Image by ShashiBellamkonda via Flickr

I'm busy prepping for www.iblogconference.com and today we have a guest blogger. I love Christine Kane and here's some great advice!

Let's face it. No matter how much progress we make, we're still going to have "bad days."

You know the ones. When the old critical voices are milling about drinking martinis and eating crab puffs in your head. You try to send them all away with your favorite powerful affirmation, but only a few of them even look up - and one of them turns away and lights a cigarette.

What do you do when no matter what you do, you just feel awful?

Very few success-gurus talk about the bad day, or even the process of following your dreams and the persistence it takes to shift old patterns.

Truth is, sometimes it helps to hear someone be honest about this stuff. Not so that you can indulge in self-pity about how hard you have it. But so that when the bad day strikes, you have some leverage.

So, how do you survive a bad day?

Here's a few things that might help…

WHAT TO REMEMBER:

1 - The voices do not tell the truth.

They're just your old voices coming up to feed. Do not feed them. This is what makes them stay. Even if you're already hooked in, the best way to begin the unhooking is to rest, or to be very kind to you.

2 - This is not who you are.

The voices like to tell you that this depressed person is who you really are and that the rest of the world doesn't have these same flaws. Not true. This is just a temporary set back. That's all.

3 - Mochaccinos don't take the voices away. It just makes them go faster.

Bad Days are not a call to rush out to Starbucks, hoping that if you move faster, it will all go away. If there's any action that needs to be taken now, it's probably a nap.

4 - You don't have to be productive today.

It's okay to put down your goals and to-dos for one day. You can return to them tomorrow. Today, make it your goal to just get through the day being kind to yourself. Think of it as a sick day. Maybe there's no PROOF – like a fever. But your insides are sick. Let them heal.

5 - Everything seems worse when you're tired or hungry.

Eat something yummy. Take a nap. Or go somewhere and sit quietly.

WHAT TO DO:

1 - Stop feeling bad about feeling bad.

If it helps, make today a container. Know that you're allowed to have this stuff and that nothing horrid is going to happen with this one day of getting thrown off.

2 - Make no decisions.

The late Richard Carlson, author and psychologist, gave this great advice: "Never make decisions when you're in a low mood." His belief was that low moods are a natural occurrence and that any low-mood decisions are typically not healthy. Put off all decisions when you're having a bad day.

3 - Don't read fashion magazines. Or the news.

4 - Take a 20 minute walk.

Bring a gentle affirmation along with you. On days like this you don't want to say, "I am master of the universe!!!" On days like this you want to say, "I am loved. I am safe."

5 - Don't try to fix yourself today.

No need to rush to the Self-Help section at Borders. Maybe steps you can take toward being healthier in the big picture, but not today. Today, let yourself stop.

6 - Lower your standards.

If you get out of bed, or eat a good healthy meal, be proud. Tomorrow you can have your old high standards back and be productive and evolved and all that. Not today.

7 - Say NO to anything if it's motivated by the word "should."

This is a good rule to follow on good days too!

8 - Ask yourself what you feel like doing.

Sometimes the answer to this can be surprising. Maybe you'll want to begin a fiction audiobook and clean your closet! Maybe you'll just want a nap.

9 - Don't do anything destructive.

Don't overdose on sugar or indulge in alcohol. Don't call anyone who drains you. It will not make this better.

WHAT TO BE:

Be very, very kind to yourself.

Be the way you would be with someone who is sad or hurting or scared. Because today, you are.

WHAT TO KNOW:

That the victory is not about not having bad days anymore. The victory is that you can get back up after having one.



Performer, songwriter, and creativity consultant Christine Kane publishes her 'LiveCreative' weekly ezine with more than 4,000 subscribers. If you want to be the artist of your life and create authentic and lasting success, you can sign up for a FRE*E subscription to LiveCreative at www.christinekane.com.

Thanks for the read! Take a tour of the green home - see where you can make your home safer too. www.debthinksgreen.com

Advocacy Guru: Stephanie Vance

At the Iowa Tourism Conference I got the opportunity to listen to two presentations by Stephanie Vance. I heard her through ears that were listening for things I could use for the Chamber, Tourism and for my business. You can find her at http://www.advocacyguru.com/ I recommend you go there at sign up for her newsletter, watch a clip of Stephanie in action and read some of her blog.

Did you know:

• 1,320 bills were introduced in Iowa last year
• 20% passed
• there are 150 legislators, each represents 30,000 people
• You can get an average of 7.5 minutes interview with your legislator

Advocacy is the pursuit of influencing incomes. You've got to ask for what you want.


"The legislative process is designed to be this mish mosh of craziness", said Ms. Vance. Read the Federalist Papers - they intended for government to be crazy.

What are some Influence Factors for Legislators?

• Personal relationships (friends, family, staff)


• Jobs and Issues in their Districts (development stories)


• Media (ask your local paper if you can do a 1/2 column article on tourism every week)


• Money


• The Message - What you say


• Their own principles and passions


• Their Constituents

The Four Keys To Success

What do you want? Make the ask!

Do you want funding initiatives, policy change, support for a bill?

• Do you want a relationship?


• Do you want them to write a newsletter article? Make a Statement? A 5 minute speech? A site Visit? A website statement? Often, if you write out the article or statement you want, present it and ask for their approval - you just might get it!

Know Your Audience

• Why are you relevant? Do you live or work or serve in their district?
• What are they interested in?


• What positions do they hold?


• What are their politics?

How Should You ask? SPIT Rule

Specific, Personal, Informative, Trustworthy

The message formula is: Hi. My name is __________ from _______. I here to talk about ________. Knowing your interest is _________________, we think you'll be interested in this. It's important to the people in your area where I live/work/serve because __________.

