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7 Ways to Check … Is Blogging Your Dream?

March 12, 2009 by Guest Author

A Guest Post by Lisa Newton

For me, the answer to this question is a total, unabashed YES. I live, sleep, and breathe my blog, Travelin’ Local.

1-3 Do You Live, Sleep, Breathe Your Blog?

Live. I live in California, and became a resident two years ago; but I’ve fallen in love with it, the people, its beaches, the cities, the mountains—and so much, much more. However, being in California is only part of what I live for. I also live for my other passion which is photography. Many years ago, I played with a 35mm camera, but four kids, a family, and work interrupted my love of photography. A few months ago, thanks to a Christmas gift, my passion for photography was reactivated.

So what better way to express my two passions than creating my own blog where I am able to feature my deeply personal interpretation of my local neighborhoods, with photos, prose and stories, and research about “all things” California? Thus, Travelin’ Local was born.

Sleep. How does one sleep with their blog? Because I’m thinking about it as soon as I wake up, and right before I go to bed, and even (although it’s only happened twice), when I wake up in the middle of the night—burning with an idea, or thought, which I quickly wrote down on my notebook next to the nightstand, before going back to sleep.

Breathe. I breathe life into my blog, and it gives life back to me. Like yesterday. After working for 10 hours at my “day” job, I arriving home, glanced at the sky, and knew right there right then, that I had to go right back out. I happened to see the one of the most beautiful and stunning sunsets I’ve seen in many, many years. So grabbed my camera and started shooting photo after photo, before the sun quickly set—with one of the pictures featured here. Like a bricklayer who uses bricks to build a wall, I choose words as a wordsmith, instead, to construct a story about the sights and sounds of what I see and experience. And because blogging is an instantaneous and spontaneous endeavor, I immediately wrote this to share my story.

4 – 7 Is Blogging Passion, Connections, Dedication and Goals?

Passion. Don’t confuse passion with unrealistic dreams of grandeur. With our newly wired world, it’s easy to get caught up with things that aren’t realistic. On the other hand from the gems of ideas, do spring captains of finance, information technology, publishing, arts, science, and writing. I have a great family, wonderful friends, and feel good about where I’m at. But my love of blogging has taken me to the next level, just as blogging itself fuels my passion.

Meaningful Connections. Another very important reason my blog is important to me is that it affords me with the ability to meet interesting and inspiring people every day. Lance is a tremendous talent and great person who writes about life with uncanny depth and persuasion of conviction. And with her divine photography; Diane C. takes me right into her “home” with her photo blog of the intricacies and fascinating Arizona desert and habitats; and Henie creates art every day, sharing it with her readers. These are just three examples of the wonderful and talented people that I’ve made friends with at my Travelin’ Local community.

Dedication. Even before I started my blog, I spent quite a bit of time doing my homework by reading other blogs, blogs about blogging, joining communities, fastidiously responding to other’s comments, and enjoying countless hours looking at the huge amount of photography on the Internet. I learned about writing, reading, design, and life.

Setting Goals. I created Travelin’ Local because it’s my passion and inspiration. I did so with a very specific creative and publishing model in mind—I wanted to show and share with the world California; but from my own perspective. But along the way, I literally stumbled upon a “name your dream” contest for photographers and photojournalists, to name their dream job—so for me the decision to participate in it was instantaneous. My dream job is to keep doing what I was already doing—which was Travelin’ Local–but taking it to the next level with more and more content and photojournalistic stories. The chance to win $50,000 didn’t hurt my want for the assignment, either.

I looked at it, and of course — California Dreamin’ was my submission. I entered the contest, aware that I don’t yet know as many people online as I want to, but both in degree and kind requesting votes isn’t considered spam. (Yes, I do read Chris Brogan ……………………….:)

Is Blogging Your Dream? I’ve told you all a lot about myself, along with the where’s, why’s, and when’s of what drives me. So back to the original question posed in the title. My blog is my dream which I made a reality, because I live for it, and it in turn inspires me and others, which, in turn, inspires others and others, creating something that will hopefully be passed on to future generations. If you’re so inclined, please take a look at my contest entry, California Dreamin’. It only takes a few minutes to register. To be considered for the next stage of judging, California Dreamin’ needs to be in the top 20 of all entries. I’d love to get a little blogger help, and I know that Liz’s community would totally understand how to help my dream turn into a reality.

What about you? Do you dream your blog? Is your blog a dream? Do you Dream Big?

Lisa Newton writes content and talks about social media at Travelin’ Local . Her twitter name is @LisaNewton

A Goal with Action Is a Wish!

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20 Bucks and Loads of Hope

March 11, 2009 by Liz

I’m That Old

Hey, I’m that old.

I remember when I was a kid.

20 bucks was a grocery bag and more.

Now, all 20 bucks could mean is maybe a drink with a friend … maybe a lunch … stretch it out … two lunches and a movie at home with some popcorn and some Internet.

