Online Work Success Story

Jun7

Not driving causes obstacles, some which the Internet can help circumvent. For example, non-drivers like me remain at a disadvantage finding work. Thankfully I possess abilities I can implement online to work and make money. In fact my non-driver status heavily influenced my decision five years ago to pursue freelance writing.

Within those previous five years writing on a freelance basis I learned new skills, many revolving around different social media platforms. Prior to freelancing I knew little about social media. Outside Facebook and an abandoned Myspace page I didn’t exist on social networking sites.

Screenshot capturing the announcement about my promotion.

Fast forward half a decade and Handicap This Productions (HTP) announces my promotion to Online Relationship Manager. Talk about an online work success story! How did I go from a social media novice to someone a respectable company trusts to expand their online presence?

The answer includes past clients and self-publishing my teen memoir Off Balanced. The now defunct Disaboom pretty much mandated their writers share their work on two platforms. So I ended up creating a Twitter account (@zacharyfenell). A conference call Disaboom held provided advice on how to use Twitter. Additionally I learned through trial and error.

In late 2012 Special Education Guide became my first client to request I join Google+. Seeing how well Twitter worked out for me, I welcomed Google+. Google Hangouts alone makes Google+ worthwhile.

Researching publishing made evident to me my best chance to reach readers as a self-published author involved social media. The more I put myself out there on social networking sites the more dialogue I could start or partake in. Over time I began my blog here, expanded my Twitter following, joined various author groups on LinkedIn, and regularly uploaded video blogs to my Youtube channel.

Overall a motto Tim Wambach and Mike Berkson often say comes to mind “Improvise, adapt, overcome.” When set upon graduating college I improvised to adapt and overcome my transportation challenges by focusing on freelancing. Freelancing I improvised to adapt and overcome the populous Internet by sharpening my social media capabilities. That positioned me to become HTP’s Online Relationship Manager and tell others my online work success story.

Please offer your own online work success story by commenting below.

Social Media Connects the Cerebral Palsy Community

May31

Social media really does build community, a fact I’ll happily verify. Prior to writing professionally about cerebral palsy (CP), I knew no one else with the disability. Certainly others somewhere lived with CP but their existences remained abstract to my world. Social media changed that.

I met Blake at Union Station in Washington DC.

Last Friday I enjoyed the pleasure to meeting in-person a young man with a bright future, Blake. We initially connected thanks to the live weekly cerebral palsy Twitter chat #CPChatNow. Next month Blake will intern with Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). Considering this I figured Blake must live somewhere close to the DC area.

Back in February my buddy Pete and I planned a road trip to DC for May to visit our good friend Rob and his wife Kelly. You may recall Pete and Rob from my teenage memoir Off Balanced (available on the Kindle, Nook, and i-Pad via the free Kindle app). Once I received approval from my friends I went about arranging meeting Blake.

Blake’s eagerness to meet me in-person proved flattering. Initial schedules conflicted. However, Blake adjusted his to make getting together work. Thanks to his patience and flexibility we enjoyed insightful conversation at Union Station. Two individuals with cerebral palsy sat across from each other engaged in dialogue due to Twitter.

Meeting Blake only represents the latest example where social media connected me to others within the CP community. You might recall in January I met motivational speaker and author (Someone Like Me) John W. Quinn in the flesh. My first contact with John back in early 2011 came via Twitter.

Meanwhile Twitter and Facebook fostered my connection with Tim Wambach and Handicap This, a connection originally started by email. Knowing the Handicap This crew, John W. Quinn, and Blake all enrich my life someway. On a less me-centric note our connections also demonstrate social media can meaningfully connect the cerebral palsy community.

Do you want social media to better connect you with the CP community? The live cerebral palsy Twitter chat #CPChatNow every Wednesday at 8pm EST offers an optimal starting point. Please join us by using #CPChatNow.

#CPChatNow Recap for 02-19-2014

Feb20

Next Live Twitter Chat: Wednesday, February 26th, 2014 8pm EST

If you possess any connection to the cerebral palsy (CP) community, I encourage you to join our weekly live Twitter chat #CPChatNow Wednesdays at 8pm EST. Last night saw riveting conversation on everything from Handicap This Productions’ Web TV series and disability in film to dating and the pressures CP places on each gender. Personally though what I felt stood out the most revolves around the actions our chats drive.

Hannah also shared a pretty awesome fun fact with everyone.

Like the Walk of Hope for Cerebral Palsy Facebook page to stay updated on Hannah and Alena’s event progress. Moving forward to last night’s riveting discussion, disability in film received much attention.

Ryan also created a lot discussion by asking about how men and women handle disabilities.

Also worth noting while wrapping up this recap, we shared t-shirt ideas last night. By making t-shirts we aim to help spread CP awareness. Please submit your ideas to our Facebook page Cerebral Palsy Twitter Chat #CPChatNow.

Until next week remember those words from Tim Wambach.

“We can make anything happen!”

Live Twitter Chat on Cerebral Palsy This Tuesday

Nov29

Please join John W. Quinn (@johnwquinn), Tim Wambach (@HandicapThis), and I (@zacharyfenell) this Tuesday (December 3rd) on Twitter at 8:00pm EST as we host a live Twitter chat to discuss cerebral palsy, using the hashtag #CPChatNow.

If you followed my blog/Youtube videos for a while now, the names John W. Quinn and Tim Wambach will sound familiar. In fact I featured both John and Tim along with Tim’s friend/co-star Mike Berkson in posts dubbed “Personality Profile” during my blog’s early days (November/December 2011).

Allow me to revisit those posts and use quoted excerpts to introduce my co-hosts for the live cerebral palsy Twitter chat #CPChatNow.

