Successful Blog

11:00 – Liz Strauss on Building a Personal Development Network

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. Relationships with customers, employees, colleagues, coworkers, builders, contractors, developers, and CUSTOMERS — in the form of readers, buyers, clients, and others — are the success of any business.

How do we form the best relationships; bring our best to them; build environments that nurture them; and measure our success?

Join the Comment Box Conference. Ask questions. Discuss answers. Meet people in the comment box. Find out.

Liz Strauss

Liz is a social web strategist and community builder. Coming from a background of publishing, business, and instructional design, Liz understands how people perceive a blog, a product, and an experience — how the head and heart engage to make a fiercely loyal customer. She can articulate what makes things irresistible — what keeps people coming back — from literacy, editorial, design, and marketing sensitivities. Liz will tell you that brands and social media are the same in that “You gotta live it, walking ever word you speak.”

Today Liz is here to talk about how to build a personal development network of support and growth. Some ideas and talking points might include:

Building a Personal Development Network

1. Start with a personal foundation built on concrete not sand.

  • Qualitative Observations
  • Quantitative Assessment
  • Personal Reflection

Know what you know and never discount its value.

2. Know Your Context — Pick your path.

3. Enlist Developers — Choose unique and valuable guides.

  • People who know you.
  • People who know what you what to learn.
  • People who will tell you when you falter.

4. Regularly Reassess — Seek opportunities to learn what you’re learning.

5. Develop Others — Return the favor and pay it forward.

6. AND THE ONE THAT WAS MISSING — Communicate. Let your network

Let’s let the questions start rolling. I’ll offer the first one!

Liz is a founder of the highly successful business and social media conference SOBCon She has been named to the Top 100 Social Media & Internet Marketing Bloggers Top 100 Most Influential Marketers of 2008, the 50 of the Most Powerful and Influential Women of Social Media, NxE’s Fifty Most Influential ‘Female’ Bloggers

Liz Strauss writes about branding, social media and how businesses can use the entrepreneurial spirit to understand and build successful relationships and communities on the Internet. You’ll find her at Successful-blog.
Follow @lizstrauss at Twitter.

Q&A All Day TODAY! Discuss, Share, Find Out! Meet Smart Folks!

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12 Hours of Conversation — Looks Who’s Here!!

Everyone is invited. Stop by, listen in, ask questions, and meet some new friends.

Think theater of the imagination meets speakers and participants in the comment box for conversation.

Why the comment box and not some new technology? The comment box offers a different experience — slower, more intimate, with room for everyone to bring long thoughts and serious questions.

When: TODAY 11 AM Central Time (GMT -6hrs)
(See the clock in the sidebar)

Where: Successful-Blog.com

What: New Post and Speaker Every Hour

How It Works:

  • Each hour a new blog post will publish.
  • The featured expert will be ready to talk with you about your ideas, questions, predictions, and thoughts in the comment box.

It’s that easy. You know how.

Who:

11:00 – Liz Strauss on How to Build a Personal Development Network
12:00 – Mark Carter on Saving The World With Social Media
1:00 – Lucretia Pruitt on Twittering the Way that Works Best for You
2:00 – Andy Sernovitz on Amazing Word of Mouth for Your Blog
3:00 – Mary-Lynn Foster on Podcast and Blog Interviewing Tips
4:00 – Easton Ellsworth on Visionary Blogging Improvements
5:00 – John Haydon on Social Media and Trust Online
6:00 – VickyHennegan on Writing for the Web
7:00 – Becky McCray on Successful Entrepreneurship
8:00 – Shannon Paul on Internet People and What They Do
9:00 –Angela Maiers on Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century
10:00 –Terry Starbucker on Pitching Social Media to Clients — 5 Key Questions for Potential Clients

Bring your own link to leave to share information about blogging, social media, and ROI of Relationships on the Social Web

C’mon Let’s Talk!

We haven’t done something like this since 2007!

Special thanks to Vicky H ( @eeUS ) for helping to get this arranged and together.
— ME “Liz” Strauss

Register Now for SOBCon09 Explode your network!

