• Researching better ways to integrate XML into Wordpress #
• Upgraded my laptop! I can actually get work done now #
• Did I mention how much I hate flash. I really, really, really despise that forsaken technology… Especially combined with Logitech’s bu … #

• Doing some market research on speeddate.com #

The “so what…who cares” approach is key to clarity

So what?!

“I come from a family of 7 children”. You’ve seen garbage information like this in other dating profiles. Information that is irrelevant and doesn’t tell me anything about that person. If that person applied the “So what…who cares” test to her writing, she would ask herself “So what?!”. If the information you wrote does not add to describing the essence of who you are, omit it. In this case, it doesn’t tell me anything useful.

Who cares?

If you can come up with an answer to “So what?!”, then it is time to ask yourself honestly if anyone else will care. If the answer is “maybe”, then omit it. Do I really care how many siblings you have before I’ve even met you? Does it play a role in my decision-making process of whether I should meet you? You are actually introducing risk - not only do I have to wonder about your family, but also about the potential psycho sister who might get jealous.

Grab her attention and hold it!

Your reader’s time is extremely valuable. Any information that you would not use to seduce me really doesn’t belong in your profile. At the very least, not at the top. I want you to grab my attention and hold it without distracting me with extraneous information. Would you start talking about your brothers and sisters at a first date within the first 5 minutes? Somehow I doubt it.

User’s guide to “So what…who cares”

Write the profile. Read it all at once. Read it one paragraph at a time. At the end of the paragraph, ask yourself “So what?!” about the content of that paragraph. If it’s irrelevant, save that paragraph, but remove it from the published document. You can use it in your e-mail exchanges later on if the question comes up. Re-read remaining paragraphs, and at the end of each paragraph ask yourself “Who cares?!”. If the answer is no one, treat them the same. But wait!… It’s not that easy. Now do the same for each remaining sentence. Your objective is to focus your profile to deliver a clear and effective message with minimum of extraneous information. It can be hard to realize that all that hard work composing those sentences was ultimately unnecessary, but that’s the reality of content editing. We write a ton of content, and then we reduce it to just a few paragraphs. Remember, you want to grab his attention and hold it. Adding extra information will only distract her from thinking about you. A good use of this technique should raise your desirability significantly. Please let me know if this helped you.

• Actually keeping track of stuff for a change in FreeMind with my private Wiki. Busy day ahead, mostly in San Jose. #

• Making visible progress on my Facebook application #
• Streamlining knyshov.com #
• Setting up a wiki system with remote sync - hopefully it’ll work! #
• Better idea. Setup FreeMind, then figure out which Wikis work with it, then figure out the rest. #
• Will be in San Jose @4pm #

• Working on my facebook application #

• Friends, don’t let friends buy Supermicro servers. Pure headache. Always. Responsible for a lot of data recovery work for me. 8 hours #

The fresher your profile, the more clicks you’ll get

Think about the last time you used a dating website. Who caught your attention? They were “Active users from the last 3 days”, right? The reason is because they are far more likely to respond to your message.

If you are serious about online dating, you need to actually be an active user.

How to achieve more profile clicks

Just login to the sites of your choice every other day or so, and you’ll automatically have more profile views.

You don’t have to run a search or do anything else. Simply signing into a site counts as activity. I would suggest checking your mail as well.

Building the most powerful non-profit business organization

I joined the Entrepreneurial Society, which is a non-profit student organization at SJSU, as Executive Director of Technology in order to bring it to the next level. The organization currently brings a lot of value to its members, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

My current priorities include managing its website and e-mail operations. I am overseeing a major upgrade and the implementation of our overall vision.

In the near future, we are bringing online audio and video capabilities as well as a skills matrix grid.

8-second introduction

You have a great idea for a business. You think that business will make you a million or more if only you could get it started. You want to get it funded. Do you know whom to call? Will those people take your call? Join Entrepreneurial Society and tap into our investor network. Venture Capitalists come to speak at our meetings and are eager to meet you.

60-second followup

There are many other benefits. For example, we have internship opportunities available. You can participate in the business plan competition and the Neat Ideas Faire. Our organization is operated like a normal corporation. You can serve as an officer to get hands-on management experience. Serving on the executive board of our organization looks very good on your resume.

We are developing a skills matrix grid that you can search to find other members whose skills correspond to your needs.

We are seeking extraordinary people to join our team. Please contact E-society and we’ll schedule an interview.

All of my references are on LinkedIn

I’ve decided to limit my testimonials to two places. Realistically, LinkedIn is awesome for that purpose. If you are not using it to manage your testimonials yet, you should be.

My profile on LinkedIn and my profile at Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft actively rewards its partners who have credible references. Microsoft goes to great lengths to verify these references and they are a requirement to attain the Certified Partner status.

As there are thousands of Microsoft partners in Silicon Valley, we strive to keep our references up to date to be on top of the partner list.

LinkedIn

With LinkedIn, I realize multiple benefits as compared to posting testimonials on my private web site.

• Someone can request a recommendation from me, suggest to me what I should write about them, and I won’t forget about it.
  • How many times you’ve met someone and promised to refer them business… And never did… Be honest!
• If I have new information, I can update someone else’s recommendation after I’ve given it.
  • The recipient must agree with my edits or the previous recommendation stands.
• If someone volunteers an endorsement, I can include my suggested edits so that we can both agree on its content.
  • It can be very helpful to edit an endorsement to expand and clarify.
• I always have accurate contact information and an accurate resume of my contacts.
  • I know for a fact what my friends are doing, where they are, and how they can help my other contacts.
• LinkedIn profiles rank very highly on Google.
  • I can control the data which is displayed about me in a Google search. As time passes and the world gets ever more connected, this will become increasingly more important.
• If I develop an issue with a former connection. I can rescind my recommendation.
  • I retain the control over what I said and no one can alter that text without my consent.
  • Try requesting that from a typical static website. Will you even notice that a stale testimonial is still up somewhere?

By bringing my clients into my LinkedIn network, they get a clear picture of how I am connected in the business community. Thus, even though they may have simply joined LinkedIn to endorse me, they also benefit from its additional services.

If you love the results of my work, please connect to me through LinkedIn. Your endorsement will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!