Successful Blog

Have You Found the Irresistible Rock Star in You?

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An Ever-Growing Group of Fans

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Social media can be an interesting exercise in watching the number of people who click on the button to become followers or fans. Yet you’ve probably met that fickle group who easily buy in on a whim bo become a friend of that kind.

Sometimes we connect to be around in case we need each other. Not every friendship needs constant maintenance. We make conversational networks of acquaintances. We make large groups of Twitter friends. We know that they not really fans. Some might be around for the longest time without actually listening. Or they might clearly participate for “15 minutes” until something or someone shinier or more interesting happens their way.

It’s unreasonable and unrealistic to think that every person would be a lifelong friend. I’m not sure anyone could handle the load if it were possible for a life like that.

But some folks have a way of attracting dear friends and loyal fans. They’re the rock stars of whatever world they’re working in. They so love what they do and do it so well that they attract an ever-growing group of devotees and fans. These rock stars have three unmistakable traits that make what they offer irresistible.

  1. A Beginner’s Mind …

    “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” –Steve Jobs

    Malcolm Gladwell says it takes 10,000 hours to get from good to great. Music, science, acting, cooking, art, architecture, engineering, writing — any domain you might name — has core group of knowledge, insights, and best practices that defines a solid, quality product in that space. A real rock star has the curiosity, takes the time, and puts in the work to saturate his or her mind in finding out how every bit of that works. Until we understand how the notes in the scales or the colors in the palate combine in positive, structural forms, reaching for the creative or the beautiful will be a random attempt to make something that sticks and stays.

  2. A Creator’s Heart …

    If at first, the idea is not absurd, there is no hope for it. — Albert Einstein

    All that learning of the traditional pieces and parts becomes a real rock star’s tool kit. Rocks improvise and innovate by making new connections and new relationships. They see opportunities to solve problems, make art, and surprise us with the results because they know their domain well enough to play with it. They don’t fear failure or small risks.

  3. A Giver’s Outlook …

    Do what you love in service to the people who love what you do. — Steve Farber

    Rock stars aren’t stingy with their talent. They also know that their core group of fans will never include everyone. A jazz musician doesn’t try to be a star pitcher in the world series. Rock stars make simple and elegant offerings to the people who value what they do. They don’t worry about the folks who want something else.

Knowing, playing, and centering in on the people who thrive on what you do. Those are the keys to an irresistible offer. Every one of us has the power to reach inside to find that rock star potential and make it evident.

Look to the ideas, the topic, the thing that you can’t NOT do. Learn everything you can about it. Go deep and wide learning and experimenting with combination and creations just to see what happens. Then have fun showing other folks how you can use what you love to solve problems for them.

Have you found the irresistible rock star in you?

Make new connections …
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz on your business!!

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Have You Ever Used the Power of Being an Original You?

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I've been thinking . . .

about the search for the original idea.

I used to work to find only original ideas. Learning about true originality has be an education in business, self-awareness, and life for me.

True originality –a brand new idea — is rare. That’s probably a good thing too. True originality is expensive and hard to sell.

Original ideas are take time, precious time, to conceive, imagine, invent, and develop. They’re a risk of resources by the very fact that they’ve never been tried before. They’ve never stood a test or built a following.

The more original the idea — the harder it is to explain. Marketing is a huge endeavor — just figuring out how to describe something people have no experience with. How do you relate something that’s never been to what they know? How do you prove the value of something awesomely original?

And if no one has imagined it before me, no one is using Google to find it.

Those times I’ve had what was surely “a never been done before totally original idea,” I realized later that maybe other folks had been there before. Maybe they too had conceived my brainstorm and found that

  • the idea was impossible to execute.
  • it was incredibly expensive.
  • no one wanted to pay for it.

These days “never been done before totally original” ideas doesn’t interest me.

What gets my attention is an “original YOU.”

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People who know their unique value can bring a unique something to an old idea — they can make something people know more personal, more profitable, and more pleasurable (or less of pain).

Have you ever used power of being an original you?

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One, Alone, but not Lonely … in the real world

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I've been thinking . . .

about the number one, about being alone and being lonely.

I’ve been thinking about how separate we are for almost as long as I’ve known me.

One. I was born one.
One of my friends — a twin — said that he so didn’t like being lonely that he was even born with someone else. But you know, I don’t even think being born with someone else closes the gap … between selves.

No matter how close two people get, we are never each other.
We will always be one.

It’s why I like this picture.

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The minute we try to blend with another … be it a friend or a lover … hopefully we learn that alone is not the same as lonely.

