Fansourcing

You've got a lot of tasks to do.  A new resume.  New web page.  A better business card design.  Research.  You're overwhelmed.

So, professional geek that you are, you should consider what I call Fansourcing.

Fansourcing is my name for using your fandom connections to outsource business tasks (or other tasks) and make your life easier – and benefiting your fellow fans.

Your fellow fans may have the skills you need – perhaps even ones they use professionally – to accomplish tasks you don't have time, energy, or skill for.  In fact, you may not have even realized just what they can do – and what they can do for you.

* The person maintaining your club website could help you with a personal site.
* The artist you know may help you with flyers for your band or a design for your new business card.
* The person doing all the schedules for your con booklet may also have the publishing knowledge to help you with a great resume.

Right now you probably know a lot of people that can help you with non-geeky tasks.  You can provide them assistance in return, money, or even a reference for their own business or job search.

On the flipside, don't be adverse to being fansourced yourself, or even volunteering for it.  Fansourcing lets you build contacts, skills, friendships, and maybe even your bank account.

So, before you look outside your circle of friends, fans, and geeks to outsource something, consider a look within – you may be surprised.

– Steven Savage

News of the Day 5/14/2009

Career:
For college students general networking trumps social networking in the job search. I'd say this is definitely true, but note that some social networking tools let you do general networking more effectively.

Useful online tools for freelancers – Actually pretty useful period. May be useful in your freelancing, on the job, job search, or other ambitions.


Economics/Freakonomics/Geekonomics:

When it comes to detailed business plans it doesn't make a difference to Venture Capitalists. It may help you, but won't get their attention. Something to keep in mind for your own business – and it may help us make sense of some of the odd VC news we see (and the oddly successful VC news we see).

Jobless claims are still pretty lousy


Anime:

Funimation gets exclusive Simulcast deals for One Piece – Seems Funimation is more and more a distribution channel. I'm still not sure where a lot of anime is going so caution any career conclusions (beyond translation).


Publishing:

Amazon is branching into publishing and has its first fiction title – It appears to focus on self-published books, but the name fo the branch (AmazonEncore) and the talk from the VP of Books suggests they'll go for out of print titles. Sounds good – and takes them beyond the Kindle – but may meet some resistance from others as Amazon enters yet another market. This could of course play well into the Kindle, but my guess is they're hoping to play Long Tail and snatch up a lot of usefuls mall properties. Not sure if it'll work or not, but it may be another way to get published for writers.

Amazon will create blog subscription options for Kindle – So apparently people who really want to read RSS on their Kindle might use it. Not sure what this is for except, perhaps, a covering-bases-idea. It seems unprofitable.


Social Media:

Some hints on Twitter's business model – Essentially it sounds like more and integrated services, and some content deals. I'm wondering if Twitter's goal is to become middleware – they sort of already are of course – but just to take it all the way. This could be good for Twitter if they expand (and for employment), and if they develop APIs and services, programmers may find themselves having to learn some new interfaces.

Hi5's virtual currency is a go – Ahead of more successful rivals. I'm also intrigued by its many deals (with local companies in San Francisco). They may be able to pull something off here with their journey to social gaming. Not employment-worthy yet (what with the layoffs), but they may have a chance for a victory in their space.

The WSJ takes a negative approach to Social Media – A sad example of not getting it by viewing Social Media as a threat, not a tool. A sad analysis, but informative of how to get things totally backwards.

Social network TeeBeeDee gets into virtual goods. The difference? Unlike the usual tween-teen-20's targeting, this is aimed squarely at Boomers. This could be an example of a specialty site leveraging virtual goods, and may at least be useful watching as a case study – and if it works, it's possible other communities will broaden their target ages.


Video Games:

Factor 5 is closing down – I kept forgetting they were open. The falls keep coming in gaming.

-Steven Savage

Is it Ever Time to Hide Your Geekery?

As I noted in my past column on Stereotype-fu, I don't hide being a geek, I use it as a form of personal branding and pitch myself as a kind of "Geek Plus."  This however did not fully address an important issue for progeeks, Otariman-types, and more: is it ever time to hide your geekery professionally.

This is actually a false question, but part of an important one.

The real question is twofold – are there ever things you should keep to yourself professionally and can you do that?

Read more