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.

Is Social Media a fad...and what to do you do when people don't respond to your email.

I am going to get back into a grove and start posting more regularly here but I am a little busy with my new job at Zoocasa.com

Until I do that I wanted to share the last interview I did for FreshBooks at SXSW talking about Social Media Experts and if the Interweb is just a fad.

As always, Please let me know what you think of the video..and please check out the others in the 100 interviews series.

s!

I have a new job!

SO if you know anything about me or have read this blog before you will know that I, until a few days ago worked for FreshBooks.

Yes you read that right when I typed "until a few days ago". Don't pretend you didn't see it cause it was only a line before I re-typed it.

Anyway, I have decided to leave FreshBooks to become the HEAD OF...wait a second, before I tell you what I am up to now it is only right to talk about the job I just left.

FreshBooks was the single best job I ever had (including working for myself) and I have so many amazing experiences because of my time there. I owe so much to the people involved with FreshBooks (the Staff, the Customers and the friends I made along my travels) and know that it is the people I will miss the most....even though I am going to try my best to keep up with everyone...and that isn't just talk.

I don't want my departure to hurt or effect FreshBooks in anyway so I hope anyone who liked watching what FreshBooks was up to for whatever reason will continue to do so as it really is a pretty special company and an amazing product...and those who are wondering what this means for the FreshBooks twitter account...I urge you all to still follow as you wont notice a change at all since I haven't been writing it for a month or more and @rlangdon is rocking the account as well as I ever did because her and I share the same ideas on how to make a really great company twitter voice.

SO there ya have it...and what does it all mean?

Well as of a week ago I started a new role and a new chapter in my career. I am now the Head of Magic, Head of Interesting Stuff or just Head of Stuff (still deciding on the title) for Zoocasa.com

Zoocasa.com is a new way to search online for a home in Canada because it allows you to search by what is really important to you...things like neighborhoods, schools or even shops or services.

...now if you are asking yourself why I would leave FreshBooks (the best job I ever had) to jump over to Zoocasa, I can only really offer you one explanation.

I love a challenge and crave responsibility...Heck, I want to be a household name for my business abilities and not just for being a good kisser, and to accomplish this I need to take a chance.

All this may sound weird but at Zoocasa I am getting the opportunity to build a brand from the earliest possible stage. My fingerprints are going to be all over this and that not only excites me, but also my enormous ego.

SO now that you know what is up with me I invite you to please check out Zoocasa.com as soon as you can...then check it again in 2 weeks and 2 weeks after that because this is going to look more and more like me with every passing month and if I do a good job you get to share my passion and witness my creativity...and if I fail, you can point your finger and laugh...but either way I ask that you watch what I am up to because I pour my heart into everything I do and at the very least I promise it will be an entertaining ride.

Would you give up your Klondike Bar for a new friend?

I had the honor of participating at the Refresh Toronto event last night and spoke to a packed room of people following the Pecha Kucha format of presenting 20 sildes for 20 seconds each on any topic you wish.

I had planned to give a quick lesson on building real world relationships from your online relationships but Erin Bury from Red Wire spoke on that subject just before me and did a great job, so I switched things up a little bit and just talked freestyle about another form of relationship building that I always have on my mind.

I am pretty proud of this short talk so please take a look and let me know what you think of it


My "Would you give up your Klondike Bar to make a new friend" presentation from saulcolt on Vimeo.

...also if you need further proof of what I was talking about take a look at this interview with my friend Becky Carroll from Customersrock.net and Petra Consulting Group. Becky understands Customer Service as well as anyone out there and we all can learn a ton from her!

Becky Carroll (Customer Rocks.net) shares thoughts on Customer Service! from saulcolt on Vimeo.

In closing, (I like to use that phrase cause it makes me sound like a Lawyer) and I am the last person to get all preachy but I hope you take a second to think about the messages in these videos because they literally could make you happier and more successful....and it is so simple to boot!

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 + Retro Marketing = me on the Hopkinson Report!

