Oct 2, 2008 | blog
Wondering when an online-oriented event is going to pop up in your area? Why don’t you make it happen?
While “social media†is every today, it’s as important as ever to get face 2 face with folks you know online. The adage “it’s not what you know, but who you know†is as true today as it was to previous generations. While technology is tearing down the barriers of time & distance, as humans, we crave real-time interaction.
Being an organizer of events in your town or city has some advantages – you get to pick topics that are interesting to you, you get to help get people involved, but mostly you get to meet lots of people. That’s probably the biggest reward of all the work that goes into these things.
The other thing is simply getting things started. Why wait for someone to get things started – you could be that person. It’s not hard, and I know that most everyone that’s worked on getting organizing and hosting events would be happy to share some tips to making it all happen.
Are you ready to start something?
Photo credit: Katie Blanch
Oct 1, 2008 | blog, happiness
About a year and a half ago, I started experimenting with the Aside feature of WordPress, and thought it was neat. While I didn’t like the way they lacked titles, I did like how they were supposed to be concise and to the point.
What came out of it for me was a growing series of posts entitled "Happiness". These posts started as Asides, mainly from a point in my consulting career where I was a little disillusioned as to the amount of success I was having at the time. Which is to say: "not much".
I started using these posts as inspiration, to point out to myself what made me happy at that moment in time. In the beginning, I truly just picked the first happy thought that passed through my mind and posted it.
Since then, I’ve done much the same thing, though from time to time, I do struggle with a "good one". I don’t like to repeat myself, though I know I do. Also, I’ve tried to be inspirational to others when the muse strikes. I succeed in that maybe 20% of the time I think. My real inspiration to continue these posts is that they continually reward me, and that’s all it needs to do at any rate.
So I hope this helps answer questions as to why I post "Happiness".
Oh, and you can get the "Happiness" RSS Feed here!
Photo credit: Amy Gwen
Sep 30, 2008 | blog
New to personal branding? No you’re not!
You’re well aware of your reputation, and probably work hard to make sure it’s what you want it to be: a reflection of you and the work you do. Of course by now you’re aware that in this wonderful social media-web 2.0 world, that you are your own brand.
I was talking with a co-worker at lunch yesterday about things to do to get recognized within the company. It’s plain to me, but somehow wasn’t as obvious to my friend. All the work you put into getting noticed within any one organization, to "climb the ladder" as it’s put, can also be focused on building your brand outside the organization and can ultimately be put to better use as a foundation for your brand.
So, you ask, what can you do to start promoting my brand and how is it different than building your reputation? Glad you asked!
Like most things in the online world, it’s both very similar and rather different than what we do offline. Start thinking of yourself as a brand like your favorite cola or automotive company and you’re off to a good start. At the same time, you need to be as diligent and aware of the record you leave behind as you did about your reputation. By working to promote your brand online, you’re going to be leaving behind a permanent record that is easily searchable by anyone.
That can be a double-edged sword of course. If you’re not consistent and follow through, it’ll be remembered, likely written about at some point. It all comes back to word of mouth – the best & hardest type of advertising one can hope for. In the case of personal brand in the 21st century (heh, don’t you just love saying that – so futuristic), it’s a fully indexed and archived word of mouth – and that is the biggest difference. Our memories are now much longer because of the technologies we use.
My biggest tip is to check out resources on the ‘net to start learning more about personal branding and how to go about building a successful one. Starting with Personal Branding Magazine (and it’s fine contributors), and moving on to Googling "personal brand". That’ll get you to the best initial places to start reading up on the topic.
It’s really up to you to make it work. Start filling out some social networks, decide if social tools like Twitter, FriendFeed, Flickr, Brightkite, are for you, start blogging or podcasting. Whatever direction you decide works for you, the key part is to participate and give back as much as you can to the communities that help you build your brand.
(Disclosure: I write the "Social Media Exploration" column for Personal Branding Magazine)
Photo credit: BlueMoose
Sep 30, 2008 | blog
I’m curious (and cautious) about the sudden business interest in Twitter.
