Abby (Chief Voice Bureau Officer) says:

[UPDATED 6.16.15] Wow, guys, this is an old post. While it’s been a good while since Tami and I have collaborated under The Voice Bureau, we remain good friends and are happy to support each other’s work.

Here’s the old intro: I am so pleased to introduce those of you who don’t already know her to my friend and collaborative partner, Tami Smith. And for those of you who do know her, I hope this profile gives you a new angle on the person behind the incredibly deep and holistic work she does for her business owner clients. Tami emailed me a couple years ago after purchasing an audio course I was selling at the time called Freeing the Voice of Your Business (look for this product to re-enter our Classroom in 2013, revamped and retooled). It wasn’t just that the course content was useful to her in her own brand, it was that my perspective on shaping a naturally powerful brand voice resonated with her all the way through — in ways she’d been hoping to find in a collaborative partner for an amazing new search persona methodology she was looking to bring to market. A few more email exchanges and a Skype conversation, and we knew we were destined to work together. And so for now — I’ll leave it at that. Meet Tami.

Tami Smith, Advisor, Coach, & Trainer to Visionary Solopreneurs

Tami is a past Collaborative Partner at The Voice Bureau. You can find her at The Dawning Point.

Twitter: @TamiDSmith, Facebook: Tami Smith, Google+: Tami Smith

My top 3-5 Voice Values are:

Intimacy, Enthusiasm, Innovation, Depth, Excellence. (Note: Discover your own Voice Values when you subscribe to The Voice Bureau’s Insider Stuff e-letter. Look for the sign-up box in the upper righthand corner of the site.)

I do the work I do because:

I believe there is an opportunity to improve the process of being found in search. I saw too much emphasis on tactics and misunderstanding of what optimizing for search was really about.  Mostly I do the work I do because I felt the call to live and work in a more autonomous way. I guess you could say I followed the thread and it has led me to this point.

I find the richest social media conversations take place on:

G+, because conversations are topically related and anyone can enter. It tends to draw enthusiasts and experts. Truthfully it is more about the relationship than the channel, though. I follow and engage with many of the same people across all platforms and I have such a big respect people who use all the channels appropriately.

The song/track/album that feels the most like my brand is:

“Lucky” by Jason Mraz with Colbie Caillat.

Personality typing? Why, yes. I’m:

Enneagram Type 7 (The Enthuasiast) with an 8-Wing (this combo is called “The Realist”). My Myers-Briggs type is ENFP (“The Champion Idealist” or the “Discoverer Advocate”). I have a Cancer sun, Scorpio rising and Aquarius moon.

One thing I know for sure about my Right People is:

They are “integrated.” They are psychologically mature, tolerant, understanding, flexible, and able to see “the big picture”.

The best compliment I ever received from a client is:

“This is absolutely AMAZING!  Thank you SO much!  I can’t even begin to describe how valuable this is to us.” Or maybe it is this one:  “I totally get your direction and I love it. I pinch myself every time we exchange emails and this project gets another brick added to its foundation, as it is exactly how I want to work. I trust your intuitive direction and I love the link-building concept through connections with my content.”

The truest branding advice I’ve ever heard is:

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing about.” — Benjamin Franklin

If my clients only hold on to one piece of advice from me, I hope it’s:

Encouragement to go into aloneness. Aloneness doesn’t mean isolated or lonely. It is the ability to stop looking for approval outside yourself. Paradoxically, by going into your aloneness, you discover your true connectedness to others and conviction to “do the work” only you can do.

I can never get enough:

Marinated mozzarella, romance, or random acts of kindness.

The one ‘essential’ I could totally live without is:

A car.

My lifestyle, in 3 words:

Simplicity, Spontaneity, Sweetness

My brand is all about:

Core strength. There is a lot of business-building that goes into a search strategy. My background in sales and marketing structure the questions I ask in discovery to formulate value proposition, unique selling position, and how a qualified prospect searches for solutions. My clients don’t have to know anything about these formal terms and processes because they have the answers from their experience. I simply turn their core strength into a smart search strategy.

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

What questions do you have for Tami about her work? She’s ready to say hello.

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We ask 5 smart voices for their 100-word take on 1 provocative brand challenge. Today’s question is . . .

How do you defuse a tense moment on social media?

Randi Buckley

“Let go of the need to be right. This doesn’t mean you abdicate your view, it just means that someone else doesn’t feel they are being made out to be wrong. Minds and hearts can’t change if they don’t feel respected and the quest for proving a point crashes and burns in rage. Letting them know you can see where they’re coming from, offering appreciation and respectful humor, will go beyond defusion and will create connection. While one of these will make all the difference, the combination might just start rumors of Jedi training.”

Through a trinity of intuition, deep wisdom, and playful mischief, Randi Buckley stands in the fire with women at the crossroads of big decisions and sticky situations to find, live, and speak their truth. Find her at RandiBuckley.com.

Andy Hayes

“Timely question, as this just happened to me recently with a mentor I highly respect. The first thing to do is step back. In a virtual environment, we lack social queues and other non-verbal communication signals, so take a minute and look at the situation from all sides. Are you sure you understand why things are tense? How did you get to this point? Did you miss/misunderstand something crucial? Only with all that information can you respond with confidence and compassion. And remember, always be friendly and respectful, even if you disagree – words on the Internet are hard to erase.”

Andy Hayes is a Portland, Oregon-based web strategist and travel-lover who does website critiques and “tweets way too much.”

