I saw a post on Craigslist today that I’ve seen a few times for the last week or so on my feeds from around the country. Here’s the link:

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/lac/cpg/646621213.html

Anyway, there are numerous red flags in the post, such as:

• looking for a “webmaster” (it’s 2008, not 1998)
• focusing on cheap work
• client has been “burned” (which MAY mean they are a bad client)
• capitalization of “PhP” (could be a fluke, but still)
• no explanation of what “inexpensive” means to them
• general tone is a bit amateurish and naive

I went ahead and sent a quick response where I basically said that it was unreasonable to expect people to respond if they don’t know what your idea of “inexpensive” is, and that you can expect to pay $50 - 60 / hr at a minimum for someone really good.

This lady emails me back and berates me for my “rude” response, tells me that she was considering me for these other projects until now, tells me that she has lots of work and is always being asked to recommend people, etc. Basically that I have blown a huge opportunity by being honest with her. We went back and forth via email a few times, but in general, her position was that my email wasn’t polite enough, which is true. My email was abrupt and not at all polite, but I didn’t go out of my way to be rude to her either. I was simply stating the facts and trying to help out someone who, by her own admission, had been burned multiple times before. I explained to her that my clients pay very fair rates and expect (and get) great work in return. In return I’m very honest with them, rather than telling them what they want to hear. So far, the only jobs this behavior has cost me are the ones I don’t want in the first place. I’m a professional and I want to be hired by professionals, not amateurs who expect to hire a brilliant PHP developer with 5 years experience for $25 / hr.

This individual was also peddling the classic “do this one job for cheap and then there’s lots more high-paying work down the road” scam, for which I have trouble expressing my opinion without resorting to profanity. The bottom line is that this bridge is obviously burned, but I have trouble imagining a situation in which I’d want to cross that river anyway, so I won’t lose any sleep over it.

But it did get me to thinking about her general assertion that I should be more polite or it will cost me business. Now obviously, as professionals, we are required to act professionally and conduct ourselves in an ethical manner, maintain integrity, etc. But the question I have is: does building a strong personal brand mean that you’re not going to anger people, make enemies, etc? Or even more extreme, does it mean that you MUST make people angry, make enemies, etc?

I’m not entirely sure, but I see a lot of people that I admire who have no shortage of detractors and enemies and who are constantly stirring up storms of controversy. However, these people have very strong personal brands, very strong networks, and have experienced a great deal of success. Most importantly, they’ve actually gone out and accomplished something worthwhile. They’re not unprofessional, to the contrary: they’re ultra-professional. They’re not afraid to tell it how it is, regardless of whose feathers they ruffle, who gets upset, who finds it offensive. I think part of this is just the basic reality that disruptive technology, business models, and trends tend to upset those too attached to the status quo or those that feel they’re owed something by the system. When things change faster than they can adapt, they often point the finger of blame at those driving the change, rather than learning to thrive in a dynamic environment.

I think the bottom line for me is that making sure you don’t ruffle anyone’s feathers, make enemies, anger people, or stir up controversy is a good way to build a bland and boring personal brand, and you’re not likely to have a significant impact in your space. Yes, there’s always room for professionalism, integrity, and even a little tact, but the bottom line is that if you want to make an omelette, you have to break a few eggs.

Inspired by my buddy Ben Rasmusen’s attempt, I thought I would also google myself and check out the results. Fortunately, the first result was ryanwaggoner.com. There was one or two other results for profiles of mine around the web, but nothing substantial. I tried “waggoner” but stopped caring after 20 pages. It doesn’t really matter if you’re on page 21 or page 57,567; no one will find you. Guess it’s time to ratchet up my SEO efforts.

Alexis and I were sitting in our apartment on the 10th floor last night. I started feeling like my chair was vibrating or something. It took us both a second to realize what was happening, but the tremors got worse for a second, and then all of a sudden, there was one big shake, and our entire building kind of groaned as the shockwave passed through it.

It freaked me out, but I also find it pretty fascinating. To think that thousands of square miles of land are essentially jostling and bumping into each other is incredible. It’s also pretty amazing to think that a city with millions of people and hundreds of thousands of buildings could just disintegrate into dust if we got a big earthquake. It’s like building a sandcastle on a cookie sheet and then shaking the cookie sheet back and forth violently and watching the sandcastle turn into a pile of sand.

We found out later that it was a 4.2 magnitude that occurred about 20 miles from us. We still love it here.

About once every week or two, I indulge in a guilty pleasure and enjoy a small fries and double cheeseburger from the $1 menu at McDonald’s. I know, I know, it’s horrible for you. That’s why I indulge only once every week or two. Anyway, I was on my way into McDonald’s last night when I was accosted by one of the many homeless who decorate the fair city of San Francisco. They’re everywhere.

I’ve lived in a few decent sized cities, and I’ve traveled enough to see homeless everywhere. But when I moved here, I was stunned by the sheer number of homeless, especially in my area. We live in an area that is popular with tourists, and the homeless are always hanging around to beg from them. Tourists might be the smartest people elsewhere, but they turn into complete idiots as soon as they step off the plane. That’s a topic for another post, though.

