Entrepreneurship Blogs by Tiffany Sunday

Running and the Digital Epiphany

September 17, 2014 By Tiffany Sunday

I am a runner, a long-distance runner, and run between 20 – 30 miles a week. More if I am training for a race, less if our schedule is out-of-control.

My son can tell you that I run everywhere, parking lots, office lobbies, alleys anywhere I can find a flat surface. I run by minutes, and know that I am a solid 11 minute mile.

Running is like eating or sleeping for me; it is part of who I am and what I do every day. No fancy gadgets, Nike technology or apps attachments, just me and the open road.

Eleven years ago, I started running while going through a divorce. A friend suggested that I run by minutes. Start with short distances and work my way up to 1 mile, and then 2 miles and so forth. Since, then I have run a full marathon, half-marathon, and numerous 5Ks races.

When I first started running, it was for stress reduction and to take a physical and mental break. Now, I run to think and clear out my mind of garbage collect from the past 24 hours. Running provides dedicated time to obtain a fresh perspective and can be a form of mental therapy.

I have talked with other runners who feel the same way. Even to this day, I do not run with an iPod or iPhone. I enjoy listening to the cicada or the sounds in our neighborhood.

I believe it is important more today than ever before to allow our brains time to unplug. Running provides us the opportunity to think, to mull over ideas or to work through difficult decisions without distractions. We need time to allow for epiphanies and new discoveries.

The definition of epiphany is “a sudden realization or intuitive leap of understanding, especially through an ordinary but striking occurrence.”

Epiphanies occur naturally and cannot be forced, running frees the mind to wonder and consider options not possible when under stress or duress. Epiphanies can also occur in the shower when the mind is more relaxed.

My neighbor is a long-distance runner, and we discuss the mental transformation that occurs during our runs. We laugh that the first 3 – 5 miles is working through the stress of the day, and finally the mind relaxes by the fifth mile. There is a runners’ high, and I think best during my longer runs. Afterwards, I am more centered and have noticed running grounds my dyslexic brain.

I understand that running is not for everyone, and there are limitations; however, I believe that walking and exercise are very important especially for creative thinking.

Walking can produce similar results. My second favorite thinking time is walking along the beach in the early morning at sunrise or in the late evening.

Digital technology has its place and can be a very positive and beneficial tool. I believe giving our brain time to clean house and think through issues without a constant stream of electronic distractions is equally important.

I hold an undergraduate degree in Communications. I am fascinated by how digital technology is changing human communication and how the Internet and Social Media are rewiring our brains.

Nicholas Carr’s book The Shallows – What the Internet is Doing To Our Brains is a must read for anyone in the Communications field or industry. Carr discusses how communication and literacy has evolved for thousands of years, and once again humanity is experiencing another significant transformation.

Carr writes, “It’s no exaggeration to say that the writing and reading of books enhanced and refined people’s experience of life and nature.” As society transitioned from oratory based society where information and knowledge was passed down from one generation to the next generation in the form of stories, books changed our thinking and allowed us to ponder what we had read. Books, articles and journals became part of our mind; our collective conscious just like Social Media does today.

From running to the collective conscious, may appear a change in subject but not really. Running provides a blank canvas for the mind to wander and see what is missing in the white space. The white space is where new ideas and innovation occur.

Creativity lives in places unseen by the hurried man.

Running provides the time and space for creativity to occur and gives the mind the freedom to think “what if.”

I cherish my runs, and think about writings of the late Dr. George Sheehan, the father of running, and his book Running & Being – The Total Experience.

Sheehan talked about the rhythm of running and life. He mulled over how in the past we had time to sit and listen to these rhythms to hear our internal epiphanies. Now with technology, we can hardly hear anything from our internal being.

I wonder how much we will lose or gain during our digital transformation. Books significantly changed humanity forever; will digital communication do the same?

If so, what epiphanies will we discover?

