I can’t keep up.

If I just manage my inbox, that’s about 10 hours of work a day (600 new mails divided by 1 minute each). If I spend time on Twitter, on Third Tribe, on Facebook, on my blog (in the comments), that’s another 3 hours. If I take two phone calls or do a webinar, that’s another 2 hours.

We’re up to 15 hours before even doing production of anything (no blogging/writing/creating for clients).

I looked through my Flickr photos at some of the fine people I got to see at SXSW. In almost all cases, I saw them for only a few minutes. I did my best to be attentive, to show that I cared, to make sure I learned about something that was on their plates. But I rarely got any deeper than that.

To fix this, I have to redraw my lines. I have to rethink how I connect, and reconsider how I will continue being of value to you. Before I’m no longer a value.

Extend Relationships

My friend, Jon Swanson has told me for years that I need to build disciples. By this, he doesn’t mean mindless sheep (a post for another time). He doesn’t mean that I just teach the masses and the masses do. He means extended relationships. At the end of the story, Jesus has 12 guys doing a lot with their own interpretations on how to implement their beliefs.

Does the Bible language freak you out? Michael Jackson, in designing This is It, pointed out that the dancers that swirl around him in each performance were to be extensions of how Michael expressed himself in dance. So, they weren’t just doing something to do it. They were giving Michael even more reach than when he just did it himself.

I have this, of course. I have New Marketing Labs to help execute social media execution ideas for our client partners. I have friends and colleagues in this space who have lots of similar interests and different approaches. I will call on it more.

Shining the Light Even Brighter

There are others doing exceptional work in this space. I’m a fan of Jason Falls, Jay Baer, Valeria Maltoni, and many others. I’m going to work harder to point out the people in my network who do great work, and I’m going to help others find them to start meaningful connections that match what you deserve.

By shining the light on others who are doing good work, I’ll hopefully point you to opportunities I can’t service or that aren’t the regular fit for New Marketing Labs.

Rethinking My Direction

The work we’re doing at NML is strong. What I’m doing with me overall is a lot more foggy. I’m going to rework that and be very crisp and clear on what you’ll get from me in the coming few years. That way, we’ll know better whether what I’m sharing aligns with your interests.

The sense of where I’m heading is that I’m stretching a bit out of just marketing and I’m going to work on equipping others for business success through education and experiences.

In other words, I’m going beyond social media and helping show how human business works.

Redrawing My Connections

I can’t keep up with every email and contact as it stands. I’ve got Diane working more than enough hours just negotiating my speaking and travel arrangements. We’ll figure out how to redraw the ways I respond so that it’s manageable, reasonable, and timely. I can’t have you waiting so long in between touches.

In the End

We all do this. I’m just laying it out so that you understand where I am, but more so, so that you understand how we must all process, reconsider, rethink, and redraw the way we do what we do. What got us here won’t always get us there.

Make sense?

Save Yourself a Blog Post or Twitter Comment

If your immediate response is, “Well, that’s the price of success,” just save it. That doesn’t help anyone. And yes, it’s the price of success. Learning how to scale is incredibly difficult.

The difference between me and others in that regard is that I’m the only one actually sharing the process with you, so that you might learn something out of it for your own efforts.

* Oprah
* Jon Stewart
* Conan (especially if he doesn’t go to Fox)
* Rick Sanchez from CNN (from the news perspective)

To me, the thing they’re all missing is a deeper integration to social media tools for two-way conversations, for a deeper sense of loyalty and connectedness. Jimmy Fallon does that stuff reasonably well, but then, his show isn’t all that interesting to me. He’s got the social thing figured out a bit better, but the payload isn’t there.

Derrick Ashong, the guy who interviewed me from Oprah Radio made a good moving coming out to South by Southwest, because he showed, in that gesture, that he knew where the stories were, that he could get information from the ground-level stuff that we all uncover, and that he was there to learn as much as he was there to pluck stories from the air.

I think what’s next for media and entertainment will be a hybrid, not a fast shift away. But I think it will also be gatekeeper-free.

What say you?

I have intent on the brain. So does Tim Sanders, it turns out. During my speech at the first ever GR2L event (get ready to live), I talked about shifting from connections into intent. I was talking about networking at that juncture. I want to expand. And I have a comparison/analogy to light this up.

The difference between talking about human business and social media and doing it is the difference between having recipes and running a restaurant.

