This has been a work in progress since the beginning of this year.
To back track a little, and to bring you up to speed karenstrunks.com was initially just for my photography business when I started that in 2008. A lot of things have developed since then as my interest and work in social media has grown, and I have really wanted to update my online profile to reflect everything I'm involved in.
There are still a few tweaks I want to make, but it's an improvement on what was there before I think. It was ok, very simple but it was rather a static web page and I don't do static very well! ;)
My old website on karenstrunks.com
I have moved my photography website over to karenstrunksphotography.com. What I am going to use karenstrunks.com for is a 'hub' for all my online activity; an at-a-glance picture of what I'm doing and where!
I'll still be blogging here (there and everywhere!), but I just really felt the need to have one place that reflected my work.
I fancy doing a quick re-cap of what I have been up to, and what I've got coming up soon!
One of the things I've loved about having this blog in the last year is it's a great place for me to keep track of what I've done and it makes it easy for me to refer back to an event/occasion - plus I get to share it with you too! :)
Last Thursday took me to Speke in Liverpool to deliver atalk about localtraining session with my colleague Mike Rawlins. There's a whole heap of potential for this area when it comes to having an online voice, and we helped representatives from organisations in the area get up and running with their own Wordpress website which will act as a 'hub' for all their activities, and we will be going back later in Feb to finalise the training.
Then on Friday it was the first Birmingham Social Media Cafe event of 2012 and it got off to a great start! Over 60 attendees from all sorts of industries met, networked and talked social media and the coffees were kindly sponsored by Meegloo - a great, free social media app! The next event is on Friday 24th Feb at the Birmingham Town Hall. It's free. So if you are interested in using social media for work or play, and want to meet like minded people, then please come along! Check out the Storify from last week where you can see photos/video and what people were tweeting about the BSMC!
On Saturday I had a Very Nice Day Out with my Mum in Warwick. I thought I hadn't been there before, but actually I had, many years ago, but I didn't see very much of it back then. I was really impressed with this small town. I have been to the famous Warwick Castle before - it's well worth a visit. I really loved the dungeon part!
There seemed to be more independent shops in the High Street so that was a welcome sight. And there are lots of antique shops with unique items such as
In the olden days, men with mustaches used to use these tea cups to keep their upper lip dry!
I have my eye on these beauties. If you don't mind, ta ;)
And although I didn't buy the earrings, my mum treated me to a new purse, and I treated me to a new red handbag!
On Sunday evening I went out with a few friends to Loco Lounge in Kings Heath. It was my first time there, and I really liked it! It was quiet as it was a Sunday night, but that more than suited me and was a lovely night chilling and chatting and sharing a few drinks.
This Wednesday I'm going all the way to Redruth (pronounced 're-DRUTH)'in Cornwall and delivering a talk about local workshop. I'm meeting Nicky there and we are staying overnight as the workshop is early on Thursday morning. It's looking to be a great workshop with over 20 attendees! I also can't wait to see Nicky, as she moved away from Birmingham in the new year, so it will be great to have a catch up!
LocalGovCamp is an unconference (no charge, no agenda) for people mostly working in or around Local Government to get together for a few hours and talk about stuff.
There's nearly 100 people going, and there will be lots of talk of new digital developments, social media, data, and how to share what's going on, just for starters!
And whilst I'm in that neck of the woods, I'm meeting up with my best friend for dinner and a catch up.
It's going to be a great day!
There we go. That's what has and will be keeping me busy for now :)
There's two things in my life that I love, but that have seemed at odds with each other. It's been on my mind for a month or two and I couldn't really figure it out.
I love community building/facilitating; using social media to garner interest in things and then turning those into offline community events that hopefully people will enjoy. Good examples are the 4am Project, Birmingham Social Media Cafe, and the work I do with talk about local.
I also love being on my own. I spend more time on my own that anyone else I know. I relish it. I work well alone. That's not to say I don't work well with others, I do, but if you tell me I have to work on my own, no problem.
I like doing things on my own too. I've gone on lots of holidays solo out of choice. I'll go to a nice restaurant on my own, or the cinema. I don't avoid doing something I want to do just because it means I'll be alone.
