Tiffany Sunday

Best-Selling Author | Poet | TEDx Presenter

Entrepreneurship

No Excuses in 2014

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Sunrise on PadreEach 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.

White Board 003My 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

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December 2011 062Two 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.

 

 

 

 

Your Most Important Asset Is Your Digital Reputation

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Vacation 2013 021Digital technology is changing every aspect of our lives from how we conduct business, to securing new clients and finding a job.

Every industry including our children’s education will be impacted by digital technology.

Learning how to manage our digital transformation and understanding the importance of our digital profiles is crucial to staying relevant in the Digital Era.

Our digital profile and real life are now one, everything we have done and everything we will accomplish is digitized.

Recruiters spend hours on LinkedIn and Twitter searching for the ideal candidate.   Schools and colleges are using digital profiles to review applications and determine who is accepted.

Professional and personal reputations have and always crucial in determining life’s important decisions.  Digital technology has digitized our reputations for the world to see.  Both good and bad posts can be viewed by everyone leaving us with less control over what others say and post.

Many believe we are diluting our personal value with each Facebook post.

Your Digital Reputation is your Golden Goose – without the Golden Goose securing new business or landing the job of your dreams will be difficult in the Digital Economy.

Be mindful about the content you post and the friends you circle because in the end – our reputation is all we have.

Related Blog Post:

Digital Profiles Have Made Resumes Obsolete 

Interview with Scott Ewert on How Technology and Creativity Impacts Your Career Options

Easy Part (Writing a Book) – Hard Part (Learning the Self-Publishing Process)

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Brandon Belanger_Self Portrait_May 2013Since junior high I have been writing poetry, short stories and articles for local community papers.   I started blogging three years ago about startups, concept development and digital technology.

My goal is to complete “You Posted What! How to Help Your Teen Use Social Media For Future Career Success” by May of 2014.

The Internet provides a unique freedom for creative individuals; we can develop and share ideas with others around the world. I am grateful for this freedom and opportunity.

Deciding to self-publish was a no-brainer since my chances of securing a publisher were slim. Secondly, my goal is to write more books in the future and knowing how to self-publish early in the process would save time and money later.

In the past six months, I’ve discovered that writing the actual book is the easier part of the process. Learning the intricacies of self-publishing has become a daunting task.  Lack of consistency in information from “how-to” books and marketers has not helped either. Several friends have recently published books and were generous with advice and recommendations.

In May, I was reading about Kickstarter and begin to toss around the idea of launching a Kickstarter campaign to pre-sell the book. I’m curious about Kickstarter and would like to be part of the experience.

What I Have Learned So Far–

Writing the Actual Book

“Word” is the program of choice for many reasons, it is the most popular, easy to use and your files can be sent to editors and publishers with ease.

PressBooks is a new platform that offers the ability to write and publish an eBook using the WordPress platform.  For individuals who are bloggers and already use WordPress, this is an easy program to use.

Working by the PoolI created an account to test drive PressBooks.  What I like best about platform is that you can visually see what your eBook will look like when it’s published.

Being a visual learner and thinker “seeing” the book in a digital format helped establish a visual image of the book I was writing.

Secondly, you can cut and paste from Word which is a nice feature. The down side to PressBooks is that you have been online to add content to your book. The information is stored in the cloud; therefore, you must be connected to the Internet to work on your book. There are times when I write on a notepad, scrap paper or on the laptop away from the office. Writing is a process and I always print a hard copy to edit.

Just like WordPress, you can select your book theme from a template or you can create a custom theme.

Publishers

Hyperink provides publishing services to well-known bloggers and business experts.  Brad Feld and Penelope Truck have published eBooks using Hyperink’s platform.  The down side is that you must be an expert or high profile blogger for Hyperink to publish your book.

Secondly, most of the book themes are very similar which makes it hard to differentiate the subject matter and the company requests that you complete your book in six weeks.

BookBaby is a unique publisher; the company was started by artists, writers and musicians as an alternative way to sell their art.  When I visited with the BookBaby representative she was helpful and happy to answer my questions.

However, she was unable to provide specific information about Amazon’s policies. I thought the pricing was reasonable for the services which included registering the ISBN number and book distribution.

Guy Kawasaki and Shawn Welch wrote “APE – Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur – How to Publish a Book” for first time authors.  Guy offered free copies via Google+ following the release date. The book is worth reading if you are first time author, I found some of the sections useful and skimmed through the rest of the book.

EBooks Thumbnails Matter 

Two bits of advice that I heard multiple times is to budget money for a good graphic artist and editor.

For eBooks, a strong thumbnail book cover will differentiate your book from the thousands of other listed on Amazon.  Second, the cover is used to market and sell your book.

