I know I’m not the best at writing for myself very frequently, but I thought I should come back over here and share a bit of what’s been going on in my world. Aside from clients consistently keeping me busy (thank you, you rock), I’ve been doing some things for myself that are just plain fun. And we all need a little fun in our lives, don’t we? I’m even learning quite a bit, bonus!

I’ve Got a Little Sumthin’ For Ya

In preparation for a new business that I’m starting, I launched a website and campaign to get others to Help Us Name Our Business. The concept was simple, yet rushed. The plan was that within less than a week to have a name for this business. All a participant needed to do was email, comment, write on a wall or @us on twitter with their name idea. That entered them into the contest to win a Kodak Zi8 HD Video Camera. We had over 200 people participate. Starting from nothing surrounding this project, that’s a pretty significant number of participants. All of this was accomplished via social media: blog, email, Twitter and Facebook. Submissions came in from more than 7 different countries. Interesting to note is that most of our submissions were given through Facebook. That shows the power of friend suggestions over disconnected marketing on Twitter.

Make a Little Noise, Do a Little Dance…

It’s been a couple of years since I’ve ventured into the land of producing podcasts. Last week that all changed. I decided to take the amazing relationship that my grandmother and I have and share it with the world. I’ve called the show Gram Loves Dancing with the Stars. Obviously, we talk about Dancing with the Stars. The show is about 20 minutes long and gram gets saucy about all kinds of things on the show from the boobs and hair to the dresses and the dancing. We have a flowing intro to the show and a moving exit. Right now our focus is on Facebook, iTunes and the website. I’m experimenting a bit with some different ways to get the word out about the show. I didn’t want a venture that felt like work, so this is my little bit of fun each week and a simple idea to play around with some different marketing strategies. I’ll keep you posted on what I’m doing and how it’s working. In the meantime, if you like Dancing with the Stars, you should listen. It’s free, it’s easy to listen to and, if I do say so myself, it’s rather entertaining.

I have always said that if a song or a television show can evoke an emotion from me, that’s the sign that they’ve done their job. Really, if I’m laughing my head off, crying my eyes out or feeling the emotions of love, then I’m more likely to talk to others about what caused all of that in me. What does that do? Well, the people behind what I saw just created a marketing officer in me by doing that. I start spouting off about how great their show is. Yes, when you talk about a show (in a positive light) you’re promoting their show (negative light.. well you get the idea). For example, when the show Glee premiered, I told everyone that they should watch it. Seriously, I lost my mind over this show. I still think you should watch it. It’s great! Particularly the pilot episode. I felt like I was on top of the world at the end. I didn’t want to stop believing because I felt so powerful and was truly energized by the music and the characters.

This doesn’t just work for television or movies. This concept can work for basically any brand. You’ve got to find a way to connect to your audience. What can you, your product, your service or your brand do that is interesting to your target? Once you can find what they want, all that’s left is finding a way to grab onto a sliver of emotion. What can you get them to identify with?

Have you ever seen a picture of a poor neglected puppy in the newspaper accompanied with a story about how it desperately needed a home. It’d been beaten, left for dead on the side of the road and had been nursed back to health by the great men and women at the local ASPCA. Generally those newspapers are flooded with phone calls from would-be adopters. That animal and its story struck a chord with so many of those people and they chose to act on that specific thing. After they were told someone else was already adopting the animal, most of them realized and found that they were interested in pet adoption and at the very least were now talking about action. They wanted the thing that they’d identified with. When marketing your product, you have to give them something that matters to them.

So when it comes to creating a new campaign or promotion, you need to ask yourself the question “How can I get my audience to feel something?” If you don’t get me something to be compelled, intrigued or entertained by, then why should I care about it?

Just one last question. Have you set your DVR to record Glee yet? You should. [See!]

I just sent the following letter to Toys “R” Us in hopes that they can put me back in touch someone who touched my life ten years ago. I hope someone there reads it and can lend a hand to my search.