As I was reading it I was thinking, 'Yes, I get it. The two things (community and solitude) CAN co-exist!'
It's going to be hard not to just quote the WHOLE piece here, so I will just pick out the snippets that stood out to me to the most. Please read it and let me know what you think!
It begins..
SOLITUDE is out of fashion. Our companies, our schools and our culture are in thrall to an idea I call the New Groupthink, which holds that creativity and achievement come from an oddly gregarious place. Most of us now work in teams, in offices without walls, for managers who prize people skills above all. Lone geniuses are out. Collaboration is in
It's certainly a trend I've noticed, and I think that has evolved more now we have the wonderful internet. Being so hyper connected makes it easier to collaborate. Collaboration is seen as a Good Thing. Therefore, let's collaborate, let's Groupthink, let's make something great happen! I can understand that.
And I will add that I couldn't do what I do without other people's involvement or contribution. There's few people that will achieve anything entirely on their own, without other's support, encouragement, perhaps ideas and help and facilitation or simply someone cheering them on from the sideline.
I run the 4am Project alone from behind my computer screen. I do the majority of the work behind the scenes; when there's a global 4am Project date I manage the website, flickr, facebook, twitter account, pr, emails etc. I don't really need to see another person to do that. However, the 4am Project as it is with over 50 countries taken part and 6000+ images would not have happened without the collaboration of other people (and that people love the project enough to give up sleep and take part, I am very grateful!). And when the 4am date comes around, I'll have organised an event in Birmingham and I will show up and take part and make sure everyone is having a good time.
Collaboration is in. But that's shouldn't meet that solo working should be out!
Working alone on my various things, I get a lot done. I haven't got the distraction of a husband or kids. To add to the picture you may have in mind, I also work in silence for the majority of the time. Most the the things I work on I deem important and therefore that needs my full concentration. Sometimes, in the evening, depending on what I'm doing, I'll put the radio on. What a treat! lol. When the clock hits 9 or 10 o'clock, I'll put the tv on and watch something or other and wind down before bedtime.
I have no brothers or sisters, so I guess spending time on my own is ingrained to me. It's not a scary thing at all. Beside, I have all my friends on the internet for company as and when I want! :)
The beauty of the way the internet allows us to work is that we don't have to be in a physical place. Of course, that depends on your job. I mean, I DO have to go out to do some parts of my work. But for the majority of my work, I just need to be online in between team meetings, delivering training workshops in various cities, taking photographs, attending events etc.
"During the last decades, the average amount of space allotted to each employee shrank 300 square feet, from 500 square feet in the 1970s to 200 square feet in 2010."
And the article goes on to say that when experiments were done in open offices and workers were given their own cubicles, their own 'nook' to work in they were happier and their output improved.
What distinguished programmers at the top-performing companies wasn’t greater experience or better pay. It was how much privacy, personal workspace and freedom from interruption they enjoyed.
Even working from home there are interruptions. That's why I keep my land line phone switched off (no one calls me on that anymore, they have given up lol), and the majority of the time, my mobile will be on silence (but I'll see it flashing and can decide whether to take the call or call them back later). Twitter is usually kept on so I can reach out and connect when I feel like it (though I have switched the 'chimes' off).
Whatever the interruption, whether it's the phone ringing, or a colleague coming up to you for a chat, or answering an urgent email, your brain can take about 15 minutes to shift back into the space it was in doing whatever task you were doing.
In a recent study, a group of Microsoft workers took, on average, 15 minutes to return to serious mental tasks, like writing reports or computer code, after responding to incoming e-mail or instant messages. They strayed off to reply to other messages or browse news, sports or entertainment Web sites.
I tried a co-working space once. A very nice lady sat next to me and chatted the whole day! On that day I wanted to use the space to opt in and out of conversation, but I had no choice with this lady's chatter. I went home early. I got nothing done and was too polite to tell her not to talk to me, even though I made hints that I had a lot to do.
Apparently you can use your ear phones as a 'code':
Two earphones in = I'm busy. Do not interrupt.
1 earphone in = kinda open for chat but keep it brief
Ear phones out = Let's talk!!
