Successful Blog

YES WE DO! How Will You Begin?

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Hope They Do Too

Last night at Open Comments we were sharing quotes. I came across one I like so much I posted it on Twitter as well. This is it.

Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me.
–Sigmund Freud

RobynMcMaster responded by sending me this: @lizstrauss You said “Everywhere I go I find a poet has been there before me.” It gave impression you were inspired to write poem.

and so for Robyn, for Lucretia Pruitt, who surely would have written far better sonnet had she chosen to, and for all of us, I did.

YES WE DO!
When, in wonder of new life in my arms,
I looked upon my sleeping son,
And called angels down to keep this heart unharmed
To hold him whole, what fate might come.
Passing time finds a boy to his full height
Earth-tied like me, his world light years from mine.
Far from my mom’s eyes on me at night
Audacious hope harbored also in her mind.
When I think upon changes in that short span
I forgive the broken promises and loved lost prizes
And hear a two-year-old’s “YES I CAN!”
From White Houses to world spaces of all sizes

The awe of “YES, WE CAN!” is “YES, WE DO!”
Hope lives in places where they love their children too.

–E Strauss 01-21-09

Success requires work to realize that hope.

How will you begin?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Beach Notes: Being Prepared For Opportunity

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by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity"

Seneca,Roman philosopher, (5 BC – 65 AD)

On our morning beach walks we often see surfers getting ready to ride the waves. Typically they go through a number of limbering up exercises and yoga style stretches and poses.

One exercise is swinging their arm and bodies from side to side as in the photo. So they will be ready to seize the moment when that great wave comes along and ride it as far as they can.

In business we don’t always know where opportunities are coming from. We need to be mentally flexible and alert so we can recognize opportunity when it comes and to be able to act on it decisively and effectively.

What exercises do you do to be prepared to meet an opportunity when it arises?

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh 

Beach Notes: Friending Offline

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by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh

It came to us while walking on the beach last week.

You know how, what with Facebook and Twitter and Plurk and all the other social networking communities we all have these hundreds or thousands of friends online? Well, what if we were to friend some of those people we see offline?

That’s right, friends we can talk to, hang out with, but without having a keyboard or microphone or videocam to help us communicate!

Novel idea.

What triggered this particular brainwave, which we are currently seeking to trademark as “Friends in the Flesh”, was when, as we say, we were walking on the beach.

Now just by way of background, when we walk on the beach early in the morning there are several people we see most days. Some form of greeting or acknowledgement is exchanged, ranging from a hearty “Good Morning! Beautiful day!”, through to a friendly but fairly emotionless nod. You always know who the visitors holidaying from the city are: if you say “Good morning!” they look at you nervously and might manage a smile but you know their city reflexes have them suddenly in fight or flight mode.

Anyhow, the other day, a chap we’ve actually chatted with a few times and another who has been in the “nod or make a small, unostentatious sort of waving motion with the hand” category of morning beachgoers, stopped us to actually introduce themselves by name and discover our names.

Now when we see them it’s all “Suzie!”, “Des!”, “Pat!” and “Greg!” – and since they have introduced us to another of their friends, “Grahame!”.

We discovered we like this and now we are on a bit of a campaign to get to know the names of the other regulars.

Who knows where this could lead? The League of Offline Friends perhaps? With a list, in – what do they call it – a printed book?

Given the instantaneousness of friending on Facebook and following/being followed on Twitter, the four years or so it has taken for us to know the names of people we greet every day and have them know our names, and even stop for the occasional chat, seems – no, is – an extraordinary amount of time.

Is it possible, while we build amazing and multitudinous friendships online, that we are neglecting – literally walking past – opportunities for friendships in our offline lives?

What if 2009 were to be a year when we did some serious offline friending? Going beyond the wave or the non-committal half-smile exchange with people we see every day or regularly but really know nothing about to exchanging names and even having a chat or two.

A chat offline? You mean it’s ok to do that? Cool.

Do you have a story to tell about going from a “courtesy” wave or nod to actually friending someone offline? Care to share, here?

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh wishing everyone an wonderful friendful 2009.

 

 

Beach Notes: Would Now Be a Good time To Start on Your Dream?

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True Story from Our Local Neighborhood
by Guest Writers Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

At Kirra beach, near where we live, there is a new landmark, the multi-storey Kirra Surf apartment building, the latest manifestation of local retailing icon of the same name.

Its history is closely linked with that of another local retailing icon, internationally famous surfwear label Billabong.

Thirty-five years ago, in 1973, Kirra Surf did not exist and Billabong was just getting started.
The now very wealthy founder of Kirra Surf, Peter Turner, tells with some amusment the story of meeting for the first time the now also very wealthy Gordon Merchant, founder of Billabong.

Turner was working in a local surf shop, now long closed, and as he says, a young guy had walked into the shop trying to convince them to stock a new pair of board shorts Ð or ÒboardiesÓ as we call them here. The young guy was Gordon Merchant, , then eking out some income from what was basically a two person operation, himself and his wife. Merchant was selling surfboards and swimwear out of his station wagon.

