In Service, The Series - Give Back Village

I often commit to more than I can handle. This isn't news to me or anyone else. While working on the business plan I decided "No more volunteering!" I think 5 things to give my time to is a nice round prime number. And I told people that 5 would be my limit.

And I've sort of stuck with that... sort of.

The folks at Give Back Village got in touch with me over the summer. I had already used their service and fallen in love with their business concept - online shopping for local stores and services at a discount with the revenue raised going to local not for profit organizations. We had a great meeting, turns out the founder and acting ED is the mother of someone I've gone to school with since Grade Two! We decided to work together.

I trained the ED and three staff on using Twitter and Facebook, put together a calendar with guidelines on what and when to post, helped them target a more local crowd on Twitter and helped them understand how to use Google Analytics better to track where traffic to their e-commerce site is coming from.

Not long into our working together did it become clear that there was certainly a lot more I could offer and more help they could use, being only a four person team (with two of them being part time!). They knew I was at a maximum for volunteering and I knew they were at a maximum for budget... Where to go from here?

Then Joanne, the ED, made the ask that I'm sure she has become very good at making thanks to her years of working with not for profits, "We have an opening on the board, would that interest you?"

Well of course, that changes the equation. We are no longer talking about giving time, we are also talking about taking ownership over the success of the organization. Despite my ban on volunteering more, I was in fact looking for a board position somewhere, but hadn't found the right place yet.

Right question, right time I guess!

I've been on the board with Give Back Village now since September. I'm super excited about it not only because I love the concept, but also because it is a start-up, arguably still in the first year of operation, and because I am really stretching my skills!

Since I've joined the board I've taken part in both the marketing and the technical side which is exciting to me. I've had years of experience in retail marketing but e-commerce is another beast entirely. I've gotten to dive more deeply into website analytics, coding, design, as well as infrastructure.

And I realized that saying "No more volunteering" doesn't necessarily serve me well. There are times when I can get even more out of a volunteering opportunity than what I'm giving. From now on, I only take on more unpaid work when it lets me learn, test or practice something new.

I definitely have more to say about Give Back Village, about the great concept, about the value it provides to local business, not for profit organizations and consumers, but that's it's own post for another day. That shouldn't stop you from going and buying something right now though :-)

In Service, The Series - Ignite Guelph

Yes, I give a lot of my time, so I need to make a series of posts to talk about the groups and events I volunteer with.

Yesterday I wrote a bit about Lunch Up Guelph again to start introducing this series, so we will call Lunch Up Service One.

Service Two (these aren't in any order, except maybe the order I'm taking part in them this week) is Ignite Guelph.

I teased about Ignite yesterday, in fact that afternoon I had planned it to be my blog post for the day until I realized I couldn't tell the back story without figuring out how I knew the rest of the people involved.

Through Lunch Up Guelph, and the Twitters, I became good friends with Sean Yo, who has this ability to suggest great ideas and then find a bunch of people to execute them. He would make a fabulous Volunteer Coordinator, and if he isn't careful I'm going to put his name forward for the role with another group I work with.

Because we are both busy people a lot of great ideas have come and gone between us because we just didn't have the manpower to make them happen. Luckily Sean was already part of a small group of people here in Guelph trying to bring a very cool event to our city. Ignite is a worldwide, volunteer run speaker series. Waterloo has been hosting them for a few years, as well as Toronto and London.

But as we know, here in Guelph we are a little different. Sure there are some great speakers and interesting topics covered in Waterloo, London and Toronto, but we like our entertainment a little more homegrown here.

There was already a team of about 6 or 8 people involved when Sean asked me to join. It's easy to say yes when there are a bunch of fun, reliable and competent people already on board.

We held our first event last spring, in April and had such a great time we dove right into the next one, which we held in October and already we are planning number three for March 11.

I also spoke at the first one, and while I loved talking I kind of wish I hadn't jumped the gun and could have enjoyed a few other talks before giving my own.

However, I will definitely tell you that giving an Ignite talk was the most exhilarating thing I can remember doing since I last was at Canada's Wonderland. I can't urge you enough, dear reader, if you have a topic you are passionate about you should consider getting up there and sharing your passion. Art, music, food, running, beer, energy, travel, fair trade and wages, we all have something we think will make the world a better place if everyone only understands how amazing it is. Tell us, change our world.

These crazy people I call my friends!

I've written previously about Lunch Up Guelph, but I need to talk about it again.

I need to talk about it because I want to talk about another event I am a part of and as I was mentally making my notes for a blog post I had to think back about how I came to be a part of the group. And just like any good story, it started a few years ago, with Lunch Up Guelph.

For those of you who didn't click the link, Lunch Up Guelph was an accidental success. I had had a very busy month and realized I hadn't talked to some of my favourite people in real life lately, only through Twitter. I put out an open invitation, on Twitter natch, to join me for lunch later that week.

