Jeff Widman

Current

• Facebook Marketing Expert at BrandGlue.com
• Freelance Writer at VentureBeat

Past

• Intern at TechCrunch
• Virtual Intern at Seth Godin
• Supply Chain & Quality Intern at IDD Aerospace

• ISG (Internet Strategy Guy) at Notepad Consulting
• Lean Manufacturing Intern at Perry Pallet Corporation
• Pastoral Intern at Campus Christian Fellowship

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3 more...

Education

• Western Washington University
• Western Washington University
• Whatcom Community College

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Recommended

8 people have recommended Jeff

Connections

442 connections

Industry

Marketing and Advertising

Websites

• View my professional writing

Jeff Widman’s Summary

I'm always wondering how to do the splits:

How do we keep one foot in thoughtful analysis, and the other in relentless execution?



Passionate about:
1) People--connecting them
2) Efficiency--both micro (GTD, 43 Folders) and macro (Lean Manufacturing)
3) Technology--so happy, I cried when my family first got a computer
4) Economic Game Theory & Market Signaling
5) Art--making my basketball teammates look good

Life goals:
-Start 5 businesses
-Have 10 kids
-Give away $1 million
-Run 100 miles in 24 hours
-Present at TED

I know less tech than most hard-core geeks, and less business than most hard-core entrepreneurs. So I try to speak business around the geeks, and speak geek around the entrepreneurs.


Reach out: jeff@jeffwidman.com

(I don't accept connections from people I don't know. Instead, e-mail me with a brief bio, question, or project I might find interesting.)

Jeff Widman’s Specialties:

Online branding, Lean Manufacturing, Economic Game Theory, Keyboard Shortcuts, Evaluating crazy ideas, New media communication (blogging, podcasting, websites), Being different without being rebellious

Jeff Widman’s Experience

• Facebook Marketing Expert

  BrandGlue.com

  (Marketing and Advertising industry)

  April 2009 — Present (8 months)

  I help companies use Facebook Fan Pages to build brands and sell products.
  
  A few of my clients:
  
  Seth Godin - facebook.com/sethgodin
  Mint.com - facebook.com/mint
  David Allen ("Getting Things Done") - facebook.com/gettingthingsdone
  Microsoft
  Kiva.org - facebook.com/kiva
  SlideShare - facebook.com/slideshare
  
  
  I help with:
  1) Social norms ("Is that considered rude on Facebook?")
  2) The technical side ("What button should I click?")
  3) Business strategy ("How do I convert numbers on Facebook to dollars at the bank?").

• Freelance Writer

  VentureBeat

  (Media Production industry)

  March 2009 — Present (9 months)

  Freelancer at VentureBeat, focused on enterprise and B2B technology news and trends.
  
  http://venturebeat.com/author/jeff-widman/
  
  Also write a few posts every so often for the Mint.com blog:
  http://www.mint.com/blog/author/jeff-widman/

• Intern

  TechCrunch

  (Privately Held; Internet industry)

  October 2008 — January 2009 (4 months)

  After the first three weeks, I realized I was the process bottleneck--so I hired a team of people in India and Bulgaria and completely outsourced my job.
  
  For the rest of my time, I managed the remote team, wrote for TechCrunchIT, and handled odd jobs for Mike Arrington.
  
  My posts: http://www.techcrunchit.com/author/jeffw/
  
  During the this time, I had 4 of the top 5 articles on TechCrunchIT (by pageviews)--the blog's editor had one post at the #4 spot. My writing hit Techmeme and Digg.
  
  I also managed to spend a week covering a conference... at Disneyworld. :-)

• Virtual Intern

  Seth Godin

  (Marketing and Advertising industry)

  May 2008 — August 2008 (4 months)

  Worked under Seth Godin (along with a few other college students--all fantastically brilliant!) on marketing strategy and execution for several of his projects.

• Supply Chain & Quality Intern

  IDD Aerospace

  (Public Company; Aviation & Aerospace industry)

  February 2008 — August 2008 (7 months)

  Part-time internship at a small aerospace manufacturer.
  
  Friendly people with a decent work-ethic--but minimal change-ethic.
  
  This experience kick-started my year-long pilgrimage to find: "A small team of intense people who make things happen."

• ISG (Internet Strategy Guy)

  Notepad Consulting

  (Marketing and Advertising industry)

  December 2007 — April 2008 (5 months)

  I accidentally fell into a consulting project with a local company... Basically I re-wrote the strategic vision for their online marketing.
  Turns out they loved the result, and I loved doing it.

• Lean Manufacturing Intern

  Perry Pallet Corporation

  (Business Supplies and Equipment industry)

  July 2007 — September 2007 (3 months)

  Co-founded Process Improvement Team (PIT Crew)
  • Generated over 20 significant shop improvements
  • Lean improvements (and a lot of hard work) contributed to 6 new production records
  • Increased the efficiency of the central manufacturing line by 12%
  
  Designed custom stacking jigs
  • Increased the efficiency of two processes by 1 hour each per day--(the annual equivalent of 13 weeks of full-time work)

• Pastoral Intern

  Campus Christian Fellowship

  (Non-Profit; 201-500 employees; Religious Institutions industry)

  September 2006 — June 2007 (10 months)

  Worked 65+ hour weeks in a people-focused organization on the university campus
  • Mentored students in 1-on-1 and small group settings for 25 hours a week
  • Co-planned and led a team of students on a week long service trip
  
  http://www.ccfministry.com/internship/

Jeff Widman’s Education

• Western Washington University

  BA , Economics , 2004 — 2009

  I was drawn to economics because it's a useful way to model reality:
  1) Look at the world
  2) Create a simple model with far less distractions
  3) Find new relationships within the model
  4) Plug them back into reality to see if they hold true

• Western Washington University

  BS , Manufacturing & Supply Chain Management , 2004 — 2009

  Top-notch program incorporating classes from engineering, business, science, operations, and two summer internships.
  
  Most useful thing I learned in class: Eliyahu Goldratt's "Theory of Constraints"
  
  Great cadre of students and faculty!
  
  Check out the website: http://www.cbe.wwu.edu/mm/

  Activities and Societies:

  APICS--The association for operations management

• Whatcom Community College

  AA , Graduated with Honors, from the Honors Program , 2002 — 2004

  I received a college degree when my peers were graduating from highschool.

  Activities and Societies:

  Dean's List every quarter
  AS Student Council member
  Received college credit for playing Ultimate Frisbee (Yeah PE!)

Additional Information

Jeff Widman’s Websites:

• View my professional writing

Jeff Widman’s Groups:

APICS - The Association for Operations Management, WWU Manufacturing Advisory Board, WWU Guest Speakers, Box T Ranch, Kiros, Seth Godin's Virtual Internship, Campus Christian Fellowship

•    The Personal MBA Community
•    Bootstrappers Breakfast
•    APICS The Association for Operations Management
•    TiEcon
•    Business of Software
•    Western Washington University College of Business & Economics Alumni
•    Triiibes Members
•    Grace Presbyterian Church of Silicon Valley
•    Startup2Startup
•    WWU - Manufacturing & Supply Chain Management Program
•    Milken Institute Global Conference Connect 2009
•    Seth Godin's Intern Alumni

Jeff Widman’s Honors:

Former National Merit Scholarship Finalist

1st place--Pacific Northwest APICS Student Paper Competition (Title: "Microsoft Xbox and the Reverse Logistics Process")

Jeff Widman’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• expertise requests
• reference requests
• getting back in touch