5 Free eBooks You Need To Read Today

I read, a lot. So much in fact that I finally bought a printer today at lunch to start printing articles, eBooks and Whitepapers. I also bought binders, labels and the coveted 3-hole puncher to start organizing everything for training new employees and my own reference.

eBooks are a dime a dozen, and everyone has one now a days. Cutting through the clutter and finding books with real meat, information and analysis is actually an art form and a challenge. Writing one is another in itself. I am working on one as we speak with a working title of Sex, Drugs and Myspace Pages - Rock Stars for the Millennial Generation.

Anyway, on to the meat. Here are 5 free eBooks you should download, print and highlight the crap out of this afternoon. Not tomorrow, not next week, but tonight! Start reading, learning and sharing today!

1. Generation We by Eric H. Greenberg and Karl Weber.
   
   
   Listen Closely – It's the Sound of Your World Changing Forever. Great info and analysis on Gen-Y and what we are up to and about to do. Add politics, beliefs and the abilities of our children and you have some debating and thinking to do.
2. The Pirate's Dilema by Matt Mason.
   
   The book is available as a pay what you feel model and is well worth throwing Matt a few bucks. It really speaks volumes to our society and culture as Gen-Y and emerging technologists. The Pirate’s Dilemma tells the story of how youth culture drives innovation and is changing the way the world works.
3. Personal Branding for the Business Professional by Chris Brogan.
   
   If you are into Social Media and not reading Chris Brogan you are missing out on one of the best minds for participation and conversation that there is! This eBook is short, to the point and full of tips you can use today as a young Gen-Y professional when putting together your personal brand.
4. How to Call Attention to Your Music by Derek Sivers.
   
   If you are one of my musician readers, you should know of Derek Sivers, the man behind CD Baby (although he recently sold it to DiscMakers). The way Derek lives and writes are amazing. This eBook is great not just for musicians, but anyone looking to be seen in a crowded room. Start applying some of his real world tips today and see a difference in your results!
5. The New Rules of Viral Marketing by David Meerman Scott.
   
   Nothing is guaranteed to go viral these days. With more and more agencies trying to get their campaigns to go viral, you get a lot of crap and pissed off clients. Listen to David and beef up your viral skills, or at least your understanding of virility.

Please add your comments and additions to this list.
I will put them into this post as they come in. The eBooks can be anything from Gen-Y to Social Media to the Music Industry. Let's find the best of the best and put together a little library of free resources for the Millennial Generation.

-Greg Rollett

My Tipping Point and the Crash

This week I crashed. I crashed hard. From traveling to reports to day and night jobs, I lost control of what I was doing and how I was doing it.

Things were slipping through the cracks, attention spans were short and wifey was not too happy.

So what did I do?
I slept. I was in bed every night this week by10pm, stupid early for an entrepreneur in a 24/7 world. It really got me thinking as well on my own balance on life, work, family, clients and friends.

What did I find?

• Your to-do list in a start-up never shrinks. Crossing one thing off, leads to 3 things being added.
• Your contacts, friends, Tweets and Feeds will be there in the morning. So will an argument about not getting off your ass and saying hi when your wife gets home.
• Going to sleep early means missing some awesome shows that you don't have time to watch anyway. This week missed Heroes, the Office, One Tree Hill (guilty pleasure) and caught Entourage a few days late
• Monster's are expensive. $2.99 a pop at 7/11 down here

What's next

• Remembering to Remember the Milk. I got away from using the service when Basecamp came into play, yet their simple to-do lists are well worth keeping in my Chrome tabs
• Remember to take a breather. Even amidst all the hype of launching sites, preparing proposals and all that good stuff, getting the hot heat from your MacBook off your lap for a few minutes probably helps more than it hurts.
• I need to hit the gym, or kickboxing classes. Just can't find a good instructor that doesn't teach the girly kickboxing dance class.

I read 2 Tweets from Jun Loayza the other day:


I know that building a buzz and getting your product are keys to making things tick in the Web 2.0 Social Media world, but are they really necessary? Sometimes I think so. I know the importance of an all nighter and I know the importance of a good night's rest.

Setting up your life and business to work when you are in la la land, is a new important step that I am working on and really recommend for all you starving artists, musicians and Gen-Y entrepreneurs.

What do you think? What is your tipping point?

