DISQUS

Long -- Thank you so much for posting such a nice write up about Blawging Lawyers. Make sure you give you readers the details of the launch date as it is Monday, February 16th at 7:30 a.m. eastern time.

Instead of looking at our current economic situation as a problem. We should all look at it as an opportunity to grow or get going. I have never understood the doom and gloom crowd. I have been through all of the so called recessions since I was born in 1960 and as one of the commentators said above, some of the greatest companies have been born during times like this.

It is a lot easier to just give up and put your head in the sand. Instead, walk tall and kick butt.

I find it so interesting that those who bitch and complain the most about there should not be rules on twitter are the same ones who want to make rules. Why complain about automatic DM's to new followers? Aren't we all free to use twitter the way we want? If so, don't say there should be no automatic DM's. Twitter is the great opt-in, opt-out. You opt-in to follow someone and you can optt-out following them if you want.

Your blog and your twitter account are two very different animals. Your blog is can be your business. And your blog is something you hold ownership in and can grow. Twitter on the other hand is one of the tools you can use to grow your blog and in turn your business.

While I would agree you should share your ideas on twitter, it is not the place to store them so they can be indexed and retrieved. That is for your blog or some other more lasting location.

I find it rather discouraging when I see so many of those using twitter now who are not blogging as they did before. While I appreciate the sharing they do, I wonder what will happen when we try to go back in time to retrieve what they may have said. Twitter and other social media tools are in no way a replacement for blogging. And if anyone is trying to replace blogging with twitter and other social media tools, I fear what they are saying and sharing may soon be lost.

Actually, I disagree. There is nothing wrong with DM's if they are used for just that. If it requires more then 140 characters, then send an email.

Plan to see you at SOBCon09. And I will also bathe, but I only bite a little.

What does one do when they get bigger? If we are going to be part of the social media scaling and maintain the personal touch our community does and will continue to demand, we will have to take advantage of every social media tool we have available.

Some our community members will come from our blog, others from twitter or Facebook. We will have to learn how to interact on each. However, I am not sure there is not going to be a point we might get too big. Can we really, even using all the available tools, maintain the personal touch? I don't think we can. We are going to have to decide at some point, how big can we get and still maintain the community.

While we can still reach a large number of community members. Only a select few will actually receive the personal touch when we get so large. Will this be a problem. For some it will be and they may drop out of our community. If they do, we move on. We simply can not be everything to ever one. Our community by its very nature will morph into its own "monster" Some will expect and receive personal attention. Some will not care. Others will be part of the community since we will continue to provide them with the location to build their community. In that case, our community members will then start to interact with each other on a more personal level and relieve us from that responsibility totally.

By their very nature, our community will then become somewhat self-efficient. And we will then spend our time continuing to build our community. Bringing new members in who will then adopt and migrate to that part of the community which will give them what they need.

Chris, I am not sure that made any sense. But I do believe we can maintain the community and still reach a large audience. The community will learn to take care of itself too if they want to remain part of it. We can still give personal attention to those who might need it more then others.

While I agree Social Media sites are a great way to spread the word. It is important to give first before you expect to receive. Social Bookmarketing sites IMHO don't afford you the same opportunity to enter into a conversation like twitter, Facebook and even Linkedin.

Too many are using Social Media as a way to send out their RSS feeds and contribute nothing else. Use social media to build a relationship with those you follow or follow you. For example, I like to call twitter the social media tool where you can interact and learn with those you follow.

Social media tools are more then just a way to spread the word and attract links.

Chris Brogan is one of those bloggers I read everyday my RSS readers tells me he has a new post. I just don't miss it. He truly covers social media from all sides. And shows you how to tie it all together and use those elements which fit your needs.

And yes Chris might have a lot of followers and he might follow a huge number too. But he almost always responds to an @chrisbrogan and has always responded to a DM from me. He is a true social media user.

Thanks for getting him to take the time to do this podcast stuff.

Thanks for this post Chris. I have been struggling and have for sometime on when to say no. The problem is not having enough time. The problem is having too many commitments. We have to learn to say no and to cull those we need to get rid of.

Travel this next year is going to be a key to me expanding our business even more. And I would echo your comment about getting an assistant. I used one before and it was great. Time to dust them off and bring them back on board to take some of the work load from me.

Love your framework for the coming year. As one of the previous commentors mentioned, this also gives me a framework to start my own goal setting for 2009. More then just goals, but a plan of action too.

Thanks again Chris.

CB, OMG are we aging ourselves or what. And Jules you are exactly correct. If you want to communicate and get your teens attention, use what they use. And for goodness sake, don't embarrass them in front of their peers. Thanks for commenting you two and I hope we can keep the conversation going.

Interesting post but you don't have your facts correct. Reagan did not tell the Germans to tear down the wall. That would have been hard with the Russian guns aimed at them. President Reagan told the Russians to tear down this wall. In fact his exact words were,

"We welcome change and openness; for we believe that freedom and security go together, that the advance of human liberty can only strengthen the cause of world peace. There is one sign the Soviets can make that would be unmistakable, that would advance dramatically the cause of freedom and peace. General Secretary Gorbachev, if you seek peace, if you seek prosperity for the Soviet Union and eastern Europe, if you seek liberalization, come here to this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, open this gate. Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall"

I think you will love working at home 100% of the time. Keep us posted on your transition from the brick and mortar office to the home office. And welcome to the ranks of the Home Office Warrior.

Great post John and right on. Especially the fact businesses have to be blogging or they are really missing out. No longer can you throw up a yellow page ad. And no longer can you throw up a static web site, or a web yellow page, and than pay and pray someone will find you and actually call. You have to participate in what Social Media has done. Social media of all kinds has created conversations all over the web and if a business is not involved, they will be left behind. Not only must the business be involved by having a blog, but they must participate in the full scope of social media.

Finis-

Thanks for the kind remarks and the linkage. Chris did a great job on his guest post and it is great to have guys like him join the Apple family.

I have been using Mindmapping for a couple of years at least. I love the visual aspect of it as I think that way.

Timely post. Just started or should I say restarted on a huge project and my Mindmapping program will be the center of its planning.

So what about the quality of the video and audio. You can see it and hear it. Most of the time it is interviews like this that are the best and most relaxed. Keep them coming.

Interesting, I was looking to get one as the end of my v.1 is broke just for the reason you stated. I was also going to use the ear loop from v.1 on v.2 as you suggested.

Why so great you ask. First of all, operating from a virtual office gives you the freedom to work from anywhere. No longer are we tied to a physical location as we can take our office with us. Second, using a virtual office frees us up from the old restraints we experienced by being tied to an office and the old tools of communicating with our clients. We can communicate with our clients by utilizing the tools available to us today. Not just the land line, but wireless, VoIP, email, instant messages and other web based communication tools. Third, we are able to provide services to a wider range of clients. Not just those clients located where we live, but from anywhere a lawyer may be licensed. Forth, using a virtual office allows us to provide clients with access to their "file" and that information we usually provide them by mail. It helps us to give that 24/7 service so many are now expecting and demanding.

Great post. Look forward to more in the series.

I look forward to following you in my RSS reader. Welcome to the home office blogging community.

My blog, http://homeofficewarrior.com

Posts:

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Thanks for considering me.