As poor as I am at being a public blogger, I actually do have a private blog that I update, on average, daily.  I actually write a lot in there.  This is the kind of entry that would go in that blog. So, I'm in Chicago, and will be leaving for Seattle at some point this week.  This stop has been a very different one from Boston. When I decided ...

When I tell people that I only wear white t-shirts and jeans, most people think I'm kidding, speaking in hyperbole, exaggerating, etc.  Rather, the statement holds true most of the time in the Summer, and all of the time in the cooler months. Still don't understand? Every piece of clothing you see there is Banana Republic.  I've tried other clothes, they just don't fit as well, last as long, or ...

So, it turns out that I somehow got really busy....as in, I have multiple plans every day for about 9 days straight.  I was going to update and try and put something solid together, but I'm pretty exhausted right now.  Rather than go halfway with a good topic, I'm going all-the-way with a non-topic.  Go me. Upcoming posts: Seeing Mahler's Symphony No. 2 at Tanglewood Meeting with Mike Volpe (@mvolpe)at HubSpot ...

When I posted to Twitter asking for ideas for how to use AskSunday (look for a post soon of my experiences thus far), Ben Grossman came up with the idea that I should use them to setup a meeting with him.  Immediately, I knew this was going to be a good time. We ended up meeting today at Andala Coffee House...one of my "offices" around town. After about 15 minutes ...

First: Happy Birthday, dad.  He's 52 today. Second: Happy Birthday, Alexi.  He's 27 today. Third: Happy Birthday, Ron and Chad. And I'm sure many others.  Though, I'm not sure how old they are. Friday night, I picked up a friend of mine in Framingham and we headed to the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) to see what all they had.  Since I've been "working from home" for so long, I rarely ...

Last week, I watched Robert Scoble interview Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek.  One of the topics, as expected, was about improving productivity. Tim mentions a utility called RescueTime, which runs as an application on your computer and records what applications you're using, and for how long.  It also goes so far as to look at the URLs of the pages you're viewing in your web browser, so ...

Last Tuesday, I headed downtown to do some work from a Starbucks that happens to be a great work environment (read: they have outlets and large tables).  I posted on Twitter that I was heading down there, and got a message from Nelson de Witt (@mcescobar1) saying he was in the area. We ended up hanging out for a couple of hours, talking about everything from working for yourself, ...

A friend of mine, Sara Lingafelter (@theclimbergirl) (check out her rock climbing blog for great insights into what it's like to be addicted to climbing), recently pointed me toward a loose, conversational podcast called ConfabShow. Out of curiosity, I listened to the show that she participated in, Confab #10. Coincidentally, one of the hosts (once I get the person's name, I'll update this post) summed up the fundamental idea of ...

Click here for the article: Elance Buyers Share Outsourcing Tips Just a quick entry since this came in my inbox, and is highly relevant to today's earlier post about outsourcing. Four main parts to the article: Communication is Key Evaluate Providers Like a Pro Proactively Manage Your Projects Additional Tips

If I were to be honest about my experience with outsourcing, some form of the word "dabble" might be able to be used with some form of accuracy. Last Fall, I hired GetFriday, a virtual assistant company for about $9/hr.  My experience was less than satisfactory, especially considering the level of my requests.  Later, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out the fundamental breakdown in my ...