Successful Blog

Thanks to Week 255 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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ipodnn
joe-crockett
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neil-schwartz

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

SOB Business Cafe 09-10-10

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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 Specials this Week are

Six Pixels of Separation
Is it a Facebook page? Is it Twitter? Is it posting a video to YouTube? What about creating a Blog? What is the best way to grow an audience?

Fast Company by @KitEaton
Twitter’s traffic skyrocketed 33% over the summer, according to one survey. Meanwhile Digg’s influence was fading even before its controversial makeover.

Late yesterday Twitter announced that it had 145 million registered users–impressive, at around a third of the number of Facebookers and comparable to the number of people Apple’s just opened up its new music-based social network Ping to.

Redhead Writing
Let me get this straight:

You go somewhere to meet friends.

You arrive. You “check in.”

Aaaaaaand there are your friends.

***where’s the part about your phone being a requirement for a meaningful experience?

Brian Solis
There’s a saying, “technology changes, people don’t.” Yet, when we consider the impact of technology on our daily lives, some very interesting observations surface…

Resume Bear
So, you got the interview all lined up and your ready and raring to go…well if you plan on doing well, you better avoid these 50 interview killers (and yes, every single one of these we have seen or have heard about from colleagues)

Related ala carte selections include

Inc Magazine
Participating in a broadcast interview conducted by a television reporter can certainly be exciting—or nerve wracking, depending on your perspective. The presence of a camera frequently changes the dynamic between the reporter and the subject. And it is true that there are some different factors that you need to consider before an interview with the broadcast press.

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

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Steve’s Shorts: Search, SEO, and a Twitter ReTweet Tip

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We Interrupt Regular Blogging for Steve’s Shorts

Take a simple few minutes where a guy who is brilliant makes an observation about the social web that you might have already be thinking. This interruption brought to you by the evil conspiracy that is Steve Plunkett and Liz Strauss.

Search, SEO, and ReTweet Strategy
by Steve Plunkett.

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– What is Search? Search is about being there when the customer is READY TO BUY. When they ask, hopefully you did your homework and are #1 in the organic results. (also known as.. how to get to #1 and stay there)

– You want to learn SEO..? Examine your analytics and find out which keywords make the cash register ring… Focus on those keywords, Focus on providing the most uniquely RELEVANT content for that keyword.

A Short Look at … What’s Next?

Hope you enjoyed these moments with Steve’s Shorts.

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M/C/C’s Director, Search, Steve Plunkett, is responsible for all aspects of search engine optimization (SEO) and Internet user behavior. Plunkett’s competitive personality makes him a perfect fit in the competitive world of SEO. As a child and a gamer, he worked hard ensuring that it was his initials at the top of every arcade game unit in his neighborhood. Today, he uses SEO to ensure his clients appear at the top of the search engine results –and offers an array of optimization services that are scoring big for those clients.

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Cool Tool Review: Bartering & Alternative Currencies

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Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools and products that could belong in an entrepreneurial business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks who would be their customers in a form that’s consistent and relevant.

Cool Tool Review: Bartering & Alternative Currencies
A Review by Todd Hoskins

What if you could hire a consultant, do a website redesign, or rent office space without spending a nickel?

For businesses that are forward thinking, or just tight on cash, exploring the frontier of bartering and alternative currencies, can not only help you through a cash crunch, it can also make you more connected within the communities in which you are active.

The Barter Network is a one-to-one exchange for products and services. For example, if you need to produce and file an annual report, someone within the network will likely be equipped to complete the task (there are over 20,000 participating members). Instead of paying in dollars, you could trade for one of your gadgets, an installation of your software, or fifteen hours of marketing expertise.

The process of bartering enables you to collaborate and get perspectives from outside of your business, share knowledge, and understand the value of your needs and assets apart from the industrial age notion of everything being measured in government-backed currencies.

Beyond bartering, there are a couple other projects that should be noted. First, TheSwop.com is a service launched last year focused on the exchange of favors for startup companies. “Favor points” are earned or spent, which is means you don’t have to find the exact match as with the Barter Network.

