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In My Tribe: Third Tribe Closing to New Members

by | Mar 28, 2011 | My Coach's ToolBox, Podcast, Site News, Who-Dos

As I’ve been building my business over the last year, I’ve had to learn a lot about blogging, marketing and business. Some of what I have learned has been from free sources, some from a great network of higher education professionals, most notably those in the #sachat (Student Affairs Chat) community. But easily, the most practical and actionable business advice I have received has been from one place. It’s called the Third Tribe.

Third Tribe is a membership site, created through a partnership between some of the best minds in social media marketing, including Chris Brogan, Brian Clark, Sonia Simone and Chris Garrett. They believe there is a “third way” between traditional hard-sell marketing and wishy-washy soft-sell marketing, which comes across as apologetic, or doesn’t seem like marketing at all. It’s built on efforts to create strong relationships with your customers based on authenticity and trust, coupled with a strong desire to offer products and services that they need.

It’s been a great place to study the tactics that these guys use to make marketing and business-building seem effortless, and to see the truth behind their businesses…hard work; dedication to the idea that building a business means selling your ideas, not selling your soul; and the ability to learn lessons from their mistakes and to teach others how to avoid them.  There’s so much good stuff there, that my only real struggle has been choosing what to implement. If you like this blog, it’s because of Third Tribe. If you find it annoying or scattered, well…that’s all me. Which is why I joined Third Tribe, and why I stay a member. When it comes to non-annoying marketing, I am clearly a work in progress.

Joining a membership site is not for everyone, and if you know for a fact that you wouldn’t benefit from being a member of this kind of a place, then stop reading now! If you want to know what I’ve gotten out of it, read on, because I have some good news and some bad news for you, as well as some perspectives that might make it worth your while to consider joining Third Tribe.

What I’ve gotten out of it:

  • Early looks at upcoming sites, programs, products and services from Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, Chris Garrett, Lewis Howes, Laura Roeder, and many more.
  • Connections with other, lesser known, but equally engaging members, like Mike Davenport of Stick Figure Simple (who drew the great stick drawing above for his guest post) Dennis Charles of Build Your Career with Passion, Dr. Susan Giurleo, fitness expert Lisa Johnson, Shane Ketterman of TCGeeks.Com (formerly ipaddaily.com) and Hashim Warren (Career Greenlight). All of these are people that have helped me, and that I have made personal connections with and given advice and perspectives. In short, I’ve become part of a closer network and support group of like-minded business people, who want to both make money and be decent, genuine people. I’ve been able to both hear and share successes, failures, stresses, and to ask for support and ideas.
  • Regular members-only seminars where great business minds of the social media era like Johnny B. Truant, Naomi Dunford, Pamela Slim (Escape from Cubicle Nation), Dave Navarro (The Launch Coach), and Mark McGuinness (Lateral Action) share how they built their sites, their businesses and their credibility. Some of these seminars also come with great discounts for Third Tribe members on their programs.
  • Great guest bloggers and guests for my podcast, and invitations to guest post on other sites, including Darren Rowse’s FeelGooder.Com
  • Answers to my questions or concerns in the forums and on regular Q & A calls with the founders. I don’t know what Chris Brogan charges to answer client questions beyond this pay wall, but I’m sure it’s more than my entire investment in my membership. And he’s answered several of my individual questions, and countless I had but others asked first. When I ask a question of any of the founders, I get an answer.
  • I’d tell you that you can’t pay for access like that, but truthfully, you can. That’s the good news.

But…here it comes…

The Bad News

Third Tribe is closing its doors to new members on April 1st. The announcement that open enrollment was coming came as kind of a surprise to me, but with it, some other news that was probably a long time coming… a re-format and even better features are coming soon, and the price is going up. I’m still waiting for details, but have a few educated guesses that I will keep to myself for now. But since the site is run by CopyBlogger media and has great partners in Darren Rowse of ProBlogger and Chris Brogan, I know it’s going to be awesome.

So if you are entrepreneurial and struggle with marketing your business, or if you love social media and would like regular access to some of the best minds in that realm, it’s a great time to get in and get access.

Join Third Tribe Now

All of the above Third Tribe Links are affiliate links, which means that I will earn a commission for each lead resulting in a sale.

There is also a great deal going on at DailySuccessDeals.Com where you can get a month of membership at Third Tribe, plus other good stuff worth almost $1000 extra from UnMarketing, Laura Roeder, Michael Port and others. Check it out by clicking the banner below.  (I am also an affiliate of this program.)

