A little more than 2 years ago Chris Brogan and I were both attending the first Social Media Jungle event in New York so we decided to carpool down together. During those 5 hours or so of driving and over a dinner at a Chili’s in Middletown, CT later that night, we talked about a new project that he was launching. He was getting ready to unveil New Marketing Labs to the world and was close to signing the first contract which was going to be with Citrix Online (the folks who make GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, and other similar products). That night we talked about what we thought the future of business looked like, their use of social media and how NML could be helpful. After more conversations and brainstorming, often in the middle of the night over DM, we set sail, launched NML and I relocated to the Boston area. A couple days after the launch we found ourselves on an airplane headed out to CES to tell anyone who would listen that we were there to be helpful.

Since that trip 2 years ago we have had the opportunity to work with some great companies on amazing projects. In between launching new projects for our clients, we continued to grow the Inbound Marketing Summit, launched Red Pin Marketing and The Pulse Network. There are also some really exciting projects on the cusp of launching over the coming days and weeks that I can’t wait to see after working through them for the past several months with the team.

However, as they prepare to announce these launches, I will be cheering them on instead of on the front lines. I’m excited to announce that I’m joining the team at Citrix Online as part of the corporate communications team and will be overseeing social communications.

Over the past 2 years I’ve worked closely with the folks over at Citrix including Bernardo De Albergaria, David Baeza, Lisa Horner and many others. They are among one of the brightest and most forward thinking teams that I’ve met and had the opportunity to work with. I start with Citrix Online on January 17th, a mere few hours after I return from sailing around the Grenadines. I’m looking forward to the challenges that I know are awaiting me when I get there and am really excited for what 2011 holds in store.

It’s an interesting intersection of passions for me because it combines my experiences in social media, marketing and communications along with my interests and continued research into productivity, time management and workshifting, all things which the Citrix Online products assist with.  I’m looking forward to continuing to explore all of these areas, including my role leading up social communications, in more depth in the coming year.  Throughout the year I’ll be covering a lot of this in my free newsletter (have you signed up yet?).

With the new job comes a new place to explore. Within the next couple months Laura and I will be packing up the dog, cat, putting the car on a trailer and driving a moving truck across the country to our new home, San Francisco. We’ll trade our view of the Prudential Center for the Golden Gate Bridge and for a whole new set of experiences filled with exploration.

I can’t thank Chris and the entire team at NML enough for the past 2 years. I’ve grown professionally and personally because of the great people that comprise the NML team.  Now I’m going to use those experiences and growth to help me be achieve success as I start the next chapter of my career with Citrix Online.

And don’t worry, my allegiance to the Boston Celtics, Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots will not change. Heh.

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Photo Credit: Amanda Breann

If you’ve stopped by the blog recently instead of  only catching up via a feed reader such as Google Reader then you noticed about a month ago I switched over to the Genesis theme framework (affiliate link) and chose to use the Prose child theme. Since then I couldn’t be happier and Genesis has become the premium WordPress theme that I recommend to anyone that’s consider switching things up on their website or launching a new project.

The Genesis framework from StudioPress is excellent due in part to how easy it is to use, how fast it runs, and how it has been optimized for SEO. It also allows you to choose how much control over your website you care for. Just want to set it up with the basic settings? Great, you’ll get Genesis along with the child theme you choose up and running in just a few moments. Want to really dig in and start customizing every little feature? Even better. You don’t even have to understand HTML, CSS or any other coding language, for the most part. Just walk through the different settings and tweak to your heart’s content.

I can’t say enough good things about the Genesis theme framework. There are so many child themes to choose from that you’re able to achieve the overall look/feel that you want with minimal effort (unless, of course you want something completely custom). The child themes make Genesis the perfect theme framework to handle your blog, your company website or any other project you’re working on.

To celebrate the holiday weekend, Brian Gardner of StudioPress is running a special promotion that I think you should take advantage of.

25% Off Everything at StudioPress

Here are the full details of the StudioPress sale:

In honor of the crazy shopping traditions known as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we’re holding a big sale at StudioPress.

Starting now through next Tuesday, November 30, you can save 25% off everything we sell – including the Pro Plus All-Theme Package that gets you everything we’ve got and everything we make in the future.

Just use the code BLACK at checkout. If you decide to get the Pro Plus All-Theme Package, you’ll save an additional $62 off the list price.

This code is only good through next Tuesday. And we’re also canceling all otherStudioPress codes in existence and taking a “no discount” approach going forward.

Act Now to Save

If you’ve been considering switching over to Genesis after seeing other sites such as [chrisbrogan.com], Copyblogger, ProBlogger and others running it, you should act now to save. When this deal expires, it will be the last discount that StudioPress offers and you’ll be stuck paying full price.

And yes, if you decide to buy anything from StudioPress, I’ll get to buy an extra beer or two.

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Late last week, I switched to the Genesis Theme Framework for WordPress (affiliate link). I then decided to install the Prose child theme when it launched to help extend the backend feature set. That’s one the best parts of Genesis, it has child themes that allow you to retain the Genesis framework but easily swap out to different designs and backend options. With the Prose child theme installed I am able to tweak nearly every aspect of my website. Externally it provided a simple canvas to start from, which you’ll find similar to Thesis when it is first installed. But, if that design isn’t right for you, there are a dozen more that you can choose from, install and get up and running within a few minutes.

