It’s that time of year again when we count our blessings and give thanks for the people who have made a difference in our lives. And in that spirit, we at Kane Consulting thought we’d take a moment to share our own Thanksgiving list with our community.
To the people below, and the many more who have made our 2010 an amazing year, we’d like to say, “thank you.” We appreciate your support, your wisdom and your insights.
Truly, you are the people who help make this crazy adventure we’re on totally worthwhile…
1. Andrew Banas
Andrew is the wind beneath our wings (and we bet he’s real embarrassed that we just said that). He flies under the radar a lot so sometimes we have to turn a spotlight on him (like putting him right up here at the top) and gush a bit. Andrew helps us keep the good ship KaneCo afloat and puts up with an awful lot of our drama as part of it. We love you, Andrew. Thanks for everything.
2. Brian Solis
Over the summer, Brian caved in to our unrelenting requests to come share his time and talents with the Twin Cities. Yes, he probably had better, more lucrative gigs he could have blown us off for. And yes, he’s so smart that he could have been a total prick in person if he wanted to be. But that’s just not how Brian Solis rolls. He’s a class act and hanging with him was one of the highlights of our year.
3. Katie Ware
This year, we launched a Kane Consulting business book club and our monthly salons were a delight. We’re thankful to have met so many smart, amazing and witty people along the way. We had a number of repeat salon attendees this year (we’re looking at you, Amanda Sanford and Jill Nicholson), but the gold star for attendance has to go to the wicked smart
Katie Ware. Thanks for hanging with us, Katie!
4. Gene Rebeck
It’s not often that a Myers Briggs score provides the foundation for a relationship, but with Gene, it couldn’t help but be a factor in us liking him. Gene is one of the first people in town to give us the gift of his time and attention and props for being a firm with some chops. When the introverts take over the world, we’re making Gene king.
5. Gina Kilchenman and Jenai Sele
Aloft Minneapolis is our unofficial Kane Consulting headquarters and go-to place for our events, happy hours and pretty much anything else we can think of. Many thanks to Gina and Jenai for being such nice hostesses (and for letting us browbeat them into using Tweetdeck). If you’re going to have a “home away from home” you can’t get a much more groovy one than this.
6. Jason DeBoer-Moran
Jason is the nicest man in America. No, seriously…he is impossible to anger and is pretty much nice to everyone. This superpower of his both confounds us with its mysticism and awes us with its power. In addition to being a superhero, Jason is also a great friend, colleague and educator. We look forward to teaching with him this spring and studying his zen-like resolve in the face of life’s BS. You are amazing, Jason.
7. The Lawlor Group
John Lawlor has called us part of “the Lawlor Family” and his team certainly makes it feel that way. The Lawlor peeps are a joy to work with and a group of extraordinarily nice people to boot. (Heck, even their CLIENTS are super nice…is something in the water over there?) Thanks for everything, guys.
8. Mack Collier
We met Mack a few years ago and have had fun getting to know him and watching him become a national playa since then. (That’s right, Mack, you’re famous now, you know that right?) Mack does not laugh at us when we ask stupid questions or get freaked out by our rabid introversion. And for that, he has earned us as fans for the long haul.
9. Tiger Oak Media
We’ve received some seriously amazing recognition and coverage from Tiger Oak’s publications this year. Thanks to Drew Wood for including Jen in Minnesota Business this year. Thanks to Minnesota Meetings and Events for featuring Jen in your social media issue. And thanks to Metro Magazine for selecting us as part of your Metro 100 list for 2010. We are honored, awed and grateful for your support.
10. Keith Privette and Angie Elliott
We’re not famous or anything, but we will admit, it is seriously cool to know people who publicly pronounce themselves as our “fans.” If we had a fan club, (and we never would, cause that’s just kinda weird) we’d ask Keith and Angie to be co-Presidents. You two make us feel like we’re smart and know what we’re doing. And hell, you’re just really, really, nice people on top of that. We love you guys.
11. Beth Harte
If you want to be good, you need to watch the best. And, we watch Beth Harte an awful lot. Thanks, Beth, for being a mentor to us, (whether you know it or not). We’ve learned a lot from you this year, including how to be a social media pro AND a class act – something not a lot of people in this industry have mastered quite like you.
