I will no longer be posting to this blog. Follow my ideas on www.hatman2.blogspot.com
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.So
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
How to make the process enjoyable
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, in his index-less but otherwise very fine book, Flow; the Psychology of Optimal Experience (New York: Harper & Row, 1990) gives, on pp. 209-211, gives four steps for structuring an experience to make it what he calls "autotelic", and an enjoyable challenge.
Here they are:
1. Set goals, have clear goals to work toward.
2. Become immersed in the activity.
3. Pay attention to what is happening.
4. Enjoy the immediate experience.
I agree with this. I do wish he'd included an index, though. But go to this book and read the entire thing. It's nearly 20 years old now, but it has fresh insights.
I still wish he'd indexed the book.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.So
Here they are:
1. Set goals, have clear goals to work toward.
2. Become immersed in the activity.
3. Pay attention to what is happening.
4. Enjoy the immediate experience.
I agree with this. I do wish he'd included an index, though. But go to this book and read the entire thing. It's nearly 20 years old now, but it has fresh insights.
I still wish he'd indexed the book.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.So
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Next Steps
So you have all this behind you. You've written your obituary. You've identified your cure mission. You've identified 3-5 main goals you want to achieve. You're certain you're congruent with all of this. You've got your financial priorities in line. You've looked at the time you spend and realigned if necessary. You are approaching the thing with a generosity of spirit and the desire to help people and pay it forward. You accept the fact that connecting is the most important thing you can do. You have adopted a pay it forward attitude.
You're ready. If you've been networking, you've probably been to some networking groups. You know that a bunch of people gather and trade business cards and talk. But what is really going on is nothing like what it looks like. So if you have some groups, let's wait on you for the time being.
If you're totally new to networking, here's what I recommend. Talk to your friend, family members, colleagues and make sure they're up to speed on what you are doing. Ask their opinion. Listen to it. Do not respond except to clarify. Then, when they're done ask what you should do. Listen again and don't say anything except to clarify what you don't understand. Then ask if they know of anyone they would recommend you talk about it. Then write down who they say and, unless it's inappropriate for some reason, ask if they wouldn't mind making an introduction for you.
If they don't want to do that, ask them if they could at least call the person and tell them you'll be calling them.
If they won't do that, ask if they can give you their contact information, how best and when best to contact them, and if you can use their name.
If they won't do that, I'd thank them very much and forget about them. I'd question how much of a friend they really are and they may use what you've told them to work against you. Some people like to stomp on other people's dreams.
Keeping a diary is not a bad idea in all of this. Write down who you talked to, when you talked to them, what you talked about, what they recommended, your observations and what you did on account of it. And keep copies of any correspondents.
Then, send each of them a thank you. You can send a card or an e-mail or take a phone call, and thank them for their help. If they gave you a name, or offered to make an introduction, thank them for that and say you'll be eager to talk to the person. Then work as hard as you can to cultivate that lead.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
You're ready. If you've been networking, you've probably been to some networking groups. You know that a bunch of people gather and trade business cards and talk. But what is really going on is nothing like what it looks like. So if you have some groups, let's wait on you for the time being.
If you're totally new to networking, here's what I recommend. Talk to your friend, family members, colleagues and make sure they're up to speed on what you are doing. Ask their opinion. Listen to it. Do not respond except to clarify. Then, when they're done ask what you should do. Listen again and don't say anything except to clarify what you don't understand. Then ask if they know of anyone they would recommend you talk about it. Then write down who they say and, unless it's inappropriate for some reason, ask if they wouldn't mind making an introduction for you.
If they don't want to do that, ask them if they could at least call the person and tell them you'll be calling them.
If they won't do that, ask if they can give you their contact information, how best and when best to contact them, and if you can use their name.
If they won't do that, I'd thank them very much and forget about them. I'd question how much of a friend they really are and they may use what you've told them to work against you. Some people like to stomp on other people's dreams.
Keeping a diary is not a bad idea in all of this. Write down who you talked to, when you talked to them, what you talked about, what they recommended, your observations and what you did on account of it. And keep copies of any correspondents.
Then, send each of them a thank you. You can send a card or an e-mail or take a phone call, and thank them for their help. If they gave you a name, or offered to make an introduction, thank them for that and say you'll be eager to talk to the person. Then work as hard as you can to cultivate that lead.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Time
As I said last time, we have only two weapons in our personal arsenal: time and money. I talked about money last time. Now, for time.
Mihaly Csikszentmkihalyi, in Flow; The Psychology of Optimal Experience (New York, Harper and Row, 1990, talks about attention structures. I don't know if he calls them that, but that's what they are. An attention structure is an entity that describes how you allocate your attention.
Richard Lanham, in The Economics of [Attention]; Style and Substance in the Age of Information (Chicago, IL; University of Chicago Press, 2006) calls our time the age of attention. We now have everything we need, so companies compete over the who gets attention.
We may be what we eat, but we are also what we pay attention to. If we watch soap operas or reality programs only, we become one kind of person. If we watch politics on CNN all the time we turn into another kind of person. If we pay attention only to the drug addictions of well-healed movie stars, we are another kind of person. Sports, another, and so on and so on.
We have to use our time like our money, as a scarce resource, which it is. We have only so much time allotted to us, so we have to use it wisely. If every penny spent is a penny lost, then every minute spent is a minute lost. You have to make sure that what you are pay attention to is working for you.
That doesn't mean you don't take a break, go on vacation, sit down and chat with somebody in a coffee shop. It just means you have to have a plan on how to use you time productively.
So keep a log of what you spend your time on. Just take a piece of scrap paper or a paper towell or something and for a week, write down everything you do, just like you were keeping track of expenses. Keep track of minutes. You don't have to be precise. Use 15-minute blocks if you want.
I keep track of it in hours, to only the 100th of the hour, in decimals. For example 15 minutes is .25 hours (15/60=.25). 10 minutes is .17 hours (10/60=.17). 50 minutes is .83 hours (50/60). You don't have to do it that way; I do because it makes the math a lot easier than trying use base 60 math, which I'd have to do otherwise. You don't have to keep it to two decimal points either, one might be enough. You don't have to convert 43 minutes to .71666666 hours, .7 might do. I would convert it .72 hours. But that's me.
Whatever procedure you use, it's important that you be consistent and that you be rigorous and complete. You shouldn't just do it for a few hours on Monday, then Saturday night, and the next Wednesday. Do it every day for a week. If you forget or get involved with something else, as soon as you realize you've fallen off the wagon, go back and estimate the best you can.
After you've done it for the designated period of time, add it all up and see what you're spending your time on. Excel works extremely well for this, but if you're more comfortable by hand, do that, use a calculator, or an adding machine, abbacus, slide rule, whatever. If you haven't done this, you may be surprised. You probably don't even realize how much time you spend watching sports. We become very unaware of ourselves unless we hold ourselves accountable.
Then compare it with your goals and objectives. For example you're goal is to become more aware of drama, and you're spending 8 hours a day watching VH-1, you might want to make some changes.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Mihaly Csikszentmkihalyi, in Flow; The Psychology of Optimal Experience (New York, Harper and Row, 1990, talks about attention structures. I don't know if he calls them that, but that's what they are. An attention structure is an entity that describes how you allocate your attention.
