tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-116027292011-12-02T02:54:47.890-08:00A blog about the joys and tribulations of being an independent consultant and about providing quality services in a changing world.Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.comBlogger791100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1135100851724988182005-12-20T09:18:00.000-08:002005-12-20T09:47:31.740-08:00

Think about the people you have lunch with. Same people every day? Lunches alone or at home? Muffing at your desk, one hand on the mouse? No time for lunch?I was thinking about this the other day, and I realized that I regularly lunch with a selection of nearly a dozen different people from a half dozen different companies. More than anything else, it's my lunch breaks (and the occasional happy

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1133287906260407922005-11-29T09:45:00.000-08:002005-12-01T20:12:41.616-08:00

Today a Web site bought me a cup of coffee. That's a good Web site.Judy's Book is a site for information sharing about local businesses and activities. It's got a lot of competition in a field with a bunch of aggressive newcomers. So what is Judy's Book doing to differentiate itself? It's treating its reviewers like they were customers.This morning I walked down to Bauhaus Coffee in Seattle where

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1132613334239594202005-11-21T14:29:00.000-08:002005-11-21T14:48:54.273-08:00

Many times myself, my friends, and members of my family have contemplated starting up a business venture. The vast majority of these went nowhere. Why is that? I think one of the reasons is that we mistook business goals for the goals of the business.It's natural to pour passion and energy into life goals, spiritual goals, personal development goals and so on. What's hard is to pour passion into

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1132352788835687362005-11-18T14:26:00.000-08:002005-11-18T14:26:28.870-08:00

There's a might buzz brewing today about the legendary Doc Searles' recent Linux Journal article Saving the Net. It seems Doc's come to the conclusion that the Net is in grave danger, and he's not the only one. I'm not going to comment on it because I'm still absorbing it. I recommend checking it out for yourself.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1132245313334531332005-11-17T08:35:00.000-08:002005-11-17T08:35:13.333-08:00

I posted yesterday on how struggle breeds inspiration. Today, Hugh MacLeod posts thoughts on cartooning: "'Creative Mojo' is a funny one. As soon as you think you've got it, you start losing it. And as soon as you think you're losing it, it starts coming back again." I couldn't agree more. I started putting my doodles on my Web site largely because of Hugh. It was a "if he can do it..." thing (

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1132244635429665522005-11-17T08:16:00.000-08:002005-11-17T08:36:06.836-08:00

Sony used an exploit called a rootkit on its audio CDs to install copy protection on listeners' computers. Some security geeks sniffed it out. At this point Sony has angered legions of uber geeks and earned some harsh words on sites like Slashdot. Then it turns out that the rootkit is poorly written and may expose the system to crashes. Cue the bloggers.BBC News: More Pain for Sony over CD

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1132185216603141062005-11-16T15:37:00.000-08:002005-11-16T15:53:36.620-08:00

You'd think that after years of writing something as banal as a sales letter, you'd have it down to a science. You'd be wrong. In Secrets of a Freelance Writer, Bob Bly tells how his very first sales letter, the one he used to launch his career, garnered a respectable 7% response rate.That's a daunting thought to me, especially as I've sent out 15 proposals this week to complete strangers. That's

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1132015059189229862005-11-14T16:35:00.000-08:002005-11-14T16:37:39.190-08:00

I was reveiwing my hit counts today and I realized that this blog is still getting a slow trickle of readers. So I've decided to revive it. Truth be told, I get the itch to ramble on about business and writing, and this is the perfect place to do so. Cheers!

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1131992758082932322005-11-14T10:16:00.000-08:002005-11-14T16:13:07.653-08:00

When you're hiring staff, you scrutinize them carefully. You review their qualifications. You meet them in person. You want to make sure that this relationship is going to be fruitful for both of you. But when you meet a new customer, you'll do anything to make the handshake.There is such a thing as a bad customer. They may seem appealing at first (or maybe it's just their money that's appealing)

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1121910122995598752005-07-20T18:34:00.000-07:002005-07-20T21:23:22.723-07:00

