Becky Robinson's Blog, page 75

What We Choose

One of the most significant aspects of leading a virtual subcontractor team is the tremendous choice each person has in participating in our work.

Each person has chosen to be a part of our team, and chooses in what ways they will participate in the work we do in the world.

I recently sent an email to my team with the subject line “Choose.” I was astounded by the response and grateful for the insights my team shared about what they are choosing.

Here is the email:

We can each choose how, when, and where we work. We choose what energy or passion to bring to our work. We choose which projects we tackle first and what level of urgency we give to projects and tasks.

My greatest hope as it relates to your work with Weaving Influence is that you will choose to bring the best of what you have, in each moment, to your work: your focus, intensity, desire, and talent. If you choose to do that, we will be the best company possible and consistently satisfy our clients.

I also hope you will choose to put boundaries around your work so that when you are off, your best focus and attention is on other areas of your life.

I hope you will choose to keep learning and growing, every day.

I hope you will choose to celebrate wins and let frustrations slide away with each new day.

I hope you will choose to be a help and encouragement to others on the team.

I hope you will choose to ask for help when you need it.

Hit reply and let me know what you are choosing today!

You can choose!

Here are some responses:

I choose to make a difference each day by treating Weaving Influence as if it were my own company, pouring myself into it so that our clients recognize the value we bring to their ideas.

I choose to invest the best focus, energy and attention to Weaving Influence when I am working, and to give that same focus, energy and attention to the other areas of my life when I am not, and to seek balance.

I am choosing to put family first today, and realize that I cannot do everything all the time. I am also choosing to embrace the flexibility of this job as I try to do a little of both today.

I choose to keep progressing as a father, a husband, a partner, a co-worker and a human. I choose to learn from my failures and shortcomings and turn them into my strengths. I choose to live by this quote by Einstein, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.” Let’s go ride a bike!

I am choosing to be intentional. Whether I am working, parenting, doing housework or eating.

Today as everyday, I choose to give life in general my all. When I am working, I am WORKING only. I choose to be available and supportive to my co-workers. I choose continue to think about the company as a whole because it is our baby together.

I choose to slow down and pay attention to the needs of those around me today- close-by and virtually- instead of buzzing through my day.

I am choosing to think cheerful thoughts today. I am choosing to do what I can as I’m able, and choosing to NOT stress about the rest!

I choose to focus on the positive today and ignore the fears that keep trying to bubble up.

I’m choosing to keep a positive attitude! 

I’m choosing to believe in the power of creativity to bring our clients’ messages to the world with nuanced understanding and fresh perspective.

I’m choosing to trust in the world’s turning and not overwhelm myself trying to think 10 steps ahead. Everything will work out. The present is enough, the present is just as it should be. And the future will turn out the same.

I am choosing to be fully present to the people that matter most, putting away the distractions like my phone, my books, my ipad – the things that lure me in and away from human interaction. I am choosing to find ways to work less and take much better care of my body and soul.  I am choosing to give the best of what I have to offer to the people I serve.

 I choose to be intentional about my interactions with every individual I encounter… to be present in that moment with them… to commit to giving my very best in both professional and personal settings… whether in person, over the phone, via email, etc. 

I choose to wake up today (and everyday) and be the best team member I can be, as well as the best service I can be for our clients. I choose to do all of this because of YOU. You are what motivates me to strive to be the best I can be, what makes me realize how thankful I am for the opportunity I have to work with each and every one of you, and what pushes me to produce work that our leader, colleagues, and clients can be proud of and represent Weaving Influence with a smiling face! I choose YOU.

These choices are powerful. I am inspired by and grateful for the people who choose to work with me.

Tell me something! What do you choose?

 

If Ryan is Asking, You Might Need This Advice, Also

I got an email in my inbox this week from Ryan, a new friend who listened to me present at last week’s Berrett-Koehler Book Marketing Event.

He followed up on some advice I gave at the conference regarding NOT posting the same update to all your social channels at once.

He sent this statement/question:

Currently, whenever I post a new a blog entry, I programmed WordPress to send the title of the blog and the link to Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and Tumblr. Should I not be doing this?

