Networking Effectively by Scott Bradley

I ended up doing an interview with one of my Internet Marketing friends again, Lasse Rouhiainen, and we spoke about how you can use some of the facebook applications to help you build your business, and/or help you make those connections stronger through this powerful medium.

Here is a direct link to the interview I did with him: Link To Interview

Enjoy the interview and have a great week!

Have you ever been on an internet forum? How did you use it? Did you have much fun participating in the many topics and discussions at hand?

Utilizing the various internet forums to network is something I really enjoy doing. Not only is it a place to share ideas and talk about the industry you are in, but also it is a great place to meet targeted people in your particular niche.

I first heard about internet forums my sophomore year in high school, and used it initially to seek other people out to talk to. The forums that I first participated in were the Rich Dad Forums. Sure enough my first post was something around the lines of “Have A Screen Name?”

In the post I mentioned that I was looking to talk with other people who read Rich Dad Poor Dad. At the time I really had no idea I was “Networking” so to speak, but I really just wanted to talk with other people I could relate to.

I ended up finding someone, and met for coffee with him where we played Cashflow (The game created by Robert Kiyosaki) with all of his buddies from work. It was a great time. I still keep in touch with him today!

So fast forwarding these forums a couple years forward to today, I have a really cool story to share with you…

About 5 or so months ago I was in the Rich Dad Network Marketing Forums and saw a post from a person who was promoting some “Secret Program,” going along with “The Secret” movie. We went back and forth in the discussion and ended up connecting on Skype. He lived out of the country so we would intermittently connect with each other every so often due to the 6 hour time change.

After talking and getting to know each other a little more, I learned that my friend was an internet marketer, and had built other network marketing business’s in the past. We really had a great time speaking, and he shared with me some of the things he was doing to help him build his business.

Well…Just recently he started doing internet marketing courses to help other small business people grow their business using the internet. When he mentioned that, I said to him…check out facebook…It is a networking paradise! Initially, he didn’t listen to me, but after he started hearing from other internet marketers how powerful a networking tool it was, he came to me and asked me…

“Scott, you have been networking on facebook building great relationships with others, and also have been using it to help grow your business. I would like to do an internet podcast interview with you about Facebook, to help other small business owners experience the same benefits you are…using facebook.”

When he asked me, I was floored and excited all at the same time. Here was my friend who I met through a forum, got to know him over a 6 month period, and now he was going interview me about something I love using! It was great.

My friend who I met is named Lasse Rouhiainen. On his blog you can get some great FREE information on internet marketing as well as hear the audio interview that he did with me!

Because of meeting him through the forum, and with the relationship we have built, he is also looking to do more nitty gritty things for facebook with me, which will only help more and more people with their business.

Creating these win/win/win situations is awesome and can be achieved through the use of forums.

In tomorrow’s post I will share with you the steps you can take to start building relationships in forums on the internet!

Have you ever been at an event…someone asks for your business card…and you have to say…”I don’t have one?”…How did that make you feel? Unprofessional? Un-prepared? Frustrated?

For me I would personally feel a combination of all of those feelings because that is just the way I am.

When you think about it…your personal business card is the “Cherry On Top” to your personal brand. Why not take full advantage of the opportunity to leave your mark on the new person you just spoke with?

You now may be thinking three things…
1) Where can I get personal business cards for myself, and what should I put on them?
2) How can I effectively use these business cards to build my brand in the marketplace?
3) How do you effectively give out your business cards?

The Answers…
1) You can either get business cards professionally designed…OR…you can get them FOR FREE by going to http://www.VistaPrint.com
If you get your business cards professionally done be sure that it sticks out by being on nice cardstock paper with a flashy background. On the front of the business card be sure to have the usual information on the card…Name, Number, Blog Address, Website, E-mail…and then on the back of the card make the text “raised” so when you hand the card to someone they will feel the raised text and naturally turn it over. When they turn it over have the back split up with the things you do by saying…”Specializing in…______ _______ _______” This will be a great branding tool not only helping yourself build your brand, but your business as well.

If you want to get the FREE business cards by Vista Print…just pick the background that works best for you, and then do the best you can to put all of the information that you feel is important to go on the card…remember less is more.

2) You can use your business cards a myriad of ways!
-At networking events
-Career Fairs
-Parties
-Organizational Meetings in your local area
-Trade Shows
-As marketing tools if you create a “sizzle card” directing traffic to a phone number or website
-Professional seminars on real estate, stocks, network marketing, entrepreneurship

3) Now you may be thinking…Ok I have the card set up, I have the places to hand them out…but what is the most effective way to hand them out?

Most would think that at networking events you just go up to people and give them your card and walk away…

If you think about it…how effective is that? Why would you just go up to someone and give them a card without building some sort of rapport with them?…I don’t know about you but if I was on the receiving end of that…I would feel like I am being treated like a number…and people don’t like being treated as a number.

To effectively use your business card to help you and not hurt you here is what I would recommend.

1) Introduce yourself to the person you want to speak with. “Hello my name is Scott…What brought you to the event today?”
2) Ask them the questions that I have spoken about in other posts on “Networking Effectively”
3) Make some other conversation around the answers that you receive and share a little bit about yourself….BUT…don’t “barf” over your new friend with an overload of information.
4) Before ending the conversation politely ask. “Do you by chance have a card?” If they do say, “Great, here is mine! It has been nice talking with you.”

With the creation of Facebook and Myspace, it has completely revolutionized the online world. Everywhere you see web 2.0 companies are springing up everywhere.

With these new companies, it has provided a place where you virtually have the entire network at your fingertips.

Marketers abroad are starting to use these social networking sites to help grow their business, and build their network of like minded people.

