This morning after my meeting with Matt Helt and Dave Nelson of Secret Penguin, Matt sent me this link to Chris Rikli’s blog post titled Five People I Wish I’d Met at Big Omaha. (If you missed Big Omaha, well that just sucks. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. More on the Big O later.) Seeing that Chris wrote I was one of 5 people he’d like to meet who he missed at Big Omaha was incredibly flattering. After all, I simply do the best I can each day. Nothing different than anyone else does as an entrepreneur. Then when I saw I was grouped with these absolutely incredible and courageous business men, Matt Helt from Secret Penguin, Zac Triemert from Lucky Bucket Brewery, Charles Hull from Archrival I wasn’t only flattered but overwhelmingly gracious.
Big Omaha to me was about self discovery, defining our brand, attention to detail, unity and courage. Realizing that we each have our own entrepreneurial style and that is okay. To be true to our core strengths and find partners/team mates to compliment our weaknesses. That we must support one another to succeed farther and faster. And especially the courage to understand that the journey isn’t easy, but one we are blessed to forge ahead on. We can achieve anything we set our minds and bodies to do.
At one point there was discussion addressing segregation between men and women in business. It’s true that the numbers are not on an equal plane of women immersed in technology, business, (and action sports). But if there is anything I have learned after being a real estate investor, raising money for my business, and working in action sports, all “male dominated” spaces is that any dream we desire is within our reach to achieve, we just need to grab it. Men and Women alike. I don’t buy that men have the power to hold women back. Maybe the way society was structured in the past that was true, but not now. The only person that can hold anyone back is ourselves. It’s an exciting time to forge ahead as a business owner. I am manifesting my own destiny, are you?
I want to thank Chris Rikli for connecting with me and share his post. > Click here
No client wants to see art work they want to see ROI. Everyone these days is a social media expert. Bah Humbug. All I want to see – All investors want to see – All clients want to see = ROI, Metrics and Analytics. Thats’ it. Everything else is the cherry on top. So next time you present the pretty website you want to build and how amazing you are at sending tweets, remember to start with exactly how much money all that fun activity is going to make.
I am absolutely exhilarated to to be visiting the Zappos headquarters tomorrow in Vegas. My company team has been vigorously studying the phenomenal Zappos culture which we do our best to emulate each day. I have personally been a fan of Zappos since about 2002 after discovering the site was the fastest loading site on the web. Being the geek that I am I was fascinated and had to know how they did it. I think their upload time was under 3 seconds and with a homepage full of graphics. Completely impressive.
and now Dave Days who I stumbled across today. 14 Million hits and counting!
What made me want to blog about him though, his quote under his photo, “F college, make a YouTube account.” LOVE IT. It’s not that I don’t support education. I have a college degree. But what I encourage is NOT WAITING to pursue what you are passionate about. Going to college, not going to college. You shouldn’t wait to go after your dreams. I only wish I had more friends like Dave and Dave in high school so we could have conquered the world together.
This post is dedicated to Panda for taking the risk and going after your dreams. Just remember to appreciate the people who help you along the way.
Last night I realized that in loving my team as much as I love my company I don’t love myself enough. What does that mean. If they get upset I say how can I fix it and immediately blame myself for allowing any moment of discomfort to take place. If there is a decision to be made I am perpetually afraid I am not going to make the best one because haven’t I made so many mistakes in the past. But of course I have! Because I am a true entrepreneur, a risk taker. If I weren’t I wouldn’t be in business and definitely not for 10 years strong. So last night as I started to doze off I had a moment of clarity. That a firm decision is better than no decision at all even if it ends up being a mistake. People respect confidence and authority. And there is no way that I single handedly can or even need to prevent every issue before it arises. I am not perfect, nor is my staff. But it is about understanding one another. Providing them a leader to follow. And doing the best we can. A teammate isn’t about being their equal. It is about being what the team needs. A male friend of mine said he was autocratic with his staff because he didn’t have time to be friendly. His approach is command and control from above, no power in the masses. Maybe that polar opposite style isn’t the way for me. Each business owner is entitled to their own methodologies. But without a doubt my staff needs to start seeing the leader and the executive in me rather than the girl next door. Because truth be it if people walk all over me its because they think they can, no matter it be consciously or unconsciously. Both equate to the same results. I’m ready to start the day a new woman a new company.
