Thank you! AKA thanks, tks or thankyou!!!!

Today, I received my 100th blog comment and two emails from various people thanking me for my help and gosh darn it feels good! What can I say, “I like to help!”

In retrospect, I think I only thanked two people today who helped me… Should have been more!!!!

So a big thanks to all of you who take the time to not only read my infrequent blogging, but a special appreciation to readers who take the time to comment, ask questions or even challenge my point of view!

I’m here to help, so please don’t be a stranger and drop me a line anytime!

How can I help you?

I may not be an IT specialist, but if you are like me and happen to be remotely good with a computer these days, you quasi de facto become tech support for your parents, siblings, friends and co-workers.

So this post is for all you UNPAID tech support geeks… you know who you are! Feel free to post your best questions in the comments below as I feel your pain.

3.  I don’t know what I clicked but now my screen is sideways and my neck is getting sore?

This one came from my Dad! I couldn’t stop laughing after I walked him though rotating his desktop under his display properties. I love you Dad… but holy cow!

2.  I think I have a virus? I WASN’T looking at those sex websites or anything so I don’t understand how I got it.

Ummm, I will protect the more than one not so innocent people by not naming names, but  too many people apparently don’t have a teenager they can blame.  Two words for you folks -Antivirus Software!!!

1. My computer is sooooo slow and its only a year old?

When asked if they change the oil on the car…yep of course. When is the last time you cleaned up your computer?  (Shaking their head….) If you think that a registry is where you go to select presents for a wedding and defrag is a war term, please, please go buy System Mechanic!

I will post more if they come to me, but I’m sure there are few stories out there that put mine to shame.

The idea of writing a book called Is Customer Service Dead, came to me a few years back when I was completing a chapter in my first book entitled, ‘Bend Over & Apologize.’ In that chapter, amongst other things, I recounted a bad experience with a pair of Hush Puppy dress shoes that ended with me couriering my dirty footwear directly to the CEO of Hush Puppies, Inc. My customer service is dead story ended with me being a semi-satisfied Hush Puppy owner, but I know my story literally pales in comparison to the hundreds of thousands of personal stories, both good & bad just screaming to be collected into a book.

Let’s face it, we have all personally experienced, or at the very least, heard way too many gut wrenching customer service horror stories that usually end up fading away, and over time are forgotten. Even worse, there are great customer service stories that never get told, and that is a true shame! 

Not anymore…  

There are several ways I will be collecting people’s stories for Is Customer Service Dead: 

(A)   People can comment on this blog post. If you or someone you know has a story to tell just click the comment button below and spill your guts. Make sure your email is valid, as if your story is selected for inclusion in the book, I will need to get in touch with you.

(B)   Soon people will be able to  comment on www.IsCustomerServiceDead.net (June 2009)

(C)  You or anyone can email your story to leeraito@gmail.com 

There has to be some pretty crazy stories out there, and we are all dying to hear them. Even if you just want to answer the question, “Is Customer Service Dead?” I look forward to your response!

Change like many other things can only be percieved in three ways; bad, neutral or good! But everyone, including myself, seems to often focus in and allow the end emotional result to take over!

Today, I allowed myself to focus on the end emotion as opposed to controlling the end emotion by zeroing in my attention on how I was perceiving the changes!

Maybe you do the same sometimes. Let my mistake the last couple of days be your personal reminder to focus more on how you percieve change.

What we perceive we tend to believe…

If we focus our attention on the good, even if we can only find a sliver of positivity in the change we are experiencing, then we control an exponential amount of the resulting emotion.

Perception is reality!

Do we trust the medical doctors, the naturopathic doctors, the FDA or do we trust people like Jenny Thompson who is neither? 

It  makes you wonder who you can REALLY trust as an information source on the internet these days. I don’t normally post information like this but felt compelled to see what other people think. I’m not vouching PRO or CON the speaker, but below is the video. I would also suggest you look at this article that claims the video is a mixture of accurate and inaccurate information. http://www.snopes.com/medical/drugs/gardasil.asp

What do you think?

Mahatma Gandhi was quoted as saying, “Be the change you want to see in the world!”

I agree and don’t know too many people that would dispute Gandhi. This quote has been an inspiration to me, but for some reason, has always seemed incomplete… So my deepest apologies to Gandhi but I changed it!

