Rafe Needleman, Editor-at-Large of C|Net’s Webware Site on “Rafe’s Fav’s,” Being Happy and Brilliant Web Aps.

Learn about live blogging, the conference circuit, “the day I scared Rafe,” martinis and being happy.

On this week’s DishyMix show, meet Rafe Needleman. He is the chief blogger of WebWare, “Cool Web 2.0 Aps for Everyone,” which is part of CNET.com. He is a seasoned professional journalist, he’s a tech dweeb, a new daddy, a Twitterer, and he has the most fun job in tech editorial — he gets to play with Web Aps for a living. Lucky Suckah!

Some highlights from the interview with Rafe: “I will say this, of all the companies that I’ve discussed in my column, “The Catch of the Day” and “Bubble 1.0″ at The Red Herring, I would estimate 90 percent of them are out of business.”

“When I was 14 I wrote a Star Trek quiz book, yeah. My parents were both authors. My dad lent me his agent who actually got it published. Considering my lousy grades, I think it helped me get into both high school and college later on.”

“Google Docs is absolutely brilliant, and the reason it’s brilliant is because of the way you can collaborate with people in real time.”

Seth, having recently done a DishyMix interview discussing his new book, Meatball Sundae*, is now guest blogging here to respond to listeners’ questions.

*Get Meatball Sundae FREE.

Desiree Scales

CEO, Bella Web Design, Inc.

Desiree Scales wrote:

What is your definition of an “exceptional” company? How can companies make themselves stand out in this economy and what is the first social media ladder rung they should step on?

Seth Godin Answers:

A great question with a twisted answer:

My definition of an exceptional company is completely irrelevant.

Who cares if I think a company is remarkable? What matters is what your customers and prospects and audience thinks. If people talk about it, the word spreads.

Too often we worry about the authorities or the critics or the standard bearers. They don’t matter.

The first rung of the social media is always the same: ordinary people who are blown away by what you do.

Listen to the Interview HERE:

Seth Godin, Leader of the New Marketing Movement on Authenticity, Google Dicing and Orange Rubber Squids

Seth, having recently done a DishyMix interview discussing his new book, Meatball Sundae*, is now guest blogging here to respond to listeners’ questions.

*Get Meatball Sundae FREE.

Ben Shipley, Special Projects Director

ConfuciousSays - Shanghai, PRC

Ben asks: “The internet has increased the value of authentic stories, and of brands that have them. How is the trend we are seeing with larger, more traditionally logo /image brands combing their histories and presenting their own ‘authentic stories’ going to affect the smaller brands that have had the advantage of the consumer’s desire for authenticity up until now?”

Seth Answers: “I think the ‘history’ of Gillette or Levi Strauss is just a tactic, not a valid piece of authentic storytelling, UNLESS the brand also lives the story. Living the story, though, may mean that Levi’s can’t be hip and cutting edge, because its founder never was.

True authentic stories are told by real human beings who stand for something, as opposed to interchangeable brand managers who need to make this quarter’s numbers.”

Listen to the Interview HERE:

Seth Godin, Leader of the New Marketing Movement on Authenticity, Google Dicing and Orange Rubber Squids

Seth, having recently done a DishyMix interview discussing his new book, Meatball Sundae*, is now guest blogging here to respond to listeners’ questions.

*Get Meatball Sundae FREE.

Søren Sprogø

Web Analyst at Cofman.com

Århus Area, Denmark

Question: How do you identify if your company should stick to the meatballs, or go for the sundae?

Seth Answers: “A great question. The answer is pretty straightforward: if you want to make sundaes, you have to give stuff up. Mostly you have to give up control. Control over what you make and control over your forecasts. Control over the conversation and control over where and what people do when they interact with you.

Apple is very smart in that they know that they can’t embrace the openness of the web and still be a secretive fashion-driven company.

You need to choose.”

