web counter

Terry Starbucker Brings Sexy Back at SOBCon08

Filed Under Business Life, Successful Blog | 3 Comments


Yes, in his usual fashion, the world famous Starbucker engaged us all with a
little entertainment.
You go, Terry! Encore!

SOBCon — it’s about the people!

Thank you all for coming!

Watch for a way that you can get the SOBCon mastermind experience. :)
Mobile post sent by lizsun using Utterz.  Replies.

Share This

Joanna Young at SOBCon08

Filed Under Business Life, Successful Blog | 8 Comments


Joanna Young of Confident Writing (http://www.confidentwriting.com/) is a joy and a wonder. Here she is in Chicago at SOBCon08.

Liz Strauss,
Founder of SOBCon

Community Specialist, Product and Content Analyst, Social Web Strategist
Be irresistible.
Mobile post sent by lizsun using Utterz.  Replies.

Tags: , , ,

Share This

SOBCon2008 Feedback on Sunday

Filed Under Business Life, Successful Blog | 9 Comments


Mobile post sent by lizsun using Utterz.  Replies.

Share This

10 Life Lessons for Reinventing Yourself

Filed Under Business Life, Successful Blog | 9 Comments

Annie Galvin Teich is a wise woman, whom I’ve known for over a decade. She’s be a friend, a business colleague, and an advisor. In the past two years, she has changed paths and joined us on the Internet. I’ve asked her to share some of what she’s learned in that extraordinary transition.

10 Life Lessons for Reinventing Yourself
by Annie Galvin Teich

Two years ago I was suddenly faced with an opportunity to change the course of my life and career. I’ve launched two businesses and three websites with varying degrees of success. These are some of the things that I’ve learned:

  • People don’t do business with companies. They do business with people they like. You can and will be surprised by how much support you’ll find in your personal circle – business colleagues, industry acquaintances and, of course, friends and family.
  • It’s all about connections. Your definition of success will morph and change as you meet and learn from others. The opportunities that appear along the way are usually a function of who you know.
  • We are stronger than we think we are. When you have passion, conviction and determination, you can bounce back off the mat. Sometimes all it takes is a hot bath, a cup of tea or a nap and you’re ready to go another round.
  • People are kinder than we think they are. Don’t make assumptions about people. Sometimes they are just waiting to be asked to help. Be nice.
  • You don’t have to imagine your future in detail to create it. Many of us stop ourselves from taking a gamble because we don’t have what we think we need to be successful. It really is okay to move forward without these things as long as you understand that the destination can change.
  • Getting up every day to work hard at moving forward creates its own momentum. It is impossible to work 10-12 hours a day for 6 months or 2 years without getting somewhere. You may end up somewhere you didn’t plan, but that is usually okay.
  • Friends keep you honest. They know you; they love you; they support you; they pick you up when you’re discouraged; and they keep your ego in check.
  • If you think you understand how much work is involved, triple it. Click your heels together three times and repeat after me…
  • Backing up to go forward is often a wise thing. Sometimes you find that you’ve gone off on a tangent that, as compelling as it was, is not taking you in the right direction. Part of this new learning is realizing that you are not always going to make the right decisions. As the GPS navigators say, “recalculate.”
  • Being able to laugh in general and at yourself in particular is good medicine. This new landscape you’re creating is exhilarating and scary. But you have to keep it in cosmic perspective. Laughter is good for you. Don’t take yourself or your learning moments so seriously that you can’t have a good chuckle. Life is too short.

It has been a remarkable journey.

You’ll find Annie at The Teich Group, New Publishing, and Crazy 4 Kids Books.

Thanks, Annie! You still inspire me with what you take from life!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Tags: , ,

Share This

Internet Fame, Leaps of Faith, and the Truth from Guy

Filed Under Business Life, Strategy, Successful Blog | 16 Comments

Famous? Dirt Poor?

insideout logo

In a recent conversation, a client made the following observation.

So many businesses seem confused about how to use the Internet. They appear to know their own product or service, but they don’t have clients or customers. They built it, and no one came. Has no one found the right model?

Some folks think the answer is to get famous. . . .

A strong personal brand and passion for your niche teamed is what makes a blog a powerful New Media marketing tool. That’s what will build trust, rapport, and reputation equity. Once you have those things, it’s a relatively straight forward process to turn those assets into profit. — Tribal Seduction

I’m with Tim Bourquin’s observations about that.

Twitter, blogs, podcasts and new media in general have created a wave of “famous” people - people with a “wealth” of attention and inbound links, but can’t pay their bills at the end of the month. Worse yet, some seem to think that if you do find a way to make your living successfuly, you’ve “sold out” and are no longer true to your audience. That’s a shame and it needs to change.

The “link” and “attention” may be the currency of the Internet, but until someone can show me how to pay my mortgage by linking to my bank once a month, that just doesn’t fly with me.

Internet famous isn’t “Oprah famous” . . . not even close . . . and the Internet forgets quickly.

When I asked Internet Rockstar, Guy Kawasaki, about what bloggers should know about blogging as business, he said.

The truth is that it’s very difficult to monetize a blog. I have a fairly popular one and sell less than $100,000 of advertising per year on it. It serves other purposes though for my activities as a venture capitalist, author, and speaker.

So to some extent, a blog can help with the overall branding and marketing of a company, but it’s a leap of faith.

A blog by itself isn’t a business. A product without customers won’t sell.

What do you see when you look at online businesses?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

Tags: , ,

Share This

keep looking »