broadcasting my brain
Thanks for all the birthday wishes! This is my second birthday celebrated on Google+ (my 42nd birthday on the planet) and I'm glad to say that I now have 1.5 million new friends. Okay everyone, what's your favorite cake or sweet treat? I have a lot of baking to do to have a party for this many people!!
Hugs and love to all of you for the connection and well wishes!
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Today I'll be an instructor at the +Geek Girl Tech Conference in Cape Cod MA. I cannot even tell you how nervous and excited I am to be in a place where 500 tech savvy (and want to be tech savvy) women are in ONE PLACE to share, learn, and grow.
The organizer +Leslie Fishlock and I mostly met on Google+ (although I'm sure we have known each other for a million years somewhere else on the 'net), and now I'm an instructor at her event. Leslie and all the other organizers and instructors are so absolutely dedicated to helping other women AND GIRLS learn, embrace and accept that women can excel in not only computer tech, but STEM fields. I feel like an ant among giants…
Thinking back to when I was in my early 20s and a professional women in the technology field – I swear I never thought I'd see the day where I'd be attending an event dedicated to people just like me. The fact that events like Geek Girl Camp can even exist is so far past my expectations as a young woman that this now older woman is humbled and inspired by it all.
http://geekgirlcamp.com/ will get you to the event website and give you some more info on the dozens of classes offered as well as info on not only this event in Cape Cod MA but the upcoming one in San Diego CA (I'll be there too).
So, in advance of the day kicking off, I wanted to say THANK YOU to all those that come to my classes, sponsors of the event, organizers, attendees, and especially to all of the geek girls worldwide that make every single one of us powerful by joining together.
#blog #GeekGirl #GeekGirlTechCon
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Professionally I fill roles as either a consultant or a mentor (some call it coaching), depending on the professional, company and situation. In my old line of work (enterprise technology) a consultant was usually a semi-temporary non-employee team member that was brought in to fill a specific gap in talent – and come off a different line item for payment in the books (no health insurance or taxes to pay either). Consultants felt a bit more expendable than employees, made more money, and were the first to get cut when budgets got tight.
In the true meaning of consulting (such as what my business partnership with +Faucet Group behaves as), the practice revolves more around generating new ideas and facilitating progress. Bringing in 'temp' help at an advanced level to get your company over a hurdle or growth jag – as well as infusing a shot of outside (and impartial) expertise can be a sound strategy.
Mentoring in its true form isn't usually a paid position, but professional coaching is. Imagine having an industry or topic expert to call to work through ideas or issues and help realign your progress. Imagine being able to sustain and grow this progress even after the coach is 'gone'. Much different outcome than a consultant, even if subtile.
It's good to know the difference between consultant and coach, and know the difference when looking for help. In my experience, and in my line of services this is what a consultant vs. a mentor / coach looks like:
Consultant = Figures out a plan of action based on their experience and your needs and then executes those plans. Progress may continue after consultant is disengaged, but only if team has championed the process themselves.
Mentor / Coach = Works with you or your team to help you figure out your own path to success and guides you to produce results yourself. Processes put in place by the coach will continue to be in use after coach is disengaged.
This +The New York Times article gives some great real-world examples of how choosing a consultant or coach can improve your business. What do you think? Have you ever hired a consultant or a coach? What do you think about the process or outcome?
Embedded Link
Fighting the Consultant Temptation
Is there ever a good reason for a fast-growth company to hire a consultant?
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Building a 'brand' around yourself – not your company – is a topic I speak about quite often. I will be chatting it up again tomorrow at the MSPC's Executive Women's Networking Group in North New Jersey with some of the area's most successful women professionals. So, while I'm freshening up my thoughts on the topic, I wanted to have the same conversation with YOU.
