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People Who Inspire Me: Gabe Berman, Lives Like A Fruit Fly

Sorry, yes, those are my feet. And yes, I did just post them on my blog for the world to see…but, I did blur them a ton.

Anyway, I blame Gabe Berman (@GabeBerman). Because of him, and his book Live Like A Fruit Fly, you have to see my feet gliding through the air because I spent Sunday afternoon in a swing at the beach.

Here’s my Sunday:

Sleep in.
Indulge in Starbys.
Frequent an AT&T store…looking for the phone…no luck.
Take a random spontaneous road trip to the beach.
Buy/Wear a cowboy hat. I’m pretty sure it’s a prerequisite for #6.
Swing…ON the beach. (Smiling!)
Capture a ginormous pikachu on film while he’s giving the peace sign. (Rare.)
Research which mustache should be worn on a Sundays. ANSWER: The Bollywood
Dominate at air hockey. (hmm…lost all three games, despite the fact that I was wearing my lucky engagement ring and a cowboy hat)
Pose for a random picture with the happiest tin man EVER! (We’re waving. I have a cowboy hat on. He’s wearing an oil can thing-y.)
Go for a long walk.
Hold hands. (That’s my favorite part.)
Buy a book. (I’m a reader).
Eat cheesecake.
Spend the day without television.
Laugh often.
Wear sunglasses. (The future’s so bright…I gotta wear shades.)
Do something to encourage someone else’s dream.
Do something about your dream. (i.e., www.redbridgeonline…yay!)

The photo journal was religiously captured on film via instagram…redbridgeonline. It makes me smile just thinking about it!

Oh, back to why…I was living like a fruit fly! Gabe’s book is about the meaning of life, as seen through the eyes of a fruit fly. I won’t spoil the ending for you. You should read the book it’s on Amazon. But, I will tell you this. A fruit fly’s life is short, so they make the most of each […]

By |October 17th, 2011|#WhatsInspiringMe, App Review, Apple App, Book Review, Instagram, Social Media, Twitter|0 Comments
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4 Seriously Inspiring Tweeters From Today

4 Seriously Inspiring Tweeters From Today
I wake up at 5am, just so I can do absolutely nothing but be inspired by Twitter for a minimum of 2 hours every morning. And, so far so good. There are some seriously inspiring things being said between the hours of 5 to 7am. Here are my favs from this morning’s lounge-about-and-stretch-like-a-cat session.

1. @ruhanirabin

Today’s tweet: “Because your heart is so beautiful, everything looks beautiful to you.” ~ Japanese proverb

You can’t read this and NOT just look around and love life! So many people spend so much time focusing on the negative, when, for every negative there is a positive. You really can choose what you focus on. Choose the beautiful stuff. It makes your heart smile and you can truly look around and say, What a Wonderful World. Thanks @ruhanirabin – for the reminder to focus on important things.

2. @MichaelReagan. His Twitter bio says he gets stuff done before 8am.

Today’s tweet: “Finished Boot Camp. Worked out on the TRX system again today. Amazing way to exercise!”

So, this morning, while lounging and reading this, I sent him a quick, “Good job!” It’s pretty unlikely that I’ll be doing any TRX (what is that anyway?), but tomorrow morning…I’ll be take a quick jog around the neighborhood. So thank you @MichaelReagan, for the inspiration. Cheers to good health – and leading by example. :)

3. @celestialbeard

Today’s tweet: “when I approach the 140 character limit I start typing more quietly (but not slower) in the hopes that twitter won’t notice”

Inspiring for two reasons…1.) Hello! Celestial Beard? You KNOW you can’t have a name like that without having something along the lines of Led Zepplin. I hope hope hope he posts a pic of that…soon. Oh, […]

By |October 11th, 2011|#WhatsInspiringMe, Social Media, Twitter, Uncategorized|0 Comments
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Using the 5th “P” to Put a Ding in the Universe.

