I like to collect things.

Throughout my entire life, I have always had some sort of collection going.  It started with comic books and Matchbox cars, then model rockets, then tropical fish, then action figures, then guitars, then mexican art, then books, then Harley Davidson t-shirts, the list goes on and on.

You see, much like squirrels instinctively hoard nuts and berries for the winter, humans have these instinctive, primal urges hard coded into our brains too. With us, however, it is a little more complex.

With the advent of 24 hour grocery stores and electricity, somewhere down the line, we stopped NEEDING to hunt and gather to survive, or collect pelts or the skulls of our enemies.

Somehow, we managed to transfer these fixations, with just as much fervor, to amassing storage sheds full of useless Beanie Babies or shanking some old lady in the check out over a pack of those stupid rubber bands that snap back into the shape of animals, or… the thrill of the hunt for a $2 Black Friday Waffle Iron at Walmart.

Why? For survival of course… life and death kind of stuff right? Actually, depending on which school of psychology you subscribe to, it is just that.

You see, collecting is a VERY addictive chemical dependency. It triggers the goal seeking and achievement chemicals in our brains that make us happy. The more we collect, the more we need more. With every new addition to the collection, we receive that little dopamine hit, just like nicotine or a heroine dose or an orgasm. It’s the same thing.

Dopamine is the mother of all crack and it is what humans live for. Seriously.  Why?

The Need to Collect

Before you freak out and run off to confession or rehab (or Walmart), you have to realize that we need this behavior to some extent to survive.  The simple act of setting and achieving goals are what triggers these same chemicals, but without this process, our lives would seem to have no purpose.  We would feel incomplete. We get depressed and try to kill ourselves with a waffle iron.

Some people collect stamps and stickers, some people collect virtual farms, and others collect life changing achievements and experiences.  It’s made up of the same stuff.

Collecting is a game we play with ourselves. Collecting is fun, collecting is work, and therefore, work = fun. If you are not working towards a goal, then you aren’t having fun.

Collecting is a simple form of achieving goals and this gives our lives value and purpose, regardless of the size, actual value or relevance of the objects of our desire.

The New VALUE of Collections

Not only do we collect real items and experiences, but more recently, people have started collecting “things” on the internet.

On Facebook and Twitter we collect friends. On deviantART, users build collections of their favorite art work.  On Foursquare, people collect and compete for badges and mayorship for their favorite locations. In Farmville or World of Warcraft players collect any number of rare digital items which can have exchangeable, monetary value in the real world.

Pinterest

On Pinterest (oh how I love you Pinterest…) people are starting to collect images and links to pretty much everything they like on the internet. Art, food, fashion, LOLcats, books, porn, you name it. PRODUCTS. They share these collections with other collectors and it is fun to discover what people like.

In otherwords, Pinterest is a HUGE collection of data on what people like to collect and what makes this the holy grail for marketers is because people provide this data naturally, willingly and enjoy it.  You don’t need to explicitly ask anymore what people like in a survey or an obnoxious advertisement, because if you watch the collectors and follow their behavior, they will tell you.  Happily. Implicitly.

I have seen the new crack of the future, and it’s dealer is Pinterest.

Don’t Believe Me?

My cousin just wrote on Facebook that she went to Ikea today because looking at Pinterest made her want to go. That is POWER my friends.

What do you collect?

Leave a comment and let me know. I collect comments too… or maybe just leave me your pinterest ID and i’ll go see for myself?

Side Note Obviously this is not a discussion of right or wrong, i’m just trying to point out some basic facts on human behavior as it applies to marketing and tech. I personally would recommend collecting life changing achievements and experiences, but if your trip is old newspapers or ceramic chickens… well, you GO!

The project I was working on for the last year and a half is FINALLY LIVE! My “technical title” was Senior Information Architect for Crytek’s new social network called GFACE.

It is hard to describe all the roles and responsibilities I had on this project because I wore so many hats that covered so many touch points. I can honestly say that I have never put so much effort and personal blood, sweat, tears and great ideas into a project as with this one. I am really proud to have worked with such a talented team and I am really happy that it is now live.

This was a lead position acting as Senior IA, UX designer and marketing consultant, working closely with a creative director, biz dev, social game designers and developers with the goal of building: a gamer-focused, next generation social network that “Played Like a Game”

My Roles included:

• User Experience Design
• Information Architecture
• Interaction Design
• Creative Direction
• Mobile iOS UX/IA design
• Social Media Marketing Consulting

High level concept development for:

• Social & viral advertising
• Social & Brand Strategy
• Game layer/gamification
• Virtual currency & Economy
• Achievement systems
• Social & Casual Game conception

The service is now in Closed Beta release. Check it out!

