Dichotomies in Career and the Craft

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I've noticed several dichotomies in my approach to work lately. I wanted to share them with you because perhaps you can relate. Stream of conscious-style here they are: Hustle and Margin.I'm passionate about hustling to make an impact but I'm passionate about making sure I have margin in my life. How do I work hard to make an impact and also have breathing room? 

Thriving on working with others. Thriving on working alone. I absolutely love creating a story on stage with a creative team and cast but spending my days alone in my sunny home office are irreplaceable. So am I a person who likes to work on a team or work alone? 

Energized by working hard all day. Energized by doing nothing productive all day. Lately I've worked so hard for so many days in a row nothing has been sweeter than watching 3 episodes of the Today Show *in a row.* (God bless that DVR.) Why is it that sometimes doing nothing productive at all makes me just as happy as having a killer day executing my passion? 

Aspiring to influence. Aspiring to seclusion. Part of me wants to leave a widespread legacy. Part of me wants to live acres away from my closest neighbor. Is it possible to be both influential and enjoy privacy in this reality show/social media platform era? 

Being moved by the roar of an audience. Wanting to avoid the crowd after the show. Nothing is more moving than an audience that shows appreciation at the end of a performance. But sometimes nothing can be more uncomfortable than milling about amidst the audience afterward. Why is it that chatting with patrons and taking in their kind words can be so uncomfortable after I've just braved looking like a fool in front of them en masse on stage? 

Do you have dichotomies in your work? Does any of this resonate with you? I'd love to hear your perspective.

April/May: HSL Creative Around the Web

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It's been another great month for HSL Creative! (Ok, well two months since we didn't produce our digest in April.) April and May work included the content below as well as a ton of social media coverage, producing the monthly newsletters for Virginia's Region 2000, continuing to teach social media classes at Southern New Hampshire University and some new writing projects that should be published next month. As always, thank you for reading! Couldn't do what I love if there weren't people who stopped to read it.

HSL Creative Blog

How to Stay Calm During Transitions Finding Margin: Confessions of a Wayward Blogger 10 Quick Tips to Increase Productivity

The Clutch Guide

5 Tips to De-Stress5 Things to Do Now That the Weather is Warming UpMy Top 10 Summer Reads

Kicker

Tragedy at Fort Hood | April 2, 2014Happy Stephen Colbert Day | April 10, 2014We're Thinking of You, Maren Sanchez | April 25, 2014Benghazi is Back | May 2, 2014May 7, 2014Hernandez Charged with Murder | May 15, 2014"I'm bigoted." | May 22, 2014

10 Quick Tips to Increase Productivity

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Increasing productivity is beneficial to any worker. Maybe it means you get to leave right at 5 pm, maybe it means you add more value to your company, maybe it means you get a 4-day work week instead of a 5. (Wouldn't that be nice!)  As a freelancer who only gets paid when I complete a project, productivity is everything for me. So today I'm sharing 10 ways to boost your productivity to get more done.

1. Minimize alerts. Put your phone on sleep mode and close out unnecessary tabs on your browser. The fewer alerts you receive the less likely you are to get sidetracked onto social media, an email or a text message. 

2. Batch similar tasks. Don't try to do three or four items on your to do list at once. Group similar tasks and knock em out together.

3. Have set days for lunches and meetings with colleagues and friends. It's easy for me to accidentally zap the productivity out of my day by scheduling an off site meeting or lunch several days out of the week. Instead, identify certain days for these meetings. This is a huge time saver.

4. Set certain times to check email throughout the day. Instead of stopping every 5 to 10 minutes to read a new email keep your email browser closed and check it at certain times of the day. This is a guaranteed way to minimize distractions. 

5. Plot out 3 or less important tasks to get done each day at the end of the day before. Keep this list ambitious but practical.This gives you a game plan at the start of each day. You know what's most important and it's plausible to get it done. 

6. After a phone call or a meeting with a manager or client shoot them a quick summary email to make sure you’re both on the same page regarding action items, next steps and deadlines. It can be very frustrating to have stalled progress because team members are not on the same page. Keep the momentum moving forward by creating an action list. 

7. Use the Pomodoro Technique. Work in 25 minute increments with a five minute break in between. Use a physical timer, stopwatch or even the digital version on your smartphone or computer.

8. Don’t go to inbox zero just for the sake of being at inbox zero. This can be a real time waster.

9. Live and die on deadlines. Take a cue from the efficient world of journalism. Assign deadlines to everything. An item without a deadline becomes a zombie project--a project that's not exactly dead but not exactly alive. Keep that ball rolling by giving yourself a deadline. 

