When you look at people that do social media marketing for a living — folks who do amazing consistency for a living, they all have a few things in common. I call them the Big Three.

1. They use a content or editorial calendar informed by metrics
2. They pre-program their posts to publish at optimized times using a scheduler
3. They produce high-quality content worth consuming

These folks also often have a team, some experience, and access to resources.

But in this brave new digital world, you can operate like a pro. You can build a team and you can use the…

A few years ago, I had a major epiphany that has slowly but powerfully been changing the way I work. I learned to say no to busy and yes to a very purposefully selected amount of work — an amount I could do well and in a timely fashion. It’s made me a happier and thus a better person — less stressed, proud of my work, and more patient with the world around me.

Last week, as I got pissy about guests inviting extra attendees to my partner Jim’s birthday winery tour, it hit me. I have relapsed. I am…

How I f-ed up last week

This week I had a steamrolling incident. Upon delivering the necessary apologies, it shone a light on my #1 tactic for getting myself to ship my work, especially when it’s scary.

I’m in my fourth session of running GoGoSprint and each time I do it, I iterate something.

GoGoSprint is a diverse group of people coming together over two weeks on Zoom to use community support and accountability to get moving on the project of their choice. There are other bells and whistles but that’s the core. …

When factors like COVID and air quality allow, I often spend my free time with my Drinking Club with a Running Problem. This group has taught me many amazing lessons like:

• Beer counts as carbo-loading
• All french fries are public property
• When running a beer mile, the hardest beer is the third beer

One of the best lessons is that the biggest f-ups make for the best stories. It’s built into our rituals to call each other out for our gaffes and celebrate them.

At one of our group events, when the bus I borrowed for a site-to-site transport during…

This article is a continuation of a series of exploring my white privilege and learning to take action. (Here are links to the first, second, and third.) Last week I talked about moving to action. In addition to the small steps I’ve been taking in my start-up, I took action in my personal life and went to two marches in the last week.

There’s more about my experience at the marches at the end of the article. I have never been to a protest of any kind. If you have, you’ll just roll your eyes at my trepidation. If you…

In my latest articles, here and here, I’ve been amplifying Black voices. My focus has been on awakening to privilege and understand what NOT to do. After a few incidents in my home town this last weekend, however (see the end of the article), I feel the need to move on to action immediately, even if it’s imperfect action.

But first, pulling yourself up by the bootstraps, the bias in healthcare during a pandemic, and a few more things to never say again.

Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man

Emmanuel Acho

As I noted in last week’s post, I stumbled and fell hard on my white privilege when George Floyd was murdered. My next several posts are focused on amplifying Black voices. I will share some of the things I’m reading and watching and some short reflections on them. I hope you will follow the links and continue listening to Black voices.

Juneteenth Reminds Us How Far We’ve Come, How Far We Have to Go

Drew Costley

If like me, you have never heard of Juneteenth, this is a must-read and must-scroll. The article is followed by pictures of celebrations (visual tour) and adds a wonderful richness to the reading experience.

Juneteenth is a…

“Who is George Floyd?” I said to my housemate and best friend Doug as I worked on my dinner.

“Jeez Heather, you must be the only person on the planet who doesn’t know what’s going on.” Doug eyed me over his laptop.

I quickly got myself up to speed on the facts, and when I learned that the cops involved had been arrested, my first thought was, “Oh good, at least they did that much this time. Good thing people filmed it.”

Then it occurred to me how horrible that response was on so many levels.

I have a very…