Ty Social Media

Dance In D.R.E.A.M.S. Concurso de Kizomba

via youtube.com

There's something about the atmosphere I sense here. Very tango-esqe in an uptempo sorta way. I like it. If you don't know....this dance is called Kizomba.

I'm playing with something called www.dragontape.com .

WanderingSalsero: Worried about getting screwed by your freelancer?

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October 25, 2010

Worried about getting screwed by your freelancer?

Have you ever thought about employing a freelancer but you're worried about losing money due to communications problems, lack of technical competance or just a bad attitude?

Well, I feel your pain.  I had the same worry before I used a freelancer the first time.  I don't worry about it now that I've learned how this kind of service works.

The good news is that pretty much all the freelancer sites have rating systems in place.  You can actually see the kind of jobs any particular freelancer has done for other people and you can see the ratings they received on their work. 

So......don't worry about getting screwed. 

As I see it, you're chances are no worse than with somebody you'd hire 'back home'.  And actually, because the majority of the people who do this kind of work (i.e. freelancing) greatly appreciate the opportunity to work for you.

Did you know you can actually hire a webmaster, full time, for as little as $800 a month?

Related articles

• Poll: Average Age of Freelancers (freelanceswitch.com)
• Entrepreneur or freelancer? (jondale.com)
• Interview with Featured Freelancer: Mike Vardy (freelanceswitch.com)
• How Freelancers Can Avoid Old Boot Soup (letsfreckle.com)
• Is Outsourcing Actually An Option For Expert Online Marketers? (ronmedlin.com)
• The freelancer's burden (vmohanty.com)

Posted at 10:57 PM | Permalink

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via wanderingsalsero.typepad.com

I remember when I first discovered that the vast majority of internet marketing gurus/rich guys used freelancers. it was like learning that there wasn't really any such person as Santa Claus. I always thought that 'honest' people did their own work.

Now I know that's not exactly true.

In reality, 'honest' people, who are also smart people, know how to make sure their work GETS DONE......at the lowest possible cost.

How to have 100+ dates a week

Yeah, I know that sounds unvelievable but..........it could happen.  It could happen to you if you were a territory manager for Speed Date USA.

That's right boys and girls.  I was just on Craig's List for Houston and I noticed one of the jobs advertised there was for a part-time Territory Manager for Speed Date USA.  Here's the link: http://houston.craigslist.org/bus/2020163558.html.>

The ad claims a person working only part-time could make $1200-1500 a month and that some part-timers make $3000+

I think that's pretty good for something that would probably be a lot of fun.  Even just keeping it a serious part-time job wouldn't be bad income at all.  Plus think of the time you'd have to enjoy doing other things you like to do.

I've heard of speed dating although I've never actually been to an event.  But I know it's a legitimate niche of the social engagement industry nowadays.

Sounds like a lot of fun to me.

Blog Talk Radio user interface and instructions....any good?

It's amazing to me how so many support, site instructions and tutorials seem to leave out unique but nevertheless totally possible situations.

Like in my case.......I live in S.Korea (where I teach English) but I also do a lot of surfing the net and listenting to seminars, etc.  And that often
involves transposing time across international time zones.

I've been trying to set up a show on Blog Talk Radio lately.  I think it has a lot of potential for effective internet marketing.  But I'll be damned if I
can figure out the way they treat their scheduling function in a situaion like mine.

It's just not clear on their show set-up panel.  And what's also frustrating is to write some of these people a customer inquiry and then get back
and answer that completely misses the point of my original question.

Regardless, I'm enjoying my new mindset....I've pretty well made up my mind that I'm not staying at my present school.   One less decisioon to
make.

Mapale music and dance is perhaps one of the purest African found rythms on the Carribean Coast of Colombia. (Poorbuthappy in Colombia!)

via poorbuthappy.com

Here's an example of a Colombian indigenous dance called 'Mapale'. Actually, other than watching the girls, it doesn't look like anything I'd enjoy doing. I'll stick with my Salsa, Bachata, Cha-cha and Kizomba.

But in looking at it, I can see that it might have had something to do with the reason Colombian Salsa dancers move their feet like Hummingbird wings. I'm still trying to find out what the Colombians do when they want a slower, more romantic dance.

