What have you done in the past week to make yourself a better candidate for the jobs that you’re applying for? E-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com and tell me. Seriously. Developing new skills isn’t just about being better qualified for a job–it’s also about showing employers that you’re constantly trying to better yourself and willing to invest time and money to do so. Companies love people who show a desire to grow into new roles. Luckily, there are more and more companies that offer online education with the purpose of actually teaching you applicable skills, not giving you a worthless piece of paper. One of these companies is Treehouse, which is based in Orlando, FL. Their “goal is to teach Web Design, Web Development and iOS, to everyone in the World who wants to learn.”
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These days it seems that just about everyone claims to be an expert on things like social media and SEO, but very few people have a track record that shows a repeated ability to deliver results. Why is that? Because online marketing is really hard. We see stupid things go viral and think that anyone can do it, but we overlook the fact that getting someone to look at something is very different from getting someone to buy something. Pop Labs is an interactive marketing agency in Houston, TX that is known for getting results. I’m not just talking about for their clients either. Pop Labs nearly tripled their revenue between 2007 and 2010, which shows that what they’re doing works for them as well as for their clients.
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Many of the best businesses are built by targeting a smaller niche and then taking the lessons learned from serving that niche to expand into new markets. It’s also how many great careers are built. Metia is a digital marketing agency that got its start serving technology companies exclusively. This put them ahead of the curve and force them to take on digital while most marketing agencies were dragging their collective feet. Now digital is what it’s all about, and Metia has 20 years of industry experience. Not bad. While they’re based in London, they have U.S. offices in Kirkland, WA and New York, NY. This allows them to serve clients like Microsoft, Microsoft, and Microsoft. But seriously, while Microsoft is all over their portfolio, you’ll also see names like Dell, EA, Rough Guides, and SEAT.
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Everybody wants their stuff to go viral on the Internet. The problem is that it’s way easier to do with funny pictures than it is with useful things like articles and products. If you can’t get the natural word of mouth flowing, you need to incentivize (bribe) people to spread the word. I’m sure that you’ve participated in some sort of referral program before (I love Gilt’s program), and hopefully earned some sort of reward. I’ve seen so many companies use referral bonuses to accelerate their growth, and it’s often amazingly effective. Surprisingly, most of these businesses build their own technology for referrals. Why do that when you can pay Chicago, IL based Buzz Referrals to do it for you? They’ve developed a platform that easily plugs into an existing site and creates “referral programs and buzz worthy promotions that drive new customer acquisition and increase engagement.” (Would any of you participate in an ODOJ referral program?)
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I did an interview with The 99% (they have nothing to do with Occupy Wall Street) on job search and entrepreneurship that was published today. Read it, share it, Facebook it, Tweet it.
How can you not love daily deals? Great stuff at a great price. Unfortunately, everybody and their brother thought it was a good idea to knock off Groupon and start a daily deals site. This irritated merchants who were getting pitched incessantly, and it overwhelmed consumers with all of the options. While many of the copycats have died off, one company avoided a similar fate by taking a very different approach to riding the daily deal wave. YipIt is based in New York, NY, and they’re a daily deal aggregator. Every month they gather more than 30,000 deals from more than 800 sites and share them with their audience. They make money through advertising and affiliate fees paid by the daily deal sites, but there’s more to the story.
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I have to admit that I’m feeling a little left out these days. There’s something that I’ve never done that it seems like other Americans are doing a lot of. I’m constantly seeing advertisements for it–on tv, on the web, on billboards, and even on banners pulled behind planes during the summer. I know it’s embarrassing, but I’ve never purchased car insurance. These poor companies have spent so much money trying to reach me, and I haven’t even looked into buying what they’re hawking. But if I was, I might try using CoverHound (if their service was available in Illinois). They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that is building the “technology and brand behind the future of insurance comparison shopping.” Why let commercials about cavemen, a guy with a deep voice, or “doing the right thing” sway you when you can base your decision on real data?
