SEO Werkt!

I don’t blog much. It’s partially because I have other priorities that come first: work, life, friends, gym. The blog is not an extension of my persona, but a place I can write about the industry.

Through this concept of community, PR (and now SM) has become cheerleaders for one another. No one (well, no one that is respected) is pointing that these emperors have no clothes, and I’m tired of doing it. Tired and don’t have the energy to take it on myself. I get the backchannel comments that “damn, you’re right” – get out of the shadows and speak up, and help save PR and social media from becoming a punchline of a joke.

There’s plenty I have to write, and most of it is pricking the balloon and upsetting the apple cart. Let’s be honest here, and realize that:

• PR 2.0 is a sham and nothing new. Well, actually it’s a scam and by my count, we’re on PR 8.0. But the thing is that those that subscribe to the PR 2.0 notion ignore, well, the real users are are too caught up in the social media bloggers and realm. Hey, guess what, most likely those aren’t your users and your ignoring mainstream press and telling a good story.
• The social media release is a joke. If you go look at most SMRs on sites such as PitchEngine, the problem is not press release versus SMR, it’s just that the content sucks. Not all items are news, and putting it into an SMR isn’t going to magically make it news. How about focus, and better writing? How about less market speak and more storytelling? You get what you pay for, and most of that is free. And let’s not forget that wire noise IS a viable PR strategy.
• There are tons of examples of unethical practices in public relations, but no one (including me) are pointing them out. Why not?
• Social media is just one tool in the PR toolbox. Not sure how many times I can say that, but I will continue to say it. And while it is a nice buzzword, it is not going to change the world and not going to change corporations unless they really want to change and listen to customers and engage. You can give lip service, but it’s just that. And, you know what junior staffers? It’s best left NOT to you, but to senior PR people that understand those little things like strategy, tactics, and have a long view of the clients, the space and the industry. So thank you very little and now STFU and learn from those in the industry longer than one year.

Yes, these are all posts – and more – that I have started in 2009, and should finish for 2010. But, I’m trying to have a balance, and like that I do yoga and workout and am healthier than I ever was before. And that wasn’t from a new year’s resolution, that was just a decision I made one day.

That’s the key. You don’t need a special day to change yourself. You can do it any day. And, what that really means for me is to point out the issues and help make PR or social media better. If you want to be that expert – or have changed yourself to be that expert – and cannot take criticism, then maybe you aren’t that change agent that you think you are. If you have a thin skin, and cannot take criticism, then get out. Seriously, get out because criticism is what makes you better, and the whining that a thick skin makes you hard is an excuse because you cannot take criticism and don’t want to improve. That includes me – bring it on, if it’s constructive. If it’s ad hominem, I’ll defend and reciprocate.

That’s my 2010 message: you don’t need a special day to decide to improve or be better or make something better. But have a great New Year’s, and hope your 2010 is what you make it and want it to be.

BTW, if you want a different point-of-view, check out Doug Haslam’s very nice post on 2010. Great post, great ideas and comments, even if I don’t agree 100 percent.

As of the end of December, Home Biz Notes will be closing as b5media discontinues Bizzia and the business blogs.  I’ve been writing this blog for more than 4 years, except for a short period when Jean Murray was the blogger.  For a year, Yvonne Russell was my co-blogger.

I hope I’ve brought you helpful information about establishing and operating a home business.  It has been enjoyable blogging here and getting to know so many of my readers.  As with  many opportunities in life, there comes a time to go on to something else.

I shall be activating two business blogs I established at Blogger some time ago and will publish future business tips there so that my readers will have information to refer to.  These are Baby Boomer Biz Notes and Blogging and Business.  Come join me there!

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Many of us, with home businesses, must coordinate our family schedules and needs along with our business commitments.  Hope Clark, writer, editor and newsletter publisher, writes about meeting the deadlines of her writing business while family gather around her for the holidays.

As I read Hope’s Editor’s Piece of Mind, Ho-Ho-Ho,  in her current issue of FFW Small Markets, I related.  I, too, have had to write with family around for the past 13 years, in our multi-generational household.  I’ve even written at the computer with toddlers on my lap.

Hope does have some good suggestions about getting your work done and still enjoying your family during the holidays.

How do you juggle family, home business and holidays?

(Incidentally, Hope’s newsletters give great information about writers’ markets and grant sources.)

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Winter image: sxc.hu

At the end of each month, I post a round-up of 5 Home Biz Notes posts from the month which seem to be favorites and/or have gained attention.

Here are five for December:

Branding – The Elm Creek Way

Can I Brand – The Trails End Quilters Way?

Author Kristie Leigh Maguire Reflects on Self-Publishing

Susan Gunelius on Branding Your Business – The Playboy Way

Janet Elaine Smith’s “Brazen Hussy” Rules of Promotion

Did you have any favorites?

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As I consider how to create my business, with the tentative name of MEA’s Memory Potpourri, incorporating my various family history and memorabilia interests under one brand (as suggested by a branding expert), I’ve written about these possibilities on various blogs.  Some can be undertaken as a single home business.  Others might be incorporated  under a single brand or umbrella.

These appear at my Small Business Boomers blog:

Develop a Business of Remembering Those Who Will Be Forgotten

Christmas Cookie Journal – A Business Idea?

