What if gay was straight and straight was gay? My friend showed me this video today and, at first, I was just going to share it on my Facebook, but then I stopped.

This needs to be shared, but I needed to add my own words to it. I should caution: watching this at work is fine unless you mind people seeing you cry. Even a burly man like myself cried.

Bullying is a problem in America. It is a problem around the world. Kids are afraid of being who they are. Constantly, they’re bullied. Daily. Hourly. Minute by minute. As Shane Koyczan said, “the school halls were a battleground.” You never know when the enemy is going to show up; when you’re going to be attacked; when you’re going to be … Destroyed.

I should know. Minute by minute, hourly, daily, weekly, and yearly, I was bullied. For years it went on. For years I was the brunt of the joke. Fat jokes. Jewish jokes. Being in the plays made me gay. “I’d rather die than go on a date with Jacob,” said one girl to a friend of mine. I’d rather die…

I would come home and I’d cry. Every day. If there was an ROI on crying, I’d never work a day in my life. Those years. They were numbing.

You learn how not to feel. You learn that it’s better to be cold than feel that pain. And so I would walk into the fire. I would accept what was said and I stopped crying. I stopped feeling.

Finally, one day, I snapped. What would provoke a short, scrawny little guy to jump onto a 6’2, 250 pound man baffles me so many years later. But he did. His arms wrapped around my throat. I could feel him trying to choke me. And so I took all 250 pounds and I slammed back hard into a locker. I turned and watched as his body crumpled to the floor. I crouched down, made sure he could see my eyes, and I said, “Don’t ever touch me again. Don’t ever talk to me again.”

From that day on, the battleground became a peace zone. No one harassed me. No one teased me. My tear ducts got a break. I got a break. But the lessons I had learned stuck with me. I was cold. Calculated. Calloused.

Bullies want you to hate yourself because they view happiness as relative. They’re afraid of what’s different and because of that fear, they’d rather make you feel bad than try to elevate themselves. They’d rather tear you down than build themselves up.

I remember about a month ago I was presented with a situation that made me tremendously uncomfortable. I reacted poorly. The person talking to me could sense the ignorance I had. While it didn’t cause a problem–to my knowledge–I recognized that had I taken it farther, I would have been in the same regiment as a bully.

Because bullies are cowards. And fear comes from lack of knowledge. Instead of continuing to react about that situation, I educated myself. Was I more comfortable it? I don’t think so. Was I accepting of it? In part. But I understood. And therefore, what fear I had could go away. When fear isn’t in your life, neither is hate.

I recently went through an emotional change in my life. The first response for anyone when that happens is to be afraid. And when you’re afraid, that’s when fights happen. That’s when you start to say things you don’t mean. That’s when you call someone “a bitch” or “ugly” or “fucking useless.” But really, if you meant those things, you would have said them when you weren’t fearful. Fear very easily contributes to anger which very easily contributes to hate. We don’t like to be afraid, so we’re angry at what makes us afraid.

But what if, instead of being afraid of that change, we didn’t allow that first response? What if we didn’t allow ourselves to react so poorly? What if, instead, we simply thought and tried to understand. Wouldn’t that be better?

I walked away from that emotional change in my life fine. Sad, but fine. Isn’t that better than angry?

If those were behaviors that we were taught at a young age–to ask questions, to try to understand, and to gain insight into what the other person is thinking–wouldn’t bullying go away?

Bullies do what they do because they don’t know anything else. They don’t know. So when that gay teenager is being bullied for it, it’s because the bully doesn’t know. Does that make it right? Absolutely not. But it’s their ignorance that is fueling their hate. I pity them. I pity their lack of constitution and self-respect.

It’s okay to have fear. But it’s the cowardice bullies that allow that fear to turn to anger and then hate. I pity them. I pity the most cowardice people I’ve ever met: bullies.

The post Bullies: The Greatest Cowards I’ve Ever Known appeared first on Jay CoDon.

Those were the words that Associate Justice Elena Kagan said on Wednesday when discussing the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. She went on to explain that, “Congress decided to reflect and honor a collective moral judgment and to express moral disapproval of homosexuality.”

