As you may know, I am a big ‘fan’ of facebook.
Someone recently made a snarky comment about the time that I spend on facebook.
I admit that I laughed, and rolled my eyes (believe me, considering the context, it was worthy of an eye roll:)

First, I will say that things are never as they appear. I do spend a lot of time online.
I don’t play games, etc. I use the time online to connect with others, and learn.

(I am also an avid reader)

I don’t spend time watching TV. Statistics show that the average person watches 6 hours of TV a day! Ironically, if you ask people if they do that, they ALWAYS insist that they don’t! (most do, track how much time YOU do:)

I have started watching more movies with my boys, but I still prefer FB to TV.

Why?

• TV is passive, FB is active.
• Most people use TV as a passive mindless “something to do” exercise.
• Through facebook on the other hand, you can connect with other people.
• I believe connecting is important!

Here are the benefits to facebook as I see it:

• I find/read great articles via facebook (I am a constant learner;)
• Giving to others: commenting on and engaging with others is a gift – for them, and YOU!
• Life is about the connections that we make! Connecting with & interacting with others is a great value to both parties!
• We often don’t get the opportunity to connect with people who ‘get us’ IRL. Via facebook, we can connect with people that we otherwise couldn’t or wouldn’t.

I will also add that over 70% of my business came through facebook last year!

(Here is a great webinar on facebook and marketing by the way)

What are your thoughts on facebook vs TV?

You can connect with me on facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/realheatherO

If you would like to learn more about how to use facebook, contact me at heatherO at heatherO dot com

(Feel free to sign up for my posts by email too

 

We are all busy doing a lot of things this time of year. Make the time to be ready for the new year too!

In addition to doing my 30 day challenge, be sure to do these 12 things too (you will feel GREAT on January 1!)

1. Take advantage of getting spruced up for those holiday parties and get a new picture of yourself (even if you don’t like having your picture taken or don’t use one for business, you have loved ones who will appreciate it one day:)

2. Take advantage of ‘down time’ and spend a little time online learning how to better use tools like email, social media, etc.

3. Clean out your inboxes! Email and physical ‘inboxes’ make us feel overwhelmed! Put those boxes in front of you (or your laptop) and sort as you watch Christmas specials on TV to make it less painful

4. Get a 2012 Calendar and calendar those big goals for next year! You will triple your chances of achieving them!

5. Create a vision board. Break out the scissors and glue and old magazines (or print pics from your computer) and create a collage of the things that you want to be, do and have. Hang it on a wall where you will see it daily!

6. Create new file folders for the new year.

7. Sort Records and Receipts. Don’t wait for the new year! Go ahead and start sorting for tax time now. Again, make it less painful by getting comfy on the couch to do it. Get some folders/envelopes and do a bit each night.

8. Update your website! Make sure your website is ready for the new year too! Make sure you have the keywords that you need, social connect links, etc.

9. Update/sort your contacts. I recommend sorting business contacts by those who are raving fans, those who have sent you referrals, those who haven’t, etc. Calendar contacting them with frequency based on what category they are in.

10. Protect those things that matter! Collect photos and documents, etc that have great value to you and put them in a safe deposit box, or fireproof box.

11. Print pictures that have built up in your computer and put them in a small album. Again, this can be done while watching tv, etc.

12. Get a backup drive of some sort and back up all of your files, photos, etc. It only takes one tiny little virus to cause a big heartache!

 

Today I am enjoying quiet “everyone else is still asleep” time. As always, I am planning my week and simply having some ‘me time’. I felt compelled to detour and write this however, as it is SO important!

The world has changed. Have you?

As I speak to people and groups, I am often astounded by the number of folks that still aren’t using free tools like facebook, twitter, blogs and youtube to build their businesses. So often I hear “I don’t have time”.

You don’t have time???

You don’t have time to use the most powerful tools ever available to build your business? To share your gifts and talents with the world? Really?

You don’t even have to buy stamps and you can reach thousands of people today!

It has NEVER been easier to find your ‘raving fans’ and ‘build a tribe’!

Like everything that matters, you just have to DECIDE TO DO IT and MAKE time!

We ALL have the same 24hrs!

Make it your resolution to do this BEFORE the New Year!

Download my ebook on the homepage, read the posts here on my blog, contact me for one on one help or sign up for my next program. Or, get help from someone else, just do it!

