Grow Your Business!

Social Media:
Did you know that social media is one of the fastest growing ways to help boost sales and grow your business and/or brand? It's true. The average person spends 3-5 hours a day on sites like Facebook and Twitter alone. And those averages are growing more every year. Smart phones can even keep us connected 24 hours a day if we prefer. 
The point is, if you aren't utilizing these free sites, you're missing out on A LOT of potential business. 
But keeping up with social media can be time consuming, and most business owners and managers already have too much to do in a day. So what's the solution?
I am! That's right, you can hire me to manage your social media accounts for you. I have several years experience, and have learned crucial tricks, like what kinds of posts make the most impact, and when the ideal times of day to post are. I can also help you come up with creative marketing campaigns, and ways to increase activity and traffic to your business. Depending on your needs, I can do a per post fee, or a weekly or monthly rate for more frequent and regular posts and updates. If your business has a blog, I can do that as well. 
Marketing:
I have been in charge of marketing (social media and otherwise) for several previous employers, and love the challenge involved. Creative problem solving, and the ability to think outside the box is key, and something I truly enjoy. 
Hiring a marketing company is expensive, and not an option for every business. But that doesn't mean you have to go without this amazing tool. 
I can work with any budget, and we can decide what works best for you. Maybe you just want to have a "Brain Storm Session" and pay a one time fee for me to help you come up with new ways to boost sales, increase traffic, etc. Whatever your needs, I'm certain I can help. 
Advertising:
Clever and informative advertising is an important part of growing and maintaining any business. But finding the right way to do that can often be tricky. Maybe you need a catchy motto, or a fun mascot idea. I'd love to help! Having spent years working with the public in various jobs, I have a great grasp of what types of advertising works the best, and how to capture the attention of the average person. 
Event Planning:
Do you host a holiday party for your staff every year? Or maybe you want to create an event to bring more customers into your store or business. I can help with that! I spent 12 years with Hallmark, and over 9 of those years was spent in charge of planning all our events, and doing event coordinating with customers for weddings, showers, birthday parties and more. You might think hosting an event is too expensive, but I know plenty of tricks to stay within any budget, and you won't have to sacrifice style and fun to do it. 

No matter what your creative business needs are, I want to help. Traditional marketing and event coordinating services can be costly, but I want to make these tools available to every business owner/manager, so I am keeping my prices affordable and available for any budget. To find out more, or to discuss rates/fees, contact me at BerryFavoriteThings@gmail.com and let's work out a plan! I can't wait to hear from you!
-Teena Hauxwell-Finn

Stop. Just Stop.

I can't take it anymore. I have had it up to here (I'm waving my hand WAY above my head.) and I absolutely MUST say something....
STOP SHARING SHIT ONLINE IF YOU HAVEN'T DONE THE PROPER RESEARCH! 
No seriously.... stop it. You are only making yourself look stupid, and propagating fear mongering. 
Anything, and I mean ANYTHING can be found online if you look hard enough. That means that if I felt like it, I could find an argument for smoking cigarettes to CURE cancer. That doesn't make it valid or true. 
In this day and age, we are far too quick to hit the "share" button. We rarely take the time to figure out if what we are sharing is of any value whatsoever, let alone if it is even true. And don't even get me started on the people who clearly do not understand satire. Nothing you read in The Onion is true, people. 
We have to stop. We are creating a world filled with ignorance and fear, and it isn't helping anyone. All this does is encourage trolls and drama starters to write articles intended to spread discontent and stir the shit pot in order to garner attention. 
I recently saw a photo show up MULTIPLE times in my Facebook newsfeed about Halloween landing on Friday the 13th for the first time in 666 years or some shit. Now... I don't want to make anyone feel bad or stupid, but COME ON, PEOPLE.... Stop for a second and think it through. When is Halloween? It is the same day every single year. It is on October 31st. That means it could never, ever, EVER land on a Friday the 13th. We know this, yet many, many people shared that photo. Why? Because we are sharing without thinking, that's why. We see some colorful quote or catchy titled article and we feel compelled to share it. But should we? While some things are certainly worth sharing, many others are not. We need to start doing a better job of filtering these things.
Now, I'm not a big proponent of sharing religious, political, or push button topics, but if that is your thing, for the love of everything holy, please make sure you have done the proper research before you share it. You may hate Obama, but that doesn't mean that photo of him stabbing unicorns is real. You get that, right?
And if you want to be the person who shares things like that, at the very least, you should be sure that what you are sharing is genuine and not just some false propaganda created to cause trouble. 
So.... from now on, let's all do our due diligence, and start weeding out things of value from general nonsense. Not only will this free up our newsfeeds for more worthwhile things, it will make the world a much happier place, and you won't find yourself sitting at your desk screaming at your computer screen and calling your friends and loved ones colorful names.
Thank you. This has been a public service announcement.

