My son Jacob (14) and his pal David Schaeman (15) perform at TEDxAmericanRiviera 11/11/11. Needless to say, I’m very, very proud of this. But don’t take my word for it, listen to these boys play, they are phenomenal.

Sometimes in life, we are just plain wrong. As a fellow TEDster recently said, “I want to correct something i just said. Being wrong does feel like something. It feels like being right.” – Kathryn Schultz from TED2011.

In 2007, my company negotiated an unprecedented marketing agreement with Verizon to sell their FiOS and in turn their technicians in the field would refer Make It Work services to their customers. It seemed like a perfect fit. Everyone was so excited. But…It didn’t work. Why? Because the technicians didn’t really want to refer us. They had little incentive. Management couldn’t require they do so and they didn’t.

So, we invented a radio show and signed a contract with both CBS and ABC/Citadel. We were THE show in LA and SF during our run. We thought this would bring us many new customers. It didn’t. We were wrong, again.

This week we signed a contract with Costco to roll out our services in their stores nationwide, starting with 20 in Southern California. This, will work. I can feel it. Right?

It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been busy with a new baby, a challenging economy and now a divorce. Divorce is difficult, even if you want it to happen. My wife and I have 10 years of memories that I hope to cherish once again when I’m over the pain and challenges of the process, a process I’m sadly already familiar with. My little guy is now one and my older boy is 14. The little one will never know what its like to have both his natural parents at home, and my 14 year old is now a victim of a second divorce. I’m concerned about him right now. His mom and I are good friends, so I’m sure we will keep him going forward as there is plenty of structure and love in the home(s).

As a victim of divorce myself, I try to remain positive every day. I keep myself busy with work (cool things happening there) and with my kids. It’s not easy, but I plan to become a stronger man as a result. It’s taken me 42 years to figure out who I am, and I’m getting closer every day. As a brilliant man once said who built a little coffee empire, “Onward!”

Jackson Greenspan, 6 months

It’s hard to believe that my newborn is not so new anymore. The past 6 months went by faster than any I can ever remember. Jackson keeps getting bigger and the days keep getting shorter.

The older I get, the faster life seems to wiz by. I’m pretty sure I used to pray to be older and for a day to finally end. Now, I just want one more minute or another week or the past 10 years back. Is life moving faster or is this how it works? Let’s face it, with Twitter and Facebook, what was news moments ago has already been forgotten. But I’m not sure that has anything to do with my problem. I’m just getting older and now I’m watching my children grow. It’s their turn now right?

I’d enjoy hearing your perspective in the comments. The question is: Is life moving faster now or does it simply move faster as you age?

October 21, 2010:

Since writing this post, I’ve enjoyed some amazing discussions with people all over the world. Some believe life is simply moving faster due to the rapid growth of technology and information dissemination. Others, simply believe that we’re just more aware of ourselves as we age. I am starting to think this phenomenon is related to first half vs. second. In our first half of life, we worry less about the future, as we have plenty of time. As we move towards the 2nd half (I’m 42), we start to see it as half over and less time ahead. I’m pretty sure this is a major factor. That said, the lesson learned here…slow down. I’m going to try. As I progress I will update this post. If you have any tips, please provide in the comments.

So, I’ve been married, 3x.

My first wife, we were young, it ended. It was hardly enigmatic. No kids. I wish her well.

So, I married again, the mother of my oldest boy Jacob. That ended too, not as smoothly as the first, but we all got through it. We both love Jacob, live less than a mile from one another and share his time wisely.

I’ve been with my current wife for almost 10 years. In April, Jacob’s half-brother Jackson was born.

Today, my wife will pickup my oldest boy Jacob from school. My ex-wife is babysitting Jackson.

