Liz, Author at Successful Blog Page

Thanks to Week 368 SOBs

November 3, 2012 by Liz Leave a Comment

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.

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

Thanks to Week 367 SOBs

October 27, 2012 by Liz Leave a Comment

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

Know Yourself … as a Strategy

October 22, 2012 by Liz Leave a Comment

Does the Unexpected Undo Your Best-Laid Plans?

We can’t plan the people.
We can’t plan the surprises.
We can’t plan the creative solutions to problems that we never expected.
Planning too tightly removes our chance to leverage those rare opportunities that is the serendipity of new adventures and new people.

Rather than planning out every possibility, know yourself and you’ll have a strategy for work and for life.

Have a Strategy for Your Work and Your Life

So don’t just plan. Have a strategy. Know yourself as well as you want to know your business. Have a strategy for yourself in work and life as you do for your business. A strategy is a realistic framework that moves you forward over time by leveraging opportunities that are uniquely yours. A strategy leaves room for opportunities you might not see when you first start a plan. To build a great, working, living strategy you need to know a few things.

Know who you are, what you’re building, how you’ll build it, and why you’re building it. That way you’ll know which people share your values and which opportunities will help you move forward.
Know where you’re standing and where you’re going, so that you know which direction to focus on. That way you’ll understand which choices are detours on the path to your golden destination. Besides knowing where you’re going is irresistible. People who are drawn to your goals will figure you’ll know how to help them achieve theirs too.
Know your own cycles and patterns of behavior and those of the people you care to about. That way you’ll be able to make some predictions, choose the behaviors that keep you winning, and learn how to lose those that don’t.
Know how to make decisions based on your experience, goals, and values. Then you will know how to kill off the stuff that gets in the way of your successful mission without killing off yourself, your relationships. A great decision will keep you from wasting time that you could spend on a world of choices that are more fun and alive.
Know who you include in your personal development, care, and support systems. Make a list of who truly cares about your life, your goals, and your dreams for the future. That way you’ll be able to always show them their importance in your life.

The key to leveraging opportunity is knowing that who you are and where you stand has as much to do with what can move you forward as where you want to go. Get know yourself deeply and you’ll be aware of what work and life opportunities fit your best strengths, when they’ll be coming, and how you might best incorporate them into your plans.

Know yourself and you’ll know how you can move forward.
Know yourself and you’ll know how you can help others.
Know yourself and you’ll be able to see how our goals align so that we can make things we could never make alone.

Take a few minutes now to go through the list and find out …
what do you need to find out about yourself?

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Buy the Insider’s Guide to Online Conversation.

Thanks to Week 366 SOBs

October 20, 2012 by Liz Leave a Comment

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

How Trust Raises the Bar

October 15, 2012 by Liz Leave a Comment

What Is Trust?

What is trust?

Trust is a very big word. I talk a lot about being authentic online because we can’t see the person on the other side of the screen. Truth is we can’t see what other folks are thinking even when they’re standing right before us. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about trust, writing about it.

Three years ago, when I was sick and couldn’t do everything for myself, I had to trust that the people who offered really wanted to help. It was trust that they would hold me in the same place with the same affection had I not asked. I had to trust that their help wouldn’t lead them to think less of me.

I choose with care, asked with care, and cared about the people I chose.

The help I received showed itself in ways I will never forget. I had forgotten that trust is a powerful relationship builder. Those old and new friends not only showed up, but came as if my request for a hand was a gift to them.

And because I choose to trust with care in my life. I could trust without fear.

How Trust Raises the Bar

Trust in business works the same. When we worry about who will speak for us, it’s a moment of trust. Whether it’s at a conference booth, in an email, or on a social networking site, we just need people we trust. Employees, vendors, partners, customers — the question isn’t about controlling their words. It’s about choosing people who share our values, because shared values build trust. Choose people you trust to build your business.

If we choose the people we hire with care, assign them to work they care about, and care about them and the work they do, we find out that the trust goes both ways. We don’t have to fear how they’ll respond when the going gets tough. When we take time to answer questions, listen, engage, build relationships by aligning our values and goals, trust occurs in both directions. Build trust relationships and your policy documents won’t have to weigh tons, because …

Trust raises the bar for all of us.

How do you recognize people you trust?

Be irresistible.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Buy the Insider’s Guide to Online Conversation.