You do use head shots, right?

If you have a business, you market online, you need head shots.  Good ones.

If you can, find a local photographer and hire him/her.  If that doesn’t fit in your budget, be creative.  Approach the photography class at a local college or high school – see if someone there wants to take your pics.   Or find a new photographer just starting out.  Ask your friends.  Look on facebook and see who’s posting head shots (you’d be surprised how many there are — look at baby pics and wedding shots).

You need a portfolio of pictures to use for different occasions.

1. Email signature

2. Business card

3. marketing literature

4. in blog posts

5. on your website

6. on Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

In this day of global being the new local, you need to build relationships and people want to see what you look like.   Hiring someone to take professional photos shows that you care about your appearance – and its spills over into people thinking you care about your business too.

Smile!

See all the shots on my facebook page 

Thousands.

Out of all of them, @Miss_Dazey is the one person I thought I’d never meet.   She lives in Missouri and spends a lot of time sleeping.  Her health requires it.  Linda (Miss Dazey) doesn’t travel much, and when she does its to see Jeanne Robertson or her kids.

This week she and Mr. Bruce (her husband) drove to Minnesota to visit her daughter.  It’s my great fortune that where I live is right on the way.  They stopped and visited with me at the local Hardees.  I think I might be one of her first online friends she’s ever visited!  What an honor.

We talked about  how we came to be online in the first place and what could people do to include seniors in their conversations.  I find it hard to believe, but there are some people who are rude and mean to Miss Dazey – because she’s a senior.  Not that I’m calling her a liar – I’m not – but how could anyone be mean to her?  Miss Dazey has been one of my staunchest supporters and a good friend.  She gets this thing called twitter.  Miss Dazey follows and listens and learns.  Then she shares what she’s learned with others.  This is the kind of person you want to be your online friend.

Find her on twitter at @Miss_Dazey .  Strike up a conversation.  Ask her what she’d like you to do for seniors.  Share your stories with her.  Learn from her.  Just be a friend.  We all need friends — in real life and online.

In our family we jokingly refer to “the crazy gene.” See, my dad suffers from depression.  He’s had the kind of depression that got treated with shock treatments in the 60′s.  I remembered those Jack Nicholson One Flew Over the Cukoos Nest days in my dad’s life.  I was a scared teenager – and swore I’d never have that damn crazy gene.  Dad’s mother had it.  She never left the farm for over 30 years.  She only wanted to be around family, and then not that much.  My mom’s grandmother tried to kill herself three times.  She had strokes back in the day when there was no medicine for it – and she was depressed.  My brother has “the crazy gene” and so does his daughter.  Both suffer to some degree with depression.

I was bound and determined not to have “the crazy gene.” I so desperately wanted to be normal.

If you’ve met me, you’ll notice I’m usually pretty upbeat and like to concentrate on the positive.  I can do that for about 3 hours.  Then I need to slip away.  It takes a lot of work to always be positive.  In the morning I’m very chipper and do most of my work from 5:30 a.m. to noon, if I can.  The afternoons have to be spent by myself.  It’s too hard to be around people then.  Some days I can’t just stay home – I have to work.  I muddle through.  And some days I can’t even leave home and find reasons to stay there.  I am tired all the time.  Sleep is no longer fun, I wake up 2 or 3 times and can’t get back to sleep.  I stay anxious – so much to do and not enough time to do it.  It’s hard to concentrate.  All these things – I thought just meant I was getting older and that’s the way things go.   I mean it when I say “it’s not easy being me.”

I was pretty sure I didn’t have that crazy gene.  I sure didn’t want it.  I just wanted to be normal. Then one day I read a post by Steve Woodruff. Steve’s a smart guy, friendly, upbeat, conversationalist – and I know him only from Twitter.  He has depression.  And admitted it.  For 20 years he tried to control it.   He said “Maybe you think it’s shameful to admit that there could be a problem you can’t resolve by force of will. News flash: biochemistry does not yield to machismo. Darkness of soul is not something to be trifled with. Get some help.”

I started a conversation about depression with Steve.  I read on the internet about the symptoms of depression: change in sleep habits, lethargy and tiredness, anxiety, moody, inability to concentrate, sadness.  Holy toledo Batman – I think I was suffering from depression.  I made an appointment and actually went to my doctor.  She put me on meds and suggested I give it 2 or 3 weeks and see how they work.  That was January 22.

