I Tried As Hard as I Could

The other night, I was hanging up a shirt in my closet, when I saw a dry cleaner tag stapled to the outside of a sweater I'd had cleaned over the winter. It said: "We Tried as Hard as We Could."

This message was clearly intended to pre-empt a customer trapsing angrily back over the the cleaner's, complaining that a stain had not been removed properly, or that a zipper was still apparently broken, etc. It worked with me, since I had no intention of tearing open the plastic to assess whether the stain which I had forgotten about anyway was still there or not. It meant a lot to me that the person assigned the task of cleaning the sweater, came forth with an honest, if not prewritten declaration, that they had indeed tried as hard as they could. I believed them.

So, being the way I am, I got to thinking what other circumstances might lend themselves to this phrase:

To the mildly irked husband:
*I'm sorry I ate all the chocolate cake in the refrigerator, and particularly the piece that was meant for you, but I got confused for a moment and thought it was my birthday, and I tried as hard as I could to resist temptation, but to no avail.

To the perhaps somewhat impatient client...
*I did my best to edit and rewrite your 500 page manuscript overnight, including attention to spelling, grammar, syntex, style, and footnotes and references -- really, I tried as hard as I could.

To my Twitter follower named "Moon Unit..." with whom I have no apparent common denominator except for a love of goji berries and narrow ruled notebooks...
I'm flattered, but could not figure out why the follow, although I tried as hard as I could.

To the great moment in history forty years ago when man first walked on the moon...
I could not remember what I was doing at the time, but I tried as hard as I could.

To Timothy Ferriss, author of The Four Hour Work Week...
I could not finish your book, although I tried as hard as I could

To the make of the film, "Night of the Living Dead,"...
Unfortunately, I cannot ever forget this movie, although goodness knows I have tried as hard as I could.

To the Brady Bunch and their rendition of "Sunshine Day,"...
Unfortunately, I cannot forget this song, although goodness knows I have tried as hard as I could.


Anyone else inspired by life's daily messages, prompted by a dry cleaning tag, or otherwise?

8 Multitasking Options that Work

http://www.flickr.com/people/elsie/

Generally, it is not considered a great idea to do too many things at once, as studies have shown that reduced quality and loss of focus can result. It's just they way people are. But recently, I read an article that discussed food pairings, and how 2 foods when eaten together, are more nutritionally effective then one alone. It turns out, for example, that blueberries paired with walnuts create an antioxidant punch. Tomatoes and olives together produce added lycopene. And oatmeal combined with citrus also helps break down fatty acids in the system.

So I got to thinking about how certain communications activities, when paired together, would both complement each other and save time. And don't we all want more of that? I tried it, and it worked. Here's a quick rundown:

1. Social Networking Updates and Blogging:
These tasks go well together, as they call upon similar skills, such as posting your latest news, uploading photos and videos, and posting questions, offers, and feedback to your subscribers. Many blogging programs offer advance schedule posting, so you can schedule your posts for the week, and if you set up feeds to your social networks, these will all post at the same time. As I mentioned in a previous post, aggregators like Posterous allow you to blog and post simultaneously - just be sure your content is appropriate to all formats, and disconnect any previous feeds you might have set up, such as Twitterfeed, or a Facebook application that connect your blog, otherwise you will be posting duplicates.

2. Reading and Brainstorming:
It never fails - anytime I read something, whether it is a magazine article, a blog post, or a book, I always get an idea of my own, whether it is for fiction, an e-book, or some other project for a client. So, I always keep a pen and paper handy, or I use the sticky note feature on my desktop, so I won't lose the thought.

3. Cooking and Problem-Solving:
Staring at my computer screen for hours usually doesn't help me if I'm having a bit of a setback or I'm stuck. However, going into the kitchen for a little while and whipping up a salad or a decadent dessert, usually gives me the breakthrough I'm seeking. Experimenting with new seasonings or a trying out a new food also helps my creativity.

4. Answering E-Mail and Organizing My Schedule:
If I look through most of my in-box, nearly all the communications have to do with actions to take in the future, ongoing tasks, or tasks that have been completed. I make use of the More Actions menu on Google e-mail to schedule to do items in the Task Bar, or to automatically make it a Calendar item on my Google calendar. By combining these items, I don't have to revisit them again later.

