This kind of thing didn’t surprise me, coming from Ted. He’s one of the most vigilant awesomeness advocates I know. But, one thing I realized during that conversation…. if he could get the stack of front-end engineers together with the purpose of producing awesome stuff, there would be almost nothing stopping them except for one thing. The same kryptonite which stops all great developers – marketing.

Competition, Collaboration, Complaining

Marketing is the bane of a developer’s existence. It’s the thing we ignore, but we need.

Marketing is similar to tourism. The locals hate tourists, yet they depend on them for their survival in the modern age. It’s a love/hate relationship. Development is no different. We need marketing, but we hate it too. It’s so fake. So contrived. So finicky. Why can’t the quality stuff just get to the top of the list and get popular simply because it’s awesome? It’s sad really.

But, it’s needed. And, there are plenty of people out there who love to market. They just don’t like developers.

Why do developers have to be so agitating, so controlling, so vigilant and annoying to work with? If marketers could just have an idea and get someone to build it without complaining, the world would be a much better place, right? I mean, marketers know the market. It’s what they do. They know what people want, so the developers should just listen to them.

Ah, conflict. Gotta love it.

So, here’s the point… I live in both worlds. I see both points. I understand both pains because I’ve been both. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to shine the spotlight on little projects that developers are creating which are awesome. On the other side, I’m going to highlight some marketers who are pushing some great stuff.

In doing so, I hope to make some connections, smooth out the rough edges, and bring two communities together. There’s nothing we can’t accomplish if we actually get along. My vision is to see developers with great ideas and great talent build awesome stuff, and have a great local marketer pick that up and make it huge. On the other side, I want to see marketers with amazing ideas get their stuff built by some crazy awesome developers. Everyone would benefit from this.

It should be noted that I skipped one major aspect of the community, and that is designers. I didn’t do that on purpose in this article, and I do recognize how different each skill is. I do think design is a major aspect of adoption, usability, etc. Thus designers play a critical role in the awesomeness quotient of a project as well. We’ll add designers to the batter when we get the first two ingredients playing nicely and that’s when the world will explode and finally realize that San Diego has some major powerhouses in all three specializations.

However, there are a few people I’ve been lucky enough to be introduced to and happy to call friends who I’ve estimated are about 5 years ahead of their time.  These people affect my decisions. They affect my opinions. They affect my beliefs of where things are headed.

So, you want to know who these people are?  Here’s one of them.  Chris Messina (aka Factory Joe).  I’m including his most recent talk on identity below.  If you believe I’m even partially smart, and you want to be smarter than me, you need to be listening to what this guy says.  Listen. Absorb. Think. Create.

Identity is the Platform from Chris Messina on Vimeo.

Matt Langdon - The Hero Workshop

Matt Langdon is the founder, creator, and visionary of the Hero Workshop, a fascinating project-turned-organization who’s aim is “to show young people that by doing the little things every day they can become heroes. Far from having to perform miraculous deeds, they are provided with an attainable goal.”

I’ve asked Matt to write a post for this blog because (a) he’s a fantastic guy doing fantastic work and deserves every bit of credibility and press he can get on this subject and (b) projects like this are typically underfunded, under-noticed, and talked about less than they should be. These things and people need to be at the forefront of entrepreneurs minds. Entrepreneurship does not equal monetary capitalism. This is true innovation and vision – something both established and up and coming entrepreneurs could learn a thing or two about.

Listen to this man’s vision. Join with him if you feel so led. Hanging out with people like this is like learning and being in the shadow of giants (in a great way).

There are too many heroes in the world.

You won’t hear that complaint too often. But I’ve had enough of the guitar heroes, comeback heroes, 4th quarter heroes, and 9/11 heroes. The mass media world has stolen the word from the real heroes and I want to give it back to them. I do want the world to be filled with heroes, but not the heroes they provide us.

What is a hero anyway? Lovelace said it best in ‘Happy Feet’: “Mumble Happy Feet, I’m going to be telling your story long after you’re gone.” Heroes are the people whose stories we keep telling. We tell those stories because they contain lessons for us; lessons to help us be better people. Now, obviously this doesn’t exclusively define heroes because we tell villain’s stories for the same reason – lessons.

