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Today's radio show guest is all over it. In his book, "The Genius Machine," author Gerald Sindell says this:
"The goals we set at the beginning of a project begin to age from the moment we set them.
Every few weeks or months, we need to determine whether what we have been working toward is tired to a time and context that no longer exist.
Fuel costs can change everything. Tastes change. Other innovations create a constantly evolving environment. The intended audience we began with may not be the same audience that we will be trying to reach when we're ready to go to market."
The Genius Machine, p. 25.
This is incredibly valuable advice.
Want more?
Join me today on Indie Business Radio at 1:00pm EST at this link: http://www.indiebusinessradio.com. Just click on the "Listen Live" link at the top of the page to join us.
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#indiechat is held on Wednesday evening from 9:00PM EST to 10:00pm EST. #indiechat is where Indies gather to collaborate and share tips and ideas on being successful in business while also having tons of fun! You must have a Twitter account to participate. (And if yo don't have one, what are you waiting for??!)
Here's how to join us!
1. Before entering the chat room, you may wish to let your Twitter followers know you are going into a chat room so they have a context for your Tweets for the next period of time.
Suggestion (without the quotes): "I'm going to join #indichat now. We're discussing how to be successful in business."
2. To join the chat room, log onto Tweetchat and then sign into Twitter if you have not already done so. Type in indiechat to join the chat room.
In the alternative, log onto http://www.tweetgrid.com. Choose the "1 x 3" option.
3. Type in your Twitter username and password.
4. If you are using Tweetchat, type in #indiechat to enter the chat room. That's it! Tweetchat works best for beginners.
5. If you are using Tweetgrid, you will see 3 columns. Type your Twitter username in the first column, left. This will allow you to see all of your Tweets.
6. Type #indiechat in the middle column. This will allow you to see all Tweets with the #indiechat hashtag.
7. If we have a guest speaker, type that person's Twitter name into the third column, right. This will allow you to see all of our guest speaker's Tweets. If we don't have a guest, you can either leave it blank, type in another search term you want to follow during the chat, or switch to Tweetgrid 1x2, which will give you 2 columns instead of 3.
8. Type your Tweets at the top where the space is provided and include #indiechat in the space provided for that, then press "Tweet!" to send your Tweet. You can also see that you can retweet and reply to Tweets right there.
9. Be respectful, have fun and please no blatant self-promotion until the end of the chat when there's a time to share your products and services, and send out any requests for things you may be looking for.
10. I'm donating 5 cents for each #indiechat Tweet to a charity, which is announced at the beginning and end of the chat session.
See you there!
dM
A few weeks ago, I was watching a Vitamin Water commercial. At the end, the announcer said, "Visit Facebook.com/vitaminwater10 for more information." I made a mental note to visit, but I didn't do so until t his morning when I saw this post by Mashable, which asks the question whether or not you would pay for a vanity URL on Facebook.
Because I know my comment will get lost in a sea of other comments, and because I think how you answer this question is critical to protecting your brand online, I am posting my comments here and asking you for yours.
Here's what I said in reply to Mashable's question:
Here's how to join the 4/22 edition of #indiechat at 9:00pmEST. Our guest speaker is @sabrinadibella, a NYC-area publicist. Sabrina will be sharing tips on getting media attention for your health, beauty and lifestyle business.
Here's how to join us!
1. Before entering the chat room, you may wish to let your Twitter followers know you are going into a chat room so they have a context for your Tweets for the next period of time.
Suggestion (without the quotes): "I'm going to join #indichat now. We're discussing how to file your trademark registartion applicaiton at http://www.uspto.gov."
2. To join the chat room, log onto Tweetchat and then sign into Twitter if you have not already done so. Type in indiechat to join the chat room.
In the alternative, log onto http://www.tweetgrid.com. Choose the "1 x 3" option.
3. Type in your Twitter username and password.
4. If you are using Tweetchat, type in #indiechat to enter the chat room.
5. If you are using Tweetgrid, you will see 3 columns. Type your Twitter username in the first column, left. This will allow you to see all of your Tweets.
6. Type #indiechat in the middle column. This will allow you to see all Tweets with the #indiechat hashtag.
7. Type @sabrinadibella in the third column, right. This will allow you to see all of our guest speaker's Tweets.
8. Type your Tweets at the top where the space is provided and include #indiechat in the space provided for that, then press "Tweet!" to send your Tweet. You can also see that you can retweet and reply to Tweets right there.
9. Be respectful, have fun and please no blatant self-promotion until the end of the chat when there's a time to share your products and services, and send out any requests for things you may be looking for.
10. I'm donating 5 cents for each #indiechat Tweet to http://www.charitywater.org, so remember, the more you chat, the more we collectively help each other, and also others in need of clean, safe drinking water!
