Birdnhand20 - Smart $ Guides

Write beautifully what people don’t want to hear.

Frederick Seidel (via help-n-quotes)

“The pain of regret is far worse than the pain of discipline.”  - Nathan Whitley

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tbh i am not the person you want to be texting in an emergency, my notifications are off and i’m on Do Not Disturb. i haven’t had a ringtone since the dark years of ‘06. i’ll text u back in four (business) months like “hope that worked out, the Lord works in mysterious ways xx”

When in doubt, innovate.

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The 25 Most Innovative Ag-Tech Startups Even the nation’s oldest and most storied industry – farming – isn’t immune to the information revolution. Here’s a look at the most promising technology startups that are seeking to improve the work and lives of America’s farmers.

If you don’t quit, and don’t cheat, and don’t run home when trouble arrives, you can only win.

Shelley Long (via beinchargeofyourlife)

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HOW TO GET OVER COMMON CREATIVE FEARS (MAYBE)

an updated version of this post appears in my book THINGS ARE WHAT YOU MAKE OF THEM! 13 full-color chapters of illustrated essays like this for creative people of all kinds. you can get it here for $10.

Stay smart.

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Follow me @ Smart $ Guides.

Follow me @ Smart $ Guides.

HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF SOCIAL MEDIA AUTOMATION

Work Smart Show daily blog.

Now please don’t think I am scared of or anti-technology, in fact it both amazes and frustrates me. I am far from a Luddite taking to a computer with a hammer, well sometimes, but there are some parts of technology that I could do without. I am talking specifically about the auto likes, auto followers and auto DM’s on Twitter.

Almost every time I post an article or daily blog I will receive a notification a second later telling me that someone has liked, retweeted or commented on this. Now please don’t think I am bragging in fact it is quite the opposite; this will be a company targeting a keyword that I have used such as ‘entrepreneur’ or ‘business’. At first I would follow the account because of their like but very quickly stopped when I understood their tactic. They are trying to illicit a human response, a like or follow, with a system set to auto-pilot.

The other example of is auto DM’s when you follow someone. I have read the auto DM’s of three people. Only three of the 1,810 people that I currently follow. When I receive a DM stating “XX person sent you a link” I don’t even open the message. To have people open and respond to your DM’s you need to respect them, their time, needs and wants. Almost no one on twitter wants a link to your site, training course or sure fire way of earning an income at home. Also if you have set up your profile correctly the follower would have already seen this information and links in your bio.

Now let me tell you about the three that I did open and respond to even though I knew they were auto DM’s. The first was when I followed @begosite and received the message “Are you the DIY type of person, or would you rather someone else do things for you?” There was no link, no promotional material even though this is an account for a DIY website builder. This lead to a very interesting DM conversation about outsourcing and what work as an entrepreneur or business you could or would outsource. It also lead me to follow all of the accounts linked to this; @bruceandeddy and @butchewing and receive a similar auto DM; “Would you rather see us as giant corporation or small business?”

Now aside from being another interesting topic for a blog post some other day these accounts went to the time of posing an interesting auto DM question, then taking time to converse in depth once I answered instead of spamming me with promotional material that I would resent.

I have said on the Work Smart Show podcast that I don’t mind advertising if it is interesting and relevant to me and in the same way I don’t mind auto DM’s as long as they are engaging and not self-promoting.

So I give you this challenge; do you have a auto DM? Is it engaging or simply more of your site and contact details? Take time today to work this into an engaging question and then answer the responses. What have you got to lose? After all have you honestly ever made a sale, gained a listener or fan through an auto DM?

Be careful who you vent to.

Unknown (via wordsnquotes)

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