soulati.com

Digital Marketing Strategy, PR and Messaging

Soulati-'TUDE!

The Happy Friday Series: Life-Crafting Goals To Push The Envelope

By

scuba.jpgThe absence of goals, or something bigger to strive for in life, leads to coasting; slowly bleeding away happiness.  As a big believer in always having goals, reaching higher, stretching personally and professionally, it bothers me when big bulls-eye personal goals are missing on the horizon. And yet, in the past few years I’ve found it easier to set business goals than personal ones.

Maybe it’s a ‘40s thing; or a Christian thing (be thankful for your many blessings, do not covet thy neighbor’s stuff); or even a self-actualization thing (yes, I was actually paying attention during the class on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs).

Even more likely? It’s a prioritization thing. Life and work are so busy that I simply don’t have time to really focus on personal goal-setting and visualizing. So sitting down in a boardroom to “plan” parts of my personal life just doesn’t work like it does for business.
I’ve given this a good bit of thought and energy and have come to two truths:  you take inspiration where you can get it, and anything that isn’t scheduled into my week isn’t likely to occur. 

 And so, I give you… Life·crafting  (the active, deliberative crafting of the life you want) just coined today for this blog post! It is a purposeful, exhilarating and ongoing process that while previously unnamed captures a habit that leads to happiness.

 

Here’s how it works. I go to conferences, networking events, dinner parties, meetings, etc. and meet a diversity of people. With each person I meet, I try to unearth at least one really interesting thing about his or her personal life.  A few examples of cool things I’ve discovered in people this week?

  • Jeff is taking flying lessons and wants to own a small plane.
  • Kathryn discovered roller derby this year and now she’s on a team.
  • Jennifer is headed to India in 2 weeks and then to London to deliver a keynote at a blogger conference.
  • Dorien has a friend who has hosted orphaned children from other countries for the summer.

Not only do I get to enjoy interesting conversation with these folks, but also I find it helps me remember names of new people more easily  (great for business), and I get to “sample” potential hobbies, possessions and activities that might be a great goal for me.  Through these conversations, I am exposed to all kinds of things I never would have thought of.  (Who even knew you could host orphaned children from another country?) When I find something of personal interest for myself, I put it on the list. (Yes, an extended trip to India is most definitely on my itinerary in the next three years!)

The mental “trying on” of these potential goals always elicits a quick reaction:

  • Pilot Lessons – would love to, but probably not interested enough to invest the time and mone
  • Roller Derby – I want to keep my teeth, 44-year-old-bones do not break well
  • India – Yes, please!
  • Orphaned children – could be a life-changing summer for all involved

Once a month I schedule time to review them.  I make an occasion of it – sit down, light a candle, have a glass of wine (or a cup of great java), some good chocolate and sort through my list. Sometimes they are small goals, skills I want to develop, hobbies to explore, etc.  But sometimes they are the spark for much larger, far-reaching goals. I ultimately became a (small scale) commercial real estate investor as a result of this process.

So I no longer plan out personal goals along with business goals once per year. It becomes a life-crafting process that evolves from month to month, along with free-flowing beverages and chocolate.  And presto! There they are – cool, fun, different, stretching goals that inspire me. And that makes me happy.

How do you find inspiration that challenges you to grow? What’s on your list?

 

About The Author

Adrienne Cregar Jandler is the Founder and President of Atlantic Webworks, a full-service web and interactive marketing firm in Greensboro, North Carolina. When she’s not working with clients on web strategy, she’s likely to be on the lake, traveling or working on property improvement projects. She also enjoys scuba diving with her husband, and is an Indian-food addict and cupcake connoisseur. Be sure to give her a tweet and circle her on Google+ .   

 

 

Enhanced by Zemanta

Triberr Is Blogger Treasure

By

Since the earliest days of Triberr, I have been on board. Triberr is one of the best and most-needed blog sharing tools around; in fact, there isn’t any other.

Bloggers can elect to join a tribe of nine bloggers or join multiples of tribes as I have. What happens to the tweet stream, though, when you’re in more than 25 tribes, like me, is chaos. Some of those tribes consist of 100+ members that connect me with 5 million folks? (Don’t think that’s really true, but OK.)

