Cirq Media officially launches

// August 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Technology

It’s a bit past due, but I’m officially announcing my new company: Cirq Media Solutions, LLC. The delay was due to the www.cirqmedia.com website which is now running, though not as full as I’d like. Still, you can get a flair for what we are doing. It is an exciting time. Swing by and take a look. Do you need help with your internet presence?  Questions about how all this stuff works together? Need a site makeover? My team can help it all make sense.

ShareThis, not that

// April 9th, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Fun, Technology

Ahhh, the joys of Facebook.  You know, you get all those friends from High School and college wanting to reconnect.  You message back and forth a few times and then get busy with life again.  Well, I got reconnected with Tim Schigel last fall.  He and I were fraternity brothers at Case Western.  We used to play in a band we founded called Skydiver because we actually went skydiving during out first couple weeks of college and couldn’t really think of a better name. We played a lot of Rush classics and other party tunes of the day. We opened for cover bands in the Cleveland area.  Good times… Good times… 20 years ago.

Tim would go on to create ShareThis, a really cool sharing app that actually has some real usefulness outside of just being a fashionable widget.  Me… I would go on to… hmmm… nothing quite so glamorous.

Tim calls me every now and again and tells me that he just met so and so at ESPN or MTV or House of Blues and that they are implementing the ShareThis widget on their site.  I saw the widget appear on FoxNews.com one day and realized he’d made it to the big time.  Tim is one of those humble guys not just chasing a dream but grabbing it by the horns.  He and his family had a nice write up in Family Circle about the trials of running a huge multi-million dollar internet company while trying to keep family a priority. He does both well and because of that Tim is one of my heroes.

So what is ShareThis anyway and why should you care share? ShareThis is more than just an easy way to get social media content from one place to the next.  And if there is one thing that is certain: we are bombarded and overwhelmed with managing the information we see on any given day. ShareThis is like a platform for managing this information you find during your travels online. If you’ve seen the ShareThis icon on a website, that site owner has recognized the benefit to its readers by making the article sharing process a one-click event. In the past, you’d see an article you like and you’d have to copy the URL, paste it into an email, find the person or persons you’d like to send to, and then send it on its way. Or you find something useful for yourself and you’d like to save it to read later. You create a word document or notepad for “useful links” or just bookmark it.  If you are like me the bookmarks on the browser can get large and unorganized quickly.  Or suppose you want to Twitter something useful to your tribe.  There’s a better way.

ShareThis comes in and saves the day by making these multiple keystrokes and clicks a thing of the past.  First, you create a free account. Next you get the widget for your blog (easy with Wordpress).  Next you get the free add-on for your browser of choice.  Then you go have some fun with it.  With Wordpress, it just shows up below each post by default.  The admin area provides customization of location and color themes.  A visitor clicks and sees the following:

As you can see, there are a host of options available to you. From facebook to twitter to email to texting.  And it takes your page info and passes it along automatically when you Send or Post.

One of the neatest features I really like is the ShareBox.  I’m constantly putting articles in there that I want to read later.  These can be shared or deleted directly from within your sharebox after you’ve had a chance to review them.

Curious which pages are being shared the most on your site.  ShareThis provides reporting capabilities of sharing activity on a per page basis.

So, there you have it.  I’m leaving out a whole lot more of what it is capable of.  So why not give it a try.  Just click ShareThis below and see how much fun sharing can be.

Cut me, Mick

// April 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // Economy, Success

Rocky couldn’t see anymore.  He’s in the corner blinded by the swelling from the beating he was taking from Apollo Creed. He says to Mick, his trainer,

My eye… Cut me, Mick… Cut me… Cut me.

After a bit of hesitation, Mick tells his assistant to do it. This is hollywood of course, but what a great picture of a desire to win.  Rocky got his sight back and thus a renewed vision for victory.

We need that sometimes when our focus becomes narrow or when everything just seems dark and hopeless.  I had several comments yesterday after posting my short tweet about the availability of work in today’s “weak” economy.  My quote was something like “It’s out there if you want it.”  I know that is hard to hear when you are losing your home and I”m not suggesting a quick fix.  But I believe this particular bit of advice is apropos to our times.  I stated five things that help me stay on task as I navigate the economic times in business.

1. Avoid Naysayers - Consider the sources where you get your economic outlook.  You’ve probably heard it from some media outlets that subtly or with intention are hoping you’ll buy into the doom and gloom.  Or maybe its a “friend” that likes misery in mixed company. This is caustic if listened to regularly because it is a hope killer.  You don’t know how many people I talk to who run their own businesses that say “Boy, the economy hasn’t hit my industry yet.  I wish things would slow down a bit.”  If you look, you’ll find opportunities for beginning a business or employment opportunities if starting a business is not your thing. It’s out there.

2. Stay Hungry - Why are these small business owners, the ones that are having market success, actually having success? I think it is a combination of things.  Good products, smart business practices, customers who love them, steady growth, being experts at what they do, balanced life, the list goes on… But I believe there is a deeper desire within each: an unstoppable personal drive.  Not sitting back on past successes.  Not resting on ones laurels, so to speak.

3. Take Risks - This doesn’t mean throw your brain out the window, blindfold yourself, and play pin the tail on the donkey with your life. It does mean conquer the fear that keeps you from going after something. From experience, I think fear kept me from achieving the dreams I’d visualized earlier in life. It wasn’t until the fear was gone that I could make those cold calls and build those relationships, required for success in building a business.

