Blogging Your Way Into Your Niche
October 20, 2009
Yesterday, I ran across a great article from a blogger who has been working hard at building his blog for the past two years. If you are new to blogging, you should check out his great post he wrote about the 25 things he wish he knew when he started blogging.
There is no easy way to create an effective blog. It takes more than just setting up a Blogger or Wordpress account and posting something every couple weeks. You have to dedicate a lot of time and effort to create a quality content and a healthy readership. My three favorite points in the article are: “Content doesn’t matter. Promotion matters.” “Social Media isn’t a Silver Bullet” and “Twitter is worth it”.
Blogging for your niche can have a big impact for your business, but it won’t happen over night. At Milsoft, we’ve created a niche Smart Grid blog. It is still very young, but because of the nature of the niche, a little promotion and quality content, in five months it has become the top referring website (excluding search engines) to Milsoft’s primary website.
How is your blogging experience going?
Don’t forget, ACU is hosting another one of their distinguished speakers events today. If your lunch is open, be sure to buy your ticket and come listen to James Lentz, president of Toyota USA, talk about his experiences.
James Lentz of Toyota to Speak at Abilene Christian University Tomorrow
October 19, 2009
On Tuesday, October 20th, Abilene Christian University will be hosting James Lentz, president and board member of Toyota USA, at their latest Distinguished Speakers event. The event starts at 11:45 and lunch will be served. Tickets are $15 but should be well worth it. Visit ACU’s website to buy your tickets now.
It is really amazing how far the alumni networks of universities extend. With the Six Degrees of Separation, it really doesn’t surprise me the level of speakers ACU is able to bring to their events. At the first Springboard Challenge there was Kenneth Starr, at COBA’s yearly Leadership Summit retreat there was John Aden (Walmart’s Senior VP of International Operations), and the list goes on.
If your lunch is open on Tuesday, I highly recommend you buy your ticket and check out the event.
Perspectives from Inside the Organization
October 7, 2009
This is a guest post written by Haley D. Dilling. Haley is a freelance graphic designer and marketing consultant, currently living and working in Abilene, Texas. You can learn more of her marketing perspective on her blog and by following her on Twitter.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand.” ***
Why do so many organizations try to stand divided? Their many departments operate in functional silos, each doing its own thing, protecting its own territory, and criticizing the selfishness, ignorance, or disagreeableness of the other departments. The designers can’t understand why the developers won’t build the product to match their elaborate renderings. The developers can’t understand why the marketing team treats them as incompetent one moment and expects them to be all-powerful the next. The marketing team can’t understand why the designers convolute the marketing message with their intricate visual details.
Organizations cannot function this way – at least, not for long. The word “organization” implies multiple parts arranged into a whole. An organism, if you will. The organization should function as one unit, with many parts working together, much like the human body.
In the human body are present millions of cells and tissues and organs, all working in coordination for the survival of the body. Each part of the body has a specific and specialized function, and all of them contribute to the life of the body. Christians have used this metaphor for almost 2,000 years to describe how the church should function, and the same principle applies to any organization. The Apostle Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 12:
“There are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor.”
In the body, each part carries unique abilities, perspectives, and needs. The eyes see. The ears hear. The nose smells. The mouth speaks. The hands touch and clasp and lift and push. The legs walk and stand. Each needs different kinds of nourishment, support, and protection. Each senses things differently, and each provides sensory information that the others cannot.
And each part of the body would be useless if it were not connected and working in harmony with all of the other parts.
The legs would be useless for walking if the eyes could not see, and if the brain could not communicate where to go. The digestive system could not fuel the body if the hands did not respond to hunger pangs and input food to the mouth. The body could not heal itself if the immune system did not redirect platelets and white blood cells to the areas of disease and injury. The many parts of the body contribute to the survival of all the other parts, and of the body as a whole.
In the same way, the survival of any organization requires that each member appreciate the needs and abilities of all the other members. Each member in an organization should understand what he and every other member can and cannot do, and what the function and importance of each member is. He should learn the key factors that affect the abilities of every other member to function, so that he can understand how he can help the other members to succeed. He should trust that every other member is doing his or her job well, and is acting in the best interests of the whole, just as he himself does. And he should communicate continually with the other members, realizing that the entire organization must be coordinated in order to reach its goals.
Working together within an organization is not a matter of “us” vs. “them”, but of truly working together, understanding one another, appreciating one another, and seeking the success of one another. When this happens, the entire organism can thrive.