I followed up with more questions:

Is that automated blast the only promo you are doing for each post? If so, I would encourage you to stop. If not, I would encourage you make sure that the other times you promote the content through your channels are highly customized and creative.

Ryan is looking for advice about how to promote his blog content most effectively.

Do you want to know, also?

Effective blog promotion is a topic I have written about many times over the past few years. You can find some of the advice gathered in my Website Basics and Blogging Handbook (free download).

I typically recommend that you invest as much time promoting your post as you spent writing it. If you spend a lot of time writing, this advice could be hard. As I try to write posts in under an hour, an hour of promotion seems reasonable! (You can even try writing a blog post in 12 minutes!)

Regardless of the time you spend writing a blog post, you need to promote the post, creatively, in multiple ways over several days, and then intermittently over time. (Sending your post out as an automated blast when you publish is not nearly enough.)

I recommend that you send a minimum of 6 (varied, creative) tweets over the first day, and 10 over the week that you release the post. These tweets can pull in excerpts of the post to entice people to read more.

It is important to tweet your post multiple times because Twitter is so ephemeral. The chances of people seeing the 1 tweet you send as an auto when the post is released AND clicking through is almost nil.

To get insight on the effectiveness of your promotion, be sure to regularly review Google Analytics. Where does the traffic to your site come from? Which social channels are driving traffic to you?

You may find that the traffic to your site from social channels is minimal. If so, that is a sign that you need to increase or diversify your social channels. When you notice a pattern of success in driving traffic to your site from a particular channel, you’ll want to maximize your social sharing and interaction on those sites. For me, Twitter is the most consistent driver. If yours is LinkedIn, then you will want to give more attention to your sharing there.

If you are going to invest the time to write, you must invest the time to promote.

Tell me something! What are your best practices for promoting your blog posts? What other questions do you have on this topic?

Featured on Friday: @JohnRStoker

I  come from an extremely honest (and opinionated) family who grades my mother on her meals. Anything below an “A” and the recipe goes out because Mom doesn’t want to spend her time fixing mediocre food. Growing up this way I thought it was normal to provide such honest reviews, so you can imagine the wake up call I got when I finally learned that not everyone was as willing to receive that kind of feedback.

Separating the general critique from a feeling of being attacked can be difficult, especially if you don’t have a relationship with the critic. To avoid hurt feelings, people can fall  into the habit of sugar coating their feedback, hoping that the person on the receiving end will somehow pick up on the changes that need to be made without being offended. This has led to a culture of Fake Talk – both in the workplace and at home.

In sharing feedback there is a fine line, but when done right, sharing the truth in kindness can be the beginning of positive change for your company and your relationships – both business and personal. Overcoming Fake Talk could be the missing piece you’ve been looking for to help in this area, which is why I’m excited to introduce you to our featured author of the week…

Meet John Stoker

John is a communications expert with more than 20 years of experience in speaking to audiences, assisting them in improving their communication skills, and showing them how to achieve astonishing results through their ability to interact with others. John and his wife have five children, so on a home level they are able to practice their communication skills every day!

In 2013, John published Overcoming Fake Talk. In it, he focuses on developing the eight principles that influence every conversation: awareness, knowledge, reflection, perception, preparation, expressiveness, discovery and connection. This September, our team is excited to be a part of a second Buzz week for John and his book, and we would love for you to get involved! Continue reading to learn how to sign up and where you can find John online.

Connect with John Online

Find John’s company, DialogueWORKS, on Facebook, follow John on Twitter, connect with him on LinkedIn, and check out his author page on Goodreads. You should also spend some time clicking around his website, and don’t forget to stop by the new book site to learn more about Overcoming Fake Talk! If you’re interested in ordering a copy, it’s available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Get Involved in the Buzz!

Think you’d like to be involved in the re-launch of Overcoming Fake Talk? We would love to have you join our team and help us communicate effectively through social media channels, blog book reviews, interviews, and more! Click HERE to sign up. We will also be hosting a free webinar with John and Becky on September 11, 2014, so go ahead and save that date on your calendar, then check our sidebar for registration information as we get closer to the date.

You Tell Me! Have you had an experience with “fake talk” that you would care to share?

Learning, Growing, and Sharing in Small Bursts

Do you stack books on your nightstand and leave them to silently collect dust?

