gavinshearer.com

February 3, 2007

Hanging Up The Stethoscope

I'm a sucker for New Year's resolutions. This is, I imagine, because they appeal so directly to two big parts of my personality: a compulsive need for organization/planning, and an overly-developed drive for achievement. I find a good set of resolutions to be a fresh start, a clean sheet of paper, a way of setting out the path I want to walk for the next 12 months, Crafting resolutions has been, for me, a great way to pause, think about the future, and picture where I want to go.

So toward the end of December, I carved out a couple of evenings to sit down and think - hard - about what I wanted to do in 2007. Historically, my goal-setting has been laughably ambitious, if not outright contradictory ("I'll run a marathon, cure cancer, and make more time for my family!"). I actually got a little embarrassed when I saw how crazy/silly I'd been in previous years.

This year, I decided, was going to be different. Rather than simply rattle off a laundry list of "stuff to do", I tried to think carefully about my values, my life, and the context of things going on around me. Once I'd figured out what was important (as opposed to "interesting" or "nice to have"), I then forced myself to make a list (short, no more than seven items) of what I was going to do in 2007 to ensure my important stuff is being tended to.

Health is a good example. There's a reason the phrase, "if you don't have your health, you don't have anything" is a cliche: it's true. Trouble is, health is like a long-suffering spouse, taking your quiet neglect until the breaking point. At that point, it'll slap you silly.

So staying healthy had to be on my list. In years past my goal-oriented self would have crafted a resolution like, "run a marathon" or "run Greenlake 3 times in an hour." But sexy as those are, goals-wise, (i.e., fun to mention at cocktail parties) neither of those are actually good things to prioritize if you're focused on health. As it turns out, it's much better to clean up your diet, stay limber, and get 20 minutes of cardio 3 times a week. So, for this year, I'm doing 2.5-mile neighborhood runs at a comfortable speed instead of a 26.2-mile "goal." I'm eating more fruits and veggies. And Elaine and I are taking beginner yoga, starting this month.

I don't plan to walk through my entire list of goals in this post (I may be narcissistic, but I'm not that narcissistic), but I did want to mention that there's been at least one casualty of this prioritization exercise.

As of 2007, I've decided to end my "Web Doctor" column for the Puget Sound Business Journal.

This was a hard decision for me in a lot of ways. I've been writing for the PSBJ since early 2000, after starting in its short-lived sister publication, the Eastside Business Journal in 1999. That's seven years of print work, on a schedule that's ranged from biweekly to quarterly. (Whoa.)

"Web Doctor" was a lucky thing for me. I love writing, and the column gave me a great vehicle to talk about two personal passions: small businesses and the Internet. Everything started innocently enough: the editor of the EBJ, Pat McCarrell, was a colleague I'd met in Bellingham. He needed a tech columnist for his fledgling paper, had seen my writing before (I wrote a column called "Net Roamer" for our subscribers at Pacific Rim Network), and wanted to know if I was interested.

You bet I was.

I wrote for the EBJ for a while, my stuff got syndicated into the PSBJ in 2000, and they asked me to stay on when the EBJ folded. And that, as they say, was that; I've been cranking out columns (admittedly, some better than others) ever since.

But times change, priorities change, and, when I sat down and was brutally honest with myself, it was one of those things I was prepared to give up to make time for other things I want to focus on. In a strange twist, the forcing function revolved around doing more with the column - I've been hard at work on turning "Web Doctor" into a how-to book for small businesses that are new to the Internet. After finishing the proposal/market analysis/table of contents, I took a moment, stared down the long, long road of a year's time to write, market and sell the thing ... and realized I didn't love it as much as I thought.

Hey, it's 2007, and life is short. Do what you love.

Blogging is still very much a priority to me, so fear not, dear reader. In fact, I've toyed with the idea of slicing up some of the topics from my book and doing long-form posts on them as time allows. We'll see. For today, though, I'm hanging up the stethoscope, and calling it quits.

(And, Pat: thanks for the break, back in the day.)

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 3, 2007 6:49 PM.
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November 24, 2006

November "Web Doctor"

My most recent "Web Doctor" column ("You get real benefits from syndication") is in today's Puget Sound Business Journal. The question is:

A number of the sites I visit regularly now offer the ability to get their information through "RSS" or "syndication." What is this? Should we offer this to people who visit our company Web site?

I'll link to the article on Monday, once it goes live on their site.

