Greg Hartnett

A bit over a month ago, I got all steamed over how the CEO of Bluehost spammed his entire userbase to announce the launch of his personal blog. On his blog, Matt Heaton claims that Bluehost now has over 100,000 customers - that’s a lot of users to send some unsolicited email. In hindsight, I was even more pissed off about how he handled the situation after the fact. Not enough to spam me, but then to not let me comment about it on his blog, and only approve glowing comments - pretty damn lame.

Just two days ago, I received another email from Bluehost, informing me of upgrades to their support and service. As a user, I appreciate such notices. At the bottom of the email, was a prompt for readers to visit Matt’s personal blog. Heading over to his blog to see what Bluehost may be up to, I am prompted to read Mr. Heaton’s account of the time he spent in a mission as a youth, and what he thinks of Dale Carnegie. All in a post entitled “How to deal with people…” - oh the irony.

I tried posting a somewhat tame comment, once again expressing my displeasure at Matt’s tactics. Knowing full well that the comment would not be approved, I grabbed a snapshot of it in moderation, here. Right on cue, Matt deleted the comment, and once again only approved comments that were flattering.

What is the deal? I hinted to Mr. Heaton in my comment that I wasn’t simply going to go away. If he had left my comment remain in his blog, that probably would have been the end of it. Instead, Matt chose to delete the comment and invite me to air my grievances here. History will prove to Mr. Heaton the error of his ways.

A simple search for spammer ceo or matt heaton blog or how about bluehost ceo amply show that dealing with aggrevated customers in a flippant matter will not fly in today’s day and age. The days of acting in such a manner without impunity are over.

So it seems the contest shall continue. I expect that Matt will continue to act in like fashion going forward, and I will continue to call him out on it. Game on.

We live in tough times. So many of us walk around trapped in our thoughts and worries. We worry about things to come, and lament over the past. With the pressures to succeed and the persistent cries of fear from all sides, it is no wonder that sales of Prozac and other anti-depressants are at all-time highs.

The root of the problem is not living in the present. We spend time worrying about things outside of our control, or stressing about the minutae we feel bearing down upon us - but that is for another post.

I try each day to remember that it is now that matters. Live for the moment, and take in all that the world has to offer me. Celebrate the fact that I have been given another day to live. Another chance to experience the joys, and/or sorrows that make up the human condition. When I have trouble remembering this, I find that listening to Rare Earth’s I Just Want to Celebrate helps to properly align my focus. Great track - awesome lyrics. Head on over to iTunes and add it to your collection.

I just want to celebrate another day of livin’
I just want to celebrate another day of life

I put my faith in the people
But the people let me down
So I turned the other way
And I carry on, anyhow

That’s why I’m telling you
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of life

Had my hand on the dollar bill
But the dollar bill flew away
But the sun is shining down on me
And it’s here to stay

That’s why I’m telling you
I just want to celebrate, yeah, yeah
Another day of living, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day of livin’
I just want to celebrate another day of life

Don’t let it all get you down, no, no
Don’t let it turn you around and around and around and around and around

Well, I can’t be bothered with sorrow
And I can’t be bothered with hate, no, no
I’m using up the time but feeling fine, every day

That’s why I’m telling you I just want to celebrate
Oh, yeah
I just want to celebrate another day
Oh, I just want to celebrate another day of livin’
I just want to celebrate another day of life

Don’t let it all get you down, no, no
Don’t let it turn you around and around, etc.
Round, round, round, etc.
Don’t go round

I just want to celebrate
I just want to celebrate
Well, I just want to celebrate
Said I just want to celebrate (celebrate)
I just want to celebrate (I want to celebrate)
I just want to celebrate (I got to celebrate)
I just want to celebrate

Tomorrow marks a very special day for me. It will be the first time that I have both of my kids on the mountain. I have been dreaming of the day that both of my kids would be ready for a day learning how to ski. Téa dipped her foot into the winter sports pool a couple of years ago, with some ski lessons at Shawnee (good for learning and novices only). She loved it, but has been somewhat reluctant to go again. This time, she appears pretty jazzed about a day trip to Windham - perhaps it is the day off school.

This will mark JR’s first experience on the slopes. He has seemed tenative, at best, about going skiing, but I am confident that a few hours on the slope with his sister, and buddy Noah, will provide the perfect entrance to the sport. Now that he is 4, I figure that he is ready for a few lessons. I’d love to skip the skis altogether, and go straight for the board, but I have been advised repeatedly that it would be best for him to get comfortable on skis, and switch him over to a snowboard in a couple of years.