Or it could mean a t-shirt and load of hope to a family who needs it.

20 bucks.

You get a cool t-shirt.

Some family could get loads of hope.

20 bucks …

Thanks.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

If you’re wondering, I don’t get anything. Thanks for asking. 🙂

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

March 11, 2009 by Liz

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!!

Register for SOBCon

Invest in yourself.

How to Build a Yellow Ferrari Product YOU Resume / Brochure

March 10, 2009 by Liz

Make New Rules — Don’t Be the List

Somewhere along the line, you probably learned rules about writing resumes pr asking for sponsorship. You probably learned about starting with your objectives and your history. What I’m about to tell you is going to break rules … make new ones instead.

The old resume was all about you, anyway. In today’s world, the new rules are all about them. Think about the person or people you are writing to or for. They’re the only ones who count.

It’s easy to think of a resume as a list — three suits: two blue, one gray — of what we’ve done. We tend to think of a resume off as one more painful requirement of job acquisition. We tend to think of a request for sponsorship as a list of what we want. That thinking sets us up for major missed opportunities. With a few tweaks, your resume or your request can be a dynamic tool in your business or career strategy.

You may need the list, but you don’t have to be the list.

Make your resume or your request more like a marketing brochure.

Most people will do what we want if we can prove it’s to their benefit.
That’s your quest.

A Yellow Ferrari Product YOU Resume or Brochure

Imagine that you’re a product — a yellow Ferrari.
Build a spec sheet quantifying your performance stats — those THEY care about.
Ask a helpful — not hypeful — marketing person to help you write copy about your soft skills — the skills THEY care about.
You’re well on your way to serious attention.

Include your product history — tell only what THEY will care about — on page 2.

Use Time and Technology to Show Not Tell

In the age of computers, we should be sending out fewer resumes and requests, not more. Ten well-investigated contacts beat out 100 attempts to knock on the wrong doors. Computers make it easier to seek, find, and learn about the people you want to do business with — be they clients, sponsors, or employers. Use the technology show them, not tell them!

Make a generic Yellow Ferrari Product You Brochure.
Set aside time daily to identify 1 or 2 client, sponsor, employer candidates whose goals match your goals.
Research each candidate to understand how your goals and their goals align.
Use that information to personalize the sample document for each specific candidate.

When we research a company before we approach them, it changes the way we write. It changes our pitch, our volume, our tone and word choice. We see how our personal skill set might add value in their context rather than talking in a manner that’s shooting blind.

A Sample Outstanding Product You Branding Brochure

Turn a resume into a Yellow Ferrari Product YOU brochure.
PAGE 1: Why not start with …

This document prepared for [Company XYZ] by [Person ABC] a web strategist who can offer tested experience to [goal MNO]

Career Accomplishments — Delivers results.
This is a short bulleted list of quantitative results, such as sales numbers, profit numbers, great hires, Google results.
Always numbers first.

Core Competencies — Tends the Intangibles.
This is sections of qualitative skills, such as team skills, management skills, publishing skills, interdepartmental skills.
Key ideas highly organized.

PAGE 2: With your skill set laid on page 1, you can list your chronology simply with far less detail on page 2. Depending on your industry, you might offer it as a short narrative summary in place of or above the breakout chronology — the way some restaurant menus do. [Be careful. More traditional industries won’t find that inspiring or cute.]

Use It as a Promotional Tool

Change the way you look at your resume and you’ll soon find a world of uses for it. Use it as you do your business card. I’ve sent mine to a business friend with a note saying, “Let me know if my voice might help you in the meetings with the publishers you told me about.” Design Page 1 into your blog’s About Page to let your readers know more about you, your brand, and your business.

Most importantly look over what you feature to focus on what has contributed most to your success. Know that just the act of doing so will make talking about what you do more fluent in the future.

What would you expect in a Yellow Ferrari Product You Resume / Brochure?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Buy the ebook.

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

Invest, Learn, Grow!

A Guest Post by Lisa Newton

1-3 Do You Live, Sleep, Breathe Your Blog?

4 – 7 Is Blogging Passion, Connections, Dedication and Goals?

I’m That Old

Image Separation!

Comfort Zone Shock!

It’s Like Open Mic Only Different

Guest host Mark Davidson, Social Media Promoter

Oh, and bring example links about your ideas.

Make New Rules — Don’t Be the List

A Yellow Ferrari Product YOU Resume or Brochure

Use Time and Technology to Show Not Tell

A Sample Outstanding Product You Branding Brochure

Use It as a Promotional Tool

Buy the ebook. Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!

JOIN US TONIGHT AT 7PM

Guest host Mark Davidson, Social Media Promoter

Oh, and bring your questions and sample links with you.

The rules are simple — be nice.

Buy the ebook.

Register for SOBCon09 NOW!!