The Fan Series – Teri Conrad
Teri Conrad
Who are you a fan of, who gets your attention, have you told them, if not, do it, tell them in as many ways as you can. We all look for validation, it doesn’t matter from whom really, we’ll take the praise from people we may never know, we just need to feel important, what’s sad about this need is, we’re already important!
Something we should be doing, giving away, and not waiting for someone to give it to you, we should be helping others get what they want, by giving recognition, and making sure they are aware that they make a difference in your life. It doesn’t matter how they make a difference, as long as they do, and it’s positive and helps you hold your head higher.
I’m a fan of a number of people, sometimes for what they do, but mostly for who they are, I look for the deeper person, I’m always assessing the heart. With that in mind, I thought I would share some of my fans with you, some I know personally, some I have yet to meet, but they all touch my world on some level that makes me want to do more, and I feel better about myself.
I’m calling this the Fan Series, these precious few, and in no particular order, the first does not mean I like them more than the others, I’m just sharing in a very random order : ) I have not told any of these great people I’m writing about them, I’ll let you do that : ) I hope that covers any angst.
Let’s begin.
Teri Conrad – Conversations That Matter!
MAD love affair with IDEAS, Brand, Debate and Exploration; Culture; Digital Strategy, Sociology, Media and PR. Passionate about genuine connection and the power of ’enchantment’ and having #ConversationsThatMatter! Social Media / Business Strategist / Connector / Speaker / Facilitator / Real Estate / Over Thinker!
I’ve known Teri a few years, we’ve met many times, but I’m certain she has no idea how she makes my world a better place. It’s possible, she has no idea how I feel towards her, but I value her as person first, and hopefully a friend second (I’ll let her decide). I’m always watching her online presence, and she provides great ideas and content (I like the ideas more, cause she’s smart). Teri is a very passionate person, she’s very infectious, you can’t help but be drawn in by her laugh and wit. I hope you all get the opportunity to spend time with her, more importantly, if you ever get the opportunity to work with her as a client, you’ll be in awe of how she does what she does.
You can find Teri on almost all the mainstream social networks, constantly sharing, connecting, and setting the example of how to use branding and PR. I urge you to take the time to reach out to her, and begin a very special relationship. I am proud to say, I am a fan of Teri Conrad.
Rather than rip her BIO and details, I’ll just give a link to her website, you can do your own assessing: http://www.tericonrad.ca – let her know you read about her on my blog, I think she would be surprised and pleased. Thanks Teri for being who you are, you are making the world a better place, I pray you stay true to yourself. Keep making your art!
The Shameless Plug Or Sharing
We really do like to promote ourselves, oh sure we say we don’t like to talk about ourselves, or pump what we do and who we might be in the pecking order. We do want people to know what we do and how well we’ve done it, we merely disguise it as a shameless plug, well we jest that at it. If you ask a person what they do, they’ll most likely tell you their job title, not what they actually do, we want to know some of the tasks, to give us an idea of how complicated your work may be. How important you might be in the hierarchy.
But if I were to ask you what you hated or didn’t like about your job, you could probably go on forever. I can assess you faster by hearing how passionate you are about who you work with or what you like and don’t like about the work you are paid to do.
When you venture to self-employment, you can no longer tell that story, you have to speak about how great your product or service is, how it will solve a particular problem. You have to plug your business all the time, sometimes we give a shameless plug, its an opportunist thing. I might say, have you read the most popular posts on my blog, hoping you might come and check the most popular blog posts I have in a list. That list makes it easy for you to see the most popular, and then the next…you should check it out, it’s on the right side bar. While you’re at it, sign up for my updates, they’ll be delivered to your inbox, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
It’s subtle, it’s effective, and it’s easy. The shameless plug is far better than sending, or spamming every social network, or inbox of people you have never had a connection with, they never opted-in. The shameless plug is no longer called that by name, today it’s called sharing right?
Creative People Are
Creative People Are:
1.) Are Easily Bored
2.) Risk Takers
3.) Color Outside The Lines
4.) Think With Their Heart
5.) Make Lots Of Mistakes
6.) Usually Hate The Rules
7.) Tend To Work Independently
8.) Are Fickle – They Change Their Mind Alot
9.) Have a Reputation For Being Eccentric
10.) Dream BIG!!!!
Is The Inbox No Longer Sacred?
Recently I wrote about privacy & security, I find it interesting that email is still considered open season. I can stop you from posting on my wall, and very little else. Consider how much time one can use to filter or manage the ongoing spam, email your friends think you should read, and then there’s the deluge of offers from Internet Marketers.
One not talked about often, is emails from those called acquaintances, or someone you met a wine & cheese that just can’t wait to get home to send you that all important ask, and they want you to work for free. I’m all for doing free, but that free is a calculated risk I take, not one I impose on others. Is the inbox no longer sacred? Having a conversation, or meeting someone at a social doesn’t mean you can make a request to work for free, to fill your inbox with offers, and to refer them and the their work to others.
The inbox violation is part of the etiquette of relationships, carving out time to get to know people at a deeper more rooted level. I’ll meet with almost anyone who asks, to be clear, if you’re asking me to work, don’t be surprised if I tell you jump through a hoop or two.
Be respectful of the Inbox, your business depends on it.
Open & Free Business Model – Identifying Revenue Streams
One of my favorite sessions in my workshops is helping entrepreneurs and business owners identify revenue streams, online and off. There’s a lot of work that goes into this before you can actually execute, there are some things you should think about before nailing down your top three profit center’s. This is a very high level approach, but you’ll get the idea.
– Pick the highest margin, low-investment streams (low hanging fruit)
This one speaks for itself, you should almost always spend your time here, your highest margin product’s and services, you’ll be happy because the cash-flow will be there.
– Advertise your chosen stream to your captive audience.
Knowing where your customers are, which social network do they most frequent, and why do they use that chosen social network more than others.
– Collect money, deliver goods, and keep customers happy.
Taken right off this blog tag line, Create. Differentiate. Deliver. Get paid for what you’ve made or done, make sure you deliver on time or earlier, and do everything you can to look after those who buy from you. And if they’re true fans, do something extra special.
Some ideas on revenue streams:
1.) Donation Drives
2.) Advertising products & services for other people
3.) Selling products & services based on your unique content.
4.) Selling products & services almost completely unrelated to your unique content.
Write down your ideas under each heading, pick your top three ideas and flush them out further.
It’s also important to know your break even point on each product & service you decide to sell.
