Every time I hear someone say, “I don’t use social media–that’s just greasy kids stuff” I just want to pull my hair out. Wake up people! There are some serious numbers all across the board for social media, and we ain’t just talkin’ ’bout blogging. Other social media activities, like rating content, reading/viewing content, and sharing content also rate high.

Let’s take B2B buyers as a group. Most of you should be interested in this demographic, because after all, as a techie consultant, you’re probably running into these folks at one point or another. Think they’re not using social media tools? Think again! According to Forrester research, they’re one of the most highly involved groups of people they’ve ever sampled!

Some highlights from this research (start by looking at the right two columns):

• 91% of these technology decision-makers were Spectators – the highest number I’ve ever seen in a Social Technographics Profile. This means you can count on the fact that your buyers are reading blogs, watching user generated video, and participating in other social media. Note that 69% of them said they were using this technology for business purposes.
• Only 5% are non-participants (Inactives).
• 55% of these decision-makers were in social networks (Joiners) — despite as mature businesspeople and not college students, you’d think they’d be participating a lot less.
• 43% are creating media (blogs, uploading videos or articles, etc.) and 58% are Critics, reacting to content they see in social formats. Again the numbers are very high compared to other groups we’ve surveyed, and again the level of participation for business purposes is also very high.

What does this mean for you? If you’re a B2B marketer and you’re not using social technologies in your marketing, it means you’re late. We’ve seen a lot of excellent activity here from the likes of Dell and National Instruments (both won Forrester Groundswell awards) but a lot of the blogs, communities, and other social outreach from business to business companies is less than mature, to say the least. This is your chance to stand out. Take this report and show it to your boss to convince her that it’s time to get started.

Read their blog post here.

Well, based on feedback we were getting from early buyers and workshop attendees, we decided to revamp the book cover. The good folks at Nimble Books, LLC have just told me that the cover has gone through and will soon be available to anyone who purchases the book. Here’s hoping that we get the cover image updated on Amazon.com soon!

The good folks at oDesk Blog report an interesting bit of news:

Are you sick of hearing dreadful news every day about the U.S. economy? 40,000 jobs cuts here, 15,000 layoffs there. Unemployment potentially rising to 10% in this recession. Fortunately, we have some good news for Americans today.

We see over 11,000 jobs posted every month, and historically many of those jobs have gone offshore to lower-cost countries. But, oDesk is a free market, and over the past year we’ve seen a resurgence in homeshoring, or U.S. companies outsourcing to U.S.-based talent. Why is this the case? While rates are higher for U.S. providers, feedback scores tend to be higher, too.

Work done in the U.S. grew at a rate of 367% from 2007 to 2008, 50% faster than oDesk’s overall rate of growth.

I’ll be speaking on March 14, from 11:30 to 12:30 on the topic of my book From Geek to Peak.

The very nice people at SxSW tell me that my panel will be one of their Core Conversations. Here’s a little preview of what these are about:

 

The informal discussions that pop up in the hallways between, during and after panel sessions have traditionally been one of the most productive parts of the SXSW Interactive Festival. In 2008, we formalized this process with the Core Conversation program — thereby making it easier for more attendees to participate in these hallway-type exchanges of information by letting them know what kind of discussion is happening when and where. For 2009, each of these hour-long Core Conversation sessions will have its own room, which should eliminate most of the noise problems from last year.

We anticipate about 75 total Core Conversations for 2009, so check back to this page frequently for updates on additional sessions. A day-by-day schedule of when these Core Conversations will occur should be posted on this page in mid-December.

I’m organizing a free conference call on November 7, noon central. The topic? How to jump start your freelance/consulting career in troubled times. Simply click here to register. The focus will be on marketing yourself. We have room for 90 folks on the call, so RSVP now.

So sorry that I haven’t blogged in a while. I focused most of the late summer finishing up Geek to Peak and getting it to the editors. Then I took a two-week vacation to Ohio to visit Uncles, etc etc. To make up for past sins, here’s a quick sample of the first few pages. I think you’ll find it a good book to have if you’re gonna start a new freelance career.

Let’s make a deal, right here, right now. 
I’ll start with a promise. This is not going to be your usual book about starting a business. It won’t contain any familiar chestnuts about choosing a snazzy business name, buying a Yellow Pages ad, hiring a graphic designer to create a pimpin’ logo, and doing everything you can to be the hottest thing on the scene. It’s going to deliver realistic, targeted advice for the technical professional seeking to make his or her own way as a freelancer or consultant. In fact, it’s going to focus on your first 365 days in business, because that’s where you lay all the groundwork for your career.  

What’s more, 90% of the advice will be centered on marketing yourself as a technical professional, using techniques that will build your visibility and credibility. 

Because I know most of you hate marketing, I make a further solemn promise to give you the kind of advice that won’t make you feel like a jackass when you follow it. 

