Brad Slavin » 15 Minutes

Sugru – Smart Hacks Super Pack

Brad Slavin — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:30:41 +0000

Today I received my Sugru Smart Hacks Super Pack from the UK.

For those of you who don’t know about Sugru you can find http://www.sugru.com and on Facebook at http://facebook.sugru.com. Sugru is a silicone rubber that molds and sticks permanently. Subaru is designed to meet help you modify hack enhance or otherwise improve upon products or processes in your daily life. Think of it like silly putty except it gets hard after just a few hours.

The smart hacks super pack, contains 12 5g sachets of Sugru in black blue green and orange. They claim that it will bond to aluminum steel and ceramic glass would leather some fabrics and plastic. I can’t wait to see what “activities” I can get up to with this awesome product.

You should check out YouTube for videos related to Sugru - people have done some pretty amazing things. I think one of my favorite is the iPhone 4 protector where this guy puts pieces of Subaru around the edges of his iPhone so that when he lays it down it doesn’t scratch the glass surface or the outback of his phone. I hope to be this creative in my usage of super.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Let me know if you’ve had success with Sugru, or if you want any more information about this awesome product.

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Standing Desk Experiment

Brad Slavin — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:34:19 +0000

Using a standing desk to supercharge your life. You may not be familiar with the concept of a standing desk, but they have been around for hundreds of years. Some of the greatest thinkers of our time have expounded their benefits. After hearing Eben Pagan talk about his standing desk I had to give it a try.

My standing desk design is a modification of the Amazon.com door desk concept but with longer legs! Attached is a video outlining the benefits of a standing desk and some pictures of the construction, ergonomics and the configuration of a standing desk.

We now use these exclusively at the office and they have been a huge boost to productivity and to mental clarity.

I hope you find this helpful.

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Undercover Boss, an Amazing TV Show

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 04:46:50 +0000

Undercover Boss just shook my cage. I have been following the 4 Hour Work Week low information for over 4 years now. I own a TV but I don’t have cable so it keeps things simple – every now and then I log onto Hulu and watch the shows I remember liking from back when I was watching TV. Every now and and then I hear about a show from a friend that they tell me I need to watch. Mind you, it has been a while since someone makes a great recommendation. The show is Undercover Boss on ABC, I watched five episodes on TV.com

TV should inspire and inform and create some emotion but I never expected to actually get teary eyed watching the show. For those of you who don’t know about it – CEO’s of major corporations who have been separated from the actual processes and people that make their organizations run take a week off and go undercover. They strip themselves of titles and rank and head to the trenches to work with honest people who are just trying to make a living. Think of it as a lesson in reality for the big bosses.

The Undercover Boss gets to work along side a typical worker doing the typical job of the company. Most of the time they fail miserably at the line or production work – these are muscles and skills that they have not worked in a long time – and for some of them, they have never used these skills. But the one think that each Undercover Boss does get other than a lesson is humility is a lesson in humanity. It is the understanding and the personalization of the people who they have never met. Think of it as a way to “walk a mile in my shoes” and learn how your business really operates.

Most of the people that we are introduced to have a story, be it medical issues like kidney problems, money issues, mortgage problems, deaths in the family – and this is before they even show up to the office. I have always been a softy, but this is tear creating television. A huge dose of reality.

I have been the CEO of a small company and I know how tough it is to understand the problems in a small organization – these guys have huge companies, they are just too insulated. My feeling is that all CEO’s should take a lesson in humility and learn how the processes or procedures that they put in place impact personnel, productivity, the customer and the business as a whole. Your business is really never to small to understand how to make it better by listening.

Why are there so many singles in their 30’s

admin — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 04:08:37 +0000

Why are there so many people in their 30’s who are single?

I have been following a process for 30 minutes each day that help me keep up with my network and stay in contact with people, this is both for my professional network and as a way to stay in contact with family and friends that I lost touch with. You can read about the process in my post about keeping your network warm. One of those personal letters was to my aunt. She and I have been exchanging emails for a few weeks now. I just found out that she had major surgery and no one in this side of the family even knew about it.