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Nothing New Under the Sun

How to Successfully Self-Publish Your Book

May 7, 2014 By Tiffany Sunday

Writing and publishing a book is very similar to developing and launching a new product. The process requires a considerable amount of time, thought, tweaking and in some cases a complete redo.

I reworked the draft three times and the first edit resulted in over 80% of the pages being deleted.

Gutting the book was painful. But I knew it had to be done to write the book I wanted to publish. I also learned that you must write what you want to say, not what you believe others think you should be writing.

Wrestling with the book, I reached a critical turning point in the process – idea validation. The book found its grove, and I knew we were finally moving in the right direction.

After speaking with multiple vanity presses and publishing coaches, I selected to use Create Space (a subsidiary of Amazon) to create the book’s cover and layout. The process would take between six to eight weeks.

On March 25th, I uploaded the manuscript to Create Space, and on April 25th it was published on Amazon. The whole process took only 30 days. I was surprised, and asked the representative why the process took less time to complete. She said most individuals conduct multiple edits after they submit their manuscript which causes delays.

She added that authors can save time by completing their bio, book description and determining their category while Create Space works on the layout. Her comment made me think about Seth Godin’s blog post about understanding critical path and learning to focus on what matters most.

Complete the Follow Action Items – Before Submitting Your Manuscript

Hire a Good Voice / Flow Editor and Grammar Editor

Voice editor is different from a Grammar editor. Voice helps you organize your idea into a workable manuscript. Even though your idea may sound good in your mind, it can be a different story when you put the idea on paper.

I worked with Julie Richie who is an author and editor. We worked to define the book’s purpose, target market and content. My initial draft included content for three different books, and she helped to determine which information would be used for You Posted What!?.

Grammar editor is a must. Even if you were a straight A Honors English student, hiring a grammar editor to review your manuscript is worth the money. Solicit family and friends to review your manuscript for content, flow and grammar. Having multiple set of eyes will help you write a better book.

Spend the money and hire both editors. I also used Grammarly to double check my edits to make sure I did not miss any errors.

The final part of the editing process was reading the manuscript out loud word-for-word. I was taught in high school the most effective way to edit was to read your draft out loud.

Double Check and Recheck Sources

Check and recheck your sources especially if you are quoting other writers and bloggers. I doubled checked all my quotes and writers to make sure they were using creditable sources.

I printed the articles referenced in the book. Computers can crash and digital files can be erased. Should there be a question in the future, I have a historical printed copy of the information that is contained in the book.

Book Recommendations and Back Cover Quotes

Obtain your book recommendations and back cover quotes before you submit your manuscript. The quotes I used for the book cover are from multiple presentations that I gave last year on the growing influence of our digital profiles.

I contacted each person and obtained a written confirmation to use their Tweet and name on the book cover. This information is also saved in a file folder with the manuscript.

Submit Only a Final Draft of the Manuscript

If you are still on the fence and believe you need make more edits, and then do so before you submit the manuscript. My goal was to have the edits completed before uploading to Create Space.

I made a few corrections on the first printed proof and none on the second, which enabled me to publish the sooner than anticipated.

Using Simple Effective Book Covers

Another time saver was creating a simple and effective book cover. If you plan to write multiple books, use this time to create a book cover template that can used for future books. Unless I change my mind, I plan to use the same template for the three entrepreneurship books I am currently writing.

Book Title

One of the important lessons I learned was not to focus on finding a book title while writing and editing the manuscript. I felt that I needed a book title to define the book’s direction and purpose; however, I discovered this create problems and can limit you as a writer.

The manuscript had two previous names Digital Metamorphosis and Beyond the Four Walls. The old titles feel out place, they also reflect the transformation that occurring during the writing process. Naming a book is similar to naming a product or company, it either works or it doesn’t!

You Posted What!? was originally a chapter heading until Julie said to “No! This is your book title”.

