Referrals Unlimited Network

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Networking takes on many shapes, sizes and forms.  We can, and should be, networking everywhere, every day, wherever we go.  We talk about ways to develop and attract new business, help others to build their business by providing referrals for them and generally  encouraging and supporting other business owners as they move on through their growing pains. 

Well, that’s exactly what I thought was happening this past week.  A very good friend of mine, Charly Leetham popped into our Skype networking room and was all excited.  It seems as though Jenny Smart, from Cash Smart Kid was running a contest for kids who own their own business.  You can read more about it http://raisingentrepreneurs.org/blog/2008/11/03/and-the-winners-are/

It’s important that you remember what the rules of the contest were as you read the rest of this story.  Jenny devised a competition where the kids had to develop a 2 minute YouTube Video or write a Hub Page about their business. Two winners would be chosen.  She was searching for two entrepreneurs under sixteen to be featured in the 2008 Charity Book Project.

The two winners would be profiled alongside big names like Ben Casnocha, who started a software business at 13, and was CEO of a Silicon Valley start-up, by seventeen.

Charly’s daughter was excited about this contest and got right down to work.  She researched her market until she found a product that she enjoyed reading about and it happened to be about psychic powers.  Charly and her husband, Stuart, encourage their children to be independent thinkers and to work smarter, not harder.  One of the Leetham rules was that Rhiannon would have to research to find a product she liked, she would have to spend her own money to purchase the product because she had to know all about it before recommending that anyone else purchase it.  This product cost $100 of Rhiannon’s own money.

Moving on with this story, Rhiannon built a website and titled it That Psychic Girl and entered the contest.  This week it was announced that Rhiannon was one of the winners!  Her family was ecstatic as they received word of her winning before she returned home from school that day.  As proud parents do (and I would have done the same thing), Charly immediately sent out a press release announcing the contest winning.

This was done in order to keep a positive spin on this activity.  It was written to show that parents worked with their child, allowing them to research and find a product they liked and wanted to represent, had the child purchase the product with her own money and then build a webpage to sell that product.  Wow, if only more parents would encourage that Young Entrepreneurial spirit in their children.  As long as the parents are overseeing the online activities, I see nothing wrong in allowing children to have the freedom to express themselves based on their interests.  Making money was NOT the primary objective here – it was the process that was important and to be announced as a winner in the 2008 Charity Book Project.  A percentage of the proceeds raised from the sales of this product are to go to the winner’s choice of charities. 

Rhiannon has a great interest in internet marketing.  She’s learning it from her parents, she’s developing it under her parents watchful eyes and she donating a portion of her proceeds to charity.  What could ever be wrong with that?  

It seems as though there is a group of cyber bullies in action at the moment.  These bullies have posted Rhiannon’s video and posted quite a lot of nasty comments, bordering along the lines of defamation of character and totally destroying the good this child did with her site.  Why would these “bullies” try to ruin the good name of the parents or tear down this important moment for Rhiannon?

Would psychic powers be a subject I would pick for my child to write about?  More than likely, not – but then again Rhiannon’s parents did not select it either.  I think it’s wonderful to encourage children to think for themselves, do research and find out as much as they can about a product or service and then make some informed decisions.

I have no idea why these cyber bullies are out to destroy anyone else’s work.  Perhaps they are simply jealous that they have to hide behind the printed word as they keep their identities hidden.  Perhaps it was a parent or two of children who didn’t win the contest.

But really, let’s keep this positive and encourage our young people to get involved in something they love to do.  Help them learn more about the dangers and the rewards the internet can provide.  Teach them good networking skills.  Allow them to ask permission to join some community forums and write blog posts.  What a wonderful accent to their education.

As networkers we can help to encourage these tasks.  Won’t you help me to recognize the great work that these kids are doing and help to force these cyber bullies to be quiet and leave hard-working people alone.

What are your thoughts about this?  As a networker, what would you have done to help in this situation?  I’d love to see your comments posted below!

Tonight I was spending some time on FaceBook - looking at the profiles of those that have either added me as a friend or who had accepted my friend request.  All of a sudden, this post became crystal clear to me to come and talk to you about being respectful of your network.

As you know, I am an Open Networker and on LinkedIn I DO accept almost every single person who requests to connect with me.  I give them a chance, to see what they are all about, if we can resonate with one another, and if we cannot do that, then I can disconnect from them.

I do almost the same thing on FaceBook.  Tonight I spent more time than usual reviewing the profiles because time  had slipped away from me and there were quite a few people that added me as a friend and I had not had the chance to visit their profile and thank them.  Much to my amazement, I spent a good deal of time “unfriending” quite a few people.  You see, their profile was either very unprofessional in the words or in the photo they provided.  I also found quite a few young kids (I’m talking teenagers) who were interested only in the vampire and the blood games.  I quickly unfriended those connections.

Why would I do that?  You see, I’m in the business of building relationships.  In order to build a relationship, both parties must respect one another and the work they are doing.  It would be very unfair of me to expose the contacts in my network to the people that were on FaceBook, LinkedIn or even on Twitter, just to have fun and play games, look for a love connection or simply waste time.

When someone reviews my profile, I would appreciate it if they take the time to see who  has been posting on my wall, the type of messages that are posted and at least glance at who I am connected with. 

