Category Archives: Education

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Inbound Marketing Certification Journey

Notes from HubSpot Video Class 1: Why Inbound?

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inbound marketing certification journey hiking
HubSpot’s Inbound Marketing Certification Course remains one of my favorite learning marketing resources. I remember the joy (and relief) after taking the test and earning the inbound marketing certification. Back then, it was a scrappy, privately held startup taking on the marketing world. Now, Hubspot’s a thriving public company.

The marketing world changes constantly. To HubSpot’s credit, its HubSpot Academy continuously updates its inbound marketing certification course (and other courses open to the public).

It’s time to refresh my certification. Over the course of the next several weeks, here’s what to expect from the next several blog posts as I prepare for the certification exam:

  • Open Sharing. I’ll publish my study notes on this blog as I review each video in the twelve (12) classes.
  • Detail. My notes will be very detailed. Many of the slides in the video classes state the learning or take-home-message perfectly. If I think that’s the best way to state the learning, I’ll record the learning in my notes verbatim from the respective slide.
  • Context. I’ll provide my context whenever it  may help us better understand the inbound marketing and sales concept(s).

(more…)

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Unemployed Attorneys Should Build Online Platforms Not Sue Their Law Schools

Content marketing strategy and tactics for lawyers and law school graduates seeking jobs

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Lawyer Shingle

Photo Credit: by Wesley Fryer via flickr

 

Sara Randazzo, a Wall Street Journal reporter, published this article, Jobless Graduates Who Sued Law Schools Find Little Success in Court.

She shares how Law School Class of 2011 and 2012 J.D.’s from New York Law School, Florida Coastal School of Law, Hofstra Law, Cooley Law School, IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, DePaul University College of Law, Widener University School of Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, and others filed class action lawsuits against their their alma maters for consumer fraud.

These unhappy graduates claimed their law schools mislead them about their post-graduation employment prospects (direct article quotes):

Disgruntled law-school graduates who filed suits accusing their alma maters of deceiving them about their chances of landing a well-paying job haven’t had much success in court.

More than a dozen class actions were filed in 2011 and 2012, but courts across the country have knocked out the lawsuits one by one, including a recent dismissal in Florida. Only a few remain.

 

I sense this frustration because the jobless recovery is real. Statistical analysis and employment research proves white collar jobs for undergraduates and graduate program students started disappearing in 2002.

There’s Good News. I see opportunity for these unemployed attorneys. I see solo entrepreneurs with legal expertise to offer clients. Here are three (3) online platform ideas so unemployed lawyers as well as practicing ones can land their own clients and market themselves.

 

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For Our Children: Humans Are Underrated By Geoff Colvin

My book review of Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will

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Geoff Colvin Humans Are UnderratedHumans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will by Geoff Colvin is an inspiring book about how and what we can individually do to prepare ourselves and our children for the 21st century workplace revolution happening before our eyes.

White Collar Middle Management Ranks Will Continue Disappearing At An Accelerated Rate. Geoff’s detailed, fact-based research is sobering. Continuous advances in software design, machine learning, and artificial intelligence results in the need for fewer, white collar workers.

Remember, white collar workforces? MBA-types, MD-types, JD-types, aka the left-brain masters of the universe?

Cognitive, analytical work is on an accelerated chopping block. Increasing automation and computing power means replacing humans isn’t isolated to blue collar Americans.

A Phenomenon Extending Beyond Decades-Old Outsourcing. Why? Because machines do old-school, cognitive, and analytical work better than humans. That prowess IS EXACTLY what machines do better.

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Dorie Clark’s Stand Out: THE Career Management Strategy For Thriving 21st Century Careers

Book Review of Stand Out: How To Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following Around It

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Cover of Dorie Clark Stand Out BookSocial Media ReInvention Community Members know I value the teachings of Dorie Clark. Her first book, Reinventing YOU: Define Your Brand. Imagine Your Future., continues its profound influence on my own 21st century career management.

Dorie Clark’s Stand Out Is The Defacto 21st Century Career Management Strategy Manual. Dorie’s latest book, Stand Out: How To Find Your Breakthrough Idea And Build A Following Around It, is exceptional. The practical, accessible, and inspiring paths Dorie describes to becoming an industry thought leader are moving. Her actionable advice, superb writing, and real-world profiles are more relevant than ever in our increasingly robot-, algorithm-, outsource-driven world.

Stand Out IS the powerful and practical, how-to, user’s manual to accompany Seth Godin’s visionary ideas from Tribes and Linchpin. If Tribes and Linchpin are our target destinations, Stand Out maps out accessible paths we can choose to take.  (more…)

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Part 2: Seth Godin’s Professional Freelancer Course

What Do You Provide?

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Teacher with Students

Photo Credit: usembassykyiv

 

I’m publicly taking and publishing the required exercises in Seth Godin’s Professional Freelancer Course on Udemy. The required exercises force you to ask: “Am I Taking This Path for The Right Reasons.”

I completed the Lectures Six through Thirteen this morning. It’s great stuff taught by The Godfather Himself: Mr. Seth Godin.

Seth asked his course participants to go all-in and publish their assignments. As I perform the course exercises, I will continue publishing the results. It’s Seth teaching his students to write down, commit to, and deliver on our personal manifestos.

Here’s my continuing public contribution and commitment to Seth’s class:
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Part 1: Seth Godin’s Professional Freelancer Course

Public Thoughts from Exercise 1: Parts 1 to 3

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Tony Faustino Business Card May 2015 Front Back

 

Yes. It’s a shitty picture. But, perfection isn’t my top priority.

Doing work and art that matters is a higher one.