I've decided to close this blog, and here's why. There are times when I'm fascinated, utterly riveted with the permutations of the business world, blogging, and running a copywriting business. Then again, there are times when I'm not. It just seems a waste to keep this blog open for something that I don't feel compelled to talk about half the time.When I started down my career path, nothing in

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1121804188858964302005-07-19T13:15:00.000-07:002005-07-19T13:16:28.863-07:00

I'm dealing with a huge productivity bomb this week - Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I was one of the lucky few to get a library copy from the first batch (too busy to go to a book store), and now I can't walk through my living room without picking it up and reading (hopefully only) a chapter. Since my office is about 30 feet from the living room, this is a very real temptation.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1121615691762593212005-07-17T08:49:00.000-07:002005-07-17T08:54:51.766-07:00

Everybody goes through these times of being insanely busy. It may feel like a great feast or running a marathon, but it's actually a test of your principles. If after 10 10 hour days you can still remember what your business is about, keep up your regular cycle of contacting old customers, keep pinging potential customers, monitor the top industry blogs, you're going to be OK.It's been a busy few

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1120774554678429742005-07-07T15:14:00.000-07:002005-07-07T15:15:54.686-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1119680698332837332005-06-24T23:24:00.000-07:002005-06-24T23:24:58.340-07:00

Waiting for the must to come...Actually, building an e-commerce site for a client.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1118767543920463132005-06-14T09:40:00.000-07:002005-06-14T09:45:43.933-07:00

The thing is, I blog in streaks. It's generally accepted that to have a really great blog, you've got to post regularly. But I don't post regularly.I blog about what I'm really jazzed about. If this is something blogworthy, then I blog about it. If it's not blogworthy, I don't. It could be that I'm working on a project that's under non-disclosure, or maybe I'm heads down on a book, or in

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1118343403150475632005-06-09T11:55:00.000-07:002005-06-09T11:56:43.153-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1118337920557499712005-06-09T10:24:00.000-07:002005-06-09T10:25:20.560-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1118264229343336312005-06-08T13:48:00.000-07:002005-11-15T12:23:03.286-08:00

Want to know a working at home tip so secret that I haven't even told my wife? Chores.I've learned that chores are the secret to being productive in the home office. Do you ever get stuck in a rut reading E-mail and surfing the Web? Do you ever draw a blank when you're trying to make progress on a creative project? I realized that I needed a break in my day to get out of the Web surfing cycle. It

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1117757965361171662005-06-02T17:14:00.000-07:002005-06-02T17:19:25.373-07:00

How NOT to create passionate users #24: tell them they YOU'RE the one with the passion, while THEY have... potential.Kathy Sierra accusses Microsoft of taking passion away from the users. So true, and yet not so true. The reason that Microsoft isn't talking about "your" passion is that Microsoft isn't selling its product to you. Microsoft is selling it to your boss or, more likely, your bosses

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1117571160118935492005-05-31T13:00:00.000-07:002005-05-31T13:27:44.086-07:00

"How many you want? I didn't ask you what you're eating, I asked you how many you want. You don't want no 'one'. You want a touch. You ain't ready for a 'one'."That's Gene Porter, the owner/proprietor of Dixie's Barbecue in Bellevue, and the man with the best job in the world. Today I went to Dixie's for lunch with the guys from 3Sharp. As far as I can tell, Porter's job is to walk around his

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1117233362761068312005-05-27T15:36:00.000-07:002005-05-27T15:40:07.986-07:00

I was SO not going to talk about the conflict between blogs and the advertising business ANY MORE. It's just not that interesting a topic. You either get blogs or you don't. Anybody's rant about a so-called war is irrelevant.But sometimes someone pulls a gaffe that's too big to ignore. As reported on Dix&Eaton the blogosphere lit up over a supposed fake-blog play by a company named Panera. This

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1117126157898859272005-05-26T09:48:00.001-07:002005-05-26T09:49:17.896-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1117126133119512172005-05-26T09:48:00.000-07:002005-05-26T09:48:53.126-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1117035015146393932005-05-25T08:28:00.000-07:002005-05-25T08:31:23.900-07:00

