This week’s interview in our “Influencers Who Inspire” series is with Lisa van der Pool of the Boston Business Journal.  Lisa has been a Broadcast editor and Reporter at the Boston Business Journal since 2005. At the BBJ she covers advertising, small business, legal services, retail and hospitality; and maintains the newspaper’s Twitter account. She also regularly appears on WBZ-TV Channel 4 discussing the top business stories of the day. Prior to joining the BBJ, Lisa worked at Adweek Magazine for five years, where she covered advertising and PR firms across New England.

What is the first thing you do when you wake up in the morning?

Check my email, and Twitter.

What do you love about Boston?

It’s a city with a lot to offer, but it’s also very cozy and accessible.

If you could be on a reality TV show, which one would it be and why?

Definitely Top Chef, it’s my favorite show. But first I’d have to learn how to cook.

What was it like to work at AdWeek?

Adweek’s a cool trade magazine.The advertising world is a dramatic, exciting industry to write about and I met many fascinating ad execs over the years.

What do you think the future of advertising looks like – will we continue to see consumer-contributed/participation?

Every year advertisers get more savvy about taking advantage of social media. And yes, I think smart advertisers know they need to get consumers involved and interact with them directly.

What is your favorite ad ever?

Probably Volkswagen’s Pink Moon, back when Arnold Worldwide worked on the account.

What are you passionate about? Any hobbies?

I spend as much time as possible with my family, and friends. I also love music and going to the movies.

Where did you rescue your cats from and why?

I got them from Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston, which has a great adoption center for cats, dogs and other animals. I’m passionate about helping animals, so caring for a pair of cats at home who were found on the streets of Methuen is the least I can do.

What’s the last vacation you took?

Scottsdale, Arizona. We just went there to relax and enjoy the scenery.

What’s your take on this year’s Super Bowl Ads – which was your favorite, were the ads a win or as snooze this year?

Overall, I was extremely underwhelmed by this year’s Super Bowl commercials. Nothing struck me as all that creative or funny. I liked Chevy’s Apocalypse ad with the Twinkie shout out. My least favorite commercials were the sexist ones: Teleflora, Go Daddy and Fiat. Advertisers need to wake up a bit more and remember that women watch the big game too.

What is next for you in 2012?

I have a few fun vacations planned already. And I’m trying to be better organized!

Michael Krigsman is a recognized, international authority on creating IT project success and related CIO issues.  One of the most respected enterprise software bloggers, he has written about 1000 posts on enterprise software, cloud, CRM, ERP and alignment between IT and lines of business. In addition, he has written thought leadership reports for analyst firm IDC on project portfolio management, CRM, social business, and cloud computing.

Michael has been quoted or mentioned over 500 times in important blogs, newspapers, television, trade publications, presentations, academic dissertations, and other media. He has also been quoted in over a dozen books.

Michael has worked with companies such as SAP, IBM, Lotus, and many others to create consulting tools, methodologies, and implementation strategies related to project and business transformation success. He has presented to Harvard, University College London, Babson College, Boston University, and Suffolk University. Michael frequently attends and speaks at industry conferences and events.

When you wake up in the morning, what do you look forward to the most?

Every day, even before getting out of bed, I try to establish a positive frame of mind. Early morning is the perfect time to set a mental compass for oneself – creating focus and balance as a foundation for the day’s activities. Joyful meditation leads to mental flexibility and concentration, which benefits all spheres of life while helping one desire to be respectful and helpful to others.

What else do you think you would be if you were not  a software industry “influencer”?

My current plans involve engaging more closely with enterprise buyers and users, in addition to continuing my work with vendors and other technology industry players. In the past, I ran a successful consulting business and now, once again, plan to do more work with the folks who actually buy and use enterprise software and services.

What would you cite as the biggest cause of IT failures today?

Accomplishing successful IT projects requires deep collaboration between technologists and business folks: lines of business know the priorities and pains, while IT owns the means for execution. However, these two groups – IT and business – have different constraints and measures of success. Therefore, the single largest problem is communication and collaboration.

However, there are also distorting factors that cause problems. In many situations, we find that politics, agendas, and poor judgment contribute substantially to whatever challenges might be inherent in the IT project situation.

In addition, many IT projects are flawed from the foundation. Failure is inevitable when lines of business do not articulate clear goals and metrics for their technology-enabled initiatives; tossing a half-baked idea to IT and expecting the project to work is a fantasy.

What type of governance issues cause most project failures? Who is most susceptible (large or small enterprise?)

Governance is like change management – painful topics that everybody talks about as being good for you. At the root, governance means figuring out a consistent way to get things done and then sticking to the plan. However, things get more complicated when a project needs the support of folks across a range of departments, functions, organizations, and so on. At that point, successful governance starts to look like a communication and collaboration plan, because governance requires coordination.

Governance is one of those strings that come loose from the ball of yarn – when you pull it, the whole thing starts to unravel. Looked at the through the lens of governance, IT failures can be prevented through a strategic series of decisions and actions. Obviously, however, it’s easier said than done.

As a software industry “influencer” what type of advice do you find yourself giving over and over? What do you wish vendors and industry members knew the most, that would help with prevention?

The most important thing, by far, is establish a relationship that offers value to both sides. When the relationship is intact, there is a lot of flexibility to adapt on both sides. Without a relationship, communications to so-called influencers are just pitches.

Regarding pitches, I suggest PR folks do at least basic research about my areas of focus before calling, emailing, or sending carrier pigeons. I generally respond to thoughtful pitches where the other person makes a reasonable connection and demonstrates genuine interest and knowledge.

One last thing – calling my cell phone repeatedly, especially when I specifically asked you to stop, does neither one of us any good.

You are an active photographer and quite a few people use your pictures as Twitter avatars. What’s your background in that area? Hobby? Passion?

I love photography! The act of capturing a moment in time is a source of endless delight. People do ask to buy my photos but I do it for pleasure. This post explains my interest:

For me, photography is a highly intimate form of expression. I love photography precisely because it’s such a magnificent method to engage with one’s surroundings and communicate feelings, moods, concepts, metaphors, and sensations non-verbally through images.

One of these days I will pursue a gallery exhibition, but there’s no time for that right now.

What’s next for you in 2012?

The industry has reached a point where we can now discuss IT failure more openly; the major enterprise vendors have accepted that customers want greater success with less risk and hassle. It’s now time for the enterprise software industry to help customers realize the value of their technology-backed business initiative. For me, that means focus on innovation and the positive impact of enterprise adoption on operations.

I’m particularly interested in the transformational aspects of cloud, social, and mobile. My work in 2012 is focused on aligning an enterprise line of business goals where technology is the enabler – that means consulting to organizations, working with executive teams, and continuing to advise vendors.

Right now, we are developing cloud transformation workshops and related consulting services, to bring lessons and experience from the past into an absolutely contemporary context.  It’s an exciting time!

Ramon is a journalist, technology evangelist & editor of Smallbiztechnology.com, author of “Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses” & “Technology Resources for Growing Businesses” and a national, in-demand speaker.

What made you choose journalism as a profession? 

I didn’t choose it,  it chose me and it was quite accidental. I just really loved to write and so I started writing, then one day Black Enterprise and Inc. Magazine said could you write some articles for us – and the rest is history :)

What four  or five things are always “routine” in your day?

Deleting email, sorting email, sending email, toggling tons of tabs in my browser, wishing I could do puppet shows for poor kids in Mexico, Dominican Republic or somewhere.

Why is small business technology news of interest to you in particular? What has it taught you?

Not sure. I’ve always been a tech tinkerer (as in take apart talking teddy bears in the 1970′s/80′s, shutting off the lights in my home, etc). I think this love of tech and the blend of my love of reading/writing became the love of small business technology news. It has taught me that things change, companies go and come but relationships are forever, ideas are a dime a dozen, successful execution is all that matters.

 Over the years you have had the opportunity to interview some truly great public figures and influencers (such as Hillary Clinton). What has been your favorite interview thus far? Why?

A few things stand out… Back in the days when I didn’t know how to be a journalist I tried to slip Bill Gates a hand written note. His team saw it and took the note away. I didn’t know you were supposed to asked his PR person to interview him. This was many years ago.  I opened an event for Michael Dell and he said he read my blog – that was cool.  Scott Trip founder of TripIt – his story of his company’s growth was really nice (listen to customers). In another context I’ve meet President Obama, President Bush (both) and several other heads of state.  I also really love SXSW and other events where I can meet with my media peers from the world of small business.

