Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe 08-06-10

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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

Steve Farber
In a recent article in Investor’s Business Daily, Sonja Carberry interviewed Jim McCormick, Razi Imam, and myself to identify the “X Factor” qualities in entrepreneurs and executives who tend to rise above the rest.

Copyblogger
In fact, online content in general and blogging in particular are very non-bookish indeed, thanks to the real-time interactivity the medium allows. Instead of a static monologue, blogs are a two-way multimedia interactive environment.

Let’s take a look at four ways you can spark interaction with your audience that increases engagement and makes you a more innovative content producer.

Ramblings from a Glass Half Full
It had to be just the right adjective. The one that would launch a thousand retweets.

The one that would make the headline bark out “READ ME”!!!

Problogger
Voice can give a blogger a serious edge. Your unique voice can set you apart from the competition, form a foundation for your brand, engender audience loyalty, and more. If you find it difficult to retain readers, and you’re confident of the quality and accuracy of the content you provide, you may need to work on your voice.

Spin Sucks
This is a big conversation we have internally all the time – how do we decide what is me being overly nice and what is a request that is going to move us closer to the vision? We don’t have all of the answers yet, but we do have a ton of places where you can get free advice from me every day.

Deaf Mom at Home
Whenever I would share my family’s story about how we all became deaf and hard of hearing, people would be incredulous at the events that lead to hearing loss. “Y’all need to stop banging your heads,” one person remarked.

Related ala carte selections include

Tech Crunch
Many a post has come before this one on the special adventure that is pitching TechCrunch. And while most of our writers have their own preferences (Please don’t call my cell before 7 a.m. PDT unless you’re Google, and you’re buying Twitter. And you’ve made breakfast in bed.) there’s definitely a right and wrong way to ping tips@techcrunch if you’re a startup hungry for coverage.

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

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

Worse than Pick Your Brainers: Meet the Network Rustling Cowboy

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cooltext443794242_influence

Recently two folks I admire — Jason Falls and Gini Dietrich — have written some great thoughts on people who over stress a professional relationship by asking if they might “pick your brain.” If you’re a service professional — doctor, lawyer, social media practitioner — and you’re having this problem, follow those links; read the posts and the comments that they carry.

It’s those two posts that inspired this one.

Have a seat by the campfire and I’ll tell you a story of the cowboys who make the “pick your brain” folks look almost harmless — as if they’re merely apprentices to the people who write the bad PR bitches that keep showing up in our email inboxes. After all, so many of those “pick your brain” folks don’t realize they’re looking to learn at the expense of another.

The cowboys I’m thinking of are practiced at what they do.

Whoa Cowboy! We See You Trying to Rustle Our Netwworks?

Early this year, a cowboy rode into town. he took out his LinkedIn account, his email lists, and his telephone. He contacted people he never met immediately asking … asking everyone the same set of questions in about the same way and causing the same uncomfortable feeling in the people he contacted.

Cowboy’s First Phone Call

So the cowboy was efficient. He would bother to show much interest in the people he called and in fact, never started by asking them to participate in the event he was planning. When he called me, I let him talk for quite, asking questions about his event and how it worked and what he was looking for …

This is what the cowboy wanted from me.

  • Connections to my network to get speakers for his event.
  • Information on how to market to this city.
  • Access to my list even though he’d never met me.
  • Promotional help even though he made no offer of value in return.

I listened for about a half hour to be sure that he didn’t know a thing about me … other than I had a network in Chicago that might be worth tapping into.

I listened long enough to be sure that he never offered anything in return for what he was asking. Then I told him that I thought it was curious that he would be asking for my advice on his event and for access my network, but not being the least interested in who we are or how to return the value.

I called of few of my friends around the city and their stories were even more blatant than my own. I figure that might be because my friends are much nicer in situations like this than I am.

This cowboy wanted to rustle my network and we weren’t supposed to notice?

To Network Rustlers Everywhere

So, to cowboys out there everywhere, I’d like to say something clearly.

cattle_via_howlingforjustice

Take this word from me …

The people in my network are people not cattle.
I value them. I trust them.
I hold their trust as priceless.
I don’t and won’t ever sell them or their time for your money or your promise of attention.
I might occasionally be stupid enough give away my expertise,
but don’t try stealing my friends’ time or expertise

I’ll call you on it.
If you’re using me to get to them, I know you’ll just use them too.

Compared to their trust, whatever you need is irrelevant.

So get along now little doggie. We don’t cotton to folks who rustle networks around here. Build your own network. Do your own homework. Make your own relationships in ways that build community.

I had such fun writing this.

Have you had experience with network rustling cowboys?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

Five Things I’ve Learned During My Writing Journey

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By Terez Howard

I’ve been writing professionally for about 10 years, and the majority of those years were spent at the newspaper. I delved into blogging early this year, and I’ve learned a lot from this experience. These two writing avenues have taught me things about myself I didn’t even know.

I like writing on deadline.

When I first started writing for the newspaper, I was horrified when my editor threw me a breaking story that needed to be completed within a couple hours, so the story could appear in the same day’s newspaper. Now, I love that pressure. It might sound crazy, but I think the adrenaline rush helps me write better than ever, instead of agonizing over every word.

