC | Home for Christmas (3:36)
18 – 12 Days of Christmas | Bob and Doug MacKenzie | Great White North (?) (4:50)
19 – Christmas is Coming to the USA | Jimmy Fallon, et al | SNL (1:53)
20 – Star Wars Christmas | Yoda, Darth Vader, and Jabba the Hutt | ??? (1:23)
21 – Love Train | The O’Jays | The O’Jays: Super Hits (3:04)
22 – Santa Claus is Coming to Town | Various Artists | A Very Special Christmas (3:54)
Bob Carlton of The Corner has started the Top 5 in 2004. These are not business related blogs, but I thought it was cool to see the meme adjusting itself for what works best. I wondered if 24 posts were too many for people to have the patience to pull together.
[via Get Religion]