Jeremiah Reandino

Using social media for education

2011-06-26T10:43:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since my last blog post and it's good to be blogging again. I came across the latest Social Media Revolution video by Erik Qualman (@equalman), author of the best-selling book Socialnomics, and was once again amazed at the statistics and the huge impact that social media has on our everyday lives. Can you believe social media as a whole is probably less than five years old? Now think about what the future would be like for online engagement and communication five years from now? Isn't that just exciting!

Now how does it relate to our current (and future) education system? I believe that schools at all levels from primary to post-secondary should use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to better engage with students both inside and outside the classroom. Online group discussions on Facebook or Twitter should be the norm in order to encourage social and continuous learning among students anytime and anywhere. A recent study showed that using Twitter for educational purposes in the classroom doubled student engagement compared to traditional learning methods. Interestingly enough, it also increased students' GPAs. Although a small sample size was used, this study still shows that there is opportunity to use Twitter and even Facebook in class to teach and engage students in discussion since most students are on it anyway while their professor is lecturing in the background.

Do you agree or disagree about using social media in (and even outside) the classrooms to better engage students? I'd like to know your comments.

Meeting Guy Kawasaki

2011-03-09T10:19:00.000-05:00

I met Guy Kawasaki at The Art of Marketing Conference on Monday! I also got his autograph for his new book Enchantment! I also got a chance to play around with the Blackberry Playbook!

Ignite Toronto 5 was a blast!

2011-02-11T11:25:00.001-05:00

Went to Ignite Toronto last night at Drake Hotel. It was fantastic to listen to new ideas from different people. Best of all, they were only limited to five minutes each presentation! Given my short attention span, I actually paid attention for the whole hour or so event! Here's the event link: http://igniteto.com/

My favorite speakers would have to be:
Ramona Pringle - http://www.ramonapringle.com (@ramonapringle)
Mike Tissenbaum from U of T
Johanne Durocher - http://fashioninmotion.wordpress.com/ (@fashioninmotion)
Jason Sae Bento - http://www.nicebento.com/ (@jay21art)

Looking forward to the next Ignite TO! Join me!

Using Twitter to find a job

2011-01-09T11:09:00.000-05:00

There are tons of job postings posted on Twitter daily. If you haven't tried using Twitter's search function and hashtag searches, then give it a try this new year! For example, using the hashtags #toronto #jobs to do a basic search in the Toronto area, here's just a few jobs that I've found today:

Best Buy is hiring a Mobile Specialist
Loblaw's is hiring Part-time Store Associates
Accenture is a hiring full time CRM Manager

If you're looking for more specific jobs, then try using more specific search words such as: insurance, marketing, bartending, web developer, etc. Here's a video from Mashable that explains more in detail. There's so many ways you can use Twitter and search for information! So give it a try if you haven't yet! Would you like me to help you search for a job on Twitter? Send me a tweet to @jreandino! Follow me on Twitter too!

School is not cool! The education revolution must start now!

2010-11-25T10:18:00.000-05:00

There is a HUGE problem with the education system. It is outdated based on the Industrial Age and it needs to evolve to our generation's needs and our fast paced society. Sir Ken Robinson explains why in this amazing video illustration called Changing Education Paradigms. I believe this is my calling, and if this is yours too, let's work together to make this happen!

You know you love the Old Spice Guy

2010-07-15T15:43:00.002-04:00

Aside from his dashingly good looks and body, suave voice, and egoistic humor, the Old Spice Guy has definitely caught my attention from the Old Spice commercials and the hilariously funny YouTube video responses posted since July 12th. With over 590,000+ Facebook fans, 65,000+ Twitter followers, and 89,000+ YouTube subscribers (and growing fast!), Old Spice has by far created the best social media marketing campaign I have seen. Here's why:

1. Remarkable, creative and funny ads - You know the commercial is fictional and even somewhat ridiculous... and yet your curiosity urges you to watch it! Why?! Because it is unique and entertaining! It's nothing like those typical and boring body wash commercials we've seen before and ignored. Seeing a half naked man walk on water, then swan diving off a waterfall into a jacuzzi, which then bursts and reveals a motorbike is definitely something more interesting to watch. What's more, you can even watch the other commercials on the Old Spice YouTube channel just for kicks.

2. Got the online community talking - Through Facebook and Twitter, Old Spice has sparked so much conversation amongst the online community with lots of people voicing out their questions and ideas to the Old Spice Guy. Even though he is a fictional character, people have been so compelled to interact with him as though he was a real person! Amazing!

3. Made a human connection through YouTube - Using YouTube to upload response videos to connect with celebrities (ie. Ellen Degeneres, Ashton Kutcher, Alyssa Milano) and answer real questions from Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Yahoo was brilliant. Not only were the videos creatively and humorously scripted, it also felt more personal and engaging. It made people feel connected to the Old Spice brand and thus caused the videos to go viral.

