Steak and egg sandwichEarly bright moonUnder the covers with a mooseBudding photographerBuilding a snow wallHe upgraded to a bigger shirt stuffed with more stuff Serious smashing going on#sumo kids


Going to San Francisco – Wanna Get Together?

Tomorrow morning I board a plane at 8:30am for San Francisco. It’s my first visit there.

I missed the TechCrunch Party but my Standout Jobs co-Founders made it.

And it looks like Fred and Austin had a great time.

Fred was on Ustream.tv, but apparently the sound wasn’t very good. Oh well!

I’ll be in San Francisco until Thursday morning. I’ve got a few meetings and events I’m attending, including Loic Le Meur’s and Hugh MacLeod’s dinner tomorrow night and a dinner hosted by Mohr Davidow Ventures on Wednesday.

I’m looking forward to meeting a slew of great people, and if you’re in San Francisco and want to get-together, send me an email or reach me through Twitter or Facebook.

See you there!

Simple Email Hack: Get Your Questions Answered

Whether we like it or not, email is still the primary mode of communication online. That’s not going to change any time soon.

We’ve got instant messenger, Twitter, Skype, message boards, project management tools, messaging applications, etc. The list of ways to communicate online is endless.

But email still rules the day. And it still works.

Of course, the problems with email are clear. People are overwhelmed with the volume of email they receive. They scan and skim instead of reading things in-depth.

The result – when asking a question via email – is a strong possibility you don’t get the answer you need. You might not get an answer at all…

And that’s frustrating. You can’t keep asking the same question over and over, and presumably you’re asking the question because you really want an answer.

Tip: The last question you ask in an email is the one that will get answered.

People will skim your email, get to the bottom and see a call to action. If you’ve peppered your email with other questions, it’s very likely people will miss them, or won’t bother responding. They will key in on the last question.

  1. Be careful about adding a PS question. This is typically the most casual question, it’s an attempt at extracting just a bit more information and continuing the conversation. But it’s rarely the most important question (although sometimes it can be!)
  2. Put questions on their own line. Even if this doesn’t make complete sense from a reading/writing flow perspective, do it anyway. Make questions stand out.
  3. Make the last question the most important one. The one you need answered.

It comes down to smart copywriting.

Sending email is about telling a compelling story and encouraging action. Don’t fool yourself: Email is a great sales and marketing tool. It’s a great research tool. It’s a great relationship building tool. But to extract value from email means writing in a well-formatted, easily digestible manner.

And if you’re asking questions in email – focus your energy on the last one you ask. Make it count, because that’s the one people will answer.

How Big A Beach Are You?

Lots of people love the beach.

Tall people. Short people. Fat people. Skinny people. Bronzed beyond George Hamilton people. Deathly pale people.

There’s just something about stripping down to the bare necessities and letting it all hang out. The interesting thing about the beach is that no one seems self-conscious. It’s rarely flattering and in some cases downright disturbing. Watching a flabby guy in a bright green thong parade across the hot sand just doesn’t do it for me. You?

What is it about the beach that allows many of us to discard our outer shell of clothing, and with reckless abandon allow our least attractive parts to bounce about willy nilly? What, indeed…

Expose Yourself on the Beach

beachI recently spent a day at the beautiful Parc Jean Drapeau – 5 minutes from the heart of Montreal.

It’s an amazing location: beautiful water, sand, BBQ and great play areas for young kids. It’s amazing how few Montrealers know about it, because it’s the closest thing to a tropical vacation spot that we’ve got. And it’s the closest thing to a vacation I’m going to get in the next couple years…

While at the beach you can’t help but notice the flesh. Lots and lots of flesh. But no one cares. People are exposing themselves in a very, very personal way…and no one is covering up. It’s not all Baywatch models either; every shape, size, culture and creed hangs at the beach.

It makes me think about blogging. (Say what now?!?!)

Expose Yourself on Your Blog

Whether you like it or not, blogs are personal. They wouldn’t work otherwise. Of course they have a business purpose; just like social networks, blogs can be used in a hundred different ways for professional reasons. But business is personal, and blogs have their roots in an open, conversational, relationship-building style.

So if a blog is personal and professional, where do we draw the line?

How much of your personality goes into your blog? How much do you expose?

It might depend on the topic. News-focused blogs won’t have as much room for personality. But most of us write blogs as a means of establishing our personal brand, building meaningful relationships and growing our businesses. There’s lots of personal “stuff” in there.

Chris Brogan exposes himself a great deal on his blog (and through Twitter, Facebook, etc.) He talks about his work and his personal life. Following Chris is more than just a learning experience; it’s a personal experience.

Don’t Show Me Everything, But Keep It Real

Exposing yourself doesn’t mean revealing every detail of your personal life. It does mean you need to approach blogging with an authentic voice. Overly crafting your message can siphon off too much personality if done incorrectly. The information you’re providing might be valuable but the delivery becomes staid and distant.

Your blog should drip with your personality. You should feel free to include personal stories as a means of truly connecting with your audience. The more you expose, the more your audience will as well; and that’s how community is built.

So feel free to be a beach. (Or at least enjoy it!)

photo by pocketshoot.

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About Ben Yoskovitz
I recently joined GoInstant as VP Product. GoInstant changes how we use the web, making it shareable like never before.

I'm also a Founding Partner at Year One Labs, an early stage accelerator in Montreal. Previously I founded Standout Jobs (and sold it). I'm a hands-on startup guy, helping companies grow successfully from the idea forward. You can reach me at byosko at gmail dot com.

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