Strands

I normally don't write about social media. Although there are a few people who might think it, I could never really be considered a Social Media Specialist / Guru / Ninja / _____ (insert buzzword).

And this is really less about social media and more about the people who do or do not use it.

I really don't know if anyone else can relate to this but I sometimes catch myself thinking about the various groups of people that are in my life. And even though the sum total of these people is quite large, there is very little overlap between groups, but within each group everyone seems to be connected with everyone else.

For example the bloggers that I follow and communicate with during the online Twitter chat session known as #blogchat all seem to "know" each other (even though very few of us have met face to face). And although I recognize most of them during the flurry of tweets that go out during that time frame, I can only think of just a few bloggers that I could tell you what their "Twitter Handle" was or any specific detail about them. @MackCollier is from Alabama and created #blogchat, @patricksplace is from Charleston SC (so we are both from the Palmetto State), @mqtodd lives in Japan and his profile picture has green hair (sad that's my impression of him, I'm sure he is exceptional at what he does, but I can't get past the wig), and @dashingly is an "unprofessional mommy blogger" (her description, not mine). No, I didn't go back and look before writing this (I did however go back and verify after writing it).

Similarly, my "day job" is working with local interior designers, but I have connected with several designers from around the country through Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter but very few of my "real world" designers are active in these social media channels (there are a couple on Facebook) and with the exception of one or two, none of these "online" connections are involved in blogging so those spheres do not overlap for the most part.

I guess that all of this is somewhat normal when you live in a moderately sized city and have access to an unlimited number of friends, fans, followers, and online connections thanks to sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

My Strands

But I almost feel like I'm in the middle of a massive spider web where I merely touch on these spheres of influence and I'm not really fully engaged or accepted by any one of them. Maybe that's just one of my inner demons trying to make me feel like I'm unworthy of these connections. But that's a topic for a separate post.

I know that the pundits and talking heads out there try to blame vehicles like social media for creating a "disconnect" in society.

If anything, I would say it is just the opposite.

Of the people I am connected to in real life and online, I think we have a stronger friendship because social media makes it easier to "be sociable."

Of the people I am connected to strictly online having never met face to face or spoken to voice to voice... I can only hope that I have been a blessing to them (or at the very least I hope that I have not become "that guy that is always looking for advice").

I know that by and large I have benefited greatly from some of these connections. I have learned things about Search Engine Optimization, Blogging Best Practices, and Marketing just to name a few. All of these were areas I was previously ignorant in.

And of these strictly online connections, I would enjoy the opportunity to meet some of these people, whether at a coffee shop, or a weekend conference. Especially people like @melissagalt (an interior designer & business/marketing coach), @RichardBranson (the multigazillionaire and really cool dude), as well as Aaron Biebert aka @8pmWarrior (although I have no desire to travel to Milwaukee, Wisconsin - sorry Aaron, come down south were it's warmer).


Social media may or may not be a passing fad, but if you use it properly it can expand your knowledge of topics by being able to connect to experts in those fields that only a few short years ago would have been inaccessible. It can also create or strengthen offline relationships as well.

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'Alas poor Horatio, I knew him not nearly as well as I should."

William Shakespeare... Playwright. Author. Poet. But above all, a Storyteller. He was 52 years old when he died.

Today I learned of another Storyteller who died before his time. Trey Pennington, who took his own life on Sept. 4, 2011.

We met only once in person, but we shared many conversations via email, Facebook, and Twitter. By all accounts (and from my personal experience) he was one of the most giving people you would want to meet. Always wearing a smile and ready with a word of inspiration for you.

Some would call him a "social media guru" and I would call those people "ignorant."

He was a businessman. He was a father, a grandfather, and a husband. And he also happened to know a bit about social media. At least it appeared that way based on the number of Facebook friends and Twitter followers he had.

Perhaps that was part of the problem. Perhaps we (the fans) did this. Perhaps we poked, and tweeted, and name-dropped, and tagged him so much that the pressure to perform took it's toll. When someone is a "giver" like Trey was, they give of themselves until it hurts and then they give some more.

But were we giving back to him? Was anyone refilling his tank so to speak?

Did we improve the quality of his life while we expected him to improve the quality of ours?

Did we even say "Thank You" when he responded to our solicitations for "free advice" or did we just move on to the next social media rockstar we could find to pick their brain?

Did we offer to buy him a cup of coffee and try to get to know him as a person? His message when he spoke was always about "Connections" and "Conversation."

Nobody will ever know what demons he battled. Most people aren't even willing to admit that they have demons of their own. Several of the pundits and talking heads have said he was fighting with depression. Maybe so. I don't know. If that was the case, I am pretty sure that it was not the only fight he was in - depression usually brings a couple of "friends" with him when he shows up.

