Convince me that I need AT&T.

I’ve been without my phone for several weeks. Other than people asking me why I’m not using my other number, and me returning voicemails (same as I’ve always done) nobody has noticed.

I have an iPhone and use iMessage with friends. I use Google Voice with others.

I’m actually better now than before at returning calls. Because Google Voice lets you READ your voicemails. I know how to prioritize them. They may have spelling errors or incorrect words but you get the gist and at the very least a quick laugh.

And, I never answered my calls anyway.  Everything I do (work wise) is batched and scheduled.

Plus, now you can carry around wifi devices like Roku, clearwire, AT&T and Verizon, etc

What about an emergency?  What did we do 10 or 20 years ago?  Texting actually creates emergencies!  Learning to be patient and flexible goes a long way.

Not having a phone helps you manage your schedule more intentionally. And even helps calm your nerves!

Sent from my iPhone via wifi
http://liveworkanywhere.com

First, let me tell you a story -

I missed my flight due to a 3 hour commute with my duffle taped bag.  Trying to save $100 may end up causing me more later in back problems, but I was determined.

I missed baggage checkin by 10 minutes.  So, I had to sleep at the airport, again.  Normally, I’m prepared for this, and I love getting wifi and quiet time.  Not the case this time.

It was the coldest night in 3 years in NYC, and with revolving doors, pre-security gate, the draft was continuous.

I ended up giving my metro card and travel hand lotion to William, a schizophrenic homeless man who I ended up chatting with for half of the night, in a 24 hour Subway we’d both meandered into in a warmer, safer spot in the airport.  Hey, helping out a fellow person and lightening my load!

Boingo came to the rescue.  I had never purchased it before, but now that I’m without a phone and can’t tether, I decided to try it out.  Plus, they had a pretty sweet promotion for $4.98/month.  (Note: Can’t wait to update more later about my experience with Boingo while on the go and just how seamless it is.  I have less hope now than I do for the future – definitely keeping an eye on them.)

When I’m prepared with wifi, extra clothes, packed lunch, and toiletries, and feel safe, then not much else matters.  However, I didn’t think I would be forced to lug around 100 lbs of duct-taped gigantic body bag all night, taking it with me to the bathroom and everywhere I went per Port Authority (but, I do feel pretty buff! … move over p90x).

But, even with that, I knew to prepare.  I wasn’t the only one who JUST missed the baggage window.  Another girl on the flight was hysterical, crying and berating the attendant.  All I could think of was that I was glad that wasn’t me.  Don’t get me wrong, I was miserable, and disappointed, but thanks to being able to just pop up my laptop anywhere, I knew I wasn’t stuck.

The only thing I was worried about was my 11:30 am PST meeting along with the time change.  Whew, I’d get in with 2 hours to spare.

The morning flight rolls around and I get to board, finally ditching my bags – woohoo!  But, due to strong winds, the flight was delayed – and rerouted, tacking on an extra nearly 2 hours.

I’ll just email them in-flight, I thought.  But, no Boingo, so I couldn’t.  The plane landed and, with minutes to spare, (#thingsiloveaboutseattle) I was able to grab a coffee and plug in at Starbucks, and actually have a spot to sit down with wifi and power.

Connecting with Google Voice, from the same number, with noise canceling headphones, and in the meeting on time, I could be ANYWHERE!!  — and that’s just the point!

Each minute you have needs to be used, to be valued, to be invested.

If you are writing an email with advice, could that email be turned into a blog post?

I’m not saying don’t ever watch TV or hang out with friends, because those also have value.  Let me explain.

Like eating a balanced meal, our energy and emotions also need to be balanced.  But, everything in moderation.

Instead of watching 3 hours of TV, cut it back to a half hour.  Keep it focused on having value – i.e. you’re watching that show in order to relax or to laugh or exercise your brain.  If you’re watching a show because it creates drama (Jerry Springer style) do you really need it?  Garbage in garbage out.  Know why you’re doing it and make it be an investment in yourself.

What are the critical areas in which we need nurturing?

• Sleep.  Don’t be that useless hero who tries to go days without sleep.  Sleep gives us energy.  Take what your body needs, don’t cheat.
• Food.  Stay away from the junk. Take the time to eat slowly and not in a rush.  Your body will thank you.
• Friends.  Invite the friends and association into your life that will nourish your soul.
• Family.  Every family, including the Cleaver’s, have hard times.  But (in most cases) your family will be that ultimate grounding.  Devote time to nourishing these roots (there is a reason they’re called roots!).
• Mental Stimulation.  Contact and conversation with friends, coworkers, etc. or a trip to the museum.
• Relaxation.  Spa, climbing, yoga, hot shower, that half hour of your favorite show, journaling, Sunday brunch … pick a vice, just keep it in check.
• Exercise.  Healthy body, healthy mind.  Even 1 walk per day will help get your energy flowing.  Don’t be sedentary.  Make the time.

These all feed into our emotional and physical health.  But for the rest of your seconds, minutes, hours – all of it should count.  Create, learn, grow.  Don’t waste.

Taking a road trip, could you also be listening to an educational program, talking to a business partner, enjoying a much needed chat with a friend? … whatever it is, figure out your checks and balances, and make every second of your time a personal investment.

1. Promoting

If Skillshare already exists in your city….  great!  You can leverage their lists for distribution.

If Skillshare is new to your city or doesn’t really exist yet, ask:

What other business networks exist locally?

