Be Social, Get Success

We all heard the news last evening that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple Inc. passed away from a rare form of pancreatic cancer. Many of us learned about his death on a device he created.

I did not know Steve personally, I am not a raving Apple fan, the only thing Apple that I own is an iPod, yet I feel like I have lost a friend.

Everyone thinks of Steve as the wealthy guy who made lots of money from computers. But are you aware of his start? Are you aware of how he became the person known around the world?

His mother was an unwed teenager who gave him up for adoption. His adopted parents did not have much money. He dropped out of college after six months. He was homeless and walked several miles for a free meal after dropping out. He crashed on friends floors and attended some classes he wasn’t enrolled in and then moved back home and started tinkering with computers in his dad’s garage. After 10 years and he had reached a high level of success he was publicly humiliated and fired from his own company. He created several other companies including Pixar. He eventually was rehired by Apple and the rest is history, but he never tried to hide his roots or his background. He was smart enough to realize it was what helped to shape him into the inspirational person he was.

Steve Jobs lived each day like it would be his last. By doing so, he taught each of us that the inspired person who believes he can make a difference in the world, truly can bring about change.

Steve Jobs changed the world. He transformed each of our lives. He changed the way we view and communicate with the world. He changed my life and inspired me. Technology as we know it, is possible because of Steve Jobs.

In 2005, Jobs gave the commencement address at Stanford. He talks about life and death. If you have a few minutes, watch the video. It is very moving.

The world lost a visionary leader last night. But the world also lost someone who exemplified living in the public eye, up until he said good-bye.

Our Hotel in Orlando

Last weekend I traveled to Orlando, Florida to attend a conference on Social Networking. Anyone who knows me, knows how interested I am in Social Media. I love reading blogs, I enjoy blogging myself, I find facebook to be a great way to communicate, Google+ looks promising, YouTube is most entertaining and I’m still trying to figure Twitter out. I post to Twitter on a routine basis, but still don’t have the hang of it. There are hundreds of other sites that can be included in Social Networking. It is a big, broad field and it is still in its infancy. I expect it to continue growing for years to come.

About six months ago, I started thinking about what I want to retire to when I leave my current job. The first thing that came to mind was something with social media. I could get lost reading blogs all day and post to facebook all night….but thought I needed something a little more substantial.

Michele Scism and Robin Smith

So I did some research and I followed a few people online that I felt were doing things that I would like to do. People like Michele Scism, Martha Giffin, Michelle Shaeffer, and Jo Barnes. After a few months I decided I wanted to start an online business helping people and small businesses get themselves online and be successful. You see there is one thing to just using social media for fun and posting what you think today….it is another to be using it as a business and try to drive traffic to your business and make a profit. Not only do they need a fan page, they need a welcome page, a squeeze page, and they need to use facebook, blogs, and other social media in a strategic manner. I learned how to help businesses do that at Take Action, Get Profits in Orlando.

I’m starting to build my own business and business pages. Then I hope to help entrepreneurs and small businesses with their pages. Social Media Management is a growing field and I’m thrilled to be part of it.

Some of Our Presenters

While in Orlando, I met many people who are in various stages of their business. It was great to meet with people who have already gone where I want to go an those just getting started, like me. It was also wonderful to meet so many people with the same interest in social media. Many people were there for different reasons from different types of businesses, but we all were learning how social media could contribute to our success.

I’ll be sharing a bit more about my experiences and things I learned on this trip in the future.

So tell me, what do you feel is most interesting about social networking and how it can impact businesses? Leave me a comment and share your thoughts.