craig sutton

Shevonne Polastre at work

I use Twitter for everything, but mainly to connect with interesting Tweeters who can show me a thing or two. It’s great because I have actually found some wonderful people who have taught me about life, parenting, technology, law, fitness, and the list keeps growing. Recently, I have been networking with other business owners and companies, and have even found some freelance work. Twitter is a great tool because you can be anyone interested in anything, and you will find some kind of use for it.

Tell us where you are from and what you do for a living?

I live in Fairfax, VA, which is part of the Washington, DC area. I came here from Panama when I was seven years old with my two sisters and parents. When I was a teenager, I wanted to take a year off college and backpack through Europe. However, my parents were very strict and didn’t allow that to happen. It’s one of only regrets that I have, but I am still young, so I still have time to take that trip. The experience will be better than I imagined because this time I will take my kids with me.

For almost eights years, I have worked as a Technical/Proposal Writer. Since I was a child, I’ve been surrounded by computers. My mother was a Computer Programmer for the Department of Defense and would sometimes bring her work home with her. While my two sisters would watch television or play, I would sit with her for hours helping her debug code. When I was 17, I began working as a Help Desk Technician for Erols’ Internet (remember them? I think they became RCN). For the next seven years, I helped customers with errors, built computers, and setup networks.

After high school, I started working on my Computer Science degree. I learned different programming languages and was trying to achieve my dream of becoming a Video Game Developer. However, I got pregnant with my son and realized that I had to change my path. Programming consumed almost my entire life and with a baby, there was no way that I would be able to dedicate the same amount of time as before. I thought about what I was also passionate about. Writing. I bought a book about what I could do with an English degree and came across “Technical Writer.” As a Technical Writer, I have been able to combine my two loves: Writing and Technology. I am happy that I can honestly say that I love what I do for a living.

Do you know others who use Social Media tools like Twitter in your area? What would you say about the knowledge of people in your area about Social Media in general?

I know there have to be others in DC who are using Social Media, but I only know a few of them. DC is a very political and high tech area, so Social Media is part of their vocabulary. Why? The future of technology, mainly in the Social Media arena, has huge legal, ethical, political, and technical issues, so there are many people in the DC area who are partaking in some aspect of it. When I was in grad school, I took a graduate class that focused on Social Media and another one that discussed the legal issues concerning it. I’ve told people about taking these classes, and they say they have never heard about such classes. It shows that it’s a hot topic in DC.

What gets you really motivated and excited?

Technology. Anything new that comes out, I have to test it out, or I feel like it’s the end of the world. Everyone knows that the way to my heart is getting me the latest gadget. Technology, not diamonds, are a girl’s best friend.

Give us one crazy fact about yourself you haven’t already shared.

I have the habit of singing everywhere I go. My sister use to get embarrassed because I could be in the middle of the grocery store, and I would belt out in song. Therefore, beware if you are ever out in public with me, you might be the next victim of having people stare out you for being with a crazy girl singing off key. You have been warned.

Any other tidbits you would like to offer?

• Think before you speak
• Get familiar with readability statistics to ensure that any piece of document you are presenting to an audience (unless they are experts in the topic you are writing about) is written for someone for 6th – 7th graders, and that readability is higher than 50%.
• When writing a proposal, ensure that you mention your potential client three times more than you mention yourself. Companies have a habit of boasting how great they are instead of what they can do for the client.
• Documentation might be tedious in the short run, but will save you tons of money and time in the long run.
• Writing and Technology are wonderful, but mix the two together, and you get Art

Cheryl Harrison

I’ve benefited tremendously from Twitter by making my online relationships offline relationships when possible, and to more beneficial online relationships when not. I try to post entertaining and informative Tweets everyday and interact with a wide variety of people, but prominently those in Central Ohio, as we have such a vast and diverse Twitter population right here in my backyard.

I’ve already been able to build an inconceivably strong network in such a short time, both personally and professionally. I’ve made friends and business contacts with people I otherwise would never have had access to. I hope to continue to build and foster these relationships, who knows where they could take me! The connections in just the few months I’ve been Tweeting have already gotten me my current job, sent to Washington, D.C. for the inauguration on behalf of a local TV station, a couple of speaking gigs for myself, speakers and entertainment for conferences and events I’ve planned, connection with a potential business partner, my website designed for free, free tickets to Plays and Conferences, you get the picture. Tweet on, friends!

Tell us where you are from and what you do for a living?

I am from Martins Ferry, Ohio, a small Appalachian town across the Ohio River from Wheeling, West Virginia and about 45 minutes outside of Pittsburgh. I moved to Columbus, OH to attend Capital University and don’t plan on leaving for a while. Columbus is very underrated for how fabulous it is. I work for People To My Site an interactive/traditional marketing agency. I work in the marketing department so my job ranges from developing social media tactics to launching public relations capabilities! I’m also @peopletomysite on Twitter, but shhh, that’s top secret! ;-)

Do you know others who use Social Media tools like Twitter in your area? What would you say about the knowledge of people in your area about Social Media in general?

