You see, we’re in a glut of folks who all proclaim their skillz in SocMed and various online tools. See my post from earlier this year. But as my other friend (yes, I have two friends…maybe more) Mike Langford professes, there are many folks in the world who don’t really know what your skillset is or what you can do.

Why am I writing this? Because I asked about a speaking opportunity at a conference and was almost dismissed out of hand because one of the organizers didn’t know that I…

Have run an advertising agency for two decades

Have had clients like Fidelity, TJX, Talbots, Hasbro, Gulf Oil, Uno’s, Ford Motor Company (pre-Social Media or Scott Monty), Brookstone and others.

Have spoken at Universities – UMass, Northeastern, Emerson, BU, News outlets and businesses across the globe about communication, content and topics outside of social media.

I’m also a veteran journalist and social media professional. So, maybe it wouldn’t make a difference if I share this other info with the folks at the conference. Maybe they’ve already put me in a box.

And maybe when you put someone into a pigeon hole, they’re stuck there. But I figured if I didn’t tell you about this, you might be stuck in your own pigeon hole. What is it that you can do? Does everyone know?

Then get started sharing that info with the world.

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2011. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: business, Chris Brogan, new york, pigeonhole, speaking, Twtrcon

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Yes, I’ve spent long stretches in other cities, but I either moved around a bit or rented an apartment. I’m thinking that when I do this ‘roadtrip’ type project again, I’ll rent a condo or a timeshare as my base of operations. It will give me more control and probably defray expenses.

To answer your unasked but lingering questions…

There is still oil in the Gulf of Mexico

People down here don’t seem to have the same bias against the local BP gas stations that we harbor up north

Po’Boys are really just submarine sandwiches with random stuff on them

I have not seen a tarball yet

OK, let’s now get into the meat of this post. The list of things I’ve learned about being a man on the go and living in a hotel room – Hampton Inn by the way – for two weeks.

1 – A travel tube of toothpaste is inadequate for more than eight days. You will need two or will need to purchase a human-size tube when you arrive at your destination. Further, Wal-Mart and the other -Mart stores are perfect for buying razors, shaving cream, shampoo and tooth essentials. Don’t spend millions of dollars on stuff at the corner pharmacy in your adopted town.

2 – Having laundry at the hotel – or within walking distance – is really important unless you plan to bring a monster suitcase. My hotel didn’t have laundry but there is a place called Suds and Duds (they don’t serve beer or food sadly) on Bourbon Street. For $1 a pound they will wash, dry and fold your stuff. That way you only need a week’s worth of clothing. Less if you wear the same shorts or pants multiple times. I don’t know anyone like that, but you might.

3 – Evaluate whether it’s better to have a car or use public transportation. If you are at a conference in a city or working a job there where you only have to go to one location on repeated days, you can get by without a car. The trip from the airport to the hotel is usually between $5 and $50, but you won’t need to spend money parking a car or renting it.

Conversely, if you have day trips planned and have to be at destinations not easily accessible via public transport or prohibitively expensive by taxi, get a car. But be sure to find out what parking is like in the the city where you’re staying. In New Orleans, it’s typical for overnight parking to cost $25-$35. I got lucky and got a rate at the hotel that included parking and breakfast.

4 – Breakfast! I love this meal and typically spend anywhere between $9-$20 a day for breakfast at home. Staying in a hotel that offers free breakfast with the room means I can save that money or spend it on larger other meals. But you should be aware that breakfast in hotels can get boring and other elements come into play. Sometimes the waffle maker catches fire or the other guests should be tossed in an elevator shaft because they’re so annoying. I try to vary my meals by having yogurt one day, eggs the next, waffle the next and so on. And I don’t sit next to the bickersons or the annoyingsons.

