5.000+ contacts on LinkedIn. Continuous learning

16 Nov 2005

> 5.000+ contacts on LinkedIn. Continuous learning

Dear all,

I keep recording my my online networking based on milestones on LinkedIn. I surpassed the barrier of 5.000 contacts yesterday. In other words, it took me 3 months + 4 days in order to add 1.000 connections. I guess that my network is even more international than before. I am pleased to share my continuous learning after 22 months in this networking game so far:

1. Besides disclosing my e-mail address, I have added "MBA" beside my name. I look for a close identification with all MBAs worldwide. Unfortunately, based on some feed-back received from some collagues, I wonder that many of them have not yet clearly understood the super power of online networking activities for their corporate careers and/or success of their own ventures.

2. It was a great pleasure to interact personally with many of virtual business contacts during my recent business trip to Europe. It was all designed based on online networking relationships that I have been developing for more than 18 months at that time.

3. I have realized that some companies are finally recognizing the importance and need for CRO - Chief Relationship Officer position in their organogram. My article explored this point . So, I am discussing with some companies about networking business coaching services by now. Interested ? Please contact me.

4. I have been very passive for abt 9 months on LinkedIn. As a result, I lost several positions on its ranking: from # 21 to # 26 worldwide and from # 1 to # 2 by now. At this stage, I am much more interested in developing a reliable and long term partnership with those I have already connected rather than keep growing my network endlessly. The most important point is not the number of connections and/or leadership per se but the recognition of my name as (a) top networker and, most importantly, (b) as a reliable professional who is serving the business community in Brazil and abroad carefully. It´s quite nice when somebody who only connected to met me online, recognizes my name when we exchange business cards in an event.

5. I have already collected about 10.100+ e-mails mails randomly and uploaded them on LinkedIn. In addition, I have abt 3.840+ outstanding answers for my previous invitations. Once in a while, I re-invite people who I have invited about 1 year ago. Only a few of them connect which means that the great majority still do not understand the reasoning behind this networking game and its paramount importance to their business and professional careers.

6. In order to address these points, I have created a simple public speaking (PDF in Portuguese) which I will start presenting in my own networking events everywhere in Brazil. I am also considering some virtual sessions.

7. I noticed the begin of what I will call "networking companies" acting on LinkedIn. Let´s start differentiating "virtual agile organizations" from "networking companies". In both cases, the networking structure is super important and clearly recognized inside the organization. However, virtual agile organizations are those in which business partners are physically located everywhere and working together during specific projects and using communication tools in order to deliver their work. Whilst, networking companies are physically located in one specific address and their employees are actively connecting people on LinkedIn. Once they managed to be accepted by one person, they tell their colleagues and soon after all other partners come after asking for the same connection. I observed 2 recruitment companies doing so. One is based in Argentina while another is located in India. I see this behavior as a trend in this online networking world.

8. Revising my preferable online networking platforms, per category:

business directory: LinkedIn with 5.084 contacts and 64 endorsements
business communities: Ecademy (# 1 in Brazil with 336 "Goods") and openBC (#2 in Brazil). There´s a nice and light Brazilian plataform named Syxt (Portuguese only) where I am co-moderating RSM Erasmus University - Brazil chapter group.
social communities: Orkut, Gazzag, Hi5 and MySpace
contact management tool: Plaxo
discussion boards: Yahoo
communication tools: Skype (octaviopitaluga) and Google Talk (opitaluga@gmail.com). The latter seems lighter and offers better sound quality than the former. Btw, I noticed that Skype lost quality soon after E-Bay bought it. Do you feel the same ? Is there any relation ?

9. At last but not at least, not everything is positive in this online networking game. I also learnt on the hard way that I need to raise more filters and not be so open concerning brand new business partners who I have only meet online. I also faced a terrible experience during this period. Well, we need to "kiss some frogs before we find our princess", right ? It´s also part of the learning curve.

STOP
Additional blogs about my online networking experience :
12-18 month online networking experience
3.000 connections on LinkedIn
4.000 connections on LinkedIn

Please feel yourself encouraged to connect to me in all major online networking platforms.

Best regards,


Octavio Pitaluga

CRO - Chief Relationship Officer, International Business Coach and Public Speaker

Business : 4.000+ connections on LinkedIn. My learning.

Business : 4.000+ connections on LinkedIn. My learning.
by Octavio Pitaluga, MBA on 27-Aug-05 12:22pm
Dear all,

I have been an active member in the main business and social online networking platafortms since Jan 2004. I have recently surpassed the barrier of 4.000 contacts on LinkedIn. My network is composed of 40% Brazilians and 60% International people, I guess. I would like to share a bit of my perception and continuous learning based on my experience with LinkedIn for 19 months so far:

1. I have recently disclosed my e-mail address and I felt that I started receiving abt 10 new invitations on daily basis.

2. I added 1.000 new contacts in almost 3 months on Aug 10, 2005 (1 day before, actually). Let´s see how long I will take to add additional 1.000 connections.

3. I was much more passive during this period what made me lost several positions on LinkedIn ranking (from top 8th to 21st worldwide) although I keep a solid leadership in Brazil.

4. I keep collecting e-mails randomly and uploading them on LinkedIn. There are almost 10.000 e-mails on hold. I do not invite new members because it´s a waste of time. I only request a connection when they are active on LinkedIn which means that they are willing to understand what´s going on in this online social network business and may kindly accept my invitation. I recommend people to register all their active e-mails on LinkedIn because it will increase your chances to be found by your mates.

5. I have abt 3.000 pending answers for my previous invitations. Some of these guys are my personal friends but they did not yet understand the power subtly hidden in the network. I´m patiently waiting for them.

6. I feel that head-hunters are dominating LinkedIn. Why ? Because Corporate HR people are passive in this networking world. The downside is that I saw some head-hunters blocking access to HR Managers....

7. Sometimes, people turn down my invitations. Actually, they are not turning me down. Instead, they are turning down a magic, quick and reliable access to a wonderful and rich network that I have been nurturing carefully. In the end, I guess that they are boycotting themselves a bit. I do respect their decision and I am willing to teach them about the benefits of random connections. I can even schedule some online/virtual networking coaching and training sessions. Please contact me at Tech-bridges

8. Some people just care about growing their number of connections. I consider number and quality of endorsements of special importance.

9. LinkedIn complements very well other online networking platforms. Preferable sites per category:

business communities: Ecademy and openBC. Also see value on Soflow and Ryze although I´m very passive there.

social communities: Orkut, Gazzag, Hi5 and experiencing MySpace now. Passive position in all of them.

contact management tool: Plaxo

discussion boards: Yahoo

communication tool: Skype (1:2:1)

Good points abt LinkedIn

Excellent business directory with sizeable audience. If you are not there.....well, well, well... you should.

All sort of business people: corporate, VCs, head-hunters, entrepreneurs etc...

Plain and easy to use. "KISS" like.

Very good number of jobs offer

Brings visibility (I´m better know in Brazil as "The "LinkedIn Guy" than for my networking events)

Nice integration with Outlook which speeds up invitation process.

Things that I dislike and/or it could be improved

It is just a directory (so this said "race" got boring)

Have to ask permission to a 3rd party who can block direct access to someone of personal interest. We are all adults here. We should decide if we want to disclose our contact details or not (visible or hidden) and accept new contacts

Need to request to break a connection

No interaction, no knowledge sharing, no blogging ==> no sense of community whatsoever

Sometimes I feel "used and abused" when somebody that I barely know and accepted to connect as a signal of goodwill comes with 5 requests in row without sending me a previous message explaining his/her situation and asking for my permission in order to do so beforehand.

No automatic and fast re-invitation functionality

After a while, I would like to see the faces of people I´m connected with. So, at least one photo should be allowed.

Hyperlinks posted on your profile are not active

No highlight on Google and search engines given that´s a closed platform

Stop
I will be Rotterdam (Sep 22-28), Brussels (Sep 29-30) and London (Oct 01-07). Please check my agenda, attend my presentations and come to see me personally. Looking forward to identifying win-win opportunities for both of us.

Best regards,


Octavio Pitaluga

CRO - Chief Relationship Officer, International Business Coach and Public Speaker

Community : Ecademy/Google or 3.000 connections on LinkedIn

Community : Ecademy/Google or 3.000 connections on LinkedIn
by Octavio Pitaluga, MBA on 11-May-05 11:27pm
Dear all,

I have just reached 3.000+ connections on LinkedIn and keep my # 1 position in Brazil. I have already written an article about my 1-year online networking experience recently. Complementing it, I would like to ask : what does it bring more visibility and (hopefully) attractiveness before the crowd? (a) be an active member, blogging, posting articles and inserting their respective links into my profile on Ecademy or (b) have 3.000 connections on LinkedIn + 60 endorsements so far ?

