socialtwister — an archive in time
10
February · 2005
21 years ago

Go Ahead, Hate Me - The Entrepreneur and the Academic

filed under Beercasting · 6 comments in the original

This morning I got a quick pop that SocialTwister was mentioned somewhere. I was pretty amused to land upon a fairly condemning little rant about Beercasting, and more disconcerting, directly about me.

It seems that Downbridge News, who attended the Thursday Blog Meeting where I spoke last week and also participated in the Boston Beercast afterwards, is a nickel shy of pure disgust with my pecuniary existence. Here's a little snip from the post:

...we had the opportunity to meet Greg Narain, the human embodiment of the principle of pure promotion in the Internet age. Although our opinion admittedly comes from a small sample, Greg, who is responsible for SocialTwister.com and is making a significant splash with Beercasting.com, seems to come from a marketing background and gives the impression that every breath he takes and word he speaks are part of some vast lifelong marketing plan. We got the impression that were it possible he would have each article of clothing he donned in the morning and each and every sentence that emerged from his mouth during the day pre-vetted by focus groups for maximum effectiveness and support for the coordinated complex of marketing initiatives which compose the life of Greg Narain.

Downbridge News, "Casting Aspersions"

So let me address the many things I am accused of here.

We All Sell Ideas

In general, I've found that everyone sells ideas. Sometimes your selling your boss on a project you want to pursue. Sometimes your selling your product to a customer. Sometimes your selling your loved one on why you need that big screen TV.

I've had these types of run-ins many times before with what I will call "academics" though I mean no ill-will by the term. I place into this category people that are motivated solely by the educational value of things and not with the revenue potential (generalizing). I admire these people because they are the ones that usually make breakthroughs in us understanding everything better. Academics sell their ideas to institutions.

Another bucket of people that are out there, and I fall squarely into this category, are the entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs sell their ideas for their survival (generalizing). They are working on building a foundation that they can live off of (who can blame them we all need one). Entrepreneurs sell their ideas to the masses (use any definition you want).

Is It All About The Money

Absolutely not. For anyone that knows me, they most likely know me to be a very capable person filled with ideas. They'll also easily attest that I probably could a very rich person right now if I really wanted to. They're probably right. But I've never been about the money, though I do want to make lots of it in the long run.

When I started Beercasting, I was trying to archive the conversations that I had with my close friends as they were inspiration for other parts of my life. I'm actually sad that the only takeway Michael has had from his nights out drinking with his friends is that he "can't remember a single one or anything that we learned in the process, other than to stay out of bars because after two beers our brain turns to oatmeal". This is most surprising to me, assuming memory serves me correctly, from an anthropologist.

Yesterday, I did a quick interview with Bill Ives for his new book on blogging. I shared with him one of the original motivations for Beercasting. If you look at the state of media today, we're not building time capsules anymore. We don't bury old photos, audio cassettes or official documents. Now, we scan them, record them, publish them, and archive them on that living time capsule otherwise known as the Internet.

When I first was exposed to Podcasting and searching for my own contribution, I realized that there's no archive of how we think except that memorialized in books and blogs. We have the news to track all of the terrible things we do to each other, but what about the conversations, the dialog. It's all wasted. One of the goals of Beercasting is just that, to start to archive those conversations into approachable nuggets.

I can't imagine that someone would have a problem with being exposed to different viewpoints on various issues. Why is it that we have to go half way around the world to experience other cultures and we look with such disdain on the one we're already immersed in?

So Why Make Money Off This Then?

As I noted before, I am an entrepreneur. I come up with ideas, implement them, and then try my best to sell them. It's how I survive and put food on the table.

So let's get to the facts. So far, I have been doing the Beercasting Tour as an experiment. I have not been taking real cash yet, though there have been spnonsorships. I don't have a job and believe it or not, it's damned expensive going across the country back and forth doing this show. It's hard on the wallet, it's hard on the family. It's hard.

What I have "earned" so far is a great set of memories and made new connections with people that I never would have encountered hadn't someone made the effort. That's tremendously valuable to me. I'm a Connector Incarnate (and yes that involves knowing how to "market").

I am quite zealous about Beercasting, to say the least. I see it as a huge success already socially speaking and am trying to move it to a financial one as well. When I said in the meeting that I wasn't worried about how I was going to make money, just who the first person would be - that's a plain and simple FACT. And if anyone thinks you succeed without being passionate and zealous about what you're doing, then I'll challenge you've never really succeeded.

So Who The Hell Are You?

Yesterday I had the pleasure of meeting with Jennifer Rice for the better part of the day. We talked about a wide range of things but mainly about blogging and community. I mentioned to her that one of the strange facts of my blog was that I never have really disclosed who I am on it. It seems quite appropriate to do so now. So here I am (abridged version):

I'm a sociologist

Though it's not a title I often ascribe to myself, it is what's scribbled on that diploma I have rolled up in the closet. it's one I am proud to have myself labeled as. I've been writing for the last year on SocialTwister.com almost daily on so many issues that tie to people and how technology impacts them. I don't have to justify it, go back to the first entry and read if you think I don't get it or truly care about people.

I'm a graphic designer

Ironically enough, I have always been interested in design from an early age. I can't say I was ever really gifted with drawing abilities, but I definitely can lay down some work when needed. I spent a year working as a graphic designer for a company and then worked as the main designer for my company while others were handling the other tasks.

I taught myself about this because I was interested in it. I wanted to know how to communicate with people visually. I did my senior project testing the use of iconography and its role in raising awareness for the Rape Crisis Center at school.

I'm a programmer

I'm obsessed with logic I guess. I love to see the patterns in things and even more obsessed with figuring out how they work. I've been programming for 8 years now with a wide range of web and database technologies. I've taught quite a few people and companies how to program.

I learned it all on my own, that sociology degree and 5 bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I've made my living mainly off of doing consulting for people and I've squandered it ALL in pursuit of my dreams and ideas and I'll continue to do that till the day I die.

I'm a networker

If there's one thing I know, it's how to meet new people. This is probably what threw Michael off. I DO NOT have a Marketing degree, nor would I really want one. Truth is, if you want to meet people you have to learn how to market. If you want to learn how to sell something, you have to learn how to market. This is not sales, it's called social skills.

I meet at least one new person a day. I have a conversation with them. Sometimes I miss that, but I make up for it in other days. It's my only daily goal. Am I making money off of it? Hell no? Am I angling for business? Hell no? It's just who I am. Plain and simple.

I am an entrpreneur

We've covered this extensively so I won't beat it up. I'll just add that I love business at it's core, but I don't "like" sales. I'm terrible at making money from my ideas - see my extended list of near-successes. I give away most everything if you ask nice enough.

I feel happy that I'm in business. I am not ruthless, I am not without concern for the greater good. I need to make money like the next guy - that's all. I'm trying to make money while doing good, but not everyone gets that.

So if I can help you with any of the above, just ask me. You'd be amazed what I might do. And if you can pay me for any of it, that's even cooler - I'm starving.

So Is It Just Me

So Michael made me wonder if I was nuts. I hadn't encountered any feedback like this before, though I welcome it. I'm not sure why Michael refers to "we" continuously in his post. I don't think my talk to the group left anyone any less informed.

So here's a list of all the people that I know have said something nice. What was that book called again, The Wisdom of Crowds?:

There's many more, but I have to catch my flight now. If you've mentioned the show, good or bad, please post a link in the comments. I'd love to know!

One last thing Michael. If you still dont see any value in all of this, I have one question for you. Did you listen to your own beercast?

If you'd like to hear Michael himself, have a listen.