Mike Abasov

Last year I’ve written a number of resolutions for each letter of the alphabet. Not everything went the way I expected but, in general, I’m happy with my 2011. Here’s the revised list.

Accomplished:
A - assume less, listen more. D - develop better studying habits. E - English, master. G - Gary Vaynerchuk, meet. H - help more people than I’ve helped in 2010. I - improve relationships with my parents. K - keep being awesome. M - meet someone truly amazing. N - notes (music), learn how to read. R - raise, get. S - speak in public about branding. T - turn 22, hopefully. X - forget about her. Y - because.

Failed:
B - build and improve this blog. C - Chris Brogan, meet. F - fight laziness. J - join a marketers’ association. L - lose 10 pounds and keep it that way. O - obey this resolution. P - post guest posts to some top-of-the-line blogs. Q - quit watching so many tv-shows. U - utilize video content more effectively. V - visit New York. W - write a book. Z - come up with a task for “z” next year.

Highlights of 2011

In April, I became the president of the UBC eBusiness club, and it’s been a rewarding on-campus experience that opened doors for new people in my life and provided me with an opportunity to master a variety of new skills.

In May, my friend and I started NotChefs, a social network for sharing recipes. After 2 months of development, we decided to put the project back on the shelf due to limited resources.  

In September, after working at HootSuite Media for 13 months, I left the company to pursue new adventures. I’ve been working a few small contracts since then.

In November, I went to Startup Weekend and co-founded EpicBets, a social game that takes betting on sports against friends to a whole new level.

In December, I’ve reached an important milestone — 1 year of school left. Yay!

There have also been many huge positive changes in my lifestyle and social life. I learned to enjoy the rain and really fell in love with Vancouver. Overall, it was a great year.

Looking Forward to 2012

There are some major events that will be happening in the next 12 month. I’ve been invited to write for a student magazine and a student blog as a guest author. I’m continuing to work on a variety of projects and getting deeper into the startup and agency communities in Vancouver. Finally, I’m planning to graduate in December 2012 and will soon start looking for a permanent job. Exciting stuff!

(And of course I’m totally stoked for the Zombie Apocalypse.)

There are a lot of talks about social media and how active one should be online. The general picture I see here in Vancouver with the people my age is: 98% have Facebook, 20% have Twitter, 10% have LinkedIn, 1% have blogs, barely anyone is more active than that.

Why Get Active Online

I believe that students should develop a habit of using social media and trying out new resources, networks and tools for a few reasons.

1. It can be beneficial
Not reading blogs throws your knowledge back many years. In order to stay on top of what is relevant to your industry, you need to find time to consume this kind of information daily. This is more important than reading newspapers.

On the other hand, producing content in your blog and/or twitter can help you start building your brand and networking. I’ve met tens of interesting, helpful, important people through blogging and tweeting.

2. It’s a skill
As social media keep taking over the world, not only businesses but almost every profession is going start using them. Engineers would collect feedback online to improve their inventions. Lawers would research the Internet for help with their cases. Politicians would use it as their major promotion channel. Superstars would build relationships with fans. The list goes on.

As the demand grows, you might find yourself one day in a workplace where you need to actively participate in social media. Wouldn’t having previous experience be awesome?

3. It’s interesting
Even if you don’t see any particular benefit from social media, you should try it just as a curious person. You are curious, aren’t you?

Where to start

Here are 3 websites I want you sign up for now. These are the most basic and simple ones.

1. Twitter
 

Twitter will be your first step to creating content online. There is a ton of info written all over the web about how to make it work for you.

I want you to register and follow all your friends and classmates. Then start tweeting something useful, helpful or just interesting. Tweet casual stuff too but don’t overdo it.

2. LinkedIn

I got my job at HootSuite thanks to LinkedIn. This website is your online resume plus a place filled with networking opportunities.

Sign up, friend everyone you know, fill out your profile and join a few groups related to your future profession. Check out discussions in those groups, participate. I’ll show you how to rock this space later.

3. Blog
 

Sign up on Tumblr. This is the simplest and sleekest way to start blogging in no time. I use it; it’s cool. 

A good idea would be to start with a personal blog and then change directions, when you figure out your topic. Whatever you blog about, make it interesting for the reader, not yourself. Try being helpful, insightful and fun.

I also got my previous job at uCoz thanks to blogging. Just saying.

These 3 networks are a very good start. Now, explore them. See what interesting content you can find, how you can improve your accounts. And let me know how is it working out. I’m here to help you, after all.

“Rework” is a bestselling book written by the founders of a great company, 37signals.

I picked it up a couple of weeks ago, and I have to say that it has many interesting insights on how to improve the way you work as an individual and as a business owner.

I don’t agree with everything the authors say, but most of the stuff is good.

It will be most interesting to business students of any kind, though I’m not so sure about other professions. In any case, I believe that it’s better to learn such things now, before you graduate.

I think you should check it out, and let me know what you think.

I resigned from uCoz.com. It’s been an amazing experience, I’ve learned a lot from it. This company will forever be in my heart as the one that gave me my first real job and helped me grow over the last 5 months.

I got a job at HootSuite.com. As you might know, it all started as a one week long unpaid internship a month ago. And here we are a month later, and I’m so happy and excited about this awesome opportunity. Besides, this is my first job in Canada, and it’s not at Walmart, and this fact makes me even happier :-).

Thanks to everyone who supported me all this time, especially M.