I am grateful to be able to get them on the mountain this year. Hopefully it will be the first of many, many days on the slopes with my kids. Our upcoming move out west should help - with Elk Grove only 90 or so minutes from Tahoe, I have high expectations.

I don’t plan on doing any boarding myself - tomorrow will be all about the kiddies. Expect to see some pics shortly.

I am frequently surprised, and often disappointed, by the way people treat each other. From the simplest interactions, to the major tests of character, so many of us act in a manner which we know, and have always known, is the improper way to act.

The great English literary figure Samuel Johnson once said that people more often need only to be reminded rather than instructed. Most of us already know what to do in a given situation.

25 centuries ago, the Buddha wrote on morality, telling us:

They speak the truth, are devoted to the truth, reliable, worthy of confidence… They never knowingly deceive others for the sake of their own advantage… What they have heard here, they do not repeat there, so as to cause dissension there… Thus they unite those that are divided, and those that are united they encourage. Concord gladdens them, they delight and rejoice in concord; and it is concord that they spread by their words. They avoid harsh language and speak such words as are gentle, soothing to the ear, loving, going to the heart, courteous and dear, and agreeable to many. They avoid vain talk and speak at the right time, in accordance with facts, speak what is useful, speak about right wisdom and right practice; their speech is like a treasure, at the right moment accompanied by arguments, moderate and full of sense.

I am not telling you anything that you didn’t already know. Just reminding you

Very amusing episode. Apparently, it wasn’t allowed to run on TV due to complaints from Tom Cruise. “Tom Cruise, please come out of the closet.” Scientologists, I am not making fun of your “religion”, so don’t sue me.

What a pain in the ass trying to find a new Wordpress theme for this blog. I have known for awhile now that my current theme doesn’t function properly in IE, and it has been eating at me to get it fixed.

So I finally set some time apart this evening to find a new theme. I have run through all the resources that I can find, and still haven’t come up with something that I feel suits my needs. In my searching I did come up with more than a handful of sites that have some themes. Here are a few of the highlights:

I have narrowed down my search to a few that I think might fit the bill with a little modification. I am really looking for something very simple, with some Web 2.0 flavor. When I find a little more time, I will implement the new theme.

If you fancy yourself a Democrat, and would like to express your opinion on the party’s current leadership, head over to Daily Kos. A widely read progressive blog, the Daily Kos often runs compelling pieces, and provocative calls to action. If you’d like to participate, voice your opinions:

Do you approve of the way DNC Chairman Howard Dean is doing his job? Vote here.

Do you approve of the way Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is doing his job? Vote here.

Do you approve of the way House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is doing her job? Vote here.

I wonder if he has hairy palms?

The value of time. Life’s most precious resource. Since there is no way to get more of it, the best one can hope for is to use your time in the most effective manner possible. How much of your day is wasted? Do you maximize your efficiency, and get the most important things done daily? Or do you find yourself jumping from one remedial task to another?

To make more of your time, you need to have a plan. Step one is figuring out what is most important. Reflect upon your goals, and decide which tasks are most important in making those goals happen. Develop a priority list of which tasks require your attention. Label each task with A (highest), B (medium), or C (low priority), depending upon each task’s importance.

After you have sorted through your priority list, the next step is to schedule your time. Any planner will do, depending upon your preferences. I use Apple’s calendar - a better version of Microsoft Outlook. When planning your schedule, keep the following in mind:

Following the above steps should help in gaining some control over how you spend your day. Without a proper plan and scheduling, you’ll find yourself meandering through your day, with too many tasks left uncompleted. More tips to follow…

Upon returning from house hunting in California, it has occured to me how chained I am to my desk. I truly can not stand to be away from the computer, and my work for more than a few days. Not only do I long for the technology, but the pile-up of work upon my return makes any more than a couple of days out of the office too much to endure.

Even with delegating responsibilities and jobs to the proper people, as an owner of two small businesses, there is too much to tackle in any one day. I have learned the importance of time management, and hope that I can make some real progress on making the best use of my time. I have picked up a couple of books, and read some interesting resources, and yet I still find my days are not long enough to complete half of what I want done.

In the next couple of weeks, we are going to be expanding the workforce. Hopefully that will help in lightening th eload at top.

I have been in sales for a long time now. I started in the sales game pretty young, buying bags of lollipops at the supermarket, and slinging them to my friends at school for .25 a pop. I have always been pretty good at it, having a knack at reading people, listening, and picking up the queues to figure out what the person needs to hear in order to buy.