There's a triage that occurs in the legislators office. The front desk person (usually an intern, a very young intern) goes through the letters and separates them between letters from their district and those that are not. Those that are not, get lost.

Then the letters get separated into more piles. Form letters. Crazy letters (these go to the FBI). Personal letters from constituents. And the Nirvana Stack - those who have written before.

Here's some tips using the four keys: What, Who, How and Follow Up

Ask more than once.

• Connect with other advocates.


• Send press releases to legislators office - fax it or email it to press secretary on staff.


• invite them to come and hang out for a day (legislator AND staff)


• get them to submit an article


• visit http://www.travelfederationofiowa.org/


• set up a legislative showcase (or attend one)


• have tourism packets for your area available

Set up a site visit.
home style, not DC style

• makes the issues real


• show the impact on the district


• often easier to get attention doing this


• work with the staff


• be sure you arrange EVERYTHING

Decide who to invite

• legislator AND staff


• don't invite opponent


• decide what to show them


• make sure real people on your end attend


• record the event; photos, video, news

The Invitation Process

• Write out an invite, email and fax it


• 3 or 4 days later call


• 2 days later call again


• 2 days later call again


• it takes an average of 7 times of contacting for it to work

Participate in town hall meetings

• raises your profile
• increases your credibility
• required elected official to take a stance
• find out from the legislators office when town hall meetings are scheduled

Visit http://www.congress.gov/ to see who is co-sponsoring legislation
The federal district work period is generally scheduled around holidays. visit http://www.house.gov/ and http://www.senate.gov/ for those dates.

Coalition and Network Building
The ability to focus the message helps build relationships with customer - and often spreads out the work.

Look at your audience, then find someone who thinks like your audience and ask them to join you.

Web 2.o
The key word is PERSISTENCE.
Visit http://www.congress.org/ to find legislative action centers
find connections on facebook, linkedin and twitter
include your facebook and twitter info on all press releases

Conversation With The Competition

Brad Hicks is the Publisher of the Hampton Chronicle, one of the papers falls under the Mid America Publishing banner I love small town living! I got the opportunity to interview Brad for our paper and am very happy to report he is a big supporter of Hampton! Enjoy the read.

Where are you from? I grew up in Jefferson, which is by Ames.

What brought you to Hampton? My wife is from Mason City and her dad got cancer. She wanted to be closer to her family so I started looking for newspaper jobs near Mason City. We've been here 17 years and raised our two boys here. Joshua will be 19 and is going off to college. A.J. Is 15 and in school here.

Why did you decide to follow journalism? I was a nosy, big mouthed kid and wanted to know everything first. Then I wanted to tell everyone what I knew! I've mostly grown out of that.
I went to college at Iowa State. Majored in journalism in 1984 and spent four years in Vinton as sports and news editor – a daily paper owned by Midamerica. I then went to Mount Pleasant for three years as the news editor. We spent one year in Faribault, MN (me as managing editor) and then I went hunting. Mid America was looking for me (they just didn't know it, but that's how it worked out).

Do you still write a lot? Very little, I wrote my column and occasionally the editorial for the Hampton paper. I don't miss the writing so much, but I do miss not having the background information I had when I was a reporter. For me its fun to write when I know things and can share them.

I am starting to notice your news stories a little more. Are you doing something different? The reality of small town newspapers is the content ebbs and flows with the writers. That's where the editing comes in – finding the right flow. We've always been a local newspaper. We have two full time news writers, one who does a little sports too and some sports stringers.

I've always tried to make sure that our newspaper compared to news of similar size town was a better editorial product. Most of comparable sizes are 12 or 14 pages. Ours is at least 16 pages, lots of news and we try and do stories.

How many papers does Mid America publish? There are 18 small town papers in our group. The circulation for all the papers is 18,000 – which is just a little more than the Globe Gazette. All the printing is done here. We've 37 full time employees and 46 part time employees. We are considered a mid sized publishing company.

I realize we think alike in a couple of ways. One of them is shopping local.
One of the things people don't realize is how much of an impact they can have on a local community if they shop local. You can get about 90% of what you need here. Need a tool? Why are you driving to Fleet and Farm, when we have Hanks Hardware or Pamida? Try to go to the big box stores and get personalized help. If they don't have a product – they don't tell you where you can buy it. They certainly don't call the other store to make sure they do have it! I think our local people who own businesses get it – they work very hard for your business.

I also think people underestimate the impact if they just get involved in things. A lot of people like to sit and complain about things. Its safe to say there's a lot of taking for granted of what we have – and there is a self esteem problem in Hampton. We tend to think what we have is not of interest to anyone. That is simply not true!

Brad took me on a tour of the company. They have 4 press units capable of producing 4 pages each, one color.

They are 35-40 years old. They have a 4 high – which is 4 presses stacked. They run their color out of those. 4 pages of full color. It was installed in 2005. 6 weeks ago they installed a brand new plate making machine. In the old days they used to cut out type, laid it on a page, took a pic, got a negative and used it to make an aluminum plate. The plate was hung on the press and printed.

Brad describes the process better than I can! Off set printing is easier to explain by saying that oil and water don't mix. So we mix them and the oil sticks to the paper, the water doesn't - and there you have it. Its just magic! Its the one thing in the newspaper business that I can't do – I can do everything else.

Now we lay out the image on the computer, electronically transmitted to the platemaker and the image of the page is generated to the plate and the plate is hung on the press – just like it has for centuries. Whats cool about our new machine is that it is green. There is no chemical

involvement in the exposure, no water use in the exposure process, no discharges and the plates are like photo paper so when you put it on the press the water runs over and it is all recycled.