I feel like a fog is starting to lift, I can see a few rays of sunshines. I’m not so tired.  I’m better able to get my work done.  I still have trouble sleeping and still want a little nap in the afternoon.  I know the medicine is helping.  I know I have a great professional working with me to see that I get the right dosage of medicine.  I also know this will work out.  I may have that crazy gene.  And that’s okay, because depression is a disease.  It’s nothing to be ashamed of.  There is biochemically something wrong with me.  Medicine helps.

I’m not a doctor.  I can’t recommend you get treatment or what meds to take or tell you exact symptoms.  I can tell you to find friends like Steve Woodruff who have enough guts to talk about depression and things that are important and may change your life.  I can urge you to see if it’s a possibility.  I can tell you, the crazy gene won’t kill me.  I hope you’ll be okay too.

picture is from frogflicks

Seating in Stickley Room Hotel Pattee

Sunday morning and I’m up early.  But then, I’m always up early.  I’ve developed a habit.

It’s my twitter habit.

I spend 30 to 60 minutes perusing the links everyone is sharing.  It’s a great way to expand your knowledge base.  Here’s just a few articles I’ve read this morning.

Kneal Mann reflecting on time

Brass Tack Thinking are you willing to be led

Pamelas Grantwriting Blog good news for grantseekers

If I’ve got to have a habit, I’ll take the twitter habit.

Picture is the seating area in the Stickley Room at the Hotel Pattee.

oh look, a squirrel!

It seems I’m not alone.  There are squirrels everywhere and I see them.  Now the big question is how do I control my squirrel brain?

Well, I don’t.  I’ve given up.  I am starting to think the squirrels are helping me.

I have even let them roam free for a while each day.  I sign in to tweetdeck and see where the squirrels take me.  I call a friend and we squirrel away our conversation.  I teach a class, ask a lot of questions and see the quilt the squirrels are making.

I’ll tell you a secret.  The squirrels need attention, but they don’t need it all day long.

I find early morning works for my squirrels, and usually for only 1/2 an hour (ok, sometimes an hour).

Let your squirrels roam – and may the Force be with you.

(photo taken from http://www.amcgltd.com/ which is a good read all unto itself, another squirrel. )

140 Character Conference

Just what is the 140 Character Conference?  Why would I want to go?  How does the day roll out?  How can I be a speaker?  These are all questions I’ve received in the past couple of weeks.  Let’s answer them!

What is the 140 Character Conference?

The 140 Characters Conference at the Fox Theatre in Hutchinson, Kansas is being co hosted by Jeff Pulver and Becky McCray.  Join them November 1 for the first Small Town 140 Character Conference.   The key focus of the conference is on how real time technology (twitter, facebook are two examples) is changing business, agriculture, media, education, sports, celebrity – everything.

There will be speakers from all over the world – and local speakers too.  Speakers present in 10 to 20 minute segments.  The day moves quickly and lots of voices are heard.   The event runs all day and costs $100 for early bird registration.  For those who cannot attend in person, this conference will be live streamed on the internet.

Why should I go?

Originally, the 140 Characters Conference was designed to bring together about 140 characters to have a discussion about twitter and discussing topics like Celebrity, “Media” and Advertising.   It’s been given in large cities like New York, London and Tel Aviv.  However, there’s 281 million people living in communities with a size of less than 50,000 people according to er.usda.gov .   That’s a lot of people that think just a little differently than those in big cities.

Now is your opportunity to be fairly represented on a large stage.  The speakers will talk about topics relative to small town lives.  Agriculture will be more than just one speaker representing all sides of the topic.  Hear from the agricultural producers, small business and the large corporate businesses.  Imagine that! Business speakers will cover how we build relationships in a town where everyone really does know your name.  There will be small business, large business and home business people showing us all the power of small town living as related to owning and/or working in a business.

Why should big city people come?

Large cities are really just a bunch of small towns connected.  There are similarities between being in a smaller city and a smaller town, being in a neighborhood and a small town.  This small town 140 conference will show you how important it is to be part of a community. The new buzz word is relationship, and we know how to do that better than anyone you know.

They are going to learn things that small town people know and have never forgotten.  Everyone needs to know how to survive with these technologies.   These new technologies force us back into a small town interaction – we know everything about everybody.  Small town residents know how to be friendly – it’s part of our local culture – it’s inbred into us.   Large companies now hire people to come in and teach their employees how to be friendly.  If the world is getting smaller, and we all know it is, this is where you want to be to be part of this discussion.