Barranquilla's Carnival - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Barranquilla's Carnaval (Spanish: Carnaval de Barranquilla) is a carnival with traditions that date back to the 19th century. It takes place for four days preceding Ash Wednesday. During the carnival the city of Barranquilla's normal activities are paralyzed because the city gets busy with street dances, musical and masquerade parades. Barranquilla's Carnival is reputed for being second in size to Rio's. The Barranquilla Carnival includes dances like the Spanish paloteo, African congo and indigenous mico y micas. Many styles of Colombian music are also performed, most prominently cumbia, and instruments include drums and wind ensembles. The Carnival of Barranquilla was proclaimed by UNESCO, in November 2003, as one of the Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, during Olga Lucia Rodriquez carnival queen year.

via en.wikipedia.org

Imagine this, a carnival that's only second in size to the 'other' Carnival, the one in Rio, that most people have heard about! I'm hoping to attend the one in March 2011. I have a good friend, Sam Smith, who has a company called www.ilovelatins.com. He takes a group of guys down to Barranquilla, anywhere from 10-30, about every 6-8 weeks. It's basically an 'introduction service'....i.e. they meet anywhere from 250-400 Barranquilla ladies who are interested in meeting a 'norteamericano' for the purpose of possible marriage. I almost got married that way myself. And I still might.

Japanese Micro Houses..... necessity breeds 'cool'

Can you afford to ignore Twitter?

Image via CrunchBase

As it says in this article, linked below, the vast majority of business people are still pretty well clueless about how powerful Twitter can be if used correctly.  Embedded in this article (when you click through) is an interesting interview with Dick Costello, the new President of Twitter.  He had some interesting things to say....i.e.

• Twitter registrations in the US are going up an average of 370,000 per day.  Do you realize how many people that is?  Shazaam!  A cool million + every week.
• Twitter had 370,000 new registrations during just one week alone in Mexico recently.

It's an very short article but an interest 10 minute video interview within it.  If you listen to it and start to ponder what Twitter can mean to you, just remember one thing:

Twitter is actually a 'micro blog'.  It's very similar to a blog except that you can't write as many paragraphs, sentences and/or characters.  It forces you to be more succinct.  For some people that could be good thing.

Managing your Twitter activity is one of the things a good social media manager should do for you.

Dick Costolo on What's Working at Twitter and What Isn't

Related articles

• Twitter, Hope, Aspiration, Ambition and Future (mindjumpers.com)
• Are you a compelling presence on Twitter? (ubervu.com)
• How to Create and Use Your Own Twitter Backgrounds (brighthub.com)
• 71% Of Twitter Posts Ignored (informationweek.com)
• Could Twitter Become the "Must-Buy" Ad Platform of the Future? (marketingpilgrim.com)
• Why Businesses Can No Longer Ignore Social Media (onesocialmedia.com)

What's the point......of being smart?

I'm watching a video training series right now about creating videos.....videos for various purposes but all revolving around the idea of selling your product, service, idea or somebody else's.  Now, of course this isn't specifically about social media management but there is some transferable wisdom to be learned here.

Let's stick with the idea of selling a tradional product first.

Most marketers never learn the skills they really need to market on the iternet.  A smaller group of those that do are the ones that actually apply what they learned.  But an even smaller sub-group of those that do apply (this new knowledge) learn the difference between doing everything themselves versus outsourcing that actual work.

Note:  In earlier management-science days 'outsourcing' was called 'delegating'.  In today's digital age it's called 'outsourcing'.....you can have an entire staff or company spread out all over the planet and still be able to manage them effectivly through various types of internet communication and management.  And you can bet your bottem dollar that the majority of your successful competitors are doing it.

So.......my point here is that it's OK to learn the basic idea of how to do stuff.  Or even to be able to do it pretty well yourself.  But you're very probably wasting your time if you insist on doing all the things that go into a successful business/marketing operation.

Your objective should be finding what your greatest talent is and/or the most important thing that has to happen in your business.  And that's what you probably should be doing yourself. 

If you can find somebody else to do it reasonably well, i.e. to a level that results in profits that you deem satisfactory then.....that's cool.  It's your call.  But don't tie yourself down by insisting on doing everything yourself.........

Including your social management functions.

Some business functions lend themselves to automation more than others.  While it's true (as I've noted in other posts here and on my other site WanderingSalsero) that there are a lot of cool tools that can automate some of the social media management function, it's still primarily a 'hands-on' task. 

Social media management can be a collosal waste of time if you don't know what you're doing and if you don't have a plan.  On the other hand, it's fairly easy for people who have a firm grasp on the tool and the strategies of making it work.

In the end, it's always your call if you're the boss but please....don't be one of those bosses who takes every idea you hear about and try to do it all yourself.  You may think you're saving money but, in the long run, you're not.

Being smart is OK....but you don't have to do it all yourself.