Heather is inspiring!  Figuring she had to fit time into her busy day to blog, she has developed her own strategy: use the 20 minute cycle commute to work to record her video blog!  And why not?  That’s when she gets  her ideas, and her iPhone is set up with a clip that attaches to her bicycle handlebars, so she can pedal and record at the same time.  The result?  It’s something like this:

How cool is that? OK, there must have been some time invested in editing and so on, but she’s fitting both the cycling and the vlogging (video blogging) into her life, and Heather is a self-confessed workaholic. If you don’t cycle you could try drive vlogging, dinner prep vlogging, laundry vlogging, bath vlogging… ok maybe not. But the possibilities are endless!

BTW, yes I missed yesterday’s blog because I “didn’t have time”. This post is my comeuppance.

Cute illustration by Brandon Reese

Well, here it is: Follow Friday. Or as I should write it, #followfriday or even #ff. If you are new to Twitter, Follow Friday is both a blessing and a curse, because really – the fun doesn’t start until you have enough people you are following to make it feel like a party. So you want to follow good people, and by that I mean real, interactive people, not just the sales blasts masquerading as people.

A typical #followfriday tweet looks like this:

@wordspring: #followfriday @kk @robcottingham @hummingbird604 @mynameiskate @miss604 @awsamuel @trishussey @raincoaster @gillianshaw

Not pretty is it? Nor do you have any idea that these people are very active part-time or full time in Vancouver’s social media scene. We’ve got bloggers, reporters, teachers, software geeks, and actual full-time social media community builders on that list. But how would you know? Are these the best ones? The most “famous” ones? Or just the ones I’ve followed the longest? Nothing there to tell you, except their names.

You can click on a name or two, visit their profiles and see what they have to say. Then decide if they are a good fit for your Twitter stream. But wouldn’t it be easier if you had a little bit of context from the sender?

To that end, and because I live in Victoria BC, where the social media community is beginning to blossom, here is a more full introduction to just 10 of the dozens, even hundreds, of people active on Twitter right here in #yyj (which is just a short, airport-y way of saying Greater Victoria, and not getting it confused with Victoria TX, or the Australian state of Victoria)

Why ten? Because I would be here all week if I tried to make a more comprehensive list. Because 10 people is enough to follow in one shot if you are new, and because I can do 10 different ones next Friday, if I am inspired.

1. @mikevardy – Works at the Victoria Film Festival, is just back from his long-delayed honeymoon, is very funny and creative, and has the good sense to show us all a slightly warped persona of himself – Mike Vardy, the CEO of Effing the Dog and an “eventual productivity expert”.

2. @cpudan – Dan Parks is a transplanted Californian who thinks that Victorians are so laid-back, we are on a par with Hawaiians. His mind works at warp speed, and he comes to morning Tweetups with a hundred new ideas and at least a dozen new apps to try out. Bring a pen and a notepad. This guy shares good stuff. Full of joy, too.

3. @claytonstark – The VP of – hmmm, is it engineering? at Flock’s development office, Clayton is funny, passionate, very very bright, and turning me into a huge fan not only of Flock, but of Clayton Stark

4. @tpholmes – can’t forget my dear friend Paul (not to be confused with my dearly beloved Paul, who stays far far away from Twitter) He is amazingly proactive at learning and spreading about Social Media’s many business uses – see www.paulholmes.ca for details. And together we are boosting the Social Media Club which promotes media literacy, ethical behavour and best practices.

5. @lacouvee – Janis is a force of nature! She is Twitter’s welcoming committee in our city, and loves to connect people and resources. If you want to know where to find an elephant, or ANYTHING else, talk to Janis

6. @gilnamur – I’ve only known Gil on Twitter a week, but love that he is doing the “make the world a better place” thing you see a lot on Twitter… with the important difference that he isn’t just rehashing other people’s stuff. It’s his own wisdom and generosity coming through. Check his blog, www.synaptici.com, for more good stuff.

7. @b_west – Another fella! Really, I’ve made more male friends on Twitter than I have since I was treeplanting with a whole bunch of rugby players in 1984… but I digress. Chris Burdge is the social media mojo behind Suburbia Advertising. He’s been waving the flag for authentic interaction on the corporate web for at least a couple of years longer than most of his clients realize. Now they are starting to wake up and listen. When Chris has something to say, I pay attention, because it is always of value.

