Molds. Everywhere you go it seems people want to compare you to others.

Ohh, you’ve been dating 3 years and aren’t engaged? Well, Joe and Jane over there only dated for 2 years before they got married.

I’m starting a business, so I have to get funding before I begin.

Be You

Molds scare me. And not just the kind that tends to grow on the walls of our dungeon-like basement.

You are who you are, and no else but you knows the full story about your situation. Your relationships, your finances, your business, your life. Learn from the mistakes of others, yes. Follow in the footsteps of the successful, yes, but still use your head. Be yourself. Be TRUE to yourself.

See the difference?

Compare yourself to others for the sake of learning and adjusting your course of action. Compare yourself to others to inspire and motivate and perhaps even instill a sense of urgency. Be careful, however, when comparing yourself to others as a determination of success or failure. Be careful when assuming you have to fit into the mold.

Don’t Get Sucked Into Assumptions

Some entrepreneurs credit their ability to work from home as the key to their success. Does that mean other entrepreneurs who choose to work from an office or a coffee shop will never find that success? Of course not.

With some examples, it almost sounds silly that people would force themselves into a mold like that.

Be very hesitant to box yourself into ideals. Or, taking it further, boxing yourself into assumptions. Assuming that one way is the only way does nothing for you but close doors.

Keep An Open Mind

I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but thinking outside of the box is such a popular, cliche phrase because it’s (mostly) true. Thinking outside of your assumptions, allowing your mind to be open to “different” ways of doing things can do no harm.

Do you have to take actions on all of the crazy, out-of-box ideas that you run across? Of course not. But don’t box your mind into the normal assumptions of how things are “supposed” to work, or what’s expected. (Which brings up another thought – who sets the expectations on us, anyway? Who is They?)

Vemma & Twitter

In my Vemma business we follow a system. This is how you build the business, a b c d… Why is this successful? Because it’s duplicatable. The business is all about building a network, and networks support their own growth by easily being able to grow, and around and around. It’s duplicatable because it eliminates everything NOT to do.

You follow the system, yes. But while you’re working on step 2 does it matter if you’re doing it from your porch or your office or a cruise ship? No. Does it matter if you work 1 minute a day or 10 hours a day? Nope. Who says you have to move fast if moving slowly but surely is the way you roll?

With Twitter, many will argue the benefits of auto-following those who follow you. Others will argue that the reason for their success is NOT auto-following and making every interaction personal. Some say you have to use a third-party application like TweetDeck, others swear on Twitter.com.

Are we all still using Twitter? And taking advantage of building our businesses and our brands by sending concise 140 character messages to our audience? And listening and conversing? Yup, yup, and yup.

The moral? Follow the system, use the tools – but do it your own way.

Consider It

Be a continual bigger thinker. Step back and identify what assumptions about the way things “have to be” can be removed from your situation. Follow in the footsteps of the successes before you, but do it your own way. Be wary of comparisons for comparisons sake.

Get good at thinking about Why something has to be a certain way. You don’t have to take action away from the mold. Just don’t completely close your mind to the possibilities. Just…consider it.

What say you?

If we’re connected on Twitter or DailyBooth, you’ve might caught me mention recently that I have turned in my two-week notice at my nine-to-five jobby job and am counting down the days until I’m 100% self-employed. Am I getting a fast start on my 2010 goals or what?! LOOK AT ME GO.

One of the many, MANY things I will be doing to move my business – more accurately, my brand – forward once these two weeks are over is to review and expand on the length and strength of my reach online. I’ve liked the concept Chris Brogan has been talking about lately regarding your online spaces and how outposts can improve your strategy with social media. There, Chris talks about your ‘home base,’ ‘outposts,’ and ‘passports’ online. AnnieSorensen.com is obviously my home base, and one that I have many plans to expand.

I currently consider Twitter, DailyBooth, Facebook, and Corkd as my outposts; those areas online where I consistently spend time conversing and connecting. The purpose of these outposts is to have fun, network, and eventually filter folks back to my home base.

Passports, however, represent a huge growth area for me. I think of passports as areas online where I’m reserving and representing my brand, yet not actively playing in the space. And the work I could do on my passports is massive. I mean, LinkedIn? Ugh, let’s not even get into how much I’m leaving on the table in that space. That’s a current passport I DESPERATELY need to turn into a solid outpost.

Then there my other passports; Tumblr, Flickr, Ustream, Amazon, YouTube, TubeMogul, StumbleUpon, and…hmm, I’m sure I’m missing others. I will soon have much more time to develop my brand, which items from this list do I want to dedicate more time to and develop into outposts? Which would I prefer to keep as passports? What passports have I not yet even secured? Very important questions that I need to figure out how to answer.

Lots of work to do!

What say you – how do you decide what spaces to develop into strong, beneficial outposts of your home base? What spaces do you think are important in 2010 to, at the very least, secure a passport?

Part 2 of the Twitter WIN series, an awesome example of someone “big” reaching down to someone “little” and connecting, providing an opportunity that, without Twitter, would have never been possible. Ok, that was the fancy description. The real one? I replied to one of SUCCESS magazine editor Darren Hardy’s tweets and was published in the mag!!!

Don’t forget to follow Darren Hardy and SUCCESS Magazine on Twitter. And me, too!

So, what about you? Have you connected with someone “big” that you would have never had visibility to without Twitter? What about on another platform – Facebook, LinkedIn, DailyBooth, etc?

A really cool thing happened to me a few weeks ago that represents the core purpose of what Twitter, and really networking online of any kind, is all about. Here’s why:

You can find Inbound Marketing here.

What Twitter Wins have you experienced? Share.

