Donec dictum libero vel orci malesuada mattis. Suspendisse libero ante, varius ac laoreet vel, blandit eget lacus. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia Curae; Sed porta, arcu sit amet consequat fermentum, erat est ullamcorper tortor, sed eleifend urna dolor vitae sem.
Link post format
I am a link post format.
Aside post
Aside post format.
Today is the day
Today is the day. Surgery is this afternoon so I thought I should get today’s blog in before then.
I started this blog-a-thon to encourage some other bloggers and want to be better bloggers to write more. But I also started it for me. I started it to step out of my comfort zone and talk about some personal issues.
I failed
I gave you the facts and history. I kept blogging every day save for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But I did not get personal. They were not really about me, what I was feeling, how I was reaching out to people and who was talking back.
What I found
I’ve searched for people tweeting about kidney stones and had a few conversations of encouragement from me. Usually asked some questions, but did not make any real sparks. (People in pain are not real conversationalists.)
I’ve had conversations with @LeeAase , Director, Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media. Even with the strong initiative that they’ve started at the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, there just are not a lot of doctors tweeting. If you’re a doctor, nurse or medical researcher reading this tweet me, I want to talk to you.
Real Jewels of Twitter
Aside from @LeeAase, I wasn’t really able to make connections with the group of people I’d intended,
Here’s what I did find – One night I wasn’t sleeping because I was worried about the surgery, trying to cram in some last minute work. so I popped on twitter for a distraction. Saw a tweet from a friend and replied with a RT as he had done.
“Me too! RT @evanashenhurst: Me! RT @313Nick: Hey Twitter. Who’s still up?”
The three of us tweeted about random things, getting to know each other better. I had a new person to follow that was interesting and fun, who then suggested I follow a friend of his he knew I would like: @AllisonNazarian Another new person to follow.
Then it occurred to me this happens all the time on twitter. Someone RT’s you, someone else joins the conversation, and real connections are made.
Making Healthier Choices – Carbs and Fat
This week I’m starting my new year off TODAY, by making healthier choices. Today’s choice is really a clever switch.
It is important to reduce, not eliminate totally, your fats and carbs if you are looking to maintain a healthier eating style. I hate the fad diets that starve you of good fats, and all carbs. (I’m a carbaholic!)
Here’s a secret:
If you’re replacing water for soda, you increase water consumption and decreased carbs. (Monday’s Post)
By replacing fries with carrots and celery, you increase your vegetable consumption and decreased your fats. (Tuesday’s post)
Do you find it hard to limit yourself? When it is a forbidden item, do you want it more?
If you start by slowly replacing the carbs and fats with great tasting fruits and vegetables, you will loose a portion of the desire for the bad foods. By simply focusing on adding, you will really be eliminating. Why don’t you join me? Start today.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE7szSLE924&fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0]
Blog-a-thon
“The more frequently you write, the faster you’ll improve, and the stronger you’ll get.” (from Copyblogger)
- I need to get better at writing
- I need to be a better blogger
- I am so not inspired to write
- I don’t have enough ideas
- I don’t have enough time
If you want to be a blogger, but hid behind the excuse cloud, you can come out now. It’s ok. I will be right here with you.
That quote from Copyblogger is from a post in which he compares it to going to the gym.
I am going to get more specific and say aerobics class. We have all been there. Decided to go to aerobics and there is this cute little instructor that seriously worries you that her legs are going to snap if she starts jumping around. But then she does and so does everyone else. And you feel like a fish trying to dace at a performance of the NYC Ballet. Everyone else knows the moves and you… you’re just a cod standing there with your sweats on.
Ok. So the good news is that I am the one with the sweats on. I might be here all by myself. But you are welcome to jump on in here with me. And if you do, you won’t be alone. We will all be looking at that skinny instructor together and wondering if her legs are going to snap.
So take the 30 day blog a day blog-a-thon challenge with me. It is about building a habit, being creative and having people here to encourage and support you while you do it. Are you with me?
Should I stay or go? Where are you going?
HA! The latest article in the Hootsuite blog is called Migration Season. So it was no surprise, we knew it was coming. Well Hoostuite thought we knew. It seems that the new PRO announcement was not heard by some. I woke up to be given a deadline, keep the free plan or pay $6 a month for the PRO plan that won’t give me some of the features that I personally use often within the Hootsuite platform. If I want all the features I use, I have to get the enterprise plan at $1500 a month. Ok, that’s for 30 people, but I only need it for 2, so no options for me. I guess I can do what the article suggests, I can migrate to another platform.
On a side note, that post said “Since announcing the premium plans back in August of 2010, we’ve listened closely to your feedback and suggestions to ensure that we could tailor the plans to meet your different requirements and to ensure that the key features are as affordable and available as possible.”
