How to Create a Makeshift Twitter Address Book
March 4, 2009 by Ryan
Twitter is an amazing tool for reaching out and connecting with people. It is so much more than the vacant prompt, “What are you doing?” Ideas are spread. Information is shared. Connections are made.
The networking I’ve done on Twitter has been worth the time and effort I’ve invested. I’ve opened up career opportunities, business deals, and made real-life friendships. It’s become an indispensible tool in my life and in the lives of many others.
Connecting With Large Numbers on Twitter
There is no right way to use Twitter, but waiting for a dozen people to say something is somewhat pointless. There are better tools to use on that scale.
My attitude is, with so many remarkable people available, why not connect with them? I’ve recently passed the 2,000 follower mark, and a common criticism would be, “It’s not about the numbers, it’s about the connections.” That’s absolutely true. Increased numbers has increased the challenge of making real connections. But it’s worth it the instant you see your first real-life deal or friendship!
DM Notes on Twitter
With 2,000+ followers it can get a tad overwhelming. I’ve come across individuals that would be great contacts for entrepreneurial projects I have in mind, for business deals, for friends’ businesses. How do I remember why I added all these people? Until some programmer builds a Twitter Address Book App (which I’ve heard rumblings of) I had an idea for a solution that is usable, accessible and searchable:
Step 1: After Following Someone, Direct Message Yourself
I use TweetDeck and I have DM’d myself several times accidentally while carrying on a conversation, but here you do it intentionally. Include the new person’s Twitter ID and note the reason why you added them.
D ryansmiller @jimmyfallon New host of Late Night. Try and work it so you get on as a guest!
Step 2: Direct Message Yourself Anytime You Want To Add Important Notes
Don’t stop with the initial note! Make notes about how your relationship has progressed. Have you pitched your idea? Did you meet them at a TweetUp? Do you need to save their other contact info? Do it here.
D ryansmiller @jimmyfallon Sent a reply sucking up. No response…yet.
Step 3: Setup A Email Filter To Organize You DM Notes
Of course you all use Gmail, if you don’t…I’m sorry…I need a second…Suggestion: Switch!
Add an email rule filtering messages titled: “Direct message from [Your Name as it appears on your Twitter Profile].” Add to the rule that these messages will Skip the Inbox, Mark As Read and Apply the Tag: DM Notes. Include, alter or exclude any of these steps as you see fit.
Step 4: Search Your DM Notes
You have a conference call tomorrow with a potential client and you need to remember where things left off. Use Gmail’s search capabilities to access all of your notes for any specific contact OR search for specific text in any of your DM Notes to know who you promised lunch to.
While it’s rough, it’s makeshift, I think it’s straightforward, and it works. It’s a method that you can employ IN Twitter, no new app, no extension needed. My favorite part is using the email messages you receive from DMs. Leveraging the search capabilities of Gmail makes it powerful and very useful.
I’d love to hear any of your thoughts. Any improvements or extensions of the idea, any experience using “DM Noting”, and any invitations to appear on Late Night…I’m open!
Follow me on Twitter here @ryansmiller
Photo by TOKY Branding and Design
Fun With Cars
February 16, 2009 by Ryan
We had some fun recently bringing the kids’ cars in from the garage and playing. I love making little movies so I took the footage and made this!
After watching the finished product we notice that the kids would crack up so we record that too!
I know this is a pretty lame way to get back into posting, but hey! I gotta do it!
Following the Big Aristotle
November 25, 2008 by Ryan
The Diesel…
The Big Aristotle…
The Big Daddy…
The Big Shaqtus…
The Big Baryshnikov…
Shaquille O’Neal!
I remember when he first came into the league he made a huge impact, most memorably because he would always break the back boards. I remember even more fondly when he came to the Lakers and we went on a tear and won three straight championships! Of course there was the Kobe feuds, which I think the media way over-hyped and unfortunately led to the breakup of one of the best dynasties in recent memory. He went to Miami and delivered on his promise to bring a championship. Then he came to Phoenix, stepping into a system that many doubted he could fit in, but got slim and fit and sure enough ran right along Steve Nash. This year he is one of Hollingers top surprises of the season.
He impacted the league in a big way and he’s just stepped into a new league where he could have a huge impact…Twitter. Twitter? I would imagine many of you have never heard of it. Maybe you’ve heard me go off about it but didn’t really get it. My quick explanation is it’s somewhere in between instant messaging, texting & blogging. I could/should/will write a whole post about Twitter and how cool it is, but this post is about @the_real_shaq! Unlike some of the accounts on Twitter (Britney Spears aka @therealbritney & Barack Obama aka @barackobama) who have staffs doing posts, @the_real_shaq IS the real Shaq! Here’s some fun things I’ve seen since I’ve been following his updates:
- Shaq called one of his early followers who doubted it was really him and then invited him to a game! Here’s a story Mashable did about it.
