ElizabethPW » twitter

What Does It Mean to “Live Your Truth?”

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:14:00 +0000

I talk about Live Your Truth all the time (it’s even tattooed on the inside of my wrist!), and every so often someone actually asks me straight out, “what do you mean by live your truth?”

As I’ve said many times, I can’t tell you what it means to live your truth.

Because it’s your truth.

Not the truth. Not my truth. Not the truth written by the gurus or dictated by institutions or governments or your parents.

But your personal truth.

Now, that’s all nice and good, but you may want a little more freaking direction than that.

I define “living your truth” in two different ways … one is the mission of my company, and other other is my personal definition & the tools I use to apply it in my life.

Live Your Truth empowers solo-entrepreneurs to make a greater contribution to the world and become more successful & fulfilled by doing what is a natural extension of who they really are.

(thanks to Ken Moorhead for yanking this out of me during a late night consulting session)

But that’s not *my* truth and it’s not *your* truth … that’s just what I’m doing here in this business.

Living my truth is about begin 100% myself 100% of the time, about speaking the things that everyone thinks but no one says, about choosing to be uncomfortable every day, about being a visible leader of this movement.

But what could Living Your Truth mean to you?

During the first weekly #lytchat (live your truth twitter chat) we discussed this very question, and here are some of the responses:

idance_iwrite: Actively letting go of what other’s want from you and listening to your ‘inner voice’
JanieC: letting the real and best you out of it’s hiding spot
LisaMHines: Being courteous to others, but not letting them persuade your actions, words, etc.
kymleeisawesome: knowing what you are & are not responsible for. not doing anything that doesn’t fit your vision for yourself
tarufisher: For me, #LYT is saying “no” when I mean “no”, and “yes” when I mean “yes”.
ACCompanyC: disregarding the “shoulds’” – or at least questioning why should I?
LisaMHines: LYT means staying in a centered place, honoring my true self in everything I do.
JanieC: getting rid of barriers, real and imagined
bethearle: For me it’s living my values
JennaAvery: Having the courage to say what I mean, mean what I say, do what I love, and love what I do, in all things.
bethearle: practicing outwardly what my inner self knows intuitively
lizschneider: keeping soul-level promises that i make to myself.
jaladesigns: 4 me, its simply just being myself instead of trying 2 b perfect. It’s living & operating w/ honesty, integrity & decency.
lorilatimer: Doing what’s right for me, not what anyone else thinks or wants
lizschneider: Living my truth means, “walking my talk”, speaking what I think and doing what I speak
truthlifecoach: It’s about honoring my core values and trusting my “gut”
jhaubein: Being yourself no matter what others might think of you. Staying true to your values.
daniellemmiller: making sure my purpose and values are not compromised by my head worrying about what others think
jenngbob: Living my truth means not feeling guilty for doing what I intuitively feel I should be doing right now
ChristineVenart: For me, living my truth means to show up as myself always, push myself past my fears, and to say the hard truth
kymleeisawesome: not being afraid to take that leap of faith, facing down the fear and moving forward into uncertainty
lorilatimer: It also means saying “no” when that’s what’s best for me – something I didn’t used to do
KyraHowell: Living my truth means knowing my vision and allowing that to be my life.
m_michael: Living my truth: Being fearless w/o recklessness
YourGoToGuy: Simply doing instead of worrying.
daniellemmiller: complete trust in my intuition and “gut”
chrisarcucci: speaking & living my truth with compassion and clarit
lorilatimer: Getting out of my head and listening to my heart/intuition
bethearle: not following the crowd/ marching to my own drum
MarySchaefer: Giving myself permission to be BIG and small and loving myself in any state

So … I’d love to hear your thoughts & ideas, by you commenting below …

… do any of these resonate with you? What do the words “live your truth” mean to you?

And, we love for you to RSVP and join us for the next Live Your Truth twitter chat (#lytchat) - it’s free and open to anyone to join (yes, to participate in the conversation you need a twitter account). See you there!

Do You Want Every Day to be Epic?

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:15:23 +0000

Of course you do.