Well, I can say briefly that media in Brazil interviewed me about 10 times concerning networking within 1 year for 2 main reasons: (a) Ecademy South America/Brazil leadership and (b) leading position among LinkedIn members in Brazil. Whenever, I give an interview and/or have my articles published in newsletters and the likes, I kindly ask for this material and insert it on my profile on Ecademy.

However, when I check my visibility on Google, I find 6.630 hits (and counting) with my name "Octavio Pitaluga". The great majority (95% +) of these hits are directly related to all my blogs, articles, interviews, pdf/links and everything that I posted on my profile on Ecademy + blogging/articles area.

It means that the more I generate ideas, share knowledge, post articles, multiply opportunities within network and expose myself on Ecademy, the more visible (and attractive) I will be for Google. Sounds easy and interesting, right? Not to mention the organization of regular offline networking events between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo.

By doing so, I just reinforce my personal brand/name which is unique like myself. Besides, I keep growing the network. I try to serve it as much as possible within my limits. My 60 testimonies concentrated on LinkedIn may prove this point. I position myself as a reliable and trustworthy professional. How can I better serve you? Shall we find a win-win approach towards wealthy business? Hopefully, those who are in demand for my skills, knowledge and expertise will require my services.

Actually, that is what networking is all about: commitment and trust. It is as simple as that. The number of connections is just a quick (and even poor) way to measure the intangible value of one´s network. The ideal scenario is to keep adding so much and constant value to the network that it will naturally support you forever and ever in an extremely positive relationship for the primary benefit of the network itself. In fact, the network does not belong to anyone but it will always belong to itself. People are free to interact among themselves according to their best interests and identification codes. My primary role is simply to connect people and help them to find their own way inside the community.

Conclusion: If you want to build trust and commitment; Ecademy is your best environment. There´s no way you can hide here for so long. However, if you want to go for volume, LinkedIn must be considered as a very interesting option to complement one´s network growth strategy. Just learn how to use these wonderful and complementary networking tools wisely and leverage your activities by serving your network properly.

Thanks for your kind attention. Best regards,


Octavio Pitaluga
Tech-bridges Marketing Ltda

Articles : My 12-18 month Online Networking Experience

Articles : My 12-18 month Online Networking Experience
by Octavio Pitaluga, MBA on 31-Jan-05 11:56am
I celebrate my 1st anniversary inside Ecademy today. I also added a note about my 18 month experience at the bottom. Then, I thought that since I assumed a leading position here, I should share my learning/experience with you. I sincerely hope to receive positive feed-back and valuable insights enabling me to keep growing as human being.

How everything started
I have always placed value on networking. Working with a strong network in Europe before I returned to Brazil to find a new position, I started looking for a web-based platform in which I could quickly expand my contacts in both national and international arenas.

A friend of mine from my MBA course invited me to join LinkedIn. At that time, there were only 300 Brazilian participants. Due to the language issue, I was doubtful about its overall acceptance in Brazil. A couple of weeks later on a rainy day, I started exploring LinkedIn a bit further and learned about its ranking function. That was when I found Thomas Power and his large number of connections and mainly, endorsements. That was what really caught my attention. He was described as a super-hero. "Come on, there is no such a person on earth," I thought. By reading his profile carefully, I learned about Ecademy and Thomas' search for Ecademy Brazil's leader. I joined Ecademy and scheduled a conference call with him thinking "Come on, this VIP will never ever meet my request." But he did.

We had a very nice talk, and we identified and connected. Then, I applied and became Ecademy Brazil´s National Director and then Chairman of Ecademy South America later on. I have been struggling to increase the number of Brazilian Ecademists, and I was able to recruit about 1,000 newcomers during the first year. I would like to share this achievement with all those who contributed. I have also been contacting and learning about all Ecademy's teams and I have met a number of very interesting people. I think that by now I am connected to the great majority of top networkers on both Ecademy and LinkedIn.

Online Networking Platform and Tools
Ecademy: This is the best networking platform. It is truly alive and kicking. Very open, dynamic, democratic, social, business, friendly and caring. Provided one devotes time to understanding the benefits of up-grading to Gold PN, Ecademy allows you to leverage your networking skills very quickly. The real thing is "Winning by Sharing". Actually, Ecademy is a top-notch community based on shared knowledge. The concept "less means more" applies perfectly here. There are currently 50,000 Ecademists and an extremely high level of quality interaction among the 4,000 active members. However, there is room for more active members that can leverage the community's positioning tremendously without losing its "Family Spirit". I was told that Black Star membership is simply awesome !!!

LinkedIn: This is a great database and is interesting because of its large volume. However, it lacks more interaction and offline networking activities and has the boring business rule of asking permission and/or be asked permission to reach someone of interest. We are supposed to be grown-ups here and we should be able to distinguish what is best for us. I do not need anyone to judge that for me. However, I normally decline in two situations: (a) lousy requests and (b) invitations from people with a low number of connections who are just coming for the taking and never to share, give and support.

Gazzag and Orkut: They are more social than business. Very well appreciated by Brazilians mainly because they are free. Although I will not make any effort to grow my network in these platforms, it is also important to maintain a presence there. You never know…

Plaxo: I have been a Plaxo member for quite a long time. Plaxo is very useful for exchanging virtual business cards but it does not help me much in terms of getting in touch with people personally and/or knowing more about them apart from what is mentioned in the vcf.

Relationship tool: I use it as means of shortening the distance between myself and any interesting contact developed online. In this regard, I have successfully strengthened ties with a group of valuable people and prospects. I have also been able to increase the quality of our communication and its frequency, better understand their motivations and needs and identify a number of good business opportunities at a very low cost. I can schedule demo sessions based on the most convenient day/time for the prospect.

15 Networking Tips
1. Choose a couple of online social/business networking tools. My take: Ecademy & LinkedIn as business and Gazzag as social. However, maintain a minimum presence in some others like Ryze, Spoke and Orkut to name a few.
2. Complete your profile richly. Define a clear and unique value proposition.
3. Connect to top networkers in the chosen platform
4. Lead by serving your network. Be of assistance to anyone. Connect people.
5. Give some knowledge away for free without expecting anything in return.
6. Ask for/Give endorsements once you feel comfortable.
7. Become a top networker yourself by collecting names/e-mails and inviting people to connect with you on chosen platforms. Be open to new and random encounters. Do not be afraid. You will be happily surprised most of the time. Virtual connections do not bite. In addition, your silence + the "delete" button will always be available on your PC.
8. Cross-refer among platforms, i.e., connect to the same person in all major platforms and understand that this individual may prefer to interact with you in only one of them.
9. Invite your buddies to join your online networks but be prepared to accept that your friends may not understand anything about online networking and may decline your invitation. Be kind with them and accept their decision.
10.Download and use Plaxo + a few popular IMs + Skype
11.Write a couple of articles and/or blogs of general interest
12.Create a club and organize periodic offline networking events
13. Attend my remote and virtual presentations on Ecademy every Monday 8 p.m., Rio de Janeiro time. I talk about a range of topics of major interest. Speakers are welcome. Please let me know your demand/interest.
14.Attend the lectures of foreign networkers whenever they come to your city/region
15.Be open to media. They may look for you someday.

Personal results of all this networking activity (getting mature by now):

Good number of connections: Ecademy 920+, LinkedIn 2,300+ and 56 endorsements so far.

Easy to access interesting people

Opportunity to develop new and valuable personal/professional relationships

Great pleasure helping people move forward into their lives

Much more visibility (For proof, simply type my name into the Google search engine)

Quicker access to knowledge.

Increased knowledge and a leveraged professional profile. I have recently become a Certified Coach, allowing me to embark on a new and interesting professional path

Increased professional name/brand awareness at very low cost

Increased attractiveness and curiosity

Small degree of media exposure (Seven interviews last year versus none beforehand)

Finally, a lot of fun!!!

Conclusion:
It's simple. Keep networking intensively. There is no way out. Otherwise, you will have to buy somebody's else network and knowledge in order to reach your goals. The good news is that there are enough web-based tools on the market to allow you to build up your own network quickly. It is just a matter of putting your resources/strategy and action plan into effect. Happy networking !!!

Kind regards,


Octavio Pitaluga

CRO - Chief Relationship Officer, International Business Coach and Public Speaker

TDBell Enterprises, Inc. - Reading Recommendations

TDBell Enterprises, Inc. - Reading Recommendations: "

Personal Reading:

These books are books I recommend for each person to read reguardless of what you do for a living or where your going in life:
These first two books should be in everyone's personal library!

These two books are a MUST for everyone to get your life outlined and in order:

(Click on the hyperlink above to view the full listing, and to browse the site in detail)"

TDBell Enterprises, Inc. - Residual Income

TDBell Enterprises, Inc. - Residual Income: "

Residual Income

There are two kinds of income, static and residual. Static income is that income that comes in from working an hourly job. It is typically less than you probably should be making.
Residual Income is that income that comes in while you are doing other things. Some examples of residual income are:

Royalties on books you have written.

