UpBuild

Values-Driven Technical Marketing

Mike Arnesen

About Mike Arnesen

Founder of UpBuild. Digital geek.
Follow me: Website | Twitter | Instagram

Onward Into 2021

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Now that The Year That Shall Not Be Named* seems to be rapidly disappearing in the rearview mirror, the UpBuild team and I are looking forward to the future. With each passing day, I feel more hopeful, excited, and optimistic.

The outlook for 2021 is bright — if not objectively, then at least relatively. And while none of the trials and tribulations that harangued us throughout 2020 evaporated on January 1st, the start of a new year makes a brighter future seem more attainable and within reach. 

In this post, I will — as is tradition — usher in a new year by looking back at the previous year and looking ahead to what’s in store for UpBuild. 

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How to Solve Challenging Technical Problems in 8 Steps

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Technical marketing — what we do here at UpBuild — can be hard work. Not in an overwhelming way, but in a way that stretches the mind and forces a push toward the limits of one’s own ability. I’m thankful because that’s what keeps me interested, excited, and fulfilled after nearly fifteen years of doing this. 

When I began to explore potential topics for a blog post (what has become this post), I was facing a wickedly-hard technical challenge to which there was no clear, easy answer. At least that’s the way it seemed when I was brought in. 

I don’t actually do a lot of hands-on technical marketing work at UpBuild these days; I’m busy running the business and leading UpBuild’s team so that THEY can do the hands-on work. Yet I found myself being brought in to help in whatever way I could when all else seemed to have failed. I love being able to help out in that way and aim to carve out more time for it in the future, but that’s a subject for another post. 

Returning to the main thread: a deadline was fast approaching, and progress had stalled. Each issue resolved in the project seemed to give rise to two more. 

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Mindful Email Management

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Strategies for disconnecting when work and home are the same place

This post is about disconnection as a critical component of a healthy work-life balance. More specifically, I’d like to use this post to advocate strategically disconnecting from email, and to share some ways in which I accomplish that. At a moment in time where — for most of us — work and home are literally the same physical space, occasionally disconnecting from email and then strategically re-engaging with it on our own terms can be mentally beneficial, emotionally supportive, and improve our work output and results.

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UpBuild & COVID-19: Staying the Course in Uncertain Times

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We’re living through a dark moment, unprecedented in our lifetimes. Each day brings a relentless flood of bad news: lives are lost, families and individuals are suffering, businesses are struggling and collapsing. Yet despite all of it, the days march on and we must find a way to live our lives and — if we’re fortunate enough to be able to do so — do our jobs. 

While keeping the metaphorical lights on is more than enough to keep me busy, it felt important to provide a transparent look at how UpBuild is navigating all this. So within this context, at this unique moment in history, what is UpBuild doing? 

UpBuild is existing. Hopefully that will count for something when this is all over. 

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