5 – When booking for an extended stay, you might have to do some work to get a good rate for the entire stay. I had to break my reservation into two pieces to get the same rate for all 14 nights. Then, when I arrived I had the front desk just combine the reservations. The hiccup would have been over one of the weekends in the middle when the listed rate was $40 more per night than the rate (with parking and breakfast) that I had booked for the start and finish of my stay. Often, squatters (people already in a room) have some leverage at the hotel and most good hotels will take your comfort into consideration – especially if you’re spending two weeks and thousands of dollars with them.

6 – Know your room and how the hotel treats rooms. I usually get really rolling on my writing around mid-day when I’m on the road. This is at odds with housekeeping because around lunch and beyond you can hear doors in the hallway opening and shutting constantly. The room shakes as doors clang off the safety bar that housekeepers flip out to hold doors open. And there’s lots of yelling for different size sheets and other supplies. If you can’t work with noise, go do other stuff during the room-cleaning periods.

Also, know the hotel policy on towels and sheets. Many hotels now are saving water by not washing your stuff all the time. They just make your bed up and refold your towels. If I want new linens or towels, I put them clearly in a pile near the door.

Next, use the room safe. It takes two minutes to toss your stuff inside and these days many safes are free to use and they can fit all your gadgets. Mine fit a laptop, video and digital camera, audio recorder, various chargers and my other valuables.

And to the point of chargers, realize that some light switches shut off outlets in the room. And some rooms shut off all power if there’s no movement in the room for a while. This means if you wanted to charge your camera or cell phone while you walked around the city, you’d better find the outlets that remain live or be prepared to run out of juice.

7 – Lastly, gifts. I have a simple rule. If I’m away on business, the only gifts I bring back are for significant others, cats and people who gave me the lead on that project or job. If I’m away on pleasure, I try to remember everyone and usually fail miserably. When in doubt, listen for the door down the hall to clang and run to the housekeeper’s cart and collect some fancy soaps.

What do you do or think or know when traveling? Share in the comments!

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: #iroadtrip, bp, Chris Brogan, Hampton Inn, ioilspill, Jeff Cutler, new orleans, travel

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Characters: Jeff Cutler, unnamed people at the tables around the room, announcer/bartender

The bartender wanders across the stage and grabs the microphone. If you looked carefully at his hands, you can see the scars on his knuckles from numerous fights. This bartender used to be a bouncer who worked his way up in the organization. To some, bartending isn’t a lateral move.

BARTENDER: Here’s that writer guy. He twits or tweets, whatever. Give it up for Jeff Culter… Cutler.

Jeff bounces onto the stage wearing his Duluth Trading Company firehose pants and presentation jacket.

He smiles at the bartender and then waves to the crowd. Crowd is an overstatement – there are 9 people in the room, eight of them are awake.

JEFF: Thanks for that warm welcome! I just flew in from Boston and boy are my arms tired….

Then I wake up.

That little sequence is an approximation of the dream that keeps me – and maybe other dedicated content professionals – on task and focused when preparing to deliver information and training. I imagine it’s what Chris Brogan used to feel like before he made it (or is making it) big.

The reason I bring this up is because I’m now doing the mini-Chris Brogan tour around the country. As many of you know, the Society of Professional Journalists has hired me to teach newspeople all around the world how to use social media tools to listen to and engage people.

What’s that mean? Aside from harrowing flights on planes about the size of an Egg McMuffin, it means that I’m meeting some great folks, honing my presenting skills, and staying brutally on top of the latest social media news.

It also means that I get to taste some of the magic that Chris Brogan sees on a daily basis. Guess what, it’s not magic.

Like any other job, it looks attractive from the outside (except maybe for cat neuterer and human paintball target). The flying around the country, the exotic meals in random restaurants and the huge paychecks make it seem so. But here’s the breakdown…

Airport food, Wichita, KS (the people and beer were fantastic), wobbly planes, basic paychecks. It’s not the glamour you might have anticipated.

Yes, I’m not Brogan. But I imagine aside from a much larger check – rumors say it’s above $20,000 a day – it’s a similar grind.