UPDATE, November 27, 2006: The link is now live.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 24, 2006 1:30 PM.
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August 14, 2006

August "Web Doctor"

My latest "Web Doctor" column ("It's worth paying extra for host that's reliable") was in Friday's Puget Sound Business Journal. The question:

How much should we be paying for Web hosting? Our firm spends about $30 a month right now, but I've been getting advertisements from companies that charge a tenth of that. I'm pleased with my current service, but don't mind saving a buck or two. Any opinion?

The article is live on their site as of this morning.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 14, 2006 9:09 AM.
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May 19, 2006

May "Web Doctor"

My latest "Web Doctor" column ("When e-mailing, check your list and check it twice") is in today's Puget Sound Business Journal.

I'll post a link to the article on Monday (assuming it makes the PSBJ's site).

UPDATE, May 22, 2006: The article link is now live.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 19, 2006 6:57 PM.
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February 18, 2006

February "Web Doctor"

My first "Web Doctor" of 2006 ("Site is judged within a blink of an eye") hit the streets on Friday. I'll link to the article come Monday (assuming, of course, that the PSBJ posts it).

UPDATE, February 20, 2006: The hyperlink to my article is now live.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 18, 2006 3:02 PM.
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November 19, 2005

November "Web Doctor"

My latest Web Doctor column, "Small businesses can embrace online advertising" was in Friday's Puget Sound Business Journal. Assuming they post the article on their site (this issue was pretty packed, so they might not), I'll link to it come Monday.

UPDATE, November 23, 2005: Looks like the PSBJ isn't going to post their "PS Tech" section online, which means I can't hyperlink to the article. Pity.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 19, 2005 2:15 PM.
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August 17, 2005

August "Web Doctor"

My most recent "Web Doctor" column ("Keep your Web site updated without stress") hit the streets in Friday's Puget Sound Business Journal.

I'm kind of embarrassed that I spaced on this; I'd intended to blog about the new column on the 12th. Chalk it up to ... vacation(?), I guess.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 17, 2005 10:16 PM.
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May 6, 2005

May "Web Doctor" Is Out

My latest column for the Puget Sound Business Journal ("Tight budget doesn't bar business Web presence") hit the streets today. I should have a link to the article come Monday.

UPDATE: The column is now up, and can be found here.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated May 6, 2005 9:27 PM.
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February 18, 2005

New Column Is Out

My first-quarter column for the Puget Sound Business Journal, "Compromise to accommodate Web audience" is in today's issue, PS Tech section. I'll post a link from the Weblog once the PSBJ pushes the current issue live (I'd expect it on Tuesday, what with the Monday holiday).

[TUESDAY UPDATE] Looks like they're not going to put this quarter's PS Tech on the Web site. No link is available.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated February 18, 2005 3:57 PM.
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December 17, 2004

Five Years Of Journalin'

My latest Puget Sound Business Journal column, "Customer Feedback Lends Credibility To Products" hit the streets today.

This column represents my five-year anniversary writing for the business journal. I started in December 1999, doing a piece every two weeks for the Eastside Business Journal. When the EBJ was folded in to the PSBJ in 2000, the editors took a good chunk of the EBJ tech content and and turned it in to a monthly section called "PS Tech." I was pretty flattered when they asked me to stay. The PSBJ is the business "paper of record" for the Puget Sound area, and its circulation was more than twice that of the EBJ.

PS Tech is slowing down in 2005, going from a monthly to quarterly schedule. Given that I've been writing so regularly for so long, the slowdown is going to feel weird. Maybe it's time to find some other publishing venues.

Any thoughts?

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated December 17, 2004 6:23 PM.
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November 19, 2004

November PS Tech

My November PSBJ column, "Measuring Metrics Means Finding The Conversion" hit the streets today.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated November 19, 2004 1:42 PM.
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October 9, 2004

October "Web Doctor"

My latest PSBJ column, "Upgrading A Web Site? Some Tips For Success" hit the street yesterday.

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated October 9, 2004 8:26 AM.
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September 17, 2004

September's Column

Today's PSBJ has my latest Web Doctor: "Syndication services become more popular."

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated September 17, 2004 11:52 PM.
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August 16, 2004

August's Column...

Friday's PSBJ has my most recent "Web Doctor" column: "Proper e-mail etiquette is required in business." (The Web link went live this morning.)

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated August 16, 2004 6:23 AM.
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July 18, 2004

July's PSBJ Column

My July column for the Puget Sound Business Journal, "Beware Web placement offers on search engines" hit the streets on Friday. I'll link to it once they publish it to the Web (which they may or may not do - their internal systems have some odd constraints, apparently).

Posted by Gavin Shearer. Last updated July 18, 2004 10:49 AM.
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