Columbus is an extremely technological region. There are about 1,500 people on Twitter in the area, to my knowledge and more everyday. One of our local television stations has almost all of their anchors and reporters on Twitter, who Tweet while on the air, and they poll Twitter everyday during broadcasts and show the Tweets on the air, which is fueling the expansion of Twitter and making the news fun and interactive. We have at least two major Tweetups a month here, with an upcoming event almost booked to capacity (80 Tweeple.)

What gets you really motivated and excited?

I love to be overly involved and stressed out, no matter how much I complain about it. If I don’t have work, school, five freelance projects, two organizational commitments, four coffee meetings, two lunches and three networking events in a given week, I get bored and lazy.

Give us one crazy fact about yourself you haven’t already shared.

I am distantly related to Presidents Benjamin and William Henry Harrison. The latter died from talking too long during his inaugural address and caught pneumonia – I’ve always assumed I’d follow in his political and long-winded footsteps.

Any other tidbits you would like to offer?

I would love to share some Twitter advice that I’ve recently realized a lot of people aren’t familiar with:

Note from Craig : If you like my interviews, I would like to invite you to read my columns as well, please check out my article on “Educating your customer – Why do it?” Thanks for your visit, please post if you have a thought! It does make a difference!

Why did I want to do it?

Four years ago when I first had an idea that I wanted to start a new company, I really had a very ideological concept developing within me about giving back to others while still finding a way to make a living. In general, I really like people, don’t get me wrong, I have had some very interesting relationships with people as well, but still feel the majority of people in their core are good and decent.

I wanted to be able to serve people in a way that was meaningful and use some of my core strengths and the knowledge I have obtained over 25 years in the workforce and 28 years investing time in technology. So it only made sense that the computer and its various uses including Web development and now social media would become a big part of what this company, networktask.com and its web division BrightWeb Marketing, would do.

What I thought was this, we can fix a computer, we can help people with their network, we can create a website based around what the customer’s products and services are, but I have always felt that giving the customer some of the power back would help them understand why our services were necessary. In some cases we would be teaching these customers things we would otherwise be charging them for. But I had greater goals in mind, I wanted to earn the trust of people. If you earn the trust of others, there is nothing more rewarding you will do in your lifetime!

The philosophy was simple, don’t try to make all of your money on a few customers who have very little information about what you do. Instead educate them to become more efficient and have a better understanding of how the technology works so they can help themselves when it is possible to do so and rely on the professionals when they know things are out of their scope of knowledge. My thought was, and always has been, that I would prefer to have more customers not just a few core customers who need me.

Something I continue to preach over and over again, whether you’re talking about management, services, processes its all just about people. If you take care of the people the people always take care of you!

So how do you educate the customer?

Regardless of the type of product and services that you offer, be prepared to explain the necessity in detail and also be prepared to avoid the hard sell. I know how difficult this is, for some, closing sales is your means to an end, however the education has produced more work for me. It doesn’t always produce immediate results, but building relationships rarely ever does.

Want details? Here you go!

We currently have a small classroom in our office that holds roughly 10 to 12 people. We have started to offer some instructional courses on topics ranging from search engine marketing, social media, Microsoft office tools, how networks work… Etc. for some of the classes we charge a small fee, other classes we offer for free. Share the Knowledge!

How does the company and customer BOTH benefit from this?

Lets give the example of Search Engine Marketing classes:

In the area in which we live our target by necessity is small business, we do not have a major business needing our services in our region. Small business people know their core business better than I could ever know it. Unless I spend the time to understand a small businesses at an expense to them, I could never do them justice. However, if we educate them on how these processes work and how to do things the right way they become a guide for the services we can provide that do not match their skill set, such as web design. It becomes much more affordable for small business to pay us to make adjustments and make suggestions on their wishes than to run a campaign for them. Now we still have small business who wish to pay us to run the complete campaign, but they do so now with the knowledge of the process and why it is so detailed and costly. This gives them a solid appreciation of that expense. Nothing makes people happier than knowing they have made a choice based on information, not out of necessity and their lack of information.

End Result?

Because of this word-of-mouth has produced the results I hope for. We now have a very solid footprint of customers in our small region, including some of the biggest names in this area and the majority of this work came from customers who were happy with our approach. Not sure many of our competitors feel the same!

I’ve made it a goal in my life to find a way to help others. This does not mean I cannot make a decent living doing so, in fact our company remains healthy in its fourth year.

I hope this helps you!