Browsing Tag

blogs

Blogging? Well Maybe I Will

This is a guest-post from Kim Howard who blogs at Alz You Need to Know. I’ve known Kim for almost a year now and have had the opportunity to answer questions and aid along the way.   While out to dinner in Austin a couple of weeks ago, she spoke about how much she is enjoying blogging and how it is a great outlet and when I asked Why she was blogging – she was just passionate about what she is doing.  Kim was kind enough to put a pithy piece together on why she blogs.  Since I have been watching her efforts and the ongoing progress she is making in the area, I thought more folks should know about her and her blog.   So here it is:

How did I start blogging? Well it was a process for sure and an excellent question considering that I was using dial-up just a year ago. No really! I figured who needed wi-fi when using my 1999 Dell computer with Windows 99, I certainly didn’t. Wow things have changed drastically over the past year. With wireless online, I think about what I can share with others nearly daily on my blog.

Since I am now caught up with this decade and have joined the rest of the world on the internet. I started blogging because after years of working in the world of healthcare I wanted to share my thoughts with friends and family members dealing with loved ones with Alzheimer’s. This is an area of passion for me since I have dedicated my career in recreational therapy to help improve the quality of life of patients and their families a blog seemed like a natural extension of my efforts.

Blogging may not have been my first choice, but as I investigated options, it seemed the right way to go. I wanted to build a community in which people could find solace from their stressful day as a care giver. I envisioned my blog becoming an outlet for others and a way to record stories of loved ones with AD. I want my blog to turn into a community for those in need of finding assistance with their loved one with AD. This is the focus of my efforts – a place to share my ideas and hopefully get others involved in the conversation.

I have enjoyed sharing my experiences with others and hopefully I can aid just one person – that is why I blog.

August 29, 2008 by
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Delinquent for sure – but here’s the skinny

So thought I would do a summary based on my topic ideas, good news and bad.  The good news I had a great guest post from Kris and one on the way from Kim Howard over at Alz You Need to Know.  While we did get two guest post, one done and one on the way no one actually posted on any of the other ideas yet, so is life.  Having more than 10 regulars helps is my guess on that one…..

The other interesting thing is there will be a new writer here soon, more of a “sometimes blogger”, Sheryl Altschuler.  Sheryl and I have been working on a project for a while which should come out soon and this project has encouraged her to step over the line from traditional marketing to being a social media convert, which I’m leveraging into one of those walk the walk concepts.  This clearly wasn’t easy let me tell you, so WELCOME Sheryl and where is that about page you owe me? 🙂

Thanks for Kris and Kim for their efforts and Sheryl’s continued willingness to put up with my theoretical concepts.

Cheers!

~jon

August 16, 2008 by
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Great Ideas? Maybe not, but they are YOURS!

So I continue to just be so busy with life, that it is hard to keep the content comming, but true to my less fluff more value statement, I thought I would spend some time and share some topics hopefully you can blog on. I’ve already had a couple of great guest posts from folks and 2 more on the way. My thanks to the Bigg Success Show and Stephen for their efforts. I also am interested in letting folks guest post on the following topics (especially the first 9) or another topics which you feel might fit well into this eclectic mix here at Spatially Relevant:

Business and Social Media

  • What is the biggest challenge for social media for general corporate wide participation/acceptance?
  • What is the best use of social media for a business? Service, demand gen, knowledge management…
  • Our brand has been hijacked online – now what?!?!

Social Media and Ethics

  • What role do standards play in creating transparency and authenticity, if any?
  • How can identity management improve accountability?
  • What is the biggest hurdle for establishing best practices and ethical frameworks for social media?

Standards

  • How can standards assist in scaling a given activity?
  • What controls and governance opportunities exist for standards organizations/development which are NOT being pursued today in Social Media?
  • What is the value in a standards based approach?

Product Management and Marketing

  • Can a technology development model change a product or companies viability in the marketplace?
  • Who owns the product strategy – the customer, the product management or the market?
  • How can positioning and targeting of buyer persona’s improve sales execution?

Better Place Concepts

  • This <single experience> represents an opportunity for all of us to learn <X>?
  • In the last 90 days this in the biggest lesson I learned which should be shared
  • If <X> was a commonly held belief/activity/x it would be easier for everyone to <x>?

