Good Works Grapevine

I have to rant for a few minutes about the whole Facebook - Friends You May Know feature. I can honestly say that out of the dozens of people that pop up in that little box, I’ve known 3 and only been inclined to add 1. Who are these people? Where do they come from? Why does Facebook think that I want to be friends with these strangers? I find it all very odd.

On a happier note - FlogBlog on my Facebook profile is finally updating after months of staleness, so I’m pretty excited about that. However, I just noticed that its not FlogBlog anymore. Now its Simplaris Blogcast. Who knows? At least its working.

Enough ranting. Have a great night!

Happy Monday everyone! It’s a lovely day here in the DC burbs and I’m giving a little thought to my Monday morning routine (which is really my daily morning routine). Setting aside the household “must dos” (like letting the dogs out, cleaning up any mess from the night before, sending my hubby to work, etc.) how do I get the most from my AM time? I will admit that I am not a morning person and I’ve started sleeping in a little later in order to catch up on some much needed R&R. So, I’m usually not coherent until 10AM. Most of my friends are up at the crack of dawn, but I am much better in the evening hours.

I am looking for a little advice (and getting up earlier ain’t happening) so here’s my plan. May there are a few tips you could share to help me streamline my tasks?

• Check my news and blog feeds. I have a gazillion of these set-up and really find value in all of them for different reasons. The problem is, this morning I’m looking at about 414 posts to go through. I prefer the Feeds option offered by Flock, so I’m not sure whether there is a more useful tool out there. Is there a more effective way to manage feeds that you can share with our readers?
• Write my blog posts. I currently write for 5 blogs with more on the way. One is weekly and the rest are daily. I know that I need a better work flow for blogging and should really study Chris Brogan’s blogging work flow. It’s a great process.
• Check for RFPs. Until I get my business really moving, I’m checking the web for RFPs (got one on my desk that’s due Friday). Looking for blog help, small web development projects and the likes. What I find here lays out the rest of my week.
• Return phone calls. Inevitably, I need to return calls from Friday.

During the week, I do a little of this, but Monday AM is by far the time suck for catching up. During the week I tweet, blog, write proposals, write technical docs, write strategy docs, prepare for speaking gigs, etc. My latest endeavor is setting up a GoodDogz.org presence in Second Life. So, my weeks are busy.

I guess I’m just a sucker for time management and am looking for some suggestions/tools for managing my freelancer time.

I will admit that I am a bargain hunter and will ask for freebies every chance I get. Yesterday, I noticed that LinkedIn had a special for $60/year on presumeably their Business Account. It was noted at the bottom of the page that shows who’s viewed your profile. I clicked through to the subscription page but there was no $60/year special offer. So I emailed LinkedIn’s customer service.

I was very politely told that this was a typo and that their IT department would be removing it immediately (btw - it’s still there).  So, me being the cheapskate that I am, asked if they would still honor the pricing since it WAS listed on the site and I quickly brought it to their attention. I was even more politely told no. They did offer me a free month trial that I would inevitably have to call to cancel after a month because there was no way I was paying $200 for a year’s worth of LinkedIn.  I can hear the conversation now -

BB: “I’d like to cancel my LinkedIn business account.”

LI: “But you’ll miss out on all of the huge business benefits that our paid service offers.”

BB: “No thanks, I want to cancel my account.”

LI: “What if we give you an extra month at the end of the year?”

BB: “Seriously, I want to cancel my account.”

You get the idea. What happened to the days when being a good online citizen was rewarded or when business’s honored their mistakes in order to keep their customers happy? Apparently those days are long gone and I’m personally going to use this experience as a reason to be more accommodating to my own clients (and to check my own work for typos).

I must admit that I joined Second Life to try to figure it out. What’s the appeal? How can businesses use this? What’s the value? After a month, I have to admit - I’m no closer to answers but…Second Life (SL) is just plain fun.

