Tag Archives: Social Media

You’re the social media person… own it.

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I struggle often with the balance between writing what I think or feel and writing what I know will be received well. These last few months I’ve struggled a lot with what is and isn’t appropriate for this blog, which has resulted in a lot of not writing. It’s strange that I can coach other people on being open and honest, but I, myself, struggle to achieve the perfect level of vulnerability.

This past week I received the most bizarrely-blunt advice that I could have ever needed to hear, changing my outlook on how my life is slowly piecing together. It continues to play over in my ears and I’m still trying to figure out what that means for me.

I’ve found myself becoming more distant recently from friends and people I have always had a strong connection with because there is so much doubt in what I’m doing and my recent life choices. All of which have been hard for me to swallow because I feel like I used to provide a strong support for others, that I just can’t understand the lack of support I have recently received. Maybe it’s all my perception and projection of my insecurities… that’s quite possible. Regardless, the cutting words I hear often each day (whether said with malicious intent or not) have worn deeply on my spirit and it wasn’t really until my coffee meeting last week that I understood how somewhat lonely of a life I may be choosing. Yet, if given the option, I’d choose this path each time over and over again.

So few people will ever understand my decisions, my desires, or my goals. That is out of my control. What is in my control is my reaction to this lack of understanding.  Instead of feeling hurt or bullied out of doing what makes my heart feel whole, I need to continue to seek out others who have been through what I’m experiencing: those that have chosen a path of work-life integration, those that are working close to 80 hours a week to avoid the 40-hour workweek, those that understand the desire to have more than a job, but instead this rare lifestyle that I’m so determined to obtain.

The path to independent working is a long, yet very worthwhile, road. It’s my path of choice, and the only option my life will accept. It’s a matter of ignoring the assumptions, judgment, and ill commentary. Instead, finding empowerment in knowing what I do makes a difference; empowerment in knowing one day I will contribute to increased efficiencies in communication and business interactions.

When I let people impose their judgments on my lifestyle, I need to remember… it’s just not acceptable. It’s not worth missing deadlines because I’m keeping to-do lists on sticky notes that I continually lose all because I’m too afraid of pulling my phone out when in the public eye for fear of the never-ending jokes of my “addiction” to technology. I need to remember to remind myself of that bizarrely-blunt and needed advice I got that day: “You’re the social media person. Own it. And to hell with them.”

“Why are you trying so hard to fit in, when you are born to stand out” 

Successful Friend-Making Quite Unconventionally

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As a social media connector, I’ve enjoyed meeting an array of people through my various outlets over the last few years. It’s kind of funny how many of my friends I’ve met entirely through a social network connection of some sort. Gosh, I must have terrified my parents growing up. I probably should have been (and maybe still should be to some extent) one of those kids on a milk carton or in a Lifetime Movie… like the Craigslist Killer… well maybe not that intense… I’m not a craigslist-personal-ad-peruser.

Today, though, I’m not here to talk about what could have been with my friend-making, but instead the successes of one in particular. One of my most recent connections has become a very trusted voice of reason and idea-bouncer over the last couple of months. Tomorrow is a very exciting moment for him and I’m honored to have the opportunity to share with you his talents.

Jae Jin is a talented musician and writer in the Baltimore, MD area and I’m proud to share his newest released Holiday CD with you. I’m not much for holiday music long before Christmas arrives, but his voice is angelic and sends chills down my back. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful sound that echoes in his voice and must admit that I’ve had these songs looping continuously.

Congratulations Jae on another successful collection. Best wishes tomorrow on your release and celebration!

Let your ears enjoy and happy holidays to all of you!

Everything happens for a reason

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Yes, I’m that annoying voice in your ear when something goes wrong saying, “you know, everything happens for a reason… it’ll all work out in the end, and if it hasn’t, then it’s not yet the end.” However, I know…it’s a lot easier said than done. I definitely have my moments where I whine and cry, “but whhyyyy me? Whhhyyyyy me?!” Yes… anyone who knows me, can generally attest this is pretty accurate. Yet, once I’ve gotten a good “ICK, is this real life?” out of my system, I think to myself, “you know, you sure do preach a lot of hot air with that ‘everything happens for a reason’ nonsense, maybe you should just breath and listen to that advice yourself.” So I breath (sometimes too quickly… almost hyperventilating… then remind myself to breath … slowly, slowly being the key word)… and I focus on the pieces as if my life were one gigantic puzzle with really itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny pieces that have those shapes to them that are awfully difficult to piece together easily (you know what I’m talking about, don’t you?)… but I’m determined to make it fit. So I focus or at least attempt to… and possibly (in the mean time) tell a few more people “everything happens for a reason” in order to try to convince myself it’s true.