We are the 2nd newspaper plant in Iowa to use this technology. There are probably less than 25 print facilities using this technology. Its brand new. Its still a work in progress.

What difference has this made for the reader? It requires less ink and people who pay close attention will probably notice there is a little better detail in photos and graphics.

Compared to where we were 7 years ago we are light years ahead incapacity and quality.

What about the rumors that the newspaper business is dead? People are so quick to say the newspaper business is dying, but we have more people come in our door saying they want more printing than we ever have. Our circulation erosion is miniscule and the number one reason we lose subscribers is death. We are a different creature than the great big dailies. Our little papers we have are very close to the readers. Small town newspaper fill an important niche and they will be around as long as there is a business community around that uses them for advertising.

If you stop shopping local, the small town shops will close up – and your newspapers will disappear because of lack of advertising.

Jeff goes to Dubai

Jeff Christiansen is in Dubai for business.  It's a 14 hour plane ride, and they are 10 hours ahead of us!  Jeff has been chronicling his trip on Facebook and has agreed to share pictures and comments here with us.  We will interview Jeff when he arrives home and get all the details then.  For now, these are pictures and comments from Jeff.  Enjoy!  

Arrived May 27th.  This is a picture of me with the Jumeirah hotel in the background. All rooms are suites.

Friday morning: Visited the Mall of Emirates, Jumeirah, Al Qasr Hotel, and the beach this morning. Tonight it is Dune Bashing in the desert, then dinner in tents in the middle of the desert with belly dancers. Hmmm, this aint Iowa.

Mall of the Emirates - inside ski slope, complete with lift.  It's 110 degrees outside!

Al Qasr Hotel- This is a resort. The rooms are like villas all surrounded by water in canals, so you take a boat everywhere.  One of the villas is $10,000 a day to stay!

Friday evening: The Dune Bashing was great. Imagine hundreds of Land Rovers and Jeeps tearing around the dunes in the desert. I asked after it was over if they have ever rolled one... "Oh yes it happens quite a bit, that is why we have these roll bars" with an Arabian accent. Glad I asked AFTER! Dining with a belly dancer was interesting, but the food was great. Not sure what I ate other than lamb.

People watching the ATV's on the sand dunes.  The Al Ahbob desert that we went dune bashing in. Yep it is as hot as it looks.

Camel rides at the camp.

The drive to the sheik's palace was lined with these peacocks. Tried to talk the driver into

 stopping in and saying "Hey from Iowa Sheik".

The tables we at at. This was a camp in the middle of the desert. Yep those are pillows not chairs.

Saturday afternoon: The night was a bust. Visited the worlds largest mall... ehhh... just like any other mall, just bigger and more expensive. Went to Hard Rock... closed, wasted $30 on cab ride, finally went to Applebee's...not very good and no beer. Just about fell in a hole in the sidewalk on the way home... priceless for those watching I am sure.

Sunday night: If last night was the worst, tonight was the best. Went to Irish Village to a pub for a couple of stouts, then to Century Village to Saphire for the best steak I have ever had, and yes even Iowa beef. It was a M7 Ribeye served raw on a Stonegrill (hot stone). You cut of a slice and lay it one its side to finish cooking. Awesome! Dipped in shitake mushroom sauce. Ready for bed all fat and happy!

Thanks Jeff -- we look forward to seeing you when you get home! 

Iowa Songwriter Coming to Hampton!

Mark your calendars for Friday, June 5, when Dago & Criminal History will come to Hampton. The fun begins at 9 p.m. at Coconut Lounge and Dance Club, downtown Hampton. Dago (J.M. Marchellino) has been writing and performing original works for several years. His third album, Unbreakable, was just released in April. In addition to performing Dago's original works, the band plays great cover tunes from the 70's and 80's, so there's sure to be something for everyone.

"I write honest music about life," said Marchellino in a recent interview. Hugely popular among military personnel and motorcycle enthusiasts, Dago's songs talk about freedom, fighting for what you believe in, and touching what is real in life. Styles range from country, to blues, to folk, to rock-n-roll. "I guess I've invented a genre. We call it Biker Lifestyle Music, which just about sums it up," said Marchellino. If you're new to Dago's music, you should know before starting to listen that he pulls no punches. There's definitely adult content -- just like in real lives -- and it's part of what makes the songs so compelling.

The newest album, Unbreakable, was recorded, designed and produced right here in Iowa. Keri Holmes from The Kaleidoscope designed the album insert. "I'm so pleased with the way this CD design turned out. I was able to incorporate artwork and photos that mean something to Dago, so there's a lot of him in there, along with a lot of me. I designed his second CD too, Heroes, Legends, Monkeys and Me, and I like it, but Unbreakable is something special. Dago continues to grow as a songwriter and performer. This is his strongest work to date, and I wanted the album artwork and format to be just as strong.

You can order CDs from Keri Holmes by sending an e-mail request to keri@ourfocusisyou.com. If you want to order on-line, you can use Pay Pal. Otherwise send a personal check for $25 (tax and handling included) to: Keri Holmes;PO Box 383; Hampton IA 50441. All three CDs are available from Holmes.

Coconut Dance Club and Lounge, Friday, June 5, 9 p.m., $10 cover charge. Be there!

Frugal and Friendly: Jenn Fowler

Do a Google search for Jenn Fowler and here's what you find:

Jenn Fowler on Twitter

Deb Ng and Jenn Fowler on Blogtalkradio

Frugal Upstate

I met Jenn on twitter and had the pleasure of speaking with her this week. She has always responded to my tweets, is insightful and helpful. Oh yeah – and FRUGAL! Here's parts of our discussion.

