Twitter for job search

If you're looking for a job, and you're interested in how Twitter can help, join me on Wednesday 8/19/09 at the Scioto Ridge Job Networking Group. I'll be doing a presentation on behalf of ShinyDoor called Twitter for job search (creative name, I know).

Here is the address:

Worthington Seventh Day Adventist Church
385 E. Granville Road

Worthington, OH 43085

Program starts at 6:30. I've had the pleasure of speaking at a Scioto Ridge meeting once before, and I can tell you it's a fabulous group for professionals looking for their next gig.

Another Friday Funny

Earlier this week, my family and I joined my mom and dad for a vacation up at Lake Erie. We had a fabulous time boating, fishing, and sight seeing.

On Tuesday evening, we all went to Mon Amie Winery for dinner. Mon Amie has an elegant restaurant, with waiters in crisp white shirts inviting you to try wine. My kids were coloring serenely on their children's menus while we waited for our food to arrive. I should have known this peaceful scene could not last.

My 4 year old daughter was seated to my right, my mom to my left. I was facing my mom, having a conversation about what we might do the next day, when I saw her eyes grow large at something behind me.

"What is she doing!?" my mom exclaimed as I turned to see what might be going on, and hoping it didn't involve anyone in my care. You know it did.

There, on her knees in the chair, was my 4 year old. She had her shorts pulled down to just below her butt cheeks and was earnestly scratching her behind. I'm not sure if the people at the next table noticed, because I was too busy jerking her pants back up and telling her not to bare herself in public.

"My bottom itches!" she told me, looking as though she were truly offended and like I was a complete idiot at not picking up on something so obvious.

I'm trying hard to find a creativity lesson in this, but can only laugh until tears come at the recollection. If you can come up with one, I'd love to hear it. Post in the comments.

Friday Funny

I got this e-mail from the Bald Head Island Conservancy yesterday. Apparently they had a summer camp session gone awry.

Subject: Missing Albino Corn Snake

The Conservancy is missing a very rare Albino Corn Snake from its collection. The snake has gone missing sometime this morning, August 6th, 2009. Please check your child's clothing and pockets for the snake, as they like small dark spaces. Do NOT be alarmed, the snake is small, nonvenomous, and nonagressive.

If you find the snake, please contact Brett at the Conservancy at xxx-xxx-0923 or Katie at xxx-xxx-0089 X 10 to arrange for the snakes safe return.

Thank you for your support and help!

The ebb and flow of ideas

Everybody has creative highs and not so creative lows. Some weeks, I feel like I can take over the world with all the great ideas spinning through my head. Other weeks, I wonder how I'll ever get a good idea again. This is natural, and happens to everyone.

Even though the lows can feel - well - low, both of these times can actually be quite productive.

Here are a few tips for you to maximize your highs and your lows.

When you're on, save up for a rainy day.

• Do as much as you can. If you blog, for example, write several posts and set some for future publication, or just save them for days when you can't think of anything.
• Keep a pad for ideas. Write everything down, even if you can't work on it right away.
• Notice what you're doing and what's going on around you. Many times it can help pull us out of a creative slump when we replicate the scenarios and events from times we are most creative.

When you're off, take care of business.

• Don't be hard on yourself. Remember that everyone has ups and downs and don't engage in negative self talk, or "stinkin' thinkin'" as Paula Deen would say.
• Catch up on mundane stuff that doesn't require creativity. Organize your files, pay your bills, finish those boring reports.
• Indulge in activities you enjoy or try something new. It might snap you out of your slump.
• Piggy back off of the creativity of others - read, listen to a podcast, or attend a presentation.
• Focus on the execution of an idea you've already worked out.
• Re-connect with friends and colleagues you haven't talked to in a while.

Three reasons I love this recession

Don't get me wrong. For me, and so many others I know, 2009 has been a train wreck. There's nothing I'd like better than to have that Haitian from Heroes come and make me forget all about the last seven months. But it's here and it's real, so I figured I might as well find some reasons to be happy. Here are three:

1. I've had more time.

• More time to work on my novel, something I've dreamed of finishing for the last eight years. I'm already half way through my first manuscript.
• More time to get out and network. I've met so many new people this year. People who have helped me when I had questions, and people I've been able to assist. And, most importantly, people who are tons of fun to be around.
• More time to do things with my kids. This year, I've gone to every school party, assembly, and special event my kids have had. We've visited the zoo and zoombezi bay. We've read more books, watched more movies, and created more art.

