I’m always busy! (I’m sure you know this if you’ve read any of my time management posts.) I have a list of topics I would like to write about, but they require a certain level of research and  nice mix of humor (to keep it interesting) that I just haven’t had time for. Instead, I thought I’d do something a little different and give you a sneak peak into my life. I am not a videographer (obviously!) and I’m not very savvy with the video editing…so don’t judge. If you have the patience to wait for this video to load in HD–do it!

For my strategic marketing course this semester, my team has to lead a discussion about nontraditional forms of advertising and promotion. This would be such a piece of cake, if there weren’t a catch. You see, another group has to lead a discussion about marketing on the web. Our nontraditional marketing mediums must be offline. (Seriously? What is offline these days, anyway?)

I thought that this project might make for some interesting blog posts and sure enough…here is the first (of many, I’m sure).

I spent an entire day thinking about what forms of nontraditional media exist outside of the internet. (It’s a little sad, I know!) And then it dawned on me…I vaguely recalled a news story of someone selling advertising space on their body. One google search later and LeaseYourBody.com is on my nontraditional advertising radar.

LeaseYourBody.com allows leasers (or regular people) to create profiles telling advertisers why their body would make the perfect advertising medium. Leasers also get to choose the price tag for their different body parts and list which body parts are not for lease!

So how many people see this as a viable marketing medium? Not very many. The most recent press covering Lease Your Body’s unique operation dates back to 2005! It also appears that their website has not been updated in quite some time. I clicked over to their forums to see if I could find some leasers who might have stuck around, but the newest post was from May of this year and it had no replies.

So now the burning question is, why did leaseyourbody.com fail? Or, better stated, why does it appear to be failing?

My first thought was about how ironic it would be if the company’s failure was due to ineffective marketing. More research showed that there was no other company out there serving as a middle man for people looking to lease out advertising space on their bodies and advertisers looking to buy the space. (I had no other successful marketing campaigns to compare it to.) It looks like there is just not a lot of demand for this niche service.

And so now the question is, why is an advertisement on someone’s forehead not effective? I will be the first to admit that I would be looking that company up on my iPhone before I even fully passed the guy (or girl!) wearing the temporary tattoo on his (or her) forehead/neck/arm. I have yet to find any research on the topic, but I’d love to hear your opinions on why this was/is a failure!

While I am eternally grateful for the professional experiences I’ve had since I was laid off, I don’t see wedding planning or getting paid in shoes as viable long-term careers. While I am not exactly in a position to take on that full-time 8am-5pm job, I secretly dream that one of these awesome companies would like me SO much that they would be flexible with my schedule. (Please keep in mind that while I’m sure it would be a blast to be a cashier or sandwich artist at one of these fine companies, that’s not exactly what I have in mind!)

Whole Foods - FORTUNE named them the 18th best company to work for in the United States. Some people may call it Whole Paycheck, but not I. Not only is shopping at Whole Foods a completely pleasant experience for me (I truly believe in the “you get what you pay for” motto), but they are a leader in the food revolution (and as the food revolution spreads, maybe their supply will go up and prices will go down) as far as I’m concerned. Remember when I read Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma? Slowly but surely that book and a few other books that I’ve read a long the way have revolutionized the way I view food. In turn, my body and my energy level has been revolutionized. Any company that participates in this kind of revolution is worth working for. Whole Foods is active in the communities where they have stores. They have cooking classes at their culinary centers. Seriously…I would be SO lucky to have an opportunity to work for this company. Maybe as a social media maven–I wish!

Publix- Do you see a trend here? Maybe I have a food problem, maybe I don’t. Regardless, Publix is a Fortune 500 company who values their employees. All employees become stockholders after just one year and with as well as the company has been doing for the last decade (or more!) the stock is worth a little something. Not only is Publix known for treating it’s employees well, but they really stick to their motto, “Where Shopping is a Pleasure.” The managers are always walking around making sure that you can find what you’re looking for, the person restocking the produce always asks you how you’re doing and they will take your cart to your car for you–no tips please. Yes, Publix is a lot like Plesantville. (Again, you get what you pay for.)