Unfortunately, even though these sites are very powerful places of influence, it is a shame that we all have to battle SPAM. I have to say that I get about 2-3 spam messages a week having someone pitching a product or trying to get me into their network marketing deal. I am sure we have all been there and done that.

With that being said, that is not what this post is about. What I want to reflect on today is…”How can you leverage sites like these to truly build your network one quality person at a time?”

From my personal experience I have met some amazing people on facebook. Actually, Our last 3 speakers for the Boston College Entrepreneur Society, that I am president of, came from networking on facebook.

The first speaker we had, that I met on facebook, was Benoit Brookens. Benoit is a 20 year old CEO that started his web server hosting company at the age of 14. We had him come and speak to share his story. It was truly inspiring and it was great to finally meet such an amazing man! His company is called Dataracks. If you want to learn more about his business, to see how he can help you, you can visit his website at http://www.Dataracks.net. Aside from web server hosting he provides help to internet marketers with campaigns and such. I am planning to use his services down the road to help me grow my business.

The second speaker we had that I met on facebook was Johnathan Soares. Jonathan is a 22 year old CEO of his own Barbecue Sauce company called “Q Products.” His slogan is, “You can’t have the BB without the Q” He came and spoke a couple weeks ago and it was truly inspiring. His stories he had to share were so beneficial for all who attended the meeting. He talked about the importance of networking, and how staying committed, and putting it in Gods hands is what led him to his success. He stressed that when networking you have to “always keep in mind that you want to create win/win situations between you and the other person.” He started this business out of his dorm room senior year in college, and has grown it to a HUGE company. If you would like to see his website please visit http://www.QProductsInc.com

Our third speaker that I also met on facebook was Ben Casnocha. Ben is a 19 year old CEO that started his company at the age of 14. Ben’s company specializes in providing local governments with Customer Relationship Management software to help them manage their organizational needs. He is just about to launch his new book “My Startup Life” on May 18th. When he came to speak he shared how there are two paths in life…Either the “Think Different” path or the “Users Guide To Life” path. He elaborated that the path of the entrepreneur or “Think Different” path was one in which you were the creator of your own life, having a blank canvas only to create something that is so you, that no one else could relate to it. He further went on to say that “Entrepreneurship doesn’t just mean that you own a business, but rather is a way of thinking and living your life.” He stated that Entrepreneur’s, aside from some being business owners, are truly the CEO’s of their own life…regardless whatever path they CHOOSE to go down. He is one awesome guy and is worth getting to know. If you would like to learn more about Ben feel free to visit his website http://www.BenCasnocha.com

When I step back to examine the last three speakers we brought to the Entrepreneur Society, I had to pinch myself to think that I met these individuals on the internet through a social networking site. It blows my mind the kind of people that are in this world, and how they are virtually all at our fingertips using the social networking sites that Myspace and Facebook have created.

So you are probably thinking…Ok Scott…How did you meet these amazing individuals?

Well I am going to do my best to share with you what I have found to be most effective in networking on facebook.

Before I tell you I would like to let you know that it takes a lot of time, but if you decide to commit to the daily activities, you will be thanking me later!

Ok…Here it is…

1. The first thing I typically do is search out the groups that are in the field of whatever demographic I am after…They could be “Entrepreneurship, Network Marketing, Business, Money, Stocks, Investing, or Real Estate.” There are many more but for the sake of space I just want to give you the idea about how I do it.

2. I then go into the group, check it out, see if the mission statement and read the content on the group page. If I like what I see I join.

3. The next thing I do is open up the place where you can search the “members in the group” and start sending friend requests…

4. Now the key here is…most people just send a friend request, and more likely than not it is deleted because people know that people just add people to get them on their “friends” list so they can bombard them with mini-feed advertisements…I would like to make clear that, this is not the goal..and would like to HIGHLY discourage anyone who is attempting to do that. The KEY is when sending a friend request, you know how you can send a personalized message with the request on facebook, USE THAT! I can’t stress enough about how powerful that is.

5. When sending the friend request put a message in there saying, “Hi _____(their name) I saw you in the _____________(name of the group) and wanted to add you as a friend. I am a (_______) (entrepreneur/business person…etc) who likes networking with other like minded individuals. If you would like to talk feel free to IM me on my screen name (CaliforniaEagle). I hope you have a great day!

This is so powerful you don’t even know. The reason it is powerful is because
1. You are just sending this message personally to the person saying their NAME…not just some huge message that you generally send out.
2. You are edifying them that they are someone that is worth getting to know.
3. Are showing them that you have an interest in networking
4. Give them the freedom to contact you if they are interested in talking more.

I have to tell you…I have been at my computer at times and have received IM’s like this “Hi Scott, my name is (John) I got your friend request and wanted to contact you…whats up?”

From there the conversation can morph into anything. It is an awesome thing when that happens and is so well worth it in the long run.

Now one thing that you have to be aware of…is that it takes a lot of requests for this to happen…but…those that do come to the surface are awesome people.

After sending a message like that to Benoit Brookens, he immediately called me and introduced himself. We had an awesome conversation and said we will stay in touch…Well funny story…He ended up SAVING me right before the Christmas break…What happened was my entire windows operating system went down and I could only log into safe mode…I called up Benoit and said…”Um Benoit, I have a problem…can you help me…” He is like whats up? “I said..I am going to have to wipe my computer and need a place to store my files…he said “Scott that is what friends are for…this is what you need to do…”

He helped me upload my files on his servers…and then I bought a MAC…LOL Everything was safe and sound…

So to sum up this post…
The quality people are out there…You just have to find them, and take the time to do the little activities each and every day…before you know it you will have a massive network, like I have built up, and be able to synergistically create things with your network that you never thought were possible…that gets into creating win/win situations but that is a whole other post.