I can very easily preach about why anyone who disagrees with marriage equality–and I’m not going to call it gay marriage because marriage is marriage–is a fucking moron. And I’d happily blast you for lacking brain cells and I’d say you belong in a far different time. I’d even say that your marriage is probably a crock of shit and that you’re projecting because you recognize your own weaknesses. But considering I don’t believe in ad hominem attacks (and that I’m trying to be a less angry person), I thought I’d just pose questions.

But first … I want to look at what’s probably going to happen in regard to marriage equality before I pose those questions.

First and foremost, DOMA will be repealed. It is an unconstitutional law that puts into place many unfortunate rules that are simply unnecessary. There really is no way around that and it would take a cataclysmic failure for the Supreme Court–especially with Justice Kennedy leaning toward repeal–to not rule in favor of getting rid of DOMA.

But that was always the easy bill to get rid of. It was simply that no one really wanted to argue for it because the nation wasn’t ready and the Supreme Court could have found some sort of a loophole to say it was okay which would have set a tremendously dangerous precedence.

The tricky part is actually the Tuesday proceedings. In their question, Justices Antonin Scalia (am I the only one who can’t stand hearing this man talk?) and Samuel Alito indicated a more cautious approach to the “gay marriage” debate. They wanted to allow the states to decide, state by state, whether it was allowed.

Naturally, we can expect these two to do anything they can to slow down marriage equality because they are the two most right wing justices on the bench. But some say that it’s actually the more right wing justices that argued for this case to come to the Supreme Court.

For a case to be decided, 5 votes are needed. It’s a simple majority. But for a case to be added to the calendar, only four votes are needed. Therefore, it has been suggsted that the four “Conservative” Justices, Scalia, Alito, Chief Justice Roberts, and Clarence Thomas voted to bring the case over because they knew about the need for Mr. Swing Vote: Justice Anthony Kennedy.

So when on Tuesday, he asked, ”You might address why you think we should take and decide this case,” you have to wonder that the Conservative side of the bench was pleased.

Should the Supreme Court decide this case, it would be the closest thing to sweeping approval of marriage equality across the land. But by bringing this case forward, Justice Kennedy, who is a big State’s Rights activist, is suggesting what the other four also believe: perhaps we should let the states handle this.

Therefore, what I predict is that DOMA will be repealed. But that whether to allow marriage equality will have to be done state by state. While it’s not a full fledged victory, I actually prefer this technique. Consider Roe v. Wade and Brown v. The Board of Education. Both of these were sweeping court cases and the aftermath was disastrous. States are testing just how MUCH they can get away with in regard to limiting abortion. And after finding that “separate, but equal” was unconstitutional, there has been tremendous segregation around the nation through natural demographics.

Because of this, I find the path to marriage equality actually rests in patience and the Democratic process. Young people are, for the most part, accepting of allowing people to love whomever they want. It’s the old people who can’t get past the wiring in their brains. So as they die–and it’s gruesome to write it that way, but how else can I?–we’ll see the percentages of people agreeing with marriage equality increase. And because we’re allowing each state to handle it when they’re ready, we don’t have to worry about backlash.

My Question

Now that I’ve finished with my political discussion, I really do have to ask you a series of questions.

1. How does who someone loves impact your life?
2. Are you nervous that by allowing two men or two women to marry, your marriage becomes worth less?
3. If that is your fear, why would you allow anyone else to determine what the worth of your marriage is?
4. What will you tell your kids when they ask what side of this battle you were on? Will you lie and say you supported it or will you try to fill their minds with vile hatred to perpetuate a deplorable behavior?

My friends … Your marriage is your marriage. No one can tell you what should or should not be done in your marriage. But there is no place for you to try and pass judgement on someone else. Is marriage a religious thing? I’m sorry, but it’s not. You are LEGALLY protected because of your marriage. Therefore, when it became a LEGAL discussion, that supersedes your religion. We must look at what is ethically fair to the nation, not morally fair to one group.

Marriage equality is going to happen. It’s not a question of if, but when. Your hate. Your fear. Your abhorrent behavior. That’s what you’ll be remembered for. When our kids and their kids look at this case in their history books, they’ll see pictures of bigots standing tall with their “God Created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve” posters. And they’ll go, “Wow…These people were dumb.”

Because it’s true. You are on the wrong side of history.

So please allow me to call your animus and raise you to love. Because isn’t THAT what marriage is supposed to be about? Two loving people? Isn’t that really all that matters?

Love.

The post Our Nation is Plagued by Animus appeared first on Jay CoDon.