5. Commenting on Blogs and Adding Links:
I often run across blog posts that I like, from publishers I may not yet subscribe or link to. If I make an effort to link to them or tweet their post, at the same time as I comment on them, I'm accomplishing two goals at once, as well as broadening my links list.

6. Returning: Phone Calls, Library Books, Favors, Lent Items:
Anything that needs to be returned can be done together, at least weekly, depending on the timeframe. That means returning library books, a favor from a friend, a phone call or e-mail, or a letter.

7. Testimonials and Case Studies:
I have found that the most effective testimonials online are those connected visually with case studies. We read about how a project was approached, and the end result - how pleased the client was about it. I have seen this on many landing pages and web sites. In creating your own landing pages and web sites, combine your case studies, which describe the project and how you handled it, with the testimonial listed just underneath it. It will pack more powerful punch.

8. Videos and Photos:
Sometimes, a video is more effective then a photo, and sometimes, it's the other way around. For example, I do a slide show review of my activity highlights of the year, that lends itself to still shots more then video. Many video software programs such as IMovie, or even Flip camera programs, allow you to create still shots from video, so you can streamline your efforts by using one camera for two purposes.

These are just a few pairings that have worked for me. What works for you?

I'm On Posterous

In keeping with my goal of learning some new technology "thing" every weekend, I spent a little time recently learning "posterous," which I had read about several months ago and had been meaning to try. I have also seen some of the bloggers I follow such as Michael Martine, use it as a quick blogging platform when you just want to get something going. In about an hour, I was able to: set up a profile, do some experimental posts, try posts via web posting and e-mail, and set up autoposting with all my social networking sites, including Twitter, Facebook, Blogger (which I am using directly now since I could not find a scheduling option), and Flickr and YouTube. Not bad for an hour.

Posterous is basically a platform that converts e-mails into a blog/web site page. Just set up your free account, your profile, and any preferences, and go ahead and write your e-mail. The subject line serves as the blog title, and the body of the e-mail is the post itself. So, this is a very useful tool for those who want to multitask, communicate with a bunch of people at once, and also post to all your social networks at once by setting up the autopost feature under "Manage My Account," and filling in all the profile information. You can also isolate each social network so your message will only go to those you specify.

Posterous Pros:

1. Very easy to use and walks you through the steps
2. Saves time since you can combine e-mail with blogging
3. Easy to add video, photo, and music links, just include the URL and it automatically embeds the file
4. Good customer service. I e-mailed a question to the help link, and got an answer in about 20 minutes.
   
5. Good subscriber display: when you subscribe to someone else's posterous site, your photo appears and your name will also appear as a nice pop up, so it's great for visibility. Better than Twitter, which has a more limited screen for this.
6. Good Facebook customization, and you can even set up your own Posterous Tab on your profile page.
   

Posterous Cons:

1. Could not find a way to advance schedule blog posts.
2. Linked In not yet available to autopost to. Apparently they are working on getting permission for this now.
3. No way to add nav pages so unfortunately will not work as a web site in its own right.
4. No page aggregator that has a URL to all your social network sites, such as Unhub.
   

Overall, I give it a 7 out of 10. Have you tried it? What do you think?

It Is Rocket Science

Celebrations of the 40th anniversary of the moon landing over the past few weeks are a reminder that technology is relative. Forty years ago, walking on the moon was a big deal. Today, ironically, Michael Jackson's Moonwalk is maybe even a bigger deal and presents its own gravitational challenges.  (How did he move his legs one way and his body the other, and will anyone else ever be able to replicate?) Still, it was only ten years ago that the internet was barely launching, there was not yet any Facebook or Twitter, and social networking was 3-dimensional, and meant going to a party  or an event-- a real life situation, like in a room, at someone's house, with maybe some food and music. In other words, not virtual. Will the live handshake, flu viruses aside, become another thing of the past?

