The 2011 Holiday Season is fast approaching and to kick it off we are organizing a dual-city Webgrrls International Holiday Celebration December 6th with the San Francisco Webgrrls and December 7th with the New York City Webgrrls, and when the Webgrrls Community gets together, it becomes an industry event, not only about revelry but also about the celebration of the achievements of women in technology and business.

December 6 – San Francisco

The San Francisco Webgrrls Holiday Celebration will be Tuesday, December 6th at the Techsoup space. 

We will toast to success and ring in the Holidays with a wine and cheese affair with some great wine, great raffle prizes, and a great San Francisco crowd. Get more information and RSVP!

December 7 – New York City

The NYC Webgrrls Holiday celebration will be Wednesday, December 7th at Wix Lounge, a co-working and event space for creative professionals (located steps from Union Square).

We will have a great menu and can share a toast with some great wine & beer,  and some amazing people. Get more information and RSVP!

Webgrrls International has a lot celebrate this year! A new site, new technology, our workshop line-up has grown offering new information and new skills to our members and community, our regular and small business membership continues to grow. San Francisco Webgrrls has a new chapter leader, Anne Ward, and is growing exponentially and the NYC Webgrrls is having its best year. The Webgrrls Blog, Webgrrls Wisdom, continues to influence as our subscriber base continues to grow. We have created some great momentum for 2012. It has been a very rewarding year for many of us.

Come and celebrate with us!

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Don’t get a “job”, create a life and career you love – why not?

I’ve done a lot of complaining here, but of all the things I’ve complained about, I can’t complain about my life…….. And all this time I’ve been paid to say what is on my mind on television, you don’t get any luckier in life than that.
~ Andy Rooney

One of the things that struck me during the coverage of Andy Rooney’s life and passing, was his resolute claim that he did what he loved professionally for 70 years – and in fact he did it right up to his passing at the age of 92. Some would say that he was one of the privileged few, but I say why not do something you love to do professionally? why shouldn’t we all do what we love?

Living your life’s passion can not only be extremely rewarding but can lead to prosperity. Interestingly, most creative professionals that I know, will tell you that they do what they love – why can’t this be true for everyone?

Watch Gary Vaynerchuk’s funny and inspiring video. Gary is a 35 year old New York Times and Wall Street Journal Best-Selling author and a self-trained wine and social media expert, and the founder of Winelibrary.com.

Gary Vaynerchuk: Do what you love (no excuses!) TED Talk

This video contains (mostly) adult language

Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.
~ Wayne Dyer

Have you asked yourself:  What do you love to do? What do you care about? What sparks you? Find your niche, whether it’s working for a non-profit or becoming an entrepreneur creating a company based on your passion?

1. Is there something you already love doing, a hobby? 
2. Care about your self first – figure out what you love and then do it.
3. Study the market carefully and you will find opportunities. Consider conducting a market survey with potential customers to uncover untapped needs, position yourself to succeed

I am not suggesting that you leave your great paying job tomorrow …. but really think about it, plan it and pursue it. Start in small steps, and work on pursuing your passion after you leave the job you are lukewarm about.

Here are 3 stories of people I know who are pursuing their passions:

People might tell you, you can’t do it, you will starve – well I am here to tell you that you can! Here are 3 stories, of people that I personally know, who are making a go at it in 3 very different ways.

• Molly Butler, someone I know in Atlanta was just laid off – she actually enjoyed her full-time job, but her true love is pets. This past year she started Wag & Purr, a pet sitting services she was growing on the side. Now, it’s a no brainer, the passion she had as a side business will most certainly grow and provide her a great income – because she loves it. 

• I have a friend who has been a writer his entire career – he has written for major publications, the news – you name it. But recently he started working on writing a book about 2 of his great loves – Sports and cooking.  There is no doubt in my mind that this venture will be successful, because his passion makes him a credible source, that and the fact that there are so few cookbooks geared to men. 

• Rob Mazze was a well respected Executive at a large New York advertising agency, who got laid off less than 2 years ago. When that happened, he went through a period of introspection about WHAT to do next, and decided to follow his passion for yoga, (which he regularly practiced for 20 yrs.). He enrolled in the teacher training program at Yoga to the People and is now registered as an instructor by the Yoga Alliance. Keep in mind that he went from a highly paid executive job to being a student and re-building his career and income. In a very short time he has built a private clientele as well as regularly instructing at several studios. I have no doubt that his business will grow, and if he chooses he will soon be running his own studio.  

These are just a few of the stories I know personally, you get the idea …. define yourself by your passion, build your business based on that definition and you will have an instant brand for yourself and your business, and that is something that potential customers are naturally drawn to.

Passion is important, especially in your work life since we spend an average of 8270 hours a year at work – and I will tell you that entrepreneurs typically spend much more than that. Be in control of your own future and create the opportunities to do what you love!

Everyone seems to understand that it’s important to have a “brand” as branding is the foundation on which your entire online marketing ‘platform’ is built.  But more and more people are asking me: “How can I build a brand on the various Social Media platforms?”.

Social Media is Nothing New

Before we dive into the tips, it’s good to realize that Social Media is nothing new and we all have been doing it from the beginning of time…Social Media is about connecting with people.  What has changed are the tools.  The tools now allow us to make that human connection on a whole different level…having access to people from all over the world where information travels at the speed of light!

