Becky Robinson's Blog, page 65

Why You Should Tap Into Trending Conversations on Social Media

Are you doing everything right on social but still experiencing slow growth? You’re not alone.

Organic growth, which means attracting fans and followers through non-paid avenues, can be a slow process. It takes time and consistent effort to build a tribe on social media.

There is, however, a free and easy way to reach more people — and hopefully, pump up your fan base a little faster: start posting content around trending topics.

TacoBell, Oreo, DiGiorno Pizza and many, many other brands do this every day. It’s part of their regular content strategy. Here’s why it should be part of yours, too:

1.  Trending topics show you what a large group of people are talking about, and the topics are searchable on both Facebook and Twitter by hashtags. Someone who decides to post about #sharkweek will likely search to see what others are saying. If you have a tweet or post that relates #sharkweek to your area of interest and influence in a clever way, you’ll be in front of a brand new audience that you couldn’t have reached otherwise.

2. Many of these people who see your comment and how clever and interesting you are, will start following and engaging with you, which helps further expose you to new audiences of potential fans/followers. Your world keeps expanding all because of that one #sharkweek tweet.

3. Do this regularly and you’ll be putting your work before new and different audiences all of the time. You’ll be able to expand your reach and influence and create a larger tribe just a bit quicker than you could without tapping into these conversations.

So if it’s this easy, why isn’t everyone doing it? Nearly everyone is doing it, but there are only a few who do it well. We want you to be part of that select group and here’s what it takes:

1. Carefully choose which conversations to join. You’re building a professional tribe around your area of expertise, so you want to comment only on topics that reflect well and positively on your work. Avoid controversial topics and never comment on something until you’ve read some other posts or tweets, so you fully understand the topic.

2. This is content marketing, so content is king. Don’t just jam out a quick tweet on a trending topic. Take your time. Write something really excellent and run it by a few people to make sure it’s the best it can be. Remember those all-star brands? They have teams ready to collaborate on their trending posts. While you probably don’t have teams as large as theirs, you do have friends and co-workers who can help you craft your idea into something that will stand out positively in the conversation.

3. Use images. Humans are hard-wired to be drawn to visual content. You probably aren’t a graphic designer, but there are terrific free image-creation tools that can help you play one on social media (Pablo by Buffer and WordSwag are two favorites). Use them and make some meme magic.

Building your tribe on social media is about showing up regularly and consistently with interesting content. Jumping into trending topics conversations helps you show up in front of a larger audience. It’s just one more tactic to help you expand your influence in the digital space.

Tell me something! Are you ready to try a trending topic tweet?

 

Image source: Rosaura Ochoa

Featured on Friday: Disrupt Yourself Author @johnsonwhitney

In the spring of 2012, I met a woman on Twitter named Becky Robinson. It was a tale of entrepreneur meets soon-to-be out-of-work English-major-turned-pharmacy-tech, and before I knew what was happening, I was in Becky’s email account, reaching out to Barnes & Noble store managers about getting table placement for Whitney Johnson’s first book, Dare, Dream, Do.

My first “complimentary copy” of a client book was Dare, Dream, Do (read my first WI blog post if you dare!), which launched just 4 days after my first day with the company. When I started working with Weaving Influence, there were four other women contracting with Becky.  About a month after I joined the team, the first of the four moved on, followed by the second one later that year, and the final two in 2013.

Three years later I’m having major déjà vu as we prepare to launch Whitney’s second book, and my second co-worker to leave, Margy, is now back with the company! She and her husband recently visited their families in the States (they reside in Israel), and she stopped by the Weaving Influence office in Michigan to say hello. Since the first #witeam photo included Becky, Margy, and Dare, Dream, Do – a little photo déjà vu happened this week as well.

