A Smart Bear

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Guest post round-up

February 8, 2010 Essays

I guest-post on other blogs fairly regularly, but it was pointed out to me recently that I don't usually share those with you!

So here's a selection of articles I've published elsewhere.

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Rude Q&A

February 1, 2010 Essays

You need more than a "devil's advocate," you need ruthless abuse.

Here's how to dole it out to yourself so that normal sales calls and company pitches seem easy by comparison.

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A Tradeshow Checklist, born of experience

January 25, 2010 How-To

Tradeshows are a combination of high-level strategy and low-level minutiae, so a checklist comes in handy.

Here's a bunch of advice learned the hard way — through making mistakes and seeing what worked.

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Why I feel like a fraud

January 18, 2010 Essays

I felt like a fraud during the early days of Smart Bear, and in many ways I still feel like one today.

It turns out this is a common phenomenon among entrepreneurs and others. If you have these emotions, this might provide some solace.

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A tour of my Wordpress plugins

January 15, 2010 How-To

I get asked all the time which Wordpress plugin I use for this thing or that.

Here's a complete list of how I've customized my blog, and why.

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Uncommon Interview: Bob Walsh, Digital Entrepreneur

January 11, 2010 Uncommon Interviews

Startup expert, mentor, and writer Bob Walsh talks about what's most important for success, the role of social media at a new startup, productivity for startup founders, and why his new tool for startup founders is useful.

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Painful, Surreal, and Surprisingly Effective: The Personal Checklist

January 4, 2010 How-To

Tired of articles instructing you to break down large projects into smaller, more annoying and less interesting tasks?

The technique I'm about to tell you about is weird, and not in a good way. More like a painful, aggravating way. I know, I did it myself.

But it really does work. You'll measurably improve your productivity.

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Startup Therapy: Ten questions to ask yourself every month

December 21, 2009 How-To

Therapists don't tell you what to do. Rather, they ask probing questions that get you to discover for yourself what is true for you, your situation, and what you want.

Similarly, these ten questions will force you to make the important decisions about your business. Ask them of yourself every month instead of writing a useless business plan.

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