Respond to the Request Immediately

When you receive action items or request from either Create Space or Ingram[http://www.ingramcontent.com/pages/home.aspx], answers and complete the tasks as quickly as possible to keep the process moving. Also, make sure the book description and your bio is completed and edited before you upload the manuscript.

Book Announcement Spreadsheet

Create a book announcement contact list in Excel, MailChimp or Google Docs. Make sure everyone on the list is someone you have met and exchanged contact information (spam rules). I have been sending out personalized emails that include a brief note about the book and link to Amazon. I am also using this time to follow up with former co-workers, classmates and business partners.

Overall I was pleased with the service from Create Space and now have a better understanding of the process.

It was exciting to see my book on Amazon. Being a published author has been a dream of mine since junior high. I’m currently working on three books that focus on entrepreneurship and the Digital Revolution.

Crowdfunding Lessons – How to Run A Better Campaign

April 9, 2014 By Tiffany Sunday

My father chuckled at me when I told him that I had raised $309 and pre-sold 21 copies of my book before it was completed.

That’s the beauty of crowd funding; you can receive financial support before you build a product, write a book or record a new CD.

Although, crowdfunding appears easy on the outside, you must do your homework and develop a fundraising campaign strategy.

Prior to launching my first crowd funding campaign “You Posted What” on GoFundMe, I studied different campaigns and spoke with individuals who had been successful.

I used Seth Godin’s The Icarus Deception Kickstarter campaign that raised $287,342 as a template.

This past week, I read about how MD3 launched The Micro: The First Truly Consumer 3-D Printer and raised over a million dollars within 11 minutes on Kickstarter. MD3 has impressive campaign and have a track record for developing 3-D products.

Good fundraising campaigns have a compelling story or very cool product. When reviewing MD3’s campaign it is evident that the company took the time to build a good campaign that highlight the product and the process from start to finish.

If you and your team are considering using crowdfunding to raise money for a product, use MD3 as a good benchmark. Also review Seth Godin’s campaign for ideas.

Overall, I am pleased with the result of my GoFundMe campaign. The campaign goal was $500, and I raised $299. The money was used to help pay my editor.

Crowd funding provides entrepreneurs, artist and inventors the opportunity to test market an idea before spending large sums of money. Not sure if the concept will work? Develop a small prototype to test drive the concept. Most demos can be created on a small budget of less than $5,000.

Crowdfunding Lessons – How to Run A Better Campaign

Need a Compelling Story

We all love to hear a good story. Hearing or reading someone else story sticks in our minds and, we remember what they said and how they felt. As humans, we feel compelled to share good stories with our friends and co-workers.

To create a successful campaign, a meaningful story must be at the root of the campaign. Why are you and your team seeking to raise money? How important is this project?

My story was good; however, I believe I could have created a better hook for the campaign. Using the book title was not effective in gaining awareness.

Run Your Campaign Like a Charity Fundraising Event

Before you launch your campaign, obtain feedback from trusted friends or business associates. Ask your friends to promote and share your campaign on their social media networks. When seeking large sums of money, study how large charities secure funding for national campaigns.

Designate a couple of friends to be an evangelist, and work to secure funding using social networks and their personal connections. Having a strong support network can be the deciding factor in reaching your financial goal or not.

Kickstarter campaigns are all or nothing so take time to secure support prior to the campaign is another important component.

As the campaign progressed, I tweaked the pitch until I found the right words to explain my goal. I was a little surprised that no one was interested in making a $5 donation; donors wanted a copy of the book. Also, avoid offering lame freebies.

Think about your audience and, how you can generate buzz by offering cool gifts such as t-shirts, laptop stickers or buttons.

Having Access to Large Personal and Business Networks Is Important

GoFundMe uses Facebook to promote campaigns, and it’s important to have a large social network of friends. For me, Facebook generated the lowest number of donations where as LinkedIn generated the highest. Focus your campaign on the social media networks that you use most often.