I keep my stack on the floor by my bed, on my desk, and in piles around my office, until Sharon, my assistant, carefully shelves books, asking which ones I want to keep on the stacks.

None of us read ever read our whole stacks or piles at once; instead, we pick up one book at a time. If we are deliberate, we read one word at a time. If we are skimmers, we scan entire pages at a time.

I am a skimmer and scanner typically, though I daydream about wide open hours to sit quietly with a book and notepad like I might have done during college.

The truth is, scanning books does not result in the learning I really want.

Instead, my greatest learning comes in bursts and snippets.

I learn from the wise words of a friend, as I did yesterday when my friend Mike Henry asked me a very challenging question.

Or I learn from a phrase that jumps of the pages of a book to imprint in my memory.

Or from a powerful tweet that I gold star.

Lately, I’ve been finding some very powerful ideas on a platform called the Aha Amplifier.

The small bursts of content on the Aha Amplifier are created to be shared with others. When you activate a book, you see three thoughts at a time from the book.

Seeing the ideas in groups of three creates potential for deeper growth and impact. Reading in threes slows down the skimmer in me. I can take each thought into my mind as I would sip a fine wine, turning it over to see how it tastes. When I find a taste I like, I can share.

This morning, I’m excited about two of our clients who have new books on the platform, Linda Freeman and Bill Treasurer. Both books are free and both can be sampled in small bites and shared to create greater impact.

If you are hungry for learning that will stick to your ribs, visit the Aha Amplifier today and activate Linda and Bill’s books. While you’re there, sample one of my two books also (Insights from Top Leadership Authors, Influence). Savor each bite, one at a time, to create the biggest possibility for growth.

And be sure to bookmark the site and return regularly, because new books publish nearly every day.

You Are Rich… Yes…You!

If you have been creating and sharing valuable content and knowledge, you are rich.

You have a portfolio of value, waiting to be effectively leveraged for greater returns, for yourself… and more importantly, for the world.

Many of the clients we serve have been creating content for years, decades even. Their content portfolios include multiple books, articles, blog posts, interviews, videos, white papers, newsletters, and more. In fact, some of our clients have been creating content so long that some of it has never appeared online, but was instead sent through print mailings (!), via fax newsletter, or in some other pre-internet form.

The first step to effectively leveraging your content portfolio is to create a content library.

What content have you created? In what forms? Where is it located? What are the key themes? Capture a list of all the content you’ve created in the past into a content library. Gathering this list could require an extreme amount of time and effort. If you feel overwhelmed by the task, consider breaking the task into manageable, short time bursts or consider delegating to a trusted member of your team who is familiar with your body of work.

Your list is likely pages long and represents years of effort. (Note: I have only been creating content online for 5 1/2 years and my list is long!) No matter the current balance in your bank account, no matter your net worth… you are rich with content and the value you can bring to the world.

Once you have cataloged your content, the next step is to consider how you can repurpose, reuse, and amplify your content to make the biggest difference in the world. 

What new content can you create by reviving parts of the work you’ve done in the past? Into what new forms can you reshape your previous work? Which thoughts and themes represent the most value for your current audience? What are the most important thoughts you’d like to contribute to others? What is the most effectively platform you have for sharing them? What will you share first? Next?

The key to optimized influence and impact is to effectively leverage the wealth of your content portfolio.

You will never realize the return on an investment you don’t make. In order to effectively leverage the content you’ve previously created, you need a plan to consistently share content online in a way that reinforces your differentiating value while adding extreme benefit to others. How often, where, and in what formats will you contribute your valuable content to the world? Write a plan and stick to it. Once you have created the plan and are consistently sharing your content, you must create and follow an effective marketing strategy to make sure your content reaches the largest audience possible.

When you bring the best of what you know to the world, you are rich — and you enrich others.

Tell me something! What content do you have in your portfolio? How will you leverage it to make a bigger difference in the world?

Living Our Core Values: Generosity

I feel a bit self conscious writing about generosity as a core value of my company. Part of being generous, in my belief, is humility. Generosity that boasts is self-serving and self-promotional.

I want my giving to be quiet, heart-felt, and behind-the-scenes. I want to be able to delight people with unexpected additions and unsolicited extras.