I am a product of the "moon generation." My team at grade school gym class was named after Buzz Aldrin. I knew by heart every episode of "Lost in Space," including such "isms" as: Danger, Will Robinson!, and I had an eerie familiarity with concepts such as matter and anti-matter, positive and negative universes, and spaceships like the Jupiter 2 that looked like the tops of Chinese food serving dishes and suffered endless atrocities like deteriorating forcefields and overly possessive space plants.

And who can forget "Star Trek," with its own indelible lexicon of Klingons and Volcan death grips and dilithium crystals and warp factors? Every episode introduction was and is a reminder that space is the final frontier, and that there is a calling to go where no man/woman has gone before, and seek out new....you know what's next.

Forty years from now, we may have space stations throughout the galaxy, or we may be getting our groceries on Jupiter and going to classes on Mars.  But we will still do the Time Warp again. We may look back at the space shuttle voyages and a thousand other scientific breakthoughs, and think they were a walk in the park -- I mean --on the moon. It's the inherent irony of rocket science.

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Life Lessons from Charles Schulz -The Ultimate Entrepreneur

One of my summer goals was to visit the Charles Schulz museum in Santa Rosa, and last week I was fortunate enough to get the chance. The museum does one of the best jobs I have ever experienced in chronicling the life and work of one of our greatest heroes, and in presenting many of the details of his life that most of us would never have known. We all know that Schulz had a dark side, which ironically he incorporated into his humor to create characters and situations that no doubt would have been less funny in the hands of someone without this sensibility. Who else could have rendered cartoons on subjects such as mental and physical illness, failure and even ridicule in relationships and sports, and ultimately the loneliness of the human condition, with such wit and finesse.

But what struck me most about Schulz was his fortitude. He received many rejections before getting his first gig, a cartoon in the Saturday Evening Post, which led to his ultimate national Peanuts syndication deal and international success. He even had a special exhibit at the Louvre Museum in Paris during the height of his career, and his infamous dog Snoopy was used by NASA as a mascott for the space program safety campaign in the late 60's. He did not have the greatest self-esteem, and yet kept pursuing his calling because he felt that drawing cartoons was indeed his calling - even on letters home and to friends while he served in World War II, he drew sketches of army life that were a hint of things to come, although interestingly the only adult sketches I had ever seen by him. He continues to earn in the millions, even after his death.

Schulz, or "Sparky," is a great testament to the strength of the American spirit, the power of entrepreneurism, and the value of being able to laugh at ourselves, even in the toughest of times. If there was ever a time when we needed to affirm our humanity, laugh at our imperfections and foibles, and keep going despite it all, it's now. Remember, Charlie Brown was often the only one who stayed to finish the baseball game in the rain, long after the rest of the gang had gone home.

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Caroline Jaffe-Pickett
carrie@carriefreelance.com
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If Only Blanche Dubois Had Been on Twitter

This weekend I watched 3 movies. Two of them, "A Streetcar Named Desire," the classic by Tennessee Williams, and "Shopgirl," by famous comedian Steve Martin, happened to be on television, and I was in the mood. The third, Woody Allen's latest effort, (emphasis on effort), "Whatever Works," was playing at the local movie theatre, and had been on my list to catch this summer.

Being a firm believer in fate, and that there are no "happy accidents," it struck me today that all three movies had a common central theme, that I might never have realized had I not seen them within a few days of each other. These movies, in addition to many of our greatest novels, plays, paintings, and dances, focused on the fact that it is an integral part of the human condition that we are disconnected from one another, whether due to family circumstances, events and incidences in our lives, societal conditions, etc.

Blanche Dubois was permanently scarred by the unfortunate "incident" and the shooting of her "young boy" when she was 16, and is destined to spend the rest of her life desperate to connect with others, and her failures lead to her own insanity. Mirabelle, in "Shopgirl," moves from Vermont to LA, and drifts as a bored shopgirl in the glove department at Saks Fifth Avenue, yearning to love and be loved and to have a creative and rich life. In "Whatever Works," Boris Yelnikov is a misanthropic social misfit who complains about the world and all its conventions, whose relationship with Melody (Evan Rachel Wood), ultimately brings him around to a more upbeat way of living, and his philosophy of life becomes: it is so short, we might as well enjoy ourselves--ie. connect with someone.