With blogging, I have yet to be on such a tight deadline. However, I’ve learned to not take five minutes over word choice. (Should I say choice or options?) When I blog, I try to be myself and just talk.

I don’t mind asking for help.

Working for the newspaper was a constant learning experience. Each and every day was different. When I was asked to cover a city council meeting when I usually covered Kiwanis Club meetings, I took the time to ask the regular reporter what to expect, what to listen for and what would make a newsworthy story.

As a novice to blogging, I researched how blogging was different from other writing and studied other blogs. I also asked and continue to ask more experienced bloggers for advice and direction. I don’t care if my questions seem stupid because I figure my questions can keep me from looking stupid.

I love to tell stories.

When I worked for the newspaper, I grew to enjoy telling someone else’s story. I felt like I was getting important information into the ears of the public. Feature stories were the best because they featured a person or group, who made some accomplishment or had an interesting story to tell. We can learn a great deal from simple stories.

I once got to write a story about the hometown bakery owner who used to be the manager for Wild Cherry. You know, “Play That Funky Music White Boy.” It was so fun to write!

When I blog, I try to tell stories. Most of the times, these stories are my own, and I have to remember that these stories have a point. Have you ever found yourself writing about something that happened to you only to get to the end and wonder what point you were trying to make?

Newspaper office or home office?

This one’s a draw. I think I like my home office more than my desk at the newspaper. At home, I can write whenever I have a spare moment, which is great with my rambunctious toddler. On the other hand, it can be difficult to jump on my computer to just check my e-mail with an active little girl tugging on my arm.

At the office, I had a set period of time from 8 to 4 every day to do my work. I got the job done. But I also had a lot of down time.

It’s not for the money.

Anyone who has ever worked for a newspaper, unless it’s a very huge paper, does not work for the money. A high school graduate, not a college graduate, could have easily earned what I did somewhere else. I stayed with the newspaper as long as I did because I enjoyed the work, writing people’s stories and being in an office full of wonderful people.

I blog because I love to write. Yes, I want to earn money with it, but I’m not looking to get rich. I’m not saying that you cannot earn a substantial income from blogging because I know it can be done. I just don’t want to.

What have you learned from blogging?

—
Terez Howard operates TheWriteBloggers, a professional blogging service which builds clients’ authority status and net visibility. She regularly blogs at Freelance Writing Mamas . You’ll find her on Twitter @thewriteblogger

Thanks, Terez!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

The Difference Between Begging for and Building Influence

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The Economics of Influence

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People are using the word influence to mean many things these days. It’s easy to confuse influence with popularity.

Recently Jason Pollock commented on Twitter about the Fast Company Influencer Project Project @Jason_Pollack said, I signed up for the “influence project” but quickly realized those at the top were just being very spammy to be there.

Robert Scoble replied with some true words of wisdom … @Scobleizer said, “Seems to me @Jason_Pollock that people with real influence never have to point it out or beg for it.”

They have a point.

Are You Producing Influence?

People rich with influence understand it as a currency. True and lasting influence — like true and lasting wealth — is earned through investment of time and resources. But it’s also a way of thinking and valuing what we do and the people we do it with.

The difference between begging and building influence is the difference between giving to get and investing wisely.

  • The exchange rate. In economics, influence would be a local currency. It’s value is only worth what your network agrees that it might be. The ideal is that you might take a single contact to move people to action. Contests that require millions of votes to choose a winner are an example of hyperinflation.

    Power up your network. Be willing to work to prove your value.

    How can you connect with the people who most represent what you value?

  • The production costs. Producing influence takes resources — spent in building quality relationships, systems to maintain them, content to keep connected with them, and ways to grow those relationships. True influence grows from aligning our goals with others.

    Share your influence as an equal partner.

    How can others be better because you helped?

  • Specialization. People rich with influence have integrated their passions and skills into their sphere of influence. They choose their networks on values and ethics and by doing so have established an automatic barrier to entry.

    Know and value what has drawn you to each and all of your contacts.

    How do you describe your network?

  • Scarcity: Supply and Demand. If oak leaves were currency. They would only be valuable where oak trees don’t grow. People who have influence choose and feel no need to showcase their influence bank account. Their generosity is from a place of strength. They promote what they value in others, not what they hope will return.

    Value your word and the power it has.

    How do you know what not to influence?

When we know the value of our influence, we can invent it wisely in the people who invest back. We don’t feel a need to give our value promiscuously to every person who asks.

Who influences you by the way he or she influences others?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

3 Agency Models: How to Sell Pencils to Attract Fiercely Loyal Fans

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Which One Gets Your Buy In?

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I’ve been visiting a lot of social media agency websites lately and I’ve been thinking about how good people are saying one thing and doing another. For example, how many times have you started a conversation with It’s important to listen. then proceeding to talk about why, without listening first ourselves?

Take my advice. I’m not using it.

I was visiting websites to find a great example for the keynote I’m working on. What I found is that companies sell products one of three ways.