What tips do you have to help PR professionals better work with you?

True relationships are so important; where I like you and you like me. Not giving me a story that does not fit. Knowing that I love the story and the market at times more than the feeds and speeds of a product. I like talking to people, but I’m also a massive reader so I get much more (at times) out of some video, blog posts, pdfs and other things than a phone call with an executive running a prepared PPT.  NOTE: the PPT talks are GOOD I just mean that there are other ways to get one’s message across.

What advice would you give to a small business to help them continue to compete with larger competitors this year?

Wow….I could write a book on that.

1)  Be honest

2) Over give

3) Be very excited

4) Do not take NO for an answer

5) There is plenty of room at the table for the big guys and the little guys

6) Fit in where you can and show your value

7) Don’t be afraid of big companies – even those who are direct competitors

8) Big companies who are evaluating you and a bigger one of your competitors will give you a big chance if you’re prepared

9) If you screw up, fess up and OVER make it right

10) I could go on…

You traveled a lot as executive producer of the Small Business Technology Tour and for other events you attended in 2011. What travel secrets save you time, money or sanity when you are on the road?

Plan in advance. Be redundant (I often have 2 notebooks, a tablet and 2 phones) failure is NOT an option. Leverage your network of friends. Pay people (even friends/or “child labor”) for work done (even if you ask for a discount). Review, review, review. Get a team member (I have lots of areas where I’m not so great – hence my team shine in those areas), have a virtual team – even if you are solo,  your virtual 1099 team can do wonders.

How do you unwind after a hectic work week? Do you have any interesting hobbies or little known facts about yourself you would like to share?

I play piano, love doing puppet shows, love joking around and laughing loud, love great food at restaurants (I hate those restaurants that give you a big white plate and a tiny piece of food and charge you $78 for it), watching movies (Bourne, Bauer, Ethan (as in MI3) are my heroes and others like that). But really in my downtime – I TOTALLY ENJOY email, RSS feeds, Twitter – related to small biz tech (I know it’s lame but I really, really LOVE IT).

What are you most looking forward to in 2012?

I’d love to speak lots more to audiences on tech, marketing/pr and/or entrepreneurship. I’d love to provide more content on my own site and for others. I’d love to speak lots more to audiences on tech, marketing/pr and/or entrepreneurship (you know I think I wrote that twice..hmmm). Event production is tough, but I really love it and I think I do it well so working with bigger companies to produce events for their audiences would be like mint!

I’m looking forward to being 40 years old in 2012!

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Do you have any follow-up questions for Ramon? Suggestions for other influencers you would like to see interviewed in the PerkettPR Influencers Who Inspire Series? Please add them in the comments below.

Ann is the Chief Content Officer of MarketingProfs, which provides marketing know-how for business people through a full range of online media, and the co-author of the best-selling Content Rules: How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts,Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business (Wiley, 2011) (www.contentrulesbook.com).

Previously, she co-founded ClickZ.com and was a journalist for the Boston Globe as well as a writer and editor for a host of other publications, including those magazines in the back pockets of airline seats.

Currently, she writes for MarketingProfs as well as its blog, the MarketingProfs Daily Fix , a blog in the top 20 of the Advertising Age Power150. She can also be found at the Huffington Post , American Express OPEN Forum, and her personal blog, Annarchy.  She also writes a monthly column for Entrepreneur magazine. On Twitter, she has more than 100,000 followers @marketingprofs.

What motivates you to get out of bed every day?

Actually, Instagram motivates me BEFORE I get out of bed. I typically check the photo-sharing social network while I’m still lying prostrate — I love the network’s visual storytelling capabilities, which only reminds me how awesome content is, which only reminds me how awesome relationships with content creators are, which only reminds me how amazing the rest of my job is, which only reminds me that I need coffee….

What keeps you up at night?

Pretty much anything. I don’t sleep well.

But here goes….

What keeps me up at night professionally: My sincere regret that more companies don’t see the full, robust, incredible, awesome potential of content! That more companies don’t see their content and online publishing efforts as the cornerstone of their marketing, but instead bolt it onto existing efforts in a freakish, unattractive way.

Also professionally: When I have a big speech coming up — like I do now next month in Kansas City  — I’m fretting about that in the middle of the night. In a healthy way, probably (the nerves motivate me to do my best). But it’s fretting, nonetheless. (Oh and by the way, you should come.)

What keeps me up at night personally: I admit I’m a worrier. I worry about my college-aged kid, who lives in an iffy neighborhood near his school. I worry about my daughter, just because I’m a mother. I worry about global warming and the polar bears. I occasionally regret having the second burrito at dinner. How much room do we have….?

I’m kidding.

Sort of.

What’s one sentence or phrase you find yourself using all the time?

“Solve or share, don’t shill.” It’s the mantra I repeat ALL. THE. TIME. to companies looking for a bottom-line guide to their content strategy. And I like it because it sums up — in five simple, alliterative words — what should guide the content you produce. Another way of saying that, is: “Put the needs and wants and perspective of your customers first.” But that’s not nearly as memorable.

Secondly, I find myself quoting Nicki Minaj’s “Super Bass” liberally these days, just because I’ve had the song stuck in my head for weeks now. (This is what happens when you carpool teens around.) But that can get awkward in certain circles. So I don’t think I’ll mention that here.

How has your life changed from five years ago to today? Where do you hope to be five years from now?

I’m five years older. So there’s that. Also, as Content moved center stage with marketers, I found I actually had something to say! So I wrote a book, “Content Rules” with C.C. Chapman. That has been a rewarding, rich experience in so many ways: It has opened up new and interesting doors, and in it I found a great friend (and “wubby” [work hubby]) in C.C.

More generally, I also like the perspective I have now, which I didn’t have a few years ago. Despite what I said above about worrying — I don’t take things as seriously as I once did. I have more fun in my life and work, and I’m grateful for my awesome kids, my wonderful man, my rewarding social relationships, and my work at MarketingProfs for creating the path to that.

Where do I hope to be? Sheesh. I always have trouble with prognostications. But if I’m as happy as I am now… I’m good. If content is front and center for Marketing, then I’m really good. If everyone here reading this is still caring about what I have to say in five years — if I feel more connected to people and not less, so — well, that would be something, wouldn’t it? (I told you I’m terrible at crystal-ball gazing.)

When was the last time someone inspired you?

I’m inspired every day by the people around me creating and curating content via Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, and the like. I’m inspired by my colleagues at MarketingProfs to do more things, to push harder, to be more. I’m inspired by people who take chances, who try new things, who leap into the unknown — like friends who start companies and make changes and do other things than I can’t list here.

But generally, I’m inspired by honesty: People who do things that they are driven to do, that rings true for them, that they are compelled into. Relationships that are real. Companies that create stuff which is truly a mirror of the soul of who they are, or who they want to be. I love that. And I find it incredibly rewarding and inspirational. I want to steep in it. I want to fill some social hot tub with it and sit in it for a good, long time.

When was the last time you got pissed off?

(LOL — this is only time I’ve ever been asked this question — and I love it!)

I got really ticked a few hours ago at my (teenage) kids, who appear allergic to any sense of order in the family room. Seriously? That laundry basket of clothes has needed folding for a week. The bowl of grape stems on the entertainment center?!

Am I your housemaid? THAT. PISSES. ME. OFF.

I probably should come up with something more broadly appealing or more profound — certain candidates surging in the polls do not thrill me — but you asked “last time,” so parents out there: Can you relate?!?!?

What was the last thing that made you laugh so hard you cried?

Tina Fey’s Bossypants. If you haven’t read it, I can’t imagine why not. You will pee your pants. (If you’ve had kids. If you haven’t, you’ll just laugh.)

How does your personal brand influence your job? Or are they one and the same?

I can’t say I fully understand what the term “personal brand” means. Possibly I’m not sophisticated enough. Here’s how I see it: I am who I am online, and sometimes I represent the brand I work for (MarketingProfs). I don’t change who I am because of that, although I probably modify my behavior a bit (as in: I don’t swear, or I don’t get too personal). So I guess the short answer is that they are pretty closely aligned.

How do you manage your role at MarketingProfs, your personal brand and the rest of your life so smoothly? What’s your secret?

I don’t think there is a secret, really. I love my job. I love the rest of my life, too. I guess my secret is that I don’t fake it. But is that a secret? I can’t imagine so — it just is.

