Lockett Meadow Camping

Camping this weekend with Kristen in Lockett Meadow. Lows around 20 degrees. Highs in the mid 70s. It's a paid campground, so there were a fair few people there - the fall colors are just getting started and it was a blast.

Flagstaff has stars like no other city

Fall color just going yellow

Amazing view from our campsite.

Twitter works

Did you know that Internet Service Providers (ISP) consistently have the LOWEST ratings for customer service? (cnet)

If you have ever called your Cable or DSL provider for a technical issue, upgrade, downgrade, or any other question, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about.

Here's my story explaining why Twitter is the best platform for customer service ever.

Two months ago, I opened an account with Centurylink, formerly Qwest. They do phone service and DSL Internet service. I signed up over the phone with a rep in Prescott, AZ who put me on a 6 month, no-contract plan to see if their 7mb/s DSL speed was fast enough for me.

A week ago, I moved out of the studio where I had that service. I figured since I wasn't on a contract, it was no big deal to cancel the service and move on with my life.

WRONG.

Two days on the phone with various representatives all over the country got me precisely nowhere! Despite the fact that I never signed or agreed to a 12 month contract, they put me on one and decided I couldn't close my account without paying the $200 early penalty fee.

Everyone I talked with said "I'm sorry sir, there is simply no way around it."

Well, that's bullshit.

These contracts exist for no other reason than the ISP wants to make more money. Not only that, but there was precisely no evidence that I ever signed a contract or agreed to one in any form.

The way around it would be to cancel the stupid "contract" and let me go my merry way with a positive experience.
Nobody I talked to on the phone seemed to be able to handle that idea and it really got me going. I understand that the people on the phones don't make the rules, but they do have to enforce them. I just couldn't help myself being short with them. It's a shame, because all they need is to be empowered.
If Centurylink wanted to provide ACTUAL customer service, they would take a note out of the Zappos book, where employees are empowered to fix any issue the customer has under a certain dollar price point.

Anyway.

When I got fed up being jockeyed around on the phone with idiots who couldn't help me, I turned to twitter.

1) Google the Twitter handle for the company you are having issues with.
2) Send semi-angry tweet explaining your issue and the result you want.

An hour later, the rep (Josh) got back to me and asked for my account information via a secure link on their customer service website. Excellent. They have a real person watching this account and he wants to know more.

I submitted my account number, the issue, and my desired end-result.

Minutes later, he emails me to inform me that he got me out of my contract, waived the termination fee, cancelled my service, and provided instructions on how to return the router.

Just over an hour with two exchanges via email and Twitter was all it took, when I originally spent probably 6 hours on the phone with these people.

Lesson learned: Start with Twitter next time. It almost always works better.

First day of fall and MY FJ

Went out to get the FJ today and explore a few areas I have never been to.

Lockett Meadow, Shultz Pass (the whole way), Edge of the Word (never found it on my own before).

Todays editing is inspired by my buddy Preston Trauscht, just to see if I could mimic his style. I think I've done alright at it.

Trail buddy

My favorite

 This last one was a photoshop exercise. There used to be a sizeable tree stump in this image. See if you can find where.

Film

A few frames from film shot over the last four months or so...

Inbound Marketing Conference: Conclusions

My experience: [Travel and Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Conclusions]

On my first day in Boston (travel and day 1), I wrote about a few goals I set for myself in attending this conference. They were:

1) Learn what I don't know
2) Take home three actionable items (by the end of the week)
3) Figure out who to follow for continued education
4) Photograph the experience and showcase my time in Boston

Great success! I have achieved each of my goals. In a nutshell, having these goals helped me to focus. If you let yourself, you can get dragged every which way, swirling with no rudder in an endless eddy of marketing STUFF.

I realized I didn't know very much about inbound marketing - and how it differs from "traditional" or outbound marketing. The conference had some humor which served as great education as well:



Learning a bit about the differences helped me to determine where I can focus moving forward in my education journey - specifically in what I could apply to my industry, as I work in a non-profit chamber of commerce in a relatively small market.