Listen to the Interview HERE:

Seth Godin, Leader of the New Marketing Movement on Authenticity, Google Dicing and Orange Rubber Squids

Seth, having recently done a DishyMix interview discussing his new book, Meatball Sundae*, is now guest blogging here to respond to listeners’ questions.

*Get Meatball Sundae FREE.

Nan Palmero

Chief Inspiration Officer at Sales by 5

San Antonio, Texas Area

Nan Palmero, blogger at Saleby5 asks:

“What would be a great way to increase the commenting and interaction on our blog so it can become more of a conversation than a monologue?”

Seth answers:

“Darren Rowse has a great top ten list right here.

The bigger issue, I think, is whether you’re serious about this. Do you want to become a clearinghouse… do you want to be the bartender on your blog, where people come to meet and talk with each other as opposed to being the storyteller and narrator? I think you can do very very well as the watercooler, but only if you are willing to embrace this and make it a fun place to visit. Scott Adams blog has become a free-for-all where the attendees have a grand old time arguing about the softballs Scott lobs to them…

If, on the other hand, you are looking for nothing but nice “I agree”s, then it’s probably not worth a lot of effort.”

Listen to the Interview HERE:

Seth Godin, Leader of the New Marketing Movement on Authenticity, Google Dicing and Orange Rubber Squids

If you haven’t yet read Meatball Sundae, you must. Seth does a terrific job showcasing how business works today, since the advent of the Internet/Google world.

You can buy it, or you can get a free autographed copy from me or you can download it free from my sponsor, Audible.

Here’s how.

Get an Autographed Copy of Seth’s Book Free

Send a question for Seth to me at susan at personallifemedia dot com and if it’s one of the questions chosen by Seth and I that he’ll answer on my DishyMix blog as a guest blogger, we’ll send you an autographed copy of Meatball Sundae.

Download Meatball Sundae Free from Audible

Audible is my sponsor. They have a program called Audible Listener. If you join for $14.95 a month you get one free download. Even if you cancel, within 14 days to keep your credit card from getting charged, you get to keep your free book as your gift.

If you stay in the Audible Listener program, you get any book - best sellers, business books, fiction - anything for $14.95 a month. Many of these books are typically $20-$25, but as an Audible Listener club members, you always get a great deal.

So you choose, try for one of the free, autographed copies by sending a great question for Seth or download Meatball Sundae free from Audible.

You have to go to my page http://audiblepodcast.com/dishy to get the free download!

Last night Tim and I spoke to a room full of entrepreneurs in Squaw Valley. We were hosted by David LaPlante of Twelve Horses, a relationship marketing and web development advertising agency with operations in Reno, Las Vegas, Salt Lake, Phoenix and Atlanta.

Tim and I spoke about running Personal Life Media as a virtual organization, comprised of more than 40 team members who work literally all over the world on our business. We are a Web 2.0 company, utilizing many of the free tools and services available to business owners that allow us to cosst-effectively scale, manage and market our business.

We are one year old, produce 22 weekly online shows and have a half million xBoomer listeners each month.

We overlaid our business strategies onto the 14 Trends No Marketer Can Afford to Ignore that Seth Godin says are key for today’s business in his excellent new book, “Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?” Some of them include Outsourcing, The Long Tail, Amplification of the Voice of the Consumer, Why Your Customers Have an Extremely Short Attention Span and the New Gatekeepers.

I promised in our speech to list some of the sites that we regularly use to run our day to day operations.

It may seem overwhelming, but if you go to each of these sites and familiarize yourself with their offering, I know that as a savvy entrepreneur, you will have a good sense of those sites you’ll be able to use to further your own business. Just pick one and start, then build from there. You can do it!

While you’re on Facebook, please friend me and join my DishyMix fan club. I offer all kinds of goodies to my fans in the form of free goods and services and autographed copies of books.