2. I've strengthened my personal relationships.
There's nothing like hard times to tell you who your real friends are. The ones who listen to your worries, offer advice, and pick you up when you're down. I can't say I'm overly fond of needing so much support, but my friends and family have given it freely and in spades. I've always felt fortunate, but it never hurts to be reminded how loved you are.

3. I've found peace in living more simply.
Cutting back our expenses was hard at first, but now I find I honestly don't miss any of that extra stuff. My near daily trip to the Starbucks drive through has been replaced with a peaceful mug of coffee at home. Netflix took the place of cable for a $70 monthly savings. I never realized how much of my life I've been wasting flipping through channels and watching commercials, but no more. Our family trip out to eat has become a special event, now that we only do it once a week.

When things turn around, I don't think I'll go back to the way things were.

What reasons can you find to love this recession?

Don't get stuck on the insignificant

As a child, I loved to read the poems of Shel Silverstein. I read them now to my own children.

As an adult, I'm continually amazed at the deep meaning in much of his work, and I wonder how I ever missed it when I was little.

Here is a favorite of mine, from A Light in the Attic. It's a story that I'm sure I witnessed at least a hundred times while working in corporate America.

THE TOAD AND THE KANGAROO

Said the Toad to the Kangaroo
"I can hop and so can you.
So if we marry we'll have a child
Who can jump a mountain or hop a mile
And we can call it a Toadaroo,"
Said the hopeful Toad to the Kangaroo.

Said the Kangaroo, "My dear,
What a perfectly lovely idea.
I would most gladly marry you.
But as for having a Toadaroo,
I'd rather we call it a Kangaroad,"
Said the Kangaroo to the frowning Toad.

So they argued but couldn't agree
On Rangatoo or Kangaree
And finally the Toad said, I don't give a dang
If it's a Rootakoad or a Toadakang-
I really don't feel like marrying you!"
"Fine with me," said the Kangaroo.

And the Toad had no more to say,
And the Kangaroo just hopped away.
And they never married or had a child
That could jump a mountain or hop a mile.
What a loss - what a shame -
Just 'cause they couldn't agree on a name.

How many big ideas have you missed out on because you couldn't let go of a small detail?

Keep trying

Last Saturday, my husband and I took our children to Slate Run Historical Farm. A great outing, even if you don't have kids. It's a working farm, still doing things the way they did back in the 1800s.

In the yard of the farm house, they've got a bunch of old time games. One of them was stilts, which we all attempted.

Now, to say that I am not athletically inclined is an understatement. Watch the video below to see what I'm talking about.

Take note of how I make stilts look like an impossible feat, and my husband Dan makes it look as easy as walking.



Do you ever feel like this in your job? Like you try and fail over and over, and then someone comes along and does it with no effort at all?

When that happens, often we just want to give up. I know, because I've been there. But I'd advise you to do one of two things instead:

1. Keep trying and have faith you'll get it eventually. Don't worry about the other guy. There's likely room for more than one person in your market with that skill.
2. Figure out a way to work together with the other person and leverage their skills. Maybe you're good at something they've been trying.

What did I do in the stilt situation? I kept trying. And by the end of our time at Slate Run, I was walking on those stilts confidently enough to challenge Dan to a stilt race. Of course, he still beat me pretty badly, but I guess there's room for two stilt walkers at Slate Run.

Compromise – key to developing strong relationships

Recently, I had to compromise on a decision that was very important to me. I’m usually a pretty low key, go with the flow kind of girl. But on this one, I planted my feet in and flat out refused to cooperate. I tried reasoning. I tried begging. I tried coming up with alternative options. None of it worked. In the end, I gave in and made the compromise.

But, I’ve got to admit, I learned a few things.