10. Keep a birds eye view 3 week calendar accessible and a 7-day detailed calendar accessible on your desktop. This shows you what's coming down the pipe so you're not surprised by any deadlines in a week or two while simultaneously showing you how you're going to execute your work over the next week. I've found this to be the most productive calendar views.

If you like this kind of post you may also like a previous post I wrote: 7 Hacks for Shaking off the Blahs and Getting Out of ProcrastiNation.

Finding Margin: Confessions of a Wayward Blogger

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Hilary Sutton
Hilary Sutton

Hi, my name is Hilary and I’m a social media and writing professional who left my blog dormant for a month.

*Hangs Head in Shame*

But I have to catch you up on what’s been happening, why I haven’t written here consistently in the past six weeks and what I’ve been mulling over.

April (and the first 2 weeks of May) was busy.

Crazy busy.

Nutso busy.

Leave the blog dormant busy. 

They say that if you’re “too busy” for something that simply means it’s “not a priority.” While I do think blogging is an important aspect of my work, in this case “they” are right on the money.

I set the blog aside because I’ve been working long hours.

The good news is that I’ve been working long hours doing what I love.

I’ve been teaching a 300-level social media course for the first time at Southern New Hampshire University. I’ve been spending my weekends (and some week day mornings) performing in Disney’s MARY POPPINS at a 550-seat venue. I’ve been working as a part of a social media marketing team (of which I assure you I am the least cool/creative) for several Broadway shows as we head into Tony season. I’ve been helping to steer a social presence for a news startup. I’ve been editing and writing for a local magazine. I’ve been working with other local nonprofits to tell their unique and exciting stories. 

And I’ve also been wrestling with ideas like: 

Margin vs. Hustle.

Where’s the balance between making sure you have work/life balance and hustling to do great and impactful work? 

I knew that achieving balance for me over the past six weeks meant that I needed to put the “pause” button on my blog. I only had so much time, energy, creativity and mental toughness to give to my work. I knew that blogging each week over the past six weeks would have put me over my max. 

I need balance. I need to be able to have the time and energy to have a conversation with my husband each day, to get out and go for a run in my neighborhood, to call my mom. 

And it would seem that blogging is a cornerstone of my career and what is important on a daily basis but over the past six weeks it simply didn’t make the cut. 

Now that things have calmed down a bit, I’m recalibrating. My goal for the next season is to blog consistently, provide you some food for thought and helpful content that will help you achieve your goals.

Thanks for hanging with me through this quiet spring. I needed that respite to provide excellence to my clients and to you. 

Check back soon for new posts. More to come soon. 

How to Stay Calm During Transitions

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May is a season of major milestones and transitions. We've all experienced transitions of varying stress levels. Whether you're moving from student to graduate, single to married, childless to parent, or resident of one state to resident of another, transitions are exciting moments in which we know life will never be the same. Here are five tips to move through transitions effectively:

1. Be present. During the heightened emotion and excitement of transitional periods it’s so easy for it all to become a blur. This is one of my own greatest challenges during a period of transitions–being still and taking it all in. It’s so easy to jump ahead to the wedding day, the moment when you’re holding a baby in your arms, or even to worrying about what life will be like after college. Be intentional about engaging in the present.

2. Take stock. Transitional periods are a great time to evaluate your life. Are you pursuing your goals or are you just kind of going along with the life that seems to happen for you? Are you on the path to the career, relationship, calling that you desire and are meant to pursue? Now is a good time to look around and make necessary bold choices to get to the place you want to be.

3. Talk with supportive friends. Transitions are times of increased stress. Nothing is more therapeutic than letting it out and talking with trusted friends and family. Let your inner circle be there for you.

4. Prioritize. Plan your time based on what is most important. Be intentional. Make time for the people who matter most. What are the most important ways for you to spend your time during this period? What will matter to you looking back? A grade? Quality time with a loved one? How wise you were with your finances?

5. Don’t make decisions out of fear. When forging through times of change it is easy to freeze up and not make decisions at all or worse– make decisions based on fear. Look fear in the face and articulate the “worst case scenario.” When you say it, you can extinguish its power. Move forward with courage.

What has helped you through times of transitions?

