I picked up some really terrific ideas from Ivan Misner, the father of modern networking and founder of BNI a couple of days ago and figured I would share them since networking is something that anyone can utilize to enhance their current personal, professional, and business circumstances.
Essentially Ivan suggests 3 primary areas to focus on in terms of our mindset as professionals, business people, and/or entrepreneurs seeking to capitalize on in our networking activities.
First we must be sure we are following the law of reciprocity.The law of reciprocity is the idea that we should expect to give before we get, or at least to give back an amount equivalent to that which we have received from another.
Second is to make sure our network is full of diversity, and no, we are not talking about an old old wooden ship used during the civil war Ron Burgundy! The more diverse our network, the more exposure we have to a variety of individuals from different clubs, countries, careers, and genders, etc… the more effective our networking efforts will be.I mean think about it…If we keep exchanging ideas and business with people who are the same as us, who are in the same business as us, who think like us, or who are doing the some of the same things as us, how much reach and significance will our business efforts get us?Probably not very far in comparison to the individuals who are mixing it up with anybody and everybody.
Finally, we should understand that networking is more about farming than hunting.It’s ultimately about creating and cultivating relationships, not forcing our product or service upon every person we meet and then expecting them to refer us to others or want to do business with us.Ivan said it so well…It is not what you know, or even who you know as we all might sometimes think …but how well you know them.
Well…have fun with this info..I hope it helps, and I hope you apply it.Be sure to check out Ivan Misner for some really detailed insight into networking if you are looking for more successful ways to increase your business through referrals. Remember…there is more to networking than mereley exchanging cards, especially if you seek the results that are to be attached from a successful campaign… More Business!!.
Alright…I thought it would be a good time to refresh the creative juices of the business world especially with our economy being the way it is, and perhaps jolt some people with some purple cow thinking. So…listed below are some superb ideas anyone can use in their marketing…to ultimately add more success to their product lines, services, sales, exposure, and business.
The ideas collected and listed here came straight from Seth Godin’s Book the Purple Cow so you better bet your bottom (possibly last) dollar that they are valid. Pay attention…and truly consider using them.
Alright…here you go!!!.
“Create Remarkable Products that the “right” people seek out.”
“Instead of trying to use your technology and expertise to make a better product for your user’s standard behavior, experiment with inviting the users to change their behavior to make the product dramatically different.”
“Your ads should cater to the customers you would choose if you could choose your customers.”
“If you are making good stuff…how fast can you stop? You should only be making remarkable stuff.”
“How could you modify your product or service so that you’d end up on the next episode of SaturdayNight Live.”
“Model the behavior of everyone who has make remarkable products in your industry.”
“Try being outrageous, just for the sake of being annoying, so you know what it’s like to be at the edge, of course you don’t want to do this too much.”
“Find things that are just not done in your industry”
“What could you measure? What would that cost? How fast could you get results? If you can afford t, try it? If you measure it, it will improve.”
“Explore the limits….Are you the cheapest, fastest, quickest, smartest, best looking, funniest, smallest, largest, newest…..If there is a limit you should use it (must use it).”
“Go one more or two more. Identify your competitor and or who’s generally regarded as at the edges, and out do them. Whatever they are known for, do that thing even more.”
Well, hopefully you feel these were worth some of your time. I think they are terrific and creative insights that we can definitely and probalby should use for our own products or services. I suggest you try one or two of them and see what happens with your Marketing, your sales, and ultimately your business :).
I had a conversation with a friend earlier today about her new network marketing business involving the sale of chocolate, and the funniest thing happened. I asked her how much money she was to get paid for every sale she made, and she said “she didn’t care” because she will make money regardless. Now, I write this because I am a very optimistic person and yet I am also a pragmattic who leans towards a business school of thought which condones one having a minimum understanding of the fundamentals of commerce. What are these fundamentals?… Numbers.
The numbers tell us if we are profitable, if we are having success, if we should continue on the same path, throw in the towel, try something new. As entrepreneurs, business people, or just ordinary individuals looking to move in a certain direction in life, The NUMBERS are our guiding light.
Do you know your Numbers? How much more money do you need to be determined in your own eyes as “successful”? How much money are you actually being paid for your time and effort? How many more sales calls do you need to make to reach you quota or goal? How many years do you still need to work before you can retire? How many more ours of education do you need to be considered knowledgable?
It is my belief that if we don’t have something to measure our exchanges of services & products, our successes, or our actions by, then it will be difficult to actually know which direction we are actually moving. If you want to change your circumstances or move up in the business world, be sure to have a way to calculate your direction. It’s in the numbers.
“”Living your best life is to find out what your calling is. Your real job on Earth is to find out what you were meant to be doing and to find a way to do that thing.” —Oprah Winfrey
For years, I’d wondered what my life purpose was, what my calling was, especially in business. I’ve always known that I was good at marketing, but I also knew I was here for something bigger than I could dream, yet I couldn’t figure out what that was. I’ll admit I had a sometimes painful upbringing and early adulthood, and I always wondered WHY this was all happening to me. If there’s supposed to be a reason for everything, then what was the reason I experienced so many deeply trying times? What was I supposed to do with all of it? I just couldn’t figure it out.
In the last few years, I’ve made it a habit to record Oprah on a daily basis and am familiar with her saying, “Use your life.” Countless times, I’ve heard her inspire her viewers to look for the meaning in something that’s happened to them, and then ask them to turn around and do something useful with it. The concept seems to be: Don’t necessarily wallow in what’s happened to you.
Instead, use the experience and the learning to help others, to make a difference, to create change. THAT is your life purpose. THAT is your calling, and it’s super important for businesses like ours because we can affect people and businesses so directly.
