2013: Fearless and Digging Ditches

As 2012 was drawing to to a close, I was desperately looking for a theme and subsequently a "hashtag" for this new year. Last year, the breakout year for Relationships Matter Now, LLC as a full-time venture made the theme and hashtag easy - #2012Rocks.

Even with the year taking off to fast start with a big lucrative project only to come to a complete stop in April (yes barely 90 days later) trickling in very little income regularly again until June, 2012 still rocked. On those most difficult days, I'd look for the lesson and remind myself at the end of most tweets - that  #2012Rocks. It was a great mantra and it kept me going especially on days when fear would creep in and try to convince me otherwise. I would not change one minute of 2012. So finding the right mantra and fit for 2013 was especially important.

Like most social media creatures - I put out cries for help in the usual places, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and got some great feedback but nothing really stuck.

Then it hit me.

New Year's Eve.

I'm celebrating at a party. Lots of live music. Tons of people. Great food. Pure enjoyment. Pure pleasure. Then I glance at Facebook and a friend asked - "What will be your "theme" or goals for 2013?" This friend posted that question after revealing that Simplicity, Security and Dreams would be their family's theme for 2013.  I loved what they'd written and stopped in my tracks to think about mine.

Very little time passed and it came to me in two part harmony... Fearless and Digging Ditches. Right there in the basement in Joliet, I remembered a fantastic talk that closed the first day of the Willowcreek Association 2011 Global Leadership Summit by Steven Furtick entitled Audacious Faith.  Steven is a hot young preacher and I mean preacher not pastor  - google him to see what I mean - from Charlotte NC with one of the fastest growing ministries in the the country. He gave a fantastic but simple talk that came back to me 1 year and 4 months later there in the basement as I closed out 2012.

Humor me for a moment - It's from 2 Kings 3 - synopsis is this  - Elisha the main prophet at that time guiding the Israelites during a drought had some news. Simply put - the people were moaning that they were gonna die, without water and they were vulnerable to their enemies - more so than usual. But God told Elisha that they would all be OK but he needed the Israelites to prepare for the what he was doing by digging ditches. Hungry, thirsty, whiny nation of people needed to start digging ditches. Immediately.

The best part about the story takes place in verse 17 - when he says - "you will see neither wind nor rain, says the Lord, but this valley will be filled with water. You will have plenty for yourselves, your cattle and your other animals. But this is only a simple thing for the Lord...."

Essentially,  the Lord told Elisha that in order to receive what they wanted, needed - they had to do something simple... prepare. Dig the ditches and not worry how it was going to happen but KNOW that it was going to happen.

As an entrepreneur, it has been a bumpy road and cash flow has been nutty. Fear would often cripple me even for a moment.

Am I gonna make enough money?

Will that project happen?

Are they gonna pay my rate?

Will I have to go find a job to have the life I'm used to?

Those questions could ruin a day on a dime if I let them. Going in to 2013, I have so much more runway on work than I had coming into 2012. I've got a published book to build on. More and more of my contacts are aware that I'm doing marketing and strategic planning "for hire." It is now time for me to keep digging the ditches. No fear for what tomorrow brings,  just fearlessness. Reminding myself, that quitting my job to ramp up my "side business" was not a mistake or a passing hobby. It was and continues to be a calling.

I need to keep doing what I'm doing so He can do what he will do...even if I don't see it yet.

I need to move into 2013 being fearless and digging ditches.

#2013Fearless is the hashtag. Join the conversation this year.

Get Ready For 2013

What does a piano lesson, a question on LinkedIn, a random Facebook forward and a small baptist college in Elgin, IL have in common? They were all vehicles for the brain trust that came together as a "super" tribe for Relationships Matter Now on Saturday Dec 8, 2012.

Super tribe because this group of people spent  1/2 that December Saturday - two of them remotely via Skype - thinking about the future of Relationships Matter Now, LLC, strategic planning for 2013 and beyond.

I share this story for two reasons... one to encourage you to gather like minded people around your 'cause' for the coming year and to remind you to have a plan for that cause.

Whatever it is you want to do, whatever you need to accomplish  - it will not happen with you alone. It must be aided by the relationships in your life and what better time to rally folks than in a reflecting exercise on where you are and where you want to go.

That's what we did that cold Saturday morning. Three in one room and two online. Technology challenged but we stayed to course and hammered out some clear cut things that Relationships Matter Now can do to jump start 2013.

Not only is there a basic framework for the founder to follow but there is built in accountability because 4 other people know what needs to happen as well. There are specific deliverables, dates to regroup and road map to get started immediately.

Relationships Matter Now is ready for 2013! Are you? Is your business? your career? If you cannot say yes to all these things - I'm gonna need you to do the following:

Reflect

Take a moment to reflect on the past year. What was good? What was not good? What could have been better? What could have been worse? Who helped? Who hindered? Grab a journal and write it down. Grab a tribe member and get their feedback. You (like many of us) are too close to it. You need some outside perspective. Reflect alone and reflect in a group or with a partner but please take the time to reflect on 2012. You cannot move forward well without at least reviewing what's happened and why.

Record

As you think ahead - record what you feel, what you want to feel. Record what you envision happening. Write down the people who can help make it happen. Write down a few scenarios on how you can get it to happen. Share these recordings with your tribe -perhaps your "super" tribe - those closest to you and who have the most interest in what you are doing. Don't share this with just anyone - these thoughts, actions, plans are precious and only need to be shared with your inner circle. Recording them is step one and sharing is another step but both are essential to getting you ready for 2013.