Yesterday was what I call a recurring Monday - in other words, a very bad Tuesday.There was one fun moment, though; hearing Seth Godin interviewed on Marketplace. Seth's blog is one of the feeds I read regularly, and hence I think of him as a sort of close acquaintance, even though we've never met. Hearing him on the radio was like running into a friend on the street. It's amazing what a great

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116816102177693042005-05-22T19:41:00.000-07:002005-11-15T12:26:47.896-08:00

In his blog Fermentations, wine marketer Tom Wark tells us how to market a wine in 100 words or less.Writing for lifestyle industries is an art. The language has to have a certain opulence that imparts a bit of the mystique of the product to the customer. You take the sunlit valley in France, the odor of the casks, that one perfect candlelit meal and put them all on a 3x5 index card. If you can

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116483051155209162005-05-18T23:09:00.000-07:002005-05-18T23:10:51.156-07:00

I've just posted the rest of my service offerings so that they are now part of the blog. They can also be found through the links area on the right.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116482779829229272005-05-18T23:05:00.000-07:002005-05-18T23:06:19.830-07:00

I assist you in creating product demos that convey the core technical details while also proving relevance to your customers' business by combining deep product knowledge with a precise, detail-oriented approach to writing.Product DemonstrationsSelf-led TrainingHands-on LabsVirtual Demos and Training

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116482708362094252005-05-18T23:04:00.000-07:002005-05-18T23:05:08.366-07:00

I seek creative, meaningful solutions to content creation challenges. I work with you to identify key documentation needs, to create solutions to those needs, and to plan for successful completion of deliverables.Competitive ResearchSubject Matter Expert InterviewsContent TriageStrategic Planning

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116285038333516032005-05-16T16:07:00.000-07:002005-05-16T16:10:38.333-07:00

I actively engage new products and technologies so that I can provide accurate, insightful written materials. My goal with every project is to deliver professional, polished documentation in a timely manner.WhitepapersCase StudiesTechnical Case StudiesProduct DatasheetsDeveloper Documentation

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116263395139772122005-05-16T10:09:00.000-07:002005-05-16T10:09:55.140-07:00

And.... more device doodles.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116263155540090622005-05-16T10:02:00.000-07:002005-05-16T10:05:55.546-07:00

You may have noticed that I added trackbacks to this blog, thanks to Haloscan. I'm sorry I waited so long to do it. Blogger does not support native trackbacks, which is something of a problem. The lack of trackbacks alone is enough to mark Blogger as not being a professional blogging platform, in my opinion.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116188371189693282005-05-15T13:09:00.000-07:002005-05-15T13:19:31.193-07:00

I just got a short note from Daniel Pink, the author of the book A Whole New Mind, who saw my post A Whole New Marketing. He says we should all go buy his book at Amazon or maybe at The Elliot Bay Book Company (if you're a Seattlite). I like the way that Dan spotted my post within 24 hours. I'm seeing more and more authors, consultants, writers, hobbyists, and creative people of all types using

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116086812999465372005-05-14T09:00:00.000-07:002005-05-14T09:06:53.000-07:00

I'm hardly out of my first cup of coffee, and I run into this over at Evelyn Rodriguez's Crossroads Dispatches Blog:Try putting your customers and your ecosystem's conversations at the center of the hub -- rather than your company's. Even if it's simply a conceptual idea, it'll radically change the focus of your conversation.That's more or less what I was fumbling towards in yesterday's post. Why

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116016612566307272005-05-13T13:19:00.000-07:002005-05-15T13:09:20.336-07:00

I was listening to KUOW on the way back across the 520 bridge the other day. They were talking about a book called A Whole New Mind.The author said that the people who flourish in the coming years will be those who find a creative, impossible to duplicate approach that can't be outsourced or done by a computer. "Yeah," I thought, "that sounds about right."When I first started doing marketing

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1116001408958070432005-05-13T09:23:00.000-07:002005-05-13T09:23:28.963-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1115677548589511052005-05-09T15:25:00.000-07:002005-05-09T15:29:42.016-07:00

Just a quick notice that Hugh has a great discussion on his blog about why corporate blogging works. I've had hundreds of conversations with product managers where they've said their primary goal is to teach the customer how to think about the technology. That's exactly what Hugh talks about in his post.Is blogging the only way to do this? The best way in every situation? No.You're not going to

