Awesome blog post about my lifestreaming presentation!
http://lifestreamblog.com/lifestream-presentation-by-erin-blaskie-at-wordcamp-montreal/
Posted via web from Erin’s posterous
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Lifestreaming Presentation by Erin Blaskie at WordCamp Montreal | Lifestream Blog
Erin Blaskie
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The 22 Step Social Media Marketing Plan
Erin Blaskie
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Fast Pencil --> Changing the Way We Write Books?
Erin Blaskie
Fast Pencil is seriously changing the way we write books. Now, I know it’s not the first online, self-publishing service but one go at this free service produces amazing results. I found myself ooh’ing and aah’ing over their quick and easy way to start writing.
When you setup your free account, you have access to new projects. You can turn a blog into a book, write a life history or write your typical 12-chapter book to be published. When the layout is chosen, you simply start filling in the blanks. I mean seriously… that is easy enough for ANYONE to follow! Love it!
So, I started a book. Yep. I have a few really good ideas for books that I’d love to pursue and I figure if I do it this way, I can actually invite people to read the online version to get opinions before sending it to print and having a book that sucks.The other cool part about this service is that you can actually invite in both contributors and reviewers. The contributors can help you write your book and it tracks all of the changes and such. Way cool if you want to collaborate on a project.
The question now becomes… do you have a book inside of you and if so, what are you waiting for?
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5 Reasons You’ll Get Hate Comments
Erin Blaskie
Love this post (and the images).
Click the image or the via tremendousnews.com to go to the main article.
Posted via web from Erin’s posterous
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I'm Gonna Sic My People On You!
Erin Blaskie
Have you ever heard or said this?I received an e-mail today reminding me of “the fact that social networks exist and that they could be used to enlist bad press against me”. Yeah… like I haven’t heard that one before. It’s in quotes because it’s not what I believe but what I’ve been told.
Here’s why that holds zero validity in my mind.
Using your network to trash talk other people does the other person no harm. Sure, you might think it’ll cause the 183 people that have gone through the same program to all of a sudden go, “Yeah! We agree with them!” but it won’t. In fact, it’ll only do YOU harm by making everyone around you afraid to interact with you for fear of being next on the chopping block.
Or, here’s another scenario. You talk amongst your peeps (who only hear your side of the story) and they are like, “Ohhhh, you’ve been wronged!” and then you feel validated and happy and glad that you put up your threat of bad press. In all reality, those people are probably afraid to voice their true opinion of, “Are you really serious?!?”
Raving fans are raving fans and every time you do something, you’re going to encounter one person who doesn’t get it, who didn’t like it, who didn’t want it or who hits the economic recession and decides to try and cash in on a product they purchased circa September of 2008. Seth Godin calls these critics and critics are good. At least it means you are giving someone, somewhere something to talk about.
Long story short of what I went through to get that e-mail: customer X purchased a spot in a program. Had trouble with downloading videos. I offered DVDs. DVDs were mailed twice times but never received. I offered new, updated program to customer X for free (which contained super slick high-definition videos). Customer X still demanded old, outdated information that isn’t being used anymore. I mailed DVDs of old stuff again. Customer X, one year later, requests refund and states that my lack of compliance would be bad press and that customer X has a network that they can use. I explain refund policy and offer even more training in lieu of the expired refund availability.
So, how would you react if you were me?I simply e-mailed stating that while I appreciate the existence of such network (I have one of my own), I was not worried about so-called bad press because the raving reviews, the lack of refunds, etc. makes this a success for me. Makes the program a win. You can look at the showcase I have to see what people are doing with what they’ve learned in the program. It’s changing how people service their own businesses.
You get to decide how you react to things each and every day.
This is a scenario that does not happen often but when it does, I’m reminded of how presenting yourself to your network is so vital and key to the success of your business. Threaten others with the misuse of your network and you’ll harm yourself in the end.
Use your network for good, change the world, change the way people think and you’ll be a happy, successful business person.
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You Can't Be Selectively Private Online
Erin Blaskie
Oh geeze.
I just read a story on TechCrunch that has commenters going wild over a new allegation that Valleyweg placed on Twitter. The allegation is that Twitter is sharing our personal information with a government body. Biz Stone denies it but in all reality, who cares?
