Movember #SEOstache – What I Gave & What I learned.

One week into Movember.. less than cool stare.

Well the Movember Mustache is about to come to an end.

What I gave for Movember:

I gave my face. While this may not seem costly to most, I felt very out of place for the past month. I have never grown a beard before. And this is the first mustache I have ever worn. Needless to say, I was more than a little self conscious because of this. I consider this a costly investment.

I gave my voice. Speaking up about why I was not shaving proved much easier. Curious looks and my own discomfort made it easy to speak up and explain why I wore a beard/mustache. Most people had never heard of “No Shave November.” or “Movember”. Speaking up was easy. It was refreshing to share my voice and tell people that simple awareness to issues like prostate cancer can help.

I gave my wallet. Not only did I ask for others to donate, but I gave money myself. Every little bit helps. There is little time left to donate: http://mobro.co/pestcontrol

What I learned this Movember:

How I looked most of the month.

Facial hair is itchy! Having never grown out my facial hair, I had never experienced the itchiness. And after the itch came the tingle. Yes, I could feel the hairs tickle and tingle my skin with a simple smile to a cool breeze. And having discussions with other men about these new found sensations, I also learned that it itches every time you grow it back out.

Prostate cancer will hit 1 out 6 men. ( cancer stats ) Prostate Cancer is the 2nd leading cause of cancer death in American men. 1 out of 36 men will die of prostate cancer.

There are a lot of good people in the world. It was inspiring to be part of the Manta Team which raised about $3000. I was especially impressed with Mike Halvorsen who got Matt Cutts and Duane Forrester on board. Their team “Search for the Cure” raised over $14,000. That is inspiring. Good work men.

My SEOstache

Well I wore a beard for most of the month, but I didn’t want to miss out entirely on the mustache experience, so I busted out the straight mustache for the last few days of the month… wearing it as I type this right now.

Yes… I have a hard time taking myself serious seeing my own mustache. I got a few good laughs, a couple of “I can’t take you serious.” comments, a “Is that real?” comment, and “you would be so cool in the 70′s”. My wife even said that I should have done this in October so that I could’ve used it in my Halloween costume. Although the nickname “Mario”, from Mario Brothers, seems to stick the most.

Movember Mustaches at Internet Summit in Raleigh

It was also cool to run into some great MoBro’s in Raleigh during the Internet Summit. It’s an instant connection. A brotherhood. Good people doing a good thing.

Monica Wright showing off Google+ #movember mustache

I even had the chance to show off my SEOstache in a Google+ hangout with Search Engine Land‘s Danny Sullivan and Monica Wright. Very cool that Google+ had an option to add your own #movember mustache. It actually moved around with your face while you were on screen. Captured this screen shot from my iPhone as the meeting was coming to a close.

… So long dear #SEOstache.