When the world shows you chaos and uncertainty, lend a flashlight to find the way.
// Lessons on Civility
So much of life in general is filled with chaos and confusion. My mother’s was not much different. I witnessed struggles from being a woman in the workplace while juggling the “expectations” of being a mother. I watched as she faced professional uncertainty as public policy turned on education. But if there is one thing that she was really good at it was making sure to step in and take part. She didn’t always have the answer but always was one of the first to stand up and make sure the discussion got started. She understood that through civic involvement and exercising civic responsibility that we could achieve and overcome any obstacle. She showed us that our biggest role in this country is that of the involved activist. Speaking out for those without a voice and ensuring that even the smallest issue had a flashlight in which to shine its message to those that needed to hear it.

When guests are on their way, don’t just make it a party…make it a splash
// Lessons on Entertaining
My grandma was a consummate entertainer and this skill most definitely was taken to a new level by my mother. From following standard entertaining etiquette to that added flair that ensured that every person that should be in attendance was there and fully attended to. We had countless parties over the years, from the annual family get-together, to neighborhood gatherings and significant milestone events such as graduation and birthdays.

She taught us that to make a party grand didn’t require a significant budget, nor did it need the fanciest food. The key to a magnificent event was a gracious host and an ability to bring a variety of people together in friendship.

When life gives you lemons, through them out and reach for the raspberry ice.
// Lessons in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
We all remember those childhood memories where we grabbed the jug of lemonade from the fridge and took to the streets peddling the refreshment for 25¢ a glass. Well with health in mind and a desire to reduce sugars in the kids, mom ensured that a cool refreshing sugar-free option called “raspberry ice” was ever present and on hand. So with convention tossed to the lake breeze we would take to the street with a new refreshing beverage that seemed to always disappear without haste.

Now granted in this instance the challenge was simple, but there were many times growing up where entrepreneurship and innovation was always encouraged and celebrated. Whether it was short stints with woodworking endeavors to real world business operations as an adult. I remember the lessons my mother taught me in never giving up, finding the new path to venture down and above all else; encouragement for the extraordinary.

When no one has a plan for you, make a plan no one thought of and run!
// Lessons in Making a Difference
The late 80′s and early 90′s in Minnesota saw some of the toughest and most painful decisions in the states history when it comes to education. As with many teachers during those times, my mother found herself at the mercy of budget cuts and the low end of the seniority pool. Facing a significant employment cut and having a family of 5 to care for she reached out in new and inventive ways to make ends meet. The amazing thing of this whole process is what transpired proved to make a huge difference in the lives of many disadvantaged youth. The “Mentor Mom” program (an initiavtive that matched teenage moms with established mothers to serve as role models) and her work with homebound tutoring provided a view to a world I had never known until that point.

Through this exposure I learned one of my most valuable lessons. We all have value, we all have worth in society, someone just needs to give us the key to unlock the future. She exuded such passion in many that the world had seemingly left behind. Through new parents that would have structure and guidance and kids graduating high school when everyone else said they couldn’t to the student that, eventhough no family member was present at the sporting event, they could count on a teacher that was so much of a mother as well cheering them on.

My mother’s legacy to students and youth will far outweigh much of her life’s accomplishments and to this day no matter where I am at, people still come up and recognize me as one of Mrs. Mohs’ boys and share how absolutely amazing she was and the impact she had on their life.

When you find yourself at a Plateau, ask yourself “What’s next?”.
// Lessons in Discovering You Ultimate Calling
This lesson has been hammered home a bit lately and you might recall the topic surfacing in a post just from last week, but it bears repeating. I watched both my parents reach for the stars on many occasions. Mom in particular never settled for the easy and mundane. She was a mover and always reached to the next step. If there was a problem, she was right there with a solution or her gang of girlfriends to swoop in and save the day.

Much in the same way that she pushed me to always reach higher and further she undoubtedly provides the same push in her own life. To this day, even though her professional career as a teacher is behind her she refuses to plateau and slow down. She has embarked on a new adventure as a senior living community manager and dives at an even greater pace into non-profit involvement within the community.

She demonstrates daily that the journey through life is never finished and that growing in personal experience and the way we interact with the world around us is by far the most important challenge one can embark on in life.

Golden Rule:  Many things in life don’t come with rules and regulations. They come with expectations.
Rules and curfews were a far cry in our house growing up. We didn’t have set chores we were required to do and we didn’t have a specific time we had to be home at night. Yet we had something more important hovering over our conscience…expectation. There was an expectation that we would help out around the house where needed. It was expected that if we were out late some night that we were abiding the law and behaving ourselves, and most importantly we were to let dad know when we got home.

Life is full of challenges and it is not necessarily how we are restricted that brings about peace and harmony. But it is more about what the expectation is for our daily life. Care for one another, make good choices and seize every moment.