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There’s no doubt that Japanese companies have been and continue to be leaders in the gaming industry. Nintendo, Sega, and Sony are some of the names that you’re most likely to recognize, but it’s very clear that the old guard of gaming is facing stiff competition from upstarts like Zynga and ngmoco that are focusing on mobile and social gaming. While Japan has historically been big on console gaming, they’re not missing out on this trend. GREE is a Japanese that is fervently entering the U.S. market in order to grow a business that generated $1.7 billion in revenue last year. GREE is unique in that their U.S. based branding has been more about hiring than games. They’ve opened a San Francisco, CA office that they’re promoting heavily with billboards, referral bonuses, and even Google AdWords campaigns. They also acquired a company called OpenFeint to speed along the growth.
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Sharing a meal is a great way to get to know people. Eating provides enough of a distraction to cover up awkward pauses that might come up in other settings without completely killing the ability to have a conversation. Yet very rarely do people use eating as a way to meet new people. You either eat alone or you eat with people you already know. Grubwithus is a company that throws a little uncertainty into your dining experiences by pairing you with strangers who have common interests for a tasting menu at a local restaurant. Grubwithus is based out of Venice, CA, and they’ve built a ton of buzz. I know a bunch of people who have already tried it and had good experiences, and I’d totally host a One Day One Job/Internship focused Grubwithus meal in Chicago if there was enough interest (e-mail me at willy@onedayonejob.com).
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On Tuesday I mentioned that I saw Mrs. Doubtfire for the first time in many years. One of the fun things about watching movies and tv shows from your childhood is picking up on all of the things that went over your head when you were a kid. I love it when writers are able to please both the young and the old at the same time. However, it feels like entertainment is getting less and less subtle, which means that it keeps getting harder for parents to monitor what kids are watching. That’s why Common Sense Media, which is based in San Francisco, CA, exists. They’re a non-profit organization that “is dedicated to improving the lives of kids and families by providing the trustworthy information, education, and independent voice they need to thrive in a world of media and technology.”
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There’s a reason that web startups with no semblance of a business plan but heaps of traffic continue to get venture capital funding. Consistently driving high quality traffic to a web property is extremely difficult, and almost all businesses need attention to succeed. Quality content is the cornerstone of driving traffic (that’s why I looked for writers when I was hiring interns), and content generation is not a core competency for most businesses. It is for Brafton. They’re a Boston, MA based “online news and content agency that offers integrated content marketing services.” They don’t brag about who their clients are like some other types of agencies (you can request live client samples), which makes sense since clients typically want people to think the content is coming straight from them.
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Company names usually take one of two directions. They either explain exactly what the company does (i.e. Accuweather), or they tell you absolutely nothing about what the company does (i.e. Benzinga). There’s a third type that sounds totally random but actually has a significant meaning, and those tend to be my favorite. Underground Elephant is one of those names. The company is based in San Diego, CA, and they offer “a complete turnkey solution” for customer acquisition in “a wide range of vertical markets.” How is this relevant to their name? Underground Elephant plays a huge role in their clients’ businesses, yet their participation is essentially invisible to everyone but insiders.
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I have a simple investment strategy: Buy AAPL. I’ve had a few other winners, but Apple is the reason that my portfolio is up over the past 5 years. I’m not much of a trader, so I typically buy a stock and hold it indefinitely. If I took a different approach to investing, I might want to spend time on Benzinga. It’s “an innovative news and analysis service that focuses on global markets” and is intended for developing “actionable trading ideas.” Benzinga has offices in Chicago, IL and Dover, DE, but it’s very clear from their Careers page that everything important happens in the Southfield, MI office… very clear. There’s something about Benzinga’s site that reminds me of a social gaming site, which I guess is appropriate since stock trading is the ultimate social game.
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Want to give AppSumo a try? Be sure to use this link to sign up.
