Maybe I’m just going crazy. But the world seems to be turning faster and faster, and life seems to be getting busier and busier – is that right? Anyone else noticing this?
Cos right at the moment, I really feel like yelling “Stop the world!! I wanna get off!!!”
Is it just me?
CC Image courtesy Sean MacEntee at http://www.flickr.com/photos/smemon/5091040324/
(LOL ‘Extended family visits ‘ as in ‘cousins’, ‘uncles’, ‘aunts’ etc, not ‘close family members staying for extended periods of time’!)
So I mentioned on Wednesday that my cousin is coming to stay with me. He arrives later today, and I’m really looking forward to it, seeing as I last laid eyes on him around 32 years ago, when I was 5 and he 7 or 8. He lives in Kent, and is travelling to Oz not to escape the Olympics but because his fiancé has just discovered her father (she’s been looking for him her entire life) and he lives in the Whitsundays. So my cousin, his fiancé, and her two daughters, will be here in just a few hours, and will stay for almost a week with us before heading north for a few more weeks.
Just SOOOO excited!!! (Better go and clean the kitchen, hey!)
I’ve been blessed with pretty much zero athletic ability. Physical prowess isn’t something I have ever really valued highly. Okay, okay, when I was younger, I was a fairly good ballet dancer. I even won a couple of trophies for it! But the love I felt for dancing quickly waned when, in upper primary school, my dance class and I all passed the junior grades, and ‘graduated’ into pointe shoes, but my father didn’t want me to continue because I was such a tiny child and obviously not yet physically ready for such potential damage to my feet. So they all continued, and I didn’t. Oh well.
And dancing was about the only ‘sporting’ activity I was really good at. I’ve never really followed – or even been interested in, for that matter! – the cricket or footy codes, and even State of Origin is kind of a ‘ho hum’ in our house. So ‘Olympic Fever’ is just not going to catch on under my roof. Hubby feels the same. 
Opening Ceremony hasn’t even hit the TV screen yet, and already we’re complaining to each other that ‘there’s not going to be much on’ for the foreseeable future!
It’s fortunate then, that my cousin is coming to stay with us for part of this Olympic period. He’s my father’s sister’s eldest son, recently turned 40, and I haven’t set eyes on him in about 32 years. I’m really looked for ward to seeing him! (Plus, that should help me forget about the non-offering on TV for a while…!)
CC Image courtesy thedcms at http://www.flickr.com/photos/thedcms/7406700284/
I’ve just caught this tweet:
A big warm welcome to Semester 2 everyone!
— QUT Info Studies (@qutisg) July 22, 2012
and I’m guessing that Semester 2 has just started. Which is cool; it marks two years since I started this Masters in IT. When I started, I had 12 courses ahead of me. Now I have just 3 left. Two of which are core courses, only offered in Semester One, and the third of which, an elective, I’m *doing* this semester. And by *doing*, I mean ‘applying for Advanced Standing’. So I’m pretty stoked about being able to do that!
Actually, when I think about it, I’m pretty stoked with how my studies have gone to date. Considering that, prior to July 2010, my last stint at ‘hitting the books’ was November 1995, I’m done pretty well. In this Masters, I’ve received 4 High Distinctions, 3 Distinctions and a Credit (and I must emphasise that the credit was for an elective I took – foolishly, in hindsight – from a different faculty, with rather different standards, and we just didn’t seem to get along too well.) So at present, I’m pretty happy with my GPA of 6.375, and last year I accepted an invitation to join the International Golden Key Honor Society – something that I never knew existed, but am now a part of! (To save you googling it, like I had to, it’s a group for University students who are in top 15% of achievers. They meet, do charitable works, that sort of thing.)
So I have three courses – 2 cores, 1 elective – to go (and professional practice to complete, which will make up the final 12th course). And this semester, I’ll be writing up a 3000 word application for ‘Advanced Standing’, which, if approved, means that it’ll take the place of the elective, and I’ll only have the two courses to go. It’s such a head-spin to think that, by this time next year, I may in fact be a fully qualified Librarian, and able to add ‘M.IT.’ after the ‘B.Ed.’ after my name. How COOL is that!!!