- Shaq asking where he should go to Subway or Schlotsskys. He chose Subway, so I went too! Could be a huge marketing campaign to have what Shaq orders up at Subway. I guess he’d have to eat there everyday which I don’t know if I could do.
- Shaq and @PhoenixSunsGirl took pics at their “Twitter Tutorial”. She introduced him to Twitter. Still trying to get them to get Steve Nash on.
- Watching my friend Nate (@mollermarketing) campaigning to get Shaq to follow him…only to have him do it! He even gave him a few shout outs which will be huge for Nate!
I think Shaq coming to Twitter could have huge implications in bringing it into the mainstream. Check it out!
Don’t forget to follow me! @ryansmiller
My Little Family
October 22, 2008 by Ryan
It’s after midnight.
I’m up because both Kimberly and Jeremy have colds.
I’m sitting in my bed with Kimberly sleeping next to me, so cute, so peaceful…other than her occasional cough.
Next to her is Beth, with Jeremy sleeping on her chest. I’m jealous. I love when they sleep on your chest. He just giggled in his sleep! That’s good, poor little guy caught Kimberly’s cold. He really loves his mama!
Beth is asleep…I think. I think I might be keeping her up with my typing. She’s so good with the kids.
It’s so sad but sometimes it’s so sweet taking care of the sick babies. Every now and then they snuggle into you, or do something off the charts cute and I exchange looks of “Ahhhhh” with little half-frowns with Beth.
You might think that I’d be thinking, “This sucks!” Instead, it makes me think of how much I love being Daddy!
Nightmare Before Christmas…Tree!
October 13, 2008 by Ryan
Our Nightmare Tree
You know, I think this Christmas thing
is not as tricky as it seems!
But why should they have all the fun?
It should belong to anyone!
Not anyone, in fact, but me!
Why, I could make a Christmas tree!
And there’s not a reason I can find,
I couldn’t have a Christmastime!
I bet I could improve it, too!
And that’s exactly what I’ll do!
-Jack Skellington
“The Nightmare Before Christmas”
Halloween Trees are all the rage these days. My wife sees them in tons of the countless Mama/Crafts/Design blogs that she subscries to. Trendy or not, I think it’s cool and we had fun making it which is what really counts! We found the branches outside my work, brought them home, spray painted them black and did this!
Halloween has always been a holiday. Nothing beats the excitement of those nights trick-or-treating! Running from door to door trying to get as much candy as you can stuff into your pillow case (Yes, experienced Trick-Or-Treaters know that you don’t use the wimpy Jack-O-Lantern buckets, you use the pillow case because it hold like 10x as much!) I remember how fun it was to run around with all my friends, the McCraes and the Sundbergs, way back and then Robbie & Andy when I was older but still old enough to get away with trick-or-treating.
Back in the day, my house had quite the reputation! My dad was working for M&M/Mars and come Halloween he laid out two huge tables filled with boxes of full-size Snickers, Twix, Milky Ways, etc. and we’d invite everyone to come in and grab a few. We would have kids that would switch masks and come back over and over. We’d have people that would drive just to come to our house! It was funny the year my dad switched companies and we were relegated to handing out the “normal” Halloween candies. I remember over hearing a few kids say, “They must have moved!?”
Somewhere between then and a few years back Halloween lost it’s excitement for me. Then I married a Halloween fanatic! Add to that kids coming into the ages that it becomes really fun and Halloween is back to being a really exciting time. We’ve been watching a ton of The Nightmare Before Christmas especially because of the new anniversay edition. We put the digital copy it comes with on our little Archos video player for Kim and bought her some headphones for car trips, but she loves it so much, she’ll watch it on her own some days. If you ever get to talk to her about it she calls it Halloween, Halloween.
5 Keys to Understanding Your Political Opposition
September 17, 2008 by Ryan
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
- Albert Einstein
What a crazy few months! It has been a while since I have been this involved and seen so much participation in politics!
Politically, I’ve always considered myself informed and able to articulate why I support a certain viewpoint. I give much of that credit to my very politically active father. As it always is, this election year it is important to understand these issues, the candidates and take part in the democratic process. However, as my sister-in-law pointed out:
There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin
– Linus in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Particularly with family! Politics can be a sensitive subject! Most of the time, our views extend into a very emotional space. While we should attempt to approach the issues logically, it is not realistic to say rational discussion is going to happen in every dialogue when parties both feel that the other represents the exact opposite of everything they believe.
