Now that I’m back in the real world post-SXSW Interactive, just about everyone I talk to wants to know how it was.

The word I find myself using over and over is “overwhelming”. SXSWi was in fact entirely too large. The sense of “community” was lost in the masses of random people. There was little opportunity for serendipitous running-into-one-another of people you’d want to meet. Although yes, that did happen on occasion, for the most part if I wanted to meet someone I had to make a concerted effort—and even then most of the time it didn’t happen. Lots of, “Oh… I just missed you!”

Example.

I saw someone tweet a few days prior that she would be speaking at a specific location on Monday at 1:30pm CT about a topic I’m really interested in: location-based services at events. I’d been following her on twitter for a while and thought the topic would be interesting so I put the event on my calendar to be there so that I could introduce myself and hopefully have a quick conversation about events. Monday rolled around and as I was finishing brunch with my sister around 1pm I got the reminder on my iPhone. I looked up the location on a map and noticed that it would be a good 10-15 minute walk to a part of Austin I hadn’t ventured into yet. No problem, the weather was nice and I had company to walk with me. I arrived at the venue and a man at the door checked to see that I was on the RSVP list so that he could give me a separate pass to go inside. Luckily he gave me a +1 so that my sister could get inside as well. We walk upstairs, unsure of what to expect, and find only a few people casually chatting, not phased at all by our entrance for the most part. We stand around for a little bit until I can break into a conversation to say who I was looking for because I heard she would be here at 1:30pm. That’s when they tell me that they had a complication and moved the talk to 12:30pm, so she had already come and gone. And… so we left.

There were just too many things going on at any given time between official sessions, unofficial meetups, block parties, free food, lunch breaks, coffee breaks, scavenger hunts, sleep, and a million other things I didn’t even know about.

I hosted a joint unofficial meetup at a nearby bar for Brazen Careerist & 20-something bloggers members in Austin that weekend with more than 50 people registered to attend. Guess how many showed up? Maybe 5. Some of those even helping to organize the meetup didn’t even show up. I can’t necessarily blame them, though. With RSVPs to so many different events I was impressed with anyone who was organized enough or could remember where to be at which times. Not only that, but any meetup or party without free alcohol or food was essentially doomed considering you could find both flowing freely at all hours of the day and night.

The biggest lesson I learned at SXSW is that everyone is flaky. RSVPs mean nothing (that is, everyone RSVPs to everything, so obviously they’re missing 75% of that which they RSVPed to). Expect plans to be canceled. If you’re planning to meet up with someone, you better double and triple confirm with them, and then don’t be surprised (or offended) if those plans change at the last minute.

Of course there were some really fantastic moments at SXSWi. Spine-chilling sessions. Bonding with new friends. Seeing celebrities. Discovering new brands and iPhone apps. Witnessing some amazing parties & events first-hand. Being inspired by the city of Austin and falling in love with it.

But, the million-dollar question: Would I buy a badge and come back to SXSW Interactive next year? Probably not. If I do go back to SXSW next year I would probably just go for the unofficial events, marketing ideas, and randomness. I would have no expectations. I would take more notes (with a pen or camera). I would sleep more.

Related posts:

1. How To: Throw the Best Party of 2011
2. For Raleigh: Notes From Austin
3. I quit my job.

Brazen Careerists’ newest product, Network Roulette officially launches today and you should be really excited about it (I am)! We all know that networking is important. Some of us may be better at networking than others, but Brazen has pretty much taken most of the hassle out of traditional networking by putting it all online.

What is Network Roulette?

Network Roulette is online speed networking that’s actually useful. It’s simple – first, you’re randomly matched with other professionals after answering two simple questions: “What are you looking for?” and “What are you providing?” Next, participants have up to 3 minutes conversation to determine if the person on the other side can help their network. After, participants choose who to follow up with through their network dashboard. One of the coolest things about this is that when you go back to your dashboard after networking all of the contact information is stored for everyone you talked to. No need to grab business cards awkwardly at the end of a conversation.