121217- Digging Into Triberr

121217- Digging Into Triberr (Photo credit: Rogier Noort)

Sound stupid? I agree, of course, but there is a method to my madness and insatiable thirst for knowledge and curiosity.

I have received several direct communications via Twitter and someone even filled out my WuFoo contact form that my tweet stream is too full of retweets. It has become annoying because of the quantity of content loading into my stream. I was asked to set up another Twitter account for retweets of Triberr content (which is totally impossible due to the RSS feed, branding and outreach). Others have said how boring it is to see the same tweet from a variety of bloggers (they’re obviously in the same tribe).

I understand all of the concerns from the folks who are not professional bloggers and who don’t realize the merits of Triberr.  I’m going to share why I continue to accept tribe invites and why I pay $10 monthly to Triberr so I can share more blog content faster. Besides, for any platform the likes of Triberr, they deserve my $120 annually to continue to innovate at the speed they have for the last three years.

Reasons Why Triberr Matters

  •  Founders. As I’ve joked with Dino Dogan, founder and front man of Triberr, the fledgling company is like Two Men and a Truck. They fly by the seat of their pants, but anytime you speak with Dino or Dan Cristo, the energy to innovate is palpable. I’m including a link here for my Soulati Media On The Street chat with Dino Dogan at Social Slam in April. Energy? Uh-huh.
  • Innovation. In the three years since the launch of Triberr, back when Dino and Danny Brown were gaming Klout with sheep (yes, that really happened), Triberr has launched about a dozen new tools to help bloggers automate shares. And, that word “automate?” In this case it’s not cuss.
  • Tribes. Being in multiple tribes means you comb for the cream of the crop.  You can mute bloggers not in your genre, and you can meet new bloggers publishing leading content. You can also launch and join an atomic tribe; one blogger with unlimited followers. I have learned so much from my peers on the ‘sphere, and the only way I can reasonably do that is via Triberr. I save productivity time being on one platform with ~500 bloggers at my fingertips on a given day.
  • Reader. Triberr has become my new reader. You see folks on the quest to find the next best Reader after the demise of Google’s and the migration to Feedly. Triberr works wonders for me; not sure I’m going to find any other blogger not already in a tribe I belong to. In fact, if I do, they get an invite to join my tribe.
  • Content. A newer feature called reblogging allows bloggers to republish content from another’s blog with the original author featured. This is one aspect of Triberr I don’t yet care for; when I read peoples’ blogs, I want to read their content primarily. If I see only reblogs happening 90% of the time, I’m discouraged visiting. For bloggers who want to post more frequently and don’t have time to post consistently, then re-blogging works; just not for me. I reserve the right to change my mind.
  • Reading. I love being able to read blogs from Triberr without going anywhere. I can quickly scan and see if the content is worthy of going to the blog and leaving deeper tracks. This has helped me be more share aware; there are so many who still say, “don’t share unless you read first.” That’s one issue for me being in so many tribes; I can’t read everything and have to trust the authors’ credibility which I’ve vetted already once they’re in my stream the first time.
  • Commenting. The new Triberr dashboard now allows easier reading of blog posts right on Triberr without having to go to a blog. What this means is not good for bloggers (because traffic isn’t recorded on the blog), but it is convenient for readers and tribe mates. An email comes alerting me that someone commented on my blog on Triberr. Comments are up 50% since the guys fixed all the glitches. I have seen some bloggers using the Triberr comment system along with another system like Google. Interesting.
  • Content Marketing. The best reason to use Triberr is to review the content and topics others are writing about and with what angle. It helps to know what’s new and trending and it also provides fodder for your own writing.  Topics can get pretty boring quickly when you see all the bloggers writing on Facebook hashtags and photos in comments, for example. That’s when I have to select one only and ignore the rest. It becomes an echo chamber and I know my Twitter followers don’t want that.
  • Shares. Shares are down with Triberr. Even with the ridiculous numbers of tribes I’m in, I have fewer shares of my blog content. Regardless, without Triberr (when it was down for an extended period), traffic is nearly zilch.