Join @ElizabethPW and @AllisonNazarian for the weekly twitter chat “Epic Adventures in Everyday Life” (#epicchat) on Wednesdays at 5:00 PM Pac / 8:00 PM EST

Join EPW (closer-to-the-edge girl) and ANaz (closer-to-home girl) as they explore:

How life doesn’t stop when you become a mom … it begins.
Why you need (at least) a bit of crazy and adventure in your life, even if you are not a risk-taker or adrenaline junkie.
How you don’t need to travel to India or jump out of a plane to transform your life.
How to marry the idea of crazy & fun & freedom into real, practical, day- to-day life.
Why it’s hard to bring adventure into your life in a vacuum, and how real and powerful friendships are your “key ingredient” for making life itself an adventure.
How to run your career/business, have a real life, go on adventures, and be a great mom … all at the same time … without being frozen by guilt or overwhelm.

Each week we will choose a different topic & invite special guests to share their awesometastic ideas & inspirational stories with you.

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein (aka @ElizabethPW, aka EPW) is a mom, entrepreneur, and crazy adventurer who feels more at home in airports, hotels, taxicabs, new friends’ homes or while tweeting up in bars, climbing a mountain or randomly walking around a city, than she does at the place where she keeps her stuff. She uses her travels as inspiration for her blog & videos, for coaching clients, and for creating new programs exploring how to Live Your Truth in business and life. If you want to follow her particular kind of insanity, check her on on twitter, facebook, or on her blog (EPW: of course you know about that, you’re on my blog right now. lol.).

Allison Nazarian (@AllisonNazarian) is a Mom, writer, empire-builder, author, former introvert, former control freak, future bookstore owner and current NFL junkie and Howard Stern fan who craves the comfyness, safety and familiarity of home while slowly but surely embracing the fun, flow and adventure of life on the edge. Allison writes copy, columns and blogs and teaches others how to do the same. Connect with Allison on twitter, Facebook or at AllisonNazarian.com.

The Real Secret to Get 12K Followers on Twitter

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 04:17:51 +0000

How you are with your friends, people you love and care about?

When you meet them for coffee or drinks, do you stand on the chair and throw your business cards at them, screaming about your latest big launch?

Do you walk around the restaurant forcing people to stand around you and be part of your herd, since you promised to be part of their herd first?

Do you pay someone $99 dollars to find a bunch of random bodies to sit at your table?

Of course you don’t.

That’s not how we develop relationships with people we care about.

When we are around people in our real-life in-person communities, we act real.

We share our stories.
We listen to each other’s stories.
We ask questions and listen to the answers.
We respond to each other’s questions.
We share something we just discovered and are excited about.
We share resources that we honestly believe will help the other person.
We introduce people to each other who we think would get along.
We fix people up who we think would really get along.
We check in with each other if it’s been a while since we’ve talked.
We share stuff that is funny or bizarre or gross or stupid.
We go on adventures together.
We give gifts.
We tell inside jokes.
We debate issues that are important to us.
We help each other with our challenges.
We ask for help when things get hard.
We find out what’s wrong if we sense there’s a problem.
We celebrate each other’s successes.
We morn together when things go bad.
We apologize when we screw up.
We call each other on our bullshit.

Bottom line –> We act like human beings who care about other human beings.

If you want twitter to work for you, if you want to develop real relationships with your followers, if you want any of this to actually mean something … that’s all you have to do — treat people on twitter like you would treat friends in your regular life.

Act like you care about people you know on twitter.

Better yet, actually care about people you know on twitter.

You don’t need a guru or expert or A-list blogger or even me to tell you how to be a human being.

All you have to do is take massive action that’s naturally inspired from that caring place.

And the real relationships will follow.

#thatisall

P.S. I’ve seen stats showing that 10K followers can pull the same number of click-throughs on a tweeted link as 1 million followers. You don’t need big numbers of followers. You need engaged followers. People you have real relationships with. People you care about, who care about you in return. If you want a bullshit ego inflation mechanism go ahead & build up a big follower count. If you want to have an amazing life & amazing relationships & an amazing business, you have to care.

#nowthatreallyisall

How has your experience been on twitter?

What has worked for you? What has not worked? Where did you find your greatest success?

Please, join the conversation below, I’d love to hear from you!

Skype, Starbucks & Skin Grafts: 11 Strategies to Find Friends in Fantasyland

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:02:00 +0000

I always wanted Friends.

Every Thursday night in my Junior year of college, a group of us girls would run back from night class to gather in Mindy’s dorm room, drink illicit margaritas, and revel in the details of a romanticized version of New York City life.

The scenario portrayed on the 1990s TV show “Friends” seemed perfect.

A group of singletons living in the big city. Alone, but together. Always someone to share the events of the day, have a drink with, or support you when your non-secret lifelong crush didn’t love you back or when you were giving birth to your brother’s triplets conceived by artificially insemination.

