“There were no sex classes. No friendship classes. No classes on how to navigate a bureaucracy, build an organization, raise money, create a database, buy a house, love a child, spot a scam, talk someone out of suicide, or figure out what was important to me. Not knowing how to do these things is what messes people up in life, not whether they know algebra or can analyze literature.” ~ William Upski Wimsatt

Finding someone’s contact information is a basic relationship building skill, everyone should know how to become more successful. If you want to steal someone’s knowledge, you need to talk to them first. Twitter is an amazing place but email is still the king especially if you want to talk to the older generation. I am very lucky to picked up few tricks over the years. They are very useful especially for people who work in PR, marketing and sale.

Step 1: If you don’t know it, Google it.

Everyone knows how to google, but not many people know how to google the right way. It is a good idea to know the common search tips in order to use the right keyword when you search.
For example: If I want to search for Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter and Square email address. I would search “Jack Dorsey” +email. There are a few other possible keywords you can search for such as Jack Dorsey @twitter.com. If you are lazy like me, there is a better way to do a quick google search for someones email.

BuzzStream has a great email research tool. If you can generate the most common search keywords and open them within a few clicks. Most of the time, at least one of the search will give you the email you are looking for.

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If it doesn’t work. Try to find their website, social media profiles, or forum signatures. A lot of the time, they will list their email address.

Step 2: If Google fails, Guess.

According to my Eastern astrology reading, I have Puo Jun in the Self Court which means I am too stubborn to quit if I fail. If my beloved Google cannot help me, I will find another way.

If the person you are searching for is working for one of the big companies, check out this website for  corporate email address patterns or search here and here.

If you still can’t find anything, it is not the end of the world yet.

Usually you can try to guess the email format.

If it is a business email, it is usually ______ @website.com

Some of the common formats

• Firstname@website.com
• lastname@website.com
• FirstnameLastname@website.com
• FLastname@website.com
• FirstnameL@website.com
• hello/contact/info@website.com (very common for an independent blogger)
• tittle@website.com
• department@website.com

I am a tool freak. Of course I am not going to sit there and list all the possible email address combinations. There is a great Google Docs spreadsheet that will help you generate almost all the possible combinations (except the ones in blue in the list above)

Here is how you can search for “all” the popular email combinations

• Open the Email Permutator Speedsheet and make a copy ( File/Make A Copy)
• Fill In the details
• Select all the email and copy

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You can start to compose an email. Paste everything in the BCC field. After that pick the most likely address to be the real email address and type into TO field. Most likely one of them is the real email. You can find out which email is real when someone opens or replies your email.

If you use Gmail or Google Apps, install Yesware extension for Chrome/Firefox or Google Apps. You can track an email and tell when a person opens your email from which device. Amazing a plugin every PR, marketing, or salesperson should install.

Step 3: Knowing is better than guessing

Guessing game is fun, but I hate leaving anything to chance.  I don’t like the unknown.

We can use Rapportive one of my favorite blogging tools to see if any of the emails link to any social network or website.

• Install Rapportive if you don’t have it. You can install a browser extension or add to your Google Apps 
• Compose a new email. If you are using the new Gmail, you will need to switch back to old composer ( Composer setting, window bottom right hand corner next to trash/temporarily switch back to old compose). If you know a way to use Rapportive with new composer, please let me know in the comments.
• Paste all the possible emails from Step 2 to the TO field
• Click on each email and check if any of the email addresses links to a profile.

Most of the time you will find the email that you are looking for

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Step 4:  If everything fails, cry :(

Just kidding. If you can’t find the email, go social. Try to reach out to them on their blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Linkedin or any social network they are on. I have had great results with Twitter and Instagram lately. I also find Facebook page usually works better than Facebook profile message.

If it still doesn’t work, call their office and try to convince the gatekeeper to give you the email. Become her friend, make her feel special, there is a chance that she will help you.

If nothing works, maybe it wasn’t meant to be. Don’t be sad, maybe it happens for a good reason. Just smile and move on.

Good luck!

If you know any other way to search for an email address. Please let me know in the comments.

photo credit: Jeremy Brooks

Society always tells you that you need to help people ( I did too). They tell you that you should help people unconditionally and when people least expect it. None of those are wrong. A lot of the time random acts of kindness can change a person’s life. But they forgot to tell you the other half of the lesson and it can be very dangerous if you don’t know it.

If you are a regular reader of blog you might know that I am a big fan of the yin-yang concept.  Not everything is bad. Not everything is good. There are always some of the good that is in the bad, and some of bad  that is in the good. The same rule applies to this case.

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It is not always a bad idea to help people just as, it is not always a good idea to help people. I am sure you have enough people telling you to be a good person and help people. We will look at the situations when we need to stop helping people.

1. Stop helping people who don’t deserve your help 

For me this is one of the hardest things to do. I always feel helping people is the right thing to do. It drives me crazy when I don’t.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.

~ Audrey Hepburn [Tweet this]

It is so easy to grab a coffee a tea and pick my brain. I am a pretty friendly person who loves nurturing relationships. I enjoy sharing knowledge and believe people need to do it more often if they want to be successful. However everything has a limit.

A lot of times many start-up founders ask me for help. I know it is very hard to run a start-up, I work for one. Lately I stopped offering my knowledge for free. In the past, a lot of time people would invite me out for coffee to pick my brain. If you have a few million dollars in the bank from VC, picking my brain for free is not acceptable especially if you didn’t bother buying me my tea. They don’t understand that I have a mortgage to pay and a family to feed too. They don’t know that to have time meeting them for coffee, I will stay up until 4 am in the morning to work. To be honest if they don’t think my time worth any value, I don’t have time for them!

If people don’t care about you, you shouldn’t help them. They don’t deserve your help.

[Tweet this]

Now I just tell people my hourly rate. It is harsh but it makes my life easier and I am happier. People take me more seriously.  If someone cannot afford me, I usually give them another way to pay me.

Rule 1 : Never offer something for free.

Rule 2: Never forget rule 1

[Tweet this]

Next time if someone asks you to speak at their conference for free, don’t agree before you negotiate for the best deal. If they cannot afford you, ask for a free booth, time to promote your business or maybe free tickets to the conference.  It will show you who is serious.  People will always try to use you if you let them. You don’t have time to help everyone, only help people who deserve your help. Seth Godin wrote a great post about working for free, check it out he has some good tips. And if you still don’t know when you should and shouldn’t work for free, my favorite blogger Penelope Trunk wrote a post on this topic .  There is an amazing flow chart like those  ”He loves me, he loves me not” ones in Cosmopolitan but for freelancer to decide if you should work for free by Jessica Hische.  Do it, the worst case you will have a good laugh.

Remember

The first person you need to help is YOURSELF.

If helping people makes you unhappy, don’t do it.

[Tweet this]

Sometimes you need to be selfish and put yourself before anyone else. Ignore what society is telling you to do. You can’t help anyone if you are starving and unhappy.

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2. Stop helping people who don’t appreciate your help

My worst weakness is I like helping people, I have a heart. I help people when they ask. I also help people when they don’t ask for it. The first one is dangerous, if you don’t know why you should reread point 1. The second one is even more dangerous.

Sometimes the easiest way to turn your friend into enemy is offering them advice they don’t want to hear.

[Tweet this]

Lately a lot of my friends started blogging. I am a digital strategist by day, a blogger by night. This is what I do when I am not sleeping. I love giving people advice. Some people listen to me, some people don’t. There is a reason why I hate having female friends. Study shows that women are jealous of other women at work, and men don’t seem to care. Some people think I am jealous of their success and try to sabotage their lives. People surprise me with their imagination. I am a big fan of war strategy. If I want to ruin someone’s life, most likely I will let someone else to do the dirty work so nobody can trace it back to me. Only beginners would do it themselves. They don’t need me to make their lives more complicated.  Get real, I don’t have time to get jealous, I am too busy with my life already. I doubt that their blogger life is glamorous as they think, bloggers don’t make money.

