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How to Beat 80% of the Competition from the Start

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Do Worry, Do Something Anyone Can Do

When I was at WordCamp LasVegas, I met the guys from Voodoo Ventures. That’s a picture of Gerard Ramos, Lorelle VanFossen, me, and Chris Schultz after we spoke — all of us a presenters and in the conversation I’m about to share.

Chris, Gerard, and I sat for a couple of hours talking talking business, strategy, brands, and futures. In the course of that conversation, I was relentlessly asking questions, as I’m prone to do when I’m in that mode.

One series of such relentless questions was this one.
What do you bring that others don’t? Why will I be grateful that I’m working you and no one else? We already know that your work is quality, your people are top professionals, and you solve problems without causing them. What’s your secret ingredient that no one else does like you?

Chris Schultz [please know I’m paraphrasing] said

I’ve got 80% of the competition beat from the start, just because I show up. I answer every email — AFTER I read them to end. I return phone calls. I keep my promises. I do what I say I will. I listen and respond. And I like what I do and the people I do it with.

That’s a difference I’d pay for at most any place I do business with.

What about you? How easy is it to find service like that?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

SOB Business Cafe 01-16-09

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SB Cafe

Welcome to the SOB Cafe

We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.

The Specials this Week are

CK’s Blog suggests that we ought to rethink how we think about thinking.
The greatest thinkers throughout history didn’t offer the same ideas. Nope. They offered different viewpoints.

Buzz Bin suggests that we should be better by now.
Well, it’s a new year, and yes, we’re having many of the same old conversations here and other places. Realistically speaking, the repetition is necessary because a great deal of the market still needs to come up to speed on social media communications (Viva Pinata by peasap).

Insights & Ingenuity suggests that we consider our standards.
The gist of the message was “I’m Satisfied with Mr. Carpet.” Mr. Carpet, presumably, is a retailer of floor coverings. The approach was a weak (an non-attributable) customer testimonial.

Social Media Explorer suggests that we take longer look before we ask folks to blog about us.
The simple fact of the matter is that, at least for now, there is no one tool, website or service that can help public relations professional identify blogs for their outreach.

Servant of Chaos suggests that we understand the meaning of trust.
Some of the questions that have been raised go directly to the heart of social media … what does it mean to be “connected”, where does responsibility overlap “connection” and what happens to our TRUST when money is involved?

Related ala carte selections include

Being Five suggests …

Sit back. Enjoy your read. Nachos and drinks will be right over. Stay as long as you like. No tips required. Comments appreciated.

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Story Telling: Building Community for Post-Secondary Students

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As the Holidays drew to a close and people geared up to go back to work and class, I started thinking about classes, (I could have stayed in school forever – loved it!) and how I wish I had of been blogging when I was in university. Turns out there are lots of students out there not just connecting up on Facebook, but blogging, and for different reasons. I don’t have actual numbers but I talked with some post-secondary students to find out just what blogging and being part of that community means to them.

Teresa Wu blogs with a clear love of writing. She agrees with my suggestion that it does help with academic writing in that she learned to think very clearly about what she wants to say and how it will be perceived. Interestingly enough she said, “It gives me a community to bounce stuff off of, whether that’s just… pictures of my new brother’s new puppy or sharing the ways in which I promoted my humor blog.“Again, the value of community.

Writing with a purpose in mind and great enthusiasm is David Spinks. “The purpose of my blog is not only to share my thoughts and ideas on social media in hopes that people will find my writing to be valuable and communicate back, but also to complement my professional career, and establish myself in the field.” He knows what kind of community he wants to build and is doing it! His love of what he’s doing is contagious – you want to be a part of his community.

Blogging builds community. We see and hear that here, on Successful & Outstanding Bloggers. We’ve heard about it from others, and we know it ourselves to be true. We read, share our thoughts, ideas, expertise and good “finds”. We talk about ourselves. We write comments on blogs we read and share our opinions, ask questions and provoke debate. We link out, link up and search for links. We join in, build and grow. Our strategies may vary. Some choose to build community to market for public relations, or as corporate communications. Others may blog for the love of writing, to engage, share and help out. It’s all the same, really: to build a community. Just the intent may differ.

You are part of a blogging community. Thank you for welcoming me here to this one. Please share something that’s happening in your community.

Kathryn aka @northernchick

Photo credit: forever digital

Aren’t We in the Idea Business?

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I have been reading the Age of Conversation 2 ( a book of essays on Social Media, but you know that, site | book) and it really gets me thinking. For example, we have nuggets of inspiration like this:
Efrain Mendicuti – Google Mexico

“We have to realize that most of the jobs that will be here in ten years haven’t been invented. So it’s hard to set up a curriculum for these new kind of creatives.”

These jobs that are yet to be created are in the realm of the knowledge worker, the creators of ideas that will transform the workplace.

Where should we look for new ideas?