And then the next realization is that you’re going to forget everything you’ve just thought about.

I’m lying in bed last night, looking at the ceiling because I couldn’t quite fall asleep right away, and I’m thinking. I’m thinking about my weekend, about the girl I’m with, my work, and all of these other wonderful things. Suddenly out of nowhere, a lyric pops into my mind.

So my eyebrow raises and I begin to mouth the words to myself, not wanting to wake the person next to me, and then hear a second line come to me. Now I’m mouthing the two lines, one after another, just trying to get a feel for them. Suddenly a melody pops into my mind. Now I’m trying to hum it without actually humming it because, once again, I don’t want to wake the person next to me.

Before I realize it, I now have an entire first verse, I have a melody in mind, and I realize I’ve written my first electric guitar song. This would definitely make Chris, my friend and probably the guy I’ll start a band with, happy. I’m stoked out of my mind.

And then I arch my back a bit and go, “Oh wow, this bed feels nice.” And, “Oh wow, I am really comfortable next to this person.”

Then it hits me. “Jacob, you’re going to forget this idea…This idea is going to be gone tomorrow morning.”

Now I am stuck with a conundrum. Do I pull away from the cuddle fest (Yeah I said cuddle fest. Got a problem with that?) that is going on and find a way to write the lyrics down? Do I grab my cell phone and hum in to it in the bathroom so I don’t forget it? But nah…This is so comfortable. If I think really hard tomorrow morning, I’ll remember.

Just as I anticipated, the idea is gone. I really tried to remember it, but it’s just not there anymore. Does it suck? Sure, but I’m not too upset about that because something else will come to me as well.

All I need to figure out is how I can try and remember my ideas because who knows, the next idea could be a  million dollar idea and forgetting that would be an awful thing.

Have a great weekend!

The post The Moment You Realize You’re Going to Forget a Great Idea appeared first on Jay CoDon.

Do you cling to your pride and hold on for dear life or do you give up? Do you start over? Do you completely shred what you have and start again?

I suppose the answer is relative, but for the most part, I find the correct answer is to cut your losses and move along. I’ve done it so many times in business.

But what about when you’ve got something that you’ve been working on and you loved where it was going, but then out of nowhere, you despise it?

I’ve been writing a song—I talked about it in this post on apprehension—and I was actually really thrilled with where it was going. I had written two verses, rewritten the chords, had a great chorus, and even had found a bridge. I was having fun, too. So naturally, I want to keep working on it when I can.

I open the song this morning and start to read it. And I’m humming along, secretly playing air guitar under my table, as I go along with what’s on paper.

And then I hit delete.

Gone.

For those couple of seconds, I sat there staring at a totally empty page with only the title in the upper left hand corner.

I couldn’t stand what was there. It didn’t sound fun. It didn’t sound entertaining. I didn’t want to even think about singing that version. It can be an emotional roller coaster when so much of what is written on the paper are actual feelings. It can be exhausting.

So I did what I thought was the best thing and deleted it all. “I’ll start all over,” I told myself.

But after those first few seconds of looking at the clean slate and trying to figure out where to start, some of the lines from the song I had just deleted started to pop up again. Then I said something to a friend that was almost a punch to my own gut. And what I wanted from this song became very apparent.

The theme presented itself to me in such a simple way: There are two different possibilities. And I had realized that having to pick which one I wanted was pointless—I had already made that decision last week.

And suddenly, the song started to write itself. Rather than it being an arduous process of getting my emotions on paper, it was quickly flowing out of me. I know where I wanted this to go. I know what I wanted it to do.

What I realized was that a lot of what I had written worked. It needed tweaking. A word needed to be changed. A sentence needed to be written. And in one instance, an entire four line stanza needed to be removed and freshly written. Despite the need for changes, though, it worked.

Rather than reacting and just shredding the entire thing, I iterated. I modified. I changed. And in the words of my friend, “I fucking love that. Best verse in the song.”

Will I ever be completely happy with what I write? Not likely. That’s the artist’s dilemma. When that happens, though, I just need to iterate and not freak out and hit delete. Command Z might not work next time.

On a separate note: I’ve decided to convert this thing in to a personal blog rather than one where I work with clients. My consulting days are done, at least for now, so I’m just going to use this to get shit off my mind when I am on that lovely roller coaster of emotions.