But that never really happened when I got out into the real world.

Yes, obviously I had people I hung out with in law school, work friends from the law firm, and acquaintances here and there from my daughter’s playgroup or the local business networking event.

But I never really found my people.

People where I didn’t have to play a part. Where I was not restricted to doing just what I “should” do. Where I didn’t have to hold back a part of my insanity so I fit into the norm of the group. Where I could share not just the positive stuff, but also all of the crap of my life.

So, I figured that the magical support structure I had envisioned was just that. Fiction. A fantasy.

Fast foreward to one week ago from today.

I was home alone, chatting on Twitter & Skype, working on some tasks for The Live Your Truth Project 2 and planning a weekend of untold productivity & video creation.

Then the phone rang.

It was my ex-husband. Our 4 year old daughter had suffered second degree burns on her leg from scalding hot water at a KFC and was being transported via ambulance to the Regional Burn Unit at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center.

So before I ran off in a frenzy to meet them at the ER, I invoked my support structure.

No, I didn’t run over to a neighbor or call a family member.

I updated my Twitter account.

“going to the ER: ex called to say that my daughter has 2nd degree burns from hot water spilling on her. will update.” 12/4/09 7:55 PM

Over the last 7 days I live tweeted my entire experience as the mother of 4 year old who has 2nd degree burns over 10% of her body.

Almost fainting as they cleaned her wound. Her refusal of pain medication, flabbergasting the hospital staff. My sleeping on the worst bed that had ever been invented. Her grilling the surgical resident on the risks of waking up during the procedure. Our nightmare of her needing surgery to attach fake skin to her wound, and relief when we found out three days later that the surgery worked. And our joy a few hours ago when she took her first post-burn steps down the hospital hallways.

The amazing thing is that I didn’t have to do this alone.

As soon as I sent that first tweet, dozens, hundreds of @ replies, DMs, and text messages immediately came in offering prayers, energy work, and positive thoughts … and asking how they could help.

And these were not empty offers.

I had Allison Nazarian (@allisonnazarian) on permanent text message alert, available for constant updates & to vent every untwitterable compliant, doubt, internal struggle, and self-punishing thought.

Sarah Robinson (@sarahrobinson) recruited a San Jose local Karmen Reed (@kickofftopic) to deliver my much missed Starbucks mocha to the hospital. Total surprise. And, they got the order right.

Balloons delivered to the hospital from Scott Stratten (@unmarketing) & Alison Kramer (@nummiesbras), providing decoration, floating punching bags, and a discussion starter for my 4 year old to entertain her guests (aka hospital staff).

Ori Bengal (@couchsurfingori) texting with original offensive-to-normal-people jokes about burn units to distract me that first long night.

And that’s just the beginning.

Hundreds (by now, thousands) of well-wishes & thoughts & offers for help via Twitter @ reply and DM, Facebook comments & wall posts, multi-day Skype conversations, emails, blog comments, text messages, flowers, gifts, offers to run errands or pull strings. From clients, friends, family, readers, followers. People I’ve known for decades and people with whom I have never directly communicated before this week.

And almost all of these people I either met for the first time this year on Twitter or they were casual business colleagues who became real friends via social networking.

Yes, I’ve got new clients using social media. Yes, I’ve got speaking gigs and joint venture opportunities from blog and Facebook posts. Yes, Twitter has been my ultimate business mastermind.

But it is the deep personal/business relationships I’ve developed using Twitter, Facebook and blogging that are profound.

It’s been where I found my people.

It’s been where I brought my Friends fantasy into reality.

And it did not happen by accident. It did not happen overnight. It did not happen using some magical strategy taught by the leading social media gurus.

It’s actually just simple common sense.

But while we were all born with common sense, somehow it was socialized out of us along the way.

So here are 11 reminders as you navigate the mysteries of the social media revolution to get you back into living your truth. So you can find your people.

1. Give a sh*t about people. If there was nothing else that you take away from this post, this is it: care. Really care about people. Who they are. What they want. Their dreams. Their problems. Their greatest fears. What makes them excited. What rocks their world. If you really, really give a sh*t about people, you will never go wrong. In social media. And in life.

2. Treat your “friends” as if they were your friends. When we crossed the line from having prospects & leads to having friends & followers, some marketers continued to market in their slimy way and others stopped marketing entirely. Obviously, neither extreme is effective.

