We find it funny… our kids are getting older, but we're not.

How do we know they're getting older? Here are the clues…
1) Our oldest son left home to take his 3rd year of university in Germany. He'll be there for a year.

2) Our second son is starting university at home this year. No more high school for him.

3) There are no more hockey games to go to where we get to watch our sons play. Yes, we could go watch our second son play beer-league hockey, but he'd probably be embarrassed.

4) Our daughter is still enrolled in dance classes, but we don't need to drive her there anymore.

5) Our daughter is in grade 11 this year.

That's definite proof that our kids are growing up… and mighty quickly too!!

How do we know that we're not getting old? Here are the clues…
1) We don't feel old. (That should be enough… but OK… here are more clues…)

2) We still do a lot of the things we did when we were "younger"… like biking, running, hiking, etc.

3) We can still remember being our kids' ages. (Yes, that does scare us)

4) We still have dreams and goals. (No dreams and goals = not living)

5) We're still learning. (Again, not learning = not living)

There you go… proof that we're still young.

If we look at life this way, then age truly is a state of mind. Yes our kids are getting older… but they're still young…. and yes, our "age" counted in years may indicate we're not kids anymore… but darn it, we're definitely still young too.

So get out there and do things. Tap into your goals and dreams and take action on them. Make plans for your business and set your sites for the horizon (remember to enjoy the journey along the way). And learn… learn more about what you're passionate about…. become an expert in it and grow your business around it… then it'll be play and not work at all.

Play = Young. The fountain of youth isn't a place, it's living your passion. And that is well within all of our reach… so go for it!! We'll see you all out on the playground.

Drop us a line in the comment section and tell us what your passion is. We'd love to know.

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

Have you  ever apologized for not following through on something because you were "so busy"? Be it a family member, friend, business associate or customer… it conveys to them that perhaps they aren't that important to you… and you have other things that come first.

Yet we're pretty sure that we've all been in this scenario… family time, important time-sensitive projects, and day-to-day business activities… all at once! So we're not lying to others when we say we've been busy, and the stress of it can be totally overwhelming.

The cure for this situation? Systems!

While you are working to get your project completed, the other activities in your business start falling behind. But they don't have to. If you set up systems to handle your regular business activities they can happen almost automatically.

Write down the activities you do in one day, then do it again the next day, and the next, and so on. After a few days you should be able to discover which activities you do over and over again… on a regular basis. These are the activities that you can and should systematize.

If these activities can be completed automatically for you, or if the time to do them can be cut to a fraction of the normal time, wouldn't that be beneficial? We believe it is.

Some activities that we've developed systems for:
<ul>
<li> Blog Posts – We write a few when we have time and then have them scheduled to come up in our blog on specific dates.</li>
<li> Twitter – We schedule certain Tweets in advance to be posted at a later time or date.</li>
<li> Article Writing – Our system for writing articles at times also involves outsourcing, which is another way to get things done faster, better, and with the least amount of effort on your part.</li>
</ul>
These are some of our examples. Think about it… what can you systematize?

About the Authors

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Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

There is a river… the Athabasca River… that flows through the Rocky Mountains which is perfect for rafting. Churning rapids or a calm steady flow, it has it all. And thus we, and a few of our friends, were inspired to take a couple of inflatable "canoes" down the river for an afternoon adventure. And oh, what an adventure it was to be.

When we first got in the river the canoe took on water; and being in the mountains, it felt like having a few buckets of ice thrown on us. However, after the initial shock we got used to it… kind of like sitting in a bathtub full of warm water. The first section of the river we went down was laden with rapids… quite an exciting ride to say the least. When it calmed down a bit, we decided to stop off on a small island to dump our bath water and continue the trip.

By this time we were in a full-fledged race against each other to see who could get to our landing point first. So dumping the water and getting back into the river was something we wanted to do very quickly. And that is how Pat got left out of the canoe. The other person in our raft was so determined to win that he took off before Pat could get in.

So here we have it… two people paddling like heck and Pat hanging on the back floating down the river. To this very day Lorna cannot understand how he could stay in that frigid water for so long.