Here’s a little story about how I made $97 in less than 5 minutes.

Now, you’re probably thinking, “Wow, dude… strippers don’t even make that kind of money!” right? I know… it sounds pretty incredible, but that’s just what I did, and as a result, I get FREE web hosting.

Curious? Well, check out the image below.

So, here’s how it went down:

My friend Giuliano asked, “Hey man, what hosting company do you use for all of your blogs and stuff?”

Me: “I use Dreamhost.”
Giuliano: “Do you like them?”
Me: “Yeah, they’re awesome. I’ve been with them for like 10 years.”
Giuliano: “Cool. Can you send me the link?”
Me: “Sure. Here’s the link. http://www.dreamhost.com/r.cgi?8012”
Giuliano: Clicks my affiliate link, signs up and pays for a year’s worth of Dreamhost Web Hosting and… Cha Ching!

I get $97 directly credited to my Dreamhost account.

Here’s the conversion in my Referral Summary:

I might add that, the account balance not only includes the one time $97 referral credit for referring Giuliano as a new Dreamhost customer, but on the same day, I also received a credit of $5 as a secondary referral that I made for referring someone else about 10 years ago. Then, the next day, ANOTHER referral credit!

Here’s what I saw in my inbox:

In case you didn’t quite get that, i’ll clarify:

10 years ago, I had another 5 minute conversation with someone and referred them to Dreamhost. They have been on Dreamhost for as long as I have, so for the past 10 years, I get paid monthly, a percentage of their fees. That’s 10 years of recurring income for 5 minutes of work over 10 YEARS AGO!

What is even more amazing is that this person ALSO refers customers to Dreamhost, so I ALSO get paid a small monthly percentage of what they pay as well.

Sounds like Easy Money, Right?

Well, it is! All because of these simple 5 minute conversations, as well as posting links to Dreamhost on my blog, I not only have had a major percentage of my web hosting bill and domain name registration fees completely covered for the past 10 years, but if I choose, I can even request a payout and transfer the money directly to my bank or PayPal account.

Now mind you, I haven’t exactly been pushing Dreamhost referrals all that much, so if I can have this much success with just some casual, passive referrals, think of how much I could have made if I promoted them more heavily?

How Can You Make Money With Dreamhost?

You can start promoting Dreamhost today by signing up for a FREE affiliate account, or if you have been wanting to start your own blog and need hosting, sign up to be a Dreamhost customer and the affiliate program is already built in.

Once you sign up, click the “Rewards” link and it will provide you with your referral link code. Any time you refer someone to Dreamhost, just give them that link to sign up with. They also provide all kinds of buttons and banners you can use, if you want to promote the link on your blog.

So, if you’re looking for easy, proven ways to make money online, I highly recommend you sign up to Dreamhost and get started today.

If you create any kind of viral, social content or if you are trying to get more bang for the buck out of your Twitter or email marketing, you should definitely read:

Zarella’s Hierarchy of Contagiousness by Dan Zarella.

Be forewarned though…

This is not another “How to use Twitter or Facebook” kind of book, but instead goes much deeper into the new science of using metrics for a more predictable, results-based social media marketing strategy.

The book confirms some feelings that I have had for a while, which are basically that the social media honeymoon is over.

It is no longer a matter of just showing up and being there anymore. If you want results, you need data, strategy and technique for reaching predictable, manageable marketing goals.

I knew I would like this book from the very beginning, when Dan dispelled all of the normal social media cliche’s of “be yourself”, “make friends” and “build it and they will come” mentality, what he calls “unicorns-and-rainbows advice” and instead takes a deep dive into real analysis of what it takes to create successful, infectious social content.

He even goes so far as to create and analyze a massive databases of Retweets, and then applies the R0 factor (reproduction rate of contagious diseases) to determine social viralablity. That’s real stuff, not social media woo woo.

Dan’s simple strategy is this:

1. Increase the amount of people who are exposed to your message.
2. Create more attention-grabbing content.
3. Include powerful calls to action with specific copy.

Some highlights and key points:

• How to identify yourself authoritatively (example: He explains why using the word “guru” in your Twitter profile can a good thing…) I’m experimenting with it now and will let you know how it goes.
• How to make more impact by avoiding the use of negative remarks and instead focus on using only positive statements
• The importance of using time based words such as now, today, soon, hurry, limited time only, etc
• What are peak twitter times and when are the best times to get specific results with your tweeting.
• How to understand the behavior of your followers in order to get them to respond and share predictably.

Read This Book!

These are just a few of the many mind blowing ideas you can get from this book. I don’t want to give away all of the good stuff, so i’ll let you check it out for yourself.

