Successful Blog

Where to Find Liz Strauss During Social Media Week Toronto 2012

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Thanks for Asking

It started with a question, “Liz, are you coming to Toronto for Social Media Week?”
The question led to a conversation and a few introductions and the next thing you know I’m making reservations.
Yes, I’ll be there!

As it turns out I’ll be there, and there, and there.
Here’s where you’ll find me.

Monday, February 13 at 1:00 PM – 4:00 PM

Creating Wildfires, Focus like a Sensei, Be Irresistible

Location: MaRS | Event Page
@SeanMoffitt, @SamFiorella and I (@LizStrauss) are coming together for an interactive debate on the myths and realities of Social Media’s impact on the business bottom line. We’ll be inviting the audience to participate during this rapid fire and highly interactive session.

Tuesday, February 14 at 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

An Empire Avenue evening with the Irresistible Liz Strauss! #SMW12

Location: The Vault at One King West Toronto, ON M5H 1A1 | Event Page
It’s going to be a small group, a cool venue, and an evening of enlightening conversation, cocktails, snacks and fun!! Come meet the engaging Empire Avenue team, including CEO, Duleepa “just call me Dups” Wijayawardhana and me and let us buy you a drink or two. 🙂

Thursday, February 16 at 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM – Networking to follow.

Accelerating Small Business Growth in our Economic Times

Location: BMO Bank of Montreal, (Manulife Centre – 55 Bloor St. West)| Event Page
Sean Stanleigh of the Globe and Mail moderates a panel of social media professionals, which includes , Julie Howlett, Account Director, Global Marketing Solutions at LinkedIn Canada and Chris Eben, Partner at The Working Group.

Then, Ian Portsmouth, editor and associate publisher of PROFIT magazine, moderates a second panel discussion with business owners sharing insights on the issues affecting business growth in Canada. Networking to follow.

And Other Places

Who knows where else I might show up?

So if you’re in Toronto next week, come on over to say hello!
Register for an event and let’s talk!

See you there!

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

Thanks to Week 330 SOBs

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Successful and Outstanding Bloggers

Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,

and the right to call themselves
Successful Blog SOBs.

I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.

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They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and make our businesses stronger.

I thank all of our SOBs for thinking what we say is worth passing on.
Good conversation shared can only improve the blogging community.

Should anyone question this SOB button’s validity, send him or her to me. Thie award carries a “Liz said so” guarantee, is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and is backed by my brothers, Angelo and Pasquale.

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Want to become an SOB?

If you’re an SO-Wanna-B, you can see the whole list of SOBs and learn how to be one by visiting the SOB Hall of Fame– A-Z Directory . Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

How to Reset Your Brain When You’re Burnt Out

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Everything in Moderation

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Whenever my grandmother used to visit, she always brought the same advice. “Everything in moderation,” she’d say, and it would apply to basically anything I was doing at the time. Whether it was stuffing my gourd with mom’s superb cooking, or it was playing games with my friends, or it was rocking out on my guitar, she’d always advise me to take it easy. That advice works on two levels, though I didn’t realize that until later in life.

When I was younger I took her advice to mean that I shouldn’t overindulge in anything. Grandma reinforced this notion once I got to college and she continued dispensing this advice. Clearly she knew I was drinking, but continued her mantra of moderation. I can’t, in good conscience, say that I always followed her advice. There were times, albeit brief, when excess became the rule. But Grandma’s voice always reeled me back to moderation.

It wasn’t until she passed away, six years ago, that I started to think more deeply about her advice. I had just graduated college and was starting my first real job, so many of my past excesses were out of the question. Binge drinking ended with graduation; time to wail on my guitar became scarce; even eating heavily was less of an option, since I actually had to pay for my own food. Yet there was a new type of excess creeping into my life. Every morning I’d sit outside the office door, waiting for someone with a key to let me in. At night one boss or another would make me go home, so he, too, could lock up and go home.

This type of excess led to burnout.