We made it! We're at the landing point. So… Lorna decides to jump out and help pull the canoe to shore. Swoosh!! Down she goes! And remember, this water feels like an ice bath. She didn't realize the water was still very deep there; and after splashing around in a panic for a bit (and almost drowning), she manages to collect herself enough to swim to shore. Meanwhile, Pat has calmly swam over to shore from his position at the back of the canoe.

Two very different approaches to getting out of the water.

Think about it… we all have choices, different approaches we can take to almost anything in our lives. Even on how we approach our business.

We can jump in… just go for it when we have the basics set up, or we can take our time and have more of our systems in place before we begin.

By just jumping in when you have a couple of things in place, you can grow your business while you work on it. No need to be perfect… put something of value together for your customers and prospects and promote it to your target market. Doing it this way is counter-intuitive to the perfectionists… and yet perhaps just what they need. This method works well as long as corrections are made as you go along. The process is like this: get some feedback, correct and move forward (repeat).

Of course there is the other side of the coin… get the sites up and working, the systems in place, a few products to sell and then get out there and promote it. Still a great way to go… however the tendency in this situation is to keep working on the systems and the sites, and the business never gets going. Just be sure if you start your business the slow and steady way that at some point you get in the game.

So now we're curious…
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Remember there are different approaches to everything. So do what feels right for you… jump right in or move along slow and steady… either way, we'll see you online!

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

Picture this… you’re soaking up the sun on a white-sand beach, or perhaps skiing down a pristine snow-covered slope. This is the life! And you’re thinking… it feels like I’ve won the lottery. Later, back in your spacious suite, you pull out the laptop, connect to the Internet and voila… you’re in business. What? This isn’t how it works for you? It could be.

We've been there… whether it was the breathtaking mountains of Whistler, B.C. or Banff, Alberta… or the lush wine country in California… we've enjoyed all there was to offer and still kept in touch with our online business.

It is so cool having a business that focuses on e-courses, e-learning, online videos, or any other kind of online web presentation. The logistical freedom is liberating.

The Internet can be accessed almost anywhere. Granted, if you are in the deep jungles of Borneo searching for a rare frog it may not work, but those are the times when you are really “getting away from it all”. By making use of the Internet’s accessibility you can create your products and market them while you are virtually anywhere in the world.

No longer does owning your own business mean that you are tied down. It doesn’t have to keep you stuck at home, never being able to take vacations. Seriously, isn’t that the reason you would want to start your own business in the first place… the freedom?

We'd really appreciate it if you would share with us…
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

So… start by thinking… how can I take something I am passionate about and turn it into a business that will lend itself to online products or services? Then, of course, you will have to do the market research to ensure that enough people will want to buy what you have to offer. Once you’ve established a market and have come up with products that people will pay for, you either create the products yourself or outsource it to someone else. Then market like crazy.

We know that we’ve seriously condensed and generalized the whole process. There are numerous courses, books and websites dedicated to each part of creating a business that operates online… study, learn, do it, make mistakes, do it some more, and above all… enjoy the journey.

Enjoying the journey, the freedom of doing business online, is to us the best part. You can do it from anywhere, and anytime you want. The structure of being at a specific location during specific times of the day is a thing of the past… move your business online and liberate yourself!

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!… or… Breaking News!! Gets your curiosity up, doesn't it? And that is exactly why these statements are so effective in selling the news. But what about the tried and true information that doesn't scream out for attention today?

That is precisely why there are two unique ways to get your message out…

If you want your message to be valid and valuable to your clients and students for years to come, make it principle centered. If you want it to depict a "Look What's Happening Now…" story, then make it news centered. Here's what we mean…

A principle-centered message works, where a news-centered message won't, if you want to make it evergreen.

Principle centered means that the message is based on principles; truths, things that are constant. For example, gravity is a principle.

If you base your content on principles, people will still find it pertinent and valuable years after you create it. For example, the book "Think and Grow Rich" is based on principles, and as a result, people are still reading it and gaining valuable knowledge from it decades after it was written.

On the other hand, news-centered messages have more of a headline atmosphere to them. Examples of news-centered messages would include things like reviews of current products or information, predictions, recessions and retractions.

