What do you think would happen to your business if you treated everyone of the clients you served as if they were God?  Do you think it would impact where your business goes…how big you grow…how people view you? Nick Carter, creator of AddressTwo, which in my opinion is one of the coolest freaking CRMs around, addressed these questions at the Hullabaloo. This was a speaker-driven event Carter  put on in Indianapolis last week  featuring CJ McClanahan,  Hazel Walker, Kyle Lacy, Nicole Bickett, Jack Klemeyer, and Nick Carter himself.  However, this blog is not about the CRM he built,...

I am in love with my community. I’m not just talking about my community of Indianapolis. I am speaking of my ENTIRE community…my family, social media, business,  Rainmakers, my music community, etc.  I feel a deep sense of responsibility to lift these people up. That being said, it absolutely cracks me up to hear someone in the social media world talk about how social media conversation is nothing new, it’s just regurgitation of old stuff that has been said a thousand times throughout history. Wow. That’s all I can say…until I say more. Upon sitting back and listening to this negative...

You know, I’ve never understood those folks who constantly draw a line between work life and personal life. I am not referring to bringing a crappy day home with you and taking it out on your family…which by the way, happens quite often and is really NOT cool. What I AM referring to is your relationship to your co-workers and supers, and if you’re in a leadership position, the relationship with those you manage. It’s like some people can be so leery to create meaningful relationships because that’s not what you’re “supposed” to do at work. I’m a lover. I just want to get...

I just dropped off my 5 year old (almost 6) to Kindergarten. We’ve been having a few issues as she has had to adjust to an environment consisting almost entirely of learning, from a preschool where life was all play. Last week when I picked her up, she said it was “too long” and “borin” (yes, I left off the ‘g’ because that is exactly how she says it.) She has become somewhat impatient, easily irritated by her classmates, and hit a little girl the other day because of these things. (Lovely, I know.) It made me think of the way we do life, and then it made me think of the way we do...

I don’t know if fear is necessarily brought up around me all the time, or if it is just something that I have become keen to in the past two weeks. Regardless, fear, talk of fear, people not doing things OUT of fear, have been surrounding me. First, I wonder why…then I wonder…where does that get us? My dear friend, David Cain, believes most of us operate our lives out of fear. Perhaps fear is what drives some folks…makes them do the constructive things they do. On the flip side, I wonder how many lives are paralyzed because of fear. How many people DON’T do things, or reach their...

Dear Blog, I love you because you are always here for me. You don’t really “judge” me with the exception of a couple of red lines every once in a while as my fingers often have to keep up with my head rants. You allow me to be transparent and authentic. You allow me to scream at the top of my lungs what is inside me. You allow me to generate new audiences, and give value to others. You provide a platform for others to really “get” me, and for others to not…and for some reason, I don’t care about those who don’t. I love you because I am able to build strength, and skill....

Indiana, oh Indiana. Some may call this the bible belt here in the Midwest. And yes, there are many churches, but there is much more to Indiana than religion. This is coming from a girl who got out of Indiana straight after she turned 18. I’m back though, and love Indianapolis more and more every day. Since I have been back in Indiana, I have met some of the greatest people, made many dear friends, and have been blessed to be involved in great projects. Indiana rocks! I mean, do you know how many famous people are from here? Thanks to the folks over at Midwest Emerging Artists (an amazing not-for-profit...

TrustI am completely immersed in Hugh MacLeod’s, Ignore Everybody. Talk about brilliance in a book…but the key… he makes it so easy to get. Do you get it? I was having a conversation today with my friend, Ryan Cox, and we were discussing how a piece of brilliance is taking something that folks like to make difficult, and simplifying it. That is truly what makes something sellable…being ‘getable.’ But back to Mr. MacLeod’s freaking awesome, ‘getable’ book…He touches on so many things but stripping down to the basics of business, he discusses TRUST. I want to share...

Have you ever had a friend that you knew was just not a positive person for your life? Every time you were around this person, you felt drained, as if a vampire were sucking it out of you. You wanted to let the friendship go, but in the back of your head, you truly just hoped for some kind of change. I’m here to say that in most cases, this waiting is pretty much in vain. Let’s look at this same type of person in a business setting. Do you have those clients or customers who constantly complain? Who play the victim role so well that it just grinds on you? I was having a conversation with a...

So, today is my birthday. This past year has brought about so many changes in my life. I am now a business owner, I am blessed to have more people in my life than I ever could have asked for, and my 5 and half year old daughter grows sweeter and sweeter each day (well, except for this morning… ) I think it’s fair to say that my year one of being 30 was a success. What now? Linzstar Inc. is brand new. I love it. I am so excited to see where it goes. However, as a blogger, I have been so caught up in working for everyone else, that I have let my own blogs go to the wayside. Not cool. I am vowing...