Image: BNI South Wales Launch Team & DJ Guy Griffiths (executive director)

Although I haven’t quite slotted Google+ into my Social Media tool-set as effectively as I should have yet, I am finding I use Google Hangout’s more and more.  For me this is proving to be a great fuel saver and technology permitting is as effective as face to face meetings.  Recently I used the hangout feature of Google+ to chat with my development team, speak with clients and just this morning we held our first Google Hangout for the BNI South Wales Launch Team.

There is a great use of technology here where the main video is by default the Hangout creator but it automatically switches to the video of the person speaking as soon as it detects their voice.  Holding these online video conferences is going to prove hugely popular for me going forward as I strive to keep fuel costs to a minimum and the saving on travelling time will be huge.

Whilst driving back from a training session I delivered today for BNI, I wondered about what fears and challenges people face when networking.

This came about from an example that was given by one of the members on how he had refused to deliver a 60 seconds (elevator pitch) for 9 months puerly due to finding it so difficult to speak in public.  He has now managed to get this up to 15 seconds and is still working on reaching 60 seconds one day.   If I remember back to my first ever networking event, I was a rambling mess trying to deliver my elevator pitch and I dont remember to this day what the heck I said.

I see many people quite happy to speak in public and others who just wish the floor would open up and swallow them.  But is this the only fear or challenge people have whilst networking?  I would love to know what your’s is !!

This is so true, we take so much for granted and expect everything now.  Very funny but true clip; enjoy:

Have you ever had someone come up to you in the street and try to sell you something or get you to answer a survey?  Did it get on your tit, the way they approached you?  It’s because we all have our different personalities and like to be treated and spoken to in a certain way.  My behavioural style is a go getter, so to sell to me you need to tell me as quickly as possible what the benefits are, what I get and how much it costs.  Don’t bother telling me a story, Im not interested.  However, this can be completely different for other people.  Some people love to read the fine print (examiners), others would like to know their purchase is benefiting someone else (people person).  But what happens if you are trying to sell to people from different countries ?

One amazing young Indian boy who sell’s peacock fans to tourists learned at a very young age, to sell to someone from another country you have to “speak the lingo”

Lingo Boy:

Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by it’s ability to climb a tree, it will live it’s whole life believing that it is stupid. {Albert Einstein}

(Credit for image: Unknown)

I have been working on my long term business and life Goals for the past year, making sure I am doing what I want to be doing.   I have made some major changes in my life in 2011 because I realised some of the business interests I had no longer interested me.   One of these was my IT business that I have run for 15 years.

I love this Video, I am sure Kenny Brooks will be a top Comedian one day but he does Door to Door very well.

Why does he do it so well -

• Practice, Practice, Practice
• Complete confidence in his product

I saw this video a little while ago on RudeTube (TV show) and stumbled across it again today.  There is a great lesson here – when doing presentations try to keep your emotions in check.  Or you will end up looking like this guy.

My favourite bit in this clip is when he quotes Einstein “His most favourite quote in the history of spoken word” – Then he gets it wrong –  What is so funny is as he goes back to his script he notices his error an whinces !!

For a long time I have always said I would hate to win the lottery.  For me making money and the challenge of doing business is what keeps me going, if I won the lottery and had no reason to get out of bed I would cease to exist – I cannot think of anything worse.

Whenever I talk about this with anyone I normally talk about how A List Celebrities and Highly Paid Sports People enjoy the money to begin with, get everything they need and then run out of “thrills” – thats when the problems start.  They turn to Drugs & Gambling for their thrills.  We only have to look at the likes of Charlie Sheen and his recent #Winning Antics to see how so much money can nearly kill you.   How many people do we know that have lots of money but still have lots of problems – their just different kinds of problems.

I have always said that they wont find happiness until they lose it all and then “find themselves” again. (if they survive)

Until today….

I completely buy into the philosophy of “givers gain” but I had never thought about it in a non business way before.  (that’s the entrepreneur in me)  But today I found the following video where Bill and Melinda Gates talk about the Gates Foundation where they use the squillions of dollars they have to Help Others in unfortunate circumstances.   I am certain the buzz and the thrill of helping eradicate diseases in 3rd world countries is much better than the next line of coke or gambling win.

A really great interview :

I stumbled upon a great Productivity Thought video today by Darren Rowse.  When we think about being more productive, we think about “doing more” squeezing more in to our already busy schedule. – Will that break our bag ?