Support in social media.

Scenario:

You LOVE a business. You love the staff, you love the management, you love the service, you love the product.
You promote the shit out of it, twitter, facebook, off-line conversations.
You do this month, after month, after month.

That business never reciprocates. Never retweets, never likes your post, never acknowledges how much support you are showing them as often as you can. Never says the simple, yet powerful words – Thank you.

Does your brain say…

a) Who cares? They rock and I will tell the planet every chance I get. No thanks or acknowledgement needed.

b) Stop handing out the compliments. Because really, would it kill them to send out a “HEY thanks for the undying, somewhat stalkerish support” response now and again?

c) Bad mouth them. They may have the best product/service/management/staff on the planet but now I’m pissed off and unleashing some wrath.

What is your social media etiquette? Same as real life, face-to-face? Or do different rules apply?

Today I watched this TED Talk:  The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz, where he touches on how we have a bazillion choices from everything from salad dressings, to clothing, to cell phones. It’s hard NOT to be frozen when faced with so many choices because either;

a) our expectations are insanely high, or

b) we are going to feel disappointment & second guess what we do end up choosing

True right? Wasn’t it easier when we didn’t have the expectation of perfection? And weren’t we WAY less stressed out? I know I was. A few months ago we were looking for health benefits and the levels of different coverage presented to us made our heads spin. Husband wants to get the BEST and I just want us to not overpay. So what did we go with? Nothing…because it was overwhelming and seemed like we’d make the wrong choice. Give us 2 options? Easy peasy and less likely we’d put it off.

“The more options there are, the easier it is to regret anything at all that is disappointing about the option that you chose.”

Just under 20 minutes…grab a coffee and watch it. He’s entertaining too.

WHY did I quit my job at Genivar after 10 and half years?

WHY did I choose this path?

Not going to lie, it’s totally because I LOVE IT. But why is it that I want Unlimited BS to be strictly about small business?

Because I like the little guy. Not just the new ones, but small business in general and I think that even though they may have a small budget trying to get the ball rolling, they still deserve the same opportunities as the big guy with loads of cash burning a hole in his pocket.

And doesn’t it seem the little guy seems to always have crazy passion for what they do? I THRIVE on that!

In my short time in this industry, I’ve met some pretty incredible clients doing some pretty cool things. Learning about what drives them, what they have to offer is what drives me. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and I love that.

THAT is why I can’t contract myself out and be a middle man. I NEED the part of my job that is getting to know about your business…from you. The part where we sit down (over coffee!) and you share your love for your job. I love that part as much as the actual building of the website.

I’m only 4 chapters in…but this is what I’ve discovered about Unlimited BS so far…that is my WHY!

Personally I think I covered in my last blog post…and professionally? Professionally was fantastic! FANTASTIC! Thank you to everyone that supported me, encouraged me, inspired me, and hired me.  I learned a TON this first year of business from too many people to mention.

and…this is turning into a lame awards show speech, so I’ll leave it at that.

My goal for 2013?

To be better. Just better. In absolutely everything.

What’s on your plate for 2013?

I’ve heard be the bigger person. I have no doubt I am the bigger person. I was raised to be independent,  hard working, AND giving. To work for my money. Maybe work at a job that doesn’t feed my ego, but a job where I bust my ass, and pay my bills. I guess I just expected the same in return. Maybe a little respect for the loyalty I gave to that business, the countless number of hours I worked to market that business, with nothing in return. I think I had a brief free membership…yippee. Lucky me.

I was also raised to stand up for what is right. To not let people take advantage of me or others.

I don’t know what I need to put this behind me. I’m mad as hell. And I know for a fact I won’t be the last person (or that I was the only person) used to be a stepping stone to her “success”.

I’ve printed this off & will read it EVERY SINGLE DAY until it sinks in my skull. Because right now, all I want is revenge. And I know that is being the same level of person that she is.

and ya…the irony of me writing a passive aggressive blog post is not lost on me.

I got asthma when I was 16…always coughing, drinking cough medicine like a mad woman because we thought it was a cold that wouldn’t go away. And snorting Dristan like some sort of junkie.

Until I had my kid it was always VERY manageable. I’d go to ER maybe once a year, but the rest of the time no problems, meds always worked, it never affected my life whatsoever.

The past 2+ years have sucked healthwise. I’ve been tested for everything under the sun. I switched doctors, cried, and got seriously pissy with them, because NOTHING they were doing was helping. Beyond frustrating. $350 to get the air tested in our house. Nope. Every type of inhaler. Nope. Yoga. Nope. Oils. Nope. Allergy tests. Nope. Biopsies. Nope. Natural medicines. Nope. Work out like crazy, build your lung capacity. Nope. Eat 14 cupcakes a day. Nope. (ok…I made that one up…but it didn’t work either)

About 8 months ago, my Lung Specialist (who I have a mad crush on now) suggested Xolair. An injection at a mere $25,000/year.

Um…no. We’re self employed with no benefits. So just no.

Last month I went to see him and was worse again. My husband said enough. Do the shots, if after a few months nothing, we quit, but at least you’ll know.