So, before you start having dreams, waking up in a sweat, or bobbing around the midwest in little prop planes, take a look at your current workload and assignments. You might be better off with the day job and letting masochists like me and Chris go chat with organizations about how they can better use social media.

What job do you lust for? Share that in the comments.

Keep reading!

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: automobiles, Chris Brogan, Jeff Cutler, planes, social media, SPJ, trains, work

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I play a little poker and I’m pretty mediocre. I wouldn’t lose a bunch of money, but for a while I was slightly addicted. Not in a bad way…like my Internet addiction (doing email on a rainy Sunday when I could be having breakfast and putting photos of it up on NomX3 or WWJCE)…but I’d play frequently and lose about 52% of the time.

You might look at that figure and think I really stink, but if my math is correct, that means I’m losing about 2% of the time and doing OK the rest of the time. Not horrible at all.

I only got to be that good through the support of a friend of mine. He urged me to watch other players, read books on the game, and to analyze my own strategy.

Chris’ message today is one of support. Of how Andy helped out another player at the table. A big-time poker pro giving someone a little benefit just because he could.

It’s a lesson that if we have the tools at our disposal to help someone – regardless of whether we’ve gotten along in the past or whether our policies/beliefs align – what does it hurt to help out?

To me, this means putting in a good word for someone if you can. Introducing them to smarter people (that’s how we all improve). Going to their events and getting others to go. Making whatever community you’re a part of more cohesive instead of divisive.

Maybe I’m still groggy this morning and it’s making me sentimental.

Or maybe the rain is allowing me to see with clarity that if we don’t do unto others and share our support, friendships and relationships will wash away.

How are you helping support the people in your community?

Keep reading!

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Boston, Chris Brogan, Las Vegas, nomx3, poker, sitboaf, Tweetups, WWJCE

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You know what I did when I found out that the book had hit newstands? Right, I bought it.

Really. I went to Amazon and dropped about $20 including shipping to buy his book.

Am I going to read it? Maybe. Am I going to learn anything from it. Only if I read it, and then maybe not. But I still felt some glee in buying a copy.

Why?

Because it’s important to support the people you care about. This includes family, friends, lovers and those in your community in whom you believe. Chris is one of these people.

He gives his time and opinion freely. He shares insight and perspective openly. And he’s a valuable connection and friend in the social media space.

Further, I’m a published author.

Maybe you didn’t realize it, but my first book came out in 2000. As an author I know firsthand what it’s like to give birth to a book. It’s amazing and chilling and fun and humbling. And what makes it even better is knowing that people will pay money to read your words.

That’s why I do a lot of the things I do in the social media fishbowl. Seriously.

I’m making a good portion of my income by training people how to tweet better and how to incorporate blogging and content creation into their enterprise. But if you ask me about blogging while we’re at an ice cream tweetup or during a taping of LUNCH, I’ll share my thoughts. That’s what the social part is all about.

I volunteered to show up on Permission TV on Thursday, do a guest spot on Word on the Tweet a week ago, and co-host an event with Ford Motor Company tomorrow in Cambridge.

Somewhere there are maxims and fortune cookies that tell of how great the return is when you give a little of yourself. It’s true. But I’m getting something back that’s greater than my time and attention. I’m getting to be around and learn from some really fun and smart people.

Folks like John Cass – who knows more about business operations and marketing than I could ever learn in two years of MBA classes.

Guys like Matt Searles – who keeps the oddest hours on the planet but has still self-published a bunch of music and shows up to support me at most of my random events.

Women like Laura Fitton – who also has a book out and gives all the credit to her co-authors for making it possible.

And the rest of the community who inspire me with their actions, their words and their presence. The stuff these people share isn’t something you can find in a book.

Or maybe it is. Why not take a quick jaunt over to Amazon and find out.

Kudos Mr. Brogan. Good work.

Keep reading!

© Jeff Cutler for Jeff Cutler - columns, essays and opinions, 2009. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: #trustagents, book, Chris Brogan, community, Jeff Cutler, social media

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