If only I had known that back then. Of course, it relies on other people working there to know that code too!
This last week or two has been varied. I met up with the talk about local team in the office. Last Tuesday I went to London to help train people. Tomorrow I'm off to Liverpool to do a workshop. Today I am working alone. Each of those days has a different flow, and I adapt and enjoy that. Even though I'm used to working on my own, I'm not anti-social. I'm out going and friendly and when I do go out socially or go to an event, I have a great time.
Time Square. I spent a month in NYC on my own and loved every minute, though I still checked in with my friends online and met new people in NYC. Screen shot by Sas Taylor
Solitude can even help us learn. According to research on expert performance by the psychologist Anders Ericsson, the best way to master a field is to work on the task that’s most demanding for you personally. And often the best way to do this is alone.
If you want to improve, you have to be the one who generates the move.
Oh the challenges I've set myself! Most recently some website stuff (which I'll mention in another blog post). I don't know that much about the back end of websites or how they work. This year I have spent 50 hours figuring out what I wanted to do and how to do it. Of course, I could reach out and ask for help, or just get someone else to do it for me - save a headache right? But I am very determined, and admittedly I don't like asking for help (maybe too independent), and in the end I worked it out and got there.
Plus, what I have learnt from figuring it out on my own is that I can do things that I intially find hard, and at the same time I will learn something. And I've never regretted learning anything, and that learning has stood me in good stead and nearly always come in useful. It's an investment in myself if you will.
I’m not suggesting that we abolish teamwork. Indeed, recent studies suggest that influential academic work is increasingly conducted by teams rather than by individuals. (Although teams whose members collaborate remotely, from separate universities, appear to be the most influential of all.)
Remote collaboration. We can all do that very easily now! The internet provides the perfect vehicle to do that and we have some many tools at hand within it do aid the collaboration from a distance; emails, shared documents, skype conference calls, and there are many websites that are made especially to facilitate collaboration under their roof.
But even if the problems are different, human nature remains the same. And most humans have two contradictory impulses: we love and need one another, yet we crave privacy and autonomy
And that statement just about sums this all up for me. That's the thing that I was puzzling over. My 'need' of wanting to do what I do with social media and community building, and my other 'need' for independence and to be able to work alone at times. And I now happily realise I don't have to choose between one or the other, or wrestle with the concept, I can do both! :)
In what way do you work best?
Do you prefer working directly with people, or do you crave some peace and quiet to get your work done?
Is the internet a Bad Thing as it removes some of the need to meet up with people face to face?
Do you miss grabbing a coffee and having a meeting with someone? Do you still insist on this even though you could have a meeting online?
Today, I want to mention the progression of my diary management over the last couple of years and how I am working on perfecting that. I am also tracking where I spend my time, and I'll blog about that next. I am aiming for a super efficient 2012, and there's always room for improvement!
Up until Feb 2011 I kept track of my commitments with a traditional week-to-view diary. I had been using that type of diary for a good few years (always a silver WHSmith diary. It became a tradition every December to buy one). As the year went by the pages would become more dog eared, and I liked that. This year I haven't bought one, but I kind of feel I should just because I am so used to see it sitting in it's place on my desk!
However, as my work, commitments and areas of interest progressed I knew I needed to take it to the next level, which for me was Google Calendar.
This felt so clean! And I could account for time hour by hour. And all those hours to fill! Whooohooo!
I devised a multi coloured calendar. Each colour representing a different task; social, work, running, time off, blogging etc.
And this is what the result was. Ta da!! So many colours, so pretty! ;)
BUT after a couple of months of this type of diary management I could see it's flaws.
Yes, I could account for every hour, but as you can see, some days involved jumping from task to task. And more often than not, the tasks took longer than the time I had allocated for it. And then I would have to jiggle things about and it became a bit much really. I also hadn't given myself any room for maneuver.
So, I had a think and devised a new type of schedule which allowed longer for each task so I wasn't jumping about so much, plus I gave myself more room and flexibility by introducing Leeway Days!
Leeways days are time I reserved in my diary and keep empty as I've learnt that something unexpected will come up each week, it could be an event, work, or perhaps I need more time to work on something. Or just have some time off! It's handy to have some time in reserve if something needs to be juggled about or re-scheduled.