Royalties on Software you have written.

Dividend income from stocks.

Interest on savings, etc.

Rent payments on real estate you own and rent out, etc.

Income from work you started a while ago.

Residual income comes for a undetermined or specified time until that source expires. Book and software royalties can last years, others change as time goes forward."

TDBell Enterprises, Inc. - Individual Services

TDBell Enterprises, Inc. - Individual Services: "

Individual Planning
Getting Started

There are a few things a person needs to do to begin to become financially independent, they are:

1. KNOW what you spend and how you are spending.
2. Have a 'must have list' and a 'nice to have list'.
A. Buy from the 'must have list' at the cheapest location available, and ask for discounts.
B. Buy from the 'nice to have list' only when you have 6 months of expenses in the bank, and 3 times the amount of the item saved as well.
3. With each income source you have, place 10% immediately into a savings or investment plan.
A. You should have 6 months of monthly expenses in an interest bearing savings account that is used ONLY for monthly expenses. Fill this account back up each month after you pay that month's expenses.
B. You should have a separate interest bearing account for your 'must have list' and 'nice to have list'.
4. The next 10% of each income source should go to a charity or good cause of your choosing. (This should be an income tax reducing cause.)
5. Set up a Living Trust. Place your possessions in the trust.
6. Buy your house. Be creative in your purchase. (Real Estate is one of the best ways to increase your wealth, take the first step and own your home. ANYONE can buy a house if you are creative in your purchase!)
7. Buy more real estate as you can. Again, be creative in your purchases.
8. Invest in Stocks, Bonds, or Mutual Funds.

(Click on the hyperlink above to see the full list, and to browse the original website in detail)"

Fortune magazine has launched Business Innovation 2005, a blog highlighting top stories about business innovation and featuring original interviews

About Entrepreneurs & Entrepreneurship - Starting Your Own Business: "

Fortune Gets Innovative

Leading up to the Fortune Innovation Forum, Fortune magazine has launched Business Innovation 2005, a blog highlighting top stories about business innovation and featuring original interviews with some of today's most innovative business thinkers (including yours truly on the benefits of 'joining the conversation').

Kudos to Fortune for taking a giant step towards shedding their stuffy old-media image and embracing the blog platform for this. The technology choice was easy, though (that's kind of the point of blogging). The real challenge for them was to truly 'join the conversation'. Well, they did. I was pleasantly surprised to find some great content from people other than 'the usual suspects', and even more pleasantly surprised to see that these people really rose to the occasion (wouldn't you if you had the opportunity to answer three questions from Fortune?).

Here are some of my favorites that are of particular relevance to entrepreneurs and small business owners: ..."

Carnival of the Capitalists

Carnival of the Capitalists: "

Carnival of the Capitalists
Sat Nov 19, 2005

What are relevant topics for posts entered into CotC?

Posts on business, management, marketing, accounting, finance, economics, sales, capitalism; anything of that nature that logically fits something called 'Carnival of the Capitalists.'

Here is an extended list of topics that would be included in the above, more concise description (... means 'and so forth' in the context below):"

About Entrepreneurs & Entrepreneurship - Starting Your Own Business

About Entrepreneurs & Entrepreneurship - Starting Your Own Business: "

Entrepreneurs
From Scott Allen,
Your Guide to Entrepreneurs.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Grand Opening: Carnival of Marketing

As you may have noticed by now, I'm a big fan of Carnival of the Capitalists (COTC), a traveling weekly roundup of the best blog posts on topics related to finance, economics, business and just about anything else that falls under the category of 'capitalism'. Blog carnivals like this are a great way to get a variety of reading from the blogosphere without having to keep up with dozens of different blogs.

While I really like COTC, the scope is pretty broad. So I'm glad to see some more focused carnivals like the new Carnival of Marketing starting up. Knowing how important marketing is to every entrepreneur, this should provide relevant reading material every week.

I'll be hosting it next week. If you write on the topic of marketing, please e-mail me a link to your best post of the past week (or so) before Sunday, 11/20, at 5pm. I'll post some time Monday. See Okdork.com for more details, or if you're interested in hosting a future Carnival of Marketing.

Thursday November 17, 2005 | permalink | comments (1)"

Leveraging Your Links

Leveraging Your Links: "

Leveraging Your Links
by David Teten and Scott Allen

Ten steps to dramatically improve your network with social software

Online networks are the new power lunch tables and the new golf courses for business life in the U.S. In the past 10 years, online dating has become mainstream; 40 million Americans use online dating sites. Now, businesspeople are starting to use the same family of technology to find business clients, new partners, and jobs, through virtual contacts they make online..."

The Globe and Mail: Sean Wise

The Globe and Mail: Sean Wise: "

Networking as a factor of commercial evolution

Only those startups with the skills to find the necessary elements of life will flourish. Just as a baby bird must forage for food or die of starvation, a startup company must likewise forage for key resources (capital, human talent and client traction), while still in its infancy. Failure to obtain these necessary elements of business is likewise seen by the capital markets as a sign that the entity does not have what it takes to grow into a dominant force in its ecosystem.

But how does a startup company with little or no capital gather the resources it needs to grow? The answer: Networking.

In the business world, an entrepreneur's ability to network can often determine whether the venture succeeds or starves to death. Often times, entrepreneurs do not realize the power that a strong professional network offers. Never are these skills more needed than when you simply cannot afford the necessary elements of life. During this 'bootstrapping' phase, you have no choice but to forage or network for them.

But how does one network effectively? What are the rules to networking? How can you get what you need when you simply cannot afford it? When it comes to networking there are many rules, but here are the four that I have found most effective:"

The Globe and Mail: Business-to-business rules

The Globe and Mail: Business-to-business rules: "

Business-to-business rulesBy ROMA LUCIW
Wednesday, November 16, 2005 Posted at 1:01 PM EST
Globe and Mail Update

While the term on-line sales may evoke images of people buying Christmas presents on eBay, a new Statistics Canada study shows the Internet has had its biggest impact on the flow of goods between businesses.

The vast majority of gains in e-commerce during the past few years have been the result of increased sales from one business to another, not sales from businesses to households,� Statscan said in a report issued Wednesday. The study also found that the pattern of on-line sales has not shifted much in the past four years.

In 2004, on-line sales by private Canadian companies reached $26.5-billion, with sales from business to business accounting for 75 per cent of this total, the study found. That percentage was roughly the same in 2000.

The Statscan findings were based on data from 17,000 enterprises collected in the 2004 survey of electronic commerce and technology.
Advertisements

The government study compared on-line sales from retailers to consumers to that of two large business-to-business sectors: manufacturing and wholesale trade. These three account for just over half of all on-line sales by private companies in 2004.

Manufacturers sold $4.2-billion in goods over the Internet in 2004, of which 94 per cent was to other businesses. Among wholesalers, business-to-business sales accounted for 84 per cent, or around $5.1 billion, of their on-line sales.

Companies that buy and sell on the Internet may potentially be able to manage their inventory more efficiently, get goods to markets faster, reduce the cost of paperwork, and get lower prices on some supplies, Statscan said.

The retail sales sector sold close to $3-billion of goods and services on-line last year, the survey found. The vast majority of these retail e-commerce sales, 85 per cent, were to households and individuals, a proportion that was virtually unchanged from 2003.

There are, however, signs that sales on the Internet will “become a more important facet of retail trade,” Statscan said. In 2004, on-line sales by retail firms grew by 51 per cent from a year ago."

The Globe and Mail: Building a solid foundation

The Globe and Mail: Building a solid foundation: "

In all, six SEDI Awards were handed out Thursday to inspiring Canadians who have displayed unwavering resolve in overcoming adverse situations such as poverty, unemployment, disability and damaging home environments to realize their ambition of self-sufficiency and success.

'Instead of becoming another negative statistics, these six outstanding citizens turned their lives into success stories,' says Founding Executive Director of SEDI, Peter Nares. 'They overcame exceptional social, economic and personal barriers and are now thriving. They're truly an inspiration to all Canadians.'

SEDI is a national charitable organization that uses innovation as well as community and corporate partners to develop, test and promote new ideas which help poor, unemployed and low-income earners to become self-sufficient.

Over the past 10 years, SEDI's self-employment projects alone have generated over $150-million in business revenues and created 1,900 new jobs for the economy.
SEDI initiatives have also helped over 16,000 people overcome adversity to achieve success. The learn$ave project to date, for example, has helped over 3,600 people accumulate more than $3-million in savings for post-secondary education, job retraining and small business start-up."

WorldWIT Radio - Interviews by Liz Ryan

WorldWIT Radio - Interviews by Liz Ryan: "

Konstantin Guericke, the co-founder and Vice President of Marketing at LinkedIn, the leading provider of private and effective networking tools, explains how to get started, why 2 million professionals are using it and offers savvy tips on how to make the most of the worlds largest online business network. "

ChangeThis :: View Proposal

ChangeThis :: View Proposal: "

The Care and Feeding of Your Network

Everyone needs a great network. The problem is that networking is a misunderstood art, and people don't realize that a great network is a living, breathing entity. Unlike what you might think, you don't feed your network business cards or mailing lists.

