Title: Existence
Fandom: Dollhouse/Firefly
Characters: Whiskey and River
Prompt: W: Wires
Word Count: 206
Rating: G
Summary: The other girl has wires and tubing coming in and out of her skin. They are
Notes: Written for willow_reece. 23/10/09.

(Existence)

Originally published at Imagine Your Reality. Please leave any comments there.

When I give talks on social media to small businesses, the following social media myths are brought up, so I thought I’d discuss those myths.

It’s just a Fad

Some people think social media is just a fad. That it’ll eventually go away, or be something that people will grow out of. This is a myth. The reality is that social media has already been around since the early 2000’s. People have been using sites such as Linkedin and MySpace since the early 2000’s. The advent of Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites also is putting increasing momentum into this phenomenon. Finally, because social media sites can be accessed via mobile phones, they are increasingly becoming integrated into our daily lives.

I’m local and don’t want my information all over the internet

Many people worry that if they get on social media sites their information will be less secure or go all over the place. In the case of small  businesses they worry that they’ll get contacted by people from across the U.S., which aren’t useful clients for them.

If you have an email address or bank online or pay bills online, your information is already out there and social media won’t significantly alter that. If as a small business your main focus is only to interact with local clients, it would still be a mistake to not use social media. The majority of my social media contacts are local ones, in large part because the network you connect with is the one you already are in touch with. Social media allows you to stay more visible to that network and connect with people they know as well. Most of those people are local.

This isn’t to say that you won’t get some contacts who aren’t local, but even then you may actually be able to help them out, and that can be beneficial for your business as well as for yourself.

I don’t have time for social media

Many businesses will claim they don’t have time for social media, but if they don’t have time for social media, they likely don’t have time to run a business either. Social media is part of the marketing and branding for your business. If you can’t make time for that activity, then you probably don’t have time to connect with your clients or prospects, or do the other activities necessary to build relationships that lead to business. Whether you like it or not, social media is essential to building relationships with other people, and to marketing.

There are no doubt other myths and reasons businesses tell themselves that they can’t do social media. But while they do this, they also put themselves further and further behind on learning the technology and capitalizing on the conversation. They give their competition an edge in terms of letting them get on social media and start using it to connect to prospects.

Social media here to stay. It’s not going away…it’s not a fad, and it is something businesses must adapt to, in order to fully reach out and connect with their clients.

Originally published at Imagine Your Reality. Please leave any comments there.

Imagine Your Reality Radio interview with David Tuck of Anvil Tax about taxes and how your business can be compliant.

Review of Tribes by Seth Godin

Like the rest of Seth’s books there’s a lot of ideas here, but not a lot in the way of really useful practical ideas. The concept of tribes, of creating a following isn’t really new, but what Seth tries to do is present a new perspective to it, and to some degree he succeeds in that he does show how one or a few people can motivate many people to follow  in the mission of those one or few people. What he doesn’t really do is provide more than some examples and rants on what not to do and even the rants aren’t articulated very well. What Seth’s really managed to do is notice a trend that’s already occurring and tried to present it as something new and novel, without really exploring how groups dynamics work.

3 out of 5

How to Turn your networking from me to WE
When: 3 hours 6-9pm PST, December 6th
Where: Whole Foods Market NE Fremont
Register: Mindglo Website

Automate Your Business Teleclass
When: DEC 10 2-3pm PST  and DEC 14 Noon to 1pm PST
Register at Taylor’s Schedule page or by email

Social Media Webinar: How do I use Facebook for my Business?
When: Dec 11th, noon to 1pm PST, From the comfort of your office or home
Register, go to http://www.imagineyourreality.com/Events.html

Social Media Webinar: How do I use Linkedin for my Business?
When: Dec 11th, 2pm to 3pm PST, From the comfort of your office or home
Register, go to http://www.imagineyourreality.com/Events.html

Social Media Webinar: How do I use Twitter for my Business?
When: Dec 18th, Noon to 1pm PST,  From the comfort of your office or home
Register, go to http://www.imagineyourreality.com/Events.html

Social Media Webinar: How do I use Biznik for my Business?
When: Dec 18th, 2pm to 3pm PST, From the comfort of your office or home

Register, go to http://www.imagineyourreality.com/Events.html

i can't wait for supper tonight. going to make a pork loin stuffed with brie, spinach, shallots, and fresh oregano tonight. make a nice reduction sauce and deglaze the pan, served with some steamed fresh green beans.

(starting out with a salad though since we'll be coming home from the gym and will starve waiting for supper hehe.)

I now have two three! baby pomegranates (found the third while getting more coffee). They're so frigging cute. :D

The second rosemary cutting got planted, and I now have one inside and one outside.

Yesterday went better than expected. I half-filled a jar with cute-little-girl appropriate beads, and some embroidery thread to begin with, as well as some other jewelry, like the butterfly bracelet and ladybug earrings from the Internet Yard Sale, and I'm going to paint the jar appropriately.

Got a page and a panel for thenowhere's comic, and I'm far, far happier with this one so far. I think I'm getting closer to losing the divide between my sketching/personal work drawing (which I think almost always ends up better), and my comic drawing.

The anthology I'm in is apparently out. Please overlook the cover design...I'm so not happy with it, but it's not my call. *coughgrumble*...random frigging Elvish for some reason...*grumblesnarlgrumble*

I didn't get to the woodburning because finding the stand to my woodburner so that I don't burn the fuck out of my desk took forever. By the time it was found, I was hungry and distracted. But I did find a saw with which to cut off one end that was splitting and had an in-the-way branch-nub.