Richard Lanham, in The Economics of [Attention]; Style and Substance in the Age of Information (Chicago, IL; University of Chicago Press, 2006) calls our time the age of attention. We now have everything we need, so companies compete over the who gets attention.
We may be what we eat, but we are also what we pay attention to. If we watch soap operas or reality programs only, we become one kind of person. If we watch politics on CNN all the time we turn into another kind of person. If we pay attention only to the drug addictions of well-healed movie stars, we are another kind of person. Sports, another, and so on and so on.
We have to use our time like our money, as a scarce resource, which it is. We have only so much time allotted to us, so we have to use it wisely. If every penny spent is a penny lost, then every minute spent is a minute lost. You have to make sure that what you are pay attention to is working for you.
That doesn't mean you don't take a break, go on vacation, sit down and chat with somebody in a coffee shop. It just means you have to have a plan on how to use you time productively.
So keep a log of what you spend your time on. Just take a piece of scrap paper or a paper towell or something and for a week, write down everything you do, just like you were keeping track of expenses. Keep track of minutes. You don't have to be precise. Use 15-minute blocks if you want.
I keep track of it in hours, to only the 100th of the hour, in decimals. For example 15 minutes is .25 hours (15/60=.25). 10 minutes is .17 hours (10/60=.17). 50 minutes is .83 hours (50/60). You don't have to do it that way; I do because it makes the math a lot easier than trying use base 60 math, which I'd have to do otherwise. You don't have to keep it to two decimal points either, one might be enough. You don't have to convert 43 minutes to .71666666 hours, .7 might do. I would convert it .72 hours. But that's me.
Whatever procedure you use, it's important that you be consistent and that you be rigorous and complete. You shouldn't just do it for a few hours on Monday, then Saturday night, and the next Wednesday. Do it every day for a week. If you forget or get involved with something else, as soon as you realize you've fallen off the wagon, go back and estimate the best you can.
After you've done it for the designated period of time, add it all up and see what you're spending your time on. Excel works extremely well for this, but if you're more comfortable by hand, do that, use a calculator, or an adding machine, abbacus, slide rule, whatever. If you haven't done this, you may be surprised. You probably don't even realize how much time you spend watching sports. We become very unaware of ourselves unless we hold ourselves accountable.
Then compare it with your goals and objectives. For example you're goal is to become more aware of drama, and you're spending 8 hours a day watching VH-1, you might want to make some changes.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Expenses
In your personal arsenal, you have two weapons. One of them is money. If you haven't monitored your finances regularly, start. Do a personal balance sheet. Look at your expenses every month and your income. How much are you spending and and how much are you earning.
If you don't know how much your spending, start tracking it. Be cost driven. Keep records of everything. If it's helpful, use a credit or debit card that gives you a hard copy at the end of the month. If you don't like credit cards, or have trouble paying off your amount every month, write stuff down in a notebook or keep receipts. Use whatever system works for you. You have to know down to the penny. Track it always. Track it every day.
Recognize that every penny spent is a penny lost. You have to lose as little money as possible. Make sure that every penny lost returns something to you that has value. Maybe it's your rent. Your health insurance. Your food. Your clothes. Whatever it is, make sure that you lose as little as possible, but no more.
Are you paying interest on a big credit card balance? Can you get a family member to lend you the money at no or little interest and pay them back and save paying the interest?
Do you have a car you're supporting that costs too much? Consider selling it and getting a cheaper one. I was supporting a car here in Philadelphia for $300 per month. I was driving it 1 day a week, and we have Philly Car Share. I sold it and put the money in a CD. It doesn't earn much interest, but it gets at least something instead of losing $300 per month. And it wasn't getting more valuable either.
I could go on and on, but I won't. Go hard on your spending. Don't be afraid to spend money, just make sure it's going for something that helps you.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
If you don't know how much your spending, start tracking it. Be cost driven. Keep records of everything. If it's helpful, use a credit or debit card that gives you a hard copy at the end of the month. If you don't like credit cards, or have trouble paying off your amount every month, write stuff down in a notebook or keep receipts. Use whatever system works for you. You have to know down to the penny. Track it always. Track it every day.
Recognize that every penny spent is a penny lost. You have to lose as little money as possible. Make sure that every penny lost returns something to you that has value. Maybe it's your rent. Your health insurance. Your food. Your clothes. Whatever it is, make sure that you lose as little as possible, but no more.
Are you paying interest on a big credit card balance? Can you get a family member to lend you the money at no or little interest and pay them back and save paying the interest?
Do you have a car you're supporting that costs too much? Consider selling it and getting a cheaper one. I was supporting a car here in Philadelphia for $300 per month. I was driving it 1 day a week, and we have Philly Car Share. I sold it and put the money in a CD. It doesn't earn much interest, but it gets at least something instead of losing $300 per month. And it wasn't getting more valuable either.
I could go on and on, but I won't. Go hard on your spending. Don't be afraid to spend money, just make sure it's going for something that helps you.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Write Your Own Obituary
I think it was Steven Covey who in Habit 2 told us to start with the end in mind. I don't have a copy of it or I would give you the citation.
The point is, where do you want to end up? Where do you want to be at the end of your life? What do you want to be remembered for?
If you could wave a magic wand, what would your life be like?
If you goal is to be able to sit on top of a mountain north of Vail and write the great American novel, how does what you are doing now, or what you want to do, fit into that? How is it congruent?
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
The point is, where do you want to end up? Where do you want to be at the end of your life? What do you want to be remembered for?
If you could wave a magic wand, what would your life be like?
If you goal is to be able to sit on top of a mountain north of Vail and write the great American novel, how does what you are doing now, or what you want to do, fit into that? How is it congruent?
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Translating Your Goals
Having done this rather large amount of soul searching and work, you now are ready to devise a personal plan for yourself. Take those four goals you developed.
Here are mine:
Now take your goals, whatever they are is okay as long as they are legal, moral, ethical, and flow from your core mission. And figure out exactly what you are going to do day by day to achieve them. Sometimes it helps to make a grid, with the days across the top and the hours down the side. Or maybe not, whatever helps you. You might want to experiment with it at first and see if it works and adjust as needed.
That's thing, you can always change what you're doing anytime. You're the CEO of your own company. But try to establish a period of time in which you will devote your full energies to it.
Of course if something is obviously off the mark, or you see something you obviously need to do, you can add it or delete it from your plan. You can tweak with your system. But try to create something you will pursue for ____ months or years, followed by a period of evaluation and revision
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Here are mine:
1. Financial Stability.All of this is quite daunting, and we're like a dog trying to chase a speeding car. We will never catch it, but we have to try.
My life has been so hectic and up and down that just getting things on a stable footing is an an achievement. I thought I was, but then we had the Great Recession (GR).
2. Sound Mental and Physical Health.
I'm 63, so keeping fit and healthy is important for my longevity. I don't do as good a job as I should, but I'm working on it.
