Personal Branding Archives - Page 30 of 41

Trendspotting: How to Crawl into People’s Heads

May 23, 2006 by Liz

Your job — should you decide to keep working here — is to figure out what our customers want NEXT.

Trendspotters

I belong to a networking group which requires endorsements. As I was editing my profile last night, I came across this endorsement from a client.

” . . . Liz can spot an emerging trend before it is even on the horizon. — Blake Education, AustraliaÃ¢â¬?

It’s true I often can. My friend, Chartreuse BETA, is phenomenal at trendspotting, as is our friend, Copyblogger. Scot Karp is excellent at seeing what trends are about to happen. Sometimes it depresses him. Don’t leave out Tom Peters. . . . How exactly do we do that?

What does it take to spot a trend before it takes root and actually happens? What does a person need to watch for? Seeing trends seems to be a factor of intelligence, learning style, and world view. Allowing that you have the prerequisite intelligence — we’re talking business acumen, common sense, and people smarts, not rocket science — the rest is a matter of doing the work and being open to what’s happening. This is lesson 1 on being a trendspotter. [Read more…]

Critical Skill 5B: Sparking Spectacular Ideas

May 22, 2006 by Liz

Spectacular Ideas

Do you recognize where we are? We’ve been here before. This is the place where I tell you that ideas are already in your head, that it’s a matter of letting yourself have them — not shutting them out. It’s when I remind you that you can be an idea magnet again. I tell you that ideas are waiting for you. I ask you if you’ve started seeing and hearing them.

Whew! Now that the déjà vu is over. We can get on with sparking spectacular ideas.

Caution: Now Entering Liz Think Zone

[Read more…]

Critical Skill 5A: 3 Parts of Spectacular Ideas

May 21, 2006 by Liz

Originality

When I compiled this list of ten critical skills, it was an original list — the list came from my head not from the Internet, not from some book. I’ve done continuous work on thinking skills for years so it wasn’t a huge hardship to think some more on the skills I consider critical. Is any one idea original? No. Not one on that list is unique or spectacular. The value-added is that I put them together and pointed the need to have them for success.

Originality Versus Spectacular

Originality is often how we look at things. The most original thought I’ve encountered — that hasn’t been around for years — was my six-year-old son’s drawing of the solar system as if he were standing on Pluto, looking in toward the sun. Even that was just a new take on a picture that’s been around for a long, long time.

True originality –a brand new idea — is hard to come by, but that’s okay. It rarely works in business. True originality is expensive and rarely sells. As good as I am with ideas I’ve learned if I find one that has been done before, tha it’s because of one of three reasons. [Read more…]

Link Leak Blog-to Show Is Open

May 20, 2006 by Liz

Welcome, Come On In

Welcome to the First Official Successful Blog Blog-to Show where we are showcasing blogs from all over the blogosphere. Each blog has brought a short description and a bit of advice or wise words for you. So have a look, walk around, and enjoy yourself. Click the blog titles to visit the blogs for a closer.

NOTE: We’ll do this again soon. So leave me comments on how we might do it differrently.
If you’d like to be part of the next Link Leak Blog-to Show see the last box on this post.

The Gates Are Offically Open

1. From Sheila Scarborough

Family Travel

Even if you don’t have kids or don’t get to travel that much, swing by and check out my Family Travel blog, hosted on BootsnAll. I try to cover the globe (with pretty pictures if the reading gets too tedious) plus lots of timely links. I’m a freelance writer, an experienced traveler thanks to some time in the US Navy, mother of two and wife to one sainted guy.

Check out my picture going through the Panama Canal, and click on it to read who else in my family spent some time in the CZ.

Short bloggy quote:
My fave quote about blogging and life in general: “It is never too late to be who you might have been.” George Eliot

2. From: Keith Dsouza

Keith Dsouza’ Home

Why its worth while visiting me,
Well my blog is predominantly technology related but i try to make it more useful for the users, with some nice explanations and ideas about things I am writing. Am I writing good? That’s for people to decide.

