At some point everyone has a chance to believe something other than what others told them to believe in.

by Akula.

Brent Nordquist is @Akula. I want to say right now he is one of my all time favorite bloggers. His blog, Nordquist Blog, isn’t deep in tech secrets, social media guru meditations, nor how to get rich schemes. Brent blogs about life, mostly centered around him and his children.

I highly recommend you check out Brent as @Akula and on Nordquist Blog.

Social networking is closing the digital divide. You don’t have to be a digital phenom to communicate w/ others anymore.

by The Cubicle Chick.

Danyelle, aka @TheCubicleChick, you already know is one of recent Twitter additions. She’s also one of the most outgoing and outward facing folks in my circle. She’s spot on about not having to be a phenom. She’s only been in the game a short while and already running a successful blog.

Do check out her blog, The Cubicle Chick, and I recommend you follow @TheCubicleChick on Twitter.

Chris aka @RizzoTees on Twitter by Tojosan, on Flickr

Chris Reimer introduces us to his new blog, The Basement Entrepreneur, with this statement:

My name is Chris Reimer, and in a mad fit of personal branding hubris, I dubbed myself “The Basement Entrepreneur.”

So what is a basement entrepreneur? In Chris’ words:

• We’re the guys and gals starting Internet-based businesses in our basements.
• We saved and borrowed almost enough money to actually start the business of our dreams.
• We run our businesses off Macbook Pros in coffee shops. (or a PC if you’re a big baby about Apples.)
• As David Siteman Garland once told me, we “MacGyver” everything in our businesses just to get by.
• We “get” Social Media, and how it’s disrupting everything you think you knew about finding new customers and taking care of the ones you have.
• We band together to help each other, instead of building insular walls around our businesses.
• We work our f**king face off, as @garyvee would say, because we love what we do, not because someone tells us to.

Chris isn’t some guy you’ve read about in Millionaire or on the cover of Cigar Aficionado, there’s no GQ cover yet either. Chris is a real guy, a husband, father, working class guy and he works his tail off.

Rizzo Tees is a his personal business and has become synonymous with Chris himself. It’s a bit edgy and yet a hit with real people. I’ve purchased a few tees there already. Let me say he’s quick and friendly on customer service, getting the goods out, and engaging with those that show some interest.

Engagement. Big word but Chris isn’t that type of guy. He’s the type that swaps stories with you, asks about your kids, and buzzes your news out to the world. Along the way he might recruit you to model one of his tee designs.  Heck, he’s followed the Threadless model and begun outsourcing his new tee ideas to the world. A bold move for a small businesses man.

Social networking doesn’t scare Chris. He’s not afraid to make conversation on and off the net, attending and participating in social media and networking events around St. Louis. He’s a strong contributor to the St. Louis Social Media Club.  His take on things, coming not from a marketing and PR background, brings fresh insight to social networking and business.

I tip my hat to Chris aka RizzoTees. Bring it on bud!

Visit The Basement Entrepreneur today and see what an up and coming success looks like.

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• Startup Weekend – St. Louis (toddrjordan.com)
• Why Businesses Still Aren’t Engaging Online With Their Customers (successful-blog.com)

Keith shares his perspective on focus in social networking and media.  Are you just spinning your wheels? Is your company?

Twitter Unsafe by Guhmshoo on Bitstrips

Cartooning is an almost forgotten part of social media  You see them included in newspapers, online magazines, and blogs across the net.  Some of them are crafted totally by hand, others designed with tools from the Internet, like Bitstrips.

InventorSpot did a round up of their Top Ten Social Media Cartoonists. A long time Twitter bud and fellow online cartoonist, Guhmshoo, made the cut.

What makes one a social media cartoonist? It’s honestly not about the method of creation or how the work is shared, it’s that the creator targets social media. I dabbled a bit in this when Bitstrips, Toonlet and other online cartoon creation sites sprung up.

Bitstrips was the first to make adding multiple characters in a panel easy. Guhmshoo embraced this has his primary outlet and went on to create some conversation sparking cartoons.

Guhmshoo uses his cartoons to echo things going on in the social media universe. The one above is a reflection on the safety of Twitter. In another strip he pits Bing against Google.

If you’re not into cartoons, then I still recommend Guhmshoo on Twitter.

SPACE Architectural Design Studio is bringing a whole new side to architecture.  An innovative website, a focus on people, and engaging the community. The last they are doing via Twitter and more.

The title, Watching Concrete, doesn’t do the video below justice.  SPACE has been sharing videos and photos of their works in progress, as well as doing interviews about their design philosophy and their people.  Please enjoy the video and then I encourage you to visit the SPACE site.

Courtesy of Vidly and SPACE.

Do you want to start a blog, but you’re not sure where to begin?

Do you have a blog, but you want to know how to take it to the next level?

If so, the New Blogger Boot Camp may be for you!

Presented by blogger, copywriter, and consultant Kristen King, the New Blogger Boot Camp 8-week webinar takes beginning bloggers through the process of creating a strong foundation for a strategic, sustainable blog.

