“I don’t have any friends like that . . .”

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 19 Comments

Welcome to Saturday Night at the Movie

About a week ago I saw this video from IBM over at Client Magnet.

Of course, it doesn’t show the experience of anyone we know.

A visit to their site shows that IBM doesn’t offer much in the way of community connections. Don’t they think any friends are important?

Social media connects information and relationships. It offers a venue for people of likeminds to find each other — it’s unlikey we could do it any other way in such numbers. It’s great way for a company to get to know its customers.

Social networking is about the quality of relationships, not the quantity.

Do you find many people like this guy when you’re at your local social networking site?

–ME “Liz” Strauss

Buy the ebook and learn how to make strong online relationships.

Social Networking: How to Keep True Direction Down Trails of Connections

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 15 Comments

Passion, Connections, and Directions

When I was a kid, I wasn’t looking for my direction. No one said to follow my passion. I was a kid. I was on a quest to do extraordinary stuff.

When I was a kid, I wasn’t bombarded with information from every dimension. My social circle was small. The proportions between my size and that circle have changed since then. My life is replete with relationships and complex connections. Now I have more social network passwords than the number of friends I had when I was kid.

Conversations bifurcate, trifurcate, and splinter off in bit and pieces. They move like a soccer ball on this field where I hang out. I’m following echoes down weblike trails of plurkshops and twebinars to hear what my friends are saying now.

Underneath all that, the kid I was still has dreams, still wants to do extraordinary stuff. Here’s my recipe for getting back to what I’m about.

I turn it off.

In a minute or so, I remember my quest.

Passion needs direction, or it gets lost.

How do you hold onto your true direction?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
Buy the ebook and find out the secret.

Social Networking: It’s Not Who You Know — It’s Whether You Know Yourself

Filed Under Motivation/Inspiration, Successful Blog | 12 Comments

Networking, social networking, friending, and making connections, the time it takes to keep up with such things can be tremendous and exhausting. It’s hard to reply to every bit of conversation and get some work done. I’m also left wondering about Stever Robbins’ question “Social media confuses relationships and databases.” He draws a possible life scenario based on just such connections.

â€œI have over 1,000 Facebook friends!â€ one Twitterer proudly exclaimed. Why is that a good thing? Well, when your car breaks down, you can call 1,000 people who you know nothing about and cry â€œHelp! Iâ€™m stranded by the side of the road all alone. One of those 1,000 people is George. George â€œfriendedâ€ you because you remind him so much of his first romance. The romance ended badly, but George is determined to recapture the love of his life. â€œIâ€™ll be glad to pick you up,â€ e-mails George. â€œWhat kind of flowers are your favorite?â€

1000 friends who don’t really know me, but I can say that I know them.

Is that worth something? Not usually.

We have to know each other for the “friend” part to work or network like it’s supposed to.

It’s not who knows our names or the bits we write in our profile. That’s not enough for someone to know what we need or how to refer us. It’s who knows us, who knows what unique and valuable things each one of us offers that no other one of us does. It’s who knows how something, everything, will be different — better — because we were a part of it.

For someone to know our unique value, we have to know that ourselves.

So you see, it’s not who know, but whether you know yourself.

What different and unique things do you bring to the table?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
The first eBook is coming . . .

Hunters, Gatherers, and Stars of Networking

Filed Under Strategy, Successful Blog | 18 Comments

Networking on the Ground

I’ve been networking on the ground in Chicago. in the last two weeks, I went to a class, a seminar, a presentation, and a huge networking event. My goal was find a few folks who might help me figure out how to talk about an idea that’s shaping up and to learn how to connect with the people who might be interested in exploring it.

I sure found some incredible people, who told me about their work and helped me focus my thinking. I listened them as long as I might and thanked them for their counsel. I found some great folks that I could easily connect to information they needed or a friend who could help them. Sadly, I also found people who seemed hyper-focused on reciting on a script. Conversation with them was almost impossible.

At the large event, I met Mike, who works in relationship management. We talked about this scripted phenomena. He called the hyper-focused people, “hunters.” He said they came to find someone — anyone — to give them work or to work for them. He said he knew because he used to be one of them.

The Hunters, Gatherers, and Stars of Networking

That conversation with Mike left me thinking about the roles we use when we network in a room of strangers. I see distinct types.

