This interview runs a little long, but it’s really interesting. If you’re thinking about self-publishing, or if you’re interested in one spin on the future of the business of publishing (at least digital), check this out:

Can’t see the video? click here.

And if you find this interesting, be sure to check out PressBooks.

I’ve put together a Google+ for Business workshop for you to help with those very things.

Coming this Wednesday, July 20th, at 12PM ET (yes, it will be recorded!), I’ll be producing a LIVE two hour webinar (thank you, GoToWebinar!) for you. The first hour will be packed with information and learning that I’ve gleaned from my 250+ hours of time logged in the system. The second hour is dedicated to your very specific questions.

If you’re interested in checking out this LIVE two hour workshop (with a recording to be made available afterwards), there’s MORE information HERE.

I had a great question come in from a great person, and I had to share what came of it. The question was: How do you take an inspiration and process it into one of your many projects? For instance, how do I decide that an idea is something for [chrisbrogan.com] versus Kitchen Table Companies, or any of my other projects? And then what do I do with it? This is, of course, a wonderful question because I can walk you through from the very moment of receiving the question and then into how I did something with it.

Illustrating The Process

Once I thought about how to illustrate the process of taking an idea forward, I turned on my video camera and started recording. I felt it would be important to illustrate the process with a real life idea, so I took one of the inspirations that had been in my head for a little while, and went with it.

Very close to my office, there’s a woman who runs a little coffee and candy shop. She brews iced coffee. Her sign has a hand-written sign attached to it (over the picture of iced coffee) that says “NO SYRUPS!” What she means is that she brews the flavors instead of just adding a squirt of syrup to regular plain iced coffee. It’s supposed to be a benefit, what she’s saying.

What I told her was, “When I see that sign, I think you’re telling me: ‘there’s no syrup here, so if you like flavors, don’t bother coming in.’” Her eyes went wide. That was exactly the OPPOSITE of the message she wanted to convey. As I’m typing this, she’s taken down that sign and is working on the one I recommended instead: “Brewed Flavors!”

So, for the purpose of this video I’ve shot, I went with that as my example. Watch this quick video to see my thought process, and then we’ll talk about it more:

Can’t see the video? CLICK HERE.

Where Do I Put My Ideas?

If I want an idea to get a lot of attention, I post it on [chrisbrogan.com]. It’s the largest property I own. When I want to create a project that will have more value or premium details, I’ll do that on Kitchen Table Companies or Third Tribe Marketing or one of the places where people exchange value for their experience. If I think an idea is specific to blogging, for instance, I’ll probably share the guts of the idea inside of Blog Topics, because that community has committed to wanting to do more with their blog, and are working with me on improving their blogging experience.

I choose based on that: is it an idea that needs a lot of reach? Then it goes on [chrisbrogan.com]. Is it an idea that will help small businesses or marketers? Kitchen Table Companies or Third Tribe Marketing . Is it for bloggers? It goes on Blog Topics. Sometimes, it’s even a combination of the above.

How Do I Process My Ideas into Something More?

Because I write mostly about human business, marketing, and communication, I tend to use those lenses when thinking about my ideas. Not every little thing that catches my attention becomes a blog post or further learning, but you’re be amazed by how much does. The HOW of what I do next is something like this:

• Consider the value of the idea. Is this something I can turn into teaching or sharing?
• If yes, where do I share it?
• Is there a two-step business value to this? (Free then a membership product?)
• Then, what will I need to illustrate the point? Visuals? Video? What else?
• Is this bigger than just a blog post?
• Do I need to write anything else?
• What else would make this pop?

The process works something like that every time.

Other Processes

So, if I decide to make something of a business product out of an inspiration, then I will have to do some other things. I’ll have to ask whether the project is salable, and whether MY audience will buy it. If not, then I’ll either not do it, or I’ll just leave it at a blog post.

If I make a business product out of it, I have to get Josh Fisher to do some graphics, get Rob Hatch to approve it as another thing we can do, get a sense of what it’s going to do besides sell (because I like my products to drive business). If I do that, where will I sell it? Will I make a sales page (I use Premise [affiliate link] for that). I have lots of questions if it passes from blog post to full on project.

Also, I ask what the yield of such a project might be. When I wrote my business plan ebook and shot the video to go with it, that was a reasonably evergreen project. It will have resale for quite a while. When I finally release my videoblogging project, that will also have some great long-lasting value. But if I decide to turn a post about how my coffee shop lady had to change her sign, then I don’t think that will yield me much, unless I grow it out quite a bit more.