Last night I was blown away by what Christina Suwa can pull off in only 3 weeks of planning. Most people take at least a year to plan an event and still get poor attendance and/or poor coverage. Not Christina. Media poured in to cover the sardine packed event with just enough room to savor the delicious treats as appetizers passed by regularly throughout the night prepared by Bravo’s “Top Chef” Stefan Richter. Tasty beverages provided by big names like Hansen promoting their new tea and Nestle showing off their new beauty in a bottle drink GLOWELLE. Then for a little Me Time, beautifully wrapped gift bags filled with Neutrogena face wash and POP eye liner. Wearing my new cool silver eye liner now. Paint Lab (2912 Main Street, Santa Monica, CA) is a perfect date joint to express creativity – be it novice or pro any person who wants to splash some color onto canvas is welcome. Live music was perfect. JETT vodka provided the spark in our Cranberry juice replacing my Madras with a drink called Jett Fuel. I just can’t say enough good things about this awesome event. To top it off the support Venice Magazine shares with their community is unstoppable. Apparently they assisted in spreading the good word about Paint Labs opening and treated each guest to their magazine. I’m definitely now a fan if I wasn’t before. Christina is a must for any event if you want your big soiree to be orchestrated to perfection.
From Christina after reading this post… Thank you so much for your kind words, but I must say that I cannot take credit for pulling off this entire event myself. I had the support of numerous people, including Paige Petrone from Venice Magazine who was instrumental in securing our drink sponsors and providing me with fantastic leads on different vendors. Kelly Albright helped with securing the entertainment and lighting. And I’ve had the incredible support of PAINT:LAB’s owners/partners Oana Bogdan and Melanie Cote. It is because of this fabulous team of people that I can say we pulled off an incredibly successful and fun event!
Are you the next Picasso?
HIRE Top Chef Stefan Richter - his food is heaven in your mouth. No joke!
So I stayed up all night researching Twitter tools after attending So Cal Action Sports event with big wigs in tech like Chris Brogan and in Action Sports, Oakley, Sheckler, Draven and then after a morning cat nap I cooked up some delicious food and decided on a beer. Boddingtons Pub Ale it was. The team was already at my office which is only a block away since I moved so I thought why not hang with them while I eat and take the beer to go. I foregoed paper bagging it and hoped no cop would harass me for walking around with an open bottle. It looks like it could be a Monster Energy drink anyway right?! I thought Ah Ha! Why don’t I cut through the alley and dodge any truly public areas making for a drama free afternoon. I saw this building across the street from my office and thought maybe they have a door that I can cut through to the other side. Boddingtons in hand on the right with my cabbage hamburger concoction on the left I ask the reception if she’d mind. I say “Who doesn’t like a beer with their meal. Just don’t wanna get busted you know.” And then as I make my way to the pearly white gates Snoop Dogg says “What’s going on”. Ha! Not kidding. And I nod, freak in my head and say whats up back. So cool. And was I excited to share with my awesome team.
PS Thanks @Valerotti for leaving the beer in my fridge!
Snoop Dogg's Twizzle - Fo Shizzle
This could be a Monster Energy drink, couldn't it??
I just discovered the most amazing Twitter gadget EVER. I love it! Such a great integration. Specially with my professional email where I utilize Google Apps. Twitter Gadget for Gmail is AMAZING . WATCH THIS DEMO!
There is so much I want to say about Ian’s book “JUGGLE! Rethink Work Reclaim Life” but I am in the middle of juggling so I am limited on time This book taught me how to clearly see my core competency and even better how to capitalize off of it. We are all very hectic in our social media injected, family loved, professionally swamped lives. How do we swim through it all? Ian teaches us that …
Remember we are an athlete; Make ME time, drink plenty of water, eat well and get proper sleep.
