Liz, Author at Successful Blog Page

What Remarkable Footprints Have You Already Left?

July 2, 2012 by Liz

A Minute Reflecting Can Change the World

Some mornings when I’m ready to be still and reflect, I’ll sit back, click over to my writing blog, and find something I’ve written before to see where I’ve been while I think about where I might be going next. This morning in seconds I landed on something called, “Remarkable Footprints.”

Whenever I’m in the midst of travel or meetings, it seems a nice way to explain how the world has supported me and how I rely on it to keep me going. Here it is.

Remarkable Footprints

Iâd been watching the water since just about sun up. Iâd been writing in my journal, thinking about life and stuff. A reoccurring theme kept playing in my head and on the page I was writing on. Like the waves on the ocean that theme kept repeating, repeating without regard to the sky, the sand, or my staring and wondering.

My life keeps circling round to lessons Iâve met before. The same mishaps keep happening. The same rugs keep getting pulled. Two years now had been as if all of the losing and learning had been wrapped and served up to me at once. This time it had come close to changing me. The concrete way down there was all that had kept the wolves from coming in.

I put my pencil down to watch the water. Watching was all I had been good at doing for quite a while there. I mentally let the waves wash away worries, clean off the weight of fears that Iâd fought my through. I saw myself lean back on the surface to let my cares float to the sky to dissolve. The bubbles in the wavy foam would have done the same if they could have done what they wanted to. All things in nature know what they must do. People could learn something from that natural way of thinking.

People had told me I was too much or too little, too tall or too filled with feeling. They had made it clear that I couldnât do what I do so well. I came close to actually believing them. What made me want to listen? What stopped me in the end from giving in, from giving up?

Who knows how long before I packed up my journal to walk back to life again. With a new resolve I set off. It was time to say, Youâre wrong. I can. I will. Stand back, and watch me.

When I turned for a last look, I saw people caught in a conversation. They were gathered together at the path I had taken. Who could explain what they saw before them?

They were staring at remarkable footprints in the sand.

credit: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/500089

What Remarkable Footprints Have You Already Left?

Every step we take leaves a footprint.
We move the molecules of life, earth, air. People see where we got and are moved by our travels.
Others follow because we’ve made the way safer, easier, more meaningful because we’ve been there.

Have you thought about the remarkable footprints you’ve already left for others to follow?
Think about them again.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there back to your blog.

Thanks to Week 350 SOBs

June 30, 2012 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

Fashion

Jobs and Careers

Business Culture and Behavior

Designer and Developer

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How to Fix a Bad First Impression in Business and in Life

June 26, 2012 by Liz

CHANGE THE WORLD

A Bad First Impression Isn’t Good

They say we don’t get a second chance at a first impression. I don’t know if I agree with that. I’ve sure had some wonderful relationships that started on the edge. Some even started completely wrong. .

I know the sinking anxious feeling, that realization that I behaved badly on first meeting someone. It could even be that I know that feeling better than most. Over the years, I’ve devised many forms of the bad first impression.

I’ve been overwhelmingly imposing by talking too much.
I’ve been under-whelmingly boring because I couldn’t think of a thing to say.
I’ve been distracted, bored, aggressive, disinterested, and even argumentative, like a debater.
I’ve assumed things about the person I just met.
I’ve tried to keep someone engaged when they clearly had to leave.

How to Fix a Bad First Impression

In business, first impressions gone wrong can be costly. They represent jobs not won. Relationships that don’t make into our networks. People who tell their friends that we may not be a good fit with the projects their friends have going on.

But likewise, in business, some the strongest relationships I’ve enjoyed have started with a problem incident – a bad conversation at a high-level meet and greet, an important first project not finished on time, a speaking gig where the presenter totally misread the audience but kept going on.

I’ve been on both sides of a bad impression and neither side feels great. What I’ve found is if I focus on the person and the relationship it’s much easier to get to comfortable and common ground where we can start again. If I value that new relationship I need to take my mind off myself and see the other person — no matter which of us made the bad first impression.

People experience how we make them feel. They might remember what we say, but they’ll never forget how we made them feel. So the best way to a wonderful new experience is to make the person feel how much you value who they are, what they say, how they think.

Forget the event and focus on the person. Communicate that you care about fixing the situation because you value the relationship.

It’s not hard to fix a bad first impression. Just care more about what you think about them than what they thought about you.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

If you’re ready to change the world, send me your thoughts in a guest post. Feel free to take the gorgeous Change the World image up there back to your blog. Or help yourself to this one.

Are You Determined?