I think — as in most things in life — relationships are key to everything. I do well on social networks because I truly value the relationships I build there. I treasure my personal relationships. I value my friends. This isn’t groundbreaking, I’m sure. But it makes my life worth living.

Can you share your favorite work tools for collaboration, productivity, or organization?

MarketingProfs is a virtual organization. So Skype is a connectivity and productivity and collaboration tool. As is Basecamp. As is Dropbox.

I also like our Team ‘Profs private Facebook group, along with a handful of other private groups I belong to that allow me to check my sanity and deepen relationships. See above.

What’s next for you in 2012?

The paperback edition of Content Rules comes out in the spring. MarketingProfs continues to grow and morph. I’m celebrating my one-year anniversary as a columnist for Entrepreneur magazine (http://www.entrepreneur.com/author/1726). Otherwise? I think I said I was terrible at looking ahead….

You can read more about Aliza here or here.

You have done so much in your career. What role have you enjoyed the most?

I enjoy being an entrepreneur. I love the freedom, the creativity, and especially the variety. I also enjoy being a writer and public speaker because they provide opportunities to share knowledge, motivate, and inspire. For many years, my LinkedIn account has said “I am the wearer of many colorful hats.” This is my way of explaining that I can – and do – play multiple roles in business. I hate feeling trapped or limited. I fully subscribe to the idea that you’re “only limited by your imagination.” Too many of us try to crowbar ourselves into a single role or very distinct and immutable roles, and then wonder why we are frustrated or dissatisfied. I say break out of predefined roles. Create your own.

You have spoken before about empowering women to be public speakers. What words of wisdom can you share that can help a woman struggling with public speaking?

My efforts to support women as public speakers – and to be a resource to companies, organizations and conferences to help them find and book more female speakers – culminated into a group called Chain of Daisies. Every week, we share speaking opportunities, encourage each other to submit proposals to speak, and are sounding boards when we hit obstacles. From this group, I’ve learned that we all need mentors as we pursue new things – business mentors are common, but speaking mentors are valuable, too.

Find a mentor, someone whom you’ve seen speak and whose style you admire. You can also turn to a speaking coach to help you hone your presentation. If you are just starting out, speak often in front of audiences, and start charging right off the bat. Many women tend to speak for free, thinking that is the way to get their foot in the door. I’ve learned the hard way that each time I agreed to speak for free, the same event organizer was paying my male counterparts. Why? Because they asked to be paid.

And get video. I’ve been speaking professionally for over 16 years, however, there is very little video available of me speaking, and the footage that is available has poor lighting and sound. My goal for 2012 as a speaker is to make sure I get usable footage of several of my presentations so I can put it up on my website to better demonstrate what I can do. This might mean investing in a professional videographer, but that’s something that should pay off enormously.

As a mobile app pioneer, what do you envision for the mobile app market in 2012?

I’m not really a mobile apps pioneer, but I have been called a Web pioneer for my early work on the Web in the 90s. I tend to find myself at the forefront of where new media is going because I’m curious and totally enamored with technology. Maybe it’s my longtime love of science fiction, something that has driven my imagination since I was a little girl.

In 2006, I started providing social media marketing consulting. I began looking toward mobile a couple of years ago while everyone else was all aflutter about social media. I’m still interested in location-based social networks, QR codes and mobile apps for marketing, and am keeping an eye on the developments in augmented reality.

Folks in my industry tend to think something is “over” and the media will hype the “end of apps,” and yet the rest of the general public is just catching on. There is plenty of room for adoption growth, plenty of opportunity to participate – although if you’re an apps developer, you need to be thinking about an overall business model and not just “build a couple of cool apps.” As consumers, our expectation is high, but we also experience a lot of frustration because it is hard to find great apps that become ubiquitous for us.

I think mobile apps are still going to be huge in 2012, as well as hybrid blends of sites and apps, apps and the cloud. With the tremendous growth in the tablet computer market, the demand for great apps will increase as well.  Ultimately, techies and the marketers need to be careful about being too enamored with the next “big thing,” and understand the huge shift in the way all of us are consuming information, using products, and purchasing things.

We always have to make sure we take our blinders off and really look around. It is never really about the technology. It is about people.

In your book, Mom Incorporated, you focus on giving advice to women on how to take charge of their work/life balance by starting their own businesses. What are some tips you offer women who are eager to start their own business but are hesitant to do so, due to the shaky economy?

The first tip is “Stop using the word ‘balance.’” My co-author Danielle Smith and I like to say that “balance is a mythical bar that we hold over our own heads, and just when we think we’re getting close, someone moves the bar.” There are people who make a living trying to “teach” you how to be balanced but the truth is that everything is in flux, and you will always be striving for it yet never obtaining it.

So we use “juggle.” As moms with businesses, we juggle. We can’t be at 100% as a mom or as a business owner at the same time. We have to give ourselves a break, forgive ourselves for not being “perfect.” It isn’t about balance, it isn’t about perfection, it is about doing our best and having the conversations at home to create the system that works for us. We shouldn’t judge others, and we shouldn’t let it bother us when other people judge us.

Regarding the economy, Danielle and I haven’t encountered many women who are hesitant to start businesses in this economy. In fact, more than ever women are starting businesses from home because of financial motivations. Maybe their husband’s job was down-sized, maybe they need the extra income. There is no guaranteed job out there, and childcare can be even more challenging when you have smaller children at home.

So I’d encourage women to reach for business opportunities where they have experience or established leads, to more readily generate revenues that can help support their household. That means if you’ve been a publicist before and have the skills, start there, then build out your skill set over time to incorporate other services such as copywriting or social media marketing.

What are your favorite apps?

I’m an apps fanatic. I’d divide my apps into utility – the ones that are useful; social – the ones that help me publish and share; and entertainment – the ones that are my little “escapes.”

For utility, I use Google Apps a lot, including the iPhone app to access my email, calendar and shared documents. I am using Evernote more and more for everything from taking photos of receipts or whiteboards to voice memos to web clippings. I am also using the Cohuman app to build task lists for each of my projects that I can assign to others and manage from my laptop, iPad or iPhone.

For social, I love Instagram, Twitter and Foursquare. I also like GLMPS, Pinterest, Foodspotting and Trover. And I access Facebook and Google+ through their respective iPhone apps.

For entertainment, I’m hooked on Words With Friends, and usually have 15 to 20 games going at once. I also enjoy Drop7, Muddled, Bookworm, and Bejeweled.

Who or what inspires you each day?

I’m inspired by so many things every day. Being pretty isolated where I live in rural Alaska, I rely heavily on the Internet and NPR for my connection to the world, to the voices of interesting people, to stories, and to ideas.

As a mom who struggled to have a baby, and then struggled after pregnancy for several years, I feel like I’m finally coming into that place of being inspired by my own child. My daughter is 5-years-old now, and the stuff that she thinks about and talks about astounds me. I love her perspective on life, and hope to encourage her creativity, individuality, curiosity. I don’t want her to ever feel there are limits.

Being able to create and share what I create and to be able to connect with other people is inspiring to me. The Internet opened my eyes in 1987, and literally changed my life in 1992. I am inspired by the world, really. By people all around the world.

What do you have planned next for 2012?

The next part of the line in my LinkedIn profile after ”I am the wearer of many colorful hats” is: “I love reinvention.” Every end-of-year, I go through a personal inventory of what I’ve done, and what else I hope to do. Then I shift gears, move in new directions, choose different paths. I will still bring some of what I’ve been doing – writing, speaking, consulting – into the New Year, but I’m really interested in finding new ways to share my knowledge with others in ways that are useful and valuable to them.

As a Sagittarius, I see more travel in my future but will also be more mindful of not being apart from my family as much as I was in 2011. So I’ll have to be more selective about where I go and why. I’m definitely going to take more advantage of video conferencing and video in general.

And I’ve been getting hired more and more to create and lead educational webinars about new media, social media, online marketing, and technology – so that fits perfectly into my vision of sharing information in new ways. I used to say in the early days of the Web, “Have modem, will travel.” Of course, the 2012 version of that is probably “Have iPhone, iPad, and wifi….can travel or work anywhere.”

