A Day in the Life

Don't discount the power of being likable

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 16:03:55 -0800

I'm not saying you should worry what people think about you; what I'm saying is don't underestimate how important it is for people to like you.

Just be yourself, but be likable. And if you're not likable by nature, learn how to be likable.

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Opportunity isn't just knocking...sometimes it's kicking down your door

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 17:43:31 -0800

Some of last year's stress was figuring out where to get business from, how to formulate an effective proposal, how to communicate the value of the service and how to toe the line between asking for the sale and avoiding the hard sell. Each of these challenges were stressful and required a lot of trial and error. These challenges were also enormous hurdles to driving revenue.

This year has been different.

After reframing my conversation from Social Media to Social Business I've had better conversations that more effectively communicate our service offering, and our prospects are now asking for next steps.
After putting in years of hard work, learning, reading and tinkering, it's getting easier to explain things, hence my proposals are hitting the mark and we're closing more business.
After spending time building and nurturing relationships, caring about other people's businesses, and empathizing with other people's life situations I've built a strong network of wonderful people who support me and refer me constantly--literally multiple times per week.

This year the struggle is different. The life cycle of my company is now about learning to grow. There comes a point where there isn't enough time to service clients while continuing to build a pipeline.

Don't get me wrong, it's a great problem to have, but it's still a problem.

This year, opportunity is kicking my door in, now I just have to figure out what to do about it.

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Hard Work, Patience and a Strong Network.

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:49:29 -0800

Sometimes it feels like we're moving in slow motion and other times the speed of light. Between the ups and downs there are these moments where it helps to step back and look at the big picture.

I started my business in March of 2011. There were times where I thought I'd never get the business off of the ground. I thought I'd have to crawl back to the workforce, tail between my legs. I saw opportunities go by, I gave pitches that fell flat, I wrote proposals that missed the mark.

As with everything else, if you want to achieve greatness, it's going to take work. I love what I do and even though I've not yet achieved my ultimate goals, I'm proud to say that I made it through some slow times, I fought through doubt, and my patience is paying off.

2012 has started off with a bang and I'm sincerely grateful for the incredible number of referrals I've gotten this year alone. As hard as I work at doing what I do, I know that without an incredible network, my business would be nowhere. I want to thank you once again to everyone that has supported this vision, that believes in the work I'm capable of doing and has referred me to others.

When you are running full speed, stop to take a breath. When you are moving at a crawl, thoughts jumbled, productivity at a halt, stop to think about where you are going. Be patient, because if you set your mind to something and are willing to fight through the ups and downs, you have a great chance of getting there.

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Not every day is filled with sunshine

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:11:32 -0800

Today has not been a "bad" day of work, just a slow day. It's rainy out, the roads are a bit slushy from the leftover weekend snow. I stayed up a bit too late last night and as a result I couldn't get the day started until very late in the day today...no matter how much coffee I drank.

In spite of the slow day, I still feel that I can get something out of the day, but the first step is accepting that some days will just be less productive than others.

I accept this.

This is just another day in the life as I build this company.

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Whew...what a day!?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:42:46 -0800

There really isn't much in the world that can compete with the feeling of a hard day's work. EXCEPT maybe the feeling of a hard day's work doing exactly what you love.

Yeah.

That's better.

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There is no such thing as "Social Media"

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:05:00 -0800

This is a great perspective from Gary V about the trap of getting caught up in semantics. Social Media is the Social Web, is the Internet of today...it's a social Internet. We share things, nuff said!

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You never know when someone is going to stumble over you.

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:01:00 -0800

Blogging provides a number of benefits to companies and individuals. This is the most difficult to quantify:

#FF @ViperChill @simon_staffans @jgibbard People I have come across accidentally that have great info on blogs, industry & marketing.
— Tatiana Bacchus (@tbacchus20) July 9, 2010

You never know when someone is going to stumble over you.

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A question about business growth

Sat, 17 Dec 2011 08:10:42 -0800

The question is, does a business grow by bringing on more staff and delegating or by bringing in more business? Which comes first?

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Wearing hats

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:43:09 -0700

As the founder and President of my company I am constantly wearing many hats. I handle business development, marketing, finance, sales, strategy, consulting, and everything else needed to build my company.