It’s a long way to get to the point, but if you want to know more about this author who has come full-circle with our team, I invite you to…

Meet Whitney Johnson

From her official bio…

Whitney Johnson is an investor, speaker, author, and leading thinker on driving innovation through personal disruption. Johnson is a Founder and Managing Director of Springboard Fund, and co-founder of Rose Park Advisors along with Clayton Christensen where they led the seed round for Korea’s Coupang, currently valued at $2.2 billion.  Having served as president from 2007-2012, Johnson was involved in fund formation, capital raising, and the development of the fund’s strategy.

Whitney is a frequent contributor and writer, including to the Harvard Business Review, as a LinkedINfluencer, and through other channels. She is the author of two books, Dare, Dream, Do (2012), and the forthcoming Disrupt Yourself: Putting the Power of Disruptive Innovation to Work, out October 6, 2015. She is also a prolific speaker and has spoken to audiences of more than 25,000 on her ideas and vision. Johnson is represented by the New Leaf Speakers bureau, along with other thought leaders in innovation like Steve Wozniak.

Johnson has received widespread recognition for her work and ideas and was named one of Fortune’s 55 Most Influential Women On Twitter in 2014. She was named a finalist in the Future Thinker Award for Management Thinkers50, as well as fellow at the Tribeca Disruptive Innovation Awards. She co-founded the popular Forty Women Over Forty to Watch (a list which Becky made this year). Johnson and her work have been covered in The Atlantic, BBC, CNN, Fast Company, the Guardian,Harvard Business Review, Wall Street Journal, and more.

Connect with Whitney Online

Find Whitney on: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Learn more about Jennifer’s work by visiting her website.

Thinkers50

Launched in 2001, the Thinkers50 ranking is now the definitive list of global management thinkers. Help us help Whitney make the 2015 list and vote for her today using the information below!

Disrupt Yourself is Launching October 5-9!

If you’ve been involved in any of our launches, you know that our normal practice is to gear up for a lot of promotion and guest post hosting during the week of a book’s release. This time around, we’re doing things a little bit differently. Are you ready to join us?

You may have seen the guest posts popping up on some of our Buzz Builders blogs over the last few weeks, including:

Chantal Bechervaise
Bonnie Marcus
Paul LaRue
Dan Forbes
Martina McGowan
Jane Perdue

If you would like to join this team of Buzz Builders by hosting guest post content from Whitney on your blog, I invite you to fill out our form and you’ll be hearing from me between now and October 5th with more information. You can also contact me directly via email – either way, I hope to hear from you soon!

Want to learn more about Disrupt Yourself? Visit disruptyourselfbook.com (and don’t forget to check out the pre-order incentives)

Focusing on Focus

Two years ago, I left my job to study in Israel where I still live today. Since moving, I have worked in a high-caliber sales position, served as a counselor for a summer program, and performed other odd jobs. I have enjoyed being active, doing different things, learning a new language, and feeling unrestrained. But when the time came to settle down and find a more serious position that would suit my role as a new wife and, G-d willing, a mother, I knew that I would most enjoy something that offered a flexible schedule while still giving me the opportunity to challenge myself to grow professionally.

Weaving Influence gives me the ability to prioritize my family while being part of a successful and growing company. But, I am learning, with the amazing opportunity to work according to my own schedule comes an increased need to be focused and responsible with my time.

Sometimes I can confuse having multiple responsibilities with multi-tasking. If there are too many tasks on my list or a big meal to cook for the Sabbath, I feel distracted when trying to accomplish anything else.

As part of my spiritual and religious life, I try to take time each day to focus on developing or improving upon specific character traits. The current trait: focus.

Since getting married, moving to a new apartment in the city, and starting a new job (a lot of new responsibilities to juggle), I have been experimenting with different ways to fine-tune my focus.