Your Thoughts or Questions?

So, I’ve explained how I do it. Do you do something similar? Any questions? Any parts I missed explaining? I’m here to help.

And, if you’re a member of Kitchen Table Companies, we’re talking about this thread more here. Remember I mentioned that in the video?

I was teasing Brian about how he could simply/easily refer to when I last sent him a direct message via Twitter. He replied calmly that it’s easy to do if you’re looking at the view of direct messages on Twitter.com (see above graphic). Er, um. He’s right. Because I spend my time in Hootsuite (affiliate link), where because it’s a 3rd party application, direct messages fall off the screen at some point. Of course, this means we have to think about the various tools we use for marketing, for communicating, for media making, and question how we use them and for what.

The Many Twitters

Some people use Twitter.com as their primary Twitter viewing portal. This makes sense, because that’s where you sign up. But with that single-column view, that’s like reading your newspaper if every single article was written in a single column, scrolling downward into infinity. It’s just not an easy view.

For VIEWING a lot of Twitter information at the same time, you’ve gotta go with something like HootSuite or Tweetdeck or the like. (The difference between those two is that Hootsuite is a web-based multi-column app, so you can use it everywhere without installing software, and Tweetdeck is primarily a desktop app.)

For getting all the data being sent your way, you’ve gotta go back to Twitter.com, because everything else is passing that data through an API, meaning that there are limitations on how much information can be received, and you WILL lose information, unless you’ve only got about 5 followers and are following 10 or so people. Even then, I wouldn’t swear by a 3rd party app for delivery of every message.

For scheduling tweets and advanced management, you have to go with something like CoTweet (if you have groups) and/or Hootsuite. There are other tools, but those are probably the top of the heap.

For listening to Twitter, I just cook searches using http://search.twitter.com and export the results to an RSS feed that I throw into Google Reader to check at my leisure. If you want something a bit more advanced with monitoring tool companies and the like, there are tons to consider. I list these every three or four blog posts about software, so I’ll stun you and NOT list them. If you want more on listening tools, grow bigger ears.

Twitter vs Foursquare and the Like

Twitter is a place for information to flow back and forth. You can use it one-way, like a newsfeed, or you can use it two-way, like a watercooler tool. Neither is wrong or right.

Several people pipe in their other lightweight social application data into Twitter. For instance, they point all their Foursquare and Gowalla check-ins into their Twitter stream. It depends what you’re hoping to do with the OUTPUT of your Twitter presence whether that’s a good idea. If you’re just documenting your life in all dimensions, then who cares? Do what you like.

But there are other interpretations. For instance, I know a freelance professional that has Foursquare wired into his or her account. Near as I can tell, this person spends at least 10 hours a day traveling from coffeeshop to coffeeshop. Sure, if you don’t have an office, that’s cool. But with multiple checkins (rarely more than an hour between location changes), I know that this person can’t be all that busy, because unless this is part of his or her exercise plan, I know that he or she isn’t in meetings. So, you see my point.

And, is Foursquare as chatty as Twitter? Not that I’ve seen. People don’t want you “tweeting” in Foursquare.

What about Twitter to Facebook and Back?

I’ve been asked repeatedly about a service like Ping.fm, which allows you to post multiple updates from one status bar, seeding those updates into Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and elsewhere all with one push. With much respect to the people who MAKE the service, I’m not a fan, and here’s why.

The Facebook community (people who live on FB instead of Twitter) don’t much want tweet-level interactions with people. They like their back and forth to be a bit meatier, and also they want people to use the richness of the tool. Every “@davidbthomas – lol!” is a thorn in their side. Using a hashtag on FB (unless perhaps when you’re being jokey) isn’t often well-received either.

My personal advice? Even if you intend to update both similarly, craft a different message for Facebook than you do for Twitter and decouple the interactions.

Ditto Twitter into LinkedIn. When I’m looking at your LinkedIn status and it’s just a bunch of lame tweets because you thought it’d save you time, I “hide” your LinkedIn status. Suddenly, any chance you had of capturing my attention is gone in a blink, and it won’t come back, because no one ever goes, “Hmmm, it just doesn’t seem like I have enough status update messages to read.” Am I wrong?

It’s All Open to Interpretation

You don’t have to do it the way I’m talking about above. You can swear that your tool of choice is the best one. You can argue for Ping.fm. I don’t mind. Besides, you’re doing it wrong. But these might be some things to consider, as you hone your usage of social media tools.