In one of my updates about my life I sent her an email about my relationships.

As for me – Lisa and I are still dating, it has been just about 2 1/2 years at this point. Almost the entire relationship has had her in grad school so weekends and evenings have been a bust. Typically we only see each other on weekends school is about 40 minutes away from my place and 15 from hers…as you can imagine she spends weekdays at her place.

I think the problem for people in my generation is just to much variety. We are told in our teens that getting married in our early twenties is like our parents is “just too soon” and by the time our mid to late twenties have hit we have racked up 10-15 relationships – each with their own experiences, their own joys and pain. I know the old adage “it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” - but I think in this case it is information overload. It is like test driving 10 cars in a weekend or seeing 10 prospective houses in a relatively short amount of time. Each one on it’s own would be perfect, each one unique with its own quirks and nuances – but when asked which one are we going to choose…they all just blend in and the brain goes into overload.

How does the brain then cope? Well I think it starts by making comparisons – taller / shorter – fatter / thinner – blond / redhead – and we make little disqualifying statements about what we think we like just as a filter – but without real understanding. At the end we compare the personality of one to the smile of the other, never mind boobs and technique. It is absolute information overload. In the end, and in my case you end up settling for the middle of the road – passionless or boring and without common goals and getting divorced just a few short years later.

You wear divorce as a badge of honor, that despite the huge number of fish in the sea that you were able to find one, they agreed and you went down the aisle. Very few people that I have met actually care about the whole divorce issue, it’s just sort of a life lesson and time to move on.

I look at friends in my group there are the almost 30’s who are dying to get married because of some social expectations and then there are the 31+ who are a little sad that it did not happen, and by 37 there is almost a sense of serenity..
But I am rambling. I am happy, school will finish soon and things will get better as far as spending more time together and taking our relationship to the next level.

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Fear of Getting Fired

admin — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 03:55:02 +0000

I am about 45 minutes into the Movie Up in the Air oh-man what a heartbreaking movie thus far. The part that was the most disturbing was the part where people are asking what they should be doing that day after they have been fired. They are devastated by the news that the company that they are invested in, the company that they have worked so hard for is letting them go.

Maybe the reason that this was so powerful is that in my short career I have fired 27 people. Most of them were “for cause” – but the actual reasons escape me right now. Just how valid were the reasons for letting them in the big picture?

I have never been on the receiving end of a firing but it does not mean that I did not worry about it. Part of the reason that I quit my last job was the innate fear in the back of my head that I was going to get fired, not for performance – quite the contrary but because the job was well done and no longer needed.

It is one of the biggest fears that I have…not being useful or needed. I never want to be in the position that what I do is not valuable or needed; this is why I own my own business. Part of me believes that as long as clients keep getting value and that I add benefit to our relationship – while we adjust and chance to the business climate.

Is there truth to the statement that “Anybody who ever built an empire, or changed the world, sat where you are now. And it’s because they sat there that they were able to do it.” But it is heartbreaking to see it even if on the screen, I am now about an hour and forty five minutes into the movie where he realizes that his world has just come crashing down. There is a part of not knowing what you want in life that adds to the question of safety and security.

Family fixes all.

There is a big difference…

Brad Slavin — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 02:40:16 +0000

between thinking about doing something and doing something that you have been thinking about.

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A Rose by any other Name

Brad Slavin — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:38:03 +0000

Dear Brad of brad-slavin.com

Sorry for the confusion and the upsurge in traffic. I hope the redesign goes well.

Brad

Brad Slavin for President.

Lots of Youtube Email in the Inbox…

Brad Slavin — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:28:05 +0000

Now that’s a lot of mail in the inbox… Last count 1740 video comments, almost 400 additional contacts. Not bad.

Microsoft Store in Mission Viejo

Brad Slavin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:56:49 +0000

Last night on our way to a birthday party at the Derby Deli & Dueling Piano Bar – Lisa and I stopped in at The Shops at Mission Viejo mall to kill some time. Traffic from San Diego was a little hectic so I figured that some time spend doing some retail therapy might do some good.

