Successful Blog

Imitation

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“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
Coined by Charles Caleb Colton in 1820 in his ‘Lacon.’

“Imitation” happens all the time on the web and is the source of much frustration for newspaper and other print media. The concept of “fair use” and “scraping the web” are terms mostly used when talking about copyright infringements for print media producers. The idea that citizen journalists can now report on news and other happenings with information taken from news sites it a disturbing phenomenon for many journalists to deal with, not to mention print media in general.

But is this type of imitation really flattering? Is this plagiarism? You’ve worked hard on your post. You’ve taken the time to think about it and possibly, do some research. You’ve carefully written and posted it on your blog. It’s your content based on your idea. Later , you discover through Twitter, or a friend that the very same content has been taken, copied and posted on someone else’s site! Sound incredible? It happens.

I’ve even seen it happen even on Twitter! We all know, or learn quickly (there is a LOT of twitter advice out there) the idea of the RT. You see something of value from someone else and you share. The RT is the attribution, the link back. Twitter has been called micro blogging – when you see something you’ve found and shared go by two seconds later from one of your followers with no RT, do you feel flattered by the “imitation”? I don’t.

I think it’s important to protect you work, your ideas, your content. The very idea of taking the time to think about, write and post your ideas deserves respect. That respect should allow you the right to not have your work copied without permission. Creative Commons is an excellent resource to help you with this. There are different licenses you can apply to your work that will protect it. A great resource for questions regarding this issue is Jonanthan Bailey, @plagiarismtoday on Twitter. He would be happy to discuss anything related to “imitation” with you.

Have you had experience with this and your writing? Do you see this as a problem?

from Kathryn Jennex aka @northernchick

photo credit: The Green Album

The Secret of Work-at-Home Businesses

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The theme of SOBCon09 is the ROI of Relationships. To underscore the importance of relationships in business and to have a chance to make and celebrate a few while we’re doing that, I’ve opened up this series by successful and outstanding bloggers like you.

The Secret of Work-at-Home Businesses by Bizymoms.com

“Working for someone else is nothing like being an entrepreneur and the boss of your own business. To become an entrepreneur requires a different plan or map. You’ll be taking a different road to a different destination.”

~Noel Peebles (Author of “Sell your business the easy way.”)

Hundreds and thousands of home-based businesses are testimony to the growing popularity of work-at-home jobs. This is understandable; most people today are looking for work-at-home options because of the constantly looming threat of the dreaded recession-related job-cuts. Working at home also offers most people relief from a hectic lifestyle made worse by work-related stress.

However, not all such ventures are successful. What is then, that differentiates a successful home-based business from a not-so-successful one? What is the secret-formula that all those successful work-at-home business entrepreneurs are using? Noel Peebles was right; to become an entrepreneur requires a “different plan or map.” What is the plan/map that you’re going to use?

Do you have what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur? Just keep the following in mind and you should be on your way to building up a successful home-based business.

Don’t get caught to “get-rich-quick” schemes

The recent years have also seen a rise in “work-at-home job-scams.” This is when so-called “job posters” use “fake” job listings in order to get hold of applicant details, which include both personal and financial information. It’s important to be-aware of such scams before you start applying for jobs online. Always think twice before you provide any website with any of your details, no matter how “authentic” the website may seem. And remember – if it sounds too good to be true; it probably is. Contact the Better Businesses Bureau (BBB) for information on the company- The Better Businesses Bureau’s website will also give you information on complaints, (if any), in relation to the company. And if you require information on commission actions, contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Do something you enjoy!

If you don’t like what you’re doing, chances are that you’re not going to do your best. And if you don’t do your best, chances are that you won’t succeed. For your business to be a successful one, you simply have to do your best; give it your “best shot!”

Business planning is a must

It doesn’t matter how “small-scale” you think your work-at-home business is; you have to have a business plan. A business plan will help you plan effectively and keep an eye on your goals as well. Planning every single aspect of your business will ensure that most things – at least the ones in your control – run smoothly.

Be “money-wise”

Make sure you keep the cash flowing. If required, get yourself a good money-manager. No business can survive without a reasonable “cash-flow.”

Be “time-wise”

In order to manage a successful home-based business, it’s important that you manage your time wisely. This will ensure that your business runs smoothly, effectively and of course – efficiently. Even if what you’ve got is a small-scale, three-hour, part-time job; it’s important that you get yourself organized. When you work-at-home, most often than not, you get to choose “when” you want to work. This added time flexibility also means that most people who work at home begin to take time for granted. Make sure that you use the “time-flexibility” that comes with most work-at-home jobs, to your advantage -instead of the other way around. Allocate “business time” and make sure that you stick to your schedul

Create your own “work space” within your home. Get yourself organized. And no; you can’t do it later! Procrastination is a slow-but-sure way to kill your business. It’s also a very easily developed bad-habit; especially when you work at home.

Advertise effectively

Effective advertising can go a long way; whether you do it via a website or through flyers and leaflets distributed within your local neighborhood. Word-of-mouth advertising can go a long way too – so make sure you keep those customers happy.

Take extra care to keep your customers happy

Pay attention to your customers and make sure that you “follow-up” and “follow through.” Remember that keeping your customers is extremely important – just as important as “winning new ones over” is. Research has shown that most businesses thrive on business from regular customers rather than on business from new ones.

Atya Shakir is Manager of Webmaster Relations. he arranged for this article written by the writers of Bizymoms.com , which has been dedicated to helping women work from home for over 10 years! Visit their interactive message boards, informative articles, help and advice from the Bizymoms’ Home Business Support Team and achieve your own work at home dreams with our home business start up kits.