I think I’ve blogged before about the great iPad App “Playschool Artmaker”. Well, I discovered recently that you can use your own backgrounds. Photos that you’ve taken, can now be added to with the Playschool toys and other bits and pieces. So my kids have had a field day! Here’s one of Miss 7 and Mr 3 on the playstation, being cheered on by the PlaySchool toys…
And Mr 3 has decided that he likes ‘hiding’ the people in the photo by covering them with al foil. You just gotta love his creativity!
We also found out that you can make a whole “story”, using the photos and videos that you’ve previously made using the App. But I’d better not add one here; it’d be far too huge! You’ll just have to take my word for it that the stories my kids make are just so darn cute…!
(Oh, and in case you were wondering… No, this is not a paid ad. LOL!)
That’s how my life feels right now. It’s just so jam-packed… and I love it! Okay – I’m up again, on my computer, posting at 5.52 am, after settling Mr 3 at 2.48am and again at 3.52am, and then deciding to just stay up because I’ve got so much to do anyway…
So the weekend before last, Hubby and I spent Saturday together. No kids. (Yes, this is actually rare enough that it rates a mention. Sad, really…!) and we visited IKEA. We’ve been married almost 18 years, and only now am I learning that his dislike of ‘clutter’ means that he dislikes bookshelves. He prefers furniture with doors – cupboards, wardrobes, buffets, etc etc). Rather a revelation for a wife who loves books (yes, @jobeaz, the physical variety! I haven’t really warmed to the whole idea of eBooks yet!) and who has lots and lots… and lots of them.
Never mind; I’m adaptable. So I started planning how to ‘de-clutter’ (without spending too much money, of course!) and this meant that yesterday was furniture-moving day. I re-worked the girl’s bedroom (Miss 7 got the shock of her life when she got home from school!), Mr 3′s bedroom, our bedroom, the dining room, and have started on the lounge room. This Saturday will see two large pieces of lounge room furniture moved to my in-laws, to make room for the new TV/entertainment unit (not yet purchased, but it’ll be coming from IKEA) and the new lounge (again, not yet ordered, but this will be from Fantastic Furniture because I really like their ‘storage’ lounges) – oh, and the orientation of the furniture in the lounge will also change 90%. So it’ll be (eventually) like a whole new house. (And maybe that’s why it’s been over 15 years since I visited IKEA!)
So that was yesterday. On the work front, I discovered last night that a tweet I sent got retweeted by three people.
6 lessons 'The Big Bang Theory' can teach us about blogging bit.ly/Amn1yA—
BloxhamMarketing (@BloxhamMkting) July 16, 2012
One of these accounts has over 19,000 followers! And a reply tweet I got form another of these people (in South Africa, by the way) said that she loved my link; and that her friends were currently sharing it around on Facebook. So how COOL is social media!!!
It’s Monday. It’s 4.54am. I’ve been up since 2.30, courtesy Mr 3 and a couple of nightmares. I’ve just finished my weekly blog entry for Bloxham Marketing, and I’m pretty proud of it (considering the time of day, and the lack of sleep, I’m quite impressed with myself) but right now I’m feeling too lazy to think up another post for “Hmmm…” for my regular Monday entry… so I’m going to cheat and re-post the same content here. Sorry! (Actually, I choose to think of it as sharing my granule of wisdom with my ‘personal blog’ audience as well as my ‘work’ one… LOL) Plus there’s a bonus – it won’t be posted there until 8.30am today. So – those of you who are up early – get to read it first. Yay! (LOL again) Here tis:
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The ‘Survivor’ Guide to tweeting for your business
Survivor: Outwit. Outplay. Outlast. It’s exactly these three ideas that you probably want for your own business, right? To stay ahead of your competitors; to remain viable in your marketplace? Me too! So – what can the Reality TV show Survivor, the creator of this phrase “Outwit. Outplay. Outlast.” teach us about using twitter for our businesses? Read on!
1. Form alliances
From that very first season, the importance of ‘alliances’ was obvious. Those in an alliance, got to the final tribal council. And the strongest member of the alliance, won. It was as simple as that. On twitter, we need to do the same. Form alliances. Follow others. Engage with them (retweet their good stuff; reply; converse) and respond genuinely when your followers retweet, reply to, or engage with, you.