“To be the change you want to see in the world you must constantly be changing!”~ Lee Raito

Change is the one constant we can all count on. Whether it’s changing to an iPhone, changing your income, or changing your lifestyle…

YOU just have to decide to change and go for it.

Mahatma Gandhi would have loved the iPhone!!!

by David Weatherford http://www.davidlweatherford.com/

Have you ever watched kids on a merry-go-round,
or listened to rain slapping the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly’s erratic flight,
or gazed at the sun fading into the night?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Do you run through each day on the fly,
when you ask “How are you?”, do you hear the reply?

When the day is done, do you lie in your bed,
with the next hundred chores running through your head?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

Ever told your child, we’ll do it tomorrow,
and in your haste, not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch, let a friendship die,
’cause you never had time to call and say hi?

You better slow down, don’t dance so fast,
time is short, the music won’t last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere,
you miss half the fun of getting there.

When you worry and hurry through your day,
it’s like an unopened gift thrown away.

Life isn’t a race, so take it slower,
hear the music before your song is over.

I was introduced to this poem by author Timothy Ferriss and I felt compelled to share its profoundness with you. I hope that it affects you positively as it has me ( If so, please pass it on). Thank you to David Weatherford for not only writing Slow Dance, but as well for granting me permission to post it here.

1. You ‘Secretly’ want to get rid of your computer, and sort of enjoy the fact that some pimple faced hacker genius teenager on the other side of the world can use your PC while you sleep to send millions of spam emails.
2. You have a crush on the technician at the computer shop and you feel the monthly $29.95 Virus Removal charge is more economical than the online dating site eHarmony! Oops… another Trojan horse!
3. You’re broke or just plain too cheap. (Guess nobody told you basic AVG was free!!!)
4. Your Mom works for Norton.
5. Last, but not least, you’re a Hacker and think it would just be DUMB to use anything that is legit.

For everyone else…

Part 2- Traditional Blogs Are Dying- Long Run Projection Rates

Part 3- Traditional Blogs Are Dying- The Problems

Section 4: How To Stay Ahead of the Curve and Profit

The internet is still in its infancy, and although blogging is here to stay it will get progressively more difficult to stand out in the crowd with a traditional blog.  New and existing bloggers will not only have to innovate to stay ahead of the curve, they will have to adapt daily to the new technologies being created at the speed of light. This last and final section of ‘Traditional Blogs Are Dying’ will focus on:

• What web properties to keep a close eye on to stay ahead of the curve.
• How Multi Media Blogging & Social Networking is no longer an option, but a bare minimum.
• Utilizing Micro blogging & the next wave of Micro Video Blogging
• Profiting from the death of traditional text blogs

Web Properties You Need To Watch to Stay Ahead of the Curve

There are a select few websites that continuously stay on top of technology affecting the new blogosphere. It is imperative that you stay tuned to what these sites are not only writing about, but implementing on their own multi-media blogs and micro-blogging accounts.

If you take a little time each day to say abreast of these sites, and jump on top of implementing new technologies first, you will stay ahead of 99% of traditional blogs.

As you will see the new wave of multi-media blogs are seamlessly integrating audio, video, micro blogging and social networking.

http://www.mashable.com/  (All That’s New On The Web) This is ‘THE’ site to stay on top of social networking and new start-ups. Visit Mashable Daily or signup for daily updates, and you will stay ahead of the curve.

This will help you stay on top of Wordpress, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and more…

http://lifehacker.com/ Life Hacker Blog is a great site to watch for new tips & downloads available across the web, of which many are mutli-media related.

http://scobleizer.com/ Pay attention to what Robert Scoble not only blogs about, but how he seamlessly integrates audio, video and micro blogging into his WordPress Blog.

Some Additional Sites You Should Watch

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/ Google’s Official Blog is a necessity to watch, as whenever they release new products or update features, you want to be in the know.

How Multi Media Blogging & Social Networking Are Becoming The Bare Minimum Standard

As of today, many will disagree with this Quasi-White Paper and that is to be expected. Staying ahead of the curve has always meant doing things differently than the masses.

