Humanize the interviewer.

Maybe Mr. Reporter or Ms. Talk Show Host is just swamped. Maybe the dog ate her homework or an emergency prevented him from reading your book or article, test-driving your product, etc. View the person asking the questions as an actual person. Empathize.

Do not get upset.

You have a right to be a little miffed. After all, you took time out of your schedule and the interviewer could have at least spent five minutes checking out your web site, right? I couldn’t agree more, but getting upset serves very little purpose. Go to a bar later…

In the meantime, remember that potential listeners, viewers, and readers may very well have the same questions as your interviewer. That is, you can still educate the interviewer’s audience–as well as the interviewer.

Answer the questions asked.

Perhaps you didn’t show up to talk about events in China, AOL, the Boston Celtics, the most recent Twitter redesign, or how to monetize a website. Being evasive or completely non-responsive is only going to irritate the interviewer and, trust me, things are likely to spiral downward from there.

Do your part, especially if you’re live. Play ball. Remember the previous rule.

But steer the answers and conversation into the direction in which you want to go.

Even with oddball or not totally relevant questions, you still have an opportunity to influence the conversation. Many if not most questions have a great deal of wiggle room. For instance, I was asked on a recent TV appearance about the “stickiness of websites.” Now, I can talk about this ad nasueum, but it wasn’t terribly germane to the supposed topic of the interview. And it can open Pandora’s Box.

No bother.

I said a few things to answer the question, but related it on the fly to platforms and, in this case, Facebook.

Once I moved the conversation closer to my heart (intentional Rush reference), the interviewers improvised and started asking me questions related to the book.

Know when to say “I don’t know.”

Even chatty types like me occasionally get stumped. In fact, you could write several libraries filled with large books about what I don’t know. And that’s an important limitation to understand. You’ll do a few things by being honest when stumped. First, you will communicate to the interviewer that you respect his/her time. More important from your perspective, though, you’ll save valuable time. You can then hopefully answer the questions that you were supposed to answer from the get-go.

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In 2004 I moved from Brooklyn, NY to Caldwell, NJ. I just didn’t enjoy living in an urban environment. I’m a suburban guy and, quite frankly, the cost, noise, expense, and overall intensity of the Big City was a bit too much for this simple man to handle.

Fast forward seven years. I love my place in New Jersey—other than insane taxes. Despite what Governor Chris Christie is trying to do and my recent tax abatement, NJ property taxes are still the highest in the country. On a professional level, I do alright for myself, but I know that I could save upwards of $20,000/year by moving to a less expensive part of the country.

A Change of Directions

Back in 2004, I made all of my money by consulting, typically with large companies implementing big, expensive systems. I started the Phil Diversification Project in mid-2008. I knew that it was fundamentally dangerous for all of my income to stem from one source. I also thought that, like a friend of mine, I could make money from writing, speaking, and doing different types of consulting.

By 2011, I was making money  from different sources. I found myself less and less interested in those big consulting assignments with bureaucratic organizations. Writing The New Small and working with so many dynamic folks and companies made me less willing to take on projects that, in all likelihood, were going to be highly adversarial.

Life’s too short. Do what you want—as long as you can pay the bills doing it.

Why Vegas?

For one, I can save a great deal of money. With fewer expenses, I can be pickier about the types of writing, speaking, and consulting engagements that I choose to take. For example, I no longer have the annual “nut” of $11,000 in property taxes and association fees hanging over my head.

Taking on better clients and speaking gigs means more personal satisfaction. Period.

Second, on a personal level, I like warm weather. A six-month maelstrom of record-breaking snow, winds, and rain has left a bad taste in my mouth. While Vegas can be oppressively hot, I suppose that I’m willing to trade three months of heat for five to six months of “unhot.”

Third, because it’s Vegas. “The City of Lost Wages” is home to a bevy of conferences and events, such as the recent Growco conference at which I spoke. Being local means that, all else equal, I’m easier to book than the NJ version of me.

Finally, technology has continued to improve at God speed. GoogleDocs, Video Skype, GoToMyPC and other screen sharing tools, and other collaborate applications make it extremely easy for me to support clients all over the globe with a simple Internet connection.

To paraphrase Pacino in Heat: Bon voyage, New Jersey. You were good.

In what was one of the most compelling finals in recent NBA history, the Mavs beat the Heat. In no particular, here’s what the entire LeBron-a-thon this year teaches us:

• Studs and duds doesn’t work as a strategy for building a team. The Mavs have one legitimate star and a bunch of very good players.
• Unsuspected stars emerge. J.J. Barea was on no one’s radar this year and was one of the more important factors in the series.
• Controversy makes for great marketing. Think about it: How many of you watched just because you wanted him to lose?
• Make a big spectacle of yourself and you’ll make enemies. Lots of ‘em.
• Everyone has a voice via Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, etc.
• LeBron has to do some growing up. Case in point: Mocking Dirk’s illness.

