hhh

What a great opportunity.  What a perfectly fitting piece in the jigsaw puzzle of my life. Let me tell you why.

Twenty years ago I was a newly minted MBA (Duke) who was doing my obligatory stint on Wall Street. I soon came to find that my necktie was strangling the creativity out of my brain and that corporate politics was squashing my entrepreneurial spirit.

I knew I had to make a change so I set out to develop a set of criteria for my perfect pursuit. (That set of criteria is, by the way, as relevant today as it was then.) Those criteria included being creative, and being an entrepreneur. I had to have room for personal, intellectual and professional growth. I had to be doing something new and different and exciting each and every day. Traveling was huge, an absolute must. Most importantly, I had to be passionate about and engaged in what I was doing. Work would not be work because it would excite me on so many different levels.

I chose photography to realize my goals. As the son of a LIFE Magazine photographer I had a camera in my hand before I could walk. For two decades I succeeded in realizing my goals.

Now it is time for another change.  A year or so ago I started looking for opportunities that would fill the same criteria. I came to the conclusion that Internet marketing is my best option.

I had already done substantial Internet marketing for my photographic business. I have designed and developed web sites and marketed them using SEO, Adwords and Social Media. Now I have to go further. Where Internet marketing was a side show (I made the over whelming majority of my photo revenue through my agents), that marketing has now to become the main event.

I set about learning what needed to be learned and doing what needed to be done. I have read books and blogs on SEO, social media marketing, Adwords optimization and PPC strategies. I have set up new blogs to practice and test the theories I have read. And, I have developed a new base of clients for whom I do social media marketing consulting.

I have dabbled and I have practiced. I know the theory and the tools. Now it is time to jump in, to get my hands dirty through a full on, peddle-to-the-metal immersion.

Your opportunity is exactly what I need and it comes along at exactly the right moment. I need to expand and refine my knowledge of websites and Internet marketing. You offer that. I need to explore my entrepreneurial side and need to travel. You offer that.  I need to be in a focused, productive environment. You offer that.  I could go on.

This has the potential for being a very symbiotic relationship. While you offer much that will benefit me, I can bring to you a business background of some 20 plus years, a life time history of entrepreneurship and an MBA from Duke.

Current Web Projects

For the past ten years I have been active in the development, creation and posting of numerous web sites and blogs. All of these offerings were designed as show pieces for members of the photographic community:  photo buyers, assignment editors, stock houses and models that I wanted to shoot. The idea was to show the quality and breadth of my work, to impress the models with my long list of magazine credits (so they would reduce their rates or work with me for free) and to remind all that I was ready, willing and able to drop everything at a moments notice to travel to the far ends of the earth.

Today I have one blog and one website for my photographic works.  The web site can be found at http://www.bradrickerby.com and the blog at http://www.bradrickerby.blogspot.com. The website is created from a template offered by Photoshelter.com. I find this approach much more time efficient for the business out of which I am transitioning.

I like to paint. I like oils mostly, but sometimes use watercolor. I do mostly abstracts, but someday, when I learn better skills, I would like to transition to landscapes and seascapes. I have a website and a blog for my painting portfolio. The website is at http://www.colorlightmovement.com. The blog is located at http://www.rickerbyart.com. Lets face it, I’m not the best painter in the world. While the painting is fun, and serves a meditative function, the website and blog are not really business pursuits.

As part of my life’s repositioning I am now offering social media marketing consulting services. My blog for this is at http://www.smmadventures.com.  This blog is strictly for client development. The posts are designed for the social media neophyte. They are written in terms simple enough to demystify, yet complex enough to make it evident to the reader that they require a consultant. I have just added a mailing list subscription, books through Amazon and Internet tools with whom I am affiliated.

Still, the blog is not designed to be a mass-market piece. I have had a steady flow of inquiries and have developed a number of clients from the blog, which is exactly what it was intended to do.

Top 3 Favorite Blogs

I love the following blogs. They are listed in my order of preference.

http://suitcaseentreprenuer.com, by Natalie Sisson, is my favorite. It is truly an excellent blog.

Suitcaseentreprenuer.com gives me relevant, interesting and, for the most part, well written, content. It also gives what I think of as meaty posts. They have enough information on the bones to be valuable. So many blogs I see just give teases to lure you into buying product. Natalie actually gives you actionable information.

The information Natalie provides comes in a variety of formats, making it easily accessible. The written blog posts are formatted for readability. There are no chunks of text large enough to make your eyes glaze over. She uses plain language, in short paragraphs, with lots of graphics to help one read. Also, she does not write to a sixth grade level, which, while she probably should, is appreciated by those of us with a brain.

Suitcaseentreprenuer.com is also nicely interactive. Natalie seeks out comments and is quick to respond both to the comments and other questions. She is friendly and gracious. You can almost see the smile on her face as she interacts with you. I’ve only made a couple of comments on her posts and already I’m on a first name basis with her.

Lastly, I can follow her on Facebook and Twitter. I spend a lot of time on Twitter in my capacity as a social media marketing consultant.

http://blog.hubspot.com gets second place in my list of blogs. The blog was founded by two MIT graduates. It’s writing is very intelligent and covers many areas of interest. There is a large archive of posts and they are constantly giving away eBooks as promotional items.

http://kimgarst.com/ is a blog about social media and branding.  Kim Garst, who is a very sweet woman, runs the blog. I have had several conversations with her via email, Facebook and twitter and appreciate her commitment to customer service.