Sorry I did not post anything yesterday but I had a real world experience with synergy and building human relationships offline at the SVAMA Networking event last night. There was such a diverse crowd ranging from consultants, graphic designers, young people just getting their feet wet to seasoned professionals.
There were a few fab Rookie Stylie marketing professionals
and I was just impressed by their finesse, so much that I think I will just have to work a little harder to keep up with them.
I met another Asian-American guy there too and we were having a good time talking and joking. I am all about diversity and sometimes extremely pro-diversity but sometimes it's good to meet someone of the same cultural background who immediately understands where you are coming from.
I am going to the Bay Area Girl Geek Dinner tonight in Mountain View, so I will have something to report on that later.
It is totally sold out and I am going to be so shocked to see *this* many girls in Silicon Valley all at one place.
Hasta.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Girl Geek
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Logo play
I've been trying to learn some Photoshop techniques and made up my own logo in the process.
This logo goes with a pitch that says, "I help entrepreneurs understand how to develop their business strategies clearly and easily."
There are a ton of Photoshop tutorials on YouTube that can help and of course, obviously I can't do anything fancy like graphic designers do. Not sure which tagline would sound better, so if any thoughts, I'm open to your ideas on this creative endeavor.
Monday, January 28, 2008
The Pity Scam
A high school junior from Del Mar High School came to my door this evening. I've been fairly disappointed lately after the Fed cut and the overall state of the economy recently and worried about how that would affect the future.
So when a high school kid with a 3.7 GPA comes to your door and asks you to sign up for the newspaper so he can get money to go to college while you're thinking about the state of the economy, then you've been scammed. A previous article in the Stanford Review talks about how the California Newspaper Sales & Marketing group targets lower income students to get them to sell newspapers.
If you see a young kid asking you to help out in his fate for success in college, it's better not to listen. It's a smart scheme on the part of the company because they know that the people most likely to buy the newspapers in print are people who value education and will have some expendable income.
In my case, curiosity killed the cat. Turns out these kids are paid for their part time jobs and the kid who seemed so motivated at first, when asked, didn't know what school he wanted to go to but wants to become a CSI investigator.
This is one of those cases when marketing is not educating, it's deceiving.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
On working and the workforce
It's Sunday so I thought to indulge in a little bit of blogging transparency, because after all, we are in a post-consumerism age where most people are used to being marketed to and I know that for myself, I'm just looking for a bit of honesty in the world.* I'm taking a stand on this in the perspective spirit of Cormac McCarthy's The Road and his book has a very scary but beautiful quality to it which I can't match up here, but at least that will help create the idea of why this blog post should be shrouded with a spray of misty fear.
On Friday, I alluded to this idea that according to the sociological belief about the different generations in the workforce, Millenials may not grasp the idea of what it means to hit "rock bottom" because we're spoiled. (PINK Magazine has a great article about "Gen Y" which will offer some perspective.)
Well, I'd like to disagree a little bit about Millenials being spoiled. I think a lot of us are willing to work and work hard, but our definition is probably a little bit different from generations of workers before us. One thing that has always perturbed me about the job marketing for young people entering the workforce in Silicon Valley is its highly competitive nature, relative to other cities, as it is full of seasoned workers. So, perhaps I am not looking the right places because the Hidden Job Market plays a huge role here, but it's tough going to win a job, especially for someone who is just starting out and looking for experience. Also, the pricing isn't a great motivator: I scanned a few job boards today just to get an idea of how I can illustrate this point. There are a lot of internships with exciting descriptions which are either don't pay or offer a small stipend. This means most of the money better be coming from somewhere else and it's scary to think, it's really true that survival is not easy.
And then there is something else that I find a little bit scary about working. Social networking tools definitely make networking easier and creating individual publicity easier but the economy is going up and down so much that people are working harder and harder. Work is a good thing, it keeps people busy and hopefully it leads to living fulfilling lives.
But since we're no longer confined to the 9 to 5 in professional jobs, and the internet is pervasive in all its ways, I've been debating whether this affects families and general human relationships, "in person" versus over your social network.
Sometimes I look at the myriad of ways people can communicate over the internet and the amount of time people may spend working just to survive; and maybe I'm being naive but it doesn't always make a lot of sense that families don't have a lot of time to spend together.
Also, I read this article called What should I do With My Life? and look at the comments. There are so many people who expressed their struggle and troubles trying to find passion. A lot of them sound disjointed and I think that is scary.
So, readers out there, what do you think? Is it possible to have a fulfilling family life and a good job? What does the "Pursuit of Happyness" really mean now in 2008?
Thursday, January 24, 2008
This is just a random observation but I daresay in my group of friends, those who are reaching their 30s are less likely to use Facebook and then you have the oddball professor or teacher or parent who is trying to stay hip and connect with their teenagers. Are these non-Facebook users laggards or simply not interested?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Your Social Media Voice, Locally
I feel the need to tip my hat towards a former client, whose most recent project is in the social media space. He calls it Locavox or "Local Voice" and is currently serving Monterey, CA as well as a global, generic community.
While Locavox gives a nod to sites like Truemors and other social bookmarking sites like Digg.com there is a bit of a twist that makes it really unique.
Locavox can also write their own articles or link to their own blogs about local events and the idea is to create an online community for people who live in the same area. It's a bit like how Facebook is able to create online networks or groups. But not only that, it the news that you posted appears the most newsworthy to the community in any given week, it will be published in print.
The print option should appeal to the retiree community in Monterey who can enjoy the news a second time. What do you think?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Intoxicating rosemary
This is really a divergence from the usual subject matter but I just can't think straight. I bought some really fragrant rosemary from Trader Joe's and was making a sauce with it, hung it over my kitchen sink to dry, then started to get blurry, spotty vision and now nausea. It's really odd, actually because I have not had this kind of reaction before.
I searched a few articles on the internet and it's said that some people can be allergic to rosemary oils and experience nausea.
Need to get out of the house but I am so dizzy....
