As of October 25th, 2011 (Anyone tell me why October 25th is special? Specifically, October 25th, 1985?) shankman.com has a brand new look! Cleaner, faster, and much more relevant to what I do for a living. I’m excited about it, and I hope you are, as well! I’d like to give mega-props to Pete Czech, founder of the New Possibilities Group, for the incredible job he and his team have done on this rebuild. If you ever find yourself in need of some amazing technical work, you can’t do any better Welcome and enjoy! -Peter Shankman

Another in the popular “How To Be Taken Seriously” category. It all comes down to personal trust, whether you’re a one-person shop, a small business, or a multi-billion dollar corporation. As I’ve mentioned a few times already, I finally bought an apartment in Manhattan. Years of renting have come to a close as I signed close to 1,453 documents over the course of an afternoon in exchange for two lock keys and one mailbox key. I’m a homeowner. Yes, it’s scary as hell, with each day bringing up more scariness excitement than the day before. But the one thing that keeps me smiling is this: Because I own, I can create. Or, in less dramatic terms, I can mold my [...]

This isn’t another Steve Jobs tribute post. The man was great, and the world is showing that. This is, rather, a reflection on why, in my opinion, Mac people are so rabid about their products. It’s a reason Steve Jobs knew all so well, and worked to achieve every day. It’s also a spectacular lesson for small and mld-size businesses out there, something we can all strive to achieve. Simply put, if you look at Macintosh users as customers, (which they are) then the product Apple creates is the customer service within the equation. Yes, there’s customer service at the Apple stores, or online at apple.com, but that’s (usually) a one-time thing. For the majority of us, customer service truly [...]

I love the fact that I sit on boards. It means I get to give away super-cool free stuff. Today, I get to give away a Winter Jacket (just in time) at ScotteVest. Like the kind I have. Want to win A Fleece 5.0? ScotteVest? Perfect for winter? Here’s all you have to do: Someone tweeted me this morning with a speaking opportunity – But they did it to @peter. When they didn’t get a response, they tweeted to @shankman. By this point, I was notified by more than one person that this tweeter thought I just wasn’t replying. *Facepalm.* So it occurred to me that I might want to do a better job branding my Twitter name. That’s where you [...]

I woke up on a random morning last week and did what I always do – Fed the cat, made coffee, stumbled towards the shower, and eventually, sat down at my desk, and launched Chrome with the five tabs I’ve programmed to open at startup. Two of those tabs are Facebook. Facebook.com, and my (I hate this term) “like page.” I go through the people in my network, then look at any posts or comments on the “like page,” and respond accordingly. This is a daily thing. I do it every morning, whenever morning happens to fall in the part of the world I’m currently in. This morning, though, something was different. I’d been invited to try Facebook’s new “Timeline” [...]