The Passion Graph

February 14, 2012 by Leave a Comment
graph

It used to be that what connected us was who we were connected with. The beauty of Facebook is that I’m now friends with the people I was friends with in kindergarten - after a 20-year hiatus. To me, that’s pretty cool. I can see how they grew up and how their kids are like them. Amazing. But there are others I’m connected to and we’ve never met. But I have more in common with them than those who’ve grown up with me, who’ve seen me go from tomboy to six-inch heel wearing diva. What connects us is our passions. Hence, the popularity of social tools such as Pinterest, Instagram and Tumblr. Now we can connect, deeply, about the … [Read more...]

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5 Tips for Successful Outsourcing of Your Office Projects

January 17, 2012 by Leave a Comment

I'm about to go on stage at a speaking engagement to talk about how small businesses can simplify and streamline marketing. They're announcing my name, talking about my experience and giving a preview of all the cool things I'm going to talk about. Then my phone rings. It's someone I know so I pick up. Here's what he says, "Where are you?" "What do you mean where am I?" I reply as the announcer runs down my educational accomplishments. "I'm at Starbucks waiting for you. It's been 15 minutes since we said we would meet." At that moment I vowed to hire someone to manage my schedule. It has not been easy. I've run into some psycho … [Read more...]

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Create Customers for Life with Personality Marketing

November 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
personality marketing

Hey there! I created this for the Women's Success Summit on November 11, 2011 at the Gulfstream Resort's Sport of Kings Hall. What a great group and a fun time. Enjoy the audio or just skip through and check out the slides. Love you! - Lisa … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Inspiration, Slide Presentation Tagged With: , ,

[Prezo] Put a Ring on It

September 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment
ringonit

Here's a presentation I created in November 2010 for the Empowered Woman Success Summit, held at the Miami Science Museum. I presented to a packed house of more than 200 existing and aspiring woman business owners on how to win and keep a dedicated audience who fervently believe in their brand.   … [Read more...]

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Go Deaf – Go Up!

September 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment
tree frog - CMMooney

Sometimes you just have to go deaf. Take the tree frog for instance. I got one of those chain emails the other day and for some reason I actually read it because it was so intriguing. Tree frogs were having a race to the top of a tree. Two-by-two they raced and none of them ever reached the top. Until the final two. One frog just kept going and going until he reached the top. Why did that one frog win while all the others failed? It was deaf. During the races the frogs at the base of the trees were shouting insults and telling the racers they couldn’t make it. The deaf frog didn’t hear the negative so it just kept on climbing. I … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Motivation

Pixlr: Perfect for Image Editing on the Go

September 12, 2011 by Leave a Comment
toolbox with books lisa d. sparks

Hey there - I figured since it's Monday I'd send you on your way with a resource I absolutely LOVE to use. It's called pixlr and it's a very powerful image editing tool. I sometimes use it when I want to clean up graphics and have a little more creative control than picnik gives me when editing my pictures. For instance, I used pixlr to create the masthead for this blog. My graphic designer Kashif helped with the original image but when I wanted to tweak it a bit I used pixlr and now I'm ecstatic about the final results. Check it out and remember who you heard this from! Your girl, Lisa! P.S. - Add your favorite image editing tool here. … [Read more...]

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Paul Revere

September 3, 2011 by Leave a Comment
paul revere

What if Paul Revere had Twitter? The message would still be the same - but would it have the same urgency? There was drama in him riding through Lexington and Concorde. In a world full of messages, hoaxes and scams, would anyone have believed Paul Revere if he tweeted his message? What if he sent a text? The medium and the message are both important. Choose based on urgency and the intimacy of the message. But please ma'am, please sir do not bore me. … [Read more...]

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Anticipation Marketing

September 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Chichen Itza

I had this thought while surfing Facebook this a.m.: Can you disaster-proof a business in the same way engineers try to protect buildings from natural disasters through thoughtful design? Answer: Yes. Just like we anticipate hurricanes and, to some extent, earthquakes we can also prepare for the worst that could happen to our businesses. Not that we want it that way, but that we can design a business that, to the best of our abilities, is failure-proof and destined for success. Here's a video that illustrates what I mean:   … [Read more...]

