Military strategy and business management

Why does it matter? How much does it cost? What does it get us?



I had the opportunity to be at a meeting on Friday. Under normal circumstances, I dislike meetings, but this one was a bit different; it provided the opportunity to network, the guest speaker was a distinguished military leader, and he was to provide some information that would be important, if I was to forecast the future. Every manager is a fortune teller, every CEO is supposed to be gifted with the capabilities to pierce the veil of secrecy if the fates. Those who don’t, are destined to mediocrity, and failure.
All along, this military leader keep reminding us the mantra used by him to change the paradigm of day to day business.


See, the United States Military is like the hydra of many heads. Each head has a brain, that contrary to popular belief, it is used on a regular basis, and each head has an enormous amount of authority. But, like with every major enterprise, when you have many heads at the helm, little is accomplish, unless you standardize procedures.
That is why this meeting was important to me. It is at times of war that you realize, very quickly, what will work and what will not. What works in peace time might not be as efficient during war, and will probably fail royally.



So he told us the story of how the military obtained money for different projects, and how, some sections of the military where very well trained, but their infrastructure was deplorable, think 21st century military, housed planning, and working from World War II era buildings; and some areas of the same military were just not as well trained, but their infrastructure was futuristic, and majestic. Obviously, there needed to be a change if the military was to continue providing a service of excellence.



The change needed, was a change in the state of mind of the decision makers; or, train each individual head of the hydra to think alike, within the same principles.
Why does it matter? How much does it cost? What does it get us?
And that new paradigm, has literally transformed the U. S. Military in the course of a few short years.



Why is this important to you as an entrepreneur, Social media marketing expert, expert search engine optimization manager, Internet marketing director, program manager, service manager, etc?Simple, lets start with the first question, and I will use the other two as the topic for the next two posts of this blog.


Why is it needed?


Do you remember William Tell? Or are you too young to know of the Archer who was forced to shoot an apple from the head of his son?


If you are an American who has never being overseas, and suddenly I drop you at the port of Ashueibah (I know that the spelling of this name is probably wrong, but trust me, it does exist), and then tell you: “your mission is to prepare the area for the arrival of 25,000 people, and about 15000 vehicles, combat systems (some of those top secret), weapons, explosives, computers, pencils, notebooks, printers, bullets, kitchen appliances, soccer balls, weight sets, Bowflex systems, rifles, school supplies, water purification technology, generators, and who knows what else… notice the disparity in the classes of supplies, facilities needed to house or store each individual class, and personnel needs to be able to do it efficiently… you are dropped there with a friend of yours, no money, no food, no map, just your wits.


Well, that happened to me in 2003.


What would you do besides crawling to a corner, assuming the fetal position, and cry like a baby?


Bring back William Tell… will you?


What would have happened to Mr.Tell’s son if good ole Bill would have being blindfolded, spun around, and ordered to soot? His son would probably have died, or the arrow would have being wasted, since Mr. Tell could not possibly find his target.


It is the same with your blog, website, business, marketing project, career, life, marriage, etc.
You should have a clear picture of what you want to achieve, and why does it matter.
Having a clear understanding of what you want to achieve, and why does it matter, gives you the perspective needed to prioritize, and work more efficiently. Why does it matter where I place my ads on my blog? Why does it matter if I hire an expert search engine optimization professional, or not; why does it matter if I spend my entire budget on part “B” of my project or not?






Answer that question, and you will be ready to begin, and yet, if it really does not matter… why are you doing it anyway? That if the mentality that you need to posses, in order to sort through the cluster of seemingly unrelated tasks that you face day to day, and not crawl into a dark closet, assume the fetal position, and cry like a baby. That mental attitude, will give you a more concise list of tasks to accomplish, in order to accomplish the mission, and be successful.


Tell me what you think, what principles do you use to keep you focused?


Again, think about your previous experiences. Has this article given you new ideas? The way you do business, could you use new ideas? Can you change the way you do certain things in your day to day operations that would save you money, and improve your output? Share your ideas with us…

Add me as a friend on FaceBook, MySpace, follow me on Twitter, StumbleUpon my articles and profile, and Sta.rtup.biz…






Read other related articles:

Reasons for my absence
Money Matters
Marketing on a Budget

My top 10 influential people on the Internet

In the world of expert search engine optimization, social media marketing, strategic internet marketing, everyday life reporting online, and personalities who have make a mark in history, I can think of 10 (actually 11) whose contribution, in my humble opinion, have made a mark and raised the Nations level of consciousness, and in some cases, have made life easier, set an example of exelence, or open new and exciting ways to succeed. As with every list, opinions are subjective, and you are welcome to disagree with me.