Leverage is a fickle thing. Consider the following:

• The company in a remote area has a tremendous amount of leverage of local employees, especially if the latter have no desire to learn new skills or move.
• The highly skilled employee weighing multiple offers can exert significant leverage over each prospective employer.
• The home seller has leverage over the buyer who becomes emotional, especially if the former doesn’t have to move.
• The cable company has leverage over its customers, especially when local rules prohibit free choice (as is the case in my neighborhood).
• The author with a strong following is holding some strong cards over her publisher for her next book advance, especially since self-publishing is becoming an increasingly viable–and less stigmatized–option.

I could go on, but you get my point.

So, what are you doing to maximize your leverage?

The Foo Fighters (one of the best bands of the last fifteen years) have a new album coming out on April 12. It’s called Wasting Light and, as I write this on April 2, the album can already be easily stolen on many bit torrent sites. For years, technology has allowed people to steal music, movies, and books with relative ease. To be honest, I grabbed a few songs back in the Napster heyday.

Realizing that this would happen eventually, the band was proactive and posted the album for listening only on its site–and announced it to the world. Here’s the tweet:

[blackbirdpie id="53967785017098240"]

I’m not going to claim moral superiority over the thieves. Some have even made specious legal claims about why it’s actually legal. The courts have rejected them en masse but, as we continue to see, judges cannot keep up with the dizzying pace of technology these days.

If you steal music, I’m not going to be able to convince you to stop. But do us all a favor? Stop complaining about high ticket and memorabilia prices at concerts–or just watch videos on YouTube. These artists have to make money somehow and, with the erosion of so much of their revenue base, it’s completely reasonable for artists to make money however they can. If this means $150 concert tickets for average seats, then so be it.

Do the Right Thing

Support your favorite artists by buying their creative works, folks. If you want them to keep making music, pony up like you should.

There’s no one hungrier than the starving artist. But what happens after major success?

• It’s easy for a bestselling author, big advance in hand, to mail it in on her next book.
• It’s easy for a successful actor to take facile roles with big paydays and cash in on his fame.
• It’s easy for a music group to churn out essentially the same album after releasing a platinum one.

The Establishment is now a factor.

Let’s say that the artist wants to continue to push the envelope and avoid producing anodyne work. There are major forces at play mitigating against big-time artists going against the grain and doing something totally different. Examples include movie studios, record companies, and publishing houses.

Rare is the artist who plays against type once he establishes a niche–and tells the powers that be to go fly a kite. With many newly successful artists, the hunger often abates. It’s easier to just give in, take the cash, and think about being more independent in the future.

Metallica was crucified for “selling out” after subsequent releases to The Black Album. Die hard fans despised most of their work until the band’s latest album. Same with U2 and Pop.

Each band never lost the hunger to do different things.

I have nothing but respect for artists of all types who play against type–even if the results don’t thrill me as much as their previous work. Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Jason Leigh are two of my favorite actors because you never know what roles they’ll take on next. They’ll often pass on more commercially viable roles because they don’t want to be typecast. Even in poorly made movies, they are eminently watchable.

Endeavor to do the same.

I walk into the Empire Room on 5th Avenue in Manhattan last night for NxNYC. It’s a clear parody of the big event in Austin, TX this week. I see a few familiar faces and exchange some hugs and kiss hellos. After getting situated, I start to meet new people.

It turns out that there are quite a few people there looking for work. Sign of the times, I suppose. A bunch are seeking employment with a company in a social media or corporate communications’ capacity. In theory, these are the people who would be creating content for their prospective employers. Think blog posts, podcasts, and videos.

We eventually exchange business cards and go on our merry ways. This morning, I take a look at some of the cards and see e-mail addresses, Twitter handles, LinkedIn profiles, and cell phone numbers. Yet, there’s something missing on a few of these cards: websites.

I don’t get it.

Wouldn’t this be the first thing to list on a business card? Where else would you showcase what you can could do and, more important, what you have already done? While www.johnsmith.com is probably taken, why not get creative? Even if it’s blogspot.johnsmith.com, why not put your body of work in one place for all the world to see? Think Chris Spurlock here. His resume went viral for a reason: he showed that he’s remarkably creative.

You presumably have the time to launch a site. What’s stopping you?

