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Barbara’s gift and the Lululemon recyclable bag
It would ruin any mystery surrounding the birthday gift I’m giving her tonight. But my experience at Lululemon yesterday bears sharing with my audience of business owners and other interested consumers.
I selected a cool, reversible jacket as my gift to Barbara, brought it to the checkout counter and asked that it be wrapped as a gift. “We don’t have gift boxes. We’re a sustainable store,” I was told with just the slightest edge of superiority.
“Could you put a little tissue around it?” I asked, hoping for a touch of festivity in the unwrapping experience.
“No, we don’t believe in adding waste to the environment,” the salesgirl said. Actually, she didn’t say that exactly, but that was my interpretation of her repeating the ‘sustainable’ mantra in slightly different language.
Another jolt I got at that counter was the guestbook sign-in. Hoping to get the inside scoop on what towns other shoppers were visiting from, I was surprised to see that the pages consisted solely of names and email addresses. Clearly, paper, envelopes and stamps were not going to be used by this company.
I admire and support the philosophy and commitment of Lululemon, but have to confess to suffering a bit of culture shock, this being my first time interfacing with the reality of it.
I do plan to tie a (recyclable) ribbon around the cool, environmentally correct bag they did give me for transporting said gift to its recipient. I hope Barbara likes it. They did print out an extra gift receipt, just in case.
You don’t have to be a college student or grad to benefit from the advice in this revised edition of Lindsey’s book. Lindsey, for those of you who don’t know, is my daughter.
She used to come to me for career advice, but the tables have turned. She’s my go-to person for all things electronic and social media related when it comes to business. When I was considering linking sites with a particular organization recently, and I sought her wisdom, I told her I wasn’t sure I understood exactly what was required of me or what the benefits would be. But it sounded kind of good from the pitch I received. “Mom, if you don’t understand it and aren’t highly motivated to participate, say no.” I followed that advice with no regrets.
Please, buy a copy of her book for yourself or someone you love who’s looking for work. She’s a trustworthy guide and will be truly grateful for your purchase.
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My son got mad at me a few years ago when my newsletter column listed 100 things I was grateful for, and the UPS guy was ranked above my kids. Let me say at the outset of this post that I am grateful, first and foremost, for my family members. (Happy, Rob?)
Recently, though, I’ve had an overwhelming sense of gratitude for the ease that technology has brought to me and my business particularly. (It was likely Steve Jobs’ untimely death that brought that to the forefront of my mind.)
After giving my free webinar a few weeks ago, I gave my first official webinar on Thursday evening, and I felt like I’d found a new home. I had over 20 participants listening from their phones or computers in locations as far away as California and Texas and as close as New Hampshire and Stamford, CT. Those who missed the live event were sent links to a recording that matched the audio and visual components. No more need to worry about scheduling. Everything is available to participants whenever they have time to access it. This is HUGE!
Using Easy Seminar, a website designed to handle all the pieces of webinar communication, I was able to see who was calling from where, what time they signed on, if they had their hand up and were muted or unmuted. While I’ve attended calls where similar technology was used, I had never looked ‘behind the curtain’ to figure out how to do it myself. It’s really cool!
In addition to having a national audience, I’m able to create slides using PowerPoint and upload them to this site. We’ve created a private Facebook community where webinar participants can share their thoughts, encouragement and questions with each other. I was able to lift their photos from that social network to use for this slide which I showed the group when describing my ideal clients.
I first had to use PowerPoint in the late 90′s when I was still a computer novice. I went to an ‘expert’ to create my visuals for a program I was giving in Buenos Aires. I was beginning to learn the basics, but definitely needed his help uploading photos, creating transitions, etc. I had zero idea of what I was doing. I remember asking him if it would be possible to make ALL of the backgrounds of the slides black. I was such an amateur. I posed the question with such gravitas, as if I were asking for the password to Fort Knox. The ‘expert’ definitely played his part to the hilt. Rather than truthfully telling me, “Yeah, I just need to press duplicate slide 20 times,” he kind of grunted and groaned as if there were great effort required to make yet another slide background black. Knowing what I know now, I’m blushing at how little I knew.
That’s part of the gratitude. I’ve taken multiple classes over the years to get up to speed on technology. Now, I love going to google and writing in the slot, “how do you do a screen shot on the mac” and having the answer pop right up.
Is there a piece of technology you’ve mastered recently or are particularly grateful for this year? I’d love to know.
This entry could be subtitled, “The Problem With Texting.” Here’s what happened:
I treat myself to a pedicure every couple of months. Not the standard fare of popping into the ubiquitous nail salons in my area, but a high end, highly skilled treatment that really takes care of these bodily extremities and nurtures me as well. My practitioner, a successful business owner, operates her shop solo where she sees one devoted client at a time. She communicates primarily through text messages, which is how I had set up my appointment for last Friday.
