In grade school, Valentines was always fun. Cards from all your friends and classmates, candy hearts. My favorites were those who took time to pick a card they knew I’d like or write a special message just for me.

We all love to be surprised by Valentine’s. I just got a great idea for a card for my husband. I was going through old photo albums and ran into photos we’d right after our engagement. That was over 30 years ago. Now wouldn’t that photo make the great front of a Valentine’s day card? Very unique, I bet it is a keeper. Nope the ultimate Valentine’s card isn’t the one at the top, although that one is very cool, a creation of my oldest daughter’s, Jessica Sellers.

So what does my ultimate Valentine’s Day card look like? Can’t show you yet, my hubby gets first peek. I’ll update this post after Valentine’s so you can see it. However, just because it will be the perfect card for my husband, doesn’t mean it’ll be the ultimate card for yours, or your child, sister, best friend. Now if you found photos of them, added your own thoughts, wouldn’t that be the coolest card of all.

Need a way to create such a card? Contact me or go to http://connectsimply.com and fill out the form and I’ll give you a couple cards for trying out my favorite way to send real greeting cards.

The Ultimate Valentine’s Card

There are many, many twitter tools, some of which are wordpress plugins. Plugins add functionality to your website. I think they are very cool. Only add and activate plugins which you want to use on your website. Sometimes a plugin may have a conflict with another plugin. So I prefer adding one new plugin at a time, making sure my wordpress website still works, etc. Some plugins, too many plugins may slow down the load time of your site. Have the plugins you use serve a purpose.

Twitter Plugins for WordPress

Auto Tweet Your Posts

Adding Tweet This Plugin to a WordPress Blog (and you can do the same thing to add other plugins–a fun thing to do).

Adding Tweet This Plugin to WordPress

You mean you can use Facebook for more than playing games with friends?

What is Twitter?

Is it worth the time you spend online?

Should I become active in various groups and forums?

What is the value of social media?

These are all questions I’ve been asked. I love social media, it is of great value to me. I’m always looking for more business. I mean, who doesn’t want their business to grow? Let’s say you are looking for a graphic designer to quickly do a project for you. You want someone who is available right now who will do a great job for a reasonable price. Ask your friends on Twitter, LinkedIn, Ryze, etc. Who do they do who does graphic design? They pass on your message to their friends, who do the same. Within the hour recommendations come in along with introductions. In just a few hours the job is complete, money exchanged. A win for both sides.

But what if you aren’t self-employed? Can you find a job, employed by someone else through social media? Yes, it does work. Connections are important along with being visible.

Here are a couple examples from this past month. I started to look for local groups to connect on twitter. Pleasantly surprised to see local job offerings posted on Twitter, and I often retweet. One came through that looked perfect for my 15 year old daughter. They were looking for ushers at the Perot theater. Now my daughter has a very busy schedule with school, swim, driver’s ed, etc. Her schedule doesn’t fit a normal job. However, this one you choose the nights you can work. I responded to the tweet, and received an application in my email. My daughter printed it out, got reference letters from a couple of teachers and sent it all in. Within the week, she had the perfect job for her all because her mom was watching the local Twitter Tweets.

My son is a top-notch programmer. Ruby is one of his favorite languages, so he hangs out in the local Ruby online groups.
He set up a LinkedIn profile which works much like a resume with references. He set up a GitHub page (social media for open source programmers) to share his open source programs with others. He got a call from a company wanting him to come in for an interview:

“But I’m not looking for a job.”
“We want to talk to you anyway.”
“I don’t want to commute downtown.”
“Neither do we, we have an office near you.”
“You wouldn’t work around my classes.”
“Yes we will, come in for an interview”

So he did. Much of the interview was the company finding out what it would take for him to want to work for him. They’d already done their research through the Ruby group, his LinkedIn profile, and GitHub. Within an hour after the interview he had an email with an acceptable job offer.

Not all jobs are found through social media. This summer one of my sons needed a summer job. He’d put in an application and wait for a call. Surely they’d call him back soon. He go out and put in a few more applications and wait. I told him that
wasn’t working, you can’t just wait around a expect a job to show up because you need one. We talked about what his ideal summer
job would be. He decided he wanted to do yard work, but didn’t know who was hiring. I said call and ask, better than driving
around and applying everywhere. He went online, searching for local lawn care/landscaping companies and within a couple of hours
had an appointment with one that afternoon, and started work.

Now if my programmer son was looking on twitter local to me, he’d have never found his new job. My daughter would never have found hers by hanging out in the DFW Ruby group. Not likely to find a job with a Texarkana yard crew by looking among the DFW Ruby people either. Heck, lawn crews spend little time online during the busy growing season. Spend time where your preferred employer would hang out.

My tips for finding a job online:

Use social media to show off your expertise, participate, be sure and fill out your profile.
Be in the right places, go where those looking for your expertise would hang out.
Let others know you are looking for a job or more business, have them keep their eyes open for you.
Check local listings unless you are wanting to move, then check listings for your desired location.
Be creative. Smile. Enjoy life.

