Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe 12-07-07

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are from the Past

Do you remember when these great finds were featured in Successful-Blog posts goneby . . .

seomoz.org guides our blogs with “a complete overview of many of the processes, techniques and strategies used by professional search engine optimization specialists.?

w3school.com guides us as we tweak and code.

Institute for Interactive Research guides us through a new interface. “Within this interface you won’t find any buttons. Instead you navigate the contents in a different way. . . . Prepare yourself for the new situation . . . ”

Sandy guides us a cool program for playing logos and buttons to replace typography.

vitamin guides us through C.R.A.P. design — “The four golden rules of site design. Simply follow them and watch the accolades come flooding in.”

Eyes on Design guides us through Photoshop.

Related ala carte selections include

I’m guiding you to one your might have missed.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend! See you when I’m home again!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 11-30-07

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Everyone take a second to click through to vote for Glenda today! Bookmark the site and keep voting. Let’s whether we can put her in first place. We’re awfully good at community. Why not this?

Design Your Writing Life explains how to get your life in gear for the new year.

chrisbrogan.com explains how social networks deliver value.

Anubis Marketing explains the value of planning how what we’re going to have to set aside for 2008 in terms of the internet.

Codswallop explains how to “working with Excel and want take your Excel skills to the next level.”

Copyblogger explains how we might need to sober up before we hit the publishing wall with a publishing accident.

The Artsy Asylum explains a “brave new world where you can socialize, theorize, benefit from others’ thinking, network, all from your bedroom wearing jammies.”

How to Save the World explains that meaning is part love and magic.

Related ala carte selections include

Jonathan Fields explains how “a good chunk of your weight gain, moodiness and brain-fog may be due to your sleep habits.”

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How to Receive a Compliment Without Being a Self-Centered Idiot

by

Most Folks Have Been There

relationships button

It was a one-person project and one you fell in love with. You put your heart in it and delivered beyond expectations. The project was elegant. Every minute you worked meant every detail came together with the highest quality.

This morning you presented it to the executive team. Just now, the president of the company came up to you in front of your coworkers and said, “Congratulations, your project and your presentation were outstanding.”

Suddenly it seems as if all eyes are looking at you. What do you say?

You’re pretty sure that saying, “Damn right, it was!” is probably not the right thing.

How do you answer a compliment without denying it or looking like a self-centered idiot?

How to Receive a Compliment Without Being a Self-Centered Idiot

The idea of accepting a compliment has come up in conversations with Ann Michael, Phil Gerbyshak, and Allan Cox this week. The discussion with each of them centered on the dynamic of why people have a problem accepting a compliment and how to handle the self-conscious feeling that is often attached to the attention a compliment brings.

Receiving a compliment with grace and feeling good about it is easy if you remember to do three things.

Compliment: “Your presentation was outstanding.”

  1. Don’t make it about you.
    Example of a response to avoid:
    Let me tell you about it. I was up until 3 a.m. every night this week. My computer crashed last night and my kids have the flu.

    A compliment is conversation. A speaker tells a offers a listener information about his or her opinion in the form of praise. The content of a compliment — even when it’s personal in nature such as You’re a wonderful human being. — is simply a statement of a point of view. Keep yourself out of the response.

  2. Don’t discount the speaker’s gift.
    Example of a response to avoid:
    It wasn’t much. I just threw something together.

    The speaker has offered a personal thought in your favor. To deny it or discount it is to say that the speaker has made a mistake in judgment. Value the speaker’s words in your response.

  3. Acknowledge the speaker’s words and stop there.
    Examples of a response that works:
    Thank you for saying that it means a lot to hear it from you.

    Focus on the speaker and the value of the speaker’s words. That guarantees your response will be graceful, respectful, and not about you.

That sentence in Step 3 was my default answer for the first few tries. Now I no longer freeze when I hear a compliment coming toward me. So I listen, focus, and respond even more thoughtfully. I enjoy compliments now that I no longer make them about me.