Hi Jenn. I know you have children, how old are they? Tell us a little about yourself please.

My kids are 5 and 8. I live in upstate New York, near Binghamton. It's very much like Mayberry RFD! It's a small town atmosphere. I rode my bike to get my haircut today.

What was your intro to the internet? We didn't have computer lab in high school. In college there computers in our dorm and I got on some of the forums. Fantasy role playing was big. By the time I was in officer basic course for the army, I had an AOL account.

You were in the army for 11 years. Why only 11 and not 20?

I get migraines, even though they were controllable, I was not deployable. The decision was mutually made to leave the service. The expectations when I left was that every 3 or 4 years you would get deployed. With migraines that are not scheduled and a family, it was a decision I could live with.

What did you specialize in? Maintenance shops – I ran them. (vehicles, weapons, radio systems). I was a training developer and created plans on how to train officers. At one point I was the commander of a training company and had six drill sergeants working for me.

How did you get interested in being frugal?

When I had my daughter I got a copy of the Tightwad Gazette from a friend. It was a lot of out of the box thinking. I had always been fairly careful with my money (whole Yankee way of thinking) . When it became clear I was leaving the service, I knew that we would need to be more frugal. I started participating in frugal forums.

I was that annoying person who took over everyone's thread! I figured I should start my own blog. I started blogging on January 1, 2006.

How are you learning to make an income from blogging?

My youngest went to kindergarten this fall. My husband and I had to decide if I could play around with this internet thing and make some money. I decided to follow my heart and go for it. I started on Twitter last May and in July Jon Andrews got a hold of me. He said Wal-Mart is forming this money saving community and why not get involved? That was 11 moms. By the way, we are not paid for that. Now marketers want to talk to me about giveaways and product reviews. It's led to associations with the other women. One of the other moms said that I needed to place ads on my site.

I'd like to make money by speaking and helping others with social media.

For most people a blog winds up being a springboard to other things. I've been encouraged to write a book about frugal living. I've started a blog talk radio show. I have a background in theatre and love to get in front of people and talk. So that's a great combination for me – radio and blogging. You can find the station here: Www.frugalcoast2coast.com We have been doing this since January and are excited about the prospects!

I've done some local speaking and am working on speaking engagements for the rest of the year and will let you know when I have that schedule.

What conferences have you gone to that helped you?

Something about meeting people face to face cements a relationship. First one was Blog World Expo – it is aimed at blogging and social media. It's a great start for a new blogger. Basic info and lots of other bloggers there to help.

My 2^nd conference was Chicks who Click in Colorado – a one day seminar.

The 3^rd one was Moms 2.0 summit in Houston. I got sponsored by @moneymanagement for the conference fee. That was the first year for that conference. It was aimed at moms and marketers and how they interact.

At SXSW - I was sponsored by Hersheys. When Wal-Mart starts to do something the other vendors start looking closer. Hershey came out of that and sponsored me for SXSW – they covered the entire conference! They were able to see the power of it and see the sessions. Its actually 3 conferences. I got more out of the networking aspect of the conference. Meeting the guys from radian6 and Richard and Lionel at Dell, the Blog Talk Radio people, Ted Murphy and Deb Ng. I ran into Chris Brogan and Brian Solis. I learned how to talk to people, start conversations and put yourself out there. It forced me to step outside of my shell and put myself forward.

I'm going to blogher in July in Chicago. Wal-Mart is sponsoring a lounge there and we are part of the 11 moms.

Any advice on getting sponsorships?

Finding the right person to talk to is the hardest part of finding any sponsorship. Ask people who they know. Twitter is a great spot for that. Figure out what it is you are offering the company you are approaching. It is more about being a brand evangelist for the company. How can you do that?

You have to educate your sponsor about what the conference is like and what they will get out of it.

It is important to make sure that you and your sponsor are very clear on how you will be representing them at the conference.

Any last statements?

Social Media is still such a new field, and there are so many directions a person can go in. I am in the process of feeling things out and seeing what direction is best for me.

Website: Frugal Upstate

Twitter Id: @jennfowler 

 Thanks Jenn!  I will be following you.

Des Moines Register: Cavan Reagan Reichmann

Cavan Reagan Reichman is the Des Moines Register's digital editor/social media.  Cavan found me and added this blog to their blogger widget on the Business site of www.desmoinesregister.com It is my honor to interview Cavan.  

Here's a funny thing -- Cavan recommends that bloggers create their posts in readable sections.  Usually that means - short.  This blog post is not short!  I promise you though, it is readable. 

What is it you do?

 I'm focused on finding new ways to get our content to readers by watching where they already go online and finding smart ways to connect with them there in a way that makes it easier for them to find the content they want from us.

 I recruit and work with dozens of bloggers in the community and help readers use the user-generated content tools on our sites. I try to promote good discussions on our sites and gather feedback from our audiences on what we're doing.

I  help our staff members understand the best ways for them to be using social media in their areas, and work with our marketing team to promote what we're doing in these realms. 

I'm the editor of dmJuice.com and DesMoines.MomsLikeMe.com, both of which rely heavily on social media, and work with the online components of our magazines and lifestyle content.

Oh, and once I brought a fog machine to a meeting and set off the fire alarm.


DesMoines.MomsLikeMe.com Where did the idea for that come from? How do you fit in with a group of moms?

