business | Erin Blaskie | Digital Vanguard, Speaker & Content Producer

Five Year Celebration!

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jul 27, 2009 in Events | 6 comments

We’ve been in business five years this Saturday and we’re celebrating a few ways!

#1 – 50% Off Sale in My Store

We’ve got a store and we’re giving you a 50% discount on anything you want. Yep. Anything. Except for the t-shirt. We don’t own that and Zazzle might be upset if we undercut them like that. Although, the t-shirt is pretty rad so you might want one of those anyway. Just to have it. If you don’t, it’s totally cool – the store has some great product and such that will help you learn new skills and grow your business acumen.

Random to business in one paragraph. I like it.

Just use FIVEYEARS at checkout.

Store is here.

#2 – Friday Celebration on Ask Erin Live

On Friday, instead of doing just a normal Ask Erin Live, we’re doing a celebratory Ask Erin Live complete with cake, a pink dress (a really pink and really puffy dress), live and video guests and so much more… We’ll be giving away some product and definitely will be dancing. You can’t have a celebration, especially for five years, without dancing. It would be just wrong. Oh, you’ll have to grab your own cake though – I can’t teleport it. Yet.

#3 – Lifestreaming Webinar — Free!

This month, we gave a presentation at WordCamp Montreal called Lifestreaming: The New Future of Blogging? and it’s been a hot topic ever since. We’ll be doing an encore of that presentation on August 5 at 4pm Eastern (3pm Central, 2pm Mountain, 1pm Pacific) that will be a complimentary event for you to attend.

In our presentation recap, we’ll be taking you through the one hour presentation that we gave at WordCamp Montreal. This will take you through how these lifestreams are structured and why this could potentially be the future of blogging.

Webinar here.

The end.

(P.S. – We really must tell you that the fireworks above were not celebrated in our honor… I wish I could say we had a budget to afford fireworks that big because I love fireworks but alas, we do not. So… yeah. Maybe at ten years! However, the photo credit goes to ACPhoto2007 on Flickr.)

When I Grow Up…

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jul 24, 2009 in Uncategorized | 6 comments

A few days ago, I sent an email out that asked people if they carried over traits from their childhood into adult-hood. The response I received was overwhelming! People had and people were so excited to share their stories. I asked them if it would be okay to share their story here and for those who’ve already confirmed via e-mail, their stories are below.

In case you missed the email, here’s how it started:

When I was a little girl, I always used to play office and play school with my little sister. I was always the boss or the teacher and I would boss her around. Getting her to type up documents on the Commodore 64 or make her do homework out of old text books my mom and dad would buy for us.

I remember she was always happy to help out and happy to be a part of whatever I was doing. It made me feel honored to have an audience because, being a bit of a leader from birth, it was great to have someone I could guide through different things and watch prosper.

Today, the story isn’t much different. My sister and I work side by side in my office every single day, for eight hours each day, and we get to do amazing work. The only difference is that

today, we do this as a partnership rather than me bossing her around… Although, sometimes I still try

This e-mail is not just to tell you a story but to ask you a question. Do you have traits in your adult life that you had so deeply engrained in you as a child? If so, I’d love for you to

hit reply and share those with me.

Today, the story isn’t much different. My sister and I work side by side in my office every single day, for eight hours each day, and we get to do amazing work. The only difference is that today, we do this as a partnership rather than me bossing her around… Although, sometimes I still try

This e-mail is not just to tell you a story but to ask you a question. Do you have traits in your adult life that you had so deeply engrained in you as a child? If so, I’d love for you to hit reply and share those with me.

To read everyone else’s story, just click “Read More” below.

OMG… How Long Will This Last?

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jul 17, 2009 in Uncategorized | 12 comments

Emptyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy….

Please don’t fill it Okay. Go ahead!

I Ain't Gonna Work Wit' You!

Posted by Erin Blaskie on Jul 17, 2009 in Business Tips | 16 comments

Okay. If you know me, you know I write in two ways… (1) In real-time and (2) Honestly.

There are benefits to this… I get to be present, in the moment and writing about things I’m actually going through and in being honest, I help out other people or at least let entrepreneurs they are not alone. There are also downsides. Generally, when I write about an issue I am going through, the person reads it and thinks, “That’s about me!” and is either right and gets to learn about my way of thinking or is wrong and hates me for having an opinion about them when it was never about them in the first place.

Luckily, I’m willing to take that chance and write honestly.

Way back in the day when I was struggling for new clients and prospects, I used to bend over backwards like crazy for clients. If they wanted me to fly to the moon, jump through five hoops of fire and walk across coals while eating cockroach legs, I would… and I did. Now, I still love and cherish and honor the process of getting a new client and I still stand in the place of gratitude of receiving this new, awesome business but I no longer compromise my own needs and my desired lifestyle to do so.

Case in point: I have a 100% virtually based business. I don’t have an office, I don’t have a physical space, I tried to do co-working once (even bought a certificate at a Twestival) but they never opened their doors so even that failed. I have a love / hate relationship with working from Starbucks (love – coffee… hate – people who bring their babies into Starbucks and the babies cry and I can’t write a sentence with words let alone anything intelligent… just sayin’.. Mommas, don’t be angry – it’s just the crying ones that force me to do that!)

I also have zero local clients. Well, I have one but we’ve never met in person so it’s almost like she’s virtual too! I’d say I was sad about this but I’m not. I like to live my life online… I like being on the Internet. I get more done. In-person meetings are ineffective for me because of the time it takes to get dressed up, drive, find parking, get to the location, etc., etc., etc. In fact, the minute someone suggests meeting in-person, I immediately realize it isn’t going to work.

I’m not trying to be mean to the people who like in-person meetings, it’s just not my style.

Ya... So! I Live Online!

So, what do I do? Well, I could compromise my working habits but that’s not me. I am the kind of person who, when she realizes that travel puts a damper on her creativity, cancels a fun trip to San Diego. You might say fun police, I say honoring what I need as a business owner and as a person. Maintaining happiness and sanity.

So instead, I just don’t do it. I’d rather take the chance of losing business than do something that goes against my own beliefs, needs and standards of work. It’s me and I need to honor that. Most of my clients are fine working virtually. We do great work, they are millions of miles away, some are in other countries and it works out great. I get more done, I can stay in my pajamas and do what I do best… Building kick ass online businesses.

What do you do when faced with something that compromises your beliefs and needs?