Tag: Featured

Just in time for this ‘milestone’ post, Chris Brogan provided this handy list that I’ll use as a preamble to what it is that I already wanted to share with you…

If you would like to get further into blogging, here is a brief primer:

  1. Get a blog. (Easy: tumblr.com, wordpress.com, blogger.com. Better: host your own -affiliate link.)
  2. Pick an area of focus, but one that has broad sides. (Mine: helping people do digital business in a human way.)
  3. Start writing.
  4. Start by planning to publish 1 post a week.
  5. Get daring and try for 2 posts a week (eventually).
  6. Make the posts more than 100 words and less than 1000 words most days.
  7. Spell-check.
  8. Delete the sentences that don’t matter.
  9. Realize that posts that are helpful to others get shared more than posts that are merely interesting.
  10. Never write a “sorry I haven’t written” post. Ever.
  11. Posts that just comment on other people’s posts and sum things up aren’t all that interesting.
  12. Do NOT get hung up on the tech. Get hung up on passion.
  13. The best way to write better is to read more. Second best: write more (often).
  14. Don’t try to copy other people’s style. Try to copy their proliferation.
  15. My best (most popular) posts were the ones I spent the least time writing.
  16. My least popular posts were the ones that took me more than a half hour to write.
  17. Pictures are a great place to start a post idea.
  18. Inspiration is a verb and a muscle.
  19. Lazy is, too.
  20. You’re doing it wrong. So is everyone.
  21. There’s not a single rule on this list that isn’t breakable. Break all the rules you want and enjoy yourself.

There. Write. Stop what you’re doing. Don’t comment. Don’t even share this post. Go write. On whatever came to mind. Delete it, if you hate it. But write. Now.

Source: A Primer for Blogging

Far be it from me to take issue with the great Chris Brogan, but regarding #1 I’ll say choose WordPress.com if you’re just getting started. Tumblr and Blogger are nice, but if you’re looking for traffic, nothing is better for Search Engine Optimization [SEO] than WordPress.com. You can always graduate to the self-hosted version of WordPress later if you want…

Regarding #2, sooner or later, you’ll have to face up to the fact that if you want to get good at it, your blog will have a brand. What is a brand?

“A brand is a “Name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.” Branding began as a way to tell one person’s cattle from another by means of a hot iron stamp. A modern example of a brand is Coca Cola which belongs to the Coca-Cola Company.” Source: Brand – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Simply put, if you’re going to find faithful readers, you’ll have to curate or create information on a narrow scope of topics so that people will know what to expect from you – what they come to expect of you is your brand. A blog gives you a share of voice on the internet which gives you a share of mind which may ultimately give you a share of market if you pursue it. You might even become a thought leader like Chris Brogan if you work your blog well enough! Thought leader? To me that’s a recognized expert that can be found in Google search. To become one you only need to do two things well; deepen your expertise [continuously learn – stay on top of your craft] and document your expertise [blog and engage in social media].

Regarding #11, I think curation is an important part of thought leadership and I think Chris ‘sums up’ more than he realizes! In this age of information proliferation, you have the ability to become a source that people trust through your blog by consistently curating and creating information that is useful to them. Also, I’m following rule #21 by breaking rule #11 and quoting Chris himself twice in this post! Here’s another great post he did this weekend about having a plan and working it;

“It’s a gorgeous and sunny day as I write this. I would like to be outside, maybe grilling up some steaks and drinking a beer or 12. But I’m working because that’s the plan. I have a short window of time to get a bunch of things done before I hit the road again, and because part of my business is to create media, that means writing and creating information that might be useful to you. Work the plan. That’s the message of the day. Work the Plan My media plan says I should be writing one of six types of posts:

  • How to
  • Vision/Perspective
  • Promotion
  • Interview
  • Do it Better
  • Review

In this case, I’ll call this post a “how-to.” It’s not the best I’ve ever written, especially because it’s so self-referential, but it proves the point. If your goal is to reach into the heads of the people you hope to reach, you’d best have a plan. If your goal is to make money, and this digital strategy is part of the plan, then what are you doing to stick to it?” Source: Work the Plan.

