"Internet - Whatever you want to call it, I call it Sexy, fast and interesting"

I normally don't post videos without some kind of my opinions around the video but this video is a must see without my input. Please watch "Devo, the Internet and You"

Small Business takes Passion.

I have a good friend who goes on and on about the SodaPopStop in Los Angeles. he swears by the place and even had at Coke in glass bottles (from Mexico) at his wedding directly from this shop. I haven't had a chance to visit personally but did find this video interesting because there is a little history on soda as well as some real small business lessons in here.

Hope you enjoy!



Thanks to Chow.com for shooting and originally posting this.

I wish you could see Twitter the way I see Twitter.

Twitter is a listening tool. Twitter is a sales channel. Twitter is a customer service platform. Twitter is a PR channel. Twitter is cocktail party. Twitter is Twitter. Twitter is a great place to meet chicks.

Get people started talking about Twitter and you will hear all these things because they are all right...and all wrong.

Twitter in reality is a lump of Play Doh.

I spent some time yesterday with Liz Strauss (pictured) and our conversation (and her insights) sparked this idea because she reminded me that no two people share the exact same twitter experience.

What Twitter is to you is dictated by who you follow and what content you are exposed to. If you only follow family members or people in the Ben Affleck fan club then your view of Twitter will be as if it is the most niche conversation site in the world.

Now if you go the other way and follow thousands of folks with no specific common link or are just following people because they follow you or because they are shiny you are going to find yourself in a situation where you are sitting in a room with people talking at you from every direction.

These are two very different extreme scenarios but it gives you an idea on why like Play Doh, you get to dictate what Twitter looks like to you and if anyone jumps into your stream who "ain't your cup of tea" you just can just block them and go back to shaping your experience to what makes you happiest.

...and speaking of Twitter. I just passed 10,000 tweets and to commemorate the historical moment I made a little video.

10,000th Tweet message. from saulcolt on Vimeo.

Video of Gary Vaynerchuk from DemoCamp Toronto with Saul Colt (thats me!)

I am pretty luck that I am exposed to and have the opportunity to participate in a lot of cool things. A few weeks back I was lucky enough to interview Gary Vaynerchuk as part of Democamp Toronto 24 (#DC24). In the interview we touch on some interesting ideas around Social Media, Customer Service, Customer Expectation and of course Wine.

Thanks to David Crow, Jay Goldman, Leila Boujnane for letting me do this as well as Satoshi Takano for filming this and letting me re-post it here.

Gary Vaynerchuk in Toronto @DemoCamp 24 from Satoshi Takano on Vimeo.

Take a look at let me know what you think.

Aaron Patzer from Mint.com explains how to start up a Startup!

I try very hard not to write about things that others had written about because I try to come at things from my own angle and through my own filter but after reading this post from Techcrunch titled "Everything You Wanted To Know About Startup Building But Were Afraid To Ask" I knew I was going to break my little rule....well kinda. I am not going to re-write their post or even comment on it but I am posting the video of Aaron Patzer (CEO of Mint.com) explaining what it takes to start a Startup...because it is amazing.

So if this interests you I suggest you check it out and feel free to leave a comment!

Mint CEO Aaron Patzer on Startups from Techcrunch on Vimeo.

Is it possible that Dov Charney is smarter than us all?

I have never been diagnosed with OCD not do I think I suffer from it but I certainly do have a some obsessive tendancies in me. This isnt anything that people need to worry about and what I mean by this is that once something interesting gets in my head I usually try to read everything I can about whatever it is until my thirst for knowledge is satisfied. I have done this for topics like Comic Book History, P.T. Barnum, Baseball, Movie History, Business and Marketing and most recently I have been focusing a lot of energy on the Startup Fund Y-Combinator and the Ceo of American Apparel, Dov Charney.

Dov Charney is a facination of mine and I have written about him a few times before on this blog. Part of what fascinates me is that if you look past the AA ads and if you look past the sexual harassment suits and the wacky stories that have been written about Dov in the press there is actually a lot of substance to the man.

Of course I say this without having met him nor am I making light of the seriousness of his harassment allegations but in a time where few (new) brands are cutting through the clutter, he has.

American Apparel does interesting things.

Like make a dress that can become dozens of different looking outfits with a little tinkering and they even made a serious of YouTube videos to show you how to do it.

