Karim’s posterous

A wide range of thought leaders, self-help, gurus, sports starts and entrepreneurs extol the value of setting and attaining goals in life. In fact, for most of us, the importance of goal-setting is drilled into us during our education. End of term exams, tests, degrees. All these are artificially set goals for us to work towards and achieve. Go to school, get good grades, get into a good university, earn a top notch degree, get a entry level job at a solid company or profession, work your way up, get promoted etc etc.

We tend to look down on people who haven't got clearly defined goals, and the ones that do are usually thought of as 'winners'. Without getting too preachy or philosophical about it, this obsession with goals strongly influences how we live our lives, the people we associate with and what we buy. Although I don't suggest we eliminate goals and goal setting, I think we have to approach this type of thinking with caution.

The danger with an over-reliance on goals is that we spend time working towards something we really don't want that much. From my own experience, I know I missed out on some interesting experiences to achieve what I thought were the right goals, the right university degree, the right career path. How do we know the goals we set are the right ones? How can we risk our most precious resource, time, on future outcomes we don't know we'll enjoy? Can a teenager in highschool possibly predict which career path will make for a rewarding and enjoyable life for a 25 year old? I'm not convinced. The numbers of 20somethings who suffer 'quarter-life' crises is a testament to this.

So what's the solution? Well this is something I'm asking myself, I don't have a microwavable answer to hand. But I feel that a focus on things that excite, interest and make us feel passionate makes sense. We might not be able to give up the day-job, but that's not necessarily the end of the world, if we shift our attention to feeding our passions as much as we focus on goal setting and progressing our careers, we might just be on the right path.

As a not-too-long entrepreneur and small biz owner, every day I'm reminded how important it is to help. To get help and to give it. To co-operate and look for opportunities that generate mutual success. For someone who started out in the corporate/office environment this attitude is anything but natural. In fact, retrospectively it occurs to me that the corporation as an entity is built on the concept of 'survival of the fittest' and 'the art of war'. Be it between rival organisations, or internally between employees.

This isn't really so strange. A typical corporation is a pyramid structure, with a very limited resource - high level & managerial positions. Each of these positions, these badges of glory, success & achievement has 10s, 100s or even 1000s of employees chasing after it. If you and I are both up for promotion to the role of regional sales manager, one of us has to win and one of us has to lose. There is absolutely no incentive for us to work together to reach mutual success, in fact this option doesn't even exist. Again, it's survival of the fittest, winner take all. Either I'll be your boss come promotion time or you'll be mine. We may pay lip-service to team work (a rather hollow term in modern business) but behind the scenes we'll recruit footsoldiers, build alliances and ferment coups and regime changes.

I can't imagine any senior executive has managed to reach their position without seeing their fair share of political intrigue or fighting a few battles themselves. Needless to say all this warfare and political machination diverts a huge amount of resource and time from most organisations. The death-match approach to selection senior management may guarantee you the most ambitious and most ruthless employees, but it doesn't guarantee you the best product or the highest profits (I'm sure the guys at Enron or Madoff were very very ambitious).

Our very development into societies and civilisations hinged on our ability to come together in mutually beneficial tribes. To work together for mutual success, to share. It seems to me that to avoid the greed and dishonestly that were the biggest factors in the recent global economic turbulence, we need to think about re-engineering the corporation. We need learn the lesson that most entrepreneurs and small business owners know, that we need the help of other to lift us up, rather than try to climb up on their lifeless corpses.

Like most people I've had to use PC and Microsoft software at work. I also used to buy PCs for personal use, till I got tired of my computer mysteriously getting buggy/slow/infected 6 months into use. Although I'd used Macs as a teenager at School, I only really switched over to using them as my primary personal computer about 3/4 years ago. On the whole I've been more than satisfied, I honestly can't see myself switching over to PC as my main personal computer any time soon, despite the recent launch of Windows 7 and the aggressive anti-apple marketing efforts of Microsoft.

That being said, I'm also an XBOX 360 owner, and for a Microsoft piece of hardware, I gotta say it's pretty damn impressive. Contrary to the inescapable DOS-MS vibe you get from Windows, the XBOX is very very smooth. Updating software, connecting to the internet, downloading games and movies is all done seemlessly without having to wade through any complicated setting menus. This seems to me what a PC should really feel like. I shouldn't have to spend my time fiddling with setting and manually upgrading drivers and installing software patches. This should all be done seamlessly though a smooth user interface. Would it be such a stretch to imagine an XBOX inspired PC?

Of course some will say that you need to be able to micro-manage all those settings to get the best out of your computer, but I don't think they represent the majority of PC users. We mostly just want things to work. If you're a PC geek that want's to hack and uber-costomise their computer, you're probably running Linux anyhows.