Put a Ding in the Universe. Use the 5th P’s.
On Wednesday I received a random text from a 17 year old that inspired this post.

17 year old text – “What are the 4 P’s?”
My text reply – “Easy…Price. Product. Placement. People.”

Yup, got it wrong. The 4th P is actually promotion. And I DO marketing for a living!! So, crash course in the 4 P’s it is. Here we go. There are four critical elements needed to market products and services. They’re called the 4 P’s.

1. Product – Do you have a product that is wanted or needed by an audience?

2. Price – Is your product priced at an amount that your audience will consider affordable and worth their money?

3. Place – Is your product available at a place where it can be purchased by your audience?

4. Promotion – What are you doing to let your audience know that your product is available for them?

I’m keeping the 5th P. It’s pretty genius. I mean, without people, the other 4 p’s can’t exist.

5. People – Sellers of the product. Buyers of the product. Marketers of the message. Audience of the message.

No matter which of the 4 P’s are being focused on, it’s people who make products successful. Know your audience. Who buys your product and why do they buy it? Is it something they need or does it satisfy a want? How badly do they need or want it? What is it about using your product or service that satisfies that need? Interacting with your audience provides valuable insights. Form a relationship with them so they’re comfortable giving you feedback. Listen to their suggestions. Thank them. Act on their requests. They’ll love you and your product a […]

By |October 8th, 2011|#WhatsInspiringMe, Apple, Entrepreneurs, global, Marketing, news, Steve Jobs|0 Comments
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Product Review: Postcard on the Run App (genius!)

The absolute greatest thing EVER happened! My, now fiance, Eric asked me to marry him…on the red bridge*…and I was wearing a SpiritHood…and there were sea lions down below the bridge…swimming. And we have pictures of THAT moment!

Attention Selena Gomez, you just invested in the best company EVER!

So…after the magic moment, naturally I posted and shared with all of my social media accounts. Hmmm, I’ll be honest, in my excitement I didn’t immediately call my family and they were less than pleased. But…crisis averted, calls made, people forgiven. Except, my grandma. She’s 86 and hasn’t realized the magic of #Apple and the world wide web just yet. She prefers mail to calling.

So when I heard about the FREE Postcard on the Run app on Twitter I downloaded right after I sent a “woohoo” text to @POSTCARDing expressing my gratitude (to which they promptly responded with a thank you). It might’ve taken two minutes before I was opening the app and gearing up to send my grandma the best postcard of my LIFE. Oh…for $0.99. Postcard on the Run is the perfect solution to the busy techy with moments to share and not enough time in the day.
(Download now at http://postcardonthego.com/)

Unfortunately, I wish that I could have a LOT of moments for life (shout out to @NICKIMINAJ1Luv). My phone was packed with 10,000 pictures. Everything from Norbert, the Gnome on his epic vacations to the view from the 86th floor on the Empire State Building gets shared with random @Foursquare, @Instagram and tweeting people. When I touched the “Use Existing Photo” button the app froze. I sent a reply back to @POSTCARDing about what had appened and they responded right away reassuring me that they […]

By |September 29th, 2011|App Review, Apple App, Marketing, Product Review, sustainable marketing|0 Comments
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Epic QR Code-yness in 4 Quick Tips

Yoda likes QR codes too.
Ok, you got me! I LOVE the scan-able little black and white squares that bridge print with technology. How did marketing ever exist without them?! How long will they be around? And how do they work?

I’ll admit (sshhh…) I’ve had some QR code fails and spent more than a few hours getting Google to cough up everything it knows about creating, tracking and best practices for these mysterious and wonderful squares. And great news – I’ve condensed all the research, failure and smashing success into 4 Quick Tips.

4 Quick Tips

1. Know your audience. QR Codes aren’t for everyone. If you’re audience doesn’t have a smart phone, then they will never know the pure genius you’ve included for them by way of QR codes in your marketing materials. So, know who you’re talking to in order to ensure success. It’s also helpful to include instructions in your materials to help your users know what to do. This can be as simple as two words, “Scan me.”

