October 2007
Great Find: Tax Girl
Fourth Quarter Freelancer
If you’re a solo, a freelancer, or a small business owner, you know the words estimated taxes. You might have an accountant. You might not. Either way. Our accountant isn’t responsible for our taxes we are. It helps to know a little bit about what they’re supposed to say.
I know you might think the idea, the topic of taxes is boring. I, myself, have actually said the...
A Nonprofit in Your Future? Read 501c Files
Is that a Real Job Over the summer and through the fall, I’ve been meeting more and more folks with a specialty in working with nonprofit organizations. Or is it that I’m more sensitive to the idea because the last in-house contract I had was with a nonprofit company? What makes a nonprofit a nonprofit and do they actually pay the people who work there? This month b5 media started a blog about...
Change the World: Decide
The Universe Will Not Be Thwarted
Once upon a time, I had the coolest job in the world. I worked with the most incredible people. They were smart and their hearts were in it. No one was looking for the negative. We were building a special little company. The little company was soaring. It’s customers were smiling. Then the owners decided to sell it.
The new owners were playing Monopoly....
The Mic Is On: It’s About Halloween, of Course!
It’s Like Open Mic Only Different
Here’s how it works.
It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME.
The rules are simple — be nice.
There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun...
Open Mic 7pm Chgo Time: It’s about Halloween!
Yes the Mic Will Be on Tonight
That’s Right …
We can talk about your favorite costume, what kind of treats you give, traditions in your family and community and whatever else comes up — even flamenco dancing.
Oh, and bring links about Halloween to share!
The rules are simple — be nice.
–ME “Liz” Strauss
Related article What is Tuesday Open Comment Night?
Share This
(via Liz Strauss...
Party Comments 211-440: 54 Links from Successful...
An Incredible List — Part 2
On October 24, 2007, Successful Blog celebrated our 2nd birthday since my first post here. Thanks to everyone who came and everyone who shared by bringing a link to something successful and outstanding.
I guess this an example of why your mom, dad, grandma, 3rd-grade teacher or whomever said over and over, “The early bird gets the worm.” Had you come to the...
Plan Bs, Worse Case Scenarios and Positive...
being prepared for the worst?
I’m not sure what brought this up. Maybe it’s that life is so good.
I’ve been looking back at the things that haven’t worked out so well, and I realize what a contribution they’ve made to where I am now.
I made an accounting of every major diplomatic incident, dire catastrophe, and house that fell on me. I reviewed it twice, the same way that Santa Claus reviews...
Dear Google, I’m the Relationship Blogger
Dear Google,
It’s Liz.
I’m a little confused about our relationship. After two years, you dumped me from Page Rank 6 to a Page Rank 3.
I would have thought it was text-links I had — they’re gone now. I’m sorry. The world knows I’m not an SEO whiz, if I was one, I wouldn’t have 40-some categories in my sidebar. At least, that’s what folks tell me.
But you dumped my LizStrauss blog too, and...
Personal Integrity: Leadership and Taking Turns
about taking turns.
It doesn’t take much experience to know that to be heard, you have to listen. Leaders know that. So do teammates and people who understand human nature. Relationships are an ebb and flow, a “give and get” kind of thing.
From childhood, I learned to take turns at being first, at choosing, at having the lead.
Now, I’m grown up and I’ve been thinking about that “taking turns”...
7 Keys to An Authentic, Sticky Relationship
Business is relationships and relationships are everyone’s business. 7 Keys to An Authentic, Sticky Relationship If you want customers to form a relationship that is fiercely loyal, stick by these keys. Show up whole and human.
Talk in your authentic voice.
Tell your own truth.
Have room for folks to tell theirs too.
Don’t try to tie ideas up in a bow.
Half the show is in the comments.
...
Dots the Change the World
On this very blog, Liz’s open invitation is for you to join her to Change the World. We often think we have to be presidents, rich or influential to do that. We somehow believe that often we’re too ordinary or too insignificant to be agents of changes. Consider this… if the net effect of one man donating $5 million dollars is the same as 5 million people donating a single dollar, why should we...
It’s About Real Life
Yes, And He Had a Son
So you’ve probably figured out. That my husband and I don’t live some high falutin’ city life style. I like to look out my window and see a lake that goes on forever. Yeah, that’s true enough. Whoa. But the rest, it’s about being alive, isn’t it?
The reason I love Chicago is because it’s all heart and soul. It’s all neighborhoods.
So last night when we went to dinner...