Working more seemed great. I was making good impressions with my bosses, and I was sure to advance faster than my peers. It was what I had planned all along: the fast-track to a high-ranking, and high-paying, position. Yet I had not accounted for the burnout that would come with such strenuous work. Soon enough Sunday nights became a burden, because all I could think about was the terror of going to work Monday morning. Getting out of bed became more difficult with each passing day, and it took longer and longer to fall asleep. Excess had begun to rule my life.

Thankfully, I still had Grandma’s advice to fall back on. Something needed to change, or else I’d realize full burnout. That probably meant quitting my job and might have meant seeking psychiatric help. After deciding that I wanted neither of these things, I decided to take action. Using a single vacation day, on a Friday, I got away for a weekend. It wasn’t a tropical beach, or ski slopes, or any typical kind of weekend getaway. It was to a simple bed and breakfast a few hours away. In this time I developed a plan to help avoid burnout. It has been my blueprint ever since.

Here is a full course menu on how to avoid burnout in your own life.

1. Sleep in. Getting to the office at 7 a.m. and not leaving until 6:30 or 7 p.m. definitely took a toll on me. Thanks to stress, I wasn’t even getting to sleep at a decent hour. The first change I made, then, was to pick one day a week and sleep in. This was usually on Wednesdays, which allowed me to recover a bit from Monday and Tuesday, and left me a bit more refreshed for Thursday and Friday. Getting to the office at 9 a.m. just one day a week wasn’t going to negatively affect my work. In fact, it only stood to improve it.

2. Leave early. Again, this is a term relative to my previous habits. Staying late every day might have made a favorable impression upon my bosses, but it was killing me personally. Everyone needs to unwind for a bit after work, and that just wasn’t happening. Getting home at 7:30, getting dinner, and then sitting around for a bit meant I wasn’t going to bed until around 11 — and not falling asleep for a while after that. Leaving early one day a week would provide some relaxation. This usually came on Tuesday or Thursday, which went well with sleeping in on Wednesday.

3. Get away, Part 1. Changing our environments can help change our mindsets. After going on a business trip, I found that spending time in a place other than my apartment provided a therapeutic effect. A new environment also brought new stimuli, which helped keep me fresh. Most surprisingly, I found that the plane ride, especially on the way home, was a great time for redefining my focus. Signing up for more business trips proved immensely helpful in avoiding burnout.

4. Get away, Part 2. It was still early in my career, and I felt as though taking a week’s vacation, even though it was available, wasn’t a great idea. Still, as the business trips proved, getting away could help a lot. Getting away while not working sounded even better. The solution: repeat my weekend trip to the country. It required just one day off every couple of months, and it provided a real motivation boost. With so many cheap hotels(http://www.orbitz.com/) available on travel sites such as Orbitz, I was always able to find a reasonable rate commensurate with my entry level salary.

5. Keep a journal. Maybe it’s because I’ve been writing since high school, but I’ve always found that keeping a written record of something helps ease my mind. Every day before I left work, I’d create a journal entry documenting the day’s work. It actually helped me pick up inefficiencies, which, once corrected, led to a less stressful workday.

Overindulging in anything, whether it be alcohol, a creative pursuit, or more traditional work, can leave us overstressed and burnt out. That’s not to say that these aren’t worthy pursuits — well, alcohol really isn’t — but the over-pursuit of them can have negative effects. It’s just as Grandma said so many times: everything in moderation. It took a while for me to realize that by everything, she meant everything. But once I did, I learned to manage work and stress. It has led to a clearer mind, and a continually budding career.

