Looking to update your website? Make sure to do these things first.

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Redesigns are very dangerous

I read once somewhere that a site redesign is one of the most dangerous things you can do in your business. Why? You run the risk of spending countless hours of work, costs can quickly spiral out of hand, you could alienate an existing customer base that was used to using your site a certain way, and you can cause a near riot of egos and opinions within your company.

I saw this firsthand back when I was working at ESPN. We were doing a refresh on the Fantasy Games website, and everyone had an opinion.

• The VP was focused on making it very easy to buy our products so we can hit our revenue numbers.
• The edit team wanted our content front and center, people were coming to the site for information.
• Our lead producer wanted to focus on navigation for user’s actual teams… most people check on their fantasy teams every day, make it easy to get to them.
• The engineering team just wanted to make sure all the back-end stuff kept working and the site loaded quickly and efficiently.
• And the designer was taking this all in, trying to make the site balance aesthetics with functionality, speed with ease of use… without killing anyone.
• My job was to make sure he didn’t kill anyone. Thankfully, I succeeded.

Redesigning your website. First things first.

As you may know, I love design. I love designers and secretly wish that I was one, so I have to do the next best thing and try to do my best to be one, while knowing when to step back and learn from them.

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Why you should stop your whining and listen to Elon Musk.

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How was your day?

Did you whine because your boss gave you a little extra work at the end of the day? Did you feel good about yourself because you wrote a nice little blog post, closed a sale, or balanced your budget? Or maybe you had a really productive meeting?

Well, it doesn’t really matter because you’re still a total loser.

You heard me! Are you complaining about the ONE little job that you have? Are you puffing your chest out because your Vice-President replied all to your group email and said “Nice work!”?

Well, you’re pathetic because you’re not Elon Effing Musk.

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Jim talks about the launch of his online salary negotiation course, and how you can build one too.

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The announcement

I am so excited to share what may be a poorly-kept secret with my podcast audience – I have launched two courses on online learning site Udemy.com:

How to Negotiate Salary: The Negotiation Mindset
How to Negotiate Salary: Negotiating a Raise or Promotion

The beta launch date was on March 5, 2013 but if you’re a regular reader, you’ve heard me hint at this project before:

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Jim gives preparation tips and tricks when giving a core conversation speech at SXSW, or at your next meeting.

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$1,200 in 10 minutes

I made $1,200 within the first 10 minutes of being an entrepreneur.

How did I do that? Well, it wasn’t through marketing or selling a product or closing a deal. On November 1, 2011 I was called into a director’s office and was told my position had been eliminated. Although I was a bit shocked at the sudden layoff, I was actually pretty thrilled at the prospect of starting my own business.

I walked back to my desk, checked my personal email, and sitting in my inbox was an invitation to speak at SXSW 2012. I still wanted to go to the conference, but obviously my company – now my former company – wasn’t going to pay for it.

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Jim shares his thoughts on the trends from SXSW 2013.

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“The New Serendipity”

By: Unknown; Overheard in a group of people
Takeaway: Put yourself in a position to succeed
According to Wikipedia, the word serendipity means a “happy accident” or “pleasant surprise”; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful while not specifically searching for it.

Trying to describe what goes on at the SXSW Interactive conference can be difficult, and so can choosing a single trend that emerged from it. In past years, major launches from Twitter (Microblogging) and Foursquare (Geolocation), made it easier to define a bigger trend in new media.

So whether the person I overheard talking about the term was referencing the panel with Kevin Rose called The New Serendipity, or just the overall trend of it, as referred to in the Wall Street Journal (Serendipity Is the New Synergy), I think we’re on to something.

Because our digital world is so fractured, there isn’t one trend or company or way of doing things that is right. Rather, our lives both inside and outside of work are made up of hard work, luck, and chance encounters. Pay attention, then put yourself in the right places at the right times for serendipity to happen.

Let’s explore some quotes from panels I attended to see what else emerges.

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