I don’t make technology yawny for non geeks i try and make it more interesting for them.

Small note for bloggers,
Well keep writing its the best thing you can do, write things from your heart, if you have a interesting thing to write about surf other blogs and see if you can related to anything else for your content, that makes a intersesting read at times.

If your blogging to make money, then blog smart and follow some of the tips for newbies at Liz’s blog.

Though am not getting into SEO, another thing is that write content search engines can easily find, your content will remain on the front page only for a while, its the search engines who will dig them out for new users.

3. From Joe Hauckes

Working at Home on the Internet…

Tips, Advice, Links, Articles and General Information for those who want to utilize their Home Computer to Make a Living on the Internet.

Blogging advice
Make a Game Plan, but remain flexible, things can change unexpectedly in any business.

4. From: Andrew Nesbitt

Fishbitt.com

Original geek material, a personal blog from a geek finding his way on the web.

Blogging advice
Make your content original and different, dont just copy digg.com ‘s front page.
Commenting other blogs is one of the best ways to get more regular readers and commenters.”

5. From: Theresa Frasch

Frasch Ideas

Frasch Ideas is a compilation of thoughts, comments and discoveries gleaned from my voracious reading habits. Stop by to get yourself thinking.

Short bloggy quote:
“The decisions you make, make you.”

6. From: cat Catherine Wentworth

Designers Who Blog

‘Designers who blog’ is a one stop site featuring those blogging about the Communication Design industry (web and graphic, illustration, etc). Due to the slop over in the industry,
also featured are those in marketing, photography, branding, etc. Rarely will you come across a featured blog known for droning on and on about their kids, their cat, their love life or lack of one. DWB also has a twist in the support of the NO!SPEC campaign, and showcases
whenever.

Short bloggy quote:
I’ve been working in the Communication Design industry (with my own business) for over ten years, and if there one thing I’ve learned about clients and how they operate, it’s this …

You can’t learn too soon that the most useful thing about a principle
is that it can always be sacrificed to expediency.
W. Somerset Maughan

7. From B. McCray

Small Biz Survival blog

By and for small business people in rural areas and small towns.

Short bloggy quote:
Don’t wait for someone else; be an entrepreneur! In the rural Great Plains, nearly 70 percent of job growth in the 1990s came from people creating their own job by starting a small business, according to the Center for Rural Affairs.

8. From: Gloria

The Virtual Wire

The Virtual Wire is comprised of a team of six writers, all of whom are business owners of Virtual Assistance practices, and are an integral part of the AssistU community. You’ll find a variety of conversations centered around building virtual working partnerships. You’ll find, as Stacy Brice states, “What’s shared here is the real deal, based on trial, error, and ultimate accomplishment in finding what works.”

Short bloggy quote:
What makes our businesses run and hum? Here’s a key element, as Stacy Brice writes, “For us, *virtual* means employing technology to collaborate and contribute to another’s business without being present physically. Technology available today makes being geographically distant a non-issue. The talent pool is wide open. People can work together with thousands of miles between them almost as easily as they can separated by only two feet.”

9. From Mr. Visible

Meanwhile Elsewhere

Ever wondered what it would be like to go back to school and finish up
that degree? Meanwhile, Elsewhere is the ongoing saga of a
forty-year-old man returning to college after two decades in the real
world.

Short bloggy quote:
Don’t just blog every day. Break it up a bit with some artwork, links
both relevant and irrelevant, and be sure to let yourself ramble a bit.

10. From: Melissa R.

Purplestars

My blog is worth visiting because I share my day to day geeky tetchy
life, my rants, my love for pcs and macs, my studio work cams, my
photos, tech news, and software reviews. Plus I have a podcast,&
videocasts, as well. Plus I am a writer for Lockergnome.com.

Short bloggy quote:
Blogging is a great tool because you can tell the world anything you
want, plus you can become a news journalist instantly if you are posting
what is happening around your world.

