I recently discovered your blog via Twitter. What would you like to tell my readers about you and your sites?

I love life and adventure and enjoy sharing my stories on the social media sites. It is a way for me to express my thoughts and experiences. I have really only been involved in social media for the past 4 months......so I still have lots to learn. On our next expedition to Aconcagua (South America) and Elbrus (Russia) in Feb 2010, we are taking a full military spec laptop and a satellite broadband modem to be able to share our adventure and live expedition updates with our family, friends and supporters. It is amazing that we can send an email to website that will post it onto our dedicated expedition blog. Both twitter and Facebook will then be updated by the RSS feed from that blog post......really amazing!!!

You are currently doing the 7 summits challenge. What was it like doing Mt Kilamanjaro

Mt Kilimanjaro is a beautiful mountain. Shane a I made the expedition tough – for us, it was a test mountain to go on to climb the other mountains in the “7 Summits” We made Summit up the Umbwe Route, which is perhaps regards as one the most challenging routes up Mt Kilimanjaro. Our total time for summit and return to the starting gate was just under 3 days. We came away with great confidence that the remaining mountains are well within our reach.

How did you get sponsors involved in your expeditions?

Being in the Financial Services industry and having met the people I have over my 17 year career, it is fairly easy to get sponsors excited about being part of the adventure. We do the expeditions for charity, so they see the benefits to the community with their sponsorship commitment.

What are your goals for your Darren Wise wordpress site?

To keep updating our adventures and life stories for other to see. Corporatemonk is quickly growing as a leadership brand. I have a trademark on Corporatemonk and aim to grow it as a brand over the coming years. I am a qualified Life and Business Coach, so it fits into my long term plans. We plan after the “7 Summits” to do a bit on the speaking circuit and some corporate coaching. My blog and social media is a great way to build brand awareness and credibility of your brand. I would like the public to see Corporatemonk as a “can do” brand....the “walk the talk” to personal development and leadership information. It is one thing to tell people how to get the most from their lives...it’s another to show them.

What have you learned about using twitter since you've started using?

Twitter I interesting. Too be honest, with my training for the expedition and building my current funds management business, I find little time to sit down with twitter and engage in conversation. I have no idea how some people find the time t be on it all the time....but my theory is it comes at a cost of something in their lives. It is another story, but I have concerns about the impact that social media is having on other aspects of our lives. We seem to be engaging more online that in person, and spending more time looking at a screen than getting outside. Not everyone would agree, but being a life coach as well, I see the potential issues.

Do you have plans to expand your online presence?

I think I am happy with what I have done so far with social media – what I have developed allows me to share information across various social media mediums.

You have had a lot of experience as a financial planner. Is there a right time to hire a financial planner?

A good Financial Planner is a must, but you need to make sure you find the right one. Financial markets and creating wealth are a minefield if you don’t know what you are doing. Find a Planner that has plenty of experience - who has seen the bad times..... as well as good times.

Photo by Neilcreek.com

In this interview, I talk to Terri Coad. I met her at a local tweetup and she instantly became a favourite. Her enthusiasm is contagious and she has made a real impression on many of my friends there.

You can check out her videos at Tezzitoo's Channel on youtube or follow her on twitter.

You have started doing weekly vlogs on youtube. What were your motivations behind these?

I love YouTube as an online space. I love the community it generates, and the amazing array of talent you can find there. And the fantastic thing is that that talent comes from regular people just like you and me. I just love that concept. I've been a YouTube participant for a long time - mainly as a viewer, but uploading the odd video here and there. These weekly vlogs are my attempt to become a more active member of the YouTube community. I love making videos anyway, but in the hustle and bustle of life I often use the excuse that I just don't have time to make them. A weekly vlog is a reason to make the effort to create something every week. And hopefully that routine will eventually become something more creative and entertaining! Plus, it's just good on-camera practice. Vlogging is pretty much just talking to yourself, so it can take some getting used to!

You did an AWESOME clip for the kids hosting competition on the ABC. What tips do you have for creating a video that stands out?

Why thank you! And I honestly wish I knew! I think the success of that video came from the fact that it was on a subject I know most about: myself! I was very excited about the ABC3 hosting opportunity too, so I put a lot of work into it. Essentially I think it comes down to a) having compelling content, b) being able to sustain your audience's attention and c) just being yourself. Admittedly, understanding you need those first two notions is a lot easier than actually carrying them out!

Why did you start using twitter?

I think I actually started using it because there were a few celebrities and popular YouTubers I wanted to follow. As soon as I started tweeting myself, I was quite surprised at how I took to it! I've tried writing online journals and blogs in the past, but I always stopped because I either lost interest or lost heart because no-one was reading. It's so easy to connect with people on Twitter and maximise the space you have there. I get out of Twitter what I think I failed to do with all those old journals and blogs - the ability to get my thoughts and ideas out there, and to have people interact with them. And then there's the added bonus of being able to interact with everyone else's thoughts and ideas! Twitter really is such an engaging space, and there really is so much opportunity to be had from that.

You are really interactive on twitter. Do you have any tips to connect with others?

I suppose the most important thing to remember is that Twitter should never be a one-way street. You should never expect to simply be able to broadcast and expect the crowds to suddenly follow. Unless you're Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears. Which you're probably not. Replying to other's tweets and engaging in discussion, plus re-tweeting tweets you consider worth perpetuation are good places to start. The biggest thing for me in connecting with people on Twitter was joining the TweetupMellers movement - a real-life monthly gathering of avid tweeps from Melbourne and surrounds.