Hilary is Principal of HSL Creative, a writing and social media firm. Learn more

here

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HSL Around the Web: March 2014

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HSL Creative Around the Web

March brought a lot of excitement to HSL. Hilary embarked on teaching a social media course at Southern New Hampshire University, had a full month of rehearsals for Alluvion Stage Company’s Mary Poppins, continued to work on website content for the new Virginia’s Region 2000 Local Government Council website and continued her work as a social media manager for Spotco and Kicker. This month brought two Broadway openings for ROCKY and MOTHERS & SONS so it was a busy and exciting month indeed. Here’s a few places we’ve been around the web: 

The HSL Creative Blog

5 Lessons We Can Learn from the Most Retweeted Selfie of All Time
How to Make Your Website Content Sing (Like a Blockbuster Musical)
How to Launch Dual Careers

The Clutch Guide

My first issue of Clutch as Managing Editor 
The Clutch Guide: Places Please! Hilary’s Picks
Roanoke Children’s Theatre

Kicker

Day in 10: March 5, 2014 | Relax Chipotle guacamole lovers
Day in 10: March 13, 2014 | Throwback Selfie FTW
Day in 10: March 20, 2014 | First Day of Spring!
Day in 10: March 27, 2014

Hispanic Executive Magazine

A Premium on People: Dell’s Ed Loya attracts and keeps talent for the tech powerhouse

Our Lynchburg

Our Lynchburg: Hilary Sutton

How to Launch Dual Careers

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Here on the HSL Creative blog I tend to focus on social media, marketing, writing and goal setting. I haven't chatted too much about my other career focus: acting. I wrote last year on Levo League's website about my dual career approach. It seemed to really resonate with people. So today I want to share some thoughts on launching two careers.

As a stage actor, one piece of advice that I hear over and over is, “If you can imagine yourself doing anything else, go do it.” But in 2012, the unemployment rate for actors was 28.5 percent. The life of an actor is hard; we spend most of our time working side jobs and going through what workers in other fields would consider the “application process.” For actors in places like New York and LA, the “job” is pounding the pavement every day going to auditions. The reward is when you actually get cast and someone wants to pay you for the work you have been putting in all along.

A few years ago when I was following that “only-focus-your-energy-on-being-an-actor” advice, I had an epiphany. I was working at a clothing store in Soho folding sweaters at approximately 12:30 a.m. I worked only at night so my days could be available for auditions. I had accepted the grueling life of auditioning during the day and working an hourly job at night, hoping that I would soon book a show. Then it hit me: I saw no certain end to this future of folding sweaters. Yes, maybe I would get a gig, but then I would go right back to folding sweaters when that show closed. I didn’t want to fold sweaters for years to come!

So I decided to recalibrate. I did some soul searching. I decided to further my education by getting a master’s degree in media, a field that was in higher demand. Since then I’ve steadily grown my freelance writing and social media management business, and the autonomy is extremely rewarding. I am able to continue performing in professional theatre without having to live on Ramen noodles. If this kind of dual-career life is something you’d like to pursue, I’ve got four tips for you:

1. Figure out your career goals. Can you succinctly visualize your end goal? Pursuing diverging career goals only works if you know exactly what you want. Don’t pursue a career in fashion design just because you happen to be good at it. You need that passion and drive as well. Flesh out your goals. Write them down and make a plan.

2. Do the romantic job, but collect at least one other skill that you can use on a regular basis. I am passionate about telling stories on stage. Unfortunately, the supply for stage actors far outweighs the demand. Hone a second skill that the marketplace regularly needs. Among my skills, my ability to craft a social media message somehow is more useful than my Julie Andrews impression. Supply a service that can meet a practical need.

3. Only do it if you can be incredibly organized. I have a color-coded calendar, a task list, and a daily schedule on my laptop. There is absolutely no way I would be able to juggle auditions, rehearsals, performances, deadlines, conference calls, and meetings without being supremely organized.

4. Get good at both. The bottom line is you can’t make it in two fields if you’re not serious about sacrificing for both crafts. More than one primary focus means you have to work that much harder than people who are just focused on one area. You have to read more. Practice more. Work more. Be better than your competition.

The good news is you don’t have to be a sell-out, and you can pursue your craft without being a starving artist. It takes passion, a commitment to excellence, and focus.

Does the dual career approach resonate with you? What would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?

Hilary teaches social media classes at Southern New Hampshire University and is currently in rehearsals for Alluvion Stage Company's MARY POPPINS. 

