As I’ve been preparing the last few days for speaking at and attending Barkworld Expo this weekend, these are some of the things I’ve been doing.

Here are 3.5 things to consider:

1. Make sure you dress appropriately. You don’t get a second chance at a first impression! Enough said. Dress how you want others to perceive you and your business.

   (For women – If you are one of the types who is challenged when it comes to mixing and matching your clothes, I highly, highly urge you to sign up for a free account at Fashion-Ade. This site mixes and matches your clothes for you. That’s what I’m talking about! You get to build a custom virtual closet, which is SO easy as they have prepopulated items (and you can add more for custom items) and it mixes and matches for you based on the look you are going for!!)

2. Research attendeesThese days, you can find out a lot about an event such as who is organizing it and who is attending (if they utilized an online invitation).

   Google whomever it is you can find attending, or minimally the hosts. This makes having conversations much more interesting and disarms people who have their guard up when you’ve shown legitimate interest in them.

   Another strategy I use is to find them on Facebook or LinkedIn and see what people you have in common. You would be amazed as who you have in common with and sometimes that in itself is all it takes to get your foot in the door.

3. Set a goal. I cannot emphasize this enough. People go to events without a goal in mind and then wonder why nothing came out of it…

   - How can you hit a goal if you don’t have one set?

   - Why are you attending the event?

   - Who do you hope to meet?

   - What metric of success will you use to decide that the event was time well spent?

3.5 … Bring a pen!! To truly stand out among other networkers AND remember the details of a conversation, take notes on either a business card or notepad . This will show you to be an attentive listener and will help making follow-up much more personal. I can’t tell you how many people are surprised by my note-jotting and then compliment my attention to the conversation… Talk about a way to stand out.

Have you tried any of these tips?  What other tips do you have?

Many are going to events and having business meetings yet struggling with making solid connections or referrals because they can’t articulate this.. This is the foundation of successful referral partnerships. How can you establish mutually beneficial relationships with strategic alliances if neither of you knows how to help each other?

I found a great list of questions for determining who is your ideal client. (For the entire list by Bonnie Jo Davis with David Virtual Assistance, click here)

Four of those questions are:

Is his or her business located in their home?

What problems does this person have?

Where can you find him or her?

Does this person belong to any organization such as a trade association or volunteer group?

I’m noticing people are going to events where their competitors are… but they are NOT going to where their prospects are. And they think they don’t want to work with their competitors, because they don’t know how to truly leverage that relationship, and then wonder why aren’t they getting referrals or making money from the events they are attending… Here lies part of the problem.

Based on simply the 4 questions above, you should already be having some big AH-HA moments…

Case study:

• Let’s take someone who sells toner.
• They are probably going to events where they figure they should attend with other professionals such as Chamber functions or structured, general networking events.
• However, in those circles, they are bound to run into others who sell similar services (or know someone who does.)

I would then work with this person to figure these things out:

• Where can they go where they will meet less competitors?
• Where can they  meet people with the problems their clients have?

I’d suggest less mainstream events or or smaller events, such as town hall meetings, niche happy hours or targeted trade associations gatherings… You need to research to make sure that the people you are looking to meet will most likely be at this event. The idea is to maximize your networking efforts, not waste time.

On top of that, Mr./Ms. Toner could also think of what other people WORK with their prospect. Who can they form a  strategic alliance or referral partnerships with others who target that same demographic…

• In this case, accountants or bookkeepers would be a great alliance.
• They can also reach out to individuals who sell to schools, office managers or even government entities who already have relationships with the decision makers.
• I would also suggest they connect with people who help businesses cut overhead and reduce debt because they are probably scrutinizing every expense they have.. .

These are just some examples to get you thinking bigger… There are so many opportunities but if you don’t know how to let others know how they can help you or refer you to a good prospect or introduce you to a strategic alliance, how can they help you when you are unsure of how to help yourself?

Based on the four questions above, can YOU answer them? Share the answers in the comments below. You never know who may be reading the comments section and make a good introduction for you!

And it dawned on me that many new entrepreneurs rarely put health or self-care on their to-do lists and we overcommit ourselves to being… connected, either at a computer or a smartphone… but at WHAT COST?

So for those who find themselves either struggling with:

• going to the gym
• daily discipline
• those who THINK about taking care of themselves but really don’t
• and those who sometimes forget to make their health a priority (I’ll admit that I’m sometimes all of the above!!)…

…. here are a few tips to make it easier to take care of YOU…

Because, what good is success if you are don’t have your health?

10 min of physical activity 3 times a day is much easier than 30-45 minutes on a treadmill if you are having a hard time getting to the gym. Use an egg timer. Also, when in small chunks like this, it’s easier to get a sense of accomplishment. I like to either jog in place or do yoga. Now this is NOT this is a valid substitute for the health benefits of pursuing and maintaining an active lifestyle or being fit and healthy.. This is just for people who are struggling getting ANY physical activity into their business lives.

We’ve heard it before – our bodies have got to get water. I know, I know… BUT, let’s be honest – if you are not a big fan of drinking large quantities of water (like me!), try sipping 4 ounces of water every 30 minutes instead of 8oz of water 8 times a day. Try using a reminder on your computer or phone.

If you are constantly in front of a computer or desk, you are probably straining your neck forward and not moving for minutes or hours. Let’s be realistic now – many of us are seated online for large chunks of our day. Right now, stretch your neck to the right…….and try looking up at the ceiling, feel the stretch? Nice, eh? Next to the left. Try standing and stretching out your fingers and arms. How about your legs? Sometimes its amazing how achey my joints are when I realize I’ve been sitting for hours. What about you?

Again, something it seems people are not  eating frequent meals. This is important to our metabolism as well as our overall well-being. I like to snack on trail mix. While it’s not the BEST choice of a well balanced meal, at least I’m fueling my fire with something…

What suggestions do YOU have to make it easier to take better care of our bodies in this new… somewhat more sedentary and hyper-connected world?

Here are 4 helpful resources for you that I really enjoyed:

• 22 reasons to be healthy
• How to exercise while sitting at your computer
• The effects of sitting in front of your computer for too long… (great diagram)
• Stand up for your health – Physiologists and Microbiologists find link between sitting and poor health

What this is, however, is a post about BEYOND the how-to and more of the WHY…

For a business, it can be used for marketing and advertising and leveraged as a customer loyalty tool. I personally think it’s silly to not be using Foursquare to enhance one’s marketing but that’s just me… It’s free marketing, it’s useful, it’s timely and cultivates loyalty. An amazing amount of loyalty… I visited a coffee shop over 20 times to try to regain my “mayorship” which would yield me no benefits aside from the satisfaction of knowing I was “mayor”… Imagine the power if that coffee shop had some incentive to BE Mayor, like the current Starbucks campaign? But I digress…

In fact, Foursquare shares that these ways four ways it can be used for:

1. “Easy Tools to create engaging specials”
2. “Promote in-store specials”
3. “Real-time venue stats”
4. “Promote specials across the mobile experience.”

You can read more on these here. http://foursquare.com/businesses/

Here are the four ways that I use Foursquare.

1. Keep track of whereabouts BETWEEN appointments on the calendar… You would be amazed at how many things one does (or places we go to) between the scheduled morning meeting and afternoon meeting… Wouldn’t it be nice to know all the things you really  do each day?
2. Track my mileage - No matter how hard I try, I fail at consistently writing down my mileage… Now, I can track my whereabouts and have an actual, printable log of my calendar and addresses so that I can route my mileage for tax time using Mapquest or Google Maps. No more stressing about whether my calendar shows all the details I need.
3. Get tips on local do’s and don’ts. When you pull up Foursquare, you can see a list of places around you. Often, I will pull up the listing for a local restaurant or hotel and get very valuable, uncensored and genuine feedback, such as dishes to order or stay away from, warnings about busy days and other tips you might not know otherwise…
4. To facilitate chance encounters with my network. This one has been so valuable that I considered making it an entire post of it’s own. When you access Foursquare, you see where other people have checked in. If you are traveling, it shows if other people in your network have checked in at nearby locations… Almost every time,  I end up finding another person in my extended online network who is in the same city at the same time. This can sometimes turn a personal trip into a business trip if you can coordinate and have a legitimate business meeting. Also, I have found others in my network at the airports at the same time… as well as people at the same coffee shop. This helped facilitate a business meeting once where an upcoming speaker for my organization and I had been emailing back and forth over the course of the week to get together. I was working at a coffee shop and noticed he checked in! He had literally came in, ordered and left… but when I Saw the check-in, I contacted him immediately and he turned back and we got tohave our meeting right then and there…

Do you use Foursquare? How do you use it? If you don’t, what’s holding you back?

photo credit - DP Styles

Here are 7 ideas that you can do relatively quickly to maximize the next 10 minutes while having a profound impact. By doing them, you’ll nurture your network, build your brand, and help you maximize your time.

1 – Send a thank you to someone... it could be for a previous referral, introduction or just to thank them for being in your life. Make sure to include WHY you are thanking them.

2 – Introduce 2 (or 3, if you are feeling adventurous) people and make sure to include why you think they should be connected.

3 – Update your LinkedIn profile, whether it be with a new picture or expanding on your current services, or simply by updating your status bar. This will help you be top of mind with your contacts as this will appear in their updates news feed. (If you don’t use LinkedIn, now would be a great time to start. It’s very powerful!)

4 – Comment thoughtfully on a blog post written by someone in your community.

5 – Reach out to someone you’ve lost touch with and schedule a time to get caught up, such as an informal coffee. Email is great but pales in comparison to the value of meeting with someone in person.

6 – Reply to that email that you keep putting on the back burner… You know which one I’m talking about.

7 – Take your eyes away from the screen, look at the wall so that they can get a rest, stand up and STRETCH!!!!!!

Do you have any suggestions of things for me to include on my next list of 7? Do share!

• Wayne Sutton put it best – Always be charging. What electronics are you carrying that you can’t live without? Bring its charger!  I now travel with my iphone charger no matter what. This will help you in the long run by not having to panic over a dying phone or have you desperately seeking to borrow someone’s charger.
• Get an extended battery pack for your smartphone.… and take that charger with you, too. I use the Mophie Juice Pack Air. Based on how much you are doing with your smartphone, you will probably run out of juice at some point. Better safe than sorry. This has saved me and kept me connected on numerous occasions.
• Use Twitter, LinkedIn and other online forums to find people going to the same events or cities to maximize your trips. Reach out to them, connect ahead of time and make plans to meet. This helps create a sense of community so that when you arrive, you have friends… or at least new friends in the making.
• Foursquare is great way to track your whereabouts for tax reporting plus get tips at the same time. You can also see nearby places that are “trending” so in the pursuit of where to grab a bite to eat or where people are congregating, Foursquare makes it easy to find them.
• Carry a light 3-pronged extension cord and make instant friends wherever you go in search of power. You will know the people looking for power by those with eyes wandering up and down the walls in seek of an extra outlet. Reach out to them and offer that they share your cord – they’ll be shocked by your offer and you’ll instantly start chatting. This is a great trick for introverts.
• If you have the room, put a tennis ball in your bag. It’s GREAT for massaging aching arches after a long day of walking.
• Bring your own water bottle and healthy snacks to save on overpriced food. Trailmix is tasty but weighs more than you think and after a long day of walking, even a 2lb laptop will feel heavy on your shoulder.

This is just a handful of tips… If you are looking for more, here are some other tips I shared from my South by Southwest (SXSW) experience… There will be more in upcoming posts as well.

What tips help you save time, money and make friends? Please share your sage advice  below!

When one sees that iconic circular logo or a box that is pastel blue or anything with the repetitive LV monogramming on brown fabric, one often knows instantly what brand is being represented… And it creates a feeling, memory or other form of association.

And now, like it or not, right now you are a brand… You are 100% BRAND YOU. In fact, regardless of what you are selling, people are buying YOU first. And just like T & Co, Mercedes Benz and Louis Vuitton, you too can apply their branding approaches so that when people mention your name, see your name or see a color or logo, an intentional chain reaction occurs.

Here are 3 big brand strategies that solopreneurs, freelancers and small business owners  like you and I can apply to help us stand out in the marketplace.

1. Color Branding.

Tiffany and Company has ‘Tiffany Blue’.. And yes, it’s actually trademarked.

Louis Vuitton often utilizes the signature brown Damier and Monogram Canvas materials, both of which were first used in the late 19th century.

And it is no surprise that I like pink. What has happened as a result of the pink accents on my Twitter page, on my business cards and on my website is that when I meet people (or see others I know) and fail to wear pink, people almost feel betrayed. They say “I can’t believe you’re not wearing any pink.” Now, people in my network bring me pink items, such as a pen, or give me fun things like  hot pink silly putty from the promotional item company, Swag Club.

2. Customer Experience

All three of these brands have separated themselves from the competition by consisting providing a certain kind of a customer experience. Go into any location and you will be treated with an elevated sense of prestige because they know that you don’t judge a book by it’s cover. The same goes for the interactions you have with people in your network and strangers. If you constantly treat people with respect, intrigue and the willingness to help, they will sense this sentiment of generosity and openness and that will relay to how they recall you and your interaction. This is KEY when building your brand.

3. Know your ideal customer.

It’s so easy to market to everyone and anyone but if you were marketing to your ideal client, there is a greater likelihood of them buying… and that IS what you want, right?

Ask yourself:

What does your ideal client look like?

How much money do they make?

What are their pains and how can you solve this for them?

Where can you FIND your ideal clients?

These brands know who their target markets are, they know what they respond to and they will stop at nothing to maintain the level of quality and prestige that goes along with their brand so that when their ideal clients are ready to buy, they are there ready and willing to make them feel loved… and want to spend.

How can you take this information and apply it to brand YOU?

Take some time today to think about your color (or visual branding), your customer experience and your knowledge about your ideal client.

Are you really doing everything you can to stand out from your competition? Are you really going to the places where your ideal clients or are you waiting for them to find you?

What things do you do to brand yourself,  stand out from the competition and stay top of mind?

The ratio of of laptops, smartsphones and video cameras to people is staggering. I can’t believe were not creating mass amounts of radiation.

While I have yet to “learn” new things in the panels I attended, I’ve gathered some great soundbites that I can use in presentations but even more, I’ve made new and solidified existing friendships. This is what it’s ultimately about. Taking your online contacts and turning them into offline relationships. Those who know me know I’m totally in my element.

I have met some incredible people, such as Charl Pearce, a programmer with Microsoft, my very first friend after stepping out of the airport and taxi-buddy and Lindsay Burck with LAB and I’m rooming with two of the funniest people I’ve ever had in my life - Dina Riccabonno and Steph Lichtenstein. I Would share pictures but as I write, I am importing 3,060 pictures from the last year and a half back onto my Macbook Air so I cannot access those pictures. Therefore, I will save the narrative for another post.

Instead, I will post several observations that I had on day one… I am confident this list will grow with each day of this 5 day interactive media extravaganza.

Observations:

1 – Schedules are futile. You will go with the flow of the people you meet for the most part. It’s good however to have an idea of what panels and events are happening and what you’d like to see/hear in case you have the opportunity.

2 – Texting is much more reliable than Twitter. Make sure you get actual contact information and not just twitter handles.

3 – Bringing snacks and water bottle was a money and time saver.

4 – Write your Twitter handle on your nametag. I do it at all conferences and it has been very helpful in connecting with online friends and making new ones.

5 – Don’t be shy and just talk to people – that’s what most people are here for!

6 – Groupies are so 1990’s hairbands and boybands. Resist the urge to be a fawning fan and just be normal and have a normal conversation versus a praisefest.

7 – Going out at night is overrated! While it’s fun to say you were somewhere, it’s better if your feet and head feel great to take on the next day!! I struggled with this one yesterday feeling like I really “should” be out at the parties and reminded myself that I came for the panels and networking.. It’s hard to have meaningful interactions when the people you are talking to are drunk or you are yelling over the music.

7.5 - Bacon is the food of choice here in Austin. I thought I was getting chicken fingers and it turned out to be captain crunch coated chicken fingers in a bacon-inflused waffle cone with bacon guacamole. If you’re not a bacon addict, prepare yourself for it to be in very unexpected places. I saw someone eating chocolate covered bacon Thursday night at Frank where they proudly have a sign that says “PORK MILITIA” on the wall.

Moral of the story? Make sure you figure out what the preferred food is of the city you are going to so that 1 – you are in the know and 2 – can plan appropriately if it’s not your thing.

Are you a conference goer? What tips do you have?

But one thing is becoming scarily common -people who receive referrals, whether for business or strategic introductions, are ignoring a vital component of this process – and that is to show appreciation for the effort that someone put in to help YOU. Even more, which is shocking, overlooking the importance of saying (minimally) THANK YOU for providing revenue-generating referrals. Even if they haven’t generated revenue, the need to show gratitude still exists!

Referrals are an act of generosity. They are not obligatory.

Think about the last 6 months… Have you received any introductions to potential alliances? What about referrals? On the flipside, have you gone out of your way to introduce people? Have you intentionally looked to create profitable referrals between others?

And most importantly, when’s the last time you showed someone appreciation?

Now would be a good time to get caught up on thanking those who impacted your success. Remember, late is better than never because it isn’t just the thought that counts but letting people KNOW you appreciated it that does.

Here are 7 ways you can show appreciation:

1 – Saying Thank you

2 – A small gift as a token of gratitude such as a giftcard to someone’s favorite coffee shop or a Blockbuster card for a movie rental.

3 – Greeting Card

4 – Giving a referral back

5 – Providing a set of movie tickets

6- Offering to take someone out for a meal (depending on the value or impact of the referral)

7 – Sending someone a cookie or fruit basket. (remember, you ARE trying to show appreciation!)

What other suggestions do you have to creatively show appreciation?

Do you have any personal stories about appreciation (or the lack thereof?) Please share!