I’m publicly taking and publishing the required exercises in Seth Godin’s Professional Freelancer Course on Udemy. The required exercises force you to ask: “Am I Taking This Path for The Right Reasons.”

I completed the first five (5) lectures and first exercise this past Saturday morning. It’s great stuff taught by The Godfather Himself: Mr. Seth Godin.

Seth asked his course participants to go all-in and publish their assignments. As I perform the course exercises, I will publish the results. It’s Seth teaching his students to write down, commit to, and deliver on our personal manifestos.

Here’s my public contribution and commitment to Seth’s class:  (more…)

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Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention 02/01/15 to 02/07/15

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Photo Credit: Anton Diaz

 

Sorry I didn’t publish last weekend’s editon. Super Bowl Sunday got a little crazy here. Yes, I’m still questioning Coach Carroll’s goal-line call for a pass play. Ugh.

Here are the Social Media ReInvention Community’s shareworthy links. Enjoy your Sunday Brunch! (more…)

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Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention 01/17/15 to 01/24/15

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Photo Credit: Anton Diaz

 

My  favorite US National Holiday, Super Bowl Sunday, is coming soon! I’m rooting for the Seahawks because I have family in Seattle. I hope my allegiance to the defending champions doesn’t “deflate” the hopes of my Boston-based friends (insert drum rim shot here).

Here are your share-worthy links for the Social Media ReInvention Community. Enjoy your Super Bowl Sunday Brunch! (more…)

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A Public Fan Letter to Marissa Mayer: Keep Fighting. Don’t Give Up.

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Marissa Mayer Yahoo CEO

Photo Credit: TechCrunch

Dear Marissa,

Navy Seals say, “the only easy day was yesterday.”

I can’t imagine what you feel as negative press swirls around you during your CEO tenure at Yahoo!. From an outsider’s perspective, it seems like you’ve been under personal siege since the summer of 2012 when you accepted Yahoo!’s top job. Tomorrow, a well-publicized book will be released about you. I’ve pre-ordered it to review and draw my own conclusions.

But, I don’t have to read the book to conclude how “tearing down Marissa Mayer” exploded into a schadenfreude, spectator sport.

I’m not a Yahoo! stockholder, but I cheer and root for you. Everyday. (more…)

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Sunday Brunch Reads with Social Media ReInvention: Weeks of 09/01/14 and 09/08/14

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Share-worthy and thought-provoking links I thought Social Media ReInvention Community Members would like to read while enjoying Sunday brunch:

1) The Wall Sreet Journal: US Mail Delivers Amazon Groceries in San Francisco. The US Postal Service (USPS) continues to hustle, reinvent, and adapt. They capitalized on their current strategic alliance with Amazon to play in eCommere and enter more profitable services (e.g., package delivery). Remember, when USPS started making Sunday deliveries for Amazon in 2011? The article describes the Amazon-USPS alliance as mutually beneficial:

  • Package deliveries are up 20% over the past 5 years to 3.7 billion packages
  • The 60-day experiment began in August and is limited to the San Francisco area
  • US Postmaster General Patrick R. Donahoe considers Amazon "excellent, excellent customer and an excellent partner."
  • The USPS expands Amazon Fresh's geographic reach
  • Amazon wants to expand beyond the current 12 cities USPS is providing Sunday delivery

2) BloombergBusinessWeek: How to Get Into an Ivy League College—Guaranteed. Can big data and predictive analytics get your child into Harvard? For $600,000, Steven Ma, Founder of Think Tank Learning, claims he can (and provides a money back guarantee). The company generates $18 million annually and serves 10,000 students throughout northern California and China (Beijing and Shenzhen). Northern California Asian American families and wealthy Chinese familes comprise 90% of ThinkTank's clientele. Their website and published content are an excellent case study in digital content marketing strategy and buyer personas. It's a fascinating story especially when American undergraduate programs are under fire for rising expenses and questionable ROI. 

3) LinkedIn Pulse: Club Ed: How Some Colleges Became $41k-a-Year Gyms. Point-of-view from LinkedIn Influencer and Bain & Company's Jeff Denneen on the escalating costs at American universities. The article discusses "the arms race" or "Law of More" for student amenities at competing private schools (e.g., gourmet, organic-ingredient meals, student athletic facilities, enhanced student housing, etc.). Denneen poses the question on the ROI these costs deliver to students upon graduation. Why? Thousands of students from private universities can no longer afford these amenitiies post-graduation because of either A) Unemployment or B) Under-employment (accepting jobs not requiring a college degrees). 

4) MarketingLand: Ford Motor Company Takes A Newsjacking Bite Out Of #Applelive Event. My fave article in this post.This is brilliant, timely, and funny newsjacking. Ford flipped on its head the attributes of the ballyhooed Apple Watch and apply them to their brands in real-time, laugh-out-loud, newsjacking examples. Denny's and Crest also delivered creative #AppleLive newsjacks. 

5) Fortune Magazine: How Google Works. Eric Schmidt (Google's Chairman) and Jonathan Rosenberg (Google's former Head of Product Development and Senior Vice President of Product Management) provide excerpts and thoughts from their upcoming book How Google Works. Key insights shared include why Google's approach to sustaining its growth (systematizing innovation into company culture), identifying talent (hiring the smartest people possible who critically think and continuously adapt versus hiring for specific job position criteria), and nurturing talent (aggressively rotate the most passionate people into different organizations — e.g., "pass the M&Ms and not the raisins."

 

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Tony Faustino is a marketing and corporate strategist.  He writes about how The Internet reinvents marketing strategy for organizations and individuals in his marketing strategy blog, Social Media ReInvention.  Follow his tweets @tonyfaustino or circle him on Google+.