Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Here’s an insightful post from the legendary Seth Godin on Fear of Shipping whether it’s launching a product or sending an e-mail. Here’s a snip; you can click through on the link to read the rest:

“Shipping is fraught with risk and danger. Every time you raise your hand, send an email, launch a product or make a suggestion, you’re exposing yourself to criticism. Not just criticism, but the negative consequences that come with wasting money, annoying someone in power or making a fool of yourself. It’s no wonder we’re afraid to ship.”

This honest assessment addresses a phenomenon that is almost paralyzing to many people both in business and in their personal lives. And I’m guessing it accounts for a lot of procrastination because once you actually follow through and act you ARE exposed. If you don’t “finish the job” and put it or your product out there you may avoid criticism or being vulnerable, but the odds are slim to none that you’ll accomplish your objectives OR even have a chance of staying on track for your business plan.

The legendary Ruth Reichl recently wrote a great post entitled “The Meaning of Ludo’s” in which she talks about her experience with the sought-after LudoBites, which transcends the typical excitement associated with a new dining opportunity as it has no fixed location. As the theater and romance of restaurants has always intrigued me and working with clients in the foodservice industry has long been a love of mine, this entirely different perspective on what makes a restaurant a “go-to” has a new level of intrigue.

The success of LudoBites shows that it is often not just about the decor, the setting, the food, table linens, service–as this restaurant picks new locations and on the night Reichl visited it was inhabiting what she described as “a little sandwich shop in a grungy part of town – it is the ultimate statement about the supremacy of food over ambiance.” Read more here:

Just a quick note as heavily enmeshed in Michael Stelzner’s Social Media Examiner Social Media Success Summit 2010 #SMSS10… One of the participants in the group’s LinkedIn discussion board mentioned having had great success with www.friendorfollow.com in the spirit of reciprocity! There have been so many excellent Webinars and teleconferences lately–some free and some not–but the overall caliber of the presenters and the content has been fabulous.

The power of LinkedIn to connect with fellow professionals, prospective clients, employers, and so much more is impressive, and there’s always more to learn! By the way, there is an active and intriguing group of professional women on LinkedIn under the group name ForbesWoman–very proactive and interested in learning about and supporting each other. And, Verizon’s Small Business Center has had a series of Webinars as well as a forum. Guy Kawasaki just presented last week with some new tools for managing and finding pertinent information to your areas of interest. Perry Marshall has also offered some thorough and helpful content on AdWords. Webinars such as these are a great way for reaffirming your role as a thought leader in your areas of expertise and for building relationships (and mailing lists!). Thanks to all of you who “get it” that giving and sharing your knowledge benefits all of us while enhancing credibility and engendering appreciation! : – )

According to Facebook, “Starting today people will be able to connect with your Page by clicking “Like” rather than “Become a Fan.” We hope this action will feel much more lightweight, and that it will increase the number of connections made across the site.”

Please note that this may also impact the language in some of your marketing materials where you may have invited prospective followers to become “Fans.”

I just read a great piece from Rob Reinalda at Ragan.com on how language gets mangled with some tips for how to avoid making such errors: http://bit.ly/dk3wae Sometimes it’s just that people don’t hear the word right in the first place, and Reinalda advises that “Questioning meaning can help you avoid misusing ‘familiar’ terms.” One of his examples is the unword “supposably.”

A first cousin to this syndrome is the butchering of song lyrics, sometimes with funny or embarrassing results especially when sung exuberantly by a music lover who didn’t quite get the words the way they were intended. You can check some of those out at http://www.kissthisguy.com/, the Archive of Misheard Lyrics, which designates some as the funniest or most absurd of the week while showing what the lyrics really were. Even the the national anthem has gotten contorted into some intriguing or just-plain-funny takes on it. Reinalda’s piece touches on those mangled words and phrases–many of which we start to associate with certain individuals. Most of us DO have some language blind spots. And, with a little “need more coffee” digression here, I think many of us have typing blind spots, too. Do you ever find that there are some words that your fingers just want to type with transposed letters? I used to find that I’d type “teh” instead of “the”? What IS that about, anyway, and why do these seem to be so different for each person? We’re told that we can take solace from knowing that it happens to incredibly gifted writers and journalists frequently, too. At least technology is helping us out a bit on the typing front, as you can set up your custom dictionary in Word to autocorrect common mistakes you know you’re making, though–such as my “teh” typing foible!

Feel free to post your thoughts on other tin-ear language mistakes you’ve heard (and don’t hesitate to share if you have any fat-fingered typing mistakes that you keep having to deal with, too!). When you hear them, do you tend to just let them go or do you ever correct the speaker especially if it’s a professional colleague or friend who you may really wish to help? There are definitely some alligators in that water as it’s a sensitive subject even if you’re intending to be proactive.