Successful Blog

Online Business: How Do You Make a Living from This?

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A Guest Post by Terez Howard

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Successful entrepreneurs asked that question. You’ve asked that question, and sometimes I’m still asking that question.

An epiphany: it all goes back to gardening.

Let me explain. My brown thumb has kept me from killing another cactus and from watching seedlings waste away. But this year, I decided to give gardening a chance. Since it’s early in the gardening season, I don’t know whether the fruits of my labor will produce anything edible or not. I’m proud to say, though, that my green beans are towering and my spinach is plentiful.

What do you care, right?

Well, I did research, asked my friends for advice and jumped in. That’s what we do. We research how we can make a living as our own boss. We join forums, follow blogs and ask the experts to give us direction.

What happens after that?

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DO SOMETHING. Don’t get stuck as a professional student, always reading and studying but never graduating and starting a career. This might sound like lunacy coming from a blogger, but stop reading so many blogs and responding on so many forums. Take some time to build your own business, and don’t let the possibility of failure to paralyze you. Some seeds will not germinate. It’s part of business.

I’m not going to give you an exhaustive list of how you can get started as a business owner. You can gorge yourself on a buffet of such information. All I want you to do is one thing that will lead you toward your goal. Of course, you have to know what your goal is first. Maybe you want to make an income selling an original fitness routine. Today, sign up with Twitter with the goal of giving your potential and future customers daily exercise tips. It’s not much in the way of marketing, but it’s something.

With my garden, I knew that I wanted to pay $1 for a package of seeds and get 20 times that amount in produce. The end result motivated me to get started. This goes back to your business goals. If you know what you want to gain, then you’ll be more likely to get moving. Write your goals down and keep them handy as a personal motivator. Post them in your workspace.

Oh, and the time is now. Time to get started on that garden!

Do you know your goal? What sort of garden is it?

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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 … you said it perfectly and with style.

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

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Cool Tool Review: Plancast

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Todd Hoskins Reviews Tools for Small Business

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I’m delighted to introduce a new feature. Todd Hoskins will be choosing and using tools and products that could belong in a small 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.

Plancasting
A Review by Todd Hoskins

How do I break into an industry? Where should I go to meet the people who can help me broaden or deepen my network? What events are worth my time?

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Plancast, a new free service from Worldly Developments, helps answer these questions.

There’s been a lot of attention paid lately to location-based services. Foursquare, Gowalla, and Twitter are effective at communicating where people are geographically and what they are doing. Plancast shows you the future – the places and events people are planning to attend.

The business value can be immediately grasped. Subscribing to the plans of investors, clients, or people within your industry or network, allows you to prioritize the events you want to attend. By sharing your own plans, you give people the chance to find you.

Signup is simple with Facebook Connect and Twitter integration. Your profile is imported, along with the option of Facebook friends and Twitter followers. Then, you enter event information – what, when, and where. There is no RSVP functionality – it’s a plan not a commitment. The option exists to share your plan through Facebook or Twitter, or you can export through the iCal format. You can subscribe to others’ plans, then view them on the Plancast site or within their new iPhone app.

Personally, it’s a great way to keep track of parties, festivals, or concerts friends are planning to attend. The effectiveness is entirely dependent upon adoption. Since Plancast is only a few months old at this point, there are a limited number of people casting their plans onto your laptop. But I predict this will change.

Worldly Developments has secured some new funding, so we expect some improvements hopefully including better tagging and categorization of events (an aggregated database would be ideal), grouping of subscribers, alerts, integration with event sites, and more mobile apps.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 1/5 – more events, dashboard would provide some value

Entrepreneur Value: 4/5 – user base of influential people already

Personal Value: 3/5 – with widespread adoption this functionality will become a must-have for social scheduling

Thanks, Todd! You can find Todd on Twitter @ToddHoskins

What about you? Have you used it? What do you think of Plancast?

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

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Trust … We’re All Pretty Enough

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Do You Really Listen?

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Think about it.
All around us are folks who just want to belong.
They’re saying, singing, living the lyrics to a song by Kasey Chambers …

Am I Not Pretty Enough?

Am I not pretty enough
Is my heart too broken
Do I cry too much
Am I too outspoken
Don’t I make you laugh
Should I try it harder
Why do you see right through me

I live
I breathe
I let it rain on me
I sleep
I wake
I try hard not to break
I crave
I love
I’ve waited long enough
I try as hard as I can

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I laugh
I feel
I make believe it’s real
I fall
I freeze
I pray down on my knees
I hope
I stand,
I take it like a man
I try as hard as I can

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why do you see
why do you see
why do you see right through me

….

We’re all pretty enough.
And we all try as hard as we can.
I see you.
Let someone know that they are not invisible.