With the success that Old Spice is receiving from their amazing marketing campaign, I believe that other innovative companies will follow this new trend as well. People want to feel connected, and the future of marketing rests upon being able to build that connection in a personal yet impersonal way just like Old Spice did. Even though we will no longer see the Old Spice Guy again, I'm sure he will be an icon everyone won't forget. You know you love the Old Spice Guy...

Related articles:
Old Spice Campaign - Could this be the best online campaign ever? | Kherize Five
13 reasons why Old Spice's new social media campaign is pure brilliance | Inkling Media
How the Old Spice videos are being made | Read Write Web

Why I will miss Ninjavideo

2010-07-03T15:29:00.000-04:00

I love watching movies and TV shows online. But on July 1st, I was shocked and saddened by the news that my favorite online video streaming website, Ninjavideo.net, was shut down by the Feds. Apparently, this was a "crackdown" to stop film and TV piracy online. Since 2008, I had been a loyal visitor and fan of Ninjavideo because I was able to watch many of the latest movies and amazing TV shows like Dexter, Scrubs, Nip/Tuck, Chuck, Lost (well I stopped after season 4 because it got too confusing), Smallville (it wasn't that great but I watched it only because of Kristen Kreuk aka Lana Lang), Spartacus, and Mythbusters.

Ninjavideo became my favorite site for four reasons. First, it was FREE! There was no registration required or any other strings attached in order to access the site. Although there were some ads I had to click through before viewing videos at times, that small inconvenience was nothing as long as I was able to watch my TV shows without interruptions. I was also able to save a lot of money by watching movies there instead of in the theaters.

Second, instant high quality (i.e HD, DVD, Blu-ray) online streaming! This feature saved me a ton of gigabytes of hard drive space and saved me a lot of time downloading torrents into my computer. Before Ninjavideo, I would spend hours downloading 350MB episodes and by the time I made it through the whole season, I would have used at least 5GB of space. Multiply that by 3 seasons (average estimate per TV show) and multiply that again by 5 TV shows (average number I would keep before deleting) and after doing the math, you can see how I always ran out of hard drive space.

Third, well organized and maintained website. Since the TV shows and movies were organized alphabetically and episodes are sorted per season, searching for a specific episode or movie was quick and easy. Also, because of Ninja's dedicated admins, the site was updated frequently and any reported bugs or broken videos were fixed within a reasonable time.

Fourth, the latest movie releases! Most new films would be in cam quality, but as time went by, I was impressed how even DVD and Blu-ray rips were eventually uploaded for maximum quality and entertainment pleasure. Seasonally, it was also fun to see movie theme packages of older movies being uploaded such as zombie movies, war movies, vampire movies, and much more.

So what's going to happen to Ninjavideo? After listening to the Ninjavideo manifesto podcast by Phara, one of the site admins, her words made me realize how capitalism and greed are causing so much social injustice and societal problems in our world today, and unfortunately, that is where piracy originated from. Ninjavideo may have been shutdown for now, but it will never die because its online community still exists all around the world. To listen to the Ninjavideo manifesto podcast click here: Part 1 Part 2.

So this blog post has been dedicated to the team at Ninjavideo. Thank you to all the admins and everyone else involved for contributing your time, money, and effort to making this such a great site... if not the best! Without you, my life wouldn't have been as fun and entertaining. I know we will see you again soon. Long live Ninja!

Graduated... now what?

2010-06-10T23:28:00.000-04:00

Now that I'm finally done with school, I now move on to another chapter in my life. But what am I supposed to do now? Even though I just started working at State Farm, working as an insurance agent isn't my ideal job. I always have to remind myself that I just need to stick with this job for one year just so I can apply for my permanent residence. Even though it can be a tough commission based job, I have to keep persevering... Many times I ask myself why I don't feel satisfied with this job. Is it because I can't make much money? Is it because I don't feel passionate about what I'm doing? Is it because I'm confused about what I want in terms of a career? I wonder if other people (new grads especially) have felt the same way as I do...

Four lessons about social media for an entrepreneur

2010-04-20T07:54:00.000-04:00

When it comes to social media and digital marketing, I've learned four important lessons from reading Mitch Joel's book Six Pixels of Separation.

1. Create meaning - If you focus on making money, you are bound to FAIL. The right path focuses on making meaning by empathizing, making a change by solving a problem, and making the world a better place. It's amazing to see how people are more than willing to support a cause that is beyond themselves.

2. Communities are the new currency - In any market, there are always small and large communities (on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) that share similar interests, stories, needs, and a respect for each other. As a marketer, you can either lead this community by connecting people or become part of it as an equal. You cannot simply barge in and act like a multi-billion dollar corporation and expect people to listen to all your self-promotion. I'd unfollow you on Twitter right then and there!

