Good morning,
I got out on a walk today, early. It was dark when we started. And then this happened. Whew. Check out the light off those leaves.
I snagged a coffee after, a drip from Brazil, from a local place that roasts onsite. The quality of the coffee shifts from shop to shop around town from the same brand. It was a good pairing to the sunrise today in that it was not burnt and on the way home. I’ll likely make it part of the routine. Could be fun to have a sunrise coffee place, right?
Ok, this weeks bits. Two bits on Linkedin. The third about a mid-career dude wanting to be an intern.
Bit #1
I posted last Tuesday for the first time on Linkedin, ever. I’d seen the service as a static, don’t screw it up, kind of place. You know, it’s your resume after all. Don’t do it wrong at minimum. So, I’d not really touched it. Holy cow it’s a organic impression hot bed.
Check out the view count of 1329 in 6 days. And, if that was not enough, those impressions are from people all over the country. That’s good for an internet brand. It also puts the 283 people in my personal Instagram (1/3 of which might see something posted, might) and the 34 followers on Vivront’s Insta (built in just a short month or so) into some perspective. The organic on Linkedin is woah right now.
That had me chatting with people about the impression count and I’ve received a “duh” and a “take a course” response. I’m happy to come up to speed on the party and slotting in the courses to take I’ve added on on Linkedin. That will come after finishing the Shopify course I’m 2/3 of the way through.
While we’re mentioning Vivront’s Insta… it’s the start of something fun over there. Help out the algo with a follow and get some inspiration for your own kitchen fun? Cheers to Jesse for the sips of port older than I am last week, on a rooftop noless. That’s 1970, BTW. It was the open to “Port season” as it’s getting colder outside people! Grab the stilton and maybe some balsamic too! Run. Don’t walk.
Bit #2
I had planned to Linkedin post again on Thursday of last week. I went fishing instead and then was so tired I slept vs posted. But check out the river shots :). It’s so good to stand in the river.
So, on Friday evening, at roughly 4:30, I posted the second edition of the Vivront series for Linkedin. Post here.
The organic reach is lacking in comparison to the first one. It’s two fewer days so I’ll let the work week view’s catch up before judging. However, if you’re looking for reach… post not on Friday afternoon. This post was slower on the uptick. I knew that might be the case but posted anyway.
Persons are continuing to reach out and DM regularly. Thanks for the support and interest all. Telling friends is the stage this idea is at. It’s going to grow via sharing. We’ve had a phone call with PR group and a call with an agency last week. A few other are on the books. Keep coming with your ideas and your knives.
We’re getting closer to the 25 knife sets sharpened target. I know it’s slow starting something and it’s been a month. I should cut some slack. But, I want it to grow faster. :). We’re going to be marking 25 sets total, 25 a month, 25 a week and ultimately 25 a day. When we get there, 25 a day, it’s a marking moment for the business and we can take a different tactic and grow much faster. I wonder how long it’ll take to get to 25 sets/mailings a day. Maybe Dec? Maybe Feb? Maybe June?
Right now, we’ve got 4 prototypes in the mailing cycle and we’re eager to learn more. The next step is going to be a bagster like model. This is where the end consumer might purchase the envelope at a store… then finish purchasing with the number of knives, etc. online. That model could be real cool and help the PTO, youth sports teams and church crews on raising money too. We’re looking for folks and groups to prototype with. Know anyone?
Anyway… linkedin impressions. Bigger numbers than I thought would be there. It’s a publishing game. So, publish.
Bit #3
An internship. I had lunch with a very talented and credentialed person of ecommerce background last week. We’re talking the bigs… Target, Amazon style bigs. She had checked the vivront.com site before the meeting and was surprised to learn I’ve put the whole thing together solo. Photos, copy, video, e-commerce - food fun.
Well, to get this thing to go further and make impact on kids school lunch debt we’re going to need 25 sets of knives per bench per day. And numerous benches. We need a lot more knives and I’m going to need to learn new skills in demand generation and getting the word out and optimizing the funnel and landing pages and anything else you can think of. The tricky part is NOT thinking up things to do. The tricky part is deciding what will make the process go faster at the core. Just do the core things. Right?
Primarily, I’m thinking demand marketing skills are the next core thing to learn. The hands on craft kind of skills of demand marketing are in need of being leveled up and likely the key driver of success on this brand. I need to be an intern.
So, I’ve been looking around for ways to be an intern, to learn demand marketing myself with my hands in the tools. I have a “No” from one group. Good. I’m happy with “No.” It’s clarifying. I have a “Maybe” from one group that I’ll learn more about next week. And then I have self guided video courses to take. One in Google adwords and one in Linkedin. I also have found an agency on the west coast that is targeting founders like myself in D2C (Direct to consumer) that has a learning forum/courseware AND a slack channel that they are running with their team. It’s super interesting. It feels like a killer way to have a little on the side learning factory and charge more for sunk cost tallent. Double win? Maybe. We’ll see.
Sum
In summary, have you posted on Linkedin lately. Just… woah. The organic reach is wow. Give it a go. And, I’m looking at intern opportunities. In the meantime, I’m eating up courses. Send your recos.
Change
How are you doing with being authentic? Solid solid post here. Like duh. Now I need to live it out.
Code or media create leverage. Check this audio clip out from @naval. This way of seeing business is continuing to bounce inside my head and impacting how I’m thinking about creating more content.
I did not find this Travel Tripod. Kelly did. I went and messed with it this week. It’s a joy to work with. So, so well done Peak. More on that in the future. Anyway, a quick video (under a minute) on it here.
If you’re looking for fun debate around a dinner table keep this question handy. “Do you think FB should be broken up?” I bet if you practiced now you could elevate your holiday conversation. It’s sure to be on the topic docket.
Want to rent time in VR. Our son did for his birthday. It’s a rewarding experience to share VR with others. Their faces show signs of just having had their range of possible worlds expanded when they take the headset off for the first time. “Wow” is underwhelming description. In MPLS, rent time here.
We’re coming into campfire season. And it’s solo stove evenings around the house. These things kick off less smoke when they are going and more heat than other fires. We have ours on the patio and I move it around with ease. Consider one for this seasons backyard fun.
Are you late? I heard Tim Ferriss on his most recent pod say that he does not think it’s late to start a podcast. He used the metric that the ad dollars have not moved from other audio sources, yet. I’ve been debating a pod a few times over. I’ve also been debating crypto and NTFs. So much to learn.
On Your Way
Go stand in a river? Enjoy the sunshine? It’s the fall and it’s wonderful. Light the campfire. Breathe deeply during a sunset. You’re alive! Wahoo!