Also, Hub Culture is an organization I have been following for a while. Their Ven currency now has over 1.8 million units in circulation. With a sizable global membership, Ven can be used for a variety of exchanges from classes to Facebook Connect integration. They have a unique vision – worth checking out.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 4/5 – The only drawback is driving your Accounting (and/or Tax) Department nuts, at least for a while.

Entrepreneur Value: 5/5 – Innovative, connecting, and value-determining

Personal Value: 2/5 – Can you live a month without cash? It’s becoming easier.

Let me know what you think!

Todd Hoskins helps small and medium sized businesses plan for the future, and execute in the present. With a background in sales, marketing, and technology, he works with executives to help create thriving organizations through developing and clarifying values, strategies, and tactics. You can learn more at VisualCV, or contact him on Twitter.

3 Sales Lessons we all need

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by Patty Azzarello

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On a recent flight I had a fun conversation with a top sales executive about the profession of selling.

The best sales people have some fundamental things in common:

  • They put themselves out there over and over again with no fear
  • They hear “NO” a lot, and always keep trying
  • Disappointment, hurt pride, and failure have little impact on their continuing to do the first 2
  • They always tune their offer to what their customer values most.

Skip the disappointment

The best sales people get over disappointment quickly and jump right back in the game. They don’t let failures along the way discourage or stall them, or damage their confidence.

One of the best stories I heard about this was a sales person telling a non-sales colleague:

The difference between you and me is that if you went up to every woman in this bar and asked them for a date, and they all said, NO, you would not talk to them again.

If I went to every woman in this bar and asked them for a date, and they all said NO, I would go back and ask each one of them again. And a third time…

Three Sales lessons for your Success

1. NO is never a dead end

Every good sales person I know, can tell you how many NO’s on average it takes them to get to a YES. If their number is 17, when they hear NO for the 14th time, they don’t get discouraged.  Their reaction is more like, “Great, I’ve got through one more step to YES!”

NO, is not only a critical step in the process, it’s viewed as a positive step forward. This is so important in building your career as well.

You need to get turned down.

You need to get over disappointment quickly, and see this rejection as a step forward in the process. Then you need to put yourself out there again – as many times as it takes.

Don’t Stop Trying

I can offer my personal example.

While my corporate career, and sequence of promotions was highly successful by any external measure, people didn’t see all the failures.

They didn’t see all the times I heard, NO, and all the times I went for promotions and was passed over or turned down. The success came from acting like a sales person, improving my value, and putting myself out there — and to keep asking.

So out of about 25 times at the plate, by putting my fears aside, and selling myself again and again, I got about 20-something NO’s and 3 life changing YES’s

You don’t get to the YES without the NO’s.

I see people make the mistake of going for promotion once or twice, getting turned down, and getting discouraged. Then they stop trying.

They blame the unfairness of the environment. Or they manufacture an imaginary high ground, and cite that they refuse to take part in the political maneuvers they believe are required.

The biggest thing holding these people back is that they got turned down, discouraged and then stopped trying.

If you are not willing to keep trying, you are the one creating the obstacle to your success.

2. Find a Bigger Pond

Good sales people go where the opportunity is. If they are assigned a “bad territory”, they find a way to expand or develop it. If they are assigned a genuinely bad territory, they move on and get a different job.

I see many people make the mistake of not moving on, when their environment can no longer support their advancement. They will stay for years, frustrated that there are no promotions available.

I’m all for advancing within your company, and much of what I write about is to help you do exactly that. But if there are no jobs, and several people above you need to die before a position opens up, you need to take it upon yourself to move on if you want to advance.

Or if you have an incompentant manager, you will get stuck. You need to get yourself into a different spot.
Go outside your comfort zone, go get some NO’s from new people, and keep trying!

3. Increase Your Value

When a customer is not buying, a great sales person will pump up the value of what they are selling.
They do this by getting a better understanding of their prospect’s needs, and putting together an offer which is more useful and valuable, and therefore much harder to refuse.