Just think of how you consume information today, as compared to just a decade ago. Google has been around really just over ten years now, and as video technology has vastly improved in the last few years, it is quickly becoming the preferred medium online. Just look at the popularity of YouTube and other video sites. This reality is why many bloggers are choosing to innovate with audio & video to set themselves apart from traditional bloggers.

It is now easy to include Video and or audio on most major blogging platforms online; Blogger, WordPress & Live Journal just to name a few.

Here are a few links for various blogging platforms that make adding multimedia easy:

Blogger: http://help.blogger.com/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=67428

WordPress: http://en.blog.wordpress.com/2007/02/05/4-new-ways-to-embed-video/

LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/support/faqbrowse.bml?faqid=268

While video blogging has been around for many years already, many bloggers and companies have shyed away from the technology for various reasons; technology confusion, personal disclosure & implementation in the past have been to blame. It is now easier than ever to implement the technology, and internet users expectation of a more personal internet experience require content providers to bare their faces and voices to the masses. It is this expectation that will cause countless traditional blogs to die over the coming years. Those blogs that fail to recognize the paradigm shift to multi-media will fade into the obscure grave of millions of traditional text blogs. 

Here are a few recommended resources for video & audio (podcast) blogging:

Video Blogging by Jay Dedman

Podcasting Bible by Mitch Ratcliffe & Steve Mack

Utilizing Micro Blogging & The New Micro Video Blogging

Micro Blogging

http://twitter.com/guykawasaki Guy Kawaski has over 68,000+ people following him on the micro-blogging service Twitter. He drives millions of clicks to his traditional blog (http://www.guykawaski.com/) and anything else online he is promoting, by simply making very short micro blogging posts which are immediately seen by his interested readers.

A micro blogging post is limited to the same amount of characters that a text message on a cell phone, which is approximately 144 characters.

e.g. Guys inputs a short message online or over his cell phone, and it becomes immediately available to his followers.

Not only is Twitter micro-blogging, it is also direct communication with readers. For example I sent Guy Kawaski a question on Twitter, and with in less than 40 minutes he had responded with his answer.

Twitter is at the forefront of the micro-blogging world, and some very famous traditional bloggers have chosen to move away from the old style blog and focus on micro-blogging instead. One such example is Jason Calacanis http://twitter.com/jasoncalacanis.%20Jason’s%2040,000+ followers watch his every move and communicate with him in real time.

Twitter provides an amazing direct connection with readers that just doesn’t exist with the commenting systems on traditional blogs today (it’s coming though). It is this speed and connectivity that readers and internet users are flocking to. Bloggers today, who want to stay ahead of the curve, must integrate micro-blogging into their process.

Micro Video Blogging is Ahead of the Curve

There are two services that you will want to not only keep your eye on, but as well jump into and integrate into your process.

 http://www.seesmic.com/  is a video micro blogging service.

Seesmic brings conversation alive through video. It allows you to see and hear people share their experiences straight from their webcams.

People record a video directly on Seesmic’s website, or upload an existing video straight from their computer, or link to a video posted on a social network, then viewers respond by recording a micro video of their own.

Micro Video Blogging again can be stand alone for some, or if tightly integrated with you main site, Twitter and social networking accounts, will set you apart from the crowd and connect with readers and users in away that just is not possible with a traditional text blog.

http://12seconds.tv/ is another Micro Video Blogging service that is currently in Alpha. Keep an eye on this one, and request an invitation to join as they are not open to the public as of today.

Profiting From The Death of Traditional Blogs

The end goal was to show you or your company how to stay ahead of the curve and profit as the blogosphere makes a fundamental shift from traditional text blogging, to integrated multi-media & micro blogging. The fact is that a large majority of existing and new bloggers simply won’t make the shift. They will keep toiling away at writing great text only content, that as each day passes will get drowned out by the billions of other blog posts that go unnoticed.

So simply by adding multi-media, micro-blogging and micro-video blogging to a traditional blog, will one profit from the death of traditional blogs?

YES, you will ABSOLUTELY stand out amongst the crowd of traditional text blogs, and that alone is the first step to profiting from the death of traditional blogging. In the end, gaining more readers and more viewers, will translate into advertising sales, direct sales, affiliate sales or however you choose to monetize your site.