That Which is Measured...

There's a rule in development, whether for business or personal pursuits: That which is measured, gets improved. I've been putting in some effort on this recently. It's a bit tedious, I'll admit, but it is informative.

Each business day, I record the number of calls I make, people I meet, events I attend, and presentations I give. I also record any sales I make and what their value is. I've been doing this now for about five months. My goal is to have a baseline "cookbook".

A cookbook is a concept I learned in my sales training with Joe Marr. The general idea is to understand, in my business, what level of effort leads to what level of results. When you know that, then you can control those results by increasing or decreasing your effort. With five months of data, I should have some picture of my return on investment.

The trick when analyzing this stuff, though, is to take into account the lag factor. For example, I haven't really changed the number of calls, meetings or events over the past few months, but just eyeballing the results, I'm seeing a gradual increase in the number of sales and their total value. So, for whatever reason, my results haven't reached the plateau dictated by my level of effort yet.

This is another good statistic to know: Lag time. If I look at my results and they aren't what I want, making a change now won't have an immediate effect, but might take several weeks or months to show.

So, what aspects of your business do you measure?

Hey, I've Heard of That Guy!

I'm catching up on some podcasts that I downloaded some time ago. I'm particularly enjoying them now as I can listen to them and feel like I'm kind of working (most are business-oriented) while I am walking up and down the hallway trying to soothe a fussy baby (not that that happens very often at all).

So today I was listening to a "Marketing Monday" podcast from back in September 2007. The host, Dean Jackson, interviewed my friend Scott Ginsberg, the Approachability/Nametag Guy.

Yes, I already wrote about Scott this week, but you take your inspirations when they knock or the universe thinks you're being ungrateful.

During the interview they were talking about being "that guy" (short for "that guy who reminds everybody of nobody else"). In this case, it's meant in the positive sense and as Scott put it, it really boils down to the answer to two questions:

1. What are you known for?
2. What are you known as?

If nine out of ten of your customers/colleagues/friends answer in a similar way, then you are well on your way to being "that guy". Let's face it, if we can stand out in other people's minds for some good aspect of ourselves, then it can't help but to make us more successful in our lives, both inside and outside of work.

Now the little surprise I had happened about 36 minutes into the podcast (actually 36 minutes and 43 seconds, but who's counting?). All of a sudden I heard Scott use my name. He was quoting one of the concepts from my website with regards to the difference between having a website and having a web presence. Very cool.

I highly recommend that you check out the podcast, even though it's a little dated now (Scott mentions one of the projects that he'd been working on for a while, Nametag.tv, which has since launched -- another cool thing to check out). There's lots of good stuff about the many benefits of approachability, including a great riff on why a handwritten nametag is better than one of those fancy engraved ones that some people wear.

So, what was a good podcast that you've listened to recently?

Networking with a Guest

Today I attended a sales seminar given by my sales coach, Joe Marr. I've seen this same presentation (or one similar to it within two decimal places) at least three other times. So, why would I go again?

I brought along a guest.

I had been telling my friend Helene Gidley about how much Joe had been helping me. She was curious so I took the opportunity to invite her to an introductory session (which included a free lunch!).

So, what did I get out of it?

Well, I did get to see Joe in action. He's really a pretty darned good speaker. Watching him, and studying his presentation techniques, is an education in itself. When I decide to start my speaking career, the tricks I glean from him will stand me in good stead.

I was able to help my friend Helene. The cool thing about Joe's introductory seminar is that it isn't just a sales presentation designed to rope you in. Even if you decided to walk away from that class and never come back, you still would have gained an insight into the sales process that could easily be translated into thousands of dollars.

I helped my friend Joe. Just like any other business owner, he has to maintain clients in his pipeline. Maybe Helene will decide to work with him. Maybe not. Just bringing them together, though, might lead to a working relationship which would be lucrative for both of them.

The seminar was also a pretty good networking opportunity. There were probably ten or eleven students in the class. I even got a chance to reconnect with Carrie Hensel of Inner Circle Media. She took the Sandler Sales training many years ago and was attending this particular event for the same reason that I was -- she brought a guest. Ironically, it was Carrie who got me into Sandler in the first place. It was her recommendation which first put the idea in my head.

