Inspiration – Veronica Stenberg

5 highly motivational podcasts

Veronica — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 15:44:20 +0000

Life would not be the same without podcasts. I count them as one of the many wonders of the internet age. They contribute so much to my life and I love that I can jack up the speed (I’m at least on x1.5 in speech speed) and be able to do things around my house, while I listen and learn.

These 5 podcasts are your perfect companions while going back to work after a particularly wonderful summer holiday as they will jack you up with both inspiration and motivation. These podcasts are sure to help you kick-start your autumn and get you that extra motivation to reach your dreams and goals. Like espresso for your ears.

Long story short with Bobbi Brown

Bobbi interviews entrepreneurs and leaders within a multitude of different industries. From chefs to CEOs. You get a new perspective each week and it’s always highly inspiring to listen into Bobbi’s conversations. I like her style immensely and I’m sure you will do too!

Overnight success with Maria Hatzistefanis

I was thrilled when I discovered that Maria Hatzistefanis started a podcast with the same name as her book. It’s a highly inspiring podcast that tackles various subjects such as hiring and firing, how to take care of yourself and your health when you live a busy life, to productivity and motivation.

Akimbo with Seth Godin

There is no news to anyone who knows me that I find Seth Godin and his ideas and perspective very interesting. Each week he shares his ideas and thoughts on his podcast Akimbo and it’s really interesting and motivating to hear how he thinks and sees the world.

Infinite Potential with Deepak Chopra

Deepak Chopra speaks with a various and very creative selection of people in his podcast, its everything from astronauts to professors that helps the listeners understand, that we are not our brain. This is a thought-provoking and pondering podcast that helps you shift your perspective. The core questions Deepak Chopra explores in this podcast with the help from his guests is: What makes us conscious beings and why does it matter that we are? This podcast makes you think in new ways.

Superwomen with Rebecca Minkoff

Listening to stories by other women is highly motivating and inspiring for me personally. Rebecca Minkoff invites some of the most successful women in the world and shares their stories through her podcast. A definite must listen to any driven career woman.

Photo by Johnson Wang on Unsplash

My september link list

Veronica — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 04:36:26 +0000

As you have probably already noticed I read a lot of books (not only on the topic of business, the occasional graphic novel also enters my to-read-pile). I therefore decided that I’m going to add some of the articles that I find and curate in a monthly instalment called link lists. This will give you an opportunity to get to know me a bit more.

This month is a lot about personal development, and a lot of curated content from Thrive as I’m a huge fan of Arianna Huffington.

How do you know that you are on the right path? here’s 8 signs that you are successful
9 Powerful habits to boost your confidence
Take Tony Robbins test to discover your driving force
Trouble making decisions in a world filled with possibilities? then try this strategy.
These are the signs of a burn-out
Two thoughts that does not serve you and how to nip’em in the bud
Key insights from Kat Boogard who quit her job without a back-up plan
7 ideas on how to change your life, starting today
How complaining alters your brain

Image: found on Pinterest – owner/creator unknown.

Book review: How to Be an Overnight Success by Maria Hatzistefanis

Veronica — Mon, 14 Aug 2017 04:03:54 +0000

I follow @mrsrodial on social media as I think she is very inspiring business person. And as I love to read both business books (preferably by the founds of businesses) and biographies, I pre-ordered a copy and to my delight it arrived just in time for my holiday. That’s why my copy is quite battered as you can probably tell from the photo above, it’s been to three countries (Hungary, Germany and Spain plus a short visit in Stockholm, Sweden if you are curious).

Overall I thought it was a brilliant book, written in a personal way, sharing both insights on the personal journey and handy take-aways in the form of “overnight success secrets”. Hint – it took Rodial 18 years to reach where they are today. This was one of the things I liked the most, because, in many of the books I’ve read, this vital piece of information is missing – that it’s a journey and there is no such thing as an overnight success.

Who is this for:

Anyone who is interested to read about the starting point and the journey of a brand (it’s not specific for the beauty business but it’s interesting that the book feature a beauty brand)
Anyone looking for inspiration and motivation on their own journey, either it be starting your own business or working a “ordinary” job. I enjoyed the personal insight into the author’s career and her tenacity and drive, it’s infectious!
Who wants another perspective and some creative ideas of what to do on a shoe string budget or how you can solve anything with the right attitude, creativity and the right amounts of espresso!