There are three things that define a hero and give us reason to keep telling their stories. They must take action for the greater good, and accept any risk involved. Doing only two of them makes them altruistic, a daredevil, or a philosopher.

Taking action is obvious. If you don’t do anything you’re a bystander. The bystander is the enemy of the hero – not the villain. When the hero sees something that disrupts their internal value system, they act to rectify the situation. The bystander shakes their head, or thinks someone else will do something, or figures the risk is to great. The bystander lets the bad thing happen. We see bystanders in the school yards and office buildings allowing bullying to thrive. In fact, we see them enable bullying. Bystanders are common and that’s why we celebrate heroes – they’re not.

I’m not talking about any old action though. It’s not sinking a last minute basket or scoring a hattrick. It’s not getting to the final of a reality TV show. It’s not escaping certain death or surviving cancer. The hero acts for the good of others. This act may benefit the hero in the end, but that benefit is not the reason. Again, the action comes from a disruption of what the hero sees as right.

So far I’ve defined an altruistic person. Risk is where the nice person becomes a hero. Sacrifice fits here too. This risk or sacrifice needs to be perceived. There’s no heroism in being struck by lightning while you were helping get a cat out of a tree. That’s just bad luck.

With all three ingredients, we have a hero. The hero doesn’t need to be famous and the act doesn’t need to be enormous. The girl who offers help to a bullied boy by befriending him risks alienation or bullying. The coworker who calls out the derogatory language risks losing friends at work or facing ridicule – “I mean, who really thinks calling something gay is harmful?” Corazon Aquino was a hero to millions, but she’s just as important as the girl at school who is a hero to one scared little boy. Each story will continue to be told for the lessons they contain.

Frequently we attach the word hero to other types of situations. Our aunt who inspired us by surviving cancer is an inspiration, not a hero. The majority of the people who died on 9/11 were victims, not heroes. Our favorite singer or athlete is talented, not heroic.

So let’s take the word back from the news channels, newspapers, and magazines. Let’s bestow it on those that deserve it, whether big or small. Let’s make them feel proud and when we find ourselves in a situation that needs a hero, maybe we’ll be ready to act for the good of others despite the risk.

***********************

The Hero Workshop

The Hero Workshop
- Finding The Hero Inside

http://thejanuscenter.com/heroworkshop

The Iran elections have changed the face of media and government control by a huge margin, and I think we’ve all understood that shift. To bring it closer to home, tonight I watched the following video – a live streaming video from @nrek that explained the hostage situation on 8th and Beech streets in downtown San Diego tonight.

Helicopters weren’t even on the scene until hours later, but we knew just about everything that was going on long before it was reported.

Here’s the video (albeit of course not as professional as a traditional journalist would produce, but still informational). Well done Enrique. Thanks for spreading the news and being on the cutting edge for those of us who watched tonight.

When Nate first asked me to write a guest post for Perfect Space, I jumped at the chance, after all, the business I’m involved in is all about creating perfect relationships in all aspects of one’s life. I thought it’d be fitting to introduce my services and explain how I can help people create and maintain perfect relationships in their lives.

First, let’s step back and talk about that word – perfection.

We joke with one another all the time about our imperfections. None of us will claim to be perfect and parents, whom I work with regularly, make light of the fact that they love their children despite their imperfections. At the same time, we acknowledge that babies come into this world as perfect individuals. So what happens? What or when is that defining moment when we start to become anything less than perfect?

None of us come with operating manuals or instructions like those we receive with just about every new addition we bring into our lives. From washing machines to vitamins, there’s pretty much a set of directions on everything these days. Or warning labels!

Imagine having an operating manual for yourself, complete with instructions on what to do, and who to surround yourself with in order to run at your optimum. Now imagine having a warning label as well, knowing which types of activities and people take energy away from you. I have that operating manual and my life is no longer the same since I’ve been “validated” by those within the Y.O.U. Consulting Group (YCG).