What other networking platforms exist where you can post your content?

For example:

• EventBrite
• Meetup groups
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• Biznik

Be careful of terms of service, but what I did is I pointed the other services to my Skillshare class link.  It’s all extra promotion (and SEO) for Skillshare and they encourage you to promote via social networks.  Leverage what you can, as long as it drives people to Skillshare, it’s a win/win for everyone.

Also, for the first class, keeping the costs low ($15-$25) and the class size low (5-7) will guarantee higher success.  Saying your first class “sold out” with people on the waiting list helps create demand.

The first class is hardest.

2. Build Interest

Tip: “seed” a few people in the class.  Nobody likes to be the first person to book the class.  People who are passing by and think the class looks interesting are more inclined to come if they see that others are also interested.  This validates your class concept and gives social proof, which is a must for the first class particularly.

Create a few promotion codes and give them out to friends and influencers.  Having 2-3 influencers in the community you’re targeting on the list will guarantee that your class will fill up.

Be sure to post the class a few times before it begins, for example:

• 2-3 weeks prior make the first announcement
• 1 week before the class, post on a day where your target audience will be most active (have your seeders planted by this stage)
• 2 days prior make a post about how excited you are about the class to continue to build excitement
• the day of (for those last-minute attendees)

3. Create Networking Opportunties

Potential students are likely looking at the profiles of those who signed up.  Having people who have interesting profiles helps because the potential students are going not just to learn but also to network and to create a network around a similar subject.  Encourage the students to meet other like minded people in class.

4. Focus on Great Copy:

In your class description:

• what is it you’re teaching and why?
• what will the student walk away with?
• how is it applicable to them?

Don’t use tech terms that nobody will understand.  But don’t be a used car salesman either and play buzzword scrabble.

> You’ll learn: 

In this section, instead of saying

“how to use social media to grow your audience” (very generic and non-unique weak promise)

try

“how to increase your Twitter following to 1,000 quality followers in the next 30 days”  (realistic target, high quality, great ROI on class)

> You’ll walk away with:

Make sure these are practical skills.  The student should see themselves having actionable items immediately from this course.

1. a twitter account (if you don’t have one already)
2. the knowledge and tools to go from 0-1,000 twitter followers in 30 days

> About the Teacher:

Next, they want to know why you are qualified?  Have you done this?  Why you?

Self-promotion is SO hard but it’s necessary.  Students want to know and believe that they will walk away with the tools and knowledge to do what you did – this creates a WOW factor and will help also drive attendance.

5. Select a Great Location

Having a great location, one that resonates with your audience, is also key.  If you’re talking about tech issues to a tech crowd and you plan to meet at planned parenthood, it’s probably going to affect the turnout.

Remember, you are still selling your skills and a new class.  If you hold it at a reputable location, your credibility increases.

6. Connect with Students

This is less about filling seats, now, and more about quality.  You want to build value.  Send the students an email, a survey, take an interest and interact prior to class.  Tailor your content to the needs and interests of the eager learners.  They want to learn and they are taking time to come see you.  Give them so much value that you feel like you’re getting ripped off.  They will walk away feeling like they got their money’s worth and then some.

The result?

Powerful endorsements and “street cred” on Skillshare.  Your next class, while still following similar principles, will be easier to sell and you can increase the size of your class, and price.

At least that’s what I did.

Not the UK.

Guess again – it’s Eastern Europe. This may not surprise you if you’ve worked in startups who’ve outsourced tech talent and will tell you that the best talent comes from Eastern Europe. Even Victoria Ransom of Wildfire Interactive started this Silicon Valley VC-backed company with two Engineers from Estonia. Coincidentally, Estonia is ranked no. 1.  

Here’s a piece of Victoria’s story from her Mixergy interview

What we did though is we found some very small teams. Our first team of developers were in Estonia. It was a team of two guys. So we were dealing right with the developers themselves. And we were able to get very high caliber developers at a price that you could never have got in the US. Having said that, it was still more expensive than we probably would’ve got if we’d gone with an outsourcing firm. So we did pay for high talent.

I’d say that’s a key learning. Don’t skim on your development costs because you can end, it can end up costing you a lot more if you have an ineffective or inefficient developer.

But the other challenge is we found these two guys, I believe it was — giving away some secrets here — but it was on a website called workingwithrails, which I’m sure others have looked at. It’s a great rubyonrails site where you can find different developers and see how they’re ranked by their community, their peers.
But nevertheless we found these two guys in Estonia who we never met, and we’re not developers ourselves, so how could we know that the code they were producing was good? So what we actually did is — we were in Boston at the time — we found a local developer, someone we could get to know in person so that we could get very comfortable with him. And we had him not code for us, but just take a look at the code that these two guys in Estonia were producing for us in order to just…

You know, we could judge the end product, but what about what was under the product. The last thing we wanted to do was just create a product that was just a mess underneath. So this guy worked with us for about six weeks just looking over the code. These guys were producing it and the honest truth is, after a little while, he said you know what, these guys are brilliant; they’re even better than me, don’t worry about it.

And we worked with those guys now I guess it’s been two and a half years, but it’s been fantastic. They’re a core part of our team and then we were able to find other developers overseas to work with. But you know, that’s how we did it. Neither of us, that’s how we did it in a cost effective way without having any needs for a developer background ourselves.

Where will you look for your next tech talent?