I had some great experiences during the corporate leg of my career. I lived in three different major cities; I opened two luxury hotels; I traveled to a pile of US cities on someone else’s dime.  I got to always be the youngest to do this or that, and I learned more than I will probably ever be able to remember.  I got to stay in some of the best hotels in America, for free, all while making a fantabulous salary with glorious benefits (namely the health insurance that I never used).  Also?  I had free meals and free dry cleaning.  Always.

Pretty rad, right?

And yet, the opportunities that have crossed my path just in the 15 short months of being out on my own so far surpass that list of goodies as to render it absurd.  To whit, a brief list of things I’ve done or been asked to do in the last year:

1.  Published articles in national and international publications.

2.  Filmed a pilot for a TV show.

3.  Launched a “lifestyle brand for poor people,” The Frugal Hostess.

4.  Given speeches galore, including key noting a couple of conferences.

5.  Opened a vintage store online.

6.  Created and soon to launch a line of old-fashioned small batch candies.

7.  Received about 4,976 books to read and review, for free, just for being my own smart-assed self.

8.  Been quoted in business proposals by companies I’ve never heard of.

9.  Done business with people I’ve never set eyes on.

10.  Been approached about and started writing a book based on my blog.

11.  Worn no Spanx, panty hose, high heels, or other uncomfortable, irritating, and expensive nonsense to do any of the above.

Not all of the stuff up there has (or even will) come to fruition, but having those kinds of choices is pretty powerful.  I have to say, if given the option to choose between filming a TV show and enjoying another room service meal, I’m gonna pick the TV show, even if it sits on a shelf until I die.  So, as you are weighing the pros and cons of going out on your own, keep in mind that your corporate brain can’t even fathom what your independent brain will be able to take on.  When contemplating a walk on the self-employment wild side, I’m living proof that personal freedom opens more doors than it closes.

Plus, you can do most of it in PJs.

There have been so many blog posts written about the Fast Company Influence Project that I was almost embarrassed to throw my “me-too” hat in the ring. Except, what I think about this project is different from what most of those posts say.  So here I am.

My alter-ego, The Frugal Hostess

I don’t understand all of this sanctimonious, holier-than-thou fury about the Influence Project. I think it is an interesting idea and all of the too-influential-to-play bloggers and social media experts out there should get off their high horses about it.

Here’s the deal

For those of you who don’t spend a ridiculous amount of time online, here’s a basic recap. A few months ago,  Fast Company did a story about this company, Mekanism, that purports to be able to guarantee a viral marketing campaign. In the course of that look at Mekanism, Fast Company accepted their challenge to create a viral campaign for Fast Company itself.  Many different ideas were proposed (including this WTF Man concept that I love and hope someone will execute), and the Influence Project is the one that was chosen and launched.

Just so we are clear, Fast Company is a business. A for-profit business in the particularly challenged print media industry. Their editorial content is slanted toward cutting-edge, change-the-world trends and developments in the business world, but they still exist for the purpose of generating revenue. Interestingly, they have wrapped the need to further their commercial goals around an experiment that, had it been executed by another business, could have easily fit within the pages of the magazine.  (Do note that no money changed hands here; I just don’t think Fast Company needs to be apologetic about the fact that they are a business.)

Which leads us back to the Influence Project. If you participate, you get an individual URL that you can share with other people (here’s the one for my alter-ego, The Frugal Hostess). When they click the link, they “vote” for you as an influencer, and they can then sign up to play themselves. The goal of the project is to get as many people as possible vying for popularity ratings by sharing links back to the project’s website, thus spreading the word about the project and Fast Company.

Sounds like a word-of-mouth advertising campaign to me. Uniquely executed in the form of a complex website, but advertising all the same. As a consumer, you are invited by someone you know, either personally or online, to check out a product. If you check it out, the person who invited you gets a little commission in the form of a vote, and you get invited to further engage with the product by inviting people yourself. Um, Tupperware party, anyone?

So what’s the BFD?

Some don’t like the way this campaign defines “influence,” because it equates being influential with being popular, rather than with having the best ideas. I can definitely understand that, but I think it’s sort of like not liking the Smurfs because there’s only one female character. Just as I don’t expect my favorite Saturday morning cartoon to be the standard-bearer for women’s liberation, neither would I expect an advertising campaign to carry the torch for the value of ideas over popularity.  In fact, Fast Company is clear that they want to see what happens and have therefore deliberately left the doors open for people to pimp themselves however they like.

Some wish the Fast Company Influence Project incorporated a charitable component, something that would use the harnessed power of the participants to make a positive change. That would be cool. An interesting outcome of this experiment could be learning that would make it possible to replicate it for the greater good.