Here are a couple tools I am working with:

Hold myself accountable. Speech is a powerful creative tool. If I say I will do something, then I need to do it. If I don’t think I can manage, I try not to say I will.
Schedule my time. Everyone has been saying this one for years, but I was always the “go with the flow” type, right? WRONG. Scheduling my time, including leisure and household chores, helps me to use my time more efficiently and remember things I would have forgotten otherwise.
Stay busy. Everyone is different, but I thrive best when I am busy with a healthy amount of responsibilities and activities (for me, too much free time is dangerous).
One thing at a time. This one is really hard for me, especially when I am home and laundry, dishes, and other quick tasks beckon. Though still a struggle, by having this in writing (a sticky note by my computer), I can remind myself that other tasks can, and should, wait until I can devote proper attention to them.

Although, thankfully, I have been learning to stay fairly focused during work time, I still find myself wasting precious minutes. But life is a gift and I want to cherish each moment! Before venturing into marketing, I dreamed (still dreaming) of being a poet. In university, I was extremely involved in the writing world, travelling to conferences, working as editor of our literary journal, and even publishing a few poems in journals.

But for some reason, scheduling in my own personal “creative” time has proved to be the most difficult task yet. As I continue to work to improve my focus, I hope to learn to focus on more than just work and home responsibilities, but also my own creative outlets and dreams.

Tell me, how do you work to improve your focus?

 

Image source: morguefile

Featured on Friday: “Best of” Links!

Whatever happened to the “lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer”? Crazy, yes, but lazy and hazy, not so much! With 19 book launches on the schedule this year (so far), we haven’t experienced our normal summer slow-down, and there’s always another task on the to do list that we’re trying to take care of before calling it a day.

If you do happen to find yourself with some “lazy” time on your hands this weekend, then I highly encourage you to bookmark this post and come click through some of these great links from clients, team members, and more.

I just finished reading an advanced copy of Women & Transition: Reinventing Work and Life by Linda Rossetti, a book that we’re looking forward to launching later this fall. If you want to learn more about Linda and her work, I recommend reading her most recent post, Choice or Compromise?
The next (quickly approaching) launch on the books is The Genius of Opposites by Jennifer Kahnweiler. This week you can find her post, Becoming Extraordinary , on the SkillSoft blog. Don’t forget to pre-order your copy today, and make plans to join the launch week fun August 17-21!
DATE CHANGE! If you signed up for the launch of Unseen Tears by Beau Sides, please note that the dates of the launch are now August 24-28. In other news, it is now available to purchase through the CS e-store, and coming soon in paperback and Kindle on Amazon. All proceeds go to support Global Partners in Life, a non-profit working to enhance the lives of young people in China.
Whitney Johnson’s new book, Disrupt Yourself , will be launching this October, but the buzz is already starting to build thanks to TBB folks like:

Martina McGowan ( read post )
Dan Forbes ( read post )
Paul LaRue ( read post )
Chantal Bechervaise ( read post )
and fellow author, Bonnie Marcus ( read post )


Did you catch Becky’s post earlier this week? The Flaw of Relationship Building on Social Platforms clearly struck a chord with readers, so if you missed it, be sure to check it out this weekend.
While we’re talking about social platforms, although they shouldn’t be your only source of relationship building, we’re certainly not against them! If you haven’t visited our Weaving Influence page on Facebook in a while, we invite you to come on back and engage with our team. We look forward to seeing you around!

TGIF and enjoy your weekend reading!

The Flaw of Relationship Building on Social Platforms

Building online influence through amassing connections on social media platforms (alone) is a flawed plan. I’ve often compared relating to people on social media platforms to meeting friends in a coffee shop or bar.

When you go to a coffee shop, you can meet someone you already know or you can strike up a conversation with a total stranger.

You can meet several new friends during the course of an hour. You can learn from them, laugh, and then walk away and never see them again.

Coffee shops are comfortable, and bars are a fun place to talk, but you are unlikely to build sustainable relationships unless you take the relationship farther and exchange contact information with a plan to meet again.

I’ve had many prospective clients tell me they don’t have an email list but they have hundreds (or thousands) of connections on LinkedIn. While a connection on LinkedIn is more lasting than a casual encounter in a coffee shop,there’s still a step missing.

