Brenda's Blog

One of my industry friends, Matt Oliver (CDP/Social Media Consultant) was blogging live from the ITP (Internationally Trained Professionals) Conference on June 8/11.   A great idea and I enjoyed reading the posts when I could visit the Twitter ‘stream’ that day.

Meanwhile, another industry friend, Richard Lindfield (Facilitator/Business Coach/Mentor with Targeted Initiative for Older Workers and Working Beyond – Self Employment) compiled a list of all the links that were ‘tweeted’ on Twitter for that ‘hashtag’ (#itp2011).  He has kindly given me permission to share them with you:

http://alliescanada.ca/blog/cynthia-murphy/

http://www.pcrs.ca/baristas

http://www.newcomersuccess.ca/index.php/en/about-ciip/what-is-ciip

http://www.newcomersuccess.ca/index.php/en/about-ciip/who-is-eligible

http://www.newcomersuccess.ca/index.php/en/about-ciip

http://www.credentials.gc.ca/jobs/preparing-to-work.asp

http://www.issbc.org/jobs

http://www.sfu.ca/elc/about.php?section=instructors#top

http://twitter.com/#!/@SkillsConnectIP

http://www.ywcavan.org/content/Connect_to_Success_Mentorship_Program/343

http://www.tapintotalent.ca/

http://susanireland.com/

http://www.hrsdc.gc.ca/eng/workplaceskills/LES/index.shtml

http://www.tdcanadatrust.com/newtocanada/index.jsp

http://www.workingincanada.gc.ca/

Okay. So you’ve just come back from a networking event and have a pile of business cards you’ve collected from all the folks you’ve interacted with. Now what?

In the past, we might have input the information into our computer’s address book and emailed everyone a followup letter. And while this is a great idea, once the initial followup action has been taken, that’s where it may end for a number of your contacts. Let’s face it…. life is busy and out of sight means out of mind.

A more current method is to conduct a search for your new contacts on all the various social media sites you use: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, etc. (Personally, I check LinkedIn first, as that’s my “go to” professional site. From there, if the contact has a profile page, I can investigate further to see if they have a Twitter account, etc., it will usually be listed.) Of course, if they have their social media URLs listed on their business cards the searching is unnecessary, but due to space restraints often this just isn’t the case.

When requesting to add them to your network, be sure to write your followup letter within the body of your request. (One of my pet peeves is receiving LinkedIn requests that use the generic request sentence. Be creative and personal your message instead!)

Once connected, it’s easier to keep consistent communication with everyone. When you see your contact’s posts, you can comment, “retweet”, or “like”, and keep the dialogue going.

And while you’re networking online, don’t forget to connect with people of interest in the discussion groups or “twibes” you participate in.

Regarding business/calling cards: an interesting idea I ran into today is the “social trading card”. It uses smartphone scanner technology (QR), which brings people to a page with all your websites listed in one spot. An interesting innovation that you may want to consider purchasing for large networking events and conferences. I know I will! For details, see: https://www.meet-meme.com/

Happy networking!

Today I was watching an interesting TED Talk with Simon Sinek on The Power of Why and how this relates to marketing, branding, and so on. This can be easily applied to our career growth, networking, etc.

Here’s how he explained it:
* He drew a few circles on a flipchart: the outer circle being WHAT, the circle inside that being HOW, and the very inner circle being WHY. This diagram is called the Golden Circle.
* He mentioned that most people/companies operate from the outside in. (They talk about WHAT they do/make, HOW they do it, and lastly WHY they do it.)
* He explains how the best innovators instead do it in the reverse and work from the inside out.

(You can check it on the video at: http://www.startwithwhy.com/)

Here’s how it works:
* first the WHY: why you do what you do which includes: your purpose, cause or belief; driving motivation for action
* then the HOW: how you’re different, how you do it (how you deliver your “why”): strategies, principles, actions you take or environment in which you work best
* and lastly the WHAT: what you offer and/or do

You need to promote to and attract people who believe what we believe. People buy what you believe.

Interestingly enough, I was a call-in guest today on Career Success Radio, and a live example of the Golden Circle was used. Co-host Keith Keller FIRST asked author Karen Adamedes about what the inspiration was behind her book. In other words, what he first cared to know about was the WHY. A great real life example of how valuable this marketing perspective can be.

I thought about it and decided to give it a try with my own business…

* WHY I do what I do: I believe that people enjoy personal and professional growth and development if the process is one of self-discovery or re-discovery. I believe that we learn best when our minds are illuminated, when we feel inspired, when the learning is interactive and we can immediately integrate our learning into real life application for positive results.

* HOW: By facilitating a fun, dynamic, and experiential process. By delivering a level of service that is transparent and authentic, enthusiastic and engaging, personable and professional.

* WHAT: Powerful Personal Enrichment Workshops on a variety of topics: http://www.brendablackburn.com/training/race-training-topics.pdf

I think this is a great little exercise that you can use to aid in your own career. For example, whether you are exploring new careers, job searching, wanting career advancement, or strategizing for your business, you can use this WHY, HOW, WHAT model for your branding, marketing, promotion, and networking.

Please feel free to comment by sharing your examples of your WHY, HOW, WHAT!