Can I Just Say...

super cool. thanks @skillshare!

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:01:03 -0500

super cool. thanks @skillshare!

Incorporating Social Media into your Resume or Portfolio

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 16:39:00 -0600

I’m on my way to a resume/portfolio workshop at Minnesota State University - Moorhead, my alma mater, this afternoon to talk with students about how to talk about their social media experience in their portfolios and resumes.

I’m posting this as a reference for them as well as a little practice before I get a chance to speak with them - I hope you find it helpful! I’ll make quick notes now, and go back and add more thorough information later.

1) Check out re.vu for a personalized landing page/online resume. I just signed up for this service, but you can see it at re.vu/al_winmill - I have some work to do, but you can see my example there. I see this as LinkedIn on steroids, which is probably because the information comes from your LinkedIn profile - a very handy feature.

2) Get connected - if you’re not on Twitter, sign up. If you are on Twitter, be sure you’re connecting with the right people. Be authentic and be yourself, if you’re not, people will see through you and you won’t build many bridges.

3) Use your personal experience to grow as a business. My personal Twitter account, @Al_Winmill is successful because of the connections I have on my business account, @TitanOutlet (and vice-versa). Using Facebook since it was created (or available to MSUM students anyway) and staying on top of news through sites like Mashable.com has made managing a Fan Page a breeze. Watching YouTube videos and posting to a personal account has made our Titan Outlet Store Channel a lot easier to run.

4) Let this experience shine through in your resume or portfolio. You need to convince the person doing the hiring that you’re the right person for this social media job, and not just because you have logged into Twitter before.

5) Knowing the tools/platforms is more than half the battle. We can teach you tips and tricks, just stay on top of the changes that are constantly coming through social media.

A few resources:

Job Hunt via Social Media – Create an Online Portfolio — http://laurenkgray.com/2011/03/25/job-hunt-via-social-media-create-an-online-portfolio/

Social Media Portfolio for Professionals (infographic) — http://www.slideshare.net/stephsamm/social-media-portfolio-for-professionals

A Resume or a Social Media Portfolio? — http://masterful-marketing.com/a-resume-or-a-social-media-portfolio/

That’s it for now - I’m running late to the workshop. A million thanks to my friends Katie and Kelly for their help with this!

just do it

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:17:56 -0600

just do it

fish fillet

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 09:29:59 -0600

fish fillet

Had a blast at @LeesLiquorBar with @thedamnquails &...

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:30:12 -0600

Had a blast at @LeesLiquorBar with @thedamnquails & @texas2minnesota last night! (Taken with instagram)

Booze hound (Taken with instagram)

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 22:50:10 -0600

Booze hound (Taken with instagram)

Good morning minnesota! (Taken with Instagram at Pearl Lake)

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 08:33:41 -0600

Good morning minnesota! (Taken with Instagram at Pearl Lake)

North Dakota is a Kick Ass State

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:01:49 -0600

My friend/role model/former intern wrangler, Jason Jacobson of Absolute Marketing Group/stand up comedy fame, puts the ND Tourism ad controversy in some pretty amazing context. Check it out:

About the whole North Dakota “Legendary” ad fiaso:

It’s cool with North Dakotans if we’re the punchline. We’re used to it.

North Dakota is the Nickelback of states. Hipsters scoff, mainstream laughs, but secretly people like us.

How do we know? Because we’re rich.

While you all were maced occupying Wall Street, the few people who occupy this state were working. You all had a recession and we’ve got a 40 billion dollar surplus.

What am I going to do on my $30,000 a year salary? Oh yeah, I’m going to pay my $600 a month mortgage on my 1200 square foot house.

Frankly, I applaud the agency that made those tourism ads. Were they good? Not at all. But big ups to North Dakota finally realizing we have a lot more going on in this state than Teddy Roosevelt tributes.

I mean Teddy Roosevelt was born in Georgia. He only used North Dakota as ranch to hunt from time to time. Thankfully our tourism bureau realizes it’s time to move on. You’d never see Wisconsin say, “Come visit Wisconsin - the place where Abraham Lincon scratched his balls 200 years ago.”

North Dakota’s a hard sell. It’s cold. It’s flat. And compared to mountains or the neon jungle of city life, it’s not all that much to look at. But we’ve got intangibles.

Do you know how many deadbolts I have on my house? One.
Do you know what the combination to my bike lock is? Me neither. I don’t use it.

Most of the people who live here have German and Scandinavian ancestry. That means our women are some of the most beautiful in the world. I’ve traveled to other places. Our top 100 women are better looking than your top 10.

You people on the coast prance around in bikinis to show off. Our women can seduce us through a sweater and come summer when they don the swimwear, we go “That’s even better than what I imagined!”

From a beauty standpoint, the Kardashians would have to keep up with us.

But our women wouldn’t be out there trying to compete in the first place. They’re working while going school, because in North Dakota, being hot is a bonus, not a profession.

