Expert in the Rough, Brian Monahan

A Book, a Movie,a DVD and  a Museum, I hope you enjoy!

A Book

Ignore Everybody and buy this book.  Hugh MacLeod the artist behind the Gaping Void “cartoons on the back of business cards” takes his stab at how to be creative.  I find the book more of a manifesto for those who are following their dreams.  This book is a fast read.  If you don’t mind reading online you can see the online version by visiting his site.  Click Here.

Or you can buy it on Amazon:

A Movie

500 Days of Summer is a fun chick flick but hotty Zooey Deschanel will save your “Man Card” if you decide to go this one alone.  If your a chick you get a free pass on this one, that’s why they call them chick flicks.

A DVD

The Great Buck Howard is a light hearted movie about “Buck Howard” played by John Malkovich, a mentalist (not a magician) and performer who has lost his luster.  His comeback is launched in Cincinnati, which is a fun movie twist for this Cincinnati native as he performs his biggest feat ever, hypnotizing hundreds of people.  His comeback is almost foiled by Cincinnati’s favorite son Jerry Springer.  Rent it, don’t buy it.

A Museum

The American Sign Museum in Cincinnati, OH  is a one of a kind experience.  Tod Swormstedt, former editor and publisher of Signs of the Times magazine, as his self-proclaimed mid-life crisis project. It began as an idea, with no collection.  He has well surpassed the no collection status.  He currently has hundreds of signs on display.  From Big Boy to Earl Scheib he has some of the country’s most recognizable icons as well as one of a kind historic signs.  Neon and flashing lights are the backdrop for this museum.  You may want to bring your sun glasses.

$10 admission is a bargain, I recommend you visit during a tour time.

More Information Click Here.

Disclaimer:

Some of my links include affiliate links. I could make a small commission on your purchase, however, to date I have only made around $10 with this strategy. Not quite a living but as Expert in the Rough grows it readership affiliate links might just cover my costs of hosting this blog. A man can dream, can’t he?

I hope you enjoy the links.

What can you learn from a Pumpkin?

Last week I was out picking up lunch for my wife and I passed a “farmers market” selling pumpkins.  Alright, I admit it was not much of a “farmers market” it was the strip mall’s parking lot.  But a real farmer had a trailer load of some great looking pumpkins.

50 cents a pound was a little steep but these were “round hard walled pumpkins.”  So the farmer says.

I went ahead and purchased two pumpkins.  One was to take home to my wife and one was to take to the office.

The one for my wife was more a symbol of my love, the night I proposed to my wife Sweetest Day 2002, we celebrated over a pumpkin pie.  I also thought it would make a great prop for a  picture next to my pregnant wife. (Luckily she agreed.)

The second pumpkin for the office was for social reasons.  That’s right.  Social reasons!

I really do love attention and I like to socialize so I knew a pumpkin was going to be a perfect decoration to place at the door to my office.

When I returned from lunch I carried the pumpkin to my office.  On the way a few co-workers asked why I was carrying a pumpkin.  I thought that was a silly question being it is was early October and surely a pumpkin would be appropriate in October.  I simply replied, “For the fun of it!”

After getting to my office I realized that putting the pumpkin on the floor outside my office would not be enough.  I needed a pedestal.  I took a walk to the warehouse and found a stool to place my pumpkin.

It was a busy week and I went back to work.  Over the next hour about 10 co-workers stopped by to comment on the pumpkin.  They would peak in and say nice pumpkin or make some general reference to the pumpkin, but one co-worker stopped and asked, “what is this?”  I thought that was kind of a silly question.  I said “It’s a pumpkin.”  She started to laugh.

I could not see the pumpkin from my desk and she said, “Oh you haven’t seen the pumpkin lately.”

She then waived for me to come out.  The Pumpkin had been dressed up.  I mind you this pumpkin had only been in the office for about an hour.

Here is the pumpkin that resides outside of my office.

Now these are just a few examples of how a pumpkin can make a difference in the world.  I have created a list of what you can learn from a pumpkin.

What you can learn from a pumpkin:

1. Pumpkins are social.  Put one outside your door and it’s and invitation to converse and interact.
2. Pumpkins are versatile.  Pumpkins make great pies, decorations, door stops and conversation pieces
3. Pumpkins are collaborative.  You can’t help but want to add to somebodies pumpkin.