And with all of that, I got a free lunch, too.

So what networking opportunities have you found in your area which are good not only for you, but for a guest as well?

Building a Deck (of Business Cards)

One of the challenges I've faced, given all of the networking events that I attend, is what to do with all of the business cards I receive. Without some sort of system, I would quickly have been overwhelmed by a landslide of little pieces of cardboard. So far I've got a few rules/techniques I follow to try to keep things under control.

1. Take only what I need. In general, I try not to ask for a card unless I think that either the other person or I (or preferably both of us) will benefit from a closer relationship.
2. Take notes. At the event, after speaking with someone, I try to note down anything I remember which might be of importance to me at a later date. "Needs website", "Interested in online database", or "Introduce to Bob Smith", might be some of the short phrases I would use. Usually I try to tack on the event and the date, too.
3. Review and reduce. When I get home, I try to review the cards as soon as possible. There are always folks who will give you their card whether you ask for it or not. These will often go right into the garbage. It may sound a bit ruthless, but, if I can't remember them (and I didn't make any notes on their card), then I am unlikely to want to talk with them in the future. There's no need to clutter my desk with unwanted cards. Most of the ones for which I've made notes, I will keep.
4. Take action. With the cards left over, I schedule calls to be made over the next couple of days, possibly with action items in order to provide that person with something which I may have promised them. I'll usually put these cards in a "holding pile" for the short term.
   
5. File. If a person gets back to me and it looks like we may be on the way to establishing even a loose relationship, I will file their card under their last name in my business card three-ring binder. I also make a notation under their business name so I can look up a person either way.
6. Purging. Periodically, I will go through a few pages in the binder. Those with whom I've not spoken in a while might get re-entered in step four above.

That's about it. I've been using this method for only a month, so I'm not sure how it will work for the long term. For now, though, it seems to be working pretty well and preventing me from being buried alive in business cards.

So, how do you cope with business card glut?

The Evolving Networker

Back some years ago, I took the Certified Networker training course. It had a lot of great ideas and systems to help make business/social networking more effective. One of the concepts it tried to drill home was that when you join a group, whether it's the local Chamber of Commerce, BNI, or the Royal Fraternity of Weasel Trainers, it takes time and effort to make that association pay off -- usually on the order of six months to two years.

Good thing I have patience.

Those who've been following my exploits for a while know that I've been participating in the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce for about a year and a half now. Today I was acting as an Ambassador (read greeter and volunteer host) at the Morning Edition networking breakfast. I'd done this many times before, but today seemed different. In the past I could act confident. I would do my best to point people in the right direction and occasionally be able to connect two people.

Today, for some reason, I was confident.

It was like every time I spoke with someone, a little voice inside my head would tell me "Introduce them to Bob", "They need to talk with Carol", or "It sounds like they would really benefit from Leadership Ann Arbor." I actually felt like I had something that I could give to my fellow attendees beyond directions to the buffet table.

Why, I might even be a Networker!

So, in what groups are you a Networker?

Doing It All

I met with two different people today for coffee and, from those meetings got a better understanding about the nature of doing business in Ann Arbor -- especially as a small business owner.

Each was the owner of his or her own business. My good friend Ross Johnson owns 3.7 Designs and my new friend Christine Slocumb is the principal of Clarity Quest. If you listened to the two of them describe what they do (SEO, web design, print marketing, etc), you would swear they are competitors -- and they are.

Kinda, sorta, in a way.

In a way, though, they are colleagues as well. They often call upon one another to fill in when things get too busy. Right now Ross is sub-contracting for another designer, who is working with Christine.

Now, Ross and I met today to see if we had the potential for a similar strategic relationship. He has the design skills which I lack, whereas he sometimes has need of my programming expertise.

We each can lead and we each can follow. Together we can make our individual companies even stronger. No longer will I have to turn away clients who want a new website, despite the fact that I don't really do that sort of thing anymore. Ross, on the other hand won't have to worry when one of his clients suddenly needs an online database of press releases.