Wanna Talk? Chat? Email? Text? Tweet? Message? Post? Comment? We need guidance on how to use these tools properly. While they’ve been designed to make it easier to communicate, many of us find it adding to our stress. The toughest part is choosing which tool, method, medium or device. I say, go for it, use em all…but here’s a few of my ideas on each:

1. Email for conversations where tracking, history and detail is important and if you wish to forward to another and the best sales tool of them all
2. Text for lighter convos, i.e. directions, shout outs, etc., but try to avoid for anything substantive as they often disappear or are hard to search
3. Twitter direct message (DM) is something I avoid for the most part, but some use it to communicate with those that won’t respond otherwise or because they “live” in Twitter  (also good for soliciting)
4. Twitter mention for global thought sharing with no need for response, tracking or quality search (conversation)
5. Facebook post similar to #4 but great for tracking conversations
6. Facebook message (private) is similar to #3
7. Facebook chat is invasive and I turn it off but it’s a good way to access your FB friends instantly, assuming they want you to
8. Chat for quick questions and one on one back and forth where immediate is necessary
9. Phone when emotion or tone is needed, hands are not free or I just feel like it…but I really dislike voicemails
10. FaceTime or Skype in place of phone when applicable and if you did your hair
11. Fax is the best way to solicit sales as we all run to our fax machines when something arrives but this usually an email with an attachment nowadays!
12. Carrier pigeon, snail mail, tin cans and string…life was simpler back then, but not nearly as fun!…I’m on roll here…maybe a TED Talk in the making!

Communication has become more and more complicated. From a customer service perspective, this can be a great asset to your organization or, if improperly managed, a true nightmare. Be careful. If you use any of the above, use them wisely and thoroughly, or simply slim down to the methods that serve you best.

Please provide your additional communication technique in the comments. I will update the blog post as they come in.

We needed an efficient and simple way to explain our various services at Make It Work, so we made this:

Then, our customers asked us to make some for them too.

So we created http://www.handymation.com. Want one?

Make It Work bases all of its decisions around bringing delight. We are known for our impeccable customer service and our willingness to bend over backwards for our customers. What you may not know about us is our desire to delight our employees as well. Delight isn’t just for the customers – it starts with the employee!

A perfect example of sharing delight with our employees is the story of former Make It Work-er Peet Guercio.

In his 18 month run as an Neighborhood Technology Consultant, Peet did big things for us. He quickly rose to be one of Make It Work’s star employees by demonstrating a “solve-anything” level of technical knowledge while delighting and befriending all of the customers he came in contact with. Assisting other techs when they needed help with a particularly tricky problem, and developing a circuit of clients that would ask for him by name on every appointment they scheduled.

Superstar Make It Work tech by day, budding standup comedian by night! Lots of MIW employees and clients went out to see Peet perform and gave nothing but rave reviews. Our policy at Make It Work is “red carpet in, red carpet out”, and that’s exactly what we gave him. So when he gave his two weeks notice in July 2009, there were no hard feelings, because we knew he was off to pursue his passion of standup comedy.

I’ve kept in touch with Peet on a personal level since he left, so when he sent me his new standup video, I was happy to tweet it out and help him get exposure.

Little did I know it would spawn such a huge response. Within one day, his video had gone from 100 to 56,000 views! The pure funniness of Peet’s video speaks for itself and I’m not surprised to see its meteoric rise. The kid’s a phenom! I knew it all along, I tell ya.

Make It Work is proud to have shown Peet a delightful time as an employee and encourages him to follow his passion. Give him a view and a laugh here:

If you laugh (and you will), go follow him on Twitter, friend him on Facebook and check his personal site to see where he’s performing next!

Edited by:  Max Lemos

If he built it they will come, follow via Twitter @mklemos

P.S. The video in this story might have the most Diggs ever (2000 Diggs and counting). Keep an eye on it!

People often ask me why we’ve built an extensive Media division to support our computer repair company, Make It Work. The answer is simple–no one else could offer us what we wanted, so we did it our way. Make It Work (MEDIA) is not just a radio show! It’s a media bomb…which includes:

• a 2-hour terrestrial radio show complete with iTunes podcasts
• massive engagement on Twitter, Facebook and other forms of Web 2.0 (social media),
• a one-click embeddable video series called T3:Today’s Tech Trends,
• a webinar series called Jeremy’s Desktop showcasing certain elements from the radio/video/blog,
• a DIY component called Help Desk to demonstrate how to fix your own problems, from computers to iPods to home theater
• a living, thriving BLOG constantly updated with correlating content, show notes and more,
• a dedicated show website (old skool)

This is exactly what many advertisers are looking for. I know this, I am one. So, we built it for us and now we are sharing it. You in?

Check out http://www.makeitworkradio.com for more info.

And please visit http://www.makeitwork.com if you need help with your technology. (currently serving all of Southern California)