I went to a fabulous seminar this past week hosted by our local chamber. (Blatant plug here – the Duneland Chamber of Commerce is the best! I promise you! Check them out if you are in NW Indiana!) Their guest speaker was my friend Darlene, with D. Cohn Communications. Now, I met Darlene a few years ago when she offered a Social Media class at a nearby college. I was really green at the time and had a hunch this class could be just the thing to help me get over my trepidation with this crazy, social, technology stuff! Well, by the end of the class, I was much more confident than when I started – that’s for sure! By no means an expert, but at least I was willing to try.
So, that brings us to my morning seminar. Because I know Darlene and the ridiculous wealth of information she stores in her pretty, red-haired noggin, I jump at any chance to hear her speak! For this occasion, she tackled the topic of approaching social media as a customer service tool. And true to form, she was articulate and knowledgeable, delivering lots of details in a short amount of time.
She finished up her prepared talk and then the floor was opened up to questions. Now, I was following along during her talk, nodding my head, already tweaking some of my online pages in my mind when other participants started asking questions. The questions began fairly on topic and then started moving off into general social media inquiries. Lots of inquiries that I had never even considered! That’s when the panic started to set in. (Why am I not doing this? How long have I been missing out on that opportunity? Are my customers disappointed I’m not offering this?) Whew, downward spiral…
What occurred to me as I headed to my car was that I’ll never be on top of this – not completely. And here are few reasons why!
- I’m a weaver, not a social media guru like Darlene. I certainly want to do my best and take advantage of the many amazing tools offered. But, I’m never going to study them like she does. Frankly, while she’s reading about the latest updates to Pinterest, I’m playing with yarn! And I like it that way!
- Nearly every business book I’ve read talks about how you have to stay focused all the time on all aspects of the business – technology included. I get tired just thinking about it. I’ll be honest, I enjoy some tv. (I’m pretty sure it’s not the devil…) And when I read books, they’re mostly fluff! (Happy endings, please!) I usually have (1) business book I’m working my way through slowly. (And that’s mostly because Laura’s going to ask me questions about it each Tuesday!) I really enjoy spending time with my amazing network of friends – coffee, dinner, drinks, whatever! And, o yeah, I love getting my sleep! So, if the key to staying on top of it all is giving up those things, I’d rather not. Thank you very much.
- Speaking of friends, I like surrounding myself with people who are experts in their own fields! Kate, who takes incredible photos. Danielle, who saves me every time I screw up something in WordPress. Darlene, who has given me lots of nuggets of wisdom when it comes to my Facebook page. Jen, who sets me straight with awesome sales advice. These folks are incredible at what they do! And instead of trying to be as good as all of them put together, I like bringing them in as part of the team. I truly have no problem admitting when I’m not good at something, while (hopefully) being smart enough to determine when I need to ask for help! (And if any of them found themselves in a weaving emergency, you know I would return the favor!)
So from here on out, I have decided to be diligent about learning more from the wildly talented people around me. But at the same time, not put undue pressure on myself to continuously keep up with everything! It’s nearly impossible anyways. And I think I hear my loom calling me…
Do you ever get bogged down with feeling like you aren’t keeping up?