Number 10: Glenn Beck. Yes, I know, he seems nuts and is a Conservative. So am I, believe it or not. I like Glenn because he is real. He expresses his opinion, and keeps an open mind, he also has the ability to see the big picture, and foresee what might happen in the future. He is also a great family man, and, as a recovering alcoholic who seven years ago was broke, an inspiration to all of us who think of America as the promised land and still thinks that the American Dream is alive and well.

Number 9: Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger who produced the famous wikipedia. Even though anyone can edit the aricles and it is not considered an authorize source for research, when you are in a crunch for time and need information really fast, the good old wiki is priceless. Of course, before you submit any information gathered from wiki, you do need to verify it with a quick Google search.


Number 8: Seth Godin. An entrepreneur from an early age, Seth has written several books, has several blogs, and one of his most important contributions to mankind is Squidoo.



Number 7: Darren Rowse. Darren (of http://www.problogger.net/ fame) is a professional blogger who in 2002 read an article on blogging, and the rest is history. He is one of the authorities in blogging techniques, and online success. If you want to learn from one of the best, problogger.net is a must read.


Number 6: John Chow. A Vancouver, Canada entrepreneur, who launched a tech review site in 1999, and the rest is history. Later on, he started a blog, like many others, and decided to start teaching how to make millions online. His free e-book, “Make Money online”, is one that I read every so often for it’s timeless advice. Get his free ebook. (http://www.johnchow.com/)


Number 5: Matt Drudge. The prototypical problem child, aimless and a lousy student, became famous by being the first to break the Clinton scandal that eventually got to his impeachment. Starting as a “gossip by email newsletter” the “Drudge Report” is news aggregator so thorough, that the main talk show hosts in the United States routinely use it as their main source for up to the minute information. If you want to see and read the news that most likely will not make the 10:00 p. m. news, read Drudge. (http://www.drudgereport.com/)



Number 4: Skellie (of Skelliewag.org). Skellie is a political science major in Australia, she has being creating excellent content for her blogs for years. I became a fan of hers after reading some of her articles in Pro Blogger. Her insight into entrepreneurship is, in my humble opinion, outstanding. Her blog is a must read. (http://www.skelliewag.org/)

Number 3: The entrepreneur. There are millions of people trying to make money online. As long as we maintain a goal in front of us, and as long as we continue to have freedom, we can, and will, improve the world’s quality of life, and make the planet a better place to live.


Number 2: Bill Gates. He is prototypical example of the American Dream. Get an idea, develop it, and become a zillionaire. He has done more for the Internet, than most, while reaping the benefits.


Number 1: Brian Campbell. He became famous yet again this past summer when he re created himself, and promised to make $10,000 in 37 days. From that point on, Media Marketing became a household name for millions of people around the globe. Brian prides himself of providing free tips, that when followed correctly, will help you become an Internet expert, with the potential of making a lot of money.

Who are your favorite Internet personalities and why? Let me know…

Feel free to stumble, Digg, or post this article in any or all of your favorite Social Media Communities. Follow me on Twitter as joseacolon, and make sure to befriend me on Facebook as joeacolon, and Stumble me on StumbleUpon.Who are your favorite Internet personalities and why? Let me know…

Herding cats, easier than getting organized

Herding Cats, organizing yourself…



Social Media Marketing 101 is the title of this blog, and obviously enough, the main topic. Someone once said: “If you want something done, give it to someone busy”. I want to find he who said that and choke him or her, since it seems that everybody wants to give me something to do.

Don’t take me wrong, while being depended upon is a royal pain in you know where, it just means that you are good at what you do, and that you are needed; but there is a limit.

If we continue accepting task, after task, we will never have a life, we will grow resentment, and soon, our lives will be so unmanageable, that we might want to scream. Social media has significantly contributed to the increase in our work load.