This is also critical in you career.

If you are not seen as promotable, ask yourself why.

Go the extra mile to really learn about and understand what is most relevant to your executive management. Is it new customers? Is it innovation? Is it cost cutting? Is it developing people?

Learn what counts and tune your job to offer more of it. Build up your value.

No one will instruct you to do this. It’s up to you.

Doing your job as written is more like selling a commodity product. Instead create a new product, higher value product. Differentiate your value by tuning your job to have more business impact.

The only way to reliably advance your career is to be always be adding more value to the business.

But don’t forget to keep selling !

What about you?

When did having the guts to be persistent make a big difference in your success? I’d love to hear your story in the comment box below.

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Patty Azzarello works with executives where leadership and business challenges meet. She has held leadership roles in General Management, Marketing, Software Product Development and Sales, and has been successful in running large and small businesses. She writes at The Azzarello Group Blog. You’ll find her on Twitter as @PattyAzzarello

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Social Media Book List: #COACHINGtweet and Twitter for Dummies

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A Weekly Series by Teresa Morrow

I’m Teresa Morrow, Founder of Key Business Partners, LLC and I work with authors to help manage their online book promotion. As part of my job I read a lot of books (I love to read anyway!).

This week I will be highlighting one book written by an author I am working with “#COACHINGtweet’ by Sterling Lanier and the other book I have on my reading list, ‘Twitter for Dummies’ by Laura Fitton, Michael Gruen and Leslie Poston. The books I discuss in the Social Media Book List Series will cover a range of topics such as social media, marketing, blogging, business, organization, career building, networking, writing, self development and inspiration.

‘#COACHINGtweet: 140 Bite Sized Insights on making a difference through coaching’

by Sterling Lanier

#COACHINGtweet by Sterling Lanier

“When you have strong passion for “WHY,” “HOW” emerges clearly from the shadows.”

Now this was stated in the book under a label called, Being a Coach, even before the first tweet…and you know, it is so true. Think about it…if there is a positive reason why you wish to do something, the next thing that pops into your head will be, how will I do it?

Here are a few more powerful tweets from ‘#COACHINGtweet’ I would like to share with you:

#4 A great coach has a huge heart, enormous ears, and a tiny mouth.
—>I love this because it is so true and it goes right along with the next week I highlighted.

#14 Listen like you want to be listened to.
—> This can be easier stated than done, right? However, it can make such a difference in your life with those around you.

#28 “Neuroscientists tell us that people do not resist change. They resist what they perceive as a threat to what they know.”
—–>I agree with this as well. I am currently struggling with a deadline my publisher has set for me to write my book in about 3 months. Now, I asked myself, why do you wish to do this? I wish to write the book because I believe it will help other people. So then the how comes up. And I have questioned if I should attempt to do this because it is a change for me. But I can do it if I just put my mind to it and get it doen. However, the fear comes into places because I am fearing what I don’t know….can I really do it? Sure I can. I just don’t need to focus on the fear of not getting it done. Just focus on the getting it done.

#48 Wake up. Dress up. Show up.
—>You have already started a great day. So don’t allow it to go to waste by not doing anything. Get dressed and show up to your day.

About the Book:
Mentor…teacher…guide…friend…a coach is all of these, and more. Sterling Lanier, author of ‘#COACHING tweet’, has decades of experience coaching CEOs and CEOs-in-the-wings, and knows that coaching is no secret or magical process. Rather it is the art of inspiring, encouraging and motivating people through active listening, by asking thoughtful and thought-provoking questions and helping to set ambitious but realistic goals and action plans. It is a journey of self discovery, as much for the coach as for the person being coached.

In the corporate world, a typical ‘coaching’ session consists of an annual manager or supervisor soliloquy in which the employee receives ‘a mound of criticism sandwiched between two thin slices of praise.’ Instead, as Sterling shares with us, coaching should consist of a series of frequent dialogs between employee and manager on the employee’s goals, action plans, measurement milestones, alignment to corporate direction, and resources needed for improvement.