Going to 'networking events' to meet more people who might be useful to you is not the answer. You feed it introductions and connections. A thoughtful, well-intentioned and useful introduction that takes into account the needs of both parties will do (at least) 3 wonderful things for your network: improve your relationship with each of the parties; create a link that did not exist that could lead to something great for them; and establish yourself as someone who is looking out for the other person.

If you do this on a regular basis, your network will be not only large, but STRONG. The people in your network will know each other, and think of you often as someone that deserves payback. Now THAT is a network worth having!

About the author(s):

Bob Allard is an entrepreneur with a passion for connecting people who can assist each other in their work and lives. He makes hundreds of intros a year, and is currently developing software tools for connectors and businesspeople.

Check out www.youshouldmeet.com / www.referralmonitor.com"

LinkedIn

LinkedIn: "

Are you LinkedIn(TM)?

#1 Professional Networking site.
www.LinkedIn.com

With over 3.6 Million members, we are the most connected out of the +50,000 Staffing & Recruiting Professionals using LinkedIn.
If you're not already a member of LinkedIn - join now.
It's free, and takes literally 60 seconds to join. Send us invitations to connect networks on LinkedIn, and we'll help you out with your professional networking needs the best we can.

Ron E. Bates
rbates@executive-advantage.com

Michael A. Rothstein
mrothstein@executive-advantage.com"

Upcoming.org

SONI Canada is using Upcoming.org's calender tool to post and keep up-to-date on events across Canada.



Upcoming.org is a social event calendar, completely driven by people like you. Manage your events, share events with friends and family, and syndicate your calendar to your own site.

Seth's Blog: The new rules of naming

Seth's Blog: The new rules of naming: "

A long time ago, the goal of a name was to capture the essence of your positioning. To deliver a USP, so you could establish supremacy in your space just with your name. International Business Machines and Shredded Wheat were good efforts at this approach.

It quickly became clear, though, that descriptive names were too generic, so the goal was to coin a defensible word that could acquire secondary meaning and that you could own for the ages. That's why 'Jet Blue' is a much better name than 'Southwest' and why 'Starbucks' is so much better than 'Dunkin Donuts'.

'Naming companies' flourished, charging clients hundreds of thousands of dollars to coin made up words like Altria."

Michael McDerment Blog: From the Web 2.0 Trenches: How to Build Real Businesses

Michael McDerment Blog: From the Web 2.0 Trenches: How to Build Real Businesses: "

Posted: November 9th, 2005 11:10

From the Web 2.0 Trenches: How to Build Real Businesses

Home - Web 2.0 Chronicles
Introduction

There is a lot of buzz and discussion about Web 2.0: what it is and what it means. The debate over its importance and/or relevance has been fuelled by thought leaders such as Tim O'Reilly and Nicholas Carr, but what appears to be getting lost is how viable businesses can be built, and how entrepreneurs can succeed in this changing landscape.
Context - What is Web 2.0 To Me?

To be blunt, Web 2.0 is not a revolution nor, for that matter, much of an evolution. It is just a new name for age-old business practices. O'Reilly and others use terms like perpetual beta to describe concepts that were hot in the 1980s. Customer focus, one of the pillars of Total Quality Management (TQM), was the mantra of the 1980s auto industry. To me, Web 2.0 is about one very simple thing: helping people do more online with services that are easy to use.

Since the barriers to creating a Web service are so low, countless would-be entrepreneurs are jumping in. As venture capitalist Peter Rip has pointed out, an entrepreneurial bubble is forming because new and cool ideas can easily be created and distributed often with little venture capital. But for successful Web 2.0 businesses to be built, entrepreneurs must focus much more on traditional business practices than what appears to be happening today. The idea of building a cool service on a part-time basis while still maintaining your day job has little to do with creating a viable business. Viable businesses are what true entrepreneurs want to build. Viable businesses are what will survive Web 2.0, so let's look at how to build them.

How Can Entrepreneurs Survive Web 2.0?

There are two routes:"

Executive and Personal Coaching at the Speed of Change

Executive and Personal Coaching at the Speed of Change: "

Smart and Fast Are Not Enough

Click on the underlined phrase that follows to learn more about EQ: The Power of EQ

Factoid of the Week: Anger creates stress...The World Health Organization forecasts that stress will be the major cause of disability by the year 2020.

Our Message of the Week: Whether you are facing a personal or a professional challenge--Your EQ counts, and increasing it can help you recharge, reconfigure and reboot personal and professional strategies and solutions for greater satisfaction and success."

Article by Irene Becker (view LinkedIn profile)

Smart and Fast Are Not Enough

The Importance of Increased Emotional Intelligence to the Success of Your Mediation Practice and Your Life

By Irene Becker, CCTA, Just Coach It - Executive and Personal Coaching at the Speed of Change, for the American Society of Conflict Resolution, November 2005

Building a mediation or a dispute resolution practice of professional excellence and success requires more than skill, intellect and training. It requires the ability to manage and regulate the emotions that create transparent communication and trust. IQ may get you the job, but EQ will get you the promotion.

Emotional Intelligence (EQ or EI) is a hot topic today. The reasons for its importance are threefold:

1. Emotional Intelligence is recognized to be one of the most important predictors of personal, business and professional success.

2. With appropriate education and training, Emotional Intelligence can be developed throughout our lives.

3. In a world of unprecedented change and challenge it is our ability to increase our EQ that will help us build the leadership, transparent communication and collaboration to lead better lives, do better business and contribute to a better world.

Like most human competencies, Emotional Intelligence is best increased in the learning and the doing, and that is why EQ focused coaching is so powerful, helping clients not only learn about EQ but integrate strategies and solutions that increase EQ in their lives and careers.

We believe that awareness is the most important of EQ competencies because it is the building block upon which our emotional intelligence can grow and thrive, as such this article is divided into four parts that will help you become more aware of:

1. What Emotional Intelligence is.

2. How the human brain is constructed to be Emotionally Intelligent.

3. The basic components or competencies of Emotional Intelligence.

4. The critical importance of Emotional Intelligence to building a successful mediation/dispute resolution practice and a successful life at the speed of change.

PART ONE: WHAT IS EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE?

Emotional intelligence (EQ or EI) is a set of abilities or competencies that enable us to understand and manage ourselves and our emotions effectively. EQ also helps us understand and effectively relate to others. Stress tolerance, leadership, communication, collaboration, social responsibility, problem solving, creativity and self-actualization all require high EQ. With appropriate education and training, EQ can be developed over our lifespan.

"In a study of skills that distinguish star performers in
every field from entry-level jobs to executive positions,
the single most important factor was not IQ, advanced
degrees, or technical experience, it was EQ. Of the
competencies required for excellence in performance
in the job studies, 67% were emotional competencies."
Working with Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Goleman

Whether Americans are by nature attuned to fighting for what they perceive are their rights; or the amount of litigation that is done in the United States reflects the need for the increased emotional intelligence competencies that can mitigate dispute, no one will argue with the fact that the United States is a very litigious nation.

America has 281 lawyers for every 100,000 people, compared to Britain with 94, 33 in France and a mere 7 in Japan. Conflict resolution and mediation are fields of practice that will continue to grow as the demands and stressors of a changing world fuel the lack of communication that creates disputes, and because there is a growing recognition of the financial and emotional cost of going to trial and engaging in adversarial litigation. Emotional Intelligence is a requirement for successful mediation or dispute resolution.

IQ may get you the client, but your EQ skills will help you keep the client and build a growing practice. Why? Because, while human beings like to intellectualize their decisions to purchase a product or a service, the bottom line remains that we buy services and products from those we trust and like. It is our ability to trust and like another person that makes us feel comfortable with the relationship and propels the desire to have or to purchase something from them. And, in a situation where we need to mediate a dispute, the desires to feel good and to feel validated are the primary drivers that help us select a mediator or dispute resolution specialist. And yet, how many clients come to mediation or dispute resolution somewhat inured or skeptical at the very concept of a win win situation because they are so full of anger, frustration, fear, or any combination of the three? How much of the process of successful mediation compromised by clients whose feelings of mistrust, acrimony and the pervasive sense of invalidation overtake reason and make it difficult for them to even conceive of a win-win situation?

How can those who mediate conflict use the very emotions that have created the conflict to bring both parties to the table, to start to ignite the transparent communication that will set the stage for successful mediation? By increasing, expressing and modeling your EQ competencies and coaching your clients into an emotionally intelligent platform of communication that helps them increase their own EQ competence.

To get a better understanding at the power of emotional intelligence lets take a look at how our human brains are constructed to be emotionally intelligent.

