Ramon is a journalist, technology evangelist & editor of Smallbiztechnology.com, author of “Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses” & “Technology Resources for Growing Businesses” and a national, in-demand speaker.

What made you choose journalism as a profession? 

I didn’t choose it,  it chose me and it was quite accidental. I just really loved to write and so I started writing, then one day Black Enterprise and Inc. Magazine said could you write some articles for us – and the rest is history :)

What four  or five things are always “routine” in your day?

Deleting email, sorting email, sending email, toggling tons of tabs in my browser, wishing I could do puppet shows for poor kids in Mexico, Dominican Republic or somewhere.

Why is small business technology news of interest to you in particular? What has it taught you?

Not sure. I’ve always been a tech tinkerer (as in take apart talking teddy bears in the 1970′s/80′s, shutting off the lights in my home, etc). I think this love of tech and the blend of my love of reading/writing became the love of small business technology news. It has taught me that things change, companies go and come but relationships are forever, ideas are a dime a dozen, successful execution is all that matters.

 Over the years you have had the opportunity to interview some truly great public figures and influencers (such as Hillary Clinton). What has been your favorite interview thus far? Why?

A few things stand out… Back in the days when I didn’t know how to be a journalist I tried to slip Bill Gates a hand written note. His team saw it and took the note away. I didn’t know you were supposed to asked his PR person to interview him. This was many years ago.  I opened an event for Michael Dell and he said he read my blog – that was cool.  Scott Trip founder of TripIt – his story of his company’s growth was really nice (listen to customers). In another context I’ve meet President Obama, President Bush (both) and several other heads of state.  I also really love SXSW and other events where I can meet with my media peers from the world of small business.

What tips do you have to help PR professionals better work with you?

True relationships are so important; where I like you and you like me. Not giving me a story that does not fit. Knowing that I love the story and the market at times more than the feeds and speeds of a product. I like talking to people, but I’m also a massive reader so I get much more (at times) out of some video, blog posts, pdfs and other things than a phone call with an executive running a prepared PPT.  NOTE: the PPT talks are GOOD I just mean that there are other ways to get one’s message across.

What advice would you give to a small business to help them continue to compete with larger competitors this year?

Wow….I could write a book on that.

1)  Be honest

2) Over give

3) Be very excited

4) Do not take NO for an answer

5) There is plenty of room at the table for the big guys and the little guys

6) Fit in where you can and show your value

7) Don’t be afraid of big companies – even those who are direct competitors

8) Big companies who are evaluating you and a bigger one of your competitors will give you a big chance if you’re prepared

9) If you screw up, fess up and OVER make it right

10) I could go on…

You traveled a lot as executive producer of the Small Business Technology Tour and for other events you attended in 2011. What travel secrets save you time, money or sanity when you are on the road?

Plan in advance. Be redundant (I often have 2 notebooks, a tablet and 2 phones) failure is NOT an option. Leverage your network of friends. Pay people (even friends/or “child labor”) for work done (even if you ask for a discount). Review, review, review. Get a team member (I have lots of areas where I’m not so great – hence my team shine in those areas), have a virtual team – even if you are solo,  your virtual 1099 team can do wonders.

How do you unwind after a hectic work week? Do you have any interesting hobbies or little known facts about yourself you would like to share?

I play piano, love doing puppet shows, love joking around and laughing loud, love great food at restaurants (I hate those restaurants that give you a big white plate and a tiny piece of food and charge you $78 for it), watching movies (Bourne, Bauer, Ethan (as in MI3) are my heroes and others like that). But really in my downtime – I TOTALLY ENJOY email, RSS feeds, Twitter – related to small biz tech (I know it’s lame but I really, really LOVE IT).

What are you most looking forward to in 2012?

I’d love to speak lots more to audiences on tech, marketing/pr and/or entrepreneurship. I’d love to provide more content on my own site and for others. I’d love to speak lots more to audiences on tech, marketing/pr and/or entrepreneurship (you know I think I wrote that twice..hmmm). Event production is tough, but I really love it and I think I do it well so working with bigger companies to produce events for their audiences would be like mint!