It is fairly obvious that principle-centered messages will stand the test of time, where news-centered messages won't. If someone wrote an article about the wonderful features and benefits of the newly-released iPod and how it will revolutionize the way we listen to audio, it definitely would not have any relevance or impact as time passes.

However, the benefit of the news-centered message is that it works well at grabbing the attention of your audience. It's the same way newspapers use headlines to grab the attention of their potential readers.

When you create your content, consider this carefully… is it principle centered or news centered? Once you've determined that, you have to decide how and where to use that content to make the best use of it.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

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In this 2nd video of the series we continue showing you how to set up your Public Profile at Gravatar.com. Gravatar allows you to have your image appear beside the blog comments you leave on other people's posts.

The Gravatar public profile allows you to add information about you, public images you wish to share, and contact information (Phone #, Skype,etc.), allows you to verify social networks, and share public links such as websites.

To see our Gravatar public profile => http://Gravatar.com/patlorna

To get a basic understanding of Gravatar.com you can review the Wikipedia.org overview of it.

You can download our Gravatar.com 202 checklist HERE.

Adding and Editing Your Public Profile in Gravatar.com (202) – Video Tutorial

Click below to watch a larger presentation of the video above:

Action Steps

1) Log in to your 'Gravatar.com Account

1.1 Go to www.Gravatar.com
1.2 Click on "Log in" => http://en.gravatar.com/site/login
1.3 Enter your Email or Username
1.4 Enter your Password

2) Add/Edit your Gravatar Public Profile

2.1 Go to www.Gravatar.com
2.2 Click on "Edit My Profile" => http://en.gravatar.com/profiles/edit
2.3 Areas within the Public Profile:

About You
http://en.gravatar.com/profiles/edit/#about-you

Your Images
http://en.gravatar.com/profiles/edit/#your-images

Contact Information
http://en.gravatar.com/profiles/edit/#contact-information

Verified Services
http://en.gravatar.com/profiles/edit/#verified-services

Your Links
http://en.gravatar.com/profiles/edit/#your-links

Custom Background
http://en.gravatar.com/profiles/edit/#custom-background

3) Check Your Public Profile

3.1 Go to www.Gravatar.com
3.2 Click on "Edit My Profile" => http://en.gravatar.com/profiles/edit
3.3 Click on "View Your Profile" => Our Public Profile is: http://gravatar.com/patlorna

4) Additional Learning Assets

4.1 Download this Checklist => http://TheCoolestCouple.com/Gravatar202
4.2 Check out our tutorial – Gravatar (101) on Setting Up Your Gravatar => http://TheCoolestCouple.com/Gravatar101

Verified Social Networks:

www.Blogger.com
www.Digg.com
www.Facebook.com
www.Flickr.com
www.FriendFeed.com
www.FourSquare.com
www.LinkedIn.com
www.MySpace.com
www.Posterous.com
www.TripIt.com
www.Tumblr.com
www.Twitter.com
www.Vimeo.com
Your Own WordPress Blog
www.Yahoo.com/Profiles
www.YouTube.com

To learn more about what we consider the best Tribe Syndication group, check out the Tribe Syndication Association (TSA).

=>>> If you found this post useful, please bookmark, share, comment, like and re-tweet so we can help impact more people's lives

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

To get a PDF document of the Gravatar.com (202) Checklist please click below:

Download your Gravatar.com (202) Checklist

To watch the video walking through the Checklist please click below:

Adding and Editing Your Public Profile with Gravatar.com (202) – Tutorial

To get a PDF document of the Gravatar.com (101) Checklist please click below:

Download your Gravatar.com (101) Checklist

To watch the video walking through the Checklist please click below:

Getting Started with Gravatar.com (101) – Tutorial

A beautiful day… one so beautiful we decide to hop on the bikes and go for a nice long ride. So off we go… downhill, uphill , and a lot of leisurely routes too.

Two and a half hours later we find ourselves at a park with green grass, tall shady trees, and a very peaceful atmosphere. What a great place to hang out for a bit, take a break and unwind… so we did. Absolutely wonderful!

After our break we're back on the bikes and starting our hour-long journey home… when suddenly Pat's bike felt quite strange to him. His back tire was completely flat! Well, we couldn't go on like that, so we had to call for support. We called one of our sons to get the vehicle with the bike rack and then pick us up.

