I love to share and teach through telling stories. My stories are often short blurbs told through blogs and images. For years, when writing blog posts, I have proudly stated for that I write like I speak.  I believe in writing in this voice and firmly maintain that on many levels it facilitates a two-way conversation between my readers and me.  My readers often tell me it’s an almost seamless cross over from reading my blog to talking to me in person. I love that and it’s not something I want to change.

Having said that, in everything you do there are times when you realize you have to go back to the basics.  Right now, for me, that involves boning up on my basic grammar. I am, admittedly, a social media junky – blogs, Facebook and Twitter. I love the constant communication and ease of use, but I hate what it’s done to my writing!

When I first started using these tools (mostly Twitter and Facebook), I cringed at every misspelling and poor wording.  I’d tell myself I’m smarter and better educated than that – get it together!  Somewhere along the line, I stopped caring as much. Was it when I saw other very smart people making the same mistakes or when I realized people understood the meaning of what I was saying even if it was written awkwardly?  I’m not sure, but it certain has come back to haunt me!

A friend contacted me about an opportunity in which he thought I’d be interested.  I immediately jumped on it and sent out an introductory email to his acquaintance.  I then heard back from my friend that he was told my email was riddled with typos and I wouldn’t be getting a response.  I couldn’t believe it and was shocked.  Then I got a sinking feeling in my stomach and the word “Grammar” loomed over my head.

Proper use of grammar has always been a weakness. I can either have a dearth or a plethora of commas in my writing.  I have finished sentences with the word for and other similar such mistakes.  This time, though it was a direct wake up call.  I’m a very smart girl and I hate looking dumb but it’s even worse if I drag someone else’s reputation down with me.

I took steps to remedy the situation as best I could.  There are times when you still need your Mom to help you in a jam, especially when she was an English Major and teacher!  I sent her a copy of what I sent out.  We went over everything line by line. I kicked myself the whole way through, as I knew most of what she was telling me.  I then sent two apology notes. One to my friend expressing dismay and apologies for any embarrassment this may have caused him.  The other was to his acquaintance, in which I owned up to my mistakes and asked that he not use this experience to taint any other references my friend may make.  I received a thank-you note back from both of them.

So going forward, I will still use my “speaking” voice when I write, but I am going to work on cleaning up the framework.  I also need to take into close consideration who my final reader is.  In this case, it was not someone in the social media world, but a more formal connection.  I am also looking for a good, basic, remedial grammar book (open to suggestions here).  I never want to be embarrassed like that again!  My take away from all this is two fold: 1) Always remember to and for whom you are writing and 2) Grammar – the rules DO still count!!

Since my last post I put my Grandmother house on the market, sold it in a week, travelled 21 days in a row for work and then threw in a couple of extra days for good measure, committed to a lease in the Baltimore area, started packing and now looking for work in Baltimore!  When it rains it pours!!

But I haven’t forgotten about you all and I have posts spinning in my brain literally jumping to get out.  Bear with me for a few more weeks and all will be back to normal!  Thank-you for hanging with me!!

Under Armour, whether they know it or not, already have a grass roots connection to rowing. Go into any boathouse and I promise you over half of the athletes, from juniors to masters, will be wearing at least one piece of Under Armour apparel. Better yet, right in their own home town is the Baltimore Rowing Club. They can take a morning (a very early morning) and do a little field research for themselves.

Let’s take that thought a little further. Baltimore Rowing holds The Great Baltimore Burn every year. This year it will be held on Feb 6^th. It is an indoor erg race. These indoor races were originally set up to break up the monotony of winter training – painful, painful event I might add. Baltimore Rowing Club bills theirs as being named after the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 and the deep pain you feel in your legs during and after a 2k sprint – yeah barrels of fun! But my point is this is a local event. Under Armour can do some small test marketing here and see how they best connect with the rowing community. From there they can take what they’ve learned and bring it to the Crash B’s (the World Indoor Rowing Championship) and also forge a connection with Concept 2 (the makers of the erg).

Under Armour has a well planned marketing strategy of working with top high school and college teams and there is no reason this wouldn’t work in the rowing community as well. However, I’d also like them to consider a different tactic. The fastest growing segment in the sport of rowing is in the Masters Division – age 21+. Within that division it is women who are leading the way. Find away to connect with these women!

Finally I’ll end with a dream product that if Under Armour could find a way to produce I will fall at their feet!! Get a rower to talk about the shoes attached to the foot stretcher in the boat and you will hear a never ending litany of complaints – they’re to small/large, can’t keep them closed – ties/velcro are worn out, they’re just plain nasty and the list goes on and on. If Under Armour could come up with a quick release type shoe system – maybe something similar to how a bike shoe clips onto a pedal – and each rower could invest in having their own shoes in the boat – you would have rowing gold!

I would love to see Under Armour strengthen their already unofficial ties to rowing. As always I’d be thrilled to discuss any of my ideas with Under Armour in person. And for all you rowers reading this – Stay Long, Row Hard!!

