blog brainstorm

big changes & the chance to work with me for FREE

By tara on August 18, 2010

If you’ve ever questioned the possibility of big thinking to change your life, I am here to tell you that thinking big will change you and those around you in ways you might not be able to imagine right now.

When I took over the reins at Scoutie Girl last summer, I had big goals. One of them was to earn enough money to allow my husband to quit his soul-crushing, back-breaking job. January of this year was the first month I out-earned him. I continued out-earning him by larger & larger amounts each month. In April, we started talking seriously about what it would take for him to quit his job.

In July, we realized that we needed to make a decision between full-time daycare in the Fall or him quitting his job. Monday, he gave his 2 week notice.

Nothing makes me happier than to give him back the gift he gave me when I quit my job when Lola was born. Nothing makes me more excited than to imagine what this means for the growth of our family and Mike’s opportunity to explore his own passion – whatever that turns out to be.

Nothing makes me more terrified to realize that’s its my responsibility and mine alone to provide for our family.

Yet, I am confident in my ability to do so, as I continue to accept my own self-worth and ability to produce life-changing, business-shaping work.

the bottom line

But the bottom line is, I wouldn’t be here without you. And so, I want to fulfill two goals with one big offer:

  • extend a giant hug & a huge thank you.
  • expose a lot of people to big thinking & brainstorming with me.

UPDATE: Brainstorming sessions are officially booked! If you haven’t gotten a confirmation of your time yet… well, I need to figure out how to either work it in or give you the bad news… I will be contacting everyone with super sweet offers though.

So here’s the deal. Mike’s first week home is August 30-September 3. I’m hitting the ground running by offering FREE 30 minute brainstorming sessions. In order to make this work well for me (a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do…), I am opening 12:00pm – 3pm EASTERN on the dates above to whoever would like a little (well, big) kick in the pants, or idea generation, or hand holding.

Here’s how to claim your spot:

  • Visit my calendar and propose your meeting time. Please be sure to select the week of August 30-September 3.
  • When you propose your time, include one goal or idea you’re struggling with and what’s holding your back in the “message” area.
  • Also include your website address and a very brief description of your business.

This is first come, first serve and is available to new clients only. Depending on how quickly spots fill up, I reserve the right to do this again at any time!

Thank you to the always awesome Catherine Caine for starting this great idea.

Ready? Go!

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what is easy is invaluable

By tara on August 16, 2010

My own business breakthrough came not in realizing that my success could be easy, but in accepting that what comes easily to me has great financial value.

How do you leverage what comes easily to you to create monetary gains for your business? Tell me in the comments.

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beat blogger’s block: ramble.

By tara on August 9, 2010

One of the number one questions I get asked is how to come up with great content for blog posts, Facebook status updates, or sales copy. One of my super powers is helping people come up with exactly that kind of thing.

How do I do this? I get people to ramble. I ask them direct questions about the thing they’re really passionate about and just let them talk. And talk. And talk.

And all the while, I’ve got a pen in my hand, jotting key phrases, additional questions, and ideas into my gridded Moleskine journal.

This is pretty easy to recreate for yourself if you have a mildly perceptive friend. It probably helps a bit if your friend blogs… but it’s not necessary.

  • Get your friend on Skype, the phone, into a coffee shop.
  • Have them start talking to you about your passion.
  • As you ramble on about what you love, why you love it, why other people should love it too, why you think things need to change, etc…
  • Have your friend jot down anything that seems remotely interesting. If you turn an interesting phrase, have them note the wording.
  • When you’ve rambled past the point of no return, stop and have your friend read back what caught her ear. If there’s something more to ramble about there, grab another iced latte and keep rambling.
  • Turn the notes into a list of titles. They don’t have to be perfect, catchy titles but they should inspire some key points in your mind as soon as you read them.

At that point, rest.

You’ve probably got at least a few week’s worth of blog post ideas ready to go. As soon as you have time, draft an introductory paragraph to each idea to keep it fresh in your mind. I do this right in my blog’s back end and save the posts as drafts. While I’m writing that intro, I often jot down 3 main subheadlines or a list to keep my piece flowing. When inspiration strikes, I pull up the relevant draft and have at it.

Blogger’s block banished.