3. Trust and transparency - Now that people have the power to choose, you have to earn their trust in order for them to be your customer, become a Facebook fan, or subscribe to your YouTube channel. Like in any relationship, the best way earn trust is by being genuine and human. People hate talking to voice recordings, seeing automated emails, and encountering mechanized interactions. They can even smell if you're not being honest with them right through your computer screen. Focus on building the relationship first by being REAL!

4. Listen, listen, listen - If you think having the largest marketing and advertising budget is necessary to win, then you are sadly WRONG. We have all become desensitized to TV, radio, print, and web advertisements. The key is to start listening by following people's conversations on Twitter, Facebook wall posts, and YouTube comments. People are more than happy to share their opinions, issues, and suggestions in an open and non-intimidating atmosphere. All you have to do is ask.

Overall, these four lessons may seem somewhat general and may differ depending on the situation. But I believe they are the basic values that every marketer and entrepreneur needs in order to do business right. Do you agree or disagree? What else am I missing?

I need help finding a job

2010-04-11T10:43:00.009-04:00

It's been nearly two years since I started studying at York University for my Human Resources degree. Now I am happy to say that I will be graduating this June (hopefully) *fingers crossed*. Then the next step is to find a job related to:

Marketing Coordinator/Associate or
Human Resources Coordinator/Recruiter or
Retail Store Manager/Assistant Manager or
Store Supervisor

Since I'm an international student, it's extremely important that I find one of these specific jobs because I need it to qualify for my permanent residence application with Canadian Immigration. I haven't had much success using Workopolis and Monster, and that's why I'm writing this blog post to share with you my situation and to ask for your help. I believe that we are all connected. By using other people's (ie. family, friends, acquaintances) social and business networks to pass the word that I am actively looking for a job or to share my resume, I just might be able to find the exact job I'm looking for. My goal is to start working full-time in Toronto by June, so if you by any chance come across any related jobs or have suggestions for me, please Facebook message me, tweet me (@jreandino) or email me at jreandino@gmail.com. I would appreciate that so much. At the same time, if you are also looking for a job or need someone to fill a vacancy, please feel free to ask me. I may know a friend, who knows a friend that has a friend that might have what you're looking for. So I want to end by asking: What are some useful tips in finding a job? Thanks for reading!

iPad Madness

2010-04-04T11:09:00.000-04:00

There's been so much buzz going around the iPad since it came out just yesterday. Now as more video reviews start being uploaded on YouTube, it makes me even more excited! I really like how the iPad will be a fun and convenient way to surf the net, browse through pictures, watch videos, read e-books, play games, and lots more with the thousands of apps available on the iTunes Store. Although I am aware that there is no multi-task or Flash (for now...), I guess that's why the iPad is referred to as a hybrid between a laptop and cell phone (iPhone). Of course, knowing Apple, they will eventually add additional hardware and software upgrades to the next generation of iPads.

Nevertheless, I still have two big questions in my mind. The first question is when exactly will the iPad be available in Canada?! Rumor has it that April 24th will be the launch day! The second question is how (or which) of the Canadian telecom companies will respond to supporting the iPad 3G model? In the US, Apple partnered with AT&T to provide unlimited data for USD$30 a month. Over here, will Apple partner up with Bell?... Or perhaps Telus? Will the pricing for unlimited data be the same too? I guess we just have be patient and see what happens! Would you consider buying an iPad?

Be an Artist

2010-03-06T13:41:00.003-05:00

You are an artist believe it or not. You don't have to be a modern day Picasso to be one. All you need is curiosity and creativity, and I believe everyone is born with them. It is curiosity that leads you to learn and discover how and why the world and people exist around us. Then it is creativity that inspires our imagination so we can understand how to make sense of everything. Famous movie director James Cameron is a great example of that. His insatiable curiosity for insects, animals, oceans, and the environment as a child inspired him to create amazing movies such as Aliens, Titanic, Terminator, and Avatar.

Now remember the time when you asked your parents about why the sky was blue? Or how could fish breathe underwater and you couldn't? We were all born with curiosity and creativity as a child, however, one problem is that we lose those instincts as we grow up due to influences from our parents, friends, and even school. Yes... even school. Sir Ken Robinson, a recognized leader in development of innovation, declares that schools kill creativity because of the standardization of grades and courses used in schools and universities today. Since public education was created to fill the needs of Industrialism, the whole purpose of education that time was to create mass produce, obedient factory workers. Unfortunately, that is still happening today in the form of office workers. Seth Godin, a well-recognized marketing guru and entrepreneur, also mentioned during his talk at the Art of Marketing Conference on March 2, 2010 that the problem of school is that it teaches us obedience and conformity. We are taught to follow orders and meet the expectations of others (i.e. your grades, professors, boss). However, in this day and age of mass layoffs and recession, it is no longer how many A's or degrees you can boast... or even how well you obey orders. But rather how creative you are in making meaning and change for others. This can be a uncomfortable and challenging to many, but in order to succeed, that's what it takes to be an artist. So are you good at following orders or... are you an artist?