Next up in our  “Persuasive Women” interview series is Alison Sansone. Alison is the creator of ‘Be There Bedtime Stories’, a webcam storytelling platform inspired by Alison’s own desire to connect with her two far-away toddler nieces and “be there” during the girls’  formative years.  Prior to the launch of this business, Alison was running her own video marketing business – specifically producing media for the web.  By partnering strategically with Reach Out and Read, Alison is working to raise awareness about the literacy benefits of reading to children each day.  Alison is not only connecting families and encouraging literacy, but is supporting our troops by allowing users to donate a Webtime Story to military families — these stories are distributed through our nonprofit partner, Blue Star Families, and provide an instant family connection and morale boost for soldiers.

Can you explain “webcam storytelling” and where the idea came from?

Be There Bedtime Stories is a website that combines a webcam with bedtime stories to deliver “Webtime Stories™”.  We position webcam-recorded video of a storyteller onto the page of a children’s e-book, so families far apart – such as grandparents, traveling parents, military parents or even aunts and uncles – can still ‘be there’ for this age-old storytelling tradition.

I came up with the idea because I don’t have children of my own and my only two nieces live 2000 miles away, in Chicago. It was really frustrating to not be recognized when I would visit and I wanted to be a part of those really neat memories that we all have from childhood – I wanted to make an impact on their lives. I was running my own video marketing production company at the time and, so, the idea of combining video media with something for kids kept making its way to the frontal lobe region of my brain and… wah-lah! Video bedtime stories appeared!

I like to think that families can build relationships and build readers through these read-aloud video recordings. We’re really proud to have Reach Out and Read as a strategic partner in raising awareness about the literacy benefits of simply reading aloud daily to a child. It can easily dispel the concerns of introducing digital media to kids.

Once you had the initial idea to start a business, how did you begin the process of actually getting the business up and running? Did you encounter any obstacles at this stage?

First thing I did was build a demo, to make sure that my 3- and 5-year-old nieces would actually dig the concept – they are the ultimate customer! This was the easiest part – can’t say I hit any obstacles here. Because of my background in video production, I was able to shoot video of my parents – their grandparents – reading a story, then edit it according to my vision of the product. They loved it! My father naturally paused on one page to count the hippos and they counted out loud with him. Then at the end of the story, my father made mention of a little inside joke before saying goodnight. Then, right on queue, my niece popped up from her pillow and bantered right back at her grandpa in the video. Both girls were glued to the screen and engaged, yet it was organically interactive despite the fact that it was a recording.

Beyond the demo, I’m a proponent of writing a business plan. The discipline of identifying market research and asking all the product questions before building gave me confidence in the concept and a foundation to stand on when pitching to investors or partners. I was fortunate to have an ace web designer join me in exchange for equity, but not having any other team members to help implement was my biggest obstacle at that point. The work-around was that I had a rockstar advisory team with diverse backgrounds, so I could harvest ideas and affirm certain strategies. Of course, lack of capital is always somewhat of an obstacle, but you just have to be patient with the pace of the build.

The first half of your career was in hospitality. How do you think this experience prepared you to become an entrepreneur?

It was more my corporate experience that has helped than the hospitality aspect. I’ve worked directly with executive level leadership throughout my career and have adopted important management skills as a result.

If you could offer one piece of advice to someone who is considering launching a new start up, what would that be?

Be patient and don’t forget to have fun! Okay, that’s two things, but the balance of those two is the trick. If you can have at least half the skill-set necessary to apply to the project, it will really help; but perhaps of more importance is being patient with what you don’t know. Otherwise, you’ll set unrealistic benchmarks and the frustration will overcrowd the fun. You can still be a learner and a leader at the same time. You’ll find that your passion can be contagious – I am amazed at some of the things people have done for me because I wasn’t afraid to recognize my limitations and ask for help.

Can you tell us a little bit about the types of books you promote on your site (feel free to promote any new ones here)?

Getting quality books in our bookstore is a full-time job in itself. The publishing industry has been completely turned upside down with the e-book revolution over the past 2-3 years, so this is where the patience comes into play, as they are slow to make decisions. I’m so grateful for the handful of smaller publishers that were instantly willing to offer their books for sale on an ‘experimental’ platform. Without Sylvan Dell, Lobster Press, Guardian Angel and Illumination Arts Publishing, I would not have made it this far. And one of my more recent publishers, Faux Paw Productions, offers puppets of the characters in their books, which is the perfect prop for video storytelling.

On the other hand, who doesn’t know of someone that has always wanted to write a children’s book? It’s a classic unfulfilled fantasy. Publishing a storybook in a digital medium is far easier than print, so the playing field has grown tenfold. We’ve had independent artists submit manuscripts from the very beginning and have roughly ten in-house titles in production or on the site, so far. It’s a fantastic bonus part of the business that I didn’t really consider in the plan.

I’m super thrilled about our newest in-house title, by Judy Rubin and Milla Zeltzer, because it happens to tell the story of our product! The title is “When Mama Reads to Me” and it’s about the spark inside a child’s imagination whenever any family member reads a story. It’s a must-read!

What motivates you?

Well, bonding with my little nieces was a mega motivation for me to get started; but the ongoing motivation is fueled by surrounding myself with creative and fun people that share a belief in the value my product brings. I suppose that would include the customers that keep returning because they’ve had the same experience in their family as mine!

What is your favorite book or author and why?

At the risk of sounding cliche, there’s far too many to name. I participate in a book club with a great group of women and run a business in the children’s realm, so you can imagine how difficult it is for me to name just one title.

Can you tell us a little bit about what is next for Be There Bedtime Stories and for yourself?

Most exciting is our tablet app coming out next month – for both the iPad or Android. The holidays are pretty much here, and our Military Family donation drive was a huge success during the holiday season last year – and we expect the same this year. Anyone can visit our website and donate a Webtime Story to our partners at Blue Star Families, so soldiers can connect with their kids while overseas. And, finally, we have an exciting joint campaign in the works for Boston Logan Airport and CBS Radio, which may serve as a pilot program for other airports across the nation.

In addition to consulting and writing, Shelli is a life/leadership coach with the mission to help others create a life of meaning. Her coaching business, Epic Life, is unique in that it offers on-demand coaching throughout the year with an option to include an epic, outdoor adventure in an awe-inspiring place.

Shelli’s own blog is HaveMediaWillTravel.com. Topics include adventure, travel, family, leadership, etc.

Our Q&A:

You are a wife, mother, life coach, writer, consultant… and still find the time to embark on life-changing adventures (such as your backpacking adventure in Alaska). How do you fit it all in?

I make it all fit in. There’s a difference between a full life and a busy life. Mine is a full life.

To fit it all in, one has to know what’s important in her/his life and what isn’t. It sounds cliché, but every morning, I consider that today could be my last. None of us knows how much time we have left. (I have a 52-year-old girlfriend who died, suddenly, of an aneurysm a week ago Wednesday.)

If today will be my last, how will I live it? Ask this question, seriously, and you get to the heart of what’s important real fast. This type of thinking is a motivator that helps me fit all that is important into my day, and to not waste time on that which isn’t.

Speaking of important, my husband of 19 years, Jerry, and our three sons, are wonderful blessings and a huge support in my life. Without them, my life would not be full. They deserve a lot of credit for my life.

There are more practical reasons I am able to fit it all in. For one, I wake up and work out at 4 a.m. three times a week. After we had our first son, it was 6 a.m. After our second son, it was 5 a. m. After our third son, who is 4, it became 4 a.m. Waking this early works well for me. It “creates” time for me, energizes me, which causes me to be more productive during the day, and it provides a tremendous health benefit.

Second, I live by my calendar. I put a lot of emphasis on planning each month, and then I stick to the plan. If I set “rules,” I tend to honor them. Good planning means I can tackle one day at a time, focusing on the present – rather than worrying about the future. (This is no small thing for me, a predisposed worrier.)

Third, I live on the Frontier of Wyoming, which means my commute, if I choose to have one, is an 8-minute walk or a 2-minute drive. (My office is a 1973 RV parked by the river.) When you live in a small town, where everything is nearby, there’s not much time spent running errands or to appointments. So, I no doubt have more available time in my life because I live in a small town.

Fourth, inspired people tend to be more vital. Wyoming provides me not only with more time, but also more space. I love the expansiveness of my backyard, Wyoming’s Wind River Range. All of the things my family and I enjoy doing, and that most inspire me, are right here. Most days, I wake up inspired.