Since then, I’ve realized why all that happened to me and why I’m here. From my experiences, I learned to overcome my once very low self-esteem, as well as the negative beliefs and playing small, to have more confidence and to really go for what I want in life. I also learned about having compassion for others (including my clients), to know that we all have painful experiences that shape who we are today; we all have fears and things holding us back, but these don’t need to continue to hold us back.
At the same time, we all have massive potential for success, and to make a difference, especially being self-employed. It’s just a question of getting out of our own way and then getting out there in a BIG way.
Using Client Attraction, I use my ‘calling’ on a daily basis with my clients. Yes, early on and for the majority of the time, we focus heavily on the marketing. (Listen, if you’re sitting on the sofa WAITING for clients day after day, you’re not going to make a big difference in this world.) You were given a gift, so you need to get out there to tell people about it and start helping people get results. Therefore, the marketing is absolutely crucial.
But once the marketing systems are in place, the ‘calling’ piece of it extends also to the other stuff that most entrepreneurs never put their attention to: increasing their confidence, getting out of their own way and into their true potential success (it’s already IN them, they just haven’t accessed it fully up to now). Especially women.
That might mean noticing how they get stopped by a chronic conditioning of playing too small, limiting thoughts, not deserving, subtle self-sabotaging behaviors, and fears that may or may not really exist, but are DEFINITELY getting in the way. In addition to the marketing, that’s where I can make a massive difference in someone’s business success and in his or her life. I’m a marketing junkie, but that’s the juicy stuff for me. Best of all, it works and clients love the outcome.
When you’re coming from your ‘calling,’ clients get better results, give you amazing testimonials, and more referrals. You begin to make a more substantial difference and that automatically translates to more success, more income, and all that stuff.
Wondering how to tap into your own calling? Here’s what I learned about finding mine:
When you’re NOT aligned with your life purpose, life is more of a struggle.
Hardship is actually good. It’s a sign from the Universe that you’re not necessarily on the right track. See hardship as a blessing and a clue.
It’s not about necessarily CHANGING your business (I’m still doing Client Attraction and marketing); it’s a clue that you may need to change your direction a tiny bit or tweak it just slightly.
Your Assignment:
Find a way to weave your ‘calling’ into your work. Ask yourself these questions for clues on finding yours:
What section of the bookstore do you hang around in the most?
Look around you for signs about your purpose. They’re everywhere if you look for them. Little happy coincidences aren’t coincidences at all. They’re ALL signs.
If you act upon the signs and take inspired action, you’ll expedite your journey to living your purpose.
Find what comes easily to you, what helps others AND makes you feel good at the same time. If something brings you joy (like, for me, teaching and inspiring entrepreneurs to truly succeed on all levels) then it’s something to pursue.
Once you’ve found it, start weaving it little by little into your every day work with clients, or start doing it a little at a time. Instead of doing a complete 180, test out the waters. Look for how you FEEL. Look for the subtle feedback. Then add a little more, so that it feels authentic to you. As you keep going, add even a little more of it until it feels really good and you notice a difference in your clients’ results and how they relate to you. Start weaving it in your talks, your teleclasses, your networking, and your articles. Over time, when it feels right, you can start adding it permanently to your marketing materials.
Your calling is to help others AND to feel good doing it. Once you find it, throw yourself into it. Success, clients, and increased revenues will naturally come to you when you do. You won’t believe you get paid to live it.
All that said, I urge you NOT to forget the marketing. When you market authentically, Client Attraction becomes big-time easy. Not sure where to start? Try the step-by-step system that will feel easy and authentic to you. The Client Attraction Home Study System™ avoids all the extraneous stuff that could distract your growth and instead gives you the most important things to do to set up simple, solid systems, so that you consistently fill your pipeline and continually get new clients. It’s all step-by-step, not a big mishmash of things. So, you do step one of the system, and when you’re done with that, you move on to step two, and so on. So easy. All the tools, scripts, templates, and examples are handed to you on a silver platter. You can get it at www.TheClientAttractionSystem.com. ”
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I hope you enjoyed this great article I pulled from http://www.zeromillion.com. It was actually procduced by Fabienne Fredrickson, The Client Attraction Expert, is founder of the Client Attraction System™, the proven step-by-step program to attract more clients, in record time&ldots;guaranteed. To receive your freebie audio CD by mail and sign up for her weekly how-to articles on attracting more clients, visit www.ClientAttraction.com.
I this article because it was well written and pretty much sums up alot about my experience…so I hope you enjoyed it.
P.S It is a must for you to take a look at this video. A MUST I Tell YOU. It’s from Robin Sharma of Sharma Leadership International…and it is a terrific proclamation of Pursuing Your Dreams…
ENJOY
I don’t care who you are, but if you have any interest in growing your business and learning what actually drives business in this “information age”, it would behoove you to read some of Seth Godin’s books. I have read 3 of his books so far and have found many REMARKABLE IDEAS
embedded within.
It’s pretty powerful when someone can change your whole perspective on marketing and exposure in 10 pages. Check him out for your businesses sake(especially for all you Marketers out there)….check him out for you own sake.
Currently I am reading his book Meatball Sunday and it has really opened my eyes as well…. One thing that has me really curious though…is how does Seth come up with all this stuff? The guy must be a genius…..He Rocks!
I picked up some really terrific ideas from Ivan Misner, the father of modern networking and founder of BNI a couple of days ago and figured I would share them since networking is something that anyone can utilize to enhance their current personal, professional, and business circumstances. 
so you better bet your bottom (possibly last) dollar that they are valid. Pay attention…and truly consider using them.
The Educated Entrepreneur 