3. High Quality Social Relationships.
I am in a loving relationship, and I have a remarkable 101-year old father-in-law, and I need to keep good relationships here as well as with my friends and co-workers.
4. Strong Sense of Personal Well-being.
I need to have a sense of well being. This means taking quality time off, vacations, etc. Our furnace went on the blink yesterday. This does not give me a sense of personal well-being.
Now take your goals, whatever they are is okay as long as they are legal, moral, ethical, and flow from your core mission. And figure out exactly what you are going to do day by day to achieve them. Sometimes it helps to make a grid, with the days across the top and the hours down the side. Or maybe not, whatever helps you. You might want to experiment with it at first and see if it works and adjust as needed.
That's thing, you can always change what you're doing anytime. You're the CEO of your own company. But try to establish a period of time in which you will devote your full energies to it.
Of course if something is obviously off the mark, or you see something you obviously need to do, you can add it or delete it from your plan. You can tweak with your system. But try to create something you will pursue for ____ months or years, followed by a period of evaluation and revision
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Values Clarification Exercise: Step 4.
Now take the first page. Under your vision of what your life would be like if you achieved it, write down specific steps you will take to achieve that goal.
For example, if one of your goals is financial stability, you might decide you're going to put $20 per week in an interest-bearing savings account. That's just something I pulled out of the air.
But if you are a young kid just starting out, with no assets and no credit, this is a good thing to do. It teaches disciplines and if accomplished consistently, every week, over time, you will accumulate a significant asset by the time you're in your 40s.
Now, do this for each of the goals. Put as many steps as you can think of at this point. If you have 10, put them all down. Let the mind flow.
If you have to ask your family, friends, and coworkers to help you. They will have some really good ideas, I bet.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
For example, if one of your goals is financial stability, you might decide you're going to put $20 per week in an interest-bearing savings account. That's just something I pulled out of the air.
But if you are a young kid just starting out, with no assets and no credit, this is a good thing to do. It teaches disciplines and if accomplished consistently, every week, over time, you will accumulate a significant asset by the time you're in your 40s.
Now, do this for each of the goals. Put as many steps as you can think of at this point. If you have 10, put them all down. Let the mind flow.
If you have to ask your family, friends, and coworkers to help you. They will have some really good ideas, I bet.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Values Clarification Exercise: Step 3.
Now, take another sheet of paper. At the top, write down the first goal you specified.
Now, think what your life would be like if you achieved this goal. Take some time, close your eyes, stare off into space, go for a walk, jog, work out, watch a movie, have a beer, whatever works for you.
What works for me is to go somewhere out of my main arena where I'm relatively cut off from the world. The beach usually works well. Or up in the mountains somewhere.
Then, write down the answer or answers you came up with in answering this question.
Let's say your goal is to become more widely known. Your vision statement is: "I'm going to a new event at the civic center. It is expected to be well attended. I will know at least 3 people there when I walk in."
When you have something, work on it a little. Revise it. Rework it. Rewrite it. Or not, depending on what you feel will work for you.
Then, do the same thing for each of the other three goals.
By the way, it's okay if you select 5 goals or 3 or 2. Too few goals means you're not shooting high enough. Too many means your efforts will be diluted. But, it has to work for you. Maybe it's better to shoot to high because it's easier to come simplify than to go the other way.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Now, think what your life would be like if you achieved this goal. Take some time, close your eyes, stare off into space, go for a walk, jog, work out, watch a movie, have a beer, whatever works for you.
What works for me is to go somewhere out of my main arena where I'm relatively cut off from the world. The beach usually works well. Or up in the mountains somewhere.
Then, write down the answer or answers you came up with in answering this question.
Let's say your goal is to become more widely known. Your vision statement is: "I'm going to a new event at the civic center. It is expected to be well attended. I will know at least 3 people there when I walk in."
When you have something, work on it a little. Revise it. Rework it. Rewrite it. Or not, depending on what you feel will work for you.
Then, do the same thing for each of the other three goals.
By the way, it's okay if you select 5 goals or 3 or 2. Too few goals means you're not shooting high enough. Too many means your efforts will be diluted. But, it has to work for you. Maybe it's better to shoot to high because it's easier to come simplify than to go the other way.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Values Clarification Exercise: Step 2.
Now that you have your list, which we'll call list #1, you're ready to move on.
Take a new piece of paper, or use the back of the one you've used already. On the new paper, you're going to make a new list, which we'll call list #2.
I'd suggest a new sheet of paper so you don't have to be flipping the paper over and over.
Or, if you use the back of the sheet list #1 is written on, you can't see the first list which might be an advantage.
But it doesn't amount to much of a mountain which ever molehill you work from.
In list #2, we're going to be ranking the goals from list #1 from most important to least important.
Do it any way you want, but my favorite way of doing this is to write the most important goal from list #1 on the first line of the new sheet of paper, then cross it off the list #1. The advantage I see in my way of doing it is that I have to think about each goal as I rank it.
Then, of those left in list #1, write the least important at the bottom of the list #2 and cross it off list #1.
Next, of those that are left on list #1, write the most important one in list #2 just under the most important one you've already written down. Cross off this goal from list #1. Then take the least important of those left on list #1 and write it just above the least important one you have already written on list #2 and cross it off list 1.
Keep going in this way until you have all the goals from list #1 crossed off and a ranked list in list #2. I think you see my drift. You'll have a list of goals in list #2 which are ranked from most to least important. Spend some time until you're sure you're list is sound.
If there are two that look very similar, don't be reluctant to combine them. For example, if you have one goal that says "financial health" and another one that says, "a sound bottom line," you really have the same goal looked at two different ways so feel free make them one.
Also, make sure each statement contains only one goal. For example, if one of your goals is "to be financially and physically healthy," you really have two goals, and feel free to separate them.
But do what works for you, not what I say to do.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Take a new piece of paper, or use the back of the one you've used already. On the new paper, you're going to make a new list, which we'll call list #2.
I'd suggest a new sheet of paper so you don't have to be flipping the paper over and over.
Or, if you use the back of the sheet list #1 is written on, you can't see the first list which might be an advantage.
But it doesn't amount to much of a mountain which ever molehill you work from.
In list #2, we're going to be ranking the goals from list #1 from most important to least important.
Do it any way you want, but my favorite way of doing this is to write the most important goal from list #1 on the first line of the new sheet of paper, then cross it off the list #1. The advantage I see in my way of doing it is that I have to think about each goal as I rank it.
Then, of those left in list #1, write the least important at the bottom of the list #2 and cross it off list #1.
Next, of those that are left on list #1, write the most important one in list #2 just under the most important one you've already written down. Cross off this goal from list #1. Then take the least important of those left on list #1 and write it just above the least important one you have already written on list #2 and cross it off list 1.
Keep going in this way until you have all the goals from list #1 crossed off and a ranked list in list #2. I think you see my drift. You'll have a list of goals in list #2 which are ranked from most to least important. Spend some time until you're sure you're list is sound.
If there are two that look very similar, don't be reluctant to combine them. For example, if you have one goal that says "financial health" and another one that says, "a sound bottom line," you really have the same goal looked at two different ways so feel free make them one.