Personal Growth

  • I’m putting an personal action plan in place to accomplish <X> in the next 30 days?
  • I just realized I’m not the center of the universe, now what?
  • I used to think X was sorta important, now I think it is a requirement for a fulfilled experience

Personal Shrink (two sides to every coin)

  • I am the center of the universe, deal with it jackass.
  • If everyone would stop X, I’d be a better person
  • I can’t believe you don’t appreciate X

Geography

  • What cities are all of your Grateful Dead/Phish/Panic/Yonder T-shirts from?
  • Where is the best place to do nothing at and why?
  • What is the smallest city you actually flew to and why?

If you end up posting on one of these please link back and send me an email, I’ll do a summary post which itemizes all the blogs which posted on Wednesday and links to the posts.

If you think you have a guest post in one of these send me an email at publisher AT spatiallyrelevant DOT org.

I will schedule my guest post schedule for next saturday due to travel, so I look forward to your posts and submission by Thursday – midnight for an eligible guest post. Ok, Friday am will work, but much later than that – no promises.

So the question is – can you get listed in both the Wednesday list and the Saturday list? Yup, you just have to participate/do the work. It does have kinda of an outsourcing feel or another way to look at it is I’m going to pimp my list for you.

When you send the email for a guest post or to point me to your post on one of the above, please include the following:

Name, blog URL and Post URL – A sentence about your blog would be cool, so the folks here might want to add you to their RSS reader.

if you are interested in a guest post, just give me a sentence or two on why your should be considered along with the post you think should make it. I will post no more than 10 during the month of August.  Everyone looks forward to YOUR POV on these.

Hope this is fun and works, because I clearly would like to learn more about the folks that read my stuff and how we can as a group influence our space.

~jon

August 3, 2008 by
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It’s a BIGG Network and A Real Pleasure

This is a guest-post from Mary-Lynn and George of the Bigg Success Show where she and George share their life, their interviews and years of expertise to their audience/listenership/readers. Yup, they have talent AND good things for folks to grok on – a radio reality check.

It is with great appreciation and respect that I post this piece, which well – made me blush and Emily is always reminding me that real people are just as valuable as “friends“, if not more valuable.

This post is really timely, since I’m posting this right now from the cabin overlooking a great morning valley view, getting back to basics – people, family and the outdoors.

Thanks for the post, the reminder and kind words. I did decide to put a couple of reactions inline, in bold/Italics, which could be considered editing, but thought I should share a little bit my reaction and Emily’s for y’all.

Merging Your Networking Worlds


We sure are social! Social networking and social sharing sites are among the most popular on the internet. We can make friends all over the world. Yet some people haven’t jumped on the social networking bandwagon.

At the same time, business networking groups are also growing. We crave interaction with other people and we’ve realized that there is tremendous power in our network. Yet some people have abandoned traditional networking for the most part.

We think it’s best to use both methods because each of them has its own significant advantage. (@emmyeg: “Told you so Jon”)

Social networking is more transparent


Social networking offers a significant advantage over traditional networking – networks are more transparent. For the most part, we can see each other’s friends.

With offline networking, you may see someone you know with a few friends or colleagues. However, short of a significant event (e.g. a wedding), you usually don’t see his or her extended group.

With social networks, you can browse your friend’s entire list of connections. You know all the people they know within that particular site. You can grow your base of friends much more quickly than you may offline.

Traditional networking offers fuller communication
When you’re online, you can LOL. You can :). There are ways to communicate who you are, but your true personality doesn’t fully come out.

If we talk on the phone, more of “you” comes through. Even better, when we meet in-person, your full dynamic is on display. That’s the richest form of communication.

We have a great example of this. We subscribe to Jon’s RSS feed for Spatially Relevant. We read every post. While a lot of Jon’s personality comes through, we’re glad we’ve met him in person and witnessed him giving a great presentation. (JG: Thanks for the feedback, I was completely nervous as it was my first social media pitch in public, but it was good to have both George and Mary-Lynn from a confidence perspective)

That’s where you truly see how energetic he is. You get the full sense of his fun-loving spirit. You see how truly brilliant he is (JG:blushes, not quite sure about that). Blogs, e-mails, instant messages, social networks, and all other forms can’t duplicate the experience of meeting someone in person.

Merge your networking worlds


Our point is this – merge your networking worlds. The real power in a network comes when your online and offline efforts work seamlessly together. You may be part of a virtual group that organizes a meeting in the real world. You can easily stay in touch with people online that you met offline.

Don’t stick your head in the sand … explore a social network or two. Don’t hide behind a computer … get out where the people are.

Because that’s the bottom line – networking, whether online or offline, is about people. It’s about building meaningful relationships. The richness of the human experience lies in experiencing humans.

(Emily: “Yup, so glad we met them, good people without a doubt”)

August 2, 2008 by
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