Networking Results - That You Don't Expect

I often hear comments that they don't meet enough people at networking events or they don't get any business from them - therefore networking 'doesn't work'.

I enjoy networking for various reasons, not just for gaining business.

• It gets me out of the 'home office' environment.
• I get to meet like-minded people.
• I've developed a great support network.
• I have a great network of contacts for people that can service and support my business.
• I have a great network of contacts I can recommend to others.
• Sometimes the event location is enough reason to entice me out.

As Robert Clay mentioned in his excellent Marketing Wizdom blog - "only 2% of sales occur at a first meeting".  So the chances of attending a networking event and walking away with business is highly unlikely.  You need to get to know people, they need to get to know you and that isn't going to happen in just one conversation but it's the start.

You're also likely to find that the best conversations or results happen unexpectedly - often just as you're leaving.

• The random conversation you have while standing next to someone while retrieving your coat.
• The quick chat with someone you know, as you both leave.
• Passing conversations in the car park.
• The penny drops for someone you talk to, who you've known for years.
• The event you weren't going to attend but did so at the last minute.

Networking is not a one hit wonder - it's an ongoing part of your marketing activity.  It takes time to see results and get the full benefit.

M.A.D. Your Work/Business

This is the seventh in a series of M.A.D. Moments based on different areas of your life to inspire you or give you that boost at the start of the year.

What does your work and business mean to you?

• Do you enjoy the work/job that you do?
• How many hours do you spend at work – would you like to spend less?
• Do you work with people who respect and support you?
• What would you really like to doing if you weren’t doing your current job/business?

Do you live to work or work to live? As we spend approximately 50% of your waking hours at work – or possibly more if you work for yourself, you might as well enjoy it and make the most of the time you spend there, so that you actually get to spend more time on other areas of your life.

If you want to try something different, think about what it is you’d like to change. Do you need to change jobs or just your current position? Perhaps you can delegate the tasks you don’t enjoy or aren’t so good at to someone else, either within your team or think about employing someone else to do them.


Action:

What difference could you make to your work or business this week?

• Where could you make improvements to your business? Do you have the systems and resources in place to support you? Are you organised, are you enjoying what you’re doing? If you want to take your business up a gear – get yourself a mentor to motivate, support and challenge you.

• If you're looking for a new career then spend time thinking about what you want from your work. What do you value, need, want? What does work mean to you? How important is it in your life? What are you good at, what sort of work do you like to do? How could you create your perfect job?

• Sometimes living from day to day is fine but it helps if you have a plan in mind. Where do you want to be a year from now, three years from now? Set a goal “Next year, I want to be doing …..”.
  

How important is it in your life? Take a look at what’s working and what’s not and take steps towards making a difference.

Enjoy your work this week.

Online Business Success Secrets Revealed

Academy for Online Business Launches the “Online Business Success Secrets Revealed Teleseminar Series”

If you are considering escaping the rat race and setting up your own online business, or if you already run your own business and want to earn more from your efforts, this is a teleseminar series not to be missed. And even better, it’s FREE.

These are not fluffy sales pitches from people you’ve never heard of, the Academy for Online Business is giving you insider tips and tricks from real experts - many of them are people I know or have worked with. Top quality information and learning material from people who know what they are talking about.

I’ll be presenting a session on Time Management For Busy Entrepreneurs, so why not learn all the secrets to starting your own online business, completely free.

Find out all about it here: http://bit.ly/ceaob

How Much Money Are You Throwing Away?

We live in an everything now, instant gratification, disposable society.  We buy ready meals to save time.  We throw away things when we've had enough of them.  We spend out when we have money or just put it on the credit card when we don't.

According to the Love Food Hate Waste campaign we throw away on average £50 a month of uneaten food.  That's £600 a year - enough for a decent holiday.  We're more likely to do a big bulk shop once a week, rather than shopping fresh every few days - we don't have time.  We throw away perfectly edible food because they're past the Best Before, Display Until or Sell By dates.