I had the absolute honor of being a guest on the super amazing Wired Magazine marketing blog "The Hopkinson Report" (named after its super amazing host Jim Hopkinson) and I would love you all to check it out.

http://thehopkinsonreport.com/2009/01/28/episode-41-saul-colt-freshbooks-interview/

I discuss a bunch of topics like:

* How Freshbooks was born out of frustration that many freelancers face
* Why we take our customers — even non-paying ones — to free dinners
* What just might happen if you get stood up on a blind date
* My title, and what happens when the “Head of Magic” heads to Las Vegas
* Why I have a Love-Hate relationship with Zappos.com
* The iPhone promotion that differentiated them from every other company
* My CEO’s blog post “The 7 Ways I’ve Almost Killed Freshbooks“
* How the FreshBooks iPhone app helps on-the-go freelancers keep better records

If is all riveting stuff and if you listen real close you can tell that I needed to blow my nose throughout the whole interview!


Freshbooks.com interview - Saul Colt, the “Head of Magic” uses social media and retro marketing to build a loyal following. from Jim Hopkinson on Vimeo.

A different look at tomorrow's election

This video is part of a project I am working on and am pretty proud of...this is also a little of the reason I haven't been blogging much lately but that is going to change....enjoy the video and pass it around if you can!

Does anyone want my job at FreshBooks?

If you are a regular reader you will know that I have without question the coolest job in the world.

I love my job and am happier than I have been for a while.......so why am I offering it to someone?

Well I am not really offering you MY job but am looking to add some people to our FreshBooks team...so if you guys know anyone in the Toronto area looking for the best job they have ever had tell them to check out careers.freshbooks.com

....especially anyone with some experience as a community manager!

It is the "Where in the World is Saul" contest round one!

Hey loyal and rather attractive readers!

I have mentioned a few times that I desire to be internet famous so to accelerate that result I am inviting people to follow my every move over the next week.

I am leaving tomorrow to Boston for a few days and then NY for one day on some Top Secret FreshBooks business and because it is top secret I figured I was a good excuse to have a secret agent themed contest to give away some cool prizes.

I will be using Twitter (and if I remember, Britekite) to post my locations every hour or so and if anyone can find me (in real life) and comes up and says "Hey, aren't you Saul Colt from FreshBooks...you are really good looking in real life" and lets me tell them all about what FreshBooks does I will reach into my backpack and give you a pretty cool prize.

Prizes include one free FreshBooks Shuttlebus account good for one year, Books, T-Shirts, autographed pictures of me, hugs, kisses and whatever I can fit into my bag.

So if you don't follow my twitter stream please start following me because I am going to do this in many cities over the next few months.

The single greatest trade show booth ever!

I have so much stuff I want to write about but need to find the time...but until I do I want to share with you something super cool that I am very proud of.

Sunir and I pulled this off together in Boston a few weeks ago!

Video evidence of of me at work!

I have another post or two to write about my last trip to New York but I came across something cool and thought I would post it first.

My mom still doesn't understand what I do for a living so I was pretty jazzed when I found this video of me actually at work doing my thing.....well sorta.



..thanks to Rahaf Harfoush for including me in her video!

The videos of my Third Tuesday presentation are now in YouTube

There are five excerpts up on YouTube from a presentation I did back in February where I had the honour of speaking at Third Tuesday hosted by Joseph Thornley of Thornley Fallis. Pretty early in the presentation I think Mike and I could tell that this was going to be a special night because the crowd was incredible, the questions were really thoughtful and there was just a great vibe in the room.

The 5 videos have are over at the Pro PR blog and I am pretty jazzed about sharing it one of them here with you here!

Yes I know the videos are a bit hard to see but they are way clearer and more entertaining then a Paris Hilton sex tape so give the rest of the videos a try here and here.

...and if you want me to come speak at something you are hosting just ask...I will speak just about anywhere :)

One Degree Marketing Blog asks me 5 questions!

The very fine folks at the One Degree were kind enough to ask me a few questions about what makes me the (not yet recognized) 2008 Marketer of the Year.

It is a great interview with lots of incite into my very active brain...here is an excerpt (one of the 5 questions) and click here to read the whole thing.

One Degree: Did you learn anything from this experience?

Customers are always more than customers. They are people. Sure you can read that and think it's buzz speak or a cliché - but once you have shared a meal with someone and had a chat about stuff not revolving around work, you look at them differently and want to give them more then you already are. This isn’t something I just learned on this trip, but the trip reconfirmed my belief of this.

Real world relationships in a Web 2.0 world (and a superior product) are the absolute best way to build a happy and loyal community. The days of faceless companies with no outward facing personality no longer work with savvy people. With so much more of people’s communications happening through a keyboard, some people want to be a part of something and feel some love from the companies they deal with. The companies that can do this genuinely, and not in a forced fashion, will have customers and fans.