-breathe-

Then I find myself in a day like today… where you see the pieces from another angle and magically your eyes can see the pattern more clearly with a crisp alignment. That moment is one of the best feelings I’ve felt in a long time. It’s like everything that has happened over the last year or so almost instantly made sense. I now can appreciate each piece for what it’s been, how it fits into this puzzle of a life, why some pieces didn’t fit where I wanted them to, and why other pieces didn’t quite fit yet… Evidently, I was missing some of those key connecting pieces (you know the ones with goofy shapes on all sides… not one of those easy corner pieces).

Ah ha! moment happened. That light is on. Watch out life puzzle… moving full speed ahead.

The motivation I needed to change

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This morning I was scrolling through my Twitter News Feed before work and came across a link to a post that refreshed my mind, gave me new perspective, and helped re-energize my drive in a way I didn’t think was possible by the written word. Timing could not have been more perfect. While I shared this blog post with a few different people after I read it and I posted a link to my Facebook, the more I’ve let my mind think on what J.D. said, the more compelled I am to share it with a larger number of you. It is a rather long entry, but it is worth every minute it takes to read it in its entirety.

As I read through each scenario or example J.D. shared, it hit home on several points that really got me thinking. You see, I’ve been internally struggling recently because I truly fear becoming complacent, I fear settling, I fear failure. I’ve made excuses for why I can’t do those very things I’ve set out to do, I get lost in not understanding how to generate revenue in my career choice, I get caught up in the what-if’s, and most of all I, myself, am my worst hater.

I’ve come to realize that others put more faith in my work and my drive than I do, I’ve allowed myself to not see my potential. I know I’m smart and I know I work hard, but a majority of the time I just see a lot of wheels spinning in place, which I find discouraging. J.D., I’d like to thank you for inspiring me to keep pushing through, to focus, and to make change when I’m not happy — change is okay. I only wish I could have heard you give this speech in person. We have a new addition to the bucket list, I think I’ll add: attend the World Domination Summit in 2013.

Please read, soak in, and be inspired. Make change happen, whatever that may be for you.

(just in case you’ve miss each link to the blog post I’m referring to, here’s one more attempt to encourage you to read it… so READ it! –> The Power of Personal Transformation: Change Your Self, Change the world)

Let’s end this awkward silence with epicness

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Yeah, it’s been awhile. I’ve missed you world. I apologize for my extended absence. However, I want to share something with you to break this long awkward silence I’ve put you through.

In the process of developing promo videos for my social media marketing classes for the workforce department, my co-worker whipped this little silly thing up. I chuckled. Yep, yep I sure did. I think I’ll just use this one instead to promote my classes… any takers?

 

The New Darth Vader?

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This morning, Darth Vader publicly announced that he will be leaving The Empire. In his interview with The Daily Mash, he expressed his concern for The Empire’s fate if they continue down the path of promoting without dedication and understanding of leadership. “Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and killing your former mentor with a light sabre,” he said. Our beloved Darth continued in-depth about his frustrations with The Empire’s shift due to a “disturbing lack of faith.”

With this announcement brought obvious disappointment to my life. My mind slipped into a world of fix-it mode almost instantaneously. How can I convince Darth to stick it out? Twelve years is a long time, he can’t just walk away. He is The Empire. The Empire will be nothing without him. How can I speak to him inside his head to adequately manipulate his decision? That’s when it clicked. I don’t want that… Him leaving is the perfect opportunity for me. Yes… me. I’ll be the new Darth… it’s perfect really. My mind speaking went a little like this:

Darth, I think I have the answer to your prayers. It is I who you need. I will gladly step in and take over where you have left off. You’ve brought The Empire a long way, but now, it is in obvious need for strength and manipulation through fresh eyes in order to regain the ability to “make millions of voices cry out in terror before being suddenly silenced.” You will recognize my remarkable ability to overcome all that The Empire has lost with your leaving as you push The Empire to accept my offer to re-focus their efforts. I have done my homework on your mission, values, and goals and it is my belief that I will be the most perfect fit.

Over the years I have strengthened my ability to speak to others inside their heads to perfectly manipulate any given situation (as I’m currently demonstrating and you are overwhelmingly impressed). With this skill I would like to further The Empire’s control of the galaxy by bringing the focus point back to where it belongs. The world misses your ever-inspiring ability to kill people in terrifying and unstoppable ways. Let me be that person. I will not disappoint you. I know my skills will impress you. You will be so proud of how it turns around. With my marketing and public relations background I belive I can take The Empire to new heights. You need a little tweeting action, a Facebook page, maybe some microblogging, and of course I’ll set up the LinkedIn profile to better network with the galaxy. You’ll see, The Empire will be something you could never have imagined. Might I also add, my light saber skills are breathtakingly unmistakable… those former mentors never saw it coming (I’d watch your back if I were you Darth… even more reason to push me through).

