Category : Wanderlust
You may have noticed the categories for my blog recently changed. Over the last couple years my list of topics had snowballed and all of a sudden I had over a dozen categories I was trying to keep up. What a hot mess it had become. I found myself trying to write based on the last category written for, and not based on what was front of mind. I am super excited to say that I will be launching a pretty serious blog overhaul on this coming Monday and these categories are a good indication of what to expect. Basically you can expect I will be writing about:
- Entrepreneurship – This will cover mistakes, lessons learned, amazing people that inspire me, ideas for future moves, reflections, and my screw ups as I continue on my path as a start-up junkie.
- Online Marketing – Over the last few years I’ve spent a great deal of my time learning new tricks. Ill be writing on all channels of marketing as I learn them, test them, and grow in them.
- Wanderlust – This one is exciting. I won’t tell you *exactly* what it will be but you can imagine anything from glitter to coffee to travel to love…and more.
Why these three you may ask?
They are my pillars.My what?! Pillars. When I think about where my mind bounced between throughout the hectic days and into the dark hours of the night, most things can fall into one of these three buckets. I’m hoping this helps streamline my content delivery but also enables me to go with the flow of my fingertips when I post.
When was the last time you thought about your pillars? They change over time you know. These aren’t core beliefs as much as they are passions, and passions evolve. So give it a hot minute. Ask yourself – if you could read, or talk, or type about three things all day, every day…what would they be? Those are your pillars. Now its time to make sure they get the time they deserve. Do they?
That’s all I got for tonight. Consider this one categorized under “Wanderlust” — very meta huh? 
So excited for Monday… #itstimeforachange
Earlier this morning, on the way to the airport, my boyfriend and I were playing this vocabulary game. He would say some crazypants word and I was supposed to guess what it meant. We went through some really crazy stuff like “muntin” and “ferrule”..neither of which I got on the first try.
Then he said “The Desire Path.” Just like you I thought to myself “well this game has taken a turn for the x-rated hasn’t it…” But alas, it was not that at all. He showed me this picture:
When he showed it to me, I still didn’t get it. I had to ask him what it meant. He gave me this quick definition, which is something like this… “its what happens when people choose to create a shorter route than the actual one.”
The text book definition is this: “A desire path (also known as a desire line, social trail, goat track or bootleg trail) is a path developed by erosion caused by footfall or by bicycle. The path usually represents the shortest or most easily navigated route between an origin and destination.”
Goat track. Ha. Moving on.
So I thought about this for a hot minute, then our conversation switched to what airline I was flying out on. However, once I got on the plane I kept thinking about it. The desire path. The desire line. The shortcut we find when we know just where we are going.
This all reminded me of a conversation I had with Peter not too long ago when we were running along the Seattle waterfront. It was one of our first runs as a couple. His steps are about two times the size of mine in mileage covered so lets just say — it wasn’t going awesomely. I was trying to look cute while trying to keep up and he was trying to slow down which made him look like he was stumbling. We were trying to hold conversation but growing increasingly frustrated with each other.
The moment that I remember most was when he jumped off the trail and through this little mini park which has a pretty arch called “Rose’s Garden.” I all but stopped. WHY WAS HE JUMPING OFF THE TRAIL? I literally felt like Field of Dreams when I took my first step onto the grass. It was so crazy — WHO KNEW WHERE I WOULD END UP.
He thought this was hilarious.
“You’ve never gone off the path before?,” he asked.
“Well actually I guess not, no I haven’t,” I answered just as surprised.
This, much like hearing the definition of desire path, struck me. I’m just not one to go off the path. This is strange given I was brought up reading books like “Where the Sidewalk Ends” and listening to poems about taking the road less traveled. I’m the one that took off from home at 21, seeking a coast I had never even seen. I am the one that picked a career my family doesn’t even think is real. I’m the one that used to stay up as a kid dreaming of ways I could build a ladder to reach the stars.