What do you think? How are you doing it differently? Any questions similar to what I’ve covered above? Anything where you’re just plain curious about some OTHER set of tools or interactions? Go ahead and ask in the comments. There are no stupid questions! (Not true, but I promise not to laugh at YOUR stupid question.)

One thing I know: we never learn something until we’re ready to learn it.

I learn slower than others, believe it or not. I think the reason that it takes me a while to learn is that I learned at an early age to question the status quo and to question authority. Instead of just accepting what was, I’d have to believe it for myself. Parents know this experience well, don’t we? “Don’t move that or it will fall and break.” Moments later: crash. That was me. That is me. I learn mostly at my own hands.

Jeff Pulver once counseled me on a price change I intended to make in a conference. The price of the event was at something like $1295, and I wanted to make it $595. I said, “I can get many more people to buy at $595, because more people can afford it.” Jeff told me, “Believe it or not, it’s better to get fewer people to buy at $1295, and it takes just as much effort to do either, so you might as well do it for the higher ticket price.” Impossible, I was sure. Of course, I was wrong. I failed miserably. (To his credit, Jeff allowed me to fail, even though that meant making his company less money. This is a huge lesson to business owners, insofar as that lesson will forever be with me.)

Teaching and Learning

Most of us are better at teaching than learning. I know that I am. It’s because we know what we know, and we feel comfortable teaching that to others (most times). Learning is different. We don’t like that feeling of not knowing. Sometimes, we are embarrassed by admitting our ignorance in front of others. When I first started at my wireless telecom job, I remember that a lot of people were talking about a “NOC.” I had no idea what it was. I thought it was a piece of technology. So, I just stayed mum for quite a while during the conversations that involved the word. One day, I finally mentioned “NOC” in the appropriate point in a conversation, and it was immediately obvious that I had no idea what it was. Someone walked me down to the room known as the “Network Operations Center,” where a bunch of people monitored our wireless network. Ugh.

It’s important to be aware of this, though: we teach what we know, and we’re afraid or embarrassed at times to learn. Because two problems arise from that. On the one hand, we look with our limited perspective on problems and believe that we have the answer and can even teach others with the answer we understand. On the other hand, if we’re shying away from learning, we’re shying away from growth. Neither is a great place to be, and MOST OF US do this all the time, whether or not we’re conscious of it.

Another Potential Sin: Preaching

When one learns something new, the BEST way to learn it even better is to teach it to others. But there’s a danger to this. If you teach because someone’s interested in learning, that’s great. If you PREACH because you suddenly feel enlightened, then you’re in jeopardy of angering and frustrating your friends and loved ones. It’s a very fine balance. You’re trying to practice what you’ve learned, but in so doing, you might accidentally cross a line into preaching at someone, instead of sharing learning.

Remember, people don’t immediately agree to being taught. You don’t, most likely. That said, if someone asks, that’s another whole matter, right?

Learn When You’re Ready

Learning and lifelong learning are part of how I succeed at what I do. But I’ve come to realize that I can only learn certain lessons when I’m ready to learn them. It’s never on someone else’s timetable, even if that’s what would be best. Learning is so very important, but you as a learner have to be open to the lessons.

What are you learning these days? How open are you to learning? Are you willing to accept that what you’re teaching is “old” and that maybe there’s some learning you could devote yourself to that would grow your capabilities?

A book I’m reading right now that I like:

I was looking through my Kindle application to remind myself which book I was currently reading, when I started thinking about just how digital I’ve become in my consumption of media. I watch movies via Netflix or iTunes. I download books to my Kindle app and read them on my phone, my laptop, or my iPad (and it syncs up where I am on all devices). I download mp3s from Amazon so I can play them in my car, on my Android phone, or at my desk. I’m an avid subscriber to Audible.com

Not only am I digital, but I’m heavily cloud-minded. Those data files exist temporarily on my computer of choice (or my mobile device), but for the most part, they stay tucked up in one cloud or another, awaiting my invocation of their services.

But then again, I’m not the norm. I was searching for something on Craigslist yesterday and I realized that people around where I live aren’t all that into using Craigslist, and that I might have to resort to the regular local newspaper to find what I needed instead. I don’t see a whole lot of iPads or Nooks or Kindles in my little town. I don’t even see many smartphones, and even then, mostly Blackberries.

