Three Ways to Make Lists on Facebook and Use Them!

What is one way to make Facebook more effective for you?  Make LISTS!

There are pictures of cats, lots of click bait, and crazy comments on the world.... BUT!  Facebook is connecting millions of people every day.  Your friends on Facebook include past clients, current connections, friends, family, and prospective clients for your business.  Their posts get lost with all the others.

So, it is time to make lists!  If you have a list you can post to only that list or more importantly, you can see what the people on only that list are all posting! I have many lists on my Facebook account.  No one knows they are in a list unless that list was created by Facebook.... including the family list and the lists that were automatically generated with my high school and companies I worked for.

I created lists that help me see beyond the junk that is posted.  For example, I have a list that includes only three people... my kids. I see if they have posted anything... because it is one way to stay connected with them. I have a list with hundreds of real estate agents and another of my artist friends.

There are several ways to make a list. sometimes, the mobile devices make it harder or impossible.

1. When you friend someone immediately click on their profile.  At the top where it says friends with a checkmark click the drop down menu. At the bottom it says "New List."

2.  When you click on "Friends" on the left side of your screen, you get your lists and at the top it says "create new list."

3.  You can click where it says "See all Friends" and there is a drop down menu next to each under the word friends.  Here you can add them to a list or create a new one.

Now.. what do to with lists! Click on a list and see what they are posting.  You might read information that could include:

• I just became a Grandma!
• Caught a huge fish!
• Working in the Garden.
• Love to Barbeque!

Then head to the store... and send them some baby booties, a jar of spices, baby booties, or some bbq sauce! and put in the mail!  You could send a card of congratulations.  You could click "like" when they post and make a comment.  It starts a conversation and keeps your name in front of them.

Go make lists and see what people in that list are up to!

LOOK UP and get to know Seattle. Take a Walking Tour!

We often just don't look up and get to know the buildings that surround us in the city.  For the past several years I have been a volunteer tour guide for the Seattle Architecture Foundation.  I lead walking tours of downtown including the "Greatest Hits" and "Art Deco" focusing on buildings built during the Roaring Twenties.

The tour I lead the most is called "Look UP!" and includes the most notable buildings.  We go to city hall and the office of the mayor, the red floor of the library, and have coffee at the highest Starbucks in the US.

Take time and get to know your city.  Sign up for a walking tour and join tourists, international travelers, locals and people in the industry including contractors and architects as they look up.
Three great reasons to go on a walking tour...

1. You will learn enough to be able to recognize design features in many buildings including clues to the time the building was built.  You might recognize a gargoyle, column or cornice that you might never have noticed before and guess the time period of construction.
2. There is so much we don't know about the city we call "home."  When I drive downtown I am often focused on the traffic, making sure I don't go the wrong way down a one way street, and hope I find a parking lot soon!  I just ignore the structures that surround me.  Now I look around, I notice the lobby, I look for clues to the history, design, and use of the building.  
3.  You will be able to share what you learn with others including friends and family as well as people from out of town that are visiting. It's so fun to point out to friends what I know about a building as we walk by.

Contact me if you want to set up a private group tour or want to come on an upcoming one scheduled. One of my 3 hour tours is clockhours for real estate agents! 

Three Things I Like about YOU!

I love my friends.  They give me strength, support, entertainment, creativity, and most of all ... love.  I remember having a discussion with one of my friends about how different friends are closer than others.  He said.. I think of it as a map.  Some friends ... no matter how far away... will be there for you no matter what.  Other friends.... that are closer on the map... are not going to go out of their way
to help.

It isn't anyone's "fault" that they aren't closer and more dependable than others.  We all have to choose, sometimes unconsciously, who we are going to give our time to.  There are friends that we might hold close to our hearts, but the feeling isn't mutual.

 Three things I love about my friends...
1.  They take me as I am.  I do not have to entertain them or be someone I am not in their presence.  They love me with all my quirks, loud laugh, and impulsive decisions.
2.  They are there for me when I need anything from a hug to help building my business.  I know I have a support group and fans out there in the world when I am feeling as small as a grain of sand on the beach.
3.  They make my life so interesting!  I can't imagine a day without connecting with a friend!

I lost several friends over the past couple years.  It has been difficult.  As I get older... Oh MY.. I am now a "senior".... I see myself and others aging.  It is quite a transition.

I quickly made a video of many of the friends I have been with this past year.  You may be in the video!  If you are... Thank you for being in my life.  If you have been missed... please make sure you are caught in my lens at our next meeting... because you are just as important!

Three Reasons to look forward to the New Year

Life is so cyclical.  The seasons come and go.  Sometimes we let the weather affect our mood.  In  It can be a bit overwhelming sitting at a desk on a cloudy dreary day trying to look forward to the coming year. January as we usher in the New Year we hear about everyone else's resolutions, goals, and plans for the next twelve months.   Don't let your attitude get you down.

No other time of the year are we reminded that we are making a new start... for the year... but really for today.  Our lives are so busy and we carry around lists of unfinished business, goals not achieved, and dreams that seem too far away. 
But as we slowly crawl into the new year we can:

1. Take on business we need to complete, 
2. Set new goals and 
3. Plan for those dreams we've stashed on the shelf.  

Anything seems possible as we start a new year.  It's all in our attitude and perspective.