On November 13th, 2008 Sirius and XM Radio combined their channel lineup and eliminated what the two companies described as “redundant programming”. Unfortunately, these changes were released with very little communication and no apparent input from the listing audience. Personally, I subscribed to XM for nearly 4 years and switched to Sirius 2 years ago because the programming was significantly better (for my tastes).

When the post-merger programming went live a couple of weeks ago, my wife and I were dumbfounded. We knew nothing of the programming changes yet many of our favorite channels had either disappered or the playlists had been significantly altered without any warning. To say the least, we were appalled at the gross lack of communication by the new Sirius/XM and many others share our sentiments. If you do a Twitter or Google search for “Sirius sucks” you’ll see what happens when a company fails to listen to its customers in this age of socially-connected consumers.

It all boils down to communications. The majority of listeners are upset because the Sirius and XM pre-merger communications emphasized GREATER choice and the “best of both” company’s programming. Yet what we’ve seen is a significant reduction in programming variety because the management team wanted to cut costs. Look, I’m a business owner and I understand the need to lower costs but the method Sirius/XM chose was inappropriate and outright foolish. With stock prices hovering at less than a quarter, now is not the time to be gambling with major changes that could disrupt the user base during an unsteady economy.

My position and motivation is quite simple. Sirius/XM must make a concerted effort to rectify the problem by gathering input from its customers and taking action. Once the votes are tallied, I will send the results along with comments gathered by the listeners in a certified letter to the Sirius/XM board of directors.

You can visit my Sirius/XM listener-feedback site at: http://voiceofthelistener.com

What I began to realize is that my employer of 12 years, RadioShack, was not your typical Fortune 500 firm.

RadioShack, or rather Tandy Corporation, was founded by an unorthodox and rebellious entrepreneur, Charles Tandy. Charles ran his company under a culture that embraced unbridled  entrepreneurialism. In fact, the most decorated veterans of Tandy’s company were those who broke all the rules. This unique culture remained entrenched within the Tandy/RadioShack organization well past Charles’ death in 1978. But when management recognized serious flaws in the company’s strategic plan in early 2004, the less-structured environment that attracted the entrepreneurial spirit began to fade. Within months, outside consulting firms such as McKinsey, Bain, and Accenture were brought in to re-structure the organization and install new management throughout. While this evolution was probably necessary in order to position RadioShack to compete within a new retail landscape, the effect was total alienation to folks like me who had enjoyed the freedom of truly leading our own operation.

What I’ve discovered is I do indeed thrive in less-structured environments. And while I absolutely love the thrill of running my own companies, I now know that I am still fit to work for other firms−even large corporations, provided they offer the type of environment that enables me to thrive.

So how are you wired? Have you discovered the optimal working environment and cultures that bring out your strengths?

Within a day of launching the AdWords campaign, daveonkels.com dropped to page two, then three, then eleven, and ultimately disappering from Google’s organic search results all-together. As you might imagine, I was both perplexed and frustrated. Why would Google essentially punish me for running a paid AdWords campaign on their own network? I did a considerable amount of research and found others who cited similar stories but in their situations when they stopped the AdWords campaigns, their organic listings reappeared within a few days. In my case, daveonkels.com has returned to the organic listings, but on a paltry page eight rather than its original page one listing. Considering inbound links exist from every social network site I utilize such as LinkedIn, Vimeo, Facebook, etc, it’s hard to believe this ranking is even remotely reasonable.

I’m not one to roll over easily, so I quickly launched my personal blog, wrote several in-depth posts, conducted further SEO optimization, and leveraged information from Google’s webmaster tools. Unfortunately, even after working hard to reverse the situation, my ranking has not improved and I’m left wondering what I did to deserve the cold shoulder by Google. I’m confident that the situation will sort itself out eventually but not without leaving me quite jaded towards Google and its ranking methodologies.