It’s pretty spectacular. It’s efficient because you don’t have to leave your house, you can wear whatever you want, you can network when you’re available, and you don’t have to spend money. It’s free. Sure, you can hang out in the e-bar between network conversations, but you didn’t have to fill up your gas tank to get there or order a drink once you arrived.

Check out this silly animated video with lots of graphics to get a better idea of what this can do for you:

How it helped me

At first I was just really excited to be “meeting” so many people so quickly. I got to meet some new people I would never have ever known to connect with. I met people as far away as Japan (she was up very very early to participate!) and as close as in my own city (it’s always cool to meet someone new in your own neighborhood). I even got the chance to talk with some people I’d always wanted to talk with, but had no idea what to talk about or how to start the conversation. Sometimes I was connected to friends on Twitter that I never seem to get the chance to have conversations with in more than 140 characters at a time, so it was like getting to see an entirely different side of someone, getting into details, asking them questions I’ve always wanted to ask but never found the time.

As you may know I’m focusing more heavily on moving into the event planning field, so when I used Network Roulette I indicated that I was looking for people’s brains to pick about how they got into the event planning industry. While most people I talked to were not in event planning themselves, a surprisingly large percentage of the people I connected with knew at least one person in event planning or someone I should talk to. After only 2 Network Roulette sessions I had suggested people to follow on Twitter, advice from someone who’s wife is an event planner, email introductions to people working as event/conference organizers in big cities like Chicago, San Francisco & NYC, a potential business lead with someone in New York City after connecting with Penelope Trunk on Network Roulette, and an informational phone interview set up with Karen Hartline, the Mashable Events Director, who took the time to talk to me about how to get ahead in the industry and gave me some of the most invaluable advice  for my own freelance event planning work. Which, by the way, was put to good use as I’ve already secured my first event sponsor and started charging a fee per event. I would probably be in the negative if it weren’t for Karen, and the fabulous person that I met on Network Roulette that put me in touch with her.

Are you convinced yet?

Ok, so you can get in on the Network Roulette action any time at BrazenCareerist.com, and Brazen will also host topic-specific events for Network Roulette participants. A list of upcoming events is also available at BrazenCareerist.com — go get em!

Tips for setting up & getting the most out of Network Roulette:

1. First of all, JUST DO IT! Sign up for Network Roulette even if you think it won’t help you. Stop making excuses like, “But I don’t want to sign up for another website” or “I’m not going to meet anyone that can help me” or “That’s the same time Glee is on!” Seriously get over it, step out of your comfort zone, try something different and let yourself be surprised by the possibilities. According to Brazen, over 90% of participants found it just as useful or more useful than a real-life networking event. So really, what do you have to lose?
2. Actually take the time to fill out the “looking for” and “providing” fields. This is what people you’re matched with will read first to see if they want to
   

   Network Roulette start up screens - fill out the questions!

   start a conversation or “Next” you. If you leave these fields blank or write something really generally like “looking to make new friends and network” you’re missing out on the potential connections to be made because duh, everyone wants to network, so you’re not giving your networking match anything to base a conversation off of. You need to get a little more specific, even if you think it’s silly or irrelevant to networking. (For example, I wasn’t sure what I could offer people at first, but everyone has advice to give on something. I run a PechaKucha Night in my hometown, so I offered to provide advice about starting a PechaKucha Night in other cities–surprisingly I’ve had quite a few people ask about what it is and followed up to start an event in their hometown. Now that is action).

3. You only have 3 minutes to talk. Say hi! Get the conversation started early. Don’t just sit there staring at their profile information wondering what to talk about. You’re wasting precious networking time!
4. Have a notebook or Word doc open on the side so that you can take notes on your conversations. If someone recommends a person, a restaurant, or a website you should check out, “Fan” them on Brazen (there’s an easy button for that), write down that person’s name in your notebook, and jot down a few notes that you want to remember from the conversation. If want to continue the conversation, make a note to “follow up” and what you want to follow up about, and then go find them in your Brazen Network Roulette dashboard later.
5. Actually follow up with leads or connections you make. You’ll probably have fun just participating in Network Roulette itself, but you’re not actually networking unless you follow up with people. Have integrity; do what you say you’re going to do. If you offer to make an introduction, make sure that you send the email within a week. If someone says “Hey, I might know someone who would be interested in talking to you about that,” make sure you send them a personal message or email to follow up with them to get that “someone’s” name and contact information.