What compromise is not:

• A license to say “I told you so” later
• An excuse to pout after the decision is made
• A stick to hold over the other party’s head, so that they remember they owe you one later

I found out that what compromise is, is one of the best ways to build a strong relationship and gain an ally. When someone recognizes that you are conceding a lot to go with their decision, you’ll earn a little respect. When you take their decision and run with it like it was your own (instead of trudging along, still holding a grudge that you didn’t get your way), you’ll earn a loyal friend.

And honestly? After a few weeks to think about it, I think the decision we made was right after all.

Last post at Blogger

Well, after several weeks of stops and starts, I've finally relaunched my site. The changes are minimal, but I moved it over to WordPress to make it easier to manage. That means my blog is moving there too.

So all you loyal readers that subscribe via RSS will have to make the switch. Thanks for sticking with me!

Those of you who subscribe via e-mail (thanks my mom, my sister, and Vicki)... uh, well... I'm still trying to figure out how to do that with WordPress. It's a learning curve, ok? lol! In the mean time, I'll give you a free lesson on using a reader. And WordPress experts? If you've got a solution, let me know!

See you at my new site.

Coupla Jerks, Part IIb: Great quote

Currently, I'm reading Planet Google, a pretty interesting read so far.

In light of my previous post on the foundation for ideas, I thought I'd share this excellent quote from the book with you. It's from Kevin Scott, a software engineering manager who used to work there.

Ideas at Google do not burst forth from the heads of geniuses and then find their way unimpeded to huge audiences of receptive users. Rather ideas emerge, are torn to shreds, reformulated, torn to shreds, prototyped, torn to shreds, launched to internal users, torn to shreds, rebuilt and relaunched, torn to shreds, refined some more...and launched, whereupon they are torn to shreds by bloggers, journalists, and competitors.

My take - away? Don't be afraid of letting your ideas get torn to shreds.

Coupla Jerks, Part II: Laying the foundation

The first step in building ideas is to get lots of them to choose from. It gets your creative juices flowing and lets you build something bigger.

But to get a lot of ideas, you have to overcome that nagging voice in your mind. You know the one that tells you things like:

• Someone else is probably already doing this.
• No one will think this idea has merit.
• The timing's just not right.

And on and on.

I thought like this at the beginning stages of Coupla Jerks. I kept thinking that everyone already knew how to leverage social media tools. How could I come up with something that would add value? I kept getting more and better ideas of how to share my knowledge with people, then killing them off.

Then, when I finally decided to move forward with a course about making better cold calls by using LinkedIn, I tried to think of the best way to present it. I brainstormed about 50 ideas, from the totally crazy (build a LinkedIn profile for the roma tomato in my brand, roma creative) to the mundane (just use my own profile as an example).

The entire time I went through this process, I had to focus on not talking myself out of my own ideas. And I'm the biggest advocate I know for not killing ideas! It's a hard thing to do for all of us.

So lesson from the first step: Are you creating a strong idea foundation for yourself? Ignoring the nay sayers (even the ones in your own mind) and letting ideas flow?

Coupla Jerks: genesis of a crazy idea, part I

Well, along with a hilarious nameless collaborator, I've launched Coupla Jerks.

Coupla Jerks is offensive training materials for freelance writers. In other words, training brought to you by a couple of jerks.

What in the world? Offensive training material? Isn't that a little... too different?

This is the reaction I've been getting from many. Since this blog is all about getting more ideas, I want to share with you how I got this one.

About 6 months ago, I started to notice two recurring themes (although at first, not at the same time):

1. People I knew were asking me about new web tools.

Colleagues wondered how they could use LinkedIn more effectively. Friends were asking what this Twitter thing was all about. My mom wanted to set up a FaceBook profile.

As I looked for resources to send people to, I found that there weren't a lot of resources for targeted audiences besides people looking for a job. In other words, a lot of advice existed for the unemployed to use new web tools, but for freelancers like me? Almost nothing.

2. Most training materials are boring

So much of the training material that exists is just plain lame. Even the well written stuff can be a little dry. While I can race through a good novel in a few hours, it can take me days and days to force myself to finish a business book.