Think about the structure of a political campaign, how the campaign manager will secure funding and supporter commitments months or years prior to the actual campaign and race.

Crowd funding for large sums of money is no different. Organize and run your campaign with the same finesse as a respected charity.

Use All Forms of Marketing

Use multiple forms of marketing from old school to social media networks. Share the information with everyone. Create a posting strategy for social media, sending emails and handing out flyers to friends and family members.

Incorporate your story in a blog post, and most importantly talk to people. Share your story and why this project is important to you.

In our digital world, we often forget to talk to people. Verbally engaging with another human being is still the most powerful tool.

Like any campaign to raise money, you must find ways to let people know about the campaign without sounding like a spammer or begging for money.

Pitch the campaign using multiple methods and at different times of the day and throughout the fundraising time period. Make a final pitch at the end of the campaign. Make sure to include the cutoff date to give a sense of urgency. I sold five books on the final day of the campaign.

External Circumstances Can Impede Your Campaign

Be prepared that at any time after you post your crowdfunding link, breaking news story can happen on social media and preempt your post.

From friends warning other friends about spam links that look like crowdfunding campaigns to national or international news events. When everyone shifts their focus to talking about these events, your campaign will be overshadowed and overlooked.

If this happens, share the information again when you are not fighting for space in each social media networks’ news feed.

The GoFundMe campaign helped move my book forward, and I learned several beneficial lessons. If I need to raise money for a project in the future, I will use crowd funding again.

I believe this is an invaluable financial tool that allows us all the opportunity to develop new ideas and fund projects big and small.

No Excuses in 2014

January 9, 2014 By Tiffany Sunday

Each year during the holidays, I think of a theme or word that will define my focus for the next year.

For 2014, my theme is “No Excuses”.

As I was reading through an article over the break, the author said any time we make an excuse we are really lying to ourselves.

His comment stayed in my mind and I mentally chewed on his comment while running. How many times had I made excuses to myself and others? The more I analyzed the excuses, I realized they costed me money and wasted my time.

Excuses delay our decisions which create more problems in the long run.

Last year, I read Dr. Cloud’s “Necessary Endings” which was an enlightening book, it also made me think about my actions and excuses.

My goal for the year is to stop and think about the real reason behind the excuse then make a decision to act or not act at all. Many times we make excuses to delay other people or to avoid a confrontation.

There were many excuses surrounding this blog. I felt constrained that I could not freely express my thoughts on a range of topics. I wanted to have a blog where I could mix both my business and personal life together because that how I live.

My career and life are intertwined woven together by interesting threads of events and people. Being a small business owner, writer, and single parent everything I do is intertwined which always leads to a funny story or two.

In November, I started a blog on Google called “Just for Fun” because I made an excuse to myself that I needed a platform, a different place to write about fun topics that were not related to business. Creating another blog to my already packed schedule didn’t make sense either. I realized it was me and my internal excuses preventing me from writing what I wanted to write in this blog post.

My question to you for 2014 is what excuses both internal and external are holding you back or preventing you from doing something you really want to do?

Excuses are traps that keep us from taking action. We feel the need to delay an action or decision so we make an excuse.

Or maybe there was no decision to be made in the first place but we feel pressured from family or friends to make a decision. Maybe family habits or traits are obsolete because life is different now than when we were kids.

Whatever may be the case, excuses gain nothing and in the end are just a waste of time.

Dare To Dream An Idea

October 1, 2013 By Tiffany Sunday

Two weeks ago while attending an event at the Nasher Sculpture Center, I purchased “Saving Italy” by Robert M. Edsel. The book details how a group of dedicated individuals worked hard to save Italy’s famous art treasures during World War II.

These individuals dared to dream that it was possible to save these famous art pieces to ensure future generations would have an opportunity to view David and The Last Supper. Daring to make a difference and have a dream takes guts, time and persistence.

This blog post is dedicated to every person who dared to dream an idea with the goal of making a difference. Its not the size of the dream that matters, it is the desire to put your idea into action.

