Madison Who’s Who Blog

Entrepreneurs often face the problem of isolation. Outside the support of a corporate structure and with every hour driven by the imperatives of growing their business, the lone business owner often lacks the benefit of collaboration and brain storming with a network of his peers.

“Independent business owners need the opportunity to discuss their business problems with others who share the same concerns. At the same time, the entrepreneur must be free to go into some detail without a competitor using the information to their advantage. In the past, most business owners were left to their own devices and to bottle up their worries inside. They were unable to talk over daily and long range business difficulties with understanding peers who faced most of the same issues. The internet in general, and blogs in particular, have created that much needed virtual support group.”

An unexpected system of support has emerged with small business blogging.

“As the business bloggers become more familiar with one another through comment, e-mail, Skype, telephone, and live in person discussions, the support network is born. Already, several groups of business bloggers are meeting via Skype conference on a regular basis. The chat isn’t always about business related issues either”(Source)

A client , a small home builder in a relatively rural market, related how one night, venting online at a Contractor’s Forum about unreliable sub-contractors,he received an influx of commiseration and suggestions. Not only able to vent, he and several regional contractors pooled their list of reliable sub-contractors, providing themselves a back-up system and establishing a network of peers resulting in new relationships within the trade.

Blogs, bulletin boards, web conferencing - the tools for collaboration and communication are diverse, affordable and powerful. Take advantage of the bulletin board here at Madison Who’s Who. Whatever your business concerns, be assured that there are peers on board with counsel and experience that you can benefit from.

Who’s who in the land of food blogs? Food blogs you ask? Yes indeed, and you’d be surprised at the repositories of delectable gourmet gastronomical tidbits they offer. In other words, there are some quite brilliant blogs out there bringing you every imaginable palate to savor.

Quite frankly, you might want to visit them just for the photography, such as the luscious images found at nordljus.com.

“Some bloggers are incredibly sophisticated photographers - none more than Keiko, a Japanese-native who now lives in the UK and takes hunger-inspiring snapshots…”

To your right is Keiko’s rendering of plums that accompanies the recipe for Roast Plums with Honey and Yoghurt Ice-cream. One would have to agree that it is a food blog that will have you salivating.

Also included in Debonair’s selections is Chez Pim, described thus:

“San Francisco-based blogger Pim Techamuanvivit is a former Silicon Valley exec whose photos of her dining and traveling experiences made me install a drool protector on my laptop.”

It appears perhaps that salivating will be a re-occurring theme.

And there is David Lebovitz

A professional chef and accomplished cookbook author,David Lebovitz blogs with an informed view and adventurous palate. Based in Paris and biased towards all things confectionary, Lebovitz’s blog is one of the most consistently well-written and well-read.

Enjoy perusing the rest here. It composes another enticing world on the web where taste and aesthetics and sensuality converge in many an artful combination.

Effective global networking has opened wide the world of commerce for millions. But peer to peer networking groups look a little bit different when business is not at stake. Not all network strategies have to do with commerce. Some have to do with freedom and survival.

” We may be tired of hearing about the “revolutionary” blogosphere…The ubiquity of blogs has in some ways blanched the medium of much of its importance.

But in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak personally picks the editors of major newspapers and quickly replaces them for disloyalty, the importance of blogs is hard to miss…Ha’aretz reported this month that “blogs have become one of the most effective means of expression for the Egyptian opposition recently.”

In February a 22 year old Egyptian blogger was imprisoned for 4 years for insulting the clerics and Mubarak. New laws were ratified that increased the list of offenses for which you can be jailed. But what has been noted is that they have not been able to silence the bloggers as thoroughly as they have the legacy news media, and that is when networking becomes all about hope.

“To Americans, perhaps, blogs may not seem exceedingly groundbreaking because our country has taken pains since its inception to protect “the lonely pamphleteer” - that thinker on the local corner disseminating his idea…
Not so in Egypt and most other Middle Eastern countries, where the lonely pamphleteer has historically been quite lonely indeed, often alone in a cold cell. Fifteen years ago, it would have been highly unlikely for the young man I saw in the Internet cafe to share with more than a few people his take on Egyptian politics…”
(source)

You hear about them all the time and you darn well might just be sick of hearing about them all the time but blogs are likely here to stay.

Perhaps if they had remained dormant in their original incarnation as a humble “web log”, they would disappear with all other fads.

But blogs never were a fad. Blogs are a content management system (CMS) with a clumsy name. Because they have always had practical utility, not just a means to air a melancholy writer’s thoughts, they have rightfully progressed in excelling at their function - which is disseminating information to an unlimited amount of people.

Blogs are read by your peer network, potential customers, and these days, employers might be looking for that information as they review your potential hire.

“Employers regularly Google prospective employees to learn more about them. Blogging gives you a way to control what employers see, because Google’s system works in such a way that blogs that are heavily networked with others come up high in Google searches.

And coming up high is good: “People who are more visible and have a reputation and stand for something do better than people who are invisible…”

The writer of the above quote lays out 8 reasons why blogging is a career booster. Below are the bones and you can find the meat of the argument at the Brazen Careerist.

1. Blogging creates a network.
2. Blogging can get you a job.
3. Blogging is great training.
4. Blogging helps you move up quickly.
5. Blogging makes self-employment easier.
6. Blogging provides more opportunities.
7. Blogging could be your big break.
8. Blogging makes the world a better place.

There was a time when lawyers were not legally permitted to advertise and their relationship with the press usually had to be orchestrated through PR agencies. An average attorney had little hope of being quoted by the local press.

Those days however are long gone. Attorney’s have created their own peer network on the internet, creating a legal online presence that gets the notice of the press without a PR agent.

“With blogs and social networks, you, as a lawyer, have every opportunity to make contacts in the press. Plus with user generated content and email taking the formality out of communications, you’re certainly capable of communicating with the press.

You also have a the growing advantage of the press coming to you - to your online community that is. Per Brian Chin, our Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Senior Online Producer, 3.5 percent of the journalists working in the newsrooms of American newspapers now work online full time. “That’s 2,000 out of the 57,000 in the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ 2007 newsroom census.”

Lawyers Online

Lawyers certainly have not been indifferent to social networking online with more and more attorney authored blogs appearing daily. Some attorneys utilize a question and answer format with their readers, providing basic advice and guidelines. Some attorneys blog about past cases, demonstrating various principles of law.

Now an attorney can meet the press head on , interacting on their local journalist’s news blogs, or commenting and linking to a local journalist’s observations on their own blog.

“As a blogging lawyer, get to know those online journalists. When appropriate, blog about their stories and blog posts (yes, like Brian, they have blogs), comment at their blogs, monitor their RSS feeds, drop them an email from time to time. Share story ideas and be a resource to them in your area of expertise. Offer to get together for lunch or coffee. They’re just people too.”
(Source)