When I offer someone my help, I actually want to help. But a lot of the time, people are not ready to accept my help. It is normal. Everything takes time to learn. You shouldn’t offer advice when people are not ready for it or else one day they will come back and blame you when it doesn’t work out.

I stop helping people who don’t want my help. Less drama, more time for myself.

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3. Stop helping people if you can’t put 100%  into it.

Out of the 3, this one is the most dangerous one. Offering someone help when you are not ready to help is a big no-no.  I have done this so many times, and until today I still regret doing it.

Helping people when you don’t have the skills or time will do more harm than good.

Here is a true story about how my friends made my life difficult and ruined our relationships.

I am working directly with Thumble Beta testers. Apple loves making our lives easier, there is 100 person tester limit. If you subtract the number of invites I have to save for clients and media before launch, I don’t have a lot of  invitations for testers. I have to count every single invite that I send out and make sure everyone will give me useful feedback. A lot of my friends asked to test the app.  They all promised they will help me killing bugs. And a very small amount of them actually kept to their words.  They don’t know that instead of helping they are making life harder for the Thumble team. People don’t understand being a horrible tester affects the app in many ways. To them it is just an interesting app they want to to try. To me, it is my life. People have no idea how much more work they created for me and how much they hurt my feelings.

I don’t like to blame people for my mistakes because it is not healthy and I won’t learn that way. I put my friends before my job. My biggest mistake was trusting my friends. I forgot one of my favorite quotes, “I’d rather betray the world than let the world betray me.” I hurt myself by letting the wrong people start helping me. Even I know it was my fault, the relationships are already damaged.

I am not afraid  admitting my mistake. It is part of the startup life, fail and learn. But if you need do beta testing, try to avoid my mistake. Never listen to your friends. Pick the people who care about your products not what the products do for them. Everyone wants to play with a shiny new toy, but not everyone wants to make it better. Most of the time the right people are not your friends. It is very important to pick the right testers. Do it right even if it will hurt your friend’s feelings. Keep in mind, your friends will get over it and  negative reviews will never go away. They will be there and haunt you forever.

Offering help when you can’t do a good job will do more harm than good. It is like teaching someone how to paint when you are blind. People always forget this. Your kindness can hurt people too. Anything can be very dangerous if you don’t do it the right way. Don’t believe that help your friends,and  giving them advice they don’t want to hear? Then don’t forget to send them  this link  on Reddit just in case they want to add something to it.

One of the way to destroy a relationship is by offering help that you can’t delivery.

[Tweet this]

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At the end of the day, everything can be good and bad. We all need to find the right balance.

Think before you offer to help someone.

It can cost you time, money and your relationship.

Stop helping people when it is not the right time to help.

Random acts of kindness can be dangerous too.

[Tweet this]

Photo credits: 1. Kana Yamashita 2. source 3-5 Mimi & Eunice Comics by Nina Paley

Tell me something is impossible, I will make it possible.

Our world is changing everyday and we don’t always know everything. A lot of the time you just don’t have the right qualifications for a job. I don’t like to take no for an answer. I think lying about skills on resume is acceptable ( of course in a cammilicious world there are always a few conditions). It is so easy to learn something nowadays. If a job requires basic HTML, put it on your résumé and head to Code Academy and learn it. If they ask for basic Photoshop skills, just read some tutorials, or  watch a few YouTube videos and play with the program. It will take you a few days to master the basics but just playing you’ll learn the ins and outs of it. If you need any skill, Google is your best friend/teacher.Why would you waste an opportunity if you can learn something within a few days. My father signed many PR contracts before he even started a PR firm. Of course, you can’t  tell people that you know 7 languages and don’t bother to study them. There is a big difference between a little lie and a big one. If you put it in your résumé, you should be able to do it.

Life is changing everyday. No matter what you do,you are not going to know everything. You need to be able to learn along the way. It is not acceptable to say you know something and don’t bother learning it, because it will hurt you at some point in the future. But it is okay to have a small lie as long as you can deliver it. Believe me, adaptability is a is one of the top skills that employers are looking for.

photo credit: scottkellum

Blogging is a lot more than just writing.  There are researching, editing, promoting and networking. If anyone told you blogging is easy, that person is not a blogger.  Because I am not the expert in the industry, I always look for new tools that will  make my blog better.

Expertise is the enemy of innovation.

~ Stephen Shapiro

I am going to show you what is in my blogging toolbox. All these tools are free. I know most blogger don’t make a penny from their blogs. It is possible to put together a  good blog with low or no budget. That is the beauty of the Internet. Also every single tool in this list are online. I have a desktop, a laptop, a netbook and an iPhone. I prefer to have everything in a cloud.

Visual

1. Pixlr

One of the biggest mistakes that many bloggers made is ignoring the power of visual. Unless they are graphic design, fashion, crafts or cooking bloggers; most of them don’t do much photo editing. Thanks god I am fashion blogger, and everyday I read many beautiful blogs with great photo editing techniques. It forces me learning how to take better photos and how to edit them. It is like when my next door neighbour’s driveway is clean like a mirror, I would spend  2 hours shoveling to  save face [happen to me every winter, why did I buy a house with a big driveway ???? ] In the Pinterest age, photo editing is not an option anymore. Good content is not good enough, you need it to be beautiful too.

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My favorite editing tool is Pixlr. It is like Photoshop but in the cloud. Pixlr Editor has 20% of the functions you’d find in Photoshop. Unless you are a photographer, graphic designer or artist; it is all you need. Autodesk also offers an even more simplified version of the program, Pixlr Express. Most of the time I use Pixlr Grabbe, a browser plugin which allows me to easily grab screenshots of web pages and use Pixlr to add text, filter and border. The most simplied version, Pixlr-o-Matic is Instagram with more filters. You can add  vintage and retro effects to your image within a minute. Pixlr-o-matic is also available as a download, on Facebook, as an Chrome web app and for your iOS or Android device. I used Pixlr to edit all the images in this post. Pixlr is everything a normal blogger need to make images become more Pinterest-friendly.  The design is clean. The app is fast and easy to use.

2. LoveIt

LoveIt is my favorite photo social network at the moment.  Pinterest is the king of photo sharing However Google was not the first search  engine, it was 18th. Facebook was not the first social network. I believe LoveIt is not a clone, it is a Pinterest killer. Why? Because it gives users so much more power. Organizing Images. Instead of moving one image at a time, as with Pinterest, a user can move multiple images into multiple collections at once. Shared Collections. There’s a community aspect to LoveIt. Users can join boards with friends and create collective collages. For example — three Carroll Shelby fanatics all collecting photos of old mustangs on the same board. Private Collections. Users can also create private collections that only they (or others they invite in) can see. As an example, if an architect was creating a plan for a client, with ideas and examples, he could keep that visual online board to himself, until he was ready to share it with clients or colleagues. Recommendation Engine. LoveIt recommends more boards or collections you might like based on your interests and recent items you have collected. Original Sourcing. Once you “love” an item, you can automatically see the source (i.e. original blog or website) that the item came from; you can also view other items from that source. Brands. LoveIt already has several brands on board on the site (i.e. Better Homes & Gardens, Marie Claire, Honda, AHAlife, and others). Users can go right to these brands’ websites and start loving what they have displayed online [Forbes]

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This is an interactive image, roll over for more details.

