Shai Coggins

The first yay is for:

Yes, my official b5 business cards finally arrived. Since I didn’t go to Toronto during the last two team meet-ups, I didn’t get to pick them up in person. So, Darren kindly offered to mail them to me instead (Thanks!).

I can’t believe I’d say this about a business card, but yeah, I really love ‘em. Quite snazzy.
Now all I gotta do is find a way to start giving them out. Heh.

* * *

Another yay goes to:

Well, I’m just pleased that all birth announcement and thank you cards have been mailed and sent off. Well, almost all anyway. I think I’ve got two late cards that still need to go out. But, the deed is done. The task is checked.

I’m happy. And grateful.

It’s all good.

If you are:

1) Based in Adelaide, Australia
2) Interested in business, particularly VC funding
3) Looking at networking with a VC / business expert and other business people

— then, you might want to check out the TechMentor Information Session to be held on the 15th of May at 5:30pm in the city. This event is being offered through the Venture Capital Board of South Australia. If you’re interested, visit the VCBSA site and register. I also uploaded the press release and brochure in this page (available only until end of May 2007).

Matthew Michalewicz, CEO of SolveIT Software Pty Ltd and author of Winning Credibility, is the brain behind this very interesting project. I met Matthew a few months ago. And, I believe that he’s a great guy who has a lot of energy, experience and expertise on these matters. So, I’m sure that TechMentor will be a project worth taking part in.*

In general, though, it’s really fantastic to see something like this happening in Australia, especially here in Adelaide where initiatives like this is uncommon. In fact, anyone who’s ever tried to start a business, raise capital, set up a company, etc will know that resources are scarce. So, hopefully, this is just the beginning of greater things to come.

* Unfortunately, due to time constraints, I won’t be part of this. But, I thought I’d pass this information along to anyone else who might want to give it a go.

Yes, the clean-up continues!

I just spent the last 20 minutes or so trying to clear up comment and trackback spam here at ShaiCoggins.com. Well, I suppose that wasn’t too bad. I’ve had worse days where I ended up clearing thousands of blog spam for hours.

But, I decided that I’ve had enough. I really could use every extra minute I can find in life, so 20 minutes is a lot to lose.

I’ve been going back and forth with this idea of turning off Trackback capability here at ShaiCoggins.com for a few months now. One of the things that was stopping me was the fact that I used this blog as a way to help other people learn trackbacks. But, since that was ages ago and the original About.com article that led to that blog post is now offline, it shouldn’t be an issue anymore. And, considering how little ‘real trackbacks’ this blog is getting, it’s just not worth the time and effort to maintain it. So yep - that’s gone now. Hopefully, this means reclaiming a few hours a year of my time!

Other things that I’ve done recently to become more time efficient, especially with my online work:

• Turning off ‘comment notification’ in some of my blogs that are retired and/or no longer active.
• Re-directing some emails to my non-working email addresses.
• Trying to stay on the web with my work - so documents, files and other information may be accessible anywhere. Yes, even when I have to stay in bed or work remotely. Yep. the beauty of having wireless Internet connection!

As I slowly adjust back to working primarily from home while operating a global business, I’m learning more and more about ways to cut-back on the mess and increase productive time.

And hey, I’m even learning from b5’s CEO, Jeremy Wright, about Life Management now that he’s creating an online course on this via his blog.

Anyway, I hope to be able to share with you some more tools and tips that I’m using, in case anyone’s interested.

Lookie here - working remotely at the Regatta a few weeks ago.
That was just after I went to the city for a pre-natal check-up
and I had to wait for my husband to take me back home because
he had a conference to go to.

A couple of weeks ago, Matthew Michalewicz, CEO if SolveIT Software, invited me to an Entrepreneurship and Networking Evening event that will be hosted by the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (South Australia). It also incorporates the book launch of “Winning Credibility: A Guide for Building a Business from Rags to Riches”. It is authored by Matthew and his dad, Zbigniew Michalewicz.

Some presentations during the evening include:

• “Getting Started with Start Up Capital” (by Amanda Heyworth, CEO, Playford Capital)
• “Innovating with Somebody Else’s Money” (by Mike Burfield, Director, InVenture Partners)
• “Training and Education for Entrepreneurs” (by Bill Price, CEO, Venture Capital Board)

I’ve met Matthew and his incredible family (congrats again on the birth of your new baby boy), who are all a pleasure to talk to and be with. They’re friendly, warm, intelligent, and dedicated. It’s great to be in the company of such individuals.

