Meaningful Connection

Zestful Blog Post #108

Here’s an example of how social media led not merely to an expansion of my circle, but to a meaningful exchange.

The excellent and well known FoxTale Book Shoppe in Atlanta regularly tweets the names of authors whose books are selling well that week. A couple of months ago they tweeted my name among a handful of other authors, and I tweeted back thanking them, and favorited the tweet and all that bullshit. I asked if they were talking about You’ve Got a Book in You, and they said yes. They tweeted my name a few weeks in a row, and I said thanks every time.

[I have come to accept that social media is a bucket of tools that can build relationships.

Photo by ES.]

Then the social media guru for the store, Gary, asked for my email saying that the store was hosting a multi-week writing workshop with my book as its text, and maybe I’d like to Skype in sometime? I said sure.

So he linked up me with Beth Hermes, an accomplished author herself and the workshop leader. We set up a video Skype connection (yes, I brushed my hair first), and it went off very nicely. I was able to give some energy and ‘extra stuff’ to the aspiring authors, and they were able to ask any questions they wanted. And they had some good ones! Questions I hadn’t gotten before, like, “Please discuss the physical aspect of ‘heartbrain’,” and “How did you develop your book as a whole?” Answers to these and other Qs led to specific tidbits and aspects of bigger things that it seems only spontaneous discussion can yield.

It was a fun hour. When it came time to say goodbye, I asked if they felt this had been worthwhile, and got an enthusiastic chorus of yeses. But did I mention that I blog and give them the url? Did I ask them to friend me on Facebook? Did I hustle up my custom coaching services? That is the kind of stuff any speaker should do, and I forgot, because I was focused on them and what they wanted. It was a mistake not to try to sell myself a little bit more, but I will learn. I swear I will learn and do better.

The reason I wrote this post, though, was to show how one connection can lead to another, and result not simply in more connections, but something beautiful, fun, and substantial.

If you have something to offer, you can help people.

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