The hunters — Hunters come to find people of a certain kind. They’re hungry for a boss or an employee who will solve the problem. Hunters are out to satisfy their appetite. The conversations and connections are only important when they move toward that goal.
The gatherers — Gatherers have a goal of collecting people. They “work the room” efficiently and with a smile. The most practiced gatherer will trade business cards with every person in the room and be done in record time. Quantity is their quest. Gatherers are about numbers not relationships.
The stars – Stars go to learn and help folks when they can. The stars know that one person can only make and maintain relationships with a limited number of people at one time. They use conversation to find where connections offer both people a benefit if they form a relationship.
And of course, there are the nonparticipants who watch from the sidelines. Their name is the only description that we need.

As I write this I realize that we play the same roles when we network online. Each of these folks is on our social networking sites.

What do you think? Are there others that I’ve left out? Do you find that online networking is easier than networking on the ground?

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz!!
SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

Reviewing Your Face to Face Networking Techniques

Filed Under Business Life, Strategy, Successful Blog | 9 Comments

Liz Goes, Lorelle Guest Posts, Lorraine Gets Control

When we’ve got a lot to do, we rely on friends to help us out and over the mound of work that we’re facing. I was delighted when my dear friend, Lorelle, jumped in to help me by writing a guest post for the time I’ll be gone to SxSW.

But as relationships work, sometimes our friends come with their own circle of relationships. A few months ago, Lorelle and I invented an alter ego of hers named Lorraine, who keeps popping up when Lorelle writes certain kinds of blog posts.

Well, Lorraine caught a thought that Lorelle was writing about networking for me and you. Lorraine’s fabulous street-wise, huge-size ego could not allow Lorelle to write that post on her own. Next thing we knew, Lorraine had taken over . . .

Lorelle and I want you to know that we hope you’re in no way offended by Lorraine’s take on the subject. She’s . . . um, er . . . direct and sometimes a little colorful. Enjoy!

Reviewing Your Face to Face Networking Techniques

by Lorraine, alterego of THE famous Lorelle VanFossen

Who are you more willing to come to aid of? A complete stranger or someone you’ve met?

Okay, so we know the answer. People are typically more willing to help those they know than total strangers. So it helps to know as many people as you can so you will get help if you need it, right?

Attending a business conference is about turning strangers into acquaintances into friends. You want to work with your friends, people you trust, people who trust you, and the ones you know can get the job done as well as help you get your job done. Right?

You want the experts and you want to get to know the experts.

Oh, wait. At a business conference, especially one on blogging, you are also the expert. People want to know you. You are the one they are waiting for to come to their aid. This is your chance. Are you ready? Are you trained? Are you prepared for the moment when the moment to perform arrives?

The Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference (SOBCon) is the place where experts come to rub shoulders with other experts – no matter what your expertise.

Are you ready to share your expertise and meet the experts at SOBCon in May?

Let’s review your preparation techniques.

What to Wear:
Yes, clothes make the first impression, so what should you wear to be your best at such a powerful business of blogging conference? The first impression is your best networking tool so you want to look your best. At SOBCon though, we’re a bunch of bloggers. We are people who dress for success for the public and work in our underwear. Choose something in between that represents you and your blog while dressing for warm temperatures and hotel air conditioning. Chicago is warm in May. Informal, clean, with a spot on the left shoulder for a name badge.

Wear something that says, “Hi, I’m a blogger but I’m a successful and outstanding blogger.”
Practice Your Smile and Handshake:
I know you are used to virtual meetings and social networking, so you probably haven’t practiced your smile and handshake in a while. Take some time to rehearse in the mirror and practice on a family member or pet. You want the smile to not look like you have the hemorrhoids that come with blogging. Make it natural, fun, coy, and endearing. Like on television when the sick and dying child looks up and smiles to let you know that it will be okay, don’t worry, mommy and daddy. Make the handshake strong and firm without ripping off their arm. And wipe those sweaty palms.

