Try Something Different

In the beginning of the summer I spent a couple of days with a friend that I hadn't seen in quite a while.

She's been going through some hard times yet she's still energetic, optimistic and upbeat. I asked how she managed to maintain those positive characteristics in the face of constant stress.

Her secret? Something that costs absolutely nothing.

Each day she makes it a point to try something new. As she explained, it doesn't need to be something major. It could be taking a different route to work, having a cup of tea instead of coffee, eating dinner at 6pm instead of 7pm.

Why does it work?

For my friend, waking up to start the day was a major challenge due to the stresses she faced. Now, by thinking of what she's going to change that day, she created a sense of excitement and anticipation of something different. Making one small change each day has kept her from being defeated by the stresses in her life.

Being inspired, I started to make one small change a day but somehow lost focus over the course of the summer. Although my attempt was short-lived, I noticed that a small change could give a new perspective to my ordinary routine.

I was reminded of this the other day when I read a post by Chris Brogan about the patterns in our life so I'm going to try once again.

I'll be curious to see what happens this time and also curious about what will happen if I make one small change each day to my business. I'm intrigued by the fact that during the short time I did it during the summer, I had a new perspective. That could be immensely helpful for a business.

What do you think? Are you willing to give it a try? Let me know if you do and what happens.

Get Savvy! IMU is Back

Image via CrunchBase

Last month I had the opportunity to take 10 hours of classes through Inbound Marketing University (IMU). These online classes (details below) were taught by leaders in the field and covered a wide range of timely topics. By passing an exam on the material, I became eligible to be called an 'Inbound Marketing Certified Professional.' You can see the official badge on the upper left of this blog.

What is an 'Inbound Marketing Certified Professional?'

The certification is administered by Hubspot and "acknowledges the recipients proficiency in Inbound Marketing principals and best practices. These principles include: blogging, social media, lead conversion, lead nurturing, and closed-loop analysis. In order to receive the Inbound Marketing Certification, the recipient must pass a comprehensive certification exam with a score of 75% or higher. "

The great news is that IMU is back! The original ten classes are being offered again next month and there are two new classes available. The courses are free but you must register by August 12. The link to register is at the end of this article.

The original 10 classes are:

Class 1: How to Blog Effectively for Business Professors: Ann Handley & Mack Collier, MarketingProfs

Class 2: SEO Crash Course to Get Found Professor: Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing

Class 3: Social Media and Building Community Professor: Chris Brogan, New Marketing Labs

Class 4: Successful Business Uses for Facebook and LinkedIn Professor: Elyse Tager, Silicon Valley American Marketing Association

Class 5: Viral Marketing and World Wide Raves Professor: David Meerman Scott, author of New Rules of Marketing & PR andWorld Wide Rave

Class 6: Advanced SEO Tactics: On Beyond Keyword Research Professor: Rand Fishkin, SEOmoz

Class 7: Calls to Action and Landing Page Best Practices Professor: Jeanne Hopkins, MECLABS, Marketing Experiments

Class 8: Inbound Lead Nurturing Professor: Brian Carroll, MECLABS, InTouch

Class 9: Successful Email Marketing Professor: Eric Groves, Constant Contact

Class 10: Analyzing Inbound Marketing Professor: Marshall Sponder, Monster.com, Web Analytics Association for Social Media

The 2 new classes are:

1)PR for Inbound Marketing

Professor: Todd Defren, SHIFT Communications

2)Twitter for Business

Professor: Laura Fitton, Pistachio Consulting, Twitter For Dummies

To register for the live webinar classes and the Certification Exam, go to the IMU home page.