Project: The Character Count

Say what you need to say in 140 Characters or less.

For those who can disregard grammar and the fine art of English or their language, this is easy.

For those who are born in the texting era, this is easy.

For those who have little to say and to a few people, this is easy.

But for those who have a vision, those who have a big dream, those who just have BIG, how do you break it down and feed it to the masses?

How do you take your business plan and make it digestible, believable, enjoyable, attainable and credible for those who have deemed your character count worth reading?

How do you wow

How to you capture

How do you keep it

How do you inspire

How do you excite

How do you create movement

How do you say what you need to say in 140 characters or less?

And how do you make those few words have a huge impact? How do you stand out and step it up?

If everyone has the same character count, it can too easily and too soon sound cliché.

So how do you character count and make it count?

Speak from the heart, write from the mind

Stay authentic, but be smart. Study who you are and who your target is. Since you cannot reach everyone, you cannot write for everyone. Do not just post for the sake of posting. Post for interaction. There is always a chance they will be hit or miss, but empty threats – posts that are either emotionally or mentally dry – are always a miss.

Be creative, stay classy

It is like Dr. Suess said, “Today you are you. That is truer than true.” Take advantage of that. Discover your tone, find what people retweet and talk about most and throw everything out the window. Just because you think it is funny does not mean it is.

Polish your punctuation

In the effort to preserve character count try not to compromise punctuation so you can add more letters. You may get to say more that way, but what you say may not mean the same.

Hashtag, you’re it

The entire purpose of those 140 characters is to create this chain link of connecting someone or something - turning breadcrumbs into bread pudding. But too much of anything is bad. And not enough can starve the reader. So learn: which ones will best fit your brand, your message and the ultimate goal? Hash it out mentally before you tag it.

Give credit where credit is due

You have the power to dedicate 140 to whoever deserves it most. And you have the power to do it without a microphone. It is all in the @ symbol. Shift + 2 goes a long way when you are making your characters count.

Brand your Bio

Do not copy and paste just because you can and because it will attract more followers.

One of the hardest things to do is maintain your brand in 140 characters. You would think it is easier to do considering you have less to mess up. But the tendency to unintentionally copy and paste becomes prevalent, and so we end up losing sight of who we are, as we try to write what people want to hear. We have a section where we get to explain who we are. Use it wisely and use every 140 character post write-up to back it up.

So the next time you are on Twitter, make sure you do not just count your characters, make your characters count.

-The Green Couch

Project: Lori Greiner, The Shark Tank’s Chickstarter

Lori Greiner. A pretty simple name to remember. But over the years she’s acquired several more, earning a reputation as 1) Inventor, 2) Entrepreneur, 3) The Queen of QVC, 4) The Warm Blooded Shark and recently she divulged her secret power while on ABC. While many people turn to Kickstarter, people turn to her as The Chickstarter.

It is not hundreds, it is not thousands, it is millions of dollars of success that she can accredit to her name and to those with which she partners. Her formula?

Communication.

Passion.

Dedication.

And the inability to hear the word “No.”

While it is true a large percentage of people cannot say the word “No,” she will not hear the word “No.”

We’ve witnessed her saying, “And for that reason I am going to pass.”  In other words, NO!

However, the year she made her first millions, she did not back down; she did not stop. She was the whirlwind that defined Chicago as the windy city.

So sometimes that is what we have to do. We have to take the world by storm if we want to introduce our peers to our product and ideas. Neither they nor we may be ready for the turnout, but no is not an option.

Moreover, if we want to create a new name for ourselves, to always elevate our identity as an entrepreneur and add layers to our life, we need to speak with passion. Live with dedication and cultivate the ability to never hear the word, “No.”

Can you speak Shark Tank? What’s in your life that you are “…going to pass,” so you can pursue your real passion? Are people saying, “No” to you in life, when you know it is a “Yes”?

It is time to Chickstart your life!

-The Green Couch

Project: Unfabricated: The Live Event

One Couch. 16 stories. 19 people. Hundreds of followers, friends and lives touched.

However, it started with one story, one that two weeks from today will be told.

Dreamers, doers and thinkers – this is a heart-to-heart talk you do not want to miss. It is an exploratory look into the mindset of an entrepreneur’s process from failure to success.

• How do you take an idea and turn it into a business?

• How do you take a business and turn it into a brand?

• How do you take a brand and turn it into an inspiration?

• How do you inspire people when you feel uninspired? 

Laura Wallace would be the first to tell you that she is just like anyone else. That she has no special powers. That she has her ups and downs and downs and downs. That she catches colds and sometimes does not feel like getting out of bed. So that is why this is the heart-to-heart that matters most. Because it is real. Real people. Real conversation.

She cares about your life and your story and your passions and your purpose.

That even though she had no idea purchasing The Green Couch would play such a difference in her outlook in life, she cannot look at it any other way – she must help others speak, follow and fulfill their dreams. And this time she is doing it LIVE!

She is ready to spill her gutsy. Are your ears ready to catch it? Are you ready to accept the challenge to change the direction and go with your gutsy and follow your dreams? What is your couch telling you?

Come one, come all – January 27th is calling you!

-The Green Couch

Reserve Your Unfabricated Seat Here: Eventbrite

Project: Aha! Moment

The end of the year is here and like those that have put holiday shopping off are freaking out, those that have put off their dreams are freaking out as well. Just two weeks until the new year, a few short days, and so many people are saying they haven’t achieved anything. It’s the final countdown and:

They’ve not lost any weight.
They’ve not yet graduated.
They’ve not scored the pot of gold.
They’ve not landed the perfect relationship.
They’ve not made partner.
They’ve surely not acquired the diamond.
They’ve not __________.

