Learn from failure and be better for it.

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition"--Steve Jobs

Amen to that. And to this...

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Seth Godin keeps me sane. When my LinkedIn account, email inbox, you name it is inundated with pitches of how to get more followers, reach more people, or improve SEO blah blah blah.

Maybe your message isn't for everybody. Building a platform can be a slow boil but the rewards are worth the wait.
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We don't do rabbits--Seth Godin

​One thing that's often taught in amateur internet marketing school is the idea of keyword stuffing.

​List every possible thing that someone might want you to do on your website, so if they type that in, they'll find you.

It's an echo of something that freelancers and small businesses have been doing forever, "what do you need?" as an answer to the question, "what do you do?"
I was at the vet a few years ago, and he was busy trying to fix a rabbit. He's a good vet, but how many rabbits does he actually get to treat?

​I think everyone would have been happier if he had announced that the client should have taken her pet to a rabbit specialist.

​You might be as well.
Good referrals are smarter than mediocre, distracting work.
Own your work. No need to do someone else's.

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I think many of you will agree--it is time to exhale and say buh bye to 2017. It was a busy year for travel, data visualization and analytics, a big report for a large health system in NYC, and reminding myself to not get distracted by rabbits. Here is a brief summary of the year with a little data thrown in to keep it interesting.

Press credentials from IRE, AHCJ (checkout the resources), and NASW provide access to conferences and meetings. I have long since lapsed my membership to AMWA and never looked back. In my particular case and proximity to Washington DC I prefer to be participating in discussions first hand.

You can be as involved as you would like or simply lurk and learn. A particularly useful perk of NASW membership is an invite to the Johns Hopkins Science Writer Bootcamp.

IRE membership offers a 3-year Tableau data visualization subscription in addition to a myriad of other resources. Look around and see if you have recent writing projects for them to review. It might be just the stimulation you need to write a blog.

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I typically only look at metrics at the end of the year. It is an interesting way to see what is going on in the world of a visitor or subscriber. I am rebuilding the site this year but for now the archive is an easy way for the data curious to see what the fuss was all about in the spikey areas.

I was humbled by adding almost 33,000 new visitors to the roster for data & donuts. I look forward to the ongoing narrative ad dialogue. Sadly I had to deactivate comments as it adds too much spam to the site and I want to keep costs down. Having to hire someone to try and defeat the 'bots doesn't seem to be a good use of the donations made by generous patrons. You can donate by clicking link in side-bar. Thank you! 

Alzheimer's disease: The Brand continues to be my labor of love. I was humbled by connecting with Dean and Ayesha Sherzai, MD, the authors of a powerful book The Alzheimer's Solution. My goal for 2018 is to start releasing chapters of Alzheimer's disease: The Brand for subscribers of the blog. I envision an interactive online book of data visualizations and content.

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The newsletter is being reimagined as well. Although a good problem to have--but now that we exceed the free Mailchimp threshold I want to make sure to deliver something that helps your objectives and bottom line. Free data tutorials, healthcare summaries, let me know over on twitter or LinkedIn.

Confirmed events--want to meet for a coffee or bourbon?

I will be presenting at Alliance in a few weeks: Systems Thinker Approach:
Finding, Analyzing, and Gathering
Data Insights for Modern Continuing
Medical Education

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