We got home safely and quite easily… but if we didn't have support, it would have been a different story. Could we have gotten home without our son's help? Yes, but it would have been a lot more difficult, and took a lot longer.

The same applies to the online world.

You can get so much more accomplished, and get to where you want to be quicker and easier, with support from others. Yes, you could get it figured out on your own, generate your own traffic and prospects, but it would be a lot more difficult and take a lot longer than if you had the support of others.

That's why building mutually beneficial relationships and becoming part of an online community are so very important to your success. What is an online community? Basically, it's a place where people can ask for and get help and support, learn how to do things online, have a place to be heard and share their knowledge, as well as increase their ability to generate traffic and prospects.

There are many things an online community can offer. So we're wondering…
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Thank you so much for your response… and please feel free to elaborate in the comments section below.

We know many of you belong to an online tribe, which is like a "mini-community"… a place where people join together to support each other in generating more traffic to each others' sites. And of course, like on other social sites, you have a great opportunity to develop some great relationships as well.

We love the mutual support involved in online tribes, so we have joined the Tribe Syndication Association (TSA)… a really great group of people. If you'd like to find out more about TSA, you can find them HERE.

In all aspects of life, the online world included, having support and good relationships is so very important. "We are not alone"… and nor should we be.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

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In this video we show you how to get started with Gravatar.com. Gravatar allows you to have your image appear beside the blog comments you leave on other people's posts.

To get a basic understanding of Gravatar.com you can review the Wikipedia.org overview of it

You can download our Gravatar.com 101 checklist HERE.

Getting Started with Gravatar.com (101) – Video Tutorial

Click below to watch a larger presentation of the video above:

Action Steps

1) Set up your Gravatar.com Account

1.1 Go to www.Gravatar.com
1.2 Click on "Sign up" => http://en.gravatar.com/site/signup
1.3 Enter your Email
1.4 Click the "Link" in the confirmation Email that you received

2) Upload Your Image

2.1 Go to www.Gravatar.com
2.2 Click on "Log in" => http://en.gravatar.com/site/login

2.2.1 Enter your Email or Username
2.2.2 Enter your Password

2.3 Click on "Add an Image" => http://en.gravatar.com/gravatars/new

Choose where you'd like to get the image from:

• My computer's hard drive
• An image on the Internet
• A webcam attached to your computer
• A previously uploaded image

3) Add an Email address

3.1 Go to www.Gravatar.com
3.2 Click on "Add an Email Address" => http://en.gravatar.com/emails/new
3.3 Confirm the Email sent from Gravatar

4) Check your Avatar

4.1 Go to => http://en.gravatar.com/site/check
4.2 Enter an Email address you wish to check

5) Additional Learning Assets
5.1 Download this Checklist => http://TheCoolestCouple.com/Gravatar101
5.2 Check out our tutorial – Gravatar (202) on The Public Profile => http://TheCoolestCouple.com/Gravatar202

To learn more about what we consider the best Tribe Syndication group, check out the Tribe Syndication Association (TSA).

=>>> If you found this post useful, please bookmark, share, comment, like and re-tweet so we can help impact more people's lives

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

In this video we show you how to get started with Ping.fm which allows you to syndicate your and other's content to 39 different social media networking sites.

To get a basic understanding of Ping.fm you can review the Wikipedia.org overview of it.

You can download our Ping.fm checklist HERE.

Getting Started with Ping.fm (101) – Video Tutorial

Click below to watch a larger presentation of the video above:

Action Steps

1) Set up your Ping.fm Account:

1.1 Go to http://www.Ping.fm
1.2 Click on Signup https://ping.fm/signup and enter your personal details
1.3 Login to Ping.fm https://www.Ping.fm/login

2) Join / Authorize Social Networks
(Our Ping.fm checklist HERE has all these sites listed or see them BELOW)

2.1 Go to http://Ping.fm/network and sign up and authorize each of the listed social network accounts

3) Updates and Syndication

Posting
3.1 Go to http://www.Ping.fm/dashboard
3.2 Use the Google ToolBar – http://www.Google.com/toolbar
3.3 Use PingFire – Firefox Add-on – https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/836
3.4 Use http://www.HootSuite.com

