This entertaining blog is written by Jaclyn Mullen and explores her daily adventures in entrepreneurship, social media, networking across the globe and beyond.
The term BLOG is commonly used now a days and it seems as though everyone within my immediate circles and networks are Blogging . While I feel there is no real right or wrong way to blog, there are some helpful tips that can ensure you don't just waste space (or more importantly your time writing something that isn't of any interest or help to the public.)
His question is as follows: "Do you know of a best practices for blogging reference point? Or even a blogger who discusses this kind of thing?"
My answer for Aaron and all of my fellow bloggers out there is:
Before you Blog, do some research . I utilize AllTop.com particularly PROBLOGGERTIPS and COPYBLOGGER for tips on promoting my blog, organizing it, keeping up with best blogging practices as well as engaging my audience. As important as it is for you to write your blog, it also important to read up on the current "Blogspace" to ensure you wedge your way in then stay put and grow.
Identify the purpose of your blog. What does your blog provide to the end user? It can be entertainment, it can be self-help or in my case, a mix of subject matter. However, you don't want to ramble. You want to have sticking power so that your blog is credible and gains popularity. Hone in on what you would like your blog to be about so that you have quality of content, not just quantity.
Support other Bloggers. Read other blogs, follow other blogs. I have found that exploring other people's creativity and humor inspires my own. Also, the more support you give, the more likely you are to get support (and exposure in return.)
Be sure to check out Aaron's blog, you can contact him to learn all about his "Virtual Coffee" concept.
In the meantime, keep the "Ask Jac" questions coming!
I am excited to have this creative outlet and look forward to growing this blog in 2011. Feel free to follow me here, connect with me on Linkedin or become my friend on Twitter.
Hello! Happy Holidays! I hope this Tuesday, December 28th, finds you all in good spirits.
This time of year, (aka the end of the year) often initiates reflection upon our lives!!! What did we accomplish this past 12 months? What could we have accomplished? What did we learn?
We, or maybe just ME then take this information and regroup for our beloved New Years resolutions. Yes, I said resolutions--plural. Personally, I will have a lot of marks for myself to achieve this year.
Often times, my friends and I get into discussions about our lives, goals and where we see ourselves down the line. And dear old father time has taught us all that, sure--you can plan but things will change! Trust me, things will change dramatically and often when least expected, causing chaos and growth yet that is the beauty of life. Finding our way amidst the mess, forging "our own path."
I have undergone A LOT of change over the years. I've worked in different industries, lived in different cities, I've traveled to different places. And so, I have become a resource for my friends and family.
"Jaclyn, how can I launch my blog?"
"Jaclyn, what did you like best about being a business traveler? What's the best way to fly from x to z?"
"Jac, I don't know how to word this, can you help me?"
Needless to say, I LOVE to help people! I should rephrase that, I LOVE to analyze and find solutions to things that people need help with. We all need help, myself included. And it is more natural for some of us (ME) to help others.
So-to share, one of my resolutions this year is to get more focused with my blog and I believe an "Ask Jac" column will allow me to do this. I can share my expertise while assisting people with advice or guidance they may need in their life. This is a formal invitation where I now invite you to think long and hard of a creative question and "Ask Jac".
I will post your questions and my answers here then link back to you (or allow you to remain anonymous if you so chose).
Whatever the case, 4 days remain in 2010. Reflect back and regroup for 2011 then get ready to ask for advice regarding your goals--not just from me, from anyone. Before we know it, 2011 year will be over too. MAKE IT COUNT!
It's been a few weeks since I last blogged. My apologies, things have been changing for me very quickly. So, I took a break but now I'm back. Not only am I back (and blogging) but I am tumbling too http://thejaclynofalltrades.tumblr.com/
Me encanta mucho mi Tumblr ♥
I recently signed up for Tumblr thanks to the influence of my eighteen year old cousin Marissa. She is quite the Millennial-totally into Urban Outfitters, Indie Rock bands and all things Internet related including Facebook, Twitter and Last.FM
Her Tumblr currently has 800 followers!! She has also created and maintained the blog for a charity she is involved in which raises awareness for pediatric cancer, check out them out 11:11amblog.tumblr.com
Me and my "sister" from another Mullen Mister!
My other cousin Shayne (Marissa's brother) even has his own blog entitled "Whomping Stereo", which features the latest in the house music scene. Shayne is currently studying abroad in Barcelona where his appreciation for house music has really developed.