Imagine my dismay when I arrived at her salon to find another woman about to dip her feet into the warm, bubbly tub my toes were yearning for. “You’re not expecting me, are you?” I asked, stating the obvious.
My pedicurist looked at me with wonder and said, “No.”
What do you do in 2011 when you believe you’re right and can prove it? I pulled my BlackBerry out of its holster and went directly to her text message that said, “I have anytime on Friday…” Admittedly, this was followed by a couple more phrases which didn’t make sense and I ignored. I texted back, “I’d like 10am on Friday” and put it on my calendar.
Because she’s a savvy business owner, she too has a BlackBerry and also found our correspondence. She looked at it, looked at me, and said, “What I meant to say was I don’t have anytime on Friday.” Human error.
I laughed, had a moment of relief that I wouldn’t have to face the icy parking lot with open-toed shoes, and said good-bye.
I won’t tell you today what transpired. I’m curious to hear what you would have done as the client and the business owner. I’ll post all your comments.
It’s hard to believe that something as uncomfortable and aggravating as frustration could actually be a good thing. But, consider this: frustration may be the indicator that you’re about to learn something new.
It’s one of my least favorite feelings, but as a sole/soul proprietor one that I experience frequently since there’s no water cooler near the desk in my home office where I might find easy access to answers. Google helps a lot, and I have my own personal search engine of colleagues I’ve assembled to go to with specific, un-google-able concerns. I’ve learned to recognize frustration and accept it as part of my growth process.
David Pogue writes about technology for the New York Times and breaks the subject down into bite-sized pieces that I understand. I love his style and humor. I quote him in my 21 Strategies for Growing Your Business talk, because he helped me get a better perspective on my own learning curve.This was written in January, 2002.
The digital age has done wonders for photography. Once you had to take your film to the mall for developing.
But today you can eliminate all that…hassle with little more than a…digital camera, a…printer and a …computer.
Just connect the camera to the computer with a USB cable, copy your multimegabyte JPEG files to the hard drive; open the photos in an image-processing program; rotate and crop each one, adjusting the color; calculate the pixel density and desired output dimensions—and then click on print. What could be simpler?
In 2002 I’m not sure I knew what a USB cable was, let alone pixel density. Now? Piece of cake! Yesterday, I had to ask someone what an “impression” was on facebook. Maybe next year I’ll laugh at my ignorance. The emotion/feeling that comes is frustration–wanting so badly to grasp that which has not yet come into my reach.
I trust that what I need to know will permeate my brain through osmosis and simply being part of the zeitgeist. Plus, I take classes, attend workshops and watch tutorials to acquire the knowledge. I will learn what I need to know.
For now, I respect my frustration, keep moving towards what it is I desire to understand and don’t berate or speak poorly to myself that I’m not there yet. I only experience frustration over things that have meaning and I’m unable to achieve. Moving beyond frustration to understanding and mastery leads to self-esteem.
Like you, I’ve learned so much in my years as an entrepreneur. There’s no finish line that I can see, and I’m very much in the race. Which, I’ve learned, is not to the swift.
I was riveted to every word of the fast-paced and brilliant dialogue in the recently released movie about Facebook entitled The Social Network. I’ve been moaning and groaning about social media, but having experienced this film about the creation of thefacebook (it’s original name; how it got the name changed is a great scene), I am in awe of what was created in a dorm room at Harvard only 5 short years ago and will not moan or groan anymore. I get it now.
Although this is a fictionalized version of Mark Zuckerberg’s rise to fame and notoriety, it relies on enough facts to convey the meteoric spread of the phenomenon he created (or stole). The dismissal of his opponents, the Winkelvoss twins, from Harvard president’s office was one of my favorite scenes.
Mark Zuckerberg’s character never hesitates to edit what is on his mind, no matter how direct or tactless the comment may be. I found myself cheering him on when he chided one of the attorneys who was able to add $18,000 and $1000 and come up with a $19,000 sum. Zuckerberg does not suffer fools lightly.
What the trailer points out, and what is the theme of the movie, is the lengths to which this genius entrepreneur would go to fulfill his human needs for acceptance and attention from a girl and the university’s elite social clubs. In real-life television interviews, Mark Zuckerberg speaks of his mission to get people connected. In the movie version, this desire leads to an affluent, but lonely bottom line.
In coaching, the ultimate question is, What do you really want? From the beginning, the Mark character lets us know that it’s not about the money. In fact, he has become the youngest billionaire ever. It leaves me wondering though. Mark, have you gotten what you really wanted?
