Do You Really Want to Know?

December 24, 2008 By Leave a Comment

number7So, I’ve finally been tagged by one of the memes going around the blogosphere this week.  This particular meme happens to be seven things you don’t know about me.  I got tagged by Scott Monty and Jason Kintzler within a couple hours of one another.  

I know some people don’t like these type of posts but I think they’re fun, sometimes.  If it wasn’t for being tagged by Scott and Jason, I’m not sure I would’ve ever written a post like this.  Sure, you probably would learn the information from following me on Twitter, or staying in touch via Facebook, or looking at my previous history on LinkedIn.  But, here it is, all wrapped up nicely for you in one post. 

  1. While I was in college I owned a DJ company called Talent Network.  We performed at all types of events including weddings, fraternity/sorority parties, private events, formals, corporate parties, etc.
  2. I am getting married to my beautiful fiance, Laura, on June 6, 2009 at the Inn at Mystic.
  3. I have a weird obsession with chips and salsa.  I can easily eat an entire bag of tortilla chips in one sitting if I’m not careful.  Any restaurant we go to, if they have chips and salsa or nachos, I order them.
  4. I love love love all things spicy.  I regularly eat jarred sliced jalepenos as a snack.  Yes, I just reach into the jar and grab a small handful of ‘em and just eat them.  I grew up always eating very spicy foods.  Now, friends and family buy me salsas, hot sauces and spcies from all over the world for me to try.  Traveling and want to buy me a gift?  Don’t get me a keychain or postcard.  Find me a cool hot sauce, BBQ sauce, salsa or spice.
  5. My former position with That’s Great News and That’s Great PR gave me the opportunity to travel to the Philippines a handful of times.  If you’ve never visited, it is worth the trip and will give you a new appreciation for things you take for granted on a daily basis back here.
  6. I am a die-hard Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots fan.  I don’t follow hockey but if I did, I’m sure it would be the Bruins.  I grew up in Springfield, MA so I was totally engulfed in all things Boston professional sports.  Also, my grandfather is like the guy (I think it was his uncle?) from the movie Fever Pitch who relates all dates to what the Red Sox were doing that year.
  7. I love the Aston Martin DB9 and DBS vehicles.  I had the chance to drive a DBS a few months ago and fully plan on owning one day.

Since I know that a lot of others don’t like memes, I’m going to make the choice not to tag anyone else.  As I look around it seems as though this meme is dying anyways.

Have other questions for me? Feel free to ask me in the comments below.

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Photo by: kimberlyfaye

Filed Under: Miscellaneous Tagged With: , ,

What You Can Learn From My Dog

December 22, 2008 By 2 Comments

sasha-snowThis weekend I had the chance to take my dog out and really play around in the snow with her.  I love spending time with my dog, Sasha.  But unfortunately, my schedule over the past few months prevents me from doing some of the really fun things that we enjoy doing like going on hikes, swimming, and running around at the park.  Being part Australian Shepherd and part Siberian Husky she loves to zip around…especially in snow.  

So, on Saturday morning she came into the bedroom and woke me up waaay too early to go outside.  I suited up and went outside to start jumping through snow piles, rolling around, and throwing snowballs.  Sasha acts just like a kid in the snow.  She runs head first into the biggest piles of snow she can find.  She bites snowballs as they’re thrown at her.  She runs as fast as she can on the pavement then stops so she slides.  We repeated this every couple hours on Saturday and Sunday.  It was tons of fun.  But, then as I was watching her run around, something occurred to me.  Though she was having a lot of fun, everything she was doing was a calculated risk.  She never jumped into or off of anything that she didn’t know.  Sometimes she miscalculated and once she even hurt her paw for a brief minute.  She knew the general layout and then just had fun.

Going into 2009 we need to take calculated risks.  In order to take these risks, we need to know the general landscape of the area.  Once we assess the potential risk and determine that it presents a good opportunity then we need to jump in and have fun with it.  You must have fun.  There may be bumps along the way, there are always bumps.  Sasha tweaked her paw a couple times so then she slowed down for a little while but then jumped right back in not afraid.  We need to do the same when those bumps happen.  Slow down, assess, and then figure out how to overcome that issue but not be afraid to try another idea, grab another project or whatever the opportunity may be.

How am I doing this in 2009?  I am setting sail by taking a new position with a new company in a new state.  This includes my fiance having to find a new job, paying all of the relocation costs and diving into something uncertain.  Oh yeah, and we’re doing all of this 6 months before our wedding.  Why?  Because I know the landscape of the field that I work in and of where I want to get to.  I assessed the opportunity along with the potential risks and decided to jump in and have fun.  For me, 2009 is going to be a lot of work, a lot of change but it’s also going to be a lot of fun.  I’m capitalizing on an amazing opportunity and am looking forward to seeing that risk pay off.

What risks are you going to take in 2009 to make sure you succeed?

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Filed Under: Business strategy Tagged With: , , ,

Amazon Remembers What You Want to Buy

December 20, 2008 By 4 Comments

A few days ago I was searching for new apps on my iPhone and saw that Amazon had created an app.  I buy from Amazon all the time and use their “Wish List” feature to keep track of all of the books I’ll hopefully end up buying and reading eventually.  I eargerly installed the app and began playing with it.  

It had all of the features you’d hope for from Amazon – Search, Wish List, Shopping Cart and Account Info.  It also had the “1-click to order” feature turned on.  I thought this was a great idea from a business perspective because as a hyper-connected society, the faster the better especially when you’re mobile.  But then I noticed this other feature called “Remembers”.  I never remebered seeing anything like this on Amazon’s website before so I did a little research.  I found this description from Amazon on the “Remembers” feature:


amazonremembers

The ability to take pictures and have it stored didn’t really impress me much.  I can quickly take a picture with my camera already and import it to Evernote for future reference.  Oh, wait.  It said I could take a picture and if it’s a bookphotoproduct, Amazon would try to find it for me.  This can’t be.  I took a picture of Tim Sanders book Saving the World at Work to test this out.  