Finally, I say “no” a lot. When you get to be 43, and you’re a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, business owner and adventure-seeker, you have to say “no” more often, or suffer the consequences. Like I said, life is short.

As for fitting in epic adventures, I include a number of them in my life each year. These are not vacations. There’s nothing leisurely about them. They grow and inspire me. I become more as a result of them. And, interestingly, except for my recent NOLS Alaska Brooks Range backpacking adventure, these adventures are not costing me much in the way of time. For example, it cost me only one day (23 hours) to hike 44 miles, crossing the Grand Canyon and back, and another long day (20 hours) to hike 48 miles across Zion National Park. Yet what I gain from a single-day, epic adventure, is lasting.

I should mention that I don’t fit it all in, 365 days a year. Some days I fail miserably at doing so. The wheels come off; things happen that weren’t planned, or I am just tired, and I waste a day or three. But, hopefully, this is the exception, not the rule.

On your blog, you talk a lot about “route finding.” Can you explain this concept a bit further?

By “route finding,” I mean being at choice in life. We go through each day, week, month, year and decade with endless opportunities to choose how we want to live our life. Routes represent choices. In life, you arrive at forks in the road. You can take a common route or get off the trail and chart your own course. Route finding is a metaphor I can relate to because in the outdoors, I route find a lot. I often follow a trail, but I also like to go off-trail for purposes of exploring and to experience a different vantage. Sometimes one choice is harder, but the rewards are greater. Or, it could be that the hard way is just the right way. Or, sometimes it just makes practical sense to take the safe and easy way.

We make choices and we are, largely, the result of them. Our life is a story. The key is to have an active role in that story, and to actively choose and determine how your story plays out. Route finding refers to the choices we make along the way that impact our life. (Choices, by the way, also include choosing how to react when things don’t go as planned.)

In your adventures, you have pushed yourself to take the “high route” and push yourself more physically. What motivates you to continuously challenge yourself in this manner?

Family hikes, ski trips, trail runs and bike rides are physical pursuits that inspire me and keep me fit and healthy. These activities are fun and they fill me up, while creating wonderful family memories.

On the other hand, an adventure that pushes me physically, mentally and emotionally, and makes me uncomfortable much of the time, is what I call “epic.” Why do I do these epic adventures is a question I get asked a lot. There are moments during an epic adventure that take my breath away and fill me with overwhelming joy. This is why I’m drawn to natural, awe-inspiring settings in the first place. It’s a given that the views will take my breath away, and yes, that’s a big selling point for me when it comes to an epic adventure. But that is only the beginning.

There are also mentally challenging moments during an epic adventure when I want to quit, and in fact it would be easier to quit, and I may exclaim to myself, “Whose idea was this?” These are the times my saboteur shows up. And let me tell you, I can negotiate and argue with myself pretty effectively to continue – or to quit. I can make compelling arguments on both sides of the issue, but I only want the story to end in one way, and that is as a success. The whole experience causes you to discover and know yourself; there’s no hiding. The kind of pushing myself that is required of these epic adventures means I will have this opportunity to choose the hard thing, to beat down my saboteur(s), so to speak.

In my experience, the harder I work at something, the greater the reward. The view is always grander after hiking up a hill. And, chances are I’ve learned a great deal more in the process than had I stayed on the (safer, more predictable) trail, or on “lower ground.” So, the more physically challenging an adventure is, the bigger the pay off. No doubt, the accomplishment is part of the lure. The accomplishments mean something to me, and help me, in all areas of life when I lack courage or confidence.

There are also moments during these epic hikes when I’m emotionally tender. I am often moved to tears during the later stages of these adventures. The end, which typically amounts to more of a solitary march than a hike, sometimes during the dark of night, is very personal for me. About 95% of the personal growth I experience on an epic adventure happens during this last 5% of it. During this stage, I am humbled, and have the most clarity about what’s most important in my life. It makes for a great ending. This emotional part of the adventure, despite its difficulty, is one of the reasons I keep going back for more. It is what makes me more, and better than I was before.

Although building a business isn’t physical, it has similarities to an epic adventure. Building our first business, Yellowstone Journal Corporation/NationalParkTrips, over the course of 15 years was like climbing a mountain, complete with hard work, loose terrain, “false summits,” exposure, risks, uncertainty, disappointment, pain, re-routing, falls, storms and other difficult factors. But, ultimately, there were many rewards, which made it all worth it.

Whether it’s in my personal life or a business pursuit, it’s this combination of going further than I have gone before, and expanding all of my capabilities, that grows me, and makes me better. Why wouldn’t I make time for things that make me better? When at your best, you participate in your life more. It’s a lot of work, but as far as I can tell, the result is all upside.

As a goal-oriented person, how do you personally prioritize your goals?

It goes back to the first question. I really try to live like I’m dying. I spend a lot of time getting clear, and reminding myself of who and what are most important in my life. And then my first priority is honoring these people and things. They are at the top of my life. When I’m not honoring one of these, a sort of “service engine soon” alert goes off in me, causing concern (and insomnia).

My family comes first. My cell phone is shut down from Friday evening until early Monday morning. Weekends, especially, are for family, although we have ‘lots of family time and traditions built in during the week, as well. Other important relationships are also a priority, and I schedule time for them. For example, I have a standing date on Wednesday afternoon to have tea with my parents.

I just read a book where the authors interviewed 104 hospice patients. At the end of their lives, when asked what brought them the most joy and meaning, every single one of the patients answered: relationships. It wasn’t work or things they did. It was the people in their lives that mattered most. I think this is a good lesson for the rest of us, especially when it comes to prioritizing.

I still have work to do to create more time with family and friends. Then come all the other priorities, which include coaching calls, writing, marketing, consulting, meetings, reading/researching/learning, and the list goes on. Google calendar keeps it all organized for me.

Another tool I use for prioritizing is routine. I try to create good habits and then develop them into routine. Routine means not having to spend energy or self-control on making decisions throughout the day and week.

Finally, this may seem like an answer to a different question, but because it’s a priority it comes up for me. We each have one body. Why wouldn’t we want it to operate optimally. Eat right and exercise and you have more energy. Everything is better. If you value your life, taking care of your health has to be a top priority. For me, it’s non-negotiable.

Have you ever encountered someone or something that has gotten in the way of attaining a goal? How did you handle it?

Sure. Often. Usually it’s myself, or my own limiting beliefs, that get in the way. I am impatient. While at times this serves me, it also costs me. I often will not achieve a goal because I try to force the timing of it. Out of my impatience, I will fight the current instead of going with the flow. I’m sure I have worn people out with my impatience. Being more patient is a forever goal for me.

I have abandoned goals when success seems unlikely. I don’t like failure, but I sure value it. I also remind myself that I’m not saving lives. Because I’m so goal-oriented it’s easy for me to get consumed by a goal and lose perspective. I’m getting better at detecting this earlier and more often during the process of trying to achieve a goal, but it’s an ongoing effort.

You have traveled quite extensively, but what is your favorite spot to visit?

Oh, I can’t answer this. The question is unreasonable! Seriously, I am very lucky to be living in my favorite place, Wyoming’s Wind River Range. My favorite travel spot is probably a national park – probably Yellowstone. But asking someone to name their favorite national park is like asking them to say whom their favorite brother or sister is. I love each national park for its own reasons. My favorite national parks are Yellowstone, Zion, Grand Teton, Grand Canyon and Yosemite. For cities (and culture shock), I love San Francisco and New York City. For leisure? Hawaii. Oh Hawaii, how I love thee.

What is your favorite movie or book?

I love movies, but I don’t have a favorite. Reading, on the other hand, is one of my passions. I’m a voracious reader. It’s hard for me to choose a single favorite. But, some favorites that represent a cross section, are: The Solace of Open Spaces, by Gretel Ehrlich; Endurance, by Alfred Lansing; The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig; A Pearl in the Storm, by Tori Murden McClure; Tuesdays with Morrie, by Mitch Albom; Good to Great, by Jim Collins; and Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell.

What is your next goal (what do you have planned next)? Could you tell us a little bit about your leadership coaching business?

My focus right now is developing my life/leadership coaching business,  Epic Life. The work I want to do is inspire people to live as if they’re dying, as if every day matters. I will be asking my clients to invest six months to a year with me to do the work and make the changes that are necessary to create a life of meaning.

As my client’s life coach I am their champion, but I am more than that. I remind, and hold my client accountable, to what their life purpose is and to what they say they want their life to be.

