Davender the Visioneer

Who built the gondola? (About Persistance)

“Making your mark on the world is hard. If it were easy, everybody would do it. But it's not. It takes patience, it takes commitment, and it comes with plenty of failure along the way. The real test is not whether you avoid this failure, because you won't. It's whether you let it harden or shame you into inaction, or whether you learn from it; whether you choose to persevere.”
- Barack Obama

If I were to believe the popular media, I could understand why people see success as something one is "born to achieve", something magical and automatic. It's like if all you needed to do to conquer a mountain, was to step aboard a gondola for a ride to the summit, taking you there directly, comfortably, with no hint of blood, sweat or tears. Step right up, buy your winning lotto ticket, and dare to dream!

But who built that gondola in the first place?

Read the accounts of anyone who sets off to conquer a real mountain, like Mount Everest. To reach the top, you must make your way to a Base Camp, the first of several stops on your trip. At Base, you take the time to adjust to the altitude and the conditions. Then you set off to the next camp, from where you perform day hikes to train and to get familiar with the terrain, always coming back to the camp at night. Sometimes a team member has to return to a lower camp, whether for altitude sickness, frostbite, weather or one of many other medical or logistical issues. It is only when conditions are right, and that you have successfully reached the highest camp, that you can then aim for the summit.

You create results in your Big Project in a similar way. You build to a certain level of results, where you level off to give yourself the opportunity to regain your strength and your reserves, and reinforce your systems, standards and boundaries. It is only then where you make a push for the next level of performance. Sometimes circumstances force you to revert to a lower camp, because you run out of energy or resources or the conditions are not sufficient to progress forward. Sometimes on your trek to the next level you realize you face a big chasm or a dead-end, and you have to abandon the path and return to the previous camp. And sometimes the summit can seem so close, but you still need to abandon progress, come back to base, and postpone your dreams for another year or another decade. Such is life.

Beware of Cinderella stories, of success won quickly without any setbacks. Because an effortless win, without pain, or tears, or moments that provoke weak knees or tight stomachs, is a win that cannot last. There is no glory in failure, but there is no shame in it either, because failure does not exist unless we give it permission to paralyze or demoralize us.

The real lessons of life are understood when you develop the clarity, commitment, confidence and courage to overcome setbacks and transform your passion into something that makes a permanent and positive difference around you.

Persevere. The adventure is lived not at the destination, but in the journey.

Facebook for Solopreneurs: About Personal, Fan and Group pages

Facebook is a great tool to establish a loyal network, demonstrate your competence and build trust and credibility. However, to do so, you need to understand how to position yourself on Facebook in an effective manner.

As a solopreneur on Facebook, you need to set up three kinds of pages:


1. Your personal page, under your own real name.

The basic building block of Facebook is the personal page, where you show your real self. You seek out friends and friends will seek you out based on your personal name, building a personal network, the basic network of Facebook.

On Facebook, almost any type of business, Fan or Group page must first be created by an identifiable individual, which is why having a personal page is important.

You must use a personal name for your personal page. Even if most of what you post on your personal wall is about your business project, this is not the place to make offers or solicit clients. Also, remember that everything you post on your personal page goes out to all of your Facebook Friends, so only share information that builds on the personal positioning you want to project.

Having a personal page also builds your personal credibility and helps people begin to trust you. Remember: people don't get excited about doing business with businesses, they prefer to do business with people.

2. A Fan page, under your business name.

Your Fan page is the "personal page" of your business, and is where people join to keep in touch about your business. By joining your Fan page, they give you permission for you to contact them specifically about your business. You can also post updates about what your business is doing. Your Fans can also post comments on your business wall. With a Fan page you have a lot of control over what is posted.

People who join as a Fan of your business may or may not be a personal "Facebook Friend" of your personal page (this is a good thing). It is also a kind of vote of confidence in your business.