Nichole Bazemore

“I log off and focus on something else, like how or where I can actually make a difference. Maybe that means I focus on a project, call on a client, walk my dog, or talk to my son about his day and really listen. Maybe I just go outside and remember that real life is lived in color, off line. When I turn off the noise, I instantly remember what really matters and needs my attention. And it’s never, ever matching wits with some blowhard on social media.”

Nichole Bazemore writes clear, direct, no-nonsense copy for good businesses doing great things. Find her at Simply Stated Solutions.

Laura Calandrella

“Address the tension directly, especially if the person is someone you know. Most of the time social media is just too cursory to really know the intent or meaning behind a message. Pick up the phone. Ask for a Skype conversation. Just don’t invent your own story about what it means. If you don’t know the person and they seem to make a habit of creating tension through social media, I would ask myself the question “Why am I engaging with this person online?” Personally, I am looking to connect with people who challenge me to think differently, but do it in a thoughtful way. My social media contacts are a group of people who I respect.”

Laura Calandrella is a social impact coach, conversation igniter, and advocate for Gen Y leadership. She writes about the intersection of personal growth and social change on her blog, LauraCalandrella.com.

Melissa Black

“I tend to stay away from ‘hot topics’ on social media, so it’s not often that I run into a tense moment there. When I am faced with an uncomfortable situation, I lean toward humor — very much the way I do in my everyday life. My friends on social media are a mix of ‘real life’ friends and family, clients, and colleagues. Differing opinions are inevitable, but most everyone I know can appreciate good humor!”

Melissa Black is the CEO at Black Ink Virtual Assistance, where she employs her wizardry around all things management, administrative, and tech-related in nature. Find her at Black Ink VA. She is The Voice Bureau’s own Virtual Concierge.

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

How do you defuse a tense moment on social media? What’s your style? Leave your perspective, then share this piece with your audience so they can see what you have to say, and weigh in, too.

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7 reasons to start thinking about your brand voice.

No. 1

Because if you’ve got an online presence, you already are a ‘brand,’ whether you groove to that word or not.

No. 2

Because the best communication is intentional, not haphazard. Anyone you care about, including your prospective clients, deserves that much from you.

No. 3

Because your Right People are thinking something about you right this minute. It might be, I feel really drawn to her as a creative service provider, but I’m not sure if she works with people like me. Or, there’s something about that product line that feels like a ‘click’ for me, but there’s something I’m still not sure about. Should I spend my money there or with the brand I usually buy?

No. 4

Because our online attention spans are very, very short. And our bandwidth for taking stuff in is very, very low. This means you’ve got mere seconds to make an impression that aligns with what your work is really about and who you really want to be in relationship with your Right People.

No. 5

Because you’re a thoughtful person, and I know that in your mental and emotional backchannels, you’re processing what it means to show up in the online conversation — you, your business goals, your brand objectives, and your voice values, packaged in a visual brand identity.

No. 6

Because if you’re going to have a brand conversation that’s sustainable over time (allowing for iteration, because, that’s just the natural process of things), you need to start figuring out what you’re about now when you bring a value proposition to the table. Start here. In this moment.

No. 7

Because you don’t have to do this alone. Helping online business owners like you show up in relevant online conversations in a way that matters and allows you to serve more of their Right People — that’s why The Voice Bureau exists.

Begin to Discover Your Voice Values today with our complimentary self-assessment. You’ll have access to it right away when you subscribe to the site. We promise — your communication style is already naturally powerful. We’ll help you identify how.

Subscribe below with your best email address and start learning today.

In the comments, we’d love to hear:

What’s already going well for you when it comes to using your voice in the online conversation? What’s been working?

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Hello.

Here.

Here is the place online you call your own, your very own smartly crafted, intentionally designed online presence. Hopefully, it’s a place your Right People want to be.

When your Right People — your ideal clients — are traveling online, you want them to see your site come up in their search results (and oh, how idiosyncratic search results are these days, thanks to Google’s latest algorithms). You want them to see you via a link on Twitter someone shares, a Facebook post, a Google+ mention.

And when they click through and meet your brand through its online presence, you want them to say, Here.

Here’s what I’ve been looking for.

Here’s a place where people like me belong.

Here’s where I’ll be understood and my needs in this specific area will be met.

And as they quickly scan your site for meaning and relevancy, you want them to move rapidly (if they’re your Right People) from instant chemistry to meaningful conversation. A conversation with your brand about the solutions you offer to the very real challenges they experience everyday.

And in this conversation, you want to show up.

And, you might be wondering, how exactly do you do that — “show up?”

How should you use your one voice in service to your Right People, your business goals, and your brand objectives?

That’s one of the very first, very real challenges the Voice Bureau‘s Right People present when they find us online.

So we designed a gift to help you start to sort this out for yourself.

It’s a self-assessment called Discover Your Voice Values.

We hope you enjoy spending time with it. And we look forward to hearing about your results. (Instructions for sharing your results are found inside.)

Enter your best email address below and click GO. You’ll receive an opt-in confirmation email from us that you’ll have to say yes to, and then you’ll receive your complimentary self-assessment, Discover Your Voice Values. We look forward to sharing this gift with you, and so much more. Thank you for being here.

P.S. If you’ve already been an Abby Kerr Ink subscriber prior to November 1st, 2012 (thank you!), you’re good to go. You’ll receive your complimentary self-assessment by email today. No need to opt in again.

 

P.P.S. Who are we? Great question. More here.

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