“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

Budda

“Our mission is to spread the sunshine – make people happy.”

Katja Presnal

What is the definition of a Blogger? Better yet, the definition of a Mommy Blogger? How has Social Media Marketing shed a new light on how we define and develop our Blogging World?

Interesting questions, right? But what do they have to do with our Friday Friends Club? Don’t worry, the story behind this weeks Friday Friend will answer these questions and more!

Let me back up a bit. I had this post just about finished on Wednesday. I was ahead of the game for a change! Then, on Thursday, I spent about a hour on the phone with my Friday Friend and my whole perspective was turned upside down!

I would like to introduce you to Katja Presnal the founder of Skimbaco. Skimbaco is an upscale Lifestyle Boutique for Modern Parents that features all kinds of really cool stuff for the entire family. It is definitely a shop you are going to want to bookmark and will find hard leave without getting one of the ‘must have’ items. Katja also is the author of her own blog, Skimbaco Lifestyle. Take a peek at Katja’s About Page and you will see she is one interesting lady and, yes, her husband is really a helicopter pilot! Here’s just a tidbit for you:

I am a fashion-freak-former model.
I am a cinnamon-bun-baking-housewife.
I am a marketing-loving-business-woman.
I am a “let’s-jump-some-more-on-the-couch-kids”-mother.
Never know what I’ll write about.

This all sounds pretty basic, huh? Well, you couldn’t be further from the truth! Let me tell you how I first came to know Katja and why I wanted her as a Friday Friend. I started following Katja on Twitter and, like our other Friday Friends, I immediately noticed that the majority of her tweets were answering questions, driving attention to other’s blog post or contests and just generally kind gestures. I loved her sites and found her posts really interesting. The thing that really drew me to Katja was the day I opened my email and saw an invitation from her to connect on LinkedIn. You may not think that was a big deal but for me it really was! I had been on Linkedin for a while but had not started to use it. Katja was my very first invitation!

Based on what I already knew, Katja was a perfect candidate for the Friday Friends Club. Then the bombshell hit and my entire perspective on this post changed. I spent about an hour on the phone with Katja on Thursday morning. During this conversation, I realized that who Katja was at her core was what the basis of success is all about. During that conversation, Katja clued me in on her bout with Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, some LadyBug shoes and the frenzy it all created.

Fortunately, the whole story, in detail, is all laid out for us at another awesome site, The Tubby Bundle. Kristen, the Goddess of Chaos wrote a very detailed account of the tale in her May 14 blog post entitled…Women Entrepreneur+LadyBug Shoes+Suri Cruise=Success.

Kristen’s post tells how a simple gift basket hand packed by Katja with Skimbaco products ended up with a mention of some LadyBug shoes on Oprah by Tom Cruise and resulted in the marketing opportunity of a lifetime! The incredible part of the story is what Katja did with that opportunity.

Traffic. It doesn’t matter if you have a static website, a squeeze page or a blog. Getting traffic is the number one thing that can keep you awake at night. Getting your product mentioned on the Oprah Winfrey show by Tom Cruise is like giving Google a direct map to find you! Katja made a decision to open the doors to her fellow Mommy Bloggers and share that flood of traffic by sending out very specific tweets to the masses with a sweet opportunity of her own. Katja’s decision to share in her good fortune is clearly appreciated and was a huge success for all. You can read the testimonials at Skimbaco Lifestyles to see how Katja’s choice became a win-win for everyone.

The story doesn’t end there though. In an attempt to find a charity to benefit from her LadyBug Shoe Luck, Katja hit upon the idea to create her own charity. Hence, LadyBug Landings was born. This free PR Service for small businesses, Lady Bosses and Lady Bloggers comes equipped with LadyBug Gear that can be found through it’s CafePress site. Just another example of Katja’s character and testament to her mission.

When I heard about this Oprah story from Katja, then read all the details and followed all the links I came to one conclusion. THISis what blogging is all about. It’s not just a platform to journal. It is a way of life. Blogs have evolved from a platform to share stories into a way to teach, to learn, to rant, to earn, to communicate and to build relationships. Katja utilized the power of her blog and the unlimited reach of the Social Media Venue, Twitter to share an opportunity to achieve success for herself and, in turn, to help others find success too.

Take a look at the last several posts on Katja’s blog. In one post she introduces us to The Intrepid Mompreneur and a contest she was running. The next post Katja shares information about Warren Whilock and Debbie Micek’s amazing Twitter Handbook (a must read if you haven’t already!) In that same post, we learn about Pimp My News and how we can benefit from it. Finally, on that same page Katja give us a warning about dangers in microwave popcorn.

Through Katja’s posts she makes sure to link to others and presents us with great information. Like the candle, Katja uses the light that shines through in the content of her posts on her blog and in her tweets to light up other people blogs, products and opportunities. She really does spread sunshine through that light and she makes others happy. Like the life of the candle, that happiness is never diminished by being shared.

For those of you who may be saying, baloney! The linking is just SEO to get rankings. You are right! The only thing different is that Katja is not just looking for Search Engine Optimization with her efforts. She is also using SEO-Sharing Excellent Opportunitiesthrough her blogging. Take a look at her BlogRoll for an example. It is fitting that Katja won a ticket to The Blog World Expo in a contest hosted by Darren Rouse, The ProBlogger. The definition of Blogger, especially Mommy Blogger has significantly changed over the last several years and Katja is embracing that change.

Blogging is not only a way to market and build businesses but it is also a way to build communities and relationships that can be mutually beneficial for all. Social Media Marketing has shed a new light on the way we can network and build our communities, our businesses and our friendships. Watch Katja and you will see this in action.

Follow Katja’s example. Let the light from your blog light up another’s site and keep passing that light along and you will see how amazing the benefits are when you share them. Katja, thank you for being such a great example to us all and thanks for being our Friday Friend.