Looking at the Abstract
When I started out, I didn’t know who or what. Colors were colors. Black was black. White was white. It took a while to see. Everything that I saw was just what was. Any meaning was only what I layered on. It’s a versatile, flexible, humbling thought and feeling. We all create reality. I saw things one way. I turned them 90, 180, 270 degrees. I filled in the blanks with mirror images....
Thanks to Week 105 SOBs
Successful and Outstanding Bloggers
Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,
and the right to call themselves Successful Blog SOBs. I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.
They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us better, and...
Jason Alba, Matthew Reinbold, Kelly Anderson,...
The fabulous Blogging for Business Conference in Salt Lake City last week was like the living web in the real world in real time. Turn the comment box into a conference room and the same exchange of information and relationships was happening with the same dynamic engagement.
Kudos to Jason Alba and Matthew Reinbold for a conference that provided a schedule of top-notch speakers from the...
SOB Business Cafe 10-26-07
Welcome to the SOB Cafe
We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.
The Specials this Week are
The Idea Dude considers cues, rules, and the people we influence daily.
Can It Be …
Creative Think considers an unusual...
Bloggy Question 67: Doors . . .
Door 1 ……. Door 2 …… Door 3?
What makes you think so?
–ME “Liz” Strauss Related articles Bloggy Question 66: If I Gave You a Yellow Rose Bloggy Question 65: You’ve Always Had It EASY! RIGHT?!!! Bloggy Question 64: You’re In Business Now! Bloggy Question 63: Taking It to the Streets Bloggy Question 61: Okay Kids, Login! (via Liz Strauss at Successful Blog)
Party Comments 1-210: 56 Links from Successful and...
A Prodigious List
From 7a.m. to 11p.m., October 24, 2007, Successful-Blog celebrated the value of the successful and outstanding bloggers who land on these pages. The conversation was all over the map both topically and geographically. The food choices were mostly sweet and creative, as only virtual food can be. Personally, I like the poptart ice cream sandwiches. Fireworks at the end...
Teaching Sells . . . Perfect Timing
Page Rank Slams
If your blog or your business in any way depends on Google traffic, then you couldn’t have missed what happened yesterday.
A discussion of the page rank drop and a list of affected blogs was offered by Daniel at Daily Blogging Tips:
Here is a list that I gathered with big blogs that supposedly lost PR …
Statcounter (from 10 to 6)
Engadget (from 7 to 5)
AutoBlog...
A Sticky Brand Is Like a River
The Water Goes By, But the River Stays
A brand is a promise.
It’s like a river, we visit to relax; we might not say what brings us back. It could be the view, the quiet, the crystal clear water that moves by slow and deep. Yet we return with an expectation.
We come back to the river because we trust that those qualities we value will be fundamentally the same.
Small changes over time are...
Sharing Time with Friends
664+ Thank Yous
Thanks for taking the time.
Thanks for sharing your outstanding success.
Thanks for being a friend.
It was a most prodigious day.
I’ll be collecting all of the party links for you.
Meanwhile, I just want to say
that if troubles ever knock …
you can share them too.
If you find a time when things just seem to fall apart
and there’s no way to keep a cheery...
The Mic Is On: Happy 2nd Birthday to SOBs...
It’s Like Open Mic Only Different
Here’s how it works.
It’s like any rambling conversation. Don’t try to read it all. Jump in whenever you get here. Just go to the end and start talking. EVERYONE is WELCOME
The rules are simple — be nice.
There are always first timers and new things to talk about. It’s sort of half “Cheers” part “Friends” and part video game. You don’t know how much fun...
The Secret to a Successful and Outstanding Blog
Once upon a time in the real world, I started a blog… .
I thought it was going to be a writer’s project. I’ve been wrong before, plenty of times, but I don’t think I was ever quite so spectacularly off. I thought a blog would offer me a place to practice my writing and maybe allow me a chance to offer a thought. I thought a blog was a flat surface for communication. That’s not what...
What We Have Is . . .
A Successful-Blog Birthday Reflection
by Scot Herrick
Today, Liz Strauss is celebrating the birthday of Successful Blog and she
has asked that we share with her and her community something that is both
successful and outstanding with us in our lives.
Well, it turns out that today is the wedding anniversary with my wife, Kate.
If I were to look at my life and figure out what is both...
What Is Success with Aloha?
Happy Hawaiian Successful-Blog Birthday! from Rosa Say Ho’omaika’i ‘ana Liz, congratulations! Your blog has lived up to its name of ’successful’ in so many ways, counted by all of us you mentor and lift with lightness and laughter. In today’s common use in Hawai’i, Pono is a word often associated with being successful, for Pono means rightness and balance. It is significant to note that...
