Elemental Wellness Technology Stop: Facebook's Pied Piper and Personal Branding

By Wendy Marx
FastCompany.Com

Thousands of ordinary folks are a little better known and successful today thanks to the extraordinary networking talents of one woman.

Meet the Pied Piper of the online world, Mari Smith [1], a veritable engine of personal branding and a relationship marketing whiz.

Not simply a land-based networker, Smith wields her magic on one of the largest platforms in the world, Facebook, home to 69 million active users and 250,000 new members joining every day. She’s also an active user of Twitter.

An evangelist for the powers of Facebook [2], Smith teaches a free introductory class about using Facebook for professional networking and business building. To date, more than 700 folks have taken her class. She also blogs about Facebook. [3]

And, today is the official launch of her signature course, Facebook for Professionals: How to Use the #1 Social Network to Strategically Grow Your Business [4]- A complete Multimedia System that includes a comprehensive ebook, how-to videos and interviews with some 30 successful Facebook members including popular web strategist and Sr Analyst at Forrester Research, Jeremiah Owyang [5], and creator of the Book Yourself Solid System, Michael Port [6].

For Smith, who is 41, Facebook [7] is a personal branding megaphone, allowing you to broadcast your personal brand around the world by commenting on “friends’” walls, adding photos, sending personal messages, joining groups, pushing out blog feeds and providing frequent status updates.

“Far more than an online resume, Facebook shines a spotlight on you while radiating your work and life to hundreds of others who in turn introduce it to hundreds more -- and suddenly you have all these interwoven connections,” says Smith.

“Facebook provides the opportunity for me to talk to people at a higher level than I did before in such a wide range of industries, including seven-figure internet marketers, copywriters, authors, and speakers. One multi-millionaire internet marketer told me pointblank that if I’d tried to reach him any other way, we would not be having the conversation. All his calls and emails are filtered through several assistants.”

It’s also opened the door for her to connect with some of her favorite actors and musicians. Smith counts the actor Leonardo DiCaprio as a friend, along with Paul B. Allen III, the original lead singer of The Four Tops.

Smith’s Facebook activity has not only paid off in visibility but on the bottom line. Since she began using Facebook last July, she says her hourly consulting rate has increased by 50% and she anticipates that her 2008 revenues will be three times those of last year.

Don’t for a minute, however think that she’s chained to a desk, keyboard and office. An admirer of Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Workweek [8], she and her husband, Ty, in July 2007 sold their California home, bought an RV and took to the open road. They haven’t looked back. She and Ty blog about their roadie life at befreegomobile.com. Smith dedicates three days a week for work and the rest of the time for travel. A night owl, she also catches up on work in the wee hours. Ty, a real estate investor, carves out a similar work-travel schedule.

“I’m blessed to be living my dream,” says Smith. “A friend says ‘I’m an overnight success 10 years in the making.’ It has taken a lot of work behind the scenes to put me where I am today.”

Smith offers this advice for those of us seeking to build a personal brand online:

• Register for a Facebook account and set up your personal Profile and business Page.
• Populate your Profile and Page with instructive information about you and your business.
• Join and actively participate in Groups that interest you.
• Strategically and regularly renew your Status Update.
• Share useful links related to your industry using the Posted Items application.
• Comment on your friends’ Walls, Notes , Posted Items, Photos and Videos.
• Write informational Notes and tag key Facebook friends.
• Write a blog and import your feed using Notes and/or one of the third party blog applications.
• And, most importantly, seek to build relationships by being your authentic self and by seeking to add value and uplift people’s spirits with no “agenda.” People will remember you and want to connect with you.

Salons want chance to style Michelle Obama

WASHINGTON — Hair salon owner Barry Fletcher sent Michelle Obama a 17-minute DVD about himself. Hairdresser Keith Harley uploaded his resume to President-elect Barack Obama's Web site. And salon owner Nicole Cober-Blake plans to get her name in by sending a welcome basket with bath gels, hair products and a robe.

There are plenty of unanswered questions buzzing around the Obamas' impending arrival, but one has hairdressers on the edge of their styling chairs: Who will be chosen to do Michelle Obama's hair?

Rather than venture out for hair appointments, the first lady typically invites beauticians to the White House. Some of the region's black salon owners hope their experience with ethnic hair could give them an edge over those who coiffed the likes of Laura Bush or Hillary Clinton.