Are you an entrepreneur?

2010-02-27T13:38:00.002-05:00

Entrepreneurs are problem solvers. We find or even make creative solutions to life’s never ending challenges. Book Hook, a book exchange club, was my solution to help students solve their challenges of buying and selling textbooks efficiently. Here's how I applied the 3 P's of Branding:

1) Promise –“Save Money. Study Better.” was the slogan I wanted Book Hook to stand for. Because textbooks were so expensive, I believed that students should save money by buying and selling used textbooks between each other rather than from the bookstore. This way they could worry less about money and focus more on their studies.

2) Personality - If Book Hook was a person, I wanted students to know that she was trustworthy, reliable, and caring. She was someone who would listen to and understand their needs. She would then do her best to help solve those needs with integrity and respect. Most importantly, she would be personal because students hate superficiality.

3) Positioning - Book Hook had to be unique from all the other clubs and book exchange websites/services available. First, in order to recruit highly motivated, creative, and committed members, club membership had to be exclusive. Second, club activities and events had to adjust around students' academic life and class schedules. Last but most importantly, by providing an efficient book exchange service that used a real-time database and user-friendly website.

Discovering your branding strategy doesn't happen immediately. It is an ongoing process that takes months of thought, research, and personal development. However, I believe that with passion and a big vision to make a change, entrepreneurs can and will overcome any challenges we encounter. Are you an entrepreneur?

The Three P's of Branding

2010-02-19T21:42:00.005-05:00

Branding is another important part of entrepreneurship and marketing. Whether it be branding yourself or your business, branding shapes your marketing strategies. Here is a brief overview of The 3 P's of Branding that I learned from Axle Davids, Founder and CEO of Distility Branding, during a talk organized by Refresh Events a few days ago.

1) Promise - This is the solution you are offering to life's challenges. It involves combining your passion towards solving an unsatisfied need in the marketplace. It is NOT about you.

2) Personality - This shows how you deliver on your promise and stay committed to it. Are you consistent?

3) Position - This is the X factor that makes you unique and remarkable compared to everyone else. You MUST stand out!

The 3P's are may seem quite basic to marketing... but that's exactly why they are fundamental. Branding may seem easy, but it is not as simple as switching ON a light switch... it's an ongoing process. I believe they act as a strategic compass to guide you into creating something amazing as you travel the rough and narrow road to success. In my next post, I will talk about my 3P's for Book Hook, a student book exchange club I created, and how we are starting a movement to change students' ideas about used textbooks.

What's all the Buzz about?

2010-02-11T23:26:00.002-05:00

Ok I'm writing this blog post to test if my Blogger account has properly linked with Google Buzz and hopefully to Twitter! Let's see what happens! Blogger post test 1. Fire in the hole! Are you in the Buzz yet?

Networking for your future

2010-02-02T20:35:00.009-05:00

There's a saying: "In life, it's not what you know...it's who you know that counts." That being said, I believe that in order to reach your goals in life, networking is one of the most important tools you can use to plan your future. As part of Social Media Week - Toronto, today I had the amazing opportunity of attending CaseCamp, a casual business talk "unconference" and networking event, to listen and learn from top business executives and leaders about their industry and social media. The were several speakers, buy my five favorite were:

- Peter Aceto, President of ING Bank Canada
- Noel Biderman, President of Ashley Madison
- Bryan Segal, VP of comScore
- Idan Cohen, Founder of Boxee.tv
- Alyson Walker, Senior Manager of CTV Olympics

Being a social media addict and entrepreneur, I absolutely loved each of their talks because of my constant craving for the latest social media trends and business industry news that I can add to my personal knowledge and experience. The key difference between these speakers and school was that everything they shared were all real and practical. In contrast, school is just too theoretical, conceptual and boooring. Now you know why I always had trouble paying attention in class.

So during the event, I also took the time to network with people. I exchanged business cards and information with two people (I prefer not to mention their names without their permission). The first was a nice gentleman who was the Community Manager at Techvibes.com and the second was a very friendly lady who was a social media marketing consultant and entrepreneur for Space Race, a digital strategy consultancy. It was really great to learn from their experiences and share ideas. After the event, I was able to introduce myself to Eli Singer, the Founder of Entrinsic.com, the social media communications agency that created CaseCamp. Networking is cool eh?

