How You Can Get Into The Heads Of Other PebbleStormers
June 23rd, 2009
The picture is from a casual get together of some PebbleStormers in Northern California, at Cafe Gratitude in Potrero Hill (yum!!). From the left, we have online marketing and relationships guru Paul “Irish” Hegarty, social media expert George “TwitterBiz” Kao, Erin “Big Cheese” Halling, Hong-Anh “Love Bug” Ha, and Katrina “Needs a Nickname” Wong (suggestions anyone?)
As much as everyone connects online these days, I find that in-person meetings become more and more important. Small, local groups that can get together and support each other are a key part of my vision for the PebbleStorm community.
Inside the Heads Of Other PebbleStormers
Several PebbleStormers started their first blogs over the past couple of months, and you can clearly see their writing style evolving and maturing. I, and everyone who reads them, appreciate their openness and willingness to share. It’s inspiring! One thing that you realize once you begin sharing both aspirations and fears…everyone around you shares similar feelings. It’s not only you feeling inspired/scared/apathetic/motivated/tired/wired/fearful/confident/doubtful…
What differentitates successful people from the ones with unfulfilled dreams is a commitment to keep making progress, to keep taking babysteps, even in the face of fears large or small.
I will be to posting more and more excerpts from others’ blogs here on PebbleStorm among my own posts. My vision for PebbleStorm is that I am just one member of a much bigger community based on trust; one strong voice among many other strong voices, because if I dominate the conversation it doesn’t leave much space for others! I’m just getting the ball rolling 🙂
Some of the blogs I will share from are mostly about PebbleStorm-y topics, some have a wide mix of topics of which PebbleStorm is a small part. Either way, the people behind the blogs are just fascinating, wonderful people, so you can’t go wrong.
Onna “#1” Young
I met Onna about a year ago (May 08?), and Onna was the first PebbleStormer. She ‘got it’ from the very beginning, and I have been grateful ever since for her support and partnership. My prediction for Onna is that 2009 and 2010 are ‘building years’, and 2011 will be her breakout year (at the latest). Patience! Onna has several great ideas she’s developing as her Unique Genius unfolds, and one I particularly think will help transform her will be the enjoyment of interviewing 100 of the most inspiring women CEOs (how cool!) This is also very aligned with my intention of focusing on helping women entrepreneurs and CEOs.
Blog: “Leaps And Bounds“
Excerpt from her post “Unique Genius – A Shift In Perspective“:
How do you help yourself find yourself. Mat Boggs said, “It’s like looking for water from the bottom of the ocean.” Yes, agreed, it’s hard to see yourself when you’re looking for yourself.
Aaron and I meet on Mondays for an hour or so go over PebbleStorm or PredictableRevenue.com. This time he said we’d find my Unique Genius. And with some excitement and nervousness, I realize as I’m walking toward the hot food aisle, in the Whole Foods where we meet sometimes, that my future is about to change just a little more. There’s some trepidation though. “A mind once expanded never regain its original dimension.” A favorite quote of mine and it’s so true. You cannot be untainted by new ideas and perspectives. You just cannot! There’s no going back. My direction and path are about to shift another degree and I know this is a poignant moment…continue on “Unique Genius – A Shift In Perspective”
Erin “Big Cheese” Halling
Erin found me through Yanik Silver when he helped launch PebbleStorm (“Thanks For Making The world More Of A Place I Want To Live“). To me, it’s clear that her dayjob has no relation to her total power and potential. It’s an intention, not an accident, that her email and nickname is “Big Cheese”! I’m also particularly excited about the “Appreciation and Acknowledgment Call” that Erin and Hong-Anh are planning to begin with the PebbleStorm community. Who couldn’t use doses of either one?
Blog: “Happy Surprises“
Excerpt from her post “Unique Genius“:
A few weeks ago, Aaron from PebbleStorm passed along the biggest compliment from a stranger, to me. It was awesome, and I have a feeling its going to be hugely instrumental in helping me change my life…
You know how sometimes you wonder if what you have to offer will be valuable to anyone else. What in the world could I possibly create that someone would want? Here I am trying to come up with an idea for my dream business, and I have a few vague ideas, but I haven’t really run with anything yet. Like somewhere inside me I don’t think I have what it takes. I look around at all the other PebbleStormers and I see how good their ideas are- part of me is really inspired. But part of me is intimidated. What if what I have to offer isn’t good enough?
I don’t think I’ve consciously had that thought, or maybe I have. Maybe it’s been hovering in my mind, slowing me down, permeating my thoughts about myself for a looooong while. In fact, it’s got a very familiar ‘ol’buddy’ feeling with it- like I’ve been living under it’s shadow since I was a kid.
And then Aaron sent me an email that changed everything…continue on “Unique Genius”
More Blogs
Here are a few other PebbleStormers with blogs that I’ll be excerpting from… feel free to explore if you can’t wait 🙂
Gratitude
Thank you Onna, Erin, Katrina, Hong-Anh, Tony and everyone coming for sharing here and helping inspire myself and the people around you!
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3 Responses to “How You Can Get Into The Heads Of Other PebbleStormers”
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June 23rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm
I like this post so much. Hmmmmm…why is that, do you think?
Seriously, with the smarts and love we’ve got in this group we could really transform the world. 🙂
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:24 pm
Another great post, Aaron, and not just because I’m in it 🙂
Face-to-face always surpasses virtual for higher emotional engagement and top-of-mind-ability. (just made that word up.)
But face-to-face is higher quality, and a much better use of time, when we first use virtual tools (like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) to find our Ideal Audience (ideal potential clients, partners, kindred spirits) and schedule further phone/face time if there’s a good reason to. That’s one of the things I discuss in my webinar on the efficient use of social media for marketing/business/career development. Slides here: http://tr.im/socialslides
Also, I suggest that Facebook and Twitter ARE blogs – they’re microblogs – and they have a few benefits over “real” blogs.
Benefit 1: it’s much easier to begin reflecting/sharing your thoughts and ideas on Facebook/Twitter, without the pressure of having to keep up a wordpress/blogger blog, which looks can look outdated/inactive if there hasn’t been a post for even a month.
Benefit 2: you already have an audience (assuming you have Facebook friends and Twitter followers) and the sharing/viral tools are built into Facebook and Twitter (well, through RTs and #hashtags anyway).
Benefit 3: for people like me who feel inadequate about their writing, or are perfectionistic, it’s easier to share our thoughts in fewer words on Facebook and Twitter. This comment is getting long 🙂
Thanks for reading.
And find us pebblestormers microblogging on Facebook and Twitter!
Connect with me at:
http://facebook.com/georgekao
http://twitter.com/georgekao
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:26 pm
I encourage others in the current Pebblestorm program (and partners who have been joining the calls) to post their Facebook and Twitter links in the comments here too, so we can all get into each others’ heads and hearts 🙂