Also, make sure each statement contains only one goal. For example, if one of your goals is "to be financially and physically healthy," you really have two goals, and feel free to separate them.
But do what works for you, not what I say to do.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Values Clarification Exercise: Step 1.
Now that you've written your obituary, it's time for some sort of values clarification exercise. This is to identify your core mission, that reason you exist on the earth.
If you don't have one you like to use, try this one. It's from Todd Duncan's Killing the Sale, a book I recommend highly.
Here's how to do it. You'll need a pen or pencil and several pieces of paper.
First step: Take a piece of paper and write down the first ten answers to the question, what is important to you. Don't worry about what's most important or what order they come to you, just write down the first ten that come to mind. You can do more if you want.
There are several more steps. I'll give them to you over the next week or so.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
If you don't have one you like to use, try this one. It's from Todd Duncan's Killing the Sale, a book I recommend highly.
Here's how to do it. You'll need a pen or pencil and several pieces of paper.
First step: Take a piece of paper and write down the first ten answers to the question, what is important to you. Don't worry about what's most important or what order they come to you, just write down the first ten that come to mind. You can do more if you want.
There are several more steps. I'll give them to you over the next week or so.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Now, write your personal obituary
Now that we have agreement on our assumptions, the next thing to do is write your own obituary. How do you want to be known once you are dead? What will you have become? What do you want people to remember about you once you've moved on to whatever, if anything, comes next.
Steven Covey says to begin with the end in mind. This obituary will tell you what you see as how you will be at the end. If you died this morning, would you have accomplished everything you'd hoped? What do you need to do to make sure you have?
Some chess players think of what they want the final checkmate position to be. They they conduct their play so that they get to that end point. Where do you want to end up?
Even if you think this is weird, try it. The worst that can happen is that it doesn't work for you.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Steven Covey says to begin with the end in mind. This obituary will tell you what you see as how you will be at the end. If you died this morning, would you have accomplished everything you'd hoped? What do you need to do to make sure you have?
Some chess players think of what they want the final checkmate position to be. They they conduct their play so that they get to that end point. Where do you want to end up?
Even if you think this is weird, try it. The worst that can happen is that it doesn't work for you.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Corolary to the Big Assumption: Businesses are Conversations
Businesses are just collections of people having conversations. Businesses aren't bricks and mortar. That's just what can see.
I was reading the Cluetrain Manifesto and it dawned on me that I sit at the center of a very big enterprise. It has about 900 people in it, it has no hierarchy, no organization. It's just a bunch of people who know me and who talk to each other. They don't know they're in it and it doesn't make any difference whether they know they're in it. They're in it.
And each of those people sit at the center of their own enterprises. And to graph out the whole thing would require about 900 overlapping venn diagrams.
This is the way you have to think when you're referral based branding. You've created a farm and are working managing that farm by identifying those who grow on it and nurture them as best you can. And if everybody does their jobs right, the whole enterprise will grow.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
I was reading the Cluetrain Manifesto and it dawned on me that I sit at the center of a very big enterprise. It has about 900 people in it, it has no hierarchy, no organization. It's just a bunch of people who know me and who talk to each other. They don't know they're in it and it doesn't make any difference whether they know they're in it. They're in it.
And each of those people sit at the center of their own enterprises. And to graph out the whole thing would require about 900 overlapping venn diagrams.
This is the way you have to think when you're referral based branding. You've created a farm and are working managing that farm by identifying those who grow on it and nurture them as best you can. And if everybody does their jobs right, the whole enterprise will grow.
I'm trying to help people network more productively. Is this helping?
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
It is fueled by my reading and thinking and talking about entrepreneurship. For those ideas, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
The Big Assumption: Markets are Relationships
And now [DRUM ROLL!] the big assumption: Markets are Conversations.
Let's unpack this.
Read Rick Levine, Christoper Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto (New York: Basic Books, rev. ed. 2009). There it is, on p. xiv, the first of 95 Theses, a la Martin Luther tacking his 95 theses on the cathedral at Wuerttenberg, one of the sparks of the Protestant Reformation.
I mean it, read that book.
Anyway, imagine a physical market. People are milling all around. To your left, people are standing behind display tables of stuff yelling at other people or gesticulating. To your right, somebody's unloading a bunch of merchandise from a wagon. Farther down, two people talking to a vendor about a pair of shoes. Talking. Business is like that. You're at a networking event. You're talking.
Business is just two people talking about buying and selling. What flows from this is a more intelligent way of making that happen. Of preparing the ground better. Of making the land more fertile.
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Let's unpack this.
Read Rick Levine, Christoper Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger, The Cluetrain Manifesto (New York: Basic Books, rev. ed. 2009). There it is, on p. xiv, the first of 95 Theses, a la Martin Luther tacking his 95 theses on the cathedral at Wuerttenberg, one of the sparks of the Protestant Reformation.
I mean it, read that book.
Anyway, imagine a physical market. People are milling all around. To your left, people are standing behind display tables of stuff yelling at other people or gesticulating. To your right, somebody's unloading a bunch of merchandise from a wagon. Farther down, two people talking to a vendor about a pair of shoes. Talking. Business is like that. You're at a networking event. You're talking.
Business is just two people talking about buying and selling. What flows from this is a more intelligent way of making that happen. Of preparing the ground better. Of making the land more fertile.
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
The Top Ten Assumptions of Referral Based Branding
Referral based branding rests on these 10 assumptions:
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
1. Your business is based on referrals. This is your work. What you think is your work is not your work. Your ability to do it flows from the base of referrals you've amassed so far with out knowing it. Now you're going to take control of your referral development.There we have it. There may be some assumptions I don't realize I'm making, because I'm just formulating this approach, but these are a good set of working assumptions. Let's go on from here.
2. Generating referrals is your most important activity. Your duties are secondary and many of them should be outsourced, delegated, reorganized, or eliminated altogether to free up time for you to generate referrals.
3. You are going to approach your work with generosity in a spirit of paying it forward.
4. Going to networking events is not networking. It is a part of networking, but by itself it is not networking.
5. Authenticity. You are going to be authentic in your life. That is, your activities are going to flow from your core mission. If you don't have a clue what that is, you're going to do Duncan's exercise or some other activity to clarify your values and find out what you are doing on this earth anyway.
6. You are interesting. Not everything about you is interesting, and none of you is interesting to everybody. But something about you is interesting to somebody.
7. You are going to be open to all possibilities. This doesn't mean you're going to do everything, but there is nothing that is not illegal or immoral that you won't consider.
8. The boundaries of your enterprise are the people you know, not the bricks and mortar of the business you happen to be working in.
9. You are a person people trust. Not everybody trusts you to do anything. No one trusts me to be a firefighter. I wouldn't trust myself flying a plane or releasing the toilet in my bathroom. But they trust you to do what you set out to do.
10. People like to be reached out to, if it's done authentically, generously, and in a spirit of pay it forward by people they trust.
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Basic Assumption #10: People Like to Be Reached Out To
In general, people like it when you reach out to them. They probably won't reach out, but they like it when others do. They also like to be asked for help, and they like to be asked their opinion.