Setting up a Fan page is somewhat hidden: Go to the bottom of your Personal page, click "Advertising" then at the top of the Advertising page click "Pages" then on the Pages page click the green "Create a new page" button. Then follow the prompts. There is no charge to have a Fan page for your business.

3. One (or several) Group pages, each focusing on a specific offer or interest.

Your Group pages focus on a specific area of interest (your target market) or offers (like your Standing Invite of a teleclass, webinar or web radio show). On Group pages you can set up events or notices. Group pages are like a mailing list for your specific Standing Invite Offer.

Be careful not to have too many Group pages, however you should have at least one Group page representing your key Standing Invite.

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The three types of Facebook pages are designed to work together. Do not try to shortcut the process by trying to set up a personal page with your business name. Sooner or later you will hit a wall and all your work will be wasted.

This may be a bit confusing at first, but once you get started establishing a Facebook presence, after 3 to 6 months you can have a great platform to build your network, and demonstrate your competence and credibility. Asking for help from a coach will shorten the development cycle and accelerate your results.

For more information about getting started with Facebook, check out my article "How to get started on Facebook as a solopreneur" http://en.davender.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=31

Happy and prosperous Facebooking!

70+ Non-fiction authors to follow on Twitter (from Mashable)

Mashable, the Social Media blog, has an interesting list of 70+ non-fiction authors to follow on Twitter:

http://mashable.com/2009/05/22/twitter-nonfiction-authors/

This is what I like about Twitter - the "mindcasting" dimension, being able to follow the ideas and discussions of smart people.

For Twitter beginners (and more advanced users), pick and choose 20 or 30 faves to follow from this list, and you will have some great content to retweet and to comment on!

Five tips to get started with Twitter (and not get burned)

Twitter is a variation on instant messaging where you can communicate with people. Your entries ("tweets") are limited to 140 characters.

A lot has been said in the mainstream media about Twitter - which has also triggered a lot of misconceptions.

Twitter is a valuable tool for the solo-professional. Here are five tips to get started with Twitter:


1. Set up an account using your real name and a real profile.

Complete your Profile settings using your real name, a short description of who you are, your website, and upload a picture. Avoid using underscores (_) or numbers in your name. A natural-looking handle (screen name) will encourage people to "follow" (connect with) you. It is very important that you have a picture of you on your profile, otherwise your account will be regarded as spam by the users.

2. Use the "Find People" function to find and follow people you know that may be on Twitter

The core idea of Twitter is about having near-synchronous (near-real-time) conversations with people you know and trust. Start building your network by seeking out a dozen people you know, and learn how to use the system by interacting with them. ( https://twitter.com/invitations/find_on_twitter )

You may read about the importance of following lots of people in order to have people following you. Over time you will develop a network. Do not blindly click left and right to build up to your 2000 follower limit, in hopes that some people will follow you. Do not use software to automatically "find" followers for you (they tend to be spam, and can get you banned).

Once you start to get the hang of Twitter with your "starter group", then you can start to branch out to connect with people you have not yet met. You can ask your current network for suggestions. Twitter also has a custom that Friday is #followfriday where people recommend other Twitter users that are worth following.

Give yourself some time, and you will build a natural audience for your tweets.

3. On Twitter, content is king.

The media likes to make fun of Twitter because of the many examples of inane and pointless chatter that goes on about what they had for breakfast.

Ignore them.

The real magic of Twitter is what one Tweeter @jayrosen_nyu calls "mindcasting" - the sharing of ideas.

What I appreciate about Twitter is that I can share ideas, insights, questions I'm asking myself (and others), in order to spark conversations.

Start your Twitter experience by sharing two or three ideas a day: observations, maybe one favorite quote, maybe a question you are pondering. Be concise, don't use too many abbrev. If you can't fit want you want to say into 140 characters, reconsider your thought to boil it down to its essence. Twitter is a great exercise in clarity.

Once you start tweeting interesting stuff (see below) you will attract a loyal following. Good content will get you hundreds of followers in a matter of weeks, without spamming.