Preserving Family Memories as a Business

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This I Accomplish by Kyra E. Hicks

Finding a unique niche and/or developing a brand reflecting this niche enables you to become better known in your field.  Kyra E.  Hicks, author and quilt researcher, has become an experi in the area of “Black Threads” (the name of her blog) and is a font of information about African American quilters.

Her most recent book, This I Accomplish about Harriet Powers and her quilts, also reflects Kyra’s expertise as a researcher.  She sought information about Harriet Powers’ Bible Quilt and other pieces, discovering little known and totally unknown details about this quilter’s life and her work.

Harriet Powers was a former Georgia slave , who lived from 1837 – 1910 and stitched intricate quilts that are museum pieces today.  Little was known about about this quiltmaker until Kyra began her journey and discovered many new, exciting facts.

This book also provides many resources, used by Kyra for her Powers’ research, that tell the story of African American quilting.  She started out to compile a simple annotated bibliography and found herself on an exciting adventure.  Also, you can read the book out of sequence and still gain the essence of Harriet Powers and her work.

Kyra’s blog, Black Threads, keeps one informed about current happenings in the African American quilting world.  She has written another quilt book, The Liberian Flag Story & Love of Liberty Quilt, as well as a children’s book, Martha Ann’s Quilt for Queen Victoria. 

As a quilter and writer,  who enjoys researching and discovering secrets of the past, I found This I Accomplish fascinating.  Since I’ve also been learning more about branding one’s area of expertise, I’m fascinated with how Kyra is gaining recognition in her niche.

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May you have a joyous Christmas Day and much health, happiness and success in 2010.  May your business prosper in the coming year.

From Home Biz Notes!

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For some time, I’ve considered developing my quilting heritage surrounding the Trails End Quilters, into a series of books, patterns and recipes. 

Quilt Image: sxc.hu

 I’ve even started a blog to this effect, Tales of the Trails End Quilters and work at it off and on as I research more information. 

Here is the description of my blog as it relates to my quilting heritage.

My quilting heritage began at Trails End Farm in Milan, New York. There I often sat beside my grandmother cutting squares and sewing them by hand. Eventually I realized that my mother and her sister, their grandmother, and others made quilts here, too. Now my daughter, granddaughter, and I carry on this Trails End quilting tradition from our New Hampshire home.

This blog also relates to my One Room School Heritage since many of these ladies also were teachers as well as quilters.  Perhaps I can tie all of it into the Potpourri of Memories brand I’d like to develop that encompasses my many activities tied to family stories, workshops, scrapbooking, fabric art and recipes that has evolved in my life.

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Mention the words, Elm Creek or Elm Creek Quilts, and most anyone familiar with the quilting world immediately thinks of the series of books written by Jennifer Chiaverini.  Whether Jennifer thought she’d be writing a series, as well as brancing out into fabric design, quilt patterns and recipes when she started, I don’t know.  However, she has branded herself and Elm Creek (the location of most of the stories in this series), so that quilters and others who are captivated by her books immediately pick them up.

I knew Jennifer at a online writers’ group when she sold her first book.  I was excited about this success and have followed her career since.  After reading Susan Gunelius’ book, Building Brand Value the Playboy Way and learning more about branding, I realized, “Jennifer has developed a brand, too!”  This is a brand that has made her popular as a writer, designer and speaker.

Most recently, I’ve read her books, The Quilter’s Kitchen and The Lost Quilter. 

The Quilter’s Kitchen is her first recipe book, yet it ties in the Elm Creek story, past and present, as the new cook and Sylvia Compson, main character of the series, clean out the old room in preparation for remodeling.  The memorabilia they discover each has its own story along with Sylvia’s recollections of recipes.  Then everything is tied together, recipes and memorabilia, at the end in a delightful way.

The Lost Quilter relates Sylvia’s search for her ancestry based on a quilt.  We’ve learned about the runaway slave, Joanna, in a previous novel, but didn’t know much about her past.  This novel takes us through the journey of Joanna’s life, before and after her Elm Creek sojourn,  and informs us how she relates to Sylvia’s family, past and present.

Have you read any of these delightful books?  Do you have a favorite?

Jennifer’s Elm Creek Quilts novels alternate between present day and earlier quilters and families connected to this farm in Pennsylvania and the presence of quilts.

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Piano playing image: sxc.hu

Home businesses aren’t new.  They’ve been around for years…and years.  But we may not have thought of them as such. 

One of the businesses we can consider is giving music lessons.  Often this is done at the teacher’s home.  Or he/she may go to the student’s home.

Thinking of this, I remembered Miss Wanzer.  She taught my sister and me to play the piano.  Sister took to piano lessons much more readily than I, and stayed with it for many years.  I stopped after the sixth lesson, although I often accompanied Sister to Miss Wanzer and listed to them play.   (I didn’t like to practice, so Mother decided it wasn’t worth spending hard earned money on the lessons for me.) 

Miss Wanzer must have supplemented whatever other income she had by giving piano lessons in her home.  Although no one mentioned this as a business, it’s what we nowadays consider a parttime home business for she did have other students.

Amie, a friend of Mother’s, often came to our home to help with housework and to look after us children when Mother had to be in the barn, fields or caring for chickens.  This, nowadays, would be considered Amie’s housekeeping or babysitting business.

My aunt, in addition to caring for her invalid mother, did sewing and mending for other people.  She also did housecleaning.

Throughout the ages, women have operated these businesses to earn their income or to supplement the family income.  Today, they’re getting back to working from the home.

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