I’m looking forward to being 40 years old in 2012!

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Do you have any follow-up questions for Ramon? Suggestions for other influencers you would like to see interviewed in the PerkettPR Influencers Who Inspire Series? Please add them in the comments below.

In the spirit of learning from each other, he wanted to share a negative experience he had recently encountered with a PR firm. David’s frustration echoed what we often hear from journalists and bloggers when it comes to PR – that PR executives don’t take the time to read and understand who they are pitching. David said, “In this case, the blatant desire to take advantage of me and my status with absolutely zero interest in me was offensive.” This stemmed from the PR agency “pitching” David to write a blog post on their client – before building any type of relationship with him or even acknowledging that they read, followed and understood what David does on a daily basis and why this story might be of particular interest to him and his audience.

We appreciated David’s openness and effort to help educate PR executives on how to work better with bloggers – and we thought it would make for an interesting guest post in our “Journalists Are People Too” interview series. So we met with David, captured his thoughts on camera and have posted them here for you. We hope you find his insights helpful – and if you have experiences with PR (good or bad) that you’d like to share in the spirit of harmonious working, please let us know. We’d love to include you in our interview series.

And FYI – Fred may be a geek, but that’s how we like ‘em here at PerkettPR!

Check out his response to my question “what makes a social media expert.”

PPR: How did you get into writing?
KN: The story of how I got into writing is a little indirect, as I studied bio-psychology in undergrad at the University of Michigan. But let me tell you, there are a lot of papers you have to write when your studies revolve around research and the subsequent findings. After working in clinical research after college, I later found myself helping my friend Emile Cambry Jr. research features needed for his web-based startup Soceeo.com. Reading blogs like TechCrunch helped a great deal in my research, and I wanted to do something similar for the city of Chicago in regards to blogging about the local web-based startups in my own town. In my spare time I began blogging, and eventually started doing interviews with the CEOs of various web-based startups. From there I went on to contribute to larger online publications like CenterNetworks and Mashable. After Mashable founder Pete Cashmore offered me a full-time job, I officially transitioned into the writing profession.

PPR: In your current role as a contributing writer, what angles attract you the most?
KN: I’m actually contributing to AllFacebook and SocialTimes now. Taking that into consideration, anything Facebook-related is an attractive angle for AllFacebook. :) All jokes aside, for AllFacebook we like to see stories that affect everyday users, brands leveraging Facebook’s Platform and Facebook Connect, and those turning to Facebook for organic social graph marketing. We’re also interested in the larger social and political implications that Facebook has on our online and offline culture.
For SocialTimes, we take a broader approach to our coverage, branching out to social networks and media spaces outside of Facebook.

PPR: What else do you like to write about besides technology?
KN: It’s hard to find time to write about things outside of technology, and when I do have a chance to “unplug” I’m often too tired to think about writing at all! But I very much enjoy writing about my own personal experiences, or writing letters to friends and family members, which can be a therapeutic and artistic form of communication in and of itself.

PPR: How do keep up with emerging trends and new technology?
KN: Stay online all the time! Even if I’m hanging out with friends, I’m constantly checking up on technology news via my mobile phone. Google Reader is a huge help, and having RSS delivery options through SMS also helps me stay updated to trends. I also attend as many conferences and events as possible, so I can see what the new companies and products are, as well as meet the people behind them. I find that personal relationships are the best way in which to stay abreast of trends and new technology, as immersing in conversation with others can be an enlightening experience.