Zappos - With it’s “zany culture” is also ones of CNN’s top 100 companies to work for. How could you NOT want to work for a company whose CEO wrote a book called Delivering Happiness? With free gadgets and bonuses for every employee, Zappos certainly knows how to provide incentives that keep employees productive and positive. Their Zappos Family Blog is a team effort–even the CEO contributes. (Talk about an opportunity to work as a social media maven!) They are having a lot of fun over there at Zappos with their great company culture and the sweet videos they make for their blog.

So there you have it…my top 3 dream companies (at the moment)! What are yours?

This review may not appeal to everyone. I’m just going to put it out there that it’s not quite as interesting or entertaining as Skinny Bitch or my lightning round post. But I read The New Rules of Marketing and PR by David Meerman Scott and there are a few (actually more than a few) valuable pieces of information that I thought I would put out there.

As most of you know, I’ve been doing a little business blogging here and here. Business blogging is about marketing and public relations. While anyone can set up shop and call themselves a blogger, that doesn’t mean that they understand how to write content that drives traffic and converts to sales/subscriptions/donations. Rather than just calling myself a business blogger and hoping that my blog posts drive enough traffic for my employers/potential employers to believe that I am qualified to blog, I decided to educate myself. I’ve found myself more and more interested in social media marketing and so I’ve been experimenting with it. I’ve created blogs and twitter accounts all over the place just to see what I can do with them. (Keeping all of them updated is definitely something that I cannot do!)

All of this interest drove me to read The New Rules of Marketing and PR and I am so glad I did! While the ideas in this book are not revolutionary–especially not to those of us who have been using social media for many years– the book did remind me to do some things I had not been doing and it provided a new perspective on things I was already doing.

My personal favorite chapter was on public relations. Let us not forget that, although we are writing press releases for the press, we are writing for the general public. Find a way to speak to the public that they actually understand. Scott’s best advice: If your grandmother can’t understand your press release neither will journalists (or your potential clients). Scott talks about staying away from industry catch phrases and over used words. You really just need to read the book, if you have any interest in all of this!

I love that Scott wrote this book as though it were a blog. In fact, he wrote most of it as a blog first! The conversational tone of the book makes it an easier read than some technical books that I’ve opened, skimmed through and then promptly returned to the shelf. For any aspiring community manager, social media guru or professional blogger, this is a must read. I will say that it doesn’t have some little known secret that is going to jump start your social media marketing efforts overnight. (I looked for that book…it doesn’t exist!)

In another social media marketing news…

I’ve built up quite the collection of social media and/or marketing blogs. I’ve subscribed to them using Google reader. While there’s no feasible way for me to stay up to date with all of them, I do try to spend some time on the weekends reading Chris Brogan, She-economy, Mashable and Shannon Paul’s Very Official Blog. I wonder how much time I’ll have to do that now that school is starting.

OliBac - Flickr Creative Commons

I can’t believe that next week I am heading back to a work where sleep is a luxury (though I am in a mild version of that world right now!) and a clean apartment will soon be a thing of the past. Oh to keep up with 2 side jobs and three blogs be a career woman and a graduate student! I will certainly be challenged this semester. I will certainly grow professionally and academically. And I will (almost) certainly be losing my mind a few times a day. But as I head back to school visions of sugar plums techy toys dance in my head!

iPad

A giant iPhone (I would know since I have had 2 iPhones in the last month!) is what the boyfriend tells me. Well, I love my iPhone — wouldn’t it just mean more to love? I recently did some sales trainings to get a free license for Mobile Me. (I wanted the track my iPhone app, so that future iPhone thieves stand less of a chance and I didn’t want to pay $99 for it! Don’t ask how I got access to the trainings. There are some things that are better left undisclosed!) Naturally, those trainings are meant to leave you feeling you absolutely must have every apple product out there. It totally worked. The thought of  writing notes about class (and about blog posts ideas) on my iPad and then wireless syncing those notes to my MacBook Pro gets my inner geek all excited. And how cool would it be to have galleries of my work for clients to see at the swipe of a finger (see what I did there)?