The blogosphere is full of these creative types, and there is the very real possibility that one of the remarkable people that comes to SOBCon this year just may create something that no one has ever seen before. But we are not learning these skills in college, or in high school. We are learning them from each other as we reach out across teh interwebs and talk. We talk to our friends and neighbors, whether they are around the corner or in faraway countries.

This new medium has transformed the way that people talk to each other, work and live together, create businesses and communities. Everything is different today, and it will change again tomorrow. Writing for the Web – DIY SEO training course

Can we share something here?

All this talk about conversations, and the amazing things that we see on places like Twitter and Flickr everyday gives me a great deal of confidence in our future. So here are some questions for sharing:

  • Where do you get your ideas?
  • What gets your creative juices flowing?
  • Who inspires you to be better today than you were yesterday?

Please leave a Comment, and share your answers.

25 Traits Of Twitter Folks I Admire and 25 Folks Who Have Them

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Conversation, Relationship, Then Transaction

Those of us who’ve read the Cluetrain Manifesto and experience community working together have no desire to go back to a transaction-based business model ever. We see the value of working with people we know, like, and trust. And as we learn how to use the tools, we don’t lack people to connect with to get our business done.

Certain signs and characteristics seem to show in the folks who live the social media culture. Certain value and actions make people who care about having relationships and conversation before transactions easy to spot. I’ve listed 25 traits of Twitter Folks I admire.

These social media folks …

  1. don’t seek to be the center of any universe.
  2. find great conversations and get to know the people there.
  3. realize that every venue has it’s own culture and rules.
  4. do their own talking and their own listening.
  5. talk mostly about the accomplishments of others.
  6. ask intriguing questions that invite others to join the conversation.
  7. don’t worry when folks don’t respond to something they say.
  8. have time for new friends, talk to them, listen to them, read their sites and bios, ask them questions — avoid assumptions.
  9. have a different conversation with every individual and every business.
  10. take embarrassing or private conversations offline.
  11. are inclusive and encourage folks who exclude people to exclude themselves.
  12. shout out good news, help in emergencies, and celebrate with everyone.
  13. say please, thank you, and you’re welcome, and mean them.
  14. are incredibly curious about what works, what doesn’t work, seek feedback often, and look to improve what they do.
  15. study the industry and trends, watch how things occur, share information about those freely, but never break a trust.
  16. offer advice when people ask. Help whenever they can.
  17. aren’t “shameless.” Ask for help in ways that folks are proud to pitch in.
  18. are constantly connecting people and ideas in business conversations that are helpful, not hypeful.
  19. get paid to strategize business, build tactical plans, but won’t “monetize” relationships.
  20. ignore the trolls.
  21. keep their promises.
  22. can be transparent without being naked … most of us look and behave best in public with our clothes ON.
  23. listen to the hive mind, but think their own thoughts.
  24. send back channel “hellos” to friends when there’s no time to talk.
  25. understand that the Internet is public and has no eraser.

The relationships with people — social in social media — is what is changing things. It makes a business experience worth looking forward to and turns a transaction into a relationship. It’s different online because I can’t see you. When I meet folks who make that distance and darkness disappear, I respect and admire them.

Updated slightly for to replace those who’ve gone.

Of course, I admire @@chrisbrogan, @guykawasaki, @problogger and the others you already have read on every other list. I’d like to add some great social stars that you might not know yet. Here are 25 more great conversationalists I admire and learn from every day.
@LucretiaPruitt
@BethHarte
@MackCollier
@AmberCadabra
@ShannonPaul
@mark_hayward
@zaneology
@Tojosan
@AaronStrout
@nanpalmero
@hdbbstephen
@rainesmaker
@SheilaS
@DanielleSmithTV
@caroljsroth
@remarkablogger
@melissapierce
@BeckyMcCray
@jnswanson
@BawldGuy
@inspiremetoday
@jasonfalls
@northernchick
@ernohannink
@jonathanfields
@joannapaterson

I suspect you’ll enjoy their conversation as much as I do.
Feel free to add your own 25 to the list or make a list of your and link it back to here.
Great folks are worth celebrating.

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!

How Can We Keep the Passionate Community Without the Risk?

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I've been thinking . . .

about how we use social media tools.

Social media tools make it easy for experts to share experience and give an opinions. That leads to great discussions and becomes best practices of more than one industry. When social media tools connect thoughts and ideas of people innovating and building, they’re elegant and powerful things.

But when we about the social media behavior of a single company or individual, as we use the tools in passionate dialogue we can lose sight of how social media tools work. People say things they’d never say in person. We forget that our conversations are public and searchable — talking for our future children, future clients, and future selves. Our tweets are disoverable in a court of law. Words and questions that should move offline … often don’t. It’s dangerous.

The minute Twitter became a business tool, the game changed. A new personal / business balance was introduced.

If people who use the tools daily can lose sight of the lurkers and the asynchronous conversation, maybe companies who are slow to adopt “get” social media more than we think.

How can we keep the passionate community without the risk?

Liz's Signature