We go to events and network. We collect business cards. Why? Because we don’t know what else to do. We know we’re supposed to network. We talk about why it’s important. The thing is, what do we DO with these? Jon Swanson wrote about switching back to a dumb phone when he realized that he didn’t really have to check email and Twitter every waking hour.

Jon’s restaurant doesn’t need an always-on recipe. See it?

Intent and Execution are the gold standard

My friend (I’m calling us friends) Tom Peters has spent decades on the variation of the theme that “execution is everything.” He pushes us over and over again to DO. Because again, Tom knows that having a box of recipes is nothing compared to executing on them and putting food down in front of people. Tom urges us to look at the buying trends in the world and realize that Baby Boomers and Women should be our main markets (in most cases).

Tom’s restaurant caters to those crowds quite well. Are you doing the same?

Open With a Few Dishes

Having a huge recipe box of ideas is one thing. Starting a restaurant and seeing what your guests like is another. We’re all in this space picking up ideas. We go to big events, we read tons of books, we surf hundreds of blogs, but if we’re not trying a few of these recipes out, we’re not really moving forward. We’re thinking plenty more than we’re doing.

What recipes should you start on today? (Here’s a hint: pick just a few, or one, and learn to make it so that your guests sing.)

I Believe This is a BIG Thing

I think we have to accept that we have a big enough recipe box. I think we have to look at what kind of “restaurant” we want to run, what kind of guest we hope to attract, what kind of cost-per-dish we’re aiming for, and what kind of experience we want people to have…

…and then we have to DO.

Will you take a moment and talk about your restaurant? I know I’m hungry.

Hope you enjoy.

Quick Customer Touchpoints.

But I want to talk about more. I want to do more.

The guy in that photo is Mark Horvath from Invisible People. He caters to the homeless. Directly. He and Liz Strauss walked around giving pizza to homeless guys while they were here. They talked to the homeless, made them feel seen.

As well as meeting me, I want you to find Mark and say hi. I want you to make HIM feel the way you make me feel. He’s doing good work.

This is Melissa Leon and AJ Leon from TheLACProject, a human business company. They are doing AMAZING things. Find them in the hallway and talk about Africa and social good.

On another note, Thom Singer. He just wrote about a giving moment that happened at a party at SXSW. Man, I wish I went to that party.

What We Could Do: Networking

We need better networking tools. We need to build a “I’m ____, and I’m into _____ , and I’d love to talk about _____ , and I’d love to meet people into ______ , or just ______ . I like _____ food. If I were to support a cause, it’d be _____ , but I’m open to ____ , too” kind of tool.

We need to give new people the warmest welcome with some kind of “I’m new here” badge.

Can you see it?

What We Could Do: Panels and Speeches

We need to give the new people more to talk about. We need to give them more fundamentals. We need to strip out some of the entertainment value and get back to sharing our big ideas, our golden thoughts. (Me included. I think the panel that Julien and I gave was fun, but not as informative as we could’ve made it. Next time.)

We need to bring our A game, our A ideas. Maybe some of you did. I spoke to a few hundred people, and no one gave anyone rave reviews except for the panel with Jeff Jarvis, and the talk by Clay Shirky. (Note: I didn’t see hardly any panels, so I’m not talking from experience, as much as I’m talking from what the buzz reported).

What We Could Do: Sponsors and Exhibitors

We could do lots more in these regards. I think sometimes, as attendees, we forget that the sponsors are helping pay for the experience. How can we do more things to pay them back for that? Yes, we pay for the ticket. I think we would do well to grab a quick interview with a few sponsors while we’re out and about at all these parties.

What We Could Do: Interpersonal

People still anxiously talk all about themselves. We could ALL just ask about the other person, get to know what they’re doing, and share our best intentions of understanding each other. Sounds hippie, but that’s how things really get done. It doesn’t get done when you start into your pitch before really even getting to know us.

Might Just Be Me

Know what I saw more than anything else when I really took a moment to look around? Lonely people. I saw people not connecting. I saw lots of people who could’ve used a little attention. And I saw many people with lots of energy looking for a place to put it. And that means we have opportunities.

This wasn’t a rant about SXSW. It’s a post begging for a new way, a more engaged way, a human way to bring out the best in our efforts and time and expense.

What say you?

