Using social media to build stronger relationships

Economy might be down, but giving is up

by Daniel on July 28, 2009 · Comments

Despite the fact that there seems to be little positive news circulating about the economy lately, people aren’t dismayed. In fact, even in this down economy, people are giving more of their time to others, not less.

This is a good thing.

There were two statistics, in particular, that really jumped out at me:

Two forms of volunteerism jumped sharply: the number of people who worked with neighbors to solve a local problem rose 31% from 2007 to 2008, and the number of people who attended community meetings rose 17% last year.

What is really cool about this is that it means that people are giving back not just generally, but with the people in their local community, the people who are closest to them, the place where they can have the largest and most immediate impact.

I think that some people are overwhelmed by the thought of volunteering or donating their time or resources. Sometimes, people just dont’t think that they can make a difference. Sometimes, people think that the issues are too big, and they are too small.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Nothing has ever changed in the world without at least one person. Sure, sometimes it take s a lot of people. Most of the time, however, it just takes one person. Just one person who is willing to try to make a difference, no matter how small.

See, the funny thing is this, once one person says, “how can I help?” and goes out and does something about it, it becomes contagious, and viral. People like to help others, it is in our nature as humans. It catches on pretty quick, too. If you just do whatever you can do to make a small, positive difference in your community or the life of someone you know, and share that with others, you’ll notice that they will want to help, too.

According to this article, there are a whole lot of people out there helping others, and improving their own lives, too. So the only question left for you to answer is. . .

What can I do to help?

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A musical mantra, perhaps? Matthew Wilder – Break My Stride

by Daniel on July 21, 2009 · Comments

in Uncategorized

via youtube.com

I found this last week, and I still find it appropriate and amusing on so many different levels.

Posted via web from Daniel Rothamel’s posterous

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My quest to become a whuffieaire

by Daniel on July 15, 2009 · Comments

in Point and Purpose, whuffieaire

I first came across the concept of whuffie a few months back, and I wrote about it on RealEstateZebra.com. I shared some of my initial thoughts a RE Barcamp VA, too. At that time, I thought that whuffie had tremendous implications for real estate professionals, and I still believe that. After I read The Whuffie Factor and listened to people talk about the book and the concept of whuffie, I felt that something was missing.

It seems to me that a lot of folks talk about whuffie, think it is cool, but don’t really see how it applies to them as regular folks or business people. Sure, they can understand whuffie, trust, influence, etc. when it comes to the Twitterati or big businesses who have thousands of customers/followers, but they don’t really see how whuffie effects them in their daily lives with the circle of people with whom they interact on a daily basis.

I’m hoping I can change that.

How?

I want to be a whuffieaire.

What the heck is a whuffieaire?

It’s not hard to grasp.

If a millionaire is someone who possesses a ton of money (millions of dollars, in fact), a whuffieaire is someone who possesses tons of whuffie. So much whuffie, in fact, that a whuffieaire can build and share whuffie without even thinking about it. Millionaires can make and spend money like water, so whuffieaires can do the same with their trust, help, and influence.

I’ll probably have to come up with a more succinct, comprehensive definition later, but you get the idea.

How the heck are you going to become a whuffieaire?

The vast majority of millionaires did not make all their money at once. They had to work and grow their fortune. Sometimes, they did things that produced rewards years later. It usually isn’t easy or quick. Most millionaires had to make their millions the way you would expect– one dollar at a time.

This might be even more true for the aspiring whuffieaire. There is no whuffie lottery that one can win. Whuffie can be acquired only through the cultivating and nurturing of relationships. Whuffie must be acquired through the building of trust, the sharing of influence, and the lending of a helping hand. The fortune of the whuffieaire must be built one relationship at a time.

Sounds great, but what about money?

Look, I’m not trying to become a monk. I’m sure as hell not going to cast off all my worldly possessions. In fact, doing so would almost certainly inhibit my ability to help folks and build whuffie. I’m not denying the importance of money at all.

Quite to the contrary, I think that looking for ways to acquire and grow a whuffie fortune can lead to financial reward, as well. After all, many of the worlds richest people got that way because they just wanted to help people solve a problem. They just chose a business or product as a way of doing it.

Money just won’t be the purpose of my endeavors, whuffie will be. I have no doubt that my quest to become a whuffieaire will lead me down a path or two that might yield financial reward. That’s fine by me. While financial reward won’t be the purpose of my quest, I won’t complain if it is a pleasant side effect.

So, what now, aspiring whuffieaire?

Well, I’ve got a few ideas. More on those, later. The point is that I, or you for that matter, don’t need to do something huge, popular, or super noteworthy to start building a whuffie fortune. Like I said before, whuffieaires are made one relationship at a time.

But for right now, I’m just going to keep my eyes and ears open for ways of helping the people around me; looking for ways I can earn the trust of folks I don’t yet know.

I’ll be chronicling my quest here, for the most part. I’ll be sharing my experiences, the experiences of the folks that I meet, help, and help me along the way. It should be fun and it will definitely be interesting.

So, I want to be a whuffieaire. . .

That means I’m going to need to be making some deposits.

What can I do to help you?

UPDATE: As of right now (7/15/2009) “whuffieaire” returns no results in google. I hope to change that, too.

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The NFL asks the question– “To tweet, or not to tweet?”

by Daniel on July 13, 2009 · Comments

in News, Technology, Twitter, social media

I’m a big New York Jets fan.

