The Marketing Technology Blog

On a daily basis I get at least one ribbing about my blog. I don’t take offense. I think to myself, “it’s a blogger thing, you wouldn’t understand”.

The truth is that I have greater respect for bloggers than I do non-bloggers. (Please notice I said ‘greater’ respect. I didn’t say that I don’t have respect for non-bloggers.)

There are a number of reasons:

Bloggers share knowledge freely.
Bloggers challenge conventional thinking.
Bloggers seek knowledge.
Bloggers are courageous, opening themselves to great and rapid criticism.
Bloggers connect people in need with those that have the solution.
Bloggers aggressively pursue the truth.
Bloggers care about their audience.

So, you can laugh at me and laugh at my blog. I love my marketing and technology career and I love blogging about everything that I’ve learned. I have an unquenchable search for knowledge and love when I find or pass on that little tidbit of information that solves someone’s problem.

I am concerned with people that don’t love their craft. As soon as 5PM hits, these folks simply tune out, turn off and go home. The world is changing around them, competition is catching up, new technologies are being opened to the world but they’re not interested. They go home as if they were digging a hole in the ground and someone took their shovel. How can you turn off curiosity and creativity like a light switch?

Management, leadership, development, graphics, user interface design, usability, marketing - these are all careers that require learning to build success. If you’re not passionate about your craft or your industry, you don’t have a career - you just have a job. I don’t want to work with people that have a job. I want to work with people that want to change the world.

I’ve noticed that leaders who love to lead also lead in their Church, their home, and their family. Developers who love their craft develop solutions in their spare time. Graphic artists build fantastic websites and do freelance work. User Interface designers are trying out applications and reading the latest publications. Usability experts are constantly reading and observing the latest scientific findings. Marketers are often helping their friends with their businesses. It’s not a job for any of these people, it’s their love and their life.

That’s not to say that it takes away from family or happiness. These folks have everything they want and they are happy with their lives. As I read blogs, I can see passion that these bloggers put into their craft and I respect them. I may disagree! But I respect them.

Today I received a note from Mark Cuban in response to a comment I put on his blog. It was brief - a solid retort on the comment that I posted on his site. I hate to love this guy, but I can’t take my eyes off of his posts. He’s aggressive, blunt, and I probably disagree with everything he says. But I love his passion and I think it would be incredible to work with someone like that.

Okay, enough philosophy… let’s end this on a happy note. If I were to design a t-shirt, this is what it would look like: