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Twitter Follow Friday – Meet ‘em for Coffee

by JimRaffel on April 30, 2010

Twitter is new. Together we are all learning how to utilize Twitter as a tool to facilitate communication. Without any real plan or intention I have been moving towards turning Twitter “friendships” into face to face meetings.

Coffee Meetings:Picture 1.png This week’s Twitter Follow Friday (the blog edition) will highlight three tweeps I have planned real life coffee meetings with. My thought about these meetings is to go beyond 140 characters as I discussed in a post of the same name. Get to know the other person as a person.

Because there is already mutual respect and admiration, coffee meetings will work. Time is very valuable for all of us. You have gotten to know me well enough that you see value in meeting and so do I. We both see the potential to gain from the meeting and provide value to the other. It’s by definition a win-win relationship and since we already “know” each other from Twitter it has the potential to be a very effective 30-minute coffee break.

The Meet ‘em for Coffee Trio

@Stacysnook – In just a few hours I am delivering coffee to Stacy. She’s a successful salon and spa owner from the Madison, WI area who has decided to expand to the Milwaukee area. We’ve known each other on Twitter for ages (you know like six months) and have had the opportunity to meet twice. Both meetings were very brief and at well attended tweetups. This time it’s going to be Stacy and I one on one for a few minutes. I’m bringing along my Zi8 video camera and am hopeful I can get some footage to share what inspires someone to expand their business during an economic downturn.

@jim_horrell – Jim reached out to me to suggest coffee after we recently met on Twitter. After checking out his profile and realizing how close he is geographically I couldn’t think of a good reason not to meet. It didn’t hurt that his profile let me know he’s a creative writer into social media and I.T. How can this conversation not go well right? There have to be areas we can help each other grow.

@deziner – Cynthia (Cindi? good question to ask when we meet) had me at deziner. What a cool twitter handle for, get this, a partner in a digital design firm. I have always viewed myself as a technician and a business person, so I love spending time with creative types. They totally inspire me to try new things and think outside the box. Also, it sure can’t hurt to let the design community know about ColorMetrix and what we do. We’ve only been in business 15 years it’s about time we let the Milwaukee design community know we are here as a resource when they need us.

What’s your plan for taking Twitter relationships to the next level? Have an idea different from meeting for coffee? Please share your ideas and thoughts in the comments.

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Unplugged on my Birthday

by JimRaffel on April 13, 2010

Today I turn forty-six (and still feel 26). Following are some unplugged thoughts I had this morning. Warning this post is probably rated like PG-13. I decided to cuss a little like I do in real life.

Unpluggedunplugged1. I want world peace (no really I do). On my birthday even I get to be idealistic. I spend the other 364 days a year being an optimistic realist. I vow to spend today dreaming big dreams. Dreams so big I am sure (at this moment) they can’t be obtained. You know why? Because what the mind of man can conceive he can go onto achieve.

Let’s stick with that world peace theme for a few more sentences. Why the hell can’t we all get along? I’m a Jew and “my people” have endured horrific treatment at the hands of others not for decades or centuries but for millenia. Yet, I am able to sit down with people of every possible race religion and political belief and get along with them as people. So, how about we try remembering that on the other side of the issue are people. Living breathing people just like you and me. Oh, and here’s a little gem for you – treat them the way you want to be treated.

2. Let it go. Whatever is holding you back, just let it go. Get the ____ (rhymes with firetruck) over yourself. Someday I’ll share in great detail the hole I had to crawl out of over the last two years to be the man I am today. The hole that I dug and put myself in. I blame no one. Not even myself. As my very good friend Keven Kocher had to remind me often last Summer, “Jim, put the baseball bat down, you’re all done beating yourself up time to start growing.” I’ll never forget that phrase and I remind myself of it often. All happiness starts with forgiveness and forgiving yourself really is the hardest part.

3. Just Do It! Life’s too damn short to sit back and wonder. Take a few chances. Put yourself out there. Hell ya, you are going to get hurt sometimes. You are going to fall down, you are going to fail. At the end of all of it you will look back and say ya, but I lived. Mixed in with all the hurt and failure (life’s lessons) will be a few successes to expand upon and make your life richer.

4. Be minimalist. Know why I didn’t buy an iPad day one (besides it not really being in the budget)? Because I don’t need more shit in my life I need less. Simplify, reduce, reuse (oh good God I sound like a liberal) and travel light. It’s a lesson I learned from all the travel I do. You have to keep track of each and every item you bring along so the less you bring the less to keep track of and lose. If you stop and think about it, the same applies to life.

5. My secret to success. Written on the first page of my Moleskine “Planning Book” is this: Each Day; 1. Read; 2. Write; 3. Tweet;, 4. Communicate with customers; 5. Sell something. There’s more detail than that and yes number 3 really is Tweet. Twitter and the interaction that occurs there has changed my life. Like all things Twitter is what YOU choose to make it. Want drama? There is plenty there (I filter it out). Want happy upbeat inspirational people? Tons, I’m telling you tons of them with more love in their hearts than you can imagine.

I’ll finish with a quote from Thomas Jefferson whom I share this Birthday with.

“Books constitute capital. A library book lasts as long as a house, for hundreds of years. It is not, then, an article of mere consumption but fairly of capital, and often in the case of professional men, setting out in life, it is their only capital.”

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/good-karma/652486713/

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