It’s About…Charity

My Easter baskets are overflowing and the abundance in my life sometimes leaves me guilty.  As the Easter rituals of my family are prepared, I took my normal nighttime Facebook break.  My attention was quickly drawn to a Facebook Ad I could not resist due to my Lutheran and rural heritage.  For $10 to God’s Global Barnyard (an ELCA Charity), I could donate 10 chick to a family in poverty who could eat or sell these eggs.  What better gifts than one that gives life, health, and happiness.  I know the happiness of picking up springtime chicks and riding with them in the backseat on the trip to my grandparent’s farm.  Peeping, yellow, fuzzy babies who quickly turn to a coop full of chickens with eggs to help Grandma pick, clean, pack and sell.

Facebook ad can appeal to specific audiences, that is how the ELCA found me.  I am grateful their ad was a great reminder to me to give charitably, humbly, and regularly.  Happy Easter!

It’s about…Maps

When was the last time you used a paper map or had folding frustration? I’m not talking about maybe printing off directions from Google Maps or Mapquest, I mean the actual folded variety or atlas. As a kid I remember going with my mom to the local AAA office for maps and tour guides for our great family vacations. It was so exciting to see the highlighted route and learn how far we would be going. My dad would also get out the South Dakota map and quiz us for cities we should know from our home state. I still giggle when I say Athol, SD. Since I’m sure you just went out to check if Athol, SD is a real place, I prove my point about how seldom we use the paper map and if we will ever need them again.
While Google Maps and GPS devices are fascinating, they are also critical to doing business today. Did you know that you can (and really should, IMO) claim your business on Google places (and most other e-maps). This allows you to move that cute little peg or avatar to the actual driveway or parking area of your business! As consumers rely more on GPS and Internet maps to guide them to their “destination ahead”, “on the left/right”, they expect it to be accurate. We have to remember that very few people of today’s generation want a paper map or even know how to fold one!!

It’s about…Clouds

Clouds, the kind you can’t see yet everyone is talking about using.  Using a cloud, you ask???  Yes, computing clouds, cloud computing!  Someone asked me to explain what this is and what it means to clients, businesses, and technology.   Cloud computing is the idea of using an internet service for your software, hardware, storage and service needs.
To give some simple analogies-think of:
paper vs. online banking statement
cd vs. music download
cash vs. debit card
VHS tape/DVD vs. YouTube
Postal mail vs. email
Photos in an album to Facebook photos
You start to imagine moving from something you hold in your hand to something you use electronically,  something that is shared and stored in a location that is not necessary close to you.

Most of us are already using these clouds for Facebook sharing, webmail services, and maybe banking yet we may still be suspicious of the privacy and security that surround these clouds.   Fear of identity theft and lack of confidence using technology keep many people from joining these clouds or even participating in social media.  Security and having to learn to share information might be seen as a disadvantage of cloud computing.  The millennial generation has become accustomed to sharing everything at anytime and those of other generations are still cautious about privacy; bridging that gap will just take time.  The advantage of cloud computing include collaboration on projects, immediate and constant availability, access to a worldwide network of expertise, and an opportunity to bring the generation together to learn from one another.  So go ahead, live with your head in the CLOUDS!

It’s about…Diversity in Sioux Falls, SD

Diversity in my hometown, Sioux Falls, SD.  When I speak Spanish in South Dakota people are always curious as to how or where I learned it and because I’m blond some people even ask if I’m fluent (I’d have to say I can hold my own with most native speakers now).  It usually makes me laugh and allows me to explain how I’ve always been fascinated by the people and places that Spanish takes me after it started in a store in Nogales, Mexico when I was 5 years old! I’m also constantly searching for people or places to practice what I know and still learn more.
Now that I’ve found a love of technology and social media, a new group of people are giving me a chance to practice.  Juan Bonilla contacted my business, KnowTECH Training, to help coordinate a social media campaign for La Voz Hispana bilingual newspaper, Spanish magazine, and La Voz Hispana TV show.  What an unexpected surprise and honor to do business in a whole new way with a whole new population.  Bienvenidos a mi ciudad natal or Welcome to my hometown!  I can’t wait to meet more Spanish-speakers, compare notes about our hometowns, and teach each other about traditions and ideas that we have.  The fact that Sioux Falls now has a Diversity Council that is active and growing is evidence that the languages and the people who speak them are finding a bridge or path to feeling like this is their hometown too!