The

Undeniable

Ruth

®

…and the Ruth shall set you free!

  • Day 10/90 – Tweaking my Terms of Service for Good

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    Ruth Carter

    Day 10 of the 90 Days of Awesome is in the bank! What made today awesome? I updated my sites’ terms of service! (I swear it’s not as boring as it sounds.)

    Walter Ball!!
    Walter Ball!

    I write a monthly column for a site called Attorney at Work that helps lawyers run their firms and market themselves more effectively. I love this gig.

    Previously, I wrote a post about how I feel when others copy my content. I’ve never said “no” when anyone has asked to use one of my posts for an event or to distribute it to their organization; however, it peeves me when people use my work without asking permission and without adding any original thoughts to the conversation. Unfortunately, too many people think this is permissible as long as they provide in attribution and a link to the original post. Whenever someone does this with one of my posts for Attorney at Work, I get a notification.

    I’ll admit, I was pretty annoyed when I saw that someone stole one of my posts today. I grabbed my Walter Ball and played with it furiously while ranting to a coworker. I notified my editors of the situation and asked if they wanted me to call him out. Luckily for him (and me), they are much more tactful than I am. They addressed the situation appropriately and mentioned that they should revise the provision on their site about requesting a license to use or reprint posts. I suggested they add a provision that says failure to request permission in advance is an expression of the person’s willingness to donate $100 to the charity of my editors’ choosing when they discover what the person did. They liked that idea.

    I like that idea.

    I’ve had terms of service on this site and my law firm’s site for years. Here is what part of it used to say:

    I am Not Interested in Unsolicited Emails that Pitch Content or Services
    Do not contact me to pitch your SEO, other marketing, or lead generation services.
    I’m not interested in a new website design.
    I’m not interested in letting you pay me to embed a link on an existing post.
    I’m not interested in your infographic.
    No, you cannot write guest posts for my site.

    Contacting me for any of the above reasons is an expression of your willingness to pay me $100 for annoying me.

    Any time anyone sends me in unsolicited email hocking their marketing services or asking to write a guest post, I have a canned response I send that informs them of my terms of service and provides my mailing address for sending payment.

    After today’s experience, I decided to change it:

    I am Not Interested in Unsolicited Emails that Pitch Content or Services
    Do not contact me to pitch your SEO, other marketing, or lead generation services.
    I’m not interested in a new website design.
    I’m not interested in letting you pay me to embed a link on an existing post.
    I’m not interested in your infographic.
    No, you cannot write guest posts for my site.

    Contacting me for any of the above reasons is an expression of your willingness to pay $10 to the charity of my choosing.

    I’ve been telling people to send me $100 for annoying me for years, and so far no one’s paid it. I figured it would be better to ask for less. Hopefully some people will actually do it. It’ll be for a good cause.

    In case you missed it: Day 9 of the 90 Days of Awesome – WordTasting Tour!

  • When You Come to the Fork in the Road…

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    Ruth Carter

    I love the Yogi Berra quote, “When you come to the fork in the road, take it.” It’s a reminder to me to keep moving forward whether that’s physically, emotionally, or professionally. When I knew I would be passing through Pasadena, I knew I had to stop to see the actual fork in the road.

    Fork in the Road, Pasadena, CA
    Fork in the Road, Pasadena, CA

    This this is freakin’ huge! It’s at Pasadena Ave and St. John Ave. in a residential area. It’s so unassuming that it’s easy to miss it.

    If you want to see what weird stuff is in your city or wherever you’re traveling, check out Roadside America.

    My trip to Pasadena is part of The Undeniable Tour, which wouldn’t be possible without my awesome sponsors.

    All Sponsors

  • Going Pantsless was the Best Thing I Did in Law School

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    Ruth Carter

    The best thing I did in law school was the 2009 No Pants Light Rail Ride in Phoenix, Arizona. The people I met there opened the doors to the opportunities that made me the lawyer and the person I am today.

    Photo by Jamey Peachy

    Improv Everywhere has been doing the No Pants Subway Ride since 2002. In preparation for the 2009 ride, they invited everyone to organize No Pants Rides on the same day in cities all over the world. Jeff Moriarty conspired with a small group of his friends to do a ride on the newly opened light rail in Phoenix. I was a first-year law student and really a nobody in my school and the greater legal community. I didn’t know Jeff back then, but I saw the event on Facebook and signed up to do it with some of my friends.

    On the day of the ride, all of my friends who were supposed to do the No Pants Ride with me chickened out. I wasn’t surprised. I said, “You guys all suck. I’m going without you” and I headed out to Tempe to meet my fellow pantsless riders. I figured Jeff had to be a cool guy for organizing the ride, so I purposely stood next to him on the ride and chatted all the way to our final destination.

    The rest is history. I can show you, in 7 connections or less, how participating in the 2009 No Pants Ride led to some of my best professional opportunities and experiences.

    No Pants Ride >>> Establishing Myself as a Legal Expert

    • Many of the people at the 2009 No Pants Ride are involved in blogging. This inspired me to have a blog.
    • Jeff Moriarty helped me create UndeniableRuth.com in January 2010.
    • I wrote, and still write, weekly posts about legal issues.
    • My posts demonstrated that I have a unique voice and competence in certain areas of law.
    • I parlayed my expertise into opportunities to write dozens of guest blog posts; provide quotes for news articles and blogs; participate in TV, radio, and podcast interviews; and give presentations at conferences.

    No Pants Ride >>> Sponsor A Law Kid  

    • I met Jeff at the 2009 No Pants Ride.
    • Jeff is the creator of Ignite Phoenix. He encouraged me to apply to be an Ignite presenter.
    • I was selected for Ignite Phoenix #5 to present Frosting the Law.
    • Kade Dworkin was one of my fellow presenters at Ignite Phoenix #5.
    • Kade had a podcast in 2010 called Meet My Followers where he interviewed his Twitter followers.
    • One of Kade’s guests was Jason Sadler, founder of I Wear Your Shirt.
    • I Wear Your Shirt inspired me to create Sponsor A Law Kid, that funded part of my final semester of law school in 2011.

    No Pants Ride >>> Paid Blogger for Attorney at Work

    • A group of us from the 2009 No Pants Ride founded Improv AZ to continue to do flash mobs and pranks in Phoenix.
    • Planning events with Improv AZ sparked my interest in flash mob law.
    • I asked Ari Kaplan whether this might be a viable niche.
    • Ari used my interest in an article for Law Practice Magazine in the fall of 2009.
    • The editor of the magazine, Mark Feldman, loved it. He continued to follow me and blog.
    • When Mark created Attorney at Work with Joan Feldman and Merrilyn Astin Tarlton, they invited me to be one of their professional bloggers in 2011.

    And that’s the tip of the iceberg. I can show how the No Pants Ride led to making some of my best professional connections, writing my first book, developing an interest in podcasting, and meeting some of the most wonderful people in my life.

    The 2012 Global No Pants Ride is this Sunday, January 8th in at least 56 cities. If there’s a ride near you, you should go. You never know what will come out of it.

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