Feb 05

Suffering from Blogger Block? Tips for Renewing Blog Writing

Blogging, Personal Branding 1 Comment »

In spite of the fact that I had a painful stomach virus and have been emotionally processing my concerns for the Haiti catastrophe, I have not been able to write an effective blog post.  Yes, I have many ideas of WHAT I want to write about but I just cannot seem to get my thoughts out of my head onto the proverbial paper.  I decided unequivocally within myself when I started my blog that I would not let it fall to the wayside.  I don’t want to become a blog statistic.    So, as always, I used my trusted friend Google to see what tips I could find from others that have suffered the same diagnosis.   I’ve identified and assembled some of the top tips from other bloggers.

  1. Start with a headline. This is essentially what I have done today.  The easiest blog I can write about is my current problem.   Plus, it allows me to “hone down” into a specific problem area and find solutions for it.
  2. Brainstorm. For someone like me who has so many different thoughts run through her brain and  is quite an over-achiever, it may be good just to get into an empty room with no distractions and just type incessantly.  The brainstorming session can actually create several various topics to write on to which later you can separate (if need be) and clean up for posting.
  3. Lower Your Standards. With many things in life, I think it is natural to want to be the best and be able to offer the best advice.  Remember there are millions of blogs out there.  You are the best at what YOU do and what YOU have experienced.  You don’t have to be a genius—just give advice on what you know and your experience and I guarantee that will help someone out.
  4. Set Goals and Stick to Them. The funny thing is that I started this post a week ago and told myself that I was going to post it on the day I started it.  Much to my dismay, it’s now a week later.   Discipline yourself and once you have established a pattern, it will become a habit that you will easily follow.

Now I’ve only listed four but there are SO many tips from other bloggers out there.  Regardless of what may have you suffering from Blogger Block, find the avenue that works for YOU.  One important fact I want to mention is that whatever you blog about, make sure that it is passion-infused with you and your brand.   You do not want to TRY to become something that you are not as it will show in your writing.

This quote from poet William Stafford sums it up:

“I believe that the so-called ‘writing block’ is a product of some kind of disproportion between your standards and your performance … one should lower his standards until there is no felt threshold to go over in writing. It’s easy to write. You just shouldn’t have standards that inhibit you from writing … I can imagine a person beginning to feel he’s not able to write up to that standard he imagines the world has set for him. But to me that’s surrealistic. The only standard I can rationally have is the standard I’m meeting right now … You should be more willing to forgive yourself. It doesn’t make any difference if you are good or bad today. The assessment of the product is something that happens after you’ve done it.”

Tagged with: • • •
Dec 29

The Social Media Branding Revolution

Personal Branding, Social Media No Comments »

A year ago, I was completely “anti-social media”.  Yes, I am willing to openly admit to that shortcoming.  Sure, I frequented a forum or two on various interests—anonymously—not willing to contribute.  However, my reasons were strictly based on watching “To Catch a Predator” on Dateline NBC, having teenage children, and online personal sites.   You see, I had only really looked at the bad side of social media.  Of course, EVERYTHING nowadays can be exploited for bad but when you have children, the natural parental instinct goes into effect (even if you are technically savvy with capabilities to block sites from your children).  Not only that, but I associated social media as a way and means for people to “hook up” sort of like match.com or some other type of online personals.  Therefore, with these two factors added to my already pigeon-holed perception of any type of information technology outside of Information Security, I was completely stymied!

Social media is so important to establishing yourself.  I’m willing to go so far as to say that it is absolutely necessary for you to use social media as a means of personal branding.  It goes so much further than your resume, the “About Us” section to your website, or a cover letter.  I like to compare it to three-dimensionality—you see and learn more about me AND my knowledge set from various perspectives.  No one should proclaim to know it all.  Yes, we have our niches and our expertise areas.  However, social media isn’t just about claiming your expertise.  It’s about putting YOUR own spin and flavor to your niche, expertise, and what you know.

This is definitely old news to a lot of the social media and personal branding experts out there now.  But for those of us who have finally caught wind of this form of expression, it is by far a whole new exciting world!  The one thing I can say is that it truly matters to be personable and just being yourself.  I will finish out this post with a tweet I had posted earlier today,

“Personal branding is simple:  It’s you instinctively!  Your personal brand is instinctively YOU!”

Tagged with: • • • • •
Dec 20

Branding: Don’t Compromise Who You Are!

Personal Branding, Social Media No Comments »

This is near and dear to my heart!  This morning, I was reading an article by Heather Huhman called, “5 Rules for Maintaining Your Brand Once You Have the Job”. Step number 5 states:  Don’t compromise your brand for your new employer.  This isn’t a jab at employers by any means.  But it is about not forsaking who you are and forgetting what you originally brought to the table at your place of employment.

To talk about my own personal experiences, I’ve been in this situation, unfortunately.  I’ve been so absorbed into a job where I have completely forgot who I was.  I became adaptable to the corporate culture and other tasks not associated with my brand and lost myself, thus, becoming ineffective.  It’s almost like a deep sleep!

With the new age of social media, I think that it is easier to stay who you are.   You stay accountable.   In fact, you are highly unlikely to veer away from your brand because your reputation is at stake—your brand is at stake.  For example, as I blog about who I am and what I know, I am establishing ME!  The corporations, businesses, consultants, and people that I work with now and in the future will want my skill set for ME!

It is possible to be loyal to your employer; however, it’s even more important to not lose yourself.  Losing yourself spells out compromise for you and your brand.  This compromise will then cause your credibility to be questionable.

Don’t lose who you are!  Don’t compromise yourself!  Be unique, yourself, and maintain your brand!

Tagged with: • • •
Dec 17

Who is Jeri Brown?

Motivation, Personal Branding, Social Media, Technology 2 Comments »

Who am I?  Well, that’s a good question!  As I have been struggling as to what my first blog post would be about, I thought the best idea would be an intriguing introduction so that you are able to get to know me.

I’ve always disliked the saying statement at job interviews, “So, tell me a little bit about yourself.”  I never know where to start.  Obviously, the requester wants to know about my professional experience so I will start there.  I’ve been consumed in the information technology world for quite some time.  Believe it or not, my first appeal to computers was back in middle school when I signed up for an after school program on beginner’s programming.  Back then, our task was to create a functional computer game using the BASIC language.  I even remember the name of my game:  Ranger Bob.  I chose Bob because it was easy to program the B-O-B visually!

Some 15 years after that, I became captivated with Microsoft Windows.  I think it was Microsoft 2.0 where it ran on top of DOS.  As crazy as it may sound, I used to like to hand-draw cartoons in Microsoft Paint—by freehand using only a mouse.  I was very good at it and would take comic strips from the newspaper, bring it to my summer job, and spend the day “drawing” between doing menial admin work.  I was working in an IT office and became so curious and intrigued that I went back to school the following semester and changed my major to Computer Science.

It went uphill quite fast for a while after that.  I love to learn and information technology was second nature to me.  So I quickly went from working in a helpdesk to system and network administration and right into information security.  For a while I continued to grasp everything that came my way but these past 4 years, I’ve been in a deep “sleep”.  Sure, I became a CISSP just about 5 years ago, wrote a number of security policies, and performed a large number of challenging C&A tasks.  But what’s next?   I have achieved information assurance expertise but I did so with blinders on unaware of the current technological trends and slowly rotting with menial information security “challenges” which to me, no longer embodies the true essence of information security.

Now I am awake!!  And ready to move at top speed to the technological developments ahead.  With my new consciousness, I have shaken the title Senior Information Security Analyst and have adopted the self-proclaimed title of Technology Strategist.  Sure, the information security analyst is my day job but not what I am all about.  I just no longer want to be boxed into the information assurance/C&A “genre”.

I decided to start a blog for a few reasons:

1.  Discuss my ideas and opinions on various emerging technology trends.

I have become fascinated with Web 2.0 technology.  I feel that it has opened my eyes and has me feeling the same passion I felt when I first discovered BASIC programming some 25+ years ago.  Because I’ve been emerged in the world of certification and accreditation (C&A) for the past 7 years, I’ve been blind to its emergence and popularity.  Where have I been?!  Now that I’m enlightened (and awake), I see that there is absolutely no reason why the various platforms of social media shouldn’t be used in our everyday lives to include business.  Look at twitter and facebook.  Need I say more?

2.  Discuss information security and how I see it in the workplace.

Information Security is my forte so to speak.  I’ve been particularly submerged in information assurance and certification and accreditation.  And, not to toot my own horn, but I know my stuff.  Lately, I’ve become aggravated at being hired on as an expert with my experience and background only to be told “that’s not the way we do it here” or “do it this way”.  Why’d you hire me then if you know I bring fresh ideas, experience, and crave challenge??!!  I bring to the table insightful ideas, and yes, I play by the book when it comes to security.  If the directive says, “a, b, and c”, then, by golly, “a, b, and c” it is!  To me, it’s not rocket science.  It’s just playing by the rules.  That is what ENFORCING information security is all about—not seeing what you can get away with!  Excuse my mini-rant.  :)

I so long to be an effective, insightful information security contributor … sigh…

3.  Conquering the “web frontier”.

I feel that our society is headed more and more onto the web front.  There are a number of emerging technology trends that are making their way onto the forefront of optimal and affordable business practices.  One topic that has recently make its way to my knowledge base is cloud computing.  With Microsoft’s upcoming release of Azure, I can only see this technology being the new wave of the future.  Yes, the technology has been around but it’s a trend that I am sure many businesses will be leveraging.  I look forward to exploring this technology as well as others that are out there.

4.  Discussion and interaction.

I want to interact and discuss with my peers on what is going on in technology.  Information security, new technology trends, or anything else, I want to hear and discuss it.  Learning comes through discussions.  Sadly, it’s been quite a while since I’ve been afforded the opportunity of stimulating, intellectual conversation about technology topics with my peers.  I believe that everyone is able to add something valuable that will shape and enlighten the topic of discussion.

5.  Social media is where it’s at!

Upon waking up out of my deep non-technological slumber, social media is where it is at!  I cannot say that enough.  Wikipedia couldn’t have said it better when it states that:

“It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers.”

How awesome is that!!!  So with my ever-expanding knowledge, I plan to use social media to its fullest.  I know it hasn’t been around very long but I feel as though I have a learning curve which spells a challenge to me.  I thrive off of challenging situations when it comes to learning and solving problems so this is all right up my alley!

I hope my rants, raves, and requests for interaction will be profitable for anyone who decides to subscribe.  Learning definitely comes from sharing experiences and I certainly have a large number experiences that I would love to share as well as learn from your experiences.  My plan and my goal with this blog is to leverage information technology and information security by teaching, learning, sharing, solving, and enlightenment.

Tagged with: • • • • •
preload preload preload