Celebrating an Anniversary

Two years ago today I was laid off from a 9 to 5 job.

I made a commitment to spend 24 months learning what social media is, using it and creating a difference.

Here’s what I’ve learned in those two years:

• Twitter is more than talking about what you are doing
• Blogging can change your life
• I’m a lucky girl
• Facebook is the new party line
• Anyone can do this
• If you’re smart business owner, you’ll utilize social media to grow your business
• Listen twice as much as you talk
• Make new friends – they’ll change your world
• Speak up
• Tell a story, people want to hear it

Here’s what I’ve done:

• Helped write a book – Age of Conversation 3
• Presented at iBlog Conference
• travel to Midwest locations and help non-profits build a social media plan
• Created a business to help small business owners with social media
• Blogged at www.debworks.com and written 396 posts
• tweeted 17,429 times
• Learned how to use a Flip from PBS reporter John Pemble
• learned how my digital camera can make movies from Becky McCray
• used Animoto to create marketing plans for local businesses
• work with a brain trust of online members who are committed to making a difference
• learned how tourism is vital to grow my local community
• planned a conference that never happened (failure is a good thing too)
• meet so many people smarter than me and it’s forced my brain to grow

Here’s just a few people I call friend because of social media (this is just a few names) :

• Becky McCray @beckymccray
• Linda Crim – @Miss_Dazey
• Glenda Watson-Hyatt @glendawh
• Jon Swanson @jnswanson
• Paul Merrill @paulmerrill
• Sheila Scarborough @sheilas
• Chris Brogan @chrisbrogan
• Patsy Terrell @patsyterrell
• Cody Heitschmidt @codyks
• Drew McClellan @drewmcclellan
• Susan Murphy @suzemuse
• Jody Halsted @iatraveler
• Danny Brown @dannybrown
• Phil Gerbyshak @philg
• Liz Strauss @lizstrauss

Here’s my plans for the future:

• Speaking at 140 Character Conference in Hutch
• Bringing Oprah to Hampton Iowa
• Working with Simon Estes and the Rising Stars Program
• Building the best small town tourism plan you’ve ever seen and implementing it
• Traveling and blogging about it (thanks Geoff Livingston for the inspiration)
• Sharing the stories of the people in the Midwest
• Being the best me that I can be!