If you are reading this article you are probably reading this article because of the rather absurd title, or maybe out of curiosity. You may be asking yourself, “This must be the first chapter of a book, because this can’t be answered on a blog.” Well that is partially true, this topic can’t be answered with a single post on a blog, but I do intend to give you my perspective on that topic and many others. Fuze is here to give insight into the different components of eMarketing and how each piece will fit together. I look forward to your feedback and welcome your comments. I hope that this site ignites the fuze to your creativity and opens the door to new opportunities.
Updates from October, 2007
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Fresh ideas for eMarketing
Justin
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UPDATED: Black People Don't Read
Justin
As you may recall, I recently wrote a post about the observation that black people don’t read and unfortunately, to some degree it’s true. Though I remain optimistic about this observation, and would hope that this will change, I must admit that I didn’t necessarily supply a solution. Well have no fear, a solution is here. A friend of mine sent me a link to a pretty cool website and to be honest, I think it is a great tool to use for someone looking to make reading a more social event. Shelfari.com is a website that allows you to share books that you have enjoyed reading with others, particularly your friends or people within your network. The other cool thing is that it allows you to recommend books to your friends, which brings the traditional “book club” element online. Of course the service allow you to search by author, ISBN, or subject, but you can also search for subject matter in a huge tag cloud which are very useful and creative web 2.0 element. This cloud also allows you to see what other people find interesting and maybe spark you interest enough to see what all the fuss is about. My initial reaction is this service is great and hopefully will be the start of something bigger. Of course this is just my opinion, why don’t you check it out, and come back and tell me what you think.
-Justin
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7 Days and Counting
Justin
Well for those of you who don’t know, there are just 7 days till my 25th birthday. I’m a looked freaked, just because of all the hype… I think, but I am also excited. I’m excited to see what God will bring to my life over the next year. He has already done so much that I get goosebumps thinking about what he will do next.
For my birthday I think I’m going to take Mom to a really nice restaurant to thank her for taking the time to raise me, the way she did. Though I know it will never be enough, I just see it at as a small token of my appreciation. I know it’s a slightly different angle than most, but she is worth it, and so much more. Anyway I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I am excited about the next 7 days and for those of you, who are close to me, this may just be a reminder
Anyway be blessed and i’ll holla!-Justin
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Black People Don't Read! - Sad but true? :-(
Justin
Family,
Despite the fact that this information came to me in an email forward, I feel that it is incredibly important to share an article I received in my email today.
The information below is a small writing from Dee Lee, a Caucasian woman, who shared and expressed her view of Black People/African Americans. The information below is an observation read on the radio by DJ Dee Lee, a black radio personality. I previously stated that this was stated on the air by a Caucasian woman and that was in error, and I should have researched the information a little bit more before posting. My apologizes to Ms. Dee Lee.Be warned that this is a very broad generalization, and that this is not my personal opinion. I just decided to share because, I believe that there is some truth in what she is saying. Take a read and tell me what you think. Is it true? Do black people only think of themselves? Do we avoid reading?
THEY ARE STILL OUR SLAVES We can continue to reap profits from the Blacks without the effort of physical slavery Look at the current methods of containment that they use on themselves: IGNORANCE, GREED, and SELFISHNESS.
Their IGNORANCE is the primary weapon of containment. A great man once said, ‘The best way to hide something from Black people is to put it in a book.’ We now live in the Information Age. They have gained the opportunity to read any book on any subject through the efforts of their fight for freedom, yet they refuse to read. There are numerous books readily available at Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Amazon.com, not to mention their own Black Bookstores that provide solid blueprints to reach economic equality (which should have been their fight all along), but few read consistently, if at all.
GREED is another powerful weapon of containment. Blacks, since the abolition of slavery, have had large amounts of money at their disposal. Last year they spent 10 billion dollars during Christmas, out of their 450 billion dollars in total yearly income (2.22%).
Any of us can use them as our target market, for any business venture we care to dream up, no matter how outlandish, they will buy into it. Being primarily a consumer people, they function totally by greed. They continually want more, with little thought for saving or investing. They would rather buy some new sneaker than invest in starting a business. Some even neglect their children to have the latest Tommy or FUBU, And they still think that having a Mercedes, and a big house gives them ‘Status’ or that they have achieved their Dream.
They are fools! The vast majority of their people are still in poverty because their greed holds them back from collectively making better communities. With the help of BET, and the rest of their black media that often broadcasts destructive images into their own homes, we will continue to see huge profits like those of Tommy and Nike. (Tommy Hilfiger has even jeered them, saying he doesn’t want their money, and look at how the fools spend more with him than ever before!). They’ll continue to show off to each other while we build solid communities with the profits from our businesses that we market to them.
