Uncertainty and Leveraging it for Your Business

For this month’s SOBCon chat we will have a special guest – author and entrepreneur, Jonathan Fields.  Jonathan’s latest book came out this fall and is titled, “Uncertainty – Turning Fear and Doubt into Fuel for Brilliance.”  We are going to be talking to Jonathan about some of the principles that everyone can use in building their business.

This chat is for everyone…whether you have read Jonathan’s book or not.  Month after month, we pull together a great group that shares insights and information.  We hope that you will join us at 1pm ET for this month’s chat.  For more information on Jonathan, please go to visit his website.

Here are the questions that we will be covering in the chat:

Q1.  What is your number 1 tip for leveraging uncertainty into success for your business?

Q2.  What is the best way to create a team (esp. when you’re a solopreneur)?

Q3.  How do you include your community in your business process?

Q4.  Can you offer tips to help people embrace uncertainty?

Keep It Simple: Say Thank You

For this Friday’s Keep It Simple Post, it’s super simple – say Thank You. Be grateful to people and they will be grateful to you. How nice is life when we live like that?

Today, I am sharing a very special thank you…to our Veteran’s, their families and friends. I am so grateful for all that you sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy. I am especially grateful for my little (he prefers me to say younger because he’s bigger than me) brother. We are so very proud of you and are relieved that you are stateside. We continue to think of your peers that are still deployed. We think of their families and friends and all that they endure during deployments. We are grateful to them and pray for their safety.

On this 11th day of the 11th month, I was curious how we came to celebrate this particular day…here’s the history…and now I also know why we say the 11th hour. Thank you so much Veteran’s. Words seem to be inadequate to express my gratitude. Please know we think of you every day and we so appreciate you.

SOBCon October Chat with Connie Burke and Mark Horvath

Making a difference one mile at a time

The SOBCon “fabric” has a “thread” of giving woven throughout.  We think about how we can positively impact people and businesses, then we connect that to keys to success.  The October chat will focus on the giving back feature of the live SOBCon Conferences.  From what happens during the conference, to how it plays out afterwards.  We will share some ideas about how you can get involved, start a giving back aspect to your business and how giving back stimulates the bottom line and contributes to the success of your business.

During each SOBCon conference, we take some time to give back as a group.  Usually, there are a few charities or initiatives involved that we put the SOBCon brainpower behind.  We may brainstorm ideas, make recommendations, provide guidelines or a number of other things that a charity may need.  Additionally, we try to add support beyond the conference.  Some get very hands on and work directly with/for a cause, others just continue to shine a light on it by sharing via social media, mentioning on blogs and reminding us of the importance of the cause.

Today’s SOBCon chat will focus on the following questions:

Q1. How do you choose what causes to get involved with from a personal and business perspective?

Q2. What is the best way for a business to start giving back?

Q3. What is the best way to capitalize on giving? (Get the most bang for your buck)

Q4. How does giving back contribute to the success of your business?

We are really fortunate to have special guests Connie Burke of General Motors and Mark Horvath of invisiblepeople.tv – who were the keys to the biggest SOBCon surprise ever when General Motors provided Mark with a GMC Terrain to use as his mobile office as he traveled the country making a difference for the homeless.  Actually, I should say, travel the continent because Mark has also been doing great things in Canada.

We hope you can join us at 1pm ET for the SOBCon Chat.

Keep It Simple Series – The Rules of Social Media

Sometimes social media can be confusing or even difficult, especially if you are just joining.  So every Friday, I do a post on how to keep it simple.  This week I want to cover the Rules of Social Media…

I hate to disappoint, but there is no one-size fits all set of rules.  You have to develop your own set of rules that work for you.  However, there are a few things to consider when developing those rules:

• When you become active in social media, don’t forget the “social” aspect.  In order to recognize the full value of social media, engage with other people.  Just as if you were in person, engage in conversation.  If you are only interested in talking and not listening, you will miss out on so many things that social media has to offer.
• Determine what is reasonable and sustainable for you.  Some people are on and engaged 24/7, others are only involved 20 minutes a day.  Either option is fine, unless you are representing an employer then you should follow the company guidelines.  It is better when you can be consistent because you will (hopefully) develop relationships with others in social media and it’s easier when they know what/when/where to expect you.
• If you are thinking of blowing off steam using social media, save yourself a lot of headache and don’t.  This applies especially when it is personal.  If you are having an argument with a friend, keep it private.  If you are disgruntled with a company, before you blast them using social media, determine what outcome you would like and then approach them in a civil manner.
• Follow the people you want to follow.  You do not have to follow someone just because they follow you.  It is nice to reciprocate, but it is not a rule.  Also, you may follow someone who doesn’t follow you back, don’t be offended.  If you are following them because you want to, the follow-back is less important.
• Do not ever, ever, ever buy followers.  You are better served by having 100 followers that you engage with, rather than having 10,000 that you do not know and that do not know you.
• Always report spammers – you can tell someone is a spammer when you look at their tweetstream and every tweet is the same or a variation of the same thing.  It can be difficult to filter through the “noise” and we have to eliminate spammers to make that easier.
• Last but not least, don’t be afraid to ask questions.  You will generally find that there are a lot of  helpful people who will be happy to point you in the right direction.

Do you have any other helpful tips that you have used to develop your rules?  Would love to hear them.   **This was originally posted earlier this year, but thought it important enough to share again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Keep It Simple – The Equation for Social Media Success

The Friday, Keep It Simple Series, goes super simple this week as I share the equation for social media success.  It’s work.  That’s it.  No magic…just hard work.  Work = Force x Distance.  Exert effort over the long haul to achieve social media success.  Some ways to do this: listen, learn, apply, adjust and exchange.  Do the things that “work” for you.

Just because it is work, doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. (I certainly think Social Media is a lot of fun.)  And even though it isn’t magic, sometimes magical things do happen.  The process requires effort and intention.  Stop looking for the magic potion and get busy working.  Create goals, measure your success in relation to your goals and adjust your trajectory when necessary.

Happy Friday, would love to hear your thoughts on this super simple post.

Keep It Simple – Top 3 Reasons to Love Social Media

I recently was invited to write a post for 12Most.com - I chose to write the 12 Most Important Reasons to Love Social Media.  I thought I’d share a few of those reasons as part of the Friday, Keep It Simple Series…and you can feel free to look at the entire post at 12Most.com.

I actually have so many reasons to love social media, that I couldn’t possibly list them all.  Everyday there is a new reason on the list…someone new, something new…I really do love social media because it lines up with my vision of endless possibilities and my top 3 reasons:

1. It erases barriers – geographical, language, skin color, sex, nationality, sexual orientation, physical disabilities…some people think that it allows people to lie about who they are.  I think the greater power is that it allows you to be who you are and to connect with other people…no need for illusions.  **My favorite thing about social media.
2. Social Good.  Support your causes however you want.  Join up with like minded people to make a difference in your community and in your world.  Decide how to be involved – do something as simple as clicking a “like” or “share” button, start a new group, identify a new cause…you are only limited by yourself.
3. You can learn new things.  Possibilities are endless for what you can learn about via social media.  You can find someone who is willing to share, help, teach, encourage on topics from cooking to coding 24/7.  All you have to do is reach out and look/ask.

Always remember that your participation in social media is a choice.  (Even if it is part of your job…)  Choose how you see it, choose what to do with it, choose how involved you want to be.  Create the connections you want to whatever you want to connect to – people, ideas, causes…you choose.

Do you love social media?  If so, would love to hear why?  If not, I’d like to hear that, too.

Thanks for reading this post, have a fantastic weekend.

SOBCon Chat Special Guest AJ Leon & SOBCon Northwest Preview

As you start to plan a new venture or develop a new plan to continue on in an old one, there are many things to consider.  One thing is for certain, when planning for success, it is advantageous to rely on your networks for insight and information – there is so much information beyond what each of us store in our brains.  Yet, when we share information with each other…the sum of our knowledge and experience is incredible.  This is one of the greatest gifts I have received from the SOBCon group – both via social media and live conferences.

For today’s SOBCon chat, we are going to tap into planning knowledge and experience of AJ Leon.  We are also going to give a brief preview of what you can expect from him at SOBCon Northwest and what you can expect at SOBCon Northwest in general.

Q1.  What are the 1st steps you would recommend when planning  a new venture?

Q2.  What steps would be different when developing a new plan for an old venture?

Q3.  Are there tools you would recommend using for developing your plan?

Q4.  SOBCon Northwest question – What is “experiential philanthropy”?  How does this impact venture in the planning phase?

Q5.  BONUS – What can attendees expect from SOBCon Northwest?

SOBCon is a great opportunity to learn and share with others.  Today’s chat is not just for people who have attended or even plan to attend a SOBCon event, there will be something in it for everyone.  Hope to see you at 1pm ET along with our special guest and SOBCon presenter, AJ Leon.