I’m not a crazy, irrational, talk-about-the-team-in-the-first-person, Jets fan, but I definitely a big fan. Accordingly, one of the blogs that I like to frequent is TheJetsBlog.com. It gives daily news and information about the Jets; which is cool, especially that I live in Virginia.

A recent post on the site discussed the NFL considering a policy on in-game tweeting by players and personnel. The post generated numerous comments, including one by yours truly. Apparently, I was the only one who supported allowing participants to tweet from the sidelines during games.

It seems that the most popular objection to allowing tweets from the sidelines was that players should be concentrating on the game, and not tweeting from a phone or computer. Ok, I get that, I guess. But the point I was making in my comment is just as applicable in a football game as it is in any other endeavor in life– players aren’t ALWAYS focused on the game. For better or worse, this is the way it is. I’ve played in many an athletic contest, and officiated even more of them. If you think that every waking moment of the players is devoted to the game on the field, you’re kidding yourself.

I’m not sure why this comes a surprise to so many people. I mean, how many people go to work everyday and concentrate on their job all day long? No one. Really, no one. It’s just not possible. In order for you to concentrate as hard as you need to on the most important aspects of a long task, you need to break for a little bit to regroup. You can do any physical or mental task perpetually. At some point, you gotta break to refuel. Professional football players are no different.

I see no problem with allowing players to tweet during said breaks. Rather than sitting on the bench daydreaming, why not allow them to give fans some insight into the game?

To me, the sport that does the absolute best job of filling down-time with valuable information and content for fans is NASCAR. If you watch a NASCAR broadcast, every yellow flag is filled with interviews of crew-chiefs, listen-ins to team communication, and even in-car interviews with drivers. NASCAR fans get more information about the sport during the contest than any other fans on the planet, and they love it; and the participants don’t complain about it, either.

So, I’m not really sure what the big deal is. Let the teams decide. If they want to stop their players from tweeting, fine. If, however, there is a team that would like to test the waters and open up a bit more to the fans, why would the league want to stand in their way?

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The book that changed my life, and this blog. . .

by Daniel on June 28, 2009 · Comments

in Blogging, Point and Purpose, social media

I read a lot. I haven’t read a fiction book in a long time, but I still read a lot of non-fiction, especially business books.

Recently, I read Ignore Everybody, by well-known marketer/blogger Hugh MacLeod (you can order it here). I first came across Hugh’s work when I first started blogging. He has an awesome blog called Gapingvoid, where he muses about all kinds of things, and shares his “cartoons drawn on the back of business cards.” I’ve never met Hugh in person, but he seems like a cool dude.

Ignore Everybody is Hugh’s first book. It is, hands down, the best business book I’ve read in a LONG time, perhaps ever. Granted, I call it a business book only loosely. The real subject of the book is creativity and how to release and nurture it.

Hugh’s book inspired me. It inspired me in a way that a book hasn’t inspired me in a long time. So now, it’s time to turn that inspiration into motivation into ACTION.

That’s what I’m going to do right here at DanielRothamel.com, take some action.

What does this mean?

Honestly, I’m not totally sure, but that is the fun part. I do know that this site is my house, my little corner of the universe where I can share my thoughts and feelings with others, in the hope that I can help them with something. So, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I’ll still be blogging about real estate issues over on RealEstateZebra.com, but this site will be something different.

I’ll be posting more frequently, and I’ll be posting about the things that interest me. I’ll try to address things as creatively as possible. My goal is to use my little corner of the universe to inspire and help others reach their goals, be they personal, professional, or otherwise. I guess that is the first component of my very own, as-yet undetermined evil plan. :-)

It might be a bit frenetic from time to time, since I don’t really know exactly where I am going, but I can promise that it will never get dull. I guess that is what it means to become a crazy, deranged fool.

Thanks, Hugh. I owe you a beer, or something.

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CBS-19 Features a Fluvanna County Blogger

by Daniel on March 11, 2009 · Comments

in Blogging, Community, News, Twitter, social media

Social media works in strange ways, even locally. Here’s a very recent example. . .

My wife, Kari and I, are both on Twitter (@STRduo and @RealEstateZebra). Yesterday, she came across a tweet from fellow Charlottesville area resident and blogger, Marijean Jaggers. Kari sent me the link in the tweet, which took me to a post on Marijean’s blog, STLWorkingMom. The post is about Marijean’s new feature series on the local television station, CBS-19.

Marijean is going to be on CBS-19 every Tuesday during the 6:30 newscast, where she will feature an area “Blog of the Week.” How freakin’ cool is that?! Local bloggers will be featured every week on TV! The Charlottesville area has a very vibrant blogging community, and it is good to see it getting some recognition.

The first “Blog of the Week” is from right here in Fluvanna

The first installment of the “Blog of the Week” was yesterday. For their first featured blogger, CBS-19 chose a Fluvanna County Resident, Dana Adams, and her blog– Frugal in Virginia. You can read the CBS-19 story, or even watch the video. Marijean did her own feature on Dana, as well.

Dana writes a very important blog, helping folks find deals on the things they buy every day here in the Charlottesville area. CBS-19 and Marijean did a great job sharing and promoting her blog to the community. I can’t tell you how excited I am to see folks like Marijean out there promoting great area bloggers like Dana.

There is more to come. . .

So, if you’d like to learn more about area bloggers, make sure you watch CBS-19 every Tuesday at 6:30, where you will find Marijean featuring another blog; and if you are looking to save some money (aren’t we all?), make sure you visit Frugal in Virginia. You can even follow Dana on Twitter.

Congrats to Marijean and Dana, and I can’t wait for the next installment of “Blog of the Week.”

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