12. Wendy Amundson
A tweet here, a shout out there, an event attendance now and again – Wendy has been a kind and continuing supporter of Kane Consulting for a while now. And you know what, Wendy? We notice. Every time. And, we thank you. Because in the end, it’s not the fancy famous moments that make a company successful, it’s the support of people like you.
13. Pamela Muldoon
Pamela is a lot like us…but good at networking…and with some killer bangs. What a treat it is to orbit the same moons as someone else but with totally noncompetitive trajectories. We’re cooking up all sorts of fun with this smart and sassy lady for 2011 and we couldn’t be more excited.
14. Ryan May, Joey Strawn and Stacey Hood
Sure it’s cool to have a blog, but writing your own stuff in your own little corner of the world isn’t exactly “making it.” Enter “guest blogging.” This year, these three gentlemen offered us guest gigs on their blogs, opening the door for us to have some fun playing in someone else’s corner of the world. Thanks for the opportunity, Ryan, Joey and Stacey.
15. Our families
Social media never stops — 24/7/365 – and there is probably no one more aware of this than our families who signed on for this crazy lifestyle when we did. So for every time we ducked away to tweet, post or manage an emerging social firestorm, we’d like to say, “Thank you,” “Thanks for believing in us,” and, “We love you.”
Aw thanks guys for the mention! Jen it was great to see you again at #Optsum and Kary I hope to see you again soon! Hell I want to see you both again soon!
Hope you and your families have a Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving to you Mack. Thanks for being you 🙂
Thank you, Mack. And, I must not let another year go by without connecting with you in person. I will make this my mission for 2011.
All the best to you and yours and, like Jen said, thank you so much for being you.
Thank you ladies for including me in this great list of leaders. I appreciate it. I look forward to working with you again soon. Have great holidays!!
Thanks, Stacey. It’s been great getting to know you these past few months. I appreciate you letting me camp out over on your blog. It’s been fun!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Embarrassed – Check! “Wind beneath our wings”, ok that might be pushing it….but thanks to KaneCo. Always a blast to work with such smart ladies!
I think I’m gonna get you that song for your ipod so you can play it over and over.
Thanks for all you do. 🙂
A little Bette Midler in the morning….can’t think of a better way to start the day
Always a good to give thanks. I like your mix of inspiration, partners, peers, friends, fans and family on your list.
I’ve enjoyed many of your posts and the intelligent discussions you have started on Twitter this year, so thanks to you two for that. Happy Thanksgiving.
Thank you, Aaron!
It’s always humbling to hear people say they stop by and read our posts. Thank you so much for that. We’ll do our best to keep you coming back!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
Kary
Thanks for compliment and for reading the post. We really appreciate it.
Jen and Kary – what a fun surprise to see myself in such company! Thanks to you for providing the impetus for me to actually read so many interesting books and the opportunity to stretch my mind with all the fantastic salon conversations. And meet fun, smart new people. Win win.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Smart people like you motivate me to be smarter too. You’re right. Win win, for all. Look forward to having you at more salons next year (um…assuming we do the book club again. I still need to get my plans in order on that).
Jen & Kary
What an honor~truly! The gratitude goes both ways! The Next Stage Business Radio Network considers it a privilege to have you, Jennifer, as one of our Advisors~thank you! And Kary~so grateful to work with such talent! This is an amazing list and my killer bangs and I hope to continue to do you proud;-) Oh…and smarty and sassy girls gotta stick together, dontcha think?
Smarty and sassy ladies seem to be oh so much more powerful in packs 🙂
Thanks for the comment and best wished for the Thanksgiving holiday.
Kary & Jen (and your team, too!), thank you so very much!
I am thankful that social media has brought us together and that we have had the chance to spend time together twice at MarketingProfs conferences. It’s been great getting to know you both. And… I miss you both! I hope we all end up at another conference together soon (maybe ConFab?).