The post Shred it All or Iterate? appeared first on Jay CoDon.

Even action isn’t very difficult. To do something typically requires that initial passion.

“I want to play guitar!” Then play guitar. Go to the pawnshop, buy a used guitar, and play it.
“I want to write a story!” Then write a story. Grab a piece of paper, a pen, and start writing.
“I want to do…” Then do. Just do it.

Sure, there is always that level of paralysis that requires you to overcome some sort of a fear, but so long as you conquer that, you’re golden.

What’s hard, though, and we’re talking truly hard is rebounding. How do you do something after you have failed?

The famous quote says ,“if you have fallen off the horse, you have to get right back on.”

Quotes are made, though, for reciting purposes. They offer very little guidance. How do you actually get back up on the horse?

That’s … That’s an entirely different discussion and one that is much harder to deal with.

Just looking at events in my own life shows where it would have been so much easier to give up.

I’m young, so in many instances, a guy my age talking about the failing of relationships is a cry for attention. But I don’t think that’s the case when you’ve been married, dealt with the constant social judgments of getting married so young, and then got divorced.

I failed at my marriage. Did my ex-wife fail too? Yes. But the “we had become me” once more and I had no choice but to accept the fact that for my half of the marriage, I had failed. I was knocked clear off my horse.

And I lay on the ground, bloodied, tired, and angry. I was convinced that I was never going to be with someone again. I had failed at my attempt at a serious relationship and rather than do that again—causing pain for both myself and someone else—I’d just keep everyone at an arm’s length.

Was I being reactionary? Sure. But I was convinced. I was angry. And I didn’t want to let anyone get that close again.

Sometimes, though, you’re presented with an opportunity that makes you look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself what you really want. I could run away again, or I could get back on the horse.

I’m on the horse again. Do I know what tomorrow will bring? Hell no. But I am tremendously happy. And for that, getting back on the horse was—is—a great decision. Thanks, K.

But this doesn’t just relate to my personal life. It has to do with my work as well. I have failed more than I have succeeded.

How many blogs did I launch before I finally found one that worked? A dozen? Two?

But then something fantastic happened and I partnered with an incredible writer. We built something great. I put hours into the growth of this business. And had I not prematurely quit—see one reason for the divorce—it would have been even greater. I still had my equity, though, and when that sold, I was presented with a nice sum of money.

I was indestructible. I couldn’t fail. Now that I knew what it was like to have success, I needed to have it again. And so I launched Curave. It had grown out of another idea and after doing a ton of research, I was convinced this was going to be the big one. The nine-digit exit. But I was wrong. I failed miserably.

I didn’t really share with anyone the feeling I had after I realized Curave needed to be shut down. Not even Jay, one of my closest friends and the one I had launched Curave with, knew how I felt.

But I felt like a bloody failure. And it screwed with my psyche. What if I couldn’t make the next project—and we already had another project in the works—a success? While Jay and I trusted each other to make decisions, we both knew that at the end of the day, when that big decision needed to be made, I might have to be the one to make it.

What if I failed at that? Wouldn’t it have been so much easier to just lay on the ground, defeated with the failing of Curave, and not get back up again? My job is great. I make good money. And there is room for growth. Wouldn’t that be enough?

And yet here I am … Curave is gone. But I am committed to this new project. I pushed myself back up and realized that I had no choice. This is who I am.

I haven’t made EVV—you’ll learn what it stands for next month—a success yet. It’s nowhere near a success. But that doesn’t matter.

What matters is that I’m trying again. I’m fighting back. I’m getting knocked on my ass and bouncing back. Because that’s all that matters.

When I’m old and dying, at least I’ll know I was relentless. At least I’ll know that I tried. How many people, with their fear of even trying let alone trying after failing, can say that?

I don’t write this so you can praise me for not giving up. I don’t even care if anyone reads this post. But you know something? I’m not going to give up. I’ll die trying. Because that’s life.

The post Rebounding Back Stronger Than Ever appeared first on Jay CoDon.

It doesn’t matter if it’s a short piece of copy for a social media graphic, or a longer message on 9/11 thanking the heroes who sacrificed over a decade ago, I always feel that slight pang of apprehension. But with anything written, you just push your way through it and write.

