Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

What inspires you?

Filed Under Basics, Blog Review, Bloggy Questions, Community, Connecting Dots, Guest Writer, Inside-Out Thinking, Links, Motivation/Inspiration, Strategy, Successful Blog, Writing | 5 Comments

One of the best features of twitter is the opportunity to connect with other people around a specific topic each week or month via online chats using a hashtag (#) to “sort” the conversation stream apart from the rest of the flow of general tweets. These twitter chats expand my horizons, introduce me to other minds and concepts and also gives me an opportunity to refine my thoughts about any given topic.

If you are interested in knowing more about the online conversation about any number of industries or ideas, here is the link for an evolving twitter chat directory.
This past week, I had a chance to participate in a chat for the #SOBCon community. Having attended last year’s conference, it’s a great chance for me to not only re-connect with some of the the folks I met there, but I’m also able to chime in/learn from new folks. This week’s topic was about blogging; specifically, what inspires us to write.

There are as many ways to be inspired as there are ways to write. Some write each day, training The Muse to show up whether She wants to or not (ie. The Artist’s Way). Some feel as though they can’t write unless they have anything of interest to say and are moved to commit bytes to the ether.

To answer the question as it relates to me? I draw inspiration from other bloggers, quotes, songs, my children, interactions with people in my daily life and seemingly random coincidence.  But that’s not really what this week’s blogpost is about, actually.

After talking about it with others during our chat, I started to become more aware of being inspired and looking for inspiration in everything. This twist on the concept of “breaking the fourth wall” and being a dispassionate observer of my life helped me to learn more about how I interact with others.

Which leads me to the overarching concept of this blog and Independent Ideas. In order to be independent, one must be apart from the pack, so to speak. Having an awareness of one’s actions, how those interactions affect others and being mindful of our choices leads to a different way of Being by default. One cannot be aware and remain unaffected by the consequences of one’s actions. It’s impossible.

Writer/poet Paulo Coelho’s blog about the archer and the Zen Master underscored this concept for me when I read:

“You may have great skill with the instrument you choose for your livelihood, but it is useless, if you cannot command the mind which uses that instrument.”

It really is mind over matter. Thinking makes it so. We each have the capacity of conquering our own minds. We decide what is important to us. We decide what inspires us and we decide what drives us. Our choices are how those decisions are made manifest.

One of my best friends was an 80-something jazz pianist, now deceased. About 14 years ago, over coffee, Bob shared with me a nugget of wisdom he had collected over his decades of living. “Molly,” he told me, “everything is cumulative.”

Our independence is built moment by moment, day by day, choice by choice. What inspires you? What is your vision? What are you willing to decide in order to make it happen? It is ultimately up to you.

——-
Molly Cantrell-Kraig is a woman with drive. Possessing an innate sense of purpose and a pragmatic, solution-based approach to empowering people, she fused these two traits in order to establish Women With Drive Foundation. Based upon its founder’s personal history, Women With Drive Foundation is a means through which Cantrell-Kraig may effect change on both a micro and macro level. By providing women with something as essential as personal transportation in order to transition them from poverty to prosperity, she, through Women With Drive Foundation, seeks to empower women to help them help themselves. Through this action, the individual applicant benefits, as does society as a whole. Follow Molly on twitter as @mckra1g or @WWDr1ve (Women With Drive Foundation)

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How to Know if You Are Blog Begging

Filed Under Links, Successful Blog | 33 Comments

Worth Saying Again

relationships button

As soon as I turned on my computer, an IM popped up. This is the conversation that occurred. I’ve changed the name and location of the other party because . . . um . . . I’m the nice one. Truth is, I suspect that the sender doesn’t read my blog and won’t know about that post. I hope I’m wrong about that. If I am, I hope that we might try the conversation over.

Here’s what was said.

sender: hi liz please give me some trik for my blog

ME: Hi What is that?

sender: :) for some make good my blog

ME: Do I know you?
sender: :-o ooh sorry. I’m from [name of country]

ME: again . . . do I know you?
sender: ok sorry

ME: You might tell me who you are.

[I'm pretty sure he was gone before I typed these words.
Did he want links or money?]