We so often receive negative feedback in our lives we prepare for it in advance. So when people are upbeat and optimistic, they like it.
Not everyone likes to be reached out to, of course. You will lose these people when you reach out them because they won't reciprocate. But enough will that you should assume that everyone will. That way you can populate your network with people who respond to you and appreciate you for who you are and what you do.
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
We so often receive negative feedback in our lives we prepare for it in advance. So when people are upbeat and optimistic, they like it.
Not everyone likes to be reached out to, of course. You will lose these people when you reach out them because they won't reciprocate. But enough will that you should assume that everyone will. That way you can populate your network with people who respond to you and appreciate you for who you are and what you do.
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Basic Assumption #9: Focus
In pursuing this we also are focused on implementing the process. You set your goals and focus on them. When things get tough or you aren't seeming to get any traction, you keep going, keep implementing.
It's important you be open to various outcomes, but you have to be very focused on the process.
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It's important you be open to various outcomes, but you have to be very focused on the process.
Connecting makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.
For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Basic Assumption #8: Trust
To succeed in networking you need to be a confident person. You need to trust yourself such that you can project a level of trust and confidence that others should trust and respect you. That is, that you are a person with integrity whom they will want to get to know.
As yourself these five questions. They're from Stephen M. R. Covey's The Speed of Trust (New York, The Free Press, 2007), p. 66.:
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
As yourself these five questions. They're from Stephen M. R. Covey's The Speed of Trust (New York, The Free Press, 2007), p. 66.:
1. Do I genuinely try to be honest in all my interactions with others?Try asking your friends, family, coworkers, and employer these questions about you to see what we say. We sometimes don't see ourselves as clearly as others see us. We have what Covey calls a "blind spot."
2. Do I typically "walk my talk?"
3. Am I clear on my values? Do I feel comfortable standing up for them?
4. Am I open to the possibility of learning new truths that may cause me to rethink issues or even redefine my values?
5. Am I able consistently to make and keep commitments to myself?
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Basic Assumption #7: Boundaries
Our eighth assumption is that your enterprise is not the bricks and mortar of whatever business you work for. It's not Ray Bundy's shoe store.
Your enterprise is you, your 1st level, and 2nd level connections. That's right, it's you, who know know, and who they know, even though that's not grammatically correct. And it may include more people than are just employees in the company you work for.
And Ray is not just a shoe salesman. He's a father and a husband and a salesman and a visionary and a whole other bunch of things.
I don't have to go into that much. You just have to think of it more like a garden than of a hunting lodge.
But in case you're wondering, Ray Bundy was a character on the popular TV series Married With Children which aired probably a generation ago by now. I caught snippets of it from time to time. I thought he was funny in little bites, but I could never finish a whole meal of him.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Your enterprise is you, your 1st level, and 2nd level connections. That's right, it's you, who know know, and who they know, even though that's not grammatically correct. And it may include more people than are just employees in the company you work for.
And Ray is not just a shoe salesman. He's a father and a husband and a salesman and a visionary and a whole other bunch of things.
I don't have to go into that much. You just have to think of it more like a garden than of a hunting lodge.
But in case you're wondering, Ray Bundy was a character on the popular TV series Married With Children which aired probably a generation ago by now. I caught snippets of it from time to time. I thought he was funny in little bites, but I could never finish a whole meal of him.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Basic Assumption #7: Openness
Our seventh assumption is that you are open. You are going to accept the ideas of everyone there. Everyone is equally likely to be of benefit. All ideas are on the table. You will explore everything.
When you are open to new ideas, you hear more things. You get more opportunity. You learn more.
You may hear about an opportunity you never imagined existed. Maybe you sell refrigerators. You meet a man who wants to talk to you about his hobby, growing blueberries. It turns out that you love blueberries and would love to talk to him about growing them. Maybe there's an opportunity for you down the road.
If your sole action is identifying people who will buy a refrigerator, you will never have learned about this area which might turn into something for you far more interesting and lucrative than selling refrigerators. Maybe it won't. You have to be willing to try.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
When you are open to new ideas, you hear more things. You get more opportunity. You learn more.
You may hear about an opportunity you never imagined existed. Maybe you sell refrigerators. You meet a man who wants to talk to you about his hobby, growing blueberries. It turns out that you love blueberries and would love to talk to him about growing them. Maybe there's an opportunity for you down the road.
If your sole action is identifying people who will buy a refrigerator, you will never have learned about this area which might turn into something for you far more interesting and lucrative than selling refrigerators. Maybe it won't. You have to be willing to try.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Basic Assumption #6: Interesting-ness
Our sixth assumption is that you are interesting. You have things that attract people to you. Maybe you knit. Maybe you follow the Eagles. Maybe you're a CNN junkie. Maybe you like the theatre. Maybe Mozart is your favorite composer. Maybe you're the great grandson of John D. Rockefeller's great nephew. Maybe you have a shrine to Lady Di. Maybe you collect plastic objects. Maybe you like wrestling, or you were a Deadhead before Jerry Garcia went and died on you. Maybe you bowl, or like to play golf, or are a curling addict. Whatever it is, you have a cluster of things that make you interesting. Out there are people who find you interesting. Not everybody. Just a lot of them.
In my case I was a Realtor. I call myself a "recovering realtor." I have a Ph. D. I know about social network analysis. I know about history. I know about entrepreneurship. I have travelled. I have read and written books, both fiction and non-fiction. I play chess. I play string quartets. I know about health care. I have gray hair and a beard. I can play squash badly, golf worse, and tennis even worser. When the subject of golf comes up, I can talk about it because I played for a lot of years coming up, but when people ask me if I play, I say, "No, I gave it up for the good of the game." People find that funny and laugh which communicates that I have a good sense of humor (but don't ask my wife). I have two African-American adopted children. I have done community organizing. I blog. And so forth. I can talk intelligently on at least 8 subjects. People find me interesting. I put myself out there and they are interested. That's great. And I'm no genius. You can too. It just takes a little confidence, willingness, thought, and time.
If you don't think you're interesting, it's not that you're not interesting, it's that you don't feel confident about yourself and you don't trust yourself in a social situation. Drew Carey said he wanted to be a comedian but he didn't know any jokes. So he went to the library and started looking up books of jokes. That worked for him, and he's no genius. But he is funny.
My advice, get interesting. Act as though you are interesting, not egotistically, but as a confident person. Inventory your background, what you like, what you don't like, what you're good at, what you're not good at. You are a real person and you are presenting yourself as you are, warts and all. Craft a story about yourself with you as the main character.
If you find that nothing interests you, you're not trying hard enough. But if you truly are not interesting to anyone, become interested in something. If nothing comes to mind, just try something. Go to a movie. Go to a sporting event. Go to a concert. Go to the library and read a book. Go volunteer for a charitable organization for a day. I don't know.
This of designed to help you realize who you really are. As I said before, if you don't know, that's okay. Nobody has everything figured out. Everybody has unresolved issues. Even me, though even I find that hard to believe. Also as I said before, the you that you present has to flow from the you that you are.