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In Praise of the Idea Economy

September 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
idea

We do not now, nor have we ever, exported anything of worth other than our ideas. What can save the U.S. economy? What has always saved us, what made us . . . our ideas. The concept of freedom of speech, religion and equality for all - American Inventions The Locomotive - American The Telephone - American The Car - American The Television - American The Personal Computer - American Google - American Now all of the creators of these ideas became insanely wealthy. When will we understand, as a nation, we export now and always will export one powerful thing that has fueled our growth since our inception? … [Read more...]

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I’ll Pay You NOT to Like Me

August 31, 2011 by 2 Comments
hater

This is marketing at its best. Abercrombie and Fitch, the teen retailer with borderline pedophile ads, actually offered to pay Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino NOT to wear their clothing. Reverse Endorsement Let's call this the opposite of what brands have done for sports stars such as Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and Peyton Manning. Yes, A&F is associating itself with a name - by turning it's back on that name The Situation. I love this for so many reasons. Here are two, praising both sides: Pro A&F: Develop your tribe by showing who you don't allow/want in the group. Pro Sitch: Whatever you are be it to the tenth power. … [Read more...]

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Melting with Passion

August 16, 2011 by 2 Comments
photo by jumbledpile on flickr.com

The creator of Flip Video, Jonathan Kaplan, is now starting a chain of shops that sell grilled cheese sandwiches of all kinds. At first I thought it a bit odd, until Jonathan talked about people’s natural reactions to growing up eating grilled cheese sandwiches. In my opinion he has a hit on his hands. Everyone has a story about grilled cheese from when they were growing up, myself included. When we were bored as kids we'd make a cheese sandwich, wrap it in tin foil and then iron it on both sides until the cheese oozed between the folds of the tin foil. Crazy, I know. But it was really, really good . During an interview with NPR  … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Business Strategy, Start Up Tagged With:

Weaknesses

July 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment
renegade-admins

I need an executor. Not someone to kill me but rather someone to handle the details. I paint the outline and my assistant paints within those lines. Trouble is, I can not for the life of me find someone who is: Consistent Friendly to my contacts Willing to follow instructions Truthful w/High Integrity Fast - in both thoughts, ideas and action Here I am, slowly losing what credibility I have left because I’m not linking up with the right person to compliment my unique skill sets. I want to make meetings, be on time for meetings, follow up on contacts and deliver on promises Unfortunately I can only force myself to … [Read more...]

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The Soul of Your Business

July 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment

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Solutions to the Admin Conundrum

May 2, 2011 by Leave a Comment

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Digital Engagement: Put a Ring on Your Customers!

April 27, 2011 by Leave a Comment

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Filed Under: Business Strategy, Live Presentations, Video Tagged With:

Make Links, Not War

December 28, 2010 by Leave a Comment
handshake

"If you're attacking your market from multiple positions and your competition isn't, you have ALL the advantage." - Jay Abraham via @SavvyBizBuilder and @ShoestringGal by way of Twitter Is marketing war? I hear a lot of things about how we should attack a market and crush the competition. But I really don't want to do that - even if it may be profitable. Perhaps, then, I'm in the wrong business. I like my audience. Scratch that. I LOVE my audience, and have often sacrificed sleep to help them solve problems. Much like I do with my close friends. No diss to Jay. I get his meaning. It's just that words really do matter. Attack, crush, … [Read more...]

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Yes, Words Really Do Matter

November 15, 2010 by Leave a Comment
words words words

Do you really want the person filling out your form to "submit"? What does that word mean? It means to surrender, to give in, to stop fighting. Are you in a fight with your web visitors? Is that how we view it? OK, I am being a bit facetious. But think about it. No, really, THINK! Every word on your site, email newsletter, blog, Twitter post, Facebook post has meaning.You have to know what you want the visitor to do and gently or sometimes overtly and strongly move that person towards the desired behavior. I have nothing against the word "submit" per se. Just make sure it's the word that will truly move your audience to action and not … [Read more...]

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Close Call – 5 Lives Left

March 5, 2012 by 2 Comments

I almost died today. Again. This is about the fourth time my life has been in danger. I'll tell you about the other three times later. The one today still has me shaking. It's all I can do to keep from vomiting.  I was on my bike. You know the pink Vespa I keep telling everyone about? Well, I went to the grocer's to pick up a few things. Pears. Onions. Parsely. Cookies. Not much. I get on my bike and instead of shopping some more - I need shirts and would love another presentation dress - I decided to just go home. It's rush hour. There's traffic getting back onto the main street and I was tempted. I was tempted to use the bike lane. … [Read more...]

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