We've all heard those stories of people who buy those bargain 'two whole chickens for £5' and then only eat the breast meat and throw the rest away!  Sheer madness!  (Never mind the quality of the chickens, how they've been raised and where they've come from.)

A roast chicken can provide at least three meals - Sunday - roast, Monday - cold chicken and salad or risotto, Tuesday - soup.  Freeze leftovers and use them later.

Here a few tips to save you time and money:

• Shop with a list - you'll get less distracted and avoid impulse spending.
• Plan your meals for the week - then buy for the meals you've planned, less waste.
• Use the freezer if you're not going to eat the food you've bought immediately.
• Have a good stock cupboard, so you have basic ingredients for several options.
• Check your fridge/freezer regularly so you know what's in there and it doesn't go off.
• Batch cook food - make double and freeze for later.
• Shop locally - buy fruit and veg every couple of days.  It has more flavour, few air miles and doesn't go off as quickly.

For other ways to save you hundreds of pounds a year and improve your money habits download the free Money Habits checklist.

M.A.D. Your Family & Friends

This is the sixth in my series of M.A.D. Moments based on different areas of your life, to inspire you or give you that boost at the start of the year.

What do your Family and Friends mean to you?

• How often do you see your parents?
• Do you have a circle of close friends?
• How often do you see members of your family?
• Do you have a good relationship with your children?
• Do you have a best friend who you see/speak to often?

This week is about focusing on the important people in our lives. When we're busy thinking about balancing our life and fitting everything in, we can often neglect those close to us because they're always there. I'm not saying we ignore them but maybe we don't always give them the attention we'd like to.

Maybe our closest friends have moved away, we don't see members of our family as often. “Oh, I'll call X next week...or meet X for lunch” and then next week becomes next month and then next year ....

Friendships have to be nurtured in order to survive. We all have friends that maybe we don’t see so often but with whom we can reconnect at any time and it’s as if we’ve never been apart.

Now it’s even easier to keep in touch with friends further afield.  Re-connect on Facebook.  Use Skype and MSN to stay in regular touch with friends you might not speak to otherwise.

Friends come and go during the course of lives. There will be friends that we’ve known since childhood and friends that we’ve know at different stages of our life and still keep with us. Make a point of having people around you who respect and support you.

Action:

What difference could you make to your Family & Friends this week?

• Who in your family haven't you spoken to in a while? Not just on a "Hi, how are you, OK fine..." type way but really genuinely wanted to know how they are.
• Make a point of phoning up someone you've been meaning to talk to but haven't quite got round to, or write that letter or email you've been meaning to send. Set aside time this week to spend with the important people in your life. Not just the time you would normally spend together, at the beginning or end of the day or helping the children with their schoolwork but something different.
• Re-evaluate your relationships with your friends. Do you have friends who don’t serve you or who always seem to want something from you? If your friends are worth knowing then make the effort to spend time or talk to them.

Enjoy time spent with your family and friends this week.

Multi-media Multi-tasking

You're on your computer, the TV or Radio is on in the background - you're tweeting, you're posting on Facebook, and surfing the internet.  If you're a teenager - you probably have a chat window open too AND you're texting on your mobile phone.  In fact many business owners are also likely to be on Skype and have their mobile phones to hand as part of their media-saturated working day.

According to a recent Ofcom Study 16-24 year olds are cramming 50% more media time into as many hours.  With the multi-media devices around, you're probably doing much of this on one device but are we becoming over saturated and reliant on all this media technology?

Laptops and wi-fi connections have given us the ability to roam and stay connected.  Smartphones enable us to be connected 24/7 wherever we are - at home or abroad.  Great for productivity and to maximise our time but know when to stop.

• Create boundaries around your time.
• Focus your attention on what's in front of you.
• Avoid having too many media distractions at any one time.
• Set time limits for how long you spend on certain media sites.