In the Annals of Mists of Blogospheric Pre-History
A Successful-Blog Birthday Post! by Robert Hruzek (posted from somewhere in The Middle Zone) It’s a birthday party for Successful Blog, eh? Two years… wow, that’s practically ancient in blogging time! (Gee, it seems weird typing “Successful Blog” without adding a link. But then, presumably you’re, you know, already there, right?) Hmmm… (sound of scratching head) how can I adequately express my...
A Tale of Outstanding Smiles
Smiles for a Successful-Blog Birthday! from Karen Hanrahan
Smiles+ Smiles Back = successful
Not to mention it feels positively outstanding for all involved
Imagine me – sweet 16, in the swarming crowd at Disney. I was strutting my cute 16 year old stuff and decided to play a game. I smile at you, let’s see if you smile back. Better yet I smile at you and look you straight in the eye. Will...
Keep on Shining
A Successful-Blog Birthday Wish! from Mihaela Lica And keep on shining! You colour our life each day, you give us strength to carry on, you make us believe that we have the power of the demiurges and we can change the world “just like that.” You inspire, encourage, persuade, influence, change, revolutionize, develop, unite and connect. The blogosphere would be poorer without you. Where are can...
Sailing with “Kirkness”
Happy Successful-Blog Birthday! from Kirk M. ————————————————– Sail On… (written with “Kirkness”) Happy Two Years and many more! A ship sails through the sea, the wind fills her sails, she heels to starboard just a bit, her bow strongly cutting through the sea, dolphins leaping and playing aside both forward quarters and riding in her bow wave. The weather is fair this day with a following wind...
Easton’s Something Successful and Outstanding
Happy Successful-Blog Birthday!
from Easton Ellsworth
Hmm, something successful and outstanding that happened in my life… .
I was in the high school choir all four years. I always desperately wanted to sing a solo but never had the guts to audition. Little by little, I beat back the self-consciousness and fear that kept trying to hold me back. Near the end of my senior year, I...
Success in the Middle Position
Happy Successful-Blog Birthday! from Glenda Watson Hyatt Excerpted from I’ll Do It Myself: I was slightly nervous as I entered the ring and bowed to the judges. But soon it was Devil Boy, my music and me. Everything else disappeared. It was a great feeling, one of complete freedom and independence. I was in complete control of the horse, and he was listening to me. I simply did my thing,...
Birthday Poetry from the Successful-Blog Poet...
An Ode to Successful Blog (and Liz)
by Joe
With such wonder two years ago I found
A New Blog that was friendly and conversations abound
It was inviting and different in this new place
The Blogger wanted to know each and every new face
As each new comment and bit of banter grew
The conversation, it wandered around and started anew
A bright idea Liz had one Tuesday Night
“Open Comments!”...
The Relationsheep Factor: A Successful Blog...
In honor of Liz Strauss, the fabulously sticky writer and queen of relationship blogging, Lisa Gates of Design Your Writing Life and Phil Gerbyshak of Make it Great team up to offer this first-time-ever interview to talk about Liz’s impact on the Relationsheep factor and what it’s like to have Liz inside your computer. (via Liz Strauss at Successful Blog)
Your Mother’s Daughter
A Successful-Blog Birthday Post!?
from Rick Cockrum
She has her eyes. He has his nose. She has your smile.
All babies show the mark of the genes of their parents. Blogs are no different. Any blog with a soul bears the mark of its author as surely as any child is marked by the genes of it’s parents.
You’re not a stranger any more.
Those are some of the first words that I and many others...
Can You See the Future?
about the future.
I can see the future. I know where I will be.
It’s not some magic or hocus pocus. It’s knowing who I am and who I will be.
With decades of data on situations I’ve gotten myself into and choice I’ve made, how hard could it be? As time goes by, seeing the future gets easier. Hardly any new decisions come my way. Each new fork in the road looks a lot like one that I’ve stood at...
No Open Comments on Tuesday 23rd
Because we’re going to be talking all day on the 24th!!! It’s a party. I hope you’ll be there! Liz (via Liz Strauss at Successful Blog)
Voices
Happy Successful-Blog Poetry! from Brad Shorr
VOICES
Voices happy as a cloud,
Voices somber as a shroud.
Voices certain, voices pondering,
Voices clear and voices wandering.
Voices twinkling with curiosity,
Voices blazing with ferocity.
Some are skies of rolling thunder,
Others wheat fields of gentle wonder .
We enter this place from everywhere,
To learn, to laugh, to help, to share....
A Party Invitation to 646 SOBs — Successful and...
Will You Come?