I know they are working on a few  powerful new features. I am a very loyal user, but LoveIt convinced me to dump Pinterest. It makes my life so much more easier. My favorite feature at the moment is the private collections. I am not a big fan of pinning photos and sharing them with people. I am selfish and I hate sharing.  It is hard to believe because I have over 4000 pins on Pinterest. Pinterest was fun in the first few days but after a while every beautiful image looks the same. It became a very boring social network. This is the reason I adore LoveIt. I use it as a visual organization tool NOT a social network. If you visit my LoveIt profile, you won’t find many public images because most of my collections are private. Whenever I find a beautiful image on the internet that I am planning to use in the future I would save in a private collection. Before LoveIt, I had to save everything in Evernote. Evernote is a great tool for researching but not the best visual organization tool.  I don’t want my followers to see the content before I publish it. Also, LoveIt organization tool is very powerful. I have always pinned image on the wrong board on Pinterest. And it would take me half an hours to correct all my mistakes. With LoveIt, I can just drag and drop. I believe LoveIt is the perfect tool to discover and  organize images for your blog.  Don’t look at it as a social network, and try to use it as a tool.

3. Thinglink

The LoveIt image above is an interactive image, and the image below is also an interactive image. Play with them.  I strongly believe that interactive media is the future. Right now not enough publishers are using interactive media. It is a great opportunity for you to stand out especially this tool is free. Thinglink technology lets businesses and consumers embed audio, video and rich media links directly in images and share them across the web. The plugin is compatible with WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr and more. If you are a fashion blogger, you can link the item to an e-commerce store like I did here. The basic account is free and you can upload up to 50 images per month. For most blogger, it is more than enough. The price of the Plus and Pro accounts are pretty reasonable too. If you have a plus/pro account you will get access to detail statistics. It can help you understand  your audience better.  You can tell exactly how users are interacting with your images.

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This is an interactive image, roll over for more details.

4. Compfight

This tool was stolen from the fabulous Pushing Social’s  Essential Tools for The Savvy Blogger list. I fell in love with it at first sight. It is so hard to find creative commons or royalty-free photos from Flickr. The day I   installed the Compfight plugin for WordPress was the happiest day of my life [ maybe not, but it saves me a lot of time]. I can add image to my blog post  and set it as featured image with in a few clicks.

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Communication

5. Google+

If you read my  Links You Don’t Want To Miss series, you already know I am a crazy Google fan. Some people think Google is paying me, that is not true.  Using my favorite tools and getting paid is my dream. If you know any Googler, don’t forget to tell them how much I love Google. A year ago I said I will bet my future on Google+, and today I am still there. I believe Google+ is a power tool and it will have a very bright future. Google+ affects your Google ranking. You should learn to love it.  Plus it is an amazing networking tool and my second favorite search engine.

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Google Hangout is one of the most power tools from Google+. It makes  collaboration so much easier. There are so many apps for hangout such as slideshare, youtube, google, doc, game, Cacco etc. You have the power to make your conversation more interactive.

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This is an interactive image, roll over for more details.

Video Blogging is big. According to YouTube’s head of global partnerships, Robert Kyncl, “ Today over half of all Internet traffic is video—51 percent.  And based on the current trends, we predict that in the next three years over 90 percent of all Internet traffic will be video.”  And I am sure you want to be part of it. Hangout on Air makes it so easy to host an online show, engage with people, record and publish it on YouTube. I am working to launch  my web show, and you should too. Bonus:A lot of bloggers use Skype to connect with their friends but I prefer GChat. I always forget to turn on Skype but I always have Gmail opens. I also have an New York Google Voice number for my friends from the states to contact me. When I travel, I usually buy a prepaid phone number and add-on data. People can call the same number no matter where I am.  It is cheaper than paying roaming charges.

6. Google Apps For Business

bestblogger@hotmail.com Do you think this email look professional? I don’t think so. Many blogger bought their own domain for their blog but still using a tacky looking email address. I know I am mean. Do we really have to question it? I have talked to a few fashion blogger friends of mine (fashion people are usually very low tech), most of them think it is too complicated to set up a contact@yourdomain.com email address.  It is not true. I didn’t really know anything when I started blogging and I had no problem setting up my Google Apps. It is 2012, you can do anything if you want it bad enough. YouTube has million of tutorial videos for you. In the beginning I got Google Apps just for Gmail. Any other email system would drive me crazy. I need all my plugins such as  Canned respond,  Boomerang,  Social CRM system and sync my contact list with Google.  Later I found out there are more apps like Google Doc, Drive, Calendar, Talk and many apps in the Google Apps MarketPlace. For most bloggers and small business, the free account is good enough.  It is a powerful and free, what are you waiting for?

7.  Rapportive

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This is one of my 2 favorite plugins for Gmail. You can get a Chrome Plugin or the app from the Google Apps MarketPlace Rapportive shows you everything about your contacts right inside your inbox. You can immediately see what people look like, where they’re based, and what they do. You can establish rapport by mentioning shared interests. You can grow your network by connecting on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and more. And you can record thoughts for later by leaving notes. “Stalking” people is part of networking.  If you want to be a good blogger, you need to learn to become a relationship builder. If you want to be a good relationship builder, you need to learn to be a stalker. This tool is perfect for it. I have tested pretty much every CRM programs in the Google App Marketplace, and Rapportive is my favorite.  I get everything I need without leaving Gmail.  Another good Social CRM program is Batchbook. Chris Brogan wrote a reviewa few years ago. I used it for a few months and realized I spent more time with my contact list than the people. It offers way more than I need. However it a cheap decent social CRM system for small business.

8. Livefyre Realtime Comments

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Livefyre is the best comment system with realtime updates, social network comment integration and social tagging. When I just  started blogging, I spent days searching for the perfect comment system. I knew I want a social comment system and I found Livefyre. One day, the comment system stopped working. I sent Livefyre support a tweet and email . They got back to me right away and helped me solving the problem. Guess what, it was  not Livefyre’s fault. One of my photo plugins caused the problem. Livefyre has the best support team for a free plugin. If I hate a brand [i.e Hootsuite the most unsocial social media brand I have ever known], I will be a b****. If I love a brand, I will be its most loyal fan and ambassador.  Livefyre is one of the brands that I love.  They really care about their users. I cannot count how many people  I have recommended the plugin to. I believe everyone should use it. The company is going to roll out Livefyre 3soon with a ton of improvements, including:

• Moderators can edit comments
• More filter and search options with fewer clicks
• New “user” section in admin dashboard
• Real-time updates
• Batch moderation capabilities
• and more

Marketing

Data is Gold.

9.Google Analytics [+ WordPress Jetpack  Site Stats]

If you want to be successful on the Internet, you have to learn to love analytics. Numbers are boring but you need to understand your site and audience to promote it. Google Analytics shows me how effective my strategy is. I know exactly when is the best time to post, which social network sends the most referrals, which topic is popular etc.

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WordPress Jetpack Site Stats

Bonus: Google Analytics might be too complicated for some people,  Wordpress Jetpack  Site Stats is a good simplified version of Google Analytics.  My little sister. Monster  just starts blogging. She is using this plugin now. If you really hate numbers, at least get this plugin. It gives you the most important numbers you need to know. I use both of them because I really like to see my stats on the WordPress top menu on every single page .

10. Bit.ly

I used to use su.pr as my url shortener because of its  social toolbar. However  I cannot pin anything with that toolbar  so  I switched back to Bit.ly.  I love its  statistics page and the bundles feature. It is the best url shortener.