 When you add up all of the above, bloggers need Triberr. For those on the receiving end of the tweet stream for bloggers in massive numbers of tribes, patience is the virtue. It’s my responsibility to share my tribe mates content; in fact, if I don’t, they don’t share mine. So, I apologize to all of you not blogging and invite you into my tribe so you can experience what I’ve just shared.

 

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Read More, Blog Better

By

content-is-king.jpg

You can’t always write about personal experiences as a blogger unless, of course, you are a personal blogger.

When you write to monetize, earn money online, generate leads via digital marketing, and lure others to your perspective, then here’s the absolute secret:

READ MORE.

When you read more, you write better. I promise you this is true; I know this from direct and hands-on experience. If someone does not read the news, industry publications, leading and cutting-edge blogs, white papers, or other sites where you learn, then when you sit down to write your slate is empty.

There are no new ideas and concepts or angles to blend into your perspective.

You can only revisit old content and hope that it’s fresh with another posting.

What’s worse, you bore your audience.

Who is Your Audience?

YOU!

You are your first critical audience. Present yourself to the world with the freshest perspective you can offer on news of the day or issues of interest. Put yourself on the receiving end of what you write; is it worthy of others? Are you trying your hardest to bring readers in and keep them?

I picked up Bloomberg BusinessWeek tonight to leaf through. I was treated to the first five stories on a variety of global topics that immediately piqued my interest in writing with those inspired angles.

As I was climbing into the car, this title came to me…my mind was not done mulling over its overflow of jumbled ideas, but guess what? My day is jammed with others who demand my attention. When I can open a business publication and let my mind explore the endless possibilities to write for myself, then I’m fulfilled.  

Is that how you are inspired? Do you think like this all the time with your blog?

I have trouble shutting it off, and I have trouble focusing on one arena of topics because I do hybrid PR – I know a little about a lot with a thirst to know more.

How do you write, get inspired, find topics and share them?  

Tell me is there’s a topic you’d like to see written about here. I am happy to accommodate a try!Thank you for reading me; I appreciate you.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta

Highly Successful Elements Of One-to-One Selling

By

 

 

By-Soulati-Dolphin.jpg

By Jayme Soulati, Sea World 2013

Hilton Grand Vacations. This is the inspiration for this post because I sat in front of its sales team in Orlando, Florida for two hours. It was a low-pressure to high-pressure meeting; in the end the customer prevailed — I said no twice, much to my chagrin and emotional interest in saying yes.

The techniques used by the sales team at Hilton Grand Vacations began with the very first sales pitch and ended with an offer a customer could not refuse. I am still upset I could not say yes.

Successful Sales Techniques

In booking my hotels in four locations during spring break 2013, I was invited to listen to a sales pitch for 500 Hilton Honors points. I said sure, what harm was there in listening?

When the first customer touch point rep said Orlando, my ears perked up. Orlando was home to Harry Potter at Islands of Adventure in the Universal Theme Park. Kidlet, being 11yo and a Harry Potter freak, had to see it. It was a trip I’d been wanting to plan; yet, who knew when?

For $118 per night for three nights we stayed in a one-bedroom apartment (yes, it was) with washer/dryer, dishwasher and cleaning service, if you attended a two-hour presentation. We added one additional night and attended the presentation. As a reward for attending, there were 15,000 Hilton Honors points and a $100 voucher good for any Hilton property. All good!

The Presentation

A driver picked us up, breakfast was provided, a kids’ room with gaming was convenient, and adults sat down across a nice table with huge monitors.

For two hours, here’s what occurred:

  • A credible, elderly (67yo) gentleman who owned five different weeks at various Hilton properties was the lead salesman.
  • He asked personal questions about family, work, kids and overall lifestyle. He developed a friendly rapport for about 30 minutes all the while showing the 9000 worldwide properties available to members.
  • He offered every other year of travel which reduced maintenance fees in half.
  • The life-long deed would pass from generation to generation.
  • Financing options were available.
  • An additional 12,000 points were added to the deal to allow for travel in off years, too.

An amazing deal! The first no was delivered after 20 minutes of deliberation and a phone call to parents (voices of reason).