I wondered why more written material didn't entertain as it taught. I thought of the book Blue Ocean Strategy, which teaches that you can create a new market by combining two things that haven't co-existed before. Maybe by combining training material with somewhat offensive comedy I could create something new and different.

Over the course of creating Coupla Jerks, I've gone through every phase of my Building Ideas Structure. In the next few posts, I'll walk you through how I did it and how the structure applies. Kind of a learning by doing example. I hope it inspires you to get an idea and follow it through to execution.

Maybe Coupla Jerks is a far fetched idea that will never take off. But then again, 25 years ago, who ever thought people would be paying $100 to go to the circus (Cirque Du Soleil anyone?)

The obvious isn't so clear

When trying to convey our ideas to others, it's important to remember that the things that are obvious to us, may not be obvious to our audience.

This happened to my grandparents when they assumed my mother knew her name. You see, my mom's name is Judith Ann, but everyone calls her Judy. As a little girl, her parents never called her Judith, unless she was in trouble and they coupled it with her middle name.

As in, "JUDITH ANN!! STOP WASHING THOSE KITTENS!!" (Some of you parents may be familiar with this tactic.)

So naturally, when her 2nd grade teacher asked what her middle name was, my mom told her it was Thann. As in Judy Thann.

Or take for example my 8 year old son Logan who, just this week, began taking a shower by himself in the morning before school (instead of an evening bath administered by one of us). This morning after Logan got out of the shower, my husband asked if he had washed his hair and his body.

I sat there thinking what a ridiculous question this was. Why else do people take showers but to wash themselves?

But, sure enough, Logan turned to him with kind of a quizzical look and said, "well...no, I just rinsed off."

And this was entirely our fault. We had communicated to him to take a shower, and he was doing exactly that. We assumed that he knew to shampoo his hair and soap his body while he was in there. Apparently people don't naturally know this.

The obvious isn't always the obvious to everyone.

If you find yourself having difficulty making someone else understand your ideas, take a step back. Do they know as much as you think? Or should you start at a more basic level? Go ahead and state the obvious.

Unexpected Gratitude

Never forget how much saying a simple "thank you" can mean to someone. Especially when it's unexpected.

Take, for example, events at my house last night.

Let me start with some background. My 8 year old son, Logan, is one of the pickiest eaters of all times ever. He lives on a steady diet of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, apples/apple sauce, and ramen noodles. Occasionally, he'll have some scrambled eggs, but only if you make them all in one piece and call it an "omelet" even though it's not folded over and has no filling.

He doesn't like cheese (seriously - who doesn't eat cheese?) or french fries (or potatoes in any form). And last summer when he began eating a hot dog and a bun, at the same time, we considered it a major step forward in meeting his nutritional needs.

Because of his many food aversions, I often find myself playing the role of short order cook at dinner time. I cook something for the rest of us to eat, and then I fix Logan his food. And yes, I've tried giving him no other options but what we're having. I found out it hurts me to watch him starve much more than it bothers him to not eat dinner for days at a time.

Which brings us to last night. Stressed and tired, I decided that everyone could eat what I made for dinner or else.

Of course, Logan barely choked down one bite.

But then when we excused him from the table, he looked at me and said, "I'm sorry I didn't care for dinner. Thank you for making it. You did a good job."

So what's Logan having for dinner tonight? Ramen noodles or peanut butter and jelly.

His choice.

Who will you thank today? I'm sure it will be worth your while.

Failure is the secret to success

Look how Honda has been reading my blog:

Customer service saves the day

I had an amazing customer service experience a week or two ago.

I was trying to get something done on one of my websites that's hosted at GoDaddy.com. I couldn't figure it out, and I was getting frustrated. I wanted to make the most of the time I had, but couldn't get anything else done until I completed that task. I decided to call them.

They didn't have a 1-800 number, which made me angry because now I was going to have to waste cell phone minutes calling long distance. When I called, there was a 7 minute hold time.

Totally livid now, I hung up the phone and entered an online help request.

Of course, because I revert to the maturity level of an immature 8 year old when angry, I went on Twitter and complained really loud about GoDaddy.