How to Make Your Web Content Sing (Like a Blockbuster Musical)

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Your website is your best opportunity to introduce your organization to the world. A great website is like a well-told story--even better, it’s like a Blockbuster musical. A PHANTOM. A LES MIZ. A WICKED. A LION KING. What can we learn from the best of the best most successful blockbuster musicals (that still pull in a million a week on Broadway--not to mention their various incarnations around the world?) Here are five applications:

1. Mix it up. The best musicals have scores that take the audience on a journey. They include ballads, big production numbers, a song with one woman singing on an empty stage with a spotlight. The pages of your website shouldn’t all look and feel the same. Implement a variety of layouts, photo sizes, and word counts. People get such an influx of content on the web now, we skim for digestable content. So make sure all your pages don’t look the same at first glance. Give your audience variety. You need “Circle of Life” but you also need “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”

2. Take a cue from the godfather of musicals. Living legend Stephen Sondheim said of good writing: “God is in the details.” The same is true for solid web content. Your “about” page, your “services” page, and especially your blog should be rich with specifics. If you are a nonprofit include specific stories of lives changed. Paint a very specific vision. Think of the rich detail in Martin Luther King Jr’s “I Have A Dream” speech.

3. Have a through line. Every character in a musical needs a through line. He needs to know what he wants, what is driving him, what his purpose is throughout the entire 2 and a half hour story. The same is true for your website. What is the overall message of your website? You should be able to articulate both your organization’s purpose and your website’s purpose. The Phantom wants to not only make Christine a star but wants her to love him and marry him. What does your website want?

4. Choose images, colors and fonts that are an exciting version of you. Do you associate a color with WICKED? Green perhaps? Be thoughtful with your web image. Choose a design that makes your business look just a little bit cooler. How do you want your business to be perceived? Cutting edge? Sophisticated? Creative? Environmentally friendly? Choose a design that reflects your business on its best day.

5. Have a logical beginning, middle and end. Your website should read like a book (or like a well-written musical). Just as we read left to right, your website should tell its story from left to right. You start with a friendly intro. (See mine here). The Prologue in Les Miserables tells Val Jean’s entire backstory so when the rest of the cast comes in for “At The End of the Day” we already know how far Val Jean has come and we’re rooting for him. After you give your readers a solid intro (prologue) tell your readers a little about where you’ve come from, what you have to offer and finish it off by giving them a way to contact you. Include what is necessary for them to understand your business--but don’t include eeeeverything. This is Les Mis the musical--not Les Mis the 1500 page novel.

A website that is on point is like a musical that makes a million every week. Implement these five steps and your website will definitely sing.

What do you think is a key aspect of a website that pops? What has worked for your business?

5 Lessons We Can Learn From the Most Retweeted Selfie of All Time

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By now you've seen it MULTIPLE times. The selfie that crashed the internet. Ok, maybe not the internet but it did crash Twitter. WHOA. 

So being the social media specialist that I am, I can't help but ask, what can we learn from Ellen's selfie that made the internet go bananas? Here are five lessons that you can utilize in your own social media strategy.

*Internet breaking results not guaranteed. 

1. Levity is irreplaceable. It helps people relate to you. Why did people go nuts over the group selfie? Because it's something we would do. And it shows that these celebrities aren't taking themselves so seriously that they're not down for a little awkward-angled fun. Brainstorm ways to show that your brand doesn't take itself too seriously.

2. The marriage of various modes of media elicits dynamite results. If we hadn't seen Ellen and co. take this pic on TV it wouldn't have been retweeted so much. We were there for the moment Bradley stretched out his arm and took the pic so we feel like we were a part of it. That is the magic of TV + Social Media. If you really want to make your mark marry two forms of media. Maybe it's print + radio. Maybe it's Facebook + Youtube. Think outside the box. Hit your audience from two directions and they're way more likely to take notice.

3. Indulgent things like “selfies” need to be rare. This particular photo wouldn’t be special or nearly as popular if Ellen had posted selfies with everyone. There was only one Ellen Group Selfie. Maybe you should offer discounts less frequently. Perhaps you should scale back on how often you post on Facebook. What could you do less of to maximize your results?

4. Turning rules on their heads can have amazing results. You’re not supposed to take selfies, right? Didn't we all decide that it was narcissistic and juvenile? This is part of the reason this selfie worked. Sometimes you have to do the exact opposite of the rules in order to surprise and delight. So what rules should you ignore to make an impact?

