A Bigger Voice

Nine Networking Mistakes to Avoid

That's the name of a new posting on my other blog, Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Living.  Based on the feedback that I've been getting on the posting (mostly emails), networking is a timely topic for everyone, not just for wisdom entrepreneurs.

I'm also noticing an increase in people wanting to get together--for coffee or lunch. Could it be that a recession brings out the need to build your own community?

Photo by IztaFineDay

A Bigger Voice in 2009: Learning From One Another

For 2009, A Bigger Voice is moving in a new direction. True to form, the team at A Bigger Voice agreed that the project needed a new direction, but didn’t agree on what that should be. We’re closing this chapter of a group blog with regular contributors on many topics. Instead, there will be a single author blog by Carol, with occasional guest bloggers, including the rest of the team. 

The focus of the blog will be interviews with wisdom entrepreneurs who illustrate some principles of A Bigger Voice in action, have had some recognition or success in creating stunning results, and are now struggling with scalability and financial sustainability. (If you know of someone who should be interviewed, let us know. We've also got some ideas.) We’ll still provide commentary on the tools for having A Bigger Voice—networking, technology, marketing—and the phases of A Bigger Voice—crystallizing, community building, and sustainability. But the commentary will be more closely tied to what wisdom entrepreneurs are experiencing in the field.

With this change, Carol moves closer to her passion of uncovering wisdom in unexpected places by interviewing interesting people and discussing what she learns in written, audio and video form. Beth, Bill, Ellen, and Simon move away from regular involvement with A Bigger Voice, but remain kindred spirits.  Their thoughtful voices will not be lost, but rather show up in new ways—whether through guest blogging, joining the conversation, or making connections for A Bigger Voice in their other networks.

We’ve learned a lot about building communities, creating together, and ownership that goes beyond who pays the bills. We’ve also learned about the importance of transparency in communities. The greatest learning comes not from when things proceed in a straight line, but when there are twists and turns in the road. For that, we are thankful.

So hang on. There’s much more to come. While we can’t say where we will end up, you can count on an interesting ride.

Photo by cogdogblog.

You CAN Build a Community Around Filling a Job

I love how the world works. Ask a question and the answer appears.

This morning, I received an email that I had a new follower on Twitter.  (BTW--If you haven't given Twitter a try, give it two weeks of your time and attention, follow a wide variety of people, and see what happens. It's networking on steroids--both in quickness and number of new, relevant connections.)

The new follower, Susie Parish (Twitter name: @susieparish), has on her Twitter bio: "creator of an online community site for Best Job in the World applicants."

Going to Susie's social networking site, the welcome reads, "A 60 second video was not enough to be able to really share who you are and what you've done in order to be qualified for the Best Job in the World! Join this community to share more about yourself, learn more about other fellow island-caretaker wannabes, and connect with each other to have fun with this dream job opportunity."

How cool is that?

So what do you want to build a community around? And what's the bigger voice that you want to engage others in?

Can You Build a Community Around Filling a Job?

If you received an email with the following opening, what would you do?

Tourism Queensland is seeking an Island Caretaker for the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef - we like to think of it as "The Best Job in the World".

Location: Islands of the Great Barrier reef, Queensland Salary: $150,000 (6 month contract) Responsibilities: Clean the pool Feed the fish Collect the mail Explore The Islands and report back Applicants: Anyone can apply, just visit islandreefjob.com and upload a video application Applications close: 22 February 2009

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. I'd check it out. It's the real thing, with a rigorous selection process that includes a 60- second video as part of the application that is rated by viewers of the site.

You can check out latest videos, most popular videos, and most viewed videos. It's a microcosm of online video--where the most popular and most viewed include bikini-clad women (one brave one in Canada was shown with snow flying across the screen), high-energy and entertaining personalities, and well-thought out, targeted messages.

photo by clamabue

How this relates to A Bigger Voice:

• Crystallization. Clearly articulated message that attracts "kindred spirits," individuals who are web-savvy, at ease with online video, articulate, love an adventure, and thrive on fun and connection with others. Part of the wisdom: Creating a posting for a job that seems too good to be true is in itself great marketing and reinforces the type of people who will apply.
• Community-Building. The tools that A Bigger Voice uses to build a community are front and center: Technology, Marketing, Networking. While this might seem like it's all about technology (uploading videos and rating them), the genius is evident in the marketing and networking. I think of marketing as part visibility, part attraction, part filling a need.  Networking happens naturally. I found out about the job opening from a friend who I only occasionally email. I tweeted about this on Twitter (@carolross) and am now blogging about it. The big question: When the main purpose of filling the job is done, what happens to this site and the people who have a passion for adventure, video blogging, the Great Barrier Reef, or applying for jobs too good to be true? I don't know that the Tourism Queensland team intended to build a community from the recruitment process (although video blogging, once it starts will certainly help with that.)
• Sustainability. Obviously, someone figured out the ROI from the Tourism Queensland office before embarking on this effort. 

Looking at this from a slightly different angle, if you were charged with promoting the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef, how would you traditionally do it? And now that word travels fast through the Internet, online video is cheap to produce and easy to upload, and people are hungry for authenticity and freshness, what would you do?  Yeah, that's what I thought. Welcome to a bigger voice....