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Author’s Bio:
Joe Pawlikowski writes about prepaid wireless services at Prepaid Reviews. He has also started his own resource for telecommuting workers at JoePawl.com

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

5 Social Media Marketing Lessons Learned from People’s Chatting Nicknames

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A Guest Post by
Rahil Muzafar

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Social Media Marketing is easy for those who understand the nitty-gritty of sociology and human’s need to share anything substantial, with their loved ones. Everybody likes to share, even the people who appear to be a little unsociable have this underlying desire to let somebody in on what’s going around in their lives. Any social media marketing campaign that manages to trigger this desire is sure to make it big. Sharing is made extremely easy by all those social networks out there, all you need to know is exactly why, when, and what people want to share with their friends, families, or colleagues. When looking for the answers, there are some invaluable lessons that you can learn by looking at the people’s nicks in your contact’s list (given that you have a fairly large one), let’s take a look at some of these lessons.

Like to share something inspirational:

People look to share whenever they come across something that touches their hearts in a positive way, giving them something good to think about, something to cheer, and something to help them see a silver lining in the dark clouds, that’s the reason you will see people using the phrases like “You are never given a wish without also being given the power to make it come true” or “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves”. Therefore, if you can come up with an article, image, or video which is inspirational in one way or another, you will surely find people who are keen to share that with the friends.

Like to share something hilarious:

Another thing largely shared by people at social networks is anything which is downrightly funny. People love to share a good laugh with their friends, doesn’t matter if it is coming from a witty one-liner, funny incident, videos, or an article. Hilarious videos are one of the most commonly shared types of videos at social media and you don’t need to see any statistics for that. You can simply go to your Facebook page and take a look around. You will surely find a couple of funny videos shared by some of your contacts at any given point of time. Lesson for you; come up with something funny, which is directly related to the theme of your blog/website. It doesn’t necessarily need to be outrageously humorous, anything that brings smile to someone face will do.

Like to share something adorable:

That’s especially popular amongst the female users, apart from the nick names; you can see the popularity by looking at the number of views at videos with babies, pets, and the likes. To make the most of this trend, you need to offer something cute, anything having to do with family and the loved ones, something that ignites the feelings of love, affection, bonding, and care.

Like to share the ironies of life:

This is cynic’s reply to people sharing that cute stuff. You will often see nick names like “It may be that your whole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others” or even the more crude ones like “We are born naked, wet and hungry. Then things get worse”. It’s not easy to come up with something that true yet funny, but that’s probably the most commonly shared type of content amongst adults, especially if it has something to do with their profession.

Like to share something that’s closer to their heart:

At times you will see people keeping nick names, which are not funny, cool, witty, inspirational, or doesn’t even make any sense at all, the only reason for choosing these nick names over the more interesting ones is because there’s something that’s closer to their hearts. Lesson to be learned? Put yourself in your customers’ shoes, and then try to come up with some slide, video, or article that they can relate to, something that’s directly related to their age group, profession, ambition, views, likes, or dislikes, and chances are that they will be sharing that with the like-minded people in next to no time.

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Author’s Bio:
Rahil is an Internet Marketing and social media expert. Feel free to visit his website and avail a yahoo domain code and coupon for midphase. In addition to these yahoo and midphase deals, you will find many different coupon codes and discounts for web hosting services.

Thanks! Rahil!

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

Be a Good Newbie!

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A Guest Post by
Rosemary O’Neill

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Last week, I wrote about how to be an upstanding citizen of the Twitter and LinkedIn worlds. But what if you’re venturing farther into untested waters? What if you’re pointing your canoe toward some of the newer and less-traveled areas of the web?

When a new social tool arrives on your map, it is even more important to mind your manners, especially if there are natives who have been there for a while already. Pinterest, Google+, Quora, Tumblr, EmpireAvenue and others were populated with early adopters and beta testers long before the rest of the Internet discovered them.

If you’re considering planting your flag on new territory, here are some tips that will ensure you are welcomed with a feast, and not eaten for dinner.

Listen & Lurk

My golden rule for approaching a new network is to listen for at least a week (more, if you have time). Read lots of content, and get a feel for the tone of the network.

Be Honest

Don’t try to pretend you’ve been there since the beginning if you haven’t. If there’ an “introduce yourself” area, take advantage of it to break the ice.