The first point of contention is that a 'brand' is something that in today's aggressive business environment seems to be a volatile commodity. Brands can quickly become hot or cold in the eyes of consumers both because of actions from the 'brand' or external factors unrelated – or uncontrolled – by the brand. For example, Apple is a global company that sells electronics and operates a digital merchandise store. Above and beyond the company structure and product line, Apple is undeniably a brand who's name alone conjures strong thoughts and opinions with consumers. Some consumers love the brand unquestionably, some consumers are vehemently against 'all the brand stands for' and some consumers flip flop back and forth depending on their personal experience with the products or any big 'news' that goes public (such as the stories on the sweatshop factory environment in China).
A 'brand' really isn't dictated by the company itself, but only acts as a guide to shape the public's perception of it. A brand is birthed and lives in the mind of each customer or potential customer. Is that something a person can risk?
Next, since a company can be sold, doesn't that mean a brand can be sold as well? Years ago +Chris Brogan had mentioned that he can't ever sell his blog because, well, it's his name (and therefore the brand he's build around his name). That one idea has stuck with me all this time and to be honest, scared me a bit. Yes the content of the blog – or a company – can be sold, but it is extremely difficult to transfer the perception of a personal brand. What happens when that personal brand you've no longer reflects where your future is heading? Chris is bigger than the ideas and experience that build his brand ten years ago, but the public might not evolve in their perception on the same timetable. This above all else is what I think about as a solopreneur – the fact that how others perceive me (my 'brand') does not always or accurately reflect my quickly changing professional goals. Is a personal brand transferrable?
Lastly, if building a personal / professional brand around a person is strongly successful, what happens to the work or the company that the person is employed at or represents? Most people know me as +Lynette Young (or my Twitter and social identity of "Lynette Radio") – not my company of +Purple Stripe Productions or my partnership with +Faucet Group.
+Scott Monty comes to mind with dilemma specifically. I had known of Scott before he started working at +Ford Motor Company (technically he and I worked at the same boutique marketing startup but at different times) but right now in a lot of people's minds, Scott = Ford. I happen to know he's a huge Sherlock fan and runs a great blog on the topic, but most people don't bother 'digging' that far. Now, while I'm pretty sure he's not leaving Ford anytime this century, what happens if he did leave and work for another 'brand'? The person has a much easier time recovering from the switch (Ford would be just fine…Scott's build an amazing team there) than the company does in my opinion. Sadly, I don't feel the new company will benefit as much as they might think they will by snagging themselves a strongly personally-branded 'superstar'.
When a company sees a superstar 'brand' rising in their ranks I've seen it swashed – or even fired. What happens when the 'me' is more influential than the 'we'? Are jobs at risk?
These are all discussion points and not necessarily answers – every person and every business situation is different. Even the definition of a brand is up for debate. So, how do you feel about building a brand around YOU?
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According to the Wall Street Journal article (probably behind a paywall because they feel this spew is worth paying for…) “The Mommy Business Trip” women’s conferences aren’t real business conferences but only an excuse for stay at home moms to blow off their domestic responsibilities. I am SEETHING right now reading this. The idiot commenters aren’t much better.
The gist of the article is that there are a new crop of women’s conferences popping up to give stay-at-home moms an excuse to leave their horrible lives of home and child care. Poor ‘mommy bloggers’… they are allowed out of their house by their hard-working husbands to attend women’s conferences and ‘party’ with girlfriends. Mommies get to go away on /cough/ business trips to escape cleaning their houses and taking care of their children so they can drink wine, do yoga, and play grown-up dress-up.
Do me a favor dear misinformed ‘journalist’ – shut up (STFU really comes to mind). Instead of armchair-reporting, why don’t you GO to a women’s conference and see the types of businesses these women run – from their homes – and how much money they make. These are mostly prior-professional women that are taking the bull by the horns and creating an industry where there was none before – or at least none to this scale. The majority of the women that attend are very hard working, business savvy and strong earners. You know, just like “regular” women.
I work with women that attend these conferences and I also speak at these conferences. The writer of this Wall Street Journal article couldn’t be more out of touch with reality.
I should also add that the woman quoted in the article Katherine Stone founder of of Postpartum Progress seems to be horrendously misquoted and taken out of context. Katherine is a friend and I doubt she would knowingly throw women under the bus knowingly as it appears in this article.
