It started simply enough. Dawud and I talked about how to bridge our blogs with conversation. I would explain it. He would design it. Together we would work it out.
How cool is that?!!
We called it One-2-One . . . 1-2-1. It’s 1 conversation, in 2 directions.
If I was Dawud a great visual would be here. Imagine an arrow to Dawud’s blog and an arrow to you.
I write a question and send it to Dawud. The next day he posts his answer and ends with a question. . . . as he might in a conversation. That’s one direction.
While he answers, we can have our own conversation. That’s a second direction.
He’ll know my question when you do. I’ll know his answer when he posts it.
On his blog, the whole thing will work the same in reverse.
He and I won’t know beforehand “ no problem. . . . it’s conversation about
- business
- strategy
- social networking
- tangents.
Conversations are unpredictable. That’s what makes them fun.
All conversation is an experiment in finding what we know. Isn’t it?
Question Question Question
Here’s my question.
When I go to your blog I get the feeling there’s a back room behind your blog where you work. What work do you do there?
Find Dawud’s response tomorrow afternoon at DawudMiracle.com by the one-2-one logo.
Meanwhile, what kind of work do you do in the backroom of your blog?
One2One is a cross-blog conversation. You can see the entire One-2-One Conversation series on the Successful Series page.
Mike Thomas says
July 11, 2007 at 5:54 PMHello,
We would like to do an interview with you about your blog for
http://www.BlogInterviewer.com . We’d like to give you the opportunity to
give us some insight on the “person behind the blog.”
It would just take a few minutes of your time. The interview form can
be submitted online at http://bloginterviewer.com/submit-an-interview
Best regards,
Mike Thomas
AgentSully says
July 11, 2007 at 6:14 PMhmmm, I wish I blogged in a back office! 🙂
My blogging office is right in the dining room for right now until I come up with a better solution.
In my “back office” you’ll find me: (sometimes) planning my day,outlining my blog post, typing my blog post, taking my son to playschool, making lunch, researching my next post, getting my son a snack, commenting on blogs, checking my comments, playing tag with my son, and more! It’s quite the juggling act! But isn’t that the way for all of us? We’re all juggling!
🙂
Melanie says
July 11, 2007 at 7:06 PMLiz this is a great idea, looking forward to Dawud’s response!!
I have literally just moving my ‘office’ to the back room of my house, I too used to sit at my kitchen table like AgentScully!! So, I do all of my research, blogging, commenting, networking etc in here, and hopefully I will also be doing my client consultations from this room as well very soon!! 🙂
It’s definitely a bit of a juggling act. My husband is a minister, so there are a lot of meeting which we both attend due to that, but this is also why blogging suits me so much at the moment, it’s so flexible!
ME Strauss says
July 11, 2007 at 8:05 PMHi Mike!
That’s really an email, now isn’t it? 🙂
ME Strauss says
July 11, 2007 at 8:07 PMHi Agent Sully,
A juggling act — that’s a metaphor!!
Yeah, we all do a bit of juggling, plate spinning and keeping those balls in the air, don’t we? Whew! I know I sure do. You make it look easy! it never shows on your blog. 🙂
That’s proof that you’re a pro.
ME Strauss says
July 11, 2007 at 8:10 PMOh Melanie!
I wonder how many are reading your comment and drooling! A room of your own, Wow!
There’s that juggling word again. Who would have thought that we went to school all of those years just to join the circus . . . where we meet with all kinds of clients? 🙂
AgentSully says
July 11, 2007 at 9:13 PMLiz,
Aren’t you sweet! Thank you for those kind words. They go a long long way!
I live with my extended family at the moment and there are a lot of us coming and going. My family is supportive, but at the same time it is a challenge. In some regards the interruptions provide “forced breaks” which can be good too.
This is the stuff of life. We plan things out neatly, but the implementation is always a little messy. It’s all good though! That’s my outlook.
Thanks again!
Chris Brogan... says
July 11, 2007 at 10:20 PMHave I mentioned how much I adore you? No, really. The question alone is awesome. But the idea? Just ASTOUNDING! Truly. And simple. Really, if someone came along and told me that idea at the wrong time, I’d be all, “yeah, sure. And you can email people, too.”
You are a secret sauce.
ME Strauss says
July 11, 2007 at 10:22 PMHi Agent Sully!