Safe is my least favorite word these days. Consider the following:

• It’s safe for major publishers to approach social media rock stars and with book deals, even if those books turn out to be largely anodyne.
• It’s safe for movie studios to remake The Green Hornet, Get Smart, and films from other moribund franchises.
• It’s safe for the head of PR of a cash-laden Fortune 50 company to turn down new marketing ideas under the aegis of lack of funds.
• It’s safe for large companies to hire McKinsey, Accenture, and other highly recognizable consulting firms to implement their systems.
• It’s safe for companies to only hire candidates with previous experience.
• It’s safe not to take risks.

But here are the problems with safe:

• Safe is boring.
• Safe is predictable.
• Safe is limiting.
• Safe can only offer marginal improvements.
• Safe isn’t sustainable.
• Safe often isn’t really safe.

Do you think that Mark Zuckerberg was worried about safety? Steve Jobs? Larry Paige and Sergey Brin? Think that Thomas Edison or Jackson Pollock wanted to keep it safe?

Narcissus or Narkissos was a hunter from the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. He was exceptionally proud, in that he disdained those who loved him. As divine punishment he fell in love with his own reflection in a pool, not realizing it was merely an image, and he wasted away to death, not being able to leave the beauty of his own reflection. (Wikipedia)

These days, most of us encounter the modern day version of Narcissus on a regular basis:

• Years ago, I used to deal with recruiters who needed to fill a position. They needed me to drop everything I was doing to get them what they needed. I would oblige, only to either never hear back or have to track them down to find out that the position was now closed. They would contact me months later oblivious to how poorly they behaved.
• Weeks ago, I had to get the head of a marketing agency a proposal by the end of the day. The agency needed my help for blogging and social media for one of its blue-chip clients. I provided a detailed quote later that day because, to quote the woman, “we need to find someone immediately.” It took several emails on my end to find out that the agency went in a different direction.
• I had been in touch with someone to run a piece on The New Small over the last few months. I would answer his questions, give him what he needed, and then never hear back. All of a sudden, when the person needed “filler” content for his blog, I was the flavor of the month again.

The way I see it, if übersmart and überbusy Seth Godin can find the time to return my emails–and those of many other non-rock types–then why can’t others?

It turns out that not everyone is narcissistic. I recently read five inspirational stories that give me hope.

Highlights

Looking back, I am particularly fond of the following events and achievements:

• It’s hard to top the premeir of the Rush documentary and the fist-pumps that I exchanged with Alex and Geddy (about 1:33 in here). Yes, I’m the guy in the “Got Geddy” blue t-shirt with the ear-to-ear grin. Great event–and the concerts supporting the forthcoming album were just awesome.
• I am particuarly proud of the publication of my third book, The New Small. It’s my best book, period. Early reviews (such as this one from Dawn Westerberg) have been extremely positive. Along these lines, the Kickstarter project was particularly inspriational. I made some great new friendships with some incredibly dynamic small business onwers.
• The launch of my new book site was quite a rush (pun intended). My developer @shiriamram is ridiculously talented.
• Attending DataFlux ideas and speaking to the attendees was amazing. These folks are just amazing to work with.
• I appeared on television for the first time to discuss my new book. Fastest seven minutes of my life.
• Five words: An honest 85 at Rutgers. I shot the single best round of my life at the end of the summer with a only one double bogey. I’m not a good golfer but I remember every shot of that round. There weren’t that many, after all. (Ironically, I’m still a bit miffed that I three-putted 18.)
• My new iMac Pro brought me into an entirely different world. I still have quite a bit to learn, but it’s neat to no longer be on the outside looking in at what I believe is the future of computing.

Disappointments

I have my health, a great cadre of friends, some degree of financial stability, and a reasonably solid family unit. It’s hard for me to gripe too much. However, not everything went my way in 2010. That’s life. Disappointments included:

• I thought that my second book would do better than it did. I’m proud of it and I suppose that that’s all that ultimately matters.
• Along these lines, I expected to speak at a few more conferences. I had chances to go to some fairly big events but people seemed to have a problem with paying me to travel and share my knowledge. Maybe this had something to do with the economy. Maybe I just wasn’t giving off the right vibe. Something tells me, however, that this is about to change.
• After 25 years with my second favorite band, drummer Mike Portnoy left Dream Theater. (Mike – you’re not reading this and I don’t know you, but I’ve met you a bunch of times and just hope that you find whatever you are looking for.)

The Year Ahead: A New Level?

I’m going “all in” with The New Small. It’ll be available electronically in early January of 2011, once I make a few minor fixes. I can’t release details yet, but I have a great shot to be on some very prominent TV shows and to keynote some conferences for the first time. I believe that the new book hits on something very important.

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What do you wish for in 2010?