A guest post is a long time coming on this blog, and I am honored that my first is from a friend, colleague and all-around awesome dude – Hubert Sawyers. I met Hubert more than a year ago at Startup Weekend 2009. When I first attended Tweetea last year, I immediately knew it would become a staple in our community. Tweetea has grown tremendously in the past year-and-a-half, from one prime location at Goldfish Tea in Royal Oak to additional locations in Detroit, Grosse Pointe and occasionally Pontiac.
We have more ideas up our sleeves to keep this group growing and to attract people from various cities. The official Tweetea website will launch soon, but you can sign up for the future newsletter today. And now, the stage belongs to Hubert…
It is NOT a race to the finish… as there should be no end if you care about the condition of others.
As someone who believes in knowing thy neighbor and helping his fellow man, it is hard for me to not worry about how others are coming along in their happiness quests. There are many who are in similar career paths as I am who probably do not spend a lot of time worrying whether or not folks are keeping up with them. If anything, they would rather they do not have any competition inching at their heels.
Well today, I am here to make a declaration that I feel responsible for my community and its condition. As a digital marketing professional, I see people who are doing things that I feel is bad for overall business. Snake oil salesmen make it hard for everyone. When someone sells a small company on SEO work that does not help its business, any self-respecting CEO loses a little bit of his/her own credibility. That is why I look to support those who are willing to educate others about the right way to do things.
In the social media space, there is a lot of talk about standards. Everyone seems to have their own opinion on the right or wrong way to communicate through the various social networks. Some practices are becoming commonplace the longer we use the tools, but there are still countless n00bs that enter the spaces and muddy up the floor we just finished mopping. Sure, we can get angry and passive-aggressively heckle/berate offenders, but most times this ruins a perfect opportunity to teach.
In Detroit, there are initiatives taking place that are set to try to get the current tide to flow, instead of ebbing like it is. It is not in my best interest to question any of them. All I know is it is good that folks are actually working toward solutions. I feel like I am doing my part with #tweetea – the weekly meetup of avid social media users – in making sure we continue to break down silos and use our resources to help positive and productive efforts in our communities. Not to mention, my work with iDetroit has been very fulfilling in helping to bring together the tech and digital professional communities.
People seem to appreciate what we have done with #tweetea and iDetroit. Some seem to look up to the folks who are really active in the events we host as if we are gaining benefits they cannot attain. Truth be told, we are not doing anything that someone else cannot do. That is the reason we are looking to expand, so we can share our energy with our areas. You could see this as a push for regional domination, but you could not be more wrong. I do not want to conquer anything; I just want to do my part to help my community. If our efforts penetrate first, then that does not mean we need to rest.
I can only speak for myself. As someone who believes in hard work and commitment, I take pride in what I accomplish, but I do not want to be out here alone trying to succeed. I hope my neighbors are interested in being successful ALONG with me. The way that can be ensured is if I make sure I do my part to help out those who desire to learn. Hopefully, someone will look out for me as I progress in my entrepreneurial efforts in the same fashion. If you feel the same as me, I hope you will join me, I mean US, in working together to rebuild our region.
What do you think? Should responsibility for one another be something we push to see more of? Or am I being too ideal?