Take it Slow

Until you get the lay of the land, treat lightly. Don’t try to “speed date” your new connections. Share little tidbits at a time, and don’t flood the network with a million updates all at once.

Find a Buddy

One trick I’ve used to get acclimated quickly is to find a network “mentor.” Find someone whose behavior you admire, and follow them. Rather than “friending” 100 people at the outset, try to establish one or two stronger connections and build from there.

Look for Clues

Many networks have guidelines, either formal or informal, stating the rules of the road. And if there aren’t any on the website, try doing a quick Google search for “insert social network name + etiquette.” You’ll find tons of resource blog posts that detail behavioral norms for you. Here are a few official resources:

Pinterest Etiquette: http://pinterest.com/about/etiquette/
Quora Etiquette: http://www.quora.com/Quora-Etiquette
Google+ Etiquette: http://insidegplus.com/2011/07/google-etiquette/

If you’re looking for a buddy on any of those networks, I’d be happy to help! You can find me obsessively “pinning” at http://pinterest.com/rhogroupee/, enjoying the Q&A on Quora at http://www.quora.com/Rosemary-ONeill, and building my empire at https://www.empireavenue.com/rosemary. Come introduce yourself 🙂

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Author’s Bio: Rosemary O’Neill is an insightful spirit who works for social strata — a top ten company to work for on the Internet . Check out their blog. You can find her on Google+ and on Twitter as @rhogroupee
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Thank you, Rosemary!

You’re irresistible!

ME “Liz” Strauss

Can You Find Success Following a Firing?

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One of the most challenging situations a person can find themselves in is trying to secure a new job after they’ve been terminated from a previous position.

While there is hope of locating employment following a termination, the odds are definitely lessened for such individuals, who must fight through the stigma of being removed from a company.

The bottom line is resiliency and the ability to best explain away why you were let go.

For those individuals who have to deal with such a situation, keep several things in mind:

  • Deal with reality – It is never easy when the pink slip arrives and you’ve been fired from a job, especially from a financial stand point. That being said, the bottom line is you have to locate a new position and the sooner the better. Don’t let the anger you more than likely have from your firing carry over to the job interviews you go on. By putting the most recent experience in the rear view mirror, you will stand a better chance of doing well on job interviews and securing a new position;
  • Understand why it happened – Employees get fired from jobs daily, so you’re not the first and you certainly will not be the last. One of the worst things you can do is not grasp why you were let go. You may not know all the details, but it is important to have a general understanding of why it happened so that you don’t repeat it in your next job;
  • Sit back and reflect – In some instances, a firing may be the best thing that can happen to you, permitting you the time to decide on whether or not you seek a career change, etc. While you will likely have to tighten spending while you look for a new job, the time away can be positive for reflection;
  • Keep your head up – Looking for a new employer is a full-time job in many instances. You will have employers who will not respond to your resumes, employers who will interview you and then lose interest when someone better comes along, and employers who would like to offer you job, but that stigma of being fired leaves them a little unsure of you. The bottom line is that you can’t afford to throw yourself a pity party at this time. You need the work, so plow forward until you find what you’re looking for;
  • Don’t hide the truth – Getting fired is never fun, but don’t compound the problem by lying to a potential employer. While you may do your best to hide the fact you got fired and not laid off, you would be amazed how word can quickly travel. If you lie to a potential employer or even someone who ends up hiring you, it could come back to bite you, given the employer will question if they can trust other things you say;
  • Avoid issues with your new job – Once you finally do find that next job, take what you learned from the previous experience so you hopefully do not repeat it this time around. The goal is always to learn from your mistakes, so make sure you understand to the best of your ability why you were fired and don’t put yourself in that position again.

If you were recently fired, how are you dealing with it and have you started back on the job hunt trail?

Photo credit: ehow.com

Dave Thomas, who covers among other subjects’ phone systems, writes extensively for Business.com, an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.