5. Joining forces and not getting the credit can still do wonders for your business. Keep an open mind. Bradley Cooper took the pic but didn’t get to post it on his Twitter account. So it wasn't his Twitter account that blew up. He still got the payoff for being in the most retweeted selfie of all time. Sometimes we have to let go of the credit to ultimately see a payoff. Should you join forces with another small business to offer special combined services? Maybe you should take part in an event where your business is not the main sponsor? Sometimes taking a bit of a backseat reaps great rewards.

Have anything to add to this list? What did you think of Ellen's selfie? Did you retweet it? If so, do tell--what made you click "retweet"?

HSL Around the Web: February 2014

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HSL 

It's been another busy month around here! Magazine issues going to print, some ghostwriting projects, new social media clients and a plethora of articles published, take a look at where HSL has been around the web in the last 28 days! HSL Creative

7 Hacks for Shaking Off the Blahs and Getting Out of ProcrastiNation HSL Creative helmed the content writing on Board One Chess Academy's new website.

The Clutch Guide

3 free or low cost arts & culture events in Lynchburg One Year Later: 10 Lessons from the first year of marriage

Ben Stroup Enterprises

8 reasons CloudMagic is my mail app of choice
6 Ways Toggl has Made Us More Efficient

Profile Magazine

Data Fables: Advocate Health Care's information framework allows doctors to quickly assess a patient’s story

Hispanic Executive

If You Give a Man a Fish He Eats For a Day: Profile on Telacu's Michael Lizárraga 

Kicker

Day in 10: February 6, 2014 | ‘If one of us dies of an overdose …’
Day in 10: February 13, 2014 | Al Roker vs. Bill de Blasio
Day in 10: February 20, 2014 | Hey, WhatsApp?
Day in 10: February 25, 2014 | Welcome to ‘Late Night,’ Seth Meyers!

7 Hacks for Shaking Off the Blahs and Getting Out of ProcrastiNation

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We’ve all been residents of ProcrastiNation at one point or another.

You know that place--the comfortable land that assures us it’s better to enjoy a Scandal marathon on Netflix than to prepare for that big presentation we’re giving on Friday or begin working toward that impending deadline.

So how do you snap out of it? Here are a few techniques that I’ve employed to help me get stuff done as a solopreneur.

1. Break big projects up into multiple small projects and assign mini deadlines. A large project becomes much more doable when it’s broken up into chunks.

2. Use the Pomodoro Technique. Set a timer for 25 minutes and work. Don’t check email. Don’t answer a text. Just work for 25 minutes. Then take a 5 minute break. Repeat. I use this technique to make myself focus when it is near impossible. This helps me pump out work for at least 25 minutes. Because I know there is a break in sight I can focus and be productive.

3. Batch similar tasks. I first heard of this technique in The 4-Hour Work Week. Multitasking is a myth. It is difficult for your brain to switch between different tasks so get more done by doing similar tasks at the same time regularly. For example: I do 90% of my social media work for a certain client on Fridays. Every Friday I just knock it out.

4. Color code that calendar. Make deadlines pop. You don’t want to be surprised by a deadline because you overlooked it. I keep my calendar on a 3-week view which is really helpful for knowing what’s coming up beyond the immediate.

5. Get up and move at least once every two hours. Since I work from home I check the mail around noon. Even just this small task lets me change my focus briefly and stretch my legs. When I come back to my desk I have a renewed focus. Plus they say sitting kills you.

6. Meditate and/or pray. One prayer that I review every day is “Lord, help me to wisely use my resources of money, time and hard work.”

7. Exercise regularly (5 days a week is a great goal). I had pretty much fallen off the exercise bandwagon late last year and I came back to it in January with gusto. It has been amazing how many great ideas have come to me when I’m on the treadmill or elliptical machine. I don’t exactly know the science behind it but it really works for me.

What do you do to snap out of procrastination? And how GREAT does it feel when you’ve accomplished something significant?

HSL Around the Web: January 2014

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Will You Do Anything Social Media Free This Year?

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The first lady celebrated her 50th birthday on Saturday with a secret, social media free, dance party at the White House complete with a Beyoncé serenade. While that sounds about right for Michelle Obama the part of that announcement that caught my eye was “social media free.”

I also just saw a tweet from a friend who said he purposefully left his smart phone at home when he went out last night. Happiness ensued:

https://twitter.com/jasongotay/status/424942101785493504

I don’t know about you but the idea of leaving my phone at home on purpose or not documenting one of the most epic birthday parties of the year on Instagram gives me the shakes a little bit.