These leeway days have been a really beneficial addition. I highly recommend them.
These first few months of this year are looking to be busy ones already, and I'm looking forward to them and seeing what 2012 brings.
And if you are looking for some events to fill up your diary with, you won't go wrong with these social media get togethers in Birmingham:
A meet up for geeky girls and women in Birmingham. And men can come too! Just grab a girl and put your name down. You can come there with me if you want!
I'll be doing a short talk there about social media and the 4am Project.
WordPress Birmingham (UK) is a monthly meetup group based in Birmingham, UK (unsurprisingly), aimed at bringing together WordPress designers, developers and site owners.
So, you have a super, duper idea for an online community project! You want the world to know about it and join in, but where to start? I’m writing this from the point of view of running the 4am Project. It’s a global photography project that asks participants to capture a view of their world at 4am. It’s had a reach in over 50 countries and over 4,000 images submitted to date. I wear many hats with the 4am Project (and it’s been an amazing learning curve!), from event organiser, pr person, community manager, press spokesperson, advisor to name just a few.
A little while ago I received an email from someone who was starting an online photography project and asked for my advice
I thought I would share some of my experience of running an online community project with you and the approach I have taken. So, with out further ado!
Planning
Who do you want to reach? Where are they? Why do you want them to take part? How are they going to take part? How are you going to reach them?
I found twitter incredibly useful for growing the 4am Project. I searched for people with an interest in photography on twitter, checked out their individual profiles (and whether they were actually active on twitter,) and I followed them.
Note: I didn’t follow people randomly. I took the time to research each person individually, as there was a greater chance that they would be interested in the project, follow and take part in the project and also tell their friends. I don’t do this so much now as the project has been established and I generally let it grow organically on twitter now.
Because my project is photography based and using flickr, I tapped into the flickr community. Again, I researched groups and individuals and connected with them. I’ll warn you now that both this twitter and flickr method is VERY time consuming, but both yielded good results as I took the time and trouble to do my research as make a personal connection. Where is your new community hanging out?
As you tick one ‘to do’ off your list of plans, others will take their place. As your project evolves and grows you will probably get a host of new ideas! The more the merrier in a way, but before you dive into them, think about what’s going to work the best and what is worth your time. Some things you will have to try to see if they work, but as soon as it becomes apparent that an idea isn’t working for the benefit of your project, drop it and move on.
Time Investment
This one took me a while to figure out, and it still does to some degree. From day one I wanted the 4am project to be global. I invested practically all my free time in promoting the project (I had no support/staff or £ to pay anyone to do it). It did take over my life, and there were times when I was exhausted but felt I couldn't take a break from it. (I'm quite driven anyway and put 100% into everything). However, I do think that experience has instilled a new discipline in me to manage time/work/effort more effectively which stands me in good stead for other work and projects.
There were times when it felt like the project was controlling me rather than me controlling the project. Be aware of this. The larger your project grows the more people you will be interacting with. They will ask questions and comment. Are you going to be there to respond?
When your project takes off the ground, there may be press interest. You may be asked to do interviews, that might be by email, or on the phone or even in person. You will have to allow the time to do this.
Another extension of your projects is growth may be that you get asked to speak about it publicly in workshops, conferences, net working events etc. Is this something you will be comfortable with? Of course you don’t have to do it, but it can act as a good way to reach a new audience and of course build up your confidence in public speaking too!
I run the 4am Project around paid work (the project doesn't earn any £). And it’s very likely you will have to work on your project outside of your paid work too. So, start thinking now about how much time you can/want to invest in your project, and schedule it into you diary. I've got a better balance with the 4am Project now, by setting aside specific block of time to work on it ie. Rather than, ‘I’ll do a few hours next Saturday’, it’s "I will work on this next Saturday midday-4pm". Other arrangements, social or otherwise will have to be worked around this. I don’t give myself much flexibility in this area, as it would be all too easy to ‘do it tomorrow’. Don’t fall into that trap if you really want to make a go of your project.
Let's talk money!