Believe it or not, being a DIY'er, this is actually a bit difficult for me to wrap my brain around. Still, I know for my business to grow, I need to let go of trying to do everything myself.

Maybe next I'll look into letting someone else pay my bills! ;-)

So, have you worked with someone else in a "virtual corporation"? How did it work out for you?

Long Distance Radio

While I am still on vacation today, I did manage to get some work done. I made a few calls, did some programming and even cleared out an email or two.

And I recorded a podcast.

OK, to be accurate, I was interviewed as a part of someone else's podcast, but let's not quibble over semantics.

Debby Peters (yes, she is a relation) of CNP of Ohio, Ltd interviewed me as a guest on her biweekly podcast, Networking on the Chin. We used a pretty cool, free service called Talkshoe. It does everything for you except actually speak. It provides a central phone number where people can call in. It posts the description of the episode. It does the recording and streams it during the show and then provides it as a download afterward.

People can even choose whether they want to connect by phone or through the Web interface. All in all it's a pretty slick setup.

So, if you are considering immortalizing your words of wisdom, you might want to check them out.

Here's the recording I did today:



Or you can download the audio to listen later (9.4M)

So, have you ever recorded a podcast? What tools did you use?

Measuring Makes Improvement

One of the techniques my sales coach, Joe Marr, advises is to maintain a daily "A/B" journal. In it I track my "attitudes" (my feelings about myself) and my "behaviors" (the actions I take).

The idea is threefold.

First, my relative success as a salesperson shouldn't affect my image of myself. If I mark that self-image on a scale from one to ten, it stands to reason that my behavior will be limited by wherever I place myself on that scale. If I see myself as a four out of ten person (pretty low), then how can my behavior in my business role exceed who I think I am?

Second, the act of recording my behavior -- in this case, the actions I take toward making sales -- allow me to observe my technique. This way I can reinforce those practices which lead to success and correct those which lead to, well, "other destinations". I hesitate to call them "failures". So long as I learn from the situation, I achieve some level of success.

Finally, the journal acts as a means of self-accountability. Each day I review the previous day's activities. Did I attend the events I said I was going to attend? Did I call the people I said I was going to call? It's all right there in black and white (as is my critique of how well I performed).

I've been using Google Docs as my tool of choice for the task. I whipped up a quick template for a daily page and just make a copy of it each day for my record keeping.

I've only been doing it now for about ten days, but so far it seems to be working pretty darn well. Have I closed a whole slew of deals, yet? No, not really.

But I'm making more and better connections than before when I wasn't keeping track.

So, what behaviors are you measuring in order to improve?

The Natural Introvert

So the joke goes something like this:

Questions: How do you tell the difference between an introverted computer programmer and an extroverted one?

Answer: An extroverted computer programmer looks at your shoes when he's talking with you.

Often those of us in the technical fields are stereotyped as a bunch of t-shirt wearing, Star Trek watching, basement living, introverted techno-nerds. Expectations of social skills are somewhere between a log and some particularly interesting slime-mold.

Guess what? That stereotype couldn't be further from the truth.

Now I count myself firmly amongst the ranks of the nerd set, so I feel that I can make a few blanket statements for my people based on my observations over the years.

The balance of introverts and extroverts within this group seem to be largely the same as with any other. The main difference is that most nerds don't feel comfortable talking with non-nerds. If you watch them within their own groupings, though, you will see that there are some who lead the conversation and others who are content to sit back and listen.

If you'd really like to test this out, just walk into the midst of a group of nerds and lob a grenade. No, not a real one. All you have to do is say something like "Who was the better starship captain, Kirk or Picard?" Then just step back and watch the fur fly!

So, the next time you run into a techie, geek, or nerd, understand that they aren't being rude or overly shy. They just aren't quite sure of the rules, yet. With a little coaxing you might even be able to have an enjoyable conversation or two. You might even make a friend.

And everyone should count a techno-nerd amongst their friends.

So, who do you think was the better starship captain?

The Chains of Networking

After I posted my business update last night, I began to think about the various projects I've done over the years and how I came to be working on them. It's kind of fun to play the "network chain" game to see how far my networking connections had to go to lead me to a job.

