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Actual for You - Online Networking For Technodummies
You're changing jobs. You know you'll need references for your next career move. You've done a great job so you shouldn't worry about getting a reference - right?Wrong.References can sabotage even the most sophisticated, well-executed job search. Sometimes you can lose an opportunity when your reference thinks he's helping you out 100%.Here are 5 ways to make your references work for you, not against you.(1) Skip the 'To Whom It May Concern' letters.Clients often tell me their well-meaning bosses offered to write a 'To Whom It May Concern' letter on your behalf. These letters used to be common 20 or
QUEEN OF YOUR OWN DOMAIN -
Some of most valuable networking you can do will be within a group of your target clients where you are in a position of authority – this raises your profile amongst your potential clients and makes you a centre of influence in their wo
What’s no bigger than a flip phone comes in fashion colors and can weigh up to 50 grams with .01g accuracy? Don’t look now, but the traditional jeweler’s traveling scale is all fashioned out and style conscious. Pocket scales, used by jewelers, hunters and field investigators for dozens of uses, have taken the same route that turned cell phones into fashion accessories. You can now buy pocket scales that weigh less than a pound and are the size of a small flip phone – yet still promise to weigh substances with accuracy up to .01g – one hundredth of a gram. They come tricked out in camouflage, flames, translucent blue ice and hot baby d
It’s a regularly repeated marketing mantra that ‘people do business with people’: - in other words people want to know, like and trust you before they will do business with you. Consistent networking to raise your profile will mean that the more connections you develop the more business you’ll naturally attract.
But what if you don’t want to go out networking? What if you’re shy of going into a room full of strangers? What if you’re running a business from home and want to be able to network at times that suit you? Maybe you’re working in a remote location and can’t make it to the meetings? Online networking means that you get the benefits of conventional networking without having to leave your desk.
As someone who’d rather be reading the kids a bedtime story than handing round business cards with a bunch of suits, I’ve found that focusing on consistent online networking has brought me fantastic opportunities to meet and do business with people all over the world. This is what I’ve found makes all the difference:
DO YOUR RESEARCH –
Talk to your clients and fellow professionals, especially people who are as successful as you want to be. Where do they hang out online? Which websites, discussion forums etc do they enjoy? The easiest way to reach your potential clients and workmates is to hang out where they do.
WHEN YOU MEET PEOPLE ONLINE -
Don’t try and sell to them straight away – this is the equivalent of rushing into a party and forcing your business card on everyone, without stopping to find out if they’re interested in what you’ve got to offer. ‘Lurk’ for a while to get the feel of how various online environments operate – read other people’s messages to get a feel for the culture: is it serious and businesslike all the way, or is there a space for humour? Look for connections between what you do and what other members of the community do: this may give you an opening to make a connection.
BUILD YOUR PROFILE CONSISTENTLY -
It’s more effective to have a limited number of sites and forums that you contribute to regularly than to try and be all over the internet at once. Make a regular commitment to participate and stick to it. Answer queries, contribute articles and blogs. Be generous with offering your expertise: this will say more about you than an ad ever would. Look for what you can contribute to others rather than what you can sell.
One thing to remember with online networking is that it probably won’t replace good old face to face networking entirely. Many people still don’t like to do business with others until they’ve looked them in the eye and had a face to face conversation. If you make an interesting connection with someone online, develop the relationship by giving them a call or meeting for coffee.
QUEEN OF YOUR OWN DOMAIN -
Some of most valuable networking you can do will be within a group of your target clients where you are in a position of authority – this raises your profile amongst your potential clients and makes you a centre of influence in their wor
We have developed a set of rules regarding forecasting that we apply in writing business plans. We share them with you in this article in the hope that you will find these rules worthy of adopting in your efforts to write business plans as well.Investors expect the forecasts in a business plan to present realistic, achievable goals. One of the best ways to have your plan rejected is to demonstrate that projections were not prepared thoughtfully and, therefore, the numbers are not defendable. This is most often demonstrated by not showing the details (if any) that went into the projections.It is important to r
As someone who’d rather be reading the kids a bedtime story than handing round business cards with a bunch of suits, I’ve found that focusing on consistent online networking has brought me fantastic opportunities to meet and do business with people all over the world. This is what I’ve found makes all the difference:
DO YOUR RESEARCH –
Talk to your clients and fellow professionals, especially people who are as successful as you want to be. Where do they hang out online? Which websites, discussion forums etc do they enjoy? The easiest way to reach your potential clients and workmates is to hang out where they do.
WHEN YOU MEET PEOPLE ONLINE -
Don’t try and sell to them straight away – this is the equivalent of rushing into a party and forcing your business card on everyone, without stopping to find out if they’re interested in what you’ve got to offer. ‘Lurk’ for a while to get the feel of how various online environments operate – read other people’s messages to get a feel for the culture: is it serious and businesslike all the way, or is there a space for humour? Look for connections between what you do and what other members of the community do: this may give you an opening to make a connection.
BUILD YOUR PROFILE CONSISTENTLY -
It’s more effective to have a limited number of sites and forums that you contribute to regularly than to try and be all over the internet at once. Make a regular commitment to participate and stick to it. Answer queries, contribute articles and blogs. Be generous with offering your expertise: this will say more about you than an ad ever would. Look for what you can contribute to others rather than what you can sell.
One thing to remember with online networking is that it probably won’t replace good old face to face networking entirely. Many people still don’t like to do business with others until they’ve looked them in the eye and had a face to face conversation. If you make an interesting connection with someone online, develop the relationship by giving them a call or meeting for coffee.