-Greg Rollett

(photo by Sailing "Footprints: Real to Reel" (Ronn ashore))(oh and that's not me in the photo)

When Everyone Is Promoting the Same Thing to the Same People

Every Florida start-up wants to pitch Inflexion and talk to Dan Rua. Every tech company wants a write up on Mashable or TechCrunch. Every author wants a book review on the New York Times.

Everyone of the companies being pitched to gets pitched more than you could imagine. Last week I was in their position, although in a much smaller capacity. Being a panelist at a Music Conference means you may be the one person to get you that record deal or that tour or that distribution that you are dying for. However, I'm not THAT person. I am a person that can help you get your shit in line, start meeting more fans and getting your brand scene and respected. I can also blog about you!

So, when I walked off the stage I got blasted with 30-40 CD's from aspiring young musicians. All but 1 caught my attention and got a listen (sorry to the rest of you, hopefully you learn something from this post!). LeeRone, a singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, CA got my attention.

The Package

LeeRone personally came up to say hello and had a package ready for me, and not in the heres a stack of CD's and you can have one variety. It was prepackaged with my name printed on it! This told me one thing, she did some homework!

The Note
She ends the short conversation we had with a seductive line of, "oh, there's a note in there for you to!" Wow, I got to the next room and opened it up. I have a picture of the note, but I typed it out for those that can't read my blurry iPhone photo.

Dear Greg,

Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience with us Atlantis antendees! I'm looking forward to learning more about Rollett Marketing and what you do in regards to Social Music Marketing. I am an indie singer-songwriter from Los Angeles attempting to share my sounds with you :) I'd love to get your eyes and ears on my music and would love to hear your thoughts too. I'm including my debut album, "Imaginary Biographies" and a few other fun goodies (my music is of the feisty-folk-rock variety). Hope you enjoy!

With love from
LeeRone

The Visuals

This package was not cheap to create. She has professional artwork, professional packaging and a great way of putting words together. The colors stood out on the paper, the visuals match her personality and well after a few spins of "Imaginary Biographies," I think everything is packaged great.

Yo, I Don't Have That Kind of Money
Understood, as evident by the show of hands of who had a marketing budget, and thus went my hopes of landing some new musician clients :(

Ok, so you don't have any money, that's fine. What you do have is time and your art. Making the music, or any product is only a small part of the equation today. You need to be able to stand out from the hundreds, or thousands of musicians you are competing with everyday, every gig and every store shelf. Get creative. The same way you write and the same time you put into creating your product, double that in creative thinking for promotions.

Flyers, posters and emailing your same group of people is not an answer, that is routine. No one gives a shit about routine. Be strange. Be outgoing. Be something that every other band is not. Anyone can record now, and a lot of people sound good. What you do to get people to care is what is gonig to make the difference in your career.

I didn't know anything about LeeRone before the conference. Now I know everything and all it took was a creative way of getting my attention. I am sure her tactics would have worked with anyone else that day. This doesn't mean that they are going to sign her, but it means they are going to pay attention!

In the ADD world we live in, getting someone to pay attention should be pretty high up on your list. Go check out LeeRone and buy something from her if you think she rocks, thinks she's cute or just because helping indie musicians is something that Gen-Y should be doing!

-Greg Rollett

5 Social Things Gen-Y Needs to Do Today

photo by Phreak 2.0

*I updated this post's title after a good comment by KateNonymous over on Brazen Careerist!*

We all want to get involved and make a change. Unfortunately that change cannot happen solely on Facebook, Myspace or even on a blog. Gen-Y is all about Social Change, and there are many of us that are going out into the real world and making a difference, building houses, changing lives, saving the environment and making a political change.

But there are an ever larger number of people joining online groups and writing a B.S. comment and then never come back, never donate a dollar or give a minute of their time to actually make that change.

In a recent interview with Mike Connery, for Gen-Y Magic, he states that:

Voting is the least you can do. If you want to make a change in your community, then run for office. School board, town supervisor, mayor, councilman, it doesn’t matter. If you don’t like the system and the choices you have at the polls, take over that system and change it from the inside.

Here are 5 groups that Gen-Y needs to pay attention to today. It's up to you to find the right cause, but this is where your head and heart need to be.

1. The school system

With standardized testing ruling public schools, and teachers becomming more and more like highly educated babysitters, we need to stand up to help our youth learn and get ready to enter society. Look at the PTA, the fundraisers, getting school supplies or tutoring to help out.