Yet here I am, a grown ass adult… freaking out about the concept of leaving the already established trail. What a strange dichotomy.
Needless to say, the entire flight I kept thinking about this concept of the desire path. I kept trying to find examples where I have “built” one in my life. I could’t really find one. Instead I found a laundry list of examples where I have stayed on the expected path far too long:
I’ve stayed in friendships I knew weren’t healthy.
I’ve stayed in relationships I knew weren’t healthy.
I fought for goals I didn’t really want.
I stood up for people I don’t think really deserved it.
I’ve stood by during injustices.
I’ve masked what I wanted for what I should have wanted.
And so on and so forth.
Just when I thought there was no hope I remembered this one time. I thought back to a time that something was expected of me, I should have done it, and I chose a shorter path to where I really wanted to be.
When I was a senior in high school my mom was dying of cancer. We found out over Christmas that she had a few months to live. I won’t go into it all too much here, instead I’ll save it for another time. However, as the school year was closing my mom had gotten increasingly sick. She was hardly herself anymore. She had stopped working. She didn’t really eat. She didn’t really sleep. She didn’t really talk. She was in a lot of pain.
My sister and I were seniors in a small town, at a highschool where everyone knew us. For months the town and highschool tried to help my sister and I behave normally. It was really important to my mom that we got to enjoy our last year in school with our friends. She insisted we go to school, and practices, and prom. All the meanwhile she was getting sicker, and time was running slim.
So the last week of school finals rolled around. I did well in school, mostly A’s with some B’s. I had to take this Psychology Exam. I remember being in my room two days before the exam and just staring at the books. I kept running out to see my mom in the living room where she now lived with our Hospice care late at night. The next day I went to my teacher and for one of the only times ever I chose the desire path. I said “I’m not taking this.” And as any great teacher would have done he looked into my eyes, knowing what I was going through, and said “ok, no problem, take care.” I walked out of the room and drove home. I sat by my mom for a few hours with no one else around.
She passed away a week later, it was the day before I graduated.
I’m the type of person that was brought up to believe you work harder than others. You put in your time, you do what you’re told, you walk between the outlined trail.
But just like all good theories there is a time to say fuck it. There is a time to look at the winding trail in front of you and step off. Forge your own trail. With this comes the knowledge that people might raise a brow, they might think you’re odd. But who cares.
With any desire path, one must assume there is a desire at the end of it. That alone warrants the risk of a few raised eyebrows, a few broken rules.
I’m excited to have learned the name for this concept that goes against my nature. It gives me something to explore. Who knows…maybe just maybe, the next time you see me I’ll be running along the Seattle Waterfront… on the grass, barefoot…zig zagging all over the damn place.
Here’s to hoping…
I call them inspirational thoughts but they are not my own. I have been spending hours…days…weeks on Pinterest and I will admit – I love it. I have come across some of the most amazing one liners. These are ones that have knocked my proverbial socks off. I thought I would share some of them here on the off chance they have a similar impact on your moment… like they did on mine…
Something to remember when you think you can’t possibly achieve everything you want:
Something to remember when you think you have lost your damn mind:
Something to remember when you feel invisible:
Something to remember tomorrow night when you find yourself working at your computer at 1 am:
Lastly… something to remember when the choice you want to make…makes no damn sense:
That’s all I got for now. Thought I’d share a few ripples of motivation your way. Go get em tiger, go get em.
The other day I suggested to my boyfriend that we embark on a joint blog together where we would cover the craziness we are going through as two entrepreneurial types, working for startups and falling in love.
Peter & I at DomainFest earlier this year.
To be honest he really loved the idea. We joked about the pictures we could snap of late night brainstorms (aka our hot dates) at his office, our conference travels together (aka our pretend vacations), etc. We were super excited until we realized that the blog would likely become a public forum where we would both vocalize just how much this chaos freaks us out at times. We agreed against the blog (for now) but I still thought a post was worth embarking on.
Love is crazy. Like seriously crazy. There are all sorts of things that you don’t expect – compromise for one. Compassion for another. Sacrifice of course. Then there is self-discovery and confusion. There are inevitably moments of doubt. There is also (hopefully) laughter, and silliness. All of this for a common goal – to make it last. The two of you want to build something together that is greater than each of you.
Funny enough… a startup is all those things and more. Read the paragraph again but think about a start up – compromise, sacrifice, doubt, laughter, silliness—and all for a common goal of building something bigger than yourself.
My boyfriend is a Partner and CMO of a Seattle-based start-up. You can go check him out here. He is a brilliant marketer and businessman. He is a knowledge-seeker, an information consumer, and (I believe) he is one of the biggest “thinkers” I’ve ever met.
He is also my boyfriend. I’ve dated for the last decade in hopes of finding a man like him. He is a Texas cowboy at heart, a family man, a singer, an artist, a film nut, a photography junkie. He is sarcastic yet respectful. He is gorgeous. Dimplessss for days.
We’ve been together a year and a half now. Which for me is quite some time. While things are fantastic at the core, we both admit that as our start-ups grow, our love feels the growing pains.
I’m not saying we have it harder than other couples, but I certainly do think some of our challenges are unique. Lets cover a few of the things that keep us cracking up (half seriously and half awkwardly) as we maneuver this challenge:
First off. We aren’t first. We can’t be. Ask any entrepreneur and they will tell you when all is said and done there are ties in the priority tree. There has to be. While we promise to be there for each other whenever we need each other, more than not we give each other passes on not being there when we need each other. Maybe we are out of state, maybe our sites went down, maybe it’s a trip to the valley that has us occupied. Whatever the reason…we both agree that –right now—for us there are ties for who is first. For me it’s him and my work. For him it’s me and his.
Peter & I at the WTIA Awards. His company won that night!
Secondly, our start-up worlds connect. Our industries (although separate) connect. We’ve spoken at three of the same conferences at this point. We have been invited to the same meetings, and the same events…separately. We have similar business friends, and super-connectors between us. This can certainly be an advantage…we can leverage knowledge, experience, trust. It can also be a scary fucking thing. What if we don’t make it? What then? How the hell does that break up work? Human nature reminds us we can only control so much and those unknowns are scary when so much overlaps.
Lastly, we’re freaking moving fast…like whoa hustle, crazy, bam, moving fast. This is the start-up way. You all know what I mean. This week isn’t ever just “a week.” It’s the week, before the month, of the big thing that has to happen, before we talk to investors, before we can get the money, to reinvent the (fill in blank) so we can help the world…do what they love and we love…better. Phew.
When life moves so fast, it’s easy to forget how wonderful the people next to you are. All of a sudden you look to your right and either you left them behind or they jumped ship a few “sorry I couldn’t make it” or “I’m just too busy” excuses ago.
Those are just a few of the crazy things we deal with daily but maybe you get where I am going. Him and I, for the most part, talk about how lucky we are. We both love our companies. We both love this fast-paced industry. We both love the days we get to live.
But sometimes… occasionally… we look around at people sitting in cafes all day playing Battleship, instead of on their computers, and we daydream of what a life like this is like. What does love look like for them?
Funny enough, the second I start thinking about that… I realize it is so NOT us. We tried to take a vacation last year and after a few days of laying out in the sun we were seriously stress balls. We never fought so much as we did when we tried to slow down. We just aren’t those people, at least not now.
Right now we are the couple that meets up mid-day to brainstorm over coffee. We sneak a kiss or two, and we exchange what hour we think our days will end. It works for us right now, with a little shaky here and a little shaky there. I think that’s pretty common though.
For others it’s late night TV time that brings you together, for my parents it was the morning time when us kids were still asleep and for him and I – its two iced americanos and some big ideas. Like I said, we are pretty lucky.
Whenever I start to think about how crazy it is that us two workaholic, start-up junkies fell in love at this point in our lives, I can’t help but think…it wouldn’t have worked any other way. It all comes down to one really important thing — he gets my crazy. And I get his. What more could two people ask for?
This is us out on Orcas Island...where the wi-fi doesn't reach. win.
Today I spent over three hours wandering websites looking for inspiration. I’m creating new pages for work and I wanted something that shocked me. I also wanted something that made me feel safe, welcome, and motivated to take action. I came across some pretty great sites actually. In fact this site – TheBestDesigns led me into a worm hole that eventually defined my afternoon.
You know what I realized? People are doing some pretty epic things out there. I was reminded of my recent trip to Barcelona where when looking at Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia I couldn’t help but ask — where had all the crazy fucking big thinkers gone? Gaudi knew the conventions, he knew the accepted shapes of what a church should look like and instead he built this…
Now that I can appreciate. While wandering today I saw so many amazing sites that just reminded me how fun it can all be. I was truly inspired. I then started mocking up pictures to show my teammates, and although I haven’t shown them any yet, I know its likely these won’t be the final versions. That’s not how it works. Hybrids and collaborative efforts make more sense for pages that must reach the masses. I do think though that just the process of making yourself be open to inspiration was far more important than the pages I created after.
From there I was sharing some links with a friend who works for a start-up back on the East Coast, and she was inspired. From there she passed one on to her boss, who wrote back and said perhaps they too should revisit some of their pages. All of this from one or two sites that were nothing more than beautiful, fun, different…inspiring. Sites like these:
Logartis
DillyDeliTulsa
EmpireVintage
I mean these were just a few that had me opening new windows, wandering through “About Us” tabs, and so on and so forth. I don’t spend enough time wandering the web. I wonder what Tolkien would have said about our time spent on the web? Are all who wander the web lost? Are we losing hours that should be spent more effectively? After all this medium never did stress the importance of organically consuming its fruits. Instead we aggressively bounce back and forth and around, hoping to see as much as we can, and be the first. Novelty is everything these days.
Just thought it was worth reflecting on an afternoon spent on seeking inspiration on the Web. I’m realizing these days it comes in all sorts of pixels.
Pick Your Pixel...Get Inspired
This is going to be a short one. Here I am…writing a blog post after a four month hiatus. That is just awful. I apologize. No really, I do. 
Life has been a little crazy lately, not that I have to tell you that. I remember a few years ago thinking that if I could just get X taken care of, and get Y underway, then life would slow down. Wow, that was stupid. I’ve realized this year in particular, that this is just the speed I live life at…that we all do. This year I did all sorts of crazy things, but so did you, and I am betting that YOU managed to get a post up in the past four months. #mefail
I could go on and on with all the things that have kept me busy but I am thinking you probably don’t care. They say the first post after a long break is the hardest, and wow are “they” right. I have been thinking for weeks “I should blog about that” and then talk myself out of it because it’s not a good enough topic to break such a long streak of bloggers block with. I’ve watched hundreds of great personal posts wander through the stream, and I keep thinking — “just get on there and write something you fool!” And here I am, writing fluffery just to write.
So back to the craziness…how are you all doing out there? Are you all freaking out like me these days? Wake up, coffee, work, meeting, conference, launch, cancer, meeting, work, new responsibilities, homesick, coffee, new startup idea, ugh, work, geesh really, site down, wanderlust strikes, competitor launch, big meeting, funding, no funding, coffee, marathon, new role, new side gig, another new side gig, omg insomnia, conference, work, childish drama, coffee, panic, wine, sleep. That bring’s us to October. What the hell happened to this year?