It’s not a hard habit to develop these three steps in receiving a compliment. Try them once and you’ll most likely be ready to put them to use every time. The exchange that occurs is so much more natural. It’s normal conversation without the “spotlight” glaring in our eyes.

It’s nice to let someone know that you heard and value their compliment. Sometimes it even allows you a chance to offer an authentic compliment in return.

You’re irresistible. Thank you for stopping by.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 11-23-07

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Creative Think brings news that Various studies suggest men and women have differently structured neural networking possibly due to early exposure to sex hormones during critical prenatal and postnatal periods.

Copywriting.com brings information on how to expand our reach. These are 10 methods you can start using this same week to start building momentum and kick-start your blog’s readership immediately.

Essential Keystrokes brings news of a book that isn’t just for beginners. Lisa sent me a copy of the book to review (and I’m giving one away at Casual Keystrokes right now). All I can say, is that it doesn’t matter whether you are an experienced WordPress pro or a brand new blogger needing all the basics, this book is worth every penny.

Business of Design Online brings relief for times like these . . . So you’re sitting at your desk, trying to focus on a piece of creative work – but it’s hard to concentrate, there’s something nagging at your attention. Suddenly it pops into your mind – you’ve forgotten something urgent!

Chris Webb brings links to some of the most interesting news on the web this week. Does Kindle signal the end of traditional books?

Related ala carte selections include

Problogger found this at Inside Google who picked it up at YouTube.

If you don’t know the story of the now-famous book and blog about the Fake Steve Jobs, listen in as author, Dan Lyons, reveals it. He belongs on the Comedy Channel.

42 Days Becomes 24 years

It took that guy on the couch and me 42 days to get married — 24 years ago today. How cool is that?!!

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 11-16-07

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Logic + Emotion asks “Is the business world really ready to work a little differently? Evolve business models and offerings? Offer new solutions? Or will we cling to how it’s always worked for us in the past?”

Cube Rules recalls how ” . . . a Google Alert sent me to a brand new web site and presented me with a great kernel of truth written in a way that is both inspiring — and obvious for those of us searching for the truths of career management.”

Sunny Schlenger says, “In Neale Donald Walsh’s workshop at Celebrate Your Life, he said that there are two basic questions to ask of life, and that it’s extremely important to put them in the right order.”

lifehack.org points out that “Emailing an expert — or anyone you don’t know personally — to ask for assistance or input requires some finesse, and done well it’s far from the easy way out. . . . unless you give them a compelling reason to be interested in you and your project, they have nothing to gain by helping you.”

The Lonely Marketer advises “If you’re a marketing manager wanting to jump into social media, but your superiors are hesitant to give budget for the effort, you really need to think out how to position the medium.”

Related ala carte selections include

Life Coaches Blog relates that “I’ve found great things to come out of taking time off to do nothing and be nothing. My mind clears, anxiety lifts and new ideas come.”

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB Business Cafe 11-09-07

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

Dosh Dosh wants you to know that “The other bloggers in your niche are attention assets you can exploit. Don’t treat them as competitors, even if they promote a similar affiliate program. The internet is big enough for everyone.”

Your Fellow Blogger is Not a Competitor

chrisg offers “Here below are my 5-star daily reads, exported, unedited, exactly as they are in my feed reader of choice, BlogBridge.”

Dave Olson observes “Today I had a full day off where I didn’t have to travel anywhere or go into the office or meet with anyone. WEIRD!”

Name Wire explains “Some domain name specialists argue that if you don’t choose a generic name, one that describes the nature of your business, for an Internet-based company, you are leaving money on the table.”

Related ala carte selections include

phocks explains that A brand new store has just opened in New York City that sells Husbands.
When women go to choose a husband, they have to follow the instructions at the entrance:

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

Have a great weekend!

–ME “Liz” Strauss