Checking Status
3.5 Check recent posts http://www.Ping.fm/recent

Ping.FM Supported Social Networks:

Twitter.com
Facebook.com
Facebook.com/pages
Google.com/buzz
MySpace.com
Ning.com
Google.com/talk
Aim.com
LinkedIn.com
Tumblr.com
Identi.ca
BrightKite.com
Plurk.com
FriendFeed.com
Jaiku.com
Blogger.com
Plaxo.com
Bebo.com
Hi5.com
Xanga.com
WordPress.com
Delicious.com
Koornk.com
YouAre.com
Multiply.com
Yammer.com
Flickr.com
Status.net
Vox.com
TypePad.com
ShoutEm.com
StreetMavens.com
MyYearbook.com
Posterous.com
PhotoBucket.com
Yahoo.com
Tagged.com
Yahoo.com/meme

It should take you 1-2 hours to setup the above social networks. Remember to save your User ID and Password that you used to setup these accounts. Have fun and get syndicating.

To learn more about what we consider the best Tribe Syndication group, check out the Tribe Syndication Association (TSA).

=>>> If you found this post useful, please bookmark, share, comment, like and re-tweet so we can help impact more people's lives

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

To get a PDF document for the Ping.fm (101) Checklist please click below:

Download your Ping.fm (101) Checklist

To watch the video walking through the Checklist please click below"

Getting Started with Ping.fm (101) – Tutorial

You may believe that once you’ve found out what people are looking for, created great content and presented it once, that you’re done. The problem is you’re leaving a huge presence and a lot of potential profit behind.

Not everyone is going to connect with your content in the way you’ve presented it, and those that don’t will not consume it or perhaps even purchase it.

People learn and take in information in different ways, and the more of those you reach, the more of a market reach you’ll have.

Basically, people operate in a variety of learning modalities. Let’s take a look at the types of learning modalities:

• Visual Learners – Visual learners actually learn and better retain information by seeing and reading. This accounts for about 55 to 75 percent of people according to scientific studies. This is obviously a large portion of the people and therefore visual presentation is one of the most effective modes to communicate information.
• Auditory Learners – As suggested by the name, auditory learners tend to learn most competently by hearing or speaking. This includes about 20 to 30 percent of people.
• Kinesthetic Learners – Kinesthetic learners absorb information best through doing and touching. This would include tasks such as filling in the blanks, key strokes, and mouse clicks. Approximately 5 to 15 percent of people fall into this category according to scientific studies.
• Smell and Taste – These two categories are self-explanatory. We won’t spend much time on them here as they have very little application to the types of contexts that we are dealing with.
• Digital Auditory – Digital auditory is an internal learning modality that we will refer to as self talk. These thoughts in your mind ultimately are what guide your decisions. Everyone makes use of digital auditory and you need to be aware as to what your content is getting your audience to think and feel.

In our last poll we learned a lot about what areas of social media most of you are having challenges with… now we'd love to find out what type of training would reach you best.

So… we would appreciate it so much if you could take a few seconds to answer the question below…

And again, we invite you to elaborate on and clarify your answer in the comments section below.

To sum it up… make use of the various learning modalities in how you present your content and you will reach a much larger percentage of your potential market. As well, you will have much more impact on their lives as they will be more likely to understand and put to practice what you have presented.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

Camping is a lot of fun. Well, we're sure that not all of you agree with that statement, but we definitely have a blast when we're out there "getting away from it all".

On one such weekend, we had decided to head out to Jasper, Alberta, Canada to enjoy the mountains, and the amazing fresh air. So we packed up our tent and all the other camping essentials and took off.

The weekend was perfect… the weather was great, we found a sweet campsite, and our time there was laid-back and relaxed.

And then it happened… early on Saturday afternoon, when Pat was returning from filling our water container, he noticed that almost everyone in the campground was looking at him. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't understand why. Although I sure knew what they were looking at, and it wasn't Pat…

On the same path, following close behind him, was a black bear.

Once Pat headed up the path towards our campsite, he noticed the bear behind him. He decided to take it easy and keep moving at a slow and steady pace… he figured if the bear had wanted to chase him down, he would've already done it.