My to-do list actually ended up being 9 items that I can start moving in the next week. Three stand out as something I can implement almost immediately that will start things in the right direction:

1. Create a series of blog posts/FAQ page for sales to use as a resource and for potential members to find on their own.
2. Place all Govt. Affairs content on the website/blog and NOT in an email! Just email links with bullet points and an invitation to JOIN the cause.
3. Brainstorming session to determine "personas" among the membership, then a survey to the entire membership with an incentive to respond (giveaway, big time sponsorship, etc)

Figuring out who to follow to continue my education in inbound marketing was pretty simple. Just look to the speakers of the conference! I will definitely be following Seth Godin more closely as we move forward - and I've discovered a stream of Arianna Huffington's posts and her Google+, where she posts things that resonate with her. These resources will help me keep tabs on some of the issues that BIG organizations are looking at. She spoke a bit during her keynote about Burnout being the disease of our civilization, which really resonated with me.

As far as photographs go, I've placed my collection of images on my Google + Page.

My overall recommendation: If you do marketing, go to this conference. Hubspot runs a great event. You will learn a lot. You will have things you can apply to your business, no matter your industry or profession.

If the $1500 price tag is too high for you (I work at a non-profit with no budget for these kinds of things), they have a program called "Hustle" which allows you to get your ticket for free if you can convince a few other people to pay full price for theirs. I even went so far as to stay with a friend in Boston so I didn't have to pay the $200/night for a hotel room either. My total expendature, including airfare, food, public transportation, was less than $500. Well worth every penny, even if I had to pay it out of my own pocket (which I thankfully didn't).

I am looking forward to next year!

Inbound 2013 Marketing Conference: Day 4

My experience: [Travel and Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Conclusions]

Today was the final day of Inbound 2013.
Lectures started a little later, because last night was "inbound rocks," a concert that I did not attend. As an introvert and someone who generally doesn't care about live music - I don't feel like I missed out on very much. I did NOT hear everyone today talking about how amazing and life-changing it was, so I'm going to stick to my story.

Today's opening keynote was not my cup of tea. For all I know, Nate Silva is an excellent speaker and a really smart guy, but his talk did not resonate me, did not inspire me, and I'm not sure I learned anything from it as a result.

That's OK. The rest of the day followed very much in the vein of inspiration and focus as the previous days. No need to go into a lot of detail there - more of the same excellent content from good speakers.

The one thing that really was big was the final keynote of the conference, given by Scott of charity: water.

His presentation was highly emotional, involving, exceedingly well executed and just great in every way. I am not only looking for ways to involve myself personally in charity: water, but I am working on a few ideas to bring the entire community of Flagstaff, specifically the small businesses, into working together on it as well.

No idea what I'm talking about? Watch this:


We saw some really good videos for charity: water this week. I'm having a hard time finding those videos on their YouTube Channel right now - but I'll be posting more about this in the future.

Here are my final photos from the conference. Nothing particularly special to see here, just a few loose ends I tried to tie up.

Lunch was fairly informal. Many people ate sitting on the ground in groups of 2-4. Some took their lunches into the auditorium, which had actual sets (no tables) and there was typically the end of some kind of presentation going on while most people were getting started on lunch.

Hubspot staff was amazing throughout the whole event. They had help desks on every floor with 2+ employees available to help at all times. They had someone stationed at each escalator as well. Very well done. 

Scott and one of my favorite slides of his. On the left, is some seriously bad water. On the right is what you and I take for granted every day when we turn on the tap.

I am really looking forward to next year!

Overall: this was 100% worth it. I heartily recommend that anyone serious about learning marketing (the right way) come to one of these. Hubspot has a program called "Hustle," which allows you to get your ticket for FREE if you can convince 5 other people to pay full price. 

I will do a followup post as well in a few days once I've had time to digest everything and determine what my goals will be moving forward: how will I apply what I've learned to my company and my life?

Also - Hubspot will be loading videos of the presentations and keynotes. I'll be sure to include a few of those that I found most relevant/inspiring. First, and most importantly, is Arianna Huffington's keynote.

It's nearly 50 minutes long - so give yourself some time to consume it, then some time to digest it.

