What are your inputs?

The noise swirls around our heads like a never ending stream of consciousness from the outside world. Managing the way that you digest it, the way that you plug into it (or it plugs into you), is the only realistic way to turn that noise into something useful.

The goal of the average information consumer should be to manage their inputs. I’m going to define inputs as the tools that we use to help us digest information.

I work for a distributed company, which means that the only way to communicate is to over communicate. We use a network of internal blogs running the P2 Theme to communicate about everything from taking time off from work to enhancements to WordPress.com. These blogs really do move at the speed of thought and there are a lot of them.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of information flowing on a consistent basis, which means that the only way to keep yourself from over-saturation is to manage your inputs in a structured way. This is a dance I’m currently working on perfecting.

In life, I think the majority of things that we need inputs for are self imposed: Social Networks, Email, Work, Appointments, Family, Friends, Shopping, Eating, Fashion, and on and on.

The question that I ask myself daily is how can I design my inputs to make sure that I convert the noise into something useful?

I use some inputs to help flow outputs to me in a way that I can digest:

  • My iPhone I use almost exclusively for Social Media and personal conversations. In fact, my phone has become the De facto input for all communications that are not work related: SMS, MMS, Twitter, Facebook, etc.
  • My iPad I use for reading and watching. It’s my media digestion input. I know that when I open my iPad, I’ll be diving into the New York Times, Tech Crunch, Netflix, or any other media that tickles my fancy.
  • My MacBook Air is for work, and work alone. This is where I digest most of my email, work documentation, tools, and other professional communications. I also use it for writing.

Of course, the wires between my inputs cross on a daily basis, but I try my best to control that. For example, I use iMessages on my computer to text throughout the workday. This helps me to keep my concentration on a single screen space instead of pulling out my phone to respond to a message. It’s a delicate balance to keeps inputs separate, but I think it’s important to find the balance that works for you.

I’m constantly working to refine my inputs to match my outputs. I’d love to hear what works for you.

I’m an Automattician!

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I’m super excited to announce that I’ve joined Automattic as a Happiness Engineer, working with WordPress.com!

You may not know the name Automattic, but you certainly know the products. WordPress.com, Akismet, Gravatar, and VaultPress, just to name a few. In short, Automattic is the powerhouse of the web. It’s important to note that WordPress.com sees over 100,000 new blogs added per day, and as of the time of this posting, has 62,935,144 websites in it’s network.

I don’t really have words to express how excited I am about this move forward, and what it means for me both personally and professionally. It’s been a wild ride getting to this point, and I couldn’t be happier with where I’ve landed.

Since I will be working with Automattic full-time, I have decided to close the doors to Elixr, which has treated me SO well since its inception over 2.5 years ago. In many ways, opening the doors to Elixr was the best thing that I ever could have done (besides having kids, of course.) It allowed me to pursue my dreams and learn more every day than I ever thought possible. I’m forever grateful to the amazing clients that I’ve had the honor to work with over the years. They have taught me well, and I am completely humbled by the experience.

wordpress-logo-stacked-rgbBeing a non-profit guy, this is the ideal move for me. Automattic is a for-profit company, but it’s roots are in the Open Source movement. Being in such close proximity to WordPress.org (powering just about 20% of all websites worldwide,) and the WordPress Foundation, I get to stay in the same place as my values, moving the world (and the web) forward with each step.

Since the whole company is distributed, I’ll get to stay in Philadelphia. Being distributed means that the whole company works from where they are. That translates to having colleagues from all over the world, in every time zone. It’s an incredible concept, and there is nothing else like it. I’m super excited to get to work with such an amazingly talented, nice, and super-driven bunch. These are people that I’ve respected and admired for years. To have to opportunity to join them is an incredible honor. I’ve even had the pleasure of meeting a few of them already, which just showed me how great of a personal fit this move is.

Of course, I’d like to thank my wife Lula, and my whole family really, for holding me up during this process. It’s because of their constant faith in me and the work that I do that I was able to get to this point in my career. Also, thanks to Peter Slutsky for his constant encouragement.

Onward and upward! Here’s to fantastic movement forward, and always following your dreams. If working with Automattic is one of your dreams, you should totally go for it. We’re hiring. Seriously. Apply.

See you all in the ether.

 

On Pace

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about pace and how it’s an incredibly important concept to master.