Some of my projects, like the ones I've done recently for AJ Boggs, are "zero links". I met the person with whom I worked (in this case, Jim Anderson, the president) myself with no intermediaries. Jim and I both were in the Leadership Ann Arbor class of 2007.

Then I have my "one link" projects. These are the ones where someone referred me or introduced me to the person who had need of my services. My recent work for cellochan would fall into this category. My good friend Cheryl O'Brien, the Membership Director at the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, referred Suzanne Smith, the director of cellochan, to me when she found out that Suzanne needed some help setting up her website.

Of course, I have a few projects that are two and three links. My longest, though, would probably have to be the project about which I wrote last night, the new one with Defrost Design. As I mentioned, I met Craig Steen and Matt Raup of Defrost through an introduction from LeAnn Auer, the Executive Director of the Michigan Venture Capital Association. I met LeAnn, through her husband, Joe. Joe and I first got together because when he and LeAnn first came to Michigan, he asked his friend, Myra Klarman, formerly of Studio Mobius to introduce him to people who worked on projects similar to those he did.

How did Myra know me? She and I worked together to set up online seminar registration for a couple of her clients, Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville. The two of them recommended me to her.

Peter and Lou? Oh I met them ages ago in some of my first projects when I worked at the University of Michigan. When Peter and Lou first left the University, they formed Argus Associates, Inc. They hired me for my very first freelance programming project, thirteen years ago.

It amazes me that from that first meeting way back then, I've had a chain of networking which led to working on projects at least four links deep.

That word of mouth stuff is a pretty incredible thing!

So, what is your longest chain of networking?

Impact 2007

Bhushan Kulkarni and Andy LaBarre listen
while Trenda Rusher leads our discussion

I spent the first part of my day today at the Impact 2007 conference put on by the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce. This is a meeting of minds of those who are interested and concerned about the state of Michigan in general and about the Ann Arbor area in specific. This is the second year I've attended the event. Last year I was there because it is also the kick off for the Leadership Ann Arbor class.

First off, Impact is just a great networking event in a great venue. A lot of local business people show up to hear what's going on and Kensington Court does a great job making sure everyone is comfortable and well-fed. Beyond that, though, as with last year, the organizing committee sets up some interesting speakers. Of course, Michigan is going through some hard times right now, so not all of the news was positive. Still, we all tried to look for the best and, further, tried to look for ways that we could help to solve some of the area's problems.

To that end, this year we broke out into several groups to examine some of the bigger issues going on right now. The group I was with looked at the "Talent Wars" -- the fact that many of our most talented workers are leaving the state -- and what we can do to turn that tide. We had about forty of us in the room, so we actually came up with many actions which might help in a variety of areas, including attracting and retaining talent, developing career paths which keep talent in the area, and developing leadership to oversee all of this activity.

Of all the solutions, though, the biggest one -- and the biggest challenge -- was communication. Many of the root problems we uncovered already have solutions in place. Unfortunately, the population whom we need to address regarding the problem seems not to know about the solution, whatever it is.

I'm not sure there is a silver bullet for this one. I'd love to say that all we need to do is build a great website, but there are already a ton of websites out there with this information. What it may require is actual personal coordination between industry, education, and community organizations and I'm not sure what the mechanism is to make that all work.

Ah, well, I guess the first step to wisdom is admitting you don't know.

So, what forms of community communication do you have in your area?

Your Momma Dresses You Funny

In my last post, one of my regular readers, Jacki Hollywood Brown, commented on the need to dress for success. She further recommended, for those of us who are "fashion challenged", to take along a friend who knows something about how to put an outfit together. I thought I would share my experience in this area, because I agree wholeheartedly.

About eight years ago, I was going through a hard time in my life and my mom decided I needed a little "retail therapy". She took me out clothes shopping. Now, don't jump to any conclusions. I enjoy clothes shopping about as much as any guy (not much at all -- I don't shop, I go to the store to buy). The difference this time was that we enlisted the help of a professional.

Caroline Bishop worked for Marshall Fields at the time as a personal shopper. When I showed up at the store, she had already reserved a large dressing room with a plethora of shirts and slacks waiting for me to try on -- many in colors I would never have picked for myself.