So, we’re all here, online, reading this stuff, but how digital are you? How digital is your typical customer? And where are you marketing? If you’re doing heavily digital marketing because that’s what YOU would typically do, do you think that translates to your buyer?

If you’re new to visiting [chrisbrogan.com], or if you’ve been here for a handful of days and are wondering just what the underlying theme of this site is about, here’s some help. I figure it’s a good thing to share what I think the site is about from time to time, in case you don’t know why you’re here, or in case you’re new to the game. Some of you who’ve been around for a while will actually just smirk at the differences and think about how things have changed over the years.

What You Get at [chrisbrogan.com]

I write this blog for you. If it were really for me, I’d write it on paper and just marvel at it. But it’s for you. And who are you? You’re quite a mix of people, from my last survey. You are from huge companies and tiny companies. You are my competitors, my students, my superiors, and a smattering of friends and relatives. I write each piece as if I’m trying to connect with you, specifically. Yes, you. It doesn’t always work that way.

I write in the first person. I rarely have guest posts. The perspective here is mine. I have a different perspective than most. It comes from working sometimes with really huge companies and working other times with companies of one, and then working in between those extremes. My weird perspective comes from being a writer and from being an observer of the absurd.

Am I biased? Absolutely. My about page shows several of my disclosures. I’m sure I could add some, if I thought about it. But you’re not coming hear to read anything unbiased, are you?

I’m not a journalist. I am a report. I report on things I find interesting. I am most definitely a business man. My goal is to show you my value with every post, so that you contemplate working with me in some way. Beyond that, I write to equip you for success. You see, I have a simple model.

Topics

I don’t have a really set editorial calendar for topics. I write most often about marketing, about human business, about ideas that might be useful to you and your business. Of late, small business is interesting to me. I also write about technology, though not often in the “gee whiz” department. I sometimes post reviews of products I receive, or books I’ve read. I sometimes post interviews. I sometimes post promotions to things I am doing myself.

91%

My goal is to I give you 91% of everything I know how to do for free. Most of it isn’t rocket surgery, as the kids in Boston say. It’s just insights and ideas that you can run with yourself and do good things with, one hopes.

Some of that other 9% comes from people hiring me as a professional speaker. That’s because I customize for specific industries, and I do a little research and find a little bit of specific useful detail for the person who hires me to speak.

Some of that 9% comes from ads and sponsored posts (always with disclosure). You don’t have to like the ads on my site. I’ll gladly take them down for one college tuition, paid in full, for my daughter.

Some of that 9% comes from advertising my own projects, like Kitchen Table Companies and Blog Topics. You don’t have to be a member of these projects to enjoy this site. But I will often invite you to participate.

Why Should You Read [chrisbrogan.com]?

For one thing, it’s usually fairly brief. For another, it’s usually information that can be useful for your own pursuits. Finally, you never know what I’m going to find that’s interesting, and often, what’s interesting to me can be helpful to your own ideas.

Beyond that? You could read me because you know where you stand with me. You could read me because I’m a participatory kind of guy. You can read me because I’m pretty decent at writing. But then again, most of that is conjecture on my side.

And You?

Why do you come here? What’s the value of this site to you? Who else do you read when you’re done reading me? (And if you use a URL, remember that it’ll take up to a day to post, as I have to manually approve comments with URLs).

At the Nobel Peace Center, I saw this bit of writing on a wall: “I’m not racist. All I am is afraid.”

I loved it, because it speaks to something we all do. We assume that we understand what someone else is thinking. In self-esteem books, this is called “mind reading.”

Mind reading is when we project our thoughts of what someone else is thinking onto that someone else. This is what we do in relationships. This is what we do at events, when we’re thinking about whether or not we can introduce ourselves to someone new. Mind reading, almost always, is useless. It’s not helpful. It’s a bunch of fake emotions and thoughts (mostly our fears) that we project onto other people.

And yet, it’s what we do more often than not.

Avoid Mind Reading

The easiest way to avoid mind reading is to ask, or to dare to see if what you’re fearing is real. For instance, you can walk up to someone and say, “I’d love to introduce myself, if this is a good time.” That takes your worry away that the person might be thinking now isn’t a good time, because instead, you’ve given them the opportunity to say that maybe you can connect later. Make sense?

Another way to do it is to communicate more of your position so that the other person doesn’t try mind-reading you. Remember, you’re not the only one doing this. So, for instance, you might say, “I’m usually a bit quiet during negotiations, but please don’t let that silence seem like I’m upset. I’m actually quite excited about this opportunity.” See how that puts everything back in their hands?

