Turning down projects (or redirecting ones that are on the wrong track) is the only path toward some semblance of sanity in this business. For some people, the internet is magic and I’m a wizard here to cast spells and make magical things happen (you could also see me as a genie making wishes come true). Fact is: I only have so much time on this planet and making clunky, ugly, and bad ideas come to life is not what I want to do with that time. If you work with me, I might say no and you should probably understand why.
First off, I should say that I do say yes more often than I say no. I assume some of that comes from the fact that people look to me for advice and I would never (intentionally) lead someone astray. Also, most of the projects I work on are word-of-mouth referrals so they come to me expecting to enjoy the process. These two things work very well towards creating good relationships and, hence, good outcomes.
But, from time-to-time someone comes to me with a bad idea or a bad attitude and, because I’m in a type of service role, it’s expected that I do what I’m told to do. The problem here is that I’m only interested in working on sites, scripts, and blogs that I’m proud of completing. If I’m in a service role then we’re not a team. If that’s the case then I have no sense of ownership over what’s being created and you’re simply not going to get my best work. That’s just not where I want to be and I’m going to say no.
So, here’s why I said, am saying, or will in the future say no.
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“Thou shall not spam” is one of the ten commandments of the web. Sending out unwanted email is unnecessary, intrusive, and, at times, downright abhorrent. Who would do such a thing? Yours truly did… but if you give me a chance to redeem myself, I think you’ll understand (and, more importantly, learn something).
I wrote a post a long while ago about spam. A conversation at a previous employer sparked my thoughts on the matter and, from that conversation forward, I became a nearly-militant anti-spam campaigner. My colleague argued that spam is just junk mail that people don’t want but how do you know if people don’t want it unless you try it out. My argument was that spam is email that was not asked for explicitly. It’s one thing to send a one-to-one email out of the blue, it’s another to send a bulk mailing to people who “probably wouldn’t mind.”
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It’s been a long time since I’ve sent out a newsletter email (coming up on two years) and I think it’s about that time again. Here’s what’s going out today.
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In this issue: goodbye San Diego, stay connected, monthly website reports , other news
You’re receiving this email because we communicated at some point about a website, a collaboration, or your business. I send emails like this very infrequently but if you never want to receive another one again, click here and I’ll bid you adieu.
JoshCanHelp is changing location soon ( hint:  )
The winds are changing direction and taking the wife and I to Europe… for a while. We’ll be in Paris, France starting the second week in August until the 2nd week in November. After that, we’re moving back to Seattle to continue the adventure.
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Seth Godin posed 16 questions for people making a living as a free agent. While the people I currently help and those I might help in the future may benefit from knowing the answers here, it’s more important to put in words why I do what I do to make sure I understand that for myself. Still, I hope this little exercise provides a helpful window into how I work and who I am.
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A recent San Diego Refresh meeting found me in a room full of fellow geeks learning about microdata and the semantic web. What I thought was going to be a new look at SEO turned out to be a very in-depth look at where the web might be heading.
The session was led by Barbara Starr (@BarbaraStarr) and the information here is distilled from notes I took during the session. As such, attribution is appropriate. Thanks again, Barbara, for a great session!
WIIFM (What’s In It For Me)?
A great teacher once told me that you need to tell people what they’re going to get out of a learning session before you start. For this heady topic, I think this is more true than ever. Here’s what you should get out of this post:
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I was asked recently what my favorite Gaping Void piece is. I experienced a brief moment of intense stress, similar to the feeling I’m sure I’d have if someone offered to buy me any vehicle in the world but I could only choose one. Several rushed through my mind but I kept coming back to two of them. Hope I’m not breaking the rules too blatantly.
Brief back story: Gaping Void is the “brand name” of Hugh MacLeod, cartoonist, author, blogger, and general creativity muse. Hugh was the first blogger I ever started reading. I have no recollection of how I found his site though I’m sure it had something to do with one of his cartoons I found somewhere. This was several years ago and after that first encounter, I forgot about him entirely until maybe a year later (I’m guessing 2006 at this point) when I felt this strange need to find his site again. It took a while (I completely forgot the name, URL, everything) but I finally found it and when I did, I was elated. I started reading Hugh regularly and was particularly affected by his creativity manifesto, how to be creative. Since then, I’ve been a huge fan… bought business cards with his cartoon on one side, bought his book Ignore Everybody
, and get his daily cartoon.
That’s the card I put together about 3 years ago. I was finishing up a Chemistry degree at SDSU, blogging about sustainable transportation, and felt like I had a lot more to offer the world. My blogspot address was on the back of this card so you’ll notice I wrote “joshcanhelp.com” on the top in ball-point. It was a transitional period, what can I say.
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