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Food Safety Enhancement Act Off-Target | Community Food Co-op

Thu, 31 Dec 2009 09:11:45 -0700

Food Safety Enhancement Act Off-Target | Community Food Co-op:

As ranchers and growers of hops and tomatoes here in Bozeman, Montana, I couldn’t agree more. Great article on new food safety legislation.

Random Blogs of Kindness

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:22:18 -0700

Random Blogs of Kindness :

Tiffany Taylor is one happening entrepreneur. Also known as Ms. Esty, she’s an esthetician and social marketing diva from Detroit. Today, without warning, she up and blogged about my company, Schedulicity.

If you’re providing a solution for small businesses, there’s nothing more rewarding than a customer who takes your brand into their own hands to share the experience with everyone they know.

It’s what all the great authors of today, @chrisbrogran and Seth Godin, all write about It’s trust marketing at it’s finest.

Thank you, Ms. Esty. I hope my friends reading this, know how much I love great marketing will comment, retweet and those in Detroit will book an appointment with you online!

What Matters Now

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:03:03 -0700

What Matters Now:

Important enough to immortalize on my blog!

Yesterday, instead of ringing the Salvation Army bell, we sang...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 11:23:35 -0700

Yesterday, instead of ringing the Salvation Army bell, we sang Christmas carols for 2 hours in front of our local grocery store. (Watch Silent Night!) It was two of the most fun, most rewarding two hours I’ve spent in a long time. We raised record amounts of money and passers-by were so thankful and appreciative to hear these songs and many joined and sang with us. Thanks to Rodan + Fields and your passionate support for these charities and inspiring me to do this. For more about R+F, go to: www.bridgetcavanaugh.myrandf.com.

Where the Wild Things Are! If you like wildlife, you’ll...

Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:16:19 -0700

Where the Wild Things Are! If you like wildlife, you’ll like this little video I made this morning. Meet my breakfast club. They spend the winter on the farm in Bozeman.

What would you do for love? Video #2: Results with R+F after just 2 weeks!

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:50:11 -0600

What would you do for love? Video #2: Results with R+F after just 2 weeks!:

In just two weeks, I am experiencing wonderful results from Rodan + Fields Dermatology. Years of self-inflicted sun exposure is being erased with their product REVERSE and SOOTHE. I’ve never loved the results of a product enough to throw a towel over my show stall and whip out my Flip Cam to share with the world.

I am now an independent consultant and national recruiter for Rodan + Fields. This is a company I am willing to put my name behind!

If you’re interested to learn more, visit www.bridgetcavanaugh.myrandf.com and send me a DM!

Thanks!!

What would you do for love? What product do you love enough to do a video blog from your bathroom?

Sun, 18 Oct 2009 20:45:28 -0600

What would you do for love? What product do you love enough to do a video blog from your bathroom?:

I joined Rodan + Fields Dermatology as an independent consultant and national recruiter because I believe in the business opportunity and the product. I started using the R+F REVERSE product line just two weeks ago as I explain in this less-than-flattering video. I’ve never done this for any other product, but I don’t think I’ve seen results like this before. Remember that this is video #1 and I start looking much better as the videos progress!

The VW Recovery By Rich Karlgaard

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:06:54 -0600

The VW Recovery By Rich Karlgaard:

Rich is one smart media guy. While mainstream media sugar-coats this administrations decisions, Karlgaard is bringing fresh, thought-provoking analysis to the table. A perspective small business should not be without.

His Digital Rules is a must read column. I encourage you to have it delivered in your inbox weekly.

Also, if you haven’t read his book, Life 2.0, it’s good. It’s accurate. I’m hoping he’ll come spend time with me again in Bozeman when he writes Life 3.0, life in the aftermath of our global bubble.