Here’s a small rundown:

iGTD, kGTD, Toodledo, Remember the Milk, OmniFocus, Vitalist, Ta-DaList, Nozbe, GTDTracks, Gubb, Jott, Moleskine notebooks

The reality is that each of these applications and tools offer their own unique benefits but for one reason or another, I get tired of using them and move onto something new. The process is rather painful as I have to figure out a way to port over hundreds of tasks and notes into a new system. Needless to say, not the best use of my time. About six months ago I transferred my information into Cultured Code’s Things.app for Mac OS X. The application (even in its beta form) was the easiest and most fluid for entering tasks which is a ‘must-have’ for me. The tagging process helps track down actions by context or project and the recent introduction of a global search function really makes this application resonate with me.

But there’s one catch. This is a desktop application and although I spend most of my day on my Macbook Pro, more often than not, new tasks arrive when I’m away from my desk. If there’s one thing that will destroy your GTD workflow, it’s not being able to capture your tasks as they come up. So what gives me hope that Things will be my ‘permanent’ GTD tool is the Things iPhone application, aptly named Things Touch. My iPhone stays with me virtually night and day so it makes the perfect GTD inbox and enables me to review my tasks anywhere. While there are still times when I fail to capture new tasks, I can honestly say it’s no longer the fault of my collection tools. Instead, this is simply a lack a discipline that I seek to improve every day.

VIABLE ALTERNATIVE #1 (FREE WI-FI TO IPHONE USERS):

Just yesterday, AT&T announced that it is providing all iPhone users access to free wi-fi service at it’s more than 17,000 US locations. This means that aside from my always-connected iPhone via 3G and :gasp: Edge service, I now have the ability to perform more bandwidth-intense functions at a huge number of AT&T wi-fi hotspots.

• AT&T Information on Free iPhone Wi-Fi Service
• AT&T Wi-Fi Hotspot Locations

VIABLE ALTERNATIVE #2 (FREE WI-FI TO STARBUCKS CUSTOMERS):

A few months ago Starbucks and AT&T announced a partnership whereby Starbucks would kick T-Mobile to the curb and make way for AT&T to install wi-fi in all Starbucks company-owned stores. With this came the benefit that Starbucks would now provide 2-hours of complimentary wi-fi to it’s Starbucks rewards customers. To become a rewards customer and eligible for free wi-fi service, you simply need to purchase a Starbucks gift card and register online. The only catch is you have to keep the card loaded with cash and use it at least once per month. Considering Starbucks is literarily a second home (or second office) for my partners and I while in startup mode, maintaining the rewards requirements is a piece of cake.

• Starbucks Rewards Signup/Details

VIABLE ALTERNATIVE #3 (TETHERING TO AN IPHONE):

Although not officially sanctioned by AT&T nor Apple, the iPhone development community has several software options that enable a user to access the internet on their laptop via an active iPhone connection. The setup process is more involved because it requires jailbreaking your iPhone to enable loading of third-party applications onto your phone. While most of the steps are automated, I would only recommend this option to advanced users. There have been reports of speeds in excess 800kbs using AT&T 3G and obviously a bit faster if your iPhone is connected via wi-fi. If you’re interested in going down this route, check out the following links:

• iPhone Modem (see screenshots below)
• Jailbreaking Guide for Mac Users
• Jailbreaking Guide for PC Users

CONCLUSION:

Even though I will be forced to pay an early termination fee of around $150, this represents just two months of billing and significantly less expensive than riding out the balance of the contract. What other free (or close to free) options do you use, is there anything I missed?

We paid around $150 in fees to get the paperwork rolling for DotVita, LLC (Nectar’s parent) so this sale is not something to shake a fist at. That said, bear in mind that there are several other fees when starting a business (not covered by this offer):

• Each state has an actual filing fee for a corporation or LLC. Fees can range from around $100-$700 depending on the state, type of company, and how quickly you want your paperwork returned
• Expect to pay between $75-$250 per year for a registered agent service if you plan to form your company out of state.
• If forming a company out of state, note that you’ll likely need to obtain a foreign qualification certificate in your home state which for me was a surprising $750 charge in Texas. Do your homework first to find out your expenses.