After becoming a Level III Practitioner and applying the Knowledge of Y.O.U. (your own understanding) to my life, I can honestly say that I have finally embraced not only who I am, but what I am, the perfect individual that came into this world 30-some years ago. I know what type of activities rob me of valuable energy and I know who I need to surround myself with, both personally and professionally, in order to be at my best.

The training I’ve completed to become a practitioner  has given me a whole new outlook on life.  Now, I am able to look at others and see exactly what they are and validate and accept them completely. We are each as unique as fingerprints or snowflakes. What works for one may not, and should not, work for another.  It’s this knowledge that keeps us all moving forward on a clean and clear path towards realistic goals.

If you would like to learn more, please contact me directly for details regarding The Ultimate Life Tool, an online assessment which will provide you with your very own operating manual. YCG has worked with companies, schools, couples and individuals to help them optimize their energy, grow their business and stabilize their relationships.

I invite you to watch this video (not related to YCG) to see just what we mean by “validation.” 

Sondra Santos LaBrie is a Certified Parent Educator and founder of Happy Healthy Hip Parenting. She also writes as the San Diego Parenting Examiner. She lives in San Diego with her 5-year-old son and has a perfect relationship with those in her life. She can be found on Twitter as @hip_m0m (and she drives a Nissan Quest).

Panhandler vs Business man (via Ectofranz on Flickr)

Hey, if you don’t like it, vote with your money.

When people stop paying for the things a company offers they’ll stop offering it.

The Almighty Dollar

These are just a few cliches we hear when times are good. We tell our friends that the collective “we” have the power to decide whether a company should be producing certain things or not. But that’s not the complete truth is it?

In the midst of governments bailing out industries and financial institutions we, the people, have lost our power. We no longer get to decide with our dollars. The government gets to decide with our dollars.

Now, before you run off and tell your mommy that Nate’s getting political and throwing around an anarchist agenda, let me explain. We still have the power, but most people don’t understand where to flex their muscles.

If the government is going to bail out companies that fail (and I mean “fail” by our self-defined, capitalist standards), and many citizens are going to support these financial policies, then we have to understand why. What are the biggest reasons for this support?

One word: jobs.

The auto industry says they employ one out of ten Americans. And some economic teachers and thinkers believe that if those employers go away then our economy tanks. While that may be true, look at where the power lies. Let’s follow the trail.

The power trail

• Trend: The world is getting more and more conscious about saving energy, like gas.
• Fact: Currently, the large majority of manufactured cars for the U.S. depend on gas to be a functional product.

Here’s how it’s supposed to work:

1. An American gets a job at an auto plant.
2. People buy the cars that auto plant produces.
3. The worker gets paid.
4. Hopefully, when the worker retires, the company has saved some money to pay their pensions.

Here’s how it actually works:

1. An American gets a job at an auto plant.
2. The auto company produces cars.
3. Other Americans don’t buy said cars.
4. Auto maker complains to government, citing employees paychecks (and trickling down, the economy) as the country’s problem.
5. The government agrees with the economic problem and pushes said American’s tax money into the auto company’s hands to pay for the employees.
6. Employees keep producing cars that said Americans don’t want.

Of course you might have already thought that through and agree that a bailout is pretty ridiculous. You might agree with me that it’s crazy to be in business if you can’t make a profit, which includes the costs of paying your employees and selling a product the market wants. Failing is ok. Succeeding is more fun, sure. But, all of that is capitalism.

But, even if you don’t agree with me on the end result, look at where the power lies in both areas. Jobs. And I don’t mean jobs that the companies offer. I mean jobs that people apply for and work at. Now, here it comes – the kicker.

Wait for it….

By working for failing companies these employees have chosen the path of the welfare check. Maybe not the literal one, but definitely the figurative one. They’re being supported by tax payers (FTF).

Detour

Let’s even break it down to the tiny towns across middle America that work for these companies with no other industry to support them. What do you do then? Answer: move away from them.

