It’s graduation season and last week, I shared my strong opinion that no high schooler should graduate without having at least one website that promotes his or her professional and career aspirations. I recently chatted about this with Phillip Davis, my daughter’s godfather. Phillip is an 11th grade honor student who is starting the college application process. I recommended to Phillip that he launch a blog to support his college application activities. Here’s some of what I told him.
(If you are reading this post via email or an RSS reader and can’t see this video, then click here.)
Sometimes, the difference between getting noticed and being overlooked is as simple as showcasing your talents, gifts and intellectual aptitude in ways that show that you can use technology to accomplish specific goals. This is vital information for all aspiring college students, so please pass it along to every high school student you know!
WordPress: the blog publishing platform I use and highly recommend (I actually forgot to mention this in the video, but I meant to!)
Question: What do you think of this advice? Can you think of some college-bound high school students who could benefit from using a blog to support their college application process?
If you want another, “Oh My God, how can it be?” article, then don’t read this one. But if you are looking for some silver linings in the news of the past week, you may enjoy this post. I am saddened by the tragic deaths of Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays, but I am not disheartened by them.
Instead, as I was when my father passed away on June 25, 2007, I am more determined than ever to learn from the examples of four fantastically talented people who made lasting and positive contributions to the world. Consider these 6 lessons I have learned by observing the life and times of Farrah Fawcett, Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson and Billy Mays. Continue Reading…
Today, I had the pleasure of teaching a dear friend how to use Twitter. (You can check him out on Twitter at this link.) Since I’ve been on Twitter for about a year, and use it regularly, I often forget what it’s like to be a new Twitter user. I got a good refresher today! Here are some of the most important tips I shared with my friend, and I think they are good reminders for all small business owners who use Twitter.
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(If you are reading this post via email or an RSS reader and can’t see this video, then click here.) This short video highlights the importance of personality, professionalism and promotion for small business owners on Twitter.
Question: What do you think of my recommendations? Do you have others to add?
This past Saturday, I hosted Indie Business Revolution in Washington, DC. Our special guest was Debbie Weil, social media strategist and author of The Corporate Blogging Book. Here is a picture of Debbie and I showing off her book, which I highly recommend you purchase if you want to make the most of your blog.
For more pictures from the event, visit the Indie Business Facebook Page. Debbie shared tons of tips and strategies for maintaining an effective corporate blog, but because many of Saturday’s attendees do not have a blog or a just launching a blog, some of the fundamental things she addressed where especially on point. Here are a few of them. Continue Reading…
As you may know, I manage the Indie Beauty professional social networking site. The main purpose of the site, which is hosted on the Ning network, is to facilitate professional connections for Premium members of the Indie Beauty Network. If you are interested in connecting with people who make health, beauty and lifestyle products using a large proportion of natural ingredients, and who care passionately about the products they offer, you should connect with us!
For the first few months, the site was open to members only. Today, it’s open to the public and there are nearly 3,000 people learning, sharing and having fun. We experience a little of the typical spam and obnoxious behavior, but I quickly remove it and ban people when necessary. It’s easy to ban the worse actors, but the challenges occur when someone is neither spamming nor distasteful, but is clearly trying to take unfair advantage. When I call it to people’s attention, they typically change their approach and have a great time. Because social networking is new, it’s not unusual for people to engage in unacceptable behavior and not even know it. This article shares a few examples of how not to use a social networking site. Continue Reading…
Last summer at my kids’ summer camp, I met a camp counselor named Jack Utrata. I didn’t see him again until today when I took the kids to dinner at Just Fresh (which I highly recommend, by the way). As I frequently do when I chat with young people, I asked Jack where he was in school and what he was studying.
Jack is a film major at Elon University. He will graduate in 2013. He loves acting and recently played the lead in West Side Story. His face was glowing as he told me of his plans to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. When Jack told me he didn’t have a website, I asked him if he knew that he could get one for just a few dollars. He said he had no idea, and that got under my skin. Continue Reading…