Art imitates life, and to this extent, social networking in the personal sense has taken off because:
a. we believe we are inherently alone in the world, but we handle this better if we can at least feel connected to others
b. we often don't quite know how to connect in real life, or, our real life connections have disappointed us in some way, so we look for online connections to help fill the gap, and sometimes, it works
c. social networks don't necessarily ask too much of us - they can be limited to a few minutes a day and still be called a success, whereas real life relationships can be time consuming and at times, complex

If Blanche Dubois had had a reliable social networks to fall back on, perhaps her famous line:
"I rely on the kindness of strangers," would have referenced her Twitter, Linked In, and Facebook friends.

What do your social networks mean to you? Are you a, b, c, or all or none of the above?

What We Learn from Our Mistakes...and What's That Photo of a Chicken Doing on my Blog?

Remember Proust and his famous madeleines? Well, here is Carrie and her famous chicken story. When I was about 13, I was visiting my aunt and cousins for a weekend at their summer house. In order to show my appreciation, I offered to make a special chicken dinner. I really worked hard on that dinner, planning all the ingredients, organizing the side dishes, and making sure I seasoned the chicken just right with - what I thought was - paprika. I really wanted the chicken to have flavor, so I kept sprinkling and sprinkling, and for some reason, not tasting as I went along, which I usually did when I cooked. So when it came time to eat, imagine my supreme horror when no one, including me, could eat one bite of that chicken because it was too spicy. Why was it too spicy? Yep, you guessed it. I was using cayenne pepper instead of paprika.

There were vague attempts to save the endeavor, including transforming it to chicken salad and drowning it in mayonnaise, but to no avail. I could have died of embarrassment, but I learned my lesson, and to this day, do you think I check what seasonings I put on my food in a serious way? You betcha. Have I ever made that mistake again? Never.

Drumstick...I mean, drumroll, please. Working with new clients is a lot like cooking a new recipe. You need to plan, and organize your ingredients, and make sure they are the right ones for the right people, or else no one will be able to enjoy the meal, and you might as well not have bothered. You also need to know how to adjust the dish along the way, as well as how long to spend preparing the dish, how to serve it, and make sure it meets with, and even surpasses, what the diner (client) may have expected.

How Much Can We Realistically Expect from Social Media?

Frida Zjarr

Many of us dive into the social networking ocean without a plan or strategy, which can leave us drifting aimlessly at sea. No matter what our motivations - we want more business - we are afraid - we are feeling daring - we are feeling shy - we take the plunge and hope it will make a difference in some way to our bottom line.

So what can we realistically expect from social media?

1. Level 1- Awareness:
At the very least, social media exposes us to infinitely more people then in-person networking ever could. You cannot walk into a room everyday and introduce yourself to 100 new people. On Twitter, Facebook, and Linked In, you can easily provide a first-entry level of introduction, which means using your profiles to post links and photos, provide update of your news or your latest industry news, or introduce yourself to someone new in your industry, or a new industry you would like to learn more about. Social media is also a great equalizer. Unlike at a party, where you may have to rely on someone else introducing you to the person you've been admiring for years, you can go for it on your own by seeking followers and friends, or, if your content is strong and you are doing your communications "homework," many of the right people (influencers) will find you. That is what happened to me to a certain extent on Twitter, when I was excited to learn about a month ago that my social guru "heroes," Chris Brogan and Darren Rouse (Problogger), were following me. Cool!

2. Level 2 - Engagement:
Once people are in your network and have a minimal level of involvement with you, you can take the plunge and try and go a step further by direct messaging them, commenting on their blog posts, subscribing and maybe even contributing to their newsletters, offering to guest blog, etc. For many social media strategists, this is really the heart of the matter, as it paves the way for Level #3. With the social networking arena being so crowded, you will never be noticed unless you really stand out from the crowd somehow. But don't stand out for the sake of standing out. You must be authentic, and have real ideas and resources to communicate. Sometimes, you will hear back from them and sometimes you won't, as different bloggers have different best practices when it comes to this. I think it is very important to validate the folks who've taken the time to comment on your posts, and I tend to frown on those who don't. In any case, take the initiative and get involved.