The idea that the government has access to DMs and the like is not news, not scary or not anything to be worked up about. In fact, Twitter shouldn’t have to even comment on this regardless of whether they shared info or not.
Why?
Well, let’s see. The government has access to everything. They can freeze bank accounts in a moment’s notice, show up at your door and seize assets, find your long-lost relative that even you don’t know about, etc., etc. To make a big deal out of the government having access to our DMs is absurd.
Here’s my rule of thumb. Don’t put anything into a DM that you would care about the government reading. If you are plotting a ploy to overhaul a country, don’t do it via Twitter. In fact, don’t do it online at all. (That’s extreme, hopefully you get the point).I get that people are all about their privacy and such but then they get on Facebook and Twitter and pretty soon, there isn’t much that a common person can’t learn about them let alone a government body.
So, if you play online, stop complaining or criticizing companies when there is a rumor about them being in partnership with the government. It’s just annoying, who cares, kind of news that is probably untrue but really, a moot point anyway.
You can’t choose to be selectively private online. You can’t choose who reads your Twitter and your Facebook and things like that. Yes, you can set some privacy options but come on, if people want to read your stuff and learn about you, they will.
There has never been a conversation that I’ve had where I would be like, “Oh noes! Don’t let the government see this!” I mean, seriously. Do I really care if the government sees me saying, “Oh, thank you!” and “Wanna do lunch next week?” No. I don’t and you shouldn’t either. This is the kind of resistance news that turns us into being all mad at a company when our attention should be poured into our own companies. Do better, move forward, don’t get hung up and you’ll do just fine.
Next please.
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Laurent LaSalle
I couldn’t agree more. I could try… but I wouldn’t be successful!
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Erin Blaskie
Absolutely! I think it’s funny when people get all up in arms about privacy yet the very thing they are complaining about is Twitter — an aggregate of their lives. Hmm… Doesn’t quite add up to me
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Mark McLaren
Hi Erin,
I see your point. Privacy of DMs on Twitter seems, at best, a gray area, and, at worst, a “What did you expect? We’re talking about Twitter here, not a wiretapped phone conversation” sort of issue.But privacy is a matter of agreement between all the parties involved. Sometimes it’s not necessarily about the content of a specific conversation as it is about the principle of privacy and where the line should be drawn with respect to the law.
What about the question of whether the government has a right to listen to your phone conversations without a warrant? Do you see it as different from Twitter DMs or the same?
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Mary Motz
Hi Erin – great post…and a very hot topic!! I always advise clients that they should not put anything into email (or anything “e”) unless they are ok with the world reading it.
The USA has (and I’m sure something similar in Canada), the 4th Amendment – which explicitly protects us from unreasonable (warrantless) search & seizure [ http://bit.ly/LNZj1 ]. There should be no turning over of anything to any government without a court order/warrant… EVER (even if the stuff involved is basically public). After 9/11 there was a problem with wireless companies turning over phone records… then there was the unchecked wiretapping – the extent of which we still don’t know – and it is likely that it it still going on, as it was never thouroughly investigated.
I think the Twitter story is total baloney, but if it were true – there would be a well-deserved blizzard of lawsuits headed their way.
Many people take this stuff for granted, but we have to be vigilant about enforcing these basic protections – it’s just not something we can afford to be sloppy about.
Thanks for letting me indulge my inner civil liberties lawyer… LOL! ;-D
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Erin Blaskie
Hi Mark!
Great points — the way I see it is that anything shared online is open to the possibility of being made public. I have a rule that I don’t write anything I wouldn’t be fine with having plastered on the front page of the New York Times. It’s how I am with my business and life.
Personal conversations, those I wouldn’t want shared, are done in-person or by phone. I think that in an age where we are moving to such an open form of living, it’s getting harder and harder to protect that privacy. While I think there are places it should exist, Twitter, Facebook and other social media just don’t see the answer for private convos.
Mary!!
I agree with you — I think the story is baloney too but I don’t think it would be that odd if the government were reading our public tweets. They are public and therefore readable by all. Unless of course you’ve made your tweets protected which to me is pointless – defeats the whole purpose of social networking!
Love your passion though and thank you for sharing!! Love the links and such to other resources.
Great convo.
E.
