Rob Schoeben - Latest Comments

Re: About

Nick Freeling — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:08:25 -0000

Hi Rob,
I'm a pretty big fan of your Blog as I've been checking it on a near daily basis for awhile now. I find it to be insightful, informative and super honest, and I share a majority of the values you write about. I work at a web in San Diego called TakeLessons.com thats growing very rapidly, and reading a bit of professional blogs here or there always keeps my mentals in check. My 'lady' Stephanie is a clinician and mental health counselor and MFT, and I appreciate your project in youth counseling because of the great respect for the growing mental health field she has passed to me.

A
great opportunity for a VP of Marketing came open in my company (TakeLessons) and I
wanted to share it with you in case you, or someone you know, might be
looking to make a career move.

TakeLessons.com is America's leading music lessons company,
providing in-person lessons in over 3,000 cities across the USA. We
drive their sales online, and the service is delivered by certified
teachers in person at the customers' residence or teachers studio.

The company has 93 employees, located in a cool office in downtown
San Diego, and is backed by the same venture capital firms that backed
Pandora, Facebook, Twitter, and other internet powerhouses.

We are looking for a rockstar VP Marketing to help take them to the next
level of growth and I thought about you. Here's what they are looking
for:

Someone that has:
- Deep experience leading a consumer internet marketing division.
- Expertise at driving customer acquisition through SEM, SEO, Email, and other forms of digital marketing.

- Ability to lead and grow a team

- Experience driving revenues from $20mm to $100mm
- Experience as a Sr. Director or VP at a well known consumer site/brand is a big plus.

- Experience selling services a big plus

Full job description at: http://bit.ly/wLqSBl

Let me know if you're interested and I can make a personal intro to Steven Cox, CEO.

Here at the company, I'm pretty small beans and for the most part simply a student counselor here. I know your a total rockstar and the equivalent of a tech savvy Keith Richards- and I'm still confident your the guy who would be in the know as to where to find this person.
You can email me at nickfreeling@gmail.com or find me on Facebook. I'll hold my autograph requests for sometime in the future.

Re: I’d (Happily) Pledge My Allegiance…

Stephen Moore — Wed, 04 May 2011 06:59:03 -0000

Another suberb Rob Schoeben writing! Some good stuff weaved into the Boy Scouts' credos. It certainly would do us all good to aspire to the messages. (Steve Moore, a former scout...cub...didn't go on to Boy Scouts...but did get three years of "cubbing" to help me form some life-long values.)

Re: In a Jobless Recovery, Recycling Not Enough

Keith — Tue, 03 May 2011 23:56:21 -0000

Or talk to Katherine. And see if you get any traction that way. I think your idea is one of the first fresh ideas I've heard of in ages. The thing is, if the prognosticators are right, and if the George Jetson cartoons are right, anything that can be done by Technology will be. And that will mean the continuing dislocation of jobs. Next up? White Collar jobs that are wholly based on logic. How do I know? Look at a new technology called eDiscovery. One eDiscovery software package can do the work of roughly 200 attorneys. Except it can do it in an hour, instead of quarter (3 months). And since documents are moving towards 100% digital, the end is near for many attorneys. And that is just one example. All the jobs where someone used to turn a wrench were outsourced to a place where someone would do it for a penny versus a dollar. So when it happened, they gave all the wrench turners a nail gun and had them build houses. Now that 'run' is done. And it wont come back. I think Daniel Pink nails it in "A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future." That's my two cents...or was it a buck 50?

Re: Missions, Not Margins, Inspire Us

Keith — Tue, 03 May 2011 23:43:55 -0000

The issue of Mission and Vision is one that is typically debated by those who either have the intellect and critical faculties to consider the purpose of their lives, or the time and money to be concerned with it. In the real world, where people need to make a living if they are going to afford a roof, food, and transport, none of these things matter in a conscious way. All that matters is a sense of well being. It has been diced and spliced a thousand ways, but it comes down to a few easy to articulate concepts for 'the workers' who do the business of a business. They want to be respected for their effort, by their boss. And they want that respect to translate into a form of honor. They dont really care about "the company" unless it means their job has become 'unstable'. They want to feel like they are part of something bigger, a group, a clique, a team, a partnership. They can get it from gossiping, or bad mouthing the jerk upper management guys, or they can get it by drinking on Friday nights. But they want to feel a part of something bigger. And lastly, they want 'money' off the table. They want to make enough money that they can cover their bills, and put some away, and have a little fun, and maybe take a vacation once a year. But they don't need to get rich. So to summarize: They want to feel like they are in High School again. Where things arent so heavy, the bills are paid, they are having fun, and they have work to do that is important but not a lifes purpose. I realize this is somewhat off topic, but it is germane. Well maybe not. I ran a sales team in Los Angeles. Our goal was to make a sales number. And that team would have walked into Hell for me. I practiced all of the above styles and methods that were taught to me in management classes, but more like Michael Jordan would learn a new technique, than like a freshly minted MBA would a business theorem. Want to know something funny? That very core group, that very same team of sales and support professionals, loved that experience so much, they have 'regrouped' for a new guy, in the same field. Finding ways to rehire each of themselves into the new organization, in what I tend to think, is an expression of trying to 'recapture' a 3 year ride that everyone loved, from Monday at 8:30 am until Friday at 5:00. And what I think is still curious is that I would go to management meetings, and we would spend endless hours working on a Vision for the Company, and Mission for our people. And all the while, I kept up the 'love' that the team needed, regardless of whatever Mission or Vision we were working on in the management meetings. Its the love. Thats what makes organizations roll.