And the idea here is to be genuine. People don’t readily ‘form an alliance’ with automated tweets. Okay – I admit it – I used an auto-responder on my @BloxhamMkting account for a while back there, which automated ‘Thanks for the RT” and “Thanks for the mention” and “Thanks for the follow” – until I realised just how quickly this was turning off the exact sort of people I wanted to engage with. The genuine ones; the leaders in the fields I was seeking to be a part of; and (of course) my own followers. I also realised how much I hate automated responses filling up my own @mention stream – even worse, my DM inbox. This convinced me. Now I use auto-responders only for the tweets I send (and no, not to just send the identical content to Facebook as well!) Want strong ‘alliances’? Engaging with others is the best way to form them.
2. Honesty – always the best policy
On “Survivor”, it’s always easy for the audience to spot the fake. Watching the show then becomes more interesting, as we’re waiting to see when the double-crossing character finally gets ‘caught out’ in their lies and deception. Often it’s those who’ve been the most ‘honest’ who get the fartherest. Likewise on twitter. If you’re tweeting for your business, realise that there are people out there who don’t like your business (especially if you’re a big company!) and that you’re going to probably get some flack for things that you have, or haven’t, done. So be honest when people tweet that negative stuff. Acknowledge that something’s gone wrong. Use the instantaneous nature of twitter to try to rectify the problem. Your community will appreciate the honesty.
3. Loyalty will get you further
Loyalty. Let’s face it – in business, that’s what we want, right? A loyal customer base. But there’s only one way to get their loyalty – be loyal to them. Be dependable. Be consistent. Be the brand that they know that they can rely on. On Survivor, those who remained consistent throughout, engendered the most respect – and that’s whether they were consistently ‘nice’ or consistently ‘evil’ (to use ‘Survivor’ terminology, here) – wholly and solely because they were consistent. The people who formed alliances with them, respected them because they were dependable. Those characters who (again, using ‘Survivor’ terminology) flip-flopped, back and forth between different choices or different strategies? They lost the respect of the other players extremely quickly. When you’re tweeting for your business, this is the last thing we want! We want the respect of our customer base, right? So be loyal. Be consistent. Be dependable.
4. Have a strategy
Think ahead. Know your business plan. And – sparingly, and where appropriate – share parts of that plan with your followers. Use your strategy to inspire your loyal customer base, just as those who were the leaders in their tribes shared their vision of the next strategic move with their allies. On twitter, use the functionality to reward those most loyal; and also to get your message out and extend your reach. New eBook? First mention of a new product release? Just a thought – let your loyal followers be the first to know! Whatever your strategy; devise it, and follow it!
5. Adapt to the situation
Some of those ‘Survivor’ challenges are absolutely crazy. But that’s what makes the show so entertaining. Likewise, some situations in business are going to see you doing things that you never would have expected. Three years ago, you never would have been reading a blog post about how to use twitter for your business – and what tips a reality TV show can give you on the topic!!! But you’ve adapted, you’ve changed, as the world has changed. Kudos to you! Just don’t stop now. The world *is* changing – faster than we can even realise it – so we need to adapt. Yes, today we need to ensure that we’re tweeting for our businesses; retweeting, replying, and genuinely engaging with others, however… who knows what may lie around the corner? We’ll need to rise to conquer these new challenges. If we don’t, we’ll end up in the business equivalent of Tribal Council, where the real world equivalent will snuff out the remnants of all of our hard work and say “The Marketplace has Spoken”. And none of us wants to be there, so we?!
So – five ideas that ‘Survivor’ can teach us about tweeting for our businesses. What did you think? Did I miss any? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Well, that’s been my thinking over the past couple of hours (in between settling my little man from his night-time horrors). Sorry again that I’m not feeling up to writing a whole heap here. But I’d love to hear what you thought of my BloxhamMarketing post!
And have a great day, dear readers! (I think I might head back to bed now. It’s cold out here and it may (please, God!) remain dark and quiet for another hour or so yet…)
When I was growing up, I was a ‘cat’ person. I never really thought about being a ‘dog’ person. To me, they were smelly, loud, rough creatures that I knew of but had little do to with. My family had a cat. We had ducks. We had mice. We had guinea pigs, and fish. But no dogs.
