Keyboard Karma ~ by Helen Crozier

Friday night $2 bubbles to start the weekend

To end a week which seems to have been hurtling at breakneck speed I met with a small group of small business women at the Blues Point Hotel. My parking karma was in horrific form so I was running very late. Driving round and round the block waiting hoping wishing for a space that did not want to eventuate was a very frustrating exercise. I made it into the hotel just before 7pm so was able to claim one of the last glasses of 'friday night $2 bubbles'. What a cheap night out!!

The company however was by no means 'cheap'. It was a great group of women and with the exception of two whom I had met independently there were three more that I 'knew' only because of twitter. I was most excited because I had been chatting with Valerie Khoo for some months virtually and finally it was time to meet her in the flesh! Having read her great newsletters and fun tweets I felt as if I already knew her extremely well - a bit like internet dating perhaps!! There was no awkwardness or unsure moments of what to say. We couldn't stop talking about many things... technology, writing, iphones, Biggest Loser etc.

I continue to hear much negative sentiment towards twitter but I would like to reiterate that it is what you make it. If you let the noise flood into your twitter stream and if you yourself tweet meaningless nothings - you will get very little in return. Valerie reminded me that I had helped her out in the early days of when I was on twitter and she was really grateful for that. I didn't do it with any ulterior motive - I was just pleased to give her the contact details of someone who might be helpful for her to know. The two most valuable things about twitter are the chances of deep and meaningful connections/relationships plus the opportunity to use it as a resource or directory just like google.

Yes there's rubbish on there but there is also rubbish on the internet. Filter out the rubbish and you will find gold I promise you!

Special thanks to Catriona Pollard from CP Communications for organising - look forward to the next one! Great to also see Robin Powis from Defining Style, Susanne Thiebe from Less Mess and Karen Andrews of Shine Sales Solutions.

10 absolutely fabulous women - seven of them are on Twitter so start following!

Since joining Twitter in October I've been very lucky to connect with some incredible women. This has led me to provide a list of links to their sites on the left hand column of this blog. If you are low on inspiration or motivation to get you moving towards your purpose or at least finding out what might be your purpose I would strongly suggest that you follow these girls on Twitter.
@JulieAnnStor, @londoncowgirl, @valeriekhoo, @cheyannebrae, @sarahprout, @Ellifordyce, @sammutimer

I've also included three women who I can't seem to find on Twitter (alert me if I've just not been thorough enough in my searching please).
Carla Coulson, Petrea King and Paula Constant.

Ladies, you are as exquisitely beautiful as the water lily I photographed in the grounds of the Alhambra, Spain in September. Your courage, insightfulness, compassion, generosity and drive inspire me to overcome any barriers I have created for myself so that I too might make the journey towards business and personal success, completion, creativity and philanthropy. Thanks to Elli Fordyce who recorded her first CD at 71 I now know there is no age barrier to my dreams but having connected with these wonderful women I feel that I am being drawn to my purpose at a far greater speed. Thank you!

I hope the readers of this post will also benefit from learning about and connecting with these women also. Follow and learn but this is by no means an all inclusive list. I shall be adding links to other ab fab women in due course!

Twitter gives me the warm fuzzies

Happy 2009!  Back from Fiji, survived Christmas/New Year and one 'child's' birthday along with renovations. Is it a holiday when builders are banging on the door at 6.45 each morning? I'm not sure but gradually this house that hasn't been touched in the 12 years we've been here is getting a bit of a facelift. 

I'm still using Twitter and now after almost three months. I've not been madly racing to get hundreds (or thousands) of followers but I've been slowly involving myself with a small group of very interesting and inspiring people and now I'm really enjoying and 'getting' twitter. Sometimes it feels like a tiny window into someone's world that you would otherwise not experience. Other times it feels as if I am in an enormous room and  can hear all the conversations going on. Occasionally someone will start a conversation that I can contribute to and that makes me feel good. What's also kind of cool is that I've just launched my iPhone blog and within my group of people I follow I can see who actually has an iPhone from their tweets. I was thinking for a while that I was a bit of a lone ranger on the iPhone front but now it's great to see I'm in company.

Like anything in this new world Twitter takes time to develop and turn into something useful or worthwhile. I'm loving the way it makes it easy to make good connections and I'm also loving the way everyone loves to share helpful stuff.

What more can I say? Give it a try... go on.

Big Juicy Twitter Guide

I'm studying the validity/usefulness & fun of twitter and came across this excellent guide written by Caroline Middlebrook. It's a superb easy to read comprehensive work - brilliant. Thanks Caroline!! If you have any questions or queries as to whether you should be using twitter or HOW to use it then this guide will have the answers.

Big Juicy Twitter Guide