theideamechanic

Stories and WordPress – indieConf 2011

Doug Foster — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:57:02 +0000

indieConf is a conference for independent web professionals – designers, developers, and everyone in between. It's not really a web TECHNOLOGY conference, it's more of a conference for people who USE web technology to earn a living. Founder Michael Kimsal explains ... "I've been a web freelancer for years. I love web stuff and I love tech conferences. Unfortunately most tech conferences are heavy on tech but light on issues I face every day. I have far more challenges with clients and collections than CSS and catch-blocks. So I decided to start a conference where the focus was on topics I needed to know more about: project management, marketing, contracts, legal issues, financial/tax topics, budgeting and more. I needed these things, and from what I could tell by talking to colleagues, others did too ..." I love stories. And I love WordPress. This year at indieConf 2011 I talked about how using stories and WordPress can help you sell your product, service, or point of view: What? You don’t use WordPress to tell stories? You lose ...

15% discount on storyPanels!

Doug Foster — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 23:22:05 +0000

storyPanels give you a simple, affordable, and elegant way to frame your corporate or personal stories.

Each storyPanel is an 18" square frame of polished aluminum and clear acrylic. Place pictures, words, video – or anything you can imagine – into a storyPanel and watch it come to life! (View or download ↓ our brochure.)

You have a story to tell. It deserves to be framed ...

indieConf 2011

Doug Foster — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 00:56:13 +0000

indieConf is back: Saturday November 19, 2011 at the NCSU McKimmon Center in Raleigh, NC.

Just getting started in web freelancing? Looking for ways to get new clients, be more productive, save money, expand your network, or develop ideas in to marketable products? Any of these sound familiar? Then indieConf is for you.

If you were there last year you know it was good (here's some photos). If you weren't — and you're an independent web professional — you need to go. It's an affordable day packed with solid information.

Advertise your business on storyPanels™

Doug Foster — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 18:00:02 +0000

Shh ... don't tell anyone. Compared to other indoor advertising, placing your ad on a storyPanel is a steal. According to national advertising rates listed by the Indoor Billboard Advertsing Association (IBBA), we don't charge enough. In fact, advertsing on a storyPanel gives you MORE ad space AND costs LESS than the national average. Way less. But that's ok. We figure your business is like ours: these days you have to offer and get the best deals you can. We're confident storyPanel advertising is a deal you won't want to pass up. Where do other indoor advertisers place their displays? Well ... when the IBBA says indoor advertising they're talking about placing ads in restrooms. Now we're not saying that doesn't make sense, but we've got a different idea. We designed storyPanel displays to use very little floor space. And because of that, our business partners place them in the middle of traffic ... not behind closed doors ...

storyPanels™

Doug Foster — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 18:00:52 +0000

storyPanels give you a simple, affordable, and elegant way to frame your corporate or personal stories. Each storyPanel is an 18" square frame of polished aluminum and clear acrylic. Place pictures, words, video – or anything you can imagine – into a storyPanel and watch it come to life! (View or download ↓ our brochure.) You have a story to tell ... and it deserves to be framed. It's your story - it's unique and it's relevant. It could be a personal story or the story of your business. Just like family pictures on a desk or wall, show your story is important ... frame it well. storyPanels can help tell YOUR story ...

VoIP Hi Def audio conferencing. Amazing & free!

Doug Foster — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:56:11 +0000

I've been working with data/voice/video networking – and especially Voice over IP (VoIP) – for most of my career. I love it.

So why am I writing this short story? Because the other day I lived through the audio conference call from hell. The voice quality was abysmal. In fact it was so bad that my colleague and I almost lost control of a critical licensing deal on the call.

I came away from that thinking "Never again. There's got to be better way to do this." Good news. There is and ... it's free! And it supports VoIP! Wahoo!!

I'm not saying this is the perfect solution, but I've tried it and I REALLY like it. Even if it turns into a fee-based service I think I'd spend my money to use it. Too good to be true? Maybe. We'll see. I need to do more research and testing before I can completely recommend it. But so far I'm REALLY impressed ...

Five Principles of Selling

Doug Foster — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 12:00:48 +0000

Chuck Robbins is the Senior Vice President for U.S. Enterprise, Commercial and Canada with Cisco Systems in San Jose, California.

"As a senior executive at Cisco, every quarter I’m responsible for making sure my North American team closes thousands of sales, generates hundred-million-dollar revenues, and guarantees every customer we come in contact with is a satisfied customer. To do that, I lead a team of sales partners and sales professionals that numbers into the thousands.

What I’ve found is that the same sales skills my former colleague Doug Foster and I have used for years are just as effective now that I’m leading a team.

Here are my five principles for effective selling ..."