Time for another round-up of a few of my favorite quotes and motivational tidbits from the past few weeks. My thoughts lately seem to be all over the place – not a bad reflection of my schedule so far this month! Here goes:

It’s the little things that make all the difference. What “one more” will you do today to give yourself the edge?

To be a teacher you must first be a student.

Think big thoughts…

Twitter is a networking platform, NOT an advertising platform. An online cocktail party. Who have you engaged with today?

There’s never a “perfect time.” Set your goals, decide to take action, and just do it.

If u are your authentic self, u have no competition. -@unmarketing

The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification is the indispensable pre-requisite for success. -unknown

All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them. -Walt Disney

Effort only fully releases its reward after a person refuses to quit. -Napoleon Hill

What have you been thinking about this month? What’s motivated you? What quotes or success tidbits are keeping you moving forward? Let’s add to this list!

Something I’ve heard many times from newbies (and honestly, many not-so-newbies) on Twitter is, “How do you decide who to Follow?” The answer to this question is easy…

…it depends.

What do you want out of Twitter? Upon reviewing your tweets, what updates would you have seen, what information gathered, conversations contributed to, or relationships sparked would make the time you just spent in front of your feed feel productive upon walking away? For me, the answer is: a little bit of everything. Answer the question for yourself, then determine who you follow from there.

I’m on Twitter to to network and build new relationships, to build my brand, to learn, to stay up-to-date, to be inspired, and to catch up with friends and family.

Therefore, I follow people on Twitter who:
- are my close friends, family
- make me laugh, smile
- regularily provide links to new, informative articles on topics I find interesting (everything from outer space and wine and interior decorating to personal branding and blogging and thinking positively)
- are local to my area
- provide breaking news or updates about the world
- are businessmen and women who have achieved a level of success for which I strive
- spark discussion topics and routinely engage in conversation with their ‘tweeps’
- are authors of books I’ve read or would like to read

Some Twitterers I follow fall neatly into one, specific category. Others span several or all categories. It doesn’t matter. If you find their tweets interesting, informative, and worthy of your precious time, follow away. On the flip side, if you’ve gone several days or weeks and have regularily NOT found a user’s tweets worthwhile, it might be time to unfollow (gasp!). Don’t be afraid to drop a follower or two. It’s YOUR time – don’t waste it.

So you’re on Twitter, now what? Have you thought about the reason you spend part of your day (or many parts!) reading and posting tweets? Does that purpose match up with your Following list? What category or categories of Twitterers do you care to follow? Do you find your Twitter-time worthwhile?

P.S. While you’re perfecting your Following list, come say hello.

Spending time on Twitter lately? The site can be addicting, especially to newcomers. I realized pretty quickly that if I were to make the most of my Twitter-time and be as efficient as possible while using it to network, I needed to pick and choose who I followed. No fluff allowed. Did I connect with a good majority of the person’s tweets? Could I see myself retweeting their tweets? Do they post so much that I’d get lost amongst all the noise? And most importantly, would reading their tweets educate and inspire me, support my entrepreneurial goals, and make me a better business person? I know I’ve only just scratched the surface of amazing entrepreneurs on Twitter and that this list will constantly evolve, but here are a handful I would strongly recommend:

@GuyKawasaki: Co-founder of AllTop.com, “an ‘online magazine rack’ of popular topics,” Guy not only tweets links to interesting AllTop articles but entrepreneurial quotes, insightful comments, and sites, too. Plus, he’s incredibly highly regarded in the entrepreneurial community. Definitely a guy (eh eh) to pay attention to.

@GaryVee: Gary Vaynerchuk, a New Jersey wine-shop guy and founder of WineLibraryTV, has quickly become famous on the internet for his passionate talks about social media, personal branding, and business sense. It only takes listening to a few seconds of one of Gary’s talks to inspire. And I’m not talking a run-of-the-mill jolt of inspiration, but a butt-on-fire, lightening bolt, rocket fuel-induced motivation that will leave you wondering what you did to get anything done BEFORE you listened to Gary. He tweets inspirational tidbits, his daily going-ons, updates on his book, Crush It, and details about his business ventures (always varied and increasing in number). Don’t miss out on the entrepreneur everyone else is talking about.

@J_Canfield: Co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series and motivational speaker, Jack frequently tweets about personal development topics. Readers will like how he often tweets multiple times on the same topic in succession, eliciting discussional responses. Perfect for self-improvement junkies and business-minded folk of all kinds.

@zappos: Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh is the kind of entrepreneur who is using Twitter for all the right reasons – to extend the reach of his brand and make a personal connection to each and every one of his customers. The vast majority of Tony’s tweets are personal observations (which, I might add, are hilarious) about his normal day-to-day. So he’s not a tweep to follow to get advice, but one to pay attention to as an example entrepreneur who’s doing it right. Or at least pretty well. Way before Twitter came along, Zappos had built it’s brand to be known for customer service, connecting with their customer on a personal level, customer service, and did I mention customer service? Tony’s Twitter use is a perfect example of how a CEO can indirectly support his brand by extending a personal voice to a growing company. Well done.

@mashable: Pete Cashmore, CEO of Mashable.com, a blog dedicated entirely to social media and Web 2.0, frequently tweets recently posted articles and the day’s most popular posts. Ensure that you’re up-to-date on everything social media by following Pete and spend some time digging into Mashable. The amount of short, informative articles on everything social media is enough to take care of ANY unanswered SM question. Also, if you’re ever feeling left out because you’re not familiar with the latest buzz-word floating around Twitter, you’ll know where to go. If it’s been flying around the Twitterverse for more than, say, 15 minutes, there’s no doubt Mashable has at least one write-up about the topic. Yes, they’re THAT up-to-date. An entrepreneur today knows the importance of social media and personal branding; keep yourself educated.

Your thoughts – what tweeps do YOU think are most important for entrepreneurs?