Do you want to earn £ from your project? Do you want sponsorship/funding? Start working on that now. You can't start too early. I found with the few companies who have sponsored the 4am Project so far, and the funding I have received, that the wheels can turn very slowly. Frustratingly so at times. I have found that to even get a relatively small amount of sponsorship, it has required a big time investment. Weigh up what's on offer, what you actually want, how it will benefit the project, and whether it's worth it.
However, it’s not all about the money! I would say don’t wait for money, unless it’s an absolute critical part to get your idea off the ground. You may not necessarily need any money (though you might think it’s good to have it). What you really need is your enthusiasm, time, energy and you have all the free online tools you need at your disposal.
Hopefully this glimpse into running an online project and community doesn’t sound too overwhelming! There are a lot of upsides. It can be a lot of fun, it can give you great experience (that can stand you in good stead for future work), it can raise your profile and put you on the ‘radar’, and it will bring you into contact with people you wouldn’t ordinarily have met.
The bottom line
What do YOU want to get out of the project? When you are deep in the middle of it all and it really takes off and it's keeping you really busy, it can be easy to lose focus, so most importantly don't forget why you have started it. Put a sign up. Remember what your online adventure is all about! :)
I was invited to the Birmingham Mail's Your Communities day along with some other local bloggers. The Birmingham Mail have been working along side community bloggers in Birmingham for a while now. They have established a good working relationship with the bloggers and feature the hyper local blog updates on their Your Communities page, and weekly in the Tuesday edition of their newspaper.
The event was held the the Birmingham Mail's offices in Fort Dunlop (where I cut my teeth as a photographer), and we were given a tour, got to meet some of the staff behind the paper and swap some hyper local blogging social media tips.
A worthwhile day and it was great to meet the people behind some of the other hyper local bloggers in Birmingham!
Imagining I'm at the Empire State Building's Observation Deck :)
Millennium Point's 10th Birthday Party
I got an invitation to Millennium Point's 10th Birthday party! I've never been to a building's birthday party before! Of course MP is more than just a building, it is home to a huuuge cinema, and the Birmingham Science Museum and Think Tank.
I felt like I was 10 again! There were clowns, and cakes, and birthday cards and candy floss, and food and drinks, and clever science experiments involving flames.
The Weasley Twins from Harry Potter made an appearance.
Tall, colourful people!
Birmingham Vintage Festival
I missed the first Bham Vintage Festival so was keen to make it along to the second one. It didn't disappoint with some fabulous stalls selling all sorts of delicious vintageness. I wish I had taken more photos, but you can check out their website and see who there's and what's on offer. There's going to be another event coming up, so if vintage is your thing, you'll love it!
I picked up a vintage lady in red broach
Debra gave me a 'tattoo'! Red of course. It stayed on for nearly a week!
Social Media Training
St Basil's is a Birmingham charity that help young homeless people and they needed some guidance on how to make the best use out of free social media tools to help the people they work with, and engage with communities online as well as raise their profile.
I did a fair bit of research before me and Nicky held the workshop on how other charity and homeless groups are using social media and found some outstanding examples, but my overall observation is that the USA is really embracing social media to talk about what they are doing, sharing stories, making connections, offering help and resources, more so than the UK.
St Basil's head office is actually in an old church!
Career interview
Sharon Howard from the 'Day in the life of a busy girl blog' asked to interview me about my creative career, and you can read all about it here!
I answered questions such as:
How did you get into your career? What are the challenges? What's you favourite thing about your work? What advice you would give to others? I hope you enjoy the read!
I've taken quite a few photos of the Selfridges building over the years (the one below is my personal fav) and so I was asked about what I thought about Lonely Planet's comment (it was a bit silly) and what do I think of the building (I like it). Well, I said a bit more than that, but you get the gist!
The 'peanut with acne' - much more beautiful that that in reality!
Last, but not least! The best meal in a restaurant this year
I've got to rave about this place. After a lot of moans this year about eating out and gluten free choices I have finally found somewhere that has wowed me!
They had a really great gluten free menu. I chose the slow cooked pork, sweet potato fries and spicy coleslaw. I haven't enjoyed a meal out so much for a long time! It's really made me want to go back (and it very rare that a restaurant will make me want to do that!), and I've booked a table for my birthday (I can't wait!)
