The Alternative Broadcasting Online News Station

#1 - Low-Unit Cost
When picking a Network Company to represent, study carefully its product or Products. Is the unit cost competitive to similar products offered through other Networks and through normal Marketing methods.

#2 - Is the Product Highly Consumable?

To have a successful residual income, the product needs to be consumable. This simply means people order the product month after month, and you continue to receive commissions based on their purchases. Study carefully the Companies retention rate. If you have to replace 50-60% of your business every couple of months, you will have a hard time developing a High level Residual Income

#3 -Does the Company Control the Uniqueness of Product?

Look for a Product or Product that is not in everybody’s Sales Kit. You want the Product to possess certain exclusivity, a product that can not be purchased at the Corner market or Box Store. Is the product patented or are their manufacturing nuances that make it difficult for the total product to be easily Duplicated.

#4 - Is there an Exemplary Management Team?

In order to feel confident of the staying Power of the Company and Product you chose, you need to study and understand the business Structure and the Management Team. Is management familiar with the uniqueness of Network Marketing or are they comprised of Trophy executives hired for their Name recognition or Notoriety in un-related fields. A Company with staying power needs a team who has experience in international, multi-million dollar businesses. People who have done this before, and are knowledgeable in multiple areas.

#5 - Realistic Profits for the Company & Distributors Available?

Study the financial position of the Company. Be cautious if figures are not available.
What is the Company debt ratio? Have they changed marketing plans several times?
Is the Compensation Plan easy to understand? Is there a big discrepancy between actual Sales Dollar Volume and Credited Volume? Is 100% of commission percentage actually paid, or is there a lot of breakage? Look for Companies that pay 100% of stated commission and are on sound financial footing. Also be wary of Plans that require large up-front costs, and/or require carrying large Inventory

#6 - Timing, Timing, Timing

Is the Product and/or concept, in tune with Current Trends or better yet, are they a little ahead of the curve. Are you choosing a business that is on the cutting edge of a growing Market? Think of the rapidly expanding Global position and where can this Company fit in the Global Economy.

#7 -Can the Presentation be Simple and is it Highly Duplicable?

Can the presentation be made quickly, easily and understandably? The secret in Duplication is that almost anyone, with strong desire to succeed, can be successful. Is the system cross generational? Is it Non-gender specific? Are the requirements for Start-up easily affordable to large cross section of the Global population?

If the Company or Companies can stand up to 6-7 of these criteria, you have a very good chance for high degree of Success. If only 4-5 apply, I guarantee you will work too hard to gain too little, and if only 3 or less fit, run for the hills and close your check book.

Success in Network Marketing needs the above criteria for the Product and Company;
But more importantly it needs the individual to be willing to change their lifestyle and thought process.

We will discuss that in a future Article.

Chuck & Shirley Bartok
Team Health2Wealth
877-864-2743 toll free

Chuck Bartok has successfully Direct Marketed Tangible and Intangible products for over 40 years. He has enjoyed bulding successful Sales Teams and is spending most of his time sharing his experience with those Willing to focus on Networking and enjoy the Lifestyle offered the successful networker.
He can be reached at sbart@teamhealth2wealth.com.

Are you ready to get started with your job search now that the New Year is here? Don’t know where to start? Wondering where to find the hidden job market? One of the best ways to get off to a good start, of course, is networking. However, that’s going to take a lot of time; time that you may not have due to the need to produce income as soon as possible. How about networking on paper?

Have you sent out letters to all of your contacts letting them know you are currently in search of a new job? If not, this is a great place to start. It will also take a little time, but you can save some time by composing a generic networking letter that can be edited to target or speak directly to each recipient. This form of networking is commonplace and highly acceptable in the business world.

The object of a networking letter is NOT to ask for a job from the recipient. It is to inform the recipient that you are currently in search of a new job and a few details of what you are looking for in a job. Include highlights of your strengths and accomplishments that will enable the recipient to better describe you and what you have to offer. If anyone in their network mentions they have a position available in your area of expertise, your contact will know what to tell them about you when they refer their contact to you.

Close the letter with thanks to your contact for keeping you in mind for any openings they may be aware of or become aware of in the future. You might also consider requesting they send you the latest information regarding their career. Create a file for your contacts and if any respond with information about their career keep it on file for future reference. You will then be in a position to return the favor should you come across something that may be of interest to them.

