Sunday, April 17, 2011

Sunday Driving with @LizStrauss Brand Strategist, Community Builder & Founder of SOBCon

by Jessica Northey
It's always a pleasure to introduce the radio/broadcasting industry to Social Media icons like Liz Strauss. You can really learn a lot about blogging, engagement and authenticity online from her!

Meet Liz Strauss: An Irresistible, Authentic, Inside-Out Thinker!
One of the greatest benefits of doing these eView features is that I get to know so many fantastic people.  Especially, those I have seen online and/or admired for some time. Liz Stauss is no exception!  She is a well known, Brand Strategist, Community Builder and Founder of
SOBCon. She’s been called “a thought provoker, an über connector, an idea machine.” No one questions that what she brings is one-of-a-kind authenticity.  Liz  is also one of the most influential non-celebrity bloggers online.

Liz defines irresistible businesses as those with great relationships who constantly do the following: remove what customers don’t want; enhance what customers love; and add something unexpected customers would die for…..Irresistible defines Liz.
This is also a more fun loving, personal side of Liz. I was very honored that she agreed to let me eView her. She is the co-creator of SOBCon, which is right around the corner, April 29 - May 1, 2011, Chicago, IL. You can sign up for “The New Leadership and Loyalty Business,” but might want to hurry, SOBCon 2010 was SOLD OUT!



Official title for work?Founder of SOBCon, CEO of Inside-Out Thinking


Favorite thing about your job?I get to teach  people how to be irresistible as a person, as a brand, as a business. That’s a whole lot of discussing what they’re good at and what their born to do. It changes how people look at their business. It changes how they see the people they work with. It changes their lives and every time, too, it changes mine. 

Where are you answering these questions from?
The love seat in my living room.

What are you wearing?
Sweats. 


How did you get started in business?I was a teacher, then a publisher. Then I started a blog … the rest is the story of my life.


What are 3 items you CAN NOT live without?

A pair of shoes that fit, my glasses, and a smartphone.

Favorite item of clothing/jewelry/accessory?
My wedding ring – it’s three stories how it came to be as it is today and every time people ask me about it I get to tell how I loved my mother’s ring as a child, how my husband and I got married in 42 days, and the sweetest thing my husband said when (about 8 years later) I decided to resign my wedding ring to include my mom’s diamond and forgot to tell him until after I had left it at the jeweler’s


Have you ever been in a fight?You mean like a knock down, roll on the gravel fight? Yeah, when I was eight with my boyfriend. Can’t remember why.

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning?
What kind of mischief will I get in today? 

Is there anything that you regret?
Possibly that it took me longer than it might have to figure out what I’m here for.

What are your fondest childhood memories?
Talking to my dad!


What current event has your eyes and ears? And what are you doing about it?Everything on the Internet has my attention. I’m fascinated by the speed, reach, and power it has to change people’s lives. I love how it’s bringing us to appreciate community in an old-fashioned way. I see more alike than different in what my dad did in building his saloon in 1933 to what I do online. People are becoming important again.

How do you use Social Media in your industry for productivity?
Twitter DMs have drastically reduced my email – thank you!!
It’s much faster, easier, and more meaningful to reach out to connect with people online. I can’t imagine I would know or have had the chance to meet nearly as many cool and influential people as I have without Social Media. Of course, it only starts online. Then we meet and talk on the telephone and in person.
I met my business partner Terry “Starbucker” St. Marie because he commented on my blog and hung out at Open Comment Night. which eventually became our event SOBCon and now is becoming an enterprise level business calledInside-Out Thinking

What is your favorite website?
My own http://www.successful-blog.com – where you’re only a stranger once. I’ve grown up there and made so many friendships …



If you had a Super Power what would it be?I do have a Super Power. I *see* live people.

Which famous people do you admire?
I find it hard to admire a person I’ve never met, because I realize what I know is only what I’ve been told. That said I admire the work and reputation of Warren Bennis. I admire Peter Gabriel’s music and what it says about his life experience, his intelligence and his soul. I know and admire author Steve Farber as a person and a writer who is genuine down to his bones. I also admire Lada Gaga for her accomplishments and her honest intimacy with her fans. And I admire Oprah for her vision, her passion, and her ability to make it happen.

What is your favorite movie?
It still is “Beautiful Mind.” because I identify with it and because it was a beautifully made movie. Russell Crowe proved his acting with the genuineness of that character. The story also was delivered with two points of view without the audience knowing. You have to watch it twice to see the moment when the little runs around and pigeon’s don’t fly away from her.
I also like “Silverado” because it’s so well done that you can’t tell whether it’s a serious western or a parody of a western.

Favorite snack?Butter pecan ice cream with hot fudge … because it’s good.

How do you balance your work with other obligations - mate, children, hobbies?
I decided decades ago that nothing was an obligation. That to live my life in the right way was to make use of what I have – head, heart, body, soul, talents, and curiosity – in such a way that when my life was over I could say that I had invested it well. To me that means choosing to BE wherever I am when I’m there and WITH the people I’m with. As I get older, it gets easier to do that. The key for me is knowing that my world works better if I don’t make myself the center of the universe.

Do you get nervous about anything?
Not really. I used to get anxious about silly things. Then I learned that the best thing to do with anxiety is to move to action. Help someone, even if it isn’t yourself.  Nervousness seems to come from fear. Fear can’t occupy the same space as trust. Once I learned to trust myself fear didn’t seem to be an issue anymore.

If you could meet anyone in the world dead or alive who would it be, and what would say to them?
I would meet my mother when she was a child and this is what I’d say to her. http://lettingmebe.blogspot.com/2005/12/story-that-i-have-to-tell.html

What is your hobby or do you collect anything?
I collect people I love and their stories. I can’t meet enough great people or learn enough from them.

What chore to you hate?
Drying my hair. It’s boring and it’s one chore that I can’t seem to think about other things when I’m doing it.

Do you have an animal/s? What kind/s? Names?
Nope. My mom always told me I was allergic to everything.

Mac or PC?
Both.

Ginger or Mary Ann? Which are you more like?
I think they’d both find me loopy.

Craziest thing you have ever done?
Married my husband 42 days after we met. That was 27 years ago.



Successful-blog.com

Lizstrauss.com
Inside-outthinking.com
Twitter.com/lizstrauss
Facebook.com/liz.strauss and Facebook.com/lizstraussfan
About.me/lizstrauss
Linked in.com/in/lizstrauss

No comments:

Post a Comment