Have fun networking!

Related posts:

1. On Justifying Social-Networking (Or Why I Might Abandon Social Media)
2. Recognizing Essential Communities
3. Happy Birthday to Me! (and my blog)

Happy birthday to me.

No more early 20’s for me. Today I’m 25 years old. They say that my brain should be fully developed by now – that I should be the person I’m likely going to be for the rest of my life.

I finally know who I am, what I’m not, what I value and what I don’t, who matters & who doesn’t, and what work I’m passionate about. Of course none of this happened overnight. I didn’t just turn 25 and everything became clear. No, but I do think that a lot of this discovery took place over the course of the past year.

What was different about this past year you might ask? Blogging. You see, it’s my blog’s birthday too (its first birthday)!

One year ago today I decided to make a serious change in my attitude towards work, life, and my career. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but I had an inkling that blogging again would help.

I was so right. Blogging gave me a platform to hash out my thoughts in a productive manner (diaries and journals just don’t have the same effect), a place to network with like-minded peers (and mentors who asked a lot of good questions), and provided me with the accountability I needed to be successful.

Compare

Last year: I didn’t know how to network or really why it was even actually important. I had about ZERO writing samples of my true voice (college papers totally do not prepare you for the real world). I was stuck going to an 8-5 job Monday through Friday, stressed and dreading each morning I had to go into the office. I didn’t take care of my body very well (2009 was a year of never-ending illnesses, far too much caffeine & alcohol, and not enough exercise).  I had a crappy resume and an even crappier idea of what I wanted to do if I didn’t want to stay in research. I was for the most part completely uninvolved in my community.

Today: I have an extensive network all over the country, especially in the Raleigh/Durham, NC area. I only work at the soul-sucking job half the time that I did last year. I lead and organize events for my community that draws about 200 people per event. I have pretty extensive experience in fields I knew nothing about a year ago: event planning, social media, and marketing. The New York Post wrote an article about me, my sister, and my blog. I can officially consider myself a freelance writer. I discovered my authentic vocation, one that I’m incredibly passionate about: event planning. I snatched an internship in social media marketing & events.

I’d say I’ve turned my life around more in the past year than I had in any other single year. Change came fast, but with welcome arms. All of this change was set in motion on my 24^th birthday when I decided to start blogging. So, thank you blog, and happy birthday!

Related posts:

1. Lesson From Social Media Day: I’m An Expert, Too
2. 20SB Blog Swap: Fizzle
3. Recognizing Essential Communities

And by that I mean literally, my fresh-out-of-college unemployed little sister, Rianna. She’s probably the

best person that I know, and I’m probably the best sister that anyone could have. Which is why I’m dedicating an entire post to her today.

I’m not sure exactly when she decided she had to move to New York City after graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill with an Anthropology degree this past May, but I’m pretty sure her mind was made up when we visited the city during her Spring Break back in March. While I was walking around complaining about my blisters, the cold, and what a dirtier city this was than I remembered from a few years earlier, she was plotting how she would move back there.

So what now?

Well, after 3 months of unsuccessful long-distance online job hunting (that is, a lot of “we went with someone more local”), she took the plunge and booked a one-way ticket to JFK and found herself traversing the NYC metro by Wednesday morning. Now don’t get me wrong, this girl is my best friend and she just left me in Raleigh for what appears to be, well, nothing, so I’m not super ecstatic about it. But if she wants something this badly, then gosh darnit I’m going to help her as much as I can.

For now she’s couch surfing with friends and staking out over-booked holiday weekend hostel rooms until she finds a job and a place of her own or until she runs out of money (and we really can’t have that, can we?).

What she’s looking for:

While she’s working her ass off looking for jobs online, writing kick-butt cover letters, and stalking companies like Big Duck and Carrot Creative to get her dream job, she’s not above anything that pays the bills at this point and still walks the streets of Manhattan & Brooklyn looking for “Hiring” signs in the windows.

