Terez’s Draft Post … A Good-Bye

Filed Under Business Life, Successful Blog, Trends, Writing | 1 Comment

Passion, Reason and Success – An Impenetrable Triad

“If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” – Benjamin Franklin

In the blogging business, do you think that passion should make your business decisions? Probably not. But should it be the motivating force behind your work? No harm there.

I have a confession to make. I have a passion. That passion has been alive for 5 years. During that time, I’ve read, researched and learned a plethora of information. I’ve hungered for more information and found myself starved. I desired to give people what I had been craving. More information.

I spent a few months writing more than 35,000 words on the topic of black natural
hair. I spent April designing a website and compiling all of this information into an organized manner to give other naturals a whisper of the information we yearn for. This whisper will transform into a shout because my passion still burns and will grow.

What does this mean for me?

I’m not going to go into great detail about why I decided to write about natural hair. I’m not going to tell you my personal story with natural hair because I doubt that you care. What I want you to know is that this passion of mine has taken hold of my time and energy. Since I’ve always been one to keep my writing business hours at a part time level, that means letting some things go.

My guest blogging here is one of those things. Jael Strong too will cease guest blogging and focus on pursuing creative writing, her passion.

What does this mean for you?

Maybe nothing.

But, it might make think about evaluating your circumstances, including your work schedule and productivity. Are you working your passion? If you are, are you spending enough time to develop it? Are you spending too much time on it? Are you being reasonable?

Benjamin Franklin put it so well. “If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.”

Please
be honest with yourself. There’s no sense in lying to yourself.

As for me, if you’re interested in the natural hair scene, you will see me around.

If not, know that I’m very grateful to have been here. Thank you, Liz, for the opportunity to know you and learn from your great wisdom. Thank you, readers, for checking in, commenting, tweeting and driving me to success.

And yes, I do think I’m successful, even though I’ve just recently started this endeavor.

I believe in what Pablo Picasso once said. “Action is the foundational key to all success.”

—-
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written informative pieces for newspapers, online magazines and blogs, both big and small. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez, for sharing yourself and your insights on my blog!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Should You Dish What You Take?

Filed Under Successful Blog, Writing | 3 Comments

One of the editors that I write for usually doesn’t get back with me about my articles until right before publication. That means that I have to scramble to make any changes. She hardly ever responds to my first e-mail, and oftentimes doesn’t “get” the e-mails I send. I’ve had so many issues with this woman, from getting no check at all to getting double on my check, that I’ve contemplated ceasing my business relationship with her.

I love to write. But when I have to deal with someone that doesn’t seem the least bit organized, I don’t want to deal with them. I feel like not responding to her e-mails or only doing half the work I’m asked to do. I know that’s a horrible attitude that will make her feel that I am unworthy of writing for that publication. That attitude would get me bad reviews from a higher up.

No matter how angry and wronged I feel, I tell myself that I have to maintain a professional demeanor.

When you’re wronged…

Do you pay in kind? Or, do you turn the other cheek?

In the blogging business world, you might feel that paying in kind is a necessity. With your blog, you have a means to communicate your unbridled ideas and opinions with the world. You might feel that it’s your duty to be brutally honest.

Personally, I agree that a blog should keep it real.

On the other hand, perhaps you are more of a turn the other cheek person. It’s not that you aren’t being true to yourself. Being yourself just means avoiding confrontation. You actually just might not care about an issue one way or the other. You might prefer to ban ranting from your blog.

That’s OK, too. Once again, be real.

What about a personal level?

With a blog, you don’t usually get more personal than comments and e-mails. What are people saying about what you write? What are people saying about you?

You can choose to take offense on a personal attack and dish what they serve, or you can choose ignore ignorance, or do something in between.

The in between approach is best. When you deal with a confrontational reader, you have to always be tactful. Just because a person is rude to you, does not mean that you have to be the exact same way. Say how you feel as professionally as possible.

Be careful when you choose to ignore a person. That individual, while agitated, might be expecting a response from you. If that is the case, do so in the same tactful spirit I mentioned before. If you still just don’t want to deal with it, you can still let a person know that you are not going to respond to that type of negativity and leave it at that.

What will I do?

I’m still not sure what to do about writing for this editor. I try to be a very organized woman, and when that organization is dramatically disrupted time and time again, I have a difficult time rolling with the punches. I probably will not dish what she serves. I probably will not try to approach her again about these issues. (Yes, I’ve already made some attempts to smooth things out).

What would you do? Do you dish what people serve?

