Recently I came across this great vlog series by Chris Brogan called "Overnight Success" which got me to thinking about where I've been, where I am now and where I want to be! :)
For those few of you who possibly haven't heard of Chris, he is a prolific blogger, speaker and entrepreneur who is heavily into social media, and his no-bs-behind-the-scenes approach about business is very insightful and refreshing. I love his simple yet effective quotes such as "The difference between an audience and a community - is which way you turn the chairs". It's little gems like this that make him so easy to listen and digest as opposed to the new wave of "gurus" and "experts" who sometimes like to make up their own language nobody quite understands.
Anyhoo, his series covers topics such as "Call To Arms" "No Excuses" and "Competition" and I don't know how long it will continue, but it can be found here. I urge all who are interested in worthwhile marketing and business information to subscribe to both his YouTube channel and blog.
The truth is, there simply is no such as thing as an "overnight success". It takes years and countless hours of focus, determination and perspiration to achieve anything worthwhile, and yet often we try and look for a shortcut. And let's face it, those who have succeeded have endured many obstacles, failures, mistakes to get there which was all part of the learning and developing process. In my opinion, you just can't get to where you're supposed to be without going through all that character building stuff first. And this doesn't apply to just business either.
This reminds me of something I'd been working on the past few months, which I thought would be relatively easy because I knew my stuff and what needed to be done. However, once I got into the nitty gritty it was so much harder than I had anticipated which led to many frustrations.
No matter how I tried, I just couldn't rush knowing the whole backend process, but now I feel I've evolved and developed an important appreciation for what it takes to bring something like my-little-side-project-that-became-bigger-than-Ben-Hur to life. As labour and time intensive as that whole process was, I wouldn't have wanted to miss it for anything, as I feel going through that I've gained so much more than just the end result.
I'm really interested to hear YOUR stories - the good, bad and even the down right annoying, so drop me a comment and share with the world what it truly takes to be an "overnight success"!
Alex
;)
What does it take to be an overnight success?
Networking that works!
Last week, I had the pleasure of meeting in person for the first time some wonderful tweeps at an event entitled "No Excuses Networking" organised by Jessica Eckford of @angelicevents. I was invited (or should I say coerced?!) by my friend, Speaker, Author and respected authority on connections, Iggy Pintado.
I'll admit, as it was my networking debut I was a bit nervy upfront but @IggyPintado convinced me that it was time I finally get myself "out there“. I guess the main reason for my not being proactive about networking offlline earlier is due to the fact that all my clients have found me via my online activities or referrals, so it just didn't seem necessary. Also, I've been out of the corporate loop for awhile and felt a little rusty, not particularly keen on making small talk with strangers, although that is something I am perfectly comfortable with online! However, later I realised I had really been missing the point, and missing out.
Anyhoo, the prospect of interacting face to face with some members of my twittercrew was an opportunity too good to miss. After quickly scanning the area for any familiar faces from Twitter avatars, I hooked up with 2 ladies - @MonikaVA and @transcribe - I had often tweeted and skyped, but never met.
It dawned on me then just how important it is to make the effort to convert any great online connections you establish, into 3 dimensional relationships. For me, the best bit was speaking to these people and meeting others I had heard of and respected, and seeing they really are what they tweet.
In the end, the only disappointing thing was that I had to cut the night short having pre-arranged with my husband to pick me up, otherwise I would have been more than happy to mingle talking to others about their business and life experiences.
I asked a few other tweeps who attended what their highlight of the night was:
@schmediachick - The opportunity to meet your third place mates in the flesh & hear their Twitter testimonies
@iconic88 - meeting you (me @vipvirtualsols) and other Twitter friends
@leesafar - Mine was meeting all u lovely ppl in person (note: your live a capella performance was fab too Lee!)
@AndrewBlanda - Putting the face to the names of some of my most important tweeps and meeting great + interesting people
@MarietteRD - Gr8 chat to @kerrypintado & meeting a whole new group of peeps
@frombecca - an all round great Sydney networking event - even enrolled a few more to here (Twitter) that night
So there you have it, it's unanimous, and now there really are no excuses. I've just linked to a dozen wonderful people for you to follow and tweet, and be sure to tell them Alex sent you! ;) For those familiar with Twitter #hashtags, just search for "#noxnet" and you'll be able to find many more great connections from these events. Networking really has never been this easy.
The next Xmas "No Excuses Networking“ event is being held on November 19th at the same venue, The Loft, in Sydney. Special guest speakers are David Spanton of Spanton Media Group and Justin Herald 2005 winner of the "International Entrepreneur Of The Year“. For more details click here, and to see the picture galleries of all the previous events click here.
Hope to meet you soon!
Alex