A generic networking letter should be kept in your career portfolio. With each step in your career you can update it to include highlights of new skills, continuing education, accomplishments, etc., just as you do your resume. It will also serve as a base on which to build your cover letter whenever you respond to a job posting.

So, start composing your letter now while the content is running through your mind after reading this posting which, hopefully, sparked ideas for you.

Angela Betts is a member of NRWA and has over 8 years of experience writing targeted, compelling resumes that will open doors to a world of new opportunities for you. Email Angela at info@resumeritr.com or call 501-467-8768 for a FREE resume critique and to work one-on-one with Angela to develop your resume. Sign up for the FREE Career and Job Search Tips Newsletter Visit http://www.careerresumepro.com for more information.

You have permission to publish this article electronically or in print, free of charge, as long as the bylines are included. Please email a courtesy copy to info@resumeritr.com.

A home based business forum can provide valuable insight into work from home opportunities. It is comprised of members who have experience in working and earning money from home. The forum members can give tips for how to make a successful home based business venture, tell you what to avoid and how to work more efficiently. A forum can also give you valuable advertising opportunities to get your product noticed.

A home based business forum will provide users great tips on the ins and outs of how to make the business successful. It can give you information on how to effectively work and what to avoid. Because the members already have experience, their comments can ease the troubles you might find when developing your business. All new ventures can be difficult when starting but there are particular issues associated with working from home. Allow the members of a forum to assist you in smoothing the process of building your home based business.

A community forum will also provide information on the scams that are present on the Internet. Many sites will offer opportunities that may seem too good to be true and they probably are. A forum can provide valuable information from experienced members before investing money in something you may think is a scam. Members will likely have personal experience in these and can tell you what to avoid. Remember that if it sounds too good to be true, it likely is.

Use a home based business forum to screen potential opportunities. There are many successful business ventures that can be worthwhile. The members of the business forum can give you advice on the most lucrative work from home opportunities available. Ask questions about the amount of time and money they invest and the return on their investment. Choose the opportunity that has the highest success rate and the one that interests you the most.

Home based business forum members can also give advice on how to be more efficient workers. Because working in a home based business has its own unique issues, members of the forum can share tips on efficiency, time management and organization to help you optimize your work procedures. Many forum members have families and varying time commitments. In order to succeed, they have to make the most of their available time at work. You can benefit from their experiences.

You may also use a home based business forum to network with your peers or for related services. You will be able to outsource functions to trusted people and market your own products. Advertising on a forum will help attract potential investors into your own home based business. People browsing a forum dedicated to home based business are already interested and you can make your prospect stand out.

Use a home based business forum as a resource for knowledge and for advertising. You can get advertising and marketing tips as well as efficiency advice. Being active in a home based business forum will help you succeed in your own venture and will also help those starting out with their ideas.

He has been a successful online business owner since 2003. He is also owner of http://www.ezymoneyathome.com/forum/phpBB2/index.php, http://www.sheetmusicweb.com, and http://www.travelinsurancedot.com

If you need help with a homebased business contact Kevin at ezymoneyathome@yahoo.ca

Copyright 2006 Red Ladder, Inc.

As a Consultant, I attend a lot of networking events, industry association programs, and one-on-one meetings for breakfast, coffee or other food-related events. Whenever I network or attend events, I always tell people that it was worth my time and money if I gained just one creative idea or contact from the experience. This past month I really put that concept to the test by attending numerous networking meetings, including one tele-networking event!

Here are a few nuggets that I picked up as I networked my way through the past month.

1. Be Bold! The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis recently featured motivational speaker Ann Ulrich, who said, “We create our own possibilities for success by boldly creating opportunity from possibility.” According to Ann, combine possibility with perseverance and professionalism and you have your own personalized recipe for success. How do you create your own possibilities? By being bold of course.

2. Think Big. Sandra Wakefield, an advocate of Brilliant Living (her TV program bears that name), is also an advocate of brilliant networking. She recently brought together a group of like-minded women with the intent of connecting them with an organization that could help make their business goals and personal dreams come true. Not only did she inspire these women to think big she inspired them to think about how taking their businesses to the million dollar (or more!) level. Now that’s thinking big.