About that dream job though, in her words:

I love people, so it makes sense that I would want to work for them as much as with them. I love non-profit, socially conscious organizations because they are groups of people with a mission they really (have to) believe in.

Working with people means that every interaction, day, minute is always different. I like when I have multiple things I have to do in a day, all with completely different teams, places or requirements. I love new things, new challenges, new problems and new solutions! One of my favorite quotes is “if we do not find something pleasant, at least we shall find something new” – Voltaire

What I know is that she’s dedicated her life to the arts in one form or another. As an artist herself, interacting with talent at performances, and even on the nonprofit organization side. And even if you’re mean to her, she’ll pretend to be your best friend. (I’m not sure where she got that from; maybe the southern upbringing, but definitely not from me!) Point being, she’s mad smart (some even say smarter than me; gasp!), insanely creative (I have her write all my catchy headlines & titles, brainstorm with her about creative fundraising ideas, and I insisted on hanging a pencil portrait she drew above my bed), and a total people-person. In my personal opinion I think she would make an amazing company spokesperson or first point-of-contact. Yeah.

How can you help?

We all know how important networking is. If you live in the New York City metro area then you can easily help just by reaching out and connecting with her. I can promise you a great return too, because she’s a pretty amazing person and the Mallard sisters are known for being genuine helper-outers.

So meet her for coffee or lunch. Send her job leads if you have them. Take her on a tour of your neighborhood so she knows how real New Yorkers live. Be all-around nice to her!

Related posts:

1. How This Blog Got My Sister A Job
2. Guest Post: Creating a Carrot Kind of World
3. April Monthly Goal Meetup

On Wednesday, August 18, 2010 I organized a local chapter of the

Brazenites at the first official meetup

Brazen Careerist’s “Crowdsource Your Career” meetup where 8 other fellow brazen careerists and I met – some for the first time, although many were very familiar faces—to talk about why we were drawn to Brazen Careerist and to discuss the question of the day (below). It was certainly a success (if I ignore the loud after-work crowd at nearby tables). I both met some new people (with new perspectives) and made even stronger connections with some Brazenites that I had not yet had the chance to speak with in such depth. Even more exciting is that we will be organizing similar continuing meetups from now on to help support the Triangle’s community of young professionals (and wannabes), providing feedback, guidance, and mentorship. More on that later, though! On to the question of the day.

Question: What does it mean to be in the driver’s seat of your life and career?

Answer 1: You are in control, no one else. You might have backseat drivers that try and tell you what you do – but ultimately you make decisions. – Courtney Burns

Answer 2: You determine your worth. You control the flow of income based on your own schedule. Autonomy. The ability to make your own decisions. – Brianne Villano

Answer 3: To be in the driver’s seat of my life and career does not mean that I have to name a destination. Each minor decision is my decision. I may make a wrong turn according to my backseat drivers, but who is to say what is wrong and right when you don’t know where you are going (or how you are getting there). Being in the driver’s seat means being in control, listening to your self and being confident in your decisions. – Rianna Mallard

Answer 4: You know what you want to do, and you know how to get it. – Tony Shaffner

Answer 5: You are following your passion with a single focus and you are the determiner and measurer of success. – Bruce Robinson

Answer 6: You turn off the GPS and toss the maps of people’s previous travels and go for it! – Emily Moore

Answer 7: Driving is important and at the same time it’s important to drive with a purpose, of intention, a destination or you could be driving aimlessly. Being in the driver’s seat of your career is about being aware of your external environment: education, career, and life options and making the decisions/choices for your life with your inner knowing (self-knowledge), to ensure that your drive has meaning and purpose for you. – Latoya Williams

Answer 8: You’re location independent, you are financially independent & you love what you do. – Kristen Jeffers

Although all of us are Brazenites (yea, I used that word, again), everyone took a different angle in responding to the question. Some of us took the driver’s seat analogy a little further while others completely ignored it and got to the heart of the meaning. I think what we all agreed upon, though was that “being in the driver’s seat” means having control and a direction (although some would argue that you don’t need a destination). And even more than that, we all believe that it’s important to be independent, driven (no pun intended), passionate, happy, and that to be in the driver’s seat of your life sometimes you need to break away from the mold.