I know that a lot of people are getting sick of daily deal sites, but I’m a huge Groupon fan (maybe because my fiancée works there); however, I must admit that the daily deal e-mail that I’m most excited for every day comes from AppSumo. They’re an Austin, TX based company that offers amazing bargains on software, online courses, and other tools that are extremely useful for entrepreneurs, web professionals, job seekers, and anyone who wants to use technology to a fuller extent. I’ve used AppSumo to buy things from Udemy (a PHP course), Tout (an e-mail management tool), StickerMule (awesome custom One Day One Job stickers), and a bunch of other cool companies. Each purchase has been valuable for building my business, and they’ve all come at unbelievably low prices.
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In March of 2009 I got an e-mail that looked a lot like the spam you typically see when you’re a webmaster with a publicly listed e-mail address. When someone refers to my site as onedayonejob.com, it gives me the hint that the e-mail was probably automated and that I should send it to my Junk folder. But I was still intrigued by the following sentence: “I am reaching out to see if you will be interested in selling your site and would like to discuss potential acquisition opportunities with us,” so I followed up. Over the next few months I traded e-mails with a guy who works at QuinStreet about potentially selling the site, but we never even made it to the offer stage. The reason that the Foster City, CA based company was interested in One Day One Job is that they’re one of the leaders in vertical marketing and online media. They have tons of online properties, and they use them to market and generate leads for other businesses. They’ve been at it since 1999, so they’ve been around the block a time or two.
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No matter what you majored in, it’s tough out there right now (ok, computer science might be an exception), but chances are that there’s some sort of entry level job somewhere that will get you on a career path that you’re happy with. That’s not so for a lot of artists. That’s not to say that there aren’t some amazing job opportunities for Arts majors, but where do you work if you actually want to make a living selling your art? (No, the punchline isn’t Starbucks.) You have to be an entrepreneur, and that’s not easy–especially when you also have to put as much energy as you can into creating. Fractured Atlas is a New York, NY based non-profit organization that facilitates “the creation of art by offering vital support to the artists who produce it.” It’s about providing artists with services, programs, and information that will help them to achieve financial security and enable them to keep creating.
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I’m a big reader, so I usually end up getting quite a few books for Christmas. That’s starting to change because I’ve moved the to the Kindle for most of my reading, but I’m still a book collector. In fact, I have an award winning collection on fly fishing. A good number of those books come from a publisher called Lyons Press, which is now owned by a larger publishing company called Globe Pequot Press. They’re based in Guilford, CT, and they focus on four categories: Outdoor Life, Regional Interest, Special Interests, and Travel. These categories are represented by imprints that include FalconGuides, Knack, Skirt!, Insiders’ Guide, Footprint Travel Guides, and Popout Products. When you put all those together, you get a pretty decent sized publishing company.
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On Saturday I’m heading to Aruba for two weeks! (Don’t worry, you’ll still get your daily e-mails–even on Christmas Day.) I booked well in advance, so I got a decent fare, but it’s still about four times more expensive than traveling at a different time of year. If you want to travel during the holidays, you’re probably going to have to pay through the nose. Still, it’s worth looking for a deal, and there’s no better place to do that than Travelzoo. They’re a New York, NY based company (with 23 other offices all across the world) that has perfected the art of the travel deal. They don’t just go out and find low rates–they actually “research, evaluate, and test thousands of deals to find those with true value.” Although it’s not exactly the same, they kind of do for travel deals what I do for jobs: curate. Though they have 250 experts working on it, which is 249 more than we have.
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Want to try Hotel Tonight? Use this link to get $25 off your first booking.