So…..Monday last week I went for my Xolair application appointment. Cindy was awesome. AWESOME.

NEVER in my 23 years of asthma doctors has anyone REALLY REALLY explained the disease to me. Because it is that, it IS a disease.

With asthma, you look fine, no visible ailments but you can really feel like hell. It can make you stop participating in certain things because you are worried you’ll have to quit because you can’t breathe and you feel like a puss because of it. I’ve kind of always considered it a minor thing that I needed an inhaler for, and I always kind of felt it was my fault it was getting worse. Cindy was very direct with me. You have a disease. Stress didn’t do this, stress can’t create these numbers, it’s a disease and we need to aggressively treat it because it is getting worse.

Ya…I cried. Like any unstable mother would do, filled out the Blue Cross applications, and cried.

And Cindy…awesome, caring, smart Cindy said “You know what? I’m going to give you a compassion shot right now, no charge”.

And then I cried more because, well that’s a $650 please stop crying moment worthy of some tears of gratitude

She told me not to expect overnight success like I know some have had.

First 2 nights I had my attacks early evening…usually they are late at night which is why I never get to sleep until morning, after I’m pooped from fighting to get my breathing in check. And…I slept! I slept hard…lol…I felt like I haven’t slept in 2 years, which I kind of haven’t had a deep, uninterrupted sleep in that long. And I’ve slept every night since. AND I’m 5 days with no asthma symptoms. FIVE DAYS! I haven’t had a stretch like that in a looong time

Freakin miracle…I can’t even tell you.

If your health is going to shit, it really is up to you to keep at it, search out specialists, research, research, research, try everything. Eventually something has to click. And don’t quit until it does. Keep asking questions. It’s up to you to get better.

I was told this drug can change your life. The first week has me feeling rested, relieved, and I could not be more grateful.

Companies, like people, should never change who they are so others will like them; they should find those who like them for who they already are. ~ Simon Sinek

It is so in line with the conversations I’ve had the past couple days with Clients, and with friends. You don’t need to put on an act, or be who you aren’t to gain business. Just be authentic. People see through bullshit. Maybe not immediately…but eventually.

I think there is a lot of pressure to be something out-of-the-box, stand out, shock factor, huge, over the top and attention getting.

I’m over it. In my head, out of the box is the new in the box with the lid taped neatly shut.

Don’t try so hard. Be you.

This is what I know this week….

• I eat too much crappy processed food.
• I miss my Margies and don’t see why they can’t all move into our acreage subdivision so we can coffee every morning…even though 2 of them don’t even drink coffee which really makes me question our friendship at times. Weirdos.
• I stared at my kid a LOT this weekend. He’s so neat. I love the way he says kindly and garbage.
• I’m a sucker for marketing…needed a food processor and saw one called the NINJA. Sold!
• Excited for tomorrow…because it’s Monday, and I looooovee the Mondays! Fresh start, new opportunities, and some really awesome meetings lined up. 

What do you know this week?

I, on the other hand, not so much.

At the Social Media Breakfast there was a question asked about how many times a day to post on facebook, to tweet, etc. I have seen a TON of infographics on this in the past while – best hours of the day to post, best days of the week to post, how many tweets a day and what time of day gets you more engagement.

Really? Are we really going to go down that route?

Not this chica. I’ll post when it hits me. Not before, not after. I’ll skip a day, two days, a week (ok, that was a bit far) if I have nothing to post. I will never post just to be in the timeline. Nor will I blog if I have nothing to say.

Sad news for some of you to hear, but I almost always have either random thoughts busting out of my brain, or thoughts on something in life that I have an overwhelming desire to share with the world wide web.

So there you have it. I don’t give a rat’s ass when you post or how often. Just entertain, inspire, intrigue, teach me and I’m hooked.

There..now on with my post

November 1st was a total wicked day for me. Despite the fact it started before 8am. Red Deer launched Social Media Breakfast which is a networking group that meets once a month over breakfast. The premise is to have a speaker or 2 and then network. It was fantastic. Great turnout and I was thrilled to see it wasn’t the regular twitter diehards there, but a ton of new people. A W E S O M E. Again, despite the fact this group meets for breakfast at 8am (who does that?) I think it’s something I’m going to dig. Follow them on twitter @SMBRedDeer for the latest. Cool Beans Bus & I are sponsoring the next one on December 20th so you might want to come

Then….Scott Stratten.

Those who know me, know I have somewhat of a brain crush on Scott Stratten. He wrote the book UnMarketing which I LOVED and he’s just a no bullshit, calls businesses/people out on what we all want to, and he’s freakin hilarious. The guy is awesome. Covers marketing, to social media, to how to be awesome at customer service. He did a 3.5 hour seminar that felt like 20 minutes. Fantastic. Again, met a whole new group of awesome people with brains that intrigue me…the network grows. This makes me happy.

The point of this post is…When I tell you something wicked is coming to Red Deer, I’m going to need you to listen from here on out.

p.s. He hugged me. twice. Take that Oprah fans…she’s not going to hug you even once. I win.

It’s okay to be jealous