PPR: What do you feel are the hottest trends in technology for 2009?
KN: I think mobile social networking is really starting to take off, because the applications we’re seeing on mobile devices like the iPhone are better designed for easy access and content delivery, without having to fully engage in a mobile web experience. I also think we’ll see a lot more for large social networks’ platforms creating an economy around their platforms for enabling direct transactions between end users, themselves and third parties. This could have large implications for social networks as they rely less on ad revenue, as they have been able to in the past. This also leads to another trend for 2009, which is more creative, engaging and integrated advertising in the online realm. I don’t think there will be any radical changes, but the bar has definitely been raised in terms of the necessity to find better ways in which to engage with consumers while still being budget-conscious. Much of this we’ll see from third party advertising and reporting companies, and I imagine as the economy stabilizes and the social networks themselves find better ways in which to create an industry around user data, we’ll see more robust (and expensive) options coming directly from these networks.

PPR: How has social media changed your world?
KN: Honestly the biggest way in which social media has changed my world is in enabling me to have a career that’s both different and fulfilling. For something that was a bit of a haven in high school, growing up in a rather protected environment where online social networks became a viable outlet for me, my early and ongoing interaction with online social networks has lent me first hand experience that translated quite well into becoming a social media expert. Social media has allowed me to publish myself in ways I never would have thought possible, providing a way to build my own credibility and become a participating member of the never-ending discussions that take place around the very social media industry I’m lucky enough to be member to.

PPR: What tech gadget could you not live without?
KN: My Nokia N95. It’s the coolest phone I’ve ever had. It lets me do just about anything I want in regards to media and media sharing. I love that I can stream video live to the web, add applications that make media sharing an automated service, and overall turning me into a distribution launch pad for anything I’d like to share on the web. It’s a mini computer, really. I love it.

PPR: What do you do for fun when you aren’t working?
KN: Is there such a thing? To be honest, I love watching old movies. I read books on quantum mechanics and peruse Google videos for BBC documentaries nearly every Saturday evening. I’m not a complete recluse, though! I love to go out to see indie films with my best friends, go to art shows, live performances and lounges as well.

PPR: What type of music do you listen to when you want to unwind?
KN: I’m still a big fan of neo-soul. Amel Larioux is one of my favorite artists. Stevie Wonder is my all time favorite, though he’s more rock. And I’m not sure what genre this would be, but I’ve really been into music from artists like Adele, Alice Smith and Santegold lately. Would that be considered rock of some sort? i wouldn’t even know.

PPR: Who has been the most influential person in your life and why?
KN: My parents. The two of them are so extreme in their personalities that I’ve been able to learn from the best of both their worlds and strive for a happy medium in terms of being career driven and remaining a genuine person. My business partner Emile Cambry is also one of the most influential people in my life, because he’s been a supportive and catalyzing factor in my career decisions. Working with someone like that can really keep me moving forward.

PPR: What did you do in a past life?
KN: Ha! I think I was a social revolutionary of some sort, even if I only influenced a handful of people. I tend to be a quiet rebel at times, and I suppose that comes from my revolutionary mentality from my past life. :)

Check out our interview with Mark to hear more about what Gotuit has been up to, and why they came to network at the TechCrunch Boston MeetUp.

Sarah is building a great brand for herself with her insightful and consistent analysis of the tech market. She is a great example of how today’s social media can help you build a brand – and eventually a company – around nothing but your own hard work and tenacity. Keep up the great work, Sarah!

You can watch Sarah live at her lifecast or keep up via her YouTube Channel or new videocast company, PopSnap. Or, if you prefer print, read her blog.

For our interview with Sarah, click below. (Apologies for the dark qualities – our videographer failed to show up so we had to work impromptu with our digital cameras!)

Click To Play

We begin with Bambi Francisco, CEO/co-founder of Vator.tv and former syndicated columnist and correspondent covering Internet and emerging technology trends and investments across the public and private sectors for Dow Jones MarketWatch.

PPR: What are you up to these days since leaving
MarketWatch?

