Sharing My Stories

June 10, 2012 by Raul Colon

Telling our story is something we all do in different forms. I recently found out that I was capturing my story in different ways but limiting myself in sharing it.

I created a website and made it into a virtual yearbook for my senior class. This was before having platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Blogger, WordPress and the many other that allow you to easily sign up and share your experiences with the online world. As time goes by, it becomes easier to share your story via pictures, video, and writing.

Sharing the Story Via Digital Photography

Before digital cameras, I remember taking pictures with my Advantix camera.

This was a long process and here are some steps I remember:

Buy film for the camera
Choose my pictures wisely (each roll had a limited amount of pictures)
Drop the pictures to get developed
Pick up the pictures
Scan them (making sure I only touched the edges)
Adjust them
Upload them
Get them in the format I needed and size
Edit them
Publish pictures online

Things got easier when I bought my first Digital Camera; a Sony Mavica (see picture above)! All I needed were floppy disks and a computer with the online connection. Now I have a Ricoh CX2 (Affiliate Link) as my point and shoot camera with an Eye-Fi Wireless Memory Card (Affiliate Link) that uploads the pictures for me to my computer, iPhone, iPad, and other online repositories.

I had been using creative commons pictures for my blog posts. Thanks to the advice of Sir Alan Weinkrantz I realized that by using the pictures of others, there wasn’t a full connection to the content I was writing. Since April, I have been using more of my pictures for blog posts. Looking back at my albums, I have been able to find many options to choose from.

Video

Video allows you to capture a story and distribute to many. Video platforms like Youtube enable us to upload video in minutes and grant access to a larger audience.

Writing

When I started to share more of my thoughts online, I wrote for other blogs and then decided to set up my own.

Writing in the form of an exercise like Morning Pages can be meditative and helps you organize your thoughts. Writing also helps me find people with common interests. I also write to share my point of view and to learn from you and others that I react by responding or commenting online.

Many think that writing is something that they can’t do. It can be done quite quickly, and with practice, you can get better.

Like my friend Chris Brogan says, “Time is a Choice” he can help you find the time, but it’s your choice.

Are you sharing your story? How?

Point me to your Blog Please

Do you have a blog if you do, please feel free to share it in the comments area?

A Few Days Without Morning Pages

October 19, 2011 by Raul Colon

Isla Verde Early Morning
I had the opportunity to take a break from my usual three-blog post a day routine. The possibilities that were brought to me the last few weeks like having long and useful conversations with my good friends like Chris Brogan and Rob Hatch (@robhatch) have allowed me to define a bit more what I need to focus on.

The morning journal

Every morning I try to write my thoughts and other things that I think might be interesting to share on the blogs I write for like papaheroes.com, veglatino.com, or even our corporate blog CIMA IT Solutions. On most occasions since the morning pages exercise is more of my thoughts I end up creating a lot of content for raulcolon.net.

My Interests

The morning Pages are an exercise that brings my interests out. In the editing part before publishing which @lucymfel helps me greatly from many aspects, I have to make sure that I can find a way to make my readers interested in what I am writing about. This is the hardest part of connecting with your readers is no easy task. Especially when there is so much good content elsewhere to read.

Being able to disconnect

Similar to when you are going to the gym, and you don’t want to stop I did not want to stop writing because I was afraid that after many months of writing multiple posts a day, these last three days would get me into an indifferent mood in which I would stop writing every day. Thankfully here I am writing a bit more about how I think I needed the break and it allowed me to focus on the conference and my new role as a strategic business partner of Human Business Works (now Owner Media).

Funnily I have been making many decisions based on my interactions on the Kitchen Table Companies as a founding member. I ended up getting coach by the extraordinary Joe Sorge who guided me into this regular exercise that has become an essential part of my daily tasks.

On my way back home disconnecting was a beneficial exercise to reach the conclusion that I still control my day and an activity like the morning pages adds to my growth instead of controlling me completely.