And that’s not a good thing.

At the beginning of the year I made some decisions and goals for the year. Among them: don’t look at my iPhone during church.

Like seriously--how sad is that?

In this world of smartphones being an acceptable accessory just about anywhere, it’s easy to think we always need to check our phones or at least have them within arm’s length.

But what if you leave it at home so you can have coffee with a friend without mentally being pulled into the office?

What if you can leave it in the car so you’re not distracted by notifications during the pastor’s sermon?

What if you can actually experience the feeling of being bored waiting in line at Walmart without giving yourself that mindless entertainment of scrolling through your Twitter feed?

While I’m obviously all for maximizing the potential of social media to improve lives, I readily recognize that boundaries need to be made and life is not meant to be experienced with our eyes constantly glued to screens.

I’m gonna try to be a little more mindful of that in 2014. I’m gonna let myself be a little more focused on the person in front of me. A little more bored in the grocery store line.

What will you do social media free in 2014?

Lenders Checking Out Borrowers Social Media Accounts: 4 Ways to Make Sure Your Social Channels Are In Good Shape

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Did you catch the news in the Wall Street Journal this week? A new trend has emerged in lending--checking out borrowers’ social media accounts in addition to their credit history. Now if you’re handling your social channels with expert finesse and have fan engagement on lock down, congrats! This is good news for you. If the thought of being judged by Twitter followers and Google reviews makes your palms sweaty, read on.

While having lenders make a decision about you or your company based on your presence on social media may seem unusual, well, get used to it. This is just the beginning of a new trend that I guarantee is not going anywhere. Your online image is your public persona. And for some this might be good news. If you have not so good credit but an impressive online presence, you may get the dollars you need.

In the meantime, here are a few tips for making sure your social media presence won’t get in the way of your future:

1. Be consistent--and honest. Have a consistent image across social media and in person. Make sure the story that you’re giving the lending company and the story they’ll read on your Linkedin and Facebook page all match up.

2.Address criticism on your page-don’t ignore it. This is major for a business page. You don’t want the conversation to go somewhere else where you don’t have the control. There’s nothing that’s worse than a disgruntled customer except maybe an ignored disgruntled customer. Engage with customers right on your pages. You don’t want them taking it to another media outlet or creating yourcompanysux.com.

3. Hire a professional. You may not be able to afford a full-time social media manager but you can certainly hire a consultant to support your social media channels. Get expert advice. Let a social media company--like us--help you improve your social media presence. We have something for every budget so email me.

4. Engage with fans on each platform. Engagement. Engagement. Engagement. This is the name of the game. Connect with your audience. Show them you care. Give them useful content. Humanity is the key to succeeding online.

Have questions or comments about what should be happening on your social media pages? Leave a comment below.

5 Steps to Blogging Consistently

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Perhaps one of your new year’s resolutions looks something like this:

I resolve to blog more than 17 times this year (even though it’s time-consuming and I feel dry of great ideas and no one is paying me to do it.) 

I feel you on all accounts.

Regular blogging is hard and time and energy consuming. And yet, catch-22---if you don’t do it regularly you don’t build an audience. So you can’t wait for inspiration to strike. You have to go and make inspiration happen. So what can you do to make the regular habit of blogging become a little more seamless?

1. Set up an editorial calendar. The editorial calendar for this blog is set up on a quarterly basis. So I know the exact dates I’m blogging for the next three months. I know when I’m writing, when I’m posting and when it goes live. This takes the guesswork out of my schedule. And seeing the exact dates that I’m posting over the next few months actually makes the process feel less daunting.

2. Determine your blog’s key concepts. The topic of your blog can be hyper specific but it doesn’t have to be. I blog here about a range of categories that fit somewhere within social media, impactful messaging, goal setting and creativity. After determining the key concepts of my blog, I then plug those into the dates that I know I’m going to blog. So, the 3rd Tuesday of this month I know I will be producing a piece that fits within the category of “impactful messaging.” This narrows the scope in a big way. Now I just have to determine what I want to tackle within that category.

3. Crank out some headlines within those categories and plug them into your editorial calendar. But know that these aren’t the 10 commandments--you can reschedule or revise later. The most important aspect of this step is just coming up with an idea (or two or three) that you can flesh out later. It’s much easier to come up with a headline within a specific category than to completely start from scratch.