Thanks, Terez!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Tailoring Twitter: The ROI of Curating Content on Twitter

Filed Under Business Life, Marketing, Successful Blog, Writing | 8 Comments

What You Share Defines You

Last year, I started experimenting with curating content on Twitter. I had three good reasons. I realized that

Twitter was no longer an extension of blog, but had become it’s own thing. Like a new summer home where I met a new neighborhood of people, many of them didn’t know my background, my skillset, my expertise, or my interests. A twitter bio doesn’t do much to fill in that.
The weekly link post on my blog “The SOB Business Cafe” wasn’t as useful today as a filter as it once had been. Not every great post is evergreen enough to wait until Friday for sharing. And a single post collect such things needs to be targeted and niched well with a title that brings home their value. Rearranging that slot in that way would be turning it into a totally new thing. I had other ideas about using that space to feature members of the community.
Becoming a blogger had given me a way to keep up the writer’s discipline of writing every day — a habit that had built my skills and served me for decades. The idea of curating great content would give a way to keep up the writer’s discipline of reading great content every day — a habit that would build my skills and keep me current in an ever changing business environment.

To say it paid off would be an understatment. While reading for articles to share, I found new thoughts to consider and new ideas to write about. And like blogging, curating content on Twitter taught me more about relationships, social skills and building a network than I might ever have expected.

Here’s how I did that …

Build a Stronger Network by Curating Content On the Go

Don’t think for a minute that I’m exaggerating about the “minutes a day” part. I curate content during commercials on TV and while I’m waiting for people to meet me in a restaurant. At the risk of sounding like Dr. Seuss …

I curate in the morning.
Breaking out save articles without warning.
I curate on a break.
I curate eating cake.
I curate near the lake.
Sometimes I save an article to read and curate while I wait
for a meeting, a phone call, an appointment, or blogger date.
I curate especially during commercial breaks …

Two Ways to Curate on the Go

Actually, I’m not quite as obsessed as all that. But I do curate in the minutes that I used to just sit. Here are two ways I do that.

When someone shares a great article on Twitter that I don’t have time to read right then, I send the that article to my Instapaper account. When I find I have a few minutes to read a bit, I have a queue of articles that already have my interest waiting to be read. I share the ones I think serve my audience interests and needs.
I also have a list of publications — standard publications in my niche, writers who say thought provoking and useful things, and outliers who connect ideas in interesting ways. I’ve collected them into sets of bookmarks. About once a week I visit their websites to see what they’ve been talking about and share what I find to be the most useful of their content.

Sometimes I tweet what I find at that very moment. Often I schedule the content I curate so that I don’t binge tweet. I also think about when an article might be most useful to folks. So I try to post articles that require more reading time at night, how-to and building articles or on the weekend, and ways to perform better at work during the week. [I use Tweetdeck to schedule these curated tweets and the only tweets I schedule are curated tweets.]

The ROI of Curating Content on Twitter

The discipline of reading regularly and curating what I prized had more ROI than I’d ever have guessed. Naturally I got closer and more up-to-date with great content, but the return was far more than that. Here are the direct benefits that were a result of investing a few minutes whenever I had the time.

The content I curated defined me more clearly and differently to the people who follow my Twitter Stream. This single reason is huge. Don’t just be the “sales guy” be the “sales guy who’s up on the latest news and issues.”
That content began attracting people who want to read the content I curate. I am pre-selecting the Internet for them. Twitter used to be the back door to my blog. Now that new audience sometimes starts at Twitter and then goes to my blog to check out what I’m about.
When I keep what I curate consistent in content and quality, I find people share it often with comments and RTs.
When I credit the Twitter name of the person who wrote the article — rather than the magazine or blog — it often starts a relationship between us that wasn’t there before I tweeted that person’s work. Some of those relationships have now moved offline to collaborations. A couple of nice interviews have resulted and some upcoming coverage for an event is happening because of those relationships.
Offering great content from 8-12 other sources a day also makes it easier to share what’s good on my own blog without seeming a self-promotional jerk.
I’ve become far more familiar with the “personality” of the publications in my niche. I developed a good sense for each publication’s strengths, standards, and content preferences. i’m still surprised to find how infrequently some of the huge publications on the web update their content.
Curating content has kept me from staying stuck in the conversation fishbowl that can happen when we only talk with our friends. I’ve learned new points of view, new tools, new techniques, and new strategies from the articles I’ve read.

The ROI of curating content on twitter is the influence gained from incrementally staying in sync with the tools and the culture while still listening to the mainstream point of view. Those bits and articles that we take in from Twitter bring the latest from the self-sorted group. Those we seek out from traditional media bring the outside view. On the edges of each and in between them is where the new thoughts come through.

Curating content gets us to listen too.

The more we listen, the more we know. The more we know, the more we notice. The more we notice the more we can use to figure out what we need to know next.

How can you curate content to tailor Twitter — to make it faster, easier and more meaningful — for the folks who follow you?

Be Irresistible!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Life Under A Rock Promotes Productivity?