Watch '20/20' Friday Nights at 10 p.m. - ABC News

Fri, 07 Aug 2009 14:24:00 -0600

Watch '20/20' Friday Nights at 10 p.m. - ABC News:

A rare set of circumstances brought Christopher Wall into my Aunt Delores’ life when he was 4 years old and he’s been a member of the family ever since. I last saw him 18 months ago, when I was visiting New Jersey and I couldn’t believe myself his independence and normalcy. Born with his heart on the outside of his body and not expected to live past the first surgeries, he’s beat the odds for 34 amazing years. I’m so thrilled to see that his story will be told on 20/20 tonight for all of you to see. Please tune in and fall in love with Christopher the way we all have!

Happy Friday, Bridget

Are We Solving the Same Problem?

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:27:00 -0600

Are We Solving the Same Problem? :

It’s a wonderful thing to get everyone on your team on the same page about what problem we are trying to solve. I’m reading a great book titled, “Being Strategic” by Erica Anderson, that helps you create sustainable shifts in corporate culture for the kind of problem solving that helps you acheive business objectives.

If I recall, @chrisbrogan recommened this book in a tweet a few weeks back. Thanks, Chris.

I like that the book is highly practical, with tools, tips and questions you need to ask over and over to get the results you want.

I suggest you read it as well as Seth’s Blog Today!

Smart busy women are everywhere running companies, raising...

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:59:35 -0600

Smart busy women are everywhere running companies, raising families, pursuing dreams and making it happen. Who are the people in your life you want to celebrate?

Before Twitter, I relied on Angelique (in Florida), Carol (in Los Gatos), Polly (in San Diego), Mary Nell (whereever the hell she is these days) Courtney, Val, Tina, Jen, Arin, Aunt Eileen (in Bozeman) as my sounding boards, my contrarians, my entourage.

But now I realize how many other amazing sources of insights, advice, friendship and comfort I have in Twitter. This morning, I created a group called “smart busy women” in TweetDeck and the list is amazing. Everyday, I learn from @fuzzyredrobe, @karaswisher, @swapmamas to @pprlisa and artful, busy women like @aliciacaine, marketing experts like @feleciaslattery, @lisahoffman and @chriscolvin and 200+ amazing, intelligent and super busy tweet-hers.

In a picture-paints-a-thousand-words style, my “American Gothic”-ish photo of me and Arnie scratches the surface of what makes me and my friends new and old and those yet to come, smartbusywomen. Read on and add:

- Choosing an amazing partner that is engaged in all that you do apart and together
- Living in a place big and bold enough to contain all the things you’re passionate about
- Surrounding yourself with inspirational people, culture, experiences, animals, nature that reflect the best in you
- Diversifying ourselves so we can engage, share, learn, grow
- Challenging ourselves physically, intellectually, spiritually
- Loving every minute of life with kids, family, friends, work, community

What did I miss SBW? Please add to my list!

I wonder if animal shelters around the country noticed an uptick...

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:20:00 -0600

I wonder if animal shelters around the country noticed an uptick in traffic and adoptions when this campaign launched earlier this year? After watching these Pedigree Adoption Campaign videos (and reaching for a tissue), I immediately searched and clicked on my local shelter to see if there was an Echo, a Maggie or Walter waiting for someone like me. (I already have three dogs, but there is room for a cat in our menagerie.)

The second thing was to try to find one animal shelter that linked to YouTube or the Pedigree website or the Donald Trump “Apprentice” episode. If there is a link or example before page 12 in Google, I couldn’t find it.

Why not? Are there really entire market sectors untouched, uninfluenced by social media? If there was ever a time for an animal shelter to turn to Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, the social web to build awareness of important issues, to build a community. Who is more passionate than pet owners? What are they waiting for?

If you know anyone that works at an animal shelter, serves on a board, manages the website, forward them this blog post and encourage them to rethink how they use digital media and the tools available to them. If you know of a shelter that is embracing social media, please tweet it out. They deserve a “woof!”