MacBook Pro

Did I mention that I don’t actually have a MacBook Pro yet? I’m going to need it (I actually need two, because I think that some major fights will break out in my household if we had to share something as cool as this!) to edit those photos in my gallery and to make awesome videos of awesome stuff. (Look…anyone who says they’ve got everything all figured out is lying. So I don’t exactly have everything I’m going to use my MacBook Pro for figured out yet— don’t judge me. ) The new MacBook Pro has a glass trackpad that allows it to use multi-touch technology (like the iPhone and the iPad)– no buttons! (Read about it here.)  I know that I sound like an Apple fan girl right now. In reality, the only Apple products I’ve ever owned are my iPhones (all three of them…ugh. Yep…still bitter.) and my iPod (age 5). But Apple’s discreetly feminine branding is working its charm on me. I’m a marketer; I know exactly what they are trying to do. I’m falling for it. Kudos, Apple!

Digital Pen

This may or may not be a more practical gadget than the previous two. I’ve been debating whether or not to invest in a digital pen for over a year now. While there are a few brands that make digital pens, the only one I’ve seen in action is by Livescribe. The pen records voice while you take notes. Later you can click back on different parts of your notes and the pen will play back what was being said at the time that you took that note. The pen also allows you to upload your notes as a PDF file. There are two major drawbacks (thus, my year long “to buy or not to buy” debate persists). You have to write in the special Livescribe notebooks for the pen to work. (I’m sure you can’t bet these notebooks at Staples for $1) The other drawback is the price tag. How often do you lose pens? How often are your pens stolen? How pissed would you be if the pen you lost (or the pen that was stolen) had cost you $150? Exactly! While I’m not ready to financially commit to this gadget, I would be totally stoked if it were gifted to me. Are you there Lightscribe? It’s me Laura!

Arizona Rainman PhotoShop Satire

If you’re following me on twitter, you know that I had a nightmare of a weekend. My beloved new iPhone 4 was stolen. I’m going to give you the short rant, and I’ll get to the real story.

Don’t parents teach their kids any value? Honestly, it’s not like a middle school girl is going to be able to activate that expensive phone and it’s not like she’s old enough to sell it on ebay. I secretly hope that your mom and/or dad have strong morals and find out that you stole some poor wedding coordinator/blogger/graduate student’s lifeline and punishes you until you are 18 for it!

With that said, I want to detail my service experience. I have blogged a bit about services quite a bit lately (here and here). Studying hospitality management and working in the services industry has really made me see every service experience from a new perspective. Despite the fact that (in this scenario) I was the upset customer, I saw the situation from an objective and almost academic point of view. Here are my observances.

As soon as I realized the phone was gone and someone else had it, I went back to Macy’s and asked the 2 women who worked near the dressing room (and who had checked me out when I had made my purchase 10 minutes prior) from which the iPhone had been stolen. I was in a panic; they were SO slow to react and their “sympathy” was so fake that it was partially disgusting.

When the Macy’s Loss Prevention manager finally made an appearance (15 minutes later), she pretended to be helpful by walking us to the mall security guards. When we asked her about the security cameras, she said she couldn’t refer to them (Seriously lady? You are a loss prevention manager who can’t refer to your own security videos! I’m certain you’re lying, but I won’t call you out on it. I’ll just blog about your lies later.)  We asked her about the video again about 5 minutes later (she had been “searching” for the phone with us). She said, “when do you think it was taken,” I told her approximately 25 minutes prior. Without giving it a moment of thought she responded, oh no, I had the camera somewhere else on the second floor at that time. (Seriously lady? You have one security camera in the store that floats around and at the time it was floating on the second floor. I think not!)

Now, Apple and/or AT&T are perfectly capable of tracking the phone. But they won’t. They can’t be bothered with pushing a few dozen buttons, unless of course you pay for their $100 Mobile Me application (prior to misplacing your iPhone or having it stolen). Fine. People lose their phones every day and it’s not your problem to save the world. Don’t lie to me and tell me you CAN’T. You can. You won’t. End of discussion. (I can’t believe how little money I’ve spent with these two companies over the last two years to get such stellar service </sarcasm>)

Now, the police officer who filed my police report was very pleasant. The mall security guards provided the best service of the night. Their sympathy was genuine. The iPhone thieves told me that they would leave the phone by the bar (they were “afraid” to get in trouble if I saw them…ugh) and mall security helped us look for everything in the mall that might be considered a bar. I was very pleased with mall security, but in the end there was nothing they could do–they were mall cops!. If Apple or Macy’s had provided half the service that mall security did, I may have found those little bitches misguided teenage girls who took my lifeline!