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1115662702685406242005-05-09T11:13:00.000-07:002005-05-16T16:06:54.943-07:00

Why Blog?A blog builds credibility. It shows that you are an authority in your field.A blog builds recognition for your professional name. Blogging is a great way to deliver information more quickly and easily and at a lower cost than a press release, newsletter, or mass mailing.Blogging is responsive to existing and potential customers.A blog can help you build a body of writing. Blog posts have

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1115478121407056062005-05-07T07:54:00.000-07:002005-05-11T16:58:32.296-07:00

When I'm not working, I'm a huge science fiction fan. There are some great professional quality weblogs out there for people who enjoy science fiction. My question is: why don't they have RSS feeds? The End of the Universe doesn't seem to have one. Aeon Speculative Fiction is making great use of eBooks and online publishing, but they don't have a feed I can find (even though they are powered by

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1115313376698416682005-05-05T10:16:00.000-07:002005-05-05T10:18:12.746-07:00

Robert Scoble thinks "The Red Couch: If I were doing a Target blog..." Anyone thinking of starting a corporate blog should read this post. It's an essential step 1 to blogging.Here's the background: Scoble recently had lunch with Target. He then opened up the question on his blog: what do you have to say to Target about blogging? Some of the answers are pretty interesting (yes, mine's in there

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1115231115649640502005-05-04T11:07:00.000-07:002005-05-04T11:25:15.706-07:00

I don't know if Rogers Cadenhead meant it as an exercise in self promotion when he successful picked the domain name for the next pope, but if he didn't, I'd like to give him the prize for making good use of a unique opportunity.Promoting a blog is one of the things I help my clients learn. Starting a blog is a piece of cake. Promoting it takes some creativity and effort.Now I wouldn't

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1115229447506367762005-05-04T10:57:00.000-07:002005-05-04T11:31:21.400-07:00

Today, Seth Godin says: "Ego is the biggest reason that corporate blogging may be an oxymoron." I don't buy it. I think Ego actually drives good blogging, and here's why:There's a fable that tells of an ox walking across a field. A flea landed on the ox's ear. "So," said the flea, "where are we heading next?"Bloggers with healthy egos identify themselves with what their company does best. They

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1115143004590872392005-05-03T10:51:00.000-07:002005-05-03T10:56:44.590-07:00

I finally got around to glancing at Business 2.0's Dumbest Moments in Business for last year. The Kryptonite lock furor made spot #1. For those who didn't follow this story, a video appeared on the Web showing how to pop a Kryptonite bike lock with a Bic pen top. Bloggers picked up the story, and Krytonite's slow and lackluster response ended up hurting them bad. The Kryptolock story has since

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1114977236859322002005-05-01T12:53:00.000-07:002005-05-01T12:53:56.860-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1114793501252168812005-04-29T09:41:00.000-07:002005-04-29T09:51:41.253-07:00

The biggest comment I've received from yesterday's post on my executive blogging service offering is that people still aren't convinced or clear on the benefits of blogging.What are the benefits is really two questions: what are the business benefits and what are the personal benefits. Executive blogging straddles the line because executives are responsible for the performance of the business but

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1114718973162930062005-04-28T12:48:00.000-07:002005-04-29T09:40:55.796-07:00

I'm going to toss something out there. I've been thinking about offering executive blog coaching as a commercial service (in fact I've already started doing this, I'm just not advertising yet).Blogging's really starting to turn a corner in acceptance. The question these days isn't so much "why in the world would I blog?" as "how do I get started?"Here's how I propose to answer the question:The

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1114459697480216922005-04-25T13:00:00.000-07:002005-04-25T13:08:17.480-07:00

One of the things I like best about my job is talking to different business people. Everybody's got a different point of view, a unique take on doing business, and unique experiences. Today I sat down with Jay Fiske and helped him start up his first blog, The Auction Maestro's Journal.Jay is hugely knowledgeable about running non-profit auctions and events, and has many anecdotes and tips to

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1114304685095300602005-04-23T18:04:00.000-07:002005-04-23T18:05:36.596-07:00