My mother and I are very similar in many ways. Two seemingly polar opposites of the spectrum, but at the core identical in more ways that one can count. Steadfast, determined, and confident, we never back down and we most certainly don’t shy from the challenge.  These are the lessons I learned from my mother growing up, lessons that, for many, provided a foundation for a life filled with service and a commitment to leave the world better than we found it.

There are several options and networks out there and I would actually highly recommend that in this day in age everyone be exposed to at minimum one of them. They are a great way to stay in touch with family, friends and even a way to meet new people.

I’m going to attempt to outline the different sites, a bit of what they are and how you should use them. Keep in mind this is all largely based on my opinion and how you choose to utilize the various sites is completely up to you.

Facebook

This site has gained huge amounts of popularity and overtook its predecessors like myspace and others. In my opinion this site should be used primarily for personal connections and not professional. Granted there are some instances where you may have a good friend that is also a work colleague. However, for professional reasons and by the sheer fact that you probably don’t want your boss aware that you hit the town with all your friends and stayed out late on a Sunday night and perhaps that’s why you’re less than perky on a Monday morning, just avoid accepting your co-workers in this venue.

Don’t be afraid of the ignore button when you get friend requests. You are NOT obligated and the most they’ll notice is if they go to request you as a friend again. For those that are out for a popularity contest, get over it.  If I don’t know you, I personally won’t accept your friend request unless we have several friends in common and one of them vouches for you.

Another quick and easy tip in this area is think twice before diving into the wonderful world of facebook applications. Sure, these are a fun way to pass the time away, but be aware of your friends and what their interests might be. Many people are actually quite turned off by applications and find them a hindrance to using facebook.  No one wants to spend their valuable ½ hour of facebook time ignoring 50 invitations to help someone grow a farm, take part in a mafia war or the myriad of other options that exist.  For those that are wondering what I’m talking about here, don’t worry join facebook you’ll find out soon enough.

Be sure to exand your network in Facebook. Take advantage of the tools such as friend finder and search by school.  You’ll be amazed at how quickly you can find and connect with long lost classmates from college and high school.  There are even search functions by work place to connect with those co-workers you still want to be in touch with.

For those that are looking at facebook as a tool to get the word out about your business or services, there is a great feature called “pages.” This is that feature that pops up and you can “become a fan”.  It’s a great way to have a connection with your customers and supporters without being obligated to that personal connection.

The most important feature to be aware of are your privacy settings.  This is where you control what the world see’s about you.  If you are new to facebook, I’d highly recommend placing your settings at the highest levels, at least until you are more comfortable with the site overall.

Finally, the status update. Yes, this is the news feed that appears on your homepage that I’m sure many have come to hate or love. I strongly recommend limiting yourself to MAYBE 4 updates a day.  Anymore than this and it gets a little annoying.  Also, try to avoid the temptations to make your friends a part of your latest diet where you post everything you eat in an effort to trim down your amount of intake. If you do find that someone is inundating your news feed with updates, there is a handy little “hide” button that appears when you hover over an update.

Twitter

This site is probably one of the more largely misunderstood. Basically, this is the status update from facebook in a simplified format and often more limited. The site utilizes RSS feed technology (basically runs the information real time to you if you have an RSS reader either on your phone or computer. You can also program to have the “tweets” from people you are following sent to your cell phone via text messaging.

I think businesses and organizations have the greatest difficulty on how to utilize this site to get their message out. Try to think of your posts in terms of quick announcements you want to get to your followers and customers. Let them know about a new shipment of merchandise that just arrived, new product that you just launched or in terms of this blog when I’ve made an update. From a business stand point I like to think of these as tweeteasers (I’m secretly hoping that term catches on). The more you tease your followers with information the more likely they are to take note and see you above the crowd.

Same rules apply here as in facebook with followers. Think about what you intend to post, if its professional leave it wide open for anyone to follow you. If you are posting your daily journal of activities you might want to set this to private and approve and monitor those that are following you.

LinkedIn

Now, this is your professional network of contacts. So feel free to reach out to everyone you know professionally and those you know personally that can vouch for your professional achievements.

The main keys you want to consider here are ensure that your information is up-to-date. Recruiters today are actually using LinkedIn to find candidates for new positions. Think of this as your online resume and then some. Be sure to be specific about achievements and take the liberty to brag a bit. This is your avenue to shine.

Maintain the art of recommendations. Probably the most powerful tool in the LinkedIn interface, however make sure you go about this the correct way. The best way to get a recommendation or referral is to give one. I’d strongly recommend taking the initiative to go out and write up a recommendation for someone you think highly of and that may think highly of you as well. Once you have written your raving review, invite them to replicate the favor. The more people you have vouching for your capabilities the better your chance of wowing a potential future employer.

Let’s Wrap it Up!

I hope this, my longest post, served to help answer a few basics for diving into social networking. If you have more questions feel free to shoot them my way, comment below and I’ll be sure to update with answers.

If you’d like advice on how social networking can improve your bottom line and work into your business’s strategy feel free to email me at christophermohs@gmail.com.

Til the next post – reach out and reconnect with a long lost friend.

Christopher!