There's no harm in multi-tasking as long as more important things aren't being pushed to the sidelines as a result.  Enjoy the freedom and flexibility that technology brings but don't let it rule your life.

Check your multi-tasking habits - download this free Time Audit.

Holiday Time - Quiet Time?

It's a quiet time of year.  Many of you may find that your clients are away on holiday, so you haven't got as much work on or there's not as much business coming in because decision makers are away.  Here are a couple of things you can do:


Take stock of your business.  Rather than fill your time with 'busy tasks' - set aside a dedicated chunk of time to have a look at your business strategy.  (See my earlier post - Get Out Of Your Business.)

Look at your marketing strategy.  Don't let the grass grow under your feet just because it's quiet - ramp up your marketing.  Now might be a good time to get on with your marketing activity.

There's a third thing you can do - take some time off.

When your business is quiet, might also be a good time for you to relax.  You may already have planned some holiday time but rather than 'faff' around, trying to fill your time at work, give yourself a break.

Work a three day week - have two days off to enjoy yourself, relax, spend time with family and friends and then work really productively for three days.

M.A.D. Your Social Life & Having Fun

This is the fifth in a series of M.A.D. Moments based on different areas of your life to inspire you or give you that boost at the start of the year.

So how is your fun and social time?

• Do you spend your weekends catching up on chores?
• Would you like more time for socialising?
• Do you have interests and hobbies outside of work?
• Would you like to have more FUN in your life?

Sometimes we’re so busy working or getting on with our day-to-day lives that we don’t find time to have fun or we’re too tired at the end of a day’s commuting to think about going out. It’s important to take time out to relax and socialise, to do something different to enable you to distress and recharge your batteries.

What do you enjoy doing but perhaps haven’t done in a while? Whether this is meeting up with friends for a meal, going out to the cinema or theatre. Think about the fun you had when you were younger – even the simple things in life can be fun.


Action:

What difference could you make to your Fun Time this week?

• Do something you haven’t done in a while – that’s fun and sociable. Arrange a meal out with friends or invite them round for a social evening. If you’re not in the habit of socialising regularly, find time in each week to meet up with a friend just for a coffee or a meal and a chat.
• Take time out this week to relax and unwind. Find thirty minutes or maybe even an hour at the end of each day to do something just for you. Switch off totally from the outside world – that includes the phone and the TV, sit and listen to some music, read a book, soak in the bath or meditate.

When you are out having fun – allow yourself to totally enjoy what you’re doing and the people you’re with – don’t think about the other things you should be doing and distract yourself from the enjoyment.

Have fun this week.

How balanced is your life - take a look at the Life Balance Wheel.

Get Out Of Your Business

It's about time you did.  When you're running your own business it can be difficult to find the time to take a step back and give yourself a reality check.  This was something that came up in a couple of the conversations I had at this morning's Brighton Chamber Breakfast (@BrightonChamber).

If you're constantly busy, that's potentially great for business but is it a productive sort of busy or just a busy for the sake of it busy or are you just constantly in reactive mode?  Are you focused on the right things and is your time and effort going where it matters?

Set aside some time later today or within the next week, to really take a good look at your business.

• Are you where you want to be?
• What is your biggest challenge?
• Where would you like to be in the next six months?
• What do you want/need to change?
• Are you getting the best return on your investment of time/money/resources?

To make a start - check and compare your Time Habits with my FREE Time Audit it will help raise your awareness of where you need to focus and increase your Time ROI.

M.A.D. Your Personal Growth

This is the fourth in a series of M.A.D. Moments based on different areas of your life to inspire you or give you a boost at this time of the year.

What does personal growth mean to you?

• What new skill would you like to learn?
• Do you have an activity you’d like to try?
• What have you always wanted to do or learn?
• Do you have a habit you’d like to change?
• What are you tolerating in your life, work, environment?

We all have areas where we’d like to improve. In our work or business we probably spend time learning new skills, keeping on top of the latest development in regulations, products or technology but how often do we spend time on our personal development.

Perhaps you’d like to learn a new skill, drop an old habit that is no longer useful to you or develop a new interest. Most of the time we’re too busy rushing around from day to day to think about allowing time for ourselves. It can take most of our energy just to get out of the bed in the morning.


Action:

What difference could you make to your Personal Growth this week?

• List out at least 10 new activities or skills you’d like to learn – perhaps something you haven’t done since you were a child or something you’ve been meaning to do – paint, cook, learn to play golf, tennis, horse-ride, join a football/running club, learn a musical instrument … etc.

• What habits or behaviours would you like to change? Think of at least three habits that you’d like to change. What behaviour do you display that annoys you or that you know annoys others? Think of at least three things that would enhance your life if you did them differently.

Take some time this week to find the course, club or workshop that will give you your new skills and sign-up. Don’t put it off any longer. Decide to learn at least one new thing this year.

Developing new habits or behaviours takes longer than a week but at least become aware of what and when you’re doing it. Think about how you would to do it differently instead. If you want to create a new habit, give yourself time.

This week, pick one thing that you'd like to improve.

Queuing - How To Save Time

We're used to queueing but from a time perspective we can potentially waste a lot of time in queues (especially queueing traffic).  It's holiday season so the roads are packed with holiday makers which can add a significant amount of time to your journey.

My recent drive to visit friends in Somerset was one of the longest I've had.  I ended up in long queues of traffic at the various bottlenecks and roundabout nightmares along the way.

While you can't always avoid queues you can minimize their impact:

• Plan your visit to avoid peak times, so you don't spend so much time in queues.
• Order online and avoid some queues completely.
• Come back later when the queue may have gone down.
• When travelling - leave early or later.  Avoid peak commuter times.
• If you can, arrange meetings to avoid travelling in peak time.

If standing in queues is unavoidable - make the most of your static* time:

• Text or phone a friend
• Clear text messages
• Update your contacts
• Listen to a podcast
• Read - always have some reading material with you.
• Use it as thinking time - jot down notes and ideas about a problem, new project.

* By static I mean not moving - i.e. don't participate in any of these while driving.

Next time you're stuck in a queue - decide if standing waiting is the best use of your time or if there is something more productive you could be doing.

When you can't avoid a queue - just go with it.

M.A.D. Your Money

This is the third in a series of M.A.D. Moments based on different areas of your life to inspire you and motivate you into action.

What does Money mean to you?

• Do you spend more than you earn, less than you earn, about the same?
• Are money worries a source of stress?
• Is your credit card debt more than you can handle (be honest)?
• Do you manage to save on a regular basis.
• Do you spend for the long-term or short-term.

We could all benefit from improving our finances – unless we’re in the fortunate position of having more money than we know what to do with and have wisely invested for our future and old age, so have nothing to worry about.

Overspending may be something you do every now and then or it may be a pattern of behaviour that you need or would like to change.

What beliefs do you hold about money that affect your current money behaviours and habits? Our beliefs and spending habits develop in our childhood from our parents, society and religion and what they teach us about money. We may either take on the same behaviours or they may be totally different.

Action:

Here are three ideas to help you make a difference to your Money this week:

• Start a money diary. Write down everything that you spend this week, from the smallest amount to the biggest bill – every newspaper, coffee, snack bar, bus fare, car park fee. At the end of the week see how much you’ve spent and where.

• If you don’t know the numbers already, work out your monthly expenditure. Gather all your bank statements, credit card bills, household bills – everything that goes out and payslips, dividends, interest statement – anything that comes in.

• Reduce your outgoings. Are you getting the best rate on your car and house insurance? Check your bank statements – are you paying for things you no longer need.

Get a copy of my free Money Habits checklist and you'll get the first chapter of my More Month Than Money e-book.

See how much you can save this week.