Update:My programmer son has been hanging out with the nodejs programmers,developing code. One evening he wrote his own code to create his own blog, tutorials on using nodejs which were in short supply. We talked about his unique blog, how to make money with it. He wanted it a tutorial only, allowing others to provide content too. Consensus was if he got the traffic, there’d be a way to make money with it.

http://HowToNode.org

Within 2 weeks he had job offers in his email. Soon after speaking engagements. His blog was talked about in his niche, many tweets and links from top blogs in his field. Thousands of readers, quickly jumping to a PR5 site, further proving content is king. He was contacted by a publishing company to write a book, as a known expert in his field. When the time came to find a new job, he let his online connections know and several companies contacted him within hours.

Social media can and does work!

Using Social Media for Job Search

How to Have Your Image Next to Your Comments

You ever go to a networking event, and people just clump up and talk to their same old friends, their co-workers, etc?

Or hear someone new to a town or group complain that no one is making friends with them?

You have to turn it around, to meet new people, usually you have to play the host and introduce yourself to others, connect with them, make friends, be helpful.

I don’t know about you, but I’m more comfortable talking to those who introduce themselves to me. But does that get you in contact with those you need to move your business forward? Better to take a more active approach, something I’m still working on.

It has been a busy month, lots of good things, one of which is a son graduating from high school. All his brothers and sisters came home to be celebrate.

As we were waiting for the ceremonies to begin, my granddaughter got all excited about the steps. She loves steps. She took her mom by the hand and went up and down the steps.

The she did something different, I should have video taped it. Didn’t think about it, just enjoyed watching her. At each step, she walked over and patted the arm of the person sitting on the end of each row. When they turned to look at her, she gave a great big smile. Some she shook their hands.

Leslie held on to her Mom’s hand tightly, pulling her along.

She went down another step and did the same at each row. Toward the end her mother started to move away, but Leslie wouldn’t budge. She hadn’t said “Hi” to one person. In fact she went back up a step to greet them. A soft pat on the arm, they turn to look at her, a giant smile, then they shake her hand.

And to top it off, when she sat down with rest of the family, she patted the back of those seated in front of us, giving each another big smile.

So next time I’m at a networking event, I’ll remember little Leslie, and if a toddler can meet and greet that many strangers, we should be able to follow her example. (Of course a toddler’s smile is hard to beat.)

Littlest Networker

Lists, lists and more lists. Why are there so many lists online? Could be because thousands of bloggers are following Problogger’s 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Day 2 was Write a List Day. Or simply because lists work.

Having such a great list of lists in the Write a List Post, I scanned through to find posts which help you connect with others. After I turned cross-eyed from staring at the screen too long, here are a few I picked up.

Connecting with Families

• 10 Cool Web 2.0 Things You Can do with Your Kids I believe the internet is a great way to connect with your kids. As they grow up and leave the nest, it becomes even more valuable as I have kids scattered across 4 states.

One Million and One WordPress and Twitter Lists

I admit it, I’ve never counted. I would not be surprised if there were at least that many lists floating around the internet. Yep I made a list of Twitter WordPress Plugins when I had a hard time finding such. Now they are all over the place.

• 5 Reason a Pastor Should Blog (and Twitter)This is a unique post, and yes I agree pastors should blog/twitter.
• 5 Steps to Becoming a Vital Member of Blog-Based Communities
• 27 Stunning Yet Free Premium WordPress Magazine and News ThemesMany such lists, but as I’m often looking for such, by posting these here, I can find them again and see which ones I prefer. I’m careful using themes I’m not familiar with I saw one the other day that embedded java script in the footer to promote whatever the theme author so desired.
• 10 of the Best Magazine Style WordPress ThemesMany such lists, but as I’m often looking for such, by posting here I can find it again and see which ones I prefer.

Online Tools for Your Business

• 10 Online Tools for Artists and Illustrators
• 20 Free Things to Manage Your Business and Your Life
• 5 Ways to Use Google AnalyticsI decided I like this blogger, one worth following.

Creating Customer Loyalty

Because it is something you’ll find me writing about from time to time. I hate dealing with businesses who see their loyal clients as just another number, ignore them while pouring money into gaining new ones.

• 5 Ways to Create a Brand with Customer Relationship Marketing
• 3 Simple Ways to Create Client Loyalty

Network with other bloggers, find those with similar interests, share good stuff, and promote each other. Stuff happens.

Connecting with Lists

Time passes and I was invited to visit a BNI group that was starting in our town. I was happy to join. Didn’t hurt that I was there as a rep for SendOutCards. BNI and SOC are Strategic Alliance Partners for good reason. Great group of people.

Throughout our day to day lives, we bump into people needing someone’s service. April 1st we had a nasty hail storm, “Know any good roofers?” Friend getting married and needing a new home? “I know a great Realtor you should talk to” Need a great lawn care service? “I know just the guy!” Allergies bothering you? Talk to my friend Jerry, he has something that has helped many others.

Sometimes have someone ask “Who do you know that would be good for … ? I don’t always have a answer I may know several people in that field, but I don’t know if they provide that particular service. But those in my BNI group, I know what them well through our weekly meetings. Meeting one-on-one I get to know them even better, what type of leads are good for them, how best to refer others to them.