PART TWO: OUR BRAIN CONSTRUCTED TO BE EMOTIONALLY
INTELLIGENT

What we call the oldest part of our brain is the Reptilian Brain. It is a bulb that sits at the top of the spinal cord. This brain is several hundred million years old. It controls very rudimentary things -- breathing, swallowing, and heartbeat, the visual tracking system that a frog uses to snap up flies, or the startle reflex that human infants are born with. For reptiles, it is a life of simple choices: Do I eat it? Do I ignore it? Do I run away? Do I mate with it? Creatures like reptiles do not have emotions; they act without thinking. They live a life of reflexive action... they live a life that is propelled and compelled by the Reptilian Brain.

Survival reactions (as opposed to emotions) come from our Reptilian Brain and they are stronger than those based on thought processes because we need them to survive. If, for instance, someone shoves a knife in your face, your reaction is going to be extreme. Your brain doesn't want you to think; that would slow you down. When you sense the knife being shoved into your face, your reptilian brain kicks off an all-systems-go alert, because it needs you to act immediately without thinking. When a human being perceives what they believe to be a danger or a threat to their wellbeing or survival, the Reptilian Brain kicks into action and pushes us to act without thinking.

The next part of the brain to evolve in human beings and other mammals was the limbic brain. The limbic brain can be expressive and can intuit, but it doesn't reason and it isn't logical, and it doesn't respond to our will. It can be influenced but that's about it. The role of the limbic brain is pivotal to human functioning because it is what makes our relationships possible. It is this part of our brain that helps us bond with our mates, care for our young, desire companionship, sing, or create vocal communication and play. The ability to create art, poetry, symbols, metaphors, parables and to feel responsibility, morals, duty, ethics and social responsibility probably reside in this part of the brain also… because all of these relate to our attachments and bonds with others. Less evolved, non mammalian creatures like reptiles do not have a limbic brain. They are therefore
unable to process feelings, bond, care, desire companionship, create vocal communication, sing or play.

The functions of the Reptilian Brain and the Limbic System are involuntary, and values are neutral. This means that our bodies and our Reptilian Brain and Limbic System respond chemically and instinctively in ways that we do not fully understand, whether we are consciously aware of them or not. While what a healthy, well balanced person does with his/her feelings is under their control, the actual emotions that we feel are not. The Reptilian and the Limbic System will not take orders, rather they work to send us signals about our feelings so we can tune into these signals and stay safe. Of course, we all know that just because you feel something doesn't mean it's always beneficial to act upon it. If a person has trouble controlling his or her impulses they need to seek professional help.

The ability to control behavior and actions in the face of very strong emotions is created in the third part of the brain, the Neo Cortex. The Neo Cortex is the largest part of the brain and it weighs approximately three pounds. Neo means "new" and the Neo Cortex is the most recently evolved part of our brain. It is the seat of our thinking, logic and reasoning. This brain is not only large, but it has two hemispheres - right and left. The left hemisphere or "left brain" makes linear, logical, step by step plans. The right hemisphere or "right brain" generates ideas, language and creative thought. The Neo Cortex is the only part that can use abstract symbols like math and words.

This part of the brain, the Neo Cortex, is the one most people are most familiar with, so we tend to think of it as the brain. Western civilization has almost worshiped logic and reason for centuries--well at least since the Age of Reason. We have put so much emphasis on education through words, ideas, and logic that we tend to forget--if we ever knew--that these things mean nothing to 2 brains out of our 3.

The Neo Cortex is the center for all our higher-level, "civilized" functioning - language, physics, math, analysis... It can modulate feelings and integrate them, and it can talk about them. However, to solve problems, we need the Reptilian Brain, Limbic System and Neo Cortex to be working together. Making good decisions means engaging the emotional intelligence, and that demands getting in touch with our feelings and using the Reptilian, Limbic and Neo Cortex in coordination:

- Reptilian = instincts (involuntary)
- Limbic = emotions (involuntary)
- Neo Cortex = thought (voluntary)

It is the human ability to align instincts, emotions and thoughts that gives us the capacity to increase our emotional intelligence. And it is the human ability to use the changes, challenges and even crucibles we face to develop self awareness, emotional management and regulation that helps us feel better, lead better, communicate better and succeed better.

PART THREE: UNDERSTANDING THE GENERAL EMOTIONAL
INTELLIGENCE COMPETENCIES

Here are the major emotional intelligence competencies that make up a fully integrated personality as well as a sample of a state of the art assessment that measures EQ.

1. Emotional Self-awareness - The degree to which you are able to notice your feelings, label them and attribute them properly.

2. Emotional Expression – The ability to express your feelings and gut-level instincts. Emotional expression is an integral part of your day.

3. Emotional Awareness of Others - The ability to hear, sense or intuit what other people may be feeling from their words, body language (non verbal) or other direct or indirect clues.

4. Creativity – Tapping into the multiple non-cognitive resources that help us envision new ideas, frame alternative solutions, and find effective ways of doing things.

5. Resilience/Flexibility/Adaptability. The ability to bounce back, be flexible, and retain curiosity and hope in the face of adversity, change or challenge.

6. Interpersonal Connections - Creating and sustaining a network of people with whom you can be your real and whole self.

7. Constructive Discontent - The ability to stay calm focused and emotionally grounded in disagreement or conflict.

8. Outlook/Optimism - Being positive and optimistic.

9. Compassion/Empathy - The ability to be empathic, appreciate and honor others' feelings.

10. Intuition - The ability to notice, trust and use your hunches, gut-level reactions, and other non-cognitive responses produced by the senses, emotions, mind and body.

11. Intentionality: Saying what you mean and meaning what you say; being willing to forego distractions and temptations in order to be responsible for your actions and your motives.

12. Trust radius - Believing people are "good" until proven otherwise-Alternatively overcoming being too trusting.

13. Personal Power - Believing you can meet challenges and live the life you choose.



PART FOUR: THE ROLE OF EQ IN SUCCESSFUL MEDIATION AND
DISPUTE RESOLUTION

The engagement of increased EQ drives successful dispute resolution and conflict mediation. Excellent mediation means modeling the clients' EQ competencies and further to help the clients increase their EQ where lacking and create anew transparency of communication, trust and collaboration - that will make win-win solutions possible.

While all the EQ competencies are important to dispute resolution and mediation
there are three EQ competencies in particular that can make or break the process: Flexibility/resilience, Creativity and Intentionality.

While flexibility/resilience, intentionality and creativity are the building blocks of dispute resolution and mediation they are also the most difficult to attain just by virtue of the fact that they are thwarted by fear and anger. Unfortunately the emotions of fear and anger that perpetuate dispute and conflict also distort and deflect communication and resolution because they are stronger than reason and related to our Reptilian Brain. When we are overcome with feelings of anger and fear our reason is clouded and the very anger and fear we feel takes us farther and farther away from a rational point of view.

We like to think we're rational beings, but most decisions are made on the basis of how we feel about the facts we've uncovered. Emotions, not facts, move people. Hence the key abilities are to use the changes and challenges at hand to understand and be aware of what really matters to the client, how they need to be validated, what they really want and what can make them feel that using their ability to be more flexible, embrace more creative solutions by remembering their basic intention or goals.

"Motivation" and "emotion" come from the same root and both are contagious. The ability to model empathy (an EQ competency) while also demonstrating management and regulation of emotions (an EQ competency) is one of the strongest ways that we can mediate conflict. Modeling empathy, management and regulation of emotions is important because emotions are contagious and have the ability to move us either away from our desired goal or towards our desired goal faster than a speeding bullet.

Keeping your pulse on what is really happening means more than understanding the logic of what is being said or proposed, it means being able to get into the client's skin if you will; being able to understand the feeling behind their communication, the true desire behind what they feel they need and using what they are feeling to create to mastermind a resolution to conflict.

PART FOUR: THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATING AN EMOTIONALLY INTELLIGENT PLATFORM FOR A BETTER CAREER AND A BETTER LIFE
AT THE SPEED OF CHANGE

Successful mediation or dispute resolution requires knowledge, training, professional excellence, integrity, agility and creativity of thought… but, of equal import, it requires the engagement of high emotional intelligence competencies that help both the mediator and clients tap into the emotions, thoughts and actions that create a resolve to perceived discrimination.

EQ competencies:

1. Emotional Awareness of Self.
2. Emotional Awareness of Others.
3. Emotional Expression.
4. Creativity.
5. Resilience/flexibility/adaptability.
6. Interpersonal Connections (communication).
7. Constructive Discontent.
8. Optimism.
9. Empathy.
10. Intuition
11. Intentionality.
12. Trust Radius.
13. Personal Power.

And the good news is that not only can EQ competencies be increased, but your ability to increase, model and express high EQ will be pivotal, not only in setting the stage for better professional results, but in helping you build a better life at the speed of change.