In short, mall security was wonderful. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the Oviedo police department. The corporal who filed my police report told me to call the following morning, if the thieves turned my phone back on, because the investigations department could possibly track the phone. Sure enough, my phone was back on in the morning. I called and the nice lady who answered the phone told me that investigations could track it, but they wouldn’t be in until Monday (it was Sunday). I called on Monday (yes, I left my phone service on for all of those days…silly me!) and investigations told me they could track it, but that the case had not been assigned to them. If I wanted to see about getting the case assigned to investigations, I had to contact the Corporal who filed my police report and he would not be in until Wednesday. (You think I’m leaving my phone service on until Wednesday? That phone is long gone. Case closed.)

And so there you have it…my less-than-acceptable service experience.

A special thanks to my parents who provided amazing service by helping me deal with the financial burden of having my iPhone stolen.

I am starting to wonder if I am doing a good enough job of managing my time. Lately I’m blogging here, here, here and here. I’m also heading up social media marketing efforts for Orlando Wedding Team and Recessionista. I am so excited to be getting all of this experience, despite the fact that I am technically still an unemployed graduate student. It just goes to show that if you put yourself out there (even if you’re putting yourself out there for free), you may get to add some incredible projects to your portfolio.

So I’ve put myself out there, I am SO excited about the experience that I am getting and I am busier than I have ever been in my entire life. However, school starts in a matter of weeks and I have got to find balance. I am taking three graduate classes this Fall! I keep thinking that maybe there is a well-kept secret that I don’t know about (you know, a secret code you can use to add extra hours to your day, or a way that I can freeze the world around me as I continue to work). I’ve debated reading books like The Time Trap or Getting Things Done. But honestly people, if I don’t have time to get dressed after I take a shower and I work until 2am, how am I going to find time to read a book? Can we be serious? I can’t live on caffeine naps.

I was thinking about waiting until I actually found a solution to this time management problem I am having  (Am I even having a time management problem or do I simply not have enough time?) to start blogging about it, but here I am. Anyone have any solutions?

D Sharon Pruit

Remember in September of last year when Chasing Education was in it’s infancy and I recapped my GRE experience? That was 20 pounds and a whole lot of learning ago. Well Chasing Education has recently had a lot of visitors searching for information on the GRE and wondering what to do about their suffering with GRE math. (You lurkers can come out and ask a question or two now!) With all of these lurkers visitors wondering about the GRE and how they can do better, I figured it would be courteous to revisit the topic.

I mentioned in my last post about the GRE that I would have purchased the Kaplan GRE math workbook and that I would not have used the Barron’s math workbook. Now that I look back on it, I have an even clearer head about than I did immediately after taking the GRE. It would have been beneficial to have used a variety of different prep books for the math section, because I was generally unprepared for the questions that were given to me when I sat down to take the test. I could do math, as far as I was concerned, and I didn’t think to review the fundamentals before I jumped into a GRE workbook or two. If you find yourself struggling with the math section of the GRE and you haven’t set a date yet, I recommend that you give yourself 6 to 8 months to prepare. Use different GRE math workbooks and use books/websites that outline the fundamental concept of algebra, trigonometry and geometry. Yes, you’re supposed to know these concept already, but up until you decided to take the GRE, you

hadn’t used any of them in quite sometime. (Unless your undergraduate degree was in a hard science, but if it was, I suspect you’re not really struggling with the basic mathematical concepts that the GRE covers.)  By using a variety of different materials (I would start with the basic mathematical concepts before you jump right into a workbook), you’re preparing yourself for the different types of questions you’ll encounter when you take GRE.

This is not the last you lurkers will hear of the GRE. So comment (you know, in the box below) and I’ll be happy to answer the questions of my fellow scholars!

I’m sorry I don’t have any fun photos for this post, it’s just cold, hard facts.