We all have the power to set our own pace, but we often let outside influences persuade us to change it. I, for example, tend to walk more quickly in New York than I do in Philadelphia. This isn’t because I choose to do this, it’s because I can’t help but keep pace with the rest of the city. I think this is dangerous.

We often take on more work than we can handle, or rush ourselves through our tasks, sacrificing quality for speed. I feel like once we let outside pressures speed us up or slow us down, that’s when we start down the slippery slope to undue stress, anxiety, and general discontent with our station in life.

It’s important to keep your own pace. Of course, pushing your limits is healthy, but it’s also important to be the master of your cadence. Pay attention to your natural speed with all things and turn that balance into efficiency, creativity, and results.

Pace plays an important role in everything that we do and it’s also important to be aware of the pace of others. In sales, for example, the best way to relate to a customer is to pace the conversation. Listen to their words, the speed of them, their intonations, and match it. The closer that you can get to someone else’s pace, the better they will be able to relate to you. Really, this is just good practice for conversation. If you approach people on their level first, it sets the stage for great communal thinking.

I have to remind myself constantly to balance my pace. I often try to take on more than I should, and it can be a struggle to slow myself down. Paying attention to my natural cadence is the best thing that I can do. I know that. I’m going to do my best to remember it. I’m going to practice it until I no longer have to think about it, and keeping pace simply becomes a way that I interact with the world.

My Life After the Rabbinate

career-move-8Today marks the end of an era. It is my last day working for a small, Jewish non-profit.  This is a lifestyle change as much as a career move, and as comfortable as I am with change, I’m still completely terrified.

For the last year I’ve been working part-time as the Sales and Marketing Director for the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and I am proud of the work that I’ve done. The CCAR is forward thinking, open, and truly inspirational as a 125 year-old start-up. They nurtured my creativity while trusting me to grow the organization from a technological standpoint. They held me up in many ways and allowed me to never stop learning. For that, I am eternally grateful.

The staff there is an incredible bunch. The leadership is visionary. The support staff is as solid as a rock. When everyone is working for a cause, you end up with a special breed. You need a special breed for a special organization.

For the last 8 years I’ve been a non-profit dude. Inside and out, I’ve supported causes through my work and have reached a true level of comfort with the non-profit pace. I’ve grown my career from my heart and not for my wallet, and it has paid me back in dividends both large and small. In so many ways, I’ve made all of the right decisions in the work that I do. Leaving this position on such good terms is a total gift, and I would be lying if I didn’t say that I am completely humbled by the experience.

I’ll have an announcement shortly about where I’m headed. It’s a big adventure and I’m preparing myself for a wild ride. I will officially be leaving the non-profit realm, but only in physicality. My new opportunity is community based and as dear to my heart as all of the other work that I’ve done.

Change is a good thing. If we stop moving and don’t follow our dreams, we’re doing something wrong. Life needs to be full of things that fill us, and I’m proud to say that I’m fat and happy.

Awesome Twitter tool

I’ve been working on a little pet project for a while that has taken on a mind of its own. Last year, I was posed with the challenge of creating an easy way to take a large chunk of text (large as in LARGE, like the Tanakh, Large) and break it down into 140 character parts. The idea would be to tweet the entirety of a book, or a chapter of a book in a way where:

1) People that you’re tweeting to know how far into your tweeting you are.
2) All of the tweets include a hashtag so that they can be easily found.

Hence, the Twitter #Torah Tool was born.

It’s a pretty nifty little thing. You paste in the text that you want to cut into 140 character chunks into the top box, and it slices and dices it for you and plops it into the bottom box. You can then take those chunks and tweet away! One bonus that I added was the ability to embed this tool on your own website.

EDIT: This project has been retired.

Web Apps That Keep Me Going

I’m all over the web all-the-time, and I’ve found some pretty cool things along the way that really help me to do what I need to get done.

Here’s a few lesser known web apps that I’ve integrated into my daily freelance workflow, and honestly would be lost without:

drop.ioDrop.io: This is literally one of the coolest things on the web that I’ve seen. “Simple Private real-time sharing,” is what they say. “Super awesome and can’t-live-without-it” is what I say. This thing boasts upload/downloads/view online of files, voicemail, subscriptions, and yes, you can can even integrate it into your site (or client’s sites!) using their great API. Totally worth taking a look. It won’t cost you anything. Promise.

wiggioWiggio: Dude. If you’ve think you’ve collaborated online without Wiggio, you’ve got another thing coming. This site keeps you totally organized and has some of the most useful collaboration tools out there. Really. It’s kind of impossible not to stay on top of all of your projects with this thing. It’s totally free and my work would completely suffer without it.

