studionashvegas | design and social media

Between multiple trips to Birmingham, AL, Las Vegas, and all points in-between, I think that I’ve travelled more in the last two months than I have in the previous few years before it.

Can I let you in on a little secret?

Before last year, I had never flown in my life.  Yup.  It’s true.  My first trip on a plane was flying to Philadelphia last year for my wife’s family reunion.

However, I’ve really grown to love travelling. Granted, I’d rather travel with my family, but even the trips that I’ve made without them haven’t been too bad.  Mostly because when I see them, Luke runs toward me with his arms outstretched.  Best sight to see after a long trip.

Tomorrow marks one of the last travels I have to make this year.  Luckily, it’s a personal travel this time; Holly has been chosen as the maid/matron (can’t remember which) of honor for her cousin’s wedding, and she’s super excited to see her extended family again.  We’re flying out of Nashville and will ultimately end up in Philly, with a cross to New Jersey to see both sides of the family before the week is through.

This time, I’m coming a little more prepared than I normally do work-wise.  I finally broke down an invested in a MiFi router from Verizon (if you want one, and don’t have a Verizon contract, go through Amazon – total cost was .01 + shipping + activation + monthly service fee – but you do get the equipment for free).

Basically, I can access the internet anywhere I get a cell-phone signal.  And so can 4 of my friends. 

So, I’ll be updating a lot from Philly with pictures and what-not, but if you’re in that area, let me know and we’ll see about coffee or something.

A lot of people don’t know this about me, but I grew up in a small town in Kentucky.  I mean really, really small. Here’s a hint: I share a hometown with the latest “America’s Got Talent” winner.  I’ll let you do the math on that one. Anyway , the whole town had about 10,000 people in it, zero Starbucks (heck, no coffee-shops of any kind), and didn’t even have high speed internet until right around the turn of the century (how I got from there to here is a completely different story entirely). But, if you ask around in town, especially to the “old-timers”, and mention my last name, chances are the question about my grandfather or parents will come up.

My grand-dad works at the local funeral home as an usher.  He put in his years at the Goodyear tire plant in Union City, TN until he retired, but (being the ever active person he is) he decided to keep working doing something he loves – interacting with people.  He’s the song-leader at a small Baptist church, and also helps out with a friend of his who’s an auctioneer on the weekends.

But, doing all this, I swear he knows every single person in town.

Why is he so well known?  Does he have money?  Not a lot.  I mean he has enough to get by, but what he does have he’s always willing to share with a friend (or in some cases, a complete stranger).  He’s always working, as you can tell, but he’s never too busy to help out someone who needs to borrow a truck or tractor.  And at the funeral home, I guarantee that if you wanted anyone telling you that things were going to be OK, it would be my grand-dad.  People still tell me that he was one of the people that helped them get through their grieving loss.

Thing is, my grand-dad gives, and gives, and gives, without a single thought of how or even if others will pay him back.  He doesn’t expect a reward out of it – he does it simply for the thought of seeing how it can help anyone and everyone around him. 

And when he does help out people, word gets around.  People talk about the kind gentleman who handed them a tissue at the funeral home and told them everything would be OK.  They talk about the guy who brought a plate of food to their house when they were sick or bedridden.  They mention my grand-dad, who loaned them a tractor – a huge, metal farm machine – when theirs broke down, without even a mention of cost or payment.

Little by little he changes their lives, even if in a small way.  And, in doing so, I’m sure his own life is changed as well – and that keeps him doing the great things he does for people.

Those of us who truly “get” the power of social media have a power on our hands that no one has really come to realize yet.  Sure, that sounds totally cliché, but think about the people that you meet on a daily basis.  Sure, you may not have 10,000 followers (or maybe you do!) but chances are the network of reach you have on your friends list equals out to a small city, or even a small subdivision or neighborhood (around 300 people). 

Did you get that? You have the potential to impact an entire neighborhood of people.

You have the ability and means to take someone’s life, make it a small bit better, and then watch them pay the favor out to their neighborhood of influence.  The effect is truly viral in nature.

Go out and do something nice for someone else today.  In a world that reeks of bad vibes, rudeness (more and more as of late than ever), and self-serving people, a good deed is one that hardly goes unnoticed.

And once you’ve done it, don’t talk about it.  That’s the hard part, but the biggest sacrifice that we as social media users can do is not bragging about how awesome we are online.  Do your deed, step away, and know that you’ve changed someone’s life… even if it’s only one small thing, you’re making a world of difference to someone else.

