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Have you ever experienced a self-defining moment? Where you realize that the seemingly benign thought that just floated through your mind has the potential to change your life?
Well that happened to me today. I was reading a blog post about the problems that a particular company was having with their online marketing model and thinking about how to apply some of the ideas to my own company, when suddenly one of those concepts came rushing back to me in huge bold flashing font complete with the opening chords of Beethoven’s 5th.
In that one moment of complete clarity, I realized that I had both the solution to a frustrating time-management problem AND a new business model. Eureka! My “Aha” moment has given me renewed enthusiasm for this industry and I can’t wait to get started on the big idea. More details soon!
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Just a quickie for you today as it’s the Easter long weekend and I’m trying to stay away from the laptop.
Actually, that’s the subject of today’s post. For many of us working in the search marketing industry, burnout is a serious issue. Spending time away from our computers is difficult when we are so busy, but for the sake of our physical and mental health, it’s absolutely vital.
Christine Churchill’s timely post Ten Strategies for Avoiding Search Marketing Burnout reminds us to take a deep breath now and again, give ourselves permission to take downtime, get some exercise and schedule time for family and real life away from the computer. These steps help us avoid stress and the dreaded burnout.
Having suffered the physical symptoms of severe burnout last year, I am all too aware now of the warning signs. I encourage you all to heed Christine’s advice and don’t let burnout sneak up on you.
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Woohoo! I just heard that this blog has made it into the Top 100 Australian Blogs Index. Yep, I’m at position #75 - not bad eh? If you’re not currently a subscriber, why don’t you help boost my subscription numbers a little and see if I can break the Top 50 in the next month or two.
Thanks to Barry for the heads up on my listing.
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Well after nearly 8 years of communicating online, I’ve finally met Jill Whalen in person.
We’ve always talked about meeting up at one of the search engine conferences in the U.S. but I can never quite get my act (or budget!) together to make the long trip. When I heard that Jill was speaking at Webstock 2008 here in New Zealand, I figured it was my best chance to catch up with her so I registered and booked my flight from Christchurch to Wellington.
Originally I was planning on surprising Jill by just turning up to her session and tapping her on the shoulder, but then I thought that if I didn’t tell her I was coming, her schedule would be booked out and we wouldn’t have the chance for a major catch-up. So I emailed her to let her know I was coming. Turns out that she didn’t have any plans apart from the speaker’s dinner and was glad to find a playmate!
The day I arrived we had a brief chat over a drink at her hotel (The Museum Hotel) and then on Thursday night we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We originally planned to go to Restaurant 88, a well-known Vietnamese place but being Valentine’s Day, the place was booked solid and turned us away. So we went next door to a little Chinese restaurant instead. The photo above shows us at the restaurant Thursday night. As you can see by the empty chairs behind us, we stayed way longer than any other patrons and I think they were about to kick us out! Apologies for the grainy photo but my digital camera was playing up the whole trip.
It was great to chat to Jill and gossip about this crazy industry we work in. We talked quite a bit about the personalities in search and about the generation gap that is developing between SEO experts of our era and the new generation of SEO young guns climbing the charts. We also talked about the opportunities that conferences and events can provide for people in this industry and how it can make the difference between an SEO and what I call an SEO Rockstar. While talking to Jill, I realized that I had probably let quite a lot of opportunities for Search Engine College and my consulting business slide in the past because I haven’t really embraced the conference scene.
Anyway, it was just fantastic to meet Jill and be able to give her a real hug instead of a virtual one. She’s always been an inspiration and it was great to pick her brain and have a good old gossip. Maybe the next time we are both on the same continent we can meet up again eh Jill?
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Blogging will be sporadic for the rest of the week because I’m flying up to Wellington tomorrow for Webstock 2008 - New Zealand’s premier web conference. This will be my first Webstock and I’m absolutely thrilled to be going as I’ve heard great things from previous participants and the program rocks! I’m hoping to do some live blogging of the sessions both here and on the SiteProNews blog, but it all depends how dependable the WiFi connections are in the sessions and my hotel room.
A highlight of the Conference for me will be to finally meet Jill Whalen in person, after nearly 8 years of communicating online! Jill is giving a workshop and a conference session but we hope to hang out and maybe catch a meal together at some stage. Another highlight will be Kathy Sierra’s presentation which will close the conference, as well as some of the fun sessions the Webstock crew have got planned, such as Powerpoint Karaoke Idol and the 8 x 5 session.
If you’re coming along to the event, make sure you say hi!
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