Here’s a story a wrote about Grandpa waiting for a Cubs Pennant in 2009.

The post RIP Grandpa… Join the Crowd appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

You can read all about my experience on Yelp! But better yet, why don’t you join me tomorrow, June 5 from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM for their Grand Opening.  Newk’s has agreed to let me offer you a special treat for coming! (Make sure you print this out and bring it with you).

See you there!

Steve

The post Free Treat from a Great New Austin Restaurant appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Sherri’s high school friend Jeannie and her family are in town for Spring Break.  It’s been years (sorry girls) since we’ve seen each other.

We had such a good time catching up, and then we got to show off downtown a bit!

We were going to me at the Salt Lick, but Jeannie’s family had already tried 3 other BBQ places they’d seen on the Food Network.  They were BBQ’d out!

Besides, they wanted to see something downtown and had a taste for Tex-Mex.

So we decided to meet at El Mercado on Lavaca.  We had an excellent meal with super service (you can read all about it on Yelp!)

We finished dinner just before Dusk and decided to take a visit to the Congress Street bridge to see if the Bats had returned.  We parked by the Bat Park at the Austin American Statesman (what a blast!)

Had they ever!

We arrived just in time to see them pouring out from under the bridge.  I tried to broadcast them live on UStream.  you could see video and hear us talking, but the resolution wasn’t good enough to pick up the actual bats.  Still, you can take a look for yourself and see a couple of interesting links I found explaining the story of the bats.

I have to say… it’s hard to beat Austin.  Great city, great weather, great food, great things to do… and most of all a great place to live!

The post Dinner and Bats. Gotta Love Austin! appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Rudy’s Gets It! Great Food, Great Service and Social Media

Rudy’s Country Store and Texas Bar-B-Q is legendary in these parts. They do an unbelievable business. People line up out the door at all of their locations for breakfast, lunch and dinner. (Yes, breakfast… they have the my absolute favorite breakfast taco’s!, and they sell them by the bushel load!).

Why is it that other restaurants and businesses struggle so much, while every Rudy’s is busting at the seams?

I can only speak for myself, but what I’ll tell you is very simple:

Rudy’s Gets It!!!

The food is very good (but there are lot’s of excellent BBQ places here). But Rudy’s sets themselves apart with outstanding customer service. Those lines move quickly. There is a manager greeting people and making sure they are happy.

And now I’ve come to find that Rudy’s uses Social Media to take that customer experience to a new level.

A couple of days ago, I stopped into Rudy’s for a breakfast taco and to do some quick computer work. I checked in using Foursquare. Later, I had a pleasant Twitter direct message from Rudy’s thanking me for coming in.

I replied: “Are you a bot or a person?”

Quick Response: “No bots here… thank you for being a fan, couldn’t do it without y’all”

Wow! How cool is that?

So, I checked their @Rudysbbq twitter stream, and found dozens of such examples. I even found Rudy’s helping somebody figure out a recipe for hamburgers using their special Rudy’s Sauce!

The owners of the local Rudy’s are now applying their success formula to the new Mighty Fine Burger chain. They have boomed from 1 to 3 locations and are even busier than the Rudy’s stores.

My advice to business owners trying to get their arms around how to use Social Media to improve their business:

Watch Rudy’s. They Get It!

The post Rudy’s BBQ Gets It! Using Social Media to Improve the Customer Experience appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

This has to be the most expensive right turn in history! Those of you who have seen me chronicle my recent Chicago trip, know that I was on a mad dash from place to place (especially restaurants!). In fact, this was after Bob Chinn’s and before Portillos!

The post Curses George Orwell! aka: The Hundred Dollar Right Turn appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Well, I just got back from a whirlwind visit to Chicago.  4 Days to see as much family, friends and eat in all my favorite restaurants!

Of course, this means that I ate, way too much, didn’t get nearly enough sleep and am returning to Austin feeling like… But it’s all worth it!.

It was a riot to see everybody’s comments as I took pictures and chronicled all my meals on facebook.  It seems that my combo at Portillos was the favorite meal amongst my friends!  It was also nice to get so many well wishes from friends seeing updated pictures of my family.