You Want More Influence? Tell Us Why …

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It’s All in the Why

When I was a kid if I asked my dad for something small, like a quarter to play the jukebox, his answer would be, “Give me good three reason why.” Not every reason was so good at first, but I learned to think up reasons before I gave the request. That lesson stuck and stayed all through my life.

So I wasn’t that surprised when I read this study years ago.

Dr. Ellen Langer, a Harvard social psychologist, took a document to a line of people at the copier and said, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine?”
Some 60% said “yes.”

But when she added a “reason,” by saying in similar circumstances, “Excuse me, I have five pages. May I use the Xerox machine because I have to make some copies?” The number jumped to huge 93%.

I searched the web for the original study. Can’t find it. But memory says that she went a third time with a reason involving a deadline and that number rose close to 100%.

Tell me why …

Subscribe to my blog. –> Never miss information like this.
Tweet this please. –> Get more followers.
Follow me on Twitter. –> I’ll share what I value with you.

If a simple why makes a difference, imagine the effect of a reason that’s meaningful.

Your turn …

Write something you want us to do and why we should do it in the comment box. It’s a chance for you to influence what we do.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!! See what you can do!

SOBCon09 Comment Box Conference / Q&A — 12 Hours Tuesday Feb. 10

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An Expert Every Hour and Q&A for 12 Hours

Everyone is invited. Stop by for a while listen in and meet some new friends.

Think theater of the imagination meets speakers and attendees in the comment box for conversation.

Why the comment box and not some new technology? The comment box offers a different experience — slower, more intimate, with room for everyone to bring long thoughts and serious questions.

When: Tuesday, February 10th

Where: Successful-Blog.com

What: New Post and Speaker Every Hour
11:00 a.m. – 10 p.m. CT (GMT -6hrs)
Watch the clock in the sidebar.

When and Who:

11:00 – Liz Strauss on How to Build a Personal Development Network
12:00 – Mark Carter on Saving The World With Social Media
1:00 – Lucretia Pruitt on Twittering the Way that Works Best for You
2:00 – Andy Sernovitz on Amazing Word of Mouth for Your Blog
3:00 – Mary-Lynn Foster on Podcast and Blog Interviewing Tips
4:00 – Easton Ellsworth on Visionary Blogging Improvements
5:00 – John Haydon on Social Media and Trust Online
6:00 – VickyHennegan on Writing for the Web
7:00 – Becky McCray on Successful Entrepreneurship
8:00 – Shannon Paul on Internet People and What They Do
9:00 –Angela Maiers on Literacy and Learning in the 21st Century
10:00 –Terry Starbucker on Pitching Social Media to Clients — 5 Key Questions for Potential Clients

Bring your own link to leave to share information about blogging, social media, and ROI of Relationships on the Social Web

C’mon Let’s Talk!

We haven’t done something like this since 2007!
— ME “Liz” Strauss

Register Now for SOBCon09 Explode your network!

Twestival Comes To Chicago: A Great Cause & Great Connections

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February is the month of relationships and relationships matter. They’re what keeps us going, gives our lives meaning, and keeps our hearts beating with purpose. Throughout the world, the folks on Twitter have started to use the relationships they’ve formed their for many good purposes. One of those is series of events called Twestivals. The Twestival is organized 100% by volunteers in cities around the world and 100% of the money raised from these events will go directly to support charity: water projects.

The Twestival in Chicago is this week. I asked Mark Carter to write a few words about it.

On 12 February 2009 175+ cities around the world will be hosting Twestivals which bring together Twitter communities for an evening of fun and to raise money and awareness for charity: water.

Chicago’s event will be a casual, fun night of social networking for a cause. You’ll have a chance to meet your online friends and some offline friends.

We’ve also set up a Facebook group at
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=59499469458&ref=mf
so people can connect before AND after the event. We’ll be posting pictures, reviews, comments and continuing conversations long after the event is over.

And for a quick, direct way to learn more and get involved:

http://www.chicagotwestival.eventbrite.com

If you’d like to get involved or have questions email me anytime at mjcarter (at) savingtheworld.net

Hope to talk soon!

If you’re from Chicago, stop in and “Tweet. Meet. Give.”

If you’re in another city, see how you can be part of a Twestival near you.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Thanks to Week 172 SOBs

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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.

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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.

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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