Oh Business, You Silly Thing You
This isn’t one of those posts I write with advice embedded into it and this isn’t even going to be a post with much of a beginning, middle and an end.
Nope, this is a post that I am writing on my iPhone while I soak in a glorious, peaceful bubble bath.
I was talking to a client and very dear friend of mine today about business and life and how the two end up affecting each other so much. In my case, my daughter is cutting her first year molars and it’s killing me… Figuratively speaking of course but the late nights, endless suffering she is experiencing and my insane work schedule has created this space where I feel slightly trapped.
You see, business is not an easy journey to choose. Over the past seven years, I have not gone a day (literally not a day – probably not even an hour) where someone has not needed me for something. If you are in business too, you might be able to relate. Regardless of how many hours you put in, regardless of how much support you have around you, someone ALWAYS needs you.
I am fairly certain that this is why I started my business in the first place. I loved feeling needed and like I was making a difference and more importantly, I loved when my clients relied on me to make their life easier. I had a place in the universe – a purpose. However, sometimes I wish that I had a day, or an hour, where I could disappear and not be needed.
You see, with being needed comes a lot of guilt. Guilt when you can’t produce the way you want to, perform the way you want to and be the kind of person you want to be for everyone you know. The guilt then turns into resentment and that isn’t healthy for anyone.
So, I’ve been learning. I’ve been learning that it’s okay to be imperfect, it’s okay to say no to things, it’s okay to choose what or who I give my time to.
I was talking to Steve tonight about our daughter and I was telling him that I want to make her growing up experience memorable and exciting. I don’t want to focus on material things or keeping a perfect house or having her in the best schools (not that I don’t think education is important but I do believe it should be chosen based on the individual needs of the child and not because of the school’s status in the community). I kind of feel that way about my business too. It’s more important to me to get my offerings / talent / skills / whatever out to the world than it is to worry that everything has to be perfect.
I’m also learning that when you balance life and a business so delicately on your shoulders, something somewhere has to give a little and that is okay too.
What are your big learning lessons about business as you make your way through?
Read MoreHow Powerful is Your Online Brand?
Online branding is something that many businesses these days invest heavily in and with great reason. With over 2 billion web users*, the Internet is now a powerful way to share your message and sell to your customers. The only problem is, many business owners have no idea how to harness the power of their online brand.
In an article on MSN’s Business on Main called, “Make Your Brand E-vailable“, the author explores simple ways that you can help increase your brand awareness and brand exposure with minimal time investment. I highly encourage you to check that article out as there are awesome and easy steps outlined that you can take each day, each week and each month.
To add my own spin to the conversation, I want to talk about looking at how powerful your online brand currently is.
Read MoreDrool-Worthy Office Tech (+Drool Worthy Contest)
Ever wonder what would happen if Lady Gaga and Robert Brunner (American industrial designer famous for his work with Apple) had a baby? No? Okay, well try to imagine it now. What you would get is a sleek and sexy printer that dresses up any boring office space.
Paul Hochman, over at Microsoft’s Business on Main website, shares a few different tech toys that are oh so delicious and oh so fun in one of his recent Tech Notes videos!
Check out the fun gadgets here:
We’re also cooking up an uber-fun giveaway for those of you who are game!
Pop over to the Business on Main post and leave a comment about your favorite tech toy / gadget / geeky gift and you’ll be entered into a draw to win a $100 gift certificate to ThinkGeek.com. Make sure to leave your Twitter handle or website address in the main part of the comment so I can reach out to you if you win!
We’ll be choosing a winner THIS Friday (July 29/11) so be sure to pop over to the Business on Main article before then and leave your comment!
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My blog is part of an online influencer network for Business on Main. I receive incentives to share my views on a monthly basis.
Read MoreState of the Internet [Infographic]
Online Schools has compiled a really awesome look at the Internet by using an interactive infographic.
To quote Online Schools,
“The Internet has changed the way we live—that’s obvious. But what we think people forget is how big and important the worldwide web really is. Do you know how much time people spend on the Internet every day? Do you keep track of how many times you tweeted last month? Do you know how many people bought Uggs from Amazon (shame on them!)? No? You don’t?
That’s okay—we’ve done that for you. But beware: what you have before you isn’t just any old infographic. The content might shock you. If you thought that the Internet was just “really big,” you are sadly mistaken. The Internet is colossal. The Internet is a giant elephant that is trampling all across the globe leaving its enormous footprints.”
If you’d like to view the infographic, click the image below. You will be taken to another website but I promise, it’s well worth it.