8. @vic_toria – By day, she is a hardworking government employee. But Victoria Klassen pushes herself way beyond those cozy publicly-funded walls. She’s running half-marathons, volunteering to teach spin classes at the Y, climbing mountains, or at least mountain-like structures. And that’s just her workout! More important, she is an excellent writer and communicator, and has her finger on the pulse of social media. Follow her, and try to keep up.

9. @yuleheibel - Many people in Victoria have seen her columns on urbanism in Victoria’s Focus magazine. And how many of us even knew there was a field of thought and study on urbanism until Yule returned to her hometown about 5 years ago? Yes, she’s been a prof at Harvard. Yes, her whole family’s brainpower could light a small city for a month. But be neither fooled nor intimidated. Yule and her husband @wernerbahlke (slipped a bonus one in there!) are good listeners, thoughtful conversationalists and humble at heart. And community spirited, too!  Check their amazing Victoria blog aggregator, www.metrocascade.com I’m very glad to know her, and hope to get back to the Ogden Point Open Coffee groups soon. Like, a week Tuesday.

10. @jodie_nodes I’ve only known Jodie Gastell for about a week too, but I sense some major common ground between us. She has given over a whole room in her townhouse to teach blogging, with 10 netbooks and a super business plan. She also has one of the best avatars on Twitter. I’m going over for a tour and a chat next Tuesday, because really – Twitter is just a jumping off point for more extensive conversation and community building where you can do it.

There you are, new-to-Twitter people! I challenge each of you to get blogging on a 10-person sample of your Twitter stream. Tell me when you do it, and I’ll come read it.

Today has been a 20-hour marathon, and most of that was work. But it was a total joy, and coming home this evening after working out with my sweetheart, I got an amazing note in my email inbox. (Yes, I still use email. You can’t Twitter EVERYthing, you know)

It’s from a brand-new client of mine, Kathy McAree. She’s organizing a tremendous event here in Victoria called “Taste: Victoria’s Festival of Food And Wine”. Buy your tickets fast for the event, July 16-19, because people are already buzzing about it.

Here’s Kathy’s note:

Kathy, travelling with taste

I have to admit that I spent way more time whining about Facebook and Twitter than it took to get on board – - thanks to you!  You made it all so simple and in so little time.  I especially like that I can post Tweets and it automatically updates Facebook without even having to log in…it’s a miracle!  In less than 24 hours, I have over 30 people in my new festival group and my Twitter network is building so fast.  Thank you so much for opening my eyes and helping me to grow my business.

Kathy McAree

Owner, Travel With Taste Tours Ltd.
Director, Taste: Victoria’s Festival of Food and Wine
Freelance writer and professional eater and drinker!

Now there’s a living!  If I weren’t having so much fun with social media, professional eating and drinking sounds like a good alternate calling!

Thanks for the love, Kathy; I’m happy to support the festival.  Your kind words will live on in a testimonial page on this site. Please follow Kathy on Twitter and Facebook, too!

Artemis Exec Unspins the Web
I’m thrilled, because I really have the guest speaker of the evening to thank.    Maggie Kerr-Southin, of Artemis PR and Design here in Victoria, was our guest speaker, and her topic was “Social Media: It’s Not Just Kid Stuff”.  Maggie, Kerry Slavens and their team at Artemis operate on a whole different plane than I do – they offer the whole package for companies wanting a comprehensive branding, design and PR package.  They have the experience and the staff to run entire campaigns, and they do it very well.  So when Maggie shares her knowledge, I drop what I’m doing and go listen.  (Yeah, and I paid the late fee too – this being a “kid week”, I didn’t think I was going to eWomen this month until I heard that Maggie was coming to talk about social media)

Maggie started by asking the crowd of  entrepreneurs from around 30 to 60 years old how many of us were using Facebook.  A good number of hands rose.  More for LinkedIn, a few for Flickr, quite a bit less for Twitter.  Social media is happening in fits and starts for this crowd, but hardly anyone has figured out how to make the most of it.  Our speaker didn’t ask who had experienced a boost in their business from their social media interactions, but if she had, I probably would have been one of just a few with my hand up. 

The Lights Go On
Thank heaven the focus of her talk was demystifying how to use some of the most popular social media platforms – I could “see the lights go on” around the room, as the audience started to understand the power of online presence, and of building rapport using social media. 

