Archive for September, 2009

Last week, I had a conversation with Dana Sipper about a friend of hers who was looking for someone to talk to about starting a business. Dana explained her friend was someone like me, loves to write, and trying to find her way in the world…and wants advice from me.

Of course I said that yes, I would be happy to chat with her.

And then the doubt set in. The “but I’m nobody important” feeling consumed me.

I just started my business. I’m still trying to figure this all out for myself…how in the heck am I going to be able to help someone else just starting out? I have no idea what to say to someone. What if I tell her the wrong thing and she doesn’t like me? What if I tell her the right thing and she doesn’t like it?

Then I took a step back from myself and thought about all the incredible businesses that I respect and realized one thing. Those people probably have doubts too! They probably question their abilities some mornings, and wonder how they got where they are.

Alfred Peet probably had wondered more than once why anyone drank his coffee.

And I am sure Bill Gates questioned why people kept buying his system.

Then of course in the beginning, Walt Disney was probably confused why anyone liked that little mouse he created.

More importantly, each of these extremely successful corporations were all started by one person, with one idea, and a whole lot of effort. They all started as a small business owner, and turned themselves into big business owners.

That’s me, a small business owner (wow, so weird to actually be in that category!), who is going to work my butt off to be a big business owner. I’ll continue to have doubts along the way, but it is those doubts that keep me working harder. It is the concern that maybe I’m not important that will force me to prove that I am.

And I think that is exactly what I will tell her.

Create Harmony

Ever wonder how great small businesses become great?

They get talked about, shared and discussed by everyone. But, they talk about everyone else instead of themselves.

For example, I have talked about my experience with Portola Coffee, which in turn, led others to find them and test them out. They didn’t pay me. They didn’t ask me to write about them. I did it because I loved their service, their company ideals and now, their product.

I also do it because I know what it is like to be a small business, and know how hard it is to get noticed without a big budget. If money were no object, we could all advertise like big business. But money is an object, and one that small businesses can’t throw around lightly. So, I like to do my part to help small businesses grow – without having to spend their precious resources.

How do I do that?

By asking you to answer a simple question:

Which small business do you swear by? If you had to recommend one business to my readers, which would it be and why?

A blog is simple, the newest content is on top. Which is of course, the one downside to how a blog works. Basically, unless someone decides to click through your past archives, or check out all your categories, it is very likely that a new visitor will never see more than your most recent few posts. The goal is obviously, they will subscribe and see all future posts, but what about those posts from a year ago? There is always the “popular post” widgets where you can feature top posts, but what if it was really old, before you got a lot of comments? It wouldn’t be considered popular, therefore wouldn’t show up. I feel bad for old posts…especially the ones that are still relevant, really interesting, but most people will never see them.

So, in an effort to bring to light some oldies but goodies, I wanted to feature 4 of my favorite posts from more than 6 months ago (that I believe are still completely relevant!):

1. Why I’m a nerd …and totally okay with it!
2. Creativity in airports
3. Do you know your creative breaking point?
4. What is your “Mount Everest”

How can your new readers find your old gems? Do you have an old favorite post you want to share with your readers?

Last month at the Peppino’s Tweetup, @JGPR (the PR team behind Style Week OC) invited OC tweeters to attend the event as media. There were limited passes, and those who were really wanting to go would be able to get passes. So why was this so important?

First, the fact that Stacey Ellis of Style Week OC listened to the PR team and was willing to take a risk by allowing access to social media (which means live coverage, no control over what is being said, and always wondering what is being talked about). Second, this is the first event that I know of in Orange County that has considered twitter users as media. This is such a shift in ‘traditional marketing’ and shows the power that social media is really taking on. Not only did they invite us, but we were given special passes at the event. The passes were laminated, and were obviously done with care and a purpose. When I first saw it, I assumed that every media person had their own passes, but after walking through, I realized that in fact, they had done this just for us – so that the designers and companies there would know who we were and would want to talk to us.

And talk to us they did!

My first stop when I got in was to Got2b, the hair sponsors for the event. I have been to quite a few ‘sponsor events’ and usually see just a booth and maybe a couple people chatting about their products. But not this event. Got2b had at least 5 people there, handing out samples to people after finding out exactly what type of hair they had! This was not “just check us out:, this was a well thought out marketing strategy to make sure that when people left with samples, they would have samples that were perfect for them. And therefore more likely to be happy with their products. In addition, they had stylists on site, using their products and tools to show off how incredible they really worked. They gave me stuff to protect it when blow-drying and straight ironing it (since I have naturally curly hair, but like to wear it straight too).

The line I fell in love with? The new fashions from The Closet.

After chatting with them, I wandered around the rest of the event, and was pleasantly surprised that every vendor that was at the event was just as talkative and involved as Got2b had been. My first stop was to The Closet‘s rack. I had heard of the brand, but had never checked them out before. I was so excited to get to look at the line, and chat with one of the owners/managers about who they are and what they stand for. Not only is the line totally California Couture (as their branding states) but the people that are running the line are wonderful.

At this point, I was starving, so I headed to grab some food. Rubio’s (the food sponsor) offered free chips and salsa and either chicken or shrimp tacos. The food was awesome, and the Rubio’s staff was chatting about new menu items and changes to come in the restaurants (trust me, they are worth checking out!).

At the end of the night, I was so excited to see that not only did each person make it a goal to tell me about their product line, where I could go to see it, and about how it was created, they seemed genuinely interested in chatting. The normal reception I get when I talk about my involvement in social media is only a little warmer than a cold shoulder. Not last night. Last night, they understood the power that the bloggers and tweeters really have and were more than happy to talk with us. I wrapped up the night with an interview, talking twitter, blogging and fashion.

I can only hope that this is a trend that continues, as I am happy to write about companies who understand the power of social media.

A few other great photos from the event:

Me, Julie and Stacey(@JGPR and @StyleWeek_OC)

the hubby and I at the event

Me, April and Erin (the ladies of Boutiquing)

Managing a blog takes a lot of time, a lot of energy and a lot of work. But, it can be made a little easier if you know the 5 pieces of the puzzle:

Calendar: I have shared my calendar a few times in the past, and know the power that it can hold. Seeing ideas for posts filling up my month makes me want to write…I don’t want to let my schedule down. While it often changes and moves and the topics I think i will write about sometimes never get written, it is a strong motivator to keep me going.

Research: Reading other peoples work is one of the best ways to find motivation. There is nothing wrong with taking someone else’s post, and creating your own blog post in response to them. Sometimes just leaving a comment isn’t enough to get your thoughts in. Additionally, it is always a good idea to keep pen and paper (or your phone’s note function) easily accessible to write ideas down when you have them.

Optimization: In order for people to find your blog (and read your blog), it needs to be properly optimized. That also means sharing the link via twitter, facebook, your email signature, etc. Make it easy for your readers to find you.

Content: Is key. It is that simple – content is what makes your blog a blog. Without content, there is no point. Let me re-phrase that, without good content, there is no point. You have to entice your readers and keep their attention, good content will take care of it.

Consistency: You should be updating your blog 3-5 times a week. They don’t all have to be huge long posts, but there should be fresh content consistently, or you will lose your audience.

…as always, there is a hidden piece: Time. Time is involved in every aspect of your blog, it takes time to write a calendar, time to research, time to optimize, time to… (I think you get it). The solution to this piece? Hire a blog manager.

Hire someone

It has been an absolutely insane day. Great in every way possible – lunch in Redondo Beach with Simon Salt and Tessa McNabb of IncSlinger, 2 new projects confirmed via email and plans coming together for my workshop in October – but no matter how good it was, there was definitely not enough time in it to get everything done. Twitter, this blog post and most of my phone calls and emails have been ignored until just this moment.

After finally finishing the design for a new site, I decided to take a brief brain break and get writing for my post today. I stopped by tweetdeck first to see if there were any important replies needed, and noticed a tweet from Ed Schipul (the brilliant owner of Schipul Web Marketing that I had the opportunity to meet last year) floating through my stream:

I paused. Re-read it, took a deep breath and couldn’t help but smile. While I know Ed meant it to be a frustrated, need-to-have-a-drink type tweet, I couldn’t help but smile.

Know why I was smiling?

Because no one has it easy, even awesome business owners like Ed, have rough days. But what separates him from the ‘average joe’ is the fact that tomorrow, he will keep going for that finish line. Even if again he doesn’t quite make it, he will keep going.

And that is why this tweet, from this person, makes me smile.

Take a day off.

No, I am not talking about ditching work for the day to spend it at the beach, I am talking about taking a day off from social media/email/technology communication tools and have real conversations. (Although the beach does sound more fun!)

Kneale Mann wrote a great post that talked about comparing the time you spent talking virtually vs time spent talking to real people. He makes a great point that social media is slowly ruining our abilities to communicate effectively. I have been to a couple events recently and it was interesting to see this first hand. At the OC Twestival Tuesday night, I spent some time watching how people interact. It was a little sad to see that many of the groups didn’t stray far, and were content talking with those that they already knew. Without a computer in front of them, they were nervous to just join a random conversation or introduce themselves to someone. They couldn’t just @ someone or click follow…they had to actually walk over and say hello (scary, right?). But, if you never break out of that comfort zone and go talk to someone new, how will you ever build real business connections? I have always been willing to just walk up and talk with people, and so I got the opportunity to meet some incredible new *and potential* business contacts. If I had just chatted with people whom I already knew, those connections would have been left unconnected.

As with anything, practice makes perfect, and spending a day without social media is great practice for the real life events. Having to hold conversation in person takes finesse, talent and focus. You can’t zone out or come back to their replies later. You have to be in the moment, think on your feet and come up with questions and answers. This is a skill that I believe social media and technology communication is slowly taking away. Luckily, it is free to practice and pretty easy to do. Next time you are out somewhere, if you see someone interesting, introduce yourself. Striking up conversations with random people may seem silly, but whose to say that random person isn’t your next perfect client? You’ll never know if you hide behind your BB or iphone and tweet while in line to grab your coffee.

Do you think social media has affected your communication skills? How would you suggest improving conversations in real life?

Last night, I attended my 4th Blog Crush meetup, and each one keeps getting better. The group is managed by Suzanne Broughton, the brilliant photographer and writer behind Alive in Wonderland. This time, the event was hosted at A’s Restaurant (what used to be the Arches) in Newport Beach. They were so welcoming and actually let us get behind the bar and make some drinks. Jeff Sipper of Sipper Photography and I were a great bar-tending team (and may have been a bit heavy handed )!

*Updated with pictures from Sipper Photo!*

The attendance was awesome and it was so fabulous to see some of my favorite bloggers and meet some of the ones I had been wanting to meet for awhile….I’d love to link to all of  you, but honestly, there are just so darn many of you!! So, add a comment at the end of the post with your url, introduce yourself to the crowd and let me know where you’d like to see the next event, so I can pass it on to Suz!