And that's brought the best of September to a close! Whew!
What's in store of October?
I'm glad you asked!
Last weekend I went to Ludlow to Storycamp. It was a day long event organised by Nicky that was based around digital story telling. Why tell stories, how to tell stories, what social media tools can be used, the fun, the ethics, it was all covered! There's a brilliant round up of the day over on the Storycamp blog. Thank you for a great day Nicky!
This weekend I'm off to the Women's Institute's Tech Fest day with talk about local to do some social reporting. This will be my first encounter with the WI, so I'm looking forward to meeting some of the ladies.
AND...
...in case I haven't mentioned it before.... ;)
It's going to be my 40TH Birthday soon! On the 15th October. I wanted to have a party, but I haven't had the chance to really think about it properly or plan anything. I should have started working on it bit by bit at the beginning on the year. But I will be spending the day with my two favourite people in the whole wide world, my mum and my best friend and I know it's going to be a good one!
Do I have to grow up when I'm 40? I hope not. I have absolutely no intention of that! :)
September was undoubtedly my busiest month this year and I want to capture a record of it just in case my memory fades on me.
A lot of them deserve their own blog posts really, and I'd like to think I'll go back and cover some of them in more detail but hey, it's October already. A brand new month to fill!
There were lots of highlights and here are a few of them.
I also managed to meet up with my Tweety Friends before the big walk.
I met up with @getgood and we went to a cool bar that had beds!
And of course I was drawn to this Tweety Friend cushion. Twitter mad? Me? ;)
And I finally got to meet a long time twitter friend Elizabeth @realityminus3 We enjoyed a hearty Wagamam's dinner, drinks and a great chat! A lovely evening.
I got an invite for a trip along Birmingham's canals from BCU's Press Office. It was like a net working event, only on a canal boat, with drinkies and nibbles. Despite living in Birmingham for quite a while now, I'd only ever been on one canal boat trip many years ago, so I thought it time for another one. It was a lovely evening, with lots of new and interesting people to meet such a media peeps and lecturers.
It was a huge conference with a lot of key note talks to cover and speakers to interview. It was interesting to see how much output, as a team, we were able to deliver across all the mediums.
A post conference glass of wine with @getgood (she pops up everywhere!) and @clarewhite. Belles of social media reporting ;)
Long weekend in Palma with my mum
Three nights away with my mum @createdineire and taking on the Palma Live Challenge set by bmibaby. I love these types of social media and travel collaborations. bmibaby asked their friends and followers what I should see in Palma and set my itinerary. I reported live on my adventure. I've gathered all my updates in one handy blog post here, and my Palma review is live on bmibaby's blog too!
Bed Jumping in the bloggers room at @horizonte24 hotel. It's a must! ;)
Metapod Kaleidoscope Course - Day 1 of 5 days
This is a course run by Fierce Earth and Helga Henry is my mentor! It's a bit of a change to have a mentor (I like it!) as it's normally me doing mini mentoring sessions with folks that ask for my help.
It’s aimed at senior leaders in selected businesses to focus on commercial skills and business growth in a way that is congruent with your artistic and cultural development.
It's named Kaleidoscope as it helps to change your perception/view of y our business. I think that's right. Anyway, it's certainly worked after only 1 day of the 5 day course (there's 2 x 2 days coming up in November). It's not very often I talk 'business' and plans with anyone. I have an idea, figure out what I want, make a plan, and go for it, very generally speaking.
Already I can feel my perspective changing, and I must admit, it feels a little unsettling. It's thrown me a little. Before the course I had a set road ahead, and now I'm questioning it (which isn't a bad thing at all); Am I
on the right road? Am I working as efficiently towards my goals as I thought? Is there another way, a better way? What can I remove from my life/business? What's superfluous? What can I add? And although I do feel a little unsettled, I'm going with it, accepting these new feelings, being open to change and getting excited about what will happen next!
We got crafy on the course. Always a winner!
Whoops, I've run out of blogging steam tonight! I think I'm going to have to break this post up in to a few parts. There's a lot of pack in! :)
I've been online for about 10 years. Well, when I say online, I mean, I've been connected to the internet for 10 years.