BF: We launched Vator.tv the first week of June and have been
building the platform out aggressively over the last couple of months. As a
social network for anyone launching ideas, connecting with potential partners,
customers, and as an overall resource for innovation, we have seen a lot of
interest from companies that want to submit creative content to us to expose
their ideas, secure funding, network with partners and find employees. We also
have seen some pretty creative pitches from individuals pitching themselves to
try and get a job. There’s also solid interest from big media companies
interested in our content too, so stay tuned for more on that. News has become
a larger component of Vator as well. John Shinal, my former colleague and boss
at Dow Jones MarketWatch, just came on board to head up our newsroom, which
will be different from other newsrooms because our content will consist of a
lot of user-generated submissions and text.

PPR: How is Vator.tv
different than other news sources, blogs, and traditional media? It seems like
Vator is really aiming to be the YouTube of entrepreneurship?

BF: I think that’s
a great analogy. Vator.tv is a social networking platform first. News and
editorial are layered on top of that to create a combined user-generated and professionally-produced
piece. Increasingly, news will be socially produced or in collaboration with
the audience or users. So, a lot of the news that’s created is a combination of
video submissions and our editorial. I think you’ll see a lot of this type of
production over time as social networks alter the media landscape. It’s no
wonder that big media companies want to layer on social networking features
onto their sites. But on Vator, it’s not an add on. It’s the way we create our
news.

Our
tagline in our news section captures it: “Your ideas drive the news.”
We allow the users to present the news to the audience in their own voice.
Traditional journalists have their own spin, and in the case of breaking news,
they typically all sound alike because all they do is reiterate an announcement.
I think our audience/users’ take is just as relevant. We’re not trying to break
news –as I’ve always thought that was a commodity business–but we’ve set up
the platform so users can break their own news by posting their comments on
their pitches. Those pitches are automatically highlighted in our newsroom,
without an editor deciding what to highlight. As a “traditional” journalist, I always had to provide my own spin, if
you will. At Vator, I don’t think we should be the gatekeepers of the news.
That said, we do offer our own analysis and commentary and reporting. Our Vator
Reports is a hybrid news format as we (me and Peter Thiel) take our experience
and blend it with the user content.

Another
differentiator from traditional media is we are really focused on helping the
users and how we can help them get their innovative ideas out there. It’s so
much fun reading what they are doing and how they are connecting with other
people on Vator. We have become a service utility for entrepreneurs.

PPR: How do
you go about finding your news or interesting people to interview? How do you
keep up with the 24/7 news cycle?

BF: I still read
the papers, on and offline, and blogs. And, as always, I get alerted in my
email inbox on Vator. I do look on Vator to see who’s innovating and I pull out
trends based on that. After we decide on a show topic, then we look to see who
on Vator is getting lots of views, most active, highest rated, etc. and we’ll
elevate those companies or individual’s news stories.

PPR: What are
the hottest areas in tech you are currently tracking that are bubbling up on Vator?

BF: Social
networking and niche communities are still very hot. All aspects of media
companies, such as indie production houses, given the accessibility to an
audience these days, and demand for good content from big media companies.
There are a ton of online marketing and advertising companies that are enabling
people to crawl the Web and spot influencers or capture sentiment or buzz across
the blogosphere. There are still a lot of video-sharing sites, video-enabling
and video-delivery companies emerging too.

PPR: What is the
single most useful technology you use every day?

BF: email

PPR: PR executives – helpful or hindering?

BF: Very
helpful. We want to help all their clients get exposure. And, I think the PR
executives see the value in our utility.

PPR: What is
the one piece of advice you would give to the CEO of an emerging tech company
looking to launch today?

BF: Launch on Vator.tv
as it’s a place where new ideas at new companies or establishments can find an
audience. Much like social networks, where people are found through their
relationships– ideas and businesses can be found through relationships as
well. And, that’s what makes our network different. And, If someone is verse
enough with our system, they can see that they can constantly break news about
their company by just posting comments on their pitch. Those comments go directly
to our newsroom. They can really pull some marketing levers and make noise on
the site if they want to. Or, they can be really quiet and only connect with a
few. It’s up to the user.

PPR: What are
your plans for the weekend?

BF: This
weekend? Not sure, I’m taking it a day/weekend at a time. But I always do my
Saturday bike ride.