P.S.: If you didn’t see the follow-up video called “Echo Gets Adopted”, scroll down or click here! It will make you smile and cry all over again.

I’ve been “echoed”…

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:03:35 -0600

I’ve been “echoed”…

"Meanwhile in the Senate, everyone is waiting on Max Baucus of Montana. Nothing is going to happen on..."

Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:29:00 -0600

““Meanwhile in the Senate, everyone is waiting on Max Baucus of Montana. Nothing is going to happen on health care without the approval of Baucus, whose vast authority stems from the fact that he speaks for both the Senate Finance Committee and a state that contains three-tenths of one percent of the country’s population.””

- I didn’t know quite what to think of yesterday’s New York Times Op Ed piece. Thought I don’t know her, Gail Collins and I have several things in common, mainly that we both serve on editorial boards for our respective newspapers. But I can’t help but get the feeling that based on her quote above that she may think less of my role at the Bozeman Chronicle. Afterall, my newspaper is located in the third largest city in a state with three-tenths of one percent of the country’s population.

I’d like to point out that Ms. Collins and I commonly live by the same constitution whose Founding Fathers purposefully skewed political power to favor rural America by giving all states equal representation in the Senate. So why is she angling on Montana’s lack of population? It’s a non-issue and completely irrelevant in these matters. It’s funny, but is politcally ignorant. Which should be surprising coming from a newspaper serving 6% of the entire US population.

What’s uncommon between us is that I don’t have a chip on my shoulder about Senators from highly populated urban areas who assert their influence for policy making. Another point of difference is that that with one phone call, our editorial board can call Baucus’ office and schedule a heart-to-heart on national health care policy in a manner of minutes. We’ll be sitting down with him in a few weeks while everyone else “waits”.

Mmm… Maybe I getting a little chip on my shoulder about those big city types…

How to calculate the ROI on your “personal...

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:54:07 -0600

How to calculate the ROI on your “personal brand”:

Let’s just use me @bcavanaugh as an example knowing what we know:

As of the time of this post, I have 997 followers.

1,536 updates (that’s how many updates generated 997 followers)
x10 minutes (average) time spent per update (blog posts, RTs, surfing, etc.)
/ 60 minutes
=256 hours
x $175 (hourly billable rate)
= $44,800
/ 997 followers
$44.93 a lead
The opportunity to get to know you, priceless!

If there was ever a time to seek the advice of a smart, dead...

Mon, 20 Jul 2009 07:19:00 -0600

If there was ever a time to seek the advice of a smart, dead guy, this is it. When it comes to personal branding and specifically @GeoffLiving ‘s post last night, I ask WWKD?

Philosophicall speaking, it doesn’t get much more straight forward than Emmaneul Kant’s Categorical Imperative. Which is why his writings came to mind immediately in the personal branding controversy. If I can remember way back to my sophmore year in college, Kant’s Golden Rule goes something like, “treat others not as a means to an end, but as ends in themselves.” It applies beautifully to branding.

A common misconception of a brand is that it is a logo, fan page, product and now a person. As “ends in themselves” brands are a collection of behaviors and actions that accrue, evolve and are defined over time. Brands can be hyped in the short term with clever advertising, product launches, a feature story or a controversial blog post. But when put in context of a life’s work and not an event, a well guided brand strategy (personal, corporate or product) is one that bases action on rightness and good will. Customers will see through a brand who’s directive is, “what’s in it for me?”

Because branding is behaviorial, it’s the act, not the intent that truly defines it. In the marketplace, only the act can be seen, felt and perceived. Consider the recent TechCrunch and Twittergate. The act of publishing 310 documents will be remembered, not the intent. It’s too soon to comment on this one, and will just leave it as an example for now.

In an authentic, transparent world, brand behavior as a means to an end is quickly detected by customers. So, how can a brand best treat others (consumers, stakeholders, employees) as ends in themselves? By defining a sense of duty, purpose and good will that guide the actions in a way that that transcend share price, buzz building, personal ambitions and hype.