Only you can decide if my summary of Chris’ posts is ‘not all that interesting’…

btw, yesterday, I passed the 3,000 post milestone on my personal blog and I’m fast approaching 5,000 on my business blog but these are just the posts that have been published! Counting other blogs that I’ve done since I started 7 years ago I conservatively estimate I’ve created over 20,000 posts. I’m no Chris Brogan, but I have developed an efficient ‘lather rinse repeat’ cycle of blogging using Google Reader and WordPress. This screencast above shares some of my best blogging secrets with you – I promise you’ll learn at least one time-saving tactic if you watch the whole think [‘typo’ intentional]…

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…in which no one shows up for the first hangout, so this is just a brief overview…

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Tim Allen is one of my favorite comedians and I love the show ‘Home Improvement’…

For three years, I’ve been wanting to do a weekly live broadcast and now — thanks to Google+ Hangouts on Air — today’s the day! Watch this…

You can connect with me in Google+ at toddlohenry@gmail.com to participate live at 15:00 CDST [GMT-6] [only people in my circles can attend] or you can watch the stream here:

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Are You Making Someone Else Your Higher Power?

Mastin Kipp writes:

A definition of interdependence is: “a reciprocal relation between interdependent entities.”

The key word here is: “reciprocal”. Interdependence can be thought of as a relationship where each party gives and receives from his or her own internal overflow. This is TOTALLY different than “codependence” which can be thought of as being “addicted to someone”.

Another way to look at it, spiritually, is this:

A codependent person makes someone else his or her Higher Power. An interdependent person knows that The Uni-verse is their Higher Power and keeps their focus on that, while choosing to be in a relationship with someone else who is also looking to The Uni-verse to fulfill them.” Get more here: Are You Making Someone Else Your Higher Power?.

If any of this gives you pause to think, you might want to take a look at Melody Beattie‘s book Codependent No More — it’s full of pratical thoughts, tools and tactics for taking codependency head on. You can download a free sample here. I first became aware of this issue in my life about a year ago but this book, the accompanying workbook and her meditation book “Language of Letting Go” have been helpful to me in overcoming codependency and having better relationships…

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What do I do…

…when I’m not posting here? I run a firm called e1evation, llc in Algoma, WI. Here’s a ‘commercial’ that explains my approach in case you’re interested. Click to continue reading…

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Expectations and being ‘right’

Great Expectations (1998 film)

Lately, I have been thinking a lot about the word ‘right’ in my life. In my professional life, I am a thought leader in the internet marketing space. I have strong opinions about ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ when it comes to strategy, tactics and tools. I am learning lately that being right or thinking I am right can lead to disastrous consequences…

I have found fertile thinking in this quote from Nietzsche; “You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist.” When I think I am right, I think I HAVE rights and expectations. I think I know, however, that there is only one place disappointment comes from; false expectations…

Ponder this:

“There are/can be many disapointments in life and sometimes they can’t be avoided. Living up to what we expect is a big one. Whether it be in someone else or in ourselves. Our expectations can be “too high” unreasonable or unrealistic. No one is perfect nor can they be in this crazy world.

Sometimes we expect more from a person than they are able to give..at a particular time. Sometimes we expect a person to do more than they are capable of doing, or to be more than they are capable of being. Therefore we are the ones who wind up getting frustrated, angry, hurt, impatient and disapointed. We are the ones effected by our own actions. We are the ones who set ourselves up for disapointments.

Sometimes our approach can be critical, overbearing and destructive. Even when we simply suggest something or give an opinion it does’nt go over well. It can be viewed as an attack on ones charactor even tho that was not the intention. This should never be taken personally because we all have things we are trying to cope with from our past and present situations and we shut down.

Even when we simply try to point something out to someone they can go into the defend mode, protective mode because they are not ready to deal with “the problem” yet. They are still battling with it therefore they are consumed by it and it has power over their well being. Everyone needs to be comfortable in their own skin. Like no body states in one of my comments below..it must be the right message, from the right source, at the right time, by the right person (edified properly) or it will not be received in the way it was intended to be received. Otherwise it can be misinterpreted.