Oh and while you're over reading the interview...feel free to leave nice comments because my Mom will be reading it :)

DownloadSquad.com interviewed me!

I have been a fan of DownloadSquad.com for a while so when Grant and Christina asked me if they could interview me at SXSW I was pretty jazzed.

Here is what came out from our time together!


SXSWi 2008: Freshbooks talks to Download Squad from Download Squad on Vimeo.

...and speaking of conferences I am attending

I will be heading out to New York tomorrow for a jam packed schedule of meetings/parties and conferences. The list of all the things I will be doing is too long to list but one thing I think that is super cool (and worth talking about here on the ole blog) is that I am ending my week by attending Blogger Social.

Myself and more than 80 of the smartest/sexiest bloggers in the entire world are coming together in NYC to get to know each other, drink a little drink and maybe just maybe solve the world’s problems!

I am planning on twittering a whole bunch from the “road” and may dive into the blog a bit but I will be collecting a slew of stories and will probably bombard you with a story or two a day once I get back...Oh ya and if you are wondering who I will be hanging out with you can check out this nifty directory or follow any of the links below to see their sites!

Susan Bird Tim Brunelle Katie Chatfield Matt Dickman Luc Debaisieux Gianandrea Facchini Mark Goren Gavin Heaton Sean Howard CK Valeria Maltoni Drew McLellan Doug Meacham Marilyn Pratt Steve Roesler Greg Verdino CB Whittemore Steve Woodruff Paul McEnany Ann Handley David Reich Tangerine Toad Kristin Gorski Mack Collier David Armano Ryan Barrett Lori Magno Tim McHale Gene DeWitt Mario Vellandi Arun Rajagopal Joseph Jaffe Rohit Bhargava Anna Farmery Marianne Richmond Thomas Clifford Lewis Green Geoff Livingston Kris Hoet Connie Reece CeCe Lee Toby Bloomberg Seni Thomas Darryl Ohrt Joe Kutchera Paul Dunay Marshall Sponder Chris Kieff Tara Anderson Jason Falls Paul Soldera Roberta Rosenberg Saul Colt Todd Andrlik Nathan Snell Ryan Karpeles Mike Sansone Jennifer Laycock Neil Vineberg Cam Beck Mike Arauz Matthew Bailey Heather Gorringe John Rosen Cathleen Rittereiser Tamar Weinberg Rita Perea Linda Sherman Matthew McDonald Kaitlyn Wilkins Terry Starbucker
Jennifer Berk Jane Quigley John Wall Scott Monty Kevin Horne Virginia Miracle Amanda Gravel Susan Reynolds David Polinchock Shashi Bellamkonda David Berkowitz Vahe Habeshian

Yes, It is a very impressive list and I am honored to be included on it..I just hope everyone likes what i have included in the conference freebie bag :)

10 ways we became an un-official sponsor of SXSW 2008

Please Note* I am re-posting this from the FreshBooks blog as it was originally written for over there but since I wrote it and am proud of it I figured my ever growing and loyal readership may find it interesting as well!

Going to conferences are a fun way to learn things and make friends, but they are still very much work... and when you are in marketing that means leaving people with a positive impression so they will remember you well after the event.

Normally, we would just smile and be friendly; however, there were 7500 people at SXSW Interactive! That's a lot of hands to shake. So, we had a different plan of attack for SXSW Interactive. We opted to do some crazy stuff in order to get some positive attention. After all, SXSW is kind of like Burning Man, but with pants.

Please note, we thought it was so cool that others liked what we did enough to post photos on Flickr, all the photos come from other people's Flickr accounts.

The ten fingers of FreshBooks

1. FreshBooks RoadBurn

We didn't just fly down to Austin like some half-weights. Mike, Sunir, our film producer Eamonn O'Connor, and I rolled into Austin in style all the way from from Future of Web Apps (FOWA) in Miami in our FreshBooks RV, at the tail end of our epic RoadBurn road trip to meet and eat with customers.

2. Schwag Bags



Every person attending the conference receives one of the famous SXSWi "Big Bags" just chock full of magazines, postcards, fortune cookies, stickers, etc. We dropped a postcard in the bag to tell everyone that Ben and Mike were speaking on panels and gave them the wheres and the whens.