*** Jesus, Mark 3:25
Interested in being a guest blogger on the Abilene Startup Blog? Shoot me an email or connect with me on Facebook or Twitter.
I’ll do whatever It takes. Will you?
October 6, 2009
Every Tuesday night, fellow Milsoft employees and I play softball in a corporate softball league. And every Tuesday night, I come home with new bruises or strawberrys on my legs and arms from sliding or diving on the field trying to make a play. I’ll come home from the game and show my wife that night’s injuries, and she thinks I’m crazy for playing that hard for just a company softball game. She just can’t understand it. After our last game she asked me, “Why do you do that? I just don’t understand”. My only response is: “I don’t know any other way to play”. We play in a competitive league, so we play softball to win softball games. I’ll do whatever it takes to help my team win softball games.
The whatever it takes mentality is a valuable thing. I wish more people had this mentality. I think the world would be a better place if more people would do whatever it takes to accomplish their goals and ambitions.
In a startup, you’re never going to make it without a whatever it takes mentality and surrounding yourself with co-founders who have the same. Businesses should look to hire nothing but whatever it takes-minded people. Companies should partner with partners who will do whatever it takes to make a partnership successful. If you’re in charge of a fund-raising or community service event, you should be doing nothing short of whatever it takes to help out the persons or organizations you are supporting.
When I say whatever it takes, I don’t mean the back-stabbing, short-changing, relationship-ending sort of whatever it takes. I mean doing whatever it takes while preserving everything else that is important. The best way I can describe this is with an example. I have been married for a year and a few months now to my lovely wife. It was tough in the beginning because I was working all the time. I would work late, while my wife would go to bed alone in many cases. This took away from my relationship with my wife. I had to find another way. Now, I could have told my wife, “Sorry hun, this is just part of being married to an entrepreneurially-minded, hard-working husband” or I could find another way to do whatever it takes to be a great husband and continue my side-ventures. My solution, I keep my nights open for my wife and I get up every morning at 2am-ish and start hustling. Easier said than done. Does this mean I had to stop watching Lost and trade it for one of my wife’s favorite shows? Yes, I had to start watching “Drop Dead Diva” (ok, I have to admit I sort of like it). Does this mean I can’t go out and play in the weekly pick-up basketball and football games? Yes. There are may trade-offs, but to maintain the relationships that really matter and work on other things that I really care it about, you have to do whatever it takes.
Some new blog, business venture, side project, etc. etc. will never be worth cutting off those around you. The relationships you have today are your biggest asset in getting anything off the ground.
So I ask, why spend your time on something that you aren’t going to put all your attention and best efforts to? If you care enough to be doing something in the first place, you should do nothing but whatever it takes to make that something happen.
I write this to encourage you. I believe it is possible to accomplish everything you want to given a whatever it takes attitude. Please, don’t be lazy and waste this precious gift of life.
Are you doing whatever it takes to accomplish your goals and ambitions?
Abilene Christian University Launches Business Incubator
October 5, 2009
Some days it doesn’t feel like it, but the Abilene community is full of entrepreneurs. They may be young or old, experienced or inexperienced, but they are out there creating businesses and adding value to the Abilene community and surrounding areas. Abilene is a very unique city, especially for it’s size and population of 110,000ish. There are 3 universities and a slew junior colleges and tech schools infusing the city with fresh talent every few months. Until now, I didn’t feel the local universities have done much to mentor and encourage the influx of students who are interested in entrepreneurship.
Just recently, Abilene Christian University has created a business incubator to do just that, mentor and encourage their student and community entrepreneurs. The incubator provides everything that is needed to start a business: office space, utilities, internet, legal advice, a wealth of mentors, and other resources. Out of that list, I think the mentors available to the entrepreneurs give the incubator the most value. Kevin Christian and Jim Porter will have their hands directly involved with the companies in the incubator, along with the experience-rich business school faculty.
The incubator will provide a great environment for entrepreneurs to get their business off the ground and running. Not to mention, the incubator will show entrepreneurs how Abilene is a great place to launch a business.
If you want to learn more about ACU’s business incubator initiative, be sure to come to this week’s ReInvent Abilene. Kevin Christian will be presenting “Business Building” on Thursday Oct 8, 2009 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm at the Texas Tech University at Abilene on 302 Pine Street - Across from the Downtown Abilene Post Office.