What I like the most about it is that the theme focuses on SEO. While focusing on content is one of the best SEO strategies you can employ, Genesis makes it super simple to optimize every page and post (if you wanted to get that granular) of your website.

The reason I decided to change was not because I was unhappy with my two previous themes: Headway and Thesis. It was that Brian Clark is a friend of mine and several of my friends have gotten behind the theme over the past couple months. Since these are all people that I trust, I wanted to test out Genesis myself. In fact, I plan on continuing to use Headway and Thesis in other projects that I will be launching.

If you’re considering switching things up around your website or blog, I’d highly consider grabbing Genesis and trying it out for yourself.

Thank you to all of the men and women who have paid the ultimate price to keep us safe.  Also, let us not forget the families of those in our armed forces who have to learn how to cope with the sacrifice that their father, daughter, sister, husband or other family member has decided to make on behalf of their country.

We shouldn’t only remember the fallen members of our armed services on Memorial Day because they didn’t choose to only protect us one day out of the year.  Ensure that you’re always keeping these folks in your thoughts, memories and prayers.

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Photo Credit: nukeit1

The end of 2009 and the start of 2010 has been extremely busy at New Marketing Labs.  We keep getting opportunities to work on lots of fun projects with great partners.  This has kept me flying in airplanes.  Already this year I’m at 50% of the flights I took all of 2009.  When I’m actually home for a weekend, I’ve been spending it over at my steakhouse where we continue to be fortunate that the community chooses us as their restaurant of choice for a romantic evening out.  In fact, we were just named the Best Steakhouse in the Pioneer Valley and continue to break our monthly sales goals.  Additionally, the past 3 months I’ve had to really keep my head down to finish my first book, Facebook Marketing, due out on May 20th.  I just sent the final edits off to my publisher this week and it’s at the printer now. Yay!  When I haven’t been on a plane, at NML, in the kitchen, or writing, I’ve tried to spend that last little bit of time available in the day with Laura.

While none of these things are good excuses for not stopping by and sharing my thoughts with you, I wanted to bring you up to speed on the past few months.  I hope that you’ll tune back in and we’ll keep exploring together.

How have you been?  What are you up to?

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Photo Credit: Tobias Sieben

Thank you for the continued support. I’m really looking forward to learning from you and hopefully share some helpful material throughout the rest of 2010.

Subscribe via Email

Don’t have time to check in with your feed reader but still want to get any new content? Sign up via email and receive any new content in your inbox every morning. What’s better than a little bit of Justin along with your coffee? Let’s be real now….

Subcribe via Google Reader

Google Reader happens to be my favorite RSS reader and I highly recommend it. I love that we can share and learn together using something as simple as a feed reader.

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Realizing that Google Reader isn’t the only feed reader out there, feel free to grab add to your reader-of-choice.

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Thank You

Finally, thank you for all of your continued support. I love every minute that I get to spend with you either here, on one of the various networks or, even better, in real life. Keep doing super cool stuff!

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Photo Credit: Frank Gruber

]]> http://justinrlevy.com/2010/01/are-you-subscribed-yet/feed/ 4 http://justinrlevy.com/2010/01/gone-mobile/ http://justinrlevy.com/2010/01/gone-mobile/#comments Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:30:23 +0000 Justin Levy http://justinrlevy.com/?p=1874 You can now access a mobile version of [justinrlevy.com] when you use a touch mobile device such as an iPhone or Droid.  Previously this blog had utilized the Carrington theme to create a mobile version of the site.  But, I just switched over to WPtouch to create a fuller experience.  Carrington had many of the features that WPtouch has but I like the look, feel and design of WPtouch a little more.  It displays photos, Tweetmeme and Disqus tightly as well as the basic features of the site including tabs, tags, categories, date/time, and more.

What really impressed me about WPtouch was the level of customization the theme allows from the Settings menu.  In my previous experience with themes or plugins that created mobile versions, they usually were limited in their customization options, if they allowed customization at all.  Of course, you could pay to have a custom mobile version created but who wants to spend money if they don’t have to.

To highlight the high level of customization that the user is allowed, I took the below screenshot of the just the icon selection menu.  This menu allows you to choose the icons that will be displayed for your different tabs.

That is just one of the many customizable features that you can tweak and have fun with.

So, if you’re looking to create a mobile version of your blog/website and you’re on WordPress, head over and grab WPtouch.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Keep being awesome!

Moving allows me to evaluate my organizational processes, both at home and at work, both personal and professional, and make changes, experiment and have a little fun.  When you’re settled into your day-to-day life it makes it really hard to take an objective look at your processes.  It makes it even harder to make real changes.  When you move, however, especially when it includes a job change as well, it provides the perfect opportunity for this type of self-evaluation.  As someone who is focused on productivity and organization, I welcome the opportunities to conduct these evaluations.  I try to regularly evaluate my processes but it never happens the way it can when you have a new space.

Not moving or changing jobs any time soon?  Well, you can have a fresh start in your current house or office.  Try taking everything in the space you want to organize and pack it into boxes.  Then clean the entire space corner to corner.  Try moving the furniture around so it will feel and look different.  Next, go through the boxes you packed up.  Make sure you evaluate every single sheet of paper and all of the items that you have packed away.  Now put everything that you have gone through away.

On a side note, if you aren’t following me on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn, friend me up!

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Photo by: the_amanda

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