Networking Nuggets from Client Connections
Helping You Connect With Confidence                            March 2011
 
 
Kath the Connector
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For people who celebrate St. Patrick's Day, the word most often associated with the day is luck (no, beer; no, luck...)  Whether our accomplishments come from "luck", "the Universe", or "damn hard work", oftentimes the good stuff that happens feels like a gift.

 

I'm so grateful to have a lot of powerful people in my life who are willing - even eager - to support, challenge, and celebrate with me.  Just this morning, my MasterMind buddies clinked glasses with me over a successful contract negotiation, two new clients, and a no-holds-barred, glowing testimonial.  They also encouraged me to be more consistent in one key business activity.  In other words, they had my back.

 

If you're feeling like you could use a few more people like this in your life, I hope the following Nuggets will give you some ideas on how to connect with them.

March's Top Tips
 purple triskele 
1. Create your own version of an editorial calendar.  If you've planned in advance what general topics you'll address in your e-newsletter, blogs, and so forth, it will make writing a lot easier and faster.

2.  Do you have raving fans?  If so, do you know exactly why they think you're wonderful?  You don't want to guess on something this vital.  Stuff your humility in a closet temporarily and ask for specifics of why they found your service so valuable - then share those kudos on your website, in your one-minute commercials, on your LinkedIn profile...

3.  We all have obvious competitors and less-obvious ones.  For example, a builder is not just in competition with other contractors; s/he is also up against the do-it-yourselfers of the world.  As an on-top-of-it networker, you get to be prepared to address your advantages over all other service providers who might otherwise snarf up your prospective clients.
How's This for ANTI-Success? 

 skull and crossbones  

I encountered a person while networking who mentioned "presentation-skill coaching" as one of the services offered.  However, their own presentation style was hesitant and lacking in confidence.  Can you say "mental whiplash"?  It's crucial that your walk and your talk support each other; otherwise, you're dead in the water.
Really Good Resources
 light bulb
1. Is your head about to explode from trying to figure out just how and why social media will help your business?  Let Tai Goodwin save your sanity.  Tai (pronounced "tie") offers targeted, strategic strategies so you can enjoy "practical, profitable social media".  She even makes people like me - who tend to have an armed-truce kind of relationship with technology - more comfortable with these often bewildering business tools.
  
2.  Do you feel like you're stalled when it comes to improving your performance?  Does it seem like you keep practicing and working to improve your skills, but you just don't see the improvement?  Welcome to the club.  George Leonard, in his book Mastery, explains that the journey to mastering any skill - whether networking, using social media effectively, or anything else - involves periods of obvious improvement followed by an apparent plateau.  The true masters learn to love the plateau and know that, appearances to the contrary, they are improving.
  
3.  If you'd like to explore one man's fascinating contention that accumulating great wealth in business is actually a spiritual act, check out The Science of Getting Rich, by Wallace Wattles.  Originally published in 1910, this book has been described as "the secret behind The Secret."
Client Connections in Action

 

Netiquette:  The Etiquette of Effective Business Networking for  Minneapolis Community and Technical College Career Services, 11:30 a.m., 4/13/11.

 

Customized Q & A:  A Freewheeling Discussion of Networking Issues Near and Dear to Your Heart for Minnesota Women in Networking, St. Paul Downtowner Grill,  8 a.m., 5/10/11.

 

Thanks to my friend Flickr.

 

Here are this month's heroes who graciously allowed me to use their images, posted in the Creative Commons area of Flickr, in this issue of Networking Nuggets:
purple triskele by shiftercat
skull and crossbones by Simon Strandgaard
light bulb by aloshbennett
 

I had a hard time deciding which of the following quotes about luck I liked best, so I decided not to decide.  I hope you enjoy them all.

 

Go and wake up your luck. - Persian Saying

 

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work, the more I have of it. - Thomas Jefferson

 

Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent. - Langston Coleman

 

Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit. - R.E. Shay

 

 Wishing you a year of dazzling success,

 


Kathleen
Client Connections
612-716-8239 

 

Life is good.