While I had always used Twitter to meet and chat with new people I more used it then to keep in touch with friends I had in real life, who also happened to spend time on Twitter. And I missed those people. Because no matter how much time you spend online, or even on the phone or in a video chat, there is something about spending time together around a table, looking at a person's face while they are telling a story, hugging them hello and goodbye, that simply can't be duplicated online.

And that was what I missed. So I set up a lunch so I could spend time with my friends. As it turns out, a lot of people were feeling the same way, and we ended up having an intimate afternoon for 32!

I mention this event again because it was the event where I really met both Sean Yo and Danny

Williamson. Both were people I knew through Twitter. Both were people I knew very casually in real life because they worked with people I did know. One for sure, maybe both are the reason I am part of  Ignite Guelph now.

Ignite Guelph was what I was going to write about, until I realized I wasn't sure how I came to call the people who sit at the table with me at the meetings my friends. I had to do some backtracking and realized I can blame it all on, I mean thank, Lunch Up Guelph and Twitter.

I help people understand how to use online media, especially social media, to improve their business. But the great bait and switch of what I do is that using Twitter will also improve your life.

How does an adult make new friends? It's not like our parents set up play dates for us anymore. We don't go to school and find a collection of peers who might befriend us. Most of us don't even hang out in bars or clubs anymore, lowering our inhibitions and making it easier to talk to strangers. I grew up with parents who had few friends but many work colleagues and until I became an adult I never really understood that.

When people ask me what my favourite social media network is, I say Twitter, without a doubt. The people I spend the most time with, the people I rely on, the people I love came to me through Twitter. And those people help me make my choices everyday. They help me to find the groups, events, clients and friends I want in my life. And sometimes I curse them, because there is just So. Much. Awesome. in Guelph.

My Why

This summer I spent some time working on my business plan. The nuts and bolts of it, you know, who my customer is, how many of them there are, where to find them, that part happened really quickly. But the tricky part was understanding why I do the work I do, why I chose the clients I work with.

It took me a few months of working on the mechanics of the plan to get to the part where I was able to put into words my why.

I love Guelph. I've lived here for 34 years and have never wanted to leave. Many people who live in this city talk fondly of it's quirkiness, it's Guelphness. I believe what makes this city unique is the incredible diversity of people who live here.

Guelph is made up of one community which has strong academia, a varied manufacturing sector, a prosperous small business sector, an Italian tradition that permeates, a Scottish tradition you see in the stonework, urban and rural agricultural sectors and the list goes on. In fact I challenge you to find something that Guelph is missing.

I feel that keeping this city the way I want it, providing me business opportunities, arts and entertainment, intelligent discourse, clean water and parks, local food, means supporting those things I love.

Making sure that Guelph continues having a large and varied industrial core, unique events and a strong community means that I get to keep the city the way it is.

So, I work with those industries, events, and organizations that contribute to the city and make sure that they stay in operation.

Guelph's economic and social diversity is important to me and I want it to continue to flourish. So I help build businesses and events and organizations market themselves online. My why.

Words for 2014

Two years ago I came  across a habit created by Chris Brogan and picked up by most of the people in the media and marketing industry I most respect, like Mitch Joel and Christopher Penn. At the turn of the calendar, rather than making resolutions, you pick three words that will help guide your entire year. It's not concrete goals, I feel like it's more an invitation for something to happen.

On that first year I only heard about it when people started posting their words. I loved the idea, but felt I didn't have enough time to put thought into words for my year. Many people start thinking about them a week before the new year, some even earlier in the month.

Last year I decided to try, but mostly I could only come up with one word. Maybe I wasn't ready yet, or maybe that one word Read was so important to me I wanted to focus on it.

This year I have three words.

Create

I love C.C. Chapman's book Amazing Things Will Happen. I've seen him speak and he talks about how important it is to consume content. I love his assurance, but I feel like I've done nothing but consume for the last 3 years. I know that's not entirely true, but the rate that I consume is way more than necessary. It's time for me to switch my focus to creating.

I had decided that Create was one of my words for 2014 before the holidays and was already planning for some ways to do that when I found the 30 Day Challenge. And so this is the beginning of my creations for this year.

But writing isn't the only way I hope to create this year. I also want to create more videos and a podcast, and while I've always been pretty quick to pull out my phone and snap a picture I want to be more purposeful with my pictures and learn more editing skills.

Read

Why break a streak? Last year I vowed to read more, which seems counter to my previous word about consuming less content but I still maintain that reading blog posts and articles, even white papers and e-books is not the same as a full book.

About halfway through last year I realized that Goodreads has a reading challenge as part of their app,
so I set a goal for myself to read 25 books before the end of the year. I didn't challenge myself too much, I was already just over halfway through my goal and felt pretty sure it was manageable. But by the beginning of December it was looking tough, I was still 4 books behind. I changed tactics and read a number of graphic novels I've had kicking around and managed to just squeak through the year with all 25 books read.

This year, I am definitely challenging myself. I've chosen to set a goal of 30 books

Home

This one I struggled with. I struggled with being able to find a word that described a feeling I've been having.

Since 2005 I have been pretty transient with my living situation. I lived with family for about 3 years, I lived with a bunch of friends for a few years, and now, I live in a small basement apartment with a lifetime's worth of stuff I can't seem to get rid of. Not only that, I have a man in my life who has his own place which means I sometimes live out of a bag.

I had a hard time choosing this word because it started as a clear goal with no deviation. I want to live in a shared space with my man. And while that is certainly the best outcome I can think of, it's certainly not the only one, and it's also not something that is completely in my control.

The feeling that I have is that I want to be able to be settled. I want to put things up on my walls. I want to have anything I'm keeping in storage actually, you  know, in storage, not in the way. I want to be able to invite people to my place and not apologize for anything.

I don't know what that looks like, I don't know where that will be, I don't know who else might be there, but I want to make a home for myself.

Create. Read. Home.

Challenge! The first of 30

I've been taking on 30 day challenges for the last few months, some with better results and some with not so great results. In December I decided on two challenges which is probably why I ended the month completing neither one.

First I took on a plank challenge starting the beginning of the month at 20 seconds and ending the month at 5 minutes. I was doing really well with that one until I hit the 2 minute mark around the middle of the month. After a break day on a Saturday I just never started again. Oops.

The other challenge I took on was to write something every day. It was a loose challenge I made for myself. I keep a completely personal, agenda free Tumblr account and started posting there every other day or so. My writing challenge wasn't a formal challenge with any type of plan, so I didn't feel too bad if I went a day and forgot to write.

I also write blog posts for my podcast and figured I would count those towards my writing. Mostly I just wanted to up my writing so that I can practice since I need to write copy for my website which is suffering from a pretty serious case of the "cobbler's children".

But, of course, without a plan it was very easy to deviate from it. Also, "write every day" is a pretty wide open directive, what the heck am I going to write today? I may have managed a week of writing regularly before I just forgot to go back.

So, here I am again, planning on writing every day. But this time, I've got a plan, or at least the beginnings of a plan. I've got just under a week of posts already decided on, a few regular posts that will come out weekly, and more importantly, somebody watching.

I've joined Hubspot's 30 Day Blog Challenge. That part wasn't planned, but I saw an announcement last week for the event and after a day of thinking about it, I decided I needed a bit more of an incentive anyway.

I'll warn you right now, the next 30 posts aren't all going to be winners, they aren't necessarily all going to be about online media, marketing or even business, but I hope they will at least be entertaining and more importantly they will force me out of the analysis paralysis that is my go-to form of procrastination!

So, in preparation, I spent the last three days at a cottage on the Trent Severn Waterway and did absolutely nothing but eat, be merry and visit with friends and family. And now, I put my nose to the grindstone and churn it out for the next 30 days. Love the grind!

View from the deck of the cottage, overlooking the river

Who has time for all that tweeting?

Without fail, the two question I hear most often when I talk to clients about using Twitter are "Who cares what I had for lunch?" (YouTube link of me answering this question) and "Who has time to tweet all day?"

Today we are going to talk about time.

If you are using Twitter as a social NETWORKING tool, then you need to keep in mind the basics of networking - ask questions, find out about the people you meet, be interested in them

If you are using Twitter as a social NETWORKING tool the fastest advice I can give you for a posting strategy is: in order of importance, do this

1. Reply to other people's tweets
2. Retweet other people's tweets
3. Share a slice of life tweet (just like small talk in real life, the weather, the food, hump day)
4. Share a link to something related to your industry, but not your own content.
5. Talk about your business, share your own content

Numbers 4 and 5 can be planned and scheduled. I'm not going to talk about those. I'm going to talk about how to find time to do numbers 1 through 3.

I don't know about you, but I find I have lots of time where I'm just standing around, waiting for something or someone. This is the perfect time for me to take out my phone and reply to a few people.

1. In the grocery store line (doesn't your line always seem to move the slowest?)

2. Waiting for the barista to make your fancy coffee drink.

3. While your computer is trying to open Microsoft Excel (maybe it's just my computer that completely stops doing anything while it's trying to open a new program).

4. In between stirring the pot of onions, risotto or spaghetti sauce simmering on the stovetop. Or in my case, between shaking the pot of popcorn, or waiting for the microwave to reheat last night's leftovers.

5. While you are standing at the door in your hat, shoes and jacket waiting for your significant other to be ready to leave for dinner.

6. First thing in the morning when you are not quite ready to get out of bed yet, but totally awake.

7. In those few minutes while you are waiting for everyone else to show up for your meeting since you are always early for things.

If you assume each of these things will give you about 3-4 minutes of down time, in one day you've suddenly found around 20 minutes to say hello to a few new people, deepen your relationship with people you've known for a while, and maybe even learn something new about a local event.

And since we all only have 24 hours in a day, you've just re-captured 20 minutes that might have been lost to worrying about the future or regretting the past.