More annoying are the people who have freaked out about how this thing blends the line between editorial and commerce in a “disgraceful” way, suggesting that Mark Borden should be fired. That seems extra crazy to me. Seriously? This is not like when your favorite women’s magazine writes a glowing review of the sucky lipgloss being advertised on the next page. In that case, if you buy the sucky lipgloss based on the review, you are duped, and the magazine is duping you on purpose to get the money for the ad. You don’t think Fast Company is allowed to conduct a business experiment using itself as the guinea pig? I love the fact that they were willing to put their own asses on the line to challenge Mekanism’s contention that they can force something to go viral.  It’s like the women’s mag is buying every reader a tube of the lipgloss.  Fast Company bears all the risk here.

Most annoying, though, are those who claim that the Influence Project is bad because no “real” influencers are participating. Oh, please, Revenge of the Nerds* – that’s exactly the kind of in-crowd mentality that causes influence to be reduced from a measure of the value of ideas to the number of clicks on a link.  The person who influences you may be the person who puts me to sleep with a long-ass blog post about the Fast Company Influence Project.

And that, my friends, seems to be the point.

*Note: I decided not to link to this particular person because that Revenge of the Nerds bit cracks me up, and I’m not taking it out to save feelings and/or avoid litigation.  Luckily, this absolutely is editorial wrapped in commerce dipped in money sauce, so I can do what I want.

For your laughing pleasure, this is an actual email exchange that I have been having with a manufacturer.  I haven’t changed anything except to remove the identifying details.  Check out the dates for maximum hilarity.

Email #1

Sent: Wednesday, April 21, 2010 10:50 AM

Subject: What is your best price for Pringles Can Diversion Safe – Hide your Money

What would the wholesale price be for 100 units?  Requested Response Date: 2010-04-21

[This was submitted through a clearinghouse-type website.]

Email #2

Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2010 7:56 AM
Subject: Re: What is your best price for Pringles Can Diversion Safe – Hide your Money

Dear Susan,

Thanks for your reply.

Happy Every Day for you and your family.

Do you only need the 100pcs pringles can diversion safe ?

see our model in attachment.

Welcome to search our company Hot and New products at www.[redacted] .

it take good market for you.

Please feel freely to contact us for your any questions and opinion.
We are ready to start a good and long-term mutually beneficial cooperation with your company and you.

Kind Regards,

Tony

Email #3

Sent: 2010-5-4 22:06:18

Subject: RE: What is your best price for Pringles Can Diversion Safe – Hide your Money

Where can I find prices?  I just want to price some items now.

Email #4

Sent: Wednesday, May 05, 2010 9:35 AM
Subject: Re: RE: for Pringles Can Diversion Safe – Hide your Money

Dear Susan Barry,

Thanks for your reply.

Happy Every Day for you and your family.

Which models do you looking for?

and how many quantity of your demand?

Please help to send us your company name with full address details,tel,fax number.

Welcome to search our company Hot and New products at www.[redacted] .

it take good market for you.

Please feel freely to contact us for your any questions and opinion.
We are ready to start a good and long-term mutually beneficial cooperation with your company and you.

Kind Regards,

Tony

Email #5

Sent:2010-5-5 22:47:39

Subject: RE: RE: for Pringles Can Diversion Safe – Hide your Money

I would like the price for 100 soda can safes.  Thank you!

Email #6

Sent: Friday, May 28, 2010 9:33 AM
Subject: Re: RE: RE: for Pringles Can Diversion Safe – Hide your Money s0528

Dear Susan Barry,

Thanks for your reply.

What other safe diversion items products do you looking for?

Welcome to search our company Hot and New products at www.[redacted] .

it take good market for you.

Please feel freely to contact us for your any questions and opinion.
We are ready to start a good and long-term mutually beneficial cooperation with your company and you.

Kind Regards,

Tony
Email #7

Sent:2010-5-28 21:51:09

Subject: RE: RE: RE:  for Pringles Can Diversion Safe – Hide your Money s0528

I am not going to do business with you if you won’t tell me the price of the item.  Last time I will ask: how much money does it cost to buy 100 soda can diversion safes?

Thanks.

Email #8

Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 10:49 AM
Subject: Re: RE: RE: RE: for Pringles Can Diversion Safe – Hide your Money s0528

Dear Susan Barry,

Thanks for your reply.

Happy Every Day for you and your family.

Sorry for reply later , and our MOQ is 5000pcs for this soda can diversion safe.

what other model you like?

Welcome to search our company Hot sales and New products at www.[redacted] .

it take good market for you.

Please feel freely to contact us for your any questions and opinion.
We are ready to start a good and long-term mutually beneficial cooperation with your company and you.

Kind Regards,

Tony

The end.

1.  Make a plan. Whether you write a blog or post status updates on Facebook, you should have some sort of plan for what to talk about.  Spending the time on the front end to create an editorial or messaging calendar will save you time later.  Also, just because it’s on the calendar doesn’t mean you have to post it if there’s something else that has captured your interest; having a list of ideas just keeps you from getting stuck.