I am starting a Social Marketing Blueprint program soon. Check it out here and sign up today!

 

Back in my real estate days, I bought a lot of promotional products. I haven’t ordered any in a while, but having been to a few events recently, I decided this was worth talking about.

Many solopreneurs don’t spend the money to have promo products made, but many would do well to consider it. The challenge is NOT to waste money on crappy ones

Over the years [like many of you] I have received LOTS of promo products that went straight to the trash. I hate doing it, since I know someone spent good money on them, but…

Here are a few things that I DON’T recommend wasting money on:

1. Crappy pens
2. koozies
3. basic reusable bags

There are some that I have LOVED, and some I have kept for YEARS*!

1. Fridge magnets with a great message*
2. small coolers (the soft lunch box kind)
3. Back scratcher*
4. NICE pens*
5. cell phone holder
6. Post it notes
7. Nice sized notepads
8. Nice coffee mugs*

*The only ones that I can honestly say led me to actually DO business with the company or at least remember their names

There are lots of places that sell these types of products. Check the internet for local places whenever possible!

What are YOUR favorites? I would love to hear your ideas!

 

I have to admit that the news of Steve Jobs’ passing really rocked me yesterday.

We could learn a lot from him and although he will be missed, his legacy made a lasting mark on our world.

He may have been and done a lot of things, but there are few core lessons that we can learn from him.

1. He had a focus. Apple’s focus was “ease of use”. It wasn’t to make the worlds coolest phones and computers so that everybody in the world would want one, blah, blah, blah…

2. He didn’t ‘do what everyone else does’

3. When the rest of the world was looking for how they could put a zillion more features into a cell phone that could sell for under $100, he created a $600 iphone!

There are so many things to learn from him, but I think it is safe to start there!

What will you remember most?

What will you be remembered for?

How can YOU think differently?

Take a moment to watch this video
Steve Jobs Live before you die

 

I often joke about being unapologetically imperfect. I choose to embrace that because if I didn’t I would allow perfection to keep me from ever getting anything done.

[even still, it trips me up at times]

For a long time it did keep me from doing things that I wanted to do. It kept me from doing teleseminars and webinars for example. I didn’t know how to do this or that, so I didn’t.

Last night I got a BIG lesson!

I started one of my virtual coaching groups last night. I have done many of them before, but last night was different. The platform didn’t work online. Many people didn’t have audio capability, etc. Thankfully I was still able to call in and do the call.  It reminded me of when I was a paramedic and how you often had to ‘assess, adapt and overcome’.

I certainly would not have chosen things to play out that way, but there were some big lessons there, and for that I am thankful.

1. Get help where you need it.  As a small business owner we try to do everything ourselves far too often. No one ever wins alone. “Even the lone ranger had tonto”.

2. You won’t know unless you try. Often times we have no way of knowing what will work and what won’t if we don’t try it first.

3. Roll with it! Sometimes all you can do is the best you can do. Then you’ve just got to “Roll with it Baby” [in the words of Steve Winwood].

All too often is it far to easy to just beat ourselves up, and tell ourselves:

• I’m not good enough
• I’m not smart enough
• I can’t
• I don’t know how to ______________
• etc.

I encourage you to do what I will be doing today:

• make a list of what you want to do/accomplish
• write down your strengths
• make a list of people who can help with the things that are not your strengths
• set a date to DO IT!

What do you want to do that you aren’t doing?

Make a plan! Get the help you need and get going! You and your dreams are worth it!

roll with it

 

Can’t watch your parade if the house is on fire

 

I admit I have never been a huge fan of email marketing. Probably because I get so much email myself.

This is worth talking about however, especially as social media sites get more and more crowded.

I read this article recently and it certainly got my attention!

From Read Write Web:
“The gist is this: while Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus all get tons of interest, email is quietly chugging away as the workhorse of the connected world. Email, even after discounting the volume that’s spam, is used far more than Facebook and Twitter combined. How much more? Daily activity for Facebook is pegged at 60 million upates. Twitter sees about 140 million tweets per day. Email? 188 billion messages. Yeah, billion.”

This is staggering if you really think about it!

I personally [as many of you know] give people the option of signing up for my posts by email. I have always preferred this to doing a newsletter (although that doesn’t mean I won’t one day:).
I use mailchimp and you can use them to deliver your blog posts, write emails, send newsletters, etc.
(if you would like to know more about how to do this, let me know:)

I get a LOT of email and don’t necessarily like getting all of it. There are a few blogs that I do sign up to get by email however because my RSS reader has too much in it now.

I have noticed something about that [incidentally]. One of my favorite blogs is Scott Ginsbergs.
Based on the time stamp, they are usually written around 7am, but he has them scheduled to arrive in my inbox around 8pm.
I ALWAYS read them! In fact, I look for them before I go to bed. Something to think about?
I will add that his posts ALWAYS have value! They aren’t spammy sales pitches.

Do you send emails? Newsletters? Do you have a blog to share?
I welcome your thoughts and comments!

 

There is still a lot of confusion around this ‘brave new social world’ that we have evolved into.

“Social Media for business, using social media for business”, etc are searched everyday.

Even though it’s 2011, there are still people just getting started, or who have had accounts but don’t know what to do with them. There is a LOT to be said on this topic, but I will summarize as best as I can

1. Understand that social media is different. This isn’t just a different channel for ‘marketing as usual’. The concept isn’t necessarily new, but the platform is.

This post explains in greater detail:

The Grateful dead graciously received the feedback AND adoration of countless raving fans. They were BEYOND successful, they were legendary. They went beyond “making money” and created a legacy… more…

Social Media is a conversation, not a bulletin board
…It’s about conversations. We’ve had decades of ‘here is what WE want you to see’ advertising. The reason why most of those forms of advertising don’t work as well as they used to is because we’ve had enough! The reason why we TIVO, and skip the commercials and are scared to answer our home phone in the evenings (if we even have one anymore) is because we’ve had enough… more

It’s not just about facebook, or blogs, etc…It’s about you! (more)

2. Having a cohesive, broad based presence is important. I recommend having AT LEAST a twitter account, facebook account and a blog (and youtube is becoming even more important than ever!). This is a great visual (read the article here)

3. Social Media gives you the opportunity to attract customers and clients (not just beat them over the head with your sales message:). Give them valuable information that is worth reading and sharing! This is a great article on that.

4. Would you go out of your way to go to your Facebook business page? Create and provide great content that people look so forward to, they will go to your page to find it if they miss it! You can offer giveaways, and freebies and the like to get people to ‘like you’, but do you want people to buy from you? Do things to get them to ‘really like you’. You don’t need thousands!

5. I prefer to focus on the term “Social Networking” as it emphasizes the fact that it is a verb. You have to take action! It goes beyond setting up some auto feeder to post stuff. That is more like throwing spaghetti on the wall.

Here are a few quick tips:

1. Find good resources for informational articles that are relevant to your ideal ‘fans’ and post at least one daily.
2. Have photo not a logo for your profile picture (this is more important than you realize)

3. Look at your facebook insights to see when the best times to post are.

4. Get a blog if you don’t have one!

5. Set aside 15 minutes every morning and every evening to devote to social networking/blogging. If done correctly it WILL pay off!

I welcome your comments below!
Questions? Need help? Email me at heathero at heathero.com

 

First let me start by saying how thankful I am that we did not suffer any significant damage or injury from Irene. My heart and prayers go out to those who did. This post is not intended in any way to take away from those who did!

As I waited and watched Irene yesterday, I couldn’t help but think “there are some life and business lessons here”.

Here are a few that I came up with, please feel free to add your own in the comments!

• You can have an expected path & plan, but they are always likely to change or “wiggle” off track
•  Be prepared, but also be prepared for those “wiggles” and detours!
• There is beauty in EVERYTHING! NO matter how ugly or horrible things may seem, look for the beauty and the blessings. They are always there.
• Often times ‘bad events’ bring out the best in people. Be one of those people, and acknowledge the others who are too.
• Be grateful! No matter what you have or don’t have, you have a LOT to be grateful for. I am a big believer in the power of gratitude!
• Storms in life will come and go [like it or not:)]. They happen for a reason. Be sure to look for and see the gift in them.
• Events like these have a way to bringing to light “what really matters” and what doesn’t. Try to keep that perspective in all that you do!
• If you are reading this, you are extremely lucky. You are alive, have power, a computer, and internet access. Count your blessings ALWAYS and be HAPPY!

What others would you add?