Plenty O'Toole.

Hey I'm Meighan O'Toole. I find the Internet and the sense of community it inspires fascinating. I work with creative individuals and brands to define their voice online using social media. I have teh Internets to thank for my career.* Thanks for taking a minute to stop by. Have a question for me? shoot me an email. *I used to blog a lot about art over here.

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What I've Learned About Customer Research, and Why You Need to Do This Too

What I’ve Learned About Customer Research, and Why You Need to Do This Too

Understanding how vital relationships are for me in my own business has always been something that’s important to me. Something I have fundamentally known to be true. But recently, I had an experience that made me realize that I absolutely need to bring my client relationships into my growth process as a business.

Because if I don’t, I am doing this whole thing blindly!

I think about relationship…

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Stay in Your Lane This quote by Amy Poehler has been my everything lately. #werk pic.twitter.com/7J9qr0aRLV — Meighan O'Toole (@meigs) March 25, 2015

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TFW George Costanza Makes You Feel Normal AF

TFW George Costanza Makes You Feel Normal AF

Everyday, I make lunch at 2:30pm, and watch an episode of Seinfeld on Hulu (this is not a sponsored post 😂). I’m a creature of habit, rituals give me comfort (this happens when you grow up in a house consumed with chaos), it makes my Type A personality feel like everything is right in the world. It’s also super helpful for me as a freelancer to have some modicum of a schedule.

This past…

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Twitter Chats: How to Join, & Why You Should!

Twitter Chats: How to Join, & Why You Should!

Twitter chats are an excellent way to connect to industry peers, learn for free, establish yourself, and share information.

I’ve loved Twitter chats for a very long time, and have joined in with them often in the past. I’ve always wanted to host one, but never had the time. But I’m making time for one now, I’m launching my new Twitter Chat #COSchat. It’ll take place every other Tuesday, and it…

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How the Pomodoro Timer Saves Me Time & Keeps Me Focused

How the Pomodoro Timer Saves Me Time & Keeps Me Focused

When I first started working for myself in 2012, I wasted so much time online. It’s a reality when you work for yourself; if you’re not disciplined with time you can really hurt your business.

After wasting literally hours in social media rabbit holes I realized I was going to be out of a job real soon if I didn’t start focusing on my business. This is where my new fascination with productivity…

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The Importance of Strategy & Your Online Presence

The Importance of Strategy & Your Online Presence

Something I see time and time again when a new feature or a new platform appears online is a flurry of confusion and excitement: Should I join this? Should I do this? Do I need to be on Ello? Do I need to be on here? And on and on.

My friend Nicole, of Dear Handmade Life is someone who would chooseto not use social media if she didn’t have a business. Nicole and I are basically polar opposites…

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Admin Mondays a.k.a How I Don't Lose My Mind as a Small Business Owner

Admin Mondays a.k.a How I Don’t Lose My Mind as a Small Business Owner

I’m a super organized person, but there’s something about paperwork and similar banalities that just get lost on me.

I’ve been in business for four years, and I’ve learned a lot. I’ve also made a lot of mistakes. One thing I kept letting get super out of hand in my first few years in business was mail, paper work, bookkeeping, phone calls, and all the nitty gritty no one likes doing on the…

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How to Handle Social Media During a Tragic Event

How to Handle Social Media During a Tragic Event

When tragedy strikes one of the last things we think about is our social media content. And too right. But, if you’re a business online, it actually might be something you think about immediately, if only to  keep your business from coming over as tone deaf or insensitive during a tragic event.

I wrote up this list late Monday night, after keeping my business offline for two days following the…

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The Reality of Losing Followers: #ByeFelicia

The Reality of Losing Followers: #ByeFelicia

Losing followers is all part of the game. There is no nice way around it.

It brings up a lot of garbage, for pretty much…everyone. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t think about this or who hasn’t been affected in some way shape or form by lost followers. But at the end of the day, it’s simply a losing battle to focus on minutiae.

Daily unfollows and unsubscribers are just that. Small.

Here’s a…

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Achieving Your Goals, Ensuring Success, & Staying Sane with Social Media

Achieving Your Goals, Ensuring Success, & Staying Sane with Social Media

You’re probably thinking where has this month – better yet – where has this year gone? My Grandmother always said the days are long and the years are short — so let’s make sure you’re taking care of and making your goals are happening online as the time slips by.

One of the best ways to meet your goals, and make sure you’re on track to meet them is doing a few things at the beginning of each…

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Common Misconceptions About Social Media

Common Misconceptions About Social Media

I spend a lot of time debunking misconceptions related to social media. It’s just become part and parcel of my job. Today I want to discuss some of the misunderstandings I hear often, if only to help you build your own career or business online and dismiss the noise.

I think there’s a lot of reasons that there are myths and misinterpretations regarding social media and running a business online.…

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Using Periscope for Your Business (& Free Checklist!)

Using Periscope for Your Business (& Free Checklist!)

Have you been watching others broadcast on Periscope, or hearing all about how great the new platform is and wondered if it’s right for your business?

(Editor’s Note: A version of this post originally appeared on Dear Handmade Life)

Periscope has gotten really hot since it launched just a year ago. Let’s talk about what Periscope is and how you can use Periscope in your business.

What is Periscope?

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Keeping Energy & Momentum in Your Business

Keeping Energy & Momentum in Your Business

Every time I leave a conference, I feel exhilarated!  Once home I start to apply everything I’ve learned, and try and harness that energy. In the past, its faded after a few weeks, but over the past year I’ve learned how to keep the momentum going.

An important part of being a successful business owner, I’ve come to understand, is continuing to learn, building your community, and evolving.…

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7 Types of Content for Your Newsletter

7 Types of Content for Your Newsletter

Is figuring out what to send to your email list holding you back from sending out a consistent newsletter? You’re not alone! This is one of the biggest issues I hear from businesses embarking on email marketing.

Something I hear often from clients, workshop attendees, and people interested in starting an email list is that they fear they don’t have enough interesting things to send out. Not true!…

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Please Stop Getting Your News From the Instagram Change.Org Petition

Please Stop Getting Your News From the Instagram Change.Org Petition

Please stop getting your news from the Instagram Change.Org petition.

Normally I don’t address feature changes on the blog because they happen so much and so often, that it’s a waste for me to spend the effort. For that I round everything up in my weekly newsletter to keep you informed.

But it seems that misinformation is being spread like wild fire, and quite honestly it’s making me a little…

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Building Relationships Online: The Importance of Being Professional in Email

Building Relationships Online: The Importance of Being Professional in Email

Something I often experience when being on the receiving end of networking via email is the lack of nuance and personal touch.

I don’t think anyone sets out to be rude when trying to connect or introduce themselves through email. Not at all. I think what happens is people tend to interact as if there is a disconnect – a wall of sorts that technology puts up – and that a personal touch doesn’t…

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Twitter 101: Using @Reply Correctly

Twitter 101: Using @Reply Correctly

If you’re new to Twitter, much of it can feel confusing and a bit daunting. One of the main issues I hear from clients is: “Twitter doesn’t make sense to me. It’s so confusing!” I get it, with the hashtags, @ symbols, and not to mention all the shorthand, it can start to seem like a new language. So it’s very easy to get confused, and make mistakes.

I personally believe Twitter is an amazing…

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