That being said, I don’t believe I have ever felt more anxiety than when I decided over the weekend that I wanted to write a song. I had felt a tremendous amount of inspiration and had so much that needed to be said that I felt this overblown need to get it out on paper.

I just didn’t want to do what I typically do and write another short story that I delete a few weeks later. That wasn’t how I wanted to convey these emotions, so I knew that I needed to cross that line of discomfort and create a song.

It wasn’t the first time I had written a song, though.

Leading up to when I got married, I felt I should try and explain what I was feeling through song. So I partnered with my ex-wife’s father and grandfather and the three of us wrote a song. And while at the reception, I pulled out my guitar, the grandfather pulled out his fiddle, and the three of us played and sang her a song. It was sweet, but it wasn’t what I knew I was capable of doing.

I had used the chords and strumming pattern from another song and just changed the words. It made Melissa happy, and that was enough for me, but from a creative standpoint, I was not satisfied.

I wanted a song that I could be proud of—if I didn’t destroy it first. I wanted to finish the song and know that it was entirely my own creation. That the music was my own, the words were my own, and if I ever had the courage to sing, that the melody was my own.

I’ll tell you, though, that making my own version has not been without fears. My notebook has more scratches than it does completed phrases. I spent so much time on the train yesterday writing and then scratching only to write the same thing again.

However, after a marathon session last night with my friend Chris–who I had look at the lyrics because it’s always helpful to have a second set of eyes looking at the words–I think I am well on my way to having a completed song. Sure, I need to write two more verses, and I’ll probably rewrite the chords as well. But I’m farther than I have ever been in my life–even if you talk about the song I wrote for my ex-wife. At the end of the day, THIS is my own song. THIS is a unique piece. THIS is what I had been wanting to do for years, but never had the inspiration.

Now that inspiration–that muse–exists. And I’m going to run with it as fast as I can. And I’m going to write and force my way through the apprehension.

So the next time apprehension kicks in when I decide to sit down and write, all I need to do is look at what I’ve written so far and smile. I wrote words. I wrote music. This song is mine.

Each time better than the last,
Being haunted by my past,
I can feel you pushing through…

The post The Overwhelming Apprehension of Writing a Song appeared first on Jay CoDon.

“Jacob, if you keep going at the pace you’re going, you are going to burn yourself out,” he says to me
“I’m young, Axe [nickname]. I’ll be fine,” I reply, incredulous to his words.

The conversation would continue to go on before I would stop him and pose a question. And I pose this same question to you all.

“Would you sacrifice every night and weekend of the next two years if you knew that you’d have built something that would enable you to live the exact life you wanted to live?”

Think about that objectively. You spend 730 days of your life working on something you are tremendously passionate about, your focus entirely on making that a success, so that at the end of those two years, you are able to afford the things you want and you are able to do the things that matter most. You can buy anything. See the world. Have whatever you want.

Would you sacrifice all of that time for that?

I was convinced that I would. That was all that mattered to me. Working as hard as I possibly could so that I could achieve all the economic success I wanted was what mattered. And that’s not to say that I wanted it so I could have a personal jet or anything like that. But money was—and still is—very important to me.

But what was important? Was it the money or was the money simply a byproduct of the work? Was I actually addicted to the work? But to really understand that, I needed to ask myself that age-old question: Do I work to live or do I live to work?

Many people have accused me of the latter and for some time, I believed the same notion. Every day I would come home from my day job and immediately open the laptop—or not even make it home due to my glorious commute on the train—and begin working on my own projects. I was satisfied with the idea of working for hours and hours, sacrificing anything else for my goal.

Recently, though, I’ve been doing introspective thinking trying to determine what I want out of life. Ironically, it was a conversation with a complete stranger—albeit, one who has since been increasing in importance to me—that made me realize what it is that I wanted in very specific detail.

I’m now ambivalent about the sacrifices I was willing to make. Was my impatience for economic success worth not seeing my friends often, not making music like I had loved for so long, and not pursuing more emotional [read: romantic] relationships? Was I blaming my divorce for my hermit life rather than my blind focus? Or was I afraid?

And so … I go back to that short exchange with the stranger and ponder the words I had said. What did I want from life? Was it just money? Or was it something more?

Money is a tool. It is not the end goal. It cannot be the end goal. Money is a tool that enables people to do the things that matter in this world. I realize now that I don’t want to achieve economic success so that I can buy expensive clothes, fancy cars, and expensive meals—though a nice dinner and a bottle of wine is always nice.