Being connected on LinkedIn is a powerful way to access influencers while growing valuable relationships and a strong network,  but sharing content or sending a message on LinkedIn is still far inferior to sending someone an email message directly, sending a text message, or calling on the phone.

And last week’s news that LinkedIn initiated changes to how users could download data (changes that could take up to 72 hours) and this week’s news that they’re reverting that change, bolstered my conviction that any significant work anyone wants to do online MUST be on their own domain.

Check out  the headline on Fortune: LinkedIn brought back this popular feature.

Why is it popular? Because people see value in their connections. They want a way to contact connections easily — outside of LinkedIn, the same way that you’d want to exchange business cards with a kindred spirit before leaving a great coffee-shop conversation.

The only data you own and control online is the data you create or collect on your own domain. The only contacts you can reliably count on are the ones who have opted-in to your email subscriber list or the one whose contact information you can easily access.

Go ahead and find/form as many relationships on LinkedIn as you can. It’s a powerful platform. Adding connections on LinkedIn will exponentially increase the reach of your network.

And don’t stop meeting people in coffee shops, airport bars, or conference happy hours.

But don’t make those casual encounters the end of your relationship building and don’t grow your connections on LinkedIn as the primary focus of your influence building strategy. Doing so will put you at risk of loss of data or the ability to connect, if (when) LinkedIn changes their platform again. Instead, use LinkedIn as a place to connect and focus instead on providing content of value that will inspire people to subscribe to your email list so they can stay connected to you

Social media platforms are a convenient place to find and form relationships, but if you want to have a deeper, more connected relationship, you have to take the relationship out of the coffee shop, finding a way to stay in touch with a real-life friend who matters.

Featured on Friday: TBB Member @KimunyaMugo

One of the things that I love about our team of Buzz Builders is the diversity of backgrounds, jobs, and even physical locations. Whether they are in Kenya, Canada, England, Australia, or the United States, each one brings a fresh perspective and excitement to our book launches.

Prior to joining Weaving Influence, I spent time in Tanzania and my husband and I lived in several southern African countries. Sadly (for us), we never made it as far north as Kenya, but if we’re ever there in the future I will now have one more person to look up!

Meet Kimunya Mugo!
I really appreciate you taking the time to answer a few questions for me, Kimunya! First one: Why do you like being a part of TBB?

I absolutely love the sense of community. This is very important for me as an upcoming entrepreneur, leadership coach, blogger and author. Interacting with established authors and bloggers has been a life-saver that TBB has extended to me.  

What benefit do you think you receive from being a part of Team Buzz Builder?

First, and most important, is that TBB has offered me with a platform to serve. I love that! Second, I have been able to make super-amazing connections. I still remember connecting with Ted Coine and Mark Babbit. It felt like we had known each other for life. That connection has grown to engagement on other platforms. The third benefit is that my knowledge-base has certainly expanded. Not only do I get to serve, the books I have reviewed have now become part of my arsenal of “go-to” references.

So, if someone asked you why they should join, what would you tell them?

Don’t even think twice about joining TBB. It is a caring, engaging and value-laden community. It isn’t just about business. It is your opportunity to make meaningful connections and learning for life.

Let’s get personal… tell me about your work/family/life/hobbies!

I can write a thesis on this I have the most wonderful best friend in Harriette my wife. We have three children, who we treasure and love to bits. They are my top priority in life.  In my free time, I write a blog (http://www.leadbychoice.co/) and coach others on leadership. I am just about to launch my first online course, “Leadership Safari”. I am also an author (and currently working on my second book), communications specialist and parenting coach.  My hobbies include writing, athletics, basketball, guitar, and traveling.

Want to learn more about Kimunya? There are lots of ways to connect with him online, and I suggest using them all!