FOLLOW WHOMPING STEREO ONTWITTER (<--- click that link)
It is really cool to be able to share interests with my family, particularly music, social media, and cause-related marketing. Having said that, I highly suggest that those of you in the social media space check out Tumblr. While I absolutely LOVE the concept of written blogs, Tumblr is more photo based and as they say, "A picture is worth 1,000 words."
All in all, social media is proving to be a great way to for me to keep up to date on everything including my relatives. As a result of my social media connection with my cousins, I will continue "Tumbling" and expanding my house music repertoire well on into 2011.
Happiness. We all want it but the question is do we all have it? I know for myself that happiness fluctuates depending upon the activities I am performing.
Traveling makes me happy. Writing makes me happy. Singing and dancing make me happy.
Happy Moment Memory 2007-Cafe in Barcelona off Las Ramblas. This was how they served my cafe' con leche. And...upon receiving it, I smiled.
But other activities I participate in don't have the same "happy factor."
For this very reason, I am embarking on a Happiness Project. Insert footnote here. I am not the first to attempt this. As a matter of fact, New York Times best selling author Gretchen Rubin conducted her own happiness project and published it in her book entitled--you guessed it The Happiness Project.
I now follow Gretchen on Twitter and rather than wait for New Years to begin, my happiness project starts TODAY. Wait, I think it started on Sunday when I read the "Getting Started" section of Gretchen's book.
Gretchen had her own Twelve Commandments for happiness which may or may not work for me. Rather than wait and see, I created my own. Here they are (in no particular order):
12 Commandments of Happiness Jaclyn Mullen’s Happiness Project
1. Find the humor in EVERYTHING and laugh at yourself OFTEN. 2. Go with the flow(this one is going to be hard for me) 3. Smile ALWAYS, even when you’ve had a challenging day and don’t feel like it. Smiles are contagious and will make you feel better. Fake it ‘til you make it, right? 4. Dance-in the car, at the library, in my room. Movement improves mood. 5. Be grateful everyday. Things could always be worse. 6. Stay present. Yesterday has passed; tomorrow has not come. Focus on right now. 7. Do something you love that is different everyday. Karaoke, write, take a Spanish class, play the piano. 8. Cook more. Preparing delicious food provides an appreciation for the meal and the company you enjoy it with. 9. Indulge in some pampering. Massages, manicures, lot's of exercise, more yoga-we all deserve a little weekly TLC. 10. Continue to help others. Everyone is struggling with something so lend a hand and help out. 11. Don’t take it personal-EVER. 12. Give 100% of what YOU have to give even if you don’t get it in return. At some point, at some time, it will come back to you.
There you have it, my personal 12 commandments for happiness. I am excited to document this project, it could not have come into my life at a better time. Having said that, it's time for me to play Wii with my twelve year old cousin--she brings a tremendous amount of happiness into my life.
If you don't have time to conduct your own happiness project or if you are already happy, you can still get great tips on Happiness from Gretchen via her website: http://www.happiness-project.com
This holiday season, I wish everyone health and happiness.
Music--it's the most universal language on the planet. And while many of us may not know how to properly read sheet music or decipher tempos (unlike me), one thing is certain. No matter what language you speak or continent you live on, music is a part of your everyday life.
Having a Bachelors Degree of Music, I have had a very interesting relationship with this language throughout my life. At two years old, my mother enrolled me in my first dance classes where I learned the co-relation of rhythm and body movement to a piece of music in the genres of ballet and tap.
By late pre-school, I started singing along to my favorite cartoon JEM. I was so convincing that a rumor started in elementary school that I was the voice of Jem--flattering!
It was at this time that I made an interesting discovery--my parents records. Mom had Gloria Gaynor, Stevie Wonder and Blondie while my father had Steely Dan, Jimi Hendrix and Creedence Clearwater Revival.
Christmas of 1992, I was gifted with a double cassette deck stereo with record player on top. And while my peers spent time on the playground, I spent time in my room listening to my parents records, singing and tapping along.
As I began to earn an allowance, I would beg my parents to take me to Sam Goody so I could buy 99-cent cassette tapes. I even started making mixes for my elementary school dances which is a funny thing to think about now that I look back. DJ Jaclyn of All Trades.
Why am I sharing all of this with you? Because I find it very interesting to try and anticipate the next phase of music. I have had the pleasure to meet and interact with artists from all walks of life including Ziggy Marley, Forever the Sickest Kids, The 2am Club and Mikey Sabatella.