Johanna's Managing Product Development blog is packed with insight. In the tech industry, everyone is a project manager at some point. Knowing the pitfalls means that you can avoid them... or at least when you find yourself at the bottom of the pit, and everyone says "what happened" you can learnedly say "we just fell into a pit."Link gleaned from Brian Kennemer.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1114216104028361892005-04-22T17:19:00.000-07:002005-04-22T21:05:02.230-07:00

Tonight I am teaching my first class on personal business blogging. We've got a photographer, an Ebay merchant, a storyteller, and a doctor with a highly technical specialty, so it should be a pretty interesting mix. One of the things I'm going to talk about is how to identify your audience.How do I figure out who my audience is? What do I say to them?What do you enjoy talking about?Fun blogs

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1114196300262295122005-04-22T11:42:00.000-07:002005-05-04T12:12:45.446-07:00

A consultant or freelancer of any kind needs to be able to ask the question, "so what do you do?" I like to tell people I'm a blogging consultant, but more often than not, I'm a technical writer. What I do on any given day is just as likely to be writing whitepapers[1].Here are a few samples of papers that I have written or to which I have been a major contributor:Windows Server 2003 Reviewer's

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1113942599513947342005-04-19T13:10:00.000-07:002005-04-19T13:29:59.513-07:00

Paul Graham has written a great article about PR and blogging called The Submarine. Paul doesn't get to talking about blogs until about halfway through the article. That's just fine. There's really great information in his pocket summary of the PR business.So who's going to win the war between the blogs and the PR firms? There isn't going to be a war. Paul nails it when he says "As this new kind

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1113420545666619452005-04-13T12:29:00.000-07:002005-04-13T12:29:05.666-07:00

I blogged some RSS benefits a while back, but here's a better summary. This is targetted at non profits, but it's valid for everybody: 10 Reasons Nonprofits Should Use RSS | ConsultantCommons.org (beta). I see more and more nonprofits getting into blogging. What a great use of a new channel! Blogs and nonprofits are a great mix. Blogs lend themselves very well to collaborative efforts and

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1113412524926549472005-04-13T10:14:00.000-07:002005-04-13T10:15:24.926-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1113327349944918482005-04-12T10:26:00.000-07:002005-04-12T10:35:49.946-07:00

One of the more difficult blogging concepts to sell to corporate entities is that you have to release some control to reap greater benefits. Here's an example.Today I was surfing Microsoft Dev Blogs at MSDN more or less at random, when I ran across an interesting post on Rick LaPlante's Visual Studio blog. Some users, apparently erroneously, got the impression that Rick was censoring his comments

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1112890940871595852005-04-07T09:22:00.000-07:002005-04-07T09:22:20.873-07:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1112646127507738462005-04-04T13:22:00.000-07:002005-04-04T14:17:39.823-07:00

Bob Bly is currently my favorite work blog. Today he asks Are Sponsored Blogs Credible Marketing Tools?This brings up a more general question, when is a blog fake? First of all, faking it is bad news in blogland. Some PR and Advertising firms have responded to blogs by offering fake blogs to their customers. This is a bad idea. If you don't believe me, watch Hugh MacLeod take a stripe off fake

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1112389112609743962005-04-01T12:49:00.000-08:002005-04-01T12:58:32.610-08:00

Over and over again, I see correct spelling listed as one of the essentials of a good blog, but the sad truth is that perfect spelling isn't going to make the difference. Every really good blog lets the occasional spelling mistake through. That's one of the hazards of a medium that's so immediate. Do you really think Scoble's going to hire a copy editor for his blog? Am I saying that spelling is

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1112245268711645812005-03-30T21:01:00.000-08:002005-03-30T21:01:08.713-08:00

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111856680093812772005-03-26T09:00:00.000-08:002005-03-29T10:36:30.526-08:00

At Bob Bly's Copywriting Blog, Bob asks the question, Are you a blogging consultant? The comments are pretty instructive. One of the things you have to do if you're an independent consultant is find a way to differentiate your offering. What is it about you that makes you different and, yes, better than all the other consultant's out there?The comments are a fascinating snapshot of the blogging