If you’re on Facebook, Kimunya extends this invitation: “I engage with your comments and mentions on Facebook. LIKE my Page (Lead By Choice) and my Facebook Profile, and let’s rock!”

If Twitter is more of your thing, here’s what he has to say: “I really like the freshness of Twitter! Follow me @KimunyaMugo then send me @mention or reply.”

You can also find him on LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Are you a Team Buzz Builder Member who would like to be featured in one of our Friday posts? Email me for more details!

6 Tips for an Unforgettable Book Launch Party

Although my team and I have launched over 50 books, I’ve attended very few book launch parties. This is partly because we serve busy people all around the country, and very few take the time to plan and enjoy a party for their books.

I recently had the pleasure of attending Dan Olsen’s launch for his new book, The Lean Product Playbook. A perfect San Francisco night, a flat full of exuberant friends, beautiful food: Dan and his friends know how to throw a party.

Here are a few ideas from Dan (and others) to make your book launch party —and your book— unforgettable.

Invite a photographer. Everyone will want a photo with you, and you’ll want to remember this special night. Rather than relying on friends to take photos or risk hitting someone with your selfie stick, invite a photographer to capture your special evening. Perhaps even more important than the photographer is a fast turnaround and sharing your photos online. Consider talking with your photographer in advance about timing so you can amplify the fun by sharing your party pics with your online audiences. Or snap a few photos on your phone to share in the moment and extend the excitement of the event.

Get your signing hand ready and be sure to have plenty of books on hand. I’ve seen a mixture of people selling/signing books and giving books away. Whichever you choose, be prepared to sign books personally for your guests. Dan set up a table of books and greeted guests individually, then took a photo with each guest and their signed book.

Brand your party. Alexandra Watkins’ book launch party included a cake featuring the , cupcakes branded with the cover, and colorful name tags. She also served ice cream from one of the companies mentioned in her book, a company she named. Everything about the party, from the location in her business office/loft to pictures by her famous pink fridge, served to cement Alexandra’s fun, edgy brand.

Consider a cause. Joanie Connell’s launch party for her book, Flying Without a Helicopter, benefited a local charity. Putting the focus on a cause, especially one that connects to your book and its message, is a great way to create additional excitement and buy-in for your work while doing good in the world.

Give the gift of connections. At her party, Alexandra Watkins introduced me to her friend Charlene Li. I’ll admit, I felt a bit starstruck. Then I posed for a picture. Who at your party could benefit from an introduction to another? During a brief speech at his party, Dan encouraged people to meet one another. Your book launch party could signal the start of a great opportunity for others to connect in ways that could make a big difference for them long-term. Take a moment to consider those connections in advance, then make sure the introductions happen by taking the time to help people connect.

Remind people of how they can help. Your friends and colleagues are poised to become advocates for your book and its message. Use your party as a chance to remind people of the key ways they can help propel you to success as an author. Remind them to buy, review, and share your book with others. Dan spent a few minutes sharing the message of his book, talking about his success so far, and asking for reviews. Some of your friends may need helpful reminders. Read this post for tips on ways to effectively mobilize friends to write Amazon reviews.

Say thank you. Your book launch party is a great place to express appreciation to the tribe that’s contributed to your success. Dan thanked many people, including his wife Vanessa, by name. He recounted the specific ways people helped him along the journey. You can also use social media or the old fashioned mail to follow up on your expression of gratitude by sending a newsletter highlighting pictures from your event and putting those powerful words of thanks in writing. Bonus points for hand-written notes of thanks,

If you can’t throw an all-out party for your book launch, please consider a smaller occasion like a dinner out with friends, to celebrate your book launch. Every book you publish represents a significant investment of time, energy, and effort. You and your book deserve a celebration!

Featured on Friday: The Genius of Opposites Author @JennKahnweiler

Last month, several Weaving Influence “gatherings” took place in West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida while Becky and her family were on their southern road trip. Since I live “just across the mountain” in Tennessee, I joined the North Carolina gang and was able to meet my co-worker and fellow Weaving Influence Director, Christy Kirk.