2. Create the code. People are doing amazing things with QR codes, and others are simply using the black and white squares as is. Goo.gl has an excellent feature for shortening links and generating QR codes. Even the most colorful QR code centerpiece ad begins as the black and white code you can generate in using Goo.gl. tool. A word of advice: If you’re changing any elements of the qr code, be sure to test as you go to make sure it continues to scan successfully. Nothing’s worse than spending hours rounding corners, colorizing and dragging points to find that your masterpiece doesn’t work in the real world.

3. Reward the user. They’ve taken the time […]

By |September 20th, 2011|Goo.gl, QR Codes|0 Comments
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    The Entrepreneurial Path Unfolding: 3 Questions from Cre8Con 2011

The Entrepreneurial Path Unfolding: 3 Questions from Cre8Con 2011

“To believe in yourself and to follow your dreams, to have goals in life and a drive to succeed, and to surround yourself with the things and the people that make you happy – this is success!”
– Sasha Azavedo

Eight successful entrpreneurs presented at @Cre8Con 2011. They each spoke about obstacles they overcame and the approaches they took that turned their passions into success. Each of the panelists have transformed what fuels their fire into fruitful business ventures and the resulting work is…phenomenal!

Was it an easy path for any of the eight panelist? No. The deep story behind all the successes was the same; Each had tried and failed miserably and more than once in many cases. So why were they successful? How did it work for them when so many people go to work every day at “jobs” that they find unrewarding.

The common denominator in each presenter was that they had all identified what it was they were truly passionate about and made a decision to pursue it no matter what the obstacle. Each person experienced a moment where, after failure, they stopped and reassessed what they were doing and why it wasn’t working. In some instances, they were trying to please other people instead of staying true to their passion. Some were stuck in the rut of doing what historically worked initially for fear of being unsuccessful at the next thing. Some spent lengths of timeaway to reconnect and just be…listening to their inner voice to learn what they needed to do to be the best them that they could be.

How many people give up after trying and failing once, or even twice? What if they stuck it out? What potentially amazing life works can […]

By |September 19th, 2011|Branding, design, Marketing|0 Comments
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Technology…meet humanity, aka Shannon, aka @redbridgeonline, aka scrabble genius?

I love technology, design/marketing and gummy bears. I spend my time thinking deep thoughts and smiling. Are you a social media genius? Let’s be pals.

That’s me, @redbridgeonline, in a less than 150 characters or less autobiography. Add a few more characters and you’ll see that I’m also fairly optimistic, work at a non-profit saving the world by drawing pretty pictures, love white stickers and was recently proposed to wearing a cat hat and riding a tandem bike on the red bridge, i.e., Golden Gate Bridge. Oh…and I love QR codes. LOVE.

The world wide web is filled with geniuses that talk about everything I love all day every day. I want to meet those geniuses (all of them), learn from them, and spread happiness and optimism in return. Earth needs more marketing genius and I’m making it my calling to find geniuses and get them talking.

Soooo…QR codes, blogging, Apple’s white stickers, marketing, strategy, cloud hosting…I could go on for days. The internet has introduced so many cool things! It’s challenging to stay on top of it. But I love projects and I’m about 700% positive this is going to be a serious amount of fun.

Oh, that’s the other thing about me…fun. I love love LOVE life. The interactions, the experiences, the path that’s always unfolding. Just when you think you have it all figured out, there’s a curve ball, right? And sometimes the curve ball doesn’t make sense…but later, in hindsight you realize that you were always exactly where you were supposed to be, right that second. Like reading my blog – you’re supposed to be doing that very thing right now. I can’t wait to see how what’s next!

Oh…well I already know one thing! […]

By |September 8th, 2011|design|0 Comments
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