Edit, Edit, Edit and Then Edit Some More 

You may be an excellent writer; however, having a second set of eyes is worth the money. Behind every successful author there is a really good editor. I have written this advice twice because good grammar is crucial. I spend hours editing my blog posts and know there is still room for improvement.

Make sure you include a good editor and graphic artist in your budget. After you have spent hours working on your book, why skimp and sell your book short.

One more thought on editing, ask your business associates, family and friends to read your draft and provide honest feedback for improvements For book reviews, ask several business associates and thought leaders in your industry to review your book.   These reviews will be used on the book’s Amazon profile page and in your marketing materials.

Funding – Kickstarter

Kickstarter offers a unique platform to pre-sell your book. Writers at all levels have used this platform to generate interest and sell their books. The money raised from the campaign depends on the topic matter and public interest.

Right now, I am planning on launching a Kickstarter campaign in September to pre-sell both the book.  I am excited about the potential of the Kickstarter campaign and understand that I will need to market the campaign to ensure success.

Market Your Book Now

Start marketing your book before the initial draft is finished. Start building your community now. Establishing an audience early is important and will help sell your book when it published. The general consensus is to market the book about year prior to the published date.

Currently, I am in the process of securing a graphic artist to create a poster and eBook cover for the Kickstarter campaign.   I will continue to share the information I learned as I work my way through the self-publishing process.

Opting Out of Busy Work

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What is the purpose of busy work?

To keep individuals focused on mindless tasks to prevent them from questioning authority?

Busy work is a time filler that is used everywhere from education to non-profits.

Need to make a decision?

Let’s form a committee, two sub committees and a tiger team to find a solution.

Why?

We have been trained to believe that decisions cannot be reached without a committee.

Precious time is spent discussing the original problem to the point it becomes so watered down that we lose sight of what we were doing in the first place.

Wasted time that could have been used to find a solution and seek new opportunities.

Busy work is the norm in our public schools.

How else can the teachers keep the students focused when PE is eliminated?

Busy work accomplishes nothing.

Choose to Opt Out.

Digital Profiles Have Made Resumes Obsolete

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Campus2careersLast week, I wrote about why our digital profiles matter.  The post included a futurist story that I wrote illustrating the impacts of the Hyperconnected Economy.

Resumes are now obsolete as recruiters and HR Departments use the Internet and social media platforms like LinkedIn to find qualified and talented candidates.   The Internet is also changing how we conduct our job searches and submit profiles for employment consideration.

Creating a unique and powerful digital profile gives you the advantage of being heard above the digital clutter.   Technology is now our competitor for employment not individuals in China or India.

College graduates today face one of the most complex and chaotic employment environment compared to previous generations.  Placement centers are out-of- date and provide obsolete information to college seniors and graduates.  I anticipate that our universities and colleges will undergo a major change similar to the music and publishing industries.   The Internet is changing education; students can access online classes from elementary math to physics at Stanford.

To gain a competitive advantage in the new economy we must have a rememberable digital profile, strong tech skills and diverse professional network.

Nathan GreenLast month, I talked with Nathan Green, co-founder of campus2careers.  We discussed his company and all the career services available for college graduates.  Nathan understands the importance of having a rich digital profile.  His company has created a platform that helps college students find jobs that match their goals and personality.

Campus2careers is a community which is different from job posting boards like Monster.com and Careerbuilder.com.  Instead of filtering job postings, campus2caeers matches college students and recent graduates with a wide range of businesses from startups to medium size companies.  Both parties benefit from this service as many small businesses have limited resources and are now able to find qualified candidates.  Students have more career opportunities.

What I like best about campus2careers is that it uses preferences and skill-based matching along with well-crafted digital profiles to match college students to employers.   The algorithms used to match the students is similar to online dating.

So, how do you know if you have a good digital profile?

Social media ranking platforms such as Klout,Kredand Rebel Mouse offer very little insight on how to improve your ranking.   I’m not a fan of Klout because the information and ranking appears to be arbitrary.  According to Klout, I’m an influencer in roller skating and shoes.   Really?

Qnary is a new company with a platform that builds upon the social media ranking sites.  The platform analyzes all your profiles together and then provides a private profile score.  This score is similar to a credit score.   Qnary offers recommendations on how to improve your score.

Qnary logo_newI created a Qnary account to test drive the platform.  It noted several gaps in my digital profile and how these gaps can be improved.  Qnary’s best feature is that it offers one stop analyzation with recommendations on how to make your online brand image better.

campus2careers is leading the future for helping high school and college students with career development and job placement.

Our digital profiles are important and will continue to have a greater impact on our careers.  To rise above the human capital, we will need to utilize services like campus2careers and Qnary to gain an advantage in this rapidly changing economy.

For full transparency, I have a referral agreement with Qnary.