We often laugh that we could not be more different – whether it’s physically (her height to my lack of it), politically (we don’t go there!), or personality (she’s the extrovert, I’m the introvert). However, during our time together at Weaving Influence we’ve found a good rhythm and have developed a great working relationship – often because of our differences, not despite them.

Which brings me to the book you see us holding in the photo, and the author-of-focus today for Featured on Friday…

Meet Jennifer Kahnweiler

Jennifer B. Kahnweiler, Ph.D., is a professional speaker and author who helps introverts lead with quiet confidence. Her bestselling books, The Introverted Leader: Building on Your Quiet Strength and Quiet Influence: The Introvert’s Guide to Making a Difference have sold over 60,000 copies and been translated into 14 languages.

Jennifer has spoken at hundreds of organizations including GE, AT&T, NASA, Freddie Mac, Boeing, Turner Broadcasting, the CDC and the U.S. Embassy in Vietnam. [NOTE: As an introvert, I’m getting worn out just reading that list!]

She is a fourteen-year faculty member of the American Management Association and was the “Madrina” (Godmother) speaker at the Universidad Americana’s Commencement in Paraguay. Jennifer has also been featured in Forbes, Bloomberg Business Week and the Wall Street Journal and was featured in a cover story of Time Magazine.

She is a Certified Speaking Professional (CSP), granted to only 8% of the National Speaker’s Association and heads up the Global Task Force of the Berrett-Koehler Author’s Co-op. Jennifer attended her first National Speakers Association convention in San Diego seven years ago and has been hooked on NSA ever since.

Connect with Jennifer Online

Find Jennifer on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and YouTube. Learn more about Jennifer’s work by visiting her website.

The Genius of Opposites is Launching August 17-21!

Coming up in a month, we’re participating in the official launch of Jennifer’s new book (the one that Christy and I were co-holding on our recent meeting), The Genius of Opposites: How Introverts and Extroverts Achieve Extraordinary Results Together (now available to PRE-ORDER on Amazon).

Do you often get frustrated with the introverts or extroverts in your world? It’s true—opposites attract, but their success depends on how they interact. Without careful maintenance and balance they quickly go off the rails, but with Jennifer’s help, you can learn how to turn frustration into an incredible collaboration that yields long lasting results.

On August 4 at 12 pm (ET)/9 am (PT), make plans to join Jennifer and Becky for a FREE webinar on the ideas found in The Genius of Opposites. Register today, and invite a friend – or better still, invite your OPPOSITE!

So… who’s your opposite? Is it a co-worker (as in my case), or is it a spouse (Jennifer, an extrovert, is married to an introvert), a child, or even your boss? If you want to find a way to relate better to them (or get them to relate better to you), I recommend joining the FREE webinar, and then pre-ordering The Genius of Opposites so you can be ready to promote this great resource during the launch next month!

Featured on Friday: Big News @FortyOver40

Normally I open these posts with a little bit of chit-chat about my week, or something the team is doing, but this week the news is too big to hold!

Earlier this week the Forty Over 40 list came out, and not only did our very own Becky Robinson make the list this year, but so did a name you should be familiar with if you’ve been involved with our spring book launches: Cheryl Bachelder!

The team is very excited for all of the Honorees, but we are doing an extra {Happy Dance} over the inclusion of Cheryl and Becky.

What is Forty Over 40?

{From the website}

The 40 Women To Watch Over 40 list celebrates women who are upending the perception that 40 is past your prime. They are reinventing, leaning in, and creating momentum that will be felt by those beyond their community and field of work.

Forty Women to Watch over 40 was created by Christina Vuleta and Whitney Johnson to bring awareness to the reality that innovation gets even better with age.