We're part of the MomsLikeMe.com network through a partnership with Ripple6 (@Ripple6 on Twitter). Our parent company, Gannett, owns moms-focused sites in dozens of cities. The idea started at our paper in Indianapolis. We got to jump into about two years ago and we rebranded all of them as MomsLikeMe.com sites last year. It's a basic idea: give moms a way to connect with other local moms to share stories and advice. Now we also offer coupons, a Moms Marketplace and some other cool features, with more coming soon.

Of course, I'm not a mom. Or even a woman. So I'm lucky to be able to work with Katie Kunert, the host of the site, the writer behind True Mom Chronicles and a graphic artist at the Register, as well as Jen Hanson and Sommer Brads, two local moms who are discussion leaders on the site. We work together with others at the Register to make the site a valuable resource. I work behind the scenes on bringing new features to the site and working with other Gannett editors, though there are many days I want to jump into the conversations I see on the site.


I like DesMoines.MomsLikeMe.com -- but I don't live in Des Moines. Should I participate?

Iowa seems so unique in how big our geographically based communities can feel. While some of the discussions on the site are about local events, business or restaurants, the advice is universal. So jump in!

dmJuice.com Here's a great site for social marketing! Tell me how this site got started - and where you see it going.

dmJuice.com launched in 2005 when we launched Juice, a weekly magazine geared toward 25-to-34-year-old professionals in the metro area. Des Moines really has a strong community of young professionals, and the city has grown so much since Juice launched. 

dmJuice.com focuses on networking, people, style and health. You can find lots of great community bloggers (as well as Juice staff members' blogs), photos from networking events and our projects like the Juice Fitness Challenged and Forever Changed. We also have an entertainment Web site, desmoines.metromix.com, and both sites help power the magazine.

Cavan, our readers like to know a little about you. Relationships require we get to know each other!

I'm originally from the Los Angeles area. My dad's family is from California (and Ireland before that) and my mom's family is from Taiwan. I was an Air Force brat, and we moved to England and got to travel around Europe a lot when I was a kid. We moved to Omaha when I was 10, and I went to Iowa State, then started working at the Register right away. My husband's name is Scott, and he's one of the managers at the Apple Store. Which means, yes, we're both a little nerdy when it comes right down to it. We also have a dog and a cat. We're not the kind of people who talk about their pets like they are children. But we're talking about a really cute dog and cat here.

I see you promote Cozi. What is it and why do you promote it?

Cozi is a site that helps families stay organized. You can do some pretty fun stuff on it, like set up a grocery list and calendar that your entire family can add items to. Just watch out for your kids adding nothing but candy to the list. That is another partnership with Gannett, similar to how we built the MomsLikeMe.com network.

Iowa State was your alma mater. You did grad work at Mizzou? How did college prepare you for the journalistic world?

I'm completing Mizzou's media management master's program. It's designed for working journalists and is online except for a few trips to campus for seminars and defending your thesis. Mizzou has such a strong journalism program, and it's great to be part of that and continue working full-time. (I mentioned I'm a nerd, right?)

I went to Iowa State as an undergrad, and was the editor of the student newspaper, the Iowa State Daily, my senior year. It's so hard to know how to prepare students for journalism anymore. I'm thankful for my experience from the Daily, my ISU professors and being able to jump into the digital world so early on in my career. That's a great way to make sure you're constantly learning about this rapidly changing industry.

How can the Des Moines Register be improved?

It all comes down to focusing on what our audience wants from us and balancing that with our role in society as watchdogs. Newspapers in general must be more agile when it comes to adapting to the changes. There is a way to keep our history and tradition alive while also finding new ways to get our content to the right people.

All businesses have to fight for time now. Certainly money is a factor, but we're not just talking about purchasing decisions anymore. We are all inundated with information, and we need help cutting through it to get to what's relevant. If we feel like there are smarter ways to spend our time to get through that information, we'll go for it.


You have graciously added me to the blogger widget at DesMoinesRegister.com/business. What do you look for in a blogger for your widget?

My goal is to make it easier for readers to find local, relevant business content. They're already on our business page, so why not help them find even more information they might find useful? I believe you are the farther from the metro area - but when I was keeping tabs on all the business blogs I could find, you won me over with your focus on social media. I thought that was something that would be valuable to our readers.

Where do you see social media taking us in the near future/ in the far future?

It all goes back to time and trust.

The more value you can get out of social media, the more you'll use it, and the more it will start popping up in new areas of your life. 

It was not long ago at all that businesses would not consider social media marketing or having their CEOs tweeting or blogging as a worthwhile use of resources. Now look at what's out there, and how quickly it's evolved. It would be silly to think there aren't more massive changes on the way.

The biggest lesson social media can offer businesses is this: Listen to, and react to, customers. (I didn't say your customers, either. All of them.) Don't assume you're in control of your brand, just like you can't control the masses. Respect their time, interact with them, and you'll be surprised at the outcome.

For a person new to social media - what do you recommend the first three things they should do?

Figure out what you want out of the experience before you jump in. That reduces the odds of getting frustrated and feeling like it wasn't a good use of your time.

Listen to others' experiences with social media. No amount of using it will convince you of its power as much as hearing a trusted friend or colleague explain why it's valuable to them.

You're a content provider now. You can pick the content you're broadcasting, and you can usually control who it's going to. But you have to own that role, or you won't get much out of playing the game.

Justin Levy

Justin Levy of New Marketing Labs sparked my interest when I found him on twitter. 

Justin is a partner in a restaurant and their website made me hungry!  He's done some incredible marketing things and I knew I had to interview him.  It's a long interview and I promise you'll see some things in it that you can put into practice today for your business. Enjoy the read! 

Hi Justin. All of our readers love to  know more about the person I interview.  Who are you? Okay, seriously - tell us a little about yourself.