Anyway, there is still two and a half months to this year and I am hoping to salvage it a bit on the blogging front. I head to London this weekend for SearchLove, Distilled’s London conference. I’ll be speaking on Social Media and Competitive Analysis — a topic that has been front of mine lately as we dance into some new territories around the office. A few days after that I speak in Barcelona, Spain at MozCation (sidenote: I don’t speak Spanish…like at all, geeezzz). I’ll be speaking on Retargeting and how SEO’s can leverage it to uncover hidden opportunities. Somewhere in those ten days of travel I’ll be writing up and practicing my two PubCon Vegas presentations – one on Landing Page Optimization and one on Retargeting – A New Kind of Display Advertising.
I’ve got PowerPoint on my mind. I don’t know how my boss – Rand Fishkin does this all year. Just thinking about all those titles, subtitles, and images makes me tired. Wine anyone?
Okay so this is now officially a ramble, but sometimes you need to have a public ramble to remind you that all of this isn’t THAT big of a deal. Not every word has to be the word. You know? Kind of makes you wonder how much of this craziness is self-inflicted?
With that said…damn life has been crazy lately. Hope you are all hanging on tight these days. I am hoping to get up some search marketing related posts soon enough. With the organic search query debacle of yesterday, and the new Google Analytics features coming our way, I am feeling a search marketing revival brewing in my fingertips…
In the meantime…keep on, keeping on fellow crazy friends. #love
* Disclaimer: This blog post has absolutely nothing to do with my usual rambles on PPC, but does — in an unusual way– describe my current feelings toward our industry. You’ve been warned
Lately I’ve realized I’m a lot quieter than I used to be. I know some of you are thinking—”but you never shut up!” Okay well maybe just my office mates are thinking that, but I don’t mean that I say less; I mean that I’m quieter. Sure I tweet, I blog, I email, I update, I give interviews, presentations, feedback. I do all of this communication, but I don’t hear as much of me in it anymore.
I’m not sure what it is really. I’ve spent the last two weeks or so freaking out about it. I’ve been having one of those annoying late-twenties dialogues with myself where I ask myself things like,
“Am I doing what I should be doing?”
“Am I spending my time on the right things?”
“Am I being true to myself and the dreams I once dreamt?”
Yeah, yeah I know. It all seems like silly huge stuff you could easily get lost in. But it’s been rough. All of this existential stuff can really wear you out to be honest. Over the past couple weeks I’ve started running more just to be away from the computer at night, just to revisit something that I consider to be a great escape from it all. And during the many miles of rainy Seattle weather I have ran, I had a few different thoughts as to, “Why do I seem quieter? Why do I seem less me than before?”
Some of the answers:
(1) leaving my entrepreneurial life behind (not constantly defining yourself by one project, that I owned and lived for, can be quite a growth experience, especially after having let it define you for two years)
(2) changing my physical location (as most of you know I’ve had a hard time leaving LA for Seattle, even though Seattle is amazing, part of me does seem a bit lost up here)
(3) moving in-house for such a well known brand (I think coming in to something that is so well-defined can sometimes make it easy to lose yourself in)
(4) this industry is expanding in every possible direction, all at the same time (I find myself constantly communicating, but not necessarily any of my original thoughts)
I honestly think this last one is the one that resonates. I actually think our industry specifically exudes this nature of consumption. If you aren’t careful, it can easily consume you– your time, your thoughts, your voice. Don’t go getting all defensive friends, I don’t mean the people, and I don’t mean the projects, or the evolution of it, or the amazing energy that surrounds it. I mean the fact that this industry truly is so large, and continually growing.
This industry we all love so much is a never-ending opportunity. Daily I read your tweets. We are all getting offered jobs, getting told about new gadgets, repeatedly reminded we are in the middle of a revolution, and we are told time and time again–the sky is the limit. I find this to be the strangest paradox of all. Our industry is founded on passionate workaholics, and we have now built something that demands the utmost passion, and let’s be honest– no one lazy makes it. Thankfully, in my opinion. We are reading stories that remind us anyone who works hard can accomplish anything. I love this. I love that that in our industry if you are willing to give it everything you have, the dream will return the favor.
