Over the past 15 years, my wife and I have almost exclusively purchased Mac computers. I have loved each of them and they have each given me years of sturdy service. My 2012 15″ iMac is still working just fine for most purposes, it’s just huge and weighs a lot. Installing an SSD drive a few years ago certainly extended its lifespan.

When deciding on a purchase this time I wanted to open my sights a bit wider. I looked at Windows, Linux and Chrome OS based options across a variety of manufacturers. Surprisingly I ultimately decided on purchasing a system running ChromeOS. Here are some of the highlights behind my decision:

• The systems are relatively inexpensive
• Models within my decided price range include touchscreens
• Have easily expandable storage via microSD cards
• They can also run Linux in Chrome OS so I can install applications such as: 
  • Terminal
  • FileZilla
  • GIMP
• By default, they can run both Chrome OS and Android apps. 

Another plus for me is I run a Synology NAS system at home and I can easily connect to it through the built-in “Files” application and the native apps designed for Android. YES!!!

After a good amount of research, I landed on the HP x360. The particular model I purchased runs a CORE i3 processor with 8GB of ram. Which makes for a very snappy Chromebook experience. I paid just over $400 for this computer. While that is on the slightly higher price range for a Chromebook, the specs, beautiful display, snappy keyboard and touchscreen made it well worth the investment. 

I have been able to run a variety of Chrome and Android applications with no real hiccups. Even most of the Linux apps run smoothly on this hardware. The only thing I have been unable to do is run Steam-based games effectively. I was able to install the full Linux based Steam client but my integrated graphics card isn’t able to render any of the games effectively. A little disappointing but not at all surprising. 

Overall I highly recommend this level of Chromebook to people looking for something that just works and will handle 99% of the daily tasks you can throw at it. Sure it’s not the best computer for video editing or playing graphically intensive video games, but you will need to pay a lot more than $400 for a computer of any type that can keep up with those GPU demands. 

I give my Chromebook experience a thumbs up! 

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As a society we tend to look at companies as a sort of unemotional entity and not what they really are which is a collection of individuals, each with their own knowledge, emotions and belief system.

When you look at your personal relationships you may find that you have certain friends for different reasons. Some you may enjoy because they are very eclectic in their interests and knowledge and open your mind to look at your personal truths in a different light. While other friends you may have due to the emotional benefit of the relationship. With these people you share your day-to-day struggles and joys of life. Then there are those who you have a relationship based on a shared value of interest, such as helping children as part of a community organization or simply enjoying the same sport.

The most important thing to take away when looking at these relationships is that each partner gains something from it. Whether it knowledge, emotional support or entertainment. Business relationships are similar although the benefits may vary depending on the need of the individual. Both business and personal relationships canâ€t exist and thrive if the following two truths arenâ€t agreed upon.

1. The relationship will be a partnership with each side receiving a strong benefit from it.
2. Both partners have a similar belief system that allows for them to have a similar vision relative to business and problem solving.

So Iâ€m sure you are now asking how you can find the right company or agency that fits these two criteria. There are several ways, and if you take the time to do them, you are certain to have a strong business relationship.

The first step is to do your homework. It is common for companies looking for an agency for a large project to send out an RFP (Request for Proposal). These are sometimes sent to a specific set of agencies with the core competencies the company is looking, for but other times it is sent to every agency the company can find in hopes of finding one that will work. This spray and pray philosophy isnâ€t guaranteed to get you the best respondents and can lead to a great deal of wasted time for both the company and the contacted agencies.

You should instead research several agencies and see which ones may be a good fit for your business. Donâ€t look at it as removing agencies from your list, look at it as finding the best partner for your needs.

Using your personal network to see if your contemporaries have had good experiences with an agency is one potential approach. Leveraging the web to find agencies is of course a good first step. There are various things you can learn about an agency just by looking at their own marketing efforts.

How they articulate their value proposition. Are they a niche company who specializes in only certain strategies and executions? Are they an SEO or branding agency for example. Are they heavily research focused or creative execution focused?

