TCOBaG – kNow ThiNkIng AllOwEd

"Be Unreasonable" author, Paul Lemberg

My friend Paul Lemberg, author of the book “Be Unreasonable” (a very good read, with some really good information on getting more out of life, and your business — this coming from me, a guy who really doesn’t need to read about being unreasonable ) just told me he’s planning on taking a trip to Madrid for 3 weeks with his wife.

Paul travels a lot, and I’ve heard him speak about some of his experiences and it was very interesting and insightful.

He also told me that this time he’s going to be posting to a special blog about his travels as he goes along so we can follow along with him on the journey. Sounds like fun to me, and since Spain was the one place me and my wife didn’t visit when we were in Europe, I’m looking forward to hearing what he’s got to say about his travels there.

You can follow along at the blog located here:  www.lembergstravels.com

He’s also trying to plan a trip here to Japan early next year, so I’m hoping I’ll catch him there, and that he’ll be blogging about those travels as well.

A recent discussion on an email list I love (Paul Myers’ TalkBizNews) about how email marketers lie, trick, and cheat to get you to open their emails, made me pay extra attention to a recent post from a guy I trust a lot in the Public Relations field about similar tactics in PPC advertising. While some PPC services are very, very (read: sometimes wayyyyy too strict) some, as in this example, or way too lax.

Here’s an article by PR specialist Don Crowther on what not to do to win customers’ trust, and the sale. He gives a great example, well, _great negative_ example of a current ad running on Facebook.

Bottom line? Make your ad intriguing, but be honest, and upfront. The long run, what we’re all in it for, will see better results.

read more | digg story

Here’s a little silly song I wrote while messing around after some conversations about the sometimes misguided and misinformed try their hand at the social media site Twitter.com

Some people get it, some people don’t. Some people forget that what they’re ’saying’ is being read, and saved to be read (or found by SE’s later!).

Twitter is something I do use, participate in/with, but I’m by no means a maven. I like to think I’m pretty much the kind of user Twitter wants and works best for: someone who wants to have real time conversations about topics of interest with a wide variety of people that I have a connection, in some way, with, and to share a thing or two I find interesting/helpful/useful.

Anyway, here’s the video:

Feel free to leave a comment here, or at YouTube if you prefer, or pass this along.

Here’s the lyrics just in case my Kentucky accent got in your way

Tweet, tweet, twiddly-diddly-deet 3X

Maybe you’ve tried your hand,
At the latest net phenom.
In 140 strokes or less,
Share your life at twitter.com.
As long as you keep it clean,
Write anything at hand,
But some folks need to realize
“Don’t say it just because you can!”

Chorus

I don’t care about
the kind of coffee in your cup.
And I don’t give a hoot about
where your dog threw up.
Don’t send me links to sites
to help my organ grow.
Share something interesting
I might really like to know.

Chorus

Be careful who you follow,
and who follows you.
And telling everyone everything
in your day you do.
Just heed these words carefully,
or it could be your loss;
That silly @work follower,
Just might be your boss!

Chorus

But if you really get it,
and you’re none of the above,
you’ve got a life, but still some time,
then sign yourself up.
And if you think I’ve got some things,
you might like to see,
Then take some time to look me up,
And click the link to “Follow Me”

Chorus

Yes, I ’sampled’ from a little J5 for the ‘twiddly-diddly-deet’ And yes, it’s hard to keep saying that without tripping over your tongue, hehheh.

And, oh yeah, if you want to follow me on Twitter…

http://twitter.com/PowerMeUp

Today I had last class for several classes at Chukyo University.

It was another very interesting and fun semester.

Today in last period (4th) I took a couple of photos of the group just before everyone left and wanted to post them so the students could share them as well.

Here they are. If you’re in this group (my OC V-VI 4th period) then feel free to copy them from here.

Last Class, hurrah

The real last hurrah! Thanks, gang!

I have some larger file versions as well so if you need or want them, you can get them from here:

http://www.tcobag.com/images/Chukyo-OC-V-VI-2008-9.JPG

http://www.tcobag.com/images/Chukyo-OC-V-VI-2008-9-2.JPG

See you guys later.

Here’s a little poke for those of you who are struggling with continuing to build, grow, invest in your small business. It’s written by a friend of mine, Jim Kukral (yes, of the birthday song fame). Here’s an excerpt, and a link to the rest:
*******
It’s rough out there right now, I know. You
’re losing your cool in this tough economic market. You’re trying to make ends meet, while at the same time, you’re trying to push ahead and be successful as an entrepreneur. You’re working your a#* off and it’s getting you by, but not getting you ahead …

read more | digg story