Apples, Oprahs and the White House

Ever have one of those days where you think, hmmm, I'd like to fly to the moon, course you have no idea how you are going to get there but you know you’d like to go. Then the next day a space ship shows up. I mean seriously.

I just returned from a 10 city tour in roughly three weeks. Toward the end of my travels, I visited my friend Michael’s office in New York, on Madison Ave—Chiat Day. An ad agency, I’d never heard of them, they rep a little company called APPLE along with a few other tiny brands. It wasn’t so much the big brands recognition that impressed me, their office IS the set right out of the movie I am directing in New York. I’ve been seeing this place in my minds eye for the past 4 years and here I am in it. And now being the filmmaker AND entrepreneur, I also have a wild hair about wanting to create some sort of marriage for My Story as well.

Now, I must rewind to the 2nd city in my tour, Minneapolis, where I was flown by Deluxe Corp to begin this year long Marketing Lab, Project Rev co sponsored by SCORE, where I meet Mark Debosz, head of the Score Foundation, who offers me a job on the spot to create a video for their Big Awards Gala in September in DC for all their major sponsors American Express, Deluxe, Walmart.

Back to Chiat Day and my trip to the moon. I return from 10 city whirlwind to book the interviews for the SCORE video. And guess who gets handed to me on a silver platter not more than 3 days after my NYC Madison Ave visit---the former president and worldwide account director of Chiat Day, Tom Patty. Oh, just you wait, it gets even better…

Tom is the counselor to Morgan Smith, co owner of Boneheads Restaurant (tune into their MyStory film to hear how they came up with the name). Without question, these men are two of the coolest dudes you could ever meet. I wanted to listen to them talk shop all day, talking marketing in terms that even this newbie can comprehend. And they certainly didn’t need any direction from me, they were on a roll.

Morgan is a smart, giving, in tune business man who is so genuine and kind you want to either kiss or pinch him to be sure he is real. And Tom is one of those humble genius’ so rare, you can only hope some of his brilliance will rub off on you just by being in his presence. During our interview, alright lets admit it, the second I found out I was going to meet Tom, I was plotting just the right moment I would kindly convince him that he must mentor me.

We finish the interview, he sees the book I am reading in my bag The Starbucks Experience and says “oh you are serious about this entrepreneur thing?” I tell him a bit about my hopes and desires for My Story and without skipping a beat he throws out “I need to to mentor you.” (not a question, as if it is already done). I exclaim, “Tom you took my line!”

And our day has only begun. It is only 10am when we leave Boneheads with delicious, fresh, oh so yummy food in hand, to head over to Wildflower Linens to meet the owner Youngsong Martin and her mentor Terri Carr.

Youngsong creates the most breathtaking table linens you have ever laid eyes on. She has revolutionized the way party décor is done. She is a 5’ ball of fire, brimming over with so much passion and zest, I could hardly believe my good fortune, and twice in one day. No white polyester linens for this Korean emigrant who started her career in fashion, it is couture all the way. Don’t worry about spilling red wine, blood, ink or anything else on her ready for the runway fabrics, she's created a business within a business, specialized non toxic, green, dry cleaning to get out any stain.

In 7 years of working with Terri, a maverick in her own right (featured in the a new book Women of True Grit), Young and Terri’s collaboration has launched Wildflower Linens as the go to place for Oprah, the Emmy’s, the Golden Globes, the Oscars and now THE White House. We say THE White House because Young tells a funny story about when THE White House called she didn’t believe it was really THE White House, she thought it was a joke. No laughing matter when Lady Obama herself wants to see Young’s linens. She’s a huge fan.

Seriously, pinch me.

Please share your own game changing revolutionary days.

Making lemonade...

My friend and fellow entrepreneur, Carley Knobloch invited me to her family lake house to hang out over the summer. Building this new business, I've clocked far too many 18 hour days, so I jumped on her offer. Course, the new entrepreneur in me, also wanted to take advantage of my trip east to book a few My Story shoots along the way.

Enter Renee Duff: Intellectual Property attorney extraordinaire (you’ll have to wait for her my story to know why you must hire her for your own team). We scheduled her My Story shoot in New York right before I was to travel to Toronto to do absolutely nothing.

You know what they say about the best laid plans? Renee sliced her hand open with a box cutter (I know, OUCH!) and had to postpone our shoot. The only time she was available was when I was to be “doing nothing” by a lake in a home I never wanted to leave. Ever.