Boy, as long as you can keep the joy in your voice, you’re doing fine, ma’am. This world has lots of jobs to offer, but of the people around you, you only one of each special one. That’s a good thing to remember when the forced breaks seem to come at the wrong time. 🙂
William Tully says
July 11, 2007 at 10:24 PMSounds like a familiar idea.. If he turned and posted a question to someone else, we might have a ‘one question one answer’ meme.. 😉
ME Strauss says
July 12, 2007 at 12:00 AMHi Tully!
I never thought about yeah, but I see what you’re saying, and I’m grinning. It’s a similar concept isn’t it? Ah but this conversation is staying at this “kitchen table.” 😉
Alina Popescu says
July 12, 2007 at 2:24 AMHi Liz,
Sounds like a great idea! My back office? Anywhere I have the time to blog a little. In the office (in my lunch break remains, as I never take an hour to eat, before and after work when my home internet connection turns on me), at home, at my boyfriend’s…The little back office is a bit deserted right now. But when I do get there, I write my new posts and reply comments, and then spend the bigger part of my blogging time reading other blogs.
ME Strauss says
July 12, 2007 at 6:08 AMWell, Alina!
It is a bit of an experiment, but an exciting and stretching one at that!
Your “little back office” sounds wonderful. I guess the deserted part is so appealing. A space alone seems to be hard for the rest of us to find. I enjoy the thought of your flexibility — that you can find your blog whereever you are. It’s like your mind in that way. 🙂
ME Strauss says
July 12, 2007 at 6:13 AMMy own back office is where I dream . . . I write. I think of my friends as I speak with them on the phone.
I strategize with business, even one-person shops who don’t know their focus. It’s such a blast! to let my curiosity to free asking questions about what they do in order to help them find out for themselves. And the moment they find the words that explains it to themselves, I hear it their voices. Whoa! do I get jazzed. Then my back room is a celebration of smiles.
Every person who visits my backroom, in person or in voice, becomes a memory there.
Jesse Petersen says
July 12, 2007 at 6:42 AMI love the way you are having a conversation with Dawud (a fantastic person) and are still bringing us into the mix, too.
The way you handled Mike’s *e-mail is spot-on and a public testament to your class and experience with people. You are changing the world.
Finally, on to my story; my backroom. My backroom is a cluttered area, not because it’s messy, but because it’s full. I have directory trees on my hard drive that make people run for their lives. My structure follows a logical pattern and probably narrows things down too far. This is why I don’t often think outside the box and frequently can’t see the solution sitting right next to me.
My backroom is arranged so it is different in the dark than during the day. I like the glow of my monitors at night, but enjoy looking around and daydreaming when it’s light out. I get my best thinking done while sitting idle for a while, though I despise being idle. I get my next-best thinking done doing escapist activites like reading, TV, and gaming. I carry a Post-It pad in my money clip to write down ideas wherever they hit me.
My backroom could definitely use an interior decorator to freshen it up and start me on my way, but I’m too busy not thinking. 🙂
Kirk M says
July 12, 2007 at 6:50 AMHi Melanie,
Yes, I’m drooling. Okay, not really but envy is a good word to use. What great idea having meetings in a back room. Considering I’m commenting here from Northern Vermont the phrase “back room” means something special.
My father was a minister and being from Vermont (although we lived in other states) you might say his meetings especially the board of trustees meetings, had somewhat more of a back room flavor to them and occasionally back room language as well. 😀
May your back room always be a happy one.
Kirk M says
July 12, 2007 at 6:59 AMHi Liz,
Back from the beach finally. 🙂
Currently my back room is located in a corner of our library (we live in an old house so we set it up in an old fashioned way), with a rocker to my right with a forest of plants behind it in the window. Behind me is a old table made out of rock maple and a grandfather clock on the other side ticking away ready to tell me I need to get started for work (and more plants).
Here I do my blogging, research, general surfing, helping a few folks out who have blogging related problems and general beating on my PC when it acts funny. But to be honest about the whole thing I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time wishing I could spend more time in my back room. Finally, after all these years, I’m able to bring two of my favorite things together: The PC and writing. I just wish I had more time to devote to it.
Oops. There goes the clock. Have a good day all.
ME Strauss says
July 12, 2007 at 7:08 AMHi Jesse!
It’s a fun idea, isn’t it?