I do not intend to set forth my views and argue why the other side is wrong (at least in this post). Instead, I want to discuss the decision-making process.
I have thought about this a lot this year, because I want to know for myself why I will be voting the way I am voting. This is not exhaustive, but here are some of the rationales I see people using to make their decision:
The Challenges To Realizing Our Inner Potential
August 21, 2008 by Ryan
Image by Life in Asia (aka Life in Nanning)
“What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Today I had one of those small victories that you need to overcome your inertia/laziness. I woke up early, put on my running shoes and ran to start my day! It was nice and cool with a bit of a breeze (actually more of a gust, we’re just down from these). Running into the wind was okay because I knew it would be at my back on the return trip. I didn’t know how far I was going to run, I just had a street that I wanted to get to and then turn around. It got my heart beating! It wasn’t until I looked it up on Google Maps that I realized that I ran 1.4 miles! And I did it in about 10 minutes! Considering how long it’s been since I ran, I was ecstatic!
I’ve been meaning to start exercising for a little while now as part of a newly kindled desire to improve myself. This desire has been slow building over time and goes beyond getting in shape. I wrote about Josh Waitzkin’s article in which he discusses learning and learning what quality feels like. That article really made me want to develop myself.
What Lies Behind Us
Life gets busy, and if you don’t consciously decide to act, life will sweep you up and take you in directions you might not want to go. Whether through neglect or through mistakes, the weaknesses we have accumulated hold us back and give us ready excuses not to try. Here are some weaknesses I want to overcome:
- Disorganization: I have so many things going on at the same time, from work to blogging ideas to bills to family to business ideas to errands on and on…and I am not the best multi-tasker around! I get distracted, discouraged and overwhelmed. To improve, I am trying to simplify and prioritize more.
- Out of Shape: I can’t claim sympathy weight anymore! Actually, I never could. Basically, it comes down to poor eating habits (way too much Coke) and lack of activity. I sit at a desk, in front of a computer all day. I think the lack of self control is the worst part of it. I should be in charge, not my urges!
- Debt: Some things come out of nowhere, catch you off guard and put you in a difficult situation. My son Jeremy’s medical expenses came as one of those things. We found out he had spina bifida and that totally altered “the plans” as we assumed they would go. While I would love to say that that is the only source, unfortunately, it’s not. Student loans, car payments, credit cards. Some was necessary, some was not.
What Lies Before Us
Overcoming our baggage is only half. How difficult it can be to actually improve ourselves can also prove to be too great of a obstacle for us. Getting up every morning, forgoing things you want, disciplining yourself are hard things to do. I talk to people at my work who know they need to change, know they can’t keep doing what they’ve been doing, and yet, the commitment and hard work it requires to make the needed changes prevent them from getting out of their rut. The reality is, that’s the price you have to pay. Here are some of the sacrifices I can see I’ll need to make:
- Time: To accomplish my goals, I will need to sacrifice some of the time that I had for other things: sleeping in, staying up late, watching TV, etc. I already consider some of that to be no sacrifice at all, having started this way a while ago. There’s not much TV that interests me anymore (except Michael Phelps…curse you!) and combining the ability to DVR the things I do see (bless you DVR!), I spend very little time watching TV, especially by comparsion to my former use.
- Guilty Pleasures: Today was actually the first day in months that I did not buy a Coke! It’s terrible, I know. Luckily for me, I don’t drink, smoke, chew or drink coffee so I don’t have those challenges to take on (best of luck to those that are trying to kick the habit). The other habit that my family had was eating out all the time. It was ridiculous looking back at our bank statements how much was from restaurants!
What Lies Within Us
I’ve taken my outline from the Emerson quote at the top. He is one of those thinkers whose insights are timeless. He talked about how man is meant to aspire to more than just our instincts to eat and sleep. He wrote, “A man is a god in ruins.” I believe that we have tremendous potential within ourselves and we can realize that potential if we pay the price to develop it. What the human mind and the human body can do is amazing! Look at what Michael Phelps has done: 8 gold medals! But that came as the reward for unyielding focus and effort. That is what I want to develop, the ability to focus and develop and persist until something great happens. I want to be better.