After taking the picture the app told me it was searching for the book and would alert me when/if it was able to find it.  A few minutes later I got an email and an alert on the app saying that it had found the book for me.  It took me right to the book listing, showed me the price, reviews, shipping options, allowed me to add to my “Wish List” or buy.

From both a user and business prospective this is awesome, if it stays accurate.  Amazon has added more value because they eliminated the extra steps of taking a picture and having to research it later when I got home.  They also have increased the chances that I’ll buy by capturing my attention while I’m actively thinking about purchasing the product.  If I choose not to buy right then, it reminds me that I told Amazon I was interested in this product the next time I login.

I look forward to testing the Amazon Remembers feature more in the coming weeks.

Good job Amazon!

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Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged With: , , ,

Setting Sail for 2009 on a Pirate Ship

December 20, 2008 By 15 Comments

pirateshipSo, over the past few weeks I have been really mean to all of my friends on Twitter.  I have been teasing them about a “secret project” that I was working on and kept promising to tell everyone what I was up to.  Starting mid-week I began leaking little bits of info such as that I needed to look for an apartment in Boston.  Well, today I’m happy to announce that the secret is out!

I have decided to set sail aboard a pirate ship with Chris Brogan.  We have just raised the sails and pushed away from the dock  This pirate ship is New Marketing Labs, our new media marketing agency and educational company.  In my role as General Manager, I will be working hand-in-hand with Chris and will be responsible for the operations and execution of our agency work with our amazing clients.  I will also be responsible for assisting in the delivery of our educational events, including our New Marketing Summit events, New Marketing Bootcamps, webinars and a host of our awesome ideas that we’re busy coming up with.  Over the next weeks and months we will have exciting announcements which will be my new “secret projects” that I tease all of you with.

While all of this is going to be A TON of work, I’m looking forward to hustlin and working my head off.  This is an amazing opportunity and I thank Chris for believing in me.  I can’t wait to learn from the teacher.  I also look forward to working with all of the wonderful people that I’m going to get to meet.

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Photo by: post406

Filed Under: Announcements, New Marketing Labs Tagged With: , , ,

Announcing Social Media Jungle at CES!

December 8, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I’m excited to announce that I will be speaking at the one-day Social Media Jungle conference taking place at CES in Las Vegas on Wednesday, January 7th at the Venetian.  The first Social Media Jungle was an amazing day and I hope that I will see a lot of you in Las Vegas for this event.  There is an all-star speaker list (below) with a bunch of topics all surrounding social media.

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The official description of Social Media Jungle on the CES event page is:

“The Social Media Jungle at the 2009 International CES brings to light how the advent of social media is changing the way we work and live. Sessions include state-of-the-industry updates and a candid look at how social media disrupts the workplace by empowering companies to lower burn rates. Plus, learn how companies can motivate consumers through social media to drive product sales without increasing costs.”

 

Here is a complete list of speakers and topics:

8:30 – 9:00: Real-Time Social Networking
9:00 – 9:20: Welcome to the Jungle, Jeff Pulver
9:20 – 9:40: Navigating the Social Media Seas, Chris Brogan
9:40 – 10:00 – Industry Perspective & Update
10:00 – 10:20 – Industry Perspective & Update
10:20 – 10:40 – What to Look for in Social Media Platforms in 2009, Robert Scoble
10:40 – 11:00 – Return on Social Media Investment, Ben Grossman
11:00 – 11:20 – [ break ]
11:20 – 11:40 – Learn, Baby, Learn: Turn Your Social Media Addiction Into An Asset!, Jeffrey Sass
11:40 – 12:00 – Social Media Principles, Chris Heuer
12:00 – 12:20 – Naked PR: What Marketers Need to Know in the Age of Social Media, Susan Etlinger
12:30 – 2:00 [Lunch Break]
2:00 – 2:30 – How Reporters Have to Think of Themselves as an Entrepreneur and a Publisher Using their Company as a Platform, Daniel Honigman
2:30 – 2:50 – New Media Strategy in Challenging Times: Conquering the 3 Screen World: Dean Landsman and Howard Greenstein
2:50 – 3:10 – How Small Business can use Inbound Marketing/Social Media to Help Increase Their Business, Justin Levy
3:10 – 3:30 – The Convergence of CE and Social Media, Jeremy Toeman
3:30 – 3:50 – Managing Your Reputation While Being Genuine and Authentic Online, Dave Taylor
3:50 – 4:10 – How to Botch an Agency Briefing (No Matter How Cool You Think Your Product Is), David Berkowitz
4:10 – 4:20 [break]
4:20 – 4:40 – How Trust Drives Transactions During a Down Economy, Eric Weaver
4:40 – 5:00 – Leveraging Social Media for the Social Good, Rebecca Bollwitt
5:00 – 5:20 – How New Media is Changing the World, Brian Reich
5:20 – 5:40 – Transforming Unemployed BabyBoomers via Social Media, Carlos Hernandez
5:40 – 5:45 – Wrap up

To signup to atted Social Media Jungle or for more information, please visit the Social Media Jungle at CES event page.  The cost of this event is $295 in advance and $395 on-site.  In addition to the actual event, there will also be a meetup later that night…and what better place to have a meetup then on the Las Vegas Trip!

If you are able to come, please please please let me know either in the comments below or on Twitter (@justinlevy)!

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Filed Under: Conferences, Social Media, Social Media Strategy, Videos Tagged With: , , ,
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