So the first time I bought a puppy, I was 23 years old. Hubby and I had been married for a couple of years, and we owned a gorgeous grey “Ragdoll” cat named Rascal, but we were just browsing in a big pet barn one day (I have no idea why we were there; we just were…) and we both saw him at the same time. And it was love at first sight.
He was a male German Shepherd puppy, 7 weeks old, all floppy ears and huge floppy paws. We named him “Smudge” and he was a great dog. Huge (eventually), dominant, but completely loyal. And he loved us, and he loved chasing Rascal. But mostly he loved Patch, the blue healer we bought about a year later. The two became inseparable, and so it was hard when we had to put Smudge down. But that same afternoon, a very emotional Hubby bought our second Shepherd, Storm. She was from a breeder, and had a ‘glamour’ coat, which is halfway between a long haired and a short haired coat. Again, she was a gorgeous dog. Very sweet nature. She coped tremendously with a grieving Patch, and when he eventually needed to be put down (cancer), was more than happy to accept a black labrador pup, who we named Max.
Just a few years ago, Storm passed on. She’d eaten something she shouldn’t and her death was sudden and very traumatic for Hubby, who had lost his sister just a few months prior. Max soldiered on, half blind, mostly deaf, and partially lame, and bravely dealt with the puppy attacks of Aksel, Hubby’s next German Shepherd pup (short haired, this time). Then late last year, when we knew that Max was getting the worse for wear - Aksel was just too boisterous for him – we bought Rocky. He was a 7 month old Blue Heeler, whose owner, being physically disabled and about to move into a home, was no longer able to keep him. Aksel and Rocky bonded pretty quickly, and although they both were confused by Max’s passing in early January this year, their close friendship meant that there wasn’t the ‘grieving’ that our other dogs seems to go through.
Phew! That was a longer story than I had expected it would be!
Anyway, I started this entry with cats, so that’s how I’ll finish it. You see, I miss having a cat. But I don’t know how one would fit into our lives right now…
So it’s Wednesday again, and Term 3 has started, so that means that Hubby and Miss 7 are back at school, and Mr 3 and I headed to his ECDP this morning, followed by speech therapy, in between phone calls to clients to discuss and make decisions on various current projects.
I’ve found that the battery on my iPhone isn’t lasting as long as it used to, so when it dies while I’m busy at ECDP, not only do I get a far more peaceful time with my boy, but also I end up with a lot more missed calls and phone messages than normal! (Funny, that!)
So yes, it would seem that we are ‘back into it’, well and truly. Holidays (well, a slightly quieter two weeks, anyway) are quickly receding into distant memories. Sad, really. And this constant drizzly weather isn’t helping matters. I’m a person who loves the sunshine, so this greyness upon greyness is draining. Oh well. It’ll be sunny soon enough, I’m sure.
Image: my little man saying, “Go, go, go!” as he races balls on a toy this morning. Speech therapy seems to be working!
In earlier posts, I have bemoaned my mathematical abilities. Honestly, I’m *really* not so crash hot with numbers. So tax time gives me the heebie-jeebies. I don’t like it, I’m not entirely sure of all the ins- and – outs, and frankly, it scares me just a little. (well, a huge amount, really!)
Especially since starting my company three years ago, with Hubby and my mum as co-directors, and then deciding that, six months ago, it would be best if I were the sole director. And that my regular H&R Block man doesn’t *do* company tax returns, and Hubby (who has done them since the company existed) was also not happy to do them anymore because of how convoluted the businesses all were (three business, subsidiaries of the one company, however my marketing work is kinda shared unequally between one of the businesses within the company, and my personal sole-trader-ship business, that I set up years and years ago). See my problem?
Enter a very recently employed book-keeper. She managed to – somehow!! – get my papers in some semblance of an order. Enter tax appointment, 9am today. The tax accountant also managed to – very slowly – explain to me what I had done right, what I had done wrong (and needed to fix, or undo) and give several ‘suggestions’ – which I’m now thinking I should take as gospel. And I’m also wondering if it’s all worth it. Cos I’m going to be losing so darn much in tax anyway.
And you want to know something else I learned today, for the very first time? That the government taxes the interest you earn in your personal bank account. I can’t believe it! That’s absolutely insane. I think our country’s gone mad. Like I think I’m about to. Mad as in insane. I’m too incredulous to be the mad-furious variety.