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Book Review: "Tribes" by Seth Godin
Erin Blaskie
Well holy purple cow flown out of a dip and into the universe. Ok, that was merely a play on words of Seth’s titles… wait, why am I telling you this bit? He’s famous, you probably have heard of all of his books if not at least one. His name is Seth Godin and he’s a master marketer and a writer like no other.Let me tell you something interesting though. I had always seen Seth as a master marketer and a writer. Someone who had a lot of knowledge on that specific area and who I turned to for new marketing ideas, thoughts and leadership. After reading “Tribes”, I now see Seth as major agent of change. He can change the way you think, feel and act.
In fact, his words had such a profound effect on me that by page 35, I had the idea for Successocity. By the end of the book, three other things had been born and my notebook filled with scratches.
Okay, so at the very end of the book Seth has a part about passing the book along if you’ve found it helpful. While I am selfish and want to re-read this so am hanging onto my copy, I do want to extract some of my favorite bits and share them with you here.
“What’s interesting about the folks I meet who are engaged and are clearly heretics is that they’ve actively talked themselves out of the fear. I mean, the fear is still there, but it’s drowned out by a different story.”
“It’s the story of success, of drive, of doing something that matters. It’s an intellectual story about what the world (or your industry or your project) needs and how your insight can help make a difference.”
Imagine what the world would be like if we simply rid ourselves of the fear by telling ourselves a new and different story?People always ask me how I produce things so quickly, put them up without perfection and put myself in the “line of fire” so often. It’s not because I am not afraid… I just know I’m helping people and because of that, I can never fail. The critics will pop up, they are always there, but I keep going.
“The lesson here is this: if I had written a boring book, there’d be no criticism. No conversation. The products and services that get talked about are the ones worth talking about.”
If ever you’ve held back on doing something out of fear that the critics will pop up… ignore ‘em! Move forward and build your uniquely inspired business authentically. Eventually, even the critics will jump on board when they see your magnificence.
“What we did (and what you do is) courageous. It requires bravery. Managing doesn’t, and following the rules to make a living doesn’t. It might be hard work, but it feels safe. Changing things – pushing the envelope and creating a future that doesn’t exist yet (at the same time you’re criticized by everyone else) – requires bravery.”
I think the key thing to note is that regardless, when you put yourself out there, it’s going to require something inside of you that not everyone has. Embrace it and you succeed – back down from it and you won’t.“When you hire amazing people and give them freedom, they do amazing stuff. And the sheepwalkers and their bosses watch and shake their heads, certain that this is an exception and it is way too risky for their industry or their customer base.”
Instead, hire the people who obviously know what they are doing, empower them and see what happens. I wish more of our clients and the people hiring professional services had this mentality. We could do BIG things for people if they let us.
“Part of leadership (a big part of it, actually) is the ability to stick with the dream for a long time. Long enough that the critics realize that you’re going to get there one way or another … so they follow.”
Ahhhh… So true. This was probably my favorite part of the entire book. For me, it’s saying to people that regardless of what you throw at leaders, they’ll always lead. The really good leaders will keep moving forward and you’ll eventually follow or join too.
Read it? What are your thoughts or favorite passages?
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Fagstein » Much talent, few scouts
Erin Blaskie
Great post and so true… The media hardly ever comes to the places where these things are sprouting amazing ideas for people.
Posted via web from Erin’s posterous
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Hicham
Thanks for the session, Erin at WordCamp Montréal and I seen you at Wordcamp Toronto too
Would you be at Boston Podcamp 4 in august ? -
Erin Blaskie
Hi Hicham!
Thanks! I am glad to see that you are making the rounds like me
Where can I find info on the Boston Podcamp? Sounds interesting!Erin
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Hicham
Hi Erin,
You`re welcome.
Here the link : http://www.podcampboston.org/Funny, this week-end I will go to Ottawa to celebrate a birthday friend named Erin
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Erin Blaskie
Awesome sauce!! Thanks Hicham
Nice — if you are in Ottawa again free of plans, let me know! We could organize a Tweet-Up
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Hicham
Sure Erin,
I will return you an answer if I got free plans on Friday.Why don`t you have a Subscribe to Comments plug-in ?