It comes with the territory of building a start up but sometimes it gets overwhelming. When I get overwhelmed, I have to remind myself that I'm doing this for a purpose. I'm doing this to make business more social.

I'm glad to do great work for my clients, but sometimes I get overwhelmed at the thought of managing client responsibilities while wearing so many hats.

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Paved with good intentions...

Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:01:42 -0700

Here's some advice to those giving away their time for free, or "pro-bono." Be very clear, up front, about how much time you are willing to spend on the project and what they can expect from you. Be willing to walk away from a bad experience. To those getting advice and consulting for free: you are getting a FREE service, you CANNOT expect to be taken care of or prioritized like a paying client. If you want platinum service, you are going to have to pay for it. Furthermore, it doesn't hurt anyone for you to compensate your service provider in other ways, such as referrals. That is all. Chalk it up to learning.

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Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:33:00 -0700

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Haters

Fri, 07 Oct 2011 10:56:54 -0700

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Truth

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:15:00 -0700

via abc-nlp.co.uk

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Refreshed and calm

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:05:39 -0700

I've hit Wednesday which for me is a relief. It's a relief, not because I'm glad that the week is almost over, but rather I'm glad that I've now had 3 days to catch up from September. September kicked my ass, BIG time. I had a number of family obligations and a significant number of birthdays. Now that September is over I have been running twice full speed to get back int he game, and I have been crushing it. Today I spent a good portion of my day streamlining one of my client's social media presence. Yesterday I planned an entire month's worth of content for another client. And tomorrow I will firmly handle another client's large social media monitoring roll out. Within these three days I have devoted nearly the full 8 hours of my day to my clients and have fundamentally caught back up., Additionally, I've reached out to several new business opportunities. It feels refreshing to get through a mountain of work. I even have inbox 0. That's how it's done.!

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Family first

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:21:11 -0700

Over the last 2 weeks I haven't had very much time to spend on client work or acquiring new clients. I have had some family issues to attend to. I miss my work, I want to get back to my work, but family always comes first. It's important to remember that the reason we work is to be able to afford to spend quality time with our families and enjoy the relationships we are lucky enough to have. We always need to remember what is important in life.

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Quiet Reflection

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 16:41:23 -0700

It's remarkable how little time is left to quietly reflect on objectives, successes, failures and opportunities after checking all of our inboxes, creating content, sharing content, measuring effectiveness and keeping up with the flow of information.

We tweet, we blog, we watch, we listen but how often do we stop the distractions to just think? I often find that blog topics come to me during a drive to a client's office or during my morning shower. The night stand next to my bed has a notepad and pen because of the numerous occasions I've had an idea during the silence preceding sleep.

I spend so much time in this industry furiously trying to keep up and manage my various social media outposts. I spend so much mental energy planning, organizing, curating and creating.

As much as I appreciate being "plugged in," I also try to appreciate silence, and quiet reflection. I think it's important that we never lose sight of that, because the pace is only going to increase and the volume is only going to grow. It is easy to let your brain rewire itself. I try to remind myself that I play a big role in determining how my brain rewires during this technology, information and social revolution.

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Bite off more than you can chew

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 19:32:38 -0700

When you start out blogging, you'll likely find it difficult to keep up with one blog. Over time you may get used to it, so you'll add a second blog or double down your efforts on your one blog. As you go through this process you may find it overwhelming, but your capacity will increase, you will get better. Be ambitious. Take on more than you think you can handle. In the end, you'll be better than if you'd decided to play it safe.

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Ducks in a row

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:50:52 -0700

Sometimes you need to just take the day to get things in order. Today might just be that day.

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And we're back...

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:43:00 -0700

This blog left Posterous for Tumblr, and then Wordpress, and now...we're back on Posterous. It's simply the easiest way for me to maintain this type of blog in the midst of my other blogging activities.

Thanks for being patient and moving around with me.

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Results = ...

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 20:34:00 -0700

Results are the product of the effort you put in. Hard work is essential. No one is looking out for you if you don't first look out for yourself. Put out generosity and passion, and you'll be successful...trust me.

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