Here’s the social media promotion test: if your “in real life” friend had a problem that you knew you could solve, would you tell them about how you could help them, or keep silent? Of course you would tell them.

If that’s the energy your self-promotion comes from, then tweet/post/email it. You’re not shamefully (or shamelessly) promoting yourself. You’re making sure your friends are aware that you can help solve their problems. You do us a disservice by hiding your brilliance. Let us know how you help.

3. Let them know you’re listening. The difference between 10,000 followers and 4 million followers is irrelevant. Seriously. It’s all about the relationship you have with your followers. Or friends. Or subscribers.

Ask questions. Answer @ replies. Reply to blog comments. Join the Facebook comment stream on your recent status post. Reply to emails. Let people call you. People want to feel like they are being heard, that their opinions, their stories, their passions really matter. But make sure that you’re not just listening in silence … to develop a relationship, they must know you are listening.

4. Join the conversation. So what if you don’t already have a bunch of followers/readers/friends? (don’t forget, *all* of us started with 0 followers on twitter.) What you do is join other people’s conversations. What are they tweeting about? Where is the debate going on in blog post comments? Who posted an interesting link on Facebook?

And these conversations don’t all need to be about business. Actually, most of them won’t be. They’ll be about regular life, the stuff you would talk about if you were meeting for coffee or having drinks in vegas. About travel. Kids. Dogs. News. Coffee. The latest preparation strategy for bacon. Creative uses for duct tape. Methods for killing ants using all organic ingredients. Share your resources, stories, opinions, laughs. Join the party.

5. Speak the things that everyone thinks but no one says. Everyone is walking around with a thousand things they are thinking but not saying (tweeting, blogging) out loud. And I know this because, for some reason, people tell me about their unspeakable things. And while I would never reveal any one’s unspeakables, when I see a trend, a common internal conversation, one of the reasons I’m on this earth is to bring that conversation into the open.

Not only is entering into the conversation in people’s heads a brilliant method for writing great copy, it’s also a way to skyrocket to leadership of a conversation — simply be the first to say what everyone thinks. People will be grateful & empowered to speak their own truth. You will be a nexus for a movement, an influencer of the big idea.

6. Be vulnerable. There’s a lot of talk about being authentic and transparent. And yes, I try to be both of those things. But so many people resist authenticity as a cliche & transparency as sharing too much information, I want to give you another way to think about sharing enough to bond you to your community.

Share the whole story about something. The bad side of what didn’t work out. The truth of the project that failed. How your business is great but your personal life has gone to heck. What’s not working in your business. And of course, share how you are turning it around, the lessons you have learned, what you are changing for next time.

My videos sharing how my business did not make a profit & how I was getting divorced, and my blog posts on being a crazy person and the bad side of transparency, were the most commented on & read of anything I have shared. Everyone has stuff that does not work out. There is always a “whole story” … sharing yours builds trust & endears you to your audience.

7. Tell a story. Every communication you have should tell a story. Every blog post, podcast, video … and even every tweet. The collective work of all of your content should share the story of you, and your business.

Yes, you can tell a story in 140 characters.

Not the whole story, of course (and besides, telling only part of the story creates a great cliffhanger). But you can share how the smell of these cookies baking remind you of your great-grandmother. The fact that you are not just buying shoes, you are buying your 45th pair of shoes. How you are not just hiking, you are climbing your 27th peak and can’t wait to read the peak log to find out who has gone before you.

Everyone loves a story. We as humans have been bonding over stories since we first sat around the original campfires. That’s how we bond with our children, and what we love to hear from our grandparents. Share your stories, and we will listen.

8. Don’t believe your own bullsh*t. When I go on someone’s bio or twitter profile and it says “social media expert” or “social networking guru” I involuntarily cringe. Why? Well, either they are trying to B.S. that they are an expert (when they are not), or they have some expertise but have lost touch & become lame know-it-all’s, unable to learn or listen.

Stay humble. No one knows everything. We are all still learning. And besides, everything keeps changing.

Find people who know something you don’t. Share when you screw up. Acknowledge when people with less experience or notoriety get it right (sometimes newbies have perspective we don’t, anyway). Be open. Pay attention.

9. Have fun. This is real life. And real life is pretty freaking ridiculous. Real people are ridiculous. Every kind of human, opinion, race, religion, political party, business model, theory, lame marketing campaign, and insanity is rampant through the social media universe.

