SOB Business Cafe 05-28-10
Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 3 Comments
Welcome to the SOB Cafe
We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.
The Specials this Week are
ChrisG
I nearly called this article “Everything I know about blogging I learned from comic books” but I was afraid too many people would take it literally, ha. In fact, there might be an element of truth to it. My formative reading material was dominated by muscly, spandex-clad guys and gals fighting crime and shooting laser beams out of their eyes.
Ramblings from a Glass Half Full
It seemed a bit silly to me when I first got this suggestion, but in this moment of despair I figured writing something down might just be that little step that Tom Peters was urging me to take in his column.
So I picked up my pen, and started to write. I outlined my dream -to be a leader, making a real difference for a business. I also noted the kind of leader I wanted to be.
Well, wouldn’t you know it, within a year I had a new job, and not too long after that, that dream I had put on paper came true. Every bit of it.
CIO Update
The real conundrum facing business today is not which tools to use but whether to work within an existing social network or build one central to the brand. With few exceptions, success usually lies in doing both or in creating a hybrid of the two.
McCurry’s Corner
So my question is what makes an educational presentation excellent? Is it the quality of the education content? Is it in the presenter’s delivery? Or, is there some special formula that really contributes to getting audiences engaged? What do you think? Here are some of my thoughts…
Adventures in Philanthrophy
You are influencing the people who read your blog posts religiously. You are informing the decisions of the people who have you on twitter lists. You are shaping the people who interact with you on facebook. Just because that’s not your intention doesn’t mean it’s not true.
Authentic Path
The truth? Building a successful online presence takes time and work. It also takes a willingness to get real, to become authentic.
Related ala carte selections include
Congratulations to WGN and Nancy Loo!
So, after nine years of competing against “WGN Morning News”, I’ll be helping the team to keep beating my former station. I admire the show and everyone on it (hello Larry, Robin, Pat, Paul, Valerie and Ana) and I am proud to become one of “Chicago’s Very Own”.
A Skilling Snuggie wrapped the deal!
Contract negotiations are always a fascinating process to me. I’ve been through a few now. Salary numbers are thrown back and forth between agents and news managers. My demand for a Tom Skilling Snuggie nearly quashed the deal.
Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
I’m a proud affiliate of
SOB Business Cafe 05-21-10
Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | Leave a Comment
Welcome to the SOB Cafe
We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.
The Specials this Week are
Ramblings from a Glass Half Full
“It can’t be done”
“You can’t do that”
How many times have you heard these words? Plenty of times, I bet. “Can’t” is a big, fat, stop sign designed to sabotage a dream.
The Social Media Marketing Blog
It turns out that it’s pretty simple to understand what women want. All you have to do is ask them. Of course, you have to be listening and willing to put it into practice. Having been married for nearly 9 years, I’m no genius at dating; but there are some parallels here that even my feeble brain can pull out.
Read more: http://www.scottmonty.com/2010/05/online-ad-targeting-is-pretty-much-like.html#ixzz0oXCwqvf5
ReveNews
The service is called CinemaNow, partnering Best Buy with Sonic Solutions Inc. The service will start as a la carte, and hopes to progress to a Netflix like subscription service. Movie rentals will start at 2.99, videos for purchase will run from 9.99 – 19.99.
C-Level Strategies and Awakenings
To be honest, I used to avoid networking events if I was not absolutely sure that someone I knew would be there – someone for me to “hang out with.” This was a real detriment to my career as it drastically limited my exposure to executives outside of my little “bubble,” and prevented me from making wonderful new business connections.
One Mann’s Opinion
It’s scary and exciting and big monsters are there to eat you and you don’t know where to start. The best place is with your personal or business strategy. You don’t need to embrace it all, you don’t need to be everywhere and frankly no one can.
Des Walsh
Conversations about social media in business often start with questions about tools. “Should we have a Facebook page?” “Should we be on Twitter?” “Should we have a blog and if so how do we go about that?”
These are perfectly reasonable questions. But they jump the gun.
Related ala carte selections include
Connie Reece
As they say about a picture …
Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
I’m a proud affiliate of
SOB Business Cafe 05-14-10
Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 1 Comment
Welcome to the SOB Cafe
We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.
The Specials this Week are
Sticky Figure
Now, there are lots of ways to find suppliers. You can Google, make phone calls, field incoming sales calls, sit through capabilities presentations, go through an RFP process, vet vendors, pick one and hope it works….you know the drill. Inefficient, time-intensive, risky.
Life as a Literary Agent
Too often, people sit down and nervously launch into some kind of story and I find myself dizzy with confusion. I sit there like a deer in the headlights and then I say something like, “Let’s back up. What’s your name? And is this fiction or nonfiction?”
Steve Farber
So, imagine my surprise (really, really great surprise) when I started to hear from educators–teachers, principals, administrators–about how they’d been applying the principles of Extreme Leadership in their buildings, in their schools, their classrooms. I’ve written about several of these amazing educators on this blog.
OPEN Small Business
While social media cheat-sheets and short cuts are available almost everywhere you look, the truth is that we have some work ahead of us. To help, I’ve assembled a list of five best practices to help you build, cultivate, and measure success in the new web right now.