Today, we seem to focus solely on big dreams and small ideas are viewed as less worthy. Yet, each of us can make a difference in a small profound way.

With the rapid advancement of digital technology, I am concerned that we are focusing a little too much on the next best app and shun ideas that are not related to technology. When we become too rigid in our criteria for successful ideas, everyone loses.

I love the quote that Mr. Edsel used in the opening page of his book, for anyone who has ever dared to dream an idea this quote is for you.

“To all those who have ever dared dream a big idea and then dedicated themselves to see it through, come what may.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust, sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

-President Theodore Roosevelt

We learn and gain wisdom by doing, nothing is learned by sitting on the side lines watching others do the work. Dare to dream an idea and then have the guts to put the idea in action.

Are You Drinking The Wrong Kool-Aid?

August 21, 2013 By Tiffany Sunday

We accept beliefs without question; we willingly accept others judgments without doing any research to make our decisions.

We take the easy road and drink their cherry flavored drinks from the Kool-Aid stand.

When we buy into their beliefs, we are released from making difficult decisions in the future.

We believe we’ve picked the correct path in the life.

Our team is winning, we’re on our game. High fives to everyone on our Kool-Aid team.

You look upon fruit juice and water drinkers as lost souls, individuals who are wrong and miss the point.

Group members criticize their thinking, refuse to be do business with these individuals and never accept them as friends. The group talks about how the water and fruit juice beliefs are wrong and how laws should be made to banish their thinking.

You agree and support the group, believing your Kool-Aid drink is correct. Your group believes it has the right to make these judgment calls and decisions for the others.

One afternoon you take a different route home, not sure why you selected a different direction. Your feet turned left when they had always turned right.

As you approach the fruit juice stand, you smell the freshness of the fruit and walk closer to the stand for a second look. The fruit juice stand is very different from your Kool-Aid stand.

In your mind you confirm to yourself that you are correct in drinking the cherry flavored Kool-Aid and not fruit juice. The doctor said fruit juice is bad for you as it has too much sugar.

You can’t sleep, you think about your conversation and how the juice was made from real fruit and wonder if it is really healthier. The next day, your friends ask why you stopped by the fruit juice stand. You are silent and unsure how to answer. You say in a meek voice that you were “bored” and had nothing else to do, which you and friends know is not true.

You were not bored. You were curious and wanted to find out what they were doing at the fruit stand. They look different and acted different. For a moment you wanted to try something new, to see the world differently, experience life outside your group, to take risks and feel alive.

As the days past, you altered your patterned to stop by and talk with the guy at the juice stand. While visiting with him, he introduced you to a friend who had a water stand. Something simple and old fashion. You walked by the girl’s water stand and wondered who would drink plain boring water.

Weeks pass and you find yourself hanging out at the different food and drink stands. Your conversations are lively and cover a wide range of topics. Sometimes you feel guilty for talking about topics that were once forbidden. Walking home one afternoon, you start to wonder what else you were missing while hanging out at the cherry Kool-Aid stand.

As time passes you see these individuals in a different light. You wonder why your Kool-Aid friends made such a fuss about the fruit juice and water. You realize the red cherry Kool-Aid was built on false pretenses, worse yet it was built on fear.

Your friends call a meeting because they are concerned that something is wrong with you. They believe the water and juice people have converted you, they fear you have been consuming too much fruit juice and water instead of Kool-Aid.

They seek intervention from your family to help as you must reaffirm your old beliefs. Yet, against your family wishes you can’t go back. You have shed your old skin and returning to the old beliefs feels unnatural.

Every day we blindly accept beliefs without questions. We follow the herd wherever they go without questioning the merit behind the belief.

Harsh reality happens when you discover that the Kool-Aid you were drinking has no merit. The beliefs were spread by people who are afraid of change and seek to bury their insecurities under a mountain of fear.