So instead of spending time being offended or getting into a hot debate, have fun. Laugh it off. Share your own ridiculousness. Tell us how you are an idiot. Get over yourself & get real.

10. Be patient. The above “going to the ER” tweet was about my 19,000th tweet. Assuming around 100 characters a tweet, that’s over 300,000 words. Enough raw content to fill at least 6 or 7 books.

You will not get profound results from being on twitter for 5 minutes a day. You will not develop relationships from a few weeks of implementing a social media plan. Building relationships takes time, energy, and effort. Adjust your expectations. Make the investment.

11. Take it to the next level. Chat on skype. Talk on the actual telephone. Text message. Email. Have coffee, drinks, lunch. Connect at seminars. Tweetup.

Social media is a low transaction cost, highly scalable method to start a conversation and create a bridge between your other connection points.

But only by connecting in real life (IRL) can you feel the energy of the other person, who they are being, their presence. That next level is where life long friendships and business partnerships are made. Connecting IRL is what has changed my life (… and that’s a story for another blog post).

So has social media worked for you? Are you getting any results from Twitter? Are you still looking for your people? Please, share your story / questions / comments / feedback below!

Speaking, Bullsh*t, and Billionaires: Post-#Shine Wrap Up pt 2

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:58:44 +0000

(this is part 2 of the Post-#Shine Wrap Up … check out part 1: Do It With Your Eyes Open & Be Awesome)

More of what I learned after 5 days in Las Vegas:

I might be a real speaker.

I have a complex. (Okay, I have a few complexes, but let’s just deal with one at a time.)

I don’t think I’m a real speaker.

Yes, I regularly speak at live events. And I tell stories, make people laugh, teach them amazing content, and hopefully inspire them to take action on what they have learned.

But I’ve never been paid to speak.

You know, the person who gets paid $3K or $20K or whatever the heck people get paid to keynote an event. I’ve just done the free speaking, where you are supposed to be happy to be there so you can share your information & maybe add people to your list or sell stuff from the back of the room.

I have friends who are real speakers. They get paid actual checks (Do people still get actual checks? Either way, they get paid actual money.).

And I thought you magically get tapped to be part of the club once you become really good. Or maybe after you are President of the United States or save kittens from dying in Antarctica.

But as I was sitting in the audience listening to the keynote on Thursday, I realized that dude, I’m better than this chick.

I mean, yes, she started a company that she sold for millions and has a compelling story about her journey with cancer. But this woman’s success was based upon a lie, a bit of luck, and selling her business before the market changed. Her presentation was devoid of reproducible content, lessons that people in the audience could apply to their own business today.

And just like back in 2003 when I was inspired to start my financial business after I realized that I’m smarter than Suze Orman (there’s another blog post waiting to happen), I realized after watching this woman that I am a pretty good speaker already.

The only reason I’m not getting paid to speak is because I don’t think I should get paid to speak. Because I believe I’m not real.

Wow, as I wrote that last sentence I started to cry. Frak me. Well, at least now I know one thing I’m working on in 2010.

If it worked yesterday does not mean it will work tomorrow.

There is a business theory that reproducing what was successful in the past is a way to be successful in the future.

Now that’s not a completely insane idea, and in a slower moving world, it probably (maybe?) worked.

So today we go to events and listen to people who were successful yesterday, and they tell us the secret strategies & tactics of making their millions (or ahem, billions).

And tell us that if we do not follow their advice, then we are fools.

Bullsh*t.

If the only way to success was modeling tactics that worked in the past, we’d still be riding horses, taking ships to europe, sending checks via airmail, and turning on the news to find out what happened yesterday.

Cold calling would still work. Brand advertising would still work. People would still click on banner ads.

Technology & tactics change. And today, they change at exponential speed.

Even more so, the strategies that worked yesterday don’t necessarily work today, because technology has changed the sophistication of the customer.

People no longer respond to the push. They respond to building a relationship. Especially in a service based, personality based business.

Sorry to break it to you, billionaire, but twitter and facebook are not a waste of time.

Building relationships is never a waste of time. And twitter/facebook/blogs/social media are powerful tools to build those relationships.

Can you waste time on social media? Obviously, just like you can waste money on branding and printing fancy business cards.

Do we have something to learn from what worked yesterday? Yes, because some principles of business & how humans work still apply today.

Telling an audience of 450 entrepreneurs that twitter & facebook are a waste of time is a gross oversimplification and a violation of trust.