2. Cleaning up your city

No, not grabbing a halloween suit like BatMan (although that would be kick ass). Go out and make a difference where you live. Light up dark neighborhoods, paint over destroyed and rusted walls, plant some trees or flowers or even help the local homeless with food, shelter and clothing. Become proud of your backyard and more people will come and visit.

3. The Environment

Al Gore is probably right. Start by recycling, then maybe move on to help organizations change their products to be more "Green freindly." You might even be able to convice your boss to change the lightbulbs in your office and save him some money in his annual budget.

4. The Music Industry

Do your favorite artist a favor and buy something from them. I'm not talking about Snoop or Miley either. Pick a local, an indie or a friend. Send them a note saying how much you love their music. They could use the encouragement (and the cash) right about now.

(If you like singer-songwriter stuff, check out Leerone. I will be giving her a big shout out tomorrow, so look out for that)

5. The President

I keep convincing myself that it doesn't matter who wins. I am completely wrong. Whoever you vote for, or whatever party you are loyal too, all that matters is that you get involved, learn the issues and care about what you stand for. The youth vote is the swing vote this year. Even if your guy (or gal, I guess) losses, at least you stood for something and had a voice in the direction of your future. Even after the election, it doesn't mean you should stop caring.

Like I said, it doesn't matter what cause you belong to, who you root for and what side wins. All that matters is that you are socially aware and give a damn. Life matters more when you have something to fight for.

Who are you fighting for?

-Greg Rollett

Playing the Crowd at Atlantis

Here is a short clip from the Atlantis panel on Thursday. I like to get the audience involved and right around 1/2 way through this clip, you can see how I got their attention. I hope it helped and they will start to harness some of the things that we walked about.

Also in the video is Mike Bajrami, the President of Annex Projekt Creative. We had a great convo over brunch and it continued into the panel.

Enjoy!

-Greg Rollett

The Digital Music Generation Panel at Atlantis

I wanted to throw up a quick post tonight and show the success from the event today and also provide some of the links that I tossed out today on stage. I think the panel went great and everyone had something to say that could impact what the musicians in the crowd were doing today! I hope it was helpful at least.

Artist Data - send your shows everywhere
TubeMogul - Video Distribution
Google Analytics - Website stats
Statcounter - Website stats
Band Metrics - Music metrics (closed Alpha, sign up now!)
Blogger - free blogging platform
Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org - free and open source blogging platforms
AdSense - make some pennies for placing ads on your site
Grooveshark - next generation music streaming and discovery site

If I missed anything, let me know in the comments and I'll hook it up. Very great meeting so many artists and music business professionals.

And now some pics!

The crowd from the stage

The panelists (most of whom are not paying much attention)

Public Enemy at the Red Bull Panel

More wrap up coverage of Atlantis coming tomorrow, including 1 artists amazing promotion that I am even astounded by and some video from Chuck Dizzle and myself on Center Stage (2 different videos unfortunately). To all the bands I met today, kick ass in your showcase and create some magic with your fans!

-Greg Rollett

Roadtrip | Atlanta for Atlantis

Hey folks, 

I am taking a nice road trip up to Atlanta tomorrow through Sunday. It should actually be a great trip. I am speaking at Atlantis Music Conference on a HUGE Panel on the Digial Music Generation. I will be sitting alongside some awesome names in the business, check out their names and companies:

• Jonathon Alexander (Tap It)
  
• Christian L. Castle (Castle Attourneys)
  
• Bryan Calhoun (Label Management Systems)
  
• Michelle Roach (Michelle Roach Media Relations)
  
• Mike Bajrami (Annex Project Creative)
  
• Michael Corcoran (MusicSUBMIT)
  
• Bakari Brock (YouTube)
  
• Lou Plaia (Reverbnation)
  

Very stoked for this. There is also a panelist brunch on Thursday morning that will showcase even more talented music industry folks. Hope I can get a few words out with all the big names and big companies on my side. 

As the week continues in Atlanta, I am very excited to meet Duncan Freeman, founder of Band Metrics and Indie Music Tech, plus a special project that we have been working on for a few months. I am excited to get behind the scenes on Band Metrics, which he debuted at TC50 last week.  Sign up today to be the first in line when they give out invites. 

Should be a great trip. My wife and the puppy are coming along, as wil the MacBook for post writing and finishing the eBook that will serve as teh basis for the eCourse on Digial Music Marketing and Promotion. One chapter at a time. 

In the meantime, go and check out Creating Gen-Y Magic, the site I am co-writing with Lee Cockerell to promote his new book, Creating Magic. I'll get you all the scoop on that when the time is right!