I thought it was refreshingly awesome. It confirmed a lot of suspicions I have had and it really made me reconsider a lot of other things about how I’ll  approach my social strategy moving forward.

If you read it, leave a comment and let me know what you think.

According to the amazingly awesome Wordle.com, you can see the tag cloud for the top words from all of my blog posts.

New Book

Interestingly enough, it seems to run parallel to a new book project I started writing earlier last year, which is a motivational, self development book (name still yet to be determined) based primarily around goal setting and making plans.

The book has been slowly taking shape in various chunks in Evernote (my trusty companion) as I feel the inspiration, and something tells me that I should get back on it.
It’s a SIGN I tell you!!! I guess I better get moving.

Thank you Wordle for kicking my ass!

Help Me Name My Book!

If YOU were going to write a book on setting goals and making plans, what would you call it?

I am having a terrible time coming up with a title, so here is your chance to be the superstar and tell me what I should name my book?

Leave a comment and let me know.

The key to getting what you want in life is a lot like going to the counter at Starbucks.

• If you walk up and ask for a double, lowfat, pumpkin spice latte, you’ll get one.
• Ask for a triple, grande, frappalapamochachino, you’ll get one.
• If you just stand there looking at the cake pops with your mouth open and mutter ”I guess a coffee…??” Then you’ll probably get a plain old coffee. Even though you really wanted that cake pop.

My advice to you is to figure out exactly what you want and then just ask for the damn cake pop.

The world is your barista.

So, what is YOUR cake pop?

I designed the info product packaging and squeeze page for an online audio course by John Oszajca called “Getting Signed in the NEW Music Business”

I love the whole concept of information products and designing them is equally as fun. It has also been an awesome way to get to network with some of the top info product marketers in the industry, which has opened up a lot of really interesting opportunities.

I hold in my hand a Military Challenge Coin that belonged to my father. It was given to him by the man who is featured on the coin, Sgt. Chuck Taliano, who was a drill instructor made famous by the “We don’t promise you a rose garden.” Marine Corps recruiting posters printed during the 1970s and 1980s.

Mr Taliano served together with my father in the Marine Corps and was one of the very few men my father truly called his friend. Both he and my father passed away this past year.

Challenge coins are usually given to service members to commemorate special occasions both public and private, and as a sign of good luck.

I carry this coin in my pocket as a small reminder of my father and all the good things he taught me. It serves as a symbol of strength, hard work, the challenges that i face, of the promises I must keep, of the goals I must achieve, of the decisions I must make, and the ones I should never make.

There is a great quote by Zig Ziglar that says:

“People say that motivation doesn’t last. Neither does bathing – that’s why we recommend it daily.”

I think it is important for everyone to have some sort of daily reminder. Something to keep you in check and on track. Something powerful and personal and symbolic that not only motivates you, but helps you motivate others to do the same.

What serves as your reminder? What helps to keep you on track on a regular basis?

Semper Fi, Dad! We love you.

Let’s take a minute to think about plans. What exactly are they and why are they important?

The wiki says that: “A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with timing and resources, used to achieve an objective. A method to reaching your goals.”

When building a house, you have to have a plan. You can’t just start digging and hammering nails and expect to just come up with something.

In business school they teach you about writing business plans because if you don’t have one, you might have a hard time making any money, which is the point of a business after all.

So what about life? If you want to get to where you want to go in life, you will also need a plan. How else will you reach your ultimate goals and fulfill your dreams? You do have goals and dreams right?

So why is it that so many people go though life without making any plans?

The main focus of my job right now is Information Architecture for software development. This means I draw plans that focus on how a piece of software is supposed to work, look, behave, interact, etc. Needless to say, it irked me a little when I came to the shocking realization that, while I make plans all day for my job, I didn’t actually have much of a solid plan for my life.

So, over the new year I decided to sit down and make some lists and plans for myself and my family and our future. The result was a basic, one year plan and then an extended 20 year plan. (I wrote this post in January, but to be honest, after I made my plans, i was so motivated and busy following them, i forgot to post this, so here it is…)

List 1 – 3 Words

List one is made up of 3 simple words I used to orient myself and stay focused on my key goals over the next year. (I got the idea from Chris Brogan)

My 3 words for 2011 are: Streamline, Ship and Share

Streamline

This year is all about cut, trim, hack, slash and burn. This year I am stepping off the hamster wheel, and focusing on building oil wells and planting the seeds. I am managing my time more effectively and efficiently, removing obstacles, completing projects and streamlining anything possible to allow me to reach my 20 year goals set up in list 2.