In 2005, I hired a life coach, and it had a tremendous impact on my life. Today, even with a full life, I continue to work with a life coach. Having a champion in my corner, cheering me, but also holding me accountable, is of great value.

As a life/leadership coach, I want the hard cases. I want clients who are willing to work hard, to make hard, positive change. I think life should take your breath away. We should strive for an epic life.  Epic Life’s core offering is unique in that it combines year-round coaching (scheduled monthly, or used “on demand”), with an epic adventure. The adventure will be a sunrise-to-sunset, unforgettable experience in an awe-inspiring location.

The epic adventure serves as a platform from which clients will grow and be able to practice for life’s hardships and challenges. Part of the unique proposition of Epic Life is “leveling up” my clients. I want to choose an adventure that my client isn’t certain he/she can do, but that I know he/she can do.

Finding an adventure that will inspire my client is the easy part. To be effective, the adventure needs to also test them physically, emotionally and mentally. For example, if I have a client from San Francisco who has not hiked more than six miles in a day in the Marin Headlands, I might select 10-mile and/or all-day hike at altitude for his/her epic adventure.

My clients will gain an unforgettable experience, a significant accomplishment (inc. “bragging rights”), inspiration, expanded leadership, more confidence, increased emotional range, a health benefit, and a greater mental toughness and resilience that will serve, and better prepare, them for life’s challenges and hardships.

If I do my job well, my client will return more, and better, than he/she was before the experience. (The website and fan page for the business is under development; for information, email Shelli.)

I’m also starting work on a dream project that involves producing and publishing and what I hope will be a work that facilitates a legacy of inspirational wisdom. It is still very much in development.

Shelli Johnson’s blog is HaveMediaWillTravel.com, which includes posts about travel, adventures, life and leadership, personal development, fitness, nutrition and more.

We are thrilled to continue our series of “Persuasive Women” interviews with top female influencers.  We recently caught up with Audrey McClelland of MomGenerations.com to ask her some questions about digital motherhood and her new book “The Digital Mom Handbook.”

Audrey is a busy mom of four young boys and a founder of the very popular website MomGenerations.com – a hip, online destination for moms, featuring daily fashion news for moms and kids, fabulous giveaways, smart family advice and the latest celebrity news.  Audrey also serves as the Beauty & Style Editor on Lifetime Moms and Fashion Editor on Blissfully Domestic. Audrey was named as one of “The Power Pack” Moms in Nielson’s Online 2009 Power Moms list.  Her “Mom Fashion Report” airs on The Pulse Network on Wednesdays at 1PM.  She’s also a contributor to the ever-popular Momversation.  She is a vlogger for Johnson & Johnson’s “Real Moms” Health Channel, one of Hanes’ Social Media Comfort Crew members, was a member of the Walmart Moms Social Media program, and she holds a position on Hasbro’s Playskool Panel. She’s also the spokesperson for Zulily.com.  Audrey also partners with Vera Sweeney on another endeavor, Getting Gorgeous Events.

You have made a career out of blogging and tweeting and you often refer to yourself as a “Digital Mom.” What exactly is your definition of a “Digital Mom”?

I define being a Digital Mom as a mom who is working /living/playing in the digital space. I have made my living from blogging, tweeting, shooting YouTube videos… the realm has always been digital. I feel that with the emergence of all of these social media tools – more and more moms are going to be calling themselves Digital Moms. Our life as a mom is digitalized.

In your new book “The Digital Mom Handbook,” you offer tips and advice to other aspiring work at home moms.  If people take just one thing away from this book, what do you hope it is?

I would hope the one take-away would be that the more you put into your blog/Twitter/Facebook/YouTube, the more you’re going to get out of it. I’m not saying you need to be working 24 hours a day, 7 days a week… but I really feel the best kept secret is consistency. The more you put out there, the more you do… the better chances you have to grow and grow.

Have you ever had a “bad mommy moment” where you found yourself struggling with work and family life balance? How did you push through it?

OMG… all the time! LOL… just ask my husband!

I don’t know if there is anything as the perfect balance. My kids are too young to understand that what I do is for them.  They don’t understand deadlines or projects or business trips. So I’m consistently trying my best to conduct this balancing act of mom, wife, businesswoman, daughter, sister, etc. I do have one rule… when it’s dinnertime, everything is shut off.

If you could take your family on a vacation anywhere in the world, where would it be?

I would love to take my family to Hawaii! All of the boys – and even my parents and in-laws – so that my husband Matt and I could have a couple of nights out!

How do you disconnect from your work?

It’s funny… I’ve been trying to get better at this. I love reality TV… I’m not kidding, my life stops for Bravo! The Housewives are my girls. I love Rachel Zoe. She’s a fashion goddess in my home. I love disconnecting with a really great movie and/or a really great book.

What is your favorite tech gadget and why?

My iPhone. I know that it’s not the most creative answer, but my iPhone is my saving grace. My life is in that phone – emails, calendar, videos, photos, Twitter, Facebook, everything!

Was it tough making the move from New York City to Providence? What do you miss about NYC? What do you not miss?

Yes and no…

Yes, because I truly love – love – love the City. I know I’m one of those people that could have lived in NYC forever and never minded that at all. I miss the hustle and bustle. I miss that someone’s always up and something’s always going on.

But… I didn’t want to raise our family there. I knew I wanted to raise them in a small neighborhood, in a house with a driveway and backyard. I felt that was the best thing to do for them. And I don’t regret the decision one bit.

(Although, I do get to be in NYC almost every week, so it does balance out.)

The first ”Persuasive Woman”  we are featuring in this series is none other than the fabulous and witty, Melanie Notkin, otherwise known as “SavvyAuntie.”  Melanie is the founder of SavvyAuntie.com, an online community for aunts (Aunties by Relation, Aunties by Choice, Great-Aunts, Godmothers, and all women who love kids) and author of the best-selling book Savvy Auntie: The Ultimate Guide for Cool Aunts, Great-Aunts, Godmothers, and All Women Who Love Kids.  Melanie has over 17,000 followers on Twitter and is known as one of the most powerful women in social media.  Her site is on the Forbes Top 100 Sites for Women list and Melanie’s column over at Huffington Post is both entertaining and thought provoking.

You can follow Melanie on Twitter (@savvyauntie), check out her site SavvyAuntie, or join in the fun on Facebook at Facebook.com/SavvyAuntie. We hope you enjoy this new series and please feel free to share your comments below.

You recently celebrated three years of SavvyAuntie.com.  Has it turned out to be what you expected? Is it what you envisioned many years ago?

Savvy Auntie has turned out even better than I expected. I had always envisioned Savvy Auntie to be a multiplatform media company, and with the addition of popular social media platforms, TV appearances, spokesperson gigs and a national best-selling book – that it is! But the journey I’ve been on is most wonderfully surprising. Finding potential I hadn’t realized until now has been the best reward.

A lot of us have ideas from time to time and many of us sit idle waiting to find the time to commit to the new project or idea. How did you push yourself to move forward with this concept?

I woke up one day in June 2007 and decided I was an entrepreneur. That morning I went to a class on how to write a business plan. It wasn’t the right class for me – but I was determined to do something that day to move forward. It was about momentum. I started to invest time and money in the business. And I never looked back. I knew if I did, my idea would turn into a statue of salt and I’d never move forward. You just have to keep going.

What was the biggest hurdle as you worked on growing the business?

I’m self-funded so what I earn goes back into growing the business. Bandwidth suffers from that but I felt if I took investment dollars, I’d be following someone else’s vision for my brand. That’s not why I became an entrepreneur.

Who was your biggest supporter?

Me.

If you could name one thing that truly made a difference in bringing your business to the next level, what was it?

Unconditional belief in myself and my business.

You recently published your first book which has become a best seller.  Will there be another book and if so, what can we expect?

I’m working on what that will be now! It’s very exciting. If it happens, it will be much more personal and closer to the voice I have in my Huffington Post column.

What TV or movie character are you most like?

If I had to pick one, I’d have to say Carrie Bradshaw from Sex and the City - but I have more faults, fewer shoes, and bigger ambitions.

If you could have dinner with one big celebrity, who would it be and why?

Jennifer Aniston. We’re the same age. No kids – and I think she handles the pressure about that extraordinarily well. I think we’d be friends… No point just having dinner if it can’t lead to Sunday brunch one day soon after.