Comment below — what do you think of it? Is it helpful / useful to you as a user of the Internet?
Created by: Online Schools
Magnum Heir Contest – Final Call for Video Entries!
Tomorrow at midnight marks the last day for video entries to the Magnum Heir contest. If you haven’t heard about the contest, Magnum (ice cream company) is on the hunt for the heir to the Magnum fortune. The winner of the contest will receive:
- $100,000 cash
- $50,000 shopping spree at Holt Renfrew
- All-expense paid trip to Europe
- All-expense paid trip to NYC
- Personal chef and chauffeur service
What is Google+?
Google recently started opening up the invite process for their new project: Google+. Google+ is a social networking tool that allows you to easily share content with select groups of people. It takes features from both Facebook and Twitter to create a tool that is easy to use and integrates seamlessly with tools you may already be using (the Google suite for example).
Targeted Sharing
The main feature of Google+ is circles. Circles are groups of people who share a similar attribute. For example, you could put all of your family into a circle. Or your friends. Or your friend’s pets (if they are on social media). The benefit to doing this is that (a) you only need to listen to select groups of people at a time and (b) you can share your updates with select groups of people.
The upside to this type of sharing is that you no longer have to send your entire feed updates about your latest belt level in karate. Instead, you can send those updates to your circle of martial arts loving friends. Business updates? Send those just to your business colleagues. Unlike Twitter, this form of sharing becomes more highly targeted and therefore has much better reception.
Google’s circles setup:
Will You Be My +1?
Another feature of Google+ is the ability to share content via the +1 function. If you browse Google lately, you may see “recommended by” or “shared by” underneath some of the search results. These recommendations are coming from Google users who have +1′ed the content. Once you +1 something, it then shows up under your +1s in your Google+ profile. The beauty of this feature is that it now combines social bookmarking with a social networking tool.
Tools like Delicious were always interesting in theory but to use them meant opening yet another tab in a browser or having yet another profile to push people to. Social bookmarking was one of those things that you either used a lot or didn’t use at all. There didn’t seem to be a grey, passive area of use. Now, with the +1 on Google, it seems like it may integrate beautifully into regular usage of the Google+ tool.
Google’s +1s showing up on a profile:
Google’s +1 beside search engine results:
(For more about the +1 button specifically, click here.)
Get Fed Relevant Content
Sparks is an interesting feature of Google+ as it allows you to setup targeted content streams that will display inside of your user interface. The reason that these are exciting is because you can setup specific feeds that you (or your audience) may be interested in and then you can easily share those resources and links with your circles.
Previously, you might have setup a news / RSS reader with feeds from your favorite blogs or you might have setup Google Alerts to alert you when something exciting came up on a specific topic of interest. Now, you can merge those two functions into the Google+ interface using Sparks.
Google+ Sparks in action:
Hanging Out on the Web
A feature of Google+ that may be less often used by the business crowd is “Hangouts.” Hangouts is an area of Google+ that allows you to setup a video chat and then invite your friends in any particular circle. Once invited, your friends can share their webcam as well and you can all sit around and chat via video (aka hanging out).
While the idea of a group video chat may not appeal to some, there will definitely be a group of people who adopt this as the norm in their business. Team meetings, client coaching, etc. could all be done via hangouts if you shared the hangout with a circle called, “Team” or “Clients.”
How Might You Use Google+?
First things first, get on Google+ (if you need an invite, leave your e-mail address as a comment to this post and I’ll gladly hook you up) and play with it. Look around and get used to the interface.
Then, organize your contacts into circles. Decide who you want to listen to, engage with and share content with. Don’t lump everyone together in one massive circle! Instead, choose to share specific information with specific types of people. Remember that not everyone is going to want to listen to specific information.
Setup some targeted news / information feeds in the Sparks area and use that to share relevant and on-target information with your audience. Engage in conversation and create a meaningful place for people to interact with you on a regular basis.
To make the sharing of your Google+ profile easier, check out http://gplus.to/. This site will help you create a URL that points directly to your Google+ account. For example, mine is http://gplus.to/erinblaskie.
Share in the Comments!
What are your favorite features of Google+? Leave them in the comments below! Also, do you think that Google+ has staying power? I’ll follow-up this post in a few weeks with an opinion post once I have had enough time to really use G+ on a day-to-day basis.
Read MoreThought-Provoking Interviews, Straight to Your Inbox
Erin has interviewed countless experts on countless topics all relating to business ownership. Now, you can subscribe to receive, at no cost, all of these audio interviews! Subscribe below to receive one audio interview, per week, and you'll also receive our newsletter!
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