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Samantha
We we kind of flying under the radar, but there were actually a number of Concordia journalism students at WordCamp covering the more accessible presentations. Our work won’t be published; it will just be handed in to our professors. But just be assured that the upcoming generation of journalists is interested in this type of thing.
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Samantha
We had to sneak in though, because we couldn’t afford the entrance fee and the organizers didn’t consider us “the media” and wouldn’t give us press passes.
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Why Entrepreneurs Get Nothing Done & Spend Too Much Money
Erin Blaskie
Yup, I said it.Entrepreneurs everywhere are spending a FORTUNE on info-products, coaches, teleseminars, in-person events, membership-programs, etc. and it’s getting them NOWHERE.
Now, I’m obviously not advocating spending zero dollars because let’s face it, we all do need a bit of help. What I AM encouraging is to stop spending your money with everyone on the planet and find one person you resonate with, is where you want to be and gets the latest stuff happening on the web.
Otherwise, you end up like most entrepreneurs. You hire a coach and then another coach and then a guru and then you buy big group coaching programs and then you attend in-person events with high ticket prices and then you hire an online business manager and then a web designer and then an SEO expert and… and… and…
You get the point (I hope)…
What happens is that instead of listening to ONE person who knows what they are doing and is where you want to be, you are listening to ten or twenty or thirty people who all tell you DIFFERENT things and make your head spin. All of these ideas that you’re paying for are great except nothing is being implemented because you just don’t know where to start.
So, if you’re not making any money and you’re scratching your head trying to figure out why, even after all of this great advice you are getting nowhere, FIRE half (or more) of the people you’ve hired to “coach” you and find yourself an awesome coach, strategist or someone who can lead you alongside your own amazing and brilliant thoughts and ideas.
Do so and I guarantee that you’ll make more money this year than you ever have.
Put down your wallets… and watch this video:
P.S. — If you are looking for someone to coach with, I do offer my strategy / coaching / implementation services to a select group of entrepreneurs. I am not trying to sell you on my services but rather providing it as an alternative to the other things you’ve been trying. Especially if nothing is working. Click here to learn more.
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Erin Blaskie
@CATremblay posted this comment to me on Twitter which I got approval to quote.
“Just finished watching: Entrepreneurs: Spending = Chaos. With the chaotic model there’s a more sinister danger than inefficiency. There’s a serious danger of both monopolization of the idea sources, and a potential descent into groupthink.”
BRILLIANT. Exactly why I did this video.
Once entrepreneurs get sooooo saturated with everyone else’s ideas, they run the high risk of never having original thought. It’s really quite sad.
Add your comment if you agree/disagree/have more to say.
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Kellie Andrews
I just hated seeing my life drawn out on the screen like that! How many zillions of ideas have fallen by the wayside because I was stuck on implementation, and dropped instead of figuring things out. I’m going to really take a look at all the directions I’m being pulled in, and figure out which ones can really be monetized. Then I’m going to find that person that can help me do that. Thanks Erin!
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Erin Blaskie
Hi Kellie!
Thank you first and foremost for your honesty. I think that once we see ourselves drawn out or on paper (in this case, on video) it makes us realize that what we’ve been doing just isn’t working.
There are going to be many, many people who disagree with me (and those people are probably trying to sell you the exact services I think are not always the answer) but I really think we spend WAY too much money without actually doing anything.
I’m glad you’re going to take a look at your own things to see where you can put in the most effort for results. I love that!! The next step after seeing a problematic area is to fix it and it looks like you are.
Thanks
Erin
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Blogging SOS Group
Erin Blaskie
via bloggingsos.comOur first group meeting was tonight and it was awesome!!
The group is designed to help bloggers who are stuck on design, customization, blogging in general, etc. move forward past their woes live on a recorded webinar call.
Posted via web from Erin’s posterous
Fil 4:10 am on July 16, 2009 Permalink
Nice idea. ooking forward to see if you book can hit the NYT bestseller list
Lindsey 7:36 am on July 16, 2009 Permalink
A book is actually near the top of my “to do in the next 12 months” list, so this is really interesting to see! Can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!
Erin Blaskie 10:48 pm on July 16, 2009 Permalink
Thanks! I’m excited to start the process and see where it goes. Lindsey — you’ll have to let me know when you start writing a book too!