Within 10 minutes, Alon from GoDaddy did 3 things:
1. He tried to call me to help, but the number that was in my record was outdated.
2. He sent me a message on Twitter, in an attempt to get a new number. (Rant over, I had already closed Twitter out and didn't get the message)
3. He sent me an e-mail with easy to follow instructions so I could complete my task.

Wow.

Not only did I feel a little sheepish (ok a lot), but now I had to tell everyone about how great GoDaddy's service had been. And I did.

What will you do to make people tell stories about your company's service?

Start something up

I spent last weekend in the company of some amazing people. Seventeen of us got together through a neat event called Startup Weekend, and over the course of three days, figured out how a web solution for solo-preneurs would work. (I wrote about what actually happens at Startup Weekend here, at the TechLife Columbus Blog).

It was pretty close to my dream environment for ideas. Everyone felt free to shout out ideas and opinions. No one acted as an idea killer or a nay - sayer. We focused. We worked as a team. We laughed. A lot. We ate excellent food and drank caffeinated water.

If I hadn't missed my family so much, I might have stayed forever.

It was truly amazing how much we got accomplished. I believe that's the power of a safe place for ideas.

Do you lead a team? Take a minute to make sure that everyone feels comfortable sharing ideas, and shut down your idea killers (even if it's you). I guarantee you'll get a lot more done, and everyone will have more fun doing it.

Who's in your network?

Ahh, the little things.

Those people that remember you had a doctor's appointment today and call to see how it went. Your grandma, who even though she has 7 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren, still remembers to send a card to your son (with a check for all those Bakugan balls he loves) on his birthday. The friends who know that you love books and loan you ones they think you will like. The person that always buys you the perfect present (my birthday is 5-11 if you're one of these people).

I'm terrible at these things. And I'm trying to improve.

But what I rely on (to a fault) is my network.

I'm bad at birthdays and anniversaries and wonderful gifts. My husband, my sister, and my mother are experts at this.

I'm not great at networking. I have several amazing friends who I count on for introductions.

My writing isn't funny. My brother in law's is hilarious.

But I can give you a great view of the big picture. Figure out a way to whip up your dinner fast. I can write you a resume or marketing piece that will kill. I help people do these things all the time. And they help me with the things I can't do.

Do you know your strengths? Your weaknesses? Take inventory.

Start strengthening your strengths. Maybe more importantly, start surrounding yourself with people who can fill in your weaknesses, and whose weaknesses are your strengths.

Maybe you'll get peanut butter in their chocolate.

Fail big

I write a lot about failure. About getting past it. About moving beyond having bad ideas. About not being afraid to do it.

This is because I believe that your capacity to fail is directly proportional to your capacity to succeed.

Fail big. Embrace it.

I'll leave you with this gem from the business section of Failure Magazine. This is from an interview with the authors of Billion Dollar Lessons: What You Can Learn from the Most Inexcusable Business Failures of the Last 25 Years. It's a story about Tom Watson Jr, who led IBM in its glory days. Clearly, he saw the value in failure.

There was an IBM employee in the early 1960s who had run a business unit that lost 10 million dollars. Watson called him in to headquarters. The guy walked into Watson’s office kind of weak-kneed. Watson said, “Do you know why I called you here?” He said, “I assume you called me here to fire me.” Watson said, “Fire you? Hell, I just spent 10 million dollars educating you. I just wanted to be sure you learned the right lessons.”

Little things

It's the little things that make the biggest difference.

When I was pregnant, I was crazy. Really. About two steps short from complete insanity. Perhaps that's being too kind. I was probably actually two steps over the line.

Once, I became so upset by a bagger at the grocery store that I could barely function well enough to drive the five blocks back home. You see, he had packed my celery right next to my chicken. RAW chicken! TAINTED celery!!

When I brought the groceries into the house, I was so distraught that I couldn't even tell my husband what was wrong. Poor dear. He probably thought my or the baby's health was in jeopardy. Finally, through hysterical tears, I told him of the carelessness of the bagger (how COULD he pack my groceries like that???)