Psst … twitter & facebook relationship building leads to 90%+ of my revenue. What a waste.

Bullsh*t does not work on social media.

Now we are getting into pet peeve territory.

If you follow me on twitter, you know that my style is hands on. No automation. No assistants tweeting for me.

Why not outsource? Think of it this way: would you pay a virtual assistant to go to a networking event on your behalf?

Would you pay the assistant to dress up in your clothes & put on a wig and pretend to be you?

No, of course not. That would be total bullsh*t. Fraudulent. Creepy. And would totally not work.

Then why would you have someone pretend to be you on twitter?

Now there is a way you can use staff to manage your social media, answer questions for you, or even have their own accounts to handle customers service. That’s a brilliant way to leverage your time & provide even more relationship building opportunities with your community.

Having others tweet as if they were you is just gross.

So when Ali was on stage on Friday morning and this tweet allegedly from her came across my iPhone, I called bullsh*t.

(in case you can’t read the graphic, the tweet from @alibrownla reads: “@barbaracorcoran so excited to meet you today and have you speak to my audience at #Shine. We have so much to learn from you!” and it is dated 9:25 AM Nov. 6th)

Ali was obviously not tweeting that as she was on stage. Either she had an automatic service tweet that out (somewhat lame) or her staff was pretending to be her (ick!).

So here I’m sending a message to Ali’s team (that they probably will not listen to, since Ali’s mentor thinks twitter is a waste of time):

You. Are. Doing. It. Wrong.

And that is why you are getting mediocre results from your social media efforts.

Leverage Ali’s time, yes. Use staff to answer customer service issues, yes.

But either Ali tweets out as herself, or she shouldn’t do twitter.

And … the CEO of a personality-based business who wants to be big must engage her audience. The most simple & inexpensive way to engage is through twitter.

#thatisall

(stay tuned for part 3 of the post-#shine wrap up, including: “The real magic happens outside of the seminar room.” & “It is possible to be married for more than 10 years and still have sex every day.”)

Do It With Your Eyes Open & Be Awesome: Post-#Shine Wrap Up, pt 1

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:48:29 +0000

Last week I went to Las Vegas.

Why? Well, it’s Las Vegas. Okay, I also went there to throw a tweetup and hang with the other entrepreneurs attending Ali Brown’s Shine Event.

After 5 days in Vegas, here’s what I learned:

Sometimes you need to do it with your eyes open.

The first “event” after arriving in Las Vegas on Wednesday was arranged by my friend Alexis Martin Neely — a yoga-ish tantric-ish bodywork-ish class facilitated by Alexis’ friend Charu. Don’t ask me to explain what this class was, I am totally not the woo-woo girl who knows about this stuff (yes, I own yoga clothes, but it’s for wearing on laundry day, not actually doing yoga).

Bottom line is that this class was designed to get this small group of women back into ourselves so we can access the power & truth in our bodies.

After working with us for a while, we each paired up with another woman in the group and did exercises which involved extended eye contact. This totally freaked me out.

Not because it was a way to really connect with another person (I’m totally into seeing other people’s stuff) but because it involved letting the other person into my stuff. Whoh.

Here’s the thing, I have a history of doing it (ahem) with my eyes closed to keep the other person at a bit of a distance, to maintain the artifice of who I think I appear to be.

So standing right there, with that woman in front of me, I decided frak it, I’m keeping my eyes open.

And I kept my eyes open for the next 5 days. Strangely, people seemed to still like me. Or at least they didn’t run away screaming.

Maybe I shouldn’t get used to having fans.

Something weird happened in the last 6 months. From some magical combination of making transparent videos & sharing TMI (too much information) on twitter, I became a famous person.

Okay, not an actual famous person. More like famous in a tiny tiny little world. I don’t know, maybe to like 5 people or something.

What I mean by “famous” is that people know me, really well, who I don’t yet know back. Not that I don’t want to know them … I just have not yet connected with everyone who feels that they have already connected with me.

So when I had my pre-shine tweetup on Wednesday night, not only did people actually show up (whew!) but some of them came to see me. Well, I’m sure they also came to talk to other people, but they wanted to connect with me in person, since they had seen my videos, followed me on twitter, or been on my list, and already knew me. Except I didn’t know them. Yet.

And let me tell you, that’s really strange. People I don’t know asking me to be in a picture with them, or just wanting to introduce themselves & say how much I have helped them. Awesome, yes. But really, really weird.

