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Category: Lynda Partner

Where Oh Where Have Your Manners Gone?!

The blog post below was originally written about a year ago but never published. Why publish it now you ask? This week I got more spam from this same company. It made me so angry that I dug up this post and I hope it gets wide distribution. Here's why.
From 2008 sometime…The other day I got an email in my inbox. It said in part….

Dear Lynda Partner,

Hi, this is Nick Longo the CEO of CoffeeCup Software, you have been selected
as one of the few that I would like to personally invite to become a CoffeeCup Ambassador. This is an exclusive club of our biggest fans, best users, and closest friends.

If you would like to become an Ambassador please Click Here:

……..

Please join us today. We need you as a Fan and Evangelist to spread the word
about CoffeeCup Software.Thank you so much for participating. I am honored to invite you.

My first thought was “I don’t know any Nick Longo”. My second thought was “How did this person get my email address?”

Sound familiar?

It took me awhile but it turns out that when I opened a web hosting account recently, the hosting provider offered a free download of Nick’s software. I did not download it.
So how did they get my email address and why were they sending me emails I didn’t want that did not even have an opt-out link?

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Pushing the GO Button

Go_ButtonI've worked really really hard on my latest project – a crowd-sourced survey of Twitter users. I've sweated over it and worked it and edited it and it's ready to go. My plan is to use Twitter to get Twitter users to join in and share their insights about themselves. Then in the true spirit of social networking, I'll share the results.

The survey is done, and I find myself unable to push the GO button because I am afraid. There, I said it. I AM AFRAID.

  • I am afraid that nobody will complete the survey
  • I am afraid that nobody will retweet my posts
  • I am afraid that I'll annoy my followers if I talk about it
  • I am afraid that my voice is so very tiny that nobody will even hear it, and that will hurt

Where did this fear come from? Since when did I become too polite and too timid to "Just Do It". I think it must have something to do with using a personal brand instead of a corporate brand. It's MY NAME on this project. If it fails, it's all on me. It's like that feeling when you throw a party and for 30 minutes before people show up you are convinced nobody will.

Or is this a Canadian thing? Too polite and too timid to "Just Do It"? Is that why Nike is not a Canadian company? But I digress.

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