What’s next for SavvyAuntie.com. Are there any new features to be added or new partnerships you would like our audience to know about?

Well, I just launched SMITTEN by Savvy Auntie: Deals Curated with Love by Melanie Notkin. It’s a partnership with Saveology so I can bring the Auntourage deals designed just for them and their lifestyle. https://www.saveology.com/offers/savvyauntie. There’s more to come but I can’t talk about it just yet. Needless to say, I’m thrilled and excited for what’s next.

photo credit: Ana Schechter

Q: Robert, as the author of PCWorld‘s Simply Business, a popular business productivity blog, you must have some keen insights on top productivity killers. Give us your take.

A: My biggest productivity killer is interruption. Moving my attention away from a task to deal with an interruption — whether it’s an incoming call, an IM, or an email — makes it difficult to pick up where I left off once I return to the task. I often find myself spending ten minutes or more just reviewing my train of thought before I can get back into a state of flow with the task. So for me, the central focus of my productivity system is the elimination of distractions. One of my favorite tools for this is the Pomodoro Technique, in which I turn off all possible distractions (close my inbox, turn off IM, ignore the phone) and set a timer for 25 minutes. I work single-mindedly on one thing for a solid 25 minutes, then give myself a 5 minute break to get coffee, check email, etc., before diving back in for another Pomodoro session.

My second biggest productivity killer is a failure to capture commitments. In general, if I capture a commitment in one of my inboxes the moment it arises, I can be sure that I’ll deal with it appropriately. But if I don’t capture it the moment it arises, there’s a good chance I’ll never deal with it at all. It might as well never have come up in the first place.

Q: What’s a day in the life like for you? On average how many emails do you get a day?

A: A little over a hundred emails a day make it past my spam filter. Of these, about 70% are press releases and general information. Of the remaining 30 or so, about half actually require some overt action or attention from me, while the rest are mostly threads on which others have included me for CYA purposes.

My work day is split between my primary responsibilities for researching and creating and/or editing content and skimming through various information sources (including the press releases and FYI emails that comprise 70% of my inbox) to spot possible new stories.

Q: What tools do you use to manage your inbox?

A: I’ve played with a lot of tools to manage my inbox, but in practice I rely on methodology rather than technology. My inbox is a Google Premier account, so I use some Gmail Labs add-ons (mostly super stars) to tag messages. The rest of my methodology is a combination of labeling and zero-inbox. Apart from these, I do like to use Nudgemail for messages that require my attention at a later time, so as to keep my inbox empty while not losing sight of pending tasks indefinitely. The problem with Nudgemail, I find, is that it acts like any other snooze button, and it’s all too easy to hit ‘snooze’ a few dozen times too many.

Q: What social networks do you utilize? Do you find story ideas this way?

A: I use Facebook and Twitter, and lately, Google+. I’ve discovered some interesting stories via Twitter, and I like it as a low-friction source of PR pitches and tips. In many ways, I prefer Twitter to e-mail, because it forces brevity where e-mail permits rambling. Most PR pitches are, in my opinion, way too long to be interesting, and I can recall a few instances where a given pitch failed to catch my eye via e-mail but managed to draw my interest in a <140-character tweet.

Facebook is good for polling peers and audiences, but I’ve never “discovered” a story there. It’s too chatty for that sort of thing.

Google+ looks like another Facebook, so far.

In general, social networks have limited value for me in story generation, because they promote a herding effect. If a story is trending on Twitter, chances are it’s also trending on news aggregators and in my e-mail inbox. So I still rely on old-fashioned brainstorming when I want to discover a story topic beyond what’s dominating the tech news world this week.

Q: What’s your favorite thing about how social media is impacting tech news and business? Your least favorite?

A: I think the best contribution social media has made to tech news and business is that it’s allowed (“forced,” some might say) what was once a fairly static, monolithic information culture to embrace pluralism by giving consumers and audiences a voice. This has arguably contributed to a more responsive media culture and a more responsive business culture. At the same time, the social media feedback loop between audiences/consumers and media/business can lead to another kind of information monoculture in which media and businesses strive to give consumers and audiences more of what they seem to want, which amplifies popular themes in a sort of fun-house mirror distortion of what people want. Eli Pariser talks about this at length in “The Filter Bubble,” and I think could prove to be one of the most pressing social problems of the information age.

Q: Do you ever black list PR people? What would push you to do that?

A: I’ve “blacklisted” two PR people in the last 15 years. Both cases involved daily (in one case, multiple times daily) emails and/or phone calls about topics that had nothing to do with my areas of interest. One of them was a guy who auto-sent me daily reminders, for weeks on end, to update my profile in his company’s database. No working member of the press has time for that kind of stuff. The other was a person who sent me multiple off-topic pitches daily, complete with lengthy voice messages–literally about miraculous skin creams and diet products. Just nonsense with no regard for who she was calling.

Q: What tips would you give to PR people that would make working with them easier?

A: Phones are dead. I almost never use them for business communication anymore. One email per week, per subject, per contact. If a reporter hasn’t responded to your first follow-up email, they’re not interested. Sending third email on the same subject is more likely to undermine the reporter’s perception of your next pitch than to generate interest in the current one. Whatever it says about the myth of unbiased journalism, all journalists are more responsive to pitches from PR people they like and respect than pitches from PR people they find annoying. I wouldn’t have taken the time to do this interview for a PR person I didn’t like.

Q: What is your take on managing “digital distractions”? As a professional? As a parent?

A: I think the best definition of “distractions” is a lot like my favorite definition of “weeds.” Weeds are just plants out of place. Likewise, distractions are just calls for attention at inopportune times. My preferred way to guard against distractions also bears some resemblance to my preferred way to guard against weeds: have a full, healthy garden. By proactively determining how I focus my attention throughout the day, I give myself permission to ignore inputs and calls for attention that are extraneous to a present task. I also allot time for seeking or accepting “random” inputs, as well as time for just plain screwing around.

Q: If you weren’t a journalist, what would you be doing now?

A: If I weren’t a journalist, I’d probably be a either a winemaker or an academic. I’m drawn to intricate processes that intersect the practical and the aesthetic. In college I was split between my first love of writing and a fascination with anthropology. I chose writing, and ended up drawn to tech, which is nothing if not an intricate intersection of the practical and the aesthetic.

Q: What is your #1 tip for busy people to achieve personal and professional productivity?

A: Know your purpose. That is, decide what you really want to accomplish, in ultimate terms, in whatever aspect of life you’re engaging, and determine subordinate goals and actions accordingly. I think it’s folly to pretend that “reducing human suffering” is a less worthy professional goal than “increasing shareholder value” or “maximizing revenue.” If you haven’t considered your ultimate purpose and settled on at least one grand mission that satisfies your greater self, you’ll never be able to confidently invest your full attention in any given task, no matter how small.

We took a few minutes to sit down with one of our favorite journalists, Steve Strauss from USAToday.

Steve, who is often called “the country’s leading small business expert,” is a lawyer, author, and USATODAY.com columnist. His latest book is the Small Business Bible. Steve is also a speaker in high demand who has spoken around the world about entrepreneurship, including at the United Nations. He has been seen on CNN, CNBC, MSNBC, The O’Reilly Factor, and many other shows.

What is the role of a media relations person for today’s journalist?

It is two-fold. Your job is to get your client’s name out there – and if you can help a journalist get their job done easier, then it’s a home run.

What kind of things are you looking for/writing about in the next few months?

I’m always looking for new angles around small business, something that is of general interest to a lot of small business people—something they don’t already know. A unique take or an innovative angle is always much appreciated.

How is the outlook for small business in this economy?

Everyone is past the survival mode they were in for the last two years and now they are figuring out how to grow.

What are your readers challenged by these days?

One issue that keeps coming up is how to manage social media. How much, how to make it pay off, how to make money doing it, etc.

How do you want to receive information?

I hate press releases. In fact, I occasionally give a speech that encourages people not to use a traditional press release. I like email – short, quick and snappy—from someone who knows who I am and what I am about. I’m frustrated by someone who just puts my name on a list. But, if someone knows my beat, that will really pique my interest and then I’m more likely to listen to their pitch. A short, snappy directed email works best for me.

Do you have an example of a good PR pitch?

A former journalist-turned-PR person sent me an inquiry that was just about getting to know what I wanted. No pitch, no client information. Just a basic “what can I do for you” note. That really resonated with me.

An example gone wrong?