I want to give because I can, and because it’s the right thing to do.

Our value of generosity stems from an abundance mentality: there is more than enough work, more than enough time, more than enough energy, more than enough of everything we need.

I also want to weave the value of generosity into everything we do as a company, so that as a team we live this value daily, without question.

Here are a few of the ways we express generosity.

We are generous with kindness, encouragement, and love. When we give praise to others or share a thoughtful word, it costs us nothing, and the return on that investment of generosity is inestimable. I want my team to be generous in helping each other grow and develop as people and professionals. I want to personally be generous in expressing my love and gratitude for my team, clients, partners, and collaborators.

We are generous in our support and promotion of others. Whenever possible, my team and I want to thoughtfully promote great content others are creating, both our clients’ content and content of  friends, partners, and others we meet.

We are generous in sharing what we know. We are in the process of making all of the e-book resources I’ve ever written available for free download. We regularly host free webinars. We have a wealth of content available in the archives of this blog. We share creative ideas, insights, and best practices.

We are generous in sharing our network. Whenever possible, I like to make great introductions. If I know someone who can help you, why wouldn’t I be generous with that introduction?

We are generous with our services. Once we have a contract with a client, we look for ways to go above and beyond what we’ve promised, whenever possible. We also serve some non-profit clients with a special pricing structure.

Giving is an upside-down equation that never varies. When I give more, I have more.

What I have found is this: when I give more, I have more.

I give encouragement, I give love, I give time, I give grace, I give hope, I give passion —and  it pours down on me, overflowing, faster than I can give it away, never depleted.

Tell me something! How do you express generosity? How have you experienced generosity from others?

Want to learn more about our value of generosity? Read this amazing reflection highlight the importance of mindful generosity from team member Susan Mazza.

Want to learn more about the core values of my company? Read the post about our value of partnership, here.

If I Could Work My Business Like a Puzzle (Reprise)

Last summer, after my annual working vacation, I wrote this post about what I learned about running my business from completing a jigsaw puzzle.

This year, my mom bought another puzzle and dumped it on the same table. We took extra care with the pieces, not wanting to repeat last year’s disappointment of one lost piece.

Since two of my nieces joined us this year at the lake house, we had a larger pool of potential participants in our project. For some reason, though, the girls seemed more focused on playing together and less focused on the puzzle — until we neared its completion.

We started the puzzle the way most people do, separating the frame pieces from the center pieces. We made quick progress on the frame but felt flummoxed when we couldn’t close the frame. We seemed to be missing key pieces of the frame. We pored over the rest of the pieces, coming up short.

We could have allowed that setback to distract us, but instead we decided to work on other parts of the puzzle.

First Lesson – Don’t allow setbacks in one area to distract you from making progress in other areas. In my business, I face setbacks regularly. I can shut down to only focus on the setbacks, losing valuable time. Or, I can shift focus to another area and create forward momentum.

After working on the center pieces for a while, we discovered that we made mistakes with forcing frame pieces together than were not intended to fit. Once we removed those pieces, we quickly finished the frame.

Second Lesson – Removing pieces that don’t fit can free you to find the right fit for all the pieces. This is an important business lesson. Sometimes, I try to force people to fit into roles in my business. When I do that, everyone is miserable and broken. When I let go of forcing a fit, I am free to help everyone find the right places.

Because the girls wanted to play, and because my mom spent a lot of time feeding and watching after the girls, I found myself working on the puzzle solo many times. I focused on finding one piece at a time, again and again, making significant progress during that alone time.

Third Lesson – Sometimes you will feel alone. Sometimes you are alone. As the sole owner of my business, there are times I feel like everything depends upon me; I am moving everything forward on my own. And it is true. Though I have an amazing team, and they provide exceptional support and creativity, there are some parts of the business that I must carry alone. I must courageously continue, when no one is watching, to put the pieces together that will result in progress for my company.

After completing much of the puzzle on my own, I noticed the girls take a renewed interest in finishing the puzzle. We had three small sections left. In a 1000 piece puzzle, making early progress is difficult because there are so many pieces to sift through. At the end, with only 50 pieces or so left, you can make quick progress because trial and error becomes an effective strategy. But 5 girls around the puzzle got too crowded. When I stepped back, the girls completed the puzzle quickly.