Next time your are working on a blog post or marketing piece ask yourself.

• How is this post like a pumpkin?
• Does my post make me more approachable?
• Does my post provide value?
• Does my post attract collaboration?

Be a Pumpkin and rule the world.

I admit I am a bit of an “Idea Junky” in fact some have dubbed me the “IdeaManiac.”  My bad habit is buying notebooks.  I am addicted to capturing my ideas.

Recently I came up with an idea.  Imagine that!

Tag or categorize my ideas.  I now have different notebooks for different inspirations.  My biggest idea generator is running, however, I am inspired by just about anything.  I have this huge fear I am going to miss an idea.  Since I have so many ideas and interests I thought it would be cool to track my ideas by the inspiration factor.  I could see if the ideas generated when I was running or just before going to bed or after reading a book, whatever, the category generated different results.  I want to know which inspiration factor leads to the best results.

Here are 3 ideas for categorizing your ideas:

1. Buy 5 Notebooks and Label them with a Sharpie by category.
2. Use Google Docs and add category names to your idea lists.  You can now search by keyword.
3. Create 5 Word Documents on your computer by category.

After a few months or years of documenting your ideas by category or keyword tags you will now have some data to prioritize your ideas.

Note: If you have more than 25 notebooks for tracking your ideas, you might be an IdeaManiac.

My Favorite Pet Peeves….a redundant statement of favorite peeves, could it be?  A sickening list of things that bother me so much that I actually list them as my “Pet Peeves.”

Have you ever really stopped to think about what a “Pet Peeve” is?  A list of your favorite peeves.  I say that is just plain stupid but “There is gold in those hills.”

Sales and marketing experts advise that people have two primary buying motivations, Pain and Pleasure. That is the gold.  Address peoples “Pet Peeves” and you cover both their buying motivations.  Their Favorite pain in the rear is your ticket to the promise land.

Expert in the Rough Tip:

Create a list of Pet Peeves for your industry or passion.  Consult your customers or potential customer as to what their Pet Peeves are in regards to your industry.  Become the expert on the solutions around these peeves.

The world according to the movie Dumb and Dumber:

Lloyd Christmas (Jim Carrey) wanting to date Mary Swanson (Lauren Holly)

Lloyd: The least you could do is level with me. What are my chances?

Mary: Not good.

Lloyd: You mean like one out of a hundred?

Mary: More like one out of a million.

Lloyd: So you’re tellin’ me there’s a chance.

Sometimes we all need a little encouragement when starting a new adventure.

Today I submitted my blog to be included in the branding section of Alltop an up and coming blog aggregater.   Alltop describes itself as the as a “digital magazine rack” for the Internet.  It categorizes popular blogs by topic.  The cool thing about Alltop is the listings are hand submitted by a real person.

A real person included my blog, I am so excited!  Of course I sent them an email and a bribe with an Alltop banner on my blog and asked for them to include me on Alltop.

Hence, not only do I have a chance but they like me.

You can see me at the bottom of the branding section on Alltop, which if you read about Alltop is actually the top.

Alltop Listing

If you are “blogged” down with too much content, RSS, is your answer.

You have surely seen the letters “RSS” or the “Feed Icon” around he internet.

RSS Feed Button

If you’re a “Web 2.0 Expert” you can go ahead and skip this post but for those of you who are still getting your feet wet; this is they key to filtering the muck without blowing up your spam filter.

I have had various explanations of what RSS stands for but the most common reference is Really Simple Syndication.

Basically speaking an “RSS Feed” is a broadcast or reference which allows a “RSS Feed Reader” to know when a blog or website is updated.

This is beneficial to both the publisher and subscriber.  The updates are automatic and come in various formats.

My favorite part of subscribing to a RSS Feed is it allows me to keep track of my favorite blogs without actually having to visit each and every website to check for updates.  It’s a huge time saver. You might be tempted to say, “I could just bookmark my favorite sites” but remember your bookmarks will not tell you if there is new content. (Some browsers may be able to provide this information)

My favorite feed reader is Bloglines. It allows me to create folders and publish a public list of my feeds.  I like the public feed so you can see the blogs I read.  I think it’s a great way to share where my opinions are influenced.  You can see the feeds I subscribe to to the right listed as “The Blogs I Read.”