     This. SO much YES! 

The Social Media Persona

If you have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. you know how hard people will try to put on a false façade. We have all seen the "happy couples" who post deep, meaningful things to each other's timelines, because apparently the other room was too far to walk to TELL THEM THAT. Or the Super Christians who think that the daily bible quote posts somehow make up for the 499 sins they committed throughout the remainder of the day. Or the "I'm so interesting!" people who insist on checking in everywhere. We get it, you work out. *slow clap* Now stop spamming my newsfeed with your GPS updates.
Whatever happened to just being yourself? When did it get so offensive to say what you think, or post an unedited picture? If your social media "friends" are truly your friends, do you really think they don't know how you are?
I mean, I get it. You don't want your grandma to know that you got shitfaced and danced on a table on Tuesday night. So maybe friending grandma wasn't the best idea. But remember, grandma was young once too. And what if she's just grateful camera phones and snapchat didn't exist in her day, and she got one helluva chuckle out of that post your friend tagged you in? What if being yourself created an open dialogue with the people in your life? Maybe if your sister knew you were really human, and made mistakes, she would stop trying to compete with you. Maybe if your father saw how happy you really were in the photos of you and your boyfriend, he would stop judging. Maybe if you stopped being fake on social media, you could make a real connection with someone.
Social media isn't real life. But it is a PART of real life. It's a place where many people find comfort, humor, friendship, and more.
But if you spend all of your time worrying about what you post, who might see it, how someone could react, and what people will think of you... why even bother? It is a fact that some people cannot handle social media. If you have those people in your life, and they have taken the fun out of it for you, remove them. It's that simple. If they get mad, just calmly explain to them that it isn't real life, but that it wasn't in the best interest of your relationship to remain on each other's social media. If they are still angry... well they obviously have deeper issues, and you're better off anyway.
My favorite people on social media are the ones who are real. Who share funny moments from their lives, poke fun at themselves, share things that matter to them, and enjoy connecting with others. If you have a Facebook account, and you spend hours on there trolling people's pages, but never post or comment... get off. You're a creeper. It's called SOCIAL media for a reason. If you aren't being social, you're doing it wrong. And don't think we don't know. We see that green dot next to your name, stalkers.
If there are people you don't want knowing your business, don't add them. Otherwise, who cares? Be yourself. Say what you want to say, don't apologize, and fucking enjoy it. That's the whole damn point.

Facebook Pros and Cons...

I want to do a little venting today, so please bear with me. 
I love facebook, I truly do. I have made amazing connections with people I would otherwise never have met, stayed connected to family that I don't have the luxury of seeing often and reconnected with old friends. I get to see photos of loved ones, learn new and interesting things, laugh at funny posts and kill time on a slow day. These are the perks. 
Now let me tell you what I loathe about facebook. 
*I hate when people feel the need to bombard their friends newsfeeds with overly opinionated posts. We get it, you like your guns and hate the president. Or you think everyone should eat organic, save the trees and breastfeed. Whatever your beliefs, is it REALLY necessary to share every single post and photo about it? I don't mind the occasional rant, hell, we all do it now and then. But the ones who do it constantly, non stop, all day, and then get mad when someone disagrees with them, really irritate me. Wake up, folks! You aren't the only one entitled to an opinion, so if you aren't big enough to respect someone else's, then keep yours to yourself. 
*I hate when people share every single picture/quote that they like. It's bad enough that facebook shows us what all of our friends like, but then you feel the need to share each one, it gets out of hand. Do you really believe that by sharing or liking something, you won't go to Hell, a puppy won't die and you'll win a million dollars? If you do, we need to have a little chat... 
*I hate the "begging for attention" posts. If you post open ended or non descriptive, generic statuses about being sad, lonely, fat, ugly, etc. you are clearly trying to get people to ask you what's wrong, or tell you how great you are. Save us the eye roll, and just say what's on your mind. Stop fishing for comments. While I'm on the subject, is it honestly necessary to post thousands of pics of yourself alone in your car or in your bathroom? You look exactly the same as you did yesterday. And if you are going to insist on doing it, maybe take a minute and put the lid down on the toilet or make your bed. 
*I hate the rotating relationship statuses. Maybe try dating for more than 15 minutes before deciding you are "in a relationship". And posting endless cheesy crap on each other's timelines for EVERYONE to see does not make us think you are the perfect couple. It makes us gag. If you love each other so much; call, text or private message it. Or better yet, get off facebook and go say it to their face. And if you are single, PLEASE stop complaining about it every single day. Just a hint, you look desperate, needy and pathetic. So unless you wish to remain eternally alone, maybe tone it down a notch. Let them figure out how crazy you are AFTER they date you...
*I hate the constant game requests. Let me clear something up for you, I am fully aware that those games exist. IF I wanted to play them, I would. I have refused every request you've ever sent me, so take the damn hint and knock it off. Or don't be surprised when I unfriend you. 
*I hate the drama llamas. (A term coined by my friend, Nicole F. *trademark pending*) If you don't want the whole world involved in your business, then stop posting it. It's ok to share, but some things can be kept private as well. I don't want or need to know every detail about your baby daddy/mama, your ex, your boss or anyone else. It's a public forum. If you think it isn't going to get back to that person, you are wrong. 
Now these are just some things that annoy me personally. You probably have your own lists. And before you go commenting, I am fully aware that from time to time, I may fall into one of these categories. We all do. If you think you don't, just ask me, I'll be happy to let you know. But I'm addressing the folks that do these things ALL THE TIME. Not once in awhile, but daily or hourly. If you aren't sure if this is you, take a second, go to your timeline and take a scroll....

