Is It Moving You Forward

I am guilty of the shiny new ball phenomenon. I love gadgets, but I have become very self-aware that several recent purchases have not been leveraged to their full potential. That has slowed me down a bit, in addition to using a trusted resource (my husband) as a sounding board when I want something new. If I can’t articulate why it’s useful to me or better than something I already have after several pointed questions, it’s a good indication to me that it’s probably not.

I am guilty of the shiny new ball phenomenon. I love gadgets, but I have become very self-aware that several recent purchases have not been leveraged to their full potential. That has slowed me down a bit, in addition to using a trusted resource (my husband) as a sounding board when I want something new. If I can’t articulate why it’s useful to me or better than something I already have after several pointed questions, it’s a good indication to me that it’s probably not.

Chris, you don’t mention twitter in this post. I’m curious if you feel the value is there in a business sense or like Facebook, you continue to use it for personal reasons.

Additionally, with regards to Facebook, did the Trust Agents fan page (or any other fan page you have used provide the same results as your personal profile.

I agree that you should be knowledgeable about the various tools that are available, but it isn’t the best use of your time to try to implement ALL of them. You don’t get much from Facebook, wheras I get most of my engagement for my client there. On the other hand Twitter is pretty much an afterthought. Don’t know exactly why, but that is just the way it worked out, so I focus my time on the FB page and give their Twitter account its due consideration. Spreading yourself so thin so as to accommodate every tool or service available would most likely result in you going backwards.

Last night I had a great idea for a post. I called it “Are you using a hammer to tighten screws?” I wrote it up, scheduled it for publication this morning.

In checking my usual round of sites before proceeding with tweeting my link out, what do I see here?

Now, I appreciate that I am brilliant, Chris, but having people spy on me to see what my next post is going to be about is just going too far. You’re doing okay, kid! One day you’ll be able to come up with one or two blog topics on your own in a week. I promise!

Anyway, I like your post better. :)

nice post !! loved the title by the way and the informations were pretty interesting ! thank you

nice post !! loved the title by the way and the informations were pretty interesting ! thank you

Great post Chris. Totally agree – I need to step out of line more! Thanks for the reminder :)

Hi Chris,

There are so many “breakthrough” newcomers that should be at least 100% more effective than previous ones. However, I think, most of the working things are simple and most of the simple things were already invented.

The only reason to introduce most of the new products is not the innovation but only the making money opportunity.

Thanks for sharing.

Adam

I am scaling back some of my “cutting edge” activities and going back to blocking and tackling online. What I find is when I focus on blocking and tackling instead of fancy trick plays, my clients earn a great deal more money and are happier.

Ditto, ditto, and ditto again. Yes…how do I get out of step with you? I am all ears and many more parts.
Paul

Great question. How much more concentrated would I be if I didn’t dilute my effort with trivial activities.

All I can see is Phew!! So glad you wrote this. With all the new devices and programs constantly coming into view, it can get a bit overwhelming. As a relative new player at this, it is easy to lose focus and get scattered. The fear of getting left behind or missing something, anything, is a battle between the ears. Seems to bring the old Jack of all trades, master of none to mind. Thanks again!

Thanks for sharing this! And it comes at perfect timing for myself, as I was going into panic mode. Overwhelmed with all the apps, and constant new features coming at me, and must read this and must comment, and on and on. Social diarrhea…

I agree regarding so many of what you said, and Facebook – I keep for personal as well, and it wears me down at times.
There is so much SELLING masked under social media and caring and – well it is starting to feel like hostage manipulation. Get the coupon, save money with this app, location location, collect badges, find the red M&M, Facebook email, ipad, playbook, get this app if you ever want to succeed….

STOP the insanity I told myself just before reading this post.
Thank you now I can move forward, as you are one of the leaders of information, thought and experience that does help me move forward..
I will clearly define where it is that I want to move to .. my goals for next week, no more than 3.
And then .. determine what I need to do to accomplish said goals.

And for the remainder of the week regarding Social Media – I am in LISTENING MODE.

Thanks …

You definitely are not a shiny ball chaser Mr. Brogan. Another beauty thought / stance.

I really think the next big craze is the simplification, not proliferation, of platforms and ideas online. I think we’re about to see an online “recession” where the excess gets shaken out of the marketplace. Where we start to filter all the platforms we use into a handful of things – like you say – you find what works for you and experiment with thins that make sense to you and your audience.

Which is I think why Facebook and Google are in such a feature rush. They are building applications and features for user retention and frequency objectives. To save their lives, not take over the world.

Curious that you say you’re not getting anything from Facebook, business-wise but you’ve been putting out Facebook ‘notes’, which have been business-based (and which I’ve enjoyed & ‘shared’). Is that not part of your ‘moving forward’ effort? I don’t see all your emails and my RSS is almost as crammed as my inbox. When I see your ‘note’ on FB I usually check it out & then might link over to your site for more info. I enjoy the FB notes even if they may not be officially part of your business plan. Thanks!

Part of the new frugal I think. Can’t eat the whole banquet. Application indigestion. This applies to software programs I use as a designer. I use five percent of the programs but I use them well.
Have you ever noticed that the people who write manuals and understand every aspect of the software have dreadful images and artwork? We need to think more like chefs than event organizers.

In the B2B space some app are clearly not used – like foursquare. I have tested and tried a few things like this but they fall by the wayside since I can’t see my clients using them to generate sales. At the end of the day I only have so much time and I have to deliver ideas and strategies that create leads and ultimately sales for them. In the rush of trying to keep up on “new” I found I lost track of my blogging and this post is water for a thirsty man… I guess we need someone as forward thinking as you to remind us to keep doing the core strategies for our own plans.

Wendy
xeesm.com/wendysoucie