Bryan Landaburu (aka Reno Bryan, Willie Vega, and Fuze) | Dont call me a blogger

Google, I'm the REAL Reno Bryan.

Certainly there's no arguing that I am the real Reno Bryan.

But, thanks to Google, I no longer can brag about this to impress nerds and the easily impressed in bars and public spaces. Their [google] last reindex has me plummeting in rank from #1 (where i have been for a year) to the unmentionable doldrums of the interwebs.  I really don't get it.  I am Bryan, I live in RENO, I've had a web development firm in Reno for 7 years, I'm on the board of the Reno Tahoe Young Professionals Network (who are having ther 2nd annual Leadership Summit next friday), and I frequently comment on the trials, tribulations, and happenings in the biggest little city in the world, more recently branded the Greater Reno[dash]Tahoe area. Even friends and other Reno bloggers like Ryan and Myrna think I am reno bryan, i just dont get it.

I am certain that all of you with companies re-test your search rankings every day right? Every week? Month? Come on...you don't think Google doesn't shuffle the cards every now and then do you? Call if you need help.

At least I can rest on the laurels that our clients are top 5 for other Reno terms like: reno riverfront condos, reno mail house, reno printing companies, etc. etc.  You cant look for any photo ID product any ID card printer under the sun and not find IDWholesaler.com or at least one of our clients. I am supposed to know how to do this, so I am on a mission.  I will reign supreme as reno bryan again.  Until then i will just have to be #4 for Bryan in Reno.  But I'll be back. Mark my words.

[maniacal hand rubbing]

I'll get you my pretty...and your little dog too.

Angry Bryan

PS
So help me if Wolfy says, aren't you in sparks, its on. I'll whack him with a tall boy next time i see him on his huffy 10-speed.

My day...

Heading to bed at 4:15am is rediculous. Hey wanna be entrepreneurs, want to know how my day goes? Heres a look at Monday:

• Wake 7am - read NY Times on iPhone, return emails from the weekend, request project updates from extended team.
• 7:30am - bathe, feed, dress Cole and get him ready to roll
• Out the door at 8:15am
• 8:30am standing conference call
• 9am - drop cole off while muting phone and carrying on call
• 10am - update job lists and print job reports
• 1030am - check email
• 11am - conference call - development partners MN
• Noon - errands, lunch, make someones day
• 2pm - rescue clients dead email servers, prep for con call, try to check email and return calls
• 3pm - interactive team production meeting
• 330pm - client meeting server migration plan
• 4pm - rescheduled all-hands Fuze production meeting. Introduce new time sheet policy and review all open projects, for all clients.
• 5pm - one last whack at email (30 still unanswered from monday)
• 530pm - pick up cole from nanny
• 6pm - arrive at YPN 20 under 40 awards social
• 7pm - Cole melts down at party, we leave
• 730pm - feed cole and get him ready for bed
• 830pm - fall asleep on the couch
• Midnight - wake up and realize that i have 3 proposals incomplete
• 1am - check social sites and reply to inbound (aka procrastination)
• 2:30am - realized I never ate dinner, cold cereal, vitamins, Chardonnay.
• 415am - proposals complete, thought about billing, but didnt get to any, mind racing, just replied to an email from a friend on CST who is already on his way to work (he and I have a meeting in 5 hrs)

Ever wanted to know what its like to be me? There ya go. Super glamorous isn't it? Gucci, confetti, lavish meals, bikinis and beaches, its really the life-o-riley.  I would say that 3 of 5 days a week my schedule resembles this.  Thinking of running your own show, welcome to the big time. Sometimes being a number has its privileges.

Goodnight/goodmorning...

B

Crutchfield.com Customer Reassurance - get ready for more of this

I have long been a fan of Crutchfield.com and we have admittedly "borrowed" from their research and concepts for some of our own ecommerce clients projects (don't act like you've never done it). They are true innovators, the best of the best customer service wise, best catalog, best marketers, best photos, best descriptions, best content overall. Not however, the best prices but I digress.  They kick ass.  Today, in kickass fashion the CEO, Bill Crutchfield (go figure) sent out an email to all his customers that is preemptive and simply awesome as we approach the holidays.  It's also a nice "suckit" to their competitors in consumer electronics online retail. Wanna see it, here ya go...