Dov Charney does interesting things.

Like spend a lot of money and devote a lot of time fighting Immigration reform and trying to make the world...er Los Angeles a better place to work for a segment of the work force.

So taking all this into consideration is it possible that Dov Charney uses the nudity and the public masturbation as a way to not be taken seriously while at the same time he is really just smarter than us all. A modern day P.T Barnum who does remember that experience and image are important if you are going to capture people's imagination. American Apparel is as well known for their "everyman" plain t-shirts as it is for the skin tight cool kids clothes, so in a way they have built a lasting brand without putting all their eggs in a "fad/trend" segment....if this was done on purpose I would say he is probably showing us what he wants us to see.

Or maybe he is just a guy who likes to masturbate.

Sometimes you just want to shower with 40 of your closest friends.

Are you willing to work for free?

A lot of has been written about Chris Anderson's new book "Free" and while I haven't read it yet (I have it on my nightstand) I think there is a different kind of "Free" that people don't talk about enough...or actually do.

I am talking about free work.

Call it Advising, Consulting, Working for Food, whatever, it is something that you should do a little of if asked because (and this is the closest I get to preaching) the more profile you get for your work and if you want to get along in life you have to be prepared to do a little free work.

I get asked to give advice a lot and up in till now I have almost never said no, and being honest I am going to have to start being choosier because the sheer number of requests is growing too fast, but one of the reasons I do say yes so often (and that you should too) is because it is the Free Work that keeps you sharp and is usually the real fun projects that allow you to do the work that you can later use as examples to get paid work.....or if that isn't an aspiration of yours you can use these fun projects to use ideas and skills that just don't come to play in your day job and there is enormous value and self worth in that....just be careful not to be taken advantage of.

My Dad once told me that "if all the ideas you dream up are being executed on then you don't have many ideas". I could write another 5 paragraphs about that observation alone but I am going to leave it hanging so you can find your own meaning in it.

....and for those who where hoping this post would be more about Chris Anderson, I am sorry if I let you down but I hope you got something out of this and below is a video of Chris so this post has something for everyone :)

My Presentation from DemoCamp 21

I owe a HUGE thank you to Geoffrey Wiseman for not only recording my presentation from DemoCamp 21 but for also posting it online.

Please take a look and let me know what you think...and to answer your questions in advance, yes the SuperFriends story is true.

Wanna know a secret?

I am pretty lucky because I get asked to do some pretty cool stuff by some pretty cool people. A few weeks back I was asked to contribute to the Flight Centre Blog (yes, THAT Flight Centre) by sharing some of the secret out of the way places I have seen on my travels for Zoocasa.com and neat places to visit when you are traveling around in other cities.

I think the videos are kinda playful and I hope to keep doing them...so please watch, comment, let me know what you want to see and I will try to make you all proud!

...and now the infamous "You are all horrible people" panel from MESH09!

I was lucky enough to be included on the Word of Mouth Marketing panel at the MESH Conference a few months ago and have been sitting on this video for a while because to be honest I don't like a few of my answers and more importantly I decided to do something very 'High Concept' in this panel that out of context makes me look jerky. But since I talk about being naked a lot here it would be pretty hypocritical for me not to post some videos just because I was trying to do something interesting.

The whole thing is about an hour so I have broken it up into a few smaller videos...and I think it is worth mentioning that while it seems like I am doing most of the talking (because I am a chatty girl), my panel mates, Sean Moffitt, Angie Kramer and Jacquelyn Corbett Cyr make some amazing points and the conversation would not have been as interesting without them...and yes I do call everyone in the audience "horrible people" at the end because noone knew the name of Dean Kamen's iBot Wheelchair (I didn't either) but as you will see (in video #5) that I was kidding and making what I think is an interesting point!

Hope you find the time to watch these as there is a whole university level education in these videos.

MESH 09 Word of Mouth Panel Part One! from saulcolt on Vimeo.

MESH 09 Word of Mouth Panel Part 2 from saulcolt on Vimeo.

MESH 09 Word of Mouth Marketing Panel part 3 from saulcolt on Vimeo.

MESH 09 Word of Mouth Marketing Panel part 4 from saulcolt on Vimeo.

MESH 09 Word of Mouth Marketing Panel part 5 (The Dramatic Conclusion) from saulcolt on Vimeo.

Support your local Startups!