June 25, 2012 by Liz

A Determined Mouse

Nan’s Grandparents lived just south of Atlanta in a town of 200 where everything and everyone was an antique. They had no television. When folks might crawl into the TV for entertainment, Gram and Gramps would sit on the back porch pitting cherries, snapping beans, or peeling potatoes for a meal. When the chores were done, they would talk to each other or read.

When Nan and i went to visit Gram and Gramps she told us about when the refrigerator broke. Nan’s Gram said she put some things out on the back porch to “keep.” She figured they might as well be in reach of where she need them, while they waited for the the “Fix-it” man to come the next day. The back porch was enclosed and shaded from the heat.

Gram said the next morning she made coffee and went out to the porch to enjoy her garden and some time to think. That’s when she noticed that “a visitor” had come in the night to find something to eat.

“Must have been a field mouse,” she said as she described a flattened bag of chocolate chips meant for some cookies shed planned to make. “That mouse had a goal and worried that bag to death until he got the very last chocolate chip. He was a determined critter. He didn’t let some bag win.” That’s what Gram said.

Are You Determined?

Whenever I feel anxious or notice my motivation slip, I think of that mouse. I put my goal where I can see it. I become determined — like that critter. I let my goal determine where I’m going, what it takes to be satisfied, where I’ll be ending up. Then, I get determined about my success — I “worry,” plow, and navigate over, under, and through whatever irritations life throws between me that vision I value.

Are you determined?
Determined, resolute, decided, resolved — the end is undisputed.
Being determined is the difference between sticking out and leaving things unfinished.
Being determined changes roadblocks and obstacles in to problems to solved.
With determination, we change habits, attitudes, and even what we think.
Imagine where you might get if you’re determined.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Thanks to Week 349 SOBs

June 23, 2012 by Liz

Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Want to become an SOB?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

5 Ways to Connect with People Who Grow Your Business

June 19, 2012 by Liz

Engage People at a Social Site, at an Event, on the Telephone

It’s true of every big and small business that not one can succeed alone. We all need the help of the community who supports us to keep growing. Yet as I work with corporations who hire me and people ask for my help, I find the greatest commonality is that we seem to work on the premise that we have to do everything ourselves.

We’re better at surveying, studying, measuring, questioning, observing, and even psychoanalyzing the people who build, buy, sell, use, and tell others about our products and services than we are at letting them participate as much as they might in helping us thrive. But we’re not very good at connecting with natural advocates when they step up and let us know they’re interested in us.

Here are 5 ways to find and connect with people who grow your business online and off.

Be a learner, not a hunter. Attracting the people who’ll help starts with a mindset that invites people to share. At your next networking event, instead of looking for leads or hot contacts, look for people who can teach you about the people in the room. Ask, “What do the people in this group have in common? What sort of opportunity does this event offer you?” Look for a mentor not a sales lead and you might find someone who not only introduces you, but also wants to know more about what you do.
Talk to everyone about your quest. Don’t wait until you’re ready to release the “big deal” before you let folks know about it. Invite people who share similar goals to hear a little about where you’re going. People are naturally generous and love to share in a dream. They’ll immediately start connecting your quest to what they’re doing and to people doing similar things. You might find a killer idea, an unconsidered channel of distribution, or a whole network of future customers from conversations like that.
Ask for their experience. Experience is hard won and valued by those who’ve earned it. It’s hard to top the feeling of being asked to offer what we’ve learned. Great leaders soon figure out that the people who’ve already traveled down a road know things that can make the trip faster, easier, and more meaningful. Seek out those who’ve already done what you’ve done.
Turn interest into investment. When someone shows an interest — comments on your blog, remarks on your presentation, sends an email about something your company is doing — respond. Engage in the conversation. Listen actively.When people show interest, they already like what you do. You’re ahead. Start thinking about what else those people might do. Could they write a review for your blog? Could they run a Twitter chat? Invite them to think of how they add a small bit of their own to what caught their attention.
Value every contribution. A brilliant tweet or an outstanding comment usually gets a thank you and then the conversation ends. A sincere and curious response from you can be a day changer when it’s offered to someone who didn’t expect you’d have time for them.Value every generosity and get to know who offered it. Those first acts of kindness are great ways to find people who will really invest in your business. When you find a good one, encourage the person who took the initiative to write that comment or make that Tweet to do something slightly larger next — maybe invite a brief blog post or offer a short phone chat. Moving to a higher level of engagement and trust is how relationships grow and businesses grow with them.

The aim of social business is to connect with people around what we’re doing, then to connect them with each other and keep those connections going. If we listen actively when folks tentatively step up, we’ll find we’re surrounded by people who want to participate in deeper ways than just watching us and buying our products.

The first step is recognize the folks who already love us and make a deeper connection with them.

How do you connect the people who help your business grow?

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss