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Now you know why I am itching to be back with you all, enjoying your company, teaching, speaking, laughing and loving the life that is mine.
Reading with my eyes closed
I underwent the procedure to remove my stents today. The CT scan
was inconclusive so the hope was to remove the stents and see if that was the problem. As I mentioned before this is too soon for them to cone out. There are still lots of stone fragments that need to come out. Without
the stents this will be a painful process. I came home with aspirations of reading. I have three must reads in my possession.
Content rules by CC Chapman and Ann Handley.
Almost isn’t good enough by Wayne Elsey.
Branding Yourself by Erik Deckers and Kyle Lacy.
What I have managed to do is bend the binding, mark myself up with my highlighter, and place a sleep scar on my face in the impression of a book corner. I have tried to read, but the medication has other plans for today.
So now I bid you all good night. (This post was written quickly before I fell asleep again and on my iPhone. )
*
DISCLOSURE:I borrowed the book Content Rules from our local Library, I purchased Almost Isn’t Good Enough from Amazon, and I was sent a free copy of Branding Yourself, because I bugged Erik to death, and because I will be reviewing it for our local Business journal. The Links to each book are in fact affiliate links to my Amazon account, where if you click that link and purchase the book I am suppose to receive a small percent. (Big deal. Google it, order it from your local book seller, who cares as long as you invest in one or all of these books to enrich yourself.)
It Matters
Content Matters
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Below are some of the bloggers participating in the Blog-a-thon.
Name Blog
Stacey Shanks www.YogaAndLife.com
Zachary Long www.fenglongphoto.com/blog
Shanna Hall www.healthyfitandsexy.com
Bonnie Schnautz www.brenewed.com
Paula Diaco www.signaramavt.com
Jennifer Tallini www.yogawithstyle.com/blog/
Mary Biever Real Life in the River City
Mandy Gregory www.mamasowngreenclean.com
If you are not on here send me a link to your site and I will add it.
5 things to consider before you decide to promote your brand online:
Letting go of control
Sometimes, those of us who habitually spread ourselves too thin over too many things have to let go.
We like to feel like we are in control in business, life, and relationships. We micro manage the details to the extreme. And because of this dedication to detail we seem to be successful.
It’s an illusion
The ‘control’ we think we have is an illusion. We think we are on the right path with our life and career, that we have the reigns of destiny.
One drunk driver, one heart attack, one stray bullet can bring our well crafted, well intended futures crumbling down around us. Often it’s not until then, when we are left to sift through the rubble, that we realize we never had control in the first place.
I have control of my brand, and my business
No you don’t. With the wide-spread acceptance of social media as a means of communication, a business can no longer hide behind the illusion that it’s in control of its brand by choosing to moderate comments or by choosing not be on social media at all.
Deleting negative posts
When a brand decides to maintain brand reputation by deleting negative feedback, let’s say for example on their Facebook fan page, they assume they are controlling the conversation. The problem is that the conversation stops between the brand and the consumer and continues consumer to consumer.
People will continue to speak about good and bad service that your brand has provided even if you are not willing to participate.
5 things to consider before you decide
to promote your brand online:
- Are you willing to give up control?
- Are you prepared to deal with negative feedback?
- Do you have a purpose?
- What are your goals?
- What are you willing to risk?
If you’ve not thought through your goals and laid out a plan that fits your purpose, then you’d better be willing to risk it all.
Reaching Out to Others vs. Allowing Others to Reach Out to me
As I mentioned yesterday I tried to reach out to others who were suffering in order to offer hope and encouragement. I didn’t really let me guard down, express the anxiety I was feeling, and talk about what I was going though.
Wednesday night I let my guard down. I privately DMed my pastor @DaleBeaver
“Please pray for peace/calm, starting to freak out.”
He replied within minutes with a Bible verse that was spot on what I needed to hear. I thought maybe others need to hear it too. So I thanked him and tweeted it publicly. As a side note for those who don’t know me: I am a Christ Follower, but I DO NOT post much “churchy” stuff. I hold more to the – practice kindness talk to people and show your love than the preach it method- that is just WHO I am.)
Much to my surprise this sparked several side conversations, and more DMs from other people. So I posted it on Facebook.
“THANK YOU!! To Dale Beaver who sent this to me via Twitter, at a moment of top stress about tomorrow. (I really NEEDED to hear it) Philippians 4:6-7 “
Again, this is WAY out of norm for me. What I found was more and more outpouring of love compassion and caring. Many more started telling me stories of things they have endured and things they have suffered. And more than one THANKED me. Thanked me for saying I was scared? This seemed off to me, for them to thank me for posting, I was the one who was getting what I needed to hear not them.
There is a difference
When we drop our guard, and let people see we are hurting, or in need of friendship, we find something more special than we could have imagined.
-we find true and new friends alike.
-we find a deeper understanding of people’s beliefs.
-we find out how highly we are valued as people, not for our work, but for who we are.
-we find that through our suffering we can encourage others to be brave.
If I can stop one Heart from breaking
I shall not live in vain
If I can ease one Life the Aching
Or cool one Pain
Or help one fainting Robin
Unto his Nest again
I shall not live in Vain.
Finding Post Christmas Joy
What makes you happy?
Really happy?
Do you do it?
Do you do it enough?
So often in life we spend too much time doing things we hate, thinking we will be rewarded at some point.
For some people, that works. They perform well in school, go to college, maybe post-grad, and are “successful” people.
For some there’s a twist that loops into an infinite cycle like a Moebius strip. They work nonstop, pull over time, and take work home. They’re trying to get by and to give to their family the things they think they deserve.
The flip side of this is what does their family want. Ask them. Do you know what they want more than toys, or nice cars?
TIME
Time with you. And if you think about it, what makes you happy? Spending time with your family is probably at or near the top of the list.
This year don’t resolve to make more money or save enough to go on the dream vacation.
Make a promise to spend more time with your family, with your children. Take the time to play games and sit on the floor and play Barbie.
What you will accomplish for yourself, and for the world, is a more peaceful place in the long term.
Just Ask
Day 8 of the Blog-a-Thon
Ever feel like you should be able to do something. That You KNOW it is possible, yet no matter how hard you try, it just doesn’t work for you?
Just ask
I have a friend, Kimberly Delcoco, who reminds me to do this often.
In working on my blog I came across a video I wanted to share and share my thoughts about. I tried and tried to embed this video. I looked for known issues and resolutions. I spent a ton of time looking for an answer.
All along, I knew my answer meant asking for help, and I don’t like to ask for help. (I did ask for help from @eppand) But you know in life, we are surrounded by people, some of whom are smarter than us and some who just excel in different areas of knowledge than us.
We forget that they have abilities and skills that might just be able to save us hours of frustration. Very often people like to know that their particular skill set is needed and useful. So next time you are beating your head against the computer… don’t forget to ask. (Even asking people you don’t know. This is a great example of a way to use twitter to learn. )
What have you needed help with but were afraid to ask?
The Current Situation
Day 4 of the Blog-a-Thon
Day 2 of #getitout
The Current Situation:
So here I am again, one side filled with stones. We knew they wouldn’t stay clean, but I was really hoping for a longer time in between.
I‘ve been passing stones again, and it’s sucking the life out of me. Remember the “I can’t do that” declaration? I can’t / won’t just take pain meds and be zoned out. After evaluation, the doctor and I have decided that a repeat of the previous procedure is necessary.
I will be undergoing this procedure on Dec 30. I’m sharing this not for sympathy, but for growth. Talking about pain is not easy for me. I am one of the best at faking not being in pain, but this is the true reason I am doing the blog-a-thon.
I will be chronicling my journey to prepare for and undergo this event. I have several friends who, like me, don’t discuss their health. It’s almost taboo. I also have friends that turned to social media in times of pain and distress. I am attempting to explore the latter.