I think just about the first thing I sacrificed when becoming a business owner was food, showers and sleep. Ha!
Keep lists and break them down into projects in order to increase efficiency.
All I have to say is JOTT, http://jott.com. Best list system I have found to date. My 3 computers are in sync and I have everything broken down by project. They also have a cool iPhone app. Sadly I don’t use iPhone but I do text in notes sometimes. Just today I signed up to have my voicemails transribed into email/texts.
Most important – become a Juggler. Define your passion which does need to be in line with what you are best at.
For me it’s connecting people. Most introductions I make the people connected end up capitalizing off projects together.
So with that I have already reorganized my list broken them down into specific projects, worked out this morning, ate my vegetables, showered and I think I’ll change my business card to “Connector”.
This May 2009 will be just about the coolest conference yet – Big Omaha. The best of the best in social media, online content and business tech will be in attendance. Gary Vaynerchuk who I can’t stop writing about has mastered the momentum of online content. Adriana Gascoigne banded together Girls in Tech throughout the US and overseas being featured in periodicals like Fast Company for her leadership and social media expertise at powerhouse Hi5. Business modeling extraordinaire Jason Fried from 37 Signals. If you have yet to read how 37 Signals maintains laser focus on business development go there now to enhance your skills. Threadless founder Jeffrey Kalmikoff made selling retail online viral and community based. Matt Mullenweg who is behind the development of WordPress – just about the most unbelievable blogging platform ever. And no established business and technology event would be complete without the talented Shira Lazar hosting the extravaganza. This star studded cast are all flying to Omaha this May and so should we. I know I am. If you missed South by Southwest don’t make the same mistake twice.
Don't risk feeling left out again like you did not attending SXSW in Austin last week
Okay so this week at South by Southwest I went to “Getting Things Done the Simple Way” taught by John Zeratsky. I was not going to miss it. I rolled out of bed forgoed brushing my teeth or an awesome Austin shower to rush to the panel in order to achieve the treasure hunt of eliminating my email count and all my “contacters” feeling victory in receiving attention to their email. I mean if Tony Hsieh, CEO of the greatest customer service company ever Zappos.com and one of the most attentive entrepreneurs I’ve meet Gary Vaynerchuk can resend to 1000 plus emails a day, well then so can I! So I will keep you posted on what system I figure out works for me so I can “put a little Zappos in my day,” BUT in the meanwhile watch this. A little treat from Gary Vee and my tech crush Kevin Rose. (Who doesn’t crush on Kevin Rose?)
I will be the first to admit while it didn’t take me a long time to sign up and start networking with friends on Twitter, it has taken me a long time to understand the true power of the website. When I first started using it I saw it as a networking and communication tool. The more I come to use it and the more I watch people from all walks of life using it I am starting to see why Twitter may possibly be the most important website since Google. To help you understand my logic I want to start with some thoughts on Google.
I think it is safe to say most everyone believes Google is currently the most important website on the internet. When I say important I mean the one that has effected how we use the internet the most thus far. Before it came out we were all satisfied with Yahoo, DogPile and other engines and then Google came a long and it got some grass roots buzz, it was the cool new minimalistic search engine that had surprisingly good results with a clean interface. Soon everyone that was savvy enough to know they could choose the search engine they retrieved info from, chose Google. Google didn’t enhance search, Google popularized search. Yes search was around before Google but people didn’t stop using the Yellow Pages and the Phone book and every other method of finding information until Google.
Enter Twitter -
Even among Google, Google Blog Search, RSS Readers, Blogs, Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, FaceBook etc. there is still room in our already thin attention span for a site like Twitter. Like Google, Twitter is simple, straight forward and extremely easy to use. I don’t look at Twitter as a micro-blogging service I look at as a literal representation (both through information and networking) as to how small this planet really is. Short 140 character messages isn’t what Twitter is but how it is carried out. Twitter is becoming a behemoth of instant information with the ability to follow up with and talk to the person providing that information. Sure you could say that is the same thing as blogs, but most of what is said in blogs can and is starting to be said through 140 characters and you can digest more info from more people that way. I replaced my RSS reader with Twitter in fall of last year, I have seriously logged in to my Reader less then 10 times since September to read blogs when it used to be a daily occurrence. If someone asked, “what is Google not doing well on the web?” Twitter would be at the top of my list. Twitter is a Real Time engine with personal and live feedback.
