the [non]billable hour

RSS is the new black.

Bill Flitter, Chief Marketing Officer of Pheedo, speaking at the AMA hot topics seminar in Atlanta:

RSS is the new e-mail.

Podcasts are the new webinars.

Blogs are the new whitepapers.

Money ain't Nothin'

Barry Moltz points out this Entrepreneur.com article by Mark Diener about Mastering the Six Laws of Money.  Write these down and keep them in front of you.  A sampling:

1. Money sooner is better than money later. Eliminate the risk of not getting paid by getting your money upfront. This also tests whether the other side is serious.

2. Go to the source. Paul could wait until John gets cash from Peter, but if I were Paul, I'd rather call Peter myself. The names may be confusing, but the lesson's simple: Go upstream.

6. Get the right to offset. Savvy buyers won't pay everything when a deal closes. They insist on the right to hold back money to cover against future problems

Absolutely Great Corporate Blogging Resource

As I was finishing up my preparations for my talk in Atlanta this Friday on Weblogs and the Law (or as I’ve titled my speech, “Why Lawyers Hate Blogs”), I stumbled across this White Paper from The Content Factor about corporate blogging.  In it, I found the single best piece of advice for beginning bloggers I’ve ever run across:

Start slowly. Read extensively. Post frequently. Link liberally.

The White Paper can be downloaded for free in exchange for your e-mail address.  I strongly encourage you to check it out.

Law Schools, Meet Art Schools. Art Schools, Meet Law Schools

J.D. Jordan writes a great piece in Newsweek titled, I’m an Artist, but not the Starving Kind.  In it, he takes on the lack of practical business education in America’s law art schools.  Some excerpts:

In my small, windowless classroom, in front of a baker's dozen of powerful G5 computers that line the walls, sit tomorrow's crop of great graphic designers, illustrators, filmmakers and animators. But despite their skills, their burgeoning individual styles and their unlimited creativity, they are crippled by the narrow focus of their education.

…

What about creative business and copyright law? What about intellectual rights and business ethics? For that matter, what about basic history or civics? In a field largely defined by individual inspiration and accomplishment, where is the foundation for personal and financial success? Perhaps in an attempt to compensate for public schools which have stripped their curricula of arts education, art schools have left their graduates unprepared for the real world.

…

But what can one professor do? These kids should have to take business education as a freshman requirement to learn how to manage their artistic enterprises before their enthusiasm sweeps them into a depreciated marketplace.

How prevalent is this problem in “professional” schools?

Now, Here are the 7 Habits!

I love this “revised” list:  Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.

The Printable Partner - For Solos?

David Seah introduces his Printable CEO (remixed here), that he developed to help him in his solo business:

What I need is executive focus from a leader that understands how to grow my business, a manager that knows how to motivate me. I once read that the most effective executives ask themselves a simple question: What can I do to add value to the company? If the task at hand doesn’t add value, then screw it! Do something else that does!

Hiring my own personal CEO would be great, but who has the time and money to do an executive search? I’ve got MP3s to sort! So I did the next best thing: I designed a printable form to motivate my business development activities.

I really like this idea.  Keeping track of billable time is one thing, but David’s idea forces you to keep track of business-building time as well — all with an easy scoring system.  Simply brilliant.

Lawyerless Law - The Future is Now

Lawyers, are you trying to figure out how to better serve your business clients?  It may be too late.  They don’t think they need you anymore. Check out this post by Paul Allen:

Many entrepreneurs can't afford to pay $200-300 per hour for legal help, especially with simple things like incorporating and simple contracts.

Don’t laugh, CPA’s.  You’re next.

Can You Bill that Power Nap to a File?

I’ve been playing around with Pzizz, a piece of napping software that “combines several different proven techniques to give you the most refreshing and revitalizing ‘nap’ possible.”  You download the software (it comes with a free trial) to your Mac or PC, select the type and length of nap you want to take, and then Pzizz:

delivers literally billions of different combinations of suggestions through the structured language patterns and the sounds that encourage the subconscious not only to relax but also to focus and energize both the body and the mind. unique combination of music and suggestions.

It sounds crazy, but if you want a short nap to kickstart your afternoon, it really seems to work.  I’ve noticed a difference in my energy after a 20 minute Pzizz nap vs. a normal one.  Though I can’t tell if my desire to purchase the program stems from how much I like to nap, or subliminal suggestions from the program, I give Pzizz strong five Z’s. 

Because you can download the naps onto an iPod, I can’t wait to try it with my Etymotic 6i headphones on my next plane ride. 

BlawgThink 2005 Update

I've been silent for the last week or so working on the details of BlawgThink 2005, and it’s shaping up to be an amazing time.  We’ve posted the schedule here and will be filling in more details each day.  If you want to keep up with BlawgThink news, check out the LexThink! blog. 

We are trying to make BlawgThink valuable for inexperienced and seasoned bloggers alike.  We expect to have many of the top bloggers not only in attendance, but “on faculty.”  BlawgThink will not resemble any traditional conference you’ve ever been to (think less ABA TechShow and more Foo Camp).  Here are just some of the ways BlawgThink will be different than any other event you’ve attended:

• BlawgThink takes place at the most amazing conference space in the country: Catalyst Ranch in Chicago.  For pictures of the first LexThink event at Catalyst Ranch, look here. 
• On the first day, we are doing three interactive discussion tracks:
• Blogging Basics will teach beginning bloggers all they need to know about starting a successful blog. 
• Marketing and Client Development, will help attendees get the most marketing bang for their blog buck. 
• Blogging 2.0 covers blogging’s more technical side and includes a podcasting how-to and other advanced blogging topics.
• Each presentation will last for just 45 minutes with a full 15 minutes between each session for advanced questions, brainstorming, discussion, or networking.
• At the end of the first day, we’ve reserved time to repeat the three most popular presentations so nobody misses something they really wanted to see.
• We are also adding a fourth “potpourri track” with a room set aside for attendees to host their own session if something they want to talk about isn’t covered in Day One.
• On the second day, we are opening up the floor for small group collaborative brainstorming.  This worked so well at the first LexThink! event that I believe this will be the best part of BlawgThink. 

I’m going to be posting some more BlawgThink details tomorrow.  If you’re interested in an invitation, e-mail me and let me know.

Atlanta Marketing Wonk Meet-Up

I'm in Atlanta this Friday speaking at the American Marketing Association’s Hot Topic Series: Blogs: Marketing Beyond the Website.  Afterwards, the speakers are having a Marketing Wonk Meet-Up at Loca Luna.  If you want to talk about Blogs over dinner and drinks, this is the place to be.  See you there.