On the flip side– uhm whoa. Seriously. Read it again: Anyone who works hard enough can accomplish anything. That’s a consuming reality.
That wasn’t always the case (as my dad likes to remind me), we are in a new era of unlimited opportunity, and the excitement, and the options, and the resources, and the advice, and the tools are all dancing around us—begging to be utilized for our own benefit—whatever benefit means to you.
I think this is a huge reason I’ve become somewhat muted, and frankly it kind of pisses me off. This is not some post where I am going to swear off Twitter or the web, but I did feel propelled tonight to bring up this idea of saturation. I find myself so excited about everything that everyone is saying that I can’t stay focused, and I constantly feel inadequate. It’s a new age of exhausting potential—something we have all dreamt of and helped build. Now that it’s here, I find myself a bit scared and too blinded by it all to really enjoy it sometimes.
So what now? Well I’m not so sure this post was started with a real conclusion in mind. However, I did have a discussion tonight with a close friend that reminded me how important it is to let things go. Normally I only use that phrase when I talk to girlfriends about their horrible ex-boyfriends, ha. But I’m beginning to see another use of it… I need to learn to let things go. This isn’t because they were bad, or malicious, but simply because there is so much more staring at me, and those things are better worth my time.
Call it growing pains but I’ve never been that good at letting go. I’ve always been proudly defined as someone who never lets go, who always works that much harder at making it work, who is willing to go the extra 100 miles, screw one mile. Instead, I think it’s time to rethink that. Learning to rethink the way you’ve always approached work and life is certainly going to be a challenge.
I’m kind of up for it though. If it means at the end of this, I will rediscover the me that loved to give opinions, and felt comfortable in where they originated, I think I’d do pretty much anything to get back there.
Anyway, my breakdown for the year is all yours to contemplate. I wonder if we will see more and more of this as the plugged-in culture grows? I wonder if more and more of them will find it challenging to make any noise when surrounded by so much of it?
I suspect this will be the case. My advice, and my personal goal? To stop allowing so much noise to surround me. I’ll be letting some of it go in an attempt to distinguish my own voice in it all. This should be interesting, wish me luck…
When it comes to conferences let’s just say I’ve been to a few. Okay maybe more than a few…maybe more like a lot. Okay fine! I admit it…I’m a conference junkie. I can’t help it, somewhere between too much coffee, a few too many cocktails, and a lot of handshaking I find myself completely elated to be in this industry…
with all of you.
{Enter BlueGlassLA.}
This past week I have been in Los Angeles (huge thank you to Rand—my boss for allowing me to work from coffee shops and enjoy the Southern California sunshine), for the first ever BlueGlassLA conference. For those of you (clearly living under a rock) and not sure what BlueGlass is, you can read all about the merger here, and quickly understand why I was excited for this one.
After tweeting out I was attending a few weeks back I got a DM from someone—who I will not publically embarrass at this time—and it said, “seriously what could possibly be special about this one, it will be the same old stuff.” My reply was, “just you watch, this one will be special.”
{Pats self on back for being right}.
BlueGlassLA didn’t just attract a top-notch speaker lineup, but it filled the room with people that are making waves in our industry. I was literally shocked to see all of those faces in one room, and even more shocked to see them all meeting each other, hitting it off, trading biz cards, clinking glasses. I mean wow…just…wow.
Okay this post isn’t meant to make you feel bad about missing BlueGlassLA (although it may not have been your best decision ever) instead I wanted to highlight something original that BlueGlassLA reminded me of…
The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
What the hell am I talking about? BlueGlassLA set out to change up the conference agenda. You can tell by scoping out the schedule they wanted to capture the full cycle of Internet marketing, from the very beginning (seeking out investment) to the middle chaos (trying to build a community and harness attention) to the end challenges (increasing traffic, making money, optimizing the pieces).