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In response to my blog post on Monday, the brilliant and creative Denise DiGrigoli, owner of Troy Fine Art Services, Inc., came rushing into my Remarkable Women’s Network event Tuesday evening exclaiming, “I’ve got something to show you!” Denise had written me a heartfelt response to my entry on self-promotion the day before. Last night she handed me this page from Martha Stewart which elaborately pinpoints exactly where you can find Martha–on television, on twitter (or The Twitter as Betty White so adorably calls it), at events, on the radio, on her blog and The Daily Wag which catalogs her pooches’ comings and goings. That’s how Martha is staying connected and letting her fans know where she is.
Marketing is not a passive activity. Build a website and they will come? Not anymore.
In response to Martha’s powerful example, Denise who is nothing if not a consummate go-getter created her own self-promotional version.
I challenge you to cut and paste your own version of Where To Find __________ and understand that a one-time postcard mailing or monthly newsletter is not going to get the big results. Today’s market requires multiple channels of visibility. Martha has laid them out well on her page. Borrow her example and use her variety and breadth of reach as a target.
My head is still spinning from the informational overload, excitement, new relationships and possibilities opened as a result of attending this spectacular conference in NYC last week. I want to offer my own session next year called something like, “So you’re totally inspired by BlogHer ’11. Now what?”
Thought I’d share some of my follow-up to-do list to inform and inspire you, and for you to hold me accountable.
- Check out and spend time on these websites and blogs among others:
tarynp.com
alltop.com
pearltrees.com
topsy.com
tumblr.com
smartbrief.com
- Spend time: researching google analytics for my blog posts, inserting a google tool bar, learning more about feedburner, clicky.com, wompra, postrank, filtering keyword reports.
- Add social media addresses to my email sig file. New business cards with social media addresses.
- Introduce people I met at BlogHer to people I know who would benefit from knowing them.
- Write blogs about each of the subjects I noted, like the fine line between friending and stalking; whether or not to truncate blog posts; what it’s like to be more learner than expert, etc.
- Form a social media mastermind group to help me and others up their tech skills in these areas.
- Spend dedicated time on twitter and facebook daily
I will approach these in bite-size pieces and spread them over the next several weeks and months until using social media and feeling more on top of this becomes second nature. Currently it feels like I’m in the parking lot of my elementary school with my father pushing me on my two-wheeler with unsteady training wheels. I look forward to being on the open roads sailing along on a ten-speed, hands free.
One of the first questions I was asked Monday night during my talk at the Wilton Library was about social media–how much to participate and which venues to show up in. I drew from the wisdom of my daughter Lindsey who is not only a successful businesswoman, but also a whale (she has thousands of followers) on the social media scene. She advised, “If you’re not comfortable doing it, don’t.”
Today there’s an article in the Arts section of the New York Times about Woody Allen’s newest technological venture since “his invention of the orgasmatron.” He’s recording some of his works as audiobooks. This is a stretch for the auteur who is quoted as saying: “I don’t own a computer, have no idea how to work one, don’t own a word processor, and have zero interest in technology.” Gee, he seems to have been fairly successful without all that.
An additional article caught my eye in the same issue of the paper today. The front page, below the fold, featured the best horseshoe thrower in America. Color photo and four columns across. He’s being recognized in the world’s greatest newspaper for what he does best.
If you’re doing what you love and are really, really good at it, the world will beat a path to your door. I’m still dabbling in the social media waters, as I know they’re not subsiding, but focusing most of my time on the things I do best and letting the word spread as it will. I encourage you to do the same at whatever speed you travel.
My committed goal to my action partner yesterday was to complete the design and printing of a mailing label off my MacBook. I just bought a new printer for the job as my HP All-in-One rejects my mailing labels. I unpacked the printer, read through the instructions (the short form, not the manual), did a mail merge with my Pages app on the Mac and Address Book and pushed print.
Nothing happened. Aarghh. This is when I really wish there were a cubicle next to my home office where I could simply ask Mr. or Ms. IT, “What am I doing wrong?” But, no. No wonder isolation is one of the top complaints of home-based business owners. So, I did the next best thing and called the help line. Eventually it worked. I felt inordinately pleased with myself over this accomplishment. So happy in fact, I decided to take on yet one more technology learning–how to work the timer on my digital camera. The motivation was that I wanted to show you with my printed label. Having a compelling motivator made learning this trick quick business.
In my new edition of Soul Proprietor I devote an entire chapter to gaining an edge on technology. When I wrote the first edition, back in 2001, I was using email and not much else. Now, many of my conversations at networking events revolve around technology. I met someone yesterday who is a computer instructor. Before long we were deep into a discussion of the Parallels program for getting PC programs running on Macs. You can learn a lot about a person through the topic of computers.
(To pre-order your copy of the New Edition of Soul Proprietor, click on the link above.)