QUEEN OF YOUR OWN DOMAIN -
Some of most valuable networking you can do will be within a group of your target clients where you are in a position of authority – this raises your profile amongst your potential clients and makes you a centre of influence in their wo
In my live complaint resolution seminars, I demonstrate the martial art Aikido and offer it as a strategy for diffusing anger. I began teaching this unconventional approach to managing conflict after having my breath taken away as I watched Steven Segal effortlessly defeat his opponents without violence or aggression in half a dozen of his movies. Aikido is a nonviolent martial art that never meets force with force and can be applied to conflict situations with demanding, irate or unreasonable customers. (I’ve personally applied Aikido to situations with customers, employees and co-workers.) Using the principles of Aikido, you too can
WHEN YOU MEET PEOPLE ONLINE -
Don’t try and sell to them straight away – this is the equivalent of rushing into a party and forcing your business card on everyone, without stopping to find out if they’re interested in what you’ve got to offer. ‘Lurk’ for a while to get the feel of how various online environments operate – read other people’s messages to get a feel for the culture: is it serious and businesslike all the way, or is there a space for humour? Look for connections between what you do and what other members of the community do: this may give you an opening to make a connection.
BUILD YOUR PROFILE CONSISTENTLY -
It’s more effective to have a limited number of sites and forums that you contribute to regularly than to try and be all over the internet at once. Make a regular commitment to participate and stick to it. Answer queries, contribute articles and blogs. Be generous with offering your expertise: this will say more about you than an ad ever would. Look for what you can contribute to others rather than what you can sell.
One thing to remember with online networking is that it probably won’t replace good old face to face networking entirely. Many people still don’t like to do business with others until they’ve looked them in the eye and had a face to face conversation. If you make an interesting connection with someone online, develop the relationship by giving them a call or meeting for coffee.
QUEEN OF YOUR OWN DOMAIN -
Some of most valuable networking you can do will be within a group of your target clients where you are in a position of authority – this raises your profile amongst your potential clients and makes you a centre of influence in their wo
Printing like many industries has seen the onset of chain businesses to meet the needs of the consumer and businesses. As technology has gotten better it has lowered the barrier of entry in skills that a printer must possess to produce a larger % of print jobs.Printing was a skill learned and it took years to train to be able to produce fine work. This is certainly still the case for most jobs but printing has segmented into different markets that are filled by different companies.The chain printer is more of a convenience printer. They turn quick jobs and are usually available to service longer hours and weekends. Walk i
BUILD YOUR PROFILE CONSISTENTLY -
It’s more effective to have a limited number of sites and forums that you contribute to regularly than to try and be all over the internet at once. Make a regular commitment to participate and stick to it. Answer queries, contribute articles and blogs. Be generous with offering your expertise: this will say more about you than an ad ever would. Look for what you can contribute to others rather than what you can sell.
One thing to remember with online networking is that it probably won’t replace good old face to face networking entirely. Many people still don’t like to do business with others until they’ve looked them in the eye and had a face to face conversation. If you make an interesting connection with someone online, develop the relationship by giving them a call or meeting for coffee.
QUEEN OF YOUR OWN DOMAIN -
Some of most valuable networking you can do will be within a group of your target clients where you are in a position of authority – this raises your profile amongst your potential clients and makes you a centre of influence in their wo
Customer Service is a blessing and a curse; a blessing to the customer and a curse to you, the employee. At least so it seems. Although as the Customer Service representative for your employer, you are faced with a never-ending barrage of complaints, problems, and questions on a daily basis, the pressure of the job could easily become a source of anger, frustration, and other forms of counter-productive behaviors. You seem to live in a pressure-cooker of stress.Rather than let the pressure get to you, why not develop attitudes that will help you become more cheerful, positive, and productive?Did you know that a winning at
QUEEN OF YOUR OWN DOMAIN -
Some of most valuable networking you can do will be within a group of your target clients where you are in a position of authority – this raises your profile amongst your potential clients and makes you a centre of influence in their world. It is now easier than ever to start an online networking group with the help of Yahoo, Google or Smartgroups. Members of networking sites such as Ecademy can also choose to form their own clubs and become club leaders.
Of course for this sort of group to flourish, members have to be getting more out of it than simply finding out about your business. I run a networking group for Women in Media, because that’s the client group I specialise in helping. However, if the group only consisted of ads for my services, members would soon drift away. The fact that members get a whole host of support and opportunities keeps them coming back for more. And that’s the fun thing about running your own group – it soon takes on a life of its own and develops in ways you could never have predicted.
PLAN YOUR OBJECTIVES Above all, before you start be clear about what your objectives are for online networking: Whom do you want to meet? What do you want to happen? How much time are you prepared to commit to it? Above all have fun and be open to meeting new people. Be interested in what they’re doing and they will soon be interested in you.
To get you started:
SOME BUSINESS AND PERSONAL NETWORKING SITES: www.soflow.com – International online networking with a high proportion of media/creative professions. It's a fairly small community at present but that can make it easier to get to know people than on larger sites.
www.ecademy.com – Business networking site with the facilities to post articles and blogs
www.linkedin.com – Works by linking people up with one another, following the ‘Six degrees of Separation theory’: that you’re only six people away from everyone else on the planet.
www.ryze.com
www.tribe.net
www.MediaWomenUK.com - Online networking group for women in media. Mainly UK based but with members around the globe. Many members are freelance journalists, though a wide range of other media professions also represented
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