Great way to start my day, I always feel better after our weekly meetings. Positive energy. Our Realtor received 2 referrals of people looking for homes. People that would not have come her way if it wasn’t for our little group. Imagine the power as our team grows.

We also give testimonials. Most of our members are also SendOutCard clients for me. Yesterday the insurance rep explained how when you try a new service, you always wonder if it will perform as well as expected. It was worth every penny he said. Very pleased with both the service the company performed, and my assistance in teaching his office staff how to use.

Visit your local BNI group, check it out, great way to develop referral partners, great network training.

Networking through BNI

• Managing the setting in your twitter account
• What are twitter @replies?
• What is a twitter direct message or dm?
• What is a rt or retweet in twitter?
• What do those # things mean in twitter, such as #Happy09

Remember, add followers, courtesy to follow back those who follow you. Two rules of thought on that subject:
Follow everyone who follows you, it is the polite thing to do. Invite 2 way conversation with many new friends and clients.
or
Limit your followers to those you know best, to those whose tweets you value. Building closer relationships with those you follow. Your time is limited, but you still read all @ replies.

Last but not least, don’t spam! I saw one guy on twitter whose messages were nothing but something to the effect of look at this cool thing I’m sellling, buy from me. 0 followers and he followed 0. Twitter wasn’t working for him.

As you get the basics down, there are many tools and applications that are built to make twitter a more productive and enjoyable experience.

Great Twitter Resources

• Big Juicy Twitter Guide
• Twitter Handbook
• Twitip – Blog full of twitter tips

Related Posts

• Auto Tweet Your Posts
• I Almost Didn’t Tweet
• Hello Ike

Twitter Newbies – Quick Tips

When I first joined Ryze, it was a very active network, I learned much. One discussion was about drive by networking. People who never say a word to you, never had a conversation with in any of the network forums, never even left a guestbook message, but you suddenly get an invitation to connect and be their friend. And many of these same people, when you reply, they spam you with their stuff.

YouTube had a hilarious video (sorry I can’t find it) about the same thing on FaceBook. Guy knocks on the door, “Will you be my friend?” Who are you? I was in your physics class many years ago and sat 3 rows behind you. “Will you be my friend” etc.

There are more effective ways to spend your time. I do like the general rule, would you do this in a real face to face sitting?

Always open to learning ways to network more effectively, I appreciated Dean Hua’s post on how he used LinkedIn as a follow up tool. Thanks Dean!

Now if I can just figure out how my blog went from a google PR 4 to gray in the last update and how to fix it.

Making New Online Connections

Galveston Sea Wall

Quite windy, rain off and on, son, his wife and my grandson visiting, enjoying their company. via Twitter – 3:37pm

Stepping outside, enjoying the wind via Twitter – 4:32pm

Saying hello to ike wondering how far the trees can bend before they snap. . . via Twitter – 6:39pm

Crack, There went a tree across the street, missed the houses and cars thankfully #ike texarkana. via Twitter – 7:06pm

Getting dark outside quickly. via Twitter – 7:23pm

And then I lost my internet, silence for over 2 hours, apology to friends who were worried, hoping I’d only lost power. (Actually it was both our universal backup battery and router on the blink). Another crack and more broken trees.

Ike packed quite a punch, seemed to go on and on. Considering the size of the thing, I guess it would take a while to move on through the area. And I don’t doubt it strengthened heading on into Arkansas because the last little bit was a whammy. You’d think it’d be weakening on the tail end, but not so.

My son, his wife and their little boy were visiting, made a wise decision to to travel back to Dallas that evening. Ike took up the whole interstate between here and there.

Friday, Texarkana went crazy, Walmart parking lot looked like Christmas season. Everyone inside stocking up. Long lines at the gas station and prices had jumped. Some stations were empty. Soon they all were empty. One of my friends was stranded in Hope, Arkansas, she couldn’t get gas there either.

Now I love storms, just not the damage they cause. I love the way it feels when a storm comes in. You can smell the rain, the wind blowing in your face, everything feels so alive, the clouds, the lightshow in the sky. Don’t mind a few sprinkles. But times like this I’m very happy that I don’t live on the coast (although I wouldn’t mind it rest of the time.)

I called friends in close by, to check on how they were doing. Many were without power, but had their cell phones turned on or their old corded phones plugged in. Inside the kids played games while my grandson slept through the first half of Ike. But Ike went on and on, naps don’t last forever.

Envied Angela her blackberry she was twittering from, checking her home from her cell. Yes, if I’d have set up text messages and twitter on my phone, I could have continued to give updates even if my power and internet went down. Learned that if you checked #ike on twitter’s search engine, you’d get constant storm updates http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23ike

We made it through, so nice to see sunshine the next morning. Fences down all over the neighborhood. Chain saws cleaning up the felled trees and branches. We had a pickup load of downed branches from Gustav to which we added Ike’s. When it dries up we’ll take them all over to the recycling center to get chopped up into compost.

Thankful that things were not worse, and as much as I was tempted, I did not run around the block during the storm, dodging falling tree branches, but stayed close to the porch or safely inside.

Feel free to add your storm story to the comments or add the link to yours.

Hello Ike