Looking at their twitter accounts, it doesn’t feel like they are listening. They are responding, but not LISTENING. When someone asks a question they answer it, but it feels very upsellish. “We appreciate your feedback. We’ve made it as affordable as possible for advanced functionality”.
I realize that the team at Hootsuite has done an amazing job on a limited budget. I don’t mind if they sell some ad space and feed it to me. I’m not really happy as you can tell, but I have not totally given up on Hootsuite.
Tell me what you think, and if you’re migrating away, please share where you’re going so we can all visit and see if it is somewhere we’d like to stay.
The Story of Sparkles
I recently went to a conference and met a very interesting lady. She had bling on her glasses and bling on her shirt. She was a very energetic person and I liked her instantly. With the large amount of people that I was meeting I was having a difficult time remembering names, so I called her
She owns Embroidme Baltimore, and at her shop. They make customized “bling” apparel.
We had several conversations about how that process takes place and I was instantly fascinated. But what I really liked was her ability to be who she was always. She let her character and personality shine even with her choice of clothing, eyewear, footwear, and handbags.
I encourage people with social media to be who they are.
Sometimes people tell me they keep two Facebook profiles. One profile for family and friends and one profile for business associates. Often find this is not a good practice, as the person who is truly good at networking and building relationships in the community, and within their businesses find that the line of who is their friend, and who is a business acquaintance is very often blurry. Just have one and be who you are.
I was very delighted to receive a package in the mail yesterday.
I opened it, standing next to my mother-in-law. When she saw the contents she instantly said, oh. Is that from Sparkles?
Her ability to be herself on an off-line carried over into my conversations on and off-line to the point that my mother-in-law knew exactly who my package was from without looking at the name.
No matter what your business or what you’re selling. The bottom line is you have to sell you first. To do that, you want people to recognize your name in association with a particular character trait, feeling, emotion, product, or ____. (You fill in the blank. )
As you make your next status update ask yourself:
What does this statement picture or link say about me?
Thank you Allison… Now I don’t have to wait till I am a Billionaire.
“Every time I close my eyes,
I see my name in shining lights”
Local Pros vs. Corporate Chains
Guest Blogger today:
Sean Redenbaugh
Sean is 30 years old, moved to Evansville in 2004, Systems Administrator for local company, graduated from Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 2002, owns and operates – Maverick Technologies and Redenbaugh Photography
Hello, my name is Sean Redenbaugh, and I’m part of a small group of local businessmen that have created a new online venture to aid the small local businesses. The venture is called Pros On The Cheap, and the website is www.prosonthecheap.com
The idea of this website will be to focus solely on the local professionals, dedicated to providing their local community with quality goods and/or services. What we are striving for is to create an online directory for people in the community to find local pros to assist them with whatever project or purchase that they may have. For instance, if someone buys a house and needs drywall, tiling, carpet, windows, etc…, they can simply search our database online for local pros to help them.
Our goal is to start with Evansville, our home town, and to have every single Evansville business or individual who provides a service or good to become listed in our directory, and for the website to become the one-stop place for local Evansville people to search for a professional.
There are many reasons why it is better for the community to shop and serve locally rather than use the large corporate chains. I think the most important reason to choose local is that your money will put wages and capital into the hands of your fellow local citizens rather than being sent out of the area. Plus, a larger portion of the money you spend locally stays local when purchasing from local businesses, not to mention keeping locally owned and operated businesses running provides your town or city with character, uniqueness, flavor, diversity, culture, and friendliness that would not be here if every store was a carbon copy corporate chain with corporate policies and standardized services or products. To assure www.ProsOnTheCheap.com cannot be overrun with large chains, we have programmed the website in a way to keep the businesses local, and keep out the large multi-state corporate chains. One way we have done this is to require each business that signs up to provide us with a single zip code. Thus, when searching for businesses, users enter their zip code and a search radius, and only those businesses will pop up. Large chains have no way of entering every zip code in the country, or selecting multiple states. This will keep the focus on the local pros.
At the present time, this is a completely FREE service. Local businesses and individuals can sign up for FREE online, create a company profile, and select which services or goods they provide to the community. It ‘s a great way to get their name out there for free into the community, and increase their business and profits at the same time. Don’t hesitate. Sign up today!
Hootsuite Retweet come back!!
Ok so if you use Hootsuite you will notice that it looks a lot different! The first thing I noticed is the retweet feature was now just like the retweet feature on Twitter.
#SoNotHappy
But you can change it to go back to the old Hootsuite style of RT by going to your settings (Click in the owl –whose eyeball move now) / preferences. There you will see a box that contains your preferences for language and URLs shortners. Near the bottom of that pop up, you will see two checkboxes. The top one is automatically checked, uncheck this box and you will now be able to retreat just as you always did. Adding your #2cents
