Every now and then I like to feature somebody who I suggest you follow.  The criteria is simple: dynamic individuals doing significant work, consistently and with passion.  These are pure endorsements, done without compensation and without affiliate links.

I first met Laura Roeder at the World Domination Summit 2011 last June.  I happened into her presentation on how to “Not do everything yourself” and I’ve been a fan ever since.  Not only is her style and message clear as a summer day, but what struck me was just how distilled the information presented was.

Here is what I mean by that: many social media gurus today apply what I call the “handful of darts” method — they throw an enormous amount of information at the audience and hope that something hits the bullseye.  Laura does the opposite.  She throws one dart at a time and very carefully makes damn sure it hits the target.  But what is really cool about Laura is that she’s carrying a mini-arsenal of hyper-accurate darts at all times, based on her success in unlocking Twitter, Facebook, and other forms of communication.

Recently, I sat through one of her webinars on the power of LinkedIn.  As somebody who just heard another social guru say “I don’t find much future or power in the LinkedIn platform” I went into it with skepticism.  I left changed, with three pages of notes and a sore wrist.

But the best thing about Laura, and a model to study and follow, is her information funnel.  Sign up for her mailing list and you’ll notice some pretty amazing things happening:

• Clear information presented in concise packets, rather than rambling emails that simply say “click here for more”.  Her autoresponder emails that trickle in after signing up are some of the best I’ve ever read.
• A call to action with every communication.  There is no way to read one of her emails without being compelled (or at least asked) to do something.  This is the downfall for many email campaigns.  You have to ask something of the people receiving the info — otherwise it’s just spam.
• Her personal writing style is fun.  Laura doesn’t heavily edit for slang or syntax and she stays far away from ‘business speak’.  A refreshing style.  The first word on her homepage is “Wanna…”
• and finally one of my favorite parts of her business model: complete transparency.  In interviews she talks about how many clients she has, how many sales dollars are generated, percentages of growth, and best of all how she does it.  In various webinars she has been clear and candid about the programs and tools she uses and how she runs her business.  She is clear believer that the pie is always growing, rather than having to protect your slice.  I like that.

At her presentation at WDS, she talked about Sir Richard Branson and some advice she got from him: “Always try to work yourself out of a job.”  In other words, try to figure out systems that will allow the work you started with to transfer to others over time.  The next great challenge is where the fun is.  The other great quote from her WDS presentation was crystal clear: “Be a mentor, not a boss.”  Great advice for everybody.

Links to read about and follow Laura Roeder:
Her main page: lauraroeder.com

A great blog post attached to a webinar with Derek Halpern of Social Triggers on “Small tweaks to bump up your opt in rate.”

A profile on shebrand.com where she reveals her love of Trader Joe’s Mac and Cheese (I fully agree)

Laura Roeder’s Twitter account @lkr – she was an early adopter and snagged a super rare three character name!

“The Dash” (her newsletter) on Facebook