Blue Sky Factory
If I could give you one piece of advice to make your email marketing efforts optimized, it would be to make sure you are fulfilling these 3 integral factors for email deliverability:
Media Post: Research Brief
Traditionally, PR has focused on reputation, earned media, third-party validation, and awareness-building – while marketing has been generally focused on advertising, sponsorships and lead-generation. The conversation has centered on how these two disciplines should be orchestrated to increase the overall effectiveness of outreach.
Social media contains elements that both disciplines find appealing and complementary to their existing efforts, so the debate has shifted towards who should “own” social media and, more importantly, how best to integrate social media with broader marketing or communications channels.
Related ala carte selections include
Digital Dads
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am the farthest thing from an uptight prude. But, as I sat there in the audience and watched the 6 & 7 year old teams shake things they didn’t have and perform moves that were more appropriate for a stripper pole then a school stage I had to stop and wonder. Why are we letting our kids do this?
Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
I’m a proud affiliate of
SOB Business Cafe 05-07-10
Filed Under Business Life, Great Finds, Successful Blog | Leave a Comment
Welcome to the SOB Cafe
We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.
The Specials this Week are
End Homelessness
There are first times for everything. The first time I drove a car, first time I broke my leg, first time I ate sushi, the first time I went to work, the first time I was fired, and I’ll never forget my first kiss. ‘Firsts’ are memorable parts of life and growing up.
Well, the same goes for that first night spent on the streets or in a homeless shelter. The first time you’re homeless, the intense feelings of fear and uncertainty are impossible to forget.
CommonCentsMom
Earlier this year I wrote a post about how important online relationships are and well WON my way to this room of people. Many of my blogging heroes where in this room. Well life threw a curve ball and I couldn’t go. I was blessed enough the the founders of SOBCon let me pass my win on to another Canadian blogger. I gave my ticket to Scott Stratten..and if you are in the marketing world and don’t know who he is may I suggest you read his new book due out in August.
So what about the girl who didn’t get to go? The one who got stuck sitting at home?
Ramblings from a Glass Half Full
And when we finished, all of us were transformed.
I know, transformed is a pretty strong word, and for those of you who have never been to a SOBCon, I can understand some skepticism here. How can that happen? It’s just a conference, right? And we all know what happens there – speakers speaking, panelists pontificating, and audience members watching passively (and checking their watches looking forward to the next coffee break).
Wrong.
Related ala carte selections include
Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
I’m a proud affiliate of
How to Raise a Barn in a Weekend
Filed Under Business Life, Community, Great Finds, Successful Blog | 17 Comments
SOBCon2010
Stunned and staring at my screen. Fingers resting on my keyboard. I walk around to find out what I’m thinking …
Last Friday morning at SOBCon2010, we looked at our hands and considered all the ways we use them to communicate — all the information and feelings that we pass through them.
Today my voice is gone and my two pairs of glasses still qualify as 1. lost and 2. broken. My head and heart are filled with meaning. Yet my fingers aren’t feeling so eloquent.
Sometimes words are inadequate. I trust you’ll read the spaces between them this time.
Wish more than anything I could reach through my computer to shake a few more hands, to underscore an idea, to give one more hug or handshake while a taxi was waiting.
How to Raise a Barn in a Weekend
Raising a barn can’t be done by one person. In fact, it helps to start with a truly committed and generous partner … one who will sing if he needs to … even when an executive from a leading business website and verified platinum-selling rockstar are in the room.
At SOBCon2010, we offered an invitation, an excuse, a reminder to “raise a barn” of ideas, strategies and tactics and a 150 incredible people laid aside their self-consciousness and invested the time of their life to be there — for some it was easier, for some not so much so. It takes practice to be fear-less.
People came together in unexpected combinations.
Barn raising is a noble investment.
If you’re wondering how you might raise a barn, it’s been my experience that raising a barn is easier if you …
- Show up in spades. Be there. Gather everything you might be, everything you might offer, and all you believe.
No barn was ever raised by, for, or with someone who didn’t invest, want, and already see one. - Bring a simple plan and a people-centered process. Support and encourage expression, participation, and creativity. Don’t five undue attention to nonparticipants. Some folks need to find their own way in … Instead be attractive.
Getting started is the hardest part. Make it the easiest.
- Fill the quest with quality. Have the best leaders, the best tools, the best food, the best places to think, talk, work and relax.
Live the vision. Don’t just talk about it.
- Know, love, and trust the people who are investing. Welcome everyone who came to contribute. Let them know they are valued. Leave room in the plan for positive mutations. Let people be smarter, than you are.
Realize and recognize that every act of generosity goes both ways.
- Give back, give forward. Take action that keeps the momentum. Work in full gratitude by, for, and with everyone who participated to celebrate what’s been raised. Find ways to help them pass on the experience and insights they gained to those who could use them.
Imprint every learning by inviting every learner to be a hero and a teacher.
and when the barn is almost finished …
Thank you to every sponsor for looking acting and investing right with us. Thank you to the presenters, who delivered the content as members of the audience. Thank you to every person who helped us build more than we imagined. It will take a while to unpack the complete value of your contribution.
Without your fearless participation, we might be remembering a meeting.
Instead we built meaning. We saw, heard, and understood each other.
And
Damn it’s fun to take your brain out to play in a roomful of smart people!!
No wonder I keep staring at my screen.
You have changed my life.
Can’t wait to do it again!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
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