So when it appeared that all the campers were looking at Pat… they really had their focus elsewhere.

The same thing applies online. We may think people are looking for what we have to offer… in fact, we may be positive we have something that everyone wants. But do they? Are they really looking at you, or has someone else grabbed their attention?

One way to find out if you have your prospects' attention is to ask them what they want, or what it is they are looking for help with. Only then can you truly know if what you are offering is in line with what they are looking for.

We need to see the wants and needs of our prospects from their point of view, not from what we "think" they are.

As Marcel Proust said…

True discovery consists not in finding new landscapes, but in seeing the same landscape with new eyes.

We need to take a look at what we are offering through our prospects' eyes… not from our own bias and perspective.

One way to find out what others are looking for is to conduct a survey or poll.

You can do that within your blog, like this…

Hey, if you haven't yet participated in our little poll above, we would greatly appreciate your feedback. And by all means, feel free to elaborate on your answer in the comments section below.

Another place to ask your prospects what they want and where their challenges lie, is to conduct a survey using an online survey service… just like the one we created HERE on Survey Monkey.

Remember, it's great that you would buy your own product or service, but do other people see it as having the same value to them in their lives? Ask them and find out… are they really looking at you?

ShortKeys is a utility that allows you to set up replacement text or paragraphs for any given number of user defined keystrokes. ShortKeys monitors the keyboard activity on a global nature and anytime a user defined keystroke combination is typed in, it will be replaced with the replacement text.

You can download a copy of ShortKeys HERE.

Click below to watch a larger presentation

Wondering how to get thread (nested) comments for your WordPress blogs. In this video we show you how to turn on the feature if your WordPress theme supports it. We also show you how to install a plug-in if your theme doesn't support thread comments.

Here is the link to the WordPress Thread Comment plugin => Here

Click below to watch a larger presentation

Picture this… two large groups of people running amok and tossing and kicking a ball around, while they tackle each other to the ground, and hold on to each other as they push and shove the other group… basically running them over. And on the sideline you, as a "fan", are supposed to be cheering and offering support… but for what?

When we first started dating, Pat was a part of that scenario… he was playing Rugby… and I was there to "cheer" him on. But I guess I didn't quite make my presence known on the sidelines, and Pat asked… "Why aren't you cheering me on? I can't hear you out on the field." My reply… "I don't know what I'm supposed to be cheering for." I really didn't understand the game and couldn't offer a lot of support… at least not anything that would make any sense.

Later that night at a Rugby party (two words that are synonymous with each other) a new womens' Rugby team was recruiting for players. So Pat had a brilliant idea… why don't I try out for the team? Even if I don't like it, at least I'll understand the game and be able to both enjoy the game more and offer Pat support from the sidelines.

So I signed up… and for the next six years both Pat and I had a wonderful time playing a very cool sport while supporting each other along the way.

Support and actually understanding where the other person is coming from are, in our opinion, two critical aspects of a great relationship… whether in a marriage, family, friendship, tribe or community.

Being that social media is a crucial part of tribes and communities, we've put together this quick poll to collect your thoughts on your experiences with social media. We would appreciate your input

As discussed in the TSA Webinar…

Thank you for your feedback! Hey, if you would like to elaborate on your answer, then by all means add that in the comment section below.

Support and understanding is a huge part of what a tribe is all about… and the tribe that we support and where we receive support in turn, is Tribe Syndication Association (TSA). You can find them HERE.

Thanks for participating in our little blog poll… and we look forward to hearing about your experiences and challenges in the realm of social media.

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

With the exception of perhaps a few rare individuals, people are social creatures. We all love to connect with other people, talk to them, find out about them, and get together with them. The challenging part for some people is… "Where do I find people I can really connect with, people with which I have something in common?"

Now, this doesn't just apply to getting together with people "live and in person", it also applies to the online society. Would you want to sit in front of your computer day in and day out if you felt you were all alone? To just gather information and send your content out hoping someone will read it? We highly doubt it.

This is why social media is so popular and a critical part of what we spend our time doing online.

However, we still find ourselves wandering here and there to connect with like-minded individuals. There's a bit of information here, a cool group there, some interesting training over there, etc., etc.

So where do you go?