That’s my part of the deal. 

What’s your part? 

It’s simple, really. Before you proceed, you’re going to agree to a simple little thing. It’s not such a big thing at first glance, but by agreeing to it, you make yourself ready to absorb what’s in this book. We only have a few hours together, but in those few hours, I hope to make your first year in business a roaring success.  

Okay, here’s what you have to agree to: 

My name is [insert name here] and I am a complete and total ninja bad-ass in [insert name of technical prowess here]. 

Read that line a few more times to yourself, then say it out loud a few times. Walk up to your nearest significant other (if you have more than one, then all righty), spouse (ditto), brother, sister, parent, dog, or just a mirror and say it. Then repeat it a few more times, but mean it this time. Don’t read another friggin’ word of this book until you’ve got that down.  

If you’re in a bookstore just leafing through this thing, trying to decide if you want to buy it or maybe splurge your hard-earned bucks on a John Mellencamp retrospective instead, go ahead and do it anyway. Just walk up to a store clerk or that really cute guy/girl in the next aisle. Go ahead. I’ll be here when you get back. 

If you’re incapable of saying it to yourself or others, then I have some bad news for you. You’d better get to the point where you can say it, and believe it, and live it, and BE it, or your career in technical consulting will be awfully nasty, brutish, and short, to paraphrase Hobbes. 

Don’t despair, though, if you’re too scared to say it to someone else. Not yet. Just say it under your breath a couple dozen times. By the end of this book, you will be saying it to everyone. You’ll be chomping at the bit to say it. I promise. 

If you can say it out loud, right here, right now on this very first page of this book, congratulations! You’ve taken the first step. As the Consultant to the Consultants (Alan Weiss) once said to a group of us who had gathered to hear him speak in Austin, Texas, the biggest obstacle to consulting success is … low self-esteem.

My name is Tom Myer. For the past 7 years, I’ve run a web development consulting firm called Triple Dog Dare Media. I’ve worked as a lone-gun consultant, as a contractor, as a partner with other folks in my company, as the head of ad-hoc teams, and as a manager of employees. I’ve subleased office space, rented my own space, and worked out of a converted office space. I’ve worked on small jobs that lasted an afternoon, led teams on six-month projects, and been “that guy” that comes in for a day or two to provide an assessment and flies out.

Throughout all that time, I’ve been approached many times by many wannabe, gonnabe, and oughtabe (and just a few people who were merely curious about my lifestyle but had no intentions of ever following through) freelancers/consultants. They wanted advice, ideas, and to buy me coffee or lunch. I was always glad to help. Mostly I was just stunned that anyone wanted to hear my advice.

This last year, I was approached by my book agent (Neil Salkind) about some off-the-beaten-path ideas. I’d just finished writing a book on CodeIgniter for WROX and had some other titles under my belt. The very same day that I started talking with Neil, I received emails from three total strangers seeking advice on how to become a successful freelancer.

None of these three, like none of the folks before them, ever wanted to start a restaurant or retail store or even a traditional high-tech software company with outside investors. They were Javasacript geeks, PHP ninjas, HTML wizards, and QA geeks who were tired of slaving away inside a dreary cubicle, or who were facing certain layoff or downsizing. They wanted more flexibility and balance in their life, and they wanted to make some real money with their skills–but they wanted to avoid all the pitfalls (like financial ruin) that they may encounter. And all of them were terrified of the M word…marketing.

I forwarded these notes to Neil and said, “Listen, this keeps happening to me. Why don’t I write a book about this and start a blog over at myerman.com as a companion piece?” Ten days later, I had a contract in hand to write a book, and so now I’m retrofitting what was once a personal web site into this blog.

The focus will always be on the technical professional who wants to create a thriving, balanced, and profitable freelance or consulting practice. If you want to start any other kind of business, or if you have a non-technical focus, some of these concepts will help you, but the focus will be on the geek.

Why? Because geeks are (generally) very smart people with their own strengths and shortcomings, and so far not a lot of attention has been paid to them.

Here’s what the book’s going to cover, in brief:

• How to tell if you’re ready to become a freelancer
• How to run through some effective self-assessment
• What kind of fees should you start out with
• How to figure out your specialty or focus
• How to put together an effective one-page marketing plan
• What you need to do before your first day of business
• How to get business in the door
• How to survive your first 30 days
• How to survive your first six months
• How to survive your first year
• How to grow your business

What this book isn’t:

• A dreary manual that trots out the same old advice about incorporating
• A scary book on how to make cold calls
• A fear-mongering book about the perils of financial ruin
• A rah-rah tome that would only benefit the most outgoing and extroverted

As I start writing the book, I will continue to post materials here, as well as provide opportunities for subscribers to tune into teleseminars and other materials. More later!