Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe SOBCon09 Edition!!

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking — articles, books, podcasts, and videos about business online written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The SOBCon Speaker Specials this Week are

Chris Brogan
We face moments in our lives all the time when risk is the gating factor. Do we dive off the bridge like our friends, or just stay put? Do we seek out that mortgage we can’t exactly cover? Should you quit your job, even though you’re not sure where the next check will come from?

Confidence is about taking a risk and seeing it pay off, or taking a risk, failing, and moving on from the failure.

Brian Clark
Have you ever noticed when a new free report is announced online, it’s often pitched as “controversial” and “likely to upset people,” but mostly, it’s not controversial at all?

David Bullock
Face the facts. There is no way to manage time itself. You can’t move 2pm to 9am just because you want to. You can’t stretch an hour by 5 minutes. Oh, but I wish I could. And I bet that if you had the “magic power” you would manipulate time too.

Lorelle VanFossen
Isn’t that where everyone starts? Totally clueless. Everyone is talking blog this, blog that, social media, Twitter, Flickr, tweet, but really, until you dig in, you have little understand about what this bloggy thing is all about.

Terry Starbucker
As a “Baby Boomer”, I’m old enough to remember a world without computers, the Internet, blogging and social media – the days of pencils, paper, stamps, payphones, rotary dialing, social centers, happy hours, discos, and all the other “analog” ways we used to communicate and meet up with each other.

Chris Garrett
Social Media is not just a new bull horn for the loud and abrasive sales types to use to make our ears bleed some more. If you go against what people want and need then don’t expect to get great results.

Geoff Livingston
I know how human I am. And I fear that my personality while clearly me and not contrived, will in some way eclipse, or worse, harm a client or my company. Because, yeah, I do screw up just like everyone else.

Jason Falls
What this piece, and a lot of the accompanying statistics, might indicate is that our society is waking up from the self-indulgent bender of the last 50 years and shifting to a more sensible way of living. What that might mean to marketers is that premium is no longer chic.

KD Paine
Richard Stacy has written a great post about how all the people wringing their hands about Social Media Measurement are looking at the wrong thing.

I would take it one step further and argue that all of marketing is looking at the wrong things.

Related ala carte selections include

Give someone a hug today!
Two people will depart in a small prop plane, to fly 31,000 miles around the world, stopping in 50 locations on a 5-month tour to gather inspiration, deliver 100,000 hugs and share $1,000,000 with important causes…

Oh and..

Visit the SOBCon09 Blog to see what’s going on !

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

Starting a Low-Cost Business at Home

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. To underscore the importance of relationships in business and to have a chance to make and celebrate a few while we’re doing that, I’ve opened up this series by successful and outstanding bloggers like you.

Starting a Low-Cost Business at Home
by the writers of Bizymoms.com

An increasing number of people today are opting to work-at-home. This is understandable – especially with the rising costs of living and all the problems associated with the recession. Work-at-home jobs make it possible for people to save hundreds of dollars every year.

It’s obvious that those who work away from home will incur additional expenses in comparison to those who work-at-home. And most of these expenses are incurred on an almost daily basis. This is especially true today; with the rising costs of gas, most people find that the “daily commute” is becoming increasingly expensive. Traveling expenses aren’t the only ones you’re going to incur if you don’t work at home. Consider additional costs such as food and clothing. For those who work away from home five days a week (or more, in some cases), extra costs for food and clothing can mount up.

Some work-at-home jobs, such as writing, can start with near zero investment. The internet is a valuable resource for writers of every genre. If you’ve got good writing abilities and a command of the English language, you can take on a variety of work-at-home writing-jobs that might appeal to you. Having your doubts? Conduct a search online. You’ll see that online, the services of freelance writers are in constant demand.

For more information on freelance-writing and freelance writing jobs, visit:

www.freelancewritinggigs.com

www.freelancewriting.com

www.freelancewrite.about.com

A “rising-trend” is that more and more moms are opting to work-at-home. Most work-at-home jobs are great for busy moms because they allow great time-flexibility. This time-flexibility factor allows mom to be more “available” for their children. Work-at-home moms save a lot of money – especially on day-care expenses!

For more information on work-at-home jobs, visit:

www.entrepreneur.com

www.work-at-home.org

Advancements in technology and the widespread use of the Internet have given hundreds of thousands of people the chance to work-at-home. The truly global use of the Internet has made it an invaluable marketing tool; one that most businesses will want to use. This offers lucrative work-at-home opportunities for people around the world. These work-at-home options will allow people to save hundreds of dollars a year – especially on traveling expenses.

Atya Shakir is Manager of Webmaster Relations. he arranged for this article written by the writers of Bizymoms.com , which has been dedicated to helping women work from home for over 10 years! Visit their interactive message boards, informative articles, help and advice from the Bizymoms’ Home Business Support Team and achieve your own work at home dreams with our home business start up kits.

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Experience the ROI of Relationships

How Do Get You People to Stop Listening to Words and Start Hearing Ideas?