Calmly, my husband told me to take it easy and go lie down for a bit. He assured me that he would wash the celery. With soap. Holding that knowledge in my mind, I was able to go take a nap.

I will forever hold my husband in the highest regard for that action.

In these trying times, take a moment to think. Whose celery can you wash?

Embarrassing moments

A friend of mine was at the grocery store with her two small children. She had them in one of those unwieldy giant carts shaped like a car. As children often do, especially in public places, they began to bicker and annoy each other.

When my friend leaned down to break up the fighting, she failed to notice a large wine display directly in front of her cart. Of course, she ran right into the back of it, knocking several bottles of wine to the floor where they smashed in a glorious mess in the center of the aisle.

The people that were in the vicinity took one look at the blood red puddle on the floor and ran the other direction. Grocery store employees flocked over moments later, barking at my friend to "BACK AWAY!"

This is exactly how it feels when our ideas are met with rejection. It's embarrassing. Mortifying. Often, we get no support from people around us, and others are encouraging us to throw in the towel and back away.

But really - what's the worst that can happen? No one that I know of has ever died or even been physically injured by embarrassment. Even though I'm sure many have wished it. You can live through the discomfort.

What did my friend do after the wine incident? She held her head high and finished her shopping. She needed groceries after all.

When you get rejected, brush it off and finish your shopping.

Ice Cream

There are two ice cream sellers that I really love. Graeter's and Jeni's. They each have a variety of flavors, but my favorites are Coconut Chip at Graeter's and Black Coffee at Jeni's.

Do you have a favorite ice cream? I bet you do. Why do you love it?

For me, it's hard to say. I definitely like the giant chunks of chocolate in Coconut Chip, but I can't tell you why I like coconut or coffee flavors. I just... do.

Ideas are like this. Some people like certain ideas more than others. For no real reason that they can name. What if they like someone else's ideas better than yours? Does it mean your ideas are bad? I don't think so. Maybe they just like Toffee Chip, while your ideas are more Salty Caramel.

Don't get down when someone doesn't like your ideas. Either come up with a flavor that they'll enjoy, or find someone else that has tastes closer to yours.

Change your point of view

Last week, at a networking function, I met Petersen Thomas. He's an artist (how cool is that?).

After I told him I was a writer, he shared a problem with me.

"Galleries are always asking for written descriptions of my work," he said.

I didn't really see the problem with that.

"If I could write words about it, I wouldn't have to paint it."

Ahh. To get people to come look at his artwork (which takes the place of many, many words), he needs to describe it in a compelling way with words. Kind of ironic, really.

So what does he do? He writes from a different perspective. Actually, his dog's. And it works.

Maybe the next time you're looking for new ideas, you should pause - and think of the problem from a different perspective. It doesn't matter whose. A fresh set of eyes is all you need.

Random ideas about Twitter

Twitter is my new favorite social media. I like shiny things, so this probably won't last forever, but for now Twitter gets the bulk of my social media attention.

If you're totally new to Twitter, read this.

People I know that aren't on Twitter keep asking me what's the big deal, so I thought I'd share some ideas.

Four reasons why I like Twitter:

1. Twitter keeps you in constant contact with people. Not like a "networking" event where you meet, chat, then don't see them again for another month.

2. Twitter is a great way to meet new people in real life. I've met at least 10 people face to face in the last month that I first "met" on Twitter.

3. Twitter is funny. Two favorites from today (a horribly snowy day in C-bus):
@Jason_WCMH: Did you guys know it snowed today?
@Jason_WCMH: Well if you didn't, watch our news so we can tell you its snowed and traffic was bad. We have 4 people to tell you live.

@InsoOutso: All of this ice and me without liquor.

4. Twitter is helpful. I've learned about new books, news stories, gotten restaurant recommendations, and ideas for stories that I never would have heard about if it weren't for Twitter.

If you're going to start Twittering, here are my four tips:

1. Don't be your company. Be yourself. Twitter is a conversation.

2. Use a real (or funny or creative) picture. Company logos are boring. See point 1.

3. It's not fun without friends. Start following people and join the convo.

4. Answer people. Ask questions. Share interesting tidbits (not sales pitches).

Happy Twittering!