Please connect
So do you get kidney stones? Are you a doctor or nurse or somehow in the medical field? Have you used social media to find support? I want to talk to you. Tweet me, Facebook me, or just comment here. (If sending an e-mail or fb request please tell me who you are.)
Don’t forget to follow the other bloggers in the blog-a-thon, and let me know if you want to join us, I will add you to the list!
They did it again…
Facebook has quietly rolled out another change. I said it on air last week when we were talking about the new 
profiles layout. I suspected that Facebook would make some major changes to the business profiles.
Fan pages. Like pages… Whatever you want to call them. Business pages are a tremendous resource for people to connect and communicate with businesses, and for businesses to respond and communicate to the people they serve.
Over the past year we’ve seen a growing number of social media companies that specialize in page “bling”. These companies are worldwide, and have been selling to the general business population a well done graphic, some slick code, and a lot of hype. They don’t talk to their clients about strategy and planning, and they don’t teach them how to utilize the basic factor that SOCIAL pages are all about – relationships.
In comes the silent killer; Facebook changes their design once again. There was little to no chatter when they slipped the big switch in on us today. The custom tabs are now all under the profile picture and are all <<>> coded in the FBML gray logo.
Along with this new profile layout they had a few other features there as well. Like logging in as an admin to the page, and notifications for the page comments.
This layout change came amid a really lagging response time for facebook this afternoon. And before this post was finished, they reverted back to normal. So I predict that this change will take place very soon.
This sucks for the graphic only based business, but it also sucks for Pizza Hut and Harley Davidson who had some really useful Facebook tabs and customizations.
How will you deal with this change? (Hint: complaining won’t help… it’s free, so you take what they give you, like it or not!)
Usually a change like this is the precursor to something better. People will fuss for awhile, but after they do, the changes will stick and people will adapt and get use to the new layout – just in time for Facebook to change it again. They don’t want to alienate people. After all, look what happened to Digg when they changed their interface.
Let’s get REAL
No seriously. I am a real person on twitter. I love to have conversations on facebook. I talk about a variety of things in my life, not just about my business. But I have a few “off the wall” subjects. These are things I hold to as private and I just don’t feel the need to share.
One of these topics is health. I don’t with the exception of my toe, which was not thought out, tweet or post about my health. I might mention a cough or a headache, but not much else.
So here goes. I am getting real. Real personal for me. I am going to take the next 30-45days to do a few different things.
I am going to blog daily. This is a technique I have seen others use or suggest to help build the blogging habit and to help overcome the fear of content creation. *I encourage you to join me in this 30 day blogathon. You can blog about whatever you want! I am going to need the reading material! J
I am going to blog and tweet about a health matter from the point of the patient. So Medical fields are more and more jumping into the world of Twitter, Facebook, and youtube to get better connected with their patients. But here is the thing; patients have been here for a long time. They find each other and use Social Media as a world wide support system. For the next 30-45 days I am going to actively seek and have conversations with other people that are going through the same or similar situations, as well as doctors in general and doctors in the field, nurses and researchers.
I am going to try to keep a good attitude. <– That is not a promise, just a goal. This is going to be a tough journey for me physically. But mentally to open up and share what I
am going through is going to be just as tough. My friend Stacey Shanks who teaches Yoga is always encouraging me to stretch. I in turn am making her stretch mentally. So now it is time for me to do as I say and hit the downward dog with my brain. Because she is doing the Blog-a-thon with me , it will be easier to keep the attitude in check.
I am going to encourage others. I am going to challenge others to do this blog-a-day with me to be a better writer. I’m going to post tips, tricks, recommend books and tweeple to help us all get through this process.
Please comment on this and let me know if you want to join me (include your twitter handle and a url to your blog.) I will update this post with the people who are on this journey with me.
Name Blog
Stacey Shanks www.YogaAndLife.com
Zachary Long www.fenglongphoto.com/blog
Shanna Hall www.healthyfitandsexy.com
Bonnie Schnautz www.brenewed.com