Our expectations, opinions and suggestions can sometimes be veiwed as attacks on self worth and competency. Therefore conflict, separation and alienation occures and the door is shut on communication. Then our relationships are compromised. I watched Charles Stanley‘s program last Sunday and he ministered on how “Words” can have a profound, everlasting effect on us and our well being, our growth and our lives. They can have a tremendous effect and sometimes we say things we later regret.

No one can live up to anyone’s” standards. It’s not that what everyone is doing is right or that we don’t have a big heart in wanting whats best for them, it’s just that our expectations may be overwelming.

A lot of people feel like failures because they can’t live up to the expectations they put on themselves or that others put on them. We can make others feel like failures because of our expections being “To high”> Expecting too much. Too much attention can be put on expectations and not on acheivements/accomplishments.” via Expectations.

Thinking I have rights as a husband leads me to expectations and the expectations lead to disappointment and frustration. Somehow, focusing on being friends with my wife is making a radical difference in my life and happiness has come from leaving ‘right’ behind…

I heard Dr. Phil say “would you rather be happy or right”. I choose happy and as for right? It really doesn’t exist according to Nietszche and only leads to sad for me. What do you think about this?

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I just concluded my ‘lunch and learn’ series on information and content management at The Docking Station in Green Bay, WI today. The first two classes were shot via video camera and unfortunately you can’t see the screen but you can hear the narrative. The last class was captured using a Google+ hangout and I’ll be using that from now on. Questions? Feedback?

This is [almost] everything I think I know about the topic with a couple of bonus videos thrown in at the beginning…

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…featuring a tool called Gist and you can see it here over the internet!

Here’s a brief outline of my intro:

This event is hosted by my friend Dana VanDen Heuvel at The Docking Station in Green Bay, however, thanks to the new functionality in Google+ of being able to broadcast a hangout over the air in YouTube, I’ll be broadcasting and recording the event in this post at Noon CDT. You can either watch it here or join more directly by connecting with toddlohenry@gmail.com in Google+…

Here is the Google+ Hangout video from the event:

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The right way

"You have your way. I have my way. As for the right way, the correct way, and the only way, it does not exist." Friedrich Nietzsche

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Fight Fair!

“A constructive complaint looks like this: You calmly ask him not to leave his things flung around the house, not because he’s a big slob (although that may be so) but because neatness is important to you. You “own” the problem (“I’m just not comfortable when you leave your briefcase and coat on the living room couch”) and appreciate that there are other women in the world who would be happy living with someone who didn’t pick up after himself. You mention the attacks you made earlier, at a time of frustration and you apologize for them.

At a relaxed time, you invite a conversation (“Can we make a rule about where briefcases and coats are kept?”) and figure out how to compromise on your different styles. You appreciate that change occurs slowly, in fits and starts, so you praise him for moves in the right direction. After all, you couldn’t transform yourself into a person comfortable with clutter overnight. You might even conclude that it would be simpler to sweep through the house twice a day and dump all his belongings on his big armchair until he decides what to do with them, if anything.

Constructive criticism asks for a specific behavioral adjustment that honors the other person’s capacity to change. It focuses on actions, not character judgments. The “lightly served” part is especially important if you’re talking to someone who responds poorly to anger or intensity in your voice.

People can say very difficult things if they calmly present the facts with no edge in their voice. And silliness helps enormously, as when my son’s wife threatened to charge him rent if he kept putting his clothes on her desk.” via Fight Fair! | Psychology Today.

Ever heard of ‘non violent communication‘? My wife and I have been using it as a tool for over a year. It’s simple, but it’s not easy — it is, however, effective. In NVC, there are 4 components. When I have an issue I talk about:

  • What I see
  • The story that I tell myself about what I see
  • How it makes me feel [mad, sad, glad, hurt]
  • What I would like to see instead

How your partner responds is their responsibility but if you use this tactic, you will have expressed yourself in a non-violent, non shaming, non blaming way and you might actually get heard. Oh and btw, I’ve found that it works even better if you keep the decibels down…

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My beautiful wife in Italy…

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Peter Bregman posted this at Psychology Today…

I’ve come to the conclusion that I use email to distract myself. Whenever I feel the least bit uneasy, I check my email. Stuck while writing an article? Bored on a phone call? Standing in an elevator, frustrated in a meeting, anxious about an interaction? Might as well check email. It’s an ever-present, easy-access way to avoid my feelings of discomfort.

