Maitri Quest

We are in a huge place of transition right now, and it's making many folks very worried and very unhappy. Many people have seen the way they're used to making their living either infringed upon or completely disappear. People are having to downsize, and make career transitions at times in their lives when they thought they should have very smooth sailing, or would be able to retire early, living on easy street.

And now we have a new reality, and it's hard. It is. I don't want to make light of any of the challenges anyone is facing right now, but the truth is that life guarantees nothing, nada, zip. I'm not saying this to be a downer, but to face a hard truth that many of us pretend isn't the case.

I personally would like very much not to have to deal with chronic fatique and migraines, but they have been a large fact of my life for ten years (smaller fact earlier than that), and I know that many people who deal with both aren't able to work from home as I can, at a job they really love. I would very much like for a lovely friend of mine not to a) have a very challenging cancer and b) to have to work while having this cancer so she can continue to have health coverage. I would like pre-existing conditions to apply to no one, and I'd like decent health care for all.

But we're here to talk about business and innovation. Ahem.

And yet, there are many who are swimming in this tough economic time, swimmingly beautifully, swan-like, showing the rest of us what's possible in marketing and branding and putting ourselves forward in unique ways now that we have all of this amazing technology at our fingertips - for very little investment.

Following I'd like to share how a few people I've had the privilege to come across who are using the Internet and other technology to live the life of their dreams:

One of my personal favorites is Havi over at The Fluent Self because she too deals with a chronic health condition and yet her coaching business is soaring, and it's soaring in such a wonderfully creative way, and she gives me courage. I love that every word, every graphic, every seminar speaks to the heart of the matter as to why you might be stuck (isn't that all of us someplace?) from her sharing her own personal story.  I also love the gutsy, frank honesty of White Hot Truth with Danielle LaPorte (who just raised her rates thank you), and the mastery of understanding the importance of comfort by the best selling author Jennifer Louden.

The Internet can not only take us all over the world with a few key strokes, but also get our name and expertise out to a larger audience (in a very low cost way) than many of us ever thought possible and it can connect us in some pretty amazing ways. Yes it means you have to update your Internet browswer and operating system more frequently (note, I need to do the operating system thing NOW), yes it means you have to learn how to use new applications, and new software, and a digital camera, and the like, but once you do oh it feels so very good! My business partner and are learning to use Drop Box now - what a joy it will be to have the possibility of having shared folders without our computers being networked!

There are people now monetizing what was thought to be un-monetizable, and if they can do it, well, so can we. Don't believe me? Let the four year old website Copyblogger and its 101,676 email subscribers and 44,000+ twitter followers open your eyes. Founder Brian Clark has hit on a magic combination, he gives away choice information for free, knowing that when you're ready to invest you'll remember how helpful he's been. In 2009 marketing mavin and best selling author Seth Godin called Copyblogger #3 of the 100 most influential online marketers in his new book "Lynchpin". This recent entry on the power of using feminine language to sell by guest blogger (note, Brian shares the love and the credit. Smart!) by Lexi Rodrigo is so worth reading!

I am now forever grateful to both twitter and facebook for the connections it makes for me daily. I have almost totally given up watching t.v., something I only rarely enjoy. While Vanity Fair lost a briliant opportunity this month to explain the phenominon to a large articulate audience they instead chose to slide into snarkiness and totally missed the point. If you want to watch twitter feeds about your friends going grocery shopping please feel free, personally, I prefer to follow the leaders on subjects I really care about. Each time I check my twitter feed I learn something new I really wanted to know.

I have a friend who was a journalist not too long ago, but rather than bemoaning the state of his industry when he saw the writing on the wall he went about getting his teaching credential, and transitioned into teaching without missing a beat. He now spends his days with smart but "at risk" high school students and can't wait for his day to start. He is so excited to share what he knows with these kids he gets a bit giddy describing them and how proud he is of what they're accomplishing. He also writes a pretty funny blog that has some pretty wry observations about his own gen "x" generation.

We can decide we want to learn and grow and open up to what's new and possible, or we can continue to hold onto the increasingly weak life preserver of our memories on "how it used to be." And lest you think age is the dividing line I beg to differ. I have no idea how old Intuitive Healer Hiro Boga is, but I'm pretty sure she's not a gen "y" or gen "xer," and yet she has found a way to use the Internet that feels completely integrity based, compelling and totally modern. Her website is beautiful, her newsletters insightful and a breath of fresh air, and I'm really hoping a reading with her is a gift I can give myself for my birthday next week!

What is so exciting for me as a writer and publicist is the great array of personalization and personality the Internet and all of the new technology allows. You really can be you at your best. You don't have to use anyone else's format, or template, or color palette. You can certainly be guided by what is working well for others, but then you can be you - beautifully, and if you play your cards right you can make money at it too.