Please do not misunderstand, depression is serious and needs to be treated by a professional. I simply want to point out that too many people gloss over the term without fully understanding the width and depth of the situation that you have to deal with if you are facing depression.

You may say that I am unqualified to write this about him. Well, maybe you are right. I did not know him nearly as well as I should have. I am guilty of not taking the time to get to know him. If I had done so, perhaps I would have had more insight into what he was facing... perhaps not.

Perhaps I should take the time to better know the people in my life that are here now so that I can be a resource for them in their time of need or perhaps they can be a lifeline for me in my time of need. Perhaps you should do the same.

Maybe that will be Trey's legacy. Maybe he will accomplish in death what he tried to accomplish in life... teaching people that it wasn't about the quantity of people you connect to, but the quality of the relationship... it's not about how much you can "get" from someone but how much can you "give" to someone.



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Business Thought Process: The 4Q1E Way (Part 5)

Technologies and methodologies evolve and change, but solid foundations and principles tend to remain constant in business.

So with that in mind over the next few weeks, I'm gonna ask you 4 Questions. And give you 1 Exclamation that will hopefully get you thinking about the foundations and principles needed to create a business, solidify your current business, or enhance the speed of your growing business.

Question 1: Where are you now?
Question 2: What is next?
Question 3: What are your assets and resources?

Question 4: What do you do to get there?

EXCLAMATION 1: TAKE ACTION!!!

That's really what it boils down to.

You know where you are.

You've identified what's next.

You know what you've got to work with.

And you know what to do to get where you want to go.

So go there!

Set some goals and work on them until you A) get where you are going or B) get to a dead-end - in which case you need to reset, and adjust your goals. Failure is not final unless you choose to stop moving forward.

More than just setting goals... Set "refuse to lose" goals on a daily basis.

A "refuse to lose goal" is something that you are going to make sure happens no matter what happens during the day. It's the kind of goal that you have to accomplish before you end your day (whether that day ends when you go home or when you go to bed is up to you).

Sometimes those goals are as simple as "forcing" yourself to call on 3 prospects every day before 5pm. Sometimes those goals are more complex like writing a proposal for a project even if it takes you until 3 in the morning to finish it.

You don't HAVE TO do anything that has been suggested. But if the things you WANT TO HAVE, are important enough, you will WANT TO DO whatever is necessary to make it happen.

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Business Thought Process: The 4Q1E Way (Part 4)

Technologies and methodologies evolve and change, but solid foundations and principles tend to remain constant in business.

So with that in mind over the next few weeks, I'm gonna ask you 4 Questions. And give you 1 Exclamation that will hopefully get you thinking about the foundations and principles needed to create a business, solidify your current business, or enhance the speed of your growing business.

Question 1: Where are you now?
Question 2: What is next?
Question 3: What are your assets and resources?
Question 4: What do you do to get there?

Another way to put that is: "Whats your gameplan?"

Let's break it down. Wherever you are... you are. You've identified what's next for your business. And you have determined what your assets and resources are.

If the assets and resources you currently have will be sufficient to get you to "What's next" then you need a plan to get you there.

If you are lacking in resources, you should have identified what you need by now and your plan should first include a way to acquire those resources, whatever they may be.

I'm not going to give you a "sample gameplan" because that probably wouldn't work for you anyway. YOU need to come up with YOUR plan and it needs to be based on YOUR business and YOUR goals.

What I will do is remind you what Steven Covey said: "Begin with the end in mind."

Whatever your "end target" happens to be (whether it's a number of new customers or an amount of revenue being generated each month) is where you need to start.

Once you've identified your end target, put a deadline on it. When to you want to have that end result? Two years, 5 years, 10 months, next week? When? Now you need to be honest with yourself... is it going to be humanly possible to reach that target in that timeframe?

If your goal is $1 Million in sales by the end of the year and your are currently at $50K in sales it may or may not be possible to reach that target in that timeframe. I don't know. I don't know what your work ethic is and I don't know how much business there is available in your industry. Maybe it is possible, if it is that's awesome.

So you've identified a target, and you've set a deadline. Regardless of how far out that deadline is, you need to break it into measurable portions so you can see how well you are progressing toward that goal. Maybe you need a weekly status check, maybe you need a monthly progress report to yourself, maybe its a 10 year plan and a quarterly check up will be sufficient. You will have to decide what works best for you and your plan.

How ever you break it up and segment it out, make sure you write down your plan in your handwriting (not on your iPad or laptop). Put it on the dry erase board in your office or if you work from home get a couple pieces of poster board and write out your plan then tack it to the wall somewhere that you will see it every single day. Look at it. Read over it. Keep an eye on your progress. Make adjustments when necessary.