So, here is to mental sanity:


1. STOP. Make a list of everything that you do on a daily basis, I suggest you use a spreadsheet.



2. In column number 2, in one word write down why (i.e. “recreation“, “family”, “friendship“, “work“, “school“, “social media”, “no clue“) and yes, I know that no clue is two words. TIP: consider the fact that if you have no clue of why you are doing what you are doing, is time to knock it off and drop that from our schedule.

3. Sort the list by those words that you used to describe your tasks. Put all that fall within the heading of “work” together, same with “recreation”, “friendship”, etc.

4. Now that you have several lists, assign each task from every class a priority: A, B, or C. You either have to do it now or today, it can wait until tomorrow, or, who cares if it gets done.

5. Every day, you should establish a specific time frame for “Work”, time for your “family“, “study or school”, “part time job” could be growing a business, or expanding your network (social media), and some “recreation”. Balance your life. Make sure that you do those tasks on each category marked “A”. If there is time, do “B”, and if there is still time, then and only then, do “C”. Do not let one category interfere with the time of the other, specially, if the one bleeding and preventing you from achieving your goals is either “friends”, “social media”, etc.



Remember that you need to work for a living, and that your family needs you. But lets keep perspective. A needy relative, that can take care of himself or herself if push comes to shove, needs to learn just that, that you are not their personal slave, that will empower them to become self reliant. That is a good thing. “Give someone a fish, and you fed them dinner, teach a man to fish, and you fed them for the rest of their life”.

Social media can be an unruly master, or a 500 lbs gorilla how many of those plants are you going to send on FaceBook? How many groups are you going to belong to? The “underwater basket weaving club” can do without your presence, so feel free to press “IGNORE” on silly things like that. I do not need to know when you go to the bathroom through Twitter, or “when you got drunk or had sex last” on FaceBook, or MySpace.

Remember: Social Media is being used by 21st Century corporations to check you out when you apply for a job, so, the pictures of you drunk like a skunk, are not cute, or, the pictures of yourself or your girlfriend seating in the bathroom doing number two, are not only embarrassing, but disgusting. So, you are no longer in a fraternity or a sorority, you are an adult; and if you belong to one, remember that those days are only a phase, and you will be forced to deal with whatever dumb things you did.

By facing these simple tasks, you will tame that big monkey that prevents you from being productive.

What other ways of taming the 500 lbs gorilla can you think of? Share them in our comments section.

Feel free to add me to your list of friends on StumbleUpon, FaceBook, and/or follow me on Twitter.

Reason for my absence

I haven’t being as actively involved lately and for about a month now, I have only made regular posts to my political blog.

Those of you who follow me regularly, know that I have being a Soldier in the American Army and am proud of it, since I have served and served well. I have being able to make a difference in the world and have being there when history is in the making. I have saved countless lives and help improve the quality of many with education and technology.

I have always being an innovator and so, early this year, I decided that it was time to join the 21st century by submerging myself in the social media experience and, unknown to me yet, the Web 2.0 phenomenon.

So, I started by researching the field. I found John Chow, and after reading his book, I decided to create a blog. As many of you will know, when you first start, you do not really have a clear picture of what or why you are doing what you are doing.

I found Technorati, and of course, the giants My Space and Face Book. I was skittish about My Space because of all the hoopla, but, since I have being in regions of the world where there was no guarantee that I would survive, why not? I got my account.

Late Spring, while reading John Chow.com, I found out about Brian Campbell, the man who in my opinion revolutionized the Social Media Experience by attempting and achieving earnings of $10,000.00 in 37 days. John Chow, said, that when someone “tries a gimmick of this magnitude, he either succeeds or fails”. It was going to be a good way to learn from someone who was doing what he was suggesting, and a great way to learn step by step what to do. So, Brian exhorted (wisely, I might add) all to become his fan on Face Book, and to follow him on Twitter, and to copy his strategy, thus, teaching by example, and helping countless others succeed along the way.

Over the years, my experience have taught me that the best way to learn is by teaching; that the best way to succeed is by reaching to others and bring them with you, and that the measure of your success is proportional to the amount of people you help along the way. Brian epitomizes these principles, so I started my websites: “Social Media Marketing 101”, and “Today’s Realistic Solutions”; my social media blog: “SocialMediaMarketing 101.blogspot.com”, and, my political blog: “Thinkingamerican.blogtownhall.com”. I must warn you, my political blog might turn some of you off, since I am highly opinionated, and have no problem expressing my opinions. That is why I keep my political life separate from my business life.

