In the Hand of Dante

AppSumo Review: Facebook Ads Action Video Bundle

November 21st, 2011 No Comments

I’ve messed around with Facebook ads before, but never with any real success. It’s not an intuitive process, nor does Facebook make it very easy to figure out what’s actually going on with the ads dashboard. The financial commitment itself makes all the buggersome aspects even harder to handle, so when I saw that AppSumo was offering an action video with a true Facebook ads wizard (Jennifer Sheahan from Facebook Ads Lab), I jumped at the chance. Or rather, I jumped at it with some AppSumo credit that I had on my account, which made the $49 price tag a bit easier to stomach.

The video comes in two parts at somewhere just shy of two hours total. There’s plenty of great content – Sheahan has a way of explaining incredibly complex concepts and actions in an easy-to-understand way, but she doesn’t try to hide the fact that she doesn’t know everything. Some of the processes behind Facebook ads are quite opaque, and keeping campaigns active enough for good ROI can take a lot of hands-on work. Jennifer shows us step-by-step just how to do it and not overdo it.

I wouldn’t say that this action video turned me into a Facebook ads wizard. Maybe more of an apprentice; I now actually understand the platform and some of the nuttier things that determine bidding and CTR. I am by no means ready to raise an advertising budget for Denver Seitan Company with an eye to Facebook ads, but I in a far better position to read the more detailed guides and case studies online and put them to work for me.

Brass tacks: This video gets an 8 out of 10 from the Tim Brauhn Corporation of America. It would have grabbed a 9 or 10 out of 10 but for the following. I think that there’s a bit too much talk about general Facebook page engagement strategies that could have been left out or replaced with more drilldowns on ads themselves. I’m ready to do some more testing and try to make the platform work for me, and I have this video to thank.

AppSumo Review: Uncommon Sense with Derek Sivers

November 16th, 2011 No Comments

I’ve only seen CDBaby.com mentioned in one other place, so when AppSumo offered an action class of CDBaby’s founder Derek Sivers talking for 45+ minutes, I wasn’t immediately sure if I should check it out. But the description was, in typical AppSumo fashion, full of interesting tidbits, namely, how Sivers had turned a side hobby into a many-many-millions-of-dollars business and then sold out, only to bounce the money to charity and start all over again. That got me interested. I enjoy watching entrepreneurs talk about their ideas and work, especially when it’s informal and fun. Derek Sivers does all that.

He’s self-deprecating, honest, and informative. The video itself was nothing if not inspiring – Sivers has a positive, infectious attitude that led me into a hyperdrive morning of work and research. That alone made the video worth it. He has some actionable nuggets in there, too. It’s not all theory.

I’d download it again in a heartbeat. Great content from AppSumo.

AppSumo Review: Blogging for Startups

November 13th, 2011 No Comments

I picked up another AppSumo action video called “Blogging for Startups: Straightforward steps to get more traffic and conversions”. It’s a great conversation between Andrew Warner of Mixergy and Hiten Shah from KISSmetrics. These are cool dudes.

Warner runs Shah through some of the steps that KISSmetrics used to blow up their traffic and sell their analytics packages. I wasn’t too familiar with KISSmetrics before this, so I had to pull away from the video to check them out. This happened a few times; Warner or Shah would mention a product or service and I would immediately rush to check it out. All kinds of cool things that I was unaware of. Thanks!

The video itself was wildly useful: The guys talked about testing, improving conversions, and the overall value of blogging specifically for startups. Plenty of the stuff was applicable to my work, and really helped to lay out a simple, common-sense approach (indeed, straightforward steps) to a startup blog plan. They spent a bit of time talking about the relationship of infographics to traffic/conversions. Normally that would turn me off because I don’t particularly give a shit, but this changed my mind. Fascinating discussion, from the research itself all the way to hiring a designer to how to display the infographic online. Great stuff.

I’d buy it again. High marks for this video. Thanks AppSumo.

Benziger Family Winery – the cave

May 9th, 2011 No Comments

Benziger Family Winery – the cave, originally uploaded by timbrauhn.

Barrels and barrels and barrels of the sweet red and white stuff.