I feel I REALLY got online approx 3/4 years ago. Instead of just using it for just research, browsing and emails, I started putting myself online, started my first blog and started making connections with other people.
And how my social landscape has change since then!
Prior to the internet and really using it to connect with people, my circle of friends mainly consisted of people that I worked with. I didn't have much choice about who I worked with then, but luckily there were always a few people who I connected with.
Or I'd meet people through a friend and maybe make a new friend that way.
Occasionally I would go out and make an effort to meet new people and join a group or class. I found that a bit hit and miss.
My best friend has remained my constant friend for the last 20 year (we met in the Royal Navy). I used to moan to her, "Where do I meet interesting people? Where are the people who are are inspiring and doing something different?"
I was really frustrated by not being able to find the people that I wanted to connect with.
And now....
I'm surrounded by those people I so yearned to meet years ago! People like me! People who I can relate to. People that inspire me! People that are doing something different. People that have their goals and work hard. People that are interesting.
Before I went online I kinda thought that you couldn't call someone a friend if you hadn't met in person first. I've changed my mind on that now.
I'm glad to have met in person some of the people I admire who are online, and to be able to call them friends. When I was a 'newbie' online, and still finding my way, these people made the first connection to me and gave me a 'welcome'.
And although I haven't met everyone I want to, I feel that I can call some people friends that I connect with online. The miles don't seem to matter so much when you can chat and share on the internet.
My social landscape has changed a lot. Now it's a lot easier to seek out the type of people that I like, and say 'Hi'.
The type of people I'm attracted to are positive, industrious, rebellious, have goals and dreams and ambitions. They are busy people, as am I, and I take comfort in the fact that I'm working away late into the night, my friends are doing the same thing. And then we'll come up for air and meet up in person and have a good catch up.
They say you are what you eat. I'd also say, you are who you surround yourself with.
When you have friends that inspire and are a positive influence on your life, that will naturally rub off on you. Likewise, if all your friends are negative, woe is me, life sucks types, how is that going to make you feel?
I really find it hard to remember my social life before the net, but I am very grateful to it now, and for all the friends I have made in the past few years. Thank you friends. You Rock!
My friend @Najmc suggested that we watch Mean Streets together, but in our respective homes, using twitter to chat about it as we watched. What a great idea!
So this afternoon, that just what we did. I thought I'd experiment with Storify again and decided upon the hash tag of #sundayfilm club.
I really enjoyed the experience of having a virtual film watching companion. Of course, we were tweeting so there were little interuptions, but it was kinda cool sharing the film across the miles! Another Yay for Twitter!
My best friend (ever in the whole wide world!) came to stay!!
We haven't seen each other since last summer.
Her name is Faith. We met 20 years ago when we were in the Royal Navy.
We didn't hit it off on first sight, but then Faith moved into my Mess in the bed opposite mine. "I suppose we had better be friends then", I said. And from that moment on we were!
We shared our secrets, had adventures, and laughed and laughed and laughed.
And we are still laughing now.
I don't think there is anything we don't know about one another. Or that we couldn't tell each other.
Since then, we went through the novelty of getting our first mobile phones (I'm not sure who was first), and getting hooked up to the internet (she beat me to that), there's been hardly a day when we are not in touch by text or email. We are constantly updating each other with snippets from our lives, big or small.
Living my life as much as I do online I thought I would document our weekend via my tweets. I chose the hash tag of #ksbf (Karen Strunks Best Friend) and signed up to Storify imagining I would be tweeting all weekend long. However, I hardly tweet at all - that's a first!
I ended up taking quite a break from the internet and my iPhone, and simply enjoyed the company of my best friend.
We had 4 days together and it felt like the first time I had stopped properly this year. I've had a couple of breaks (or at least one that springs to mind) but they have been quite active. I'm so used to being on the go all the time (which I love), but I adjusted surprisingly quickly to a change of pace, and also to having constant company.
I live on my own, I work on my own (for the majority of the time), I enjoy my own company, I never get bored or feel lonely, but I don't think I would ever tire of Faith's company.