While I have always been aware that you needed each piece to perform for success, I think somewhere along the way I forgot that it’s not about having each piece do well, it’s about having them intersect and do AMAZINGLY well.
The BlueGlassLA speakers each spoke to their successes, their failures, and everything in between but perhaps even more importantly, in my opinion, is that they all alluded to this idea of reaching out to your network for help in the areas you don’t know. In doing this, you are able to make sure that no piece is overlooked, or half-assed.
Even the moderators and BlueGlass employees themselves touched on this as they complimented each other (in typical sarcastic, smart-ass ways) on how well they each know their piece of the Internet marketing pie. By surrounding yourself with people that are the best at what they do, you start to see a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.
I felt like this whole damn conference exuded this tenet, and I was privileged to sit in the audience. I think in many ways the conference audience became an extension of the knowledge on stage…again demonstrating the power of smart people eager to learn more.
Too often at conferences there are “tracks” of topics, and I go about my paid search, SEO, and social panels. While I get to see friends, and hear about a new site or tool to check out, I rarely walk away thinking “Jesus that just blew my mind.”
By tearing down the walls between the different parts of Internet marketing and filling in some, too often overlooked, holes, I think this conference reminded me just how little I know. For those of you who know me well, you know that I value few things more than “knowledge” and “exposure to new ideas.” They keep us humble, and stretching, and motivated.
While I could have written about my experience at BlueGlassLA in a few different ways, I felt the need to really reiterate—what I believe—to be BlueGlassLA’s biggest achievement—the way in which they took a bunch of really smart Internet marketers and reminded us just how much more we have to learn.
For that I think the audience walked away from the conference a little more excited to “get after it,” and that is freaking priceless.
Did you mess up by not attending? Yeah. You. Did.
Luckily for you, and for me, it looks like they are going to be putting on another one later this year in New York. See you there? I’ll be up front eating my piece of humble pie.
Whoa it’s been over a month since I last wrote here. Craziness. I would like to formally apologize for my blogging laziness. It has been a busy month to say the least. I thought I would update you all on what I have been up to, what new things I am working on, and all that good stuff.
First off—the new gig. I have officially been working at SEOmoz for a full month now. For those that missed the announcement…don’t worry there was no announcement. The transition was a quiet one. A lot of people asked me if the move to Seattle was for SEOmoz, and the answer to that is no. I actually moved to Seattle for a change in scenery and a change in pace. As I mentioned back at the end of ’09 I really wanted to find some more balance in my life. I wanted less “go go go” and more “sustainable momentum.” My move to Seattle was a huge first step toward that.
The move in-house was a second huge step toward that. I have been consulting for a little while now and although I love it, it has been challenging to keep up with YourJobStop while working as a consultant. I believe most consultants would agree that while the flexibility of working for yourself is amazing the lack in stability can be difficult at times. I found that the consulting was overflowing into my weekends and into the early am hours. I have always enjoyed the #latenightshift but I also realized this isn’t sustainable.
Over Christmas of this past year I began to consider moving in-house again. While I never officially went looking for a job, I did come across some amazing opportunities. One of which was SEOmoz. After meeting the team, sharing lots of coffee with Rand and hearing the upcoming plans for this remarkable start-up I couldn’t help but jump on board. Luckily they were hiring for a position that I felt I was a strong fit for.
I am the new Director of Customer Acquisition and Engagement which will enable me to focus on analytics, PPC, content, and social media while trying my hand as some affiliate fun. To say I am excited about this new opportunity is an understatement. The brainpower packed into the SEOmoz team is seriously amazing, and the SEO software industry is booming right now. It’s an exciting place to be…great stuff to come for sure.
So what about YourJobStop? I am actually humbled by the number of you that reacted by asking me about the future of YourJobStop. It reminds me that while it has been a long year we have done some great things with this little job search engine. I will still be working on YourJobStop. We actually just launched new and updated job search widgets that anyone can customize and place on their site as an added functionality for readers. My business partner and I are still pushing forward with YJS, and as usual we thank all of you for your awesomeness and support.
