Over the past decade, we’ve seen the recording, TV, newspaper, and radio industries undergo an epic transformation. Factors ranging from Hulu and the Huffington Post to the iPod and Spotify have forced century-old industries to completely rethink and reinvent themselves.

In 2011, I was selected to be part of a small group of people to help revolutionize the publishing industry… one of the oldest, and most unchanged fields of business in history. Leading the charge was one of the greatest marketers of our time, Seth Godin.

Our goal was not to undermine, or take down the publishing industry. Rather, we tried to demonstrate that the long-standing (and outdated) belief that the only way to make it as a writer is to have the right connections to get your book on the New York Times Bestseller list.  The reality of the bestseller list is that just because a book sells, doesn’t mean it possesses the best content, the best story, or the best ideas.

Maybe more people would read good books, and take positive action as a result of these books if great authors with great ideas were praised and promoted, rather than the shallow memoirs of Reality TV stars like Snooki.

I’m proud to say that during my tenure as a member of the Domino Project Street Team led by the wonderful and inspirational Amber Rae, we helped to promote twelve different thought-provoking, life-changing books by twelve different powerful, inspiring authors. We helped to publish and sell books in ways that had never been done before.

The biggest lesson I learned from this project is that holding fast to the ideas you’re most passionate about, and surrounding yourself with those who share your passion is the quickest path to success. Authors and creators like Derek Sivers, Steven Pressfield, and even Seth Godin himself could not have created the impact they’ve had without people who bought into their same ideas.

Keep creating, keep moving, keep shipping, and the change and success will inevitably come.

While my classmates spent their time writing papers and studying for tests, I was immersed in Social Media Club meetings, tweet chats like #JournChat, #GNO, and #CustServ. When my friends were at Homecoming, I was at the Blogworld Expo.

I’ve made many friends on Twitter. Initially, many of these people didn’t realize how young I was. I’d show up to networking meetings having come straight from classes wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and a backpack. I’d get a lot of sideways glances until people saw my name tag. “BigBags! I didn’t know you were so young!”

And thus the evening (and the friendships) would begin.

In 2009, my Senior year of college, I was one of 225 nominees for a social media award. Surprisingly, I won one of 3 “Best Use of Twitter” awards, alongside The Salt Lake Tribune, and Mozy. I was the only non-corporate entity to win the award, and the only college student to be nominated.

It was awesome to be recognized for something that I was so passionate about, and that (I felt) set me apart from so many of my peers.

During my last few semesters of school, I was privileged to mentor some of my peers on social media, and even guest lectured for Marketing, Business, and Communication’s professors across campus.

After competing on NBC’s The Sing-Off for the second time in 2011, she decided it was time to capitalize on the exposure she got from the show, and create place for herself on the web where she could share music from her other projects, and interact with her ever-growing fan base.

I built Amy’s website, set her up with a Facebook Fan Page, a Twitter account, and a YouTube channel. I’ve coached her along as she’s learned the ropes of building her own personal brand. Together, we create content calendars, set short and long-term goals, manage all of her profiles across the web. I was there for her first blog post, helped her publish and annotate her first YouTube video, and sat next to her as she live-tweeted during episodes of The Sing-Off.

I set her up with profiles on music distribution sites like Bandcamp, SoundCloud, PureVolume, TheSixtyOne, and more. (Have a listen…)

Grenade (Bruno Mars cover) by Amy-Whitcomb

In the last few months since we started working together, Amy has had over 38,000 views on her YouTube channel (and over a million views from other YouTube videos), she’s gained over 2,000 Facebook Fans, and 2,600 Twitter followers with whom she interacts with regularly.

I’ll openly admit that a huge part of Amy’s success is her ridiculous talent, and her natural charisma… but I’ll be damned if I don’t take some credit for setting her up for success.

Working with Amy has been a blast for me, because I’ve been able to prove to myself that I can build things that are awesome, that other people love, and help to grow a meaningful community around someone who deserves it. Here’s what she has to say…

The most difficult thing in seeking outside help in marketing, self-promotion, and social media is finding someone who shares your vision and your passion. Well, Nate’s passion is helping others to succeed in what they love to do. He not only was able to grasp my vision, but really make it come to life! He pushed me to recognize what I am capable of, what I want, and to not be scared of chasing after it full force. Nate is a visionary, an incredible teacher, a loyal friend, and a total badass. I freaking love that kid. And trust me, you will too.

Part of my job at Mindshare was managing their social media presence. Aside from creating and managing the company blog, and the Twitter account, my favorite project was creating and managing the YouTube channel.

I had very little video editing or recording experience when I was hired. The skills I obtained came through a lot of experimentation, searching Google, and asking questions from people far more experienced that myself. In the year and a half I was there, I helped film and produce over 45 videos. The following are some of my favorites:

The Plunge

Social Media can be a challenge, especially in the B2B world. One thing that clients loved about doing business with Mindshare was the awesome culture we brought into every interaction. I decided to start documenting that culture so that future clients would realize how Mindshare stands out in what can be a very vanilla industry.

The Plunge is a video documenting a bet between rival college football fans in the office. It was a blast to film, witness, and spread. (We even had a news crew on site to document the event live.)

Festival of Trees (Primary Children’s Hospital)

Another thing I loved about Mindshare was our involvement in the community. I was fortunate enough to attend multiple charity dinners, fund raisers, and service projects with my coworkers.

The Festival of Trees fundraiser for Primary Children’s Hospital was at the top of the list. I was fortunate enough to be able to document how Mindshare originally got involved, and why it’s so special for us… particularly the CEO of the company, John Sperry.

My mission? Make Tony Roma’s awesome within the holy realm of the internet.

Since my arrival, I’ve helped grow, and more importantly, organize the Tony Roma’s web presence. Managing a brand with locations in 33 countries and nearly as many languages can present its challenges. This also offers a lot of opportunities to really create a unique and forward-thinking image in an industry that is often quite behind the times and current trends.

My favorite part about working at Tony Roma’s (aside from the free ribs) has been working on a team of one.

Ok, I’ll admit it, there are more people on the marketing team than just myself. They are amazing people who do fantastic work… but I think it’s safe to say that I pretty much own the digital space for Tony Roma’s, from Facebook and Twitter, to Yelp!, and TripAdvisor. I have forged the company intranet with my bare hands and a Macbook Pro. I manage our website, and I oversee our email marketing. The list goes on, but I’d prefer not to ramble. You get the idea.

All of this means that I get the opportunity to see projects through (both large and small) from start to finish.

It’s very rewarding to say the least.

I’ve executed online sweepstakes in coordination with Coke and NASCAR, and I’ve seen the Tony Roma’s Facebook Page grow from 6,000 members to 26,000 through small, often unnoticed daily personal interactions.