Building a well-connected network takes time and effort, but if you have fun along the way, it could make your life a lot easier.

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Hey everyone, pull up a chair. In fact, fill out a nametag, introduce yourself to the person sitting next to you, and tell us what you do. This episode is about one of the single most important skills you can learn in life: Networking.

As always, I was out on a run to figure out this week’s topic. I’m usually a morning runner, but this week found me gliding down the edge of Manhattan’s East River at dusk on a summer Sunday. They’ve done a great job landscaping and carving out areas and installing benches and tables for people to relax and take in the view, and I saw two older women sitting and chatting at one of the tables.

Two things struck me. First, they had brought their own bottle of Merlot and were drinking from wine glasses, and second, they had brought their own tablecloth to put over the standard issue, bolted-into-the-sidewalk table.

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Have you ever dreamed of ditching the corporate world in order to open a small business in a rural town? Can big city marketing experience translate to a small town coffee shop? Lets look at someone that did it.

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Over the 4th of July weekend, I escaped the hustle and bustle of Manhattan to relax a few hours away in a small town in upstate New York. It was a big day for a college friend of mine, who was marking her full exit from the corporate world with the opening of a little coffee shop cafe on Main Street, USA.

She has actually made a pretty linear progression in her marketing career, one that many people might admire and aspire to.

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Freshbooks.com interview – Saul Colt, the ‘Head of Magic’ uses social media and retro marketing to build a loyal following. from Jim Hopkinson on Vimeo.

Wouldn’t it be great if ALL companies…

• Took their customers to free dinners
• Sent their users flowers when they’ve had a bad day
• Received a 99% positive referral rating
• Had an entrepreneurial blog and irreverent newsletter
• Had a Twitter following so passionate that users solved problems
• Instilled a little bit of “magic” into everyday life?

Well, if you’re a marketer, a manager, or public relations rep trying to improve your company’s image, then my interview with Saul Colt, ‘Head of Magic’ for the online invoicing company ‘Freshbooks,’ is a must-listen.

Our 20-minute conversation is a marketing case study for using social media and “retro marketing” to grow a loyal following. We discuss:

• How Freshbooks was born out of frustration that many freelancers face
• Why they take their customers — even non-paying ones — to free dinners
• What just might happen if you get stood up on a blind date
• His title, and what happens when the “Head of Magic” heads to Las Vegas

• Why he has a Love-Hate relationship with Zappos.com
• The iPhone promotion that differentiated them from every other company
• Their CEO’s blog post “The 7 Ways I’ve Almost Killed Freshbooks“
• How their iPhone app helps on-the-go freelancers keep better records

To learn how to use current social media tools like Twitter, Blogs, and Newsletters build your brand, listen now:

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Helpful links:

About Freshbooks | Freshbooks Tour | Twitter.com/freshbooks | Twitter.com/Hopkinsonreport

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Get a Room! An entrepreneurial couple gives marketing tips for startups.

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‘You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into’ is not the phrase you want to hear when you’re about to make the most important decision of your young life. Yet with thousands of dollars, years of our lives, and our future earnings at stake, a generation crossed our fingers and chose a college. But based on what criteria, exactly?

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As I look back at my pre-internet decision, it was based primarily on two factors… a half day campus tour by a student paid by the college to show it in it’s best light… and a slickly-packaged guidebook, also produced by guess who.

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Is your college degree is a lot of BS? Last week I covered 10 things I taught my interns, but what advice would I give them before they even applied to college? Here are 6 myths about college and my plan to save 90% on tuition.

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I just got finished reading a feature article by Penelope Wang in the September issue of Money Magazine. The title was, Is College Still Worth The Price?

In the article, they explore whether it’s time to question if a college education is worth the price, since costs are soaring twice as fast as inflation while salaries for people with bachelor degrees are falling.

I’m going to highlight some of the marketing tricks the article points out that colleges are using to attract students, and give you my take of what’s really important in the digital age.

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Over the past several months I’ve had the pleasure of mentoring two fantastic interns here at Wired. Here are 10 big picture things I tried to teach them.

But first, I’m going to start with a lesson learned when I was an intern. Right after I graduated college, the country was in a recession similar to now, so unable to find a job, I took an internship at a very small independent film group. I was going to learn about multimedia! The group was run by the ego-centric director of these films, who was a bit of a jerk and a dictator.

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Jim presents 10 tips for effective communication and selling your marketing ideas.

Whether you’re the VP of Marketing or just their assistant, it’s not always easy to get your marketing ideas heard. The July issue of Wired Magazine calls e-mail “The great american time suck,” with 77 billion corporate e-mail messages sent every day, worldwide.

Here are 10 e-mail and communication tips that get results, including the “front door smudge” and the “ugly mockup.”

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