Dear Toys “R” Us,

I’m trying to find out how I can get in contact with someone who claimed to be an employee of your organization back in December of 1999. Let me tell you why.

Late in the evening on December 23, 1999 I was driving up I-65 from Tennessee to the Chicago area to visit my family for Christmas. Right around Indianapolis, IN there was a blizzard out of nowhere. A complete white-out. I couldn’t see the road anymore and my tires rubbed the grassy median. I spun out, did 3-360s in the road, my car went across all lanes of traffic, dropped 15 feet into a ditch and skidded 50 feet until I stopped by hitting a tree.

I was 19 years old, alone, didn’t have a cell phone and was far from home still. I was scared out of my mind. A man pulled over to check on me despite the heavy snow and deep cold. He helped me up out of the ditch and let me sit in his car until the police and tow truck arrived. Now, we didn’t talk much. He could see I was scared and possibly hurt (turns out, I was). I remember he was a gentleman, nice and caring but specifically that he said he was a regional manager of Toys R Us. Sadly, I don’t recall his name.

This Christmas it will be 10 years since that night. I want to find this man so that I can properly say “thank you” for being the Good Samaritan that we all hope for in times like those.. and to let him know that I never forgot his kindness.

Is there a way you would be able to find out who your regional managers were around that time, that may have been in that area on that day? I understand there’s likely privacy issues. Maybe you could somehow reach him and ask him to contact me instead?

I know, this is a long shot but every year I think about this man and how I didn’t even know his name or say thank you like I should have. I’d like to see what I can do to remedy that. I really hope that you can help to reconnect us. Please let me know if you can and/or are willing.

Sincerely,
Kim Fenolio
www.KimFenolio.com
twitter.com/kFenolio
937-757-1331

Someone asked me the following question today:

Sometimes I see people making a little celebratory announcement on Twitter. Like being listed on the Top 20 Twitterers for this or that, for instance. Is that something where it’s OK for the influencer types to do it but not really the rest of us [average users]?

This is a great question to ask. I don’t think tooting your own horn or celebrating something you’ve done well applies only to the people on the “A List”. In my opinion it’s all in how you do it.

Don’t Celebrate Like This
“I was just told I’m amazing! I am amazing! Look at me! How could you deny it?”

Your approach should be more suave and celebratory.

Do Something Like This
“I was just called “amazing” by John. Gosh that makes me feel great! THANK YOU!”

There’s nothing wrong with saying that someone recognizes you as having done something good. Just don’t be one of those people who comes across as a pompous self-centered know-it-all.

It was around 2005 when I first started getting into this new age of social media. I found podcasts first. I liked the podcast hosts and wanted to get to know them further. I found them through their online forums that they’d talked about on their shows and then the initial group of us all discovered Twitter in 2006. This was a time where everything was fresh, new and exciting. The possibilities were endless for social media and what it could leverage for each of us! I made some amazing friends. We shared our lives, our thoughts and stances on all different subjects.

That was 2006 and this is now 2009, where much has changed. I still see people giving of themselves, though not nearly as much. What I see more of is people promoting whatever it is that they’re into: their jobs, their new money-making scheme, but even more-so I see links. They’re everywhere and I have to tell you, I’m tired of it.

I miss the days where the value that you brought to the table was shown openly in the social network. Someone would make a statement and everyone cheered or responded right there. I didn’t have to see your “call to action”, click the link and then read it on your blog. The value was clearly right there. Instead, so much of what’s out there feels like email: spam. I realize that junk mail fills the mailboxes outside of our homes and spam fills our email inboxes. I really don’t enjoy seeing so much of it in my communication stream.

One example of value are the small business tips I post on my Twitter account Monday – Friday. I decide what I want to write about (sometimes with a little help from my friends), figure out how in the heck I’m going to condense it into 130 characters (10 of the 140 characters are consumed by the hash tag and what number tip it is for the day) and then just post the tips to Twitter. I don’t require anyone to go to my blog or my company’s blog to consume the data. I give easy and actionable advice that you can take right from that message and use for your business. That’s the value I try to bring to the table.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking you having a blog or the promotion of it. Obviously, I have one myself and I know that not everything can be said in 140 characters or less. My point is that I don’t feel social networks should be used solely as a way to promote a person, a product or a brand. If you’re going to be on a social network then you should be there adding to the the value and not the noise. Bring something to the table that I can actually use, something that will mean something to me. That right there is what proves you’re valuable and as a result promotes your brand, product or service that you’ve associated yourself to.

You’re right, it’s not traditional media but what about this medium is traditional? We’re here to reach out to consumers, business owners and each other in ways that haven’t been explored. So why should we continue to do it in the same way that’s always been done? Let’s break free of the traditional mold and get back to actually communicating!

Let’s make Twitter and all of social media become a culmination of solid thought, communication and value. When it comes down to it, isn’t that what we want when we’re being social in social media?

What do you want social media to be?

This past month has been full of changes for me. Thankfully they’ve all been positive. I have a new job and as a result, it’s helped me create a new way to how I function in my social networks.

The New Career Opportunity
At the beginning of October I officially moved from self-employed to being employed by a small business: America’s Best Companies (ABC). We are basically a national-level small business association. This is a company that educates, offers advice and helps to make life overall easier on the small business owner. One of the main ways they do this is by offering discounts (the kind that actually help you!) from companies like Staples, UPS, insurance, utilities and even health care. There are blogs, a weekly newsletter, search engine submission and even a bi-monthly magazine. The magazine is absolutely amazing if I do say so.

As with any small business association, there’s a membership involved to receive these discounts and additional benefits. ABC offers so much more in comparison to many city and town based associations and chambers of commerce and for far less money. I think that’s the key here, the cost is low and the give is big.

We recently opened it up and now offer free basic memberships! I think that’s way cool because it allows people free access to our eWeekly newsletter (I get to write a bit for that too), a free business profile and automatic search engine inclusion. You even get a free issue of our magazine.

After the free basic membership, there are two other levels. One brings you an amped up premium profile, those fabulous discounts I mentioned before, online advertising, advice, information, news, full subscription to America’s Best Magazine and a boatload of marketing material. The other offers all of that, plus your own customized website.

What made me want to work for this company, aside from them wanting me to work there, was their real desire to help small business in the United States. The philosophy isn’t to kick the super-I-sell-everything-stores to the side, but to find a way for the small business owner to be able to thrive right along side them! The goal is that once we get enough members, well have the power of numbers on our side and can make it to Washington to become the voice of small business and lobby for some rights. It’s that integrity and that value that hooked me. They want to help and they can.

What do I do?
Now I’ve told you what the company does and what they offer, but what do I do for them? I help to make them look good. I get to do a little bit of everything that I’m good at. I design a little, I code a little, I talk a little and I interact all around. I work on interface and new media and I love what I do.

The interesting thing with this transition is that I’ve changed how I play in the social media space. Since I used to work from home, for myself, I always had a hard time separating personal and business. Business for me was personal. I had a personal Twitter account and a business account. The sad thing is, I neglected my business account and never paid the proper attention to the people who wanted to follow me there. I’ve done away with that account and have followed all of the people who followed me there on the account that I now interact on during the day: @kFenolio. I am still maintaining my personal Twitter account privately. I certainly don’t need more than two Twitter accounts.

So if you’re on Twitter, follow me there. I generally interact and talk throughout my day. I share interesting small business finds or internet marketing related things. I also write a bit and share my own advice.

So I leave you with a couple requests, if you would, I’d love if you’d follow me on Twitter or share with others what my company can do for them. Now I need to know what I can do for you. How can I help you?

On Monday, August 4, 2008 a tornado touched down in Griffith, Indiana just two blocks from where I currently live in Highland, Indiana. I started Plurking and Tweeting (on my personal accounts) as soon as I saw the National Weather Service alert that the tornado would be to me within five minutes; of course that was after I got my family safe. Here’s my Twitter time line and what the folks who follow me there got to see from when it began through to the next morning:

08:21 PM August 04, 2008  from Ping.fm
So [name] sent [their] tornado to me. In the basement now.