As we walked into the mall I was confronted with the early signs of Christmas and while the prospect of walking the mall with “deck the halls” at my back brought a grimace to my face but the little kids running by the well lit displays made me remember what the holidays are all about.

Walking down the main corridor of the mall I saw a huge white banner that read “Microsoft Store – Now Open”. I guess I have been disconnected from the platform for quite a while because I did not even realize that Microsoft had store but I have heard so many great things about Windows 7 I just had to check it out. I half expected the store to be a bland uninspiring cheap knockoff of an Apple Store, but WOW was I in for a surprise.

From the moment you first step through the door you can feel it, something is special, something is electric in the air. So many smiling faces, so many people engaged and fully committed to the experience and NO I am not just taking about the employees the nearly sixty shoppers in the store were having a riveting experience interacting with what is clearly the future.

Words really can’t do the experience justice so here are some videos that I created on my new Kodak ZI8 in 1080p mode.

Project Natal is the next level of user interaction with a computer. I had not even heard about it, I guess like so many other things Microsoft it looks to be game and life changing.

We have all seen the previews of the interactive table but I actually had the chance to “interact” with it. The table uses 3D bar codes to determine what object has been laid down. I tried taking a picture of the bar code with my phone and displaying the picture to see if I could clone it, but no luck there.

Mid way through our visit the entire store broke out into song. Now I have seen this gimmick before at Coldstone Creamery and I know how they have been criticized in the media for it, but here it did not seem forced nor contrived, I would honestly say that this was the staff letting go, having some fun and not taking the brand all to seriously.

I was absolutely floored by this experience, Microsoft has made a bold move to capture new market share. I ordered a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate edition – I have been a hard core Mac person for the past five years, I completely bypassed the Windows Vista experience but something is telling me that I am at a precipice looking directly into the future. Oh, and I just canceled my order for the 27inch iMac quad, I need a little time to think it over.
Its easy to see that Microsoft primarily is a software company committed to changing the world through technical innovation and that Apple is a hardware company that is changing the world through design innovations. They need each other to push the limits of their own visions.

Top Online Marketing Resources and Websites

Brad Slavin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 01:49:47 +0000

A quick list of some of my favorite marketing resources,

Marketingsherpa.com – One of the top research firms that track with is and is not working in all aspects of marketing. Well known for their charts of the week and whitepapers, their work is often cited by other top marketers.
marketingpilgrim.com – Stay current with the latest in online marketing news and developments.
Marketingprofs.com – Excellent marketing tools and advice for the marketing professional. Very timely and action oriented information that can be applied immediately to improve your success.
Quantcast.com – Especially their Media Planner tool, because you want to make the right media buying decisions based on vertical, demographics etc
Google Alerts – because you want to track what people are saying about your brand
pipl.com – A great way to do homework on prospects or clients.
ppchero.com – Learn potent pay-per-click strategies and tactics.
trendistic.com – Discover trends on Twitter.
Google Insight – With Google Insights for Search, you can compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties
sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/ - Seth is one of the cornerstone conversation creators for the Marketing world. He is a best selling author and trend setting in the marketing world.
web-strategist.com/blog/ – Jeremiah Owyang is a Web Strategist. I will not go so far as to call him a futurist but he is on the cusp of emerging communications including social media and the impact to the individual and to society.
kaushik.net/avinash/ - Avinash Kaushik has built the seminal site on web analytics and understanding the intention buried in the data.
marketingcharts.com – Chats and data for markers in Web and Excel format.
econsultancy.com – Home of Rebecca Lieb – an accomplished and potent author of SEO books. The site provides expert advice on improving digital marketing and e-commerce.
webinknow.com– Online marketing and PR, an excellent resource where David Meerman Scott asks some of the most provocative questions in marketing today.
thefuturebuzz.com – Adam Singer talks about spreading buzz online for whatever you are doing.