Right about now I’m on the road driving from the SF Bay Area to Eugene, Oregon to visit my in-laws.  Next week is my vacation, full of cold & rain while doing the yearly holiday visit with the extended family.  This week has been great with all the last minute holiday preparations.  I had a great Christmas, and I hope everyone out there had a terrific holiday.

Most people who didn’t take any extra vacation days are probably back to work today, so check out what you might have missed while making your last minute treks to Walmart for more bows and stocking stuffers.

• It’s not just awards season for the movies; ShareASale Performance Awards were announced on Monday.  Congrats go out to Scott Jangro, CSN Stores, Nicole Beidler, Checks Unlimited, GreenPlanetSearch, Missy Ward, and Melanie Seery for taking home top honors.
• The acclaimed BlueShirtNation, BestBuy’s internal employee social network, is radically changing according to co-founder Steve Bendt.  I’m interested to see where they take it.
• The Performance Marketing Alliance has finally settled on a Mission Statement.
• AffiliateTrust.org has been mentioned this week on Scott Jangro’s blog and the Affiliate Thing podcast.  From what I can discern from reading their About Us page, they’ve basically formed to help combat black hat or shady affiliate practices.  Which is definitely a good thing.  Take some time (as will I) to educate yourself by reading more.
• Are you making resolutions this year?  Missy Ward isn’t.  More power to her!

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

A few geeky stay at home dad’s I know decided to convene during their daddy day care days for a new podcast, aptly titled Geek Dads @ Home.

Happy Birthday Ian Clark | Geek Dads @Home: “The premise of our podcast revolves around three dads working from home while we provide day care for our kids. We will share our insights on the tools that allow us to function in this set up, but more importantly the podcast gives us a record in our own voices of the experiences of raising our children. The hope is that some time in the future, when they can best appreciate it, our kids will subscribe to this RSS feed and hear their dad’s perspectives on their lives growing up ….”

Joe did a guest post here last week, Tales of a Home Office Worker Dad, so I’m stoked to listen to this.  I’m sure it will be good stuff!  Take a listen if you’re interested in dad’s doteing on their daughters and talking marketing and working from home!

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

I’m considering whether or not I want to continue with this blog. I’m not sure that many people really read it consistently, and I’m beginning to doubt if there’s room in this space for another marketing blog from someone who didn’t even go to school for marketing. Is my perspective that unique? Not sure… so, I’m at a precipice I guess.

The blog isn’t even a year old yet, but I find myself questioning whether or not the blog is adding any value to the space or am I yet another jackass sharing their opinion with people who didn’t ask for it? According to Google Analytics, which longtime readers will see that I couldn’t even keep THAT working, I get about 61 visitors per day. 10,072 since January 1. But how accurate is this since my reporting has had fails a couple times? And does this even matter?

Unless I receive a boom of entries for the contest by Sunday, the contest has been a complete failure with not one single entry as of this moment. I thought the prizes were pretty sweet… hell I’d love to win them myself. What did I do wrong? Not put WIN A VADO! in the title? Rely too heavily on promoting it through Twitter?

Of course, this first year is a total learning curve. Find what works, what doesn’t. I can’t expect to just jump in and be the bomb. Am I being too rash? Not patient enough?

Confusing whether I’m representing my employer or myself is also weighing heavy. Am I forsaking my employer by endorsing my personal brand within my web presence?

These things weigh heavily on my mind as more and more work seems to pile on me – both at my place of employment and at home. Sure it’s building my “personal brand”, and I’ve gotten some cool opportunities from it like co-hosting the Affiliate Thing podcast and an upcoming opportunity that I’m not quite ready to announce yet, but…is it ultimately worth it?

 Powered by Max Banner Ads