Tribes offer a great venue for meeting new people, connecting with them regularly, learning from each other, and perhaps even meeting in person. Some tribes will be created for a specific niche, others for anyone who wants to join.

The beauty of a tribe is that you actually get to know a lot of people, who they are, what they do, with the opportunity to support them and have them support you. And… you can join more than one tribe… just be sure you have the time and energy to fulfill your commitment to each one.

Does it feel like a party inside of a tribe? It sure can. If you choose to join a tribe, get involved. Do the syndication, read other people's content (even their "About" page), communicate with them and get to know who they are. You'll be surprised how quickly you can get to know so many new people and how much they'll get to know you.

Life is a party… and tribes are a great place to bring that party online!

The tribe we "PARTY" with is Tribe Syndication Association (TSA) => Check them out HERE

For those of you who have already joined a tribe, we'd love it if you could let us know in the comment section what you like most about tribes and also what your biggest challenge is about being a part of a tribe. Thanks!!

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.

We walk through the steps of installing the TSA logo into a text widget on your blog. Short, simple and easy to do.

Download the TSA Logo's (Right click on image => Save Image As)
White TSA Logo => Here.
Black TSA Logo => Here.

Click below to watch a larger presentation

Image Courtesy Pedro Mourelle

It was an interesting, fun and very cool experience… and one that we learned a lot from as well.

What exactly did we learn?
This is what we learned:

1. Branding is important.

Having a brand that people can associate you with is very important. Unless you are extremely famous and everybody knows your name, having a brand that's different, something people can relate to or remember easily, and even something fun, will go a long way in getting you noticed by others.

Once you develop a brand you need to make sure that everything you do is through that brand. The more you put your brand out there, the more people will remember it and the more people will get to see it. It's also a good thing to tie it into your tweets and postings on Facebook… just a word here and there that relates to your brand.

Another thing we found is that it really helps to have a brand that fits you. If it is a brand that you can't relate to, or just doesn't speak to who you are, then you are less likely to use it to the fullest… and a lot of people will notice the disconnect and not buy into it. Find something you can be comfortable with. After all, you will be promoting yourself through this brand.

2. It doesn't happen overnight.

We've been working on our Twitter relationships for two years… following people, tweeting, getting involved in Twitter groups, re-tweeting, and building a lot of relationships. Usually, unless there's extenuating circumstances like having your own TV show, getting up to 57,000 followers takes time.

So the secret… get on Twitter and build relationships. Get involved. That doesn't mean you have to be on Twitter 24/7 either. A little bit here and there connecting with people goes a long way. As well, you can take advantage of auto-tweet programs, such as HootSuite. But use the auto-tweet programs as a compliment to personally connecting… don't use them for everything you do on Twitter.

3. Communicate with your followers.

One thing that was mentioned by Jimmy's followers as well as ours was that Jimmy wasn't on Twitter talking to them. Again, social media, no matter which site you're on, is all about relationships. We even got a few of Jimmy's followers to switch sides because we were actually talking to them.

4. Don't take it personally.

Because our name and picture were seen by a lot of people, we got a lot of not-so-complimentary comments; we just didn't take any of them to heart. You are not going to be liked or put in a good light by everyone. The interesting thing is that nearly all of the people who don't have anything nice to say about you, don't even know you at all. So what do they base their comments on? They make it up.

To get noticed you need to stick your head above the sand… and some people will take that opportunity to use it as "target practice". Criticism and detrimental comments are part of life, but one that we don't need to buy into.

Social media can be a lot of fun, while meeting a lot of cool people at the same time. You never know who you'll meet and what crazy and interesting experiences you'll have along the way.

Leave us a comment on what you've learned about social media and getting noticed online… and some challenges you've had in that regard as well. We'd love to hear about it!

About the Authors

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed.

Pat and Lorna Shanks deliver the "COOL" Goods and connections to "COOL" People. They provide tips, tools, education and informative sessions with knowledgeable people that enable entrepreneurs, independent professionals and small business owners to attract more clients and make more money. For more "COOL" tips, tools, knowledge and people, go to www.TheCoolestCouple.com or follow us on Twitter.

BTW - Check out the new Facebook Like Button just below. Click on it to share with your friends.