I don’t know if it’s just me, but I either book hotel rooms way in advance or the day of. When I reserve a room in advance, I’m usually looking for more than just a place to sleep. Price is still important, but it’s not the most important thing. But when I need a room for tonight, I want a place that meets my minimum standards for the lowest price. As long as I can get a good night’s sleep without being bitten by bedbugs or woken up by a domestic dispute, I’m happy. It’s the latter situation that can be frustrating for bargain hunters. You know that the hotel is at 12% capacity, but they still won’t give you anything better than the AAA rate. As long as they can cover the cost of cleaning the room, they should be willing to take you. Hotel Tonight is a San Francisco, CA based company that is making it easy to get rooms for up to 70% off at the last-minute.
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Sponsored Job: PEAK6 is a Chicago, IL based proprietary trading firm that specializes in inventory and risk management, and they’re hiring a Junior Project Manager.
I recently discovered an awesome iPhone/iPad flight simulator/shooter game called MetalStorm: Wingman. It’s free, and it’s a lot of fun, but the publisher is constantly trying to eke revenue out of the game. There are ads, upsells to buy new planes and weapons, and suggestions of other apps to download. It’s that last one that caught my attention, and it led me to a company called W3i. They’re based in Sartell, MN, and they are in the business of “intelligently connecting people to apps.” They do this with both mobile and desktop apps, and they provide an opportunity for app developers to both expand the reach of their software and make money by promoting other apps.
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Life isn’t nearly as exciting with no new Harry Potter books or movies coming out. I’m pretty bummed about it, but probably not nearly as bummed as the people who hang out on MuggleNet. In case you’ve never heard of it, MuggleNet is “the world’s #1 Harry Potter site.” It was started by Emerson Spartz when he was 12 years old, and it quickly started generating a ton of traffic. And with that traffic came some serious revenue opportunities. As MuggleNet turned into a real business, Emerson rolled it into a company called Spartz Media and started launching new entertainment focused sites. Some of the bigger names include OMG Facts, Gives Me Hope, and SmartphOWNED. Spartz Media is located in Chicago, IL (about 3 blocks from me), and they’re reaching more than 8.5 million people every month through their web properties. They’ve been at it since 2009, though MuggleNet has actually been around since 1999.
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Want to try TaskRabbit? Here’s $10 to get started. (The link only works if you’re setting up a task, but you can sign up and then use it.)
We all have stuff that we don’t want to do, don’t know how to do, or don’t have time to do. We’d love to pay someone to do it for us, but finding someone to hire to do it is on that list of stuff that we don’t want, know how, or have time to do. TaskRabbit is a company that wants to help people overcome this predicament. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they’ll get you “in touch with friendly, reliable people who can help you get just about anything you need done, and put some free time back into your life.” Through the power of the Internet, they’ve been able to build a network of “TaskRabbits” and connect them with people who need stuff done. It’s the same basic marketplace with a fee model that has made companies like eBay, Craigslist, and Airbnb huge successes. Here are the details on how TaskRabbit works.
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In the good old days companies would print a 1-800 number on their products soliciting “Questions, Comments, and Concerns.” My guess is that they got a lot of calls from 8-year-olds and 80-year-olds, and not many from people in between. This was ok for a long time, but brands are slowly coming around to the idea that interacting with their customers is probably a good thing. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook are helping, but most brands still use them to push information instead of engaging with consumers. Crowdtap is a New York, NY based company that has developed its own network that “allows marketers to easily collaborate with and mobilize their targeted brand crowd of influential consumers for real-time research, collaboration or powerful word-of-mouth marketing.”
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When I think of the energy industry, I think of big machines like oil drills, windmills, and coal elevators. Microbes and genetics just don’t come to mind. Synthetic Genomics is a company that is aiming to change that. Energy is just one of the industries that they are working to disrupt as they develop “breakthrough genomic-driven solutions for major global issues.” Right now Synthetic Genomics, which is based in La Jolla, CA, has put a heavy emphasis on working with the energy and chemical industries because there is so much potential for gain–especially in terms of the environment; however, they’re also working on things like food production, human health, and water availability. It’s all about “turning novel science into life-changing solutions.”