I can think of a few other qualities of a driver, too:

• Leadership. Think about when you’re in a group and need to decide who’s going to drive some place, chances are the same person offers to drive over and over again. They’re being a leader, taking the reigns when nobody else steps up.
• Competency. There are some basic competencies a person needs to be in the driver’s seat. You have to learn a new skill, practice, pass a test, and then prove every time you get in that seat that you still have a right to be there by knowing the rules to play by. Our lives and careers are the same. We need some basic skills to get us going, but then it’s up to us to stay in the game.
• Adequacy. Let’s face it, we’re all adequate enough drivers, we get from place to place hopefully without crashing, but very few of us have mastered the art of driving as stunt drivers have. The same goes for our lives: we’re not perfect, but “ya mon, ebeything’s gonna be alright”, or rather, we get by!

I think it ended up being a pretty good analogy, don’t you think?

Thanks again to Ryan Paugh at Brazen Careerist for setting up the meetup and getting us started connecting face-to-face!

Related posts:

1. Recognizing Essential Communities
2. Lesson From Social Media Day: I’m An Expert, Too
3. Forays Into Multimedia (And Ensuing Frustration)

What I learned on Social Media Day (June 30, 2010)

Yesterday was Social Media Day, as pronounced by Mashable. I only heard about it a few days earlier and I really wasn’t sure what the purpose of a Social Media Day would be, even after reading Mashable’s explanation. But as someone who is, I’ll just say, interested in social media and its future, I didn’t debate whether or not I would participate, but rather debated which local event I would attend.

There were two haphazardly organized events: the first one at Campbell University’s business school nearly an hour from Raleigh and the second one in Cary organized for everyone who didn’t want to drive the distance. I ended up grabbing a ride to the Campbell University event with three other social media buddies (Tedd Huff, Regina Twine, and my sister Rianna Mallard) expecting that there would be between 3-5 informative presentations on real-world business applications of social media. I expected that there would be some talk of local startups I was already familiar with, but I was going there in hopes of learning something new. Because that’s what I do: I go out there, experience, and hope to gain some sort of useful knowledge I didn’t have before.

In a way I sort of did, but not what I expected.

What I really learned is that I am way ahead of the game. I come to these sorts of events from the perspective of a measly 24-year-old college graduate (without a degree in anything like Marketing, Computer Science, Journalism, or Business) with little paid work experience—which, for the past 2 years, has been in the survey research field. I show up as if my mind is an empty receptacle for knowledge from the more experienced professionals.

Normally that’s not a bad angle to take, but not when the discussion is about social media. I’m actually ahead of 99% of the world when it comes to social media. Those of us who are intimately familiar with social media are always complaining about how we hate it when people declare themselves a social media “guru”, “expert” or “aficionado”, or how ridiculous it is when someone starts up a social media consulting business after only creating a Twitter account 6 months ago.

I had this revelation yesterday that I just don’t agree with all that anymore. All of us active social media users tend to run in the same circles and interact with the same people: and it’s a much smaller circle than we think. If you walk out into the street and ask the next 10 people if they know what Twitter is and if they use it, I would bet you that a few wouldn’t even know what Twitter is and if they did, they probably wouldn’t use it. We tend to think that everyone uses social media (and I don’t mean just have a Facebook account) around us, but the truth is that most people still don’t.

Example: When I spoke at the ProductCamp RTP unconference in May, there was a Career Transition Panel session that I was considering attending after my session. We weren’t sure if the session would be useful for us (me & 2 other fellow job-hunting social media users), so we asked the woman running the panel what they would be discussing & if she thought we would benefit from it. She asked us what we were already doing in our job search. We mentioned things like going to networking and tweetup events, blogging regularly about our fields, building a personal brand on Twitter & LinkedIn and managing our Facebook privacy settings. She point blank told us it would be more beneficial for us to attend a different session because we were “already way ahead of the game.”