Fourth Lesson – Sometimes I have to get out of the way so that work can move ahead faster. To complete the puzzle, I had to step back to let the girls finish; they finished much faster than I would have finished alone. Similarly, there are areas of control I need to give up in my business in order to let others do their work more effectively.

This year, we finished our project and celebrated an absolutely complete puzzle. Although we had a couple of scares with holes in the puzzle, we found and recovered the missing pieces.

Now I need to find the perfect spot on my office wall to hang the framed work as a reminder of this summer’s important lessons.

Tell me something! Do you do jigsaw puzzles? If so, what does working on them teach you about life and business?

 

Featured on Friday: Favorite Finds from the Week

I don’t know about you, but it feels like summer is now in full swing! Our team has travel fever, and we’re all scattering to various parts of the country and the world. This week Becky has been on vacation with her family (with a quick visit to see Chip Bell), while our head PR gal, Megan, and her husband are winging their way to Europe for a final hurrah before their first child arrives. Others are planning for trips to Disney World and Aruba, and my own suitcases are currently waiting for me to pack for our vacation that starts tomorrow.

It’s always fun to go somewhere you haven’t been to before (as I am doing, and hitting my 47th U.S. state in the process), and get to know new people. And while not everyone can escape from their desk or go somewhere tropical, everyone can learn something new (and maybe meet some new people) by clicking on the links below. So take a virtual vacation and visit a new online destination this week!

Bob Thompson (follow him on Twitter @Bob_Thompson) was interviewed in an article on CNBC this week, read Quality service, not low prices, creates loyalty.
Karin Hurt (on Twitter @LetsGrowLeaders) showed up on Fox Business, talking about ways to deal with a difficult boss. Read more.
Speaking of Chip Bell (find him tweeting @ChipRBell), don’t miss his most recent post, The Mentor’s Role as Champion Grower.
School may be out, but Dean Schroeder (@DeanMSchroeder on Twitter) reminds us that it’s important to Begin with a Plan to Learn.
Bob Tiede (on Twitter @BobTiede) shares a guest post from David M. Dye (find him tweeting @davidmdye) asking an important question: Can Your Team Really Trust You?
We think you’ll love this post from Susan Mazza (on Twitter @SusanMazza): Mindless vs. Mindful Generosity .
If you didn’t catch What To Do When There’s Nothing You Can Do from Mark Miller (tweeting @LeadersServe), you have missed out. This one touched our whole team.
You may not know this, but I’m big on gratitude and thankfulness, which is why I think you should read The Untapped Goldmine of Gratitude by Gershon Mader (follow on Twitter @GershonMader).
Deborah Mills-Scofield says we should not let Probable Trump Possible in her new post. (Follow @dscofield).
And if you want to find more links to great business and leadership articles, check out this post by Wally Bock (on Twitter @wallybock), and then spend some time looking around his newly redesigned website!

What great links would you like to share with us? Or just leave a comment to share about  your vacation plans!

5 Ways Browser Push Notifications Will Change Content Marketers’ Lives

Mobile apps have made use of push notifications for a while, teaching developers a thing or two about user engagement. How can content marketers use the same technique? Read on.

Mobile push notifications have made engaging users easy, while also providing deep insights for the companies that created the apps. With such benefits, is it any wonder developers introduced browser push notifications?

Browser push was introduced by Apple with Mavericks OS and was slow to gain the attention of content marketers because of difficulty of implementation. But now a turnkey browser push notification solution called Roost is available to content marketers, and its emerging as an indispensable distribution channel.

Here are 5 ways browser push notifications will change your life.

1. Branding and Recognition

Even when a user’s browser is closed, Roost notifications will appear in the top right corner of the screen. Websites that offer push notifications also take advantage of brand recognition, even when the user is focused on other things. Website logos identify the notification, which keeps that logo, company, and brand–rather than the service provider–at the forefront of buyers’ minds.

2. User Customization

Some brands, like SpoilerTV, are allowing their audience to personalize their push experience. Users can choose the content for which they want to receive push notifications and avoid superfluous messaging.  For example, you may only want to receive updates about content marketing but not paid search.

