Tag Archives: #socialcv

30 Day Video Challenge

Yesterday afternoon, I was looking through my twitter feed when I saw my friend @jennipps tweet about a 30 Day Video Challenge she was participating in.

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I clicked in and thought, “I want to try that, too!”

I love video but, for some reason, I never think to do it first. It’s more something that I remember belatedly. With the minor except of Vine and I still don’t go to that first as would be so much fun.

I posted that I was in, thinking I would have to be a day short as it was already May 1st. And then I realized there was no reason why I couldn’t do a video yesterday even though it was a more “unplugged” version of me than what I usually do.

So my goal for the challenge is to make video be more of a first thought than one somewhere down the road.

Here’s my first video. I’d like to clarify that I’m trying to change my Trophy Wife status by getting a new job and not getting rid of my fabu husband. 🙂

 

#SocialCV

A little over a month ago, I saw a tweet from @ValaAfshar saying that his company, Enterasys was going to be hiring a senior social media strategist.

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And? So? Big deal. A lot of companies are realizing that they need to get into the social media game and are doing the same.

Except there was a difference with this position. Enterasys planned to do their recruiting through social media, using each candidate’s social CV. Interesting!

At that point, I wasn’t sure what Enterasys did. Vala and I have been following each other on twitter for a while now. I remember connecting with him for the first time about the NBA Draft. Vala was going to the Draft as a guest of the Celtics. Color me green and not because that’s the Celtic’s color!

When I saw him eating cheeseburgers on the Patriot’s team plane, I remained a little green. Cheeseburgers are my favorite food! Oh, and I love football. 🙂

So, when I saw Vala’s tweet about the job with his company, it caught my eye. When I saw how the process would be conducted, I was even more intrigued and knew I wanted to be part of this first (that I know of) social media job hiring process.

I’ve really been trying to find my place since I gave up directing the pageant. Trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. 🙂  I know I want to work in Social Media. I feel like I was born just waiting for social media to happen. I’ve been approached by some really cool people with some really great opportunities but nothing has felt just right. Yet.

So I talked to David about this possibility. Since he is mostly coming and going and just needs to be by an airport, moving to the Boston area would work just fine. Added bonus, one of my best friends, Debbie, lives right in North Andover about 10 minutes away from Enterasys. Cherry on top.

I decided to go for it!

My first concern was that, by choice, I have no klout score and  a klout score of 60 is required. As you know if you read this blog (or listen to me much) I deleted my klout profile a couple of algorithms ago because it seemed to me that klout was going to try and turn me into a mean girl and penalize me for talking to folks they deemed “less influential” than I. Well, I am gifted by my relationships with EVERYONE I interact with. Liz Strauss, one of my connections on twitter, wrote a great blog post that describes pretty much the same thought process I had when I was considering deleting my klout profile. But,simply said, I’m no one’s mean girl.

I considered reactivating my klout profile but I quickly discarded that idea. It didn’t feel right to me to change who I was and what I believe in for a job. I mean, hopefully I’m going to be at this job for a while and they will see the real me so why fake it?

You know how I am about being R.E.A.L! 🙂

I commented on the blog that I didn’t have a klout score but Vala told me it was okay, I have clout and that would be considered.

I do have provable clout. The coolest example of that was my trip to Washington D.C. as a superfan guest of Eight O’Clock Coffee. The two story suite I was given by Doubletree is my second favorite.

Eight O'Clock Coffee Superfans

Kred score. Until around a month before I heard about the Enterasys job, I think I had been to Kred once. Just to check it out when people were talking about it as a klout replacement. I sort of dismissed it because that’s exactly what it looked like to me, More of the klout same. But towards the end of January, Kred started awarding badges to their top 1% Kredsters. I went to look and see what the fuss was all about and my score was pretty high. Then I wondered why I didn’t get a badge. And then I did. 😉

kred

A candidate’s Kred score must be 725 with an outreach of 8 in order to qualify for this position. Mine was 845 with an outreach of nine. I just checked, though, and my score is now 859. So, not sure if Kred will ultimately ever be important to me other than for this purpose but it was kind of cool to see it rise 15 points in a month. Of course that got me wondering what it takes to move the outreach score up but I’m just not going to get all caught up in that. 😉

1,000 twitter followers was required. I had more than that and in the past month I’ve gained a lot more. Some of them, I know, are related to the #SocialCV but I do hope they’ll stick around even if they don’t pick me for the position. I like them!

