Successful Blog

SOB Business Cafe 10-03-08

by

SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

GasPedal is doing something special for folks who deserve it.
We’re trying to raise a ton of money for some very deserving groups that need the cash, so we put a few BlogWell tickets up on eBay. 100% of the proceeds — EVERY PENNY — goes to charity.

PR 2.0 lays out the state of affairs in our socialsphere.
As networks become densely populated and new communities arise and thrive, we’re experiencing a fundamental shift in content creation, distribution, and consumption, thus creating an Active and Participatory Media society that is inspiring and seeding a more literate and enlightened generation.

Business is Personal lays out the meaning of real.
When marketing a product to women, there’s one thing you simply have to try to do if you want to hit a grand slam home run: Get yourself or your product on Oprah.

The reason is simple and I hope, obvious: Oprah’s viewers trust her.

Doc Searls Weblog explores our relationship with living inside each others’ heads.
Traditional journalism is static. Its basic units are the article, the story, the piece. The new journalism is live. It doesn’t have a basic unit any more than a river or a storm have a basic unit. It’s process, not product.

The Ripple Effect reports on what the economy didn’t cause.
A customer in front of me asked why they were closing and one of the employees remarked because, “You don’t come in on Sundays. We don’t make any money so we are closing.” The comment was said in such a way that it could have easily been taken to mean their livelihood or lack thereof on Sunday’s was somehow this poor lady’s fault.

Remarkable Parents address problems with human resources.
First, a word about the incident that prompted this memo and took place at headquarters yesterday. Many of you, I know, heard it—or heard of it—and I need to clarify actual events to dispel any notion that the CEO of Coddled Teenage Boy Enterprises was at fault.
Because, as you know, it’s never my fault.

Confident Writing addresses a timely writing issue.
We live in a time poor, information overloaded world. That means your readers are information overloaded, time poor too.

That makes time (and energy, and attention) a big potential barrier to engaging your readers.

It also means you can use time to your advantage by showing your readers that you respect, and value, their time.

Related ala carte selections include

Do It Myself shows us the real deal.

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Little Bloggers Grow . . . What I Learned When I Blew It

by

We’re Only Ever So Big

relationships button

Yesterday I found myself far outside my comfort zone. It was culture shock — like what might happen if you returned to a hometown that has a code of conduct that you once knew well, but didn’t realize you’d left behind completely.

RESEARCH SHOWS that when a tall person is unexpectedly sent into a room of people who are significantly taller, that person unconsciously will revert to childish behaviors true to the last time he or she experienced being shorter than everyone. If the person is prepared, that doesn’t happen.

I wonder if that’s what happened? . . . except the difference in this meeting was about culture, vocabulary, and expectations.

Previous conversations had set up what we’d be discussing — an agenda for a meeting with their client. What I heard was working together to solve a problem. I’d done my homework — studied their website and their client’s website. I was ready to talk about how to approach unfolding the information within the context of the specific problem.

At the office, a fine group of nice people entered a glass sided conference room. All choose to sit on the opposite side of the conference table — no one had a laptop.

The first item of the meeting was my credibility. It might be restated as “Why should we listen to you?” Though the question is both appropriate, relevant, and valid, I’d come thinking we’d worked that out in previous conversation. So started an unexpected group dynamic, this wasn’t the work session I’d prepared for. I’d misread the previous conversations.

Was I the tall person in the room of even taller people? I don’t know. What I do know is that I couldn’t answer the simplest questions or organize the most elementary thought.

I was thrown completely.

When I got home I called to say, “Let me help you find the person to do this.” I shared a lovely conversation with the gracious woman who brought to that meeting. We debriefed for 5 minutes and talking about mutual respect.

Could I have done what they need? I’ve been successful at such things many forms or I’d never have gone there. But sometimes you have know when you’ve artfully blown it, and the best recovery is to admit that you know it.

I’m grateful for the lesson that reminded me to put these thoughts together.
Today I’m reminding myself

  • that every new situation is just that — a new situation with new people and cultures to get to know and understand.
  • that even though we speak the same language, two people can often be saying different things without realizing it. That’s why listen’s so important.
  • that hidden assumptions, especially those that come from past successes and my cultural biases, are the ones that I most to watch for when I imagine new situations.
  • that if I remember to overprepare with information and come with a “beginner’s mind” biased toward connecting and away from preconceived notions I’m always in a better place and focused on the other person.