There is one particularly notable paragraph that demonstrates this CEO's smarts and the company's ability to see past the end of their damn noses:

"For many years, I have been concerned about the growing credit bubble. It was obvious to me that it was unsustainable and that an inevitable day of reckoning would come. To protect our customers, our employees, and my family from the disastrous consequences of a financial meltdown, I positioned Crutchfield to withstand the worst. We became very frugal with how we spent money. We did not pay outlandish executive salaries and bonuses. We did not build fancy facilities. We did not expand our retail store operations. And we did not buy other companies. Instead, we worked extremely hard to improve how we serve our customers, while we managed every aspect of our business with excellence. Furthermore, we paid off all of our debt and accumulated cash reserves."

Hot damn! Makes me wanna buy a big screen for the den!  Seriously though, get ready for more of this from responsible and prepared companies as doom & gloom runs rampant throughout online commerce this holiday season.  Crutchfield is a company that will weather the storm and this sincere, and this authentic letter has me evangelizing for them and committed to them as a company.

Nice job Bill.  I hope someone on your PR team sees this (because I actually do matter, or so my mom says).

Happy FriDEE!

Bryan

Zhiing is a new way to connect, we all need that.

Hey, look, I'm writing about what I actually do around here all day! So, I'm typically a bandwagoner and a little nerdy for new releases of anything social (form an orderly queue ladies).  I am personally fascinated with Geo-based applications that connect people, businesses, etc, and the possibilities they present are endless, IMHO.  The new breed of mobile apps are popping up with great regularity but one we recently had the opportunity to be involved with at the Alpha phase is a new app called Zhiing. 

With Zhiing you have the ability to communicate your location to anyone with a mobile phone. As you say so what, in that same message you are providing turn-by-turn directions to where you are (see how it works). You are also able to broadcast your location to a group of people...something you cant do with other Apps.  Surely there is Brightkite, Loopt, WhosHere, Plazes, to an extent, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Plaxo, etc, etc. but all require the recipient to ALSO HAVE THE APP or be "in da club". Zhiing doesn't require this.  Zhiing also works as a Firefox plugin, so you can Zhiing folks from your desktop as well.  Here's a little video on how it works...

They have thought through a lot in this initial release.  I'm going to play with the public version and see what i think, utilizing it with my friends and family.  We have our PR and Project teams on it as well.  Will be interesting to see how we find uses for it.

There are fully functional apps for iPhone, and Blackberry available for download now.  This just released TODAY so in the App store you will need to search for Zhiing to find it until the index picks up. You can learn more about the uses of the product on their website or their blog.

This is a public service announcement and I get NOTHING for the success or failure of this app.  I am pimping it because I had the opportunity to provide my input on the development (after all I am a Thetan Level 10 Social Media App Sherpa). I have always enjoyed playing with the various location based, friend-to-friend apps that are out there, but they've all left this reviewer limp. So, I hope that our influence on the development and our evangelism leads to a fast moving app. Best of luck to the guys at Zos.

Send your feedback and comments here, oh loyal readers, or in the iTunes App Store, or wherever you like. Or if you dont want to try it, then you, sir, are no friend of mine.

Rays in 4.

Bryan

What Happened to Our Economy by Xplane

I am one who feels that people should be allowed to hang themselves.  Meaning, that you are responsible for your own actions.  As our country (and the world) face serious economic crisis, it's this time that we need to rethink a lot in our lives. Politics aside, an administration didn't do this to America. I am not even going to state a side on the Presidential race because while McCain and Obamas version and solution for the economic issues are interesting to debate, this doesn't seem presidential related to me. The video below from Xplane gives a nice, short overview of exactly what happened to our world from 2000 to present.  This all has to do with greedy, dumb people.

Give it a watch and I really hope that my 5's of loyal readers who don't know what a sub-prime loan is, or how our lives will be forever changed by the last decade of decadence, hear the message. I know several friends who have had their homes foreclosed on, are losing their cars, and (hopefully) some dignity. These are good people but they have bad priorities and make dumb decisions. Personally, I have an expensive lifestyle, and things aren't always rosy in my world, but dammit, I made my own bed and I'm sleeping in it. I can't blame a bank for holding a gun to my head to buy a mortgage I can't afford only moments after I Visa'd up a new pair of True Religions. In my business, there would be no bail-out for Fuze making dumb ass business decisions.  We would just fail.  Like a wildfire in the forest, failure is a cleansing of society and this needs to happen.

Frankly, I am on a serious grandparent rant these days because days where true concepts of money, financing, and personal dignity have gone the way of the Dodo in favor of bigger rims and cooler boats. A lot can be learned from your grandparents if they're still with you...they have lived through this. What we face going forward, could actually be that bad.

Learn from the past. Rethink your life. Make smart decisions. Market yourself and your business and emerge a leader.

Ever forward,

Dr. Vega