2.  Automate as much as you can. Now, social media is a relationship-building tool and a big conversation, so you can’t automate everything – the interaction part is what makes it work.  However, you can do a few things to help yourself.

• Use a tool like Hoot Suite or Social Oomph to schedule a “Tip of the Day” or other daily update.  That way, if you don’t have time to spend online one day, you won’t suffer from total radio silence.  (I prefer Social Oomph because their advanced tools are, well, more advanced.)
• Connect your Facebook business page to your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts so that you don’t have to post the same thing in several different places.
• Use Networked Blogs to automatically update Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn with your blog posts.

3.  Take advantage of waiting time. Put your social media tools to work on your smart phone so that you can use them when you would otherwise be wasting time – at the doctor’s office, on the train, or under the table at a boring dinner party.  Just kidding.

4.  Listen more than you talk. Read and share what other people are saying rather than always pushing out your own ideas.  Commenting on a clever tweet will do more to build a relationship than composing your own will.

5.  Outsource content development. Don’t be afraid to hire a ghost writer who can put together content in your voice.  As long as you are approving what goes out there, using a consultant can be a great way to save time.  Not that I’m biased or anything.  Also, for routine or research tasks, consider using a virtual assistant.  My VA of choice is Time SVR ; they can do almost anything, and it’s only $69 per month!

I recently created this comparison to give my audience at the Lincolnshire International Partners Meeting an overview of how to market to the four different generations that are currently in the workplace.  The most important thing I learned while putting this together is that Generation Y, which hasn’t even hit its stride in terms of major earning years, has more buying power than Gen X.  It was also interesting to see just how many people make up that generation – nearly as many as the baby boom.  If your company doesn’t have a marketing strategy for Generation Y, you are missing out on a huge group of consumers with enormous purchasing power.

My latest for eHotelier….

In this economy, hotel sellers need to use every possible tool in the shed to drive business results. Here are some ideas for using social media to help make your booking goals.

Step One - Get on board; social networking is not a fad.

Get yourself set up on your network of choice. Carve out a rainy Sunday and play around with Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. If you like to take pictures or make videos, add Flickr or YouTube. All of the sites make it easy for you to import your Outlook, Hotmail, Yahoo, or Gmail contacts. You don’t need to be especially technically-savvy to do this, and I promise you can’t break the site or your computer.

Also, don’t feel like you have to do everything at once. It’s better to do a great job of networking on one site than to do a mediocre job on three. Take your time and figure out what you like best.

Step Two - The requisite cautionary note.

Understand that everything you do or say online lives forever. Forever is a long time, so be careful what you say and who you copy. You’ve heard that before about email. Multiply that by infinity, and you’ll get an idea of who can ultimately see what you’ve said or written on the web. Check your company’s policy, and try to get your boss as a follower/friend/connection for a bit of CYA. Your clients are watching, as are your future employers.

Horror story: You whine to your Facebook friends that your boss is a huge pain. One of them comments in sympathy, which shares what you said to all of their friends, many of whom you don’t know. Unbeknownst to you, one of your friend’s friends is married to your boss. Opposite of a brilliant career strategy.

Step Three - Do something! Here are some ideas:

Prospect. Using search.twitter.com, set up a search for “bride,” “wedding planning,” or “engagement” within 15 miles of your ballroom. Reach out to brides in the planning stages. Caution: lighten up on the spam-attacks. Try a low-key approach, like, “Hi, I don’t want to get too spammy, but I see on Twitter that you’re planning your wedding. I work at the Wedding World Hotel. Let me know if you’d like to talk more.” This can work for meetings and other events, as well, if you tweak the search terms.

Promote special events. Having a client event or industry networking happy hour? Use Twitter to get the word out to your local tweeps, and invite people be creating an event on Facebook. This is also a great way to test the waters before you invest. Ask for feedback on possible attendance to see if it’s worth your time.

Establish expertise. Post links to articles that relate to your business niche. If you sell association business, talk about the new badge swipers you saw. If you focus on entertainment business, tweet about concerts coming your way.

Follow key clients and hot prospects. Follow and retweet your customers to build or strengthen strategic partnerships. Set up searches to understand what’s happening in your best account’s industry so that you can match your solutions to their problems, before they even ask you to. Learn your new contact’s likes and dislikes before you meet. Get the real scoop on a competitor’s top client to help build your share-shifting strategy.

Watch the competition. Follow your competitors – both the hotels and the sellers. Not only can you stay on top of what they’re doing, but you may get some great ideas to try. Either way, you’ll know what the playing field looks like from a different perspective.

Make people laugh. In between tweeting great industry-related articles or posting pictures of your ballroom, be sure to be funny. Be non-controversially funny, maybe, but be funny. If you put something good out there, it will spread, and you’ll be known as that funny sales manager at Awesome Inn and Suites.

Matthew Crawford is extra smart and cool. I love him. Buy his book!