SOB Business Cafe 05-09-08

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 4 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Christine Kane has a new mantra. It seems to be working well for her.
In her incredible new book, Steering by Starlight, Martha Beck writes about a mantra she made up…

Just This

Conversation Agent has a timely question.
. . . I was inspired with the body of work surrounding social capital — the value of personal relationships in the workplace.

Are You a Social Capitalist?

Cubicle Nation has a reponse to life’s changing terrain.
I was halfway through writing on another topic when I got this call on my cellphone.

Is life just one damn thing after another?

Get Rich Slowly has software to manage something we can all use.
“How much time do you spend blogging?” people often ask me.

“I don’t know,” I say. “A lot. Probably forty to sixty hours a week.” I’ve always wished I could provide a better answer to that question. Now I can.

RescueTime: Free Time-Management Software

Inspirationbit has more than a bit of news and a question. Can we help out?
What I’ve learned about the corporate world the last few months I wouldn’t find in any book. It is a crazy, unreliable world out there, full of uncertainties. And although I’ve got my plate full with concerns at the moment, my future somehow doesn’t feel as unpredictable — at least I know that it all depends on the way I conduct my business.

Design Costs vs. Values

Rick Mahn has few words about ownership.
There is some growing interest in the Personal Branding space on scenarios of people with the same name. I was fortunate enough to have a great conversation on the topic with Kristen King of BizChicksRule which she turned into What if Your Name Is Jenna Jameson?

Who Owns Your Name?

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Copyblogger has written a classic.
It was three years ago today that they wheeled me in for emergency surgery, and I said goodbye to my wife, not quite three-year-old daughter, and newborn son. I knew that sometimes people don’t wake up from brain surgery, and this might be the last time I saw them.

The Snowboard, the Subdural Hematoma, and the Secret of Life

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

Tags: Great Finds

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SOB Business Cafe 05-02-08

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 9 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

All Things Workplace features a description we might find familiar.
Helped orient you to your job
By “orient,” you mean get my photo IDs and have me sign a bunch of papers, then yes…otherwise, that would’ve been the actual people in my dept.

Systemic HR: This From The Real Workplace

Connected Content features an explanation we could all us.
Too many folks, not just tech writers, work for companies that seem caught in an endless loop of misdirection and no direction. They have processes and flowcharts that, while detailed, don’t always reflect what’s actually having to be done on a day-to-day basis…many times at management’s own instruction.

Why Tech Writers Feel Like Bartleby The Scrivener

David Bullock features a look at the order of stuff.
Are you checking the right things in the wrong order and not getting the results that you want?
Too many times when I speak to clients, they are using the right tool at the wrong time.

Understanding Sequencing: Optimizing Your Sales Process Correctly

Thomas R. Clifford features a way to test stickiness.
I think you’ll have fun taking this little quiz. I did! The “The Stickiness Aptitude Test,” or SAT, was designed by The Heath Brothers and Guy Kawasaki.

Are Your Ideas Sticky? Take This Test

Lives Less Ordinary features another view.
The images above are all taken through the viewfinder of my children’s kaleidoscope. Every time I slightly adjust the kaleidoscope, the patterns change. The components remain the same, but the view alters radically.

Meme: Passion Quilt - Kaleidoscopic

Best of Mother Earth features a new natural attitude supplement.
In the land of what I do best, I sort all that hype and gobbly gook and help my clients figure out what might be a fit for them. I like everyone to feel that they actually know why this stuff is going into their body.

Attitude Vitamin “B” Happy

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Chris Brogan features new beginnings.
Start at your own pace, and go as slowly as you need to for you to feel comfortable getting to understand all these services, but here is a list . . .

Starting Points for Online Presence

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

Tags: Great Finds

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SOB Business Cafe 04-25-08

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 2 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Pick the Brain is talking about deciding for yourself.
One of the most popular articles I’ve ever written covered the subject of building self confidence. The chief criticism of this article was that you can’t just decide to be confident. You either have confidence or you don’t.

The Confidence Feedback Loop

Flooring the Customer is talking about getting local about being global.
In preparation for a trip to Mexico, I needed Pesos. I regularly make use of ATMs to obtain foreign currency. But, I also like to have some foreign currency in my pocket as I get off the plane in case I can’t find an ATM at the airport.

Citibank: Are You Listening?

The Copywriter Underground is talking about telling your story.
I’m talking about targeted pitches, where you pick the clients, projects (or causes) that interest you, and then pitch them. In a rare example of me taking my own advice, that’s exactly what I’ve done.

How to Pitch New Clients, How to Pick Them, and Why You’d Want to do Either

WowNDad! is talking about fact and opinion.
Subjective information lives inside of the mind, it comes from an insider perspective. It is the things that you “know”, for example how you feel about something, or information that is abstract from the things around us. Objective information comes from an outsider perspective, it is the things that multiple people can observe and agree upon.

As a Matter of Fact, That is a Matter of Opinion - Tune Up Your Thinking

Lisa Sabin-Wilson is talking about seeing the light.
A few months ago, she just disappeared without a word. She didn’t just vanish - - she left, in her wake, seven projects in various stages of completion. Some almost completely done… some only halfway done…. some just started. Seven of them.