#Twitter #Search -
Part of the long term stability I see with Twitter is from search.twitter.com. Anything I need to know about something that is happening right now or has happened in the last 12 hours I use Twitter search for. I used to search through Google Blogsearch, Digg, Delicious, Youtube to get breaking news but now I am alerted to it so quick through someones update, and I can go to Twitter search and get hundreds if not thousands of snippets of info and links seconds/minutes after it is happening. Everyone knows about Twitter and the Hudson River, Mumbai attacks etc. You can’t get that from Google. What takes Google minutes or hours to show you takes Twitter seconds. Google Organizes others content, Twitter creates and organizes its own content. When Jon Stewart ripped Jim Cramer a “new one” I found out about it live from people watching in Eastern time and I was able to go set my TIVO for MST and watch it that night. Before Twitter it would of been a Youtube clip submitted to Digg, Reddit or SU the next day. Danny Sullivan mentioned a similar experience during his keynotes at Omniture Summit and SMX West 09 about an earth quake that hit SoCal, he had tweeted about it and started to get replies and see results with information within minutes. There is no other site on the web that has this capability, and I don’t mean as in software but in software powered by a large and growing organic user base.
Sandwich Tweets - Tweeting about the homemade panini you made or about the Audi test drive you just took is just as vital to Twitter as live excerpts from members of Congress during the State of the Union. If I wanted a new recipe to make for my wife I would useTwitter in that quest. I am in the market right now for a new car and I have used Twitter to find and reach out to those driving what I am interested in to get real live feedback. You can go to CitySearch or Amazon to see reviews on a product or company, but you can go to Twitter to see less biased reviews and you can talk to the person making those reviews and ask specific questions.
No More Red tape – Twitter will replace a lot of media outlets or at least steal a lot of share from them. The way companies can communicate and react to customers via Twitter is Gods great gift to customer communication and loyalty. Before Twitter and partly due to sites like Digg Comcast was the Cable provider ran by Lucifer himself, now because of the outreach that Comcast has utilized via Twitter it is on its way to Saint Hood. Dell has similar experiences. Twitter is finally helping companies be agile who without it were stiff and slow. Social media and blogging in the large corporate space has always been hindered by Red Tape, Twitter forces companies to break that Red Tape. Large companies put review and approval processes before publishing blogs, can you imagine if tweets had to go through legal first? Not going to happen, Twitter forces companies to put someone capable and trusted at the helm as it cannot be regulated it like other mediums.
Twitter Tipping point –
Twitter is mainstream, the nature of Twitter allows every user to utilize its power in their own way, if you are a stay at home mom, CNN, Ashton Kutcher, Jimmy Fallon, small business owner, or the President of the United States you can use Twitter to better your objectives no matter what they may be. This is why it is Mainstream and why it isn’t going to stop, and you think there are a lot of people on there now? I guarantee you that in less than 6 months the user base will nearly double, and instead of people with 400k followers we will have people with over 1M followers. Before Twitter where else would you be able to talk to Shaq or get a late night link to a live streamed jam session by Shawn Ptwitty Combs. People that have influence on Twitter will have influence on the world especially in media. If I was hiring in any kind of business that needed media/marketing presence and I had two nearly identical resumes on my desk and one applicant had no twitter account and the other had 15,000 followers who do you think I am going to hire?
Embrace or be Replaced –
Every company needs to embrace and leverage Twitter before Twitter replaces them. Twitter is already been said to take a chunk out of Job sitesit could do the same to Social Sites, classifieds, dating sites, search engines, aggregators, and so on. FaceBook knows that Twitter is their biggest threat, and it is carving out a strong hold as the most powerful Real Time Search Engine that Google cannot Duplicate.