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Yesterday we told you about Blue Chip Career, so here’s another reminder to check them out. They offer personalized guidance from seasoned executives to help you overcome your biggest job search challenges. Get paired with one of their experts and receive the inside scoop on how to land the job of your dreams.
My girlfriend and I are having a housewarming/birthday party this weekend. We invited people by e-mail, and we’re keeping of track of who is coming through a Google doc. That’s about as simple as it gets in terms of using software for event management. I don’t think our solution would cut it for companies like Verizon, Yahoo!, Walmart, and Oracle. They need something a little more… industrial strength. That’s what Cvent offers. They’re a McLean, VA based company that offers comprehensive event, survey, and eMarketing software solutions–exactly what large companies need to make sure that every little detail is taken care of when they put on an event.
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When you’re young your biggest responsibility is taking care of yourself. But eventually you get a dog, buy a house, have kids, and even have to start caring for your aging parents. As the responsibilities pile up, many people have to seek professional help to handle it all. I’m not talking about mental health professionals–I’m talking about babysitters, nannies, dog walkers, senior caregivers, and other people who can take on some of your daily responsibilities. Care.com is a Waltham, MA based company that makes “it easier for families to find reliable, trustworthy care for their loved ones.” Care.com does this by providing a closed community for matching up caregivers with people who are looking to hire them. By keeping the community closed, Care.com is able to ensure quality with features like background checks, reviews, and reference.
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Ever since I was a kid I’ve liked building stuff. That’s why there’s a part of me that wishes that I had majored in Engineering. I’m ok with building non-physical things like a community, a website, and a business, but I still have an urge to actually use my hands to make something. There are a lot of people with that same urge, and luckily many of them are actually building stuff in their jobs or on their own. Octopart is a New York, NY based company that helps these people find the parts that they need to build what they’re building. In other words, Octopart has developed “search technology to help engineers and scientists build the next generation of electronic devices.”
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I actually kind of liked taking standardized tests during my high school years, but now I’m glad that they’re 10 years in my past. While I imagine that the tests haven’t changed all that much in the past decade (beyond the SAT adding a section), test prep has. There are a ton of companies that have developed technology and systems for improving student performance on standardized tests. One of the big ones is Revolution Prep. They’re based in Santa Monica, CA, and they’ve grown at a 211% rate over the past three-years to $18.8 million in revenue. This growth has been fueled by a “vision to transform education and provide the highest quality instruction to all students regardless of their ability to pay.” It’s pretty clear that Revolution Prep isn’t just about teaching students how to beat the test–they want to turn their students into better learners and thinkers.
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Yesterday we looked at Niner Bikes and how they’ve carved out a really nice niche in the outdoor action sports market by building mountain bikes with bigger wheel bases. Today we’re going to look at a company that has built a much bigger business in the same market by offering products that you may not initially associate with the market. Skullcandy is a Park City, UT based company that “markets high-end headphones, earphones, hands free devices, audio backpacks, MP3 players and other audio enabled lifestyle products.” They target consumers who associate with sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, and mountain biking, so they’ve been able to build a really strong brand identity that has fueled some serious growth. Skullcandy was founded in 2003, and they made the Inc. 5000 this year with 354% three-year growth to $160.6 million in annual revenue. In fact, the growth has been so great that Skullcandy had an IPO earlier this year.
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A lot of people hate all of the advertising in sports. They get irritated by NASCAR cars, billboards in center field, and logos on jerseys. I kind of think it’s cool that sports teams are maximizing their revenue potential. But if I ever saw ads on the Yankees’ uniforms… well that will never happen… right? Advertising on sports apparel has actually been happening for a long time. Local business have been sponsoring teams and plastering their names on jerseys forever. Apparel Media is a Chicago, IL based company that is working to forever change the custom apparel and sports marketing industries at the same time. By working out deals with national advertisers and local custom apparel print shops, Apparel Media is able to give teams access to significantly discounted (20-80% off) merchandise.
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