Unlike most speakers who run out with the same talk for a year or more I (perhaps foolishly) come up with a new presentation every time I speak somewhere.

Why you ask?

Well because I post them all here so I can share anything I know with all of you!

So just say thanks!, and please watch this talk (first one ever about Zoocasa!) I gave last week at Red Wire's Wired Wednesday!

Support your local Start Ups! from saulcolt on Vimeo.

POW!

I have talked a lot about Andy Nulman on this here blog because well, he is a friend and someone I admire, respect and also have learned bunches from.

I love his book POW, Right Between The Eyes and am honored to be mentioned in it....so imagine how excited I was to see Andy on the Craig Ferguson Show promoting his book and am now inviting you all to share the excitement with me.

Twitter is sooooo New Media....acording to Dennis Kneale at CNBC

Last week I was on CNBC being interviewed by Dennis Kneale about Twitter and a few interesting things happened.

1-I learned that I can hold my own on live TV and look handsome doing it.

and

2-Dennis Kneale (the interviewee) really is caught up in the idea of New Media and Traditional Media.

Before I get to far into this I should say that I don't think Mr. Neale is a bad guy but rather just misinformed because some media folks would rather see new ways of doing things as a threat instead of embracing them and figuring out how to harness these new opportunities and really become the one that leads and owns everything new and cool that comes out.

Now these are all generalizations and I am not poking my finger directly at Mr. Kneale but one thing that did surpise me was his comment that Twitter is taking away people's passion to read and making people lazy. This was kinda funny to me since I wrote a "tounge in cheek" article for download squad about that exact topic and made the joke/observation that people will start communicating in 140 spurts and how it will be the downfall of communications. It am amazed that people actually think this way but it could have more to do with (and this is getting back to the first paragraph) the idea of New Media and Old/Traditional Media.

The people that really excel in the media space or social media or whatever are the ones that realize that there is NO (notice the capitalization) such thing as New Media or Old Media.

Just Media

...and media is one way you get messages out to the masses (or targeted groups) and when you are trying to communicate a message you should send it out in as many ways as possible.

In many ways I am OK with people not jumping into Social Media with both feet because as long as there is some mystery to it all I can sound like a know it all at parties and get invited onto CNBC (this was my second appearance) because that really impresses my parents but at the same time as more and more people catch up with the early adopters hopefully there will be opportunities for more interesting conversations on the matter instead of the type of mild attacks that happened in this interview....and I call this a mild attack because while I believe Mr. Kneale doesn't understand Twitter or its value I also think he was just trying to make interesting television content.

Finally, I considered disecting the intereview and offering up a color commentary of sorts of what I thought of it but think my co-worker Kelvin Kang did a pretty awesome wrap up of it all so instead I am just going to link to his post.

Oh ya....and here is the interview in case you missed it!

Twestival - If it was any other day I would be there.

Today all around the world people are coming together to have a good time and raise money for Charity : Water. Twestival is taking place in 175+ cities and because I am unable to attend I made a video and offering up some support!


A Twestival Message! from saulcolt on Vimeo.

Social Media isn't that different than Hip Hop.

Disclaimer: This post has been rolling around in my head for more than a month now and after reading if you feel let down because you figured after all that thinking it should have been better I need to explain that I have an enormous amount of pressure regarding this post because I told my friend Julia L. (who is a Hip Hop know it all) I was writing it and she spooked me by saying that I was all wrong. I am not sure I hit my points very well but hopefully I will make her proud with my viewpoint :)

Social Media is one of my passions. I talk about it a lot and love to gather other peoples opinions on where it is going and how they use SM. One of the most interesting recent conversations I had about this was with my friend Howard Greenstein and his viewpoint that companies need Social Media translators and tour guides. There is no way I could do his idea any real justice here so I urge you to find him and let him explain it to you...and while I totally agree with Howard, in my head I formed a different way of looking at it that doesn't quite explain it as well but it seems to make sense to me. <--- this is called setting expectations.

I think Social Media is not that different than Hip Hop.

Ya see when I say Social Media most people immediately think of FaceBook...and when I say Hip Hop most people think of Rappers.

To people not living or working in the Social Media space they assume that the entire Social Media experience revolves around Facebook because FB has the most broad reach but in fact Social Media is a movement...you could even go as far as to say it is a culture because it is many different things to many people. Social Media is a tool, and people have to remember it is a powerful one that allows you to speak, listen, learn, teach and engage people you could never reach 15 years ago. There are great ways to use SM and poor ways and there are some really good people doing some really interesting things.