Via Flickr:
Jackie and I toured the Benziger Family Winery in Sonoma County, California. They’re a biodynamic hotspot, and they’ve got all kinds of cool stuff hanging around the place. I enjoyed it, and I enjoyed their wine.

The time that my family thought I’d been kidnapped

April 26th, 2011 2 Comments

Tim Brauhn as a child - also his brothers

I was clearly ransom material

It was raining. I was maybe five years old, but probably not older than six, because I was only six after we’d moved north from Lostant and the Wal-Mart that we were at was definitely the one in Lasalle, that big old one like before they switched to the red, white, and blue branding that defined Wal-Mart up until recently when they switched to soft brown and bright yellow for that ridiculous sun-shaped logo that says nothing about Wal-mart, its low prices, its amazing supply chains, its under-paid and under-protected elderly workers, or its history, but then again, I suppose that any company with a one hundred year history and that kind of name recognition need only change the shape of its logo and that is that, but of course, that’s open to interpretation and I’m not so sure that the colors from back in the day (when I was four or five but not six) were all that bad, and that’s from a two-decades-old memory, you know, like I can’t just drag up a perfect mental picture of that time since I was devoting most of my brain to imagination space for fantastic tales of knights in shining armor and trying to figure out what it meant to be a little human being, which is part of why this story is important, and which I will address shortly, after I reiterate that it was raining.

We were ready to check out, so Dad went out to get our Malibu station wagon of which I remember little except its color: white and rust. I was with Mom and, at the age I probably was, my little brother Christopher, who would have been but a wee babe.

At some point I separated myself from my Mom, who I imagine being flustered with having to keep track of a very curious young me, a crying baby Christoper, and a cartload of low-priced commodities for our country estate.

I meandered on tiny legs over to the IN doors, where I installed myself next to what seemed like an endlessly tall shelf of bright pink boxes filled with Barbie dolls. My reasoning went thusly: “People are coming in through these here IN doors. I must open these here doors in order to expedite the entrance process for my fellow humans.”

And so, I became a tiny doorman, pushing with all my might to open the steel and glass portal that allowed one access to low prices, amazing supply chains, and under-paid and under-protected elderly workers. I received many a “thank you” and probably at least one “What a dear young man.”

This process of holding open the door continued for, in my memory, at least fifteen minutes, at which point, I realized that I hadn’t seen my Mommy in some time and began to worry. The bright pink display of Barbie dolls gave me no answers. At one point, while looking outside from my self-assigned post at the doors, I saw my father driving our Malibu wagon back and forth, peering out into the precipitation for something.

That something was me.

Between the low pressure system outside and the dazzling action figures for girls next to me, I started to panic. My stomach hurt; a low, grinding pain.

Luckily, it wasn’t too long before my Mom finally found me. I was relieved. I expected her to say, “You are such a responsible and helpful little boy for opening the door for people.” Instead, what I got was, “Don’t you ever wander off like that again! We had no idea where you were. You could have been kidnapped! We were so scared!”

She walked me out to the parking lot to find my father, hand gripping my upper arm quite tightly. It was still raining. For at least the next fifteen years of my life, the sight of Barbie displays (and all toy sections have that aisle) made my stomach tie itself into stress knots.

The things I carried

April 22nd, 2011 5 Comments

The kind of thing I would carry

I’ve got nothing in my pockets right now save for a pen. It’s one of those nice recycled cardboard ones that they give out at environmentally-conscious conferences and presentations.

This is important. Allow me to explain.

I present a refrain from my high school years: “Hey Tim! What’s in your pockets today?”

Imagine, if you will, a young man, searching for an identity (cultivating more than one, depending on the audience) and realizing that humor can be a great leveler in social situations. Now imagine this young man finding a real penchant for what might be called “prop comedy”, albeit in a slightly modified sense. This young man was me.

