BizCoachDeb's BizBuzz -

In the land of trust fund kids and a rather large number of medical marijuana dispensaries, maybe the prospect of Google Fiber is no big deal. Let’s face it; we’re certainly an active and educated bunch, so why the big deal over Google Fiber, right? Wrong. Believe it or not, there are people without broadband right now, right here in our beautiful, affluent city. There are schools, nonprofits and even needy citizens that could really benefit from this kind of technology. Consider just these three things having this kind of technology could do for our city:   The rest of the story...

• Schools and libraries could put curriculum, books, and training materials online, even offer classes online in real-time, saving in the expense of these resources
• Hospitals, clinics, and veterinarians could easily share complex medical information and charts more quickly and collaborate like never before
• Nonprofits could train their volunteer base remotely and even seamlessly conduct fund-raising events online

Spurred by the annoyance of several notable brands (and some virtual unknowns) and their poor use of Twitter, this post has finally bubbled to the top of my consciousness. It’s my shortlist of things I view as pitfalls of Twitter usage. I know, I know, “It’s too young, there are no standards.” But let’s just assume for the sake of conversation that you are a brand (big or small) and you decide to dip your toe into the Twitter pool; whether you know it or not, much like every day conversation, there are some preconceived expectations of the audience you hope to enthrall. After all, you are using it to get customers to beat a path to your door, right? At least that’s what your wunderkind social media marketing guru must have told you: “Customers are on Twitter, we have to set up an account Pronto!” “James, that’s brilliant. I’ve heard about that Twitter thing on CNN.”

So, if have one iota of marketing or customer service sense, please listen up:   The rest of the story...

The most well-intentioned plans, the most heart-felt desires – they’re great.
That’s the fuel that can help things get done.

But that passion can also be blindingly detrimental, strangling the life from an otherwise excellent venture or project.

Sometimes your passion will get in the way of your success.
Sometimes your passion will paralyze you.
Sometimes your passion is actually setting you up for failure.

How, you say?   The rest of the story...

• By giving you the false hope that what you’re doing is the best way to do it.
• By allowing you to rationalize procrastination as “due diligence.”
• By helping you to stubbornly refuse seeking or adopting better tools or methods.
• By ham-stringing you with the thought that with a change, all your work will be undone.
• By making you dig your heels in because you didn’t come up with the idea first.
• By painting the illusion that it’s too hard to learn something new or better.
• By filling you with a fear that it will be too scary to make changes.

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...

On this, the 200th anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday, I pondered this question. My guess would be “yes”, as it certainly would have been easier for him than bouncing about as he did over his short life. With a single place to share his thoughts, just think how many retweets we’d be enjoying!

Oh, and a disappointing word of note: The “Poe Toaster”, who’s been visiting the Poe grave since 1949 has not shown up this year to pay their respects.  I’ll do my part and toast Mr. Poe with some fine Ouzo, as his body of work lives on today and I’m so much richer for having some in my own library. (UVA photo courtesy: Jen Waller)