Author: davecriswell

I finally finished Inbound Marketing by Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, though the length of time it took me to finish doesn’t reflect at all on the quality of the book. Rather, my tendency to have 3 or 4 books going at any given time and my growing obsession with ultrarunning.

I’ve been following Hubspot as a company for a little over a year.  I’m a fan of the work they are doing,  the concepts they are teaching to small business owners and was privileged to do a guest post on their blog with Pete Caputa. Maybe more than any other company I know of, they eat their own dog food and as a result put out an incredible amount of content. Being a marketer myself who is 100% onboard with their philosophy (I’ve been called a DARC by my co-workers) and their willingness to share their content, I’m pretty sure I’ve consumed just about all of it (some of it multiple times).

This could be the reason that I was originally not that impressed as I read the first few chapters. I think I had set my own expectations that I’d learn something new and different from Inbound Marketing. This wasn’t the case as I started the book.

However, as I absorbed the content of Halligan and Shah I started to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts and processes they profess. In the end, my opinion of the book was that if you are a DARC and familiar with the concepts of inbound marketing, the repitition of the material is helpful to sharpen your marketing sword.

Where is the big value? Their target audience – the business owner who has focused their efforts on outbound marketing efforts but now realize that their customer and the marketplace demands they must change. To this person, Inbound Marketing is a great resource to get not only the necessary foundation required to know the directional change that must happen in their business, but also the nitty gritty details that will set a business owner and their marketing team well on their way to, as the front cover of Inbound Marketing says: “get found using Google, Social Media and Blogs”.

Some of Google Reader FoldersToday was a pretty typical Sunday morning.  I got up early, went for a long trail run, had a nice breakfast (Superfood by Naked Juice, a scoop of Hammer Whey protien powder followed by a hot mug of green tea) then settled into do some reading.

Fifteen years ago my routine was different in so many ways. First, the idea of running 10 miles was completely foreign. Second, breakfast was lots of sugar, fat and caffiene. Third, the reading I did was to open up the Sunday paper. I read maybe one or two articles that kind of interested me but for the most part I just flipped the pages as long as possible so I could keep having more sugar, fat and caffiene while I skimmed.

When I went to read today I fired up the MacBook, logged into Google Reader and read about 25 news articles and blog posts from the 144 subscriptions I use to bring me the information that I find valuable and worthwhile.  The RSS feed from the regional paper is only for the towns I have an interest, the blog posts come from my favorite topics (triathlon, endurnace sports, social media and technology) and sources (Slowtwitch, Endurance Planet, Mashable, Seth Godin and Steve Rubel).

Needless to say, Sunday mornings are a whole lot more enjoyable!

I’ve started this post several times but right now there is no end.  The topic is next year’s race schedule and there is no end because I haven’t committed to what I’m going to do.

After the disaster learning experience in Lake Placid this summer and between the huge cost to compete in an Ironman and the time away from the familiy, I’m weighing some different options that will give me the challenge I’m looking for, not make me broke and give me some balance with my family.

The current front runner for a primary race is a 50-mile ultramarathon.  The problem is, that even after preparing and competing in 2 Ironman distance triathlons, attempting a 50-mile running race is approaching the end of my current perception of what is possible.  Which, coincidentally, is just what I’m looking for.

No commitments yet, but some serious research is underway.  Anyone out there who wants to weigh in on their ultramarathon experience would be much appreciated. I’ve already gotten some great input from Thomas on Twitter and my buddy Nathan (who completed two 50-milers this year!). I’m slowly building a twitter list of ultra-runners – please let me know in the comments who should be added to the list.

Photo Credit: Reano Deano

I was fortunate to be asked by Joel Libava, the Franchise King, to do a guest post on his blog about the state of credit availability for small businesses today.

To read the full post, vist Joel’s blog. He’s got a great perspective on small business with a keen focus on the franchise space.

I recently presented a webinar called “Drive more sales with social media” through my role at Direct Capital.  Here is the recorded version for your viewing pleasure.