Wisdom Entrepreneurs: Do You Have the 5 P's?

This blog is about the "how-to" of transforming an idea into a sustainable movement, helping wisdom entrepreneurs achieve success more easily and intentionally. The how-to's don't say anything about personal traits that contribute to success. Enter a few thoughts on what it takes to be an entrepreneur, in general.

My husband pointed me to the blog, Get Rich Slowly and today's posting, "Hustle and Patience: What It Takes to Succeed in 2009."  There are some real gems related to A Bigger Voice. The posting is about entrepreneurship. I took away five traits that are critical to the idea of building anything from the ground up.

Photo by imjoshdotcom

• Patience. It takes time to grow an idea into something sustainable, whether you are starting from an insight to address a social condition or a skill that can be turned into a business. I've been working on A Bigger Voice for over a year. Some days, it feels like progress comes slowly. And yet, slow and steady does win the race. I know that from my coaching and consulting business.  It wasn't until year three that I was able to make a living at something that I was pretty good at, had lots of passion around, and had committed myself to full-time. 
• Proactivity. J.D., the blogger for Get Rich Slowly uses the term hustle, which can have a negative connotation. I think of this as proactivity, always on the lookout for opportunity, and being willing to take action. It also means being up for trying something new and changing direction based on feedback. This trait reminds me that turning an idea into a movement has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time--not because you fell into it, but because you made yourself accessible to outside information and read the signs pointing to the next opportunity. This relates directly to the tools that A Bigger Voice uses in the Community-Building phase--Networking, Marketing, and Technology.
• Persistence. Not only does it take time to build a movement, it takes hard work. J.D. talks specifically about blogging and building an audience.  Building a community, whether online or offline, using lots of whiz bang social media or regular in-person meetings, takes work. Crystallizing your vision and linking it to your life story takes work. Planting the seeds for monetizing, so that your efforts become sustainable, takes work. I've been playing with Twitter recently. I haven't yet decided to put the work into it to make it work for me. And I know that it won't pay off until I commit to doing the work.  Photo by alexindigo.
• Passion. Where would any of this be without passion? Passion is what fuels the journey, and makes it not just bearable but enjoyable. Otherwise, why do it?
• Paradox. I've left this one for last, because it's something that's often overlooked. J.D. talks about the dichotomy of artist/entrepreneur. Embracing both sides can feel like a paradox. Yet often, it's not one approach that will get you to where you want to go, but taking the best of many approaches. I've referred to the power of hybrids, having a "both/and" vs. an "either/or" mindset. Being able to adopt the "both/and" way of thinking (e.g., how can I do good and do well at the same time?) is a valuable trait.

If you are a wisdom entrepreneur--an innovator with an intense dislike for some condition affecting society, insight from your life to address that condition and commitment to transform insight into a movement--tell me what traits you see as important. I'm curious to know.

Online and Offline Communities

After a two-week hiatus, I'm back online. It seems that all around me, change is in the air. Later this month, I'll announce changes for A Bigger Voice, a shift in the focus of our efforts for 2009.

In the meantime, what's on my mind is the nature of online and offline communities. Next week, several folks from the A Bigger Voice team will be meeting in person for the first time--Beth, Bill, Ellen, and Marissa. (Unfortunately, our budget could not include flying Simon to the US from New Zealand, much as we are all curious to see if Simon is really as wonderful in person as he is online.) Marissa is our fabulous behind the scenes "strategic can-do-ologist" (her words, but I clearly resonate with them) who makes this whole blogging thing a lot easier and more fun.

Beth, Bill, Ellen, and I have been working together since last March. Marissa joined in August. Except for a few brief periods, we have met every week over the phone since March 2008. That's ten months of of weekly calls, working the logistics of a pilot with three clients, collaborating on client work, and evolving the concepts of A Bigger Voice. That's ten months of getting to know how our days have gone outside of working on A Bigger Voice. Ten months of seeing each others' strengths and where each of us struggles, uniquely.

Somewhere in the middle of the year, we formed a community. An online community. Without the normal visual cues to help us sort out whether a person was someone we wanted to get to know better or could trust, we each relied on words, thoughts, actions, emotions and the sound of voices. We relied on hearing someone's sense of humor or seeing their compassion for someone needing a helping hand.

Photo by Nico H

This is the nature of community, independent of whether it's online or offline--the forming of relationships that make the whole bigger than the parts. The more we see of each other, in our best and worst moments, the stronger the community. Forming a community can be messy. That's been the case here as well.

When we meet as a group in-person this month for the first time ever, I will be bracing myself to cry. Not because I won't like Beth, Bill, Ellen, and Marissa in person as much as online and virtually. But because I will like them more. I will be grateful for the chance to experience each of them more fully. Gratitude, followed by intense emotion, usually reduces me to a sobbing mess, followed by hiccupping, like a small child might do after a big meltdown.

This is also the nature of community. Sharing moments that are remarkable and memorable, that make us remember we each have a soul.

A Bigger Voice will always come down to engaging others, deeply, in our passions, and moving that into action. I hope you find a way to take the journey in 2009.