Tag Archives: Honolulu

career

Plan to Achieve Your Goal in January

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This is our Japanese Daruma doll. During January, Daruma festivals are held in many cities in Japan. Dolls of all sizes and colors are purchased for good luck and prosperity. The armless and legless dolls are named for Dharma, the priest who founded Zen Buddhism.

Made of paper mache or wood, the eyes are usually unpainted when purchased. When goals or intentions are set, one eye of the doll is drawn on. Some Daruma dolls have a slot in the body where the written goal is inserted. As you work on your goal, the doll is a visual reminder.

Daruma 2

January is the beginning of a new year and a fresh start.

Use this time to set your goals and plan for your success. Decide where you want to be in December and the steps required to achieve your goals.

At least once a year, Noel F. Williams and I review our personal and family goals. Together, we make sure our goals are congruent and align with each other. Our goals are written to keep us accountable. During the year, we support and encourage each other.

Reviewing our goals from the past ten years, we can see the progress we made and how our priorities changed. Our Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG) goals span multiple years and we track our progress.

Contact CyberLife Tutors to get back on track with your 2011 goals.

Click on the picture below to see our Daruma doll and how we planned our family and personal goals for this year.

business

Who is THAT?

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Last week I met with Ross Anderson, Regional General Manager for Duke’s Waikiki Restaurants. During our talk, he called over his marketing team to introduce them to me. As he started the introductions, they interrupted him to say “We know April. She is one of our Twitter friends.”‘

April M. Williams
Here is one of April M. Williams profile photos

This instant recognition happened because they viewed my picture within Twitter messages over many months. Through multiple interactions, they felt they knew me.

Why is this so valuable? Because people buy from those they know, like and trust. “Buy” can mean purchasing products, services, referrals or hiring you as an employee.

I can share many similar stories like this where people commented on how easily they recognized me based on my online profile photos. Including a picture in your LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other online networking sites helps others develop a bond with you before you meet in person.

I can also share stories of people who are surprised when they meet someone in person who looks very different from their online photo. Sometimes the pictures are several years old, several pounds ago or from back when they had a full head of hair.

A red flag seems to go up when the real person does not match their photo. Take a look at your online photos. If they are more than a year old, consider giving your online look an update.

event

Tweet up with Chris Pirillo

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This week, I was invited to meet up with Chris Pirillo tech writer for CNN.com, Traci Toguchi, Ryan Ozawa, Vern Brown and other Hawaii friends.

I write for Vern’s Insider’s Guide to Hawaii travel website 808Talk.com.

We met at Tiki’s Grill overlooking Waikiki Beach and the Pacific Ocean. Chris Pirillo set up a Ustream live feed and you can watch some of the video below. Many other Hawaii social networking friends were there and it was fun to see them in real life.