What makes it so compelling is that it’s so compelling. I wonder what’s waiting for me in my inbox? It’s scintillating.

It also feels legitimate, even responsible. I’m working. I need to make sure I don’t miss an important message or fail to respond in a timely fashion.

But it’s become a serious problem. When we don’t control our email habit, we are controlled by it. Everyone I know complains about email overload.

Email pours in, with no break to its flow. And like addicts, we check it incessantly, drawing ourselves away from meetings, conversations, personal time, or whatever is right in front of us.

Source: Coping With Email Overload | Psychology Today

Go to the source if you’d like to read the rest of his thoughts. I’d like to share with you a way that I have found to control my email habit…

Tools without thought or tactics are worthless so I try to remind myself that email is best used as a tool for ‘just in time’ information – information that affects relationships and revenue. All your ‘just in case’ information belongs in a virtual newspaper like Google Reader. Think of how much lighter your email load would be if you didn’t let newsletters and other detritus in? How often have you started down the path to Inbox Zero and then been waylaid by a Victoria’s Secret or Cabella’s catalog in your inbox. There’s a time and a place for that; the time is your ‘personal news aggregation’ time and the place is Google Reader. My advice? Use Gmail for email with a touch of Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero and David Allen’s ‘Getting Things Done’ and you’ll be an INBOX HERO in no time!

If you’re looking for help in this area, try my online book on ‘personal news aggregation’ or how to create your own personal news agency. You can register free at http://elevation.company/pna. Here are two recent lunch and learns I did on the topic of Gmail and Google Reader as well…

How to be an ‘Inbox Hero’ with Gmail…

How to be a Google Reader Rockstar…

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Here’s a mindmap and a screencast about my top 3 Twitter tools and the way I use them…

Now, here’s how they all fit together!

My top Twitter screencasts playlist:

Questions? Feedback? btw, here’s a little riff on how to use playlists in case you’re not familiar:

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He is not here…

Resurrection of Christ

http://bible.us/Matt28.5.NIV The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.

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The Easter Song

Rare live footage of my favorite Christian group singing the ultimate Easter song…

Here’s the same song from Keith Green…

Crank it up! Happy Easter…

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Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion

Here’s another of my favorite Easter pieces — all three hours are contained in these two videos! Amazing performances — especially tenor Peter Schreier; he’s the dude with the glasses that appears around 11:58…

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This one goes out to all the WordPress.com bloggers

…that are using their blogs for content marketing and ‘thought leadership‘ marketing:

Here are some of the big takeaways:

  • Use Windows Live Writer or [MarsEdit if you’re a Maccie] to curate good content…
  • Use Zemanta to find related pictures, articles and metadata tags to engage readers…
  • Spend the money to get your own domain and apply it to your site…
  • Use the sharing feature to automatically post your new content to your Facebook profile or page, Twitter, etc.
  • Don’t forget the sharing buttons on every post and page if you want people to disseminate your content…
  • Put Twitter and Facebook widgets in your sidebar if you are using those tools [and you should be!]…
Ooops! Forgot to cover this;


Questions? Feedback? Comment below or connect above…

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If you want to be a thought leader on the internet, there are only two things you need to do really well…

Assuming that you’re already an expert of some sort — and according to Seth Godin we are ALL experts at something — the two main things you need to do are:

  • Deepen your expertise. In other words, get smarter by effectively managing the content you need to become even more of an expert at what you do…
  • Document your expertise. Simply put, let people know you know what you know…

Deepening and documenting your expertise may actually facilitate thought leadership by using a few “good, fast, and cheap” tools to get you a share of voice which may get you a share of mind which ultimately could get you a share of market…

I expound here:

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Monday is the day I normally post on my most important topic; blogging and content marketing for ‘thought leadership‘ marketing. As I was posting this morning, I thought it might be a good idea to do a screencast on the ‘mechanics’ of curation. You can see that post here…