11. SEO for WordPress by Yoast

I hate SEO and that is why I love this plugin. All in one:

1. Post titles and meta descriptions
2. Robots Meta configuration
3. Canonical
4. Breadcrumbs
5. Permalink clean up
6. XML Sitemaps
7. RSS enhancements
8. Edit your robots.txt and .htaccess
9. Clean up head section
10. API Docs

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If you want to learn more about SEO check out The Beginner’s Guide to SEO

12.  Google Keyword Research Tool

I hate SEO, but it is still important. Recently I discovered the power of keywords and fell in love with Google Keyword Research Tool. It helps you discovering the competition for the keywords you want to rank for.

13. Bloglovin

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Recently I realize how much referral traffic I got  from commenting on other blogs. I use Google Reader as my RSS feed for articles that I want to read and share. I use Bloglovin to comment on target blogs.  Bloglovin is my RSS for engaging.  It is very easy to use.  Read a post => comment => move to the next article.

14.  Buffer

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Buffer is  scheduling app for Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. To be honest, I used to hate Buffer with a passion. I used Timely.is way before Buffer. It is used to be so much better than Buffer in my opinion.  When I first tried Buffer, I  ran into a few problems and I hated it. Few months later, I tried it again and couldn’t login. There was no way to recover my password. I hated it every more. However Leo Widrich [@LeoWid] and the Buffer team  changed my mind. They are really good at marketing. It was so hard to avoid Leo. He was everywhere.  There are so many things I have learned from them. Buffer was not the best app when I first tried it, but it managed to become the best. I really admire the Buffer team and Leo. If you are a blogger, stalk those guys. Believe me you won’t waste your time.

15. Feedburner

Feedburner is one of the best feed management for blogger. It makes it incredible easy for anyone to subscribe to your blog. It also allows you to track data.  If you don’t have a clue how to use it, check out this post. Feedburner 101

16. Tweet Old Post

Most bloggers only promote their content right after they published it.  It is hard to go back, and try to promote old posts. However most of my content are timeless, I don’t want them to be forgotten. This WordPress  plugin helps me keeping my content alive and gaining a lot of traffic. To avoid tweeting out of date content, don’t forget to set the maximum age of post to be eligible for tweet, omit some categories, and exclude out of date posts

Content

17. Dropbox

Anything can happen tomorrow, I think we should backup our databases. I have a backup plugin that sync with Dropbox. If tomorrow something happens to my blog, I would be fine.

18 Evernote

Evernote is the best note-taking app. You can capture anything from text to web pages, image, and voice notes with Evernote. If I find an interesting article from my RSS, I will send it to Evernote. If I want to save a Google+ post or tweet, I send it to Evernote. I take a photo of everything and send it to Evernote.  It is my favorite note taking app for research.  I have the Evernote Web Clipper for Chrome and Iphone app. There are many note-talking app that have similar feature as Evernote. However just like Bit.ly, Dropbox, Buffer; Evernote integrates with  everything . That is why it is the best note taking app.

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19. Google Alerts

Google Alerts is a good research tool to keep me up to date with all the juicy news. It helps me finding new topic for my blogs. I also use it as a reputation control tool.

20.  Editorial Calendar Plugin

I use this plugin to  organize and schedule future blog posts. It is very easy to say I will blog 3 times a week, but most of the time I don’t. I am more likely to write when there is a plan.

21.  Google Docs

Because I have 3 computers, I want everything to be in a cloud.  Most of my blog posts are written when I am not connected to the Internet, I use Google Docs Offline. When I am connected again, it will sync with the cloud. I don’t have to remember which computer I used when I wrote my post.  Google Docw is like Microsoft Office without all the fancy tools that you don’t really need. It is not too much, not too little, just right. Google Docs is highly collaborative. It is the perfect tool to work with your team or guest bloggers.

22. After The Deadline

I cannot write but I like to write a lot. After the deadline is the best grammar, style, and spelling checker. You can install  Google Chrome extension,  Firefox add-on,  or WordPress plugin. It is the assistant I have always needed.

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23. Akismet

I had no clue what Akismet was when I started blogging, and I uninstalled it. It was one of the worst decisions I have made during my blogging career. I wasted so much time dealing with spam. I reinstalled it and now I can spend my quality time engaging with you :). It is one of the WordPress plugin that you will download, install and forget about it.  It will take care of everything and you will never have to worry about spam again.

24. Zemanta

This plugin analyzes your words as you are typing in your blog editor and suggest tags, images, links and related articles for your content.  From reading is post, you know I love adding links. According to SEO for WordPress there are 82 outbound links in this post. Of course I love this plugin. Also the plugin  allows me to add photos from my Instagram without leaving the page. It is an amazing blogging assistant tool. Zemanta supports WordPress.com, WordPress, Tumblr, Blogger, TypePad, Movable Type, Drupal and Posterous. There is a Chrome extension A few days ago, Zemanta and Fashion Traffic announced a partnership. If you are a fashion blogger, you can add image and earn commission within a few clicks.

Even I love this plugin , I have uninstalled it. Lately, I installed a Pinterest plugin on my fashion blog  and found out the app adds a  logo that links back to its website at the end of the post. There is no way to turn this off ( you only have invisible option). I don’t have ad on my blog, I wouldn’t promote an app. Sorry Zemanta, we are not meant to be together.

25.  WPTouch

I read almost everything on my phone. It is very important for me to make my site mobile-friendly. I have tried many mobile plugins for WordPress and WPtouch is the winner. And the most important tool…..

+1 Pen and paper

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Usually pen and paper are not free but you can easily buy them cheaply.  I get mine for free from conferences and events. At the end of the day the best blogging tool are pen and paper. There are no bugs, no error, and they won’t die. I like to carry a small notebook and pen around with me. I write or scribble whatever comes to my mind. You never know an idea  might become very useful one day.  If your smartphone and laptop are dead, pen and paper might save the day. These are the top 25 blogging tools that I adore. You don’t have to use all of them. We are all have different tastes, just use the one that works for you. Have fun blogging. If I missed any good tool, please let me know in the comment.

Photo: 1 Don  4.Thinglink  8. Rapportive 9.LiveFyre  10. WordPress Jetpack Site Stats 14. Evernote 15. After the deadline 16. Amir Kuckovic

I don’t attend a conference for content.

I know it does not make sense to most of you. But from my experience, I learned that most of the time I get no value from attending conference just for the content.

1. Nothing will be groundbreaking

Most of the time that will be the case. If you have kept up to date with your industry news which you should, nothing is going to be new. Most of the speakers at conference have at least a book and/or a blog.  They usually have shared their most juicy information online already. They are just going to tell the same story in a different format. It is much cheaper to subscribe to their blogs, follow them on social media and buy their books on Amazon. The content is created for the masses and not an individual. It is usually too general and won’t be the answer to your problem. Remember most of these guys have consulting businesses. They cannot give out everything if they want to stay in business

2. You can gain access to content after the conference

Just assuming I was wrong, and there is some important information that you need to know. Many conferences will upload videos on their websites a few days after the conference. You can watch all the talks later whenever you want. If that is not the case, I am sure at least a few people will blog about it. With a simple Google search, you will find all the key points that you need to know. If you are lazy like me, you will go on Twitter and follow the conference hashtag.

3 Sometimes the speaker is not the expert

Last year, I had a dinner with someone I met at a social media trend forecasting event.  And we had a very interesting conversation.

Me: Why am I good enough to have dinner with you but not good enough to be followed back on Twitter?

Mr. CMO: Sorry I haven’t checked Twitter in a while, I will follow you now

He took out his iPhone and tried to login on a browser.

Me: What is wrong with your Twitter app? Why don’t you use it?

Mr. CMO: There is an app for Twitter?

Me: You didn’t know that? 0_0

Mr. CMO: I am a location based guy.

Me: I don’t think you checked in on Foursquare earlier.

I spent half an hour showing the guy how Twitter works and he still didn’t get it. Two weeks before that night, the same guy was on the stage talking about the future of social media.

