Video rocks – so why aren’t you using it yet?

People love to watch other people. That is why YouTube is so popular.

If you don’t nt know how to use a video camera, or edit video, or have the dollars to buy expensive software, let alone take the time to learn how to use it.

What if you could start recording videos and you didn’t have to go through all that other stuff?

qik is the answer

The video you see here was taken in less than 5 minutes using my iPad. If you have a smartphone or tablet with a video camera, you can use this app.

qik is fast, easy and free!

You can upload your video directly from your device to YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter. It is so easy.

How to Get Started with qik

1. Go to the qik website, http://qik.com/
2. Download the app and install it on your smart device
3. Write out a short outline for your video.
4. Cover your main talking points.
5. Comb your hair
6. Check the lighting
7. Go somewhere where you have good acoustics
8. Turn off any devices that could buzz or ring during your recording session
9. Put on some lip balm
10. Open the qik app
11. Record
12. Watch your video before you upload it.
13. Add a title
14. Upload to your choice or sites: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter (you can link your qik account to your accounts at any of these social media sites.)
15. You can even send a link to your video via email

That’s it. Simple, fast, and free.

What more could a marketer ask for?

 

Let your perfection shine. You are perfect as you are. You know enough, you are enough, and you are perfect.

Next time you have a good idea, test it using the Lean Start-Up model. Invest the smallest amount of resources to test your idea. If it sticks with your audience, you can make it better. If not, move on, revise your idea, knowing that you have what it takes to succeed.

You should subscribe to my blog and to my YouTube Channel. You know you want to. Just do it now.

 

Mentoring is a powerful act. It benefits the teacher and the student.

I attended the first Women’s Power Strategy Conference on Saturday. It was produced by my friend, Patricia V. Davis, and her generous cast of supporters. I was impressed by the energy, confidence and transformations most of the speakers revealed they had experienced in their lives. This was a group of gutsy women, men, and teenage girls. It was clear to me that giving back enriches all of our lives.

It was also a day of being reminded that where someone is now may not be the same place as where they came from. One of the panels of gutsy women, as well as our keynote speaker, Malissa Feruzzi Shriver, came from childhoods and adult experiences that were less than perfect. What they share now is that when they found they didn’t like where or who they were, they reinvented themselves to become the powerful people they are today. It is easy to forget that who we see today is different than the person and circumstances of birth. Book covers are not the contents of these books.

Why Mentoring is Powerful

By nature and nurture, many women find it easy to lend a hand, support others, encourage the best, and share what they know. Some men understand this too, yet in our western society in particular, women and girls are expected to be nurturing. That doesn’t mean all of us choose or make good mothers. But we learn a language of connectedness and supportiveness as we grow up. What most women and girls don’t learn is to value this skill set. This theme showed up through out the day. What is it that makes women less confident than men, even though we are smart, funny, educated, good in business, creative and compassionate human beings? Somewhere along the line, women stop believing in their “awesomeness” and start handing over their power to men. Not all of us, not in all cases, but it is a frequent enough scenario that the Pink Ceiling still exists. Statistically, there are only a few women who run successful, large, businesses. The board room is still more of an Old Boys Club than a club that welcomes women and men equally.

Role models make an impact. Mentoring is modeling a generous spirit, a stand up attitude, being reliable, caring and being somewhat selfless. As I reflect on the people I chose as mentors, I see that they were willing to trust me, to give to me without an expectation of reciprocity, to share their incredible knowledge and to be my friend. Mentors bask in the reflected light of the successes they inspire in the hearts and minds of their students.

Another friend, Kathy Witkowicki, Executive Director, has grown the Sonoma Valley Mentoring Alliance into a model for mentoring throughout the world. She has been honored countless times locally, regionally and nationally. “The Stand-By-Me Mentoring Alliance serves students on eight public school campus in the Sonoma Valley Unified School District.  Presently, there are Mentor Centers located at Dunbar, Flowery, El Verano, Sassarini, and Prestwood Elementary Schools, Altimira and Adele Harrison Middle Schools, and Sonoma Valley High School. In addition, we have recently incorporated students at the Hanna Boys School into our program.  If you wish to mentor a child at Hanna Boys School, please visit their website for more information, as additional steps will need to be taken.” When Kathy started at this organization, she was a part-time employee. The vision and success of this group is a testament to the power of asking for help and being willing to put yourself out in the community to make it a better place. Kathy knows how to enroll people.

Giving back is getting back something more precious than can be imagined. It is realizing your own value, your worth and expertise. It is owning your value and appreciating that what you know is new to someone else. In teaching others, we learn more fully what we know. This has been my experience when working with my clients, in running Meetups, in consulting with others, I become an advanced expert as I teach others what I know. Being able to deconstruct information means having a thorough understanding of the subject. The ability to make the complex simple, is one of my talents. By revealing small bites of information, a complex concept is digestible and a large and difficult task become a series of small steps, taken one-by-one, until the job is done.