Optimism Tax Paid in Full

the Art of Non-Conformity is talking about connectedness.
See, I’ve never used Myspace… or Facebook… and hardware-wise, I don’t have a Blackberry or an expensive MacBook laptop. I just have Gmail, a $3 Skype microphone I bought in Belgrade last year, and a $500 Dell laptop that does everything I need.

So, about that social networking thing…

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The Ripple Effect has started a cliffhanger.
“My boy almost everyone I meet at a Starbucks is fascinating. They all have a story and so desperately want to tell it and will…all you have to do is ask.”

How I Became a Starbucks Stalker - Pt. 1

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

Tags: Great Finds

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SOB Business Cafe 04-18-08

Filed Under Great Finds | 4 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

45 Things is reporting on a trend we might not have spotted.
She was at the top of her game. She was a lawyer who traveled all over the country, handling big shopping mall real estate deals. She had four young children, a terrific nanny, an easy-going husband, and a family proud of her achievements.

But what no one knew was that she was an addict.

More Professionals Vulnerable to Addictions

Lorelle on WordPress is reporting a global decision in response to an individual infraction.
The details of the blogger and content in question is a bit vague, but this is not the first time, nor the last, that international courts have made a sweeping judgment against WordPress.com due to the actions of an individual blogger.

WordPress.com Banned Again: Why Aren’t You Concerned?

Copyblogger is reporting the facts in simple sentences.
I wanted to be an editor or a journalist… but I soon found I had to become an entrepreneur in order to keep my magazine going. ~Richard Branson

The Richard Branson Guide to Making Money With Blogs

Sparkplug CEO is showing off it’s new brand and reporting in with content spectacular.
What you make per hour, per ad, or per project is directly proportional to how much you value your own time, expertise, and contribution to your clients.

You are Worth What you Say you are Worth

Chris Brogan is reporting on the qualifications of a social media expert.
There are lots of people throwing “social media expert” out there. Hell, I had it as part of my “about” on my blog, but I’ve chosen to just say that I advise people. It’s more accurate, because expertise is fairly darned fleeting out there right now.

What I Want a Social Media Expert to Know

Christine Kane is reporting on irresistible reasoning.
And so little about the joy of writing. Writing to write. Not to sell, woo, seduce, hypnotize, or get more subscribers to your blog. Just pure writing.

11 Irresistible Reasons to Write Everyday

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Lisa Sabin-Wilson is reporting great news and not so great news because of it!
I have, roughly, 2.5 months to get it done! Judging by my last ‘go round’ with writing a book - I’m going to need all the spare time I can grab onto over here.. which means that SOBCon ‘08 is, sadly, out the window.

SOBCon ‘08 Registration Give-Away

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

Tags: Great Finds

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SOB Business Cafe 04-11-08

Filed Under Great Finds, Successful Blog | 17 Comments

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Logic & Emotion points to a question that’s worth asking.
[The mainstreaming of social networks] has global implications—it’s significant. It’s transforming how we connect, relate and even do business. And it has downsides too. But I have to ask, are we losing ourselves to the word social? And if we are, what’s next?

What Did We Do Before “Social Media”?

gaping void points to something many other folks also wonder about.
” . . . I know very little about software. I have never claimed to be that interested in it. What gets me working for Microsoft is that I’ve always been very interested in something else, namely, how people make a living. This is true for large companies, small companies, billionaires and “humble tradesmen” alike. This is why I can work with a large software company like Microsoft, or a small tailoring firm like English Cut, and find them both utterly fascinating. Everybody needs to get paid; that is the great constant in business.”

How does a software company make money, if all software is free?

Office Politics points to how it can be a challenge to work for someone who won’t offer a challenge.
I find this disconcerting because while I was doing my attachment in this firm (prior to being called to the Bar), she hardly said two words to me but once the Firm decided to take me on, she jumped and requested for me to work under her. Now she’s treating me this way.

Rising Star treated like a trained monkey

Black in Business points to a three-part strategy for building and using a resume that works.
These were director level people with staff’s of their own. These 40 something business people had been with their previous companies for several years and had contributed to the success of their organizations. They never expected to be on the market. They do not know each other but had aligned their resumes in the same fashion.

How to Make Your Resume Stand Out, Just Like You Do!

Joyful Jublilant Learning points to tools that open up the digital.
Since there are so many opportunities, philosophies, and ideas that are being developed in the area of digital learning, I simply wanted to share some of my favorite tools. This isn’t necessarily a “Top 10″ list, rather, it is ten tools that I use that help to facilitate the learning that takes place for me on a daily basis.

10 Tools I Use For Digital Learning

American Pai pointed out a more emotional social network.
Who would want a service that is basically a twitter for emotions and feelings? Can’t we just post how we feel already on Twitter, our blogs and other mediums? Sure, we can and we do, but Moonrise does it in a more powerful and compelling way. Most of all, it’s fun too.