SOB Business Archives - Page 163 of 238

Net Neutrality 12-11-2006

December 11, 2006 by Liz

Net Neutrality Links

I’m adding this link to the Net Neutrality Page.

SavetheInternet.com Coalition Calls on New Congress

Companies like AT&T, Verizon, BellSouth and Comcast pushed the FCC to remove Net Neutrality protections last year and have since spent more than $150 million to keep Congress from reinstating the nondiscrimination rules that enabled the Internet to become an unprecedented vehicle for free speech and economic innovation. But in the end, they couldn’t overcome widespread public opposition, and Congress would not pass a telecommunications bill that failed to protect Internet freedom.

[ . . . ]

“We look forward to working with the new Congress to craft a comprehensive broadband policy that will preserve the open character of the Internet,” added Gigi Sohn, founder and president of Public Knowledge. “Consumers were the winners when Congress chose not to pass legislation during the session just ending that would have given control over delivery of Internet content to the telephone and cable companies and, in addition, would have given control of consumers’ use of digital media to the FCC and entertainment industries.”

The more than 850 groups in the SavetheInternet.com Coalition also include the National Religious Broadcasters, the Service Employees International Union, the American Library Association, Educause, Gun Owners of America, Future of Music Coalition, Parents Television Council, the ACLU, and every major consumer group in the country. The coalition also includes thousands of bloggers and hundreds of small companies that do business online.

Want to know what you can do?
MA Bell Monopoly Versus the Free Internet Ã¢â¬â Tell the FCC Net Neutrality Is Not Negotiable

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related
NET NEUTRALITY PAGE

Bloggy Question 33: You’ve Changed, Man — DON’T Look at Yourself

December 10, 2006 by Liz

Where’s the Guy We Loved?

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life hypothetical question. . . .

You and a friend started blogging 8 months go. You’re in different businesses, but you have similar goals — to establish yourselves, to see what you’ve got, and to watch where it takes you.

The ride has been fun and almost a tale from a famous book — The Tortoise and the Hare. He’s been the hare. He collect links hand over fist during the first 6 months — almost 100 in the first month. You were the tortoise. You collected a respectable link count at a slower, more natural pace.

At your six month blog-anniversary, your friend began to lose links at the same rate he had collected them. At first he tried to act as if it didn’t matter, but he started posting more and more in month seven. In month eight, he began a campaign of self-promtion. He’s been outright asking for links at the end of every post.

His writing has changed. Some people have mentioned that fact to you.

You are still gaining links at a natural pace. He’s beginning to mention that to you.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Terry Starbucker Is a B.A.D. Blogger!

December 10, 2006 by Liz

Blogger A Day Call: Hello is Terry there?

What threw me was that I had to ask Terry, if I might call him later than we planned. He said it was no problem — I was getting to talk to the glass half full guy, and I was making him wait. What was wrong with me? That was my thought at the time.

When I finally got connected to him, I jumped into a story about how I was only called predictable once in my life.

Starbucker’s such a gentleman. He acted as if every phone starts with a story about the FBI and guys in tuxedoes. When I was done, I asked him if the phone call was what he expected, and he implied that he knew not to come with expectations.

Starbucker knows people, especially this one. I suspect everyone says that.

Terry’s not Mr. Predictable himself. He’s Mr. Positively Alive and Aware of Everyone. He still remembers that we first met over a post that compared writing to driving through the mountains. He danced with all of the girls at Open Comment Night more than once. He has a fan club that knows the soundtrack to his life — it’s a life that’s lived with gusto and a glass that’s half-full.

Once I caught my breath again, the actual conversation got rolling. I asked Terry what his real job is. He told me that he is a Sr. VP of Operations. I said I never met one that traveled as much as he does. He said it was the only way to know the people who work with and for his company. Terry said that being there Is the only way to be fully part of the process. He said that way he can champion what works and stop ideas that surely won’t. We discussed the value of the intuitive detail that a person gets from experience. We both agree it can’t be replaced by a description on the telephone or the data on a spreadsheet.

Terry and I talked about consultants. We discussed how some are so good at what they do. He said they connected like-minded positives with like-minded people. We talked about how some are, well, not good. That led us to the subject of people who don’t know what business they are in — who their real customers are.

We ventured into a discussion of how VCs look at what they do, the dot.com bubble bust and how it hurt good companies who weren’t a part of it — his and mine — because the banks were so busy covering bad debts, they didn’t have time for us.

Then somehow we were back to talking about people and how important they are.

Starbucker knows people are at the center of everything. That’s why he has a fan club.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

If what’s on that computer screen is real, it does carry over and you know it, . . . forging relationships, great ones, meaningful ones, . . . astounding.–Starbucker

Stop by Terry Starbucker’s Blog, Ramblings from a Glass Half Full, and say hi!

Thanks, Terry, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar.

Thanks to Week 59 SOBs

December 9, 2006 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

David Armano IS a B.A.D. Blogger!

December 8, 2006 by Liz

Blogger A Day Call: Hello is David there?

David Armano left New York for Chicago. My first question was what he found when he got here. He said he was surprised at how beautiful the city is and how it surprised him that we don’t live and breathe fashion the way they do in New York City. “Everything is more casual,” he said. These days David says he beginning to like that, especially now that he’s raising a family.

That was a perfect opening for me to give one Chicagoan’s view of New York, LA, Boston, and Chicago. It goes something like this: You’re easily forgotten after 15 minutes in LA. In Boston, after 15 years you’re that person from wherever you came from. In New York, it takes 15 times for them to really get to know you. But in Chicago after five minutes a Chicagoan will take you out for a beer. We both laughed.

David and I talked about how he started blogging. He mentioned that he tries to keep his blog completely separate from the work he does. He pointed out that it still spills over some — folks mention in HR, while they are interviewing that they have read David’s blog. He said it’s not so much that he doesn’t want his blog to represent his company, but that he doesn’t want it to raise his profile in the workplace. He likes his blog to be his creative space away from work.

David and I spent some time talking about the people who blog and the effect that blogging has on people. I asked David whether he thought blogging changed him appreciably. He said, “When I first started blogging, I was a corporate citizen . . . now a year later, people put me in another class.” I said I understood what he was saying, calling my blog a 1200 page resume, pointing out that obviously he had shown he was a thought leader. We talked about whether anyone experienced the same change in “status” that he had. We decided it took more than a blog to do that.

David talked about other changes he sees in his life. How a few years back he’d never have thought of himself as an author. He said he’d never have considered writing a book, but now, he thinks about that very thing. He said that he never has faced his blog wondering what he would write. It was exciting and fun to discuss how he can feel himself reconnecting with his creative spirit. THAT was a cool conversation to share with him!

I think about how when the conversation started, I told David how Chicagoans like it when people who move here call themselves “Chicagoans.” David said that he might try that. I sure hope he does.

B.A.D. Blogger Quote

I’ve found out things about myself that I’ve rediscovered. I always valued the quick creativity and ideas I had in college. The fact that I’ve rediscovered that has a lot of meaning to me.–David Armano

Stop by David’s Blog, Logic + Emotion, and say hi!

Thanks, David, you B.A.D. Blogger!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Want to be a B.A.D. Blogger see the. . . a B.A.D. Blogger? page in the sidebar.

SOB Business Cafe 12-08-06

December 8, 2006 by Liz

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the title shots to enjoy each selection.