Why you should read this book:

It’s filled with handy advice and creative ways to solve PR to events, from the “starting out days” to how the business and brand is managed when it’s grown both in size, markets and revenue.
The book covers topics such as; building a brand, social media, PR, creating buzz for your brand, overcoming daily struggles, how to take care of yourself, making it happen, staying motivated, refining your appearance and how to build a strong personal brand.
You will get new ideas and inspiration – be sure to have pen and paper at hand!
You will get motivated for sure!
Most importantly, it’s written in a personal and entertaining language. It’s an enjoyable read while you learn new skills.

This books is already a favourite. If you read it, let me know what you think about it.

7 tips on how to improve your Instagram

Veronica — Mon, 18 May 2015 04:00:41 +0000

Instagram has changed a lot since it first launched. In the beginning it was all about the arty-indie images and the heavy use of filters. Then it has progressed beyond that and almost no instagram-superstar uses heavy filterers and frames anymore and everyone is aiming for pro-photo quality, attention to detail and elaborative storytelling.

I’ve gathered 5 creative instagram accounts that I think uses the strenghts of instagram brilliantly. And a few notes on what they have in common, in the end – which you can take with you and learn from.

1. Mattel

Mattel has created a instagram account for Barbie which has breathtaking attention to detail, images of Barbie all over the world – which prompts a double take, is that really a doll and uses creative and relevant storytelling.

2. Gala Darling

Gala Darlings instagram account is a refection of her personal brand, personality and her style in excruciating well done detail. Her instagram account reflects the way she speaks, dress, write and the imagery she uses for her blog. She is perfectly consistent with her brand and whom she is. Teaching self-love to millions of women and doing so in her bright fuchsia pink, glittery unique way. All the way from instagram to her business cards – she is on point with her brand.

3. Ivanka Trump

Ivanka Trump mixes stills of her products, with photography of her life, encouraging quotes from other women and “in the life” photos of her being a proud mom, training for the marathon etc. Ivanka Trumps instagram is both inspiring and authentic with the perfect mix of her products, brand, personal life and with a strong stand on empowering women in the work life throughout.

4. Kate Spade

Kate Spade mix lifestyle, with clever brand photography brilliantly. With lifestyle I mean beautiful photos of places with or without their products that “a Kate Spade girl” dreams about or aspire to be in either it be clothes or just a piece of cake on a plate – they manage to get it to practically scream Kate Spade. They know their target audience well. Fun loving, coky, bold and colourful.

5. Living Magazine/Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart (mainly Living Magazine) does a great job on Instagram. They have so many high quality photos to use from the magazines which makes a stunning instagram feed filled with food, drink, flowers, interior inspiration and more. They have a consistent look and feel in their photography which is unmatched. When you see a photo from Living Magazine – without any reference to the magazine – you can see based on the styling and lightning that it’s from the magazine.

What these five accounts have in common:

Storytelling – most of them take time telling a story, and doing in consistent and well.
Still life compositions – both with or without their products, as well as choosing items that reflect their brand.
Lifestyle – either incorporated in the still life compositions or in the story they tell. They done so around a lifestyle their target audience dream about or aspire towards.
Using inspiring quotes – delivered in a well designed format including a slick brand reference.
High quality photography – most of the images are not shot with an iPhone but with a DSLR.
Their branding outside their brand- ie the colors of the flowers, cutlery, porcelain, patterns etc.
Not a heavy filer or frame in sight. (probably only filters for improving lightning etc or adding a fuchsia pink veil/gradient to an image to reflect the Gala brand)

Want to know which hashtags to use to increase your reach?
Go to: http://top-hashtags.com/instagram/

Image sources: all photos are copyrighted to the specific person or brand. I’ve only used them on the site and borrowed them from each instagram account for inspirational and educational purposes.

Image sources: all photos are copyrighted to the specific person or brand. I’ve only used them on the site and borrowed them from each instagram account for inspirational and educational purposes.

Top HashTags on Instagram

4 must read business magazines

Veronica — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 05:00:02 +0000

These are 4 of my absolute favourite business magazines that I go to for solid advice on almost anything that makes my curiosity tick. A perfect Sunday morning for me, consists of a long breakfast with one of these magazines and at least two large home-made vegan lattes.

Fast Company – this is a magazine dedicated to the cutting edge of creativity and business. It’ about the daredevils, the outsiders and the creators. About innovation.