Here’s the interview with Seth Godin about Meatball Sundae. I encourage you to listen if you haven’t yet:

Seth Godin, Leader of the New Marketing Movement on Authenticity, Google Dicing and Orange Rubber Squids

And here’s the list of Web 2.0 New Marketing Movement sites. Enjoy!

YouTube

Make a video about your product or service.

Technorati

Find the most popular bloggers in your category.

iTunes

Integrate your products into vertical, niche podcasts and/or sponsor the podcasts.

DIGG

Write a story and get your customers to “vote” on it on DIGG.

StumbleUpon

Help interested prospects “discover” your website.

FaceBook

Upload your address book and start connecting with your friends. Use your news feed and the Share Bookmarklet application to let them know what you are up to and keep yourself top of mind. Start a Group or Fan Club in Facebook for your brand.

MySpace

Start a MySpace page and “friend” other users to create new ways to connect.

Twitter

Use Twitter to micro-blog if blogging is too much work. “Follow” other Twitterers who are in your business area. Share information, news, links, ideas and yourself.

LinkedIn

Join this online business network and use the Ask & Answer feature to find out interesting information from your business associates. Also a great recruting tool.

WordPress

Start a blog. Share your knowledge. Develop a following. Become indispensible in your category of expertise.

Craig’s List

Use this tool to recruit talent for short term projects. Find experts. Offer your services to Craig’s List users.

HoloCosmos

Personal Life Media’s web design firm. This is not free, but good design is ALWAYS worth the expense.

Skype

Go global with free online telephone and video conferencing.

Basecamp

Work collaboratively, tracking projects onlinen with local or remote teams.

YouSendIt

Send big, fat files free.

GoDaddy

Web hosting, domain services (your web address or URL) and email services. Don’t buy capital equipment, rent just the slices you need.

PR Web

Put your press releases over the wire on PR Web. Pay at least $80 and you’ll be guaranteed to get your announcement in Yahoo! News with the PR Web relationship. Put the relase through NewsForce (below) first to optimize the key word density for your release against your keywords and you’ll surely also get picked up in Google News.

NewsForce

Optimizes your press release for key words so the search news feeds can find you.

Let me know if you have other good resources to add to this list. And if you have questions, just send me an email susan at personallifemedia dot com.

Laurie Beebe, owner of Shaping Your Future and DishyMix listener gets a free, autographed copy of RenGen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What it Means to Your Business.

Laurie’s Question:

I listened to your interview with Patricia about RenGen with great interest…

Here’s my question for Patricia: I love the idea that RenGens are more likely to pay for an experience than for a product.

Personally, I would rather pay for a manicure than a bottle of nail polish, which is just to say I totally
feel that way myself.

I am working towards my Professional Certification in Life Coaching–the number of people entering this
profession appears to be on the rise right along with the theories you present about fairly recent changes
in our society, e.g., rengens realizing more deeply that we are all connected.

Do you think this is a service that will increase in popularity among the RenGens over the next several years? What will they appreciate most about having someone they can work with to improve their life even though they already
have a satisfying existence?

Patricia’s Answer:

Do I think coaching is a service that will increase in popularity among the RenGens over the next several years? Yes.
Coaching will grow for the simple reason that more people will be inclined to be helpful to others, and more clients will want to find someone to listen.

The collossal creative putput of the RenGen means that everyone is talking…blogging…posting…messaging. In an environment where everyone wants to talk, the premium is on listening!

Listen to Patricia Martin, Author, RenGen and President, LitLamp Communications Group

Gideon Roberts, an SEO and Digital Marketing Director at Forward Slash Marketing in Bristol, UK will get an autographed copy of “RenGen: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What It Means to Your Business.” Thanks for the great question, Gideon!

Question:

“I have always been curious about the ways that culture and creative expression give rise to a collective identity. In my daily work as a consultant, I collaborate with people in a converging world of the arts, business, education and entertainment. In the past, these sectors had little interaction. The Internet changed that. As the dividers between disciplines become increasingly permeable, ideas flow freely back and forth.”

