Business Networking is More Than “Contact Management”

Business or Career Networking is Based on Relationships Trust and Influence My definition of networking is:  “leveraging trust and influence.” It takes a long time to make an old friend! Trust and influence are cultivated over time and are based on experience with the friend’s past performance. Sometimes difficult challenges help you find out who your real friends are! […]

Are You Getting Older and Wiser?

When you were a teenager, you may have thought you knew everything. Now that you are older, you probably realize that you didn’t know what you didn’t know then. Now you are older and, hopefully, wiser. We live and learn. I wonder what I still don’t know that I don’t know.

Although technology is central to doing things in the 21st century, the most important things in life are more about being than doing. Who you are and how you feel about that, as well as who you know and how they feel about you, are timeless issues. Although the channels may be different, communication and relationships are still important. Family and networking still provide synergy and leverage. Happiness is still related to values and virtues. “Faith, hope, and Love endure.” Truthfully, I believe I am getting older and wiser.

Is it What You Know, or Who You Know that Counts?

It’s How People Feel About You (a Kind of Branding) Actually, I believe that what counts most is how people feel about you. Knowing is not enough. Being known is not enough. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. It is not just a matter of who you […]

Social Capital Futures

One thing I have noticed and reflected upon over the past few decades is the tremendous impact relationships have had on my life in every way. There is no question about the fact that relationships have practical value beyond their intrinsic emotional satisfaction. At every turning point or tipping point in my life, it was a relationship that made the biggest difference.

How Are Social Media Changing Relationships?

Social media relationships are impacting our lives in many significant ways. First and foremost, the quantity, diversity, and locations of people we’re enabled to connect with has expanded dramatically. Social media are changing our relationships and including many more “weak ties.” For networking purposes “weak ties” could be more helpful than strong ties, because they connect us to resources and information we would not otherwise know about or have access to.

Networking for Collaboration and Synergy

Business Networking Whatever you need and don’t have, somebody else does have, whether it be knowledge, resources, ideas, skills, or contacts. Synergy is the main reason for networking. Of course, relationships, which are precious per se, are a very nice by-product of networking and collaboration. In an article on BrightHub.com entitled, “The Benefits and Challenges of Team Collaboration,” […]

Online Networking, Network Marketing, Win-Win Relationships

One of the best things about true network marketing, online or offline, is the win-win relationships. To quote Zig Zigler, “Help enough other people get what they want, and you will get what you want.” Sales and internet marketing, as opposed to networking, have the potential to be win-lose games. The seller wins, whether or […]

Alliance, Tribe, and Syndication

Alliances, tribes, and virtual teams are popular among internet marketers today. SEO has incentivized reciprocal tribe syndication beyond the normal reasons to cooperate. Personally I have been wrestling with my entrepreneurial tendency to focus on my own creative projects, rather than to contributing a lot of time as a team player. I’m just being honest […]

The Social Network

The social network online is only part of the real global social network, which includes human society as a whole. The old email chat acronym, IRL (In Real Life), no longer makes sense, if it ever did. Most of what constitutes human life, such as emotions, reasoning, needs, wants, and commerce, exist online and offline, and often overlap both. […]

Leads or Leaders? Your Choice!

Sales and network marketing are related but different professions. Of course there are various hybrids and blends.  But for this discussion let’s distinguish between these fields based on their fundamentals. Either profession can be practiced online or offline. I love the internet and the technological leverage. It reminds me of the leverage of networking, which […]

Attraction, Branding, Networking; Confused?

  Leveraging Trust and Influence Business networking is about leveraging trust and influence and multiplying your sphere of influence by the influence of others. Attraction is a kind of influence. “Personal Branding,” perhaps synonymous with reputation,  may help with attraction and personal direct sales. Sales and marketing have their place in free enterprise, but network marketing […]

We Are All Branding, All The Time!

Branding is usually associated with commercial brands for products or services. But personal branding, whether online or offline, is a matter of reputation. As you interact with others, they may come to know, like, and trust you. They are open to buying what you have to offer. They may even believe in the value you […]

3 Reasons NOT to Brand Yourself

To “brand,” or not to brand; that is the question. With internet branding comes extra burdens and risks which may be unnecessary to achieve your goals. In fact, making yourself “the issue” may even be counter-productive. I know, I know; branding is “in.” Internet marketers, in this decade, love the idea of becoming famous in […]

Building Trust with Social Media

Trust is a key component in business (and personal) decisions. Greg Ferenstein wrote an interesting post on the Mashable blog about trust in social media, in which he quoted Professor Judith Olson, who has studied the essentials of building trust in digital communication. One of her most important findings is that “responsiveness is key” in building […]

Social Media Strategy

Begin with the end in mind. As a leadership consultant I have always asked “WHY” before “WHAT.”  Intention helps focus efforts in the direction of desired results. Craig Galati wrote about social media strategy in the Las Vegas Sun: Social media is important, but it must fit into a marketing strategy. Social media is a […]

Relationships or Business, Caring is King

In blogging and social media marketing we often read that “content is King.” The “King” in networking is caring! Top Leaders in network marketing all concur that “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Computer geeks are always looking for “the killer app”, i.e., the “next big thing” […]

Social Media Campaign

Social media campaigns need to be different from advertising campaigns which push products. Unfortunately the more you try to sell, the less you sell. The situation is analogous to the rest of life, where focusing on contribution leads to more success than chasing personal gain. Modern consumers are wary of pitches and commercials. People love […]

Build Relationships by Being a Connector

Building relationships with social media is very similar to the way relationships have always been built. Humans haven’t changed very much in two decades of internet (or even in thousands of years). I suspect that that the “secret” exposed below would have applied equally well to cave dwellers or stone age tribes.  Although we have […]

Business on Twitter; Don’t Try It

If deals ARE, indeed, made on the golf course, it is probably on the 19th hole 😉  Pitching your business at a Rotary or Kiwanis meeting is clearly frowned upon, although your fraternity brother might be the first person you think of when you need his professional services.  Even at a Chamber of Commerce “After […]

Relationship, Collaboration, or Noise

Daniel Ben-Horin, CEO of TechSoup Global, wrote a guest post on TacticalPhilanthropy.com about “Collaboration, Innovation and Noise,” in which he said: No one is forced to follow anyone or friend anyone. Think of the numbers in context. What does it mean to have 200,000 Twitter followers? Are they the kind of followers who follow a thousand […]

Relationship Overload

Real relationships are precious treasures, but those of us who spend a lot of time “networking” tend to accumulate a backlog of contacts that may seem overwhelming. Personally, I enjoy meeting new people more than I enjoy following up. From a relationship building point of view that seems backwards. I have to remind myself that nurturing special relationships is like cultivating a garden. Flowers will bloom after a season of watering and fertilizing.

Relationship Empowerment

Relationships with leaders who are “centers of influence,” can empower us to take social networking to a higher level. It’s wise to reach out to our heroes and ask to become their friend. Let’s not be shy when we have the opportunity to connect with those who have blazed the trail we want to follow. […]