I’m enjoying the chance to hear everyone’s response. It heightens the anticipation of what Dawud might say, sort of adding context to his reply.
You frequently see the solution sitting right next to you. Hmmmm. I have a task that is right up your alley. 🙂
I love the image of the post-it note pad in your money clip and I giggle to see ideas hit you during the day.
Maybe if you didn’t think of it as being “idle” but framed it as “stilling yourself so that ideas could come.”
Thinking is a wonderful thing. And thanking is what I’m doing because you shared it with me. 🙂
ME Strauss says
July 12, 2007 at 10:57 AMHi Kirk!
Your back room and your house sounds so relaxing and conducive to writing — even to have a room that you call the library! A rocker and plants and the rest . . . I’m just sitting here imagining . . .
I can understand why you miss that room when you are not there. 🙂
Dar says
July 12, 2007 at 11:15 AMHi, Liz!
What a creative idea you’ve shared with us! 🙂 My back room is more of a Portable one (Tote-a-Room?)
I’m surrounded by notebooks, pens, books, and my mind (Port-a-Mind?) hehe
In the quiet hours of the evening, my brain comes alive, and I ponder what my blog readers may want to know. What challenges are they facing that I can help them with? I’m reading. I’m thinking. I’m getting ideas. Every now and then, I unearth a gem, and I feel inspired.
My back room is a portable Thinking Room. It follows me to the park, when I’m walking, reading, at the bookstore, eating out, talking on the phone, or ushering in dusk from my porch swing.
Thanks for letting me share. I think your blog has become part of my Thinking Room, too. 🙂 I appreciate you (and everyone here).
ME Strauss says
July 12, 2007 at 11:43 AMHi Dar!
A portable room, what a wonderful idea! You sound so cleverly organized. I particularly like the way that it keeps up with you, following you around. 🙂
Night is when I like most to be inspired too. Though morning brings inspiration. The night inspiration feels different to me.
What an honor to be called part of your Thinking Room too. Thank you! 🙂
Simonne says
August 6, 2007 at 7:50 AMHi Liz, I liked very much the idea of blogs conversation.
My back room? It is in the center of the house: an armchair, a small table and a laptop, in the living room, where every other minute somebody or something stops you from thinking. Since my decision of working from home, I feel like I’m in the same time the programmer and the player of a computer game. And the game is named “Life”. And the other players don’t understand why programming is neccesary. And sometimes it feels like taking my back office and moving it to the North Pole (I don’t know why I always associated North Pole with a very quiet and peaceful place).
But I have a lovely cat which plays the secretary in an outstanding way (she managed to send an email in her first day of work).
Kirk M says
August 6, 2007 at 9:57 AMHi Simonne,
What a wonderful idea that is–working from home (heavy sigh). Oh, and the North Pole is a very quiet and peaceful place or at least it was before all this to do about global warming. The only disturbance you might have had was the occasional submarine popping through the ice to say hello. 😀
You’re cat sounds like a much better secretary than mine. He seems to excel at spilling my morning coffee now and then and leaving his fur all over the keyboard. Once he actually managed to shutdown my computer but I haven’t figured out how he did it yet.
Give your four legged, fur bearing secretary enough time and she might start taking your calls for you. 😀
ME Strauss says
August 6, 2007 at 10:22 AMHi Simonne!
On a rare occasion these days, I can imagine myself (or my son) playing office as a child. It’s really quite fun when I can. It sounds like your metaphor gives you energy as my metaphor does for me.
What a great backroom you describe! I could see why working there would get your imagination rolling. 🙂
ME Strauss says
August 6, 2007 at 10:23 AMHi Kirk,
Sounds like your “secretary” has decided to be the office manager and arrange for a coup. Looks like you’ll be working for him soon. 🙂
Simonne says
August 6, 2007 at 12:28 PMHey Liz, it must be great to have children! They are so inspiring!
Kirk, working from home can be many times extremely frustrating. Your family’s expectations are much higher, because in their vision, working from home means doing almost nothing. It was much easier when I had a job: I could hide behind it to have my day-dreaming time and get paid for it.
ME Strauss says
August 6, 2007 at 12:48 PMHi!
Having a child changes the whole world in a big way. You bet! Mine is a special one who has taught me a lot about both the world and myself. You’re right — inspiring . . . and tiring.
kurtlar vadisi gladio says
October 14, 2009 at 3:23 PMThank you for your service.