Additional articles written about the Wall Street Journal article:
Have you heard of them? Have you seen them? Google+ Interactive Posts allow you to code content so that you get a direct CTA (call to action) button right in the Google+ content stream. Want signups for email lists? Ask them to subscribe. One click button to go to your list building page. Promoting an event and want one-button signup ease straight from Google+? Yep, Interactive Posts has that covered as well.
The tools shared in +Mike Arnesen's post are really great – but still require a bit of programming know-how.
Of couse the millisecond the ability to craft Interactive Posts was available in Google+ my company incorporated them for our clients. <grin> It's been working like gangbusters so far!
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In my latest blog post at +SwellPath, I not only got to break down a super cool new functionality for Google+, but I released a free tool for composing and pushing out Google+ Interactive Posts on the fly!Download the +Google+ Interactive Posts Command Center and let me know what you think.
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It’s a safe bet that if my schedule is clear and the event you want me to speak at is in a great location with nice weather I will attend (well, and the price is right). A huge bonus is if the event attracts amazing attendees. Bloggy Boot Camp Phoenix fits the bill perfectly! This was my third Bloggy Boot Camp so far. I attended Philly was as an attendee and Chicago and Phoenix as a speaker – and I learn new things every single time I go. As I attend about 50 events a year – some blogging / social media and some industry – I have quite a bit of experience!
Online I like to think I’m a great networker and communicator but in person I tend to be a bit reserved and shy until I get to know people. At Bloggy Boot Camp it doesn’t take me much time to get comfortable! To be honest it helps that the Boot Camps are purposely kept on the smaller side to foster conversations and build relationships. This trip especially I feel I made some great connections that I need to be sure to keep going long after the conference is over.
If you’ve never been to a ‘blogging’ conference I can tell you every single one focuses on different outcomes for attendees. Some focus on writing skills, some focus on media education, and some focus on affiliate income. Bloggy Boot Camp focuses on building brand relationships – which is of course something a good number of professional bloggers are looking to learn about. Conferences aren’t only about the attendees of course, but the speakers, vendors, and sponsors – and of course the organizers. The Bloggy Boot Camp in Pheonix was the the first time I really got a chance to spend quality time chatting with everyone and the value I received grew because of it.
The SITS Girls is the company that organizes Bloggy Boot Camp events. The event they produce is directly related to the service that they provide as a company and focuses on educating women bloggers. Their mission is helping them make a mutually profitable connection to consumer brands and the public relations firms that represent them. While I’m not a part of that community (maybe I should finish writing this post and add myself!) the SITS community is over 40,000 members strong and works with brands (like the sponsors I’ve listed below). The single fact that the SITS Girls has so many repeat clients and bloggers for hire tells me they are doing something right! The organizers Tiffany Romero and Francesca Banducci are some of the sharpest business women I’ve ever met in this genre.
Again, the fact that there are so many repeat speakers at the regional conferences tell me that the content is amazing and the speakers are on their game. A number of times at larger conferences I get tied up in hallway conversations or am attending another ‘track’ of content so I miss seeing speakers I’d like to hear. Boot Camps have ONE track that everyone attends because they keep attendance smaller.
Meagan Francis and her assistant Sarah Powers talked about ways to hire professional assistance and make it work for your business and your life. The strongest takeaway I got from Meagan and Sarah is that personalities and work-styles need to match to have the professional relationship work. Meagan described herself as a ‘big picture’ thinker and Sarah is a details gal – and finds it instinctual to develop processes to keep Meagan moving in the right direction. Honestly this never occurred to me! I’ve tried assistants in the past. If I was able to keep everything that I have to do and juggle in perfect harmony at all times with the right processes I wouldn’t need an assistant in the first place! Sadly Sarah said she isn’t taking any more clients, but I’m at least inspired to find a great fit of my own with an assistant!
