About Me

I’ve lived quite a few lives: Student, worker, actor, lawyer, salesperson, husband, sales manager, father, business executive, speaker, mentor, marketing expert, social media advocate and networker. I’m fairly certain I have many more lives left to live – and who knows exactly what those will be? As I tell my sons, “you can be anything you want to be when you grow up” – words I expect to live by one of these days.

I’ve been involved in technology companies since shortly after graduating from law school in 1994. For the past decade, I’ve been helping small businesses more effectively market and sell their services over the web. During that time, I’ve worked directly with hundreds of small companies and indirectly with many, many more. Ironically, during that same decade, I’ve been employed by one of the largest information services companies in the world. I’ve benefitted from the best of both of these worlds. I’ve learned to navigate and thrive in a large company environment while also working with some of the most passionate, energized, incredibly talented web developers, designers, writers, lawyers and marketers in the country.

I’m fairly sure this blog will change a bit as time goes on. As of now, my vision is to use 312 Digital as a platform to blog about my passions. But I also want to shine a spotlight on some of the incredible talent throughout the Chicago area. It seems that so much of the technology and internet marketing coverage is centered on the coasts. There’s obviously good reason for that. However, I’ve met dozens of incredibly talented people in Chicago and I hope to meet hundreds more. I hope to introduce you to many of those people. Some you may already know others not so much.

These are three things I’m most passionate about:

  • Connecting: I enjoy meeting new people and learning about their passions. Please be sure to introduce yourself here on the blog and connect with me on Twitter or on LinkedIn. I’m also passionate about connecting in real life (IRL). Drop me an invite. Lunch. Coffee. Happy Hour. Whatever works for you.
  • Learning: My passion for connecting is really a means to an end. I want to learn from you. And I want to share what I’ve learned with others so they can also learn. I believe that your expertise is heightened by teaching others. Teach me more of what you know. Do it in whatever way makes sense for you. Comment on this blog. Share a link. Invite me to a conference. Share some thoughts over lunch.
  • Mentoring: This is tightly related to my passion for learning (and teaching). Developing people is a critical skill that I believe builds a better organization. I have found from personal experience that it provides employees with a career path, a sense of purpose, a feeling of belonging to a team. I think those are all very positive outcomes. And yet, I’ve seen countless managers and executives hoard talent…ultimately to their detriment and the detriment of their business.

These are a couple other things I believe are critically important:

  • Add value: This applies on a personal level, on a company level and also as a core mission of any marketing department. Find the ways in which you can add value to co-workers, to customers and to your business. Then go do it. Don’t want for permission. Adding value (and doing so consistently) is what gets you, your product, your service or your company noticed. On a larger scale, adding value is what makes for great SEO practice, and is in keeping with the inbound marketing philosophy I subscribe to.
  • Build a network (before you need it): Do yourself a favor. Don’t wait until you get laid off before you start building your network. By that point, it’s entirely too late. You might be wondering when the right time is to build your network. My answer is constantly! I devote at least one hour per week to building, engaging with and updating my network. Do it before work, after work, during the lunch hour, on weekends, whenever you have time. If you don’t have time, make time. Your connections will help you in ways you can’t possibly imagine, but you have the do the hard work to get there. How do you begin? See the bullet point immediately preceding this one – add value!

This is my personal blog.  As such, all information and opinion contained herein is mine and mine alone, and does not in any way represent the views of my employer.