So how does this fit into Hip Hop?

Well following the same logic...to people not living or working in the Hip Hop space they assume that the entire Hip Hop experience revolves around Rap Music because that has the most broad reach but in fact Hip Hop is a movement...and a culture because it is many different things to many people. Hip Hop is about the Music (MC's and DJ's) but it is also about the people and the art and of course the dancing. Hip Hop (the culture) is more than any one of the aspects that make the whole.

I could go on and one about how both were started by young people looking for a way to communicate and spread messages...and how both have introduced a lot of noise into the world but if you cut through it there is some real gold there...and don't get me started on the egos and feuds.

Like Social Media, there is more to Hip Hop than meets the eye.

So what does it all mean?

Hope: Shepard Fairey and Barack Obama

Cause when the going gets tough....will the you be going?

[Disclaimer: I work for FreshBooks.com and I am pretty lucky cause FreshBooks is one of the best places to work in the entire world. That being said this post is my opinion and only my opinion and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of anyone else besides little ole' me]

One of the best things about my job are that I get to talk to hundreds of people every week about their lives and their jobs and it gives me a clear picture on what is going on in the world.

So using this insight I have to tell you all that I am really surprised by the fact that one of the real results I am seeing due to the economic downfall is that some companies are treating their own staff poorly. Now I understand layoffs if they are for financial reasons but I don't understand when employers don't recognize that their own people are their most valuable resource.

My CEO at FreshBooks is a handsome guy named Mike McDerment and he always talks about how "if you take care of your staff, your staff will take care of your customers and your customers take care of your business."

As you can see Mike is not just handsome but also pretty sharp because this makes sense in any economy but in this current climate it rings more true than ever.

Simply put, When times get tougher it is easy to panic or even give up and some people will...and this will create huge opportunities for the folks who are willing to jump on them and not give up.

So how do you do this, well...best way is to treat your staff well...heck, dare I say like family and show them that if they work hard and stick out the hard times you are going to stick with them and you are all in this thing together. A great example of this is how when you hear celebrities talk about their humble beginnings and they always say "I never know we were poor because my parents always provided something for me". Something doesn't have to be a tangible thing and a lesson that employers don't always understand is that you can show appreciation for your people in hundreds of ways that doesn't include spending big money. By doing fun low cost things to keep spirits up all year round no matter what the economy is like will motivate your staff to, like Mike says "to take care of your customers".

I could go on and on and get very preachy with this but I feel this is an important message to get out there. Yes the economy is going in the wrong directions...Yes the next year may not be like a Beach Boys song but the facts are that new business is going to be everywhere because people will be looking for new options and new vendors so no matter what you do or what industry you are in there are going to be little pots of gold lying around and if you have a motivated staff you may just find them.

...and if this hasn't motivated you to re-examine your company culture/general staff happiness maybe this will help to get you amped to do great things.

Fun with Puppets

I have been carrying around a flip camera in my workbag for 6 months and never bothered to play with it...so I figured I might as well start.

Here is what I came up with.

First we have an interview with Author, and part time model Andy Sernovitz.


The Saul Puppet interviews Andy Sernovitz from saulcolt on Vimeo.

...and it takes a lot to make the puppet speechless but it happened!


The Saul Puppet shows some love for Playboy from saulcolt on Vimeo.

Some of my best thoughts come as I am getting ready for bed and to prove it I made a video!

I really have a knack for short and snappy titles don't I?

One of the things I am thankful for is my overactive mind. It never really shuts off and if always rolling things around in there and seriously if you ever get a chance to take a look in there you should.

As the title says I get a lot of ideas as I am getting ready for bed and while most of these I can't in good conscience share but this one I can...but instead of me writing about it I figured I would make a short video and let you come along on the ride that is me in my evening routine.

...and like I mention in the video...this is an incomplete idea that as I have thought more about I actually don't 100% agree with but stand by the concept of these videos as something that should really be a look into the idea and not always the idea itself.

So get comfy and please if you think this is interesting and want to see more of them let me know...and I think you know what I mean by see more of me...right?

Enjoy!


Getting ready for bed from saulcolt on Vimeo.