How large is the company? How many employees and offices do they have? Will your organization be a big fish in a small pond or a small fish in a big pond? Depending on the level of individualized attention you desire this may be a consideration.

Do they specialize in specific industries such as youth culture or healthcare? Not all agencies look to do work for clients across various industries, many only focus on specific niches. Look to see if your brand fits within the agencyâ€s specialization.

What marketing services are you looking for and what does the agency competently offer? If you are looking for an agency partner to assist on a company rebranding initiative then you are probably not going to want to partner with an agency that specializes in direct marketing. It is important to look for samples via case studies to show evidence of their ability to deliver on their stated specialties.

What clients have they worked with in the past? This will generally give you an understanding as to the business types the agency has some experience working in. It also allows you do determine if the types of companies the agency generally work with fit within your company values.

Once you have completed this initial research you should have a good indication as to which agencies you should engage with to learn more. This usually takes the form of an introductory call or meeting with each agency. The goal will be to learn more about the agencyâ€s services, processes and culture. Keep notes on what they tell you about their agency and just as importantly what they ask about your company.

Every agency should be focused on understanding your business problem and finding strategic and creative ways to solve it. That is of course why you should be looking for an agency in the first place. This is not dissimilar to why your company many have strong partnerships with accounting and law firms. At our core we all specialize in different things and therefore need strong partner relationships to meet our business goals. Agencies provide value to their clients and produce revenue for themselves by delivering the best marketing consulting and executions possible.

Pay close attention to the questions they ask about your company and marketing needs. Do the questions really help them to understand your organization and needs, or are they leading questions meant to push you into a tactic without a full understanding of your business problem?

Ask questions about how the agencyâ€s internal processes work and how they match with your organization. If you are large publically traded company and you have very strict processes that an agency must adhere to such as compliance and procurement, a very small boutique agency may not be the best fit. They most likely will not have the resources of knowledge to work through all of the required steps in an efficient manner. After all, no one wants their marketing initiatives to get caught up in procurement for months and end up late to market.

Then there is always the big bad budget question. This question always seems to cause angst on both sides of the table. The client generally feels that if they supply the agency with a budget then the agency will find a way to recommend spending all of it. In other cases the client really doesnâ€t know what a solution would cost and doesnâ€t want to shoot too high or low. On the other side the agency wants to know what the client is wanting to accomplish and how much they are willing to spend in order to achieve that objective. If a prospective client is looking to run an integrated multi-channel advertising campaign and has a budget of $2,000, then the agency is going to either tell the client that their objectives are not possible based on the at budget and may be able to provide an alternative solution. Remember that this should be a strong partnership and if expectations are not openly discussed at this stage it should be a warning sign of things to come.

The advice stated above are of course just guidelines to help you get started in selecting the right agency partner for your company. If you go through this process and make sure you provide the agency with the best information possible they are going to be able to get to the root cause of the business issue and effectively solve the problem. Similarly, if you go to the Doctor with a physical ailment and donâ€t give them a thorough explanation of your problem, what changes youâ€ve felt in your body and where it hurts, you canâ€t expect them to give you a proper diagnosis and you may not recover.

At the end of the day both agencies and companies want strong partnerships that will endure. Not only will the work be superior, both with save significant time in communication and education because they know each other so well.

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Titles in business generally exist in order to label an individual based on their ranking, skill set and/or responsibilities. That being said, I have learned over the years to not take too much stock in titles. I’ve been in meetings with both CEOs and tacticians. Some have impressed me with their passion and knowledge, while others have not.

This is an important lesson for anyone in business. Just because someone has a bigger title than you doesn’t mean they know more, while someone with a lower title may know a lot more than you. Neither situation is inherently good or bad, it just is. When meeting with people, take solace in who you are and what you know. Each individual brings to the table, their own unique experiences and skills. It is only when we are comfortable with each other, that we can effectively collaborate and create amazing things.