In ‘#COACHING tweet’, Sterling has distilled his practical experience into bite-sized insights on the power, practices and sheer joy of coaching. Individual sections cover coaching philosophy–coaching from the heart and being fully present in the moment–and coaching practices, which reveal the tools of the trade, including such subtleties as ensuring non-judgmental listening and peeling back the layers so that clients voice the hidden issues.

About the Author:
Sterling Lanier is a CEO Group Chair for Vistage International, the world’s leading CEO membership
organization. He helps CEOs become better leaders, make better decisions, and achieve better results through leading monthly meetings, peer group interactions, individual coaching sessions, and expert speaker workshops. Sterling has more than thirty years of CEO leadership and management accomplishments in specialty retailing, manufacturing, software, and fi nancial services. Sterling became a Vistage Chair in 2000 and leads three Vistage groups. Sterling is the author of ‘Eating Your Way Through Tuscany & Umbria’ and ‘Storie Italiane: A Student Reader with Parallel English Text.’

You can purchase a copy of ‘#COACHINGtweet’ online at ThinkAha Books.
*I have received a complimentary copy of #COACHINGtweet by the author as this book mention is part of a virtual book tour I am conducting. However, my comments (highlighted by —>) are my own solely and I have not gotten compensated for those.

A book on my reading list that I have not had the pleasure to read yet is, ‘Twitter for Dummies’ by Laura Fitton, Michael Gruen and Leslie Poston.

Twitter for Dummies

by Laura Fitton, Michael Gruen and Leslie Poston

About the Book:

A fully updated guide to the how and why of using Twitter

The fastest-growing social network utility sports new features, and they’re all covered in this how-to guide from a leading Twitter marketing consultant. Nearly 20 million people are tweeting on Twitter, and this book shows you how to join them and why you should. You’ll learn the nuts and bolts of using Twitter, how to make good connections, and how it can benefit your life and your business.

* Twitter is the fastest-growing of the social networking tools; this book gets you up to speed on the basics as well as how Twitter can enrich your life and boost your business
* Explains how to sign up, find friends and people you want to follow, make the most of shortcuts, use popular Twitter tools, and Twitter on the go
* Discusses how Twitter can be used for business, fundraising, and maintaining contact with people who share common goals

About the Author(s):

Laura Fitton: Laura “@Pistachio” Fitton is leading the charge of sussing out intelligent and productive business uses of emergent technologies like Twitter, where she is read by thousands of community members. The fi rst to publish a white paper on “Enterprise Microsharing” (popularly called “Internal Twitter”), she also writes for and runs the TouchBase blog and is an early beta tester of Seesmic and Qik. She relaunched Pistachio Consulting in September 2008 to connect businesses to new ideas and innovations using all the tools of microsharing. Pistachio comprises the TouchBase blog (covering business use of microsharing), the TouchBase Link Blog (stream of Twitter and microsharing articles for businesspeople, wherever they are published), and serves clients like Johnson & Johnson, Ford Motor Corporation, PeopleBrowsr, The Sister Project, Transplant-1, and CommuNteligence.

Michael E. Gruen: Michael E. Gruen has earned signifi cant respect in the corporate sphere and within the startup community as a trusted advisor since 2003. In many cases, he has fulfi lled the role of interim Chief Operations/Chief Technical Officer with several organizations in need of innovative leadership during crucial developmental periods. In 2006–2007, Michael briefl y joined Morgan Stanley as an Analyst. Currently, Michael is CFO/COO at NOM, a Digital Services Agency, and the CEO of a new healthcare startup.

Leslie Poston: Leslie Poston is passionate about helping people and businesses fi nd their way to success via technology. As a writer, she has more than 200 ebooks and books in her repertoire and several more in development.
*this information was provided by Amazon

You can purchase a copy of ‘Twitter for Dummies’ online at Amazon website.

I truly hope you will check out these books and please comment and let me know your thoughts on them.