And don’t be fooled… I learn from you both as well. Your posts, tweets, Facebook comments all help me to either reconsider my thinking or let me know that I am one the right track. In fact, I was just saying to Mr. Stacey Hood (up above) that Kane & Co. is one of the few PR consultancies that I consider to be “real” PR practitioners. You know, people relations, strategy, and that little thing called mutual relationship building (aka engagement).
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!
Best,
Beth
Wow. What a lovely compliment, Beth.
Yes. I hope our paths cross again soon (I’ll be at Mark Profs in Austin in Feb. If not then, perhaps Confab in May — we’d love to show off our fair city to you).
Ditto to what Jen said, Beth…that’s an amazing compliment. And, we’d be thrilled to have you in Minneapolis. Either way, I do hope to see you again soon.
I am truly honored to know and have a chance to be friends with two awesome, intelligent and rock solid human beings in you Jennifer and Kary! You definitely have made my year and I don’t know if I will ever be able to repay you! Lets just say we are due for another one of our schedule for an hour breakfasts, but we all know we are going to be there for 4 hours!
You two have a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving break with your wonderful families and look forward to sharing and connecting in 2011!
I am truly honored!
Forever Your Fanboy,
@keithprivette
Stopping by our blog all the time so we have “an audience” is repayment enough, my dear! Have a great holiday.
You and your family have a wonderful thanksgiving! Interesting conversation took place with Angie and I based on this post. We have never met each other (we have to change this!) and she asked how the three us met and I racking my brain to figure this out. I know I happened to be in the neck of the woods when you were doing a seminar over aLoft and you invited me over for cake, but there had to be criss crossing of these before this invite……do you remember what sparked it? Anyways whatever it was I am glad to have met and established a great relationship with yourself and Kary!
I remember our first meeting with you well, Keith. I was leading a panel at the MDMA conference 2 years ago and you were tweeting up a storm during it, asking all sorts of questions (since the attendees at this conference were not really on Twitter, your convo was pretty much the only traffic happening that day). Kary and I kept looking around the Xcel center to find this dude who was so super chatty, and then we realized that you weren’t there — just following virtually (which, two years ago, was rather rare.)
Then, a few months later when we were holding a Kane Camp at aloft, I tweeted something about serving afternoon snacks and you chimed in to say hi, so I invited you over to join us. Thought I should meet this mystery Twitter-master in person.
Holy Wow you are right! That is some damn fine remembering there! Yes I do remember that now. That was my start of being omnipresent at conferences! I cake at Aloft was classic meetup stuff!
We are truly flattered and honored to have made this list! Mixing and mingling with the Kane Co. crew is always a welcomed treat!
Our goal for 2011 is to become the ‘offical’ Kane Co. hot spot!
Thank YOU for all of the support, guidance, unsolicited recognition and laughs. Our gratitude is beyond words. Can’t wait for the Kane Co. Holiday Adventure in the ‘Rock Star Suite’.
Your sassy, savvy aloft girls,
Gina & Jenai
Okay, maybe not savvy, as our ‘blog post comment’ knowledge is sub par. How do we get a fancy picture, and not a sideways G (or power symbol)?!
This is why we need you.
Always Sassy,
Gina & Jenai
Know what ladies? Rather than explain the particulars, I’m just going to fix that for you. 🙂 Basically it’s a matter of registering your avatar so that systems recognize that it’s you commenting wherever you go.
I am uber impressed that you guys tweeted about this AND left a blog comment. You are becoming some seriously sassy social media mavens!
Jen and Kary,
Thank you so much for the mention. I’ve been a bit submerged in the newfound art of fatherhood, but I couldn’t let such a wonderful mention go un-thanked. So Thank You for the Thankfulness.
I have to say, I always enjoy any opportunity I have to be around you and all those awesome ideas. Keep on keepin’ the world on their toes.
Jason
What did we tell you, ladies and gentlemen? Nicest. Guy. Ever.
(seriously dude, no need to thank us and we recognize that you kinda got your hands full right now 🙂
I just wanted to comment and say that I really enjoyed reading your blog post here. It was very informative and I also digg the way you write! Keep it up and I’ll be back to read more in the future
Thanks a lot. We dig you reading it and taking the time to share your thoughts with us.