I Finally Figured Out How I Can Get Value From SCRIBD by Connecting To Blog Posts

I signed up for Scribd maybe 3 years ago.  I used it for a few different things – that all could be done elsewhere and better.

Perhaps I’m late to the game with this epiphany but I am so excited that I found something useful that can provide value to me and to my online community.

So – here’s the deal.   I have a WP.com blog.  It provides the ability for your readers to print blog posts or pages on demand

The challenge, to me, is always that the printed version looks a lot like a screen shot.  Not exactly, because it does strip out the sidebars and the blog header and just gives you the article but…   once printed, the only way the document relates back to you, is through a footer which has the long url linking to the post.

Sooooo… By taking the post after it’s written, cutting/pasting the text into MS Word, then saving it as a PDF you can upload it into a Scribd account.  If you create (the first time) a Word Template, all of your docs will have the same look and feel.

That all takes about 5 minutes adding on to your blog post time.

Then add a link to the bottom of each post which connects to the url for the PDF in Scribd.

I’ve only just started to do this but click on the link below to see how it works.

DOWNLOAD/PRINT A COPY OF THIS POST

Don’t Confuse Social Media with Content Marketing

Conventional wisdom tells us that most businesses have created accounts on “the sites”.   I’m not going to list all of the social media platforms here – that’s another topic for another day.

There’s been much hype over the last few years about successes that have come from posting updates and all the sundry add-ons.  This encourages people to believe that engaging in social media will help grow their business.

That’s a good thing.  Social Media does work when it’s done right.   Is that all there is though?

Why Are We Having This Meeting Anyway?

Did you ever attend a scheduled meeting or phone conversation with one agenda item and you end up talking about something completely different?

It’s not always a bad thing if a new, more urgent topic comes up and you choose to address it.  If that’s what happens, it’s fine – as long as the original issues doesn’t fall by the wayside.

One way to avoid this, is simply to open the meeting with a statement of purpose.  It can be one sentence but once you put it out there, you and the other guy(s) at the meeting are starting on the same page.  If another topic is suggested and you want to deviate from your plan, that’s fine as long as you all set another time to discuss the stated topic.

It goes along with an older post I wrote about Inverting Your Phone Calls. 

Pretty simple stuff but if you do it, you’ll be making much better use of your meeting time.

10 Productivity Tips For Solopreneurs Who Work At Home

One of the reasons that many of us started our own businesses because we believe that our creativity and our potential are often restrained by the structure of the corporation. The challenge is that while we may be increasing our capacity to be creative, it’s very easy to decrease our capacity to be productive.

Here are some things you can do maintain your productivity.

#1. Pick a time/activity management system and stick to it. Everyone has their own opinions on the best system. If you work alone, you can use anything you want – but you have to have some method of scheduling tasks and appointments. Then you have to use it.

#. 2. Make a work schedule. Decide what hours you want to work over the course of a typical week. Write them down. “Work when you want” does not mean “Do everything else you must and want to do and work with whatever time you have leftover”

I Don’t Have Time To Get Organized

I made this sign a while back and I have it hanging on the wall right above my monitor.  It is front of me – eye level – whenever I am working in my office.  I stare it while I am working.  I’m staring at it right now.  Since I am aware that in my business model, these are the core things I have to do in order to keep growing my business, how come this is the first post I’ve written on this blog in a little over two weeks?

How come I’ve  only had one cup of Starbucks’ Green tea in the last 10 days?  How come that other than a flurry of Tweets over the last few days, have I pretty much been invisible on Twitter for some time?

Oh I have a good answer – one that allows me not to feel guilty.  I have too much to do!  Between working on actual paying projects, working intensely on some long-term marketing stuff and a plethora of family things to get done, I simply haven’t had time to work on my sphere of influence communication.

If a coaching client told me those were his reasons for ignoring these basic yet vital activities, I suspect he’d see my dark side. I’d tell him that there are only two solutions, based on the truth of his excuses. The first is acknowledging that