Last night, someone reminded me of something that happened at BlogWorld Expo. Brian Solis, Jason Falls, Chris Brogan, and Lee Odden led a panel talking about bloggers and PR firms when a thoughtful person from a business asked how she could possibly afford 30 days to make relationships who only get 50 visitors a day.

I took a turn to answer, “Don’t look at us for one campaign. See the long view. Little bloggers grow.”

So do tall bloggers in Chicago.

What advice can you add to the list that I’ve started? I’m too close to the situation to have made a list that covers everything.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Writing Project: 25 Words that Connect Us

by

Have Got Another 25 Words?

The Living Web

If you were reading last July, you might recall the 25 Words of Work/Life Wisdom writing project we did together . . .

25 Words of Work/Life Wisdom Cover
It’s based on the premise that one meaningful idea can be expressed in precisely 25 words.

The 25-word writing exercise is a powerful and elegant experience of thinking. Write a sentence. Then watch the initial idea evolve as you edit to engineer exactly 25 words.

Here are 25 words that connects us.

Heart on the water from sxc.hu

When I know
life is a story,
I’ll carry no pain.
I’ll meet you
wide open
like sunset
gives its heart
over to the night.

Will you add 25 words of your own?

It’s communication. It’s participation. It’s connection. It’s a blog post.

The 25 Words that Connect Us Project

Will you accept my invitation to put 25 words about how we’re connected into a blog post? Here’s how you might go about it.

  1. Think about connections, connectedness, being linked together, synchronicity, serendipity, community, oneness.
  2. Write a sentence about it.
  3. Count the words you have written.
  4. Edit the sentence until you have 25 words exactly. Notice how your idea changes as you edit and how your feelings change with each rewrite.
  5. Add a picture if you can.
  6. Post your 25 words on your blog by October 16th.
  7. Link back to this post or leave a link to your post in the comments section. I don’t want to miss yours when I compile all of them.

It will be my challenge to a creative way to connect all of the ideas together. In a giant “25 words that connect us” blog post, featuring what you wrote.

Are you in? Surely you have 25 words to spare for this one.
Have your link here by 1:00a.m. October 17th, 2008 on the clock in the sidebar on this blog. That’s Chicago time. 🙂

Click to see the SLIDES of what everyone wrote last time.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

Karen Putz Shares Her World

by

Good day SOBConners! Karen here. I’m helping out on a fundraiser that is part of the Mom Blogs challenge– can you help me spread the word? We’re raising money for schools in the Chicago area as well as deaf projects:

Join us for the Chicago Moms Blog Donors Choose Challenge!

Chicago Over at Chicago Mom’s Blog and their sister sites, we are rising up to the worldwide 2008 DonorsChoose.org Bloggers Challenge to help thousands of kids in high-need public schools.  Last year during the 2007 Blogger Challenge, internet history was made in one short month: more than 100 bloggers raised $420,000 for school projects on DonorsChoose.org.  This year, we’re aiming to make internet history again.

Challengebannerblog_4 DonorsChoose.org is the brainchild of Charles Best and a group of teachers from the Bronx.  Charles, a science teacher, was frustrated at the lack of materials in the classrooms.  He saw how the students were affected by not having adequate materials to teach and work with. He set up DonorsChoose.org to pair donors with educational projects all over the world.  The beauty of DonorsChoose.org is that donors have complete control over which projects they choose to donate to.

Since I have a heart for deaf and hard of hearing children, I took a look at the projects that focus on those kids:  Projects featuring deaf and hard of hearing children.  I also found projects covering students in special education.  And for Chicago Moms, there are many projects covering Chicago Public Schools and the surrounding suburbs.

This fundraiser is so profound, that Fortune magazine has an article covering this month-long philanthropy effort:  It Takes a Blogosphere.