11. From: Dr. Mohamed Taher

Multifaith Information Gateway

World’s first blogsphere created with the object of disseminating information in the area that is called: Multifaith. The content manifests three formats: Online, print and multimedia. The context is interdisciplinary, i.e., multifaith literature which encompasses faiths, spiritualities, cults, cultures, races, regions, signs, symbols, actions, activities, as well as, transendental meditation.

Short bloggy quote:
Maintaining a blog is a lot like having a child (I don’t have one, but I can imagine.) It takes a lot of time, nurturing and care. source: Link policy and building traffic, from What’s Your Brand Mantra?

12. From Lelia Katherine Thomas

LeliaThomas.Com

The portfolio and journal of artist and writer Lelia Katherine Thomas. Journal topics addressed include moral matters, humor, interesting links, and highlights of amazing unknown artists and musicians. Art galleries are filled with photography, digital and traditional art, web design, and even poetry.

Blogging advice
The key is interacting on other users’ websites. Everyone tells you to get good links to your site, but that’s hard to do if you don’t go out of your way to participate on all the sites of your personal interest. This means writing more thoughtful comments than “cool entry” and even sending the occasional email to those sites where comments aren’t enabled. Recognize other people’s efforts, and yours will be recognized in time. It’s that age-old Karma effect!

Want to Be In the Next Blog-to Show?

Here’s what you do.

Write up a sentence or two about what makes your blog worth visiting.

Write up some advice or a bloggy quote that other bloggers would like to know.

E-mail that information to Liz at lizsun2@gmail.com.

When I get six qualifying entries, we’ll have another Blog-to Show Weekend.

Free Promotion! You can’t buy that!

As always, you’re welcome to stay as long as you like. Snacks and beverages are in the sidebar. Tips are not necessary. Comments are appreciated. Relax and have fun.

Have a weekend. You’ve earned it!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

The Show Is in the Comments

May 18, 2006 by Liz

Blogging Is Conversation

I’ve heard it said before that the internet has changed the world of news. That the news used to end when it was put into print, now that’s when the news begins. HART said it first, Half the show is inthe comments. Sometimes it’s more than half. Yesterday, 37signals published a small piece by guest poster Ryan Carson teaching bloggers how to use digg.com to market their articles.

The current 46 comments that follow discuss the pros and cons of self-promotion using digg.com and in some ways overpower the original article. It’s also a great demonstration of how a blogger deals with mixed reviews of a posting.

You can access the whole thing by clicking the title shot below.

One truth about blogging is that you can never know for sure where a post might take you.

Thank Ryan for the well-written post that started a fine discussion — one that we should all think through from every angle.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How THEY Work — Why the Heck Do I Care?

May 18, 2006 by Liz

The Fortune Series

You might have caught the Fortune Magazine piece by Cait Murphy that featured 12 successful individuals at work. It was called Secrets of Greatness: How I Work. The article presents a gallery of leaders and their work secrets, including those of Marissa Mayer of Google, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, Wynton Marsalis of the Lincoln Center, and Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Chicago. That was followed later by How I Work: Bill Gates.

After I read these articles, I filed them aside. I thought maybe I might find a use for some detail from the profiles some day. I didn’t know what, and I didn’t know why.

How Other People Work

Apparently, some folks thought this model was worth exploring. They added to it. Here are two more and one that won’t be happening:

How I Work: Matt Haughey
How I Work: Steve Rubel
It could be my “different drummer” flaring up, but I won’t be posting about how I work. If nothing else the word, greatness, in the title stops me cold. I’m the nice one. Secrets of Niceness: How I Work doesn’t seem to pack the same punch.

Though each profile was only a few paragraphs, I kept wondering, “What am I supposed to learn from this?” I needed something, so I have figured one out. I found a “Liz answer” to the question of how to filter and use this kind of information to build a business and a brand. [Read more…]