This post is part of my Be Better Campaign Series
- The Challenges To Realizing Our Inner Potential
My Somewhat Sad Million Dollar Insight
August 4, 2008 by Ryan
Let me first say that I am not a cynical person. In fact, I usually get frustrated by cynicism in people around me. But the other day something dawned on me about some of the most successful businesses out there:
If you want to be rich, find a problem in life that is difficult to fix and sell products & information that people can buy to fool themselves that they are actually doing something!
Get rich. Get out of debt. Lose weight. Be more productive. The list could go on, but the common thread is that these goals take considerable effort to achieve. That difficulty opens the opportunity for tools, tips and programs to help the individual to achieve their lofty aspiration. (Here is where my cynicism comes in) The key here is how the act of buying these products, etc. allow the individual to fool themselves that they are making progress to their goal. Let’s be honest, how many books, products, tools have we bought to help us accomplish our goals? How often has that purchase actually delivered? How many failures were more of a personal failure, or a failure to get down and actually use the product, than an actual failure of the product? It’s a sad realization that most people don’t follow through.
We all know people that will buy every diet book under the sun. It’s easy to get into the trap where we run around picking up this tool and that tool, all while making no real progress! I mean really, how many shovels does it take to dig a hole? People think there is a magic bullet that will do the hard work for them.
Most of the time, it doesn’t matter how good the product is, results ultimately come from effort. Hard work! (Hey there’s a niche, Get People Motivated to Work…oh wait, isn’t that Tony Robbins territory?) I’m not saying more thoughtful, more effective products are just as good as low quality equivalents, but for the customer that implements neither, the quality is irrelevant. (Backhoes make short work of some holes!) Fake gurus and hacks abound and I’m not saying to add to the trash. I am more making an observation of circumstances that provide an abundance of opportunity. So, to come away with something positive from this:
Think of something that is hard to achieve and put together the best tools, products and helps that you can…and realize that you might have repeat customers still looking for the magic bullet product that will do the work for them! 
Waiting on Diamonds to Play with the Rough
August 1, 2008 by Ryan
Image by oscar alexander
How do I prioritize my rocks?
Earlier I posted about the overload I willingly subjected myself to and how confused I was about tackling it. In the few days it’s been since then I have really enjoyed all the interaction and new connections I’ve made now that I, as of this moment, follow 585 people on Twitter and 135 people on Plurk. How does it work trying to talk to 700+ people? It’s actually a lot of fun! I plan on posting soon about some observations, thoughts and insight from this new experience.
My question a few days ago was, “How do I process all this information?” I got some great comments of sympathy and shared exasperation, as well as great tips from very wise sources! Even though I joke a little about my dad, his advice about chunking tasks was echoed in a ZenHabits post here. As I read that today, a couple things stood out to me:
- Find your essentials
- Find your time-wasters
- Do your Biggest Rock first
The fact that I really took the time to read and think about this post came from an adjustment since starting this self inflicted onslaught. I love Leo’s posts! I get so much out of them! I’ve noticed that in my Reader I tend to put off reading my favorite sources and rip through the posts that I’m confident I can scan and be satisfied. That’s completely backwards! I’m only doing it to get that “unread” number down! One of my new friends twittered today that she had 1,000 posts to get through on her reader! And I thought I had a problem! (It’s okay Erin, my wife’s almost as behind!) But realizing I was spending the majority of my time working though information that was lowest value. Imagine if that was money! Actually, now that I think about it, we do that too! How much time do we spend on activities that have the lowest return! I guess that’s the whole 80/20 Pareto Principle!
Now it comes down to implementing these realizations into my information diet. Here’s a few questions I’m asking:
- Is this information intake inline with my goals?
- How much time am I willing to dedicate to this information source?
- How do I value this information’s ROI?
- Am I putting those with the highest value first?
I’m still in process with all of this and may revisit it again, but I’m curious how all my new “friends” are coming along. Do share!
This post is part of my Information Overload Series
- How Do You Process All This Information?!
- Waiting on Diamonds to Play with the Rough
Angels Step Up
July 29, 2008 by Ryan
For a couple of years now the Angels have held on to their talent pool so tightly, it started to frustrate their fanbase. I suspect they have been taking a page out of Oakland’s Moneyball, being in the same division. Finally, today, the Angels stepped up and dealt for a huge piece in pursuit of the Championship, dealing Casey Kotchman and a minor league pitcher for Mark Teixeira! He’s the power the Angels have needed to get over the top.
As it is, they are at the top! a full 3.5 games over the Chicago Cubs for the best record in the majors. Almost more meaningful is their recent dominance over the Red Sox, sweeping the last series and winning last night!
This is our year!