3. Call to Action:
For many of us, floating around levels 1 and 2 for a while, maybe even a long while, is going to be the predominating behavior. If we have a service to sell, such as coaching, for example, we are dead without a freedownload offer, a white paper, an audio course, or an e-book to sample, and then sell. Online marketers get this, and that's why they spend so much time refining landing pages, creating inviting videos, and trying to make the call to action something that sticks. It's my belief that even if you do everything right, getting to #3 is by far the trickiest aspect of social networking, because many of us buy or not, for many different reasons, and we respond positively or negatively to different factors. For example, whenever I see yellow highlighter copy on a landing page, I think yuk, this is an obvious marketing tactic and I sign off as fast as you can say "unsubscribe." When someone makes the case, however, for a good quality, well thought out product that I can't get anywhere else, and that I need pretty quickly, I'm going to go for it. So, if we can get to Level #3, and we find the right combination of authenticity and value, we will find our oasis in the sea. If we don't, we will stay adrift, and most likely never reach our destination. So, hoist your sails and begin your voyage.
But first, you need to ask yourself:

What level are you at with your social networking, and what can you realistically expect from it?

Thanks to Flickr, I Got Schmapped...And So Can You

This is a screen shot I took of the link that schmap! sent me, that shows my jellyfish photo and how it will look if it is accepted for online publication.





Another screen shot showing the licensing options page on Flickr.


I had never heard of Schmap, a worldwide online map and trip planning site that provides directories, suggested tours, reviews of restaurants, museums, events, etc., and printable maps and directions. That was, of course, until last Friday, when I received an e-mail that a photo I had uploaded to my Flickr account of a school of jellyfish from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, was a finalist for publication in the Monterey area guide. Yay, particularly since this is in the category of an "unintended benefit." And a little extra online exposure these days is a good thing.

So how it works is that you have to grant permission, and then if the photo is used, the publisher provides you with an attribution and photo credit, a 150-pixel web version of the image, and a link to the high res image from Flickr.

But that's just the first half of the story. Here's the second half. I got to thinking...I'd already been using Creative Commons to upload other people's photos and give them attribution for a while now. And here I was possibly getting some credit for mine. So what about the rest of the photos I had already uploaded? I did a little research, and learned that I could change the licensing on all the photos I had already uploaded so that others could download them and use them as well, giving me the attribution. Here's how:

1. Go to your Flickr account (assuming you have one set up.)
2. Click on "You" and use the drop down menu to "Your Account"
3. Click on 2nd tab from the left, "Privacy and Permissions"
4. About halfway down the page, there is an entry called "what license will your content have?" with an edit bar to the right.
5. Click on the edit bar, and you will see a menu listing 6 options. If you don't understand the options (I had to look up the descriptions myself as it is a bit confusing), click on the link that explains what each option means.
6. When you have made your selection, click on the appropriate menu item, and you get a screen that both shows you what the icon will look like next to your selected image, but also the HTML code, which you can add to your blog or web site and shows others what kind of licensing you are using.
7. That's it. Note that you must ensure that your image does not infringe on any 3rd party rights (it must be original).

Note that you can also change the licensing on photos already uploaded to your account, by going into "Batches." Click on "Organize your Photos, and then "Batches" from the drop down menu. Select all your photos and drag them all into one batch. Then, click on Permissions from the drop down menu, and you can access the licensing screens there. Happy viewing.

A Little Too Ironic

Beauty and the Beast
Farrah Fawcett was the embodiment of the clean, tanned, California beauty queen sex kitten, and was frustrated that she wasn't taken seriously in her career.
It took her cancer diagnosis and a documentary about all the ugly details to get people to get her. She goes from poster pin-up girl to poster-girl for rare form of cancer.

Beat It
A new study reveals that lack of sleep can increase one's likelihood of getting cancer and other diseases.
Michael Jackson apparently wanted, among other things, to get a good night's sleep, and died over what he did to himself to get it.

Love Story
30 years ago, Ryan O'Neal played a devoted husband to wife Ali McGraw, who dies of leukemia. Life imitates art.

Something to Talk About
According to a news story, the public is fascinated with celebrities because it gives them a way to connect with each other. Many celebrities are typically described as isolated and disconnected.