Apr 26, 2008 | blog, happiness
Ah, it’s not much different than yesterday really…
I wanted to take a minute and say hello to everyone that I interact with online on a daily or weekly basis. Yes, today is my birthday and yes, I’m 40 today. I’m off to spend the day with family and while I’ll be checking in online, I don’t want anyone to think I don’t appreciate you stopping by, or tweeting me on Twitter.
I’m not real big on how old you are or aren’t, but will admit I’ve thought more about my birthday this year than I have since waiting for 16 to finally come around (and the drivers license we all crave at that point in life).
Whether it’s the things I’ve accomplished or yet to accomplish – the memories of the past or the dreams of the future. The years don’t bring cynicism as much as they bring experience and enthusiasm. Enthusiasm of how life takes wonderful twists and continues to surprise and enthrall us.
I’ve wondered recently of the choices I’ve made and the path I’ve taken to deliver me where I am today. Pondered the plans and surprises that have made me who I am at this moment. How delightful is it for us to be such dynamic beings, that so many things go into who we are, what we think, and how we approach life.
Yesterday marked a turning point in my life as big as my birthday today. It’s been exactly one year since I choose to take control of my career and life. A full year has passed since I stepped out of the corporate shell that was so secure and protected. It’s been a challenging year, with many, many unpredicted turns. Most pleasant, some not, but every one of them has pushed me to grow and discover things about myself, my life and career.
In the past year, I’ve had fun exploring social media, building my personal brand, and networking with dozens of great people around the world. Finding that there is a vibrant, growing social media community right in my own backyard of Minneapolis/St. Paul is just icing on the cake (no pun intended today)!
So, while it’s my birthday, I want to take this moment to thank you for being part of my life. For commenting here, tweeting on Twitter, linking on LinkedIn, coming to our local Social Media Breakfast events, trading emails or blog posts, IM’ing, thinking, and most of all sharing. I’m looking forward to more!
Thank you!
Photo credit: badboy96
Apr 22, 2008 | happiness
Laying the groundwork for others to launch their careers, learn new things and succeed in life.
Apr 18, 2008 | happiness
Finding inspiration for the successes of the future in the failures of the past.
Apr 17, 2008 | blog
So you’ve got your blog. You’re on Twitter. Accounts on LinkedIn, Facebook, Xing, Plaxo and countless others are kept up to date and keep you networked with your peers. The question keeps coming back… what’s next? What does all this time interacting and connecting with people accomplish?
After all the hours involved in networking and connecting with people you start to wonder what the payoff will be. Twitter seems like a time sink, Facebook is flat-out a bad college prank, and blogging is more demanding that you thought it would be. Is the payback just a little link love, or a couple hundred Twitter followers? Maybe it’s feeling good about answering a couple dozen questions on LinkedIn Answers. It still hasn’t changed you yet has it?
Are you sure?
If you’ve stuck with it for awhile I bet you’ve found it easier to connect and reach out with people at work. Maybe writing project plans or documentation is a bit better than it was before. How about a few technical skills – if you’ve done any customizations on your blog I know you’ve been working on HTML at the very least.
Ok, these are just a few small things that you may or may not have noticed along the way. What’s the bigger payoff? I dunno – but it’s that unknown something that’s attracted you into the mix. There is potential on multiple fronts, from connecting with people, learning about things, growing as a person, even simply having a hobby. Social media doesn’t mean any one thing, and doesn’t have to be business related.
Since there is no one definition of social media to any one group or person, it never stops growing; morphing into something new with every additional person and service. Heck “social media” is not even a good name for it, it really just kind of stuck because we use new “social” tools that use different types of “media”.
It’s an exciting ride. One I encourage you to explore, even if you think it’s a bunch of hooey. There are many smart people out there that would love to share ideas with anyone who would listen. And that is what it really comes down to. Social media is people and ideas, the tools are incidental and change with the whimsy of the crowd.
Where are you going from here? What’s your next move?
Photo credit: *davierae*
Apr 11, 2008 | happiness
Trying new things – like live vlogging the Social Media Breakfast – Twin Cities 2 this morning at 8AM(CT)!