I kept a bunch of silly shit in my pockets. I wore cargo pants (this was the late 90s, early 2000s, so it’s forgivable) and multi-pocket coats, so there were plenty of spaces to hide little bits and bobs. My trinkets were, by and large, mundane objects. A random sampling: ice pack, swizzle sticks, matches coated entirely in wax, temporary tattoos, chin guards (hair nets for beards), and sugar packets. Oh god, the sugar packets…

I never had less than fifteen on me at any given time. This was partly because I liked to eat them in front of people and, if the crowd was ripe for it, snort a line or two – don’t forget, at no point in this writing have I indicated that I was making brilliant decisions at this time in my life. They were also fun gag “gifts” to hand to people with great gravitas as if it was a matter of national security – and then walk away.

As I mentioned, it wasn’t that I was carrying gold nuggets, dehydrated lobster shells, and fake eyeballs. These were simple things, although matches coated entirely with wax aren’t exactly normal. What made people gawk and giggle was their non sequitur status; the very randomness with which I cultivated my collection made it something interesting. We might call it eclectic assortment attraction.

So I would travel with my plastic forks and folded-up maps of places that I’d never visited with me to parties, to school, and elsewhere, dragging them out when the situation called for a bit of the old “Tim routine”.

In time, I found that I didn’t actually need to carry all of that stuff all at once. I could, with a very small collection, make comments on objects that weren’t even on my person: “You think it’s crazy that I have a bouncy ball filled with thumbtacks? You should see the musical cake toy and three foot strip of fake cat fur that I had last week.”

The substitutions continued until I realized that I could tell whole stories about objects and their interactions with people in the complete absence of those objects. The substitution was complete – I was telling stories about that which could not be seen but which was either believed or…not believed. It mattered not.

By the time I headed to college of course, I had to change up my game. No longer would carrying around a ridiculous menagerie suffice. I had to reinvent.

I had to find a new way to make people smile.

I had to find something else to carry with me.

Such as it is on a farm…

April 20th, 2011 3 Comments

More dispatches from my family back in Illinois. Although this one seems, on the surface, slightly more mundane than the tornados that hit them last year, I think it’s still worth reading:

Such as it is on a farm… Your father and I were out folding up a tarp from the garden this morning and noticed one of the hens hadn’t gotten inside the coop last night. We went over to let the rest out, opened the door and they were all dead – all 17 of them. A weasel had probably gotten in through a just-large-enough hole in the chicken wire on the door. It had to have climbed up the outside wooden door to a hole in that and then down between the wire door and the wooden one. What a sickening feeling – I know some of you have experienced this grisly scene, too. They were very beautiful birds.

We had ordered 15 chicks from Farm & Fleet and will pick them up the 23rd. So it starts all over again. We aren’t sure the one remaining hen (we should name her Providence) will want to go in the coop tonight. I don’t blame her one bit.

Sorry to share this sad news on a nice spring day.

And so, my family got more chickens. They’ll grow up and make more eggs for them to sell to the local fresh market. Life goes on. I can’t wait to get back to the farm.

“My Ignorance” – my guest post at Project Interfaith

February 28th, 2011 No Comments

The interfaith super-heroes at Project Interfaith in Omaha asked me to provide a guest post about my path to interfaith leadership. Here’s the intro – follow this link to the rest of the post:

I grew up rural. That’s the important part of this story. I lived in a farming community about two hours west of Chicago. I was a Catholic; Catholicism was my received faith. Some of my friends were Catholics. The rest were from various Christian denominations. We didn’t talk about religion.

When I went to college in the suburbs, I fell away from the faith (I imagine that this happens to LOTS of college students) and continued on my way. Since I was finally in a place with a diversity of religious expression, I quickly realized that my views of other religions (especially Islam) were informed largely by my friends’ parents and their favored false information outlet: FOX News. The realization of my own ignorance pushed me to do some learning on my own…

The Denver Dispatch of Doom Vol. 19 (iPhone app and [sorta] new job edition)

February 26th, 2011 2 Comments

Hello dear friends,

Jackie has convinced me to return to oatmeal as a viable breakfast food, and I have to say, it’s an amazingly filling meal. Add some peanut butter, and it might be the best thing since…toast and peanut butter?