Cyanara! (A-Town people msg me on Twitter to link up)

-Greg Rollett

Rock For Hunger VIP Passes (Early Bird Pricing)

(*Update, each VIP ticket sold will feed 80 PEOPLE in the Orlando community*)

Orlando peeps, Rock For Hunger is having a super special to get you the best seats and benefits in the house for Rock For Hunger Fest 3! The event is going down on Saturday, November 15th at the Plaza Theatre on Bumby in Downtown Orlando.

To get everyone excited, we are practically giving away 100 VIP tickets from today till Sunday at 11:55pm! For only $20 you get:
-Admission to the show
-Reserved Balcony seats

-Free Festival T-Shirt
-Private Bar (not free booze, but a bar with no lines)
-Free food (yummy)
-Exclusive schwag and other great prizes!

Head on over to the EventBrite Page and order your tix now! I check ed my email this morning and they were already about 20 tickets gone. This special ends Sunday night!!

To get a taste of what is going to happen at Rock For Hunger 3, here are some of the bands:
(super secret headliner - think "Dangerous')
The Audition
G-Ro and the Skateboard Sneakers
Passafire
Ambertone
Afterglow Radio
Union Made
Jah Roots
Chris Burns
Laura Reed and Deep Pocket
Mumpsy
Social Ghost
Junkie Rush
and more...

Order your VIP tix now. On Monday these tix will be $40, so buy one for you and your friend!

-Greg

Marketing Jobs to Gen-Y College Grads

I've been on a Gen-Y kick lately, so let's stay on it! Face facts:

• The economy is screwed.
  
• Mortgages scared everyone away from buying houses.
  
• Tuition is expensive, and yes, you have to pay back those loans you spent at the dive bars.
  
• Companies are scared to hire and when they are hiring they cannot get their message to the people that need to see it. 
  
• Mom and dads place and a bartending gig, doesn't look too bad right about now.
  

Those college folk who finally crossed the stage in May or over the summer are not having a fun time in the job market. (Quick background and disclosure; I work for a job board, helping to make jobs more appealing to job seekers AND search engines) These eager Gen-Y workaholics are not confident right now. 

Why should they be confident right now? 

The messages that they are hit with everyday on the news, on tv, from their teachers, from their peers and from their parents is that there are no jobs, you might have to take a pay cut and, well, those 4-6 years you spent cramming for tests on the eve before the mid-term well, they don't mean dick right now. 

Marketing For A New Recruit 

Marketing for recruits in Gen-Y is similar in marketing products to us. You need to stand out from the loads of BS that is floating around on Job Boards, at Job Fairs and even at Interviews. The free pencil or frisbee hoopla is good for some, the some that are not interested in your job, but the spectacle of the event. 

Reaching Gen-Y with an opportunity to work for your company should bring pride to your company and showcase the future prospect of working there. Even with a dead end piece of crap telemarketing job, you can hit the heart of someone that can make miracles out of apples and mayonnaise. 

How? 

• Tell a story. It works on blogs and 28% of us Gen-Y kids now author a blog. 
  
• Video. We didn't make billionaires out ofSteve Chen and Chad Hurley for lack of giving our time and money away. 
  
• Tell me how I am going to learn. Ryan Healy of Employee Evolution and Brazen Careerist suggest that our first job be about education. The education about the workforce that we did not learn in college. Knowledge is power, so teach and tell me how I am going to continue to learn even after I know how to do my job efficiently. 
  
• Get up to speed on technology. You don't have to have iMac's and Bean Bags, but a bland, sand colored cubicle running Windows Me is not going to get you any Gen-Y superstars anytime soon. Yes budgets are tight, but please, that projector screen is so 4th grade. 
  
• Social Networking. Learn it, live it and use it. 
  
• Don't bull shit. If your company is tanking, tell us how we can help to make it better. If you are not going to promote us for 3 years don't tell us we are going to be VP in 2. We can see right through it. We are the king of excuses and can surely tell when you have one coming. 
  
• Find us. We put enough information on the web to where you can find who and what you are looking for by typing in a few words into a Google search. I would almost be scared if someone found me for one of the million blog posts I have online. 
  

So Where Do We Go From Here 

I am far from an economist, but I do know there are good jobs out there going unfilled. I also know that job boards are full of shit jobs, pyramid schemes and sales jobs with no base. That makes it tough. Gen-Y, well at least the career minded and motivated ones, have a great advantage. They can network, build their personal brand, move back home or grab some cheap rental property (as there are lots of real estate investors begging to rent their condos away for pennies) and skip there way to new jobs from companies that want their help now. 

