Who is in Your Network?

Between Facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn we each have the opportunity to build vast networks beyond those we regularly see face to face. Who are you adding to your network? Why those people? How are you using your network?

The Who

As with anything that can be measured, some people add to their networks just to have a bigger number than those who they “compete” with. I know of one person on facebook who looks for any attractive female to add to his facebook network; obviously to feed insecurity and feel good about adding the ladies who are his facebook friends. Some people use social media purely for a business networking system and post information and comments like Jack Webb of Dragnet – just the facts.

Using social media as a competition of numbers, to feed insecurity, or to simply sell yourself are all missing the greatest opportunity of networking.

Who are the people you want to stay in touch with on a personal level? Who are the people you want to build working relationships with? Who are the colleagues you enjoy sharing a few words with periodically? Online networking is more like a cocktail gathering. It’s about the personal points of interest, the links or sharing of information you find valuable or enjoyable and for some there is a business component to inform, engage, or involve people in your occupational activities. The key is to have a reason for your network and then fill it accordingly.

The How

Online networking is about the mixing of the personal and the professional. Too much business and you are known as a spammer only looking to sell something. This doesn’t work in the online networking environment anymore than the person at a business cocktail party, who is aggressively passing out business cards and cornering people to talk about his latest and greatest ideas. Find the balance.

The Resource

Networking is all about connections and knowing who knows what, and who to go to, to learn about what they know. How are you positioned in your network? Are you the person who is the first to post the funny joke, video or picture? Are you the person who is the trivia expert? Are you the person who sends out great information on the niche you serve? The way to be valuable to any network is to be known as the source for something specific your network finds value in, and to be a good online friend. Understand the rules of online networking, be active, and add benefit. What is the value you bring to your network?

The Million Dollar Network is for Everyone

Networking used to be a local leads group meeting over coffee, or a group of executives meeting at a chamber Business After Hours event. Even when we were told about the theory of 6 degrees of separation, we tended to only network locally.

If the social media hasn't dramatically changed that for you, then you are using a buggy whip in rocket sled times. Twitter, facebook, LinkedIn and even MySpace have rewritten how networking can work, the distance it can cover and how it removes the barriers to reaching some very important people.

Twitter has given me over 5200 followers to date and a great way to learn and connect with people I would probably never have met otherwise. If I need to explain twitter then you've been asleep for a few years. If you really don't know what it is, check it out on Wikipedia. If you don't know what Wikipedia is, how did you even find this blog?

With twitter I communicate with people around the globe. Some famous, some dedicated to what they do, and some are just amazingly intelligent people willing to share their expertise. Fortunately, I've also met many great twitter people in the Charlotte area and I get to meet with them semi-regularly for lunches and after hours gatherings in addition to tweeting with them daily.

Networking for business and finding friendships along the way is a great way to build a solid network. Not to mention, anytime I find myself traveling to a city for work, chances are I will be able to meet with a twitter connection.

Facebook is also a great network opportunity. I have reconnected with old high school classmates, found a new easy way to stay connected with my speaker colleagues and yes, make new connections that are adding to my revenue streams. In fact, my facebook connections have actually provided me with a great new revenue stream I have seriously high expectations for!

If you don't have a twitter account or a facebook account, you are missing out on great, easy to use technology. It's good to build your network for so many reasons both personal and professional regardless what position you hold.

Networking has never been easier, has never been 24/7 like it is now, and never been more beneficial. You just have to take action to get involved. Join me on twitter (Growthsolutions) or on facebook (http://www.facebook.com/russelljwhite1) and let's network! I'll help you get started and show you the wonderful benefits of these great places. All you have to do is ask.

Hustle -- What Does Your Daily Serving Look Like?

I hear people tell me how they have been laid off and in the same sentence tell me about the round of golf they played on Monday afternoon.

I hear people talk about how sales are off, budgets are tight and no one is buying out there right now.

I hear business owners complain about losing money and slow customer traffic.

