Most of you know I read Chris Brogan every day. I read everything he writes. If you’re into learning about how business is once again becoming human, and the tools and technology that are making it happen, you should probably read Chris’s blog, as well.
Creating a business wish list for 2010 is a great idea that needs to spread. It’s about that time – the time when entrepreneurs look back over the past year of business, measure success or failure, and plan for the next 365 days.
Hell, why not put it on the blog? Chris has an interesting idea here. Let’s just open up the doors on business! What do we have to be secretive about? It’s a transparent commitment to existing and potential customers, to share your plans. I really dig that approach.
For me, writing it down has always helped. But writing it down and sharing it with you on my blog does more than that. It holds me accountable for my plans and wishes. For me, that’s powerful. I care about what you think.
So here’s my list for Social Business Strategies and my other projects. I’m copying Chris’s format, because it’s that good (you should too).
My Business Plans for 2010
- I’m going to fully redesign NateRiggs.com with the help of my buddy, Jacob Stoops. Jake heads up SEO at my former stomping ground, People To My Site. He’s also a WordPress guru, as you can see by his own blog. My goal is to produce more frequent (and better!) content that helps you start to think about how the social web can become part of your business communications strategy.
- I want my firm, Social Business Strategies, to continue to grow by adding a few more good people and more exciting human business projects. I want to launch a website for the company and then use my blog as leverage to help get it off the ground.
- With Mark Whitman and TeamBuilder Search, I want to work towards really drilling down and developing a process for identifying the profile (personality traits, skills, and abilities) of humans who have natural talents to act as trust agents and operators of social web tools in large organizations. I want to use this process to build corporate communication teams (like what Paula Berg is doing with Southwest Airlines), who use the web to build valuable relationships for brands. Think the crew of the Nebakanezer in the Matrix, but with out all the violence.
- Bryan Fraker and I want to build, promote and facilitate intimate groups of humans, who work together to become masters of social web tools for business. We can see how things are changing and what that means. And if you’re ready to learn, we want to show you the way.
- I want to continue to grow as a speaker – in content, audiences, and reach. I want to meet more of you and hear your success stories. I want to help teach you to break through boundaries and try new ideas and strategies for your business. I want to help you to never fear change.
- I want to work towards sewing the spider web in Columbus, Ohio. What I mean by this is: I want to help lead a movement that brings together Columbus start-ups like Toobla, Innogage, huber+c0., SpeakerSite, BrandThunder, and many more, so that we are all have more leverage and help Columbus get onto the radar as a leading technology city in the U.S. and Canada.
My Business Wish List for 2010
- I want to bring more good people with me. For the past two months, I’ve been playing chess. I’ve been focusing on building more and deeper relationships and, in turn, looking for new, talented people who have fresh ideas and the guts and hustle to make something out of them. Fraker’s one of these people. So is Marie Elizabeth. I want to build a team of people who do more than just work together. I want to build a human business.
- I want to learn more about technology like InDesign and PhotoShop. I want learn more about coding so I can be more self-sufficient with the little things, related to blogging and working on the web.
- I want to invest in better equipment for myself. I want to buy a better mobile device, cameras, and video cameras. I want to build a better system for producing my own content and media. I want to be able to produce content from anywhere in the world with less that 3 clicks.
- I want to continue to build content and research in 2010, that my brother, Nick, and I will use to write our own book on how human communication and behavior has been affected by technology, and what that means to real life communities, organizations, businesses, and cultures. I want this book to come out sometime in the summer of 2011.
- I want to get out there even more. I want to attend as many events as I possibly can, and I want to bring my team with me. I want to find a way to speak at a few of them and share more of my ideas on how to apply social web tools in business.
I think that’s a good start. I’ve learned over the years that it’s way more effective to think about a business plan as if it was written on a whiteboard. We all know that plans are going to flex and bend as we stay agile in the environment around us.
But taking on this exercise has helped me….a lot. (Thank you, Chris!)
You don’t have to own a business to write your own list. What are your plans for 2010? Do you believe in transparency and human business enough to write it down on your blog? Are you willing to keep the idea spreading?
Go.
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