Podcast fatigue. It’s kind of funny, at least to me, that I have been writing, yes rarely I know, about my not writing.

Why haven’t I been writing or Podcasting you may ask?

Well, I am not sure why I should do my Podcasts and this Blog. Yes I still have lots of subscribers to this Podcast (on iTunes) and yes this site still gets surprisingly good traffic. But, I am not sure of the benefits beyond an occasional positive email and decent ego stroking. As in me stroking my own ego.

A key reason that I haven’t been active is that Ralston360 just bought Citrus Marketing and we have become Citrus. We just liked their name better than ours. Shorter and fresher.

Another reason is that I am simply not sure what the total value gained from all of this work is. Client prospects like the site. But, I have not gotten one lead from the thousands of visitors I’ve had.

Once I settle down, I’ll rethink this Podcast and site. For now…. I have to go and make some money.

Thank you The Atlantic for straightening us all out.

Having received $11 million from VC’s in the early 2000’s for a decent idea at the wrong time (ActiveBuddy), do we really need this bubble (how about the 25th social media concept?)

VC’s are primarily well-educated lemmings. Watch the cliff boys.

Hey, I’ve been getting some very nice emails complaining that I haven’t been posting or Podcasting for a while. Well, yes it’s true. But, note that I haven’t been burnt out. Just doing some heavy thinking.

One thing that I have been up to is a new and early stage photo series of teens in their rooms. I’ve got three shots here and many more on the way.

As far as this Blog – Podcast goes there will be more when I have more to say. Some may find this idea refreshing vs. the I-am-going-to-blog-whether-you-like-it-or-not scenario that some Bloggers do.

And, I am going to China in early April. Beijing and Shanghai. Know anyone I should look up?

Well, it has been a long time since I last posted. No, I don’t have “Podcast fatigue” or “Blog fatigue”. I have just been spending a very long time rethinking our business model and this Blog & Podcast needs to mirror that. Right now, we are in THINK mode. Not publish mode.

We are a generalist agency (right now we are working on long-form DRTV, animated TV, mail and email direct marketing programs, radio ads, print ads, catalogs, to name a few….. many marketing tools for a range of clients). Is this what the market wants outside of the Pacific Coast where we have our geographic footprint and client base? Even though we are smarter and more creative than 90% of other agencies (hey, this is my Blog!), we wonder if this is the right model for 2007 and beyond. So, we are talking with a range of very smart people to get their views on the marketing landscape.

This entry is a shout-out to the many very smart people who have been helpful in the past few weeks in lending their knowledge, advice….. and, most importantly in acting like decent human beings!

Acting human is very important to me. If you listened to my Podcast rant #034, “Business ethics and good manners” you heard that I am blown away by how often people are rude in this business - as if it is OK to be rude anytime. As counter to rudeness, I find that the smartest aren’t rude and go out of their way to talk and help. I think that it is an insecurity issue for some. So, here is a quick list of thank you’s for your time and smarts.

Yes, very public. But, hey, why not!

Michael Donahue – American Association of Advertising Agencies

Al Moffatt - Worldwide Partners

Dina Howell – P&G

Randy Smith – P&G

David Jackson – Boston Guru

Michael Keeshan – MagikBox, Inc.

John Prunier – Petsky Prunier

Allen Berger – Cirrus Healthcare

George Carey – Just Kid, Inc.

Beau Fraser – The Gate Worldwide

Robert Hoffer - Newforth Partners

Joel Sackett - A pro photographer friend who is getting me off my ass to go shoot some serious photography in Beijing and Shanghai this spring!

I first heard Mary Meeker, Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, speak at the Industry Standard’s Internet Summit conference in 2000. It was a mega conference held in the heat of the Internet hot-air balloon. Mary got it then and gets it now. Here is a link to a presentation she recently made at the Web 2.0 conference.

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