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

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Social Media Book List: Interview with Author Joe Heuer aka The Rock and Roll Guru

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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 and writers by managing their online promotion. As part of my job I read a lot of books (and I love to read anyway!). I am here to offer a weekly post about one book I am working with and one book I have put on my reading list. This week I decided to doing something a little different…an interview with one of the authors I have highlighted on my weekly series. The books will cover topics such as social media (Facebook and Twitter), organization, career building, networking, writing and self development and inspiration.

#DreamTweet

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Please share with the readers a bit more about you and your background?
I’ve been fortunate to do some really groovy things in my life, from coaching college basketball to writing books and speaking. I’ve always chosen projects to work on and books to write by order of deliciousness…in other words, I base the vast majority of my decisions on what I think will be the most fun. I believe if you always do fun things, there will always be plenty of fun things to do. That’s my personal mantra, as well as my business plan.

It is true, even though you have an immense love for rock and roll, you have never been in a rock band?
I don’t play an instrument and I’ve never been in a band. However, I have been to hundreds of concerts by my favorite rockers.

With your book, #Dream Tweet, it is all about inspiration. What does inspiration mean to you at its core?
According to my rock & roll philosophy, inspiration is a synonym for fun and joy and passion and appreciation. When we’re inspired we’re groovin’ on what we’re doing all the way down to our toes. It’s when we feel most alive and in tune with the universe.

How did you become interested in the rock and roll so much that you made a living out of it?

Rock & Roll has been my muse and my passion since I was a small child. My older brother swears I could sing entire Beatles albums by the time I was four years old, which was in 1965. I also remember him bringing home the early Dylan stuff and between that and the Beatles, the die was cast and I was a rocker. It’s been my constant companion ever since.

Share with the readers about your book, #DreamTweet.
I’m blessed to be living my dream as the Rock and Roll Guru. Seriously, is there a cooler job title in the world? I wanted to share my thought process for living my dream, because it’s not at all complicated. The book is about creating a dream, taking inspired action, having a ton of fun and detaching from the outcome while groovin’ on the journey (the journey of life, not the band Journey).

For those wishing to live their dreams but don’t know where to start, what is your advice?

Focus on what you love to do, and make time to do more of it. Do what you love in the spirit of service with all the joy & passion you can summon. Live in appreciation and be open to opportunity, knowing you can design your life around your passion and dreams, whether that means making it your career or business or hobby or whatever floats your boat.

You are a speaker as well as an author. What advice do you have for those who are beginning a speaking career?

Speak as often as possible and get really good before you start asking to be paid.

What is next for the Rock and Roll Guru?

I’m totally stoked about another book I have coming out next month titled The Rock and Roll Guide to Customer Loyalty. I’m probably the first person to interpret customer service/customer loyalty in terms of rock & roll. We’re making the ebook available for free at RockandRollGuru.com, and that will be up on the site within the next week. No strings attached. You don’t have to register or give us your email address. Just download the pdf. Of course, if people like it they can also buy a copy of the printed version…or many copies to give as gifts.

My other hugely fun project right now is the Rock & Roll Dictionary. It has been an absolute blast working on this, as I use my Daffynitions approach to explain my favorite rock stars. I’m thinking I might finish it this summer…or not, as the spirit moves me.

Here is a fun question just for fun sake. What is your favorite album?

My favorite album is whatever is on my turntable right now…or what’s in the car stereo…or what I’m listening to on my iPod as I go walking.
How can people stay in touch with you and purchase copies of your book, #DreamTweet?
My Rock & Roll headquarters is RockandRollGuru.com. You can find all my books here or at your favorite online bookstore. For a daily dose of fun you can also follow me at both twitter.com/rockandrollguru and twitter.com/daffynitions

Listen … Are You Doing Enough?

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Italians, Prohibition, and Internet Strategy

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My grandmother, Liza, was born in northern Italy in 1884. She was as tall as I am. I’m not sure, but that might be why she immigrated to this new land.

When Liza arrived here at the turn of the twentieth century, she ended up in a village of about 1000 people. Almost all of them spoke Italian. Most of the men worked in nearby the coal mines. My grandma ran a saloon.

Somewhere along the line, Liza got married and had three children — my father, my uncle, and my aunt. All three grew up speaking two languages. In 1919, two things happened.

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  1. The United States Congress passed the 18th Amendment, which banned the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol.
  2. My dad — of course he wasn’t my dad yet — turned 12 that summer and left home.

My dad traveled about 7 days to get to the biggest town, two towns over and 30 miles away. He found a job, working as an Italian shoemaker’s helper for 50 cents a week. He found a place to live with a brother and sister who offered a room in their home. They were Italian immigrants … and bootleggers.