08:25 PM August 04, 2008  from Ping.fm
OMG neon blue sky.. Neon green.. Sirens!

08:30 PM August 04, 2008  from Ping.fm
The sound is terrifying! We’re in the crawl space.

08:37 PM August 04, 2008  from txt
House is moving and creaking. Jacob is freaking out. No power obviously. Cramped in here.

08:52 PM August 04, 2008  from txt
Outside with my father because he’s freaking INSANE! It’s a mess out here. Emergency vehicles all over.

09:15 PM August 04, 2008  from Ping.fm
The tornado ran along the next block. Lightening struck, we lost a ton of electronics. Things are smoking…

09:22 PM August 04, 2008  from Ping.fm
Houses are gone…

09:26 PM August 04, 2008  from txt
Turning off my updates from u people.. Phone juice running low.. No way to power phone for now. Will keep updating.

11:41 PM August 04, 2008  from Ping.fm
It’s around midnight and the people out walking the streets to see th damage reminds me of a parade.

08:03 AM August 05, 2008  from Ping.fm
http://ping.fm/p/ogle4 – Never seen anything like this.. Looks like a hurricane came thru & mangled all the towns around here. It’s hard to find words for this…

08:14 AM August 05, 2008  from Ping.fm
We have power back. A lot of things are fried. AC is dead. DSL dead. Headed out now to buy new surge protectors.

09:09 AM August 05, 2008  from Ping.fm
The storage unit I put all my apartment and life in is demolished. I’m balling my eyes out. WHY AGAIN?!

10:55 AM August 05, 2008  from Ping.fm
Aaaand to top it all off: my computer is fried despite the surge protector.

As soon as I said that a tornado was on the way, a flood of reply messages started coming in. People expressed concern for our safety, asked if we were ok and extended prayers. The responses coming to me on Twitter via text message were comforting to me while my family and I huddled together in the crawl space of the house. I may have been alone in taking care of my family, but my social media family was with me in spirit. I was amazed at the compassion and immediate response from the people that I’ve simply formed relationships with online.

In the time line above, you read that I found out that I’d lost my storage unit (again) to the tornado. I’ll elaborate on the again part of that statement. Two years ago in September I was living in a basement apartment that was flooded so bad that they had to gut the building to its foundation. My son and I lost our home and everything but my dining room table, my computer and a duffel bag of clothing.

Just a few months ago I had moved in with my parents while I began my search for a full time job (didn’t want to sign another year-long lease since I planned on moving) and also to help out since my father and grandmother need daily assistance. I took everything from my home and placed it into storage with the exception of my clothing and my computer.

The tornado touched down two blocks from me, made it’s way across the the parking lot of a Kmart, took out a strip mall, demolished the residential neighborhood behind it, went straight through my storage building and then down through another neighborhood.

My storage area was an afterthought and I’d only stumbled upon it the next day because I was on the way to pick up new surge protectors for the house. I saw just the edge of the warehouses and they looked as though they’d gone through a shredder. I broke down into tears immediately. I am still questioning how two different natural disasters can affect one person in two years.

My social media friends extended their thoughts, love and prayers immediately yet again. I received phone calls, emails, text messages and word through friends concerned about me. They wanted me to know I wasn’t alone, that I was cared for and that they would help in any way they could. Just having their words was a huge help.

I have my friend Jim of With a Voice Like This to thank for his support and help in the clean-up, but also my family from Reunion Church. As soon as Pastor Chuck found out about this, he sent word out via email to the church community. People started calling immediately offering to come and help, which many did. Also a result of the Reunion family, I even received a text message of support from someone in New York that I didn’t know. The physical was covered.

