Social media solutions

So sorry for the lack of attention I have given this blog. I thought that my slacker friend Kristen would contribute, but she is apparently a lackey. Thats what happens when you give an associate a bottle of booze and a little quiet time.

I just returned from High Point market. What a treat. Very tiring but when there is free booze and sandwiches (can we say TWO of my favorite things) its hard not to make it into something 20 thousand more times special and enjoyable. Not to mention all the free pens, tape measures and slippers! Yes, I said SLIPPERS. When your feet hurt that bad, slippers are just the thing.

I went to several seminars and the trend in speeches was the increasing popularity in social media. Blogging, twitter, facebook, linked in, and many others. Even iTunes makes it easy for a user to create their own podcasts. How great is that? Well I really enjoyed all the tips and tricks, but I think the most valuable tip I learned was this:

1)Keeping up with social media as a business owner is very time consuming and difficult to keep up with on a regular business. Have your interns put together a list of topics for the next three months. Then all you have to do is fill in the blanks.

2)Another great tip. Have every person on your staff contribute to the company blog, tweets, and company facebook wall. It creates a personal connection with everyone around you and allows people to get to know who you really are and what makes you tick.

And don't panic if you don't have staff or interns to help you with these things. Create staff. Maybe your cat, or young child can be a contributor. Make it fun and light. Everyone finds comfort and giggles in something unexpected. And the best part is you will grow your following and company!!

How to overcome Negative Influences

Everyone's goal in life is to achieve, in some form or fashion, a level of success. Whether that success comes from being a savvy business owner, successful manager, stay at home mom, or the world's most successful couch potato. So technically speaking our business in life is to be successful. Most importantly our purpose is to achieve happiness and through this we attain true success. However, in a spiraling economy, and a cloud of negativity swirling around like a dust bunny, the vacuum of persistence to stay positive has lost its electricity.

As church is to Sunday's 90% of the human race DEFAULTS to negativity when times go south. We as a society have come to EXPECT things to just come to us. And if they don't we are for lack of a better word, not as fortunate or lucky as "they are". So how do you protect yourself from the invasion of the devils workshop of negativity? How do WE become one of "they's"

I think Napoleon hill said it best:

" Nature has endowed us with absolute control over one thing, and that is thought"

In 1929 following the crash of Wall Street the people of america were consumed with lack, poverty, desperation, foreclosure, job loss......sound familiar?? Everyone was consumed with fear. And those that succeeded like Rockfeller, Kennedy, Carnegie, Stone, Vanderbilt, had one thing in common. They protected themselves against negative influences. They refused to succumb to the outside influences. They refused to accept the norm and follow the heard. They were leaders rather than followers. They rose above the evil supremacy of overwhelming negative pressures, and mastered happiness in all forms.

Our economy is in dire straights. We are feeling it, hearing it, seeing it, reading it, dreaming it! It effects each and everyone one of us in different ways. But remember that you have the power to step aside. Recognize that we are susceptible to SUGGESTION. Our greatest weakness as a race is to be overcome with fear and to except too often the word IMPOSSIBLE. The news, the magazines, the internet, your friends, family, co workers. The influences are everywhere. Unfortunately the heard, raptured and engulfed with fear, refuses to move or budge. Paralyzed with worry, panic, anxiety and apprehension we too get wrapped up in the tornado of terror. SO how do we avoid this constant invasion of self destruction?

1) Stop complaining. It is what it is. The old world IS GONE. We will not be where we were for many years. And that is ok. It forces us to be resourceful and creative, and open our minds to new challenges...like getting to know that neighbor that has lived next door to you for five years!

2) Stop finding fault with everything and everyone. It will get you no where. Look for the good, and find the glasses of lemonade with your new, fresh lemons.

3) Stop being hopeless. It will get better, especially if you change your outlook. Donate your time, give back, give to others. You will be AMAZED at how rewarding it is. Better than any pair of new shoes or golf clubs.

4) Stop worrying. It causes indigestion, headaches, and poor health. Really ask yourself: Where can I channel this unused energy into? Soup kitchen???Church? Neighbor?

5)Stop tolerating negative and discouraging influences in your life. It is extreme but I have completely stopped watching the news in all forms. I watch happy, stupid shows, meditate, clean, read, and read inspiring quotes.

6) Find someone or something that encourages you, inspires you and makes you feel GOOD!

If you follow these guidelines you will find yourself less agitated, worried, and strapped with fear. Help each other out. Many people feel that true success is a great career with lots of money. Americans define themselves through their careers, level of income, recognition, and status quo. But that is not TRUE success or happiness. True happiness is a happy home, great friendships, a supportive family, a career that you LOVE, and a little money to have great BBQ's with those cherished friends and family you love.

Do what you know

Today I hired another assistant. New to the company, but I have known and worked along side her for four years. Now I know that those who follow the blog are aware of my love of all things "assistance". My company needs management but more than anything "I" need management. I am a force to be reckoned with. Like a turbulent tornado swallowed in paper paraphernalia, phone calls, sales calls, emails, minute details and posty notes. I race around claiming to juggle it all. But in actuality THEY juggle it all. I attempt a half assed version, throwing a half written, torn up, crumpled posty note at them with a laundry list of VERY important details, and miraculously they come out on the other side with a snazzy excel spreadsheet. Who knew there was a program with such nice lines, and columns? Does it come in color?

Somehow,someway, my girls take this holocaust of disorganization and come to me with a methodical ordered demeanor and supervise me. They are the gatekeepers. Im the front runner, chasing down the jobs, pursuing new jobs, making advances to get the job, producing smiles on the daunting client projects, conjuring up the best solutions and making promises that I KNOW my girls can keep. And at the end of the day I hope on a wing and a prayer that all those posty notes made some kind of sense and somehow ended up in one of those fancy spreadsheets with nice lines and columns. Yes Im sure the consistent lack of consistency with unhinged, loopy ways drives them nuts, with a side of bananas. BUT they always say to hire help that makes up for your inadequacies. I definitely fall short in the adequate, efficient, and organized column. Thus the reason I hire girls who are adequate, efficient, and organized for me.

So this post is for those who still think they cannot afford an assistant. You can not afford NOT TO. Without my girls, I would be a disheveled, inefficient windstorm with a barrage of pandemonium circling around me like pigpin from peanuts. Even with them by my side there is still a level of disorder (that I create, and it is totally all in my head) that surrounds me in overwhelming T-storms. But they come to me with a methodical ordered demeanor and supervise me. They are the gatekeepers. And somehow, someway they manage to manage me, crumbled, torn scribbled posty notes and all.