[chrisbrogan.com]

Posted: 26 Aug 2008 07:18 PM PDT

Boston notable and young entrepreneur Stephanie Gurtman wrote me to let me know that she’s launched Internship Ratings, a place where interns can rate their experience as interns at various area businesses. According to the website, this is an east coast launch, but the concept is easy to spread across the country, so I imagine as interns discover it, the ratings might spread. One person who might want to check this out is Lauren Berger, the Intern Queen. Maybe Stephanie and Lauren will find some synergies.

I’m back and forth on rating sites. I think that they offer some value, but I always wonder about traffic. I’ve been looking back and forth at Vendor City in the same way for the last several days (a few months?), too.

To the plus side, it’s great that people have a place to rate and have a voice. My big concern: traffic. How do you get people there, and sustain the interest?

For now, I wish Stephanie luck, and as of this posting, here’s the Top 5 Places to Intern, according to her site:

What’s your take?

ShareThis

The Old Advertising Merry Go Round

Posted: 26 Aug 2008 01:54 PM PDT

Every handful of months, I get into a debate with myself, that eventually spills out into my personal advisory board. The debate is always the same: my blog gets lots of visitors, and it’s really decently rated. I could sell a sponsorship that would have value to the sponsor, and that would be beneficial to me (I have this fantasy of a special account for flying to conferences, paid strictly by sponsor ads). Because I’m always only thinking about one single sponsor, classy-like, the way Robert Scoble does it, I figure it won’t be too big a deal.

My advisory board always gives me good counsel. It splits every time on the difference between perceptions (”do I become a number if you start selling me as one?”) and opportunity (”why not? You do great stuff here.”) I’m grateful for all the perspectives, and I take each of them deeply to heart.

And just as I was fairly sure I was going to tip towards the side of trying out a sponsor ad for a few months as a trial, it comes up in conversation elsewhere.

Allen Stern wrote about it here, but gets an earful here on FriendFeed.

Of the comments that drew my attention, Dave Winer said something that resonated with me. Here’s the snip:

“i only click on ads thst interest me and only when i have the time. whcih means that i never click on ads on what you call content. never seen one that interests me and i’m generally not shopping when reading blogs.”

So, there I am. I’ve got a blog that puts out content that has nothing to do with products or services directly, and what it does, the last thing I want is for you to worry that there’s an unseen payoff.

I don’t want dyou to shop while you’re reading and participating here. If I do a project like that, I’ll do it elsewhere. That’s the ruling for now. Okay?

That said, you’re ad-free (except for the RSS ad at the bottom of each post).

What do you think about all that?

These posts are made for sharing. Feel free to repost all or portions of this (as long as it’s not for profit). If you do post it, please make sure you kindly link back to [chrisbrogan.com] and give me credit. Thanks!

Photo credit, katmere

ShareThis

Inbox Taming for Busy People

Posted: 26 Aug 2008 07:09 AM PDT

inbox zero I’ve had my inbox at zero for over four weeks now ( Merlin Mann should be proud). I’ve learned that this helps my all around business processes, because to do this, I had to have a system to account for everything. The way I’ve managed it was a mix of David Allen’s Getting Things Done process, Stever Robbins’ You Are Not Your Inbox program, and simple figuring out what works and doesn’t work for me personally. I thought I’d share my process, in case it might be useful for you.

Basic Move: Have Three Addresses

I have three email addresses: one that I use for conducting general business, one for signing up for various web applications, and one for more important conversations. The first two, I don’t check all day long. I have a few scheduled dips in those boxes to see where things are, and to respond to inquiries. On one of those boxes, I used AwayFind to give people the sense that they can reach me if it’s urgent (so far, the only emails I get from the “urgent” form all say, “I just sent you email.” Grrrrrr!).

On the third email, that’s my business. And so I keep a little indicator light. I don’t read them immediately all the time and interrupt my flow, but I empty that box a few times a day.

Process Once I get Mail

I’ve noticed that I have a rapid flow. Here’s how it looks:

Information only mail - absorb and delete.
Information I need mail - copy a note into Evernote, which has web access and searching capabilities. Delete.
Requests for help - analyze and respond. Delete (or store if I need a record).
Mail from the boss - respond and store.
“Generic” mail - automate variations on a response, and customize the important bits. Delete. Note: you probably never get the generics. I reserve them for blind PR pitches, weird software companies, etc.
Scheduling and task request mail - right into Google Calendar. Tasks into a Google Docs spreadsheet. Web-accessible.
To-do mail that’s bigger and long - copy/paste the request into Evernote, store the email address, save the mail.

If You Have 1000 Old Mails in the Box

Go through them 100 or so at a time with the above process. Don’t read the new ones. Just try working through 100 here and there. Schedule time on an egg-timer to take a whack at them. (If you want lots more advice on this area, check out You Are Not Your Inbox, which I really loved.)

I’ve kept my box clean for over four weeks, even when I’m out at conferences and on the road. It’s astounding just how this all works once you practice.

What about you? Any ideas and advice?

Note: I use Skitch to do screenshots. It’s cool.

ShareThis

An Ignoble Experiment

Pages

Sponsor

2008/08/27

[chrisbrogan.com]