At first I thought, well, I have to get used to it. Get used to being a famous-in-a-tiny-tiny-world person, so when I’m an actual famous person, it’s easy. But the thing is, “getting used to it” might involve expecting it. Getting jaded. Holding myself up over the “other” people. Gross.

So never mind re getting used to it. I’m just going to get okay with being freaked out about it.

And, I’m going to keep connecting, keep engaging, keep nurturing the relationships I have with my tribe. So the next time I hook up with them IRL (in real life), it will be, well, less weird.

I am already awesome.

On day 1 of Shine, we were supposed to fill out a worksheet to figure out what needed to be done about our business and lives.

Question: how are you frustrated about your business & life?

Answer: Objection, question assumes facts not in evidence. (Sorry, inside lawyer joke there.)

Answer: My life & business are awesome.

Any frustrations I have are little things (my computer not working fast enough, the Starbucks chick forgetting to stir my mocha, etc.) that are easily moved through or solved.

And that’s huge. Every other year, I had a whole list of reasons my life & business sucked. But for the first time, I realized that they don’t. My life & business are freaking awesome. And whenever they aren’t, I immediately take action to make them so.

Really, that was worth the price of admission.

Knowing that I don’t need anything. Knowing that I’m already kickass.

Now that is freaking awesometastic.

(coming soon – part two, including: “If it worked yesterday does not mean it will work tomorrow” and “Bullsh*t does not work on social media.”)

Did you go to Ali Brown’s Shine event? What did you think? I want to hear from you — leave a comment below.

Don’t Feed the Trolls

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 17:55:55 +0000

Yesterday I was attacked by an internet troll. For those of you who are not familiar with the term, here’s the definition from wikipedia:

In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.

Now this is different than someone who emails, comments on my blog, or posts on twitter/facebook who wants to engage in a real debate or who has genuine feedback. I’m all about that stuff! No, trolls do something different … it’s a personal attack.

As I explain in this video, I was *so upset* when I got his email & posts on my facebook wall. But instead of just sitting there upset, here’s what I did…

And check out the debate among how to handle trolls on my friend Scott Stratten’s blog today: Trolls, Meatheads and My Mom at Un-Marketing.com

Live Your Truth Principle #2: Speak Your Voice

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:30:10 +0000

So how do you find your authentic voice?

The only way to find your voice is to speak it. Every day.

Check out the first video in this series: Live Your Truth Principle #1: Combine Passion With Skill

If this video resonates with you be sure to check out 6 Weeks to Live Your Truth group coaching program — in this program, you’ll have an opportunity to find & practice speaking your voice!

How to Seduce Me

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:07:58 +0000

I get *tons* of people sending me emails, Twitter DMs, and Facebook messages pitching me to buy their stuff, speak at their event, check over their blog, do a joint venture together, etc. It would be impossible for me to work with everyone … but a select few get my immediate response.

So how do you get attention? You need to seduce me.

(this is also how I develop relationships w/ players in our industry!)

Twitter Friday Follow 7-17-09: Take #fridayfollow to the next level!

Elizabeth Potts Weinstein — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:37:29 +0000

Don’t just list a bunch of random people on your twitter fridayfollow … tell us why!!

Here’s my recommendations for 7-17-09 on 3 great people you should follow on twitter: @sandygrason @unmarketing and @sarahrobinson

But don’t just blindly click on those links … watch the video to make a *decision* about whether you should follow them!

ElizabethPW » twitter

What Does It Mean to “Live Your Truth?”

Related posts

Do You Want Every Day to be Epic?

Related posts

The Real Secret to Get 12K Followers on Twitter

Related posts

Skype, Starbucks & Skin Grafts: 11 Strategies to Find Friends in Fantasyland

Related posts

Speaking, Bullsh*t, and Billionaires: Post-#Shine Wrap Up pt 2

I might be a real speaker.

If it worked yesterday does not mean it will work tomorrow.

Bullsh*t does not work on social media.

Related posts

Do It With Your Eyes Open & Be Awesome: Post-#Shine Wrap Up, pt 1

Sometimes you need to do it with your eyes open.

Maybe I shouldn’t get used to having fans.

I am already awesome.

Related posts

Don’t Feed the Trolls

Related posts

Live Your Truth Principle #2: Speak Your Voice

Related posts

How to Seduce Me

Related posts

Twitter Friday Follow 7-17-09: Take #fridayfollow to the next level!

Related posts