There’s a handful of people that have influenced my online adventures, including, George Nemeth, Guy Kawasaki, Anita Campbell, and Jim Kukral. These folks are fantastic examples of folks who do the right things on the web, almost all the time. (Disclosure; I’m the Community Promotions Director for Anita Campbell’s Small Business Trends website)
Others have influenced me a lot, and they are listed on the blogroll. Thank you guys and gals, for all you continue to do.
There’s one person who has influenced me of late, more than anyone…Chris Brogan, the president of New Marketing Labs. His blog is very well known, and full of very useful tips about business, and even about life. Chris’s blog
I’ve been following Chris for almost two years, and have learned a lot. He’s a great communicator. (If you subscribe to his enewsletter, you already know what I mean.) OK. His commercial is now over. Well, almost…
I was involved in a really cool email thing two years ago, in which you were supposed to describe folks you know in one word. You passed it around, and it was fun. (Let’s do it on Twitter!) Of course you have to follow me for it to work. Follow me
@ChrisBrogan (If he played along) would be the easiest one for me. The one word I’d use to describe Chris would be this one;
Transparent.
Chris is about as transparent as one can get. I feel that I am, too. I didn’t learn how to be transparent from Chris, though. (Sorry Chris) I just watched my Dad. He was totally transparent in his dealings. I just choose to be, too. For me, watching how Chris does business is just a nice reinforcement. And it’s a nice reminder for me.
Now, whenever I write an article, I’m always taking an extra step. I ask myself if I’m being transparent. When I am interviewed by reporters, I always disclose relationships I have with people and companies that I mention. As a matter of fact, just yesterday, a writer from a highly influential business magazine was interviewing me about a franchise business topic, and I gave this writer an example of a franchisor that fit the topic I was being interviewed about. Immediately, without hesitation, I disclosed that I was seriously considering entering into a contractual relationship with this company. It didn’t seem to bother her, nor I. It’s just about doing the right thing.
The FTC recently went after the blogging community. They want us to fully disclose relationships that we have with advertisers etc. Fine. I have a disclosure link on all my blogs and sites. Here it is, if you’d like to see it.
Now, I’d like to show you the ultimate disclosure page, courtesy of www.ChrisBrogan.com
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Chris Brogan’s Disclosures and Relationships
- I work for New Marketing Labs, LLC, a social marketing and media company.
- I am co-Founder of PodCamp, an unconference series.
- I am on the Advisory board for Utterz
- I am on the Advisory board for The Conversation Group
- I am on the Advisory board for Hubspot
I am on the Advisory board for IZEA - I sometimes use Amazon Affiliate links to point to books I’ve reviewed.
- I am an affiliate for Chris Pearson’s DIY Themes site for the Thesis theme. (Because I think the theme rules!)
That’s not even half of them. Here’s more
Pretty strong, huh? Are you ready to put a disclosure page up on your blog/website like that, yet?