How to Know If You Are Blog Begging

Ask yourself these two questions. Then fill in the blanks in the sentence that replaces [what is asked for] with the phrase lots of money.

Using the answers from the IM Saturday morning the sentence now reads.

Hi complete stranger, would you give me lots of money so that my blog will be good?

Doesn’t sound as if it has anything to do with me.

It’s worth saying something I said once before.

I want a relationship, not a one-link stand.

Links might stay and stick for a few months. Over time, they die out and break. Links to people I don’t know have the protential to harm me. Relationships with like-minded folks are good things and have the potential to grow.

This is a an unusual blog request story. Not everyone gets a IM at “dark o’clock” in the morning. What’s the most interesting blog request that has come your way? Would you say it was blog begging?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

The Mic is On: Guest Host Timothy Johnson

Filed Under Comments, Community, Links, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 301 Comments

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Naughty or Nice?

Timothy Johnson of Carpe Factum has been moonlighting as Santa’s spy this year. We’re going to be talking about good deeds and ornery pranks. Klondike Bars and Nachos available on request. Open bar will be flowing: egg nog, spiced cider, and hot chocolate all evening (well, at least until the Fat Tire runs out).

Timothy Johnson


And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring links about pranks and good deeds to share!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

The Mic is On: We’re Talking about Gifts

Filed Under Comments, Community, Links, SOB Business, Successful Blog | 245 Comments

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

We’re Already Thinking about Them…

We might talk about:

Gift


And, whatever else comes up, including THE EVER POPULAR, Basil the code-writing donkey . . . and flamenco dancing (because we always get off topic, anyway.)

Oh, and bring links about gifts to share!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

3 Easy Steps to Persuade a Quality Blogger to Link to You

Filed Under Basics, Links, Successful Blog | 18 Comments

Linking Relationships

relationships button

The blogosphere is a web of connections made by links from blog to blog. The strongest relationships and the links that last longest are those that are made between bloggers.

If you want a link from a blogger you’ve not yet met, you’re really asking for a vote of trust. The link I give to your blog or your blog post means that I’ve tied my name to yours. Naturally any blogger would be more inclined to give your link a home, if you show it will be in the blogger’s best interest.

Who wouldn’t want to link to you if your link improved their readers’ experience in some meaningful way?

3 Easy Steps to Persuade a Quality Blogger to Link to You

Choose carefully when finding home for your links. Hopefully, you’re starting a long-term relationship. You want to be part of a network of quality people. Let’s imagine that the blogger you want to link to is me.

Here’s how you might persuade me in three easy steps.

  1. Do Your Homework

    2. Get to know me and my blog. Make a a project of finding out who I am and what I write about. Study my blog and my readers’ comments. In other words, do a little homework.

    So many people peddle their blog posts from blog to blog without even bothering to read the front page. You’ll stand out if when you say, “I’ve been reading your blog . . .” and what follows that shows that you really have. Chances are, if you show a real interest in my blog and your idea is off, I might suggest a new idea for you to try.

  2. Plan a Link that Adds Value

    3. No one needs a link on their blogroll. No one needs a random blog post that’s unrelated to a blog’s readership. Find a reason that your post that ties well to one I wrote. Show how your post expands on a topic that my readers have an interest in. Explain how the subject your content compliments mine or offers a point of view my readers might enjoy.

  3. Persuade an Individual (not sir or madam)

    4. When you send that email, be personal and gently persuasive. Don’t talk about yourself; talk about what you are offering.

    Please be simple and brief. Realize that I wasn’t waiting with nothing to do until your email came and that I probably still have plenty to get done. Doesn’t everyone these days? I want to see a compelling reason for your using your link. I can’t say “yes” to everyone, but it’s not fun to say “no” either. It’s real luck when a clear thinker comes along — someone who knew exactly what to offer that really does add value for my readers.

You lose nothing if I refuse. Make a good case, and a friendship could be starting. If you researched the blog you want to link, you’ve probably learned a few new things.

If your post goes up, you’ve made a connection to a quality blog. Hopefully that blog will grow into old age with yours, sharing many links along the way. We’ll all meet to discuss how the bloggers who come asking for links never seem to do their homework, don’t show how they’ll add value or personally offer a compelling reason why we might want to link.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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