If you're still unsure, go ask your friends what they find interesting about you. Write down what they say. Ask if you can talk to them later when you're farther along. If they're your friends they will be delighted to help you. If you don't have any friends, get some.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
In my case I was a Realtor. I call myself a "recovering realtor." I have a Ph. D. I know about social network analysis. I know about history. I know about entrepreneurship. I have travelled. I have read and written books, both fiction and non-fiction. I play chess. I play string quartets. I know about health care. I have gray hair and a beard. I can play squash badly, golf worse, and tennis even worser. When the subject of golf comes up, I can talk about it because I played for a lot of years coming up, but when people ask me if I play, I say, "No, I gave it up for the good of the game." People find that funny and laugh which communicates that I have a good sense of humor (but don't ask my wife). I have two African-American adopted children. I have done community organizing. I blog. And so forth. I can talk intelligently on at least 8 subjects. People find me interesting. I put myself out there and they are interested. That's great. And I'm no genius. You can too. It just takes a little confidence, willingness, thought, and time.
If you don't think you're interesting, it's not that you're not interesting, it's that you don't feel confident about yourself and you don't trust yourself in a social situation. Drew Carey said he wanted to be a comedian but he didn't know any jokes. So he went to the library and started looking up books of jokes. That worked for him, and he's no genius. But he is funny.
My advice, get interesting. Act as though you are interesting, not egotistically, but as a confident person. Inventory your background, what you like, what you don't like, what you're good at, what you're not good at. You are a real person and you are presenting yourself as you are, warts and all. Craft a story about yourself with you as the main character.
If you find that nothing interests you, you're not trying hard enough. But if you truly are not interesting to anyone, become interested in something. If nothing comes to mind, just try something. Go to a movie. Go to a sporting event. Go to a concert. Go to the library and read a book. Go volunteer for a charitable organization for a day. I don't know.
This of designed to help you realize who you really are. As I said before, if you don't know, that's okay. Nobody has everything figured out. Everybody has unresolved issues. Even me, though even I find that hard to believe. Also as I said before, the you that you present has to flow from the you that you are.
If you're still unsure, go ask your friends what they find interesting about you. Write down what they say. Ask if you can talk to them later when you're farther along. If they're your friends they will be delighted to help you. If you don't have any friends, get some.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Todd Duncan's Values Clarification Exercise.
Todd Duncan (Killing the Sale. The 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How to Avoid them. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2004, pp. 74-79) recommends you do this to bring out the reason why you were put on earth. Mine was to help people. He says you can go to the book's website, but it wasn't around last time I checked. This is a way you can begin to see if your actions are aligned with your intentions--first you understand your intentions. Then you have to examine your actions. They have to flow from your internal mission.
Step 1: Take a sheet of paper and write down the first ten things that are important to you, i.e. health, family, financial security, traveling, wealth, etc. Anything, just don't list more than 10. And make sure they're 10 different things. If they're sort of the same, combine them. If they're redundant cross one off and add another one.
Step 2: Rank them from top to bottom assigning the most important to #1 and the least important to #10. Then cross off #6 through #10. Then put a deadline by each one. For example, debt free by 2012.
Step 3: Take another sheet of paper and on it write down--
#1. Priority:
Vision Statement
Mission Statement.
Do this for each of the 5 you identified.
Step 4: Under each vision statement, write a vision statement that embodies how you see yourself when you've achieved that goal. If your goal is financial security, you're vision statement might be: "I live debt-free."
Step 5: Under each mission statement, write a statement of how you will achieve that vision, i.e. "I will put $10 in the bank every week."
Something like that. I just made it up. You'll have to do for yourself.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Step 1: Take a sheet of paper and write down the first ten things that are important to you, i.e. health, family, financial security, traveling, wealth, etc. Anything, just don't list more than 10. And make sure they're 10 different things. If they're sort of the same, combine them. If they're redundant cross one off and add another one.
Step 2: Rank them from top to bottom assigning the most important to #1 and the least important to #10. Then cross off #6 through #10. Then put a deadline by each one. For example, debt free by 2012.
Step 3: Take another sheet of paper and on it write down--
#1. Priority:
Vision Statement
Mission Statement.
Do this for each of the 5 you identified.
Step 4: Under each vision statement, write a vision statement that embodies how you see yourself when you've achieved that goal. If your goal is financial security, you're vision statement might be: "I live debt-free."
Step 5: Under each mission statement, write a statement of how you will achieve that vision, i.e. "I will put $10 in the bank every week."
Something like that. I just made it up. You'll have to do for yourself.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Friday, August 7, 2009
Basic Assumption #5: Authenticity
Our fifth assumption is that you will be authentic. You will be you. You are a real person and you are presenting yourself as you are, warts and all.
This of course requires you to find out who you really are. If you don't know, that's okay. Nobody has everything figured out. Everybody has unresolved issues. Even me, though even I find that hard to believe.
It's just that the you you present has to flow from the you that you are. What do you value? Who do you want to be? Who is the who that you are.
You can't be a successful connector if you approach networking events as platforms from which to spew forth all what you want to spew forth. You have to go there to communicate credibility, respect, and authenticity.
It doesn't mean you can't change. All of us grow and change as our lives move along. If we didn't we wouldn't be human. going to networking events is not networking.
How do you find this out? Go through some values clarification exercise. Go to my entrepreneur blog, referenced below, and look up what I've written on Todd Duncan.
I'll reproduce it here next time.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
This of course requires you to find out who you really are. If you don't know, that's okay. Nobody has everything figured out. Everybody has unresolved issues. Even me, though even I find that hard to believe.
It's just that the you you present has to flow from the you that you are. What do you value? Who do you want to be? Who is the who that you are.
You can't be a successful connector if you approach networking events as platforms from which to spew forth all what you want to spew forth. You have to go there to communicate credibility, respect, and authenticity.
It doesn't mean you can't change. All of us grow and change as our lives move along. If we didn't we wouldn't be human. going to networking events is not networking.
How do you find this out? Go through some values clarification exercise. Go to my entrepreneur blog, referenced below, and look up what I've written on Todd Duncan.
I'll reproduce it here next time.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Basic Assumption #4: Going to Networking Events is Not Networking
Our fourth assumption is that going to networking events is not networking.
You know lots of people who go to these events and come home frustrated. They think it ends there.
It doesn't.
Networking is not going to networking events. Going to networking events is one essential part of the process, though.
So go these events and collect cards. Talk to people. Find out what they do. Look at how they're dressed. Observe how they behave. Listen to what they say. Let them know who you are and what you do.
Collect cards and save them. It doesn't matter that they breed hyenas and you're the CFO of a major school bus manufacturer.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
You know lots of people who go to these events and come home frustrated. They think it ends there.
It doesn't.
Networking is not going to networking events. Going to networking events is one essential part of the process, though.
So go these events and collect cards. Talk to people. Find out what they do. Look at how they're dressed. Observe how they behave. Listen to what they say. Let them know who you are and what you do.