Conclusion –
There will be a new media darling in a year just as Digg was before Twitter, but Twitter will take on its own role and it isn’t going anywhere. Soon pretty much anyone with an internet connection will be using Twitter if not to tweet but to find Real Time information. In my opinion it is the most influential and important site since Google.
All I have to say is WOW. Today has been magic. I started my day not worrying about my flight time knowing on Southwest if you get to the airport within a reasonable hour from your original time of departure they’ll do their best to put you on the next flight. So I casually wake up at 9:30am for my 10:55am flight. And how could I not experience the lush Austin water hit my skin one last time in the shower. Around 10:15 I accept nope not gonna make that 10:55, but it will be fine. And boy I wasn’t kidding. First Ian Sanders, author of “JUGGLE! Rethink Your Work, Reclaim Your Life” went out of his way to leave me a copy of this book which the Radisson kindly delivered to me. I am really excited to read it on this flight. Not only am I in desperate need of balance as my leaning tower is consistently tilting toward work but it has a fabulous book cover and endorsement by the “It” ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Next I go downstairs to hail a cab to the airport and I ask this women if she would like to share the ride. She says she has a car and offers me a lift. Turns out she’s in charge of customer relations for one of my favorite companies, NetFlix. Talk about customer service So we shared a fun conversation about when luck meets opportunity in business. And if you just persevere lucky will eventually strike. Then as if things weren’t already going perfect Southwest said no problem to getting on their 11:15 flight as I stood at the check in at 11am! Lastly and the reason I am able to right this now – um hello. SOUTHWEST LAUNCHED WI-FI > today! Can you believe it. I believe it’s all because I started my day with a positive attitude and just “let go” and let fate happen. To add a cherry on top this wonderful loving couple offered me a window sit on the packed flight so that they could sit next to one another. All I have to say is WOW. If there is only one conference you go to make it South by Southwest.
Oh and PS LOVE my MAC Book – wait have I already mentioned that.
So I have been playing with QIK. It allows me to live stream anything straight from my web cam or phone. But who cares if I’m at the airport, or if I can’t decide what to eat for lunch. I like to write with intention. My purpose in The Billionaire Girl blog is to be useful. To offer genuine insight on the real experiences, trials and tribulations in being an entrepreneur. Toying with random life casting felt well lame. Like the value of sitting and watching an MTV “scripted” reality show. Just I don’t have any savvy script to spruce up my content. Here’s a popular life caster, iJustine. You tell me what you think. I’m going to keep toying with it, but if I don’t find my voice in life casting I think just because it exists doesn’t necessarily mean I should be doing it.
Arrived in Austin, Texas today for SXSW Interactive. Maybe I’ll get some decent life casting done while I’m here. I wonder if it would be valuable for you all to see the industry’s best up close and personal.
Lorrie Thomas from Web Marketing Therapy is GREAT! Met her tonight at a SMARTYS event held at my favorite place Blank Spaces. Tonight Lorrie prescribed me her “Chill Pills” AWESOME. You see the bottle is empty so those delicious teeny chocolates definitely got me in the sweetest direction once again. It is a breath of fresh air when a marketing “expert” these days is actually INNOVATIVE. Ha!
So I love my Blackberry. Well it’s a love hate relationship really. I wish we didn’t have cell phones at all. But since we do and land lines are becoming a thing of the past why not have the most effective tool. Some of you prefer iPhones. I prefer Blackberry. But I must admit when it come to simplicity of use iPhones take the lead. I just can’t stand the touch screen. Anyway for you Crackberries out there here are a couple tricks that took me all night to find.
How to STOP receiving SENT messages in your email – argh!: Click here for the solution. (Insert Huge Happy Face)
and… to respond to my monstrosity of emails overtaking my inbox with my voice – JOTT, (www.jott.com) . So affordable and so great! (Thank you Jerome at BlankSpaces for recommending this life saving software) And sure its not perfect. A typo here. A typo there. But hey at least I tended to that contact and have extra time for beach volley ball. I mean do we really want to spend all our hours behind some form of technology rather than living?
Voice activated emails
For you Google App users like me you can only use Jott through the Blackberry mail system so you will need to configure your account onto your phone but that’s when the tip above comes in handy.