I live in  Boston with my fiancé, Laura and our dog and cat.  I love the Boston Red Sox, Celtics and New England Patriots.  I enjoy working out, watching movies, being an audiophile and doing research on new media, productivity, business process, communities, human interaction, and a whole bunch other topics.

You are a partner and general manager of Caminito Argentinean Steakhouse. How did you get into that?

I have been involved in the restaurant business for about 10 years now. I started in restaurants when I was 15 years old and was mentored at an early age in all aspects of a restaurant.  I worked in various restaurants over the years.  When my best friend, Joseph Gionfriddo bought Caminito, where he was the Executive Chef, from the  original owner, I took on the website development for the steakhouse.  I also helped Joe with marketing and business until at the beginning of 2008 we formalized the relationship and I became a Partner and General Manager.

When we talked, you mentioned that over the last 14 months business has grown 22% each month straight.  In this economy, how have you managed to do that?

We've done a spin off blog, Prime Cuts, where we talk about grilling, cooking, kitchen tips, recipes and more.  (http://primecutsblog.com)  There is PrimeCuts TV on YouTube, Viddler and Blip.tv featuring how tos. All restaurant news is distributed via a social media press release on the web.  We also publish a monthly enewsletter and have MySpace and Facebook pages for the restaurant.

 For a lot more information on some of the other things we’re doing, this was a great study that Jason Falls did on the restaurant which highlights many of the things we’re doing:click here to read it

Besides our new media strategy, we also took a close look at exactly what we were selling and during what times of the year. We then adjusted our menu and wine selection accordingly. We also constantly run experimentations involving events, price points, specials, etc. to determine what is the right fit and what will get our customers excited and in the door.

You also mentioned you've put together new media content, less traditional marketing and you nurture your current customers. Let's start with them.  How are you keeping tabs on who your customers are?

Well, we can’t know who every single one of our customer is even if we really want to. However, we do encourage people to sign up for our monthly newsletter, our Facebook fan page, and to interact with me on the many other social networks that I’m involved in.

 Then what do you do to nurture them?

One of the ways we nurture them it by continuing to regularly reach out to them via our newsletter and other emails.  For those who interact with us on our Prime Cuts blog or on the various social networks I’m involved, I will regularly ask them what they want to learn about or see posted.  We have done this in the past for our Prime Cuts TV content as well. The customer or viewer then feels like they contributed and that you listened to what they asked for.

 Now -- less traditional marketing. Spell that out for me please. Would you give me an example?

Most restaurants run frequent ads in newspapers and magazines as well as radio and television spots. Some will even run billboards ads. We never run billboard ads. We also don’t run any television spots. During 2008 we cut our traditional marketing budget by approximately 80%. We evaluated all of our marketing including newspapers, magazines, radio spots, digital ads, website traffic, etc. and decided where we were seeing the greatest returns. Our greatest impact and returns were with the digital ads, our website, blog and other new media. We cut out everything that we weren’t seeing returns on even if every other restaurant was involved. We have kept some of our newspaper ads and radio spots because they help us continue to reach a group who isn’t active online or aware of our online presence.

 In case you can't see where I'm going here, I want our readers to be able to use the example you set and lay it over their own businesses. We need to help each other grow if we can.

New media content -- your website is very well done. How often are you adding or changing content on it? Any recommendations for what to do with a website for a small retail business?

We change or update content on our website about once per week. About once per quarter we go through some major revision.

 As far as recommendations for small businesses, that could be another interview itself just because there is so much that goes into it. But I would say that you should have a strategy for your website. Understand how search engine optimization and marketing works. Do your research before you rush into just putting up a website. Remember that it is your brand presence online and that approximately 65% of people will search for your brand online before they ever do business with you.

 I have a brick and mortar business and need some help from someone like you.  What do you recommend? 

I am General Manager of New Marketing Labs along with Chris Brogan.  http://newmarketinglabs.com  Additionally, the Inbound Marketing Summit (http://inboundmarketingsummit.com) is our big conference series.  You could attend one of our conferences.  We will be in San Francisco, Dallas and Boston during 2009.  We also run Inbound Marketing Bootcamps (http://gonmbootcamp.com) and several webinars.  Visit the site for more information on these events.

 Other than those avenues, I also regularly speak at marketing and business conferences around the country and blog regularly at http://justinrlevy.com about marketing, social media, and business strategy.  As always, you can reach me through one of the many social networks that I’m on and am always willing to help as much as I can.

 You're a busy guy. You have a family, several businesses, blogs, websites and you interact in social media. How do you do it all? What tips/tricks/secrets can you give me that you use regularly?

I don’t sleep much, I type fast, consume content at a extremely fast rate and have an ability to multi-task. J Sleep is an opportunity cost for me. While I’m sleeping there is someone that is staying up just a little longer. I stay motivated and highly focused. I have certain goals and continue to drive towards them. Also, I have created a series of tools and lean processes that help me. I continually evaluate my productivity and I make tweaks, test new tools, etc.

 

Gary Vaynerchuk says that Hustle is the most important word for small businesses today. Do you agree? Why or why not?

Hustle is the most important word, bottom line. http://justinrlevy.com/2009/02/12/are-you-focused/

 What three things can I as a small business owner do this week or this month to create more customers to my business?

1. Listen to what your current customers are telling you (OR not telling you). Don’t just hear them. Listen and take action.

2. Evaluate your marketing. Is it working? Can you point to actual real revenue or positive brand exposure from it? If not, then why are you doing it?

3. Hustle! Bottom line. If you really want to win in your space, then you need to hustle more than you are now.

 What is your contact information?