Next on the list:

Consideration will be made to those applicants who have published works

regarding social media, peer influence, digital marketing, and related thought leadership.

Well alrighty then! I finished my first book Pageant Savvy, Social media for the savvy pageant gal in February. They were delivered into my hot little hand on February 19th, the day after this recruitment period started. Talk about your good timing! Not only is my little book pretty (so pretty!), it adds to my #SocialCV and my qualifications for this job.

pageant_savvy_social_media_book

An IT background would be preferred, and I don’t have that, but it’s not required. Working alongside David in the telecommunications field for all of these years, I do have more of an understanding of IT than I otherwise might have. [Insert paragraph break here. WordPress won’t do it. ;-)]

And there it is. The last day of the recruitment process was yesterday and it looks like there are some great candidates. I’m excited to be one of them.

In the past month, I’ve not only learned a lot about Enterasys but I’ve learned more about social media and about myself. I wish all of the candidates the best and wish Enterasys the best in choosing the right candidate for the position. While I hope I’m the one, if I’m not, the world is my oyster and the social media realm is large and growing. How exciting! 🙂

Carpe-ing the java DC style

So, now that things have slowed down a bit, I really need to tell you about my amazing trip to Washington, DC as the guest of Eight O’Clock Coffee.

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Back in the summer when David was doing the project in Amarillo, I got a direct message on twitter from the Eight asking for my email address. I gave it to them and then wondered what they could want. I speculated while talking to David but really had absolutely no idea.

I’ve been drinking Eight O’Clock Coffee since I was 15. I remember going to the A&P grocery store when I was little and they had a bright red package and a grinding machine. I have loved the smell of fresh ground coffee my whole life as far as I can remember. 🙂 I was eagerly waiting to hear what Eight O’Clock Coffee wanted to talk to me about that took more than 140 characters.

Then came the email. They had selected me as a Super Fan and wanted to find out what date would work for me to come to DC for a visit to see their coffee operation.

OMG! I was beyond excited!

“I wonder if we’ll get to cup coffee?”, I asked David.

Several years ago, I was marketing director at a sensory lab and that was where I learned about cupping coffee. We analyzed all types of foods, beverages and personal care products but not coffee because that’s a whole different ball game.

So I gave Jaime my information and waited to find out when I was going and what we would do. When I got my itinerary, there it was, “Plant Tour/Cupping Session”. I was SO excited!

cupping

When I arrived in DC, they picked me up at the airport in a limo.

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They drove me to the Embassy Row Hotel where I was given a goodie bag full of fun stuff and my room. We all met in the lobby for dinner.

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I met my sister super fans, Holly and her husband Bill, Donna and her husband, Rudy, and Ronda. Also, I met Jaime and Lori from the S3 Agency who made sure we were where we were supposed to be.

Eight O'Clock Coffee Superfans

The first night, we went to dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steak House. YUMMMMY! The only bad thing is that Ruth’s Chris doesn’t serve Eight O’Clock Coffee and I think the waiter was a little intimidated by us coffee achievers when we ordered coffee after dinner.

I was lucky to be seated across the table from Glenn for dinner. Not that everyone wasn’t fabulous. They were. But Glenn had been in the coffee business since he was 18 years old, working himself into his current position where he buys the beans, cups the coffee and makes incredible new flavors like the Chocolate Mint they rolled out around Christmas time and we were treated to the following day.

I transformed, groupie-style, into a Glenn monopolizer and I don’t think anyone else got a chance to talk to him at dinner.

The following morning we had breakfast at the hotel with Alisa, Director of Marketing. She basically held a focus group with us on things that could be done differently or better. I heard a lot of good ideas around that table!

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We got fabulous red fleece jackets!

IMG_0867Then it was off to Maryland and the coffee roasting facility.

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We were welcomed at the door. And again at lunch time.

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We were then taken on a tour of the roasting facility. We had to remove all of our jewelry except for our wedding rings so that nothing would fall into the coffee.

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Then we got another gorgeous outfit: white coats, goggles and a hairnet! 🙂

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We got to see all phases of the coffee operation including the flavoring which smelled AMAZING. It was Hazelnut!

