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"If you never follow through on your idea, that is all it will ever be."
--Sarah Evans, author of [RE]FRAME, Little Inspirations for a Larger Purpose
If you've never been unsure of yourself or doubted the value of your plan or worried that you had made the right decision, then don't bother reading this book.
The 99.9% of the rest of us will find something to love about this e-book by public relations and social media trailblazer Sarah Evans.
A social media pioneer
I got to know Sarah about three years ago when social media was a novelty, yet Sarah had somehow figured out much earlier that businesses needed to pay attention to what was happening to their brands on Facebook and Twitter. I hired Sarah to consult at Fox Chicago on those early awkward steps pushing news content into the social space. She appeared regularly on our newscasts, giving the tech perspective on news of the day. Sarah was (and is) her own 'brand' -- confident in her knowledge of the social conversation. So it was comforting in a weird way to read that she too has had times when she swallowed hard, took a deep breath and just jumped in when she wasn't entirely sure it was the right thing.
This book is short (96 pages on the iPad held in vertical position.) So you could read it during a long wait in the doctor's office, but Sarah recommends against that. It's best consumed in small bites, allowing for opportunities to reflect on how Sarah has approached business challenges and what lessons she has applied to her own successful career.
Reflections on her own career
Sarah's advice ("The best time to build your network is when you don't need one.") is especially valuable for women who seem to worry the most about what others think or whether they are 'good enough.' ("Don't let the haters keep you from doing what you love. Your success drowns them out.") Sarah writes about her own brave decision earlier this year to pull up roots in Chicago and move to Las Vegas, asking her husband to quit his job to become lead caregiver for their young son. She and her husband weighed the opportunity; Sarah had an offer to become 'chief evangelist' for social collaboration start-up, Tracky. As Sarah describes it, the decision was actually easy, despite all the unknowns. ("Making a big change in life is pretty scary. But know what is even scarier? Regret.)
ReFrame doesn't waste your time by getting right to the point, and I like that. While some of the lessons may be obvious to experienced entrepreneurs, I found Sarah's message to be uplifting and validating. The creep of self-doubt can take over anytime, no matter how many times you've been at bat.
Sarah Evans (@prsarahevans) is the chief evangelist at Tracky and owner of Sevans Strategy, a public relations and new media consultancy. She's the author of new book, [RE]FRAME: Little Inspirations For A Larger Purpose (published by SlimBooks). It's her personal mission to engage and employ the use of emerging technologies in all communication that connects her with a rapidly growing base of more than 120,000 people. A "for good" advocate, Sarah worked with a local crisis center to raise more than $161K in three weeks via social media and is a team member of the Guinness Book World Record holding #beatcancer. Sarah can be seen in Vanity Fair's Americas Tweethearts, Forbes' 14 Power Women to Follow on Twitter and Entrepreneur's Top 10 Hot Startups of 2010.
