Blog - Successful Blog -

Two Things Successful People Do to Get Where They're Going

April 24, 2009 by Liz

Things in Twos

Yesterday Karen emailed to say that she won’t be able to attend SOBCon. Her company is sending her to California next weekend.
Karen has been a good friend to the conference and an attendee since the beginning. This year she was also going to speak with Glenda on accessiblity. Later in the day, I found out that Saul Colt had a similar situation.

It was the kind of news that happens. That doesn’t make it less disappointing. I got two for the price of one.

How did I get to be so lucky?

Two Things Successful People Do to Get Where They’re Going

Yesterday was a day of twos, I had two speakers to replace and two last minute contracts to write up. I had two kinds of people come knocking — people who wanted to help and people who wanted me to do something for them. The event prep for two events came through — two key things were missing. I had two other projects that I wanted to move forward. The details to be handled seemed to be multiplying by twos every time I communicated with anyone about anything.

I had two choices — to take a nap or to keep going.

At about 2pm, I was going through more SOBCon preparations and my eyes landed on the name of man I admire. I got thinking of something simple and profound he once told me.

Successful people do two things to get where they’re going — talk and move.

It only took those two things to get everything back in order.

I’m pleased to announce that Jeff Willinger will be partnering with Terry Starbucker Friday afternoon at SOBCon to bring a spectacular session on the infrastructure of an online business. And a second plan is in action for Karen’s session with Glenda. Can’t wait for that.

Two more things about talking and moving …

Talking needs to be about the opportunities.
Moving needs to be invested in a positive action.

Thanks to all of the people who’ve been helping!

What sort of positive talking and moving have you been doing?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Connecting with New People

April 24, 2009 by SOBCon Authors

Here are some simple to follow steps toward developing your people skills and enhancing your network:

1. Be nice, and everything else will fall into place.

Our friend and mentor Liz Strauss has a motto for SOBCon, “Be nice.” How hard is that? How many people do it? Being nice creates likability and trust. People do business with other people that they like and people they trust. Ask yourself “How friendly are you?”

2. Project yourself in a way that creates a positive attitude in others.

Your handshake is an indicator of your self-image. So is your wardrobe. Everything from your hair to your shoes is an expression of who you are and what your style may be, or not be. Is your image acceptable to those you seek to connect with? Do you make them feel comfortable in your presence. Reach out with your personality in a positive way and help the people that you meet be positive too.

3. Make eye contact.

Making eye contact is a display of confidence and a display of respect for the other person. Do you find it easy to make eye contact? Do you feel suspicious when others do not make eye contact with you?

What are some other things that you can do to meet new people and grow your network?

Questions: Are Social Tools Making Introverts into Extroverts?

April 23, 2009 by Liz

Energy Inside or Out

Today in a telephone conversation with @PJMcGuire, we talked about how people see us and who we are. She mentioned that she had called herself a “people person,” and someone she works with said, “No, you’re more than that, you’re a traditional extrovert. You get your energy from other people.”

I’ve always found the differences between introverts and extroverts to be fascinating — mostly because each group seems to think that the other is flawed. Even those of us who don’t know or don’t understand the basic difference between the two groups seem to think that there is a right way to respond. Meaning another way must be wrong.

Introverts renew their energy by going inside themselves. When they’re bearing stress, they seek to be alone to find comfort and solve problems. Other people’s energy drains their reserve. Introverts are less likely to seek stimulation from others because their own thoughts and imagination are stimulating enough.

Extroverts refuel by being with other people. When the house falls in, they want to talk it out. Hearing themselves talk is how they solve problems. When they’re with other people they get recharged. Extraverts (also spelled extroverts) tend to be gregarious, assertive, and interested in seeking out excitement.

Are Introverts Becoming Extroverts on the Social Web?

Dr. Mike Wesch said, “The media mediates relationships.” As we lose context, we reach out for community. Research shows that younger generations are more extroverted.

It’s not fully understood why some people are introverts and others extroverts. The ratio is changing over time. CPP (formerly Consulting Psychologists Press) is the publisher of the Myers-Briggs assessment and has testing data going back 50 years. It plans to release research showing younger generations are becoming increasingly extroverted. Those born before 1964, including baby boomers, are split about 50-50 between introversion and extroversion, but 59% of Generation X (born 1965-81) are extroverted, as are 62% of Millennials (born after 1981). —Not all successful CEOs are extroverts

I interviewed bloggers daily for over a year. It became clear within a short time that the bloggers I spoke with overwhelmingly described themselves as independent introverts. That seemed to make sense then. Blogging is a writing task that requires reflection. Now I wonder whether that was then and the folks who chose to participate.

Now I see the changes in myself and some of those interviewees as I look across the web. It took me a long time to get to Twitter, but now … beware following me. I tweet a lot when I’m there.

Many of us have been slow to adopt Twitter then become very chatty as we get comfortable there.