Most of the time, companies send their executives to represent them at conferences instead of the experts who are behind all the work.  It doesn’t make sense to me to listen to someone who might be more clueless than I am.

A lot of the time the expert is sitting right next to you. Last year at Podcamp Toronto at one of the sessions, the speaker  did not show up. Some people left and a few stayed. We took turns in sharing what we know about the topic. It was better than all the other sessions I went to that day.  Everyone is teacher, I always learn something from them.

The best lessons are in the hallway.

4. Why should I listen to someone when I can talk to that person directly.

I am very lucky to have many successful  friends. A lot of the time, I already know the speakers before the conference and exactly what they are going to talk about. If I don’t, I know I will manage to get to know him/her at some point soon. I prefer to have a chat with the speaker over some good wine. Usually you will learn more from them outside the conference. Of course, not everyone has the same network as me. But you can pretty much become anyone’s friend if you master the art of relationship building.

If I don’t go to conference for the content, what do I do there?

I go to conference to meet new people and catch up with friends. It is time for me to build relationship and nurture the ones I already have.

I don’t go to conference just to exchange business cards. It is not speed dating in the business world. I take my time to get to know people.  I can spend a good half an hour just listen to someone’s life story. I show them that I care. We have one and only one first impression, and we should make it unforgettable.

Do you want to have a stack of business cards or do you want people to remember who you are next year?

And when I am not skipping the conference to chat with someone in the hallway, I would be on my laptop writing email or connecting with people on social media. The best part is the person will get the follow-up message right after the conference. It makes you stand out because yours will be one of the first follow-up emails. In my honest opinion  it is the best time because your mind is still fresh. You still remember exactly who you are writing to. Have you ever woken up the day after a conference and have no clue who you met the day before?

If you don’t have time to write an email, make some notes on their business cards as soon as possible. I also like to take pictures of the business cards and save in my Evernote just in case if I lose them. If you are really good, take a picture of everyone you meet.  My father does it  all the time, he always says it is for his phone book. Everyone in his contact list has a photo. I am very very very bad with names. One time I spent 15 minutes trying to remember my stepbrother’s name. A picture is worth a thousand words, it can be very helpful the next day. I also use Hashable  to keep the list of people I meet because I always lose business cards.  [Sadly the app no longer exists. My current favorite is CardMunch by Linkedin. Thanks Casie Stewart for showing me at WIBN Conference]

The best thing you can do at a conference is building relationship and invest in people. I met some of my best friends at conferences and you can too.

Remember…

Ten years from now many of the information you learn at the conference will be out of date, the only thing will last is the relationship you build today.

Photo: 1 Martin Bekkelund

You don’t have to be a “person of influence” to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me.
~Scott Adams

With the rise of Klout, a company that measures influences on social networks  which I usually refer as the Social Media Clown, online influencers become the hottest celebrities of the digital age.You have seen these influencers sitting front row at fashion week next to Anna Wintour or walking the red carpet at a movie premiere with George Clooney. Have you ever wondered what they do on daily basis?

This is a normal day of a social media influencer.

9:49 a.m  Tweets “just woke up”. Googles a hangover cure.

10:05  a.m Checks Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Email. Reads  online newspapers and blogs to check last night party photos. Sends the editor an email request to removing a photo where “the influencer” looked too fat.

10:35 a.m Tweets about how beautiful “the influencer” is today.  Uploads a picture herself  on Instagram. Checks in “the influencer’s fabulous office”  on Foursquare…..[Incase anyone forgot how important she is].

10:45 a.m  Reads a frienemy’s blog and finds out ABC PR agency did not invite the influence to a party. Breaks a vase and tweets ” _____ party is just for influencer-wanna-be”

10:46 a.m Checks Twitter

10:47 a.m Checks Twitter

10:48 a.m Checks Twitter

10:50  a.m Writes a blog post about last night party.

11:30 am Works on the “next viral” Ebook => “How to party and influence people”

12:45 p.m Checks Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest. Counts new followers and fans.

1:00 p.m Eats lunch with another influencer. Spends 20 minutes tweeting back and forth with the other influencer on Twitter so everyone can see that the influencers are eating together.

2:15 p.m Asks restaurant’s manager to cover the bill and promises to write a review. Of course it will be a good one because it was a free meal.

3:00 p.m Pitches to brands and asks for samples…..a lot of samples.

4:00 p.m Takes more pictures and shares them on Instagram.

4:30 p.m Googles “How to gain more Twitter followers”, ” Cheap Facebook Fans”, “How to become influential on social media”

5:00 p.m Drops by ____store to pick up a dress for the many parties of the night. Takes picture and  shares on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter. [This is what a girl needs to do to borrow a dress!]

6:00 p.m Arrives at party A. Tweets “the influencer has arrived #PartyAbyBCD”

7:00 p.m Open bar => drinks

8:00 p.m Still drinking…it is free

9:00 p.m …..still drinking

10:00 p.m Time to go to party  B

11:00 p.m Drinks more

…… Not sure what happens

2:00 a.m Home

This is a joke. Don’t take it too seriously. A lot of people claim to be influencers. Partying day and night, and writing about it the next day does not make you an influencer.  Having a high Klout score or a big following does not make you an influencer.  Popularity is NOT influence. It takes a lot more work to become a true influencer.

True  influencers would never call themselves  ”influencers” because they are too busy adding value to others’ lives. They use their powers for good not personal gain. These are the only “influencers” we need to know.

5 Reasons Why I Will Marry Money

1. There is nothing wrong about that

I grew up as an élite in Vietnam. My father is a financial and real estate investor. Anyone he introduces to me would be in the same industry and most likely they all have money…a lot of money. Why would I marry someone without money when I can marry one with money? It’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich man as a poor one.  When two people come from the same background, it is so much easier for them to relate to the other. There are many amazing men out there but it is easier to find someone who is in my circles already.

It is ok for men to marry pretty women, but people always judge when  women marry wealthy men. Why don’t they think she marries into wealth because she deserves it? Marriage is a business. If both parties are happy, there should not be a problem. Some marriage will last, some won’t.  Smart women control their lives, they don’t let other people do it. They do what is the best for them, and a lot of time marry money is one of them.

2.The type of men that I love would always be wealthy.

I am used to be around super successful and powerful men.I don’t feel safe around men without a brain and clear vision. I know really well how the roller coaster of life looks like. I am not ready to share my life with someone who I don’t feel secure with.  All my life I expect to marry an ambitious intelligent man who is willing to take risk because I feel safe around them. In life usually those men are very successful. Success goes together with wealth and power. Is it wrong to marry a person I love? I don’t think so.

Smart women usually want to share their lives with smart men. Smart men dream big and take big action. They always fight to get what they want. At the end they usually get rewarded with a successful career.

3.  Poor Men are more dangerous.

Who is more dangerous: a man with everything or the man with nothing? They are both dangerous. However a wealthy men has more ties. Anything he does will affect his personal brand/reputation,wealth, power, and  social status. He has more responsibilities , anything he does might affect many people’s lives. A poor man has nothing to lose. NOTHING.

My future husband would less likely to leave his family because his stocks are going down if there is a scandal. A happy family usually looks better for business. He will have to pay great price for any mistake he makes.

If my future husband has no money, I have no idea what he would do. Of course there are always some exception. Most of the time, it is true.

Smart women usually go for a more secure option. There are investments you need to take risk, marriage is not one of them.  Wealthy men are more stable than ones with nothing

4 . I want a stable life for my children.