Give yourself a gift by being a mentor to someone who needs your help.

If you have a story to share about how a mentor changed your life, please consider sharing it here.

 

We’ve had a lot of rain in Northern California in the past week, about 7-8 inches in Sonoma, where I live. As I look out at our garden, new shoots are popping up, but there’s a lot of run off, dead leaves and debris that needs to be cleared away. It got me thinking about how this may mirror what is going on in your business.

A Flood of Business

Solopreneurs often experience a flood of work and while they are busy fulfilling the needs of their clients, things like planning, returning phone calls and developing new business piles up and creates stuck energy. Running your business is more like a marathon than it is a sprint. Doing a little bit of customer relationship maintenance every day is a healthy practice. It will keep you alert to subtle shifts and potential challenges before they become emergencies.

What’s Cluttering Up Your Business and Dragging You Down?

I was reading the current issue of Cooking Light when I came across an article that hit me like a flash of the obvious. The author suggested that by cleaning up my environment, I would find an abundance of energy and reduce my level of stress. All I needed was a few simple and very doable action steps. I have worked with several professional organizers, but I have a propensity for collecting printed matter. I love and crave information, books and other physical manifestations of information and beauty. When I came across the handy workbook suggested in the article, I immediately downloaded it to my iPad. It’s a free pdf, or Microsoft Word document. You can get your copy at http://www.throwoutfiftythings.com. The official title is “The Big Letting-Go Workbook.” Gail Blank created the workbook as a companion to her book, Throw Out Fifty Things.

My husband and I both enjoy working with fiber. We have tried our hands at weaving and have three full sized and one portable loom. We purchased one loom many years ago from a friend. Her husband, an engineer, built this loom. It is beautiful, but doesn’t suit either of us. We talked about selling it many times, but never took any action. Yesterday, my husband agreed to take a picture of the loom and post it for sale on Craig’s list. He got an email today and we have a buyer. Not bad for a few minutes of effort, which is motivating us to keep looking at what we have that is not working for us and finding new homes for the items that we no longer want or use. We only have 49 more items to go!

I’m evaluating my business as I prepare to launch my new brand. I am measuring and examining what is working well, what is in need of repair and what I need to discard or retool.

I have some clients who are wonderful, a joy to work with, they pay me well and they give me referrals. It makes sense for me to give them the bulk of my attention, to nourish our relationships and cultivate them with care. What really seems to happen when I am not paying careful attention: the clients who demand the most for the least compensation suck up a disproportionate amount of my time, energy and resources. When I observe this from a 500 foot perspective, it is easy to see that there is an imbalance in this situation. I may choose to renegotiate my working relationship with the “difficult and less profitable” clients, or I may decide to stop working with them to free up my time for the clients who are providing joy, profits and their referrals.

Look at your numbers, how do you feel, what is the quality of the work you are able to generate when you feel valued. If you are like me, it becomes easier to structure my time and energy in a productive and profitable way. I may initially have a few conversations that are difficult when  I “fire” the clients that are not the best match for my new vision. In the long run, we will all be happier. They will get what they need for the price they can afford. My services are not a commodity, and the clients who recognize this receive so much more as a result.

In gardening, it is important and necessary to prune away and deadwood, clean out debris, and give attention to plants that may need a little more encouragement to thrive. Keeping a vision of my business as a garden it helps me to be more objective. I have physical reminders in my home and on our property. My husband raises orchids. We started with one plant, a phaleonopsis, about 30 years ago. Today, we have approximately 400-500 plants.

Last year, we had a pest problem that required strong action. All of the surviving plants had to be disinfected and repotted. The entire greenhouse had to be scrubbed and disinfected. We lost about 40 percent of the plants that were in the greenhouse. After cleaning it out, it was very clear that we had an opportunity to encourage the survivors. They are the plants that are best suited for our environment, they are the healthiest plants and they ones that adapted to our growing methods. We are being careful about introducing new plants to our collection, least we have a repeat of this devastation.

Look at your list of business as objectively as possible. If you’ve got clients who are not adding positively to your business, if  they’re taking a lot of your time but not contributing an equal amount to your profits, its time to prune them or restructure your relationship.

After my husband, Garry, cleaned up the greenhouse, it was obvious that the plants that survived were the right ones for us. We used to try to grow lots of varieties of orchids that need more light, less light, cooler temperatures, more moisture, than we could provide. Over time, they were lost to attrition and we got smarter about which plants we could grow well and enjoy.

What is in your business that is taking up more time, energy and attention without producing the enjoyment and profits that you deserve?

Because of our experience with a persistent pest, this year we are enjoying more blooms and stronger, healthier plants that we have in many years. And, we are more selective about where our time, money and energy go.

Eliminating those weaker plants gave us space to see what we had, and make conscious decisions about what we want to add and revealed the hidden gems that were crowded by too many plants.