Do you agree or disagree?

(p.s. philosphy majors are not encouraged to rip apart my logic ;-))

Pop Quiz on Personal Branding

Sun, 19 Jul 2009 23:47:00 -0600

Having just read two rather lengthy diatribes on the models and muck of personal branding, the last thing this topic needs is another he said-he said novela. But a short quiz, perhaps?

1. If the squabbling over reputation vs. personal branding in social media became a made-for-TV-movie, what famous rivals should play the part?

a. Linda Evans and Joan Collins
b. John MacEnroe and Jimmy Connors
c. David Letterman and Opra
d. Geoff Livingston and Scott Henderson (as themselves)
e. other:

2. If you could choose anyone to mediate (and thus put an end to this quibbling) who would it be?

a. Judge Wapner
b. Clint Eastwood (as Dirty Harry)
c. Emmanuel Kant
d. Dr. Laura
e. other

3. What fresh trend/topic should we be squabbling over instead?

a. Crossing cultural chasms with social media
b. Improving stock performance with Twitter
c. Twitter-gate and “Arrington’s Choice”
d. Is social shopping while non-socially drinking a bad combination?
e. other

(my answers: 1.a; 2.c. 3.a)

I’ll explain my answers in an upcoming blog post. Tweet me yours.

5:45 AM out my window. They say a picture paints a 1,000 words,...

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 07:08:27 -0600

5:45 AM out my window. They say a picture paints a 1,000 words, so what else is there for me to say?

(p.s. can you see the young buck in the photo? He’s in velvet)

Is Social Networking Online Improving Your Offline (Neighborly)...

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:21:00 -0600

Is Social Networking Online Improving Your Offline (Neighborly) Skills?

Over morning coffee, my husband and I were taking stock in all the amazing people that we call our personal and dear friends. You know, the one’s with whom you’re familiar with the inside of their house, their marital squabbles, their cooking, their values. In the past five years, what may have been a “circle of friends” is now an airline route map. And the thing is, the rate at which we seem to be making new hugs-and-double-cheek-kisses friends is escalating at a rapid pace. Is anyone else experiencing this phenomenon? Is Twitter making us better at friend-making with the Wilson’s down the block?

I can’t help but wonder if all this friending, following and relationship building online is influencing the neighborhoods and communities where we make eye contact. Is Twitter and Faebook increasing our willingness and interest to finally get to know the Clarkson’s down the street? Wouldn’t that be amazing if it did? The implications are enormous. Or am I just imaging all of this?

I have trouble answering this for myself because I’ve always had the personality properties of a magnet. Tell me, is anyone else noticing an increase in new neighborhood friends, business acquaintances turned poker buddy, an increase of BBQ invites? Is there more backyard socialization going on that wasn’t here last summer or the summer before?

One explaination for this fine frenzy (one of my favorite music artists) of new friends may be my fear of a missed connection, which inspired this morning’s post (thanks to CoolHunting) I reach for TweetDeck before my morning coffee (as my coffee is brewing to be exact) because I don’t want to miss anything or anyone. You all are truly becoming my friends too, not all 970+ of you, but enough collectively and individually to add great value to my life. I care what you have to say, I’m listening to your advice, I’m trying to be a good friend and offer ideas too. If I could, I’d have you all over for a BBQ this week-end!

“That’s a well-written essay, Bridge. When your work can be performed “over a...

Mon, 13 Jul 2009 11:40:43 -0600

“That’s a well-written essay, Bridge. When your work can be performed “over a wire” (phone, internet), it also means you never really leave your office. This isn’t healthy. I’m overloaded to the point of circuit failure. I want to figure out how to turn my office into a tractor, something I can turn off and walk away from.”

— my brother, Sean Cavanaugh (the writer in the family), sent me this note on Facebook and I wanted to share it as a lead in this morning’s post.