The social media friends certainly couldn’t be there physically to help me sort through what was and wasn’t salvageable (china cabinet, kitchen items, sentimental things in Rubbermaid totes were saved; lost all furniture and beds), but they found their own way to help out. Friday evening my friend Andrea of Geek is Chic sent me a text message saying that she had a question for me and asked that I call her. She was bubbling with excitement while she told me that she had organized a group of people who had together pooled over $400 to put towards helping us get back on our feet. Of course, I began crying again. This time it wasn’t in sadness but because I had such amazing and wonderful people who cared so very much.

Thank you to Mark Tafoya, Rachel, Krissy, Alison L, Flick, Amy Osborn, Winnie, Bleu, Cliff and Stephanie Ravenscraft, Kim Thompson and FrancR for your generosity and your compassion. I love you people. Thank you so much.

–

New and social media is here to stay. I talk about it all the time, but this example here is something that shows how strongly it can take hold of you, how it can truly affect lives. I’m a testament to that. Social Media is helping me start fresh. I’m one person. Now think for a moment, on a bigger scale, how social media could affect the world. What are you doing to be a part of it?

Additional Media re: Tornado

1. Here’s a YouTube video that I shot of a neighborhood along Arbogast.
2. This is another YouTube video that someone else put together. At around 4 minutes into this one, there’s actually additional footage beyond just sights and sounds from the storm. You may want to skip ahead.
3. Photos of the destruction
   

It is no secret that I am looking for a job right now. One of the most frequently asked questions I’ve received since I’ve started looking again is, “Why do you want to stop doing the self-employment bit to get back out into the corporate world?” My answer to that is pretty simple. My work has taken over my life. I need a healthier balance between personal and business. I often find that I have so much to do that I’m unable to find the time to update many of my blogs or social networks. If you’ve paid any attention to the dates on this blog, you’ll see that I’ve neglected it as well.

Why did I choose to pursue self-employment in the first place? Many of my reasons are personal and for those, my plan worked out fantastically for a time. The other natural desire of self-employment is to be your own boss. That was great too, but the reality is that you’re never your own boss if you have clients. Each job comes with its own job description and someone on the other end who will approve your work; I’d call that a boss. Bosses are good for all of us because they give you goals and something to strive for, even if sometimes they are a bit warped. Let’s face it though, who isn’t? I’ll wait for comments from the peanut gallery on that one.

Aside from the reasons I’ve already mentioned, self employment is lonely. Sure a lot of what I do is in new and social media so I get a lot of opportunity to talk to people every day. The difference with that is my interaction is on a computer, not always verbal and usually not in person. I’ve found that I really miss the personal interaction with others, even if it’s just a few people a day. Who would have thought working alone would be lonely? Bring on the office politics I say!

Seriously though, it’s just time for me to get back out into the world and take on someone else’s new and social media desires or their requests of graphical goodness. I’m good at marketing for others and making it look fantastic. Let me work someone else’s projects so that maybe I can get back to my new and social medias being just for fun. Don’t get me wrong, I still have fun in what I do. It’s all the requirements of what I’ve taken on that have eaten away my desire to continue the personal consulting full time. I’ll continue to do some freelance consulting, of course. When I work for someone else, their priorities will come before those of my own, as I feel that it should be.

I want to talk about breasts here for a moment, and not just for the sake of talking about breasts. I’ve been doing a lot of work lately helping out with raising funds to support finding a cure for breast cancer. I have a number of friends who have been affected by the disease; maybe not directly but have friends or family who have.

This Saturday I’m going to be helping and participating in a fundraiser called Bowling for Boobs. During this event we’re going to plan a game. It’s similar to the game that women play at baby showers where you Measure the Mommy’s Belly:

(Materials- String or yarn and scissors) Have each woman pull the yarn to the size they believe would fit perfectly around the Mother-To-Be’s center of her pregnant tummy. After everyone cuts their string, compare the results to the Mommy-To-Be’s actual tummy. Give a prize to the woman who is the most close! This is a baby shower favorite.

The obvious twist is that we’re going to do this for the bust instead of the belly. We need a new and clever name. I posed this question on Plurk not too long ago and got a bunch of ideas.