Filed Under 121 Conversation, Successful Blog, Writing | 7 Comments

Do you ever find yourself furiously typing at your computer, scripting blog posts, guest blog posts, website pages and the like, and you haven’t been attuned to what’s going on in the world? When I say that, I don’t mean to say that you don’t keep tabs on major current events. Instead, you find yourself so immersed in your work that you haven’t taken the time (or had the time, for that matter) to stay abreast on the trends in your niche.
That’s how I feel right now.

Life under the rock isn’t that bad

That’s what I said. I don’t mind being under a rock. It’s quiet. I get a whole lot accomplished. I don’t have to really deal with anyone because I’m working on my own personal projects. It’s really not that bad.
Here are some of the things I have noticed about life under a rock, engrossed in my work:

Increased productivity. I don’t just sit in front of a computer screen and randomly surf the Internet. I have a job to do that is close to my heart, and I’ve shut off nearly everything else to achieve it.
Super strong determination. I WILL succeed. I have decided that I am not allowing any outside influences to thwart my goals.
Sharpened skills. I have been writing and writing and researching and writing. I feel that my art has improved.

In a way, I prefer life under a rock.

I do enjoy people. I’m no introvert. But there’s something to be said when all you have to contend with is writer’s block, research options and sentence structure. No bad attitudes. No annoying behaviors. Nothing to deal with that I cannot control.

That said, I feel like an outsider to the blogging world.

It’s dark under the rock

Even though life under a rock can be a productive experience, it can leave you missing some things. For instance, I haven’t been able to regularly keep up with any other bloggers. Sure, I catch a post here and there. But I miss reading their regular work. I haven’t even gotten to stay up-to-date with my favorite bloggers, the people whose information I admire and treasure.

Also, and most shocking to me, I have had to turn down work. (This statement is shocking to me because not so long ago, I didn’t imagine I would be one of those freelancers that had a booked schedule).

I only have so many hours that I have allotted to my writing work, and I will not exceed my limit. I Don’t Want to Be Rich. I want to do what I love, but I want to have time for the people I love. I have chosen to trade time with my family for time that I could have used to make money.

Uncovering the rock

I want to reasonably spend most of my work time under my rock with my personal writing projects and at least some time out of the rock, connecting with the bloggers and other professionals I’ve met. I suppose the best solution is a schedule. I’ve used my schedule to plan out my time under the rock. Now, I need to schedule time out of the rock.

It can be an overwhelming task – reading blogs, commenting, tweeting, etc. It all takes time. How do you allot time to stay out of life under a rock?

Thanks, Terez!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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You Want Me To Write About What?!

Filed Under Successful Blog, Writing | 2 Comments

By Jael Strong

With today’s economy, it isn’t uncommon to hear people say, “I’ll take whatever job I can get!” Let me say right from the start, that is not my attitude. But still, the logic is sound. We need money. We provide a service. We don’t have to like it, we just have to write about it. In the end though, when you will write anything for a buck, it can start to feel a bit like literary prostitution.

There are many reasons why a person might not feel inclined to write about a certain topic. A certain theme may clash with an individuals world view or moral code. The topic may completely fall out of a writer’s realm of expertise. Then there are those subjects that we find plain boring.

If you are blogging strictly for yourself, even if money is an issue, the solution is simple: Don’t write about anything that you do not feel inclined to write about. If you are fairly good with public relations though you might get the drift that your readers want you to address a particular subject. In that case you have a choice: Please the readers or please yourself. In the instance of blogging for an outside entity the choice is very similar, but there are the added strings of increased visibility and possible financial remuneration at stake.

So, how can you make a less than savory writing assignment more palatable? If you feel less than qualified to write on a certain subject, but you don’t want to pass on a blogging opportunity, do some research. Of course, most of us are not in the position to spend countless hours researching for a relatively small writing assignment. So, set the timer and do some digging for a set period of time. In the end, you may discover that you know more than you did on the topic. You may also discover that with a bit more effort, you could speak with a degree of authority on the topic.

This technique can also help you if you are simply not interested in the topic at issue. It may be that you know just enough about the subject to hate it. After a bit of research, you may actually find it intriguing.

In the end, you may choose to pass on the assignment, but if your aching for visibility or a little extra cash, don’t casually pass over potential. If you love writing, you can put your added panache to any subject and make it come alive for yourself and for your readers.

Jael Strong writes for TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She has written both fiction and non-fiction pieces for print and online publications. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas .

Thanks, Jael

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

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Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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

Passion, Reason and Success – An Impenetrable Triad

When you’re wronged…

What about a personal level?

What will I do?

What You Share Defines You

Build a Stronger Network by Curating Content On the Go

Two Ways to Curate on the Go

The ROI of Curating Content on Twitter

Life under the rock isn’t that bad

It’s dark under the rock

Uncovering the rock

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