What I am not hearing is how these people are investing 12 to 14 hours a day to find a job, close a sale and get more customers. Wow did we get lazy in the glory years. We expected profit growth to just happen every year (and it did), we expected our investments to grow just by watching them (and they did) and we sat back and enjoyed the view and the rewards. We justified that behavior by telling ourselves that finally all that hard work in the early years was finally paying off. No longer did we need to work hard because we had set up businesses and investments to run successfully on their own.

Hustle is for the Hungry

The game changed and those of us sitting back enjoying the view suddenly find ourselves out of shape for the effort required to make a difference. Now is the time to break out the hustle mentality and get digging, grinding and sacrificing to get back on top once again. As a twitter friend wrote recently, "HUSTLE is shoe leather and elbow grease and sweat and skipping breakfast and missing lunch."

Let the competition sit and whine about what happened to the good ole days and you regain your daily dose of hustle and blow them away. The fact is, people are hiring, sales are being closed, and customers are buying. Make sure you are the one who is in growth mode by being the one who doubles up on his or her daily dose of hustle.

If you start doubling your daily dose of hustle starting today; in six months you will be back in the hustle groove and you will be back in growth mode. Guaranteed. No magic bullet. No quick fix. Just hard work, focus and moving with purpose all day long.

Keep the Phones On During My Programs!

A new phenomenon is happening in speakers' audiences -- people texting instant word of mouth marketing and commentary while the program is going on! I heard about one technology speaker chastising people from the platform for leaving their mobile phones on and for opening computers during his session. How do I know this? Because people in the audience were twittering about it as he said it, and I got to read it 3000 miles away. They were not happy about his comments. Instant word of mouth. Are you ready for that type of bold scrutiny?

Being a speaker, I am used to hearing the formulaic pre-program announcement requesting all audience members to turn off phones and laptops. Today that request is expecting too much of people and many people will just not adhere to the request. Why? Because this is how we communicate in today's world. We need to start using this type of technology to our advantage; don't try to take it away from them.

Keep the phones on! Laptops too.

This past weekend I spoke at an international conference and on my opening slide (you know the one with the program title that stays on the screen as everyone is walking in) I posted my phone number and asked my audience to text questions to me during my program if they so desired. I listed my facebook url, my twitter url, my blog url and my website address and asked them to "Friend me up" while waiting for me to get started or after my program if it met with their approval. Don't fight technology -- embrace it, use it, incorporate it.

Forget the evaluations

Paper evaluations at the end of a program are so old school. Not to mention they have to be tallied, sorted and distributed to the speakers. Just set up a #(hash) page on twitter and let people provide the instant feedback as it happens. For example, let's say I set up the page #ARARussell (the conference and my name) on twitter. Anyone in my audience could give me instant feedback on what they learned and what they liked and what they didn't think I did well. Instantly! This can be accessed and updated instantly by phone text or laptop. There is one form of evaluation that needs no tally. It's there in raw form: open communication and quick access.

The Migration

Another form of evaluation that is the newest trend in conference audiences is the "Text Migration" effect. I was one of 5 concurrent programs at this conference. When I started, my room was full and the largest audience of the five, but as my program progressed, it grew to standing room only. I later was told by a number of my audience members their friends had texted them from other sessions to see how my session was going and based on that instant review they left the other sessions and came to mine. That is a serious evaluation for all the speakers.

Expect this trend to continue. In the first 15 minutes of a program the speaker needs to "lock in his audience" or they will migrate to the program that is totally making the most of the opportunity.

Allow audiences members to stay connected. Allow them to use the technology they love to use and incorporated it into your program.

Its Kick Ass Friday :10 Ways to Be Who They Can't Be

Forget coasting into the weekend, make today Kick Ass Friday and dominate the competition today.

I hear clients bemoan the competition all the time. The whining sounds like…They are bigger. They have larger budgets. They have more man power to get things done. They have a bigger market share. They. They. They.

