BizCoachDeb's BizBuzz -

Archive for the ‘Just a Thought’ Category

Today I was delighted to read a post that was a topic bouncing in my brain for some time. Karima-Catherine beat me to it , (and it’s all kind of awesome) but in essence, it relates to the plight social media professionals have when we get that email asking, “Can we grab some coffee so I pick your brain?”

How many times have you gotten that question? I believe this happens to all kinds of freelancers and other professionals. For me, it’s common, happening several times a week. For the price of a cup of coffee, the sender (maybe innocuously) thinks it would be great to sit and let me share my ideas, tools, and strategies. Suffice to say, I’ve gotten more tight-lipped and cautious about what I share, often just referring people back to the web. My insides want to jump about and share everything, but I can’t, or rather, I shouldn’t. Why? Because I have spent a small fortune in time and resources to become sharp and knowledgeable in the spheres in which I consult. As professionals, that’s our duty. If I share all I’ve learned in a free chit-chat, what would be left and what value have I placed on my work? Precious little.   The rest of the story...

As if I needed another reason to be social, Mashable has gone and taken it up a few notches. At last count, there are 619 Meetups taking place around the world today to celebrate Social Media Day. From Boulder to Udaipur, places are having panels, while others are having Happy Hour. However your city is celebrating it, the bottomline is it gives you a chance to meet IRL with that person you’ve been tweeting with on Twitter or following on Facebook, or better yet, you’ll truly connect with someone you’ve never interacted with at all.

The entire premise of social media is the interaction you have with others, and nothing makes those connections more poignant or special than physically looking someone in the eye and shaking their hand — or maybe finally giving them a hug. Is it a bit scary for the bashful? Maybe, but there is a constant that I’ve experienced at Tweetups and other such gatherings; the making of new friends.   The rest of the story...

The coffee lover in me has a hard time resisting news about, well, coffee shops in the news. It appears Starbucks has bitten the java bean and will finally offer free Wi-Fi in their some 6,700 stores around the U.S. For any of you that have gone before, you know the big pain getting online can be at their shops.  The question though: how many years have the corner coffee shops already been doing this? When will the copy-catting end? Does this mean their coffee will get better, too? Okay, one mountain at a time.

Now, the true test in serving customers will be when they cease with the coffee lingo snobbery and stop correcting the way I order my coffee, or at least keep said correction to themselves.

“I’ll have a medium sugar-free vanilla latte with skim milk.”

“So that’s grande skinny vanilla latte.”

“Never mind.”

Is it any wonder I drink at local coffee shops whenever possible? 
Photo Credit: Bionic teaching

Tomorrow I will take part in a panel with colleagues who will have varying opinions on what constitutes “distracted driving”. My friend Kyle Perkins is already weighing in on this, so it will be interesting to see what other panelists think. The panel is assembling at the CBS4 Station in Denver and we’ll get to view a segment on the subject, then share our thoughts and opinions, involving our own social networks in what could be a lively discussion.

Before the panel, I decided I would read a bit more on the subject, just to see the other side. I found a moldy article on the subject and had to shake my head, not just at the silliness of the piece, but the softening of the phrase “distracted driver”:

“Multi-tasking behind the wheel is a matter of degree and all drivers are responsible for determining when they need additional self-training activities.”   The rest of the story...

I’ve pondered the title of this post for too long and decided finally that before I stalled out again, I would just keep it very simple. Grandma would have liked it that way.

You see, she passed away today, February 17, 2010. And already she’s left a void that will never be filled. Her 90-year life was full to the brim, so while the pain is still fresh, and numbness lingers on, I wanted to tap some words down and let the world know what they missed in not knowing her.

She had a way with words, using great little faded phrases like “…for the birds” and “…bright as a dollar.” You missed out on her amazing lemon meringue pie and the scent of lavendar in her linen closet. Her home always smelled like a cross between a bakery and an English garden. My grandma was a wizard in the kitchen and an avid collector/tester of recipes. You would never leave her table hungry and every meal, she prepared with love and creativity.   The rest of the story...