I realize my goals are to put any money that I make to good use. I understand that I can make a difference now, but it’s at the micro level. The Talmud says, “…And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” So I understand that the micro level is great. But I strive for the macro level. Why help only one person if you can help one hundred?

My business partner, Jay, and I talk about luck from time to time. We talk about karma. And what we have agreed upon—at least to an extent—is that luck doesn’t exist. They say that luck comes to good people, but I’d say that it’s not luck. Instead, people want to do things for good people because they like that person.

And so, I propose to those in this world who always lament their lack of luck a very simple theorem.

Stop asking for luck. Instead, do good things. Be a good person. Strive to be the very best person you can be. Remember that your quest for wealth should not come on the backs of others, but instead, with the success of people around you. And remember that when you do good, people will grow to love you. And it is through that love, admiration, and success that your luck will come.

My resolve for success has never been stronger. But I won’t allow that resolve to come at a massive sacrifice to the rest of my life. I will learn balance and I will learn how to prioritize the things [read: people] that matter most to me. Thanks, stranger.

The post Work: What is the Goal for What I Do? appeared first on Jay CoDon.

Despite this, I have spent a considerable amount of time listening to the debates, researching each candidate and trying to determine where I wanted to place my vote when it comes to the President.

In one corner, I’ve got President Obama who hasn’t done enough stimulus to get the economy where it should be; who focused so much on the idea of debt that he led us down a path of austerity; and finally, didn’t act like the bulldog he should have been when it came to dealing with the House of Representatives.

He disappointed me.

And then in the other corner, I’ve got Willard “Mitt” Romney who, well, I can’t really tell you much about him; and that’s not for lack of want. He’s for and against universal health care. First he wants to bomb Iran and then says he doesn’t want war. And finally, he believes that debt is tremendously dangerous.

Yet, when you research the buy outs Bain Capital did, the majority of them were done with debt and then the companies took further debt to pay consulting fees which then bankrupted said companies and, well…We should just let Detroit burn anyway.

He’s truly scared me.

You see, I know who I will be getting when I pull the lever tomorrow morning (or push the button or flip the switch or punch the hole or, well, whatever). I know what type of President Barack Obama will be because I’ve spent four years with him. We all have. And I want everyone to pause for a second and think about where we were four years ago.

The economy was in a tailspin. A true tailspin. It was caused by policies put forth by both Democrat and Republican elected officials. It was easily recognizable and individuals made a killing betting against the things the big banks were causing. But, we were losing tens of thousands of jobs at an alarming rate and soon were in the millions.

Yes, President Obama promised that we’d never go above 8%, but that was during a campaign before he even knew how bad the economy truly was. No one–and that’s leading economists too–knew just how bad the economy was. Suddenly, we’re pushing double digit unemployment and even higher underemployment.

Despite how bad the economy is, though, we’re climbing out. We continue to have great job numbers–I don’t follow percentages–and as long as that continues to happen, we’ll see growth. On top of that, the housing economy is starting to improve. People who were otherwise underwater on their mortgages are seeing the value begin to tick up. It will take time, but we’re heading there.

Ask yourself: are you better off today than you were four years ago?

If the answer is no, ask yourself this: did you lose your job because of a policy that President Obama rolled out or because of actions taken by those we elected in the past?

If the answer is because of President Obama’s policies, then this blog post will mean nothing to you. But, I seriously doubt it’s because of his policies. Sure, you can say that he creates regulations that inhibit businesses or that he passes high taxes which limits hiring. But, let’s think about that argument.

We had record economic growth in the 1990s. This was during a time when taxes were up. President Clinton, a Democrat, helped us realize a surplus. So, obviously taxes weren’t really all that much of an inhibition. Hell, just ask small business owners. Ask them, “Do taxes determine whether you’re going to hire someone?” The answer is “no” more often than not.

And the reason is because only one thing determines whether a business will hire more people and that’s whether that person will turn a profit. So, if an employee costs me $100K a year, if I make more than that, obviously having the employee helps. (This is basic math, obviously).

But, do you know what dictates profit?

Revenue. And we’re approaching a fiscal cliff that, if we jump off, will show American businesses what life is like without the trillion plus investments that the government suddenly isn’t pumping into the economy.