So what are you waiting for? Get going!

5 Things I Do To Prevent Social Media Overload

There are days that I am 100% overwhelmed by all the information flowing through my life.

The Twitter feed

The inbox of no less than 3 email accounts

The 30 second news cycle

The Facebook Newsfeed

The LinkedIn updates

How do I keep it all together?  I've made a decision to do 5 Things To Prevent Social Media Overload.

1.   Lunch with people no less than two times a week.

No matter how busy - I make and keep two lunch dates a week. Some business, some pleasure but always away from my desk and with face-to-face contact.

2.   Call instead of email for every 3 interactions with someone.

I like to hear people's voices, even if it's just the machine. All my personal relationships love this. At work, this is especially effective when the email string between us gets unbearable (more than 2 go rounds). I've even noticed a better response from folks when we've actually "talked" before there is a need or request.

3.   Employ a Social Media Embargo time each night

During the hours of 6:00 - 8:00 pm CST, I check out completely and hang with my family. No checking. No iPhone peeking -nothing. It has been a few months and it is so needed. I use HootSuite to make scheduled contact if I need it. Some nights, I don't even check back in.

4.   Schedule GNOs for my mommy posse. Or just date nights with one friend

Sometimes you just need to hang with your girls in person - no catching up on the phone or fake keeping up on Facebook.  It's good to hear the updates over a pink cotton candy martini and 1/2 price appetizers and to belly laugh at life's happenings together.

5.   Read paper magazines

Perhaps this will go the way of the cassette tape with all the iPad, Kindle and other electronic readers; but until it does- I subscribe to O Magazine, INC, Fast Company, Essence and Fortune and love to see them in my mailbox each month.

I continue to pound on the point of Social Media - which in my humble opinion is social (of or relating to human society; the interaction of the individual with the group) and focused on one-to-one relationships. We must take steps to keeping the SOCIAL in our lives.

What Do You Do?

Pepsi Refresh Everything Project - TAKE TWO!

Later this week - precisely Saturday May 1 - I will turn up the noise again on my Pepsi Refresh Everything Project - Relationships Matter Now.

In case you haven't been with me - here's the deal: I have an idea to revolutionize relationships on our planet. Pepsi is giving away money for good ideas. I got my idea into consideration in the first month February and I did decent in voting reaching the top 30. In March - I started the month super strong and remained in funding contention (only top ten ideas are funded in my category) from March 1 - until the fateful day March 19 when I fell to 11 and finished in 15 place.

We took April to regroup and here two updates that will make this campaign different:

1. PARTNERSHIP

I have partnered with a well known organization (can't say who but believe me it's big - it is an established non-profit organization in over 300 communities servicing more than 2 million members at 1,778 sites in the US alone) to send out weekly reminders to their network to garner votes for my project.

2. MEDIA

In addition to my daily social media efforts on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, I will be the guest on two different blog radio programs with a combined reach of over 25,000 followers of these two personalities. First on Wed May 12 and then again on Wed May 19 - I'll tweet/FB on those times so you can listen or point you to the podcasts afterwards. I am looking for other opportunities to get the word out in the regular media. Toying around with two news personalities here in Chicago that I have connections to.. will update on that soon.

The rest is up to you - the good old fashioned -word-of-mouth spreading of the the project and link. I am so appreciative of the past efforts and am counting on your diligence to push me to get the funding in May.

Here is the link - long way www.refresheverything.com/relationshipsmatternow or the shortened link http://pep.si/ap8Zao when you tweet.

If you are not following me on twitter - please go and do it now - find me under DeniseWBarreto - that way you can hear updates and get reminders to vote frequently.

Finally - I am open to any ideas you may have to help get votes to get the funding. Leave me a note here or reach out on one of the other channels of communication.

Thanks for believing in me and my idea.

Authentic Faithfulness

This morning I had an epiphany.

Almost everyday in the month of February, my daily bible readings mostly from Psalms referenced God's faithfulness. Because February was a particularly challenging month - I was reading that to be an affirmation of God's faithfulness to me. Without question, that is 100% true - God has been tremendously faithful to me especially last month.

March is 13 days old and has been a mixed bag with many references to faithfulness in my daily studies. Today, once again I had a reference to faithfulness in John 16:33 and I don't want to freak anyone out but this is the truth:

Minutes after reading the verse when I was doing my daily voting for my Pepsi Refresh Project and posting to ask my Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter crew to vote - I started reading some of the comments from my friends who are cheering me on. Everyday that I post the link on my Facebook account or Tweet to my Twitter Tweeps - I am just humbled by the RTs (re-tweets) and the comments from the FAITHFUL friends who are voting everyday and keeping me in the running for this grant.

I would swear that God literally spoke to me and said "Denise - you know of my faithfulness to you - you've experienced it many times. What I am showing you now is the faithfulness of others."

Guys, the faithfulness I am currently experiencing from my friends and friends of friends -the daily voters, commenters and re-tweeting buddies is a foreshadowing of what the relational wellness movement is going to do for our world.

Quite honestly, that's part of what's missing anymore in relationships - faithfulness to each other, day-in and day-out. I am experiencing a taste of this now on the road securing my grant.

Thank you friends, friends of friends and strangers for your authentic faithfulness to me.