Let me just say that if you google “graduate school scholarships,” the search results are disappointing. Has it not occurred to anyone to create scholarship websites that at least appear legitimate? Honestly, when your google advertisements take a more prominent position on your scholarship website than the scholarships, it says something to me. It says, you’re not in it for the kids. After a few initial mishaps, I did come across some valuable information (though, not nearly as much information as I would have liked.) Stay tuned to my Dollars for Students Page for any worth while websites that may allow you to actually win some scholarship money.

Exhibit A

Free Scholarship Guide: This free e-book is virus free! (You laugh, but with these scholarship websites being as questionable as they are, I was concerned.)

Exhibit B

Scholarship Experts : It takes 20 minutes (if you’re lucky) to register for this site. Yes, it’s tedious, but if you can remember your login information, it’s smooth sailing from there. (That’s assuming you have no problem with writing essays for scholarship money.) Some of the scholarships are as easy as providing your contact information for a scholarship sweepstakes, others may require a bit more thought. The site adds new scholarship based

Exhibit C

CollegeNet: If you can handle hanging around this forum for long enough, you’ll win the $4000 weekly scholarship sooner or later. The first time I won, I won it sooner. I will be eligible for the scholarship again on the 29th of this month. If you want to support me in my quest to win another scholarship vote for me weekly.

Of the three scholarship resources for graduate students that I’ve featured here, CollegeNet has definitely been the most time consuming and frustrating. I know that I might be shooting myself in the foot by insulting the source that funds my education, but it’s not exactly like that. The concept of CollegeNet is brilliant. You post topics, you reply to other people’s topics and if what you say is informational or inspirational or elicits some strong emotion from your peers, they vote for you. Each week, he with the most votes wins. My gripe with the website is that it can be a black hole of intellectualism. I don’t even need to go into it, you’ll see what I mean if you just visit the site. CollegeNet’s motto is “It Pays to Think,” yet the most “thought-provoking” thing on the front page is “Advise for the College Virgin.” Are you kidding me? People who can’t even spell are winning thousands of dollars a week! It really gets to me sometimes.

Edit September 2nd 2010 – I was just brought back to reality by a fellow College Net user. At the time that I wrote this post I was particularly frustrated with College Net, but reality is that even I make spelling mistakes and I was totally right about shooting myself in the foot by insulting the source that funds my education. You live, you learn.

Hopefully exhibits D through F will manifest shortly.

I have been so busy. I’ve been meaning to research scholarships for graduate students and I do have a draft of that post. Unfortunately, it’s going to be just a draft for a while!

As I was saying, I’ve been so busy and, as a result, extra tired. This week I’ve had networking events, meetings, and an extra dog. With all of this life to tend to, I have no time for naps! Fortunately, I made a brilliant discovery yesterday. Actually, my significant other made a brilliant discovery…actually, he just came across something someone else discovered. The caffeine nap. Drink a cup of coffee and immediately take a nap. The way your body processes the caffeine while you’re resting eliminates the chemical that makes you sleepy. The rules are very specific. You must take the nap immediately after drinking the coffee and you must not nap for more than 15 minutes. (Seriously, other than my father, who actually naps for only 15 minutes ?)

If you follow me on Twitter, you may have read a tweet or two about my research on how to live without sleep. (My research yielded no conclusions, but a girl can dream, can’t she?) While you can’t exactly live on caffeine naps, they are the ULTIMATE power nap. I tried my first caffeine nap today and this is how it went…(Please note the photo documentary on the left.)

12:45pm: So tired I could crawl into bed and sleep all day

1:00pm: Down a cup (or 4) of coffee

1:20pm : Awake and contemplating whether or not my caffeine nap worked

1:25pm : Pepped up and on my way to the gym

5:00pm: Still wide awake after going to the gym, walking the dogs, finishing work and getting ready for my meeting.

Survey says, the caffeine nap works. I was totally skeptical at first, but when I found the pep in my step and didn’t suffer the infamous “crash,” I was sold. Something tells me that this revolutionary new (new to me!) way of getting through the day is not something that anyone should make a habit of. I am not a doctor (yet!) and it doesn’t appear that the person who wrote this article is either. (I could be wrong, I didn’t spend a whole lot of time – or any at all– checking sources.) But I think in moderation, this could be my not-so-well-kept secret weapon.