Someone asked me to write a story, and I said yes. They provided me with the information and it sat there for a while. I just got busy. I let her know I’d write the story, I just didn’t know when. She wouldn’t stop. I understand follow up, we all have to do it. But there is a line you can’t cross. I wrote the story but I asked her not to contact me anymore.

Bringing together Internet executives, senior marketers, entrepreneurs and investors, this years speakers represented companies like Google, Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Yahoo!, Go Daddy, AutoTrader.com, and more. Speakers presented on topics ranging from Social Media, to Mobile, Online Video, Cloud Computing, Real-time, Analytics, Online Advertising, and E-commerce.

The TIMA Summit Party was also a huge success! Hosted by TIMA and co-sponsored by DesignBox – who provided the awesome venue – and MediaTwo Interactive, some have said this year’s party was one of the best events tied to the Tech/Social Media community of Raleigh.

The following video offers a small taste of how great the event was and features a few of the party attendees sharing their predictions for 2011. What do you think will be the hot trends for 2011? What do you think about some of the predictions shared in this video? Share your response in the comments section below – and thanks for watching!

During this interview, Wayne shares great insight on the location based services market landscape, how it works and what it means for consumers. And, most importantly, what retailers and brands need to think about when considering a location-based campaign as part of their marketing strategy.

Marketers – considering geolocation or location-based services as part of your future marketing campaigns? Which services are you reviewing and why? How will location tie into your online and offline initiatives? We’d love to hear from you in the comments!

For those that may not know Wayne, he holds nearly 10 years of experience in technology and social media. He is the Business Development/Marketing Strategist for TriOut, a location-based services application developed to help individuals explore the Triangle area and discover its cultural treasures. Wayne is also a consultant, helping start-ups and established businesses succeed in understanding how to best communicate their brand strategy through social media, as well as location-based services.

In this first of a two-part series, Wayne shares three tips for new entrepreneurs thinking about launching in today’s market:

• Hire good people you can trust
• Build a revenue model that adds value and solves a problem
• Try not to spend or take money if you don’t need it

He also gives his take on the Raleigh tech/social media scene.

I hope you enjoy the interview  – our Part II interview will feature Wayne talking about the impact of location-based services on corporate marketing strategies. What should marketers be thinking about as they plan their 2011 Marketing budgets? We’d love to get your thoughts/advice.

PlanetMagpie is a technology and design partner of PerkettPR. They specialize in delivering IT Consulting, Web Design, App Development, Web Marketing, Hosting and Comprehensive Network Support.

Where did the name PlanetMagpie come from?

Our dog Magpie, a black lab, was the company’s mascot. She embodied all the traits we believe any good business should have.  She was fun, smart, a great friend, incredibly loyal and worked really hard to please us. That’s what a true partner should be.

What do you like about living and working in the Bay Area?

I love that there are a million things to do here – plus the lack of mosquitoes and cold weather!

How did you get into tech?

My husband Robert incorporated PlanetMagpie in 1998. Five years ago the business had grown to a size where he needed additional support in marketing so he recruited me to help out. Prior to that, I was in legal marketing and recruiting for 15 years, most recently with the second largest law firm in California; Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, probably best known for representing President Bush in Bush v. Gore.

What are three things small business owners and entrepreneurs should be sure to have in place when launching a new company?

1)      A solid IT infrastructure that can grow with them

2)      An identity and brand that inspires employees, customers and partners

3)      A customized, professional website that captures who they are; custom sites are not that much more expensive than template sites and are worth the investment.

What sticks out to you like a sore thumb when you see a badly designed website?

1)      The site is disorganized and all over the place

2)      There isn’t a clear message of who they are and what they do. That is particularly frustrating to a marketer because what they don’t realize is people will leave immediately if they can’t get a feel for what you can offer them.

What are some of the pitfalls or security risks businesses should be aware of when setting up their IT infrastructure?

Be sure to consult with an expert. Just because Microsoft (or any vendor) says a certain software or system will suffice for your business “up to 50 people,” doesn’t mean it will perform equally fast whether you have 1 or 50 people using it.  We see systems meant for 50 slowing down at 20, and that can hurt your productivity.  Build your systems based on your planned growth and be sure they fit your needs for the foreseeable future.  Consulting with someone who has built/used/implemented these systems in the past is your best bet for ensuring you are set up for success.

What advice do you have for entrepreneurs starting their own business today?

After “Don’t do it?” :)

I think the most important thing to remember is what starts twisted will stay twisted. If you don’t have a vision and a plan in place to execute on that vision in an organized way you won’t succeed. Ask yourself, “What is the right way to do this?” – then plan it out from there. A lot of entrepreneurs will just take it as it comes and roll with the punches but they need to develop a plan first.

Secondly, I would say find the right employees and partners. No one gets there alone, and you need to have good people you can trust, that are reliable and loyal to move your business forward. Once you find those people hang on to them. They are the ones that will help you protect your company.

As a working mom and business executive/owner what do you find gets lost in the shuffle most?

Working on our house, which we love to do.  When the economy started taking a turn, we had to abandon our house renovation project mid-stream and devote all our attention to the company.  That was about 2-1/2 years ago.  When we start working on our house again, that will be proof positive to me that the recession is behind us.

What is your favorite tech gadget and why?

If I could only have one tech toy for work, it would be Microsoft Office Communications Server.  The “presence” and “IM” features of OCS are indispensable. My web development team’s collaboration and work efficiency went way up after we implemented those tools.  We can’t work without them anymore.

What inspires you to work as hard as you do?

I guess it’s the midfielder in me.  I don’t stop running until the referee blows his whistle … and that’s usually around 1 a.m.!  But seriously, I do it for Robert and the kids.  For Robert, because I’ve never met a harder working person more deserving of success.  For our kids, because I want to be able to leave them something tangible when we’re gone, to make their lives a little easier and to make sure they have a common place to gather and call home.

What are your favorite blogs?

I like Women on Business, The Business Insider (Silicon Alley Insider), and ReadWriteWeb.  I’m still trying to find a favorite blog on web design/development.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in tech?

If I could do it all over again, I would be a professional soccer player. I play on three soccer teams and absolutely love it.

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If you are interested in learning more about PlanetMagpie’s services visit PlanetMagpie or contact Doreyne directly at: doreyne [dot] douglas [at] planetmagpie [dot com]

“Social media is still media – it’s not anything new.” Watch the video to learn more, and be sure to check out Part 1 of the interview if you haven’t seen it yet.

Thanks again to Ilena for sharing her time and insights with us – and you!

NOTE: We continue our interview series of influencers, media and entrepreneurs across industries such as tech, fashion and healthcare. If you have an interesting subject for us to consider, please email blog [at] perkettpr [dot] com!

Ilina is a firecracker. That is the word that most use to describe her. She is the definition of a straight-shooter and that is what I love about her. Your classic Type-A, she is a self-proclaimed ‘neat freak’, die-hard Democrat and mother of two boys. In her ‘spare’ time Illina runs her own marketing company, iFactor, and also finds time to write for multiple blogs including Foodie Mamma and Deep South Moms and is a regular contributor to WRAL’s GoAsk Mom column. Talk about an effective multitasker!

In this first of a two-part series, Ilina sat down to talk to PerkettPR about her gritty – and sometimes controversial – blog Dirt and Noise.  In this interview, she shares background on what inspires the content for her blog, what postings garner the most attention – both positive and negative – and offers sound advice for others who are thinking about dipping their toe into the blogging pool.

NOTE: We’re reviving our interview series of influencers, media and entrepreneurs across industries such as tech, fashion and healthcare. If you have an interesting subject for us to consider, please email blog [at] perkettpr [dot] com!

While Robert now has a corporate job as a video blogger for Rackspace – where he is building a community for people fanatical about the Internet called building43, he has long been a technical evangelist. Also a published author of Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, with Shel Israel, Scoble is probably best known for his blog, Scobleizer, which came to prominence during his tenure as a technical evangelist at Microsoft and is now unarguably one of the top tech blogs around. Scoble also used to work for Fast Company as a video blogger, where he learned his fair share of dealing with PR people.

PerkettPR sat down with Scoble recently and asked his opinion on everything from how kids influence his perspective to what his favorite sites are (hint: tweet, tweet) and how he uses them, to what he wanted to be when he grew up. Here, in Part I of our two-part series, you get to know a little bit about how he got started (there were only about 200 blogs around when he did!).