I moved to Moseley 7 years ago, but at at that time I very nearly came close to moving to Lincoln instead which was where Faith was living. I even viewed houses there, but I decided Lincoln wasn't quite big enough for me (as much as I love my best friend!). Faith is very much a country mouse (and has since moved to Cumbria) whereas I'm very much a big city mouse (ultimately aiming for NYC!).
I wonder if one day we will find a middle ground near to each other. But in the meantime, with all the communication, we hardly feel the miles.
So, what did we do last weekend?!
Faith arrived on Friday afternoon, and we met my Mum and step Dad for dinner. When we got back mine I gave Faith her belated birthday pressie. What better than one of my favourite toys - a HULA HOOP!
We played outside for an hour like a couple of kids. Faith soon picked up how to hula and we were choreographing hula routines in between laughing.
I've got lots of video footage, but even I'm too shy to put it on here, though I'm crying with laughter watching it!
Saturday was photo shoot day and we got dressed up far too inappropriately for a Saturday afternoon and headed out and about.
Faith
Me
As you can tell, we are very shy in front of the camera! We took a ton of photos, we danced around, jumped up and down, pulled faces, and laughed (though I'm looking quite serious in these photos!).
Saturday evening saw us at a Spiritualist Church. Rock n Roll. We didn't get any messages from the medium!
Sunday was uber lazy, but productive in other ways. We talked BUSINESS.
Even though I have a bit of head start in running businesses and creative endeavors we still found we had a lot of common ground to cover.
We spent a good 4/5 hours discussing topics such as...
Time management
Where time is better spent
Diary organisation
'Hidden' time - ie not just doing the work, but the prep, paperwork etc that is also involved
We talked about what work to say NO to.
We even did some role playing in saying NO politely but firmly!
"Hello, can you work for me for free?" NO
"Hello, can you do XYZ for me and I'll put your name on my website"? NO
"Hello, can you do me a favour where there is no benefit to you, but lots for me?" NO
And what work to possibly say YES to.
Top of that list is paid work obviously. Then there are other things that may bring benefits in other ways. For example, I don't get paid for running the 4am Project (I'm working on it) but it brings me a lot of other benefits, experience and exposure.
We both agreed that running businesses requires a lot of constant decision making. Weighing up of pros and cons, and quite importantly, listening to our instincts.
And it's not just deciding on the type of work you do, but WHO you want to work with too! For example, just a few months ago I 'sacked' my first client (there will be a blog post on that at some point). Opportunities may arise, but are they the right ones with the right people?
As we are both running things single handedly, free time is not on our side and we don't have it to waste. Time, like money, has to be invested wisely and hopefully that investment will bring rewards of some kind.
We then got out our pens and paper and made plans! That's the exciting bit! What do we want to achieve this year, next year, even in 5 years. Where do we want to be? How are we going to get there? How many steps will it take? What do we need to do?
That was a good 4/5 hours well spent and we both benefited from it. It's not often I get to sit down and talk things through with someone and get another perspective and really chew things over. And Faith's gone away more inspired than ever and is already cracking on with her plans this week.
After exercising our minds, Faith managed to persuade me to go out for a walk (I was sooo comfy!). I let her lead the way, knowing we would get lost as she doesn't know the area, and I ended up seeing parts of my neighbourhood I hadn't been to before.
Faith left on Monday and I was SO sad to see her go! I'm so used to spending time on my own but I really missed her and felt a bit down on Sunday evening. I watched silly Sex & The City 2 to cheer myself up a bit!
It took me a while to get back into the work frame of mind on Tuesday. The pro's of Faiths visit are that I had a super, fab, inspiring time with my best friend plus I completely chilled out. But I'm back in the swing of things again and up to full speed.
This has been (and will be!) a pretty amazing week and I'm feeling very happy and grateful. I got to see my best friend, I got a new wedding photography booking, I have taken over the running of the Bham Social Media Cafe, I'm going out with for cocktails with friends tonight, I'm helping a community in Liverpool with hyperlocal blogging with Talk About Local and my friend and colleague Nicky tomorrow, and on Saturday I'm seeing my brilliant Mum!
And now I must get ready for cocktail night and put my best bling on! :)
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