3. Tell Your Stories. Tom Bengtson, owner, publisher and editor of Northwestern Financial Review, has been in the industry long enough to know what connects a writer to the reader or a speaker to the audience: personal stories. He encouraged me to share my own personal stories in my writing and my speaking engagements. According to Tom, “We learn something about the person who shares their stories, and there is value in that. But the real reason to share your stories is to learn something about yourself.” The message? Sometimes the best lessons in life we teach ourselves.

4. Develop a “kitchen cabinet.” Erin Dady works closely with aspiring women political candidates. A panelist at the recent Joint Dinner of Women’s Professional Associations, Erin shared some advice that highlighted the importance of having a trusted group of advisors on your team that she called, “your kitchen cabinet.” These were the trusted men and women that you surround yourself with around your kitchen table. This powerful network is a key success factor when running for office. It can also be the key to success if you are climbing the corporate ladder (think mentors) or a growing a successful small business (think advisory board). Net, net, regardless of what you call them, no woman should be without the equivalent of a powerful “kitchen cabinet.”

5. Filter Advice. Judge Susan Burke, recent panelist at the Joint Dinner of Women’s Professional Associations, spoke about her recent experience in running for public office. In the early stages, every person she encountered (including her boss, husband and parents) gave her a list of reasons why she shouldn’t run for office. That being the case, what finally compelled her to run for office? “I learned to beware advice from people who have a vested interest in the outcome,” stated Judge Burke. The lesson? Seek advice but ultimately you need to make the final decision.

This past month I was lucky enough to obtain the five great nuggets I shared with you above. To recap: don’t be afraid to be bold, think big, or tell your stories. But during the process, remember to surround yourself with trusted advisors but be sure to filter any advice you receive. Not bad for a month’s worth of networking. Don’t you agree?

Regina Barr is a management consultant and speaker who helps companies develop strategies to attract, develop and retain women leaders. Sign up for her FREE Ezine, Developing People…Inspiring Success at www.RedLadder.com .

If you walk into your local bookstore and pick up any random title on interpersonal communication, the majority of the books will simply remind you to “always be approachable.”

Wow, you think, thanks for the advice.

But when you walk into a room full of strangers, attend a national conference or start a new job, that advice doesn’t help maximize your approachability.

In my book, The Power of Approachability, my goal was to help the reader change his or her paradigm of communication and think of every interaction – big or small, online or off – in terms of approachability.

Now, as the research continues, I’ve created a new model. It’s called The Approachability Indicator™. For the past five years, I’ve examined thousands of case studies, scientific journals, books, interviews, surveys and articles on what the world thinks approachability means. And although the research showed that various disciplines and people viewed the idea differently, there were several fascinating commonalities among all the sources.

This system will teach you what approachability is, why it’s critical to successful communication, and it will provide you with concrete techniques to MAXIMIZE it.

To begin, the word “approachability” derives from the Latin verb apropiare, which means “to come nearer to.” Therefore, approachability is a two way street. And the model represents both inbound and outbound channels. Outbound, or proactive approachability, is stepping onto someone else’s front porch. It’s about being bold. It’s about breaking the silence. And it’s about taking initiative. Inbound, or reactive approachability, is welcoming others onto your front porch. It’s about openness. It’s about availability. And it’s about making yourself accessible to others.

All types of approachability fall into one of seven categories. (To see a diagram of The Approachability Indicator™, as used in my workshops and seminars, see the contact information below.)

As you read the list below, each section will give you several techniques to help MAXIMIZE it!