Kerry Gorgone is someone I’ve followed online for a long time and had never quite gotten the chance to see speak – or meet – in person. Kerry is one of those people that when we share a mutual friend they are always saying that we need to meet each other. I’m not sure if it’s our affinity for Doctor Who and Game of Thrones or it’s that we both work in digital media for a living. In any case her talk topic – from the viewpoint of a ‘reformed attorney’ (her words!) – was brilliant and covered all the crazy FTC blogger and advertiser guidelines. And yes, she is as nice (and sooo my sense of humor) in person as I thought she’d be!!
Kim Byers from The Celebration Shoppe is another woman that I love to see speak. She’s a financial professional turned online professional and I think she has a lot to teach bloggers on ways to make money that don’t involve sponsored posts. Kim’s company focuses on making and selling ‘printables’ for birthday parties and celebrations. What I love most about Kim’s talk is that she is very honest about the fact that she doesn’t “do it all” herself. She had a vision of what she wanted to create and then she went out and found the right talent to help get her there. Many professional bloggers today think that it IS possible to make a great income by doing everything themselves. In fact it’s really hard to make more hours in the day to work on ‘work’ and still grow a company and be an active part of your own family.
Yuliya Patsay, Lizz Porter, Gigi Ross, Kelly Tirman, and Danielle Smith were also speakers at Bloggy Boot Camp Phoenix and all just so brilliant. Each one was a blessing to chat with and to be 100% honest I swear just by hanging out with them I got smarter! Watching them juggle a speaking topic, questions from the audience, a call from a client, and a Facetime with their kids at bedtime make me realize that success can be balanced with a full and amazing life.
Wine. Seriously, who can go wrong with having an event sponsor that is a winery?! Mirrasou Winery sponsored the conference and hosted a wine tasting event one evening. The owner David Mirassou was even AT the event and was genuinely interested in talking to Boot Campers. David even helped this self-confessed box wine drinker figure out how to enjoy a glass of Merlot! I even tried a moscato (a white slightly bubbly wine) that I wouldn’t have dared to drink if David and Tiffany (conference organizer) didn’t tell me about! Also, it’s not really a cliché that mom bloggers enjoy wine while they sit and write! Mirassou wasn’t really on my ‘radar’ before since I’m pretty much a “red wine from the box” drinker, but I can tell you I went and picked up a good number of Mirassou bottles when I got home from Phoenix!
Braces. Yep, I have an 11 year old daughter that will soon be getting some. Invisalign was another Bloggy Boot Camp Phoenix sponsor and treated us to breakfast one day. I’m not saying I attended breakfast just to see what they had to tell me about their product – but that IS mostly true (I just really needed coffee). For some reason I thought Invisalign were ‘braces for adults’ but they told me a lot about how kids now love the clear braces too. I never realized that you get a new set of Invisalign’s every two weeks to ‘coax’ your teeth into the form they are supposed to be in so that was a big eye opener. I also learned that the mouth pieces have little blue dots in them that react with your spit (eww and cool!) to see if the person is really wearing them like they are supposed to. (Also: BUSTED! Now parents and dentists can tell if you’re lying! HA!) I’m definitely going to check into this when it comes time for my kids to get braces!
So yes, this was a LOT in one post. Sorry about that! (Especially learning that blog posts should really stick to ONE topic to keep a readers interest!) I’ve just had such amazing experiences at Boot Camp as an attendee and a speaker so I wanted to give you the low-down while it was all still fresh in my memory.
All in all I would highly recommend attending a Bloggy Boot Camp if you are interested in learning out how to make the right kinds of connections with public relations firms and brands, learn how to create alternate income streams for your blog, and how to juggle – never ‘balance’ – your new found professional career as a blogger and the million other things you do in your life. The organizers, speakers (myself included), sponsors and especially the attendees are very smart and genuine. Attending a conference like this is a professional investment in YOU. It’s somewhat easy to justify spending money on a new website theme, graphics, or a new laptop. It’s harder for us to recognize that by exposing ourselves to new ideas and new people in person at events and conference we can drastically increase not only our knowledge but our potential.
I hope to be able to attend another Boot Camp whenever they are held and see you there!
