Internet Marketer, Graduate Student, Radical Dude.
Posts tagged Reuben Rock
Life Update – June 2010
Jun 5th
What a year! You might recall, I spend the spring semester going back and forth between getting a job and completing my phd. Well, there’s been some closure on that front.
I got a job! Actually I got a really awesome job. I’m now an eCommerce specialist for a Fortune 500 company here in Memphis. It’s been an incredible experience so far. Lots to learn and lots to do every single day. Internet marketing in the corporate world is actually a lot of fun. I’m planning to continue moving forward with this position as long as possible. I don’t see any reason to stop now!
On the business front, my sites are still running. I don’t have any solid plans for a new product anytime soon. But my existing products and niches are still making me great money. I think I’m going to focus my after-work efforts on improving my existing sites. I want to experiment with some new traffic generation methods. I also want to recruit more affiliates and provide more support to them. Banners, email copy, etc. My affiliates drive lots of sales for me now, but I know they can earn more commissions. I’d like to help them do that.
So it’s summer. I’m now an ecommerce specialist and an internet marketer. Life is good!
Figure out what you love to do. Even if you have been traveling down a different path up to this point (like grad school for industrial-organizational psychology), do what you love. You’ll find it more rewarding. You’ll enjoy going to work every day. You’ll want to keep learning and improving yourself.
Go do it! Make the most of your life.
Reuben D. Rock
PS – I bought a sailboat. It’s pretty awesome. Check out my sailboat restoration blog here: catalina22.reubenrock.com
PhD Versus Job: My Quarter-Life Crisis
Feb 22nd
Here’s my attempt at a personal blog post, as per my 2010 Goals:
As I’m sure you’re aware, I’ve been a graduate student at the University of Memphis for the last 2 years. It’s been difficult, eye-opening, and a whole bunch of other things. Now I’m nearing the end of my MS in Psychology, and I’m looking toward the future. The only problem… there’s a fork in the road.
Do I stick around and complete a PhD, or hit the work world and start collecting a real paycheck?
For many people this would be a simple question. You’re either the academic type or you’re not. But like a lot of graduate students, I have no idea what I am. Research is not my great love. I also don’t live for the IRB, publication, grant-getting, etc. On the job front, my interests and career aspirations are incredibly eclectic – a product of my entrepreneurial experiences over the last few years. My skills are in statistics, training, WordPress websites, marketing, copywriting, product development, etc. I like meeting people, traveling, coming up with new ideas, working independently (most of the time), and making money. My wife would say that making money is my greatest love. And that’s partially true – I won’t hide my affinity for living it up!
So here it is… the clock is counting down to my decision. On April 15th (also tax day – geez what a terrible coincidence), I have to accept or decline my spot in the Experimental Psychology PhD program at Memphis.
Let me think positively for a moment… whatever decision I make, it will be the right decision. You can always find happiness somewhere. Whether I am Dr. or Mr. Reuben Rock for the rest of my life is not really important. What is important is that I have a beautiful wife, lovely house, profitable business, and an assortment of friends and hobbies.
Any advice for a 24 year old caught between academics and the workforce? I’d appreciate your insights in the comments!
Here’s to my quarter life crisis,
Reuben D. Rock
2010 Goals: What Will You Accomplish?
Dec 31st
My 2010 Goal Mindmap
Here it is again… the new year!
It sneaks up on us every time, and it leaves me scrambling to figure out what I’ve accomplished in 365 days? But the new year also brings the opportunity to dream big for the next 52 weeks.
So in the spirit of dreaming big, I present to you my 2010 goals. Just like last year, I used Bubbl.us to create a pretty little map of my goals. It is separated into business, personal, and academic sections. Click on the image at the top left to view my goals.
This year the academic goals are taking a hit. School is great. I hope to land an amazing job in my field after I finish my phd. But I don’t want school to be my BIG focus this year, so I cut back on my academic goals. Grad school has consumed my life and pushed my business aside, so this year will need to be different. I’m shifting my entire mindset: leave school at school. My business is my life and always will be. So profits will no longer take a backseat to statistics homework.
There is also a goal related to this blog: I want to make ReubenRock.com a little more personal. Writing about business-only topics killed me this year (which is why I haven’t written much to speak of in 2009). I hope to open up a bit about my life and the amazing things I experience. My wife and I travel, party, laugh, learn, and have a great time. These things are important to me, and I want to share that with everyone. So expect some personal flair in the coming year. And if you really want to get to know me, follow me on twitter (@reubenrock). Trust me – I really open up there!
My business goals this year are pretty lofty. They include specific $$$ amounts on some of them, which I sincerely hope to accomplish. I’ll be sure to share my progress throughout the year. If I actually hit these goals, I’ll probably be really excited – so you can expect a post about it.
So wrapping this up, what do you hope to accomplish this year? What will 2010 bring for you? I strongly encourage you to commit your own goals to paper. You don’t have to map them out like I did, but write them down. Post them somewhere in your home or office. If you see these goals on a daily basis, you won’t forget to make progress toward achieving them.
That’s all for now. Good luck, and I’ll see you in 2010!
Using Slideshare For Keyword Rankings
Apr 16th
I just had an interesting experience. I was Googling myself (dirty) and found that my Slideshare profile had shot up to the top of the rankings. It overtook all of my various profiles, websites, blogs, etc. Basically, Slideshare just one-up’d Squidoo, EzineArticles, Myspace, Twitter, WordPress.com, and others.
Here’s the kicker – I set up my Slideshare.net account one week ago. It has one presentation uploaded (which was done for a graduate class). And I haven’t friended, commented, or taken part in any of the community behaviors they allow on their site. So I did a little investigation to see if others were experiencing the same thing.
I found this interesting article about Slideshare and SEO: http://www.socialseo.com/leveraging-slideshare-to-gain-rank-in-the-search-engines.html More >
Introduction to WordPress for Industrial Training
Apr 11th
The other day I showed my Industrial Training graduate class how to use WordPress. They were all new to the topic, so the slideshow is pretty basic. But I thought it might be useful to anyone just getting interested in WordPress.
We cover what WordPress is, how it can be used, installing it, creating posts/pages, installing themes/plugins, and embedding video.
If you would like to see any other topics in the future, leave me a comment. I’ll be happy to put together some more advanced topics. I will probably be building a few more slideshows for future classes anyway.
Here you go:
View more presentations from Reuben Rock.