Building Social Capital
Willingness to develop new relationships

1) Acknowledge people you know
2) Welcome new business/personal relationships with various types of people
3) Network for the purpose of mutually valuable relationships, not sales
4) Become easily engaged by friends and strangers alike
5) Maintain the confidence to talk to high level professionals
6) Learn to enjoy meeting new people
7) Constantly enlarge your network
Make eye contact, even if you don’t know someone

What You Say
Dynamics of conversation

1. Patiently allow others to interrupt you for conversational clarity
2. Leave a conversation making your partner feel good about himself
3. Make sure every person in the group is involved in the conversation
4. Allow people to finish jokes, even if you’re heard them a million times
5. Break the uncomfortable silence when nobody else will
6. Still be friendly to others, even if you’re in a bad mood
7. Change the subject when someone else feels uncomfortable
8. Be sensitive to other people’s communication apprehension
9. Give people an experience, not just a conversation

What You Don’t Say
Non-verbal behaviors

1. You have two ears and one mouth – listen and talk accordingly
2. Use gestures when you talk
3. Wear clothes that make you look and feel comfortable
4. Give high-fives and hugs when appropriate
5. Vary your vocal inflection when you talk
6. Look ahead when you’re walking, not at the ground
7. Smile when introduced to someone
8. Smile when you say goodbye to someone
9. Smile when you answer the phone
10. Keep your arms uncrossed, even if it’s cold
11. Use adequate pauses during conversation, instead of talking for the sake of talking

Keeping It Real
Authentic personality

1. Inspire others instead of impress them
2. Become the world’s expert on yourself
3. Show others that you enjoy what you do
4. Be confident enough to be humble
5. Put your personality into everything you do and say
6. Have fun at work every day
7. Quickly make new people feel like they’ve known you for years
8. Be known by many people at your work, organization or faith group
9. Admit when you’re wrong, don’t know, or when you’ve screwed up
10. Be someone whom others “could tell anything”

Drop Me A Line
Easily reached

1. Return phone calls and emails within 24 hours
2. Carry several business cards in your bag, car or wallet
3. Avoid Hotmail, AOL or Yahoo for business transactions
4. Maintain a simple, easy-to-type, easy-to-remember email
5. Check your email at least three times a day
6. Offer various methods of contact (email, phone, fax, in-person, etc.)
7. Read emails aloud before sending them

PHYSICAL Availability
Openness of personal space

1. Greet others, even if you’re not designated as a “greeter”
2. Stop what you’re doing to address someone who comes to you
3. Seek out the first timers at meetings and parties
4. Talk to people before and after meetings, events, programs
5. Go out of your way to sit with people you don’t know
6. Do things that “aren’t your job” if it makes others more comfortable
7. Share travel plans with people who might need to get a hold of you
8. Be accessible outside of group situations for people who are shy in front of others

PERSONAL Availability
Openness of mind and heart

1. Make every encounter with another person feel valued
2. Find the answers to questions you don’t know instead of “faking it”
3. Address both trivial and serious problems of people who come to you
4. Receive criticism without taking it personally
5. Give criticism without sounding harsh
6. Listen to other people’s viewpoints and ideas, even if you don’t agree with them
7. Maintain openness, even about uncomfortable topics
8. Keep other people’s secrets
9. Be a boss, friend, co-worker, colleague AND/OR subordinate

This model also revolves around five benefits of maximum approachability. These factors answer the question: Why is approachability so important?

The first is opportunity. With strangers, you never know whom you’ll meet. With acquaintances, friends or family, you never know what you’ll learn. And with people in general, you never know how it’ll reciprocate. But you never will know until you take that first step. In other words, “you can’t win if you don’t play,” “to grab the fruit you must go out on a limb,” “the turtle only makes progress when he sticks his neck out,” and the like.

The second benefit is confidence. When people perceive you as approachable, they are confident they can bring their issues, ideas and true selves to you. And when you equip yourself with the techniques and tips for starting, maintaining and closing conversations, it will reassure your own ability to become and UNFORGETTABLE communicator.

The third benefit of approachability is permission. Because we live in a fast paced, fear based culture, we need to inform others that it’s ok to communicate. According to interpersonal communication textbooks, humans engage with each for five reasons: to inquire, to relate, to play, to help or to manage. Still, none of those motivators can be carried out without permission.

The next benefit is comfort, and it is absolutely essential to approachability. From remembering names to open body language to appropriate topics of discussion, comfort is king. And if you want to assure that co-workers, clients, friends, family – even strangers – can approach you AND be approached by you, they have to be comfortable. And so do you.

Lastly, there’s trust; and it’s the summation of opportunity, confidence, permission and comfort. Imagine you’ve got a flat tire in the middle of nowhere. Your cell phone has no service. You’re stuck! So, you walk into town seeking help. About an hour later you come across two houses on opposite sides of the road. One is dark, deserted and dilapidated. The other has its lights on and a family sitting out on the front porch.

Which house would you choose?

99% of the people I ask this question choose the second house because it exudes opportunity. They’re confident the family is friendly and they’re comfortable saying hello to them. Ultimately, the front porch gives them permission to step up and trust that the strangers be willing to help them out of a bind.

That’s approachability.

(To see an image of The Approachability Indicator™, see Scott’s website listed below)

© 2005 All Rights Reserved.

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Scott Ginsberg is a professional speaker, “The World’s Foremost Expert on Nametags” and the author of HELLO my name is Scott and The Power of Approachability. He helps people MAXIMIZE their approachability and become UNFORGETTABLE communicators - one conversation at a time. For more information contact Front Porch Productions at
http://www.hellomynameisscott.com

Not all dot-com dreams died when the Internet stock bubble burst.

Amazon.com, the king of the dot-com era, is keeping some of them alive in 2005 inside a small office on Capitol Hill.

Light floods into a sparse whitewashed room above a yoga studio, where former Amazon director Josh Petersen and his cohorts sit around a large table plugging away on laptops. This is home to the Robot Co-op, a tiny company owned by the online retail giant.

The seven-member group has created a Web community based on sharing personal goals and dreams with a worldwide audience.

Its Web site, 43 Things.com (www.43things.com), invites people to list their goals and get information from other people who have done those things or want to. The free service has attracted a global following of 12,000 people in two months.

43 Things is part of growing wave of online social networking, encompassing Web logs, as well as Friendster, LinkedIn and other sites that form virtual communities. Go online to find a date, a plumber or someone halfway around the world who shares the same passion for belly-dancing.

Like their dot-com predecessors, the social-networking companies have generated plenty of hype and millions of dollars in venture capital. The field is getting crowded with services vying for attention, from Friendster and Google’s Orkut to MySpace, tribe.net, craigslist and local startup Judy’s Book. As people spend more time online, developers are inventing new ways for them to connect with each other.

Big companies’ interest

No one can say for sure where this trend is heading, but Internet giants like Google, Amazon and Yahoo! are taking a keen interest.

One factor lending support to the business model is the sea change in advertising. Printed ads aimed at a general audience are being replaced by online ads targeted down to the smallest personal detail. If a company like Amazon knows that Julie in Tacoma wants to learn to make Greek food, it can send her cookbook recommendations or an ad for a local cooking class.

The technology is constantly evolving, too. Compared with earlier sites such as Friendster or LinkedIn, what’s different about 43 Things is that you don’t need to search for people with the same interests. The software finds them for you.

The same concept is behind the photo-sharing service Flickr and Web bookmark-sharing site del.icio.us.

People are matched based on the same key words or tags they use to express a goal, such as “lose 10 pounds.” After the first person posts a new goal on the site, every other person with that goal is added to the group, creating instant networks.

Advertising on the site also works through matching key words, so that it can be automatically targeted to specific goals. A company might buy a Google ad to promote its teeth-whitening formula, and that ad appears on all the 43 Things Web pages where someone has listed a goal of “whiten my teeth.”

The process means most of the site’s 44,000 pages feature targeted ads, all without a single sales representative. 43 Things had paid advertisements from the first day it appeared, Jan. 1.

A similar process serves up Google text ads based on key words in Google searches.

“If we make the site useful to people, that model will work out just like it does for Google,” Petersen said.

12,000 registered

Since the site went live, more than 12,000 people in 900 cities have registered and shared their goals, from the most mundane to the most bizarre. Among the throngs seeking to lose weight or visit foreign lands are three who want to take a bath in champagne and six hoping to learn how to raise just one eyebrow.

Some Seattle residents have started a bike-riding club and organized a gathering of neighbors in the Central District, while the site linked two people in Quebec and Beijing who decided to practice English together using Internet telephony.

John Hornbaker of Seattle has used the site to share his experiences using the iPod and climbing Mount Rainier.

“It was interesting and fun, seeing what all these other people wanted to do,” he said. But he didn’t receive much in the way of feedback. After a while, his interest started to diminish as he became busy with other activities. Hornbaker’s not sure how much time and effort it takes to get something worthwhile out of it.

Social-networking sites need a certain critical mass to realize potential benefits and generate significant revenue, said Mark Mahaney, an analyst with American Technology Research.

“Whoever has the largest network has a real advantage over other players,” he said. “It tells me if there really is a business opportunity here, you better build it quick and fast.”

Amazon roots

The idea behind 43 Things has roots in Amazon’s personalization feature, automatically suggesting new products based on what customers order. Petersen, the Robot Co-op’s chief executive, and others helped create that feature at Amazon in the late 1990s.

Five sobering years since those halcyon days of the Internet boom, their new company retains some of that time’s Utopian ideals.

But while the creators of 43 Things proclaim a desire to change the world, they don’t want to live like robots to do it. Typical office hours are from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and employees have salaries that pay the mortgage, generous health benefits and unlimited time off for personal goals, which is the whole point of their new venture.

“A lot of startups have a very rough path before they succeed,” said Petersen, 33. “We wanted to have a humane work environment from the start. We didn’t want to ask our families to take on risk or take on partners who push for a return on investment in two years.”

Unlike many startups today, this one faces no particular pressure to make money just yet.

“A lot of people came up with some lousy ideas because they were trying to make money and left a lot of good ideas behind,” Petersen said.

Petersen said he and partner Daniel Spils, 36, began working on the project in Spils’ basement last summer, after Petersen took a paternity leave from his search-technology job at Microsoft. Petersen had left Amazon in 2002, and Spils left later the same year to focus on playing music as the keyboardist for Seattle band Maktub. They made pitches to several other investors before settling on Amazon in the fall.

Petersen had worked with Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos while creating the personalization technology, and a verbal agreement with Bezos in September set the Robot Co-op deal in motion.

“No one can say we know exactly where this is going,” Petersen said. “That’s a path they were comfortable with.”

Amazon won’t disclose the size of its investment or what it might demand of the robots later.

“We’re not discussing the details around the strategy there or speculating on the future of the company,” said Amazon.com public-relations manager Drew Herdener. “We don’t discuss our investment strategies.”

Company potential

Clearly, social networking has the potential to be a game-changing phenomenon, and Amazon wants a hand in it. As sole owner of the Robot Co-op, Amazon owns any technology the team develops, Petersen said. Although Amazon does have seats on the company’s board, the co-op has autonomy in its daily operations, he said.

“We built it,” Petersen said. “We’re in charge.”

The Amazon investment caused a bit of a stir when it was reported last month in Salon.com, the online magazine. Some users said the co-op should have notified people earlier. But traffic to the 43 Things Web site tripled in three days as a result of the publicity.

Petersen and Spils, the chief operating officer, said they have no specific obligation to share information with Amazon and wouldn’t compromise their users’ trust.

“The worst conspiracy theories bother us,” Petersen said. “You can’t make a site like this by abusing your users.”

43 Things’ privacy policy states that the company may collect and share with partners the information that users provide, including names, e-mail addresses, physical addresses, phone numbers, ages and genders.

So far, users don’t seem to mind sharing personal information with the world, and many post their photos and links to their own blogs.

Such information could be a marketer’s dream. Because the goals are so specific, the ads are better targeted, Spils said. About three-fourths of the 44,000 goals listed on the site feature text ads automatically generated by Google on the side of the page.

The group that wanted to learn how to raise one eyebrow, for example, is shown an ad for “shaping perfect eyebrows” from an online beauty guide.

The robots share their own lives through links to their personal blogs, and the Web site gets plenty of help from visitors. When Petersen wants some suggestions from users, he posts a goal such as “explore how 43 Things can promote online learning.” Soon people as far away as Quebec, Australia and New Zealand chime in with ideas.

The goal-obsessed robots use index cards to scrawl ideas or features they want to work on and sort them by priority. Each week, goals are taped to the wall with the time estimated to finish and the actual time each task took. A stack of 50 index cards lists features they are considering, including adding a link on 43 Things pages to Amazon’s Wish Lists.

For now, Amazon is giving the robots the luxury of time. “We’re totally free right now,” Spils said. “We don’t check in.”

Howard Winwood

Goto http://www.directmatches.com/hwinwood and look at the first of it’s kind social networking company with a pay plan attached to it.

Do you participate in any online forums or discussion groups? That can be a great way to promote your business, form new business relationships and friendships, help customers find you and learn from others in your industry.

In fact, sometimes it feels as though you are writing to a good friend when posting to one of these groups. This is especially true when your postings are done via e-mail. Many people think of e-mail as private (although it often is not). That can cause you to put things online that you may later regret.

Many forums and discussion groups have archives. Even if these archives are supposed to be private, they can usually be accessed by anyone who joins the group. And, they may even be indexed by the search engines.

Think before you post. Is this something you wouldn’t mind being read by your competitors, a journalist doing a profile of you–or your mother? If not, don’t send it. Even to a “closed” group. You don’t know where else it may end up.

I have seen some people learn this the hard way. Don’t harm your reputation with a thoughtless email or online post. To paraphrase the old saying, “Post in haste, repent at leisure.”

Copyright Cathy Stucker. As the IdeaLady, Cathy Stucker helps authors, entrepreneurs and professionals attract customers and make themselves famous. To learn more about Internet marketing and get free online and offline marketing tips, visit Cathy at http://www.IdeaLady.com/

Did you know that contacts are the bread of career life? In times of change, information and relationships are a source of power. Savvy networking will help you to tap into this power to grow your business and your career.

Savvy networking is a systematic process of establishing and maintaining relationships for seeking out information and resources in order to accomplish specific goals. Its focus is on the building of rapport and long term interactions rather than quick, short-term connections of ‘here today gone tomorrow’. Its purpose is to access all kinds of information and a wide variety of resources in order to achieve one’s individual career goals as well as one’s team or work group’s objectives.

Some of you may have a negative opinion of networking. Some of you may think it is a selfish or egotistical activity with an emphasis on, “What can this person do for me?” However, savvy networking is not only committed to the meeting of your goals but also must be concerned with the following:

“How can I specifically be of help to this other person or team? What is it that I can give? What kinds of information do I have access to? Or what kinds of support can I provide?”

Reciprocity is the key. It is the getting of what you need to achieve your goals or perform your job effectively as well as the giving to others what they need in order to achieve their goals or do their job more effectively.

In savvy networking, peer relationships are more important than ever given the rise of team based organizations. As the leader of these work or project teams, your challenge is that you may not have the formal authority over people whose support you need. For example, you may be tasked with accomplishing the following:

assembling a group of people of different backgrounds or from different areas to work together.

obtaining essential resources from others such as information, technical expertise or political backing.

coordinating efforts with other teams who have their set of priorities which may be different than yours.

Your ability to get the job done hinges first on your success in cultivating, mobilizing, and maintaining relationships with others. Second, it is dependent on your ability to influence or gain cooperation from these people to accomplish specific goals.

Stephen Covey, in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, states: “Interdependence, not independence, is the new watch word.” Forget being the Lone Ranger! Connect for success. Start building dynamic networks and relationships.

Marcia Zidle, the ‘people smarts’ coach, works with business leaders to quickly solve their people management headaches so they can concentrate on their #1 job ­ to grow and increase profits. She offers free help through Leadership Briefing, a weekly e-newsletter with practical tips on leadership style, employee motivation, recruitment and retention and relationship management. Subscribe by going to
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It is amazing how humans seek out companionship and it appears in an observation of over all society, more people do wish to get to know people better. They seem to be intrigued with meeting new people and enjoy the personal insights they get from discovering more about the inner thoughts of others.

This is a positive thing for human interaction even as the interpersonal relationships in larger more dense civilizations trivialize the individual and dehumanize social interactions. This is not a negative comment or a positive one of humanity, just an observation.

Some of the reasons for less interpersonal relationships seem to be caused from Data Smog or over load of information taking our bandwidth or organic brain thought processes. Some people assume this is bad and they blame the 250 channels of Satellite radio, 600 channels of Satellite TV and the Internet online news, Ezine newsletters, email or 8.88 Billion web pages searched in .06 seconds.

It is truly amazing if you stop to think about it. So I suppose you might like to get to know me better and I suppose I might like to get to know you better. It is for this reason and many are joining in ad hoc online forums, emails and Blogs to share them selves and meet others online. Perhaps this ability may just bring us all back together again? Think on it.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/