The past 2 years I have been using themes to define my upcoming year. 2008 was the year of “play”. I realized I had forgotten how to enjoy all the little fun things I so enjoyed as a kid. I made it a point to play when ever possible. To that end – I finger painted in the yard with one of my nieces, slept under the stars in the backyard (ok I added an aerobed – my back isn’t as forgiving as it use to be!), rediscovered skinny dipping, got lost in a corn maze and made a snow angel. I had a blast but more importantly my creativity was revived – new ideas came – it was a rebirth of the person I had loved and forgotten – me!

2009 was the year of “being bold”. When you get into a rut you forget to put yourself out there, blinders get put on and change becomes a thing of the past. I wanted to break new ground and went bold in many ways. I formed a partnership and new business – Strawberry Road, finally bought the hot red lipstick I talked about doing for years, physically visited the work sites of complimentary vendors to my industry and asked if they would be interested in a collaboration and I made the decision to move to the Baltimore, Maryland area (still putting the pieces together on that). In each case being bold and moving out of my current comfort zone has been a great success which in turn has made being bold something to be excited about and not feared.

I love to try new things or put a new spin on something I’ve done previously so when I read Chris’ post I thought it was the perfect way to revamp the way I do yearly themes. 2 words came to me immediately. The 3^rd one took more thought but I finally found it. As my work and personal life are so interconnected you will see that my words can and do refer to both areas of my life. Here are my 3 words for 2010.

(Before I share – I learned a really cool trick from a Seth Godin post – go to google – type in define: then a word you want the definition of and it pops up an answer – so cool!!)

define:sleek – well groomed and neatly tailored.

To me this means every aspect of both brands – Lil Blu Dragonfly and Strawberry Road – is tight. The message, the look, etc – is so well put together that you know who it came from and it brings certain expectations and emotions before you even get into the meat of it. For me personally it means making sure that I too have a completed pulled together look when I walk out of the door. I tend to fall into that category of working from home in yoga pants and fleece – when people meet me there is a disconnect between what they see and who I am – I need to be sleeker.

define:ownership – relation of an owner to the thing possessed.

This one comes from conversations I had with a particular person this summer. I met a man who is a contractor and during our conversations it always struck me how he took ownership of his gifts, skills and workmanship. He wasn’t afraid to come out and say I am very, very good at what I do and proud of it. It really impressed me and made me realize 1) I am good at what I do and 2) that I literally wanted to be like Mike – be proud and take ownership in myself and skills. In 2010 I’ll be tooting my own horn more. On the flip side I acknowledge that when I mess up I have to take ownership of that as well.

(PS: Mike really is good at what he does – I’ve seen his work first hand. If anyone in the Baltimore, North Shore area is looking for a reputable, reliable person to help with a home improvement project contact me and I’ll pass his contact information on.)

define:remarkable – unusual or striking.

In my industry we are a dime a dozen. There are photographers in every town and street corner now. I know that for me to continue to grow and work with the people I aspire to work with I can’t be like everyone else – be it marketing, style or presentation. I have to find a way to stand out of the pack and be remarkable. But, and here’s the key – remarkable in a way that is completely me and shows my true self.

So now I have my three words to guide me through the year. As a reminder and to keep me on course I plan on doing something that helps me focus when I work on particular projects. I take a dry erase marker and write what I’m focusing on onto every mirror, window and dry erase board I see. So don’t be surprised if you walk in my bathroom this year and see the words: sleek, ownership and remarkable staring back at you in the mirror.

Look up my profile on Twitter (@jenniesjursen) and you will find I predominately tweet about marketing and business. However if you were to follow the original website link in that profile you would have landed on a photographer’s cute child and family portrait site. What gives?

I have been a photographer and business owner since the late 1990’s. First, with the not so successful, Jennie Sjursen Photography and now with Lil Blu Dragonfly and Strawberry Road.

I struggled and struggled with Jennie Sjursen Photography. In an effort to make changes I read books, took countless notes, attended seminars etc and then burnt out. I took a year away from photography – all photography. I put my marketing and design skills to use for a startup company – that didn’t stay started (poor financial plan). I had a decision to make – what am I going to do with all of these skills I picked up along the way?

I decided to go back to photography but Jennie Sjursen Photography was going to stay on the scrap heap. In a very deliberate move Lil Blu Dragonfly and Strawberry Road were created. Visit both sites and you will see there are similarities but other than a link back to each other very little cross over. Each brand was set up to have it’s own feel and identity. Along this very winding road I totally and completely fell in love with the marketing/branding side of the business.

I’m fascinated with small businesses and how they do or don’t use marketing – especially the new communication avenues that are opening up everyday. I want to share what I’ve learned along the way – hopefully make the learning process shorter and less painful for others. So periodically I’ll update this section of my site sharing not only my successes but some failures too. I’ll answer any question as openly and honestly as I can. Hope you join me for the ride and learn something along the way!