A rather unfortunate incident turned into a source of entertainment for me today…

The unfortunate incident was that my old desktop computer, which I set up in 2006 and used pretty much every day since, finally gave up the ghost. Therefore, I spent most of this weekend setting up a new desktop system (a Shuttle SX38P2 Pro with an Intel E8400 processor overclocked to 3.4GHz/1600MHz FSB, if you’re curious.)

While setting up my new desktop, I decided it was probably time to “clean house” a bit and go through all my old documents. I spent a few hours weeding out over 50GB (!) of no-longer-needed files. While digging through archives of documents I had saved, I came across a gem: A PDF report from the National Association of Realtors, which is dated November 28, 2005. (more…)

We’ve all heard it in the news. “RECESSION!” scream the headlines. These headlines and news articles about upcoming recessions are designed to induce fear. However, instead of worrying about getting laid off, losing your house, or any of the other scenarios that the media loves to portray, I’d like you to consider this: What if the upcoming recession is an opportunity for you to make more money than you are now — and be happier to boot? (more…)

I think it started with my recent post about business cards, actually. But I really noticed it when I logged in to my LinkedIn account recently.

Encouraged by Seth, I am slowly getting into the habit of typing all the names and email addresses of people I meet at conferences into LinkedIn. After going to BarCampBank SF last weekend, I logged into LinkedIn, and there was my current job description: “Temporarily retired” at “my house.” For the first time, it wasn’t tongue-in-cheek humorous anymore. It actually made me cringe. (more…)

It’s interesting how a single sentence in a conversation can completely change your perspective.

After I sold Simpli Hosting, I realized I needed new business cards. I had just redesigned erica.biz, so I did a quick mockup business card (below) and ran with it. I then got wrapped up in blogging and finishing up everything at Simpli, and I forgot about getting “actual” business cards. My temporary cards and I arrived at South by Southwest, where I bumped into Robert Scoble.

I know famous bloggers like Robert Scoble aren’t supposed to even be approachable, but I found Robert to be open and friendly. He was happy to give advice on my upcoming projects, but the most valuable piece of advice he gave me had nothing to do with my personal projects. One sentence that Robert said completely changed the way I thought about business cards. After you see how it changed my perspective, perhaps you’ll consider changing your business cards as well. It may well be one of the most valuable decisions you will make. (more…)

Recently, I Twittered about my blog’s unique monthly visitors count rising from 2942 visitors in December, 2007 to over 10,000 in February. (My final unique visitors number for February was 10,352.) Several people replied and asked how I accomplished the feat of more than tripling my blog’s visitors in just two short months. This post contains every detail of how I tripled my blog’s traffic in two months, and how you can do the same. (more…)