 

Levelling Up: Commitment, Resolution and Change

by | Feb 9, 2011 | Coaching, Site News

 

This brief video (just under 4 minutes) is about commitment, resolution and change. Inspired by words of wisdom from Chris Brogan on the Third Tribe Marketing membership site (affiliate link), Higher Ed Career Coach Sean Cook talks about “levelling up” and resonating with the market.

What advice or input could you offer about ways to improve the site and offer programs and services that would better meet your needs as a higher ed job seeker?

And what are you doing this year to “level up” and step up your game?

Higher Ed Career Coach: The Year in Review-2010

by | Dec 31, 2010 | Site News

This has been a very interesting year. Student Affairs professionals have embraced social media in many new and different ways, and it’s been exciting to be a part of the changing higher ed webscape. Along the way,  Higher Ed Career Coach  has grown and developed as a resource for higher ed job seekers.  On this last day of the year, let’s take a look back at some of the highlights of 2010.

In January, my post “personal branding in your job search” gave five quick links to articles on the topic. In January we began a series of articles related to the “placement” season in higher education. This began with a couple of articles on preparing for and conquering the placement conference.

In February,  Shannon Healy became a regular guest blogger  during the placement season. Her #jobhunt  posts eventually became an 11–part series, chronicling her job search, her experiences at placement conferences,  and the interviews (and rejection) that followed. She joined me on my blog talk radio show to discuss handling rejection and starting over, and was joined by her friend and mentor, Stacy Oliver, who introduced us to the concept of “parking lot pep talks.” But we eventually shared her joy at becoming a new staff member at, and joining Mickey Fitch and Beck Fick on the show to discuss getting started in the new position.

Also in February, Brian Koval beginners series of guest posts on the doctoral experience. Koval, who is also a periodic co-host for the podcast, and and a former staff member of mine at Penn State, shared his thoughts on applying to, being accepted by, and beginning a doctoral program with a distance education component. He has since begun a new position at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

In March, Mickey Fitch became a regular contributor to the blog, sharing tips on ways to make the job search entertaining, prepping your references, and how to deal with the pressures that come with negotiating and accepting a job offer.

We’ve also been lucky to have guest posters write about their perspectives  on higher education through my periodic guest blogger series, entitled “Monday Morning Quarterback,” including a four article series entitled “What higher education needs to learn.”

In the spring, I joined the membership site Third Tribe and began learning about effective ways to run and market my business and to grow the readership of my blogs. Since that time, I’ve been fortunate to connect with other members of this community, who have appeared on my radio show and written guest posts for Higher Ed Career Coach.

In May,  I offered my first hybrid short course, “8 Weeks to August,” which was geared toward helping job seekers who were “stuck”  in their  job search processes,  and help them get back on track.

Cook Coaching Mortarboard "C" logo

The Mortarboard "C" logo for Cook Coaching and Consulting.

In July,  I introduced new logos and word marks as part of a branding campaign, geared toward creating a unified brand image across all sites  owned and operated by my company, Cook Coaching and Consulting.  July also brought several guest posts and the highest traffic the site had experienced to date.

August and September, however, brought some disappointment as readership dropped during the traditional staff training and new student orientation period, and my podcasting efforts became less regular, as I began a part-time position at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia.  I began to concentrate more of my efforts on creating programs including webinars and my upcoming placement partner coaching program, and a multi-part  e-course  on planning your career in higher education, which is free to subscribers of my mailing list.

October, November, and December sped by in a blur. As we come to the end of the year, I am looking forward to ramping up the production of useful and relevant content that will assist job seekers during the busy spring semester and the 2011 placement season.   Readers will also likely begin to see some changes in the format of this site, as I seek to re-position  it to include more career resources site, with less emphasis on the blog.  This change should happen gradually, as I seek to find the right balance between offering practical resources and tools, and sharing perspectives on what it means to work in higher education.

I will continue to network with others that can provide useful and informative content to our readers. Some of this may include reaching out to former guest contributors for additional content,  as well as creating opportunities for new voices to share their perspectives.

As I look back upon the year, I am grateful for the many opportunities the year has brought me to connect with others, and to help job seekers move forward in their careers. My thanks go out to my loyal readers, my guest bloggers, my guests and cohosts for the podcasts, and to everyone else out there who is trying to create a supportive and caring environment or  higher ed  job seekers.

Thanks for reading! See you in the new year.