In terms of music, we (the audience, consumer, whatever you want to call us) always think of how changes in the industry will impact us-the end user and not the artist. But as the artists are challenged with financial and copyright limitations, the less freedoms they have to create new and innovative sounds.
Back in my days of Music Business study, I had thought the CD was here to stay for awhile. Napster had just launched, Limewire followed shortly thereafter. MTV was constantly on in my dorm room. Personally, I thought people liked the physical aspect of owning a CD.
Flash forward 6 plus years and we now live in a digital and visual music environment. There's iTunes, YouTube, sites for indie artists to promote themselves such as WebCeleb.com
I get that in this day in age we are digital-mp3 players, Pandora on our phones and computers. I also appreciate that we are very visual--Youtube, music videos, concerts, etc.
But I can't help and be curious as I am trying to figure out the next progression of the music industry and perhaps you are too. What are your thoughts on music? How often do you purchase digital downloads? Attend concerts? Where do you think we are headed?
I don't expect to answer these questions in one blog post. It could take a few blog posts to determine the next stages of the music industry. I merely intend to get the conversation going, I can't silence that analytical side of me. I might as well tweet this and see what answers I get back. Consider this my market research for the Music Industry 2011.
The best part about the Internet is connecting with those on the world wide web, those we may have never come across in this lifetime if not for the "Net."
Such is the case with Kendi Lea, a style blogger I have grown to adore. I immediately began following her on Twitter as soon as my friend Tina referred me to her site and not only have I become a fan of KendiEveryday.blogspot.com but I have also managed to get my amazing network of women to start following Kendi as well.
I present to you, our WhatWouldKendiWear-A 30-30 challenge edition. (Per Kendi, the "30-30 simply meant that I would take 30 items and remix only those items into 30, (hopefully) stylish outfits." From this concept, she now encourages her readers to participate in 30-30's with her as she schedules them) the challenge started November 1st and I am participating!
Social Media. We constantly hear about it. Naturally, we have a Facebook account, perhaps a Twitter account. Oh and what's that other popular site that can make anyone a celebrity? YouTube.The question becomes why are we "liking", "tweeting" and "tubing" in the first place? And how can we ensure that all this activity is successful? Of course it's fun to test out your aspiring stand up skills or to "like" your favorite brand on Facebook. But what does all of this really boil down to?
If you are a business owner, a brand, or simply trying to establish yourself online-Twitter, Facebook and YouTube can be great tools for various reasons. For one, they rank pretty darn high on the search scale.
When I first started using Twitter, my handle (aka Twitter name) was @jaclynofalltrades. I thought this was a clever way to promote my personal brand UNTIL a wise man named @Jason_Pollock advised me that my handle should be my name to help establish myself online.
If you were to Google my name, Twitter is the first thing that ranks. This is great assuming that there are more "Jaclyn Mullen's" out there (which I know there are). My facebook shows up as 5th on Google and 6th on Bing.
I have an online presence and am visible to those who are looking to contact me. Maybe they want to pick my brain about branding, perhaps they want to offer me a lead role on their TV show--the Jaclyn of All Trades has a wide array of goals. Whatever the case, I can be found which is what you want for your business in this tech day and age.
Additionally, these platforms are great tools to generate traffic back to your site which can ultimately lead to an expanded audience, an increase in sales and raised brand awareness.
I do want to add that there is a point to all of this online chatter and promotion--engagement. You can't just tweet or post YouTube videos that show your level of narcissism and fail to provide VALUE to the online community. Not only will you not have sticking power, you will also be tuned out.
Sharing is caring, we promote our knowledge and expertise to keep everyone INFORMED.
Having said that, here are a few tools that I use to help ensure efficiency of my Tweets and social media time!
-Use an aggregator for Twitter such as Nambu. This program has allowed me to maximize my ability to retweet and quote tweets which is important for establishing conversation. -Follow the advice ofChris Brogan Promote your stuff at a 12:1 ratio (12 retweets from other people for every 1 tweet you promote yourself.) -Keep current on all Facebook, YouTube and Twitter news and developments with sites like AllTop.com -Have fun. Don't be afraid to show your creativity or wit online. Look at the success of Autotune the News "Bed Intruder" video.
Feel free to comment on this as well as follow me on Twitter @jaclynmullen More blog posts to come!
I love Social Media and all of the knowledge, experiences and connections it continues to provide for me. Having said that, my social media "case study" today starts off with the Beverly Hills Fashion Festival.