Be a professional networker now.
Practice Your Babble:
Repeat after me: Hi, my name is [your name] and I blog about [your blog purpose and goals]. Wait, how many words does it take to define you and your blog? Can you do it in less than 200 words? If you can, work harder. Prune it down to 10 words or less and you have a powerful tagline to kick off a conversation with. Get your blog goals and purpose on paper and rehearse it. Practice introducing yourself and giving your spiel. You are going to get asked, so be ready for the moment.

You’re there to get known, so if you can’t tell them what you do, who wants to know you?
Pry Open Your Brain:
Crack open your virtual skull and get ready for new input. You’ve come here as an expert to learn from the experts. Get your head ready to fill with exciting thoughts, ideas, business techniques, tips, and the tools you need to ratchet your blog up 10 notches.

The inspiration can’t get in unless the brain is open. Pack your can opener in your suitcase so you’re ready.
Remove Brain Filters:
Yeah, yeah, heard it, read it, bought the book and the t-shirt. Stop that thinking right now. Clean out all the filters on your brain that thinks there is only one way to do this blogging thing. Get ready for new tips and techniques to drive themselves into your gray matter and come out with clearer blogging, networking, and marketing skills.

Remove preconceived notions and cobwebs and get ready for new input to strain through the sifters in your skull.
Remember What It Means to Make Friends – Real Friends:
Living online, we often forget the nuances that turns acquaintances into great friends. Remember how a look could fill say a paragraph of meaning and intent with your friends in the real world? I know the skills are rusty, but you can do it. Practice clever witticisms and comebacks. Work on that sly grin. Be ready to poke a little fun – appropriate fun – in the moment that will turn a chance meeting into a life-long relationship of working and playing together.

It’s these little things that you do that change a stranger into a friend.
Did Someone Say Networking Means Business?
You’re not just there to meet and greet. You attend these things to make money. You can make money by meeting the people who have money to share, or learn from those earning it hand over fist. It’s not just about the money. It’s about the money-making connections. What skills do you not have that you wish you did? Find someone who does and maybe you may have the skills they don’t have. SWAP! Pushing into the consultancy business? Then you better have a vast list of resource folks to help fill in the missing parts of your business services. Start collecting business cards and getting to know those missing parts people. NETWORKING!

The more people you know with the right skills and resources, the more likely you are to sing in harmony to “Blogs Will Keep Us Together.”
Spread Yourself on Everyone:
Become like jam. Be prepared to spread yourself everywhere during the conference. You want to be in all the pictures, podcasts, live blogging, and videos. You want to be the one who stands up and asks the brilliant question that gets everyone talking about you, you smarty pants, not the speaker. You want to be mentioned in every report from the conference as the witty, wise, and wondrous person who stole everyone’s heart with your dazzling brilliance and networking skills. After all, it’s who you know not what you know that can make all the difference in your blogging career.

Start spreading your who around.
Be Thinking Blogging Every Moment:
You know by now that anything can be a blog post, so keep your note pad near you at all times and jot down every blog post moment you can think of to blog about the event and the lessons you learned when you get back to your blog. You’re an expert now. You know that the networking doesn’t end with the face to face handshake and smile. It’s back to the blog salt mines where the real networking begins.

Start your linking!

The power of online social networking is amazing. You meet people you would never run across in your daily life. You rub virtual shoulders with the whose who of the web. It’s a never ending network of connections as you find new sources of information daily, and others find you as their source.

However, the potential in these networking possibilities only show up when you show up. Show up.

–
Lorelle VanFossen writes for Lorelle on WordPress,
Blog Herald – Taking Your Camera on the Road where you’ll also find
Lorelle’s Family History Blog. Order Her Book Now! Blogging Tips: What Bloggers Won’t Tell You About Blogging

Lorraine is usually locked away where she cannot cause harm.

Thanks, Lorelle!

–ME “Liz” Strauss
Work with Liz to get over your networking phobia!!

Work with Liz!!
SOBCon08 is May 2,3,4 in Chicago. Register now!

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Liz Strauss at Successful Blog

Thinking, writing, business ideas … You're only a stranger once.

Welcome to Saturday Night at the Movie

Passion, Connections, and Directions

Networking on the Ground

The Hunters, Gatherers, and Stars of Networking

Liz Goes, Lorelle Guest Posts, Lorraine Gets Control

Reviewing Your Face to Face Networking Techniques

by Lorraine, alterego of THE famous Lorelle VanFossen

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