My Two Cents

Young Professionals Looking to the future

coffeyhouse1 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:48:57 +0000

One week from today there is going to be a National Conference call for

all those that have a desire to embrace social media and build community via online networking. We see that there are Young Professional networks popping up in every city and are focusing on the idea of networking online and meeting offline. Although this is a wave that will continue, all of our groups are growing individually with out the ability to connect outside of our networks.

This conference is the first step to bring all young professional groups together and provide the opportunity to collaborate on what is working and what is not. This call is open to all that would like to join in and we look forward to connecting with all of you. We will be hosting this call on WebEx and for those that have iPhones, you can attend the meeting through your iPhone. If you would like to join in on your iPhone simply post a comment below and I will send you the invite.

The call in information for the conference call is here:
Topic: Young Professionals Unite
Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Time: 9:00 am, Pacific Daylight Time (San Francisco, GMT-07:00)
Meeting Number: 019 810 441
Meeting Password: YPunite

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To join the online meeting (Now from iPhones too!)
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1. Go to https://freetrial.webex.com/freetrial/j.php?ED=588863&UID=1382673&PW=abcb7f56380b6022563b242a&RT=MiM0
2. Enter your name and email address.
3. Enter the meeting password: YPunite
4. Click “Join Now”.

Call in information:
Call-in toll number (US/Canada): 1-650-429-3300

Access code:019 810 441

Right now the following states will be represented on the call:

California
Oregon
Kansas
North Carolina
Indiana
New Zealand

If you have any questions you can connect to me via Twitter @coffeyhouse . This call will last a maximum of 60 minutes and we will focus on the following:

* Identify what is successful
* Identify some of the obstacles others are running into
* Identify the needs we all have and how to best approach them
* And hopefully set some dates for us all to have events together

I look forward to connecting with you all soon.

Coffey

Really, you have something to complain about?!

coffeyhouse1 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:02:53 +0000

I do not want this blog to turn into a soap box but there is something that is absolutely driving me crazy. The idea that that most of us have anything to complain about is unbelievable to me. I am not a harsh person and I believe that I am one that cares about those that are really hurting but the thing that gets me right now is how spoiled we really are. It all comes down to perspective and maybe we all need to be reminded about what we do have. My wife and I are thankful for everyday that we get to live in our house but the reality is that even if for some reason we ended up like a lot of Americans and had to give up our home, we will still be better off than 95% of the world! I’m tired of hearing how the world is coming to an end. For most of the human race the world has been a living hell.

I want people to look at this time as a refining time. A time where we all pull together and embrace what we do have, live off of needs not just desires, and find ways to lift up those around us instead of wasting time while we talk about how we actually live off a budget. Once again I don’t want this to be a venting session but if you are reading this, I challenge you to encourage those around you and gently, in love, remind them that we do live in America. The nation where freedom rings! If you have lost your home, I do hurt for you but encourage you to take a breath and be thankful for that breath, open your eyes and be thankful for the colors you see, close your eyes and soak in the sounds around you, open your arms and embrace those you hold close.

Know that this blog is aimed at ME. I sat outside starbucks this morning and talked with a dear friend about his recent trip to Brazil where he worked with those in proverty. As I listened I thought about the times that I have sat at starbucks and talked about how tight our finances our are right now! Really, enjoying starbucks and I complain about tight finances?!

Young Professionals Uniting

coffeyhouse1 — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:49:33 +0000

If you haven’t seen it yourself, the young professionals of today are growing in numbers and are excited to embrace the world we live in, even change it for the better. With the constant push of Web 2.0 technology and the ability to collaborate with link minded people without geographical limitations, the world is truly ours for the taking. Young Professional groups around the world are popping up and finding new ways to impact not just their communities but also the business world as a whole. The excitement and energy is contagious and I know, it’s something I constantly want to be around.

On July 14th at 9amPST we are going to be holding the one of the first Young Professionals National conference call. Everyone, who is looking to start a young professional group or has already gotten theirs off the ground, is invited to join! The purpose of this meeting is to first bring everyone together and talk about what we are individually doing to build our own young professional group. We hope to make this a quarterly conference call and accomplish the following:

Identify what is successful
Identify some of the obstacles others are running into
Identify the needs we all have and how to best approach them
And hopefully set some dates for us all to have events together

I am excited about this call and look forward to everyone joining in. We will be announcing this on Twitter and would encourage you to share it with those you feel would be interested. Look back on the 10th of July for the call in information and if you would like to have me remind you plase leave a comment with your twitter account or you can follow me @coffeyhouse . *Note that we only have space for 100 to call in.