Never give up. Become like the single drop of water that eventually with continuous effort and unrelenting persistence carves a canyon in landscape of the earth.

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Business Thought Process: The 4Q1E Way (Part 3)

Technologies and methodologies evolve and change, but solid foundations and principles tend to remain constant in business.

So with that in mind over the next few weeks, I'm gonna ask you 4 Questions. And give you 1 Exclamation that will hopefully get you thinking about the foundations and principles needed to create a business, solidify your current business, or enhance the speed of your growing business.

Question 1: Where are you now?
Question 2: What is next?

Question 3: What are your assets and resources?

Once you know "where you are" and "where you are going" you have to know what you have that you can use to get you there.

Assets and resources come in many shapes and sizes.

People... (such as a mentor, a family member, a close friend, and sometimes even co-workers or employees) can become an asset to your endeavor.

But when it comes to people, yes they can be a resource, but don't "exploit" them. Make sure you let them know you appreciate their contribution and if possible reward them or show your gratitude to them in a special way.

Money... is probably one of the first resources that most people think of, but it is not the first requirement to getting your efforts underway. If you are just starting out there are a number of services that you can access for little or no money and upgrade as you grow. If you are already established, use some of that "street cred" you've built up to negotiate for a good deal. I also know several business owners in my area that are part of a barter network.

Knowledge... is power. Everyone knows that right? WRONG! Applied knowledge is power. It doesn't matter how much you know unless you are doing something with it. Merely having a collection of trivia and information floating around your brain doesn't do you any good. Besides that's what encyclopedias are for (ooo... wow... guess I'm showing my age there)... um... besides that's what Wikipedia is there for (there that's more up to date).

Statistical data... can be very beneficial to you as you move from one area to another in business. But do yourself a favor and take it for what it is, review it, incorporate if you can, discard it if you can't and move on with your plan. Don't get stuck in what some have called "the paralysis of analysis."

Websites... can be fantastic tools (but they can also be fantastic ways to spend a lot of time with no results). Use them, learn from them, just don't plagiarize them. But if you are in business, you need to know what is going on with your industry. You also need to know what your competition is doing - and not just in your local area, but also in other parts of the country.  

Why? you may ask. Well first off, let's face it you and your local competition probably don't know everything. Secondly, it's not uncommon for an out-of-area company to come in and grab up a project you wanted simply because they had to foresight to keep tabs on what was going on in other areas (why shouldn't that out-of-area company be YOU going into THEIR area). And lastly, maybe their website designer is using a technique that would make your website and your company more appealing to your potential customers.

Blogs... offer extremely valuable insight into various fields and industries. And companies use blogs not only to present information as a form of quasi-marketing, but ask almost any SEO guru and he will tell you that blogs are usually great ways to drive traffic to the company or blogger that is publishing the content. Of course in producing such content, many times they are providing you with knowledge that you can use to grow your business. (They probably won't be giving away any inside information or trade secrets, but take what you can get).

Seminars and webinars... provide you with an opportunity to learn from an expert in the field who is willing to share some of their knowledge with you. These events can range in price from just a few dollars to several thousand dollars and can last anywhere from an hour to 2 or 3 days in some cases.

As with any sort of outlay of money, make sure you know exactly what you are getting and determine if the reward is equal to or greater than the investment you made because in most cases there is not any sort of refund or satisfaction guarantee associated with events of this nature. And remember cost does not always equate to quality. I've personally been to paid events that lasted all day that did not benefit me as much as a free one-hour "lunch and learn" session.

What other assets or resources can you think of that you may have at your disposal?

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Business Thought Process: The 4Q1E Way (Part 2)

Technologies and methodologies evolve and change, but solid foundations and principles tend to remain constant in business.

So with that in mind over the next few weeks, I'm gonna ask you 4 Questions. And give you 1 Exclamation that will hopefully get you thinking about the foundations and principles needed to create a business, solidify your current business, or enhance the speed of your growing business.

Question 1: Where are you now?

Question 2: What is next?

Hopefully you now know where you are. Now you need to figure out where you are going. And I can't tell you where that should be. You will have to decide that for yourself. It will be different for everyone because everyone is at a different place in business and in life.

"What's next" could be a dollar amount (i.e. $1Million in gross revenues). "What's next" could be a physical location (i.e. opening a new store across town). "What's next" could be a tangible product (i.e. building the better mousetrap). "What's next" could be something as simple as attending a seminar or reading a book that can help you learn how to be a better business owner.

"What's next" is whatever goal you set for yourself and your business.

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