Forget playing the game THEY play. Figure out what they are not doing and be the one to deliver that.

Answer these 10 questions for your organization and you will be who THEY wish they could be. After you make millions of dollars from the answers to these questions remember where you got it from and let me know about your success.

1. What is the marketing approach in your industry no one has tried yet? Do it.

2. What relationships do you want to establish your competition wish they had? Go for it.

3. What service could you improve to remarkable levels? No waiting, act today. In fact, right now.

4. What are the trends of your industry changes over the next five years and how could you be there next year? You have a full 8,760 hours to make it happen. Make it happen.

5. What is the most creative marketing idea you could smack the competition upside the head with? Think how good that would feel.

6. How could your salespeople out-smart, out-hustle, and out-maneuver everyone else in the industry? It's there for the taking. It's up to you how bad you want it.

7. What is the one product you produce or sell better than anyone else? Scream to the heavens about it like your hair was on fire.

8. What online technology hasn't reached your industry and how can you capitalize on that fact? Go find it because it's probably something you can do for free.

9. What is the biggest customer complaint about the competition? Be the superstar to those customers in that one area.

10. Where are you not giving your full effort and passion? Ask someone who reports to you and you'll get a better answer than the one you came up with – unless they are afraid for their job.

11. What are the next ten questions you need to ask yourself as a leader who needs to grow?

Are You a Pro?

I was online in a social network and I saw someone talking about forming a group of social media professionals. It got me to thinking what is the definition of a professional? In my opinion, a professional is someone who makes a living at their chosen profession. I know of no one (or maybe there are a select few) who can truly be called a professional at social media by my definition; although they had 300 people sign up for membership in the first hour.

It reminded me of professional speakers making the same claim yet most professional speakers I meet at our speaker conventions could never live on their speaking earnings. So what do you call these people? I feel in today’s world we have three categories of workers.

The Hobbyist

This is the person that has all the markings of someone making a living at a profession, and claims the profession as their livelihood, yet they don’t make enough money at it to live on, or they are trading on past accomplishments but the title of professional no longer fits. These people also exist in the workforce and pose at jobs.

The hobbyist falls into three categories of its own.

The person who just can’t make it on what they are making but loves the perks of calling themselves professionals. In the day of downsizing many managers are calling themselves professional consultants, and what they really are, is a job seeker trying to make a buck between jobs. Beware of the faux-professional in your ranks. Because if you have an employee searching hard for a new position outside of your organization posing as a dedicated employee, they are hobbyists until they move along and you aren’t getting your bang for your investment dollar.

The person who was a professional at one time who just can’t hang it up. People don’t retire anymore they just fade away. They don’t want to give up what they do and were once good at, but they are long past their prime and coasting on past accomplishments.

Do you have anyone who is counting the days until they can leave? I had a client whose CEO literally counted the days until he could retire with full benefits. This is not a leader no matter how strong he was 15 years ago. He is now a hobbyist and a drain on corporate resources, morale and is in anti-growth mode because it is easier to exist as a hobbyist in status quo.

The third hobbyist is just that someone enjoying a hobby. These hobbyists can actually help your business if they are part-time or volunteers. Maybe these hobbyists are retired people looking for things to do and make a bit of side money. This can be an effective use of a true hobbyist – doing something they enjoy more for the value of doing it than the pay that may or may not come with it. These are not professionals but hobbyists that can be a positive addition to your team.

The Wannabe

In the speaking business these are the people who show up at speaker meetings wanting to be speakers but have no clue on what topic or what their message is. They just know they love to talk in front of an audience and their friends have told them they are funny. There is no talent or topical passion or expertise just raw enthusiasm. Because the job is more non-glamour that glamour and requires hours and hours of hard work to get started most wash out.