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Standard flash drives use the old FAT32 format for storing information. This is just fine for reasonably small files but each file is limited to a maximum four Gigabytes. When dealing in data such as large HD video files that can become a problem. Because of this limitation most external hard drives come in the NTFS format. This file system was created by Microsoft to replace the old FAT32 standard.

When running OS X this is where you can run into problems. By default OS X can connect to and read a drive formatted in NTFS but unfortunately you canâ€t write to these drives.

The good news is there is an easy to use application called NTFS for Mac OS X 11, that solves the problem. Iâ€ve been using the software for over a year and have had no problems with it whatsoever. Whatâ€s even better is that once the software is installed you never have to think about it again. For me it was well worth the $19.95 license.

I highly recommend giving it a look.

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Apple has done an amazing job pulling all of their products together to create a very powerful ecosystem for it’s devices. Not only are the devices great at what they are indented for, they also integrate together incredibly. To put it simply, they just work.

I used to be a big Microsoft user. It’s what I grew up on and and what I truly understood. That began to change with the release of OS X. This new operating system not only matched XP in terms of functionality but was also easier to use and configure. Since then my purchasing of Apple products has steadily increased, to the point where most of my home and work devices are made by Apple. It is only now that I truly understand the real power of the Apple ecosystem. Here is a list of my current devices.

• Macbook Pro 15″
• iPhone 4S
• iPad – 3rd Generation
• Apple TV – 3rd Generation
• Airport Extreme

Here are just a few examples of how my devices integrate through the cloud and allow me to do some pretty amazing stuff right out of the box.

1. I have an 3TB external drive connected to my Airport Extreme. I can connect to it from my MacBook anytime I have wifi connectivity and access all of the files on the drive.
2. While sitting on my couch I can Airplay my screen, photos or videos directly to my HD TV through my iPhone or iPad.
3. I can purchase a song or movie through iTunes and access it through any of my devices.
4. I can use my iPhone and iPad as a remote for my Apple TV.
5. I can control the iTunes library on my laptop from my iPhone or iPad.
6. I can use the Airport Utility on my iPhone to restart or update my Airport Extreme.
7. I can share the screen of my MacBook directly to my HD TV using Airplay without the need for a physical cable.
8. When I take photos using my iPhone they are synced with my photo stream and I can view them automatically on my Apple TV.
9. I have Time Capsule setup for use with the external drive connected to my Airport Extreme. This way, whenever I turn on my computer at home, it automatically executes an incremental backup of my laptop hard drive. I don’t have to do anything manually.
10. Using iCloud I automatically backup my iPhone and iPad directly to the cloud every night. If my device were to ever brick or get lost, I could get a new one and restore directly from iCoud.
11. The Messages application on my MacBook allow me to send txt messages to anyone with an iPhone or apple account. These automatically sync with my iPhone and iPad.
12. The free find iPhone app allows me to see the exact geographic location of all my Apple products registered to my Apple account.

While I’m sure that other manufacturers have many of these features, I enjoy the fact that they all just work seamlessly together. These benefits to me far outweigh a slightly less expensive laptop or faster graphics card. I don’t consider myself as a guy who has drank the Apple kool-aid. I have spent years messing with Microsoft products and various flavors or Linux. I have just hit a point in my life where I want to spend my time using the technology as opposed to continuously configuring it.

Of course this is all just my opinion and I would love to hear yours.

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Once you have completed the online course work, you then move onto pool training and then open water training in either a lake or ocean. Only when you have passed all course requirements and your instructor feels you are prepared, do you receive your certification.

When I had a chance to think about it, this process is not all that different than the way we handle marketing research and planning. We spend a great deal of time educating ourselves in marketing philosophies and trends. We then research our client’s business, industry and competitors. Then, only when we have enough information do we create our plan.

I was lucky enough to have my first post-certificaiton dives off the island of Ambergris Caye in Belize. This is one of the larges natural reefs in the world. On my first dive I was having some problems with my weight. I wasn’t carrying enough to allow me to descend into the water. There were a decent amount of waves which made it a bit more difficult to communicate with the dive master regarding my situation. For a moment I thought to myself, “What am I doing here?”. After a couple of minutes I was able to get more weight added and began my descent.