3. Panels

We spoke on not one but two big panels during the festival. Ben teamed up with some folks from Pownce, Defensio, Dabble DB, and some little company called Facebook to present on the topic of Developer-Friendly API's and Mike (with me as a last minute addition) spoke about Stories of Failure: Surviving Common Start Up Mistakes. Both panels were very well received and was a great final touch for a lot of people.

4. Street Team



A large number of lucky people were welcomed to the convention center by the FreshBooks Street Team. All week long doors were held open for people coming in with the line "This door was held open by your friends at FreshBooks" and other fun good deeds were performed by the street team. The street team then handed them a phony invoice asking them to pay $1 or to just check out FreshBooks.com, just to prove that no good deed goes unbilled.

5. FreshForce Ones



We had custom Nike Air Force Ones made that we are calling the FreshForce Ones. These shoes are not only in the FreshBooks colors, but they also have FreshBooks written on the heal and the FreshBooks leaf on the bottom of the laces.

6. Hangover Kits



This is one of the things I am most proud of since it is a fun cool item that is so targeted to the spirit of SXSWi. Like ninjas we silently hung a hangover kit on every hotel room door in a few of the "official" hotels associated with SXSWi. This was the only way to get one... unless you bumped into Sunir or myself at one of the parties we attended on the last few nights. Inside these kits were common hangover relief stuff such as Advil, Blistex, Life Savers, Jolt Caffeine Gum, Band Aids, and antacid.

7. Canadian Pancake Breakfast



Growing up I was always told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. We teamed up with Microsoft Canada, Praized, Uni, and the Canadian Consulate Generals in Dallas and Los Angeles to host a pretty amazing pancake breakfast. We had the RV on hand and pancakes for a few hundred. People left full and fulfilled!

8. The FreshBooks RoadBurn RV



The RoadBurn RV was pretty important during that trip but also had an important roll once we reached our destination. For one the RV was an incredible rolling billboard but also acted as a cool way for us to shuttle some of the cool kids from one party to another.

9. Customer dinners



One of the main goals of our RoadBurn trip was to meet as many customers as possible. This goal didn't end once we got to Austin so we hosted two amazingly fun customer dinners (one big one with 30+ at our table and one smaller one) where we got to chat, eat and drink all in the name of invoicing!

10. Parties

There are so many parties going on at the same time during SXSWi that there is no way to say what are the best ones, so you try to go to all of them. Sunir and I attended as many as 5 parties a night. Going to all these parties may sound like a lot of fun, but you have to remember it was still work. Incredibly fun work that involved trying to talk with every person in the room and getting them to know all about FreshBooks but it was still work :)

11. Interweb Idols

I never did learn how to count. We have a new supersekret project called Interweb Idols we started working on at FOWA and SXSW.

Next year

If you want to borrow any of these ideas for yourself, feel free since we are already dreaming up new ideas for next year. After this post, we are certainly going to have to outdo ourselves at SXSW2009. We are thinking ice house!

What I've Learned : SXSW Interactive 2008 Edition

I have been trying to figure out the best way to report on my time at the SXSW Interactive Festival and not coming up with a format I like. I am having this problem because so much of what I saw and experienced could (out of context) be taken the wrong way.

So I have decided to "borrow" the Esquire Magazine "What I've Learned" format and fill you in on all I can remember.

So here goes!

Festival Goodie Bags are useful since it introduced me to two amazing magazines : Create and Paste

Meeting old and new friends is a blast. Thanks to Rohit Bhargava, C.C. Chapman, Chris Brogan, Steve Hall, Candice Faktor, David Crow, Rannie Turingan, Maggie Fox, Dave Delaney, Gary Vanderchuk, Mike Miner, Marjorie Kase, Christina Warren, Michelle Riggen-Ransom, Grant Robertson, Caroline McCarthy, Baratunde Thurston and about 100 others!

Even thought I was at the Interactive Festival and not the Music Festival I still was introduced to some cool new music....like Nouvelle Vague, Lightspeed Champion.

...and finally as a first year attendee of sxsw here are some other random stuff I learned.