What have you not? I’m sure you can fill in the blank above with your own not.

But the aha! moment has no time restrictions. It has no respect for locations.

It comes when and where it pleases. In the middle of your dreams, during the shower. It hits you subtly; it hits you like a grand piano from the skyscraper above in a Looney tunes cartoon. Your feet affixed to the ground, your eyes transfixed to the behemoth coming closer and closer until suddenly what was just a thought, something you were flirting with in the back of your mind becomes a very real decision.

We’ve all failed this year. We all have had an idea. We’ve all had an idea we wanted to pursue, but other problems arose, and we’ve persuaded ourselves these were more prevalent.

Sometimes that decision is taken away from you. Because now you are stuck under a grand piano, under your grand idea.

Maybe 2014 has been a series of delays but writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry reminds us A GOAL WITHOUT A PLAN IS JUST A WISH. Without his plans, his success would not have been discovered.

Our Decembers are not our last chance to fulfill the end of quarter potential. They should, like every other day, be viewed as a first chance. Every day we can reevaluate our goal and put into effect a plan. So no matter what didn’t happen the three-hundred some days behind us, we have still have December 16th, and we still have an Ah ha! moment that needs to be implemented.

This December 16th reinvent the definition of your 2014. Forget about all the “Nots” that took place and start planning for a “Nothing Held Back Attitude.”

Give it all you got. Because you’ve got a lot to gain.

Project: Making a List, Checking it Twice

Dear Santa, 

You may mysteriously appear once a year (okay, we now know it’s our parents to deliver presents to toddlers and pubescent children), but if there’s one thing you have taught us it is the importance of lists. We have delusions regarding lists, thinking they overcomplicate life, that they pressure us into feeling we have an insurmountable mountain of tasks to complete with a tight deadline. But I guess that’s why you check it twice. I guess that’s why you delegate to your happy little elves. I guess that’s why you have the big shebang once a year.

 Yours Truly,

 An Impending Entrepreneur 

So maybe we cannot follow the footsteps of Santa. Maybe we cannot live off of cookies and milk, and I don’t know that our daily, year-long work apparel should resemble a velvet red and white suit.

But we should keep a list. Perhaps of several sorts:

• Inventory Lists – What’s in your closet, on your shelves, in your desk? It’s vital to appreciate the value of belongings. Whether you are in retail or sell your skills, know the “where” and worth of your stock.

• Client Run-Down Lists – Do you know who you work with, who you work for, who works for you? Do you know what they do for you, what you do for them? When a new employee joins your team having a run-down can help them catch up!

• Contact Lists – Make sure to keep this updated annually. Sending out virtual, and hard copy messages make all the difference – especially if they reach the right party.

• Budget Lists – You have either a quarterly or annual one for many departments and creating a list for your wants and what you don’t want anymore is a great way to begin.

• Bucket Lists – Things to do before the day (week, month or quarter) is over. You choose the measure of time.

• Motivational Lists – Keep a stockpile of motivational quotes. Trust me. They’re like counting to ten.

• Weekly To-Do Lists – If you want to get something done, you have to remember what it is. No matter how often we think we won’t forget something; inevitably we forget it within an hour. Tying a string around the finger? That almost requires us tying another string around the finger, so we remember the reason behind the first one. Similar to your bucket list, your weekly to-do list is your routine, the regime of your work culture. Things may be added or subtracted, but it’s what makes the office cycle running so successful and smooth.

So then, why do you think they process so much paper? It’s not just to replicate airplanes.

List making, checking it twice and marking off that which we have completed is called the tracking progress.

• The power of tracking progress enhances your self-worth, thus your surroundings.

• The power of tracking progress keeps us accountable to our actions.

• The power of tracking progress keeps us aware of our wins and where we need to work hard.

• The power of tracking progress is found in the concept of the Calendar through a list of days keeping us in order.

Our life is comprised of lists. See for yourself how nice it is to complete a task as you let the power of tracking be a positive thing.

-The Green Couch

Project: When On The Side Becomes On The Forefront

There are certain things in life that are a matter of legality. When we are young, we must follow a set of rules. Until a certain age, we must do certain things and until a certain age we cannot do things.

During that time, we may rebel the system: Our parents, politics and any system of power seems to be against us and our dreams.

Sometimes we feel as if there is never a choice.

We get up.
We shower.
We get changed.
We eat.
We go to school
We come home.
We do our homework.
We eat.
We go to bed.
We get up.
We shower.
We get changed.
We eat.
We got to school.
We come home.
We do our homework.
We eat.
And we repeat this process for years. 

Until we reach that pinnacle where we get to move out of mom and dad’s house and live this lifestyle at a more mature level; on a college campus.

We get up…a little later than we should.
We shower…when time permits.
We get changed…when we remember to do laundry.
We eat…ramen noodles.
We go to school…because it is the right, expected thing to do.
We come home…to our home away from home.
We eat…more ramen noodles
We go to bed…on an unmade bed.
 

This goes on for months, semesters, perhaps years. However, deep down there is no majors or minors that can fulfill that dream of ours. And we are reminded of several brilliant people who while they may be billionaires their brilliance, their passion supersede their savings account:

• Bill Gates, Microsoft

• Mark Zuckerburg, Facebook

• Ralph Lauren, Fashion Designer

• Many more and maybe you

It is because of them that what was on the side – their dreams, their passions, their vocation – became their forefront.

Maybe it is our day-jobs, maybe it is the pursuit of a degree, only we can know. But there comes a time we have to reevaluate the priorities of life and take the leap and live the life of a risk taker if we want to live the life of an entrepreneur.

What is your “On-The-Side?”

-The Green Couch