Collect cards and save them. It doesn't matter that they breed hyenas and you're the CFO of a major school bus manufacturer.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Basic Assumption #3: Generosity
The third assumption is that we connect with others out of a spirit of generosity. We want to help them before asking them for anything in return.
There was a movie from the 1990s I think, called Pay It Forward. It came out in the couple of years after Mad About You, one of my favorite TV programs of the time, when Helen Hunt was very popular and seemed to be in every movie that came out. She and Kevin Spacey, and the kid who also made the Sixth Sense.
Anyway, she played an alcoholic Mom with a jerk of an ex-husband who showed up every now and then promising Eden, then disappeared just as fast after abusing and beating both of them, leaving her in hell. Kevin Spacey was a burn victim and the kid's middle school teacher.
He talked about pay it forward in class and then gave the kids the assignment of paying three things forward, under the assumption that they would do acts of kindness. The movie then traced what the result of that was.
It's a little like that. Pay it forward by approaching others in a spirit of generosity and good will and you will receive riches beyond your wildest dreams.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
There was a movie from the 1990s I think, called Pay It Forward. It came out in the couple of years after Mad About You, one of my favorite TV programs of the time, when Helen Hunt was very popular and seemed to be in every movie that came out. She and Kevin Spacey, and the kid who also made the Sixth Sense.
Anyway, she played an alcoholic Mom with a jerk of an ex-husband who showed up every now and then promising Eden, then disappeared just as fast after abusing and beating both of them, leaving her in hell. Kevin Spacey was a burn victim and the kid's middle school teacher.
He talked about pay it forward in class and then gave the kids the assignment of paying three things forward, under the assumption that they would do acts of kindness. The movie then traced what the result of that was.
It's a little like that. Pay it forward by approaching others in a spirit of generosity and good will and you will receive riches beyond your wildest dreams.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing outlet, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Basic Assumption #2: Generating Referrals is Your Work
The second assumption, flowing from the first, is that generating referrals is your work.
I can't count the number of people who have said, I can't network because I have work to do. Well, I have news for those people. Unless you're a hermit vegetating in a cave, connecting is our work.
As Keith Ferrazzi said during a recent talk, it's with and through people that we accomplish things.
My first graduate school advisor said once, when we were discussing faculty unionizing, "I succeed by my wits," that is by his own efforts. Well, I didn't say so right then, because it would have been rude, I didn't think he was right then, and I still don't think he would be right, now.
He never succeeded by his wits alone, which is what he meant. He had people all along the way that helped him. Parents, professors, guidance counselors, mentors, etc. We are not alone.
No one succeeds by their wits alone.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
I can't count the number of people who have said, I can't network because I have work to do. Well, I have news for those people. Unless you're a hermit vegetating in a cave, connecting is our work.
As Keith Ferrazzi said during a recent talk, it's with and through people that we accomplish things.
My first graduate school advisor said once, when we were discussing faculty unionizing, "I succeed by my wits," that is by his own efforts. Well, I didn't say so right then, because it would have been rude, I didn't think he was right then, and I still don't think he would be right, now.
He never succeeded by his wits alone, which is what he meant. He had people all along the way that helped him. Parents, professors, guidance counselors, mentors, etc. We are not alone.
No one succeeds by their wits alone.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writers. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Basic Assumption #1: Your Business is Based on Referrals
The first assumption of referral Based Branding is that your business is based on referrals and word of mouth. America is basically a referral economy built on trust.
I suppose if you're Boeing, which sells jets to the federal government, maybe not. But just about everybody else has a referral based business. That is, the success of your business is based on people referring other people to you.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.The
I suppose if you're Boeing, which sells jets to the federal government, maybe not. But just about everybody else has a referral based business. That is, the success of your business is based on people referring other people to you.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.The
Friday, July 24, 2009
Generosity: Adam Smith was right!
We're working toward a theory of connecting that, if followed, will deliver more result than traditional networking approaches.
So far we have established networking as connecting, and the process guided by the mental metaphor of farming rather than hunting.
Adam Smith is widely quoted for the concept of the invisible hand. Many have interpreted this to justify their primal urges to acquire money and wealth. Greed is good, they think Smith said. Go ahead, steal as much as you can. Run over everybody in the process. Manipulate and abuse everyone around you to get what you want.
Here's what Smith, as quoted in Wikipedia, actually wrote:
What Smith actually meant was that people, acting in their own self interest, but from a spirit of generosity and good will, will actually do what is best for the whole society.
It doesn't say that greed is good. It says that people acting in their own interest can do the good of society.
What this means for us as connectors, is that we need to reach out to people with their good in mind. If we help them we help ourselves and we help everybody. If the invisible hand led us to do what is in the interest of others, we are acting in our own self-interest.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
So far we have established networking as connecting, and the process guided by the mental metaphor of farming rather than hunting.
Adam Smith is widely quoted for the concept of the invisible hand. Many have interpreted this to justify their primal urges to acquire money and wealth. Greed is good, they think Smith said. Go ahead, steal as much as you can. Run over everybody in the process. Manipulate and abuse everyone around you to get what you want.
Here's what Smith, as quoted in Wikipedia, actually wrote:
Many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention. Nor is it always the worse for the society that it was not part of it. By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it. I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good. It is an affectation, indeed, not very common among merchants, and very few words need be employed in dissuading them from it.Sorry, I couldn't find the page reference when I needed it, but you can go to the Wikipedia article and follow a link to the complete text.
What Smith actually meant was that people, acting in their own self interest, but from a spirit of generosity and good will, will actually do what is best for the whole society.
It doesn't say that greed is good. It says that people acting in their own interest can do the good of society.
What this means for us as connectors, is that we need to reach out to people with their good in mind. If we help them we help ourselves and we help everybody. If the invisible hand led us to do what is in the interest of others, we are acting in our own self-interest.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
A better metaphor: Farming.
There's a better metaphor than hunting. It's farming. Farming staking out the ground you will farm, it's deciding what to plant, it's preparing the soil, it's sowing the seeds, irrigating, nurturing, fertilizing, shaping, thinning, replanting if necessary, and finally reaping.
When you've done it well and worked hard, oh what delicious stuff you have reaped. You might even get some volunteers in there, plants that got dropped by a bird or seeds that came in with the wind and took root in the fertile soil you provided them, that you didn't expect but taste wonderful.
When you hunt, you manipulate and exploit. You take what nature has worked hard and you grab it and take it away. You don't give back. You don't improve the environment in which your enterprise lives.
When you farm you don't get food right away. You build a world in which your crops can flower and prosper, and you along with it. When you farm you realize the connections to the world around you and the connections between the elements of that world. When you connect, you build an enterprise. You develop people around you. You making them better.
Sure, if Peter finds a customer at his networking event, great. But if he doesn't no big deal. I wasn't the expectation anyway.
More about this next time.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
When you've done it well and worked hard, oh what delicious stuff you have reaped. You might even get some volunteers in there, plants that got dropped by a bird or seeds that came in with the wind and took root in the fertile soil you provided them, that you didn't expect but taste wonderful.
When you hunt, you manipulate and exploit. You take what nature has worked hard and you grab it and take it away. You don't give back. You don't improve the environment in which your enterprise lives.