From figuring out whether blogging is right for you and making technical decisions to planning your content and growing your readership, New Blogger Boot Camp is a high-energy, step-by-step guide to carving out your place online.

You can still get in at the beginning. Kristen is offering those that register now the previous lessons as well.

New Blogger Boot Camp gives you direct access to Kristen King on a weekly basis. This will give you a kick start with someone that’s already done it and wants to share.

Some of the upcoming topics:

• SEO
• Best Practices
• Monetization

A little bit about Kristen:

Kristen King, MPS, is a prolific blogger and social media user who’s been writing for the Web since the late 1990s. Her freelance writing blog, Inkthinker, was named one of the Top 10 Blogs for Writers in 2006, and she won several recognitions as a women’s health and women’s business blogger at global media network b5media from January 2007 through October 2008.

Disclosure: Kristen is part of my ongoing SOB team leading not only herself to success but the four other members of our group.

Seth’s Blog: Can’t top this: “Getting someone to switch is really difficult.

…

So, you don’t get someone to switch because you’re cheaper than Walmart. You don’t get someone to switch because you serve bigger portions than the big-portion steakhouse down the street. You don’t get someone to switch because your hospital is more famous than the Mayo Clinic.

The chances that you can top a trusted provider on the very thing the provider is trusted for are slim indeed.

Instead, you gain converts by winning at something the existing provider didn’t think was so important.”

Winning at something the existing provide didn’t think was important. That sentence captures it all. Too many social media experts but very little to differentiate them. They all claim to be ‘the’ expert.

They can’t all be ‘the’ expert. They can certainly be experts in some area. Sure, there can be lots of folks that are great at recording videos. Maybe another thousand are great at podcasting. Likewise, there are thousands of great photographers.

The ugly truth? As consumers and businesses acting as consumers, we chose who we know. Alternately we chose the most well known or safest choice. That means that you, that person not being Chris Brogan for example, my company, we aren’t choosing you first as a generalist.

The upside? Chris is no expert in video or podcasting. He’s certainly no expert in French cuisine in Portsmouth. That is something you may well be.

The lesson? As basic as it sounds, do what you know. The key is not to get lost in being an expert at making videos in general. Those are a dime a dozen. Be an expert at filming French cuisine in Portsmouth. Make our mouths water with food we can actually have.

St. Louis suffers from this. We have plenty of bloggers. We have several tech focused bloggers. Only a few really stand out. Why? They have given up trying to be the tech experts and instead focused on their passions. They are getting the biggest communities and feedback.

Which are you doing? Challenge yourself today to narrow your focus. Pick your thing to be an expert at. If there are more than a dozen folks with the same focus as your site, consider focusing even more.

Oddly, by abandoning too much, you may discover your get more in return.
Cheers,
Todd

foursquare sent out notice today of adding 15 cities.  One of those was mine, St. Louis.

Hey all -

If you got this email, you signed up to learn when foursquare launched in your city. Well, we launched 15 new cities today and you’re name was on our list! Want to play?

http://foursquare.com

(In case you forgot what foursquare is – Hey, it’s been a while, we know!
- foursquare is an app for your mobile phone that can help you find where
your friends are hanging out, recommends new places to explore and rewards
you for your adventures with points and badges!)

Now available in:

Baltimore, MD
Cleveland, OH
Indianapolis, IN
Kansas City, MO
Milwaukee, WI
New Orleans, LA
Omaha, NE
Pittsburgh, PA
Raleigh-Durham, NC
Richmond, VA
Salt Lake City, UT
San Antonio, TX
St. Louis, MO

Montreal, Canada
Toronto, Canada

Anyway, we look forward to seeing you on the site! Be sure to let us know
if you have any questions or run into any bugs!

Thanks!

-d

New Orleans is another favorite of mine. Lived there three years.  Canada also gets some love with Montreal and Toronto.

Cheers foursquare.

Social Media Club St. Louis holds Legal/Ethics Panel; Networking Happy Hour event.

RSVP here.

The event, held on July 16th, has some great local panelists. It’s also taking place at a fun St. Louis location.  Here’s some specifics.

Social Media has raised these and other legal questions that need answers. Come see a panel of lawyers and online personalities answer these questions Thursday, July 16th at Moulin. Whether you consider yourself a Twitter pro or work at a company exploring social media for business, be sure to stop by and pick the brains of those who know.

The Social Media Club of St. Louis‘ Monthly Meetup will offer networking, socializing and a panel discussion about Social Media and Law. The evening begins on the 1st floor with a cash bar(no credit cards) and drink specials at 5:30pm, followed by a panel discussion at 6:00pm.

What: SMCSTL Monthly Meetup – Legal & Ethical Social Media Issues
When: Thursday, July 16th at 5:30pm
Where: Moulin Events – Chouteau Room(1st floor)

Moderator: Matt Homann – @matthomann, lawyer, entrepreneur & blogger

Panelists:

Dana Loesch – @dloesch, blogger, host of The Dana Show on 97.1FM Talk

Eric Kayira – intellectual property, entertainment, new media attorney

Dennis Kennedy - @denniskennedy, attorney for MasterCard, blogger

Rex Gradeless – @rex7, published law student, blogger