How can new technology help rural folks find their places in the world economy?

We tell the story of the wheat farmer who used twitter on his Blackberry out in the field.  That’s nice, right?  Here’s the real story.  The bigger city news was talking about how there was not very much storm damage to the crops after the last big storm.  This farmer was out in his field looking and he didn’t have much damage.  However, his friends on twitter were posting pictures of the damage in their area – and it was bigger and worse than his.  He was scheduled to sell his wheat that week.  He made the decision to wait a week.  Why?  Because the prices skyrocketed – there was so much damaged wheat and supply was low, demand high!  His crop brought in a better price – because his friends posted pics on line.  Yeah, the farmer today is no idiot.  There will be lots of stories about how technology is changing the way we do things.

What does the day look like at a 140 Character Conference?

I’ve never been to one!  This is my first as well.  I have talked to Becky and here’s how things are tentatively planned to go.  As with any conference, there’s got to be some flexibility.  At a  conference on the Now of Technology it stands to reason that things may change right in the now of it all.  And every good planner has a great outline – and here’s how it’s looking as of today.

We start at 8:30 a.m.  That’s late for rural folks – and very early for the geeks!  We will assemble in the theatre style 1920 Historic Fox Theatre.  The Fox has wifi, and there will be a truck outside also providing radio frequency wifi broadcasting.  Remember, this is an old building and you will want your phone and laptop already fully charged.   There are a limited number of plug-ins for recharging.

Jeff and Becky will welcome and convene the event.  Becky McCray will speak on why it was important to bring the 140 Character Conference to a small town.  And Jeff Pulver will say why it was just as important to say yes to Becky.

Then the fun begins.  The speakers will begin. Each individual has 10 or 15 minutes and panels have 15 to 20 minutes.  The idea for presenting in such a short time frame is to eliminate the lecturers, get to the point and share their information in a tweetable format.  Get to the point (which is the point).

Topic lists will include agriculture, media, small business, tourism, government and community involvement.  Media will include small town papers who are actually involving the community into their news reporting.  New media has made the old way of reporting the news obsolete.  How are small communities overcoming these obstacles?  Government will have speakers from the local USDA office, city hall and state offices.  Tourism people are at the forefront of using this new technology to promote their small local areas.  Every one of us can learn from them.  Community involvement speakers come full circle and talk about using the tools to build relationships and create big things in small towns.

There will be a break for lunch and networking – it is catered in.  You will want to come and go and collect in the lobby, stand outside, have conversations with others.  It’s often been said that the real value at a conference is found in the hallways.  Consider the idea of cross pollination.  Imagine the local seed company in Iowa conversing with the banker in Kansas and the Rhode Island organic farmer.  What are the possibilities for expanding your knowledge base and connections in the real world?

The Conference ends around 6 and a wrap will happen at the Cosmosphere.

Who really comes to these events?

Most people who are using the technology of now are interested in the world.  Twitter is an interesting tool – it allows us to be in direct communication with people all over the world.  These are the people who are coming – smart, vibrant, thirsty for knowledge people.

The multifaceted nature of the small town prolific tweeter will be represented.  Small towns don’t have a person for each organization and business to tweet out information.  It’s the several prolific tweeters  that do that.  We write about tourism events, chamber ideas, what the alumni association is doing, church activities, where the sales are – we tweet it all.  We share it with the outside world as well.  Want a microcosm of a small town?  Find the local prolific tweeter.  And they will be at this conference.

Once again, give me a few short reasons why I should come.

Oh- like in a 140 character way?  Here goes:

140 Character Conference speakers talk about how they are being changed by the technology of now & show you how to use it where you live.

Small towns are being represented in a big way.  Tourism, agriculture, media, government, community involvement. Be informed.

Audience participation, live streaming, informed and passionate speakers and technology of now.  Why wouldn’t you come?

You can speak too.  Visit www.140conf.com , fill out the  form.  View past events and get a feel for topics. Deadline is  September 3.

Speaker reception at Salt Mines. Wrap up at the Cosmosphere. Stay at the Grand Prairie.  This is the place to be for the state of Now.

Want to make connections with real people and get your business name out there?  Be a sponsor. jeff@140conf.com for more info.

picture is from flickr stream of Becky McCray

How do you help a real estate agent and broker use social media to improve her business  – and ultimately her bottom line?