Setting your priorities

2010-01-31T23:24:00.004-05:00

Knowing your priorities keeps you focused on adjusting and managing your time and energy. Yesterday, I chatted with my parents about how stressed I was becoming from balancing my academic studies, club activities, and business activities all at the same time. I realized that I was spreading my time and energy too thinly into too many areas. Even though I want to accomplish many amazing things, I can't because my biggest hurdle that I have to get through is graduating from university (again...). I had to finish school even if I hated it because that's the only way for me to meet the requirements for the permanent resident application here (its complicated...). As my mom said, "you just need to get through this hurdle" so that I can be free to do whatever I want afterwards. In an instant, my priorities became clear and all the other activities I did seemed less urgent or important. I had to focus on one or two areas at a time. Right now, I'm that has to be on school and Book Hook. On the side, I will continue PPL part time. That's the plan. How I wish I can finish school sooner!

Internet is a treasure hunt

2010-01-25T21:36:00.010-05:00

Ever since my last blog post, I've been spending a lot of time on the internet just constantly reading countless of articles and blogs about social media, online marketing, entrepreneurship, and blogging. If I found an interesting blog or site, I would follow the blogger on Twitter, subscribe to their site's RSS feed using Google Reader, and even bookmark their blog/site to revisit again later. It has been such a fun and amazing journey for me so far and I'm enjoying every moment of it. I feel like a treasure hunter scouring across the wilderness of information, searching and discovering valuable treasures to collect and share with others. Sounds cheesy I know! But that's how I feel when I dive into the information wilderness we call the Internet.

I have two main sources of information. The first is Alltop. It's like "an online magazine rack" that collects and compiles many of the best stories, blogs, and websites about any of your interested topics such as fashion, sports, blogging, marketing, and much more. Thank you Guy Kawasaki for making Alltop! Your site has changed my life by opening my mind to the vast information I've been missing out on all this time! FYI, as I'm writing this, he has over 209,500 followers on Twitter!

Now my second source of information is Twitter via TweetDeck. It's a Twitter client program that allows you to easily use, manage, and monitor your Twitter account without having to go to your Twitter website. I absolutely love it because I can easily track the Tweets of the people I'm following, track hashtags and keywords of topics I like, reply to Tweets, make Retweets, and follow new people all in one place! Plus, I can also track and update my Facebook and LinkedIn accounts through here too! Talk about multi-tasking! What's cool is that you receive instant updates that pop up on your screen every time someone posts a new Tweet or even Facebook status/news update. It's fantastic! TweetDeck gives me the ability to receive and find the latest topics about whatever I'm interested in! It's so much better than the reading or watching the traditional news!

Well, I'm very excited about blogging this week! I have a list of over 20 topics that I found interesting and inspiring to write about. Yey!

Twitter day

2010-01-20T10:47:00.004-05:00

I just feel like talking about Twitter today. First, I added the Follow Me button today to add more flavor to my blog site. There were so many different options to choose from so I might change it again later this week just for the fun of it. Second, Bill Gates joined Twitter yesterday and I followed him when he had 40,000+ followers! As I'm writing this, he has over 196,000 followers already! Unbelievable! Third, I read an article yesterday, Twitter's Growth Slows Dramatically, that really caught my attention. According to the line chart, Twitter's growth peaked back on January 2009, but soon afterwards has been declining sharply. I wonder why... What's more interesting is that only 18% of Twitter users have more than 100 followers! Woah! If that's the case, then my guess is that Twitter isn't that appealing to the mass consumer market. I will definitely do more research and "Digg-ing" on this topic.

Book fair learning experience

2010-01-16T10:34:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we had a book fair for the club. It was a tiring but good learning experience. I really was thankful that Chris and Steve came to help because I thought it would just be Jerry and myself. I came to the realization that those who I expected to show up, didn't... and those who I didn't, did... At that moment I remembered the truth behind ACN's training about how "Those you think can, can't and vice versa. Those you think will, won't and vice versa."

As for the book fair, I was really impressed how we set up four "stations" - 1) sign up station 2) book wrap station 3) logo station and 4) books recommended station. Obviously, the first station was to have students sign their name and email and to introduce or assist them with our website and Facebook group. The second station was to wrap the any books with our plastic and sticker. The third station was a market survey for students to choose their favorite logo. Lastly, the fourth station was to display and view any other non-academic, informative books and some textbooks for sale.

For the next book fair, we really need to plan better. First, we have to do it during the first week of classes on either Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. Friday's are no good since most students don't have class or work. I would really like to see an actual fair with actual stacks of books. I'm not really sure how that will happen, but I think that's what students were looking for. Second, I have to promote the fair a week in advance on Facebook wall, mass message, blog, and word-of-mouth. Third, I should reserve the Student Centre Room 307 since it's bigger and more spacious.
I wonder what else do I need to consider...

Boredom

2010-01-13T10:13:00.004-05:00

Now that classes have finally caught up with me... I always wished that I was somewhere else more exciting. I'm sure my professors are great and nice people but I get boored so easily. I can barely pay attention for 15 minutes! In contrast, I can spend hours and hours surfing the internet, reading through the latest tech news, blog articles, and anything else that catches my attention. The only class that satisfies my curiosity this semester so far is Intro to Sociology... while the other upper year HR classes are just too boring. Too much research related mumbo jumbo. Too much theories. Too lame if you ask me. I guess I just have to do my best to get a decent grade on them.