But it was also an emotional visit as I got to see some of my dearest family members, a couple of them who are battling some health challenges.  My Grandfather Heinz, one of my heros, had a bad week and was laid up in the hospital.  I finally got to visit him Saturday, and fed him lunch because he was too weak.  He has since been released back to rehab, and I hope he gets some of his strength back, but I know the constant moving and relocating is tough on him.

Thank you, to all my friends for taking part in my trip.  Your comments, and well wishes added to the pleasure of this short, but awesome trip!  Happy Holidays to all!

The post My Personal Chicago Marathon! appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Why am I doing this?

Because I’m trying to help a family in need this Holiday Season. I’ve already raised over $600 in one day. My goal is to raise over $2000. You help them, and I’ll help you. Here’s how you can get this incredible web marketing content for just a small donation (as little as $10).

The post Get my Complete Internet Marketing Strategy Guide: 387 pages for Free appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Kevin Warmath (3/20/65 – 1/31/09) was a giver. He gave his knowledge, his love, his friendship, his opinion, his best and his heart to everything he did.  It was this same heart that gave him up. A friend of Kevin’s spoke at his memorial service and said that this world wasn’t big enough for Kevin and he
had to move on to bigger places.

Kevin was a tall guy and a bigger man.

Kevin worked as an associate with Maxsell Real Estate and was a member of the Cherokee Association of REALTORS.  When asked to write down all the things he could about himself within one minute, this is what Kevin came up with:

“I am a fiscally conservative, left-brained, green-eyed, slightly
compulsive, mountain biking, computer programming, house selling, tree
planting, chocolate loving, self improving, tireless, sometimes impatient,
Mother Nature hugging, tomato growing, BBQing, western born and bred,
green-thumbed, lifetime student, book loving but slow reading, blogging,
problem solving, frugal, multitasking, cleaver, passionately independent,
straight shooting, NPR Pledging, Car Talk laughing, biscuit baking, orchid
reblooming, civic minded, competitive, discerning, opinionated, thorough,
dedicated, Nikon shooting, photo editing, Titleist driving, thankfully
educated, critically thinking, trustworthy, lacrosse coaching, politically
aware, freedom loving, sailboat desiring, thunderstorm missing, gadget
playing, quarter collecting, Ben & Jerry’s sneaking, efficiency fanatic,
boxing wannabe, child-loving father, husband and real estate consultant for
life.”

Kevin was an innovator in the real estate industry and developed one of the most successful real estate blogs in the country: Alpharetta Real Estate (LiveInAlpharetta.com).

It is certain that Kevin, being part geek and part Realtor, would have absolutely loved and appreciated this event as much as any of us.

Kevin is survived by his wife Sylvie and their three children; Will, Clara, and Sophie.

Earlier this month, VREBC established a fund in his honor, and in an effort to help the Warmath Children’s College Fund.  I have decide to offer my most prized internet marketing content in order to help raise even more money.   I hope you can find it in your hearts to make a small donation, because together we can make a big difference for the Warmath family.

The post The Warmath Children College Fund Charity appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

I was quite surprised how deep we got into my personal history.  Ray expertly drew out some very private and personal experiences, and illustrated how they were important to my successful transition from corporate America to starting my own business.

It’s a tough economy out there, and I know a lot of people are facing some very challenging times.  Listen to this interview and hear how I leveraged my experience to quickly gain new business helping other companies.

Thank you, Ray.
[audio:http://d3xdsm37ptvir.cloudfront.net/audio/RayEdwards_SteveRosenbaum_FINAL.mp3]

The post Regular Guy Makes Good In Internet Marketing with Ray Edwards appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.

Donna is in town tomorrow night, October 13 to speak at AIMEN. If you have plans… CHANGE THEM! Do whatever it takes to get downtown and be a part of this event.

P.S. Here’s a gift for you… A teleseminar that I did with Donna’s real estate investment group about how to sell real estate using Social Media.

The Big Bad Property Sale we talk about was introduced at this teleseminar for $297. To celebrate Donna’s visit I’m going to knock off $200! Don’t worry about the price on the sales letter, the shopping cart will only charge you $97 when you check out. Only for the next couple of days, and then the price goes right back to $297.

The post Don’t Miss Donna Fox at Austin Internet Marketing Entrepreneur Network appeared first on Steve Rosenbaum.