Here is to bringing fun back to life!

“A man can find his destiny on the road he took to avoid it”

coffeyhouse1 — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:57:21 +0000

Over the weekend I saw a movie that was nothing but a waste of my time but there was one thing that I did take away from it. The quote “A man can find his destiny on the road he took to avoid it”is one that I haven’t heard before but it is so true. There are many ways to translate the meaning but for me is simply means that when I get the urge to runaway, I need to remind myself that I will eventually need to face what ever it is that I’m running from. Why do we run? What is it that we feel we have to lose? We all know that this life is short. Weeks come and they go without any thought behind them. We live for the weekends and forget to embrace the moment.

I know that most of us are in a time of life where we simply don’t know where to turn to next. What do we focus on? What is the best direction to go? If this is you, my humble advise is this, just go. It doesn’t matter where you go just go and give it your all. Keep your eyes open and embrace the day, the week, the joys, and the sorrows. This will be contagious to those around you and you will be able to put your head on your pillow tonight with full assurance that today was a good day no matter what happened.

-Coffey

When the day owns us

coffeyhouse1 — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:34:48 +0000

Life is an amazing and crazy thing. Everything that means the most takes back seat while we focus on everything that means the least, in hopes that we might one day enjoy what we should be making priority everyday. Take a moment to think about that. It’s Friday that my hope is that most of us will be living life with friends and family. I understand that we are all in a position were we have to work extremely hard to keep food on the table but I am starting to really look at my life and I’m realizing that I am letting my days own me. Not only is this not healthy but life is to short to not take time to enjoy what we are blessed with. No matter where you are or what you are doing, you are blessed. At the end of the day we all get to say we lived another. So, tomorrow is not going to own me, I am going to own it! I am going to look at email only twice, I’m going to be on social sites for 10 minutes max, I’m going to give my all to my work for the 8 hours laid out in a day and when it’s done I am going to give my all to the family I have been given. We all need to remember we can only do our best. Focus this next week on doing your best and what ever doesn’t get done, you will get to the week after that. In the mean time, laugh today, take 10 minutes to just breath while doing nothing, hug someone and let them know that you love them, take five minutes to walk outside. Do this everyday and let me know how it effects your day.

Boycotting Business Cards @ Networking Events

coffeyhouse1 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 21:37:54 +0000

I don’t think that I’m alone when I say, “I Hate Networking Events”! We all enjoy social get-togethers and being able catch up with those that work around us but once I hear that it is a networking event, I cringe! As far as I’m concerned Networking Events are like high school dances; Everyone that knows each other is in the middle while all the “newbies” are on the edges just looking for someone to make eye contact with so they can shout their 30 second “this is what I do speech”and throw out their cards. Now I know that once I give this new person my card I am “opting in” to be on yet one more email list! Really?! This is networking?! I am now on a mission in my local area to change our “networking events” into “community building events – NO BUSINESS CARDS ALLOWED”

Here are the four reasons why this should happen:

1. Connect 24/7 – If we embrace online communities in our local areas, or build one if you don’t have one, we will be able to connect or network with those we find synergy with online and then focus on getting to know them as a person offline. Meetup.com has made this the back bone of what they do, “Connect online, and meet up in person”. By embracing this you will be able to know who you would like to connect with at the events and not need your business card.

2. Green Friendly – We all know that business cards at networking events, even networking groups, are nothing more than a waste of paper. 90% of the time the cards you obtain sit on your desk for months until you decide you need to organize your desk for the quarter, which at that point you either throw them away or put them in an even bigger pile to deal with later.

3. Cut down on SPAM – Yes SPAM! Even if someone handed you a card at a networking event, it doesn’t mean that they have “opted in” to your newsletter! Because of this reason alone I have stopped bringing my cards. If someone would like to connect, they can find me extremely easily online and if they get to know me I will give them my link to linkedIn or my website.

4. Back to the basics – Now you will be able to focus on building relationships instead of trying to pass out as many cards as possible. The foundation of networking is to build ties with those that you can impact. When we build relationships we need to focus on their need not yours. Take the time to get to know them, listen, then you can start to find ways to really connect your businesses.

Now that I have vented, I look forward to your thoughts. We are starting this in Walnut Creek California by building a group on linkedIn and a Social Community on Ning. Comment back and I will provide a link to join our groups but remember, NO BUSINESS CARDS ALLOWED.