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Experience the ROI of Relationships

How Do You Invite a Shy Company to Taste Social Media?

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Sometimes a Taste Is All We Need

Last night David Panscot wrote a compelling comment on my blog. His question was how do we get people trained to broadcast a message to become part of a culture of trust relationships?

He already knows what we all do — it’s hard to change thinking like that. It requires a cultural shift. It takes empowerment to face the risk of doing something that goes against what “we’ve always done.”

I always think of how Baskin Robbins gets us to try something new. They give us a taste before we buy.

Here are five ways to invite a shy company to take a taste of social media.

  1. Invite a member of the organization to be an advisor on social media project. Ask him or her to sit in on calls as you decide the direction of your plans.
  2. Invite the organization to become a sponsor by offering to lend a hand in the form of design work on your marketing effort.
  3. Invite two or three traditional organizations to participate in a survey that you might send to your customers about how they might like to interact with your product or your web pressence. Then send them the results of the actual survey once it has been completed.
  4. Invite an organization to try a limited size version of a social media class that you want to pilot.
  5. Invite the CMO of an organization to be your guest at a local tweetup. As you introduce him or her, ask folks to tell share the single most important value of Twitter.

That’s a start. Not everyone of these might work for every organization or environment. The point is to give folks a relevant taste that fits easily into their lives — no risk with noticeable benefit.

How do you invite a shy company to taste social media?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

The Mic Is On: Meet Linda Sherman and Explore Your View!

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It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

The Mic Is On

Here’s how it works.

It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.

There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun it is until you try it.

Linda Sherman Is Hosting Tonight

The Topic Is

Does Your View At Work Enhance Your Life?

We’ll be exploring the view we see with our view of work and life. As Linda said this week, ” I believe that a gloomy room saps energy from your head and heart.”

So what is the view beyond your computer?

  • How do you feel about it?
  • What might you do to improve it?
  • What might the perfect working view be?
  • and what’s been the best view in your life?

Of course, we’ll get off topic, we always do …

Bring a photo of your view and jump into the conversation!
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Do Leaders Wear Jeans? Does What You Wear Show Who You Are?

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How We Look at Each Other

I’ve always been a bit frivolous and uninvolved with fashion. I like nice things, but I don’t like to spend time acquiring them, maintaining them, or thinking about the right thing to wear. Maybe it’s because I grew up with the luxury of school uniforms. Maybe it’s because I try not to define people by their clothes and their hairstyle. I say try because I know that I still do.

  • When someone comes to a geek party looking like she just stepped off of a yacht, I think she might have missed the boat on connecting with this group.
  • When a guy’s hair is dyed so screaming comic book pink I have to fight to see the face beneath it, I wonder what he doesn’t want me to see.
  • When I’m in a room of highly fashion savvy people, I start shrinking a bit and wondering what other cool things they know that I don’t.

It’s not fair really, but I think things based on what people are wearing. We all do. We sort with our eyes before anyone even says a word. We assume a person’s visual presentation reflects his or her choices, values, and intelligence. We gravitate toward people who choose as we do. People who look like who they are and what they’re saying get our trust more easily. When the clothes and the conversation don’t match, we go with what we see.

How could I have been slow to realize that a disconnect in what people see would make it harder for them to “get” me? I connect more easily with people online than off.

Let’s consider something as simple as a pair of jeans. Who’d have thought that a new pair of jeans would shift my ability to connect by 180 degrees?

Do Leaders Wear Jeans?

When I first went to The Image Studios last fall, I was told that my jeans had to go. I argued with the idea.

I work with geeks. I don’t want to look younger, but I don’t want to look something I’m not. AND I sure don’t want to look my mother!

The smart stylist who had just met me. Let it go.

You might remember that right before SxSW Deshaia, a talented stylist from The Image Studios came to my condo for Wardrobe Smackdown 1. She explained again that my jeans had to go.

These jeans you have on are baggy, traditional, and acid washed. They say who you were. You need jeans that communicate who you are. In your case, they need to speak to Connected, Irresistible, Intuitive, Creative and Loving.

Jeans communication. Strangely enough I sort of got what she was saying. The jeans I had were from the 90s. They looked old fashioned and comfortable — not alive, creative, and innovative. My jeans drove off in a bag of Good Will donations for someone who authentically is still living in a baggy, traditional, acid washed world.

With no time to lose, I bought the new pair, contemporary and well fit. Suddenly, I understood — soon as I put them on I felt more “with it.” I’m sure I looked more connected to now than 10 years ago.

old jeans Joes Jeans

The new jeans (right) add credibility. I look like I know the ideas that suit the world now.

Do they change my thinking? Of course not. But they underscore my values before I even talk. That’s what this visible authenticity project is all about — being seen, heard, and understood on every level. When your jeans are working for you, you don’t have to work so hard.

Baggy, traditional, acid-washed jeans doesn’t communicate my ideas or my values.
Contemporary, well-fitting, one-of-kind jeans worth talking about do.

Does what you wear show who you are?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Related:
Visual Authenticity: How Do You Show Your Promise?
Why Play the Game, If We Aren’t Playing for Keeps?

Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: Linda Sherman Enhances Your View

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Join Us Tonight

JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM
With Guest Host Linda Sherman

Does Your View At Work Enhance Your Life?

My theory is that you will certainly feel better if you are working in a beautiful place. A view is a gift to yourself. A message that “I’m worth it”.

Oh, and bring example links to photos of your view at work.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Do be nice. 🙂

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?