Our eldest son, Greg (age 25), had a successful heart transplant this past Thanksgiving night. We are blessed: Greg continues to recover, and Jesus Christ has carried us through some difficult months on the prayers of many faithful, caring, loving individuals. It is hard to articulate how much family, loved ones and faith mean when you are in the proverbial "eye of the storm". My son is one of my closest friends whom I admire deeply and respect immensely. His courage and belief in Almighty God continue to be an inspiration to me. As you can imagine (and as some of you reading this may well know) due to Greg's situation and other struggles, 2010 was a challenging year for my family and me.
This calendar year is certainly a vast improvement over 2010 in many ways, but at the outset of 2011, I was feeling really old. Like about 93 years old rather than my soon-to-be 53 years. One would think that I would have been elated and energized by Greg's miraculous, life-saving surgery. Although profoundly grateful, I'm a little ashamed to admit that I began the New Year just kinda worn out. This malaise carried over a bit to my work, where I genuinely enjoy (and feel called to) helping family owned small businesses succeed. Hence, part of the reason for calling this blog Old Dogs, New Tricks when I started it earlier this year - - I was feeling a little old and worn out.
At the same time, my lack of knowledge concerning new technology was overwhelming and also was making me feel old. Actually, to a thumbs-flying, texting young adult, I am old.
In a world of escalating Social Media, I was experienced in the old ways of successfully communicating. The stock price of the broadcast company for which I once worked dropped 90% within one year. Radio and TV advertising joined newspaper advertising in rapidly spiraling effectiveness. The old ways of helping my friends succeed and feed their families were deteriorating. It was painful watching small business owners struggle in a tough economy.
Until recently, I knew next to nothing about things like Facebook, blogs and YouTube. I was, and continue to be in many ways, an Old Dog in need of New Tricks. I have chosen to learn about these new technologies with the hope of helping my friends to succeed in the Social Media arena. Having learned a deeper level of being personally vulnerable in 2010, I am willing to be transparent and appear naive (and just plain ignorant!) in an effort to encourage those who are intimidated by the new technologies of Social Media.
Old Dogs, New Tricks is an exploration of the blooming Social Media phenomena, and how these evolving tools may benefit small business owners, for whom the vast majority of Americans daily work. If you find this information terrifically useless, I genuinely apologize. Forgive me, please (life really is too short). If you own a small business or know someone who does, something in this blog may one day inspire you with a "New Trick" that may save you marketing dollars, give you a competitive edge and improve your bottom line. I learned back when gas cost $1.39 per gallon that helping business owners with their business actually helps their lives, and every life that business touches.
Life continues to change at an ever increasing pace, whether or not we choose to participate in this change which surrounds us. I'm ready for some New Tricks. Maybe we'll learn one or two together.
Thank you for letting me share my heart and for sharing 159 seconds of your day,
Smitty
2 comments:
I already commented in my email to you and finally figured out with John's help how to leave you a comment and follow your blog. I'm trying!!!!! Scream...Screech...NOOOOOOO
Fran
I feel young yet somedays with less energy. My knees and back tell me I'm older but my spirit tells me I'm young. I also feel invisible at times, especially with younger people. I think sometimes they don't see me or realize I'm there. I wonder if I treated "older people" that way when I was younger? It is a young persons world. The tools available to this generation seem more powerful in terms of communicating to the whole world around us. It was more complicated when I was 16-25. Now with the internet, as my good friend says, all the lights are turned on and everyone can see what is going on.
There is a new kind of democracy around us when information is not hidden by the government, the boss, the church or whomever we work for. Yet I don't use the social networks as they haven't become useful to me in business and most of my friends still use email and cell phones. I like the idea of a smart phone and that would be my next purchase.
Your comments are well stated Smitty. I am willing to learn new tricks. I like the computer, the internet and what can be done with them. I got my first computer with two floppy drives in 1985; and was one of the first to have a laptop computer in my company. It had a 20MB hard drive and was very heavy. The battery alone was bigger than my laptop now. I am curious about all the technology, fascinated in fact.
So in many ways with email and social media if you don't show your face but add comments you can come across as any age. Our thoughts and ideas don't necessarily date us. Use the trick the speakers always use - send pictures of yourself when you looked younger and were slender.
Turn all the lights on and let us all participate in the future. Let us all learn how to work together and help each other. That's what the internet could do. But will we put aside our pride? Our prejudice? our need to control? That is still the new trick I need to learn. Can you help me with that?
Post a Comment