At a time when the World Health Organization is forecasting that stress will be the major cause of disability by the year 2020, understanding, increasing and engaging your emotional intelligence and developing your ability to coach EQ is not only critical to the excellence and success of your mediation or dispute resolution practice, but it is an investment in the quality, excellence and success of your life.

Irene Becker, CCTA, runs the Coaching web site 'Just Coach It' at
http://www.justcoachit.com

Business Cards Info Alert � What Should I Put On The Back Of My Business Cards?

Business Cards Info Alert - What Should I Put On The Back Of My Business Cards?: "

June 5, 2005
Filed under: Business Cards Tips — Mark @ 3:26 am

There is a really good reason to put something on the back of your business cards

If you are at all interested in target marketing, then you'll want to put your elevator pitchon the back of your business cards.

What is your elevator pitch you ask? Well it is your quick presentation of the benefits that your business provides.

For example: Let's say that you sell a home study course on how to get tons people to a website. How many extra leads do you think you would get if you put this little sentence on the back of your business cards?:

If You Can Copy And Paste, Then You Have What It Takes To Quickly And Easily Drive More Cash-In-Hand, Eager-To-Buy Leads And Prospects To Your Website Than You Can Ever Handle
Once You Know The Secrets.

Quite a few is my guess!

Here is the thing, in most cases the front of your business card contains your contact information and maybe a little about your business. But normally the back of your business cards are empty: this is truly a shame!

If you put a sentence like the one above (rewritten for your business of course) on the back of your business cards, you'll get a ton more prospects and leads in your front door."

LinkedIn Notes: Which Network: LinkedIn, Ryze, Ecademy, Soflow, or openBC?

LinkedIn Notes: Which Network: LinkedIn, Ryze, Ecademy, Soflow, or openBC?: "

Saturday, August 06, 2005

So you've heard about and maybe even registered for LinkedIn, Ryze, Ecademy, Soflow, or other networks. Why should you register for one and not another?

If you have unlimited time and the interest to do so, you could register for all of the services, then in each service you could create and maintain your profile, and maintain and grow your relationships. Doing so would be very time consuming.

So if your time is limited, you may want to register for each service and fill in minimal profile information for each service. This will enable people who know you to have a chance to search for you by name and find you in each service. With minimal profile information, people might not be able to find you by searching on keywords or other criteria besides your name. This would limit the value of each service, since people who you would want to contact you (such as a recruiter willing to give you a shot at your ideal job) might not be able to find you due to your minimal profile information.

So if you don't time to utilize each service to its maximum capabilities, but want to gain more value than minimal profiles alone can provide, then you'll probably want to pick one service as your primary network. In this primary network, you'll enter and maintain a complete profile and invite others to connect to you.

So which service should you pick as your primary service?

Well, obviously because this blog is about LinkedIn, you'll know my preference. Why do I chooose LinkedIn as my primary service? Here below are the major reasons. Please note that your circumstances and needs may vary wildly..."

LinkedIn Tips: Getting Started Building Your LinkedIn Network

LinkedIn Tips: Getting Started Building Your LinkedIn Network: "

(go to the website to use the hyperlinks, and view the other five pages)

LinkedIn Tips
Page 1 of 6

LinkedIn
Tip List

1. Register your business and personal email addresses.

2. Take the tour.

3. Fill in your full and nickname.

4. Fill in your profile.

5. Join any applicable groups.

6. Browse connections for people you know.

7. Find contacts related to your most recent employer.

8. Add more contacts using LinkedIn�s toolbar for Outlook.

9. Add contacts for whom you know their email addresses.

10. Add contacts for whom you do not know their email addresses.

11. Learn more about LinkedIn. "

LinkedIn Notes: Why Start a LinkedIn Group?

LinkedIn Notes: Why Start a LinkedIn Group?: "

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Why Start a LinkedIn Group?

If you're a member of an organization of any type, and the organization does not yet have a LinkedIn group, here are some reasons why you may want to start such a group (as opposed to just trying to connect to people on an individual basis:

To be able to see the complete profiles of fellow group members not within three degrees of your network.

To more easily find people you already know and trust within LinkedIn, so that you may send an introduction to them to exchange email addresses so that you may then send an invitation to connect.

To be able to send introductions directly to people within your group without having to use more costly and limited InMails.

To offer newbies a way to quickly and easily realize value in LinkedIn. When a newbie joins a LinkedIn group and finds that they are immediately connected to hundreds of people in the group, that is more exciting and motivating than starting in LinkedIn with a single connection, especially if that single connection isn't very well connected themselves.

To find out more about LinkedIn groups, including how to set one up, go to the LinkedIn home page and click LinkedIn for Groups at the very bottom of the page."

LinkedIn Notes: Motivating People to Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn Notes: Motivating People to Use LinkedIn: "

Monday, November 07, 2005

Motivating People to Use LinkedIn

If you're trying to motivate other to use LinkedIn, you may find as I have that different people require different pitches to get them interested.

I find that people seeking jobs are the easiest to motivate. I show them how they can use LinkedIn to connect to people in the industries, companies, fields, and/or geographic areas that interest them. For example, a search on the keywords Venture Capital yields over 500 hits in LinkedIn for me.

For those not seeking a job, you can try other pitches, such as the ability to find contacts for business alliances, partnerships, sales pitches, recruiting, etc.

Finally, you can share the saying that it's better to build your network before you need it rather than when you need it. People are much more likely to help you in your time of need if you were available for them before you needed help."

Market Research

Market Research: "

Market Research

With effective market research, you can determine the need for your service, a product's likelihood to sell, target-market demographics, and desirable store locations. There are numerous ways to uncover this information -- from online research to focus groups to counting customers. To help you meet your target market's needs, we've put together a collection of our best market-research articles and resources."

Angel Investors

Angel Investors: "

Angel Investors

When you're in search of financing, the idea of an angel -- an individual investor with money to invest in early-stage or start-up companies -- can seem nothing short of enchanting. But where do you find an angel? In Inc. magazine's A Twist of Fate, the owners of Wetzel's Pretzels tapped an existing customer as an angel. Typically, courting an angel is less serendipitous. If an angel doesn't fall in your lap, try these resources for finding and working with angel investors."

Grassroots Marketing

Grassroots Marketing: "

Grassroots Marketing

Let's face it. You're not Procter & Gamble or Volkswagen, so when it comes to marketing to your customers, you're more likely to get a little creative than to grab your checkbook and sign on with some hot New York agency.

That's what these business owners have done in Inc.com's Guide to Grassroots Marketing. From counter help that sing and dance to engineers that produce comic strips, each of these businesses found effective ways to spread the word about their businesses and to retain their customers without spending a fortune."

Cash Management Basics

Cash Management Basics: "

Cash Management Basics

Cash is your business's lifeblood. Managed well, your company remains healthy and strong. Managed poorly, your company goes into cardiac arrest.
If you haven't considered cash management an important issue, then you're probably undermining your business's short-term stability and its long-term survival. But how can you manage business cash better?

Start with understanding how good cash-management practices can influence your company's growth and survival by reading 'The Art of Cash Management,' Inc Finance Editor Jill Andresky Fraser's classic article on the topic. Then dive into forecasting your business-cash needs and learning how to handle a cash crisis. Assembled here are practical pieces of advice, tips and tricks from CEOs, and tools that you can use to get a handle on business cash..."

Inc.com | Resource Center: Start-Up

Inc.com | Resource Center: Start-Up: "

This Week's Column
by Tim Faley

Creating Your Business Plan

Some entrepreneurs view the business plan as a to-do list item that must be checked off before meeting with banks, angel investors, or venture capitalists can be scheduled. While investors will want to see your plan, the business plan is first and foremost your business's operational document. It should lay a solid foundation upon which your business can be built, and should be treated as a living document -- one that grows and changes with your business.

Many books and articles have been written on writing business plans. Ernst & Young's 'Guide to Producing a Business Plan' is a good, concise document to help you get started. Key questions (some of which you'll have answered when you determined the feasibility of your idea) that you'll need to address as you prepare your plan are: (continued on next page)"

Nation's Largest Small-Business Lobby Taps New President

Nation's Largest Small-Business Lobby Taps New President: "

Nation's Largest Small-Business Lobby Taps New President

Tech veteran Todd Stottlemyer will take the reins at the National Federation of Independent Business.

By: Angus Loten
Nov. 7, 2005--A veteran technology executive with a reputation for "getting things done" has been tapped to head the National Federation of Independent Business, the nation's largest small-business advocacy group.

Todd Stottlemyer, the current CEO of Apogen Technologies, a McLean, Va.-based information-technology firm, will take over the top post early next year, NFIB chairman Thomas Musser said Monday.

Stottlemyer replaces current president and CEO Jack Faris, who announced his retirement in March. The move makes Stottlemyer only the fifth leader in the 62-year history of NFIB, which today boasts more than 600,000 members. Faris led the Washington-based advocacy group for 13 years.