So I miss you. I have taken a break from conferences over the past few months as I settled into Seattle and SEOmoz. I have missed the conferences and meet-ups. The break was much needed and I feel like it has left me renewed and…missing you 
I will be speaking at a few different conferences coming up:
PubCon, Dallas (April 13th-15th) Social Media & Competitive Analysis
SearchExchange, Charlotte (May 17th- 19th) Social Media Tools & Landing Page Optimization
I will also be attending SMX Advanced in June for two reasons, first off its one of the best conferences all year and secondly it is literally in my backyard this year. Short commute FTW!
Well that is about it for now. I promise to step it up the next few weeks and push out some posts with actual insights (hopefully) as well as reconvene the excitement over at YourJobStop. In the meantime if anyone is looking to learn more about this really great SEO software I know…hit me up, I know a site you should check out…
How many times a day do you get pinged by a friend to check out an article? Or how many times do you scan through your Twitter stream and see a close virtual friend ask you to vote for something? A dozen? Two dozen times a day? This social sharing culture has enabled all of us to rally support on a national…even global level. It’s a beautiful thing.
Today Sloane Berrent DM’d me a link to check out. She is a finalist in the Myspace Journal competition, an online media event in which Myspace has partnered with the Wall Street Journal to send one lucky winner to the World Economic Forum in Davos-Klosters . By attending this prestigious event the winner chosen will be able to bring attention to a cause of their choice. Right now 5 lucky ladies have made it to the final round, with Sloane being one of them.
Okay so here is the real reason I decided to sit down in the middle of the day and write a personal blog post—today I signed into my Myspace account.
Yup it happened. I broke my streak—a little over two years of NOT logging into Myspace. Why am I proud of this number? I don’t know. I am though. I think its like a big F-U to Myspace for letting the glitter cat banners take precedent over my search for awesome music. Maybe it was because it took me months to finally spam out all of the notifications they managed to send. Although it is because of those notifications I now know exactly when all 2000 of my closest fake friends have birthdays. Ugh.
All I know is for the past two years I –like many of you—have enjoyed the side jokes regarding Myspace. In fact just the other night, Kristy, Shannon, and myself spent 6 minutes of our evening trying to figure out what the public notification was called on the Myspace interface, only to triumphantly scream BULLETIN. That sums up the personal relationship I have had with Myspace for the past two years. I took pride in ignoring her.
Then today the DM. First thought was “I’ll support Sloane in this for sure” after all this lady has traveled the world saving lives, rebuilding towns, reminding us all that we have an ability to make the world better. She has recently relocated to New Orleans with a desire to help this city rebuilt into the gem it once was, and brings with her a team of global supporters. One of which I consider myself to be.
So as I click the link and find myself as a Myspace Log-in page, I literally panicked. Uhmm is she serious? Myspace. What the &%^$? So I pushed forward and tried to remember my password. Yeah that was a huge #passwordfail. So I actually went and reset the password enabling me to log-in and vote for Sloane.
While a bit of my pride may have been lost I can’t help but think if ever there was a worthy time to break the streak this was it. So why write a post about it? Well I’m a geek. I know that most of you still have Myspace accounts (us Internet-ers rarely DELETE an online presence…) and I’m willing to bet that when you admit that you still have an account you quickly follow it with “but I haven’t signed in for years.” Right? Well what if I told you that signing in and voting for Sloane Berrent could help save a city? What if I said bitch slapping that chip off your shoulder actually did something good for the world outside your cubicle?
I think that would make for a pretty good Tuesday. #justsayin
So how about it? Once we all get in there we can send each other dirty messages, and post glittery postcards on each others’ wall. Is it called a wall? Ugh here I go again.
Vote for Sloane Here. Many thanks folks. Much glittery, sparkly, happy love.