Justin Levy
jlevy@newmarketinglabs.com  Twitter: @justinlevy | Facebook: justin.levy@gmail.com |

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/justinlevy 
http://newmarketinglabs.com | http://justinrlevy.com | http://primecutsblog.com

 

Towns End Winery

Local Winery - FINALLY!

Vern and Judy Harper are the owners of Towns End Winery in Hampton. There is some discussion about the name. Vern says it is Townsend Winery and Judy says it is Towns End. Townsend is a family name. And the actually winery in Hansell is on the towns end. Some day they talk about moving to the farm West of Geneva, build a house and move the winery there. It will still be towns end!

What possessed you to start a winery? Judy: Vern was possessed! Vern had some physical problems and couldn't just sit around feeling bad! He could only walk about 50 feet or so – so he'd plant and then sit down a while. He also wanted something to do in retirement and not sit around and watch tv all along. So he started planting some grapes for exercise. That was about 6 years ago. He figured as long as he was planting grapes, he'd open a winery.

Vern: We started using our own products and would need a way to take care of the fruit trees and berries on the farm. We also wanted to use some land that we already had that was not being used. We will be buying products from local growers in the county eventually.

Tell me a little about the things you had to do to become legal and ready to open business. Vern: I took a lot of college classes to do this. I killed off the first crop of grapes and decided to take some online classes from SW Missouri State on how to make wine, how to be a vintner. The next step was to grow better grapes. Then we had to decide where we were going to put the winery. Where we going to build or refurnish a building? We decided to use the old barn, it was structurally sound and we've redone it. There is a silo attached and one day we will use it as well. We remodeled and had specifications to meet in the construction. We had to have water, electricity, restrooms, storage rooms, locked area to store the wine.

Judy: I started filling out forms. Lots and lots of forms. My son and I took a class at DMAAC called the 2007 TTB Compliance Seminar for Bonded Wine Premises. We have to be a bonded wine premises. We needed the basic permit from the federal government. The DNR required a water quality permit and a permit for how we will take care of disposal. The application to establish the wine premises eventually turned out to be about 139 pages! The federal government knows more about me than I know about myself! We had to get permits from the state, tax permits. By the time you start the paperwork most people give up! We had to register our name (after we formed the corpooration). I had started doing this by myself – and realized that I would need some legal help. Ken Grueniga from Eagle City Winery said he got some help from a lawyer. I worked with Elaine Cooney and she helped us with the filing. From the federal government we were officical August 29, 2008. They called in the morning on the 29^th and did a personal interivew (part of the process). I asked her if this meant we would get the permits in time to pick our grapes that were ready to be harvested. Remember, this is the fideral government! She said she thought she could do that by the end of the day. I thought 'yeah sure”. Don't ya know, she called back in early afternoon and said we could pick our grapes -we got our permits.

We had to get bonded, insured. Jasperson Insurance bonded ups and Castle Dick and Kelch got the insurance to sell alocholoic beverages. It's all new to Franklin County! No one had done this before in Franklin County.

Talk to me about the labels. Judy: there aren't any.

Vern: actually Tyler our son is in charge of the labels. Each type of wine has to have an approved label (approved by the federal government and the state has to ok you as well). We are in the process of choosing labels. You can help us decide by visiting www.townsendwinery.com Go to logo choices, choose the one you like and then email your decision to webmaster@townsendwinery.com Vern likes #1 and Judy likes #4. But you can help decide! Cut off date is February 14. After the labels are chosen, we apply again for the proper permits.

What kind of wines are you going to have? Vern: Fruit and berry (apple, gooseberry and raspberry), red table wine, white table wine. Maybe a concord too. Maybe a frontenac (Judy's favorite). Table wines are blends.

Judy:We would like to do some fall things: cranberry, pumpkin, mulberry, rhubarb. Part of the dilemma is getting the product. We want to get our products locally. We want to grow a lot of it too! So if you're a farmer with extra berries -contact me! They have to be away from livestock (flies tend to cover the berries).

When can we buy wine from you? Vern: Some say July, some say November. As soon as we get the labels, we will have some wine available. We are targeting July to actually open. We're looking at mostly being open Thursday through Saturday. The rest can be by appointment.

Judy: Just give us a call. You know we are retired! The kids will be also helping us. They are partners in the business.

What kind of activities would you like to do around the winery? Judy: It will be perfect for events. You can have your class reunion here. Church potluck. That sort of thing. We'd like to have some music too! We've talked about having special dinners catered in the winery – an adult prom for example! We'd like to have a book club, mother's clubs – doesn't that sound like fun? Legally, we can only sample five one ounce servings. So all those activities can have a wine tasting along with the activity!

Vern: We belong to several wine organizations and we will work with them. Our hope is to have a wine trail here before too long. Eagle Grove, Fredericksburg, Kanawha, Us – we all have winerys.

Are you taking pre-orders? Vern: No. Not at this time. This will be our first year selling wine. Let us get a better idea about how much we will make and what we will sell.

What's taken you so long? You started six years ago. Judy: This is pay as you go by the way. We decided not to borrow. We've taken our time and have built this as we could afford to. We built bedrooms above the winery, maybe one day we will have a b and b. We might add on and have a restaurant out there. Our goal was not to overbuy – we will work our business as we are able to. If we run out of wine – that's not a bad thing! It means we sold all of our wine!

Towns End Winery

2138 160^th St

Hansell, Ia

641-456-2836 

Why Watkins?

Watkins in the Neighborhood!

