Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

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

From Out of Ideas to New Energy Everywhere

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 20 Comments

I've been thinking . . .

about being out of ideas.

Oh yeah, billions of us log on to the web everyday, but I only know a few and the few I know are a lot like me. If I’m not careful I find that everywhere I go I hear people saying the same things. Funny, it’s easy when everything is too the same to start comparing things. That’s also when I start to feel out … out of gas, out of sync, out of ideas.

Yet, I think the problem may be that I’m in — not out enough.

A person, a product or a business has to stand out to perform.

When I’m tired of feeling out of gas, out of sync, out of ideas. I get out of that routine, out of my way, out the group and scene I’ve been and suddenly I discover I’m into all sorts of outstanding new things.

Sometimes the fastest way to move my mind is to move my feet off the usual path away from the usual group I’m in.

Then new energy, new ideas, and a new view surrounds me everywhere I am.

Know what I mean?

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Responsible Social Media … Respecting Real People One at a Time

Filed Under Marketing, Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 36 Comments

I've been thinking . . .

about responsible social media.

Sounds like safe sex, doesn’t it? I know you can get past that.

What I’ve been thinking about is a conversation I had with a dear friend, Jon Swanson, about 3 weeks ago. I had called Jon because I didn’t understand changes I saw happening among my friends. Jon, in his wisdom, pointed out something that keeps returning to me still.

What Jon said recalled this image to my mind and sounded something like this …



What makes social media business different is it’s twofold nature. We have to manage for the business and the brand, but we can’t lose sight that we make personal relationships with real human beings.

That’s the difference, isn’t it?

Most customer relationships stay in the head. Good ones make us feel smart, but the personal touch of a social media champion gets us to invest with more than our thoughts. Isn’t that what makes social media so powerful, so collaborative? Isn’t that what gets us to think we can change the world or at least how business works?

Folks looking on might think that starting out in social media is the hardest part.

But the longer I watch the more I know that holding dear the investments that people make in us as we grow is the tough nut to crack. Anyone who’s gone from ten friends to a hundred knows that time doesn’t stretch to accommodate the same level of giving back.

It’s the choices we make as we grow that determine whether social media stays centered on personal relationships or turns into a “Hollywood” sort of community of friends.

Real people understand that as we grow we have less time to sit with them. Who doesn’t get that? Who doesn’t wish the best for their friends? They want to enjoy the ride with us, not be left behind and wondering where we went.

Responsible social media respects that real people are investing back one at time.

Real people want to know that a good “friend” doesn’t change when “he, she, or the business” gets bigger than life. It’s not hard to show that. Just keep acting the same to real individuals one at a time and core fans will know that when it’s their turn again, you’ll still be there for them.

The key understanding is that real people come in ones.

Could you add your ideas about responsible social media and would you pass this on, please?

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–ME “Liz” Strauss
Image: WendyPiersall photo: SOBCon08
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What I Remembered after a Rocky Day

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 20 Comments

Some Days Last Longer Than Others

Ever had a day that seemed rockier than others?
Ever feel like everything you touched turned to stone?
Ever figured that no one would notice if you disappeared?
Ever been felt so weird that you didn’t want them to see you anyway.

I have too.

I looked for a photo to explain this feeling and found this picture of rocks.


I remembered I made a rock walk a few years ago leading up to garden behind my house. I wanted a walk that was pleasing and natural. It hunted rocks for weeks and days. Then I arranged them in the mud path for weeks, days, and hours. The last spaced needed an individual rock of weird shape and color. It took me even more weeks, days, and hours to find one that fit. When I did, whoa, it was something to see and to celebrate.

And to this day, if I ever go back to that house, it’s that rock that I’ll look for. That’s the rock that made that little four-foot path into rock art.

So now when I look out over the Internet and everyone seems shinier and more colorful than I am, I pick up a rock that a dear friend gave me. I hold it in my open hand, and I think that the universe is like a rock path, weird rocks would be missed if they disappeared.

Ever had a rocky day? It helps to hold a rock in your hand.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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Will You Tell Me About Being Brilliant?

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 12 Comments

It’s not being smart.

Brilliant is far beyond smart. A brilliant person is so because of character, intelligence, wit, wisdom, creativity, ethics. With me it is the same as being in the presence of beauty. Your mind knows you have witnessed something great.Your heart reacts.
SashaKane told me that.

Brilliant is bright beyond belief. So bright in fact, the glare can hurt your eyes if you stare at it directly. Brilliant is sooooo sexy. . . . brilliant, awesome, overwhelming, intense: words that are often used too frequently away from the power of what they mean.
Elizabeth Grattan knows brilliant obviously.

Stopping to savor each word, I squint and can’t help smiling.

Rose said, Brilliant means the ability to see things in new ways and to find relations between seemingly unrelated ideas.

The connecting is brilliant. We know.

Human Folly said, Brilliance means something spontaneous & beautiful with a slice of genius.

I’m thinking every 8-year-old has a slice of that. Right?

Randy added this bit, far enough ahead of the curve that it shines for all to gaze at in bewilderment.

We gaze in bewilderment . . . awe.

A single drop of water doesn’t seem much.
Then it freezes and holds the light while it thaws.
Brilliant.

It’s a second. It’s a glimpse.
It’s a momentary catching of the light.

Ever been brilliant? Bet you have.
Will you tell me about being brilliant?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
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So Tell Me, Are You Feeling Lucky?

Filed Under Successful Blog | 25 Comments

The dictionary says that luck is an outside force Lucky means that we receive good fortune or get hit by adversity.

Around here, we we define it differently.

When we say lucky on this blog, we mean ways we connect … Jannie said:
I feel my gurus thus far are you, Barbara Swafford, Cath Lawson and Vered … I feel awfully lucky.

people who encourage us … Vicky said:
I love Melissa and Life In Perpetual Beta too!
I am so lucky to know both of you personally. You both enrich my life and I believe God sent you both to me. To encourage me to dream big as both of you do and you know I have big plans too!

about making our own dreams … Patricia said:
Sigh. This is my dream, to live near the beach and take long walks on the sand.
So soothing. You must conjure lots of dreams for this community on those beach walks. Lucky for us!

We use lucky to talk about relationships … Writer Dad said:
My son and I wake up before anyone else. Every morning he reminds me how lucky I am.

appreciation and gratitude … Karl said:
I take a second to step back and try to appreciate the spot that I am in. It helps me gain perspective and feel lucky to do whatever it is I’m doing. Even giving a financial literacy talk to a bunch of bored teenagers is enjoyable.

I catch myself doing the same thing.
I’m one very lucky blogger.
Don’t think I don’t know that.

Around here, luck doesn’t happen to us.
We choose it for ourselves — in the people we love and the paths we walk.

Luck is an action, a choice, and a point of view.

So tell me, are you feeling lucky?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Image: sxc.hu
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