That’s uncertainty. And that is what is causing the economy to grow at a much slower pace. It’s the uncertainty of whether the economy will even be alive in three months. Want to blame someone for that? Go call up Paul Ryan…He helped a lot. Oh, wait…You mean that guy running with Mitt Romney? Ahh…Yes…

Now, I’m not sitting here saying that President Obama is perfect. I’ve got a lot of problems with him.

He took three years to say that he supported gay marriage. Really? Why did it take that long? It’s a basic liberty to love whomever you want and marry whoever you want. OR!!! It’s not a basic liberty, in which case, the government should get the hell out of the marriage business. But, since that’s not going to happen, I’d very much like the government sanctioned segregation to end. Yes, President Obama supports gay marriage now, but I wish he’d been firmer about it sooner. My Mom would too.

He allowed the Justice Department to prosecute marijuana dispensaries where it was otherwise legalized at the state level. This was a waste of money and an infringement on the State’s rights. Whether you believe with the legalization of marijuana or not–I’ve never met an angry pot head, ya know–if a state decides to support it, the Federal government should respect that.

Absolutely, he has a bunch of cronies in Hollywood and that allows for SOPA and bills like that to gain traction in the House and Senate. That totally goes against my belief on the freedom of the Internet and I’ll never support that.

I totally agree that the situation in Syria is getting quite atrocious and we really should be doing more to help. I’m not a foreign policy expert, so I won’t try and pass judgement and say that we should be deploying special forces to liaise with the rebels to see what’s what…Or maybe we are.

But, you know something?

When Captain Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama was taken hostage by Somali pirates, he did not hesitate to deploy Navy Seals to take out the pirates. He gave the word.

When there was a very good, but not definitive, chance that Osama bin Laden was located, he gave the order to go in and take him out.

With Iran trying to build a nuclear bomb, he has pushed forward very severe economic sanctions that are working. Sure, I’d rather support the middle class in Iran because I believe that an active middle class enables for freedom. But, his sanctions are working.

He has been our Commander in Chief for four years now and while he has not been perfect, he has done his job to protect our country. He has stepped up, removed us from two wars and helped us to do some “nation building back home.”

The economy is returning. My Mom is only a few steps away from being able to legally marry whomever she chooses. My brother won’t have to be put into situations like Iraq or Afghanistan–he wants to, I’m secretly happy he won’t have to.

So, when you ask me if I’d rather have this imperfect Commander in Chief who has truly responded to situations with as much gusto as he possibly can or a Commander in Chief who doesn’t even know where he stands on any issue…I have to choose the imperfect, hard working, seasoned Commander in Chief.

Because when push comes to shove, I know what to expect these next four years. I know that I will be more prosperous in four years than I am now under President Obama.

So, tomorrow morning, as I rub the tired out of my eyes and down a cup–or two–of coffee, I will be voting for President Obama. Because, at the end of the day, he knows how to defend our country and will continue to push for a healthier economy. Presidents don’t create jobs; but, they sure as hell can try to create an environment where they can grow. And I believe President Obama can do that these next four years.

The post Why I’ll be Voting for President Obama Tomorrow appeared first on Jay CoDon.

There is a big misconception about social media. People think that it can’t hurt them which is why individuals post pictures of them drinking on Facebook even though employers can check that out. It’s why people act like complete tools on Twitter, wishing basketball players would die because they didn’t sign to the “right” team…Jeremy Lin.

The reality is, social media is a new voice for you and, specifically, your business. And in one move, you can go from having a solid, well respected brand to being perceived as classless.

I don’t think that Celeb Boutique is a bad company–though I’ll admit I don’t shop there very often–but what this tweet demonstrates is the need for responsibility on your social media accounts.

Naturally, CB had an excuse for this mistake (and took the tweet down).

They went on to release a statement on Twitter saying, “We are incredibly sorry for our tweet about Aurora – Our PR is NOT US based and had not checked the reason for the trend, at that time our social media was totally UNAWARE of the situation and simply thought it was another trending topic…”

I don’t think they’re being very upfront–Aurora, Colorado is on all the news stations–but hell, it’s quite possible.

If that’s the case, though, as a company, CB needs to evaluate who they are using for their social media. I have no issue with outsourcing your marketing (I make money off of it, so why would I be against it), but if you’re going to hire a social media manager, make sure that they know the basic rule of researching before tweeting.

