Successful Blog

The Possibilities at SOBCon 2009

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This is a guest post from one of our attendees, Gail Lynne Goodwin, Ambassador of Inspiration:

Gail Goodwin
Gail Goodwin

Just a few short months ago, my husband and I had a visioning session together where we dreamed BIG dreams without limitation. We asked ourselves one simple question- “What would I do if I knew I could do anything, and knew that I couldn’t fail?”

That one simple question has opened doors and knocked down walls. Imaginary walls that only we saw- until we eliminated them with an easy change of our thoughts. What if there were no barriers? If you knew you were going to be successful, what would you choose to do? What’s the biggest contribution you could make?

In just 3 weeks we’ll be together at SOBCon09. In the meantime, I invite you to answer that question for yourself. What would you do if you could do anything and you knew that you couldn’t fail? Anything!

At SOBCon, we have the opportunity to get together with mentors and peers to brainstorm ideas, look at the possibilities and make life-enhancing decisions. I believe now is the perfect time to really look at what we choose in the world, rather than what has shown up by default.

Many of the masses lead as Thoreau said, “quiet lives of desperation”. As entrepreneurs, I’d like to think that our lives are more intentional and that we are all following our dream. Even so, when my husband and I asked ourselves this question, things expanded and our lives grew exponentially. Our Global Hug Tour launching this fall came from this exercise.

But hold onto your hat, for when you ask this simple question, your world will shift. Don’t believe me? Just try it.

When you ask this question out loud with another person you’ll be surprised at the result. You might have to remind each other- there are no limitations- you can’t fail.

Share your dreams. Vision together the “what if’s” of life. Pretend that you are ten years old and have that amazing, unlimited imagination where you still believe in unlimited possibility.

I don’t believe it’s possible to sincerely and intently ask this question without all kinds of possibilities coming up for you. It might be scary, but just remember the guidelines of the exercise. You can have anything. You can do anything. You can be anything. Anything! No limits. No restrictions. Just wide open space to fill to your heart’s content. How cool is that?!

The Universe will never give you a dream without the ability to make it happen. Therefore, if you have the dream, you already have the resources to make it happen- even if you may not be able to see it just yet.

This is so much easier than you think. You get to say “WHAT” and the Universe gets to say “HOW”. The most important step is in asking the question, “What would I do if I knew I could do anything, and knew that I couldn’t fail?” and all else flows from that.

Today, take the first step. Act and the Universe will follow. Take one baby step closer to your dream and watch what happens. It’s like the floodgates of the heavens open up and shower blessings down upon you just for taking action. One baby step turns into another until you’re jogging through life with a huge smile on your face, living your dream. Woohoo!

Above all, don’t let your fears stand in the way of your dreams. Your dreams are yours and yours alone. No one else can bring forth the dream or the light inside of you, so go ahead, and let it shine! The world needs your dream so feel the fear and do it anyway!

Please bring your dream to SOBCon and share it with me. I’m looking forward to not only meeting you, but supporting you to help make your dream your reality.

With gratitude and hugs,

Gail

It's Not How Big the Tool … It's the Thought, Skill, Fluency, and Authenticity Behind It

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Show ‘Em What’s to Love

Are you caught up in the conversation about social media tools? It’s fun to talk about what they do. We could spend a lifetime inventing new toy and tools that measure and move conversations on the Internet. Unfortunately, that won’t make business more relational or more efficient.

As we reach further fragmentation in the communication business, influx points how critical it is for us to specialize, get to know the tools and to put them to proper use.

Ad agencies aren’t that well equipped to play in this space, given their fundamental skills are all about creating commercial messages, not bare bones, message free entertainment. In social media, it’s about having specific tools, data sets and people skilled in the media who can create responses and ideas with social applicability.

In the short term, this will force agencies to identify and work with third parties to engage in this practices, where strategically relevant.

The opportunity is here for new working relationships. We can make the transition easier if we:

  1. Think vertical — the business opportunities will be in relational niches.
  2. Start with a marketing plan, a problem or a goal that your vertical is working on.
  3. Choose and use the tools that will best meet the goal and solve the problem.
  4. Name and claim the skill sets that the tools you’ve identified require.
  5. Evaluate and analyze the contribution of each particular tool to further the solutions and meet the marketing goals.
  6. Propose what you know to the companies in the vertical you’ve chosen.

My point is that no big brand, no agency is going to be able to speak print, television, radio, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blog, and other social media with fluency. Few people are that social media “multi-lingual.” The opportunity to specialize is huge.

It’s not about the size or scope of our tools. It’s our thought, skill, and authenticity when we use ’em. It’s about showing them what’s to love about what we do.

The key problem before us is …
How do we help business become fluent in the social sphere while maintaining authenticity for us all?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy the ebook.

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Invest, Learn, Grow!

Guest Host Tuesday Night: Meet Linda Sherman and Change Your View

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Be Here for Open Comment Night!

Meet up with us on Successful-Blog, Tuesday at 7pm Chicago Time.

Linda Sherman Is Hosting
Open Comment Night,
Tuesday, April 7, 7pm Chicago Time

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 …

So start saving your links, or better yet, bring a photo of your view

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related article
What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?

Beach Notes: Feel the Future

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by Guest Writer Suzie Cheel

I was inspired with the words from this billboard advertisement
which graced Snapper Rocks during the recent QuickSilver
Roxy Pro Surfing Championships.
Just in case you are curious the full image can be seen here

With so much gloom and doom around you have to ask what kind of
future do you feel

We can all choose to feel the way the doom and gloom merchants
would like us to feel or we can change our emotional vibration
to feel positive. In other words we can choose to feel a
prosperous and bright future. It is up to us!

So will you have positive feelings about your future today?

Suzie Cheel & Des Walsh

Will You Remember Who Paid the BAAA-Studs?

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Saturday Night at the Virals …

Picked this up from a fabulous article at influx about the new sophistication in the world of viral.

Looking at the world of viral, it seems to have shifted into a new gear recently. The LED sheep film for Samsung is evidence of the sophistication of viral. It’s no longer a one hit gag wonder, it’s layered and detail and full of lots of elements.

Watch this it’s a fabulous 2 minutes and 44 seconds

Influx makes the point that social media is now about special and specific tools, understanding data sets, and people with the ability to create socially applicable and strategically-relevant responses with immediacy.

But the question remains …

A week from now, will you remember who paid the BAAAA-Studs in the video?

Or will you just remember the extreme sheep LED art tricks?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Thanks to Week 180 SOBs

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muddy teal strip A

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.

muddy teal strip A

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