Is anyone seeing this? I’m assuming this is new?

Sadly my dad, Jim Gibbons, died on 11th April 2012 following such a brave battle with cancer for the last year.

He was incredibly proud of my career and paid a huge interest in everything I did, even starting his own affiliate marketing site after reading SEO and web design books that I recommended to him.

So in my own little way, I wanted to remember him online too. I’m hoping that this post will rank for Jim Gibbons in Google so that anyone who is searching about him can find this.

I also want to share the words that I read at his funeral, as I think these sum up just what a great man he really was to so many people.

My Dad – Jim Gibbons:

During the last week, we’ve received so many nice messages, cards and flowers from people who knew and loved my Dad.

I’m sure when someone’s died people always say something similar, things like:
– he was such a nice, caring man
– he never had a bad word to say about anyone
– no-one ever had a bad word to say about him
– family meant the world to him
– he had great friends who meant a huge amount to him, as equally he did to them
– he always had time for everyone and always put them first above himself
– he always had a smile on his face, was a happy person to be around and had a great sense of humour

But in the case of my dad, there really has never been a truer word spoken.

The last week has been incredibly tough for everyone who knew him – he was a fantastic dad, husband, son, brother, uncle, brother-in-law, son-in-law and friend to so many people. And one of the things I thought was great, was that it didn’t sink in just how much he loved us or how proud of us he was of us once he died. It didn’t need to. We knew already. He showed it every day.

I just hope that he knew how much we all loved him too – even if he did joke that he must have won the lottery when everyone was gathered around him in hospital! Whether it was watching me play football, or Laura swimming, taking us for days out, planning holidays down to the very last detail or getting to know Todd and Chelsea – both of whom he was extremely fond of. Dad was always there – and he wouldn’t miss a single moment.

We’re all going to miss you massively dad – but we’re also very happy that we got to share such a great life with you and have amazing memories that will last forever.

So hopefully if you’re searching for Jim Gibbons, from Abingdon, Oxfordshire – you’ll now find my Dad!

So these are the business books, most of which I’ve read during the last year which I’ve found to be very useful to improve my learning:

1. The 4-Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss – excellent book, I actually read this about 3 years ago – but a great way of looking at things and well worth a read!
2. Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins – I’ve only read this recently, but instantly agreed with all of the principles behind level 5 leadership, how to achieve success through understanding data and the importance of building a great team. Very good book!
3. ReWork: Change the Way You Work Forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson – these are the guys from 37 Signals (company behind BaseCamp). It’s such a simple way of looking at things – but that’s what it’s all about, simplifying rather than over-complicating to get results!
4. Naked Finance: Business Finance Pure and Simple by David Meckin – Finance is one of those areas I haven’t got a huge amount of experience in, but it’s vitally important to get right. This book was very useful to make sure I’m looking at the most valuable and actionable information which relates to running an agency – such as profit per employee/client.
5. How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie – got to admit, I’ve only just started reading this, but it’s very good so far. Just a really good way at looking at how to positive reaction from people.
6. The Personal MBA: A World-Class Business Education in a Single Volume by Josh Kaufman – another excellent book for all-round business advice – especially if you can’t afford an MBA!
7. Net Profit: How to Succeed in Digital Business by David Sokin – great book if you run an online business, written by the owner of CheapFlights.com with a real digital angle which highlights the importance of search marketing.
8. Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur by Richard Branson – I’ve read all of Richard Bransons books and this is the best one in my opinion for business strategy advice.
9. Getting Things Done: How to achieve stress-free productivity: The Art of Stress-free Productivity by David Allen – a must read. Great for anyone interested in productivity, become more organised/strategic and to breakdown big projects into achievable goals. I actually wrote a post on how I use this for SEO projects – the embedded video presentation he gave to Google is definitely worth a look too.
10. The Power of Less by Leo Babauta – Zen Habits is probably my favourite blog to read. I read this book a couple of years ago too, but the concepts Leo describes makes things sound so simple and straightforward which is just what you need to focus on achieving that goal!

Hopefully that helps for anyone else with similar interests in business and productivity books as me. Would be great to hear your recommendations on what you think I should read next too!

Seeing that I’ve now presented a few times at various events – I thought it would be useful to publish the slides from these:

1. LinkedIn
2. Twitter
3. Google+
4. Facebook
5. Lanyrd
6. Slideshare
7. Flickr
8. Quora
9. TripIt

And you can find my writing and guest blogging on these sites:

1. SEOptimise
2. Econsultancy
3. Search Engine Watch
4. Search Engine Land
5. Search Engine Journal

Plus I have presented at the following conferences and events:

1. SMX Advanced London (2010 & 2011)
2. a4uexpo London (2010 & 2011)
3. a4uexpo Europe (2011)
4. BrightonSEO (2010 & 2011)
5. SMX Israel (2011)
6. SAScon Manchester (2011)
7. Social Media Week – London (2011)

I’ll keep this list updated too, as I’ve already got four presentations lined up in early 2012 – including SES London and BrightonSEO.

Business

• Speak at a US conference - this is one I’ve wanted to do for a while, and having presented in Munich (at a4uexpo Europe) and Jerusalem (SMX Israel) last year and attending Pubcon in Vegas and SMX Advanced in Seattle during the last two years I’m keen to present at a US conference in 2012. I’d also like to speak at a minimum of 10 leading search industry events this year, something which I definitely think is achievable.
• Win another award for SEOptimise - following on from last years Search Awards success!
• I do have other business goals – largely revenue based, but this probably isn’t the best place to share them

Personal/Travel

• Do a 10 mile run - The most I’ve done previously is a few 10k runs, but I’d like to take that further and do the Great South Run this year – really need to get running!
• Read more - I really enjoy reading business and productivity books and find it’s a great way of learning new ideas and improving my education and the way I do things. So it’s definitely something that I want to make more time for this year.
• Work more productively and relax more - I’ve been interested in productivity for the last four or five years and have learned some great techniques to ensure that I can work smarter and achieve more in a shorter period of time. However, there’s always room for improvement (the 4-hour work week isn’t quite there yet!), so by relaxing more in the evenings instead of working and thinking strategically I’m sure I can be more focused on the bigger picture areas that are most important.
• Visit at least two new countries – I’d like to visit somewhere new and a bit different this year. Southeast Asia and Thailand is probably at the top of the list at the moment as it’s somewhere I haven’t been before, but definitely keen on adding a few more dots onto this map below!

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As for content – I intend on using this blog for things I’m interested in outside of the SEO agency life, most likely business, affiliate, productivity and personal development related. And for those who want to read about search marketing, I write frequently for SEOptimise and guest blog for sites such as Econsultancy, Search Engine Watch, Search Engine Land and Search Engine Journal.