Social Media

Twinklebox from Aaron Bradbury on Vimeo.

Several months ago my brother-in-law showed up at a celebration with a musicbox for his mother. What a wonderful whimsical gift. A modern version with no key just a small electrical motor still the simple tunes bring a smile to our faces each time we hear it.

As is often the case as I ramble through my morning reading, looking and thinking about "Oh it's time for a new blog entry." I was following my nose on a new button for Facebook when a phrase and blog title caught my eye. Social Media for Law Firms. It's a natural. Lawyers are wordy people. Many times they are involved in newsworthy events. As Eddie Greenspan has made abundantly clear in Canada - the law is a battle for the hearts and minds of the public. But I have no lawyers as clients.

I discovered last night that I have three employees. Not.

But there it was. A listing of two Drupal developers and one themer. With their salary ranges which were not insignificant I might add. Still I have a lot of people that I work with but no employees. So how did this happen?

"Come for the software - Stay for the community"

So I totally missed this discussion in the Drupal community. Until I googled it. This slogan simply resonated with me when I heard it for the first time today.  And when I repeated it at the Drupal user group tonight some people looked at me funny (like "are you from another planet" funny) and others echoed my sentiments - that it captures what Drupal really is all about.

Change is hard. We all know that. What we don't know is that the self-control necessary to manage change is exhaustible.

I have wondered for awhile if focussing on a particular niche was the way to go with Drupal. I have a good friend who is working hard on the "Drupal in a Box" concept. Part of the concept involved having templates for lawyers and others in small business that want a bit more than the blog or cookie cutter world offers.

I came across a Wall Street Journal article this morning on solo consultants.

The key points:

• Think long term
  Many start it out as short term temporary fill-in-the-gap measure. To be successful you need to think about it as permanent.
• Join a network
  Survival means marketing and one of the best and most natural is networking. Be connected
• Have your own space
  Babies crying, dogs barking, etc. These are unprofessional not to mention the need to manage interuptions.
• Think like an entrepreneur
  Business plan, goals, mission statement. Be innovative and track/manage what you do.

So this is a good list. How am I doing as a Freelancer?

"An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves." Bill Vaughn

Simple is good for me.

Be it resolved that I shall, this year, write a poem each day, journal at least five times each week, and write a blog entry each week.

Ten years ago I walked away from a career in "Community Development". I was tired of fighting government bureacracy, trying to convince politicians that people were important, and making businesses that should never have even been started - viable.

Junior Achievement provides young people with insight into business. It does it a number of different ways. My favorite and a program that I have volunteered for for the last umpteen years is their "Stay in School" program, now called "Economics of Success". Geared to middle school students in that prime "Gonna drop out" age band. It shows them what is going to happen from a budget perspective if they do.