The Power of a Good Network
Here’s the thing: eWomen Network women are incredibly good at using the network to share ideas, to cultivate friendships, and to recommend favourite businesses – both inside and outside the membership.  These women are excellent at building a mutually supportive business community.  What the marketing and PR insiders are excited about with social media is basically the same as what happens around the dinner table at this women’s business meeting.  It’s about building rapport, giving first, supporting each other, and listening as well as speaking. I know that given the necessary tools and a nudge in the right direction, this crowd will be fantastic at bringing their business specialties to the online communities of their choice.  They just aren’t doing it – yet.

So Much To Do
It was clear though, from the response to Maggie Kerr-Southin’s talk, that the members of our group want to figure this stuff out, and they’d appreciate the support they could get from someone with experience in social media.  When these offline networking and community-building pros start to look at their online strategy, many of them will be looking for a guide.  I hope to be there and of service to as many of them as I am able.  And as I was saying to a fellow marketing and social media pro at the event – there’s plenty of work for all of us.

So thanks again, Maggie, for the terrific message.  Once I’ve posted these thoughts, you’ll have me subscribing to your blog AND following you on Twitter.  And thanks, lovely eWomen members, for building such a great network.  This is the way we all prosper.

Since starting this blog a couple of weeks ago, dusting off my Facebook profile, and getting started on Twitter, things have really started to come together for me online.  I have to credit a few online mentors for getting me started down this path.  First is Lorrie Morgan Ferrero, of Red Hot Copy.  She did a lot of work on marketing to women, particularly social networking, and put it into what looks like a fantastic seminar called the She Factor.  I hope she puts it on again – I’ll find some way to get down to California and take part next time, instead of just listening to the preview teleseminars.  Second is a guest of Lorrie on one of those fabulous teleseminars, Nancy Marmolejo, whose company is Viva Visibility.  Nancy really is a social networking diva, and she lays out very clearly how you can multi-task, and look like you are 10 places at once on the web, and have all your social networking tools singing in harmony.   I want to be just like her – spending my time making life easier for other people around the world, while still being home when my kids get back from school. 

Third, another great woman that I “met” through Lorrie M-F (didja know you were so influential, Lorrie??) is Melani Ward, writer, coach and seriously wonderful person.  If you are interested in reframing your story and making it work to build the life you want, and you aren’t afraid of being honest with yourself  and open to spirituality, she’s a great teacher.

Finally, I spend a few minutes each morning with Bob Proctor and his terrific video-based coaching program, Six Minutes to Success.  Combined with my daily run, it’s a perfect way for me to get into focus.  I recommend it for everyone who wants to do more with the talents they’ve been given – especially if they have a lot of talent and need to overcome ADD-type symptoms!

Disclosure – Lorrie, Nancy and Melani didn’t pay me to say any of this – I just think they are doing what they oughtta be, and want to pass the kudos!   And while I have an affiliate link to Bob Proctor’s Six Minutes to Success Program, I would recommend it from the very bottom of my heart, even if I never made a penny off it. 

Who are your favourite online mentors and Web 2.0 buddies?  Leave me a comment and let me know…

Finish education “by the skin of your teeth”.  Use charm and outgoing personality to develop some amazing contacts.  Through great contacts, get prestigious, if safe,  job.  Get bored at job and blow it off to start an exciting new venture.  Put together a team of people to help with new venture, only to watch it all blow apart when and partners don’t get along.  Make lots of money quickly, and lose it all just as quickly.  Write encouraging letters to family, saying “Money is on its way, really!”

This was the pattern that Napoleon Hill followed for many years.  At just 24 years old, he’d already tried his hand at law school and at managing a coal mine, but neither of these pursuits fit with his restless, ambitious nature.  Fortunately, writing for Bob Taylor’s Magazine was pretty good fit, though it didn’t provide a full-time income.  This magazine was written in the same spirit as our current “Chicken Soup for the Soul” series – inspiring stories of the famous and not-so-famous. 

In particular, the writing gig put Napoleon in contact with some of the most successful people of the time, and one contact in particular would have a profound impact on Napoleon’s life.  This contact gave him an overarching purpose even as he struggled through some huge personal ups and downs over the years.

The man’s name was Andrew Carnegie.  Napoleon Hill was commissioned to interview him for Bob Taylor’s Magazine in 1908, when Carnegie was one of America’s richest men.  In a Friday afternoon interview that ended up lasting the whole weekend, Carnegie shared his philosophy of success with Napoleon, and ultimately issued the young man a challenge.  Here’s a quote from the book, “A Lifetime of Riches”:

“All it would take, Carnegie believed, was sharing that knowledge – the philosophy and the steps to success – that had been gained by those who achieved greatness.  Carnegie knew this could be a priceless gift to millions of people: an opportunity to learn from those who had started out no differently than any other person, but had through the infinite power of their minds transformed their lives and the lives of millions of others.”