Bridging the Gap

coffeyhouse1 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:05:00 +0000

For over 7 years I have been working in the marketing world. In the past two years I have ad the opportunity to embraced Social Media. I find it interesting that there is no expert, there is are no guru’s (well except Seth Gordon, David Armano, and Chris Brogan in my eyes) but there are many teachers. The one thing I have realized is that the game itself has not changed it’s just how you play. The purpose of marketing, the game, is to bridge the gap from consumer to product. Web 2.0 has just provided new ways to accomplish that task.

I recently found some software called ShowIt that was created for photographers but I wanted to take it for a ride. I am using it to create a site and see what I can do in less than a week. So far this is what I have come up with, www.todayscoffey.com, and I have a long ways to go. My aim is for this to be a site that I can test what I learn and allow others to provide me with insight for me to test on it as well. In all reality, it’s a living test site for web 2.0 technologies. I know there are limitation to the software but hopefully Showit will use it for great customer feed back. (Fingers crossed)

All in all I’m here to absorb what I learn and actually put it into action. I have consulted many companies on the strategy behind social media, it’s now time for me to get my hands dirty! Wish me luck as I bridge this gap between head knowledge and actually putting it into action! Oh and by the way… the blog is brand new and yes I have a lot of work to do!

-Coffey

New Google Local Business Application

coffeyhouse1 — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:37:31 +0000

If you simply want to increase your visibility online for a small cost, this is perfect for you. Be sure to let me know how it personal helps you.

What does it mean to be popular?

coffeyhouse1 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:39:10 +0000

From the time most of us can remember, there has been this concept that is inherent in all of us, the desire and need for popularity. I don’t care who you are or what your walk of life is, there is something that drives you to be popular in one way or the other. If you take a second to look at the world around us, you can see it everywhere and it’s disguised in so many ways. Social Networking, marketing, sales, networking groups, chambers of commerce. All of these things highlight our desire to be known, our success is supported at times by our popularity.

As I’m sitting in Yellow Wood Cafe in in the East bay (one of the best coffee houses I have been to), I am thinking to myself… what do I want to be popular in? Or who do I want to be popular with? Well here is me putting all my cards on the table. I want to be popular… I want to be known for helping others succeed as well as bringing companies together. I want to market myself by marketing everyone else! This thought has ignited a passion in me that has been dormant for years! This blog will be my journal, my story on achieving popularity by focusing first on others popularity. Once again, nothing new under the sun, but I can’t wait to see who is effected and how this might be able to encourage those that have been so jaded by the selfish populous that surrounds our daily lives.

How do we communicate in a social saturated world?

coffeyhouse1 — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:10:46 +0000

How do we communicate in a social saturated world? This is a question that has been waking me up in the middle of the night. From new social networks that pop up every day to the ability to syndicate everything you can think of, we are in a world that over simulates ADHD individual (like myself) to the point of not knowing which way to run to next. In my last post, over a month ago, I talked about what it means to be popular. My whole notion is to find out what is truly driving social media today and how we can not only embrace it but keep up with it.

In hopes of finding an answer to that questions I have jumped into the deep end of social media (at least I would like to think that I have) for the past 45 days, but I realize everyday that I wake up and once again I have barely scratched the surface. Right now I’m blogging, twittering, facebooking, networking on LinkedIn, and reading syndicated content from New York Times on the Gaza Strip and while doing so I’m realizing that I am completely disconnected from reality here in my own home with my own family. With that said, can you fully embrace the Web 2.0, as we call it, and not be swept away, consumed to the point of not living real life away from the computer. After 45 days I can’t imagine not having the ability to connect through my MacBook or iPhone throughout the day!

I would like to say the answer to this is yes, but it takes hard core dedication and someone with a good sense of time management. So if you are wondering, my New Years resolution is becoming an individual that is dedicated, hard core, to improving my time management. Here are three things that I am going to follow to see if I can adequately keep up with the Web 2.0 world and I will let you know how it goes:

1. Don’t Spread yourself to thin – I have dedicated myself to connecting on, no more than, five sites. This means being involved in conversations, posting blogs, and networking.

2. Don’t waste your time – I have set three time periods throughout my day for no more than 30 minutes to jump into my five sites. This will stop me from “checking in” throughout the day to see if anyone has responded to my words of wisdom. I realize that those comments will be there when I get to them.

3. Unplug – If I don’t learn how to unplug at some point throughout the day then I will either become jaded to the Web 2.0 world and resent it for the time it takes or will miss out on the natural joys of life right here in front of me.

In closing this post, I know that I have not answered the question that I posed at the beginning but I honestly don’t feel that I have found a legitimate answer as of yet. I do look forward to any comments that might arise from this and I do hope that I make the time to post more than once a month! I’m aiming for once a week so wish me luck!

-Coffey