Here's the funny thing. With Caroline's help, I found out the colors I had been wearing (dark greens, deep blues, and a "rainbow" of browns and golds) were completely wrong for me. They made me look washed out and some brought out the dark circles under my eyes quite nicely. It turned out that the colors that looked best on me were bright blues, cool mint greens and even, yes, vibrant pinks.

And I didn't just take her word for it. I could see the difference with my own eyes.

Dressing well, and knowing that I looked my best in the clothes I was wearing made a major difference in my attitude and the way I carried myself when it came time to meet with people, especially in a networking environment.

Of course, having confidence in your appearance is only half the battle, but when you are going into a potentially uncomfortable situation, it's better to start out with that half won.

So, if you are considering a wardrobe upgrade, and like my friend Jacki, I would recommend it if you are planning on going out on your own, I would consider looking into working with a personal shopper at your local department store. At least when I went, it was a service they offered free of charge -- a small price to pay for a dose of confidence.

So, have you ever worked with a personal shopper? What was your experience?

Bad News for Nerds

Hello, my name is Greg and I'm a nerd.

I've always had a pretty technical mindset and have, until recent years, felt more comfortable programming a computer than talking with fellow human beings. Looking around, I know there are many out there like me.

Then I started my business.

I know there are many other technical folks who dream of one day throwing off the yoke of oppression and starting their own business. I am here to tell you that it is possible, but there is one caveat.

You have to learn to like being around, talking to, and working with other people.

Unless you've come up with a way of making money by purchasing your own product, here's a list of behaviors you'll want to pick up:

• Making friends -- All things being equal, people buy from friends. In fact, things don't even have to be all that equal.
• Leaving your desk -- If you don't meet anyone, you can't make friends with them.
• Making small talk -- Just because it's called "small" talk, doesn't mean it is of little importance. This is the technique that starts a real conversation. It also doesn't have to be meaningless drivel about the weather.
• Having a conversation -- This is an extension of the "small talk" skill. Think of small talk as the spark and conversation as the campfire. Conversation is when you go beyond the surface and find out about the person who will someday be your friend.
• Asking questions -- Questions perform two tasks here. First (and foremost) you get to find out more about the other person. Second, it gets them to ask about you. Any question you ask will very likely be reflected back to you. So, be prepared with an answer.
• Listening, not talking -- We nerds often want to feel like experts on everything and we want other people to recognize our expertise. That's all well and good, but save it for the next time you are arguing with your friends over who's a better starship captain, Kirk or Picard. Who knows? By asking questions and letting the other person talk, you might find that they, too, share your enthusiasm for "Battlestar Galactica".
• Being approachable -- This is more than just bathing on a daily basis -- although that's a good idea, too. Work on your confident smile, your firm (but not crushing) handshake, and your ability to look someone else in the eye (without the crazy psycho stare that eventually leads to a restraining order).
  
• Taking the first step -- Nerds tend to sit back and wait for others to come to us. Guess what? That behavior will lead to a very lonely life. Look for people to talk with (not "talk to"). Who knows? That person who's hanging back from the crowd might well be a fellow nerd.

Practicing these behaviors can be a little scary at first, but if you persist, one day you will suddenly discover that you are actually having a good time with other people!

And that's the first step to success.

So, what behaviors would you recommend to a fellow nerd who's aiming for success?

Networking for Nerds: Meeting "Buck Rogers"

Lisa and I just got back from the DragonCon Science Fiction Convention. While there, I had an interesting networking experience.

I was sitting with my sister, Rebecca, in the Concierge Lounge of the Marriott Marquis in downtown Atlanta. I happened to glance across the room and who was sitting there, but Gil Gerard, the actor who portrayed one of my childhood heroes, Buck Rogers. I really wanted to just walk up and say hello, but the whole concept of his celebrity was stopping me. What if he's sick of talking to people? What if I bother him? What if he tells me to get lost?

Finally my sister pointed out that if he really didn't want people to talk with him, it wasn't very likely that he would come to a public area like this. So, I mustered up my courage and walked up and said "Hello."

