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Cats in the Cradle vs. Leader of the Band

For most people, this one is a no-brainer. Cats in the Cradle, the Harry Chapin classic, rules over any other “Call Your Dad” song. Except in Movember. Then it’s all Leader of the Band by Dan Fogelberg.

Before I explain why, let’s define “Call Your Dad” songs. Those are the songs you hear on the radio and it makes you want to phone your Dad that second—usually because you haven’t in a while or there’s some sort of conflict that the two of you haven’t resolved.

So why Leader of the Band?

While Cats in the Cradle talks about all the times a father misses in their children’s lives due to work, Leader of the Band goes a bit deeper. In addition to the whole “too busy” theme, It delves into sons trying to be like our fathers but never quite getting there–at least in our eyes–and then being okay with it.

Yet that’s not why this song rings truer in Movember than other “Call Your Dad” songs. It has more to do with the fact that Dan Fogelberg died of prostate cancer at age 56.

He was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer in 2004. Could his life had been extended with early detection? Without knowing much more than what Wikipedia provides, it’s difficult to say. But with the advances made in recent years—thanks, in part, to funds contributed by the Movember Foundation—I feel comfortable in saying there would have been more music.

Even if Dan Fogelberg or Harry Chapin aren’t your cup of tea, we need those songs in our lives. The ones that touch our hearts, embrace our souls. It’s why we need to donate to Movember to help ensure the next Fogelberg doesn’t leave before his song should be over.

To donate to my Movember campaign, click here.

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How you make time for social media

How you make time for social media

One of the bigger laments you hear from small business owners stems from a lack of time for tasks like updating websites, publishing an e-newsletter and posting to their respective business’s social media sites. While the first two items do take a distinct amount of effort, even the busiest people have time to join the social media conversation.

Want to know how?

It’s as simple as looking just above the banner of this e-newsletter.

 

Nowadays, most e-newsletters and websites have social media icons that enable you to share with a click of your mouse. So, if you stumble upon an article that you find provocative or topical, you can post to your Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn account just like that.

One of the great things yours truly has discovered lately is that by clicking on the LinkedIn button in a Constant Contact newsletter, you can not only post as an update to your profile, but send to the groups of your choosing.

Of course, it does require some thought as to what you want to post and the comment you want to make with it or the discussion you want to start. Still, how many times a day do you come across something of interest that you would like to pass on? Or, let me rephrase that, how often do you come across something you could pass on?

Social media is about being out there. This is just one tactic to making it easier for you to do that.

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My controversial LinkedIn strategy

It started out as a simple response to a discussion in a LinkedIn group. The topic was “How to build your e-mail list”. The discussion originator offered 22 ways to build up your e-mail list. To this, my addition/suggestion was to send a note to your new LinkedIn connections and ask the following:

Can I add you to my e-newsletter mailing list?

This rather simple request received rave reviews from most who commented. One group member, however, accused me of social media extortion (“How dare you make being on your mailing list a condition of connecting!”).

Overall, the rest of the discussion group thought it was a great idea. But it did get it did get me thinking. How many of you who use LinkedIn actually reach out to the people you connect with?

If the answer to that is, “not at all” or “not as often as I’d like”, an e-newsletter is the perfect vehicle. How so? First, it starts a conversation with your new connection. Even if the answer is no (e.g. I can understand why you wouldn’t want to be on yet another e-mail list…).  Second, it does give you an idea of your new connection’s interest in truly networking, particularly if there is no response.

The idea of networking is to develop a relationship with another person so that you can pass leads or referrals down the road. An e-newsletter, in addition to your website, gives new connections a way to get to know you and your business. If receiving your e-newsletter is an imposition, it’s probably not likely that person is going to be terribly active in passing leads or referrals to you.

The real beauty of this strategy is that it’s a two-way street. If the new connection is okay with being on my list, I have no problem being on theirs. And that can be the springboard to vested networking and lead/referral generation.

Does this work? It really does depend on the people involved. There are serial connectors out there who seem to be far more interested in bragging about the number of connections rather than actual networking. But if you’re on LinkedIn and getting little more than a “thank you” for the connect, you may want to consider this approach as a concise way to start a conversation and talk about what’s going on with your business.

If you do not have an e-newsletter, we can help. For a free estimate on what it would take to start your own e-newsletter, please give me a call at 617-848-0848 or drop me an e-mail. Better yet, take advantage of Constant Contact’s free 60-day trial.