In the end, I spent a good twenty or so minutes watching as followers dropped off their list at a pace of ten or twenty every second. From when the tweet first went out to after, they lost over 1,000 followers (there could have been more) and they severely hurt their brand.

The point I’m trying to make is: be responsible on your social media accounts. They are an avenue for you to talk with your followers, but they are also an avenue for you to destroy your brand if you’re not careful. Tread carefully and do your research. When you’re dealing with trending topics, it doesn’t hurt to make one click to see what is trending about it. That is what these outsourced social media managers are paid for, right?

The post How a Tweet Can Really Destroy your Brand appeared first on Jay CoDon.

No? Go away.

But, if you are, then this is directed at you.

If you are a start up founder who raises his chin to content–marketing–and think it is not necessary for you to grow fast, then you are failing already.

Yes, I said it. You’ve failed already.

Sure, you might succeed…You might prove me wrong. You might find success. But, unless you are making such a cataclysmic change to the way things are done–Steve Jobs or Henry Ford or Mark Zuckerberg like changes–then you’ve already failed. They didn’t need content.

But you do.

How did Mint become such a success so quickly? The founder launched a personal blog nine months before he launched Mint. And in those nine months, the team wrote so much content that they were able to get 20,000 subscribers to an email newsletter.

Can you imagine launching your business with 20,000 people who trust you? What if you converted 10% to actual sign ups? 2,000 customers at the launch. What about 25%?

(By the way…He sold Mint three years later for $170 million…Not bad, huh?)

Don’t want to talk about a smaller start up? Okay…Then what about a massive credit card company?

I’m talking about American Express.

If you go to OpenForum.com, you’re going to see a blog that is so seamlessly integrated into the rest of their website. I can also read hundreds of well written, in depth articles that are important to me as a business owner.

How did a credit card company get into the business of content?

I can’t help but look at that and just marvel at the amount of growth that OPEN Forum has had. But, let’s think about it.

They went from 425,000 monthly page views in 2008 to over 10 million monthly page views. According to Jason Rudman, the content strategist for OPEN, 85% of the traffic has come from free sources (social media, SEO, basic sharing, etc).

Now…You might ask yourself why you’d want to do this. Two reasons:

1. Amex became an authority in small business concerns
2. Developed long term relationships with small business owners

At no point was the purpose to force feed their credit card to people. Instead, it was to create so much value that, down the line, the customer would remember that they got help from American Express. And when that customer is trying to decide which business card to open, they know that they should go with American Express.

As a species, humans tend to go with the person who helps the most. I go back to my programmer time and time again without thought because he has helped me. I go to Copyblogger because he has helped me. I’ve also purchased all but one of the software he sells.

And that is the reason that all of these companies–Mint, Copyblogger, American Express, SEOMoz and so many others–work so diligently on their content. They know that if they are considered the authority in their niche that the customer will come back to buy from them.

Yet, so many businesses make the foolish mistake of believing that they don’t need content marketing. They believe that they don’t need to have a blog, create infographics, write whitepapers, distribute ebooks and essentially create content in every shape or form possible.

According to USA Today, companies are leaving blogs. Specifically, 37% of Inc’s 500-fastest growing companies had a blog in 2011 in comparison to 50% in 2010.

Where are they all going?

Facebook or Twitter or the social networks.

How foolish.

And yet, they continue to do it because they are doing content marketing all wrong. They are creating content all wrong. They are trying to advertise their product 24/7.

Effective content marketing requires you NOT to pitch. 

You’re not supposed to talk about yourself when you’re doing content marketing. No one cares about you. All you are doing is creating high quality content that people want to read. It demonstrates that you are the leader.

Being the leader is where you want to be because when you’re there, the rest falls into place.

You can start to create documents specific for lead generation–such as a white paper in exchange for a person’s email. And once you’ve got that the email, trying to sell becomes a whole lot easier. But, email marketing is a discussion for another time.

Before you think about trying to waste money on paid advertising, consider what ways you can create content for free. I can guarantee that the growth you’ll gain from creating high quality content will far outweigh the growth you’ll get from paid advertising if costs are kept constant.

So, when you’re planning how to market, make sure that you’ve got content in mind. And if you don’t…You’re walking straight into failure.

The post If You are Not Creating Content, You’re Failing Already appeared first on Jay CoDon.