As Turner tells it, Merchant “came in with three new pairs of boardies that he wanted us to stock.”

“He had written on the label: ‘Billabong, since 1973’ and I said “Mate, it is 1973” and he just looked at me and said “Well, you’ve got to start somewhere.”

Four years later, Turner took the young guy’s advice and opened Kirra Surf.

In March 2008 Billabong acquired Kirra Surf!

One story, one young man with a big dream inspiring another, two multi-millionaires.

Do you have a dream you’ve been putting off
till it’s a good time to start?

Would January 1, 2009, be a good time to get moving?

And if you share your dream and your decision here,
then someone can tell your story years from now.

Suzie Cheel and Des Walsh wishing everyone an abundant 2009

Story Source:http://rewarddevelopments.com.au/_assets/57-23-02-2007-15-12-23.pdf

A 5-Step Plan for Work in a Time of No Jobs and 25 Services that Could Be Sold Separately

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At times like this, you don’t need to be unemployed to need more money coming in. All of us have higher costs than we did a few years ago. My assessment just went up by $100 / month. It does that every year. How we approach this thinning cash flow is important to our future situation. It’s hard to be saving when the bills are growing faster than the income.

The answer used to be to find a job, but finding a job in a recession could take more time than we have available.

So I suggest we find work instead.

Here’s a 5-step plan for doing just that.

  1. Identify a problem everyone has … lack of time might be one.
  2. Choose a subgroup that knows you and your skills … let’s say, your network of business bloggers.
  3. Look how you might use your time to improve what they offer … find a problem or a wish they have in common that you can solve or make happen
  4. Package that problem or wish as a reasonable offer … be able to explain why it’s smart, appealing, and incredibly easy to hire to for that small thing you offer.
  5. Ask them to refer you to other folks who might benefit from the same offer.

and here are 25 services that could be sold separately

  1. True up my social media profiles.
  2. Keep follower lists up-to-date.
  3. Monitor the social sphere and clip posts.
  4. Set up interviews and guest posts.
  5. Update old content.
  6. Rewrite old blog headlines for more power.
  7. Identify archive posts that could be revised.
  8. Suggest and gather content for an eBook
  9. Develop a plan for a newsletter.
  10. Update and organize the pages in my sidebar.
  11. Make a blogger’s press kit.
  12. Write a Wikipedia page about the blog or the blogger.
  13. Shoot a video interview.
  14. Clean up the old code on my blog.
  15. Suggest a new color palette and header for an existing design.
  16. Research photos.
  17. Research trends and topics.
  18. Try out tools.
  19. Find and fix broken links.
  20. Delete dead content.
  21. Organize an editorial calendar.
  22. Set up a file system.
  23. Make a blog post like this into a slideshare presentation.
  24. Update my plugins.
  25. Suggest entries for a link post around a theme.

Most of the folks I know can’t afford a VA or a full-time assistant right now, but they could use some help on a discrete task or two on this list. If you chose those things you quickly and well, you price these tasks attractively and folks would feel good about the improvements you made.

I’m thinking of quite a few. I’d like to hire someone to do — one at a time. Are there other services you might like for you blog?

It’s good us and our blogs. It’s community-centered goal. How might we get some folks back to work this way?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

A Metaphor: When a Brand New Blog Flowers

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Guest Post by Stefan Knapen

I hope that while so many people are out smelling the flowers, someone is taking the time to plant some. – Herbert Rappaport

I was thinking, is the opposite happening to blogging? So many blog planters, but are there enough people to smell the blog flowers?

The problem is that readers don’t know where the great flower beds are. In the great field of flowers, it is getting harder and harder to find the unique and thriving flowers, those that keep growing, and keep showing more and more unique and compelling content.

See your blog as a flower — a single forget me not. Give it water, new posts, frequently. Make sure it grows and grows. Don’t be shy to invite people see it. And after waiting, the one who finds it will tell other people to come smell that flower. And the scent of that flower will become known. Your blog is being read more.

The conversation is like seeds and spores on the wind. Given to each other, everywhere. But it isn’t the beginning of a new flower, but it can be the beginning of a new post. So it can be fruitful.

Are there enough people to smell the flowers? Maybe yes, maybe no.

But there are too many small flowers. So for flower to be found in the big field, you have to wait and make it noticeable. Make sure your flower will be seen.

Do something with every seed and spore of conversation you get. Use those words to inspire you to grow your blog even bigger, even better. And after that your blog will be the prettiest flower field of flowers because you used what you had.


Stefan writes as The Dutch SchoolKid

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Stefan,
Your comments on this blog have often inspired thoughts that are like flowers to me.
Thank you for this.

How do you keep your flowers growing, thriving, and blooming?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Images: sxc.hu
Work with Liz!!