In the working work wannabes are those in the interview process full of puppy dog enthusiasm for the job opening even though they have no real understanding of what it takes to be successful at it, or whether they even have the skill set for it. Sadly, because some companies are so desperate for talent and to fill critical job opening they make a hasty decision and hire the enthusiasm without the talent. This wannabe is now in a position that causes them to be filled with insecurities and out of those insecurities will make judgment errors and mistakes they won’t want to readily admit to. Experienced interviewees can still be wannabes; therefore don’t be fooled by a well-written resume.

Make sure your hiring process actually gets to the details you need to know to see if this person is a good fit, is just looking for an experience or is truly a professional that will be an addition to your team.

The Professional

By pure definition a professional is a person who gets paid to perform specific duties. As we know not all who get paid to perform deliver. A real “professional” not only earns what they make but they create a reputation of being a good value for the investment. Some speakers earn $50,000 a speech over and over because what they deliver is considered a value at that price. In your workplace a professional is someone who knows their job, delivers good value and understands how to build on a previous performance and grow. This is someone you can count on to deliver.

Professionals are not looking to be covered in accolades, yet they expect to be appreciated. They want to work with other professionals and be given the opportunity to make a difference for you. A professional is going to cost more than a hobbyist and a Wannabe but focusing on cost is missing the bigger picture. You are looking for return on investment and the right professionals deliver that return.

Who in your workplace would you deem a Hobbyist? A Wannabe? A Professional? Who is making the best contributions to growing your business? Who is a deficit employee taking more than they are giving? How do you think professionals feel working around deficit employees? It’s time to weed out the hobbyists and wannabes who are gunking up your growth systems and let your professionals grow your business.

Time to Tweet

Hi tweeple! To those who tweet, go to tweetups and live in the twitterverse you understand these words. For those of you who have only heard of Twitter or have no clue what I am talking about, make 2009 a time to get to know this web opportunity.

Years ago when I performed my services only locally I knew where the best places were to network and meet the people I needed to know that could teach me and hire me. Once I went international and no longer did business locally, I lost my tight networking connections and wondered aloud how do you network internationally and where it the network I need to be tuned into.

I had heard of twitter and I am active on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and LinkedIn, so I figured what was one more? How twitter works is very simple. What it can do for you is astronomical. Twitter.com is a place where you can create an account for free similar to the other online networking options and you gain followers and select those who you want to follow. It takes some time to work through the process before finding those who can truly feed you, but well worth the effort. With twitter you only have 140 characters to express yourself. Not 140 words, 140 characters. Meaning two sentences ago would be too long of a “tweet” or comment. How can such a short delivery have any meaning? It forces the writer to be brief, specific and if necessary include a link in the sentence if you care to learn and read more. Ever see the length of some of those url strings? That’s why you use link shortening devices such as tinyurl.com which will take any length url and turn it into 25 characters. To find me on twitter go to http://twitter.com/GrowthSolutions and follow me!

What can this do for me?

I have been active on twitter a couple of months and I already have hundreds of followers and have found hundreds of people to follow. People I want to network with who serve different purposes for me. Twitter is becoming the main source of news for me. I follow the Wall Street Journal, Yahoo buzz, the Drudge Report, MSNBC, and for a local flavor the Charlotte Observer to name a few.

For information that feeds my business I follow those who can help me in my business weaknesses in search engine optimization, network marketing, and web design. I have already received valuable information in all of these areas. I also follow fellow speakers, business experts, and writers. I am connected to a Charlotte area network and every other week we meet up for a “tweetup” lunch to talk generally or on table topics. All discussions are informative and I like being around good brains who help me think.

There is also the celebrity fun of conversing directly with Shaq, MC Hammer, Tony Robbins, Richard Branson, Natalie Gulbis and the Governator. The Obama campaign had the most followers on twitter this year, but has gone silent since election night.

Twitter can become a great new source, a place to ask techie questions since the geek quotient is high, and get inspired and learn from other smart people. Not to mention, make new friends, promote services (carefully) and in my case enjoy tweeting with some celebrities on the cutting edge. Feed your business. Feed your brain. Join the “twitterverse” and become one of the tweeple who write tweets on twitter.