Exclamation blog: Stories, Ideas and loud noises
Paying Yourself First - How LaunchSquad Does It
There’s been a bunch of conversation in the blogosphere about “Paying yourself first.” As a total devotee of time-management gurus like David Allen, I was a little surprised to hear of some personal productivity trend that I hadn’t at least heard of. (I fancy myself a relatively productive guy - maybe I’m wrong?!)
The deal with “paying yourself first” boils down to this: focusing your priorities on stuff that maximizes your time. It’s the old Pareto Principle in action: the law of the vital few. It basically states that 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. For example, it’s highly likely that you wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time, or that you spend 80% of your time with 20% of your acquaintances.
Here are some of the ways that I do it, on a daily basis:
1. I always read my RSS feeds first thing in the morning, 30 minutes before email, so I can fully “soak in” articles that require a deeper read, before I get on the email treadmill
2. I always put my hardest tasks between 8-10 a.m.
3. I always tie any social campaign I work on to a clear business objective, so I don’t get bored or get thrown off-track.
4. I always wear sunscreen when I leave the house, because I’m too forgetful to put it on during the day.
5. Everything goes on the calendar, but if it takes less than two minutes, I always do it immediately.
Everybody’s got their own way of paying themselves first.
Account executive Carolina says, “Early in the morning I set up my to-dos that I definitely want to accomplish during the day.”
LaunchSquad softball captain Jeremy says: “I always write down (physically write) what needs to be done, then prioritize that list.”
Corey, an account executive says: “I take care of easy emails right away - if something requires a short response, I shoot it off.” He also avoids forcing himself to do things when he’s not in the mood. “If I have to write something and I’m not feeling it, I don’t force myself, because I’ll just waste time.”
Anna, one of LaunchSquad’s newest team members, says: ” I suppose one of the ways I pay myself first is by educating myself every day on current events and world news. While media monitoring for specific articles and trends as they pertain to my clients is essential to my role, by staying updated with the news in general, I am more of a resource to my co-workers and clients. I’m “paid” to read the news! For someone my age, social networks are applicable as well.”
So, the next time someone asks how your workday was, instead of mumbling, “It was okay,” you can print out a Pareto distribution and say: “If you must know, it was within these exact parameters.”
Non-Profits Clean Up In Mixed Reality; Fortune 1000 Straggles
Sitting at Supernova 2007 two weeks ago, I heard my first new really interesting vocab word in quite a while: mixed reality. Susan Tenby from TechSoup was talking during the “Where’s The Innovation?” Session (Clara Peller, anyone?) about innovations made by non-profits in the social networking space, in terms of fundraising and awareness. And it struck me that non-profits are likely leading the way into mixed reality. They’re getting there faster than conventional brands of their size.
(To get an idea of where a company’s marketing or PR effort falls between “real” reality and virtual reality, take a look at Paul Milgram’s Reality Continuum.)
Tenby works for San Francisco’s Techsoup, a tech agency that provides technology donations, community and resources to all NPOs (non-profit organizations). She took TechSoup into the Second Life virtual community early in 2007, and the group eventually outgrew it’s initial free “office space” on Information Island. So, Tenby did what any virtual office manager and community advocate would do: she went to the Second Life convention in San Francisco in search of an angel donor to provide bigger digs and greater outreach.
A long story short: Tenby ran into the partner of first Second Life millionaire Anshe Chung, and a few months later, Techsoup is administrating the only non-profits-only sim (a space or acre of land) in Second Life - a completely volunteer-built community. Currently, the sim, the Nonprofit Commons, includes a diverse bunch of NPO and social-benefit organizations like CARE and Cheerful Givers.
“TechSoup, in real life, lowers the barriers of access to technology to non-profit organizations…it made sense to do that in Second Life as well,” Tenby said. “The parallel is that we want to be the portal to Second Life for non-profit organizations.”
So, here’s the rub: while it’s totally awesome that smaller NPOs like the Alzheimer Society of Ontario are able to make it in the virtual space, it’s downright puzzling that, out of the consumer-facing brands that ranked 900-1000 in the 2005 Fortune 1000, including:
* Coach
* Trans-World Entertainment (FYE Stores)
* Earthlink
* Monaco Coach
* PC Connection
* Wyndham International (Hotels)
* Smuckers (especially sad, due to a bulk of bloggage)
* Timberland (who are suffering a counterfeiting problem in Second life)
* Guitar Center
* Men’s Wearhouse (like it’s that hard to build a George Zimmer avatar?!)
only one had any prescence in Second Life: Domino’s Pizza. And yes, they’ll be getting there in under thirty minutes. (Note: I picked #’s 900-1000 to show the end of the Fortune 1000, where I figured some of the more creative billion-dollar brands would lie).
“I think, in general, a lot of larger corporations are slow to adopt Web 2.0. If you go to Web 2.0 Meetups, other than the Yahoos and Googles, they’re not there. These large corporations are not Web 2.0 because they have more to risk,” Tenby said.
Tenby points to a lack of understanding of the mixed-reality business model that NPOs thrive on: awareness marketing.
“I don’t think that people can think outside of the monetization model,” she said. “American Apparel didn’t see early success; it wasn’t about trying to pull people into Second Life - you have to redefine how you measure success.”
She’s got a prescient point: even as Second Life becomes a more mature (and seriously monied) community that, size-wise, rivals the city of San Jose, California, big brands still shy away. Heck, maybe Volvo will drag Ford Motor, kicking and screaming, into mixed reality; the Swedish embassy opened in Second Life two months ago.
A recent NY Times article profiling the Mac Arthur foundation’s entree into the virtual world of Second Life mentioned Tenby and TechSoup a couple of weeks back.
Linkage:
A Second Social Life: Social Benefit Organizations & Second Life (Smart Mobs)
Nonprofit Commons
TechSoup’s Second Life
TechSoup