FirebugFirebug: This is for the developer in you. Firebug takes the web and makes it malleable by letting you change/rebuild the CSS of any website. Imagine “view source” becoming interactive (and addictive!) and you’ve got Firebug. I won’t build a site without it, and generally I don’t even look at a website without even opening it once. I mean. Haven’t you always wanted to tweak the CSS of your Gmail account just for a giggle?

I’m always looking for the best stuff to integrate into my workflow. If you have something that you can’t live without and want to recommend it, feel free to give it a shout out in the comments.

-Alx

10 tips for an online identity as a freelance creative

This post originally appeared on DesigingLULA and has been cross posted here.


As a creative freelancer, your website is your key marketing platform. It needs to be clear, intuitive and really speak to what you do.

Here are 10 easy tips to creating a full-fledged online identity (that works!) in a digitally minded world:

1. URL. Make sure your URL is relevant to what you do, and make it simple and easy to remember. Your name alone is great—like alxblock.com or a mix of your name and trade like theluladesigns.com. Short and sweet is the key here.

2. TITLE. Remember that we are trying to make your site work for you, so we want people to be able to find you with a simple search. Make sure your name, trade, and location appear in the title of your site:

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This is an easy thing to do with by implementing the <title>REPLACE THIS WITH YOUR NAME, TRADE, AND LOCATION</title> tags in your header.

3. KEYWORDS. This is about selling YOU. You need to make sure that not only is your online portfolio a good representation of your work, but that it is fully visible. Your portfolio should include keywords that will allow the almighty Google bots to find you. Use keywords in the header by implementing the <meta name=”keywords” content=”INSERT COMMA SEPERATED KEYWORDS HERE”/> tag on each portfolio page.

4. CONTENT. Google likes dynamic over static. Make sure your site is built in a way that allows you to update it often with new content quickly and easily. Having a blog on your site is ideal because you can post something new every day, making your site much more interesting and allowing you to come up in the search results more often.

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5. BACKEND. I’m a huge fan of WordPress and use it on almost every site that I build (even this site is built completely on WordPress—portfolio and all.) With all of the plug-ins being created by developers worldwide, it gives you the largest selection of cool things to add to your site. The best part is that you need little-to-no technical knowledge to use it. It’s simple and effective. Make sure that the CMS that your site is built on is something that you can manage. Make sure it achieves your goals.

6. USABILITY. What good is an online portfolio if you can’t navigate it? Make sure your links are set-up in a way that is clear and intuitive. You always want to give your visitors somewhere to go next. As soon as they reach a dead-end page on your site, they are out of there and onto the next. Be as clear and bold as possible with your navigation.

7. AESTHETICS. Dude. Make it pretty. You’re a creative and this is the impression you are going to make on people. Make sure your images are clear, your type is clean, and your grammar is correct. People will judge your work based on how your site looks, so be sure that it’s as awesome as your work is.

8. NICHE. It’s impossible to appeal to everyone. Think long and hard about the people that you really want to target. If it’s non-profits, then be sure to include examples of your work done for non-profits. If you’re after agencies, then be sure to include a well rounded array of collateral materials. Make your portfolio relevant to your audience.

9. CONTACT. So now that someone has landed on your site, make sure that it is super easy for them to get in touch with you. Try having your email in the footer of each page. I would also recommend a full page dedicated to the ways people can get a hold of you. This could include badges to your social media profiles like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN, or just a simple contact form for people to fill out:

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10. BRAND. As a freelance creative, you are the visual expert. Your site must be clear, effective, have a streamlined look and feel all the way down to the language that is used in speaking to your audience. Make sure that your fonts appear the same way on each page, the colors all work together, your logo is clear and present everywhere that they look, the language is consistent and that it all represents what you do.

I’m not trying to imply that these are the only things that make a successful site. Good traffic and a profitable return on your hard work can take some time. Be patient. Build that strong community by following these tips and the business will follow.

-Alx

http://alxblock.com