The College Graduate Career Confidence Survey suggests that the key motivators for grads and jobs are:  

1. Opportunities to develop new skills 
   
2. Appreciation for work/life balance 
   
3. Establishing and maintaining a good rapport with their managers 
   

Does your company meet these motivators?

I would bet my small salaried check that they cannot. That's ok, we'll just spend company time reading blogs, networking with peers and planning our weekends. Hmm...

-Greg Rollett

Twitter Feeds 4,000 Homeless Invididuals

My wife loves Twitter. She loves the fact that instead of calling up our friends or texting them to meetup, we have a Tweetup. She loves that I Tweet about the most interesting things and my followers care enough about it to continue following.

She is bullshitting. Doesn't get it. And I'm cool with that.

When I had a bad day last week, the Twitter community was there to get me back in the swing of things in a big way. It played out like this:

The donor can be found here if you want to thank him too. (I kept his name anonymous, but I have no problem displaying, I will leave that up to him!)

I am not sure how this played out but the path that I led had at least a play in the matter. Below is the stream of events that lead to the donation and the direct feeding of 4,000 homeless Orlando area individuals, courtesy of Rock For Hunger.

1. Created a personal brand that encompassed my entire package (Rollett Marketing, Music Marketing, Rock For Hunger, Social Media, Gen-Y and so on)
2. Reached out on Social Media sites (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, etc)
3. Created loose relationships with people (blog comments, Twitter replies, introduction e-mails, etc)
4. Continued past relationships and built new ones - never settle on what you have. There are so many interesting people that can teach you so many things.
   
5. Build a brand that is recognized in the community - speaking at local events, joining user groups/organizations, etc.
   
6. Don't ask, but participate - My start-ups need money, Rock For Hunger can sure use some donations, etc, yet I do not ask for anything, but I do tell the stories that are involved in the process, hoping that someone will be inspired. This can include volunteering, donating some canned foods, helping out with research, sending out some links or yes, lead to a great donation.
7. Give back - You cannot solely be a taker. Give back to your community, volunteer your time and send some links out to make someone else's day brighter.

When the day is done, more times than not, you need to believe that you are doing the right thing. It is very easy to get caught up in your day-to-day and focus on the projects in front of your face. There is absolutely nothing wrong about that. But seeing the power in helping someone out, well, that is more power than going at it alone could ever be.

Thanks Twitter, not just for the act of kindness, but for the community and power that you bring. Wait, no, thanks to the community. Twitter is just the tool that we use to reach out to each other.

For those looking to know more about Rock For Hunger, please visit their Blog, which is back up and running on its regularly scheduled postings. The Fest is coming soon too, November 15th. I heard that G-Ro is bringing the Sneakers back for one more show! Just a rumor though.

-Greg Rollett

Our Community Coming Together

Getting an organization started is a royal pain in the ass. Getting one started solely with volunteers takes that up a notch. I am currently in the middle of starting my 2nd nonprofit company aimed at bringing our community together. The first is of course, Rock For Hunger, which is going strong with weekly feedings for those less fortunate in Orlando, job trainings and Rock For Hunger Fest 3 coming in November.

The 2nd is called doterati.
My 2-3 months being involved with the group has been great. There are so many talented people, awesome companies and passionate creatives right here in our backyard. What makes it even better s bringing everyone together to make the org tick. In our board meetings we have representatives from small companies like Atlantic Dominion Solutions and One Step Solutions to innovative design firms like NFi Studios to large Interactive firms like Mindcomet and Social Media Innovators IZEA to one man shops to corporations like Darden to schools like Rasmussen to employment solutions to user groups and beyond.

We have come together to not just build another networking group, but a community that is really out to help each other, teach each other and grow together.

Christmas All Year Long
One of the biggest joys that I have is making people come together and create something that is bigger and on a more grand stage than by them self, alone. With both organizations, I feel that the whole is bigger than the pieces, but the pieces are vital to the whole. The best part is that the people involved all give their time to make these orgs tick. No money involved, at least on the personal level. Rather it is the personalities and the hearts that they can take with them.

Gotta love community.
To get involved with either Rock For Hunger or doterati, please shoot an email to greg.rollett@endagon.com. Let's build this city together and see what we can accomplish!

-Greg