Microsoft or Mac, Windows or OSX, it seems that personal computers have a long way to go to catch up with the ease of use we've come to expect from many other gadgets and gizmos we use. For a smooth, seamless and fresh user experience both Apple and Windows should look to the XBOX (or any of the other main consoles). This is what using a computer should feel like. Microsoft should stop trying to beat Apple with more of the same and genuinely release a product that takes the whole personal computer market to a new paradigm. They've got a solid blueprint for this in the XBOX.

There are tons of eBooks and blogs these days proselytizing the freelance and 'work for yourself' lifestyle. While a lot of these are very useful and informative, I've put together a list of points to consider before you quit, based on my experience as an ex 9-5 man.

Don't Quit Your Job If...

1. You get bored easily
2. You think that working for yourself will mean working less
3. You don't work well after midnight
4. You're overly attached to office coffee/tea
5. You're overly attached to flirting with your co-workers
6. You can't work in your PJs
7. You can't work while sporting a Zach Galifianakis style beard  
8. You thrive on your workmates laughing at your jokes
9. You are especially susceptible to cabin fever 
10. You can only ever get any reading done on your commute to work
11. You're addicted to the Japanese food they serve at that little shop down the street from your office
12. You like playing the role of the anti-social employee, shunning your colleagues by listening to raging thrash metal on your over-sized headphones
13. You need to be handed a list of tasks to function
14. You always think the grass is greener elsewhere
15. You are the captain of your department's pub quiz team-they need you!
16. You have a great membership discount at a fabulous gym
17. You can't afford to pay for health insurance
18. You don't like working from a Starbucks on your laptop
19. You can't work around family/kids/roomates
20. You don't really have any game plan

As an ex 9-5 man I've been thinking a lot about the differences between being an employee and an entrepreneur. A year into my experience as a 'free agent' I've experienced a lot of advantages as well as disadvantages to both lifestyles. In today's post I'm going to look at getting things done in both environments.

As an employee, any new initiative seems to be doomed before it begins, office politics, bureaucracy, over-zealous legal departments, over-burdened IT departments. Only the most hardy of initiators, running with the most passionate of potential projects seem to make it through, and even this doesn't provide guaranteed immunity from a last lap disqualification from senior management.

Of course most of the time the concerns and considerations that arise with a new initiative are legitimate. How will this reflect on our brand? How much will this cost? How will this look to our clients? How will IT find the time to work on this?These questions all make sense. But they also slow momentum and err WAY too much on the side of caution. Is that new blog really going to destroy the brand if it doesn't work out? If we start a Facebook fan page is it really going to make our company look ridiculous? If some of our employees engage with people on Twitter will that make it seem like we've not got anything better to do with our time? Well the answer is MAYBE but probably not. Unless you try you never know. And as with most things in life, the worst scenarios, even in the RARE event they come true are never as terrible as we assume.

As an entrepreneur, you know you need to try to thrive. You find the IT resources to get it done, you find a legal opinion that backs your initiative up, you find the time to get the first version up and running. As a small business owner or a Free Agent, you do have the luxury of being fast and nimble. But this doesn't mean that it's impossible for corporations or larger companies to adopt some of these behaviours. You can always outsource, get a second legal opinion, work overtime. All these are possible. I think the biggest difference is that in a corporate environment we ask ourselves 'WHY' whereas an entrepreneur asks 'WHY NOT'.

Google replaces it's logo with a barcode to celebrate the anniversary of the invention of the barcode. Oh and if scanned the barcode would actually read 'Google'. I think these things were cool at first but they seem to do more and more and it's kinda coming off as overly smug now. 

There's a certain satisfaction in achieving goals, finding success and taking our careers to new heights. It's exciting, it drives us an it massages our egos. It let's us stand back and say 'there, I did this'. But one lesson I'm starting to learn from the top online Gurus is that you need help to reach your potential.

This league of online Gurus, which I affectionately refer to as the Online Marketing Mafia, are experts in their own rights, but they all take the time to promote each other and each other's products and services. At first this might seem illogical because they could be viewed as competitors. They compete for book deals, speaking gigs, twitter followers and blog visitors. But instead of this, they've taken things to the opposite extreme. They go beyond the concept of 'live & let live' by actively reviewing each others books, they post blogs about each other and even hold each other up as examples of online marketing excellence. If a group of people this smart are taking this approach, there's gotta be something we can learn here.

But I'm not a Guru
Forming a group of people who help and learn from each other doesn't have to be limited to Gurus. I think we can find peers in our industry or field who have a take on things different enough from our own to make teaming up interesting. It doesn't have to be a case of setting up joint ventures. But helping each other, and recognising each other's good work is bound to generate greater returns for everyone. Imagine if you owned a piece of land and farmed it alone, you'd most likely be able to create a more plentiful harvest if you and a few other farmers teamed-up and took turns farming each other's plots of land. So how can we take concrete steps to help and be helped?