No matter how busy you are, a major holiday is always a good excuse to go out and have a good time with family and friends.  Would I call Halloween a major holiday?  Not sure, but I love PumpkinFest – the local sidewalk festival that Franklin puts on for kids and adults in the area.

Holly has never been much on Halloween (I have, but that’s just because I knew where the good houses were for candy!), but we wanted to let Luke’s first Halloween be special, and save the scary stuff for next year.  And so, like all good/sadistic parents do, we wanted the best costume ever for the event.

And Holly’s mom, Claire Morgan out of Montgomery, AL, delivered:

Behold, Warehouse Mouse, from Imagination Movers fame. For those of you who are wondering why a woodland creature might have such day-glo orange hair, here is the real deal (one on the left):

Every morning while we get dressed Luke is allowed to watch one hour (if that) of television.  One of the shows is the Imagination Movers, a really cool show on Playhouse Disney about four guys who work in a warehouse solving problems for others.  Some of the few great male role models for kids who aren’t absolutely flamboyant in appearance or actions – they’re just four normal guys.

At any rate, the costume was a complete success.  We placed “judges favorite” in the Macy’s costume contest that morning, and in the top 10 for the costume contest held at PumpkinFest, so her mom was (obviously) very happy – and so were we!

I know that I barely update the blog I have over at the studionashvegas home page, but the problem with that blog is that I am really limited to having WordPress stuff on there – that’s what the main topic of choice is, after all.  I wanted a place I could start talking about social media, public relations, and all of the personal stuff without cluttering up my “work” blog. 

I don’t call this blog a “work” blog – I call it a “play” blog.  I get bogged down with all manner of coding and design stuff that I don’t get a chance to share the topics above much.  I have learned a great deal from both clients and friends whom I’ve met while traveling on this journey.  It’s been nearly two years since I created studionashvegas, and (while definitely not a smooth ride) it’s been the best ride I could have ever imagined.

This will serve as an outlet for different musings, thoughts, and other cool happenings in my life.  Some personal, some… too personal, and some just about things going on in the ‘sphere.

3…2…1…

I had the lovely privilege of meeting Chris Brogan (ladies man, man’s man, man about town… wait, no… super awesome top 150 blogger and marketing guy) today at the Author’s Way event in Nashville this morning.  If you didn’t get to check it out, the live feed will be on a DVD available for purchase, but to sum it up, Chris talked about his new book “Trust Agents” and how important it is to utilize new media technologies to leverage what people say about you, good or bad.  They’re talking about you – whether you are talking with them or not.

Chris is an amazing speaker, and a down to earth guy (something I find a rare trait in Social Media people), but his message is one of the most relevant I’ve heard.  I’m glad I got a copy of the book – now if I can find time to read it in the busy schedule, it’ll be even better

Thanks again for coming to Nashville, Chris – we really enjoyed having you, and hopefully you can stay more than 27 hours next time!

Somehow I lost a lot of the data from my site, but i got a few things restored. I’ve got a meeting, but I’ll fix the rest once I get back.

I’m back, and with the new year came some rethinking and restructuring of how I do things / what my overall focus is going to be.  I’m all about transparency, and plus I’d like to share some of my goals for the year, because I want to get feedback from my friends and readers!  And so, here’s what I’ve got in the works for ‘09!

1. I’m restructuring Dr. WordPress.  It’s been inactive for a few months now, so I’m turning it into a site that will be used to sell…
2. …premium themes!  That’s right, starting… well, once I get one finished, I’ll be selling premium news themes on my sub-site.  It’ll be good to have Dr WordPress hosting those, since I can’t link to a site that gives away themes…
3. …which brings me to number three – studionashvegas is releasing a free theme soon.  Sensing a trend as far as WordPress goes?
4. That’s where most of my focus will be going.  My goal: to eat, sleep, and breathe WordPress so I can make myself an expert on the subject.  I also want to start a PodCast and/or a (bi)weekly radio show on BlogTalkRadio/TalkShoe devoted to WordPress.  But that comes later – can’t do everything in the first month, now can I?

And now… I open the floor for discussion.  Is there anything on this list that is impossible, or just plain stupid for me to do?  What about something that’s *not* on the list that I am stupid for not doing?  If I should be doing it, I’d like to know