As the former president of McGuire Woods Consulting and managing director of McGuire Woods Capital Group, Stottlemyer has experience advising technology companies on growth strategies, acquisitions, and investments. Prior to that, at BTG, a Fairfax, Va.-based information-technology firm, he helped lead a financial turnaround, returning the company to profitability and boosting net income to an 18-year high.

In a statement released Monday, Musser hailed Stottlemyer as someone who 'truly understands the needs and challenges facing small business today,' combining a solid business background with an active involvement in the policy and political arena. 'He's the right person at the right time,' Musser said."

Study perks up coffee's benefits - 11/09/05

Study perks up coffee's benefits - 11/09/05: "

CHICAGO -- Here's good news for women who love coffee: Drinking it doesn't seem to cause long-term high blood pressure, a study suggests.

But for some reason, women in the same study who drank colas did seem to have a greater risk of high blood pressure. Researchers were surprised at that and cautioned the study wasn't conclusive.

Caffeine is a well-known ingredient in both beverages, and has been shown to cause short-term increases in blood pressure. But coffee drinkers in the study were no more likely than abstainers to develop high blood pressure during 12 years of follow-up.

Previous data on coffee and hypertension is mixed, but there's a common perception that its temporary effects on blood pressure mean an increased long-term risk, said Dr. Wolfgang Winkelmayer, the study's lead author and a researcher at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital.
'We found strong evidence to refute' that belief, the researchers wrote.

There was even some evidence that women who drank lots of coffee -- four or more daily cups of regular or decaf -- faced a slightly lower risk for developing high blood pressure than those who drank little or none.

Winkelmayer said that may be because coffee has lots of antioxidants, substances which are thought to help protect the heart and reduce risks of cancer. He said it's unclear how sodas might increase blood pressure.

The government-funded study is in today's Journal of the American Medical Association.
Nutritionist Margaret Savoca whose work has linked caffeinated soft drinks with higher blood pressure in black teens, said she suspects caffeine explains Winkelmayer's results for cola drinkers.

Sodium might also be a culprit, said Dr. William Frishman, chief of medicine at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, N.Y. "

The Virtual Handshake Blog | � Gender Differences in Spoken and Written Communication

The Virtual Handshake Blog | Gender Differences in Spoken and Written Communication: "

The Virtual Handshake Blog
3/19/2005

Gender Differences in Spoken and Written Communication

Posted in Miscellaneous, Online Networking Tips, Social Network Research

by David Teten @ 9:57 pm

Prof. Naomi S. Baron will soon publish an article on See You Online: Gender Issues in College Student Use of Instant Messaging. This article is worthwhile reading for anyone interested in designing effective IM systems.

More generally, you can see that even on the allegedly anonymous medium of the Internet, people can still often guess your gender. One study that she references found that reviewers could guess the gender of the author of a paper with 75% accuracy.

Some highlights:
For example, women tend to use more affective markers (e.g., I know how you feel), more diminutives (e.g., little bitty insect), more hedge words (e.g., perhaps, sort of), more politeness markers (e.g., I hate to bother you), and more tag questions (e.g., We're leaving at 8:00 pm, aren't we?) than do men. Men, on the other hand, are likely to use more referential language (e.g., The stock market took a nosedive today), more profanity, and fewer first person pronouns than are women.

Herring (2003) offers a thorough analysis of language and gender issues in one-to-many CMC forums such as listservs and newsgroups (both of which involve asynchronous communication) and Chat, MUDs, and MOOs (all of which involve synchronous communication). In both venues, Herring reports gender asymmetries. On asynchronous discussion lists and newsgroups, males are more likely to post longer messages, begin and close discussions in mixed-sex groups, assert opinions strongly as facts, use crude language (including insults and profanity), and in general manifest an adversarial orientation toward their interlocutors' while females 'tend to post relatively short messages, and are more likely to qualify and justify their assertions, apologize, express support of others, and in general, manifest an 'aligned' orientation toward their interlocutors' (Herring, p. 207).

For a summary of this paper, see LiveScience reports that the writing style of IM users is surprisingly formal. These different communication styles are one of the reasons why female avatars face gender bias online. (Source: danah boyd)"

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.: "

Wise Women Speak
MOTHERS LEAD BEST: 50 Women Who are Changing the Way Organizations Define Leadership
By: Moe Grzelakowski, Entrepreneur and Senior Advisor at Investor Growth Capitol, May 2005

While it's no mystery that motherhood is a deeply transforming experience, what is not so obvious is the huge impact it has on top businesses women. Moe Grzelakowski interviewed 50 of America's top executive mothers, all who believe raising children transformed their leadership style. Read Moe's column and learn more by listening to her on WorldWIT Radio..."

Fast Company | Toolbox#jumpTools

Fast Company | Toolbox#jumpTools: "

TOOLS

ROI Analysis Tool

Estimate the potential benefits of servers for your business, including cost savings from increased productivity, dependability, and more.
(July 2005)"

Fast Company | Consultant, Heal Thyself

Fast Company | Consultant, Heal Thyself: "

Consultant, Heal Thyself

Jon R. Katzenbach and his partners have written books about creating great companies. Now they're trying to build one of their own.

By: Keith H. Hammonds | From: Fast Company

How do you build a great organization? It's the squishiest, most difficult question in business. There is no accounting system for culture, no P&L to prove leadership effectiveness, little in the way of hard data on hiring or retention or team performance. Yet the best companies, the businesses that last, understand the importance of getting the organization right.

Upstairs at 381 Park Avenue South in New York, above the nail salon and the deli, there's a quiet experiment unfolding in the realm of organization building. A bunch of smart consultants have established a new practice that operates at the intersection of strategy and organizational issues. They're also -- and this is the intriguing part -- creating their own organization, one that reflects everything they know about the field and provides a lab for untested ideas.

They are attempting from square one to construct an institution -- 'a cathedral,' as one of them is fond of putting it -- that will rival the enduring service firms of our era. And so, they are considering their organization, its structures, processes, and systems, less for how it works today than what it will look like and how it will perform a generation from now.
This experiment is worth paying attention to for two reasons.

First, this six-year-old firm is doing exceedingly well, growing at 36% a year with a pipeline full of engagements with clients such as Aetna and Pfizer. It's getting hundreds of resumes a year from top colleges and B-schools..."

The Virtual Handshake Blog | � Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Business

The Virtual Handshake Blog | Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Business: "

The Virtual Handshake Blog
11/9/2005
Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn to Build Your Business

Posted in Online Networking Tips, Chapter 10: Relationship Capital Management Software
by Liz Ryan @ 2:36 am

Editor's Note: Liz Ryan is CEO and founder of WorldWIT, the leading global online and offline network for women in business and technology. After seeing her many insights into virtual business relationships in both her newsletter and various spots around the web, we asked her to join us as an occasional guest blogger and she graciously agreed. Welcome, Liz!

I am interested in the posts I have seen on some of the LinkedIn-related Yahoo Groups that ask how LI can help build your business. I think of LI like my cell phone or my briefcase - it's a tool. I don't look at LI as a specific, revenue-goals-attached money generator. I'm not sure that it was designed to be that. But I definitely think that LinkedIn can be a business-builder if you approach it that way. Here are ten tips for using LI to build your business."

Fast Company | Tom O'Brien -- Using Technology to Help Manage Growth and Change

Fast Company | Tom O'Brien -- Using Technology to Help Manage Growth and Change: "

This month we talk to Tom O'Brien, Chief Operating Officer of Tom's of Maine. O'Brien joined Tom's of Maine eight years ago to help the company achieve its next level of business success.

Before coming to Tom's of Maine, O'Brien spent 13 years--at Procter & Gamble, working his way up from an entry-level sales position to Director of Worldwide Strategic Planning and Marketing for all deodorants.

At Tom's of Maine, O'Brien has overseen annual growth rates of more than 20% and talks about the challenges of managing a growing company while maintaining the company's values and vision."

Fast Company Now

Fast Company Now: "

Better Business through Buying

The folks in Redmond have certainly been busy. Microsoft announced last week that it was creating online versions of Windows and Office, responding to Google and Sun's OpenOffice with its own Web-based applications. It also bought a small file-sharing service and joined the Internet telephony party by buying a Swiss VOIP company. Now the software giant has reportedly taken the lead among companies vying for a deal with AOL. This would bolster Microsoft's lagging MSN business with AOL's content and recognition.

These moves illustrate how Microsoft, for all its size and despite its enormous R&D budget, still relies on outside companies for innovation. For the software giant to preserve its lofty status, it needs to constantly innovate. It tried to shake things up with a recent restructuring of departments, but that didn't seem to be enough. Which brings us to the latest series of acquisitions. Microsoft continues to look for deals, whether it's with a small VOIP company or a big name like AOL, to spark innovation.

Why is Microsoft's internal innovation so meager? Is it a natural consequence of the company's age? Will restructuring and acquisitions be enough to compete with the likes of Google?"