4. Go ahead and draft an outline before you start fleshing out your post. I often write a headline for a blog post a few weeks out, then an outline a few days out, then finally flesh out the entire post the day before it goes live. By working in steps I don’t feel drained of creativity when it’s time to produce a post. And working in these steps gives me a framework for where I’m headed.

5. Determine a regular time that you have a date with your keyboard. Know when it’s time to write. When you sit down to write your blog post you’ve already given yourself the upper hand. You know when you’re writing, what your topic is generally about, your title for the blog post and you’ve even come up with a rough outline. This is the part where you take the ideas that have been buzzing through your mind and give them focused attention. By marinating on your ideas for several days or weeks this part of the process becomes easy. You just connect the dots.

Blogging more consistently is an incredibly worth goal. It’s well-known that content marketing and adding value to your tribe aside from a sales pitch is instrumental in today’s economy. Do you have your own blogging tips? Share below!

10 Social Media Resolutions to Adopt This Year

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The new year is upon us and with it is the opportunity to turn around some of our bad habits regarding our health, time, money and even social media. Yes, staggering numbers of people around the world have social media profiles but many of those people don’t have any kind of social strategy.

Social media just becomes one big time zapper when we don’t have any intention behind it.

So here are ten suggested social media resolutions for the year ahead.

1. I will know my privacy settings and make sure I’m sharing with the appropriate audience. As of last year 13 million people in the US had never touched their privacy settings on Facebook. That means you may be one of those people who is sharing content that is public for any identity thief, bot or creep to see. Get familiar with your privacy settings on all your social networks.

2. I will decide my intent for each social media platform I’m on whether it is growing my business network, staying connected to old friends, or increasing my platform as a thought leader.

3. I will only post content that is useful, uplifting or fun. Enough of the snark and the angry political posts. In many ways what I post on social media will be my legacy long after I’m gone. I want those messages to be inspiring. I will not use social media as a platform to be condescending, hurtful or whiny.

4. I will not overshare on social media. Whether it’s a family argument, details of an illness or my nephew’s bodily functions, I will not share anything that will gross out or embarrass anyone on social media.

5. I will not take myself too seriously on social media. Social media is the place to show the human side of my business. It’s also the place where I can share news about my business with my personal acquaintances. I will balance each business-esque post with other posts that show that I’m a human just like you.

6. I will be open to trying new platforms but I will stay focused. I will spend the bulk of my precious time focusing on one or two platforms that have proven to give me return on investment for my business but I will stay up to speed on popular apps and platforms. There’s nothing like being the last of your friends to log in to MySpace.

7. I will engage with others and respond when people communicate with me. Every comment on every photo posted to Facebook doesn’t necessarily merit a response but if someone wants to dialogue on Twitter it’s not beneficial to ignore him or her. Responses are a great way to show people you value them.

8. I will use social media to connect to leaders in my field and people who I admire. Social provides an incomparable opportunity to connect with thought leaders and great writers. This is an opportunity not to be wasted.

9. I will use apps like Buffer and Pocket to aggregate and share content that is useful to people who follow my accounts. So much interesting and helpful content is pumped through social media every day. With the right tools I can share the best of it with my tribe.

10. I will make private content more private and public content more public. I’ve decided to make my Instagram account private and be intentional about sharing photos through Twitter and Facebook when I want to share them with people I both know and don’t know. On the other hand my Twitter posts continue to be public and I’m hoping to increase my presence there by 30% this year.

Social media is all about being intentional with your time and the messages you send out into the world. This year consider the value you want to add to society through your social media presence.

So here you have 10 suggested resolutions for the new year.

Tell me, what would you add to the list?

Introducing our newest eBook: Social Media for Live Experiences

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In 2013 I've gotten the opportunity to dive into one of the most fascinating areas of my work: utilizing social media to enhance live events. Earlier this year I completed my master's thesis that analyzed a famous Broadway Twitter campaign and all summer I managed the social media accounts for Endstation Theatre Company's Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival. So I got the opportunity to learn about the integration of social media, mobile devices and live events in an academic context and then a real-life highly practical context. Now I want to share with you what I've learned. I've teamed up again with Ben Stroup Enterprises to write Social Media for Live Experiences. This six-chapter book is a quick read that walks you through marketing a live event (whether it's a play, a church event or a conference) by connecting with your audience through social channels before, during and after the event takes place.

Social media is changing the landscape of communication. How will you utilize it?