4. Instead of using Twitter through the web page, use specialized tools.

The Twitter web site is not built for extensive use. The real magic of Twitter comes from the large universe of specialized tools that use the Twitter messaging system but organize the information in ways much easier to understand. Here are two free apps that I recommend (you only need one of them):

- TweetDeck (PC, Mac, Linux): Tweetdeck is a social media browser application that allow you to manage the information you get from your Twitter, Facebook and other systems. It works on any computer through Adobe Air (free). Strengths: being able to organize my social messaging in easy-to-understand groups. You can follow, reply, search and manage your Twitter account through TweetDeck. Only downside, it takes up a whole screen. Get it at http://tweetdeck.com

- Twhirl (PC, Mac, Linux): Twhirl is another social media browser. I prefer its compact interface especially on my small-screen netbook. I really like the search function - I set a couple of search profiles (on my name, on topics of interest) and it automatically returns the latest tweets from anywhere on the search terms. I find it works better in Mac and Linux than TweetDeck (personal opinion). Get it at http://www.twhirl.org/

As you get more into the social networking way of communicating, you will discover other apps that are more tuned to your way of viewing information. The great thing is that all of these tools are FREE.

5. Budget your Twitter time

Twitter can be a huge timesink, especially when you start out. After many wasted hours, I finally understood that the smart way to use Twitter is to consider it as a "timestream" - it relentlessly moves forward. I dip into the timestream when I have a few minutes here and there, catching up on conversations, contributing some tweets, then move to my next activity.

I suggest you start by setting aside two or three 15-minute periods a day doing the following:

- responding to an interesting comment or question, whether I know the person or not (in Twitter, we are all one big family)

- Retweeting or RT-ing (forwarding) an interesting tweet to your follower network. Retweeting is a way to signal that you like the tweet, and RTs are a measure the popularity of a tweet

- Suggesting a link to an interesting article, blog post, website or video (yours or some else's. The proper way to pass on a link is to summarize the idea or title, followed by a shortened link. Most Twitter apps like Tweetdeck or Twhirl will automatically shorten the link for you. Or you can use link shortening sites like http://www.tinyurl.com or http://www.is.gd Keep your links short to maximize the use of your 140 characters.

- Sharing an idea, thought, or question. This is the fun part of Twitter, where you are contributing to the conversation. Tweet ideas that reinforce your personal positioning or brand (i.e. don't get too personal, stay clean, remember that you are posting on a very public bulletin board). By tweeting intelligent, provocative, funny or emotive tweets, you will start to attract interest, your tweets will be retweeted, and you will gain a following.

- Seeking interesting people to follow, by clicking on handles (@username) in other people's tweets. I like to look at people's tweets before I decide to follow (subscribe) to them. You are the ultimate decider of what you want in your twitterstream, so only follow people you find interesting (following is not reciprocal, in that because you follow someone, they don't follow you until they decide to, and vice-versa)

It may look like some people are spending all of their waking hours (and some sleeping hours) tweeting. Don't fall into that trap. 30-45 minutes a day is more than enough to derive a good benefit from Twitter.

Be inclusive, conversational and interesting and you will build a following that is interested in your thoughtstream. With your Twitter group, aim for quality people instead of quantity.

As you become more comfortable with Twitter, you can then progress to the intermediate level, where you can start to use Twitter to build your brand and attract prospects.

Happy Tweeting!

p.s. Please follow me @coachdavender or http://twitter.com/coachdavender , and let me know your Twitter name so I can follow you!

What is your currency?

Jay Deragon, on his blog "A Relationship Economy", has been exploring the idea of relationships and knowledge as "currency".

Social media is redefining the idea of currency, because of the value we create through our relationships and the sharing of knowledge.

He posts an interesting video discussion with David Bullock (http://www.davidbullock.net)

Posts:

How do you define currency?
http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=3943

Do Relationships create currency?
http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=3924

Is Knowledge Currency?
http://www.relationship-economy.com/?p=3941

Hmmm... food for thought here!