Following Brian’s advise, I created two Face Book groups: “Social Media Marketing 101” and “Mercadeo Social 101 en Face Book”. Soon, I was burned out translating from English to Spanish, since I have a full time job, and a part time job, while working towards my college degree. It gets pretty hectic every once in a while.

One thing that brightens my day, is when writing for the Business Forum, and for Helium.com. Helium specially, allows me the flexibility to write about anything that comes to mind, and find a niche to publish it in. That fact has rewarded me with several stories featured on their front page. I have also developed a fairly good following on my political blog.

One thing that has helped my budget is that I try not to sign for anything where I have to pay ahead of time, or there is a monthly fee, Brian’s “Social Media Marketing System” being an exception, since he keeps a decent forum, and there are a number of fellow Brian students, who collaborate and help each other.

The issue here, and the purpose for this post, is to give my loyal readers a reason for my absence, and why I am doing what I am doing.

Every so often, I believe that you should stand back and watch your work, re evaluate your goals, and the path that you are following to achieve them if you must. Otherwise, you are taking the risk of getting lost in the forest that is life.

Remember, it is hard to put the arrow in the center of the bulls eye target, if you are blindfolded , and cannot see your target.

In the Army, we have a way to express this perspective, where we plan for the 50 meters target, the hundred meters target, and the 200 hundred meters target. The 50 meters target is what you can actually almost touch, from now until 90 days from now. That is almost happening as we chat; and is important to keep it in mind because otherwise, you will forget a detail or two that can mean the difference between success or failure.

The hundred meters target is your longer range planning. That usually includes 90 days to a year from now. Why is that important, we have time to react.

That is just it. When the only thing that you do is reacting to what life throws your way, you really do not control your life, life controls you. What would you like to achieve during the course of the year? By knowing that, you can start modifying your 50 meters target, in such a way where you are actually achieving successive small steps toward your 100 meters target. It is those small victories that transform into a chain of events that brings you closer to successes.

Now, it is time to look at where you want to be five years from now. What is the definition of insanity? Keep doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result? Look back to five years ago. If you can say today, that things have not really changed for you, and you have not really improved your quality of life, and have not achieve ever increasing levels of what you could call success, chances are, five years from now, you will be in the same spot you are now, doing the same thing and growing resentful, angrier, and frustrated.

So, lets recap, shall we?

Number one: establish your 50 meters target, write it down, and work toward achieving those goals every day.

Number two: establish your 100 meters target, or what you want to achieve (or need to achieve) in three months to a year from now. Modify your 50 meters target so you actually work towards your 100 meters target every day.

Number three: establish your 200 meters target. This time, review your 100 meters targets, and modify them accordingly, so they become steps on the road to your 200 meters target. Don’t forget to modify your 50 meters target accordingly.

And there you have it, that is how the American Army plans their missions and succeed at attaining their main goals.

There are many other ways to do Goal Setting. These techniques have work for me. Which do you like? Which do you prefer? Why? Let me know. Your comments are always appreciated.

13 ways to promote your blog

Darren Rowse, in his post on Pro Blogger gives us 13 ways to promote our next blog post:

Read and learn… It is an excellent post:

Written on September 16th, 2008 at 10:09 pm by Darren Rowse

13 Ways to Promote Your Next Blog Post

Blog Promotion,You’re slaved over your post - crafting titles, opening lines, adding depth, designing the post to be eye catching and more - you select the perfect time for your post to go live and hit ‘publish’!

It’s over - another post ‘released’ into the wild - there’s nothing more you can do except sit back, see how people like it and start on your next post…. or is there?

Instead of seeing the moment of publishing a post as the end point in the posting cycle of a post - I see it as the birthing moment of a post. The work has only just begun and what you do in the minutes and hours after it goes live can exponentially increase the effectiveness of the post!

Original Image by Elephi Pelephi


Today I want to talk about promoting your blog posts.
A lot is written about promoting and marketing blogs (as a whole) but I’ve found looking at ‘promotion’ on a more micro level (at a post by post level) can be a highly effective strategy.