4. Don’t go it alone - When you are an island, you are a target.  The bullseye on your back has the crosshairs of a force much greater than you focused on it.  And you can’t handle it alone.  There is an enemy out there that is willing to let you go it alone and will even provide you all the success you want: at a price! At the expense of your family, your relationship with God, and in some cases at the expense of your own soul. It is a series of turns you make when you come to forks in the road that appear harmless on the outset, but will allow you to be isolated from others over time. It can turn you upside down and in the end make you wish you’d never gone down that road to begin with.  I’ve seen it.  It is not good.  A husband can’t expect to spend every waking minute through a decade of marriage working to grow a business while neglecting his wife and not expect something to break. It’s preventable.  Surround yourself with like-minded and successful people.

5. Give Thanks - To whom you might ask?  God, your wife, your kids, mentors, pastors, parents, business partners, teachers.  More than likely there are many people who have added to or assisted with your success. Either through giving you time to succeed or advice on how to do it.  Don’t forget to remember them.

So don’t be afraid to get a little dirty, a little bruised, perhaps even needing to do some minor surgery on your sight. There is victory ahead.

One minute 30 seconds

// April 2nd, 2009 // No Comments » // time

The average red light time is one minute 30 seconds.  At least that’s what I’ve been finding around my neck of the woods (I’ve actually been timing them recently out of curiosity). One minute 30 seconds.  When you’re late it seems like an eternity.  When you’re angry late, it’s eternity squared. If you consider all the minute and 30 seconds available on any given day, it’s amazing how this one little ole minute and 30 seconds wields so much power and control over us.

A whole new industry has sprouted up almost overnight because one minute and 30 seconds is just too confining for the demanding schedules of us humans. And for all its trappings, beating the red light to the punch, getting your picture taken, and paying a hefty fine pales in comparison to the humiliation of realizing you’ve lost to a machine.  You cower in your seat, banging your fist against the steering wheel as the brilliant red globe stares back with a smile, knowing it has your attention for at least another one minute and 30 seconds.

The new and improved TheronHatch.com

// March 29th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Blog

Boy this has been a long time in the making. But I finally finished it. I’d like to know what you think.

Don’t just stare at it, climb it

// March 1st, 2009 // 2 Comments » // Beauty, Mind

Ken Davis gave me some good advice recently.  He said that many of us look at the mountain summit, admiring it’s beauty, all the while thinking that one day we’ll climb it.  Few ever do.  I was telling my dad about a new idea I’ve got brewing.  He shared with me this quote.

The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sudden flight, but they while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.  - - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882)

My dad is pretty smart.  It’s funny… he just became smart recently.  You see, I was always way smarter growing up.  But now I can see that maybe it was the other way around.  Anyway, I’m going to take his advice through this quote and toil upward in the night.

Mysterious ways

// February 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Art, Beauty, Fun, Mind, Nature

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. - Albert Einstein

Patriot Idol 2 at Page High School tonight

// February 9th, 2009 // No Comments » // Media, Music

I have the privilege of playing bass for some very talented high schoolers tonight at Page High School in Franklin TN.  These students wrote and will perform songs in front of their parents, teachers, and peers.  Industry pros will be judging the performers, and 3 winners will play at the Blue Bird with the top performer getting a day in the studio.  As part of the production, the entire music and arts department will take part in putting on the show to a live audience but also to the web through live streaming video.  The performers will be seen, but many back stage hands including lights, audio, video, web, and production crews will have just as important roles, all part of the learning process.  You are sure to hear about some of these folks in years to come.  Pros in the making for sure.

The live weblink is http://video.wcs.edu/phs-tv. Check it out at 7 pm Central time.  Or if you are in the area and want to see it live, you can visit

Latest Wordpress update is stellar

// December 20th, 2008 // No Comments » // Blog, Technology

Wordpress has had a couple of updates this year with major interface changes.  I just got used to the last one when 2.7 came out, but I really like it.  2.5 had a really boxy look and you had to go through a bunch of clicks to do basic actions. 2.7 has a smooth look and feel and from the WP blog it looks like a lot of feedback was applied to this release.

I’ve got Wordbook turned on again.  I had to add a snippet a code to my .htaccess file for WP to see PHP5 which Wordbook requires.  But that was it and it seems to be working like a charm.

ShareThis wins Big

// December 17th, 2008 // No Comments » // Media, Music, Technology

My buddy Tim who founded ShareThis just passed along the news that ShareThis beat out the competition and won Mashable’s Open Web Awards People’s Choice for best blog plugin.  Mashable has a great blog with some of the best new apps out there for a wide range of categories.  Get the ShareThis plugin for your blog or website.  Your customers and fans will be very happy because you’ll make sharing stuff easy as pie.

At Thanksgiving this year our family traveled up to Cincinnati to visit Tim’s family.  In fact, it was a college band reunion of sorts.  We had 4 of the original 5 Skydiver bandmates together for a trip down memory lane.  During our days at Case Western in Cleveland, Skydiver rocked the campus and we opened for some well-known local bands too.  We derived the name from a one of our first days as freshmen when we decided to go skydiving.  It was a rush.  We also like to play Rush so the band name fell right into place.

We’re a little older now and we still love to play music, some as professional musicians and producers, some just for fun.