Having control of what you do is critical in the many things we have to approach in life. Disconnecting and being able to return also does show how committed you are to your effort.

I disconnected from Morning pages, and here I am writing again early in the morning.

What do you normally do to break out from your daily routine?

A Break from my Daily Routine

October 8, 2011 by Raul Colon

A few days ago I had a very complicated they where the bad news just showered me not only did we get our water utilities disconnected because of an irresponsible maneuver by the Autoridad de Acueductos de Puerto Rico but a series of other news really affected me emotionally. I guess everyone has those days where they feel they don’t want to do anything. I wanted to take off to the beach and do something differently but I had other responsibilities I had to meet. After a few hours of dragging my feet and still receiving bad news I realized I had to change my attitude quickly because negative energy was willing to take me down.

For the first time in Months I was not able to write my usual 1500 words a day. My head was elsewhere and that worried me greatly. I guess sometimes I forget I am human and I want to act like a robot. I gave up on the morning pages and left them 75% done.

The rest of the day I handled other tasks that did not require too much brainwork. After a few hours although still upset I was back on track getting work out of the way.

The break from my daily routine was not something I wanted to do since I enjoy writing but at the end of the day leaving a few things to the side help me re-groups and here I am writing today my morning pages without much of a struggle.

I did change it up a bit to change the environment so I could get going today. Every time I feel I am stuck in a hole I look for ways out of it. I change where I sit, I change the music, and I even change the software where I write to make it interesting.

What things do you do when your head is elsewhere and you have to get things done?

What brings you results and brings you back into the game?

Not your dad’s Morning Pages

June 22, 2011 by Raul Colon

Since I started blogging, I have been able to understand many things. I see how the process of putting something through my head and putting it on a screen to later refine and share with you, is a unique process. I have to say that I have met great people and have been able to filter out some bad ones thanks to my blogging efforts.

I love to write, and it is a way for me to document my thoughts and see who else is interested. A few weeks ago I was talking to @joesorge and brainstorming ideas of how to get my business running more efficiently and more. He suggested that I try this exercise called the morning pages. @joesorge has been a great coach, human being, and impressive business advisor.

If you are new to my blog, @joesorge is part of my Small Business Advisory team at Kitchen Table Companies. He is also the owner of @AJBombers a burger joint with a variety of vegetarian options up in Wisconsin. @joesorge has been very successful in using social media to limit his expenses on traditional marketing and has done it in a very efficient way. He has been written about in many neat places including in @garyvee’s book, The Thank You Economy (Amazon Affiliate Link), where a chapter is dedicated to him. I understand very clearly why @garyvee included @joesorge in a book called, The Thank You Economy.

I have been doing the Morning Pages for over three weeks; it consists of waking up in the morning and writing. The purpose of the exercise is to make my head of ideas to be more productive during the day. I have to admit that this practice has helped me process many of my thoughts and I have been able to produce a few projects.

One of the ideas that came to me was finally getting a domain name that liked I with our new project PapaHeroes.com which we launched on Father’s day.

I have to thank @joesorge for introducing me to this excellent exercise. These are some of the tips you get from a Small Business Advisory team. I also have to say that I have been getting referrals and CIMA IT Solutions is moving forward at full speed once again. I have to tie the brainstorming I have done these last few days to the projects I have in the works.

So if you are a bit lost in what you need to do in your professional life or business, I highly recommend trying out the Morning Pages for at least two weeks (just as Joe suggested it to me). You can start seeing results that will pay off if you commit yourself. Yes, it is not easy to wake up and sit down to write three pages of content, but it is an investment you make early in your day to make sure the rest of the day goes as you want it to go.

The Basic Tools

Are you up to the challenge? Will you take a look at Morning Pages and give it a try? If you do, feel free to communicate back with me?

If you are also in need of a group of dedicated and diverse entrepreneurs to help you answer small business questions feel free to visit and Join Kitchen Table Companies and see what is all about!

If you need the Basic Tools of the Morning Pages contact me directly, I have a PDF that was available publicly.