Sunday, November 23, 2008
I met David on the online networking community inSide919, a free micro business community in the Triangle region of North Carolina. When I clicked on newcomers’ pages, there would be David’s photo with a greeting to welcome the new people. Who was this guy who greeted everyone?
On his page in the community, he had a very catchy phrase, “The Introverted Entrepreneur.” I wondered what he was doing with this branding. A writer myself, when I saw that David wrote, I wanted to check in and compare notes. But both of us were busy, and didn’t get much farther than recognizing each other from our photos at a Business Networking Center class taught by the “Nobody Don’t Know Him” Martin Brossman. The “Hello, how are you?” from across the room happened a few more times, then David picked up the phone and called.
At Royal Bean Coffeehouse on Hillsborough Street across from Meredith College, David started talking and he had stories. There was a vivaciousness about him. From what he said he sounded very prolific in his writing, very intelligent, with lots of ideas. We discussed what our business services are and how we might offer them to people who need the publicity. We left that night with the assignment to review each others’ online materials – website, blogs, LinkedIn profile, and inSide919 pages, and to write an essay about the other. David published his essay about me, in this post, Shamelessly Promoting Others. In it, you’ll hear his intelligence and his wit, as well as his generosity. This, here, is my essay about David.
Dave is a member of many meet-up groups, a number of which are about entrepreneurship and marketing. For a supposed “introvert” he’s surprisingly involved with groups. He told me he has started groups and organized them. Sometimes they fly, othertimes they don’t. Groups do have a life of their own, sometimes hard to predict. Dave has a Web site, a blog, a LinkedIn page, an inSide919 page and more. It is his Web site and blog which stand out for me, first of all because the design is artistically very beautiful, and secondly, because his writing jumps out at you and dances.
While Dave’s interest in helping people develop their own unique brand based on their unique gifts and passion, he currently is focusing on these services:
•Ghost writing
•eBooks
•Permission based email marketing
•Speech Writing and
•Social Media Campaigns
The one piece I found missing from his site was pricing. Yet, many consultants do not list their prices on their sites, so he is in good company. Perhaps it draws the people who don’t have to worry about price. But as one who has to be cost conscious, when the price isn’t there, it is one step further away from engaging services, because the expectation is that either the price is high, or there will have to be a negotiation. And with negotiations, one never knows ahead of time if both sides can come out smiling, whether proceeding to do business, or determining not to do business.
Personally, I’m impressed with Dave’s initiative and cordial presence. I’m really impressed with his ability to verbalize things in speech as well as in writing: Dave can talk, and Dave can write! If I was looking for someone to do some writing, who could think and analyze, and look at things from different angles, I’d be wanting to talk with David Baldwin.