On Twitter it is a little more difficult to be choosy, but it’s not impossible.  I’m going through my connections on a regular basis. I’ve decided that if you use an avatar instead of your photo and you are not saying anything that is professional or in the way of sharing business tips and ideas, I’m going to “unfriend” you, “unfollow you” or “disconnect” from you.  My time is valuable, as is yours, and we need to spend time with folks who are here to do business and to help one another grow.

So as I am pruning my network, tell me about yours?  How do you decide who to “friend,” “follow,” or connect with?  How often do you review those connections? 

Are you keeping in touch with those contacts, gradually moving them from the position of contact to connections?  This is very important in developing relationships.  Start to move the contacts deeper into the relationship by asking qualified questions.  One of the major questions I have just started using is “please tell me about one of the most important projects you are working on currently.”  When they respond to my question, I can learn a lot from their answer - not only about the project(s) they are working on, but what type of business people they are and perhaps someone in my network, if not me, myself, may be able to make a referral or suggest a resource that would help them complete that project and add to their revenue stream.

As I close this post, I ask you to tell me about your project - what are you working on right now?  I want to help you so please do tell me.

Your comments are very welcome - please do answer in the comments below - I have asked quite a few questions in this post and I’d love to see this discussion continue.

If you are having trouble developing your contacts into connections and would like to have some coaching sessions to help you on your way, please do let me know.  I work with groups and/or individuals and can help guide you to improving the status of your network and help you generate income from those valuable connections and relationships.

How about it - are you being respectful of your network?

Good morning everyone!  Things have been a little quiet around here lately.  What have you all been up to?  Tell us about your latest networking event that you attended - online or offline - meet any new interesting people? 

Netweaving is really a lot of fun and it is the latest, best way to utilize your network.  You can position yourself as a Resource, a go-to person, if you will, one that has a massive contact list and knows just the right people for the right situation and is willing to share that information with others.  You could also position yourself as a Connector, one who helps others by introducing them to key people that may be needed to help develop their business to the next level, or may simply have a need for their services or products.  Either way, by helping someone else, focusing on others, your networking efforts are laser-sharpened and people will respond.  By doing these activities without the thought of what’s in it for me (WIIFM) and thinking of others instead, your payback will be bountiful somewhere in the near or possibly distant future.  You may never be able to attribute a growth in your business from one particular person or event, but you WILL benefit by paying it forward.  I’d love to see you all concentrate on doing that, see what the results are - I know you will be absolutely amazed!  Givers do gain - sometimes the gain is a whole lot more than financial wealth. 

A great example of netweaving is exactly what we are doing in our Skype Room network. When someone is having a problem with their blog, their Squidoo lens, their website, and they need advice on how to fix or solve their problem, they turn to one of us.  We are here to help one another!  Do we expect to be financially paid for our help - no, for the most part, we don’t.  We simply help one another and by helping one another, we all grow.  There are exceptions to this when two people contract with each other to work together and that’s perfectly okay - there’s nothing saying that services and/or products cannot be paid for - we are running businesses!  But the paying it forward opportunity excels right here, in this network.   I hope you are all aware of the rich contacts you have made  here and will continue to help one another - together we will all grow and be wildly successful! 

If anyone is interested in joining our Skype Room Connections, please feel free to visit http://www.runlancaster.com/skype-room/networking   You do need to have Skype installed on  your computer (it’s a free service, you are able to talk computer to computer anywhere in the world, free!) and please be sure to develop your profile on Skype!  As a community, there is a lot of great information that is shared with others and we would love to have you participate too!  We also have a community blog, one where we can each contribute on a subject that is helpful to others - visit http://www.passionprojectblog.com and meet some of the awesome contributors!  We also welcome your comments and your help in generating conversations!

So now tell me - who have you connected lately?  Have you helped someone grow their business by connecting them with someone in your network or have you helped them solve some sort of problem with their business?  If you are looking for some help for yourself or your business, the easiest way to ask is to start with “who do YOU know WHO . . .” and netweaving begins!  Keep it moving forward and help someone else - share your knowledge, time or talents!

I invite you to join in the conversation here, post your comments and let us get to know more about you!  And if you need some help, I’m always available - contact me by Skype (Deckert1116) or email or via the blog or my website - http://www.runlancaster.com

I’m looking forward to learning more about you and your business!  Make it an awesome day - help someone - you’ll be glad you did!

One of my newest connections on LinkedIn sent me an email a few days ago, with a question as to how I manage my connections.  For those of you who are building a network and are “afraid” of over-extending yourself, read on . . .

Here is my response:

Don’t be overwhelmed, take it one step at a time and enjoy what you do! Most of all realize that not all connections will develop into strong business relationships, although our hope is that they will, reality is that they won’t. Don’t be disappointed. Do all you can to nurture your network in whatever time you have available to do it. Most of all, don’t overextend yourself. Enjoy building these relationships - international, multi-cultural relationships really open your eyes to the possibilities! Do only what you can do - and you are the only person who knows what that answer is. 

Enjoy and most of all - let me know how I can be of help to you!

There are so many social networks available today.  Don’t feel like you “have” to belong to all of them.  Be selective and look at the people who are participating.  Do they fit into your target market or do they share a special hobby with you? Do what fits best into your life - don’t be bullied into joining up with everyone, everywhere.  After all, how many places do you  have to be seen in order to network with the same people all the time?  All it takes is one network!

Tell me what you think - how many networks are YOU involved in . . . how do YOU handle YOUR connections?