5 Tips to Maximize the Discipline of Creativity

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“The one thing that creative souls around the world have in common is that they all have to practice to maintain their skills. Art is a vast democracy of habit.” -Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp’s The Creative Habit is one of my favorite books. Even in the title, it lets you in on a little secret: creativity does not come in bursts of inspiration, it comes in daily discipline and habits.

Today I want to focus on five tips I learned on the preparation and inspiration of creativity from Tharp’s book.

5 Tips to Maximize the Discipline of Creativity

1. Learn from the greats. 

Mozart said: “People err who think my art comes easily to me. I assure you, dear friend, nobody has devoted so much time and thought to composition as I. There is not a famous master whose music I have not industriously studied through many times.”

Read biographies of people who you'd like emulate. What are they reading? What are the trends in your industry? Pay attention to the work of people you admire.

2. Implement a morning ritual that you can count on to ignite your creativity and focus. 

“Although he was not physically fit, Beethoven would start each day with the same ritual: a morning walk during which he would scribble into a pocket sketchbook the first rough notes of whatever musical idea inevitably entered his head. Having done that, having limbered up his mind and transported himself into his version of a trance zone during the walk, he would return to his room and get to work.”

What do you need to do to maximize your creativity each day? Eat breakfast before you work? Listen to a certain style of music? Take a quick stroll around the block? Determine what you need to do to focus and open your mind to what you need to create today.

3. Keep a notebook with you (or the notes app on your iPhone) to jot down ideas when they come to you.

“I’m often asked, ‘Where do you get your ideas?’ This happens to anyone who is willing to stand in front of an audience and talk about his or her work. The short answer is: everywhere. It’s like asking 'Where do you find the air you breathe?' Ideas are all around you.”

Always be ready for new ideas to come together. And never trust your memory. Write it down, write it down, write it down.

4. Prepare daily. And make peace with your lack of control.

"Habitually creative people are, in E.B. White’s phrase, 'prepared to be lucky.' The keywords here are 'prepared' and 'lucky.' They’re inseparable. You don’t get lucky without preparation, and there’s no sense in being prepared if you’re not open to the possibility of a glorious accident...Some people resent the idea of luck. Accepting the role of chance in our lives suggests that our creations and triumphs are not entirely our own, and that in some way we’re undeserving of our success. I say, Get over it. This is how the world works. In creative endeavors luck is a skill."

Tharp said this on trusting too much in planning every detail:

“There’s an emotional lie to overplanning; it creates a security blanket that lets you assume you have things under control, that you are further along than you really are, that you’re home free when you haven’t even walked out the door yet.”

5. Put in the work every day.

“80% of success in show business is showing up.” -Woody Allen

The same is true in all creative fields. Put the time in. Do your due diligence. Wrack up your 10,000 hours. Be consistent and the reward will come.

Have you received any advice on creativity and work that has stuck with you? Share it in the comments.

Be sure to subscribe to weekly updates and I'll send you the Blogger's Editorial Calendar Cheat Sheet. 

5 Easy Things You Can Do Today to Improve Your Business’ Social Media Presence

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It’s a given that your business needs to have a social media presence. And you’ve probably got one. But what can you do to make it just a little better today without spending a lot of extra time and energy? Here’s five tips you can implement today to improve your company’s social media presence.

1. Ask questions. Social media is about starting conversations. When was the last time your business to consumer brand asked a question of your audience online? Even on a business page, you don’t have to be “all business.” You can recognize a current event or national holiday and ask people about their plans. ie: "Anybody out there got a case of the Mondays? Comment on this post and come in before 9 AM for a free drip coffee. We want to make your week a little better."

2. Put a face with a name. When it comes to a social media presence for a small business a logo is good but a face is better. Go ahead and put an image of the owner or an employee as the profile picture for your business’ social media account. This brings accessibility and a personal touch to your online engagement.

3. Respond within 24 hours. Have you ever tried to get answers from a brand via Twitter or Facebook only to never hear from them? Not exactly sparkling customer service. Commit to responding to messages, comments and @ replies within 24 hours. The sooner the better.

4. Add photos. With the popularity of apps like Snapchat, Instagram and even the social media giant Pinterest, there’s no denying that images are everything. Post photos from time to time that exude your company culture.

5. Show some personality. Feel free to express excitement over a new product line. Post an article that has a controversial perspective on a business trend. Do anything but be all self-promotey all the time. Contribute value to the online conversation and avoid being confused for a robot.

What about you? Do you have any easy solutions for stepping up a company’s social media game?

HSL Creative Weekend Reading

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