If you don’t have a friend with an ear & 45 minutes to spare, I’m offering my Blog Brainstorm & Action Plan for $50 to 10 lucky bloggers. Here’s the catch: in exchange for getting $25 off the price of this service, you allow me to use a portion of your session as a post or promotional content. If that sounds good to you, use code GOBLOGGO at check out. Click here to beat your own blogger’s block.

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p is for permission

By tara on August 2, 2010

Permission: do you have it? Can you get it? Do you foster it? Do you use it or abuse it?

Seth Godin published a fantastic – no, I use that word to often – monumental piece today called A Post-Industrial A to Z Digital Battledore. In it, he lists an almost alphabetical index of ideas that are defining the post-industrial age & the new economy.

I am reading it and rereading it. And I suggest you do the same.

While many future posts will be inspired by this resource, today is brought to you by the letter P. Aside: p is also what brought Lola a change of bed clothes this morning.

p is for permission

In the past, advertising was obtrusive. We noticed it – it influenced us – because it disrupted our routine. It’s a commercial in the middle of your favorite TV program. It’s a pop up ad on the internet. It’s a door-to-door salesman. Sometimes these ads worked but over time, we began to be able to tune them out. Eventually regulations & technology began to screen them out. Advertisers got nervous.

But with the dawn of Web 2.0 – and certainly before that – came the age of permission based marketing: ads that we welcome into our homes & our lives because they are part of the context. Blogging certainly falls into this category. Product placement ads, Facebook fan pages, email newsletters, Twitter, and brand names on t-shirts those are all permission based too.

Some marketing is done with such style, grace, humor, or usefulness that it becomes a part of us. And we invite it in.

Are you seeking permission – and, better yet, excitement – from your audience? Or are you lambasting them with product pitch after promotion after poor ad?

It’s easy to say “get on Facebook,” “get on Twitter,” “network network network” – but is your brand message one of usefulness & style or one of self-promotion?

Hollister and Abercrombie & Fitch aren’t just words on a t-shirt. Those words are a brand message that says cool, stylish, hip, sexy. The brand says, “If this kid is cool enough to wear me on his chest, certainly you’re cool enough.”

Does your brand speak to the people who give you permission to talk to them?

Or does it remain a silent distraction from the goings on of daily life?

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500 million users & chris brogan can’t be wrong

By tara on July 29, 2010

Well, last week Facebook raced past 500 million users. And this week Chris Brogan announced that families run on Facebook.

Every demographic, every interest group, every religious & political group, every income level is represented on Facebook.

If you’re not using Facebook to market your business, you’re missing out.

Your customers are on Facebook.

When I worked for one of the big box bookstores with a capital B (there’s at least 3…), part of the mission of the company was to be the “third place.” We wanted to be place you wanted to be when you weren’t home or at work. We were pretty good at that part… not so good at turning that affinity into sales though. But that’s a post for another day…

Point being, if you could provide an environment that offered comfort, style, entertainment, COFFEE, and a wee bit of education, you had great potential for being able to influence customers.

Well, forget “third place,” Facebook is the internet’s “second place.” As a society, we wake up, check our email, and then head to Facebook.

Using Facebook strategically & authentically, your business has the ability to insert itself into your customers’ second place. It’s an environment of comfort, style, entertainment, and education. All it’s missing is the coffee. Why, why can’t there be coffee?!

The good news is that building a brand on Facebook is easier than ever.

The bad news is that you’re probably doing a half-assed job. And you forgot the coffee.

Consider these questions when building content for your Facebook page:

  • Am I speaking directly to my customer in a way that is meaningful to them?
  • Am I engaging my customer rather than broadcasting a message?
  • Am I sharing my entire brand message and not just promoting a product or service?
  • Am I building a community that is empowered to spread my message organically?

Providing content that considers those questions means that you’re not selling to your customers, you’re influencing them. You’ll have opportunities to sell down the line. Draw them in, build a community, get customers talking to each other. Selling – while oh so important – comes a little later. But it will come.

Want more concrete ideas? Check out my friend Ken’s post 26 Things You Should Be Doing on Your Facebook Business Page. I also offered some Facebook tips in a previous post on this here blog.

The important thing about about building your brand on Facebook is to not become a part of the noise. If you engage your customers meaningfully, give them useful information, entertain them, and find out a way to give them coffee, you won’t be noise. You’ll be part of the experience: the experience that takes up the most important part of the internet day, save email.

Your customers are on Facebook. Bring the coffee.

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