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111795791059248162005-03-25T16:05:00.000-08:002005-03-25T16:12:04.196-08:00

About a month ago I was talking to a friend of mine about blogs. He works for a medium size company that's well placed to lead its market. His basic question was "why should I care about blogs?"This week he asked me how his company can set up an RSS feed. This just cements my view that RSS is the killer app of blogging. Without RSS, blogging is still just a toy for niche groups and sub cultures

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111707892832198912005-03-24T15:39:00.000-08:002005-03-24T15:45:58.453-08:00

Just to prove I don't sit around all day talking about blogging and drawing cartoons, here's a glimpse at what I'm up to lately.I often work with the guys at 3Sharp Consulting. They've done a lot of work on Fabrikam, Microsoft's learning platform for Office development.Anyway, 3sharp is very into blogging, and they gave me a blog of my own, so I thought I'd post a little bit about some of the

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111605007992842412005-03-23T10:52:00.000-08:002005-03-23T11:15:30.303-08:00

Today I took a 20 minute break from work and took my daughter for a walk around the neighborhood, and I didn't feel the slightest bit bad about it. Of all the promises of independence, being able to take that kind of time when you need it is the best.They will tell you that independence is about harder work, more pressure, and less certainty. They're telling the truth. What they aren't telling

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111534634083337402005-03-22T15:26:00.000-08:002005-03-22T16:27:52.923-08:00

In January, I lost my job. I'd like to say it was the best thing that ever happened to me, but honestly, it's a little too early to call that one. After the shock of unemployment, I started thinking hard about what I do for a living, and how I can do a better job, and not just a better job, but a really amazing job. I also started blogging seriously about work, technology, and the consulting

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531513933625962005-03-16T14:44:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:45:13.936-08:00

What makes a blog effective? I've been looking at good blogs in an effort to answer this question, and I've noticed that the blogs I admire tend to have certain characteristics in common.Focus The best blogs have a well defined focus (unlike this one), which they stick to. Look at Beyond Bullets. It's about one thing: better PowerPoint. Now maybe you don't care about giving better PowerPoint. In

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531487220560102005-03-02T14:44:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:44:47.220-08:00

OK, I'll keep this short and sweet.I had a meeting the other day. I knew the material, but I didn't bother to prep (because I was busy). I didn't come in with any insights, and I was short a coffee and a lunch.The result was a rather lackluster meeting. So the lesson is to do the work and prep for your meetings, especially if, like me, you're not the kind of guy who can do it off the cuff.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531464436145092005-02-15T14:44:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:44:24.436-08:00

I realize my blogging has shifted. Since my layoff, work has taken over a larger share of my creativity. On the other hand, I've found there's a huge reserve of creativity that was untapped before. I guess this is a sign that my life is improving, though I'll wait and see if I can make a living six months from now before I hand down a ruling.I do have a new idea for a nomic-like RPG combining

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531447858667222005-02-15T14:43:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:44:07.860-08:00

For those of you who don't know, I was recently laid off from work. Since then I've been working very hard hunting down jobs, be they temp, contract, or permanent. One creature I've run into quite a bit in my travels is the staffing agency.Staffing agencies make their money by finding people to fill jobs for other companies. Microsoft seems to use them quite extensively. The staffing agency

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531422230154992005-02-09T14:43:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:43:42.230-08:00

The Red Couch: Dinner with the fired Google bloggerRobert Scoble had dinner with fired Google blogger Mark jen. The resulting blog post is a good quick guide to the hazards of blogging from work and how to avoid them. Good words for all those of you with jobs. ;)

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531385065544962005-02-07T14:42:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:43:05.066-08:00

Back when I started doing writing contracts for Microsoft, when you wanted to learn a new technology, you'd search MSDN until you found the right article. This was usually named "Getting started with technology X." I taught myself ASP entirely from MSDN articles.Over time, these articles dwindled away. It's now much harder to find newbie-targeted user friendly content of this sort. That's

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531353097794702005-02-04T14:42:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:42:33.096-08:00