Facebook:

Create a fan page. Build your fans from your local county – but reach out to other surrounding counties.  Start with Chamber of Commerces, other businesses, other fan pages.  What pages are in your industry?  Find those and reach out to their fans.

Post lots of pictures with great descriptions.  Create a profile of your community.  Tell a story that draws in buyers .  Why would I want to live there?  What features would make this a great family home to buy?  What features would make this commercial space perfect for the business owner?

Create a contest!  Get your fans involved with your business.  Make the prizes good – and get the community behind you in the contest.  It can be both online and local.  Make it special to your online users – perhaps promise the winner will be announced FIRST on facebook.

Blog:

Blogs are the perfect vehicle for real estate people.  The most important thing to remember is that you are the expert.  Share you expertise.  What are some tips for buying a house?  What are things to look for when you purchase your first home?  What can buyers expect during negotiations?

Keep it interesting and give people a reason to keep coming back.  You’ll have a spot for how to contact you, how to go look at the houses you are selling — but it will be your content that brings people back to you.

Twitter

Go to www.search.twitter.com and use the advanced feature.  Scroll down and use the “Place” section – look for people within 50 miles of where your houses are for sale.  Don’t neglect the news and media here — most of them will respond back when you tweet with them!

Go to www.twellowhood.com and find your community and areas close to you — it’s interesting to see how many people in your town are on twitter!

On the Web

Learn at www.mashable.com

www.bizsugar.com small business news and tips — read them and share your own

use www.google.com and find some other businesses in your industry and see what they are doing.  Take tips from them – just don’t plagiarize!

In Your Community

Old school marketing is the first social media.  Get out into your community.  Volunteer.  Join the chamber. Meet people.  Offer to help.  Be a good citizen.  Give people a reason to like you.  If you’ve learned to do that — then go online and create community and repeat the process.

Indeed, why?

Twitter, if used correctly, provides opportunities to learn, engage and create. A year ago I was still a twitter novice.  Lucky for me, I started following people who were using social media.  I simply did a search over at http://www.search.twitter.com for “social media” .   I found people like @chrisbrogan @keithburtis @ambercadabra @beckymccray   And I started to talk to them.  I commented on links they posted.  I asked them questions.  Today – I have 2700 plus followers.   The number is not important – the people I follow are.

So how has twitter helped my business in the past year?

It’s helped me to define just what it is I do.  I’ve learned how to write business bios, business plans, P and L statements – that represent who and what Debworks is.  It narrowed my concentration when I learned how to do this.  I am not all over the board anymore.

It’s given me access to websites I would never have dreamed of looking for, let alone reading.  www.altitudebranding.com www.mashable.com www.12for12k.org just to name a few.

It’s helped me to set up peer advisors. @beckymccray has been a go to person for me – and now a friend.   @grantgriffiths has become a business partner and a friend.  @codyks has become comic relief, someone to bounce ideas off of and a friend.  Notice something – the friend thing?  If you’re having conversations on twitter, you are creating friends.

Its taught me social media skills, that I use everyday in my business. I use twitter to ask questions of the people I talk with.  I follow the link suggestions and learn new things all the time.  Google groups, Google analytics, google alerts, headway theme for wordpress, flickr — all things I learned from someone talking about them on twitter.

It’s brought me business. I now teach at Iowa Valley Continuing Education.   I work with small businesses and non profits determining if this new marketing is something they want to do and helping them set up their plans.  I’ve added new Melaleuca clients.  I’ve been a speaker at conferences.  Now – I’m hosting and speaking at the Small Biz Social Media Summit.   All from connections I’ve made on twitter.

Its brought me friends. Being a geek girl is not always the most comfortable person to be.  I have found like minded individuals who ‘get’ me.  I’ve learned to just be me – and I’m pretty funny and wicked smart.

It’s honed my writing. I’ve found a place to write and subjects to write about.  My twitter friends read my blog posts and share them with others.  I’ve guest posted on other sites.  I’ve sharpened my writing skills and branched out and write grants for non-profits.

Most importantly – it’s renewed my faith in people. The kindness I’ve experienced on twitter has been life saving.

Why twitter for you?

Today – I want to talk about the people who took some time out of their busy schedule that weekend to welcome me, answer my questions and continue to stay in touch.  They are the reason that I continue to grow in the social media realms.

@geekmommy Lucretia Pruitt was on a panel.  I love her cutting wit and at SobCon she was suffering from a migraine.  It did not slow her down, she’s the expert at just barreling through and doing what you have to do.