In another note, today I will be continuing my market survey for the new logos from where I left off on Tuesday. So far... a lot of people, girls in particular, like the color blue! I wonder why...

New Discoveries

2010-01-11T21:13:00.006-05:00

So I joined several new social networking and social media sites today. First, I joined LinkedIn and I'm in the process of finalizing my profile information and other administrative details. Soon I'll start exploring this amazing social networking site. Hopefully I'll be able to find a lot of other entrepreneurs such as myself there.

Second, I joined SurveyMonkey, its a free online survey site. I plan to use this service for asking students their opinions and ideas related to books exchange, classes, courses, and other academic related topics. I will check it out again soon.

Third, I created an account at HootSuite and I must say it is such a convenient service that allows me to control all my social networking sites: Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn so far all in one website. It is neat and well organized too. So I'm really excited to play around with it some more.

Fourth, I found an excellent blog article by Louis Gray called 10 Pointers for Generating Traffic to Your Blog. Two of his points that stuck with me were: "Quality content is key" and "Be a two-way blogger". My ultimate goal for the Book Hook blog and even my own blog is to share informative, original and interesting topics that will attract people to come back for more. I also need to start commenting on other people's blogs and add valuable comments to the online communities and conversations on Twitter and other sites. What else can I do to become better?

Clean up

2010-01-09T18:45:00.007-05:00

I did a lot of cleaning today, both physically and digitally.

It's such a great feeling to clean my room. It's that same good feeling I get after clicking the Refresh button on my browser. I've had too much paper, books, and clutter that needed to either be thrown out or sorted properly. Now I finally have more visible space on my tables while everything is neatly arranged. I guess it's because of my OCD personality.

I made something cool as well. I had a problem... I really needed a container to store all the business cards I collected from people over time. So I thought to myself... "What can I use?". As I searched in and around my room, I found the Kodak box of my camcorder... Then the idea hit me! Aha!. The box was perfect in size, about 8 x 6 x 4 inch, and I was able to fit all my cards, my extra spare change of coins, and other little accessories and medications all together into one place. I feel really proud of myself because not only did I remove all the clutter from my side table, but everything is all organized now! Yey!

Now as for digital cleaning, I added a new app called Symplaris Blogcast that links this blog to my Facebook profile. I also found a great site called Listorious and there I was able to find a whole list of entrepreneurs to follow on Twitter! Yey! From there I was able to find and make an account at PartnerUp and Startup School. I think they're great sites for entrepreneurs. I will look into those sites later. Right now, I'm in the process of adding Google Analytics to this blog. Searching and reading online now...

I also added and edited information on Youtube, and then linked my account to Facebook and Twitter now. However, I can't seem to add Blogger to the My Blog section for some reason. I'll have to try it again later.

I wonder what other great websites I can find today? Also, should I make an account on LinkedIn? It's tempting...

Triumph

2010-01-08T18:42:00.000-05:00

Although today was the last day of the Opening Week, it felt fantastic! We were able to collect over 100 names and emails. At the same time, I was very proud of Steve for being very helpful and learning to become more social and open to other people. Overall, I have a better idea of how to make the system work. One way of maximizing time and energy was just to simply sit down and wait for people to come up to the table. This technique I learned from Anas. At first, I thought that students would be less responsive, but surprisingly, they were just as much, if not even more attentive than when I was standing and talking to them as I did before. This was a very cool learning experience. I gotta keep it simple, stupid! Now, I'm looking forward to our online meeting this Sunday night as well as setting up BEMPs for next week. I wonder how we can coordinate it in such a way to maximize everyone's time and effort while actually being able to help students meet up? To be continued...

Frustration

2010-01-08T00:35:00.001-05:00

It's 12.35am Jan 8, 2010. I'm just burned out...

Trials

2010-01-06T22:46:00.000-05:00

Another good yet tiring day promoting... I'm quite frustrated today though... I've sent the emails from the list we gathered, but one of the biggest problems is that more than 20 of them always bounce back! This is probably due to incorrect spelling or poor handwriting. Ugh... How can we overcome this problem?

One solution I thought of was to use the the Zoho form instead of the physical sign-up form. This way I will be sure the get their emails down correctly. However, problem with this is that students type slow and it can be a hassle with switching tabs in the browser. This is the most cost effective method I can think of so far.

Another solution would be to create another sign-up form with little boxes to write down a letter. This way we can see each letter of a person's name and email more legibly. Problem with this is that its time consuming to make this template and we need it tomorrow! Printing is easy but I want to save paper as much as possible. Sorry trees...

Aha! Why don't I just tell them to write clearly! Like duh! How could I be so stupid! I guess I just needed to clear my head for a while. But again this is just a temporary solution. I need to think of something that's better. But what?