What to do? Ditch my much needed vacation? Ditch my new client? Then, this control freak-perfectionist got clever- why not utilize the beauty of technology (must have been Carley's sheik geekness rubbing off) and interview her over Skype?

We had some kinks along the way, but fortunately for us, Renee was a willing experiment in taking this storytelling venture worldwide. Nothing beats live, but Memorex really could be the next best thing.

Course, I still worked the entire time, but is it really work when you love what you do?

Check back to see the results of our labors.

I have photos and video to share documenting the event, since that is what I do, but of course not enough of Carley's techiness rubbed off since I can't figure out how to post photos or video (this is why I need a team behind me).

Am I alone? Have you had an accidental break through? Tell me your story...

Project Rev (and MyStory) in the news

From my new friends at Deluxe Corp:

It's been an exciting week at Deluxe. We sent out a well-received news release about Project REV that named the winners. So far, the release has been picked up by 224 news agencies such as Market Watch, Fox Business News, Marketing and Advertising Industry Today, multiple local business journals and more than 50 television affiliates in cities across the country. The total daily audience reach is 118.9 million.

83 tweets and retweets about Project REV have been posted to Twitter. If you total the followers for each individual who posted a message, 399,405 people have been exposed to your message. Several of the REV participants tweeted the announcement as well.

Here is the URL of one of the postings of the release: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Deluxe-Corp-Selects-prnews-2322792745.html?x=0&.v=1

Do you offer a Pink Spoon?

From Guest Blogger: Liz Dennery Sanders of SheBrand

(she's also my marketing coach & client) check out her MyStory Film at the link above)

Have you ever walked into your local Whole Foods market and been offered a sample of something delicious? Let’s say it was a new brand of organic guacamole. One bite and you were hooked. You left the store with a nine dollar container, plus the bag of the blue corn tortilla chips they were serving it with.

Or you and your husband decide to check out the new vineyard a couple of hours from home. You walk in and they offer you a complimentary taste of their 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon, one of their best-sellers. You try the wine, plus three others and walk out the door with three bottles.

Here’s one we can all relate to. You take the kids to your local Baskin & Robbins for a Saturday afternoon treat. Your seven-year-old can’t decide which flavor she wants and asks for a taste of the Ice Cream Cake Swirl AND the Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge. The guy behind the counter happily gives her a taste of each – on a little pink spoon. After multiple tastes all around, everyone walks out of the store with a double cone, and you’ve got the triple scoop sundae.

This, my friends, is Pink Spoon Marketing.

The little Pink Spoon, started by Baskin & Robbins back in 1945, has become the iconic symbol of the free giveaway – just a tiny taste of what you’ve got that keeps customers coming back for more.

Now more than ever it’s imperative that you connect with your potential clients in a meaningful and memorable way. Thanks to an unstable economy, corporate meltdowns and overzealous advertising, consumers are more jaded and suspicious than ever. They are looking for authenticity and value. One of the best ways to build your “know, like & trust” factor, is to create something of value and give it away. Yes, you read that right. GIVE IT AWAY.

A successful free offering or Pink Spoon has five main characteristics:

1. It’s FREE.

2. It is compelling and sought after – something that people would actually pay for, but are surprised and delighted they don’t have to.

3. It contains valuable content that will help your target market in some way. It is NOT a throw-away item.

4. It’s easy to give away – a downloadable pdf or m3, for example.

5. It is a natural lead-in to your other products and services. It gives people a “taste” of your work and leaves them wanting even more.

Do you still have a static, brochure-style website – one that doesn’t engage or offer value to your visitors? You know who you are if your website just has “About Us,” “About Me,” “Services,” and “Contact” pages, or something similar to this.

You have less than ten seconds to make an impression on someone visiting your website. Most visitors will bounce from a static website in even less time. If your website has an opt-in box front and center, with a valuable giveaway, how much more likely do you think it is that someone will not only stay on your site longer, but will also sign up, giving you their name and email address? BINGO!

In order to build your buzz online, you must engage your potential clients and offer something of value. To succeed with your business online, you must turn your website into a lead-generating machine that ultimately brings dollars to your bottom line.

©Liz Dennery Sanders 2010

Liz Dennery Sanders wants you to build your buzz and be successful beyond your wildest dreams. As the CEO of Dennery Marks Inc., a brand development and celebrity outreach firm, she founded SheBrand, to help female entrepreneurs build powerful personal brands, attract more clients and position themselves as authorities in their industries. You can reach her directly at info@shebrand.com or www.shebrand.com.