Second Level of Selling

The closer came to the table to check me out with this surprising deal:

  • Six locations in the country — Hawaii, Park City, UT, Las Vegas.
  • $1600 for 7 nights in Hawaii in a 3 bedroom/3 bath property
  • For 18 months, the original deal was frozen
  • With agreement to enter into the Hilton Grand Vacations program, the $1600 paid to rent the property would be the down payment to enter the program (they don’t call it time share because it’s a flexible week and location any time).

More deliberation and emotional pressure. The deal was too good to pass up; the pressure was intense because the deal was too good to pass up! (I know, I said that already.)

In the end, what it boiled down to for me was purely timing. A single mother with a middle school kidlet and select sports, sole breadwinner running a business, no vacation time ever, does not a good decision make.

The emotions following the experience were surprising. I wanted to do the deal; the Hilton Grand Vacations team is that good. When you tally up the cost per lead generated by Hilton Grand Vacations, it’s exorbitant. When you look at what happens when members get into the program (they continue upgrading and purchasing additional weeks), then Hilton wins.

The hang up becomes the customer because the sale and the technique are perfect.

Enhanced by Zemanta

The Happy Friday Series: Taking Risk For Desert Passion

By

Four-Corners.jpg

Four Corners by Treks West Tours

The search for happiness in life can be an ever-winding road, with many peaks and valleys along the way. Most people know this; it’s no great secret.

Everyone is different. What brings them happiness is totally unique to them. The quest for happiness should be our paramount goal in life, as long as it doesn’t come at the expense of others.

Thanks to Jayme, I get to share the risk I took on a quest for happiness. I gave up a good career in a university to launch my very own adventure travel business, Treks West Tours.

Looking back, the risk was well worth it! Let me tell you my story…

Ever-Winding Road

My life followed a fairly standard path, and I’m sure you can relate — lack of focus as a youth; a quest for girlfriends as a young man; the search for better pay; lack of focus again as a young adult; you get the picture.

The first major step towards happiness was marrying Sheila, an amazing woman who understands the importance of finding happiness. With that achievement I was able to focus on other aspects of finding happiness. My eyes soon opened to travel in the great outdoors.

As my eyes widened toward adventure, they closed on the job where my passion was diminishing with time. Happiness shouldn’t be about money but it often masks other feelings or overrides them awhile.

What Matters

Ample vacation time allowed me to fall in love with the Southwest on a trip to Arizona. I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time, and it spoke to me. Coming from the green state of Maryland, the vast West lured me. I was hooked!

Every free moment we’d return to Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and add another layer to the passion I felt for the region.

National parks and wilderness areas became the focal point of our trips. I learned all I could by hiking the trails and rafting the rivers. I left my heart there each time I returned East to my passion-less career.

I found an affinity for the minutia of trip planning, researching a park and finding the best places to explore. Soon I was planning all the trips for Easterners who wanted to experience the great West.

The joy I felt out there equaled misery on the job. I lost purpose, began to tread water and brought those woes into my home life. Before I could ruin my solid foundation at home, my wife and I discussed the pros and cons of leaving my job.

I wanted to start an adventure travel business, and everyone agreed I’d be foolish not to try.

Taking The Leap

I gave a two-month notice to my employers after 12 years at the university. Money, while important, could not buy my happiness. Life is too short to spend bogged down; my wife and I agreed this was the leap to take.

I jumped into the business of building a website, creating tours, getting insurance and commercial permits along with all the marketing and planning that goes into the tedious parts of starting a business.

I began to network with other outfitters, hotel owners, national park rangers, and others. That was one of the really fun parts of the job; there are a lot of great folks out here!

On May 2011, I launched Treks West Tours, my stab at happiness, hiking, horseback riding, and white water rafting — my vision of what a western adventure should encompass!

It isn’t easy. Things aren’t great for the travel industry at the moment. High fuel prices and a weak economy are a problem, but I’m so much happier!

When I take a group to Moab or Big Bend or any other fabulous destination and see the looks of amazement in their eyes, it’s so fulfilling! I made the right choice. Following one’s passion is never a mistake! What could be better than getting paid to go on vacation all the time?

About The Author

Brian Wrabley is owner of Treks West Tours offering guided adventure tours of western national parks. Hiking, horseback riding, and white water rafting are his favorite featured activities.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta