Let's make some lemonade..

             “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

     We all remember hearing this phrase from our childhood. I can recall many a time when my mother started a “life-lessons conversation” with this saying. At those moments I wanted to roll my eyes and complain about the same talk we had had million times. The moral and message of her stories were all the same: if there is an opportunity right in front of you, take it, use it; that’s why it is there. These lessons from childhood have trickled into my present moment in life. This week, I decided that it was time to start utilizing the tools to success that are around me. When I saw the grade that I deserved for our blogging project thus far, I was not pleased. I am not a C+ person in life. I have always strived to do my best. I am in Corinne’s social media class to be educated on a subject that could potentially set me, and you, apart from the rest of our peers in the business race. She is teaching us the tools to be successful, and I have not utilized that. So at this moment I say, when life literally puts the lemons in my hands, I better go and make some lemonade. 

     This week we needed to read several chapters titled The New Media University.  In reading the content this go-around, I was not simply passing my eyes over the words while my mind was off thinking about what I was going to have for dinner. I read the book as if I was already working for a business and learning ways to 1. Create a job title for myself and 2. Become educated on how to improve, express, listen, and communicate the values of the company with customers in a way that was not selling our product to these people. Brian Solis, author of the book Engage, said that this is a mistake that many companies make when they begin to blog, tweet, facebook, and any other tool in the social media realm. These instruments of communication are about building a community around the people that keep your business running: your customers. Social media is a participatory world where, for example, our business can build bridges that connect with the world around us. People do not wish to converse with the brand, but instead, the people who make up the company that they have decided to be involved with. Our priority must be to increase our value and connect to anyone who impacts our business. Though social bookmarking, for example, is very frustrating for the majority of us, we can use it to analyze what is grabbing people’s attention and why.  It may be difficult to understand and use this channel of media now; however, riding a bike was not too simple for us at one time as well.  Remember, when you fell off, what did you do? The answer is simple: you got back on your bike and tried to ride again until you got it.

      We go to a school that costs more than a lot of families make a year. We have an outstanding Communication faculty that feeds us their knowledge, experience, and passion every day. Why in the world are some of us not truly taking advantage of these blessings? For too long I have showed up to classes just to make sure I was counted for attendance. What are you going to do with the lemons that life has put before you?  

I thought this video was quite adorable and wanted to share it. Enjoy.