See you in the chat room!
dM
Here's how to join the 4/15 edition of #indiechat at 9:00pmEST. First, let me introduce our topic: registering your trademark with the United States Patent & Trademark Office.
The 4/15 chat will be a stream of instructions that you can use to file your trademark registration application online. After the stream, I will take questions and we will discuss issues that others have experienced and generally highlight the importance of taking this step to protect your brand.
Note: While I am an attorney and practice trademark law, I will not be providing legal advice in this chat. Instead, I will give you a tour of the online application process that will empower you to know what questions you need to ask in order to file your trademark application. I highly recommend that you engage the services of an attorney. I will reference some at the end of the chat, and anyone in the chat who is a trademark attorney or who knows one can chat their links so we can collect some good resources for you.
Here's how to join us!
1. Before entering the chat room, you may wish to let your Twitter followers know you are going into a chat room so they have a context for your Tweets for the next period of time.
Suggestion (without the quotes): "I'm going to join #indichat now. We're discussing how to file your trademark registartion applicaiton at http://www.uspto.gov."
2. To join the chat room, log onto http://www.tweetchat.com and then sign into Twitter if you have not already done so. Type in indiechat to join the chat room.
In the alternative, log onto http://www.tweetgrid.com. Choose the "1 x 3" option.
3.Type in your Twitter username and password.
4. You will see 3 columns. Type your Twitter username in the first column, left. This will allow you to see all of your Tweets.
5. Type #indiechat in the middle column. This will allow you to see all Tweets with the #indiechat hashtag.
6. Type @indiebusiness in the third column, right. This will allow you to see my chat stream with the filing instructions and ensure that you don't miss any questions, answers and comments.
7. Type your Tweets at the top where the space is provided and include #indiechat in the space provided for that, then press "Tweet!" to send your Tweet. You can also see that you can retweet and reply to Tweets right there.
8. Be respectful, have fun and please no blatant self-promotion until the end of the chat when there's a time to share your products and services, and send out any requests for things you may be looking for.
9. I'm donating 5 cents for each #indiechat Tweet to http://www.charitywater.org, so remember, the more you chat, the more we collectively help each other, and also others in need of clean, safe drinking water!
See you in the chat room!
dM
Every Friday, I feel guilty because I am nominated by others for #followfriday but have never had a chance to show off my #followfriday recommendations. The problem is that I have so many! I have met so many fantastic people here that it's impossible to acknowledge every one without leaving people out.
But thanks to Twitwall, I don't have to worry. With Twitwall, I can create my #followfriday for now and simply add to it. That way, I have lots of #followfridays and they are all in one place. That makes me happy.
So, here are my #followfriday's for today. The category is men. I like men, especially @djphotographer, my husband. However, until I can get him to Tweet more, although he is a great husband, father, photographer and videographer, you won't find him on my #followfriday list. Same for @jeffcoles, the world's best "little brother," who also is too busy to Tweet. (Feel free to nudge them...)
@jakrose: Because he's young, hungry and has great instincts about social media. He hosts great conferences too.
@michaelhyatt: Because his posts are wonderful and he always seems to be in the know.
@jeaston1: Because he reached out to me shortly after I arrived in Charlotte and became my Twitter and business friend. (You can meet him yourself tomorrow at http://tinyurl.com/cvmnyt
@boxofcrayons: Because he can help you find your best work and he'll be on my radio show this coming Monday: http://snipurl.com/9vcyk
@plagiarismtoday: Because he's making copyrights understandable for Indie Business owners.
@mashable: Even though mashable is composed of lots of people, men and women, the guy behind it all must be cool and he looks like a young movie star.
@richardbranson: Just because.
@chrisbrogan: Because he always has practical advice for dealing with people.
@ron_hudson: Because he shares how you can be influential without being obnoxious.
@doshdosh: Because each article he writes is full of professorial advice and is a great thing to print out, read, highlight and enjoy with your favorite beverage.
@rondawson: Because he's a super cool video expert who has helped me and @djphotographer a lot, and because he was smart enough to marry @tasradawson, a super cool lady who will be on a future #followfriday list.
@the_real_shaq: Because he's insightful, gifted, side-splitting funny; and because he's smart enough to make a statement about his integrity by Tweeting for himself when many other well-known public figures think that they don't have time to be real a few times a week in 140 characters or less.
OK, so I know I left out some great guys, but with Twitwall, I can just add to my list! Plus, I plan to add #followfriday for women, entrepreneurs under 30, mom entrepreneurs, Indies, my Indie Beauties (of course), boomers in business and more.