I fully appreciate your recommendation and cooperation. Yours truly.

Oh hey Empire, you ready for this? Bucket list add? Yep. Checked.

Thanks mysterious friend of pretty lady who shall remain nameless for your contribution to my Darth Vader replacement campaign. You win 100 friend bonus points.

The Way To My Heart… is through your second-nature-social-media-reaction-sharing syndrome

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I believe I found my soul mate today. His name is Brad Keselowski and he made history at the Daytona 500 – probably not the kind of history you’d imagine one would make at such an event, but the one that caught my attention and made me a little weak in the knees. I must be honest though, I knew not that he existed before this moment… but I’ll stick to my claims of soul mate. You see, Mr. Brad fully demonstrated second-nature-social-media-reaction-sharing syndrome. At the moment of emergency on the track, Mr. Brad didn’t think, “let me call for help,” “let me go see if everyone’s okay,” “let me take this opportunity to take a potty break…” no Mr. Brad pulled that smart phone geniousness out of his pocket (according to Twitter) and tweeted that fire-y accident to the world…

This moment will be written in the history books… or at least on all those social networks out there to be shared with friends of friends of friends… as the first tweet from a driver racing in Daytona 500.

Now don’t feel alarmed if you too are feeling your heartbeat increase and a few beads of sweat forming on your forehead, maybe even a little heavier breathing, this is totally normal, it’s a common side effect to second-nature-social-media-reaction-sharing syndrome attraction.

Mr.Brad’s syndrome is fairly rare in that it can actually give the illusion as a knight in shining armor to some… his horse in the form of a fast race car (we are in 2012 people, white horses were so last century). The moral of the story, Mr. Brad knows how to woo a lady. Gentlemen, take note… some ladies may love poetry, some may love romance, but the true way to any social lady’s heart… a man who takes life to the social media world without thinking twice… second-nature-social-media-reaction-sharing syndrom, that’s the way to this gal’s heart. (just fyi… there’s truth in there).

Bucket list: find soul mate – check (it didn’t say it had to be reciprocated… minor details people, I’m gonna need you look at the bigger picture here… social media + fast cars = love) check soul check mate check.

That is all for today

Ahem… Check… 1,2… 1,2… is this mic on?

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Speaking in front of people used to be one of my biggest fears. I mean stuttering, turning bright red, awkward hand motions or lack thereof, the whole nine yards. Anything that could possibly be awkward in a presentation, I usually managed to include it (to keep the audience on their toes of course). It was weird though because I could get in front of a group of people and teach them or lead a discussion, but as soon as that word “presentation” was thrown into the mix everything changed… full-blown panic attack action front and center.

Yet, as you can see on my bucket list, one of the things I really wanted was to be asked to speak about social media at a conference. Sick huh? Why would I want to do something that terrified me so much? You probably are wondering (or maybe you aren’t wondering anything, I should probably stop assuming… you know what they say about assuming…), am I one of those freaks that enjoys torturing myself or gets pleasure out of personally positioning myself for public humiliation (go see a therapist, right?)… ha… no, I wanted to be able to take my ability to teach a group of adults and turn that into an opportunity to spread knowledge throughout an even larger audience. It just took a little convincing myself that a presentation was really not much different from teaching, it would just consist of less audience interaction… or I could be creative and dare I say, live on the edge by encouraging audience participation in my presentation (scary, I know), I’ll teeter that edge with practice.

For starters though, I was honored to be asked to participate on a panel discussion of marketing efforts by the community colleges in Virginia at the annual HIRE Education Conference at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia early December as a social media strategist. This was a big deal to me, I had only been with Germanna Community College for eight months when the assistant to the Vice Chancellor of VCCS asked me to create a short presentation and participate in the discussion. Of course, out of natural suppressed anxieties over the word presentation being thrown into that request, I procrastinated so I wouldn’t have to face my fear of developing a presentation (it really is such an ugly word, just nod your head and agree with me please).

So, here’s the thing, I teach social media at the community college, Facebook Marketing for Business, Twitter, Blogging, and LinkedIn… so wouldn’t the bright idea be to compile all of that information and share it with a broader perspective for this particular event? Well duh… that would be the smart thing to do, but of course it took a trashcan full of paper balls (sorry Earth, yes, I know, not so “green” of me… I’ll try harder next time), a number of jumbled thoughts, and a few mirror consultations before the light clicked for me. In the end, I found my pitch, my “why you need social media,” the emotional connection that drives me in social communication, and my voice. While the recording is a little shaky (Apple, how about a tripod for the iPhone?… not nerdy at all, I swear), I wanted to share with you my first “big-girl” presentation and opportunity to speak at a conference of 400+ about social media. Please, give me feedback as I’m sharing this to further improve my presentation skills.

Here’s to another check off my bucket list (and hopefully more opportunities to speak in the future)