My family went bankrupt when I was a kid. We had everyone including family turned against us. It was hard. I want a more secure life for my children because I don’t want they to experience what I had. What if I get very sick and I can provide them the best life? Their father will. What if I want to stay home and homeschool my children? My family will be able to afford that because my husband will be able to provide us a decent life without me working. There is nothing wrong about wanting to provide your kids the best life. Of course money does not warranty happiness it but it makes life easier.

Smart women think about other people not just themselves. Their marriage would have impact on many people, they have to invest their live wisely.

5. I want my marriage to last.

My mother always told me the formula for true love is

True Love = Looks + Health + Wealth + Power + Status + Chemistry

When you love someone for all the things above, the relationship is stronger and more likely to last. It is almost impossible for everything to be gone all at the same time. Wealth is very important in any relationship. The leading cause of divorce is finance. When we have financial problem, we are more likely to fight with our spouse.

 I don’t know any investor who would  invest in a company and hope it will go bankrupt. It is the same rule in the business of heart.  When I invest my life into a marriage, I want it to work out. I don’t like divorce, it is messy. It is not  very PR friendly at all. A divorce can have negative impact on business and family’s reputation. I don’t think I like the high price I might have to pay for a divorce. I would prefer to marry a financial stable guy, my marriage will more likely to last.

Smart women think more about the long run than short turn. Marriage is a long-term investment. Most people don’t think about divorce when they get marriage. Smart women would be more likely to marry a man who share the same financial mind-set as her. If she does not depend on any man, no man should depend on her.

But There Is A  Condition

Smart woman only marry men who can make money, not the one who has money.

I know life is like a roller coaster. There are up and down times. I have experience both and I know it is not easy. I am expecting to share both times with my future husband. People turned their back against us when my family lost everything. I wouldn’t do that to anyone.

If I marry a man who was born into money, there is the chance he has no clue how to make money. It is not likely I would marry someone like that because I don’t like them. But if it happens, my life will be miserable when we lose everything. He wouldn’t know how to stand back up. I want to become somebody’s wife, I did not sign up for a babysitting job. I don’t respect people who only know how to spend money especially not their money.

If I marry a man who knows how to make money, no matter what happens he will find a way to back to the top. I don’t mind sharing hard times with him, because I know it is only temporary.

Smart women don’t go after what they can see because it can be just an allusion, they go after the brain. It is easy to lose wealth, power and status; it is harder for a great man to lose his millionaire mind. Smart women marry men with future. He might not be rich now but the money will come.  Marriage is a long-term investment, and smart women know it.

Note To Gold Digger

Darling I just defended you but it does not mean it is ok for you to go after someone just for the money.

You should marry money because you deserve it, not because you want it.

1. Wealthy men are smart.

Usually wealthy men  get to the position where they are, most of them know how to read people. They can easily tell if you are going after their money. They know really well what you are thinking. If you don’t deserve to be their wives, they will dump you like last season booties. Of course you can move from one man to another, but how long can you do that? It is not a stable life. And if you think you can get a lot of money from a divorce. There is something called a prenuptial agreement. Darling you will leave your husband without a penny like when you marries him.

2. Wealth does not last.

Nothing lasts, including wealth. It is easy to live when you have a lot of money. But it is not easy when you lose everything. How do I know? I already experienced it. It is not easy to end any relationship. When your husband cannot afford buying you another Birkin or the newest Ferrari, are you going to leave him? If you do, I am sure your gold digger reputation will spread really quick. I am not sure how many serious men will want to marry you.

If you just want to marry for money, forget it. It is a lot of work and high risk. It is better  to build your own legacy because you can control it.

3. We are strong independent women, we don’t need men.

I believe what is not mine will never be mine.  I don’t like to depend on anyone because I know I cannot control it. Why would you? If you have no control of your life, you are in serious trouble darling. If you are not happy without a man, you wouldn’t be happy with one. Happiness comes from within.

Wake up my love, life is only a fairy tale is hard work is your fairy godmother. If you want to marry money, try to become  millionaire-wife-material. That is the only way. And most successful men I know like an independent woman because they know if anything happens, their love will be alright. Smart men want to find a women who will stay during bad time not the one who just wants them for their money. Everybody loves them when the money is there.

When you have money, your friends know who you are. When you have no money, you know who your friends are.

Gold digger is only mistress material not wife. Men will play with you and move on to the  hotter and newer toy. At the end of the day, smart men always come back home to their wives.

Be a platinum digger, go for the brain not just the money. You are a smart woman and I know you deserve  better and you should too.

A lot of people make a big deal when they see a woman marry money. I don’t believe it is bad at all. I know my value and what I deserve. At the end of the day, I don’t forget money is in the formula of true love.

It is your turn: Would you marry money?

photo credit: nattu

Why do I need college, if I have Google?

And here is why I think college is a horrible investment. Let assume the average tuition is $15 000 a year.  I know it is much lower in Canada but keep in mind our post-secondary institution are subsidized. The government is investing into you [ or to be more correct your parents paid it in advance with taxes]. $15 000 x 4 years = $60 000 With $60 000  you can: - Start a startup

• I hang out with a lot of startup founders. Everyone said it is the best experience they have ever had. No business school, even Harvard can actually teach you the skills better than doing it. If you become successful, you could be the next Mark Zuckerberg. If you don’t, you will still walk out with some valuable skills. Learning to accept failure is one of the most important lesson in life. It is priceless, $60000 is still too cheap.

 Have down payment to buy a small house.

• From experience, investing in real estate  is one of the safest investments I know. Asian’s loves real estate. No matter where we go, the first thing we try to do is buy a house. Even if we will have to rent the house and live in one room, we will still do it. We believe that in order to settle down we need a roof over our heads. I would be very surprised if I meet a 30+  Asian that does not own at least one house. It looks like every Asian family has like at least 2 real estate properties: one to live, and rent the other.  My grandma came to this country 20 years with nothing. She cannot  even speak English but with her frugal lifestyle she bought two houses. Unlike college tuition, your house will still be there and most likely you will make a profit if you invest wisely. You will gain a lot of real estate knowledge. [ I am biased. My dad is real estate investor and consultant]

Travel around the world at least twice. 

• There is no better way to learn the world than see it yourself. The more you go the more you will learn. Everyone has their own story and lesson. Everyday you can learn a new lesson, learn to look at the world differently. You learn to go beyond your comfort zone.

 My parents/family/___ wants me to go to college.

• Life is too short to live someone’s else life.  If they love you, they will understand.
• I love this line from a Penelope Trunk’s article “Going to college doesn’t show anything except that the kids or the parents (or both) got scared and gave up on the idea of individualized learning at the most crucial point in a kid’s transition to the adult world.”

And if I can, I would take my little sis Monster out of school, and throw her into life.

…

If you steal things, they will last until they are used up.

If you steal money, it will last until you spend it all.

If you steal power, one day you will lose it.

If you steal fame, one day it will fade.

If you steal people, they will last until someone else steals their hearts.

….

If you steal knowledge, it will be with you until your last breath.

“If I read a book that cost me $20 and I get one good idea, I’ve gotten one of the greatest bargains of all time.”

Tom Peters

We are too busy trying to steal things that we cannot keep, and forgeting about knowledge. Instead of trying to steal someone’s success, learn how they build it. Steal their knowledge and build your own. If you didn’t build something, it is never yours.

• Instead of being jealous => Ask people how they did it
• Instead of killing yourself for doing something wrong =>  Ask people what you did wrong and fix it.
• Instead of talking about yourself => Ask people questions about their lives, their success
• Instead of complaining about  wasting time waiting for something => Open an ebook app and read
• Instead of stealing the wrong thing => Steal knowledge

The difference between where you are today and where you’ll be five years from now will be found in the quality of books you’ve read

 Jim Rohn

Wealth, power, fame will fade; only knowledge will remain with you. Most people are willing to share it, why don’t steal something that people do not mind.