What men do you recommend we follow on #followfriday? And feel free to promote yourself guys if you have something great to offer!
dM
I drove the kids to Subway for dinner tonight because I'm too tired to cook, clean and all that stuff. So we're on our way to the strip mall when my 7-year old daughter starts reading from the new book she wrote for Young Author's Day at her school last week.
My 5-year old son was listening to the story, which summarized one of their afternoon trips to Chuck E. Cheese. My son was upset because only his sister and their father were included in the story. Here's what happened next.
Him: Why am I not in the story? Everyone's in the story but me.
Her: Well, it's not about you.
Him: Well, I'm not listening then. (Covering his ears.)
Her: (Crying. With real tears.) Bwaaah! I wrote this story and now you won't listen to it. I did a good job and you don't like it.
Him: (Frowing, looking like that guy you dated who hurt your feelings and had no clue why you were upset.)
Me: I had to jump in and explain to him that he needed to do something because he had clearly hurt his sister's feelings.
Him: (Turning to her.) Gee, what can I do to make it better?
Her: (Sniffing, with much drama.) Well, you can promise that you'll never do that again because I will have Young Author's Day every year for a long time and you have to listen to the stories and be polite and like them because I work really hard and I won an award and ...
Him: All that! That's just gonna be too many words. I can't listen to that many words. Do I have to talk that much too when I go to school?
I nearly crashed the car trying to hold back my laughter. It was like a miniature version of conversations between men and women. We get upset. He doesn't get it. He tries to make up. We have lots of tears, words and explanations that just make his eyes glaze over.
I'm still laughing. I hope you are too.
This morning, I was ironing my 7-year old daughter's pants for school. Her father was getting her breakfast ready. She was sitting on my bed in her favorite robe looking a bit on the tired side.
I told her to go down the hall to her room to get her socks, then returned to my ironing. A few minutes later, I turned around and saw that she was sitting on the bed with socks on. I didn't remember her going to get them so I asked.
Me: Where's you get those socks?
Her: Daddy brought them to me.
Me: What? You didn't get your own socks?
Her: No. Daddy did. What's the matter? You wish you had a maid too?
Her father overhead that. We all cracked up.
I think she'll be getting her own socks from now on.
Here's how to join tonight's #indiechat at 9:00pmEST. It looks like http://www.tweetchat.com is down so to join, use http://www.tweetgrid.com. First, let me introduce our speaker.
Mia Jackson of @doromarketing is a graduate of Stanford Univerisity. She serves companies nationwide, from customer-acquisition, direct marketing campaigns and all kinds of business development, Mia is a pro at helping businesses communicate their messages effectively and in ways that produce tangible results. You won't want to miss this chance to pick her brain about your own marketing strategies.
Here's how to join us!
1. Before entering the chat room, you may wish to let your Twitter followers know you are going into a chat room so they have a context for your Tweets for the next period of time.
Suggestion (without the quotes): "I'm going to join #indichat now. We're discussing marketing for success with our speaker, @doromarketing."
2. To join the chat room, log on to http://www.tweetgrid.com. Choose the "1 x 3" option.
3.Type in your Twitter username and password.
4. You will see 3 columns. Type your Twitter username in the first column, left. This will allow you to see all of your Tweets.
5. Type #indiechat in the middle column. This will allow you to see all Tweets with the #indiechat hashtag.
6. Type @doromarketing in the third column, right. This will allow you to see our expert guest's Tweets so you don't miss any of her questions, answers and comments.
7. Type your Tweets at the top where the space is provided and include #indiechat in the space provided for that, then press "Tweet!" to send your Tweet. You can also see that you can retweet and reply to Tweets right there.
8. Be respectful, have fun and please no blatant self-promotion until the end of the chat when there's a time to share your products and services, and send out any requests for things you may be looking for.
9. I'm donating 5 cents for each of tonight's #indiechat Tweet to http://www.charitywater.org, so remember, the more you chat, the more we collectively help each other, and also others in need of clean, safe drinking water!
See you in the chat room!
dM
About indiebusiness
- Name dM Coles Johnson
- Location Charlotte, NC, Washington, DC
- Web http://www.indieb...
- Bio CEO, Indie Business Network. Award winning small business advocate. Radio talk show host. Business networking leader since 2000.
Links to indiebusiness's Profiles
Walls of indiebusiness's Friends
If Facebook's payment options were fair to all businesses across the board, I would pay a fair price for the benefit of having access to millions of people at a time. By "fair," I mean that, if it's free for Shoemoney, it should be free for me too.
The Internet is generally free. But the services business owners have access to via the Internet are sometimes free, sometimes not. If a service is helping you make money and proliferate your brand, you should not be insulted if you are asked to pay a reasonable and fair price for the service. That's how business works.
When you have a business, why wouldn't you jump at the chance to easily and conveniently promote your brand on Facebook?
My business is worth it. And so are my customers.