If a small town in middle America was supported by one company, a start-up tech company for example. And that start-up produced typewriters. Would you work for them? Do you really feel that you have no other choices presented to you? Is your only option failure (either having a job from a company that will fail, or not having a job at all)? Absolutely not.

If that’s what we’ve come to, a nation of people who can’t see beyond their front yard and can’t be creative problem solvers, then we have a bigger issue than our current financial crisis. We have a major problem with our citizen mentality which needs to be bailed out.

Back on track

So, what’s my point? My point is that each person has an incredible amount of power by deciding who they work for.

If you work for someone else, you might not have realized this yet, but you have just as much power as your employer. You and your employer enter into a contract together. She will give you some money in exchange for your labor. She doesn’t give it to you because you’re nice. She gives it to you because she wants something that you can provide. Stop. Let me say it again. She’s paying you for something that you can provide.

You, the employee, have just as much power as the employer.

“But wait,” you exclaim. “They could just fire me if I do something they don’t like.”

Yes, that’s true. But guess what? You have the same power. If your employer does something you don’t like, you can quit. And employee training costs money. It hurts. It also sends them a message (if done properly) just as much as an employer firing an employee sends a message.

Wrapping up

This is just a small portion of my full argument, but the end result is that when we, the people, understand that where we spend our time (in exchange for money) is where the biggest power lies, we’ll be able to say we’re capitalists again.

Until then, we’ll just be paying to support failing industries, governments that pay themselves too much for the work they do, and for useless wooden arrows to be produced.

Ass, by yihaaaaahhh on Flickr

You would have thought that I would have learned my lesson a long time ago on how to do be an ass. Apparently, I’m a slow learner. Apparently I spent too much time as a kid sniffing lead paint. I just didn’t learn.

Today I did.

How to be an ass (pick one or more)

• Declare that things are going in the wrong direction when the group has already decided to go that way
• Whine about a team’s action or lack-there-of
• Declare that “this needs to be said”
• Generally be a prick to those who’ve supported you
• Don’t accept responsibility and move to be better in a positive way. Sit and complain about things
• Don’t ever say you’re sorry

What I’ve learned (the hard way)

• Congratulate the team publicly
• Correct the individuals privately
• Listen before you “correct”
• Being disappointed is ok, but saying it tactfully requires time and planning
• Never, ever talk when your emotions are raging. Sit and be quiet.

I’m not sure what I’ve learned is everything I need to but I’m documenting these lessons here so that both I and others can point back at them and say “I thought you learned this already, you ass.”

So, publicly, I want to say it again… I’m sorry.

Please listen for a second.  I’ll try to keep this short, but if you don’t want to read anymore, please do me this one favor.

Click this link, register, and vote for our team and our idea:
http://ideablob.com/ideas/3344-Disaster-Emergency-Info-Now-

Now, for those of you who are a little hesitant, here’s why I want you to click, register and vote.

See, I’ve been a little busy these last few years down here in San Diego.  Of course, I’ve always been busy, but this is different.  A few years ago I started searching for something more than money.  I’ve always been committed to my faith, but I’ve also been a pretty decent business-minded guy too.  Even now I consult other small businesses and non-profits on revenue strategies.  I know how to do that pretty well.

There’s something else I’ve been looking for.  I’ve been looking for a team and an opportunity.  A group of leaders who are self-sacrificing, looking for the betterment of others and willing to do what it takes to give a pure gift.

In 2003, San Diego went through some pretty ferocious fires.  I heard about them and watched a little on CNN while I was at Western in Bellingham.  But, I didn’t pay much attention, as most of didn’t who weren’t in the middle of the crisis.

But, then there were the floods in Centralia and Chehalis two different years that destroyed homes, businesses, and livelihoods.  Now those, we paid attention to.  We were in the middle of them. We had 18 inches in our home and it ruined everything.

Then there was Katrina, Hurricane Ike, the California Firestorm of 2007.  It’s in everyone’s back yard now.  It’s everyone’s problem at some point.

Here’s the problem we’re living with today.