Passion for Business – this magazine is entirely dedicated to a female perspective, which is lacking since it’s still large unequally between the sexes in the workplace. This magazine gives me insight on how it is to be a female in a leadership position, what challenges and opportunities there are as well as highlighting people you may not see otherwise in “media”. This is a magazine I always read cover to cover. (only available in Swedish and in a paper edition)

Inc Magazine – advice, tools and insights on how to work better, perform better and portraits of industry and though leaders. Love that it’s available for iPad. Read about the latest in productivity tools, books, new software and how to create successful businesses in the digital “sphere”.

WSJ Magazine – maybe not solely a business magazine. However I love the glossy magazine that accompanies the Saturday issue of Wall Street Journal. The portraits, the articles. It’s always something new to discover and I love the portraits of the business owners they create, how they “encapsule” some of their life-journey in the article. From business innovators turned wine makers it’s not just about business, its about a way of life. I love to read about how other people choose to live outside the “ordinary, this is how you should live your life” box.

TEDxGöteborg: I laughed, I cried & cringed

Veronica — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 19:23:46 +0000

IMAGE: TEDxGoteborg

Teacup in hand, I’m sitting here, in my sofa, wrapped up in a blanket, trying to make sense of my thoughts and emotions after TEDxGöteborg. The day was a wild roller-coaster of emotions, unexpected twists and inspiration.

I’ve seen live – on stage – shells of human organs stripped of their cells, cringing in my seat – bear in mind I was on the second row in the audience from this organ theater. Trying to hold back the tears, listening to stories of clowns bringing joy to children in refugee camps all over the world with either lost ,minds or limbs. Being amused by the Swedish governments Soviet conspiracy theories resulting in being exposed as something purely based on sounds made from herrings. I’ve listened to music played by fotons, and having my mind blown galaxies away while being educated about the birth and deaths of starts. Which matter we are all made of.

All in all, it’s been pretty mindblowing listening to all these stories, delivered from all these inspiring and beautiful people. A spectacular day that I am really grateful that I could be part of and here to experience.

Something that really touched me today was actually something that related to the participants of the event. The audience. A woman with Aspbergers Syndrome entered the stage. The tech didn’t work as intended. She went off stage – and the tech guys tried to solve the issue. As you can imagine, walking up on stage to have a talk, and it does not start the way you intended, is frightening for a “normal” person. I can’t even imagine how that must feel for someone with Aspbergers, but I can take a guess based on how that would throw me off guard.

What struck me was that the atmosphere in the room was so calm during all this. The audience so patient, and OK. In silence saying collectively – “it will be Ok love, we will wait, take your time, no rush, we are here to hear you, we can wait. So when the woman in question entered the stage again, despite all this, and had a second go at giving her talk – she received an applause, and her talk was over, we all stood up and gave her a standing ovation. Now my friends – that was a beautiful moment.

The empathy touched me. That was an act of pure love from close to 300 strangers towards one individual where we all felt for her and wanted to show her our support.

My conclusion from the day is: we live on a magical little planet, humanity can be so cruel, but what magic we can make together or as individuals, if we just put our minds to it.

How to be a superstar project manager – part 1 – working with your superstar team

Veronica — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:34:58 +0000

I have a perhaps unorthodox view of what good project management is – and hence – something worth writing about. This “How to be a superstar project manager”post is divided in to two parts. Part 1 will focus on the in-house work you do together with your superstar team. Part 2 on how to deepen the relationship, impress and delight your customers.

So, I’m leaving out all the administration, the project planning and just focusing on a few pointers that in my experience – makes the best out of your journey as a team.

Engage everyone
Ask for time estimates, and involve the team in the planning work so that you get the best possible project plan that everyone is part of. Like Trent Reznor in Nine Inch Nails sings “we’re in this together” (from the album The Fragile). It’s about you all working together on creating the best solution and end result for your customer. I don’t believe in telling other people how long a certain task will take – the only person that will know that – is the person performing the work.

Plan for the unexpected – add buffer-time
I always add on a bit of a buffer-time in my project plans. This ensures that if the shit hits the fan – we have allocated time to sort this out in our “curve ball account”. If the shit doesn’t hit the fan, the curve ball account is used to polish of the corners, to go the extra mile and ensure those details are pixel perfect – so that the client is not only happy – but amazed with the end result.