Then, finally, the moment I had been waiting for. We went to the cupping room and they taught us how to cup coffee. In the end, it really wasn’t too different than sensory testing of foods/beverages that I had already experienced. I was pretty good with a spit cup, having had previous experience. 😉

cupping

After that we went back to DC and dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill which was delicious! I can highly recommend the Peanut Butter Pie. 😉

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Then back to our hotel to sleep and get ready for an early trip back to the airport.

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And there you have it. My awesome Eight O’Clock Coffee trip to DC. It was so amazing, I can hardly believe it really happened. What I learned on my trip was that the people who make Eight O’Clock Coffee are as awesome as the coffee that they produce. As excited as we all were to be there, they were equally excited to have us there. It was so cool.

I tweet about Eight O’Clock Coffee and I’m so excited when I see my friends trying it and enjoying it like I do. Not because of a trip to DC but because the coffee is truly wonderful and it makes me happy to be the bearer of such great coffee information.

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Thank you again, Eight O’Clock Coffee. I had the most incredible time and I will never forget your hospitality!

PS – At Christmas time, I got a box from the UPS man. What could it be?

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Coffee!!! I thought, “Oh they love me! It’s my favorite French Roast!” 🙂

 

And then I wrote a book

I was so excited when I woke up yesterday because I knew that the UPS man would be delivering my  books. And I waited.

Doesn’t UPS deliver early here?

We have only gotten something from UPS once in the month we’ve been here so I wasn’t sure but I seem to remember it being early. And I waited.

Around 5:00 it wasn’t early anymore. I checked the email to see if my package was still on the truck and I found this:

first

What? When? I was here ALL day!

I called UPS while also getting connected with them on the chat. Both people arranged that I’d be able to pick my package up and I would receive a phone call within the hour letting me know it was okay. That didn’t happen. But I went down to UPS anyway. It’s 2 blocks away. 🙂

I got my package!

Swoon!

It’s SO pretty! 🙂

book

I got kind of choked up over the whole thing. David said, “Are you okay over there?” Oh, yes. Just trying to get a grip. I’ve never written a book before. 😉

I started writing this book back in the summer when we lived in Amarillo. I was nearly finished when my computer melted down. The great guys at Westgate Computers were able to save all of my data, thank goodness!

But then I was kind of stuck. I didn’t have any motivation to finish the book even though my annoying loving friends kept bothering asking me about it.

After we moved here last month, I decided I really should finish the book. One of my big goals as an adult has been to finish what I started and this was kinda of big.

I made up my mind to do it and gave myself a deadline of two weeks out. I knew I was close to being finished. When I finally put my mind to it, it was sort of embarrassing how quickly I finished it. Try two days not two weeks!

Then it was such a nerve wracking experience getting the ISBN number and placing the order for the book itself. Both websites are loaded with DANGER DANGER Warnings.

If you make a mistake this will cost you a whole lot more of your hard earned dollars!

Tilt!

Ha ha. Not really. But that’s how it looked to me. 🙂

I finally got that business all taken care of and I waited. Until yesterday when it was finally there at the UPS counter for me to pick up.

So…I love it. Did I mention how pretty it is? 🙂

I have lots of people to thank. My beautiful and wonderful friends Chickee and Suzy. If not for you two, I might not have finished. Thank you for your loving support and encouragement. Suzy, thank you SO much for the amazing foreword you wrote. My first thought upon reading it was “I’m not worthy,  I’m not worthy”.

worthy

Many thanks to Lyndzee and Sherri for the cover photo. I told them what I wanted and just liked they grabbed the image out of my head and put it on the paper, there it was! I love it so much. 🙂

Thanks to Bryan from b|creative tulsa for my fabu headshot. It’s on the outside AND the inside of the book. 🙂

Without Scott Townsend teaching me how to tweet, I sincerely doubt this book would have ever been written. Twitter has opened so many doors to me it’s really hard to believe. Thank you, Scott!

And of course, last but not least, David. He’s really a good guy, you know? I’m sort of a handful and I know I’m noisy but he always believes in me and I appreciate his love and encouragement so much.

The website for the book is http://www.pageantsavvy.com and I’m super excited to begin adding photos of savvy pageant gals to it. Stop by if you’d like a book. It’s really pretty. 😉