Inbound 2013 Marketing Conference: Day 3

My experience: [Travel and Day 1] [Day 2] [Day 3] [Day 4] [Conclusions]

@ariannahuff

(need to catch up? here is DAY 1 and DAY 2 of my experience at Inbound 2013)

Another amazing day today! I managed to wiggle my way into sessions by even better speakers than yesterday, with much more relevant material to me and OMG it made a huge difference.

Time flew by! From one session to the next I barely had time to take notes, tweet a few things, shoot a couple pictures and I was already on my way to the next one. Tearing myself away for an hour lunch break (something I use to help digest the information from the morning and prepare for the afternoon) was much more difficult than usual.

Today's keynote was by Arianna Huffington. The Founder, President and Editor in Chief of the Huffington Post. Talk about heavy hitter! Despite her accent and her claim that it has helped her win business negotiations because the other side simply can't understand what she's saying - her talk was extremely well thought out and delivered. Easily my favorite session so far, not just for the content but for the humble, confident aura she gives off that makes it seems like she is just chatting with you one-on-one.

If you ever get the chance to hear her speak - do it. No questions asked. Just do it.

The theme of today was inspiration. I chose talks that offered me a chance to look at things from a different point of view than usual. These presentations served to inspire me to try new things, to re-think my current activities where needed in both my personal and work lives.

For instance: three of the presentations today discussed the value of the individual employee and how ensuring their happiness is the first step to ensuring your customer happiness. It seems like this is a theme throughout the whole conference. Employees come first. From the nap rooms at the Huffington Post to unlimited vacation to transparency and open communication, these values really struck me as the future of "work."

The small city of Flagstaff is about 10 years behind the times with technology, marketing, and social media. I *really* hope we pick up some of this stuff BEFORE 10 years is up; it may mean the difference between retaining Millenials in our community and watching them disappear to organizations that "get it."

In my personal life, I was inspired today to continue practicing two things that I have been working in or dabbling in for the last several years. My love of photography and (to a lesser extent) writing are why this blog exists. If I am to continue learning and growing in those fields, I need to continue practicing both. I'm planning to participate in NaNoWriMo this year - as an effort to complete a life-goal of mine to write a book. I am also casting around for a way to continue taking photographs that are meaningful to me personally.

The speakers today were a bit more spunky than the crowd I listened to yesterday.

@RedHeadWriting being profane

Lots more profanity, but a lot more genuine as well. They seemed less interested in selling me something, or selling me on themselves, and more interested in helping me (and everyone else around them) grow into the best person they can be. Not just the best marketer, but the best overall person. After all, people do business with people.

With a focus on people (or humans, as Dharmesh chose to call us) - Inbound 2013 is really about so much more than marketing or sales or social media or lead generation or networking. It's about freeing yourself from the constraints of "regular" marketing or "regular" business and instead interaction with PEOPLE as yourself. It seems the thought leaders at this conference (and I'm guessing others as well) believe that the future of business lies less in technology and more in simply being honest, open, transparent and generally a good person.

Arianna Huffington's keynote really resonated with the entire crowd.

Did I mention there are over 5,000 people at this conference?

Erika Napoletano being less profane

Lines for excellent speakers (and bestselling authors, of which there are 17 at this event) are typically long. Showing up early is the key unless you're willing to sit on the floor - which happens a lot to me.

"Club Inbound" had a live DJ tonight. He works for Hubspot in the IT department.

The charity: water "water walk" developed into a bit of a competition tonight...

Hubspot CEO David Halligan wandered through and chatted with the participants. Really cool to see him. Highly amusing to watch him take ONE step and be accosted by another person with their business card in hand, personal pitch ready to go. Seems a little "outbound" to me...

I put my camera away after "Happy Hour" was done with and headed to have dinner. Because I am staying with a friend who lives 2 hours from Boston (conference-going on a non-profit budget) and because I'm not a big fan of One Republic, the band playing tonight, I bailed after dinner and was home by 9:30.

Tomorrow is the last day of the conference. I'm excited to grab a few more inspiring nuggets and start preparing my recommendations for the office back in Flagstaff. That will probably take me a while, with all my notes and tweets and such to sift through... now that I think about it, it's fairly daunting.

I will have a blog post tomorrow detailing the final day, as well as a followup post about my report for the office and the after-event stuff that goes into ensuring all this knowledge actually gets *used* and applied by the right people.