Ensure you all have the tools you need
Before anyone start working on anything, ensure that everyone that needs access has access, software is installed on the right machines and any other tools that the team might need, is in fact sorted out!

Kick-off with a cuppa
Once you are ready to start – have a great kick-off meeting, start with breakfast together and a nice cup of strong Italian coffee to get you all buzzing around your new existing project.

Communication
Ensure everyone knows what to do and it’s really clear to them. Never underestimate a simple list. When the shit hits the fan, things can get messy- to say the least- in our heads from stress (especially us working within digital). Having what you need to do written down, can be an actual comfort so you can stress out – and then get back on track with what you where doing.

Meetings
Keep meetings short & brief and only with key competences from the team if required. I.e determine if it’s necessary if everyone have to be involved – depending on where you are in the project process.
Sometimes you also need to establish rules around how people conduct themselves in meetings (sorry Swedes – this I have never had to do before moving here…you people and manners – I don’t know):

1. Don’t interrupt each other when another person is speaking
2. Let everyone speak in the team – everyone should have their say, not just a few
3. Listen to what a person has to say – before jumping to assumptions
4. Let’s go around the table – and each person speaks about their part in the project
5. Be respectful with your colleagues time – detail questions are to be left discussed with the people who should discuss it – not everyone.

One central point of information
Try to collect all necessary information at one central point that everyone can access – anytime – anywhere. No one should be the roadblock to information, not even the project manager.

Don’t micromanage
Encourage the team to solve problems and shine with their skills and develop them further on their own. No one should have to come to the project manager to ask about how they are allowed to solve something. You will drive yourself crazy if you don’t trust people and let them use their skills. You should remove yourself from the detail questions – yet be there as a support and help when needed. That said, see my next point.

Be a sounding board
Listen and try to be the fresh perspective in the team. Then do something about it – if it’s within your power. Sometimes you have to be the person with the fresh perspective that your colleague needs.

Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty
Whatever it may be, browser testing, cleaning up documents that your team needs etc – just do it and don’t moan about it. As said before – “we’re in this together”.

Automate tasks
Ensure that your superstar team – don’t get stuck in drudge work. No one should ever have to perform any task that can be automated in this age of digital! Avoid any copy and paste or other “drudge work” altogether. Your team are superstars of what they do – make sure their time is well invested in doing just what they are supposed to do! That’s how you invest wisely in both people and the money you pay them for their expertise.

Simplify workflows – remove unnecessary obstacles
I’m amazed of how many dumb things can be in the way of peoples work, especially in larger companies. Identify and remove. This is more from an organizational point of view. Ensure there are no bottlenecks such as software that doesn’t work properly or the team doesn’t not know how to use it. It can be anything that you can see from the “higher up” perspective looking down at the workflow. Even the solution you have implemented for and with your client – perhaps this needs to be improved – and thus improving both team and client happiness. Identify and streamline.

Be positive and encouraging
That doesn’t mean you have to act like a Teletubby or like you are on some kind of mood enhancer. This can be as simple as you all make fun of the situation, or take the piss out of something that’s actually is a real issue. Other then that – when someone does great work – tell them that. Also make sure you have a great celebration in the end to look forward to.

Celebrate
Once you have been through the process, working tightly, probably been through hell and back – but hopefully had fun during this – it’s time. It’s time to celebrate! I advice and rely on alcoholic beverages, that might not be everyone’s cup of tea. If not – find something else to celebrate with and do it your way! Have fun.

Evaluate and improve
We all need to improve, and every project we go through will make us better. Put together a few questions, the team members can answer not to long after the project end. As a project manager – I also see it as my job to notice what can be improved until next time. But you can’t be everywhere and anywhere at the same time, hence why it’s great to get input from the team.

Googles mobile playbook

Veronica — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 15:14:47 +0000

I dig this! Google released an inspirational, mobile marketing and statistics insight “site” the other day – called The Mobile Playbook. Even though the statistics are mainly generated from the US, it’s a relevant and inspirational read for anyone gearing up for mobile devices and want to know more about how, when and where we use them – to be able to tap in to the potential of mobile.

The State of the internet 2011

Veronica — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 10:39:27 +0000

FUN FACTS:

89% of emails are SPAM
There are 152 million blogs on the internet
Your Facebook profile is worth $91
1 person out of 13 is on Facebook
2 billion videos are watched on youtube every day

Curious for more, visit The State of The Internet by www.Online Schools.org