When you farm you don't get food right away. You build a world in which your crops can flower and prosper, and you along with it. When you farm you realize the connections to the world around you and the connections between the elements of that world. When you connect, you build an enterprise. You develop people around you. You making them better.
Sure, if Peter finds a customer at his networking event, great. But if he doesn't no big deal. I wasn't the expectation anyway.
More about this next time.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Monday, July 20, 2009
Mental Metaphors Continued: Hunting
Based on my observations over nearly 30 years of attending networking events, the predominant mental metaphor which drive people to these events is a hunting mentality. Mental metaphors help us understand what we should be doing in various situations.
This metaphor has been hardwired into the oldest part of our brains. It's firmly attached in there by a thread of emotion that tells us, if you don't find food for today we will have to go hungry. It calls up the image of some fur-wearing, slack-jawed, dull-eyed, mangy hair looking humanoid, not unlike the cave men in the Geico commercials, launching a spear against a woolly mastodon more than 10 times his size.
Take an attendee at one of these meetings. Call him Peter. Peter is probably send there, if Peter works for a company, buy a hunter-oriented boss, call him Stanley, who has the same mental metaphor that defines what Peter should be doing as Peter does. Peter wants to find that customer in the room who will buy his widgets so he can eat. Peter could just as easily be Petra.
Peter arrives at the venue, parks, straightens his tie and smooths his suit, signs in and puts his name tag on. It could be one of those adhesive things that always come off after 30 minutes of handshaking or a pin-on that stays but puts a tiny hole in your suit coat, mounts his spear, or his cards, and girds for battle.
Peter sights a target, greets this person with a firm handshake, a smile, and good eye contact, just like he's supposed to, tells them what he does and how his product can help theirs, listens to his target's spiel, exchanges his card for the target's, and ends the conversation with something lame like "Well, if you ever need widgets, give me a call," and goes on to the next.
As the event closes, he reconciles himself to the fact that no one fell all over themselves to get his product and tries to figure out what he's going to tell Stanley in the morning when Stanley asks him, "Well, Peter, how did it go? Any sales? Any leads at least. You know that event cost us $200 and it would be nice to show management that we got something out of it."
Or, if Peter is self-employed, he's going through the same self-talk with the maniac he works for--himself.
What a nightmare. It doesn't have to be this way.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
This metaphor has been hardwired into the oldest part of our brains. It's firmly attached in there by a thread of emotion that tells us, if you don't find food for today we will have to go hungry. It calls up the image of some fur-wearing, slack-jawed, dull-eyed, mangy hair looking humanoid, not unlike the cave men in the Geico commercials, launching a spear against a woolly mastodon more than 10 times his size.
Take an attendee at one of these meetings. Call him Peter. Peter is probably send there, if Peter works for a company, buy a hunter-oriented boss, call him Stanley, who has the same mental metaphor that defines what Peter should be doing as Peter does. Peter wants to find that customer in the room who will buy his widgets so he can eat. Peter could just as easily be Petra.
Peter arrives at the venue, parks, straightens his tie and smooths his suit, signs in and puts his name tag on. It could be one of those adhesive things that always come off after 30 minutes of handshaking or a pin-on that stays but puts a tiny hole in your suit coat, mounts his spear, or his cards, and girds for battle.
Peter sights a target, greets this person with a firm handshake, a smile, and good eye contact, just like he's supposed to, tells them what he does and how his product can help theirs, listens to his target's spiel, exchanges his card for the target's, and ends the conversation with something lame like "Well, if you ever need widgets, give me a call," and goes on to the next.
As the event closes, he reconciles himself to the fact that no one fell all over themselves to get his product and tries to figure out what he's going to tell Stanley in the morning when Stanley asks him, "Well, Peter, how did it go? Any sales? Any leads at least. You know that event cost us $200 and it would be nice to show management that we got something out of it."
Or, if Peter is self-employed, he's going through the same self-talk with the maniac he works for--himself.
What a nightmare. It doesn't have to be this way.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Mental metaphors
Our mental metaphors describe, define, and control what we do. Metaphors are direct comparisons between two things without using "like" or "as."
If you use "like" or "and" it's a simile, not a metaphor. You may hear someone say about a young girl, "She's such a peach," or about a serial killer, "That guy is a monster." They're using metaphors. If they had said, "Her personality is like a peach," or, "It's almost as if the guy is some kind of monster or something," they would have been using similies. (Someone said a similie is a smile with two eyes in it.) Metaphors are much more powerful.
In both cases, the speakers don't think the girl she's talking about is big delicious fruit. Or that the man looks like Dr. Frankenstein's monster. Rather they're making comparisons to elucidate meaning. These are metaphors that people use to communicate how they feel toward another person's personality.
When we do things, we may not be aware of these metaphors. They don't say, they're going to do "X" because if forms with their mental metaphor. These things are unconscious. We might not even be aware of them, but they're there, and they're powerful, and we can figure them out when we look at the things that we do every day.
Too many people, when they go "networking" are using the wrong mental metaphor, and it guides them down the wrong path. I'll go into it more next time.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
If you use "like" or "and" it's a simile, not a metaphor. You may hear someone say about a young girl, "She's such a peach," or about a serial killer, "That guy is a monster." They're using metaphors. If they had said, "Her personality is like a peach," or, "It's almost as if the guy is some kind of monster or something," they would have been using similies. (Someone said a similie is a smile with two eyes in it.) Metaphors are much more powerful.
In both cases, the speakers don't think the girl she's talking about is big delicious fruit. Or that the man looks like Dr. Frankenstein's monster. Rather they're making comparisons to elucidate meaning. These are metaphors that people use to communicate how they feel toward another person's personality.
When we do things, we may not be aware of these metaphors. They don't say, they're going to do "X" because if forms with their mental metaphor. These things are unconscious. We might not even be aware of them, but they're there, and they're powerful, and we can figure them out when we look at the things that we do every day.
Too many people, when they go "networking" are using the wrong mental metaphor, and it guides them down the wrong path. I'll go into it more next time.
I'm trying to improve people's connecting. Is this helpful?
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my approach to writing. See www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Friday, July 17, 2009
It's all about Connecting
Networking, with Keith Ferrazzi, is a misnomer. It's been overused and overly abused. What we mean is really connecting. We're connecting with others to increase the space we occupy in the world. That's all for now.
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my writing go. For my ideas on writing go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
Connecting is the life's blood of all my professional activities. It makes them go. It informs my entrepreneurial strategy. For my ideas on entrepreneurship go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
It makes Your Stop for Real Estate , my real estate referral business, go. See www.yourstopforrealestate.blogspot.com.
It powers my writing go. For my ideas on writing go to www.kearneymusicschoolmurders.blogspot.com where you can read my mystery for free, download it for free or buy it from Amazon.com more cheaply than you can print it.
It fuels my publishing enterprise, By and for Writersgo. See www.byandforwriters.blogspot.com where you can get a poem or a short story published.For other ideas on entrepreneurship, go to www.hatman2.blogspot.com.
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