Patricia Martin Answers:

Smart question. The design aesthetic of the Bauhaus is a good example of what can happen when the walls between disciplines become permeable. But I think Bauhaus was based on design, on the creation of objects. I wrote the book from my perspective of working with corporate marketers who invest in promotional platforms that are not the least bit related to art or creative uses of technology (auto racing, sports marketing, traditional ad buys for television and radio). In the last five years, the environment has changed a great deal.

For instance, Clear Channel dabbles in museum exhibit develop as a marketing platform and Vans Shoes is a concert producer and talent scout. So I think the Bauhaus phenomenon is a good example of the possibilities that can be created. My research produced more collaborations, more experimentation and more cross-disciplinary mash-ups sprouting up in lots of unexpected places.

Listen to the Interview on DishyMix with Patricia Martin, Author, RenGen and President, LitLamp Communications Group

Ron Graham is one of the lucky winners of an autographed copy of RenGen: The Rise of The Cultural Consumer and What It Means to Your Business by Patricia Martin, recent guest on the DishyMix podcast.

Ron is a computer teacher and database administrator for a nonprofit organization, and works for engineers and young entrepreneurs in his spare time. He’s a DishyMix listener and here is his blog. Here are Ron’s questions.

Ron Graham: Is it really that people are expressing more?

Patricia Martin: Well, let’s look at some off line examples:

-There are more book clubs in the US than bowling leagues
-Poetry slamming has grown 400% in the last 5 years
-University of Idaho now receives many more applications for its writing program than its business school
-There is more foot traffic to museums, historic sites, zoos and aquariums than all professional sports in the US, including auto racing
So, I think creative output is bubbling up in lots of places.

Ron Graham: What do you think of luxury brands? I work with underprivileged high-school kids. They tend to spend money as soon as they get it. That’s why I ask.

Patricia Martin: Luxury brands will continue to grow in overseas markets. In the US, the cooling has already begun among the RenGen (estimated 70 million consumers). There are consumers who do not share the RenGen psychograpic. They may still be in the market for luxury brands as a way to achieve status. I think the youth market is always tough to predict since adolescents pose a paradox: they want to fit in (own the cool expensive sneakers) and stand out at the same time. The rise of companies like Threadless point in the direction of cool design + fair price + self-expressive will trump big-ticket purchases.

Listen Now: Patricia Martin, Author, RenGen

Original Email from Ron Graham:

“rengen” == “renaissance generation” –> OK.
“sponsorship marketing” == “selling sponsorships for various ‘experiences’” –> OK

I was greatly entertained (by the interview on DishyMix sic)… but I’m afraid I found myself doubting some of the assumptions she makes about what’s going on in society. I am gonna think about that a while. And I’m gonna stick a thing in my own blog about the show. Very slick and professional. I’d like to be more like that when I grow up. LOL

I wonder how it is that our society can pull of a renaissance without our ability to actually produce lasting goods? We don’t really do manufacturing anymore. Maybe we set up well for a renaissance otherwise, but as a society we’re not making anything except trades of information. Don’t we have to build? Create? Manufacture? Export?

I have to assume that “a sharp intake of fear” is not the only possible catalyst for a renaissance, because 9/11 was the most fearful moment American society has experienced in my adult life, and yet here we are still on the edge seven years later, instead of in the middle of the renaissance. What other catalysts might kick in here?

Is it really that people are expressing more? Or is it more that we KNOW they are, because of tools like YouTube that enable the self-expression to reach a wider audience? Or is it the increased ease of use of online tools, instead, perhaps, of a smarter society? Maybe all these ideas are just different points of view of the same phenomena?

What do you think of luxury brands? There seems to be no end of them. Would you classify them as “anxiety” brands? I work with underprivileged high-school kids. They tend to spend money as soon as they get it. That’s why I ask.