I’ve previously written about my media heroes, my ceo heroes, top entrepreneurs, and bulldozers, but today I wanted to talk about my local heroes, the ones who live in or around Indianapolis who have influenced me in some meaningful way, are hubs of influence in Indianapolis and who I have recently been able to meet:
Douglas Karr – Author, designer, programmer, speaker, and social media guru, I first ran into this CEO of DK New Media and Founder at Marketing Technology Blog in my search for a coworking facility back when Doug met regularly at The Bean Cup. He has been the Vice President of Blogging Evangelism at Compendium Blogware, Director of Technology at Patronpath, and a Product Manager at ExactTarget. He is also active in Smaller Indiana and the Southside Smoosier Tech Club. He has been an inspiration to me as a blogger, web designer, and social media advocate. He packed the house at Blog Indiana 2011 with his session on 40 tools and he continues to be a valuable resource to our community.
Robby Slaughter – Author, speaker, and productivity specialist, like Doug, I ran across Robby in my search for coworking in Indianapolis. Robby is a Principal at Slaughter Development and a member of the Speakers Bureau at Rainmakers. He has written his own book, Failure, the Secret to Success, and is a frequent contributor to the Indianapolis Business Journal. As a business analyst, author, and business owner, I look up to Robby for his acumen and professionalism in his field. Robby recently spoke at Linking Indiana’s September 2011 event and, like Doug, had a session at Blog Indiana 2011. I enjoyed hearing Robby speak on Social Media at Linking Indiana as I did not get to hear his session at Blog Indiana.
Michael Reynolds – Internet Marketing Speaker and trainer, Michael is the President/CEO of SpinWeb, a Consultant at CultureRx, and a Principal at Maven Consulting Group. I first heard about Michael Reynolds at the bank when I was setting up a bank account for my own web design business. The teller asked me why I was even bothering considering that SpinWeb was already in town. Since then I have followed Michael on LinkedIn and seen him speak at Blog Indiana 2011. He is very much into content marketing and has inspired me to see what my company could be and how speaking could be a viable part of what I do. Michael and I do differ on at least one thing – I use WordPress and he doesn’t, but that’s okay.
Justin Harter – a self-employed Web Designer at Justify Studios with a full-time job on the side, Justin leads RefreshIndy and it’s Refresh Social’s, which is where tech-heads from around Indianapolis meet to eat, talk, and build stuff. This is where I first met Justin and I have followed him online ever since via Twitter. Although I had a brief stint at Ball State, like Justin, I graduated at IUPUI in Indianapolis. I look up to Justin for running his own web design business and bringing together like-minded people in a positive way in Indianapolis.
Tricia Meyer – an affiliate marketer and former lawyer, I met Tricia at an Affiliate Meetup in Indianapolis and saw her speak at Blog Indiana 2011. She runs several web sites, but spends most of her time on a rewards site called Sunshine Rewards. She has recently started an Affiliate Summit Meetup in Indianapolis that I will be attending as well. She, like Michael, got her BA from Ball State, but got her JD from Indiana University in Bloomington. Tricia has inspired me to be a better affiliate marketer. She has been affiliate marketing for 7 years to my 3 and has quite a substantial lead on me, but is a great example of what that market holds.
There are many more people around Indianapolis who have influenced me in some way, but these are the ones who represent different aspects of what I currently do and so have more impact on me. If you have a local Indianapolis hero, be sure and mention them in the comments.