I was invited to attend by one of the event producers Lara Gallagher @Gallagherstar and we both sent out some tweets a few days prior to the festival last week, promoting it as the "Bryant Park" of California fashion.
I attended the Elie Tahari show which was captivating. I recall lots of gold necklaces, bracelets, sheer black tops and very feminine flowing lines. The festival itself included a variety of tents with the runways in one section then jewelry booths, fashion designs on display as well as make-up in another. Located within one of those tents is where I found MAGIC!
First, I met Richard Paul Anderson, founder of the product line Perfekt. Richard is AMAZING! Pefekt is AMAZING. Upon talking with Richard, I discovered that he successfully launched some of today's leading beauty brands including Yves Saint Laurent and Bobbi Brown essentials prior to launching his line. Basically he heard so many women always vent about the lack of time they have to get ready and he decided to launch a product that acted as a foundation, primer, color corrector and powder all in one!!!
I made sure to pick up some Skin Perfection Gel for myself while obtaining Richards card for networking purposes. As a self proclaimed "networking queen", I strongly encourage you to follow up right away with people you meet and wish to work with in the future. And by right away, I mean within 24 hours. Personally, I added Richard as my facebook friend that night and started following Perfekt on Twitter immediately.
While in the Perfekt area, I met two LA based fashion bloggers! Since fashion blogs have become a new "fashion-ation" of mine, I was excited to come across these new sources and am happy to share them with you (whoever you may be at this point, this is my second post). HAHA.
Naturally social media is a great way to keep up with new technological trends, fabulous fashion finds, great skin care products and new friends. The events from this past weekend are inspiring me to focus more on fashion, art and beauty so much so that I am going to participate in a 30 for 30 challenge being hosted by: http://kendieveryday.blogspot.com Her blog is AMAZING, I highly suggest you check it out. And on that note, we covered a lot today. I told you my life is always an adventure!! Signing off as a Proud Remixer--the Jaclyn of All Trades.
Well, I did it. I started this blog. This is not my first blog but it will be my best blog!
Why?
Because it will feature things that I am passionate about. I will also provide all kinds of fun tips for the readers with regard to networking, social media, job hunting, signing up for a casting company, starting a blog!!!(They don't call me the Jaclyn of All Trades for nothing.)
So now that I have a blog I'm going to work on the design of it and while I do that, perhaps you should update your Linkedin profile.
You may be asking yourself "what", "where did that come from" or "why should I care about my Linkedin profile?"
To answer your question(s) last week, I started following this girl @EmilyMolitor on Twitter. She had tweeted something to the effect of "Your Linkedin Profile Is Better Than Your Resume" accompanied by a link to an article which totally caught my attention.
I have had a Linkedin account for about 4 years now but always approached it as more of a list rather then something that could highlight my personality and skill set.
According to the article (written by Jason Seiden) "people are fascinated by stories, not rote regurgitations of one’s professional “accomplishments. You “manage all aspects of the project delivery?” Really? Wowwwwwww. That’s the best you can do on your LinkedIn profile?"
I read the article in it's entirety and then between last night and this morning, I updated my Linkedin profile. After all, I am trying to build this blog and myself as a brand.
So, I highly suggest you read this article http://jasonseiden.com/linkedin-more-than-your-resume/ and get to work! And like I said, while you do THAT I'll be working on this......wait, it's 8:11 am. Time to go to the 9-5 job. Blog site design rescheduled for tonight.
Welcome to my world, where everyday I experience something NEW!
Over the past few years, I have earned the distinction of being known as the Jaclyn Of All Trades.
Why might you ask? (and what does it matter what people call you--and for the record, who are you?)
I have worked in a variety of industries--some worth bragging about (entertainment), some were typical (small business consulting) but provided valuable experience.
I have traveled the US and parts of the world. (US wise-I've been to at least 30 of the 50 states.)
I have been on TV, heard on an Internet Radio station, I even tried out for American Idol! (If you've just moved to LA and need to know a few good casting agencies, I'm your go to girl!!!)
So why does all of this matter? Because life is short and more importantly, I learned from each and everyone of my adventures. Heck, I am still learning everyday! And I'd like to share what I have learned using this platform.
So that's it.
THIS is what my blog will be about. My life lessons and the use of social media to promote them.
I hope to make you laugh, I hope to make you cry. I hope to entertain and teach!