My first generation American worked for the shoemaker, worked in a factory, and worked in the 700-degree heat as man who silvered mirrors. He used tell stories about what he learned in every job he took. He also talked business in Italian and English at the dinner table of his landlord every night when he went home.

He never was a bootlegger, but he a learned lot from the guy who was. He used to say that had he been, we’d have been a lot richer when I was growing up. But that’s not my point. He was plenty successful as it was.

At the height of the American Depression — two more things happened.

  1. The 21st Amendment to the United States Constitution ended Prohibition on December 5, 1933.
  2. My dad and the bootlegger who became his partner opened a saloon that same day.

You might think that Internet strategy works differently. It doesn’t. The Internet is wider and faster. You don’t have to walk for days, but the people are the same.

Italian or English, Online or offline … strategy is a practical plan to use the conditions and your unique skills and position to act on opportunities as they come.

I’m sure there were lots of folks who talked about building a saloon when prohibition was over. But in that town my dad and his partner were the only ones who didn’t just talk.

Are you doing enough?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Blue ‘Vette, Pink Flamingos, and Customer Relationships

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How a Car Made a Conversation

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I had the lovely experience of spending two hours with @connieburke in a Chevy Corvette Grand Sport while we were at SxSW. It wasn’t because I’m anything special. Chevy had two ‘vettes, two Camaros, and the Chevy Volt ready for Ride and Drives so that folks could have the experience.

On Sunday when my SOBCon partner, Terry Starbucker walked by the cars, we stopped to say hello and talk to Connie about how ride and drive was going.

All I did was ask.

“Hey, Connie, you know I used to live in Austin. We could take one of these ‘vettes to go see the house we built. I could show you hill country and why folks really love it out by the lake.”

All Connie did was ask.

“I’ll put in for a car on Tuesday. Let’s see if we could make that happen.”

As it turned out, Tuesday it was raining … our GOOD luck because it meant we got the Blue Grand Sport for a couple of hours.

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Connie and I hit the road at around 11:30 a.m. As we started, she was driving. Google maps wasn’t much help getting us to where I wanted to go. We ended up having a conversation with Onstar.

Seemed kind of weird having OnStar in ‘vette, just sayin’ … Good weird though because it got us to the “pink flamingos” at Pots and Plants the Nursery at 360 and Bee Caves Road in Austin.

The flamingos enticed us to pull in and park.

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But I think Connie was most partial to the old Chevy truck.
Or maybe she was just taking pix for my dossier.

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I took the wheel as we left. Going up the on ramp to 360, I slowed for a car to pass. Connie quietly said, “Ya know, you have the acceleration.”

Oh yeah! I was driving the ‘vette.

While we took 360 out to 2222 old route then to 620, I told stories of ’69 ‘vettes — one that my best friend, Nancy, raced in gymkhanas and another that my husband raced in the Grand Nationals.

When we reach the house I once lived in I looked over the fence to see the red oak I planted in the clay caliche soil in the dry Austin heat.

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On the way to Austin’s famous Oasis restaurant on the lake, we told stories about how our kids grew up. We talked business and possibilities.

At lunch we did about 10 minutes trading our favorite Stephen Wright jokes. Who knew that about either of us?

And at the end of lunch, I bought t-shirts for my son and my husband who’ll remember many meals we shared there.

That’s how a car connected Connie to my best friend, my husband, my son, a house we built — all parts of my history — and a hillside full of pink flamingos.

I became a person during that conversation. So did she when she told me some of the same things.

You can bet that I’ll be showing up if she calls. Proof to seal the deal is that I’m not sharing the conversation on the way back into Austin down 6th Street.

It’s not so outlandish that blue ‘vette and some pink flamingos would lead to good business … The car connected us in a mutual experience. Our trip wasn’t about the car it was about the people in it. The car started a conversation that led to a relationship. I can’t imagine how much longer it would have taken to cover the same ground without it.

This wasn’t a free ride without purpose. It was building relationships one person at a time. Back at the convention center, our meeting with Mark Horvath went even better because we knew other just that little bit more.

We’re already ready exploring some ideas together. A natural one is Chevy: Your Mission. Our Drive. People who would like to make a difference in their community (with the help of Chevy vehicles and volunteers) can fill out a short, online application on our Facebook Chevy Missions tab or follow progress on @ChevyMissions

Every business is relationships and relationships are everyone’s business. Companies who reach out fearlessly with trust in their customers are the ones who can win.

You must have a story about how a product connected two people in business. Will you take a minute to share it now?

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Thank you, Connie and Chevy for that … looking forward to how we’ll be helping folks in North Central region with the new initiative.

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

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