Fletcher, the 52-year-old owner of The Hair Palace Salon in Mitchellville, Maryland, cites his experience in international hairstyling challenges and working with actress Halle Berry and singer Mya, a Washington native.

"I'm going to be doing her hair!" Fletcher said, if he has anything to say about it. "This would pretty much validate all of my hard work and effort to get to a level where I could handle a powerful queen like the first lady."

Not that it's all glamour for the stylist. Bernard Portelli, who briefly styled Hillary Clinton's bob back in 1993, recalled working in a simple room in the White House with a shampoo basin, two chairs and plenty of outlets for blow dryers and flat irons. He's not necessarily eager to go back.

"You have all kind of last-minute phone calls, which is extremely hard for someone who has a large clientele in a salon to drop everything and go," said 57-year-old Portelli, who owns Georgetown's Okyo Salon.

Still, if Obama's tresses dazzle the public, it would be a public relations coup for any salon. Nuri Yurt of Georgetown's Toka Salon attracted attention after he began styling Laura Bush's hair in 2005. Earlier this year, Vogue magazine called him one of the country's best colorists for brunettes.

"It's permanent advertising, if you will, for the salon," Portelli said.

From the stylists' perspective, Obama doesn't need much help — they describe her hair as classic in style, healthy and free-spirited.

For election night, Michael "Rahni" Flowers of Van Cleef Hair Studio in Chicago — Obama's stylist since she was 18 — did her hair. And for the Democratic National Convention, Obama turned to Chicago-native Johnny Wright of Frederic Fekkai's Los Angeles salon.

If an out-of-towner gets the assignment, it would disappoint locals like Cober-Blake, lawyer-turned-owner of D.C.'s Soul Day Spa and Salon. The 37-year-old said she's excited about the possibility of having Obama experience the services at Soul, where she said they "treat everyone like a Michelle Obama."

Harley, of Keith Harley Hair & Scalp Clinic in Arlington, Virginia, submitted his resume a month ago.

"It would be the highlight of my career," said 39-year-old Harley, who styles such high-profile Washington women as Debra Lee, chief executive officer of Black Entertainment Television. "It would be an honor."

And like her fashion, Obama's hairstyles probably will be scrutinized, as has been the case with other first ladies.

"The thing about being the first lady, you're only as fashionable as your last picture," said Dennis Roche, 58, of Washington's Roche Salon, which has ethnic hair experts that he said could style Obama. "This is kind of risky because of the fact that we all have bad hair days." - AP

VOLUNTEERISM...IDEA NUMERO UNO~ORGANIZE A USED CLOTHING DONATION DRIVE

by Katherine Noyes
Clothing Donation

Used clothing donations provide needed warmth for the homeless.

Unfortunately, many would-be donors throw out perfectly good used clothes rather than deliver them to The Salvation Army or Goodwill.

A clothes drive is a fun way to make it easier for would-be donors to make a difference, particularly if you live in a multi-resident building, work at a large office, or belong to a civic club, church, synagogue or mosque.

Homeless people and low income families need all types of gently used clothing, particularly warm clothes and coats for cold weather, formal clothes (to attend job interviews), and shoes (which frequently wear out). It's helpful if donated clothing is clean, reasonably wrinkle-free, and on hangers.

A few signs and prizes can encourage 20, 50, 100 or even more families around you to donate their used clothing and shoes. To motivate maximum donations, you could create excitement by offering:

* a prize for the heaviest contribution, to encourage "spring-cleaners" to donate as much as possible
* a prize awarded at random for any contribution, no matter how small, to encourage used clothing donations from as many participants as possible

Remember that every little bit helps. Then again, once you've got people inspired, you'll be amazed at the difference your used clothing donation drive can make.

Friendship Used Clothing Collection offers suggestions for organizing a used clothing donation drive, as does this guide to campus clothing drives and this guide on organizing a clothing drive in your office. Alternatively, you can follow these simple steps:

Step 1: Obtain permission to use the space where you plan to locate your collection boxes or event.

Step 2: Contact a charitable agency, such as The Salvation Army or Goodwill, to arrange a suitable date and time for the pickup of your collected donation.

Step 3: Secure prizes — such as toys, frequent flyer miles, or an extra vacation day — that would motivate clothing and shoe donations from your potential audience. Check with your employer and local merchants, who would get positive publicity for their participation.

Step 4: Publicize a donation valuation guide for tax deduction purposes.

Step 5: Have fun advertising your collection drive with signs and unique displays! The more appealing your advertisement, the more your community can make a difference for those in need.