I’m writing this special invitation to every SOB named in the last two years. That’s 104 weeks of Successful and Outstanding Bloggers! Would you join us? We’re having a birthday celebration!
The 2nd Annual All-Day Open Comment Birthday Party
Who: Everyone is invited.
Where: Successful-Blog … http://www.successful-blog.com
When: Wednesday, October 24, 2007, 7a.m -...
Don’t Seek Success!
Thoughts on a Successful-Blog Birthday
from Michael A. Stelzner
————————————————–
Liz;
Happy 2! Hard to believe that your blog is so young!
My thoughts:
Don’t seek success
It should not be a goal in life
It is hard to achieve
You never really think you’re there
Rather, you should aim for achievable goals
Set your sights high
But celebrate when you reach mile markers along the...
The Currency: Talent
A Successful Birthday Post from Karin H. Liz asked: “sent something about a successful and outstanding thing that happened in YOUR life.” There is a well-known biblical parable about Talents (an old currency), which still is true. (I’m sure you know the story, otherwise, read it here) The one servant who didn’t use his talent angered his master. Moral of the story – in the most simplest...
Curiosity Is Sticky
Do You Ask Questions?
Questions lead to answers.
Watch a small child learning about the world. See a bundle of questions.
Watch a great listener, and you’ll see the same thing.
A great listener is curious about the person who is talking, curious about the information, curious about how the ideas fit together, and why they are of interest to the speaker.
Curiosity is easy.
It forms a bond...
Time and Dots
Connecting dots with The Idea Dude This week marks the 2nd birthday of Successful Blog. So this post is about one very special dot, Liz. You can always tell if something is said from heart, like a fundamental truth, it usually stands the test of time. So I went on a time travel. Two years ago as she took over successful-blog, Liz asked, What do you think I should know about you? It was her way of...
Change the World: Find Forgiveness
The Past Is Gone
WE charge in …
We come into life screaming for air and, we fight to prove we belong here. Along the way, little and sometimes big hurts happen. Some were intentional. Some were accidental. Probably a number were entirely in our imagination. Yet, our need to stay meaningful almost leads us to find something meant to belittle where something else entirely might have...
Thanks to Week 104 SOBs
Successful and Outstanding Bloggers
Let me introduce the bloggers
who have earned this official badge of achievement,
and the right to call themselves Successful Blog SOBs. I invite them to take a badge home to display on their blogs.
They take the conversation to their readers,
contribute great ideas, challenge us, make us...
A Birthday Party Picture Invitation
Happy Successful-Blog Birthday! from Joanna Young Sometimes I’m good with words. Sometimes words fail me at the times it matters most. This is one of those times. So I thought I’d give myself a break and send a picture instead.
It’s a picture of a party venue. Not just any old party venue, but the perfect place to hold a party for a universe of successful, outstanding bloggers. Correction...
Minimalist Successful Wish
Happy Successful-Blog Birthday!
from Tariq Khan
Congratulations again on your blog, and enjoy the party.
————————————————–
Successful = potential reached.
————————————————–
Best regards,
Tariq
Thank you, Tariq.
The party is Oct. 24th! Come for the surprises! Bring a link to your success!!!
(via Liz Strauss at Successful Blog)
SOB Business Cafe 10-19-07
Welcome to the SOB Cafe We offer the best in thinking–articles on the business of blogging written by the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers of Successful Blog. Click on the titles to enjoy each selection.The Specials this Week are You Already Know This Stuff brings news of possibilities.
Anything is Possible!
Ramblings From a Glass Half Full brings a universal...
I’m Speaking at the Business 4 Business Conference...
Hope to Meet Some of You in Salt Lake City
The outstanding Jason Alba got together with the successful Matthew Reinbold to organize and present the 2007 Blogging for Business (or B4B) Conference. This event is the inaugural Intermountain West Blog Event for marketing, public relations, and business professionals. It’s quite a value, and I’m delighted I was invited. It’s an honor to be a...
Change the World: Choose the Ending
Hey, Robert, How Can We Change the World? Yesterday, Robert Hruzek’s email arrived in my inbox with a question. Do you think this might make a Change the World story? I read it though and wrote back immediately. It’s obvious that my answer was to the affirmative. So I’m passing along this actual event from the lives of our own, Mr. Middle Zone Musings and his dear lady. The narrative...
See the Stars
If I made a promise to take you to Hollywood, would you want me to take you over to see the walk of stars. Plenty of people have been there. We watched the famous folks get their names put in the sidewalk while flashbulbs went off. Black and white pictures and movies reels made those moments go down in history. Now you can step from one to another. It’s alot like walking on stones across a...