Tell us a little about yourself. My name is Denise Passehl. I have lived on a farm near Latimer since 1982 with my husband Gordon. I have a son Brandon who is 32 years old. I have twin grandchildren that will be 3 years old in March. Along with my 3 dogs and many farm cats country life is the life for me.

I grew up in the small town of Geneva, Iowa. I attended Ackley Geneva School. I was born in Hampton, Iowa in 1955. My father owned a grocery store so food has always been something I have loved to experiment with. I had two grandmothers that were excellent cooks along with my mother and father who both loved to cook so I learned at an early age.

Why Watkins? I started with Watkins in 1982. I am an Independent Watkins Associate. I had purchased some products and fell in love with them so decided to make this a business for me and to use the best quality products that I have ever used. What makes them different than the grocery store brands to me is they are fresher tasting and the quality is superior. Watkins products are natural and organic, containing all the natural oils giving you a much more superior product. When using Watkins you will use less saving you money. Watkins also carries cleaning products and personal care products which are natural plant based products, concentrated so you add your own water saving you money.

What are your favorite products? How are they different from what I can get in the store? My favorite products are the Cinnamon, Vanilla and Pepper. The pepper is sneeze proof because all the natural oils are left in it and it does not have any fillers. There is no powdery stuff flying in your face when you use it because of the oils. The same goes for the cinnamon, it contains the natural oils giving you a much sweeter product and you use less. Watkins Vanilla is very popular and well known for its flavor. It is double strength and freeze proof. You use less of it also so when a recipe calls for 2 tsp you can use only one, saving you money.

If you like cinnamon this is the best. Try a taste test with the store brand. Put a little in your palm of the store brand first and taste it. Then put Watkins cinnamon in the other palm and taste it. You will notice the difference immediately. The store brand will be bitter and Watkins will be sweet.

You keep telling me I need cinnamon, why? Bakers love the cinnamon because of it flavor but I also like it because studies have been done on it and it may help lower blood sugar in diabetics and I am diabetic so I use it daily. I put it in my oatmeal. I have also put it in hot chocolate, what a treat!

I've heard of Tasting Parties, what is that? Watkins also has Tasting Parties and they are fun. You get to sample all kinds of dips, breads, snacks and many other items. Who doesn't like to try some new foods and some great ideas for entertaining? I can book Tasting Parties for you. Sometime in the future when the weather is better I am going to have one at my friends house Deb Brown. (We will actually have it at the Methodist Church so we can have more people!)

Who is your ideal customer? My ideal customer is anyone who loves great quality food and loves to cook. Knowing that you have served your family or friends the best and seeing it in their faces is a great feeling. All of Watkins products are versitale and you can make many different foods. Not only the food items but anyone who wants to use cleaning products that are GREEN, keeping you and your family safe using natural plant based products. You also help the environment using the cleaning products.

What is your contact info?I can be reached by calling 641-580-4052 on my cellphone, 641-579-6106 on my home phone, emailing me at denisepassehl@watkinsonline.com, and by visiting my website where you can order online at www.watkinsonline.com/denisepassehl and enter my ID number 300500

What are your favorite recipes? My favorite recipes are usually ones I make up myself. Coming from a family that loves to cook we did that most of the time. I do have some favorites I will give you.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup/250 mL all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp/2.5 mL baking soda
1/4 tsp/1.2 mL salt
2-1/2 tbsp/40 mL butter or margarine, melted
1/2 cup/125 mL sugar
1/4 cup/60 mL brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp/5 mL Original Double-Strength Vanilla
1/4 tsp/1.2 mL Butter Extract
1/2 cup/125 mL semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking Spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Spray cookie sheet(s) with Watkins Cooking Spray; set aside. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl; set aside. Place melted butter in large bowl; stir in sugars and mix well. Add egg and extracts; mix well. Add flour mixture and chocolate chips; mix until just combined. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden. Remove cookies to wire rack to cool.

Nutrition Facts

Makes about 30 cookies, 1 per serving.

Nutritional Information Per Serving:
Calories 60
Protein 1 g
Carbohydrates 10 g
Sodium 40 mg
Fat 2 g
Saturated Fat 1 g
Cholesterol 10 mg
Dietary Fiber 0 g

Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Ingredients

Salisbury Steak
1 pound/454 g extra-lean ground beef
1/3 cup/80 mL dry bread crumbs
1/3 cup/80 mL skim milk
1 egg white
1 tbsp/15 mL (rehydrated in 1 tbsp/15 mL water) Onion Flakes
1-1/2 tsp/7.5 mL Meat Magic
1-1/2 tsp/7.5 mL Beef Soup & Gravy
1/8 tsp/0.6 mL Black Pepper 6 oz
Cooking Spray

Mushroom Gravy
2 cups/500 mL water
2 tbsp/30 mL Beef Soup & Gravy
2 tbsp/30 mL red wine vinegar
2-1/2 tbsp/40 mL cornstarch
1/2 tsp/2.5 mL Thyme
1/8 tsp/0.6 mL Black Pepper 6 oz
1 can (4 oz/113 g) sliced mushrooms

Cooking directions

Salisbury Steak
Combine all ingredients; mix gently. Shape into 6 oval patties, about 3/4-inch/2-cm thick. Spray skillet with Watkins Cooking Spray. Heat over medium heat until hot. Add patties; cook 3 minutes per side or until browned. Remove patties from skillet; set aside. Drain skillet, if necessary.

Mushroom Gravy
Combine all ingredients except mushrooms, and pour into same skillet. Cook over low heat until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Stir in mushrooms. Return patties to skillet. Cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until thoroughly cooked through. Serve with mashed potatoes or over cooked noodles.

Makes 6 servings.

picture courtesy of rogerwp at flickr.com