And he was totally cool about it. He and I shook hands and chatted for a few moments, then I let him get back to his snack. He even remembered me (in a good way, I think) the next day when I attended his panel.

If I had let my fear get the best of me, I would never have had such a great experience. It was a small thing, but for the rest of the weekend, when I saw someone famous just walking through the halls or waiting for an elevator, I didn't hesitate to say hello.

And not one of them spit in my face or even laughed at me. Could it be the celebrities are people too?

I'll remember this weekend the next time I'm feeling nervous about talking to someone at a Chamber mixer. Whether a movie star or a business mogul. They're all just people and they all have an interesting story to tell, if you are willing to take that first step.

So, who was the most famous person you've ever met? How did you meet?

Finishing the Job

I always love that day when the project is complete. You get to look back on everything you've accomplished and feel a certain amount of pride in a job well done.

I had one of those days today.

You might remember me mentioning that I got a consulting job with AJ Boggs & Company, a local eBusiness solutions provider. I met the president, Jim Anderson, when we were classmates together in the Leadership Ann Arbor course.

Working with Jim and his people was a good experience. We took an old program that his clients had been using for years and made some adjustments to make it more robust and a more seamless experience for the user.

After months of work, we installed everything last night. We worked late so as not to disrupt the client's normal schedule. I finished the upgrades at 3am this morning. Matt Sebenick, the system administrator, put everything into production this morning and for a whole day we heard exactly what we had hoped...

Nothing.

When you install new systems, no matter how much testing you do, you always worry that there was that one catastrophic bug that you missed. So far -- knock on wood -- so good.

So, for tonight at least, I get to sit back and rest for a while. Maybe I'll even pop some popcorn and throw on a DVD. I think I received "The Guns of Navarone" the other day from NetFlix.

So, what projects have you completed lately? How does it feel to have them done?

Networking: Unexpected Benefits

If you've been reading these posts for any length of time, you'll know that I do a lot of networking in the pursuit of my business. I attend a lot of Chamber of Commerce events. I meet with interesting and interested people regularly. I've taken classes on how to network. Even my blog and my ezine are designed partially to maintain my connections with my growing list of contacts.

Today I discovered a surprising benefit of all of this networking: Meeting my own family.

I attended a family reunion out in New Baltimore, Michigan at my Aunt Anne's house. In attendance were a number of cousins whom I'd known for many years. There were a number of others, though -- great-aunts and uncles, second cousins, etc -- whom I had never met or whom I hadn't seen more than twice over the last couple of decades. Of course, my lovely wife, Lisa, was even less likely to know who they were. She's pretty good with the immediate circle of relatives, but these folks were all new to her.

At first I waited for others to introduce us. Unfortunately, they seemed unaware of our predicament. So I decided to take the situation into my own hands. I treated it like any other networking mixer. I said hello, shook hands, smiled, and asked questions. Before long we were all seated out on the deck chatting and comparing stories as if we'd known each other forever.

What could have been a long and uncomfortable day ended up being a lot of fun. Lisa and I drove away feeling much closer to the family than we'd ever been -- all thanks to networking techniques which worked as well for family as they do for my fellow Chamber members.

So, what business skills have helped you out in your non-business life?

What You Do -- Once More, With Feeling!

This is an article that I will be submitting to ezinearticles.com. Let me know what you think!

One of the most challenging questions we all receive in any networking opportunity is the seemingly obvious, “So, what do you do?” Well, of course, you know what you do, but communicating it to others in a way that doesn't make them stare at you blankly can be a bit more of a challenge. The trick, of course, is to elicit some sort of emotion from your listener. The other trick is that you must continue to work on your presentation. You may even need more than one!

By the way, you'll recognize those who have chosen not to work on this. At a networking event they're the ones who say things like “I'm a real estate agent” or even the (slightly) better “I find people homes”. Bo-o-oring!

The first step in the process is to ask yourself why people would buy from you or engage your services at all. I'll give you a hint: It's not the widget you sell – it's what your customer gets from the widget you sell. Take for example our long-suffering real estate agent. As I said, “I find people homes” is a start, but I think we can get a bit more emotional than that. What images does the word “home” evoke? Magical family gatherings around the holidays? A safe, warm place to hide when the storm is raging outside? How about a source of light and laughter that your children will carry with them no matter where they go?