And for TMobile fans. T Mobile just launched the Unlimited Loyalty Plan lowering your bill to $50 bucks.
Lastly, Google updated their mobile apps to include a tracking system on the map app. Yup now if you really want to stir up some drama in your life with that ex you just “can’t seem to get rid of “ just add him/her on your map app
Google Updated Mobile Apps
Now for a big sad face. I didn’t realize new google sync syncs your email address book with your phone. I wasn’t prepared for this and now I have all this junk in my phone book. SUCKS. Anyone know how to undo? And no I was not clever enough to back up my phone before I started playing with all the new additions. Where is the “Time Machine” like they have on MACs.
Don’t judge a book by its cover. I used to be a yacht stewardess and some of the wealthiest people you would never know. Grease stained jeans, sandals, ripped tee shirt and the ability to have any dream they desired. Tonight I was in a situation where I was judged. You never know who you are talking to, who that is person is connected to and for you start ups which Simple Simon may end up being your next investor. Even a popular blogger who has the power to express any opinion pro or con. Luckily my mother always said, if you have nothing nice to say then don’t say anything at all. Well as long as you’re not KIIS that is…
This morning my new roommate posted a Happy Birthday message on my bathroom door I got to wake up to. It made my day. And reminded me of so many great and important life lessons.
1) How we choose to start our day sets the tone for that day. Every entrepreneur should be a leader and to deliver the right message to your team but in order to do so it must start with the entrepreneur embodying power and positivity.
2) Sometimes a consumer or client just wants to be acknowledged. Whatever the situation or even better non situation, expressing random thoughts of gratitude aka acknowledgment could stimulate them feeling good about choosing your company to work with or purchase from and a desire to do business with you again.
3) Lastly, sometimes as entrepreneurs we get caught up in being so focused on our businesses we forget to have a life outside of work. That’s me. And I am so lucky that I took a leap and moved out of a rural area to the city to be closer to friends and then to open the door and meet this incredible roommate of mine. It’s just the perfect birthday gift.
You guys decide. Here are the sequence of messages:
Would you think you are the winner if you received these?
"Keep trying"
"Congratulations!"
"Sorry, winner selected"
Thank you everyone for your support on Facebook, Twitter, your emails…. So my attorney contacted KIIS FM on my behalf after they didn’t show care while talking to me.
And here’s a paragraph from the KIIS response to this situation: (By the way I am more than happy to share the full email at request. Just don’t want to crowd the screen.)
Ms. Devora is not a winner in this contest and it is clear that she knows she is not a winner…… (Yea since you guys have told me you made an internal mistake I can see that you are not honoring the winning message. That’s no secret. But the screams of excitement when I received the winning message and having witnesses seeing me texting in suspense hoping I would win. Plus staying up the whole night waiting for the “call you soon” phone call. That can not be faked.)
The fact that Ms. Devora spent so much time and effort trying to guess a future winning word does not mitigate the fact that she did not follow the contest rules as posted. The rules are clear. The Text For A Trip word is revealed each and every hour and KIIS FM never revealed the word “Branson” – and we have airchecks of every word revealed as part of this contest to prove this point. We also have the text records that we received from Ms. Devora (based upon the cell phone number that she gave us via email) that supports our contention that she entered the contest and attempted to be a winner on at least two occasions and then she apparently attempted to try another word, apparently at random, to win the contest.
Let’s get something straight, I have NEVER entered any sort of radio contest and don’t have a clue as to how they function other than I heard the DJ say text a word to a specific number so I did and I kept getting “Try Again” messages until I received the “Congratulations” message and then in disbelief I tried again and it said “Sorry we have our winner”. And I thought to myself OMG I actually am the winner. That’s when the screams of excitement started. SO Mister KIIS FM I am not psychic. I only played your game to be with my hero on my birthday. And whether your systems made an error or not how can you possibly feel okay allowing any listener the joy of winning something so important only to have a tech glitch. The thing is that even if the DJ messed up and said the keyword by mistake, just the fact that I received a winning message should be reason to care.