@jasonfalls Jason Falls – sat at my table.  He’s another person with cutting wit.  He can be sharp, to the point and does not suffer fools gladly.  It was my good luck to see him having a skype conversation with his children.  Yeah, he’s a real dad and it shows.  I learned from Jason that all is not what it looks like. There are many layers to that onion.

@bradshorr Brad Shorr – one of the smartest guys in the world.  We had some great conversations about SEO.  Admittedly, I’m a little clueless on that topic.  Brad spent some time showing me why I need to know more.  He also followed up with phone calls after the event.  Who does that?  Brad Shorr does.

@Shashib Shashi Bellamkonda In real life, he’s a quiet guy.  He’s also a great observer – and brings major good things to the small business conversation.

@GeoffLiving Now here’s a man with passion.  In person, he’s busy and very focused on what he’s doing.  You just want to follow him around to see what change he’s creating in the world.  Hey – that’s what I do online with Geoff too!

@PhilGerb Phil Gerbyshak Yes – that man is as happy as his avatar.  Always ready with a hug and a good word.

@BeckyMcCray Becky McCray is small business.  She taught me how to use my camera to shoot video.  She hung out in the hallway with me (and we all know the hallway is where you learn things at conferences).  She broke bread with me.  Becky is a friend, aren’t I lucky?

@CCSeed Richard Reeve Richard and @northernchick Kathryn Jennex – these two lovely people spent a lot of time with me — both are a compass point for calm in my life.  Richard is a Jungian psychology student.  Kathryn is possibly one of the kindest people in the world.

Online we live in a virtual world – we can create and shape our persona any way we want. I’m a pretty smart cookie – and wondered if I’d appear that way in real life too.  I rather felt like Sally Field – You like me! You really like me! Turns out the persona I was shaping online just happened to be the real me.  Meeting some of my online friends in real life gave me the opportunity to live into that person I said I was.  It’s pretty cool to say you are who you are – and then to actually live into that space.   It’s been so good for me, that I’ve declared this year as the year I live into my greatness. My virtual (and real) friends hold me to the standard I’ve set.

Now that rocks!

This blog post was written in response to a call out from Liz Strauss and Terry Starbucker – the real power behind SobCon.  I plan on attending again this year – and always welcome an opportunity to write about the specials available. #SobCon2010  Read more about the promotion for SobCon10.

I stand on the side of transparency. Let me just get that out of the way early in this conversation.

This story starts with two people having a discussion about social media and how much information should you reveal.  One of the things I do is set up accounts for a company, and I get paid referral fees to do that.  It’s not multi level marketing – but it is consumer direct marketing.  I’m building a team and also helping people get safer, greener products into their homes.

I use social media in that aspect of Debworks.  I don’t use social media to look for leads or to recruit people. I’m of the school of thought that social media is an opportunity to have a great conversation with someone you may never have met in your community.  I also use social media to talk to my team, perform follow up, share information and expand my mind.

I’m pretty open – just look at my facebook account: www.facebook.com/debworks If you ask to be my friend, I’ll look at your info and more than likely, will friend you.  On twitter – if you have a profile that includes your picture and shows that you follow people and they follow you – I’m following you too.

My friend – has a different outlook. She feels that privacy is very important. You won’t see pictures of her online.  Her friends on facebook are much fewer than mine.  There is no personal information about her on her account.  She also works in the same industry I do.  In our industry, there are some unethical people. They are with other companies and have developed a new trick for recruiting.  They go on facebook and search for people like me.  Someone with lots of  friends – then they attempt to become a part of my circle and infiltrate my friends lists.  From there – they recruit the people I know for their business.  Or they try to.

What these people don’t know about me is that my circle of friends tend to be like me. They ask a lot of questions, don’t automatically trust you just because you say you’re my friend, and are pretty loyal.  They are friends.  Those that are not close friends certainly know exactly where I stand.  That’s because I’m pretty transparent.  I’ve also spent some time and built a relationship – and continue to build it.

Have I gotten new customers through social media? A couple.  I have kept customers through social media though.  I’ve also made friends with others in my industry and that has strengthened my position in what I do.  I’ve learned a lot about myself as well.  I am very clear about some of the things I like to do.  I’ve created my company Debworks – and continue to grow with it.  Social media has helped me create a path for my future.

Yeah – I’m transparent.  It works for me.

What works for you?