Having hit publish on your post - don’t just leave it to chance that your post will be read by people. Giving it a few strategic ‘nudges’ can increase the exposure it gets exponentially.

Let me describe a few post promotion activities that I engage in.

note: I don’t use all of these techniques on every post but instead see them as a variety of tools that sit in my blog promotion toolbox and pull out different ones on different posts depending how suitable they are.

13 Ways to Promote Your Next Blog Post
1. Pitching Other Bloggers
One of the most effective ways of getting the word out about a new post is to let other bloggers know about it. There isn’t much more powerful a way to find new readers than another blogger recommending something you’ve written to people who trust them.

Getting other bloggers to link to your posts is not always easy though - particularly in the early days of a blog or if you don’t have some sort of profile or pre-existing relationship with the bloggers that you’re pitching. However it isn’t impossible. Here are a few tips on how to pitch your posts to other blogs:

Relevancy is key - don’t pitch stories to other bloggers that have little or no relevance to their blog. You’ll just be wasting their time and yours.
Only pitch your best posts - you will have a much higher success rate at getting a link if you only do it with your best stuff. I would only ever do this with around 1-2% of my posts.
Give them an angle - don’t just shoot the link over - tell the blogger what the story is about and why it might be relevant to their blog. Save them a little work by showing how the post might be interesting to their readers.
Keep it brief - if the blogger wants lots of details about your post they’ll click the link. Be to the point, communicate what you need to say and then let the blogger get on with their day.
Be polite - don’t assume you’ll get the link or insist that they link to you - make the suggestion and let the blogger decide if it’s relevant for them.
Be personal - use their name, their blog’s name and show you are not just spamming thousands of blogs with your email.
Read more tips like these on pitching other bloggers at 13 Tips on Asking other Bloggers for Links.


2. Social Messaging
An increasingly large source of traffic for my own blogs over the last year has been Twitter and other social messaging sites (like Friendfeed and Plurk). I use a mixture of automated tools and personalized tools to drive this traffic. On twitter I use TwitterFeed to tweet items from my blog’s RSS feed.

I find that this works best if your blogs feed is not the only thing that you’re putting up on Twitter. Add your own personal tweets, link to other people’s content, ask readers questions etc - the more you mix it up the more effective your own automated tweets will be accepted and clicked upon by your followers.

Don’t be afraid to use social messaging to promote posts that have good discussion on them also. I find that 12-24 hours after my post goes live can be a good time to shoot out another tweet if there’s a particularly hot conversation going on (in fact this can drive even more traffic than the first TwitterFeed automated tweet as it alerts your followers to a conversation rather than just content).


3. Social Bookmarking
This is something that I only do on selected posts - those that I think could do well on bookmarking sites like Digg or StumbleUpon.

I won’t go into great depth on this topic in this post as I recently wrote on how to get to the front page of Digg and have posted other tips at Using Social Media Sites to Grow Your Blog’s Traffic.


4. Internal Links
A great deal of blog promotion tips focus upon how to promote your blog on other people’s blogs and sites - but a great way to promote your blog post is to do it on your own blog.

One thing that I try to do with my best posts after I publish them is to think about where I could promote it on my own blog.

While it is at the top of my blog’s front page (the primary place to promote it) if you think hard you’re bound to find a few other posts in your archives that you could link to this new post. Find places where you’ve covered similar topics before and add your link as a ‘related reading’ link or even add a link to your new post within the content of an old post.

You might also want to add your new post to previously written ‘sneeze pages‘ or your sidebar if it’s a key post. Every link you add on your own blog to your new post potentially sends your current readers to your new post but also helps your blog with Search Engine Optimization (internal links count too).


5. Newsletters
If you have a newsletter list on your blog and you’ve written what you consider to be a key blog post - include a link to it in your next newsletter. Doing this will drive traffic but also signal to your readers that it’s a pillar post that you feel deserves their attention.

As with each of the points above - only do this with your best and most relevant posts. If you do it with every post reader will become desensitized to your recommended reading.


6. Other Blogs Comments Sections and Forums
NOTE: tread carefully with this one and only do it occasionally and in a way that adds value.

If you’ve got a post that you think relates strongly to something that another blogger has written about or that is the topic of discussion on a forum - leave a link to your own post.