Tips for Building a Brand on Social Media

1. Define your brand…your story
   In Social Media, your brand story appears in your bio or tag line.  Make sure to write a great bio/tag line that tells your story. 

   Things you should include in your Brand Story

   • Identify What You Value
   • Identify What Makes You Unique
   • Identify How You Want To Be Perceived
   • Identify Your Specialty
   • Identify Your Target Market 

   Here are 3 examples on Twitter community that tell a great story:
   

   

   One important note is to tailor your bio for each community if necessary.  The target audiences that you want to reach in different communities might vary, so, you have to know the community in order to speak to it’s members in a language that they understand and expect.

   Also, remember to use keywords that you want to be found under in your bio as this is how users of that community will find you.

2. Use a Great Photo
   I can’t stress this enough.  Your photo is the human connection.  Make sure that it is clear and portrays your personality.  Can you guess which photos I think you should use?
   
3. Engage with your community to build relationships
   Because there is so much going on in everyone’s lives today, engaging with the community members is the only way to stay on top of their minds.

   How do you engage?

   • Ask Questions
   • Answer other people’s questions
   • Comment on people’s posts
   • Respond to people when they try to reach out to you

   To help you manage your Social Media communications, you have to monitor what people say about your brand and respond in a timely manner. To monitor what people say about your brand, you can use Google Alerts, Addictomatic, and Twitter Search.

4. Be Remarkable!
   In order to succeed in Social Media, you have to be remarkable!  The power of Social Media tools are SHARING features, where people can easily pass something they like on to their networks.

   People share remarkable things

   People want to connect with remarkable people

5. Be Ubiquitous
   You have to create multiple streams of YOU on all the different social networks but you have to create a “HUB” (usually your blog/website) where people can find all of the info about you in one place. 

   

What do you think?  Do you have any other tips for building a brand on Social Media, please share in the comments!

You cannot solve a problem from the same consciousness that created it. You must learn to see the world anew.
~ Albert Einstein

Occupy your mind – Attracting and creating opportunity

The global “Occupy” movement has been on my mind a great deal lately, it disturbs me to the core, I understand the anger – at times, I am angry too. I am not a liberal, conservative, communist, a tea partier or a socialist, now that we got that out of the way – my feelings, hopes and dreams about this country, simply do not fit into any of those little categories. Like the occupiers, I want a renewed democracy, prosperity, and to restore “The American Dream” to it’s rightful glory.

I do not resent wealth or wealthy individuals – I like money! What I resent, and in fact detest, are those individuals and institutions who have set about to kill the dream, and the dishonest means by which wealth has been achieved and rewarded in this country, and those that made “Greed is Good” a mantra for Wall Street ……. But, I am not choosing to occupy Wall Street – instead, I choose to focus my energies on creating my own wealth …. doing so ethically and honestly, as an example to others, and supporting those who will pursue the same. 

It’s a sad commentary that the general public is actually better versed in Kim and Kourtney Kardashian’s antics than our nation’s politics ….. that has got to change …. perhaps that will be one of the things that the “Occupy” movement will achieve. But it’s time to focus the “Occupy” tactics on what is sorely needed – jobs that pay a decent wage, and hope for those who have been struggling. 

I support the intent of the “Occupy” movement because…..

1. The “Occupy”  movement is a wake up call to American business.
2. It is an escape valve for those who have had to endure this crisis on their backs.
3. Protesting is a way to generate change – we need it in order to save the middle class. 
4. It is our right as guaranteed in the Bill of rights – which includes the phrase “the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

A Humanitarian Mission to the ”Occupy” movement

I have a dear friend, Maria Caso, who is a certified Life Coach and grief recovery specialist. She went to the occupy Wall Street encampment together with a number of other Coaches, in the camp they set up a table, and spent an entire weekend offering advice and coaching. They considered this a humanitarian mission – offering their expertise and knowledge for free. She told me that besides the incredible stench (this was in the heat of September) the one thing that struck her was the palpable lack of hope. This lack of hope, is something that will remain in our country’s psyche for a long time …..  

Why aren’t employers coming to the movement to get people back to work?

If I where a business owner, I would take this opportunity to go down to those “Occupy”  encampments and get people back to work, you might find the next innovator for your company right there. The occupiers are obviously thinking differently, and that is exactly what American businesses need right now – people who will think in new ways.

At least one company is trying to do something of significance to get people back to work, starting November 1, the Starbucks Foundation, is teaming up to initially fund the “Create Jobs for USA program”. The purpose will be to provide loans to under-served community businesses, including small businesses, micro-enterprises, nonprofit organizations, commercial real estate, and affordable housing. 

How do we challenge other employers and lending institutions to get down to those encampments and get people back to work? …… I see this as an opportunity, that is being missed – but why? I would like to know the answers to these questions…. and I would like to see the energy of the “Occupy” movement spent on attracting and creating opportunity, and hope that the protest is the beginning of the process of change.

Besides creating good jobs, the “Occupy” movement has the groundswell and momentum to create a platform where to engage big business – starting perhaps with a manifesto of ethics and standards. The time is now, there is an opportunity to create a place to initiate the dialogue that will lead to the changes that the world wants to see.

The “Occupy” movement will be on our minds for a long time. But will camping in a park in unsanitary conditions indefinitely, with no real actionable agenda, help the movement achieve it’s goals? At the very least, I hope that the “Occupy” movement will spark the dialogue and action that is necessary to ignite the changes that will get people back to work!