The folks at Nikon let me try out a D300s camera. It’s a lot more pro-feeling than my Nikon D-60. Honestly, I’m not yet that clever with it. I’m trying it out, and shooting stuff, and they’re giving me little tips so I can try to do better stuff with it.

I’m part of their outreach project, which they’re doing for the South by Southwest event in partnership with YFrog. So, if you check out http://yfrog.com/nikon, you’ll see what me and a few others are shooting.

Why let an idiot like me use such a powerful camera instead of someone who’s a really great shooter? There are a few reasons. One’s obvious: I have a big audience, so Nikon is hoping that I’ll somehow coax you into buying one. I’m not sure how well that kind of option works. It’s not an inexpensive camera, so it’s not like you do an impulse buy.

However, the OTHER reason they let me use it instead of some pro is that I can be more like an “everyman” user. (I’ve written about the everyman before.) This is why Scott Monty of Ford is perfect for Ford. He’s their everyman.

So, the post? I’ve got a mixed reason. First, I’m telling you, “Hey, look! Nikon wants you to see me making their camera take fuzzy shots because I’m not a good photographer, but darn it – they like me!” Second, I’m saying, “as marketers, take a look at this kind of outreach and ask yourself what’s the yield. Believe me, if I somehow magically convince you that “even I can use this camera,” which is possible maybe, then how many will I be selling?

What’s your take?

Can’t see the video? click here.

Direct link to the video

People always ask which camera I used to shoot my video. I use the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 (that’s a review of the camera).

We’ve raised about 1/3 of the money required in the first 20 minutes. Want to be part of a case study in charitable giving via the social web?

Come Donate $10.

I’m also going to be out and about for some socialization, naturally. I won’t be going to many of the parties. I just don’t like the crush of the crowds, the loud music, and the waiting in very long lines. I’ll be in the halls and the blogger’s lounge and the Pepsi area at SXSW. I’ll dip in and out of sessions. I’m speaking on Saturday the 13th with Julien at 12-something-PM. The panel is “I don’t trust you one stinkin’ bit.”

On Monday the 15th, I’ll be with Tim Hayden and others at the AT&T Conference Center for part of the day for Get Ready to Live, an event with UT Austin that will explore the future of marketing and where all this social and experience marketing stuff is going.

I’m There To Meet You

Don’t be shy. If there are lots of people, just come on up and say hi. It’s why I’m there. If you’re normally shy, PRETEND you’re not shy. Want some hints on how? Here’s my post on how to be sexier in person.

By all means, make sure you say howdy do. I’ll be there for all of Interactive. I can’t stay for the Music part. That means you have about 5 days to try and connect. I won’t see your @ messages on Twitter, but will dip into my direct messages as often as I can.

The worst thing you could possibly do is tweet me a few days later and say, ” I saw you but didn’t want to interrupt you.” That’s why I’m there. Please come say hi.

The Business Card Thing

Here’s a test. Let’s see if you remember this when we meet.

Unless you want to do business with me, don’t give me a business card. We both know how to reach each other, so unless one of us asks for one, let’s not hand them out. We tend to give out business cards because we’ve been taught this is what to do. It’s not. It’s the old way. In the old way, we just blast people with messages whenever WE need something. In the new way, you and I should only exchange cards if we’re looking to do future business. Otherwise? We roughly know how to reach each other, don’t we?

Save a card. Save the planet. Rewire the way humans do business.

Can’t Wait to See You

This event is quite social. It’s a great way to meet lots of people you haven’t seen before in person. They’re all just people, just like you. Never treat people like they’re gods and you’re there to worship. They’re all just people. The biggest names in the world that I’ve ever wanted to meet are just people. And you know what? If they ACT fancy? That’s because they’ve got low self-esteem. That’s not your issue.

Let’s say hi at the event, okay? And more interestingly, let’s think about what we can do that would have some IMPACT while we’re there.

Good?

He has a @toysoldiergames Twitter account that he’s working on using for other promotions and to educate his customer base. I think it will do super well.

This isn’t rocket surgery kids (as my Boston friends say). This is marketing. It’s deadly sniper-level good marketing, because Mick makes it about MY comics, and about Ray’s Warhammer 40K miniatures, and about other people’s specific stuff.

And Mick runs a small store with just a few employees. If he can find the time to sell this way, you have to really think about it.

Think he sells more than people who don’t do this? I’m guessing yes. You?