Don’t get me wrong, I truly believe that Twitter is a great tool for businesses to listen to customers, even forge new relationships with them. I’m just curious if it’s due to real acceptance of the concepts of social media, or the more likely scenario of upper-level interest because of buzz in the usual places.
Either way given a chance, social media tools such as Twitter can make a difference and prove themselves. The difference is that organizations looking to build relationships through the tools will have successes much quicker than those that "don’t want to be left behind".
Through this sudden interest, I do believe that any organization willing to listen, engage, and learn from & with their customers will have great success. What’s your take?
Sep 29, 2008 | blog
You know the place, the one we all crab about, the one we all supposedly hate to go to every morning? Yeah, the place where the coffee sucks, your desk is too small, and where traffic is always a pain to get through. It’s the office – the one your employer has graciously equipped and staffed for your working pleasure.
I know exactly what many of you are thinking. We all seem to dread heading to work in the morning, knowing that there is a "pile of work" ready and waiting. It seems we associate the negatives of the work we do with the place our employers house there workers and rarely associate the positives of the office itself.
What if you could separate those feelings? What about all the work and preparation that goes into that workplace? The costs involved for employers to provide a workplace for each employee are substantial, and the goal is ultimately make it as easy as possible for you to get your assigned tasks done. Most of the time it works, though our perception is usually clouded by co-workers, outside influences, business climate, workload, and many others.
Many folks talk about working remotely, or from home. It seems that lately we’ve become so enamored with this idea that it’s like the end-all solution to our working woes. As if, just getting out of the office will make all the difference by itself.
This simply isn’t the case. You can change the scenery, but that doesn’t always solve the issue. There are great things about working from home, or being able to set up at a coffee shop for the afternoon. Getting away from drive-bys and the daily routine are highly effective ways to GTD when you need to.
Just don’t forget that on a regular basis, those remote locations, or the home office also have their distractions. Whether it be sick kids home from school, household chores that seem important during the day, or just the noise and music at your favorite coffee shop – they are distractions too. Start taking a look at your employer’s office as a space designed specifically for getting things done. The resources available far outstrip what you can set up at home, or find as a secondary workplace.
From people resources to copiers, take a fresh look and try to separate out the workplace from the work itself. You may be able to discover unused offices or conference rooms to skip off to for an hour. Or find that color printer that does 11×17 landscape that you need for your presentation – you don’t always need to go to Kinkos! Your company is paying for resources to enable you to do your job, finding out what’s available and using the existing space more effectively could make a bit of difference in your productivity and perspective. Give it a try and share your tips if you have them.
Sep 27, 2008 | blog
Events are fun. Events are just meetups with a bit of structure. As I’ve been hosting social media breakfasts here in Minneapolis & St. Paul, I’ve been thinking a bit about what makes these types of events worth attending, what makes them special.
It’s really the people that attend. Folks from many different industries, genres, interests, and backgrounds make up the mix. The varied group is a sampling of the total social media population that we interact with online. This group is made up of the early adopters of their respective industries. They lead the way and help guide their industries or groups in the use and exploration of these new ideas and technologies.
Events are also great places to network. With such varied participants, people get a chance to meet and greet. They get to talk with people they may want to (or need to!) do business with. It’s a chance for folks to build their network in the offline world and be able to do that most important aspect of networking. Look someone in the eye, get a firm handshake, and really evaluate them in person.
It does matter. Especially for local events where you need to have that network of folks that you’ll work with or look out for. You share your community with them. Your kids grow up in the same environment and what each of you do and how you participate matters to the outcome of it all. It matters.
Another aspect is simply meeting people who do the same things you do. Explore the same spaces you do. You can learn a lot, not just from each other, but from talking about how you do things. It triggers new ways of thinking of things, opens new doors to everyone involved. That induces change, and change is an exciting ingredient in life.
