I have joined the advisory council for a new Masters in Science program on Digital Innovation in Marketing at Temple University’s Fox School of Business in Philadelphia.
I’m a graduate of Temple but not of the Fox School, so I’m not there as an alumni. Rather, I was asked by Professor Munir Mandviwalla, who is helping to organize the program, to offer some voice from the news media industry, in addition to the intersection of entrepreneurship and technology.
Paypal cofounder, public intellectual and global tech entrepreneurship leader Peter Thiel is thoughtful in his perspective on economic growth. An interview with him was on our last Technical.ly podcast and an even longer conversation he had on a different podcast was even more enlightening.
Continue reading Every entrepreneur should be building a monopoly: Peter Thiel
I just got back from almost two weeks in Greece. I went silly with the history, using wifi before bed to deep dive on the background on places we visited. I also ate as well as ever — don’t get me started on the baked feta.
Above, that’s the Acropolis of Athens seen from Temple of Hephaestus on the ancient Agora in Greece.
There is an entire industry of creative productivity self-help resources. My friend Sean Blanda gave me ‘Manage Your Day-to-Day,’ one in a portfolio of books from 99U, an effort from Behance, the Adobe division where he works.
It was a quick and energizing read. Buy it for $8. As I like to do, I wanted to share a few of the directives I most acted on.
Continue reading Manage Your Day-To-Day: lessons from this 99U book on productivity
Neighborhoods and cities always change. Concerns about gentrification come when that change happens with such speed that those new to a place don’t even realize a community predates them.
After a special performance of 100% Philadelphia, something like an on-stage census map with real-life residents, at FringeArts, I was part of a panel discussing the issues the production brought up. The performance has been organized around the world. In each case, 100 residents of that city were selected to represent the dynamics of that place — race, location, income, politics, etc. Throughout the show, the residents are given prompted questions and move about stage to help give an in-person sense of thoughts on issues, both local and human-wide.
It brought thoughts to mind for me.
Continue reading Gentrification is believing you are ‘Year Zero’: 100% Philadelphia at FringeArts
Following the July 2014 final rules implementation of the Affordable Care Act, my company Technical.ly was impacted more severely than we expected. This is not a political article — I am not opposed to Obamacare — this is a small business owner’s experience.
With just eight full-time team members (excluding, of course, our part-time independent contractors), I am solely responsible for managing our healthcare coverage plan, and while I tried to prepare for what the change might be, I wasn’t ready for our costs to more than double, and, for some plans, almost triple. Here’s what I learned and what we did.
Continue reading Obamacare more than doubled my company’s healthcare costs: here’s what we did
After this op-ed in the Wilmington News Journal about the innovation economy, Delaware entrepreneur leader Jon Brilliant encouraged me to write something in response. I did so here for Technical.ly Delaware and contributed a shorter version that was published in the News Journal here.
Today, any U.S. community preparing for the future is fostering a technology and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Delaware is too.
A recent News Journal op-ed on the matter didn’t take into account much of an organic, nascent community that is building toward a bigger impact. There are efforts in Newark, Lewes, Rehoboth and elsewhere, Wilmington, despite its challenges, already has the foundation of an innovation corridor. MORE
Download an image of the paper version [PDF].
Organizing a regular event for peers and friends as a volunteer has become far more widespread with the power of the web, social media and services like Meetup.com for connecting like-minded professionals. It can be rewarding and relevant for both your personal and professional interests. This is what I’ve learned by doing just that.
Continue reading What I’ve learned about running a regular professional meetup as a hobby
A Technical.ly Philly reader sent a photo our way of SEPTA transit agency maps with a prominent station’s name renamed to reflect a nearby hospital chain, suggesting a possible sponsorship deal. Then our editor Zack Seward reported it out and we shared the item as an interesting possibility — SEPTA appropriately demurred from comment.
Then the name change was actually announced a week later.
Continue reading Linking methodology at legacy media online for competitor scoop: Example
This month I sold my inherited 2000 Toyota Camry LE with 140,900 miles for $1,800 to a stranger I met via craigslist. It wasn’t the best price, but I’m happy with the outcome, and I have little experience with selling high-ticket items online and less knowledge about cars. Here is what I learned in the process.
Continue reading I sold my 2000 Toyota Camry LE for $1,800, here’s what I did right and wrong