Anyway, if you’re in Adelaide on Wednesday, 26 July 2006 (5.15 - 7.15 pm), you might want to consider booking for the said event. It’s free but you need to register. To do so, just go AmCham’s website and book online. You can also print off a PDF copy of the booking form and send it off to them. The event will be held at the Hyatt Regency, North Terrace, Adelaide, South Australia. And apparently, there are already about 300 people who have registered so far. So, it’s all looking good for the organisers and participants.

Now, if you decide to go, please let me know. I’d love to meet up and say hello. I’m really hoping that I could make it to the event.

When it comes to online social networking, I do tend to be on the conservative side. I don’t actively seek them out, but I’m happy to discover and to learn more.

I think this is partly due to the reason that at the moment, I still don’t see a lot of benefit from them. Sure, I may meet more people. But, I realise that unless they become “real connections” (ie, not just connections for the sake of growing my network numbers), I can’t seem to find any reason to spend a lot of time on them. At least, not yet.

But then, maybe I’m just missing something.

With this in mind, I decided to explore one particular online social networking service in particular - LinkedIn. I’ve been trying to work this out the last couple of weeks (even though I’ve been a member for about 2+ years now). That’s why I’m finally publicising my LinkedIn profile and writing about it here.

So, if you’re on LinkedIn and you want to connect, let me know. And, if you’ve been involved with my work in any way and you’d be happy to give me an endorsement, I’d appreciate that too - but it’s not a requirement.
Anyway, I just want to be able to check here in 6 to 12 months’ time and report if I’ve seen any benefit at all from being part of LinkedIn.

Right now, my basic stats show:
- 41 connections
- 2 endorsements
- 0 new connections (just LinkedIn-based)
- 0 reconnections (just found via LinkedIn)
- 0 job/consultation leads
- 0 sales/other business-related leads
- 0 media/expertise/PR leads

I’m not sure what other measures I’d like to see… But, these are a few things that I’d like to look in to anyway. Hopefully, all the 0s will change at some stage.
In any case, if you have LinkedIn success stories or rave reviews, please let me know. I’d love to read all about them.

In the last 9+ years that I’ve been online, I’ve met many great and wonderful people. Some, I have even had the privelege of meeting in person. And, I always look forward to meeting many more in the future.

Last week, I had the fantastic opportunity to meet someone who introduced himself to me via email a couple of weeks ago. His name is Matthew Michalewicz, the CEO of SolveIT Software Pty Ltd. He’s also the author of two business-related books that are going to published mid-2006, a lecturer at the Adelaide University, and a talented presenter/speaker. And, if I’m not mistaken, he’s just in his early 30s.

Apparently, Matthew read the article about me on “The Advertiser” and thought it’ll be great to chat over a cuppa. I accepted his invitation and met him at a cafe in the city last Monday afternoon.

I expected the business suit, the American accent (he grew up and lived in the US before moving here 2 years ago), the business talk, and the chat on blogging. What I didn’t expect were the amazing thoughts he shared on following dreams and passions, parenting, writing, art, family and life in general. I went away energised and excited about a lot of things - including growing b5media and the other aspects of my life.

Matthew is definitely one of those incredible people who’s a great pleasure to meet up, talk to and get to know better.

Thanks again for the hot chocolate, the VC/biz advice, and the possible blogging job lead, Matthew.

When The New York Times Company bought About.com last year, there were a lot of people questioning the sanity of NYT. Now, the latest reports are in. And, it looks like the NYT folks aren’t crazy after all:

Revenues rose 3.3 per cent to $831.8 million from $805.6 million a year ago. Much of the gain was attributable to the addition of the Internet company About.com which the Times acquired in March of last year.

Excluding About, revenues rose 1.1 per cent.

Overall advertising revenues at the company grew 3.9 per cent, but excluding the addition of revenues from About, they rose 0.7 per cent.

Of course, being a proud About Guide (on Web Logs), I already knew that the NYT knew exactly what they were getting.

Online media is definitely rockin’.

UPDATE (17/4/06):

• From The Washington Post:
  

  Like other traditional media companies, the Times’ revenue from newspaper advertising has dropped off, resulting in a declining stock price over the past year. Its Internet offerings, however, have shown a glimmer of hope for a turnaround.