The key to pulling this off without being labled a spammer is to leave a genuinely useful comment on the blog or forum. The comment itself should add value, be right on topic and contribute to the conversation. Then if you include a link introduce it with a ‘I’ve written more about this at….’ type comment rather than just a spammy call to action.

The other option is to email the other blogger first and ask if they’d mind if you leave the link. You might even find that the blogger will add the link to the post itself (don’t assume this).


7. Email Signatures
If you use a service like Feedburner they have a little widget that you can add to your email signature that highlights your latest blog posts. I’m not sure how effective that this is at driving traffic but the principle is a good one.

I know of a couple of bloggers who do the same thing by hand - they pick one or two of their latest key posts and add links to them as ‘featured posts’ in their email signatures. Many of us have links to our blog’s main URL in our email signatures but it strikes me that a link to a recent individual post could actually be more effective as it sends people to your very best content - food for thought.


8. Followup Posts
If you’ve just written a post that you feel is important a great technique to give it a second round of attention is to write a second post extending the first in some way.

This technique is very powerful at adding a sense of momentum to your blog.

‘Treat every post as an introduction to your next’. Here’s an image that describes this process taken from How to Keep Momentum Going by Building on Previous Posts.



Also check out how I use Mind Mapping to extend posts and do followups like this.


9. Advertise Your Post
This one won’t be for everyone and is definitely only for those special posts that you write that you particularly want to drive traffic to - but why not put a little budget aside to promote a post with some advertising.

Key posts that have a high ‘usefulness factor’ to potential readers are a great way to find new loyal readers to a blog. Rather than advertising the front page of your blog a high quality post can actually be the perfect landing page for an advertisement.

There are a variety of ways to advertise a blog but one of my favorites is on StumbleUpon where you can actually start an organic rush of traffic to a good blog post with a relatively small budget. Learn more on how to do it at Run a StumbleUpon Advertising Campaign for your Blog.


4 More Ways to Promote Key Blog Posts
The list could go on - here are a few more quick tips on how to promote individual blog posts:

10. Write a Press Release - some press release services don’t cost anything (or much) and they can be surprisingly effective with a little luck.
11. Pitch Mainstream Media - some posts will have mainstream media appeal. Shoot a paper, magazine, TV or Radio station an email - you might get lucky.
12. Article Marketing - while I’ve never done article marketing I know a few bloggers who swear by writing articles for ‘free article sites’ as a way to promote themselves. While they often include links back to their main blog in these articles I think there’s some strong arguments for doing it to individual posts.
13. Add a Comments Competition - if you want to increase reader interaction on a particular post run a comments competition where you give one commenter a prize. To increase the ‘quality’ and not just ‘quantity’ of comments offer a prize for the ‘best’ comment rather than a random comment.

How do You Promote Blog Posts?
I’ve covered 12 ways to promote an individual blog post above. What would you add?

How have you done it? What success have you had?

Keep in mind I’m not asking about how you promote your blog in a general sense - but how do you drive traffic to individual blog posts?

Read the Full Series
This post is part of a series on how to craft blog posts. It will be all the more powerful if taken in context of the full series which looks at 10 points in the posting process to pause and put extra effort. Start reading this series here.

The world in turmoil, the door of opportunity opens

As the world is in turmoil, and hopes and dreams are crushed, the weak will lay down and perish, while the visionary and the strong will just get up, brush off the dust, and keep on going. One of my favorite sayings: “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going”, is as valid as always.

The eyes of the world are fixed in the United States. Will the economy of the most powerful nation in the world recover, or collapse? Will the United States repeat the mistakes of the past and re live the great depression of the 30’s?

Who knows… Seth Godin has a point when he said: “most of us aren't focused on flipping assets. We're building value by creating interactions that work, by writing stories that spread or by designing products and services that actually create something worth paying for.”
We are talking about the bloggers, the marketing experts, the thinkers, those who pride themselves on providing a worthwhile product, and more often than not, they provide value.

There will always be a place for those who refuse to give in, and with hope, and optimism, face the future, thus, making life better, not only for themselves but for others as well.

There is no limits to what the mind can create. Success does not come easy either. It requires discipline, persistence, and intuitiveness. A good does of imagination does not hurt either.

Keep on trucking, keep on writing, the doors of opportunity will always be open for those with the right frame of mind.