Christina, creator of 40:20 Vision, a cross-generational mentoring platform and Whitney, speaker, investor and author of Dare, Dream, Do [and the forthcoming book, Disrupt Yourself – Join the Team | FREE July 21 Webinar], both share the conviction that women in their forties and onwards reach new levels of creativity, clarity and confidence.

Who Made The List?

In addition to Becky Robinson (as the Founder of Weaving Influence), and Cheryl Bachelder (as the CEO of  Popeye’s Louisiana Kitchen), you’ll also find a producer, a teacher, a photographer, and a comedian, as well as numerous CEOs, entrepreneurs, authors, activists, sports enthusiasts, and more.

If you are looking for inspiring and influential women to follow and learn from, you’ll want to spend some time scrolling through the 2015 Honorees.

Congratulations Becky and Cheryl!

Will you join me – and the Weaving Influence Team – in congratulating both Becky and Cheryl on this honor and wishing them continued success? Send this Tweet Now and then spend some time getting to know the other Honorees. Happy Friday!

Getting Back in the Game

I first met Becky in an Indianapolis, Indiana café sometime in early 2012 at the suggestion of my aunt, author and consultant Jesse Lyn Stoner, a friend of Becky’s. I was in my last year of college and, like many millennial grads who studied liberal arts, totally unsure about my next step. Just minutes after sitting down, I understood my Aunt’s insistence. I remember leaving the restaurant thinking, “that was such an inspirational dinner” – and I don’t even remember what we talked about.

Fast forward a number of months—I am about to graduate and I get a call from Becky who has decided to branch out and form her own company under the clever name of Weaving Influence. I was intrigued, and signed on to work part-time in helping her develop her wide array of skills into a living, breathing business. Our team began helping develop our clients’ websites, doing book launches, managing blogs, writing our own blog and so many other things that go into creating a meaningful, lasting on-line presence.

I learned a lot during the less-than-year I worked with Becky, including what it means to be part of a team that really cares, what a values-centered business looks like, how to make the client’s success our success, and so much more. I pushed myself to pick up many new technical skills that had previously seemed like computer magic, and that would serve me very well in future positions. I got better at managing my time (I worked virtually) and felt proud to be part of such an honest, growing company. When I left to pursue a full-time local opportunity in Indianapolis, I knew that Becky would remain a supportive friend and member of my network and almost three years later, I can still say that is the case.

Fast forward to now, and I’m back on the Weaving Influence team. A whole lot has changed for me in the past few years, including my last name as I got married in January. I have been living in Jerusalem, Israel for over two years, studying and then working for an energy-efficiency startup here in the holy city. That’s a picture of my new home town in this post’s image.

As I sit at my desk in my new home office, I hear a father talking to his son in Hebrew on their way home from pre-school. I hear horns honking and birds gathering for their daily afternoon sojourn on our rooftop. I can see the train that goes straight to the Old City where my husband studies and, if the sky is clear, the bare, rocky Judean Mountains in the distance. Thank G-d, I am very blessed.

As a new, or new-again, member of the Weaving Influence team, I am amazed to see how much the company has grown. First of all, when I started there were four to five team members, and now there are over thirty, many working remotely like me, and a large handful working together with Becky in the new office space in Lambertville, MI. The client base is more varied and professional than ever, and services have expanded to include full-fledged PR services, web and graphic design, webinars, and much more. Weaving Influence has become an entire network of forward-thinking employees and clients who are really making a difference through their work.

I never could have imagined where life would take me when I sat down with Becky three years ago as an idealistic want-to-be writer, unsure of what the future held. After holding a number of professional positions and re-locating to a new country, I have learned a lot. Professionally and personally, I have come to see that what is meaningful is not what just what serves my own creativity or interests. Meaning and satisfaction comes from what I can contribute to the world by using the unique talents gifted to me. I am truly grateful for this opportunity to work for a company that really embodies the value of giving to others, and to learn from Becky and all of her amazing, inspirational team members and clients once again.