Knowing a person's strengths and weaknesses

2010-01-05T20:47:00.000-05:00

Today was another great day at Vari Hall. I was very satisfied with how everyone was working together with approaching students. One thing I learned is that each person is unique, including myself, with their own sets of strengths and weaknesses. To answer my question from yesterday, I believe that I should praise and build up my members' strengths while pointing out improvements for their weaknesses as well. I agree with Jerry that each person is good at something. Our role is to find out what that is and help each of our members excel in those areas. I wonder what else I could do?

A Long Day

2010-01-04T21:24:00.000-05:00

Today was a long but exciting day. It was the first day of the opening week for Book Hook...and boy was it fun and tiring at the same time. It reminded me of my previous work back at Canada's Wonderland when I was promoting a credit card brand to amusement park guests. I felt that I was able to really make a difference in the lives of several hundred students today by sharing about our club. I also believe that I was able to help some of my team members to get out of their comfort zone and get over their fear of approaching strangers. It made appreciate their commitment and involvement. On another note, I also learned that's its not easy to manage many people all by yourself. I really need to start grouping people into teams and delegating a leader per group. This way I wouldn't have to attend to the needs of every single member as it is can become time consuming with all the action going on. Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to improve my methods of leadership. How can I further motivate my team?

Overcoming Failure

2010-01-03T10:56:00.001-05:00

Today I came across a video of Steve Jobs' commencement talk at Stanford University about his life story. His words of wisdom were truly an inspiration for me because it is only through trials and failure that I can shine and become the best person I can be. I may not be able to see how decisions today will affect my future...but looking back at my own life, several years from now I can connect the dots of how my decisions in the past led to where I am today. Doing what I love... finding my passion in life... I agree and believe that that is the meaning of life. So I ask myself: What do I love to do? Right now, I can honestly say that I love Book Hook. I would do anything and everything to make this an amazing club...or even a company. What else? I also love learning about the internet, social media marketing, and any new technologies. I always want to be updated on the latest trends! One reason is because I find it so fascinating and amazing. The second is because I don't want to get left behind even when I am old. So what else am I passionate about?

My New Year's Resolution

2010-01-02T15:37:00.000-05:00

It's now 2010 and what a great way to start the new year! Here are my resolutions:

1) Write my blog every day about what I've learned, thought or plan to do
2) Read a good, educational book for at least 15 minutes every day
3) Commit to doing two exposures a day for my PPL business (this is a tough one, but I must do it)
4) Commit to listening to Tony Robbins and doing the exercises in the audio tape every day
5) Play badminton or other sport for at least 2 hours or jog for at least 30 minutes a week
6) Make at least one new friend a week
7) Call Michael every last Sunday of the month
8) Stop eating junk food like chips and pop corn... period.

That's what I can think of for now.

Meaningful questions to guide my day

2009-12-24T23:04:00.000-05:00

Man this blog post is long overdue. I've slacked off on both this and Tony Robbins. I need to start writing my blogs consistently every week! Recently, I've learned how to condition myself into thinking positively and doing something meaningful. Everyday after I wake up, I ask myself these questions:

1) What's something new I can learn today?
2) How many people can help today?
3) What should I have done yesterday that I need to do today?

Just three questions... But it really makes me appreciate being alive and living in the present. Am I missing anything else?

12 Things About Me

2009-12-12T11:42:00.000-05:00

So who am I?

1) I am passionate about creating ideas and transforming them into ways to help people change the small aspects of their lives.
2) I love learning about the latest trends on the internet, social media marketing, and new technologies that I believe will change the way we think, live and communicate.
3) I love watching movies about love, courage, sacrifice while sitting on a comfortable couch and a bowl of popcorn on my lap. For 2009, my favorite movies would have to be Slumdog Millionaire, Star Trek, and Up.
4) My favorite tv series is none other than Dexter. I absolutely love that show! The writers are unbelievable, the production set, cinematography and music are immaculate, and the cast are just fantastic.
5) It was only recently that I started writing and blogging, and I must say that I'm enjoying it. It feels so freeing to express my thoughts and feelings.
6) I also enjoy listening to trance and techno music, but progressive trance is my favorite. I love listening to Armin Van Buuren's radio show of A State of Trance. I believe he is definitely the best DJ in the world!
7) I also enjoy computer gaming and my favorite genre would have to be First-person shooters or FPS games. This year, Modern Warfare 2 is on my top wish list. Aside from FPS, I also play Real-time strategy (RTS) and some MMORPG games. Looking forward to Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3!
8) For sports, I enjoy tennis, badminton, table tennis and even bowling.
9) I love eating new and delicious foods from all over the world. My favorite is none other than sushi.
10) I am a perfectionist. This is my greatest strength and yet my greatest weakness. I like to plan ahead and do things in order. This gets the job done but the problem is I can get carried away by spending too much time on something just to get it right.
11) I am a daydreamer. I spend most of my time thinking about ideas, people, visualizing situations and possibilities about what's happening in the world around me.
12) I know I'm attracted to a girl when... I look into her eyes, she makes me smile and I feel very nervous inside.