Fundraisers that I’ve helped out with so far have been called:
Cooks for a Cure (cookbook)
Buy a Pear, Save a Pair (Farmer’s Market stand)
Bowling for Boobs (bowling event this weekend)

Here are some ideas compiled so far:

1. Judge the Jugs
2. Size ‘Em Up
3. Boob Barometer
4. Measuring the Mammaries
5. Take Size of the Ta-Tas
6. Less Than Equal
7. Rack ‘Em Up
8. Guess the Breast
9. Guess a Cup for Cancer
10. More Than a Handful
11. More Than a Cupful
12. Gauge the Girls
13. Size up the Sweater Stretchers
14. Calculating Cleavage
15. Ample Appraisal
16. Notice the Knockers
17. Calculate My Curves
18. Are the Breasts in Here Bigger Than They Appear?
19. Rate This Rack

Let’s see if the power of social media can evoke some of your creative juices for a name to this game. What ideas do you have?

–

If you’re able to, help support this cause financially. Someday you might be affected. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a cure? Donate to support a young boy on the team who’s grandmother is currently fighting breast cancer.

Recently I was talking to my brother. I asked him if he had a Facebook account. His response was as follows:

Social Networking.. Blahhhh. I like meeting people the old fashion way. “Hey you, come over here. I wanna talk to you.”

I guess I’m not doing my sisterly job very well. I’ll work on that. The whole point behind social networking is to be more social. You get the opportunity to connect and network with people that you likely may not have stumbled across in the physical realm. Once you make those connections through social networking, it provides an easier means of which to make the connection in your personal space.

Heck, you may not even need to meet face-to-face. I have a number of clients that I have never physically met. I’ve communicated with them through the social networking sites, chat programs and video sites. Some of my connections aren’t necessarily clients, but are colleagues and even friends. I’ve had the opportunity to meet a number of them in person as a result of the relationship we’ve formed through the social networking that my brother blahed at earlier.

I have made some great friends, connected with old friends, networked with connections of my connections, created business relationships, negotiated ideas, have held and been the subject of interviews and meetings all as a result of this social networking.

What has social networking done for you?

I’m winding down on day two of this re-branding process. It’s approximately 2:41. I state the time because it’s important to something I’ve learned this week. I have bigger and better ideas starting around 10:00. I’m finding that I work through at high-speed and with fantastic clarity through to about 3:00. It’s quite surprising.

Not only am I finding that I work harder, faster and produce better product during this time period, my voice even performs at what I might call optimum levels. I podcast as well, so to have a clear and round tone to my voice without having to concentrate or use any vocal tricks is something that’s also encouraging for production in that realm.

Why is that important? Well, simply because I now recognize when I’m at my best, performance wise. I know when I’m going to be able to produce more and where to schedule less of my fun-time activities. There is now the thought that I might be able to find what makes this time-period so productive for me and see if I can’t apply that to the rest of my day. That would be optimal, but for the time being I’m going to go with what works.

What are your peak hours of operation and why?

Welcome to the Kim Fenolio redesign and rebrand. The goal is to embark upon a career path that will not just be monetarily rewarding but also enjoyable. The concept is quite simple, the road however is a bit more rugged.

As I design, tweak, code and create myself again (did I mention again?) on the interwebs I’m finding new and different things that I can do and also enjoy doing. I don’t just put my mind to something. I put my mind to something and I finish it. If I don’t have the answer, I will find someone who does.

I’ve built this great network of people by means of social networking. Some of these folks I’ve met through podcasting, through Twitter, through Facebook and other forums. The point is that I have a large pool of talent and knowledge available to me. All I have to do is ask a question and so many people are willing to share and give of themselves and their knowledge. It’s actually quite amazing. Without my having met and spending some time to create a relationship with each of these people, I wouldn’t be the talent that I am today.

The point is that when you get me, you also get connections. I have strings attached, but they’re not in the conventional way that you would think strings are attached. It’s the idea that you get more bang for your buck.

Welcome to my personal brand. Welcome to my life. Welcome to Kim Fenolio.