Visit our state and an outsider would be like “does Heidi Klum have a sister and why is she working at Applebees?” To us, her name is Nicole and she’s studying to be a social worker.

Second, you hear about North Dakota nice. It’s a little passive aggressive at times, but you never go out of your way to crush someone. Why? Because you never know who’s going to drive by when you’re ass-end-up in a ditch. Stranger danger? How ‘bout stranger life saver. Would you “cool” states stop to help a stranger, get out of your car when it’s below zero and sink waist deep in snow to help tow? I don’t want to find out.

Lastly, North Dakota’s kinda boring by Coastal Standards.

“Can I get an organic acai berry smoothy with a shot of aloe.”

I’m sorry we don’t have organic acai berry. We’ve got regular acai berry.

“Ah, you hicks!”

We’re not cutting edge. We’re not main stream. But we certainly aren’t out of the loop. We take nothing for granted. Every time we leave this state is an adventure. We’ll drive four hours to walk through an IKEA and make a weekend of it if we want to hit up Trader Joe’s.

So we don’t have the most amazing selection of home-grown fruits and vegetables. We’ve got home-grown potatoes. Hells yes. It’s good enough for us.

“Did you see this ad of North Dakota pretending to have a night life like they heard about in Vegas? What idiots.”

Idiots? I went to Vegas. I paid to walk into one of the finest gentlemen’s clubs in the US. A $30 cover and $35 for a double shot? I paid $75 to not catch a buzz and see “well, it’s a living” boobs.

In my town, $75 is a dinner for two, four rounds and a taxi back to my HOUSE where I can actually touch a date.

Our booze is cheap because we drink so much of it. We party harder than any other state in the Union, go to school, get jobs and continue to throw it down like we’re pledges.

Art? Music? Entertainment? If we don’t have it, we build it. We’ve got talent coming out of the woodwork because we don’t have to follow the trends set by your clandestine urban hipsters. North Dakotans make it up as we go. It’s the freeing sort of creativity you guys have to attend lectures and swanky art schools in order to experience.

Do you want to know if you’ve made it as a national performer? You’ll do a show one of the four or five arenas in our state. We’re a tertiary market at best. If you can’t sell out, it’s cause this flyover state doesn’t know who you are. Keep your egos checked.

We’re not culturally ignorant either. We’ve got the Internet too…in our homes. And wait for it, we also have smartphones and tablets. We know what’s trending, we are just too polite to call bull shit on every fly-by-night fad.

North Dakota is a kick ass state. I might think differently if it wasn’t my home. But it is. I’m proud to live here. Some of my friends have left. More have stayed.

There’s a chance someone you know is from North Dakota. Talk to them. They’ll mention all of our flaws first. Next, they’ll probably make a Fargo movie reference in the “oh-yeah-you-betcha” voice that we feel expected to do in order to appease outsiders.

But ask these native North Dakotans if they wish they would’ve rather grown up anywhere else.

My bet is no.

I’m pretty sure @realbigdad is gonna chop some wood...

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:39:39 -0600

I’m pretty sure @realbigdad is gonna chop some wood tonight (Taken with instagram)

Buster Bluth is the man.

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:17:40 -0600

Buster Bluth is the man.

The Best Of #christmas VacationIf I had my druthers I’d spend...

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:39:50 -0600

The Best Of #christmas Vacation
If I had my druthers I’d spend the days surrounding Christmas working in viewings of Christmas Vacation, Scrooged, Christmas Story, and Die Hard. Maybe even Elf if there was time. […]

Source: Uproxx

Their new advertising makes me want to buy a #Chevy (Taken with...

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 13:52:00 -0600

Their new advertising makes me want to buy a #Chevy (Taken with instagram)

This nice gentleman bought a combine from us today. What a guy!...

Wed, 23 Nov 2011 11:58:11 -0600

This nice gentleman bought a combine from us today. What a guy! (Taken with Instagram at Titan Outlet Store)

A normal text conversation with @RealBigDad

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 18:17:44 -0500

A normal text conversation with @RealBigDad

Little Lou’s first ND rooster! (Taken with instagram)

Sun, 23 Oct 2011 13:22:43 -0500

Little Lou’s first ND rooster! (Taken with instagram)

Only 80 people a day see this mural by @chankfonts - I love it...

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 09:07:05 -0500

Only 80 people a day see this mural by @chankfonts - I love it (Taken with instagram)

Truth.

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:41:49 -0500

Truth.

If you wanna fly…

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:40:59 -0500

If you wanna fly…

"I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends,..."

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:21:35 -0500

““I had rather be shut up in a very modest cottage with my books, my family and a few old friends, dining on simple bacon, and letting the world roll on as it liked, than to occupy the most splendid post, which any human power can give.””

- Thomas Jefferson, via The Art of Manliness

My plane neighbor was wearing this hat last night..I should have...

Wed, 24 Aug 2011 23:18:36 -0500

My plane neighbor was wearing this hat last night..I should have tried to buy it from him (Taken with instagram)