Hey — that’s me^

My name is Richie Crowley. I’ve been writing on Medium for just about two years now and wanted to consolidate the blogs that readers have enjoyed most, with a few personal fav’s, in one place so new arrivals can discover my work more easily.

Chances are you’ve arrived here after reading 1 of 2 blogs:

These are the pieces that have performed best on Medium, but, as you’ll come to find out, there’s a lot more to me.

I’m a creator, a shaper, a curious, non-conforming, independent thinker. Most of this is on display at RICKiRICKi…

LinkedIn isn’t just for finding new jobs, nor is it only a place to float in a state of passively looking. It’s a platform that can be leveraged to reduce CTA’s, increase brand awareness, and elevate oneself into a thought leader, too.

Employees are the first paid ambassadors of any brand. The employee should want their employer to succeed and in their capacity leverage any tools that might drive business to their employer. LinkedIn, the professional networking platform, is a tool that has become a premier source of organic impressions and lead generation for those on it. …

Lil Nas X woke up on Monday, April 5th to find out that his latest release, “Montero (Call Me by Your Name)” had reached the number 1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100.

The next day, on April 6th, he found out that the song was featured in a porn film.

A week prior, he was dragging right-wing mascot Candace Owens, gun girl Kaitlin Bennett, Grammy-Nominated Joyner Lucas, NBA player Nick Young, and a full roster of conservatives across Twitter, all of whom upset that he gave Satan a lap dance.

Well shit, that’s not even what this article is about.

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Social media is a sea of passive interactions. Sure the big numbers are nice but they don’t always correlate into revenue. Think about it, it costs nothing to have a social media account, and a tap on a screen to “like” a photo or video is not a worthy measurement of, well anything.

Confusing strong social media as a strong business is foolish and dangerous.

Any business model relying on an algorithm they have no control over, managed by a private company allowing you to monetize their platform without compensation is risky.

Don’t get me wrong, strong social media is…

At my first job, a 4 month-stint at an emerging Boston security company, my manager, Lion Tim, as we’ll called him, used a phrase to describe how knowledgeable and flexible in conversation we BDR’s needed to be: Audible ready.

I thought it was really cool to hear sports language in an office. Having just retired from professional sports this brought me comfort in an otherwise unfamiliar environment.

At my second job, another Boston based start-up, this one in recruiting, my COO used the same term during a sales training. …

Falling on a Friday this year, New Year’s Eve comes to town with the spirit of a former Cheerleader’s Bachelorette party. Across the globe, many plan to unleash a mason jar of pickled energy to celebrate the end of what’s been a challenging year, and invest belief in the loose promises of good fortune to come from a year that reads 2021.

2020 won.

Year after year, groups of friends aim to go bigger in celebration than the last, and with all the money we’ve saved by staying in this year, plus a one-time payment of $1200, surely we now…

This guide is an introductory tour of every available non-alcoholic option in the world.

In assembling this guide, I reached out to every brand, inviting them to submit an image, a founder’s quote, their menu, in which countries they are available, and gave the option to include a discount code for readers.

Unlike many of the lists consumers come across, riddled with affiliate links, diluting the authenticity of a “Top Ten”, as author I rejected any type of compensation for improved positioning or kickbacks. As tempting as it was, creating an unbiased resource seemed more important.

I did allow brands…

Sharing off-centered product photos with neutral color palettes just doesn’t cut it anymore. To convert the free passive social media user into a customer, brands need to both entertain and educate them. The intersection of this is vertical video.

Conveniently, it just so happens that app creators are pivoting toward vertical video content, making it easier for brands to succeed in both creation and conversion.

This week, when Twitter introduced Fleet, the bluebird’s version of the Instagram story, they did so after international tests saw that by sharing momentary thoughts, Fleets helped people feel more comfortable joining the conversation.

This…