Doing the screencast, there were so many times I referred to other aspects of curation that I decided to round them all up in the following Storify story so here it is in one place; almost everything I think I know about the artful curation of content using Twitter and Windows Live Writer along with a host of other tools…

<script src="

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

http://storify.com/e1evation/almost-everything-i-think-i-know-about-the-mechan.js”>%5B<a href="

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

http://storify.com/e1evation/almost-everything-i-think-i-know-about-the-mechan&#8221; target=”_blank”>View the story “[Almost] everything I think I know about the mechanics of curation” on Storify][<a href="

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

Every screencast I’ve ever done on the mechanics of curation!

http://storify.com/e1evation/almost-everything-i-think-i-know-about-the-mechan&#8221; target=”_blank”>Here’s a link to the Storify story in case it doesn’t display properly!]

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Dana VanDen Heuvel, 'thought leadership' marketing…or how to be a thought leader in your industry without breaking the bank! Prepare yourself — I’ve been thinking about this one all weekend…

I had a chance to have lunch last week with Dana VanDen Heuvel, an internationally known ‘thought leadership‘ marketing expert who happens to live in nearby Green Bay. Dana and I travel in similar circles although his focus is more on strategy while mine is more on the mechanics of thought leadership marketing. Back in November I was trying to get my mind around content marketing and thought leadership and I asked Dana whether or not the two were synonymous. Either he didn’t have time to answer my question or you wanted me to figure it out on my own; in either case eventually I concluded that content marketing is a means toward thought leadership but the two are not the same. You can use content marketing to create share of voice on the internet but it’s the quality of your ideas that determine whether or not you ultimately become a leader by getting share of mind and share of market.

To me, thought leadership is the process of becoming and being known as the expert. In my oversimplified view of things that requires two activities; you have to deepen your expertise and detail your expertise or, get smarter and show people you’re getting smarter. IF you do that well they may actually follow your ideas…

Are you a wannabe thought leader? You can test the waters in this area for $17 per year using WordPress.com as your thought leadership marketing hub. The $17 will buy you a domain and the ability to map that domain to your free WordPress site. Then, all you gotta do is publish something…

Deepening your expertise

In in order to deepen your expertise I think there are three things you need to do

  • Use Gmail to manage your just-in-time information
  • Use Google reader to manager just-in-case information
  • Use Gist to track other thought leaders

Detailing your expertise

In order to demonstrate to people that you are an expert

  • Either create or curate your ideas in WordPress.com
  • Share the content you create or curate on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, Paper.li, Twylah and MailChimp
  • Engage in conversations using HootSuite and/or NutshellMail

David Kanigan of davidkanigan.com is an example of someone who had done exactly what I recommended on his WordPress.com blog…

New to blogging — only 6 months in — and he is already rocking his site! His Alexa rank is currently 61,500 in the US — testimony to both the power of WordPress.com and his frequent posting [too bad that due to his work in the financial industry he can’t engage in business blogging]…

You could be a David, too, and take on the Goliath’s in your industry using the tools and tactics I mentioned above. Here are links to every tool and a few more…

<script src="

imho, here are the best tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. All free, all cross platform…

imho, here are the best tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. All free, all cross platform…

http://storify.com/e1evation/content-management-and-marketing-for-thought-leade.js”>%5B<a href="

imho, here are the best tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. All free, all cross platform…

imho, here are the best tools for content management and marketing for thought leadership. All free, all cross platform…

http://storify.com/e1evation/content-management-and-marketing-for-thought-leade&#8221; target=”_blank”>View the story “Content management and marketing for thought leadership tools” on Storify]

Here is the way in which I use them…

'thought leadership' marketing, e1evation, llc
Click image to enlarge...

Now, either you look at this and say “Ah, that makes perfect sense — why didn’t I think of that before?” for you look at this and say “What a fustercluck!?!?!?” In either case, I may be a resource for you. Either I can help you simplify your existing thought leadership marketing workflow or I can set it all up for you and teach you how to run it. It’s your call, but if you’re looking to establish a thought leadership position you have just run out of excuses…

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The magic in your mind

Have you read this? I only recently came across it thanks to blogger David Kanigan @ Lead. Learn. Live.

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