Well folks, it’s been a long time since the last Dispatch in late November. I’ve been delaying this release because I wanted to be able to inform you all about the exciting interfaith-focused mobile app that I developed with Islamic Networks Group. If you recall, they hosted me during the Faiths Act Fellowship year, and after that program wrapped, I came on board as a consultant. FaithNews – Multifaith News and Events (the app) took many, many hours of work and research, and is now available in the iTunes App Store. We hope to create Android and Blackberry versions in the coming month(s). So download it (it’s free), check it out, and spread the word!

My contract with Ashoka’s Changemakers ended in December. It was great working with such a dynamic group of social-entrepreneur-geniuses, if only for six months, and I encourage you all to check them out! I’ve since joined Spotted Koi LLC, a business and website consulting firm, as a Project Manager. I take client requests and questions, translate them into Internet-ese, and pass them to our team of developers. I also occasionally crack a figurative whip to keep them moving.

But the most exciting part of this Dispatch is announcing my (sorta) new job. In October, I rejoined The 1010 Project as Director of Communications and Fundraising. It was nice to return to such a great team with a refreshed vision and a new program in the Global Entrepreneur Academy. Brian Rants, the Executive Director, recently left the organization to take a new position at an amazing company. With his departure, I have been promoted to Director of Operations! The Board is slowly beginning the search process for a new ED, but in the meantime, I make all kinds of high-level decisions and manage a bunch of super interns. Now before you say, “Who would think it safe to give Tim such responsibility?” I want to reassure you that my level of professionalism has skyrocketed in the last year, largely due to my sweet girlfriend’s influence and stern voice. :)

Final piece: Late January found me in Boston for State of Formation‘s Executive Committee retreat. We spent two rad days planning our expansion and vision for the coming years. Honestly, if you want to see some high-energy, meaningful dialogue on topics of religious and spiritual formation, head on over.

So that’s that. Life in Denver continues to reward, and as I travel around, I’ll be sure to try and visit with as many of you as I can. Tim misses you all terribly; you can tell because when he’s feeling forlorn, he speaks in the third-person.

In the meantime, keep up the good work, always tip your server, and remember: If it does not appear to be broken, do not attempt to fix it.

P.S. Today’s Poetry Break is brought to you by e.e. cummings, because why not.

Best,

–
Tim Brauhn
Denver, CO
Connect:

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it’s you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that’s keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

Interfaith iPhone/mobile app: FaithNews – Multifaith News and Events

February 26th, 2011 1 Comment

During the Faiths Act Fellowship, I was hosted by Islamic Networks Group (ING), an educational organization that promotes religious literacy and mutual respect. When the Fellowship ended, I came on board as a consultant. One of the first projects that I wrapped my head around was a mobile app. The CEO wanted a mobile app focused on multifaith/interfaith happenings in the world. As we talked about features, the list of “things this app will do” grew and grew. And so, after months and months of research and development, ING is proud to present “FaithNews – Multifaith News and Events“, now available for free download at the App Store. Here’s the description that we use:

Did you ever want to wish your neighbor happy holidays, but weren’t sure when his or her religion has holidays or what to say? Have you ever blanked on the Hebrew word for charity? Are you planning a luncheon and need to know when Ramadan ends so you can feed your Muslim guests? Multifaith News and Events has all that and more.

It’s not simply a calendar of holy days, or a dictionary of important religious terms. This app comes with over 200 interesting facts – some trivial, some wildly important – about the five major world religions represented by ING’s Interfaith Speakers Bureau: Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Buddhism.

The general concept for this app is to allow users to easily acquire daily news and information surrounding religion and interreligious issues.

These include:

Daily aggregation of news articles on religious pluralism from several different news publications. Topics include religion in the workplace, religion and civil rights, 1st Amendment (freedom of religion) issues, etc.
Multifaith calendar highlighting religious days of observance. Holidays will contain brief descriptions as well as links for more information.
List of religious events and conferences around the country.
Basic and often surprising facts about the world’s five major religions: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Islam. For added interest, related facts will link to each other; for instance you can easily see how fasting works in both Judaism and Islam.
Information about Islamic Networks Group and its educational programs.

Designed and developed by Magnicode, Multifaith News and Events is the go-to app for interreligious information, events and more.

Interfaith, international relations, interesting diets, books, seitan, languages, and tea. Nothing in isolation.