The Chicago Moms Blog and our sister sites aim to kick some serious butt (some of us have to pause and wipe a butt) and raise the most money for several school projects for the Moms Blogs Challenge. We invite our readers to join us in raising the most money.  Turn your couch upside down and find some change.  Encourage your kids to donate some of their allowance.  Grab a bunch of moms in your neighborhood and join together to select a project to fund.  And if you have a rich uncle, ask him to cut a check– and make a difference.

Chicago_2 For the month of October 2008, click on the Chicago Moms Help Public Schools button in the top left corner and send your contribution on its way!  Watch as the competition heats up as we work together to raise funds.

What Do You Do When People Say You’re Inspiring?

by

(Updated in 2020)

I’ve been thinking about how inspiring you are.

I heard someone say that you’re inspiring. I saw you value the words and the person who said them. You were so taken by the compliment that you didn’t know what to do.

I think you’re inspiring too.

So I’m writing this for you and all of you who inspire me. Would you listen to what I mean by that?

Inspire means to breathe.

I don’t know your struggles well, but I know you’ve faced them down, and you’re still breathing. That alone is inspiring. Add that you’re fun and easy and it’s meta-inspirational. You motivate me to think I can blast through my own struggles and come out smiling.

In other words, you make my breathing easier.

Isn’t that what inspiration means?

So please know . . .

When I say, “You’re inspiring,” I’m saying . . .

“You motivate me to keep going, doing the next thing, to keep breathing, to keep knowing that I’ll get there.”

What do you do when people say you’re inspiring?

Smile, breathe it in, and say ‘thank you,” with gusto to reinforce a positive change in the world. Glow more each time someone says you’re inspiring. So that more folks wonder who you are.

Smile. Breathe. Glow. Then . . .

Inspire everyone you can to inspire someone else down the line.

Get the whole world breathing again, right along with you.

What do you do to keep inspired? Who inspires you?

Liz

P.S. If you’re thinking this is about you, it is.

5 Ways to Survive Hard Times Without Ending Up Unemployed

by

Job Anxiety Is Real–and It’s Global

Gorilla_from_sxc.hu

These are not normal times. Two changes in the past decade have produced a huge global oversupply of labor and intense competition for an expanding array of jobs. First, the Cold War’s end threw millions of workers, who formerly produced only for the socialist bloc, onto the global labor market. And second, that market has become integrated by technological change that now permits outsourcing of service as well as manufacturing jobs. Carnegie Endowment

As if we didn’t know that.

And it has some of us worried. Who doesn’t need to eat tomorrow or pay the rent?

Worrying doesn’t bring anything to build new business. Waiting for the other shoe to drop doesn’t build confidence. It doesn’t matter if we’re working in an office or working for ourselves, letting the bad news stop our progress will only make things worse.

Taking action and putting both feet in the game with all we’ve got is the way to make it though hard economic times.

5 Ways to Survive Hard Times Without Ending Up Unemployed

During hard economic times, people turn inward, we want to take care of our own worries and our own spaces. We tend to have less money, less time, and less energy to socialize. Here are 5 ways to stay a productive part of the environment in which you work.

  1. Pay attention. When people are worried or stressed, they are more easily offended and set off balance. If you notice them and their concerns, you’ll be a source of support rather than an irritant.

  2. Be adaptable. Change often comes with trying times. Be someone who moves easily through change. Help keep things stable for the culture to realign. Notice the vision that your managers or clients are espousing. Don’t try to teach them how to think. Learn about what makes them tick.

  3. Be beginner every day. Show up and be present as if you’re starting your first week of work. Keep interested and interesting. Be anxious to take your boss’ or your clients’ advice. Now’s a great time to learn knew skills with enthusiasm.

  4. Be aware. Explore your own anxiety. Don’t dismiss it. Know what it’s about and determine whether your concerns are real.

  5. Be realistic. Compare the current situation with your past. Do you see patterns that match others? Is it time to break out a resume or start looking for new clients? Sometimes it’s good to just go.

When times are tough the first place people look to save money are points of pain and points of redundant or superfulous spending. It’s as simple as that.

And if you find your life has a new job in the future. . . .

Be creative and don’t forget to ask for help.

How do you stay focused and productive in hard economic times?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!