Well, it’s birthday season in my household again. I call it a season because over the course of 34 days I celebrate all three of my children’s birthdays. Yes, my children’s birthdays are exactly 17 days apart each. I’m not kidding. My youngest child decided to come into this World precisely in between her sister and bother. And what a metaphor that has been for her. But that’s another blogpost. No, the task this past weekend was to celebrate in force my youngest daughter’s 8th birthday. Which as she will tell you isn’t until Monday-just to make sure we didn’t forget to celebrate her then. Actually, Jaedyn has a right to want to celebrate every day, because for the last couple of years her birthday celebrations haven’t been all that celebratory. Illness, schedule, money and more illness have gotten in the way. [Read more...]
Update on Miss Lori’s daughter Jaedyn …time to exhale
Miss Lori talks rates: Ads are prime real estate on your blog
Last week I published a post about determining your blog worth. After Blogher 10 and speaking at The 2nd annual Social Media Master’s Summit I realize that this question is heavy on many people’s minds. Social Media has empowered all of us in an economic time that was making many of us feel powerless. With the communication explosion that is social media comes opportunity. Opportunity has been knocking on the door of a number of bloggers. So the big question is how do you get opportunity to come to your neighborhood? That’s exactly what we’re examining.
The first step, as I mentioned last week, is to understand who you are and what you have to offer. We do that by examining our own blogs. But since it can be hard to be objective about ourselves I encouraged you to buddy up and evaluate each other’s sites. Hopefully you have taken some time to look at your blog and other people’s as well. Was it hard? Looking within, really looking within, can be uncomfortable at first, but ultimately it’s a great lesson. The goal is to understand what you are projecting to the World and make sure that is in line with what your inner intent is. On top of that you want to make sure that your blog functionality is in place. Do you have your contact points, disclosures, pr guidelines etc… Chris Brogan has an in depth article posted this week with some great suggestions always worth reading.
Now armed with a better sense of the real estate you have to offer it’s time to talk numbers. [Read more...]
Build a Bear Workshops’ Maxine Clark says kindness is at the heart of business and bears
About 3 years ago my family and I made a vacation of our city of Chicago during Spring Break. It was a lot of fun. The highlight for the kids was the day we spent at Navy Pier, most of which was done in the Build A Bear store. We had never been there before, mostly because it seemed a little pricey for our monthly budget, but this was special. So, we went, and all three of my kids made a special friend. It was a great time. A lasting memory for us all, but especially for my youngest. That day a friendship was born that would stand the test of time, doctors and hospitals.
This story is not unfamiliar to Maxine Clark, CEO and founder of Build A Bear Workshop. I had the pleasure of hearing Maxine speak recently at The Disney Social Media Moms Conference. She shared her very personal, and inspirational story behind the creation of her corporate phenomenon. But Build a Bear Workshop is not your typical International company, because what Build A Bear runs on is kindness, compassion and dreams fulfilled. [Read more...]