So if we are already so ahead of the game, why do our peers get irritated when we call ourselves experts? I think it’s a semantic issue. We’re actually social media pioneers. Of course we don’t have all of the answers because the field is changing and evolving so rapidly. I like to call myself a social media experimenter. If I were ever to open a social media consulting business that’s what I would call myself. There are some guidelines to follow, but the rules are changing pretty quickly. I couldn’t guarantee specific results just because they worked in a different situation 2 months ago. A social media “guru” is really just someone having the basics down and be willing to experiment with the tools and rules, whether that be in a business, educational, or job-search setting.

So wake up and realize that the world is actually a really big place! There’s enough room for more social media “experts”. We all just want to help make the world a more social place!

Note: I’m ahead of the game when it comes to social media, but not when it comes to business, marketing, or journalism/writing. I’m actively looking for continuing education in all of those fields, whether that be formal courses, a great blog, a local Raleigh meetup group, or something else I’m not thinking of. Pass on anything you can!

Related posts:

1. On Justifying Social-Networking (Or Why I Might Abandon Social Media)
2. Mixing It Up
3. Happy Birthday to Me! (and my blog)

Would I keep using social media and networking sites if I weren’t ever looking for a new job or clients? Already certain industries are more prominent on LinkedIn and Twitter (marketing, public relations, news sources, internet startups, consultants, freelancers, etc.) and more jobseekers than steady-job-havers keep active social networking profiles.

But at this stage in the game I just can’t see ever not using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Brazen Careerist, but believe it or not there was once a time when I barely used them (two of which I didn’t even adopt until 2009). Whoa was I behind the times. Thank god I caught up, huh?

I wonder, though, what would happen if I no longer “needed” to “network” to find a job or clients? Would I stop using Twitter (or at the least cut back on my use)? Would I abandon updating my LinkedIn profile (there wouldn’t be that much to update on my “resume” anyways, right)? Would I stop attending tweetups and networking events?

I wonder about these things because I don’t want to stop any of that. Right now–because I’m on the search for job opportunities–I can justify the time invested in all of that as well worth the value. If I couldn’t justify the time put in any longer, would I have to cut myself off from tweeting like a crazy person? Perhaps that’s the most responsible and productive action to take, though. Twitter and social media can be such a distraction that unless it is part of your strategy to reach your goals, we can really only consider it recreational fun and our time with social networking should be limited, right?

Not only that, but I want to make sure that I’m being authentic and my “brand” doesn’t scream, “I’m only here to help me, not you!” I want to make sure that I’m involved in social media/networking for the right reasons; reasons that will stick around for a while.

But in the end, you know what? I don’t think I would ever stop using social networking sites because networking is so much more than “finding a job”. Networking is so important in all aspects of life.

This is something I’ve always been told but didn’t realize personally and actually start taking it seriously until very recently. And after discovering how much I love connecting and talking with people I just don’t see myself ever in a position (for work or fun) that wouldn’t benefit from continuing to be socially-networked.

What about you? Do you see yourself cutting back or quitting social media any time in the future? Do you think it’s here to stay, or that once the economy picks up and people aren’t scrounging around for jobs anymore that social networking’s popularity will die down?

Related posts:

1. Lesson From Social Media Day: I’m An Expert, Too
2. Network Roulette: Easy Networking Whenever & Wherever You Want
3. Recognizing Essential Communities

Everyone else is saying it, so I will too. Thank God For Spring Weather!!!!!

Now let’s jump right into reviewing my goals for March:

1. Finish perfecting the killer resume. Honest to god, I have a rough-draft, but wow some things just take a lot more time than you imagined. I’m carrying this one over to April .
2. Finish the new blog redesign. You might not notice a huge difference from last month, but there was a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff going on. The only part I’m still trying to work out is the Photography page. Hrmmm. There seems to be no good way to create Flickr photo galleries and have them carry over into WordPress. Maybe a flash slideshow is a good idea. Except for the fact that I sort of hate flash slideshows.
3. Don’t be shy. PIECE OF CAKE! When you’re meeting new people who understand where you’re coming from and are open to new ideas, it’s easy to open up. As a result, I’ve got an amazing new group of friends (yay!). I met some really awesome people in NYC face-to-face for the first time, including Steph Auteri, who just opened up her own Career Coaching for Word Nerds business (and I get to be one of her guinea pigs for the next month)! My sister and I also followed Patrick Johnson & Elisabeth Rosario into the city after meeting for only a few minutes at the #PRStudChat tweetup at Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library in New Jersey. And on our last night in the city we braved the monsoon weather to sing karaoke (a first for me!) with Teresa Cantwell, Abby Schoffman, PRCog and others.