Keep stealing…keep stealing knowledge…

It is your turn: Have you ever steal knowledge?

Photo: Ginny

A year ago when I just joined Twitter, I was very lucky to have many Twitter Elites as my mentors, and @imadnaffa was one of them. I felt really special because he had around 40,000 followers at that time. It was a big deal for a newbie who only had 40 followers. We would exchange DMs everyday and Skype once in a while. I still remember he was always too busy to go out for lunch and I would tease him with my yummy food. Imad was a hard working man with a great heart. Whoever says Twitter friends are not real are wrong. He was a big brother, a father, a teacher to me. We were looking forward to meet each other in real life at TEDxCanton. It was the good old days before I became Miss Popular.

In the beginning of this year, I became much more recognized by the Torontonian Social Media community. I was the face you would see at every event. Everything has its price. To be Miss Popular that everyone loves, I spent less and less time talking to the people in my life, and Imad was one of them. I was always too busy going to another exclusive launch party, building new relationships and ignored every Skype call from Imad. I was too busy responding mentions from stranger and ignored Imad’s DM. I was too busy being popular, and forgot my friend.

On Friday September 2, 2011, I sent Imad a message

“Hey buddy, we have not talked in a long time, We should catch up sometime next week”

Imad DMed me back and promised he will explain more about the meaning of “Twitter élite” to me soon via Skype. Sadly that Skype call never happened. On Tuesday September 6, the second-most influential construction industry tweeter passed away at the age of 49. I did not know what to say when I heard the news from Lonnie Hodge [@lonniehodge].

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Now when I have no events to go, no people to impress; my friend is no longer here with me. It was too late.

I was too busy building relationships and influencing people and forgot about the people who were influencing me. Without @imadnaffa and all my beloved friends, there is no @cammipham today. Don’t make the same mistake.

It does not matter if you have 60 000 followers, if you no longer have anyone to share it with. Building relationship is important but nurturing relationship is more important. It is why you build relationship in the first place. It is like buying a cute pair of Jimmy Choo shoes and never wear them. There is no value if you just build something and forget about it. You cannot start a company, walk away and come back 5 years later expecting few hundreds million dollars. Same rule applies to the business of relationship.

Fame, power and wealth will fade. The only people will stay next to you when you have nothing is the people you invest in today. 

Imad’s death changed me in many ways:

• I don’t go to every event I get invited anymore. Brands might need me but my family and friends need me more
• I put away my phone when I talk to people. My family and friends deserve my attention. Replying a mention late will not hurt anyone.
• I reach out and try to reconnect with people who are in my life
• …

Imad, I am sorry I was not a good friend. Thank you for all the lessons you taught me. I hope in heaven the angels are taking care of you. You know no matter where you are, you are always in my heart.

You can shed tears that he is gone,
or you can smile because he has lived.
You can close your eyes and pray that he’ll come back,
or you can open your eyes and see all he’s left.
Your heart can be empty because you can’t see him,
or you can be full of the love you shared.
You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,
or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.
You can remember him only that he is gone,
or you can cherish his memory and let it live on.
You can cry and close your mind,
be empty and turn your back.
Or you can do what he’d want:
smile, open your eyes, love and go on
David Harkins – Revised Version

Many years ago, Sang A was a successful singer and actress in Korean entertainment industry. By the age of 26, Sang A was one of Korea’s most promising celebrities. On a business trip to New York, the pop star realized that her true love is fashion and enrolled at Parsons. Not long after that the “Gwen Stefani” of South Korea found her real life version of “The Devil Wears Prada”. Sang A got an internship with Victoria Bartlett, a noted stylist and designer. The diva had to run around city to get Ms Barlett’s favorite cupcakes in New York cold winter. Most people would quit after the cupcake runs, but the Korean diva did not leave the spotlight to be a quitter. She lived up to Ms. Bartlett’s expectations, worked hard, and gained a lot of fashion experience in the end. Ms. Bartlett introduced her to the glamorous world of design and helped her start her first collection of handbags. SANG A collection has been successful since it launched in 2006. She’s become a hit on the red carpet with celebrities such as Blake Lively, Rihanna, Kerry Washington and Freida Pinto who love her quirky take on the evening clutch

Even a diva had to start from the bottom.  Nobody wants to be an intern but there is not room for everyone to be the boss. If life was easy, everyone would be successful. Every successful person had to pay a price at some point. He has to feel the pain in order to feel his success.

Life is only a fairy tale if hard work is your fairy godmother.

Hard work is the best way to learn and reach success. If you don’t want to feel the pain, you might have to experience it at later point in life and it won’t be easier.  Of course there are good internship and  bad one. It does not matter which one you have, at the end of the day you will learn something, a life lesson.

It is your turn. Tell me about an internship that you had and what did you learned from it.

Photo: Wikipedia

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1 PRACTICAL

Every year, Alicia and I get things that we don’t need. Nine out of ten times, we dislike the gift. And the one person who got it right is our mother. Everyone has a different taste and need . Receiving a gift means we will have to go return the gift and get store credit off a store that we don’t even shop at. But if we get cash maybe $50 from a person, $100 from someone else; they add up to a large amount. Usually we save up that money to spend on something valuable that we actually need.  A lot of time we use that money to pay for the party [ we are Asian there is no hope the guests will pay for their meals and drinks. It can be very expensive if you have a large party]

Giving cash is just practical. Giving someone a $10 worth of presents that she does need is a waste of money. We are in a recession; we do not have the luxury to spend our money on worthless things. If you would not buy  something you don’t need for yourself, why would you buy for someone else?  That money can help your friends and family buy groceries for a week.  It might be little, but a little helps.

2. TIME SAVING

How much time do you spend on Christmas shopping? At least a few hours. Let’s do the math. If you spend 30 minutes to shop for each of your friends and family members and you need to buy 20 gifts, you will spend 10 hours of your time.  Let’s asumme you make $20 an hour. If you work instead of shopping, you will make $200. That means you can give each of your friends $10 or  spend that money on yourself. Time is money, and you have more important things to do than shopping. Don’t forget gift wrapping and the time to drop off the presents. Now you can just send money with one click.

Not only you will save time, the receiver will save a lot of time too. She will not have to spend time returning your gift. She does not need to find time to find a room for your present. Now she can focus on taking care her children better

It is a win win for both sides.

3 LESS HEADACHE

Holiday shopping is never easy. You never really know what the receiver wants to get. Even if you know, most likely it is wrong. Why would you spending time torturing yourself when you can give her something she will like for sure. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like or need money.

4.AN OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH KIDS HOW TO MANAGE MONEY

My siblings do not get an allowance. They only make money from helping our parents or gift money. The kids are extremely frugal because they know it is not easy to make money. For example, if Alicia wants a birthday party, she will have to pay for it. In order to invite our family and close friends, it would cost at least $1000. Every year she has to sit down and think what is the best way for her to manage her money and still have a good party. She has to come up with a plan and pitch it. The kids become much more responsible when we give them the power to spend money. They would think every time before they spend a penny. It also makes them better people. A few months ago, Jason got $100 birthday money from an uncle, he used $10 to buy a toy that he had wanted for ages and gave the rest to Ivy, our 5 year-old sister to throw her birthday party. He knows that money would help mommy buy more food for Ivy and will make his sister happy. Jason learned that it is not all about receiving.

Give your children money instead of gift is a good opportunity to teach them the value of money and how to manage it.