Any one of these would get my interest more than "I'm a real estate agent”.

To make this truly effective, you've got to use it and let it evolve. Personally, as a Web programmer, I know for a fact that even a whisper of the technical jargon with which I deal on a daily basis is enough to make my audience's eyes glaze over. So, I made it my goal to be understandable when dealing with technical topics. My path started with “When you're dealing with the Web, I'm the geek who speaks”. Not particularly “emotional”, but it was at least fun. With a little work, I came up with “Clearing up the Confusion on the Web” -- not bad, but not what I would call a real “grabber”.

Hearing Scott Ginsberg speak one time really brought things into focus. After hearing him talking about personal branding, I decided to push the envelope a little. From that point on, when someone asked me what I do, I told them that I am the international superhero known as “The Webmaster”! And what does such a champion do?

“I rescue people from their own websites.”

Since I've adopted that phrase, it never fails to get a laugh. The best thing, though, is it also gets folks to ask for more. And, really, in a networking situation, what more could you ask than to be memorable and to arouse people's curiosity?

So, put in a little effort. Be brave. Pull out the emotion -- whether laughter, worry, or curiosity. The worst that can happen is have that other person look at you and say “Huh?” But at least they're talking with you!

So, what do you do?

Ann Arbor Radio

OK, so here's a surprising result of my networking. My good friend Cheryl O'Brien, the Membership Director for the Ann Arbor Chamber of Commerce, called me up the other day to let me know that she was going to be visiting the local Monday morning radio show to talk about the Chamber's new membership structure. She was allowed to bring one guest and she said that I was the first one to come into her mind.

It's probably because of my radio announcer's voice. ;-)

Anyway, I will be on WAAM 1600 during the Chamber Business Buzz segment of the Lucy Ann Lance in the Morning Show on August 13 at 7:35am. For those who aren't local, they broadcast live on the Web, too.

Wish me luck!

So, what was the most surprising benefit you've received from your networking efforts?

Facebook and the Newest Ezine Issue

By the time you read this I will have sent out my most recent ezine issue. That's number 12 for those who are counting. This time I wrote a bit about my first experiences with Facebook and how I intend to use it for our Leadership Ann Arbor Roundtable group.

If you are interested in reading any of the issues, or would like to subscribe to the ezine, you can do so on the Cyber Data Solutions website.

An Enterprising Evening

Part of my responsibility as a business owner is to attend at least one and preferably two networking events each week. Some of these are more productive than others. Some are more fun than others. Tonight I attended one that fell in the top range on both these scales. I went to a meeting of the New Enterprise Forum.

NEF is a group whose sole purpose is to support entrepreneurs. To this end, they provide a venue for people engaging in new enterprise to present their ideas to a larger group with the idea of receiving critique and potentially the possibility of investment. These events usually also include a speaker or two and, of course, lots of opportunity for networking.

Tonight we heard about two new businesses, TuneVUZ and Procuit. The first is a service which helps new musicians market and distribute their music electronically. The second is a site which helps people learn and more importantly retain new information. Obviously I could never do justice to the presentations. You're better off checking out their websites for more information.

We also had a panel of three "unusual" entrepreneurs who spoke about their individual paths to success. Doug Chapman talked about HyperFit USA, a high-intensity fitness club. Janet Brown-Smith told us about her company, Mookies Pet Toys, whose products have sold on QVC. Finally, Brad Morgan let us know how he turned the "by-products" of his dairy farm into a booming business called Morgan Composting.

While I found the presentations interesting, and the folks I met while networking had fascinating stories to tell (and may in the future prove to be profitable), there was one aspect of the gathering which I didn't anticipate which made it really stand out to me. Listening to all of these folks talking about their businesses and about their big plans for the future infected me with their enthusiasm. Walking out of the Holiday Inn where they normally hold their monthly meetings, I couldn't wait to get home to work on my business.

I'm definitely going back.

So, what gets you excited about working on your business or in your career?