And no I wasn’t offered any sort of consolation prize for playing.
For those of you who don’t know I won a trip two nights ago through KIIS FM in Los Angeles. See the winning photo on yesterday’s post. The next day they called to tell me opps they made an error. How can anyone get away with saying I’m a winner and then take it back. Its not concert tickets. Its a trip with my hero, Branson, on the best airline in the world.
Then in this social media world I of course share the joy after “winning” so you can imagine how embarrassing it is to say to my friends, family and acquaintances “opps”.
I talk again and again about where the value really lies in social media. Business people think they’ll monetize off the plentiful numbers but have yet to find a model that does so effectively. After this whole experience its more than apparent that the power in social media is a power for and by the people. When we get duped by corporations we are told to trust like Clear Channel and KIIS FM we finally have a way outside Consumer Reports to stand up for ourselves and scream that this just isn’t right.
I’m thinking about throwing my own contest. Maybe I’ll ask Tony Hawk to fly Virgin with his number one fan. And we’ll do the contest right. I just hope that at the end of all this Virgin tells KIIS to screw off just like they have expressed to me.
Richard Branson is my hero. Everyone who knows me knows that. So you can imagine the volume of my screaming excitement when I won a trip to Australia on the inaugural Virgin Australia flight this Friday out of LAX. And on my birthday weekend! What better of a dream could have come true. Now KIIS is saying they made an error. “An Error!”
So they just called back and said opps our system messed up. Can you believe it!!!!! I go on saying how this is not how Virgin handles business. Why I love VIRGIN is their care for customer service and their code of ethics. KIIS FM’s response QUOTE “This is the KIIS FM contest, we’re doing the contest, not VIRGIN” … “WHAT!!!!!” I told them, “What am I supposed to think when I read a message that says …
From: 41027
Sent: Feb 25, 2009 12:40 AM
Subject: KIISFM: Congrts ur textr 102!
KIISFM: Congrts ur textr 102! You’ll b flyin VAustralia THIS FRI for a 4 day/3 nite trip 2 Sydney Australia. We’ll contact u @ this # soon”
Are you freaking kidding me!!!! And I grew up in LA so I trusted KIIS. Why would I think they would dupe me. Branson please make right of this strange situation and make my birthday dream come true.
Twitter raises 35 million this week in addition to what they already have. Woo hoo. No business plan, no monetization model. Now that’s setting an example. Here I thought Bart Simpson was a bad influence. Go Start Up go. Take the money and run to Switzerland. When did being a business stop being about making money and start being about raising money?
This week was tech mania. Woodstock watch out because LA was transformed. Tech Paintball, Tech Zulu anniversary, Twiist Up 5 and Twestival. Nuts! Gave me plenty of excuses to get out of the house and shmooze with my newfound besties. I ran into Richard from PR Newswire and made the comment that Twitter is the new press release. It is. Consumers, you and me, want to purchase based on our friends’ feedback rather than what we read in an “official” review. And twitter is just that. We follow those we want to hear from, both friends and associates. We trust their opinions. It’s cool. And now the business and friend world has merged with such fluidity that instead of once saying “MySpace me” it’s now “Follow Me”. The transformations in today’s PR world are fantastic. Filled with more truth and opportunity for discovery.
Considering this blog was always intended to be a positive resource for business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs and just plain and simple geeks I’ve altered the title a bit. It was called “I’m Gonna Get Funded Damnit” as a satire to all those people who are overly concerned with raising money rather than making money. Lets forgo business models and focus on fundraising! – What! Hello, businesses are here to do two things; Solve a problem and make money – Done. So I changed the name to something a bit more mystical. Seeing that so many people search the term “golden ticket” maybe that’s what we’re all looking for. But don’t you see the Golden Ticket is within us all if we just forge ahead and trust our instinct. Sometimes it may be scary and other times exhilarating, but if we never try how will we know if we would have succeeded. Okay, enough with the Gandhi talk. Hope you find the tips, tools and perspective you need from this blog and enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
So I stumbled upon BLVD Status today when I was reading a 5 Ones report. All I have to say is AWESOME. Too much to say about this new and improved web analytics tool so I’ll let SEO Master Chris Bennett say it for me here on 97th Floor. Can’t wait to try it out! Maybe this puts us one step close to monetizing our social media traffic but first understanding what interests them.