Re: Twitter: Time to Get the #Story Straight

Keith — Tue, 03 May 2011 23:16:27 -0000

I like to think I'm on top of the world of tech. Granted, I dont live in Silicon Valley so by that measure I'm just at the retail end of the spectrum, but in the world that I work through, very few people are even close to my knowledge and experience, and willingness to try new technologies. I was one of the first in my 'world' to get the iPhone 4, but one of the last in my world to get a Smart Phone. My home is techno geeks world, where no Television but everything streamed, is possible. I mention this because I have also sold highly technical software products to technical people for over a decade now, and, with all this knowledge, I couldnt tell you why anyone would use Twitter. I cant think of a single reason. It seems like nothing more than 'insta-spam' directed by Corporations who cant reach me any other way. And of course, they cant. I dont want them to. I want a one way relationship, until I am a buyer. Then I want a two way relationship but only insofar as it serves me. I've gotten this way because I am marketed to at every single opportunity for interaction in my American life. There is no program, no video, no entertainment, no street, no meal, no place I can go where someone or something isnt trying to pitch or pose something for me to buy, or to affect my way of thinking regarding a product or service. I can only think of one thing that doesnt actually sell me a thing...Pandora. A service I repeatedly suggest to people. Or Facebook, where I somehow never actually see the ads. I guess I have the trained eye of a professional Ad Avoiding American. I'm give you both the history and my experience simply to share how, if I'm not reachable on Twitter, and I'm ready to adopt a new technology, someone at Twitter better come up with a story as Rob suggests in his blog post. He is right. Apple for all its flaws, hit it all, and then delivered with the iPhone. Facebook too. But Twitter? I seriously have no clue why anyone would use it. And so I dont. I have an account. Ive subscribed to a few people, and then, lost interest in a matter of days. So, qudo's to Rob. He nailed it. I'm in a position in my 'world' to affect the attitudes and opinions of many on technology. I'm a go to guy for easily more than a hundred people. When asked 'what virus protection software should I use', I have an answer. When asked, if you were going to get a Laptop/Notebook, what would you recommend...I have an answer. And rarely is it the same. The questions are always the same, but the answers are not. But, Twitter? I have no idea why anyone would use it. Or why anyone would subscribe, unless they were working on protesting a G7 meeting. :)

Re: About

Peter Burkimsher — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 05:01:28 -0000

Dear Rob,

I'm sure you've heard enough about the iPhone's CoreLocation by now. But I've made a useful application for that data.

iPhone Geotag is an AppleScript to tag Places in iPhoto and Aperture based on the location history.

Check it out here: http://goo.gl/OQzfB

Would you mind taking a look, and perhaps pass it forward to friends?

Thanks!
Peter
http://peterburk.appspot.com/

P.S. I found your name via a LinkedIn search for "Aperture".

Re: Twitter: Time to Get the #Story Straight

Howard — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 19:06:24 -0000

I think I totally get twitter, but I shy away from tweeting because I don't often feel the need to say something to the whole world, or worse, I'm worried about saying something stupid to the whole world that will come back and haunt me 10 years from now. I have no problem saying something stupid to my friends on FB, however, and do it all the time! This may be a generational thing...

Re: Twitter: Time to Get the #Story Straight

Marj K — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:18:26 -0000

The challenge with explaining the difference, is that FB stole the status update and made it go in real time, so people can get it "all" at FB (one stop shopping). Also, with HootSuite, etc. users often just update all their SM platforms at the same time. I see the difference, but it's getting smaller--so how do we explain?

Re: About

Riley Schoeben — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 02:35:47 -0000

hey dad

Re: Missions, Not Margins, Inspire Us

Jim Thrall — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 09:45:55 -0000

In contrast to mission, I find that vision in both an organization and its principal leadership defines what the world can be through the work of the organization. Mission describes the goals of the present and speaks somewhat to the "how" of the organization's current efforts. Vision speaks to the future and outlines where the organization wants to be.

The values, foundation, purpose, and meaning are derived through the vision of the organization and leader. The mission will describe what the organization is committed to doing so well that following its charge leads to the realization or approach of the vision.

In short, mission is to management as vision is to leadership. I feel that this applies to both for-profit as well as non-profit enterprises. Making a product, providing a service for fee, or bringing about a social change all rely on clear vision to drive the organization and an incongruent mission will fail to guide the stakeholders. Sometimes the vision is simply piles of money - in and of itself, this seems to be a terrible vision that will provide a dubious guidepath to the most mission-oriented constituent.

Thanks for the stimulating article, Rob. I subscribe to your organization's vision. Let's Go!

Re: Missions, Not Margins, Inspire Us

kirkpaulsen — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 20:06:02 -0000

Rob, you're as articulate and insightful as ever. Spot on!

Re: Missions, Not Margins, Inspire Us

Madeleine Butler — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 13:22:23 -0000

How much of that passion is inspired by the energy and vision of a strong leader? And what is the scale of the organizations that are able to move to that kind of pulse?

The companies you mention are for the most part young, or, in the case of Apple, an outlier culture -- I really don't know how Steve manages to keep the startup vibe going in a mature company, but that was certainly part of the energy I felt there. Is The Body Shop really that much fun to work at now that it's part of l'Oreal? I understand the marketing spin, but I'm curious about the culture.

Bureaucracies are inefficient and soul-killing, no matter how good the mission is. I think part of what creates the suffocation is the hierarchical weight that forces people to have to spend most of their time in meetings and most of their effort clamoring (or spinning) for attention -- or for survival. Perception is often rewarded abundantly while actual productivity suffers.

Is it even possible for a large company to operate in an innovative and joyful way? This is an old debate, and II'm not sure I've seen any real solution to the scale problem.

Re: In a Jobless Recovery, Recycling Not Enough

Katie Schoeben — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 11:10:53 -0000

Go talk to your brother-in-law the Chief Staff Director of the Senate subcommittee on banking, network, and take your idea to the white house. Good one. Make it happen.