  The company yesterday said that profit dropped 69 percent, to $35 million, for the first three months of the year, from $111 million in the comparable quarter a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.3 percent, to $831.8 million. The Times’ acquisition last year of About.com appears to have paid off, as it reported a 98 percent increase in revenue for the Web site for the quarter. Total Internet business accounts for 7.5 percent of the company’s overall revenue, compared with 4.5 percent in the same period last year, the report said.

  “Clearly, the Times sees the future on the Internet and not on broadcast TV,” said John Morton, a newspaper analyst. “It’s smart. That part of the news business is growing very rapidly and is going to become very profitable.”

• Also Read The New York Times’ related article.

About 7 months ago, I went to my first ever job interview in Australia. Even though most of the queries seemed too blurry to me now, one of the questions remain stuck with me. Towards the end of my interview, one of the interviewers asked: What drives you? What is it that motivates you?

Without thinking twice, I replied: Passion. If I’m passionate about something, if I believe in what I’m doing… I always give it my absolute best shot. I give it all I’ve got.

I don’t know if that was the answer they were looking for or not*. But, it was an answer that rang truest to me.

Anyway, whether I am doing counselling, conducting therapy, painting pictures, writing articles, or blogging ideas — I want to find the passion in it. If I don’t have it at any given time, I look for it. If I don’t find it, no matter how hard I try, that’s when I start thinking whether I should re-consider things in my life.

What about you? What drives YOU? What makes you feel alive and motivated in the things that you do? What makes life more meaningful for you?

———-
* Well, I did get the job and I’m still employed there, so…

Do you ever find yourself encountering similar “themes” in your lives? Like, how a certain event, person, situation, idea, activity and/or thought just keep presenting themselves over and over?

A “light” example may be: I don’t use Skype in my conversations. I just don’t know that many people in “real life” that are in to Skype. And yet, yesterday, Skype came up twice on two separate occasions, brought up by different people.

I know this must be happening a lot. But lately, I’m noticing it more and more.

One recurring “personal theme” I’ve been having lately is having to repeat the phrase: “You have to choose your battles.” Nothing earth-shattering, I know. But, it seems to resonate well with the people I talk to about it. I’ve been saying this in the context of learning to adjust and find one’s rhythm in the workplace.

You see, a lot of people seem to find it difficult to cope with stress at work. In fact, once upon a time, I was one of those people who go crazy at every little inconsitency, gossip, lack of organisation, problematic policies (or the lack of them) and/or talk about office politics. This type of attitude burned me out so quickly that by the time I reached 6 to 8 months in a job, I was almost always ready to quit no matter how passionate I was to begin with.

That’s why I’ve always thought that freelancing/self-employment is the only thing that will work for me.

Well, I’m about to reach my sixth month anniversary in my first employed position in 3 years (’been freelancing for the last 3+ years). And, I’m pleased to say that I’m still as energised as I was when I first started. Sure, some of the gloss has already faded. And, I’ve already encountered plenty of the things that used to drive me up the wall so much. But, I have to say that I still love what I’m doing.

Sure, it’s not all perfect. But, I think it does help to focus on the positives and just work around the challenges bit by bit. I try not to let things get me down too easily. And, I do my best to find ways to make my work fun and interesting.

Yes, I’m learning to choose my battles — and, putting on an upbeat background music to do a little dance as I tackle each one.
And yeah, I believe that battle-choosing works for other aspects of life too.

As the eldest of four kids, I was a “default born leader.” So, I’m not quite sure if there really is such a thing. Are leaders born or made? And, what makes someone a good leader? As I ponder the qualities of great leaders that I know of, I can begin the list by sharing the following:

1) Good leaders know how to motivate the people that they lead. Not by sheer flattery or charisma… but through genuine inspiration and encouragement. They know how to boost morale and lift people’s spirits. They know how to see the best in everyone.

2) Good leaders know when to receive advice and when to make judgment calls. A leader who only makes autonomous decisions are not good leaders. A leader who only knows how to make decisions based on what people tell him/her are not good leaders either.

3) Good leaders are visionaries. They know how to create goals and to find ways in how to achieve them. They know how other leaders operate and do not always follow what everyone else is doing, just because they wish to be popular. They see things that many people may not see easily…

4) Good leaders know how to lead in good and bad times. A leader’s strength is tested in more ways than one. It’s as easy to shine when things are well, as when things aren’t as fine. By the same token, it’s not too hard to fail when things are bad, just as when things are good.

There are many other thoughts on leadership over at Jone Lewis’s The Leadership Blog (from AboutWeblogs.com, the network that I run).

What about you? What do you think makes a good leader?