Relatedly, users always control their push subscriptions. Opt-ing in and out of a brand’s push channel is a one click process either way. Compare this to something like email, where it often takes multiple clicks to unsubscribe. Push is light touch messaging that can be turned off with the click of a radio dial.

3. Higher Opt-in Rates

One of the most problematic things about building a brand is the time it takes to build an audience across various messaging channels. According to econsultancy, a typical email opt-in rate is roughly .05% of your web traffic. Twitter is powerful, but acquiring quality followers takes time, sometimes years. Browser push notification tend to attract an audience at a much faster rate. Tim Varner of Roost tells me that some of their publishers have an opt-in rate over 30%.

 

4. Track and Optimize Engagement

RSS feeds have served a similar purpose for some time, but without many of the benefits browser push notifications can provide. For instance, RSS subscriptions tell you how many might read your content, but push notification clients can provide you with metrics that show how many people actually engage. With just a little testing, you can determine the best time to deliver notifications, what wording reaches more people, and which notification types engage more users.

5. Directing Traffic

Your push notifications can direct users to any page on your website–actually, any webpage at all, which positions push as a content cross-promotion tool.

While most would probably prefer to land on the page referred by the notification, you can most certainly direct your audience to the front page, a landing page, or a particular blog post. Perhaps you direct your base to a flash sale page of one of your sponsors. As a re-engagement channel, browser push is far more versatile than RSS.

Because browser push notifications are still relatively new, the possibilities are still being discovered.

How would you make push notifications work for you? Let us know in the comments.

 

Learn more about Roost on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+.

Written by Jennifer Barry.

 

Featured on Friday: Meet Team Member Max Sopher

I’ve been working with Max off and on since last fall, and I can say for a fact that he is one in a million. Ask anyone on our team to describe Max in one word and I guarantee the one word that would come to everyone’s mind is: AWESOME. Whether he’s promoting blog posts or learning something new or simply sharing a meme to make the team laugh, Max does life full throttle. If you’re lucky enough to have him as a manager on your project, you’ll soon see why we are so pleased about him joining the team full time.

I recently sent Max some questions to answer to help me introduce him to you. As it turns out, I learned a lot about him in the process (and now have the Ghostbusters theme song stuck in my head…).

Meet Max Sopher

Hey Max, thanks for doing this on such short notice. Can you tell me a little bit about your personal life?

I was born, raised, currently reside in Beckley, West Virginia. I’ve been married to my wonderful wife for 10-years this summer and we have an awesome toddler girl who does her best to keep us firmly on our toes. We all like hanging out with our cat and our dog, but the cat is antisocial and the dog just wants to be outside all day.

Tell me something unusual about yourself.

I am obsessed with the movie Ghostbusters. I apply quotes and situations from that movie to my life on a daily basis. It was the first movie I saw in a theater when I was a kid and it has managed to stick with me for the 30-years that have passed since then. I still watch it at least once a week, all this time later.

What’s your favorite pastime?

This is a solid 3-way tie. Drinking coffee (the coffee pot is always on), watching/studying baseball (I’m a total stat nerd), and reading comic books (I know I’m a grown man, but I don’t care. I like them!).

Tell me your favorite part of the job with Weaving Influence…

The group of professionals that Becky has surrounded herself with and the high level of camaraderie and communication has astounded me from day one. The fact that everyone works so well without a central location is a testament to the team that is in place.

How long have you been working with Weaving Influence?

I started small in September 2013 and gained more and more responsibilities until I am where I am now, as a full time member of the team.

What’s your official title?

I am the Weaving Influence Community Manager and a Project Manager.

Okay, show us why you’re doing this professionally… what’s the best social media tip you can offer?

Don’t forget to have fun! Social Media has become a norm now, so it’s easy to forget how much fun it used to be. As a business or thought leader that can be dangerous, because if you forget that this is fun, it will show in your message. At that point it becomes stale and people stop engaging and listening.

Connect with Max Online

Find him on Twitter @enjoythemouse, and make a connection with him on LinkedIn.

Want to meet more of the team? You can find us HERE. And don’t forget to follow our Weaving Influence accounts on Twitter @weaveinfluence, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest.

Bonus: now you know that if you’re engaging with us online, you’re actually engaging with Max (the WI Community Manager), so be social and say hello!