5. IT IS NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU GIVE BUT THE THOUGHT YOU PUT IN IT

A lot of people feel bad about giving cash because they think it shows laziness and does not express any feeling or thought. It is wrong. If you really care about someone, you don’t need an object to express that. And if you think buying gifts shows that you care more about your family and friend, I will argue why don’t you make them instead of buying. Tell your friends and family why you are giving them cash and how much you love them. And if you still feel bad, why don’t you actually sit down and write a good holiday card without a template. Tell your family and friends why you care about them instead of the typical “Happy Holiday. Love”. You can make a little handmade gift to go with the cash. Doing an easy craft project is faster than shopping for a perfect gift.

Sometimes being practical is not bad, it is just doing the right thing.

It is your turn. What do you think about giving cash?

Photo:  hermitsmoores

A community is a brand, without a community there is no brand.

If you visit the TransitHub website you might notice that there is no app yet, just a demo. The team came together only a few months ago at Startup Weekend, and are still building the app. The interesting fact is that they already have a community.  They have a blog, Facebook, and Twitter without a real product.  They are building a tips database and sharing it. It will help creating a better first experience when it launches. A problem many users ran into when they try new app is no users. That would ruin the first experience. In a very competitive app market today, you do not have a second chance. This was my experience with Color, the startup that got $41 millions funding earlier this year. I loved the idea but there was nobody around me using the app. It was worthless for me because without people to share with it is just an useless cool app. The  purpose of social media for brand is building and connecting a community not just broadcasting. A community is a brand, without a community there is no brand. There are million apps out there but not all of them have users. Most famous companies out there are not the first company came up with an idea nor the best one. But they build and maintain a strong and loyal community who would supports them. A good product without any customer is not a good product. Without a community your “the next Facebook” and your dream of success will stay with you somewhere in a dark basement. It is important to build a community, bring together the people who believe in you and  your brand.

Products fade, ideas remains.

 The next question is ” I don’t have a product what am I going to to talk about?” Talk about your idea. Give people a reason to connect with you. Is that possible? People like to hold on something not an idea?

YES

Of course I know this very well because my father is a master at it. He has always been selling ideas. My father got a few public relation contracts before he has a clear idea what PR is and started his firm. He has been investing and consult in real estate way before he bought his real estate company.  There are so many more examples. I am not saying you can do what my father always does. It is a very difficult thing to do and not any one can do it. It has always turned out good for him because he can put together a very strong team of experts in the field. Building a team is hard plus my father is the best salesman I know. He can make people believe a horrible idea is the next big thing. He does not run the businesses, he makes them run it for him. The lesson here is you need to sell your idea whenever it is possible.  When an opportunity comes, you don’t tell it to wait for you until you are ready. You just need to catch it, and figure out things along the way.  It is ok to start before the perfect time because there is no perfect time.  Most of the time, you won’t really end up with what you started with. Your product will fade, but if you can sell the idea well, the idea will remain with the brand. People know Google for its minimalist design. People remember Apple for the clean and easy to use products. People voted for Obama because they were hoping for a change. People will remember you and your brand, because you will make the best out of what life will throw at you and sell them an idea.

Lastly, you should build a community before a brand because without a community your success means nothing.

It’s your turn. What do you think is better building a community before a brand or build a brand before a community? Why?

It took me a lot of time and effort to get to the position I have today. I have always been here, listened and supported thousand of people. One thing I learned is a good heart is not good enough to help you climbing up a ladder, you need a great mind too. Like I said in my previous post, you should  invest in people but you have to invest the right way. There is no better way to learn something than learn directly from the best people.  I spent a lot of time stalking Twitter Elites [ popular but not celebrities Twitter users]  like @anntran_ @askaaronlee @Iconic88, @ruhanirabin, @Minervity, @2morrowknight,  @ThomasMarzano , @pramitjnathan , @mayhemstudios,  and many more.  I am very lucky because today I can call Ann, Aaron, Mahei, Ruhani, Richard, Sean, Thomas, Pramit and Calvin my friends. One thing they all have in common is:

Good content

And of course I invested a lot of time learning how to create good contents and retweetable tweets. Believe me I was good at it. If you want me to explain about how I did it, please let me know in the comment. Every week I spent hours and hours finding  and scheduling good articles and quotes to share with my community. I retweeted many elites and they reshared my content too.  That helped me gain a lot of popularity. Any time I respond to my mentions and send thank you tweets to all those that retweeted, I would get into Twitter jail.  From nobody I gained a lot of followers. Today I have more followers than some of the people I used to stalk. But something was missing, I achieved my goal half a year earlier than my deadline but it did not feel good. If content is king, what is missing?

One day in April this year, I had a chat with Martin Bryk [ @martinbryk] about personal branding. I told Martin that I am adding a lot of value into people lives but I am forgettable. My relationship with my followers is  no strings attached.  People love me and my content. But if tomorrow I die, they wont miss me. I built a brand with high reach but pretty much no influence because there are thousand of people out there tweeting good content like me. My community came to me because they want information but we don’t have a serious relationship. My content was bland and people cannot see @cammipham in it.  There is a lot of good content out there, but there is one and only one CamMi. Nothing will make my brand more unique than a cammilicious experience.

“Content is king, but experience is priceless”

 The price of building an unique experience is high. The first problem is we are living in an instant information age. Nobody really reads, everybody skims. Personal experience is not something people can read every other word and still understand. People do not have time nor want to relate with you.  Promoting a personal experience, I might not gain any followers – in fact, I am more likely to lose them. Secondly, personal experience is not retweetfriendly. It is not one tweet, two tweets, it is a story. You have to follow it closely in order to understand. It is not something my friend can retweet because without the rest of the story it makes no sense. But I didn’t care at all. I started tweeting about my life more. I show people where I stand. I added thought to the link I share.

I am not as popular as I used to be compare to half a year ago. I do not as much as retweets or mentions like I used to get, but I gained something much more valuable at the end: relationships. It takes a longer time to build  relationships than popularity but it gives a better return.  People have to read my tweets now and they can relate to me more. People know that I am a crazy Asian girl with a big heart who loves shoes [ yes, I will work for shoes]. I am no longer just a popular kid in Twitville, I am a girl with a unique personality who stands up for what she believes in. My community can connect with me more, they are no longer just my follower. These people became my friends, some of my most loyal fans. If they want cammilicious content, they have to come back to me because they cannot find anywhere else. I might not gain a lot of followers but I have a small and strong community. At the end of the day number does not matter, the only thing matters is the quality of your community. 

Content is important but it is not everything. Unique experiences help you connecting with your community better. It helps building a strong relationship. For example, Google+  is very new now. Its 40 million users does not even compare to the 800 million people are on Facebook, but you have to admit that Google Pluser’s are very loyal and truly in love with the platform.  Almost every Web celebrities are in love with it. Brian Clark loves it.  Robert Scoble loves it. Chris Brogan loves it.

Google does not just build a new social network, it  builds a hope. Google+ is amazing because it is not trying to become the new Facebook, it does not have to. It is new, fresh and full of potential, something you can only find at Google+. Google creates a new experience that you have never seen anywhere else.  It is a place you can engage and have meaningful discussions with people who share  similar interests. Google brings back thoughtful discussion to our instant information world. This is why I am in love with G+ and invest my time in it.  It is a risky investment though – unlike money I cannot get back my time – but I believe in Google and put the future of my personal brand in its hands. Google is not just a brand to me, it is a friend who I grow up with and shares experiences together.  I am on Google+ because I feel connected to the brand and the community.

You can buy popularity but you cannot buy real relationships. I have said brands should focusing more on their super fans than influencers. Give free samples to the people who actually love you and will enjoy it. They will tell the world that they love your products and not just “I used it”. Paid influencers can only offer your brand popularity if they do not believe in you. Your true fans can share to the world the experiences, the connection they have with you. Don’t just share good content or produce a good product, create an experience.

It is your turn. Do you like me sharing personal experiences or prefer just information?