Take a good, clear look at your client list. Go through your book of business to see which clients are taking lots of time but not producing income for you, which clients are producing income and giving you joy. It will make it easier for you to turn your attention to where it will be the most rewarding. This analysis will illuminate what or who is dragging you down.

You can have a healthy business if you behave like a gardener.  Watch where you spend your time and attention. When you align your intentions with the reality of who is generating your income, you can enjoy a beautiful, blooming business.

 I’m Judy Baker. I’m Completely Creative. I help speakers, authors and coaches cultivate clients and grow profits. 

Watch this short video clip for more about how to clear out the clutter and prepare your business to bloom.

 

If you want to stay well and be productive, take some tips from Deborah Myers, Health at Your Fingertips. Deborah is a healer who uses light, gentle touch, accupressure, Jin Shin Jystu and Theta healing to keep my energy in balance and in flow. Watch as she demonstrates some of the simple things you can do yourself to feel better fast.

The video is just under 11 minutes. I recorded Deborah’s presentation at a meeting of our referral group, Sonoma Success Partners.

I practice her “Daily Clean Your House Flow” energy flow each day. It is a great way to start and end the day, and if I need a boost during the day too.

For clear thinking and well being, Health at Your Fingertips is a great resource for entrepreneurs and larger businesses too. Deborah teaches workshops for individuals, health care professionals and can customize a program for your group or business.

I give HAYFT two thumbs up!

 

I am highly visual in my approach to life, art and my work in marketing. I am sharing this short video that explains how visual storytelling in the form of “infographics” is transforming journalism and storytelling in the 21st Century. As I mentioned earlier in the year, I am in the process of rethinking my brand. Stories are a powerful way to communicate. Include visuals to illuminate and illustrate your story, and that is a recipe for impact with emotional punch.

I think you will enjoy this visual feast created by Francesco Franchi.

Francesco Franchi: On Visual Storytelling and New Languages in Journalism from Gestalten on Vimeo.

 

There are a number of screen sharing applications out there. Some work to varying degrees on both the Mac and PC.

If you ever attended a webinar and had to go through installing software and plug-ins each time, you may have said never mind.

Screen sharing should be easy.

I’ve tried many solutions and found that there was always something difficult or unsatisfactory about the process.

Today, I was introduced to “join.me” an online provider that doesn’t make you sign up for an account, give them your e-mail, and in a few seconds you can be sharing your screen and inviting up to 250 other people to join you.

I forgot to mention that it’s free. They have a Pro version as well. I can’t wait to take it for a spin. Screen sharing is a great way to collaborate at a distance.

If you have the need to share information, if you do training, or if you’d like to get help and troubleshooting problem on your computer, real-time screen sharing is a great option.

 

I just made a video using Stupeflix. It didn’t take me very long, under an hour, and the results are high quality.

I used still images that I uploaded from my computer. I had a choice of using images stored on line as well. I could add video clips too.

For this video, I recorded a vocal track,  saved it as an MP 3 file and the process to upload it into the project was as simple as loading the photos. You can add music or narration, both if your audio program has multiple tracks. I’ll talk more about audio in a future post.

I was able to preview the movie before exporting it. This gave me an opportunity to rearrange, or delete images before completing my project. I was able to save the project, reopen it, and continue editing.

I decided to export the movie using the free option to test it out. My 1 min. video was processed quickly and I posted it to my Facebook page. I was able to upgrade the quality of the video to an HD version once I had one like on Facebook.

The project was reprocessed in the HD format and with one button I uploaded to my YouTube channel.

From there, I could get the embed code and I popped into the GLB architect’s web site and into this post.

From start to finish in less than an hour and the results are already posted to YouTube and Facebook.

Stupeflix  is anything but stupid. Give it a try and decide if you want to upgrade to one of their premium versions. I think you’ll like.

 

If you have been waiting to purchase Camtasia for Mac, this is a great time to buy it.

If you aren’t already familiar with what Camtasia can do,  You can see an example in my previous post, Sounds Good to Me – Tips for Video Production on Your Computer. I used it to create a promotion for a presentation. It is great for developing web based learning tools. I am taking a class now that uses videos made with Camtasia.

The Fall Mac SuperBundle includes Camtasia for Mac and some other great software tools at a ridiculous price of $49. Camtasia alone is usually $149. This is a limited time offer, so don’t wait too long or it will be gone.

Check this out.

 

This weekend was the official launch of the Wine Country WordPress Meetup. It was a refreshing to be on the receiving end of tips and resources to make my blog better. I learned something new from every person who was there. I appreciate the wisdom in the room. It reminded me that sometimes the most valuable contributions come from holding the space for others to shine.

Building on that idea, I want to share an update on a great resource: SlideShare. They just introduced HTML5 SlideShare. This is important because your slides will now play flawlessly on mobile devices like the iPhone, iPad and Android devices. No more digital divide between the desktop and mobile devices. Everything will display as intended on all platforms.

If you are mobile, take a look at their site and download the new mobile app so you can see clearly where ever you are.