No longer a Blogging Virgin

Blog Post #3.

Thank God I got that out of the way. What once I was so resistant about, may now be growing on me. Wanna know why???? (Can you see me doing a little dance….)

I finally have something to blog about!!

So, I had this little idea for a business, enter Amy Swift Crosby and the super badass babes of SMARTY a networking group of female entrepreneurs. To be fair it is SO much more than a networking group—community, education, resources, accountability. Without Amy and this group, I certainly would not be writing this bog. I would still be talking about this idea at parties with responses like “cool idea, you should do that!” My super fly reply would be: “Yeah, well what do I know about starting a business?”

Now, I’m getting my street MBA from the ladies at SMARTY. Nine months ago, I didn’t know what the word monetize meant (make money), what a VA did (virtual assistant) and I am still wrapping my brain around how I provide ROI (return on investment). And I am from a family of business owners!! I’m the one at the dinner table asking my uber successful self-made brother to stop talking about marketing because he is making my brain hurt. Really.

Fast forward to last week when I get a call from Deluxe, you know the people who make your checks, apparently, my little yet to be launched company, MyStory, Inc, was selected to participate in this marketing collaborative called Project Rev. I applied months ago when I heard about it through my business coach Whitney Roberts. The application was so cake, I completely forgot I applied (which tends to happen as an independent filmmaker, self induced amnesia to ward off disappointment). No long essay to convince them why I’m a rock star or why MyStory deserves thousands of dollars in free marketing for a year.

Just simply tell us what you do and tell us your website so we can see for ourselves.

Now, they are flying me out to their headquarters in Minneapolis to get started and they want to know what my preferred beverage of choice is in the morning AND in the afternoon.

Who’s the rock star now? It’s the little things.

Stay tuned… Christmas dinner this year is going to be very interesting.

Facebook, Blogging and Twitter, oh my!!

Must I really facebook, blog and twitter?

Can’t one social media platform capture everything I need to say? I’m from a family of journalers--journaling runs in my DNA. I’ve kept a journal since I was 8. Over the years, the journals progressed into computer entries. At times, I’d be writing over several different journals at one time, journals are like books--depending on the mood of the moment.

I have noticed a theme over the multiple decades of journaling, I have a habit of turning to my journal when I need to work through a tough time. Complain, down right bitch, and at times feel down right sorry for myself. I rarely write when life is good, when the cup runneth over and all is right with the world. I’ve often feared if anyone sat down and read all my entries they might get the impression I was a really miserable person.

So, in an effort to get over my resistance having to not only facebook but now also tweet and blog, what an opportunity to take my journaling heritage and document not only the bad and ugly but also some of the kick ass cool things happening in my life. There seems to be plenty of that going around with a rip roaring new business on the forefront.

A wise person once shared, you know you are doing the right thing when the river carries you. I’ve felt my entire filmmaking career I was paddling up stream. I finally get it.

Now my fear will be, someone will read my blog and think, damn, that girls got it good.

Perhaps, I should just stop worrying about what people will think.

Get ready for the good, the bad and whatever the seeming reality of the moment is. All in the name of storytelling and social media.

follow me @MyStoryTasha

What I didn't expect...

2010 is the year of transparency in all I do, so here is the deal. I created MyStory, Inc. in the interest of pure capitalism. Cold hard cash, people. I vowed never to write another grant proposal, beg for money, or ask another studio to finance my films again. I chose to take back my career and finance my own projects.

What I didn’t expect--as I was headed down this road to riches--was to fall in love with my clients (my tribe, really) to have three hour long initial meetings, to be so in engrossed with their offering I would spend hours on each of their films. I thought I would take the money and run. Do good work but not become obsessed with telling each and every story. When I began MyStory, I thought I had to compete with the mass conglomerates of the world, what I learned is for my client there is no competition. The entrepreneurs I serve aren’t looking for a wham bam, thank you ma’am, in and out solution. They want someone just as passionate as they are. A team just as dedicated to getting it right.

I didn’t expect to be so excited about telling other peoples stories, I get to talk to people about their passions, their joys, why they do what they do. And for a moment, I’ve released my documentary in Cuba, my “change the world Peace project” seems eons away and my New York indie feature can wait. Right now, it is just me and this one business owner---and of course, figuring out where the nearest roof top is so I can jump on it and shout their story as loud as I can.