Paul Mayson

Super-blogger/speaker/productivity “thought-leader” Merlin Mann posted a “twitter” the other day that stuck in my head - for days and days.  Then last night I received an email from a person that works at a big, Fortune 500 company that wants to meet with me to talk about blogging.  This would be the fourth or fifth person that I met with there over the course of 3 years, and they still have no blogs or “social networking” program worth mentioning (none that I know of).  Then I remembered Merlin’s quote.  

The people I’ve met with have been awesome, funny, over-worked, and have cool hobbies, terrific families, and a bazillion “insider” stories.  The makings of a damn good blog. So, why is there no action?  My theory is that, at work, their personality has been beaten out of them.  In an environment where keywords and phrases like ”synergy”, “leverage”, “branding”, and “net net, at the end of the day” are rewarded, there’s no room for a real personality when it comes to “work”.  

Plus, there’s a “fear factor.”  Not Joe Rogan challenging you to eat cockroaches for a $500 Visa gift card. The “I’ll get fired” fear factor. There’s the occasional story about the perfect employee that was shown the door after their personal blog was discovered.  Nobody wants to lose their job, health benefits, or office pals over some stupid blog, right? 

So, what’s the solution?  I think there are a number of options:

1. Do nothing.  Play it safe.  Hope that the next round of cuts miss you.  Unfortunately, this never works - just ask Seth.
2. Go rogue.  Start a blog and go wild.  Reveal shit you know you shouldn’t talk about and eventually get fired.  Then you can blame your lack of a career on the Internet.  
3. Take your “at meetings” personality and put it online. Load your posts with corporate buzz words and bullet points that pimp your products.  You, and the guy in the cube next to you, will LOVE it!
4. Be yourself.  Are you a cyclist that works in technology?  What’s that like?  Maybe you’re a mother of two that works in book publishing.  Be a human being online, slowly grow your audience, and build a lasting relationship because you have a common interest. 

Here’s another bit of wisdom from Merlin that is inspiring.

 This one is still in beta, but going live very soon!  It’s an artist registry for the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.  Built by ClearDev, we were really happy to get this project!

then check out the new site we put together!  It’s for McGraw-Hill’s AccessEmergency Medicine product - the Mystery Case Blog.  If you’ve ever had a herpes outbreak on your arm, or your tongue swell to the size of a loaf of bread, you’ll love this site.

Before the holiday weekend, we’re launching JeffreyKrames.com and it’s one of my favorites to date.  Based on a theme by Brian Gardner (genius), the site is powered by WordPress.

A little background… I used to work with Jeffrey while at McGraw-Hill, though he was stationed in Chicago and I was in New York.   I was in the computer book arena and he was the superstar business book editor.  Such a superstar that he started WRITING books there as well (bestsellers too)!

A few weeks ago, we were put back in touch and he needed a site to help build not only his personal brand online, but lay the ground work for his new book that ships in October (Inside Drucker’s Brain).  We worked to come up with a theme to his blog and put together a site that would support his past work as well as his future release(s).  I think the blog will be a big hit with publishing folks as well as students of productivity & management.  Not only has he studied the top leaders in the world for years, but Jeffrey was also one of the last (maybe THE last?) people to interview Peter Drucker before his death.  Plus, you’d be hard pressed to find someone that knows the ins and outs of the Business Book business better than Krames.

So, check out the site if you have a moment, and have a great Memorial Day weekend!

We finally did it!  We broke our hosting site off of our development site.  Hopefully that will make it easier for new clients to differentiate between the two sides of the business at ClearDev!

By the way, if you’re in need of great hosting for your blog, gallery, or business, have I got the place for you!  Check out the new ClearDev.net.  We’re offering competitive packages with no contracts, no crazy small print, and some killer tools (like the “installatron” that will automatically install and configure scripts like WordPress, Drupal, and other popular packages!).

Come on… give us a try.  Aren’t you tired of getting transferred to some far away land for you customer service?  All of our ClearDev servers are right here in Manhattan along with our staff!   Plus, a lot of us are developers so we know what you’re looking for and what you need.