Emotions vs. Emoticons

I often find myself ending a text, email or facebook post with an emoticon. A symbol that represents a smile, a frown, a confused look, etc. But what am I really trying to convey? The answer is an emotion. Words can evoke emotion, but they cannot always accurately express them, so we use combinations of symbols to share our moods and feelings. But does a colon and a bracket really give you the same satisfaction as a genuine smile? Maybe it does.
If you are having a bad day and you get a text from a friend or loved one that says "Thinking of u :)" does it make you feel better? Does it give you the same emotional response that hearing those same words and seeing that person smile would? In some cases, I think it does. I know that when I am having a crappy day and I see a funny pic or read a funny post on facebook, that makes me LOL, it does help improve my mood. Maybe not the same way as a face to face conversation and sharing laughter does, but it still helps. Do reading the words "I love you" in an email or text give you the same warmth as hearing them and looking into the eyes of the speaker? Probably not. But does that mean we shouldn't still text it? Not at all. In some cases, the written word may be all we have to communicate by, and any expression of love and friendship is better than none at all.
The problem arises when emoticons replace real emotions. When we forget what our loved ones smiles and frowns really look like because we no longer see them. It's easy to take a second to send a text, or even comprise an email, or to post on someones wall/timeline. But the real stuff comes from sacrificing our time and responsibilities to make that effort in person. To plan a date, or a visit. To sit down and have a real conversation with someone and see the emotions play out in their faces. To hear their laughter, not just read about it. It's during these interactions that real emotion is felt and created. I'm not saying we should drop everything and go visit everyone we know or love, that isn't logical. But it is possible to make real time for people, we just have to accept that it will require more from us than just a few moments of our time. It might mean leaving work a little early, or not watching that TV show you like. But if you get pleasure from a text, imagine how much you would get from a real touch, or hug or smile. It's priceless.
Technology has made our lives so much easier and it has opened up so many new forms of communication and possibilities for relationships. Just a few short years ago, I wouldn't have been in contact with even 1/3 of the people I am now. I love meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. I love that I can have a completely random chat in the middle of the day with a friend about absolutely nothing. Technology makes these things possible and I am eternally grateful. I always have my phone with me and I rarely go a day without checking my facebook or email. I love the new worlds that these things have opened up for me. They bring me immense pleasure & I do not foresee a future without these things in my life.
That being said, my greatest pleasures in life, my fondest memories, the things I will someday tell my grandchildren about, these things are the real, physical moments. I may show someone a pic of my new baby niece, but I could never express the true joy I get from holding her in my arms and smelling her sweet scent. I may smile as I hang up the phone after a nice chat with a friend, but that smile will never be as big and heartfelt as the one I get from seeing & hugging that person in real life. To hear my son tell me about the new girl he met isn't the same as seeing the look in his eyes as he describes her to me. To read a text from my husband that says "Miss u c u soon" gives me a nice feeling, but it cannot compare to the feeling of seeing him walk through the door and pull me into his arms.
Emoticons are fun, and a great way to show someone you are just teasing, or to add a touch of a flirt, but they are no substitute for emotions. At the end of the day, it is the real smiles or frowns or winks that have the most impact. A sad face at the end of an I'm sorry text can never compare to a genuine tear filled apology.
It may be the thought that counts, but it is the real thing that really adds up. So the next time you are texing a friend, or chatting on facebook, try and make time to get together. Meet for a quick lunch, or have a girls night. Whatever you do, remember that as much as we love our technology, it is not a replacement for real life. So hug your friends, smile at strangers and make time for those face to face conversations, because those are the moments that we truly connect to others, and those are the things that we will remember. People rarely lie in bed at night and fall asleep to the vision of a semi colon and a bracket in their heads...