I've met you at a couple of tweetups. Would you recommend that people go to tweetups?

Absolutely! I've been to the past couple of @tweetupmellers tweetups and they have been extremely enriching experiences (say that one ten times fast!). Tweetups add a whole new level to your Twitter experience - there's such a feeling of community that comes from involving yourself in these kind of events. And I've met such a diverse, succesful and motivated group of people through TweetupMellers that I would in no way have interacted with before. Twitter has really allowed me to broaden my horizons that way.

You love working in front of, and behind the camera. What have you been doing to get experience at this?

Well, my weekly vlogs for one. There are also a few video competitions running at the moment I'm eager to enter - not just for the prospect of winning, but for the chance to produce something for a particular purpose. I like being challenged that way, and when I find a challenge that excites me it's such a blast to carry through a creative video project from beginning to finish. I'll also be doing some video interview work at an upcoming convention in Melbourne, which I'm really looking forward to throwing myself into. Basically it's all about putting yourself out there and building up confidence, skill and experience. I'm hoping so anyway!

You have recently completed your studies. What did you major in at uni?

I completed my Bachelor of Creative Arts last year at the University of Melbourne, and I actually majored in creative writing. I truly came to university with the notion that I'd become a writer of some description upon leaving. But over my three-year course I'll admit I kind of became a bit jaded with the whole system when it came to creative writing. It made me lose my passion for it a little bit. But I guess that's when I discovered a real love for film and television. It was too late in my course to complete enough subjects to achieve a double-major in both creative writing and film/television studies, but I'm glad at least I got to study what I could. Writing will always play a role in whatever I do anyway - it's a natural thing for me - I just hope I can combine it with my passion for the moving image in my future endeavours!

Do you think that social media has changed how people can enter the industry?

Well, the unfortunate thing about the industry is that it's most usually all about who you know, not what you know. So it can be a bit of a downer that way, especially if you're a girl from the country whose closest connection to the film and television industry is an old school friend's ex-boyfriend who installs cable TV. Twitter, however, provides a whole new gateway through which to make industry connections. The video interview project I'm doing at a Melbourne convention later this month is something I owe entirely to a Twitter connection, so I already feel I owe a lot to the service and the wonderful people I've met through it!

I would like to thank Terri for agreeing to do this interview. She is a fascinating person and I highly recommend getting to know her.

Daniel Scocco runs the 'Daily' Network which incorporates three blogs - Daily Bits, Daily Writing Tips and Daily Blog Tips. Daily Blog Tips is one of my favourite blogging resources. He also created a killer internet marketing course called Online Profits.

Plus he's pretty darn cool

You may be relaunching Online Profits later this year. Is there anything you would do differently during the launch?

Yes there are many things I will be doing differently on this second launch. First of all I will allocate more time for the planning and execution of the launch. Consider that I am already working on it, and the launch date is planned for October.

As for where I will be spending that extra time, here are some examples:

• redesigning the homepage and internal sections
• producing promotional content
• working on the sales page
• improving the course itself

Has the success of Online Profits affected any of your other online
projects?

Yes. I realized that I wanted to build a business around the OnlineProfits.com brand, so I want to focus 100% of my attention and time on that. This means that I will have less time to manage my other projects. Currently I am working to restructure that, either selling the sites or getting people to manage them.

You have had a number of successful bloggers, like Skellie, freelance for your blogs. What tips would you have for aspiring freelance writers?

First of all have your own blog. A blog is the best marketing tool that a freelance writers could have. It will allow him to showcase his work, build a network of contacts and so on.

Secondly, try to make your name before making money. This means that you should write on as many places as possible, even without getting paid for it. For example, I discovered most of the freelancers that I hired in the past through their guest articles on high profile blogs. They weren't getting paid for those, but it was helping to get their names on the market.

You released Killer Domains prior to creating Online Profits. Would you recommend that people forgo the ebook and focus on creating an online learning environment?

It depends on the topic in question and on the time and resources of the person. I believe ebooks still have their place, but they tend to work better on very narrow niches. For example, if you want to release some premium information about growing orchids, perhaps an ebook would be a better format than a membership site with a structured learning environment.

Moreover, membership sites take a lot of work, both to be created and maintained, so the person needs to figure wheter or not she wants to commit to that.

Do you think its important that bloggers learn about internet marketing?

Absolutely. A blog is just a type of website, so it allows people to easily publish content online. If you want to make your blog popular, and especially if you want to make it profitable, you need to understand the different facets of online marketing. These including search engine optimization, social media marketing, email marketing, pay per click, affiliate marketing and so on.

You receive a number of guest posts for Daily Blog Tips. Do you have any tips to make a guest post really stand out?

Here are some steps that you can use to make sure that your guest post will be accepted and that it will receive a good exposure.

1. Analyze the topics that are usually covered on the blog where you want to guest blog
2. Analyze the writing style of the author
3. Craft a post in one of these topics, trying to match the style of the author
4. Make sure your post will deliver value to his readers
5. Proofread it twice
6. Send it to the blog owner with your first email (i.e. don't write an email only asking permission to send the post itself)
7. Once published, help to promote it (i.e., tweet it and what not)