Made a tea before bed last night from hibiscus, (my home-grown) catnip, chamomile and lavender. If I wasn't already in the time of PMS insomnia, I'm sure it would have knocked me right the fuck out. And it was tasty, in a flowery kind of way. As it was, I dreamed for what seems like all damned night. I forgot all of it, after being startled awake alternately by cats and by wolven's coughing fits and fever-breaking sweats that forced him to change his clothes twice.

It's about time to work out, wash my face and get dressed. There are errands to run, tickets to meet Neil Gaiman to pick up, lots of scans of various kinds to clean up that I've been putting off, and designs for Giftmas presents to work on. I may just use my credit card to pick up those pens and maybe some canvases...need to think on it.

This theme won only by one vote, so here goes!

I had the stamps ready a bit early so I though what the heck. Plus I wouldn't have had time to post this tomorrow anyway.

General rules apply.

<br /><lj-cut text=”Smile, so we can make a good impression.”><br /><b>Name</b>:<br /><b>And you were stamped as</b>:<br /><b>Do you agree with the stamp you received?</b>:<br /><br /><b><u>About your current home</b></u>:<br /><b>Where are you from?</b>:<br /><b>Look out of the nearest window, what do you see?</b>:<br /><b>How would you describe the town/city you live in to other people?</b>:<br /><b>Do you like living there? Why/why not?</b>:<br /><br /><b><u>This or that</b></u>:<br /><b>Crowded or peaceful<b>:<br /><b>Hot or cold temperature</b>:<br /><b>Laid back or worrying</b>:<br /><b>Impulsive or restrained</b>:<br /><b>Imaginative or mundane</b>:<br /><b>Light or dark</b>:<br /><b>Introverted or extroverted</b>:<br /><br /><b><u>Questions, questions, questions</b></u>:<br /><b>If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you like to live?</b>:<br /><b>Is nature something you care about deeply?</b>:<br /><b>Where do you go when you want to think?</b>:<br /><b>Do you enjoy being alone, or do you need people around you?</b>:<br /><b>Is there a place you'd never want to live in?</b>:<br /><b>Are you okay with living in the same place forever?</b>:<br /><br /><b>Is there anything else you'd like to add while you're at it?</b>:<br /><br /><b>Votes</b>:<br />1.*link here<br />2.*link here<br />3.*link here<br /></lj-cut><br />

( stamps! )

Thing that Made My Day Awesome:


November 29th

Bird Notes!

This short and adorable composition based on the position of some birds on telephone wires gave me the warm fuzzies...or the soft featheries?

Honestly, give it a listen, it's not very long and really quite neat.

Yeah. I spent a week in a phlegm-laden coma. It took me about a week longer to write this than I expected. Background/catch-up links:

Twilight
Twilight in Fifteen Minutes
Made of Fail podcast that I was on: Twilight movie discussion episode
Original commentary on Twilight (book)

New Moon
Discussion of New Moon (movie) and fan behavior at an early preview
Made of Fail podcast that I was on: New Moon movie and celebrity/fandom discussion episode
Original commentary on New Moon (book)

By the way, I would recommend clicking the links here within the text itself; a couple of them are really... something else. Reading 2012 in Fifteen Minutes may also help.


( Warm your hands at my chestular fires, baby )


(Zomg e-book! The Annotated Movies in Fifteen Minutes: Wizards!)

I am better then I think I am
I am smarter then I think I am
I am wiser then I know I am
I am more likable then I fear I am not
I am more creative then I give myself credit for
I have more skills then I use
I have more energy then I use
I have more love then I show
I wish to have more patients, for I let mine get too thin, and it's not fair.

I think that's enough to get started with today.

Once upon a time he wore his soul
like a shiny button
but so many blows, so many words,
so many sticks and stones,
dented and tarnished it.
He hid it away, but can’t remember where.

He wears so many masks now
his face in the mirror is a stranger.

All he wants is to be known
and understood
and seen clearly in moonlight.

His masks, though, have grown
to his skin. Persona hopelessly
entangled with person,
til he’s dizzy with the paradox,
lost in a maze of reflections.

I recognize him, because once
I caught a glimpse of him in my mirror,
in a rain dazzled street, in a dream
about stags and secret agents,
his disguise so much like my own.

He doesn’t see me here in my own shadows.
He covers his eyes and his ears.
I threw myself at his feet
like flowers or fallen stars, but
I have no social skills, no ability
to modulate or moderate.

Foiled again, by my own foibles.
Damaged again by my own damage.
Alone here in my hollow tree
I keep tearing up my roots, hoping
someday I’ll be free of masks
and my past and gravity.
Someday someone will see me
in his mirror.

Many of you on my friends list are writers, and many are horse enthusiasts. If you're either or both, you should be reading Judith Tarr's blog on Book View Cafe.

http://blog.bookviewcafe.com/category/judith-tarr/

Judy is, of course, one of our finest living writers as well as an avid horsewoman. Her blog is a wonderful resource for anyone wanting to incorporate horses in any way shape or form in their writing. Very good stuff indeed.

So the hiatus is over, I did my twenty-one ficlets and all... but I didn't want to stop ;) So I'm not! I want to see how long I can keep this up, one every day, so off we go :)

Gleekathon, day forty: Ride Wit Me (Artie/Tina)

Suggestion Drop Off