People see me as an extrovert, but I’m not. I’ve heard the same from blogger friends. I understand why people think so. I look around and wonder … are the tools making us extroverts or just making us seem so? Are we introverts or have we become something different in this context?

Are introverts becoming extroverts on the social web?

Can we really think of it as being extroverted if we’re not actually WITH other people?

Is it possible for an introvert to become an extrovert — changing energy source from inside to out?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy the ebook.

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!! Invest, Learn, Grow!

What I Learned By Eating Pizza from the Wrong End First

April 23, 2009 by SOBCon Authors

Today we are featuring a guest-post from Robert Hruzek:

[Note from the Proprietor: The basis for this post comes from an – well, let’s call it an “incident”, shall we? – that happened last year at SOBCon08 in Chicago. Unlike your typical episode of Dragnet, however, names have NOT been changed to protect the innocent because – hey, let’s face it – there ARE no innocents here!]

All right y’all; I have what is (or if it ain’t then it should be) the Question Of The Ages: Is there, in fact, a “wrong” way to eat pizza?

The reason the question comes up at all is because of a little-known incident that happened at last year’s SOBCon08.

An Urban Tale

I arrived in early afternoon on Friday (May 2), ready for pretty much anything – or so I thought. The incredibly talented, always witty, and tremendously all-around good guy Brad Shorr gave me a ride from O’Hare to Hotel 71 in downtown Chicago. It was an extremely bighearted gesture that ranks right up there on the kindness scale with, er, doing your homework for you, helping you on moving day, or donating a kidney. (Don’t mind me, y’all; Brad kindly offered to do it again this year, so I figured I’d better keep, y’know, layin’ it on thick.)

Anyhoo – as assorted SOBCon’ers drifted in over the course of the afternoon, we gathered at the sidewalk café out front of the hotel. The weather cooperated nicely, and it was kinda like old home week. We shook hands, posed for countless pictures, and generally had a great time getting to know each other face to face. It was a great way to start the weekend, I’ll tell ya!

Now besides Brad, one of the OTHER folks I really looked forward to meeting was Joanna Young. (I’m not sure, but I think Joanna may have won the “I travelled farther than you did” award, having flown all the way from bonnie Scotland for the weekend.) After nearly a year of getting to know her and Brad via each other’s comment boxes, we’d developed quite the friendship, and it was time the three of us finally met in person.

(As you can see from the photo, we make quite a fine-lookin’ bunch, don’cha think? I’m the handsome galoot there on the left. Although I’ve asked around, I still don’t know who the Bubba behind us was – the fellah with the funny white hat.)
While we all glad-handed each other, the café waiters kept pretty busy delivering a steady supply of snacks and drinks, among which were several of those little hors de oeuvres type pizzas. (Hors de oeuvres, as you probably know, is French for little tiny food – not something we see a whole lot of in Texas.)

I helped myself, along with everyone else, and it was only after a few bites I noticed Joanna had committed an incredible faux pas, actually taking her first bite of pizza from the wrong end! I would swear (if I was the swearin’ type – which I’m not) it was as though a dark cloud passed in front of the sun, the birds stopped singing, and the air became suddenly very still. (A lot like those E.F. Hutton commercials when that guy is about to tell you what “they” would’ve said…)

Well, not wanting to be a party to, y’know, the end of the universe as we know it (and of course bein’ the soul of tact), I naturally did the gentlemanly thing and discretely pointed out the minor error in judgment. (If memory serves me right, I believe I pointed at Joanna, hollering out something along the lines of, “I can’t believe you just took a bite of pizza from the wrong end!”) [I’m almost positive that last never happened. – Proprietor]

I’m tellin’ ya; if you weren’t there you missed a definite Kodak moment! For about 27 milliseconds, Joanna’s eyes got about as big as that plate the pizza was sittin’ on. But then of course (after nearly falling over in a dead faint – or nearly taking a swing at me – I’ve never been quite sure which) she quickly realized I was merely yankin’ her chain.

Anyway, it’s no exaggeration to say that little memory remains a cherished favorite from my entire SOBCon08 experience.

What SOBCon is All About

Now, you may be wondering about that last statement. After all, this happened before the conference had even started, y’know? And over the next two days we were privy to all kinds of great workshops, keynote speeches, and working sessions, all filled with powerful – possibly even life-changing – information.

But in truth, it made me think about something much more fundamental. For instance:

SOBCon is About Blogging. Hey, the S.O.B. acronym says it all, doesn’t it? Successful and Outstanding Blogger. After all, I bet the likelihood is probably fairly high you initially connected with each other via this incredible now-not-so-newborn medium called blogging. I’ll tell ya, the ONLY reason I knew of this event is via Liz Strauss and the amazing blogging community at Successful-Blog.
SOBCon is About Writing. Over time (and through the patient encouragement of several special folks I trust), I came to realize that for me, blogging was more than just tellin’ folks what I had for breakfast, or which episode of Seinfeld was lined up for the evening’s entertainment. Nope, somehow it transformed itself, like a lump of bauxite into a polished aluminum aircraft wing, into something ‘way more powerful: writing. What’s the difference, you ask? Well, if you slave over a keyboard, searching for just that perfect word – if you find yourself considering what kind of reaction you’ll get from those words – if you truly care about what you write, and how it’ll be received by your readers – then surprise! I’d say you’re a writer.
SOBCon is About Business. Although the initial SOBCon back in 2007 was kind-of a prototype event, since then the focus has more narrowly been lasered in on the business of blogging. And that’s a good thing! The fact is, most of us are probably in various stages of turning our writing into a business, and I’m no exception. Although just a hobby at first, nowadays my thoughts turn more and more to making an income – maybe even (dare I hope for it?) a genuine living – from the words I spend so much time crafting. If that’s you (or might, one day, be you) then you owe it to yourself to come to Chicago and find out how it might change your life! Besides, ya gotta start somewhere, right? If not now – when?
SOBCon is About People. Without a doubt, though, THE most important thing SOBCon taught me is this: When you get right down to it, it’s about the relationships we develop that really count. And the fact that we’re actually a pretty diverse group of folks merely underscores that fact, y’know? Despite that fact – or more accurately, because of it – we represent an amazing force in this ol’ world! Hey, it don’t matter one whit if you eat your pizza from the pointy end or (shudder) the round end. The only thing that matters is our mutual care, respect and support for each other’s abilities – and potential. I don’t know about you, but as far as I’m concerned, that’s what I call a game changer!

So What About You?

Now, if you’ll pardon my, um, waxing eloquent (which is an ancient Chinese saying that translates roughly to lay it on thick and polish it to a nice, shiny coat), I said all that to bring us down to this one final question:

If you’ve ever looked in the mirror and thought to yourself, “Self, maybe there’s something to this blogging thing after all. Maybe I should find out more about where it’s goin’ – and where it might take little ol’ me.”

Well, if that’s you, my friends, then my totally unsolicited, but completely heartfelt advice is for you to beat a path to Chicago on May 1st for SOBCon09! (In fact, come a day early for the festivities!) Hey, I’ll be there, and I hope you are too. Just look for the hat!
____________________________
Photo: Blogging Buddies, by Joanna Young
____________________________

Robert Hruzek

Robert Hruzek Robert Hruzek currently lives in Houston, Texas, and thoroughly enjoys being married to The Most Wonderful Wife in the Whole World (sorry fellas, it’s no contest). He is usually employed as an engineering project manager, a job that allows him to travel, live and work in many interesting locations within the United States and around the world.

Robert writes on the Web at Middle Zone Musings (http://middlezonemusings.com/). It’s described as a comfortable place to stop, have a cup of coffee, swap a few stories and share practical ideas for the real world. He doesn’t ask for much, just a bit of your brain every now and then. Why not drop by, grab a seat, take a load off, and relax…

You may contact Robert by email at: rhruzek [at] sbcglobal [dot] net.

Social Media Buzzwords

April 22, 2009 by SOBCon Authors

Amber wrote a very thought-provoking post at Altitude last week (which I have to admit that I didn’t see in my feeds until Saturday – it was a busy week!) about the trap of Social Media Buzzwords:

You’re trying to discuss and describe the movement that is social media. Imagine you’re not allowed to say any of the following:

You need to join the conversation

It’s about relationships (or people)

It’s not about the tools

You need to be listening

Transparency

Authenticity

Can you come up with illustrative ways to describe it’s value without resorting to the lingo and buzzwords we’ve already beat to death?

One of the powerful elements of social media has been that it strips away many of the artificial trappings that have weighed down marketing and communications for decades.

We got mired in our lingo quicksand in that traditional, push communications world. We got lost talking about brand attributes and key messages and talking points and brand promises and all those terms, and we forgot what they meant. We lived and died by our contrived, scripted fallbacks, and often propped up buzzwords in place of real strategy and action. [Emphasis mine, Ed.]

I recently moved to a small town in New Hampshire and have been busy getting to know my new neighbors and townsfolk. Often I am asked about what I do for work and I have to be very careful about my answer. I have to be careful because many of the people that I meet only use the internet for e-mail and sharing pictures.

If I were to talk like this: (yes, it’s kind of a joke)

I just had a conversation on this very topic yesterday with a client who was interested in attending a conference but was concerned about justifying and explaining the ROI and the metrics of synaptic-node-linking.

I told her that many of these conferences are portals in the new media marketspace that can provide a way to extend her personal network via a fractal geometry and optimize her social media presence.

Leveraging these connections would expand her sphere of influence many times over, creating an aura of credibility and authority that would establish her as a thought-leader and give her tremendous influence in her community. I helped her prepare a logarithmic analysis of the long-tail effects of hyper-connectivity in the e-commerce modality, and that cleared everything right up.

…I would get nothing but a blank stare and no chance to engage this person in the future about a business opportunity.

How would you describe what you do if you could not use buzzwords and jargon in your description? Let’s have some fun with this and leave your response in the comments.