Successful Blog

Will You Make Joe's Promise with Me?

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I've been thinking . . .

about Joe’s promise.

About a week ago, Joe wrote a post that’s been on my mind.

It’s authenticity. It’s transparency. It’s more than that . . . it’s outright honesty without a filter and it came with a promise attached.

It’s a stunning example of writing.

Even more, it leads to a blogger’s promise that is beautiful in its own right.

Joe’s Promise

  • I will be sure to comment on other Blogs if I can add to the conversation.
  • I will respond to comments on my own Blog.
  • I will acknowledge any links to my Blog with a comment on the linker’s Blog.
  • I will continue to link to other Blogs that are pertinent to a posts content.
  • I will once again be a part of the Blogging Community.
  • That is my promise to the Community as a whole, in part, and individually.

If you feel you are losing some of the interaction that is an integral part of Blogging, you may want to join me in this Promise to the Community.

What I’ve been thinking is this . . . this is a promise worth making.

Will you make Joe’s promise with me?

Just pick up the words, post them on your blog, and link back to Joe’s post. Tag it “Joe’s Promise,” and pass it on.

What do you say, Chris, Ann, Phil, Terry, Bes, and everyone?

Thank you, Joe, from me . . . and from everyone who cares about the conversation.

Liz's Signature

Change the World: Make the Sky a New Color

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Suddenly Crayons Found Her

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A friend and I have an ongoing conversation about crayons and their powers. We’ve noticed how a mere mention of the waxy “creatures” gets people talking about positive experiences and ideas. On Mondays last year when the sky or events seems gray and without color, our early morning email conversation about crayons would get a little longer.

One night while we were talking, a miscue happened. I’m sure I don’t remember the story as well as I remember the fallout. Messages were sent and received. Feelings were misunderstood and confused. Even after it was sorted, things didn’t feel back to normal.

In a cold, gray next morning, I was still bothered. I went to a convenience store, bought a box of crayons, and walked down the street to a florist. I asked for a small bunch of flowers, and Would they include the crayons in the arrangement?

Okay, so the flower lady looked at me a little funny, but she did what I asked.

Sunset at Semaphore

I wrote in the card something like, When the gray Chicago sky sucks, color a new one. and signed it with love.

She called laughing saying that was the best idea.

The most amazing thing happened. One a week, near the train station, my friend found a crayon waiting for her — yellow, blue, green, blue again. I think that was the order.

Suddenly crayons found her. Now my friend has a whole collection of crayons.

Amazing things happen when you make the sky a new color.

We can change the world — just like that.
–ME “Liz” Strauss

Bloggy Question 63: Taking It to the Streets

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A Store and Traffic

For those who come looking for a short, thoughtful read, a blogging life discussion, or a way to gradually ease back into the week. I offer this bloggy life question. . . .

You’ve gotten this online thing under your belt. You know how to get business online . . . well at least you have a start . . .You’re making a modest income from a product or service that you sell. In the tradtion of things Internet, you’ve decided it’s time to turn the model upside down.

Last night while you were out with friends, a buddy offered you a storefront on the main street near your home. It’s an opportunity to bring your product or service back out into the 3-D world. It certainly has applications there. You already have an online base to support what you might start and your friend, a wealthy guy, has offered rent-free for the first year.

It would mean buying furniture and setting up an office where people can come meet you face to face — some of them folks you have known your whole life. The location is great. The traffic is good. The town could use your service.

How do you respond?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Related articles
Bloggy Question 61: Okay Kids, Login!
Bloggy Question 60: Are You Listening?
Bloggy Question 59: A Whole New Blog Network?
Bloggy Question 58: I Read, Therefore I Am . . .
Bloggy Question 57: Excuse Me, Thought Leader
Bloggy Question 56: Get Your Own Network!

Soulful Dots Speaking

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Connecting dots with The Idea Dude

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Perhaps it is archaic education or upbringing, there always existed a distinct difference in my mind between writing and speaking… Reading and writing was a passive, distance activity whereas speaking and listening was an active and intimate experience.

…until now.

Over the past months, I started to speak and listen through my blog.

The words were not just the medium, they were proxies for my voice just as your comments were for yours.

Is it so radical? you may ask.

I think it is, when you read, you want to be educated or entertained. When you listen, you want to be engaged.

When you write, you want to inform or enlighten, when you speak, you want to participate and elicit a response.

It is a question of intent, something that is beginning to change the face of the blogosphere.

The intent to converse and engage…

If that is your intent, then listen to these dots…

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Liz spoke this week of what it takes to be a superstar conversationalist. We have to be imperfectly human to draw a response and then be active listeners.

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Ann made me wonder, Maybe we need to listen to someone else’s interpretation of the conversation that can only come about if we start a conversation and then leave space for a response.

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As a parent, I love reading bloggers describe their experiences with their children. When Nesting Momma spoke about her child, falling from the nest, I realized I was not reading but listening when she spoke about, It will happen often, daily, yearly even in her adulthood; she will make mistakes, have accidents and fall from the nest. I am so honored to be the one that gets to pick her up, dust off her wings and give her wind to fly again.

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Robert told us a joke to end the week, it was pretty much the same way I related it to my son. For me, Robert is a story-teller first and a writer second. Isn’t that the way it should be?

Perhaps, the word blog has already outlived its usefulness because for many of us,

we’ve already taken it far beyond where we found it.

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Instead of saying I read a hundred blogs this week, I really heard a hundred souls speaking..

I am truly blessed.

So which dots spoke to you this week? pray tell!

May the dots be with you!

Vern, The Idea Dude

Thanks to Week 99 SOBs

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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.

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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 directly to me. This award comes with a full “Liz said so” guarantee. It is endorsed by Kings of the Hemispheres, Martin and Michael, and 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. Click the link or visit the What IS an SOB?! page in the sidebar.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

SOB NEWS — Congratulations to Lisa Cree!!

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We Knew!

Everyone who met Lisa Cree at SOBCon07 already knew Lisa Cree is dynamic, intelligent, and someone incredibly special. We’re delighted that she’s getting the recognition she deserves.

Lisa-Cree-is-Savannah’s-Entrepreneurial-Woman-of-the-Year!

All of SOBCon celebrates with you! One highly-esteemed blogger was there in a tuxedo to see the whole thing.

Please join us in saying, “Congratulations, Lisa!”

–Me “Liz” Strauss