Basically, if it doesn’t serve the 20 year plan, it’s outta there:

• Slicing away all of the unnecessary
• Focus on only learning things that will increase my efficiency and effectiveness
• Ignoring and unfollowing LOTS of distracting social things and activity that don’t provide real value
• Less email checking
• Less random web surfing
• Making the best use of time: time boxes, lists and schedules, practice
• Throw out junk and organize, both physically and emotionally
• Focus on the important and revenue generating
• Focus on what I am good at and what I LIKE doing
• Focus on the positive and less bitching (i really need to work on this one)
• Increase investment momentum and build on my exit strategy

Ship

• Complete unfinished projects
• Launch work related projects
• (no excuses)

Share

• (I need to work on this part)
• Build on ways to Influence others and share their ideas
• Focus on ways to help people
• Build my influence in the process

List 2 – The 20 Year Plan

The 20 year plan is broken down into chunks of 2, 5, 10 and 20 year milestones.

These are both personal and professional plans and I shared these with my wife so that we can stay in alignment. Basically a list of everything I want to achieve in a 20 year time period and a realistic assessment of when I can expect to do so.

We all have big plans, dreams and goals we want for ourselves. At least we SHOULD. Let me tell you, once you break down all of them into a 20 year plan, it forces both a scary and exciting kind of immediacy to your life. It gives you perspective on why and what you need to do to fill the gaps between connecting all of those dots of your life goals.

What are your 3 words for 2011? What are your plans? Do you have any?

Have you made any long term goals for yourself?

If not, you had better make the decision to do it now. The clock is ticking. tick… tick… tick… Think i’m kidding? Try it. You’ll see.

As I sit here on the train with my laptop open, contemplating writing a blog post about my new year’s resolutions and what those would actually be, I slowly became aware of this older woman in the opposite seat staring at me, with a very intense, curious, thoughtful kind of look on her face.

Now, she didn’t appear to be a psycho or stoned on antidepressants or anything, so it wasn’t like a crazy sort of stare. She was well dressed in business attire, was holding an expensive looking leather briefcase, and seemed well off, professional and intelligent enough.

She seemed somehow familiar, as if I have seen her before or maybe she just resembled someone I know. Not sure, but regardless, she was obviously fascinated with what I was doing, which, to be honest, pretty much amounted to just spacing off, looking out the window thinking, and dripping coffee on my shirt

So what was the deal?

As I fought to restrain my first impulse to fire back a look of, “So what the hell are you staring at, weirdo?” and to make up a better explanation than maybe I just forgot to wipe the toothpaste from the sides of my mouth again and looked like an idiot, (i do that sometimes…) instead, a strange, elaborate alternate (MUCH more rational) explanation started to form in my mind.

What if: this woman was actually a time traveler from the future? What if she was actually some sort of tourist who liked to go back in time and witness, in person, historical world changing events?

What if: at this very moment in time, I was on the verge of an idea that would drastically change mankind? The very first spark, a lightbulb moment of an idea that would influence world peace or some massive change for good that would permanently change history for the better? What if that was why she was here?

What if: instead of some amazing, positive idea, I was on the verge of making the worst mistake of my life? Something that would negatively impact my life and the lives of my family, friends or the world?

What if: this person was a future relative? What if she were actually my 2 year old daughter, now all grown up, or her children, or children’s children just wanting to see for themselves what made Daddy, or Great Grandpa think up this crazy, amazing or stupid idea?

What if: that time was NOW and instead of me sitting here, it was actually YOU, and YOU were on the verge of making a very important decision that would dramatically effect your life for better. Or worse…

What would that idea or decision be?

What decision was right at the tip of your mind right this very second, but you weren’t aware of it because maybe you weren’t paying attention?

I bet that something IS right at the tip of your mind right now. You just need some motivation and the decision to act on it.

I know what mine is. That’s why this woman sitting across from me made such a strange impression. Call it synchronicity, call it a hunch, but I somehow knew it was more than that. I’ll tell you more about that soon.

For now though, just keep in mind that inspiration comes at the strangest times. Sometimes as a storybook moment with clouds parting, sunbeams, trumpets and angels singing with fireworks going off, and sometimes, we’re just sitting there on the toilet, picking our noses and humming Lady GaGa.

It would definitely be worth traveling back in time to witness some of these events, wouldn’t it? I bet we would be surprised at what that moment actually looked like. Like a random apple falling from a tree, or an “I have a dream” or just a simple “hmmm…”

I don’t know what my point is with all of this, other than I just wanted to share and give you some food for thought,

Think about it and let me know. (and by the way, don’t forget to wipe the toothpaste from the sides of your mouth…)

Send me an email or make a comment on this post. I would love to hear from you.