photo credit: Mads Boedker

Don’t get it twisted. The propaganda, scare tactics and fear mongering going on, in regards to SOPA, are no better than anything that the RIAA or any creative rights organization has done. Much of it is marketing, meant to sway people with convincing language.

There are people with bad agendas on both sides of the table.

I’m not pro-SOPA or anti-SOPA. I’m anti-nonsense propaganda, pro-internet and anti-copyright infringement. When I saw all of the noise, I was thinking I would be anti-SOPA, but when you put those three together, I’m not compatible with (seemingly) most of the anti-SOPA efforts that are going on. I just don’t fit in with that crowd.

I have been watching the whole AirBnB thing with interest. There have been some thoughts running through my mind, but I didn’t want to share them prematurely, so I have held off, until now. Here they are:

1. AirBnB is something people want to use. So, even if a large percentage of people think the idea itself is unsafe and would never open their home or stay at a stranger’s home, it doesn’t matter. Plenty of people want this and there is risk involved and the responsibility for that risk falls on the participants as much as AirBnB. Because of that, there is room for AirBnB (and like sites) in the market.

2. I think AirBnB will be alright long term with regard to this issue. The sooner they can get in front of this issue, the better for those chances, though. But, other issues may hurt them.

3. AirBnB is popular and the fact that we have only heard of a few of these instances speaks well of the service. Of course, when the host who had her house trashed suggests that AirBnB asked her to keep quiet, that doesn’t inspire confidence.

photo credit: hapticflapjack

For those who don’t know, I was homeschooled for grades K-12. I think that homeschooling is a wonderful thing and, with some infrequency, when I speak at conferences and events, I encounter people who don’t really understand it, which is cool. Like everything, homeschooling isn’t for everyone and public and private schools can be great, as well.

I help explain it to them and, in those cases, I am an unintentional ambassador of homeschooling. That comes from my mom, who always taught me and my brothers that because we were different from a majority, in regard to education, some people would already have a negative view of us and would be looking for a reason to think poorly of us. We’d have to be on our best behavior to make a good impression, if it was even possible.

A few weeks ago, I had the honor of appearing on David Garland’s awesome web video show for entrepreneurs, The Rise To The Top. We chatted about my background, the power of online community and how to pick a niche and be successful. We also talked about how I built my brand and how I market my sites without a marketing budget.

You can watch the video below and he also has an audio only version available on his website. A big thank you to David for having me. It was a lot of fun.