-Ben Vinegar (pictured with me) is a smart funny guy (I knew that already but I figured I should explain the picture)
-You can learn as much in the hallways as in the panels.
-You better hit as many parties as you can because they are fun...and the best place to meet folks.
-By the last day lots of people knew about FreshBooks....hopefully I had a hand in that.
-Say what you want about booze....but it makes some people fun.
-The Gingerman Pub in Austin has local made (non alcoholic) Root Beer on Tap like real beer so you can look cool and keep your wits about you at the same time!
-SXSWi is probably the only place you can bring a laptop to a party/bar and not look out of place.
-Handing out real one dollar bills as a street promotion is uncool.
-Handing out promo condoms in the mens room is creepy and can be misinterpreted.
-Girls like me!
-They really like me!
...and finally. Most of the really cool stories that come out of sxsw can't be repeated!

I had an absolute blast at SXSW and am already putting pen to paper coming up with ideas on how to make a splash next year.

Hope to see you there!

Couple of things to report while I work my way through SXSW

Hey Y'all (said with a perfect Texan accent...cause I am in Texas)

I don't mean to get all Alanis on you but I do see the irony in the fact that I am at the SXSW interactive festival, spending time with the best of the best of the blogger community and I haven't found any real time to blog. It could be that I am working like crazy making sure everyone in the city knows who I am and what I do or it could be that I am working like crazy making sure everyone in the city knows who I am and what I do.

Either one is good.

Anyway I wanted to send off a quick report on what I have been up to as well as let you know where I will be in a few weeks.

So to start......As I hope you are aware I/we have been producing a series of videos of our trip to SXSW and the "TEXAS" installment is up for your viewing pleasure over at the ROADBURN site (or just below).



....and to complete the irony of this post I am now going to blog about another conference (blogger social) while I sit at SXSWi.

I will be in New York on April 4th to 6th to attend the (first?) Blogger Social. I am pretty excited to bee hanging out and spreading my love with some of the real stars of the blogger community.

As of today the following folks are registered to attend:

Susan Bird, Tim Brunelle, Katie Chatfield, Matt Dickman, Luc Debaisieux, Gianandrea Facchini, Mark Goren, Gavin Heaton, Sean Howard, CK, Valeria Maltoni, Drew McLellan, Doug Meacham, Marilyn Pratt, Steve Roesler, Greg Verdino, CB Whittemore, Steve Woodruff, Paul McEnany, Ann Handley, David Reich, Tangerine, Toad Kristin, Gorski Mack Collier, David Armano, Ryan Barrett, Lori Magno, Tim McHale, Gene DeWitt, Mario Vellandi, Arun Rajagopal, Joseph Jaffe, Rohit Bhargava, Anna Farmery, Marianne Richmond, Thomas Clifford, Lewis Green, Geoff Livingston, Kris Hoet, Connie Reece, CeCe Lee Toby Bloomberg Seni Thomas Darryl Ohrt Joe Kutchera Paul Dunay Marshall Sponder Chris Kieff Tara Anderson Jason Falls Paul Soldera Roberta Rosenberg Saul Colt Todd Andrlik Nathan Snell Ryan Karpeles Mike Sansone Jennifer Laycock Neil Vineberg Cam Beck Mike Arauz Matthew Bailey Heather Gorringe John Rosen Cathleen Rittereiser Tamar Weinberg Rita Perea Linda Sherman Matthew McDonald Kaitlyn Wilkins Terry Starbucker, Jennifer Berk Jane Quigley John Wall Scott Monty Kevin Horne Virginia Miracle Amanda Gravel Susan Reynolds David Polinchock Shashi Bellamkonda David Berkowitz Vahe Habeshian.

...and here is what they all look like!

Off we go to the Burt Reynolds Museum and hilarity ensues.

When I found out that I would be in Florida I got all excited because I have always wanted to visit the Burt Reynolds Museum and Institute.

To be honest I was hoping the museum would be like a Planet Hollywood restaurant but without food it would sell beef jerky and chaw.

Well much to my surprise the place was really nice and classy.

We were lucky to have an amazing tour guide named Jo and she made our stay a fun adventure.

We shot about 45 minutes and here is a little trailer of our visit!



*Reminder* The camera adds 40+ pounds.....I am really not that big!

Hope you like!

-saul

More videos from my RoadBurn trip!

I was going to write long explanations about these videos but they sorta speak for themselves.

so enjoy!



and



Also, yesterday we went to the Burt Reynolds Institute and Museum and I will be so jazzed once that video is up!

-saul