Be the first to offer a hand
To create a mutually supporting working relationship with your peers, someone will have to take the first step in the right direction. This can be you (or me). If we make that critical first step to go out and praise the good work of our peers, link through to their blogs, re-tweet their Twitter musings, give them testimonials on linked and help them out, we will send a clear message that you're willing to help. The karma-effect then has room to take place and your peers will start helping and supporting you. Now of course you should be helpful if you can to any people you find interesting, but if you focus on forming these mutually beneficial bonds with people in your industry the results can be more impressive.

Forming your Mafia family
Ok so maybe won't wanna go so far as to form an illegal crime syndicate (although that could be fun!). But wouldn't it be good to have a group of really cool people who you respected and shared an industry with to help support you and your projects and accomplishments? After being the first to demonstrate the power of helping out your peers. You'll most likely start to receive some love back. Keep the momentum up, connect on other levels, maybe get a bit more personal on facebook, go out for some food or some drinks. Meet for lunch and brainstorm some ideas. Who knows what you might come up with. The point is that with a bit of socialising, you can solidify this group of mutually respected people into a group of friends that can help and support each other for a overall better experience for all.

This concept isn't so strange, it's the basis for tribes then societies forming, we're stronger together than apart. I do think that in today's world of never ending work commitments and endless distractions, sometimes we forget the importance of forming bonds with people and taking time to nurture these relationships.

Many people are familiar with the statistic that puts public speaking at the top of the list of things adults fear the most. Addressing a large group of people is something we've all probably had to do at some stage and even for the most confident of orators, it can be challenging.

When I first started blogging and generally participating online I felt some of the same pangs of nervousenss that I'd previously felt speaking in public. What if people think my blog is stupid? What if people on Twitter ignore me? What if the comments I leave on the blogs I read are lame? These were all thoughts that went through my head. I mean, if we can be nervous about expressing our opinions in public in the real world, why is it so unreasonable for us to fear expressing our views online? What if we're naturally shy and introverted? Does this mean the riches of social media and the new web are forever out of our reach?

I don't think so, here are a couple of ideas for getting over the fears of participating in the online conversation.

1. Write for yourself
A great way to start off blogging is to focus on writing your blog for yourself, or perhaps someone you know and trust. Don't act like you have to please everyone on the internet. After all people's blogs should represent their perspective and their voice. If you are lucky enough to get a huge number of people reading your work then adapting to your audiences needs is a welcome problem to deal with!

2. Be nice
You're not the only person who's out there blogging and participating and probably not the only person who's sensitive about their ideas and opinions going public online. If you want people to respect your views, don't go around trashing other people. This is just good karmic sense.

3. Parrots are irritating
So I'm sure you've got a few blogging hero's online, right? They always seem to know what to say and get applauded for their views by tons of enthusiastic online fans. Sure you could mirror their views, re-purpose or summarise their blogs in an effort to create acceptable content, but we probably enjoyed what was said better the first time round. It also makes you sound kinda phoney just to echo what someone else said. Remember, it's about your perspective and your view

4. Have fun
Why so sad? Why not relax, put on some of your favourite music and just have fun with it. Nobody said you had to write a perfect piece of literary work or break the latest greats news stories. Just enjoy it, enjoy expressing yourself, enjoy working your writing and creative muscles.

5. Just dive in
If you've been thinking about joining in the online conversation, just do it, it's never been easier to start a blog or pick up a conversation with someone online. Try it out, if you don't enjoy it or don't feel it's for you, then you can just log off. Better to have tried it though.

So those are a few words of advice, some tactics that helped me join the online conversation, and it's something I'm very glad I did.

Guy Kawasaki recently referred to a very useful post on the importance of writing good content for achieving high search engine (read google) rankings. Some of the tips in the post included writing good titles for your blogs/webpages (which is actually a key weapon in any SEO expert's arsenal). Kawasaki then goes on to state that "Google's in the business of finding good shiitake. You should be in the business of writing good shiitake."

I've always believe that you should write your content for humans and not computers to read, however, the idea that you can be a complete unknown, write great content, and then magically get a lot of traffic and have Google find your 'shiitake' is naive at best. Although I agree that writing great content makes things a lot easier, a heck of a lot of networking, promotion, and consistency is required to generate awareness of your content. Unless you're like Guy who had some major online gurus touting his blog when he started it out, it'll probably take a lot longer for you to get your blog up and running and found by google for any meaningful or useful searches. That is if it's not part of the 95% of blogs started then abandoned.

Also, think about this in the context of a commercial website. You may write the wittiest, most thought provoking content on blank DVDs but that won't be enough by itself to boost your SEO. Without other websites linking to your content, without people referencing it in forums or messageboards, or tweeting it or posting a link to it on Facebook or seeing it in the Youtube, your content will exist in a vaccum. You've got to combine this great content with hard work to get your content out there. Let's face it, the VAST majority of commercial websites are brochure sites with STATIC content that never changes. So how useful is the mantra 'just write it and they will come'?