During my first dive I started to have doubts about my abilities and overall comfort with SCUBA diving. Even though I had passed the entire certification process with flying colors, once being down 45′ in the Caribbean Sea I worried that I had made a mistake.

How many times have we done this once we have launched a campaign? We did our research. We know our strategy is solid. The creatives knocked the execution out of the park. Yet, at that moment, we begin to wonder if we missed something. Did our target move? Do I know what I am doing?

I hadn’t gone through all the time and training to give up now. I forced my mind to calm. I relaxed my breathing and went through my processes to remind myself of safety procedures. I found myself able to relax quite rapidly and begin to enjoy myself. After all, as long as I can breathe, I am fine. By the time the first dive had ended, I had experienced one of the most amazing events of my life. I had swam at the bottom of the ocean (all be it a shallow area) and witnessed a new beautiful world. If I had let my fears and doubts get the best of me, I would not have seen my dream through and been disappointed in myself and the experience.

I have been a part of enough campaigns in my career to know that this same doubt and urge to change course is quite common. It is really important though to remember your preparation and allow your campaign to run and flourish. That doesn’t mean you should stick your head in the sand and ignore your campaign analytics, but don’t make any rash decisions just because you suddenly feel uncomfortable. In the end, if you have done your homework let your knowledge calm your emotions and just breathe.

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If we allow ourselves to stay in this slump it can damage us professionally, personally and psychologically. With the latter ultimately affecting the former. Our lack of motivation at work will ultimately affect our sense of self worth and therefore hinder our ability to be content in our personal lives. It can be a vicious cycle that feeds off of itself and wonâ€t end unless we force it to. The question is how do we get ourselves out of this rut and where do we start?

Here are just a few methods that I personally use and have helped me in the past.

• Work to try and understand why you are unmotivated. Determine if there are specific things that you can change personally that would alter your perceptions and help you to become more engaged and motivated.
• If this overall lack of motivation is more of a short term problem, perhaps you just need to get away from your desk and get a change of scenery. Letting your mind wander while in a new environment can be a very effective way to get our of a slump.
• Read something that inspires you. I have certain blogs that I love to read because they get me excited about changes in my industry and push me to learn more.
• Go to lunch with someone you can relate to. They will help you to look at things from a different perspective which will ultimately make me you stronger thinker. Contrary to political beliefs, it is okay to change your opinions on things.
• You can also look at journaling or speaking with your higher power. This is a great method that can help you get out your true thoughts and emotions without fear of judgment or rejection.

It is important to remember that motivation and passion exist only in our minds. Events and situations donâ€t create our mental state, only the way in which we perceive them. We ultimately control how we feel and respond. This is especially true when it comes to motivation. Only we can determine what makes us tick and how to create that personal well of motivation to pull from when we need it.

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Be Honest
This may sound obvious but you need to tell the client exactly what you mean by “Yes, we can handle your SEO”. Does that mean you will provide an assessment of their current website? Does your assessment include competitive statistics? Will you optimize their current content? Will you create new content? What metrics do you use to determine the appropriate keywords to optimize for?

Tell the truth regarding your organizationâ€s capabilities. If you exaggerate your services and ultimately canâ€t deliver, your relationship and reputation will be damaged.

Be Specific
It is important to be very specific when articulating what they client should expect from you and the project. This includes things such as budget, timeline, client approval processes, change orders, etc. You all need to be on the same page before the project begins to ensure that everyone knows their distinct roles and how they need to deliver on their part of the project.

Educate
Sometimes you will work with a client on a project type they have never had experience with. Perhaps this is the first time they have ever attempted an online retargeting campaign. In order for them to really understand the process, metrics an ROI for this type of campaign you will most likely need to educate them. Talk to them about how the campaigns are run, and show them current industry metrics. This will help to ensure they donâ€t make unrealistic assumptions about the campaignâ€s results.

This is a huge topic and this single post barely scratches the surface. Please share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

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