Don't Manage Time, Manage Yourself

Don't Manage Time, Manage Yourself: "

Overworked overachievers suffer from a 'gnawing sense of anxiety.' Here's personal-productivity guru David Allen's cure.

From: Issue 14 | April 1998 | Page 64 By: David Beardsley - Illustrations by: Richard McGuire

The good news: You probably have something in common with one of the nation's leading heart surgeons, one of Microsoft's top marketing executives, and one of Wall Street's toughest deal-makers."

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.: "

Gender Irrelevant

By: Liz Ryan, CEO and founder of WorldWIT, July 2005

Is being a woman-in-the-workplace the same for all of us?

Does your gender have an effect on your work culture or how you do business?

How do you answer those that say that gender, at work, is simply irrelevant?

Although everyone experiences life differently, is anyone to tell a woman that her gender isn't an issue?"

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.: "

10 Traits that Are Essential for Female Leaders

By: Lyn Turknett, Founder of Turknett's Women's Initiatives, July 2005

How is your leadership character?

Here are ten traits women can focus on in order to develop the strong leadership behaviors and skills necessary to rise to power positions in the workplace.

Plus, at the end of Lyn's piece, she included a simple quiz you can take to find how you rank in leadership skills."

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.: "

Ten Ways to Higher Pay
By: Warren Farrell, Ph.D., August 2005

The road to high pay is a toll road. The trick is discerning which tolls are worth it.

The good news is that any woman who wishes to earn as much or more than a man can do it.

Dr. Warren Farrell offers you ten specific ways women can out earn men. "

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.

WorldWIT - Women. Insights. Technology.: "

Ten Tips for Reducing Holiday Stress

By: Susan Newman, Ph.D., November 2005

Once put into action, the power of no is limitless. It eliminates the need to push yourself to the max or to spend the holidays somewhere other than where you want to be. Here are ten tips to help you cope this year (and long after): With these in mind, you'll able to say no and mean it, and along the way you'll find your holiday blues melting away. "

SONI Canada: A week in review

SONI Canada presented at the following Focused Networking events this week.

November 2
Surrey
153 and Fraser Hwy.
7:30 - 9:00 a.m.

November 2
Langley
192 and # 10 Hwy
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.

November 3
Abbotsford
32110 Marshall Road
7:30 - 9:00 a.m.

November 4
Vancouver
1616 W. Georgia St. Stanley Park
7:30 - 9:00 a.m.

Law Practice | The Art of Feel-Good Rainmaking: How to Cultivate a Network of Endless Referrals

Law Practice | The Art of Feel-Good Rainmaking: How to Cultivate a Network of Endless Referrals: "

Feel-Good Questions that Build Rapport

Feel-good questions like these are designed to put people at ease and make the conversation enjoyable.

How did you get started in your particular line of business?

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

What separates your company from your competition?

What advice would you give someone just starting in your business?

What one thing would you do with your business if you knew you couldn't fail?

What significant changes have you seen take place in your profession through the years?

What do you see as the coming trends affecting your line of business?

What's the strangest, or funniest, incident you've ever experienced in your business?

What ways have you found to be the most effective for promoting your business?

What one sentence would you like people to use in describing the way you do business?

And the key question that will set you apart from everyone else:

How can I know if someone I'm speaking to would be a good prospect for you?"

Negotiating Challenges for Women Leaders : Strategy : HBS Working Knowledge

Negotiating Challenges for Women Leaders : Strategy : HBS Working Knowledge: "

October 13, 2003

When negotiating compensation, women often sell themselves short. Some practical advice on claiming the power to lead in this interview with HBS professor Kathleen L. McGinn and Harvard's Hannah Riley Bowles.

by Martha Lagace, Senior Editor, HBS Working Knowledge

Women don't have a problem developing an effective leadership style. What they do struggle with more than men, however, is claiming the authority to lead, according to Hannah Riley Bowles and Kathleen L. McGinn. The gender gap in leadership is the focus of 'Claiming Authority: Negotiating Challenges for Women Leaders,' a chapter in the forthcoming book Psychology of Leadership: Some New Approaches, edited by David Messick and Roderick Kramer (Lawrence Erlbaum Press).

As influential experts on negotiation who examine these questions from an economic perspective, Riley Bowles and McGinn believe that negotiation skills are crucial to closing the gender gap in leadership. Riley Bowles, who earned her doctoral degree from Harvard Business School, is an assistant professor at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. McGinn is a professor and a director of research at HBS. Below, excerpts from an interview."

The Globe and Mail: 'It grows like weeds all over the place'

The Globe and Mail: 'It grows like weeds all over the place': "

Globeandmail.com > Business > Small Business > Article
By KEVIN MARRON
Wednesday, October 19, 2005 Posted at 12:59 PM EST

Bureaucrats, as the joke goes, cut red tape lengthwise. Not laughing? You must be a small business owner.

After years of complaints that small businesses are suffocating under an avalanche of red tape, the federal government this year kicked off the Paperwork Burden Reduction Initiative. The punchline: Its first task is a major Statistics Canada survey and five years of fact finding and analysis by the Advisory Committee on Paperwork Burden Reduction, a group of representatives from the federal, Quebec and B.C. governments and the private sector.

'The embarrassing thing is that you have to do a major survey, actually increasing the paper burden, to understand it and to deal with it,' says Garth Whyte, co-chair of the committee and executive vice-president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business."

The Globe and Mail: Doing it for themselves

The Globe and Mail: Doing it for themselves: "

Globeandmail.com > Business > Small Business > Article
By ANGELA BARNES
Wednesday, October 19, 2005 Posted at 9:53 AM EST

Three years ago, Jill Black left a prestigious high paying position in the corporate world to set up her own business.

'I wanted to do some let's say non-traditional work, more not-for-profit and policy work . . . [and] I wanted a change in pace, and less travel,' says Ms. Black, who worked 15 years for Boston Consulting Group, a strategy consulting firm, and rose to the level of vice-president before setting up as a strategy and policy consultant.


She's not alone. Over the past 15 years, the number of Canadian women who are self-employed has expanded by 50 per cent, which exceeds by a considerable margin the 30-per-cent growth in the number of women employees over the same period, statistics compiled by the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce indicate.

There are now more than 800,000 women entrepreneurs in Canada, a figure that has been rising at an average annual rate of 3.3 per cent since 1989. The number of small businesses run by men is growing at a much slower pace."

The Globe and Mail: Stress leaves

The Globe and Mail: Stress leaves: "

Globeandmail.com > Business > Small Business > Article

By SASHA NAGY
Thursday, September 8, 2005 Posted at 4:04 PM EST

Stress has become ever-present in today's workplace. It occupies more time and energy than ever before thanks to the demands of instantaneous communication tools, the threat of downsizing, and numerous work-life balance pressures.

According to a study by WarrenShepell, workplace stress was cited by 51 per cent of the 41,000 people who sought assistance in 2003, up from 41 per cent in 2000.

When stress-related workplace issues manifest themselves in a small business, the problem could be made worse by an owner who is unsure how to handle it.

David Bannon, chair of Ogilvy Renault LLP's employment and labour group says the legal obligations are the same, large business or small. But there are some subtle differences..."

The Globe and Mail: Martha Stewart's 10 savvy rules for entrepreneurs

The Globe and Mail: Martha Stewart's 10 savvy rules for entrepreneurs: "

MANAGING BOOKS By HARVEY SCHACHTER
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 Posted at 12:36 PM EST

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

The Martha Rules
By Martha Stewart
Rodale, 205 pages, $33.95

With all the commotion over Martha Stewart, it's easy to forget that she's an unusually successful serial entrepreneur.

She started as a freelance photographer's model, served as a broker on Wall Street, sold pies at a local market, opened a gourmet food shop within a clothing store, started a business-catering service and broadened her market with a book called Entertaining. Then she launched an array of publishing and broadcast endeavours that became a multimedia empire.
So it's reasonable for her to write a book of advice for entrepreneurs, a project she started during her recent prison term when fellow inmates asked her to speak at a forum on business practices.

The book revolves around 10 rules..."

The Globe and Mail: Tips for success

The Globe and Mail: Tips for success: "

Globeandmail.com > Business > Small Business > Article
Thursday, October 27, 2005 Posted at 10:36 AM EST

On-line invoicing service 2ndSite offers these 10 tips for small buisness success.

1. Designate a workspace
If you work from home designate a workspace. Set aside time to organize your desk at the end of every day - clutter will only distract you from your work.

2. Make sure you have the tools you need to get your job done
Mandatory basics include a separate phone line, basic office supplies, high speed internet, and an up-to-date computer. Get more for your money by buying in bulk, asking for discounts, collecting your receipts for tax rebates and using some of the free business tools on the internet.

3. Establish a routine and stick to it
Entrepreneurship is rarely a 9 to 5 job. Getting started before breakfast will give you a block of time free from distractions to get a head start. Find a schedule that works for you and stick to it. You'll find your days more productive..."