Office Developer Center: Getting Started with Visual Studio Tools for Office: Best of Blogs: Visual Studio Tools for Office, Version 2005: "Since we started aggregating blogs for conferences such as Microsoft Tech Ed and Microsoft Professional Developers Conference (PDC), over 50,000 articles from more than 500 bloggers have passed through our system. "This is a great place to get started

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531330415769902005-02-03T14:42:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:42:10.416-08:00

Would you hire a person who didn't know the difference between your product and a flour sifter? Who didn't care? Then why do you hire a staffing agency to find your documentation writer?If you find a recruiter you can trust, that's as valuable as happening across a brilliant programmer or a gifted writer.Your Web site claims that your company prides itself on its communications. Then why is your

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531293980424322005-02-01T14:41:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:41:33.983-08:00

I met the editor of the science fiction magazine Neo-opsis at Norwescon last year and sent him a copy of one of my stories soon after. The other day it came back with a rejection E-mail. It was a personal note, however, and the editor was good enough to enquire how my novel was going and invited me to submit more work. So I did. 10 minutes later. Two hours after that I got a an electronic

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531268085569042005-01-29T14:40:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:41:08.086-08:00

Remove fixture; place the lens and ballast cover off to the side. If required remove appropriate knockout(s) for power supply entry.I should have been playing War of the Ring, but instead I spent three hours installing a light fixture. All in all, I'm pretty impressed with the design of this fixture. For one thing, I don't have to fiddle around with screws and bolts to get inside the thing. So

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531238703583552005-01-28T14:40:00.000-08:002005-03-28T10:26:59.636-08:00

Here's what I've been reading lately: Cluetrain and Hughtrain. Cluetrain is an insane rant which nevertheless manages to sneak in some real wisdom. Hughtrain is an insane rant that's nevertheless quite entertaining and contains funny pictures and has potty words.The insight here is that the Internet is turning markets into conversations. My first question, as a tech writer, is "where does

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531209096951862005-01-28T14:39:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:40:21.616-08:00

The question that keeps me awake at night is "what is my value proposition?" Yeah, I'm lying away pondering what is essentially a marketing question. How far the mighty (proud) have fallen.When you're working a good job for good pay, you can take your own value as a given. When you have to go out and explain it to someone, and expect them to part with their money, it is not. Today I am grappling

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531191729554952005-01-27T14:39:00.001-08:002005-04-22T15:33:49.833-07:00

I didn't carry many things out of my office (cube) when they laid me off. One of the things I did rescue were my postit cartoons. I've been drawing these for years. My cube was packed with them. I'd been meaning to bring them home and scan them for the blog. This one is, I suppose, the perfect one to begin with.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531170376980642005-01-27T14:39:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:39:30.376-08:00

I ran across the following sentence in a job posting today: "The ideal candidate for this position is an editor who is eager to create a world-class documentation system that is an essential part of its associated product line, not merely a bunch of auxiliary text in which semicolons are used properly." (emphasis mine) The pretty much sums up what I've been thinking about (nay, obsessing about)

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531139439528962005-01-26T14:38:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:38:59.440-08:00

What if they gave a Blog Business Summit and I was so busy playing online games that I didn't even know about it until the day after it was over, and it was in my home town?I'd be cryin', that's what. The lesson is, keep up with the world, it keeps changin'.

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531399607680442005-01-02T14:43:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:43:19.606-08:00

Microsoft has a bad habit of bundling, then scrapping image tools for Office, which always leaves me at a loss for a decent image tool. I inevitably end up using 3-4 different tools to do anything: 1 for scanning, 1 for editing, 1 for cropping and resizing (most do a lousy job of it), another for saving to the format I want.Enter Paint.NET. It's got all the features I need (plus layers and some

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11602729.post-1111531314348307842005-01-02T14:41:00.000-08:002005-03-22T14:41:54.350-08:00

I realized the other day what a great job Microsoft is doing of tapping the passion of its employees. I realized this while I was looking for some information about Live Communication Server, and I realized there was a live webcast in just 10 minutes.As a tech writer, I don't like writing Web casts. I've written just about every other kind of content with relish. Whitepapers? Love 'em. Training?

Tonyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00923748337647812135noreply@blogger.com0