Let’s imagine that execution is a given and that all agencies want to deliver high value to their clients. In other words, let’s say that they’re all basically offering the same set of pencils in a few different colors, a different package, and with a different experience.

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Here’s what I found about how most agencies approach communicating what they do — how they sell that pencil and their ability to deliver the best pencil to the client.

Traditional Transactional Selling

Critical Mass cuts to the chase by answering the question of how to get customers to experience something they have to taste. They underscore their strength in application building and getting to the solution.

We knew that to truly appreciate Budweiser American Ale, you had to taste it — not an option online. The solution? Drive people offline. Our “Alefinder” app guided people to the closest American Ale, and closing the site (literally) for an hour every day, created the perfect window of opportunity to go get some. Cheers!

Critical Mass does a beautiful job of explaining their qualifications and experience. That’s information that new clients surely want to know. I can’t argue with that. [ I do find this ambiguous phrase closing the site (literally) for an hour every day from the quote above and others on the site show a struggle with seeing things through other eyes.]

criticalmass

That’s traditional transactional selling — features and benefits. Sell a pencil by explaining the specs and why your pencil is better. No matter how creative you get with the words, in the end you’re talking about how good you are at making pencils. You win clients who are fans of the best pencils.

Selling Through Prestiqe, Reputation, and Narrative

Sapient, which bnet called the Top of the Top 50 Interactive Agencies starts with story. They explain how their unique experience has given them one-of-kind abilities.

The same customers, and the very same technology, that are now responsible for the dynamic, consumer centric business world in which we live.

A world that most businesses are neither prepared for nor equipped to address.

Sapient does a beautiful job of using narrative to pull back the curtain, reveal something about their values, and defining themselves in a category of one. That last sentence in the quote raises them above the competition. The want elite clients who value prestige.

sapient

That’s selling though reputation and narrative — features and benefits are expected. Sell a pencil by explaining why your pencil will be the Stradivarius, because it will be made by people with unique pencil-making skills who transform pencils into art. In the end, the story is still your story and you win clients who value the prestige.

Selling to Attract with Fiercely Loyal Fans

Brains on Fire changes the game entirely — connecting and demonstrating what they do. They talk to the client about creating fans not customers, not about themselves. Everything they discuss is in context of how they serve the mission of creating fans. The site is written with the personal pronoun “you” — something missing from most others.

Before people can evangelize for you, they have to identify with your cause. So we help create and articulate that identity. A place of belonging that’s bigger than themselves. A shared sense of purpose that lifts people up and celebrates and validates their beliefs.

And believe us, it’s not about influence, because influencers can be MADE. But passion can’t. And it’s not about evangelizing your brand.

Brains on Fire does a beautiful job of demonstrating that they believe in and have achieved a culture that thrives on building communities of fiercely loyal fans.

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That’s selling to build community and attract fiercely loyal fans. Execution and hard work are straight out stated as expected. The usual buzzwords — such as influencer — are pulled out and revealed as what they are. It’s the communities that are featured in the work not the agency. Sell a pencil by making heroes of the people who use your pencils. Feature their fabulous mathematical equations, poetry, art, writing and invite them to celebrate the role your pencil have played in making their lives easier, smarter, faster, and more meaningful. Invite them to swap stories and strategies for making pencils last longer and work better for them. Let them personalize and customize the pencils in ways that let them own your brand.

From the beginning, it’s been about the client and their fans. Fiercely loyal fans understand what it takes to attract fiercely loyal fans.

Who do you see that does a great job of selling a pencil in a way that attracts fiercely loyal fans?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

I’m a proud affiliate of

third-tribe-marketing

What Ben Curnett said … about the Ultra-Marathon of Reflection

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A community isn’t built or befriended,
it’s connected by offering and accepting.
Community is affinity, identity, and kinship
that make room for ideas, thoughts, and solutions.
Wherever a community gathers, we aspire and inspire each other intentionally . . . And our words shine with authenticity.

What is the ultra-marathon of reflection?

It seems the best of us are searching for bandwidth … the time — at the same moment when we have the energy — to pull our best, long, deep thoughts together. The luxury of expanding into our work, our lives, and our dreams with that focus too often escapes us in the noise.


Pamir Kiciman ( @gassho )wrote Watering Ideas at the Reflecting Pool about how to reach out and into ourselves for it.

Here’s what Ben said . . .

Thank you for the post, Pamir.

It’s helpful for me to think of concentration as a muscle. It has a finite supply of work it can do before it gives out.

I can walk up one flight of stairs easily, but after 10, my legs are starting to burn. After 20, I have to stop and rest.

Likewise, I can concentrate on an idea. At first, the idea is powerful, and thoughts come naturally. Slowly, I lose interest and my mind wanders. It becomes harder and harder to focus on the idea, and eventually, I have to stop.

Your bullets for interiorizing the mind remind me of a workout. The more I train, the better my concentration becomes.

I’m curious as to what you might consider the upper limits of concentration. To use my metaphor (if you think it fits), what is the ultra-marathon of reflection?
Ben Curnett from a comment on January 26, 2010

A successful and outstanding blogger said that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

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