Stay Vigilant

It’s important to stay vigilant to mind reading. If not, you run the risk of answering on behalf of other people, and quite often in the negative. This translates to the online world as well. Perception is not reality. It’s not likely that what you’re presuming is actually true, especially if it’s the negative.

What Say You?

Have you done this? Have you tried reading other people’s minds and filling the silence with your own negative fears? How do you combat it? Where are you with this situation today?

]]> http://www.chrisbrogan.com/mind-reading/feed/ 65 http://www.chrisbrogan.com/prove-yourself/ http://www.chrisbrogan.com/prove-yourself/#comments Mon, 14 Mar 2011 12:30:00 +0000 ceb http://www.chrisbrogan.com/prove-yourself/

Your boss doesn’t want you to explain why social media is amazing. Your boss wants more results that make her look good. Your boss doesn’t care who I am. She wants you to excel at the tasks you’ve been assigned.

Are you trying to evangelize social media at your place? Prove it.

#Winning

Success is a powerful persuader. If you’re looking to say that social media will help your hotel, don’t show them the runaway success of the Roger Smith hotel in New York. Don’t show your floor manager how AJ Bombers in Milwaukee conquered the social media world. Show them your own victory.

What should you do? It’s up to you, and it’s up to you to really think through what this will mean. And do be warned: you could lose your job for it. (I haven’t brought up Bob in a while, but you would do well to go back and read what happens when rogue attempts at social media get punished.

But to win, show them your own trophies.

What Should You Do?

Bosses love examples. Morgan Johnston of JetBlue showed his boss how many people were talking about the competition on Twitter, and then what people were saying about JetBlue. A few minutes of watching the screen later, and JetBlue’s management team knew that they had to do something.

Bosses love clear plans. Saying “I want to tweet on behalf of the company” or “I think we need a Facebook page” won’t go very far. Troy Janish from American Family creates compelling presentations to show the management what the strategic outcomes of his business intentions for using Facebook will net the company in measurable results. As a result, they go for it.

Bosses need a sense of security. Explain your contingency and backup plans and “when things to wrong” plans in every bit as much detail as you talk about how amazing a Foursquare promotion will be. Without that, you won’t earn the trust of the leadership.

Prove It

Just because social media as a business tool is obvious to you doesn’t mean that your leadership team has been reading Mashable over your shoulder and tuning in to Six Pixels of Separation. They might still see only Angry Birds and Farmville.

Bring your own pudding and hide the proof in there.

You’ve told the story of you a million times, or so you think. You’re sure that anyone who stumbles into your web presence will know who you are, and will know the storyline up until that point. You sometimes feel so sick of telling the story of you, because you’ve done it so much.

Except we haven’t heard it. Someone new has come to your site and hasn’t the first clue who you are, what you represent, what matters to you, and what they should expect from spending time with you.

How Others Do It

In sitcoms, there are little moments that let the characters reinforce who they are. Kramer would smash through Jerry’s door with a hare-brained idea every episode. George would prove that he just wasn’t the most giving person in the world. It happened every week, so that we, the dumb audience who might have just tuned in for the first time, would get the picture pretty quickly who we were dealing with.

Your blog is an opportunity to tell the story of you, and the best storytellers are the ones that get you thinking about yourself when you read their story. When they talk about growing up in a town where they felt that people didn’t get them, you remember growing up in a place where people maybe didn’t understand you, either. But you’ll never feel that connection, unless you remember to retell the story of you, often.

Variations on a Theme

The best way to retell the story of you is to vary up how you do it. Sometimes, the story of you can be about that time you were looking for work, and what you did to stand out from the crowd (and this information should hopefully help your audience). Other times, you might want to tell about something that went wrong for you and how you handled it (so that people understand your character). Tell different stories about the world around you, and use your own unique lens to get them back to understanding that you’re helping them understand themselves.

The Story of You Needs Repeating

People who read this blog in 2004 learned alongside me on my quest for better fitness. People in 2006 heard my enthusiasm for new media. In 2007, I wrote a lot about community. Now, I’ve written a lot in the last month about the future, but haven’t really talked about my ideas on how we can best use these tools to build quality content, community, and marketplace solutions. I’m not retelling the story of me very well, and thus, I’m not serving you very well.

We all need refresher courses. You could write your blog anew by retelling the story of you. People want to know about you. You’re important and what you’ve learned will help others learn about themselves.

Could you tell me a bit more about you?