Who’s near the top of the “fearless girl” leaderboard? (2 fantastic examples!) – SCN Encourager
Amy Schmittauer and Lindsey Anderson are right up there.
They offer great lessons for us all.
School communicators or otherwise.
They don’t just preach what they believe, however.
They live it out.
How I do I know?
Well, I’ve been benefitting from their mindset and business advice for the last couple of years.
Their podcasts, Facebook presence, worthwhile video and social media instruction, brief email chats, and fun personalities have been regular sources of inspiration to me.
(And to be honest, I originally tuned into them hoping they’d counter-balance the views of Cindy and my daughters at home. But they don’t, dang it!)
So, as a sequel to yesterday’s “fearless girl” post, I’d like to briefly shoutout the “forward motion” Amy and Lindsey are both making (each in their own ways)… and why I think they model an approach we should keep in mind as we promote the good work of our schools.
First of all, both Amy and Lindsey are incredibly honest.
Maybe they have to be direct and forthright because they have so many projects and clients on their calendar.
If they were always trying to figure out and cater to various “PR angles,” they’d probably never get anything done.
But I think it’s more than that.
They truly want to help people grow – and more often than not – this requires saying things to people (like me) that they don’t want to hear.
To their credit, both of these fearless young women are gifted in how they consistently keep their kind and caring hearts ingrained in their straight-talk coaching.
(And, believe it or not… seeing how they do this has helped me become a better father and “coach” for my three daughters.)
Amy and Lindsey translate their beliefs into clear tangible action;
their plan… their direction… their pace… their way.
Fearless doesn’t mean reckless.
Nor does it mean arrogant.
Amy and Lindsey are like knowledgeable and highly skilled quarterbacks who are willing to run off of the playing field at any time to become supportive cheerleaders on the sidelines if that’s what they people they care for need.
Amy Schmittauer has been teaching and successfully engaging her fans on YouTube for more than 8 years.
Although she’s branded herself as the “Vlog Boss,” her talents extend far beyond video expertise.
Her best-selling book Vlog Like a Boss offers tactics outside of the creation and sharing of videos, including ways to simply “get things done.”
If you get a chance, you might want to check in with her website.
It was from her website, I found out about one of Amy’s “mastermind sessions” in Columbus, Ohio (her hometown).
I wasn’t prepared for that much re-arranging of my mental lifelong learning attic… as I was just hoping to eat cookies, sip coffee, and see if she’d actually let me in the room.
Lindsey Anderson is one amazing whirling dervish as well.
Like Amy, she has a self-branded tag: “One Click.”
“One Click Lindsey” is all about helping you knock your message out of the park, both on your website and in social media.
She’s also very supportive of folks like me who are still shaky about stepping up to the plate.
Her podcast – Traffic and Leads – is one of my favorites.
Once I learned “traffic and leads” essentially means “recruiting and retaining,” this old school communicator jumped onto the value-packed “One Click” bandwagon.
I was also impressed by how Lindsey incorporated her “One Click” moniker into her strategic cornerstones for effective online marketing.
Her “CLICK Technique” is anchored in these:
Curiosity (court attention by building this)
Land (know what your customer is clicking on)
Irresistible Offer (give value freely)
Cultivate (nurture the relationship)
Keep Going (test & tweak, but don’t give up)
They’re about as rock solid as you can get, don’tcha think?
Now there is an area Amy and Lindsey do well – and unfortunately it’s something I don’t do so well myself, and in fact, I’m wondering if our schools might need to get better at it, too.
Amy and Lindsey are masters at embracing other people’s dreams (whatever they may be) and then walking right alongside folks unselfishly providing insights, baby steps, and pats-on-the-back all along the way.
These two embrace the dreams of others and then fuel them.
So often, when I hear about another person’s dream, I start evaluating the person’s resources, support network, abilities, and all kinds of assorted “test score-like” criteria.
I can conjure up a long list of dream-dampening hurdles in my sleep.
Sometimes I’ll even judge the quality of a dream in micro-seconds and say to myself, “No way. No how. That’ll never work.”
Which is all pretty rich coming from me, isn’t it?
As one whose dream is to better connect with you so we can lock arms together in the noble service of our school districts and communities.
Yikes!
My dream is wackier than most of ’em out there now that I think about it.
But Amy and Lindsey are masters at serving the dreams of others first and foremost, and I’m learning much from them.
And they’ve given us excellent models to point to as we encourage students of all genders in our schools to fail forward, keep a-goin’, and eventually experience contentment and success via their own meaningful contributions to our society.
You know, we school communicators should take Amy’s and Lindsey’s “dream embracing” practice to heart… especially with a new school year on the horizon.
And I’ve got to tell you.
I appreciate Amy and Lindsey greatly for supporting SCN and my attempts at blogging.
I couldn’t wrap up today’s Encourager without making this crystal clear.
Plus, it also goes to show you.
Even they make mistakes.
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