Image created by Sarah O’Brien

John W. Quinn- “Quinn wrote Someone Like Me- An Unlikely Story of Challenge and Triumph Over Cerebral Palsy, a book noting how John overcame his cerebral palsy to enjoy a 20-year naval career.”

Tim Wambach- “Mike Berkson embodies this blog’s tagline ‘Putting the ‘Cerebral’ in Cerebral Palsy’ so well I can’t think of a better candidate for my first personality profile here at Off Balanced. Where cerebral palsy limits Mike, close friend Tim Wambach enables. Together the two spread disability awareness in the form of a live stage show called ‘Handicap This.'”

Returning from flashback quote land, Tim documented the core to his friendship with Mike in the book How We Roll. Tim also serves as the president to a non-profit Mike inspired him to start, the Keep on Keeping On Foundation.

Certainly worth noting, both John and Tim boast Fortune 500 on their resumes. John does motivational speaking, empowering audiences varying from schools to the aforementioned Fortune 500 companies. Tim use to work as a trainer for Next Level Consulting, an organization which provides training services to Fortune 500 companies

Given John and Tim’s respective credentials I feel honored to share the virtual stage with them. We welcome your questions and look forward to answering them. So, make sure you login into Twitter this Tuesday (December 3rd) at 8:00pm EST (7pm CT/5pm PT) and use the hashtag #CPChatNow.

Tweet you later!

*To learn more about John W. Quinn visit www.johnwquinn.com. For more on Tim and Mike’s endeavors, see www.handicapthis.com. Obviously you can learn more about me by looking around here and also by visiting www.zacharyfenell.com.

Presenting The Sunshine Award

Nov20

Last month Words I Wheel By blogger Emily Ladau nominated me for something called The Sunshine Award. Basically The Sunshine Award completes two tasks. First readers get to learn more about the recipient. Secondly the selected blogger receives the opportunity to spotlight fellow bloggers he or she feel make tremendous contributions to the blogging community.

Now after reading through other Sunshine Award posts I noticed some small discrepancies in the rules. Seeing how Emily nominated me though, I decided to abide by the rules she listed.

Acknowledge the nominating blogger (Thanks again Emily!)
Share 11 random facts about you.
Answer the 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you.
List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love!
Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer and let all the bloggers know they’ve been nominated. You cannot nominate the blogger that nominated you.

11 Random Facts About Me

I volunteer regularly at the Euclid Adult Activities Center, a Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities branch.
My travel souvenir collection.

To commemorate the places I travel to, I collect drink glasses/shot glasses (pretty much shot glasses)
I’m left-handed.
In junior high I failed to make our school’s Power of the Pen team. These days I’m a professional writer, goes to show never give up! 🙂
When I sported a goatee and buzz cut this past summer multiple people told me I resembled Breaking Bad character Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston).
The first concert I attended came in 2006 when I saw Styxx perform at Blossom Music Center.
I’m a Taurus.
In fifth grade I wrote a report on assisted suicide, specifically focusing on Dr. Kevorkian. Thinking back, that’s pretty heavy material for a 10-year old to study.
Cleveland Indians memorabilia covered my childhood bedroom’s walls.
Writing led me to drinking coffee. I needed the extra caffeine boost one time to meet a deadline.
You can learn more about my professional writing by visiting www.zacharyfenell.com.

Answers to Emily’s Questions

1. What causes are you most passionate about? Generally speaking I’m passionate about making a difference in other people’s lives. I want to serve as a catalyst for positivity.

2. What project is on your to-do list that you keep meaning to finish? I must say making Off Balanced available in paperback form.

3. What are you having for dinner tonight? Well, I ate enchiladas.

4. Facebook or Twitter? Both (Friend me on Facebook, Follow me on Twitter) 😉

5. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? I think I would take a summer road trip across the United States.

6. Apple cider or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate unless we are talking about Halloween. I have pleasant memories sipping apple cider Halloween night after returning from trick-or-treating.

7. Favorite cake flavor? Ice cream cake

8. Why did you start blogging? I saw the potential networking opportunities involved with blogging.

9. Windows or Apple? I like to eat apples by the window…. just joking! Windows

10. Dogs or Cats? Dogs

11. Who would you most like to have dinner with, dead or alive? I think a family dinner with my relatives who have passed away possesses the potential for the most memorable dinner.

Photo: Olga Pavlovsky from Cambridge, UK

Announcing the 11 blogs I find deserving for The Sunshine Award,

1. Teen Cerebral Palsy

2. Stand Tall Through Everything

3. Think Inclusive

4. Abler.

5. The Inclusive Class

6. WHEELIE cATHOLIC

7. Making My Mark

8. Jewish Special Needs

9. My Life, One Story at a Time

10. Kim Garst

11. Cewsh Reviews

Blogs one through eight all deal with disabilities in one fashion or another. Seeing how my interests transcend disabilities I purposely picked blogs representing a few other interests (My Life, One Story at a Time- reading, Kim Garst- social media, Cewsh Reviews- professional wrestling).

To those bloggers I nominated below you will find my questions for you, if you so choose to participate in The Sunshine Award deal.

11 Questions to Nominated Bloggers

1. What’s the most memorable birthday card you ever received?

2. How often do you vote (every election, only Presidential elections, not at all)? No need to share your party affiliation!

3. Fill in the blank: Butter is to bread as __________ is to me.

4. What was the best concert you ever been to?

5. Forget whether the glass is half full or half empty. What is in the glass?

6. How does country music make you feel?

7. What is your go-to spot for a fun night out?

8. What characteristic makes your very best friends stand out from your other friends?

9. Name the last great book you read.

10. Finish this sentence: When I hear someone reference Wikipedia I _______.

11. What ordinary food item would you like Malley’s Chocolates to cover in chocolate?