Carnegie thought this challenge would take 20 years to complete, and he wasn’t offering pay – just letters of introduction and travel costs.  The rest was on Napoleon Hill’s shoulders.  It took Napoleon only 29 seconds, the book says, to say yes.  And despite jumping from job to business venture to another job or venture every two years for almost the whole twenty years, regardless of the fact that very shortly after his pivotal meeting with Carnegie, Napoleon met and married Florence Horner and started a family, he kept up his research and interviews.  Occasionally, his committment to the project seemed to threaten the fabric of his family life.  For almost their entire marriage, Napoleon lived apart from Florence and their children, preferring to seek his fortune away from their home of Lumberport, VA.  And also for most of their marriage, it was Florence’s family money, and even money from Napoleon’s father James Hill that kept a roof over their heads.  The “riches” promised in both Napoleon Hill’s most famous book and in his biography were still a long way off.

“[Martha] patiently constructed a close, individual relationship with her troubled stepson.  She didn’t force the stubborn, hot-tempered boy to do things, for this would most certainly have produced failure.  Instead, she treated him like the person she wanted him to become – an intelligent, hard-working, independent lad who would set constructive goals for himself and achieve them. ”

” ‘People are wrong about you, Napoleon,’ she said.  ‘You’re not the worst boy in the county, only the most active.  You jst need to direct your energy toward accomplishing something worthwhile.’  In the course of this conversation, Martha suggested that Napoleon consider becoming a writer because of his keen imagination and gutsy initiative. ‘If you will devote as much time to reading and writing as you have to causing trouble,’ she concluded, ‘you might live to see the time when your influence will be felt throughout the state.’ ” (pp. 8-9)

How important it is to have somebody believe in you early in life!  As adults, we are in large part a product of the messages we are given about ourselves early in life.  We take those on and make them part of our identity.  That’s not exactly news – the “self-esteem movement” in child development circles of the 1980s and 1990s was built on that. 

At the same time, notice how Martha Hill’s belief and support was accompanied by some real expectations.  She didn’t just say “You’re smart honey, and you’re really wild, and that’s the way you are.”  She directed that energy in a new direction.  What’s more, she persuaded Napoleon to be responsible in himself for that change in direction.  She suggested a goal, but ultimately it was Napoleon who internalized the goal and worked with passion and diligence to achieve it.

This is something I try to instill in both myself and in my children.  We are all working to become something.  What is the worthwhile thing we want to do?  Who is the person of worth we want to be?  How can you reveal that person of worth right now?

“Thoughts are things”. 

 ”You become what you think about”. 

These are concepts made popular in the last century by Napoleon Hill, and for the past week, I’ve immersed myself in his biography.  Why would I be interested in the life of an early 20th century self-improvement prosletyzer?  His name keeps coming up as I delve into the teachings of more recent “mentors” – people like Chicken Soup for the Soul author Jack Canfield, and Bob Proctor.  And you can learn a ton from the life of Napoleon Hill – especially if you are one of those people diagnosed and struggling with ADHD. 

I actually started my research as a speaking project for Toastmasters, and was actually amazed at what I found out about him.  Who knew we would have so much in common?

I’m not saying that Mr Hill had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.  But reading his life story, he shows many of the symptoms.  Very bright and active, he was sent to school at age four (in 1887) to “get out of his parents’ hair”. Once in school though, it was very hard to keep him in his seat, or his attention focused on what was going on in class.  He was much happier exploring the woods around his home, packing a six-shooter, hunting small game and starting fires.  Not exactly a promising start for a future philosopher and lecturer.  I liked him already!

The key to his success, though, began with the unwavering support and belief in his talents shown to him by his stepmother, Martha Hill.  She was the widow of a school principal who married Napoleon’s father, James, when “Nap” was nine.   Martha’s deal with her stepson was this:  “Turn in your gun and I will give you a typewriter”.  Bear in mind that this was around 115 years ago, and a typewriter was as new and as coveted as an XBox 360.  Napoleon took the bait, and he sat and struggled to learn how to type.  It was to become a key tool in his transformation from young hoodlum in training to young man with a big goal and the means to get there. 

To be continued!