To obtain the MyCorporation fee-free offer, call 1-888-MYCORP-1 (1-888-692-6771) or visit the website MyCorporation.com and mention code FREE149 to receive the $149 discount.
Source: Duct Tape Marketing Blog

My tenure at RadioShack had surpassed 12 years and I was at my breaking point. I despised much of the management team who flushed any semblance of a positive working environment down the drain when the company fell on hard times. My work schedule was so hectic that I arrived several hours early and stayed several hours late just to read/respond to email and meet with my team who was getting as frustrated as me. My family saw me only briefly each weekend and worse yet, my mind was too focused on the chaos of work to give my loved ones the attention they deserved.

Prior to jumping ship, I crafted what has now become my definitive life goals. It started with several extensive brainstorming sessions to understand my inner passions and skills. I was certain I wanted to venture out on my own but didn’t have a clear direction. My entire career was in the retail/consumer electronics field spread over a half dozen distinct roles with no clear specialty. I didn’t particularly care for the retail industry as a whole but I came to conclusion that the best stepping stone would be to start a consulting practice focused on my core competencies at the time.

And so it happened. I gave notice in early January 2006 and started Identity Mark Consulting, a business that would run successfully for over two years and lay the groundwork for my future entrepreneurial efforts. As with most consultants, I traveled extensively which meant my family time was still pinched but my stress level dropped significantly and I thoroughly enjoyed the freedom and challenges of running my own business.

Throughout my time as a consultant I never lost sight of my ultimate goal of launching a technology startup which leverages the explosive growth of the internet. Early this year I began to map out several different business plans and identify those with the greatest propensity for success. One of these prospects involved a concept that is just now getting the attention of people worldwide - personal branding. I recognized that there are millions of people in the same situation as me…passionate but in the wrong careers, looking for more, and desperately need to reinvent (or reposition) themselves to achieve their goals. This personal branding idea grew into what we now call Nectar and I couldn’t be more proud.

In retrospect I can honestly say that developing a written set of goals was life-changing. I can’t imagine ever returning to my previous lifestyle and I’m thankful that I was blessed with the wisdom to capture my dreams and hold true to them. My advice to anyone stuck in a career path that doesn’t feel right, or worse yet, one that is highly detrimental to your health and well-being, is to make time to get a plan together. This isn’t a quick process (nor should it be) but with a plan of attack the odds become heavily stacked in your favor. I have two close friends who have followed this approach and they’ve turned their lives around in ways never imagined.

Personally, I’ve not used LinkedIn as extensively as I have in the past because of my growing interest in Facebook.  For me, Facebook has been a much more intimate affair and effective means of communicating while LinkedIn has always seemed a bit cold and distant. Sure, I have my 500+ contacts but aside from an occasional update, I don’t interact with these folks through LinkedIn.  My hope is with the new LinkedIn applications functionality I will gain benefits that cannot be obtained through Facebook and therefore increase LinkedIn’s relevance for me.

So it is without further adeu that I present you with the new daveonkels.com site running on the latest stable version of WordPress. I opted to start with a premium theme rather than take the time to rebuild a free version to my liking. I heavily modified this theme to help ensure consistent blog posts and minimize my workload. For those of you interested, I’ve detailed the inner workings of the site below. And for everyone else, I just hope you enjoy the design and find value in my forthcoming posts.

Cheers.

Technical Details of DaveOnkels.com:

• Launched with WP 2.63
• Using WooThemes Ambience Base Template (heavily modified)
• Running on MediaLayer Litespeed Server (highly recommended for WP installs)
• Automatic Front Page Image Cropping Using TimThumb PHP Code
• Automatic iPic Watermark on Home Page When Using iPhone Photos (self-coded)
• Lightbox Thumbnail Viewing Using Lightbox 2 Plugin
• Lifestream Summary Using David Cramer’s Lifestream Plugin
• WP Super Cache to Minimize Server Load
• Gravatars Integrated into the Comments Section

Many thanks to Aaron Harp, my PHP and scripting mentor who helped get this site functioning.