Be sure not to miss Twiist Up coming up in February here in my hometown of Los Angeles. I am excited. I must admit I only just discovered this nerd party recently and apparently it is approaching suaree number 5. Boo hoo that I missed the past 4. Think tech, meets rockband meets a fantasy Skittles commercials sprinked with start up on top. Its late. Even this geek girl needs her rest. I will wake up to my beloved 5 hour energy drink in the morning but for now its media decks, filing searching the web and finally those ZZZZZZZZ. Oh and Mark, “The Cobra Snake” look at you getting retro in the geek world.
Yea it takes guts glory and perseverance to own a business. Do you have what it takes? I know I do. Remember when you are magic your world is magic. Negativity just promotes more darkness. If we all have a choice (even though it feels as though we don’t ) what would you choose? Each day I make a conscious effort to find the light. To embrace all opportunity. There is always a way. But if you don’t look, you will never see the open door.
Today I am fascinated with “24 hours at sundance” . I am just exhilarated to be involeved in the technology side of my industry. It’s a roller coaster ride and people who don’t understand it are going to miss out on all the fun.
Last night I went to the Knitting Factory in LA for the Diggnation Meet Up. It was a blast. As you may have seen on my Tweets all the guys were super nice. The experience was one not to miss. The crowd’s energy was wild and passionate. The guys were ridiculously funny and candid. They really do make you feel like you are their best friend, welcoming you into their home; Diggnation. Jay from Digg news did an interview with me so maybe they’ll air it. If you Digg boys stumble upon this post I do hope you digg it. Just THANK YOU for a truly fun night from your Geek Girl.
A woman is assertive and to the point, she’s a bitch. A woman is friendly and cares, she’s a pushover. Where’s the fine line for a kind hearted person who expects goals to be met and in return wants to cater to a fun and flexible work environment. Can that even exist? Does a leader always need to also be the asshole? And how can you simply enjoy the rapport with a co worker and not have it become a friendship? Or is it okay to be friends as long as those people are mature professionals? Almost all people who have worked for me I have genuinely enjoyed their personalities and getting to know who they are. I have to say that if I would have never gotten to know some of these people I would have really missed out. So where’s the fine line?
When my very good friend Spencer exposed me to my equivalent of porn – tech webisodes, and then put the gran daddy of em all on my iTunes, “This Week in Tech” with with regular guests like Jason Calacanis and Kevin Rose I started drooling. Best part is its nickname “TWiT“. Love it! Think of a cross between hanging out at Cheers and chatting it up at CES. I just can’t get enough of my geeky heart throbs.
Starting, growing and building a business is not an easy feat. Can we wake up whenever and take any random ol day off, SURE, if we want our business to go no where. Most business owners work 80 plus hour weeks and have “homework” when we leave the office. Last night I finished at 3am, started back up again at 9am and am closing my night down early at 11pm.
But being an entrepreneur is the best thing that could have ever happened to me, or did I select this life… who cares who choose who, the fact is I have purpose each morning when I wake up. My imagination turns into reality and with that reality I provide opportunity to enable others to live out their dreams. And I have to say, though many days are trying, seeing that my thoughts, my fantasies, manifested success not only for myself but those who surround me – Now that’s true magic.
Here is a site. I know the owner so I can say first hand he cares. It’s very useful if you want to start examining your desires to be an entrepreneur. www.perfectbusiness.com
All sites to mark what you like and why you like it. I just don’t know. So far for me Delicious is out. Not into it. I feel like I should read technorati more and StumbleUpon is easier to make your mark with the firefox add on and Digg captcha slows me down too much. What do you guys think?
and I think I’ll change my business card to “Connector”.
Anyone know how to undo? And no I was not clever enough to back up my phone before I started playing with all the new additions. Where is the 