My avatar (Cordelia Gothly) is young and beautiful and wears cool clothes. I get to shop for things I would never wear in real life (RL). I go to dance clubs, listen to cool tunes and dance longer than I ever could. And to date, I’ve spent about $40 on clothes, tattoos, shoes, jewelry, cool hair, gloves, clubbing, you name it. Imagine getting all of that for $40 in real life! While my husband raids on Mondays and Wednesdays on World of Warcraft, I sit in my chair listening to tunes, dancing and hanging out in Second Life.

I have to also note that the people that I’ve met are incredibly nice, helpful and respectful. I’ve been mostly having fun at The Blue Tattoo and have found several places that I like to shop including Pretty N Punk, Goth1c0 and Divine Divas.

My next steps are to delve into the Non-Profit Commons so I can start to explore the non-profit angle and take some DJ classes so that I can spin my own tunes in SL.

It’s fun, cheap and opens up a new, limitless world of friends, possibilities and fun (did I mention fun?)

I had a client ask me, “How often should I blog?” I immediately rose high to my blogger pedestal and answered, “You really should be blogging daily, certainly no less than weekly. You have to remember, it’s all about engagement.” To which he said, “We’re a group of attorneys with full case loads. How in the world can I commit to blogging daily?” At the end I acquiesced and told him that if they could blog weekly, they would be in a better position than they are now - which is blogging less than monthly - and that we could track to see how that was helping their SEO, conversion, etc.

Yesterday, I thought about this conversation again, and looked at my own blog. How pathetic that I feel so comfortable wagging my finger at the client for not blogging daily while I can barely push out a post a week. My stats have gone down (I think as StatPress seems to have stopped working), my feeds have dropped off - I am a pathetic little soul.

The truth is - you (and I) should blog as often as possible. Yes, it’s good to have a blog plan and work flow, but hey - sometimes you just have something to say. Instead of waiting for that prophetic thought to come to mind - blog about the little things as well as the major stories in your life, business or organization.

I made the life decision to abandon the cushiness of predictable, full-time, salaried employment to venture out into the world of freelance consulting again. My hope is that I can blog, write, consult and help organizations better utilize web and emerging technology. But, all in all, I look forward to getting back out there, on my own terms, and finding the opportunities to do what I love the best - marrying people who need technology with the most effective solutions.

As I step down from my pedestal, I vow that if you give me the rest of the weekend off, I will practice what I preach and blog, blog, blog!

Well, I took the leap and quit my full-time job. As of August 1, I have decided to go back to freelance consulting. This is a very exciting move for me as I loved consulting and miss the 9 years I spent running my own business. The good news for you is that now I should have plenty of time for blogging, writing articles and case studies and fielding your questions. I look forward to re-connecting with everyone out there in the blogosphere! So, bring it on!

Happy 4th everyone! We’re headed to a friend’s house in Arlington for some burgers and beer. I think that an important part of blogging is getting to know the author. So, while I want to keep my blog as close to its purpose as possible, I often have opinions, ideas and general thoughts about life. I thought that I’d use Fridays to tell you a little bit about myself so you get to know Beth the person as well as Beth the social media junkie.

On Wednesday night I found myself in a haze of nostalgia. When I was a kid, my parents (who were very young themselves) loved to crank up the stereo, sending out waves of Cream, Eric Clapton, Traffic, you get the picture. I was very fortunate to have been exposed to great rock ‘n roll at a very young age and have carried my love of music throughout my life. I’ll admit it - I’m a music elitist. So, the other night I decided to download those tunes from my childhood from iTunes. I downloaded The Very Best of Cream and Feelin’ Alright: The Very Best of Traffic and grooved to Sunshine of Your Love and Low Spark of High Heeled Boys. It really took me back to a time when I felt safe, warm and happy. It was a good thing to do and I’m glad that I did it.

What did your parents listen to when you were a kid? When you listen to that music, how do you feel? Nostalgia is good - and lately I’ve felt a need to embrace it.