SELFISHNESS, ingrained in their minds through slavery, is one of the major ways we can continue to contain them. One of their own, Dubois said that there was an innate division in their culture. A ‘Talented Tenth’ he called it. He was correct in his deduction that there are segments of their culture that has achieved some ‘form’ of success. However, that segment missed the fullness of his work. They didn’t read that the ‘Talented Tenth’ was then responsible to aid The Non-Talented Ninety Percent in achieving a better life. Instead, that segment has created another class, a Buppie class that looks down on their people or aids them in a condescending manner. They will never achieve what we have. Their selfishness does not allow them to be able to work together on any project or endeavor of substance. When they do get tog ether, their selfishness lets their egos get in the way of their goal Their so-called help organizations seem to only want to promote their name without making any real change in their community.
They are content to sit in conferences and conventions in our hotels, and talk about what they will do, while they award plaques to the best speakers, not to the best doers. Is there no end to their selfishness? They steadfastly refuse to see that TOGETHER EACH ACHIEVES MORE (TEAM) They do not understand that they are no better than each other because of what they own, as a matter of fact, most of those Buppies are but one or two pay checks away from poverty. All of which is under the control of our pens in our offices and our rooms.
Yes, we will continue to contain them as long as they refuse to read, continue to buy anything they want, and keep thinking they are ‘helping’ their communities by paying dues to organizations which do little other than hold lavish conventions in our hotels. By the way, don’t worry about any of them reading this letter, remember, ‘THEY DON’T READ!!!!
I will share my personal opinion shortly, but I wanted to get this up quickly so that we could all read it and gain our own perspectives on the issue.
Love and Peace,
Justin -
Working Fifteen Hour Days
Justin
Well I can honestly say that I never thought I would see the day when I worked a 15 hour day. Well at least not for anyone besides myself. The truth is though you don’t notice the time, when you actually enjoy what you are doing. I can honestly say that I enjoy what I do. It’s 70% tactical and 20% strategic but it’s cool nonetheless (The other 10% percent is made of up by the administrative and operational task of the company… of course). But the recent 15 hour work days did allow me to take a step back, tonight and ask myself, “Why do I work so hard?” Am I just not working any smarter, or am I just that too committed to my job. Well I can honestly say it’s none of the above. It’s actually just maintaining a consistent level of work effort. The same level of energy that I have always put into the work I do. I have always considered myself a hard working person and though I am often in need of sleep, I don’t regret the long hours. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in giving my life to any company, but I believe that the occasional 10+ hour day opens your mind up to exploration. An opportunity to sit back and realize whether or not you like what you are doing. If you hate every minute you work past 8-9 hours, then it’s a possibility that you don’t really like the career path you have chosen. The fact of the matter is I do and that’s why I work so hard. Now my question to you is this. Why is that Americans find themselves reaching so far pass their capacity for work happiness, that friends, family and responsibilities often take the back seat? Why do you work so hard, but know you aren’t happy in you current place? Just a few words to think about, and believe me I’m stepping off the soap box, I just thought I would ask. Feel free to comment and I look forward to talking with you soon.
-Justin
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A new look!
Justin
Hey family, and anyone who else checks out my site. I just wanted to say hello, and let you know that I have taken a few minutes to change the site a little bit. I am not sure of how long it will be around, but it will be here for the next few months. I also have some other things in the pipeline, and I promise to write a little bit more. You can also subscribe to my blog in a new way… Email! I hope to offer up some cool new sites and better information, I must admit that I have really been slackin on my pimpin, but that’s another whole story.
Be blessed,
Justin
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Long time... no post
Justin
I know and realize that it’s probably not a good idea not post more often on your blog or journal but when I say I have been busy, please believe me. I have been busy. Well let me tell you what has been going on. First of all last December I started a full time job, that has lived up to the name full time. It has driven to the brink of insanity and back, but it’s well worth it. The company I work for is in a great position and I have to say that I like working for one of the fastest growing technology companies in Georgia. I can’t give away to much information as I need to protect the company I work for and myself, but lets just say that it’s related to something you use everyday. Now with that said let me continue. I have also started on a huge project called Riverdale 100. Now don’t look for too much information about this project on my website because there will be plenty of information to read on the website I am currently developing, but do know that it is something that the citizens of Riverdale GA have never seen before. Of course I can’t forget about Masscomm, we have come a long way and I want everyone to know that this holiday season looks to be a lot of fun and if you pay close attention you may get to participate and enjoy a night on the town, on me.
Anyway those are the 3 big things going on. I have some other things that I need to buckle down and do, so I won’t even mention them here as I hope that the next time I write I will be done with those projects. Anyway, to those of you who are close, please shoot me an email or give me a call and to anyone who is just dropping by, thanks for checking out the site. I will be releasing a new and improved version where I will be reviewing everything that is “life.” Again thanks and talk to you soon.-Justin