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Semantics Isn’t Conversation

In any conversation, a simple word I choose may have an unexpected effect on you. I have no way of knowing when you have “history” with ordinary words I regularly use.

A word such as curiosity, or money, or gorgeous might trigger a specific and negative response. I’ll have no clue that I’ve touched off feelings, negative feelings. I won’t suspect that one word has changed the tone of my presentation from neutral to negative.

It’s an accident because of something or someone in the past.

Looking for the Wrong Words

What folks encounter negative words it’s easy for them to have negative thoughts. They transfer their experience to the the person who said them, even when the words said aren’t thought of as hurtful, negative, or mean to most people. Communication breaks. Those listeners get distracted in that way.

It’s confusing when folks flinch at something we think is innocuous. We often feel misunderstood and try to explain that we meant no harm. It’s a defensive posture that rarely works. Rather than getting caught in explanation, looking for the tripwire word can be most helpful. If we ask about the message received, we avoid the risk putting our focus on our own intentions, but on the hearing the person who feels something wrong was said.

Here are some ways to bring the focus back to listening — when it seems that we’re getting distracted by words, and not hearing ideas.

  • Know what you want the outcome to be That means listening to the people — their tone, their pauses, their enthusiasm level — not just the words they’re saying.
  • The fear of negative comments — in person and on our blogs — is over-blown. Allowing people to play with language and to enjoy the conversation can be a conceptual collaboration.
  • Giving up the need for control — making room for tangents — can reap great benefits in involvement.
  • Look at faces when the eye contact is too intense.
  • Notice how your conversation partner sits and moves. Lean into the conversation, literally and figuratively.
  • Ask questions about points that interest you. Find many of them.

In other words, let the person talking know you value what he or she is saying. Signal everyone around that person’s importance to all who might be around. Listen actively. In other words, pay attention with the expectation that you will be asked to solve a problem with the very next question.

Conversations sometimes derail over words that we think about differently. When that happens how do you get people to stop listening to words and start hearing ideas?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

The Mic Is On: We're Talking SOBCon09!

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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.

Who, What, When, Where, Why and What’s for You?

The event that started right here in the comment box is taking place for the third year in Chicago this week. Stop by to add a word or two or to find out what will be happening that you might want to pay attention to.

  • How’d it get started?
  • Who’s going to be there?
  • Who are those speakers?
  • What will the sponsors be doing?
  • What’s happening for the folks who can’t go?

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 of memories or bring your questions.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

When Anything Is Nothing Next to Something … One Sentence that Will Keep You Stuck

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People Who Need Help

In my business and though my conference, I meet people and businesses who are looking to move forward. I love helping people be successful. I love building businesses. Some make easy to help them. It’s a pleasure to help them get what they need or want. Some think they they make it easy, but in reality they do not.

One sentence I’ve heard too often lately has made me realize that it has the opposite effect of its intent. The sentence is …

I’ll do anything.

That sentence doesn’t win clients, doesn’t gain partners, doesn’t attract friends of the very best sort.

When Anything Ix Nothing Next to Something

Attraction happens when we know who we are. Whether we’re an organization or an individual, we need to attract people. Nothing attracts like focus. Focus draw others to us in the same way our eyes will follow a shining light curving through the dark.

That focus says they know where they’re going. They’re predictable. They’re productive. They’re positively contributing. Even when they aren’t in our business, we can learn something from them while we’re helping them.

Focus drives people and organizations to know things. You can bet they’ll know what sort of help they need. They’ll also know what values and skills they have to offer. When they ask for assistance, they’ll make it a conversation about working together. You’ll meet on the same side of the table.

People with focus offer something — they offer best of what they’ve got.

Focused people and organizations are easy to work because they come with an offer, a package put together with some thought. They do the work before you meet, which shows a high possibility that they’ll deliver. If the offer doesn’t match perfectly, it’s a place to start.

“I’ll do anything” is nothing next to something.

“I’ll do anything” leaves it to you to decide the offer. It leaves it to you to think up what the package might be and how to construct the relationship. It’s your time and it’s your thought put to work guessing at their values and their skills. Not a good idea. How can you be sure that they will deliver? It’s like saying “Here’s a tool you’ve never seen. Use it for anything you want.” The anything offer is nothing, because you have to decide everything about it for it to work. You do the work of thinking. You take the risk. They’re delegating up.

Turning Anything Into Something Valuable

Anything might only seem like something to the person who is offering it. Anything is nothing if the person getting the offer doesn’t know what to do with it. To turn an anything into a something think it all the way through. Be able to say exactly how your finished work will make what they do

  • easier
  • faster
  • more valuable

Then you’ve got something valuable — something worth talking about.

Ever taken someone up on an “I’ll do anything” offer. How easy was it to figure out what that anything would be? Would you take the offer again?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: We're Talking SOBCon09!

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Join Us Tonight

JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM

Who, What, When, Where, Why and What’s for You?

The event that started right here in the comment box is taking place for the third year in Chicago this week. Stop by to add a word or two or to find out what will be happening that you might want to pay attention to.

Oh, and bring links of memories or bring your questions.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?