The same problems exist today that have existed for a hundred years.  We still aren’t able to communicate to the people we need to most in times of emergency.

When the phone lines are down, how do you call 911?  When the internet is down, how do you find a map out of your area or the next shelter?  When the radio stations and tv stations are retelling the same stories every 20 minutes, but not talking about your area and whether the fire is over that hill behind your house, how do you find out?

That’s the problem.

But now we’re living in a world of opportunity.

The world is crazy and always has been.  But what’s changed in the last few years is the maturing of one of the worlds I’ve been living and working in for the past 15.  The internet has become a big and awesome place.  We’re now all publishing massive amounts of things.  Text, videos, audio, location-aware devices like GPS is able to all be published.  Real-time.  Like our own TV broadcasts but more than just TV.  It’s all possible today. Not only possible, but actually happening.  And by more than just internet geeks like me.

Some people find all that scary.  Those people are right about the possible threats of publishing so much info about ourselves.  But there’s also a whole world of possibility that we haven’t tapped yet.

So here’s the point.  With all this information being published by people in real-time, we have a chance to fix the problem.  We have the opportunity to make sure the officials and groups who can help us in times of disasters have all the information possible.  Every bit of it.

We need them to know when we’re out of water, food, shelter.  We need them to know when fires cross the roads.

That’s why the team I mentioned earlier exists.

Together, we’re creating the world’s first service which will take all the things that we are publishing and turn it into something useful.

We’re already talking to official public information officers in San Diego and Houston, government officials, traditional media outlets, publicly funded media outlets, citizen journalists and so many more stakeholders.  But this isn’t a company. It’s a project.  This project should have existed years ago, but it doesn’t.

Soon it will.

We’re building it.  For free.

I believe in this team.  I believe they’ve sacrificed time, effort, and skills to help save their fellow neighbors during an emergency.  This is a noble cause.  They deserve this.

Please, go to this link.  Register.  Vote for our cause.  We’re in the running right now for a $10,000 prize which will be split between 15 people.  It’s worth about 1/100th of the amount of time they’re putting into it. It’s a drop in the bucket to them, but it would mean so much to validate their work.

http://ideablob.com/ideas/3344-Disaster-Emergency-Info-Now-

Please, take the time for us.  I would really appreciate it.

And feel free to encourage your friends and family as well to do the same if you feel led.

Sincerely,

Nate Ritter

The point is there’s a tribe of people who want change. It’s not a group of people. It’s not a crowd of people. Crowds are faceless and groups are leaderless. We’ve got both faces and leaders. Every one of the individuals who are helping to make CrisisWire a success are leaders. These people knew change was needed and stepped up to the plate.

What is CrisisWire?

Let’s start with the real issue. What’s the problem? Why all the passion?

The problem is that in an emergency people can’t find their way. We’ve been given massive power to publish anything we please. We, the public, used our ability to publish our concerns and troubles during all the natural and unnatural disasters that have taken place over the past few years. But it’s not always helping. That’s one problem.

The other problem is on the other side of this situation. In an emergency, the people who can help don’t know about our problems in the midst of it all.

But, people know that this is a problem. And our group (thanks to Refresh San Diego) has stood up to answer the call.

We’re building a media aggregator of emergency/disaster information from every source possible including tv, radio, blogs, micro-publishing, governmental sources, traditional media, publicly funded media, and more. Published on one page per disaster and then separated into neighborhoods where possible, this application could put the info into the hands of the people who need it most.

Tribe Highlight

Peggy Gartin

One of the crazy-awesome people on our team is Peggy Gartin. She’s the one with the awesome shoes and jokes being muttered under her breath to people sitting next to her in a serious meeting.

Peggy is a fantastic leader. She’s a fanatic about eliminating AIDS and supporting those who live with it. She has a craving to “use [her] superpowers for good”.

Peggy is like many of us. We all have our “zombie fiction” (that thing we geek out about in private). Peggy and her husband collect Simpson action figures and host the Simpsons Collector Sector BBQ every Comic-Con here in San Diego. See, she’s normal too.