One, alone, but not lonely is a proud and powerful word in the real world.

Have you felt the difference between alone and lonely?

Liz's Signature

Do You See the Light Sources Shining On You?

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A Thought to Reflect Upon

This morning I caught this photo of the harbor. The hour was too late to catch the sun. You can see the shine, but not the source.

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Shortly after I turned on my computer to find this love message from my new friend, Jade Craven,

Thank you so much 🙂 I see why many of my friends rave about you.

It struck that the photo and the message have something sweet in common. You can see the light shining, but not the source. You have to assume the sun. I don’t know which friend Jade and I might have in common.

That got me thinking about the friends and folks all through my life who said and done things to help me shine as I’ve grown. So many light sources have helped me shine. It’s a stunning thought to reflect upon. My light is filled with gratitude.

Do you see the light sources shining on you?

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

Buy the ebook. Learn the art of online conversation.

Extreme Hesitation and Extreme Strategy: Are You Willing to Own Your Life?

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I've been thinking . . .

about hesitation and strategy.

I was painfully shy as a child. If you’ve been there, then you know. Painfully shy is literally painful — it scrapes at your being. You know who you are are, but for some cloudy reason, a wall prevents you. You can’t let the world see you. All you are or all you can be stays tucked away .

It’s what today would be called Extreme Hesitation.

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Yet leaders outgrow those childhood fears and walls, don’t we?
Do we?

I was faced with a situation last winter. What was awful was that — even to me — the question looked so trivial, but it had to do with what I had named “visible authenticity.” They said wear this. I said “no.” They cared more than I did. But we had agreed that I would be dressing to reflect the essence of my personality. “This” wasn’t me.

I felt painfully shy once more … I recognized the conflict, but now I was grown enough to put words to the feeling.

I knew me better than they did. Authenticity was my choice, and choosing for me was my responsibility..

I learned about owning my life.
I think of it as Extreme Strategy.

Choose your own path, but always choose wisely.
Leaders don’t need to follow, nor do they choose the road that will draw the most followers.
They don’t say “yes,” when their hearts and their feet are telling them to say “no.”

Traveling other our path is what makes being shy truly painful.

Leaders don’t hesitate in moving forward.
People who are afraid do.
Leaders don’t look for approval.
They know.
They go where their head, their heart, and their purpose compels them to go.

And people follow.

Because deeply knowing where you’re going is irresistibly attractive.

Authenticity is the key to leadership strategy. Own what you know and find the opportunities. The rest is just learning. We’ve been doing that since we started school.

Are you willing own your life?

I make connections.

Liz's Signature

Have You Outgrown Your Comfort Zone? Is It Time to Find a New One?

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Image Separation!

It took four hours and a few minutes.
After that I watched 8 thirty-gallon garbage sacks ride away in a car never to return again. They were from a pile called “Donations.”

The four hours and few minutes weren’t at all what I expected. I had spent them with a lovely, professional wardrobe consultant from the image studios. Her job was to help me sort through what parts of my wardrobe presented me and represented me according to these criteria:

  • colors that enhances with my skin tones
  • fit that works with the rest of me
  • style that reflects who I am (to a personality baseline we’ve defined.)

Sounds tame and simple enough, doesn’t it? All head. No worries.

I was clueless.

Comfort Zone Shock!

Sunday morning I had two closets of well-behaved clothing — a fine collection I’d amassed in years of coming, going, working, growing. By Sunday night, I had this left hanging lonely …

.. and another thirty-gallon garbage sack filled with clothing needing alterations.

Folks on Twitter said it should be freeing … but it wasn’t.
It’s still not.
It’s interesting.
It’s confusing.
It’s enlightening.
It’s scary.

It’s not freeing.
It’s uncomfortable.
It’s a little hard not to think empty.

When I sat with Kali that first day, she asked, “Are you ready for this?”
I said, “I’ve been thinking about this for 14 months.”
She asked it again in another more profound way.
I’m now understanding what she meant and why she asked it.

I’ve been hit smack dab in the face with “Who are you really?”

Old habits seem to stay with us longer than we need them.
Old thoughts that once protected fence us in.
Old stories and old worries keep us from moving.
Old friends and old ideas can block paths to new ones.

Being too safe can be risky.
Knowing too much can get in the way of learning.
Draw a circle around who you are and your potential will walk the line.
I know for certain — I had to throw away the old jeans to understand why I needed new ones.

I’m wondering if I’m not the only one.
Have you outgrown your comfort zone?
Is it time to find a new one?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

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