From my days in the financial industry, I learned pretty quickly the value of the whale. The whale is the client that blows all other clients away. The one that buys 20 times the amount of stock than the other guys in your book. Or the corporate travel account that books thousands of reservations a year. Or perhaps it is the SEO client that represents a Blue Chip firm with millions to blow monthly on PPC. Or it’s the webmaster of a national firm with thousands of sites that he needs work on.

The whale is the client that will take your business to the next level. The client that will let your grow your business, seek additional marketing opportunities, hire good people, and pursue the next whale. The ones and twos and nice, and definitely help to keep the doors open, but the whales are the clients that separate the stars from the guys living paycheck to paycheck.

Going after the whale requires patience, timing, professionalism, and courage. The whales have probably heard any pitch that you can throw at them. They’re whales - everybody is pitching them. You better bring your A game, and not be slinging snake oil. The whale will sniff you out quickly, and dismiss you, never to take your call again.

Even with your A game, and a killer product or service, most of the time the whales get away. The majority of whales pass on a given product or service. Their years in the game have taught them that most deals aren’t worth their time. They are jaded by the hundreds of ideas that fell apart, or were built on an ill-conceived plan.

However, when you do land one, it can change your business. And like most successes in life, the first one is the hardest to achieve. Once you have swam with the whales a bit, you become more accustomed to dealing with them, and learn the intricacies involved with selling them. Chances are that the whale you landed knows another whale that he would be happy to introduce you to, should you earn his trust.

So don’t be afraid to go after the whale. Don’t be discouraged if you fail on your first few attempts. Keep on looking for the next opportunity, and when the next one comes along, try again. All you need is that first one. So grab your spear Captain Ahab, and go land your whale.

As part of our public relations push, our publicist Jeannine has instructed us to get head shots done for our media kits. I am not even crazy about having a media kit - it smacks of corporate culture. I am far less thrilled about having to sit down with a photographer for a series of pictures. I don’t necessarily mind having my picture taken - I just can’t stand having to pose for a picture. Having to pretend to smile, or react on cue - definitely not my forte.

After visiting the barber shop this morning for a quick shave ($14 well spent), I made my way to my wife’s fancy hair cutting salon. I had the stylist take a couple inches off my locks, pretty me up, and send me off with a bounce in my step. I actually enjoyed spending some time on grooming today - go figure.

Shortly after noon, Brian and I made our way to a photo shop at Roosevelt Field - the same kind of photo store found in thousands of malls across America. Amidst the laughing babies and proud moms, we had our pictures taken by a newbie - a recent employee from neighboring Kaybee Toys. After settling on a picture that I hated the least, we had to pay $23 per picture. What a rip-off. Luckily, they turned out to be too expensive to produce en masse, so we are having them redone by somebody with more than a handful of days on the job.

Before the next photo extravaganza, I plan on having a nice lunch, coupled with a Stoli on the rocks (or two). Maybe that will help keep me less rigid. Any other ideas to help are welcomed…

I love RSS. I think it is the greatest thing that has happened to the Internet since broadband. The ability to hand pick which information I want to receive in my reader is empowering, and in theory should increase efficiency. In practice, I find myself pouring through countless accounts of the same stories.

Perhaps it is due in part to the the fact that I read a lot of blogs - more than the average online user, to be sure. Probably more than most power users. I find that during my work editing the blog directory I stumble across a fair amount of stuff that interests me, leading me to subscribe to a number of feeds. Unfortunately, too much of the 482 unread posts in my NetNewsWire are talking about the same thing. And I have blogs from a wide variety of industries and topics, typically no more than a handful from the same industry. SEO blogs would be the exception to that rule, where I have always felt that the more informatrion I could get, the better.

Now I find myself in the predicament of once again having too much information to pour through on a daily basis. Worse yet, much of that information is repetitious. So, I have decided to purge my reader of the unnecessary noise. The bloggers who don’t say anything unique. Or only say something unique so infrequently that they lose me. You know what? When Matt Cutts has something to say, you don’t need to talk about it. I read his damn blog too. We all do. Or if he says something big enough, you know that threadwatch will have it - or SEW blog. So that’s it - I don’t need to hear it from you too.

After wrapping up the SES NY conference, my head is spinning. We met so many people, and had such a great response, I am truly overwhelmed.

I recently uploaded some pics of the event, including some of the festivities. I wasn’t the only one with a camera, so I will try to get some more of the better shots from some of the other guys soon.

I am looking forward to our next event, Boston PubCon. I am really getting acclimated to the conference schedule, and have found that we do pretty well. I would anticipate a major push at the shows this year. See you there…

Hopefully, with the conferences behind me, I will be able to get back into the swing of things here - after I figure out what to do with all the business cards I collected.