She’s also a hard core public news geek too. She ran a corporate intranet for a Fortune 15 company for years. She became a news junkie while doing this to keep up on the goings on. Her thirst for well timed, well written, well read pieces makes her an advocate for the people in these emergencies who are searching anywhere and everywhere for important up to date news on their area and situation. It’s good to have her on our side.

The reason I’m telling you all of this about her is because Peggy is one of the many leaders we have on our CrisisWire project team. This isn’t a company. It’s a project. Projects require leaders. Projects that have more than one person in them require many leaders. Peggy is a perfect example of the kind of leadership mentality we’re blessed to have on this project.

Everyone has a different role to play. Everyone on our team is a leader. And we’re thankful for that. That’s what makes this a tribe. Not a group, not a crowd. A tribe.

Peggy joined CrisisWire to have a hand in creating a good, useful web app that spreads “like wildfire (bad pun fully intended)”.

We’re with her.

CC license, thanks to catalogue on Flickr

The past few years many of us have gotten used to seeing new companies pop up from nowhere. Companies require regulations, organizational charts, business plans, and revenue models. Companies are supposed to show stability by incorporating and having charters.

My world has changed, though. I don’t live in a world where a company is stable.  Neither do you.

Many people are fearing the worst of the current financial crisis – losing their job.  Is the Company really that stable?

A few years ago I heard so many of the Boomers say they were glad to be retiring soon because they’ve lost faith in their Company.  Their friends were getting laid off, being phased out, given packages to quit early.  The Company was showing its true colors.  It exists to make a profit, not to give you stability or hope.  The Boomers aren’t stupid or slow. They understand more than any of us what’s happened. 

Today I work as a freelancer and own my own businesses (not Companies).  I don’t have employees. I have partners and contractors (who run their own businesses).  Why? Because we heard the cry of the Boomers who are getting laid off. We’re not so slow either.  We started our own businesses because we put our trust in other people to exchange their money for our value.  We’re paid to do something that helps our fellow humans.  If we don’t, we don’t get paid.

And “they” said Generation X was lazy. We’ve taken the red pill.

The Project is King

So today we’re an army of freelancers and entrepreneurs.  Tomorrow you might be one too.  We started by calling ourselves bloggers or geeks.  We’ve now graduated to “owners”.  Owners of our own destiny.  Owners of our name, our brand, our work, our time, our resources, and our attention.  And this trend is growing beyond the geeks.

As the early adopters of technology, we have engaged with, encouraged and contributed to the Project Economy.  We got tired of doing “what’s right for the Company” and struck out on our own.  We embraced the risk, and now we’re happy to move our game piece one step further.  We benefit not only from the stability, but the enjoyment of our work and lives.

CC license, thanks to lenifuzhead on Flickr

The project is like a hobby, but smaller and shorter in time.  It’s a beginning. It’s an idea that we realize we can actually help make a reality.  Some Projects require a team, others are created by one person alone.  Either way, the project is the extension of our beliefs in the need for a better world. You might want a world where less children die of starvation.  Or the person next to you might think a better world is where we can share our location through location-aware cell phones.  The person behind you in the line at the supermarket might think her better world is one where she stands in line for less time.  Our world matters.  It matters to us, and we believe it can be changed.  Soon many many more of us will believe we actually have the power to change it by working on our Project or leading a Tribe.

Instead of creating a company – which takes too much time, effort and money – we just begin.  We embrace the freedom of simplicity and the absent permission-asking culture.

My Projects have been as short as 3 hours or as long as several months.  They have added great value to my life, my skills, my network of friends, and my bank account.  Each of those are important to me to balance, and Projects give me the ability to do so when no Company could.

Eventually, a Project might turn into a Company or a business, and that might be the intention in the long run, but they don’t start that way. They start as a way to make our lives better.

Trust me, the world is changing.  The Project is king.  We are enabled.  We have the ability.  Soon, we’ll understand that we are leaders and we’ll begin to lead.  Soon, the Project will be the jumping off point for worlds changing faster than we ever imagined.

Soon.  How about now?