All in all, March was really amazing in quite a few ways. Great new friends, great new “extracurriculars”, great travel, great personal development, etc. There is still so much more progress to make. It was hard to think of new personal goals after such a productive month on a personal level, but here we go.

For April:

1. Finish my resume. Carrying this one over from March, but I hope that after working with Steph for a month there will be no excuse not to have it in tip-top shape.
2. Take a walk at least 5 times per week. I don’t know if anyone has noticed the burst of warm air outside? Yea, I plan on taking advantage of that and taking at least a 1 mile walk either at lunch during work, or at a park or downtown on the weekends. All you “fit” people are probably saying “Wow a 1-mile walk? That’s nothing, gosh I’m running marathons in NYC” (ahem… Beth, haha), but for me that would be a huge accomplishment (especially considering I seem to have a worsening heart condition and running is just not an option at this point). If I had more disposable income I would probably hire a personal trainer, but alas walking it is for now!
3. Spring Cleaning the minimalist way. I’m not even sure what that means yet, but I’ve been reading more about minimalism (most recently Everett Bogue’s blog Simple Minimalist: Far Beyond the Stars) and have been seeing it pop up in my life over the past few months. I’ve already jump-started this one by canceling our home land-line and cutting out $90 from the monthly budget. It was such a relief and an empowering feeling at the same time. I can’t wait to apply more minimalist concepts to my life.
4. Switch up the music on my iPhone. I am completely lame and haven’t added new music to my iPhone since Christmas. Considering we’re not allowed to stream music from the internet at work and I listen to my iPhone all day long, 5 days a week, I am totally sick of listening to the same songs over and over again. PLEASE CARLEE just put something else on there SOON! New fav song recommendations?
5. Spend less than $350 this month for groceries. Background: I live with my mother, grandmother, and sometimes my sister on the weekends when she comes home from school. For the past 6 months my mom has been doing all the grocery shopping for the house and I’ve been slightly disappointed recently. I honestly just think that I could buy better (healthier) food for less money. I challenged her this month to hand over her credit card, let me do the shopping, and see if I can spend a simple $50/month less than her. Doable right? If Rebecca Currie can eat for One Dollar a Day in my neck of the woods, I think we can eat for $4/day!

To participate in the meet-up:

1. Post a list of your career/life related goals for April, along with your checked off March goals if you’d like, on your own blog.
2. Come back to BrazenCareerist.com network and leave a link to your post in the comments (*If you don’t have your own blog, feel free to share your list here in the comments to join in!)
3. Then, check out everyone else’s lists as they leave comments - click their links, visit their blogs, say hello, meet, greet and support each other because that’s what it’s all about!

Related posts:

1. March Monthly Goal Meetup
2. January 2010 Monthly Goal Meetup
3. December Monthly Goal Meetup

February surprised me in a lot of ways. When I wrote my goals for February I thought that I had it all planned out. But then mid-month some new opportunities arose, events popped up, connections were made, priorities changed.

Cyn Mallard's New Paintings

I know that’s all very vague, but my point is that if you can’t go with the flow, you might just miss out on some really great stuff. For example, you might notice that I have a brand new WordPress website with my own domain! When my aunt offered (read: really pressured me) to host the new site for me and help with the technical side of things, I couldn’t pass it up the opportunity to learn the WordPress platform and get a little more serious about everything. So before I get into March let’s check out last month:

1. Do my taxes! I even got my refund back already. Onwards and upwards!
2. Arrange my first tweetup in the Raleigh-Durham area. An example of something that I would have worked on had some unforeseen more immediate events come up. Instead of working on our own tweetup, Brianne and I have been working with the Pecha Kucha Night event organizers to help out doing PR, spreading the word to get more speakers, and helping out the day of the event. It’ll be a meetup, even if not a tweetup. We both agreed to postpone the tweetup until after all the March events are over.
3. Up the blog frequency. This was so much easier than I thought it would be. Easier as in… I wanted to do it, so I did it. Not easier as it didn’t take a lot of work, because let me tell you — it takes a lot of work. So much fun, so exciting though! It’s as if there was a piece of me that was missing all this time.
4. Take on a part-time job. I did a lot of looking and made notes & bookmarks, but I realized that I really need to re-write my resume first. I needed to break up the big goal into smaller goals.
5. Keep having fun. I didn’t end up doing everything I thought I would do, but there were some exciting things going on last month. Most notably my mom had her first art show in over 5 years. I am so proud of her we had a fantastic night celebrating after the opening!

Reflecting on last month, I’m hesitant to make any predictions for March. What I do know about this month is that it’s packed full of events, traveling, networking, and birthdays! What do I want to get out of it all then?

1. Finish perfecting the killer resume. I started this in February when I realized it needed a complete re-haul. I’m even considering hiring a resume writer to help out. Personal recommendations?
2. Finish the new blog redesign. You all reading this are among the first to see it live, so tell me what you think. Feedback is ever-so-appreciated!
3. Don’t be shy. By this I mean get out of my comfort zone, talk to people I haven’t talked to before, and make some meaningful connections. There are 4 big idea sharing events that I’m going to this month (3 this week and 1 the last week of March) where there will undoubtedly be hundreds of people eager to have interesting conversation and I CAN’T wait. So excited. Not only that, but my sister and I are going to NYC March 10th – 14th. While we don’t have a plan yet, I will be happy as long as I come home thinking it was worth my time. I really hope to catch up with some old friends but also meet some new people that I’ve met online. So really, help me with this one, and if you’re in the NYC area please let me know so we can get together!

To participate in the meet-up:
1. Post a list of your career/life related goals for March, along with your checked off February goals if you’d like, on your own blog.
2. Go back to Brazen Careerist and leave a link to your post (*If you don’t have your own blog, feel free to share your list in the comments to join in!)
3. Then, check out everyone else’s lists as they leave comments - click their links, visit their blogs, say hello, meet, greet and support each other because that’s what it’s all about!

Related posts:

1. April Monthly Goal Meetup
2. February 2010 Monthly Goal Meetup
3. January 2010 Monthly Goal Meetup

There are four major idea-sharing events taking place between March 3, 2010 and March 23, 2010 in the Raleigh-Durham (Triangle) area. They’re all free. They’re all aimed at engaging the local community thought leaders with the rest of the community through presentations. They’re all one-night events coordinated by a local (unpaid) team.

But they each have their own origin and consequently a different path for achieving essentially the same goal: sharing great ideas. You may not be familiar with any of these events (in which case you need to start finding a local event in your own community right now) or you may already know about all three (and heck, there’s probably even more events I don’t know about yet). Either way, each event has a unique brand, so it’s inevitable that they’re likely more popular in certain circles than others.

My point in creating this terribly geeky venn diagram (well, honestly I just wanted a reason to make another venn diagram) is to bring all the options to the table, point out their quirks, have other people expand on their unique value (fill in the missing pieces of the venn diagram in the comments people!), and help people discover their niche – where they fit – in the idea sharing event market.

Because if anything, this proves that there’s really a free market out there for idea sharing events. There’s probably even more popping up out there every day. We’re in the information age, and it shows. People want to get together, connect, and share ideas and there’s definitely not a monopoly on that.

But this also shouldn’t be a competition. The leaders for all events should be supporting each other this month, throughout the year, and for years to come. Don’t forget that we’re all working towards the same goal.

Have you been to any of these events? What did you like or dislike about each one? If you’ve helped to organize an event, how have you worked together with other similar events? Do you think it’s better to have multiple (smaller) events for the same purpose to should they all combine into one really GREAT BIG event?

Related posts:

1. PechaKucha: Creative Minds do Durham
2. Pecha Kucha: A New Sector of Raleigh Creative Minds
3. Lesson From Social Media Day: I’m An Expert, Too