Women Power Wednesday - Font selections - 22.3

Sally,

It's Women Power Wednesday and I am blogging about type faces. You noticed that I changed the background of 'Nuggets from Dad' this week to the 'clouds' and away from the 'books'. That was originally done because I wanted to use the 'books' as the background for 'The Churn' blog; however I later decided to go with the 'Friday Night Lights' theme, as I thought it had a nice 'launching' feel (i.e. 'IT'S FOOTBALL TIME IN TEXAS!') Anyway, I wanted to keep the background different so that I would not get confused when preparing to make a post. I digress.

So what about type faces? In short, I have learned that Times Roman (my usual and longtime typeface choice) is more of a 'business' or 'wall street' or 'formal' look. Times Roman is called a serif typeface, because of the "semi-structural details on the ends of some of the strokes that make up the letters and symbols." A typeface without the serif is called a sans serif typeface. An example would be Helvetica or Veranda. For my website and blog, I am trying to be consistant and use Helvetica and/or Veranda.

Blogger is a little tricky when it comes to typefaces, as the templates take some getting used to in terms of how to master the fonts in the headings, labels and body of the blog. I am still working through some of this and am using 'Nuggets from Dad' to do some testing. I am writing this in Veranda, but it keeps changing back to Times Roman in my preview?

Allison McDougall is a St. Edwards design student who is helping me better understand all of this from a design standpoint. She is also developing a logo and style sheet for churnOn.com. Check out her Website to see some cool stuff about fonts and design. Mom and I are going to her senior exhibition reception this Friday evening and hopefully taking your sisters. The show is called: 'semiotics' - the study of signs and symbols and their use or interpretation.

Women power,

Dad

Stay Whole Tuesday - churnOn.com go live today - 22.2

Sally,

Thank you so much for the sweet phone call last night about www.churnOn.com. It was wonderful to hear the enthusiasm in your voice. Today I will be doing a little more fine tuning, working on a couple of additional podcast that will be added to the site later this week, releasing my first 'The Churn' blog post, and then heading to the Apple store at 4 p.m. for some time with the geniuses. At that point, the plan is to move the site over to my GoDaddy hosting service. I believe it takes a few hours for everything to work its magic in Internet land and then (if all goes well) the site will be official and the url will work with out the extra stuff that you see now. I will also begin using my new email address: gpage.singletary@churnOn.com later today, once I set it up.

Tomorrow I begin walking the floor of a trade show that is in Austin called TCEA. That is the show that you walked with me last year. My plan is to look for interesting companies (and decision makers) and to introduce myself with my 'churnOn' business card hoping that they will visit churnOn.com in order to get to know me better. I will also soon begin my site rollout by emailing friends, family and professional contacts, letting the world know that I am prayerfully searching for the next 'right-fit' professional opportunity.

Stay tuned . . .

Stay whole,

Dad

Make it a great Monday - churnOn.com - 22.1

Sally,

Today is a special 'Make it a Great Monday' for dad. I am getting very close to launching my self-branding Website: www.churnOn.com. I want to give you a 'sneak peak' today. The primary goal of the site is to help dad find professional opportunities in the educational technology space. The secondary goal of the site is to provide a 'homebase' location for my writing projects, blog, social networking, etc.

There are a few things on the site still under development. Specifically, the 'Blog' section will not go live until later this week, so ignore that text. Also, you will see a few youTube place holders that are not yet live. I will be replacing those with photos until I complete the videos. You should see one video is ready to go, titled 'My favorite quote'. The idea with the videos is to give someone a chance to enjoy my personality and to see how I present and speak. I have several others under development.

The fact that I have been able to do all of this over the past few weeks is a great testament to the Apple brand. I love my MacBook and the geniuses at the Apple store!

I hope you can take a look soon and give me some feedback.

Love,

Dad

Fit as a Fiddle Friday - Toot your horn gracefully - 21.5

Sally,

Kaputa makes a few more key points in the chapter on becoming a little bit famous. For example, she talks about the importance of finding an arena you can dominate. One that is not overcrowded with people trying to do the same thing you want to do. She encourages you to think about where there might be room in the channel for you. For dad, my focus is educational technology and sales leadership. I think that is an area where I can dominate!

Another key point that she makes is the concept of 'tooting your own horn (gracefully).' She stresses the importance of packaging your message with a good name and with sound bites, but in a way that does not appear too self-promoting. Here are the guidelines she suggests:

1. Use a narrative or story format. This keeps the focus off of you, and puts it on the story.
2. Quote other people. When another person sings your praises, it is the opinion of a third party.
3. Put the spotlight elsewhere. Don't focus on yourself. Always make it about something larger than yourself.
4. Bring the audience into the story. Then it is not just about you.

This concludes my study of Katherine Kaputa's book, You are a Brand! I hope you have enjoyed it? You will soon have a chance to see how dad is about to release his personal brand. I look forward to getting your feedback.

Stay fit,

Dad

Colloquial Thursday - Rub shoulders with a celebrity - 21.4

In building my personal brand, I have been thinking about this idea of how to become a little bit famous? One way Kaputa discusses is to rub shoulders with a celebrity. I have collected a few photos that I think can help. I have a great picture presenting an Ohio State Official Ring to two time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffen. I have a picture with Fuzzy Zeller and another (if I can find it) with Martina Navratilova, where she is presenting me with a trophy after winning a tennis tournament in Aspen. She is such a cool lady. I have a picture of Uncle Charlie hanging out with Michael Jordan at Pine Valley Golf Club and a picture of your mom with Shaq at the Final Four in 1991. Just showing these pictures on my Website might help give me a little boost in visibility and credibility. What do you think?

Women Power Wednesday - The Mona Lisa - 21.3

You guessed it! The Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. Being 'top of mind' can be very rewarding. In the case of The Mona Lisa, crowds flock to see her every day. The painting is the only painting that has its own gallery at the Louvre. She has been given leading roles in best-selling books and movies centuries after Leonardo de Vinci painted her. Kaputa asks, "Is The Mona Lisa really the best painting in the world? Who knows? But because it is top of mind, it has achieved icon status. It is truly priceless."

Now that is truly some woman power Wednesday stuff to think about.

Top of mind,

Dad

Stay Whole Tuesday -Top of mind - 21.2

Sally,

Kaputa says, "Despite things we've been told, like 'talent wins out,' the reality is more that 'visibility wins out.'" Talent and ability are certainly important, but if nobody knows who you are then you are not as likely to find the opportunities in life that you will most want to find. She introduces a phrase called 'top of mind awareness' to help you understand this concept. When you think of a product category, perhaps 'soft drinks', what brand first comes to mind? Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, Dr. Pepper? Companies spend millions of dollars to try and position their brand as the 'top of mind' brand.

It is the same with people. A little bit of fame will give you an advantage over others in your industry or profession. Tomorrow we will look at a fun story that she tells to make the point of something being 'top of mind' about the most famous painting in the world. Can you guess the name of the painting?

Stay whole,

Dad