Archive for December, 2008
2008-Year in review, from my perspective
Dec 30th
There are a myriad of posts floating around the blog-o-sphere about 2008. If that is not enough, there are tons of radio shows counting down the top songs, or TV stations doing all the big news of the year. Well, I will not be joining them.
Maybe its my ego.
Maybe it is my love of the limelight.
No matter why, this post is all about the big events in my life over the last year. Of all my 20 years, this one may have been the most life changing.
Nothing to huge happened in January. There was some girl drama, lots of rock climbing (I was trying to rekindle my former professional climbing career-unsuccessfully), but not too much else. However, that would all change.
February was a tough month. I got a phone call that my best friend, Greg Adler, had passed away. July 5th, 2006 he was hit by a car while biking to the west coast. He was in a coma for months, and then was still not out of the woods. He died in his home Feb. 4th. Greg had been my right hand man throughout most of Boy Scouts.
March was a roller-coaster month. I went on a trip for spring break-but not like most trips. It was a trip led by Students Today Leaders Forever-the goal of the trip is leadership development through community service. We took a bus trip from the Hamline campus out to Washingtion DC, stopping in a different city each day to help them out. It was a truly amazing experience. It also caused the rekindling of an od relationship, which then promptly ended badly.
April and May-Just school and finals.
June-Landed two things-job and a long term girlfriend. I flew out to Denver at the beginning of June to hang out with my buddy Chris Fettig at DU. When I got back, I had a job in marketing at fahrenHEIGHT360, and a girl to chase. The job got me plunked into the social media sphere, which has garnered me a ton of new friends (love you guys!).
July: More of work and the girl. Also, I started my first company, Next Generation Cigar Marketing, with Joe Ladd.
Aug: More of the above.
Sept-School started.
October: Along with life as usual, I got to attend and participate in the MIMA summit. This was such an amazing event, and it really helped me get involved in the marketing world. I also started coaching my high school mock trial team.
November: A breakup. More life.
December: Launched a new personal blog (which you have found), launched Hislop Enterprises (my consulting), finished the semester, and spent a ton of time playing with our new dog.
This year was filled with gains and losses, but I would not have it any other way. I discovered my love of marketing, grew a ton personally, and found a bunch of new friends.
Holiday Fun
Dec 24th
I would like to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. Take this time to spend having fun, whether that is with family and friends or by yourself.
Ponderings on the MSP Social Media Community
Dec 22nd
I spent this morning at the Holiday Edition of the Social Media Breakfast-MSP. This is one of the many groups who have a large social media influence in the Twin Cities. MIMA is the other big player. Something sticks out about this community. You have a group of people, brought together by Twitter, Facebook, the blogs, and a myriad of other services, yet when we get together for the events, we all are able to chat and relax. To me, this is the real beauty behind social media, and also taking that into the real world. I fully know that tonight, at Tech Karaoke MPLS, we will all be Twittering what is happening. Still, that is only a side piece to being a part of this amazing community. The focus of the night is the people, the community part of this social media world that we are trying so hard to create. The group, who constantly teach each other, is like none other I have been a part of. Here is to you guys (and gals). Way to rock.
Thoughts on SEO
Dec 17th
I recently got into SEO and SEM. I never had planned on it, but my current job and dreams in freelancing necessitated it. I think that SEO is a cool field. There is no “degree” like there is for marketing or PR. There is just thinking outside the box, and trying to make a strategy better than the competitions. I love that. It reminds me of my mock trial days growing up-you all have the same resources, it is all about how you apply them.
I have found SEOmoz to be really helpful. Their SEO pyramid is a great resource to have in my office-it is an easy visual reminder on what I should be focusing on.
I see what I have been missing out on by just focusing on social media.
A Little about me…
Dec 15th
My name is Mitchell Hislop. At this time, I am 20 years old.
I used to be a professional rock climber in middle school.
I love technology, and am on my second laptop and tenth cell phone.
I am a productivity nerd. David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” is one of my favorite books.
I love marketing. I work in marketing, and I am working on launching myself as a freelance marketing consultant. I am a social media nut.
I have always had an interest in politics, namely political strategy. The West Wing holds a dear spot to my heart.
This blog will be about all of the above things, since this blog is about me. I will write about business, pleasure, and everything in between.
Starting Over
Dec 15th
For all that were followers of my old blog, welcome to my new home.
For the new readers, hello!
I am Mitchell Hislop, a freelance marketer from Minneapolis, MN. In addition to freelance, I work at fahrenHEIGHT360 doing in-house marketing, and also as the president of Next Generation Cigars, a cigar marketing company. You can find me on most social networks under mitchell hislop, or by looking at my homepage, www.mitchellhislop.com. I will use this blog for news, thoughts, reviews of various things, and my random musings. I hope that you enjoy it.