I also recommend Google Reader.  Its easy to use and allows for sharing of your feeds with other Gmail users.

All About RSS, BlogOhBlog (Great Overview of RSS!)

RSS Wikipedia Entry

Ed Dale YouTube Video On Bloglines

Your Momentum Monday Assignment:

Set up a feed reader account.  If you don’t want to use Google Reader or Bloglines there are a number of other options.  Do a Google Search and pick the one that fits you best.

Now that you have your feed reader set up.  Subscribe to the Expert in the Rough Feed on the top right.

Extra Credit:

Send me your public list of feeds in your reader via the comments section below.

Donny Deutsch is on the line and he wants you to be on his show “The Big Idea.” You start rifling through your pile of napkins and scrap paper, but your “Big Idea” is nowhere to be found.  Donny hangs up.  You have just missed an opportunity to work with the “Oprah of Entrepeneurs.” You start to cry, but you’re a serial idea junky and you pull out a napkin, note to self, “Create a better way to take notes.”

You  missed the boat again because Jott.com found your napkin.

Jott is a very powerful and free internet application that allows you to  combine the powers of phone, email and text messaging.  I recommend it for the Expert in the Rough crowd to document their ideas.  This does not replace the “Super Cool Journal” but compliments it.

My favorite way to use Jott is to email myself ideas or notes when I am driving.  (Please don’t hate, I will be careful.)  Often times when I am driving I have an idea and I am not able to write it down.  I simply have Jott.com’s phone number stored into my cell phone.  When you call Jott it will ask who you want to Jott.  You say myself or whoever you want to Jott and speak your message.  It will confirm it recieved your message.  You hang up and it will email or text you the message.

You also have the ability to text or email others, create lists, text groups, set reminders and other powerful features.

I don’t want to spend a lot of time on tutorial which you can get at Jott. com but I did have a few tips.

Set yourself up with multiple personal boxes.  If you load your cell phone number and email address into Jott it will send you both.  To save on text messaging, I created another contact for myself with an email address only.  I also like to use Jott to send text messages to people who I know are in meetings and can’t answer their phone but can view a text message.  You can also set up reminders if you are a person who loses track of time.

The opportunities and ideas are endless.  Just be sure to Jott them down.

Photoshop is $600, GIMP is free. You make the choice.

For most of “In The Roughers” you are probably on a tight budget. GIMP is a free image editing program that will allow you to create professional blog headers and other image files.

I created the header for my personal blog Coachbriany.com with GIMP and the header for Expert in the Rough with Photoshop.

I happen to have access to Photoshop with my day job, however, if I had to purchase Photoshop I would choose GIMP in a heartbeat. This header is a combination of a header supplied with a free Wordpress Theme and IStockPhoto image. I will cover these tools in future posts.

Perfection is the arch enemy of the Expert in the Rough.   What is holding you back from starting today at growing your business.

Are you waiting until you have enough education?

Do you need a logo or a website?

Do you need to clean up the kitchen?

Do you need to organize your emails?

Do you just feel not ready to share your knowledge with the world?

Do you need to take another writing classs?

Do you need to take a public speaking class or attend toastmasters?

Do you need to blah, blah, blah?

I bet you do.

Waiting for Perfection is the illusion or the excuse.

Just get started, its the doing which teaches you everything you need to know.

I have spent a few weeks getting aquainted with WordPress and have finally launched the Expert in the Rough blog. I have all kinds of challenges. I picked a theme that was incompatible with Internet Explorer 7. I lost my initial posts with a software upgrade, but I am here to say, I will not be deterred.

You will find this to be a work in progress but we will be moving quickly. I have been studying the experts for over 20 years and I have a lot to share.

Please subscribe to my RSS feed, and share with friends. Most of my early visitors I expect to be friends and family. Your input will be appreciated.

For those of you wondering what Wordpress and RSS means, I will be covering those topics as part of the Expert in the Rough tools of the trade.

With that Expert in the Rough is officially live. Be sure to read my About page for a more detailed descripion of Expert in the Rough.

Thanks,

Brian