Anyway, this particular homeless man gave me a pitiful look and recited his line about needing money for food, something like “Please, sir, I’m trying to get enough money to buy a little food.” As usual, I averted my eyes to avoid him and walked on by. But then something stopped me. Being hungry sucks, and I can easily afford to buy this guy some food. So I turned around, went back, told him that I was heading into McDonald’s, and asked him what he’d like.

He looked me square in the eyes, and said “I was actually trying to get enough to buy a half-pint of vodka.” He then turned and walked away.

When I first moved here, I had a hard time walking past people who have nothing and who are begging for a few pennies to buy some food. I felt something for those people. But after awhile, and after a few encounters like this, it’s hard to not become a little cynical. It’s still sad, and I will still offer to buy food for homeless people from time to time, but my emotion about the situation has largely been removed. Maybe it’s for the best.

So today I was pondering electronic journaling, after being prompted by this post on stevepavlina.com. However, I move between multiple computers all the time and installed software doesn’t seem like a good fit for me. I want something more private than a blog, and preferably with decent search capabilities. That’s when it hit me: Gmail!

Here’s what I did:

1. Setup a new contact with the name “journal” and my email address + journal. Gmail allows you to add keywords to your email address. For example, if your email is sam@gmail.com, you can also receive email at sam+food@gmail.com. In this case, you’ll be receiving your journal entries at sam+journal@gmail.com.
2. Setup a new filter that looks for all messages to sam+journal@gmail.com and then applies the (new) label “journal” and archives the message.

That’s it! Now I simply go into Gmail and compose a new message to journal. I can search these journals with Gmail’s fantastic search capabilities or even apply other labels as well. An added benefit to this system is that I can journal from anything that can send email, such as a handheld, simply by composing my message to sam+journal@gmail.com.

Simple, but effective.

An actual announcement I heard yesterday in English only on Walgreens PA:

“Walgreens is your language-friendly pharmacy. Have your questions
answered and your prescription explained in your language. If no
one at your local Walgreens speaks your preferred language, we’ll
immediately call a licensed Walgreens pharmacist who does.”

1. Excellent Mass Transit Options. I can jump on the subway just a few blocks from my house and be at my friends house in 5 minutes. Yes, I know that driving in smaller cities is just as convenient in some ways. But there’s just nothing like taking the subway. It’s like magic.

2. Parts of the city are still buzzing at 1am. Granted, it’s not NYC, but it’s nice to know that you can find something to do at midnight on pretty much any night of the week.

3. People here are crazy and very entertaining. I watched a woman try to parallel park in a space twice the size of her car today and it seriously took her like 5 minutes. Even after she was all the way in, she kept backing up and pulling forward. There’s always someone on the sidewalk screaming or singing or whatever. And there are street performers and musicians on most of the corners in our area.

4. You know how the best stores in the world always list the cities that they’re in? Like this: “London, Paris, New York, Tokyo, Rome, San Francisco” Enough said. There probably isn’t a clothing store or fashion label that doesn’t have a store within 10 blocks of where I’m sitting. And the stores they have here are the flagship stores, so you get the best selection and the sweetest sales.

5. Companies do the best new test programs here. Things like car-sharing, free wifi, grocery delivery, and 24 mbps internet were made for San Francisco. I haven’t been in a grocery store in months. I pay $10 and the guy from Safeway.com knocks on my door and drops off my $200 of groceries. How can you beat that?

A quick shout-out to anyone who needs an event or wedding planner in the Atlanta area. Erin Stroup, a good friend of mine, has started a fantastic event planning business called It’s All In The Details. Her rates are very affordable and she can make sure your special day goes off without any problems. Check out the website below:

It’s All In The Details

I’ve noticed that I’m addicted to multitasking. I have a very hard time sitting down and watching something without doing anything else. I can’t have just one window open or one tab open in firefox. I feel this compulsive need to carry on 18 things at once, even though it stresses me out sometimes and I probably do each thing less well than I would if I just focused on one thing.

Why is this?

Maybe it’s because of the incredible rate that information is flooding our world. There are billions of blogs to read, videos to watch, discussions to join, friends to talk to, etc, etc. When I’m not doing those things, I feel like I’m missing out. I was missing out before the Internet, but it was such a pain to NOT miss out. Now, it’s only a click away, and if I’m signed on to AIM, these things often come to me!

I need to work harder to be more focused and more respectful of my own need for mental peace and occasional unproductivity.

So my two good friends (Ben and Ben) and I are all players of The Game, which can be referenced below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Game_(game)

Essentially, there are only three rules:

1. Knowledge of The Game is the only thing required to play it.
2. Thinking of The Game causes a player to lose.
3. A losing player must announce the loss.

So I’m trying a little experiment with one Ben where I am systematically trying to associate Adam Phillips, one of his favorite animators, with The Game, therefore causing him to think of The Game when he thinks of Mr. Phillips, which, judging by his blog, is quite often. I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m still devising a strategy for other Ben, who best watch his mental back without thinking about why he’s watching his mental back.

Man, I love The Game.

PS - In case you’re wondering, I lost and then devised this strategy immediately after so this didn’t cost me a loss.