How well do I know myself?

Letting go of my ego

2009-12-07T10:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I learned a new approach of reaching out to friends. The answer to my question in my last blog posting is this: Let go of your ego. I repeat. Let go of your ego! All this time, the reason why I struggled with people in general was because of my pride and ego. I always thought that I was a somebody... their savior... But I was wrong... When you want something so bad and you don't know what else to do, I had to surrender my pride and admit that I needed help. It was hard but it was a very humbling moment for me. So what did I do? First, I sent a simple text message to a bunch (40+) of my friends saying: "Hey, I need your help. Can I call you?" Next thing I know, I started receiving text messages and phone calls. So when chatting with my friends, this was how the conversation went:

"Hey Jerry, thanks for replying/calling back. I'm going to make this a quick call because I know you're really busy. So I was wondering if you knew anyone who would like to make $400 by helping me with my legal insurance business. Are you familiar with legal insurance? Well, you know about car and life insurance right? You pay to protect your car or your life, and legal insurance is the same thing but you pay to protect your rights, and it deals with anything related to legal issues, legal advice, if you get pulled over by a cop, need a lawyer, go to court, and things like that. So I'm looking for 3 people, do you know anyone?"

I was looking for either a yes or no. If they said yes, I replied: "Great! Can you give them my number or ask them if you can give me their number so we can get in touch asap."
If no: "That's fine. Can you at least pass the word around for me in case someone you know is interested? Thanks."

Some asked questions and I replied naturally as so:
1) What do you have to do for this?
Why are you interested? Well if you know anyone who is, can you give them my number and I will tell them the details.
2) What kind of people are you looking for?
I'm looking for highly motivated, committed, and most importantly, coachable people. Do you know anyone?
3) Can you email me?
I'm sorry I don't have time for that because I'm looking for people asap. So if you could just pass the word around for me, that would be great. Thanks.

After each conversation, I felt really good inside. Why? Because I didn't feel guilty or rejected since I wasn't expecting anything from them. I have been doing sales most of my life, and I've been used to pushing what I want into people's faces and expect them to give me what I want. Time and time again, I received rejection after rejection... I didn't feel good inside because I wasn't totally honest with my friends. It was hard because in network marketing, it is my responsibility to make sure I give my friends the right information without "vomiting" on them. The truth is people sense if you're hiding something from them, and I hated that feeling. I wanted to be honest but I wanted to keep my information short and sweet.

This new mindset and approach is still new for me. I don't know yet where it will take me, but all I know is that it has changed me, even though it seems so small. What's next for me?

My Journey to Personal Development

2009-12-04T13:42:00.000-05:00

I believe that developing myself and reaching my full potential in life is part of success. So I've started listening to a personal development audio series that my friend gave me called Personal Power II by Anthony Robbins. In today's program, I learned that I must start writing a daily journal of what I've learned everyday. This blog is my journal.

The first lesson I learned today was that I need to know what I want! I want to have time and money freedom with my life so that I can do anything I want, when I want, where I want, with whom I want. In terms of money, I want to make one million dollars. I don't know how exactly, but I do know that the network marketing companies I'm involved with, ACN and PPL, will help me get there. I don't have an exact time frame yet, but if I could make one million dollars by the time I'm 25, then that would be a dream come true. How can I get there?

The second lesson I learned was that "failure is your best friend"! I need to face fear and rejection head on and take action. I am thankful that my experience with ACN and PPL have trained me to be more confident of myself. But the truth is, there are many times that I am still afraid of being rejected by my friends or even acquaintances. I get frustrated with myself many times because I tend to hesitate. When I'm with my friends, when is the right time to share with them about how I found a way to make extra money?

Tumblr!

2009-11-30T11:47:00.001-05:00

Well I just made a Tumblr account! And I must say that I like it better than Blogger! Why?

Pros:
1) So many themes to choose and so user-friendly
2) You can upload pic, videos, links, and others easily
3) You can connect it to Facebook and Twitter so I only need to post it once!
4) I can follow my friends!

Cons:
1) There is no Share button that viewers can use to share my blog to Facebook or Twitter.
2) I find it irritating that you have to keep scrolling down to view friends' blog posts.

Here's my link: http://jreandino.tumblr.com/
That's what I've found out so far after using it for an hour. More to come!

My first blog post!

2009-11-29T11:44:00.000-05:00

Well this is neat. On November 29, 2009, I created my very own blog. This is going to be very exciting! So much to learn, so much to share, and so much to live for. Don't you just love the internet and technology? I do!